framers of the treaty of 1783 twice traversed the whole breadth of the lake for no other conceivable purpose than to place the inconsiderable territory of the Isle Royale within the limits of the United States. If, on the other hand, the Kamanistiquia route were adopted, the description of the treaty would be consistent and harmonious. A straight line through Lake Superior, from St. Mary's River to the mouth of the Kamanistiquia, would intersect the Isle Royale, while the most direct water route between the two points would be to the north rather than to the south of Isle Royale and of Isle Paté and and its consorts. This argument would also apply with nearly equal force in favor of the Kamanistiquia route as contrasted with the mouth of Pigeon River and the beginning of the Grand Portage, the most direct water route from which to the St. Mary's River would pass to the south rather than to the north of Isle Royale. Moreover, the route from the mouth of the Kamanistiquia to the Lake of the Woods by Dog Lake or Long Lake and Lac la Pluie was probably the best, and afforded a more continuous water communication than any other in the country. It was probably the route of the French traders, and was still used by the English. Views of American The only evidence, said Mr. Porter, adduced St. Louis River: in support of the St. Louis River route was comprised in ancient maps and in two letters addressed to Mr. Hale, the British agent, in 1824, by Mr. McGillivray, a very respectable and intelligent British subject. The maps however seemed to militate against the claim. They all represented the St. Louis as emptying itself into the extreme southwestern bay or projection of the lake called Fond du Lac, and as much the longest stream discharging itself into Lake Superior; and they all concurred in giving it the name St. Louis. If the framers of the treaty had intended this river, would they not have so expressed themselves? On the other hand, the Kamanistiquia was a small stream in reference to the quantity of water it discharged, and in shape partook as much of the character of a lake as of a river, sometimes spreading into a broad, still sheet of water and at others contracting into a narrow river or rapid, and rendering appropriate the name of lake or river. The letters of Mr. McGillivray, who was long at the head of the British Northwest Company, trading with the Indians, Mr. Porter considered decisive against the St. Louis River, since they indicated that the writer believed the boundary intended by the treaty to be identified with the "Grand Portage route," a route well-known to northwestern traders as commencing at a point on Lake Superior near the mouth of Pigeon River, called by Mr. McGillivray Rivière aux Tourtres, which empties into Lake Superior abreast of the Isle Royale, and about eighty leagues northeast of the St. Louis or Fond du Lac. Pigeon River. On Mitchell's map, which was used by the negotiators of the treaty of 1783, Long Lake is located at the mouth of Pigeon River, and partly for this reason Mr. Porter proposed to abandon his claim to the mouth of the Kamanistiquia, where most of the early geographers placed the Long Lake, and where a lake actually exists, provided the British commissioner would consent to run the line from the mouth of the Pigeon River or Revière aux Tourtres up the middle of that river, and thence through the most continuous water communication to Lac la Pluie. The British commissioner, on the other hand, offered to abandon the St. Louis River if Mr. Porter would accept the Grand Portage route, commencing on Lake Superior about six miles southwest of the mouth of Pigeon River, and thence up that river by the Portage route, alternately by land and water to Lac la Pluie. This was the route assumed by Mr. McGillivray. But though the difference between the commissioners was thus greatly narrowed, and rendered of small consequence territorially, Mr. Porter declined the offer on the ground that the treaty required a water communication wherever one could be found. He also declined a subsequent proposition of his British colleague to take a water line commencing in the mouth of Pigeon River, and thence proceeding to Rainy Lake, with a stipulation that the Grand Portage route should be made free and common for the use of both parties, on the ground that such a stipulation would involve the exercise of powers not confided to him by his commission. Claim of British As to the St. Louis River route, Mr. Barclay St. Louis River: said that as the Isles Philipeaux laid down on Mitchell's map and mentioned in the treaty did not exist, the next point to search for after leaving Isle Royale was the Long Lake. At the meeting of the commissioners at Montreal on October 25, 1824, the agent of the United States presented a memorial praying the board to proceed at once to determine what was meant by the Long Lake, and submitted an argument and documents to show that it was at the mouth of Pigeon River. At this time the American commissioner, said Mr. Barclay, seemed to be in accord with the agent, but the British commissioner declined to settle the point till the whole boundary was surveyed and ready for adjudication; and subsequently it suited the American agent to abandon the Pigeon River, and urge a route by the Kamanistiquia forty miles farther north, in which he was supported by the American commissioner. Mr. Barclay supported the St. Louis River route on five separate grounds, which were: 1. That it afforded the most ostensible Long Lake. The words of the treaty describing this section of the boundary were, "through Lake Superior, northward of the Isles Royale and Phelipeaux, to the Long Lake." In all other parts of the treaty, descriptive of the line between the lakes, the terms. employed were, "through said lake to and through the water communication into the lake," etc. The omission of the words "water communication" indicated that the lake intended by the treaty immediately united with Lake Superior, without any contracted separation. The St. Louis River answered the description, since, after expanding into a lake, it discharged itself into Lake Superior, not by a bay, as did Pigeon River, or by a continuous stream, but by a narrow mouth formed by two mere points of land. 2. That it was an ancient commercial