380 PHOTOGRAMMETRIC ENGINEERING

Arctic mapping problems. During the war Last but not least, a member of the he organized and assisted in the. develop­ highly respected Corps of Engineers of the ment of trimetrogon mapping and was U. S. Army will tell us why military map­ commissioned in the Air Corps in 1942, ping of the and sub-Arctic is of such where he served as Commanding Officer of importance. Lieutenant-Colonel Albert the Aeronautical Chart Service until 1946; Nowicki was born in Milwaukee, Wiscon­ when he returned to the Geological Survey. sin and received his education at Mar­ He was appointed Chief Topographic quette University, where he received a Engineer of the Geological Survey on May civil engineering degree. His advanced de­ 22, 1947. grees in civil engineering were obtained at Colonel FitzGerald is past President of the University of Minnesota. His ex­ the American Society of Photogrammetry perience includes teaching on the faculty and of the American Congress on Survey­ of Marquette University and the Univer­ ing and Mapping, is a member of the sity of Minnesota in civil. engineering and American Geophysical Union, Washington also mapping experience with the Forestry Society of Engineers, the Cosmos Club, Service, the T.V.A., and the Corps of Engi­ and the Explorers Club. He received the neers. Legion of Merit from General Arnold in Colonel Nowicki's civilian position is 1946 for his work as Commanding Officer that of Chief Engin'eer, Army Map Service, of the Aeronautical Chart Service. In 1949 and he is on temporary duty at present he was awarded the Department of In­ with the Army. terior's gold medal for distinguished service.

THE CONTRIBUTION OF EXPLORERS TO THE MAPPING OF, ARCTIC NORTH AMERICA Norman L. Nicholson, Assistant to the Director, Geographical Branch, Department of Mines and Technical Surveys, Ottawa, SYNOPSIS so as to account for any apparent limita­ Early knowledge and mapping of Arctic­ tions of their contributions. Greeks, Romans, Mercator Whatever knowledge the Greeks and The idea of a -17th cen­ Romans had about the northern part of tury -Hudson's Bay Company­ this continent is always a subject of much Mapping methods-limitations-the problem discussion among Arctic specialists. How­ of longitude. ever, it is certain that they contributed 18th century activities-Hearne's overland nothing to the maps of Arctic North journey-scientific advance in instruments and America as we know them today. The ships. 19th century-the ­ ideas of the ancients were at best hypo­ completion of main outlines of continental thetical and imaginary, a state of affairs coast-the search for Franklin-the beginning which existed until the late 16th century. of the penetration of the northern islands In 1508,' for example, a map was pub­ region. lished which maintained that under the 1880-the whaling industry-the assault on Arctic Pole there was a towering boulder the -Canadian government ex­ made of magnetic stone which was 33 peditions. German miles in circumference. It was The end of old style exploration-advent of maintained that this boulder was sur­ the airplane-development of separate sys­ tematic branches of geography-modern diffi- rounded by a sea which resulted from the culties. . water said to flow freely out of the stone. The debt to explorers-names in the north. This general idea was preserved to some extent in the polar inset of Mercator's The purpose of this paper is to show how great. Chart of the World, published in the map of the northern part of this con­ 1595. This showed a polar whirlpool fed tinent was gradually unrolled by the by' four channels entering it from the various explorers who visited the area, and north, south, east and. ,vest. But Mer.­ at the same time to point out some of the cator's map also indicated a through chan­ difficulties under which these men worked nel from Europe to the Orient. This belief PANEL ON ARCTIC MAPPING 381

