News Release No. 491

DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES CLARIFIES MISSOURI-IOWA BORDER IN SURVEY DOCUMENTS SUBMITTED TO SECRETARY OF STATE

Volume 33-491

Contact: Mike Flowers

(For immediate release)

573-368-2300

JEFFERSON CITY, DEC. 6, 2005 - The Missouri Department of Natural Resources' Division of Geology and Land Survey (DGLS) delivered a number of significant maps and land surveys to Secretary of State Robin Carnahan. These included official state boundaries between Missouri and Iowa, portions of Missouri and Arkansas, and the Tri-State intersection of Missouri, Kansas and Oklahoma. Boundaries between the Missouri counties of Platte and Buchanan, and St. Francois and Ste. Genevieve, were also included.

These documents will be placed in the rare documents vault along with other fundamental Missouri documents, such as the Missouri Constitution, original land surveys, all bills passed by the state legislature and other foundational documents. Each of these documents are historically significant because they define the statutory location for our state and county boundaries.

In northwest Missouri, DGLS contracted with Midland Surveying (co-owned by John Teale, PLS, and Troy Hayes, PLS) of Maryville to locate the 10-mile marker posts between Missouri and Iowa and 26 miles of the Platte and Buchanan County line.

"Both projects are very important to the citizens of Missouri," according to company president, Troy Hayes, PLS, of Midland Surveying, who also serves as the County Surveyor for Nodaway and Buchanan counties. "By recovering official monuments (the markers that designate boundary lines) and obtaining a geographic position for each monument, their location will be permanently preserved. This will reassure the integrity of these boundaries and alleviate boundary disputes."

Some disputes, such as one in particular over the Missouri and Iowa border, have entered into Missouri folklore. The 1838, the "Honey War" for example, developed over disagreements as to where an 1816 land survey designated the state line. The dispute escalated when two "revenuers" cut down a tree harboring a large beehive as partial payment for what they claimed was an uncollected state tax. The landowner, taking particular offense to this assault, argued that the tree stood in Iowa and not Missouri. Militias from both sides gathered as tempers flared, culminating in Iowans kidnapping a Missouri sheriff. The standoff was abated when the two governors agreed to allow the U.S. Congress to settle the land survey issue.

Land survey records have played an important role in the economic growth of Missouri, though many are unfamiliar with their history or significance. "Missouri's boundaries were partially created prior to statehood and were modified and re-surveyed during the early history of our state. The location of both the river and land boundaries define land ownership and political subdivisions such as cities or counties," according to State Land Surveyor Mike Flowers. "These maps and surveys provide for the permanent marking and delineation of those common boundaries between our neighboring states and counties."

The Land Survey Program develops and provides information required for the accurate and economical location of property boundaries throughout Missouri. Maintaining consistent and dependable land boundary information avoids boundary disputes and errors in land transfers. This often involves the reestablishment of old markers, referred to as monuments, originally established for the U.S. Public Land Survey System (USPLSS). These monuments locate the boundaries of land surveys dating as far back as the early 1800s.

The USPLSS in Missouri, is an extension of the system adopted by Congress in 1785. Between 1816 and 1855, Missouri was surveyed into one mile squares called sections. Thirty-six sections in a block of land measuring six miles on each side is called a township. These surveys created the basis for the transfer of land from the U.S. government to private owners and are the basis for all land transfers and ownership in the state today. Technology, through the global positioning system (GPS), has enhanced the ability to locate and remark these monuments, thereby assuring their accuracy and permanence.

To learn more about land surveying of yesterday and today, visit the Land Survey Program's Web pages at: www.dnr.mo.gov/geology/. For information on specific maps or surveys delivered to the Secretary of State, contact Mike Flowers at 573-368-2301.

For news releases on the Web, visit www.dnr.mo.gov/newsrel. For a complete listing of the department's upcoming meetings, hearings and events, visit the department's online calendar at www.dnr.mo.gov/calendar/search.do.

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NOTE TO EDITOR: A photo including the participants from this event is available online at www.dnr.mo.gov/newsrel/LSP_11-22-05.jpg. The cutline for the photo: PHOTO L to R: Mike Flowers, Land Survey Program Director and State Land Surveyor; Mimi Garstang, Director of DNR's Division of Geology and Land Survey and State Geologist (DGLS); Darrell Pratte, PLS, DGLS Land Survey Section Chief; Robin Carnahan, Secretary of State; John Read, PLS, Stone County Surveyor and President of Missouri Association of County Surveyors; Troy Hayes, PLS, Nodaway and Buchanan Counties Surveyor; Dan Lashley, PLS, DGLS Land Survey Section Chief. Photo courtesy: Krista S. Myers, Secretary of State's Office.