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levels run in 1904 from Barron, Washington, to the boundary crossing of the Pasayten River. The party began work September 7 at the bench mark established in

TRANSPORTING THE SECTIONS OF AN ALUMINUM-BRONZE MONUMENT OVER A DIFFICULT BIT OF TRAIL IN THE CASCADE MOUNTAINS

1904 at the boundary crossing and leveled southward, over the line of the previous season, to Barron.14 The line was closed on the bench mark at Barron on September 30.

On the return trip by the way of the boundary trails to Loomis, Washington, the party was caught in an early snowstorm and before the trip was finished had to force its way without feed for the horses over mountain passes through snow from 3 to 4 feet in depth. After a week of strenuous travel the party arrived in Loomis on October 7.

For the purpose of making a comparison of the plane-table method used by United States parties with the phototopographic method used by Canadian parties in making topographic maps, the United States chief topographer had agreed with the Canadian chief of party to duplicate the surveys done by the Canadian parties on the

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strip of territory 2 miles wide along the south side of the boundary from the Similkameen River to Osoyoos Lake.

This survey was made by a party organized on October 6-8 from the returning mountain parties and headed by the chief topographer. The work was ended October 30.

A comparison of results showed the two methods to be equally satisfactory in a country of bold relief.

14 Barron, Washington, was a mining settlement near the crest of the Cascade Range, to the west and not far from States Pass at the heads of Ruby Creek, the Pasayten and the Methow Rivers. The name no longer appears on maps or in the Postal Guide (February 1936).

As the parties returned from the mountains to Loomis, the hands were paid off, the outfits stored, and the horses pastured until only the small topographic party remained in the field. At the end of October that party had brought to a close the field operations of the United States parties on the reestablishment and remonumenting of the 49th parallel land boundary west of the summit of the Rocky Mountains. No further use would be had for the pack trains and much of the camp equipment on hand. Before leaving the field, the topographic party sorted and inventoried the camp and work equipment, placed that part of it which was still serviceable in storage at Loomis, and prepared the rest for sale. On November 4 the condemned equipment and all of the pack horses were disposed of by public auction at Loomis and the party disbanded.

The personnel of the United States topographic party was: Chief of party, E. C. Barnard, Chief Topographer; assistants, J. G. Hefty, W. B. Reaburn, Thomas Riggs, Jr., George Neuner, Jr., W. W. Wineland; and 15 hands.

SEASON OF 1906-POINT ROBERTS TO THE SKAGIT RIVER

The field operations of 1906 were confined to the boundary extending from Point Roberts to the Skagit River. The triangulation connection with the work of the United States Geological Survey which had been unsuccessfully attempted by the United States triangulation party in 1905 was completed by a United States Geological Survey party through a cooperative arrangement between the United States Section of the Boundary Commission and the United States Geological Survey. All other work on this particular section of the boundary was done by the Canadian Section of the Boundary Commission.

CANADIAN PARTY

The Canadian party was organized at Sumas Prairie the last week in May. It consisted of 8 surveyors, 42 hands, and 42 horses. It was divided as work progressed into several subparties to facilitate operations.

FIRST SUBPARTY

The first subparty, a line measurement party of an assistant and seven men, was detached at Sumas Prairie and detailed to make a double-rodded stadia measurement from monument to monument along the boundary west from Monument 41 and to secure topographic data. This party carried the stadia measurement west as far as Monument 21 and made topographic surveys of the towns of Sumas and Clearbrook, Washington, and Huntingdon, British Columbia. They then returned to Monument 41 and measured the line to Monument 43 in the Columbia Valley. A pack-train camp was provided for the party in the Columbia Valley in order that it might project the chord from Monument 43 eastward to the monuments in the Tamihi Valley.

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The party moved from the Columbia Valley over the trail, constructed the previous season, to the summit of the first high ridge crossed by the boundary. On this ridge, after a good deal of heavy chopping and delays caused by smoky weather, the first point on the trial line was determined on a prolongation of the line passing through Monuments 41 and 43. The plan of operation was to transit the line from ridge to ridge. This required the cutting of a vista across the summits. Some of the summits were quite broad and after a point had been placed on the line, the vista had to be opened for a quarter of a mile or more in order to secure a sight to the next ridge. Due to frequent camp changes, a number of men were kept constantly on trail construction, and when smoke prevented line projection all hands were so occupied. Several canyons or ravines 1,500 to 2,000 feet deep, tributary to the Chilliwack River, crossed the boundary, making it necessary to build trails around their heads, cutting the grades along the steep hillsides through heavy timber and windfalls.

About 10 miles east of the Columbia Valley the boundary crosses a rocky ridge at an elevation of nearly 6,000 feet. Here to the south of the line is a beautiful alpine park area with grass-covered slopes, intercommunicating lakelets, and scattered clumps of fine evergreen trees. This park made an ideal camping place and its meadows furnished excellent forage.

