The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1898-08-10

NEW YORK, Aug. 9.-The matters to be
considered by the joint commission appoint
ed by the United States and Great Britain.
Which is to meet in Quebec on Aug g. says
the Washington correspondent of the Tri-
pune, are arrangements for the more COM
plete definition and marking of any part Of
the boundary line between the United States
and Canada by land or water where the
same Is now SO insufficiently marked as to
be subject Of dispute
considerable part of the boundary from
the eastern end of Lake Ontario to the west
ern END of Rainy Lake on the northern
1rontler OF Minnesota has never been ac-
curately defined marked, and frequent
controversies have been the result especially
III recent years, since the country adjacent
TO the boundary has begun to be settled and
developed. For example, citizens of the Unit
eo states holding patents therefrom for tim
Der Iands In northern Minnesota have been
warned against and prevented from cutting
tne tlmDer by Canadian authorities who con-
tendeo that said lands belonged to the Do
mlnlon government. American miners and
prospectors on the shores and islands of the
Rainy Lake region have had their opera
tlons interrupted and prevented on like
grounds, and American fishermen in Lake
Erie have been arrested and their vessels
eelAeu Wneh, as they supposed and con-
tended, they were in American waters.
In the nfty-fOurth congress the committee
on foreign affairs in the mouse of representa-
ives investigated these matters and report
ed with favorable recommendation joint
resolution Tor the appointment of a COM
mission on the part of the United States to
act Jointly with similar commission on the
part OF Great Britain to define and mark
the boundary IS conventionally determined
by the treaty of Ghent and the Webster
Ashburton treaty of 1S42 but no action was
mad on the joint resolution. Among the pa
pers submitted to the committee on that
occasion was an exceedingly interesting re-
port prepared by Assistant Secretary Adee,
OF the state department.
In relato to that part of the man which
refers to Lake Erie Mr.. Adee says that the
Ghent map of Lake Erie is extraordinarily
imperfect In contour and Inaccurate in di-
mensions as to all that part lying between
the entrance to the Nicaragua river and
Point Pelee. It apears from a note thereon
that the part west of Point Pelee and San
dusky, including all the islands, was re-
duced from the actual survey made by or
der OF the commissioners, and separate
chart Of the lake westward of Point Pelee.
showing the triangulatiOnS and duly signed
is embrac ced in the Ghent series. The same
foot note further states that "the other
parts Of the lake Except the entrance into
the Niagara river) are reduced from such
printed maps were showed to be the
most accurate.
That the commissioners were misled in
their estimate of the accuracy Of the sources
from which their man wap was complied is
evident upon simple measurement. For ex-
ample, in that part opposite Long Point
referred to in the commissions letter of
Jan. II as a probable field for dispute the
distance from the northweSterly point of
Presque Isle, near Erie, Pa, to the South
ern extremity of Long Point, is found by
the scale drawn upon the map itself to be
about 37A geogra phical miles, while upon
the accurate modern maps, reduced from
surveys made by the army corps of en-
gineers and published by the photographic
office, the same distance is in fact a trif1e
less than 23 miles.
This circumstance makes determination
by measurement from either shore to the
defined boundary of the Ghent map impossi-
ble. for the distance SO measured would
overlap some IA miles in the middle of the
lake. Neither is an approximate reproduc-
tion of the Ghent line upon a modern map
feasible, owing to the variations in the
contours of the shores between which 1t
must be drawn. This circumstance alone
makes the exact determination of the char
tered treaty boundary in Lake Erie at
either end impossible; only an approximate
location can be determined The original
chart of Lake Erie, like that of Ontario
is unsigned by the commissioners. 1t may
therefore be properly said that as to the
main body of these two lakes there does not
exist a chartilg Of the boundary having the
force and value Of treaty.
The commissioners appointed under the
treaty of Ghent did not undertake to define
or mark that part Of the boundary between
the ST. Marys river and the Lake of the
Woods, and Q part Of it has never been
charted at ali. Resp .ctng the latter, Mr.
Adee wrote: West of Isle Royale, in Lake
Superior. reproduction of the working
maps of the Ghent commissions has been
made but above said they only drew the
extreme westerly portion of the northern
boundary from Chaudiere Falls to the
northwesterly shore Of the Lake of the
Woods. AS to that part between Isle
Royale and Chaudere Falls where no line
has as yet been charted by joint agree
ment of the two countries, we are depend
ent upon the description given in Article II
of the treaty OF 1872
1t is in this part of the line that Hunt
ers Island, mentioned in the committee
letter of January 18th is found The part
of the line skirting Hunters Island, as he.
scrbed in Article II Of the treaty Of 1872
begins at Lake Saisaginaga and runs
through that lake, thence to and through
Cypress lake, Lac du Bois Blanc. Lac Ls