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The following diagrams illustrate the method: Les cartes ou les planches trop grandes pour dtre reproduites en un seul clichd sont filmdes d partar de Tangle supdrieure gauche, de gauche d droite et de haut en bas, en prenant le nombre d'images n6cessaire. Le diagramme suivant illustre la mdthode : 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 J^ [From the Quartruf.y Journal of the (iEologioal Soctety /or Fihniary 1894, Vol. l.J Notes on the Ojciikui',:*(;k of Mammotq-rkmains in the Yukon District of Canada and in Alaska, By (Jeorge il. Dawson, C.M.G., LL.n., F.R.S., F.O.S., Assistant Director of the Goolo- gical Survey of Canada. These notes, relating priniarily to the occurrenoo of remains of the Mammoth in the goograpliical valley of the Yukon River, are the result of a correspondence between Mr. H. !Moody of the Canadian Pacific Railway Co., the Assistant Secretary of the (jcological Society, and the writer, respecting statements which had reached Mr. Moody from a friend resident in tlie extreme nortli-western part of the Dominion of Canada. It has been suggested that a brief notice of the facts in this connexion, so far as these are known, may be of some interest to tlie Geological Society. The original discovery of bones of the ^lammoth in the Y^'ukon region is due to Mr. Robert Campbell, j i officer in the service of the Hudson's Bay Coiiipany, who between 1840 and iSo^ travelled through and established trading-posts in the upper valley of the Yukon, and was the first white man to penetrate this remote part of North America. In a brief account of his explorations, printed at Winnipeg in 1885, Campbell writes: — "I saw the bones, heads, and horns of Buffaloes [Musk-Oxen ?] ; but this animal had become extinct before our viiiit, as had also some s])ecies of Elephant, whose remains were J'nind in various swamps. I forwarded an Elepl»ant's thigh-bone to the British Museum, where it may still be seen ''.' ' ' Tlie DiscoTfiry and Exploration) of tlie i'likon (Pellv) River,' Wimiiijccr 188r>. ' .lb, DR. U. M. D.VWSOX ON MAMilOTIl-KKM \ INS Fi-1). 1894, As Carapbeirs posts on the Upper Yukon were finally abandoned in \Hi>2, the bone tlius referred to by liini must have been sent out before this date. It was a til)ia, not a thi^h-bone, and was do- scril)ed ]>y Sir John Richardsoti in Is,').") us referabh; to Hlcjihus prliiihiciiuis. lliehardsoH states that it was ideiitieal in form \\ith, thoujih hirger tiian, a correspoudinj^; bone of the same animal brought bade by ('apt. JJeechey from Kschscholtz 15ay. The skeh'ton of wliieh it Ibraied part was said to be complete when found ; but most of the bones were lost by the Indians who extracted them for (,'anipbell. According to a statement subseciuently ol)tained from Cam[)bell, these Itoncs were found at some phice not far from tin; former site of Fort Selkirk, at the continence of the J^ewes and Pclly llivers.' l)r. W. 11. l);dl in 1 SOU- (57, during his connexion with the AVestern Tiiion Telegraph Ivxpedition (aband(nn'd on the completion of the Atlantic Calde). visited a number of i)laces in the lower valley of the Yukon, within what is now the Territory of Alaska. In the volume which resulted from his explorations, and in other j)ublicatioiis, he frecpiently mentions the occurrence of Mammoth- remains ill this region, writing in one place as follows : — " Wild and exaggerated stories havo found a ]dace, even ia officiid docinuents, in rei^^ard to fossil ivory. This is not niu;ommon in many parts of the valley of the Yukon and Kuskoip'iim. It is usually found on the surface, not buried as in Siberia, and all that I have seen has been so much injured by the weathci that it was of little commercial value. It is usually blackened, split, and so fragile as to break readily to ])ieces. A lake near Xusliergak, the Inglutalik River, and the Kotlo lUver are noted localities for ihis ivory ".