LIBRARY

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA
DAVIS

ALASKA

VOLUME II

SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION

HARRIMAN ALASKA SERIES
VOLUME II

HISTORY, GEOGRAPHY,
RESOURCES

BY

WILLIAM H. DALL, CHARLES KEELER,

B. E. FERNOW, HENRY GANNETT,

WILLIAM H. BREWER, C. HART MERRIAM,

GEORGE BIRD GRINNELL, and

M. L. WASHBURN

(PUBLICATION 1991)

CITY OF WASHINGTON

PUBLISHED BY THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION
1910

KRAUS REPRINT CO.,

New York
1972

LIBRARY

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA
DAVIS

ADVERTISEMENT.

The publication of the series of volumes on the
Harriman Alaska Expedition of 1899, heretofore pri-
vately printed, has been transferred to the Smithsonian
Institution by Mrs. Edward H. Harriman, and the
work will hereafter be known as the Harriman Alaska
Series of the Smithsonian Institution.

The remainder of the edition of Volumes I to V,
and VIII to XIII, as also Volumes VI and VII in
preparation, together with any additional volumes that
may hereafter appear, will bear special Smithsonian
title pages.

SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION,

WASHINGTON, D. C., JULY, 1910

Reprinted with the permission of the original publisher

KRAUS REPRINT CO.
A U.S. Division of Kraus-Thomson Organization Limited

Printed in U.S.A.

HARRIMAN ALASKA EXPEDITION
WITH COOPERATION OF WASHINGTON ACADEMY OF SCIENCES

ALASKA

VOLUME II

HISTORY, GEOGRAPHY, RESOURCES

BY WILLIAM H. DALL, CHARLES KEELER, B. E. FERNOW

HENRY GANNETT, WILLIAM H. BREWER, C. HART MERRIAM

GEORGE BIRD GRINNELL AND M. L. WASHBURN

NEW YORK
DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY

1 902

LIBRARY

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA
DAVIS

COPYRIGHT, 1901,

BY
EDWARD H. HARRIMAN.

THE DISCOVERY AND EXPLORATION OF
ALASKA

BY WILLIAM HEALEY DALL

HE history of Alaska is practically the history
of exploration and trade along its coasts and
within its borders. It may be conveniently
divided into characteristic periods. First
comes the era of discovery and exploration by inde-
pendent parties of Cossacks, hunters, and fur-traders,
whose reports led to the dispatch of the official expe-
ditions commanded by Bering, whose discoveries, in
turn, opened the floodgates for a tide of adventurers.
This period may be said to comprise the whole of the
eighteenth century up to June, 1799. The second period
began with the chartering of an imperial monopoly, the
Russian-American Company, to which was confided in
that year the control and exploitation of the Russian pos-
sessions in America. The characteristic figure in the
panorama of the events of this era is Baranoff.

In 1867 a third period began with the American occu-
pation of the territory ; followed by the lease of the seal
islands to the Alaska Commercial Company, and by the
exploitation of the fisheries. A condition of anarchy pre-
vailed over the greater part of the Territory, due to legis-
lative neglect and executive indifference. With the open-
ing of the Klondike gold fields in 1895, a fourth era began,
into which the country has barely entered, and the outcome
of which it is yet too soon to predict. So far it has been
characterized by renewed exploration; by the grant from

(185)

1 86 DALL

Congress of some tardy and far from adequate legislation
looking toward good order and settlement ; by the ex-
haustion of the fur trade ; and by the development of
mineral resources in the line of the precious metals.

The geographer Gerhard Friedrich Muller during his
researches in Siberia about 1750, ransacked the archives
of Yakutsk and other East Siberian settlements for records
of early explorations. His extracts from them are all that
are saved to us of those invaluable reports, the originals
of which were long since destroyed by the fires which
have repeatedly ravaged the cities of eastern Siberia.
Among these extracts is found one relating to the journey
of Peter Iliunsen PopofF who was sent to East Cape in
January, 1711, with two interpreters, to endeavor to in-
duce the obstinate Chukchi natives to pay tribute, and to
obtain such information about the region as could be se-
cured. The party returned to the trading post on the
Anadyr River in the following September. They had not
been able to convince the Chukchi that there was any suffi-
cient reason for paying tribute, but they brought back,
among other items of information, the news that beyond
the islands off the Chukchi peninsula lay a large conti-
nent, forested, inhabited, with great rivers, where were a
people with tails like dogs, wearing skin clothing, and
living upon wild reindeer and sea animals. The learned
academician apologizes for recording this fable of the wild
Chukchi, which, however, carries with it the confirmation
of the story of PopofFs visit ; since we now know that it is
a common practice of the American Eskimo to wear the
tail of a wolf or dog at the back of his girdle on cere-
monial occasions, or while traveling.

This is the first authentic mention of the continent east
of Bering Strait and its inhabitants, though mention had
been made by earlier explorers of accounts by the Chuk-
chi of the Diomede and St. Lawrence Islands.

MENDING HIS CANOE

SITKA. INDIAN HUTS

BERING'S EXPLORATIONS 187

The exploration and gradual conquest and settlement
of eastern Siberia was the work of a multitude of adven-
turers, known generically as Promishleniki or hunters.
They included the more turbulent and enterprising of the
border population of Siberia, such skirmishers of half
savage, wholly unmoral, humanity as most nations drive
before them, in an advance into the wilderness. Power-
ful from the arms which they borrowed from civilization,
desperately energetic, they defied cold, starvation, war,
the perils of the sea, and the unknown terrors of the
wilderness, in their love of adventure and greed of gain.
Penetrating a region like a creeping conflagration, con-
suming and destroying, yet they leave it cleared, after a
fashion, for the advent of a real civilization. In Asia
nothing but the sordid poverty of the Chukchi could hold
its own against them.

Rumors of their discoveries gradually filtered through
the wastes of Siberia to Russia. An expedition was fitted
out to ascertain the facts and especially whether America
and Asia were really separated. Vitus Bering, a Danish
officer naturalized in Russia, was assigned to the com-
mand, with Alexis ChirikofF as his chief assistant. July
20, 1728, the expedition left Kamchatka for the north,
sailed through Bering Strait without seeing the Diomedes
or the American shore, and presently returned to Kam-
chatka. The next year in June he sailed eastward from
Kamchatka some sixty miles in vain search of the Ameri-
can continent, and then made his way back to Okhotsk.
A second expedition was projected in 1732, and under the
same commander sailed from Kamchatka June 4, 1741, to
find the American coast. On July i8th, Bering anchored
under the lee of Wingham Island near the mouth of the
Copper River and thence made his way westward along
the line of the Aleutian chain to be finally wrecked on
the island which now bears his name, where he died of

I 88 DALL

scurvy December 8, 1741. The survivors reached Kam-.
chatka on the 2yth of August, 1742.

The immediate result of the arrival of the survivors of
the expedition with their wonderful tales of the abundance
of fur animals and the near proximity of a great archipel-
ago, was to stimulate every inhabitant of the region who
could leave Kamchatka, to push out and secure riches.

As iron and most necessaries for shipbuilding had to
cross Siberia, and were correspondingly dear, the Promish-
leniki made themselves boats of planks sewed together
with rawhide thongs and caulked with moss and oil.
Cattle were few and precious, salt meat hardly to be had.
The traders stocked up with salmon and in their crazy
boats pushed boldly out to sea. On reaching Bering
Island they went ashore and hunted the sea-cow (Stel-
ler's manatee) and salted down its beef-like flesh. When
fully supplied they pushed on to the Aleutian Islands.

There had long been traditions among the Kamchatkans
of islands off the Aliutorsk Cape ; referring probably to St.
Lawrence and the Diomedes. These were known collo-
quially as the Aliutorski Islands. When Bering discov-
ered the archipelago it was concluded that these were the
islands of the tradition, and so the name of a Kamchatkan
cape became fixed upon a region and people in no other
way connected with it.

The Sibiriaks did not trouble themselves to buy furs
from the natives. Their firearms, though few and archaic,
were an argument which proved conclusive in any con-
troversy with a people armed only with bone-headed
hand-lances. On arriving at a native settlement the
people were corralled, their furs, if any, taken as < tribute/
the young girls captured as i hostages,' and the old people
sent out to hunt, bring driftwood, or catch fish for the
invaders. Resistance was useless, though frequently at-
tempted, and was punished by massacres which thoroughly

GOVERNMENT SURVEYS 189

terrorized the survivors. Within the memory of living
men, the Aleutian mother quieted her fretful child by
calling on GlottofT and Drusenin, who were of those who
reigned in this hell they had created. As one island after
another was depleted of its furs, succeeding parties pushed
further and further eastward.

In 1763 parties reached Kadiak and the peninsula of
Alaska. Here a more vigorous and courageous people,
true Eskimo, replace the Aleuts. Accustomed to meet
and conquer the mighty bears of the island, these people
resisted enslavement and slew many of their persecutors.
Moreover many of the Aleuts arose in desperation, happy
if in dying they could carry with them even one of their
tyrants. Many committed suicide; the population was
becoming scanty; the bands of Sibiriaks, too numerous to
be easily fed from the resources of the country, or to be
satisfied with the diminishing store of skins, turned their
arms sometimes upon each other. About this time the gov-
ernment began to send out officers to survey the new pos-
sessions and incidentally to establish order and secure the
imperial tribute. Among others Krenitzin and LevasherT,
two naval captains, after whom Captains Bay, Unalaska,
is named, wintered there in 1768. They made the first
charts of the archipelago and returned to Okhotsk in 1769.

Somewhat checked by the presence of officials and the
other difficulties of the situation, the fur-traders began to
combine in companies and to systematize the business.
Several corporations were formed which soon began to
clash with each other. Still, the climax of the saturnalia
had passed and the half-insane orgies of the first years
were no longer repeated.

The cream of the fur trade had been skimmed, the
Aleut nation diminished to a tenth of its original num-
ber. They were necessary to hunt the otter; it became
no longer profitable to waste the male population.

190 DALL

Meanwhile other nations had become dimly aware of an
unoccupied empire, rich in furs and affording a market
for trade, on the northeast border of the Great Ocean.

Spain, through her representatives in Mexico, made the
first move, and Ensign Juan Perez reached the latitude of
Dixon Entrance in 1774. The following year Bodega and
Maurelle attained to the vicinity of Sitka Sound, where
they saw and named Mount San Jacinto, now known as
Edgecombe. In 1776 the immortal James Cook sailed
from Plymouth, England, for a voyage of discovery in the
North Pacific. On the roster of his officers we read the
well-known names of Clerke, King, Bligh (later of the
Bounty), Burney, Gore (of Virginia), John Ledyard (of
Connecticut), and Vancouver (as midshipman). During
the spring of 1778 Cook traced the northwest Ameri-
can coast from Nootka to Icy Cape and then turned back
to meet his fate among the islands of Hawaii. Some
additions to the work were made the following year by
Clerke and Gore, while the Spanish vessels under Arteaga
and Bodega pushed their researches as far as Prince Wil-
liam Sound.

We owe to Cook the first generally accurate delinea-
tion and positions of the Northwest coast as a whole, and
it is surprising how near he came to the best modern re-
sults obtained with far superior instruments. Those who
followed him, for many years, added and elucidated chiefly
in details.

In 1781 Shelikoff, GolikofF, and other merchants of Si-
beria formed a corporation for the more effective manage-
ment of their business, and dispatched vessels to the
Northwest coast. The French naval captain La Perouse
with a shipful of young noblemen, who apparently dis-
dained to trouble themselves with navigation or seaman-
ship, touched in 1786 on the northwest coast near the
Fairweather ground, surveyed Lituya Bay and lost two

MT. EDGKCUMBE FROM BACK OF SITKA

SPANISH VOYAGES 19!

boats and twenty-one men who carelessly ventured into
the bore at the narrow entrance. About this time inde-
pendent fur traders began to visit the coast. James Hanna
of Macao traded at Nootka in 1785, and in a few years
numbers of ships appeared from various quarters of the
globe. Some of these men had a liberal education and
made their voyages contribute to geographical and natural
science as well as pecuniary profit. Among the better
known were Meares, Portlock, Dixon, Berkeley, and Cox,
all Englishmen; Ingraham, Gray, Sturgis, Kendrick, and
Cleveland from New England.

The Spanish authorities claimed the sole right to navi-
gate the waters of the Northwest coast though they had
never utilized any of its resources. To drive away the
1 Boston ' and * King George ' men, as the Yankees and
Englishmen were called in the trade jargon, they sent, in
1788, some armed vessels, under Martinez and Haro, on a
voyage of reconnaissance. These extended their investi-
gations as far as Kadiak and Unalaska before returning to
California. The following May the same officers pro-
ceeded to Nootka where they took possession in the
name of Spain, built a small fort, and seized three British
vessels under Colnett and Hudson which had been sent
from Macao by Meares. The American vessels were not
molested, and Gray, in the Columbia, after various explor-
ations sailed for Canton, where he exchanged his furs for
tea, with which he reached Boston, August 10, 1790, hav-
ing carried the United States flag around the world for the
first time.

The action of the Spaniards in seizing the British ves-
sels did more for the exploration of the coast than all their
surveying expeditions. The British government protested
against the proceeding and, with the acquiescence of
Spain, George Vancouver was sent to the Northwest coast
to determine with the aid of a Spanish Commissioner what

192

BALL

indemnity was due the parties. He was also instructed
to survey the coast from the 35th to the 6oth parallel of
north latitude so as to set at rest finally the theories which
claimed, somewhere in this region, the existence of a
1 northeast passage ' — a waterway leading eastward to
Hudson Bay. On his way north he missed the mouth of
the Columbia River, of whose existence he was later in-
formed by Gray. This omission may have served to put
him on his mettle ; at all events the surveys which he
conducted during 1792-4, were worthy of the best ex-
plorer of his time. No other man has given to the world
a detailed survey of equal excellence of so many miles of
intricate coast, and under analogous conditions. Van-
couver died, worn out by his exposure and heroic exer-
tions, just as his report was coming from the press. His
last days were saddened by the insults of a ruffian of the
nobility, Lord Camelford, who had been discharged from
the expedition for bad conduct before the Pacific was
reached. The only memorial in England dedicated to
Vancouver is a tablet erected by the Hudson Bay Com-
pany in the little parish church of Ham, near Richmond,
where he lies buried.

During these years Shelikoff and Baranoff had received
from the empire exclusive trading privileges in the Rus-
sian possessions. Several Russian expeditions had visited
the coast under SarychefF, Billings, and Hall. By 1794 the
cries of the unfortunate Aleut reached even to St. Peters-
burg and the Emperor Paul contemplated withdrawing
the corporate franchises which had been so fearfully
abused. Some Russian missionaries had been sent out,
but the natives, except when terrorized, did not receive
them very cordially, naturally fearing ' the Greeks bear-
ing gifts.'

In 1799 the Emperor Paul granted a charter for the
term of twenty years to a new company which was to

RUSSIAN-AMERICAN COMPANY

enjoy exclusive rights. Under the name of the Russian-
American Company the new organization was required to
organize settlements, promote agriculture, commerce, dis-
covery, and the propagation of the Greek Catholic faith,
and to extend Russian influence and territory on the
Pacific so far as it might be done without trespassing on
the territory of any foreign power. The government of
the colonies was confided to the Chief Director, who re-
sided at Kadiak. No appeal could be made from him ex-
cept to the Directory at Irkutsk which settled all regula-
tions and appointments and decided all questions which
might be raised, subject to the approval of the Imperial
Department of Commerce. Outside of Kadiak other dis-

THK FIRST RULER OF RUSSIAN AMERICA.

Alexander Andreivich Baranoff, administrator of the Russian colonies in America, 1793-1817 ;
died at Batavia, April 28, 1819.

tricts were ruled by inferior agents chosen from among
the employes and accountable only to the Chief Director.

i94

BALL

The general regulations were just and humane, but the
enforcement of them was entrusted to men with whom
justice was always subservient to expediency. Baranoff
maintained for twenty years an absolute and despotic sway
over the colonies. The orders of the Directory were often
unheeded by him and it was almost as easy for complaints
to reach the Directory from another planet as from Rus-
sian America. He was a man of iron energy and nerve,
coarse, unfeeling, shrewd, and enterprising. Among his
subordinates were men far more intelligent and humane
than himself, but any improvements were proposed in vain
if in his judgment they conflicted with the interests of the
company. Krusenstern, one of the Russian naval officers,
remarks of the servants of the Company, " none but vaga-
bonds and adventurers ever entered the Company's ser-
vice as traders; it was their invariable destiny to pass a
life of wretchedness in America; and few had the good
fortune to touch Russian soil again." Naturally most of
the personnel of the service in the colonies was drawn
from the ranks of those who had served in the Shelikoff
and other companies, and it is doubtful if the change of
masters made any perceptible difference to the Aleuts or
other natives under the control of the Russians. How-
ever, more business-like methods were introduced in the
general conduct of affairs; among the new officers of the
Company were some men of intelligence, refinement, and
kindly nature, as well as of scientific acquirements.
Though the Aleuts were treated as serfs of the Company
they were entitled to a certain amount of subsistence, and
the absence of competition took away many of the pre-
vious grounds for friction.

The official interest in the Company grew as explora-
tions by Russian naval officers increased. In 1800 the
chief officers were moved from Irkutsk to St. Petersburg.
Two years later the Emperor, Empress, and Grand Duke

DESTRUCTION OF SITKA 195

Constantine became shareholders in the corporation, and
the Loan Bank of St. Petersburg was directed to loan
250,000 silver rubles to the Company at eight percent.
As the operations of the Company became more wide-
spread, their vessels commanded by Russian naval officers
constantly explored new portions of the coast. The trad-
ing post established at Old Harbor, Sitka Sound, by Bar-
anoff in 1799 did a good business, and in the spring of
1800 Baranoff formally took possession in the name of
Russia of the region now comprised in southeastern
Alaska. In contrast with the relatively mild native of Es-
kimo stock with whom the Russian had dealt to the west-
ward, the pugnacious and turbulent Tlinkit of the Sitkan
Archipelago kept the settlers and traders constantly on the
defensive. In May, 1802, the Sitkan natives attacked the
Russian post and massacred the entire party excepting a
few who took to the woods and were rescued by Barbour,
the master of a British trader. Attacks were also made
on Russian hunting parties in various parts of the Archi-
pelago. During the same year the Stikine River was
discovered by the American ship Atahualpa of Boston.

An expedition under Krusenstern and Lisianski in the
ships Nadeshda and Neva sailed for the colonies in Au-
gust, 1803. The colonial officials pushed their explora-
tions some distance up the Copper River and sent hunting
and trading parties to Oregon and California.

In 1804 Lisianski in the Neva joined Baranoff before
Sitka, where the native stronghold was defended energet-
ically against the Russian cannon. It was evacuated by
the Tlinkit when their ammunition was exhausted and
the Russians immediately laid the foundation of a fortified
post on the very defensible peninsula which had been oc-
cupied by the natives. As the Archangel Gabriel, to
whom the post at Old Harbor had been dedicated, had
not protected it against the heathen, the new post was de-

196 DALL

voted to the Archangel Michael in hope of better results,
whence it was commonly called New Archangel, a name
which has now given place to Sitka, from the native des-
ignation of the bay upon which it is situated.

For some years the progress of discovery and trade was
slow, though not unimportant. In 1816-1817 Kotzebue
was engaged in the work of exploration in the Aleutians
and northward. In August, 1816, he entered the Arctic
Ocean and explored the sound which bears his name. In

1818 the eastern shores of Bering Sea, especially Bristol
Bay, were explored by Korsakoff and Kolmakoff. In

1819 an expedition for geographical discovery was fitted
out at St. Petersburg under VasilierT and Bellingshausen.
Baranoff, returning to Russia, died at Batavia April z8th,
being about eighty years old, and leaving, in spite of his
active career and exceptional opportunities, no fortune.
His death made practicable the more exact fixing of
responsibility for colonial matters, and numerous much
needed reforms were carried out in the subsequent ad-
ministration of the Company's business.

At this time the Russians had settlements or fortified
trading posts in California, Sitka Sound, Prince William
Sound, Cook Inlet, Kadiak, five of the Aleutian Islands,
the Pribilof Islands, and Nushagak in Bristol Bay.

A convention between Russia and the United States
relative to boundaries, privileges for hunting and fishing,
and regulations governing trade, was signed at St. Peters-
burg April 17, 1824. A less conspicuous event which
had for a large part of the Territory even more impor-
tant consequences was the arrival in the Colonies of
Father Innokenti Veniaminoff, who had been sent as a
missionary priest to Unalaska. It is one of the mysteries
of the human mind how a religion brought by men guilty
of every infamy could be accepted by their victims ; and
it is probable that the reasoning, if any, indulged in by

VENIAMINOFF

I97

conforming Aleuts was that a religion and a God which
could save from eternal torment such men as GlottofF and
Solovioff, must be remarkably efficacious and powerful.

THE APOSTLE TO THE ALEUTS.

Ivan Veniaminoff, in religion Innokenti, born September i, 1797, missionary to the Aleuts
1823-33, to the Tlinkit 1834-40, Bishop of Kamchatka 1841-67, Metropolitan of Moscow 1867-79,
died April aa, 1879.

However this may be, in Veniaminoff came a man who
dealt justly and loved mercy; a man rilled with the ra-
diant spirit of a savior of men. He made himself one
with his people, loving and beloved. Nor did he rest
satisfied with spiritual ministrations. He learned their
language, studied with affectionate comprehension their
manners and customs, recorded the climatic and physical
conditions under which they lived, and in his * Notes on

198 BALL

the Unalaska District ' has built the only existing founda-
tion for the anthropology of the people he served so well.
For seven years he worked among them and his memory
is still dear in the land.

In 1825 a convention between Great Britain and Russia
was signed, by which the boundaries of Russian territory
were established, the Hudson Bay Company definitely ex-
cluded from every part of the seacoast north of Lat. 54°
40', and the unknown territory north of the St. Elias Alps
equitably divided by an astronomical line, the I4ist
meridian west from Greenwich.

The interest in Arctic exploration which had been in-
strumental in promoting the voyages of Ross, Franklin,
Parry, Richardson, and Back on the northeastern shores
of America now instigated cooperative explorations in the
North Pacific. This work began with the work of
Beechey in H. M. S. Blossom, which sailed from England
in 1825. The following year one of the most fruitful of
Russian scientific expeditions to America sailed from St.
Petersburg in the corvette Seniavine, commanded by
Liitke, who was assisted by the naturalists Kittlitz, Post-
els, and Mertens. Beechey pushed northward as far as
the ice would admit his vessel and sent a boat party,
under Elson, which reached and named Point Barrow, the
most northern extreme of Alaska. During the same sum-
mer Franklin, pushing westward from the Mackenzie,
reached Return Reef, the most western point of his ex-
plorations, on the Arctic coast.

The Company's officers continued their surveys in 1832,
established Fort KolmakofF on the Kuskokwim River,
and a year later TebenkofF built Redoubt St. Michael on
Norton Sound. In 1835 a meteorological and magnetic
observatory was established at Sitka, where for many
years a first class series of observations was kept up. In
1835 the delta of the Yukon and Kuskokwim was explored

WHALE FISHERIES 199

by Glasunoff, and the Yukon was ascended as far as
Anvik. In 1837 Dease and Simpson of the Hudson Bay
Company completed the survey of the Arctic coast be-
tween Franklin's Return Reef and Point Barrow; and Sir
Edward Belcher in H.M.S. Sulphur made various ex-
plorations between Sitka and Kadiak. In 1838 the
trading post at Nulato was established on the Yukon by
Malakoff. Evacuated during the winter, it was burned by
the natives, but reestablished in 1841 by Derabin who re-
mained in command. In the course of 1842-1843, the
Yukon as far up as Nowikakat was examined and mapped
by Zagoskin. In 1847 McMurray of the Hudson Bay
Company coming from the Mackenzie, descended the
Porcupine River and built Fort Yukon near its junction
with the Yukon River.

In 1848 the Franklin search expeditions were sent out,
inaugurating the most active period of exploration of the
polar regions. The Herald and Plover were sent to
Bering Strait to cooperate with parties working from the
eastward. During this summer the first American whaler
to venture through Bering Strait, the ship Superior, Captain
Roys, was rewarded by a successful catch in a very short
time. The report of his success spreading, he was fol-
lowed in 1849 by a fleet of one hundred and fifty-four
American whalers, and the fishery was thus permanently
established north of the Strait.

During the summer of 1849 the Herald and Plover, as-
sisted by the private yacht Nancy Dawson, explored the
Polar Sea north of Bering Strait, landed on Herald Island
and probably had a glimpse of Wrangell Land. A boat
expedition under Robert Pullen reached the Mackenzie
River from Point Barrow, ascended to Fort Macpherson
and returned home by way of York Factory and Hudson
Bay, one of the most remarkable journeys on record for
this region. In 1850 the Franklin search was energetically

2OO

DALL

continued by McClure and Collinson who sent Lieutenant
Barnard up the Yukon to Nulato in search of information,
while Bedford Pirn explored between Norton and Kot-

1 ( <.

POLAR EXPLORER AND RUSSIAN GOVERNOR.

Admiral Baron Ferdinand Petrovich von Wrangell, reformer and administrator of the Rus-
sian American colonies, iteg-iStf. Born December 29, 1794. Died May 25, 1870.

zebue Sounds and Grantley Harbor. Barnard perished
in an attack on Nulato by the Koyukun Indians. During
the next four years Arctic exploration and the search for
Franklin were carried on by the officers above mentioned,
and by Kellett, Maguire, and Trollope.

In 1854 the Ringgold and Rodgers exploring expedition
made valuable surveys in the Aleutian Islands and the
vicinity of Bering Strait. In 1860-1861 Robert Kenni-
cott, of the Smithsonian Institution, coming from Hudson
Bay by way of Fort Yukon, descended the Yukon to the

TELEGRAPH SURVEYS 2OI

Small Houses. In 1863 Strachan Jones, commanding at
Fort Yukon, descended the Yukon to Nowikakat. This
point had been reached by Zagoskin, ten years earlier,
from the sea; but neither the Russians nor the Hudson
Bay men appear to have been aware of the work of the
rival party. Hearing now of the presence of the Eng-
lish, the Russian commander at Nulato sent Ivan Lukeen,
a half breed, with a party of Indians, up the river to gather
information. This party reached Fort Yukon where they
traded and returned to St. Michael.

The successive failures of several Atlantic cables to
work for any length of time, had disposed many telegraph
men to believe that no permanently working cable of that
length could be expected. This led to a plan for an in-
ternational telegraph overland from the mouth of the
Amur River in Siberia to Bering Strait, crossing by a
short cable, and thence again overland up the valley of the
Yukon and through British Columbia to civilization. The
cooperation of the Russian government was secured and
the command of an expedition to make the necessary ex-
plorations was entrusted by the Western Union Telegraph
Company to Capt. Charles S. Bulkley. This expedition
was organized in San Francisco in 1865, and included a
number of scientific men under Robert Kennicott, selected
through the good offices of the Smithsonian Institution.

Through their explorations it was first made known to
the world that the Yukon of the English and the Kwik-
pak of the Russian maps were one and the same great
river, which was first mapped with approximate accuracy
from their rough surveys.

Kennicott died during the spring of 1866, but Frank
Ketchum and Michael Lebarge carried out his plans and
ascended the Yukon to Fort Yukon. Kennicott was suc-
ceeded in charge of the scientific corps of the expedition by
William H. Dall, who with Frederick Whymper in 1867

202

DALL

ascended and mapped the Yukon to Fort Yukon and the
boundary, while Ketchum pushed on in birch canoes to the
site of old Fort Selkirk, both returning together to the sea.

FIRST AMERICAN EXPLORER OF THE YUKON.

Robert Kennicott, naturalist, born November 13, 1835, died at Nulato, on the Yukon River,
May 13, 1866.

Space fails to enumerate the details of the surveying
and scientific research which were carried on by this ex-
pedition or resulted indirectly from its work,1 but there
is little doubt that the acquisition of Alaska by the United
States was largely due to the information brought back
by the telegraph explorers.

1 An account and bibliography of this subject is to be found in the Bulle-
tin of the Philosophical Society of Washington, XIII., pp. 123-162, December,
1895.

<

V .

\

ALASKA PURCHASE 203

In 1867, the Western Union Telegraph Company, find-
ing the Atlantic Cable at last a success, withdrew its part-
ies from Alaska. About the time many of the members
of the expedition had returned to the eastern United States
the question of the purchase of the Territory was being dis-
cussed, and the favorable decision finally arrived at was,
with little doubt, largely due to the information at first
hand these gentlemen furnished to those considering the
subject.

On the 1 8th of October, 1867, the Russian authorities
formally surrendered the Territory to General L. H. Rous-
seau, U. S. A., acting for the United States at Sitka.
Previous to this time, since the expiration of the charter
of the Russian-American Company in 1862, its business
had been carried on under the general supervision of an
Imperial governor. That the charter was not renewed
was directly due to the exposure of abuses which existed
in the management and had been more or less character-
istic of the conditions in the Territory since the beginning
of the century. Nor was the transfer to the custody of
the Republic to work an immediate cure. A history of
conditions in Alaska from 1867 to 1897 is yet to be written,
and when written few Americans will be able to read it
without indignation. A country of which it could be said
with little exaggeration that

" Never a law of God nor man
Runs north of fifty-five."

A country where no man could make a legal will, own a
homestead or transfer it, or so much as cut wood for his
fire without defying a Congressional prohibition; where
polygamy and slavery and the lynching of witches pre-
vailed, with no legal authority to stay or punish criminals;
such in great part has Alaska been for thirty years. The
waning of the fur trade and the increase in population due

204 DALL

to the discovery of gold have forced attention to the
needs of the region, and the future is not, as the past
seemed to be, without hope for better government. It
will be a perpetual testimony to the character of the early
American settlers in Alaska, that under the circumstances
in which they found themselves they bore themselves so
well.

It would require a row of stately volumes to contain an
adequate account of the explorations and surveys made
since the transfer by the Coast Survey, the Geological
Survey, and officers of the Navy, the Revenue Marine,
and the Army. The amount done is marvelous, yet
hardly known to the public. To one conversant with the
facts, one of the most amusing things in current litera-
ture is the placid innocence of many a casual traveler
or gold hunter, who pours out his tale of experiences in
the confident belief that nothing of the kind is on record.
A bibliography, far from complete, yet with fully 4,000
titles, does not cover the publications in books and serials
upon the Territory and its adjacent regions.

It is true that of satisfactory and reliable books on the
general subject there is an obvious dearth. This, how-
ever, cannot long be the case. That all the virgin terri-
tory has been reached is far from true, and there still re-
mains a good opportunity in many parts of Alaska for the
work of the careful and energetic anthropologist or geog-
rapher.

The work of the Harriman Expedition, in spite of the
extremely limited time available at any one locality, shows
how large a field there is as yet untilled. While the
sublime scenery of the southern coast will long be the
goal of tourists, we may confidently anticipate for years to
come a rich harvest for the scientific explorers and natu-
ralists whose good fortune may lead them to the fascinat-
ing study of the virgin North.

DAYS AMONG ALASKA BIRDS

BT CHARLES KEELER

HERE was to me a peculiar interest in the
birds seen during our memorable voyage along
the Alaska coast, in that most of them were
old friends, known through many a California
winter. I was now to be taken into the pri-
vacy of their homes and to make their acquaintance at the
brief period when all the best and sweetest scenes of their
lives are enacted. Many of them are silent, for the most
part, during their winter visits, and only on the Alaska
shores are their songs to be heard. Others, which sing
about my garden in midwinter, were uttering the same
familiar strains in this region of enchanting grandeur.
There were also strangers of rare interest among them —
inhabitants of Arctic tundras and the storm-swept rocks
of Bering Sea.

During the early days of the voyage the ornithologists
of the party were sadly disappointed on account of the
scarcity of bird life. We sailed by mile upon mile of
forest land with inviting shore lines, where streams of
water tumbled and roared down the mountain sides, but
upon landing the forest presented a harsh and inhospitable
barrier of devil's club, swampy thickets, and great fallen
tree trunks overgrown with rank vegetation. On forcing

(205)

206 KEELER

our way into these forest retreats we found but little indi-
cation of the presence of animal life. Silence reigned,
broken now and then by the squeak of a Harris's wood-
pecker or the short fine note of the pileolated warbler.
This frail, beautiful little creature with its fine golden
plumage and black cap, its dainty manners and sprightly
song, was one of the few birds found in considerable
numbers in the forests of the southern portions of the in-
land passages.

The northwest crows and the ravens forced themselves
upon our attention from the outset. We are accustomed
to think of ravens as shy birds, dwelling in remote and
desolate places, upon the wastes of the plains, or on
dreary rock-bound sea coasts, but at every village in
Alaska they are as abundant and tame as chickens in a
farmyard. It is not strange that the raven has been a bird
held in superstitious reverence or fear among men of
many races and in various parts of the world — that it
has been a theme for poets and a study for scientists as
well as a sacred being among the Tlinkit Indians. In
appearance it is wiser than an owl. It is more full of
strange antics than a parrot and quite as talkative in its
own peculiar vernacular.

It is well that it is held in veneration by the Indians and
in contempt by the whites, for the untidy habits of the peo-
ple make these scavengers quite indispensable. There is
something inexpressibly droll and quaint about the sidling
hops and curious prancing walk of these big, lustrous black
fellows, with their sharp eyes and strong, black beaks ;
they turn their heads on one side in such a knowing fashion
when they look at any strange object, and their cries are
so expressive of their varied emotions. Their typical call
is a deep, guttural, rattling croak, not wholly unmusical,
although loud and wild. I wrote down some of the calls
they uttered, indicating as well as possible in letters the

EAGLES AND HUMMINGBIRDS 207

effect of their tones, ^uadk! quaakl an old fellow
would call from the top of a Sitka spruce, and then sud-
denly change to a low, deep-voiced -woop! — rolling it out
like an Indian war whoop. Again he would vary the
note to a milder yup-quook! with a persuasive, liquid
quality in his voice.

They spend much time on the beaches where refuse is
plenty, and seem to lead happy, independent lives there,
with little to worry them and much to make merry over.
The raven is about two feet long and may be distinguished
from the crow not only by its much greater size, but also
by the distinct and pointed effect of the feathers of the
throat. Altogether I have found them among the most
entertaining and intelligent birds I have had the good
fortune to know.

Another conspicuous and widely distributed bird, that
we encountered almost at the outset of our voyage and
which was ever a part of the landscape until we entered
Bering Sea, is the bald eagle. The adult, perched in the
top of a spruce or hemlock, its white head contrasting
with the black of its body, makes a striking picture and
seems peculiarly in keeping with the grandeur of the
scenery and the solitude of these wave-washed shores.

If the eagle seems to belong to these solitudes of the
Northwest, another bird, which we found equally abundant
as far north as Juneau and Sitka, seemed singularly out of
place. Indeed, even after reading that the tiny rufous
hummingbird journeyed so far into the northern wilds,
it was with almost a shock of surprise that we saw the
dainty creature, which we instinctively associate with the
tropics, contentedly buzzing about the salmon berries and
appearing as unconcerned and happy as if his fine wings
had not carried him some thousands of miles from his
winter quarters in southern California or Mexico. I can-
not imagine a more wonderful instance of bird migration

208 KEELER

than this — one of the smallest known birds, no larger than
a fair sized moth, yet with strength, endurance, and in-
telligence to travel up and down the greater part of the
North American coast line, pressing close upon the train
of early spring, awaiting only the blooming of the wild
currant in California and the salmon berry farther north,
to venture upon his perilous way! His whole make-up
is of fire. It shows upon his burnished helmet and gorget,
and flashes with every turn of his alert head ; it appears in
the warm rufous of his back and sides, and more than all
else in the daring spirit that can achieve such wonders!
All hail to thee, little pioneer! You explored the wilder-
ness centuries before the birth of Bering, Cook, or Van-
couver; you answered the beckoning blossoms and fol-
lowed them into whatever forest halls they summoned
you, even upon the very threshold of the ice king's do-
main! May the two white dots of eggs in thy felted
cradle reward thy toil, and may thy whole family of in-
trepid nomads escape the dangers of their southward
journey!

Steller's jay is one of the characteristic birds of the for-
ested coast regions of the Northwest. It is noisy and
showy, constantly obtruding its presence wherever the
traveler may tarry, although its marked preference for the
vicinity of man was frequently noted. It is a big crested
jay with sooty black head and back, deep blue-black
barred wings and tail, and a paler blue breast. He is a
rollicking fellow with a loud voice, saucy manners, and
eminently social habits.

During our short stay at Wrangell we found birds more
numerous than at any point previously visited. Species
that had enlivened the forest-covered shores wherever we
had landed were here in abundance, and in addition there
were many well-known friends we had been accustomed
to associate with more southern latitudes. Barn swallows

RUFOUS HUMMINGBIRD, SELASPHORTJS RUFUS

BIRDS ABOUT WRANGELL 209

flitted about with light agile turns and fine chattering cries,
quite as much at home in this historic Alaska hamlet as
they are in the farmyards of Massachusetts and the ranches
of California. A few white-breasted swallows sported over
the house tops, and the demure little Lincoln's finch was
at home in the shrubbery. He is a first cousin to the song
sparrow — a commonplace appearing bird, brown and gray
in color with profuse streakings above and below. He
may be distinguished from his nearest relatives by the buff
ground color of the breast, that of the song sparrows being
white. Here also we caught our first glimpse of the
dwarf hermit thrush, and heard the first far-away strains
of his entrancing song, but as we afterwards found him in
far greater abundance and had ample opportunities of lis-
tening to his melody, I shall defer an account of him to a
later period. Suffice it to say now that he is a constant
winter visitant of the valleys of California, but, so far as
observation goes, he is never betrayed into the faintest
suggestion of a song at that season — only a short, low,
chuck! chuck! as he retires into the shadow of the
shrubbery.

