Greer County, 1888

This map of Greer County, located between the north and south forks of the Red River and encompassing over 1.6 million acres, was drafted two years after its organization in 1886. Unlike most other county maps in the GLO collection, this map does not show individual land grants. Instead, half of the county was appropriated for public school funding and the other half for payment of the state’s debt, as depicted by the alternating grid pattern.[1] Another notable feature of this map is that it depicts a Texas county that no longer exists, and, technically, never did. Here’s the abbreviated story of Greer County, Texas — now a part of Oklahoma.

Charles P. Scrivener, Greer County, Austin: Texas General Land Office, 1888, Map #4709, Map Collection, Archives and Records Program, Texas General Land Office, Austin, TX.

Compiled by GLO draftsman Charles Scrivener in 1888, this was the last map of Greer County produced by the Land Office. The locations of several post offices are shown on the map, mostly along the county’s boundaries, and geographical features are noted. Straddling the western boundary between Greer and Childress counties, there is a notation for an “Initial monument as established by United States Engineers.” This marker was placed during the joint boundary commission surveys conducted between 1872–75.[2] At the time of the map’s completion, the county was home to an estimated five thousand residents and over sixty thousand head of cattle.[3] The value of this land to both Texas and the United States for settlement and agriculture resulted in a legal dispute that lasted for over fifty years and significantly involved the GLO and several land commissioners.

[left] The county follows a checkerboard pattern, as sections were set aside for funding public schools and paying the state’s debt. Here the Quartz City Post Office is shown, as well as natural features including Baptist Peak, Walsh Mountain, and a grove of Post Oaks. [right] A monument was placed by United States engineers as part of a joint boundary commission surveys conducted between 1872–75.

The legal dispute arose from inaccuracies on John Melish’s 1818 map of North America, on which a provision of the Adams-Onís Treaty between the United States and Mexico was based. While Melish’s map was widely considered to be the foundational visual representation of the treaty, it was not completely accurate, failing to include the as yet unknown southern fork of the river.[4] The crux of the debate revolved around the true location of the 100th meridian and whether the southern or northern fork of the Red River represented the legal boundary between Texas and Indian Territory. The decades-long debate left in limbo many ranchers, settlers, and revolutionary veterans hoping to locate land certificates, as well as American Indian groups whose land would fall under the jurisdiction of Indian Territory.

A barbed-wire fence owned by the Day Land and Cattle Company encompasses the entirety of the county’s northwestern portion, denoting the 203,000 acres leased by the company for grazing land.[6] Another fence line owned by the T.E. Ranch completes the county’s bisection. These barbed wire fences represent a victory for ranchers in the fence-cutting wars of the early 1880s, but also the establishment of limits on the formerly widespread free range and changes in the overall methods of raising livestock in Texas.[7]

On March 16, 1896, the U.S. Supreme Court decided in favor of the United States, based on the actual location of the 100th meridian and the opinion that Melish’s map, while essential at the time of the initial treaty, was a representation of the area in question rather than a definite geographical authority, and that it was intended to be improved and corrected as needed.[5] The court directed that Congress make provisions — most likely in the form of monetary compensation — for settlers in Greer County who had established themselves in good faith as Texas residents. When settling the case, the Supreme Court used maps of Texas produced by the General Land Office as proof that Greer County was not part of the state, as it didn’t claim official ownership of the territory until 1860 when it was first incorporated as a county.

A manuscript notation added under the title block indicates that Greer County was awarded to the United States by decree of the U.S. Supreme Court.

This map captures a single moment in the protracted boundary dispute between Texas and the United States. It also represents the value of accurate surveying and the importance of clarity in determining the terms of treaties concerning public land.

Oklahoma’s gain came at the expense of Texas, as well as the residents that would now have to claim Oklahoma as their home instead of the Lone Star State.

[1] Berlin B. Chapman, “The Claim of Texas to Greer County (I)” The Southwestern Historical Quarterly 53, no. 1 (1949): 19–34. Accessed April 10, 2020. www.jstor.org/stable/30240686, pg. 26.

[2] Chapman (I), 25.

[3] Chapman (I), 32–33.

[4] John Melish, J. Vallance, and Henry Schenck Tanner. Map of the United States of America: with the contiguous British and Spanish possessions. [Philadelphia: J. Melish, 1819] Map. https://www.loc.gov/item/96686680/.

[5] Gordon L. Weil, ed., “United States Supreme Court: Original Jurisdiction Cases and Materials,” Google Books (Google), accessed April 18, 2020. https://books.google.com/books?id=vCvCDAAAQBAJ, I-428.

[6] Handbook of Texas Online, “DAY LAND AND CATTLE COMPANY,” accessed April 09, 2020, http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/azdhg. Uploaded on June 12, 2010. Published by the Texas State Historical Association.

[7] Handbook of Texas Online, Wayne Gard, “FENCE CUTTING,” accessed April 13, 2020, http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/auf01. Uploaded on June 12, 2010. Modified on September 27, 2019. Published by the Texas State Historical Association.