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Description

Field Maps - Robert Mills Chapman -- Kukpowruk and Kokolik Rivers area, Alaska

Interesting set of 4 annotated composite sheets, mapping of the northern part of Alaska, compiled and edited by American Geologist Robert Mills Chapman (1898-1983), with his stamp on the verso of several of the sheets.  Chapman would go on to become the project chief of the Geologic Division of the Office of Mineral Resources, Branch of Alaskan Geology in the 1970s.

It is likely that these were field maps utilized by Chapman in connection with his work in the region which was published in 1949 in Preliminary Report on the Stratigraphy and Structure of the Kukpowruk and Kokolik Rivers area, Alaska, published by the U.S. Geological Survey in its Geological Investigations, Naval Petroleum Reserve No. 4, Alaska, and his later work, entitled GEOLOGY OF THE UTUKOK-CORWIN REGION, NORTHWESTERN ALASKA; EXPLORATION OF NAVEL PETROLEUM RESERVE NO. 4 AND ADJACENT AREAS, NOTHERN ALASKA, 1944-53; PART 3, AREAL GEOLOGY: PROFESSIONAL PAPER 303-C, written with Edward G. Sable, published in 1960.

The individual maps were compiled from American Air Force Trimetrogon Photography from August 1942 to June 1943, and originally published for the Aeronautical Charts Service by U.S. Geological Survey in 1945.  The present set was apparently assembled by R.M. Chapman as part of his research in the westernmost portion of the map, which is heavily annotated in three colors.

The map extends from the Point Hope and Wevok, Alaska to the northern boundary of Alaska and Canada, covering the watershed of the Colville River, Kuparuk River, Sagavanirktok River, Kadleroshiilik River and Caning River, among others.

The map is most heavily annotated in the region south of the Noatak Reserve.

The map is annotated in black, red and blue.  The annotations in blue are quite extensive.

Additions to the map in an early hand locate:

  • Avak Inlet
  • Avak R.
  • Thetis Creek
  • Elusive Creek
  • "check black combustible material"
  • Epizetha River
  • Tingmerkpuk River
  • Kokolik R.
  • Iligturuk Cr.
  • Meridian Creek
  • Disappointment Creek
  • Adventure Creek
  • Driftwood Creek
  • Outcrop? Possible Pitch, anthracite, or Baghead cannel

Provenance

Robert Mills Chapman (1898-1983), whose collection of over 500 photographs is currently held by the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

Condition Description
4 folding maps, composited and joined, and each segmented and laid on linen.