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Alaska Boundary Commission. 
 
 [74] 
 
 JOINT REPORT 
 
 Of Commissioners appointed under Article 1 of the Convention between the 
 United States of America and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and 
 Ireland, for the delimitation of the boundary line between the United 
 States and the Dominion of Canada, dividing Alaska from British 
 Columbia, together with the approved Minute of Council thereon, of 25 th 
 February, 1896. 
 
 ExtB.i±cT from a Report of thfi Committee of the Honourable the Privy Council, approved 
 by His Excellency on the 25th February, 1896. 
 
 On a report dated 15th February, 1896, from the Minister of the Interior, sub- 
 mitting herewith the joint report which has beea signed by General William Ward 
 Duffield, Superintendent of the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey (successor 
 to Dv. Thomas C. Mendenhall), and Mr. William Frederick King, B.A., Chief Astro- 
 nomer of the Department of the Interior of Canada, the commissioners appointed 
 under Article 1 of the Convention between the United States of America and the 
 United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, concluded at Washington on the 22nd 
 July, 1892, having for its object the joint sui-vey of the territory adjacent to that 
 part of the boundary line of the United States and Canada dividing the territory 
 of Alaska from the province of British Columbia and the North-west Territory of 
 Canada. 
 
 The Minister recommends that a certified copy of this minute and of the said 
 report be deposited with the plans of survey and other documents of record in the 
 Department of the Interior, having relation to the external boundaries of Canada. 
 The maps which should accompany it are stated by Her Majesty's commissioner to 
 be in course of completion, and will be submitted as soon as possible. 
 
 The Minister further recommends that copies of the said report be laid before 
 the Senate and House of Commons of Canada. 
 
 The Committee on the recommendation of the Minister of the Interior, advise 
 that your Excellency be moved to forward a certified copy of this minute and also 
 of the inclosed report to the Eight Honourable the Secretary of State for the 
 Colonies. 
 
 All of which is respectfully submitted for your Excellency's approval. 
 
 JOHNJ. MoGEE, 
 
 Clerk of the Privy Council. 
 
59 Victoria. 
 
 {Sessional Papers (No. 74.) 
 
 A. 1896 
 
 The undersigned, William Ward Duffield, on behalf of the United St>«te8 of 
 America, and William Frederick King, on behalf of Her Britannic Majesty, duly ap- 
 pointed commissioners under and by virtue of the First Article of the conven'ion 
 of 22nd, July 1892, between tbe United States and the United Kingdom of Great 
 Britain and Ireland, have the honour to submit the following joint report of our 
 proceedings and transactions under the said First Article of the convention, which 
 reads as foUowe : — 
 
 " The high contracting parties agree that a coincident or joint survey (as 
 may be found in practice most convenient) shall be made of the territory adjacent 
 to that part of the boundary line of the United States of America and the Dominion 
 of Canada dividing the territory of Alaska from the province of British Columbia 
 and the North-west Territory of Canada, from the latitude of 54" 40' north, to the 
 point where the said boundary line encounters the 141st degree of longitude west- 
 ward from the meridian of Greenwich, by commissioners to be appointed severally 
 by the high contracting parties, with a view to the ascertainment of the facts and 
 data necessary to the permanent delimitation of said boundary line, in accordance 
 with the spirit and intent of the existing treaties in regard to it b<<tween Great 
 Britain and Bussia aud between the United States and Bussia. 
 
 " Application will be made without delay to the respective legislative bodies for 
 the appropriations necessary for the prosecution of the survey, and the commis- 
 sioners to be appointed by the two governments shall meet at Ottawa within two 
 months after said appropriation shall have been made, and shall proceed as soon as 
 practicable thereafter to the active discharge of their duties. 
 
 "The respective commissions shall complete the survey and submit their final 
 reports thereof within two years from their first meeting. 
 
 " The commissioners shall, so far as they may bo able to agree, make a joint 
 report to each of two governments, and they shall also report, either jointly or 
 severally to each government on any points upon which they may be unable to 
 agree. 
 
 " Each government shall pay the expenses of the commission appointed by it. 
 
 " Each government engages to facilitate in every possible way any operations 
 which in pursuance of the plan to be agreed upon by the commissioners, may be 
 conducted within its territory by the commission of the other. 
 
