An Expedition to Mount St. Elias, Alaska

THE

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE.

AN EXPEDITION TO MOUNT ST. ELIAS, ALASKA

BY ISRAEL C. RUSSELL.

CONTENTS.

Introduction—The Southern Coast of Alaska

Part I—Previous Explorations in the St. Elias Region
            Bering, 1741
            Cook, 1778
            La Pérouse, 1786
            Dixon, 1787
            Douglas, 1788
            Malaspina, 1792
            Vancouver, 1794
            Belcher, 1837
            Tebenkof, 1852
            United States Coast and Geodetic Survey, 1874, 1880
            New York Times Expedition, 1886
            Topham Expedition, 1888

Part II—Narrative of the St. Elias Expedition of 1890
            Organization
            From Seattle to Sitka
            From Sitka to Yakutat Bay
            Canoe Trip up Yakutat Bay
            Base Camp on the Shore of Yakutat Bay
            First Day's Tramp
            Canoe Trip in Disenchantment Bay
            From Yakutat Bay to Blossom Island
            Blossom Island
            Life above the Snow-Line
            First Camp in the Snow
            Across Pinnacle Pass
            First full View of St. Elias
            Summit of Pinnacle Pass Cliffs
            Across Seward Glacier to Dome Pass
            Up the Agassiz Glacier
            Camp on the Newton Glacier
            Highest Point reached
            Alone in the highest Camp
            The Return
            Suggestions

Part III—Sketch of the Geology of the St. Elias Region
            General Features
            Yakutat System
            Pinnacle System
            St. Elias Schist
            Geological Structure

Part IV—Glaciers of the St. Elias Region
            Natural Divisions of Glaciers
            Alpine Glaciers
            Characteristics of Alpine Glaciers above the Snow-Line
            Characteristics of Alpine Glaciers below the Show-Line
            Piedmont Glaciers

Part V—Height and Position of Mount St. Elias

Appendix A—Official Instructions governing the Expedition

Appendix B—Report on topographic Work; by Mark B. Kerr

Appendix C—Report on auriferous Sands from Yakutat Bay; by J. Stanley-Brown

Appendix D—Report on fossil Plants; by Lester F. Ward

Index

ILLUSTRATIONS.

Plate 2—Sketch Map of Alaska
         3—Map of the St. Elias Region, after La Pérouse
         4—Map of the Eastern Shore of Yakutat Bay, after Dixon
         5—Map of the St. Elias Region, after Malaspina
         6—Map of Bay de Monti, after Malaspina
         7—Map of Disenchantment Bay, after Malaspina
         8—Sketch Map of St. Elias Region, by Mark B. Kerr
         9—The Hubbard Glacier; drawn from Photograph by A. L. Broadbent
       10—Wall of Ice on Eastern Side of the Atrevida Glacier; from a Photograph
       11—View on the Atrevida Glacier; from a Photograph
       12—Entrance of an Ice-Tunnel; from a Photograph
       13—Deltas in an Abandoned Lake-Bed; from a Photograph
       14—A River on the Lucia Glacier; from a Photograph (reproduced from The Century, April, 1891)
       15—Entrance to a Glacial Tunnel; from a Photograph
       16—View of the Malaspina Glacier from Blossom Island; from a Photograph
       17—Moraines on the Marvine Glacier; from a Photograph
       18—View of the Hitchcock Range from near Dome Pass
       19—View of Mount St. Elias from Dome Pass; drawn from a Photograph
       20—View of Mount St. Elias from Seward Glacier; drawn from a Photograph

Figure 1—Diagram illustrating the Formation of Icebergs
           2—View of a glacial Lakelet; from a Photograph
           3—Section of a glacial Lakelet
           4—Diagram illustrating the Formation of marginal Crevasses
           5—Crevasses near Pinnacle Pass; from a Photograph
           6—Snow Crests on Ridges and Peaks; from Field Sketches
           7—Faulted Pebble from Pinnacle Pass
           8—Faulted Pebble from Pinnacle Pass

INTRODUCTION.

THE SOUTHERN COAST OF ALASKA.

The southern coast of Alaska is remarkable for the regularity of its general outline. If a circle a thousand miles in diameter be inscribed on a map of the northern Pacific with a point in about latitude 54° and longitude 145° as a center, a large part of its northern periphery will be found to coincide with the southern shore of Alaska between Dixon entrance on the east and the Alaska peninsula on the west. On the northern part of this great coast-circle lies the region explored in the summer of 1890 and described in the following pages.