in a passage around the north of North But there was no easy means of determin­ America to Asia became widely accepted ing longitude. A ship's position was usually and formed the first and certainly the recorded by dead-reckoning, a method strongest and most lasting of the several subject to many errors in the days of sail­ motives which led to the detailed explora­ ing vessels. Occasionally, a navigator tion and mapping of the North American would attempt to find .longitude by ob­ Arctic. serving the altitude of the moon and some Such exploration began in the late 16th other heavenly body and measuring the century with the voyages of Frobisher angular distance between them, a method (1576-78) and Davis (1585-87), who out­ first suggested in 1474. This seems to have lined the east coast of . been particularly true of Arctic 'navigators Their discoveries showed that this land perhaps because they had to be mentally mass was an extensive north-south barrier adventurous as well as physically daring. to any northwest passage which might Baffin, for instance, was constantly think­ exist. Early in the following century ing out new means of finding longitude. 's last voyage revealed a He was the first to ever attempt to'do so ,huge sea west of . But even by the moon's culmination at sea, and he this was blocked on the western and produced surprisingly accurate results southern sid'es by land and on the north by which show his mastery of the subject and ice, as the subsequent voyages of Button, his inventive faculty. Bylot, Baffin, Foxe and James showed. Besides the astrolabe, the earliest Arctic ot that these discoveries were without navigators were supplied with large blank com'mercial reward for the route to Hud­ globes and armillary spheres, charts of son's Bay was the foundation of the various kinds, compasses and hour glasses. famous trading company which received With such slight and unreliable help the its charter in 1670, and from that time seamen of this period, in great peril and many ships entered the bay, although difficulty found their way over the track­ their interest lay in the wooded areas to less ocean. But by 1740 the modern level the south rather than the treeless Arctic to had been developed and the problem of the west and north. longitude had been solved with the in­ Thus exploration in the 17th century vention of the chronometer. As a result the was concerned chiefly with finding a route ma~s of northern travellers began to as­ through the Arctic rather than investigat­ sume greater accuracy. ing the region itself, and because of this A short flurry of exploration in Arctic overriding motive as well as the difficulty Canada occurred in 1742, aiming at the of travel on land, Arctic journeys were penetration of northwest , for restricted to movement by boat and con­ Baffin's report had led to the idea that the fined to the coasts and larger inland water­ entrance to the northwest passage lay in ways. Moving slowly along the shore, the this area. But Middleton, Moore and early explorers mapped or sketched the Christopher only succeeded in finding shape and distribution of all the land they land at the heads of Repulse Bay, Wager could see and hence their results were Bay and Chesterfield Inlet. Finally, in more in the nature of our nautical charts. 1770-72 made the first The accuracy of these documents was in epic overland journey along the edge of direct proportion to the advances made in the treeline from the Hudson's Bay Com­ the methods and practices of navigation pany's fort at Churchill to the mouth of and surveying. Latitude was usually de­ Coppermine River. His maps indicated termined by means of an astrolabe. The the great size of the Arctic mainland and accuracy of the observations appears to were the first to depict the western Cana­ have beeh reasonable but' to take such dian Arctic. He made two false starts, the readings from the deck of a small sa.iling second being of in terest here. He had been ship with a comparatively high center of some months on his journey when he had gravity, and therefore prone to pitch and to return because his quadrant was roll, using a hand instrument with no tele­ broken when blown over by a sudden gust scopic sights must have been difficult of wind. The only instrument he could ob­ enough. Frobisher used a "ballestilla," an tain was an old quadrant which had been instrument similar to the cross-staff which at Churchill for about thirty years. Un­ was the forerunner of the modern sextant. wieldy and unreliable, this quadrant was 382 PHOTOGRAMMETRIC ENGINEERING

