Metes and Bounds

 

N.Y. STL. LAW § 6 : NY Code – Section 6:

 

Pennsylvania boundary line The boundary line between the states of New York and Pennsylvania is as follows:

 

Commencing at said intersection of said meridian line of cession, and running thence south to the shore of Lake Erie at initial monument set by A. Ellicott in 1790 as above; thence true south 440 feet to a large monument of Quincy granite, set in 1869, in latitude 42° 16′ 5.39″, and longitude 79° 45′ 45.26″, as deduced by the United States lake survey, marked 1869, latitude 42° 15′ 57.9″, longitude 79° 45′ 54.4″, by commissioners duly authorized on the part of the states of New York and Pennsylvania asstated in reports of regents boundary commission in 1886; thence south on said meridian line 13.895 miles to Fourteen Mile point; thence south 4.647 miles at an angle of 4′ west to a large terminal monument; thence on the same line 100 feet to the southwest corner of New York marked by monument (in latitude 42° 0′ 1.42″, as determined by state survey) set in 1787 by A. Hardenburgh and W. W. Morris, commissioners on the part of New York, and A. Ellicott and A. Porter, commissioners on the part of Pennsylvania; thence due east on parallel of latitude of 42°, as surveyed and marked by monuments by said commission, to the ninetieth mile stone erected in 1786 by James Clinton and Simeon De Witt, commissioners on the part of New York, and Andrew Ellicott, commissioner on the part of Pennsylvania, on the west side of the south branch of the Tioga river in latitude 42° 0′ 1.3″ as deduced by the state surveyor in 1879; thence due east on line established and marked by the last mentioned commission to a point in the center of Delaware river, such line passing through a monument set in the year 1884 by H. W. Clarke, surveyor, on the part of the state of New York, and C. M. Gere, surveyor, on the part of the state of Pennsylvania, and located six hundred feet west of the center of said river (all of the above line passing through monuments placed between the years 1881 and 1885 by said H. W. Clarke and C. M. Gere, of which a schedule is given in their report to the commission appointed by virtue of the provisions of chapter three hundred and forty of the laws of eighteen hundred and eighty, and dated December 1, 1885, showing angular deflections at each mile stone, with distances between each, summarized as follows:

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Southwest state corner to Chautaugua county corner 36.090 miles; to Cattaraugus count corner 38.743 miles; to Allegany county corner 28.769 miles; to Steuben county corner (mile post eighty-two) 40.411 miles; to Tioga county corner, on the left bank of the Chemung river, 21.066 miles; to Broome county corner 23.387 miles; to the center of the Delaware river 38.396 miles; thence down the center of the Delaware river about eightyfive miles to its junction with the Neversink river; each of the states of New York and Pennsylvania having concurrent jurisdiction within and upon the waters of that portion of the main channel of the Delaware river between the lines of low water at either bank thereof; then S. 51° E. on prolongation of boundary line between New York and New Jersey, to “tri-state monument,” set in 1882 by joint commission, over bolt in bare lime-stone rock near the confluence of the Neversink and Delaware rivers as settled in 1769 by commission appointed by king of Great Britain, and marked by a crow foot cut into its upper face, in latitude 41° 21′ 22.63″, and longitude 74° 41′ 40.70″ west as determined by the United States coast survey in 1874. The said metes and bounds are in accordance with and subject to the agreement between commissioners of the states of New York and Pennsylvania, which took effect August 19, 1890, the date of the approval of the act of Congress consenting thereto. The ratification and confirmation by this state of such agreement is continued in force.

 

The following is a copy of such agreement:

“An agreement made the twenty-sixth day of March, in the year eighteen hundred and eighty-six, between Henry R. Pierson, Elias W. Leavenworth and Chauncey M. Depew, commissioners on the part of the state of New York, and Christopher M. Gere and Robert N. Torry, commissioners on the part of the state of Pennsylvania.

 

WHEREAS, By the first section of chapter four hundred and twenty-four of the laws of the state of New York, for the year eighteen hundred and seventy-five, the regents of the university of the state of New York were authorized and directed to resume the work of ‘examination as to the true location of the monuments which mark the several boundaries of the state,’ as authorized by the resolution of the senate of April nineteenth, eighteen hundred and sixty-seven, and in connection with the authorities of Pennsylvania, to replace any monuments which may have become dilapidated or been removed on the boundary line of that state; and, WHEREAS, The said board of regents of the university did through a committee of said board, previously appointed for the purpose, under said senate resolution of eighteen hundred and sixty-seven, proceed to carry out the instructions contained in said chapter four hundred and twenty-four of the laws of eighteen hundred and seventy-five; and, WHEREAS, By chapter three hundred and forty of the laws of the said state of New York for the year eighteen hundred and eighty the said regents of the university were further authorized and empowered to designate and appoint three of their number as commissioners to meet such commissioners as may have been or may be appointed on the part of the state of Pennsylvania, and with such last-named commissioners as soon as may be, to proceed to ascertain and agree upon the location of the boundary line between said states, as originally established and marked with monuments, and in case any monuments are found dilapidated or removed from their original location, to replace them in a durable manner in their original position, and to erect such additional monuments at such places on such lines as they may deem necessary for the proper designation of the boundary line between said state; and,WHEREAS, The above-named Henry R. Pierson, Elias W. Leavenworth and Chauncey M. Depew were by resolution passed on the thirteenth day of July, eighteen hundred and eighty, duly designated and appointed by the said regents of the university of the state of New York as commissioners on the part of the state of New York for the purposes mentioned in said act; and, WHEREAS, Also, by an act of the legislature of the state of Pennsylvania, entitled ‘An act in regard to the boundary monuments on the line between the state of Pennsylvania and New York, with an appropriation for expenses of the same,’ passed May eighth, eighteen hundred and seventy-six, the governor of the state of Pennsylvania was authorized and empowered ‘to appoint three persons to be a commission to act in conjunction with a similar commission of the state of New York, to examine as to the true location of the monuments which mark the boundary line between this state and the state of New York, and in connection with said commission of the state of New York, to replace any monuments which may have been dilapidated or been removed on the boundary lines of said states’; and, WHEREAS, The governor of the state of Pennsylvania, under authority of said act, did duly designate and appoint James Worrall, Christopher M. Gere and Robert N. Torry, to be a commission for the purposes of said act; and, WHEREAS, James Worrall, the first-named member of said commission, died during the progress of the work on said boundary line; to wit, on April first, eighteen hundred and eighty-five, and the surviving members, to wit: Christopher M. Gere and Robert N. Torry, have continued the work of said commission on the part of the state of Pennsylvania, as authorized by the aforesaid act.