From Cross sound, at the northern end of the great system of islands forming southeastern Alaska, westward along the base of the Fairweather range, the mountains are exceedingly rugged, and present some of the finest coast scenery in the world. There are but two inlets east of Yakutat bay on this shore which afford shelter even for small boats. These are Lituya bay and Dry bay. Ships may enter Lituya bay, at certain stages of the tide, and find a safe harbor within; but the approaches to Dry bay are not navigable. West of Yakutat bay the coast is equally inhospitable all the way to Prince William sound.

As if to compensate for the lack of refuge on either end, there is in the center of this great stretch of rock-bound coast, over 300 miles in extent, a magnificent inlet known as Yakutat bay, in which a thousand ships could find safe anchorage. On some old maps this bay is designated as "Baie de Monti," "Admiralty bay" and "Bering bay," as will be seen when its discovery and history are discussed on another page.

The southern shore of Alaska, for a distance of 200 miles along the bases of the Fairweather and St. Elias ranges, is formed of a low table-land intervening between the mountains and the sea. Yakutat bay is the only bight in this plateau sufficiently deep to reach the mountain to the northward. This bay has a broad opening to the sea; the distance between its ocean capes is twenty miles, and its extension inland is about the same. Its eastern shore is fringed with low, wooded islands, among which are sheltered harbors, safe from every wind that blows. The most accessible of these is Port Mulgrave, near its entrance on the eastern side.

The shores of Yakutat bay, on both the east and the west, are low and densely wooded for a distance of twenty-five miles from the ocean, where the foot-hills of the mountains begin. At the head of the bay the land rises in steep bluffs and forms picturesque mountains, snow-capped the year round. These highlands, although truly mountainous in their proportions, are but the foot-hills of still nobler uplifts immediately northward. The bay extends through an opening in the first range to the base of the white peaks beyond. This opening was examined a century ago by explorers in search of the delusive "Northwest passage," in the hope that it would lead to the long-sought "Strait of Annan"—the dream of many voyagers. It was surveyed by the expedition in command of Malaspina in 1792, and on account of his frustrated hopes was named "Puerto del Desengaño," or "Disenchantment bay," as it has been rendered by English writers.

The waters of Yakutat and Disenchantment bays are deep, and broken only by islands and reefs along their eastern shores. A few soundings made in Disenchantment bay within half a mile of the land showed a depth of from 40 to 120 fathoms. The swell of the ocean is felt up to the very head of the inlet, indicating, as was remarked to me by Captain C. L. Hooper, that there are no bars or reefs to break the force of the incoming swells.

The lowlands bordering Yakutat bay on the southeast are composed of assorted glacial débris. Much of the country is low and swampy, and is reported to contain numerous lakelets. Northwest of the bay the plateau is higher than toward the southeast, and has a general elevation of about 500 feet at a distance of a mile from the shore; but the height increases toward the interior, where a general elevation of 1,500 feet is attained over large areas. All of this plateau, excepting a narrow fringe along the shore, is formed by a great glacier, belonging to what is termed in this paper the Piedmont type. There are many reasons for believing that the plateau southeast of Yakutat bay was at one time covered by a glacier similar to the one now existing on the northwest.¹

¹ This matter will be discussed in part IV of this paper, where it is also shown that Yakutat bay itself was formerly occupied by glacial ice.

The mountains on the northern border of the seaward-stretching table-lands, both southeast and northwest of Yakutat bay, are abrupt and present steep southward-facing bluffs. This escarpment is formed of stratified sandstones and shales, and owes its origin to the upheaval of the rocks along a line of fracture. In other words, it is a gigantic fault scarp. The gravel and bowlders forming the plateau extending oceanward have been accumulating on a depressed orographic block (or mass of strata moved as a unit by mountain-making forces), which has undergone some movement in very recent times, as is recorded by a terrace on the fault scarp bordering it. West of Yakutat the geological structure is more complex, and long mountain spurs project into the platform of ice skirting the ocean. Filling the valleys between the mountain spurs, there are many large seaward-flowing glaciers, tributary to the great Piedmont ice-sheet.

This brief sketch of the geography of Yakutat bay, together with the accompanying outline map of Alaska (plate 2), will, it is hoped, aid in making intelligible the following historical sketch and the narrative of the present expedition.

