The Lake In considering this line one peculiarity strikes us at once, it runs through the middle of all the lakes and their water communications except Lake Superior where it runs "northward of the isles Royal and Philippeau." Why should a boundary line which for hundreds of miles has run through the middle of the lakes, be suddenly turned and made to run within thirteen miles of the northwest shore of the largest lake? And why should two out of all the islands of that long waterway be mentioned, and only two? These questions, so far as I can discover, have never been fully answered; to do so, is in part, the purpose of this paper. I shall try to show that Benton was right when he asserted that the line ran through Lake Superior "to the northward of the isles Royal and Philippeau" because that was the general and well known route of travel to the northwest fur lands; and that the islands are mentioned simply because they were well known land marks by which that route was known.1 It is impossible to find answers to those questions in the reports or writings of the commissioners who established the boundary line; for there seems to have been little written discussion of any part of the line except the northwest part. It seems doubtful if there was even an oral discussion of the details of the lake boundary since it ran through a region very little known and valued only for its fur. Moreover it was thought, as Jay said, that "the waters would form a line which could never be mistaken."As a matter of fact no serious trouble has ever arisen out of this portion of the boundary line, although it was not all definitely determined for nearly sixty years after the treaty was made. Indeed, only once has it been carefully considered. To answer the questions, then, as to why only a part of the lake boundary was thus specifically mentioned we must show: 1st. That there was no reason for specifying the islands in question except for the purpose of more fully identifying the direction of the line. 2d. That the line described followed the usual route of travel. 3d. That this last fact was known to the men who established the boundary line. Isles Royale My reasons for thinking the isles Royale and Philippeau are mentioned in the treaty solely for the purpose of better identification and Philip- of the line are that; in the first place, the Englishmen who made the peace considered them of no value, and the Americans probably knew it. On the only occasions when the matter was discussed, the British commissioners said: peau. "It may be remarked, in explanation of the fact of the British Commissioner who negotiated the treaty of 1783 having consented to cede isles Royale and Philippeau to 1 "Congressional Globe," 27th Cong., 3d Sess., appendix, p. 2. 2 Above page 18. 3 "Ex. Doc., No. 451," 25th Cong., 2d Sess., Vol. XI. |