 

NOW, THEREFORE, the said commissioners for and on behalf of their respective states, having duly performed the duties imposed upon them by the said acts, and having examined said boundary line, and replaced in a durable manner the monuments to mark the same in pursuance of the authority duly given as aforesaid, have agreed and do hereby agree as follows:

 

First. The channel of the Delaware river, from a line drawn across said channel, from a granite monument erected upon the eastern bank of said river in the year eighteen hundred and eighty-two, by the joint boundary commission of the states of New Jersey and New York to mark the western extremity of the boundary line between said states of New Jersey and New York, in a westerly prolongation of said boundary line up and along said channel of said Delaware river as it winds and turns, for a distance of eighty-five miles or thereabouts, to a line drawn east across said river from a granite monument erected upon the west bank of said river in the year eighteen hundred and eighty-four, by H. W. Clarke and C. M. Gere, to mark the eastern extremity of the first line hereinafter described, shall continue to be a part of the boundary or partition line between the said two states; provided, however, that the limit of territory between the said two states shall be the center of the said main channel, and provided further, that each state shall enjoy and exercise a concurrent jurisdiction within and upon the water of said main channel between the lines of low water at either bank thereof, between the limits hereinbefore mentioned.

 

Second. The line extending from the Delaware river aforesaid, at a point upon said river fixed and marked with monuments (which have since disappeared), by David Rittenhouse and Samuel Holland, in the month of November, in the year seventeen hundred and seventy-four, west, as the same was surveyed and marked with monuments in the year seventeen hundred and eighty-six, as far as the ninetieth milestone, by James Clinton and Simeon De Witt, commissioners on the part of the state of New York, duly appointed for that purpose by the governor of said state, in pursuance of an act of the legislature of said state, entitled ‘An act for running out and marking the jurisdiction line between this state and the commonwealth of Pennsylvania,’ passed seventh March, seventeen hundred and eighty-five, and David Rittenhouse, Andrew Porter and Andrew Ellicott, commissioners on the part of the commonwealth of Pennsylvania, duly appointed for that purpose by the supreme executive council of said commonwealth in pursuance of an act of the general assembly of said commonwealth, entitled, ‘An act to authorize and enable the supreme executive council to appoint commissioners to join with the commissioners appointed, or to be appointed, on the part of the state of New York, to ascertain the northern boundary of this state from the river Delaware westward to the northwest corner of Pennsylvania,’ passed thirty-first March, seventeen hundred and eighty-five, and from the said ninetieth milestone west, as the same was surveyed and marked with monuments and posts in seventeen hundred and eighty-seven by Abraham Hardenbergh and William W. Morris, commissioners on the part of the said state of New York, duly appointed in the place of Simeon De Witt and James Clinton aforesaid, by the governor of said state in pursuance of the act aforesaid, and the act supplementary thereto, passed by the legislature of said state, twenty-first April, seventeen hundred and eighty-seven, and Andrew Ellicott and Andrew Porter aforesaid, commissioners on the part of the commonwealth of Pennsylvania, to the point where said line is intersected by the line of cession or meridian boundary hereinafter described, which said line so surveyed and marked in the years seventeen hundred and eighty-six and seventeen hundred and eighty-seven has since been acknowledged and recognized by the said two states as a part of the limit of their respective territory and jurisdiction, shall notwithstanding any want of conformity to the verbal description as written in the charter of the province of Pennsylvania, granted to William Penn in the year sixteen hundred and eighty-two, or as recited by the commissioners aforesaid, continue to be the boundary or partition line between the two said states, from the Delaware river aforesaid, to the said point of intersection with the said line of cession; provided that wherever upon said line the locations of any of the monuments, or posts, erected by the said commissioners in seventeen hundred and eighty-six and seventeen hundred eighty-seven have been lost and cannot otherwise be definitely fixed, then and in that case, and in every case where it is required to establish intervening points in said line, a straight line drawn between the nearest adjacent monuments whose localities are ascertained shall be understood to be, and shall be, the true boundary line.

