covered a large part of the area traversed by the previous expedition. The highest elevation reached, according to aneroid barometer and boiling-point measurements, was 11,460 feet. This was on the southern side of St. Elias.

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

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

*New York, April, 1889, pp. 387–403.

Topham's map was used in compiling the western portion of the map forming plate 8, and his route is there indicated.

London, August, 1889, pp. 245–371.

Yakutat bay has been visited by vessels of the United States Navy and United States Revenue Marine and by numerous trading vessels; but reports of observations made during these voyages have not been found during a somewhat exhaustive search of literature relating to Alaska.

By

Mark B. Kerr.

Western part from maps by H. W.Seton-Karr and W. H.Topham.

Coast line from U.S.Coast Survey.

PART II.

NARRATIVE OF THE ST. ELIAS EXPEDITION OF 1890.

ORGANIZATION.

A long-cherished desire to study the geography, geology, and glaciers of the region around Mount St. Elias was finally gratified when, in the summer of 1890, the National Geographic Society made it possible for me to undertake an expedition to that part of Alaska.

The expedition was organized under the joint auspices of the National Geographic Society and the United States Geological Survey, but was greatly assisted by individuals who felt an interest in the extension of geographic knowledge. For the inception of exploration and for securing the necessary funds, credit is due Mr. Willard D. Johnson.

The names of those who subscribed to the exploration fund of the Society are as follows:

Boynton Leach.
Everett Hayden.
Richardson Clover.
C. M. McCarteney.
C. A. Williams.
Willard D. Johnson.
Israel C. Russell.
Gilbert Thompson.
Harry King.
Morris Bien.
Wm. B. Powell.
Z. T. Carpenter.
Charles Nordhoff.

Henry Gannett.
Charles J. Bell.

J. S. Diller.

J. W. Powell.
J. G. Judd.

A. Graham Bell.
Gardiner G. Hubbard.
A. W. Greely.
J. W. Dobbins.
J. W. Hays.
Edmund Alton.
Bailey Willis.

E. S. Hosmer.

Rogers Birnie, Jr.

I was chosen by the Board of Managers of the National Geographic Society and by the Director of the United States Geological Survey to take charge of the expedition and to carry on geological and glacial studies. Mr. Mark B. Kerr, topographer on the Geological Survey, was assigned as an assistant, with the duty of making a topographical map of the region explored.

Mr. E. S. Hosmer, of Washington, D. C., volunteered his services as general assistant.*

Mr. Kerr left Washington on May 24 for San Francisco, where he made arrangements for his special work, and reported to me at Seattle on June 15. I left Washington on May 25 and went directly to Seattle, where the necessary preparations for exploring an unknown and isolated region were made.

From the large number of frontiersmen and sailors who applied for positions on the expedition, seven men were selected as camp hands. The foreman of this force was J. H. Christie, of Seattle, who had spent the previous winter in charge of an expedition in the Olympian mountains, and was well versed in all that pertains to frontier life. The other camp hands were J. H. Crumback, L. S. Doney, W. L. Lindsley, William Partridge, Thomas Stamy, and Thomas White.

The individual members of the party will be mentioned frequently during this narrative; but I wish to state at the beginning that very much of the success of the enterprise was due to the hard and faithful work of the camp hands, to each one of whom I feel personally indebted.

Two dogs, "Bud" and "Tweed," belonging to Mr. Christie, also became members of the expedition,

All camp supplies, including tents, blankets, rations, etc., were purchased at Seattle. Rations for ten men for one hundred days, on the basis of the subsistence furnished by the United States Geological Survey, were purchased and suitably packed for transportation in a humid climate. Twenty-five tin cans were obtained, each measuring 6 x 12 x 14 inches, and in each a mixed ration sufficient for one man for fifteen days was packed and hermetically sealed. These rations, thus secured against moisture and in convenient shape for carrying on the back (or "packing "), were for use above the timber line, where cooking was possible only by means of oil stoves. The remainder of the supplies, intended for use where fuel for camp-fires could be obtained, were secured either in tin cans or in canvas sacks.

For cooking above timber line, two double-wick oil stoves were provided, the usual cast-iron bases being replaced by smaller reservoirs of tin, in order to avoid unnecessary weight. Coal oil was carried in five-gallon cans, but a few rectangular cans hold

*Copies of all instructions governing the work of the expedition are given in Appendix A.