Jackson Lennock
Well-known member
Following the War of 1812, there were continuing border disputes over the Oregon Country, today's Northern Maine, and today's Northeast Minnesota. With Oregon, Britain seemed to never sincerely want more than the Columbia River as the boundary.
So what if Canada included Washington State west of the Columbia River, Northeast Minnesota (east of the St Louis River, including Duluth), and northern Maine, based upon border agreements going differently? Perhaps the British agree that America can make greater gains elsewhere (Central America?) and that gets the Americans to agree. Or perhaps the British just argue a harder bargain.
Northeast Minnesota has about 250,000 people. Northern Maine has about 100,000 people. Western Washington has about 6.5 million people.
The biggest change would potentially be that because Canada has the ports of Duluth and Two Harbors, there'd be an easier connection to the Canadian West. OTL, it wasn't very easy to settle the west before the advent of the Canadian Pacific Railway in 1881. But with accessible ports, settlement could occur earlier than OTL. During the Red River Rebellion of OTL, the Canadian Government even had to initially ask the Americans for passage through to put down the rebellion as the Canadians couldn't get to the rebels themselves! The Old Dawson trail didn't even begin construction until 1868, just a year before the rebellion. Canada's western territories might be settled much earlier than OTL.
If Canada has a bigger presence out west, maybe the British become interested in acquiring Alaska as well.
Duluth may be much larger than OTL. Today, most of Prairie Canada's exports go through the United States on railroads which head to the port of Minneapolis-St Paul for shipment. Here, Canada has some sizable Great Lake ports of its own for international shipment. Duluth could plausibly end up a city the size of the Twin Cities, as it would be a center of railroads, ironworks (given the mining in the region), shipments, commodities exchanges, and so forth.
With earlier settlement, OTL Western Canada might be twice as populous.
So what if Canada included Washington State west of the Columbia River, Northeast Minnesota (east of the St Louis River, including Duluth), and northern Maine, based upon border agreements going differently? Perhaps the British agree that America can make greater gains elsewhere (Central America?) and that gets the Americans to agree. Or perhaps the British just argue a harder bargain.
Northeast Minnesota has about 250,000 people. Northern Maine has about 100,000 people. Western Washington has about 6.5 million people.
The biggest change would potentially be that because Canada has the ports of Duluth and Two Harbors, there'd be an easier connection to the Canadian West. OTL, it wasn't very easy to settle the west before the advent of the Canadian Pacific Railway in 1881. But with accessible ports, settlement could occur earlier than OTL. During the Red River Rebellion of OTL, the Canadian Government even had to initially ask the Americans for passage through to put down the rebellion as the Canadians couldn't get to the rebels themselves! The Old Dawson trail didn't even begin construction until 1868, just a year before the rebellion. Canada's western territories might be settled much earlier than OTL.
If Canada has a bigger presence out west, maybe the British become interested in acquiring Alaska as well.
Duluth may be much larger than OTL. Today, most of Prairie Canada's exports go through the United States on railroads which head to the port of Minneapolis-St Paul for shipment. Here, Canada has some sizable Great Lake ports of its own for international shipment. Duluth could plausibly end up a city the size of the Twin Cities, as it would be a center of railroads, ironworks (given the mining in the region), shipments, commodities exchanges, and so forth.
With earlier settlement, OTL Western Canada might be twice as populous.