 

Third. The line of cession, described as a meridian line, drawn from the forty-fifth degree of north latitude, south through the most esterly bent or inclination of Lake Ontario, in the deed of cession to the United States of certain territory claimed by the state of New York, lying west of said line, executed first March, seventeen hundred and eighty-one, by James Duane, William Floyd and Alexander McDougal, delegates in congress of said United States from the said state of New York, in pursuance of an act of the legislature of said state, entitled ‘An act to facilitate the completion of the articles of confederation and perpetual union among the United States of America,’ passed February nineteenth, seventeen hundred and eighty, which said territory was afterward conveyed by the United States aforesaid to, and became a part of the territory and jurisdiction of the said commonwealth of Pennsylvania, as the said line was surveyed and marked with posts and monuments of stone in the year seventeen hundred and ninety, by Andrew Ellicott, who was duly appointed for that purpose by the president of the United States, in pursuance of a resolution of congress, passed nineteenth August, seventeen hundred and eighty-nine, which said line, and its prolongation due north into the waters of Lake Erie until it intersects the northern boundary of the United States aforesaid, have since been acknowledged and recognized by the said two states, as a part of the limit of their respective territory and jurisdiction shall, notwithstanding any possible want of conformity to the verbal description thereof, as contained in said deed of cession, continue to be the boundary or partition line between the two said states, so far as said line so surveyed and marked in seventeen hundred and ninety shall extend.

 

Fourth. The monumental marks by which the said boundary line, except such portions thereof as may be within the waters of the Delaware river, and Lake Erie, shall hereafter be known and recognized, are hereby declared to be—

 

I. The original monuments of stone, erected in the years seventeen hundred and eighty-six and seventeen hundred and eighty-seven by the commissioners aforesaid, and in the year seventeen hundred and ninety by Andrew Ellicott aforesaid, as the same have been restored and re-established in their original positions, or have been replaced by granite monuments erected in the years eighteen hundred and eighty-one, eighteen hundred and eighty-two, eighteen hundred and eighty-three, eighteen hundred and eighty-four and eighteen hundred and eighty-five, by H. Wadsworth Clarke, surveyor on the part of New York, and Christopher M. Gere, surveyor on the part of Pennsylvania, duly appointed by the parties hereto.

 

II. The new monuments of granite, erected in the years eighteen hundred and eighty-one to eighteen hundred and eighty-five, inclusive, by the aforesaid surveyors, at intervals of one mile, more or less, and numbered consecutively, along said line originally surveyed and marked in the years seventeen hundred and eighty-six and seventeen hundred and eighty-seven, beginning from the Delaware river, and severally marked on the north side with the letters ‘N. Y. ,’ and on the other side with the letters ‘Pa.’ and along said line originally surveyed and marked in the year seventeen hundred and ninety, beginning at the shore of Lake Erie, and severally marked on the east side with the letters ‘N. Y. ,’ and on the west side with the letters ‘Pa.’

 

III. The new monuments of granite erected by the said surveyors, in the years eighteen hundred and eighty-one to eighteen hundred and eighty-five, inclusive, aforesaid, at intervening points on said line, and at its intersection with public roads, railroads and rivers, and at other points, and severally marked on the one side with the letters ‘N.Y. ,’ and on the other side with the letters ‘Pa.’

 

IV. A large monument of granite, erected in the year eighteen hundred and eighty-four by the said surveyors six hundred feet west of the center of the Delaware river in the said line originally fixed in the year seventeen hundred and eighty-six, to mark its eastern terminus; a large monument of granite erected in the year eighteen hundred and eighty-four by the said surveyors in the said line or meridian boundary, as originally fixed in the year seventeen hundred and ninety, one hundred feet north from its intersection with the line originally surveyed as aforesaid, in the years seventeen hundred and eighty-seven, which said point of intersection is marked by a small monument of granite buried in the center of the highway, in eighteen hundred and eighty-four by the said surveyors; and also a large monument of granite erected in the year eighteen hundred and sixty-nine by John

 

V. L. Pruyn, George R. Perkins, Samuel B. Woolworth, and George W. Patterson on the part of the state of New York, and William Evans on the part of the state of Pennsylvania, four hundred and forty feet south of the original monuments erected in the year seventeen hundred and ninety, by Andrew Ellicott aforesaid, upon the south shore of Lake Erie, in the line originally surveyed and marked by him as aforesaid.

 

Fifth. The field book of said surveyors containing the notes of the re-surveys along said line in the years eighteen hundred and seventy-seven, eighteen hundred and seventyeight and eighteen hundred and seventy-nine; also the ‘record of monuments’ prepared by said surveyors, containing the descriptions of the locations of the several monuments erected by them, and of the witness marks thereto; also the maps of said line, and the vicinity thereof, showing the locations of said monuments; and also the ‘diary of operations’ of said surveyors under the direction of the parties hereto; the same having been duly authenticated by the signature of the said surveyors, and the several documents and books of record containing the transactions of the parties hereto; all of which being placed on file in the office of the secretary of state of New York, and the office of the secretary of internal affairs of Pennsylvania, shall constitute the permanent and authentic records of said boundary line, and are hereby adopted by the parties hereto, and made a part of this agreement.

