Today in history 6-15

[remrogers]

1846
June 15
U.S.-Canadian border established

Representatives of Great Britain and the United States sign the Oregon Treaty, which settles a long-standing dispute with Britain over who controlled the Oregon territory. The treaty established the 49th parallel from the Rocky Mountains to the Strait of Georgia as the boundary between the United States and British Canada. The United States gained formal control over the future states of Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Montana; and the British retained Vancouver Island and navigation rights to part of the Columbia River.

In 1818, a U.S.-British agreement had established the border along the 49th parallel from Lake of the Woods in the east to the Rocky Mountains in the west. The two nations also agreed to a joint occupation of Oregon territory for 10 years, an arrangement that was extended for an additional 10 years in 1827. After 1838, the issue of who possessed Oregon became increasingly controversial, especially when mass American migration along the Oregon Trail began in the early 1840s.

American expansionists urged seizure of Oregon, and in 1844 Democrat James K. Polk successfully ran for president under the platform “Fifty-four forty or fight,” which referred to his hope of bringing a sizable portion of present-day Vancouver and Alberta into the United States. However, neither President Polk nor the British government wanted a third Anglo-American war, and on June 15, 1846, the Oregon Treaty, a compromise, was signed. By the terms of the agreement, the U.S. and Canadian border was extended west along the 49th parallel to the Strait of Georgia, just short of the Pacific Ocean.

[Okanagan]

1846
June 15
U.S.-Canadian border established

Representatives of Great Britain and the United States sign the Oregon Treaty, which settles a long-standing dispute with Britain over who controlled the Oregon territory. The treaty established the 49th parallel from the Rocky Mountains to the Strait of Georgia as the boundary between the United States and British Canada. The United States gained formal control over the future states of Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Montana; and the British retained Vancouver Island and navigation rights to part of the Columbia River.

In 1818, a U.S.-British agreement had established the border along the 49th parallel from Lake of the Woods in the east to the Rocky Mountains in the west. The two nations also agreed to a joint occupation of Oregon territory for 10 years, an arrangement that was extended for an additional 10 years in 1827. After 1838, the issue of who possessed Oregon became increasingly controversial, especially when mass American migration along the Oregon Trail began in the early 1840s.

American expansionists urged seizure of Oregon, and in 1844 Democrat James K. Polk successfully ran for president under the platform “Fifty-four forty or fight,” which referred to his hope of bringing a sizable portion of present-day Vancouver and Alberta into the United States. However, neither President Polk nor the British government wanted a third Anglo-American war, and on June 15, 1846, the Oregon Treaty, a compromise, was signed. By the terms of the agreement, the U.S. and Canadian border was extended west along the 49th parallel to the Strait of Georgia, just short of the Pacific Ocean.

We lived along that border.  Once the 49th parallel gets to the Strait, the border leaves that line and jogs around some islands.

The 49th also cuts off a little peninsula, leaving the community of Point Roberts in the US but having no land access to the rest of the US.  To drive to or from Point Roberts you have to go through Canada, meaning two order crossings to get there from the rest of the US. From say Seattle, a driver crosses into Canada, drives 25 miles or so around Boundary Bay and then back into the US into Point Roberts. 

In a bit of history, the detail of how the border threaded between islands once it reached the Straits was not spelled out in the treaty and almost caused a war in 1857.  It did cause the Pig War, on San Juan Island rather than at Point Roberts as I posted earlier.  Both countries claimed San Juan.

An American shot a Canadian pig that was rooting in his potatoes.  Canadians threatened to arrest the American and both countries sent troops.  The Americans were under Captain George Pickett of later Gettysburg fame. An American Lieutenant named Henry Martyn Roberts built their fort, and later wrote Roberts Rules of Order.

Before 911, US and Canadian farmers with fields on the 49th parallel would plant to the end of the row at the border.  They would drive their tractor to the end of the row plowing or whatever, and drive into the other country to turn the tractor around to make a pass the other direction.