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48
GEOGRAPHIC DICTIONARY OF ALASKA.
[BULL. 187.
The principal charts in this series, with their dates of publication, current mimbers, and the old Pacific ocean series numbers, are as follows:
Date.
Number.
Old number.
Date.
Number.
Old number.
1844
1345
18449
1427
5
1847
1378
9
1850
1441
10%
1847
1379
8
1851
1454
4
1848
1396
IO
1852
1455
6
1848
1397
10
1853
1493
10đ
1848
1400
7
1853
1494
10c
1849
1425
9
1854
1495
13
RYNDA PARTY, 1863.
Russian naval officers on board the corvette Rynda in 1863 visited Wrangell and the Stikine river and made surveys there, especially of the Stikine. The surveyors were Butirkin and Kadin. Prof. William P. Blake, of New Haven, was also a member of the party and pub- lished an account of the work done and results obtained, in the Ameri- can Journal of Science, New Haven, July, 1867, vol. 44, pp. 96-101; also in House of Representatives Ex. Doc. No. 177, part 2, Fortieth Congress, second session.
The Russian Hydrographic Department in 1867 published a chart of the Stikine resulting from this survey.
SARICHEF, 1790-1792.
Lient. (afterwards Vice-Admiral and Hydrographer) Gavrila Andree- vich Sarichef, of the Russian navy, made explorations in the Arctic in 1787, and later was an officer under Commodore Joseph Billings during the latter's explorations of Bering sea and Alaska (1790-1792). He appears to have been an excellent sailor and geographer. No satisfactory account of his life or works has been found by the writer. Sarichef published in Russian in 1802 an account of the Billings expe- dition, in 2 volumes, accompanied by a folio atlas of 50 sheets. This work the writer has never seen. In 1826 the Russian Hydrographic Office published a large folio atlas, comprising 33 double page sheets, of which 26 are charts and 7 are views, entitled Atlas of the Northern Part of the Pacific Ocean, Compiled in Sheets by the Imperial Navy Department from the Latest Reports and Maps, 1826, under the Direc- tion of Vice-Admiral and Hydrographer Sarichef first. As indicated in the title, this appears to be a collection of separate sheets issued from time to time and first collected into an atlas in 1826. Sheet 3 contains corrections obtained in 1829. Several of Sarichef's surveys
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in 1792 appear in this atlas, notably those of the Aleutian islands, Unalaska, etc. Separate charts from this atlas are to be found in the Coast Survey Office and the Hydrographic Office in Washington.
The only copy of this atlas known to the writer is owned by Prof. George Davidson, of San Francisco, who has most kindly placed it at the writer's disposal during the preparation of this dictionary. Refer- ences to Sarichef refer mainly to this atlas.
SAUER, 1790-1792.
The publication in 1784 of Cook's explorations of northwest America made in 1778 stimulated other nations to like work. La Perouse was despatched by France in 1785; and the same year, by order of the Empress of Russia, was organized "A secret astronomical and geo- graphical expedition for navigating the frozen sea, describing its coasts and ascertaining the situation of the islands in the seas between Asia and America." This was placed under the command of Commo- dore Joseph Billings, who, according to Sauer, "said he had been astronomer's assistant in Captain Cook's last voyage." Martin Sauer accompanied this expedition as its secretary and translator, and in 1802 published an account of it, entitled Account of a Geographical and Astronomical Expedition, etc., performed by Commodore Joseph Billings in 1785-1794, 4º, London, 1802.
