NOTES ON ALASKA.

Southland Times, Issue 958, 27 May 1868, Page 2

NOTES ON ALASKA.

Alaska is the name of the territory recently purchased by the United States Government, from [Russia. It is more commonly known under the title of Bussian America. The following notes are condensed from a paper read by Mr T. A. Blake, of a recent scientific expedition to Alaska, before the California Academy of Sciences, in San Erancisco : — Like other continental coasts in high latitudes, north and south, this is bordered by high mountaiu ranges, and presents a most intricate and rugged shore, though grander than some others cited. This io mainly due to the mighty erosive action of glaciers, the formation of which is the natural result of atmospheric humidity and low mean annual temperature, due not only to geographical position, but to high elevation. The published and glaringly inaccurate charts of the Northwest Coast, north of Vancouver Island, fail to give an adequate idea of the vast archipelago of islands and net-work of

channels with which tho whole coast of British Columbia and that of the lowtt and eastern part of Alaska, below 69deg.| are fringed. The Straits of Fuca are the southern point of this complex system of labyrinthine channels, which afford peculiar facilities for inland navigation. After describing graphically the bold and picturesque shore lines of this region, ana of "Washington Territory, with its snow peaks rising from 8000 to 11,000 feet above tho sea, Mount Baker being the highest, and mentioning the mild climate of Victoria, which shows a mean annual temperature of 50 deg., and about 200 fair days. Mr Blake sketched the appearance of the coast further north. Beaching; Sitka Island, he described it as a mass of unexplored, rugged, mountains many of which are capped with eternal snow. The town (a good drawing of which he exhibited) is situated at the; head of Sitka Bay, the entrance to which is marked by the symmetrical volcanic cone of Edgecomb, the second of a series of volcanic peaks bordering the coast and culminating in Mounts Fair weather and St. Elias, the heights of which are variously stated. The latter is visible in clear weather at a distance of 150 miles. The rock in the vicinity of Sitka is a hard grit, sometimes coarse, often passing into digillite. The trend of this formation seems to be parallel to that of the coast. It extends as far south as " the deep sea," a remarkable fresh water lake, 12 miles southwest of Sitka, on the opposite side of which syenitic granite occurs, v Limestone, highly crystalline, is found north and within, a few miles of the town. The vegetation and general appearance of the coast is "very similar to that southward, though the beautiful Sitka spruce, which is remarkable for its grace and the mathematical regularity with which its branches grow from the central stem, replaces the Douglas spruce of lower latitudes. Trees grow to large ftize, many being seen from 6 to 10 feet in diameter. Little is known of the geology of the country. It is only along the shores that the rock can be investigated. The roughness of the country, and thick growth of timber, and masses of fallen and decaying trees covered with thick moss, always saturated with water, almost preclude geological investigation. Mr Blake said he had yet to learn of a man, white or Indian, who has crossed from one side of Sitka Island to the other, a distance of not over 20 milea in some places. Russian meteorological observations show, as a mean of 12 years, the mean temperature to be about 42 degrees, the extremes being very small. The same observations show a mean annual rain-fall of 83.3 inches, the maxium being 105 inches. Along Chatham Straits, east of Sitka, the rocks are metamorphic, stratified mica schist, standing almost vertically, and showing a parallelism in their trend to the line of the coast and of upheaval. Grlaciers are common along the inland waters north and back of Sitka island. Three of these sweep grandly from the mountain gorges, and rush to the water's edge, generally terminating in a loir crescent-shaped flat, formed by the wash from their terminal moraines. In Icy Straits, north of Sitka island, the ice from them falls into the sea, and so great i&the accumulation as to render navigation dangerous. In latitude 59 deg., along Chatham Straits, every marked depression has its glacier of greater or less extent. These glaciers are to be seen at points as far south as the mouth of the Stickeen river, and the lowest known limit on the coast is about latitude 45 deg., in British Colombia, east of Port Simpson. At the head of the Peninsula of Alaska is the commencement of another great line of volcanic action which extends to the south-west, forming the Penlnsuia, and then curving to the westerly the long chain of Aleutian Islands, stretching, far towards, the . Kamschatka line, stepping stones, as they have been aptly called between the two continents. Thero-jks on the island of Kodiak, east of the peninsula,, metamorphic slates and sandstones, also shew a general parallelism in their trend to that of their line of upheaval trending N.B. and S. W., instead of N.W. and S.E., as on the coast of the mainland. During the time spent by the recent expedition at Captain's Bay, island of Ounalaska, Mr Blake, Dr Kellogg, and two of the officers of the Lincoln, made the ascent of Makuskin, an active volcano on the northern end of the island. The height was determined approximately at 5600 feet, that oi the snow line at 3168 feet, that of no vegetation at 2500, except the "red snow," which occurred at from. 4000 to 4500 feet. An incipient glacier curves gracefully around a gorge on the east flank of the mountain. This island is marked by the entire absence of trees, though the hills are covered with a thick growth of grass. It is apparently almost wholly made up of volcanic rocks. Perhaps the most remarkable view of volcanic cones and peaks, snow-covered and rising from the sea, to be found in the known world, is that of Dnimak Island, with its volcanic peaks of Shihaldin and Pogromaja, both conical peaks of unbroken symmetry, rising to heights of between 9000 and 10,000 feet. Between them is Destruction Peak, comparatively low and irregular in its outline, showing it to be a volcano in its early stages of development. In 1863 its eruption caused the loss o£ many lives, and hence its name. The mountains are entirely snow- covered, and between them are vast fields of snow. Only in limited areas along the shore is snow absent. * The angles of slope vary from 30 to 35 degrees. Mr Blake confirmed previous statements as to the meagre knowledge of Alaska mineralogy. Good coal and paying quantities of gold are yet to be discovered. Copper abounds on the dangerous copper river, and magnetic iron ore and galena are reported. Fossils of the carboniferous age occur at Cape Beaufort on the Artie coast, of the Jurassic period on the east coast of the peninsula, tertiary fossils on Kodiak Island and several other points. Mastodon bones and teeth are found at Escholtz Bay,

JCotaebue Sounds and the Pribulow Islands. Becent explorations by Mr Dall, who has followed the Youkon river far into the interior, will undoubtedly give us more authentic and reliable information concerning the mainland than any heretofore available.