Blazing Alaska's Trails PDF
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title: Blazing Alaska's Trails author: Brooks, Alfred Hulse. publisher: University of Alaska Press isbn10 | asin: 0912006013 print isbn13: 9780912006017 ebook isbn13: 9780585276649 language: English subject Alaska. publication date: 1953 lcc: F904.B83eb ddc: 917.98 subject: Alaska. Page i Blazing Alaska's Trails Page ii Alfred Hulse Brooks (1871-1924) Page iii Blazing Alaska's Trails By Alfred Hulse Brooks Late head of the United States Geological Survey work in Alaska ILLUSTRATED Edited by Burton L. Fryxell, formerly professor of English, University of Alaska, with Foreword by John C. Reed, Arctic Institute of North America SECOND EDITION including Memorial of A.H. Brooks by Philip S. Smith University of Alaska Press Fairbanks, Alaska 99701 Page iv COPYRIGHT 1953 BY THE UNIVERSITY OF ALASKA AND THE ARCTIC INSTITUTE OF NORTH AMERICA © 1973 BY THE UNIVERSITY OF ALASKA PRESS ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Library of Congress Catalog Card No. 73-88211 ISBN: 0-912006-01-3 Printed in the United States of America cover design by Dennis Tani Page v Preface to Second Edition The University of Alaska's happy association with the memory of Alfred H. Brooks has continued over the years, ever since the day in July 1952 when its then new School of Mines building was named for him, and the decision made to publish BLAZING ALASKA'S TRAILS as a literary summation of Brooks' life work. By the mid- nineteen sixties all copies of the original printing of twenty five hundred had been distributed. The continuing requests from University alumni, and others interested in Alaska and its history, as it appeared half a century ago to the most distinguished Alaskan scientist of his day, have caused us to publish this new edition. The reader is offered what is essentially a reprint verbatim of the first edition, but with additions at the end which convert this volume into a true new edition. And to the extent that it is a new edition the editors may be considered to be Ernest N. Wolff of the Mineral Industry Research Laboratory, Charles J. Keim, Professor of Journalism and English, Earl H. Beistline, Dean of the College of Earth Sciences and Mineral Industry, Executive Officer and Provost, and the undersigned. The sympathetic biography of Brooks, by his colleague Philip S. Smith, which appeared in a 1925 bulletin of the Geological Society of America, has been reproduced in full at the end of this new edition, including the full life-time bibliography of over 100 titles of all Brooks' publications. The historic controversy regarding the claim of Dr. Frederick A. Cook to have made the first ascent of Mt. McKinley in 1906 had for a while involved Alfred Brooks and embarrassed him. Evidently stung by this, Brooks in 1914 became the first historian (with his MOUNTAIN EXPLORATION IN ALASKA) to set forth the modern account of the true first ascent some years later. In this second edition, we quote Brooks' own publication about this event, where in the first an editorial reconstruction was presented. The minor errors and misprints which inevitably emerge during the years following a first edition have been collected and corrected in an addendum at the end of this second edition. Alfred Brooks would undoubtedly be thrilled to learn of the immensity of today's North Slope oil discoveries for he was widely quoted in the press in June, 1922, when he told a group in Seattle: "I have every confidence that oil will be found in Alaska, and that the areas in the Territory are extensive." It was his optimistic 1922 assessment of the oil potential which was instrumental in bringing about a topographic and geologic survey of the area and the establishment of Naval Petroleum Reserve No. 4 on the North Slope. TERRIS MOORE Note: This new edition has been made possible through the generosity of Terris Moore, Second President of the University of Alaska. In addition to this, Dr. Moore has contributed, by far, most of the research that has gone into it. E.N.W., C.J.K., E.H.B. Page vii Preface This book is the final literary work of Dr. Alfred Hulse Brooks, one of the great men in the history of Alaska, a man to whom the Territory owes enormous gratitude. In preparing the book for publication, I have attempted to follow one basic principle: to make as few changes as possible in Dr. Brooks' original manuscript. It has not, however, been possible to adhere unswervingly to this principle and thus simply to print the manuscript in the form in which it came to me. While no effort has been made to bring the material up to date, to alter statements of fact, to improve the accuracy of hypotheses presented, or to increase the effectiveness of the basic style, some changes, nevertheless, have been deemed necessary. As nearly as one can tell on the basis of internal evidence, the 27 chapters that constitute the book were written between the years 1914 and 1922, as separate and individual essays only loosely connected with each other, and not arranged into a final order to be used in book form. Dr. Brooks, in thus composing the essays over a period of years and interrupted by his service in World War I, frequently repeated himself and told the same story or used the same illustrative incident in several essays; and since he did not live to edit the material, to finish all that he contemplated doing, and to put everything together into book form, he did not delete these repetitions. Too, he left a number of blank spaces, evidently not having immediately available the specific figures or statistical data needed at the moment and planning to add the necessary material later. Editorially, then, while trying to follow the basic principle already stated, I have attempted to complete the things that were left unfinished; and doing so has necessitated a few additional changes. I have organized the 27 essays into chapters in what seemed to me the most satisfactory and logical arrangement on the basis of subject matter dealt with and the chronology of events presented. I have deleted a number of repetitions with the thought that one Page viii version of the same story or illustrative incident was sufficient; but since the individual essays, now the chapters of the book, are organized according to topics, strict chronology has not been possible and a certain amount of repetition, consequently, still exists, especially in those chapters dealing with historical material. I have also deleted the loose threads or have made minor alterations in the script to weave them into the texture of the whole. Throughout, I have attempted to link the chapters together into a consistent and unified whole by providing appropriate transitions and cross references from one chapter to another. I have also attempted to make the spelling of names consistent, especially those of Russian, Indian, and Eskimo origin; this has been done by referring to Dr. Brooks' usage in his book, The Geography and Geology of Alaska, by consulting standard maps and other authoritative writers on Alaska, and by adopting a consistent method of transliterating from the Russian. I have corrected a few obvious slips in factual statements and, after consultation with recognized authorities, have provided the missing data to fill in the omissions in the manuscript, a task that often required a considerable amount of research. Finally, I have tried to check the accuracy of and to standardize the form of Dr. Brooks' footnotes. But, in spite of these necessary alterations, the basic principle has been adhered to; any large changes are indicated in "editor's notes." I can only hope that Dr. Brooks would have approved of such editing as I have done. The text remains his work, and whatever merits the book has are due to him. The index, of course, is solely my addition; any errors of either omission or commission there are mine. The illustrations are from two sources: official photographs selected from the files of the United States Geological Survey, as often as possible from the work of Dr. Brooks himself or that of his immediate associates; and maps prepared under the supervision of Ernest Wolff, research associate, School of Mines, University of Alaska, and by Dan
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