30 JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINCiS. 



would Strike it, and thence due south along the said line to the head 

 of the said lake, and thence through the middle channel of the said 

 lake into the Ottawa river, and thence descending along middle of 

 the main channel of the said river," etc., to a stone boundary on the 

 north bank of lake St. Francis in the St. Lawrence river. 



The eastern boundary of the Province was first determined 

 in 1 791 by the Imperial Order in Council establishing the Provinces 

 of Upper and Lower Canada, including the section of it from the 

 head of lake Temiscaming defined by '" a hne drawn due north until 

 it strikes the boundry line of the Hudson bay."' The exact starting 

 point of this line was finally fixed in 1872, by agreement between 

 the Governments of Ontario and Quebec, in 1873 and 1874 it was 

 surveyed as far north as the height of land by joint commissioners 

 appointed for the purpose, and in 1874 the hne was ratified by the 

 Legislatures of the two Provinces. As laid down on the maps, it 

 starts from the parallel of 47° 33' 48" 37'" and is as nearly as may 

 be along the meridian of 79*^ 30' west from Greenwich. The western 

 boundary is only the meridian of the northwest angle of Lake of the 

 Woods, and the joint commissioners under the Treaty of Ghent as- 

 certained this point to be in latitude 49*=* 23' 55" north, and in longi- 

 tude 95"^ 14' 38" west from Greenwich.* The New Ontario there- 

 fore extends across 15° 44' 38" of longitude, which on the latitude 

 of 50" measures 701 statute miles. f 



The greatest breadth from north to south, measured from the 

 mouth of the Spanish river in Georgian bay to the mouth of the Al- 

 bany river in Janaes bay (or say from 46^ 15' to 52° 30' north lati- 

 tude) is about 430 miles, and the least is along the western bound- 

 ary, where it is about 80 miles. From the mouth of Pigeon river 

 on the Minnesota boundary to the foot of lake St. Joseph, near the 

 meridian of 90°, it is about 215 miles ; from Fort Michipicoten on 

 the east shore of lake Superior to Henley House on the Albany 

 river, along the meridian of 85", it is about 240 miles; and the 

 average breadth is probably 250 miles. The area has been variously 

 estimated ; it is not less than 150,000 square miles, and it may be 



* Report of the Commissioners under the Treaty of Ghent made 23rd 

 October, 1826. Hertslet's Treaties, vol. xiii, pp. 898-9. 



t The length of a degree of longitude on the parallel of 50° is 235,171 

 feet, or about 44.44 English statute miles. 



