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river Sabine, thence by a line drawn along the middle of said river, including all islands to the 32d degree of latitude; thence due north to the northernmost part of the 33d degree of north latitude; thence along the said parallel of latitude to the Mississippi river; thence down the said river to the river Iberville, and from thence along the middle of said river and Lakes Maurepas and Pontchartrain to the Gulf of Mexico; thence bounded by said gulf to the place of beginning, including all islands within three leagues of the coast,' etc.

"2d. That according to the foregoing description, the eastern boundary of the State of Louisiana was formed by the Mississippi river, beginning at the northeast corner of said State and extending south to the junction of the said river, with the river Iberville (now known as Bayou Manchac) and thence extending eastwardly through the lower end of the Amite river, through the middle of Lake Maurepas, Pass Manchac, and Lake Pontchartrain, and in order to reach the Gulf of Mexico its only course was through the Rigolets, into Lake Borgne, and thence by the deep water channel through the upper corner of Lake Borgne, following said channel, north of Half Moon Island, through Mississippi Sound to the north of Isle à Pitre, through the Cat Island channel, southwest of Cat Island, into the Gulf of Mexico, which said eastern boundary of the State of Louisiana is more fully shown on diagram No. 1, made part of this bill;

"3d. That by the act of Congress, found in the United States Statutes at Large, vol. 2, p. 708, chapter 57, approved April 14th, 1812, additional territory was added to the then existing State of Louisiana, which additional territory was described in the following language:

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Beginning at the junction of the river Iberville with the Mississippi river; thence along the middle of the Iberville and of the river Amite and Lakes Maurepas and Pontchartrain to the eastern mouth of Pearl river; thence up the eastern branch of the Pearl river to the 31st degree of north latitude; thence along the said degree of latitude to the river Mississippi; thence

Statement of the Case.

202 U.S.

down the said river to the place of beginning, shall become and form a part of the State of Louisiana;

"4th. That the effect of this legislation, as to the eastern boundary of the State of Louisiana, was to retain the Mississippi river as the original eastern boundary, as far south as the

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31st degree of north latitude. The change then moved the eastern boundary eastward along the 31st degree of north latitude to the Pearl river, whence it then ran south down the said river, through its eastern branch, till it entered the northern corner of Lake Borgne, where the State's eastern boundary then joined and followed the boundary line originally fixed in the act of April 6th, 1812, and followed, as heretofore stated,

202 U.S.

Statement of the Case.

the deep water channel through the upper corner of Lake Borgne, north of Half Moon Island, eastward through the deep water channel along the Mississippi Sound till it reached the Cat Island channel north of Isle à Pitre, and southwest of Cat Island, whence passing through Chandeleur Sound, northeast of

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Chandeleur Islands, it entered the Gulf of Mexico, and ran south around the delta of the Mississippi river and then north and westward to the point where the Sabine river enters the Gulf of Mexico, as will be more fully seen from the diagram No. 2, made part of this bill;

"5th. That the territory lying adjacent to, and to the eastward of the State of Louisiana is the State of Mississippi, which

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latter State was admitted into the Union of the United States of America by the act of Congress, found in the United States Statutes at Large, volume 3, chapter 23, page 348, approved March 1st, 1817, whereby the inhabitants of the western part of the then Mississippi Territory were authorized to form for themselves a state constitution and to be admitted into the Union, the boundaries of the then to be created State being described as follows:

"Beginning at the river Mississippi at a point where the southern boundary line with the State of Tennessee strikes the same; thence along the said boundary line to the Tennessee river; thence up the same to the mouth of Bear creek; thence by a direct line to the northwest corner of the county of Washington (Alabama); thence due south to the Gulf of Mexico; thence westwardly, including all islands within six leagues of the shore to the most southern junction of Pearl river with Lake Borgne; thence up said river to the 31st degree of north latitude; thence west along said degree of latitude to the Mississippi river; thence up the same to the beginning;'

"6th. That by the said act, Congress intended that the southern boundary line of the State of Mississippi, beginning at the point dividing it from the State of Alabama, should run westwardly till it joined the Louisiana eastern boundary line, and that in doing so, the said southern boundary would in effect start westward from a point eighteen miles south of the coast line, and include in its westwardly direction the western end of Petit Bois Island, all of Horn Island, Ship Island and Cat Island, and the smaller islands north of these, those islands being the ones contemplated in the act of Congress, as being within eighteen miles of the southern coast line of Mississippi, and that the said southern boundary of Mississippi, extending in its westwardly direction through the Gulf of Mexico, would gradually approach the coast line, and meet the eastern boundary line of Louisiana, just as the said eastern boundary line of Louisiana emerges from the Cat Island channel into the Gulf of Mexico, and thence follow and become the same as the

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Louisiana boundary line extending westwardly to the south of Cat Island, through Mississippi Sound to the north of Half Moon or Grand Island to the most southern junction of the

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