214 The National Geographic Magazine 



ported to lie beyond. This was the first 

 intimation received by white men of 

 what is now known as Alaska. The 

 subsequent explorations seem to have 

 taken place from three directions : the 

 Russians reached it from the west, across 

 Siberia and Bering Sea and Straits ; the 

 English came from the east, by way of 

 the Mackenzie Valley ; and navigators 

 of various nationalities explored its 

 coast, approaching it from the south by 

 following the eastern shore of the Pacific. 

 Among the most prominent of these 

 early expeditions, which charted much 

 of the coast line, were the Russians, 

 led by Bering, L,titke, and Kotzebue ; 

 the English, led by Cook, Vancouver, 

 Franklin, and Beechey; a few Spaniards; 

 one Italian, Malaspina ; andEa Perouse, 

 a Frenchman. These, together with 

 many of lesser note, in the interval be- 

 tween Bering's first voyage (1728) and 

 the middle of the eighteenth century, 

 had obtained a general outline of the 

 coast, but it remained for the Coast and 

 Geodetic Survey to undertake its detailed 

 charting after the transfer of the terri- 

 tory to the United States. 



Previous to 1 865, but little was known 

 of the interior of Alaska, which was 

 then called Russian America. The 

 Russian traders had pushed their way 

 1,000 miles up the Yukon, had ex- 

 plored the lower stretches of the Kus- 

 kokwim and the Stikine, and had made 

 an abortive attempt to explore the 

 Copper River, which ended in the mur- 

 der of the entire party by the natives. 

 Following the routes marked out by 

 such explorers as Franklin and Mac- 

 kenzie, the Hudson Bay traders had 

 reached the Mackenzie River, and in 

 the middle of the nineteenth century 

 crossed to the Yukon waters, where 

 their two posts controlled the fur trade 

 of the upper river. From the other 

 direction the Russian traders had tra- 

 versed northern Asia and arrived in 

 North America by way of Bering Strait 

 and the Aleutian Islands. Thus it was 



here in Alaska that the rival fur-trad- 

 ing interests came into competition, 

 after encircling the globe. 



In 1865 the Western Union Tele- 

 graph Company organized a survey of 

 northwestern America, with a view to 

 finding a route from the United States 

 through Canadian territory and Rus- 

 sian America to Bering Strait, to con- 

 nect by cable with a line crossing 

 Siberia from Europe. The success of 

 the Atlantic cable led to the abandon- 

 ment of the project, but the results 

 gained by the scientists and explorers of 

 the expedition, of whom Dr Wm. H. 

 Dall was the most prominent, have been 

 of lasting importance. Those of geo- 

 graphic value are a map of the Yukon 

 River and important additions to the 

 knowledge of the Yukon delta, Seward 

 Peninsula, and the Norton Bay region. 

 It is interesting to note that the route 

 which these first explorers selected was 

 practically the same as that adopted by 

 the telegraph lines which are now being 

 constructed in Alaska and adjacent 

 Canadian territory. 



When Alaska first passed into the 

 possession of the United States, in 1867, 

 but little attempt was made to explore 

 the interior. In 1869 Capt. R. W. Ray- 

 mond, U. S. A. . was sent up the Yukon 

 to determine the approximate position 

 of the international boundary and thus 

 settle the conflicting interests of Ameri- 

 can and British traders. In 1883 Eieut. 

 Frederick A. Schwatka,U. S. A. , crossed 

 the Chilkoot Pass and descended the 

 Eewes and Yukon rivers to Bering Sea, 

 making reconnaissance surveys en route. 

 During the succeeding decade explora- 

 tions in the interior were fostered by 

 various branches of the government and 

 by private enterprise, but only intermit- 

 tently and not as the result of any defi- 

 nite plan. Perhaps the most notable ex- 

 pedition in the annals of Alaskan explo- 

 ration is the one conducted in 1885 by 

 Eieut. Henry T. Allen, now general and 

 chief of the constabulary forces in the 



