north branch of the river, keeping to the north of and near the Lower Sault Island, and also north of and near the Upper Sault (sometimes. called Baxter's) Island, and south of the two small islands, marked on the map A and B, to the western extremity of the Upper Sault or Baxter's Island; thence, passing between the two islands called the Cats, to the middle of the river above; thence, along the middle of the river, keeping to the north of the small islands marked C and D, and north, also, of Chrystler's Island, and of the small island next above it, marked E, until it approaches the northeast angle of Goose Neck Island; thence, along the passage which divides the last mentioned island from the Canada shore, keeping one hundred yards from the island, to the upper end of the same; thence, south of and near the two small islands called the Nut Islands; thence, north of and near the island marked F, and also of the island called Dry, or Smuggler's Island; thence, passing between the islands marked G and H, to the north of the island called Isle au Rapid Plat; thence, along the north side of the last mentioned island, keeping one hundred yards from the shore, to the upper end thereof; thence along the middle of the river, keeping to the south of and near the islands called Cousson, or Tussiu, and Presque Isle; thence, up the river, keeping north of and near the several Gallop Isles, numbered on the map, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10, and also of Tick, Tibbet's and Chimney Islands, and south of and near the Gallop Isles, numbered 11, 12 and 13, and also of Duck, Drummond and Sheep Islands; thence, along the middle of the river, passing north of island No. 14, south of 15 and 16, north of 17, south of 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25 and 28, and north of 26 and 27; thence, along the middle of the river, north of Gull Island, and of the islands No. 29, 32, 33, 34, 35, Bluff Island and No. 39, 44, and 45, and to the south of No. 30, 31, 36, Grenadier Island, and No. 37, 38, 40, 41, 42, 43, 46, 47, and 48, until it approaches the east end of Wells' Island; thence, to the north of Wells' Island, and along the strait which divide it from Rowe's Island, keeping to the north of the small islands No. 51, 52, 54, 58, 59, and 61, and to the south of the small islands numbered and marked 49, 50, 53, 55, 57, 60, and X, until it approaches the northeast point of Grindstone Island; thence, to the north of Grindstone Island, and keeping to the north, also, of the small islands No. 63, 65, 67, 68, 70, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, and 78, and to the south of No. 62, 64, 66, 69 and 71, until it approaches the southern point of Hickory Island; thence, passing to the south of Hickory Island, and of the two small islands lying near its southern extremity, numbered 79 and 80; thence, to the south of Grand, or Long Island, keeping near its southern shore, and passing to the north of Carlton Island, until it arrives opposite to the southwestern point of said Grand Island,

in Lake Ontario; thence, passing to the north of Grenadier, Fox, Stoney, and the Gallop Islands, in Lake Ontario, and to the south of and near the islands called the Ducks, to the middle of said lake; thence, westerly, along the middle of said lake, to a point opposite to the mouth of the Niagara river; thence, to and up the middle of the said river to the Great Falls; thence, up the falls, through the point of the Horse Shoe, keeping to the west of Iris, or Goat Island, and of the group of islands at its head, and following the bends of the river so as to enter the strait between Navy and Grand Islands; thence, along the middle of said strait, to the head of Navy Island; thence, to the west and south of, and near to, Grand and Beaver Islands, and to the west of Strawberry, Squaw, and Bird Islands, to Lake Erie; thence, southerly and westerly, along the middle of Lake Erie, in a direction to enter the passage immediately south of Middle Island, being one of the easternmost of the groupe of islands lying in the western part of said lake.

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In faith whereof, we, the Commissioners aforesaid, have signed this declaration, and thereunto affixed our seals. [June 18, 1822.]

PETER B. PORTER, [L. S.]
ANTH. BARCLAY,

-U. S. State Papers, 2d Sess., 17th Cong., vi, No. 91.

[L. S.]

A TREATY

To settle and define the boundaries between the territories of the United States and the possessions of Her Britannic Majesty in North America;

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Aug. 9, 1842.

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Article VI.

purpose of run

It is furthermore understood and agreed, that for the ning and tracing those parts of the line between the source of the St Croix and the St Lawrence river which will require to be run and ascertained, and for marking the residue of said line by proper Monuments on the land, two Commissioners shall be appointed one by the President of the United States, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate thereof, and one by Her Britannic Majesty : * * and the said Commissioners shall make to each of their respective Governments a joint report or declaration, under their hands and seals, designating such line of boundary, and shall accompany such report or declaration with maps, certified by them to be true maps of the new boundary. -U. S. Statutes at Large, viii, 572, 575.

I have to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 23d ultimo, and in reply to inform you that the Report of the United States Commissioner, Albert Smith, appointed to carry into effect the 6th Article of the Treaty with Great Britain of 1842, is to be found in print in House Doc. No. 169, 28th Congress, 1st Session, under date January 23d, 1844. It was read and laid on table March 9, 1844;

That the Joint Report of the Commissioners appears in Senate Executive Doc. No. 71, 30th Congress, 1st Session.

