IMAGE EVALUATION
TEST TARGET (MT-3)

,5^

1.0

I.I

1.25

lU mam

2.5

1.8

U 111.6

"^.^

^^ 0^'

"-1

Photographic

Sciences

Corporation

33 WEST MAIN STREET

WEBSTER, NY. M580

(716) 872-4503

^9>

4^ /^^

CIHM/ICMH

Microfiche

Series.

CIHM/ICMH
Collection de
microfiches.

Canadian Institute for Historical Microreproductions / Institut canadien de microreproductlons historiques

Technical and Bibliographic Notes/Notes techniques et bibliographiques

The Institute has attempted to obtain the best
original copy availabie for filming. Features of this
copy which may be bibliographically unique,
which may alter any of the images in the
reproduction, or which may significantly change
the usual method of filming, are checked below.

D
D

Coloured covers/
Couverture de couleur

I I Covers damaged/

Couverture endommagAe

Covers restored and/or laminated/
Couverture restaurAe et/ou pellicul6e

I I Cover titia missing/

Le titre de couverture manque

Coloured maps/

Cartes gAographiques en couleur

Coloured ink (i.e. other than blue or black)/
Encre de couleur (i.e. autre que bleue ou noire)

I I Coloured plates and/or illustrations/

Planches et/ou illustrations en couleur

Bound with other material/
Reli6 avec d'autres documents

Tight binding may cause shadows or distortion
along interior margin/

La reliure serr6e peut causer de I'ombre ou de la
distortion le long de la marge intirieure

Blank leaves added during restoration may
appear within the text. Whenever possible, these
have been omitted from filming/
II se peut que certaines pages blanches ajoutAes
tors d'une restauration apparaissent dans le texte,
mals, lorsque cela 6tait possible, ces pages n'ont
pas 6t6 fiimies.

Additional comments:/
Commentaires supplimentaires;

L'Institut a microfilm^ le meilleur exemplaire
qu'il lui a 4t4 possible de se procurer. Les d6tails
da cat exemplaire qui sont peut-Atre uniques du
point de vue bibliographique, qui peuvent modifier
une image reproduite, ou qui peuvent exiger une
modification dans la mAthode normale de filmage
sont indiquto ci-dessous.

D
D
D

D
D
D
D
D
D
D

Coloured pages/
Pages de couleur

Pages damaged/
Pages endommagies

Pages restored and/or laminated/
Pages rastaurdes et/ou pellicul6es

Pages discoloured, stained or foxed/
Pages d6color6es, tacheties ou piqu^es

Pages detached/
Pages d6tach6es

Showthrough/
Transparence

Quality of print varies/
Qualiti inigale de I'lmpression

Includes supplementary material/
Comprend du materiel suppldmentaire

Only edition available/
Seuie Edition disponible

Pages wholly or partiv^lly obscured by errata
slips, tissues, etc., have been ref limed to
ensure the best possible image/
Les pages totalement ou partieilement
obscurcies par un feuillet d'errata, une pelure,
etc., ont 6t6 fiim^es A nouveau de faron h
obtenir la meilleure image possible.

Th
to

Th
po
of
fill

Or
be
th<
sic
oti
fin
sic
or

Th
sh<
TM
wl^

Ml
dif
en<
bei
rig
rac
mc

This Item is filmed at the reduction ratio checked below/

Ce document est film6 au taux de reduction indiquA ci-dessous.

10X

14X

18X

22X

26X

30X

12X

16X

20X

24X

28X

32X

Th« copy filmad her* hat b««n reproducad thanks
to tha ganarosity of:

Library Division

Provincial Archives of British Columbia

L'axampiaira filmA fut raproduit grAca A la
ginArosIt* da:

Library Division

Provincial Archives of British Columbia

Tha imagaa appaaring hara ara tha bast quality
posaibia conaldaring tha condition and lagibility
of tha original copy and in kaaping with tha
filming contract apacifications.

Original copias in printad papar covers are filmed
beginning with the front cover and ending on
the last page with a printed or illustrated impres-
sion, or the back cover when appropriate. All
other original copias are filmed beginning on the
first page with a printad or illustrated impres-
sion, and ending on the last page with a printed
or illustrated impression.

The last recorded frame on each microfiche
shall contain the symbol — ^> (meaning "CON-
TINUED"), or the symbol V (meaning "END"),
whichever applies.

Maps, plates, charts, etc., may be filmed at
different reduction ratios. Those too large to be
entirely included in one exposure are filmed
beginning in the upper left hand corner, left to
right and top to bottom, as many frames as
required. The following diagrams illustrate the
method:

Lea imagaa auivantea ont At4 reproduites avac la
plus grand soin, compta tenu de la condition at
de la nettetA de I'exemplaire filmA, et en
conformity avac las conditions du contrat de
filmage.

Lea exemplaires originaux dont la couverture en
papier est imprimAe sont filmAs en commenpant
par la premier plat et en terminant soit par la
darniAre page qui comporte une empreinte
d'impression ou d'illustration, soit par la second
plat, salon la cas. Tous las autras exemplaires
originaux sont filmAs an commandant par la
premiere page qui comporte une empreinte
d'impression ou d'illustration et en terminant par
la derniAre page qui comporte une telle
empreinte.

Un des symboles suivants apparaitra sur la
dernidre image de cheque microfiche, solon le
cas: ie symboie — ^ signifie "A SUIVRE", le
symbole V signifie "FIN".

Les cartes, planches, tableaux, etc., peuvent dtre
filmds A des tauK de reduction diffArents.
Lorsque le document est trop grand pour dtre
reproduit en un seul clichA, il est filmA A partir
de Tangle supArieur gauche, de gauche A droits,
et de haut en bas, en prenant le nombre
d'images nAcessaire. Les diagrammes suivants
illustrent la mAthode.

■4 -

^ 1

i - •

-I t

y ' . *

*
\

ii"',r.i. 1 '.(' v'n.'ii V ,'

■r-f.fiWTT,'

' J-

■■■■li

■■"'./ y;'; ■ .

THE SCOTTISH

GEOGRAPHICAL

MAGAZINE.

ALASKA: ITS PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY.

By Israel C. Russell.

{With Map.)

The following account of the geography of Alaska is based to a
considerable extent on personal observations, but includes also infor-
mation obtained from books of travel, and from conversations with
explorers, miners, navigators, traders, and missionaries in various parts
of the country.

It has been my fortune to make three journeys in Alaska, each
of which revealed something of the geography of that most interesting
land. The first of these journeys was made in 1889, in connection with
an expedition sent out by the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey for the
purpose of determining the localities where the Alaskan-Canadian
boundary crosses the Yukon and Porcupine rivers, respectively. We
first touched the Alaskan shore at Unalaska, the principal commercial
station on the Aleutian Islands, and from there crossed Bering Sea to
St. Michael ; we tlien ascended tlie Yukon by steamer to Selkirk House,
in the North-west Territory of Canada, a distance of, approximately,
1500 miles, making on the way a trip up Porcupine river to near the
141st meridian. After reaching Selkirk House, I continued on up the
Yukon in an open boat with a i)arty of miners for about 500 miles, to
Lake Lebarge, and, crossing the mountains on the south to the head of
Lynn Canal, proceeded thence by canoe with a single Indian to Juneau.

The second and third journeys, in 1890 and 1891, comprised two
expeditions to Mount St. Eliiis, which were put under my direction by
the U.S. Geological Survey and the National Geographic Society. These
expeditions were made for the purpose of climbing Mount St. Elias,
of studying the geology and geography of that instructive region, and,

VOL. X. 2f

e^r^QG Pacific N.W. Histnrv n^.pt

OROVINCIAL LiBilA^-^y
VICTORIA, 8. C.

394

SCOTTISH GEOGRAPHICAL MAGAZINE.

especially, of obtaining a better knowledge of the vast glaciers wliich
cover it.

