October 20, 1818 –
In the Convention of 1818, Canada and the United States established the 49th Parallel as their mutual boundary – known as the International Border – for most of its length, stretching from the Lake of the Woods to the Rocky Mountains.
The International Boundary is often referred to as the world’s longest undefended border, though this is true only in a military sense, as civilian law enforcement is present. Still, we’re keeping an eye on those sneaky Canadians and their cheese curd fries.
Roughly 150 people live in the Northwest Angle, Minnesota – a small patch of land separated from the rest of the United States by the Lake of the Woods.
Students from the Northwest Angle attend school in Warroad, Minnesota, or at the Angle Inlet School, the only remaining one-room schoolhouse in the state, and must cross the international border on their way to and from school each day. It must be rough getting a full-body cavity search before first period.
Thank you, neighbors to the north, for your kind words. Now stay on your side of the parallel!
The Haus of Dcaligari 