Leaving St. Petersburg in the autumn of 1785, the party went over- land to Okhotsk and there built two vessels, the Mard Rossie (Glory of Russia) and the Dobraia Namerenia (Good Intent), which were launched in August, 1789. The latter vessel was wrecked on the bar at Okhotsk. and another vessel, the Chornie Orel (Black Eagle), was built to take its place. This vessel was under the command of Captain Hall, while Billings commanded the Slavie Rossie. The party wintered at Petro- pavlovsk and in May, 1790, sailed eastward somewhere near the Aleutian islands, saw Amchitka, landed at Unalaska, and thence con- tinued on past Sannak and the Shumagins to Kodiak and Afognak, visiting Cook inlet and Prince William sound and then returning and wintering at Petropavlovsk. On May 19 of the following year (1791) the ships again set sail to the eastward, passed Bering island, touched at Tanaga, and went thence to Unalaska. From here they went north- ward in Bering sea, passed near the Pribilof islands and St. Matthew island, landed on St. Lawrence island and later at Point Rodney. Seward peninsula, and on August 3 anchored in St. Lawrence bay. Bering strait. Here Billings left the party for an overland journey in the Chukchi country, and Sarichef on August 14 set out to return to Iliuliuk, Unalaska, arriving August 28, 1791. IIere Sarichef wintered (1791-1792). In May, 1792, the party left Unalaska and went back to Petropavlovsk and thence to St. Petersburg.
Bull. 187-01-4
.
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GEOGRAPHIC DICTIONARY OF ALASKA.
[BULL. 187.
SCHRADER, 1898-1900.
Mr. Frank Charles Schrader, geologist of the United States Geolog- ical Survey. was attached to a military exploring expedition under the command of Capt. W. R. Abercrombie, known as Military Expedition No. 2. which in the summer of 1898 made explorations from Valdes northeastward to and along the Copper river. For an account of this . see Twentieth Annual Report of the United States Geological Survey, Part VII. pp. 341-423.
In 1899 Schrader, in charge of a party, made similar explorations along the Chandlar and Koyukuk rivers. His results are published in the Twenty-first Annual Report of the United States Geological Survey, Part II, pp. 441-486.
Again in 1900, in the latter part of the summer and in the fall, Schrader, assisted by Mr. Arthur Coe Spencer, geologist. and T. G. Gerdine and D. C. Witherspoon. topographers, investigated the geology and mineral resources of the Copper River district. The results are now in proof and will soon appear as a special publication of the United States Geological Survey.
SCHWATKA, 1883-1886.
Lieut. Frederick Schwatka, U. S. A., made a military reconnaissance in 1883 along the Yukon river from source to mouth on a raft. He made an official report on this military reconnaissance in Alaska, in 1883. which was printed in 1885 as Senate Ex. Doc. No. 2, Forty-eighth Congress, second session. A fuller account of the same journey. in popular form, was published by Cassel & Co., in 1885, under the title Along Alaska's Great River. This has an index. He made a second trip to Alaska in 1886 under the auspices of the New York Times and explored in the St. Elias region. Schwatka was born on September 29, 1849. in Galena, Ill., and died in Portland, Oreg., on November 2, 1892.
SHISHMAREF, 1816-1821.
Capt .- Lieut. Glieb Semenovich Shishmaref accompanied Kotzebue on his voyage to Alaska and round the world in 1815-1818, and in 1817 made surveys in Kotzebue sound and on the east and south coast of St. Lawrence island.
In 1821 he again returned to the colonies, this time in command of the ship Blagonamierennie (Good Intent), and in company with Vasilief on the Otkrietie (Discovery). Sailing from Cronstadt on July 3, 1819, and rounding Cape Horn, he arrived at Unalaska on June 4, 1820. With him went Dr. Stein and astronomer Tarkanof. Afterwards he cruised through the Aleutian islands, to Amchitka, Semisopochnoi, Gareloi, and Bogoslof. He also entered the Arctic. went as far as ley cape, visited St. Lawrence bay, and completed in 1821 the survey
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AUTHORITIES.
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of the shore line of St. Lawrence island, partially surveyed by the Kotzebue expedition in 1817. (See Grewingk, p. 413; Krusenstern Mémoires hydrographiques, Vol. II. p. 36; Journal of the Russian Hydrographic Office, 1849, Vol. VII, pp. 106-116).
SNOW AND HELM, 1886.