The more thoroughly one becomes acquainted with Alaska the more
pronounced appear the contrasts in its physical features and in its plant
and animal life. Owing to its high latitude, the summers are short and
the winters long. In the northern portion, in summer, there are many
weeks during which the sun does lot set; and again, in winter, there
are many weeks during which it does not rise. The cl-'mate of the south
coast is mild and equable, while in the interior the winters are severe
and the summers hot. The mountains on tlio south coast are the loftiest
on the continent ; but low moss-covered plains, featureless as a prairie,
fringe the borders of Bering Sea and the Arctic Ocean. Tlie central and
southern portions are covered with dense forests, while the Alaskan
peninsula, the Aleutian Islands, and the broad tundras at the north arc
treeless. In summer the lower slopes of the mountains are brilliant with
fields of flowers ; while the peaks towering above ♦^hcse smiling gardens
are covered with snow and ice throughout the year, and form desolate,
frozen solitudes in which not a trace of life can be seen. In places along
the south coast great glaciers break oft' in the sea and send thousands of
bergs afloat ; while on tlie adjacent shore vegetation of tropical luxuriance
overhangs the water. The south coast is fringed with thousands of
islands, and its shore-line is one of the most intricate in tho world ; but
the coast of Bering Sea and the Arctic Oc^an is nearly free of islands, and is
without inlets and harbours. The animals of this great northern land
are clothed with warm furs which are among the most valuable that man
has adapted to his use ; but the birds are largely summer migrants from
more sunny lands. Its native people are Eskimos and Indians. The
white men who have wandered there are from every land and form a
cosmopolitan band, in eager search for gold, silver, copjjer, coal, furs, fish,
oil, whalebone, ivory, lumber, and other products of the land and sea.
Missions have been established by many Churches, and the natives arc
being taught many religions. Portions of the land have been inhabited
by Europeans for more than a century, while other portions have never
been trodden by man, either civilised or sf.vage. Tho south-eastern
coast is visited every year by hundreds of tourists in quest of pleasure or
of health ; but in the interior there are tribes, speaking unknown tongues,
who probably have never seen a white man.

Enough is not yet known of this remote corner of the world to
enable one to thoroughly discuss the origin and history of its physical
features, which is the aim of a geographer ; but we can group together
a limited number of facts bearing on various geographical questions, and
reach certain general conclusions, and, perhaps, point the way for future
study and exploration.

AuEA. — In the absence of a survey of Alaska its area cannot be
accurately stated, but is believed to be somewhere about 578,000 square
miles, or approximately one-fifth as large as all the other States and
Territories of the United States combined, and over eighteen times the
area of Scotland. The ge. .eral coast line is 4000 miles long, and,

'inlir

A'.u/r .'/Mb

f ._J2 SS H

i /

til- K<liii)Mii-)(fi (>«»'^' iiihual In ■•>><.■»

PHYSICAL SKETCH MAP OF ALASKA

■iiiUnii

t'(itnin*fi

w:::^^'' ..

l.nngiitiilf Wpft f^ ..|' Wajihin^n

1 APPROXIMATE AREA OF FOREST.
I J MOITLV BELOW 1000 FEET.

1 I APPROXIMATE AREA OF TUNDRA.

I J lELOW 1000 FEET

r HtARREN UPLANDS AIOVE 1000 FEET

I^^Hknown QLACIERS.

^f!^ ZurutWa^Smm»nA

r Dill 111 II iitj oil III'
Al. Err IAN 1S1,ANI)S

Sell ihini /„'

I'nfFiiorHintiKunp //;'

Ki'V or Hal 1" ^ .;«r»;.«/^ '^f 1/7 T. ,•
,f, fan r'r**.'? "'"'** ' '^* '^ ,.ii ;..„,^ 11

Cjba^ial

II /.....^ 11 .» H.../.„

• FJuilni|.]f^ Gr<ijri.4|tJtu.Ai Inatiluta

Srollish C.i.ijjji-aplnrnl Miu'iizin.' 1894

•

inclu

betw

they

of th

may

Euro

. I

betw

miirl

meri

respt

boun

in 1(

cont

the

.'.ted

His
Arct

ALASKA : ITS PHYSICAL OEOORAPIIV.

395

including the shores of the bays and islands, is estimated to measure
between 11,000 and 12,000 miles. These figures are so great that
they will perhaps fail to convey any definite meaning. The vast extent
of the territory belonging to the United States north of latitude 50° 40'
may best be realised by comparing a map of Alaska with a map of
Europe, both drawn on the same scale.

, Boundaries. — The boundaries of Alaska were stated in a convention
between Great Britain and Russia in 1825,^ but have thus far been
marked on the ground at only three points; these are where the 141st
meridian crosses Forty Mile creek, the Yukon and Porcupine rivers
respectively. In tlio treaty referred to it is stated that the eastern
boundary, commencing at the southern poin'i of Prince of Wales Islaud,
in latitude 54° 40', shall ascend Portland Channel to a point on the
continent where it meets the Ljtli degree of nortli latitude. From there
the lino of demarcation shall follow tiie summit of the mountains situ-
ated parallel to the coast as far as the point of intersection with the
1 4 ? st meridian ; the said meridian shall then be the boundary to the
Arctic Ocean. It is further stated that, whenever the summit of the
mountains wliich extend in a direction parallel to the coast between
latitude 56° and the intersection of the 141st meridian shall prove to be
at a distince of more than ten marine leagues from the ocean, tlie limit
between the British possessions and the strip of coast now belonging to
the United States shall be formed by a line following the v.'inding.s of
the shore and not more thar. ten marine leagues therefrom.

The interpretation of this treaty is now a matter of international
consideration, and need not be discussed here. But it is prope? to direct
the attention of l)oth Canadian and American geographers to the fact
tliat our knowledge of the region through wliich the boundary passes is
exceedingly meagre. Before the questions in dispute can be settled, both
of the " high contracting parties " must acquire more definite knowledge
than they now have of the geography, mineral wealth, timber, and other
resources of the region, as well as of the character and the rights of its
native inhabitants. This can only be done by a systematic and com-
prehensive survey. In the absence of such a survey, not only will it be
impossible to establish the boundary line designated in the treaty, but
no modification of the treaty can be made which will be both practicable
and just.

'i'he western boundary traverses the waters of Bering Sea and the
Arctic Ocean, and its determination does not involve the partitioning of
valuable territory.

Dhainagk. — Alaska is drained principally by ono great river, the
Yukon, M'hich rises in the north-western part of Canada, flows westward
across the Territory, and empties itself into Bering Sea. Alaska is
divided by this noble river into two approximately equal portions.

' Tlic text of this trenty mny be found in a report of the Bonmlnry Line between Alaska and
British Columbia, Kiftiith Conp-ess, second session, Ex. Doc. No. 146, Washington, 1889.

396

SCOTTISH OEOORAFIIICAL MAGAZINE.

The Yukon rnnks with the great rivers of the world. Among those of
this continent it is second in drainage area. Its lengtii is about 2000
miles, and ita hydrographic basin, half of which lies in Alaska, i»
approximately 440,000 square miles in extent.

The valley of the Yukon is bordered by gently rolling uplands with
a well-developed secondary drainage, showing that it has a long history,
during which a largo part of its appointed task of reducing its drainage
basin to a plain surface has been accomplished. During its life, however,
changes have occurred which have modified its action and greatly
increased the amount of excavation and transportation that it has to do.
Mountains have been upraised across its course, as at the Lower
Ramparts, which have changed the grade of the stream and caused it to-
spread out a vast sheet of sediment above the obstruction, and form a
plain through which the river now flows in many intersecting passages.
Ijakes were also formed by the warping of the river valley, but these are
now drained, and stream channels have been excavated through the thick
horizontally stratified sediment that they left. In these deposits of clay
and sand the bones of many large animals, now extinct, were entombed.
In some places, as at the mouth of Pelly river and again at Miles Canon,
lava streams have descended into the previously excavated channel,
and formed level-floored valleys, bordered by the walls of the ancient
stream. These sheets of hard basalt, in one instance several hundred
feet thick, have been cut through by the river, forming caflons, the walls
of ivhich are still vertical. These obstructions of volcanic rock also led
to the formation of lakes above them, in which thick sheets of fine,
light-coloured, evenly stratified sediment were deposited, as may be seen
along the beautifully terraced banks of the various brjinches of the main
river to the east of the Alaskan boundary. The country drained by
many of the southern feeders of the main stream was at a recent date
covered by a northward-flowing ice-sheet, and its history still further
modified.

These accidents, as they may bo called, aff'ected especially the upper
portion of the drainage system, and left its lower course comparatively
free to broaden its channel and cut away the land between its many
branches. The lower Yukon valley is so broad in many places that to an
obsei-ver standing on its northern margin the uplands bordering it on
the south are beyond the reach of vision. In this ancient valley, owing
to a moderate change of level, sediment has been laid down, forming vast
swamps through which the stream now winds, and which are overflowed
during spring freshets. A vast delta has been formed where the mighty
river empties itself into Bering Sea, comparable in extent and in character
with the alluvial lands near the mouth of the Mississippi. Near the head
of its delta, and more than a hundred miles from the sea, the Yukon
divides, and its diverging branches again subdivide, so that its brown
w.iters are discharged through many mouths. The distance })etween the
extremities of the channels into which the river separates is over seventy
miles. Seaward from where the mouths of the river are now located
the water is shallow, owing to the vast amount of fine silt that is
dropped when the currents of fresh water meet the saline water into

ALASKA: ITS PHYSICAL OEOORAI'HY.

