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Show ALASKA'S FRINGE OF SUBMERGED MOUNTAINS Have you any idea of the extent of the Alaska coast line? The shores of the territory are washed by three great oceans. These ara the Arctic Ocean on the north, Bering Sea on the west, and the Pacific on the south. The Aleutaln Islands, off the Alaska Peninsula, are separatou" from each other and the mainland by a network of rocky straits, and much of southwestern south-western and southeastern Alaska is made up of mountainous islands that have rocks of all shapes and sizes. The islands are really tho tops of mountains half lost in the waters. They rise in spires and cathedrals, some of which are thousands of feet above the water and others hidden beneath it, lying there concealed and ready to rip open tho hulls of ships as the iceberg ripped tho Titanic. Tho extent of the Alaska coast, with its windings, surpasses that of the United States proper. It is greater than that of all our states on the Pacific from Puget Sound to the boundaary of Mexico, added to that of our states on the Atlantic, including in-cluding the Gulf. All told, it is more than 26,000 miles long, or longer than the distance around the world at the Equator, and in proportion to its length, it has perhaps moro dangers than any other coast line on earth. Nevertheless, not one-half of It has yet been sounded by the coast survey vessels, and more than half of the general coast line is not marked by lights or by any aids to navigation. nn |