Another bird, Townsend's sparrow, singularly like a
thrush in general coloration, although profoundly different
in structure, was first encountered at Wrangell. In Cali-
fornia he is abundant all winter long. He is about the size
of a thrush, but whereas the bill and feet of that bird are
long and slender, those of Townsend's sparrow are short
and stout. He is a great scratcher and may often be found
in his quiet retreats in woodland thickets by the noise he
makes scratching away the leaves to get at his food.

I saw a belted kingfisher here, and greeted him as an
old friend, for wherever one may go in northern North
America, if a stream of water large enough to hold fish
flows through the country, his big crested head and dark
blue and white body are to be seen.

210 KEELER

At about nine o'clock on the evening of the day we left
Wrangell we cast anchor in the beautiful waters of Taku
Harbor. Here Dr. Merriam went ashore with a small
party to put out traps for mammals, and I had an oppor-
tunity to walk by the stream and listen to the enchanting
song of the russet-backed thrush. This thrush is a com-
mon summer resident of the Pacific Coast and is the most
accomplished song bird of the region. It is a trifle larger
than the dwarf hermit thrush and its back is uniform rus-
set-brown. Both species have a distinct ring of white or
buff around the eye, and both have the white breast more
or less tinged with buff and conspicuously spotted with
triangular dusky-brown marks.

Like birds of passage we hurried on. Gliding up the
wonderful reaches of Lynn Canal, past glaciers and tower-
ing mountain summits, we arrived at Skagway, and on the
following morning took the train for the summit of White
Pass, now so famous as the highway to the Klondike.

It is not strange that few birds choose so drear a place
for their summer home. The wonder is that any are hardy
enough to undertake the rearing of a family there. It must
be a blithe heart indeed that can sing all day long with
thick fog overhead, and bleak rocks, half buried in snow-
drifts, underfoot; but birds there were, singing their frail,
sweet songs in defiance of the rudeness of nature. We
observed three species, two of which spend their winters
in the valleys of California — the golden-crowned sparrow
and the American pipit or titlark — while the third, Hep-
burn's leucosticte, scorns to haunt the valleys at any sea-
son, but follows the margin of the snow, year in, year out.

The golden-crowned sparrow arrested the attention of
our entire party, not only at White Pass but at other points
where it was found in great numbers. To me it was an old
friend, for throughout the winter it is one of the most
abundant of California valley birds, but to those of the

GOLDEN- CROWNED SPARROW, ZONOTRICHIA COROKATA
White Pass, Jtui.e 7, 1899. Male

BIRDS OF WHITE PASS 211

party who came from east of the Rocky Mountains it was
a stranger, although first cousin of two common eastern
species — the white-throated and the white-crowned spar-
rows. Its typical song, though neither vivacious nor va-
ried, is so plaintively appealing as to win an audience
where other birds may chant their strains to deaf ears.
It is high and pensive, descending in a fine, liquid cadence
of three lingering notes. Some of our party, listening to
its song at Kadiak, fancied that the second note was
broken by a short halt, but after hearing it for many years
during the winter time, and again in its Alaska home, its
characteristic strain seems to me to consist of three notes
in a descending scale, often more or less slurred.

At White Pass I was not a little surprised to notice that
its song, although precisely the same in quality as during
the winter time, had a different sequence of the notes, the
highest tone being sounded first, followed by the lowest,
and lastly by the medium tone. I supposed at the time
that its summer song differed in this respect from its winter
strain, but at other points in Alaska we heard the well-
known song of its winter pilgrimages.

Some wag on the White Pass railroad has christened
this bird ' Weary Willie ' because he is forever singing
" I'm so tired! " As to the singer — he is a simple sparrow
of medium size, with a back of streaked brown, chestnut,
and black, an ashy rump, and a plain ashy-gray breast,
turning to olive-brown on the sides. His distinctive mark
is his golden crown, changing to ashy-white on the back
of his head and bordered with bands of black.

Of the pipit and leucosticte we shall see more anon, so
we can now leave them flitting about the snowy summits
of White Pass, while we hurry on our way down the
mountains by train to Skagway, and by steamer once
more through the wonderful Lynn Canal into Glacier
Bay.

212 KEELER

»

When we finally cast anchor before Muir Glacier, birds
were forgotten as we stood under the spell of the ice.
Indeed, it scarcely seemed credible that birds could be in
such a place — so cold, austere, and terrible it appeared.
Of course, we expected to find some of the hardy sea
birds, and so were not surprised to notice glaucous-
winged gulls flying about the inlet as in other parts of the
inland channels. One might fancy their feet would get
cold, as numbers of them rested upon floating cakes of ice.
The California murre, one of the species of diving birds,
which we afterwards encountered in great abundance, also
rested upon the bergs, and violet-green cormorants swam
with agile movements in the icy water. The cormorant
when on rocks or ice is a most ungainly bird, but is inter-
esting for all that. Its body is heavy and clumsy, and its
slender stretched-out neck seems to end in a long, narrow
bill, so slight is the enlargement of the head. A naked
skin-pocket covers the throat, and the clumsy toes are all
connected by a web. The violet-green cormorant, as if
to atone for its ungraceful outline, is resplendent in a coat
of burnished blackish-green, varied with purple iridescence
on the neck. Its gular sac, as the naked skin of the throat
is called, is coral red, and its bill and feet are black. To
add to its individuality, this species has two crests, one on
the top of the head, the other on the back of the neck,
while the flanks are adorned with patches of loose, white
feathers.

A few black brants were observed flying overhead, an
occasional raven flapped along the shore, and here we had
our first glimpse of the beautiful harlequin duck, swimming
amid the floating icebergs. Here, too, was that peerless
diver, the Pacific black-throated loon; the marbled mur-
relet sported in the icy waters, and the pigeon guille-
mots and tufted puffins gave variety and animation to the
scene.

1. ViOLET-GREEN CORMORANT, PHALACROCORAX PELAOICUS ROBUSTUS

Point Gustavus, Glacier Bay, June 11, 1899.

£. WHITE -CRESTED CORMORANT, PHALACROCORAX DILOPHUS CINCINATUS
Kukak Bay Alaska Peninsula, July 1899.

BIRDS NEAR MUIR GLACIER 213

Of the more delicate land birds, however, it seemed im-
possible that any could exist in such a spot. At the head
of the inlet the glacier wound down from the distant moun-
tain range, and discharged its bergs into the water with an
intermittent roar like thunder. Upon both sides the shores
were treeless and precipitous, save where the dreary mo-
notony of the moraine stretched out its undulating mass
of gravel. The mountains were dark, forbidding, and
steep, with nothing to cover the naked rock or soften its
outlines. To search for song birds in such a spot would
seem an idle task.

On a memorable Sunday morning I went for a tramp in
company with John Burroughs. Provided with lunch,
field glasses, and camera, we were landed on the eastern
shore. Crossing the rough mass of gravel piled into hills
and valleys, we jumped the rushing torrent that carried
the melting water from the glacier, and began to ascend.
It was steep, rough work, compelling us to stop fre-
quently for breathing spells. Climbing up the wall of
shale and slate we found ourselves upon a little flat space
where a clump of low alders grew, and here, to our sur-
prise, the dainty summer warbler in his golden coat, with
the fine reddish streakings upon his breast, was singing
the same animated song that he sings along the Hudson
River and in the groves of California. He and his little
mate had sought out this oasis amid rock and ice, and
hither they had come the long journey to rear their brood in
seclusion.

We rested amid the alders, took a drink from the moun-
tain torrent that poured down over the rocks from the
snow drifts above, and finally started on what proved to
be a very hard, rough scramble over the precipitous shale
to the summit.

After we had looked long and lingeringly at the view,
we turned our attention to the birds, a goodly number of

K Ji* xt> \~j li* -K.

which were singing about us. I was delighted to hear the
American titlark or pipit in its full summer frenzy of song.
Throughout the winter large flocks of this species haunt
the fields and open hillsides of California, running about
over the ground and pausing every now and then with a
peculiarly characteristic teetering motion of the body.
At that season I have never heard any note save their
faintly reiterated lisping call. They are simply colored,
with an olive-brown back faintly streaked with blackish
lines, and a pale brownish-buff breast covered with dusky
marks. In summer time the colors are much clearer and
sharper, the wings and tail being nearly black, varied with
white, and the breast becoming a warmer brown. But the
song of the pipit interested us more than its dress. This
blithe sprite of the northland, lark that he is, would fly
straight up in the air, singing in an excited manner a flute-
like, though very simple, crescendo — twit I twit! twit!
twit! — and then suddenly descend, still singing and flut-
tering, pausing only in his breathless strain as he alighted
on the ground in the gorge hundreds of feet below, where,
no doubt, his mate was awaiting him with hushed expect-
ancy.

Again, as at the summit of White Pass, the golden-
crowned sparrow sang in the inverted sequence of notes,
but it sounded none the less sweet and appealing. Among
the stunted alder thickets the dwarf thrushes were singing
in great numbers. Their strain, while much thinner and
finer than the song of the russet-backed thrush, has a
truly spiritual quality that lends it charm. It is a sweet,
silvery call with a slight liquid gurgle in its trill, and gives
the effect of distance even when the singer is close at hand.

Townsend's sparrow was also common and in song.
Its note was frequently varied, with just a suggestion of
the song sparrow's tone. The syllables most often re-
peated sounded thus: ts-tui! ts-ivi! tsi-tsi-tsi'-a! We

• :

•

:?£

5" a

PTARMIGAN 215

were interested in watching that other hardy member of
the finch family which we grew to associate with all our
rambles on the heights — Hepburn's leucosticte. It is a
variety of the gray-crowned leucosticte, or rosy finch, as
I prefer to call it — a rather large sparrow of a dark brown
color, varied by an ashen-gray patch on the back of the
head, and with the feathers in the vicinity of the tail
broadly edged with rosy red. We found these birds in
pairs running about on the crusted snow, picking up food
on its surface and along its edges. The only note we de-
tected was a deep-toned sparrow twitter, uttered on the
wing.

Still another hardy bird that rears its brood not far
from the banks of snow, is the white-tailed ptarmigan.
In many parts of Alaska we found this species and the
willow ptarmigan abundant and surprisingly tame. They
are beautiful birds, a trifle smaller than a grouse, and
famous for their seasonal changes of plumage, the entire
body becoming pure white in winter and turning more or
less brown in summer. Thus at all seasons the plumage
harmonizes completely with its surroundings, the finely
mottled brown, black, and white of the back and breast
blending as perfectly with the rocks upon which it rests
in summer as does the white with the snow of winter.

Although we had our first glimpse of these interesting
birds during the second week of June, we observed several
which were nearly pure white and others which showed
but small patches of dark. Is it not possible that where
they dwell so close to the line of perpetual snow, the adjust-
ment of coloration to environment is so complete that the
loss of the white plumage is much retarded or restricted ?
A white-tailed ptarmigan stood looking at us only a few
feet away, seemingly dazed by the novel sight of man.
He was a beautiful white fellow with only the conspicu-
ous orange-yellow skin above the eye showing by way of

2l6 KEELER

variety. For some moments he stretched his neck about,
looking now this way, now that, and then, starting off with
a queer, guttural chuckle, flapped his wings until he was
well launched in air, when suddenly checking his flight he
sailed with a graceful swoop down to the level reaches of
the moraine far below.

Such was the life in this aerial garden where, beside
banks of eternal snow, birds sang and flowers bloomed un-
heeding the pageant of splendid desolation stretching in
vast sweeps from horizon to horizon. What miracle
could be more impressive than this of the rude rock
mother, cradling upon her breast, as the ice slipped away,
the gentle epilobium and the timid thrush! What pic-
tures it brings to mind of the days long gone when the ice
crowded down from the north, sweeping all living things
before its resistless march, followed by its slow and re-
luctant retreat, and by the eager rush of life into the re-
gion which it had laid waste ! Here, to-day, is the living
counterpart of the ice age. With the same dauntless
spirit, the same simple trust, now as then, are the birds
and flowers thronging to the threshold of the ice king's
palace, to reclaim and make lovely the land that has been
visited with utter desolation.

On awakening one morning at Yakutat we found our
ship anchored in front of the Indian village. A small
party of us made preparations for an early start ashore,
with equipment for a few days in camp. We selected a
spot upon a sandy beach in a little cove about a mile from
the village, a clear stream emptying into the bay close by.
After breakfast in camp Mr. Ridgway and I started out in
our rowboat to look for birds. We first noticed a flock
of white-winged scoters swimming near a rocky point,
where they were no doubt breakfasting on mussels.
They are clumsy, black sea ducks with white wir •» spots
and with the upper mandible greatly swollen at the base

~

q

sj

BIRDS OF YAKUTAT BAY

and colored a brilliant red. The female lacks the swelling
of the beak and is dull grayish-brown in color.

Next a flock of Arctic terns was seen — slender, pale-
gray and pearl-blue, swallow-like cousins of the gulls,
with long forked tails, black caps, and sharp, carmine-col-
ored bills. They were airily fluttering over the water and
splashing in every now and then for a fish. Their high,
creaking rattle of a cry was constantly uttered as they
fluttered and gyrated over the spot where a school of
small fish was swimming.

We rowed to the settlement, which is composed of
houses built in the most hideously modern fashion with
clapboards and paint, and, upon landing, strolled off into
a partly cleared spot where birds seemed plentiful. Here
Mr. Ridgway found a race of song sparrow he had recently
described, and collected such specimens as he needed for
further studies. Townsend's sparrow was also abundant
and in full song. We heard the bright notes of the sum-
mer warbler and found the pileolated warbler in numbers.
This golden sylph with its cap of black has a dainty though
rather jerky song, a fine, rapidly uttered pipe — tsi-tsi-tsi-
tsi-tsi! The dwarf hermit thrush uttered its silvery gurg-
ling song every now and then — tive'-ti-twe-dle-de-dle!
and occasionally from the forest we heard the strain of
the ruby-crowned kinglet — a surprisingly loud and clear
song for so small a bird. The lutescent warbler, in olive-
green and dull yellow, trilled amid the bushes, a strain not
unlike that of the chipping sparrow, but not so high-pitched
and prolonged. Altogether there was a merry chorus
about the Indian village which did much to atone for the
prosaic appearance of the settlement.

On the following day Mr. Ridgway and I again went
for a ramble, taking advantage of a lull in the rain, that
fell much of the time we were in camp, and were re-
warded by the sight of several previously undetected birds.

2l8 KEELER

The woods back of our camp were like other forests of
the Alaska coast, dense and impenetrable. Hemlock
boughs reached out their flattened sprays, and the Sitka
spruce held forth its branches tipped with bright new
tassels. Raindrops clung to every leaf and showered us
with spray as we passed under the overhanging limbs.
Mosses, liverworts, and lichens covered the ground and
crowded upon the trunks of the trees. At every step the
foot sank into a cushion of heavy velvet or a pool of water.
Ferns grew in profusion, and bright green scouring-rushes
fringed the forest. Salmon berries and the famous Yaku-
tat strawberries were in blossom. Besides the birds we
had previously observed as abundant in the vicinity, we
saw the pert little brown winter wren, and heard its
merry, wheezy, rattling attempt at a song. Here also Mr.
Ridgway secured a specimen of the Kadiak pine grosbeak
in full plumage. We had observed a number of birds of
that species in the forest, but from their note had mistaken
them for purple finches. This large, beautiful finch, with
its very thick beak and showy rosy-red plumage, varied
on the back and belly with ashen-gray, is an inhabitant of
the forested regions of Alaska, where it rears its young in
the solitude of the dark groves of spruce.

During the two following days, which were spent aboard
ship cruising about Yakutat Bay, we secured specimens of
both the pomarine and parasitic jaeger, and I observed one
of the latter birds pursuing an Arctic tern which held a
fish in its beak. The jaegers are the winged pirates of
these northern seas. They belong to the gull family, but
differ much from other members of the group, both in
habits and plumage. Imagine a trim-built bird of vigor-
ous and sustained flight, agile in turning, and impetuous
in attack — a bird about afoot and a half in length, with a
rather long tail terminating in two elongated central feath-
ers projecting two or more inches beyond the rest — such

BIRDS OF COLLEGE FIORD 219

is the jaeger in form. In color it is dark brown or sooty-
slate upon the back, and either pure white or brownish-
black on the underparts.

While walking in the vicinity of a camp of Indians at
the head of Yakutat Bay, several of us encountered a
mother willow ptarmigan with her brood of chicks. Dr.
Merriam caught one of the young birds and its cries
speedily attracted the hen who came to within three or
four feet of us in her eagerness to effect the release of her
young. On setting it free the entire brood speedily dis-
appeared in the bushes. So completely do the ptarmigans
rely upon their coloration for protection that at Glacier
Bay a bird sitting on her eggs allowed Dr. Palache to pick
her up without making the slightest effort to escape.

Our next point of exploration after leaving Yukutat
Bay was within the sheltering recesses of Prince William
Sound, where reaches of dark forest fringe the shores and
snow-covered ranges tower in the background. These
uninhabited wastes seemed almost destitute of bird life,
and one might toil for hours through the tangle beneath
the dark spruce trees without hearing a bird lisp. At
times the merry chatter of a small flock of chestnut-
backed chickadees would interrupt the silence, or more
rarely the harsh notes of Steller's jay, to be followed by
a still deeper calm when the wind amid the branches
would breathe like some vast sleeper that could not be
aroused. At Orca I heard a western robin sing.

During a day of exploration in that wonderful inlet
which our geographers named College Fiord, we found
birds somewhat more abundant, although still very lim-
ited in the number of species. Indeed, the only land
bird which seemed thoroughly at home here on the verge
of the glaciers was Townsend's sparrow, which frequented
the dwarf alders of the moraines. Dr. Fisher recorded
the redpoll linnet, another hardy bird of the north-

22O KEELER

land that visits the United States only in the coldest
weather. Upon a low, rolling shore of gravel between
two of the smaller glaciers of this remarkable fiord we
came upon a nesting place of short-billed gulls and Arctic
terns. The nests were on the ground and were formed
by making a depression in a clump of grass and epilo-
bium, sometimes scantily lined with additional sticks and
dried grass. Indeed the terns made almost no attempt at
nest building, depositing their eggs upon the stony ground
with but the flimsiest lining of loose grass. The eggs
were marvelously protected in their exposed position,
their color blending so perfectly with their surroundings
that we frequently were on the point of treading on them
before detecting their presence. The eggs of the two
birds are very similar in color, although those of the gull
are of course much larger. The ground color is olive,
irregularly spotted with brown and obscure lilac. The
gulls' nests contained, as a rule, three eggs, while most of
the terns' held but two.

The short-billed gull in breeding plumage is a beautiful
bird, with its snowy white body, its delicate pearl-gray
mantle, and its black flight-feathers tipped with subter-
minal spots of white. We noted the dull yellow of its
feet, its waxy-yellow bill, its gray eye and the striking
spot of vermilion on its eyelid. The parent birds hovered
with extreme solicitude over the spot where their eggs
were concealed, uttering a short, insistent note of a de-
cidedly squeaky and unmusical quality — tup I tup! tup!
ye' up ! ye up ! Sometimes the cry was varied thus : ke-
upl kup! kup! and they also had a higher uninflected
cry. We saw a number of black oyster-catchers running
along the beach — big waders with long, blunt, vermilion
beaks, long, agile legs, and blackish-brown bodies.

Another day during our stay in Prince William Sound
we visited one of the alpine meadows which are so char-

BIRDS OF PRINCE WILLIAM SOUND 221

acteristic of the forested portions of Alaska. It is with
a thrill of pleasure that the traveler encounters one of
these secluded meadows hemmed in on all sides by track-
less forests or untraveled waterways. Imagine an open
glade half a mile in length, with gently undulating sur-
face, and here and there a dwarf spruce or an alpine hem-
lock, twisted and gnarled, looking in its fantastic shape
like the handiwork of a Japanese gardener. A carpet of
dense moss, in which the feet sink at every step, covers
the ground, and here and there are pools of water, imag-
ing the frail flowers which sway upon their banks. Here
grow the golden geum, the dainty little white stars, both
the pink-belled and white-belled heathers, the small
bunchberry or ground dogwood, the beautiful purple nod-
ding dodecatheon, the waving white fluffs of the cotton
grass, and the minute little purple bells of butterwort.
A solitary dwarf thrush stood on the edge of the meadow
with a mouthful of grubs for her little ones and a western
savanna sparrow sang its fine wheezy little tsip, tsip,
tr-ieee' I — but of other birds we saw no sign in all this
lovely wilderness of flowers. In the edge of the woods
near by, Dr. Merriam shot a Canada grouse, and upon the
shores the northwest crows cawed and pranced, but for
the most part the alpine meadows as well as the forests
surrounding them were seldom enlivened by the voices of
birds.

Of all the regions visited in Alaska, none seemed so
much like home as Kadiak, with its green hill slopes, its
inviting woodlands, its flowers and its birds. Here,
tucked away on an inlet of the ocean, nestling at the foot
of steep grassy hills, lay the little hamlet, unheeding the
far-away busy world, and fast settling into an eternal
sleep, untroubled save by dreams of the historic past. It
was the first of July when we arrived and the air was full of
the balmy cheer of summer. Shortly after landing I went

222 KEELER

for a stroll with Professor Ritter, and we fancied ourselves
treading again the well-loved coast ranges of California.
The hills rise in a very steep slope, but they are covered
with a heavy turf, affording firm and easy footing. The
entire mountain side was a garden of beautiful flowers.
Fleur-de-lis lifted their stately purple heads, and the blue
polemonium was scattered near and far. A deep pink-
purple orchid, with clusters of flowers on a stalk, grew
here and there, and white windflowers crowded the
slopes. Then there were lady's slippers, violets, forget-
me-nots and fritellarias — making in all the most exquisite
pageant of wild flowers we had ever seen.

In the midst of this flower garden were many birds in
song — the large dark Kadiak song sparrow, the savanna
sparrow, summer warbler, pileolated warbler, dwarf
thrush, and, most abundant of all, the golden-crowned
sparrow, singing the same plaintive song that we hear in
the valleys of California throughout the winter. It was a
perfect medley of sweet tones ringing over the mountains
far and wide — a chorus of tender minstrelsy in a setting
of innumerable flowers. A tangle of dwarf alders beside
a stream that trickled down the mountain side was the
rendezvous of the birds, and here we watched their merry-
making. Below us were the town beside the narrow inlet,
islands, bays, and mountains with green slopes, dark
masses of forest, and in the distance, ridges topped with
snow.

One morning I started off alone for a walk in the woods
to enjoy the birds and flowers, taking the road that led
into the spruce forest and wandering on until I found a
grove of beautiful moss-covered old trees. It was Sun-
day, and in the distance the bells of the Russian church
were clanging and jingling — big bells and little ones all
ringing at once. I was in an open park-like glade, with
small spruce trees all about, and glimpses of verdant hill-

BIRDS OF KADIAK 223

sides, their summits lost in mist. The air was balmy in
spite of a foggy atmosphere, and on every side was a
glorious chorus of bird songs — the bell-like tones of the
dwarf hermit and gray-cheeked thrushes, the sweet strain
of the varied robin, and the plaintive, long-drawn whistle
of the golden-crowned sparrow. The animated, sustained,
and rapid tsit-tsit-tsit-tsit of the pileolated warbler, the
chatter of the redpoll linnets and the hoarse croak of the
raven, all sounded together or in rapid succession.

The redpoll is a small bird of the finch family, with fine
sharp bill and dull brown and gray streaked plumage.
The head is reddish-brown, or, in full-plumaged males,
bright rosy-red, the throat is black, and when in full
plumage a bright rose color tinges most of the body. The
note of the redpoll is similar to that of the goldfinch, but
with more of a chatter in its quality. The sweet, direct,
loud, burring trill or whistle of the varied robin was a
very characteristic strain, differing from any other bird
song I have ever heard. It is without modulation — a
single sweetly penetrating note with just the slightest
gurgling rattle in quality, and pitched in various keys. It
may be represented thus : Brrrrrrrrrr! I saw some
of these birds among the spruce trees — quiet and digni-
fied, shunning society. One had food in its bill evidently
intended for its young. The call note was a low, liquid
chup! chup! This noble thrush of the northwestern
forests is about the size and build of a robin. Its breast
is orange brown, marked with a broad black crescentic
collar, and its back is dark slaty or plumbeous. A con-
spicuous stripe above the eye and double wing-bars are
orange-brown or buffy in tone.

The golden-crowned sparrow, besides its song, has two
distinct call notes — a fine, lisping tsip! tsip! which it
utters during its winter sojourns in California, and a spar-
row-like chirp — chip! chip! Townsend's sparrow sang

224

KEELER

a sweet, lively ditty which I transcribed into these inade-
quate phrases: pea-quit! quit! — tsit-a-iuie! — pea-a-
quit-quit-quit-a-wie ! Its call note was a thick-billed
sparrow chirp.

I spent some time listening to the thrushes in order to
distinguish the songs and calls of the gray-cheek from those
of the dwarf hermit. The two birds may be readily told
apart by the paler and grayer brown of the former species
contrasted with the warm rufous of the tail and coverts
of the latter. The gray-cheek sang more like a russet-
backed thrush, although its strain was not so full and rich.
Its song may be represented thus : qui-qmt-iui! qui-qmt-
quitl the quit always with the characteristic liquid gurgle
of a thrush. At other times it sang, tsi-tsi-qiiil' — tsi-
quil' ! or qui-quil' I qui-quil' ! Its call note was a liquid
pe'-a! pe'-a! In contrast with this was the call of the
dwarf thrush, a peevish cat-call chee! chee! The charac-
teristic nervous flirt of the wings accompanied this call.
At times I heard them utter the note so commonly sounded
during the winter months — a low, emphatic chuck!
chuck!

Here also the summer warbler was in song, and the
Kadiak pine grosbeak. In these same woods I met for
the first time the long-tailed chickadee, a western race of
the familiar eastern species, from which it differs in its
slightly paler coloration, and, as its name implies, in the
possession of a longer tail.

Upon another occasion Mr. Burroughs and I went for a
ramble in the forest on Wood Island, opposite the town of
Kadiak. It was a warm, beautiful day, and the woods
were in a peculiarly inviting mood. We started off from
the end of a little pond at the site of an old Russian saw-
mill, and took a cow trail into the timber. The first song
to attract our attention was that of the western winter
wren — a merry sustained little jingle, but without any

POLEMONIUMS from KADIAK. ALASKA.
1 & 2. Polemoruum caeruleura Linn.

BIRDS OF KADIAK 225

fulness of tone or melody. Next we found a magpie —
a fine-plumaged saucy fellow in his coat of white and
burnished black, his long tail trailing after him as he flut-
tered about in the bushes. Much to our surprise the
magpie proved a common and characteristic bird.

As we worked our way carefully through the masses
of devil's club, with its broad-spreading indented leaves
growing on a tall bare stalk, bristling with spines as sharp
as porcupine quills — over or under fallen trees and
around the bogs we encountered now and then, we heard
the fine lisp of the western golden-crowned kinglet, the
chatter of the long-tailed chickadee and the sweet note
of the varied robin. The golden-crowned kinglet is a
beautiful little bird — a tiny fellow with a plain gray breast
and an olive-green back; but of all wood creatures he is
the most perfectly crowned. Upon the top of his head is
a spot of flaming orange set in yellow and bordered with
bars of black, next to which, just over the eyes, are lines
of white. His little queen has a similar, though less bril-
liant crown, in which the orange flame is replaced by
yellow.

After leaving Kadiak we had no opportunity of making
note of bird ways until we touched for an hour or two at
Sand Point on Popof Island, one of the Shumagin group.
We had passed well beyond the forested part of Alaska,
and were destined to see henceforth only grassy mountain
slopes and Arctic tundras, with dwarf alders, willows, and
birches nestling in the hollows. A goodly number of
birds were abroad on the morning we anchored off Sand
Point. From the ship's deck I heard the chatter of barn
swallows (which, by the way, were also abundant about
the village of Kadiak), the plaintive strain of the golden-
crowned sparrow, the simple ditty of the Aleutian song
sparrow, the sprightly song of the summer warbler, and
the harsh call of the magpie. The song of the dwarf

226 KEELER

thrush sounded sweet and pure, chiming afar off in silvery
tones. After breakfast Mr. Burroughs and I went for a
brief stroll ashore, and discovered in addition to the birds
previously heard, the redpoll and Townsend's sparrow.
A mother song sparrow started up suddenly at our feet,
and a search of the neighborhood revealed the little grass
nest skillfully tucked away in a niche under an overhang-
ing bank. The greenish brown-spotted eggs seemed large
for a song sparrow's. We noticed a bald eagle soaring in
the air suddenly poise on fluttering wing like a hawk look-
ing for a mouse, and then float serenely on. Later we
saw a pair sitting on the rocks on the beach.

Our hasty survey of the birds was interrupted by a
summons to return to the ship and ere long we were steam-
ing on toward Unalaska. Here our stay was so brief that
I noted only three birds among the grassy plains and hills
that glowed with innumerable wild flowers — the Alaska
Lapland longspur, the Aleutian leucosticte or rosy finch,
and the raven. The longspur is a summer resident of
boreal fields, where it tarries while the flowers bloom, and
then reluctantly retires southward, keeping pace with the
advance of the drifting snow. Its head and breast are
black, its back is black streaked with buff, and its under-
parts white, the sides streaked with black. A broad buffy
streak above the eye interrupts the black of the head, and
a collar of chestnut extends over the back of the neck.
The song of the longspur is loud, sweet, and clear, and
uttered upon the wing, reminded some of our party of the
rapturous strain of the bobolink.

The Aleutian rosy finch is a large, dark chocolate-col-
ored sparrow with an ashen hood on the back of the head
and a black forehead. The rear portions of the body are
more or less tinged with rose. Ravens were about the
settlement in great numbers and as tame and impish in
their manners as at other coast settlements.

BIRDS OF PRIBILOF ISLANDS 227

On anchoring off St. Paul Island, one of the Pribilofs —
the famous fur-seal islands of Bering Sea — our entire
party went ashore in boats to inspect the seals on their
native beaches. On the verdant hills the Aleutian rosy
finch and Alaska Lapland longspur were the common
birds, and a royal time they had of it amid the fields of
frail golden poppies and pale-blue polemoniums. With
such a coverlet in which to nestle, what cared they if the
salt winds swept down from the Arctic Sea! There were
acres of lupines, too — beautiful blue-purple clusters where
the Pribilof snowflake might hide.

Along the shore we saw the kittiwake gulls in great
numbers, and both the horned and tufted puffins. The
least auklets nested in large assemblies among the rocks
close to the breaking surf, and Pallas's murre was present
in immense flocks.

While our ship is plowing northward over the inhospit-
able sea, it may be well to take a general survey of some
of the low forms of bird life which delight in its chill air,
congregating in vast numbers upon its storm-beaten rocks
to rear their young.

The sea birds are divided into five easily recognized
groups — the diving birds, including such queer creatures
as the auks, murres, and puffins; the long-winged swim-
mers, into which group fall the gulls and their allies; the
tube-nosed swimmers, which are the most perfect birds of
flight and embrace the albatrosses and petrels ; the wholly-
webbed swimmers, in which division the cormorants are
placed; and the ducks, geese, and swans. Each of these
groups is abundantly represented in Bering Sea, for it is
in such northern waters that the sea birds love most to
dwell.

The puffins are among the most outlandish birds which
ingenious mother nature has contrived to evolve. They
are trim in build, about a foot in length, with very short

228 KEELER

feet and webbed toes. When seated on the rocks they
assume an erect posture, and their small heads, set close
down upon their shoulders, look ridiculously insignificant
in comparison with their exaggerated beaks, which are
very much flattened sidewise and immensely spread out
from top to bottom. As if to heighten the comic effect,
the bill is brilliantly colored, and the stupid little face be-
hind it appears serenely unaware of its oddity. This great
beak is largely an appendage of the breeding season and
is cast like the antlers of a deer at the end of that period.
The tufted puffin is brownish-black above and dark gray-
ish-brown below, with a conspicuous white patch on the
side of the face. In the breeding season it is ornamented
with a long heavy fluff of pale yellow feathers extending
backward from the eye on each side of the crown, and its
great beak is scarlet with a dull yellow base. The horned
puffin is glossy-black above and white below, the white
extending up on the sides of the face. It has a small
leathery excrescence on the upper eyelid which has given
it its name, and its bill and feet are a brilliant red.

The least auklet, one of the smallest of diving birds, is
very plainly attired, with its black back and white breast
varied with dusky mottlings. Its short, stout beak is
bright red, and it has a series of fine white hair-like plumes
on the sides of the head back of the eyes. In this same
group of diving birds are the murres, which inhabit the
entire Pacific coast from California to Bering Sea. The
murres are a foot and a-half or less in length, with long,
sharply pointed, and moderately stout beaks, well formed
for securing their funny prey. Their heads, throats, and
backs are a smooth, dark grayish-brown or brownish-
black in color, sharply contrasted against the white of the
underparts. The California murre has the top of the head
and the back of the neck smoky-brown, the same parts
being black in Pallas's murre. The latter species also has

1 . TUFTED PUFFIN, LUNDA CIRREATA
2 HORNED PUFFIN, ERATKRCULA CORNICULATA

BIRDS OF BERING SEA 229

a decidedly thicker bill. Both forms are present in vast
multitudes about the rocky islands of Bering Sea, the
Pallas's murre being especially abundant and outnumber-
ing all other sea birds in the ratio of fully ten to one.

Comparatively few birds were seen as we steamed into
a brisk head wind under a lowering leaden sky. Murres
whirred past in flocks every now and then, and occasion-
ally a Pacific fulmar followed in the ship's wake. The
fulmar is about as large as a fair-sized gull, but with longer
and more slender wings, which are held rigidly out-
stretched much of the time in flight. Although an ally of
the albatross, the fulmar has not the supreme command
of the air possessed by that bird, and every now and then
must resort to flapping its pinions. This species is peculiar
in having two phases of plumage without reference to sex
or season. In the dark phase the body is a deep, smoky-
gray above and below, while in the light phase the plu-
mage is similar to that of many adult gulls — pure white
with a bluish-gray mantle over the back. Many that we
saw were in a mottled plumage, largely white but with
dark patches on their backs.

At times a silent bird with slender, far-reaching pinions
would glide out of the mist, gyrating back and forth over
the crested waves without a tremor of its rigid wings. It
looked like a small albatross with dark, sooty-gray or
blackish plumage, and we made it out to be the slender-
billed shearwater. It is a creature of the boundless ocean,
as unimpeded in flight as the wind which sustains it.

A flock of harlequin ducks flew past with rapid wing
strokes. From a distance they looked black against the
leaden sky, but as they came abreast of us the white bars
across the head were very conspicuous. When they were
gone there was nothing left to vary the monotony of gray
until two or three kittiwake gulls came sailing daintily
along. The kittiwakes are snowy white save for the

230 KEELER

pearl-gray of the back and wings and the sharp black tips
to the flight feathers. Two species inhabit Bering Sea,
the Pacific kittiwake which we had encountered at various
points on the Alaska coast, and the red-legged kittiwake
which is found only in these northern waters.

On the coast of Siberia, where we touched at Plover
Bay, the birds seemed limited to a very few species.
Snow buntings and Lapland longspurs were abundant,
and we first noted there the Siberian yellow wagtail.
This bird with its bluish-gray crown and back of neck,
its olive-green back and bright yellow breast, is a com-
mon inhabitant of the tundras about the shores of Ber-
ing Sea.

In the waters of Plover Bay we found the pigeon guille-
mot abundant. It is a near relative of the murres but is
smaller, with a dark body, conspicuous white wing-patches,
and brilliant red feet. Pallas's murre was very common
and many kittiwake gulls were observed flying about the
bay. We also saw flocks of least auklets swimming on
the water, and noted for the first time on our journey
spectacled eiders — the males with their conspicuous white
backs contrasted with their black breasts, and the females
plain mottled brown.

At Port Clarence on the Alaska coast, where our next
stop was made, I had little opportunity of observing the
birds. The longspurs, snowflakes, and Siberian yellow
wagtails were the characteristic land birds of the tundras,
and the golden plover, in mottled coat of golden-brown
above and black below, with its loud, clear, flute-like call,
was fascinating to those who had the good fortune to en-
counter it upon its native heath.

We reached Hall Island in the evening, and landed
upon a narrow gravel beach. A stream came down to
the sea at this point, making the high ground accessible.
On either side rose steep, unscalable cliffs of lava. Sea

GULLS ON ST. GEORGE ISLAND, PRIBILOF GROUP

ON WALRUS ISLAND, PRIBILOF GROUP

THE HYPERBOREAN SNOWFLAKE 23!

birds innumerable were fluttering about the rocks. We
passed a rnurre with its head tucked under its wing, sleep-
ing on the water and rocking with the waves like a beauti-
ful little boat. Night had come, although the sun still
lingered above the western horizon. The steamer was
vanishing in the direction of St. Matthew Island. Our
little party was left alone on the beach, the waves swash-
ing up on the pebbled shore and the dark cliffs about us
swarming with sea birds. There were puffins, pigeon
guillemots, and least auklets, besides the vast company of
murres, and the cackling of innumerable voices made an
incessant murmur above the sound of the sea.

Upon climbing up the slopes from the shore we found
ourselves upon an Arctic tundra — a great rolling plateau
of bog, with pools of water in every hollow, and flowers
growing in bewildering profusion. A bed of moss spread
across the island from cliff to cliff carpeting everything
with its soft tones of gray, brown, purple, and green —
parts of it like velvet, soft and yielding to the tread, and
other parts spongy and soggy. The masses of flowers
wove richly glowing patterns into the carpet, in purple,
blue, yellow, and white — the purple primrose and pedi-
cularis, the blue polemonium, the yellow poppy, a fine
golden cowslip, and the white-cupped dryas.

