PART V.
HEIGHT AND POSITION OF MOUNT ST. ELIAS.
The height and position of Mount St. Elias have been measured several times during the past century with varying results. The measurements made prior to the expedition of 1890 have been summarized and discussed by W. H. Dall, of the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey, and little more can be done at present than give an abstract of his report.
The various determinations are shown in the table below. The data from which these results were obtained have not been published, with the exception of the surveys made by the United States Coast Survey in 1874, printed in report of the superintendent for 1875.
Height and Position of Mount St. Elias.
| Date. | Authority. | Height. | Latitude. | Longitude W. |
| 1786 | La Pérouse | 12,672 feet | 60° 15' 00" | 140° 10' 00" |
| 1791 | Malaspina | 17,851 feet | 60° 17' 35" | 140° 52' 17" |
| 1794 | Vancouver | —— | 60° 22' 30" | 140° 39' 00" |
| 1847 | Russian Hydrographic Chart 1378 | 17,854 feet | 60° 21' 00" | 141° 00' 00" |
| 1847 | Tebenkof (Notes) | 16,938 feet | 60° 22' 36" | 140° 54' 00" |
| 1849 | Tebenkof (Chart VII) | 16,938 feet | 60° 21' 30" | 140° 54' 00" |
| Buch. Can. Inseln | 16,758 feet | 60° 17' 30" | 140° 51' 00" | |
| 1872 | English Admiralty Chart 2172 | 14,970 feet | 60° 21' 00" | 141° 00' 00" |
| 1874 | U. S. Coast Survey | 19,500 ±400 | 60° 20' 45" | 141° 00' 12" |
All of the figures given in the table have been copied from Dall's report, with the exception of the position determined by Malaspina; this is from a report of astronomical observations made during Malaspina's voyage, which places the mountain in latitude 60° 17' 35" and longitude 134° 33' 10" west of Cadiz.36 Taking the longitude of Cadiz as 6° 19' 07" west of Greenwich, the figures tabulated above are obtained.
36 Ante, p. 65.
It was intended that Mr. Kerr's report, forming Appendix B, should contain a detailed record of the triangulation executed last summer, but a careful revision of his work by a committee of the National Geographic Society led to the conclusion that the results were not of sufficient accuracy to set at rest the questions raised by the discrepancies in earlier measurements of the height of Mount St. Elias; and as the work will probably be revised and extended during the summer of 1891, only the map forming plate 8 will be published at this time. Some preliminary publications of elevations have been made, but these must be taken as approximations merely.37