Icy bay was reached, by means of canoes from Yakutat bay, on July 13, and an inland journey was made northward which 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,21 and a more detailed report by H. W. Topham, accompanied by a map22 and by a fine illustration of Mount St. Elias, in the Alpine Journal.23
21 New York, April, 1889, pp. 387–403.
22 Topham's map was used in compiling the western portion of the map forming plate 8, and his route is there indicated.
23 London, August, 1889, pp. 245–371.
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,24 but will indicate the most promising sources of information concerning the country described in the following pages.
24 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.
