Lost Dakota was a small, uninhabited portion of land that was left over after the division and

organization An organization or organisation (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English; American and British English spelling differences#-ise, -ize (-isation, -ization), see spelling differences), is an legal entity, entity—such as ...

of the large former

Dakota Territory The Territory of Dakota was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from March 2, 1861, until November 2, 1889, when the final extent of the reduced territory was split and admitted to the Union as the states of N ...

into new territories in the late 19th century, which was overlooked by the federal government for years.

Geography

Lost Dakota was approximately in size, roughly a third the size of

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

. The exclave was located at the

tripoint A tripoint, trijunction, triple point, or tri-border area is a geographical point at which the boundaries of three countries or subnational entities meet. There are 175 international tripoints as of 2020. Nearly half are situated in rivers, l ...

between the current states of

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Montana and Wyomi ...

Wyoming Wyoming () is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho to the west, Utah to the southwest, and Colorado to the s ...

, and

Montana Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columb ...

. Lost Dakota was located 360 miles (580 km) west of the territory, which by then consisted of the current Dakota states. Its borders ran along the Continental Divide, parallel 44°30’ North, and the 111th meridian West.

History and current status

Officially, the land was still a remote part of the Dakota Territory; however, it had been forgotten by

the government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a ...

, wiped from any potential public view that it could have had for around five whole years due to faulty maps and surveys. It has retrospectively been speculated to have been a superb tactical area for

criminals In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definitions of", in Can ...

to escape the

law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vario ...

from, due to its forgotten location and lack of development; however, there is no evidence proving that criminals ever sought refuge in the exclave. In 1873, it was annexed and thereby incorporated into Gallatin County,

Montana Territory The Territory of Montana was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from May 26, 1864, until November 8, 1889, when it was admitted as the 41st state in the Union as the state of Montana. Original boundaries ...

, and has remained part of that county in the state of Montana ever since. Lost Dakota is extremely distant from settlement to this day and is completely undeveloped. It is without a street, road, or even a footpath as of 2010, and lacks any signs or maps to locate the uninhabited area. It is also reportedly "plagued" by grizzly bears.

References

{{Reflist 1873 disestablishments in the United States Exclaves in the United States Geography of Gallatin County, Montana Former exclaves Former regions and territories of the United States 1873 in Dakota Territory 1873 in Montana Territory

Geography

History and current status

See also

References