GIANTS OF ALASKA 



623 



Mount Dall, 9,000 feet ; while farther yet 

 to the south, across the valley of the 

 Skwentna, is Mount Spurr, 10,500 feet 

 high. 



Above 9,000 feet the mountains are 

 perpetually covered with snow and ice, 

 and at their bases, on either side of the 

 range, long tongues of ice shoot out, 

 filling the valleys in the neighborhood of 

 Mount McKinley in some instances for a 

 distance of 25 miles. 



Nothing was known of the region ad- 

 jacent to Mount McKinley until in 1902 

 Alfred H. Brooks, accompanied by L. M. 

 Prindle and D. L. Reaburn, all of the 

 United States Geological Survey, were 

 the first white men to reach its western 

 slope. In 1906 Dr Cook succeeded in 

 reaching the top, making the ascent from 

 the east. Mount McKinley is the only 

 one of the many snow-covered peaks of 

 the Alaska Range which has been 

 climbed. Indeed, even of the immedi- 

 ate locality of the others very little is 

 known. 



THE COASTAL VOLCANOES 



The chain of volcanoes, active and ex- 

 tinct, which follows the Pacific coast 

 from Cape Horn, north through South 

 America, Mexico, the United States, and 

 Canada, has it representatives along the 

 Pacific coast of Alaska also, even to the 

 extremity of the Aleutian Islands. Men- 

 tion has already been made of Mount 

 Edgecumbe, in southeastern Alaska, and 

 those of the Copper River region. 



The largest zone of volcanic activity 

 in Alaska is from the west shore of Cook 

 Inlet, at Redoubt Mountain, southwest- 

 ward throughout the entire length of the 

 Aleutian range. Practically the entire 

 range is composed of volcanic ejecta. 

 There are many beautifully shaped cones 



of extinct craters, while a few are active 

 at the present time. Among these Ili- 

 amna and Saint Augustine are in the 

 northern portion of the range, the latter 

 being located on the island of the same 

 name. On Unimak Island, the first of 

 the Aleutian group, there are two active 

 craters, Sishaldin and Pogromi, and on 

 Unalaska Island, 100 miles to the south- 

 west, is Makushin. 



The mountains of the Aleutian Isl- 

 ands are not so high as those of the main- 

 land, Sishaldin being about 8,000 feet, 

 while Makushin is not over 4,500 feet. 



About 50 miles to- the west of the 

 north end of Unalaska Island, in latitude 

 54° and longitude 168 , lies the magic 

 crater Bogoslof. Though insignificant in 

 size, in comparison with the less active 

 craters of the group, it is not lacking in 

 interest. So rapid are the diastropic and 

 volcanic metamorphoses of Bogoslof that 

 it was at one time a volcanic cone 450 

 feet in height, with an island of 2 square 

 miles at its base, and 10 days later a sub- 

 sidence had taken place, until scarcely 

 more than 40 feet relief remained and 

 the island was reduced to a few acres. 

 The fluctuations between elevation and 

 subsidence are so frequent and radical 

 that it is never safe to announce its con- 

 dition at any stated time. 



The facilities for travel by trails, 

 wagon roads, steamers, and railroads 

 are steadily increasing, and within a very 

 few years many of the now compara- 

 tively inaccessible regions will be easily 

 reached. Such a condition will not only 

 open to the general public a region unsur- 

 passed in scenic grandeur, with many op- 

 portunities for the professional moun- 

 taineer, but will be instrumental in ad- 

 vancing the territory's commerce, min- 

 insr and agriculture. 



