The Alaskan Boundary Tribunal 



were transferred to the American side 

 of the line, and others claimed by the 

 Americans were placed on the Canadian 

 side. 



The fixation of the boundary from 

 Lake Superior to the northwestern point 

 of the Lake of the Woods was entrusted 

 to a commission, but after five years of 

 labor, during which they visited the 

 region and expended $200,000 in sur- 

 veys, they failed to agree. Under the 

 stipulations between the two govern- 

 ments, the question should then have 

 been referred to arbitration ; but the 

 experience in the arbitration of the 

 Maine boundary did not encourage such 

 a course. After long delays this por- 

 tion of the frontier was adjusted by the 

 Webster- Ashburton treaty of 1842, but 

 this settlement has not proven com- 

 pletely satisfactory, owing to defective 

 landmarks, as it is charged by Cana- 

 dians that the United States Land Office 

 has surveyed, platted, and sold to Amer- 

 icans a considerable extent of land in 

 the Minnesota- Wisconsin section which 

 really belongs to Canada. 



The line from the Lake of the Woods 

 to the Rocky Mountains was fixed by 

 the treaty of 181 8 to run along the 49th 

 degree of north latitude. 



The boundary from the Rocky Moun- 

 tains to the Pacific Ocean remained for 

 forty years a subject of controversy. It 

 engaged the attention of successive ad- 

 ministrations up to the presidency of 

 Mr Polk, various treaties and arbitral 

 propositions being advanced only to be 

 rejected by one or the other of the two 

 nations. The claim to the whole terri- 

 tory on the Pacific Ocean from Califor- 

 nia to the Russian possessions at 54 

 40' was asserted by the Democratic Na- 

 tional Convention of 1844, and under 

 the cry of " Fifty-four forty or fight " 

 entered largely into the campaign which 

 resulted in the election of Mr Polk. 

 In his first message to Congress he de- 

 clared our title to this region to be 

 "clear and unquestionable," and he 



recommended Congress to extend juris- 

 diction over it. John Quincy Adams, 

 who was recognized as the highest liv- 

 ing American authority on international 

 questions, held with President Polk that 

 our title up to 54 ° 40' was complete 

 and perfect. 



The controversy grew so animated 

 that the chances of war were freely dis- 

 cussed ; but the two nations found a 

 better way of reconciling their differ- 

 ences, and, after anxious deliberation, 

 Mr Buchanan, Secretary of State, and 

 the British Minister, signed a conven- 

 tion in 1846 whereby the line of the 49th 

 parallel was extended from the Rocky 

 Mountains to the Pacific Ocean. By 

 this act the vast domain now embraced 

 in British Columbia was yielded to 

 Great Britain, although our title to it 

 had been declared unquestionable by a 

 national convention, by the President 

 in his message, by Congress through 

 joint resolution, and by our highest 

 authorities on international law. 



One more step was necessary before 

 our chain of title to a fixed and un- 

 questioned line from the Atlantic to 

 Pacific should be complete. The treaty 

 of 1846 provided that the water line of 

 the boundary should follow the middle 

 of the channel which separates the con- 

 tinent from Vancouver Island. In this 

 body of water lie a number of islands, 

 and it was not clear which was ' ' the 

 middle of the channel ' ' among these 

 islands. In this state of uncertainty 

 the islands were being populated by 

 both Americans and Canadians, and 

 conflicts of authority arose. Efforts 

 were made to reach an agreement 

 through diplomacy, but they failed. 

 In 1856 a joint commission was ap- 

 pointed, but the members, after visiting 

 the region in dispute, were unable to 

 agree. The subject went back into di- 

 plomacy, and more than ten years were 

 spent in fruitless discussion. In 1859 

 the settlers on San Juan Island came 

 into conflict, the troops of the two couu- 



