The boundaries of Colorado

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Reprinted from The University of Colorado Studies, Vol. II, No. 2, July, 1904

THE BOUNDARIES OF COLORADO

By
FREDERIC L. PAXSON, Ph.D.

Boulder, Colorado
July, 1904

THE BOUNDARIES OF COLORADO

By Frederic L. Paxson

The State of Colorado is bounded on the north and south, respect-
ively, by the thirty- seventh and forty-first parallels of north latitude,
and on the east and west by the twenty-fifth and thirty- second meridians
of longitude west from Washington. The territory inclosed by this
rectangle has had a history of remarkable variety and change. It has
at various times, in whole or in part, been subject to the jurisdiction of
the independent countries, France, Spain, Mexico, Texas, and the
United States; and while under the United States it has formed parts of
the territorial governments of Utah and New Mexico, Kansas and
Nebraska, and of the State of Texas. It is the purpose of this article to
trace the external facts in connection with this history of change.^

With the acquisition of Louisiana under the convention of April 30,
1803, the territory of Colorado came for the first time within the jurisdic-
tion of the United States. The boundaries of this vast province beyond
the Mississippi had never been surveyed, and it is doubtful whether at
the time of the transfer they were really known. Certain it is that the
terms of the treaty threw no light upon them, for the First Consul was
not averse to planting seeds of discord between the United States and
Spain. The territory had passed from France to Spain in 1763, from
Spain to France in 1800, and now, **'with the same extent that it now
has,"^ was dehvered by the French Republic to the United States.

The province of Louisiana extended, by all laws of discovery, explo-
ration, and conquest, to the limits of the drainage basin of the Mississippi.^

' The various boundaries within the United States have been described briefly in Builelin of the United
States Geological Survey No. 71, which is a pamphlet by Henry Gannett on the "Boundaries of the United
States." This is a second edition, printed in 1900, of Bulletin No. 13 of 1885. The second edition is fully
illustrated with maps; but these are inacou-ate in a number of instances and must be used with care. As a
whole, the work is extremely useful. All references in this article are to the second edition.

' Treaties and Conventions Concluded between the United States of America and Other Powers, p. 331.

3 Hermann, The Louisiana Purchase (Washington, 1898), contains an excellent map showing the relations
of Colorado to I^uisiana and Texas.

87

88 UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO STUDIES

Its boundary on the west, had it ever been described, must have followed
the summit of the Rocky Mountains from the vicinity of the forty-ninth
parallel to the headwaters of the Arkansas River. It is not impossible
that the hne should have extended even farther south, to the source of
the Rio Grande.' But, whichever river be accepted as the southern
limit of Louisiana, it is certain that by the purchase of this province the
eastern half of Colorado became the property of the United States.

By an act of March 26, 1804, Congress provided its first government
for the new lands. ^ So much of Louisiana as lay south of the thirty-
third parallel became the territory of Orleans, while the remaining por-
tion of the purchase was appended to the territory of Indiana with the
name of district of Louisiana.^ It was not until March 3, 1805, that
Congress gave an independent territorial organization to this district,
under the same name."*

When the territory of Orleans was admitted to the union in 181 2, it
received for its name Louisiana, ^ and the territory to the north, thus
deprived of its name, was called Missouri by the act of June 4, 1812.^
For a period of seven years this new territory of Missouri stretched from
the Mississippi indefinitely to the west. Spain was in no hurry to define
the boundaries between her American possessions and those of the
United States, and it was not until 181 5 that the United States was ready
to receive a minister from His Cathohc Majesty. The first minister
sent by Ferdinand VII after his restoration to the throne of Spain in
181 5 was Don Luis De Onis, who entered upon the threefold task of
protesting against American intervention in the Floridas, of withstand-
ing the American sympathies for Spain's revolted colonies, and of drawing
a hne between the respective American territories of Spain and the
United States.'

The three tasks of De Onis were almost inextricably entangled, and

» Hermann, 48, takes this view; and Henry Adams, History of the United States, II, 5, shows that France
believed this to be the case.

' Poore, Charters and Constitutions, I, 691; Henry Adams, II, 125.

3 McMaster, History of the People of the United States, III, 23.

♦ Poore, 1, 607.

s Act of April 8, 1812, Henry Adams, VI, 235; McMaster, IH, 375.

