THE GEOLOGIC SURVEY OF CANADA 53 



At the opening of the third year, explorations had been carried over 

 so large an area that it seemed wise to defer their continuance until 

 some areal surveys could be executed. These were so vigorously pushed 

 that at the end of the summer nearly 15,000 square miles had been 

 mapped. Since that time the areal work, both geologic and topo- 

 graphic, has held first place, though explorations have not been entirely 

 neglected. The most notable of the explorations was made in 1902, 

 when a small party, under the leadership of W. J. Peters and F. C. 

 Schrader, starting in the dead of winter, made a 1,400-mile journey 

 with dog teams. When the ice broke they continued their explorations 

 in canoes, reached the arctic divide, portaged across and descended the 

 Colville River to the Polar Sea. There thev skirted the coast westward, 

 rounded Point Barrow, the northernmost cape of Alaska, and finally 

 reached Nome. 



Results. 



A comparison of the two maps here reproduced will indicate the 

 progress of the areal surveys, and this matter is summarized in greater 

 detail in the following table. 



Sq. Miles. 



Explorations by U. S. Geological Survey S0,000 



Geologic and topographic reconnaissance surveys G0,000 



Explorations by other departments 50,000 



Coastal province, shore line surveyed by coast siirvey and some 



geological surveys made by geological survey 120.000 



Unmapped and practically unexplored 310,000 



Total area of Alaska 620,000 ± 



Besides this about one thousand square miles have been surveyed in 

 great detail. The above statement does not include the extensive 

 special investigations of mineral resources which have been made, for 

 which about twenty per cent, of the total appropriations has been used. 



It is difficult now to realize how little was known of Alaska previous 

 to 1896. The general courses of the larger drainage features were laid 

 down on maps, but only in a very crude way. The coastal mountains 

 were known, but the two great inland ranges, one of which contains 

 the highest peaks on the continent, were hardly indicated on any map. 

 Only a few of the passes were known and the altitude of not a single 

 point away from the coast had been established. ISTow all but two of 

 the larger rivers have been surveyed, and contour maps have been made 

 of over 150,000 square miles. All of the larger geographic features 

 have been outlined by the network of explorations which have been 

 extended over the entire territory. There are no new mountain ranges 

 to be discovered, though there are several which are but imperfectly 

 known. 



In the purely geologic work the results are still more striking. 



