The Daily Alaska empire., 1938-09-26


 In the fur race of which Alaska was to be the prize, almost every European nation entered a candi- date. Englands contestant was Cap tain James Cook. whose discovery of Hawaii was by-product of his expedition to Alaska
 Frances entry in the Alaska handicap was Jean Francois de LaPerouse He made landfall at Mount St. Elias just 45 years after Boring. From there he proceeded south to Lituya Bay, sometimes called Frenchmen's Bay.
 A runner-up in the race for Al askan territory was Alessandro Malaspina, an Italian who, in 1791, brought two Spanish ships to AL aska in quest of a rumored north east passage to Hudson Bay. His name lives in the vast Malaspina Glacier, so extensive that it was not recognized as a glacier until 1880.
 Finishing touches on coastal ex- ploration of flask as southeast mountain crescent were the work of a thorough British sailor, in the service of the Royal Navy from the age of thirteen-George Vancouver,
 Even Indians Feared the Ice
 These early explorers, however only outlined Alaskas shoreline. Thlinkit Indians guarded the se- crets of the interior, which they reached by unknown waterways and passes over the glaciers. Even the Indians feared ice, and crossed 1t less freely than did the bears. An Indian legend tells how laundering glacial advances wiped out a whole settlement on Icy Bay, the indentation flanking Mala spina Glacier, and coastal explor- CTS have been puzzled by the ap- parent disappearance and later re- currence of the bay.
 The Russian admiral, Nagaieff, opened a door to inland Alaska with the discovery of the Copper River in 1781. Pushong up the river trappers and miners penetrated behind the mountain barrier which the Chugach and St. Elias peaks raised along the coast. Bremner Glacier, the mountain crescents S northwestern flank, bears the name of the first white man to describe the inland side of the range. Ills description was given to science by Ia very meddlesome Englishman marooner in an Alaskan port o1 call and so bored that he rifled U. S. mail sack, steaming open letters and reading them for amuse- ment. Pioneer John Bremners let ter. recounting hardship and star vation during his push up the Copper River valley, so fascinated the reader that he stole and alter wards published it.
 Young Henry Allen, a U. $. Army cavalry lieutenant, in 1885 was the first white man to penetrate the Chitina River valley beyond.
 First N.G.S. Explorations
 The unconquered mountain heart of the coastal crescent was the goal of the National Geographic So- cietys first explorations. Two ex- petitions under Dr. I. c. Russell were dispatched by the society to the Mount St. Elias region; the first one. in 1891, discovered Mount Logan. North Americas secon d loftiest peak. It was Dr. Russell who revealed not only new glaciers, but even a new type of glacier the piedmont type, of which the vast Malaspina is the standard ex- ample. veritable plain of ice fed by numerous tributary glaciers. Other explorers had skirted the foot of the gigantic glacier without recognizing it. The observations of pr. Russell pointed out also the route which, in 1897, led Prince Luigi Duke of Abruzzi, to the first ascent of Mount St. Elias.
 The pioneer explorations spon- sored by the National Geographic Society were a prelude to work by the U. s. Geological Survey. In mapping the mineral resources of the area, including coal and oil at Controller Bay, Copper River cop per, and gold at Yakataga Beach, the Survey pushed inland the front fer of the unknown, outlined glac- iers, discovered, named, and meas ured mountains, and fought it's way through areas so inaccessible that mapping cost SAP per square mile Steady progress of the Survey along the Copper River valley filled the map to the very foot of the moun- tains on the northwest.
 The regions southeastern edge was studied by the Hartman AL aska Expedition at the close of the 18th century. John Muir, writer and naturalist, for whom Muir Glacier was named, was on the staff.
 All inland exploration served to prove that the lofty mountain ranges were made unapproachable by vast glaciers, covering between 15,00O