Brooks Range

Brooks Range in Detail.

Incomplete record. Mountain range, 4,000-9000 ft., extends E-W about 600 mi. from Canada on E to Chukchi Sea on W and forms the divide between Arctic Slope drainage to N and Kobuk and Yukon Rivers to S. Mount Isto is the highest point.

Named in 1925 by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) for Alfred Hulse Brooks, 1871-1924, chief Alaskan geologist of the U.S. Geological Survey from July, 1903 to his death. Sir John Franklin, Royal Navy (RN), in 1826 called the range the "Rocky Mountains." In 1916 Brooks (1916b, p.252-253), U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), wrote "A new name, Arctic Mountain system, is proposed for the east and west trending mountain system of northern Alaska formerly regarded as part of the Rocky Mountain system. Recent investigations by Canadian and American geologists have shown that this is a distinct system from the Rocky Mountains." However, Wahrhaftig (1965, p.18), U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), places the Brooks Range in the Rocky Mountain system. This appears to be the range that Lieutenant P.H. Ray (1885, p.28), USA, referred to when he wrote: "From the break of the country, I have no doubt Meade River has its source in that range, so I named them 'Meade River Mountains.'" See Hooper Mountains.