The Alaska citizen., 1910-08-13

were sent out by the British gov erumeut between 1S4S and 1N53. While the primary purpose of these expeditions was To find and bring relief to Franklin. vet the command CTS incidentally accomplished con siderable exploration and charting. An added stimulus was the hope of finding a northwest passage. which gcographers were loath To give up. In 1Ni9 Captain Thomas r.. l.. Moore in II. NJ <. Ployer. Captain Henry Kcllctt iu H. NJ. :. Herald. and the yacht Nancy Dawson. reached Kotzcbue Sound A boat expedition under Lieutenant Pullen was sent northward. and rounding Point Bar row proceeded eastward to the Mac kcnzie river. which il ascended to a Hudson Bay post. A second cX- petition from these vessels explored 1 the Bucklaud river. Other minor explorations were made by the crew of the Plover while she wintered in l Kotzebuc Sound. Thus Lieutenant Bedford Pim crossed the eastern end of Seward Peninsula to the Russian post at St. Michael, and Simpson, surgeon of the expedition, explored 1 the Selawik river and made the first mention of the Kobuk river The ! Plover spent the two following win ters at Point Barrow, from which she ! continued to send out exploring par ties.
 In 1S5o Commander Robert s. NJ. l Mcclure. in II. NJ. $. investigator,
 sailed eastward past Point Barrow and beyond the mouth of the Mac
 kenzie until he was stopped by the ice. His vessel was never
 brought through. but eventually his
 crew by walking over the solid ice, was the first to make the northwest passage. The following year Cap
 .afu Richard Collinson in II. NJ $.
 Enterprise. also passed Point Bar
 row. and subsequently wintercd al
 Walker Bay on the north coast of
 Alaska. In lN5& H. NJ. & Rattle,
 snake Commander Trollopc, wintcred
 at Port Clarence. on the south side
 of the Seward Peninsula, which some
 of the crew crossed during the win
 ter.
 The surveys of these Arctic eXpe
 ditiOns were very carefully executed
 and are still the bases for most of
 the charts of the regions they cover
 The accounts of the voyages arc
 full and contain much valuable in
 formation. which up to very re-
 cent times was all that was avail
 able concerning Arctic Alaska
 In 1StH the American whaler Su
 pcrior commanded by Captain Roys
 ycntured through Boring Straits, and
 was amply rewarded by a good catch
 This example was followed by many
 others in succeeding years. The
 whaling industry along the Arctic
 coast of Alaska has continued to be : m important one up 10 the present day. though il received a serious
 setback during the civil war by the ravages committed by the Confcder ate priyateer Shenandoah, whict
 captured and destroyed many vessels , of the American whaling fleet. Sta
 tions are now maintained by the whaling companies at Point Bar . row and Herschel Island. east of the international boundary. The eXperi
 enced seamen who usually command ed these Whalers added not little to the geographical knowledge OI . the Arctic coastal region of Alaska The only other important Ameri . can contribution during the poriot of Russian control was furnished by Lieutenant William Gibson, U. s ) navy, who in command of the , schooner Fenimore Cooper, of the Rodgers United States Northern Pa cific Exploring Expedition, made
 surveys and explorations among the ? Aleutian Islands in 1855. Some O
 the other vessels of the same flee } passed through Boring Strait anC r into the Arctic ocean.
 Many years elapsed after Macken zie made his explorations to the Pa
 cific before the English fur tradC was to establish itself near the } bounds of what is now known a! l Alaska. Though the Hudson Ba! Company was necessarily pushing it.
 outposts to the west, it did no reach the drainage basins of river!
 which emptied into the sea thrOugl f the Russian American possessions [ until toward the middle of the l9tl ) century Campbell established { 3 Hudson Bay post in 1S40 on th'
 headwaters of the Pelly, branch O ; the Yukon, and eight years late : 1S4S) built Fort Selkirk, at th' { mouth of the Pelly. In the previous : year. however, Fort Yukon had beel 9 built at the mouth of the Porcupin' l by A. H. Murray, another Hudson - Bay agent. The English traders o