THE GEOLOGY OF MINNESOTA. 



[Boundaries. 



connections "to the most northwestern point of the lake of the Woods, and 

 thence on a due west course to the river Mississippi ;" thence down the 

 middle of that river to the thirty-first parallel of .latitude. It was defined 

 more carefully by the Webster- Ashburton treaty of Washington, August 9th, 

 1842, in the following words : 



" To the mouth of Pigeon river, and up the said stream to and through 

 the North and South Fowl lakes to the lakes of the hight of land between 

 lake Superior and the lake of the Woods ; thence along the water commu- 

 nication to lake Saisaginaga and through that lake ; thence to and through 

 Cypress lake, Lac du Bois Blanc, Lac la Croix, Little Vermilion lake and 

 lake Mamecan, and through the several smaller lakes, straits or streams 

 connecting the lakes here mentioned, to that point in Lac la Pluie, or Rainy 

 lake, at the Chaudiere falls, from which the commissioners traced the line 

 to the most northwestern point of the lake of the Woods ; thence along the 

 said line to the said most northwestern point, being in latitude forty-nine 

 degrees twenty -three minutes fifty -three seconds north, and in longitude 

 ninety-five degrees fourteen minutes thirty-eight seconds west from the 

 observatory at Greenwich ; thence, according to existing treaties, due south 

 to its intersection with the forty-ninth parallel of north latitude, and along 

 that parallel to the Rocky mountains; it being understood that all the 

 water communications and all the usual portages along the line from lake 

 Superior to the lake of the Woods, and also Grand Portage from the shore 

 of lake Superior to Pigeon river, as now actually used, shall be free and open 

 to the use of citizens and subjects of both countries." 



The "most northwestern point of the lake of the Woods" was found by 

 the joint "survey of the northern boundary of the United States," by com- 

 missioners on the part of the United States and Great Britain, in 1872, to be 

 in latitude 49 23' 50".28, and in longitude west from Greenwich 95 OS'56".7, 

 or about twenty-eight miles north of the forty-ninth parallel. This is the 

 most northern portion of the United States,* and the land area belonging 

 to the state of Minnesota, lying north of the forty-ninth parallel is stated 

 by Major Twining to be about 150 square miles. This irregularity in the 

 northern boundary was occasioned by a lack of geographical knowledge on 

 the part of those forming the treaty of October 20th, 1818, which specifies 



Excepting Alaska. 