6 Poore, n, 1097; McMaster, V, 570.

» Pazson, Independence of the South American Republics, p. 114.

THE BOUNDARIES OF COLORADO 89

it was only after long and patient negotiations with John Quincy Adams,
Secretary of State, that a conclusion was reached.' While even then
the fears of Spain respecting South America were not satisfied. By the
treaty of February 22, 181 9, Spain, for a consideration, ceded the
Floridas to the United States, and a compromise boundary between
Louisiana and Mexico was agreed upon. The Louisiana enabhng act
of February 20, 181 1,"* had fixed for the western boundary of the State^
the Sabine River up to the thirty-second parallel, and thence due north to
the thirty-third parallel. The new treaty started the western boundary
of the United States at the same point.^ Beginning at the mouth of the
Sabine River, it followed the western bank of the same to the thirty-second
parallel of north latitude; from this point it ran due north to Red River,
and followed the course of the river westward to the one hundredth
meridian west of London; thence it went due north again to the southern
bank of the Arkansas River, followed this bank to the source of the
river "in latitude 42 north," and thence ran westward along the forty-
second parallel to the Pacific. For the first time a boundary of the
United States had been drawn through Colorado.

The territory of Missouri, erected in 181 2, lasted until the act of
March 6, 1820, to enable the people of Missouri to form a state govern-
ment, reduced its boundaries to those of the present State of Missouri
without the '^ triangle. ""^ The western lands were thus deprived of terri-
torial organization, coming so far as they had government at all undei
the miUtary rule of the United States army on the frontier. Until the
acts of 1850 and 1854, dividing the western lands among Utah, New
Mexico, Kansas, and Nebraska, Colorado had no territorial government.

But before 1850 the territory of Colorado was twice extended in its
dimensions. By the Spanish treaty its boundaries on west and south
were the Arkansas River and the meridian of its source. By the admis-

' Morse, John Quincy Adams, pp. in-117; McMaster, IV, 474-83.
' Poore, I, 600; Gannett, no.

3 Treaties and Conveniions, p. 1017. After the independence of Mexico had been gained, a treaty was
entered into by the United States and Mexico, January 12, 1828, confirming this boundary. — Ibid., 661. The
Republic of Texas, by a convention of April 25, 1838, accepted this line and arranged for a joint survey com-
mission with the United States. — Ibid., 1070.

♦ Poore, II, 1102. The State of Missouri was admitted by proclamation, August 10, 1821. — Richardson
II. 96.

90 UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO STUDIES

sion of Texas to the union on December 29, 1845,' the territory between
this line and that new Hne of the Rio Grande and the. meridian of its
source, which Texas claimed as her western boundary, was added to
Colorado, while by the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo,^ February 2, 1848,
the remaining portion of the territory embraced in Colorado was acquired
by the United States.

The division of the territory conquered during the Mexican war and
ceded to the United States at its close led to bitter controversy in Congress,
between the representatives of the slave-holding and the anti-slavery
interests. And the dispute was ended only by the comprehensive meas-
ure of Henry Clay, that has come to be known as the Compromise of
1850. By this settlement, the territory gained from Mexico, including
certain territory lying east of the Rio Grande and claimed by Texas, was
cut into the two new territories of Utah and New Mexico. And between
these territories so much of Colorado as lay south of the treaty line of
181 9 was divided.^

The act creating the territory of Utah is dated September 9, 1850.
The boundaries of this territory, which alone of the new lands had any
considerable amount of white population, were the thirty-seventh and
forty-second parallels, the eastern boundary of California, and the
summit of the Rocky Mountains.^ All of Colorado west of the Rocky
Mountains lay within the territory of Utah.

The New Mexico act was a part of the general compromise scheme
and was passed on December 13, 1850.^ The greater portion of the

I H. H. Bancroft, Works, XVI, 383; Gannett, 24, iii. This Texan boundary was based on the secret
treaties of Santa Anna and various resolutions of the Texan congress. Although the title of Texas to this
land was not vidid as against Mexico, it has alw^ays been considered good as against the United States. —
Bancroft, X.VI, 270, 399; XVII, 454.

_S^reaiies and Conventions, p. 681.

