October 6, 2023
THE RIVER IS OURS:
Perambulation (Steven Porter and Amanda Gokee, October 6, 2023, Boston Globe New Hampshire Report)
Two attorneys general will meet up on Friday for a mandatory stroll, all because things got testy between New Hampshire and Vermont a century ago.
In the early 1900s, New Hampshire officials sought to tax businesses and property on the western bank of the Connecticut River, which divides the two states. A full-blown border dispute ensued.Vermont filed a lawsuit in 1915, claiming the state line ran down the center of the river. New Hampshire claimed its boundary stretched to the top of the river's westerly bank. Ultimately, a special master appointed by the US Supreme Court decided in 1933 that the boundary was the low water mark on the river's western side (i.e., "the line to which the river recedes at its lowest stage, without reference to extreme droughts").
Both states then enacted laws to ensure that the monuments marking the boundary between them would be recognized and maintained in perpetuity. Those requirements call for the two attorneys general to work together on a "perambulation of the boundary line" every seven years.In recognition of those statutory requirements, Vermont Attorney General Charity R. Clark and New Hampshire Attorney General John M. Formella will connect late Friday morning at the border of Norwich, Vt., and Hanover, N.H., much like their predecessors did in 2012.
Posted by Orrin Judd at October 6, 2023 12:46 PM