"Theoffer' made to me by Captain Prevost to consider the whole space between the continent and Vancouver's Island as one channel, and to run the line through the middle of it, in so far as islands will permit, when brought to plain terms, is a proposition to divide the group of islands east of the Canal de Haro between the United States and Great Britain, so as to secure to the latter the island of San Juan. In accomplishing such a division of the rightful territory of the United States, the boundary line would run from the forty-ninth parallel through the Gulf of Georgia, through a part of the Canal de Haro and through the channel east of San Juan Island. The line on one of the accompanying sketches of the Admiralty (') chart indicates the proposed compromise channel the British Government have so much at heart, and which will probably be again proposed to the United States. Independent of the preposterousness of such a proposition in other respects, it is not a suitable channel for a boundary between the United States and Great Britain, with such channels as the Canal de Haro and Rosario Straits in its vicinity. The relative widths of the channels are as follows: "The maximum width of the Canal de Haro, about 6 miles. 2 11 "All of these channels are deep; the Canal de Haro being much the deepest. Rosario Straits has at its northern entrance, directly in the way of a boundary line, a large shoal, the least water about three fathoms. It has been the great object of the British Government and Hudson's Bay Company to secure the island of San Juan, perhaps as much to keep the United States at a distance from Vancouver's Island as for the intrinsic worth of the island itself; though it is valuable, and by far the finest in the group. It has an area of about fifty-five square (1) This sketch was not published. The compromise channel will be seen on reference to the large map presented with this volume. miles; and it has an excellent harbour at its south-east corner. The great value of the group of islands, however, consists in its strong military position. It is the key to the Gulf of Georgia, north, and Straits of Fuca south of it. But a division of the sovereignty of the islands would destroy their military importance. Without San Juan the remainder of the group would' be comparatively unimportant to the United States. The possession of it by Great Britain would answer all their purposes, and they would willingly give up the rest of the group for that single island. "Mr. Bancroft, in his letter of August 4, 1848, mentions a conversation with Lord Palmerston, in which the latter 'spoke of the propriety of settling definitively the ownership of the several islands [between the continent and Vancouver's island], in order that settlements might not be begun by one party on what properly belonged to the other.' "In Senate Document No. 251 (hereinbefore referred to) will be found a letter from Governor Stevens to Governor Douglas, dated May 12, 1855, acknowledging the receipt of a communication from the latter, in which is found the following paragraph : 66 6 You say the "island of San Juan has been in the possession of British subjects for many years, and it is, with the other islands in the Archipelago de Haro, declared to be within the jurisdiction of the colony, and under the protection of British laws. I have also the order of Her Majesty's ministers to treat those islands as parts of the British dominions."' "I do not know at what period Governor Douglas received these orders, nor whether they were communicated to the United States by the British Government. As nearly as I have been able to learn, the island of San Juan was first occupied in 1852, by the Hudson's Bay Company, as a sheep pasture, with an agent and a few shepherds to take charge of the property. Previously there was an Indian fishery on the island, probably under the control of the Hudson's Bay Company. "The laws of Oregon and Washington Territories include these islands within their jurisdiction, and some Americans settled upon San Juan in 1853; but feeling insecure from Indian attacks they soon withdrew. A deputy collector of the United States has resided on the island during a part of the time, and is there now. By reference to Senate Doc. No. 251, it will be seen that in 1855 a collision of jurisdiction took place. The sheriff of Whatcom county levied taxes upon the Hudson's Bay Company's property, which the agent refused to pay, on the ground of his being a British subject, acknowledging no authority except that emanating from his own GovernThe property was seized and sold for the payment of the taxes; and a claim for damages is now before the department, amounting to near three thousand pounds. I append herewith an extract from a report of Captain Alden, United States Navy, to the Superintendent of the Coast Survey, in 1853, by which it will be seen that as early as July, 1853, Governor Douglas assumed authority over Lopez Island, one of the Haro Group ('). Until the line is definitively settled there is a constant liability to collisions of jurisdiction. ment. "The first step in the encroachments of the British Government upon this part of the territory of the United States, if Mr. Bancroft be correct in his supposition, originated in the desire of the Hudson's Bay Company to possess