- In 1886 the (ieological Survey of Canada ae(iuircd from Mr. F. Mercier, who had spent many years as a trader in the Yukon region, a number of l)ones, tusks, and teeth of the Mammoth. These were chiefly obtained by Mr. Mercier near the mouth of the Tananii Hiver, one of the main feeders of the Yukon on the south side. Mr. J, F. Whit eaves, F.G.S,, Pahiconlologist to the Geological Survey of Canada, has kindly furnished the subjoined note on tliese remains : — " In my judgment all the Elephantine remains collected by Mr. ^Mercier in the Yukon region, and now in our ^luseum, are clearly Elephas (sub- genus EiuIi'i>1kis) and not Mastodon. " Four of the specimens collected by Mr. Mercier are perfect molars, essentially similar to those from Burlington Heights, near Hamilton, Ontario, which E. killings referred to Elr/iha.s Jac/isoni of Briggs and Foster, but which Dr. Falconer .subsequently iden- tified with E. priinigotius, Bluraenbach. " The specific lelations of the North American fossil Elephants I 'Zoology of the Voyage of H.M.S. ' nendd," (f8r>4) p. f42; Am. Journ. Sci. ser. 2, vol. xix. (185.")) p. lli'2; Auiuial Eeport, Gcol. Surv. Canadii, 1887, p. 41 B. ■^ ' Alaslifi and its Kosmirccs,' 1870, pp. 21)8, 4(',0, 479; Am. Jouru. Sci. sor, 2, vol. xlv. (^ISOb) p. 'JD. V.,I. 50.] fX CAVAIIA AM' AI,ASK>. 3 (fus (lisliiiguishod t'rotn Mastodoiis) are troiited of at consklen ').'e leiififth in vol. ii. p]). 'J'.'A 238 of the ' J^alaooiitological ]i[einoirs and Notes of the late Dr. lltiui. Falconer,' under the heading 'Synonymy of American Fossil I'llephants.' " It is there stated that there are hut two species of fossil Elephiint in North America. The first of those is tho hlcp/ids (I'Auhpluts) prhniiicaiuf, Blunieiihach, of which A'. Jiu-Lsoui, of lirigi^s and F')ster, and /v. (iiiicrintiiHs, i.eidy, are synonyms. Ac- cording to I)r, Falconer, all the specimens from the Yukon, Alaska, and Burlingtoi. Heights are /J. jiriiniijenuis. Tho second siiecius is E. Cotitiiiln, Falconei', of the southern i)art of the United States and Mexico." The writer, in LSS7, carried out an extended reeonnaiss.ince- survov in the Yukon T)istri(,'t, in the valleys of the Pelly and Lewes branches of the main stream, l)\it not going below the contluence of these two rivers.' In the whole region thus traversed no Mammoth- remains wvvi^ met with, nor was llieir ])resence reported l)y such of the gold-miners as had worked in piirts of these valleys : though some of the same men had fre(]uently noted Mammoth-bones farther down tlie Yukon valley, particidarly in the vifMiity of Forty-Mile Creek, where rather important placer-mining has been carried on. The above notes refor particularly to the occurrence of ^fammoth- remains in the inland region of Alaska, and in parts of the adja- cent Yukon District of the Xorth-west Territory of Canada — the luteri ional boundary following the 141st meridian. The existence of sirai ar remains, as well as those of other animals not now in- habiting the region, has long been known at various places on tho coast, both to the south and north of Bering Straits. The most notable and the first discovered of these localities is Kotzcbue Sound, where bones were collected bv Kotzebue in ISlfl, Capt. Beeehey, of II.M.S. 'i.iossom,' in 1Sl^<;. Capt. Kellett, of TI.M:.S. 'Herald,' in 1848, Dr. \\. II. Dall in 1880, and :Mr. Nelson in l881. Tho specimens brought back by the three first-named expeditions were described by Eschscholtz, Buckland, Forbes, and Richardson in appendices or auxiliary works to the narratives of the several voyages. Dall has recently given a summary of what is known respecting these localities, with full references to the published accounts of them.'^ The bones found at Kotzebue Sound and at other places on the coast are associated with what he calls the ' ground-ice for- mation.' The localities are indicated in a general manner on the map accompanying Dall's Avork ; but, bo far as these are described or the writer is aware, no information exists to show that such bones are associated with ' ground-ice ' anywhere south of Kotzebue Sound, Tho following list of species obtained in Kotzebue Sound is given ' Annual Report, Geol. Siirv. Canada, 1887-88, Part B. '' J]ull, U.«. llcol, .Survey, no. Hi, 1892, pp. l'«0-2()7. 4 hi;, v.. si. hawson (in siammoi ii-m .mains [ 1''c>1j. 1894. by Dall, cliiotly from liirhard^uii's roMurt, hut with roviHcd iionion- claturo ' : — Kli'))h(ii^ primif/niiiis, Iihiincuhiicli F.hjiha)( Cdhdidii, Fiilcciicr [?)." /'j/itnn major, De Kny. Aires (imcriconns, Jiirrlino = Muchlis, Ogilhy. jRavqi/ir ('(/rilioii, Bfiird. Oviliox ■i)iottiii;;. \\'illi tlir ;'.