17, by which time most of the work had been completed. Smoke from forest fires was unusually dense and had already retarded work to a great degree. It now became much more troublesome so that observations could not be made for days at a time. It was October 1 when the party had completed observing and reached Danville to measure the base which had been laid out nearby.

A day or two after reaching Danville the assistant in charge, Mr. John Nelson, was taken ill and was moved to a hospital in Grand Forks, British Columbia, where he died on October 5. He was buried at Grand Forks on October 8.

The chief astronomer measured the base and completed the triangulation on this section of the boundary a short time later.

Upon the death of Mr. Nelson, the party which had been under his direction was set at erecting monuments under the direction of the head packer. The first monument on this section of the boundary was set at Carson on October 10 under the personal supervision of the chief astronomer. The work was continued by the party until 16 monuments had been set between the most eastern crossing of the Kettle River and the summit of the mountain near the Paris Mine west of Danville. The material for most of these monuments, aggregating about one thousand pounds for each monument, was carried to the sites by pack horses. Some of the sites were extremely difficult to reach even with pack horses. In one instance a horse, loaded with sand, fell from a cliff bordering a difficult piece of trail and was killed.

Monument setting was completed on November 10 and the party disbanded.

SECOND ASTRONOMIC SUBPARTY

The second astronomic subparty was organized early in May at Gateway, Montana. Work was commenced on the chord between original boundary cairns 153 and 154 (now Monuments 245 and 247). This chord is just east of Gateway and passes over comparatively level and open country. On account of its accessibility and the ease with which it could be surveyed, work on it had been postponed the previous season in favor of more difficult tasks. The party now ran a stadia survey along the chord, cut out the vista, and located an intermediate monument site. They also located an intermediate monument site at the railroad crossing at Gateway, on the chord between boundary cairns 152 and 153 (now Monuments 243 and 245).

This work was completed May 23, whereupon the party moved to the west side of the Kootenai River and completed the stadia traverse between boundary cairn 151 (now Monument 241) and the Purcell summit. Next, triangulation station "Kootenai", where work had been suspended on account of snow in 1903, was cleared and the necessary observations made to incorporate it into the previously observed triangulation scheme. On June 13 the party moved eastward again and made a systematic test of the alinement of the monument sites on the chord between original boundary cairns 154 and 155 (now Monuments 247 and 254) and at the same time cut horse trails to the monument sites.

The party next moved west of the Yaak River and took up vista cutting and stadia surveys along the boundary where it had been interrupted by snowstorms the preceding year. The work was continued westward to a junction with the work of the United States topographic parties and was completed on July 20.

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The party then trekked eastward once more to complete the triangulation scheme between the Wigwam River and the summit of the Rocky Mountains. Signals were rebuilt on the old stations and three new stations were selected to complete the scheme. This reconnaissance was completed early in August. Before observations could be commenced forest fires broke out and continued almost without intermission until November, blanketing the entire region with smoke and preventing trustworthy observations. The assistant's journal was a record of discouraging and futile efforts to make observations climbing day after day to the peaks only to be baffled. A few light showers of rain fell but were insufficient to check the fires or clear the atmosphere. Later on there were snow flurries followed by fog in addition to the smoke. Violent windstorms occurred which overturned signals in several instances and prevented observations that could otherwise have been made. Everything seemed to combine to prevent the accomplishment of results. Near the middle of October the snowfall made the ascent of some of the peaks dangerous, their sides being almost sheer rock. Finally, during the latter part of October, pasturage for the pack horses was cut off by deep snow, and further attempts had to be abandoned. When this happened, the party moved down the Flathead River and disbanded.

THIRD ASTRONOMIC SUBPARTY

The third astronomic subparty was organized at Gateway early in May. They crossed the Kootenai River and cut the vista, made a stadia survey, and located an intermediate monument site on the chord between original boundary cairns 151 and 152 (now Monuments 241 and 243). Similar work was then begun west of boundary cairn 151 (now Monument 241). This had hardly been started, however, when the party disbanded and the assistant in charge of the party was transferred to the west to act as observer for the first astronomic subparty. He continued to act in that capacity until August 9 and then organized a party at Laurier, Washington, and began cutting vista along the boundary west from Laurier. This work was continued until August 28. The party then moved eastward with its pack train of 8 horses to Gateway, Montana, for the purpose of setting monuments in that vicinity.

