A Couple questions about the mexican war?

Question

Im doing a crossword about the mexican war era in the 1800s, and there are a couple answers I cannot find.

1)"What was the parallel used as the boundary between western lands and british canada?"

In my crossword, this is what i have so far for that question

" _o_ _ _ _ _ _e"


2) "U.S diplomat sent to mexico by polk to purchase a strip of land in southern arizona to provide a route for a southern transcontinental railroad"


so far i have " _ a _ s _ e _ "

Answer 1

(1) The boundary between the US and Canada is in part the 49th Parallel, so "forty nine" fits.

(2) This was the "Gadsden" Purchase in 1853