388 The National Geographic Magazine 



Utah, on the South Platte River near 

 Sterling, Colo., on Grand River near 

 Grand Junction, Colo., to take water 

 into Utah, and on Colorado River in 

 southern California and western Ari- 

 zona. A number of other important 

 projects are awaiting consideration and 

 will be taken up as rapidly as experi- 

 enced men can be obtained through the 

 Civil Service Commission. 



This law is regarded as one of the 

 most important in the development of 

 the public lands of the West. It is of 

 concern not merely to the western peo- 

 ple, but even more so to those of the 

 entire country who are seeking homes 

 or employment or who have goods to be 

 sold or transported to the new commu- 

 nities which will be formed. The suc- 

 cessful administration of the law means 

 a great change in the western half of the 

 United States through the upbuilding of 

 homes in regions which are now desert 

 but where there are great possibilities 

 latent. The men having the work in 

 charge are keenly alive to the responsi- 

 bilities resting upon them and are en- 

 deavoring to guard the work from de- 

 structive influence and keep it on a 

 sound, business-like basis. For this 

 reason, great emphasis has been placed 

 upon the necessity of keeping the per- 

 sonnel strictly on civil-service lines, em- 

 ployment and promotion being depend- 

 ent upon efficiency and experience. In 

 the same way the selection of projects 

 for consideration and report is being 

 made upon the basis only of public im- 

 portance and feasibility, the refunding 

 of the cost and the settlement of the 

 greatest number of people upon the re- 

 claimed lands. 



COAL IN ALASKA 



DR C. WILLARD HAYES, Geolo- 

 gist in Charge, U. S. Geological 

 Survey, is in receipt of a telegraphic re- 

 port from the Collier expedition an- 

 nouncing that they had reached Seattle 



en route to Washington, and giving the 

 leading results of the season's work. 

 The party of three, with Mr Arthur J. 

 Collier in charge, left Washington early 

 in May, to explore portions of Yukon 

 Valley, in which the existence of coal 

 was rumored. The telegraphic report 

 indicates that they have discovered large 

 bodies of good coal adjacent to the river 

 and within reach of transportation fa- 

 cilities. 



THE SVERDRUP ARCTIC EXPEDITION 



PRESS dispatches from Christiania 

 and Stavanger, Norway, convey 

 gratifying announcements of the success 

 of the Arctic expedition of the Fram, 

 led by Captain Otto Sverdrup. 



The Fram sailed from Christiania June 

 24, 189S, with a crew comprising Cap- 

 tain Sverdrup, commander ; Naval 

 Lieutenant Victor Baumann, astrono- 

 mer; Lieutenant Guy Ysachsen, car- 

 tographer; Dr H. Svendsen, meteor- 

 ologist; Dr Ed. Bay, zoologist; Dr Her- 

 man G. Simons, botanist; Dr P Schell, 

 geologist; Dr Draskrug, surgeon, to- 

 gether with nine seamen. The Fram is 

 owned by the Norwegian Government, 

 which not only granted Captain Sver- 

 drup permission to use the vessel, but 

 supplied him with the funds requisite 

 for outfitting the expedition. 



The primary purpose of the expedi- 

 tion was to explore and map the north- 

 eastern and northern coasts of Green- 

 land, and to trace the connection between 

 Cape Washington and Independence 

 Bay; but 011 learning that a considerable 

 part of this task had been already ac- 

 complished by Peary, Sverdrup changed 

 his design, and undertook to survey the 

 unknown coasts of Ellesmereland, with 

 adjacent portions of the Arctic Archipel- 

 ago. Great difficulties were encoun- 

 tered. For nearly three years the Fram 

 lay almost motionless in the ice of Jones 

 Sound, despite repeated attempts to free 

 the craft b} T both sawing and blasting. 



