Show RIO GRANDE EWER river SHIFTING BOUNDARY one might retire in Us S and awake in mexico washington N enn s tl ti it a band of mounted cattle thieves rode across the R 0 grande river from mexico into ie fe as recently probably pio bably presents a p of this southern boundary nv er of the united states far d efferent from tl at conjured up by a look at the n ap says a bulletin from the bat aaa onal geographic society on the map the plo grande has the appearance in its lower reaches it least of be ng as wide as the st lawrence or the detro t rivers along both of which large ships ply in flood times the plo grande Is a wide full river but during portions of the year owing to little rainfall on its tribu barles seepage into the sandy soli soil and appropriation for irrigation irr gation purposes its waters dwindle away until only a narrow stream remains dodging in and out among wide expanses of sand make crossing dangerous in places but at other points it Is a s mple matter to ride or wade from bank to bank easily eaily waded at times because the river can be so easily crossed in times of low water unite 1 states and mexican officials have had stubborn problems along certain see eions of tl e rio grande in the enforce ment of immigration tariff prohibition narcotic and other regulations the problems are heigl heigi bened by the fact that tl e american s de of the river Is not uniformly developed and thit most of the mexican side Is unutilized at some po ants on the american side the huge irr gated gardens and fields and c t us groves of the lower rio grande valley re reach reich ich to the river representing land in ile tl e highest degree of tion but at other points the river bank and a zone ten miles or more in width is covered with a growth of mesquite and other bushes and is vir dually ted chinese and oth er aliens secretly entering the coun try and smugglers in both directions lide h de in these wilderness spots and when overtaken often shoot it out with members of the border patrol wakes up in mexico the rio grande in flood times has been equally a problem to the united states and mexico when the river rises unduly it eats away the f fine me sandy alluvial soil as though it were brown sugar frequently forcing new channels across the narrow necks where the stream loops when this happens tl e bits of land cut off bancos balcos they are called are thrust into an al at en jur many a river bank resident has gone to sleep in tl e united states and waked up next morning in mexico all along tl e lo 10 ver rio grande at one time were numerous bits of united states territory on the mexican side of tl e river and fragments of mexico in the united states the situation became so complicated that the two governments finally agreed that since in the lon long run the shifts of territory from side to side were about equal new eb channels innels would be taken as mark ing the boun boundary diry where the badcob u bere ere small it was provided however hat hit if fragments of terr tory exceed ing CIS acres or having or more inh I 1 tants tints shall ever be cut off by the r vei tl ey shall still belong to the country from which they were torn the old channel remaining as the boun dary |