IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) A^. A O l/x 1.0 I.I l^|28 |2.5 ■50 ■^" M^H Ki B3 12.2 [r 1^ 12.0 6" 1.8 IL25 IIIIII.4 IIIIII.6 vw ... ^P /a ,V ^'^ '/ /^ Photograpmc Sciences Corporation ^ •^ ^ \ 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580 (716) 872-4503 »<>. ^r. St ^^^'^t'"'"', in the controversy is this: The treaty of 1783 declared that the river St. Croix is to form the boundary from its mouth to its source, and from the latter point it is to be continued by a due north line. No further description or localization of the river was given ; it was not even stated that it was the old St. Croix of De Month's settlement in 1604, and of various early grants, that was meant, thoug^i it would seem a fair inference that it was intended for the same. But the very year after the treaty was signed doubt arose as to the position of the St. Croix. The Passamaquoddy Indians had testified as early as 1 764 that the river known to them as the St. Croix was the Magaguadavic, and the testimony had been repeated to different surveyors.* The negotiators of the treaty were asked what map had been used, and answered that John Mitchell's map of 1755 was the one used, and that the St. Croix marked upon it was the river chosen as the boundary. This map, however, was * American State Papers, Vol. I, p. gi. Kilby, Eastport and Passamaquoddy, etc. No writer appears to have commented on the fact that the value of the testimony of the Indians in fixing the St. Croix of Mitchell's map is quite negatived by the fact that the Scoodic. or modern St. Croix, has also been called St. Croix from the v(!ry earliest times, as no person whatever doubts. Indeed, contemporary maps show two rivers called St. Croix falling into Pabsamaquoddy. 262 THE ST. CROIX OF THE NORTHEASTERN liOUNDARV too inaccurate to settle the question. [Compare the two first maps.] It marks two rivers emptying into Passamaquoddy, that to the west called Passamacadic, and that to the east, St. Croix. The latter of these United States writers h a v e al- ways contended must be the Maga- g u a d a V i c, espe- cially since it is called St. Croix by the Indians, and t h ■; former must be the mod- ern St. Croix or Scoodic. British write r s, on the other hand, have held that the east- ern river v/as the present St. Croix (the Magaguada- vic not being marked), and the western river was the Cobscook. The question at once became a burning one, and demanded imme- diate settlement. Accordingly com- missioners were appointed, and in 1798 they decided that the river called St. Croix or Scoodic was the true St. Croix, and should form the boundary. This decision they based, not on the identification of the St. Croix of Mitchell's map (that point they did not /^ decide), but upon the discovery of remains of De Month's settlement, which ^' placed it beyond all controversy forever that this was the ancient St. Croix of French settlement and early grants. Their decision led to the choice of the Scoodic as the boundary, which, so far, was satisfactory to the MODERN MAP OF THE ST. CROIX REGION. THE ST. CROrX OF THE NORTH EASTERN HOUNDARV 263 British. But the people of the United States were far from satisfied, and they continued to chiim that the St. Croix of Mitchell's map, not the ancient St. Croix of the French, should form the boundary, and Mitchell's St. Croix they still held to be the Magaguadavic* This is their whole contention in brief : The St. Croix of Mitchell's map was chosen as the boundary by the commissioners, and whatever river Mitchell's St. Croix was intended for, that river should be the bound- ary, whether it be the ancient St. Croix or not. So imperfect is the topography of Mitchell's map in this region that, looking simply at the mouths of the rivers, it is impossible to tell for which of those of modern maps they are intend- ed. It is a very curious fact that none of the disputants appear to have examined their sources. It will be seen by our second sketch that the St. Croix of Mitchell's map flows from a large lake called by him Kousaki. All the maps of this and a somewhat earlier period have this lake at the source of the St. Croix, and when it has a name at all, it is a form of this same word. Thus, Bellin in 1744, and D'Anville in 1755, have A^^w- akonsaki. If the identity of this lake can be set- tled, it will, of course, settle that of the river. Now, the Passamaquoddy Indians of to-day call Grand lake at the head of the St. Croix Ka-oiik- ^^/(fT/ - j'rt'/'*' (pronounced /v'rt'i'-^?