contractors, to whose lot it would probably fall to construct any new line of subsidised railway, which caused the Canadian Commission to reject the tentative American proposal regarding Skagway, and to put forward the counter claim to the possession of Pyramid Harbour (which lies lower down upon the west coast of the Lynn Canal), together with a two mile wide strip of territory reaching inland, containing the Chilcat Pass, and through it easy passage through the coast ranges, and so by a long line of railroad to Fort Selkirk, which lies on the Yukon River, to the south and east of Dawson City. It is said also, though of this I have no direct evidence, that the Canadians included the right to fortify Pyramid Harbour. It is not surprising that the Americans rejected this proposal, for they entered into the discussion convinced of the impossibility of accepting any arrangement which would involve the surrender of American settlements, and though it is not so large or important as Skagway or Dyea, Pyramid Harbour is nevertheless as much an American settlement as the two latter. I am bound to point out that just as the Dominion of Canada, as a whole, has a keener interest in this dispute than has the Home Government, so the Government of British Columbia is more closely affected by any possible settlement than is the rest of the Dominion. And British Columbia is as adverse to the Pyramid Harbour scheme as the United States themselves. This is due to the fact that when finished the Pyramid Harbour and Fort Selkirk railroad would afford no access to the British Columbia gold fields on Atlin Lake, which would still be reached only by way of Skagway and the White Pass, or by Dyea and the Chilcat Pass. But quite apart from this view of the matter, we may take it for granted that the United States will never voluntarily surrender any of their tide-water settlements, while the Canadian Government, on the other hand, are no more disposed to accept any settlement based on the internationalisation of Skagway, their argument probably being that, save as a temporary 'modus vivendi,' this would be giving away their whole case to their opponents." _H. Townsend, The Alaskan Boundary Question (Fortnightly Review, September, 1899)._ Pending further negotiations on the subject, a "modus vivendi" between the United States and Great Britain, "fixing a provisional boundary line between the Territory of Alaska and the Dominion of Canada about the head of Lynn Canal," was concluded October 20, 1899, in the following terms: