However, British superiority on the lakes did not last long. By 1783 the Treaty of Paris had ended the American Revolution and established the boundary between the newly independent United States of America and British North America as running "through the middle of said Lake Huron to the water communication between that Lake and Lake Superior..." While the treaty very clearly placed Mackinac Island on the American side, the text was far less clear about how St. Joseph and its neighbouring islands that fell in the middle of the St. Marys River were to be apportioned. For instance, an influential map produced by American engraver Abel Buell based on the treaty instructions appears to divide St. Joseph in half.