3 This statement is not Uterally accxirate. That portion of Colorado east of the one hundred and third
meridian and north of the thirty-eighth parallel was left without a government. In 1854 a jxjrtion of this
became a part of Kansas territory.

♦ Poore, II, 1236-, Bancroft, XVII, 458; XX\T, 453. 454". Gannett, 131.

s Gannett, 131. Utah extended to the summit of the Rocky Mountains on the east, and the western
boundary of the New Mexico "panhandle" was the simimit of the Sierra Madre mountains. If we are to
understand by "Rocky Mountains," as we must in this case, the Continental Divide, and by "Sierra Madre*
the Front Range, it is evident that between Utah and New Mexico lay a strip of territory bounded on its other
sides by the thirty-seventh and thirty-eighth parallels. This piece of land was too far west to be in the old
Missouri territory, and hence never came imder territorial government tmtil the passage of the Colorado Act in
1861. But in 1850 the territory had not been accurately surveyed, and it is not likely that Congress realized
that it was lea\-ing this fragment of uninhabited waste without a government. The name Sierra Madre is no
longer apphed to the Front Range. For a good case of the old usage see William Gilpin, Mission of the North
American People (second edition, Philadelphia, 1874), p. 16.

THE BOUNDARIES OF COLORADO 9 1

northern boundary of the territory was the southern boundary of Utah,
the thirty-seventh parallel. But in the north-east corner of New Mexico
was a "pan-handle " extending into the present limits of Colorado. The
one hundred and third meridian, which was the eastern boundary of
New Mexico, extended north to the thirty-eighth parallel; the hne ran
west along this parallel to the summit of the Sierra Madre mountains,
and south along the mountains to the thirty-seventh parallel. Thus so
much of Colorado as lay between the thirty-seventh and thirty-eighth
parallels, the one hundred and third meridian, and the Sierra Madre
was part of New Mexico.

That portion of Colorado, bounded on the west by the Rocky Moun-
tains and on the south by New Mexico had been without any government
since the passage of the Missouri enabling act, when the Kansas-Nebraska
measures were taken up in 1854. Here, as in the measures of 1850, the
struggle between the slave and free States dictated the terms of the
territorial division. By the final agreement, in the act of May 30, 1854,
the territory between Missouri and the Rocky Mountains was divided
between two territorial governments. A southern strip,' lying between
the thirty-seventh and fortieth parallels, and bounded on the west by the
Rocky Mountains and the New Mexico *' pan-handle," became the
territory of Kansas. What was left of the undivided territory north of
the fortieth parallel and east of the Rockies'' was estabhshed under the
territorial government of Nebraska. And now, for the first time, the
whole area of Colorado was covered by territorial governments, by
Utah, New Mexico, Kansas, and Nebraska.

The settlement of the western States moved forward with great
thoroughness until Kansas and Nebraska were reached. Until this
time the wave of population had covered the ground evenly, and had
not advanced in one direction much more rapidly than in another. But
the discovery of gold in Cherry Creek, on the no^h fork of the Platte,
transformed this even movement, and brought about a rush of settlers

' Poore, I, 574-, Rhodes, History of the United States, I, 439, has failed to notice this irregularity
in the southwest corner of Kansas; Gannett, 125. The map in Gannett, facing p. 122, gives the incorrect
impression that Kansas extended to 36° 30' on the south, and on the west only to the Arkansas River and the
hundredth meridian; while his map facing p. 126 corrects the former blunder and repeats the latter.

» Poore, I, 569; Gannett, 126.

92 UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO STUDIES

into the gold diggings before actual government had been established
there and long before the frontier had reached the Rockies. From this
sudden emigration in 1858 came the settlement of Colorado.

