7 



The National Geographic Magazine 



gratulating ourselves on what has been 

 accomplished during the last twenty- 

 seven years, we should remember grate- 

 fully the services of the missionaries, 

 and also of those wise men who, like 

 Sir Gerard Portal, emphasized over and 

 over again to the government the need 



of the Great Uganda Railwa}' to redeem 

 the land. We must also recollect the 

 sagacious administrators who have been 

 sent to Uganda, who, by their tolerance 

 and tact, have taught the natives wher- 

 ever they go that the advent of the 

 Englishman was a blessing to them. 



COAL RESOURCES OF ALASKA 



ALASKA embraces about 600,000 

 square miles and stretches 

 through nearly 20 degrees of 

 latitude and 50 degrees of longitude. 

 Practically no detailed investigations of 

 any part of this vast territory have been 

 made, and at least a third part of its 

 area has not even received preliminary 

 topographic and geologic surveys. Our 

 knowledge of its mineral resources is 

 therefore very incomplete. 



What is known of its coal resources 

 has been compiled and is presented by 

 Mr. Alfred H. Brooks in Part III of the 

 Twenty-second Annual Report of the 

 United States Geological Survey. This 

 compilation is not from printed sources 

 alone, but is largely from manuscript 

 notes made on the spot by Mr. Brooks 

 himself and by others. Mr. Brooks di- 

 vides Alaska, for purposes of his report, 

 as follows : Beginning on the south, 

 southeastern Alaska includes the Pacific 

 Ocean coastal belt and islands, extend- 

 ing northward to Mount St. Elias and 

 northwestward so as to include the Cop- 

 per River Basin. Beginning on the 

 west, southwestern Alaska embraces 

 the Aleutian Islands, Alaska Peninsula 

 and adjacent islands, Kenai Peninsula, 

 and the Cook Inlet region, with the 

 drainage basins of its tributary rivers. 

 The Kuskokwim region lies west of 

 Bristol Bay and Cook Inlet and east and 

 south of the Yukon, and drains into 

 southeastern Bering Sea chiefly through 

 the Kuskokwim River. The eastern 

 part of this region is broken by the 



Alaskan Range of mountains. To the 

 west of these mountains is the broad 

 basin of the Kuskokwim River. A small 

 southern part of this region drains di- 

 rectly into Bering Sea by a number of 

 short rivers. 



The Yukon Basin includes a great 

 area lying partly in Alaska and partly 

 in British Northwest Territory and 

 British Columbia. The chief tributaries 

 of the Yukon are Koyukuk, Tanana, 

 Porcupine, White, Pelly, and Lewes 

 rivers, the two last uniting to form the 

 Yukon proper, and their drainage basins 

 are wholly within Canadian territory. 

 The larger part of the basin is occupied 

 by the great Yukon Plateau, sloping 

 from about 5,000 feet near the head- 

 waters above sea-level to 2,500 feet at 

 the great bend of the river. East of 

 this plateau lies the northern extension 

 of the Rocky Mountains, which near 

 the Arctic Coast turns abruptly west, 

 parallel to the coast, forming the Ro- 

 manzof, Davidson, and De Long moun- 

 tains, the Arctic-Yukon watershed. On 

 the southwest side of the Yukon Basin 

 the Coast Range and the St. Elias Range 

 and the Alaskan ranges form the barrier 

 and in part the watershed of the basin. 

 Northwestern Alaska includes an ill- 

 defined area northwest of the Yukon 

 Basin. Seward Peninsula, cut off from 

 the mainland by Norton Sound on the 

 south and Kotzebue Sound on the north, 

 is an important feature of this province. 

 Several rivers drain from this area into 

 Bering Sea and the Arctic Ocean. 



