Subject: the canadian secondary points aka ca2 etc
Date: Mar 19, 2001 @ 01:16
Author: michael donner (michael donner <m@...>)
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just finished nicholsons 1979 edition of the canadian boundary bible
& for anyone who has only seen the 1954 edition
i can at least report the following highlights

first the conspicuous absence once again of any explanation for nor even
any mention of that most intriguing & mysterious feature on the canadian
map
namely the stagger stepping mbsk interprovincial border

btw can anyone here explain what caused this boundary freak


second a confirmation that the glacier at the head of tarr inlet had indeed
already retreated sufficiently for the sea to break the continental
territory of the alaska panhandle into 2 distinct parts & thus to create
the outlet to the sea from northern british columbia that britain had been
imploring the usa for since the overgenerous russian cession of more than
the true alaska to the usa in 1867 effectively robbed the brits & thus
canada of their rights to any maritime access there

so here we have a prior & natural outbreak of bosnian bathtub territory
for whatever use it might be
since it is probably still hemmed in by the glacier

nicholson also mentions the entertaining fact that the retardation of
normal growth in the region owing to the lack of coastal access prompted
the brits to offer the yanks british honduras in exchange for the alaska
panhandle in 1918


but perhaps most significantly for the future of try pointing in canada is
nicholsons absolute confirmation that coastal & even interior navigable
waters are the exclusive territory of the crown

& are therefore the province of the federal government if you will
just like the 3 federal land territories of yukon & nwt & nunavut
& are thus coresponsible with those territories & the literal provinces
for producing a large class of somewhat provincial tripoints
but which are technically really only federative tripoints
yet are terribly important anyway
since canada in all her vastness has no true triprovincial points

for nicholson clarifies further here that the watery federal province
surrounds all of continental & insular canada north of the usa
& by some accounts reaches the north pole at the outer extremity
& by all interpretations reaches at least as far inland as the first
obstacles to navigation on every river of canada

the immediate effect of this news is to throw the census of canadian
secondary tripoints into further chaos
for until this discovery canada was thought to have a secondary level
comprising only 4 multipoints in all & all of them merely federative in
character
& so perhaps in many minds already second rate or minor league


an earlier tentative count of the crown waters federative tripoints made
with crude maps last year when their existence was first surmised found 28
cases of them to add to the 4 dry land multifederatives

but the new complication of navigable rivers
plus a recent discovery of more detailed maps
together suggest that the count will climb much higher before all is said &
done
especially since it now appears that the new nwt nunavut boundary strikes
the seacoast many more times than previously suspected


finally
the combined effect of 2 of the above revelations produces definite
confirmation of 2 new binational glacial bathtub tripoints in tarr inlet
the alaska british columbia crown waters twins
& possibly many similar ones not previously expected
where navigable canadian internal waters meet the caus international boundary


for further progress to be made here tho
better canadian maps than any that have found so far will be necessary

max