Alaska Boundary Dispute
Encyclopedia
The Alaska boundary dispute was a territorial dispute
between the United States
and Canada
(then a British
Dominion with its foreign affairs controlled from London). It was resolved by arbitration
in 1903. The dispute had been going on between the Russian and British Empires since 1821, and was inherited by the United States as a consequence of the Alaska Purchase
in 1867. The final resolution favored the American position, and Canada did not get an outlet from the Yukon gold fields to the sea. The disappointment and anger in Canada was directed less at the United States, and more at the British government for betraying Canadian interests in pursuit of a friendly relationship between Britain and the United States.
and Britain signed a treaty to define the borders of their respective colonial possessions, the Anglo-Russian Convention of 1825
. Part of the wording of the treaty was that:
The rather vague phrase "the mountains parallel to the coast" was further qualified thus:
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.
The United States bought Alaska in 1867 from Russia in the Alaska Purchase
, but the boundary terms were slightly ambiguous. In 1871 British Columbia
(which was formed in 1858 from the remaining part of the Hudson's Bay Company's Columbia District
plus the New Caledonia District
and the Stikine Territory
) united with the new Canadian confederation
. The Canadian government requested a survey of the boundary, but it was refused by the United States as too costly: the border area was very remote and sparsely settled, and without economic or strategic interest at the time. In 1898 the national governments agreed on a compromise, but the government of British Columbia rejected it. U.S. President McKinley
proposed a permanent lease to Canada of a port near Haines
, but Canada rejected that compromise.
in Yukon, Canada, enormously increased the population of the general area, which reached 30,000, composed largely of Americans. In 1897-1898 an estimated 100,000 fortune seekers moved to the Klondike region
in search of gold.
The presence of gold and a large new population greatly 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.
It was the discovery of gold in the Klondike that brought the boundary issue into critical focus — when every square foot of land could yield enormous wealth, the precise location of the border must be known. And this is where things got complicated — what exactly was meant by the 72-year-old description of the border through the coastal mountains and around or across the deep fjords?
The head of Lynn Canal was one of the main gateways to the Yukon
, and the North-West Mounted Police sent a detachment to secure the location for Canada. This was based on Canada's assertion that that location was more than ten marine leagues from the sea, which was part of the 1825 boundary definition.
A massive influx of prospectors to what became the American town of Skagway
very quickly made a retreat advisable. Semi-permanent posts were then set up on the desolate summits of Chilkoot and White Passes, complete with a mounted Gatling gun
at each post. This was still disputed territory, as many Americans believed that the head of Lake Bennett, another 12 miles (19.3 km) north, should be the location of the border. To back up the police in their sovereignty claim, the Canadian government also sent the Yukon Field Force, a 200-man Army unit, to the territory. The soldiers set up camp at Fort Selkirk so that they could be fairly quickly dispatched to deal with problems at either the coastal passes or the 141st Meridian.
Finally, in 1903, the Hay-Herbert Treaty
between the U.S. and Britain entrusted the decision to an arbitration by a mixed tribunal of six members: three Americans, two Canadians, and one British. The American representatives were Elihu Root
, Henry Cabot Lodge
and George Turner
; Sir Louis Jetté and Sir Allen Bristol Aylesworth represented Canada, and Lord Alverstone was the British representative.
The main legal points at issue were which definition of the coastal range should be chosen as the basis of the boundary and whether the "ten marine leagues", 30 nmi (34.5 mi; 55.6 km), should be measured from the heads of the fjords or from a baseline which would cut across the mouths of the fjords.
The British member Lord Alverstone sided with the United States position on these basic issues, although the final agreed demarcation line fell significantly short of the maximal U.S. claim (it was a compromise falling roughly between the maximal U.S. and maximal British/Canadian claim). The Panhandle (the Tatshenshini-Alsek region
) was not quite exclaved from the rest of British Columbia.
