7.001. Explanatory Note. - Missouri Statutes

Explanatory Note.

7.001.

Explanatory Note.--The boundaries of the state of Missourihave been fixed as follows:

The enabling act of Congress (March 6, 1820), authorizingthe admittance of Missouri into the Union, described theboundaries of Missouri as follows: (Section 2, Act of Admission,RSMo 1959, Volume 5)

"Beginning in the middle of the MississippiRiver, on the parallel of thirty-six degrees of northlatitude; thence west, along that parallel oflatitude, to the St. Francis River; thence up andfollowing the course of that river, in the middle ofthe main channel thereof, to the parallel of latitudethirty-six degrees and thirty minutes; thence westalong the same to a point where the said parallel isintersected by a meridian line passing through themiddle of the mouth of the Kansas River, where thesame empties into the Missouri River; thence from thepoint aforesaid, north, along the said meridian line,to the intersection of the parallel of latitude whichpasses through the rapids of the river Des Moines,making the said line to correspond with the Indianboundary line; thence east from the point ofintersection last aforesaid, along the said parallelof latitude, to the middle of the channel of the mainfork of the said river Des Moines; thence down andalong the middle of the main channel of the saidriver Des Moines, to the mouth of the same, where itempties into the Mississippi River; thence due eastto the middle of the main channel of the MississippiRiver; thence down and following the course of theMississippi River, in the middle of the main channelthereof, to the place of beginning."

The present counties of Atchison, Nodaway, Holt, Andrew,Buchanan and Platte, located in the northwestern corner of thestate were not then included within the boundaries. These sixcounties were acquired by what is known as "The Platte Purchase",an act of Congress, approved June 7, 1836 (U.S. Statutes atLarge, 34, entitled "An Act to extend the western boundary of theState of Missouri to the Missouri River"). In Cooley v. Golden,52 Mo.App. 229, it was decided that this carried the westernboundary of the state to the center of the channel of theMissouri River and that Missouri and Nebraska have concurrentjurisdiction over the river.

In 1849 a dispute arose between Missouri and Iowa as to thetrue location of the boundary line dividing the two states. Anaction was filed in the United States Supreme Court and it wasdetermined that the northern boundary of Missouri was the Osageline as run by Sullivan in 1816, from the northwest corner madeby him to the Des Moines River; and that a line extended due westfrom said northwest corner to the Missouri River was the propernorthern boundary of the territory included in the PlattePurchase. (Missouri v. Iowa, 7 How. 660.)

In 1870 an action was filed in the Supreme Court of theUnited States to establish the boundary between the states ofMissouri and Kentucky at a point on the Mississippi River, twentymiles below the mouth of the Ohio, known as Wolf Island. It wasdetermined that the boundary line ran along the center of themain channel of the river, as the river had been in 1820 at thetime Missouri was admitted into the Union. It was found that atthat time the main channel of the Mississippi had been on thewestern side of Wolf Island. Thus, Wolf Island was within theKentucky boundary. (Missouri v. Kentucky, 11 Wall. 395.)

Again in 1937, Missouri commenced suit against Iowa in theSupreme Court of the United States to determine the boundarybetween Clark County in the state of Missouri and Lee County inthe state of Iowa. A stipulation was filed whereby it wasproposed that the legislatures of Missouri and Iowa pass likebills, Missouri relinquishing to Iowa all jurisdiction to landslying north and east of the Des Moines River then in ClarkCounty, Missouri, and Iowa relinquishing to Missouri all landslying south and west of the Des Moines River, then in Lee County,Iowa. Missouri and Iowa each passed such bill. (Laws ofMissouri, 1939, p. 476; Iowa, 48th general assembly, chapter304.) The acts were submitted to the Congress of the UnitedStates and approved August 10, 1939. (Pub. Res. No. 74, 76thCongress.)

A controversy over the boundary between Missouri and Kansasis made the subject of a 1949 act (Laws of Missouri 1949 page311) wherein it is provided that "the center of the channel ofthe Missouri River, as its flow extends from its intersectionwith the fortieth parallel, north latitude, southward to themiddle of the mouth of the Kansas or Kaw River" shall be theboundary between such states. The act was not to becomeoperative unless Kansas enacted a similar law relinquishingsovereignty over lands lying on the Missouri side of the centerof the channel, within two years from its effective date. Thecorresponding Kansas law appears in General Statutes of Kansas of1949, sections 82a-521 to 82a-527.(1955) Where island, formed on Kansas side of Missouri river, asa result of a channel change during the flood of 1944, becameattached to Holt County, Missouri, it became a part of HoltCounty under Laws 1949, p. 311, and corresponding Kansas andfederal acts. Hall v. Hudgins (Mo.), 277 S.W.2d 637.

In 1981, the 1st regular session of the 81st generalassembly, by House Bill No. 147, acted to settle a boundarydispute with the state of Kansas concerning certain property inthe vicinity of the French Bottoms near St. Joseph, Missouri.The general assembly ratified and affirmed a boundary surveywhich set the boundary line as the thalweg line (deep water line)of the channel of the Missouri River, abandoned by avulsion inApril, 1952. The corresponding Kansas law appears in KansasStatutes Annotated 1980 Supplement, sections 82a-527a and82a-527b. Ratified by Congress by H.R. 4048. Signed by thePresident on October 16, 1981.