CHARTING A COAST-LINE OF 26,000 MILES 



WHEN in 1867 the United States 

 acquired Alaska from Russia 

 it added to its domain the vast 

 area of 590,884 square miles, two of 

 its dependent islands being larger than 

 Porto Rico. 



From the point of view of the marine 

 cartographer, the most important feature 

 of Alaska is its great extent of coast-line. 

 Along its general trend it measures 4,700 

 miles, but as the charts must show the 

 shores of the islands and follow the ins 

 and outs of the curves of the gulfs and 

 bays, the length of coast-line to be sur- 

 veyed reaches the enormous total of 

 26,376 miles. This is six times the 

 length of the coast of France ; fifteen 

 times that of Germany ; nearly eleven 

 times that of Italy ; over three times the 

 combined length of our Atlantic, Gulf, 

 and Pacific coasts, and is equal to five- 

 eighths of the entire coast-line of Great- 

 Britain and her colonies. 



If a map of Alaska were to be con- 

 structed in one piece, on a scale of 

 1-80,000, nearly an inch to the nautical 

 mile, and a popular scale for a coast 

 •chart, it would be 158 feet long by 105 

 feet wide. 



At the time of the transfer of Alaska 

 few people were interested in the terri- 

 tory or anticipated its future value. In 

 fact, a special agent of the Treasury, in 

 liis report on its resources in 1869, with- 

 out doubt voiced the popular opinion of 

 the day when he advised abandoning the 

 territory as not worth the trouble and 

 money expended upon it. 



This lack of interest continued until 

 1880, and during this period there was 

 no demand for charts and no attempt 

 was made to inaugurate a systematic 

 survey. Compilations from the work of 

 the early Russian and English explorers 

 were made, and explorations were con- 

 tinued under our own auspices. But in 

 1880 Juneau's discovery of gold in Doug- 

 las Island quickly altered this state of 

 affairs, and the great rush to many dif- 

 ferent and widely separated points on the 

 coast began. 



Immediately the inadequacy of the 

 compiled charts became apparent. Al- 

 though the work of the explorers is 

 worthy of admiration when its amount 

 is considered, as well as the small means 

 with which it was accomplished and the 

 great difficulties overcome, yet, when 

 tested by the needs of actual traffic, the 

 results were found to be far too meager 

 for safe navigation. On this account for 

 certain points vessels could not be en- 

 gaged at all, for others only at exorbitant 

 rates, and for all points the insurance 

 premiums were high. Hence there arose 

 an urgent demand for accurate and de- 

 tailed charts — a demand which is con- 

 tinuous, developing new and larger wants 

 to succeed those already satisfied. 



The problem to be solved by the Coast 

 and Geodetic Survey has been one where 

 a nice balance had to be established be- 

 tween accuracy on the one hand and the 

 pressing need for large results on the 

 other. 



Instead of being able to concentrate its 

 field force on one portion of the coast 

 and accomplish a steady advance with 

 uninterrupted sequence season after sea- 

 son, it has been constrained to scatter its 

 parties and follow the erratic movements 

 of the prospector and miner. 



Owing to Juneau's discovery and the 

 development of the salmon-canning in- 

 dustry, the Alexander Archipelago first 

 claimed attention. The survey of its 

 11,000 islands, separated by countless 

 waterways, was in progress when the 

 Klondike strike was made, and Saint 

 Michaels, 1,800 miles away, became a 

 new objective point for ocean freights, 

 thence to be shipped up the Yukon River. 



From Puget Sound to Saint Michaels 

 the sea route crosses the Aleutian Archi- 

 pelago, where large scale charts of the 

 thoroughfares were needed. It passes 

 by Nunivak and Saint Lawrence islands, 

 and therefore the positions and charac- 

 teristics of their nearest headlands must 

 be laid down. Not only were the ap- 

 proaches to Saint Michaels surveyed, but 

 an exhaustive examination of the delta 



