
A Sloppy Land Surveyor Almost Caused a War Between Missouri and Iowa - samclemens
http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/honey-war-missouri-iowa-border
======
georgecmu
I have two favorite missurveyed landmarks:

1\. The Four Corners monument marking the spot where borders of Arizona, New
Mexico, Colorado, and Utah meet. Even after several lawsuits and court
rulings, it's still off by half a kilometer or so.
([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Corners_Monument#Misplace...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Corners_Monument#Misplacement_controversy))

2\. Prime Meridian mark (that goes through the Royal Observatory in Greenwich)
is off by 102.5 m. ([https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!topic/gec-
nature-sc...](https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!topic/gec-nature-
science-moderated/ANkXU1I5pzA))

~~~
goodcanadian
_1\. The Four Corners monument marking the spot where borders of Arizona, New
Mexico, Colorado, and Utah meet. Even after several lawsuits and court
rulings, it 's still off by half a kilometer or so._

Reading the Wikipedia article, it appears that the monument is off from its
originally intended position, but that it has been confirmed by the courts
that the surveyed markers supersede the written descriptions and therefore
define the border. In other words, it makes no sense to say that the four
corners marker is misplaced as it is by definition where the corners meet.

~~~
harlanlewis
Another interesting example of marks and boundaries in the physical world
superseding surveys and agreements is the USA/Canada border west of the great
lakes. While officially the 49th parallel, the border was manifested in the
real world as a series of straight lines between hundreds of monuments. These
were set down without GPS, and at times wound around obstacles, so there's a
fair degree of variability in how close these monuments actually are to 49deg:
[http://www.confluence.org/country.php?id=3#NOTES](http://www.confluence.org/country.php?id=3#NOTES)

The zigzag is actually fairly easy to see on Google maps, because the border
is maintained by both the US and Canada, clear cutting the lines in forested
areas. This highly visible physical boundary is the true national border.

[https://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/11/28/a-not-so-
st...](https://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/11/28/a-not-so-straight-
story/)

------
m0nty
Such carelessness was fairly normal for the time: the surveyors were often
under pressure to complete quickly, even in the worst territory, with poor
equipment and little actual training. On top of that, they were often bribed
to move boundaries one way or the other, or interested themselves in engaging
in land speculation, so were less than honest in their surveys.

Anyone interested in this fascinating history should read Andro Linklater's
_Measuring America_.

~~~
macintux
AtlasObscura has another piece on early American surveying:
[http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/ohio-public-land-
survey](http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/ohio-public-land-survey)

PDF linked from that seems interesting if a bit dry:
[https://www.blm.gov/cadastral/Manual/pdffiles/histrect.pdf](https://www.blm.gov/cadastral/Manual/pdffiles/histrect.pdf)

------
js2
North Carolina and South Carolina just resolved their border as of this year:

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Carolinas#Boundary_between...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Carolinas#Boundary_between_the_states)

The new border goes through the middle of at least one home:

[http://www.wral.com/home-divided-between-nc-sc-after-law-
red...](http://www.wral.com/home-divided-between-nc-sc-after-law-redraws-
border/16397902/)

------
arxpoetica
Boggs is the same who issued the infamous Mormon extermination order.

~~~
polartx
That occurred only months prior to these two militias nearly squaring off.
Seems as though Boggs had a big ego, and bit of a bloodlust

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crymer11
Tennessee and Georgia have been in a somewhat long-running dispute over a
surveying error with their shared border. Georgia seems to be particularly
interested in the water in the Tennessee River, which would flow through GA if
the border were moved. This has led to some humorous moments, e.g. "[i]n 2008,
former Chattanooga Mayor Ron Littlefield sent an aide, who reportedly wore a
coonskin cap, and a city councilman to Atlanta with a truckload of bottled
water during a previous chapter of the dispute."[0]

0 - One of the more recent articles about this hullabaloo:
[http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/local/story/2017/feb/26/f...](http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/local/story/2017/feb/26/floridruling-
could-have-implications-georgia-/414769/)

~~~
LeifCarrotson
Looking at the map:

[https://www.google.com/maps/@34.9499292,-85.5122947,11.71z](https://www.google.com/maps/@34.9499292,-85.5122947,11.71z)

I was initially very impressed at Tennessee's resolve in protecting the water.
Just a few miles later, the river flows into Alabama, where I initially
thought that Tennessee would cease to care about what happens downstream. But
then I looked further and realized it flows back North through central
Tennessee.

What's stopping Alabama from selling the water to Georgia?

------
acheron
Poor geography knowledge did cause a war between Ohio and Michigan:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toledo_War](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toledo_War)

As the joke goes, Ohio won, but they still had to keep Toledo?

------
JoeAltmaier
We in Iowa are happy with the result - we lost a row of counties and Missouri
gained them. Net result: the IQ of both states was improved.

