What British Possessions in OTL Canada Remain after sale of Rupert's Land to US?

Just a question I've always wondered, but what would the fate of the remainder of British territories if Rupert's Land is sold to the US sometime during the 1850s or 1860s, before the various British North American colonies are united? The watershed boundaries are particularly intrusive and hard to define, and close off the entirety of the Hudson Bay. (Not to mention half of Baffin island) If said sale even occurred, what would be the best borders that could be defined from the territory, both in straight lines and following some sort of natural boundary? Would the Northwest Territory also be sought, especially if Alaska is being sought same as OTL?

Alright, rambling a bit. Let me try to make it clearer.

1. What would be the fate of BNA if the US only tried to purchase Rupert's Land and didn't try to acquire Alaska, or failed to?
2. What would the fate of BNA be if the US purchased Rupert's Land & Alaska, but did not expand outside those territories? (i.e., the territory of either can be reduced, but not increased beyond the defined borders)
3. What would the fate of BNA be if the US purchased Rupert's Land & Alaska and sought out a land connection between the two.

Focus is mostly on Columbia and whether it would continue to exist, separated from Canada East/West, or if it would either be subsumed or lose most of its periphery territory.
 
The biggest issue I see is the border gore that would be involved and the length of borders if this would be the case. Before the Canadian railroad was constructed (which occurred after Union) the east and the west were practically separate entities. But I know that the American population in Columbia spiked as well to about 20% of the total population in the 1860s, give or take a few. Would such a trend continue if British Columbia was never connected by rail to the east (due to there being another polity between the two).
 

Gian

Banned
At that point, Britain might as well have sold the whole of Canada to the U.S. if that happened.
 
Maybe the British might try and keep the Maritimes because of fishing rights and the port of Halifax. I can definitely see that.
 
At that point, Britain might as well have sold the whole of Canada to the U.S. if that happened.

Well, there's little reason for them to sell all of Canada; Rupert's Land was sparsely populated, but Canada West/East and the Maritimes were anything but. The US could offer them the same annexation bill as nearly passed in 1866, and maybe they do join, but more likely they don't. Whether they confederate as a united Canada or remain separate colonial provinces is another matter.

Let's assume that Rupert's Land is the only thing sold, and that the other British possessions with any major level of population decide to remain British. That is Canada West, Canada East, the Maritimes, and Columbia. Could all of the colonies remain, and what might happen to the rest of the Northwest Territories in such a situation? I have a feeling that, in such a case, Columbia may not reach so far north as it does today if the Northwest territories end up with the US as well.

In this case, would the colonies continue to exist? Or would some of them risk being added to the US (Columbia and Canada West) because of their relative isolation? I find the latter part unlikely as the US encroachment might encourage consolidation of the Atlantic territories into a single entity, though the former doesn't seem... too farfetched.
 
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