42 



The National Geographic Magazine 



of sunshine to obtain the most simple 

 and necessary observations for time, 

 latitude, and azimuth. Often with in- 

 struments set up and covered with oi.ed 

 canvas we have waited hours under an 

 umbrella in the persistent drizzle in the 

 hope that the sun might give us five 

 minutes free of clouds. There were no 

 limits to our day's work, except those 

 set b}- the climate and its caprices. 

 Through three years of such experience 

 Mr Baker was ever cheery, ever full of 

 expedients to circumvent the perversi- 

 ties of the meteorological environment, 

 and the fair measure of success we met 

 with was largely due to him. 



On our return to civilization began 

 the task of utilizing the material ob- 

 tained, by preparing it for the use of 

 navigators in the form of charts, meteor- 

 ological and tidal tables, and a Coast 

 Pilot. Owing to the little-known char- 

 acter of the country the importance of 

 bringing together the information scat- 

 tered through scores of voyages, atlases, 

 and charts was very marked. I had 

 planned a series of such summaries: the 

 Coast Pilot for the details of naviga- 

 tion, the meteorology, the observations 

 of terrestrial magnetism, and a bibliog- 

 raph}' of charts, maps, and publications. 



In all the work which this involved 

 Mr Baker was my efficient helper. The 

 collection and the reduction of still un- 

 published terrestrial magnetic observa- 

 tions, dating from 1740 to 1S80, was al- 

 most wholly his work, and from this 

 manuscript Mr Schott derived nearly 

 all of the data for Alaska which he 

 utilized in his important series of papers 

 on the variation in the amount of decli- 

 nation of the magnetic needle during 

 long periods of years. Early in the 

 prosecution of our work I had noticed 

 that the culmination of easterly varia- 

 tion for the nineteenth century in the 

 Aleutian region had passed, and to Mr 

 Baker was given the task of making the 

 numerous local observations by which 

 this important fact might be placed on 

 an irrefragable foundation. 



These labors on magnetism, bibliog- 

 raphy, the comparisons of charts in 

 their historical relation, and the synon- 

 ymy of geographic names, which were 

 involved in the work we did together, 

 have always seemed to me a direct prep- 

 aration for the important geographic 

 work he accomplished later. 



Our work in Alaska being interrupted , 

 Mr Baker was placed in charge of one 

 of the Coast Survey primary magnetic 

 stations, with self-registering instru- 

 ments, at Iyos Angeles, California — a 

 work of the results of which I can only 

 say that experts in magnetism pro- 

 nounced it admirable, In 1885 he re- 

 turned to Washington, where he trans- 

 ferred his labors to the U. S. Geological 

 Survey, where they were chiefly geo- 

 graphic and concerned with the topo- 

 graphic and other charts issued by the 

 Survey. He also became one of the 

 most serviceable members of the Board 

 of Geographic Names, formed by Pres- 

 ident Harrison to regulate the nomen- 

 clature of official publications. Dur- 

 ing a large part of his service here he 

 was closely intimate with the late Di- 

 rector of the Survey, Major Powell, who 

 warmly appreciated his qualities. 



When the Venezuelacontroversy arose 

 and a skilled geographer was needed, 

 Mr Baker was called on, and the fine 

 historical atlas he compiled and the vol- 

 umes he saw through the press while 

 in the service of the commission would 

 alone form a worthy monument to any 

 geographer. 



Returning to the Survey, he busied 

 himself largely in the preparation of a 

 work on the synonymy and history of 

 the geographic names of Alaska, en- 

 titled "A Geographic Dictionary of 

 Alaska," which was issued as Geolog- 

 ical Survey Bulletin No. 187 in 1902. 

 The immense labor involved in this 

 work and its usefulness to the cartog- 

 rapher and geographer make it of ex- 

 ceptional importance. 



With his services to and interest in 

 this Society you are all familiar, and no 



