JOHN TYLER.
[The same message was sent to the House of Representatives.]
NEW YORK, January 4, 1842.
Hon. DANIEL WEBSTER,
Secretary of State:
The undersigned, commissioners appointed by the President of the United States for the purpose of exploring and surveying the boundary line between the States of Maine and New Hampshire and the British Provinces in North America, respectfully report—
That in pursuance of the duties of their appointment they have in the course of the late season performed the following surveys and explorations:
1. The meridian line of the monument at the source of the St. Croix has, under the direction of J.D. Graham, been carefully and accurately traced from the station in the vicinity of Houlton where the labors of the year 1840 terminated to a point 4 miles north of the St. John River in the vicinity of the Grand Falls, being a distance of 81 miles from the monument. The timber has been removed along this line to a width necessary for its accurate prolongation and for the requisite astronomical observations at various points upon it, and a correct profile, or vertical section, has also been obtained by means of the spirit level the whole of the distance above mentioned.
Besides the astronomical observations necessary to obtain and continue the due north direction upon this line, numerous magnetic observations have also been made at a number of points upon it, in order to show the physical causes which must operate to produce serious discrepancies between a meridian line properly traced and such a one as has actually separated the jurisdiction of the two Governments since the attempt in the years 1817 and 1818 to define and mark this portion of the boundary under the provisions of the treaty of Ghent, although no portion of that line was ever ratified or made binding upon the parties to the treaty.
Upon this portion of the survey there have been chained, including measured offsets to the old line and to other important points, 85 miles.