Lieut. Commander Albert S. Snow, U. S. N., relieved Lieut. Com- mander Richardson Clover of the command of the Coast and Geodetic Survey steamer Patterson in February. 1886, and made surveys in southeastern Alaska during the summer of 1886, beginning the season early in May in the vicinity of Wrangell, and ending it on September 15 at Port Simpson. Snow was succeeded in the command of the Pat- terson by Lieut. Commander Charles M. Thomas on April 30, 1887. Associated with Snow was Lieut. James M. Helm. U. S. N .. in com- mand of the Mc Arthur. Snow and Helm surveyed and charted part of Clarence strait. Sumner strait, Wrangell strait. St. John harbor, Dewey anchorage, Ratz harbor, Coffman cove, Wrangell harbor, Steamer bay. Red bay, Shakan strait, Port Protection, and Port MeArthur. Charts of these places, issued by the Coast Survey, have been used in the preparation of this dictionary.
SPURR AND GOODRICH, 1896.
Mr. Josiah Edward Spurr. geologist of the United States Geologi- cal Survey, assisted by Messrs. Harold B. Goodrich and F. C. Schrader, in the summer of 1896 made a geologie reconnaissance from the head of Lynn canal over Chilkoot pass to the Yukon and thence down that river to St. Michael. For report on this work see Eighteenth Annual Report of the Geological Survey for 1896-97, Part III. pp. 87-392.
SPURR AND POST, 1898.
Mr. Josiah Edward Spurr, geologist, accompanied by Mr. William Schuyler Post, topographer. both of the United States Geological Survey, in the summer of 1898 made a reconnaissance in southwestern Alaska. They began at the head of Cook inlet, went northwest across the Tordrillo range, descended the Kuskokwim. crossed from its mouth to Nushagak, and thence crossed Alaska peninsula to Katmai. The party landed at Tyonek on April 26 and arrived at Katmai on October 17, 1898, whence they sailed (October 31) on the Alaska Commercial Company's steamer Dora for San Francisco.
For an account of this expedition see Twentieth Annual Report of the Geological Survey, Part VII. pp. 31-264.
STANIUKOVICH, 1827-28.
Capt. Mikhail Nikolaievich Staniukovich, commanding the sloop Moller, accompanied Lutke on his voyage round the world. He made a survey of the north shore of Alaska peninsula in the summer of
52
GEOGRAPHIC DICTIONARY OF ALASKA.
[BULL. 187.
1828. The geographie results of this voyage were incorporated by Lutke in the Partie nautique of his voyage round the world. For an account in Russian of Staniukovich's voyage see Journal of the Russian Hydrographic Department, 1850, Vol. VIII, pp. 63-75.
STOCKTON, 1889.
Lient. Commander Charles Herbert Stockton, U. S. N., command- ing the U. S. S. Thetis, cruised in Alaskan waters in the summer of 1889. This cruise covered the whole coast from Dixon entrance to Unalaska and thence through Bering sea to the Arctic and eastward to Mackenzie river. Stockton published an account of this voyage in 1890 in the National Geographic Magazine, Vol. II, pp. 171-198. His geographic results are shown on United States Hydrographic Office chart 1189, edition of 1890.
SYMONDS, 1879-1881. See BEARDSLEE AND GLASS. TEBENKOF, 1831-1850.
Capt. Mikhail Dmitrievich Tebenkof was director of the Russian American Company and governor of Russian America during 1845- 1850. As early as 1831 he was in Norton sound, and in that year dis- covered the bay that now bears his name. (Lutke, Partie nautique, p. 220.) In 1833 he surveyed and mapped it. His map is reproduced by Lutke. In 1835 he was in St. Petersburg, and on August 5 of that year sailed in command of the Russian American Company's ship Elena from Cronstadt for Sitka, where he arrived via Cape Horn on April 16, 1836. He appears to have remained in the colonies thence- forward till the close of his term as director, and then returned to Russia. To him more than to any other Russian are we indebted for geographic knowledge of the Alaskan coast. Himself a surveyor and interested in surveying, he gave much attention to improving charts of the coast in the interest of the company. In 1848 and 1849 there was compiled, drawn up, and engraved at Sitka his Atlas of the North west Coast of America. This atlas of 39 maps shows the entire coast line of North America from Bering strait to Lower California, with adjacent islands and parts of the Siberian coast. It embodies the results of the various surveys made by Russian naval officers, officers of the Russian American Company, etc. The maps were engraved at Sitka by Terentief, a creole, and for the most part are dated 1849. It is probable that they were dated from time to time during 1848 to 1850 as engraved and afterwards put together as an atlas in 1852. With it was issued by Tebenkof a little book of Notes and Explana- tions. There appear to be two editions of this book of Notes, both very rare, at least in the United States. In the making of this dic- tionary Tebenkof's atlas has been consulted more than any other single work.
