Not all who wander are LOST!!!

The goal for this TB is to travel with me and get it's picture taken at some of the most amazing places the world has to offer!!!

As the story of surveying and mapping in Alaska has never been written before, the following account is based on .fragmentary published and unpublished material, principally from the files of the various Federal departments. Alfred H. Brooks, Chief Alaskan Geologist of the U. S. Geological Survey, in Professional Paper No. 45, published in 1906, summarized the early exploration of Alaska and described the first systematic topographic mapping undertaken by the Survey between 1895 and 1902. Other publications on the subject are for the most part confined to reports of the Federal Government or to popular magazine articles. Hydrographic, geodetic, and topographic surveying in Alaska has been carried on chiefly by three or four Federal agencies since the turn of the century. The writer has abstracted and compiled information from various official reports for the preparation of this sketch for the period from 1900 to the present time. It would be impossible in a single article· to describe completely even the major surveying and mapping ex_Peditions conducted by the Federal Government. An attempt has been made, therefore, to select only those considered of outstanding importance or those which have made some real and lasting contribution to the geographic knowledge of the Territory. Partly because of its remoteness and partly because of the unusually difficult conditions encountered in conducting surveying operations in Alaska, the Territory has been the proving ground for many important developments in the art of 1This paper was -original)¥ prepared for the Enc,yclopedia Arctica. 1 surveying and mapping. Terrestrial photogrammetry was used successfully as early as 1893 by the Canadian Government and the U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey on the International BoundarY Surveys in southeastern Alaska. A panoramic camera was developed by members of the Geological Survey in 1905 and used successfully for many years on topographic mapping of Alaska. The first American trilens aerial mapping camera and transforming printer were developed before World War I by J. W. Bagley and F. H. Moffit, members of the Geological Survey engaged in Alaskan work. The Navy Department, at the request of the Geological Survey, completed aerial photographic coverage of more than 20, 000 square miles in southeastern Alaska during the period between the first and second world wars. During World War II "trimetrogon" mapping was developed, largely by Geological Survey personnel engaged in Alaskan mapping and by members of the Army Air Forces, to meet the urgent need for aeronautical charts of· this vast area. Naval photographic squadrons returned to Alaska after the war and rephotographed the area of southeastern Alaska with new precisionmapping cameras. Still more recently the Department of the Air Force accomplished a successful photographic coverage of the principal transportation routes leading into the interior of Alaska. This photography was controlled by "shoran", an electronic method used to determine geographic positions within the area photographed. The airplane, helicopter, truck, and tractor have, to a considerable extent, replaced the canoe, dog team, and pack train, and solved the transportation problems connected with surveying in Alaska. Because of the Territory's recognized strategic position in the modern ,exploratory and reconnaissance mapping completed by 1940. defense plans of the Nation, surveying and mapping activities have greatly increased since World War II.