Geographic Notes 



while the lowlands are the natural place for 

 the production of the most desired products of 

 that zone. Accordingly, the majority of the 

 people live upon the poorest land, in positions 

 very difficult of access to commerce, and the 

 fertile and accessible regions are unsettled, 

 while the civilized world experiences a grow- 

 ing demand for the really tropical products, 

 which they now produce in an unsystematic 

 way. 



The tropic highlands, in one-half or more of 

 their exports, are competing with temperate- 

 zone lands. The lowlands are the real tropics 

 of commerce. The economic question is, Can 

 they become populated and developed ? 



Two methods are now available — the impor- 

 tation of the Asiatic coolie and the application 

 of science to make these lands habitable by 

 Caucasians. The first method is being suc- 

 cessfully tried in some countries and the second 

 is full of possibilities. Science is just begin- 

 ning to be applied to the problems of eliminat- 

 ing disease, improving tropic agriculture, and 

 overcoming the difficulties of environment. 

 The present century may witness the opening 

 up of practically a new world to population 

 and commerce through the settling of this 

 now neglected part of the world by people 

 who will at least be socially and industrially 

 organized by the most advanced races. 



THE EXPLORATION OF ALASKA 



BY ALFRED H. BROOKS, CHIEF OF ALASKAN 

 DIVISION, U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 



The first knowledge of Alaska was obtained 

 by the Russians, who in the early part of the 

 eighteenth century had established themselves 

 on the western shore of Bering Sea and first 

 learned of the continent beyond the sea from 

 the natives, for it was not until 1841 that they 

 obtained any definite knowledge of North- 

 western America by personal observation. It 

 was then that Bering made his fateful voyage 

 and definitely established at least one point 011 

 the mainland of Alaska. Subsequently explo- 

 ration appears to have taken place from three 

 directions. The Russians came from the west, 

 across Siberia, Bering Sea and Straits ; the 

 English from the east, by way of McKenzie 

 Valley, and navigators of various nationalities 

 explored its coast, approaching from the south 

 by following the eastern shore of the Pacific. 

 Among the important expeditions were those 

 led by Bering, Liitke, Kotzebue, Cook, Van- 

 couver, Franklin, Beechey, Malaspina, La 

 Perouse, and several Spaniards. By the mid- 

 dle of the eighteenth century the coast-line of 

 Alaska was fairly well known, but the detailed 

 charting hns not even yet been completed, 

 though the United States Coast Survey has 

 been actively at work for many years. Of the 



interior of Alaska the Russians knew compar- 

 atively little, though they explored the lower 

 stretches of the Yukon, the Kuskokwim, and 

 Stikine. The Upper Yukon was reached by 

 the Hudson Bay traders in the middle of the 

 nineteenth century. 



In 1865 the exploration of Alaska was much 

 accelerated by the work of the corps of ex- 

 plorers organized by the Western Union Tele- 

 graph Company, of whom William H. Dall 

 and Robert Kennicott were the most promi- 

 nent. 



When Alaska came into the possession of 

 the United States, but little attempt was made 

 to explore its interior, though a few expedi- 

 tions were sent out under various auspices. 

 Thus it was that Schwatka made an explora- 

 tion of the Lewes and Yukon rivers, though 

 these were already pretty well known, thanks 

 to the traders and prospectors. Allen trav- 

 ersed the Copper, Tanana, and Lower Koyu- 

 kuk rivers, while Stoney took up the explora- 

 tion of the Kotzebue Sound region, and in the 

 same district Cantwell and McLannigan made 

 important explorations. 



Though public enterprise amounted to little, 

 yet the ever-ready American frontiersman and 

 prospector penetrated this wilderness and did 

 much in making it known to theworld. Among 

 the most prominent were F A rank Densmore, 

 Arthur Harper, Jack McQuestin, and Jack 

 Dal ton. 



In 1 89 1 the Coast Survey was represented in 

 the interior in Alaska by parties which located 

 the international boundary and made an ex- 

 ploration through to the Arctic coast from the 

 Yukon drainage basin. During the same period 

 Schwatka and Hayes made a journey of explo- 

 ration from the Yukon to the Copper by way 

 of the head of the White. 



It was, however, not until the discovery of 

 the famous Klondike gold fields that Congress 

 awoke to the necessity of systematic explora- 

 tions and surveys of this great area. Appro- 

 priations for this purpose were made in 1898, 

 which have been continued up to the present 

 time. Much of the interior of Alaska has been 

 explored by the many parties of the United 

 States Geological Survey. These have covered 

 an area which can be approximated at 100,000 

 square miles, and now practically every large 

 river in the territory except the Noatak, Col- 

 ville, and Alsek has been surveyed. All of 

 the mountain ranges except those of the ex- 

 treme northern part of the territory have been 

 outlined by exploratory surveys, and much of 

 the great interior basin has been mapped with 

 a sufficient degree of accuracy for present pur- 

 poses. 



Of unknown regions there are in Alaska 

 only three of considerable extent. The small- 

 est of these embraces the great snow-covered 



