INDUSTRIAL PROGRESS DURING THE YEAR 1874. lxxxv 



have been remarkably free from ice for several seasons past; 

 and, indeed, it is said that a whaler during the past summer 

 was within three miles of the shores of Wrangell's Land, on 

 which a landing could readily have been made, and that oth- 

 er whalers far to the northwest found not the slightest ob- 

 struction to the prosecution of their labors in any direction 

 of the horizon. The mouth of the Mackenzie even was 

 reached by whalers without any interruption from ice, a 

 previously unheard-of circumstance. It is understood that 

 a number of the members of the Polaris party, including Dr. 

 Bessels, are ready to volunteer their services, and that the 

 New York Herald, with its characteristic liberality and en- 

 terprise, has offered to pay half the expenses. 



North America. Not the least important exploration in 

 America has been that conducted by Mr. W. H. Dall, as a 

 branch of the varied and extensive operations of the United 

 States Coast Survey. In 1871, under the auspices of the 

 United States Coast Survey, a hydrographic reconnoissance 

 of the coast of Alaska and the Aleutian Islands was author- 

 ized, and placed in charge of Mr. Dall, whose previous experi- 

 ence in this region had to some extent prepared him for this 

 work. The party, with Mr. M.W. Harrington as astronomer, 

 left San Francisco in August, 1871, on the United States sur- 

 veying schooner Humboldt. The party wintered in Unalashka, 

 returning to San Francisco in October, 1872. The work ac- 

 complished during this season was principally carried on in 

 the vicinity of Captain's Bay, Unalashka, and in the Shuma- 

 gin Islands. A reconnoissance chart of the Shu magi n group, 

 hitherto little known, with detailed charts of the harbors and 

 principal anchorages, contained the first information of a 

 large number of islands and harbors previously unknown. 

 The existence of an important oceanic current, with its ex- 

 tent, temperature, and direction (to the westward from the 

 Gulf of Alaska south of the Aleutians), was demonstrated by 

 numerous observations. A trigonometrical survey of Cap- 

 tain's Bay was begun ; and observations on tides, meteor- 

 ology, sea temperatures, heights of mountains, with numer- 

 ous soundings and astronomical observations, were obtained. 



The party left San Francisco on the new schooner Yukon in 

 May, 1873, with Mr. Marcus Baker as astronomer, and again 

 returned in November. During this season a chain of astro- 



