No. 242.
Mr. Davis to Mr. Richardson.
Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the letter of the 19th ultimo, from the Treasury Department, making inquiry concerning the boundary line between the possessions of the United States and Great Britain, and in reply to inform you that no joint action of the two governments has been taken for marking upon the surface of the ground that portion of the boundary along the forty-ninth parallel which extends from the [Page 402] Lake of the Woods to the Rocky or Stony Mountains. I therefore beg leave to suggest that no proceedings be adopted by the custom-house authorities which will disturb the existing condition of things on the border, until the British government can be informed of the discovery which has been made by the officers of the Engineer Corps, which will be immediately done.