And State Papers 665 



tion on either side of the border left the question 

 dormant. In 1878, questions of revenue adminis- 

 tration on the Stikine River led to the establishment 

 of a provisional demarcation, crossing the channel 

 between two high peaks on either side about twenty- 

 four miles above the river mouth. In 1899, similar 

 questions growing out of the extraordinary develop- 

 ment of mining interests in the region about the 

 head of Lynn Canal brought about a temporary 

 modus vivendi, by which a convenient separation 

 was made at the watershed divides of the White 

 and Chilkoot passes and to the north of Klukwan, 

 on the Klehini River. These partial and tentative 

 adjustments could not, in the very nature of things, 

 be satisfactory or lasting. A permanent disposition 

 of the matter became imperative. 



After unavailing attempts to reach an understand- 

 ing through a Joint High Commission, followed by 

 prolonged negotiations, conducted in an amicable 

 spirit, a convention between the United States and 

 Great Britain was signed, January 24, 1903, pro- 

 viding for an examination of the subject by a mixed 

 tribunal of six members, three on a side, with a view 

 to its final disposition. Ratifications were exchanged 

 on March 3 last, whereupon the two governments 

 appointed their respective members. Those on be- 

 half of the United States were Elihu Root, Secretary 

 of War; Henry Cabot Lodge, a Senator of the 

 United States, and George Turner, an ex-Senator 

 of the United States, while Great Britain named the 

 Right Honorable Lord Alverstone, Lord Chief Jus- 



I2-VOL. XIV 