It was fitting that this fairy garden in the midst of a
stormy sea should be inhabited by one of the most chastely
adorned of birds, the hyperborean snowflake. Verily a
snowflake this exquisite creature is, as it whirls through
the misty glow of night among the wastes of flowers. Its
plumage is as candid as a freshly opened lily. The spot-
less white shows more perfectly by contrast with the jetty
bill and the blackness of the wing tips. At the edge of
its snowy tail are two other black dots. It is a sparrow
transformed into a wraith of the snow. It is adorned with
the ermine of kings, and a king it seems amid the realm

232 KEELER

of flowers. Its little mate has the back streaked with
black and more of the same on her wings and tail, but
otherwise her plumage is white like that of her lord and
master. Nor did the song of this snowflake prove disap-
pointing. It was a loud, sweet, flute-like warble, fre-
quently uttered on the wing, and much resembles the notes
of the western meadow lark,although rather higher, shriller,
and shorter. We noticed the birds about the edge of the
cliffs as well as upon the tundras, and their business in
such exposed rocky spots was explained when a nest was
discovered placed far back in a crevice in the rocks upon
the cliff wall. The nest was made of grasses and con-
tained five rather light greenish eggs dotted with pale
brown. Later in the evening another nest was found con-
taining young birds which came to the edge of the hole to
be fed. The abundance of the Arctic fox upon the island
no doubt explains the unusual places in which the snow-
flakes tuck away their homes.

The Lapland longspurs also were very common upon
Hall Island, the males with their fine black chests and
faces and chestnut collars; the females in their more mod-
est, streaked plumage. The dark Aleutian rosy finch
was present in numbers, and some of our party stumbled
upon a snowy owl with a family of droll little owlets.

Upon approaching the edge of the cliffs a wonderful
scene lay below us. Some great black splinters of rock
two hundred feet high stood out in the water close to the
shore, the waves dashing about their bases, while all over
their sides, upon every ledge, crowded the sea birds. Be-
low us and opposite on the precipitous volcanic face of the
island was an almost solid front of birds — mostly Pallas's
murres — bustling, bobbing, and bowing, some sitting pas-
sively upon their single eggs, and many standing, with their
faces turned toward the rock wall which rose above them.
The myriads of birds uttering their low, hoarse, crooning

HORNED AND TUFTED PUFFINS

AN EVENING ON HALL ISLAND 233

cry made a perfect tumult of sound. Horned puffins
stood here and there, showing their orange-vermilion
feet, their bright-yellow bills tipped with the same orange-
red, their white breasts and faces and dark-brown backs,
with a line of black extending around the face and bound-
ing it. As we looked over the cliffs we saw a flock of
harlequin ducks swimming in the water hundreds of feet
below. Fulmars were flying about here and there, and
one was seen sitting upon her egg on a ledge of the cliff.

As I stood watching the birds, a little paroquet auklet
sat confidingly close beside me upon the cliff. It had a
red, snub, upturned bill, gray feet, and a fine white line
of feathers extending back of the eye. It sat alone on
the rocks with its feet planted squarely upon the ground,
holding the body erect; its breast was white, its back dark
grayish-brown and its throat light grayish-brown — a
sober little fellow with a note that seemed like a low,
trembling, squeaky wail. I noticed a cormorant with
conspicuous white flank patches (probably the red-faced
cormorant) and many kittiwake gulls. Another gull that
we found here, for the first time, was in the purity of its plu-
mage as lovely among sea birds as the hyperborean snow-
flake among land birds. Indeed the great Point Barrow
gull is without a trace of black — the snowy whiteness of
its plumage being relieved only by the pale pearl-blue of
its mantle, and by its bright-yellow beak, spotted with
vermilion near the tip of the lower mandible. It is one
of the noblest of sea birds, and the picture of a creature
so lovely in such a dreary region, swinging about the dark
storm-swept cliffs of Bering Sea, riding upon waves and
air and mastering them, is one that once seen will long
haunt the memory.

At eleven o'clock the steamer returned and we left the
beach, the fire of driftwood on the shore still glowing
through the mist as we rowed away.

234

KEELER

The following day we spent some hours exploring St.
Matthew Island. Its shores and tundras were inhabited
by the same birds, and we discovered also two or three
additional species. One of the party shot an old-squaw
duck and an eider, while Dr. Fisher and Mr. Fuertes se-
cured specimens of the exquisite little Sabine's gull — a
small species with white plumage, slaty-black hood, a
mantle of slaty-blue, and a forked tail. On the tundras
of both islands the Pribilof sandpiper was very common
and on Hall Island Dr. Grinnell discovered its nest and
eggs. It is a fine, large species with a reddish back, a
black patch on its breast, and dusky spots on its cheeks.
Upon alighting beside a pool it has a characteristic habit
of holding one wing straight up in the air for a moment as
if to steady the body after the momentum of flight.

Upon leaving St. Matthew Island we proceeded rapidly
on our homeward way, and from that time on learned
nothing of striking interest concerning the birds. Shortly
alter leaving Unalaska Island we observed a vast swarm
of Pacific fulmars in dark plumage flying about the sur-
face of the water. They must have numbered several
thousand birds in one compact flock and were evidently
attracted by a school of fish.

SABINE GULL, XEMA SABINI
St.Matthew Island, July 15, 1899.

f*t Ar >J"'llt'' b^-yp&i

0

JLEGJ5ND

J Interior forest.
1221 Const liii-osl

1 I f.'.^S.i,..,:

V

MAP or

ALAS KA

SHOWING

F O"RE S TED AH HAS
BY

B. K. FE

4—-

s.s areas

.1 |

FORESTS OF ALASKA

BY B. E. FERNOW

LASKA furnishes a field of unusual interest to
the student of forest distribution, and it may be
worth while to describe and discuss, from
both phytographic and economic points of
view, the forest conditions of the Territory.

Alaska may be divided into at least five regions, two
forested and three forestless, corresponding to climatic
and physical conditions.

A true forest country is found only along the southern
coast, on the islands of the Alexander Archipelago, and
in the panhandle of mainland separating the British
possessions from the ocean — a northward extension of
the Pacific coast forest. Here the evenly tempered climate
gives rise to forest-covered slopes out of which only the
higher elevations with their covering of eternal snow
reach above timber-line.

Separated from this coast by the high sierra of the St.
Elias and Fairweather coast ranges, and by mountain
ranges farther inland to the north and west, is the great
interior basin drained by the Yukon River, with its hills,
mountains, and plateaus, which, while in the main an open
country, is studded with more or less frequent islands of
forest growth varying in density and development. The

(235)

236 FERNOW

interesting fact to the plant geographer is that the forest
flora of this interior region is entirely different from that
of the coast region, being in its species essentially the same
as our northeastern Atlantic boreal flora.

Intervening between the Pacific and Atlantic forest
flora, is the high, somewhat triangular-shaped plateau,
enclosed by the coast ranges and the more northern
mountains, some 15,000 square miles in extent according
to I. C. Russell,1 a region of absolute, stern, silent,
motionless winter, covered with snow and ice all the
year round, without a vestige of life.

Again, skirting the coast of Bering Sea from Kuskokwim
Bay northward and along the Arctic Ocean, is the tundra
— a belt of treeless country, though not entirely devoid of
woody vegetation, varying from a hundred miles or less
to several hundred miles in width.

Lastly we recognize as a different type the forestless
region of grassy slopes and snow covered peaks which
the Alaska Peninsula and the Aleutian and other islands
west of the I53d degree of longitude exhibit.

To explain this distribution of the arborescent flora,
both climatic and physiographic conditions must be ad-
duced. It is easily understood that the mechanical barrier
which the ice- and snow-bound mountain ranges interpose
should effectively separate the Pacific and Atlantic forest
flora. But to the westward toward the Alaska Peninsula
and the Aleutian and other islands no such mechanical
barrier exists, hence other causes must be found to ex-
plain the limits of distribution.

The separation of the coast and interior floras seems in
general complete, although an exchange of species may
occur here and there across the mountain passes and
along the river courses. Thus, a paper-barked birch ap-
pears in numbers at the head of Lynn Canal, 1,000 feet

1 Am. Journal of Science, 3d series, Vol. XLIII, p. 171, 1892.

ALASKA FORESTS 237

above sea level, and again at the head of Cook Inlet,
where the traders state that birch canoes are used by
the Indians on Knik River, without its apparent exist-
ence in intermediate localities. This distribution would
indicate a species from the interior that has crossed the
range.

The associated occurrence of the eastern Populus bal-
samifera with its western congener, Populus trichocarpa
(if indeed the two species can be separated), reported by
the late Dr. G. M. Dawson from the Pelly and Lewes
Rivers, and observed by us on Kadiak Island, is an
example of this interchange, and Pinus contorta (or
murrayana) reported by Dall at the confluence of the
above named rivers, furnishes another instance of wan-
dering.

The greatest interest in regard to this approach or inter-
change of the two floras would center in the region around
Iliamna Lake, at the base of the Alaska Peninsula. Here
the Pacific coast flora finds its western terminus, and the
interior or Atlantic forest flora descends along the Mul-
chatna and Nushagak Rivers almost to the very shores of
Bering Sea, while the low passes between Cook Inlet
and Lakes Clark and Iliamna should favor transmigration
of the two floras, unless other impediments bar their
progress.

While in a general way temperature and moisture con-
ditions are certainly the most influential factors deter-
mining the distribution of life groups, it must be evident
that with tree growth, combinations of these with factors
other than those which determine the distribution of an-
nual and perennial low growths, must be potent. The
winter rest in the seed, and the short cycle of develop-
ment in a single season, characteristic of the annuals;
the partial death in winter, and the low stature of the
perennials, warmly covered by the winter snows and pro-

238 FERNOW

tected against variations of atmospheric conditions, give
an advantage to these forms of life in northern regions
which is lacking in the arborescent flora, with its persistent
growth, its long period of life before maturity is reached,
and elevation above the ground.

The wintry blasts which are of no moment to the her-
baceous plants and shrubs, must be endured by the arbor-
escent flora ; and late frosts in the spring, which may find
the former in condition for withstanding their blight, will
nip the tree buds which an early warm spring sun has
called into premature activity.

Again, while the herbaceous plant readily survives an
extraordinarily unfavorable season, and with its prolific
annual seed production soon recovers lost ground, the tree
individual, after having weathered many winters, may fall a
prey to a single exceptional season; moreover, seed pro-
duction in the tree, coming only late in life and at longer
or shorter intervals, is less favorable to reestablishment.

Again, while the low vegetation is able to subsist on a
modicum of soil, the tree, as it grows in height, requires
corresponding root space, both to supply itself with water
and to brace itself against the winds — the leverage
increasing with the growth. Soil conditions in the
competition between different forms of vegetation may
become so important that climatic conditions are of
secondary moment; thus we find grass and weeds suc-
cessfully keeping out the arborescent flora where no
climatic impediments to the latter exist.

The combination of conditions influencing forest growth
is then, it must be admitted, more complex than that
which determines the distribution of smaller plants, and
hence not only does the composition of the forest vary
according to the adaptability of the species, but at the
same time the individual development and density of
stand vary with the different conditions.

LUPINES ON WOOD ISLAND

Gi LBD X. CD

WOOD ISLAND, NEAR KADIAK.

THE INTERIOR FOREST 239

These general considerations will assist in understand-
ing the variety and changes in appearance of the Alaska
forest flora.

THE INTERIOR FOREST.

The interior of Alaska is but little known, and as a
rule only along the river courses. A few cross-country
routes have been traversed by explorers who, not being
botanists, leave us in doubt as to the exact species repre-
sented in their casual remarks on the forest conditions.
They generally mention spruce as the only conifer, and
cottonwood, aspen, birch, willow, and alder, as the decid-
uous-leaved species. The reference to fir and hemlock,
as occurring in the Yukon district, made by W. C. Green-
field in the Census volume of 1890, is probably an error.
So probably is Dr. C. W. Hayes1 in error, when, in
contrasting the vegetation of the Yukon with that of
the coast, he says: "This contrast consists more in
the amount of vegetation than in the difference of
species."

The account in the ninth volume of the Tenth Census
of the ' Northern Forest of the Pacific Region' (p. 7) is
extremely vague, and in the light of newer information,
faulty; but it attempts at least to designate the species
found. The statement is as follows:

" The white spruce,2 the most important and most north-
ern species of the North Atlantic region, is here also the
most important species. It attains a considerable size as
far north as the sixty-fifth degree, forming in the valley
of the Yukon, forests of no little local importance. The
canoe-birch,3 the balsam poplar,4 and the aspen,6 familiar

*Nat. Geog. Mag., Vol. IV., p. 136, 1892.
2Picea canadensis (Mill.) B.S.P.
3 Betula papyrifera Marsh.
*Populus balsamifera Linn.
6Populus tremuloides Michx.

240 FERNOW

trees of the North Atlantic region, also occur here. The
gray pine and the balsam fir of the Atlantic region are
replaced by allied forms of the same genera. The larch
alone, of the denizens of the extreme northern forest of
the Atlantic coast, finds no congener here in the northern
Pacific forest."

These determinations of species we may accept for the
spruce, birch, poplar and aspen of the interior forest flora
of Alaska, but the occurrence of pine and fir seems very
doubtful, although Pinus contort a approaches the boun-
dary from the British possessions, and Abies lasiocarpa
was found at the top of White Pass and may be found at
timber-line elsewhere in the interior.

From the accounts of all explorers, it appears that the
interior is in general an open plateau, hill, and mountain
country, mostly moss-covered and devoid of trees ; but with
scattered more or less open groves on the lower hill slopes
and ridges, and in some of the valleys (White River
basin1), the trees usually crowding together more densely
along the banks of rivers and lakes and covering with
dense thickets the many islands in the rivers. In some
localities the heads of all the streams are surrounded by
timber; Lieut. Henry T. Allen reports that his camp on
the Tozikakat River 1 " was in a grove of larger timber
than any seen since leaving the Yukon; one tree was
nearly two feet in diameter"; and at another place he
mentions the use of a spruce for a bridge over a river forty
feet in width.

While the trees are mostly short, poorly developed,
dwarfed, and standing in open positions, in consequence
of which the timber is knotty and checked by frost, these
groves occasionally assume a real forest character and
contain trees developed to good size. Local conditions
of soil, and of shelter from the winds, seem to be largely

•Allen: Reconnaissance in Alaska, 1887.

THE INTERIOR FOREST 241

influential in this difference of development. The follow-
ing statement is from the Eleventh Census:

" The whole Nushagak River valley, including Tikchik
River and Lake, is densely wooded with trees not more
than a foot in diameter, until the distance from the coast
and intervening natural obstacles protect the vegetation
from the blighting ice-laden Siberian storms, which,
though not so low in temperature as the interior blizzards,
are yet by far more dangerous, on account of their humid-
ity, to animal and vegetable life. Then the diameter of
the trees and the density of the primeval forest increase
rapidly, so that on the Mulchatna and the Kokhtuli (For-
est) Rivers exceptionally large trees may be found in
number. On my last winter's exploring journey I meas-
ured in a Kokhtuli spruce grove nine trees, each of which
was over three feet in diameter."1

In Norton Bay, within a quarter of a mile of the sea,
groves of spruce grow thickly, but the height of the trees
never exceeds forty feet, and the diameter from six to ten
inches; and along the banks of the Tanana River Lieu-
tenant Allen reports that most of the spruce range from
three to eight inches in diameter. This dwarfed condition
may in some parts be accounted for by altitude.

In mountainous parts, as is well known, dwarfed trees
occur at high elevations. In this connection it is inter-
esting to note that the altitude of timber-line is higher in
the interior than on the coast. On the coast it varies from
i, 800 to 2,400 feet, while in the interior it has been found
as high as 4,000 feet. And even in latitude 68° N., J. H.
Turner,2 who made a journey northward along the bound-
ary line from Rampart House on Porcupine River, found,
at an altitude of 2,500 feet and " extending eastward to the
furthest horizon, a plain, covered with a dense growth of

1 Eleventh Census : Population and Resources of Alaska, p. 92, 1893.
* National Geographic Magazine, Vol. IV, p. 196, 1893.

242 FERNOW

spruce, birch, and cottonwood — a veritable oasis in the
midst of utter desolation."

While certain mountains may limit the southern bound-
ary of this interior forest region, the western limit of tree
growth follows a line between the i6ist and i6$d degrees
of longitude, from Nushagak River to Golofnin Bay in
Norton Sound, then turning northeasterly to the Keewalik
River and the hills to the west of Noatak River and ( at
about the 6yth degree of latitude) changing to eastward
and following the watershed of the Kowak River to its
headwaters, when it assumes the northeasterly direction
of the Endicott Mountains along the watershed of the
Colville River to the low mountain ranges which skirt the
Arctic Ocean within twenty-five miles of the coast, as far
east as the Mackenzie River, where, between the 69th
and 7oth degrees of north latitude, the northernmost
tree growth occurs. Timber is said to abound on the
dividing ridges of the interior, between Colville River
and the British possessions.1

The open and stunted character of the tree growth,
which is so general, may be in part a result of the com-
paratively dry climate — for this region, while blessed
with an abundant snowfall (eight to fifteen feet), suffers
from droughty summers (rainfall about thirteen inches).
In summer, the temperature is said to exceed 112° Fahr.
in the shade, while in winter it has been known to fall to
— 60° and lower, a range of over 170 degrees. The dis-
tribution of forest areas is probably also largely influenced
by soil or drainage conditions : " The entire face of the
country is covered with a heavy growth of moss and
lichens, nearly as thoroughly saturated as a wet sponge,
which remains soggy and cold until late into summer, and
even on slopes the water drains off but slowly, while a

1H. D. Woolfe, in Eleventh Census: Population and resources of Alaska,
p- 134. l893-

ALASKA FORESTS 243

few inches below this cover is a bed of rock or ice or
frozen ground which thaws only for a foot or two in sum-
mer and prevents the water from sinking." The oppor-
tunities for tree seeds to sprout are, therefore, found only
here and there on the better drained slopes and on the
alluvial sands of river bottoms and islands.

The lowlands which skirt Bering Sea and the Arctic
Ocean exhibit this inimical condition of soil, which is
sufficient to explain the absence of tree growth; but here
additional causes may be found in the absence of protec-
tion from the icy winter blasts, and perhaps in a defi-
ciency of summer rains, for, although the atmosphere is
humid, the low tundras furnish no causes for condensation.

The peculiarity which seems in general to characterize
the Arctic flora, namely, the appearance of species in
groups or islands, attaches also to the forest cover, for the
forest is not always mixed, but groves of one species by
itself are frequent. Numerically the spruce would appear
the commonest, the birch the rarest tree.

The economic importance of these limited forest areas
is growing with the development of the mining industry.
Not only must the scanty resources be drawn upon for
fuel to keep the houses warm, and to run the steamboats
and machinery, but the advantageous working of the
placers requires the use of fire in thawing the frozen
ground. Yet the usual carelessness and recklessness
which characterize pioneering has already shown itself
in the destruction of considerable areas by fire. It is said
that around Lake Lindeman, nearly all the timber is
burned off, none suitable for boat building being left.

Lieutenant Allen reports burnt spruce in various lo-
calities and speaks of the " heavy smoke caused by the
extensive timber fires which obscured the sun the entire
day." In this case it was the signal fires of the Indians
which were the cause.

244 FERNOW

THE COAST FOREST.

Entirely different in composition, manner of distribu-
tion, and development is the coast forest — a result of the
widely different character of the climate it enjoys.

This forest is an extension of the coast forest of Wash-
ington and British Columbia, but as it pushes northward it
gradually loses some of its species and deteriorates in indi-
vidual development. It covers the many islands of the
Alexander Archipelago and the panhandle along the main
coast as far as the head of Lynn Canal (only the steeper
and higher slopes remaining bare) and skirts the shore from
Cape Spencer westward with a narrow belt, rarely over
ten miles in width, along the foot of the snowy Fair-
weather and Mount St. Elias ranges, following up the
valley of the Copper River, surrounding the shores of
Prince William Sound and Cook Inlet, covering Afognak,
Spruce, and other neighboring islands, and coming to a
rather abrupt termination on the north shore of Kadiak
Island. Here groves of spruce are restricted to the
lower shore lands and sheltered localities. Ugak Bay on
the east, and Cape Uganuk on the west side of the island,
are the farthest western and southern points of forest
growth. Similar groves in similar situations occur on
the Alaska Peninsula around Kukak Bay.

There is some evidence that this western limit is not,
or may not remain, stable — that the spruce has wandered
in recent times, and may still wander. There is also evi-
dence that the treeless country beyond, made up of the
Alaska Peninsula and Aleutian Islands, is not incapable
of growing trees.

An interesting evidence of the progress of the spruce
may be seen on Long Island, a few miles east of Kadiak,
where an extensive spruce grove has established itself
within the last century. Many trees had been freshly cut,

ALASKA FORESTS 245

and a count of the rings showed none older than ninety or
a hundred years, while on Kadiak and Wood Islands the
oldest growth was found to be between 125 and 150 years,
with some few rotten stumps possibly older. This differ-
ence in age of entire groves so near together allows the
inference that the older has furnished the seed for the
younger, and that the spruce has wandered from Kadiak
to Long Island.

This suggests another influential factor in the distribu-
tion of trees, namely the winds as carriers of seed: not
only the direction of the wind but the character of the
weather accompanying it influence this distribution. In
wet weather the cones close; it is only in dry weather that
they open and release the seed. To secure the southwest
extension of trees along the Alaska Peninsula, it would be
necessary that, after the ripening of the seeds and during
their release from the cones, which takes place gradually
through the winter, the winds should be dry and blow
from the north and east. But the contrary usually hap-
pens, for from September to May there is a constant suc-
cession of southeast and south winds, and the air is heavily
charged with moisture. For this reason the spread of the
species is at least retarded, and only when, as may occa-
sionally happen, favorable wind direction at the right time
coincides with a seed year, is progress possible. That
seed production as far west as Kadiak can be most prolific
was evidenced by an enormous crop of cones which
ripened in 1898, turned brown, and remaining on the
branches in the summer of 1899, gave the trees at a dis-
tance the appearance of having been killed by fire. How
much of this seed is good and capable of germination, and
how often seed years occur could not be ascertained.

That trees can at least exist farther west, on the Aleu-
tian Islands, is proved by a few scattered spruces at
Unalaska, planted by a Russian priest in the year 1805.

246 FERNOW

One group of twelve and another of seven remain; the
trees are short and slowly grown, to be sure, but vigorous
and in good health, except where fire has damaged some
of them. At the time of our visit the largest measured
twenty-four inches, the smallest, six inches in diameter,
while all were of the same height, twenty-five to thirty
feet. The trees had been fruiting heavily the year before,
and two smaller ones at a distance were undoubtedly the
result of an earlier seed year. Evidently the chances of
natural propagation in competition with the heavy growth
of grass and weeds, with a late spring, short summer, and
cold winds are small, even if ample sources of seed sup-
ply were within reach.

The even tempered, moist climate which the islands of
the Alexander Archipelago and the western and southern
coasts enjoy, accounts for their luxuriant forest cover of
conifers. Luxuriance, however, is a relative term, for
while undoubtedly the vegetation, including the under-
shrubs and moss which cover the ground, is rank, the de-
velopment of the trees, as we shall see further on, is by no
means comparable with the matchless growth around
Puget Sound, nor is the variety of species as great.

The Alaska forest lacks the most important timber of
the Pacific coast, the red fir or Douglas spruce (JPseu-
dotsuga taxifolia) whose northernmost specimens were
observed on Princess Royal Island. It lacks the pines,
with the exception of the inferior Pinus contorta, which
here and there occupies swampy and dry, gravelly situa-
tions. None of the magnificent firs of the Sierra and Coast
ranges are to be met, the northernmost specimens of
Abies amabilis, usually a tree of high elevations, being
found on Lowe Inlet, at the very shore, though still in
superior form. The small Abies lasiocarpa in dwarfed
specimens, remains the only timber-line tree at White
Pass, which it has reached, perhaps, from the interior.

'THE FOREST" UNALASKA.

(ONLY

THESE WERE PLANTED EARLV IN THE CENTUKV.)

TREES ON KADIAK ISLAND

THE COAST FOREST 247

The giant arborvitae or red cedar {Thuja plicata)^ to
be sure, enters this territory, but only in small numbers,
and is soon lost, not occurring farther north than Prince
of Wales Island, although on the inside passage it was
observed at Wrangell.

The Alaska or yellow cedar ( Chamaecyparis nootka-
tensis), which in Sargent's Silva is reported not farther
west than Yakutat Bay, appears to exist in a few isolated
localities on Prince William Sound. The stations were
not actually visited, but evidence of their existence was
found in the wood and bark used in buildings of an Aleut
village at the foot of Copper Mountain, and also in the
information furnished by traders that limited numbers of
this species are to be found on Hawkins Island, six or
seven miles from Orca, on Glacier Island, opposite Co-
lumbia Glacier, and in a few other confined localities.
This tree, although deriving its name from the country, is
really only sparingly represented in localized aggrega-
tions or clumps, occupying especially southern mountain
slopes from the shore to the very tops. It furnishes the
beautiful, fine-grained, yellow-tinted wood which the
Indians use for their carvings, totem poles, paddles, and
so on. The Oregon alder (Alnus oregona) was found
abundantly as far as the foot of La Perouse Glacier, a little
south of Mt. Fairweather, but was entirely absent at
Yakutat Bay and farther west.

Excepting, then, the more or less sporadic occurrence
of species mentioned, the composition of the forest is
simple indeed, for the bulk is made up of a mixture of two
species, the tideland or Sitka spruce {Picea sitchensis)
and the coast hemlock {Tsuga heterophy //#), to which
may be added, near timber-line and farther west on the
lower levels, the interesting and beautiful Alpine hemlock
{Tsuga mertensiana).

Numerically, the coast hemlock seems to be the most

248

FERNOW

common species, forming usually from 70 to 80 percent
of the mixture, the spruce only occasionally preponderat-
ing, especially along water courses and on newly forested
moraines, until the western limit of the hemlock is
reached at Prince William Sound. Even here the hem-
lock remains a prominent component. Farther west,
however, the spruce alone continues to form forests or
open groves, as on the shores of Cook Inlet and Kadiak
Island.

This sombre mixed forest of hemlock and spruce covers
with a more or less dense stand the slopes of the moun-
tainous islands and the shores of the Archipelago up to
timber-line, which varies from 1,800 to 2,400 feet near the

shore, but towards the inte-
rior gradually ascends with
the snow-line in protected

inland

passes.

like Taku

Pass, to over 5,000 feet.1

The stand is usually not
so dense as would be desir-
able to make the clean, long
boles which furnish the best
logs. Indeed, while individ-
ual development reminds us
occasionally of the giants of
the Puget Sound country,
while spruces six feet in
diameter and 175 feet in
height were found at Sitka,
and while even as far west
as Prince William Sound
diameters of over five feet with heights of 150 feet
were measured, the branchy trunks offer little induce-
ment to the lumberman. Only in some favored situations

'C. W. Hayes, in National Geographic Magazine, Vol. IV, p. 137, 1892.

FOREST NEAR SITKA.

RIVER

THE COAST FOREST 249

is the growth denser, the boles less tapering and cleaner
of branches, and less knotty.

This generally undesirable development, due to open
stand, is probably caused less by climate than by soil.
The soil overlying the rocks of the rugged slopes is
scanty, and becomes more and more so as we go
north, until finally only the muck of decayed moss and
other vegetation furnishes a foothold for the trees. In
consequence, fallen timber frequently makes travel im-
possible.

The underbrush and lower vegetation is often dense
and luxuriant, comprising species of Vaccinium, Rubus,
Ribes, Menziesia and the spiny Echinopanax horridum,
which was found as far north as Point Gustavus in Glacier
Bay. A heavy cover of moss hides the mucky soil, which
is wet probably all the year.

Now and then swamps occur, which, so far as tree
growth is concerned, show only dwarfed specimens of
Pinus contorta, or possibly of hemlocks. Along the shores
and in the river bottoms deciduous trees and shrubs
relieve the monotony of the evergreens, among which
occasional clumps of Pyrus rivularis, Sambucus pubens,
Sorbus sambucifolia, and Viburnum pauciflorum and in
the lower latitudes Oregon alder are observed. Cot-
tonwoods (Populus trichocarpa and balsamifera) form
groves on the flats as far west as Kadiak Island, and wil-
lows, shrubby and in tree form (Sah'x sitchensis and alax-
ensis), fringe the water courses; and whatever other
space is left open, high or low, wet or dry, is at once oc-
cupied by the ubiquitous shrubby alder (Alnus sinuata)
with its many stout stems forming impenetrable thickets.

One of the most interesting examples of the evolution
of a forest growth in progress, which the writer had the
opportunity to study, was found in Glacier Bay. The
peninsula known as Point Gustavus which juts out from

250 FERNOW

the mainland about twenty miles below Muir Glacier is
formed by the moraines of the receding glacier, old
enough to be diversified into a maze of hills and valleys,
the top varying from dry, coarse gravel to pure sand and
finer silt towards the point. The interior portions, mostly
in the nature of sand dunes cut through by low, swampy
places and occasional clear rivulets, are more or less
without vegetation, at least without forest growth, except
on the compacter gravels, where Pinus contort a has
established itself in open growth.

Along the shores, however, is a belt of varying width,
consisting of a dense growth of spruce with an occasional
and poorly developed hemlock ( Tsuga heterophylla] or
balsam poplar, while the shrubby alder and willows occupy
ravines and draws, and line the skirts of the spruce forest.
The soil under the spruces is densely covered with a
heavy carpet of mosses among which three or four species
are prominent, with the pretty Listera, the constant com-
panion of the shady spruce, and a Pyrola which grows
in the darkest corners, while a Vaccinium and the brake
{Pteris aquilina) occupy the more open places. Be-
sides these, species of Ribes, Viburnum^ Sambucus,
Streptopus, Lycopodium, Aruncus, and the prickly
Echinopanax are present.

This spruce forest, as can be readily ascertained by
counting the internodes and the annual rings of a few cut
trees, is all between forty and fifty years old. The largest
trees are as much as thirty-six inches in diameter and
eighty feet in height, showing the remarkable rapidity of
growth which characterizes the tideland spruce.

The history of the evolution of this forest and of the
recovery of the ground by vegetation is written in clear
language. First the rough gravel of the moraine was
colonized by the prostrate willows and the Equisetum
and Epilobium that grow on the moraine in front of

THE COAST FOREST 251

Muir Glacier; with these soon appeared the ubiquitous
shrubby alder (Alnus sinuata) and the feather-seeded
balm of Gilead, which, as they grew in height, crowded out
the light-needing willows; then, some forty or fifty years
ago, a good seed year occurred in some neighboring forest
on the mainland, together with favorable wind conditions,
and at least the margin of the thicket of alders and
cottonwoods was sown to spruce. This shade-enduring,
yet rapid-growing and persistent species soon attained the
height of the low alders and shut in and finally killed the
light-needing cottonwoods, leaving only their dead and
decaying stumps and trunks as witnesses of their former
occupancy of the soil. Here and there a cottonwood has
persisted with its crown still in the sunlight — a tall,
slender pole, clean of branches — showing in the narrow
rings of the last years' growth that it is doomed soon to
succumb to its stronger neighbor.

Meanwhile, this fringe of spruces forms an effectual
barrier to the dissemination of seeds in the interior from
outside sources and the light-needing species already
there will remain in undisturbed possession until the
spruces of the Point itself begin to bear seed freely;
finally, however, they must succumb to the more persist-
ent and shade-enduring spruce and hemlock, except where
soil conditions are too unfavorable for these species. Yet,
after their dominion is established, should the glacier
again advance, the same catastrophe may overcome the
victors as is revealed near Muir Glacier, in the uncover-
ing of a buried forest, established uncounted ages ago at
a different stage of glacial development — a catastrophe,
the possibility of which is exemplified in many places,
where the push moraines are crowding upon the forest.

Of the many other interesting observations on local dis-
tribution and the relation of tree growth to soil, only two
may be noted. The first refers to the presence of trees

252 FERNOW

in close proximity to some of the great glaciers, showing
an astonishing indifference to the influence of the near-by
ice masses. Not only do the trees, wherever soil con-
ditions permit, grow close to the icy river, attaining (as
a measurement within one hundred yards of LaPerouse
Glacier showed) diameters of five feet and heights of
150 feet, but in places they even encroach upon the icy
field, when this has come to rest and has a scanty cover
of soil from the moraine material, upon which vegeta-
tion can establish itself. Thus, at the foot of Lucia Gla-
cier, on Yakutat Bay, the stream which runs in a wild
torrent from the glacier has cut a veritable canyon1 through
the ice, exposing an ice bank over one hundred feet in
height. This ice is overlaid with moraine material a
foot or more in depth, and this is sufficient to support a
dense cover, not only of herbaceous, but of woody vege-
tation— a thicket of the ever-present alder, with occa-
sional willows ; and even spruces do not find the substratum
too cold. As the ice melts at the border, the soil and its
occupants may be seen from time to time tumbling down
into the stream, or else into the deep potholes with which
we find this ice plateau amply provided.

The other observation which I desire to record refers to
an example of the substitution of soil conditions for cli-
matic conditions.

The beautiful Alpine hemlock {Tsuga mertensiana),
the embodiment of unyielding perseverance, is par excel-
lence the tree at timber-line throughout the Cascade and
Sierra Nevada ranges ; we do not expect to find it except
in the humid-cold atmosphere of high elevations, battling
with the storms in ice and snow. That single specimens
should occasionally find their way down among the vegeta-
tion of lower levels, as at Hot Springs, near Sitka, does

1 See I. C. Russell's full description in National Geographic Magazine, Vol.
Ill, pp. 176-185, 1891.

ALASKA FORESTS 253

not astonish us; but when, as in Prince William Sound, it
becomes, as observed in some localities, the prominent tree
at the seashore, supplanting the coast hemlock, we look
for an explanation other than accident, especially as the
coast hemlock is by no means absent from the slopes, nor
the Alpine hemlock from the timber limit, which is here
above 2,200 feet. At Gladhough Bay as usual the typical
spruce and coast hemlock forest covers the slopes, and at
the timber-line, as usual, the Alpine hemlock first sup-
plants the coast hemlock and then becomes sole ruler.
But at the base, near the seashore, is found an interesting
feature in the openings occupied by sloping bogs, in which
the water stands in pools and only slowly drains through
the heavy moss and grass cover to the sea level. The
character of this ground may appear from the enumera-
tion of a few of the most common plants: among Cari-
ces, Juncus, and Equisetum we find Menyanthes trifoli-
ata and cristagalli, Geum calthiflorum, and Phyllodoce
glanduliflora, besides Drosera, Iris, Dodecatheon, and
Myrica gale, the latter being the most common shrub.

In this wet, cold soil, the Alpine hemlock evidently has
an advantage over its congener, which, although not en-
tirely absent, shows in its development its antipathy to
this kind of feeding ground.

ECONOMIC ASPECTS.

This forest of Alaska has often been referred to as a
great resource of wood materials, on which the people of
the United States could fall back when the virgin supplies
of the home country might become exhausted, and glow-
ing accounts of the magnificence of this reserve have been
given. As has been pointed out, this forest growth occu-
pies a considerable area, probably not less than twenty to
thirty thousand square miles, but it is of a character which
makes the prospect of reliance upon its stores by no means

254 FERNOW

cheerful; for, while in certain favored spots good enough
material can be secured, most of this material is not of a
superior quality, and the larger portion of the area does
not contain trees fit for lumber.

Leaving out of consideration the two cedars, which are
found only in limited quantities and will soon be exhausted,
the other two species, spruce and hemlock, are, by their
nature, not capable of furnishing high class lumber. The
hemlock furnishes a material which would answer very
well for house-finishing purposes, but it is objected to be-
cause it is difficult to work and has the bad reputation of
its eastern congener, which the writer believes it does not
deserve. Enormous quantities, too, of far superior de-
velopment are now going to waste in the forests around
Puget Sound, because its value is not known or appre-
ciated in the market. The spruce, being a rapidly-grown,
coarse-grained wood, even where it is best developed on
the Oregon coast, makes indifferent lumber, fit only for
packing cases, boxes, and common building material, un-
desirable as long as better material can be had.

In addition to the small value of these woods and their
comparatively unsatisfactory development, the conditions
under which lumbering on the rugged slopes would have
to be carried on are extremely difficult; add to these de-
tractions the distance from market, and we may readily
see the reasons why this reserve will, for an indefinite
time, be left untouched except for local use.

So unfavorable is the combination of conditions, natural
and economic, at present, that it pays to import lumber
from the Puget Sound country or other points of the lower
coast. The builders of the Yukon and White Pass railroad
across White Pass found it to their advantage to import
the railroad ties, as well as all trestle and bridge timbers,
although the road passes through a forested country; and
even the timber used in the cannery establishment at Orca,

Keh type Co.

NARCISSUS BUTTERCUP

Ran-jnoalUB cooleyae \%sey and Rose.

RATE OF GROWTH OF SITKA SPRUCE 255

on Prince William Sound, as well as for other such estab-
lishments, is brought by vessel, a sawmill established in
the neighborhood being unable to compete. There are,
nevertheless, a number of sawmills at intervals along the
coast supplying local needs, notably at Sitka, Metlakahtla,
Wrangell, and Douglas City.

That the value of this forest resource must increase
with the development of the country and with the increase
of local needs allows of no doubt; as a field of exploita-
tion under present economic conditions, however, it does
not, in the belief of the writer, offer any inducements, un-
less it be that the spruce could be turned into paper pulp,
a good felting fiber being probably insured by the rapid
growth which is found at least in the Archipelago.
Farther north and west the rate of growth diminishes con-
siderably. In various localities a few measurements were
made, which will exhibit the rate of growth.

At Sitka, several large spruce trees, freshly felled,
showed a height of 175 feet and a diameter of 6 feet, with
ages varying between 400 and 500 years.

At Prince William Sound, a number of logs gave the
following measurements :

50 annual rings, 1 1 inches,
72 " " 12 to 15 inches,
80 " " 20 inches,

125 " " 22 inches,

which would indicate a rate of about five years to the inch
of diameter, a rather slow growth for this species.

At Kadiak, at the western limit of tree growth, the rate
appeared more rapid; the heights, to be sure, were reduced,
but the diameters still made a very fair showing, although
variations in width of annual rings greater than usual with
trees grown in such open position were apparent. Trees
50 to 60 years old showed diameters of 12 to 15 inches and

256 FERNOW

heights of 45 to 55 feet; trees 70 to 90 years old exhibited
diameters of 18 to 27 inches; trees 100 to 150 years old
varied between 20 and 36 inches and showed heights up
to 1 20 feet. The largest trees found, without chance of
ascertaining their age, were 45 inches in diameter and 120
feet in height.

