A History of Lipscomb County Page: 11
676 p. : ill., maps, ports. ; 28 cm.View a full description of this book.
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The History of the North-East Corner of Texas
Spain claimed the high plains and what is today
the Panhandle of Texas for three centuries. Then
in the year 1819, after the Louisiana Purchase by
the United States, a treaty between Spain and our
federal government established the boundaries
between the two nations. This treaty defined the
boundary between Louisiana Territory and Mexico
as being on the Sabine River and north to the Red
River (near today's Texarkana), thence west up the
Red River to the 100 meridian as defined by the
Mellish map of 1818, thence north along the 100
meridian to the Arkansas River, and thence west
along the Arkansas ...
But the Mellish map was in error and had the
100 meridian crossing the Red River a few miles
east of the confluence of the North Fork and the
Prairie Dog Town Fork of the Red River. This location
was almost at the 99 meridian.
This treaty was ratified by the United States
and Mexico in 1828 and by the United States and
Texas in 1838.
When Texas won its independence from Mexico,
it claimed all the land that is within the confines of
Texas today, plus that land lying north of the 36
30' parallel to the Arkansas River, and all lands
west to the Rio Grande River and north into southeastern
Wyoming.
When Texas asked to be admitted to the Union, a
controversy arose in Congress because the Missouri
Compromise of 1820 had declared that all the states
south of the 36 30' parallel should be slave and all
north of this line free states. So when Texas joined
the Union as a slave state, it ceded its rights to all
its territory north of the 36 30' parallel to the
Union and received ten million dollars by an act of
Congress in 1850. This established the intersection
of the 100 meridian longitude and the 36 30' parallel
of latitude as the northeast corner of Texas on
the books - but not on the ground.
Kansas became a territory in 1854 and a free
state in 1861. Kansas claimed the 37 parallel as its
southern boundary and this left one-half degree or
30 minutes between Kansas and Texas that was
not claimed by either state nor was it included in
the Indian Territory east of the 100 meridian. This
became known as No-Man's-Land, a strip of land
approximately 150 miles long and 37 miles wide.
In 1855 the Union promised some land lying east
of the 100 meridian between the 36 30' parallel
and the Red River to some Indian tribes and the
Commissioner of the Indian Affairs hired A. H.
Jones and H. M. C. Brown to survey and establish
the 100 meridian on the ground and erect appropriate
markers. These two surveyors completed
their work in 1859.John H. Clark retraced this line in 1860 and it
came to be called the Jones, Brown, Clark line.1
He called the monument at the intersection of
parallel 36 30' and the 100 meridian "a mound of
earth, that falls in a drain of a ridge, but not in a
position that is likely to wash away."
It could not be found later but may have been in
evidence in 1897 when W. D. Twitchell located the
northeast and northwest corners of Lipscomb
County and erected the large stone monument that
is still in place in the Northeast Corner. (It is 45.75
chains north of J. H. Dinkins corner of Section One,
Block 10.) This corner was also used by Chaney and
Smith in 1881 as the east end of the Cimarron Base
Line when they surveyed No-Man's-Land.
Later this stone was broken down and used as a
plow weight. In 1968 the Lipscomb County Historical
Survey Committee restored the stone to its
original place, cemented the area around the stone,
and enclosed this historic marker with links of the
old court house fence.
J. H. Dinkins, surveyor for the Houston Tap and
Brazoria Railroad Company, retraced the Jones,
Brown, Clark 100th meridian line in 1873 and set
his 132 mile post north of the Red River on the
northeast corner of Section One, Block 10, when he
surveyed Block 10.
1The northern boundary line between Texas and Oklahoma was
established by John H. Clark, U.S. Commissioner, in 1860, under
the act of June 15, 1858 (11 Slat. 310) and was confirmed by the
act of Congress dated March 3, 1891 (laws of Texas 1891, F. 193).
This line extends along the parallel of 36 30' north latitude
from the 100 to the 103 meridian.
Darling surveyed a new 100th meridian in 187273
which was 962.9 feet east of the Jones, Brown,
Clark, Chaney and Smith, and Twitchell marker.
The U.S. Supreme Court in 1896 handed down a
decree that the intersection of the 100 meridian
and the Red River was meant to be on the Prairie
Dog Town Fork of the Red River and that the Mellish
map was in error. They did not designate the
location on the ground. The Court ruled that Greer
County was in Oklahoma Territory. In our part of
the Panhandle of Texas, the 100 meridian has
always been recognized as a line running close to
Dodge City, Kansas, and Higgins, Texas.
In the year 1901, the Secretary of the Interior,
pursuant to an act of Congress, directed Arthur D.
Kidder, Examiner of Surveys, to establish on the
ground the intersection of the true 100th meridian
and the south bank of the Red River.
At the intersection of the 36 30' parallel and the
100th meridian, Kidder's line is 1755.6 feet east of
the Jones, Brown, Clark 100th meridian line. Bills11
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Lipscomb County Historical Survey Committee. A History of Lipscomb County, book, Date Unknown; Lipscomb, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth46830/m1/15/: accessed April 25, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; .