\rrptinii of the aouthorii Tnoiuiliiirioiis Hcu-ni.iriiiM of Alaska, and (loiilitlcss also tliat of certain local iiilaiul raiij^'cs, this iiiijilaciatcd area may bo doscribcd as conipiisiiiji^ iicaily tlic wlinlc at' Alaska, lo^olluT with a coiisidcrahlc poriioii of the adjacoiit Yukon District of Canada. As tlio result of his explorations in this [tart of the contincid', the writer has been able to detcrniino the fa<'t that diiiin.;^ tlio glacial period the Ilocky Mountain or Cordilleran re;::ion, from about the 4Sth to the Vuhd dejrree of latitude North, wa.s at one time buried beneath a fi;reat confluent ice-mass some 12i)(i miles in greatest length in a north-west by south-east bearing, \\ith an average width of about 4U0 miles.' This (ireenland-like ice-cap was distinct from the still greater Laurentidc (ilacier of I'lastern Xorlh America, and, ])ecausc of fho trend of the mountain-ranges which it covered, it moved i)rineipally in two directions — south-eastward and north-westward. The south-easterly motion of one part of tliis ice-niiiss tlie writer had demonstrated in 1877,'' but it was not till 1S87, and then as a result of the Yukon expedition, that he was enabled to as':;ertain the north-westerly movement of its northern part, and to show that there was a definite limit to its extent in both directions. IJeing thus clearly distinct from any extension of polar ice, as well as from the great liaurentide ice-mass, it became appropriate to designate it as the Cordilleran (ilacier.' Further evidence respecting the northern limit of glaciation in tliis region lias since been obtained by ^Ir. 15. (i. "M't'onnell, of the Canadian (ieological Survey (1.^88), Mr. I.e. llussell, of the U. S. (ie(dogical Survey (ICSU), and 'Mr. C W. Hayes, of the same Survey (ISIM ).' The area covered by, and the directions of movement of, the Cordilleran ice-mass have been a|iproximately mapjted in one of the papers above referred to," and the later observations of the a,bove-T-a;.:od gentlemen have not in any material degree changed the indications there given. Within tlic area which was covered by the great Cordilleran (ilacier, remains of the Alammoth are either entirely wanting or ari; verj' scarce. The reported finding of a tooth on the southern ])art of Vancouver Island, and that of a portion of a large bone (which, though not determinable, may have Itelonged to such an animal) in gravels worked for gold on Cherry Creek," are the oidy ]iossilde exceptions known to flic writer, and the deposits fnmi which the last-mentioned bone was obtained may be of pre-(iiacial ' ' On the later Phjsiograpliieal Gcolo^^ of the Kcjcky Mountain Region in CanadM,' Truns. E()_\al Hoc, Canada, vol. viii. (l.^'.l()) sect. iv. p. 27. '■^ Report of Progress, (leol. iSiirv. Canada, 1877 78, pp. l.*?!) li, l.')l 1? ; Quart. Journ. Gcol Soe. voL xxxiv. (I878) p. llnd or'jziiiation of the ' ti"round-ici' formation,' in association witli wiiicli tlie hones of the Mammoth and other animals arc found aloiijj; the northeiMi coasts of Alaska. |)all summarizes tlie^-e in his work ])reviousl\ cited,' and it may now be eontidently assumed that the (hisciiptions of Kot/,eh\ie and his ])arty, of ('apt. Kellctt and others on the ' Jlerald,' of Dall and I-ieut. Cant well,-' correctly indicate the facts of the case. The clearest descri]>(ioiis of the phenomena are those of Seemnnn and Dall.' From tliese it ap])ears that the lower parts of clilfs which have some extent on Kot/ehue Sound are comjxjsed of solid ice, somewhat discoloured and impure, and showiui;- indications of stratification. Above this ice rests a layer of ilay, ill which the bones occur, and capping the whole is a jieaty layer sujiportinp: the vejxctation of the refi;ion. It is further ap|)arent tliiit this or a very similar formation occurs at a number of jioints aloiij;- the northern coast of Alaska, but nothiufj; has been adduced to show that it is absolutely continuous over any r ventures to offer the following suggestions. Tho 'country in which the 'ground-ice formation' occurs is low in its relief, and the formation occupies its lower tracts. Th(> ice itself must undoubtedly have been produced upon a land-surface, and since the time of its ])roduction this surface can never have been covered by the sea ; for this would inevital)ly have reduced the frozen condition of the o-^erlying clay*:, and have resulted in the destruction of the icy sub-stratum as wcil. AVith an elevation of the laud by an amount of ;50() feet or more (such as appears to be rcipiired by the ^Ifinimoth-rcmains on islands already mentioned) the warmer waters connecting with the i'iicitic » Bull. U.S. Gcol. Survey, No. 84. pp. 2f)n-l>(;4. '■^ ' American Goologist.' vol. vi. (ISIK)) p. ,')1. ■' 'Voyage of IF.M.S. ' ilcruhi,' ' vul. ii. pp. 33 et najq. ; Eull. U.S. Geol. Surv. No. 84, pp. 