48 SURVEY OF IDAHO-MONTANA BOUNDARY LINE. [bull. 
to a width of 12 inches, to insure more secure planting. The 
posts are set to a depth of 3 feet below the surface of the ground 
feet remaining above ground, and a conical mound of earth bei 
raised around them to a height of 2 feet. On the tops of the po* 
are riveted bronze caps, on which is cut appropriate lettering, a 
the number of the monument and the distance (in miles) from t 
international boundary are stamped in large figures. (See PI. VII 
In addition to the four stone monuments referred to. eighty-nine ir< 
monuments were placed. The sites for the monuments were chos< 
with reference to the topographic features of the country, instead 
being placed at even miles, as has usually been the custom on boun 
ary lines, but there are few intervals greater than a mile between tl 
monuments, the average interval being about three-fourths of a mil 
They were placed generally on summits, or near streams, roads, i 
trails, and so as to be intervisible when possible. Between the mon 
ments the line is thoroughly cut out, and adjacent trees are blazed, : 
that it can be readily recognized in any locality. 
The stone monuments were quarried at Medical Lake, Washingtoi 
and cost $14.50 apiece delivered at the railroad station nearest tl 
point at which they were established. The iron posts were made i 
St. Louis, and cost $2.08-J- delivered to the United States quartermast( 
at St. Louis. 
Previous to the work herein referred to no attempt had ever bee 
made to locate and mark the Idaho-Montana boundary line, but th 
engineers of the Northern Pacific and Great Northern railways ha 
estimated the points at which it crossed their tracks and establishe 
marks according to this estimation. The accepted crossing on th 
Northern Pacific was found to be about one-fourth of a mile west of th 
true line and that of the Great Northern about 1 mile east of the tru 
line along the railway track, but only about a half mile east thereof ii 
direct longitude. Kootenai County, Idaho, spent a considerable sue 
of money in grading a road up the mountain from Leonia towar< 
Sylvanite, which, when the boundary line was located soon after, wa 
found to be in Flathead Count} 7 , Montana. 
Each monument is wrtnessed by pits and mounds wherever practi 
cable, the pits being dug across the line distant 4 feet north and soutl 
of the post, and the mounds being 4 feet east and west thereof. Th< 
dimensions of the pits are 3 by 2 by 1-J feet, and the mounds wer< 
constructed from the excavated material. The monuments are fur- 
ther witnessed, usually by four blazed bearing trees, one in each quad 
rant. The two trees in Idaho at post 48, for instance, were deeplj 
engraved "Idaho P. 48 B. T.," and the two trees in Montana were 
marked in a corresponding manner. (See PI. IX. ) Under each monu 
ment was placed about a quart of charcoal. In the notes the distance 
and bearing to the witness trees were marked and the trees described 
