shall be, and hereby is, for the purpose of temporary government, attached to and made a part of, the territory of Michigan.

Michigan was admitted to the Union on January 26, 1837 (5 Stat. L. 144), with the proviso and boundaries given in the enabling act (5 Stat. L. 49) as follows:

Provided, always, and this admission is upon the express condition, that the said State shall consist of and have jurisdiction over all the territory included within the following boundaries, and over none other, to wit:

Beginning at the point where the above-described northern boundary of the State of Ohio intersects the eastern boundary of the State of Indiana, and running thence with the said boundary line of Ohio, as described in the first section of this act, until it intersects the boundary line between the United States and Canada in Lake Erie; thence with the said boundary line between the United States and Canada, through the Detroit river, Lake Huron, and Lake Superior, to a point where the said line last touches Lake Superior; thence in a direct line through Lake Superior to the mouth of the Montreal river; thence through the middle of the main channel of the said river Montreal, to the middle of the Lake of the Desert; thence in a direct line to the nearest headwater of the Menomonie river; thence through the middle of that fork of the said river first touched by the said line, to the main channel of the said Menomonie river; thence down the center of the main channel of the same, to the center of the most usual ship channel of the Green bay of Lake Michigan; thence through the center of the most usual ship channel of the said bay to the middle of Lake Michigan; thence through the middle of Lake Michigan, to the northern boundary of the State of Indiana, as that line was established by the act of Congress of the nineteenth of April, eighteen hundred and sixteen; thence due east, with the north boundary line of the said State of Indiana, to the northeast corner thereof; and thence, south, with the east boundary line of Indiana to the place of beginning.

Wisconsin Territory was formed in 1836 from the western part of Michigan Territory.

When the Territory of Wisconsin was organized, it was supposed that there was an almost continuous water-boundary line between Michigan and Wisconsin from Green Bay to Lake Superior. Congress in 1838 ordered the running and marking of this boundary (5 Stat. L. 244), but it was soon discovered that the line could not be run as described, for the head of the Montreal River is more than 50 miles from the Lake of the Desert (now called Lac Vieux Desert), which was supposed to be its source. It was therefore recommended that the boundary location be changed to the position later described in the Wisconsin enabling act of 1846 (9 Stat. L. 56-57), and in greater detail in the Michigan constitution of 1850, which reads as follows (Thorpe, 1909, v. 4, p. 1945):

*** through Lake Superior to the mouth of the Montreal river; thence through the middle of the main channel of the said river Montreal to the head waters thereof; thence in a direct line to the center of the channel between Middle and South islands in the Lake of the Desert; thence in a direct line to the southern shore of Lake Brule; thence along said southern shore and down the river

Brule to the main channel of the Menominee river; thence down the center of the main channel of the same to the center of the most usual ship channel of the Green Bay of Lake Michigan.

WISCONSIN 49

Wisconsin was organized as a Territory July 3, 1836, and admitted as a State May 29, 1848.

As originally constituted its area comprised all that part of the former Territory of Michigan which lay west of the present limits of the State of Michigan. (See fig. 22.) The limits are defined in the act for its organization as follows (5 Stat. L. 11):

Bounded on the east, by a line drawn from the northeast corner of the State of Illinois, through the middle of Lake Michigan, to a point in the middle of said lake, and opposite the main channel of Green Bay ; and through said channel and Green Bay to the mouth of the Menomonie river; thence through the middle of the main channel of said river, to that head of said river nearest to the Lake of the Desert; 50 thence in a direct line to the middle of said lake; thence through the middle of the main channel of the Montreal river, to its mouth; thence with a direct line across Lake Superior to where the territorial line of the United States last touches said lake northwest; thence on the north with the said territorial line to the White-earth river; on the west, by a line from the said boundary line following down the middle of the main channel of White-earth river to the Missouri river, and down the middle of the main channel of the Missouri river to a point due west from the northwest corner of the State of Missouri; and on the south, from said point, due east to the northwest corner of the State of Missouri; and thence with the boundaries of the States of Missouri and Illinois, as already fixed by acts of Congress.

In 1838, all that part of the territory lying west of the Mississippi and of a line drawn due north from its source to the international boundary that is, all that part which was originally comprised in the Louisiana Purchase and the Red River drainage basin south of the 49th parallel-was organized as the Territory of Iowa. (See Iowa, p. 212.) The enabling act dated August 6, 1846, provided for the admission of Wisconsin as a State. The boundaries were described as follows: Beginning at the northeast corner of the State of Illinois, that is to say, at a point in the center of Lake Michigan where the line of forty two degrees and thirty minutes of north latitude crosses the same, thence running with the boundary line of the State of Michigan, through Lake Michigan, Green Bay, to the mouth of the Menominee River; thence up the channel of said river to the Brule River, thence up said last mentioned river to Lake Brule; thence along the southern shore of Lake Brule in a direct line to the channel between middle and south islands in the Lake of the Desert; thence in a direct line to the headwaters of the Montreal River, as marked upon the survey made by Captain Cramm; thence down the main channel of the Montreal River to the middle of Lake

49 For a general description of the boundaries of Wisconsin and a historical sketch of the acts by which they were fixed, see Thwaites (1888, v. 11, p. 451-501).