partly to blame for the inaccuracy of many and Victoria Islands. of his observations which were never too But Hearne's journey was not only im­ reliable at the best of times. Hearne was portant for paving the way for this western particularly unfortunate with his instru­ Arctic -coastal work; it was also im­ ments for he lost his second quadrant on portant because it began a series of inland his return journey from Coppermine to journeys. From 1829-33, John Ross Great Slave Lake, and while there his continued the exploration of the channels watch stopped, thus depriving him of every about Boothia Peninsula. He was the first means of estimating distance with any to use a steamship in • accuracy. But his work should not be instead of a sailing vessel which had minimized for he at least proved the hitherto been used. His expedition made existence of a salt sea to the north and the several sledge trips, also for the first time, non-existence of a channel through the into the surrounding rocky countryside, N continent in any of the latitudes of Hud­ mapped the western side of the Peninsula son's Bay. Bering, the Russian explorer and visited the approximate site of the who died in the Arctic, and Cook had, north magnetic Pole. An even more ex­ meantime, shown that Asia and America tensive land journey was made in 1834 by were not joined. from Great Slavll Lake down By the end of the 18th century the most the river which now bears his name. important period in the development of The main outlines. of the continental surveying instruments had closed, and all coast were thus completed, and no further the important 'items of the modern sur­ major exploration was attempted until veyors' equipment, such as the theodolite 's tragiC voyages. 'The or transit, 'were in use even though many mysterious loss of this expedition. in 1845 were still in rather crude form and some was to accomplish more than any other were employed by only a few individuals. single event in increasing the knowledge of Ships too had been improved since the the high north. By far, the greatest num­ days when Davis sailed in a pinnace of 20 ber of Arctic islands were discovered and tons and which was so leaky that she re­ mapped during the search for Franklin. quired 300' strokes of the pump every Northern expeditions up to this time had watch to clear her of water! Armed with been British" with the one exception of these scientific advances, exploration in Jens Munk, a Dane, in 1619. But now the 19th century turned to the openings American explorers generously joined the in the coast around Baffin Island. The British, beginning with De Haven in 1850 ·first voyage of Edward Parry in 1819 was and ending with Schwatka in 1880. Well westward into Lancaster Sound as far as organized. search parties amounting to Melville Island where he was stopped by some 40 expeditions within the next ten heavy eastward moving ice floes. The years sailed the Arctic waters. On land following summer the same thing occurred, they travelled thousands of miles, pulling and although 'for his next two voyages he their own sledges loaded with their equip­ tried different routes through the Arctic ment, food and instruments. Peary, Aus­ islands, they too failed. In 1821 he found tin, Ommaney, Kennedy and Belcher ex­ Fury and Hecla Strait jammed with ice plored the channels off the Lancaster ,and his voyage of 1824 ended when one of Sound-Viscount Melyille Sound route his ships was wrecked on Somerset Island. from 1851 to 1852. They thus began the In the meantime, Hearne's journey to' the real penetration of the Northern Islands Coppermine River had been followed up region which was .stimulated by McClure's with further exploration along the western of 1850-54, during which he Arctic coast. Franklin in 1851. mapped actually travelled over the Northwest the coast between Coppermine and Kent Passage. But the passage was not actually Peninsula, and in 1825-27 the coast east navigated until 1903-05 by Amundsen and west of the Mackenzie Delta. The in the Gjoa and not "conquered" until gaps in the map of this coast, were not 1940-44 when the RCMP vessel St. filled in until 1837-39 when Thomas'Simp­ Rock became the first vessel to make the son reached Point Barrow, Alaska, tra­ passage in both directions but also the first versed the hitherto unknown area between to have made it in a single season. Rae Kent Peninsula and Chantry Inlet and made three trips by land in the western touched the south coast of King William area of Hudson Bay and Foxe Basin, •

PANEL ON ARCTIC MAPPING 383 while McClintock, working a little to the that time, 'he mapped the nG)rthern coast north of Rae's area, explored King William of Ellesmere Island. Other important ex­ Island, from the most favorable route plorations were carried out in this area by through the channels to the west and com­ Greely in 1881, the International Polar pleted the story of Sir John Franklin's year which saw a tremendous outburst of last expedition. Admiral Inglefield in 1852 scientific activity in the north. The race finally determined that Smith Sound was for the Pole ended with Peary's well­ open to the north, although it was left to planned dash in 1909 after several unsuc­ Kane to penetrate the sound. cessful attempts to penetrate the Polar The results of all this exploration showed Pack by sledge. Peary's expeditions and that there was no easy route through the those which followed were equipped in a Arctic islands, but there were further im­ very different way from those which pre­ pulses which extended the map of the ceded him mainly because of their use of northern area from 1880 onwards. This dog transport. In addition. by this time impetus came from three major sources: the white man had begun to learn the ways the whaling industry, the assault on the of the natives and adapt them to suit his North Pole, and the efforts of the Canadian own purposes. Government to maintain jurisdiction and In the meantime, Nanson and Sverdrup bring law and order to the north. had carried out a successful expedition in The whaling industry shifted from the the Polar Sea in -a ship designed to Sea to Baffin Bay during the withstand the pressure of the ice and drift early part of the 19th century. For almost with it. The same ship was used again by 100 years, whaling vessels were to be found Sverdrup between 1898 and 1902, when he somewhere within the region. In the latter found and mapped several new islands in­ part of the century, Scottish whalers were cluding Axel Heiberg and tjle Ringnes spending the summer seasons hunting in group in the area west of Ellesmere Island. Baffin Bay, and some of them win tered on This expedition may rightfully claim to the east coast of Baffin Island. New Eng­ have produced immensely greater land land whalers worked in Hudson Bay and discoveries than any other expedition to wintered there in order to start hunting visit this' part of the world. Immensely early in the following season. Many of the conscientious about their scientific work, inlets and harbors of Baffin and Hudson they often rejected. or repeated whole Bays were explored by these fleets. The series of observations because of the whalers shifted to the Western Arctic at difficulties of measuring accurately at low the end of the century, reaching Herschel temperature and with eyes strained with Island in 1890 and from that base they the bright sun and reflected light. hunted and explored much of the Beaufort In 1881 the Arctic islands were legally Sea. Their contributions to the maps of the transferred to Canada by Great Britain Arctic are difficult to assess for they were and from that time the Government of not given to recording the new information Canada sponsored many expeditions into they gathered. It was rather passed on by the north which assisted with the prepara­ word of mouth to the "explorers proper" tion of maps of the area. The first of these who followed them. expeditions set out in 1884 in the DGS After 1860, the largest remaining un­ Neptune; iri 1885-86 an expedition was explored part of the Arctic lay north and carried out by the Alert and in 1887 by the west of Baffin Bay while the chief unknown Diana under the command of William areas to the south were western Baffin Wakeham. From 1902-18, seven Cana­ Island and northeastern Victoria Island. dian expeditions were sent to the Arctic Successive expeditions from Britain and and the information the members brought the United States pushed farther and back was used to improve the official farther north in attempts to outline the maps of the north which began to be pub­ land masses and explore towards the lished in 1904. In 1909 the first officers North Pole. Hall, in 1871, was the first to of the Dominion Observatory made mag­ take a ship through to the netic observations. The map north of reaching 82°11' N. with little difficulty. Melville Island was finally completed as a His route was followed by Nares in 1875. result of the expedition under Vilhjalmur Leading the largest and best equipped Stefansson from 1913-18. Two govern­ expedition that had visited the area up to ment topographers were attached to this •

