The Harriman Alaska expedition explored the coast of Alaska for two months from Seattle to Alaska and Siberia and back again in 1899. It was organized by wealthy railroad magnate Edward Harriman. Harriman brought with him an elite community of scientists, artists, photographers, and naturalists to explore and document the Alaskan coast. Genesis of the voyage Edward Harriman was one of the most powerful men in America and controlled several railroads. By early 1899, he was exhausted. His doctor told him that he needed a long vacation. Harriman went to Alaska to hunt Kodiak bears. Rather than go alone, he took a scientific community to explore and document the coast of Alaska. He contacted Clinton Hart Merriam, the head of the Division of Economic Ornithology and Mammalogy at the United States Department of Agriculture, and one of the founders of the National Geographic Society. Harriman told Merriam that he would cover the expenses of scientists, artists, and other experts who would join the voyage. He asked Merriam to choose the scientific party. Historians question why Harriman wanted to go to Alaska. Some think he was considering developing Alaskan resources. Some think he was considering building a railroad to the Alaskan territory. Some people at the time openly wondered if he was going to buy Alaska, or build a railroad bridge from Alaska to Siberia — a railroad around the world. Nothing seemed impossible for Edward H. Harriman. Merriam held a flurry of meetings and sent many telegrams. He organized a broad range of experts: arctic experts, botanists, biologists and zoologists, geologists and geographers, artists, photographers, ornithologists and writers. Harriman had the steamship SS George W. Elder refitted for the expedition. The remodeled ship featured lecture rooms, a library with over 500 volumes on Alaska, a stable for animals, taxidermy studios, and luxury rooms for the team. Some on the expedition referred to her as the George W. Roller, for its tendency to roll at sea, causing seasickness among the passengers. Participants The members of the interdisciplinary team included many of the best American scientists, artists, and photographers of the time. Arctic experts William Brewer, naturalist John Muir, naturalist William Dall, paleontologist, geographer Botanists Frederick Coville, botanist Thomas Kearney, botanist De Alton Saunders, botanist William Trelease, botanist Bernhard Fernow, forester Biologists and zoologists Wesley Coe, biologist W. B. Ritter, Ph.D., biologist <Crustaceans, Preface, p. ix> Daniel Elliot, zoologist Clinton Hart Merriam,