COAST BETWEEN POINT BARROW AND MACKENZIE DELTA 
TOPOGRAPHICAL FEATURES 
_ Much information about the topographical features of the coast between 
point Barrow and Mackenzie delta is scattered in reports and books by and 
about the various explorers who have travelled there since the days of Beechey, 
Franklin, and Dease and Simpson. It remained, however, for E. de K. 
Leffingwell, who spent almost eight years up there, to give the first complete 
and scientific description of the region, including the mountains north of the 
divide back of Canning river, treated mainly from a geological point of view, 
and to present the first accurate general map of the whole coast and more detailed 
maps of the region west of the international boundary.1 
Tue Arctic MounraAINs 
The Arctic mountains, a system formerly considered as an outrunner from 
the Rocky mountains, stretch as a belt nearly east and west across arctic Alaska 
at a varying distance from the coast, reaching the sea in the west at cape Lis- 
burne. Their width varies from about 50 to about 150 miles, and at certain 
places they reach an elevation of 2,000 feet. Their southern contour is very 
little known, except at Colville river and the international boundary. 
Towards the east they are continued in mountains of less altitude which end 
in a scarp along the west branch of Mackenzie river, and to the north they fall 
off toward the Arctic slope, i.e., the Plateau and the Coastal plain between the 
mountains and the Arctic ocean. A great number of rivers, a few of which are 
large, originate on or near the divide and flow northward to the Arctic ocean, 
generally with a fairly straight course after the mountains have been left behind. 
In the mountains they commonly flow through glacial troughs. 
Tue PLATEAU 
The Plateau part of the Arctic slope is in general fairly well set off from 
the mountain base and slopes northward for various distances. It seems to be 
widest, perhaps about 100 miles, farthest west, though little is known of it 
except at Colville river where it is 80 miles wide, and decreases in width eastward 
until it becomes almost entirely absent near the international boundary, 
where the mountains come closest to the ocean; while, still farther east, it comes 
near to the sea or even reaches it. It is interesting to note that the Coastal 
plain, from which as a rule it is divided by a scarp, shows the same character- 
istics still more pronounced, being more than 150 miles wide at point Barrow 
and less than 10 miles at the international boundary, and still less farther east. 
The Plateau has the form of a rolling, upland tundra, in strong physio- 
graphic contrast to the mountains on its south side from which, as stated, it is 
generally well set off. This upland tundra seems a nearly featureless plain 
when viewed from an elevation. It is broken here and there by open river or 
creek valleys trending generally north and south. At certain places, however, 
the surface is more irregular, due to glacial or fluviatile erosion or deposits, and 
the ground consists often of rather barren gravel banks or mud cliffs. A good idea 
of the relation of the Plateau to the mountains may be gleaned from Leffingwell.? 
The character of the Plateau in the neighbourhood of point Barrow is very 
little known. Indeed, our knowledge is practically limited to the observations 
made. by Ray? on the transition zone between the Plateau and the Coastal plain. 
1 Leffingwell, E. de K., The Canning River Region, Northern Alaska, U.S.G.o., Professional Paper 109, Washington, 
1919. 
: ae pin’ tent of the International Polar Expedition to Point Barrow, Alaska. Washington, 1885, pp. 27-28. 
