Surveying the Frozen Frontier

The United States Coast and Geodetic Survey steamer Hassler is expected to arrive in Port Townsend next Monday. The vessel will have eighteen government surveyors who will be taken North to engage in the boundary survey between Alaska and British Columbia. Four expeditions will be organized under the leadership of H. G. Ogden, O. H. Tettmann, J. E. McGrath and Prof. Dickens. Each party will have a representative of the Canadian government, and the Canadian parties will be augmented by the presence of American representatives. When the surveys are finally completed, the field notes and data will be submitted to a joint commission appointed by the United States and Canada. This work is important to the United States government for the reason that it will necessarily determine the jurisdiction exercised over the Stickeen River and its various tributaries on the northwest, where some large and valuable salmon canneries are at present located. Some valuable mining claims, quartz ledges and placer diggings are located so near the boundary that it is impossible to determine which side of the line the property is on.