Presidents -- United States -- Messages; United States -- Politics and government -- Sources
As to the remaining section of the Alaskan boundary, which follows the
one hundred and forty-first meridian northwardly from Mount St. Elias
to the Frozen Ocean, the settlement of which involves the physical
location of the meridian mentioned, no conventional agreement has yet
been made. The ascertainment of a given meridian at a particular point
is a work requiring much time and careful observations and surveys.
Such observations and surveys were undertaken by the United States
Coast and Geodetic Survey in 1890 and 1891, while similar work in the
same quarters, under British auspices, is believed to give nearly
coincident results; but these surveys have been independently
conducted, and no international agreement to mark those or any other
parts of the one hundred and forty-first meridian by permanent
monuments has yet been made. In the meantime the valley of the Yukon is
becoming a highway through the hitherto unexplored wilds of Alaska, and
abundant mineral wealth has been discovered in that region, especially
at or near the junction of the boundary meridian with the Yukon and its
tributaries. In these circumstances it is expedient, and, indeed,
imperative, that the jurisdictional limits of the respective
Governments in this new region be speedily determined. Her Britannic
Majesty's Government has proposed a joint delimitation of the one
hundred and forty-first meridian by an international commission of
experts, which, if Congress will authorize it and make due provision
therefor, can be accomplished with no unreasonable delay. It is
impossible to overlook the vital importance of continuing the work
already entered upon and supplementing it by further effective measures
looking to the exact location of this entire boundary line.
I call attention to the unsatisfactory delimitation of the respective
jurisdictions of the United States and the Dominion of Canada in the
Great Lakes at the approaches to the narrow waters that connect them.
The waters in question are frequented by fishermen of both
nationalities and their nets are there used. Owing to the uncertainty
and ignorance as to the true boundary, vexations disputes and injurious
seizures of boats and nets by Canadian cruisers often occur, while any
positive settlement thereof by an accepted standard is not easily to be
reached. A joint commission to determine the line in those quarters on
a practical basis, by measured courses following range marks on shore,
is a necessity for which immediate provision should be made.
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