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Les diagrammas suivants illustrent la mAthode. 1 2 3 32X 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 ^piipP'l Jfi CO «a M C4 » H ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER, A rOPULAIl ACCOUNT OF THE TRAVELS OF THE ALASKA EXPLORING EXPEDITION OF 1883, ALONG THE CIREAT YUKON RIVER, FROM ITS SOURCE TO ITS MOUTH, IN THE BRITISH NORTH-WEST TERRITORY, AND IN THE TERRITORY OF ALASKA. BT FREDERICK 8CHWATKA, Laureate of the Paris GeoKraphlcal Society and t f tlie Imperial Geoi;rapliic«l Society of Rassia, Ilonorary Member Bremen Ocograpliieal Society, etc., etc. Commander of tlie Szpedition. NEW YORK : CASSELL & COMPANY, Limited, 739 & 741 Broadway. ■«W" I- '^cMcoi^T^^A P '>TO(JISAlMI8 BY MU. HUMAN. raw Dayay Vau.ey, Nourhk River 73 Dayay Valley, from Camp 4 77 Lake Lindeman 08 Lake Bennett 101 Lake Marhh liil Grand Canon 16.3 The Cascades 1(59 LoRiNd Bluff 11).*) Kit'l-ah-«on Indian Village 197 Inoersoll Islands 2()1 Mouth of Pelly River 209 LooKiNO UP Yukon from Selkirk 21.3 Ayan Grave at Selkirk 217 Ayan Indians in Canoes 221 Konit'l, Ayan Chief 2:M) Klat-ol-klin Villaoe 253 Steamer "Yukon" .276 Nuklakayet .307 The Raft, at end of its JouRNnv :112 OoNALASKA .'144 Map 1, Map oi-^ Alasica Explorin(j Expedition . . .55 Map 2, " " - " 207 Map 3, " " " " .In Pocket. FllOM SKETCIIKS BY SEIUJEAXT OLOSTEH. Crater Lake, British North-west Territory, the source of Alaska's Great River . . , Frontispiece. Canoeino up the Dayay . . 65 Ahcendin(J the Pkrrier Pass 8S In a Storm on the Lakes 90 Lake Bove 116 "Stick" Indians 187 Among the "Sweepers" 184 Prying the Raft off a Bar 145 Grayling IM LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. '^'^W IH THE Rink Raimdh 17S Clay Bluith on the Yukon 170 Outlet ov Lake Kluktabhi 184 The Rink Rapidh 191 The Ruinh of Selkirk 8()5 In the Upper Ramparth 207 Moube-Skin Mountain 248 RoQUETTE Rock 250 Boundary Butte 201 Lower Ramparts Rapids 2i)5 Mouth of Tanana 303 Falling Banks of Yukcw 319 Anvik 330 FROM DIAGKAM AND PLANS BY TIIK AUTIIOK AND OTIIKKH. The Inland Pashaoe 12 Scenes in the Inland Pa'ssaoe 19 Sitka, Ai^ska 29 Chilkat Bracelet 36 Pyramid Harbor, Chilkat Inlet 43 Chilkat Indian Packer 88 Methods of Trackino a ('anoe up a Rapid ... 64 Salmon Bpearh 76 Walking a Loo 80 Chasing a ^Iountain Goat 88 Snow Shoeh 87 Pins for Fastrning Marmot Snares 112 "Snubbing" the Raft 131 Banks of the Yukon 135 SCRAPIN(» AIX)NG A JANIC 140 Course of Raft and Axis of Stream l.'>2 Whirlpool at Lower End of Island 15S Alaska Brown Bear Fighting Mosquitoes . . . .174 A\AN AND Chilkat Qamblino Tools .... 227 Plan of Ayan Summer House 229 Ayan Moose Arrow 231 Ayan Winter Tent 233 A Gravel Bank 236 Fishing Nets 258 Salmon Killing Club 259 A Moose Head 264 Moss on Yukon River 267 Indian "Cache" 289 Iin>iAN Out-door Gun Covering . . ... 313 * I iiia ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER. ' ,: . r CHAPTER I. I NTRODI^CTOK 1 , ' " i - 'I [E Alaskan exploring expedition of 1883 was com- posed of tlie following nie'». hers: Lieut. Schwatka, U. S. A., commanding; Dr. George F. Wilson, U. S. A., Surgeon ; Topogmphicsil AN.sistunt Churles A. Homan, U.S. Engineers, Topographer and Photogmpher ; Sergeant Charles A. Gloster, U. S. A., Artist; Corporal ShircliflF, U.S.A., in charge of stores; Private Roth, assistant, and Citizen J. B. Mcintosh, si miner, who h:id lived in Alaska and was well acquainted witli its methods of travel. Indians and others were added and discharged from time to time as hereafter noted. The main object of the expedition was to acquire such information of the country tmversed and its wild inhabitants as would be valuable to the military- authorities in the future, and as a map would be need- ful to illustrate such information well, the party's efforts were rewarded with making the expedition successful in a geographical sens«\ I had hoped to be able, through qualified subordinates, to extend our scientific knowledge of the country explored, espec- ially in regard to its botany, geology, natural history, etc.; and, although these subjects would not in any -I, J • i| 10 ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER. event have been adequately discussed in a popular treatise like the present, it must be admitted that little was accomplished in these branches. The explanation of this is us follows : In 1881, authority was asked from Congress for a sum of money to make such explorations under military supervision and the request was dis- approved by the General of the Army and Secretary of War. This disapproval, combined with the active oppo- sition of government departments which were assigned to work of the same general character and coupled with the reluctance of Congress to make any appropriations whatever that year, was sufficient to kill such an under- taking. When the military were withdrawn from Alaska by the President, about the year 1878, a paragraph ap- peared at the end of the President's order stating that no further control would he exercised by the army in Alaska ; and this i)roviso was variously interpreted by the friends of the army and its enemies, as a humiliation either to the army or to the President, according to the private belief of the commentator. It was therefore seriously debated whether any military expedition or party sent into that country for any purpose whatever would not be a direct violation of the President's pro- scriptive order, and when it was decided to waive that consideration, and send in a party, it was considered too much of a responsibility to add any specialists in science, with the disapproval of the General and the Secretary hardly dry on the i)aper. The expedition was therefore, to avoid being recalled, kept as secret as possible, and when, on May 22d, it departed from Portland, Oregon, upon the Victoria^ a vessel which had been specially x^nt on the Alaska route, only a two or three line notice had iVMai f INTRODUCTORY. 11 ! gotten into the Oregon papers announcing the fact ; a notice that in spreading was referred to in i)rint by one government official as "a junketing party," by another as a "jjrospecting '" party, while another bitterly acknowledged that had he received another day's intimation he could have had the party recalled by the authorities at Washington. Thus the little ex- pedition which gave the first complete survey to the third* river of our country stole away like a thief in the night and with far less money ir. its hands to conduct it through its long journey than was afterward ai)pro- priated by Congress to publish its report. Leaving Portland jit midnight on the 22d, the Victo- ria arrived at Astoria at the mouth of the Columbia the forenoon of the 2i}d, the remaining hours of daylight being employed in loading witli supiilies for a number of salmon canneries in Alaska, the large amount of freight for which had necessitated this extra steamer. That night we crossed the Columbia River bar and next morning entered the Strait of Juande Fuca, the southern entrance from the Pacific Ocean which leads to the in- land jiassjige to Alaska. * The largest river on tlie North Ainericaii continent so far as this mighty stream flows witliin our houndaries. . . . The people of the Unitad States will not l)e quick to take to the idea that the vol- ume of water in an Alaskan river is greater than that discharged hy the mighty Mississippi ; but it is entirely within the bounds of honest statement to say that the Yukon river . . . discharges every liour one-third more water than the " Father of Watei-s."