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THOMAS, 1887-SS.
Lieut. Commander Charles M. Thomas, U. S. N., succeeded Lieut. Commander Snow in command of the Coast and Geodetic Survey steamer Patterson on April 30, 1887, and remained in command till relieved by Mansfield on April 1, 1889. During the season of 1887, which began at Port Simpson on May 21 and ended there on October 13, his party surveyed and mapped in whole or in part Frederick sound, Duncan canal. Brown cove. Thomas bay, Farragut bay, and Portage bay. In the following season, which began on April 27. 1888, he made surveys till June 26 in the vicinity of Taku inlet, in this time mapping Taku harbor. Limestone inlet, Port Snettisham, and Oliver inlet. Between July 3 and October 14, 1888, Thomas made surveys asked for by the Department of State in and about Portland canal. For an account of his work see Coast and Geodetic Survey Reports, 1888, pp. 73-76; 1889, pp. 78-82, and Coast Survey charts 704, 733, and 8227.
TIKHMENIEF, 1861-1863.
P. Tikhmenief has been called the historian of the Russian American Company. He published in Russian a work in two volumes. the first dated 1861. the second 1863, entitled Historical Review of the Russian American Company. This is a useful work, compiled from original sources, and gives information on Alaskan matters not to be found elsewhere.
TOPHAM, 1888.
Mr. Harold W. Topham and his brother Edwin. of London. with George Broka of Brussels, and William Williams of New York. left Sitka on a little schooner on July 3. 1888, and went to Mount St. Elias for the purpose of climbing it. They reached an altitude of 11,460 feet and then turned back. Topham read an account of this trip before the Royal Geographical Society on April 8. 1889. This account, with a map, was published in the Society's proceedings in July, 1889, Vol. XI, pp. 424 435. See also the National Geographic Magazine, 1890, Vol. III, pp. 73-74.
TURNER, 1889-1891.
Mr. John Henry Turner, Assistant in the Coast and Geodetic Survey, was engaged on the Alaskan boundary survey from June, 1889, to July. 1891. In the summer of 1889, with Mr. MeGrath, he ascended the Yukon river to Fort Yukon. where the party divided. On August 12 Turner began his journey up the Porcupine river to the boundary. On the 19th he landed at the site of an abandoned camp near the one hundred and forty-first meridian, and there began the building of quarters for officers and men and the erection of an observatory. This camp was named Camp Colonna. Longitude was
54
GEOGRAPHIC DICTIONARY OF ALASKA.
[BULL. 187.
determined by moon-culmination observations in March and April, 1890.
On March 27, 1890, he set out upon a sledge journey from Camp Colonna northward to the Arctic ocean, where he arrived on April 8. The next day he started back, and reached Camp Colonna on April 17. Later he left Camp Colonna, descended the Porcupine and Yukon rivers, and proceeded to St. Michael, Norton sound, where he was compelled to remain until July, 1891, when he departed for Washing- ton. He returned to Alaska in 1892 on boundary work, but owing to ill health was obliged to give it up. During his stay in Alaska he made a valuable collection of bird and animal skins, which he pre- sented to the University of California. The expenses of this collection he bore personally. He died in Washington on June 13, 1893. An account of his work was published in the National Geographic Maga- zine in 1893, Vol. IV, pp. 189-197; see also Coast and Geodetic Survey Report 1890-1891, Part I, pp. 86-88.
VANCOUVER, 1792-1794.