50 This translation of the French name "Lac Vieux Desert" is misleading. The French word "desert" refers to a clearing, an open space, a wild and solitary place, not to an area devoid of vegetation from lack of water.

Superior; thence through the center of Lake Superior to the mouth of the St. Louis River; thence up the main channel of said river to the first rapids in the same, above the Indian village, according to Nicollet's map; thence due south to the main branch of the River St. Croix; thence down the main channel of said river to the Mississippi; thence down the main channel of that river to the northwest corner of the State of Illinois; thence due east with the northern boundary of the State of Illinois to the place of beginning *

The straight parts of the boundary were surveyed and marked, in 1847, from a point where the Balsam River and the Pine River unite to form the Montreal, S. 74°27′ E. to the Lake of the Desert, a distance of 50 miles 67 chains 6 links. The southern part of the line begins at the lower end of Lake Brule and runs N. 59°38′ W. for 13 miles 37 chains 66 links to an intersection with the former line in the Lake of the Desert. The notes pertaining to this line can be found in the General Land Office files.

Suit was commenced by Michigan in the U.S. Supreme Court in October 1923 for a redetermination of the Michigan-Wisconsin boundary, the claim being made that the surveys of 1840-47 were not in accord with the descriptions. The change from the previously accepted boundary to that proposed by Michigan would have resulted in a loss to Wisconsin of about 255,000 acres of land, but the Court by decree dated March 1, 1926 (270 U.S. 295; 272 U.S. 398), confirmed Wisconsin's title to the disputed area, principally because

The rule, long settled and never doubted by this court, is that long acquiescence by one State in the possession of territory by another and in the exercise of sovereignty and dominion over it is conclusive of the latter's title and rightful authority.

A resurvey of the Michigan-Wisconsin line was completed in 1929 by commissioners representing the two States. There are now 160 concrete monuments on this 65-mile line. This work was executed in accordance with the Supreme Court decree of November 22, 1926. The boundary from Lake Brule to the mouth of the Menominee is practically that described in the enabling act and

follows the channels of the Brule and Menominee wherever they are free from islands: ** wherever islands are encountered above Quinnesec Falls the line follows the channel nearest the Wisconsin mainland, so as to throw all such islands into Michigan; and * ** wherever islands are encountered below Quinnesec Falls the line follows the channel nearest the Michigan mainland, so as to throw all such islands into Wisconsin.

Through Green Bay the line was fixed as claimed by Wisconsin and includes in that State Washington, Detroit, Plum, Rock, and some smaller islands.51

For a historical description of this boundary and notes relating to the settlement of the dispute by the U.S. Supreme Court, see Martin (1930, p. 106–163).

A further decree of the Supreme Court, handed down in 1936 (297 U.S. 547), confirmed the earlier decree and defined the boundary through Green Bay to the middle of Lake Michigan by bearings and distances. Following this, the States of Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota entered into a compact to define angle points along their common boundaries that fall in the Great Lakes or bays adjoining them, and to reference these points by suitable marks along the shore, the geodetic positions of which were to be determined.

To define the boundary between Michigan and Wisconsin in the middle of Lake Michigan, as required by the enabling acts admitting these States, seven points were selected and named A to G, and their geodetic positions were published. Point A is on an eastward continuation of the Illinois-Wisconsin boundary. Point G is at the centerline of the lake where the boundary through Green Bay intersects it. The geodetic coordinates of the seven points are:

Two points were selected to define the boundary for Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota in Lake Superior. This line extends from the international boundary at the point where it enters Pigeon Bay to the point where the Michigan-Wisconsin boundary enters the Montreal River. These points were labeled N and M. Their coordinates are:

The line between Wisconsin and Minnesota, being described in the enabling act admitting Wisconsin as passing "through the center of Lake Superior to the mouth of the St. Louis River" is defined by four points, A to D. Point A is at the midpoint of line M-N. Point D is referenced to the ends of the breakwaters at the entrance to the Duluth Superior Harbor. The geodetic coordinates of these points are:

All these points representing the centerline of Lake Michigan or Lake Superior are defined as equidistant from two points on the opposite shorelines, except point G, which had been fixed by a U.S.