gling University about 20 miles off in the valley; perhaps the Catholics rank third, with a large Sisters of Charity establishment and school within the city. Iron mines are successfully worked in the neighborhood, and the city has prosperous iron founderies and machine shops, and is reaching forward to other manufacturing successes."

Portland was founded in 1845, by Messrs Pettigrew and Lovejoy, and was named after Portland in Maine, the native place of the former.

PART VI.

THE TERRITORIES.

ALASKA.

Area,.
Population,

577,390 Square Miles. 75,000 (including 65,000 Indians).

THE Territory of Alaska comprises that portion of North America lying north of the parallel of 54° 40′ N. latitude, and west of the meridian of 141° W. longitude. Within these limits are included many islands lying along the coast, and extending west from the main land.

The boundaries are as follows: Commencing at 54° 40′ N. latitude, ascending Portland Channel to the mountains, following their summits to the 141° west longitude; thence north, on this line, to the Arctic Ocean, forming the eastern boundary. Starting from the Arctic Ocean west, the line descends Behring's Strait, between the two islands of Krusenstern and Ratmanoff, to the parallel of 65° 30', and proceeds due north without limitation, into the same Arctic Ocean. Beginning again at the same initial point, on the parallel of 65° 30', thence in a course southwest through Behring's Strait, between the island of St. Lawrence and Cape Choukotski to the 172° west longitude; and thence southwesterly, through Behring's sea, between the islands of Attou and Copper, to the meridian of 193° west longitude; leaving the prolonged group of the Aleutian islands in the possessions now transferred to the United States, and making the western boundary of our country the dividing line between Asia and America.

"With the exception of the narrow strip extending in a southeast direction along the coast nearly 400 miles, and the remarkable peninsula of Alaska, it forms a tolerably compact mass, with an average length and breadth of about 600 miles each. Its greatest length, north and south, from the southern extremity of Alaska to Point Bar

row, is about 1100 miles; its greatest breadth, measured on the Arctic Circle, which passes through Cape Prince of Wales, is about 800 miles; the longest line that can be drawn across the country is from Cape Prince of Wales to its southern extremity, latitude 54° 40', a distance of about 1600 miles. Estimated area, 394,000 square miles. The part of the mainland south of Mount St. Elias consists of a narrow belt, which is continued along a mountain ridge parallel to the coast, and has nowhere a greater width than about 33 miles. The interior of the country is very little known; but from several expeditions, it appears that throughout its western part it is elevated and uneven, while the part extending along the Arctic Ocean is invariably flat, with the exception of a small portion lying between 141° and 152° W. longitude. The coasts of the mainland and the islands have almost all been carefully explored. The northern coast was first discovered in the course of the present century. Captain Cook, in 1778, during his last voyage, reached Icy Cape, latitude 70° 20' N., and 161° 46′ W.; and it was supposed, from the large masses of ice there met with, even in summer, that further progress was impossible. In 1826, however, Captain Beechy proceeded east as far as North Cape, or Point Barrow, latitude 71° 23' 31" N., longitude 156° 21' 32" W.; while at the same time the lamented Sir John Franklin, then Captain Franklin, traced the coast west from the mouth of the Mackenzie to Return Reef, latitude 70° 26' N., longitude 148° 52′ W. The intervening space between Point Barrow and Return Reef was first explored in 1837, by Dease and Simpson, officers of the Hudson's Bay Company.

"The whole of the northern coast of Russian America, from Demarcation Point west to Point Barrow, its northernmost extremity, stretches with tolerable regularity in a west-northwest direction, and is, with the exception of a small part in the east, a dead flat, often nearly on a level with the sea, and never more than from 10 to 20 feet above it. From Point Barrow the coast takes a uniform direction, from northeast to southwest, rising gradually towards Cape Lisburn, which is 850 feet high. It here turns south, forming, between the two large inlets of Kotzebue Sound and Norton Sound, the remarkable peninsula of Prince of Wales, which projects into Behring's Strait, and terminates in an elevated promontory, forming the northwestern part of North America. From Norton Sound it turns first southwest, then south-southeast, becoming indented by several large bays, including those of Bristol Bay and Cook's Inlet, on the opposite of the long and narrow peninsula of Alaska; and is lined almost throughout by