From natural dangers these forests do not appear to suf-
fer much. Of insect damage little was noticed. The hu-
midity of the atmosphere and soil furnishes, no doubt, con-
siderable protection against fire, the greatest enemy of the
American forests ; nevertheless, there are evidences that it
cannot be kept out entirely. Avalanches, here and there,
have ploughed through the forest slopes to the water's
edge, and the hot ashes of Iliamna Volcano, near Cook
Inlet, are credited with the destruction of a considerable
area of spruce forest.

GENERAL GEOGRAPHY

BY HENRY GANNETT

ALASKA, our northernmost possession, ex-
tends over more than 20 degrees of latitude
and 45 degrees of longitude — as far as from
Florida to Maine and from Maine to Utah.1
From the main body of the territory stretch two projec-
tions, one to the southeast, comprising the Alexander
Archipelago and the adjacent mainland, the other to the
southwest, comprising the Alaska Peninsula and the Aleu-
tian Islands.

The exact area of Alaska cannot at present be known,
owing to the fact that the boundaries are as yet located
only approximately. The seacoast, which forms by far
the greater part of the boundary, has not been accu-
rately mapped, except in small part, while the land boun-
dary on the southeast, which separates our territory from
Canada, has not been defined, except in the general terms
of the treaty of cession from Russia. Various measure-
ments have been made, based upon different maps, giving
areas ranging from 570,000 to 600,000 square miles. A
careful recent measurement from the large map published

'It lies between latitudes 51° and 71° 3C/, extending 5 degrees within the
Arctic Circle, and stretches from longitude 130° to 175°. The great body of the
territory lies, however, between latitudes 60° and 71° 3C/, and between longitudes
141° and 168°.

(257)

258 GANNETT

by the U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey (scale i : 1,200,-
ooo) gives its area as 590,884 square miles. Of this the
portion lying east of the I4ist meridian, popularly known
as southeastern Alaska, which is the best known part of
the territory, has an area of 43,710 square miles, of which
30,800 square miles consist of mainland and 12,910 square
miles of islands, forming what is known as the Alexander
Archipelago.

The Cordillera of North America enters Alaska at its
southeastern extremity and follows the Pacific coast around
to the Aleutian Islands. Beyond this mountain system,
and following its general trend, is a broad depression,
drained by the Yukon River and its tributaries. North
of this basin is a height of land which separates the
Yukon valley from the bleak shores of the Arctic Ocean.

THE PACIFIC COAST REGION.

This portion of the territory is mountainous throughout.
Although the coast of the mainland and of the islands is,
all together, several thousand miles in length, yet for the
entire distance there are very few square miles of level
ground. The land rises from the water almost every-
where at steep angles, without a sign of beach, to alti-
tudes of thousands of feet. It is a fiord coast. The
islands are separated from one another and from the main-
land by fiords, deep gorges whose bottoms are in some
cases thousands of feet below the surface of the water.
These fiords extend far up into the mainland and into the
islands, in deep, narrow U-shaped inlets.

The relief features of this region, its mountains and its
gorges partly filled by the sea, are all of glacial origin,
presenting everywhere the familiar handwriting of ice.
Every canyon, every water passage, whether called strait,
canal, or bay, is a U-shaped gorge, and its branches are
similar gorges, commonly at higher levels — 'hanging

A HANGIHG VALLEY, FRAZER REACH

GEOGRAPHY 259

valleys ' they have been called. Above the cliffs of the
gorges the mountains rise by gentle slopes to the base of
the peaks. The cross profile of each gorge and its sur-
roundings is that of ice, not of water carving. It is the
work of channel erosion, not of valley erosion, and the
channels were filled with ice. It is a colossal exhibition
of the eroding power of water in solid form. From Lynn
Canal, a fiord ninety miles in length, there have been car-
ried off and dumped into the Pacific more than 200 cubic
miles of rock, and from all the fiords of southeastern Alaska
the amount removed may be safely estimated at thousands
of cubic miles. The ice has but recently retreated from
these gorges, for since its retreat water has done but little
work, although the region is one of heavy rainfall and ex-
tremely steep slopes, where aqueous erosion is at a maxi-
mum.

Of the great glaciers which occupied this region a short
time ago, only trifling fragments remain in the upper ends
of the gorges, and comparatively few now reach the sea.
I use the word trifling, however, merely in relation to their
former extent, for absolutely these remnants are not at
all trifling. The ice cap of Greenland and the glaciers
of the Antarctic continent alone exceed them in magni-
tude. All the glaciers of Switzerland together would
form but a few rivulets of ice on the surface of the great
Muir Glacier, and the Muir is but one of many glaciers
of equal magnitude. Indeed, on this coast are scores of
live glaciers, glaciers which reach the sea, presenting to
it fronts of ice or ice walls rising from the sea bottom to
200 or 300 feet above its surface, and several miles in
length, and which drop bergs, with thundering sound,
into the sea. Of such glaciers about thirty were visited
by the Harriman Expedition, and others are known. Of
dead glaciers, or those whose fronts do not reach the sea,
hundreds are known.

260 GANNETT

The mountains increase in height toward the northwest,
but not at a uniform rate. They culminate near the coast
in the Fairweather Range, south of Yakutat Bay, at about
16,000 feet, and in the St. Elias Range, west of Yakutat
Bay, at 18,000 feet or more. These ranges are not regular
or continuous. While they follow the general direction
of the coast, toward the northwest, they are extremely
broken, being cut through on the mainland by many fiords
and by streams flowing into the heads of the fiords. The
Stikine, which reaches the coast near Wrangell, heads far
to the eastward, in Canada, and cuts across the entire
breadth of the Cordillera system. The same is true of
the Taku River, which, flowing through Taku Inlet,
reaches the coast near Juneau; and of the Chilkat, which
flows into one of the heads of Lynn Canal. Alsek River
heads far to the north, in Canada, and cuts a gorge through
the great Fairweather Range. These are the main rivers
of this coast, but there are many smaller ones, which head
either beyond the mountains to the north and east, or far
within them.

The coast line from Cross Sound northwestward to
Prince William Sound is comparatively smooth and sim-
ple, containing no inlet of magnitude, with the exception
of Yakutat Bay. As far as Yakutat Bay it is closely bor-
dered by the Fairweather Range, which rises abruptly
from 10,000 to 16,000 feet almost from the water's edge,
bearing on the summit a succession of peaks and covered
with glaciers along both slopes. A day long to be re-
membered was that on which our ship steamed, between
8 o'clock in the morning and 6 in the afternoon, from
Yakutat Bay to Cross Sound, along the entire front of this
range, which was outlined against a cloudless sky.

Yakutat Bay is a deep funnel-shaped bay, penetrating
far into the heart of the mountain region. At its apparent
head it turns sharply upon itself to the south and extends

GEOGRAPHY 26 I

back nearly to the sea in a narrow fiord, bordered on
either side by high mountain walls. This extension, here-
tofore named Disenchantment Bay, has been rechristened.
The story of the locality is as follows : More than a cen-
tury ago Malaspina,the Spanish navigator, entered Yakutat
Bay while in search of the Northwest Passage. Sailing
on up the bay and finding that open water extended far
inland, he for a time thought that for him had been reserved
the fame and satisfaction of discovering the long-sought
route through the North American continent. His dream
was short, however, for on nearing the bend in the bay he
found his way blocked by a solid wall of ice. This ice
was the front of the combined Hubbard and Turner gla-
ciers, which then extended far beyond their present limits,
completely closing the entrance to the fiord above, which
at that time was probably an open lake some 200 feet
above the level of the sea, and overflowing southward into
the Pacific. In memory of his disappointment, Malaspina
named the upper part of Yakutat Bay ' Disenchantment
Bay/

Prof. I. C. Russell, when exploring the head of the
bay in 1891, discovered the fiord, and in an open boat
traversed it for its entire length. Instead of naming it,
he extended the application of the name Disenchantment
Bay to cover it. We have rechristened it, in honor of its
discoverer and first explorer, Russell Fiord. Our ship,
the George W. Elder, was the first large vessel to go to
the head of this fiord. We made the passage under the
pilotage of a Yakutat Indian and lay at anchor over night
at its head.

Northwest of Yakutat Bay for many miles the shore is
covered by a field of ice, Malaspina Glacier, which is in
the main a stagnant pool, wasting only under the heat of
the summer sun, and supplied by ice streams from the
St. Elias Alps, which border it on the north and east.

262 GANNETT

Farther to the northwest stretches a low coast, rising into
mountains a score or two of miles inland. Through these
mountains flows Copper River, at whose mouth is an
enormous delta, built up of detritus which it brings down
from the interior.

Then comes Prince William Sound, a bay of irregular
shape, with many tentacle-like fiords extending in various
directions into the land. Its entrance is nearly closed by
islands between which are several navigable passages.
The islands near the shores are everywhere mountainous,
and on the north shore mountains rise to about 10,000
feet, the higher ones everywhere skirted with glaciers,
many of which come down into the sea. Several of the
fiords are of great length, reaching far inland. Thus Port
Valdez, up which the Copper River route to the interior
passes, extends inland more than thirty miles, and Port
Wells, on the northwest of Prince William Sound, pushes
forty miles into the interior, far up among the high moun-
tains, and each of its branches terminates in a living gla-
cier. Passage Canal, too, up which runs the portage route
toTurnagain Arm of Cook Inlet, has a length of thirty miles.

Prince William Sound, in the mountainous character of
its shores, in its multitude of islands and fiords, and in the
almost total absence of level land, resembles southeastern
Alaska. It was, until recently, but little known, all our
information concerning it being derived from the explo-
rations of Vancouver and Malaspina, made a century or
more ago. Within the past two years, however (1898
and 1899), exploring parties under Captain Abercrombie
and Captain Glenn have supplemented the work of Van-
couver and Malaspina, and have added materially to our
knowledge of the coast and adjacent lands. Some addi-
tional information also was gained by the Harriman Expe-
dition, especially concerning Columbia Fiord and Glacier,
and of Port Wells and its glaciers, in the form of sketch

GEOGRAPHY 263

maps and photographs of these localities. The head of
Port Wells and a large branch coming in from the west
were explored and mapped. This western branch, shown
on the sketch map as Harriman Fiord, was in all prob-
ability closed at no very remote time by the front of
Barry Glacier, which extended across the fiord to the op-
posite shore; indeed, until our visit, it was still supposed
to be closed. In bringing our ship close to the glacier
front to obtain photographs of it, our party discovered
the opening between its point and the land, and as we
steamed through we saw unfolded before us a magnificent
vista of mountain and glacier.

' ' We were the first that ever burst
Into that silent sea."

It was sunset when we entered the portals, and through
the long twilight of the Arctic evening, we passed up the
fiord with mile-high mountains and great glaciers on
either hand. A little before midnight we reached its
head, where it is terminated by the front of Harriman
Glacier. A surveying party was landed there, and two
days were spent in making a reconnaissance of the fiord
and its surroundings. In this fiord, in a length of 15
miles, there are, besides a score of ' dead ' glaciers, five live
glaciers, four of them of the first magnitude, and all
reaching the sea and discharging bergs into it.

The general direction of the coast, which trends north-
west to a point beyond Mount Saint Elias, gradually
swings to the westward, and beyond Prince William
Sound turns toward the southwest in the Kenai Peninsula.
Beyond the end of this are mountainous islands, Afognak
(594 square miles) and Kadiak (3,642 square miles) the
latter the largest island in Alaska waters. These continue
the line of Kenai Peninsula to the southwest, and are
separated by the waters of Cook Inlet and Shelikof Strait

264 GANNETT

from the Alaska Peninsula. This latter peninsula bears
the backbone of the mountain system which follows the
coast, the westward extension of the Cordillera. Of its
structure little is known, except that here and there are
upturned stratified beds and occasional volcanoes, some
extinct, others still smoking, as if the internal fires were
banked, but not extinguished. Among these are Redoubt,
Iliamna, St. Augustine (on an island near the coast),
Pavlof and many others. Beyond the west end of the
Alaska Peninsula its general direction is continued by
groups of islands and islets, as if the mountain range of
which it is composed were sunken below the sea and
only the summits of its peaks protruded above the waves.
These are the Aleutian Islands. Upon them also are
many volcanoes, some alive, some dormant.

BERING SEA.

Just north of the Aleutian Islands, which run in a broad
curve, convex southward, over ten degrees of longitude,
are two islands, Bogoslof and Grewinck. These are very
young, the older having come into being 104 years ago,
the other being but 1 7 years of age. Only half a genera-
tion ago it rose from the sea, with great fury and turmoil
of escaping steam, and although for 17 years its shores
have been bathed in the icy waters of Bering Sea and its
summit wrapped almost constantly in chilling fogs, it is
still hot and gives out steam. Its older brother has long
since cooled and is now the nesting place of millions of
birds, and the breeding ground of hundreds of sea-lions.

North of these rocks, far in the gloom of the eternal
fogs of Bering Sea, lie the Seal Islands or Pribilofs, St.
George and St. Paul, little islands of hills and gentle slopes
of tundra, clothed in summer with a rich mantle of grass
and flowers. Still farther north, in the midst of this
dreary sea, where the sun seldom shines, are St. Matthew

GEOGRAPHY 265

and Hall Islands, buttressed by cliffs, above which are
undulating slopes of tundra, grassy and gay with flowers;
and beyond them St. Lawrence, a mountain island fringed
by a boggy plain.

The Alaska coast of Bering Sea is mainly low and
marshy, rising very gently inland, and consisting al-
most entirely of tundra. The Yukon, the great river of
Alaska and one of the great rivers of the earth, ends its
long journey seaward in an enormous delta, which covers
thousands of square miles. Through this great area of
low, level land its distributaries meander sluggishly to the
sea, bringing from the interior mud and gold and drift-
wood, to be spread along the coast by the currents.

Such is the Alaska coast: where it faces the Pacific,
bold, rugged, and bordered throughout by a mountain
barrier; where it faces Bering Sea, low, tundra-clothed,
and affording easy access to the interior by means of its
great river.

THE INTERIOR.

Of the interior of Alaska we know much less than of
its borders. Not only did the early explorers confine
their attention almost entirely to its coasts, but the inhab-
itants, both natives and Europeans, owing to the difficul-
ties of land travel in the interior, have always lived upon
the coast or upon the larger streams, and have made their
journeys by the water routes. It is only in recent years
that definite geographic information concerning the interior
has been obtained, and at present, through the extensive
explorations carried on by the U. S. Geological Survey and
officers of the U. S. Army, such information is rapidly
increasing.

The primary slope of the land is toward the west and
southwest, as is indicated by the courses of the great
rivers of the Territory, the Yukon, Kuskokwim, Koyukuk,
and others. The trend of the mountain uplifts, on the

266 GANNETT

Pacific side, swings around from northwest to southwest,
thus following the general course of the coast. Of the
great features of the territory this chain forms the south-
ernmost, and is the key to the structure of the country.
Succeeding it on the north is the great valley of the Yukon,
which is separated from the Arctic coast by ranges of low
mountains and broken country probably nowhere exceed-
ing 5,000 or 6,000 feet in altitude.

The Cordillera attains its greatest breadth and altitude
between longitudes 142° and 152°. Here are many sum-
mits reputed to exceed 12,000 feet in height, with Mount
Wrangell, said to be 17,500 feet, and Mount McKinley,1
so far as known the highest summit on the North Amer-
ican continent, rising to an altitude of 20,464 feet. In
this portion of the mountain system are the sources of
many large rivers, the White, a branch of the Yukon, the
Copper, well named on account of the enormous deposits
of copper ore found near it, the Sushitna, flowing into the
head of Cook Inlet, the Tanana, another branch of the
Yukon, and finally the Kuskokwim, which, heading in the
western part of this group, flows southwest into Bering
Sea. In the region north of the Yukon valley originate
many streams, including several large branches of the
Yukon, as the Porcupine and Koyukuk; other streams,
as the Noatak and Kowak, flow into Kotzebue Sound,
and still others, as the Colville, flow northward into the
Arctic Ocean.

The country is intersected by a network of rivers and
lakes navigable for canoes, although navigation is much
interrupted by rapids and falls. The great highway of the
territory is the Yukon River, which, heading in British
Columbia, flows northwestward through a succession of
lakes and rapids, and crosses the boundary line in latitude
65°. It reaches its most northern point just on the Arc-
latitude 63°, longitude 149°.

CLIMATE 267

tic Circle, in longitude 146°, and thence flows southwest-
ward to its mouth. It is navigable for small steamers
throughout its course in Alaska, and when not closed by
ice, that is, from June to October, carries much traffic,
since the greater part of the food, supplies, machinery and
other goods for the support of the mines in Alaska and
the Klondike come by this route.

North of the Yukon most of the land is permanently
frozen at a depth, thawing only near the surface in sum-
mer. Wherever the slopes are at all gentle such ground
is marshy, forming the well-known tundra of the Arctic
regions.

CLIMATE.

We must speak of the climates rather than the climate
of Alaska, for different parts of the Territory differ in
climate, not in degree only, but in kind. The Pacific coast
has a climate of its own, the coast of Bering Sea has an-
other, and both differ widely from that of the interior.

The climate of the Pacific coast, from Portland Canal in
the extreme southeast to Attu Island at the west end of
the Aleutian chain, may be characterized, in a word, as
* chilly.' Take the well-known climate of San Francisco
with its dampness, fogs, and cold sea winds, reduce the
temperature 15 to 18 degrees and increase the dampness
and fog in proportion, and you have a fair idea of the
climate of the Alaska Pacific coast. At Sitka, in latitude
57°, the mean annual temperature is 43° Fahr., which is
about the same as at Eastport, Maine, 12 degrees farther
south. The extreme range of temperature on record at
Sitka is from a trifle below zero Fahrenheit to 90° above,
and the monthly mean temperatures range from 31° to 56°
only, illustrating the wonderfully uniform temperature of
the Pacific coast. At Kadiak, 16 degrees farther west
and a degree farther north, the mean temperature is 2°

268 GANNETT

lower and the extreme range of temperature less. At
Unalaska, 3 degrees south of Sitka, the mean temperature
is only 36° and the range of temperature is still smaller.

While the mean annual temperature on this coast,
whose latitude ranges from 54° to 60°, does not differ ma-
terially from that of Eastport, Maine, on the Atlantic coast
in latitude 45°, the summer temperature is much colder
and the winter temperature much warmer. The statement
has been made that it is no colder at Sitka than in
Georgia. I believe this to be true in the sense that the
minimum temperature is no lower, but it represents only
a part of the facts, and much the less important part. It
is also true that it is no warmer at Sitka than it is on the
Arctic Circle, that is, the maximum temperature is no
greater, and for most economic purposes except the mak-
ing of ice, it is warmth, not cold, that concerns us.

The annual rainfall is heavy over this entire coast. At
Sitka it is more than double that of the Atlantic coast, 105
inches a year being the record, and it diminishes but little
westward. At Unalaska the record is 92 inches. Rain
falls mainly in the autumn and winter, the summer being
comparatively dry.

A description of climate would be incomplete if it
did not include the amount of sunshine and cloudiness,
since these are important factors in the growth of plant
life. At Sitka it is cloudy two-thirds of the time, and
nearly half of the time it is raining or snowing. At
Kadiak the conditions are a little better; at Unalaska
they are worse, for Unalaska is unrivaled for bad weather.
Only eight days in the year, during several years of record,
were entirely clear, and only 45 partly clear, the remain-
ing 312 being cloudy, and 271 of those were rainy or
snowy.

Before attempting to explain these peculiarities of cli-
mate it should be stated that the sea commonly produces

CLIMATE 269

two modifications of temperature. It may reduce the ex-
tremes, making the atmosphere cooler in summer and
warmer in winter, and it may reduce or increase the mean
annual temperature. The Pacific coast of Alaska is within
the range of the prevailing westerly winds of the North-
ern Hemisphere. These winds come off the ocean, bring-
ing to the coast the temperature of the sea. As the sea
absorbs heat slowly, in comparison with the land, and
parts with it as slowly, the winds blowing off it are cool
in summer and warm in winter. Moreover, since the
ocean has waves, tides, and currents, by which its waters
are moved about, the cold water of the north toward the
south, and the heated water of the tropics toward the north,
there is a tendency to establish an equilibrium of tem-
perature. Thus the northern seas are warmer on the
whole — that is, the mean annual temperature is higher —
than land in the same latitudes, and through the agency
of the westerly winds the coast shares in this amelioration
of temperature.

These same westerly winds are responsible for another
feature of the climate, the heavy rainfall. They come
from the sea saturated with moisture, and if they find the
land colder than they are, as it is in fall and winter, they
are chilled below the point of saturation and disgorge
copiously; but if they find the land warm, as it is in
summer, they carry their moisture inland and the coast
enjoys a comparatively dry season. This season is, how-
ever, dry only in comparison with the winter, the wet
season. The rainfall of the three winter months at Sitka
is commonly about 30 inches, while that of the three
summer months is 16 inches, or more than half that of
winter.

The fogs of this coast, really the most obtrusive feature
of the climate, occur whenever the wind blows from the
sea, which it does most of the time, even in summer. For

270 GANNETT

obvious reasons they seldom or never occur with a land
breeze.

The coast of Bering Sea has a climate widely different
from that of the Pacific coast. The mean annual temper-
ature is much lower, even after due allowance for the dif-
ference in latitude. At St. Michael it is 26°, and at Port
Clarence, in Bering Strait, it is 20°. The range of tem-
perature is much greater. The mean temperature of the
coldest month at St. Michael is — 2°, of the warmest month
54°, showing a range of 56°. Similarly, at Port Clarence
the coldest month is — 11°, the warmest 50°, a range of
61°. The highest temperature on record at St. Michael
is 75°, the lowest — 55°, a range of 130°. The contrast
with the Pacific coast is still greater in the matter of rain-
fall, which at St. Michael is very light, amounting to only
14 inches annually. Moreover, rain falls in the warm
rather than in the cold season.

The temperature of this coast is not much modified by
the sea. Bering Sea is practically a closed sea, the Aleu-
tian Islands forming a partial barrier against the warmer
waters of the Pacific; consequently its waters retain, to a
large extent at least, the temperature incident to the lati-
tude. Its mean annual temperature is little affected by
outside influences, and the greater part of it is frozen for
half the year. The extremes of temperature, however, are
reduced by the slow absorption and radiation of heat, just
as with the Pacific. As this region is north of the terri-
tory of the prevailing westerlies, the winds have no prev-
alent direction, but blow whithersoever they list. For
the same reason the rainfall is light. Though the air over
the sea is saturated with moisture, little of it drifts over
the land to supply rain.

If there is a region more infested with fogs than the
Pacific coast of Alaska it is Bering Sea. Here fog is the
normal condition, and clear, bright weather the rare ex-

CLIMATE 271

ception. It is no uncommon experience for vessels bound
for the Pribilofs to miss the islands in the fog, and to
spend days searching for them, as for needles in a hay-
stack. They are a small target to shoot a vessel at from
Unalaska, 250 miles away, and once missed, are not easily
found in this great foggy waste.

The climate of the great interior region is that common
to the interior of all continents. The mean annual tem-
perature is practically the same as in the same latitude on
the coast of Bering Sea, but the range of temperature is
much greater. It is warmer in summer and colder in
winter, since the land heats and cools much more rapidly
than the sea. At the point where the international boun-
dary crosses the Yukon River the mean temperature of the
coldest month (in 1889) was — 17°, that of the warmest
month 60°, a range of 77°. Contrast these figures with
those given above for Sitka, where the corresponding
range was only 26°. Furthermore, consider that the
mean temperature of the warmest month on the Yukon,
in latitude 64° 41', was 4° higher than at Sitka, over 500
miles farther south. These figures are instructive in
pointing the conclusion that if any part of Alaska can be-
come of agricultural importance it is the interior rather
than the Pacific coast. But it is doubtful whether even
this region will admit of profitable farming. In connec-
tion with this question the experience of the Canadians is
instructive. On Peace River, in latitude 56°, 600 miles
farther south, many and persistent attempts at farming
have been made, but without financial success, although
it is doubtless true that certain crops have been matured
there.

The extreme range of temperature in the interior is sur-
prising, even to those accustomed to roast by day and
freeze by night in our western deserts. At this same
point on the Yukon, temperatures of — 60° and of 87°

272 GANNETT

have been recorded, a range of 147°. Again contrast this
with Sitka, where 90° is the extreme range record.

The rainfall in the interior is light, ranging at various
places and in different years from 10 to 25 inches. With
the cold climate and consequent slight evaporation, it
is probably sufficient in the majority of years for agri-
cultural requirements. Differing radically from the coast
climates, this climate is bright and sunny. There is
little dull, cloudy weather, and practically no fog. There
is more sunshine here in a month that at Sitka in a year.

FORESTS

The coast, as far to the westward as Cook Inlet, is
densely forested up to the timber-line, which ranges with
the latitude from 3,000 to 2,000 feet above sea-level. The
timber is mainly, indeed almost entirely, Sitka spruce.
There is some hemlock at higher levels, and in the
southern part a little cedar also, but these are of little com-
mercial importance. Red or Douglas fir, which forms the
bulk and principal value of the forests of Washington,
disappears in British Columbia. The spruce is large and
fine, as judged by eastern standards, but as compared with
the timber of Oregon and Washington, which is the
standard on the Pacific coast, it is inferior, and little use
is at present made of it, most of the timber needed being
brought from Puget Sound. On Kadiak and the adjacent
islands there is little timber, and farther west on the
Alaska Peninsula and the Aleutian Islands, none what-
ever; nor are there any trees on the islands in Bering
Sea. Why the timber should thus suddenly disappear on
the peninsula and islands is an open question. The rain-
fall is ample, and the climate little more severe than at
Sitka, and less severe than about Prince William Sound.
The suggestion that high, cold winds prevent tree growth
is negatived by the fact that such winds occur all along

POPULATION 273

the coast, in forested as well as non-forested parts. More-
over, the forest-fire fiend has not been here.

The interior of the territory is forested, mainly with
spruce, as far north as the valley of the Koyukuk, and as
far westward as the delta of the Yukon. In this enormous
region there must be a very large amount of coniferous
timber, sufficient to supply our country for half a gen-
eration in case our other supplies become exhausted.

POPULATION.

The population of Alaska in 1900, according to the
Twelfth Census, was 63,592, having nearly doubled in
the preceding ten years. Of the total increase, 31,540,
about three-fourths was acquired by that portion of the
territory lying north of the Yukon River, and only one-
fourth by that portion south of that river, including south-
eastern Alaska. Half of the increase in northern Alaska
consisted of the people of Nome, which had a population
of 12,486, by far the largest aggregation of people any-
where in the Territory; the remainder were scattered
widely over its great area, but mainly in the valley of the
Yukon and along the coast north of the mouth of that
river.

In southern Alaska the population increased almost
everywhere, but not by any means at so rapid a rate as in
certain localities in northern Alaska. Skagway had a
population of 3,117, Sitka of 1,396, Juneau, 1,864, Doug-
las, 825, Wrangell, 868, and the Indian village of Metla-
kahtla, 465.

Of this total population about 25,000, or a little more
than two-fifths, were Indians, Eskimos, or mixed bloods,
the remainder being whites. The increase during the
past ten years probably consists entirely of whites.

The population is in high degree a floating one, with
the slightest possible attachment to localities, and subse-

274 GANNETT

quent censuses will doubtless show radical changes in its
distribution.

RESOURCES

The natural resources of Alaska are enormous. The
skins and furs, the fish, the gold, copper, and coal, and the
timber of the territory are in value almost beyond calcu-
lation, and the mere reaping of this harvest sown and
ripened for us by nature will occupy an industrial army
for many years. The wealth thus collected will add
greatly to the well-being and happiness of our people.

Some of these natural resources, however, have begun
to suffer from the drain to which they have been subjected.
The gathering of furs and skins, which has been in prog-
ress since the early Russian occupancy of the territory,
has been prosecuted so actively that the fur trade is now
of comparatively little consequence. Blue foxes are now
so valuable that systematic attempts are being made to
breed them for their skins. The sea otter has become
very rare, and the value of its skin correspondingly high.
The fur-seals, on account of pelagic sealing, are now re-
duced to a small fraction of their former number and only
24,000 skins were obtained at the seal islands in 1899.
Even the great brown bear has become scarce and shy,
and hides in the fastnesses of the interior, away from the
seaboard, where he was formerly abundant.

The seabirds, once plentiful all along the coast, are
now driven to the rarely visited parts, where, particularly
on the islands of Bering Sea, they may yet be found by
millions.

Fish are still abundant, but the salmon canneries have
already reduced the supply in many of the rivers, and the
erection of new canneries along the coast will soon make
the reduction more apparent. During the year 1899 these
canneries packed and shipped 1,100,000 cases and 25,000
barrels of this fish.

RESOURCES 275

The mineral resources of the Territory are yet in an
undeveloped condition, but unless all signs fail, the chief
wealth to be obtained from Alaska will be taken from
the ground. Coal is known to exist in many localities,
but is nowhere, as yet, mined on a commercial scale,
owing mainly to its inferior quality; the coal in use at
present is brought from Nanaimo or Puget Sound. Cop-
per vein deposits of great magnitude and richness have
been found, notably on Copper River and the shores of
Prince William Sound, but as yet none of them have
been developed, beyond the shipping of a few hundred
tons of ore for testing. Gold deposits, both placer and
vein, have been found in various places all over the terri-
tory. They are so widely distributed and so rich as to
lead to the conclusion that with more extended and thor-
ough prospecting, the known auriferous areas will be
vastly increased and the yield of the yellow metal mul-
tiplied many times. Some of the quartz mines, as the
Treadwell, near Juneau, have been worked productively
for many years. This mine alone has produced about
$10,000,000. Others have recently become productive,
and still others, more numerous, are yet in the develop-
ment stage. The mines near Juneau produced, in 1899,
gold of the value of nearly two million dollars. At sev-
eral localities in southeastern Alaska and on the Shu-
magin Islands quartz mines have been discovered, but at
present placers are far more abundant. They have been
found on many of the tributaries of the Yukon, especially
on those from the south, the Sushitna, the Kuskokwim,
and the Koyukuk, and in the north, the Ambler and the
Noatak. At several places gold has been found in the
beach sands on the seashore, and last, but by no means
least, on the beach and the stream-beds at Cape Nome
and Port Clarence. These last discoveries seem to be
the greatest of the whole northwest, rivaling, and prob-

276 GANNETT

ably exceeding, the great Klondike discovery, for many
millions appear to be in sight, awaiting the pan or
rocker to separate the golden sand. The harvest of gold
from Cape Nome during the summer of 1900 was $5,000-
ooo and the total product of the Territory from placers in
1899 was $5,500,000.

But after the enumeration of these latent resources of the
Territory few are left to describe. Alaska is not a country
for agriculture, nor for home-making. It has paid us its
purchase price many times over, and in the future will pour
much wealth into our laps, but it will never pay, as other
accessions to our territory have paid, in making homes for
our people. At present few people go to Alaska to live;
they go merely to stay until they have made their stake.

Farming as a business is impossible under the climatic
conditions prevalent on the coast. It is granted at once
that it is possible to mature certain hardy crops in favor-
able seasons, but this is quite a different thing from raising
crops in competition with California and the Willamette
valley, even when the cost of freight is added. It must
be done at a profit or not at all. It is of no avail to raise
potatoes when they can be brought from Portland and
sold for less than the cost of production in Alaska. If
there is any part of the Territory in which farming can be
successfully carried on, it is the interior, which has a much
more favorable summer climate than the coast; but even
there success is doubtful. However, as the higher rate of
freight to the interior will have the effect of a protective
tariff on home products, it may be possible to raise grain
and vegetables at a profit under conditions which would
be prohibitory on the coast.

SCENERY.

There is one other asset of the Territory not yet enumer-
ated, imponderable, and difficult to appraise, yet one of the

ir
3

H

r

SCENERY 277

chief assets of Alaska, if not the greatest. This is the
scenery. There are glaciers, mountains, and fiords else-
where, but nowhere else on earth is there such abundance
and magnificence of mountain, fiord, and glacier scenery.
For thousands of miles the coast is a continuous panorama.
For the one Yosemite of California Alaska has hundreds.
The mountains and glaciers of the Cascade Range are
duplicated and a thousand-fold exceeded in Alaska. The
Alaska coast is to become the show-place of the earth, and
pilgrims, not only from the United States, but from far
beyond the seas, will throng in endless procession to see
it. Its grandeur is more valuable than the gold or the fish
or the timber, for it will never be exhausted. This value,
measured by direct returns in money received from tour-
ists, will be enormous; measured by health and pleasure
it will be incalculable.

There is one word of advice and caution to be given
those intending to visit Alaska for pleasure, for sight-see-
ing. If you are old, go by all means; but if you are
young, wait. The scenery of Alaska is much grander
than anything else of the kind in the world, and it is not
well to dull one's capacity for enjoyment by seeing the
finest first.

THE ALASKA ATMOSPHERE

BY WM. H. BREWER

HE aspects of the sky and atmosphere along
the Alaska coast have a character unlike that
of any other part of the United States, and
give an especial interest and charm to the
scenery. For a better understanding of its
peculiarities, a short statement of a few elementary facts
regarding the air may be given by way of preface.

The gases which compose the atmosphere are all trans-
parent and if the air contained nothing else, we would
have clear weather all the time. We should then see dis-
tant objects more plainly, but all the other effects of light
and shade and color in landscape and sky would be very
unlike what we actually see in nature. The difference
in the appearance of the landscape from what it naturally
is, would be greatest in the warmer and least in the colder
climates. There would then be little color in the landscape
and none at all in the black cloudless sky. But the at-
mosphere contains dust and smoke and haze and fog and
cloud, and these, in one way or another, give it all its
varying aspects. The clouds may be of fine particles of
water or of ice.

The phenomena of color are due to the different wave-
lengths of light, longer waves producing red, shorter ones

(279)

280 BREWER

violet, the different lengths of the light-waves producing
all the colors observed in the rainbow. When the dust-
particles in the air are smaller than a wave-length of sun-
light, they break up the waves and cause a variety of
color effects dependent on the size and other conditions
of the particles. The afterglow, seen in the sky just
after the sun sets, is caused by particles of dust or ice
suspended in the air. The color of the glow is red or
orange or yellow, according to the coarseness of the par-
ticles, the brilliancy of the coloring being related to cer-
tain other conditions. The red color of the disk of the
sun or the moon, seen through the smoke of burning for-
ests, or through the dense haze in very dry weather, is
due to the same cause. So too is the green sun, some-
times seen through air laden with finer dust from volcanic
eruptions, or even the dust from deserts.

All the haze and turbidness of the atmosphere and
all the colors of the sky are due to suspended particles
of dust or smoke or water or ice. Cloud consists of fine
particles of water, which become frozen into very fine
particles of ice in the cold upper air. The different de-
grees of fineness of the suspended particles give different
colors to the sky itself. The dust particles are finer in
the upper air and they make the sky blue, and the sky is
deepest blue where the suspended dust is finest. For this
reason the sky is always of a deeper blue when seen from
the summits of high mountains. From very high peaks
the very dark blue sky has often a violet tinge, due to the
exceeding fineness of the dust in the thin, dry, upper air.

No region has yet been discovered in which the air is
entirely free from dust. The shadows of high mountains
are often projected against the sky at sunrise and sunset
in clear weather and are due to it. The general fact has
often been described, particularly as observed from the
higher mountains of the western United States, and pho-

ATMOSPHERE 281

tographs have been taken of the shadows of Pikes Peak
and of Mount Hood and perhaps of other mountains.
When seen under the best conditions, this shadow consti-
tutes a phenomenon of indescribable impressiveness. I
have a most vivid recollection of such a scene from one
of the high volcanic cones of northern California, which
may be cited as an illustration. We had climbed the peak
in the night and were on the summit until midday. The
sky was absolutely cloudless and the air still and excep-
tionally clear, having been purified by a recent storm.
Never before nor since have I had a wider view. Points
two hundred miles distant were sharply defined on the
horizon, yet, even in that clear air, there was dust enough
to serve as a screen on which the grand picture was
thrown. As the sun rose, a giant spectral mountain ap-
peared against the opposite sky. It was of deep cobalt
blue sharply defined against the lighter ' azure-blue ' of
the sunlit air about it. An optical illusion greatly mag-
nified its size. Owing to the curvature of the earth's sur-
face, it reached high in the sky and far above the Coast
Ranges on the western horizon. It was much higher than
any real mountain on earth, but as the sun mounted higher
the spectre sunk lower until it disappeared.

The shadow of the earth itself may often be seen in
the eastern sky on a clear evening. Just after the sun dis-
appears, a dark band appears along the opposite horizon
and slowty creeps upward. It is darker blue in color than
the sky above it and is often bordered on its upper edge
by a fringe of faint rose-color which sometimes takes on
a distinctly purple hue.

When farthest north on our Alaska cruise, the earth
shadow was especially interesting, and its appearance in-
dicated the great purity of the air there as related to dust
or smoke. The long Arctic twilight is sufficient evidence

282 BREWER

that there is enough suspended matter, even there, to make
a luminous sky on which shadows can be cast. The night
we steamed across from the Asiatic to the American coast,
just below Bering Strait, the southern sky was cloudless,
there was no moon, and the earth shadow was very dis-
tinct. It was a grand arch of deep blue which slowly
rose and crept along the southern sky, attaining at mid-
night the height of thirty or forty degrees. It was very
much higher than I have ever seen the shadow in lower
latitudes. It was very distinct as to shade, although not
so sharp in outline as we see at home. There was no
tinge of rose or purple, although we had some red and
crimson clouds in the north. The arch moved westerly
across the southern sky and vanished before it sank to the
horizon.