PART I.

PREVIOUS EXPLORATIONS IN THE ST. ELIAS REGION.²

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

The first discovery of the southern coast of Alaska was made by Vitus Bering and Alexei Cherikof, in the vessels St. Peter and St. Paul, in 1741. On July 20 of that year, Bering saw the mountains of the mainland, but anchored his vessels at Kyak island, 180 miles west of Yakutat bay, without touching the continental shore. A towering, snow-clad summit northeast of Kyak island was named "Mount St. Elias," after the patron saint of the day.

The next explorer to visit this portion of Alaska was Captain James Cook, who sailed past the entrance of Yakutat bay on May 4, 1778. Thinking that this was the bay in which Bering anchored, he named it "Bering's bay." Mount St. Elias was seen in the northwest at a distance of 40 leagues, but no attempt was made to measure its height.

³ Voyage de la Pérouse autour du monde. Four vols., 4°, and atlas; Paris, 1797; vol. 2, pp. 130–150.

Yakutat bay, in which we are specially interested, was next seen by the celebrated French navigator, J. F. G. de la Pérouse, in command of the frigates La Boussole and L'Astrolabe, on June 23, 1786.

The chart showing the route followed by La Pérouse during this portion of his voyage is reproduced in plate 3. In the splendid atlas accompanying the narrative of his travels, the explorer pictures the quaint, high-pooped vessels in which he circumnavigated the globe. These French frigates were the first to cruise off Yakutat bay. The last vessel to navigate those waters was the United States revenue steamer Corwin, which took our little exploring party on board in September, 1890, and then steamed northward to the ice-cliffs at the head of Disenchantment bay. So far as I am aware, the Corwin is the only vessel that has floated on the waters of that inlet north of Haenke island. One hundred years has made a revolution in naval architecture, but has left this portion of the Alaska coast still unexplored.

The name "Baie de Monti" was given to the inlet in honor of De Monti, the officer who first landed. The location of this bay, as described in the narrative and indicated on the map accompanying the report of the voyage, shows that it corresponds with the Yakutat bay of modern maps.

Observations made at this time by M. Dagelet, the astronomer of the expedition, determined the elevation of Mount St. Elias to be 1,980 toises. Considering the toise as equivalent to 6.39459 English feet, this measurement places the elevation of the mountain at 12,660 feet. What method was used in making this measurement is not recorded, and we have therefore no means of deciding the degree of confidence to be placed in it.

After failing to find an anchorage at Yakutat bay. La Pérouse sailed eastward, and on June 29 discovered another bay, which he supposed to be the inlet named "Bering's bay" by Captain Cook. It will be remembered that Cook's "Bering's bay" is Yakutat bay as now known. It is evident that the French navigator made an error in his identification, as the inlet designated as Bering's bay on his chart corresponds with that now known as Dry bay. On the maps referred to, a stream is represented as emptying into the head of this bay and rising a long distance northward; this is evidently Alsek river, the existence of which was for a long time doubted, but has recently been established beyond all question.

Finding it impossible to enter Dry bay, La Pérouse continued eastward and discovered Lituya bay, as now known, but which he named "Port des Francais." Here his ships anchored, after experiencing great difficulty in entering the harbor, and remained for many days, during which trade was carried on with the Indians, while surveys were made of the adjacent shores.

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

Although the actual discovery of Yakutat bay is to be credited to the French, the first exploration of its shores was made by an English captain. On May 23, 1787, Captain George Dixon anchored his vessel, the Queen Charlotte, within the shelter of its southeastern cape, and, in honor of Constance John Phipps, Lord Mulgrave, named the haven there discovered "Port Mulgrave." The harbor is described in the narrative of Dixon's voyage as being "entirely surrounded by low, flat islands, where scarcely any snow could be seen, and well sheltered from any winds whatever."

The voyage of the Queen Charlotte was not made for the purpose of increasing geographic knowledge, but with a commercial object. Trade was at once opened with the natives, but resulted less favorably than was desired, as only sixteen sea-otter skins and a few less valuable furs were secured.

On the chart accompanying the narrative of Dixon's voyage the inlet now known as Yakutat bay is named "Admiralty bay."