384 PHOTOGRAMMETRIC ENGINEERING expedition, the beginning of the long line must the early Arctic map makers' task of professional map makers who have have been. Yet his,maps have stood the since joined the attack on the orth. In test of time, for with the coming of aerial addition to discovering Borden, Brock survey it has been possible to check the and Meighen Islands, Stefansson's expedi­ positions of the coasts and their associated tion brought back more accurate descrip­ features and many have needed little al­ tions and maps of the already known teration. areas which they traversed. I t is easy to stress the explorers' de­ From this time onward, however, old ficiencies in view of the number of "new" style exploration practically ceased. The small islands which have appeared on re­ advent of the airplane had released man cent maps as a result of aerial photog­ from the necessity of spending winters raphy. For they did not penetrate to the under hardships in the north and from the interiors of many of the Arctic islands. nor drudgery of time-consuming journeys on did they always investigate coastal in­ foot. Powerful steel and dentations to determine whether they were specially built overland vehicles have bays or through channels. But they were accen tuated this process. The early ex­ often handicapped, as far as attention to plorers had always had wide interests and detail was concerned, by the peculiar in addition to astronomical and hydro­ Arctic difficulties of travel and supply-not graphic observations, had noted as many because of lack of skill or determination. It aspects of the physical environment as took them a long time to reach their they could and described any human phe­ destination, and often they were com­ nomena that they encountered. Indeed pelled to winter in the north in order to they were often vitally concerned with the accomplish any worth while work. It must interrelationship of natural phenomena. It be remembered too that their primary was the tidal observations taken by Nares' concern was with the over-all distribution expedition for example which showed the of land and sea, and in this they succeeded insularity of GreenlanQ. But today this for since 1918 the only significant lands work is carried out by people discip~ined discovered have been the islands in Foxe in many different fields, and it is not pos­ Basin which cover an area of about 6,000 sible to refer to such people as explorers in square miles. Indeed the deeper one goes the same sense that the word was used in to the record of the explorers, the more before World War 1. Indeed the modern one is surprised at what they did accom­ geographer, if he goes to the Arctic, needs plish and the debt that our modern maps to have maps and/or aerial photographs and charts owe to them. It is a debt that before he begins his survey, since his work can never be repaid and which cannot even emphasizes what might be called "micro­ be measured in terms of dollars and cents, mapping," or the makeup of the surface for the true price of our Arctic maps can features and their relationships. only be assessed in terms of the lives that However, many parties have been to were lost, the human suffering of these the Arctic in recent times imitating as far pioneers and the hardships which they en­ as they dare the methods of the early ex­ dured. They are commemorated by the plorers in an effort to capture the thrill of names that have since been officially adventure into the unknown: Their ex­ adopted for many of the topographical periences show that although certain features in the north. As an area becomes handicaps in Arctic mapping have disap­ better known so will the explorers who peared with the passage of time, not all first mapped it and so, at least, will their have gone. Shackleton, for instance, on record become a matter of public pride. Ellesmere Island in 1935 had the ad­ vantages of being able to-fix his position REFERENCES accurately by radio and of having modern Brown, Lloyd A'., The Story of Maps, Little, instruments. But he still had difficulty with Brown and Company, Boston, 1949. his theodolite at 20 below zero; he found Burpee, Lawrence J., The Search for the West­ ern Sea, Toronto, The Musson Book Co., observations on the sun in the early part Ltd., 1908. of the year difficult because of its low Canada, Dept of Mines and Technical Sur­ altitude; his sledge meters gave trouble veys, Geographical Branch, An Introduction over rough ice and so on. If th~se are to the Geography of the Canadian Arctic, Ot­ handicaps today, how much more difficult ta,wa, King's Printer, 1951. PANEL ON ARCTIC MAPPING 385

