Peter Kalifornsky was the great grand son of Qadanalchen who worked in a the hub of the southernmost Russian settlements in North America from 1812 to 1842 that has been the subject of what?
Peter Kalifornsky Peter Kalifornsky, self-named ""Петр Калифорнский"" (October 12, 1911 – June 5, 1993), was a self-taught writer and ethnographer of the Dena'ina Athabaskan of Kenai, Alaska, who wrote traditional stories, poems, and language lessons in the Outer Inlet dialect (sometimes called the Kenai dialect) of Dena'ina, a language of the Athabaskan language group. Kalifornsky, a Dena'ina elder, participated in creating the written version of the Dena'ina language, and over 19 years worked to record as many "sukdu" or traditional stories as he could remember, translating them also into English. He also wrote original works in Dena'ina, including a number of autobiographical works. He was the great-grandson of Qadanalchen, who took the name Kalifornsky after working in the Russian American colony of Fort Ross in California, and for whom Kalifornsky, Alaska is named.
Pacific Railroad Surveys The Pacific Railroad Surveys (1853–1855) consisted of a series of explorations of the American West to find possible routes for a transcontinental railroad across North America. The expeditions included surveyors, scientists, and artists and resulted in an immense body of data covering at least 400000 sqmi on the American West. "These volumes... constitute probably the most important single contemporary source of knowledge on Western geography and history and their value is greatly enhanced by the inclusion of many beautiful plates in color of scenery, native inhabitants, fauna and flora of the Western country." Published by the United States War Department from 1855 to 1860, the surveys contained significant material on natural history, including many illustrations of reptiles, amphibians, birds, and mammals. In addition to describing the route, these surveys also reported on the geology, zoology, botany, paleontology of the land as well as provided ethnographic descriptions of the Native peoples encountered during the surveys.