Height of Mount St. Elias. 237 



The geographic position of Mount St. Elias is of poi)u]ar in- 

 terest in connection with the boundaries of Alaska. 



In the convention between Great Britain and Russia * wherein 

 the boundaries of Alaska are supposed to be defined, it is stated 

 that the boundary, Ijeginning at the south, after leaving Portland 

 channel, shall follow the sunnnit of the mountains situated 

 parallel to the coast as far as the 141st meridian, and from there 

 northward the said meridian shall be the boundary to the Arctic 

 ocean. Whenever the summit of the mountains between Port- 

 land channel and the 141st meridian " shall prove to be at the 

 distance of more than ten marine leagues from the ocean, the 

 limit between the British possessions and the line of coast which 

 is to belong to Russia, above mentioned, shall be formed by a 

 line parallel to the windings of the coast and which shall never 

 exceed the distance of ten marine leagues therefrom." 



As Mount St. Elias is approximately in longitude 140° 55' 30" 

 west from Greenwich, as already shown, it is therefore only 4' 

 and 30" of longitude or 2 2 statute miles east of the boundary 

 of the main portion of Alaska. Its distance from the nearest 

 point on the coast is 33 statute miles. There is no coast range 

 in southeastern Alaska parallel with the coast within the limits 

 specified by the treaty, and the boundary must therei'ore be 

 considered as a line parallel with the coast and ten marine 

 leagues, or 34^ statute hiiles, inland. The mountain is thus one 

 and one-half miles south of the boundary and within the territory 

 of the United States. Its position is so near the junction of the 

 boundary separating southeastern Alaska from the Northwest 

 Territory with the 141st meridian that it is practically a corner 

 monument of our national domain. 



* Message from the President of the ynited States, transmitting Eeport 

 on the boundary line between Alaslca and British Columbia. 50tli Con- 

 gress, 2d session, Ex. Doc. No. 146, Senate, 1889. 



32— Nat. Geoo. Mag., vol. III, 1891. 