these islands. The decided position taken by him in regard to the Canal de Haro for a time checked any attempt on the part of the British Government positively to claim Rosario Straits as the boundary. With much caution, and by careful approaches, this was at length attempted in 1848, but failed. The Government then, it seems, gave orders to Governor Douglas to consider the group of islands as part of the British dominions. "In a previous part of this communication, I referred to the fact that the maps of the north-west coast, extant at the date of the treaty, represented that part of the space between the continent and Vancouver's Island, immediately north and south of the forty-ninth parallel, as free from islands, and, consequently, with but one channel; and called attention to the maps of a (1) American State Papers, p. 87. I have not reproduced this extract, its purport is as above stated. later date, on which the coast of Vancouver's Island is thrown further to the west, and an extensive archipelago substituted. "The chart of the Coast Survey published in 1854 is intended to represent the whole space between the continent and Vancouver's Island, in the vicinity of and south of the forty-ninth parallel, but principally the Canal de Haro and Rosario Straits, and the neighbouring archipelago. In executing this survey for the State Department, it does not seem to have occurred to the officers of the Coast Survey to make an exploration of the archipelago along the coast of Vancouver's Island, immediately south of the forty-ninth parallel. Its existence was, however, then becoming known, and since the discovery of coal at Nanaimo, on Vancouver's Island, a short distance north of the forty-ninth parallel, the Hudson's Bay Company's vessels generally take one of the inner channels in going from and returning to Victoria, thereby saving a great distance, and avoiding rough seas. Captain Alden, in the Active, on one occasion passed through one of the inner channels from Nanaimo, connecting with the Canal de Haro, as they all do, at about latitude 48° 40'. The sketch of the archipelago he obtained from the Hudson's Bay Company (to which I have already referred) was probably made by the captains of the two small steamers, and other small vessels belonging to the Company, which for many years have navigated these waters. You will observe on the Coast Survey chart that the inner channel is designated a channel for small steamers,' probably from the fact that none but small steamers had then sailed through it, or from the indisposition of the Hudson's Bay Company to encourage the exploration of the archipelago. It has been the general impression hitherto that the interior navigation was not well adapted to vessels of a large size, and such was the impression when I first arrived here. Indeed, little or nothing appeared to be known about the islands or channels between them. There are probably difficulties in the way of large vessels getting out of the inner channel into the open gulf at the northern extremity, or at points between it and the Canal de Haro; the openings be tween the islands nearest the Gulf of Georgia being narrow and the currents very rapid. Nevertheless, upon the discovery of gold on Fraser River, steamers of good size found passages through those islands, in going from Victoria to the mouth of the river by the Canal de Haro, that saved considerable distance, and were convenient in avoiding rough weather in the open gulf. There is a passage (about two or three miles in length), almost due south from the 'middle of the channel' at the forty-ninth parallel, which would carry a line into the Canal de Haro, so as to obviate Captain Prevost's objection to the westerly bend in the course of the Canal de Haro at its northern extremity. But as the passage is narrow, less than half a mile wide, though perfectly safe and convenient, I did not think it a proper channel to propose for a boundary beween the United States and Great Britain, although its average width is very little less than the San Juan Channel at its entrance into the Straits of Fuca. With the exception of this passage, I had not, at that time, been within the archipelago, and had no further idea of the true character of its channels. The passage alluded to runs through what appears on the map as Saturna Island. I made a hurried exploration of the archipelago in the steamer Active in September last, and was surprised to find such wide and deep channels. The opening through which we emerged from the inner channel into the Gulf of Georgia, in the vicinity of the forty-ninth parallel, is not wide (about half a mile), and some years since, in passing through it, Her Majesty's steamer Virago, commanded by Captain Prevost, struck a rock. I saw enough, however, to satisfy me that the inner channels are sufficiently capacious for vessels of the largest size. I do not think there are any islands as large as some of those in the Haro Archipelago, but I may be mistaken. They are generally small, rocky, and barren, though highly picturesque in appearance. In the division of labour between the United States and British commissions, the survey of this archipelago devolved on the latter, and we found Captain Richards, with Her Majesty's surveying steamer Plumper, actively engaged upon it. He continued |