 

Sixth. This agreement shall become binding upon the two states when ratified by the legislatures thereof, respectively, and when confirmed by the congress of the United States. In witness whereof the said commissioners have hereunto set their hands and seals in duplicate, the twenty-sixth day of March, eighteen hundred and eighty-six, aforesaid.

 

Executed in the presence of witnesses:

As to Henry R. Pierson: Edward I. Devlin,— H. R. Pierson, L.S.

As to E. W. Leavenworth: H. W. Clarke,— E. W. Leavenworth, L.S.

As to Chauncey M. Depew: Edward I. Devlin,— Chauncey M. Depew, L.S.As to C. M. Gere: A. D. Birchard,— C. M. Gere, L.S.

As to Robert N. Torry: Andrew Thompson,— Robert N. Torry, L.S.”

 

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N.Y. STL. LAW § 7 : NY Code – Section 7: New Jersey boundary line

The boundary line between the states of New York and New Jersey is as follows:

 

Commencing at the said “tri-state monument,” and running thence along the line laid out by a joint commission from the states of New York and New Jersey in 1774, and which was more definitely marked with monuments by another joint commission in 1882, under chapter 340 of the laws of 1880, on an average course S. 51° E., with slight deflections as to the same as marked by mile monuments, a distance of 48.20 miles to the station rock on the west bank of the Hudson river, said station rock being in latitude 40° 59′ 48.17″ north and longitude 73° 54′ 11″ west, as determined by the United States coast survey, and marked as the original terminal monument of the line as established in 1774, according to the report of the commissioners on the boundary between the state of New York and the state of New Jersey, dated March 24, 1884; thence easterly to a point in the Hudson river in latitude 40° 59′ 49.74″ north and longitude 73° 53′ 38.57″ west; thence southerly along the middle of said river and of the bay of New York to a point opposite the northeast angle of Staten Island; thence westerly along the center of the Kill von Kull to a point opposite the northwest angle of Staten Island; thence southerly along the center of the Arthur kill or Staten Island sound to a point at the entrance of Raritan bay, such point being in latitude 40° 29′ 55.57″ north, and longitude 74° 15′ 33.31″ west, as the same is shown on maps and agreement filed by a joint commission of the two states in the office of the secretary of state, and dated December 23, 1889; thence easterly through the center of Raritan bay to a point between Sandy Hook and Coney Island as the same is shown on a map filed with the secretary of state, and dated October 12, 1877, thence easterly to the main sea. Such metes and bounds are as reported October 12, 1887, and December 23, 1889, by commissioners to mark out and locate the boundary line in land under water, between the states of New York and New Jersey, and are in accordance with and subject to the two agreements between commissioners of such states, made, respectively, September 16, 1833, and June 7, 1883, and which took effect, respectively, February 5, 1834, and May 23, 1884, the dates of the approvals of the acts of congress consenting thereto. The ratification and confirmation by this state of such agreements are continued in force.

 

The following are copies of such agreements, respectively:

“Agreement made between the commissioners on the part of the state of New York, and the commissioners on the part of the state of New Jersey relative to the boundary line between the two states. Agreement made and entered into by and between Benjamin F. Butler, Peter Augustus Jay and Henry Seymour, commissioners duly appointed on the part and behalf of the state of New York, in pursuance of an act of the legislature of the said state, entitled “An act concerning the territorial limits and jurisdiction of the state of New York and the state of New Jersey,” Passed January 18, 1833, of the one part, and Theodore Frelinghuysen, James Parker and Lucius Q. C. Elmer, commissioners duly appointed on the part and behalf of the state of New Jersey, in pursuance of an act of the legislature of the said state, entitled “An act for the settlement of the territorial limits and jurisdiction between the states of New Jersey and New York,” passed February 6, 1833, of the other part.

 

Article first.— the boundary line between the two states of New York and New Jersey, from a point in the middle of Hudson river opposite the point on the west shore thereof, in the forty-first degree of north latitude, as heretofore ascertained and marked, to the main sea, shall be the middle of the said river, of the bay of New York, of the waters between Staten Island and New Jersey, and of Raritan bay, to the main sea, except as hereinafter otherwise particularly mentioned.

 

Article second.— the state of New York shall retain its present jurisdiction of and over Bedlow’s and Ellis’ islands, and shall also retain exclusive jurisdiction of and over the other islands lying in the waters above mentioned, and now under the jurisdiction of that state.

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Article third.— the state of New York shall have and enjoy exclusive jurisdiction of and over all the waters of the bay of New York, and of and over all the waters of Hudson river lying west of Manhattan island and to the south of the mouth of Spuytenduyvel creek, and of and over the lands covered by the said waters to the low water mark on the westerly or New Jersey side thereof; subject to the following rights of property and of jurisdiction of the state of New Jersey, that is to say:

 

1. The state of New Jersey shall have the exclusive right of property in and to the land under water lying west of the middle of the bay of New York and west of the middle of that part of the Hudson river which lies between Manhattan island and New Jersey

 

.2. The state of New Jersey shall have the exclusive jurisdiction of and over the wharves, docks and improvements made, and to be made, on the shore of the said state, and of and over all vessels aground on said shore, or fastened to any such wharf or dock; except that the said vessels shall be subject to the quarantine or health laws, and laws in relation to passengers, of the state of New York, which now exist or which may hereafter be passed.