//^-^'^//^//!^), which, in the ^ ,, , locative form, would be A'rt'-£»7^/t-jaX'-£'^/6. Mitchell's ^ ^~ r form of the word was clearly the last syllables of .the form Kaoiiakousaki, used by Bellin in 1744. The resemblance between the modern Ka-ojik- sak-ook, and the old Ka-ou-ak-ou-sak-i is striking, the more especially when it is remembered *:hat the two words are written one hundred and fifty years apart by men of different nations. On the other hand, the Passa- maquoddies call the lake at the head of the Magaguadavic by a very dif- ferent name. We have not its exact modern form, but it is very like * For instance, it has been laboriously argued by Hon. Mr. Washburnu (in Collections Maine Historical Society, Vol. VHI). Winsor's America (VH, p. 173) takes the same ground : " H the testimony of Mitchell's map was worth anything, there was no question that the easterly or Maga- guadavic river (Mitchell's St. Croix) was the river intended by the treaty." Kilby (Eastport and Passamaquoddy') and others adhere to the same view, and it is re-afifirmed in the latest volume of the collections of the Maine Historical Society (Series 2, Vol. 1, p. 189). Oyfi^ EXTRACT l-KOM MITCHELLS MAI- OP 1755- \ \ *5B i^i^^ I 264 THE ST. C^^OIX OF THE NORTHEASTERN BOUNDARY Magaguadaxvagnm, a totally different word from that at the head of Mitchell's St. Croix. Indian place names are very permanent. Dozens of them could be cited in Maine, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia, which have hardly sensibly changed since the first exploration of the country. In the face of this evidence it seems probable almost to certainty that the lake Kousaki and river St. Croix of Mitchell's map arc the modern Grand lake and St. Croix river. But happily we have other good evidence on the point. The sketch on this page is from a valuable manuscript map in posses- sion of W. H. Kilby, au- thor of Eastport and Pas- samagiioddy, through whose kind permission we are enabled to reproduce it. The map was made in connection with the settle- ment of the St. Croix in 1798, and bears this in- dorsement: "This scetch was taken from one made on birch bark by Francis Joseph an Indian, with the assistance of other Indi- ans, as also the above in- "^'' "''^''''•' "'' ''' "•'"'''' "' '798. formation at Pleasant Point May 8th, 1798, by us Thomas Millidge, Robt. Pagan." It will be noticed that on i-his map lake Kioxakick is the same as the modern Grand lake, as its position vith reference to the St. John and Penobscot portages shows. This form c f the word differs no more from those we have given than is to be expectec in allowing for individual differ- ences in hearing and writing the same Indian word. In Sotzmann's map of Maine of 1797 and 1798, there is no mistaking- the meaning of the Kaivahisaki~\\. is applied to Grand lake at the head of the St. Croix river, though he naturally favored the American view, that the * # ■>■» •»■ —. , THE ST. CROIX OF THK NOKTHKASTKRN BOUNDARY « 265 St. Croix of Mitchell's map was the Magaguadavic. The latter part of this word is almost identical with the form used by Mitchell, and the entire word is very close to the French form of Bellin and D'Anville. It should be noticed how the position of the lake confirms this testimony of names. In all of these maps it is shown as in close proximity to Eel river (called Medoctec on French maps) on the one hand, and to Baskahegan stream, an affluent of the Penobscot, on the other. This is strictly true of Grand lake, as in first map. One of the most traveled and best- known of the old Indian trails was by way of Eel river to North lake and Grand lake, and thence by the Baskahegan to the Penobscot. The conclusion then seems clear that the claim of United States writers that the St. Croix of Mitchell's map was the Magaguadavic, which therefore should have formed the boundary, must be abandoned ; . and it must be conceded that the St. Croix of De Month's settlement, of Mitchell's map of 1755, of the treaty of 1783, of the commissioner's choice of 1798, and of the present boundary, are one and the same river, and that the boundary at this point at least is in accord with the treaty. This is a happy conclusion and one which should remove one cause, even though a slight one, of irritation between two peoples who should be bound together by the closest ties of social and political friendship. EXTRACT FROM SOTZMANN's MAI' OF MAINE, 1798. —'/ m ^1 -#