A survey of the adjacent shores and inlets was made, and the astronomical position of the anchorage was approximately determined. The map resulting from these surveys, the first ever made of any portion of Yakutat bay, is reproduced on a reduced scale as plate 4.

One other discrepancy must be noted between the records of Dixon's voyage and my own observations, made one hundred years later. The houses of the natives are described in the narrative just cited as—

"The most wretched hovels that can possibly be conceived: a few poles stuck in the ground, without order or regularity, recrossed and covered with loose boards, ... quite insufficient to keep out the snow and rain."

While this description would apply to the temporary shelters now used by the Yakutat Indians when on their summer hunting and fishing expeditions, it by no means describes the houses in which they pass the winter. These are large and substantially built of planks hewn from spruce trees, and in some instances supported from the inside by four huge posts, carved and painted to represent grotesque figures. In the center of the roof there is a large opening through which the smoke escapes from the fire kindled in an open space in the floor. But few of the Indian villages of Alaska, excepting perhaps the homes of the Thlinkets in the Alexandrian archipelago, are better built or more comfortable than those at Port Mulgrave.

On the map of Port Mulgrave already referred to, "Point Turner" and "Point Carrew" appear. The former was named for the second mate of the Queen Charlotte, who was the first of her officers to land; the second name was probably designed to honor another officer of the expedition, but of this I am not positive.

⁵ Voyage of the Iphigenia; Captain Douglas: in Voyages made in the years 1788–1789 from China to the Northwest Coast of America. John Meares, 4°, London, 1790.

In 1788, another trading vessel, the ship Iphigenia, in command of Captain Douglas, visited the southern shore of Alaska and anchored in Yakutat bay; but no special account of the country or the inhabitants is recorded in the narrative of the voyage.

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

About a hundred years ago the interest felt by the maritime nations of Europe in a "Northwest passage," connecting the northern Atlantic with the northern Pacific, was revived by the renewal of the discussion as to the authenticity of Maldonado's reported discovery of the "Strait of Annan." The western entrance to this strait was supposed to be about in the position of Yakutat bay. Spain, in particular, after three hundred years of exploration and discovery in all parts of the world, was still anxious to extend her conquests, and, if possible, to discover the long-sought "Northwest passage." Two of her ships, the Descubierta and Atrevida, were then at Acapulco, in command of Don Alejandro Malaspina, who was engaged in a voyage of discovery.

Malaspina, like Columbus, was a native of Italy in the service of Spain. Orders were sent to him to cruise northward and test the truth of Maldonado's report. The narrative of this voyage is supposed to have been written by Don Dionisio Alcala Galiano, but his name does not appear on the title page. Still more curious is the fact that Malaspina's name is omitted from the narrative of his own voyage. On his return to Spain, he was thrown into prison, on account of court intrigues, and his discoveries were suppressed for many years.

Malaspina left Acapulco on the first of May, 1791, and reached the vicinity of the present site of Sitka on June 25. Two days later, Mount Fairweather, or "Monte Buen-tiempo," as it is designated on Spanish maps, was sighted. Continuing northwestward, the entrance to Yakutat bay was reached. The opening through the first range of mountains at its head seemed to correspond to Maldonado's description of the entrance to the mythical "Strait of Annan."

The eastern shore of Yakutat bay, called "Almiralty bay" on the Spanish chart, was explored, and an excursion was made in boats into Disenchantment bay as far as Haenke island. "Disenchantment bay," as the name appears on modern charts, was named "Desengaño bay" by Malaspina, as previously stated, in allusion to the frustration of his hopes on not finding a passage leading to the Atlantic. Explorations in Disenchantment bay were checked by ice, which descended from the north and filled all of the inlets north of Haenke island. This is indicated on the map forming plate 7 (page 67), which is reproduced from the atlas accompanying the narrative of Malaspina's voyage. Special interest attaches to this map for the reason that by comparing it with that forming plate 8 (page 75), made 100 years later, the retreat of the glaciers during that interval can be determined.⁷ At the time of Malaspina's expedition, the Hubbard and Dalton glaciers were united, and were probably also joined by some of the neighboring glaciers which do not now reach tide-water; the whole forming a confluent ice stream which occupied all of Disenchantment bay northeast of Haenke island.