— Petroff's Government Report on Ahtska. * I CHAPTER II. THE INLAND PASSAGE TO ALASKA. ^LAND PASSAGE " to Alaska is the fjord -like channel, resembling a great river, which extends from the northwestern part of Washington T e r '• i t o r y, through British Columbia, into southeastern Alaska. Along this coast line for about a thousand miles, stretches a vast archipelago closely hugging the mainland of the Territories named above, the southernmost important island being Van- couver, almost a diminutive continent in itself, while to the north Tchichagolf Island limits it on the seaboard. Prom the little town of Olympia at the h^ad of Puget Sound, in Washington Territory, to Chilkat, Alaska, at the head of Lynn Channel, or Canal, one sails as if on a grand river, and it is really hard to comprehend that it is a portion of the ocean unless one can imagine some deep fjord in Norway or Greenland, so deep that he can sail on its waters for a fortnight, for the fjord-like character is very prominent in these channels to which the name of " Inland Passage " is usually given. These channels between the islands and mainland are strikingly uniform in width, and therefore river-like in THE INLAND PASSAGE TO ALASKA. 18 appearance as one steams or sails through them. At occasional points they connect with the Pacific Ocean, and if there be a storm on the latter, a few rolling swells may enter at these places and disturb the equilibrium of sensitive stomachs for a brief hour, but at all other places the channel is as quiet as any broad river, what- ever the weather. On the south we have the Strait of >Juan de Puca and to the north Cross Sound as the limit- ing channels, while between the two are found Dixon Entrance, which separates Alaska from British Colum- bia, Queen Charlotte Sound, and other less important outlets. On the morning of the 24tli of May we entered the Strait of Juan de Fuca, named ; fter an explorer — if such he may be called — who never entered this beautiful sheet of water, and who owes his immortality to an audacious guess, which came so near the truth as to deceive the scientific world for many a century. To the left, as we enter, i.e., northward, is the beautiful British island of Vancouver, the name of which commemorates one of the world's most famous explorers. Its high rolling hills are covered with shaggy firs, broken near the beach into little prairies of brighter green, which are dotted here and there with pretty little white cottages, the humblest abodes we see among the industrious, British or American, who live in the far west. The American side, to the southward, gives us the same picture backed by the high range of the ()Iym])ian Mountains, whose tops are covered with j)erpetual snow, and upon whose cold sides drifting clouds are c(m- densed. Through British Columbia the sides of this passage are ^ 14 ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER. covered with firs and spruce to the very tops of the steep mountains forming them, but as Northing is gained and Alaska is reached the summits are covered with snow and ice at all months of the year, and by tlie time we cast anchor in Chilkat Inlet, which is about the north- ernmost point of this great inland salt-water river, we find in many places these crowns of ice debouching in the shai)e of glaciers to the very water's level, and the tourist beholds, on a regular line of steamboat travel, glaciers ^nd icebergs, and many of the wonders of arcti'r regions, although upon a reduced scale. Alongside the very banks and edges of these colossal rivers of ice one can gather the most beautiful of Alpine flowers and wade up to his w^aist in grasses that equal in luxuriance the famed fields of the pami)as ; while the singing of the birds from the woods and glens and the fragrance of the foliage make one easily imagine that the Arctic circle and equator have been linked together at this point. Entering Juan de Fuca Strait a few hours were spent in the pretty little anchorage of Neah Bay, the first shelter for ships after rounding Cape Flattery, and here some merchandise was unloaded in the huge Indian canoes that came alongside, each one holding at least a ton. Victoria, the metropolis of British Columbia, was reached the same day, and as it was the Queen's birth- day we saAT the town in all its bravery of beer, bunting and banners. Our vessel tooted itself hoarse outside the harbor to get a pilot over the bar, but none was to be had till late in the day, when a pilot came out to u' showing plainly by his condition that he knew ever^ ar in and about Victoria. With the bar pilot on the br ige, V .li. , ~"i h .'\ VI ! THE INLAND PASSAGE TO ALASKA 18 T\ i A , ~^ SO as to save insurance should an a^^ident occur, we entered the picturesque little h .rbor in safety, despite the discoveries of our guide t-hat since his last visit all the buoys had been woefr'iy misplaced, and even the granite channel had char .^ed its course. But Vic- toria has many embellishro^ ats more durable than bunt- ing and banners, and mr jt conspicuous among them are her well arranged an'^ well constructed roads, in which she has no equal o' . the Pacific coast of North America, and but few rivr .s in any other part of the world. On the 26t\ we crossed over to Port Townsend, the port of er.ry for Puget sound, and on the 27th we headed 'jr Alaska by way of the Inland Passage. Fo^ purposes of description this course should have bc^a designated the "inland passages," in the plural, 'jr its branches are almost innumerable, running in all directions like the streets of an irregular city, although now and then they are reduced to a single channel or fjord which the steamer is obliged to take or put out to sea. At one point in Discovery Passage leading from the Gulf of Georgia toward Queen Charlotte Sound, the inland passage is so narrow that our long vessel had to steam under a slow bell to avoid accidents, and at this place, called Seymour Narrows, there was much talk of bridging the narrow way in the grand scheme of a Can- adian Pacific Railway, which sli"buld have its western terminus at Victoria. Through this contracted way the water fairly boils when at its greatest velocity, equaling ten miles an hour in spring tides, and at such times the passage is hazardous even to steamers, while all other craft avoid it until slack water. Jutting rocks increase the danger, and on one of these the United States man- / , M ''^''^o ALASKA'S. oneArmvim. of-war Saranac was lost * passed through At fh ^"^* ^^'S^*** >'«ars before we trending away to the ^.Jl " '"'""'°" ""e Delaware at the Wale" GaT T ^''' ^''""' » the »-t the tourist be ZpZ o! th """' ""'*' '""^''-^ The new bend now b^^esl ^ ""^""'^ *<'^'««- continues to Queen Charlotte So r '''"*' '*™"»'«» « neets by one st^'t, two Islt^";/: t" «'"«" '* con- e'^cept in name, and n^eT ,."''''""•''•''" ''"k*. At nearly ever; JintZlTTZT.'"' ""^' '«»«• ■^-th arms fake on a newTame r/^"""' '^'^''^^''^ «Pidlyas the names ofauth ! '"^ '"'™Se as ^om the same over a few hi T' ""f ■'^'^'"" Johnstone Strait is particnInT i'- . """^ ^'^^ of from the water fully ".^"7 ^ '"^'' ™'"^ "^ruptly ""«he the YellowstLe C /r "^ '" '"""'""• ""* «tillcove,^d with snow and probah, '""""'*' ««'« »ow remains the aummerC.5 " 0"'"™ ^""*« valley was on the Vancouver S .^^"'' "<'*'•'«»'''« spicuous conical hill i„ ;*"! ''""'' '"'«'■ «'ith a con- o-era thousand feet in heilr-i^"" ""^ '"'^*"'«'"' THE INLAND PASSAGE TO ALASKA. 