The collection consists of photographs taken chiefly in Washington Territory and along the 49th parallel by British photographers in the Corps of Royal Engineers, as part of the survey to identify and mark the international boundary between British Columbia and the United States. The images include landscapes, survey party members, camps, survey monuments and cairns, outposts (chiefly Fort Colvile [sic] and the British party's winter quarters in the Colville vicinity), and Indians of the Pacific Northwest.

Between 1857 and 1862 a joint commission of the United States and Great Britain surveyed and marked the international boundary as established by the Oregon Treaty of 1846. The border ran along the 49th Parallel from Point Roberts, in the west, inland. The survey accomplished during this period extended eastward to the crest of the Rocky Mountains, in current Montana and Alberta, at a longitude of approximately 114 degrees 3' 28.4".

45 photographs : albumen prints on mounts ; mounts 26 x 35 cm.

RESTRICTED ORIGINALS. USE ONLINE DIGITAL IMAGES ONLY. Use of originals only by permission of the appropriate curator. Inquiries concerning these materials should be directed, in writing, to the Head of Public Services, The Bancroft Library.