It was discovered, some twenty years ago, that when
the vapor of water condenses and forms fog or cloud, it
must have dust particles to condense upon. Without dust
there is no fog nor cloud ; the more abundant the parti-
cles, the denser the fog or cloud may become. This dis-
covery has attracted much attention among meteorolo-
gists, and ingenious methods have been devised to count
the number of dust-particles contained in a measured
quantity of air. Thousands of such countings have been
made. The air has been examined in many countries and
many places — over sea and land, on mountains and in
valleys, in cities and in the country. Numerous tables
giving the numbers found in various localities, have been
published in scientific works. It is enough here to say,
that the number varies greatly, ranging from a very few
in the purer air on high mountains to many thousands
of particles in a single cubic inch of city air, but I am not
aware that any such observations have ever been made in
any high latitude. The vast arctic region is mostly cov-
ered by water, ice or snow, and with its scanty population

Q

ATMOSPHERE 283

and its abundant storms to wash the atmosphere, the
amount of dust in its air must be very much less than in
the air over more densely inhabited countries and in
warmer climates. A few years ago I made a series of
observations on atmospheric appearances along the coasts
of Labrador and Greenland and in Baffin Bay up to the
Arctic Circle. All the phenomena there are in accord-
ance with what we might expect from an atmosphere
containing only fine dust and vastly less in quantity than
is found in all warmer latitudes. I made similar observa-
tions on the aspects of the sky and air every day of the
Harriman Alaska Expedition.

Westerly winds prevail along the western coast of
North America from Mexico northward. Coming over
the broad Pacific, they lose on the way much of the dust
that had been gathered from other regions. This explains
the cause of the very clear air of California and the other
Pacific States. Near the coast the air when dry and with-
out fog is marvelously clear. From California northward
to Alaska, forest fires later in the season often make a
very smoky atmosphere. As we steamed up the inland pas-
sage northward, the blue haze, due mostly to smoke, rap-
idly diminished, its softening effects upon the landscapes
grew less and less, and from Glacier Bay on our way out
until we reached Yakutat on our return, we saw practi-
cally none of the effects of a smoky or a dusty atmosphere.
We sometimes had a haze when the air was nearly satu-
rated with moisture, but it was never a blue haze — always
white like a faint transparent fog. When the air was dry,
the atmosphere was then always very transparent and dis-
tant objects were marvelously distinct. When the moon
rose, it was bright and white and without color. I watched
its rising several times when it was as white and clear at
the horizon as it was when it reached mid-sky, without a
tinge of color and with no perceptible diminution of its

284 BREWER

light. I have in mind one evening while on the way up,
the half full moon when rising seemed poised, as it were,
on the very summit of a low peak which was but a short
distance inland. The dark crags of the peak were sharply
cut on the intensely white face of the planet, which by the
contrast, seemed even brighter than when in mid-sky. A
year before, I had watched the moon rise and set behind
the mountains of the Mont Blanc group. Although it
seemed clear and bright in that mountain atmosphere, yet
it was not so white as we saw it in Alaska. Mont Blanc
has densely populated countries on all sides of it, the
smoke from cities and towns, the dust from highways and
tilled fields, the various kinds of pollution which civilized
regions furnish, affected the atmosphere sufficiently to be
seen even on the whiteness and brightness of the moon.
The Queen of Night keeps her whitest robes for dis-
play in the higher latitudes. It is, however, only fair to
say that on our way home, by the time we reached Yaku-
tat the forest fires had already begun inland and the moon
rose with a blushing face.

The peculiar clearness of the air lends a special charm
to the near views of a flower clad landscape. Examples
of this we often had on the islands. But the more distant
landscapes lack the softening shades we are familiar
with at home ; their beauty is of entirely another kind but
not less interesting. They lack the soothing quality of the
landscapes in hazy air, such as we have in warmer cli-
mates and more populous countries, where landscapes fade
away by insensible gradation into the dreamy distance,
and the horizon is indefinite and mysterious. In Alaska,
the horizon often seems wonderfully close to us even
when we know it is distant. We are so accustomed at
home to see distant objects more dimly because of the
haze, that we think objects must be near if they are sharply
distinct.

BOTANIZING ON HAIJ_,

ATMOSPHERE 285

When we had fogs they were rarely so opaque as those
we are familiar with at home, and very much less dense
than the fogs off the coast of Nova Scotia and New-
foundland. It is probable that there is not dust enough
in the air to form sufficient nuclei for the quick con-
densation of such thick fog as is common off the east-
ern coast below Labrador. The fogs were, however,
wet enough to make up for their lack of opacity, although
not so wet as occur on Baffin Bay and along the coast of
Greenland.

It is the dust and the particles of ice or half condensed
watery vapor suspended in the air that scatter the light
and make the atmosphere seem luminous. Much dust
in the air diminishes sensibly the actual amount of light
that reaches the surface of the earth and also changes its
character. Therefore, we often had an abundance of light
on cloudy days, in fact more than one would suppose.
The wonderful clearness of some of the photographs
which were taken by the party on cloudy days is one evi-
dence of this. This quality of the light in Alaska was a
factor in the production of so many successful photographs
by the party and gave many of them exceptional beauty
and excellence.

As to the clouds, we saw none with rounded heads
(' cumuli' as meteorologists call them) north of the
Alaska Peninsula and but very few anywhere along the
Alaska coast. Over Bering Sea and northern coasts the
clouds had ragged edges, shreddy, never sharp in out-
line — none with rounded heads such as form a factor
in the summer sky-scenery of warmer lands. Both as
we went out and on our return, a few cumulus clouds
curled over the peaks on the Peninsula, but the clouds that
adorned most of the mountains were not sharply out-
lined; they sometimes stretched away from the summits
like frayed banners.

286 BREWER

Some of the cloud effects were, however, especially
beautiful. Photographs of clouds are, as a rule, very un-
satisfactory, but many of those taken on this trip show
cloud scenery with a beauty rarely equaled. The lights
and colors on the clouds seen in the long twilights of
those high latitudes, although longer in duration were not
more brilliant than in lower latitudes.

Rose and crimson clouds sometimes lingered in the
northern sky during the whole interval between sunset
and sunrise. They were very brilliant in Bering Strait
during the short bright night of July 11—12.

As to the color of the sky itself, it was never dark blue
north of latitude 55° or 56° — always a lighter blue than
we have on clear days in middle and lower latitudes. It
was deeper blue than the sky along the eastern coast of
North America in the same latitudes, but not so deeply
blue as in the warmer regions we are more familiar with.

The colors of sunsets and sunrises were not so varied as
at home. This applies both to the sun-glows in the clear
sky along the horizon just after the sun's setting, and to
the red or crimson colors of the clouds later, and there
was little to distinguish them from those of our home
experience, either as to shade or intensity of color. The
disk of the sun, before setting, was never reddened, but
had varying shades from white brightness to golden yel-
low. Although the disk never reddened, the afterglow
in the sky, near the horizon, was often rose-colored, sal-
mon and even orange. Sunrises came so inconveniently
early that few observations were made.

Now and then we had a mirage over the water, when
the air was temporarily still enough and the temperature
right for them to form, but they were neither so striking
nor so frequent as along the coast of Labrador in the same
months. Nevertheless, there were one or two which were
beautiful for a while, and which linger in the memory.

EMERSON GILBERT

MEMBERS OF THE EXPEDITION ON ST. MATTHEW ISLAND

ATMOSPHERE 287

The rose-colored illumination of the snowfields on
high mountains opposite the setting sun, called ' Alpen
Gluehn ' or < Alpine Glow ' in Switzerland and which con-
stitutes one of the beauties of snow-clad mountains, we
had in great perfection on several occasions. I had pre-
viously attempted to make comparisons of the colors of
the ' Alpine Glow ' as seen in different regions. The
earlier observations are recorded only in memory, but of
later ones careful notes were taken at the time of observa-
tion.

As seen on the snows of the Rocky Mountains and on
the mountains of southern California in winter and under
clear skies, the glows, as I remember them, were more
distinctly rose-red in color and more luminously brilliant
than in any I have seen elsewhere. On the lofty peaks of
the Cascade Range later in the season and when the smoke
of forest fires prevails, they are much less luminous and
the colors much duller, sometimes appearing maroon
or even brown in the smoky air. I have seen very similar
colors on the Bernese Alps, viewed from Interlaken, dur-
ing a very dry time in autumn.

From various points of view we had these glows of
exceeding beauty on the mountains along the coast and
on the islands, and their colors were carefully noted dur-
ing their occurrence, from the time when the first blush
of rose began to appear until all the color was quenched
in the twilight. The year before I had exceptionally good
opportunities of making similar observations in Switzer-
land and to note in the same way the glows on the snow-
fields of the Mont Blanc and Monte Rosa groups, and
thus can the better compare the impressions as to colors
and beauty, between the phenomena as seen in the dust-
less and smokeless air of the Alaska coast, and the effects
in the dustier and smokier air of Switzerland. The color
effects in Alaska were the more beautiful, the colors more

288 BREWER

clear and brilliant, and the tints have a more decided
suggestion of blue or violet in the red. During the time
of greatest intensity of color, the rosy tints pass through
what might be called peach-blow color rather than pure
rose-color. They were also more brilliant and of very
much longer duration. At times they seemed almost blaz-
ing with color, as if self luminous. Then, too, when the
shadows of other peaks were projected on such sunlit
snowfields and crept up the slope, gradually quenching
its color, the contrast between the rosy illumination above
and the bluish-gray shadow below was much stronger
than I have seen elsewhere. The shadows themselves
were bluish gray, and the blue tinge was at times very
perceptible. Attractive as these phenomena are wher-
ever found, I have never seen them anywhere else so
fascinatingly beautiful in their contrasts of color, nor so
prolonged in the display.

On July 6th the western sky was cloudless when the
sun set behind very snowy mountains on the Alaska Pen-
insula. The illumination was exactly the reverse from
that which produces the ' Alpine Glow.' Before the sun
touched the horizon the snowfields directly beneath the
disk and stretching along the ridge either way, glowed
with wonderful brightness. They gleamed brighter and
brighter like flame itself as the disk neared the hori-
zon and slowly sank beneath it. The glow was then
quenched with a suddenness that seemed almost start-
ling. The air was probably at that height very dry,
and too pure and moteless to be of itself as luminous
as is common along the horizon beyond which the sun
usually sets. Hence the suddenness with which the
brilliancy ceased when the sun was actually out of sight
and the scanty afterglow in the sky near its place of
setting. It was one of the most striking sunsets I ever
beheld.

SUN AND CLOUDS

HOTOOHAPMS BV C

LAST VIEW OF THE PACIFIC

ATMOSPHERE 289

There is reported to be usually more fog along the
Alaska coast, and especially later in the season, than we
found during the months of our cruise. But, during that
June and July, the aspect of the sky, the sharpness of the
views and the other phenomena incident to the character
of the air contributed greatly to the pleasure of the trip.
It was a phase of Nature so unlike what we have at home
that it cannot be forgotten.

BOGOSLOF, OUR NEWEST VOLCANO

BY C. HART MERRIAM

SMALL spot in Bering Sea about thirty miles
north of the island of Umnak and forty miles
west of the northern corner of Unalaska, has
been in recent years the seat of more violent
volcanic activity and has undergone greater changes of
form than any other part of North America. In this spot,
early in May, 1796, accompanied by thunder, earthquake,
and steam, a volcanic island was suddenly thrown up from
the depths of the sea; and again, no longer ago than the
summer of 1883, the waters were once more convulsed,
and, shrouded in steam and fog, a companion volcano was
born.

OLD BOGOSLOF.

The birth of the new volcano seems to have escaped
observation, but the terrific disturbances attending the
upheaval of old Bogoslof were witnessed not only by native
Aleuts on the islands of Umnak and Unalaska, but also by
the resident agent of the old Russian-American Company,
one Kriukof, who at the time chanced to be on the north-
ernmost part of Umnak. Kriukof told Kotzebue that
on May 7, 1796, a storm from the northwest cut off the
outlook seaward; that on the 8th, when the weather had

(291)

292 MERRIAM

cleared, there was seen a few miles away a column of
smoke, beneath which at evening something black ap-
peared. During the night fire arose in this place and at
times became so bright that every object on the island
could be clearly distinguished. An earthquake shook the
island (Umnak), and a terrific roaring came back from the
mountains to the south. The rising island twice hurled
stones as far as Umnak, a distance of thirty miles. At sun-
rise the earthquake ceased, the flames diminished, and the
newly risen island was seen, shaped like a black pointed
cap. A month later, Kriukof found it considerably higher.
Meanwhile fire had been thrown up continuously. After-
wards the island grew both in circumference and height,
the flames diminished, but steam and smoke rose in-
cessantly. After four years the smoke ceased, and after
eight (1804) sea-lion hunters who visited the island found
the water warm and the ground so hot that no one could
walk on it.1

While at Unalaska in 1817, Kotzebue was informed by
a trustworthy Russian that for a long time the island had
continued to increase in size and elevation ; that its cir-
cumference was estimated at two and a half miles and its
height at 350 feet, and that for three miles around it the
sea was covered with stones (doubtless pumice, which
floats on water).

Baranof states that Bogoslof was again visited in June,
1814 (Grewingk insists that this is an error for 1804) and
a landing effected at a low place where a large herd of
sea-lions had hauled out on the rocks. It was then found

*In the above account, and in other early descriptions that follow, the language
of the original is in the main preserved. Had the observations been made by
geologists, the words ' fire ' and ' flame ' would probably not appear, as it is well
understood that the bright glow of a volcano is not fire in the proper sense of the
word, but the incandescence of molten lava which has come up from the interior
of the earth. Real flames are rarely seen in volcanoes ; the supposed flames are
usually illuminated clouds above the glowing crater. The so-called smoke clouds
are composed of fine rock dust.

OLD BOGOSLOF 293

that the island abounded in craters from which small
stones were being constantly thrown out, obstructing the
view and building up the flat portion of the island. Find-
ing it impossible to explore on land, the party sailed
around it. A year later, a second expedition found the
island much lower and its appearance wholly changed.

By the Aleuts the island was called Agdshagok, but the
Russians called it Joanna Bogoslova, St. John the Theo-
logian, after St. John's day of their calendar.

Langsdorf, who visited Bering Sea in 1806, gives an
account of Bogoslof as he received it from the natives at
Unalaska, and then briefly describes its appearance as
seen by him on August 18 of that year. He was told
that in this place "had long stood an insulated rock,
which, the Aleutians say, was always in the times of their
forefathers one of the great resorts of the sea-dogs and
sea-lions, with which these parts abound.

"In the year 1795, the islanders remarked a great ap-
pearance of fog in the neighborhood of this rock, which
did not disperse, although the rest of the atmosphere was
perfectly clear; this gave the greater uneasiness to the
people both of Oonalashka and Umnak, since they con-
sidered the rock as one of their great magazines of food.
After vainly expecting for a long time the removal of the
phenomenon, and afraid, uncommon as such an appear-
ance was, to venture near it; at length, one of the Aleut-
ians, bolder than the rest, resolved to visit his ancient
haunt, and endeavor to catch some sea-lions. He soon
returned in the utmost terror and astonishment, saying
that the sea all about the rock boiled, and that the sup-
posed fog was the smoke or vapor that rose from it.
Nobody would in consequence venture any more near the
place; concluding, that instead of sea-lions and sea-dogs,
it was become the abode of evil spirits. This continued
for a considerable time, till at length, about five years

294 MERRIAM

after, the fog suddenly clearing away, the Aleutians, in-
stead of their rock saw an island, from which rose a high

' O

peak, in form resembling a chimney, with fire and smoke
issuing from it as if it had really been one."

Continuing, Langsdorf states : " Some inhabitants of
Oonalashka, in the month of April, this year [1806], con-
sequently not a very long time before my arrival, had
visited this island, going in three baidarkas, and gave me
the following account: They were about six hours row-
ing round it, which supposes a circumference of about
thirty versts [20 miles]. They could not ascertain the
height of the peak with any precision, but were of opinion
that if it had been possible to climb directly up to the
highest point, they could not have done it in less than be-
tween five and six hours. The volcano was burning on
the north side, and the lava, which they represented as a
soft matter, ran down the side into the sea. It was im-
possible to land on account of the heat: on the south side
of the island alone, where the shore was not so steep, and
where the great heat of the volcano was not so much felt,
could they effect a landing. They endeavored to ascend
the peak, but found the ascent extremely difficult on ac-
count of the steepness and the number of clefts, and the
sharpness of the stones. When they arrived somewhat
less than half-way up, they judged it more prudent to re-
linquish the undertaking, as the remainder of the way was
much more rugged, and the ground began to grow very
hot; as they descended, they observed a great deal of
smoke and vapor rising from the holes and clefts they had
left behind them. They stopped at a hole, whence issued
a great deal of steam, and suspended in it a piece of the
flesh of a sea-lion; after leaving it there a short time they
drew it out, and found it cooked as if it had been set over
a fire.

" Becoming extremely thirsty, and not finding any water

OLD BOGOSLOF 295

fit to drink, they were forced to return without any farther
examination. . . . According to the farther testimony of
the people at Oonalashka, the form and appearance of the
peak vary from time to time; sometimes it seems high and
pointed, looking like a vast pillar, sometimes lower and
rounded at the summit; sometimes it sends forth a bright
flame, at other times it only smokes, and the smoke is
much greater at some times than at others. The island
seems constantly to increase in circumference, and the
peak in height."

Then, speaking of his own visit, Langsdorf says : " On
the i yth of August, in the afternoon, we left Oonalashka,
and the next day passed this new island; it is of a mid-
dling height, and rises quite to a peak. The center point
has on every side the appearance of a pillar, and seems
entirely perpendicular. On the northwest side are four
rounded summits, which rise one above the other like
steps."

On June 2, 1820, the Imperial sloop 'Good Intent/
commanded by Capt. Gleb Semenovich Shishmaref, at-
tempted a landing at Bogoslof but was prevented by heavy
breakers. Dr. Stein, who was on board, mentions see-
ing a herd of sea-lions at the southeastern end of the
island (Cape Sarichef ), and states that from the highest
point of the mountain, which he named Krusenstern Vul-
canus, a column of smoke arose, probably from the crater,
but no fire was seen. From a cleft at the foot of the
mountain came a waterfall, a bow-shaped spring. The
island was then described as " a cold rock that had ceased
to grow." It appeared streaked from top to bottom with
clefts and gray colored lava flows. The circumference
was given as four nautical miles, the height above the sea
as 500 feet.

Grewingk believes it attained its highest elevation in
1814, and Veniaminof states that it ceased to increase in

296

MERRIAM

size about 1823. No accurate measurements were made,
but its altitude in different years was variously estimated
from 350 to 2,500 feet.

Lutke quotes Tebenkof to the effect that in 1832 the
island was not more than two nautical miles in circumfer-

FIG. i. TEBENKOF'S SKETCH OF BOGOSLOF AND SHIP ROCK IN 1832.

FROM THE SOUTH.

ence and 1,500 feet in altitude. It was pyramidal in form,
its sides covered with sharp crags which threatened to fall
at any moment; the north shore was ragged; the south a
steep wall from which protruded a low tongue of land on
which sea-lions hauled out. A verst (^ of a mile) north

FIG. 2. DALL'S SKETCH OF BOGOSLOF AND SHIP ROCK IN 1873.
FROM THE SOUTH.

of the island stood the high crag known as Sail Rock,
which at that time had no close connection with Bogoslof.1
Liitke's atlas contains a rough sketch of Bogoslof, made
by Tebenkof, which is here reproduced (fig. i). So far as
I have been able to ascertain, this is the first published

1 Llitke, F. — Voyage autour du Monde, etc. Nautical Part, with Atlas, St.
Petersburg, p. 302, Fig. 18, 1836.

OLD BOGOSLOF

297

figure of the island, and no others appear to have been
drawn until 1873, when Dall made six outline sketches
from different positions.1 One of these, from essentially
the same point of view
as Tebenkof's, is re-
produced for direct
comparison (fig. 2). It
shows how the island
had shortened and how
the lofty central peak
of Tebenkof (which in Langsdorf's time, 1806, was still
higher and more precipitous) had weathered and disin-
tegrated until in 1873 it was but little higher than the
northwest end. This end — the one facing Ship Rock —
had suffered most from the inroads of the sea. The part
which in Tebenkof 's sketch is capped by the first and
second pinnacles had been completely torn away, thereby

FIG. 3. BOGOSLOF AND SHIP ROCK FROM THE
SOUTHWEST IN 1873. AFTER DALL.

FIG. 4

OLD BOGOSLOF FROM THE SOUTHWEST IN 1884. FROM PHOTOGRAPH
BY LT. G. H. DOTY OF THE ' CORWIN.'

shortening the island by about a quarter of its length.
The ocean face of the northwest end, as seen in profile
from the southwest (fig. 3) had already become a perpen-

1 Dall's sketches were made with unusual care, the proportions being corrected
by horizontal and vertical angles. They were published in Science of January
25, 1884.

298

MERRIAM

dicular cliff, which form it has maintained to the present
day. Its summit tapered to a sharp point, as shown in

two of Ball's
sketches (figs.
2 and 3), and
the crest of the
entire ridge
broken

was

FIG. 5- MARGINAL OUTLINE OF OLD BOGOSLOF IN

REVERSED FROM ROUGH SKETCH BY W. C. GREENFIELD.

1 7' intopinnacles.

• T» *

In 1884, as

shown by photographs taken by Lieutenant Doty of the
'Corwin' (figs. 4 and 17), the top of the northwest peak
was less sharply pointed, the middle peak was still de-
cidedly the higher, the interval between the two had so
weathered as to present three notches and two prominent
knobs leading up like great steps to the middle, and the
series of pinnacles shown by Dall had fallen.

FIG. 6. OLD BOGOSLOF FROM THE WEST SPIT IN 1891. THE NORTHWEST
PEAK, OWING TO ITS NEARNESS, APPEARS HIGHER THAN THE MORE DISTANT
MIDDLE PEAK.

In 1887, according to a rough sketch by William C.
Greenfield (fig. 5) the middle peak had crumbled until it

OLD BOGOSLOF

299

was lower than the one at the northwest end, and the lat-
ter was crowned by a high slender pinnacle.

In 1891, the date of my first visit, Greenfield's pinnacle
had fallen, the top of the northwest peak had become a
huge bluntly-rounded pillar lower than the middle peak,
and the depression between the two had become a long,
deeply excavated saddle (fig. 6). Seen from a distance,
a sharp peak rose from this saddle (see photogravure at
beginning of article).

In 1895, the date of DalPs second visit, the principal
peaks had undergone much additional weathering though

?mzmz%&$$mm $:v&vx5r

FIG. 7. OLD BOGOSLOF FROM THE EAST SPIT IN 1895. FROM PHOTOGRAPHS

BY C. W. PURINGTON.

the middle peak still remained highest, and the saddle be-
tween had changed in form, as shown in figure 7.

The degradation of the peak and disintegration of the
ridge throughout its entire length have been materially
assisted by its extreme narrowness and sharpness. This
narrowness is well shown in one of Dall's sketches (fig.
8) which gives an end view of the island. In describing
it as it appeared in 1873, Dall says: "It formed a sharp

300

MERRIAM

serrated ridge, about 850 feet in height, very narrow, the
sides meeting above in a very acute angle, where they are
broken into a number of inaccessible pinnacles. There
is no crater, nor appearance of a crater. The shore-line
formed a tolerably regular oval, pointed at the southeast
end, having its longitudinal axis trending NW % w and
SE % E by compass, and reaching about
three-quarters of a nautical mile in
length. The shores are mostly precip-
itous; but at the southeastern extremity
FIG. 8. END VIEW the waves have accumulated a small
OF BOGOSLOF (FROM Sp[t or pointed bit of beach, of talus, on

THE SOUTHEAST) IN .... fir 11 i

1873. BEARING NW wnich in perfectly favorable weather a
% w. DISTANCE 6 landing may be had. With the least

MILES. AFTERDALL. „„„,,_ U ^isformed

Less than half a mile north and west from the island is a
perpendicular square-topped pillar, about 150 feet high,
called on modern charts 'Ship Rock.' Less than half
a mile north and east from the island is a small rock ris-
ing only a few feet above the water. North, east, and
south, and especially east-southeast from the point of the

NW by W. 6# miles. W NW. 7 miles. N by W. 6 miles.

FIGS. 9, IO, II. BOGOSLOF FROM VARIOUS BEARINGS IN 1873. AFTER DALL.
IN FIGS. IO AND II SHIP ROCK IS JUST APPEARING OFF THE FAR END OF
BOGOSLOF.

island, scattered breakers were observed, extending less
than three-quarters of a mile from shore. The crags of
the main island afford the most secure refuge to thou-
sands of sea-parrots, puffins, auks, and divers; and sea-
lions (Eumetopias stelleri) often rest on the talus point.
It is visited in spring, if weather permits, by native egg-

OLD BOGOSLOF 301

hunters from Unalaska; but in 1873 several years had
passed since any one had been able to make a landing at
the proper season. My own party attempted it unsuc-
cessfully in 1872 and 1873."

Tlie amount of wearing down of the middle peak and
consequent lowering of the ridge as a whole between 1873
and 1890 may be seen by comparing Ball's sketches (figs.
8 and 9) with a photograph taken by the l Albatross,' in
1890 (fig. iz).1 The apparent thickening of the base and
bluntness of the summit shown in this photograph are the
natural result of the loss of the sharp apex or crest of the
ridge.

In 1884, according to Cantwell, the great north cliff rose
almost perpendicularly to a height of 325 feet and was in-

FIG. 12. OLD AND NEW BOGOSLOF FROM THE SOUTHEAST IN 1890. BEARING
NW BY W. FROM PHOTOGRAPH BY U. S. FISH COMMISSION.

dented at the base, forming a cave-like recess which gave
it the appearance of leaning to the north. The face of
the cliff at that time is shown in the reproduction of Lieut.
Doty's photograph facing page 308 (upper figure).

On the evening of July 8, 1899, when the Harriman Ex-
pedition visited Bogoslof, the fog rested so heavily on the
summit that the form of the two highest peaks could not
be completely made out (fig. 13), but the lowness of the
ridge as a whole, the small size of the northwest peak, and
the depth of the notch separating it from the rest of the
mass,told too plainly of the rapid wasting going on and fore-

1 For this and other photographs taken on the Fish Commission steamer
' Albatross ' I am indebted to Mr. Charles H. Townsend.

302

MERRIAM

shadowed the eventual destruction of the peaks, for it
seems safe to predict that before the close of another
century the splendid cliffs and bold headlands will have
disappeared.

The way trifling disturbances hasten the general down-
fall was pointed
out by Cantwell
in 1884. He fired
a rifle-shot into
a flock of sea-
birds, " myriads
of which were
perched in the
clefts and niches
of the rock, and
when they rose

FIG. 13. OLD BOGOSLOF FROM POND ON EAST SPIT,

JULY, 1899. FROM PHOTOGRAPH BY HARRIMAN

EXPEDITE. THE TOPS OF THE TWO

PEAKS ARE HIDDEN BY FOG.

Small

OI

plCCCS
WGTQ
111

displaced larger
pieces until a perfect avalanche of stone came down the
declivity, scoring great ruts in the hillside and tearing up

FIG. 14. THE NEW AND OLD VOLCANOES IN 1890, FROM THE SOUTHWEST.
FROM PHOTOGRAPH BY U. S. FISH COMMISSION.

great masses of stone, which were dashed to pieces on
the shore below." Thus even the birds may hasten the
processes of nature in bringing down the mountains.

BIRTH OF NEW BOGOSLOF 303

NEW BOGOSLOF OR GREWINGK.1

The towering cliffs of old Bogoslof no longer battle
alone with the angry storms of Bering Sea, for close at
hand a new island has risen. Its birth was not witnessed
by human eye; no earthquake shock marked its advent,
and the date of its upheaval may never be known. It
was first seen by Captain Anderson of the schooner
' Matthew Turner,' on September 27, 1883, and was then
in active eruption, throwing out large masses of heated
rock and great volumes of smoke, steam, and ashes, which
came from the apex and from numerous fissures on the
sides and base, some of which were below the surface of
the sea. Large rocks were shot high in the air, and falling
back into the water, sent forth steam and a hissing sound.
After nightfall, the vessel being then about 25 miles to
windward, fire was observed on the island. A month
later (October 27) Captain Hague of the schooner ' Dora'
approached within a mile, passing through a streak of
red water and then into a streak of green water. He is
quoted as saying that black smoke, like that from burn-
ing tar, was issuing from the volcano; that it threw out
flame, smoke, and red-hot rocks, and that among the sea-
lions observed near by were a number which had been
scalded so that the hair had come off. He thinks many
were killed.

Both captains were in the service of the Alaska Com-
mercial Company, and on their return to San Francisco
were interviewed by Prof. George Davidson, who re-
corded in * Science ' an abstract of their statements. It
appears that both vessels passed close to the new islet,

1 Captain Hague suggested for the new islet the name ' New Bogoslof,' and
Dall, in an article published in Science in January, 1884, proposed that it be
named 'Grewingk' in honor of the Russian Grewingk, who, in 1850, pub-
lished an important compilation of the various early accounts relating to Old
Bogoslof.

3°4

MERRIAM

approaching from opposite directions. Captain Anderson
first sighted it at daybreak, September 27, and at 8:30
passed it within three cables' lengths, heaving the lead as
fast as practicable with twenty fathoms of line and finding
no bottom, although the water was discolored and of a red-
dish hue. His vessel approached from the east, stood up to
the northwest, tacked ship, and passed to the westward —

'' '•' ' ,,'b fib. V •'-*

~

|S5^%' ^^J^^UBSSS.
•ej/^ ?& ff-_^:^^^

/- ^c'F>^% *r

, - *•/ .-'< S" "••

%^--.^^" ^
"Sj^-*^?-^^

~'^f^^t*'^

--^ ?>•;• ,',#

••<"«*cr^ ^^?*z^

^^iis£?J

FIG. 15. NEW BOGOSLOF IN FALL OF 1883. DRAWN BY PROF. GEORGE
DAVIDSON FROM DESCRIPTIONS BY CAPTAINS ANDERSON AND HAGUE.

so that all sides of the volcano were seen. The captains
agreed that the new island was larger than the old; that
it was about half a mile northwest from it; that it rose
precipitously with a rough ' ogee > curve, and that the out-
line of the east side was broken on the shoulder and at
the base by masses of rock. Its sides were said to be
very steep. Great steam jets poured out around the base.

THE NEW VOLCANO

305

New Bogoslof

The summit was hidden by fog or by clouds of steam. Its
height above sea level was differently estimated at from
800 to 1,200 feet. From the description, Professor David-
son made a drawing representing its appearance as the
captains remembered it. This drawing is here repro-
duced (fig. 15).

Natives of Unalaska assert that steam was observed
about Bogoslof in the summer of 1882, the year before the
new volcano
was first seen.
About the time
of its appearance
the two volca-
noes on Akutan
Island ceased to

smoke and for f / S§^^^^^^ Bogoslof

some time show-
ed no signs of ac-
tivity. On Oc-
tober 20, 1883,
between the
visits of Captains
Anderson and
Hague, a shower of fine volcanic ashes or dust fell at
Unalaska. The Signal observer then stationed at Un-
alaska reports, under date of October 22, 1883: "At 2:30
p. M. the air became suddenly darkened like night, and
soon after a shower of mixed sand and water fell for about
ten minutes, covering the ground with a thin layer. The
windows were so covered that it was impossible to see
through them."

Another eye witness, a Mrs. Smith then residing at Un-
alaska, stated in a letter that a very remarkable black
cloud appeared in the north and soon overspread the entire
heavens, settling down very low and cutting off the light

I MILE

FIG. l6. CHART OF BOGOSLOF IN 1884, SHOWING THE
CONNECTING SPIT OR ISTHMUS. DRAWN BY
LIEUTENANT CANTWELL.

306 MERRIAM

of the sun. It finally broke and disappeared in a shower
of ashes.

The first landing on New Bogoslof, so far as known,
was made by the officers of the Revenue steamer * Cor-
win' (Capt. M. A. Healy),on May 21, 1884, nine months
after its discovery. Captain Healy, who from the first
appreciated the importance of accurate observations and
records, visited the volcano four times during the years
1884 and 1885. To his intelligent interest in the sub-
ject, ably seconded by the enthusiastic efforts of his offi-

FIG. 17. NEW BOGOSLOF SHIP ROCK OLD BOGOSLOF.

FROM PHOTOGRAPH BY LT. G. H. DOTY, MAY 21, 1884, FROM THE

SOUTHWEST.

cers, we owe nearly all the trustworthy information and
measurements and the only photographs showing its con-
dition and appearance, and its relations to Old Bogoslof,
in the early days of its history. In his report for 1884,
Captain Healy states : " Lieutenants Hall, Doty, and Cant-
well, together with Assistant Surgeon Yemans, were de-
tailed to go on shore and gather such information as they
could concerning this remarkable volcano. Lieutenant
Hall made a flying survey of the island, Lieutenants Doty

HEIGHT OF NEW BOGOSLOF 307

and Cantwell photographed several of the noteworthy fea-
tures, and Lieutenant Cantwell and Dr. Yemans made
various notes, which are embodied in the reports I had
the honor to forward to the Department."

These reports contain reference to certain photographs
and sketches additional to those published, and to a chart
of the islands which likewise failed to appear in the
printed document. Through the courtesy of Captain
Shoemaker, Chief of the U. S. Revenue-Marine Service,
the archives of the Revenue-Marine were searched and
the missing sketches, including Cantwell's original manu-
script chart (fig. 1 6), were found and placed at my dis-
posal. Lieutenant Doty, who some time since resigned
from the service, has had the great kindness to loan me
his original negatives. It is hardly necessary to call at-
tention to the importance of these records of conditions
long since past and gone. Cantwell's chart and sketch
' A ' (fig. 1 8), and some of Lieutenant Doty's photographs
(figs. 4, 17, and three full page plates) are here repro-
duced.1 From them, and the reports of the l Corwin,'
the condition of the islands in May, 1884, may be summa-
rized as follows :

The height of the new volcano was 500 feet or a little
less. Its upper third was cleft by a ' great fissure,' some-
times spoken of as ' the crater,' extending in a NE and
sw direction and dividing the summit into two unequal
parts, the northwestern of which was much the larger and
higher. The eastern part was estimated to comprise only
about a fifth of the mass, and its height was given as 403
feet. The summit of the larger peak was so obscured by
clouds of steam that it could not be measured, but it was
estimated to rise about 75 feet above the smaller one, or

1 It should be put on record that the data on the originals show that the points
of the compass printed under the photographs of Bogoslof in the reports on
the 'Cruise of the Corwin' for 1884 and 1885, are almost without exception
erroneous.

308 MERRIAM

at most not exceeding an altitude of 500 feet. The interior
of the great fissure could not be reached or seen " owing
to the steam, fumes [of sulphur], and heat rendering en-
trance into it highly dangerous if not impossible." The
numerous steam vents were lined with thick deposits of
sulphur, and the escaping steam was suffocating and nau-
seating. It was also found impossible to ascend the main
peak. Steam and smoke " issued not only from the crater
but also poured forth with great violence from rents or
areas in the sides of the cone." On the northwest side
Cantwell counted 15 steam jets forming a group along a
horizontal line. This is shown in a reproduction of his

unpublished sketch
4 A' (fig. 18).

The volcano was
covered with a thin
layer of ashes, the sur-
-::^^~~~ face of which, from

FIG. 18. NEW BOGOSLOF FROM THE NW IN the action ot rain, had
1884. FROM LT. CANTWELL'S SKETCH ' A.' been converted into a

ON THE RIGHT, THE END OF OLD ~ ,

BOGOSLOF MAY BE SEEN. CTUSt. The party

found it very difficult

to climb the slope, sinking ankle deep to knee deep through
this crust and into an almost impalpable dust, which rose
in clouds and nearly suffocated them. As the first sum-
mit was reached, the heat of the ashes became almost un-
bearable, and Lieutenant Cantwell was forced to pick his
way over rocks whose exposed surfaces were cooler and
afforded a more secure foothold. The temperature of the
sand at the foot of the cone was 44° Fahr., of the material
halfway to the top 191°, and in a crevice near the summit
was so high that the thermometer (which was made to
register 260°) exploded, and the solder fastening the ring
to the instrument was fused.

The old and new volcanoes were connected by a broad

OLD BOGOSLOF FROM CONNECTING SPIT NEAR NEWVOLCANO

NEW BOdOSLOF FROM CONNECTING SPIT AT BASZ OF OLD BOOOBLOF

BOGOSLOF ISLANDS. BERING SEA
MAY 21,1884

MEASUREMENTS OF NEW BOGOSLOF 309

bar or spit called ' the isthmus,' which at its narrowest
part was 326 feet wide. This is shown in Cantwell's chart
(fig. 1 6) and in Lieutenant Doty's photographs (fig. 17
and plate opposite this page). From this spit, and near the
base of the new volcano, rose a tower-like rock 87 feet
high with a slight inclination to the north — Ship Rock
(see photogravure). Barnacles and watermarks were
found on the Rock twenty feet or more above sea level,
conclusive evidence of recent elevation.

The general trend of the islands (or island, for at that
time the two were connected by continuous land) was
SE by E and NW by w.

The position of Ship Rock, from observations made by
Lieut. J. W. Howison, was found to be: Lat. 53°55'i8";
Long. i68°oo/22// west.1

Heights and distances were determined by Lieut. D.
W. Hall by means of angular measurements. They are
herewith appended:

Feet.

Height of east pinnacle of Old Bogoslof 334

Height of center pinnacle of Old Bogoslof 289*

Height of west pinnacle of Old Bogoslof 324

Breadth of base of Old Bogoslof. 933

Height of Ship Rock 87.5

Width of isthmus (narrowest) 326

Length of southern spit 1 ,824

Extreme length of island 7>9°4

Height of southeast peak of New Bogoslof. 403

Height of southwest peak of New Bogoslof 475-500

The length of the connecting spit is not definitely given,
but Cantwell states that on leaving the new volcano a

1 The position of Ship Rock given by Stoney is : Lat. 53°55/s6.3// ; Long.
i67°57/i7.i4//.

The position of new Bogoslof given by Tanner is Lat. 53°54/.

