1 84 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



not a satisfactory comparison. For this reason our practical knowl- 

 edge would not be much benefited were it stated that the area of 

 Alaska is equal to that of three and one quarter Calif ornias, or ten 

 Iowas, or one hundred and twenty-seven and one half Connecticuts. 

 But if it were possible to take the whole territory of Alaska and its 

 adjoining islands and place them upon the portion of North America 

 occupied by the United States it would be a simple thing to show 

 exactly what the relations of these great possessions to our own country 

 are. Just this, in effect, has been done, as the accompanying illustra- 

 tion shows. The chart was prepared by Mr. Alfred H. Brooks, geolo- 

 gist of the U. S. Geological Survey, in charge of the government work 

 of exploration and geological investigation of the territory, who has 

 drawn upon the map of the United States an outline of Alaska. The 

 scale used in both instances is the same, and the result is 'most interest- 

 ing. When Point Barrow, the most northerly extremity of Alaska, is 

 placed upon the Canadian border in northern Minnesota, Mt. St. 

 Elias falls near the Ohio Biver between western Kentucky and Indiana, 

 and the main portion of the territory covers almost the entire area of 

 the Great Plains and Mississippi Valley as far south as Arkansas. The 

 extreme southeasterly portion of the narrow strip of Alaska, upon 

 which Sitka and Juneau are situated, would extend to the Atlantic 

 Ocean at Georgia; the celebrated Nome District would fall in western 

 South Dakota near the Wyoming line, and the most westerly of the 

 Aleutian Island group would lie upon the Pacific coast line near Los 

 Angeles; the intermediate islands touching the Mexican border in 

 Arizona and New Mexico. In other words, the territory of Alaska is 

 sufficient in geographical extent to reach from the Atlantic to the 

 Pacific and from Canada to Mexico. Placed in this position on the 

 United States Alaska would cover, in whole or in part, twenty-three 

 states and territories, and the western third of Lake Superior. 