Kiely, Edmond K., Surveying Instruments. veyors, The Military Engineer, Vol. XVII, Their History and Classroom Use, New York, No. 94, July-August, 1925, pp. 320-325. Columbia University, 1947. Report of the Second Norwegian Arctic Expedi­ Kimble, George H. T., Geography in the Middle tion in the "Fram" 1898-1902, Kristiania, Ages, London, Methuen and Co., Ltd., 1938. Videnskabs-Selskabet, 1907. Markham, Sir Clements R., The. Lands of Mirsky, Jeannette, To the Arctic, New York, Silence. A History of Arctic and Ex­ Alfred A. Knopf, 1948. ploration, Cambridge, University Press, 1921. Baker, J. N. L:, A History of Geographical Dis­ Shackleton, Edward, Arctic Journeys, Farrar covery and Exploration, London, George G. and Rinehart, New York, 1936. Harrap and Co., Ltd., 1931. Finch, J. K., Our Indebtedness to the Old Sur-

ARCTIC AIR PHOTOGRAPHY

PART 1

OPERATIONAL PROBLEMS IN ARCTIC SURVEY PHOTOGRAPHY WIC R. I. Thomas, Commanding Officer, R.C.A.F. Station, Rockliffe, Canada

SYNOPSIS ity of aerodromes suitable' for four-engined Selection of areas: aircraft. We have suitable landing strips Supply of gasoline and oil at Norman Wells, Yellowknife, Churchill, Climate, the operational time-table Whitehorse, and one in the Arctic islands. We do not build aerodromes in the Arctic The weather: specifically for our photo operations; our Effect of open water requirements therefore affect the main­ Need for good forecasts tenance at aerodromes already estab­ Work of arctic weather team lished. The fact that aerodromes are un­ Communications: serviceable for varying periods during the Part of weather forecasting system spring break-up must also be taken into Navigation aids consideration. It is apparent then, that any Aircraft following service selection of areas must take into account Contact with supply bases their accessibility from one of the existing aerodromes, and whether the aerodrome Navigational problems: has sufficient su~plies of petrol and lubri­ Low directional pull of magnetic pole cants in stock to permit flying before the Effect of local attractions next year's deliveries are made. Map reading Use of solar navigator and astro compasses Provision of gasoline and oil is a major problem at such places as Yellowknife and Servicing the operation: in the Arctic islands, since the quantities Remarkable results in spite of handicaps required can be put in economically by Detailed planning of spares surface transport only. As transportation Safety training is by water, and as the season is very Improvements since pioneering days short, varying from approximately 4 months at Yellowknife to 6 weeks in the In my talk I will discuss the opera­ islands, it is necessary to plan the supply tional aspects of Arctic aerial photography approximately 18 months ahead of an under the general headings of: s~lection operation. If a substantial portion of the of areas, operating supplies, climatic condi­ available stock is used for some emergency, tions, navigation problems, communica­ it may necessitate changing flying plans tions, and logistic support. WIC Ross, who for the entire season. Such a case occurred will follow me, will provide the technical at Yellowknife in 1951; an extensive search details of our Arctic aerial photographic for a lost commercial pilot consumed some problems. . 75,000 gallons of gasoline which were ear­ Unlike planning of aerial mapping in marked for photographic operations. more developed areas, the selection of Climatic conditions in the Arctic govern areas in the Arctic involves an important the operational timetable to a very great operational' problem, because of the scarc- extent. The best period of photo weather