Greer County, Texas

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Now, most county-line disputes get settled with a handshake and a surveyor's chain. Greer County, Texas got a half-century of argument, three failed commissions, and a Supreme Court ruling that ended with Texas losing a piece of itself the size of a small nation — to Oklahoma, of all places.

Let's start at the beginning. Greer County was created in 1860, and for a good long while it was one of the largest counties in all of Texas. Organized up at Old Mobeetie, northwest of where this marker stands.

By the 1880s settlers were pouring in fast. By 1892, nearly two thousand five hundred pupils were sitting in county schoolhouses. There was a post office, a jail, houses going up all over, and more than sixty thousand cattle grazing across three thousand four hundred and eighty square miles of rolling Texas land.

That is a serious piece of real estate. But here is the thing about Greer County — the ground it stood on was contested from almost the first day anyone drew a line near it. The trouble had its origin in an 1819 treaty meant to fix the boundary between United States territory and Spanish territory.

Reasonable enough on paper. The treaty came with a map. And that map had two problems, either one of which could start a fight at a courthouse and both together could start a fifty-year war between a state and the federal government.

First problem: the map incorrectly marked the 100th meridian. Second problem: the Red River up in that country splits into two forks, and the map only showed one of them. Texas looked at that map and said, we'll take the North Fork and the meridian as drawn, thank you kindly.

Texans backed that claim with legislation and with boots on the ground — actual occupancy, actual settlers, actual cattle. Sovereignty by presence. The United States looked at the same map and said, no.

The South Fork — the larger of the two — and the true 100th meridian mark the real boundaries. And what sits between those lines belongs to the Union. Three joint survey commissions sat down to work it out.

Three times they walked away without a resolution. The dispute ran hot from 1846 all the way to 1896. Fifty years of wrangling over a fork in a river and a misdrawn line on an old map.

Then in 1896 the United States Supreme Court weighed in. The Court ruled that the region in question was, in 1819, already part of the Union — and therefore was actually part of what would become Oklahoma. Not Texas.

Never legally Texas at all, the Court said, no matter how many schoolchildren had studied there or how many cattle had grazed the grass down to nothing. Just like that, one of the largest counties in Texas became a county that wasn't in Texas. The county itself had been named for John A.

Greer — senator, secretary of state of the Republic of Texas, and later lieutenant governor from 1847 to 1853. A man of considerable Texas credentials honoring a place that Texas, in the end, could not keep. They say a map can open up a country.

Turns out a bad one can take it away just as sure.

What the marker says

(To the east, in present Oklahoma) Created 1860; until 1896, one of largest counties in Texas. Organized at Old Mobeetie, northwest of here. In 1880s settlement was rapid; by 1892 nearly 2,500 pupils were in county's schools. A post office, jail and many houses were built, and over 60,000 cattle grazed the 3,480 square miles of the county's area. But for a half-century (1846-1896) the United States and Texas waged a heated dispute over Greer County. Controversy had origin in an 1819 treaty fixing the line between United States and Spanish territory. A map designating the Red River and 100th meridian as boundary lines was part of treaty; but map aroused dispute, for it incorrectly marked 100th meridian and showed only one fork of two-forked Red River. Texas claimed the North Fork and meridian shown on map defined territory, and legislation and occupancy by Texans decided sovereignty. United States contended South Fork (larger of the two) and true 100th meridian marked boundaries. Three joint survey commissions failed to settle the issue. The U.S. Supreme Court in 1896 ruled that the region was in 1819 part of the Union and thus, was actually part of Oklahoma. Named for John A. Greer, senator, secretary of state, Republic of Texas; lieutenant governor, 1847-1853. (1967)