extremely dangerous, and in spite of every precaution, two of the horses were drowned.

As soon as the exciting work of crossing the Kootenai and establishing a camp had been completed, the trial line at boundary cairn 151" (now Monument 241) was started. The chief astronomer observed on Polaris for an azimuth on the nights of June 28 and 29. From the determined azimuth he started the trial line to the west in the theoretical direction of the chord. The assistant in charge of the party then took over the work and continued the line from summit to summit to its terminus at boundary cairn 149 (now Monument 234).

The country across which this chord passes is extremely rough and is covered with a forest growth of great size and density. Trails ahead of the party had to be laboriously built as the trial line progressed westward.

Upon the completion of the trial line, the proper corrections were laid off on the intervening summits to mark the true chord. The clearing of the vista and the running of a stadia traverse along the chord was then begun and was continued to completion, in the latter part of October.

The party returned to Gateway on November 2 and proceeded from there over the Canadian Pacific Railway to Yahk Siding. From the latter place it moved by pack train to the boundary line on the East Fork of Hawkins Creek and began cutting vista on the chord between the Yaak and Moyie Rivers, between the second astronomic subparty and a topographic subparty already engaged along this chord.

The party had scarcely begun work and had cut but three-fourths mile of vista and about 1 mile of trail when the early and deep snow of the season compelled it to cease operations. After waiting for several days in the hope that weather conditions might improve, the party moved out to Yahk Siding, where the hands were paid off and the camp outfit and pack train shipped to Gateway, Montana.

The personnel of the United States astronomic party was: Chief of party, C. H. Sinclair, Chief Astronomer; assistant in charge of first subparty, John Nelson; assistants in charge of second subparty, Reinert Hanssen, first half of season, and F. A. Camp, second half of season; assistant in charge of third subparty, E. R. Martin; and about 40 hands divided among the subparties as required.

TOPOGRAPHIC PARTY

The United States topographic party in 1903 was divided at the beginning of the season into four subparties, each directed by an assistant and all four under the supervision of the chief topographer. The first and second subparties were assigned to the retracement of the boundary, vista cutting, and topographic surveys. The third subparty was employed throughout the season on topographic surveys, and the fourth subparty in running levels.

The first topographic subparty was assigned at the beginning of the season to the section of the boundary between the Flathead River and the summit of the Rocky Mountains. The second subparty was directed to take up work between 11 Boundary cairn 150 was never found and the conclusion was reached that it had never been built.

the Wigwam and Flathead Rivers. These two parties, consisting jointly of 20 men with 28 pack horses, left Gateway together on June 17 over the Grave Creek trail for the Flathead Valley. They were the first of the season to travel the trail and encountered many difficulties. The trail was blocked by many windfalls which had to be removed by axmen traveling in advance of the pack train. On the summit of the Galton Range, several miles of snow fields were encountered over which a route had to be picked where the

snow was solid enough to bear the weight of the horses. Heavy rain fell continuously on the day the high summit of the range was crossed. These difficulties and hazards were overcome only by dint of hard work and perseverance. The parties reached the Flathead Valley at the end of the fourth day and went into camp on the west bank of the river about 8 miles below the boundary crossing. Here the parties separated to take up their assigned work.

FIRST TOPOGRAPHIC SUBPARTY

At the outset the first topographic subparty was confronted with the necessity of crossing the swollen waters of the Flathead. In anticipation of high water, the chief topographer had sent three men up the river from Belton, Montana, with lumber and tools to build a small rowboat and with instructions to await the arrival of the parties at the trail crossing. The men and the boat were found waiting as expected. A raft was constructed of dry logs and loaded with equipment and supplies and then hauled across by a rope passed

across the river by boat.

THE SUMMIT OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. THE ARROW POINTS TO

BOUNDARY MONUMENT 272 IN THE SADDLE IN THE FOREGROUND

In this manner the crossing was effected in safety.

To meet the needs of both parties, a supply depot was established on the east side of the river and a man placed in charge. A combined pack- and wagon-train line of transportation from Belton, Montana, kept the depot stocked.