British historian Paul Kennedy
argues this was one of several concessions that Britain offered to the U.S. (the others being on fisheries and the Panama Canal). It was part of a general policy of ending the chill in Anglo-U.S. relations, achieving rapprochement, winning American favour and resolving outstanding issues (the The Great Rapprochement
).
) as well as a surge in Canadian nationalism
separate from an Imperial identity. Canadian anger gradually subsided, although suspicions of the U.S. provoked by the award may have contributed to Canada's rejection of free trade in the 1911 "reciprocity election".
Infuriated, like most Canadians, Prime Minister Wilfrid Laurier
explained to Parliament, "So long as Canada remains a dependency of the British Crown the present powers that we have are not sufficient for the maintenance of our rights." Canada's inability to control its foreign affairs remained essentially unchanged until it became a separate signatory at the Treaty of Versailles
in 1919 and still later when the government of William Lyon Mackenzie King
took independent charge of foreign policy beginning in 1921.
Historian F.W. Gibson concluded that Canadians vented their anger less upon the United States and "to a greater degree upon Great Britain for having offered such feeble resistance to American aggressiveness. The circumstances surrounding the settlement of the dispute produced serious dissatisfaction with Canada's position in the British Empire."
Territorial dispute
A territorial dispute is a disagreement over the possession/control of land between two or more states or over the possession or control of land by a new state and occupying power after it has conquered the land from a former state no longer currently recognized by the new state.-Context and...
between the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
(then a British
British Empire
The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...
Dominion with its foreign affairs controlled from London). It was resolved by arbitration
Arbitration
Arbitration, a form of alternative dispute resolution , is a legal technique for the resolution of disputes outside the courts, where the parties to a dispute refer it to one or more persons , by whose decision they agree to be bound...
in 1903. The dispute had been going on between the Russian and British Empires since 1821, and was inherited by the United States as a consequence of the Alaska Purchase
Alaska purchase
The Alaska Purchase was the acquisition of the Alaska territory by the United States from Russia in 1867 by a treaty ratified by the Senate. The purchase, made at the initiative of United States Secretary of State William H. Seward, gained of new United States territory...
in 1867. The final resolution favored the American position, and Canada did not get an outlet from the Yukon gold fields to the sea. The disappointment and anger in Canada was directed less at the United States, and more at the British government for betraying Canadian interests in pursuit of a friendly relationship between Britain and the United States.
1825–1898
In 1825 RussiaRussian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
and Britain signed a treaty to define the borders of their respective colonial possessions, the Anglo-Russian Convention of 1825
Treaty of Saint Petersburg (1825)
The Treaty of Saint Petersburg of 1825, also known as the Anglo-Russian Convention of 1825, defined the boundaries between Russian America and British claims and possessions in the Pacific Northwest of North America at 54 degrees 40 minutes north latitude, which had the year before been established...
. Part of the wording of the treaty was that:
- "...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 north56th parallel northThe 56th parallel north is a circle of latitude that is 56 degrees north of the Earth's equatorial plane. It crosses Europe, Asia, the Pacific Ocean, North America, and the Atlantic Ocean....
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 west141st meridian westThe meridian 141° west of Greenwich is a line of longitude that extends from the North Pole across the Arctic Ocean, North America, the Pacific Ocean, the Southern Ocean, and Antarctica to the South Pole....
longitude."
The rather vague phrase "the mountains parallel to the coast" was further qualified thus:
- "Whenever the summit of the mountains... shall prove to be at the distance of more than ten marine leaguesLeague (unit)A league is a unit of length . It was long common in Europe and Latin America, but it is no longer an official unit in any nation. The league originally referred to the distance a person or a horse could walk in an hour...
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.
The United States bought Alaska in 1867 from Russia in the Alaska Purchase
Alaska purchase
The Alaska Purchase was the acquisition of the Alaska territory by the United States from Russia in 1867 by a treaty ratified by the Senate. The purchase, made at the initiative of United States Secretary of State William H. Seward, gained of new United States territory...
