568 . SCIENTIFIC RECORD FOR 1885. 



ment of more than usual importance, wMle the routine work thereof — 

 as well as that of the several State surveys, will be published in the 

 respective reports. The topographic work of the United States Geo- 

 logical Survey during the past six months has been mainly in the office; 

 the geographical map of the United States is rapidly approaching com- 

 pletion. 



Prof. Asaph Hall, in Science^ July 3, corrects the statement con- 

 tained in the current edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica, that there 

 is no land in Connecticut " above a thousand feet in elevation," and 

 shows that there are certainly half a dozen points which exceed this 

 limit, and at least two that ran over two thousand feet. 



The Arctic steamer "Alert" returned to Halifax on October 18, from 

 Hudson's Bay, with the observation party which has spent fifteen months 

 there testing the practicability of that route for navigation from the 

 Canadian jS^ortheast to Europe. They show the average temperature 

 to be not so low as the average winter temperature in the Northwest. 

 The lowest monthly average was 30° below zero. The ice observations 

 show that Hudson Straits and Bay are navigable for properly built 

 and equipped vessels for from three to four months, from July to Oc- 

 tober. 



G. W. Dawson {Science, April 24) describes the Saskatchewan country, 

 or that portion of the prairies which extends north of the northern 

 boundary, as containing an approximate area of 300,000 square miles, 

 and as less than 2,000 feet above the sea level, and thus lower than the 

 corresponding portion of the continent farther south. Many interest- 

 ing details will be found in this article. 



So far as heard > from, explorations in Alaska apj)ear to consist of 

 the journeys of Lieut. H. T. Allen and his companions ; Lieutenant 

 Cantwell; Assistant Engineer Samuel B.McLenegan'and Seaman Nelson 

 of the "Corwin"; Henry D. Woolfe; Lieutenant Stoney; and Doctor 

 Everette. 



Lieutenant Allen was sent by General Miles last year. He ascended 

 the Copper or Atna Eiverand explored its northern and western branch 

 to its source, a distance of some 200 or 300 miles. He found the river 

 rapid, with many cataracts, and having in some places a fall of 7 feet to 

 the mile. Its width is variable, sometimes several miles, including large 

 islands, at others but a few hundred feet. There are many glaciers 

 near it, and the active Wrangel volcano rises almost from the river. 

 A portage was made across this range to the sources of the Tananah, 

 where there are a number of extensive lakes. This river was reached 

 about 125 miles above the point to which it had been explored, and it 

 and the Yukon were followed to the sea. 



Lieutenant Cantwell has succeeded in getting to the source of the 

 Kowak Eiver, which consists of four large lakes, of which the most im- 

 portant is in latitude 67°, longitude 153° west. It is supposed to be 520 

 miles from the mouth of the river. 



