to the President of the United States in legal manner its assent that such lands shall so become a part of said Territory of Oklahoma. and the President shall thereupon make proclamation to that effect. The Public Land Strip was a part of the land ceded to the United States by Texas that had not been included in Kansas or New Mexico. The United States Supreme Court having decreed that the area east of the one-hundredth meridian and between the two forks of Red River did not belong to Texas (see pp. 151-153), Congress, on May 4, 1896, enacted as follows: 36 That, the portion of the Territory of Oklahoma bounded by the North Fork of the Red River and the State of Texas, heretofore known as Greer County, Texas, be and the same is hereby established as Greer County, Oklahoma. The ninety-eighth meridian, which was then part of the west boundary of Indian Territory, was marked by the Geological Survey in 1899 with iron posts set in concrete. The Cherokee Outlet originally comprised an area of more than 12,000 square miles south of the south boundary of Kansas, west of the ninety-sixth meridian, north of an east-west line through the mouth of Cimarron River, and extending west to the one-hundredth meridian, which was reserved for the use of Indians while traveling to visit their friends in the West. The rights of the Indians in this area were extinguished by treaty dated December 19, 1891, ratified by Congress March 3, 1893, and proclaimed by the President August 19, 1893, effective at 12 o'clock noon of the 16th of September following. This area thereby became a part of the Territory of Oklahoma in accordance with the act of May 2, 1890, and was open to settlers. The Cherokee Outlet was not the same as the Cherokee strip. The Cherokee strip was a part of the Cherokee country about 2 miles wide, just north of the thirty-seventh parallel, now a part of Kansas. On June 16, 1906, an enabling act for the admission of Oklahoma as a State was passed by Congress,38 the new State to consist of all that part of the area of the United States now constituting the Territory of Oklahoma and the Indian Territory as at present described. The bounds of the Indian Territory, as defined in the act of March 1, 1889, were as follows: 39 North by the State of Kansas, east by the States of Missouri and Arkansas, south by the State of Texas, and west by the State of Texas and the Territory of New Mexico. The people of the two Territories having adopted a constitution, the President, by proclamation dated November 16, 1907, declared the admission to statehood complete."0 86 29 Stat. L. 113. 87 27 Stat. L. 640. 88 34 Stat. L. 267. 925 Stat. L. 783. 40 35 Stat. L. 2160. For descriptions of the boundaries of the State of Oklahoma as now marked see Arkansas, pages 157 and 159; Missouri, page 178; Texas, pages 151-154; Kansas, pages 190-191; and Colorado, page 200. A book by Roy Gittinger, published by the University of California in 1917, entitled "The formation of the State of Oklahoma," contains many references to boundaries as well as a history of the changes in the territory from 1803 to 1906. An interesting set of diagrams illustrating various stages in the change of the Oklahoma area from Indian ownership to statehood was prepared by George Pamley and printed by the Webb Publishing Co., Oklahoma City, in 1917. ΜΟΝΤΑΝΑ. The Territory of Montana was organized by act of May 26, 1864, from a portion of Idaho. Its limits (figs. 16 and 22), which have been changed but slightly, are given as follows in the organizing act:11 That all that part of the territory of the United States included within the limits, to wit: Commencing at a point formed by the intersection of the twentyseventh degree of longitude west from Washington with the forty-fifth degree of north latitude; thence due west on said forty-fifth degree of latitude to a point formed by its intersection with the thirty-fourth degree of longitude west from Washington; thence due south along said thirty-fourth degree of longitude to its intersection with the forty-fourth degree and thirty minutes of north latitude; thence due west along said forty-fourth degree and thirty minutes of north latitude to a point formed by its intersection with the crest of the Rocky Mountains; thence following the crest of the Rocky Mountains northward till its intersection with the Bitter Root Mountains; thence northward along the crest of said Bitter Root Mountains to its intersection with the thirtyninth degree of longitude west from Washington; thence along said thirty-ninth degree of longitude northward to the boundary line of the British possessions; thence eastward along said boundary line to the twenty-seventh degree of longitude west from Washington; thence southward along said twenty-seventh degree of longitude to the place of beginning, be, and the same is hereby, created into a temporary government by the name of the Territory of Montana. This act took from Idaho an area bounded in part on the south by the forty-fifth parallel and on the west by the Bitterroot Mountains. The creation of Wyoming Territory in 1868 took from Dakota Territory the greater part of the area that had been restored to it by the Montana act, which extended west to the Continental Divide and north to the point where the divide intersected the parallel of 44° 30', but left a triangular area of about 14 square miles west of longitude 34°, south of latitude 44° 30′, and extending west to the Continental Divide that still belonged