Found these yesterday...

I wouldn't even know what to do if I could work in a place as nice as that..

There are many state boundaries that were disputed up to the Supreme Court level. As I recall, this one had one of the longest time spans - almost a hundred years.

I pulled some notes: Darling survey 1868, , Carpenter survey 1902/1903, Kidder survey 1920's for Supreme Court, Kidder never turned in a report, so Thoma finished the paperwork in late 50's and final decree in 1960 (363 US 296).

Scotland, I remember the first time I ever visited Raton was on drive out to Colorado. We drove through the Texas plains for the better part of the day and pulled into Raton well after the sun had gone down. We stayed a little hotel (Sands Inn) in Raton and the next morning we woke up and went outside and were wonderstruck at the view. We had no idea that we had driven into the mountains and for an Arkansas delta boy it was a pretty unbelievable sight. This was probably 20 years ago. I have thought of Raton fondly ever since and hope to make a return visit at some point. Is the Sands Inn still in operation?

Great finds by the way.

Jack

That state line is interesting. Don Teter & I discuss it in our state boundaries workshop. It was put in one location, then moved, then put back in the original location. That's the simple version.

right on....I'm usually squeezing between two chain link fences wrapped in sticker bushes

> ...It was put in one location, then moved, then put back in the original location. That's the simple version.

That's a really good way to put it.

Same thing happened along the OK-KS State Line in the early '90s. I was at ODOT at the tail end of the ruckus. KDOT & ODOT were jointly working on "restoring" the original line, which was in place all along. Someone, in our early days of GPS, had zealously monumented the 37th. parallel, which was hundreds of feet off the original survey in some areas. We did our best to restore the original line. Suprisingly, where there wasn't a county road, most of the stones were still there.

The area I remember was in SW Kansas north of the OK panhandle..I don't think the rattlesnakes and cacti cared which State they were in...;-)

Great photos and some real bull goose corner mounds you found. Nice country.

I think some of the Supreme Court Justices who ordered those corners set in 1925 are still sitting on the bench today.

This was just one of my better days. Normally stuck up in the mountains in the thick of Pine, Ponderosa and oak brush.

> There are many state boundaries that were disputed up to the Supreme Court level. As I recall, this one had one of the longest time spans - almost a hundred years.
>
> I pulled some notes: Darling survey 1868, , Carpenter survey 1902/1903, Kidder survey 1920's for Supreme Court, Kidder never turned in a report, so Thoma finished the paperwork in late 50's and final decree in 1960 (363 US 296).

You are right, the NM/CO line was a real PIA. It is pretty crooked and was suppose to be on the 37° latitude. Of course it is curved and then there is the dispute about the starting point (aka the notch sticking out) and of course the 4 corners being in the wrong spot. I don't even think the notes have been completed for the state line.

When Kidder put the original line back in place, he was supposed to destroy all evidence of the previous line. We actually have found a few of the old monuments over here in the NE Corner. Love the history and SURVEYING!

> Scotland, I remember the first time I ever visited Raton was on drive out to Colorado. We drove through the Texas plains for the better part of the day and pulled into Raton well after the sun had gone down. We stayed a little hotel (Sands Inn) in Raton and the next morning we woke up and went outside and were wonderstruck at the view. We had no idea that we had driven into the mountains and for an Arkansas delta boy it was a pretty unbelievable sight. This was probably 20 years ago. I have thought of Raton fondly ever since and hope to make a return visit at some point. Is the Sands Inn still in operation?
>
> Great finds by the way.
>
> Jack

Most people remember Raton by the Raton Pass and the snow storms that closed it. This location is East of Raton on the Dry Cimarron ( 37° 0'45.73"N, 103°28'1.00"W ) . I've gone hunting in this area and it is just a different view of the great NM landscape. In the picture in the distance you see Sierra Grande and Capulin Volcano.

The Sands is still open.

> Out on the beautiful mesa
>
> AHhhh... Love Surveying!!!!

:gammon:

Would rather find a monument any day than have to set one.

Great scenery. Do you get to use equine for traversing?

Rumor has it that a monument marking the boundary between Georgia and Tennessee was GPS'd and found to be about a mile further north than where it was reported as being. Some idiot is rumored to have removed the monument.

I remember Raton because ....

of the horse track. Took my daughter there (and my wife) when she was 12 or 13 and into riding. Told her I let her pick a bet and I'd place it for her. She was "in the money" 10 out of 11 bets. She and I had a great time. My wife just gave me the look. 🙂

Just looked at Google Maps - looks like the track is kaput! Do you reckon my daughter bankrupted them?

You are right. Goes back to the statement "The boundary line is where is was surveyed and marked." The basis of rules for surveying.

I remember Raton because ....

She probably did. Actually the track closed back in the 80's due to a failing economy amount other things. Recently we were supposed to get a new one, but our great governor at the time screwed us and it never happened. We were small part of the surveying (Developer ended up not paying his bills), but we were smart and kept a low line of credit to him. You can see remains of our work at 36°51'41.30"N, 104°26'2.62"W. Notice it is south and east of the old one you spoke of. New one was supposed to be a full length where the old one was 3/4?.

Very cool!!! Nice markings

I thought that was Capulin. Need to load up the grandkids and take them on the Dry Cimarron route from Kenton to Raton. They would think they had been transported to the back side of the Moon. Very impressive vistas throughout that entire drive including Wedding Cake Mesa and Shipwreck Mesa.

We did some cc and stateline work on Vermejo (when it was Pennzoil not Ted T) way back when they started drilling up there. We had to traverse in the whole township/range to bring section lines up there. I can't remember everything about it, it's been 30 years but I do remember our well was over 10000'el and it snowed on the first week of July...

> We did some cc and stateline work on Vermejo (when it was Pennzoil not Ted T) way back when they started drilling up there. We had to traverse in the whole township/range to bring section lines up there. I can't remember everything about it, it's been 30 years but I do remember our well was over 10000'el and it snowed on the first week of July...

Very interesting. We started working on Vermejo when Ted T bought from Pennzoil. Did the boundary survey. Be interesting to see your township and ranges to ours since the whole ranch is within the Maxwell Land Grant. +1 on 10000 elevations. Did many of those! Now there are over 900 coal bed methane gas wells.