| Alaska Boundary Dispute |
Article Index for Alaska |
Website Links For Alaska |
Information AboutAlaska Boundary Dispute |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT ALASKA BOUNDARY DISPUTE | |
| canada-united states border disputes | |
| history of alaska | |
| history of british columbia | |
| 1903 in canada | |
|
In 1825 Russia and Great Britain signed a treaty to define the borders of their respective colonial possessions. Part of the wording of the treaty was: "...the said line shall ascend to the north along the channel called Portland Channel as far as the point of the continent where it strikes the 56th degree of north latitude; from this last-mentioned point, the line of demarcation shall follow the summit of the mountains situated parallel to the coast as far as the point of intersection of the 141st degree of west longitude." The rather vague phrase "the mountains parallel to the coast" was further qualified thus: "Whenever the summit of the mountains shall be at a distance of more than ten marine leagues from the ocean, the limit shall be formed by a line parallel to the winding of the coast, and which shall never exceed the distance of ten marine leagues therefrom." This part of the treaty language was really an agreement on general principles for establishing a boundary in the area in the future, rather than any exact demarcated line. After the United States bought Alaska in the national governments agreed on a compromise but the government of British Columbia rejected it. Around that time, the Klondike Gold Rush enormously increased the population of the general area, which reached 30,000, composed largely of Americans. This increased the importance of the region and the desirability of fixing an exact boundary. There are claims that Canadian citizens were harassed by the U.S. as a deterrent to making any land claims. Finally, in 1903 , the Hay/Herbert Treaty entrusted the decision to an arbitration by a mixed tribunal of six members, three American and three Canadian/British. The main legal points at issue were which coastal range should be chosen as the basis of the boundary and whether the "ten marine leagues" (or 30 miles) should be measured from the heads of the fjords or from a baseline which would cut across the mouths of the fjords. The British arbitration board member Lord Alverstone sided with the United States position on these basic issues, although the final agreed demarcation line was a compromise falling precisely between the maximal US and maximal British/Canadian claim. Canada was, however, favored in obtaining a triangle of land called ''the Panhandle'' (the Tatshenshini-Alsek Region of British Columbia), nearly Enclave d on the north of the coastal zone awarded to Alaska. SEE ALSO |
|
|