Indian chieftain. [volume] (Vinita, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1882-1902, 1892-03-17
STATE nouNpARlgs.
Not Tnfrequentiy Dinouitles Arise Cor
oarnlnn Than.

Not Tnfrequentiy DifacuitIss Arise Cons
cernine Them.
After one Of the Emperor Napoleon's
great victories the English prime min
lister. looking at a map Of Europe, said
mournfully, Roll up the map; IL will
not be wanted these ten years"
What he meant was that It would DO
ten years before the fighting over the
boundaries Of the European states came
10 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 mikes II interesting 10 ask
how the states cf our own Union came
10 fix their boundaries, and how claims
which often con1icted were pcaceably
adjusted.
When territories are admitted nova
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 IL
But the situation OF the eastern states
at the start was very different When
their boundaries werc FIRST defined, they
were colonies uuconnected with and
often hostile 20 one another Nearly
all Of them based their claims 20 terri
tory on vague grants from English
kings to explorers, colonial companies,
or royal favorites As the interior land
was almost without value and 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 a
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 Yorin
Examples OF rival claims 10 territory
might be given almost by the score.
What is now Vermont was claimed by
New York and 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 reminder OF claim
that was not merely made but partially
allowed.
Massachusetts,, too, owned the state
of Maine for two hundred years, after
which IL 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
where the exact boundaries of states
ran made trouble. Pennsylvania and
Maryland quarreled so bitterly over
their boundary that bloodshed of rival
claimants on the border was OF constant
occurrence. but the dispute was settled
finally in 1867 by the running of MASON
and Dixon's line, famous n century later
as the boundary between freedom and
slavery.
In some states the discovery Of mis-
takes in generally accepted boundary
lines has transferred important towns
from one state to another. For in
stance, the citizens OF Pawtuclset were
counted In Bristol county, Massachu-
sets, until 1851. when new survey
transferred Pawtucket to Rhode Island,
while a part of the now great manu-
featuring city OF Fall River, until then
supposed to be in Rhode Island, was
handed over TO Massachusetts
Even with the accurate surveys of |
to-day, disputes arise on the same per |
picking question. Ohio and Indiana |
still hold rival and unsettled boundary |
claims Even where u river runs along |
.he state borders, trouble is not neces-
'arily averted; for the question then
arises, Who owns the right 10 the river? |
And IL this ownership is important. rs
n the case Of the oyster-be in the
Potomac, between Maryland and vir-
yinia, fierce quarrels follow, even in
hese days
Yet when we consider the warlilSe ex.
'erieDces Of Europe in these very ques-
ions, with far less complexity Of grants
md titles than in our own states, II is
yreatly to the honor of our country
hat results have been so peaceably
ittained-Youth's Companion.
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