ritory of the United States and those of his Britanic majesty 

 and that said line shall form the Northern boundary of the 

 said United States and the Southern boundary of the terri- 

 tories of his Britanic majesty from the Lake of the Woods to 

 the Stony Mountains." 



This second article of the convention of 1818, ended a 

 boundary discussion of thirty years' standing, but it could not 

 be considered a practical settlement that being yet a long 

 way off. 



In 1823 a party of astronomers and engineers went to Lake 

 of the Woods to determine the exact northwest angle of 

 the lake. This attempt proved a failure, nothing being deter- 

 mined. The party made a futile but earnest effort to locate 

 the angle to the north and west of Rat Portage or Kenora, 

 Ontario. 



y lt was not until 1842, in the Webster Ashburton treaty, that 

 a definite understanding of the disputed angle was reached, 

 though the point decided upon was not really the most north- 

 western point of the lake, there being a point some few miles 

 further west and north in Shoal lake or Plat lake, a huge bay 

 or arm of the main Lake of the Woods. 



However, the point thus decided on is the one now used as 

 the boundary and the line so drawn throws into Minnesota a 

 small tract of land of about 150,000 acres covered with cedar 

 swamps. This cannot be reached on land without passing 

 through Canadian territory lying as it does on the northwest 

 shore of the Grand Traverse of the lake. Up to the last few 

 years geographers left this tract out entirely, making the 

 boundary run down the Rainy river and then directly west on 

 the 49th parallel. The later maps, however, show this pe- 

 culiar boundary caused by the geographical ignorance of these 

 first great men of our country. 



The first of a series of articles on the state parks, forests and 

 lakes appears in this issue of the North Woods. In subsequent 

 issues, Itasca, Burntside, Pillsbury State Forests, the Interstate 

 Park at the Dalles of the St. Croix, the proposed state park at 

 the Dalles of the St. Louis, some of the larger lakes, and sonic 

 of the smaller parks, will be taken up. 



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