Albuquerque morning journal., 1910-11-09
TEXAS HAS BURDEN
OF PROOF IN FIGHT
ON BOUNDARY
Texas State Surveyor Points
Out Danger of Losing Strip
to New Mexico History Of
the State Line,


li'H'''ab N'ff'TB'uhehff " NnN''''A
Amarillo. Texas, Nov 5.-Owing to
the fact that so much interest Is be-
ing taken in the boundary dispute
between Texas and New Mexico, In
which the latter claims 100000 acres
of Panhandle land. W. D. Twichel.
state surveyor for Texas, gave the fol-
lowing history of the line There is
perhaps no man in Texas better
posted on this subject than Mr..
Twichcl and his statement Will be
read with interest over the entire
state.
The recent action Of the constitu-
tional convention Of New Mexico
claiming 100000 acres which has
been considered gs belonging to
Texas Is not surprising fer all who
are familiar with the facts know that
New Mexico has used her influence
In congress to prevent a Joint COM
mission from remarkng the line as
| originally surveyed and there could
be no other purpose in that except to
claim out TO the mathematical l03
| meridian which vas called for as the
| boundary In the treaty between Texas
and the United States Time has
greatly assisted this claim by defac
| ing the earth monuments which were
| placed along the line when the joint
survey was made In 1858 to 1860 ana
II Is quite possible that the identity
Of these marks will need to be sub
stantiated by men who have some
means OF knowing where these marks
were originally placed. If Texas
should fail to properly prove the
original line. it seems very probable
that New MeXico's claim will be good
The north and west boundaries Of
Texas have been formally approved in
congress and by cur legislature, but
a recent survey by Arthur ID. Kidder
and United states Astronomer Mac
Connell indicates that there was some
error IN the original lines including
about the quantity mentioned in the
recent reports. This is perhaps the
largest error which has been found in
the making of state boundaries in re-
cent years, yet the error is not un-
seasonable under the conditions which
prevailed at the time the survey was
made. Carrying st. Louis time by
chronometcr across the country from
St. Louis to lll Paso with the heavy
train and equipment necessary for
such IN expedition can not be COM
pared favorablg rs d method for de-
termining Longitude with the time
tiansmissions over an unbroken cop
per wire which We're used by United
7Adlth NuIAtNbi tAlHhtI anu l llltN
States Astronomer MacConnell and
when you ada TO this convenient
railroad transportation enabling the
obscrvers e. exchange places at either
end OF the copper wire so that he in
diyidual errors IN the time transmits |
sion could be aScertained with cer- |
tainty. il viii be seen that our pres I
ont conditions are most favorable to |
an accurate determination of longi |
tude and therefore the late determin |
alton should be- correct
The formal claim of New Mexico |
FOR THEN 100000 acres is probably |
more fortunate than would ordinar
ily be supposed, for II puts the con
trovcrtcd strip in issue in such a way |
that congress can hardly ignore the |
demand which Hon. John II. Steph
ems has been continually making since |
1902. demanding that joint com
mission he appointed to go upon the |
ground and remark the original in a
permanent manner, thereby prevent
ing any further dispute The formal /
claim Of New Mexico leaves but little
doubt that Congre essman stephens
VIII be ablc TO get his commission
appointed by the next congress MIR.
stephens has made careful study of
this matter and he thoroughly appre-
ciatcs the Importance Of preserving
and perpetuating this line before all
the witnesses are gone. AZ different
times | have had occasion to find and
identify All the monuments on the
original line from the Pccos river |
east nnd north on the boundaries OF
New Mexico To the northwest corner
of Texas and from thence east and
south en- the boundaries OF the Pam
handle 60 Red river comprising q dis
..f oil it,
instances it happened that | WAS the
first TO find the monuments after
their location When the boundaries
were found. fences, wells and other
improvements were made along the |
line I'm such way that the tramping
0f cattle and other causes lOoscncd the
soil and defaced and Cbliterated the
monuments which otherwise would
have remained in reasonably good
condition 10 the present day. At
various times since 1886 ] have had
occasion To revisit the monuments
along the boundary OF Texas since
ranches have been inclosed, and
these visits convince me that the
original monuments along the line arc
fast disappearing and many of them
ire now beyond all recognition.
II is peculiar circumstance and
one which may be OF interest, that
Ihc line on tho east of the Panhandle !
has never been marked by Joint
commission and has never been ap-
proved by either government or for
maliy adopted In any way. There is
a line which has been placed on he
ground by the land surveyors OF
Texas and another line different in
part which was placed by United
states surveyors and these surveyors /
marks have been recognized locally.
hut they have never been formally
approved iu such way AS To consti-
iute the state boundary and they
have been cvpressively repudiated by
Texas and the United states every
time a controversy arose over this
line ln the famous Greer county
case Texas claimed TO the Tooth
meridian as placed on Meliches map
which WAS originally refcrrcd To I'm
the treaty with spain This map
places thc l0oth meridian quite a dis
tancc east of the mouth OF the North
Fork of Red river or about 100 miles
east of the true Tooth meridian as
placed on Neliches' map deciding the
famous case held that Greer county
WAS part of the United states and
The west boundary was the tooth
meridian. Congress has since rc-
luired that the true lnoth meridian
be- este hHshcd hN the most accurate
method ana the result shows that thc
Tooth meridian is 500 feet east of
the ola initial monument on Red
river which local surveyors consid-
cred She east houuturN of the PAN !