If you think locating the original configurations of Route 66 is difficult today, listen to this true story recorded in the Shattuck, Oklahoma History Book. The town is located on Wolf Creek very near the Texas/Oklahoma border some distance north of Route 66.
History states the entire area was home to the Indians until the 1500s when the Spanish Conquistadors began passing through in the years 1541, 1601 and 1634. England, Spain and France all claimed the area at various times until the Louisiana Purchase in 1819 making the United States the new owner.
During all changes in ownership previously the boundaries had been loosely defined, but in 1819 the first defined wording was introduced. A part of the eastern boundary was described as, “starting at a point on the Red River where the 100th meridian crosses the stream, thence north to the Arkansas River.”
The description was universally accepted but with no natural landmarks prominent from end to end nor along the way, and since the line crossed open, rough grasslands the actual location became a problem. Since this was the line between two countries and would eventually become the line between the states of Texas and Oklahoma, the actual location of this meridian became significant.
Webster’s Dictionary says, “a meridian is a great circle on the surface of the earth passing through the poles and numbered for longitude.” Actually, it is an imaginary line, involving higher mathematics and fixed stars, like fixing a ship’s position at sea.
Five different surveys were made in 1853, 1859, 1892,1902 and 1930 each placing the line at different locations. Between 1859 and 1930, the line was “officially” moved four times. Texas had become a state and most surveys of land sold to settlers started at the 100th meridian. Imagine the confusion in trying to find the correct property line with the starting point constantly being moved.
The controversial site of the “moving meridian” was settled by a survey finished in 1930. An astronomical and geodetic engineer named Samuel Gannett started in 1927, worked mostly at night to avoid shimmering heat waves, finishing in 1929. He took fixations on the stars, then placed concrete markers every .66 of a mile along the one-hundred thirty-four miles of boundary. It is touted today as the most scientifically accurate boundary line in the United States.
In 1930, one-hundred eleven years after the 100th meridian was designated as the boundary by treaty, the Supreme Court ruled the “Gannett Line” was the true meridian location. Oddly enough, the new line was placed almost exactly at the original survey line made in 1853 giving some 85,750 acres back to Texas.
A humorous footnote states that for forty-five years, one early settler in the “strip” lived in the same house which never moved, yet the man had “officially” lived in one Territory, two states and three counties during that time.
From this information we can assume a mile-long stretch of Route 66 from Texola west, remained in limbo as to whether it was located in Texas or Oklahoma from 1926 until the Supreme Court decision in 1930.
Almost every word about Route 66 is written from a historical perspective. Ironically, but hardly ever mentioned, the old road had to be conceived, planned and constructed from a geographical perspective.
The twists and turns of Route 66 history resemble that of the original highway right-of-way. To be correct in any Route 66 fact, the exact time the fact happened must first be established.