'This is obviously an error, as the photographs show that the middle peak
was the highest part of the island (fig. 5). The 289 may be a typographical
error for 389.

310

MERRIAM

Bogodof

walk of a third of a mile brought him to old Bogoslof,
which would give the spit a length of about 1,750 feet.

On May 28, 1884, only a week after the visit of the
' Corwin,' Lieut. George M. Stoney of the Navy arrived at
Bogoslof and spent three days in taking soundings around
the island. His report on the subject seems to have mys-
teriously disappeared, but an abstract of it was printed in
' Science ' for November 7, 1884, and a brief memorandum
entitled ' Sailing Directions for Bogoslof Island and
Hague Island ' is on file in the U. S. Hydrographic Office.

Lieut. Stoney also prepared
a chart on which fully 150
soundings are recorded. This
chart, through the courtesy of
Captain C. C. Todd, Hydro-
grapher U. S. Navy, I have
been permitted to reproduce
(fig. 19). Stoney states that a
thermometer inserted an inch
and a half below the crust
rose to 250° Fahr. in a few
seconds (the air temperature
at the time being 40°), and
that a stick placed against
the hot rock blazed instantly.
Many earthquake shocks were felt on the schooner at
anchor, and once, when climbing the volcano, " a most
sensible vibration of the whole mass took place." " Rum-
bling sounds, and a dull roar similar to the discharge of dis-
tant cannon, were heard at intervals; and though flames
were seen only upon two occasions, yet this is believed to
have been due to the little darkness of the season at that
latitude." The summit was usually hidden by masses of
black and whitish smoke. " Near the base of the vol-
cano the water bubbled and broke, as if boiling, but no

FIG. 19.

Bogcslof

STONEY'S CHART OF BOGO-
SLOF IN MAY, 1884.

NEW BOGOSLOF IN 1884 AND 1885 31 1

difference was found in the surface and bottom tempera-
tures; and at the anchorage, where the same ebullition
was apparent, there was a difference of one degree only
between the same points." No fishes were found near
the islands, though repeated efforts were made to catch
fish in the surrounding waters.

In his manuscript i Sailing Directions ' Stoney gave the
rise and fall of the tide as about ten feet, and described
the beach as steep, with six fathoms of water 100 feet off
shore. The southwest anchorage he found much the
best, having a gravel and fine sand bottom and regular
soundings. The northeast anchorage was not so good,
having kelp patches and rocky bottom, with irregular
soundings. " The water was bubbling up all the time

FIG. 20. OLD AND NEW BOGOSLOF IN 1884. FROM SKETCH
BY LT. G. M. STONEY.

while at this anchorage." The sea near the southwest
side of Old Bogoslof was filled with kelp and sunken
rocks.

In the fall of the same year (Sept. 10, 1884), on the
return of the * Corwin ' from the Arctic, Captain Healy
revisited the island. In his report he states that a number
of new features attracted his attention, but does not say
what they were.

The next year, 1885, the * Corwin' visited Bogoslof
twice — first on June 19, and again on September 14.
Captain Healy states that its activity had somewhat less-
ened but the general appearance had not changed since
the previous year. Both peaks were inaccessible on
account of the steam and fumes of sulphur in which they

312 MERRIAM

were enveloped. Leaving for Unalaska in the evening
after the second visit the vessel sailed around the north
end of the volcano, which in the darkness presented a
most extraordinary spectacle. The summit was envel-
oped in a bright sulphurous light which burst forth from
rifts in its side and shone out against the black sky in the
background, making a scene both beautiful and impressive.
The next record is a sketch made in 1887 by William
C. Greenfield and published by Becker and Dall in 1898
(fig. 21). In this sketch the new volcano is represented
as considerably higher than Old Bogoslof; the two are
connected by an elevated bar which appears higher than
in the * Corwin's ' photographs taken in 1885; Ship Rock
is still standing and of considerable height, although dis-

FIG. 21. ROUGH SKETCH OF THE ISLANDS IN 1887, BY WM. C. GREENFIELD.

integration had evidently begun; the new volcano is
steaming from three principal peaks, and from a vent at
the northeast corner (which in later years became the one
of greatest activity) ; the highest peak is at the northwest
corner.

Three years later (August 2, 1890) the U. S. Fish
Commission steamer ' Albatross ' (Capt. Z. L. Tanner)
passed within three-quarters of a mile of the island, but no
landing was made. Captain Tanner states that the day
was unusually clear, Makushin and the highlands of
Umnak being distinctly visible. Ship Rock had fallen and
its original position was marked by debris. New Bogo-
slof was enveloped in smoke and steam so dense that its
outlines could not be accurately determined, but its alti-

NEW BOGOSLOF IN 1891 313

tude was not far from 400 feet — that of the highest peak
of Old Bogoslof being 370 feet. The islands were still
connected, standing on the same platform, and their length
collectively was given as a mile and a quarter (fig. I4).1

The following year, 1891, it was my good fortune to
visit Bogoslof. Prof. T. C. Mendenhall and I were on
our way home from the Pribilof Islands, whither we had
been sent as Commissioners to represent the interests of
the United States in the controversy with Great Britain
over the fur-seals. We left the Pribilofs on the evening
of August 10, on board the * Albatross,' commanded by
Captain Tanner, whom we persuaded to return to Unalaska
by way of the volcano. The night was densely foggy, as
usual in Bering Sea in summer, and the early morning
brought no change. The ship was feeling her way cau-
tiously with no land in sight, when suddenly, about seven
o'clock, the fog lifted and we saw, directly ahead and
hardly a mile away, the bold front of the new volcano.
We felt a thrill of excitement as the precipitous cliffs of
the northern end broke through the fog, followed by a
fierce rush of escaping steam, whose roar, when the engines
stopped, drowned all other noises, not excepting the cries
of the myriads of seabirds which swarmed about the rocks
like bees about a hive. A little farther away and some-
what to the left, Old Bogoslof soon came into view.
The relations of the two are shown in the plate at the be-
ginning of the article, which is from a photograph taken
from the deck of the ' Albatross.'

Before anchoring, Captain Tanner took the precaution
to send an officer in a small boat to run a line of sound-
ings between the ship and shore. Good anchorage was
reported, with nothing less than twenty fathoms. The ship
was started ahead slowly, but immediately grounded on a

lThe bearings were recorded as NW by N and SE by S (magnetic).
Tanner in Report U. S. Fish Commission for 1890, pt. XVII, p. 243, 1893.

MERRIAM

reef or rock with only nine feet of water under her bow.
The small boat had crossed or gone to one side of the rock
before beginning to sound.1 We backed off without dam-
age to the ship and anchored in the bay on the east side
of the island, when a number of us went ashore in a small
boat, visiting and photographing first the new, and later
the old volcano.

The bar or isthmus connecting the two islands (found
by the 'Corwin' in 1884 and 1885, by Greenfield in 1887,
and by the * Albatross' in 1890) had disappeared, leaving
only a short spit attached to the southern end of the new
volcano. From Old Bogoslof an entirely new and very

A & •'•mm j

<FBre^P?3S5e5H^==

&tt-^~**w*\Z^++<**!ii5S£ffy&P

FIG. 22. NEW BOGOSLOF FROM THE LONG WEST SPIT OF
OLD BOGOSLOF, AUGUST II, 1891.

long spit had formed on the west side and extended
westerly for about a mile, leaving an open channel about
a quarter of a mile wide between the two islands (as
shown in fig. 22 and also in my chart, fig. 23).

The shape of the island did not in any way suggest a
volcano, there being no cone and no true crater. The
highest point was on the north, where the mountain rose

'This may have been the remains of a small rock shown on Sarychef's chart
in 1826, and mentioned by Dall in 1873, as " half a mile north and east of the
island [Old Bogoslof], which rises only a few feet above the water." — Dall in
Rept. Supt. U. S. Coast Survey for 1873, pp. 115-116, 1875.

NEW BOGOSLOF IN 189!

315

in a precipitous wall from the sea. This wall continued
for some distance along the west side, forming a line of
high cliffs with a narrow beach below (fig. 24) ; on the

FIG. 23. SKETCH MAP BY MERRIAM SHOWING SPITS IN 1891.

east the masses of rock broke down irregularly without any
beach; on the south the slope was more gradual and the
island flattened down into a broad beach which stretched

FIG. 24. NORTHWEST CORNER OF NEW BOGOSLOF, AUGUST II, 1891.

out toward Old Bogoslof — with which it was connected the
previous year. On the east side, particularly a little south
of the principal steam vent, the light rocks were broken

316

MERRIAM

and piled in irregular masses and appeared to be under-
going movement; at all events, huge blocks had only re-
cently toppled over and some were covered with a light
deposit of grayish dust which we took to be volcanic ash.
The new volcano was enveloped in steam, which issued
from thousands of small cracks and crannies and poured
in vast clouds from a few great fissures and crater-like
openings, the principal of which was near the northeast
corner, only a few feet above high water mark. From

FIG. 25. IN THE STEAM, NEW BOGOSLOF, AUGUST II, 1891.

this opening, the shape of which we could not see, it rushed
out with a loud roaring noise. The place is shown on the
right in the photogravure at the beginning of the article.
So great was the quantity of steam that it completely con-
cealed the upper part of the island except when wafted to
or fro by violent gusts of wind. Professor Mendenhall
and I walked from the roaring hole where this steam es-
caped, around the east, south, and west sides of the volcano,
but it was impossible to pass around the towering cliff at

NEW BOGOSLOF IN 1895

the north end. The steam was usually impregnated with
fumes of sulphur, and deposits of sulphur, some in very fine
needles, were observed along the margins of the cracks.
Most of the rock was hot and pools of hot water were
found on the beach.

Captain Tanner expressed surprise at the altered ap-
pearance of the volcano since his visit the previous year:
the connecting spit had disappeared, the island had de-
creased in height at least 100 feet, and the pinnacle had

FIG. 26. SUMMIT RIDGE OF NEW BOGOSLOF, AUGUST II, 1891.
LOOKING DOWN FROM HIGHER POINT.

fallen and was lying in huge masses on the steep incline.

Two years later (1893) Captain Tanner reported the
volcano " in active eruption, as usual " — by which he
doubtless meant that it was steaming violently.

In 1895 Bogoslof was visited by Becker and Dall of the
U. S. Geological Survey, and an assistant, C. W. Puring-
ton, took several excellent photographs, some of which
are here reproduced. At this time, according to Becker,

MERRIAM

" an apparently clean passage, nearly three quarters of a
mile in width, separated the two islands [fig. 27]. The
new island then appeared to be not more than some 300
feet in height. It still steamed vigorously though not
violently."

FIG. 27. OLD BOGOSLOF FROM NEW BOGOSLOF IN 1895.
FROM PHOTOGRAPH BY PURINGTON.

The photographs taken by Mr. Purington, particularly
figure 28, show that since my visit in 1891 the activity of
the steam vents had greatly diminished, and the top of the
volcano had lowered and flattened down. Becker is in
error in stating that this flat-topped form had been as-

FIG. 28. NEW BOGOSLOF IN 1895 FROM THE SOUTHEAST.
FROM PHOTOGRAPH BY PURINGTON.

sumed in 1891, as may be seen by comparing the plate at
the beginning of this article (and also fig. 26, showing part
of the summit in that year) with Purington's photograph
of 1895 (fig. 28). One of Purington's photographs shows
details of the west side (fig. 29) and though not from ex-

NEW BOGOSLOF IN 1897

319

actly the same point of view may be compared with my
photograph of the same side taken four years earlier
(fig. 24).

In 1897 Dr. Leonhard Stejneger, while on his way to

FIG. 29. PART OF WEST SIDE OF NEW BOGOSLOF IN 1895.
FROM PHOTOGRAPH BY PURINGTON.

the Commander Islands, passed close to the north end of
New Bogoslof and took some excellent photographs, two
of which by his kind permission are here reproduced.
They show the boldness and precipitousness of this part

FIG. 30. NEW BOGOSLOF FROM THE NORTHWEST, JUNE 30, 1897. OLD BOGOS-
LOF IN DISTANCE ON RIGHT. FROM PHOTOGRAPH BY STEJNEGER.

of the island, and also its level top and plateau-like form,
which in view of its recent mountainous character is diffi-
cult to understand. One of these photographs (fig. 30) is
from the northwest, and for position is practically identical

320

MERRIAM

with Cantwell's sketch ' A ' (fig. 18) with which it should
be compared. The other (fig. 31) is from a point a little

FIG. 31. THE ISLANDS FROM A LITTLE EAST OF NORTH, JUNE 30, 1897.
FROM PHOTOGRAPH BY STEJNEGER.

east of north and should be compared with the photo-
gravure at the beginning of this article.

The Harriman Expedition (1899) made no landing on
New Bogoslof, but, as shown by a photograph taken from
the boat by W. B. Devereux (fig. 32) the summit then

I

FIG. 32. THE ISLANDS ON JULY 8, 1899, FROM THE EAST. NEW
BOGOSLOF ON THE RIGHT. FROM PHOTOGRAPH BY DEVEREUX.

presented the flattened form mentioned by Becker in 1895,
and shown in Purington's and Stejneger's photographs.

MATERIALS.

Both islands are wholly volcanic and, according to
Becker, "seem to be composed entirely of hornblende-an-
desite, with some included fragments of diorite." Becker
(in 1895) was the first geologist to visit the islands, but pre-

SHIP ROCK

321

viously specimens of the rocks had been brought back
and reported on by Dr. George P. Merrill.1

SHIP OR SAIL ROCK.

The first land recorded in the vicinity of the present
site of Bogoslof was a huge rock seen by Krenitzin and
Levashef in 1768 or 1769 — nearly 30 years be-
fore the upheaval of the old volcano. It is shown
on their map of 1780 in the form of a small pro- FIG<33-
file outline surrounded by four or five crosses indicating
outlying rocks (fig. 33). 2 The next record is that of Cap-
tain Cook, who on October 29,
1778, "discovered an elevated
rock like a tower " near the same
place. He says: "We must
have passed very near it in the
night. We could judge of its
steepness from this circum-
stance, that the sea, which now
run very high, broke nowhere
but against it."3 This rock is
shown but not named on Cook's
chart. It was afterward called
Ship or Sail Rock, and the

name was attributed to Cook, FIG. 34. KRUSENSTERN'S CHART

but I have failed to find it in his OF BOGOSLOF AND SHIP ROCK, PUB-

LISHED IN 1826. (REDUCED AND
narrative . RELETTERED . )

1 Science, IV, p. 524, Dec. 12, 1884 (brief announcement). Proc. U. S. Na-
tional Museum, VIII, pp. 31-33, April, 1885. Reprinted in ' Cruise of the Cor-
win ' for 1884, pp. 45-46, 1889.

1 Ship Rock as shown on Krenitzin and Levashef's map in 1880. Published
by William Coxe in his ' Account of the Russian Discoveries between Asia and
America.' London, 3d ed., 1787 [ist ed. 1780]. The sketch of the rock was re-
produced (natural size) by Dall in Science, Vol. Ill, p. 90, Jan. 25, 1884 ; and
(greatly enlarged) by Davidson, Ibid., Ill, p. 283, March 7, 1884.

8 Voyages into the South Sea, Vol. VII (Cook's Third Voyage), p. 527, 1784.
In a footnote Cook states that " though this rock had no place in the Russian
map produced by Ismyloff , it has a place in the chart of Krenitzin's and Leva-
sheff's Voyage " above referred to.

of

322 MERRIAM

Some time after the upheaval of Bogoslof in 1796 a
high rock was observed a short distance to the northward.
Kotzebue states that when in Unalaska in 1817 he was
told by a reliable Russian that a rock supposed to be the
Ship Rock of Cook, stood about 100 fathoms north of
Bogoslof. It appears in Krusenstern's chart published in
1826 (fig. 34). In 1832 Tebenkof sailed with full can-
vas between it and Bogoslof, and described it as a high
crag rising from the sea about a verst (^ mile) north of
the volcano.

In 1873 it was described by Dall as "a perpendicular
square topped pillar, half a mile north and west of the
north end of the island," and was shown in several of his
sketches (figs. 2, 3, 10, n).

In 1884, the year following the upheaval of New Bog-
oslof, Ship Rock was described by Lieutenant Cantwell
and Dr. Yeamans as a towerlike rock 87 feet in height, with
a slight inclination toward the north. It stood on the bar
or isthmus which then connected the two islands, but was
much nearer the new than the old volcano, as shown in
Lieutenant Doty's photographs (fig. 17 and plate facing this
page) . The presence of barnacles and water marks twenty
feet above sea level showed that it had been recently ele-
vated; and the form of the summit, as shown in photo-
graphs and sketches made by Lieutenants Cantwell and
Doty, indicates that disintregation had begun (see plate
facing this page).

The next year (1885) it was apparently unchanged
(Healy).

Two years later (1887), according to a sketch by Wm.
C. Greenfield, it was still a prominent pillar, but its top
had become very narrow and the extreme summit had
doubtless crumbled away (fig. 21).

In 1890 it had fallen, and its site was marked by debris
(Tanner). This debris was plainly visible at the time

THE SHIFTING SPITS 323

of my first visit, in August, 1891, and is shown in my
photograph of the two islands at the beginning of this
article. The date of its downfall was probably 1888 or
1889. Hence its known history covers a period of 120
years.

THE SHIFTING SPITS OR BARS.

The East and Southeast Spits of Old Bogoslof.

Projecting from the east side and southeast end of Old
Bogoslof is a long broad spit which toward the cliffs rises
in low terraces and is obviously of greater age than the
other spits about the islands. While it has undergone
various changes of form and extent, the character and
elevation of its base show that parts of it have been in
existence a number of years. The part at the southeast
end, in continuation of the axis of the island, was the first
to appear. It was observed by Tebenkof in 1806 and de-
scribed as cold and flat, while the body of the volcano
was still hot. In 1820 Doctor Stein mentioned seeing a
herd of sea-lions at the southeast end. In 1832 Tebenkof
described the south side as a steep wall from which pro-
truded a low tongue of land on which sea-lions hauled
out.

In 1873 the spit was observed by Dall, and its length
was estimated as not exceeding one-third the length of
Bogoslof — say 350 feet.

In 1884 it had grown, according to Cantwell, to measure
1800 feet, and was still confined to the end of the island.
On CantwelPs chart (fig. 16) the axis of Old Bogoslof,
continued through the spit, is too nearly east and west,
while on Stoney's chart of the same date (fig. 19) it is
too nearly north and south, its true position being inter-
mediate between the two. Both Cantwell and Stony agree,
however, that in 1884 there was no spit on the broad east
(or northeast) side of the island.

324 MERRIAM

In 1887, according to Greenfield's sketch (fig. 21), the
south or southeast spit remained essentially as in 1884,
and the drawing appears to show also a beach or spit on
the east side.

In 1890, judging from the photographs taken by the U.
S. Fish Commission steamer ' Albatross' (figs. 12 and
14), the southeast spit continued and the east spit had be-
come well established. The photograph from the south-
east (fig. 12) shows the high base of the east spit, but
owing to the presence behind it of the north spit, connect-
ing it with the new volcano, its extent cannot be deter-
mined.

In 1891, as seen from the 'Albatross' when at anchor
just east of the new volcano, the east and south spits ap-

FIG. 35. OLD BOGOSLOF (ON LEFT1) AND PART OF NEW BOGOSLOF (ON RIGHT)
AUGUST II, 1891. SHOWS EAST AND WEST SPITS OF OLD BOGOSLOF.

peared as one long, broad beach, rising abruptly in a ter-
race about midway of its length (fig. 35).

In 1895, as shown in Purington's photograph from New
Bogoslof (fig. 27), which is a nearer view than fig. 35 and
from a point slightly farther west, the conditions remained
the same, and are more clearly shown. Another photo-
graph made the same day (fig. 7) shows that the east spit
began exactly at the base of the north cliff.

THE SHIFTING SPITS

325

In 1899, when visited by the Harriman Expedition, no
change was observed, and the length of the spit was esti-
mated as a quarter of a mile. Mr. G. K. Gilbert's journal
contains this entry: "we landed on gravel one-fourth of a
mile or more from the cliff of Bogoslof and climbed two
gravel scarps on the way to the cliff." A large pool was
found a little back from the front of the beach (fig. 13).
The fog and lateness of the hour prevented an examina-
tion of the southeast spit.

The Connecting Spit or Isthmus (1884-1890).
When New Bogoslof rose from the sea in 1883, it was
unencumbered by spits or bars and the surrounding waters

FIG. 36. BALL'S SKETCH MAP SHOWING BARS IN 1895.

were free from breakers, indicating deep water all around

(fig- is).

The following year (1884) a broad, flat spit had pushed
out from the south end and reached all the way to the
base of the great north cliff of Old Bogoslof, completely

326 MERRIAM

connecting the two islands (see charts and photographs by
Cantwell, Doty, and Stoney, figs. 16, 17, 19, 20, and plate
facing p. 308).

This spit or isthmus continued until the winter of 1890-
189 1,1 when it was washed away, leaving a broad water
passage between the islands (figs. 22 and 23). The only
vestige remaining in the summer of 1891 was the north-
west end which then formed a flat beach along the south
end of the new volcano (see plate at beginning of article).

The West Spit of Old Bogoslof.

In 1891 an entirely new and very long spit pushed out
from the west side of Old Bogoslof and extended westerly
for about a mile, curving slightly northward at the end
(figs. 23 and 35). Its base was broadly attached to the
west side of the island (fig. 6). The date of its destruc-
tion is unknown, but in 1895, according to Ball's chart
(fig. 36), it had completely disappeared.

The East Spit of New Bogoslof.

In 1895, according to Ball (fig. 36) a new spit, dry at
ebb tide, had formed on the east side of the new volcano,
whence it extended easterly about a mile, its tip curving
to the north.

In 1899, when visited by the Harriman Expedition, the
conditions about the new volcano could not be clearly
made out, owing to the fog, but from a line of breakers it
was evident that a slightly sunken bar occupied essentially
the position laid down by Ball in 1895, except that it
curved to the southeast instead of the northeast, and
closely approached the old volcano. Ball states that such
spits may be formed or destroyed in a single winter storm.

*It was seen by the ' Corwin ' in 1885 (Healy), was sketched by Greenfield
in 1887, and photographed by the ' Albatross ' in 1890 (and mentioned by Cap-
tain Tanner in his report for that year).

PHYSICAL HISTORY OF BOGOSLOF 327

PHYSICAL HISTORY.1

The known history of other volcanoes makes it possible,
with moderate and legitimate use of the imagination, to
construct from the records here assembled the physical
history of this locality. Some thousands of years ago
a crack in the earth was opened deep down under Bering
Sea and lavas welled out. Some of them may have
flowed over the bottom as liquids until they congealed;
others were doubtless burst into fragments by the expan-
sion of imprisoned steam. This occurred, not once but
many times, until at last the accumulated rock made a
mountain high enough to show its head above the sea.
Then the forces of the air attacked it and storm waves
beat against it and it was worn and washed away, till there
remained above water only a pyramidal rock with a bit of
beach or spit that had been built up by the waves from
the waste of the original island. It was in this condition
when first seen by white men, the remnant crag being
Ship Rock. In 1796 there was a new eruption, breaking
out a little to one side of the last, so as to form a separate
island, Old Bogoslof; and this in turn was attacked by the
elements and rapidly reduced in area. Yet another erup-
tion, in 1883, took place on the opposite side of Ship Rock,
creating still a third island, New Bogoslof; all three stand-
ing on the submarine mound or mountain that previous
eruptions had built.

Since then all changes, except a slight upheaval, have
been wrought by storm and sea. The islands have been
gnawed about the base until girt by steep cliffs. Ashes
and loose rocks have been washed down to the sea, leav-
ing the firmer masses as towers and peaks; some of these
have afterwards been sapped and have fallen; and the out-
lines have suffered almost kaleidoscopic changes from year

1 This note on the physical history of Bogoslof was prepared at my request by
G. K. Gilbert.— C. H. M.

328 MERRIAM

to year. From the abundant debris the sea waves have
built large spits and bars, shifting them from place to place
as each succeeding great storm came from a new direction.
Storms from the northwest built out a spit from the lee
of New Bogoslof till it joined the shore of Old Bogo-
slof, reducing the group to a single island. This spit, or
isthmus, included Ship Rock and prolonged the life of
that remnant by protecting it from the breakers. Then a
storm from the east breached the spit between Ship Rock
and Old Bogoslof and washed the greater part of it away,
but built a great spit on the northwest side of Old Bogoslof;
and this in turn was removed by westerly storms, which
made two other spits, trailing a little south of east from the
surviving islands. In 1895 there was a clear deep pas-
sage between the two, but in 1899 their ends had been con-
nected by a submerged bar, fully half a mile to the east of
the previous bar.

So rapid is the demolition of the islands that their present
appearance tells little or nothing of their original forms;
and their complete destruction is but a question of time.
One might predict that in the next century the name Bog-
oslof would attach only to a reef or a shoal, were it not for
the possibility of new eruptions. The pulse of the volcano
is so slow that we have noted only two beats in more than a
century of observation, but such sluggishness should not be
taken as a symptom of death, or even decline, for volcanic
organisms are characteristically spasmodic in their activity.
Long before the sea has reestablished its perfect sway the
arteries of the mountain may again be opened and a new
and larger island put forth to contest its supremacy.

ANIMAL AND PLANT LIFE ON BOGOSLOF.

Plants.

Chamisso, in his account of the Botany of the Kotzebue
Expedition, states that in 1817, according to reports, vege-

BIRDS OF BOGOSLOF

329

tation was beginning to appear on Bogoslof.1 If not an
error, this report must have referred to very lowly forms,
for at the time of my first visit (1891) I particularly noted
the absence of vegetation. It is true that I examined only
the cliffs and the new spit on the west, and not the old
spit on the southeast where seeds of plants have had the
longest chance to grow.

When the Harriman Expedition landed on the east spit
July 8, 1899, we were accompanied by one of our bota-
nists, Mr. F. V. Coville, who made it his special business
to search for plants. He found, besides an alga, only a
single specimen of a small
umbellifer and one or two
specimens of an inconspic-
uous beach plant.

Birds.

From early times Old
Bogoslof has been the re-
sort of countless multitudes
of seabirds, mainly murres
or ' arries,' and the new
volcano had not yet cooled
when the vast hordes be-
gan to take possession. At
the time of my first visit
(August n, 1891) they
stood by thousands on pro-
jecting points and ledges,
wherever the rocks were
not too hot, and hundreds of their eggs, in every stage
from fresh to hatching, and young in various conditions of
early growth were observed. Whether or not they relied
on the warmth of the rocks to assist in incubation, and in

1Kotzebue, Entdeckungs-Reise, III, p. 166, 1821.

FIG. 37. MURRES.

33°

MERRIAM

consequence remained away for longer periods than usual,
was not ascertained. Many sought the steam-enshrouded
crags, where, when the vapor clouds were momentarily
blown aside by the wind, we repeatedly saw thousands
serenely standing side by side as if enveloped in ordinary
fog. It seemed remarkable that birds should voluntarily
take up quarters in places where hot steam and fumes of
sulphur were almost suffocating. Some, indeed, appeared
to have met their death from this cause, for we picked up
on the rocks below a number of dead birds that bore no
sign of external injury. Lieutenant Stoney, speaking of

the murres he saw
about the islands the
last of May, 1884,
said that " such as
flew into the cloud
of steam and smoke
of the belching vol-
cano, as many did,
immediately per-
ished."

FIG. 38. MURRES' EGGS.

But great as were the multitudes of murres on the new
volcano, their numbers were insignificant compared with
those on Old Bogoslof, where every available inch of
standing room was occupied. Each bird stood over its
single egg, and when suddenly frightened, as by the dis-
charge of a gun, started off, carrying its big egg between
its legs, and when a short distance away letting it drop, so
that the report of the gun and the launching into the air of
the birds were followed by a shower of many-colored eggs.

When the Harriman Expedition visited Bogoslof on the
evening of July 8, 1899, flocks of murres on their way to the
islands began to pass the ship while we were still twenty-
five or thirty miles away. They became more and more fre-
quent until in a short time they formed a continuous stream.

BOGOSLOF MURRES 331

The fog was thick all the way — so thick that we could
see only such birds as actually passed over or very
close to the ship — and yet the compass showed that their
course was laid direct for the volcanoes. How they
found their way is a mystery not yet satisfactorily ex-
plained. As we neared the islands their numbers in-
creased until the air was full of them, coming from differ-
ent directions and all moving in straight courses to the
cliffs. When finally the ship hove to, and we set out in a
small boat for shore, the water was dotted with them, and
some allowed us to approach so near that we almost
caught them in our hands. On landing, the sea-lions be-
came at once the objects of absorbing interest, but still we
could not help noticing the great swarms of murres which
continued coming to the cliffs. When one of our col-
lectors fired his gun the multitudes that shot out into the
air and circled round the island formed a dense cloud
which cut off the light and made a roaring noise so loud
that it drowned even the bellowing of the sea-lions. And
yet, after their departure, the cliffs seemed as completely
peopled as before — so inconceivably great were their
numbers.

In the case of most forms of animal life the increase of
the species is checked by enemies and by the limitations
of the food supply, but in the case of the murres in Ber-
ing Sea, enemies are scarce, and the ocean seems to pro-
vide an inexhaustible store of food, so that the only
apparent check to extravagant multiplication is the limit
of available nesting places. And since the bird's require-
ments in this direction are easily satisfied — a shelf or point
of rock three or four inches square answering every need
— the numbers already attained are almost beyond belief.

Two kinds of murres are common in Bering Sea, but
the six specimens obtained by me on Bogoslof, August n,
1891, and also the six secured by Dr. A. K. Fisher on

332 MERRIAM

July 8, 1899, all proved to be the Pallas murre ( Uria lom-
via arra). A few other birds are known from the islands.
Two horned puffins {Fratercula corniculata) and a flock
of kitti wakes were seen by me in 1891; and Cantwell, in
May, 1884, reported puffins in great numbers, and saw also
numbers of harlequin ducks, gulls, and kittiwakes, and
found a dead albatross on the beach.

Sea-lions.

The only mammal known from Bogoslof is the northern
or Steller sea-lion (Eumetopias stelleri} of which a large
colony has throughout the century regularly resorted to
the low ground on the southeast side of the old volcano.
Langsdorf, who visited Bogoslof in 1806, was told by the
native Aleuts at Unalaska that long before the upheaval
of the volcano (in 1796) there had stood near the same
place an isolated rock which from the time of their fore-
fathers had always been one of the greatest resorts of sea-
dogs and sea-lions.

Kriukof, Agent of the Russian-American Fur Company
at Unalaska, told Kotzebue in 1817 that in 1804 a party of
native hunters visited Bogoslof for sea-lions; and Baranof
states that in 1814 (which date Grewingk insists is an
error for 1804) a landing was made at a low place where
a herd of these animals had hauled out on the rocks.

In June, 1820, they were seen by Doctor Stein, in 1832
by Tebenkof, and in 1840 were reported as abundant by
Veniaminof.

The eruption of New Bogoslof in 1883 is said to have
destroyed many sea-lions. Captain Hague, who visited
the islands on October 27 of that year, is quoted as stat-
ing that he saw many of the survivors which had been so
badly scalded that the hair had come off.

Cantwell, who explored the island very thoroughly in
May, 1884, states : " Several herds of sea-lions were found

SEA LIONS

333

on the beaches and on the rocks of the island. They
evinced no fear of our party until fired into, when they
entered the water and followed us from point to point,
evidently viewing our intrusion with the greatest curiosity
and astonishment." Stoney, who was there a week later,
found hundreds of sea-lions on the east spit and on the
rocks about the base of the old volcano. They were at

SEA LIONS.

the same place when it was visited by the 'Albatross' in
August, 1891.

When a boat from the Harriman Expedition carried a
small party to the east spit on the evening of July 8, 1899,
sea-lions were the most conspicuous and imposing objects
seen. They were scattered thickly along the shore and
as we drew near became restless and began to show signs
of alarm. Most of the cows took to water, while the bulls
bellowed and roared and moved down to the beach. Ow-
ing to the surf we were compelled to land at a particular

334 MERRIAM

spot where a number of huge yellow bulls, as big as oxen
and much longer, were congregated. As the boat grated
on the gravel some of them came towards us, bellowing
fearfully and moving in a clumsy ambling lope. While
they would not turn aside to attack a man, woe betide the
unfortunate who falls in their path on their mad rush to the
sea! In dragging the boat up through the breakers to a
safe place on shore we were careful to keep out of the
way of those who had made up their minds to leave by
the way we had come. Those a little farther off stared at
us and roared, swinging their massive heads from side to
side, and as I ran toward them with my camera, most of
them took fright and made off — some into the sea, others
into a pond a few rods back from shore — but a few old
giants, when I was within about 20 feet of them, made a
stand. I did not dispute the ground with them, but waited
till they moved slowly off.

Most of the young, accompanied by more than a hun-
dred cows and as many bulls, took refuge in the pond near
shore. They were now thoroughly frightened and rushed
through the shallow pool in wild confusion, making the
water surge and boil and throwing the spray high in the
air. Finally, as if by concerted action, all of the old sea-
lions made a break for the far side of the pond and stam-
peded for the sea, where another absorbing scene was being
enacted. Dozens of adults, apparently cows and middle
aged males, were sporting like porpoises in the breakers,
moving side by side in schools of six or eight and shooting
completely out of the water. These small squads behaved
like well drilled soldiers, keeping abreast, breaking water
simultaneously, making their flying leap in the air side by
side, and taking the next wave together. This they re-
peated again and again, evidently finding it great sport.
It was a marvelous sight and one to be long remembered.-
Indeed our momentary stop at Bogoslof in the fog and

BIBLIOGRAPHY OF BOGOSLOF 335

rain of that July evening proved one of the most interest-
ing and exciting events of the cruise.

PRINCIPAL PAPERS ON BOGOSLOF.

This is not a complete bibliography but contains merely the
titles of papers consulted in the preparation of the accompanying
article.

Becker, George F. Reconnaissance of the gold fields of southern

Alaska. i8th Annual Report U. S. Geological Survey, 1896-

97, Part III, pp. 15, 21, and 25-28, 1898.
Cantwell, Lieut, [now Capt.], John C., U. S. Revenue Marine. De-

scription of Bogoslov Island and the new volcano in Bering Sea.

In Cruise of the Revenue Marine steamer Corwin in the Arctic

Ocean in 1884, PP- 39-4r> pis- 1889.
Cook, Capt. James. Voyages into the South Sea. (3d Voyage), Vol.

VII, p. 527, 1784.
Coze, William. Account of the Russian Discoveries between Asia

and America. London. 3d Ed. 1787 [ist Ed. 1780]. Con-

tains Krenitzin and Levashef's map with profile of Ship Rock.
Dall, Wm. H. Report of geographical and hydrographical explora-

tions on the coast of Alaska. Report Supt. U. S. Coast Survey

for 1873. Appendix No. n, pp. 115-116, 119, and 122, 1875.

- A New Volcano Island in Alaska. Science, Vol. Ill, pp. 89-
93, Jan. 25, 1884.

- The New Bogosloff Volcano. Science, Vol. IV, pp. 138-139,
August 15, 1884.

- Further Notes on Bogosloff Island. Science, Vol. V, pp. 32-

33^ Jan- 9»

Davidson, George. The New Bogosloff Volcano in Bering Sea.

Science, Vol. Ill, pp. 282-286, March 7, 1884.
Diller, J. S. Lava from the New Volcano on Bogosloff Island. Sci-

ence, Vol. V, pp. 66-67, Jan- 23> l885'
Grewingk, Constantin. Beitrag zur Kenntniss der orographischen und

geognostischen Beschaffenheit der Nordwest Kiiste Amerikas,

mit den anliegenden Inseln. St. Petersburg. 8°, 1850.
Healy, Capt. M. A., U. S. Revenue Marine. Report of the Cruise

of the Revenue Marine Steamer Corwin in the Arctic Ocean

in the year 1885, p. 15, pis. 1887.

336 MERRIAM

Healy, Report of the Cruise of the Revenue Marine Steamer Corwin
in the Arctic Ocean in 1884, pp. 7, 15, 37-46, pis. 1889.

Hydrographic Office. The New Volcano of the Bering Sea. Science,
IV, pp. 432-434, Nov. 17, 1884. Contains Stoney's notes and
chart, contributed by the U. S. Hydrographic Office.

Kotzebue, Otto. Entdeckungs-Reise, Vol. II, pp. 106-107, I^21 5
Vol. Ill, p. 166, 1821.

Langsdorff, G. H. von. Voyage and Travels. London. Part II, pp.
242-245, 1814.

Liitke, F. Voyage autour du Monde, &c. Nautical Part, with Atlas.
St. Petersburg, p. 302, fig. 18, 1836. Contains Tebenkof's
sketch of Bogoslof and Ship Rock in 1832. See p. 296.

Merrill, George P. Hornblende Andesites from the New Bogosloff
Volcano. Science, Vol. IV, p. 524, Dec. 12, 1884. [Brief
announcement.]

On Hornblende Andesites from the New Volcano on Bogosloff

Island in Bering Sea. Proceedings U. S. National Museum,
Vol. VIII, pp. 31-33, April 23, 1885.

On Hornblende Andesites from the New Volcano on Bogoslov

Island in Bering Sea. In Capt. M. A. Healy's ' Cruise of the
Revenue Marine Steamer Corwin' for 1884, pp. 45-46, 1889.

Stoney, Lieut. G. M. See Hydrographic Office.

Tanner, Lieut. Commander, Z. L., U. S. Navy. Report upon the
Investigations of the U. S. Fish Commission Steamer Alba-
tross from July i, 1889, to June 30, 1891. Report, Commis-
sioner of Fish and Fisheries for 1889 to 1891, Part XVII, pp.
242-243, 1893.

Report upon the Investigations of the U. S. Fish Commission

Steamer Albatross for the year ending June 30, 1892, pp. 6-7.
Report, Commissioner of Fish and Fisheries for year ending
June 30, 1892, Part XVIII, 1894.

