The Arizona sentinel., 1893-12-09
ARIZONA Or CALIFORNIA:

The press of the State OF Call
fornia is somewhat agitated over
the question whether or no a por-
ton of the town of Yuma Is IN
Arizona or California. 1t is
tempest in teapot; there is moth
ing ia it. Gen. Geo. B. Tolman
has submitted to an interview by
reporter of the San Francisco
Chronicle, aud the result thereof
has been published in that enter
prising journal The General, with
refreshing positiveness, states that
beyond all doubt the portion of
Yuma in controversy is in Cali
fornia, but the facts stated in his
interview do not bear him out. AS
a matter of fact he gives himself
dead away. The General was q
member of the boundary survey of
lS49-50, and states that the mon
ument marking the boundary line
between Mexico and the United
States, was placed on the south
side of the Colorado river on
high bluff near the ella. He is
right, and the monument is there
yet. He is also right when he
states that that monument marks
the line, irrespective of the changes
of the rivers, but it must be under
stood that the channels of the
Colorado and ella rivers, at their
junction, never change, owing to
the above mentioned high bluff.
So that the situation may be clear
ly understood by those unacquaint-
ed with the topography of this
section it is necessary to state that
Yuma lies within a bend of the
Colorado river, the course of which
is nearly due west, running by this
point. At Pilot Knob, nine miles
below Yuma, the Colorado takes
its general course south, crossing
the boundary line of 1849-50.
Having fixed the permanent
monument marking the boundary
line of 1880 at Yuma, and the
point where that line is crossed by
the Colorado river, it becomes es-
sential to determine the boundary
line of the State of California in
order to show how Yuma is affect
ed. The eastern boundary line of
California commences at the forty
second parallel of latitude, and
runs southerly until it strikes the
Colorado river at about the thirty
fifth parallel; thence it follows
down the channel of the Colorado
river until it intersects the bound
airy line of 1S49-50. So it will be
observed that everything depends
upon the location of the point of
intersection. If Gen. Tolman will
come to Yuma, and by the by we
will treat him Hospitality if he
does, and extend the boundary line
of 1849-50 east from the monu-
ment upon the bluff, he will find
that it will not intersect the chan
mel of the Colorado, but if he will
follow that boundary line west, he
viii discover the fact that the only
point where it does intersect the
channel is at Pilot Knob, where it
crosses the river. Hence the only
intersection of the eastern hound
airy line of California, with the
channel of the Colorado is at Pilot
Knob. Upon the basis of this
point of intersection, the land in
controversy was in 1875, by the
Secretary of the Interior, decided
to be in Arizona, and it has been
so decided judicially since.
There is one other fact of which
Gen. Tolman has an erroneous
opinion: The boundary line of
1849-50 is not drawn from the
junction of the two rivers, but from
the mouth of the ella.
If, however, by any hook or crook,
the disputed portion of Yuma shall
be placed in California, We can
congratulate our neighbor in the
addition to its population of all the
Arizona convicts. There would
be one misfortune, however, Yuma
county could hardly bear; the
County Treasurer resides across
the boundary line of 1880 and
all the county money is with him.
1t would be tough on us if we
should wakeup some morning and
find California richer by one Ari-
iona Treasurer and some thous-