Texas Society of Professional Surveyors Presents • HOW TEXAS GOT ITS SHAPE A Historical Retrospective • The Texas General Land Office Overview-History-Procedure • Selected Case Law Developed by: Michael Hoover, RPLS, LSLS David Klotz, RPLS, LSLS Contributors: Chester Varner, RPLS Craig Alderman, RPLS Joe Breaux, RPLS Paul Carey, RPLS, LSLS Logistics Be sure to sign-in At the end of the course you will be given a certificate for CEU’s We will have scheduled breaks Please silence your Cell Phone at this time Location of Restrooms How to Exit in case of Emergency Activity 1 Who’s Here & Why? Name, City/Chapter Company, Position How many Texas State lines have you crossed? What do you expect to take away from this course? Course Goal / Objectives Explore the origin and unique characteristics of, and within, the boundaries of Texas Discuss the disposition of Lands and the role of the General Land Office Outline and discuss selected Texas Boundary Case Law Course Agenda ORIGINS Insert graphic that represents course theme. HISTORY DEVELOPMENT Chapter 1 How we got here … ORIGINS HISTORY DEVELOPMENT Claude Bernou Carte de lAmerique Septentrionale, Circa 1681 • Maps northern part and southern parts of America, from the mouth of the Saint Laurent River to the Island of Cayenne, with new discoveries of the Mississippi (or Colbert) River. • Map illustrates the expeditions of Father Marquette and L. Jolliet (1673) and the Cavelier de la Salle expedition in the Mississippi valley. • Shows three forts built between 1679 and 1680: • Conty fort (near Niagara Falls), • Miamis Fort (south of Michigan lake), and • Crèvecœur Fort (Left bank of the Illinois River). • Mississippi river course is only shown upstream of Ohio confluence. TERRES INCONNUES:TERRITORY UNKNOWN… Texas Under France 1685-1690 • 1685- France plants its flag • Eastern Texas near the Gulf Coast. • Most of Texas had no Spanish presence • Nearest Spanish settlements hundreds of miles distant. • Rene Robert Cavelier, Sieur de la Salle founded a colony called Fort St. Louis • Effort doomed by a series of calamities: shipwreck, disease, famine, hostile Indians, and internal strife • La Salle murder by one of his own company. • France's claim evaporated by 1690 • The French flag Texas Under Spain 1519-1685; 1690-1821 • 1519- First to claim Texas • Cortez • Pineda maps coastline • Explorers: Nunez, Cabeza de Vaca, Coronado • 1681: First Spanish Settlement • Ysleta Mission near present day El Paso • Gradual expansion from Mexico • Missions, Forts, Civil Settlements • Mexico throws off European rule in 1821 • 1785 Spanish Flag Texas Under Mexico 1821-1836 • Pioneers from Hispanic south and Anglo north flow into Texas • Frontier region for both • Divergent social and political attitudes alienate two cultures • The Final Straw: Santa Anna scraps the Mexican Federal Constitution and declares himself dictator • Texas wins independence at Battle of San Jacinto April 21, 1836 • The Mexican National Flag Texas the Republic 1836-1845 • Ten years of independence • Epidemics • Financial crises • Volatile clashes with Mexico • Texas Heritage • Birthplace of American Cowboy • Texas Rangers first to use Colt Six-shooters • Sam Houston American ideal of individualism • Texas joins the United States on December 29, 1845 • Texas flag is the same flag adopted by the Republic in 1839 Texas in the Confederacy 1861-1865 • The Civil War • General Sam Houston urges Texans to stay aloof or re-establish a neutral Republic – driven from office • Texas secedes • Devastation and economic collapse • Two events • Texas troops on Texas soil win final battle of Civil War • Great cattle trail drives • The first Confederate flag flown in Texas Texas in the USA 1865-present • Determined Self-Reliance • Shrugging aside defeat and bitter reconstruction • The Texas Longhorn – providing beef for a growing nation • Vast farm acreage • The 20th Century • The discovery of oil – Spindletop near Beaumont • Texas Industry and advanced technology Extreme Events An Amazing 50 Years! • 1803 Louisiana Purchase • Neutral Ground Agreement – Arroyo Hondo and the Sabine • 1819 Adams Onis Treaty • 1836 Battle of San Jacinto – Republic of Texas • 1836 The Public and Secret Treaties of Velasco • 1845 Annexation of Texas into the United States • 1846-1848 Mexican-American War • 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo • 1850 Compromise of 1850 • 1853 Gadsden Purchase Louisiana Purchase 1803 • France controlled Louisiana territory from 1699 to 1762 • Spain acquired from France in 1762, controlled it until 1800, when Napoleon Bonaparte took it back in the hope of building an empire in North America • New Orleans was the centerpiece – it controlled access to the Mississippi River! • The U.S. purchased in 1803, paying $15 m ($.03 per acre) ($230 in 2012 dollars, $.42 per acre) for about 828,000 square miles (529,920,000 acres) • Effectively doubled the size of the U.S., encompassing all or part of 15 present U.S. states and two Canadian provinces • Boundaries were vague, no survey was