17 before we s pictur- passiige ly on the ondering Bw lands ie right, you find ^nd pas- ou like or the urprises rage, and so it con- l alike, long, iverges tige as seldom ide of •uptly not were ojjes cable con- been lills rica this ater point in my narrative. Occasionally windrows occur through the dense coniferous forests of the inland pas- sage, where the trees have been swept or leveled in a remarkable manner. Such as were cut vertically liad been caused by an avalanche, and in these instances the work of clearing had been done as faithfully as if by the hands of man. Sometimes the bright green moss or grass had grown up in these narrow ways, and when there was more than one of about the same age there was quite a picturesque effect of stripings of two shades of green, executed on a most colossal plan. These windrows of fallen trees sometimes stretched along horizontally in varying widths, an effect undoubtedly produced by heavy gales rushing through the contracted " passage." One's notice is attracted by a species of natural beacon which materially assists the navigator. Over almost all the shoals and submerged rocks hang fields of kelp, a growth with which the whole "passage" abounds, thus affording a timely warning badly needed where the channel has been imperfectly charted. As one might surmise the water is very bold, and these submerged and ragged rocks are in general most to be feared. Leaving Johnstone Strait we o.iter Queen Charlotte Sound, a channel which was named, lacking only three years, a century ago. It widens into capacious waters at once and we again f^lt the "throbbing of old Neptune's pulse," and those with sensitive stomachs perceived a sort of flickering of their own. One who is acquainted merely in a general way with the history and geography of this confusing country finds many more Spanish names than he anticipates, and to his surprise, a conscientious investigation shows that IH ALONG ALASKA'S (JHEAr HIVER. •'ven as it is tlu; vigorous old ('astiliaii exi>loivrs have not received all the credit to whi<'h they are entitled, for many of their scure the grand scenery that tempted the tmvelers thither. The waters of the Paciti(! ()v:it(>rfallsf<>d from the gliu'iers iii(l(l«>ii in ihe fo^. At every few miles we pass the moiitiiH of inlets and channels, leading away into the moiintainuiis eoiintry no one knows whither. There are no charts which show more tlian the mouths of these inlets. Out of or into tliese an occasional canoe speeds its silent way perchance in quest of salmon tliat liere abound, but the se<'rets of their hidden patlis are locked in the savage mind. How tempting they must be for exploration, and how strange that, although so easy of access, they still remain unknown. After twisting around through a few '•reaches," channels and i)assages, we enter the straightest of them all, (irenville Channel, so straight that it almost seems to have been mapped by an Indian. As you steam through its forty or lifty miles of mathematically rectilinear exactness }ou think the sleei)y pilot might tie his wheel, put his heels up in the spokes, draw his hat over his eyes and take a quiet nap. In one i)lace it seems to be not over two wr three hundred yards wide, but probably is double that, the high tower- ing banks giving a dec!q)tive imi)ression. The windiows through the timber of former avalanches of snow or land- slides, now become thicker and their effects occasionally picturesque in the very devastation created. Beyond Grenville Channel the next important stretch of salt ■water is Chatham Sound, which is less like a river than any yet named. Its connection with Grenville Channel is by the usual number of three or four irregular water- ways dodging around fair sized islands, which had at one time, however, a certain importance because it was thought that the Canadian Pacific Railway might make Skeena Inlet off to our right its western terminus. TIIK ISLAXD PASSAGE TO ALASKA. 23 \ f)n lli« 2Urh of May, very early in the* morning, we crossed Dixon Kntranre, and were once more on Ameri- can soil, that is, in u connnercial sense, the United States having drawn a check for its value of ^7,2(K),(KK), and the check having been lionore' % the climb- 'iie coni[)act nough from « of tangled their roots ', and ferns for heights moist as a in luxuri- 1 the shore itain snm- I'ongh the it absorbs iture from •u see and THE INLAND PASSAGE TO ALASKA. 88 (( dem'd le to con- he atmos- of ours, nd drips 3 exempt oles" of kindling ng moss 'om ten tl stray levated it were 'un up ' until s in it, limbs, which until then have been living a parasitic sort of life oflf the decayed moss. This is shown in illustration on page 19, being a view at Kaigan Village. Imagine a city boy tossing a walnut from a fourth story window, and its lodging on top of a telegraph pole, there sprout- ing next spring, and in the course of a couple of years extending its roots down the pole, insinuating them- selves in the crevices and splitting it open, then piercing the pavement ; the tree continuing to grow for years until the boy, as a man, can reach out from his window and pick walnuts every fall, and the idea seems in- credible ; and yet the equivalent occurs quite often in the south-eastern portions of our distant colony. Nor is all this marshy softness confined to the levels or to almost level slopes, as one would imagine from one's ex- jierience at home, but it extends up the steepest places, where the climbing would be hard enough without this added obstacle. In precipitous slopes where the foot tears out a great swath of moist moss, it may reveal un- derneath a slippery shingle or shale where nothing but a bird could find a footing in its present condition. There is wonderful preservative power in all these conditions, for nothing seems to rot in the ground, and the accumulated timber of ages, standing and fallen, stumps, limbs, and trunks, "criss-cross and tumble- tangled," as the children say, forms a bewildering mass which, covered and intertwined as it is with a compact entanglement of underbrush and moss, makes the ascent of the steep hillsides a formidable undertaking. A fallen trunk of a tree is only indicated by a ridge of moss, and should the traveler on this narrow path deviate a little too far to the right or left, he may sink ■v 84 ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER. up to his arm-pits in a soft mossy trap from which he can scramble as best he may, according to his activity in the craft of " backwoodsmanship." Having once reached the tops of the lower hills — the higher ones are covered with snow and glacier ice the year round — a few small openings may be seen, which, if any thing, are more boggy and treacherous to the feet than the hillsides themselves, lagoon-like morasses, covered with pond lilies and aquatic plant life, being connected by a network of sluggish canals with three or four inches of amber colored water and as many feet of soft black oozy mud, with here and there a clump of willow brake or " pussy- tails" springing above the waste of sedge and flags. In these bayou openings a hunter may now and then run across a stray deer, bear, or mountain goat, but, in general, inland hunting in south-eastern Alaska is a complete failure, owing to the scarcity of game and the labor of hunting. The worst part of Peril Strait being ahead of us, we backed out with our long unwieldy vessel and turned westward, passing out late in the evening through Salisbury Strait to the Pacific Ocean, ours being, according to the pilot, the first steam vessel to essay the passage. A last night on the Pacific's rolling watei', and early next morning we rounded Cape Ommaney, and entered the inland passage of Chatham Strait, our prow once more pointed northward, the sheet of water lying as quiet as a mill pond. About 4 p. m. Ave reached Killisnoo, a pretty little port in the Strait. Cod-fish abounding here in unusual numbers, a regular fishery has been established by a company for the pur- pose of catching and preserving the cod for the markets ; f i I THE INLAND PASSAGE TO ALASKA. 3S f of the Pacific coast. Here I saw many ot the Kootznahoo Indians of the place, who do the principal iishing for the white men. Their already ugly faces were plastered over with black, for which, according to the superintend- ■ent, there were two causes. A few of the Indians were clad in mourning, to which this artificial blackness is an adjunct, while the remainder followed the custom in order to protect their faces and especially their eyes from the intense glare of the sun on the water while fish- ing. Chatham Strait at its northern end subdivides into Icy Straits and Lynn Canal, the latter being taken as our course. At its northern end it again branches into the Chilkat and Chilkoot Inlets, the former being taken ; and at its head, the highest northing we can reach .in this great inland salt-water river, our voyage on the Victoria terminated. Icy Sti*aits lead off to the west- ward and unite with the Pacific, by way of Cross Sound, the most northern of these connecting passages, which marks the point where the archipelago, and with it the inland passage, ceases, for from here northward to St. Elias and beyond a bold bad coast faces the stormy Pacific, and along its frowning cliffs of rock and ice