Before taking up their separate activities, the chiefs of the two subparties. measured with a steel tape a preliminary base in the valley, from which to start

The engineer in charge then took up the work of projecting the true line or chord between boundary cairn 160 (now Monument 266) on the east bank of Kishenehn Creek and boundary cairn 161 (now Monument 272) on the summit of the Rocky Mountains. This proved to be a difficult undertaking as the line passes along the almost perpendicular slope near the top of the highest peak of the Sawtooth or Boundary Mountains. This particular peak is approximately 9,400 feet in elevation and is 5,300 feet above the monument on Kishenehn Creek. In order to reach the point where the boundary crosses, the men had to work their way over snow slides and up the faces of cliffs where a slip or a misstep would precipitate them hundreds of feet down almost perpendicular mountain walls. Several attempts were made to scale the mountain before a signal was successfully placed on line. When boundary location work had been completed, the engineer in charge took up triangulation, for topographic control, and the boundary mapping. In charge of the transitman, vista cutting and stadia traverse were carried on along the timbered portions. The stadia traverse had to be abandoned on the steep slopes of the Boundary Mountains, as the inclinations were so great that much of the line was inaccessible. All work on the section of boundary between the Flathead River and the summit of the Rocky Mountains was completed on August 18.

The first subparty then moved back over the Grave Creek trail to Gateway. On August 24 the party left Gateway by railroad with a carload of horses, outfit, and a month's supplies, for Goatfell, British Columbia. The stock car was delayed on the way by a washout on the railway and did not arrive at Goatfell until September 1. The party immediately moved 12 miles to the boundary line near boundary cairn 141 (now Monument 213) on the Moyie trail. After cutting a vista to the east to the summit of Border Mountain, it was discovered that boundary cairn 141 was only approximately on the parallel,1 and pending the settlement of the question as to whether the boundary cairn should be accepted as a point on the boundary, the vista cutting at this place was discontinued.

The party then projected a 40-mile continuous random line through triangulation station "Border", which was conveniently located about 80 meters north of the boundary, between boundary cairn 140 (now Monument 207), on the east side of the Kootenai River at Porthill, and boundary cairn 146 (now Monument 231), on the west side of the Yaak River; and by the method of offsets from the random line established the true chords between the consecutive boundary cairns. Vista cutting was resumed by the transitman of the party in the vicinity of Mission Creek, and the vista-cutting crew of the second topographic subparty was put to work on the east side of the Moyie River.

After completing the retracement of the boundary from Porthill to the Yaak River, the chief of the subparty turned his attention to topographic mapping between the Yaak River and Hawkins Creek to the west. He completed the topography about November 1. For the few remaining days of the season he directed the vista-cutting crews.

12 This monument had been located by the original Commission by running a traverse from the Moyie River station around the north base of Border Mountain, a distance of 5 or 6 miles, and a small error in latitude resulted from the accumulated errors of the traverse.

On November 6 snow began to fall and continued for several days, covering the ground to a depth of more than a foot in the valleys and to a greater depth on the mountains. The weather turned cold, the temperature dropping to 15° below zero, Fahrenheit. But little progress could be made under these conditions and the party disbanded on November 14.

SECOND TOPOGRAPHIC SUBPARTY

The second topographic subparty separated from the first topographic subparty at the trail crossing of the Flathead River late in June. A trail was built for 8 miles up the west side of the river and camp moved over it to the boundary near boundary cairn 157 (now Monument 261). From the Flathead River to the Wigwam River, the boundary passes over a summit 4,000 feet above the valley. The country was densely wooded and without trails. The transitman with a crew of axmen immediately began opening a trail to serve the needs of the party as it worked westward. The engineer in charge projected and established the true line or chord between boundary cairn 157 (now Monument 261) and boundary cairn 156 (now Monument 255.)

As soon as the boundary line was located, vista cutting and the running of a stadia traverse along it were begun by the transitman, while the engineer in charge began the topographic mapping and triangulation. All of these operations were continued, without special incident, to completion at the Wigwam River on September 14.

Upon completion of work on this section of the boundary, the party moved by trail to Gateway. From Gateway the party moved westward to Yahk Siding,

British Columbia, by train and thence to THE BOUNDARY VISTA, LOOKING EAST ACROSS THE the boundary. The axmen were trans

FLATHEAD RIVER VALLEY

ferred to a new vista-cutting party to work east of the Moyie River under the supervision of the first topographic subparty. The engineer in charge of the second topographic subparty with a small crew took up topographic work extending from about 10 miles east of the Moyie River westward to Porthill where, in conjunction. with the third topographic subparty, he closed up the last gap in the mapping from