ALASKA, Explorations in. Under Rus In carrying to completion the project of Peter the Great for explorations to the east of Kamchatka, Vitus Bering discovered Alaska in 1741, when he visited the Saint Elias region, while his lieutenant Chirikoff landed at Cross Sound. Incited by reports of fur wealth, enter prising Russian hunters, between 1743 and 1762, discovered and visited the chain of Aleutian isles and the peninsula adjoining. In pursuit of the Northwest Passage, James Cook in 1778 fol lowed the greater part of the coasts from the Sitkan Archipelago northward to Icy Cape, Arctic Ocean. Taking possession of the country, the Russian-American Company, 1790 to 1860, established trading posts at many points,— the principal stations being Kodiak, Saint Michaels, Sitka and Unalaska. From these centres desultory and infrequent efforts were made to explore the adjacent regions. The principal journeys were as follows: 1791, Becheref on the Alaska Peninsula.; 1796, Shultz, Lituya Bay and Lynn Canal; 1803, Bazanoff, the delta regions of Copper River; to carry out the orders of the company to explore the country to the north of Cook Inlet in 1818, Korsakof I crossed overland from the Inlet to Bristol Bay, and thence by ship to the Kuskokwim Bay, and two years later Kolmakoff visited the valley of the lower Kuskokwim River. Ascents up the Yukon River were made by Glasunof, 1835, to Anvik; by Malakoff, 1838, to Nulato; by Zagoskin, 1843, to Novikakat; while in 1863 Lukeen was the first to make the long journey to Ft. Yukon and return. Along the coasts, Vancouver surveyed in 1794 Cook Inlet and the shores thence southward to Chatham Strait; Kotzebue discovered and explored Kot zebue Sound in 1816; while Beechey in search of the Northwest Passage reached, through Elson Point, Barrow by boat. From the Hud son Bay Territory, in 1847Porcupine a factor, Mur ray, who descended the River and near its mouth established and built the trading post Ft. Yukon. In 1826 Franklin explored the Arctic Coast from the Mackenzie River west ward to Return Reef, Alaska. In a renewal of the journey in 1837 Thomas Simpson filled in the unknown coast between Return Reef and Point Barrow. Between 1863 and 1865 the Kennicott party, constructing the Western Union telegraph line, surveyed the country overland from Norton Sound to the mouth of the Koyukuk River, and thence along the north bank of the Yukon as far as Ft. Yukon. When Alaska was transferred to the United States in 1867, the mainland was an unknown country except narrow fringes along the coasts, and the immediate banks of the Yukon River.
American
explorations from 1869 to 1898 made entirely by officers of the army, are recorded in
most important and extensive of any reconnais sance is that of Lieut. H. T. Allen in 1885. Starting from the coast at the mouth of the Copper River, with Corporal Fickett, signal corps, he ascended the Copper Valley, crossed the mountains, descended the Tanana to its mouth, and following the Yukon to the mouth of the Koyukuk ascended that valley overland to the junction of the Kanuti, and then by boat reached the mouth of John River. The journey was one of great danger and privations. Allen's discoveries added some 240,000 square miles of territory hitherto unknown, although under the control of Russia and the United States for a century. The maps of these three rivers were recognized as authoritative for 12 years, when they were revised by the geological survey. The gold discoveries of 1898 stimu lated activity in exploration. In 1898-99, Aber crombie explored the country from Prince Wil liam Sound to Copper Valley for a military road. Glenn's expedition of 1898 extended from Cook Inlet toward the Tanana Basin, and that of 1899 around Cook Inlet. Burnell and Mitchell, signal corps, explored the regions of the upper Copper and upper Tanana for telegraph routes in 1902-03. The explorations of the basins of the Noatak and Kobuk Rivers have been made by the navy, the revenue marine and the geological survey. These un known tributaries of Kotzebue Sound were first explored by Lieut. G. M. Stoney, U.S.N., who from 1883 to 1886 made extended voyages up these rivers, supplemented by land trips in ad jacent regions. Lieutenant Cantwell, revenue marine, further explored in 1884 and 1885 the Kobuk, reaching Walker Lake. Engineer Mc Lenegan, revenue service, first visited the Noatak, traversing an extended part of the valley in 1885. Systematic surveys were made by W. C. Mendenhall, geological survey, who explored the country from Ft. Hamlin, on the Yukon, to Kotzebue Sound, traveling in 1901 via the Da11, Kanuti, Koyukuk, Alatna and Kobuk rivers.
Bibliography.— Among the many valuable publications of the survey the following cover the more important phases of exploration: Brooks, 'Geography of Alaska' (Prof. Paper 45) ;