 

3. The state of New Jersey shall have the exclusive right of regulating the fisheries on the westerly side of the middle of said waters, provided that the navigation be not obstructed or hindered.

 

Article fourth.— the state of New York shall have exclusive jurisdiction of and over the waters of the Kill van Kull, between Staten Island and New Jersey, to the westernmost end of Shooter’s island, in respect to such quarantine laws and laws relating to passengers as now exists, or may hereafter be passed under the authority of that state, and for executing the same; and the said state shall also have exclusive jurisdiction, for the like purposes, of and over the waters of the sound, from the westernmost end of Shooter’s island tooodbridge creek, as to all vessels bound to any port in the said state of New York.

 

Article fifth.— the state of New Jersey shall have and enjoy exclusive jurisdiction of and over all the waters of the sound between Staten Island and New Jersey, lying south of Woodbridge creek, and of and over all the waters of Raritan bay lying westward of a line drawn from the light-house at Princess’ bay to the mouth of Mattavan creek, subject to the following rights of property and of jurisdiction of the state of New York:

 

1. The state of New York shall have the exclusive right of property in and to the land under water, lying between the middle of the said waters and Staten Island.

 

2. The state of New York shall have the exclusive jurisdiction of and over the wharves, docks and improvements made and to be made, on the shore of Staten Island; and of and over all vessels aground on said shore, or fastened to any such wharf or dock, except that the said vessel shall be subject to the quarantine or health laws, and laws in relation to passengers of the state of New Jersey which now exist, or which may hereafter be passed.

 

3. The state of New York shall have the exclusive right of regulating the fisheries between the shore of Staten Island and the middle of the said waters, provided that the navigation of the said waters be not obstructed or hindered.

 

Article sixth.— Criminal process issued under the authority of the state of New Jersey, against any person accused of an offense committed within that state; or committed on board of any vessel being under the exclusive jurisdiction of that state as aforesaid; or committed against the regulations made or to be made by that state, in relation to the fisheries mentioned in the third article; and also civil process issued under the authority of the state of New Jersey against any person domiciled in that state, or against property taken out of that state to evade the laws thereof; may be served upon any of the said waters within the exclusive jurisdiction of the state of New York, unless such person or property shall be on board a vessel aground upon, or fastened to the shore of the state of New York, or fastened to a wharf adjoining thereto; or unless such person shall be under arrest, or such property shall be under seizure, by virtue of process or authority of the state of New York.

 

Article seventh.— Criminal process issued under the authority of the state of New York, against any person accused of an offense committed within that state; or committed on board of any vessel being under the exclusive jurisdiction of that state as aforesaid; or committed against the regulations made or to be made by that state, in relation to the fisheries mentioned in the fifth article; and also civil process issued under the authority of the state of New York against any person domiciled in that state, or against property taken out of that state to evade the laws thereof; may be served upon any of the said waters within the exclusive jurisdiction of the state of New Jersey, unless such person or property shall be on board a vessel aground upon, or fastened to the shore of the state of New Jersey, or fastened to a wharf adjoining thereto; or unless such person shall be under arrest, or such property shall be under seizure, by virtue of process or authority of the state of New Jersey.

 

Article eighth.—This agreement shall become binding on the two states when confirmed by the legislatures thereof respectively, and when approved by the congress of the United States. Done in four parts (two of which are retained by the commissioners of New York, to be delivered to the governor of that state, and the other two of which are retained by the commissioners of New Jersey, to be delivered to the governor of that state), at the city of New York, this sixteenth day of September, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and thirty-three, and of the independence of the United States, the fifty-eighth.

 

(Signed,) B. F. BUTLER,

PETER AUGUSTUS JAY,

HENRY SEYMOUR,

THEO. FRELINGHUYSEN,

JAMES PARKER,

LUCIUS Q. C. ELMER.

 

”“An agreement made the seventh day of June, in the year eighteen hundred and eightythree, between Henry R. Pierson, Elias W. Leavenworth and Chauncey M. Depew, commissioners on the part of the state of New York, and Abraham Browning, Thomas N. McCarter and George H. Cook, commissioners on the part of the state of New Jersey.

 

