jan 8, 1715 - Principal Meridian

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President James Madison orders a survey of the Louisiana District in order to divide and distribute military bounty lands. Surveyors Prospect K. Robbins and Joseph Brown establish the principal meridian and baseline for subsequent surveys of Louisiana Purchase lands beginning on October 27, at an initial point located in a headwater swamp where present-day Lee, Monroe and Phillips Counties intersect. Arkansas, still part of Missouri territory, is divided into two counties: Lawrence, north of the Arkansas River, and Arkansas, mostly south of the stream.

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