897

which they flow. It Bomotiincs happens tliat a vessel in approaching
the delta flnds itself aground so far from land that no shore is in sight.
Largo ({uantitios of drift-wood are carried down by the river from the
forested region drained by it, and cast ashore on distant islands
and along barren beaches, hundreds of miles from the delta, and
furnish the only wood supply for many Eskimo villages.

On the Yukon, as on many rivers flowing northward, the changes
of the seasons are first felt on its head waters. Vast floods, accompanying
the breaking-up of the ice in the spring and early summer, inundate
broad areas of the valley bottom and frecpiently form ice-dams, thus still
further increasing the height of the annual floods. The spectacle
presented by the swollen river when crowded with broken ice is said to
bo among the most striking of natural phenomena.

Among the many tributaries of the Yukon the most important is the
Tennah, which rises on the northern ico-coverod slopes of the Alaskan
mountaino, and, flowing north-west through a broad forest-covered
valley, joins the main stream over six hundred miles from its mouth.

Another important tributary, known as Porcupine river, rises far to the
north-east, near the lower course of the Mackenzie, flows south-west, and
joins the Yukon below the site of Fort Yukon, or nearly a thousand
miles from Bering Sea. The land drained by the Porcupine is north of
the Arctic Circle, but in general chariicter diff'ers but little from many
regions in more favoured latitudes. During my first trip to Alaska I
ascended the Porcupine for about 150 miles. The river is swift, and
flows with many windings through a forested land, which has a history
inscribed in its hills and valleys that tells of many changes. Its lower
course is through flat bottom land, which has been filled in with sand
and gravel by its own waters ; but about seventy-five miles from its mouth
the uplands on each side come close together, and above that point
the stream flows through a well-defined valley, separating grass-covered
hills. Sand and gravel deposits, seen in a few places on the uplands,
suggest that the general plateau surface is an old river valley of great
width or an ancient base-line of erosion, in which the present stream has
sunk its bed to a depth of, perhaps, two hundred feet.

In July, the month in which I saw the Porcupine, the country presented
a charming picture of rounded hills, covered with a luxuriant growth of
grasses and flowers, overlooking flat bottom lands densely covered with
spruce trees and aspens. The swift-flowing river in places gleamed
brightly in the sunlight, and again was lost in the shadows of the over-
hanging forest. The hills were just changing from green to brown, and
a dash of yellow here and there amid the foliage of the river-bank told
that the short, hot, dry summer, during which the sun did not set, was
drawing to a close. The fair landscape gave no suggestion of Arctic
severity, but was so mild and peaceful, so rich in colour and pastoral in
character, that it lacked but a farmliouse here and there to make one
fancy that a part of New EnglaTid was spread out before him.

The most distant sources of the Yukon are in numerous lakes on the
northern slope of the mountains bordering the southern coast, among
which the scenery is unsurpassed in picturesqueness and variety. The

398

SCOTTISH OEOGRAi'HICAL MAGAZINE.

lakes on ita hcad-wntvrs nru in a region forniorly ico-covorud, and many
of them owe their origin to the scooping-out of baains by glacial action,
and to the obstruction of drninago by glacial deposits. Homo of tli»
broad sheets of placid waters aru clear and blue, and surrounded with
dense vegrtation, while others, situated in n desolate area above tho
timber-line, receive U'.o drainage of glaciers, and tho trnnsparency of
their waters is cluinged to yellowish-green by lino sediments. Tho
presence of glaciers on its head-waters accounts in a great measure
for the muddiness of the stream throughout. In all its lower course
it is as heavily charged with sediment as is the lower Mississippi
or the Missouri. In voyaging up the great river one is struck with
tho fact that nearly all tho trib'itarics from the south are heaviij'
loaded with silt, while those f*-om the north are clear and limpid.
This is because all of the larger streams emptying into it from the south
have their tiourccs in the immediate proximity of existing glaciers, tho
drainage of which is always turbid ; while tho streams from the north
drain a forested and moss-covered region in whicii there are no glaciers,
ond the water, having to fdter through dense vegetation before reaching
the drainage ways, is exceptionally clear, although frequently of an amber
hue on account of the vegetable products in solution. The muddiness of
tho tributaries from tho soutii, however, is not due entirely to the
presence of rock-flour ground fine l)y glacier.s. but is owing in part to a
widely spread layer of volcanic dust, which lias been recently deposited
over thousands of scjuare miles of territory, and is so easily eroded that
it is washed into tho general drainage by tho rains. As has been shown
by Dr. C. Wli.^rd Hayes, this is the principal cause of tho extreme
turbidity of White river, which, as its name suggests, is of a whitish
colour, and owes its muddiness to the immense amount of volcanic ash
and glacial mud that it carries.

Tho great divide of the Alaskan region is along the crest of tho
mountains close to the south coast. In many places tiie rain falling on
the southern side of this sharp crest-line reaches the ocean within less
than a score of miles, while that falling on the north side finds its way to
the Yukon, and has to travel more tiiaa two thousand miles before
reaching the sea.

The Yukon has been ascended by stern-wheel steamboats of light
draught as far as Selkirk House, a distance of about 1500 miles from
Bering Sea, and is known to be navigable to a still greater distance.
The current towards its head-waters, however, is so swift in plivjes, that
steamboats more powerful than those now used would be needed for its
navigation. With tho exception of the rapids at Miles Canon, where for
a mile the stream rushes through a narrow gorge in basaltic rocks, tho
river is navigable as far as Lake Tagish, on the Pelly, and to Lake
Ahklen near the source of the main stream. Many of tho tributaries are
also known to be navigable, although only a few have been systematically
examined. Thousands of miles of inland waters there await the r^ f i,,^
of explorers and traders, but owing to the severity of the winter lunflte
they can only be traversed during a few months each year. Tn s«iiiiU(;r
these rivers are tho highways for the native inhabitants in their bii ;!:-

^>i

ALASKA : ITS I'll 8ICAL OEOOUAl'HY.

399

iiiul iimiiy

ial action,

110 of the

iiiled witli

iil)ovo the

)iiri)ncy of

Ills. The

measure

ver courso

^lississippi

uck with

heavily

d litnpid.

the south

nciors, tlio

the north

o glaciers,

e reaching

■ an amber

ddiness of

ly to tlio

, i)art to a

deposited

roded that

ecn sliown

10 extreme

a whitish

dcanic ash

est of tho
falling on

vithin less
its way to

ilea before

ts of light
niles from
: distance,
tluoes, that
led for its
where for
rocks, the
i to Lake
utaries are
omatically
he ('.i.u.'-<;
SI iiimflte

in SUn;:il(;r

loir bit ;b-

bark canoes ; and in winter they are no less favourable lines of communi-
cation, as they can then bo trav«>r8od with facility by means f)f sledges
drawn by dog-teams. Should reii. 'eer bo introduced into Alaska, as is
now hope<l, the rivers m^y bo followed with even greater facility in
winter than in summer. The importance of tho Htreams to the traveller
is enhanced by the fact that there is not a road in tho country, and
scarcely a trail, that can be followed when the dense vcgetalion is not
deeply snow-covered.

Tho drainage of the southern coast, from Dixon's Entrain. •. j the end
of the Alaskan peninsula, is mostly performed by high- ;ri.do streams
issuing from beneath glaciers ; but there are a few riv< whic'' cross the
mountain barrier near tho coast, and afford mcan.s of •., .muiucation with
the inte'-ior. These are the Stikine, Taku, Alsck, and Co; per. Tho
Stikine iias been ascended by steamboats for a distance of ..bout two
) ndred miles, but the others have never been navigated, e.xce})t by
cnnoea. It is known that steamboats could ascend the Taku for a
distance of about forty miles, but the Alsck and tho Copper aio too swift
fur this purpose. These streams are without broad valleys, but are
bordered by exceedingly rugged mountains, and aro surrounded by some
of tho most magnificent scenery in the world. Their present channels
have many of the chanicteristics of young rivers, but tho deep fiords
at their mouths and their glaciated walls show that they iiave under-
gone a recent change, which lias removed to a great extent tho records
of the tasks they have already accomplished.

