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"The courses and distances as given in the foregoing description are not assumed to be perfectly accurate, but are as nearly so as is supposed to be necessary to a practical definition of the line laid down on the chart and intended to be the boundary-line.

"HAMILTON FISH.
"EDWD. THORNTON.
"JAMES C. PREVOST."

In his annual message of December 2, 1872,

Other Boundaries. President Grant, referring to the award of the Emperor of Germany, said: "This award confirms the United States in their claim to the important archipelago of islands lying between the continent and Vancouver's Island, *** and leaves us, for the first time in the history of the United States as a nation, without a question of disputed boundary between our territory and the possessions of Great Britain on this continent." When this statement was made, the question which has since arisen as to the boundary between Alaska and the British possessions, from the southernmost point of the Prince of Wales Island, in north latitude 54° 40', to the fifty-sixth degree of north latitude, under the treaty between Great Britain and Russia of 1825, had not been raised. Moreover, the boundary between the United States and the British possessions from the northwest angle of the Lake of the Woods to the summit of the Rocky Mountains, though it was clearly defined in the second article of the treaty of October 20, 1818, had not been surveyed and adjusted. By an act of Congress of March 19, 1872, entitled "An act authorizing the survey and marking of the boundary between the territory of the United States and the possessions of Great Britain from the Lake of the Woods to the summit of the Rocky Mountains," the President

1 Annual Message, December 2, 1872. The disagreement of the commissioners in 1857 as to the San Juan water boundary did not prevent the running of the line under the treaty of 1846 from the Rocky Mountains to the Gulf of Georgia. This line was surveyed and marked by commissioners prior to 1870. On February 24 in that year Mr. Fish, Secretary of State, and Mr. Thornton, British minister, signed a protocol declaring that seven maps, certified and authenticated under the signatures of Archibald Campbell, Esquire, the commissioner of the United States, and Col. John Summerfield Hawkins, Her Britannic Majesty's commissioner, and on which the boundary in question was traced, were approved, agreed to, and adopted by both governments. (Treaties and conventions of the United States, 1776-1887, p. 440.)

was authorized to cooperate with the Government of Great Britain in the appointment of a joint commission to determine the boundary between these points. On the part of the United States, Archibald Campbell was appointed commissioner; on the part of Great Britain, Maj. D. R. Cameron; and engineeer officers were detailed for the performance of the work. The labors of the commission were concluded in 1876. The final records and maps were signed in London on the 29th of May in that year, and a protocol was drawn up and signed setting forth the commission's final proceedings. "At the time of the passage of the act of 1872 the boundary * from the Atlantic to the northwest angle of the Lake of the Woods, and the land line from the summit of the Rocky Mountains to the Georgian Bay" had "been surveyed and adjusted."

Report of Mr. Fish, Sec. of State, Feb. 23, 1877, S. Ex. Doc. 41, 44 Cong. 2 sess. The statement that the line from the Atlantic to the northwest angle of the Lake of the Woods had been "surveyed and adjusted” was not entirely accurate. Of the line from the Pigeon River to the Lake of the Woods there has been no joint survey. (H. Report 1310, 54 Cong. 1 sess.) "The Canadian government has not waited for a joint survey to inform itself concerning the actual condition of the boundary, but it has quietly sent out a party of surveyors at its own expense to trace the line from Pigeon Point to the Lake of the Woods. The work was ordered by the commissioner on international boundaries, and is in charge of A. J. Brabazon, for the past three years engaged on the Alaskan boundary survey, who is now on the way to Ottawa to report. He is satisfied that the Treaty of Washington is in agreement with the physical features." (Statement of July 27, 1896. See Minnesota's Northern Boundary, by Alexander N. Winchell, Minnesota Historical Society Collections, Vol. VIII. part 2, p. 212.)

CHAPTER VIII.

CLAIMS OF THE HUDSON'S BAY AND PUGET'S SOUND AGRICULTURAL COMPANIES: COMMISSION UNDER THE TREATY OF JULY 1, 1863.

Legal Status of the
Claimants.

