What do you know about the Aroostook War ?

Not a blooming thing.

 

Only what I just read.

 

What?! You mean collusion, conspiracy, corruption, manufactured evidence, suppression of evidence, and secret government propaganda are nothing new?

 

Thanks. After living nearly 10 years in the disputed territory (Fort Kent) it was good to be refreshed on the names and details. some years ago there was an article in Yankee magazine about some possible skullduggery in the survey of the agreed-upon boundary. According to that article, the line was to follow the thread of the St. John River to a point where its Southwest Branch ended south of present-day St.-Aurelie, PQ. South of there the boundary was at the height of land between the Maine rivers and the St. Lawrence watershed.
As the story goes, the surveyors reached the confluence of the St. John and the St. Francis Rivers, the latter coming in from the north, and camped for the night. There they were entertained with much liquid refreshments by the locals, and somehow were convinced that the smaller St. Francis was the correct river to follow. The surveyors made it thru Glazier and Beau Lakes but when they hit Lake Pohenegamook, at present day Estcourt, and saw the stream they were following coming from due north, they realized the error. Not wishing to undo/redo about 40 miles of work, they struck off overland on a southwesterly compass bearing. Reaching the Northwest Branch at present day Lac Frontiere, they needed a ~30° left turn to hit the Southwest Branch, thus adding to Maine about 1,500 sq. mi. west of the St. John. I've never seen any corroborating information, so this all may be the fantasy of the author of that Yankee article.
Most of the original 1839 Fort Kent remains in place, managed by the Bureau of Parks and Lands, from which I retired last July after 36 years there. (But as a forester, not a park manager) Last I knew the day-to-day maintenance is done by the local scout troop, which meets there. The major flood of April/May 2008 threatened to damage the fort and the BPL historian was on site directing placement of many loads of fill to prevent any damage.