F. GEOGRAPHY 



175 



W. Henshaw, assistant naturalist; M. S. Severance, ethnolo- 

 gist ; and William Bell, photographer. 



At the latest advices the latitude and longitude of Beaver, 

 in Utah, were being determined by Mr. Clark ; Mr. Austin be- 

 ing stationed at the Salt Lake City Observatory. Pioche, in 

 Nevada, will be the next point to be occupied. One branch 

 of the expedition, under Lieutenant Hoxie, and accompanied 

 by Dr. Yarrow as naturalist, is exploring the regions west of 

 Great Salt Lake City; while the other, under Lieutenant 

 Wheeler, is surveying the Wasatch and the Sevier River re- 

 gions east of it. From these main divisions parties are sent 

 out to examine the water-courses and mountain regions of 

 the country traversed. They will all concentrate at Beaver, 

 Utah, about the 1st of October, and proceed together toward 

 the south. 



EXPLORATIONS OF WILLIAM II. DALL. 



The United States Coast Survey party, in charge of W. H. 

 Dall, arrived in San Francisco on the 20th of September, on 

 the Humboldt, after an absence of thirteen months. This time 

 had been chiefly spent in the region between Kadiak and 

 Oonalaska, among the Aleutian Islands. The lowest temper- 

 ature recorded by him during the past winter was 13, the 

 average from October to March beim? 3 3 . 



Notwithstanding a lar^e amount of unfavorable weather 

 and some very severe storms, the party had preserved good 

 health, and been very successful in their work. This com- 

 prised general hydrographic notes on the region explored, ex- 

 amination of the tides and currents, meteorological observa- 

 tions, soundings, and reconnoissance surveys of those portions 

 of the district least known. Among the more important re- 

 sults of the work was the determination of ten islands and 

 rocks, fourteen harbors and anchorages (and many minor de- 

 tails), not on any chart; the determination of a great oceanic 

 current, a reflected branch of the great North Pacific easter- 

 ly stream, which sweeps to the south and west, south of the 

 peninsula of Alaska and the islands, having a breadth of about 

 three hundred and fifty miles ; and the discovery of new fish- 

 ing banks off the southern end of Kadiak. 



Geological and zoological researches were carried on by the 

 members of the party during that portion of their time when 



