ILLUSTRATIONS. PLATE I. Map of Northern Minnesota, illustrating papers by Page. 40 48 60 236 244 248 250 VIII. Specimens of relics collected at Itasca, Bemidji, 252 256 FIG. 1. 2. Sketch map of Schoolcraft island, Itasca lake..... 248 252 3. Sketch map of extinct villages at Naiwa river and 253 4. The Tascodiac effigy mounds.. 254 5. The mound-builders' home at Tascodiac lake... 256 6. The Elliott Coues and Cass Lake prehistoric villages and mounds 258 7. Sketch map of the mound-builders' village sites and 260 PLATE X. Portrait of Captain Russell Blakeley..... 303 STEAMBOATS OF THE UPPER MISSISSIPPI RIVER, 1850-1862. ..... XI. Steamboat Nominee; at Galena on the Fever (Galena) 388 XII. Steamboat War Eagle; at La Crosse (in "the Slough"), looking east 394 XIII. Steamboat Northern Belle; at Winona, looking east. XV. Steamboat Milwaukee; at Winona, looking east.. Page. 402 404 404 404 404 404 406 408 412 XXII. Map of Fort Snelling... 430 XXIII. Map of Minnesota and Dakota, showing route of the 449 XXIV. Portrait of Hon. Charles E. Flandrau... XXV. Portrait of Hon. Charles K. Smith.. XXVI. Portrait of Rev. Edward D. Neill. XXVII. Portrait of John Fletcher Williams. XXVIII. Portrait of Gov. William R. Marshall. 463 495 497 501 506 THE INTERNATIONAL BOUNDARY BETWEEN LAKE SUPERIOR AND THE LAKE OF THE WOODS.* BY ULYSSES SHERMAN GRANT, PH. D. At various times during the last nine years the speaker, while in the employ of the Geological and Natural History Survey of Minnesota, has visited the northern boundary of our state; at these times he has traveled along every foot of this boundary line from lake Superior to and beyond the beginning of Rainy river at the west end of the lake of the same name, excepting only that part of the boundary between Pigeon falls and the north end of Grand portage, distance of some ten miles, along which there is no canoe route. Much of the boundary he has been over many times. During these trips a considerable mass of data, relating mostly to the geology of the region, has been collected; but there are other features, aside from the geology, which it was thought would prove of sufficient general interest to be mentioned here to-night. It will not be necessary to enter into a detailed account of the history of the establishment of the northern boundary of our state from lake Superior to the Lake of the Woods, but a brief sketch of how the present boundary line came to be settled upon is necessary for our object.** *Read at the annual meeting of the Minnesota Historical Society, Jan. 21, 1895. **It is understood that Mr. Alfred J. Hill, who has so carefully described "How the Mississippi river and the Lake of the Woods became Instrumental in the establishment of the northwestern boundary of the United States" in the Minnesota Historical Collections, Volume VII., pp. 305-352, 1893, is ntending to prepare an article on the history of the, northern boundary of Minnesota east of Lake of the Woods. In the "Definite Treaty of Peace" with Great Britain in 1783 we find the first treaty mention of this boundary line; it reads as follows: "Thence through Lake Superior northward of the Isles Royale and Phelipeaux, to the Long Lake; thence through the middle of said Long Lake, and the water communication between it and Lake of the Woods, to the said Lake of the Woods". The Long lake here mentioned is understood to be some part of Pigeon river. This boundary line is again mentioned in the treaty of Ghent, 1814, when a commission was appointed to survey and definitely establish it. The commission was "authorized upon their oaths impartially to fix and determine, according to the true intent of the said treaty of peace of 1783, that part of the boundary between the dominions of the two Powers which extends from the water communication between Lake Huron and Lake Superior, to the most northwestern point of the Lake of the Woods." This commission surveyed and mapped the boundary line and filed their report about 1826. As far as can be learned, this report and the maps have never been published by the United States government. But tracings of these maps are now to be seen in the surveyor general's office in this city. The determinations of this commission were used in the preparation of the Webster-Ashburton treaty in 1842; this treaty fixed finally and definitely the exact boundary line by naming the principal lakes and streams through which it should pass. Now the commissioners were instructed to fix the boundary according to the true intent of the treaty of 1783. Let us examine what the true intent of this treaty was and how nearly the commissioners carried out the spirit and the letter of that treaty, and in this way we can discover to what degree the established boundary corresponds with that first intended. The maps which were used by the framers of the treaty of 1783 showed the Lake of the Woods as the head of a chain of lakes whose waters flowed eastward through the Pigeon river into lake Superior. The intent of the treaty then was that the boundary should follow this water-course. This, however, as became known later, was impossible, for the waters of the Lake of the Woods flow into Hudson bay. The boundary then should follow along the supposed connection between this lake and lake Superior as nearly as could be, cross ing, if possible, only one height of land or water divide. Such a divide exists on the established boundary line between North and South lakes, the waters of the former flowing westward to Lake of the Woods and those of the latter eastward to lake Superior. It is generally supposed that this height of land is the only one crossed by the established boundary, but the facts of the case are that six of these water divides exist along the present boundary line. A brief description of these will be given. The first, beginning at the east, is that between Rove and Mud (or Rose) lakes in Cook county.* The boundary here runs along the portage trail, which is a mile and a half long and goes up over a considerable hill. This trail rises 1,715 feet above the sea level, or nearly 200 feet higher than Mud lake. The more eastern of these lakes, Rove lake, flows eastward through Pigeon river, while the waters of Mud lake find their way into Canadian territory through the Arrow lake and the river of the same name, which joins Pigeon river about eight miles above its mouth. The amount of land which lies south of Arrow lake and river and north of Pigeon river (or the boundary line) is roughly estimated to be 100 square miles. The next divide is that of the height of land or continental divide between the drainage system of the Gulf of St. Lawrence on the one hand and that of Hudson bay on the other. This is between North and South lakes on the northern edge of Cook county. The waters of South lake flow eastward and those of North lake westward. The distance between these two lakes along the boundary portage trail is one-third of a mile. The highest point reached is 1,585 feet above the sea, as determined by leveling by the Geological Survey of Minnesota. The two lakes lie nearly at the same level, about 1,550 feet above the sea.* Some years ago it was quite generally thought that Hunter's island was really an island. Later people came to regard it as not an island, the waters of the international boundary being supposed to flow around its southern side from Saganaga lake. This idea has been gained from most of the maps, *The locations of the various water divides here mentioned can be seen on the accompanying map of northern Minnesota, Pl. I. "By actual leveling from lake Superior in August, 1893, South lake was found to be 1,558 feet above the sea, and North lake, 1,550. |