Michael,
Does
this discussion have any bearing on the status of AR-OK-TX tri-point? As
I
recall we thought it was wet, but at the OK-TX corner
it should be on the bank.
According to bus&ss it continues on the south bank
to the N-S line that comes
up
from the 32nd parallel at the Sabine River. So, on the short stretch of the
river
east
of the OK-TX corner the line continues on the south bank and there
should
be a
true tri-point. Or is this one of those places where the river has
shifted?
Jack
for kevin
joe or anyone else interested in seeking the most
punctilious possible
truth here
first a fast easy crash course in fractal maths
http://mathcentral.uregina.ca/QQ/database/qq.09.95/lewis1.html
http://www.exploratorium.edu/complexity/lexicon/fractals.html
http://www.mindgames.com/mb.phtml
http://www.calresco.org/fractal.htm
&
then the actual legal definition of the actual boundary sector we
have
been talking about
from bus&ss
as follows
the boundary has
been defined since 1824 or earlier as
the right or south bank of the red
river
& this was accepted by the supreme court in 1896
&
reaffirmed in 1921
but as for what constitutes this bank
it was
necessary for the court to add in 1923
the bank intended is the waterwashed
& relatively permanent
elevation or acclivity at the outer line of the
river bed which
separates the bed from the adjacent upland
& the
boundary intended is on & along the bank at the average or
mean level
attained by the waters in the periods when they reach
& wash the bank
without overflowing it
the bed of the stream was defined as including
all of the area
which is kept practically bare of vegetation by the wash
of the
waters of the river from year to year
& excluding the
lateral valleys which have the characteristics of
relatively fast land
& usually are covered by upland grasses &
vegetation
tho
temporarily overflowed in exceptional instances when the
river is at
flood
so the boundary is defined
indeed far more definitely than
most river boundaries
& one could follow if not actually measure it by
this definition as
recently as 1923
along a visible water line that
had been formed on visible
individual sand particles clinging to a
bank
however
this line in the sand has certainly changed
microscopically but actually
not only with every splash of the river
ever since 1923
but with every gust of wind as well
etc etc
& it
has kept gaining &or losing a particle here &or a particle
there
happily ever after
highly streamlined approximations of that
original boundary line
but of course not the particulate boundary line
itself
are preserved in places on the usgs topos
where they are
labelled for that reason approximate boundary
but the actual &
exact boundary represented by those
approximations cant even be known any
longer today
nor can it ever be truly measured
unless its definition
is changed in such a way as to make it
measurable
i hope that
helps anyone who wanted it
& of course you are all free to believe
whatever you like
but in bp terms
which is to say
punctologically speaking
there is such a thing as best available
truth
& reaching for it is a big part of our play here all the
time
& i feel we have long since reached it on this
question