 " The high contracting parties agree that, as soon as practicable after the 
 report, or reports, of the commissioners shall have been received, they will proceed 
 to consider and establish the boundary line in question." 
 
 The first meeting of the commissioners appointed under this article was held 
 in Ottawa on the 28th day of November, 1892. By the supplementary convention 
 of the 3rd February, 1894, the time for the completion of the work and the submis- 
 sion by the commissioners of their joint or separate reports, which, by tbe former 
 convention expired two years from tbe date of the first meeting of the commission- 
 ers, that is to say on the 28th November, 1894, was extended to the 31st December, 
 1895. 
 
 The treaties relating to and defining the international boundary line between 
 Canada and the United States of America in the region in question are the treaty 
 between Great Britain and Bussia, dated 28-16 February, 1825, and the treaty 
 between the United States and Bussia, dated 30th March, 1867. 
 
 Our commission, under said Article 1 of the convention of 1892, applies only 
 to that portion of the boundary described in these treaties from the southernmost 
 point of Prince of Wales Island to the l4lBt meridian. 
 
 With a view to the performance of the duty, imposed upon the oommissionerB 
 under the convention, of uscertaming the facts and data necessary to the permanent 
 delimitation of the boundary line, and under the option allowed them of making 
 either a coincident or joint survey,' Dr. Thomas C. Mendenhall, at the time com- 
 missioner for the United States (since leplaced by the undersigned, William Ward 
 Duffield), toge'.her with the underbigned British commissioner, having considered 
 the large exteni of unknown territory involved and the comparatively short time 
 allowed for the survey, determined that it was advisable to make the survey a joint 
 
Alaska Boundary Commission. 
 
 (as 
 
 one ; that is, to partition among the officers working under them respectively the 
 territory to bo surveyed, arranging at the same time that each commissioner should 
 detail attaches to accompany the several surveying parties of the other, for the 
 purpose of observing and verifying their work. 
 
 The United States commissioner undertook to make surveys of as precise a 
 nature as practicable of the principal water-couises which traverse the coast strip, 
 and the British commissioner undertook to make a photo-topographical survoy of 
 the mountainous regions lying between these various water-courses. 
 
 A preliminary trigonometrical survey of the principal deep water passages, 
 including the continental shoreline from Portland Canal to Lynn Canal, had already 
 been completed Ly the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey, and careful deter- 
 minations of the geographical positions of Mount St. Elias (as hereinafter given), 
 and of various mountain peaks in that region were made by the same organization 
 in 1892, at which time a partial survey of the shore lino of Yakutat Bay was also 
 made. This completed work helped to co-ordinate the detached surveys of the 
 variou.^ parties sent out by the two commissioners. 
 
 In pursuance of this plan, during the year 1893, the following gentlemen were 
 given parties on behalf of the United States, namely : — 
 
 Mr. Dickins, on the Unuk River. 
 Mr. Tittmann, on the Stikine River. 
 Mr. McGrath, on the Taku Inlet. 
 Mr. Odgen, on tho Taku River. 
 
 Their duties were to make surveys of these waterways, and to procure as much 
 information as possible as to the topography of the adjacent regions. Mr. Driccoil 
 appointed Mr. Ogden, as attach^ appointed by the British commissioner, and Mr. 
 Robertson accompanied by Mr. Tittmann in alike capacity. Mr. Dickins' survey 
 of the Unuk River was made in conjunction with Mr. Saint Cyr of the British com- 
 mission, who, besides making a traverse of the Unuk River, paid particular atten- 
 tion to the mountainous regions on either side of the river. 
 
 On behalf of the British commission, the following gentlemen were placed under 
 instructions to make topographical surveys »s full and complete as their means 
 would allow : — 
 
 Mr. Saint Cyr, the Unuk River and the mountainous region on either side of it. 
 
 Mr. Klotz, adjoining him to tLe west and north-west, towards Bradfield Canal. 
 
 Mr. Talbot, to the south and east of the Stikine. 
 
 Mr. Gibbons, to the west of the Stikine. 
 
 Mr. Brabazon, at Ilolkham Bay, on the east side of Stephen's Passage. 
 
 Mr. McArthur, at Snettisham Bay, and thence to Taku Inlet and Taku River. 
 
