Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1881-05-05
DIR NORTHERN BOUNDARY.
4 treat Work Completed How the
Line Between the United States aud
RritiSh Territory Is Marked

British TERRITORY H Harktu
Not one in thousand, perhaps, OF
the 5O,O0O,000 Of people living in the
United States knows how their country
is bounded on the line between the
United States and the British territory
II will be interesting, therefore, to know
how the northern boundary is traced
and marked. The work is now COM
pleted, except as TO the Territory of
Alaska, coded by Russia to us under the
treaty of 1867. Ever since the treaty
of Client we have been establishing our
northern boundary with Great Britain
until year or two ago, when the work
was finally completed by a joint oom-
mission consisting of Major Donald r.
Cameron, royal artillery; Captain S.
Anderson, royal engineers, and Captain
\. G. Ward, royal engineers for Great
Britain, and Archibald Campbell and
Captain J. Twinning, United States
army, for our government. The COM
mission experienced difficulty in dis
charging their duties, from the errors
committed by former commissioners
In April, 1870, while engaged in locat-
ing a military reservation for a post
near Pembia, our engineers discovered
that the commonly received boundary
line between the British possessions and
the United States at that place was
400 feet south of the forty-ninth
parallel, and if run on west from such
an initial point would throw the fort of
the Hudson Bay Company at
Pembina into the United States. The
officers at once communicated the facts
TO their government. The president,
General Grant, sent the information to
the British government, ana requested
the consent of the United States to oc-
cupy the fort of the Hudson Bay Com
pany until the matter could be deter
mined. Of course. such a reasonable
reque was at once granted. The
president then sent message to con-
gress recommending the establishment
Of Joint commission to Tx the true
boundary line between the two coun-
tries, and congress assented, appropria-
ting 100000 by joint resolution to car
ry out the work. The appropriation
was not available until 1872, when the
work was begun, as above stated, by a
Joint comm ,sslon of the two govern
mentS.
The northern boundary is marked
by stone cairns, iron pillars, wood pill
lars, earth mounds and timber posts.
\ stone cairn is q feet by s feet, an
earth mound feet by II feet, and iron
pillar feet high, S inches square at
the bottom and 4 inches ut the top,
timber posts feet high and S inches
square. There are 3S2 Of these marks
between the Lake of the Woods and
the base Of the Rocky Mountains. That
portion of the boundary which lies east
and west of the Red river valley is
marked by cast-iron pillars at even
mile intervals. The British placed one
every two miles and the United States
one between each British post. Oul
pillars or markers were made at De-
troit, Mich They are hollow iron cast
ings, of an inch in thickness, in the
form of truncated pyramid, feet
high, 8 inches square at the bottom and
inches at the top, as before stated.
They have at the top solid pyra-
midal cap, and at the bottom an octa-
gonal hange one inch in thickness
Upon the opposite faces are cast in
letters two inches hi gh the inscriptions
Convention of London" and "October
20, 1878" The inscription begins about
four feet six inches above the base, and
read upwards. The interiors of the
hollow posts are filled with well-season
ed cedar posts, sawed to fit, and secure
ly spiked through spike-holes cast in
the pillars for the purpose. The aver
age weight of each pillar when COM
pleted is eighty-fve pounds. The pill
lars are all set four feet in the ground
with their inscription faces to the north
and south, and the earth is well settled
and stamped about them. For the
wooden-posts seasoned logs are selected
and the portion above the ground is
painted red, to prevent swelling and
shrinking. These posts do very well,
but the Indians cut them down for fuel,
and nothing but iron will last very
long. Where the line crosses lakes,
mountains OF stones have been bHilt,
the bases beng in some places eigh-
teen feet under water and the tops pro-
jecting eight feet above the lakes sur
face at high-water mark. In forests
the line is marked by telling the tim
Der rod wide and clearing away the
underbrush. The work of cutting
through the timbered swamps was very
great, but it has been done we'll and the
boundary distinctly marked by the
commissioners the whole distance from
n44 70 4 l,E4l