April the 4th, 1841.
Secretary of State Daniel Webster, still elated from his career-defining deal with Mexico, grew even more ecstatic as he was asked by President William Henry Harrison to negotiate a treaty regarding the northern border of the United States. President Harrison had told him that he was allowed to offer up to $20 million for the Oregon Territory.
"Can the treasury bear such an expense?" Daniel Webster.
"Probably not," Harrison replied, "but we will just finance the purchase. Offer $4 million from the United States Treasury annually for five years.
"Fair enough, Mr. President," Webster replied.
Webster approached the British dignitary (one Mr. Ashburton) with the following terms:
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The border between the state of Maine and Canada would be as the green line shown on this map.
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The northwestern border would be defined as the 49th parallel.
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Both the United States and the United Kingdom will be given access to the navigable waterways of the Great Lakes.
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In return for the acquisition of the Oregon country, the United States will pay the United Kingdom $4 million every year for five years.
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The United States will resolve to assist in ending the international slave trade.
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The United States and the United Kingdom will resolve to maintain the sovereignty of the Kingdom of Hawai'i against external threats.
The text of the Webster-Ashburton Treaty states:
> It being understood that all the water-communications, and all the usual portages along the line from Lake Superior to the Lake of the Woods; and also Grand Portage, from the shore of Lake Superior to the Pigeon river, as now actually used, shall be free and open to the use of the citizens and subjects of both countries.
A portage is a trail, usually short, used by those traveling by canoe (and other boats) to either bypass an obstruction in a river or get from one body of water to another.
The rights of travel appear to be commonly used along most of the Boundary Water Canoe area and Quetico Provincial Park, since portages use either the US or Canadian side of the border, and can be used, as far as I know, without a passport or other usual hassles. These portages are usually short (a fraction of a mile) and are close to the border.
The Grand Portage is quite different. It's huge - over eight miles long. And it cuts through the upper tip of Minnesota. Judging by the map, it ends over five miles away from the Canadian/US border (assuming one is canoeing on Lake Superior).
But since treaties are the law of the land, could a Canadian use the Grand Portage without the usual hassle of a border crossing?
I'm playing as Britain and I would like to cede Caribou to the US, but the Webster-Ashburton decision is not appearing. Anyway I can fix this? We both have positive relations towards each other.