The first new monument on the 49th parallel boundary was set by this party on September 12 under the personal supervision of the chief astronomer. The monument now bears the number 242 and stands about 21⁄2 miles west of Gateway.

There were 24 monuments available for setting at this time. These were set by the party between Frozen Lake on the east and the Yaak River on the west by October 19. The party was then disbanded at Gateway. The assistant in charge looked after the storing of property at Gateway and then returned to Danville, Washington, where he assisted the chief astronomer in completing the base measurements, observing azimuth, and completing the triangulation remaining to be done at the time of the death of the chief of the first subparty.

The personnel of the United States astronomic party was: Chief of party, C. H. Sinclair, Chief Astronomer; assistant in charge of first subparty, John Nelson; assistant in charge of second subparty, F. A. Camp; assistant in charge of third subparty, E. R. Martin; observer, A. M. Miller (for a short time only); and about 25 hands.

TOPOGRAPHIC PARTY

The United States topographic party in 1904 undertook to complete its part of the unfinished vista cutting and preparation of the line for monumenting on the section of the line east of Porthill, Idaho, and to retrace the boundary, cut the vista, execute the triangulation, and make the topographic surveys on the section of line between the Skagit and Similkameen Rivers.

The first work of the season was done by an advance level party which started at Bonners Ferry, Idaho, about March 15 and ran a checked level line from there along the Great Northern Railway through Porthill to Creston, British Columbia. The length of this circuit was about 66 miles. Six permanent and thirty temporary bench marks were set on this line. The levels were completed about the middle of April.

The main party assembled and organized at Harvey's Ranch near Copeland, Idaho, about the middle of May. Vista-cutting crews were organized and started at Porthill, on Mission Creek, and in the vicinity of the Moyie River, where the parties had been forced by snowfall to quit work in 1903. A small party checked the alinement of the chords between original monuments and made connections between them and the triangulation. This work was all completed by June 10.

On June 11 the personnel with all camp equipment and pack horses were assembled at Copeland and shipped on the same day over the Great Northern Railway to Wenatchee, Washington. The expedition now consisted of the chief of party, 4 assistants, 25 hands, 27 horses, 20 mules borrowed from the United States Geological Survey at Wenatchee, the camp gear, instruments, and baggage.

From Wenatchee the entire outfit was shipped on river steamers of the Columbia and Okanogan Steamboat Company to Riverside, Washington, the head of navigation on the Okanogan River from where men and material were transported to Loomis, Washington, 35 miles distant, by hired wagons, while the loose animals were herded in by the packers.

A base camp at McDaniel's Ranch 2 miles from Loomis, near the beginning of the trail up Chopaka Mountain to the boundary, was occupied by June 16.

Three subparties were formed: the first for retracement and projection of the line; the second for triangulation; and the third for topography and vista cutting.

LINE PROJECTION SUBPARTY

The line projection subparty began work at original boundary cairn 64 (now Monument 109) on the west side of the Similkameen River. From there a random line was run from summit to summit of the intervening ridges to boundary cairn 63 (now Monument 101), a distance of 12 miles. The corrections to the random line were computed, laid off, and marked on the ridges with sufficient accuracy to permit the vista crews to start slashing by the 27th of June.

The party then established the boundary westward across the unmarked interval of 23 miles to the Pasayten River. This was somewhat more difficult as there were no trails and the country was covered with a thick growth of timber filled with a tangle of underbrush and windfalls. The mules borrowed from the Geological

Survey were used in this advance work for the reason that mules will pick their way through trailless woods with an ease and freedom from fretting not usual with horses under like circumstances.

