Nebraska’s northern border is conspicuously marked every one-half mile with large pink-colored quartzite stone monoliths. For the past 130 years, they have stood as lone sentinels, often providing the only physical location of the line between neighboring states. When Dakota Territory was created from a portion of the original Nebraska Territory on March 2, 1861, the boundary between these two territories became the 43rd Parallel to the west of the intersection of the parallel with the Keya Paha River. East of this location, however, in what is now Boyd County, the original boundary between the two territories was the channel of the Keya Paha River flowing southeast to the Niobrara River and then following this river east to the Missouri River.

The territorial boundary that later coincided as the state boundary west of the Keya Paha River to the common corner of Nebraska, Dakota, and Wyoming was surveyed in 1874 by Omaha surveyor Chauncey Wiltse. Wooden posts in mounds of earth were placed at one-mile intervals starting with Milepost 0 (zero) at the Keya Paha River and increasing in number to the west for just over 224 miles. On March 28, 1882, an act of Congress extended the 43rd Parallel east from the Keya Paha River to the Missouri River to create a new boundary between the State of Nebraska and Dakota Territory. South Dakota attained its statehood on November 2, 1889. On August 5, 1892, Congress appropriated $20,000, or so much thereof as may be necessary, to resurvey the original northern state line of Nebraska and the new portion obtained in 1882 that had not been surveyed. On December 23, 1892, the government began advertising for bids which needed to be accompanied with a certified check in the amount of $500.

Photo by Rollin Curd, http://www.penryfamily.com/surveying/nwcorner.html

The quartzite posts were to come from a quarry at Sioux Falls. Full mile posts were to be 10” square and 7’ long. One-half mile posts were to be 8” square and 6’ long. Engraving would be “N” on the south face, “SD” on the north face and the mile or half mile number with the letter “M” on the east face of each post. Bids were opened on January 28, 1893. Receiving the lowest bid in the sum of $9535.50 was Samuel C. Shelton of Springfield, South Dakota. Others who had bid on the project immediately became vocal that Shelton was not a surveyor, nor did he possess any equipment or expertise to perform the job. Shelton then admitted that he had only bid on the project as a money-making venture and had intended to sublet it to a competent surveyor.

Upon revelation of the low bids, several qualified engineering companies said the project could not be performed for less than $17,000 by anyone, noting that the cost of the stone monuments alone would be at least $5,000 and it would likely cost an equal amount to freight them to the various sites along the line. By comparison, the lowest bid to perform the survey and place the similar posts along the South Dakota/North Dakota boundary in 1891-92 was $21,300. After much debate, Shelton was removed from the contract and a re-advertisement was made on April 3, 1893, containing wording that bidders needed to be a bona fide surveyor. This second time, the bids were opened on May 6, 1893, and Joseph H. Jenkins of Winona, Minnesota, was the lowest qualified bidder in the amount of $11,700. Twenty bids had been received with a high bid of $24,950 to the low bid by Jenkins. The contract to have Jenkins survey the entire state line and to place approximately 525 quartzite posts was made with the government on May 20, 1893. His first task was to resurvey the state line west of the Keya Paha River and place the stone markers where the wooden posts had been placed in 1874 and to also place one-half mile stone posts between the full mile posts. This work was performed between July 24 and August 16, 1893.

Jenkins then focused on the unsurveyed line going east from the Keya Paha River. Since the 43rd Parallel is a curved line, a transit with a solar attachment had to be utilized to stay on the curve instead of merely surveying in a straight line. Similar to the line going west, the mileposts would also begin with 0 (zero) at the Keya Paha River and increase in numerical order going east. Therefore, the mileposts along the state line are duplicated in number going both east and west of the Keya Paha River. Jenkins began this work going east on the state line on September 21, 1893. The line between Keya Paha and Boyd counties was crossed two days later on September 23. This northwestern corner of Boyd County on the state line falls between Mileposts 20 and 20½. The line was surveyed and marked until reaching Milepost 57½. Since the remaining distance to the Missouri River was less than a full mile, a special monument known as the Terminal Monument was placed in a protected location west of the river on October 2, 1893. It was marked 57 M 72.70 C which represents 57 miles and 72.70 chains. As the line was measured by two independent set of chainmen (measurers), temporary stakes were placed at the locations for the permanent monuments. Jenkins finished placing the quartzite monuments on October 12, 1893, and returned to Minnesota.

Jenkins submitted his notes and plats to the government on May 21, 1894. An examination was then made of his work in August of 1894 and was found to be complete and well performed. Formal acceptance was made on December 15, 1894, and Jenkins was subsequently paid. Soon thereafter, on July 11, 1895, Jenkins became ill and died at the age of 59. It is highly doubtful that Jenkins made much money on the project and most likely had lost quite a bit. He had to pay his crew and pay the expense of the monuments during the survey, but he would personally not get paid by the government until his work was approved. The portion of the state line along Boyd County is approximately 38 miles long. Beginning with Milepost 20½, and continuing east to the Missouri River, there were a total of 76 quartzite posts placed along Boyd County’s northern border consisting of 37 monuments at the full mile locations, 38 monuments at the one-half mile locations and one for the terminal monument. Exactly how many of these monuments still remain in their original locations today is unclear. At least one at Milepost 28 had to be removed when it fell within the highway curve north of Naper. Despite their size, other posts have been the victims of theft along the entire state line since they possess a fascination to curio seekers who do not understand their importance. Although these stone monuments are not section corners that define the boundaries of land, they were used when the section lines needed to terminate upon the state line and distances were measured from the mileposts to the section corners

 

Author Jerry Penry Chief Deputy State Surveyor Nebraska State Surveyors Office, originally published in the Naper Paper, Volume 21, Issue 3, Page 4 (https://www.napernebraska.org/)