The committee have had under consideration the memorandum dated June
22, 1871, from the honorable the minister of public works, on the
dispatch from the British minister at Washington, respecting certain
alleged encroachments by the Canadian engineers in locating a
wagon-road from Fort Garry to the Lake of the Woods, including the
termination of it, within territory belonging to the United States,
and they respectfully report their concurrence in the recommendation
made in the said memorandum, and advise that the same be approved
and acted upon.
Memorandum.
Department of Public
Works, Ottawa,
June 22,
1871.
The undersigned has had submitted for his report a dispatch from
the British minister at Washington forwarding for your
excellency’s information a letter from Mr. Fish, Secretary of
State for the United States of America, in which complaint is
made that “the Canadian engineers engaged in constructing a
wagon-road from Fort Garry to the Lake of the Woods have located
a considerable portion of it, including its termination, at a
harbor in the Lake of the Woods within territory belonging to
the United States, the monument marking the northwestern limit
of the United States above the 49th parallel of latitude being
upward of seven miles north of the termination.”
The undersigned has also had submitted for his information a
dispatch from his honor the lieutenant governor of Manitoba,
dated March 27, 1871, (No. 136,) bringing to your excellency’s
notice an alleged mistake by the commissioners who placed and
determined the site of the monument which serves to indicate the
northwest angle of the Lake of the Woods, pointing out the
inconvenience of that portion of the boundary line which runs
due south from the said monument to the 49th parallel of north
latitude, and submitting for your excellency’s consideration the
opportuneness of bringing the whole subject before competent
authorities for rectification and adjustment.
A report from Mr. Dawson, superintending engineer of the Red
River route, accompanied by partially explanatory maps, dated
May 23, 1871, states that “the road leading from Fort Garry to
the Lake of the Woods has its termination close to the extreme
westerly point of the northwest angle, and that the engineers
engaged in locating it have no knowledge of any part of it being
within the territory of the United States.”
From these documents it is inferred that the site of a certain
monument placed as a basis to determine the exact point taken at
the northwest, has been mistaken for the northwest angle itself;
and, consequently, that the alleged encroachment of Canadian
engineers upon United States territory may be explained to the
satisfaction of all the parties interested.
Pending further inquiry and survey, about to be made by the
engineers of the Red River route, and the production of more
perfect maps of the region surrounding the Lake of the Woods,
the undersigned has the honor to recommend: That the Department
of State, at Washington, be requested to furnish a sketch
showing where the alleged encroachment has taken place, and the
exact locality of the monument at the northwestern limit of the
United States of America to which reference is made in Mr.
Fish’s letter, or that it be left to the joint commission who
are to settle the boundary line between the United States and
Manitoba to ascertain and re-mark the northwest angle.
Respectfully submitted.
HECTOR L. LANGWIN, Minister of Public
Works.
