| Show TO DEFINE THE BOUNDARY LINE disputed territory between united states and canada new york aue S almonr the matters to be by the joint committee appointed by the united states and great britain which ia to meet in quebec on aug 23 says the washington correspondent of the tribune are arrangements range ments for the more complete 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 a subject of dispute A considerable part of the boundary from the eastern end ot lake Ont arioto the western end of rainy lake on the northern frontier of minnesota haa been accurately defined or marked and frequent controversies have been the result and especially in recent years since the country adjacent to the boundary has begun to be bottled and developed for example citizens of fe united states holding patents from timber lanag in northern minnesota have been warned against and prevented from cutting the gimbar by canadian authorities who contended that eaid lands belonged to the dominion government american miners nuil prospectors on the shores and islands of the rainy lake region have bad their operations interrupted and prevented on like grounds and amercio fishermen in lake erie have been arrested and their vessels seized when as they supposed and contended they were in american waters la 1 congress the com tin tco on foreign affairs of the of investigated matters atad reported with a favorable rec a joint resolution tot iho appointment of a on the of tua united lo 10 act jointly with similar commission on the part of great britain lt define and maik the boundary as conventionally determined by the treaty of ghent and ashburton treaty of 1842 no action was had on the joint resolution among the papers submitted to the committee on that occasion wa an exceedingly interesting report prepared by assistant secretary adee of the state department in relation to that portion of the boundary which crosses lake erie mr adee reported the ghent map ol 01 lake erie is extraordinarily imperfect in contour and inaccurate in dimensions as to all that part lying between the entrance to the niagara river and point belee pelee it appears from a note thereon that the part west of and eluding all the islands was reduced from the actual survey made by order of the commissioners and a separate chart of the lake westward of point belec showing the triangulations and duly deigned is embraced iu the ghent series the same footnote further slates that the other parts ot the lake except the entrance into the niagara river anre reduced from such printed maps as were supposed to be the most accurate that the were misled in their estimate of the accuracy ot the sources from which their map was corn piled is evidently by simple measurement for example in that part opposite long point to in the committees mit tees letter of january 17 as a probable field for dispute the distance from the northwesterly point of breque island near erie pa to the southern extremity of long point ia found by the scale drawn upon the map tseu to be about 37 geographical miles while upon the accurate modern maps reduced from surveys mad by the army corps of engineers engine ere and published by the hydrographic office the same distance Is in fact a trifle less than 23 miles this circumstance makes determination by measurement from either shore to the defined boundary of tho ghent map impossible for the distance BO measured would overlap some fourteen miles in the middle of the lake neither is an approximate reproduction of the ghent line upon a modern map feasible owing to the variations in tho contours of the shores between which it must be drawn this circumstance alone makes the exact determination of the charted 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 ia unsigned by the it may therefore be properly said as to the main body ot these two lakee does not exist a charting of the boundary having the force of a treaty the appointed under the treaty of ghent did not undertake to defene or mark that part of the boundary and a part of it has never been charted at all respecting the latter mr adee wrote westward of lele royale in lako au brior no reproduction of the work ot the maps of the ghent has been made but as above said they only drew the extreme westerly portion ot the northern boundary from eliere falls to the northwesterly shore ot the lake of the woods As that part between lele royale nod falla where no line hag yet been charted by joint agreement of the two countries wo are dependent upon the description given in article two of the treaty of 1812 it la this part of the hunt era island mentioned in be committees letter ot january 16 is found the part of the line bekir ing island ad described in article two of the treaty ot 1842 begins at lake sa tE aginaga and runs through that lake thence to and through cypress lake lac dai bois blanc lac la cro x and through the several emiller lakes straits or streams connecting the lakes here mentioned it is to be observed that lie du bola blanc named in the treaty is indifferently called basswood Ba eswood lake which is a fei translation of the french name the bois blanc being the name of a of trees aa ba eswood on the maps which have been examined in this department the email body of water thus indifferently denoted as Basa wook lake or lao du boia blanc lies south of a large tract ot land which on some maps is marked hunters island and bounded on the north by a second or sturgeon or tanners lakes which are apparently joined by water courses forming the continuous communication to which the committees commit teea fetter of january icib refers the circumstance that continuous water may exist in fact north of the tract known as hunters island appeared ap peare however to be immaterial in view of the precise mention made of the lac du bois blanc as one of the bodina of water through which the boundary rune according to the second article of the treaty of 1842 the cypress lake mentioned in that treaty has not been satisfactorily located on any of the maps |