even the amphibious Indian seldom ventures. J [ -r CHAPTER III. IN THE ClIILKAT COUNTRY. CHII.KAT BKA(!E- LRT MADK rKON 8ILVBK COIN. HILKAT (;ountry was reached on tlu, morn- ing of the 2d of June and we dropped anchor in a most picturesque little port (railed Pyra- mid Harbor, its name being derived from a (•onspi(nious conical island that the Chilkats call Schlay-hotch, and the few whites, Pyra- mid Island, shown on page 43. There were two salmon canneries just completed, one on each side of the inlet, awaiting the "run" or coming of salmon, which occurred about two weeks later. Each cannery wjis manned by about a half dozen white men as directors and workmen in the trades departments, tiie Ohilkats doing the rougher work, as well as furnishing the fish. They differed in no material respect from the salmon en n- neries of the great Columbia River, so often described. Just above them comes in the Chilkat river, with a broad shallow mouth, which, at low water (sixteen feet below high water) looks like a large sand ilat forming part of the shores of the harbor. On these ha rs the Indians spear the salmon when the water is just dwp enough to allow them to wade around readily. Up this Chilkat river are the different villages of the Chilkat Indians, one of fifteen or twenty houses being in sight, on the east bank, the largest, however, which con- tains four Or live times as many houses, called Kluk-wan,, i 4 'I JN THE CHILKAT COUNTRY. 97 i i being quite a distanre up the river. These Chilkats are subdivided into a number of smaller elans, named after the various animals, birds and fishes. Ai about the time of my arrival the chief of the ('row cl'in l..wl died, and as he was a very important person, a most sumptuous fu- neral was expected to last about a week or ten days. These funerals are nothing but a series of feasts, i)ro- tracted a(;cording to the importance of the deceased, and as they are furnished at the exi)ense of the adnnnistra- tors or executors of the dead man's estate, every Indian from far and wide, full of veneration for the dead and a desire for victuals, (tongregiites at the pleasant ceremo- nies, and gorges to his utmost, being worthless for work for another week afterward. As I urgently needed some three or four score of these Indians to carry my effects on their backs across the Alaskan coast range of mount- ains to the head waters of the Yukon river, this pro- longed funeral threatened seriously to prevent my getting away in good time. Ranking me as a chief, I was invited to the obsequies and promised a very conspicuous posi- tion therein, especially on the last day when the body was to be burned on a huge funeral pyre of dry resinous woods. Cremation is the usual method of dis- posing of the dead among these people, the i)riests or medicine men being the only ones exempt. The latter claim a sort of infallibility and all of their predictions, acts, and influences capable of survival, live after them so long as their bodies exist, but should these be lost by drowning, devouring, or cremation, this infallibility ceases. Therefore these defunct doctors of savage witch- craft inhabit the greatest portion of the few graveyards that one sees scattered here and there over the shores of 38 ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER. the channels and inlets that penetrate the country. Cre mation is not always resorted to, however, with the laity, for whenever convenience dictates otherwise, they too may be buried in boxes, and this practice, I understand, is becoming more common. Cremation is a savage honor, nevertheless, and slaves were not entitled to the rite. All the Indian^ were extremely anxious that I should attend the obsequies of their dear departed friend, for if I did they saw that they might also be present and yet feel sure of employment on my expedition over the mountains. I declined the invitation, however, and by being a little bit determined managed to persuade enough strong sturdy fellows away to do my proposed packing in two trips over the pass, which had the effect of inducing the others to come forward in suf- ficient numbers to accomplish the work in a single jour- ney, and preparations were commenced accordingly. These preparations consisted mostly in assorting our effects with reference to every thing that we could possibly leave behind, taking as little as we could make our way through with, and putting that little into convenient bags, boxes, and bundles of about one hund- red pounds each, that being the maximum load the In- dians could well carry over such Alpine trails. Some boys, eight or ten, even came forward to solicit a share in the arduous labor, and one little urchin of not over fourteen, a son of the Chilkat chief. Shot-rich, manfully assumed the responsibility of a sixty-eight pound box, the distance he had to carry it being about thirty miles, but thirty miles equal to any one hundred and thirty on the good roads of a civilized country. There were a few slaves among my numerous Indian packers, slavery I i IN THE CHILKAT COUNTRY. 39 s *• •) having once iiourished extensively among the Cliilkats, but having diminished both in vigor and extent, in direct ratio to their contact with the whiles. Formerly, slaves were treated in the many barbarous ways common to savage countries, sacrificed at festivals and religious ceremonies, and kept at the severest tasks. They were often tied in huge leathern sacks stretched at full length on the hard stony ground and trodden to death. The murderers, great muscular men, would jump up and down on their bodies, singing a wild death chant, with their fists clinched across their breasts, every cracking oi a rib or bone being followed by loud shouts of derisive laughter. Sometimes the slave was bound to huge bowlders at the water's edge at low tide, and as the returning waves came reeling in and slowly drowned the wretch, his cries were deafened by the hideous shouts from the spectators on the land. Of course, as with all slave-holders, an eye was kept open toward mercenary views, and the sacrifices were nearly always of the aged, infirm, or decrepit ; those who had ceased to be useful as interpreted by their own savage ideas of usefulness. Entering a Chilkat house nowadays, one can hardly distiugaish a slave from the master, unless one is acquainted with the insignificant variations in dress which characterize them, and while the slaves are supposed to do all the work the enforcement of the rule appears to be very lax. Still it is interesting to know that the fourteenth amendment to the United States constitution is not held inviolable in all parts of that vast country. As among nearly al. savages, the women are brutalized, but they appear to have one prerogative of the most singular character, that is well worth relat- M p 40 ALONG ALASKA S GREAT RIVEli. ing. Nearly every thiig descends on the mother's side, yet a chattel may be owned, or at least controlled, by the men, although a traveler will notice many bargains wherein the woman's consent is lirst obtained. The royal succession is most oddly managed with reference to Avomen's rights. The heir-apparent to the thione is not the oldest or any other child of the king and queen, but is the queen's nearest blood relative of the male per- suasion, although the relationship may be no closer, per- haps, than that of cousin. As this uiriously chosen king may marry any woman of the tribe, it is easy to see that any one may in this indirect way become the sov- ereign of the savages^ and with the help of luck alone, may acquire royal honors. One rich Indian womn~» of Sitka who took a fancy to a slave, purchased him for the purpose of converting liiiu into a husband, at a cost of nearly a thousand dollars in goods and chattels, and if he was not very expensive thereafter he may have been cheai)er than the usual run of such bargains. When a couple of Chilkats tie the nuptial knot, they at once, if possible, adopt a boy and a girl, although these can hardly be said to stand in the place of adopted children, when it is understood tl at they are really a conjugal reserve corps for the bride and bridegroom in case of death. Should the man die the boy becomes the widow's husband without further ceremony, and tice versa. Of course such conjugal mixtures present the most incon- gruous aspects in the matter of age, but happily these examples are infrequent. This Chilkat country is most thoroughly Alpine in character, and in the quiet, still evenings, far up on the steep hillsides, where the dense spruce timber is broken 1 'risVHiBsSSBBBHTtm rl m the ten IN THE CHILKAT COUNTRY. 