The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1914-05-12
RLAZE 800 Mile TRAIL
,,,rwEEN UNITED STATES AND
pr ,,n, FOR BOUNDARY LINE.
r,rantv-Foot Lane Through Val
i low, " and Mountains With Monu-
ICY .onts Every Three Miles.

ami
icy n,onts Every Three Miles.
,IrKA Misunderstanding a broad
aoross 900 miles of wilderness
NV -. far north in order that the
u .ossions of the United States anG
p,nada may have a distinct separa-
.n at every point will be completed
w. -;ng the coming open season. The
~, I III has been in progress since 1907
WIZ 5nr the direction of Thomas Riggs,
- oiri, engineer, representing the
J %at+od States-Alaskan boundary
omission, and T. D. Craig, repre-
Ting a. similar commission of
Canada.
l+bongb the United States and
onodo have been neighbors in the
enortb for over half century the
root dividing line between their pos
lions especially as to the northern
.,tion was previous to the survey
tiN5ofri+a and conflicting. Many dis
n,tos arising. the two governments
sooidod finally through their com
MISSIONS that an absolute survey,
.IoorIv established and marked for
II time should be made along the
ono hundred and forty-first merid-
i'm from the Mt. st. Elias Alps, on
.bo Pacific. to the Arctic ocean, a
distance of approximately 900 miles.
The United States surveying party
consisted Of from go to so men each
.ooson since the work was under
taken Chief Engineer Riggs, him
calf o voung college man, selected his
sid. from the hardest classes-cow-
boys. forest rangers, prospectors,
timber cruisers and frontiersmen,
with a liberal sprinkling of engineers.
Now pxnpditions were organized each
sDring. although many of the men
vino started at the beginning have
remained in the service up to the
nrespnt time. 1t was the custom,
too. TO leave a few men in the north
each winter to care for equipment
and supplies.
The actual visible results of the
six or seven years of efforts, a 20
foot vista cut, like a gigantic ave-
nue.. or lane. through all timber and
brush districts, together with monu-
ments set at intervisible points, from
three to four miles apart.
The monuments erected are of two
types, depending upon the import
ance of the locality. At prominent
stream crossings and main points of
travel the line-marker consists of a
five foot aluminium bronze shaft,
weighing 800 pounds, set in 1000
pounds of concrete. At less import
ant points the monument is smaller,
being designated as a cone, cast of
the same metal and requiring only
1900 pounds of concrete for the
base, There are approximately 200
Of these monuments along the 500
miles of boundary. The work of con-
yeying the heavy materials for their
c0nStructsion, sometimes on the
shoulders of the men themselves, was
very slow and labor Gus.
This survey is declared by engi-
neers to be the straightest of the
world for the length encompassed.
In speaking Of it one of the engi-
neers said;
The start was made from one of
the desolate peaks of the Mt. st,
Elias Alps, on the southern eXtrem-
n.y. There We laid our course straight
Tor the northern lights and there
after swerved not so much as a hair
Oreadth-peaks, gulches, bottomiess
S|ampS - wherever the needle
pointed there we went, one day cut
ung our way through brush-tangles,
the next building track across
marshes or crawling over rocks and
through crevasses."
Small steamers, plying the Yukon
and Porcupine rivers, co-operated
with the expedition, but they were
able to reach with supplies only
small portion of the actual route.