WHEREAS, by the first section of chapter three hundred and forty of the laws of the state of New York for the year eighteen hundred and eighty, it was recited, among other things, that whereas, by an act of the legislature passed the twenty-sixth day of May, eighteen hundred and seventy-five, the regents of the university of the state of New York were authorized and directed, in connection with the authorities of Pennsylvania and New Jersey, respectively, to replace any monuments which have become dilapidated or been removed on the boundary lines of those states, and it was thereby declared that the lines originally laid down and marked with monuments by the several joint commissioners, duly appointed for that purpose, and which have since been acknowledged and legally recognized by the several states interested, as the limits of their territory and jurisdiction, are the boundary lines of said states irrespective of want of conformity to the verbal descriptions thereof; and by the second section of the same chapter of the laws of the state of New York, the said regents were authorized and empowered to designate and appoint three of their number as commissioners, to meet such commissioners as may have been, or may be, appointed on the part of the states of Pennsylvania and New Jersey, or either of them, and with such last-named commissioners, as soon as may be, to proceed to ascertain and agree upon the location of said lines as originally established and marked with monuments, and in case any monuments are found dilapidated or removed from their original location, said commissioners are authorized to replace them in a durable manner in their original positions, and to erect such additional monuments at such places on said lines as they may deem necessary for the proper designation of the boundary lines of said states; and WHEREAS, Also the above-named Henry R. Pierson, Elias W. Leavenworth and Chauncey M. Depew have been duly designated and appointed by the said regents of the university of the state of New York, commissioners on the part of said state for the purposes mentioned in said act; and WHEREAS, Also by an act of the legislature of the state of New Jersey, entitled ‘An act appointing commissioners to locate the northern boundary line between the states of New York and New Jersey and to replace and erect monuments thereon,’ approved April thirteen, eighteen hundred and seventy-six, the governor of the state of New Jersey was authorized to appoint three commissioners with power, on the part of said state of New Jersey, to meet any authorities on the part of the state of New York, who may be duly authorized, and with them to negotiate and agree upon the true location of the said boundary line between the states of New York and New Jersey, and also to replace any monuments which may have become dilapidated, or been removed, on said boundary line, and to erect new ones, which agreement it was thereby enacted should be in writing and signed and sealed by the authorities of the state of New York and the commissioners of the state of New Jersey; and WHEREAS, The above-named Abraham Browning, Thomas N. McCarter and George H. Cook have been duly appointed commissioners on the part of the state of New Jersey, under said act; and WHEREAS, By a supplement to the last said act, approved on the twenty-fifth day of March, eighteen hundred and eighty-one, the commissioners under the last said act were, in addition to the authority conferred by the last said act, also authorized in their discretion to proceed to ascertain and agree upon the location of the northern boundary line between the states of New York and New Jersey, as originally established and marked with monuments, and in case any monuments are found dilapidated, or removed from their original location, said commissioners were authorized to renew and replace them in a durable manner in their original positions, and to erect such additional monuments, at such places on said line, as they may deem necessary for the proper designation of the boundary line of said states; and WHEREAS, The said commissioners, acting for and on behalf of their respective states, have entered upon the performance of the duties imposed upon them by the said acts, and have, in pursuance of the authority to them severally given as aforesaid, agreed, and hereby do agree, as follows:

 

First. The lines extending from the Hudson river on the east to the Delaware river on the west, as the same was laid down and marked with monuments in seventeen hundred and seventy-four, by William Wickham and Samuel Gale, commissioners on the part of the then colony of New York, duly appointed for that purpose in pursuance of an act of the assembly of the colony of New York, passed on the sixteenth day of February, seventeen hundred and seventy-one, entitled ‘An act for establishing the boundary or partition line between the colonies of New York and Nova Caesarea, or New Jersey, and for conferring titles and possession,” and John Stevens and Walter Rutherford, commissioners on the part of the then colony of New Jersey, duly appointed in pursuance of an act of the assembly of the colony of New Jersey, passed on the twenty-third day of September, seventeen hundred and seventy-two, entitled ‘An act for establishing the boundary or partition line between the colonies of New York and Nova Caesarea, or New Jersey, and for conferring titles and possession,’ which said line has since been acknowledged and recognized by the two states as the limit of their respective territory and jurisdiction, shall, notwithstanding its want of conformity to the verbal description thereof as recited by said commissioners, continue to be the boundary or partition line between the said two states; provided that wherever upon said line the location of one or more of the monuments, erected by said commissioners in seventeen hundred and seventy-four, has been lost and cannot be otherwise definitely fixed and determined, then, and in that case and in every case where it is required to establish intervening points on said line, a straight line drawn between the nearest adjacent monuments whose localities are ascertained shall be the true boundary line.

 

Second. The monumental marks by which said boundary line shall hereafter be known and recognized are hereby declared to be, first, the original monuments of stone erected in seventeen hundred and seventy-four, along said line, by the commissioners aforesaid, as the same have been restored and re-established in their original positions by Edward A. Bowser, surveyor on the part of New Jersey, and Henry W. Clarke, surveyor on the part of New York, duly appointed by the parties hereto; second, the new monuments of granite erected by the aforesaid surveyors at intervals of one mile, more or less, along said line and numbered consecutively, beginning from the Hudson river, and severally marked on the northerly side with the letters N.Y., and on the southerly side with the letters N. J.;and third, the monuments of granite erected by the aforesaid surveyors at intervening points on said line at its intersection with public roads, railroads and rivers, and severally marked by them, on the northerly side with the letters N.Y., and on the southerly side with the letters N.J., and fourth, the terminal monuments erected at the western terminus of said line at the confluence of the Delaware and Navesink rivers, and the terminal monument erected on the brow of the rock called the Palisades, near the eastern terminus, and the rock lying and being at the foot of the Palisades on the bank of the Hudson river, and marked as the original terminal monument of said line established in seventeen hundred and seventy-four, as the same are described in a joint report made to the parties hereto by Elias W. Leavenworth, commissioner on the part of New York, and George H. Cook, commissioner on the part of New Jersey.

 

Third. The field books of said surveyors containing the descriptions of the locations of the several monuments erected by them and of the witness marks thereto, the report of said surveyors containing the account of their work in ascertaining and marking said line, together with the topographical map of said line and the vicinity thereof, and the several documents and books of record containing the transactions of the parties aforesaid, having been duly authenticated and attested by the signatures of the said commissioners, and placed in file in the offices of the secretaries of state of the two states, shall constitute the permanent and authentic records of said boundary line, and are hereby adopted by the parties hereto, and made part of this agreement.

