Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1919-08-18
MANY DISPUTES
OVER BOUNDARY
LINES Of STATE
New Mexico Has Been Involved
in OiSagreen1entS for Many
Years; Two Cases Are Now
Pending in Courts,

disputes than any other state in the
union. Even now it has disputes with
two neighboring states pending in the
federal court and a third has only
recently been settled Right from the
start, the boundaries of New Mexico
were very indefinite. There are old
maps in the Museum of New Mexico
which show that at one time New
Mexico extended from the Mississippi
to the Pacific and from Chihuahua to
the unknown" north. All during the
Spanish and Mexican regimes, the
boundaries of the jurisdiction of the
authorities at Santa Fe was very in-
definite, but was never less than q
quarter million square miles. This in
definiteness of boundaries was part of
the heritage of the commonwealth
when it was ceded to the United
States by the treaty of Guadalupe Hi
dalgo. Texas had even previously
claimed as its western boundary the
Rio Grande boundary and it was
because it claimed that river also as
its southern boundary that the wal
with Mexico was fought.
Right from the start, after the dec
laration of peace with Mexico, a boun-
Diary dispute arose with Mexico, being
finally compromised in the Gadsden
treaty which gave the Mesilla valley
and strip extending west to the Colo
RADIO to New Mexico, which then in
GUIDED all of Arizona, and what are
now the southern counties of Colorado.
The Texas claims were finally set
tied for the time being when New
Mexico was formally declared a ter
ritory in the organic act of 1850 which
defined the boundaries Of New Mex
leo, roughly as extending from the
Colorado river to the l03rd degree of
longitude from west to east, and from
the thirty second to the thirty eighth
degree Of latitude, south to north.
This should have settled all boundary
disputes, but it didn't.
When the state of Colorado was
created in 1876, the boundaries of Col
orado We're defined, and large slice
of northern New Mexico was taken
and more would have been taken if
Colorados desires for the San Juan
valley had been granted. When the
territory of Arizona was created, of
course, the boundary dividing it from
New Mexico was defined. Since then,
the boundary disputes are not over
Interpretation of treaties and statu-
tory definitions of boundaries, but
over the accuracy of surveys and the
shifting of river beds along boundary
lines. The most important divergence
was in the survey of the 103rd degree
of longitude and the thirty-sec
parallel of latitude forming the boun-
Diary of Texas There were several
official surveys, but these did not
agree leading to dispute which in
volved thousands of acres along the
Texas boundary,
This was not important until east
ern New Mexico began to settle up d
few years ago and assessors began as
sessing land that Texas claimed. The
matter went into the courts and led
to the appointment of a federal COM
missioner, former United States Sena-
tor COckrell, as a boundary commits
sioner, who, after a thorough inspec-
ton of boundary monuments and sur
veys, made his report which officially
determines the boundary between
Texas and New Mexico and also be-
tween New Mexico and Oklahoma
with this exception that it did not de-
termine the boundary between New
Mexico and Texas for the distance that
south of Las Cruces and down to Ell
Paso.
In the treaty of Guadalupe Hida go,
the definition of the boundary lines
left FL Paso in Chihuahua but it was
finally placed in the United States
The Rio Grande forming the boun-
Diary between Texas and Mexico, its
constantly shifting bed led to disputes
Nt.,l ! IL -.
of an International boundary COM
mission, but this did not have juris-
diction over the short distance that
the Rio Grande is the boundary be-
tween New Mexico and Texas. Here
the river bed has shifted considerably
and New Mexico claims several thou
sand acres of good lands of a value
said to run into millions of dollars.
This has led to long litigation, IN
which thousands of pages of testimony
have been taken and transcribed and
which is still pending.
This boundary dispute with Texas
was coupled with a dispute now forty
years old, with the state of Colorado,
over the boundary between New Mex
leo and Colorado, by the legislative
assembly of H. which in an act APP
proved March IA, 1917, created state
boundary commission and appropriate
ed $4,000 for the expenses and the
payment of attorneys fees for prose-
cutting further the suit with Texas
and also to investigate and settle" the
dispute with Colorado.
The dispute with Colorado is one of
rival federal surveys of the thirty-sev-
enth degree of latitude and the boun-
dairy One survey, if accepted would
throw the lumber camp of Edith and
other valuable lands in Archuleta and
| adjoining counties in Colorado into
Rio Arriba county, N M, increasing
its assessment roll. New Mexico bases
It's Gains upon that survey. The other
survey, which had been accepted by
the department of the interior in ter
ritorial days as the true survey, would
leave part of what Is now in Rio Ar
riba county in Colorado. o. A. LARA
| Zolo, now governor of the state, was
appointed special attorney to prose
cute New Mexico's claim and this is
pending in the federal courts, the ul-
| innate step probably being the APP
| polntment of a missioner, as had
| been the case in the dispute with
TeXas over the southern and eastern
| boundaries.
When the two pending disputes are
! settled, there is little likelihood OF
! further border controversies, which
! may be said to have had their begin
! nings more than 800 years ago, for the
| boundary with Arizona is accurately
defined and thus far, there has been
| no cash over surveys.
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