itizens--within British
territory. The contention of Great Britain always has been that the
boundary should follow the general contour of the coast line and not the
inlets to their head waters. On the other hand the United States contend
that the whole of Lynn Canal up to the very top, to the extent of
tide-water, is a part of the ocean, and that the territory of the United
States goes back for ten leagues from the head of the canal and
consequently includes Skagway and Dyea. In other words the United States
claim that the boundary should not follow the coast line but pass
around the head of this important inlet, which controls access to the
interior of the gold-bearing region.

[10: The following is the article in full: "The line of demarcation
between the possessions of the high contracting parties upon the coast
of the continent and the islands of America to the north-west, shall be
drawn in the following manner: commencing from the southernmost point of
the island called Prince of Wales Island, which point lies in the
parallel of fifty-four degrees forty minutes north latitude, and between
the one hundred and thirty-first and the one hundred and thirty-third
degree of west longitude, 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 fifty-sixth 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 one hundred and forty-first degree of west longitude
(of the same meridian), and finally from the said point of intersection
of the one hundred and forty-first degree in its prolongation as far as
the frozen ocean, shall form the limit between the Russian and British
possessions, on the continent of America to the north-west"]

[Illustration: MAP OF BRITISH COLUMBIA AND YUKON DISTRICT SHOWING
DISPUTED BOUNDARY BETWEEN]

The Canadian commissioners first offered as a compromise to leave Dyea
and Skagway in the possession of the United States if the commissioners
of that country would agree that Canada should retain Pyramid Harbour,
which would give to Canadians a highway into the Yukon district. The
acceptance of this compromise would have made a common water of the Lynn
Canal, and at the same time left to the United States the greater
portion of the territory in dispute. When the commissioners