North of the Alaskan peninsula, and emptying into Bering Sea,
there aro several important streams, although appearing insignificant when
compared with tho great Yukon. (3f these the Kuskoquim is the largest.
It rises among the ice-filled valleys on tho west slope of the Alaskan
mountains, and drains an area of about 800,000 square miles. To tho
north of tho Yukon there are several small rivers as yet only partially
explored ; the largest of these, the Kowak and the Noatak, as shown
by the explorations of Lieutenants Cantwell and Allen, aro navigable.
The Arctic coast of Alaska is but little known, and no streams of
importance have been discovered there. Their supposed absence may be
due to lack of information, or possibly to the fact that the country for a
long distance inland is a low, moss-covered, swampy area, in which even
important streams may spread out and lose their individuality.

^Mountains. — Tho vast cordilleran system which follows the west
coast of both South and North America traverses southern Alaska, and,
bending westward, follows the coast to the end of tho Alaskan peninsula.
The partially submerged continuation of the same system forms the
Aleutian islands, more than a thousand miles in length. The culminating
points of this great system in North America are two rival peaks, Mt.
Logan, 19,500 feet high, and Mt. St. Elias, 18,010 feet high. A host of
neighbouring pe.ik8, several of which exceed 14,000 feet in elevation,
make this region one of the most rugged and inii)assable in the world.
For fully three hundred miles from Cross Sound westward the mountains
rise precipitously from tho sea to great heights, and above an elevation of

400

SCOTTISH GEOGRAPHICAL MAGAZINE.

about 2500 feet are always snow-covered. In vast rdvi fields, filling the
valleys and depressions among the higher peaks, thousands of glaciers
have their birth, and flow both north and south. Among those on
the southern slope of the mountains there are hundreds which
practically reach sea-level, and scores that discharge into the waters of
the Pacific. These mountains are portions of a great system, but many
independent ranges are known, and it is probable that future explorations
will show that they have an extremely varied and, ""erhaps, a very long
history. In the neighbourhood of Mt. St. Elias tho ranges are mono-
clinal, and agree in general structure with the Great Basin system more
closely than with any other mountain type now known. In common
with all lofty mountains, St. Elias is young. The foot-hills near the
ocean have been elevated at least 5000 feet during the existence of
species of marine molluscs now living in the adjacent waters, and it is
probable that the main uplift received an important increment at the
time the foot-hills were raised above the sea. Since the mountains were
uplifted, ordinary stream erosion seems to have had but little to do with
' their sculpturing; glaciers took possession of the depressions as soon as they
were raised above the ocean, and the subsequent modifications of their
forms have been largely due to ice-action. A novel feature in their
history is the fact that the ice-drainage is consequent upon the prevailing
geological structure. Too little is known, however, of this exceedingly
rugged region to allow us to speak with much confidence concerning
its geological history. North of Mt. St. Elias there is an extremely
rugged country where man has never penetrated. This region bristles
with lofty peaks overlooking ice-filled valleys, from which many magnifi-
cent glaciers flow. A lofty peak, in about latitude 63° 30' north and
longitude 147° west, has been seen from a distance by a few trappers and
traders, and is thought to rival even ^It. St. Elias in height and magnifi-
cence. Problems uf great geograpliical and geological interest there
await the explorer, and in no other portion of our country can one expect
to obtain a greater return for hardship and exposure than in this wild,
ice-bound land.

The mountains on the Alaskan peninsula and the principal peaks of
the great Aleutian cliain are many of them surprisingly rugged, and rise
to great heights ; but as yet little definite knowledge is available concern-
ing them. Many of the mountains are knov;n to be of volcanic origin,
and some are still active volcanoes. As seen from the ocean, the land
appears wonderfully rugged and magnificent.

To the north of the great system of mountains fringing the Pacific
coast there are many minor uplifts reaching elevations of probably 4000 or
5000 feet, the summits of which arc above the timber-line and add variety
and beauty to the great inland region. But none of these poaks has been
climbed, and but few intelligent white men have ever seen them. Their
outlines and distribution have never been mapped, and their heights are
known only by estimate. Tliey are bare of snow in summer, and no
glaciers exist upon them. They do not possess the graceful double
curves typical of volcanoes, but frequently present the outlines of uplifts
that have been long exposed to atmospheric erosion. When thoy become

i!i

HSBSH

ALASKA: ITS PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY.

401

filling the
of glaciers
; those on
eds which
s waters of
, but many
jcplorations
I very long
are mono-
fstem more
n common
s near the
dstence of
and it is
ent at the
tains were
to do with
oon as they
IS of their
:e in their
prevailing
xceedingly
concerning
extremely
on bristles
ly magnifi-
north and
appers and
id magnifi-
irest there
one expect
this wild,

I peaks of
i, and rise
le concern-
nic origin,
, the land

he Pacific
!y 4000 or
id variety
i has been
n. Their
eights are
r, and no
il double
of uplifts
jy become

known it will probably be found that they are composed of older rocks
than the higher mountains in the south, and belong to a more ancient
chapter in the earth's history.

Volcanoes and Hot Springs. — The only active volcanoes in the
United States are in Alaska. In the Alexander archipelago, on the
Alaskan peninsula, on the Aleutian and neighbouring islands in Bering
Sea, there is a large number of mountains of volcanic origin, about ten of
which are now active ; those that now show no signs of activity are proved
by their symmetrical and uneroded contours to be of very recent date.

In the Alexander archipelago volcanic energy is now dormant, and the
mountains are silent and cold ; but some of them are reported to have
been in eruption during historic times. The mountains from which lava
and volcanic ashes have been ejected within the past few years are situ-
ated west of Cook's Inlet on the Alaska peninsula, and on the Aleutian
islands. Frequent eruptions in this region are reported to have occurred
within the past hundred years, some of >,hich would have been very
destructive had they occurred in more thickly settled regions. Frag-
Tiientary accounts of these catastrophes, obtained principally from the
liussians, have been summarised by Dall j and observations made since
the country came into the possession of the United States show that
the subterranean energies have by no means been exhausted. Within
the past few months a volcanic eruption of marked violence has occurred
in Shumagin island, where similar phenomena were previously un-
known. The most beautiful of volcanic mouiv^ains now known is Mount
Shishaldin, on the island of Uniniak. This mountain is about 8000 feet
high, and is a symmetrical cone with gracefully curving sides of the same
type as Fusiyama. The wreatli of steam emerging from the crater at the
summit can be seen for scores of miles out to sea, and, like the light in
tlie sky above Stromboli, is a beacon eagerly looked for by mariners.
Another volcano, known as Pogrumnoi, on the same island, is also re-
ported to have been in action in recent years, and has been the centre of
severe efirthqrakes. Mount Makushin, on the Unalaska islands, is the
only volcano :<n the region which has been climbed. It is known to have
been mildly active for many years. The greatest eruption in modern times
has been from a small volcano known as Bogoslof, some 60 miles west of
Unalaska. Kemarkable changes in this island have been noted from time
to time by officers of the U.S. Revenue Marine, and showers of ashes
erupted from it have darkened the sky over hundreds of square miles in
its vicinity, and in a few instances have fallen to a depth of several mches
at Iluiluik, and on the decks of vessels still more distant.

The greatest cniption of volcanic dust which has occurred in the
Al kan region in recent geological times took place from an unknown
crater supposed to be located about 75 miles north of Mount St. Elias,
and was carried north-eastwards by the prevailing air-currentc to a dis-
tance of fully 100 miles, covering an area of not less than 20,0 "*0 square
miles to a depth varying from a few inches to 50 feet.

In the vol anic belt extending from the Alexander archipelago to the
end of the Aleutian Islands there are many hot springs, some of which

402

SCOTTISH GEOGRAPHICAL MAGAZINE,

1 1

I !

are highlycharged with mineral matter, and are used as medical l)ath3
by both Indians and white men. This great belt, over 2000 miles long,
has also been visited by several earthquakes from time to time, and in
certain instances these disturbances are known to have been directly
connected with volcanic eruptions. The history of these various pheno-
mena has been but imperfectly noted, and their geological records have
not been studied ; but enough is known to show that important changes
are in progress which are well worthy of the attention of the geographer
and geologist.

Tundras. — In contrast with the lofty mountains on the south
coast, and illustrating the diversity so characteristic of Alaska, are the
low, nearly level, moss-covered plains from 70 to 100 miles broad, form-
ing the shores of Bering Sea and the Arctic Ocean. Possibly a com-
paratively recent and very moderate elevation of the gently sloping
shore? has taken place, forming plains, broken in some places by low
volcanic mountains. On these desolate moorlands there grows a low,
dense vegetation peculiar to high latitudes.

