Georgia state senators push litigation in Tennessee border dispute

Jeff Gill in the Gainesville Times examines the brilliant new way of addressing water and climate issues – an asinine legal battle against a neighboring state that has water. It’s even better when their justification involve a two-century-old survey: The Georgia Senate has approved a resolution seeking to resolve a longstanding border dispute with Tennessee and shore up Georgia’s water supply in the process.

Today’s vote was 48-2, with an amendment added, directing the attorney general to start litigation if no agreement is reached with Tennessee. In essence, the legislative measure would allow Tennessee to keep 66 square miles and Georgia to take in 1 1/2 acres and give access to the Tennessee River.

“The Tennessee Valley Authority has identified the Tennessee River as a likely source of water for North Georgia,” said Sen. David Shafer, R-Duluth. ”Yet the State of Tennessee has used mismarked boundary lines to block our access to this important waterway.”

Georgia’s streams and creeks “feed the Tennessee River,” Shafer said. “In fact, over 6 percent of the water of the Tennessee River originates in Georgia.” House Resolution 4 now returns to the House for agreement on amendments made by the Senate.

The dispute stems from an 1818 survey that improperly placed the Georgia-Tennessee boundary one mile south of the mutually agreed-upon border at the 35th parallel….

A beautiful example of Finley's important 1827 map of Tennessee. Depicts the state with moderate detail in Finley's classic minimalist style. Shows river ways, roads, canals, and some topographical features. Offers color coding at the county level. Title and scale in upper left quadrant. Finley's map of Tennessee is particularly interesting and important due to its portrayal of the rapidly changing American Indian situation in the south eastern part of the state. In 1827 a substantial part of southeastern Tennessee and northwestern Georgia was a confined territory assigned to the Lower Creek and Cherokee nations. Finley's map details the borders of this country as defined by the Tennessee and Hiwasssee Rivers. Also notes American Indian villages and missionary stations, including the Brainerd Mission, within and adjacent to the Cherokee territory. Just four years after this map was made the Creek and Cherokee would forcibly relocated westward in the infamous Trail of Tears. Engraved by Young and Delleker for the 1827 edition of Anthony Finley's General Atlas .