One of the reasons that Webster remained in the cabinet was his ongoing negotiations with Great Britain over the American-Canadian border. The northern border of Maine was the main point of controversy. Because of ambiguities in the Treaty of Paris (1783), Britain and the United States argued over some 12,000 square miles of territory. The conflict heightened in 1840 when lumberjacks from Maine and Canada clashed over timber claims in the disputed region. Webster and the British representative, Lord Ashburton, sought to settle the issue. After much discussion, the pair hammered out the Webster-Ashburton Treaty (1842). Under the treaty, the United States recieved 7/12 of the disputed area, and the British recieved the rest. The diplomats also clarified the border between Minnesota and Canada so that the United States recieved clear title to land that later was found to contain valuable deposits of iron ore.