oilier] COAL OF CAPE LISBURNE REGION. 173 
A settlement at Point Hope, including a mission and several whaling 
stations, contains about 250 Eskimos and 20 white men, all of whom 
ire dependent on the fisheries or the fur trade. The mineral resources 
}f the region, which are as yet undeveloped, consist of the coal depos- 
its to be described. 
These coal fields are accessible only by sea from July to October, 
inclusive. There is no harbor or protection for sea- going vessels, but 
in calm weather, or when the winds are from the south, coal can be 
boated or lightered to ships anchored from i to 2 miles off shore. 
The nearest protected harbor is Kotzebue Sound, about 200 miles 
southeast, near which there are several gold-mining camps of con- 
siderable importance. The whole region is exceedingly bleak and 
dreary. It is far beyond the northern limit of spruce timber and even 
the willows are stunted, the largest seen in the most sheltered places 
being not over 4 feet high. The nearest standing timber suitable for 
mining purposes is at the mouth of the Noatak, 150 miles southeast. 
HISTORY AND EXPLORATION. 
Captain Cook discovered and named the cape in the year 1778, but 
coal was first reported in the region by Mr. A. Collie, who accom- 
panied Captain Beechey to the Arctic Ocean in 1826 and 1827. The 
point of discovery by Mr. Collie was near Cape Beaufort, an unim- 
portant feature of the coast line 70 miles east of Cape Lisburne. 
Messrs. Belcher and Collie, of the Beechey expedition, also collected 
paleontological materials and made notes on the geology at Cape Lis- 
burne and Cape Thompson. 
During the last twenty-five years whalemen have often replenished 
their fuel supply from these coal beds, the points most frequently 
visited being Corwin Bluff, 28 miles east of Cape Lisburne, where the 
U. S. revenue cutter Corwin, Captain Hooper commanding, took on 
20 tons of coal in 1881, and the Thetis mine, 36 miles east of Cape Lis- 
burne, where the revenue cutter Thetis coaled in 1888 and 1889. 
The discovery of gold at Nome in 1898 drew attention to these 
deposits as possible sources of fuel for the mines of Seward Penin- 
sula, and several companies were organized to exploit them. Large 
areas of coal land were staked and several cargoes of coal, probably 
in all more than 1,000 tons, were mined and sold at Nome in 1900 and 
1901, since which time the production has been merely nominal. 
Schrader, rt of the United States Geological Surve} 7 , visited Corwin 
Bluff in 19<)1 at the end of his field season in northern Alaska and col- 
lected notes on the geology of the region from various prospectors. 
On account of the economic importance of the coal deposits and 
the scientific interest in the geologic formations, a more detailed 
«Schrader, F. C, A reconnaissance in northern Alaska in 1901: Prof. Paper ('. S. Geol. Survey No, 
20, 1904, pp. 109-114. 