 Mr. Ogilvie, to the north and west of Taku, and east of Lynn Canal. 
 
 The attaches of the United States commissioner accompanying them were as 
 follows : — 
 
 Mr. Plemer with Mr. Talbot. 
 
 Mr. Pratt with Mr. Gibbons. 
 
 Mr. Ritter with Mr. Brabazon. ' 
 
 Mr. Welker with Mr. McArthur. 
 
 Mr. Hodgkins with Mr. Ogilvie. 
 
 Mr. Dickins, working with Mr. Saint Cyr, as above stated. 
 
 In addition to the above, the United States commissioner stationed Mr. Morse 
 at Sitka to make astronomical observations for the determination of chronometric 
 differences of longitude between Sitka as a base station and the observatories estab- 
 lished by Mr. Dickins at Burroughs Bay, with Dr. Edmonds as observer, by Mr. 
 Tittmann of Fort Wrangell with Mr. Putnam as observer, and by Mr. Ogden at 
 the mouth of the Taku River with Mr. French as observer. At each of the above 
 stations latitude and longitude were also determined. The United States steamer 
 ** Hassler " was employed throughout the season in making the necessary exchanges 
 of time, the chronometers being in charge of Mr. Lord. 
 
 8 
 

 59 Victoria. 
 
 Sessional Papers (No. 74.) 
 
 A. 1896 
 
 The parties were on the ground and the work bo^un in the middle of May ; 
 and the early snow fulls ronderinc mountain work imposHibie, it wa8 found necessary 
 to retire from the field in Septemoer. 
 
 During the following year, 1894, the following parties were placed in the field, 
 on behalf of the United States commission ; — 
 
 Mr. Pratt on the Chilkat Iiilot and Biver and on Chilkoot and Tuiya Inlets and 
 Taiya River, ho bein^onpxged chiefly in triangulation. 
 
 Mr. Dickins on IJnuk Eivor and Chilkat Inlet. 
 
 Mr. Fleraer on Chilkoot and Taiya Inlets. 
 
 Mr. Ritter on CHilkat Inlet and River. 
 
 Mr. McGrath or. i^'i coast westward from Yakutat Bay and at Lituya Bay, 
 
 Mr. Morse at Sitka longitude station. 
 
 Latitude and longitude were determined at the observatory at Anchorage Point, 
 Pyramid Harbour, the steamer'' Hassler" making the necessary chronometer trips 
 as before. 
 
 Mr. Hayford made the observations at Pyramid Harbour and Mr. Page had 
 charge of the chronometers on the "Hassler." 
 
 On behalf of the British commission : — 
 
 Mr. Saint Cjr at the head of the. Portland Canal and thence to the Chickamin 
 River. 
 
 Mr. Klotz around Biadfield Canal. 
 
 Mr. Gibbonson the north of Frederick Sound from Horn Cliffs to Port Houghton. 
 
 Mr Ogilvie on the east side of Lynn Canal, also on the outer coast beyond Capo 
 Spencer. 
 
 Mr. McArlhur at the north end of Lynn Canal and later on the outer coast at 
 Lituya Bay. 
 
 Mr. Talbot on the west side of Lynn Canal towards Glacier Bay. 
 
 Mr. Robertson accompanied Mr. Pratt's party as attach^ for the British com- 
 missioner. Except in this instance the system of attaches was discontinued by 
 mutual consent of the commissioners. 
 
 During the winter 1894-95, a party under Mr. Ogilvie ascended the Taku 
 River for the purpose of gaining additional information as to the region extending 
 thence to the vicinity of White and Taiya Passes, which led from Lynn Canal to 
 the interior, but on account of tempestuous weather the expedition was obliged to 
 return, having accomplished nothing beyond a traverse survey of part of Taku 
 River. 
 
 During the season of 1895, Mr. Brabazon was detailed by the British commis- 
 sioner to the region lying between the mouth of the Alsek River and Yakutat Bay. 
 
 Mr. Welker and Mr. Dickins were sent by the United States commissioner to 
 connect the surveys made in former years by the United States Coast and Geodetic 
 Survey in Portland Canal with those in Revillagigedo Channel, and to determine 
 more accurately the longitude of the stations along the canal. 
 
