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"On July 16, 1741, after an arduous voyage from the Russian Far East, Vitus Bering finally glimpsed the mountainous mainland of southern Alaska, a prominent ice-clad summit many leagues distant rising above thick stormy banks of clouds. Desperate to secure fresh water and whatever resources land might offer, the navigator sailed in its direction, passing a conspicuous cape at the southwest end of Kayak Island on July 20, and making a hurried landfall nearby. In honor of the patron saint of the day, the island was named Saint Elias, the name subsequently applied to the headland and the towering mountain also. Georg Steller, a naturalist on the expedition, was included in this first Alaskan landing party, spending a tantalizing few hours ashore collecting floral and faunal specimens, briefly examining evidence of native inhabitants, and geologically noting "only sand and gray rock.""

Winkler, G. R., MacKevett, E. M. Jr., Plafker, George, Richter, D. H., Rosenkrans, D. S., and Schmoll, H. R., 2000, A geologic guide to Wrangell-Saint Elias National Park and Preserve, Alaska: A tectonic collage of northbound terranes: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper PP 1616, 166 p.
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