MARKING THE ALASKAN BOUNDARY 



599 



tain, instead of lending beautv to 

 the view, may send the poor sur- 

 veyor behind some sheltering rock 

 to wait, shivering with cold, until 

 morning will allow him to take up 

 his stand by the theodolite and 

 complete his observations. 



On the 141st meridian an astro- 

 nomic longitude was determined 

 at a point on the Yukon River. 

 American and Canadian astrono- 

 mers worked together, bringing 

 time over the wires both from 

 Seattle and Vancouver. An azi- 

 muth was then observed and this 

 azimuth is being prolonged in its 

 straight shoot across the penin- 

 sula. This line has been accepted 

 as the 141st meridian and conse- 

 quently the boundary. It has been 

 run into the mountains fringing 

 the Pacific coast. Topography, 

 triangulation, line - cutting', and 

 monumenting are now being car- 

 ried along the located line. 



For the present the line will not 

 run to Mount Saint Elias. It 

 would be possible, but not practi- 

 cal, to run it across the interven- 

 ing eighty miles of snow and ice 

 and towering mountain ranges. 

 To complete this part of the 

 boundary the use of an airship is 

 contemplated. 



Photo by G. C. Baldwin 



UNLESS PROVISIONS ARE PUT IN AN ELEVATED 



CACHE, BEARS AND FOXES SOON STEAL 



THE WHOLE SUPPLY 



SWAMPS AND RIVERS TO BE OVERCOME 



In the interior the difficulties of 

 the work are changed. Long wooded 

 stretches, interrupted by barren ridges, 

 take the place of glaciers and craggy 

 mountains. In place of snow fields 

 there are heart-breaking "nigger-head" 

 swamps to be crossed, where the pack- 

 horse becomes mired and exhausted and 

 the temper of man is tried to the break- 

 ing point. Supplies have to be ferried 

 across the rivers on log rafts, while the 

 horses swim. Clouds of poisonous mos- 

 quitoes and gnats arise from every pool 

 and every clump of moss, driving horses 

 frantic and men to distraction. 



There is no longer the guiding line of 

 the coast to follow, and the surveyor 

 must rely on his instinct for topography 



and woodcraft to pilot him through an 

 unbroken wilderness. 



The inconveniences of transportation 

 have to be overcome, and year by year 

 they are becoming worse as the work 

 carries us each year farther from the 

 Yukon with its steamers. For the sea- 

 son of 1909 the American party of thirty 

 men will have to walk 300 miles before 

 they can even start work. 



Then the topographer with his plane- 

 table and the triangulator with his theo- 

 dolite try to make up for lost time. Reg- 

 ular hours for work are ignored. A day's 

 work is reckoned as ten hours, if the 

 work can be done in that time ; if not — 

 well, in midsummer the days are twenty- 

 four hours long. Holidays and Sundays 

 see the same old routine — even the 

 Fourth of July. It is a saying in camp 