 Mr. Dickins and Mr. Welker were placed in charge of parties in Alaska, and 
 Mr. Morse was stationed at Seattle as astronomer for the redetermination of the 
 differences of longitude between that point and the observatories at Port Simpson, 
 B. C, at Mary Island, Alaska, and at a station at the head of Portland Canal. The 
 observations for latitude and longitude were made by Mr. French at Port Simpson, 
 by Mr. Dickins, at Mary Island, and by Mr. Welker at Lion Point, Portland Canal. 
 
 Mr. Young was in charge of the chronometers carried by the steamer "Cit^ of 
 Topeka " between Seattle and the stations at Port Simpson and Mary Island. 
 
 Comparisons- between Port Simpson and Lion Point were effected by the United 
 States launch " Fuca." 
 
 The results of all these surveys are exhibited in the accompanying maps, 
 namely, sheets Nos. 1 to 24 made on a scale of tb^dVijit ^it^ contour lines of 
 elevations 260 apart from the surveys of the British commission ; and in maps Nos. 
 I to 12 of the United States commission, made on the same scale. 
 
 These maps have been agreed to by us, subject to the limitations hereinafter 
 setforth, as correct representations of the topographical features, and have been 
 
1896 
 
 Alaska Boundary Commission. 
 
 f M.ny ; 
 CeSHUiy 
 
 le fioI(J. 
 
 'Point. 
 
 ''igned by us to lestify thereto. In submitting two sets of maps which cover the 
 ''arae ground and which, to a large extent, have been prepared independently in the 
 offices of the respective commissioners at Washington and Ottawa, it is understood 
 that wherever there is a difference between the maps, either from different methods 
 of representing the topography or from discrepancy as to the position of natural 
 features or otherwise, such difference is to be interpreted by reference to the 
 hereinbefore described scheme of partition of the survey work between iho 
 respective commissions; and where the surveys cover the same or nearly the same 
 ground, the maps are to be taken as mutually explanatory, having regard to the con- 
 ditions under which each survey was made. The continental shore line, from 
 latitude 54° 40' to Point Coverden, at the south-westerly entrance to Lynn Canal, 
 having been surveyed by the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey, the United 
 States maps shall, in case of diHcrepancy, govern as to the shore line ; so also from 
 Yakutat Bay to the 14l8t meridian. But from Point Coverden north-westerly to 
 Yakutat Bay, including Glacier Bay and the other bays, which, with the exception 
 of the entrance to Lituya Bay, have not been so surveyed, the maps of the British 
 commission shall govern. The shore line of the islands of the Alaskan archipelago 
 have been mapped according to the surveys of the United States Coast and Geodetic 
 Survey, wherever such survey has been made; elsewhere the best information 
 available has been used. 
 
 To she ' the tophographioal features of the country in another way, we here- 
 with submit phot' graphic views, being contact prints from the photographic 
 negatives of the officers of the British commission, whose work was largely 
 executed as to the detail or "filling in" by means of these views, according to 
 the method known as photo-topography, the framework being laid out by trianguln- 
 tions which are shown in sheets Nos. 125, 26, 2*7 and 28 of the British commission. 
 These views will also serve as a permanent record of the field work. Plans of the 
 triangulation executed by the officers of the United States commission are sub- 
 mitted herewith on sheet No. 13 of the United States commission. 
 
 Besides the information contained in the maps, we have to report as to the 
 
 Eoint of commencement named in the treaty of 1825, that the latitudes of Cape 
 Luzon and Chacon as determined by the British observers are as follows: — 
 
 Cape Muzon 54° 39' 60". 
 Cape Chacon 54° 41' 25". 
 
 As determined by the United States observers these latitudes are : — 
 
 Cape Muzon 54° 39' 48". 
 Cape Chacon 54° 41' 22". 
 
 These results are so nearly alike that there is no practical discrepancy between 
 them. 
 
 Also, the summit of Mount St. Elias is by the best determination in latitude 
 60° 17' 35' -10 and longitude 140° 55' 47" -32, being 28-830 nautical miles from the 
 line of coast west of Yakutat Bay, and 2-41 statute miles east of the 141st meridian. 
 
 We conceive it unnecessary for us, having prepared maps showing so much 
 detail, to enter into a lengthy description of the topography. It may be well, 
 however, to add Eome remarks upon the mode of occurrence of timber, since this is 
 not shown on the maps. 
 
