US Mountain/Central border at Fort Pierre SD

[Steve Jones]

If I might seek the wisdom of the list on a minor topic:

The current Mountain/Central boundary in the most recent official US 
DOT description (49CFR71.7, http://goo.gl/tqBou), has the border 
running right through Fort Pierre South Dakota.

Here is the relevant text:
> From the junction of the North Dakota-South Dakota boundary with 
> the Missouri River southerly along the main channel of that river 
> to the crossing of the original Chicago & North Western Railway 
> near Pierre; thence southwesterly to the northern boundary of Jones 
> County at the northeast corner of the NE 1, Sec. 6, T. 2 N., R. 30 
> E. [note: that's about 44.18635, -100.54646)

That makes a straight line from the railroad bridge north of town to 
44.18635, -100.54646, this line not making much sense in the context 
of what's on the ground.

A second-hand recent conversation with a Stanley County SD official 
was relayed to me, including the following:

>...The person with whom I spoke said the official dividing line is 
>the Bad River, which makes more
>sense than bisecting Fort Pierre.  ...  The communities along the 
>Bad River are so tiny (several houses each) that they don't have 
>official policies. The person with whom I spoke assumed they would 
>use Central Time because aside from Fort Pierre, there's no 
>significant populated place that's even close.

There are several common sense border adjustments I could make here 
and probably be more accurate than the DOT (with regards to what a 
traveler would encounter in the area).  Something like a line from 
the southern end of the dam at Lake Oahe southward to the Bad River, 
then following the Bad River soutwesterly to the northern border of 
Jones County... (and from that point rejoining the DOT description).

I would prefer to use some authoritative reference - if possible.

Any advice on how to proceed?  All I can think of is to try a 
reference librarian in Pierre.

Cheers,

Steve Jones 
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