a:

CHAPTER Il,
GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF GRAHAM ISLAND.
TOPOGRAPHY.

GENERAL TOPOGRAPHY.

Regional. The Queen Charlotte islands form part of one of
the outer, largely submerged ranges of the northwestern Cordil-
lera, and are generally considered to be the northern continu-
ation of the Vancouver range. The general trend of the islands,
which bends from about north 40 degrees west in the southern
part to more and more nearly due north in the northern portion,
if continued northward would bring them into line with the outer
islands of the Alexander archipelago. The pre-Tertiary axes
of folding, however, which determined the general configuration
of the coast ranges, are not thus bent. The apparent continuity
with the northern ranges is caused by the discordance of the
axes of folding of the Tertiary rocks of Graham island with the
earlier axes. The group is separated from the mainland by
Hecate strait which is 30 miles wide at its northern end and
widens to 80 miles at the south. From the islands of the Alaskan
pan-handle on the north, the group is separated by Dixon
entrance, with an average width of 40 miles. The Queen
Charlotte islands form a slightly curved triangle, shaped like the
truncated end of a crescent, convex toward the Pacific, with its
apex to the south. The length of the triangle in a northwesterly
direction is about 190 miles, and the width of its base, the
northern coast of Graham island, is about 55 miles. The
eastern side of Graham island is low and comparatively straight,
but the southern islands of the group are high and rugged, with
a deeply indented, fiord coast-line. The gently convex western
coast-line of the group is more regular than the eastern coast-line,
but is indented by several smaller fiords and inlets. Two of
these water ways cut across the group, Houston Stewart channel
separating Kunghit, the southernmost island of any considerable