Report upon the Operations of the U. S. Fish Commission

Steamer Albatross for the Year ending June 30, 1894. Report,
Commissioner of Fish and Fisheries for year ending June 30,
1894, Part XX, p. 203, 1896.

Yemans, H. W., Ass't Surgeon U. S. Marine Hospital Service. De-
scriptions of Bogoslov Island and the New Volcano in Bering
Sea. In ' Cruise of the Revenue Marine Steamer Corwin ' in
the Arctic Ocean in 1884, pp. 41-43, pis.

THE SALMON INDUSTRY

BY GEORGE BIRD GRINNELL

HE fisheries of Alaska constitute one of its
greatest economic resources, but they have
been little exploited, except so far as the
salmon are concerned. There are half a
dozen species of salmon, not all of equal value.
Spending most of their time in the salt water, the salmon
in summer run up the fresh-water streams as far as they
can, and there deposit their eggs. Many of them die be-
fore they return to the salt water; many others are de-
stroyed by enemies of one sort and another, and it is com-
monly believed by the local fishermen that after a salmon
has deposited its
spawn the question
of its death is one of
a very short time
only.

The world's out-
put of canned sal-
mon comes chiefly
from our Northwest
coast. In 1897 this
output is said to have been not far from 3,000,000 cases,
with forty eight one-pound cans to the case. Of this,
Alaska produced about 1,000,000 cases.

(337)

SALMON WHEEL, COLUMBIA RIVER.

338

GRINNELL

In most salmon streams the fish appear to be about the
same size and age. All the females are likely to be very
similar in appearance; all the males also resemble each
other. There are, however, exceptions to this rule; that is
to say, some streams are entered by more than one species.

The spawning ground sought by the salmon is usually
sandy or gravelly bottom in a pool or eddy, but sometimes
beds are swept out and spawn is deposited where the bot-
tom is covered with stones, varying in size from a hen's

SALMON DRYING.

egg to a man's fist. During the winter the eggs of the
salmon hatch out, and in the spring after the ice passes
out of the lakes the young salmon move down the streams
and can often be seen at the mouths in large numbers.

It is an astonishing sight to witness the ascent of a small
salmon stream by the fish, urged on by the reproductive
desire. They work their way slowly up over riffles, where
there is not nearly enough water to float them, but they
seem to have the power of keeping themselves right side
up, and so long as it does not fall over on its side, a fish six

DECREASE OF THE SALMON 339

or eight inches deep can wriggle over shoals where the
water is not an inch deep nearly as fast as a man can run.
On such a stream one may catch in his hands great salmon
weighing ten or twelve pounds, or may kick them out on
the bank with his feet. And while the appearance of a
man in the shoal water will at once alarm the fish and
send them darting in all directions, up or down the stream,
or even out on the bank, yet they soon return, and begin
again to work their way slowly up through the shallow
water.

If one inquires of an individual connected with the
salmon industry in Alaska something about their numbers,
he is at once told of the millions found there, and informed
that the supply is inexhaustible. The same language will
be used that was heard in past years with regard to the
abundance of the wild pigeons, or of the buffalo, or of the
fur-seals of Bering Sea. But if the investigator will con-
tinue his inquiry, and ask for the details of today, he will
learn that it now takes far longer to secure a given number
of fish than it used to, and that the fishermen are obliged
to travel much farther from the cannery than formerly to
secure their catch. As the reserve of the new acquaint-
ance wears off and he becomes interested in his subject,
what he says will show very clearly that the supply of
Alaska salmon is diminishing, and diminishing at a rapid
rate.

The salmon in the eavly summer come up from the
deeper waters toward the mouths of the fresh water
streams, and for some weeks may be seen in the bays,
inlets, and fiords collecting in great numbers, preparatory
to running up the stream. At this time they may be taken
in considerable numbers in such places by trolling with
the hook and line, and afford good sport. At morning
and evening they are seen in numbers leaping out of the
water, sometimes fifteen or twenty following one another,

34° GRINNELL

all leaving and entering the water almost at the same place,
as if chasing one another.

When the fish have at last congregated at the mouths
of the rivers, the work of the canners begins. They
seldom cast their nets unless fish are actually seen, but
when the salmon are visible the seine, from three to five
hundred fathoms long, is swept through the water, and
the captured fish are loaded on to the steam tug, which
then takes them to the cannery.

The fishermen who manage the small boats and sweep
the nets are either Indians or Aleuts. The crews of the
steam tugs are usually white men, while the workmen on
the wharf and in the cannery proper are all Chinamen, ex-
cept for an occasional foreman or skilled mechanic.

After the loaded tug is tied up to the wharf, two or three
men equipped with single-tined forks toss the fish from
the deck to the wharf above, where they are received by
other men similarly equipped, who pass them along to the
gang who clean the fish at a long table. The man at the
end of the table seizes a fish and cuts off its head and
slides it along to the next man, who by two rapid cuts
along the back takes out the backbone and loosens the
entrails. It is then pushed on to the next man, by whom
these loose pieces and whatever blood there may be in the
visceral cavity are scraped away, the tail is cut off and the
fish is thrown into a tank of water. From this it is lifted
and placed with many others in a large tray, which is
wheeled into one end of the cannery building. All these
operations have taken place on the wharf, without the
cannery and over the water, so that usually all the waste
products fall down into the water below, where a part
is devoured by the trout, which are constantly to be seen
swimming about, a part by the gulls and other birds which
congregate in great flocks near at hand, and the remainder
is swept back and forth by the tide, much being carried

CANNING SALMON 341

away, but enough left on the beach to give the place a
decided odor of its own.

The tray of cleaned fish is placed at the end of a long
machine, where a carrier belt, divided into compartments
about 1 8 inches square, by wooden partitions standing at
right angles to it, is constantly ascending at an angle of
about 40° to the top of the machine, which is ten or twelve
feet above the floor. This belt is formed of short boards
linked together. The board cross partitions are not con-
tinuous, but have two or three divisions wide enough to
permit heavy knives to pass down through them. Above
the belt, not far from the top, is a cam in which are set a
number of large knives, and this cam, revolving at the
same rate with the movement of the belt, sends down a
set of knives through each compartment as it moves along.

As the belt moves on, a single fish is placed in each
compartment, is carried upward, is cut by the revolving
knives into one-pound pieces, and when the compartment
reaches the point where the belt turns to pass downward
again, the fragments of the fish are thrown out on a table.
All this machinery works automatically.

From the elevated table where the pieces of the fish lie,
another carrier belt runs down toward another table.
This belt is just wide enough to hold the one-pound frag-
ments of fish, each of which is to fill a can. A man stand-
ing by the upper table keeps placing the pieces of fish
close to each other on the belt, and they are carried down-
ward to a point where there is a great rammer just large
enough to fit into a one-pound can. This rammer works
constantly back and forth across the belt carrying the fish.
Opposite the rammer is a horizontal belt carrying a row
of open empty cans, the mouths of which lie toward the
inclined belt which carries the fish. The tin cans move
at such a rate that the mouth of one is opposite the ram-
mer at each forward motion that it makes, and at each

342 GRINNELL

forward motion a one-pound fragment of salmon is jammed
into an empty can, the can is carried on, and another
empty can follows it, into which another piece of fish is
thrust. This goes on without interruption, minute after
minute and hour after hour, so long as the supply of fish
holds out.

The belt carrying the filled cans now throws them out
on a wide flat table surrounded by men, one of whom sets
them on end as he receives them from the machine.
Those that are completely full are whirled across the table
to a man who with a cloth wipes the grease or moisture
or salmon flesh from about the open end of the can, in
order that when the cover is soldered on, the solder may
take proper hold of the tin. Those not quite full are
thrown to another man, at whose right hand is a pile of
bits of salmon flesh. He fills the can and pushes it along
to the wiper. The latter, as soon as he has finished with
the can, slides it across to another who places a fragment
of tin on the contents in such a position that it will be
under the middle of the cover, which is now put on by
another man, standing near the end of the table. The filled
and covered cans are constantly gathered up and placed in
trays by two men, who carry them across a short passage
and set them down near a man who is attending to the
soldering machine. They are laid side by side on a belt
which runs down to a metal trough just as wide as a can
is high and deeper at one side than at the other, the lower
side being full of molten solder. The trough and solder
are kept hot by a blast beneath them. The cans are
moved forward by means of a heavy chain hanging over
them. The belt carries the cans down to this trough.
The edge of the cover where it meets the can rolls along
for ten or twelve feet through this molten solder, then the
can passes on to another belt, is tipped so that it stands on
its bottom and rides along on the belt to a point where

CANNING SALMON 343

men stand with trays ready to gather up the cans and carry
them over to the testers, whose business it is to determine
whether the cans are absolutely air tight or not. For this
purpose a large number of cans are set in a strap-iron
crate, which is lowered into a tank of water. If bubbles
rise from any can, it evidently is not tight, and is removed
and another one put in its place. In this way five, ten, or
twenty cans may be taken from the crate, which is then
lifted out and carried over to the great boilers, into which
crates full of cans are rolled and where they are cooked
by steam for an hour.

The defective cans are passed over to the solderers and
by them carefully examined; the holes are soldered up by
hand and the cans then go back to the testers.

After the cooking process the cans are gone over again
to see whether any are defective, and then are stacked up
in great piles on the floor. From these piles they are
taken to racks, ranged over tanks of shellac, and when one
of these racks is full, by a simple device its contents are
dipped into the tank beneath, lifted out, and left there to
drain. The shellac soon dries; then the cans are removed
from the rack and again stacked up on the floor, where
the final operation of putting on the labels is performed.
When this has been done they are ready for casing, forty
eight one-pound cans going into a case.

The salmon of Alaska, numerous as they have been and
in some places still are, are being destroyed at so whole-
sale a rate that before long the canning industry must
cease to be profitable, and the capital put into the can-
neries must cease to yield any return.

This destruction of salmon comes about through the
competition between the various canneries. Their greed
is so great that each strives to catch all the fish there are,
and all at one time, in order that its rivals may secure as
few as possible. With their steam tugs, their crews of

344

GRINNELL

white men and Aleuts, and their immense seines they first
sweep the waters near the canneries, and then, when these
have been cleared out, go further and further away, until
at present many canneries, having exhausted the nearby
waters, are obliged to send their tugs 60 or 70 or even 100
miles to find fish for the pack. The fish are caught with
seines, some of which are 300 fathoms long, some 450
fathoms, and I was told of one 750 fathoms long and 18 to
20 feet deep. These seines are run out near the mouths

ALEUTS DRYING SALMON AT UNALASKA.

of the rivers where the fish are schooling preparatory to
their ascent, and of course everything within the compass
of the net is caught. Not only are salmon taken by the
steamer load, but in addition millions of other good fish
are captured, killed, and thrown away. At times also it
happens that far greater numbers of salmon are caught
than can be used before they spoil. A friend told me of
the throwing away of 60,000 salmon at one time near a
cannery in Prince William Sound in the summer of 1900,

SELFISHNESS OF SALMON CANNERS 345

and again of the similar throwing away of 10,000 fish.
At these particular times the salmon run happened to be
very heavy, and more were caught than could be con-
sumed by the cannery. So something like 700,000 pounds
of valuable fish was wasted.

One of the best known salmon districts of Alaska may
be chosen as an example of what this wasteful method
will do for any river. I was told recently by a person
very familiar with the canning industry and with Alaska
that the catch of salmon in the Kadiak and Chignik dis-
tricts— which put up nearly 44 percent of all the Alaska
canned salmon — for 1896 was nearly 360^000 cases; for
1897 it was about 300,000 cases; for 1898, 90,000 cases,
and that up to midsummer in 1899 the fishing had been
practically a failure. And what is going on in the Kadiak
district is going on in other districts. Competition is so
very sharp between the great canning companies, as well
as between the smaller individual concerns which run
canneries, that each manager is eagerly desirous to put up
more fish than his neighbor. All these people recognize
very well that they are destroying the fishing; and that
before very long a time must come when there will be no
more salmon to be canned at a profit. But this very
knowledge makes them more and more eager to capture
the fish and to capture all the fish. This bitter competi-
tion sometimes leads to actual fighting — on the water as
well as in the courts. A year or two since, one company
which was trying to stop another from fishing on ground
which it claimed as its own, sent out its boats with im-
mense seines, and dropping them about the steam launches
of its rival tried to haul them to the shore. This action
led to long litigation, which resulted in a verdict for the
company attacked.

Thus the canners work in a most wasteful and thought-
lessly selfish way, grasping for everything that is within

346

GRINNELL

their reach and thinking nothing of the future. Their
motto seems to be, " If I do not take all I can get some-
body else will get something."

Congress has passed laws governing the taking of sal-
mon in Alaska, but they are ineffective and there is
scarcely a pretense of enforcing them. It is true that
each year inspectors are brought up on the revenue cutter
to see that the law is obeyed, and of course these in-

SALMON BARRICADE.

specters see very clearly that it is violated in every direc-
tion. Where the violations are so flagrant that they force
themselves on the inspectors' notice the canners are told
that they are doing wrong, and that the violations of the
law must cease. The canners reply to them, " Yes, we
know you are quite right ; it is wrong. We do not wish
to do as we are doing, but so long as others act in this
way we must continue to do so for our own protection.
Speak to our rivals about this. We will stop if they will."

VIOLATING THE LAW 347

The rival companies, when spoken to, make the same
reply; so accusations are bandied back and forth.
Nothing is done and the bad work goes on.

Nor are the concerns satisfied with capturing the vast
quantities of fish as they are schooling in the salt water
preparatory to running up the streams to their spawning
ground. To do this systematically would be to catch most
of the fish, but it would not catch them all — it would not
make a clean sweep. So, on many of the streams the
companies build dams or barricades, designed to prevent
any fish from ascending. Drawn by instinct to the mouths
of the rivers, the fish crowd to them trying to ascend,
pushing forward, going only in one direction, and never
becoming discouraged so long as life remains. None
ever turn back, and so, in the course of the summer the
whole number which in the natural course of things would
ascend a river finally collect at its mouth. If the nets are
systematically drawn, all these fish are caught; not one
escapes, and the river is absolutely despoiled of breeding
fish for that year. Not one ascends, and so no eggs are
deposited and no fry are hatched the next spring.

Of course this absolute obstruction of the streams is
practicable only on the smaller rivers. But it is carried
on to a greater or less extent all through the Territory
wherever it can be done, and yet " the erection of dams,
barricades, fish wheels, fences or any such fixed or station-
ary obstructions in any part of the rivers or streams of
Alaska ... is declared to be unlawful," and is
punishable by a fine not exceeding $1,000 or imprison-
ment at hard labor for a term of 90 days, or by both such
fine and imprisonment, and by a further fine of $250 per
day for each day that such obstruction is maintained.

There are certain rivers too large to be barricaded, and
up these some fish run, notwithstanding the continual net-
ting at their mouths. Such rivers often head in consider-

348 GRINNELL

able lakes, where the fish spawn. It is the common prac-
tice of many of the canners to fish with nets in these lakes,
and with an utter disregard for consequences to catch the
fish while occupied in depositing their eggs.

As the natives of Alaska, many of them Aleuts, subsist
largely on salmon, the regulations of the Treasury De-
partment permit them to fish for food, and they are not
subject to the general law which provides " for the pro-
tection of the salmon fisheries of Alaska." Advantage is
taken of this liberty still further to destroy the fish. The
natives catch all the salmon they wish and sell them to
the canners, and this goes on indefinitely wherever the
prohibition against fishing is in any degree regarded. Of
course the natives, ignorant of the law, and, like the
white man, eager for present gain, are glad to catch the
fish and to sell them.

It must be remembered that long before the white man
had come to Alaska, the fisheries on most of the streams
resorted to by the salmon already had owners. For hun-
dreds of years the Indians and the Aleuts had held these
fisheries, not in the general way in which an Indian tribe
claimed to possess a certain territory, but with an actual
ownership which was acknowledged by all and was never
encroached on. Their rights to the fisheries were as real
as to the arms that they bore or the boats in which they
traveled. For centuries certain families or certain clans
had held proprietary rights in particular streams, and they
alone could take fish from them. No Indian would fish
in a stream not his own. He respected the rights of
others, just as he expected others to respect his own.
These ancient rights have now been taken from the na-
tives by force, but they are still anxious to get what they
can from the fishing.

On some streams it is easier to take the fish in traps
than it is to stop them by means of barricades, and then

SALMON ON AFOGNAK ISLAND

349

net them from the water below the barrier. In such places
traps are built with wings and low dams up which the fish
can pass into a pool or lake, which at its head is dammed
by an impassable barrier. When the pool is full, or nearly
so, it is swept clean by the net and left empty to be filled
again. Thus all the breeding fish of a season may be and
often are caught.

I was told that one of the great corporations established
in Alaska had received permission to establish a fish

CAMP OF NATIVE SALMON FISHERMEN, KADIAK ISLAND.

hatchery, and that the employees of this company during
the day catch fish ostensibly to strip for the hatchery and
at night take them back to the cannery and can them.

It is well remembered that the island of Afognak, lying
just east of Kadiak Island, and in one of the richest sal-
mon regions of Alaska, was set aside some years since by
Presidential proclamation as a forest reserve. Formerly
there was a cannery on this island, but it has been dis-

35° GRINNELL

continued and the machinery moved away. This, how-
ever, does not make much difference in the destruction of
the salmon. The streams of Afognak Island are con-
stantly fished by means of nets and barricades, and this
reservation, like some of those within the limits of the
United States, is a prey to whoever may be the first to
despoil it.

Within a few years there has sprung up in Alaska a
new and particularly wasteful method of using salmon.
This is the salting of the bellies. It is perhaps not gen-
erally known that the most delicate part of the salmon is
the belly. In old times certain tribes of Indians — where
the fish were sufficiently abundant — habitually cut out
and dried for their winter food the bellies alone, throwing
away the remainder of the fish. In various parts of Alaska
the same practice is carried on to-day. Only the bellies
of prime salmon are preserved, salted, and packed in bar-
rels for shipment, the whole fish, except the belly, being
thrown away. In other words only from 10 percent to
20 percent in weight of each fish is used, the remainder
being wasted.

Very little capital is required to establish a saltery. All
that is needed is a rough shelter from the weather, salt,
barrels, and labor. On the other hand to establish a can-
nery requires some money, for the buildings must be of a
permanent character, and more or less elaborate machinery
is required. A saltery may be established almost any-
where, and may readily be moved from one place to an-
other. The salted bellies are recognized in the market
as choice food and bring good prices. Thus almost any-
one may establish a saltery and the business offers espe-
cial attractions to men of small means.

Salting is practiced at various points in Alaska, one of
the best known salteries being situated near Tyonek on
Cook Inlet. At this particular place king salmon — known

THE LAW IN THE CASE 351

in British Columbia and the United States as ' chinook '
salmon — are used. These are the largest and choicest
of the Pacific coast salmon, but they are destroyed as un-
thinkingly as any of the others. At other salteries the
varieties known as humpback and cohoe also furnish
bellies for salting.

This practice may fairly be compared with the old time
method of killing buffalo for their tongues alone, and the
more recent one of killing elk and deer for their hides or
heads or hams. It should be stopped; but even if for-
bidden by law there is no hope that in the present condi-
tion of governmental affairs in Alaska the law would be
other than a dead letter. When — if ever — matters in
Alaska shall have become so settled that the taking of
salmon shall be under governmental supervision the salt-
ing of salmon bellies, like many other abuses existing
there, will be put an end to.

By the law passed June 9, 1896, now in force, entitled
" An act to amend an act entitled ' An act to provide for
the protection of salmon fisheries of Alaska,' " it is specifi-
cally provided:

1. That streams shall not be dammed or barricaded nor
traps used on them to prevent or impede the ascent of the
salmon to their spawning grounds, and that the Secretary
of the Treasury shall establish and enforce such regula-
tions as may be necessary to insure compliance with the
provisions of the law relating to salmon fisheries of Alaska.

2. That salmon shall not be taken except with rod or
spear above the tide water of any stream less than 500
feet in width except for purposes of propagation; that nets
and traps may not be laid or set for a distance of more
than one-third the width of such rivers nor within 100
yards of any other net or seine in said rivers ; that no fish
may be killed, except in Cook Inlet and Prince William
Sound, between midnight on Friday and 6 o'clock in the

352 GRINNELL

morning of the Sunday following; that no salmon may be
caught in any manner or by any appliance, except by rod
or spear, in any stream less than 300 feet wide between 6
o'clock in the evening and 6 o'clock in the morning on
each day of the week.

3. That the Secretary of the Treasury may set aside
certain streams in which no fishing may be permitted, and
that he may establish close seasons to limit the duration
of the fishing season, or may prohibit the fishing entirely
for one year or more.

4. The appointment is authorized of three inspectors of
fisheries and their salaries are named.

5. Penalties for violation of the provisions of this act are
announced.

As has been said, the law in force is entirely inadequate,
but it is easier to see where it fails to protect than it is to
suggest amendments which shall make it efficient. Per-
sons in Alaska interested in canneries have expressed the
opinion that a tax should be laid on the output of each
cannery, and that this tax should be used to support hatch-
eries by which the supply of salmon in the streams might
constantly be renewed. It is obvious that Congress, which
enacts the laws, can know but little, or nothing, about the
actual necessities of the case. The present law, which
provides for the appointment of three inspectors to look
after a territory one-fifth as large as the whole United
States, where there are no means of transportation and
where every stream that is six inches deep is a salmon
stream, is entirely inadequate, and in fact authorizes the
throwing away of the small amount of money that is paid
to each of these men. Many of the provisions of the
present law are excellent so far as they go, and the chief
weakness lies in the fact that no means are provided for
enforcing the statute.

It is obvious that the expense of enforcing the law pro-

ASPECTS OF THE FISHERY

tecting salmon in Alaska should be borne by those who
are engaged in the business of catching and selling these
salmon. The canners should be taxed presumably on the
output of their factories, and the revenue received from
this source should be used from year to year for the pur-
pose of restocking the streams and protecting them. It
might be practicable also to lease certain streams to cer-

SALMON DRYING BY ALEUTS.

tain companies on reasonable terms, not permitting them
to fish except on the streams that they have leased.

What has already been written concerns the summer
of 1898 and previous seasons. Since then, there appears
to have been no material change in the conditions, except
that the summer of 1900 was marked by an unusually
good run of salmon in certain rivers, and that certain
catches were large.

The report of the Special Agent of the treasury for 1900,
which become accessible while these pages were passing
through the press (April 1901), shows that violations of the
Jaw by the methods already described continue, and while

354 GRINNELL

this agent takes a most cheerful view of the prospects of the
fisheries and declares that many new canneries are being
established — a condition which is likely always to follow
a year in which there has been a good run — yet an inspec-
tion of his report indicates steady and continuous diminu-
tion in the numbers of the fish taken, and strongly empha-
sizes the importance of measures to increase the supply
and protect the breeding fish. In describing the process
of salmon taking and canning he says : " It is reported
that with the help of steam power and the use of the lar-
gest size of seine as many as 75,000 salmon have been
taken at a single haul. But that never happens nowadays,
when a catch of 5,000 is accounted extremely good and
very often a few hundred only are secured." These few
words tell the whole story.

Some slightly increased interest appears to be felt in
the direction of artificial propagation. The report im-
plies that four practical hatcheries are in operation in
Alaska, and says that their output of salmon fry will not
exceed 14,000,000 — a number about equal to two-thirds of
the annual catch. As only about one percent of these fry
are supposed to mature, it is obvious that as yet the efforts
to supply the annual loss caused by commercial fishing are
entirely insignificant.

Notwithstanding the wholesale destruction which is
thus going on, the salmon of Alaska are not in danger of
actual extermination. Long before anything of this kind
had taken place the canneries and indeed commercial
fishing of every description would have been abandoned
as unprofitable, and the streams — even those that had
been most ruthlessly fished — would slowly reestablish
themselves. But the selfish and shortsighted policy of
taking everything in sight cannot fail to render unprofit-
able in a very short time the whole Alaska canning in-
dustry, and to make it necessary to abandon the costly

VALUE OF THE FISHERY 355

plants that have been established at so many points.
Even if the government is too indifferent to interfere to
regulate the fishing, it would seem that as a mere matter
of business policy the corporations and individuals inter-
ested in the industry would get together and devise plans
for their own protection; but small jealousies and the fear
of being overreached by competitors have hitherto pre-
vented this.

The question of the protection of these fisheries is not
one of sentiment in any degree. It is a question as to
whether the material resources of Alaska are worth pro-
tecting. Beginning twenty years ago in a very small way
Alaska has produced up to this time about 7,500,000 cases
of salmon in addition to large quantities that have been
salted — in 1897 15,500 barrels. The output of the sal-
mon canneries according to the official report of the U. S.
Treasury Department was in 1899 valued at $3,850,346;
in 1900 $6,219,887. Certainly such a resource is worth
saving and making perpetual.

FOX FARMING IN ALASKA

BY M. L. WASHBURN

OR many years the world's supply of fine furs
has been steadily decreasing. The beautiful
sea otter, from the greed of the white hunter
with his far-reaching firearms and his still
more deadly net, set in the rocky passes
through which the otter swims from one feeding ground
to another, is practically extinct. The vast herds of fur-
seals, by reason of the destructive effects of killing at sea,
have so decreased that only small remnants now frequent
the rookeries of the Commander and Pribilof Islands. On
land the onward march of civilization just as surely pro-
claims the early commercial extinction of the silver fox,
the blue fox, the American sable, and many less valuable
fur-bearing animals. Even today so scarce have these
animals become that we find comparatively few of their
pelts offered in the markets of the world. Their place is
largely taken by inferior skins, colored to imitate the fash-
ionable furs of the season, but which change their tint
with use until they finally return to the original hue of the
creature from which they were taken — in most instances
the humble rabbit.

Something like fifteen years ago a few men in western
Alaska, realizing that fur-bearing animals were doomed,

(357)

WASHBURN

decided to try the experiment of propagating some of the
more valuable kinds. Having resided on the Seal or
Pribilof Islands and observed that the blue fox became
somewhat tame, they resolved to try its domestication by
placing a small number on protected islands and caring
for them as the stockman cares for his herd of cattle or
sheep. About twenty foxes were taken from St. Paul Is-
land of the Pribilof group, and placed on North Semidi,
one of the hundreds of unoccupied islands of Alaska, and
thus the experiment began. The industry being new
nothing was known of the habits of the animal, the care

necessary for its
successful propa-
gation, or the kind
of food which was
likely to prove
commercially
practicable — for
it must be nutri-
tious, inexpensive,
and palatable.

From North
Semidi, the origi-
nal i fox ranch,' if
one may employ
such a term, foxes
were taken to other islands along the Alaska coast and the
experiments continued. The results though sometimes
discouraging and not always financially successful, have
shown on the whole that the animal could be raised and
its valuable pelt obtained with as much regularity as in the
case of the humbler domestic animals. About thirty
islands are now stocked with blue foxes — all the out-
growth of the small stock of twenty foxes taken from
St. Paul Island fifteen years ago.

BLUE FOXES ON FOX FARM.

FOX FARMING 359

Long Island, a few miles east of Kadiak, is perhaps the
ideal blue fox ranch and may serve as a type for all. It is
a small island covered with grassy fields and stretches of
spruce forest. Here, near the beach and nestling down
in the edge of the woods, surrounded by trees, flowers,
and luxuriant grasses, is the keeper's house and other
buildings necessary for storing the winter's stock of food
and handling the foxes during the trapping season. This
station has been in operation for about five years and has
now from 800 to 1,000 foxes. They are taken care of by
a head keeper and two assistants. The food consists of
fish and corn meal cooked together and fed to the foxes
once a day throughout the year. They soon come to
know the feeding time and, gathering round an hour be-
fore the food is ready, patiently wait for their daily allow-
ance (6 or 8 ounces of meal and fish). They then scatter
about the island until the time for the next day's dinner.
Fish of any kind is used, either put up dry or preserved
in seal oil or whale oil, the latter being especially attrac-
tive to Sir Reynard.

The foxes soon learn to recognize their keepers and
show little fear of them, but, as a rule, are shy of stran-
gers. The young are born early in May and attain their
growth in about nine months. Only one litter is born each
year, generally numbering from 5 to 8, though as many as
1 1 have been raised by one mother; this however is unusual
and the estimates of increase for killing purposes are based
on the probability that an average of 4 will reach maturity.
During the breeding season special care is taken to scatter
the food over the island as the mother does not like to
leave her young for any length of time, but after they
begin to run about she soon teaches them to follow her to
the general feeding grounds.

The killing season is from about November zoth to
January loth, the fur being then in its finest state. The

360 WASHBURN

foxes are taken in box traps and the best of each sex are
saved for breeders, care being taken to mark them by clip-
ping the hair on the end of the tail as they are released
from the traps. Daily records are kept of the number of
males and females released and the number of males and
females killed — the reasons for killing the latter being
carefully stated.

The Semidi Propagating Company, besides stocking
from North Semidi, Long Island, and Chirikof for itself,
has sold enough live foxes to stock the islands of Pearl,
Little Naked, Goose, Green, Demidof, Deranof, and

FOX FARM, LONG ISLAND, NEAR KADIAK.

Ugak, from which in turn several other islands in eastern
Alaska have been supplied, while in western Alaska four
of the Shumagin islands have been stocked from Attu,
where the blue fox in the wild state is still found in limited
numbers.1

All of the islands kept by the Semidi Propagating Com-
pany, and many of the others in Alaska devoted to the

1 In 1898 a few pairs of foxes from Long Island were sent to Foxcroft, Maine,
and placed in wire-fenced yards. The animals were all pups of that season but I
am informed that several foxes were raised in 1899.

FOXES ON THE PRIBILOF ISLANDS 361

breeding of foxes, are leased from the United States for
this purpose and much interest is being taken by Govern-
ment officials in the results of the experiments. The
natives of Alaska also are beginning to realize the possi-
bility of preserving at least a few of the fur-bearing animals
and now four of the islands devoted to blue foxes are
owned wholly or in part by natives who have become
interested in the industry through the reports of their
friends and relatives employed in caring for the animals
on other islands. The natives by nature and experience
make first-class keepers and through these positions obtain
a good living for themselves, while rendering excellent
service to their employers.

In addition to the localities referred to above, fox raising
may be said to be in operation on at least one of the Pri-
bilof Islands, which furnished the original parent stock.
For many years the natives of these two islands, St. Paul
and St. George, which compose the group, trapped the foxes
during the winter season irrespective of sex, and sold the
skins so obtained for a nominal price to the company
holding the sealing lease. In recent years, however, the
work has been carried on in a more systematic manner
and yields much larger returns. At the present time the
corporation leasing the islands, The North American Com-
mercial Company, also leases the right from the United
States to purchase all blue fox skins obtained, at the rate
of $5.00 per skin, which income is devoted as a community
fund to the support of the natives and is disbursed to them
under the direction of the Treasury Department. This
became necessary by reason of the great decrease in the
seal herd with its resulting diminution of revenue to the
natives. The amount so contributed is somewhere be-
tween $3,000 and $4,000 per annum. The Company,
under the lease, takes entire charge of the fox business
just as it does of the taking of sealskins.

362

WASHBURN

The business is carried on only on St. George Island, and
as now conducted is the result of several years of experi-
menting by the Company. A suitable house has been
erected on St. George for storing food and skinning the
foxes. Adjacent to this is a large square enclosed with
wire netting, where the foxes are fed and the selection of
males for killing is made. Only a few females are killed,
the Company proceeding on the basis of the belief that
the foxes are polygamous. It has been found, here, as
elsewhere, however, that this view is not fully sustained

FOX CAGE-TRAPS, FOX FARM NEAR KADIAK.

by experience, for, although females have not been killed
on St. George Island for several years, there is no very
perceptible increase in the size of the herd.

The food used is cooked meal and fish and salted seal
meat, the latter being freshened before giving it to the
foxes. Owing to the vast number of birds which frequent
the island it is only necessary to feed the foxes during the
severe weather of the winter months. White foxes now and
then appear on the islands and are shot wherever found to
avoid the injurious effects of admixture with the blues.

HABITS OF FOXES ON PRIBILOF ISLANDS 363

A marked difference exists between the habits of the
foxes on St. Paul and St. George islands and materially
affects the question of their cultivation. On St. George
they flock around the village in winter and seize greedily
any articles of food lying about and, as previously noted,
are quite tame and readily handled in the large wire cage.
On St. Paul they are rarely seen about the village and the
carcasses of mules dying in the winter have remained un-
touched. Nor has it been possible to induce them to con-
gregate at any fixed place, even by scattering dried fish
about. The result is that although much study has been
given the matter, no system has yet been devised of culti-
vating the foxes or handling them on St. Paul Island
except by using steel traps, which destroy male and
female alike; this necessitates limiting the catch so as not
to encroach too closely on the breeding stock. The dif-
ference in habits on the two islands presents a problem
which has not yet been solved, nor has the further fact
been explained fully that although on St. George Island
the foxes have received abundance of food and the females
have been carefully protected, there has been no appreci-
able increase; on the contrary, as compared with olden
times, there has been a diminution. At present, the total
catch ranges from 600 to 800, while in former years it was
often twice that number. The suggestion, which has
much force, has been made by Mr. J. C. Redpath, a com-
petent observer of twenty years' experience on the islands,
that many foxes are carried off and lost on the ice, which
in recent years has annually floated down from the north
and surrounded the islands.

In addition to the experiments in raising blue foxes
which it has carried on, the Semidi Propagating Company
has attempted to domesticate the beautiful silver-gray fox.
Several years ago this company, in connection with two
local men of Boothbay, Maine, purchased Outer Heron

364 WASHBURN

Island, situated about sixty miles northeast of Portland,
Maine, and stocked it with Alaska silver-grays. These
foxes have shown some increase, but the difficulty of
catching them in traps not destructive of life has pre-
vented the obtaining of definite information concerning
them. Although the pelt of the silvery-gray is far more
valuable than that of the blue fox, being worth from $100
to $200 for reasonably good skins, and rare specimens of
the dark variety bringing fabulous prices, still the belief
among the owners of the fox islands seems to be that the
blue fox is the more profitable for breeding purposes.
They are more easily domesticated and are not afraid to go
into the box trap which it is necessary to use to catch
them without harm; while the silver-gray, though getting
reasonably tame so far as coming to the feeding place is
concerned, absolutely refuses to go into any door which
might be shut on it, or enter any kind of a visible trap,
and the male has the reputation of killing the young pups
if he finds them unprotected by the mother, which must,
from time to time, seek food for herself and young, so
that thus far the raising of silver-gray foxes has not been
a success where the foxes have been allowed to run to-
gether at large. Several successful experiments, how-
ever, have been made with the silver-gray foxes in small
yards where the females could be separated at the season
of bringing forth their young.

It had previously been supposed that foxes were polyg-
amous and, until recently,about one male has been reserved
for every five females ; but the Semidi Propagating Com-
pany is now making experiments at two of its stations with
a more equal division of the sexes, and the National Zo-
ological Park at Washington, D. C. is also making experi-
ments in the pairing of foxes and in the use of foods, which
may lead to valuable results. A dozen blue foxes taken
from the station at Long Island are kept in wire-fenced

FOX FARMING 365

yards in the park and it is expected that as a result of the
investigations now going on not only will the beautiful blue
foxes be preserved, but the domestication of many other
fine fur-bearing animals that must otherwise soon become
extinct will be attempted. It is believed that the time is
not far distant when hundreds of the now useless islands
of Alaska will be utilized in the propagation of fur-bear-
ing animals, and that many of the farmers of the northern
states will have wire-fenced enclosures of an acre or two
devoted to this industry, from which they will reap a far
greater return than from all the rest of their live stock.

Furs, being luxuries, are the most variable of all com-
modities in their market values. The skins of the blue
fox furnish no exception. Again, their value is largely
dependent on quality, and the variation in quality among
skins is very great. They may be said to range in value
from $5 to $50 — these two prices being the extremes;
the latter is only paid for skins of unsurpassed excellence.

NOTE. — On July 16, 1899, Mr. M. L. Washburn, author of this
article and one of the founders and principal owners of the Semidi
Propagating Co., conducted a party consisting of Mr. and Mrs. E. H.
Harriman and other members of the Expedition, from Kadiak village
to the fox farm on Long Island — about an hour's sail in the naphtha
launches. The buildings and grounds were inspected and a few old
foxes were seen on the beach, and a number of young about one of the
barns. — ED.

THE SONG OF THE INNUIT1

BY WILLIAM H. DALL

Oh, we are the Innuit people,

Who scatter about the floe
And watch for the puff of the breathing seal,

While the whistling breezes blow.
By a silent stroke the ice is broke,

And the struggling prey below,
With the crimson flood of its spouting blood

Reddens the level snow.

Oh, we are the Innuit people,

Who flock to the broken rim
Of the Arctic pack where the walrus lie

In the polar twilight dim.
Far from the shore their surly roar

Rises above the whirl
Of the eager wave, as the Innuit brave

Their flying lances hurl.

1 Innuit is the name by which the Eskimo calls himself and his people from
Greenland to Mount St. Elias. The topek is the winter house of turf and wal-
rus hide, as contrasted with the igloo or snow-house, used where there is no
wood. All Innuit believe in evil spirits which dwell inland from the shores ; in
Greenland they are supposed to inhabit the Nunataks or peaks which rise like
islands out of the bosom of the glaciers. In times of starvation Innuit ethics
allow a mother to expose an infant, for whom she cannot supply food, in the
snow to die. The child's mouth is usually stuffed with grass, as otherwise its
spirit would return and be heard crying about the house at night.

(367)

368

DALL

Oh, we are the Innuit people,

Who lie in the topek warm;
While the northern blast flies strong and fast,

And fiercely roars the storm;

Recounting the ancient legends,

Of fighting, hunting, and play,
When our ancestors came from the southland tame,

To the glorious Arctic day.

There is one sits by in silence,

With terror in her eyes:
For she hears in dreams the piteous

screams

Of a cast-out babe that dies —
Dies in the snow as the keen winds

blow,

And the shrieking northers come
Of that dreadful day when she starv-
ing lay,
Alone in her empty home.

