The morning call., 1893-09-18
THE ALASKA SURVEY.

bO AObdt IL VI buc Alaska DOu0QdTY sur
vey party enables the public to measure
the yastness of the work they have under
taken. There appears to have been four
American parties in the field and FIVE
Canadian parties, yet the ground surveyed
is only the narrow strip of the Alaska
waste living south of Cape Spencer and
north of Sitka. This strip is by no means
an unknown country. There are mines
and fishing stations all the way from
Wrangel Island to the mouth of the Chill
coot River; but the maps of the region are
generally fanciful. and it was necessary to
correct them by astronomical observations
in order to establish reliable base for a
future delimitation of the stiop. 1t does
not appear tEat any OF the parties entered
the dehatable ground.
The work Of the season was confined to
survey of the course of the Taku River
with the inlet into which it empties, OF the
Stikine River with some of its tributaries
and OF the bases from which the surveyors
started. Sitka, Wrangel, Taku Inlet and
Burroughs Bay. These points. and others
In their vicinity, are familiar to travellers
who have made the Alaska trip, but their
exact position has only now been deter
mined by trIgOnometric survey.
The country between the mouth of the
ChilcOot and Portland canal, which, ae-
cordlng to the treaty, constitutes the
south boundary of Alaska, is exceedingly
Interesting. The mainland is washed by
an inland sea, whose seaward boundary
is congeries of islands, broken into all
manner OF fantastic shapes by the western
swell of the North Pacific. The warm
Japan current modifies the climate, and
the genial breeze which it brings, coming
into contact with the cold air currents from
the Canadian range, causes an abnormal
precipitation; so that the islands are fer
tile, and are generally covered with
copiOus flora. They have not been settled.
and 1t is impossible to define their agri-
cultural possibilities; but there is no
reason why they should not grow grain
and other plants of the northern temper
ate zone. Two or three islands in the jaws
Of Clarence Strait, which are in dispute
between the United States and Canada,
are clothed with dense growth of healthy
looking fir. The mineral promise of the
region can only be inferred from the out
rut Of the TIeadwell mine If there are
other such mines on the islands, and it
would seem that there should be, new
ASAN Va mining dQNbiLuic EudH SOlilc QdN
be opened there. Thus far no coal has
been reliably reported except from Yake-
tat Bay, near the base of Mount ST. Elias.
But 1t will be curious freak of nature
if the coal beds of Vancouver should be
found to disappear at the northern exLrem-
ity of that island aud not reappear again
till the whole Alaskan archipelago has
been traversed. By all reasons of analogy
there must be coal, and good coal, on
some of the islands which are strung out
from Prince of Wales Land to Cape Cross.
Next year the surveyors will turn their
attention to the country between the
mouth of the Chilcuot and Mount ST.
Elias, where the boundary line turns to
the north. This is even more interest
ing country than the inland sea and its
islands. Mount st. Elias wrapped in
everlasting ami imDeDetrable fog, is one
of the unsoived problems of geography.
and the country behind it, which is a
blank on the maps, is believed to be
scanned with rivers and dotted with lakes,
so that 1t repTOduces the last stage of the
diluVial period. To what use, if any. these
ancient bodies of water can be turned is
not now apparent, but it is as well that
the line OF demarcation between the Amer
lean waters aud the Canadian waters
should be drawn. If the streams should
be found to flow over auriferous gravel
there might be trouble hereafter in decid-
Ing to which country they belonged.
The most interesting field of survey in
1894 will, however, be the range which
goes by the names of Chicoot and Chilcat.
1t is marked on the map as being in Can
ada, but this has been questioned On the
west side OF this range the ChiIcat and
several other rivers take their rise and
flow into the ocean or the inland sea, while
on the east side other streams head and
flow eastwardly, feeding the lakes which
are the source of the Yukon. Some day a
portage will be established across the
range from one watershed TO the other,
and the journey from San Francisco to the
gold mines on Forty-miie Creek will be re-
duced from ten weeks to three. 1t will be
the business OF the Government surveyors
next year to show how this can be done.