Capt. George Vancouver, R. N., in command of the sloop of war Discovery, accompanied by the armed tender Chatham under the com- mnand of Lient. William R. Broughton, R. N., made a surveying and exploring voyage from England to Northwest America and round the world in 1790 to 1795. An account of this voyage was published by the British Government in 1798 in 3 quarto volumes accompanied by a folio atlas.
This is an admirable account of an admirable piece of work and is one of the standard works for the region it covers.
On April 1, 1791, the two vessels departed and, rounding the Cape of Good Hope, arrived off the coast of California on April 17, 1792. Thence Vancouver cruised northward, surveying and mapping the coast as far as Fitzhugh sound, whence he went to Nootka. He then cruised southward to San Francisco and Monterey, and about the beginning of 1793 went to the Hawaiian islands.
Leaving these on March 30, 1793, he returned to the north, arriv- ing off Cape Mendocino on April 26, whence he proceeded to Fitz- hugh sound, joined the Chatham there, and resumed his surveys. During the season of 1793 he carried these northward along what is now British Columbia and in Alexander archipelago to Sumner strait. Quitting Alaska and returning southward, he surveyed the California coast from Monterey southward to San Diego and down to latitude 30° on the coast of lower California, finishing on December 15, 1793, and going thence to the Hawaiian islands. Quitting these on March 15, 1794, Vancouver returned on his last voyage to northwest Amer- ica, arriving off Chirikof island, just west of Kodiak, on April 2. He then surveyed eastward, in Kodiak, Cook inlet, Prince William
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sound, and so on, to a junction with his surveys of the preceding year. This work ended at Port Conclusion, from which he took his final departure on August 22, 1794, and returned via Cape Horn to England, arriving off the Irish coast on September 12, 1795. Van- couver's work in the field and the admirable presentation of results in his published report constitute his monument. After more than a century it remains a standard work of reference.
Vancouver had had previous experience in exploring. Captain Cook selected him in 1771 as one of his officers, and thus he accompanied that distinguished navigator during his second voyage. He also assisted Cook in outfitting and equipping for his third and last voyage. On December 9, 1780, he was made a lieutenant and served under Rodney in the West Indies till the middle of 1783. From 1784 to 1789 he served on the Europa, stationed at Jamaica. In 1790. he was made master and commander of the Discovery. In August, 1794, he was made a post-captain. After his return to England he worked contin- ually on his report till his death in May, 1798. The work, nearly but not quite complete at the time of his death, was finished by his brother. John Vancouver.
VASILIEF.
Several Russian naval officers known for their work in Alaska have borne this name (Williams). Krusenstern, in his Receuil de mémoires hydrographiques, 1827, Vol. II, p. 76, says:
It is much to be regretted that the hydrographic works of a naval officer, Vasilief, who was in the employment of the American Company, were lost. I have already had occasion to speak of him in the preceding article. Provided with a sextant and chronometer and with much zeal and attachment for his profession, he had during his sojourn in our American colonies made a complete survey of all of the Aleutian islands without having had specifie instructions to do so. Unfortunately he was drowned in Okhotsk harbor on his return from America to Russia, and what became of his precious papers and drawings is unknown. He is not to be confounded with the Captain (Mikhail Nikolaievich) Vasilief who was sent in 1819 to explore the northern parts of the Pacific ocean and particularly Bering strait.
VASILIEF, 1809.
Ivan Vasilief the first, pilot or mate in the Russian navy, went with Hagemeister in the ship Neva to Russian America in 1806. In 1809 he surveyed the western shore of Baranof island and at an unknown date "died in the service."
VASILIEF, 1819-1822.
Capt. Lieut. Mikhail Nikolaievich Vasilief sailed on July 3, 1819, from Cronstadt on a voyage to the Russian American colonies. With him went Shishmaref on the Blagonamierennie (Good Intent). Vasi- lief arrived in Petropovlovsk on June 4, 1820. Leaving there late in June, he went to Kotzebue sound, where he joined his consort the
56
GEOGRAPHIC DICTIONARY OF ALASKA.
[BULL. 187.