In the treaty of June 15, 1846, the history of which has just been narrated, certain stipulations were inserted for the protection of the Hudson's Bay Company and the Puget's Sound Agricultural Company, two British organizations, whose interests the division of the Oregon territory between two independent powers necessarily affected. The Hudson's Bay Company had large possessions in the territory, and exercised important powers of government. It possessed, under its charter, the power to make ordinances for the government of the persons employed by it, and also power to exercise jurisdiction in all matters, civil and criminal. It obtained a grant in 1838, for a period of twenty-one years, of an exclusive license to trade with the Indians in all such parts of North America north and west of the territories of the United States as should not belong to the British provinces in North America or to a foreign power, subject to the proviso that nothing in the grant should be construed to authorize the company "to claim or exercise any trade with the Indians on the northwest coast of America to the westward of the Stony Mountains, to the prejudice or exclusion of any of the subjects of any foreign States who, under or by force of any convention for the time being between us and such foreign States respectively, may be entitled to and shall be engaged in the said trade." The Puget's Sound Agricultural Company, which was an accessory organization formed for the purpose of conducting agricultural operations, was organized in December 1840 under the protection and auspices of the Hudson's Bay Company.

The Companies'
Possessions.

Within that part of the Oregon territory which fell to the United States by the treaty of 1846, the Hudson's Bay Company then had thirteen establishments, the chief of which was Fort

Vancouver, a fortified settlement, with the governor's house and various other buildings. Besides this there were, in what became the Territory of Washington, establishments at Cape Disappointment, Chinook Point, Caweeman, Fort Colville, Flat Heads, Kootenais, and Okanagan; and, in what became the Territory of Oregon, at Fort Umpqua, Champooeg, Walla Walla, Fort Hall, and Fort Boisée. The Puget's Sound Agricultural Company had two establishments in Washington Territory, Nisqually and the Cowlitz farms.

For the protection of the interests of these Treaty of 1846. companies three articles-those numbered II., III., and IV.—were inserted in the treaty of 1846. By Article II. it was provided that the navigation of the great northern branch of the Columbia River, where it lies within the United States, down to its entrance into the main stream of the Columbia, and of the latter to the ocean, should be free and open to the Hudson's Bay Company and to all British subjects trading with it, and that such subjects should, with their goods and produce, be treated on the same footing as citizens of the United States.

By Article III. it was provided that "in the future appropriation of the territory south of the forty-ninth parallel of north latitude, as provided in the first article of this treaty, the possessory rights of the Hudson's Bay Company, and of all British subjects who may be already in the occupation of land or other property lawfully acquired within the said territory, shall be respected." With respect to the words "future appropriation of the territory, * as provided in the first article of the treaty," it should be observed that the first article merely provided for the drawing of the boundary line along the fortyninth parallel to the sea.

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By Article IV. it was provided that the "farms, lands, and other property of every description belonging to the Puget's Sound Agricultural Company, on the north side of the Columbia River, shall be confirmed to the said company," but that in case the situation of those farms and lands should be considered by the United States to be of public and political importance, and the United States Government should signity a desire to obtain possession of the whole, or of any part thereof, the property so required shall be transferred to the said Government at a proper valuation, to be agreed upon between the parties."

Companies' Complaints.

Soon after the conclusion of the treaty both companies began to complain of the invasion of their rights and the destruction of their property by settlers, and of the failure of the United States to protect them in the rights and privileges which had been guaranteed to them. They maintained that the ordinary resort to the courts, to which they were recommended, was insufficient, and that special measures should be adopted for their protection.

Offer of Sale to
United States.

Meanwhile, they offered to dispose of their interests to the United States. They offered to "dispose of all their lands, buildings, live stock, and other property of every description, together with any rights or privileges attached thereto." In the estimate of its "possessory rights" the Hudson's Bay Company included "the right to cultivate the soil, to cut down and export timber, to carry on the fisheries, to trade for furs with the natives," and generally all other rights enjoyed at the time of the conclusion of the treaty. Negotiations were begun with Mr. Buchanan, as Secretary of State, in 1848, and were continued with his successor, Mr. Clayton, in 1849, and with Mr. Webster in 1850, but without definite result. But as time wore on and the country became more populous the difficulties of the companies increased,' and at length provision was made for the adjustment of the whole subject.

Treaty of Arbitration.

A treaty "for the final settlement of the claims of the Hudson's Bay and Puget's Sound Agricultural Companies" was concluded by Mr. Seward and Lord Lyons at Washington on the 1st of July 1863. By this treaty it was recited that "by the 3d and 4th articles" of the treaty of 1846 certain rights (which were described in the language of those articles) were guaranteed to the companies, and that it was desirable that all questions between the United States and the companies with respect to the "possessory rights and claims" of the latter should "be settled by the transfer of those rights and claims to the Government of the United States for an adequate money consideration." And to this end it was agreed that the two governments should, within twelve months after the ratification of the treaty, each appoint a commissioner "for the purpose of examining and

IS. Ex. Doc. 20, 31 Cong. 2 sess.
2S. Ex. Doc. 37, 33 Cong. 2 sess.

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