796 



The National Geographic Magazine 



the work, and it is believed that the in- 

 vestigations will constitute one of the 

 most beneficent measures thus far taken 

 by the United States government for the 

 improvement of the industrial condition 

 of the Filipinos. 



THE ANGLO-AMERICAN POLAR 

 EXPEDITION 



THE following letter to Hon. O. H. Titt- 

 mann, Superintendent of the U. S. Coast 

 and Geodetic Survey, describes some of 

 the experiences of the Mikkelsen-Leffingwell 

 expedition and the difficulties encountered by 

 the explorer on the Arctic coast of Alaska : 



Flaxman Island, Alaska, 



Via Point Barrow, 



August i6, 1907. 



Sir: Our expedition to Banks Land has 

 wound up here and I am endeavoring to make 

 the most of the opportunity to add something 

 to the meager knowledge of this region along 

 geodetic and geologic lines. The program I 

 hope to carry out consists of a map of the 

 coast from Demarcation Point to the Coville 

 River, the exploration of fii^e rivers not now 

 indicated on the map, four of them never 

 visited by white men, and such geological work 

 as I can do. The past, year was devoted to 

 expedition affairs and very little of the six 

 months spent in the field was devoted to 

 scientific work, so that to carry out the above 

 program it will be necessary to remain another 

 year. The expedition was supposed to be fitted 

 for two years, and we have received some 

 more provisions this summer, but we have 

 used so much of our outfit in the purchase of 

 dogs, furs, and fresh game that by the end of 

 another year we shall be short on a good many 

 things ; consequently I am sending out for a 

 third year's supply of provisions, coal, etc. 



A part of the expedition returns this year, 

 and next year I shall be alone and will be 

 compelled to support a native family or two 

 for hunters and to travel with me in the field; 

 consequently I am in imperative need of the 

 provisions. The only available way is to ship 

 it in per whaler at a cost of from $25 to $50 

 per ton, and even then there is much uncer- 

 tainty. This summer our stuff came in three 

 different whaling ships. One landed her share ; 

 another had an injured propeller and was in a 

 hurry to get to Herschell Island to have it 

 repaired ; the third had our freight buried un- 

 der some tons of her own goods and refifsed 

 to land it until she returned in September. A 

 prospector 50 miles east of here, with whom 

 I have been working in the mountains, had all 



his supplies carried by in a fog and will not get 

 them until September. 



In view of this uncertainty and of the exces- 

 sive cost of freight, I wish to have my goods 

 brought up bj' the revenue cutter Thetis on her 

 annual trip north. She comes each year to 

 Point Barrow, and this island is only 250 miles 

 farther. I have already been at a personal ex- 

 pense of over $8,000 on this expedition, and, 

 as I am doing work which would cost the 

 government a large sum to duplicate, I feel 

 that it is not asking too much to have supplies 

 transported by the government. Personally I 

 have made one trip (with mail) to Herschell 

 Island, two trips to Ba.xter Sound surveying, 

 one trip 80 miles into the mountains with pack 

 on back, and spent two months on the ice to 

 the north of here sounding and looking for 

 supposed land. Other members of the expedi- 

 tion have been equally active, our ethnologist 

 having been in the field nearly the whole 

 winter working from the east mouth of the 

 McKenzie River to the Corvette. 



Of course, I am depending upon occultations 

 for longitude, and brought along a two-inch 

 telescope by Bausch and Lomb. I was at the 

 ship only during two lunations, and on account 

 of the almost continual gales succeeded in get- 

 ting only one occultation of a 4.3 magnified 

 star. I followed several smaller ones until 

 nearly the calculated time, but always lost 

 them before they were shut out. Try as I 

 would, I could not keep the frost from my 

 breath, hands, and even body from dimming 

 and blurring the image. 



I have an alt-azimuth by Gaertner, of Chi- 

 cago, with a 12=™- circle (gradviated by Ber- 

 ger), with which I can get a latitude observa- 

 tion with probable error of ± l".S with a set 

 of eight pointings. The probable error of our 

 observatory is about ± o".S, mean of four sets. 

 Last winter I had to use a siderial watch for 

 time observations and found it very unsatis- 

 factory; still the probable error of a time set 

 on two stars, east and west, was generally 

 about Qs-.o. This last week I have changed our 

 ship's chronometer to siderial time and I hope 

 for better work this winter. 



For work along the coast and sand reefs I 

 have a small planetable with telescopic alidade 

 furnished with an eye-piece micrometer 

 mounted horizontally. By means of poles set 

 up about 100™- apart I can carry a traverse 

 which is to be corrected by latitude and longi- 

 tude observations every 30 to 40 miles. The 

 longitude I hope to carry toward Demarcation 

 Point by latitude and a triangulation on the 

 mountains to the west. The only way is to use 

 chronometers in September, when the stars 

 begin to show and navigation is still open. 

 Very respectfully, 



E. DE K. LeffingwEll. 



