MARKING THE ALASKAN BOUNDARY 



595 



the representatives of the American and 

 Canadian governments, custom-houses 

 were established and court decisions took 

 the place of the rude justice dispensed by 

 miners' meetings. With the new order 

 of things came also the necessity of a de- 

 termined line between the two countries. 



The United States claimed, under the 

 old Russian treaty, a line running up 

 Portland Canal to the 56th parallel of 

 north latitude, thence to follow the sum- 

 mit of the coast range to its intersection 

 with the 141st meridian. In the absence 

 of a definite mountain range near the 

 coast, the line was to be not more than 

 ten marine leagues distant from tide 

 water. 



Canada claimed that the line should 

 follow the coast range paralleling the 

 general contour of the coast, and cutting 

 across all inlets and fiords. 



There were other contentions of minor 

 importance, but the real trouble was that 

 Canada thought she was entitled to a 

 seaport which would allow of shipments 

 through Canadian territory to the now 

 valuable Klondike. 



As to the 141st meridian being the rest 

 of the boundary, there was no dispute. 

 This line starts at a ridge of Mount 

 Saint Elias and runs through to Demar- 

 cation Point on the Arctic Ocean. 



Maps showing a strip of land along the 

 coast were made, archives were rum- 

 maged, every available bits of history 

 and tradition were searched, and the 

 whole mass submitted as evidence to a 

 tribunal of three Americans, two Cana- 

 dians, and one Englishman, which met in 

 London in 1903.* The sifting of the 

 evidence required months. The opposing 

 counsel helped by the geographic experts 

 put forth their best arguments, a vote 

 was taken, and the result showed four to 

 two for the LTnited States, the Lord 

 Chief Justice of England, Lord Alver- 

 stone, casting his vote with the Ameri- 

 cans. 



* For an account of this famous boundary 

 dispute see "The Alaskan Boundary," by John 

 W. Foster, formerly Secretary of State, No- 

 vember, 1899, Nat. Geog. Mag., and "The 

 Alaskan Boundary Tribunal," by John W. 

 Foster, January, 1904, Nat. Geog. Mag. 



Photo by T. Riggs, Jr. 



TRIPOD OBSERVING PLATFORM AND 

 TRIANGULATION SIGNAL 



Black Sand Island, near Yakutat Bay. A 

 station elevated so as to look over near-by 

 timber. The instrument tripod is separate 

 from the observing platform, so that there 

 shall be no jar. Built from drift wood. The 

 barrel was picked up on the beach. 



Naturally the Canadian representatives 

 felt greatly disappointed, but the evi- 

 dence was too conclusive to allow of any 

 other outcome. 



Then came the question of what 

 mountains constituted the coast range. 

 In places a compromise was effected de- 

 parting slightly from the claims of the 

 United States. 



It was decided that certain well-defined 

 peaks on the mountains fringing the coast 

 should constitute the main points on the 

 boundary. Lord Alverstone, wielding a 