 

Fourth. This agreement shall become binding on the two states when confirmed by the legislatures thereof, respectively, and when confirmed by the congress of the United States. In witness whereof, the said commissioners have hereto set their hands and seals, in duplicate, this seventh day of June, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and eighty-three.

 

HENRY R. PIERSON.

E. W. LEAVENWORTH.

CHAUNCEY M. DEPEW.

A. BROWNING.

THOMAS N. McCARTER.

GEO. H. COOK.

 

Executed in the presence of:

 

Witness as to Henry R. Pierson,

A. C. Judson, Albany, N. Y.

As to Chauncey M. Depew, W. J. Van Arsdale.

As to commissioners of New Jersey, B. Williamson.

Witness to the signature of E. W. Leavenworth, A. F. Lewis.”

Trenton, January 18, 1890.

 

An agreement, made the twelfth day of October in the year 1887, between Mayo W. Hazeltine, Robert Moore and Lieut. G.C. Hanus, U.S.N., commissioners on the part of the state of New York, and George H. Cook, Robert C. Bacot and A. B. Stoney, commissioners on the part of the state of New Jersey.

 

WHEREAS, by chapter 69, of the laws of the state of New York for the year 1887, the governor was authorized to appoint three commissioners on the part of the state of New York, with full power to meet with the commissioners duly authorized on the part of the state of New Jersey, and with them locate and mark out by proper monuments and buoys the true boundary line between the two states in lands under water in Raritan bay; and WHEREAS, the said Mayo W. Hazeltine, Robert Moore and Lieut.G.C. Hanus, U.S.N., were duly appointed commissioners on the part of the state of New York for the purposes mentioned in the said act; and WHEREAS, by an act of the legislature of the state of New Jersey, passed April 20, 1886, entitled a “Joint resolution authorizing the appointment of a commissioner to locate and mark out the boundary line between the state of New Jersey and the state of New York in Raritan bay,” the governor of the state of New Jersey was authorized to appoint three commissioners, with power on the part of the state to meet any authorities duly authorized on the part of the state of New York, and with them locate by proper buoys the boundary line between the two states of lands under water in Raritan bay; and WHEREAS, the said George H. Cook, Robert C. Bacot and A.B. Stoney, were duly appointed commissioners for the purposes of said act; and WHEREAS, the said commissioners, acting for and on behalf of their respective states, have entered upon the performance of the duties imposed upon them by said act, and have in pursuance of the authority to them severally given as aforesaid agreed and hereby do agree upon a boundary line between the two states in lands under water in Raritan bay, and locate the same as follows:

 

First. From the “Great Beds Lighthouse” in Raritan bay north 20° 16′ west, true, to a point in the middle of the waters of Arthur Kill or Staten Island sound, equidistant between the southwesterly corner of the dwelling-house of David C. Butler, at Ward’s Point, on Staten Island, in the state of New York, and the southeasterly corner of the brick building on the lands of Cortlandt L. Parker, at the intersection of the westerly line of Water street with the northerly line of Lewis street, in Perth Amboy, in the state of New Jersey.

 

Second. From “Great Beds Lighthouse” S. 64° 21′ E. true, in the line with the center Waackaack or Wilson’s Beacon, in Monmouth county, New Jersey, to a point at the intersection of the said line with a line connecting “Morgan No.2” triangulation point U.S. Coast and geodetic survey in Middlesex county, New Jersey, with the granite and iron beacon marked on the accompanying map as “Roamer Stone Beacon” situated on the “Dry Roamer Shoal;” and thence on a line bearing N. 77° 9′ E. true, connecting “Morgan No.2” triangulation point U.S. Coast and geodetic survey in Middlesex county, New Jersey, with said “Roamer Stone Beacon” (the line passing through said beacon and continuing in the same direction) to a point at its intersection with a line drawn between the “Hook Beacon” on Sandy Hook, New Jersey, and the triangulation point of the U.S. Geodetic survey known as the Oriental Hotel on Coney Island, New York; then southeasterly at right angles with the last mentioned line to the main sea.

 

Third. The monumental marks by which said boundary line shall be hereafter known and recognized are hereby declared to be as follows:

1. The “Great Beds Lighthouse.”

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2. A permanent monument marked “State Boundary Line, New York and New Jersey,” and to be placed at the intersection of the line drawn from the “Great Beds Lighthouse” to “Waackaack or Wilson’s Beacon,” Monmouth county, New Jersey, and the line drawn from “Morgan No.2” triangulation point U.S. Coast and geodetic survey, in Middlesex county, New Jersey, to the “Roamer Stone Beacon.”

 

3. Eight buoys or spindles to be marked like the permanent monument above mentioned, and placed at suitable intervening points along the line from the said permanent monument to the “Roamer Stone Beacon.”

 

4. The “Roamer Stone Beacon.”

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Fourth. The maps accompanying and filed with this agreement, showing the location of the above described boundary line between the state of New York and the state of New Jersey in Raritan bay to the main sea, and of the monumental marks by which it is marked and to be marked, duly authenticated and attested by the signatures of the said commissioners, and placed on file in the offices of the secretaries of state of the respective states, shall constitute the permanent and authentic records of said boundary line, and are hereby adopted by the parties hereto, and made a part of this agreement. In witness whereof, the said commissioners have hereto set their hands and seals in duplicate, this twelfth day of October, in the year of our Lord 1887.