route. This qualification, it was admitted, was also possessed by the Pigeon River route; but Pigeon River exhibited no such Long Lake as the treaty described, the only body of water in the whole course of its communication between Lake Superior and Lac la Pluie that could pretend to such a description being Crooked Lake, and the waters connected with it, west of the Height of Land. The Kamanistiquia River was not an ancient route, nor had it any Long Lake, connected with Lake Superior, without contracted water communication; Dog Lake, which was claimed by the American commissioner, being nearly eighty miles up the river, along which the traveler was required to traverse numerous portages. It had been known as "Lac des Chiens," or Dog Lake, from the time of the earliest settlements, and its form did not entitle it to be called the Long Lake. 3. That it was the most navigable, and interrupted by few portages. It was also more direct, if considered with reference to the voyage from the Sault Ste. Marie, than either of the other routes described. In these respects the route by the Grand Portage and Pigeon River was next to be preferred, even according to the principle which the American commissioner pretended to contend for, of "the most direct and continuous water communication." 4. That it was anciently called "The Lake, or St. Louis River." It was so denominated on many ancient maps. 5. That the language of the treaties implied that the boundary west of the Isle Royale should run to the south thereof. The language of the treaty, after mentioning the water communication between lakes Huron and Superior, was "thence through Lake Superior northward of the Isles Royal and Phelipeaux." If the Long Lake, to which the line was next directed, was supposed to lie north of Isle Royale, it was dif ficult to understand why the course of the boundary was specifically described as "northward" of that island, since that would be its natural direction. On the 23d of October 1826, at a meeting Disagreement as to held in the city of New York, the commis St. George's Island. sioners, with a view to prevent any misunderstanding as to the opinions which they respectively maintained, and to form a basis for the separate reports which, in case of disagreement, they were required to make, caused to be entered in their journal the result of their deliberations by describing the course so far as they had agreed, and specifying the points on which they could not agree. Following the line, from the termination of their labors under Article VI., they described their disagreement at the beginning of the line under Article VII. thus: "That the commissioners disagree as to the course which the boundary line should pursue from the termination thereof, under the 6th article of the Treaty of Ghent, at a point in the Neebish channel, near Muddy Lake, to another point in the middle of St. Mary's river, about one mile above St. George's or Sugar island; the British commissioner being of opinion that the line should be conducted from the before mentioned term nating point of the boundary line under the 6th article, being at the entrance from Muddy Lake into the ship channel, between St. Joseph's island and St. Tammany's island, to the division of the channel at or near the head of St. Joseph's island; thence, between St. George's island and St. Tammany's island, turning westwardly through the middle of the Middle Neebish, proceeding up to and through the Sugar rapids, between the 1 Br. and For. State Papers, LVII. 803; H. Ex. Doc. 451, 25 Cong. 2 sess. American main shore and the said St. George's island, so as to appropriate the said island to his Britannic Majesty: and the American commissioner being of opinion that the line should be conducted from the beforementioned terminating point of the boundary under the 6th article, into and along the ship channel between St. Joseph's and St. Tammany's islands, to the division of the channel at or near the head of St. Joseph's island; (concurring thus far with the British commissioner;) thence, turning eastwardly and northwardly around the lower end of St. George's or Sugar island, and following the middle of the channel which divides St. George's island, first from St. Joseph's island, and afterwards from the main British shore, to the before mentioned point in the middle of St. Mary's river, about one mile above St. George's or Sugar island, so as to appropriate the said island to the United States." From the point last named to a point near Agreement on Line Isle Royale, in Lake Superior, the commisfrom St. George's sioners agreed. They expressed their agree Island to Isle Roy ale. ment thus: "That, in the opinion of the commissioners, the following described line, which is more clearly indicated by a series of maps prepared by the surveyors, and now on the files of this board, by a line of black ink, shaded on the British side with red, and on the American side with blue, is, so far as the same extends, the true boundary intended by the treaties of 1783 and 1814; that is to say, beginning at a point in the middle of St. Mary's river, about one mile above the head of St. George's or Sugar island, and running thence, westerly, through the middle of said river, passing between the groups of islands and rocks which lie on the north side, and those which lie on the south side of the Sault de Ste. Marie, as exhibited on the maps; thence, through the middle of said river, between points Iroquois and Gros Cap, which are situated on the opposite main shores, at the head of the river St. Mary's, and at the entrance into Lake Superior; thence, in a straight line, through Lake Superior, passing a little to the south of isle Caribœuf, to a point in said lake, one hundred yards to the north and east of a small island named on the map Chapeau, and lying opposite and near to the northeastern point of isle Royale." ale to Lac la Pluie From the point last mentioned to another Disagreement as to point designated on the maps at the foot of Line from Isle Roy Chaudière Falls, in Lac la Pluie, situated between Lake Superior and the Lake of the Woods, the commissioners again disagreed. The American commissioner declared that in his opinion the line between these two points ought "to proceed from the said point in Lake Superior, and, passing |