 Speaking broadly we may say that the average altitude of the timber line 
 between Burrough's Bay and Lynn Canal is 2,500 feet, being a little higher in the 
 south and a little lower in the north. Timber line is primarily a matter of heat, so 
 that altitude and latitude have similar effect. However in a country of which so 
 much has but recently been uncovered from glaciers, timber line is affected by 
 another factor, and that is the presence of soil for trees to take root. As the foot 
 of a mountain is first exposed, the forest starts there, and in time, as exposure and 
 consequent disintegration take place, creeps upward. Now there are many points 
 in the area above referred to where this process of forest creeping has not reached 
 the limit set by climatic conditions, and hence we find timber lines near each other 
 
69 Victoria. 
 
 Sessional Papers (Na 74.) 
 
 A. 1896 
 
 V i 
 
 bnt varying in altitude by hundreds of feet. This is most noticeable on the west 
 side of Lynn Canal. Naturally we would expect tho timber line in the south to be 
 higher than in the north, but as a matter of fact it is tho reverse there, being 
 scui-cely 2,000 feet for the former, and nearly 3 000 feet for the latter. In general, 
 the time line on tho eaHt side of Lynn Canal is somewhut higher than on the west 
 side. Around Juneau, the timber line does not reach the 2,000 feet limit, fietween 
 the entrance of Glacier Bay across Dundaa and Taylor Buys and Cape Spencer, tho 
 timber line may be put at 2,000 feet above the sea. In Glacier Bay, northward 
 from tho entrance, the timber line rapidly descends, and in the northern part the 
 forest practically disappears altogether. In fact, along many of tho smaller bavs 
 there, no wood whatever is found. This phenomenon is plainly indicative of the 
 recent recession of the vast complex of glaciers. On the outside, between Lituya 
 Bay and Cape Spencer, the line is barely 2,000 foot, while in Yakutat Bay it is 
 1,500 feet. Most of the mountains between Yakutat Bay and Lituya Bay are not 
 Umbered at all, but this is probably due — up to 2,000 feet — to the fact already 
 stated, t. e., that the recession of the glaciers is too recent to admit of the nece>'sary 
 disintegiation for vegetation to spring up, as well as to the eifect upon the tem- 
 perature of the nearness of the existing glaciers. 
 
 The altitude of the timber line at various points is as follows: — 
 
 Maixmum. Average. 
 
 Portland Canal 2,600 2,500 
 
 Unuk Biver 2,900 2,600 
 
 Burrough's Bay 2,800 2,500 
 
 Bradfield's Canal 2,700 2,500 
 
 South of Stikine 2,700 2,500 
 
 North of Stikine 2,500 . 
 
 Thomas Bay 2,500 
 
 Endicott Arm 2,500 2,300 
 
 Snettisham Bay 2,700 2,400 
 
 Taku Inlet 2,200 
 
 East side Lynn Canal 2,900 2,500 
 
 Head of Lynn Canal 3,000 2,500 
 
 West side of Lynn Canal 2,400 2,000 
 
 Outside, west of Capo Spencer 1,500 
 
 Tt is understood and agreed that in signing this joint report and signing and 
 accepting the maps they have submitted, it is not therefore affirmed or admitted by 
 the commissioners that there is authority for the application of the names used to 
 designate the various places, mountains, bays, channels, islands, etc. 
 
 In witness whereof we have hereunto set our hands at Albany, New York, this 
 thirty-first day of December, 1895. 
 
 W. W. DUtTIBLD, 
 
 United States Commissioner. 
 W. F. KING, 
 
 Her Majesty's Commissioner. 
 
 Tho Clerk of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada certifies that the joint 
 report of William Ward Duffield, United States commissioner, and William Pred- 
 orick King, Her Majesty's commissioner, duly appointed tu ascertain the facts and 
 data necessary to the permanent delimitation of the boundary line between tho 
 United States of America and the Dominion of Canada, dividing the territory of 
 Alaska from the Province of British Columbia, was submitted to His Excellency the 
 Governor General in Council, on the 25th February, 1896, and that the above is a 
 true copy thereof. 
 
 JOHN J. McGEE, 
 Clerk of the Queen s Privy Council for Canada. 
 
 25th February, 1896. 
 
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