Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1923-08-30
Boundary Tiff
to Court Test
MICHIGAN REoPENs FIGHT TO
GRAB ORE LANDS, ISLANDS
FROM STATE

the. states OF Wisconsin anu NAACHl6dH
finding its base in what the latter
state contends to be an error almost
100 years old, will be argued to de-
cision probably in the United States
supreme court this fail.
The nations highest tribunal will
be asked to settle definitely whether
Michigan has the right to 100000
acres now regarded as Wisconsin land
including all of Washington, Plum
and other islands lying to the north
of Deaths Door passage. at the end
of the Door county peninsula, and
portions of Iron, Villas and Forest
counties.
Atty. Gen. Andrew B. Dougherty OF
Michigan arrived here Saturday for a
weeks survey Of the disputed terri
tory in company with A. L. Sawyer,
Menominee secretary of commission
authorized by the 1919 Michigan legis
Iature to get at the bottom of the. con
troversy.
Thousands of acres of valuable min
eral lands, containing chiefly iron ore
extensive valuable water power right
and an expansive region of small
lakes which are coming more and
more to the front as summer resort
places are involved in the land I'm
der dispute.
Several towns and villages and one
city, Hurley, the county seat of Iron
county, will find themselves Mich
gan settlements instead Of Wisconsin
property if Michigan's claims are al
lowed
Included among the towns which
will change their post office address
es to Mich instead of Wis if Wis
consin loses the supreme court bat
tie are these:
De Fer Germania Van Buskirk
Sand Rock, in Iron county and Win
chester, Vinegar, Cisco and Donald
son in Villas County The new state
line, if it is established by the sup
rene court will cut through the
towns of Gle, Carson and Phelps leav
ing the present borderland town of
State Line far up in Michigan territory
The main part of the controversy
hinges upon which is the main branch
of the Montreal river In establishing
the boundary line between what was
to be the new state of Michigan in
1884 and the Wisconsin territory, bills
before congress specified that the
boundary should be along the courses
of the Menominee and Montreal riy-
ers, it being the belief that the rivers
both had their heads in the Lac Vieux
i Desert (the lake of the deserted
place.. forming continuous water
way between Lake Superior and Lake
Michigan through Green Bay.
Later in 1886 when Michigan was
ready to be admitted as a state, more
had been learned of the proposed
boundary and it was apparent that it
was known that both rivers did not
arise from Lac Vieux desert. Tie
boundary then was designated to be
from the mouth of the main branch Of
the Montreal in Lake Superior to Lac
Vieux desert and thence by the short
est line to the nearest head of the
| Menominee.
i Capt. Thomas Jefferson Cram, chief
of the Typographical survey depart
iatnt of the United States ARMY. one
of the greatest surveyors of his day
was given a description of the coun.
i try. which was extremely wild and i'll
spots imDenetrable, and ordered to
sur,es the boundary line This was in
1910, after Michigan had gained her
| statehood. He started MS survey at
the mouth oil the Menominee and fol
designated boundary line to the lake
now known as Lac Vieux desert, on
the shores of which there was a
/ Chippewa Indian village and of which
i the Michigan authorities now say he
must have learned from Indian trad
ers.,
It is contended that all of the lakes
i in the region are and have been for
many generations referred to as Les
Laos du Vieux desert by the oldest
Of the Indians, barking back to the
desertion of the Indian gardens of
which remains are still extant, fol
lowing the famous war between the.
Chippewa and the Sioux
1t is charged now that Cram never
saw the main branch Of the Montreal
river, which flows a few miles to the
westward and which carries almost
so per cent more water than the
branch which is taken to be the boun
Diary by reason of the supposed error
Even now a great portion of this land
along the order between the two
states is impenetrable.
But, the Michigan boundary com
mission contends despite these con
dltlons, facts are known concerning
the territory surrounding the boun
Diary specified in the boundary des-
eruption of 1886, ratified by congress.
/ Tho hO1,4, 4 49, Lorros o.o]o