Daniel Webster did not resign because he was in the midst of negotiations with Lord Ashburton over the Maine-Canadian border. This boundary dispute had been long and, at times, bitter. In 1838 and 1839 lumber jacks of Maine and New Brunswick had threatened to "shoot it out". The situation was so tense during this winter that it was called the Atoostook "War" even though no lives were lost. By 1842 the Webster Ashburn Treaty Line was fixed. It followed the St. Croix River westward in an irregular horshoe bend toward the south. The line left the St. John's River and proceeded in an irregular southward line to the 45th parallel at a point almost on the Connecticut River. At the 45th parallel the boundary extended west on the parallel to the St. Lawrence River and along the St. Lawrence to Lake Ontario. At the same time the border between the Lake of Woods and Lake Superior was fixed along the Rainy River and a chain of Lakes. This settlement left the Mesabi iron deposits within the United States.