made • U.S. claimed the entire western portion of the Mississippi River drainage basin to the crest of the Rocky Mountains and extending southeast to the Rio Grande & west Florida Louisiana Purchase 1803 Louisiana Purchase 1803 • Spain insisted Louisiana comprised only the western bank of the Mississippi and the cities of New Orleans and St. Louis • Jefferson commissioned 3 expeditions to explore and map the acquisition: • Lewis and Clark (1804) traveled up the Missouri River; • Thomas Freeman & Peter Custis (1806) explored the Red River Basin; • Zebulon Pike (1806) followed the Missouri to the north, then turned south to the Arkansas River watershed • Domestic opposition –federalists considered the purchase unconstitutional • Jefferson hung his hat on the Presidents authority to negotiate treaties – both houses of Congress quickly ratified the treaty • The purchase is considered one of Jefferson’s greatest contributions to the U.S. Lewis & Clark 1804-1806 Red River of the South Map of the Red River Expedition 1806 Zebulon Pike’s Expedition 1806-1807 Neutral Ground Agreement 1806 25 Neutral Ground Agreement 1806 • After the Louisiana Purchase the United States and Spain were unable to agree on the boundary between Louisiana and Texas • Military Commanders entered into an agreement in 1806 • Disputed territory called the “Neutral Ground” • Arroyo Hondo on the east • Sabine River on the West • Ownership went to the United States by the Adams-Onis Treaty in 1821 Neutral Ground Agreement 1806 Adams-Onis Treaty 1819 • Also known as the Transcontinental Treaty or the Florida Treaty • Ceded Florida to the US, set out a boundary between US and Mexico • Negotiated by John Quincy Adams, the Secretary of State under U.S. President James Monroe and Spanish Foreign Minister Luis de Onis • Defined Borders: • Sabine River to the north from the Gulf of Mexico to the 32nd Parallel north, then due north to the Red River, then west along the Red River to the 100th Meridian west, then due north to the Arkansas River, then west to its headwaters, then north to the 42nd parallel north, then westerly along the 42nd parallel to the Pacific Ocean. • Solved the Neutral Ground Agreement • Ratified by Spain in 1820 and the U.S. in 1821 (during the time of the Mexican struggle for independence from Spain) Area in Dispute 1816-1819 Adams-Onis Treaty 1819 Adams-Onis Treaty 1819 • After independence from Spain, Mexico ratified the treaty by agreeing to the 1828 Treaty of Limits with the U.S. • Controversy developed over the eastern boundary of Texas in connection with the mis-location on maps of the Sabine and Neches Rivers. As a result the eastern boundary of Texas was not settled until 1836. Finally agreed upon by the U.S. and Mexico in the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848. • The “Melish Map” of 1818 was used extensively in the negotiations and showed the 100th Meridian to be about 90 miles east of it’s true location. This resulted in a dispute after Texas joined the Union • In 1860 Texas organized this area as Greer County. It was not settled until a U. S. Supreme Court Ruling in 1896 upheld Federal claims to the territory and after which it was added to the Oklahoma territory. The Eagle Map 1833 The Melish Map 1818 • John Melish (1771-1822) – Scottish merchant, traveler, author and biographer • Author: A Geographical Description of the World, Intended as an Accompaniment to the Map of the World on Mercator's Projection (1818). • Map utilized in the Adams-Onis Treaty • The 100th meridian as shown on the map was specified as the boundary between the U.S. and Spain but was marked some 90 miles east of the true 100th meridian, and the Red River forked about 50 miles east of the 100th meridian. Texas claimed the land south of the North Fork, and the United States claimed the land north of the South Fork The Melish Map 1823 Greer County The Northeast Corner of Texas • Land claimed by both Texas and the United States • After the Adams-Onis Treaty of 1819 it was determined that the Melish Map (which as used in the treaty) was in error. It had the 100th Meridian crossing the Red River at almost the 99th meridian, nearly 90 miles east of its actual location • United States vs. State of Texas – 1896 • Old Greer County divided into Greer, Jackson an part of Beckham counties in the State of Oklahoma Greer County The Northeast Corner of Texas Battle of San Jacinto 1836 • Concluding event of the Texas Revolution • General Sam Houston led the Texans • General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna led the Mexicans • The battle lasted about 18 minutes • Santa Anna captured and coerced into signing the Treaties of Velasco • Measured by its results, San Jacinto was one of the decisive battles of the western world. The freedom of Texas from Mexico won here led to annexation and to the Mexican War, resulting in the acquisition by the United States of the states of Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, California, Utah, and parts of Colorado, Wyoming, Kansas, and Oklahoma.