The word tuiulm is used in Siberia to designate the vast, treeless,
moss-covered plains bonlcring tho Arctic Ocean, and has been adopted
for similar regions on the northern shores of America. During the
summer tho tundra is a swampy, moderately level country covered with
mosses, lichens, and a great number of small and exceedingly beautiful
flowering plants, together with rushes and ferns. Tho most conspicuous
plants are dwarf willowa, whicli attain a height of, perhaps, two feet.
The soil beneath the luxuriani) carpet of vegetation is a black humus,
and at a depth in general exceeding a foot or thereabouts is always
frozen. On the surface of the t.mdra there are many lakelets and ponds,
surrounded by banks of moss, which grows even more luxuriantly than
on the adjacent areas. Tho dense tundra vegetation extends up tho
sides of the hills that occasionally break the monotony of the plain, and
is very similar to the deep mat of living plants decked with Alpine
flowers which add such an indescribable charm to the mountains of
southern Alaska at tlie upper limit of timber growth. The dense vege-
tation forming the tundra cl.anges by imperceptible gradations to dead
and decaying matter a few inches below the surface, and finally becomes
a black, peaty humus, which retains but few indications of its vegeta1)le
origin. In many instances, observed near St. Michael and on the delta
of the Yukon, the depth of the peaty layer was from 2 to more than
1 5 feet. In other localities a depth of 150 to 300 feet has been reported.
The accumulation of this highly carbonaceous layer depends on the fact
that vegetation grows luxuriantly at tho surface, while it dies and
partially decays below, but is frozen before complete decomposition
takes place. This process is similar to that which occurs in the forma-
tion of peat bogs, except that a great variety of plants take the place of
Sphagnum, and the subsoil is always frozen.

Over hundreds of thousands of square miles on the bleak Arctic coast,
both of America and Europe, deposits of vegetable matter are accumu-
lating in the manner just described, which rival in extent and thickness

ALASKA: ITS PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY,

403

ledical bathi»
miles long,
time, and in
seen directly
irioua pbeno-
records have
tant changes
e geographer

the south
aska, are the
broad, form-
ssibly a com-
ntly sloping
aces by low
grows a low,

i^ast, treeless,
)een adopted

During the
:overed with
5ly beautiful

conspicuous

s, two feet.
)Iack humus,
uts is always
,a and ponds,
iriantly than
:ends up the
le plain, and
with Alpine
aountains of

dense vege-
ions to dead
ally becomes
its vegetal)le
)n the delta

more than
!en reported.
s on the fact
it dies and
^composition

1 the forma-
the place of

Arctic coast,
ire accumu-
ad thickness

the greatest coal-fields in the world. The suggestion naturally follows
that coal may iu some instances have originated under conditions similar
to those now admitting of the formation of tundras.

Islands. — Should a deeply dissected mountain range adjacent to the
ocean be depressed a few hundred feet, thb valleys would become flooded
and form bays, straits, and sounds, surrounding bold islands and head-
lands. It is generally true that the submergence of a coast tends to the
formation of islands, and that, conversely, emergence tends to unite pre-
viously outstanding areas with the mainland. This proposition, to which
there may be many exceptions, is illustrated on our north-west coast.
From Puget Sound to Glacier Bay and Lynn Canal the coast is fringed
by hundreds of islands forming an archipelago more than a thousand
miles long. Mount Tacoma and Mount Fairweather are monuments
marking the extremities of a vast system of land-locked ocean waters
through which the largest ships can sail for a thousand miles in one
general direction without entering the open sea. The magnificence of
this celebrated " inland passage " is already well known to thousands of
tourists, and has been amply described by writers who are better able
than myself to give graphic pictures of its many attractions. This vast
archipelago owes its origin to a recent subsidence of the coast, which has
changed glaciated river valleys into placid waterways. West of Mount
Fairweather to beyond Mount St. Elias, the coast for a distance of more
than 300 miles is practically free of islands,and the mountains on the border
of the continent rise boldly from the ocean. There is evidence of a recent
rise in the land of this region which may account for the unbroken character
of its shore lino. West of Mount St. Elias the island-fringed coast again
begins, and extends to the end of the Alaskan peninsula, beyond which
lie the Aleutian Islands, forming a narrow chain over a thousand miles
long, where only the summits of the higher mountains rise above the
ocean's surface. Terraces in this region at elevations of a few hundred
feet above the sea show tliat a reverse movement has been initiated, and
tliat future changes will be in the direction of uniting the various detached
land areas.

The continental plateau to the north of the Aleutian Islands is sub-
merged to a depth o" from 200 to 500 feet, and is occupied by the waters
of Bering Sea. On this plateau there are a few volcanic mountains
of recent date which rise above the ocean surface, but no remnants
of true mountain uplifts. A more detailed survey of Bering Sea may
show that its bottom is traversed by stream channels, and may thus,
perhaps, furnish physical evidence of a recent land connection between
America and Asia.

^11 of the west and north coast of Alaska ij remarkably free from
islands, which suggests, as do many other facts, that the land has there
experienced but moderate changes of level. The contrast between the
island-fringed shores of Southern Alaska, together with the extension of
the same system of archipelagoes to the westward, where the continental
plateau is low sea-level, and the comparatively unbroken coast-line
forming the shores of Bering Soa and the Arctic Ocean, where there

SCOTTISH GEOGRAPHICAL MAGAZINE.

is scarcely a harbour in which a ship may take refuge, suggests many
lines of inquiry.

Climate. — The climate of Alaska, like its pliysical features, presents
marked contrasts. On the south coast the rainfall is excessive, amount-
ing in some observed instances to more than 100 inches in a year. A
series of observations made at Sitka by Russian observers for twenty years
gave a mean annual precipitation of over 83 inches. A belt of extreme
humidity extends westward along the coast, probably increasing in
breadth until Mount St. Elias is reached, and then diminishing in the
vicinity of the Aleutian Islands. In the interior it is much drier, as is
known from the experience of travellers, and also from a limited number
of observations. At Camp Davidson, where the Yukon crosses the 141st
meridian, as observed by Mr. M'Grath, of the U.S. Coast and Geodetic
Survey, the precipitation from September 14, 1889, to June 22, 1891,
was but 19*05 inches; for the year 1890 it was 13"55 inches. On the
northern coast, ii common with other portions of the Arctic zone, the
annual precipitatiju is small ; at Point Barrow, as observed by the Inter-
national Polar Expedition in charge of Lieutenant Ray, the rainfall for
1882 was a little over 8 inches.

The aridness of the interior and northern portion of Alaska may thus
be compared with that of the arid region between the Rocky Mountains
and the Sierra Nevada. The humid region along the south coast is a
continuation of the rainy belt of Oregon and Washington. The excessive
rainrall on the southern coast is accompanied by cool summers and by
remarkably mild winters. The mean annual temperature at Juneau and
Sitka is about 50° F. The temperature seldom falls below zero (F.).
The winters are milder than at Chicago or Boston, and are not marked by
the extremes experienced in New Yo k or Washington. In the interior
the summers are warm, and occasionally the temperature rises to between
90" and 100" in the shade; but in winter the cold is excessive, and a
temperature 4^° or 50 ' below freezing-point is frequently experienced for
many days in succession. The difference in climate between the coast
and the interior is, perhaps, most strongly indicated by the character of
the vegetation. On the coast east of Mount St. Elias the forests are
dense, the trees are large, and the undergrowth nearly as impenetrable
as in the Tropics. In the interior the forests are almost entirely of spruce
trees of small growth, which are confined to the river valleys, while the
hill-tops and mountain-sides are bare of trees and covered with luxuriant
grasses.

The marked climatic differences between the coast and the interior
also find expression in the distribution of the glaciers, which are of great
extent among the mountains on the coast, but are entirely wanting on
elevations 4000 or 5000 feet high, situated near and even north of the
Arctic Circle. » ; '^ •; ^

Ocean Currents. — The principal cause of the great contrast between
the climate of Southern Alaska and of the interior is to be found in the
currents of the Pacific. A great current of warm water comparable with

ALASKA: ITS PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY.

