The Montgomery tribune., 1909-10-15
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and independence to be found the bars
of the Forty Mile, the Stewart, and at Circle
City.
With the increase of population came the rep
resentatives of the American and Canadian gov
ernments, customhouses established and
court decisions took the place of the rude JUS
tice dispensed by miners meetings. With the
order of things came also the necessity of
a determined line between the two countries
The United States claimed, under the old Rus
sian treaty. a line running up Portland canal to
the seth parallel Of north latitude, thence to fol-
low the summit of the coast range to its inter-
section with the 141st meridian In the absence
of a definite mountain range near the coast, the
line to be not more than ten marine leagues
distant from tide water
Canada claimed that the line should follow the
coast range paralleling the general contour Of
the coast, and cutting all inlets and ords.
There were other contentious of minor impor-
tance, but the real trouble was that Canada
thought she was entitled to seaport which
would allow Of shipments through Canadian ter
ritory to the now valuable Klondike.
AS to the 141st meridian being the rest of the
boundary, there was dispute. This line starts
at ridge of Mount Saint Elias and runs through
to Demarcation Point on the Arctic ocean.
+ Maps showing a strip of land along the coast
were made, archives were rummaged, every avail
able bits of history and tradition were searched,
and the whole mass submitted evidence to
tribunal of three Americans, two Canadians and
The sitting of the evidence required three months
The opposing counsel helped by the geographic
experts put forth their best arguments, a vote
was taken, and the result showed four to two for
the United States, the lord chief justice of Eng
Hand, Lord Alverstone casting his vote with the
Americans
Naturally the Canadian representatives felt
greatly disappointed, but the evidence was too
conclusive to allow of any other outcome
Then came the question of what mountains con-
stituted the coast range. In places a compro-
mise was effected departing slightly from the
claims of the United States
1t was decided that certain welldefned peaks
the mountains frnging the coast should con-
stitute the main points on the boundary. Lord
Alverstone, welding blue pencil marked on the
maps what appeared to the tribunal to be the
proper mountains. The members of the tribunal
all eminent jurists, but this did not make
them proficient in the intricaces of contour maps
and the advice OF the experts was constantly re-
quested.
The location of the boundary was left to two
commissioners, Mr.. o. H. Tittmann superintend
ent of the coast and geodetic survey, for the
United States, and DR.. w. f. King, chief Domin
ion astronomer, for Canada
Wherever the blue-pencil mark appears on the
map, this point without any recourse is boun-
dairy point even though higher and better point
may be but short distance away.
To follow the sinuosties of the mountain
ranges in this country would be hopeless SO the
commissioners will probably decide that
straight line connecting the various blue-penciled
points shall constitute the boundary
The actual, demarcation of the boundary, to be
satisfactory to both governments must be done
Jointly BY this 1t is not meant that there is d.