Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1899-07-31
MANYSPEC|MENS
Were Secured by the EX-
ploring Party
THAT WENT UP NORTH
Birds and Animals That Were Sup
posed to be Rare Are Discovered
in Aturdance--A New Glacier Was
Found BY the Party.

Seattle. Wash. July 31.-When the
steamer George w. Elder. which carried
the Hartman scientific party to Alaska,
arrived here yesterday she resembled a
floating curiosity shop stocked with
everything Alaskan from a totem pole
five feet through and 60 feet high to the
minutest insect. DR.. C. Hart Hartman,
chief of the United States biological sur
vey. said: The principal result of the
voyage of the Hartman party to the
north was the collection Of much valu-
able data regarding the distribution Of
animals and birds in the far north. Sew
eral important discoveries We're made. On
Hall island II Str Matthew island. for
example. We found and collected many
specimens of what is called the Arctic
snowflake a most exquisite bird much
resembling the snow bunting. 1t is almost
snow white. about the size of a robin. and
is of the bunting family. Heretofore the
bird has been regarded as very rare and
in the national museum at Washington
there are blu a few poor specimens. But
on the islands mentioned we found the
bird in great abundance and made COM
plete collections Of it n its nests and
eggs. Here also we found the Lapland
long spur. a northern sons bird. alse very
rare. in abundance. Another discovery
was a yellow leming mouse. never found
elsewhere and of which the national mu-
scum had but one poor specimen. We Sc
cured many more and studied it's habits.
William E. Ritter, president of the Cali
fornia Academy Of sciences and professor
of zoology in the University of California,
made a valuable collection Of inverte-
brates, many of which may prove entirely
new
Henry Cannett, chief Of the United
States coast and geodetic survey. devoted
himself to q study of the glaciers of Alas
ka. many of which had never been
mapped or named. One of his discoveries
is that the glaciers Of Alaska are gradu-
ally retreating, due. he thinks. to eli
matte changes. Columbia glacier, dis
covered and named by the Hartman par
ty, is larger than Muir glacier. and has a
frontage of over five miles on Yakutat
bay. Many new fjords, bays and inlets
We're discovered, mapped and named by
Mr.. Gannett.
DR.. George B. Grinnell, editor of Forest
and Stream, said: THE most interesting
incident of the voyage, to my mind, was
at Bogoslof island, a great breeding place
for sea birds in northern waters. They
nest there on the cliffs in countless num-
bers. One interesting fact in regard to
the fishing industry ] learned while in
Alaska and that is that the salmon in the
streams of that territory are being rap
idly exterminated. Some steps for the
protection of these fish should be taken
before it is too late
b.. E. Fernow, director of the New York
state college of forestry, made extensive
research into the timber resources OF
Alaska, with results not tlattering to thai
territory. He says that the timber re.
sources of the territory have been great.
ly over-estimated and that in reality the
forests of Alaska will have little CONNER.
cial value for years to come. Il was dis.
appointed in not finding in Alaska man.
trees that I had supposed grew there
The botanists of the expedition found
few botanically interesting species"