The above poster, “Mapping the Way to Alaska,” was a final project in Dr. Jennifer Stone’s History of the English Language course in Fall 2017. In 1897, in its third session, the 55th Congress of the United States commissioned a map from the United States Geological Survey, to document the gold, coal fields, and accessible routes to those fields for the use of miners, prospectors, and speculators, during the peak of the Klondike Gold Rush. The map was completed the following year by S.F. Emmons, a respected cartographer within the USGS, who nevertheless had never stepped foot on Alaskan soil. The poster argues the map’s role as a sponsor of English during the Klondike Gold Rush, via an examination of English language name clusters/toponymic trends along major access routes to the Alaskan interior, as well as the port names and reach of San Francisco mail steamers. The map’s coincidence with the establishment of federal day schools is also noted. The argument on the link between the map and its role as a sponsor of English is made via the use of evidence from Stone, Harley, and Kari. Stone’s discussion on sponsorship paired with Harley’s investigation into maps as sources/vessels of political/geographical authority allows us to consider a government commissioned map as a statement on the entrenchment of English and associated national identity into that region.

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