15 A fort was built by the Russians, in 1795, on the strip of land separating Bay de Monti from the ocean, and was colonized by convicts from Russia. In 1803, all of the settlers were killed and the fort was destroyed by the Yakutat Indians. So complete was this massacre that no detailed account of it has ever appeared. (Alaska and its Resources, by W. H. Dall, 1870, pp. 316, 317, 323.)
In the narrative of this voyage, a brief account is given of the ice cliffs at Icy bay, which are stated to have a height of about thirty feet and to present the appearance of veined marble. Where the ice was exposed to the sea it was excavated into alcoves and archways, recalling to the narrator's mind the Chalk cliffs of England. "Point Riou," as named by Vancouver, was not recognized, and the inference seems to be that it was formed of ice and was dissolved away between the visits of Vancouver and Belcher.
Accompanying the narrative of Belcher's voyage is an illustration showing Mount St. Elias as it appears from the sea near Icy bay, which represents the mountain more accurately than some similar pictures published more recently.
The Sulphur anchored in Port Mulgrave; but no account is given of the character of the surrounding country.
TEBENKOF, 1852.16
16 Atlas of the Northwest Coast of America from Bering strait to Cape Corrientes and the Aleutian Islands [etc.]: 2°, St. Petersburg, 1852. With index and hydrographic observations: 8°, St. Petersburg, 1852.
Tebenkof's notes, which are often referred to by writers on Alaska, consist principally of compilations from reports of Russian traders, which were intended to accompany and explain an atlas of the shores of northwestern America, published in 1852 in St. Petersburg and in Sitka.
Map number 7 of the atlas represents the southern coast of Alaska from Lituya bay westward to Icy bay. On the same sheet there is a more detailed chart of the islands along the eastern border of Yakutat bay.
The height of St. Elias is given as 17,000 feet; its position, latitude 61° 2' 6" and longitude 140° 4', distant 30 miles from the sea.17 It is stated that in 1839 the mountain "began at times to smoke through a crater on its southeastern slope." At the time of an earthquake at Sitka (1847) it is said to have emitted flames and ashes.
17 In a foot-note on page 33 it is stated that Captain Vasilef, in the ship Otkrytie (Discovery), ascertained the height of Mount Fairweather to be 13,946 feet.