The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 104, July 2000 - April, 2001 Page: 11
673 p. : ill. (some col.), maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Redrawing the Southwestern Boundary
find such inaccuracy surprising after taking into account the difficulties
under which the original commission had labored, faced.with the hostil-
ity of the Indians and the lack of sufficient water and supplies in the
desert."9 Nevertheless, the International Commission had no authority
under the 1882 convention to correct the error.
Meanwhile the International Boundary Commission finished the sur-
vey of the meridian, or the north-south line, connecting latitude 31047'
with latitude 31o20' without incident. It then continued the survey west-
ward along the parallel of 31020' which the United States Section com-
pleted in early January 1893. Though the work proceeded smoothly, it
was not entirely without difficulty. As one engineer lamented, "It is too
windy and dusty to do anything but swear."'0
A more serious problem was Blanco's inability to keep pace with the
stronger United States party. While he requested more money and per-
sonnel from the government, he was denied. He therefore decided to
interrupt temporarily the taking of the topography along 31020o' in or-
der to hasten the tracing of the line. Finishing that part of the survey
on May 13, 1893, Blanco compared his results with Barlow's and found
them very close in agreement, but the International Commission dis-
covered another unfortunate error in the survey of 1849-1857. The
original monument marking the intersection of latitude 3102o' with
the 111 th meridian had been placed 4.5 miles too far west of its true
location, resulting in another and much greater loss of territory for
Mexico amounting to an obtuse triangle containing about 290 square
miles. As with the previous error the commission had no authority to
correct it. '
While waiting for Blanco, Barlow had decided to transfer his entire ex-
pedition to Yuma in December and January in order to carry the survey
from the Colorado River. There he organized two parties to push the
survey in both directions from the river to complete the work before the
advent of hot weather. The party working toward the Pacific completed
its work on September 23, 1893, while the survey team carrying the line
to the 111 th meridian did not finish till October 2o. Except for erecting
the monuments, all the field work of the United States Section was fin-
ished.2
2 Manuel Orozco y Berra, Apuntes para la hutora de la geografia en Mixico (Mexico: Imp de
Francisco Diaz de Le6n, 1881), 469-482 (this work contains the memoir of the original Mexi-
can Commission's survey of this section of the boundary); Report of the Boundary Commisszon, pt. i,
pp. 17-18, 40.
IJ T Amos to L. S. Terry, Oct. 25, 1892, File E-444, Box 16, R.G. 76 (NA), Barlow to Foster,
July 15, 1892, File 442, Box 14, ibid.
~ Blanco, Memorma de la secci6n mexwcana, 23-24; Report of the Boundary Commission, pt. 1, pp. 20,
46; Zorrilla, Monumentaca6n de la frontera, 18.
32 Report of the Boundary Commzsszon, pt. 2, pp. 1 1-12.2000
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 104, July 2000 - April, 2001, periodical, 2001; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101221/m1/39/: accessed April 19, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.