405

ggests many

es, presents
ve, amount-
a year. A
.wenty years
of extreme
icreasing in
iliing in the
drier, as is
ted number
s the 141st
id Geodetic
i 2-2, 1891,
!s. On the
ic zone, the
y the Inter-
rainfall for

:a may thus
Mountains
coast is a
le excessive
lers and by
Juneau and
r zero (F.).
marked by
ihe interior
to between
3sive, and a
erienced for
1 the coast
iharacter of
forests are
(ipenetrable
\y of spruce
i, while the
h luxuriant

he interior
ire of great
i'^anting on
irth of the

fit between
md in the
irable with

the Gulf Stream is described by hydrographers as starting in the neigh-
bourhood of Japan, and flowing eastward and northward across the Pacific
to within 800 or 900 miles of the American coast, where it divides, one
portion turning north and bathing the southern coast of Alaska. The
mean temperature in the path of this river in the ocean near the Alaskan
coast is about 50° F. The effect of such a vast perennial supply of warm
water impinging upon the land is to warm the atmosphere and charge it
with moisture. The prevailing winds, at least in summer, are from the
south, and are warm and moist. Blowing against lofty ice-covered
mountains, they are forced upward, and become cooled, part with their
moisture, and envelop the land in mists and clouds. Descending to the
lower region in the interior, they become dry winds, which instead of
giving out moisture promote evaporation. A more complete knowledge
of the ocean and atmospheric currents in this region would throw much
light on the origin of glaciers and the conditions which initiate
glacial epochs.

Glaciers. — The ice-fields of Alaska are a portion of a great system
which begins at the south in detached masses of ice on the summit of
the High Sierra in California in about latitude 37', and extends north-
ward along the cordillerau system through British Columbia and Southern
Alaska to the end of the Alaskan peninsula, embracing also some of the
islands of the Aleutian chain. This belt reaches its maximum de /elopmeut
in the St. Elias region, where the mountains for fully 80 miles inland from
the coast are literally buried beneath vast n^rds from which great glaciers
flow both north and south. This ice-covering diminishes in breadth
towards the west, and on the Alaskan peninsula and the Aleutian Islands
becomes broken into t'.etached glaciers of the Alpine type. In the High
Sierra the lower limit of the glaciers is from 12,000 to 13,000 feet above
the sea, but they descend lower and lower as one follows them northward,
until, in Southern Alask.c in about latitude 57°, they flow into the ocean
a.. . become " tide-Avater glaciers." In the St. Elias region there are
hundreds of magnificent ice-streams which come down practically to sea-
level, while m.any enter the ocean, and, breaking off, form cliffs of clear ice
from 200 to 300 feet high. Fartlier westward the lower limit of the ice
again rises, .and glaciers are found only on the mountains.

The glaciers of Alaska are, with the exception of those of Greenland,
the largest and most instructive in the Northern Hemisphere. The
snow falls in vast quantities, and accumulates year after year and
century .after century, and would build up the mountains to vast hoights
were it not for the fact that it is drained aw.ay in ice-streams which play
the same part in relieving the mountains from snow as rivers do where
the mean annual temperature is higher. The snow, becoming compacted
into ice, acquires a motion along lines of depression principally on account
of its own weight, and flows like a plastic body through the valleys to
lower regions, where it melts avay. The glaciers formed among the
mountains are of the Alpine type, and are much larger on the southern
than on the northern sides of the highlands. JMany of the ice-streams,
on leaving the mountains and emerging on to the flat lands at their

406

SCOTTISH GEOGRAPHICAL MAGAZINE.

i !

base, where they have room to expand, spread out in all direc-
tiona and form delta-like masses of ice of the type illustrated on a
small scale by the Rhone glacier in Switzerland. The best-known
example of this phenomenon in Alaska is Davidson glacier, near the
head of Lynn Canal, which expands into a broad, semi-circular plateau
of ice at sea-level. Many of the neighbouring glaciers, as already stated,
enter the ocean, usually at the head of wild fiords, and, breaking
off, form magnificent ice-clifi"s which are among the strangest and
most picturesque features of the wild coast where they occur. The
most widely known tide-water glaciers are the Taku glacier, at the
head of Taku Inlet, and the Muir glacier, at the head of Glacier Bay.
Splendid ice-cliff's are also formed by the glaciers which flow into
Disenchantment Bay ; but the most magnificent example of all occurs
where the !Malaspina glacier enters the open ocean and forma what is
known as Ice Cape, just south of Mount St. Elias.

The largest and, from a geological point of view, the mo?t iiistructive
glacier yet discovered in Alaska is the Malaspina ice-sheet, situated on
the coast south of Mount St. Elias. The glaciers of the Alpine type,
draining the ice-fields on the lofty mountains to the north for a distance
of fully 75 miles, contribute to the formation of this great ice-sheet in
much the same maimer as mountain streams unite to foim a lake. The
glaciers on leaving the mountains expand and unite on the flat lands
adjacent to the sea, and form a nearly level plateau of ice about 1500
square miles in extent. This is the type of a class of ice-masses termed
" Piedmont glaciers," which has not been recognised elsewhere. The
general elevation of its surface is about 1500 feet. In the central por-
tion it is free from moraines and dirt, and presents the appearance of a
vast snow-covered prairie without surface streams and destitute of all
traces of life. At its borders it is covered with a belt of boulders and
stones, forming a fringing moraine some 10 or 15 miles broad, the
outer margin of which is overgrown with dense vegetation consisting
principally of spruce trees, in many instances 3 feet or more in
diameter. This striking example of a forest growing on a glacier,
although novel before the study of the glaciers of the west coast began,
is not confined to the example cited, as many of the smaller glaciers in
the same region on both sides of the mountains are similarly buried
beneath forest-covered <Ji%m.

The Malaspina glacier is drained by sub-glacial or englacial streams,
flowing in tunnels and emerging at the margin of the ice from beneath
low archways, or rising under great pressure as immense springs just at the
base of the escarpment formed by the border of the glacier. The streams
on issuing from the ice bring out vast quantities of gravel and sand from
the tunnels through ivhich they flow, and deposit it in alluvial fans, some
of which are many square miles in area. These deposits consist of
stratified and watcrworn material, which in several instances is ])eing
deposited over a forest-covered region, and is burying the vegetation in
such a way as to form what in formerly glaciated regions is sometimes
designated as a " forest bed." The stratified material spread out about
the borders of the glacier is more extensive and of greater geological

all (lirec-
)rated on a
best-known
ir, near the
ular plateau
3ady stated,
breaking
angest and
ccur. The
cier, at the
rlacier Bay.

flow into
if all occurs
ms what is

> instructive
situated on
Ipine type,
r a distance
ice-sheet in
lake. The
flat lands
about 1500
sses termed
here. The
central por-
arance of a
itute of all
ouldera and
broad, the
I consisting
r more in
I a glacier,
loast began,
' glaciers in
iarly buried

ial streams,
om beneatli
s just at the
L'he streams
I sand from
I fans, some

consist of
es is l)eing
sgetation in

sometimes
i out about
* geological

ALASKA: ITS THYSICAL GEOGRAPHY.

407

interest than the (ybris carried upon its surface. Connected with the
alluvial fans about the margin of the glacier there are deposits of gravel
forming in the tunnels beneath the ice that have many of the character-
istics of the *' osars " (known in Scotland as " kames," and in Ireland as
" eskers "), which have bean such a puzzling feature in ancient glacial
records both of Europe and America.

Another interesting fact connected with the great ice-belt which has
its greatest development in Southern Alaska is, that from one end of tlie
aeries to the other, a distance of fully 3000 miles, the glaciers are slowly
retreating, and probably have been receding for the past one hundred or
one hundred and fifty years, Tiie amount of this recession in the case
of the glaciers at the head of Yakiitat Bay is known to be four or five
miles ; and at the head of Glacier Bay the retreat is thought to have been
not less than fifteen miles during the past century.

Space will not admit of a more extended account of the wonderful
glaciers to which attention has been directed ; but any one who visits
Alaska even as a summer tourist cannot fail to be charmed witli the
variety and beauty, both of form and colour, »vuich they impart to the
stern scenery.

Subsoil Ice. — In describing the tundras it was mentioned that
at a depth exceeding a foot beneath the surface the soil is always
frozen. This condition prevails also in many places in the interior of
the country where other characteristics of tundras are absent. In many
places along the Yukon for 1500 miles from its mouth the banks are
tormed of horizontal sheets of ice many feet thick, which is covered with
moss and supports a dense forest of spruce trees. The thickness of the
frozen stratum beneath the moss-covered flat lands of the interior has
never been determined, but in a few localities a depth of more than
25 feet has been penetrated without reaching the bottom. In some
instances the frozen layers seem to have been preserved by the deposi-
tion of silt and mud over them during spring freshets, thus sealing them
up and preserving them until additional layers are formed above, and
ensuring their preservation for ages. But many observations, both in
the northern part of North America and in Siberia, show that a great
depth of subsoil ice frequently occurs in situations where it is not pro-
bable that it could have been formed by the freezing of the surface waters
during the winter. In such instances it seems that the frozen layer
represents the excess of winter freezing over summer thawing for a long
period.