to Dakota. This was given to Montana by the act of 1873, which described it as follows (see fig. 16 inset): 42 That all that portion of Dakota Territory lying west of the one hundred and eleventh meridian of longitude which, by an erroneous definition of the bound aries of said Territory by a former act of Congress, remains detached and distant from Dakota proper some two hundred miles, be, and the same is hereby, attached to the adjoining territory of Montana. This act was evidently based on inadequate geographic information relative to the position of the Continental Divide. According to the most reliable maps now available (the U. S. Geological Survey maps of the Shoshone and Grand Teton quadrangles, Wyo.) the Continental Divide crosses the thirty-third meridian west of Washington near the forty-fourth parallel of latitude; running northward the divide intersects the parallel of 44° 30' at points about 21 and 17 miles east of the 34th meridian and again 2 miles west of that meridian; the latter intersection is evidently the one referred to in the act. The act should have described the area as being west of the thirtyfourth meridian instead of west of the one hundred and eleventh meridian, for the Greenwich meridian was not mentioned in the former act. The enabling act, which included also provisions for the admission of North Dakota, South Dakota, and Washington, fixed their boundaries "as at present described." 43 The presidential proclamation announcing the admission of Montana as a State was dated November 8, 1889. The south boundary of Montana was surveyed and marked in 1879-80, under the General Land Office. That portion of the west boundary between the crest of the Bitterroot Mountains and the Canada line was resurveyed and re-marked in 1898-99 by the United States Geological Survey. A detailed report of this work is given in Bulletin 170 of the Survey. The remainder of the western boundary was surveyed and marked by stone or 3-inch round iron posts in 1904-1906 under the General Land Office. The total measured length of the Idaho-Montana boundary line from the Canadian border to the Wyoming line is about 738 miles, of which the first 70.7 miles is the meridional line, the next 355 miles is along the crest of the Bitterroot Mountains, and the remaining 312 miles along the Continental Divide. The west boundary of the Yellowstone National Park crosses this line about 2 miles west of the Wyoming line. For reference to the survey of the northern boundary see page 20. The survey of the east boundary of Montana on the twenty-seventh meridian west of Washington was undertaken in 1885; the initial position had been found by measurement from an astronomic station on the Northern Pacific Railway 6 miles 28.51 chains to the west, where an exchange of time signals had been made by telegraph. From the point thus found a random line was run south to the 25 Stat. L. 676. forty-fifth parallel. The mark at the northeast corner of Wyoming on this parallel, as established in 1880, was reported to be 70.68 chains west of the twenty-seventh meridian as fixed by the random line. A point for the intersection of the forty-fifth parallel and the twentyseventh meridian (the southeast corner of Montana) was marked by a stone post. Both these corner marks were replaced in 1904 by 6-foot cut-stone posts. See page 198 for the geographic position of the Wyoming corner. From this point the line was run north to the forty-ninth parallel boundary, a measured distance of 276 miles 27.80 chains. The Northern Pacific Railway was crossed at 133 miles 63 chains, Yellowstone River between mileposts 195 and 196, and Missouri River between mileposts 207 and 208. Most of the marks on this line were wooden posts, many of which have since been destroyed. The part from the one hundred and ninety-third milepost to the two hundred and eighteenth was retraced in 1901, and the posts were found to be poorly alined, varying as much as 50 minutes to the east or west for a single mile. The geographic position of the southeast corner of Montana is latitude 44° 59' 53.74" and longitude 104° 02′ 20.68". Farther north (at latitude 47° 12′ 42.0'') there is an accurately located boundary mark, the longitude of which is 104° 02′ 39.4". This mark is an old oak post. 45 The longitude of the intersection of this line with the northern boundary of the United States is 104° 02′ 47.53". WYOMING. Wyoming was organized as a Territory on July 25, 1868, from an area previously included in the Territories of Dakota, Idaho, and Utah. Its limits, which are the same as originally established, are defined in the following clause from the act creating the Territory:48 That all that part of the United States described as follows: Commencing at the intersection of the twenty-seventh meridian of longitude west from Washington with the forty-fifth degree of north latitude, and running thence west to the thirty-fourth meridian of west longitude, thence south to the fortyfirst degree of north latitude, thence east to the twenty-seventh meridian of west longitude, and thence north to the place of beginning, be, and the same is hereby, organized into a temporary government by the name of the Territory of Wyoming. Wyoming was admitted as a State by act of July 10, 1890, with boundaries as above described (see fig. 16), but it was Provided, That nothing in this act contained shall repeal or affect any act of Congress relating to the Yellowstone National Park, or the reservation of the |