The earliest suggestion of a new State to be erected at .Cherry Creek,
where Denver now stands, came in the autumn of 1858, two weeks after
the first miners reached Auraria and when there were hardly two hundred
settlers in the whole district. Distance from the seat of territorial gov-
ernment, absence of courts, and the lawless character of much of the
mining population made some sort of local organization necessary in
the gold camp. And the suggestion of 1858 developed in 1859 into the
spontaneous territory of Jefferson. At a preHminary convention held in
Denver on April 15, 1859,^ it was determined to erect an independent
government there, and the boundaries within which the new State was
to claim jurisdiction were the thirty-seventh and forty-third parallels,
and the one hundred and second and one hundred and tenth meridians.
The movement for statehood failed, but the constitution of the "terri-
tory" of Jefferson which was adopted by the people on October 10, 1859,
claimed those boundaries.*

The "territory" of Jefferson thus constituted lived a precarious
existence for almost two years. At no time, however, was its control of
the situation in the Arkansas and Platte Valleys complete. It was
admittedly an illegitimate organization, existing without federal authority,
and in defiance of the laws of Kansas and Nebraska. Its only justifica-
tion was the need for a government and the absence of any effective
authority; and this excuse became better after Kansas had been admitted
as a State with boundaries excluding the gold country.

Most of the southern boundary of Colorado was defined in the Utah
and New Mexico acts of 1850. The eastern boundary was first drawn
by the act of January 29, 1861, under which Kansas was admitted. And
this act accepted the boundary provision of the Wyandotte constitution.
Through three constitutional conventions, at Topeka,^ Lecompton,^ and

' The first number of the Rocky Mountain News, Ajail 23, 1859, contains the account of the steps in the
formation of a State constitution. Compare also J. C. Smiley, History of Denver, p. 309, and his map on p. 310.

'Rocky Mountain News, October 20, 1859-, Hollister, Tlie Mines of Colorado, 92; Bancroft, XXV, 406;
Smiley, 314; Hall, History of Colorado, I, 211.

3 Poore, I, 580. 4 Poore, I, 599.

THE BOUNDARIES OF COLORADO 93

Mineola,' the boundaries claimed for the State of Kansas were those of
the territory, extending westward to the mountains and New Mexico.
But the Wyandotte constitution^ substituted for this the twenty-fifth
meridian of longitude, west from Washington, and the Kansas act
accepted this statement of the case.^ Colorado was for the second time
deprived of even the form of a territorial government.

When Kansas was admitted, the flimsy government of the "terri-
tory" of Jefferson had nearly run its course. For two sessions that
government had conducted a legislature, and its governor had used
every effort to make his administration effective. But the men in the
mining camps had evaded the jurisdiction of the "territory," and the
support of the Denver inhabitants had never been enthusiastic. When
the Kansas act cut off Colorado, there was already before Congress
and near to completion a bill that was to bring peace and termination
to the "territorial" government.

A bill to erect a new territory west of Kansas and Nebraska, out of
lands taken from those territories and New Mexico and Utah, had
appeared in Congress in the session of 1859-60. But other and stronger
interests had prevented the passage of the act at this time and had deliv-
ered the work over to the next session. In 1860-61 the act was taken up
again and passed.

The Colorado territorial act became a law on February 28, 1 861.4
It accepted as the southern boundary of the territory the thirty-seventh
parallel, which had already been drawn between Utah and New Mexico
as far east as the Sierra Madre mountains. For the eastern boundary it
made use of the western boundary of Kansas, the twenty-fifth meridian
from Washington, and continued it north to the forty-first parallel
which became the northern boundary of Colorado. On the west Utah
was pushed back from the Rockies to the thirty-second meridian to make
way for the western half of the new territory. The extravagant claims

» Poore, I, 614. » Poore, I, 630. 3 Gannett, 125.

«Poore, I, 212; Gannett, 130; Bancroft, XXV, 413; Hall, I, 262; Blaine, Twenty Years of Congress^
I, 270. It should be noticed that no jwrtion of Kansas was given to Colorado, as the western end of the
former territory was cut off before Colorado was created. And the Wyandotte constitution under which Kansas
was admitted, and which first fixed the twenty-fifth meridian as its western boimdary, was framed in the stunmer
of 1859 before the idea of a new territory for Colorado had developed in Congress. Cf. Gannett, 125.

94 UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO STUDIES

of the "territory" of Jefferson to the forty- third parallel and the one
hundred and tenth meridian were calmly disregarded. <

The territory of Colorado existed under those boundaries throughout
its history. When it framed a constitution and became a State in 1876,
it still retained them.

1 Gaylord

Bros. 1

Makers J

Syracuse,

N. Y.

PAT. JAN. 21

,1908