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All parties engaged in the prosecution of this survey will be sworn before an officer duly qualified to administer oaths at the beginning and end of the survey. The oath of the chief of party must be taken either before the clerk of the district court or a United States commissioner. (See Manual, page 64.)

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR,
Washington, June 5, 1897.

The DIRECTor of the GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. SIR: Your letter of the 5th instant has been received, submitting for my consideration and approval instructions relating to the survey of the boundary line between Idaho and Montana, for which provision was made in the sundry civil appropriation bill, approved June 4.

The instructions in question have been approved by indorsement thereon and are herewith returned.

Very respectfully,

Mr. R. U. GOODE, Geographer.

C. N. BLISS, Secretary.

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR,

UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY,

Washington, D. C., June 7, 1897.

SIR: The execution of the necessary work in connection with the survey of the boundary line between Idaho and Montana, as provided for in the sundry civil .bill for the fiscal year 1897-98, is placed under your supervision.

This work will be performed in accordance with instructions approved June 5, 1897, by the Secretary of the Interior.

The sum of $7,650 has been appropriated in this connection, and you are authorized, within the limits of the above appropriation, to employ such temporary field assistants as may be necessary for the proper prosecution of the survey, and to make such journeys and to order your assistants to make such journeys as may be necessary in carrying forward the work.

Very respectfully,

CHAS. D. WALCOTT, Director.

BOUNDARY LINES.

Territorial and State lines in the northwestern portion of the United States have undergone many changes. Originally this area was included partly in Louisiana and partly in Oregon, the dividing line. being the crest of the Rocky Mountains.

Oregon Territory was organized August 14, 1848. Its area at that time included the present States of Oregon, Washington, and Idaho, and portions of Wyoming and Montana. The Territory of Nebraska, formed from a portion of the Louisiana Purchase, was organized May 30, 1854. Its original area extended from Minnesota on the east to the continental watershed on the west, and included the existing State of Nebraska and portions of Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, North Dakota, and South Dakota. The Territory of Dakota was formed March 2, 1861, from parts of the State of Minnesota and the Territory of Nebraska, and on March 3, 1863, the Territory of Idaho was formed of portions of Nebraska, Dakota, and Washington, the latter having been organized March 2, 1853, from a portion of the Territory of Oregon. Originally, Idaho contained about 324,875 square miles, but in 1864 it

was reduced 146,080 square miles by the formation of the Territory of Montana, which was taken entirely from Idaho, and in 1868 it was further reduced by the formation of the Territory of Wyoming, almost the whole of which (93,995 square miles) was taken from Idaho. Montana to-day stands as originally organized, while Idaho contains about 84,800 square miles.

The present boundaries of Montana are described as follows:

Beginning at the intersection of the twenty-seventh meridian of longitude with the boundary line between the United States and the British possessions, it follows said meridian south to the forty-fifth parallel of latitude; thence west on this parallel to the thirty-fourth meridian; south on the thirty-fourth meridian to the point where that meridian intersects the continental watershed; thence westward and northwestward, following the line of the continental watershed and the summit of the Bitterroot Range to its intersection with the thirty-ninth meridian; thence north on the thirty-ninth meridian to the boundary line between the United States and British possessions, and east on that boundary line to the point of beginning.

The present boundaries of Idaho are described as follows:

Beginning at the intersection of the thirty-ninth meridian with the boundary line between the United States and the British possessions, it follows said meridian south until it reaches the summit of the Bitterroot Mountains; thence southeastward along the crest of the Bitterroot Range and the Continental Divide until it intersects the meridian of thirty-four degrees of longitude; thence southward on this meridian to the forty-second parallel of latitude; thence west on this parallel of latitude to its intersection with a meridian drawn through the mouth of the Owyhee River; north on this meridian to the mouth of the Owyhee River; thence down the midchannel of the Snake River to the mouth of the Clearwater; and thence north on the meridian which passes through the mouth of the Clearwater to the boundary line between the United States and the British possessions, and east on said boundary line to the place of beginning.

The boundary under discussion is the common one mentioned above.

In the United States State boundary lines may be grouped in two general classes:

First. Those that are defined by some natural physical feature, such as an ocean or a lake shore, the channel or bank of a stream, the summit of a range of mountains, or a watershed.

Second. Those that are defined by imaginary lines which must be traced on the earth's surface by astronomic or mathematical processes. Such a line may be a meridian of longitude, a parallel of latitude, a line between two points (such as a portion of the eastern boundary of Nevada, which is from the intersection of the one hundred and twentieth meridian and the thirty-ninth degree of latitude to a point on the Colorado River where it intersects the thirty-fifth degree of latitude), a line defined by azimuth and distance or a number of such lines consecutively joined (such as the boundary line between Maine and New Hampshire), a line determined by a given direction from a certain point terminating at its intersection with some other line

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(such as a portion of the western boundary of Idaho, which runs from a point in the channel of Snake River opposite the mouth of the Clearwater due north to the thirty-ninth parallel of latitude), or a tangent or arc of a circle (such as the western and northern boundary of Delaware).

Generally speaking, boundary lines of the first class need no monuments to indicate their location, while those of the second class must be perpetuated by marks of some kind after their positions have been determined.

The boundary line between Idaho and Montana is made up of two sections, falling into the two classes mentioned. The first section is that part defined as the thirty-ninth meridian, between the international boundary and the summit of the Bitterroot Mountains; and the second section is the sinuous line corresponding to portions of the crest of the Bitterroot and Rocky mountains, this line beginning at the intersection of one meridian line and terminating at another meridian line. The first section has been located and marked by monuments, as will appear hereafter. The second section is considered to be adequately determined, since it follows a watershed, and its terminal points have been marked-the northern one by the results of the survey under discussion, and the second by the results of the survey of the western boundary of Wyoming, which line follows the thirty-fourth meridian from the forty-first parallel to the crest of the Rocky Mountains. The survey of the latter line was authorized by an act of Congress approved March 3, 1873, and was made, under contract, by Alonzo V. Richards, astronomer and surveyor, in June, July, August, and September, 1874. The following is a description of the corner of Idaho and Montana on this line, as taken from the report of the survey above referred to:

At 245 miles 56 chains and 50 links the corner of Idaho and Montana was established on the crest of the Rocky Mountains. It is commemorated by a pine post 11 feet long by 15 inches in diameter, 3 feet in the ground, marked on north face "340 W. L., 1874;" on south face, "246 m. 56 chs. 50 lks.; on east face, "Wyoming;" on southwest face, "Idaho;" on northwest face, "Montana;" and is squared 2 feet at the upper end in the shape of a pentagon. The point is further perpetuated by a stone in the bottom of the pit in which this post was set, marked “A. V. R," with several charred blocks. A conical mound of earth and stone was raised 4 feet high by 7 feet in diameter, with a pit in the corner of each of the three Territories 3 feet square by 2 feet deep. Then, on the top of the mound, on the east side, was placed a flat sandstone, marked "Wyoming;" another on the southwest side, marked "Idaho," and one on the northwest side, marked "Montana." Nineteen pine trees are noted as witnesses to this post.

It will be noted that the law provides for locating points on the continuation of the boundary line along the Bitterroot Mountains between Idaho and Montana. It was not possible to extend the triangulation. beyond the southern extremity of the meridional portion of the boundary line, on account of the available funds not being sufficient for Bull. 170-2

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