Minnesota's Boundary with Canada

by William E. Lass

The boundary between the U.S. and Canada is far more than a line on a map or a demarcation on the ground. In a broad sense, it represents the aspirations, successes, frustrations, failures, and compromises of the two largest countries on the North American continent. Behind this unfortified boundary lie the negotiations, surveys, and intrigue leading to the final establishment of this international border that had its beginnings in the eighteenth century.

158 pages, Paperback

Published January 15, 1980

Reviews

[Bob Lundquist · Rating 4 out of 5]

The end of the Revolutionary War demanded that the border between the United States and British-held Canada be determined. This was very difficult due to unknown geography, land use, and a sparse population beyond the Great Lakes. It was set theoretically with the treaty in 1783 with little knowledge of conditions in the area. Major efforts to set the border occurred after the War of 1812, after the Civil War, and in the early twentieth century. The early efforts were plagued by personality conflicts and crude instruments and arguments on how the border should be measured. The Minnesota portion was complicated by it many swamps and lakes and was part of larger efforts to determine the border when Alaska was purchased and disputes on smaller sections such as that at Maine and between Lake Huron and Lake Superior. The efforts in the 1920s were definitive and all sides agreed to the final border.

This book is a good introduction to the subject. The writing is good and concise but sometimes meanders to other subjects that may be of interest but have little impact on the border work. It explains well the difficulties of setting any border and how sometimes a third party is engaged to arbitrate. Published in 1980, it is too bad the book was published as a large format paperback because my copy fell apart as I was reading it. Hopefully, the Minnesota Historical Society has lots of copies or maybe put it out in a sturdy format.

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

Random facts:
The original northern boundary of what became Minnesota was based on faulty geography. The eastern end was defined by a non-existent Long Lake and the western end on the assumption that the Mississippi originated much further north than it actually does (specifically north of Lake of the Woods).
Finding the northwesternmost point of a lake is a tricky concept. The northwesternmost point of Lake of the Woods was defined and located by a German mathematician working for a British surveying team.
Disputes over the Minnesota border were linked to more important questions regarding sovereignty over some islands in the St. Marys River between Lakes Superior and Huron.
The final physical delineation of the border in the late 19th Century was slowed considerably by insistence by the leader of the British surveying team that the line be ever-so-slightly curved to match a theoretical line of latitude, rather than being simply a line-of-sight between markers.