The Alaska citizen., 1910-08-29

| Cupue to the Arctic ocean. follow | ing as nearly as possible the one 1 hundred and forty-first meridian. This was the second time that north ern Alaska was crossed by white men. the first being three years be | and Turner's surveys were limited | 10 very small areas. but are of general geographic interest. as they represent the first geodetiC surveys l in the interior of Alaska Besides | the work to which they had been | specially detailed. they also kept me
 teorologic records and made correc | tions from their route traverscs in the existing maps of the Yukon l Prof. l. C. Russell. of the United | States Geological Survey. accompan- | jed McGrath to the boundary from
 the mouth of the river. and thence
 cane to the coast with a party of
 prospectors by way of the Lewes river and the Chilkoot Pass
 In 1890 an expedition was sent l out by Frank Leslics Weekly for l explorations in Alaska The writer ] has been unable to discover any ac- count of the work of this party. It 1 apparently left the coast at Pyra- mid HarbOr. asCended Inc Chlkat river, and after crossing the divide explored Lake kuSawa. There the party divided and A B. Schanz and $. l. Wells descended to the Yukon. while F. J. Glave and Jack Dalton crossed the divide to Alsek waters. and followed the Asek river to the coast. Later in the season Wells
 made a trip down the Panama, and Schanz is said to have visited lakes Clark and Iliamna during the follow
 ing winter Glave and Dalton's eX- ploratiOn of the Alsek was a daring piece of work, as it's character at
 that time was entirely unknown. It's course through the St Elias range
 has not even yet been surveyed.
 In 1891 Schwatka made his third trip to Alaska. Schwatka, C. Will
 lard Hayes, of the United States
 Geological Survey, and Mark Rus sell, prospectOr asCended the l Taku river, crossed the divide to
 Teslin lake, and in folding canoes.
 which had been transpor.ed across
 the pass by natives. went down stream to the Lewes river and con linued to Fort Selkirk, on the Iu- kOn. Crossing overland to the White river, near the point where it is
 intersected by the international boundary, they then continued up the White river to it's source; and though they were deserted by all of their Indian packers, the three white
 men of the party went on through Skolai Pass, and, after reaching naVigable waters on the NiZina. built Copper river Dr. IIayes's report and map, which are based on q foot traverse, are remarkably com plete and accurate considering the exceedingly trying conditions under which the field observations were
 made, and give much geologic and geographi" information about re zion which up 10 the time of it's pub l lication was practically unknown
 In that same year Glave (who lat
 CT lost his life on the Congo) and Dalton made a second trip into the Alsek basin. This time they are said to have extended their journey
 westward to the White river basin, but the map accompanying GlaVe's | published account is very inaccurate.
 The exploit is of interest chiefly be-
 cause it was the first time in the | history of the country that horses 1 were used on an extended journey. ! Congress, ill 1895, tardily reCOg-
 nized the importance of an inves- | igatiOn of the mineral resources of
 Alaska, and by a small appropria- l ion enabled the Geological Survey i to send it's first party to the North.
 Dr. George F. Becker, aided by C. l w. Burlington, made preliminary 1 investigation of the gold deposits
 and w. H. Dall studied the coal de
 posts of the Pacific coastal belt
 The following year J. E. Spurr, with l II. B. Goodrich and F. c. Schrader descended the Yukon and visited the
 more important placers of Alaska
 and did some topographic as well
 as geologic mapping.
 Even 30 years after it's accession
 the mass of the public was still al
 most entirely ignorant of the geo | graphy, resources, or climate Of
 Alaska Well-informed people re garded it as a region of perpetual
 snow and ice, the land of the fur
 trader, Indian and Eskimo. A great
 change was wrought by George w..
 Carmack's discovery of gold on the
 klondike river, in Yukon territory,
 during the summer of 1896. This
 event led to the development of the
 famous Klondike placer field, which
 in one year brought more than 5O,-