THE GEOGRAPHY OF ALASKA* 



ILLUSTRATED BY A NEW MAP 

 By Alfred H. Brooks 



AMONG the many maps of Alaska 

 which have appeared during 

 the last half century, none has 

 attempted to depict any but the hori- 

 zontal relation. The accompanying 

 illustration, therefore, marks a distinct 

 advance in that it also expresses the 

 vertical element or relief, by the use 

 of i, coo-foot contours. The scale of 

 2,500,000 (about 40 miles to the inch) 

 has been adopted to facilitate compari- 

 son with a map of the United States on 

 the same scale, also published by the 

 Geological Survey. The compilation 

 begun three years ago was done under 

 the direction of the late Mr R. U. Goode, 

 chiefly by Mr E. C. Barnard. 



This map, representing as it does a 

 graphic synopsis of all that is known of 

 the geography of Alaska, has great 

 value, even though future surveys must 

 show error in many of its details ; for 

 the general facts of the relief and drain- 

 age are known to be correctly indicated, 

 and as surveys of this northern region 

 progress, it will be possible to make ad- 

 justments and changes in new editions. 



In the main, the map is based on the 

 work of the Geological Survey parties 

 during the years 1 898-1 903, but the 

 shore features were furnished by the 

 charts of the U. S. Coast and Geodetic 

 Survey. That no material might be 

 overlooked, all other Alaskan maps were 

 consulted, including those of the Army, 

 the Navy and Revenue Marine Service, 

 and the Russian, British, and Canadian 

 governments ; and when exact carto- 

 graphic data was lacking, the compiler 

 had recourse to such information as had 

 been collected by the Geological Survey 

 parties from prospectors, traders, and 



natives. In every case the most reliable 

 source of information has been used, 

 yet the fact that the map is in part based 

 upon accurate surveys and in part gen- 

 eralized from verbal descriptions and 

 sketch maps gives to its different sec- 

 tions a very unequal value and suggests 

 that it will be subject to many correc- 

 tions in the future. However, the 

 demand for a general map of Alaska 

 which shall show the relief has been so 

 great as to seem to justify the publica- 

 tion of one based only in part on accurate 

 mensuration. A study of the diagram 

 in the upper right-hand corner of the 

 map will show, approximately, those 

 parts in which the cartographic data 

 was most reliable, the shaded spaces 

 indicating the area in the interior of 

 which surveys have been made. In all, 

 about 150,000 square miles of the total 

 area of 590,000 square miles have been 

 surveyed, and at least two-thirds of the 

 balance has been roughly mapped. 



SURVEYS AND EXPLORATIONS 



It would be impossible here even to 

 outline the development of the geo- 

 graphic investigation of Alaska, which 

 has been prosecuted intermittently since 

 the early part of the eighteenth century, 

 but with especial activity during the 

 past decade. There are a few, how- 

 ever, of the more important surveys and 

 explorations which should be men- 

 tioned. 



In 171 1 a Russian Cossack named 

 Popof, who had been sent to the East 

 Cape of Siberia to collect tribute from 

 the natives, brought back an account of 

 the islands which divide the Bering 

 Straits, with rumors of a continent re- 



* Published by permission of the Director, U. S. Geological Survey. 



