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SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXVI. No. 655 



way. The land tlius surrounded by water is 

 named Maple Island. 



1860. Map of the loundary line letween 

 British America and the United States. Ac- 

 companying Hind's report on the Assiniboine 

 and Saskatchewan Exploring Expedition. 

 London Edition. This map shows excellently 

 not only the international boundary route but 

 also the more northern water route along 

 which the body of water flows from Saganaga 

 Lake to Eainy Lake, west from which the 

 margin cuts it off. 



1860. Map of the country from Lahe Su- 

 perior to the Pacific Ocean. Accompanying 

 Hind's report on the Assiniboine and Sas- 

 katchewan Exploring Expedition. London 

 Edition. While showing the, same two routes 

 as the last mentioned map, this shows the two 

 routes that lead from Eainy Lake to Lake of 

 the Woods. 



Several later Canadian maps plainly de- 

 lineate the routes of canoe travel between 

 Lake Superior and Lake of the Woods, viz., 

 Dawson's and the maps of the Geological Sur- 

 vey. 



Conclusions. It is plain, therefore, that the 

 proposition of the British commissioner (Os- 

 wald) was designed to carry the international 

 boundary to the outlet of the Lake of the 

 Woods and thence " westward to the Missis- 

 sippi." 



It is plain also that in London the British 

 geographers so understood the terms of the 

 treaty of 1789, and further that the line was 

 to leave Lake Superior at " 3 Eivers," i. e., 

 at the mouth of Kamanistigouia River. 



It was then supposed, and is now demon- 

 strated, that westward from Lake Saganaga, 

 nearly all the way to Lake of the Woods, there 

 are two canoe routes of travel which unite in 

 the same waters only in passing through 

 Eainy Lake, the northern route carrying the 

 main water-flow eastward from Eainy Lake, 

 and the southern one westward from that lake. 



In order to reach the most northwestern 

 point of the Lake of the Woods by the most 

 direct route it would obviously be necessary 

 to follow the more northern of these routes 

 all the way to Eainy Lake and there depart 



from it, as shown by the map of Laurie and 

 Whittle, of 1794, to take a shorter route north- 

 westwardly to the northern part of Lake of 

 the Woods. 



It is also now plain that the provisional 

 determination of the point of the most north- 

 west angle was very carelessly and incorrectly 

 done, and ought not to have been accepted by 

 the United States. 



When the Webster- Ashburton treaty of 1842 

 accepted that point, thus determined, and de- 

 fined the boundary by specifying certain lakes 

 through which the line should run, further 

 uncertainty and controversy were cut off. 



There was a constant tendency to shift the 

 flexible boundai-y line farther and farther 

 toward the south. This is probably attribu- 

 table to the guidance of the Canadian 

 voyageurs, who were the only men acquainted 

 with the region and who were then British 

 subjects. 



In the removal of the boundary from the 

 original route along the main -svater-course to 

 its southern course, Dr. Grant has estimated 

 the loss of land by the United States- to be 

 about 1,000 square miles, eastward from 

 Eainy Lake. 



Westward from Eainy Lake is an area of 

 excellent agricultural land along both sides of 

 the Eainy Eiver, embraced within the limits 

 of the glacial Lake Agassiz. If the original 

 intent of the treaty of 1783 had finally become 

 effective in the treaty of 1842, about 1,000 

 more square miles would have been embraced 

 within the United States, the greater part of 

 which is flat and arable at once on the removal 

 of the forest. 



Again, if the boundary had left Lake Su- 

 perior at " 3 Eivers," as indicated on the ac- 

 companying map of Laurie and Whittle, a 

 still further large area, which may be esti- 

 mated at 500 square miles, would have fallen 

 to the United States. 



Finally, it is plain that through the inad- 

 vertence of the American commissioners of 

 1842 about 2,500 square miles of land were 

 yielded to the British commissioners, more 

 than was contemplated by the original treaty 

 — rthat, too, while they were very tenacious, in 



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