The Boundary Hunters: Surveying the 141st Meridian and the Alaska Panhandle

Nora T. Corley is a librarian in Ottawa.

The Alaska Boundary was first described by the Anglo-Russian Treaty of 1825. It remained unchanged when the United States purchased Alaska “as is, where is” from Russia in 1867, and Canada took over what had been British possessions in 1870 and 1871. The surveying of the two main parts of the boundary, the 141st Meridian and the Panhandle, is the story of remarkable achievement of some 150 government field parties, consisting of several hundred men, who worked along the boundary between 1869 and 1920, under the most difficult conditions. These men were competent people, doing a job, and so there are “no epic tales of heroism in face of self-inflicted disasters”; but there is the story of the hardships, frustrations, and accomplishments of a job eventually well done. Rather than discussing the political history of the boundary, this work concentrates on the surveys, the surveyors, and the nagging issues that had to be solved before work could even begin.

The book is divided into seven chapters describing the different stages of the boundary surveying: 1) the boundary established between Russians, who had settled and traded in Alaska, and Great Britain, who claimed the northern part of North America (1825-67); 2) the marking of the 141st Meridian between Alaska and what is now the Yukon Territory (1869-96); 3) surveying the Alaska Panhandle boundary, much more difficult than the northern straight part of the boundary (1876-96); 4) a discussion of the Klondike gold rush and the drawing of a temporary boundary — many of the American miners were mightily surprised to discover that the Klondike was in Canada (1896-1903); 5) The Alaska Boundary Tribunal, 1903; 6) the difficulty of marking the boundary in the Panhandle (1904-20); and the final marking of the 141st Meridian (1906-13). Still disputed are the maritime boundaries, which special negotiators, appointed in 1977, have not yet resolved.

Much research has gone into writing this most interesting history of our northwestern international boundary. The style is crisp and the narrative abounds with detail and quotations from the protagonists themselves. The book ends with an appendix giving the text of the Anglo Russian Treaty of 1825, copious notes, a bibliography of 129 items, and a detailed index. The book is illustrated with black-and-white photographs and there are ten maps showing details of various parts of the boundary, and two of the triangulation net used to carry the 141st Meridian survey through the Wrangell Mountains. This book will be of interest to historians, Northern specialists, Canadian libraries, and anyone interested in a good read.