The Ohio- Michigan Boundary Line 369 
territory of Ohio was laid down at nearly the 42nd parallel^ being 
indicated on the map by a pencil line drawn from the southern 
bend of the lake to the Canadian line^ intersecting Lake Erie 
between the River Raisin and the town of Detroit. No further 
thought was given this indefinite boundary until Ohio moved to 
become a state. Ohio’s constitutional convention, which con- 
vened at Chillicothe in 1802, was proceeding on the assumption 
that the old maps were correct, and the line as defined in the ordi- 
nance would terminate at some point north of Maumee Bay. 
While the subject was under discussion, a man, formerly a hunter 
in the Lake Michigan country, mentioned the fact that the lake 
extended much farther south than was generally supposed. This 
possibility immediately alarmed the members of the convention, 
who, in order to provide against the contingency that the line 
mentioned in the ordinance, might be further south than was 
commonly supposed, inserted in their constitution the famous 
proviso” to the effect, that if the southern bend of Lake Michi- 
gan should extend so far south that a line drawn due east from it 
should not intercept Lake Erie, or if it should intersect the lake 
east of the mouth of the Maumee River, then with the assent of 
Congress, the northern boundary should be established by, and 
extend to, a line running from the southern end of Lake Michigan 
to the most northerly extreme of Maumee Bay.^ Ohio’s consti- 
tution was accepted by Congress, though no special mention was 
given to the proviso.” Owing to the fact, however, that the 
constitution was accepted by Congress, many Ohio people took it 
for granted that Congress had recognized the proviso, ” and that 
the line was thus legally fixed. The boundary dispute therefore 
had its genesis in an incorrect map. 
Area in Dispute 
Population in this area was so sparse that the boundary line 
question was dormant till the expanding industries of the more 
thickly settled parts of Ohio demanded transportation outlets, 
and the state began to discuss canals. Lake ports, and their 
hinterlands at once became regions worth serious consideration. 
Michigan held to the line as literally laid down in the ordinance, 
since it gave her the harbor of Maumee with a strip of land 5 
^ Cooley, Thomas M., Michigan, 1905, pp. 216-217. 