, but the boundary terms were slightly ambiguous. In 1871 British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
(which was formed in 1858 from the remaining part of the Hudson's Bay Company's Columbia District
Columbia District
The Columbia District was a fur trading district in the Pacific Northwest region of British North America in the 19th century. It was explored by the North West Company between 1793 and 1811, and established as an operating fur district around 1810...
plus the New Caledonia District
New Caledonia (Canada)
New Caledonia was the name given to a district of the Hudson's Bay Company that comprised the territory largely coterminous with the present-day province of British Columbia, Canada. Though not a British colony, New Caledonia was part of the British claim to North America. Its administrative...
and the Stikine Territory
Stikine Territory
The Stickeen Territories , also colloquially rendered as Stickeen Territory, Stikine Territory, and Stikeen Territory, was a territory of British North America whose brief existence began July 19, 1862, and concluded July of the following year. The region was split from the North-Western...
) united with the new Canadian confederation
Canadian Confederation
Canadian Confederation was the process by which the federal Dominion of Canada was formed on July 1, 1867. On that day, three British colonies were formed into four Canadian provinces...
. The Canadian government requested a survey of the boundary, but it was refused by the United States as too costly: the border area was very remote and sparsely settled, and without economic or strategic interest at the time. In 1898 the national governments agreed on a compromise, but the government of British Columbia rejected it. U.S. President McKinley
William McKinley
William McKinley, Jr. was the 25th President of the United States . He is best known for winning fiercely fought elections, while supporting the gold standard and high tariffs; he succeeded in forging a Republican coalition that for the most part dominated national politics until the 1930s...
proposed a permanent lease to Canada of a port near Haines
Haines, Alaska
Haines is a census-designated place in Haines Borough, Alaska, United States. As of the 2000 census, the population of the area was 1,811. Haines was formerly a city but no longer has a municipal government...
, but Canada rejected that compromise.
Klondike gold rush
Around that time, the Klondike Gold RushKlondike Gold Rush
The Klondike Gold Rush, also called the Yukon Gold Rush, the Alaska Gold Rush and the Last Great Gold Rush, was an attempt by an estimated 100,000 people to travel to the Klondike region the Yukon in north-western Canada between 1897 and 1899 in the hope of successfully prospecting for gold...
in Yukon, Canada, enormously increased the population of the general area, which reached 30,000, composed largely of Americans. In 1897-1898 an estimated 100,000 fortune seekers moved to the Klondike region
Klondike River
The Klondike River is a tributary of the Yukon River in Canada that gave its name to the Klondike Gold Rush. The Klondike River has its source in the Ogilvie Mountains and flows into the Yukon River at Dawson City....
in search of gold.
The presence of gold and a large new population greatly 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.
It was the discovery of gold in the Klondike that brought the boundary issue into critical focus — when every square foot of land could yield enormous wealth, the precise location of the border must be known. And this is where things got complicated — what exactly was meant by the 72-year-old description of the border through the coastal mountains and around or across the deep fjords?
The head of Lynn Canal was one of the main gateways to the Yukon
Yukon
Yukon is the westernmost and smallest of Canada's three federal territories. It was named after the Yukon River. The word Yukon means "Great River" in Gwich’in....
, and the North-West Mounted Police sent a detachment to secure the location for Canada. This was based on Canada's assertion that that location was more than ten marine leagues from the sea, which was part of the 1825 boundary definition.
A massive influx of prospectors to what became the American town of Skagway
Skagway, Alaska
Skagway is a first-class borough in Alaska, on the Alaska Panhandle. It was formerly a city first incorporated in 1900 that was re-incorporated as a borough on June 25, 2007. As of the 2000 census, the population of the city was 862...
very quickly made a retreat advisable. Semi-permanent posts were then set up on the desolate summits of Chilkoot and White Passes, complete with a mounted Gatling gun
Gatling gun
The Gatling gun is one of the best known early rapid-fire weapons and a forerunner of the modern machine gun. It is well known for its use by the Union forces during the American Civil War in the 1860s, which was the first time it was employed in combat...
at each post. This was still disputed territory, as many Americans believed that the head of Lake Bennett, another 12 miles (19.3 km) north, should be the location of the border. To back up the police in their sovereignty claim, the Canadian government also sent the Yukon Field Force, a 200-man Army unit, to the territory. The soldiers set up camp at Fort Selkirk so that they could be fairly quickly dispatched to deal with problems at either the coastal passes or the 141st Meridian.