That the details and data upon which the maps were based, are not published; and that the original notes were burnt with the uncompleted maps while Col. Graham was preparing them, but were replaced from the British notes, and the maps were then reconstructed.

Resolved, That the Secretary of State be requested to send to the Senate a copy of the joint report of the commissioners under the treaty of Washington, of August 9, 1842, together with a copy of the report of the American commissioner, transmitting the same to the State Department.

IN COMPLIANCE WITH A RESOLUTION OF THE SENATE, REPORTS OF THE COMMISSIONERS UNDER THE TREATY OF WASHINGTON, OF AUGUST 9, 1842.

To the Senate of the United States:

The Secretary of State has the honor to transmit to the Senate, in compliance with a resolution adopted by it on the 29th ultimo, "a copy

of the joint report of the commissioners under the treaty of Washington, of August 9, 1842, together with a copy of the report of the American commissioner, transmitting the same to the State Department."

DEPARTMENT OF STATE,

Washington, August 3, 1848.

JAMES BUCHANAN.

Mr. Smith to Mr. Buchanan.

WASHINGTON, April 20, 1848.

SIR In presenting to you the joint report of the commissioners, appointed under the treaty of Washington, of August 9, 1842, to survey and mark the line of boundary between the United States and the British provinces, which I have the honor herewith, most respectfully, to submit, I have to perform the painful duty of informing you that the maps of that line, and of the adjacent country, which had been elaborately constructed by the scientific corps on the part of the United States, and contained upon one hundred sheets of drawing paper, of the largest size, together with the tables of the survey, have been destroyed by the conflagration of the building in which they were contained. This house had been occupied by Major James D. Graham, the head of the scientific corps, and principal astronomer of the American commission, as his office, until his departure for Mexico. All the maps, drawings, and tables had been completed and duly authenticated by the joint commissioners, and were ready to be deposited with their joint report under their hands and seals, in the archives of this government. Of this, I had the honor to inform you in my letter of the 24th ultimo. I can hardly express the pain which this unfortunate event has occasioned me. But I cannot perceive that any imputation of blame can properly be attached to any officer of the commission. The care and custody of all the work of the United States scientific corps were properly placed in charge of Major Graham, as the head of that corps, who had had the immediate direction and superintendence of it from the first organization of the commission. He required the maps and tables at his office, for reference and revision in the progress of the astronomical work. Upon his departure for Mexico, he placed Lieutenant A. W. Whipple in his rooms, with an injunction to guard, with the utmost care, the valuable property of the commission. On the day after he left the city, and when, for the first time, informed of the fact, I called upon Lieutenant Whipple, and requested him to have all the maps, drawings, and tables ready to be turned over to the State Depart

ment on the following day. On the 24th ultimo, I acquainted you with that fact.

No censure can possibly be attributed to Lieutenant Whipple, whose great care and attention to all his duties, have been, on all occasions, highly distinguished. He escaped from the fire with scarcely an article of his dress, and his loss in money and clothing is at least one thousand dollars. Major Graham has lost his valuable library, together with personal effects to a large amount. The fire was communicated from the basement of the house, and by no effort could any thing be saved.

There are tracings of the maps upon "tissue paper," without the topography, in the State of Maine, but they are not signed by the commissioners.

The field books of the engineers were, fortunately, not in Major Graham's office, and are preserved.

Duplicates of the maps, duly authenticated, have been placed in the British archives at London, which, although they have not the topography of the country so fully laid down upon them as it was upon our own, represent with equal exactness the survey of the boundary itself. Should it be deemed expedient by this government to procure copies of them, access to those archives for that purpose would, undoubtedly, be permitted, and the object accomplished at small expense; and when completed, these copies could be authenticated by the joint commissioners, in accordance with the provisions of the treaty.

I have the honor to be, with great respect, your obedient and humble servant,

-U. S. Senate Docs., 1848, v. 8, No. 71.

ALBERT SMITH.

Report of the joint commission of boundary, appointed under the treaty of Washington, of August 9, 1842.

The undersigned, commissioners appointed under the treaty of Washington, to trace and mark the boundary, as directed by that treaty, between the British possessions in North America and the United States; that is to say, James Bucknall Bucknall Estcourt, lieutenant colonel in the British army, appointed commissioner by her Britannic Majesty, and Albert Smith, appointed commissioner by the President of the United States, having accomplished the duty assigned to them, do now, in accordance with the directions of the said treaty, submit the following report and the accompanying maps, jointly signed, to their respective governments.

In obedience to the terms of the treaty, they met at Bangor in the State of Maine, on the 1st day of May, 1843, where they produced and verified the authority under which they each were respectively to act.