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Boundary
Dispute Between Texas, Oklahoma and the United States Red River territory in the river bed near Bridgetown was the basis of one of the longest and most costly legal suits ever tried. At that time it was the richest oil field in the world. Disputes over the correct boundary line between Texas, Oklahoma and the United States Government had been going on since the Treaty with Spain in 1819. Most disputes arose because of taxation and legal claims to the land but were of little consequence until the oil boom in Burkburnett and oil was discovered in the Red River bed. Deciding the legal ownership of the land became tremendously important because of the revenue the oil would generate. The original survey of this disputed territory was made in 1858. The monument at the 100th meridian is four thousand feet west of the proper location. (The old brass marker is still there.) More than 30,000 acres of land worth $1,000,000 were involved. Part of the suit was to determine the exact location of the line separating Texas and Oklahoma along Red River. It was necessary, then, to determine where the south bank of the river was; whether it was the limit of the river at the time of low water or the much more remote elevations that limit the stream in floodtime. Many interesting features developed during the pendency of this suit. Possession of parts of the river bed was being taken by intimidation and force; the courts of both sides were assuming jurisdiction by injunctive and force; the courts of both sides were assuming jurisdiction by injunctive proceedings. Armed conflict between rival claimants for the oil and gas was imminent; the militia of Texas had been called to support the order of her courts and efforts were being made to summon the militia of Oklahoma for a like purpose. Oklahoma claimed that Red River was a navigable stream and that she had a title to the river bed from shore to shore. Texas claimed title half way from the south shore. The United States denied both claims and asserted ownership of the southern half and because of her relationship to many Indian owners, an interest in the northern half. The Supreme Court appointed a receiver with authority to control and direct all necessary oil and gas operations on the disputed land for a distance of forty-three miles up and down Red River. The court held that the Red River was not a navigable stream and therefore the title to land under the river was not for either state but that the treaty with the Indians gave Oklahoma ownership to the middle of the river and the United States ownership from the middle to the south bank. But another complication arose: since the survey of the river in 1874, and running of meander lines or survey limits of the stream, floods had carried away portions of the bank and thus changed the relation of the river to several surveyed tracts. Some that were washing away became part of the river bed and therefore vested a title in their owners to land formerly belonging to another. Oklahoma, as owner of certain school lands abutting the river on the north, was held to be an owner of part of the river bed. The Supreme Court decided that the medial line was the Indian boundary and that the land between the middle of the stream and the south bank belonged to the United States; that the south bank is the water-washed and relatively permanent elevation commonly called a cut bank along the south side of the river that separates the river from the adjacent upland and preserves the course of the river. When this case was being argued before the Supreme Court, A. H. Carrigan of Wichita Falls, Texas was the attorney for some persons who laid claim to the land between Red River and the bluff. One of the high points was that which transpired on the 600 acre farm about six miles northwest of Burkburnett, belonging to Sarah Davis, with the witness tree playing a leading role. This ancient tree was 165 years old in 1922 while the litigation was going on. Carrigan rushed to the high court bearing a slab from the old tree. The pivotal question in the law-suit related to the area between the bluff north of Burkburnett and the margin of the channel as it was in 1922-23. Every school boy knows the age of a tree can be determined by rings in the stump, and the high court recognized the legal rule, "Res Ipses Loquitur", meaning "things speak for themselves." The Texas Rangers, with their boots and big hats, were sent into the river bed to control until the rightful owners of the oil property felt safe. Two brass boundary markers are still present on the property where the Burk Burnett ranch bunkhouse was located.
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