The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 66, July 1962 - April, 1963 Page: 422

Southwestern Historical Quarterly

Highway 281. Presumably, it was this flood which caused the
enormous change in the valley lands of the Big Bend.9
The instability of location, together with the difficulty occa-
sioned by efforts on the part of any common citizen to locate it
at any given time, would seem to justify an effort on the part of
Texas to seek a re-examination of the situation by proper United
States government authority to determine the desirability of giv-
ing to Texas the southern half of the channel. The only reason
for continued Federal ownership would appear to inhere in the
possibility that somewhere along its course as the boundary, oil
may again be discovered-an eventuality in which Federal in-
terests could be safeguarded easily by the United States retaining
all mineral rights. This would in no way hurt Texas' interests,
because under present conditions Texas has neither mineral nor
surface rights and state sovereignty over the surface seems to be
both right and highly desirable for a number of reasons.
For example, Oklahoma now has the responsibility of admin-
istering all laws north of the south bank. How are its peace,
revenue, or game and fish officers to know when sought offenders
are within their jurisdiction? The case is related of some hunters
on the Texas side violating game laws beyond the south cut-bank.
Apprehended by an Oklahoma warden and told they must ac-
company him to Oklahoma to answer charges he proposed to file
in Cotton County, the men offered no resistance but asked to
go back to inform their wives, waiting up on the bluff, of their
predicament. The obliging officer accompanied them, and upon
reaching indisputably high ground was told, "Now, you d--d so
and so, we are in Texas. You get the hell back to Oklahoma."
And he did! At least, so goes the story.
Another case involved a prominent Oklahoma lawyer, who,
having crossed into Texas to get wherewithal to slake his thirst,
was arrested by Oklahoma officers who stopped his car as soon
as it passed the point on the bridge directly over the apparent
south cut-bank into the then prohibition state of Oklahoma.
Both these incidents were told as being factual; the second by
a highly creditable member of the University of Texas Law School.
'Texas Highway Department, Austin, Texas.

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