HOW WE MARK OUR NORTHERN BOUNDARIES.
IRON PILLARS SET IN WILDERNESS.
Mounds of Earth, Granite Shafts, and Metal Tablets Also Indicate Southern Limit of British Territory.
Nearly all the boundaries of the United States are formed by the easy, irregular lines of waterways. The artificial marking of a country the size of this would seem a gigantic task, and fortunately it was not necessary all the way around.
Along the northwestern border, however, there is a vast distance where something of the sort was required, although it is doubtful if many persons have ever heard of it.
A glance at the map of the United States shows that its boundary adjoining Canada follows, the larger part of the distance, an irregular water-line formed by the Great Lakes and their outlets.
Thence from the Lake of the Woods, on the north of Minnesota, a more direct course is taken through the wilderness and over the mountains of the wild West to the Pacific Coast.
This boundary between the countries is marked at regular intervals by pillars of wood and iron, earth mounds, or stone cairns.
Beginning at the Lake of the Woods, cast iron pillars have been placed alternately by the English and our government, one mile apart, until reaching the Red Valley River.
Those set by our neighbor were brought from over the ocean, while ours were made in Detroit. They are a hollow casting of a pyramidal form, eight feet in height, having a base eight inches square and octagon flange one inch in thickness, with a top four inches square, surmounted by a solid cap.
Into these hollow posts are fitted well-seasoned cedar joists, with spikes driven through apertures made for that purpose in the casting. One-half of the length of the pillars are firmly imbedded in the ground, so that the inscriptions on their sides, in raised letters two inches high, face the north and south, the first reading, “Convention of London,” the latter “October 20th, 1818.”
Beyond the Red River, earth mounds and stone cairns, seven feet by eight, generally denote the boundary line. Whenever wooden posts are used, they are of the same height as the iron pillars and painted red above the ground.
Through forests a clearing has been made a rod wide, so that the course is plainly indicated. Where bodies of water are crossed, monuments of stone have been raised several feet above high tide.
Over the mountains, shafts of granite, like grim sentinels, guard the way. Altogether the fixing of the boundary marks was expensive, but it was well done.