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

A portion of the general map of the coast of southern Alaska, showing the route followed by the Descubierta and the Atrevida, and depicting the topography of the adjacent shores, has been reproduced in plate 5. It will be noticed that on this map Lituya bay is called "Pt. des Francais," while Dry bay is designated as "Bering's bay." These and other names were adopted from the maps of La Pérouse. A map of "Bahia de Monti," from Malaspina's report, is reproduced in plate 6.

"An observatory was established on shore, and some absolute altitudes were taken in order to furnish a basis for the reckoning of the watches; but the great concourse of Indians, their importunity and thievishness, made it necessary to transfer all the instruments on board. Still the latitude was determined, the watches were regulated, the number of oscillations made by the simple pendulum was observed, and the height of Mount St. Elias was measured, being 6,507.6 varas [17,847 feet] above sea-level. The launches being ready, put to sea on July 2 with the commander of the expedition, in order to reconnoitre the channel promised by the opening, similar to that depicted by Ferrer Maldonado in his voyage; but the small force of the tide noticed at the entrance, and the indications of the natives, made it plain not only that the desired passage did not exist there, but that the extent of the channel was very short; which was also rendered evident by the perpetual frost covering the inner west shore. The launches anchored there, having penetrated into the channel with great difficulty, the oars being clogged by the floating masses of snow; they measured a base, made some marks, gathered various objects and stones for the naturalists, and, having reached the line of perpetual frost, returned to the bay where they had anchored.⁹ They there observed the latitude to be 59° 59' 30", and six azimuths of the sun, which gave the variation of the needle as 32° 49'. Before leaving that anchorage the commander buried a bottle with record of the reconnoissance and possession taken in the name of the king. They called the harbor Desangaño, the opening Bahia de las Bancas, and the island in the interior Haenke, in memory of D. Tadeo Haenke, botanist and naturalist of the expedition. On the third day they set out on their voyage to Mulgrave, where they arrived on the 6th, after reconnoitering various channels and islands north of that port and mapping them."

⁸ Ibid., pp. XCIV–CXVI.

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

Following the portion of the narrative above quoted, there is an account of the natives, containing much information of interest to ethnologists, but which it is not necessary to follow in a geographic report. On July 5 the corvettes sailed westward, and made a reconnoissance as far as Montegue island. Returning eastward, they again sighted Mount St. Elias on July 22.

"On the 28th they were three leagues west of the capes which terminate in Bering bay [Dry bay]; the mountain of that name being about five leagues distant from the coast and rising 5,368.3 varas [14,722 feet] above the sea-level, and in latitude 59° 0' 42" and longitude 2° 4' from Port Mulgrave."

Mount Bering does not appear on any map that I have seen. Which of the numerous high peaks in the vicinity of Dry bay should be designated by that name remains to be determined.

In a record of the astronomical work of Malaspina's expedition¹⁰ there are some interesting observations on the position and elevation of Mount St. Elias, a translation of which, by Mr. Stein, is here given:

"True longitude of Mulgrave west of Cadiz, 133° 24' 12". On the same day, the 30th of June [1792], at the observatory of Mulgrave, at 6h. 30' in the morning, the true altitude of the sun was observed to be 16° 14' 20", and its inclination being 23° 11' 30" and the latitude 59° 34' 20", the true azimuth of the sun from north to east was concluded to be 71° 43' 0". But having measured on the same occasion with the theodolite 110° 33' from the sun's vertical to the vertical of Mount St. Elias, the difference between these two quantities is the astronomic azimuth. Hence, from the observatory of Mulgrave, said mountain bears N. 38° 50' W., a distance of 55.1 miles, deduced by means of good observations from the ends of a sufficient base. A quadrant was used to measure the angle of apparent altitude of the mountain, 2° 38' 6", and allowing for terrestrial refraction, which is one-tenth of the distance of 55.1 miles, the true altitude was found to be 2° 34' 39"; whence its elevation above sea-level was concluded to be 2,793 toises [17,860 feet], and the length of the tangent to the horizon, 152 miles, allowance being made for the increase due to terrestrial refraction....

"Lastly, with the rhumb, or astronomic azimuth, and the distance from the observatory of Mulgrave to Mount St. Elias, it was ascertained that that mountain was 43' 15" to the north and 1° 9' to the west, whence its latitude is found to be 60° 17' 35" and its longitude 134° 33' 10" west of Cadiz."

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

Taking the longitude of Cadiz as 6° 19' 07" W. (San Sebastian light-house), the longitude of St. Elias from this determination would be 140° 52' 17" W.