From the park eastward to the monuments on Tamihi Creek the forest growth was large and dense. The jungle of underbrush and windfalls made travel, even on foot, almost impossible without trails. The windfalls, often from 6 to 9 feet in diameter and from 150 to 200 feet long, could be used as footpaths when fortunately lying in the direction of travel, but when lying crosswise, as they perversely seemed

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TAMIHI MOUNTAIN, BETWEEN SILESIA AND MIDDLE CREEKS, CASCADE MOUNTAINS. VIEW FROM THE NORTH

to do most of the time, presented an obstacle only to be overcome by improvising a ladder or by crawling around either end through the dense brush and devilsclub 15 which often attained a height of 10 or 12 feet. After much time and strenuous labor, the trail was completed through the forest to a junction with the Tamihi Valley trail, the trial line was completed and its offset from boundary cairn 46 (now Monument 52) was measured.

The party then turned westward to the first summit east of Columbia Valley and determined the true line on that summit by laying down the offset computed from the results of the trial line. Vista cutting on the true line to the eastward was then begun. However, the season was getting late, the weather was wet and cold at this high altitude, and work could no longer be carried on to advantage. The party suspended operations on October 20.

MAIN PARTY

After the detachment of the subparty whose operations have just been described, the main party moved from Sumas Prairie to and up the Chilliwack Valley to McGuire's ranch, where headquarters were established for the season. The buildings and corrals on the ranch were rented and the owner was hired to receive and care for supplies.

The approach to the boundary from the Chilliwack Valley was used by the western Canadian reconnaissance party in 1901 and many miles of trail were built at that time. These trails were now badly overgrown with brush and filled with windfalls. The first task of the party of 1906 was to reopen the old trails and to build additional ones. This job proved to be one of the heaviest of the season. An attempt to bridge the Chilliwack River near the mouth of Tamihi Creek was made by felling trees across it as in 1901. Now, however, the trees snapped like pipestems in the swift water and the plan had to be abandoned. A steel cable was secured and swung across the stream, by aid of which a serviceable one-span bridge was constructed.

SECOND SUBPARTY

Upon the completion of the bridge, a second subparty of 10 men, in charge of an assistant, was detailed to open the trail of 1901 up Tamihi Creek to the boundary, to search for boundary cairns 44, 45, and 46 (now Monuments 50, 51, and 52), and to open up the old vista between them. A passable trail to the boundary was soon built and a search instituted for the cairns. The unmistakable remains of cairn 46 were found agreeing with the description of the United States reconnaissance party of 1901, and the removal of the stones revealed the original center stake. The old vista was cleared westward from this point and measurements made to where cairns 45 and 44 should have been according to the records given by the original Commission. Although a most careful and painstaking search was made, the cairns could not be found. A representative of the United States Commissioners took part in the search and concurred in the opinion that snow and rockslides had obliterated all 15 A rank growing and extremely spiny araliaceous shrub of the northwest Pacific coast-Echinopanax horridus.

traces of them. The monuments eventually set to take their places were located on the curve of the parallel passing through cairn 46 and as near as practicable to the positions of the original marks.

The party next proceeded to project the chord east from boundary cairn 46 (now Monument 52) to boundary cairn 47 (now Monument 55) on Silesia Creek. The chord crossed an almost unscaleable shoulder of Red Mountain at an elevation of 7,300 feet and hence was most difficult to establish. To complicate matters smoke from forest fires prevented observations for days at a time. Finally, after ascending the Red ridge nine times, an approximate location of the chord was made and the party began cutting a wide vista along it from cairn 46.

During the smoky weather, a successful search had been carried on for the original latitude station on Tamihi Creek and preparations were made to carry a small triangulation scheme from it to the boundary. However, continuous smoky weather and the exigency of line clearing prevented the execution of the triangulation.

The final adjustment of the chord from cairn 46 to cairn 47 was completed on September 9. The vista cutting was carried up the slope of Red Mountain to timber line by October 18. The weather then became so inclement that work could not be continued to advantage. The party withdrew from the mountains, reached McGuire's ranch on October 20, and there disbanded.

MAIN PARTY

The main party, whose trail-building operations to the mouth of Tamihi Creek have been recorded, continued that work up the Chilliwack Valley to Thurston's

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LOOKING NORTHEAST FROM RED MOUNTAIN TRIANGULATION STATION IN THE CASCADE MOUNTAINS. THE PROMINENT PEAK ON THE LEFT IS TAMIHI MOUNTAIN; THE BOUNDARY VISTA ASCENDING THE EASTERN SLOPE OF THE SILESIA CREEK VALLEY IS SEEN ON THE RIGHT

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