An Expedition to Mount St. Elias, Alaska (Illustrated Edition). Israel C. Russell

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СКАЧАТЬ the trend of the plateau. To the buried glacier the U. S. Coast Survey has applied the name of Malaspina, in honor of that distinguished and unfortunate explorer. No connection could be seen between the small glaciers and the Malaspina plateau, as the former dip below the level of the summit of the latter. The Malaspina had no névé, nor was there any high land in the direction of its axis as far as the eye could reach. Everywhere, except where the pinnacles protruded and in a few spots on the face of the bluff, it was covered with a thick stratum of soil, gravel and stones, here and there showing small patches of bright green herbage. The bluff westward from Point Manby may probably prove of the same character."

      Mount Cook and Mount Vancouver are named in the Pacific Coast Pilot, and their elevations and positions are definitely stated. Mount Malaspina was also named, but its position is not given. During the expedition of last summer it was found impracticable to decide definitely to which peak the name of the great navigator was applied. So existing nomenclature was followed as nearly as possible by attaching Malaspina's name to a peak about eleven miles east of Mount St. Elias. Its position is indicated on the accompanying map, plate 8 (page 75).

      Several charts of the southern coast of Alaska accompany the reports of the United States Coast Survey for 1875, referred to above. A part of these have been independently published. These charts were used in mapping the coast-line as it appears on plate 8, and were frequently consulted while writing the following pages.

      NEW YORK TIMES EXPEDITION, 1886.

      An expedition sent out by the New York Times, in charge of Lieutenant Frederick Schwatka, for the purpose of making geographic explorations and climbing Mount St. Elias, left Sitka on the U. S. S. Pinta, on July 10, 1886, and reached Yakutat bay two days later. As it was found impracticable to obtain the necessary assistance from the Indians to continue the voyage to Icy bay, whence the start inland was planned to be made, Captain N. E. Nichols, the commander of the Pinta, concluded to take the expedition to its destination in his vessel. On July 17 a landing was made through the surf at Icy bay, and exploration at once began.

The party consisted of Lieutenant Schwatka, in charge; Professor William Libbey, Jr.; and Lieutenant H. W. Seton-Karr. The camp hands were John Dalton, Joseph Woods, and several Indian packers.20

      From Icy bay the expedition proceeded inland, for about sixteen miles, in a line leading nearly due north, toward the summit of Mount St. Elias. The highest point reached, 7,200 feet, was on the foot-hills of the main range now called the Karr hills. The time occupied by the expedition, after leaving Icy bay, was nine or ten days. So far as known, no systematic surveys were carried on.

      An interesting account of this expedition appeared in Seton-Karr's book, "The Shores and Alps of Alaska." Many observations on the glaciers and moraines of the region explored are recorded in this work. The map published with it has been used in compiling the western portion of the map forming plate 8, where the route of the expedition is indicated. Another account, especially valuable for its records of scientific observations, by Professor Libbey, was published by the American Geographic Society. The Guyot, Agassiz and Tyndall glaciers, the Chaix hills, and Lake Castani received their names during this expedition.

      Lieutenant Schwatka's graphic and entertaining account of this expedition, published in The Century Magazine for April, 1891, gives many details of the exploration and illustrates many of the characteristic features of southern Alaska.

      TOPHAM EXPEDITION, 1888.

      An expedition conducted by Messrs. W. H. and Edwin Topham, of London, George Broka, of Brussels, and William Williams, of New York, was made in 1888. Like the Times expedition, it had for its main object the ascent of Mount St. Elias.

      Icy bay was reached, by means of canoes from Yakutat bay, on July 13, and an inland journey was made northward which covered a large part of the area traversed by the previous expedition. The highest elevation reached, according to aneroid barometer and boiling-point measurements, was 11,460 feet. This was on the southern side of St. Elias.

The only accounts of this expedition which have come to my notice are an interesting article by William Williams in Scribner's Magazine,21 and a more detailed report by H. W. Topham, accompanied by a map22 and by a fine illustration of Mount St. Elias, in the Alpine Journal.23

This brief review of explorations carried on in the St. Elias region previous to the expedition sent out in 1890 by the National Geographic Society is incomplete in many particulars,24 but will indicate the most promising sources of information concerning the country described in the following pages.

2. For more complete bibliographic references than space will allow in this paper, the reader is referred to Dall and Baker's "Partial list of books, pamphlets, papers in serials, journals and other publications on Alaska and adjacent regions;" in Pacific Coast Pilot: Coasts and Inlets of Alaska; second series. U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey, Washington, 1879; 4°, pp. 225–375.

3. Voyage de la Pérouse autour du monde. Four vols., 4°, and atlas; Paris, 1797; vol. 2, pp. 130–150.3

4. The Voyage around the World; but more particularly to the Northwest Coast of America. Performed in 1788–1789, in the King George and Queen Charlotte; Captains Portlock and Dixon: 4°, London, 1789.

5. Voyage of the Iphigenia; Captain Douglas: in Voyages made in the years 1788–1789 from China to the Northwest Coast of America. John Meares, 4°, London, 1790.5

6. Relacion del viage hecho por las goletas Sutil y Mexicana en el año de 1792 para reconocer el estrecho de Fuca; con una introduccion en que se da noticia de las expediciones executadas anteriormente por los Españoles en busca del paso del noroeste de la América (Por Don Dionisio Alcala Galiano). Madrid, 1802 (accompanied by an atlas). Pp. CXII–CXXI.

7. It must be remembered, however, that the map, plate 8, is not from detailed surveys; the portion referred to was sketched from a few stations only and is much generalized.

8. Ibid., pp. XCIV–CXVI.

9. On the coast of the mainland east of Knight island.—I. C. R.

10. Memorias sobre las observaciones astronomicas hechas por les navegantes Españoles en distintos lugares del globe; Por Don Josef Espinosa y Tello. Madrid, en la Imprente real, Año de 1809, 2 vols., large 8°; vol. 1, pp. 57–60.

11. A Voyage of Discovery to the Northern Pacific Ocean and around the World, 1790–'95; new edition, 6 vols., London, 1801. The citations which follow are from vol. 5, pp. 348–407.

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