THE INTERNATIONAL BOUNDARY PARK, DeSoto Parish, Louisiana
Submitted by: Marylee Knight 


---------------------------------


**********************************************
Copyright.  All rights reserved.
http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm
**********************************************


----------------------------------------------------

      THE INTERNATIONAL BOUNDARY PARK 
   A Historic Site Near Logansport, Louisiana 



The International Boundary Line Park, located a few miles NNW of 
Logansport, Louisiana , on FM Road 31 has been created through the 
joint efforts of my people on both sides of the border of Texas 
and Louisiana. 

In 1938, Mr. Jake Watson of Beckville, TX, became interested in the 
unique boundary marker which is the bench mark for the overland 
portion of the U. S. Republic of Texas boundary, At that time the 
marker, long neglected, stood near a little used trail though the 
forest of East Texas. Over the years, Mr. Watson accumulated all the 
data available on the marker and it was through his interest and 
persistence that others, in time, came to know of it. Efforts were 
begun, after the new Logansport, Carthage Deadwood Road was put through, 
to establish the site as a state park with suitable recognition or the 
historic marker located there. Eventually, the following organizations 
contributed to the acquisition of the property and creation of the park: 

Mr. Jake Watson, Beckville, TX. 
DeSoto Parish Historical Society, Mansfield, LA. 

Logansport Development Company, Mr. Winn Phelps 

Harrison County Historical Society 

Texas State Historical Foundation 

Panola County Historical Society 

Texas State Highway Department 

Louisiana Department of Highways 

Logansport Chamber of Commerce, Mr. Ernest L. Beauvais 

The Family of Annie Lee Pace Sanders and Mr. James Wilson Sanders 


The International Boundary, now the boundary between Louisiana and Texas 
has a unique history, not only as the boundary between two empires and 
three Republics, but as one of the very few international boundaries that 
have never been the cause of, or the scene of, armed conflict between 
neighboring nations or states. 

Both France and Spain kept troops on the border and later Mexico and the 
United States both had garrisons there, but in spite of several fine 
opportunities, the troops never fought. Quite the contrary, these 
Garrisons, remote from authority, supply and countrymen, always 
became friends. They traded favors, priests, and produce; the Spanish 
and French intermarried and in spite of wars that shook the continent 
of Europe and inflamed the New World, this quiet frontier remained 
peaceful. Today the good people of Texas and Louisiana carry forward 
together the heritage of friendship and helpful cooperation between 
neighbors that has been inherited from the past.