A frozen subsoil is a novel feature to most people, and frequently
forcibly attracts the attention of travellers in Alaska. Many times
during the hot summers, while the temperature is from 90' to 100° F.
in the shade, and tiiere is no night to bring relief and rest, one may
brush away the moss at his feet and find solid ice beneath. These
conditions occur also, as already stated, in the tundras along the shore
of Bering Sea and the Arctic Ocean, and probably exist in the flat lands
bordering many of the rivers of the interior. On the Kowak river, as
described by Lieut. Cantwell, there are bold ice-cliff's from 125 to 150

408

8C01TISH GEOGRAPHICAL MAGAZINE.

i)'

feet high ; these nro the most striking examples of frozen subsoil that
have been reported.

Forests. — The summer traveller to Sitka, Juneau, and Lynn Canal
is usually deeply impressed with the extent and value of the forests
clothing the shores along which ho sails. The most important trees in
this region are two species of spruce, but there is in addition the yellow
cedar, concerning the value of which much has been written. The
yellow cedar is found sparingly throughout South-eastern Alaska, and
reaches as far westward as Yakutat Bay. The trees are often fine and
large, and reach a height of 1 50 to 200 feet. The wood is fragrant, light
yellow in colour, and very durable. It is said to bo especially valuable
for ship-building. Unfortunately, the supply is not so great as has fre-
quently been stated, and should the forests of Alaska be thrown open
to lumbermen the tree will soon be exterminated. The two species
of spruce which make up 99 per cent, of the forests are the RIenzies, or
Sitka spruce, which is very abundant, and the Marten spruce, or hemlock,
which grows luxuriantly, especially in the sheltered valleys . uong the
foot-hills, and forms one of the most beautiful forests of any of the
Coniferm. Besides the trees already mentioned, there are birchesj, maples,
alders, and wild apples, which grow sparingly and have no commercial
importance.

Beneath the dense shades of the sombre, moss-draped forests there
is a great variety of shrubs, ferns, and lichens, and many bushes which
produce edible berries. Of these the huckleberry and salmonberry are
in greatest profusion and of greatest value. In open places near the
coast strawberries of fine flavour grow luxuriantly. In a grassy meadow
bordering the coast south of Mount St. Elias I found luscious strawberries
growing in the greatest profusion. The ground was literally white with
blossoms in June and pink with ripe fniit in August. Everywhere in
the shade of the evergreens the ground is thickly covered with moss and
lichens, growing so closely that they form a continuous carpet into
which one sinks knee-deep at every step. This brown-green mantle not
only covers the ground and conceals fallen tree-trunks, but grows on
the trunks and branches of the trees still standing, so that it is one of
the most prominent features in the sombre woodlands.

The dense forests to which attention has been directed are confined
to South-eastern Alaska, where the air is humid and the temperature
remarkably uniform. It is in this region that by far the most valuable
trees grow, and it is here only that timber available for building purposes
is likely to be found. To the west, along the coast, the forests come to
an end at Kadiak island, and all the land to the westward, including the
Alaskan peninsula and the Aleutian Islands, is treeless.

Nearly all the region drained by the Yukon and the neighbouring
streams is forest-covered, but the trees have an Arctic character, and
except along some of the river bottoms do not usually attain the size
necessary for lumbering purposes. The most common — indeed the only
tree of importance — in the interior is the white spruce, which furnishes an
inferior wood for commercial purposes, and is seldora of large size. It

subsoil that

Lynn Canal

tho forests

tant trees in

n the yellow

rritten. The

Alaska, and
ften fine and
ragrant, light
ally valuable
at as has frc-
thrown open

two species
Menzies, or
), or hemlock,
.uong the

at'Y of tho
relies, maples,

commercial

forests there
bushes which
monberry are
vces near tho
rassy meadow
iS strawberries
ly white with
Iverywhere in
vith moss and
s carpet into
en mantle not
3ut grows on
t it is one of

1 are confined
temperature
most valuable
[ding purposes
)rests come to
, including the

! neighbouring
character, and
ittain the size
ideed the only
cli furnishes an

large size.

ALASKA : ITS PHYSICAL (JEOCUAl'HY.

409

13 frequently stated that Alaska is a great timber reservation ; but, so far
as my own infi>rmaLioii goes, this term should bo applied only to the
coasts and islands of South-eastern Alaska, and even then with limitations.

Animal Lifk. — The large game of Alaska consists of moose and
cariboo, formerly abundant throughout the interior; bears of at least two
gpecies, the black and the brown, roam over nearly every portion of the
mainland ; deer live on the islands in the south-oast ; Hocks of mountain
sheep and mountain goats graze on the highlands both near the coast and
in the interior. Of fur-bearing animals the most important are the sea-
otter and fur-seal, laud-otters, martens, beavers, minx, ermine, black,
silver-crossed and red foxes, besides the bears already mentioned. The
commercial value of the furs of tiiese various rnimals is too well known
to call for remark in an article of the present character. Hair-seals occur
iu abundance along the entire coast-line, and are a most important
article of food for a large part of the native inhabitants. AVlien the value
of their skins for leather and other purposes becomes more widely known,
they will no doubt form an important article of commerce. The Eoln"a or
white whalo is a common article of food with the Eskimos, and is uiken
many miles up the Yukon. Bird life is abundant and varied, and many
migrating birds have their summer breeding-gi'ound there. In the
autumn immense flocks of geese and crane may be seen hiitli in the air
flying southward. Swans are not rare, and ducks of various species
abound. Ptarmigan are common both near the coast and in tlie interior.

Nearly all of the streivms emptying themselves into the Pacific and
into Bering Sea abound in food fishes. Salmon and sea-trout are to be
seen in myriads at certain seasons, and halibut, cod, herring and other
fishes may be taken in quantities off the coast. The value of the fisheries
of this region is already very great, and in the future will no doubt be
the basis of the Largest industries of the north-west coast.

Man. — Alaska, like other portions of America, was peopled by many
tribes before the coming of Europeans. The diversity in customs and
language, arts and traditions, among these peoples is even greater than
among the native tribes of tho central and southern parts of the con-
tinent ; thus indicating that they have been separated into families and
tribes for a period sufficiently long for diverge languages and arts to
arise. Their tribal life has been in many instances of such long duration
that its origin is lost in tho obscurity which preceded tradition. Their
myths and folklore give but slight, if any, indication whence they came
or from what older stock they sprang.

Those who have studied Alaskan ethnology most thoroughly are of
the opinion that the north-western portion of this continent was not
peopled from Asia, as is i)opularly supposed, but consider that all of the
tribes of Alasksi, including even the Eskimos, are descendants from
aboriginal stocks in the more central part of the continent.

The natives of Alaska form two main groups or stocks known in
popular language as Eskimos and Indians. Tiie natives of the north and
west coasts and the Aleutian Islands have been designated as Orarians by

VOL. X.

410

SCOTTISH OEOORAPHICAL MAGAZINE.

Dall, and have two divisions, Innuit and Aleutians. Tiie Indians are
also divided into two principal stocks ; those in the interior being known
as Tinneh or Athabaskans, and those of the soutli-eastern portion as
Thlinkets [Tlingit].

The hardy Eskimos have chosen their homes on the bleak, in-
hospitable north and west coasts facing the Arctic Ocean and Bering Sea,
where frozen tundras extend for scores of miles iniaiul, and not a tree
breaks the monotony of the sombre moorland. Winter there reigns for
eight or nine months, and the summers are rainy and foggy. These
people are confined to a narrow strip along the shore, which widens to
perhaps one hundred miles where the Yukon and Kuskoquim enter the
sea. As is well known, this same great stock extends around the Arctic
shores of the continent to Labrador and Greeidand. Strange as it may
appear to the inhabitants of more favoured lands, these people shun tiie
forests, prefennng the open tundras and low bleak coasts, where the only
wood for fuel or for shelter is such as is oust ashore by the waves. They
are fed and clothed by the products of the sea. The hair-seal is to them
what the coconut palm is to many tribes in the Tropics.