 

M. W. HAZELTINE. [L.S.]

GEO. H. COOK. [L.S.]

ROBERT MOORE. [L.S.]

ROB’T C. BACOT. [L.S.]

G. C. HANUS, LIEUT.U.S.N. [L.S.]

A. B. STONEY. [L.S.]

Certified to EDWARD P. DOYLE,

 

Secretary of Joint Commission. An agreement made the twenty-third day of December, in the year eighteen hundred and eighty-nine, between Mayo W. Hazeltine, Robert Moore and Lieut. G. C. Hanus, U.S.N., commissioners on the part of the state of New York, and Robert C. Bacot, William M. Oliver and Edwin A. Stevens, commissioners on the part of the state of New Jersey.

 

WHEREAS, By chapter 69, laws of 1887, the governor of the state of New York was authorized to appoint three commissioners with full power on the part of the state of New York, to meet with the commissioners appointed, or to be appointed, for a like purpose on the part of the state of New Jersey, and with them to locate and mark out by proper monuments and buoys the true boundary line between the two states in lands under water in Raritan bay; and WHEREAS, The jurisdiction of the said commissioners was continued and extended by chapter 159, laws of 1888, and chapter 212, laws of 1889, so as to include the Arthur kill, Kill von Kull, New York bay and the Hudson river; and WHEREAS, The said Mayo W. Hazeltine, Robert Moore and Lieut.G.C. Hanus, U.S.N., were duly appointed commissioners on the part of the state of New York, for the purposes mentioned in said acts; and WHEREAS, By an act of the legislature of the state of New Jersey, passed February 14, 1888, entitled, “A joint resolution authorizing the appointment of a commission to locate and mark out the boundary line between the state of New Jersey and the state of New York, in lands under water in the Arthur kill, Kill von Kull, New York bay and the Hudson river;” and WHEREAS, George H. Cook, Robert C. Bacot and William M. Oliver were duly appointed commissioners for the purpose of said act; and WHEREAS, George H. Cook having died, Edwin A. Stevens was appointed in his stead, clothed with the same powers; and WHEREAS, The said commissioners acting for and on behalf of their respective states, have entered upon the performance of the duties imposed upon them by the said acts of their respective legislatures, and have, in pursuance of the authority to them severally given as aforesaid, agreed and hereby do agree upon a boundary line between the two states in lands under water in the Arthur kill, Kill von Kull, New York bay and the Hudson river, and do locate the same as follows: F rst. Starting from a point (at the conclusion of the boundary line in Raritan bay) and marked for the purposes of this agreement, A. This point is equidistant between the southwesterly corner of the dwelling-house of David C. Butler, at Ward’s point, on Staten Island, in the state of New York, and the southeasterly corner of the brick building on the lands of Cortlandt L. Parker, at the intersection of the westerly line of water street with the northerly line of Lewis street, in Perth Amboy, in the state of New Jersey. The line runs thence in a succession of straight lines through the Arthur kill, the Kill von Kull, New York bay and the Hudson river, to a point marked “JJ,” for the purposes of this agreement. This point “JJ,” is at the extreme northern limit of the boundary line in lands under water, and from this point the line runs westerly to a rock which is described in the report of the New York and New Jersey boundary commission of 1883 as marking the eastern end of the boundary line between New York and New Jersey, as determined upon by the royal boundary commission of 1769.

 

The absolute geographical locations of the point at the place of beginning and the point of conclusion are as follows:

 

POINT A (PLACE OF BEGINNING).

Latitude. Seconds in meters. Longitude. Seconds in meters (Latitude and longitude not given. Description sufficient.)

POINT JJ (PLACE OF CONCLUSION).Latitude.

Seconds in meters. Longitude. Seconds in meters.

40° 59′ 49″ 74 N. 1534.38 74° 53′ 38″ 57 W. 901.46

The points at which changes of direction occur in the boundary line, from the place of beginning to the place of conclusion, are for the purposes of this agreement lettered or numbered, and their determination and absolute geographical positions.

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Second. The monumental marks by which said boundary line shall hereafter be known and recognized have been carefully described, their absolute geographical positions given, and this description and location will be filed in the office of the secretary of state of New York and the secretary of state of New Jersey.

 

Third. The maps accompanying and filed with this agreement, showing the location of the above-mentioned boundary line between the state of New York and the state of New Jersey in lands under water in Arthur kill, Kill von Kull, New York bay and the Hudson river, and of the monumental marks by which such line may be distinguished and known, duly authenticated and attested by the signatures of the aforesaid commissioners, and placed on file in the offices of the secretaries of state of the respective states, shall constitute the permanent and authenticated record of said boundary line, and are hereby adopted by the parties hereto and made part of this agreement.

​

In witness whereof, the said commissioners have hereto set their hands and seals in duplicate, this twenty-third day of December, in the year of our Lord eighteen hundred and eighty-nine.

​

M. W. HAZELTINE. [L.S.]

ROBERT MOORE. [L.S.]

G. C. HANUS. [L.S.]

R. C. BACOT. [L.S.]W. M. OLIVER. [L.S.]E. A. STEVENS. [L.S.]Attest:EDWARD P. DOYLE,Secretary Joint Boundary Commission