Evening star., 1895-10-25
ALASKA'S BOUNDARY
What the officials of the Coast Sur
vey Say Of It.
JUNEAU PEOPLE NO CAUSE FOR ALARM
General Duffied's Statement of
Britain's Sudden Interest.
HOW TT MUST BE SETTLED

The reports from Alaska printed in Ths
Star yesterday show that the inhabitant:
of Juneau City are In periodical state Of
alarm over the settlement of the Alaska
boundary question. The war cry, "Ter
marine leagues or fight" has been sounded
once more.
In point of fact the officials Of the coas
and geodetic survey state that the people
of Juneau have not the slightest grounG
for alarm, inasmuch as there is no danger
of their ever waking up some morning ant
finding themselves in Canadian territory
The question Of the Alaskan boundary is
one of long standing, which the United
States government inherited from Russia
A commission was appointed several years
ago. representative Of the British govern.
ment and the superintendent of the United
States coast and geodetic survey, to ascer.
tain the facts involved in the contention
which were to be submitted to their higher
authorities as a basis for reaching a ina
decision.
American Surveyor Work.
Gen. Dutfield, the superintendent of the
survey, said to a Star reporter this morn.
ing that the work Of the American survey.
crs, while not complete, was still in a
very forward state. Two years ago the
northwestern extremity of the disputed
line was settled at the Hist meridian, ur
which the line then runs to the Arctic
ocean. This point Is very close to Mount
st. Elias. which, according to estimates OF
the American representative, is well within
the territory of Alaska. This year the
southern extremity of the line was located
and In view of the contentious raised by
Great Britain there would be small use In
completing the line which runs northwest
and separates the southern extremity OF
Alaska from British Columbia. The reason
that 1t would be uawiSe to go to the trouble
OF settling this line is that the claims of
Great Britain and the United States as to
where 1t should run are greatly at variance
and survey would not help the matter in
the slightest.
How the Question Must BE Settled.
The boundary line between Alaska and
British Columbia must be settled by an in
depreciation of the terms of the treaty by
which the United States got possession of
the territory. According to that treaty the
line is to start at the southern extremity of
Prince Of Wales Island, 81 degrees 40
minutes north. east to the Portland canal,
which 1t is to follow up to point where
the canal crosses the 56fh parallel. From
that point 1T was to run northwest, aud the
terms of the treaty stated that Ii there
were a range of mountains parallel to the
coast, the line should follow the crests of
the mountains; or If there were no noun
taiEs it should run along parallel with the
coast and at distance of ten marine
leagues up to the Hist meridian. In point
of fact there is no such range of noun
tairs there, and the whole question reduced
itself to contest as to what was meant
by ten marine leagues from the coast
Great Britain's Sudden Interest.
According to a prominent official Great
Britain never worried very much over the
line, and let the whole matter lie In abey-
ance until it happened that gold was dis
I tovered in the territory. '"Then," as he ex-
pressed it, 1.-The interest of Great Britain
flashed up like powder in a pan, just as it
always does under similar circumstances
Great Britain has wonderful liking for
gold"
The boundary line as claimed by Great
Britain is to run parallel and at distance
of ten marine leagues not from the coast
of the mainland, the United States un-
derstands it, but from the outer edge of the
outer islands. Such a claim as this throws
the boundary line completely out of the
mainland in places, and would give the
United States only the possession of the
islands, and not even all Of them. For in
stance. the line passes directly through and
almost bisects Chicago Island. Under this
claim Juneau would be in British Column
bia.
In the Nature of n Bluff.
Il do not really think" said Gen. Duff
field, that Great Britain is in earnest in
making this claim. I regard it largely in
the nature of a bluff and the good people
Of Juneau may be satisfied that the United
States will never regard the outer edge of
the outer islands as the seacoast of Alaska.
The people of Juneau are laboring under a
misapprehension in thinking that the final
settlement of this question rests with the
boundary commission. THIS commission
has no power in the matter and was only
intended to supply the State Department and
the foreign office with data on which to
base their agreement. In other words, the
commission might be compared with the
surveyors who would furnish a court with
information bearing upon a question where
the bot ndaries of piece of land were dis
puted. One of the most important questions
to be decided Is the point where the Hist
meridian crosses Forty Mile creek which
flows into the Yukon river. Forty Mile
creek drains the gold country, and it is
toward that point that all the miners are
hurrying. The mouth of the creek Is very
close to the 141st meridian, and it is a
question of considerable Importance to
know whether it is in American or British
territory. AS result of the computations
made by the surveyors. I think 1 am safe
in saying that the United States cannot
claim the mouth of the creek which is
slightly across the line.
An Uncertain Statement.
Il have seen in the papers recently that
Canadian official who would rank with
the commissioner of our land office claims
that Canadian surveyor has been a work
and finds that the meridian crosses the
creek fully ten miles from its mouth. This
would throw considerable of the gold terri
tory into the British possessions. The con-
tention can never be made to stand, how
ever, and our people who have been at
work up there say that they have never
heard of any such man that alleged
Canadian surveyor ever being in that part
Of the country. There are two ways of
reaching the Forty-n,ile Creek country.
One is by way of the Yukon river, which
is navigable that far with light craft and
the assistance of portages. The other is
through Chilkat pass back Of Juneau. If
the mouth of the creek is in Canadian ter
r1tory the Canadian government might Of
course exact tribute from miners passing
in through that way. and have heard that
the authorities were recently hurrying
some Canadian police toward chiIkat pass
for that purpose"
Will Be Flag Lieutenant.
Lieut. j. ]. Hunker has been detached