Arbitration
The posts set up on the passes by the Mounties were effective in the short term - the provisional boundary was accepted, if grudgingly. In September 1898, serious negotiations began between the United States and Canada, to settle the issue but those meetings failed.Finally, in 1903, the Hay-Herbert Treaty
Hay-Herbert Treaty
The Alaska boundary treaty, also known as the Hay–Herbert treaty, signed in 1903, is a treaty between Great Britain and United States that resolved a dispute on the location of the border between Alaska and Canada....
between the U.S. and Britain entrusted the decision to an arbitration by a mixed tribunal of six members: three Americans, two Canadians, and one British. The American representatives were Elihu Root
Elihu Root
Elihu Root was an American lawyer and statesman and the 1912 recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. He was the prototype of the 20th century "wise man", who shuttled between high-level government positions in Washington, D.C...
, Henry Cabot Lodge
Henry Cabot Lodge
Henry Cabot "Slim" Lodge was an American Republican Senator and historian from Massachusetts. He had the role of Senate Majority leader. He is best known for his positions on Meek policy, especially his battle with President Woodrow Wilson in 1919 over the Treaty of Versailles...
and George Turner
George Turner (U.S. politician)
George Turner was a United States Senator from Washington.Born in Edina, Missouri, he attended the common schools and served as a military telegraph operator with the Union Army from 1861 to 1865. He studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1869, commencing practice in Mobile, Alabama...
; Sir Louis Jetté and Sir Allen Bristol Aylesworth represented Canada, and Lord Alverstone was the British representative.
The main legal points at issue were which definition of the coastal range should be chosen as the basis of the boundary and whether the "ten marine leagues", 30 nmi (34.5 mi; 55.6 km), should be measured from the heads of the fjords or from a baseline which would cut across the mouths of the fjords.
The British member Lord Alverstone sided with the United States position on these basic issues, although the final agreed demarcation line fell significantly short of the maximal U.S. claim (it was a compromise falling roughly between the maximal U.S. and maximal British/Canadian claim). The Panhandle (the Tatshenshini-Alsek region
Tatshenshini-Alsek Park
Tatshenshini-Alsek Park or Tatshenshini-Alsek Provincial Wilderness Park is a provincial park in British Columbia, Canada . It was established in 1993 after an intensive campaign by Canadian and American conservation organizations to halt mining exploration and development in the area and protect...
) was not quite exclaved from the rest of British Columbia.
British historian Paul Kennedy
Paul Kennedy
Paul Michael Kennedy CBE, FBA , is a British historian at Yale University specialising in the history of international relations, economic power and grand strategy. He has published prominent books on the history of British foreign policy and Great Power struggles...
argues this was one of several concessions that Britain offered to the U.S. (the others being on fisheries and the Panama Canal). It was part of a general policy of ending the chill in Anglo-U.S. relations, achieving rapprochement, winning American favour and resolving outstanding issues (the The Great Rapprochement
The Great Rapprochement
The Great Rapprochement, a term usually attributed to Bradford Perkins, is used to describe the convergence of social and political objectives between the United States and the United Kingdom and its colonies in the two decades before World War I....
).
Canadian controversy
Canadian judges refused to sign the award which had been issued on 20 October 1903 when Canadian delegates disagreed with Lord Alverstone's vote. This led to violent anti-British emotions erupting throughout Canada (including QuebecQuebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
) as well as a surge in Canadian nationalism
Canadian nationalism
Canadian nationalism is a term which has been applied to ideologies of several different types which highlight and promote specifically Canadian interests over those of other countries, notably the United States...
separate from an Imperial identity. Canadian anger gradually subsided, although suspicions of the U.S. provoked by the award may have contributed to Canada's rejection of free trade in the 1911 "reciprocity election".