41 up by natural clearings, one could often see a brown or black bear come out and nose around to get at some of the many roots and berries that there abound, and more than once I was a spectator of a bear hunt, for as soon as Bruin put in an appearance there was always some Indian hunter ambitious enough to toil up the steep mountain sides after him. I have spoken of their extreme fear of the great brown or cinnamon bear, which they seldom attack. So great indeed is the Chilkats* respect for him that the most aristocratic clan is calljd the Cinnamon Bears. Anotlier higli class clan is the Crows, the plebeian divisions being the Wolves and Whfiles, and the division line is so strong that it leads to feuds between the clans that, in respect of slaughter, are almost entitled to the name of wars, while between the high and low caste intermarriage is almost unknown. As the Brown Bears, or Cinnamon Bears us they are gen- erally called, are the highest clan, so copper is their most highly prized metal. With copper the Chilkats have always been familiar, gold and silver coming with the whites; and therefore a brown bears head carved in copper is their most venerated charm. In regard to engraving and sculpture it is not too much to say that the Chilkats stand well in the front rank of savage artists. When civilization first came in contact with these people they were in the paleolithic storie age of that material, and their carvings were inarvels of design and execution, although subseiving the simplest wants of a simple people. Of metals they possessed only copper, and that in such small quantities as to be practically out of the account. With the whites came gold and silver, and the latter from its comparative cheapness became 42 ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT LIVER. ': L their favorite metal. Coins were hammered out into long slender bars, bent into bracelets, and then beau- tifully engraved, some of their designs having been borrowed from civilization and copied faithfully in detail, although the old savage ideas of workmanship are for obvious reasons preferred by most purchasers. Some of their women wear a dozen or more bracelets on each arm, covering them up to the elbows and beyond, but this seems to be only a means of preserving them until the arrival of white customers, when they are sold at ° •' \^ one to five or six dollars a pair according to i- width. The initial piece of this chapter is sketched from one in the i)ossession of the author and made by one of his hired Indians. Ear-rings, finger-rings, beads and ornamental combs for the hair are made of silver and gold, mostly of silver ; and the Chilkats seem to be as imitative in respect to ideas and designs as the Mongolians, whose talents are so much better known. It is in wood and horn, however, that their best examples of this art have been displayed, and so unique and intricate are they that language is inade- quate to describe them. Of wood carvings their " totem " poles show the cleverest workmanship and variety of les has ceased among the Indians, although they carefully preserve those that still exist. Still many of them fall into the clutches of white men in compensation for a few dollars, and hardly a museum of note in the coun- try but displays a Tlint •. • posses, extensive cCi^,'; „*:""" P^K " *"-°' ^'''"' -"e n th. isolated poles stand,^„ i„ j! '^■''/""ng is shown frequently the houses themsel ^17" "' *"^-'""'^'''' ""* '"conspicuous places to su tie oT 'T'^''''''^ -rved ^ome of theso houses are l,t ""'' '»"«y- hoasemaking, the g,^at thick t„rr'""*' '"' ^^^e floor being often quite wel J,-" T '"""'^^ «^ *« "eatly covered with white slnd'^ ':';•'• "' "* ''"^ ™te ■«-e made in the larger and m '"**' ''tcivilimion partitioning the hu^e hovel ZT" ""'''""'"«•' ''"""es by Pf r^s ot Cloth or oatas ^sl^T .'" '"'^'^ «' ''- •"gh as it can be cut in L „ "'""• '' ""de as «teps trom the outside, while . ,2 ""' '^ ''^^'•ed by '"'oess to the floor. n^IT " «™>larflight inside gives . "om, enough o, the fl^ "b"ir""" '"^ "««» "^ the ^i^indleddi^tly onThe^ldT' *" ^"<"^ '* ^ by a huge hole i„ the roo' Th ""'"''' ^^aping houses are squalid beyondn... '"^* "'*J""'ty of the "u-moke of the spruce'nd "TnlT T ''"' '""''' --' a funereal tinge, and fills he h" ^^™' the walls with "'hen mingled with that of ^ ' "'"' ■*" ""or which ^^-Hike leaving his c': a ttr ^ ''"""'"'- - ■ takes no stretch of the im ^"'^ P'^'ng on r* -hH«ctu. p^vid! r m:r ° 'r ""^'^^ ^^^^ -h 'e»«t needed, and it is !T !T *** ^""*' tion when the Chilkats are cold and i """* '^^ '^'"ter hon„ oJ ;'t couched aronXTii: -1::^ *!"':^^^'^^ Z^ folded about then, and even d' " '"'""^''*' "'"^^'y the house serving i„de!I " ""*" ''"^^ their heads «-e wind and^deej sit d-r*"*"™ '"""«- '''"y 'ook on al, tSsZlisS:' l"' "" --■ s'lness, however, with IN THE CHILKAT COUNTRY. 45 a sort of Spartan fortitude as necessary to toughen them and inure them to the rough climate, and at times, impelled by this belief, they will deliberately expose themselves with that object in view. When the rivers and lakes are frozen over the men and boys break great holes in the ice and plunge in for a limited swim, then come out, and if a bank of soft saow is convenient roll around in it like so many polar bears ; and when they get o cold that they can't tell the truth they wander leisurely back to the houses and remark that they have had a nice time, and believe they have done something toward making themselves robust Chilkat citizens able to endure every thing. There is no w onder that such people adopt cremation ; and in fact one interpretation of its religious significance is based on the idea of future personal warmth in the happy hunting grounds, which they regard as a large island, whose shores are unattain- able except by those whose bodies have been duly con- sumed by fire. Unless the rite of cremation has been performed the unhappy shade shivers perpetually in outer frost. It is the impossibility of cremation which makes death by drowning so terrible to a Chilkat. The reason that the fiJiamanfi, or medicine men (whose bodies are not cremated) have no such dread, is that their souls do not pass to the celestial island, but are trans- lated into the bodies of infants, and in this way the crop of medicine men never diminishes, whatever may be the status of the rest of the population. Dreams and divinations, or various marks of the child's hair or face, are relied upon to determine into which infant the supreme and mysterious power of the defunct doctor of Tlinkit divinity has entered. To enumerate all of these I 46 ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER. signs would concume more of my space than the subject is wortli. When a Chilkat dies tlie body is bunied at sunrise, having first been dressed for tlie ceremony in a* costume more elaborate than any which it ever wore in life. The corpse must not be carried out at the door, which is deemed sacred, a superstition very common among savage races. A few boards may be taken from the rear or side of the hovel, or the body may be hoisted through the ca^jacious chimney in the roof ; but when the Chilkat in his last illness sought his house to lie down and die in it he passed over its threshold for the last time. Demons and dark spirits hover around like vul- tures, and are only kept out of doors by the dreaded incantations of the medicine men, and these may seize the corpse as it passes out. So fiendishly eager are they to secure and stab their prey that all that is needed is to lead out a dog from the house, which has been brought into it at night, when the witches fall upon it and exhaust their strength in attacking it before they discover their mistake. The cremation is seldom perfect, and the charred bones and remnants are collected and put into a small box standing on four posts in the nearest graveyard. In the burial of medicine men, or before cremation with others, the bodies are bent into half their length, the knees drawn up to the breast and secured by thongs and lashings. A Avalk into the woods around Chilkat shows the traveling to be somewhat better than in equally mount- ainous coun^^y near the coast, and where paths had been cut through the dense timber to the charcoal pits f onued and maintained by the canneries, the walking was -ex- ceedingly agreeable and pleasant, especially by way of IN THE CHILKAT COUNTRY. 