PART I. 



PREVIOUS EXPLORATIONS IN THE ST. ELIAS 

 REGION.* 



Bering, 1741. 



The first dispvery of the southern coast of Alaska was made 

 by Vitus Bering and Alexei Cherikof, in the vessels St. Peter and 

 St. Paul, in 1741. On July 20 of that»year, Bering saw the moun- 

 tains of the mainland, but anchored his vessels at Kyak island, 

 180 miles west of Yalcutat bay, without touching the continental 

 shore. A towering, snow-clad summit northeast of Kyak island 

 was named " Mount St. Elias," after the patron saint of the day. 



Cook, 1778. 



The next explorer to visit this portion of Alaska was Captain 

 James Cook, who sailed past the entrance of Yakutat bay on 

 May 4, 1778. Thinking that this was the bay in which Bering 

 anchored, he named it " Bering's bay." Mount St. Elias was seen 

 in the northwest at a distance of 40 leagues, but no attempt was 

 made to measure its height. 



La Perouse, 1786.t 



Yakutat bay, in which we are specially interested, was next 

 seen by the celebrated French navigator, J. F. G. dela Perouse, 

 in command of the frigates La Boussole and L^ Astrolabe, on June 

 23, 1786. 



The chart showing the route followed by La Perouse during 

 this portion of his voyage is reproduced in plate 3. In the 

 splendid atlas accompanying the narrative of his travels, the ex- 

 plorer pictures the quaint, high-pooped vessels in which he cir- 



-X- For more complete bibliographic references than space will allow in 

 this paper, the reader is referred to Dall and Baker's " Partial list of books, 

 pamj)hlets, papers in serials, jonrnals and other publications on Alaska and 

 adjacent regions ; " in Pacific Coast Pilot : Coasts and Inlets of Alaska ; 

 second series. U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey, Washington, 1879 ; 4°, 

 pp. 225-375. 



t Voyage de la Perouse autour du monde. Four vols., 4°, and atlas ; 

 Paris, 1797 ; vol. 2, pp. 130-150. 



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