Table Of Contenttitle: 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