'Jill (■/ .•2. Vol. 50.] l\ V.\S\l)\ AND vr,A^ii duriny; the actual time of ice-accumulation, hut this animal mav he supposed to have passed l)et ween Asia and America alouL^ the southci'u parts of the wiile laMd-l)rid,u;(> tlieu existing. At a later date, when i\u' land became depressed to about its present level, lierin^ Sea extended itself far to the eastward, and JU'rintr Straits were opened. The ])i'reninal accumulation of snow upon the lowlands ceased, and in the southern parts of Alaska siicii masses as had been forme(l may have lieen entirely removed. l'"arther to the north and at a j-vreater distance from the I'acitic waters, while the total preci])itatii)n would ])rol)aldy bo increased, a (greater pioportiou would fall as rain, and Hoods resulting; from this and the meltinjj; of snow on the hiiilu'r tracts would bo fre(iuent. Thus it may be sn])])Osed that deposits of clay and soil from adjacent hi<;hlands and from the ovci'tlow of I'ivers covered larj^o ])arts of the remaininfj; ice of the lowlands, and that wherever 80 covenMl it has since remained; the winter temperature beiiii^ still suiliciently low to ensure the persistence o'' a layer of fj-ozen soil between the surface anmially thawed and the subjacent ice. Over the iiew^ land thus formed the ^[ammoth and associated animals a])pear to have roamed and fed, and -wherever local areas of decay of the ico may have arisen, bottomless bot^s and siidc-holes must have lieen ])roduced which served as veritable traps. It will bo observed that this hypothesis requires a rather abrupt passage from the conditions under which the ice accumulated to those in which, before it had time to disappear, it began to be covered up by soil, but the change may nevertheless have extended over a considerable number of years. The association of the Mammoth with an animal so essentially Arctic as the !Musk-Ox re(|uires — as has fre(piently ])een ])ointed out — the admission that the ^rammoth was capable of living in a rigorous climate, though it nuiy be that the southern limit of the migration-range of one animal merely over- lapped the northern limit of the migration-range of the other. Tlie occurrence of the !Moose {Alces auwrlcfnius) implies the existence at that time of woodland, or at least of well-grown thickets. In the Cordilleran region generally, the Pliocene and Glacial periods wore characterized by several important changes in elevation and depression of land;' but it is unsafe to assume that these ' Trans. Royal Soc. Cannda, vol. viii. (1890) snct. W. p. 54 ; Bui], U.S. aeol. Survey, no. .S4. ji. 278. 8 li|{. t). M. DAWSON ON MAMMOrn-UI'.MAINS i I'l'l). F 894, cliaiiji;i's eiiuiilly iiffoctfcl the northern ref,noii here particularly treated of; for it is not only very distant from tlie hjcalitios wliicli hiivo so far been sjjecially studied, but tlie physit^al features of the Cordillerau belt becoino diffuse und ill-marked to the uorth, and such mountain- ridges as n-inain assume new trends. It may, however, be taivcn for granted that this re<^ioii shared to some extent in these great movements of elevation and dejtression, and as the very existence of the ' ground-ice' shows that the area where it is found has not Bince tlie date of its formation been materially lower than at present, it may reasonably l)e argu"d that it dates from a period approaching the conclusion of the series of ehanges in level, or subse(juent to the last well-marked epoch of depression of the land. Thus, without (Altering into any details respecting the secjuenco of these great earth-movements in th-:" Cordillerau region of British Columbia,' it may be stated as probable that the uprising of the land which led to the accumulation of the 'ground-ice' v.as co- incident with the second (and latest) e])och of maximum glaciation, which waa followed by an important subsidence in British Columbia. PiscussroN. The Pur.siDKN r snid that many interesting points had been l)rought forward by the Author. The difi'erentiation of the glaciated from the iiiiglaciated area, and the clear recognition of a north-western as well as a south-eastern boundary to the CoiJilleran ice-mass, struck him as being of great importance. 