Between 1872 and 1876, the North American Boundary Commission delineated the last link in the transcontinental boundary between Canada and the United States. With remarkable accuracy, the Commission surveyed some 1384 kilometres from Lake of the Woods to the Rocky Mountains. For the first time, the young Dominion had an opportunity to influence the establishment of its borders and thereby assert its sovereignty over the West. The newly delineated boundary paved the way for settlement and resource development in the Canadian West.