The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 17, July 1913 - April, 1914 Page: 7
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The Louisiana-.Texas Frontier
region and had fixed as its starting point the mouth of that river,
which, he naively adds, "disembogues itself into the bay of St.
Bernard." Those engaged in running this line had proceeded up
the Sabine to a small fort, where they buried some leaden plates in
the ground. From this point they carried the line in an uncertain
direction until it intersected "a small stream called Bayou Pierre,"
about five leagues northwest of Natchitoches, where they ceased
work.3
Clark approached the boundary question from the other side of
the continent, taking as his starting point the limit fixed on the
Northwest Coast by the Nootka Sound Convention between Spain
and Great Britain. From the uncertain point where Spanish
California and New Albion met, there was nothing to define the
western boundary of Louisiana, until one reached the "Bayou des
Lauriers" [Arroyo Hondo]. At the spot where the road from
Natchitoches to Nacogdoches crossed the creek, "about two leagues
to the S. W. by S. of Natchitoches on the River Rouge," and five
leagues from "Adais," the respective jurisdictions of France and
of Spain had been marked by leaden plates bearing the royal arms
of each, affixed to convenient trees on each side of the road. From
this point there was no indication of the direction which the line
took, but similar plates were reported to have been fixed at
the Yatasse settlement among the Nandaco Indians, about fifty
leagues northwest of Natchitoches. Below the "Bayou des Lau-
riers" the boundary line was never established, because the French
were not willing to allow the Spanish claim that it should run due
south and strike the sea near the mouth of the "Carcasou" [Cal-
casieu]. But for this, he adds, "they [the Spaniards] have no
authority and would, I believe, willingly compound to make the
Sabinas the frontier.4
Dunbar supports Clark's statement regarding the "Bayou des
Lauriers" by quoting a letter from a friend, evidently Don Jos6
Claiborne may have been speaking of a garbled version of the Repre-
sentacion, summarized in THE QUARTERLY, X, 24-26.
'This interpretation should be compared with the document enclosed in
Salcedo's letter to Godoy, December 13, 1803. This is to be found among
the Spanish Transcripts of the Mississippi State Department of Archives
and History and is listed by J. A. Robertson in his List of Documents in
Spanish Archives, as No. 4934. See also MSS. Provincias Internas, Vol.
201, Archivo General, Mexico, Translacion de una Noticia sobre kle Limites
entre Nacogdoches y la Louisiana, Bexar, April 24, 1809.
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 17, July 1913 - April, 1914, periodical, 1914; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101061/m1/11/: accessed April 24, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.