Receiver Bridge

This was not the first Red River boundary case. In 1896 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the Greer County case that the land between the river's forks belonged to the United States, costing Texas 1,511,576 acres. When the Northwest Extension pool turned out to reach under the riverbed, the old question of Indian headright titles came back. The Handbook of Texas says militia of both states and the Texas Rangers clashed several times, a bridge was burned, oilfield equipment was destroyed and property was seized. The river boundary was still in dispute as late as 1987.

What the plaque says

A natural border of the Louisiana Territory when it was acquired by the United States in 1803. The Red River later served as a boundary between the states of Texas and Oklahoma. The exact location for the line of separation was challenged in 1920 soon after an extension of the Burkburnett oil field led to increased drilling activity in the area, including the banks and the bed of the stream. Since the Red River meandered, causing wide flood plains, the state of Oklahoma initiated a suit to determine ownership of the land. By authority of the United States Supreme Court, the disputed land was temporarily placed under the jurisdiction of the federal government. Frederick A. Delano, whose nephew Franklin Delano Roosevelt later became president of the United States, was named as the receiver in charge of the property. As part of his plan of supervision, he had a one-lane wooden bridge (2.5 miles North) built to the center of the river, providing access to the drilling sites. The boundary between the two states was set as the south bank of the Red River in 1923. It was not until four years later that a special commission completed the actual survey work. The bridge was partially destroyed later during a 1935 flood. (1981)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• World's Littlest Skyscraper — 17 mi
  A four-story brick tower in downtown Wichita Falls, 40 feet tall and 10 feet wide, the leftover of a 1919 oil-boom office deal in which, the story goes, investors misread inches as feet.
• Kell House Museum — 17 mi
  The 1909 Classic Revival house of Frank Kell, the miller and railroad builder who helped make Wichita Falls a city, shown by guided tour with its family furniture still in place.
• Lake Arrowhead State Park — 29 mi
  A prairie park on the north shore of the Wichita Falls water-supply lake, which drowned the town of Halsell in 1965-66, with mesquite campsites, a lighted pier and more than 200 bird species.

More markers nearby

• Bridgetown — 0.6 mi
• Trinity Lutheran Church — 1.0 mi
• Thrift — 3.1 mi
• Northwest Extension Oilfield — 3.1 mi