REGION I, SOUTHEAST ALASKA: Cape Muzon to Cross Sound

Historical Review

By the Ukase of 1821 Russia claimed waterways of southeast Alaska and this claim was conceded to by the United States and Great Britain in the Treaties of 1824 and 1825. After 1867 the United States, followed by the Territory of Alaska, and then the State of Alaska exercised control and jurisdiction over these same waterways.

Geographical Review

The coastline of the Alexander Archipelago is typical of a fjord coast and is deeply indented and cut into. Buddington and Chapman, geologists for the U. S. Geological Survey, describe the geography as follows: (33)

"The magnificent fjords, equivalent in origin and scenic character to the
famous fjords of Norway, penetrate into the granite heart of the coast
range.'

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Basis for Claiming Waters

The waterways of southeast Alaska are indisputably inland waters both by virtue of historical claim, and long use and control by the Territory as well as the State of Alaska. In view of the highly irregular coastline of this region, straight baselines are employed and are located so as to enclose all the waters of the Alexander Archipelago as inland waters.

As additional evidence that all the waterways of southeast Alaska are inland waters and thus properly enclosed by straight baselines, the Coast Guard has declared that all the waters inside (landward) of a line from Cape Cross along the coast to Cape Muzon are inland waters, and all waters west of that line are high seas.(34)

REGION II, GULF OF ALASKA: Cross Sound to Copper River

The coastline from Cross Sound to the Copper River is relatively uniform and except in those areas where fringing islands occur, normal baselines are employed. Where islands fringe the coast, straight baselines are used.

REGION III, SOUTHCENTRAL ALASKA: Copper River Delta to Mitrofania Island

Historical Review

In 1774 Shelikof established at Three Saints Bay his first trading post.(35) Within the next two years additional posts were established not only on the island of Kodiak but also on the mainland at Katmai and in Cook Inlet. Figure number 3 shows the location, name, and date for the establishment of fur trading stations in the Cook Inlet area. Before 1800 there were at least 18 Russian fur trading stations established within this area. Figure 4 shows that the northwest coast of America was fairly well outlined and that Cook Inlet was known prior to 1781. Captain James Cook states that on his first voyage into Cook Inlet in 1778 he noticed Russian trading goods in the possession of the natives near what is now West Forelands.(36)

Compared to the 18 Russian trading stations established in southcentral Alaska, there were at this time no villages or towns of any consequence on the Pacific Coast of North America except for a Spanish settlement in California, and Fort Astor on the Columbia River.

Prior to and shortly after 1800 other countries made discovery claims within the area between the Copper River and Mitrofania Island. Captain Cook and Captain Martinez both made discovery claims in Cook Inlet and in the Trinity Islands, respectively. In no case, however, were these claims pressed because Great Britain and Spain considered the area to be controlled by the Russians.(37)

In 1822 the Russian-American Company divided the colony into different fur trading districts. One of the districts was the Kodiak (Kadiak) District. This district embraced the coast and the islands on Cook Inlet and Prince William Sound; the Alaska Peninsula south to the Shumagin Islands; Kodiak, Semidi and all adjacent islands; Bristol Bay; and the coast between the Nushagak and Kuskokwim Rivers. Cook Inlet was then known

as Kenaiskala, or, Kenai Gulf. Prince William Sound was known as Chugach, or Chugatsch, Gulf; and Shelik of strait as Kenaiskala, or, Allaskinskoi Sea. Therefore, when the terms "interior seas", and "gulfs" were used in the Treaties of 1824 and 1825 they included these water bodies.

Geographical Review

The coastline between Cape Hinchinbrook and Mitrofania Island is highly irregular, deeply indented and in many areas fringed by islands, rocks, and reefs. In every respect it is a typical fjord type coast and resembles the coastline of Norway. Therefore, straight baselines are employed. Grant, et al, geologists for the U. S. Geological Survey, describes the coastline of Prince William Sound as follows: (38)

"Prince William Sound is not a sound according to the customary usage
of that term, but is an extensive bay or gulf which includes many islands.
The coast line is indented by numerous long, narrow inlets or fjords
and by other less regular embayments whose shores are commonly of
great irregularity."

The coastline along the Kenai Peninsula is described by Martin, et al, as follows: (39)

"The two geographic subprovinces of Kenai Peninsula present two
distinctive types of shoreline. The shore of the Kenai Mountains is
intricately embayed and exhibits features that would be expected on a
deeply drowned coast where the rocks are resistant and have been greatly
eroded by glaciers of the alpine type."

Capps describing Kodiak and adjacent islands states:(40)

"The present intricate shore line, with its numerous deep bays, and the
separation of the land mass into a great number of islands are the result
of severe glacial erosion during the ice age, and the long narrow bays
and most of the narrow channels that separate the islands from one
another are glacial fjords."

The basins of Prince William Sound and Cook Inlet extend deeply into the mainland mass of Alaska and the entrances to both are many times less wide than the length of

the respective basins. Both basins are wholly within the mainland mass of Alaska. Shelikof