The Daily Missoulian. [volume] (Missoula, Mont.) 1904-1961, 1913-03-13

~IS N.S " IlOIIId IllS6E
Jr., the American engineer in charge
n his associates, while Canada had
similar party in the field working IL
conjunction with them. MIR. Riggs wa
no new man when he went to Alask;
10 help tie a ground boundary to tn
stars, and to fix it so permanently an,
so definitely hat ever though noun
tains were to remove themselves int
the sea and valleys were to rise UP int
the hills, that boundary would still b,
fixed. He had "hit the trail wher
gold was discovered in Alaska, and hat
wrested with the transportation prob
lens upon whose solution depends thu
opening up of this virgin empire O.
natural wealth.
The work of marking the Alaskan
boundary will have cost the United
states approximately three quarters O.
a million dollars when it is finished
next year. 1t represents some Of the
best boundary work in the world, anG
the 600-miles section of it, reaching
from Mount ST. Elias to the Arctic
ocean. is the worlds longest exactly
surveyed straight line. The southern
part OF this line had to be run across
mountains covered with perpetual
SHOWS and over glaciers of eternal ice.
But as the work progressed northward
the elevation became lower, and from
the White river to the Arctic there is
a brief summer season free from ice
and cold, and a region where game on
the land and game in the water abound
in profusion-white sheep in unnum-
bered thousands, Wide-antlered moose,
caribou and bear-and where, in the
words of DR.. Riggs, greyling are not
caught with hook and line, but are
kicked out of the water.
The boundary is being marked by
CT airing off all timber for a distance
of 10 feet on either side. At points al
ways within sight of one another
aluminum-bronze monuments are set
up to locate the exact position of the
line. AT important river crossings and
along highways of travel these monu-
ments are five feet high, and are en-
bedded in a ton Of concrete; at less
important points monuments three feet
high, planted in 1900 pound concrete
bases, are set up. These points are
geodetically determined, or located, ny
the stars. They will serve as the basis
of all future surveys.
While the line was being run the to-
pographers were at work with their
p~lane-tables, plotting the country
around. They climbed up to the tops
of mountain peaks where they could
get a good view of the surrounding
country, and recorded on their plane
table sheets the elevations. the drain
age, and even the character of the
timber. A line of precise levels was
run by which the elevation above the
sea of any given point could be deter
mined. The resulting maps are said to
be about the best example of the sur
Veyor's art thai have been made on
any boundary.
The difficulty of running a long line
vas perhaps greater than any %encoun-
tered in recent history. For over 200
miles across perpetual snow and
primeval glaciers, the supplies of the
surveying party had to be carried on
the backs of horses. Two miles an
hour aud six hours a day represented
good progress. Upon one occasion it
took the pack train % days to travel
less than 200 miles, and of the 10
horses with which it started, only "a
reached their destination.
In the summer the mosquitoes We're
often so bad that mosquito netting and
%bandana handkerchiefs were a neces-
sity, and the horses had to be COW
cred from head to tail and from ear to
hoof before they could Craze in the
open. But in winter huge fires had to
be built to thaW out things, the pack
ers' fingers were frozen, and hardship
and danger We're the rule, n comfort
and peace the exception.
Tragedies occurred every now and
then. The body of a poor ex-dog
driver of the northwestern police was
found in the river. Upon the assem-
bling of a stump coroner's jury, the
coroner declared the evidence
showed that the body was found on
the Alaskan side, and, therefore, he
was without jurisdiction, and SO it fell
to the lot of the Americans to fashion
a coffin out of StoreboXes and bury the
dog-driver in a shallow grave. Two
surveyors overtaken by a snowstorm,
sought shelter in a little vacant cabin
by breaking into it, They read that
the occupant had left in June and
would b. back in September. Later a
broken raft on a log-iam, a piece of
torn tent and a rusted rifle told the
story of the men who never came back.
Two energetic young American sur
Veyors started home only to die from
the hardships endured and injuries re-
ceived in the line of duty. A cry and a
dark shape hurting down through a
feet to a glacier below, and
an efficient Canadian party-chief
found an icy grave. And, most pitiful
of all, two were bereft of reason as
they labored for their country.
But The mon ANhl Snr.aIad the List