THE SONG OF THE INNUIT

369

Oh, we are the Innuit people,

And we lie secure and warm,
Where the ghostly folk of the Nunatak

Can never do us harm.
Under the stretching walrus-hide,

Where at the evening meal
The well-filled bowl cheers
every soul,

Heaped high with steam-
ing seal

The Awful Folk of the
Nunatak

Come down in the hail and snow,
And slash the skin of the kayak thin,

To work the hunter woe.
They steal the fish from the next day's dish,

And rot the walrus lines —
But they fade away with the dawning day,

As the light of summer shines.

Oh, we are the Innuit people,

Of the long, bright Arctic day :
When the whalers come and

the poppies bloom,
And the ice-floe shrinks

away:

Afar in the buoyant umiak,
We feather our paddle

blades,

And laugh in the light of the sunshine bright,
Where the White Man's schooner trades.

Oh, we are the Innuit people,
Rosy and brown and gay;

37°

DALL

And we shout as we sing at the wrestling ring,

Or toss the ball at play.
In frolic chase we oft embrace
The waist of a giggling maid
As she runs on the sand of

the Arctic strand,
Where the ice-bear's
bones are laid.

Oh, we are the Innuit people,

Content in our northern

home;

While the kayak's prow cuts
the curling brow

Of the breaker's snowy foam.
The merry Innuit people,

Of the cold, grey Arctic sea,
Where the breaching whale, the aurora pale

And the snow-white foxes be.

PORT CLARENCE, ALASKA,
July 13, 1899.

INDEX

Abercrombie, Capt. W. R. 262
Abies amabilis 246

lasiocarpa 240, 246
Afognak Island, area 263

forests 244

salmon 349-350
Afterglow 280, 286
Aghileen Pinnacles 88
Agriculture 271
Air, elementary facts 279-289
Akutan Island 169, 305
Alaska, area 257-258

boundary 33, 198, 241

climates 267-272

forests 235-256, 272

history 185-204

population 273-274

resources 274-276

scenery 276-277

Alaska Commercial Co. 81,185, 3°3» 3°5
Alaska Peninsula 86-87, 88-89, "i,

I33-I34» 2S7. 264
natives 168

trees 236, 237, 244, 245
volcanos 88, 284
Alaska or yellow cedar ( Chamcecyparis

nootkatensis} 247
Albatross following ship 64
'Albatross,' U. S. Fish Commission

Steamer 312, 324, 332
Alder, Oregon (Alnus oregona} 247,

249
Alder, shrubby (Alnus sinuata*) 63, 83,

219, 222, 225, 249, 251, 252.
Aleutian Islands 79, 133-134

Aleutian Islands, fortified posts 196

natives 167-170

surveys 200

treeless 236, 244

village 169

Aleutian sandpiper in
Aleutian song sparrow 80, 225
Aleuts 165, 167-170, 189
Alexander Archipelago 127, 128-129

forests 235, 244, 246
Aliutorski Islands 188
Allen, Lieut. Henry T. 240, 241
' Alpine glow ' 287, 288
Alpine hemlock (Tsuga mertensiana)

247, 252

Alpine meadow 220-221
Alsek River 260
Altitude of timberline 241
Amherst Glacier 70
Anadyr River 186
Anderson, Capt., Discovery of New

Bogoslof volcano 303-305
Anemone, yellow 106
Annette Island 24, 152-155
Antarctic glaciers 124, 259
Anvik 199
Arbor vitae or red cedar ( Thuja plicata)

247, 272
Arctic explorations 198, 199

fox, 232

terns 71, 217, 218, 220

tundras 205, 225, 231, 232

twilight, 281

Arteaga, early explorer 190
Aruncus 250

(371)

372

INDEX

Asia 99, 100, 102, 187

Aspen 239

Atlantic cables 201, 203

Atmosphere of Alaska 279-289

Attu Island, blue fox 360

Auk Glacier 121

Auk, little 98

Auklet, least 227, 228, 231

paroquet 233
Auklets 109, 227
Avalanches 23, 256, 302

Baird Glacier 121
Bald eagle 20, 21, 29, 207, 226
Balm of Gilead 251
Balsam fir 240

poplar 239, 250
Barabara 169, 170
Baranof 185, 192, 194-195, 196, 292
Barbour 195

Barnard, Lieut., killed 200
Barry Glacier 71-73, 74, 126
Bear, Kadiak 79, 85, 87
Becker, George F. 212, 317, 320, 335
Bedford Pim, explorer 200
Bees, wild 106
Belkofski 89
Bergs 123, 124, 125, 131

blue 37, 38
Bering Sea 94, 196, 264-265

absence of glaciers 134

absence of trees 243, 272

birds 227, 230, 231

climate 270

fogs 270, 271

islands 89, 264, 265, 291-336

tundra 236

Bering Strait 102, 187, 200
Bering, Vitus, expeditions 185, 187-188

death 187-188
Birch canoes 237
Birch, paper-barked 236-237
Birds, article by Keeler 205-234

at Bogoslof Volcano 329-332

killed by steam 330

struck by engine 7
Bluebells 83
Blue foxes, H4,'357-365
Bogoslof Islands 94-95

Bogoslof, article by Merriam 291-336

bars or spits 323-326

birds 94-95, 329-332

Grewingk 303-320

materials 320

New Bogoslof 303-320

Old Bogoslof 291-302

plants 328-329

physical history 327-328

principal papers 335-336

sealions 95, 332-334

Ship or Sail Rock 321-323
Bomb Point 75-76
Boundary 33, 198, 241
Brady Glacier 130
Brady, Governor xxiii, 50
Brake (Pteris aquilina) 250
Brewer, Prof. W. H. xxxiii, xxxvi,
xxxvii, 18, 62-63

article on atmosphere of Alaska
279-289

oration 86
Bristol Bay 196

British vessels seized by Spanish 191
Bryn Mawr Glacier 69, 127
Bunchberry 221
Bumble bees 61, 106
Burroughs, John xxxiii, xxxvii, 213,
224, 226

narrative of expedition 1-118

poem on Lapland Longspur 91-93

poem on Oregon Robin 84
Butterwort 221

California 196, 281, 283

Campion, moss 47

Canada grouse 221

Canneries, salmon 23, 65, 74~75» 79>

156, 341-347. 354-355
Canoe birch 239
Canoes, different types 140, 141-143,

162-164
Cantwell, Lieut., work on Bogoslof

306-310, 322, 323, 332-333, 335
Cape Fox Indian village 116-117
Cape Nome 105, 276

population 273
Cape Uganuk 244
Captain Roys 199

INDEX

373

Captains Bay 189

Caribou 174

Carices 253

Carrol Glacier 128

Cascade Range glaciers 119-120

Cassiope 83

Cedar, Alaska yellow 247

red or coast 247, 272
Chamcecyparis nootkatensis 247
Chernofski 169
Chickadee, long-tailed 224, 225

rufous-backed 28, 51, 118, 219
Chilkat 260

blankets 158
Chirikof 187
' Choochkies '98, 182
Chukchi peninsula 186

natives 98, 174, 186-187
Church bells 222

Greek at Kadiak 82
at Unalaska 91

Metlakahtla 152, 155
Clarence Straits 26
Clarkia 14

Claytonia 105, in, 112
Clearwater River 14
Climate of Alaska 267-272

of Bering Sea 270-271

of Interior of Alaska 271-272

of Pacific Coast 267-269
Clouds 279, 280, 285-286
Coal 275

Coast forest 244-253, 272-273
Coe, Wesley R. xxxiii
Cole, Leon J. xxxv

College Fiord, Prince William Sound
birds 219, 220
glaciers 69-70, 126-127
Columbia Fiord 262

Glacier 67, 76, 126, 134

River 14, 15, 192
Columbine 61
Colville River (forest) 242
Convention between Great Britain and

Russia 198

Russia and United States 196
Cook Inlet 76-77, 115, 133

trees, 237, 244, 248, 256
Cook, Capt. James 190, 321, 335

Copper 68, 275
Copper River 122, 195
forests 244

mineral resources 65, 266, 275
Cormorants 109, 212
red-faced 233
violet-green 212
4 Corwin,' Revenue Steamer 306, 310,

3". 3", 335-336
Cotton grass 221
Cottonwood (Populus trichocarpa and

P. balsamifera) 237, 239, 249, 251
Coville, F. V. xxxiii, 18, 63, 329
Cow parsnip 60
Cowslip 231
Coyotes 9
Crevasses 43
Crillon Glacier 122
Cross Sound 135, 260
Crows, Northwest 206, 221
Curtis, E. S. xxxv

Dall, W. H. xxxiv, 18, 62, 167

article on Discovery and Explora-
tion 185-204

ascends Yukon 201-202

Bogoslof notes and sketches 297-
301, 322-323, 326, 335

poem on Innuit People 367-370
Davidson, George 303-305, 335
Davidson Glacier 30, 121
Dawson, G. M. 237
Dead glaciers 259
' Dead Horse ' trail 33
Dead houses 152
Dease and Simpson survey 199
Deer 21-22, 23, 51, 140
Dellenbaugh, F. S. xxxiv, xxxvii, 19
Devereux, W. B. xxxiv, 18, 62, 320
Devil's club 23, 225
Devil's Thumb 28
Diamedes Islands 103, 186, 187, iSS
Diorite 320

Directory at Irkutsk 193-194
Discovery and exploration 185-204
Disenchantment Bay 123, 126, 131, 261
Distribution of trees, 236, 253
Diving birds 212, 227
Dixon Entrance 190

374

INDEX

Dodecatheon 69, 221, 253

' Dora,' schooner 303

Doran, Capt. Peter xxii, xxxv, xxxvi,

62, 71-72
Doty, Lieut., photographs of Bogoslof

298, 307, 309, 322
Douglas City 255, 273
Douglas fir 246, 272
Douglas Island 29
Driftwood on Hall and St. Matthew

Islands 113
Drosera 253

Dry as, white-cupped 231
Duck, Harlequin 212, 229, 233, 332
Old Squaw 234
Eider 102

Duncan, William 24-26, 152, 153-155
Dust, cause of color in sky 279, 285
Dutch Harbor 90-91, 114
Dwarf willows 131

Eagle Glacier 121

Eagles 20, 21, 29, 207, 226

Earthquake 89, 291, 292, 310

East Cape 186

Eckinopanax horridum 249, 250

Edgecumbe Volcano 50, 190

Eggs, shower of 330

Egg hunters, 300-301

Eider 102, 234

Spectacled 230

'Elder, George W'., our steamer, offi-
cers xxxv

provisioning and equipment
17-18

first ship in Harriman Fiord

71-73

Russell Fiord 261
Elk Mountains 3

Elliot, D. G. xxi, xxxiv, xxxvi, 18, 72
Emerson, B. K. xxxiv, xxxvi, 18, 63, 99
Emmons, Lieut. Geo. T. 159
Endicott Mountains 242
Epilobium 131, 216, 220, 250
Equisetum 250, 253
Eskimo 99-104, 108, 171-183

article by Grinnell 167-183

babies 104, 179

burial ground 176-177

Eskimo camp, Port Clarence 102-104,
178-183

children, 101-102, 176, 182

clothing, 176, 182

dismal outlook 183

dogs 101, 177, 179, 180

first seen 68, 167

houses 101, 171, 175

Innuit (song) 367-370

Kadiak 189

Kayak 68, 179, 180

King Island 177-178

labrets 177, 178, 182

Plover Bay village 99-102

Prince William Sound 67, 167

St. Lawrence Island (starvation)
1 08

skin boats or umiaks 100, 103, 178-
179

tattooing, 175-176
Eskimoan stock, 167, 195
Etolin Island 27
Expedition, Bering 187-188

Harriman, members xxxiii-xxxv
Exploration, history 185-204

Farming, doubtful 271, 276

fox, article by Washburn 357-

365
Fairweather ground 190

Range 48, 115, 135, 235, 244
altitude 48, 52, 260.
glaciers 52-53, 129-130
Fernow, B. E. xxxiv, xxxvi, xxxvii, 18

article on Alaska Forests 235-256
Ferns 83, 218
Finch, Aleutian rosy 113, 226, 227, 232

house 12

Lincoln 209

rosy (Hepburn) 47, 210, 215
Fiords 19-21, 122, 123, 258, 262
Fir, red or Douglas 246, 272
Firs, 246
Fish as a resource 274

drying 114

Fisher, Dr. A. K. xxxiv, 18, 331
Fisheries, Salmon 337-355
Fish hooks, primitive 139
Fleur-de-lis 83, 222, 253

INDEX

375

Flora, meeting of Atlantic and Pacific

237

Flycatcher, Arkansas 12
Fog 269-271, 289

in Bering Sea 98, 107, 108, 1 12, 270-

271
Forests, article by Fernow 235-256

article by Gannett 272-273

buried 44, 45, 130, 251

coast 23, 244-253

composition 246-247

destroyed by glaciers 52-53, 130,
251-252

economic value 243, 253-256

meeting of Atlantic and Pacific
236-237

of interior 239-243
Forest fires 118, 256, 284
Forgetmenots 83, 102, 222
Fort Kolmakoff established 198

Macpherson 199

Selkirk 202

Wrangell, 27, 28, 247, 255

Yukon, 199, 202
Fox, Arctic 232

blue 113, 274

breeding 359-361, 362

food 114, 115, 359, 362, 364

farming 68, 1 14, 357-365
' Fox ranch,' original 358, 359
Fox sparrow, Townsend 47
Franklin 198

search expeditions 199-200
Franklin's Return Reef 198
Frederick Sound 28
Fritellarias 222

Fuertes, L. A. xxxv, xxxvii, 63
Fulmar, Pacific 114, 229, 233, 234
Fur-bearing animals 188, 274, 357
Fur-seals 96-97, 274
Fur trade 189, 190, 191

Gannett, Henry xxxiv, xxxvi, 18, 73, 76
article on Geography of Alaska

257-277

climate 267-272
forests 272-273
population 273-274
resources 274-277

Geikie Glacier 128

Geography of Alaska, article by Gan-
nett 257-277
Geranium, wild 83
Geum calthtflorum 253
Geum, golden 221

Gifford, R. Swain xxxiv, xxxvii, 115
Gilbert, G. K., xxxiv, xxxvi, 18, 40, 62

physical history of Bogoslof 327-

328

Glaciation 128-129, 134-135, 258-259
Glacier, Amherst 69-70

Auk 121

Baird 121

Barry 71-73, 74, 126

Brady 130

Bryn Mawr 69, 127

Carrol 128

Columbia 67, 76, 126, 134

Davidson, 30, 121

Eagle 121

Geikie 128

Grand Pacific 128

Grand Plateau 122

Harvard 69, 126

Harriman 73, 126, 263

Hubbard 55-56, 126, 131, 261

Hugh Miller 127-128

La Perouse 52-53, 122, 129-130

LeConte 122, 124

Lucia 252

Malaspina 63, 121, 122, 131, 135,261

Miles 122

Morse 45-46

Muir 35-47, 126, 128, 259

Nunatak 59, 131

Patterson 28, 121

Radcliffe 69, 127

Rendu 128

Serpentine 72, 126

Smith 69, 127

Surprise 126

Taku 125

Turner 55-56, 60, 123, 131

Vassar 69, 127

Wellesley69, 127

Yakutat 122

Yale 69, 126
Glaciers, article by Muir 119-135

376

INDEX

Glacier moraines 37, 42, 44, 45, 46, 53,

63, 121
Glacier Bay 35-48, 123, 125, 127-129

Island, 247

milk, 63
Glaciers, ancient 128-129, 133, 134-135,

258-259

Glaciers of Glacier Bay 35-48, 123, 125,
127-129

of Holkam or Sum Dum Bay 123,
124-125

of Lynn Canal, 30, 121

of Pacific coast 119-135, 259-262

of Port Wells 69-70, 71-74, 126-
127, 132-133, 263

of Prince Willam Sound, 67, 69-74,
123, 126-127, 262-263

of Taku Inlet 125

of Yakutat Bay 56-58, 126, 131

recession of 127-128
Glenn, Capt. 262
Golden plover 106, 230
Gold 275-276

seekers 34, 65-66, 114
Golofnin Bay 242
Graham Reach 22
Grand Pacific glacier 126

Plateau glacier 122
Grantly Harbor 200
Great Britain and Russia, convention

198

Greenfield, W. C. 298, 322, 324
Greek Catholic faith 193
Green River, Wyoming 5
Grenvill Channel n8
Grewingk, Constantin 292, 295, 332,

335

Grewingk Volcano 303-320

Grosbeak, Kadiak pine 61, 83, 218, 224

Grouse, Canada 221

Grinnell, George B., xxxiv, xxxvi,

xxxvii, 19

the Coastwise Indians 137-165
the Eskimo we saw 167-183
the Salmon Industry 337-355

Gull, glaucus-winged 212

kittiwake 227, 229-230, 332
Point Barrow 233
Sabine 234

Gull, short-billed 220
Gulls, 71, 109, 131, 332
Gustavus Peninsula (= Point Gus-
tavus) 40-41

Hsenke Island 60

Hague, Capt. 303, 305

Haida canoes 141

Hair seal fishing 60, 158, 159, 160-165

Hall Island, Bering Sea 109-111, 230-

233. 265

Hall, Lieut. 306, 309
' Hanging valleys ' 258-259
' Harems ' of fur-seals 96
Harlequin duck 212, 229, 233, 332
Harriman, E. H. xxv, — , 62

kills Kadiak bear 85

Preface by xxi-xxiii
Harriman Expedition, Committees,
xxxvi-xxxvii

history xxi-xxxi

members xxxiii-xxxv
Harriman family xxxiii
Harriman Fiord 7 1-73, 76, 132-133, 263

Glacier 73, 126, 263
Harvard Glacier 69, 126
Hawkins Island 247
Haze 279, 283, 284
Healy, Capt. M. A. 306-309, 311, 322,

335-336

Heather 65, 221

Hemlock, Alpine (Tsuga mertensiana)
iS2-^. 221, 247, 252-253

Coast (Tsuga heterofhylla} 218,

247-249. 250
Highhole, western 19
History of Alaska 185-204
Holkam Bay 123, 124-125
Homer 76

Hornblende-andesite 320
Horned puffins 233
Horses 17-18, 33
Hot Springs, Sitka 50, 252
Howling valley 38-40
Howison, Lieut. J. W. 309
Hoxhoq 152

Hubbard Glacier 55-56, 126, 131, 261
Hudson Bay Co. 192, 198, 199
Hugh Miller Glacier 127-128

INDEX

377

Hummingbird, Rufous 118, 207-208
Humphrey, Omar J. xxiii, xxxv
Hutli 124
Huts, Eskimo 99, 171-174

Seal-hunters, Glacier Bay (cuts)
163-164

Seal-hunters, Yakutat 60, 158-

159

Hyperborean Snowbird in, 113

Ice. See Glacier

Icebergs 37, 38, 123, 124, 125, 131

Ice palisade 35-36, 67

plateau, vast 121-122
Iciest region 120
Ice Cape 122, 135
Iliamna Lake 237

Volcano 76, 256
Iliuliuk 91

Indian Point 102, 177
Indian River, Sitka 50, 51
Indians, article by Grinnell 137-165

baskets 143

canoes 140-143

carvings 142, 143-144, 147-150,
156-159

deserted village 116-117, HS"1^

fishing 138-139, 348

food 138-139

graves 150-152

hunting 137-138, 140

Hunya (cuts) 163-164

huts 60, 158-159, 163-164

linguistic families 138

masks 149-150

Metlakahtla 24-26, 152-156

oil boxes 159-160

potlatch 144-145

Seal hunting 60, 158-165

Sitka 50, 156-158

totem poles 116-117, 146-148, 150

Yakutat 158-165

villages 116-117, 145-146, 152, 158-

165

Innuit People (poem) 367-370
Insects 106

International Boundary 33, 271
Inverarity, D. G. xxxv
Iris 83, 222, 253

Irrigation 12, 13
Isanotski Volcano 90

Jacobs ladder 83
Jaeger, Parasitic 218

Pomarine 218
Jaegers 61, 218, 219
Jay, Steller 28, 118, 208, 219
Junco, Oregon 28, 40
Juneau 29, 115, 156, 207

Kachemak Bay 76, 137
Kadiak bear 79, 85, 87

birds 80, 83, 221-225

climate 81, 267-268

forests 80, 85, 114, 237, 244, 255-
256, 272

history 189, 193, 196

Island 77-87, 114-115, 263 (area)

original inhabitants 167, 168, 189

pine grosbeak 218-224

salmon 79, 345

verdure 79, 83, 114, 133

village 79-82
Kamchatka 187, 188
Kamchatkan traditions 188
Kayak 68, 179, 180
Kearney, T. H. xxxiv
Keeler, Charles xxxiv, 63

article on Alaska birds 205-234

poem xxxix
Kenai Peninsula 263
Kennicott, Robert 200-201
Kincaid, Trevor xxxiv
King Island, 103, 177
King Id. Eskimo 177-178
Kingfisher, Belted 209
Kinglet, Golden-crowned 51, 118, 225

Ruby-crowned 217
Kittiwakes 227, 229-230, 332
Klondike 33, 34, 185, 210, 267
Koluschan stock, Indians 138, 143
Kondakoff, Stepan 85
Knik River 237
Kotzebue Sound 200, 266
Kotzebue, Otto 196, 291, 292, 336
Kowak River 242, 266
Koyukun Indians 200
Koyukuk River 266, 273, 275

378

INDEX

Kukak Bay 78, 86-87, 244
Kuskokwim Bay 236

River 198, 266, 275
Kwakiutl Indians 152

Labrets 177, 178, 182
Lady's slipper 83, 222
Lake Bennett 34

Clark 237

Lindeman 243
Langsdorf 293-295, 332, 336
Lapland Longspur 91, 97, in, 226, 230

poem 91-93
La Perouse 190-191
La Perouse Glacier 52-53, 122, 129-130,

252

Laramie plains, Wyoming 4
Lark-bunting 3
Larks, Shore 7
Latourelle Falls, Oregon 15
Law to protect salmon 346-347, 351-

353

Lebarge, Michael 201
LeConte Glacier 122, 124
Lectures on ship 62-63
Leucosticte, Aleutian 113, 226, 227

Hepburn 210, 215
Lincoln Finch 209
Linguistic families 138
Linnet, red poll 219
Listera 250
Lituya Bay 123, 190
Long Island, fox farm 114, 115, 244,

357-360. 364

spruce grove 244-245
Longspur, Alaska Lapland 91, no,

226, 230, 232

Loon, Black-throated 212
Lowe Inlet 23-24, 246
Lucia Glacier 252
Lumber 254, 255
Lupines 13, 61, 227
Lutke, F. 198, 296, 336
Lycopodium 250
Lynn Canal 30, 121

Mackenzie River 198, 199, 242
Magpies in Idaho 13

on Kadiak Id. 114, 225

Malaspina Glacier 63, 121, 122, 131,

135. 261

Malaspina, Spanish navigator 261-262
Massacre at Sitka 195
Meadowlarks 3, 9

Menyanthes trifoliata & cristagalli 253
Menziesia 249
Merriam, C. Hart, xxi, xxxiv, xxxvi,

iS, 122, 2IO, 219, 221

article Bogoslof Volcano 291-336

Introduction, xxv-xxxi
Merrill, George P. 321, 336
Metlakahtla Indians 24-26, 152-156
Middleton Island 64
Milbank Sound 22
Miles Glacier 122
Mineral resources 243, 275-276
Miners 65
Mines 243, 275-276

Treadwell 29, 30, 275
Mirage 87, 286
Mohler, A. L. xxi

Moon, brightness and paleness 283-284
Moraines. See glaciers
Morris, Dr. L. R. xxi, xxxv, xxxvi, xxxvii
Morse Glacier 45-46
Mosquitoes 69, 87, 106
Moss campion 47
Mount Fairweather 48

McKinley 266

Palmerston 21

Rainier, glaciers 120

St. Elias54, 115, 235, 263

San Jacinto 190

Shasta, glaciers 119

Whipple 27

Wrangell 266

Wright 46-47
Muir cabin 35

Glacier 35-47, 126, 128, 259
Muir, John xxxiv, xxxvi, 18, 36, 38, 40,

63. 73 .

article on Glaciers 119-135
Muller, Gerhard Friedrick 186
Multnomah Falls, Oregon 15-17
Murre, California 212, 228

Pallas 228-229, 232, 329-332
Murres at Bogoslof Volcano 329-332

behavior in fog 331

INDEX

379

Murres' eggs 330

myriads 94-95, 109-110,231,329-

332
Murrelet, Marbled 71, 212

Narrative of Expedition 1-118

Natives, article by Grinnell 137-183
See also Aleuts, Eskimo and Indians

Nelson, G. F. xxxv, xxxvii, 63

New Archangel 196

Bogoslof or Grewingk 303-320
Metlakahtla. See Metlakahtla

Noatak River 242, 266, 275

Nome, Cape 105, 273, 276

Nootka taken 191

North American Commercial Co. 85,
36i

Northeast passage 192

North Semidi, original ' fox ranch ' 358

Northwest passage 261

Nulato 199, 200, 201

Nunatak Glacier 59, 131

Nushagak, fortified post 196

Old Bogoslof 291-302

Oneonta Gorge, Oregon 15

Orca, Salmon cannery 65, 74-75, 344

Orchid 222

Oregon Robin or Varied Thrush 40,

51, 83-85, 223
poem 84
Ouzel, Water 51
Owl, Snowy HI, 232
Oyster-catchers 21, 71, 220

Palache, Charles xxxiv, xxxvi, 18, 40,

219

Pallas Murre 230, 232
Paddles (canoe) 140-141, 247
Parkas 176, 182
Passage Canal 262
Patterson Glacier 28, 121
Pavlof volcanoes 88
Pedicularis 106, 231
People with tusks 182-183
Phalaropes 20

Phyllodoce glanduliftora 253
Picea canadensis 239

sitchensis. See Sitka spruce

Pigeon guillemots 212, 230, 231

Pine, gray 240

Pinus contorta(or murrayana) 237, 240,

246, 249, 250

Pipit, or titlark 47, 59, 93, 210, 211, 214
Plains 3, 4

sagebrush 7-9
Plover Bay, Siberia 99, 101, 171-178,

183, 230

Plover, Golden 106, 230
Point Barrow 198, 199

Gustavus 40-41, 249-250
Polar bears 108, 113
Polemoniums 222, 227, 231
Popof, Peter Iliunsen 186

Island 87, 225

Poppy, yellow Arctic 98, 102, 227, 231
Population 273-274
Populus balsamifera 237, 239, 249

trichocarpa 237, 249, 251
Porcupine River 199, 241, 266
Port Clarence 102-106, 178-183

Valdez 262

Wells 69-74, 127, 262
Potlatches 144-145
Pribilof Islands, arrival 96

birds 97-98, 227

fog 271

foxes 361

fur-seals 96-97
Primrose, purple 105, 230
Prince Frederick Sound 121
Prince of Wales Island 27, 247
Prince William Sound 63-76, 132-133,
262-263

birds 219-221

forests 132, 244, 248, 253

fox farm 68

glaciers 67, 69-74, I23» 126-127

salmon cannery 65, 74-75, 344
Princess Royal Island 246
Promishleniki 187, 188
Propeller mended 74
Pseudotsuga taxifolia 246, 272
Ptarmigan 47, 71

coloration 215, 219

White-tailed 215-216

Willow 215, 219
Puffins 109, 227-228, 231

38o

INDEX

Puffins, horned 227, 228, 233, 332

Tufted 212, 227, 228
Puget Sound trees 246, 248, 254, 272
Pullen, Robert, boat journey 199
Purington, C. W., photographs of

Bogoslof 317, 318, 324
Pyrola 250
Pyrus rivularis 249

Quartz, gold-bearing 29

mines 275-276
Queen Charlotte Sound 22

Radcliffe Glacier 69, 127

Rainfall 242, 268-270

Rampart House 241

Ravens in southeastern Alaska 24, 26,

51, 206-207
at Kadiak 85, 223
at Unalaska 226
Red Fir or Douglas Spruce (Pseudo-

tsuga taxifolia) 246
Redoubt Volcano 76
Redpoll 223, 226
Rendu Glacier 128
Revenue-Marine 204, 307
Rhododendron, dwarf 83
Ribes 249, 250
Ridgway, Robert xxxiv, xxxvi, 18, 40,

93, 216-218

Ringgold and Rodgers exploring ex-
pedition 200

Ritter, W. E. xxxiv, xxxvi, 18, 63
Rivers, underground 12
Robin, Oregon or Varied 40, 51, 83-85,

223

Western 40, 219
Roses in bloom 114
Rubus 249

Russell Fiord 56, 58, 59, 60, 261
Russia and Great Britain, convention

198

United States, convention 196
cession 257
transfer of Alaska to United States

203
Russian-American Company 185-195,

198, 203, 291
boundaries established 198

Russian expeditions 192, 194-195
maps 201
missionaries 192
settlements in 1820 196

Sabine Gull 234

Sagebrush 4, 7-9, 13

St. Elias Alps or Range 54, 63, 115

121, 126, 132, 244, 260, 261
St. Elias, Mount 54, 115, 235
St. George Island 264, 361

blue fox 361-362

St. Lawrence Island 107-108, 186
St. Matthew Island 99, 108-113, 264-

265

birds 113, 234

new fox 113
St. Michael 201, 270
St. Paul Island 96-98, 264

birds 97-98, 227, 264

foxes 358

fur-seals 96-97

Salix alaxensis and sitchensis 249
Salmon, article by Grinnell 337~355

on Afognak Island 349-350

barricades 139, 347~348

bellies, salting 350-351

berries 115, 116, 118, 218

canneries 23, 65, 74-75, 79, 156,

340-355
decrease from over-fishing 339,

343-344

fishing by natives 138-139, 348

industry 337~355

hatcheries 349, 354

laws 346, 351-352

method of canning 74-75, 340-343

output and value 355

salteries 350-351

seining 340, 344

source of world's supply 337

spawning ground 338, 348

traps 348-349

trolling 339

Sambucus pubens 249, 250
Sandpiper, Pribilof 234
Sand Point 87, 225
Saunders, DeAlton xxxiv, 18
Savanna Sparrow 106

INDEX

Sawmills 255

Saxifrage 83, 102, 106

Scoters, White-winged 216-217

Scouring rushes, green 218

Seabirds 98, 109-111, 114,212, 227-231,

232-233. 234
Sea Cow 188
Seal (fur) 96-97, 274

(hair), blubber 60, 159-162

hunting 60, 161-165

hunter's village, Glacier Bay (cuts)

163, 164

Yakutat Bay 158-165
oil 60, 159-161
spear 162-163
Sealions (Eumetopias stelleri") 94-95,

332, 334

Sealskin boots or mukluks 176
Sealskins (hair) 159, 161, 174
Seal Islands. See Pribilof Ids.
Sea Otter 81, 274
Seattle 118
Semides 87

Semidi Propagating Co. 360
Serpentine Glacier 72, 126
Seymour Narrows 20
Shadow, earth's 281-282
Shearwater, slender-billed 229
Sheldon Jackson Museum 156
Shelikof Strait 263
Shell heaps 169
Ship on rocks 98, 313-314
Ship or Sail Rock 297, 321-323
Shishaldin Volcano 90
Shoemaker, Capt. C. F. 307
Shoshone Falls 7-12
Shumagin Islands 87-88, 114, 167, 225,

275. 360

Siberia, our visit 99-102, 171-178
Siberian Eskimo 99-101, 171-178

reindeer 174

yellow wagtail 230
Sibiriaks 188, 189
Sierra and Coast ranges 246, 252
Sierra Nevada glaciers 119
Silene 112
Siskin, Pine 118
Sitka 48-52

Bear 140

Sitka Indians 156-158

population 273

temperature and rainfall 267-269
Sitka or tideland spruce (Picea sitcken-
sis) at Glacier Bay 249-251

at Kadiak 77, 80, 83, 244-246, 248,
255-256

at Prince William Sound 133, 221,
248, 255

at Sitka 51-52, 248, 255

at Unalaska (introduced) 245-246

at Yakutat Bay 218

growing close to glaciers 252

rate of growth 250, 255-256
Sitko 156-157
Skagway 30, 31, 210, 211

population 273
Skin boats 103
Sky, aspects 279

color 286

Smith Glacier 69, 127
Snake River, Idaho 7-13, 14
Snow-bunting or snowflake, common

93. 230

Snowflake, Hyperborean 113, 230-232
Sorbus sambucifolia 249
Song of the Innuit 367-369
Spanish claim 191

vessels 190
Sparrow, Aleutian Song 225

Golden-crowned 33, 47, 83, 210-

211, 214, 222, 223, 225

Sage 9

Savanna 40, 221, 222

Song 26, 40, 80, 209, 217, 222,
226

Townsend 209, 214, 217, 219, 226

White-crowned 19
Sphagnum bog 23
Spring beauty 105

Spruce, Sitka or tideland (Picea sit-
chensis). See Sitka spruce

White (Picea canadcnsis] 239, 240,

241, 242, 243

Stanley-Brown, J. xxiii, xxxv
Starks, E. C. xxxv
Steller Jay 28, 118, 208, 219

Manatee or Sea Cow 188
Stejneger, Leonhard 319, 320

382

INDEX

Stikine River 260

discovered 195

Stoney, Lieut. G. M. on Bogoslof Vol-
cano 310-311, 323, 330, 333, 336
Strawberries 115, 218
Streptopus 250
Surprise Glacier 126
Sushitna River 266, 275
Swallow, barn, 59, 225

cliff 15

violet-backed 10

white-breasted 209
Swans 108
Swift, white-throated 10

Taku Harbor 210

Indian dead houses 152
Inlet and glacier 123, 125, 260
Pass 248

Tanana River 241, 266
Tattler, Wandering 71
Tattooing 175-176
Tchukchis, 98, 182, 186
Tebenkoff 198, 296, 297, 322, 323, 332
Temperature of Bering Sea 270
of coast 267-268
of interior 242, 271-272
Tern, Arctic, 61, 218, 220
Thrush, Dwarf Hermit 47, 58, 69, 83,

224

at Kadiak 223

at Shumagin Islands 225-226
song 31, 209, 214, 217, 221,

223, 224
Gray-cheeked 107, 223, 224

at Kadiak 223, 224
Olive-backed 19, 26
Russet-backed 28, 40, 51, 210
Varied (or Oregon robin) 40, 51,

83-85, 223
song 40, 223
Thuja plicata 247, 272
Thunder Bay 124

Tideland spruce. See Sitka spruce
Timberline 240, 247, 252, 253
altitude 241, 242, 253, 272
variation 248

tree at White Pass 240, 246
in Sierra and Cascade Range 252

Timmerman, L. F. xxxv
Titlark 47, 59, 93, 210, 211, 214
Tlinkit 195

camps 152

massacre at Sitka 195
Toad 115

Todd, Capt. C. C. 310
Tongass Narrows Il6
Topeks 99, 171

Totem poles 116-117, 146-148, 150
Townsend bunting 107

sparrow 209, 214, 217, 219, 224
Traders 188
Trading privileges 192

posts, fortified 196
Treadwell mine 29-30, 275
Treeless country 77, 87, 236, 244
Trees in proximity to glaciers 52-53,
130, 251-252

diameters 240, 241, 252
Trelease, Prof. Wm. xxxiv, xxxvi, 18
Trout stream 23, 82
Trudeau, Dr. E. L. xxxv
Tundras 68-69, 105-107, 234, 265, 267
Tuolumne River, Calif. 119
Turner Glacier 55-56, 60, 123, 131
Turtle doves 7
Tyonek saltery 350

Uyak Bay 78-79

Ugak Island fox farm 360

Umiaks 178-181

Umnak Island 291, 292, 312

Unalaska 90-94, 168, 196
spruces introduced 245
temperature and rainfall 268

Unimak Island 90

Upper Yukon 34

Utah, Bad Lands 5, 6

Vaccinium 249, 250

Varied Thrush — see Oregon Robin

Vancouver, George 130, 190, 191-192,

262
Island 19, 20, 22

Vassar Glacier 69, 127

Verdure 79, 82, 83, 114, 133

Veniaminof 196-198, 295, 332

Viburnum pauciflorum 249, 250

Victoria 19, 129

INDEX

383

Violets 6r, 222
Virgin Bay 68, 69, 74
Volcanic peaks —

Edgecumbe 50, 190

Iliamna 76

Isanotski 90

Pavlof 88

Redoubt 76

Shishaldin 90
Volcanic shower 305-306
Volcano, newest (Bogoslof) 291-336
Volcanoes, chain 133-134, 264

Wagtail, Siberian yellow 230
Walrus Island 99

hides 101
Warbler, lutescent 28, 40, 217

pileolated 206, 217, 222, 223

summer or yellow 19, 61, 213, 217,

222, 224, 225
War canoes 141
Washburn, M. L., xxiii, xxxv

article on fox farming 357-365
Water Ouzel 51
Water-taking 104
'Weary Willie' 211
Weather in June 77

record 268

Wellesley Glacier 69, 127
Whale fishing 199
Whalers 104, 108, 178, 179, 199
Western Union Telegraph Co. 201,

203

Whaling fleet 103, 199

White cedar 141

White Pass, birds 33, 2IO, 21 1

Custom House 33

excursion 31-34

railroad terminus 33, 34
White River 266
Wingham Island 187
Willows 61, 225, 239, 249, 250, 252
Wind flowers 222
Winter Wren 24
Wood Island 224, 245
Woodpecker, Harris 206

Red-throated 28
Wrangell 148, 208, 209, 210, 260

population 273
Wrangell Land 199

Narrows 28

Wren, Winter 85, 218, 224
Wyoming plains 4

Yakutat Bay 52-61, 247, 260-261

birds 61, 216-219

glaciers 59, 122, 131

sealing village 60, 158-165

strawberries 115, 218
Yale Glacier 69, 126
Yellow poppy 98, 102, 227, 231
Yemans, Dr. H. W. 307, 322, 336
Yosemite Valley 125
Yukon and White Pass Railroad 31
Yukon River 198-199, 201, 235, 258,

266-267

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