Chapter 81. concerning settlement of boundary lines between New York and Connecticut
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CHAP. 81.— An Act concerning settlement of boundary lines between New York and Connecticut.Feb. 26, 1881. Whereas, commissioners duly appointed on the part of the State ofBoundary line between States of New York and Connecticut, settlement of.Preamble.Memorandum of agreement. New York, and commissioners duly appointed on the part of the State of Connecticut, for the purpose of settling the boundary line between said States, did execute an agreement in the words following, to wit:
" “Memorandum of agreement by and between the subscribers, commissioners of the States of New York and Connecticut, respectively, to settle the question of the boundaries between said States, being thereunto authorized by the resolutions of said States, respectively, passed by them as hereunto annexed. That is to say, we, Allen 0. Beach, secretary of State, Augustus Schoonmaker, attorney-general, and Horatio Seymour, junior, State engineer and surveyor, commissioners of the State of New York; and we, Origen S.
Seymour, Lafayette S. Foster, and William T. Minor, commissioners of the State of Connecticut, have agreed, and do hereby agree, to fix, determine, and establish the boundaries between our respective States, subject to the approval and ratification of the legislatures of our respective States, in the following manner: We agree that the boundary on the land constituting the western boundary of Connecticut and the eastern boundary of the State of New York shall be, and is, as the same was defined by monuments erected by commissioners appointed by the legislature of the State of New York, and completed in the year eighteen hundred and sixty: the said boundary line extending from Byram Point, (formerly called Lyons Point) on the south to the line of the State of Massachusetts on the north.
And we further agree that the boundary on the sound shall be, and is, as follows: Beginning at a point in the center of the channel about six hundred feet south of the extreme rocks of Byram Point, marked number 0 on appended United States Coast Survey chart; thence running in a true southeast course three and one quarter statute miles; thence in a straight line (the arc of a great circle) northeasterly to a point four statute miles true south of New London Light House; thence northeasterly to a point marked number one on the annexed United States Coast Survey chart of Fisher’s Island Sound, which point is on the long east three-quarters north sailing course drawn ou said map, and is about one thousand feet northerly from the Hammock or N.
Dumpling Light House; thence following the said east three-quarters north sailing course as laid down on said map, easterly to a point marked number two on said map; thence southeasterly toward a point marked number three on said map, so far as said States are coterminus: *Provided, however,* That nothing in the*Proviso* foregoing agreement contained shall be construed to affect existing titles to property, corporeal or incorporeal, held under grants heretofore made by either of said States, nor to affect existing rights which said States, or either of them, or which the citizens of either of said States, may have by grant, letters patent, or prescription of fishing in the waters of said sound, whether for shell or floating fish, irrespective of the boundary line hereby established, it not being the purpose of this agreement to define, limit, or interfere with any such right, rights, or privileges, whatever the same may be. 352 FORTY-SIXTH CONGRESS.
SESS. III. Ch. 81, 82, 90. 1881. “In witness whereof we have hereunto set our hand to this instrument, and to a duplicate thereof, December eighth, eighteen hundred and seventy-nine. “ALLEN C. BEACH, “Secretary of State, “AUGUSTUS SCHOONMAKER, “Attorney General, “HORATIO SEYMOUR, JR, “State Engineer and Surveyor, “Commissioners of the State of New York. “ORIGEN S. SEYMOUR, “LAFAYETTE S. FOSTER, “WILLIAM T. MINOR, “Commissioners of the State of Connecticut”, " and Whereas said agreement has been confirmed by the legislatures of said States of New York and Connecticut respectively:
Therefore, *Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled*Approval of Congress., That the consent of the Congress of the United States be, and hereby is, given to said agreement, and to each and every part thereof; and the boundaries established by said *Proviso.*Rights of the United States and jurisdiction of United States courts preserved.agreement are hereby approved: *Provided, however,* That nothing herein contained shall be construed to impair or in any manner to affect any right of the United States or jurisdiction of its courts in and over the islands or waters which form the subject of said agreement.
Approved, February 26, 1881.