The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 66, July 1962 - April, 1963 Page: 415
After hirt years: Commets oa
Changes i the Red Rier: 1923-1953
B. C. THARP
TREATY BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES AND SPAIN, signed on
U February 22, 1819, fixed the boundary between lands
L belonging to Spain and the territory included in the
Louisiana Purchase as along the south and west bank of the
Sabine River to the 32 of latitude and thence directly north to
the Red River;
then following the course of the Rio Roxo [Red River] westward to
the degree of longitude ioo west from London and 23 from Wash-
ington; then, crossing the said Red River, and running thence, by a
line due north, to the river Arkansas; thence, following the course of
the southern bank of the Arkansas to its source, in latitude 42 north,
and thence by that parallel of latitude to the South Sea.
Thus, the Red River became the northern boundary of Texas,
at that time a part of Spanish Mexico. When Texas declared its
independence of Mexico and became a republic in 1836, the
republic accepted the boundary line of the 1819 treaty and was
limited by it when admitted to the United States in 1845.
Discovery of oil during 1919 in what is known as the Big Bend
of Red River in Wichita County, Texas, greatly enhanced land
values and prompted the state of Oklahoma to take steps to estab-
lish the location of the south bank (inferentially the boundary)
of the river as being at the base of the Texas bluff rather than
at the bank of the sand flats which lie between the Red River
and the bluff on the Texas side. The result was a suit brought
by Oklahoma against Texas in the Supreme Court of the United
Texas countered with a claim to the middle of the Red River
"William M. Malloy (comp.), Treaties, Conventions, International Acts, Pro-
tocols, and Agreements between the United States and other Powers, 1776-zgo9
(2 vols.; Washington, 1910), II, 1653; H. P. N. Gammel (comp.), The Laws of
Texas (o0 vols.; Austin, 1898), I, 1193-1194.
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 66, July 1962 - April, 1963, periodical, 1963; Austin, Texas. (texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101196/m1/441/ocr/: accessed March 26, 2017), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.