47 contrast. As one recedes from the coast and gets beyond the iniiuence of the warm Japanese current with its ceaseless fogs, rains and precipitation generally, the woods and marshes become more and more susceptible of travel, and by the time the Alaska coast range of mountains is crossed and the interior reached, one finds it but little worse than the tangle-woods and swamps of lower latitudes. The waters swarm with life, which is warmed by this heat-bearing current, and I think I do not exaggerate in saying that Alaska and its numerous outlying islands will alone, in the course of a short time, repay us annually more than the original cost of the great territory. By means of these industries the wedge has begun to enter, and we may hope it will be driven home by means of a wise administration of government, a boon which has been denied to Alaska since the Russians left the territory. The principal fisheries will always be those of salmon and cod, since these fish are most readily prepared for export, while halibut, Arctic smelt or candle-fish, brook trout, flounders and other species will give ample variety for local use. The salmon has long been the staple fish food of the Chilkats, but this is slowly giving way to the products of civilization which they acquire in return for services at the canneries and for loading and unload- ing the vessels which visit the port. The salmon season is ushered in with considerable ceremony by the Chil- kats, numerous festivals mark its success and its close is celebrated by other feasts. A Chilkat village during the salmon fishing season is a busy place. Near the water, loaded with the fish, their pink sijjles cut open ready for drying, are the scaffoldings, which are built just high ■■ i! 48 ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER. enough to prevent the dogs from investigating too closely ; while out in the shallow water of the shoals or rapids, which often determine the site of a village, may be seen tish- weirs looking like stranded baskets that had served their purpose elsewhere and been thrown away up the stream, and which had lodged here as they floated down. Many of the salmon are converted into flsh-oil, which is used by the Chilkats as food, and resembles a cross between our butter and the blubber of the Eskimo. Taking a canoe that is worn out, yet not so badly dam- aged as not to be completely water-tight, it is filled some six to eight inches deep with salmon, over which water is poured until the fish are well covered. This being done on the beach there are always plenty of stones around, and a number of these are heated to as high a tempera- ture as possible in an open fire alongside of the canoe, and are then rapidly thrown into the water, bringing it to a boiling heat, and cooking the mass. As the oil of the fat fish rises to the surface it is skimmed off w^ith spoons, and after all has been procured that it is possible to obtain by this means, the gelatinous mass is pressed so as to get whatever remains, and all is preserved for win- ter food. The salmon to be dried are split open along the back until they are as flat as possible, and then the flesh is split to the skin in horizontal and vertical slices about an inch to an inch and a half apart, which facilitates the drying process. Each little square contracts in drying and makes a convenient mouthful for them as they scrape it from the skin with their upper canine teeth like a beaver peeling the bark from a cottonwood tree. In packing over the Alaska coast range of mountains, a task which keeps the Indians absent from three to five days. ? IN THE CHILKAT COUNTRY 49 a single salmon and a quart of Hour are considered a suf- ficient ration per man for even that severe trip. If they are working for white men the employers are supposed to furnish the flour and the Indians the fish. While these Tlinkits of south-eastern Alaska, of which the Chilkats and Chilkoots are the most dreaded and war- like band, are a most jolly, mirth-making, and often- times even hilarious crowd of people, yet any thing like a practical joke played upon one of them is seldom appreciated by the recipient with the sheepish satisfac- tion so common to civilization. An army officer, Lieut. C E. S. Wood, who spent some time among them sketching and drawing something besides his pay, relates in the Century Magazine the story of an Indian who laboriously crawled up on a band of decoy ducks that soii^ebody had allowed to remain anciiored out near the water's edge, and wasted several rounds of ammunition on them before he discovered his mistake. Instead of sneaking back into the brush, dodging through out-of- the-way by-paths to his home, and maintaining a con- spicuous silence thereafter, as we of a more civilized country would have done under like circumstances, he sought out the owner of the decoys and demanded direct and indirect damages for the injuries he had sufferied and the ammunition he had wasted, and was met by laughter, which only increased his persistency until his demands were satisfied to get rid of him. At one of the two salmon canneries of •> jf jh I have spoken as being in Chilkat Inlet, there was also kept a trading store, and here the Indians would bring their furs and peltries and barter for the articles that were so temptingly displayed before their eyes ; and if the skins 60 ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER. were numerous and valuable this haggling would often continue for hourH, as the Indian never counts time as worth any thing in his bargains. While we were there an Indian brouglit in a few black fox skins to barter for trading material, a prime skin of this kind being worth, about forty dollars in goods from the store, and grading from that down to nearly one-fourth of the amount. At the time when the Chilkats learned the great value of the bla(?k fox skins, not many years back, they also learned, in some unaccountable way, the method of mak- ing them to order by staining the common red fox or cross fox skin by the application of some native form of blacking, probably made from soot or charcoal. Many su(!h were disposed of before the counterfeit was detected, and even after the cheat was well known the utmost vigilance was needed to prevent natives i)laying the trick in times of great business activity. The method of detection was simply to place the skin on any hard flat surface like the (!ounter of a trader s store, and rub the clean hand vigorously and with considerable pressure backward and forward over the fur side of the skin, when, if the skin were dyed, the fact would be shown by the blackened hand. This fact had been explained to us by the trader, and the Doctor entering just as the conversation as to the price became animated, and perceiving that the palmar sur- face of his hand was well soiled and blackened, owing to his having been engaged assorting packs for our Indians, he playfully stepped up to the counter, ran his hand jauntily through the skin once or twice and dis- played to the two traders his blackened palm, to the surprise of the w^hite man and absolute consternation -f > IN THE CHILKAT COUNTRY 51 of the Indian. The former rapidly but unavailingly tried to verify the Doctor's exijerinient, when the latter broke out into a hearty laugh, in which the trader joined. Not so with the