The party made the final location of the line to the Pasayten River on July 15 and, after a trip out for provisions, established the 24-mile chord between the Pasayten and Skagit Rivers, finishing during the first week in August.

Upon the conclusion of line projection, the assistant in charge organized an additional vista-cutting crew and at the same time took charge of the vista crews which up to this time had been under the topographic subparty. While supervising these crews, he made additional checks of the alinement of all the chords from the Skagit River to the Similkameen River.

The first vista-cutting crew completed its section of the boundary and moved out of the mountains on September 25, as did the other two crews on October 9. The assistant in charge completed the testing of the alinement of the chords and reached Loomis on October 8.

One of the vista-cutting crews was paid off, another was sent to the Similkameen crossing to cut vista up the side of Chopaka Mountain, and the third was sent to Danville, Washington, to cut vista eastward toward Laurier, Washington, to the point where the United States astronomic subparty had suspended work on August 28.

When the vista-cutting crew on the slope of Chopaka Mountain completed its work there, it was transferred to Midway, British Columbia, and placed on the vista between Midway and Danville which had been partially cut in 1901. While these operations were progressing the assistant in charge set the 9 monuments now numbered 141 to 149. The vista cutting by the two crews and the monument setting were completed November 2. The hands were paid off the next day. The assistant, foreman, and packers then assembled the scattered outfits for winter storage. The party was completely disbanded on November 7.

TRIANGULATION SUBPARTY

The triangulation subparty under the direction of the chief topographer was organized immediately after the arrival of the main party at Loomis, Washington.

It was made up of two self-dependent units, one for reconnaissance and signal building, and one for observing. Work commenced at the United States Geological Survey stations "Chopaka", "Lemanasky", and "Bonaparte" and was carried westward along the boundary to points west of the Skagit River. Work progressed satisfactorily until August 1 when smoke from forest fires began to interfere with the visibility. From August 10 to September 1 and from September 20 to September 30 the smoke was so heavy that it seriously interfered with topographic work and prevented observations altogether on triangulation. The reconnaissance was completed September 10 and the foreman in charge was transferred to a vista-cutting The triangulation observations were completed on October 20 and the party disbanded at Loomis.

crew.

TOPOGRAPHIC AND VISTA-CUTTING SUBPARTY

The topographic and vista-cutting subparty, composed of about 40 men, left the base camp at McDaniel's Ranch over the Chopaka trail for the boundary on June 20. It required 40 pack horses to transport the equipment, and these, together with the men on foot, made an imposing procession as they climbed the mountain trail in single file. Having reached the nearest point to the boundary on this trail, the party went into camp and began cutting trails to the boundary so that the vista-cutting crews could camp conveniently near their work. On June 27 two vista-cutting crews of 16 men each had been placed in convenient spots and began cutting vista on the 12-mile chord established by the line projection party between boundary cairns 63 and 64 (now Monuments 101 and 109).

The assistant in charge now began the topographic mapping, combined with a reconnaissance for routes of travel. A few days later a gang of 4 men was put to work on building a trail over which to proceed westward. This gang was kept busy nearly all of the summer, and at times had to be reenforced by axmen from the other crews.

The topographic mapping, trail location and building, and vista cutting all proceeded in an orderly manner without interruption until the first of August, when forest fires became plentiful in the mountains. Smoke from the fires seriously interfered with the topographic work and the proximity of fire endangered the camps on several occasions to such an extent that lookouts had to be maintained to warn the men if the fire headed their way. On one occasion all hands had to fight fire all day to protect the camp.

About August 10 the assistant in charge of the line projection party, having completed the retracement and establishment of the boundary to the Skagit River, relieved the assistant in charge of the topographic party of the supervision of the vista-cutting crews so that he might devote all his time to topography and thus insure its completion before snow fell.

At about this time it became known that it was feasible to run a line of levels from a United States Geological Survey bench mark near Barron, Washington, across the ridge and down the Pasayten River to the boundary to give a check on the elevations carried by vertical angles from the Similkameen River. A party of 5 men was sent to Barron, August 13, to run this 30-mile line. The party succeeded