Arizona republican. [volume] (Phoenix, Ariz.) 1890-1930, 1920-09-07
BOUNDARY SUIT WILL
RESULT IN GREATEST
j s. LEGAL STRUGGLE

AUSTIN, Tex, Sept. Cone of the
greatest legal struggles the United
States has ever known VIII develop
from the Texas Oklahoma boundary
suit now pending in the United States
supreme court. according to G. W. Tay-
lar Texas assistant attorney general.
The United States, Oklahoma and
Texas claim jurisdiction over the lands
involved.
None of the factions in the three
cornered fight is advancing claims for
definite bodies of land this early in the
struggle In a general way Oklahoma
claims that the south bank OF the Red
river as it flowed in 1919, when the
treaty between Spain and the United
States fixed the boundary between
their respective holdings, is the line
The United States supports the Okla
homa contention where Indian lands
are involved and claims jurisdiction
over these lands. Texas contends that
the center of the present river pea Is
the boundary.
These conflicting claims leave the
title to a strip of land along the mean
dering of the river for at least 500
miles in doubt. Only the length OF the
strip is definitely set out in the claims
It's width varies from few feet to sew
eral miles.
Texas will first contend for the mid
die of the river as the boundary, Mr.
Taylor said, and if it loses this fight,
will claim the ordinary high water
mark of the present river as the south
bank. Every foot of the land south
of the high water mark on this side
of the river viii be contested. If Okla
homas claim that the river has shifted
north in places since the treaty was
signed is allowed, he continued, Texas
will ask that Oklahoma be required
to prove every shift of the river which
allows encorachment upon soil now
/ held by Texas.
In rebuttal, he added, it is possible
| that Texas will attempt to prove that
! the river bed has shifted south in
places, and thus placed Texas land on
| the Oklahoma side. Oklahoma has
| designated only one or two points
where it is alleged the river has shifted
north.
If the south bank of the river in 1919
| is fixed as the boundary, Mr.. Taylor
said, the question of fixing the old
bank of the stream will increase the
magnitude of the suit, which will then
resolve itself into a series of tangles
with masses of evidence to support
claims and counter claims at numerous
points along the river.
The boundary between the two
states has been disputed practically
ever since the land was worth claim
ing. While Oklahoma was territory
the United States entered suit and re-
| covered Greer county from Texas on
/ the grounds that the south branch of
the river. instead of the north branch,
was the boundary and that all the land
in the forks of the river belonged to
! Oklahoma. But the dispute between
the two states was held to local pro-
portion until the discovery of oil on
4 the Texas side in Wichita county.
Then in November. 1919, Oklahoma
claimed lands between the bluff and
the edge of the river on the Texas side
under the allegation that the river had
! shifted from the bluffs northward since
the treaty was signed, and from this
suit grew the one involving the whole
boundary.
Practically all the land involved is
held under the titles issued by either
Texas or Oklahoma. If jurisdiction
over lands is changed, these titles viii
become void, 1t is said, and the prop
erty subject to resale by the state ac-
curing il, unless provisions are made
TO the contrary in the settlement of the
| suit.
The first hearing of this case before
] the supreme court is set for Nov ID,
/ when the question of whether the de-
cision in the Greer county case shall
apply in this suit win be submitted