254 A. H. BROOKS — RECONNAISSANCES IN SOUTHEASTERN ALASKA 



Portions of the region have also heen the subject of investigations by 

 Blake,* Hayes,f Dall,J Becker, § Russell,|| Spurr,^[ Reid,** Cushing,tt 

 and the writer.Jt There are a number of others who have contributed 

 to our knowledge of the glaciers of the region. 



Geography 



The panhandle of the territory, extending southeastward from mount 

 Saint Elias, is usually called southeastern Alaska. This coastal belt 

 and its contiguous islands have au area of nearly 40,000 square miles. 

 It is included between 54 degrees 30 minutes and 60 degrees 30 minutes 

 parallels of latitude and the 130th and 141st meridians of longitude. 

 That portion which is more especially the subject of this sketch lies to 

 the southeast of Cross sound and Glacier bay, and includes an area of 

 about 20,000 square miles. 



Alaska is divisible into four geographic provinces, corresponding to 

 and, broadly speaking, coextensive with those of western Canada and 

 the United States. The westernmost of these includes a mountainous 

 belt, which, in conformity to Major Powell's §§ nomenclature, may be 

 called the Pacific Mountain system. East of this is the Plateau region, 

 bounded to the east and north by the third province, which is formed 

 by the northern and western extension of the Rocky Mountain system, 

 and to the east and north of the Rocky mountains is the fourth prov- 

 ince, comprising the Plains region. Southeastern Alaska lies entirely 



* William P. Blake : Topographical and geological features of the northwest coast of America. 

 Am. Jour. Sci., 2d series, vol. xlv, 1868, pp. 242-247. 



Alaska Territory, Geology of. U. S. Coast Survey, Report for 1867, pp. 281-290. 



f C. Willard Hayes: An expedition through the Yukon district. Nat. Geog. Mag., vol. iv. pp. 

 99-162. 



The writer is under ohligations to Doctor Hayes for the use of unpublished notes. 



X William H. Dall : Coal acid lignites of Alaska. Seventeenth Ann. Rept. U. S. Geol. Survey, 

 part i, pp. 763-908. 



§ George F. Becker : Gold fields of Southern Alaska. Eighteenth Ann. Rept. U. S. Geol. Survey, 

 part iii, pp. 1-86. 



|| I. C. Russell : Expedition to Mount Saint Elias. Nat. Geog. Mag., vol. iii, 1891-92. 



Second expedition to Saint Elias. Thirteenth Ann. Rept. U. S. Geol. Survey, part iii, pp. 1-91. 



flj. E. Spurr : Geology of the Yukon gold district. Eighteenth Ann. Rept. U. S. Geol. Survey, 

 part iii, pp. 87-392. 



** H. F. Reid : Studies of the Muir glacier. Nat. Geog. Mag., vol. iv, 1892-93. 



ffH. P. Cushing : Notes on the geology in the vicinity of the Muir glacier. Nat. Geog. Mag., 

 vol. iv, 1892-93; Am. Geol., vol. viii, pp. 207-230. 



XX Reconnaissance in Tanana and White River Basins, Alaska, in 18^8. Twentieth Ann. Rept. 

 U. S. Geol. Survey, part vii, pp. 425-494. 



Reconnaissance from Pyramid Harbor to Eagle City, Alaska. Twenty-first Ann. Rept. U. S. Geol. 

 Survey, part ii, pp. 331-391. 



gg Major Powell included under " Pacific Mountains" ranges lying west of the Basin ranges in 

 the United States. The term " Pacific Mountain system " is intended to include all of the moun- 

 tains of North America which lie contiguous to the Pacific ocean. Comp. Monograph Nat. Geog* 

 Soc. 



