GEOGRAPHY 255 



within the first of these provinces. The Pacific Mountain system in- 

 cludes four important ranges, whose axes are parallel to each other and 

 to the coast line, with numerous inferior transverse lines of height. Of 

 these the Coast range, the Saint Elias range, and the Aleutian range lie 

 adjacent to the coast, while the Alaskan range is inland and forms the 

 northern boundary of the system. The two latter lie without the region 

 under discussion, and will not be further considered. 



The so-called Coast range extends from near the boundary of Wash- 

 ington northward through British Columbia into southeastern Alaska. 

 In British Columbia it has a width of about 100 miles, which decreases 

 to the northward. Its peaks vary in altitude from 7,000 to 8,000 feet. 

 Following the coastline for nearly 900 miles, it passes behind the Saint 

 Elias range near the head of Lynn canal, beyond which it can be traced 

 northward, but with decreasing altitudes, and gradually loses its dis- 

 tinctiveness, finally merging with the interior plateau. The Coast range 

 has no distinct crest line, but is, as Doctors Dawson and Hayes have 

 shown, an irregular aggregate of mountains, whose summits mark an 

 elevated plateau and whose limits are often ill defined. Inland it 

 locally merges with the interior plateau, and on the coast side it is not 

 always well differentiated from the mountains of the Alexander archi- 

 pelago. 



Westward from Cross sound the Saint Elias range forms the coastal 

 feature of Alaska, and is extended to the southeast mountainous Alex- 

 ander archipelago. Near mount Saint Elias the range has a width of 

 about 100 miles, but it narrows down in both directions. Near Cross 

 sound the Fairweather group of mountains in the Saint Elias range 

 reach altitudes of over 15,000 feet. Toward the west it increases in 

 height and complexity, culminating in mounts Saint Elias and Logan, 

 18,060 and 19,500 feet in height. The mountains of the Alexander 

 archipelago cannot be said to form any well defined range. On Baranof 

 island are mountains reaching altitudes of 3,000 to 4,000 feet. On Prince 

 of Wales island there are also many peaks which rise to these altitudes, 

 but they are irregularly distributed. In general, the trend of these 

 mountain groups is in a northwest-southeast direction, parallel to the 

 coast line and to the Coast range. There is but little topographic data 

 available in this region except the contour of the actual shoreline. 



The coastline of this part of Alaska is very irregular, the shore being 

 marked by many deep embayments and islands. The shores are usually 

 very abrupt, and the deep water lies close to the land. 



Southeast of Glacier bay over half of the land area is included in the 

 islands of the Alexander archipelago. The longer axes of the larger 

 islands have a rough parallelism to each and to the general trend of the 



