Charlevoix county herald. (East Jordan, Mich.) 189?-1953, 1920-12-17
LINE, OF FRIENDSHIP MAY
MARK TRADE ROUTE

Hearings in q dozen cities OF Dcth
countries by the United States and
Canadian jeint commission to consider
connecting the st. Lawrence river and
the Great Lakes by q canal system
awakened q new interest In the nearly
1000 miles of border that separates
this country from its neighbor to the
north.
The boundary between the two great
Misunderstanding countries of America,
giving them joint ownership Of some
Of the greatest lakes In the world, as
well as a river Of prime Importance,
holds possibilities for development
overlooked by many Of the citizen
stockholders on both sides of the line.
The single scheme now under discus
sion for the construction of canals to
handle Ocean-going ships foreshadows
q work that would rival In magnitude
and importance even the epoch-making
engineering feats at Panama. With
huge canals connecting the waters Of
the Great Lakes and the st. Lawrence,
ships capable Of negotiating any
weather could sail with the ore, coal
and grain of the western United
States and Canada, directly to any
pert Of the Seven seas.
Discussion by the two countries Of
the feasibility of engaging jointly
In the development of their border
waters 10 in contrast with some Of the
stormy incidents In which the boun-
Diary has figured. Known In recent
years as "the border without forts"
and come at last to be regarded as a
line Of amity and friendship, 1t is per-
haps not generally realized now that
until the cumulative efforts of years
resulted not long ago in the settlement
Of some long-standing disputes, the
United States-C Canadian boundary was
the source of almost continual misun-
derstanding. Many times there were
unpleasant incidents, twice the coun-
tries were on the verge Of war, and for
well over a hundred years after the
close Of the Revolutionary war diplo-
mats, commissioners, and even neutral
kings and emperors acting as arbitra-
tors were kept busy trying to straight
en- out the many snarls into which
border line can become tangled.
Much Of the trouble In regard to the
boundary resulted from ignorance Of
the geography Of the country on the
part of the early negotiators. The
q. Croix river which the earliest
treaty stated should form the eastern
line of Maine at the very starting point
q the international boundary was not
satisfactorily identified at first, and
this caused friction for some years.
A second geographical error-the as
sumption that the Lake Of the Woods
Grained into Lake Superior-is respon-
sible for the rather indefinite boun-
dairy Of small lakes and brooks be-
tween the two large lakes. The be-
lief that the Mississippi river had its
source in Canada, and field notes in
accordance with that belief, brought
about the existence Of a tract Of mnd
q q hundred square miles, cut of on
q peninsula on the northern shore Of
the Lake of the Woods, practically sur
rounded by Canadian territory and
many miles across the water from 9TH
Or land of the United States.
In connection with still another
United States Canadian boundary -
that between southern Alaska and
British Columbia-a mistaken impress
sion Of early Russian traders has Civ
en- the United States boundary run
ming helter-skelter over foothills and
ridges when II was believed to follow
a mountain watershed, logical geo.
graphical boundary.