| Show BOUNDARY LINE LOCATED state engineer beers decided decked on the old line three quarters of OT P a mile east of roosevelt the following letter w was s written to tile commissioners L imru of uli uia tah county by state engineer W D beers concerning the uintah duchesne boundary line on december 29 1914 you addressed a com communication cation to me as stafe engineer stating that there was some uncertainty regarding the exact location of the boundary line between uintah and duchesne counties and requested that I 1 establish the said boundary line at my earliest convenience since then this question of the exact location of the said boundary line has received my serious consideration and I 1 have on numerous occasions discussed the matter with the attorney general and with interested parties from both counties in order to become ac quainter quain ted with all the th e facts in the case on october 21 and 22 1915 1 I had bad a conference in my office with mr nile hughel hugh el county surveyor of uintah county and mr craig harmston county surveyor of duchesne county for the purpose of gathering further facts relative to this dispute also to see if I 1 could get the two county surveyors to agree upon the location of this boundary line the county surveyors hoi however Never failed to agree and it therefore becomes my duty un der section chapter 1 title 15 compiled laws of utah 1907 to determine the exact lo 10 cation of the said boundary line 1 I have bave refrained from taking hasty action in this controversy beca because iise I 1 realize that it involves matters of vital importance to the people of both duchesne and uintah counties in fact it strikes at the alie very ex istance of 01 duchesne county however I 1 th c I 1 now have all the available information at hand and se am herewith transmitting my decision the territorial act of feb 19 1890 creating uintah county and defining its boundary k lines defined the west boundary line its being the meridian t to the point where it intersected green river at the time of statehood and by the provisions provision of section 1 article 11 constitution of utah the several coun ties of the territory were adopted and recognized as legal subdivisions of the state the meridian therefore became the legal boundary line between wa sateh datch and uintah counties and when nhen Du chesna county was crested created it became the legal bound arr ar 1 line ite between that county and uintah county at the time when uintah county was created there was t aly one meridian line establish cl in in the eastern part of utah t iid that was the uintah special meridian located by mr chas L dubois in 1876 mr dubois calculated the longitude of this meridian idian to be degrees 57 30 west the location of this lipets hpe is definitely known on the grou ground tid inasmuch as a county bodh boundary dary line must be established definitely and inasu mch as the meridian was known to be in the proximity of the uintah special meridian it was an all easy matter to locate the loth meridian with refer reference to the uintah special meridian and I 1 presume the territorial legis legislature I 1 was aware of this tact fact when it specified the alloth i meridian as the western bound ary line of uintah county on jan 1 1908 1908 mr ed F harmston at that time county surveyor of wasatch county calculated for the county commissioners ners of that county the location of the iloth meridian with reference to the uintah special meridian and that line 1 i am informed ormed was v I 1 by both counties as the boundary uri line between wasatch and I 1 uintah counties at the tha time the leote vote was taken to create duchesne county it is my understanding that the present dispute over thi this boundary line has arisen within the past two years or since duchesne county was created and lis is due to the fact that the U S geological survey in its survey for the vernal quadrangle shows the meridian approximately 15 miles west of where the meridian was presumed to be although Govern government J maps have shown the same thing since the marsh peak quadrangle survey in 1904 05 according to these later government surveys tile the longitude of the uintah special meridian 1 as given by mr dubois in 1 1876 and as assumed as correct all these years and as used by mr harmston in his calculations in the he location of the boundary line between wasatch and uintah counties appears now to be in error government surveys in no affect the location of county boundaries it is immaterial as far as the actual location of the uintah special meridian is concerned whether an error was made in the determination of its longitude or not for such an error does not change the location of this meridian on the ground nor the location of the avern ment lines dependent upon this I 1 meridian for the description of land areas that beng being the case why then should an error in the longitude of the uintah special meridian aban change e the boun boundary daW line between uintah and duchesne counties at this time ti for the sake of argument ae let us assume that this boundary line had been definitely fixed on the ground at the time uintah county was created there is no doubt in my mind but what such a location at that time would have been based upon the longitude of the uintah special meridian ln as then known the same as it was done by mr harmston on jan 1 1908 had stacha vib L boundary y line been e es at that time there is is no doubt in my mind but that it would have been recognized today as the legal boundary line between duchesne and uintah counties it is not the meridian Merl diani that the state engineer is is required to establish but the boundary line between wasatch now duchesne county and uintah counties as intended by the territorial legislature in 1880 and approved by the state constitutional convention it is my belief that this line was intended as a line 2 and 30 of longitude west of the uintah special meridian and which at that time was believed to be the meridian 1 As be before fore stated the location of such a line was calculated for the county commissioners of wasatch county by mr harmston on january 1 1908 1909 and its location on the ground is known 1 being 22 miles west of the uintah special meridian I 1 have checked mr harm calculations and find them to be absolutely correct it is i my belief that this line which is miles west of the uintah i special meridian and until the i present boundary line dispute arose recognized as the west boundary line of uintah county is the line that was intended by the territorial slature the constitutional convention as the west boundary line of uintah lacounty county and it is therefore my decision that this line is the boundary line between duchesne and uintah Cg counties unties I 1 I 1 do not think it necessary to i mark this line on the ground by suitable monuments as its location is already known |
