The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-08-07
The Thirty-Nfile Strip.

A recent despatch from Ottawa an.
nounced that a meeting Of the Dominion
Cabinet had decided to open extra Gus
toms stations beyond the head Of Lynn
Canal, which is in disputed territory" and
that the consent of the Washington author
tiles would be asked "to a modus vivendi
under which Canada will have the right of
way for a telegraph over the disputed terri
tory from'Lynn Canal to the first mounted
police post"
Thus it will be observed that Canada
quietly assumes that the frontier Of Alaska
is in dispute. 1t is we'll known that that
frontier has not yet been marked out by
visible posts or other monuments; but
Canada would also hold that the treaty
leaves it doubtful where the line runs. North
of Mount St. Elias, indeed, there can
be no pretence Of uncertainty, since the
141st meridian, named as the frontier, can
be fixed with astronomical precision; and
fortunately the Yukon gold fields all come
In the region which this treaty meridian
traverses. But south of Mount st. Elias is
a long strip Of seacoast marked by a differ
ent treaty line, and this strip contains the
ports and harbors through which the
Klondike region is approached by the
Chilkoot Pass. 1t becomes, therefore, a mat
ter of present Importance whether Canada's
theory that there is disputed territory there
is we'll founded.
The treaty of Feb. %, 1925, between
Russia and Great Britain, under which our
rights to Alaska are derived by purchase
from the former, says that the boundary
line, beginning at the southernmost point
~ Dr;n,a 80 yUolo, JaJ,,J o,.oul, - A.
north along Portland Channel as far as the
point of the continent where it strikes the
56th degree of north latitude. Thence it
is to "follow the summit of the mountains
situated parallel to the coast as far as the
point of intersection of the 141st degree of
west longitude" thence proceeding along
that meridian to the Frozen Ocean. 1t is
further provided that whenever the sum-
NIT Of these mountains proves to be more
than ten marine leagues from the ocean, the
line "shall be formed by a line parallel to
the winding Of the coast, which shall never
exceed the distance Of ten marine leagues
therefrom."
1t turned out that the continuous range
of mountains parallel to the coast, depicted
on VANCoUvER's map, which was used by
the trainers of the treaty, was imaginary.
Hence the alternative provision of a dis
tance Of thirty marine miles from the coast
necessarily was adopted for determining
the boundary; and the line thus drawn, the
line we still have for Alaska, Is found on
British maps as we'll as ours for n period of
nearly or quite sixty years after the signing
of the treaty.
Where. then, does "the disputed terrific
ry" of the current Ottawa dispatches come
in2 We will endeavor to explain. About
a dozen years ago there appeared on some
Dominion maps a new line, nearer to
the coast, drawn in the light which some
Canadian g~eographers and statesmen pro-
fessed to have obtained as to the treaty re-
quirements. In the first place, they substi-
tuted for Portland Canal, or Channel, men.
TONED Il in the treaty, an estuary lying further
west, called Benin Canal, arguing tina the
words 1.-THE said line shall ascend to the
north" point to Benin Canal, whereas in
order to reach Portland Canal you must
first 60 to the east, and then to the north.
This view would take from us Revilla
Gigedo and q smaller island, with n large
peninsula of the mainland between Port
land Channel and Burroughs Bay.
We cannot allow this theory to outweigh
the fact that VANCoUvER's map contains
Portland Channel, plainly marked, as the
basis of the treaty. 1t was needless to
mention that the line went eastward for
twoscore miles from Cape Muzon, the
s~outhernmost point of Prince of Wales
Island, before going north, because there
Is no other way to get to Portland
Channel, and this initial stretch is trivial
compared with the thousands of miles
northward that follow. And as to the
further point that Benin Canal extends to
the Both parallel, while Portland Chan.
mel does not, the latter goes probably to
within three or four miles of the paral.
lei, and possibly to within less than a mile,
so that a lack Of knowledge of its exact ex-
tent In 1925 is not surprising.
But even more out Of the question is the
modern Canadian claim hat the ten marine
leagues shall be measured from the outer
edges of the islands along the coastl That
is absolutely preposterous. The treaty cx-
pressly declares that the line shall follow
"the winding Of the coast" and the French
word in the treaty Is sinu0sit6S. which is
equally expressive of a continuous line,
turning In different directions. How could
that exist, with the great gaps between the
islands lying off the coast2
As II seeing this objection, an official map
made ten years ago, and recently followed,
proceeded to supply a treaty range, '' par.
allel to the coast" by connecting with
straight lines . selected number Of peaks.