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Erie TriangleThe Erie Triangle is a tract of American land that was the subject of several competing colonial-era claims and which was eventually acquired by the U.S. federal government and sold to Pennsylvania so that state would have access to a freshwater port on Lake Erie. The Erie Triangle land makes up a large portion of present-day Erie County, Pennsylvania. Most of northwestern Pennsylvania came under Anglo-American control following a 1784 treaty with the Six Nations. The following year, a boundary dispute between New York and Pennsylvania erupted. Following a surveying effort by Andrew Ellicott representing the Pennsylvanians and James Clinton and Simeon DeWitt representing the New Yorkers, the western edge of New York was set at 20 miles (32 kilometers) east of Pennsylvania's Presque Isle, a small peninsula. However, this left an unclaimed area, which came to be known as the Triangle Lands. The Triangle Lands fell under neither New York nor Pennsylvania's charter, while both Connecticut and Massachusetts also spoke up with claims derived from their original colonial sea-to-sea grants. Of these four competing claimants (Pennsylvania, New York, Connecticut and Massachusetts), only Pennsylvania was landlocked. Following some pressure from the new federal government, all claims were surrended to that entity, which then turned around sold final rights to the 202,187 acres (81,822 hectares) of land to Pennsylvania for $151,640.25. Minimal compensation was provided also provided to Native Americans for their original cession. The water off the coast of the Erie Triangle, which is often described as a "tab" attached to the Keystone State, was the site of the Battle of Lake Erie during the War of 1812.
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