THP] GEOGRAPHICAL POSITION AND HEIGHT OF 

 MOUNT SAINT ELIAS 



BY 

 DR T. C. MENDENHALL 



(Presented before the Society April 28, 1S93) 



111 connection with the survey of the boundary line between 

 Alaska and the British Northwest Teriitory it became necessary 

 to determine the geographical position of mount Saint Elias. 



Previous approximate determinations had shown that the 

 peak of this mountain must be very near the 141st meridian, 

 which constitutes the greater part of this boundary line, and 

 that its distance from the seacoast must be very nearly ten 

 marine leagues, which by treaty is to determine the position of 

 the line in the absence of a range of mountains parallel to the 

 windings of the coast. 



It thus appeared that this peak is likely to prove of very 

 great value as a corner-stone in this great boundary line, being 

 at the junction of the 141st meridian and that part of the line 

 which is so vaguely defined in the treaty. 



The execution of the Avork in the immediate vicinity of the 

 mountain was intrusted to assistants J. E. McGrath and J. Henry 

 Turner, whose previous explorations and long residence in the 

 interior of Alaska in connection with the determination of the 

 141st meridian are Avell known to the members of this Society.* 



The complete reduction of the observations made has not yet 

 been accomplished, but enough has been done to show tlie geo- 

 graphical ])osition of the mountain peak within a very small 

 error, and the Society will probably be interested in the })re- 

 liminary results of this work, which are not likely to be modi- 

 fied sensibly by the completed calculations. 



The fieldwork was executed during the summer of 1892. 



*An account of their work appears in Nat. Geog. Mag., vol. iv, 1892, pj). 

 177-197. 



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