92 



Sierra Club Bulletin. 



territory of Alaska, won by Vancouver's silent but unan- 

 swerable testimony. 



In 1849-52, Tebenkof, Captain of the first rank in the 

 Russian Navy, and sometime Governor of Alaska, had 

 published his great atlas of thirty-eight charts from 

 Cape San Lucas to the xA^rctic. He adopted the scale and 

 outline of Vancouver's charts. 



In 1867, when we officially visited Alaska to make a 

 geographic reconnaissance, and report upon the resources 

 of that region, the United States revenue-cutter Lincoln, 

 which carried our party, used the Tebenkof -Vancouver 

 charts from Victoria through the interior passages, to the 

 head of Lynn Canal, to Sitka, Kadiak, and the Aleutian 

 Islands. 



These charts continued in use until the United States 

 Coast and Geodetic Survey, or the other branches of the 

 Government, and the British Government, made more 

 detailed surveys. 



In Vancouver's application of names — and he was far 

 from prolific — he was conforming to the precepts of his 

 day and of his profession. That method has been fol- 

 lowed to the present time ; it is seen in the latest Antarctic 

 explorations. If Roald Amundsen has discovered some 

 new anchorage, some new channel, or located some moun- 

 tain peak in the Arctic, he is entitled to name them or to 

 apply the Esquimau designation. Geographers will asso- 

 ciate his name with his discoveries.* 



Mts. Hood, St. Helens, Rainier, and Baker are found 

 on Vancouver's charts of the coast within the range of 

 his discoveries. Each was unique in its mass and snow 

 covering, and in their heights towering far above the 

 general crest-line of the Cascade Range. He particularly 

 mentions naming "Mount Rainier" and "Mount St. 

 Helens," and his reasons therefor. 



*As we are reading the proof, we may add that, upon our suggestion, 

 the Hydrographer of the Lords Admiralty and the Hydrographer of the 

 U. S. Navy Department have directed that the name Amundsen Gulf be 

 applied to that unnamed area of water in the Arctic between Cape Bathurst 

 and Cape Baring, and be placed upon all official charts. 