Indian ; when he recovered his senses he was furious at the imputation on his character ; and the bes* light he could view it in, after all the explanations, was that it had been a con- spiracy between the two white men to get the skin at low rates, and the plot having failed, according to their own confession, and he himself having received his own price to quiet him, ought to be satisfied. The Doctor remarked as he finished the story, that he did not believe there was the remotest sense of humor among the whole band of Chilkat or Chilkoot Indians. The constant life of the Tlinkits in their canoes when procuring food or at other occupations on the water has produced, in con- formity with the doctrine of natural selection and the survival of the fittest, a most conspicuous prepondera- ting development of the chest and upper limbs over the lower, and their gait on land, resembling that of aquatic birds, is scarcely the poetry of motion as we understand it. The Chilkats, however, are not so confined to a sea- faring life, and their long arduous trading journeys in- land have assisted to make this physical characteristic much less conspicuous among them than among other tribes of Tlinkits, although even the Ciiilkats can not be called a race of large men. While they may not com- pare with the Sioux or Cheyennes, or a few others that might be mentioned, yet there are scores of Indian tribes in the United States proper which are greatly inferior to the Chilkats both in mental, physical, and moral quali- ties. In warfare they are as brave as the average Indians mm^m. r^rr^rs! i r) ( f^ I I I . Mi ll 53 ALONG ALASKA S GREAT RIVER. ot the United States, and have managed to conduct their own affairs with considerable order, in spite of govern- mental interference at times. I quote from a correspon- dent writing from there as late us August, 1884, to the JVew York Times of I,'ovember 23d : "The Indians have a great respect for a man-of-war, with its strict discipline and busy steam launches that can follow their canoes to the remote creeks and hiding places in the islands, and naval rule has been most praiseworthy. The a?:my djd no good for the country or the natives, and its record i» not a creditable one. The Tlinkits sneered openly at the land forces, and snapped their fingers at challenging and forbidding sentries, and pa iled av;ay at their pleasure.' ?> k ./ 4'. f^^ ' I CHAPTER IV. OVER THE MOUNT AIX PASS. ^ ^' Y the 6th cf June all of our nuiny arrangements for depart- ure were fully completed, and the next day the party got under way shortly before 10 o'clock in the forenoon. Mr. Carl Spuhn, the Manager of the North-west Trading Com- pany, which owned the west- ern (lannery in the Chilkat cinT,KAT INDIAN PACKER. Inlet, wiiere my party had been B2 Parti. Map of the Alanka Exploring Expedition. of 1883. Compiled and drawn by Mr. C. A. Homan, Topographical AriflBtant. t^caZ^. [urarufCitnc'i — • M !EiRiivi,ac3asaEara3SiB i3^S« ^^ I OVEM THE MOUNTAIN PASS. 67 1 considerable size in all south-eastern Alaska, with a suc- cess which speaks well for this part of the territory as far as climate and soil are concerned, although the ter- ribly lough mountainous character of nearly all of this part of the country will never admit of any broad exper- iments in agriculture. By strolling leisurely along and stopping long enough to lunch under the great cedar trees, while the mosquitoes lunched off us, we arrived at the mission on Chilkoot Inlet just in time to see the little launch in the distance followed by its long proces- sion of canoes, heading for us and puffing away as if it were towing the Great Eastern. It had gone down the Chilkat Inlet ten or twelve miles to the southward, turned around the sharp cape of the peninsula. Point Seduction, and traveled back northward, parallel to its old course, some twelve to fifteen miles to where we were waiting for it, having steamed about twenty-live miles, while we had come one-fifth the distance to the same point. Here quite a number of Chilkoot natives and canoes were added to the already large throng ; Mrs. Schwatka, who had accompanied me thus far, was left in the kind care of the missionary family of Mr. Willard ; adieus were waved and we once more took cur north- ward course up the Chilkoot Inlet. After four or five miles the main inlet bears off to the westward, but a much narrower one still points con- stantly to the north star, and ujj the latter we continued to steam. It is called the Dayay Inlet and gives us about ten miles of " straight-away course " before coming to the mouth of the river of the same name. This Dayay Inlet is of the same general character as the inland pas- sages in this part of Alaska, of which I have already . I ■ 1,1 JlipppiWlHipppipiHl •■ip" 88 ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER. spoken ; a river-like channel between high steep hills, which are covered with pine, cedar and spruce from the water's line nearly to the top, and there capped with bare granite crowns that in gulches and on the summits are covered with snow and glacier ice, which in melting furnish water for innumerable beautiful cascades and mountain torrents, man^v of them dashing from such dizzy precipitous heights that they are reduced to masses of iridescent spray by the time they reach the deei) green waters of the inlet. With a score of canoes towing behind, the ropes near the launch kept parting so often that we were consider- ably delayed, and as the Indians were seldom in any great hurry about repairing the damages, and treated it in a most hilarious manner as something of a joke on the launch, the master of that craft, when the rope had parted near the central canoe for about the twentieth time, finally bore on without them, leaving the delin- quents to get along as best they could, there being about five miles more to make. Fortunately just then a fair southern breeze sprang up, so that most of the tardy canoes soon displayed canvas, and those that could not, hastily improvised a blanket, a pea-jacket, or even a a broad-shouldered pair of pantaloons, to aid their prog- ress, for the Indian in all sections of the country is much more ingenious than one is apt to suppose, espe- cially if his object be to save manual labor. The mouth of the Dayay river being reached about six in the after- noon, it was found to consist of a series of low swampj mud flats and a very miry delta. Here it is necessary to ascend the swift river at least a mile to find a site that is even half suitable for a camp. During the time 1. OVER THE MOUNTATN PASS. 6& when the greatest sediment is brought down by the swift muddy stream, i. e., during the spring freshets and sum- mer high water, the winds are usually from the south, and blow with considerable force, which fact accounts for the presence of soft oozy deposits of great extent so near the mouth of the stream. Through this shallow water the canoes carried our effects. The river once reached the canoes proceeded up the stream to camp, the launch whistled us adieu, and as she faded from sight, the last link that bound us to civilization was snapped, and our explorations commenced. The distance from the Haines' Mission to the mouth of the Dayay where we disembarked was sixteen miles. ^ At this camp No. 2, we found a small camp of wander- ing Tahk-heesh Indians, or as they are locally called by the few whites of the country, the Sticks, a peaceful tribe whose home is over the Alaskan coast range of mountains and along the head- waters of the great Yukon, the very part of the very stream we desired to explore. It has only been within the last few years that these Tahk-heesh Indians have been allowed to cross over the mountains into the Chilkat country for purposes of trade, the Chilkats and Chilkoots united hjiving from time immemorial completely monopolized the prolitable commerce of the interior fur trade, forbidding ingress to the whites and denying egress to the Indians of the interior. From the former they bought their trading goods and trinkets, and making them into convenient bundles or parcels of about one hundred pounds each, they carried them on their backs across the snow and glacier crowned mountains, exchanging them for furs with the tribes of the interior for many hundreds of ^LOm ALASKA'S OREAT BIVEB. miles around. Thesp f„r<. , and carried back oZmJ:Z T" '"""^ *" ^^^ fera of the white tnl., " "^«,P«'"'«'« Paths to the oof- a s.na„ taetio,;:, ^ :"/»'""■"-;" '"^^ -aliped but large in eomp„Hson w h tife tri« ""' '''' ''"^ "««> When the tmde was at i bl f '' "'"" '" *'"* ^""l^"- trips were often made twii ™any years ago, these . -mmer, and so g,^a waTthe'" ""^ *'" '^™^ ""-^ that no less than from e.