Volume 1

24 THE LAKE OF THE WOODS.
my canoe ; his head struck the gunnel near one of the men
who, instead of taking hold of him, gave a scream, and the
fish fell into the water again. The wind came on so strong
as to oblige us to put ashore, where we passed the rest of
the day in drying our goods at L'Anse de Sable.
Aug. 6th. The wind continued to blow a gale all day,
stream from the W., of no very great consequence. Still further N. on the W.
side, is the opening of the celebrated " Northwest Angle of the Lake of the
Woods," in which interest centers ; for at the head of this long narrow bay is
the " Northwest Point of the Northwest Angle," which has made so much
political and geographical history. The trouble began early, for the usual reason,
viz.: the attempt to fix on paper the location of something whose actual
geographical position was unknown. Thus, we find Sir A. McKenzie saying
of the Lake of the Woods, p. Iviii "
: This lake is also rendered remarkable, in
consequence of the Americans having named it as the spot, from which a line of
boundary, between them and British America, was to run West, until it struck the
Mississippi ;
which, however, can never happen, as the North-West part of the
Lake du Bois, is in latitude 49. 37. North," etc. The geographical impossibilities
or difficulties involved in any such early and crude aspects of the case as those
presented in the treaties of Sept. 3d, 1783, and Nov. 19th, 1794, of course required
to be eliminated ; and the requisite adjustment was attempted to be provided
for by the Seventh Article of the Treaty of Ghent, already mentioned. The
second article of the London convention between the United States and Great
Britain, of Oct. 20th, 1818. is as follows "
: It is agreed that a line drawn from the
most northwestern point of the Lake of the Woods, along the forty-ninth parallel
of north latitude, or, if the said point shall not be in the forty-ninth parallel of
north latitude, then that a line drawn due north or south as the case may be,
until the said line shall intersect the said parallel of north latitude, and from the
point of such intersection due west along aad with such parallel, shall be the line
of demarkation between the territories of the United States and His Britannic
Majesty . . . from the Lake of the Woods to the Stony Mountains." This
is perfectly clear, and remains in force now ; the only question was, to determine
on the ground the geographical positions thus provided for. The
declaration of the joint commissioners appointed to carry into effect the
provisions of the Seventh Article of the Treaty of Ghent includes the following
: "Section 19. Resolved, that the following described line . . .
is, in the opinion of the commissioners, so far as the same extends, the
true Boundary intended by the before mentioned treaties :—Namely,
thence through the middle of the waters bf this Bay to the Northwest
extremity of the same, being the most Northwestern point of the Lake
of the Woods, and from a monument erected in this Bay, on the nearest
firm ground to the Northwest extremity of said Bay, the courses and distances
are as follows : viz, ist. N. 56° W. 1565^ feet. 2d. N. 6° W. 86i>^ feet.
3d. N, 28? W. 615.4 feet. 4th. N. 270 10' W. 495.4 feet. Sth. N. 5° 10' E.