Infuriated, like most Canadians, Prime Minister Wilfrid Laurier
Wilfrid Laurier
Sir Wilfrid Laurier, GCMG, PC, KC, baptized Henri-Charles-Wilfrid Laurier was the seventh Prime Minister of Canada from 11 July 1896 to 6 October 1911....
explained to Parliament, "So long as Canada remains a dependency of the British Crown the present powers that we have are not sufficient for the maintenance of our rights." Canada's inability to control its foreign affairs remained essentially unchanged until it became a separate signatory at the Treaty of Versailles
Treaty of Versailles
The Treaty of Versailles was one of the peace treaties at the end of World War I. It ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers. It was signed on 28 June 1919, exactly five years after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. The other Central Powers on the German side of...
in 1919 and still later when the government of William Lyon Mackenzie King
William Lyon Mackenzie King
William Lyon Mackenzie King, PC, OM, CMG was the dominant Canadian political leader from the 1920s through the 1940s. He served as the tenth Prime Minister of Canada from December 29, 1921 to June 28, 1926; from September 25, 1926 to August 7, 1930; and from October 23, 1935 to November 15, 1948...
took independent charge of foreign policy beginning in 1921.
Historian F.W. Gibson concluded that Canadians vented their anger less upon the United States and "to a greater degree upon Great Britain for having offered such feeble resistance to American aggressiveness. The circumstances surrounding the settlement of the dispute produced serious dissatisfaction with Canada's position in the British Empire."
See also
- List of areas disputed by the United States and Canada
- Foreign relations of CanadaForeign relations of CanadaThe foreign relations of Canada are Canada's relations with other governments and peoples. Canada's most important relationship, being the largest trading relationship in the world, is with the United States...
- Canada–United States border
- Canada–United States relations
- Canada–United Kingdom relations
- United Kingdom–United States relations
- Pig WarPig WarThe Pig War was a confrontation in 1859 between the United States and the British Empire over the boundary between the US and British North America. The territory in dispute was the San Juan Islands, which lie between Vancouver Island and the North American mainland...
- Oregon boundary disputeOregon boundary disputeThe Oregon boundary dispute, or the Oregon Question, arose as a result of competing British and American claims to the Pacific Northwest of North America in the first half of the 19th century. Both the United Kingdom and the United States had territorial and commercial aspirations in the region...
- List of Boundary Peaks of the Alaska–British Columbia/Yukon border
Resources
- Report relative to the Alaska Boundary Question, submitted to the Hon. J.H. Turner, Minister of Finance etc. etc. (sic), 15 August 1896., Alexander Begg, Victoria, British Columbia: R. Wolfenden, 1896
- Review of the Alaskan boundary question, Alexander Begg, Victoria, British Columbia, publ. Unknown, 1900
- Statement of facts regarding the Alaska boundary question, Alexander Begg, Victoria, British Columbia, publ. R. Wolfenden, 1902, report to David McEwen EbertsDavid McEwen EbertsDavid McEwen Eberts was a lawyer and political figure in British Columbia, Canada. He represented Victoria from 1890 to 1894, South Victoria from 1894 to 1903 and Saanich from 1907 to 1916 in the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia as a Conservative.He was born in Chatham, Ontario, the son of...
, Attorney-General of British Columbia. - Survey of boundary line between Alaska and British Columbia : letter from the Acting Secretary of the Treasury, transmitting a communication from the Secretary of State, submitting an estimate of appropriation for survey of the boundary line between Alaska and British Columbia, R.Wike, US Dept. of State, publ. s.l.: s.n., 1895.
- British Columbia from the earliest times to the present, Vol 2, Chapter XXXI - Alaska Boundary Dispute, E.O.S. Scholefield & Frederic William Howay, S.J. Clarke Pub. Co., Vancouver, British Columbia, 1914