CHARTING A COAST-LINE 



609 



of the Yukon was also made in the vain 

 hope of discovering" some channel of 

 sufficient depth for ocean steamers, and 

 thus save the light-draft river boats the 

 exposed trip around to Saint Michaels. 



In chronological order the next mining 

 stampede was to Nome. The field par- 

 ties followed soon after the prospectors, 

 and continued their work until the whole 

 of Norton Sound was completed. 



Latterly copper and coal interests have 

 developed in Prince William Sound and 

 Cook's Inlet, and surveying operations 

 are now in progress along that section of 

 the coast. 



This necessarily irregular and hap- 

 hazard program is but one of the factors 

 which serve to retard the charting of 

 Alaska. The prime obstacle to rapid 

 work is the weather. Spreading out as 

 it does over so many degrees of latitude 

 and longitude, it has many differing cli- 

 mates ; but in all sections bad weather is 

 the rule and a clear atmosphere the ex- 

 ception. The low fogs bring all opera- 

 tions to a standstill, but the peculiar and 

 most annoying" feature of Alaska weather 

 is the prevalence of high fogs, which may 

 occur when all other surveying condi- 

 tions are favorable. They hide from 

 view the tops of the hills and mountains, 

 needed in the triangulation and off-shore 

 hydrography. 



Field work along the coast during the 

 winter is out of the question in all sec- 

 tions. From May to October is the 

 extent of the season in southeastern 

 Alaska. The period is shortened at both 

 ends farther north and along the Aleu- 

 tian chain of islands by early fall and 

 late spring storms, and in the upper part 



of Bering Sea, still further shortened by 

 the persistence of the ice floes, which 

 may not disappear until July. 



Up to the present time the results 

 obtained are shown on nearly a hundred 

 charts, the condensed and selected infor- 

 mation derived from thousands of vol- 

 umes of astronomical, magnetic, sound- 

 ing, and tidal records, and hundreds of 

 topographical sheets. One would say 

 that by far the greater part of the coast- 

 line of Alaska having an economic value 

 had been surveyed, were it not for the 

 teachings of the past, which show how 

 vain are prophecies concerning the fu- 

 ture of any particular part of this coun- 

 try of hidden wealth. 



Coincident with the coast work the 

 Survey has been "engaged on the inter- 

 national boundary, which, owing to the 

 peculiar shape of the territory, is 1,200 

 miles in length. In 1889 two parties were 

 sent to the interior of the country to de- 

 termine the intersection of the 141st 

 meridian with the Yukon and Porcupine 

 rivers — a hazardous undertaking at that 

 time and full of hardships. In addition 

 to the two years' boundary work, the 

 leader of one expedition made a sledge 

 journey to the Arctic Ocean, and the 

 other a running survey of the great 

 Yukon River. 



Owing to the conflicting claims in 

 regard to the boundary along southeast- 

 ern Alaska, a large mass of data had to 

 be collected in the field, digested, and 

 arranged for presentation to the tribunal 

 which finally adjusted the points in dis- 

 pute. The work of locating the bound- 

 ary is described by Mr Riggs on pages 

 593-608. 



