I found my notional tripoint south of the airport by using a one-foot
ruler and a map on which Bayou Pierre Lake and the 32° x 94° confluence
are eleven inches apart. I then found the Sabine-Red drainage divide
along the ruler. How near the notional tripoint lands to the airport,
though, depends on the precise termini of the northern geodesic of the
Neutral Ground [NG]. Let's see if we can refine those termini. In
doing so, we must realize that the descriptions that we have are more in
the way of allocation than of delimitation.
Haggard's rendering of General Salcedo's description of the eastern
terminus reads: "...along this bayou to the west bank of Bayou Pierre
Lake at Bayou Pierre settlement." Since the BP settlement was an extant
community, and inhabitation of the NG was to be prohibited, the clear
intent is that the NG would extend up the bayou to the BP settlement but
would not include it. Indeed, the BP settlers stayed put through the
era of the NG, and the joint US-Spanish military expedition designed to
rid the NG of illegal settlers did not molest them. So, wherever we
eventually decide the BP settlement was, the terminus must be just
downstream of it. I have some clues as to the settlement's location,
but those require additional digging before they are ready for prime
time. Stay tuned.
Haggard's description of the geodesic and its western terminus, which he
attributes to Davenport, is thus: "The northern boundary of the Neutral
Ground was a straight line running in a southwesterly [southwestward]
direction from the Bayou Pierre settlement to a point crossed by the
thirty-second parallel of north latitude and the intersection of the
ninety-fourth degree line of longitude and the Sabine River." I knew
all along that the parallel, the meridian, and the river did not meet at
a single point. That would be near impossible. As your rude awakening
showed, these three lines intersect at three distinct points within a
two-mile radius. Since the wording does not admit of perfect
reconciliation, we must do the best we can. The most obvious choice is
to use the degree confluence point (
http://www.confluence.org/confluence.php?lat=32&lon=-94 ) and then
stitch to the river by prolongation along the same bearing. There might
be other solutions, such as using a point mathematically intermediate
between the three points, then a stitch to the nearest point on the
river.
Lowell G. McManus
Leesville, Louisiana, USA
----- Original Message -----
From: "aletheia kallos" <aletheiak@...>
To: <boundarypoint@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Sunday, September 24, 2006 1:05 AM
Subject: Re: [BoundaryPoint] Re: stretching the quest for a real
stretchable latex tripoint to stretch
> thats comforting
> & i would like to learn your method of getting there
> too
> even as i clownishly extemporized my own landing at
> the airport runway crossing
> for i could just as easily have picked anywhere else
> within this best guessed square mile or so of target
> area too
>
> but i have just realized there is an inconvenient fact
> or 2 to dispose of first
>
> for it turns out there actually is no trijunction of
> the 32nd parallel & 94th meridian with the sabine
> river
> oops
> nor even with the entire toledo bend reservoir that so
> enlarges that general target area for us today
> oops again
> & in fact there is nothing even remotely resembling
> such a trijunction there
>
> for the cursor cross on this map marks the exact
> n32x94w point
> http://www.topozone.com/map.asp?lat=31.99994&lon=-93.99999&s=200&size=l&u=6&datum=nad83&layer=DRG
>
> & thus there is actually 2 or 3 miles of play here at
> the west end of haggards arbitrary closing line
> to perfectly match the 2 or 3 miles of play we have
> already found in bayou pierre lake at the east end of
> it
>
> so there isnt really a closing line possibility at all
> yet but rather only a very crude 2 or 3 mile wide
> closing strip from end to end
>
> but
> if we can somehow manage to shrink the width of that
> strip down to the thickness of an actual line
> then i believe i have discovered a workable
> methodology for nailing the tripoint
> using the google earth measuring line tool in
> combination with the mouse pointer altitude registry &
> the contour feature etc
>
> i even went so far as to begin my measurement on
> chicot island here
> http://www.topozone.com/map.asp?lat=32.10587&lon=-93.55704&s=200&size=l&u=4&datum=nad27&layer=DRG
> since it is the only named feature in the lake area on
> google earth & it does rather nominate itself as the
> grand central terminal of that entire neighborhood
>
> the first attachment shows my first try with the start
> of this line
>
> for of course the rude awakening didnt occur to me
> until i tried to end this line on the sabine at
> n32x94w
> hence no attachment to show the other end just yet
>
> but in the meantime a second inconvenient fact arose
> which is that the only obvious site for a settlement
> on bayou pierre lake is along the shore due west of
> chicot island
> where a cemetery & present settlement etc are still
> indicated
> & which thus might only be partly included in the
> neutral ground by a closing line begun from chicot
> island
>
> so clearly my closing line would be better to include
> all of that shore
>
> so i thought again & selected instead of this island
> the northernmost point of the lake for the beginning
> point of my improved closing line
> as shown by the cursor cross here
> http://www.topozone.com/map.asp?lat=32.11972&lon=-93.55324&size=l&u=4&datum=nad27&layer=DRG25
> as well as by the little red starting square in my
> second attachment
> with the idea in view of solving the messy conundrum
> on the sabine river end of the closing line by
> choosing the correspondingly northernmost feasible
> point there too
>
> & i suppose i should ask you first if there isnt some
> clear preference indicated in your sources for any 2
> of the 3 data that so sold you on the correctness of
> this allegedly but not really multicoincident terminal
> point
>
> but all else being equal in your experience
> i think the 2 data i would choose to honor there would
> naturally be the ones that produce the correspondingly
> most inclusive result
>
> hence the river & the parallel rather than the
> meridian
>
> or in other words i would place the western terminal
> of the closing line right about here
> http://www.topozone.com/map.asp?lat=31.99993&lon=-94.04592&s=100&size=l&u=6&datum=nad83&layer=DRG
> & also as shown by the completed closing line in my
> third attachment
>
>
> well
> it is getting late
> so i think i will wait til morning to proceed
> in case you do have some different data or preferences
> to add in
> but i think you can already see where i am headed next
> with this
>
> toward a highly presumptious but still best available
> & most inclusive possible & indeed totally stretched
> out notional lalatxtx
> wherever i find the sabine red divide actually crosses
> my closing line