VoL^ XXI. No. 1 



WASHINGTON 



January, 1910 



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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC SOCIETY'S 

 ALASKAN EXPEDITION OF j 909 



By Ralph S. Tarr, of Cornell University, and Lawrence 



Martin, of the University of Wisconsin 



Leaders of the Expedition 



THE research expedition sent out 

 by the National Geographic Soci- 

 ety in 1909 devoted the season to 

 a study of glaciers in Yakutat Bay and 

 eastern Prince William Sound, Alaska. 

 Beside the leaders of the expedition, the 

 party consisted of six men. The topog- 

 rapher. Mr W. B. Lewis, of the U. S. 

 Geological Survey, was furloughed by 

 the Survey in order that he might be 

 employed by the expedition. The other 

 members of the party were a photog- 

 rapher, Mr Oscar von Engeln, of Cornell 

 University ; a geological assistant, Mr E. 

 F. Bean, of the University of Wisconsin; 

 a boat engineer, one camp hand, and a 

 Japanese cook. The senior author had 

 previously spent two seasons in Yakutat 

 Bay, the junior author one season there 

 and part of another in eastern Prince 

 W^illiam Sound. 



The party sailed from Seattle June 24, 

 going via the Inside Passage and Juneau, 

 and reaching Yakutat five days later. A 

 28- foot whale-boat with 4-horse-power 

 gasoline engine was used in transporting 

 the party and outfit throughout the sum- 

 mer, though taken on the steamship from 

 Seattle to Yakutat and from Yakutat to 



A'aldez. The first six weeks of the sum- 

 mer were spent in and about Yakutat Bay 

 (June 29 to August 14), the remaining 

 time in eastern Prince William Sound 

 and around the lower Copper River. Two 

 main camps and seven temporary camps 

 were occupied in Yakutat Bay, and three 

 main camps in eastern Prince William 

 Sound. The glacier studies were accom- 

 plished by means of travel by water in 

 launch and row-boat, travel by land and 

 glacier on foot, and, in one case, travel 

 by railway automobile over the Copper 

 River and Northwestern Railway. 



the; country visited 



The country studied is the mountainous 

 region of the Pacific Coast slope of the 

 Saint Elias and Chugach ranges. These 

 mountains rise to heights of 8,000 to 

 1 0.000 feet, with peaks reaching 15,000 to 

 18,000 feet, and with snow fields cover- 

 ing the whole upland above 2,000 to 3,000 

 feet, except where the slopes are too 

 steep. The upland is bare, cold, and 

 cheerless ; the lowland, quite in contrast, 

 may be covered with spruce and hemlock 

 forest or with luxuriant grass and flowers. 



The region has a mild temperature, 



