The great period of exploration was followed by a period of relative inactivity in regard to botanical exploration in Alaska, until the year 1867, when the Russian zone of interest in America was sold to the U. S. A. for 7,200,000 dollars in gold and was transferred to the territory of Alaska.
        When Alaska had become a possession of the United States of America a period of somewhat lively collecting work set in. American collectors, chiefly employees in the Coast Survey and the Weather Bureau, surgeons, army officers and private travellers, made numerous collections, only a small volume of which, however, was published. Already a couple of years before Alaska. was handed over to the U. S. A. the Western Union Telegraph Company had started work on the telegraph line which was planned to go from W. America via the Bering Straits and Siberia to Europe. This line, which was already partially constructed, was never completed, as the success of the Atlantic cable made it impossible to compete. The officials of the company were, however, allowed to make scientific collections, and the outcome of their investigations is perhaps the most lasting result of the company’s activities. KENNICOTT, DALL and many others originally attached to that company have made good contributions to Alaskan botany. Up to that time nothing had been known about the interior. All collections were made along the shores. The first to collect in Yukon and interior Alaska were KENNICOTT and DALL in 1859-68. In 1868 ROTHROCK published his »Sketch of the flora of Alaska», a compilation of all plants known to grow in Alaska. However, this paper is merely an extract of LEDEBOUR’s »Flora Rossica». In several cases he misunderstood LEDEBOUR's intentions and his paper is of little or no value. In 1886 TURNER published a list of Alaskan plants under the title »Contributions to the Natural History of Alaska». This list is based chiefly on ROTHROCK's »Sketch of the flora of Alaska ». TURNER added his own observations from the Aleutian Islands but was unable to add them correctly and this paper must also be said to be of less value for the Alaskan flora than LEDEBOUR's » Flora Rossica».
        As late as in the middle of the 1880’s the flora of Yukon and interior Alaska was only very fragmentarily known and the published results were small. In his »Catalogue of Canadian Plants», published between 1883 and 1902, J. MACOUN included all species then known to him from Alaska and Yukon, but the picture of the flora as given in that work has gained but little since the time of LEDEBOUR. By the end of this period, about the year 1897, our knowledge of the Alaskan