8ir IlioNKY ]Iowoi{Tii remarked upon the long and careful survey of N.W. America A\liich has been made by the Author, and upon the value of the conclusions to ^hich he has come: firstly, in regara to the absence of ancient glaciation in Alaska and its borders ; secondly, iu icgard to the existence of a great glacier in the Coi'dilleras, whose products arc quite independent of and have nothing to do with the ]jaurentian drift ; and thirdly, in regard to the distribution of the Mammoth. It was a new fact to l.im, and one of great importance, that Mammoth-remains had occurred in Unalashka and the Pribilof Islands in 15erirg Sea, proving that in the Mammoth age there was a land-bridge here, as many inquirers had argued. It would be very interesting to have the western frontier defined, where the Mammoth-remains cease to be found. It would also be very interesting to know how far south on the west of the Cordilleras the true Mammoth, as distinguished from Elephas Columbi, has occurred. Ilegarding one conclusion of Dr. Dawson's, the speakci' could not agree with his friend, namely, about the age of the stiata of ice sometimes found under the Mammoth-beds in Alaska as they have b(!en found in Siberia. The speaker was of opinion that this ice has accumulated since the beds were laid down, and was not tliere when the Mammoth roamed about in the forests where he and his com- ' For & discussion of wliicb see Trans. Royal See. Canada, vol. riii. (1890) spct. iv. pp. 40-').'). Vol. c;o.] IN CANADA AND Af.ASKA, 9 panions livcil. Jliinius and soil cannot accumulate upon ice except as a inoriiiiic, and there are no traces of moraines or of preat surt'aee-f>la('iatioii in Alaska and Siheriii. Nor could either the tloia or fauna of the Miinnuoth ••'i;e have survived conditioni con- sistent with tlu; accumulario: ' ese beds ot' ice almost immediately below the surface, or eons ' »vith their jiresenco there. The H[)euker ooMsidered that llieso beds are due to the filtration of water in the summer down to tiie point where there is a stratum of frozen soil, tiiroui;h which it cannot pass and where it consequently accu- mulates, freezes, raises the {j'round, and in the next season grows by the same process until a thick bed of ico has been formed. The evidence goes to show that the ])resent is the coldest period known ill recent geological times in Siberia and Alaska, and that the period of the Mammoth and its companions was followed and not preceded by an Arctic climate whore its remains occur. Dr. IIknuy WoonwAiu) mentioned that in IS.')() Capt. Kellett and Lieut. Wood ])rought remains of 3lusk-()x and Mammoth to the British ]lluseura from Kotzebue Sound, Alaski". ; and in 1873 the l{ev. li. McDonald (one of the Hudson's Bay Companys Chaplains) from Port Mcl'herson, Mackenzie liivcr, Arctic America, gave to tne National Collection, from the I'orcupiuc Hiver, remains of Mammoth, Musk-()x, Bison ^ifiscKs; and Horse. The .]/f?s^of/ou has lately been found in Kent County, Oniario, Canada. These instances prove the former abundance of the land ^lammalia in high latitudes in North America. Tlio most interesting point in Dr. Dawson's paper i-: the mention by him of the remains of Miimmoth on tlie AKatian Islands, proving that tliis was the old higli road for this and other mammals from Asia into North America in Pleistocene times. Brof. Hull observed that, with reference to tiie requirements of the large animals referred to in Dr. Dawson's interesting paper, ho had seen it slated tluit one had ])eeri discovered in N.W. America nearly entire, and in its stomach were about seven bushels of vegetable matter. However that might be. it seemed dear tliat the climate of the circunqjolar regions had undergone a great change since the irammoth had ])ecome extinct ; in consequence of which the vegetation iiad materially fallen off. He also desired to call attention to the clear evidence wdiich tlie Author's paper alforded of the former wider extension of land in the Arctic regions during the Alammoih period.