Skin boats or kayaks are the most characteristic and typical of the
many products of their skill, and compare favourably with, if they do not
excel, any similar crafts used by other peoples. These remarkable boats
are made of parchment-like seal-skin stretched tightly over a light frame
of driftwood, so as to leave only a round hole through which the body of
the occupant projects as he sits flat on the bottom. Some of the larger
kayaks have two or three openings, and in this respect ditt'er from the
similar crafts of the Labrador coast, which, as I understand, are made for
a single occupant. These strong, light boats are models of grace and
buoyancy. The paddler, clothed in a thin waterproof shirt or kamhka,
which is tightly lashed about the opening in which he sits, is secure
against rain and spray and safe among waves that would swamp many a
larger vessel. Kayaks are not made by other races, and arc typical, and
we might almost say a part, of the Eskimo. To one seeing a native for
the first time riding the waves swiftly and safely in his kayak far out on
the stormy sea, it seems as if boat and man were one ; in the same way
that horse and rider we.'C considered as one animal when Spanish
horsemen were first beheld by the simple natives of Mexico. These
hardy navigators might with propriety be called "kayakers," or the
people of the kaj'ak.

The Eskimos live in well-built winter houses and practise many arts
and industries which indicate a stage of advancement not attained by
many races in more favoured lands. They aie separated into many
subordinate divisions, speaking somewhat diverse dialects; but in the
present sketch we can only direct attention to their more general
characteristics and to their peculiar geographical distribution.

The minor division of the Orarian people, the Aleuts, have their
homes on the Alaskan peninsula and the Aleutian Islands, and now
number about 2000. Their intercourse with Europeans has been longir
and more intimate than is the case with any other natives of Alaska,
and the change wrought in their lives and character by this contact

ALASKA : ITS PHYSICAL GKdfiUAI'HY.

411

Indians are

eing known

portion as

I bleak, in-
Bering Sea,
not a tree
re reigns for
ijgy. These
;li widens to
im enter the
1 the Arctic
ge as it may
pie shun the
lere the only
■aves. They
111 is to thera

ypical of the
r they do not
rkable boats
a light frame
1 the body of
of the larger
fer from the
are made for
of grace and
t or kamleka,
its, is secure
vamp many a
c typical, and
g a native for
■ak far out on
the same way
I'hen Spanish
exico. These
kers," or the

ise many arts
t attained by
ed into many
; but in the
more general
m.

ts, have their
nds, and now
as been longer
vea of Alaska,
y this contact

lias been great. The harsh treatment of the Russians for more tliau
a century stamped out many of their customs and characteristics, greatly
reduced their numbers, and contaminated their blood. In more recent
years the labours of missionaries, the establishment of schools, and
other changed conditions hav) continued the modification of the race.
Many of their arts have been neglected or forgotten owing to the fact
that the rewards received for soa-otter hunting, and for killing seals on the
Pribilof Islands, have enabled them to supply t'leir wants with articles
manufactured by white men. Changes in environment, produced in
different ways under Russian and American rule, have consjtired to
modify this people, so that to-day they seem a different race from that
described by early visitors to the wild and strangely magnificent shores
on which they live.

In the interior of Alaska, and confined to the forest-covered region,
there are several tribes of Indians which are markedly distinct from the
Eskimos. These peoples belong to a stock which extends southward
throughout the Rocky Mountain region for many hundreds of miles, and
include some of the tribes with which white people coming from the east
have been long in contact. The stock to which the Indians of Central
Alaska belong is designated by some as the Tinneh and by others as the
Athabaskan. These Indians probably inimber three or four thousand.
They live on the banks of the numerous rivers and lakes of the interior,
and only roach the coast near Cook's Inlet. In all other portions of the
shore-line of Alaska they have been held back and kept from direct
commerce with distant peoples by the more intelligent and more
progressive Eskimos, and by the still more warlike and agressive
Thlinkets.

The Athabaskans live by fishing and hunting, and it is from them
that many of the rich furs so highly prized in Europe and America are
obtained. They are river Indians, and do all their summer travelling in
birch-bark canoes.

Their canoes are not curved upward at either end as are the more
familiar crafts built of the same material in the region of the Laurentian
lakes, but are low, sharp-pointed, and have a deck of bark from twelve to
sixteen inches long at either end. Occasionally they are tastefully
decorated with beads and porcupine quills. These crafts are so light
that a man can easily carry one in a single hand, but are strong and
.service.able, and seem as well adapted to the requirements of the river
travellers as are the kayaks to the needs of the more venturesome
Eskimos. The Athabaskans do not yield themselves readily to the
advances of civilisation, and are now in a great measure in practically
the same condition as v,^hen the first white man ventured into the vast
wilderness where they have their homes.

Among the numerous islands and along the deeply indented coast of
south-eastern Alaska there lives a people second to none of the native
ribes of America in general intelligence and progressiveness. These are
be Thlinkets. They now number about 4500 souls. They are closely
elated to tribes in British Columbia which extend up the great rivers,
nd are associated with, and in some instances merge into, other tribes

412

HCUTTISH UKUUIlArillCAL MACAZINK.

which have the commonly recognised chamcteristics of the Indian
strongly pronounced.

The Tlilinkcts are the only natives of Alaska that tourists by the
ordinary steanisliip routes to Sitka are likely to meet. Tiiey have been
studied more thoroughly than any other of the tribes of Alaska, and
much interesting and valuabh! information bearing on their customs and
traditions, arts and languages, is now available; in our lil)raric8.

Tiio placid waters separating the thousands of islands of South-
easter! Alaska are to the Tidinkets what tlie rivers of tlu! interior are to
the Athabaskans. The convenience of these widely branching water-
ways, in a land where the vegtitation is so dense as to be almost
impenetrable, has led the native inliabitants to acquire great skill in the
construction of canoes. Their boats are of an entirely different type from
those used on the ice-bound shores at the north, or on the Yukon, but
are none the less well adapted to the wants of the brave and venturesome
navigators who build them. The canoes are hewn from a single log, and
are sometimes 50 or GO feet in length, and T) or G feet in breadth, while
others intended for a single paddler are almost as light as birch canoes
of similar size. These boats are not only remarkable for the beauty of
their curving lines, but are sometimes riclily decorated with totemic
designs in colour. They are high at tlie prow and stern, wiiich gives
them .something of the appearance of gondolas. When gliding over the
placid waters separating shaggy mountains, they add a cliarm to the
wonderful scenery of tlie Alexandrian archipelago which will never be
forgotten by those who have once beheld it.

Tiic houses of the Tidinkets are large, well built, and often richly
carved and painted with grotesque designs. In front of some of the
older houses carved and painted totem-poles still stand, which record the
ancestry of their owners. The totemic system in vogue among this
])eople renders tliem of peculiar interest, especially as it has led to a
development of a truly artistic taste whicli finds expression in carving on
wood, stone, and ivory. Many of the products of this art, npart from
their mythical meaning, are attractive by reason of their design and
finish. Many other peculiar and interesting characteristics of this race
might be enumerated, but a glimpse is all that space will allow.

Brief and imperfect as this essay is, of necessity, yet I trust enough
has been said to show that, to the geographer, Alaska is a fascinating
land. It holds out inducements to the explorer to tread new soil and
behold vast regions on which the eye of civilised man has never rested ;
to the geologist it offers the keys which will uidock many enigmas in the
ancient history of other lands ; its living glaciers are now m.aking records
which are in every way similar to those left by ancient ice-sheets both
in America and Europe ; to the ethnologist it presents tribes of men as
yet but imperfectly studied or entirely unknown ; it is here that the New
most nearly approaches the Old World, and thus affords facilities for
studying the vexed question of whence came the native tribes of
America.

The future of Alaska, and its direct response to the wants, of man, do
not fall within the scope of this article; but it must not be forgotten that

ALASKA ; ITS IMIYSICAI, (iIX)(iUAI'llY.

110 IiuHiin

ists by the
have been
Vlaskii, and
iistonis ami
I.

of South-
erior are to
ling water-
bo almost
skill in the
t type from
Yukon, but
.-enturesome
igle log, and
uadth, while
)irch canoes
10 beauty of
nt\\ totemic
which gives
ing over the
liarm to the
ill never be

often richly
some of the
uh record the
among this
lias led to a
in carving on
b, p.part from
r design and
3 of this race
low.
trust enough
a fascinating
new soil and
never rested ;
enigmas in the
laking records
ce-sheets both
ibes of men as
that the New
s facilities for
,tive tribes of

mts of man, do
forgotten that

in the far north-we«t tlioro is a vast region which is more hivourablc as
an al'odo for man than many lauds now inhabited. When less remote
coun? sareiM.oi,l..d to ovrtlowing, Alaska will cease to bo neglected
and t fisherils and mi.u-s will bo .lovolopod and many of tlie wan s ot
the ,co-,lo engaged in these and kindred industnos will bo supphod by
Hock an honlf that can bo pastured all the year round ui the luxuriant
meadows hero and there along the southern shores and on many
neighbouring islands. .