Indian chieftain. [volume] (Vinita, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1882-1902, 1892-03-17
STATE eouNpARIEs.


After one of the Emperor Napoleon's
great victories the English prime min
lister, looking at map Of Europe, said
mournfulsy, Roll up the ms,pi II will
not be wanted these ten years"
What he meant was that II would be
ten years before the lighting over the
boundaries OF the European ssates came
to an end And in fact these Boundaries
have been fought over since then for
nearly eight times ten years, and are
likely TO be still further and radically
altered In the coming decades
This fact makes 1t interesting 10 ask
how the states OF our own Union came
to fix their boundaries, and how claims
which often conilicted were peaceably
adjusted.
When territories are admitted nowa-
days as states, like Washington. or
North and South Dakota, the answer is
easy. The United States government
controls the land originally, and con-
gress fixes the limits both OF the terri
tory and of the state or states created
from it.
But the situation OF the eastern states
at the start was very different When
their boundaries were first defined, they
were colonies unconnected with and
often hostile TO one another Nearly
all of them based their claims TO terri
tory on vague grants from English
kings to explorers, colonial companies,
or royal favorites AS the interior land
was almost without value aud little
sought after, and as the sea coast was
the only important district, the grants
were drawn with great carelessness
For instance, the original grant for
the colony of Connecticut included
strip of land from Long Island Sound
TO the Pacific ocean. subsequently
part of the same land, together with
territory given long before to Massa-
chusetts and New Hampshire, were in
cluded in the grant to New York.
Examples Of rival claims 20 territory
might be given almost by the score.
What is now Vermont was claimed by
New York ard New Hampshire; Ohio
was claimed by Connecticut and Vir-
glnia, and there were other disputes as
to territory in the south.
The wholesale Connecticut grant
made trouble as far west as Ohio. where
until the year 1900 the New England
state owned all the land along Lake |
Erie. The name Of the western Re-
serve" of Ohio is a reminder of a claim
that was not merely made but partially |
allowed.
Massachusetts,, too, owned the state
of Maine for two hundred years, after
which 1t generously surrendered its |
claim. Virginia for years owned sec.
tions OF other states and in fact at one
time fairly divided with Connecticut the
ownership Of Ohio
Even when the general ownership of
land was settled. the question as TO
ran made trouble. Pennsylvania and
Maryland quarreled so bitterly over
heir boundary that bloodshed of rival
,laimaats on the border was OF constant
but the dispute was settled
lnally in 1907 by the running OF Mason
ind Dixon's line, famous a century later
Is the boundary between freedom and
slavery
In some states the discovery of mis-
axes in generally accepted boundary
ines has transferred important towns
rom one state to another. For in
tance, the citizens OF Pawtucket were
counted in Bristol county, Massachu-
etts, until 1861. when new survey
Pawtucket to Rhode Island,
While a part of the now great manu-
acturing city OF Fall River, until then
TO be in Rhode Island, was
landed over TO Massachusetts.
Even with the accurate surveys of
o-day, disputes arise on the same per-
licking question. Ohio and Indiana
till hold rival and unsettled boundary
laims Even where a river runs along
he state borders, trouble is not neces- =
arily averted for the question then
rises, Who owns the right TO the river2
md il this ownership is important. as
D the case of the oyster-b beds in the
otomac, between Maryland and vir-
inia, fierce quarrels follow, even in
lese days
Yet when we consider the warlilke ex.
eriences of Europe in-these very ques-
ons, with far less complexity Of grants I
nd titles than in our own states, il is S
realty to the honor Of our country i
lat results have been so peaceably I
ttained- Youths Companion.