Is Newport in Washington or Idaho? Surveyors Head North to Redraw the Line

A party of government surveyors has started the work of surveying the state boundary line between Washington and Idaho. The work was started at Lewiston, Idaho, at the junction of the Snake and Clearwater rivers, as provided in the act fixing the boundaries of the states. The engineers will run a line directly north from the junction of these streams to the British Columbia line, and will mark the line with permanent monuments. The survey will be made under the direction of Engineer Gannet, who has already established a point of beginning at the original monument at the junction of the streams.

Men and horses and a carload of equipment to be used on the survey reached Lewiston last week, and the work will be pushed from now on in the hope that it may be completed before the snowfall becomes too deep in the northern portions of the state. If possible the work will be completed this fall.

It is considered likely that the question of whether the majority portion of Newport is in Washington or Idaho will be known to the residents of this place by election time at least.

There is a question as to whether the surveyors on the work will change the lines. There appears to be a general impression that such will be the case, but some of the Washington correspondents assert that the surveyors are authorized to relocate the monuments placed by the surveyors on the original survey. They claim that these monuments were of a temporary character and have been obliterated to a large extent.

Newport and Moscow, Idaho, and Farmington and Tekoa, Washington, are the only places of importance that will be affected by the survey in case the engineers decide to locate a new state line. Newport's lines would be certain to be changed.