Good Intent (Captain Shishmaref), and together they cruised north- ward along the coast to Iey cape, and, returning via St. Lawrence and the Pribilof islands, reached Unalaska on August 19, 1820. Thence he went to Sitka and southward to San Francisco and the Hawaiian islands, and on the 7th of April, 1821, was back in Sitka, whence he went to Unalaska, arriving on June 12. He then cruised northward as far as Cape Lisburne, explored the castern part of Bering sea, discovered Nunivak island, and arrived at Petropavlovsk on September 8. 1821. Thence he returned to Cronstadt, arriving on August 2, 1822.
During this cruise Vasilief and Shishmaref explored the mainland coast of Bering sea from Cape Newenham to and including Norton sound, and the Arctic coast from Cape Lisburne to Icy cape. (See Journal of the Russian Hydrographic Department, 1849, Vol. VII, p. 106-116.)
VASILIEF, 1831-32.
Ensign Vasilief, of the corps of pilots, in 1831-32 surveyed and mapped a part of Alaska peninsula from Cook inlet westward nearly to Chignik bay. The map resulting from this survey is published by Lutke in his Partie Nautique, p. 274. Of this survey and map Lutke says:
Vasilief's map of the northeastern part of Aliaska contains all possible details as to the situation of the coast and appears worthy of confidence, but in his journals which we have had in our hands we have found absolutely nothing except the data on which the construction of the map was based. Relative to places they contained no remark as to their configuration, properties, peculiarities, or their advantages, details so important for the navigator. We are therefore able to add but few observations supplementary to his map hereto annexed.
Vasilief began his reconnaissance in 1831 at Cape Douglas, and from there in the course of the same summer went as far west as Cape Kubugakli, in latitude 57º 52' 30". The following year he extended it as far as Cape Kumliun, in latitude 56° 32' 12". Circumstances pre- vented him from pursuing his work farther. The reconnaissance was made in three-holed bidarkas, a circumstance which, on the one hand, made it possible for him to explore all the windings of the coast in the greatest detail, but, on the other hand, prevented him from seeing the coast and judging of its appearance at any great distance. His chro- nometer stopped in the first days of the reconnaissance, so that it is based only on survey and latitude observations.
VENIAMINOF, 1824-1834.
Rev. John Veniaminof, a Russian priest of Irkutsk, went to Una- laska as a missionary in 1824. Of this devoted and noble man all writers speak in terms of the highest praise. The writer has sought unsuccessfully for any satisfactory account of his life and labors.
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He resided at Unalaska from the time of his arrival there in 1824 till 1834, when he was made a bishop. He then went, after the cus- tom of his church, to Irkutsk and was there invested with his sacred office, taking the name of Innokenti or Innocentius. Returning he went to Sitka and labored successfully among the Indians there for a time, and later returned to Russia, where he reached the highest office in the Russo-Greek church, becoming Metropolite of Moscow. He became blind and died at an advanced age some time prior to 1880.
Veniaminof was not merely a noble and successful missionary, but is known for his ethnologic and linguistic studies as well. There was published at St. Petersburg, in Russian, in 1840 his Notes on the Islands of the Unalaska District, in two volumes, with a supplemen- tary or third part on the Atkans and Koloshians. These books are standard works, and it is regrettable that they are accessible only in Russian. He learned the Aleutian language and wrote a grammar and dictionary of it, which was published in 1846. In the same year he also published a sketch of the Koloshian and Kodiak languages. All these works have been used in preparing this dictionary.
WESTERN UNION TELEGRAPH EXPLORATION, 1865-1867.
After the failure of the second Atlantic telegraphic cable, the Western Union Telegraph Company, believing that an ocean cable could not succeed, undertook to construct an overland telegraph to Asia and Europe via Bering strait. For this purpose preparations were made on a large scale and parties worked, explored, and built some line in British Columbia, Alaska, and Siberia in 1865 and 1866. When the third Atlantic cable proved, in 1866, to be a success the whole enterprise was abandoned and the geographic information col- lected by it was scattered. No satisfactory general account of this venture has been published. Several manuscript maps were made but not published. A photograph of one of these is the authority chiefly usea and cited in this dictionary.
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