>ht t^! ?"""" '" ^^^^ lays, ^o-nd its way into the ttlrlr I " "' "^'"« ">'''-^' l-a»»es, and was exchang^Ti ?1 "'^ f *'"* ^'l""« a eonseqnence, the ChiH * "'"""''''"*'» f''''^- As Mians in the'grelt S ^eT";: ■'"' ™^ ^''^''^ "' alone is worth about ten orTwelve th 1' ''"*-^'*' blankets, their standard of llul "'""'' dollars in «on, according to thelf ene^'^-rt^'T '" '"'^'■ ha, th,^e large native houf^ "t t, I ^'"'*-"* Clxilkat town, two of which arrflul ^"""'' *'"* ™ain from two to four dolla,: '1:^' TheT f "'^*^ '^™'* were now plodding alon.^ is kmi^ ^ *'''<^'' we the Chilkoot trail to the^ilr. " ?""^ '"''"''''"'■^ as four days, packing thet "ot" ' ;"^ "-^'" ^'^^ *» headwaters of the Yuko„re ^Lhl;" rr*' ""*" *« '"^d solely by the Chilkoots «1 h . """' """""Po- as to forbid the Chilkats Tl,!,' * k *""'" ^o"" »« far "-"S it, so that thl Ltlt r ^*'^' '" •"-'1- from and far more laboril tt ; "/°"1 *" '^'^'> " 'o^ger l«d them up the Chilkat R v ? ~""' "' ^^Chilkats long mountain traiUha J^t ^^ ''' ""'''' '^''^'^ » orte„ days, packing on ^1?^ k"'™^ '" " ^""^l^ tributary of the Yukon, by Hf Tf' ''""" *" » -gained. On.onthisLrt:rnot;!.r^^ \ - i*i»i"WJ*i^J»j;i^ OVER THE MOUNTAIN PASS. 61 other impediments were in their line of travel, while the Yukon, with its shorter trail, had many such obstacles. The great Hudson Bay Company with its well-known indomitable courage, attempted as early as 1850 to tap this rich trading district monopolized by the Chilkat Indians, and Fort Selkirk was established at the junc- tion of the Yukon and Pelly, but so far away from their main base of supplies on Hudson's Bay, that it is said it took them a couple of years to reach it with trading effects. The Indians knew of but one method of compe- tition in business. They went into no intricate inventories for reducing prices of stock, nor did they put bigger advertisements or superior inducements before their cus- tomers. They simply organized a war party, rapidly descended the main Yukon for about five hundred miles, burned the buildings and appropriated the goods. As the Tahk-heesh or Sticks were allowed to come abroad so the white men were allowed and, in fact, induced to enter, for the coast Indians found ample compensation in carrying the white men's goods over the trail of about thirty miles at a rate which brought them from ten to twelve dollars per pack of a hundred pounds in weight ; and it was my intention to take advantage of this oppor- tunity to reach the head of the river, and then iight my way down it, rather than against its well known rapid current, of which I had heard so much from the accounts of explorers on its lower waters. When it was known, however, that I expected to do my explorations on a raft, the idea was laugh ed at by the few white men of the country, as evincing the extreme of ignorance, and the Indians seemed to be but little behind them in ridicule of the plan.. The latter emphatically affirmed that a "M -•* es ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER. hundred and fifty or two hundred miles of lakes stretched before us, and what, they argued, can be more helpless than a raft on a still lake 1 Eight or ten miles of boiling rapids occurred at various points in the course of the stream, and these would tear any raft into a shapeless wreck, while it would be hard to find Indians to portage my numerous effects around them. The unwieldiness of a great raft} — no small one would serve for us and our stores — in a swift current was constantly pointed out, and I must confess I felt a little discouraged myself when I sunmied up all these reasons. Why this or the Chilkat route was not attempted long ago by some explorer, who might thereby have traversed the entire river in a single summer, instead of combating its swift current from its mouth, seems singular in the light of the above facts, and I imagine the only explanation is that men who would place sufficient reliance in Indian reports to insert in their maps the gross inaccuracies that we after- ward detected, would rely also upon the Indian reports that from time immemorial have pronounced this pai't of the river to be unnavigable even for canoes, except for short stretches, and as filled with rapids, cafions, whirl- pools and cascades. After camping that night on the Dayay, bundles were all assorted and assigned. The-4;tacks varied fi;ogi_thirty- sixjfcoa hundred and thirty-seven pounds in weigjit , the men generally carrying a hundred pounds and the boys according to their age and strength. The " Sticks " or Tahk-heesh Indians camped near us were hunting black bear, which were said to be abundant in this locality, an assertion which seemed to be verified by the large num- ber of tracks we saw in the valley. From this band of OVER THE MOUNTAIN PASS. 63 Indians we completed our number of packei*8, a circum- stance which irritated the others greatly, for the Chilkats seem to regard the Sticks almost in the light of slaves. Here I also secured a stout, sturdy fellow, at half rates, merely to go along in case of sickness among my numer- ous retinue, in which event he would be put on full wages. His onerous dutes consisted in carrying the guidon, or expedition flag, weighing four or five pounds, and he improvised himself into a ferry for the white men at the numerous fords which the tortuous Dayay River pre- sented as we ascended. As every one gave him a nickel or dime at each ford, and the guidon staff was simply a most convenient alpenstock, he was the envy of all the others as he slowly but surely amassed his gains ; not so slowly either, for the river made so many windings from one side of its high walled valley to the other, that his receipts rivaled a western railroad in the matter of mile- age, but the locomotion was scarcely as comfortable as railroad travel. During the still, quiet evening we could hear many grouse hooting in the spruce woods of the hillsides, this time of day seeming to be their favorite hour for concerts. The weather on this, the first day of our trip, was splen- did, with a light southern wind that went down with the sun and gave us a few mist-like sprinkles of rain, serving to cool the air and make slumber after our fatigue doubly agreeable. The head of canoe navigation on the Dayay river, where it terminates abruptly in a huge boiling cas- cade, is ten miles from the mouth of the stream, although fully fifteen are traveled by the canoemen in ascending its tortuous course, which is accomplished by the usual Indian method of " tracking," .with ropes and poles from M ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER. tlie bank of the liver. I observed tluit tliey " tracked " their canoes against the current in two ways, eacli nietliod requiring two men to one canoe. Tlie diagrams given will show these methods ; in No. 1, an Indian jiulls the canoe with a rope, while a comj)anion just in his rear and following in his stei)S keeps the head of the canoe in the stream, with a long pole, at just such distance as he may desire according to the obstacles that are presented. If the water from the bank for some distance out, say twelve or fifteen feet, is clear of all obstacles, his companion will fall to the rear as far as his pole will allow and assist the ropeman by pushing up stream, but in shallow, swift places he has all he can do to regulate the canoe's course through the projecting stones, and the burden of the draft falls on the ropeman. In the other mode both the men use poles and all the motive power is furnished by pushing. The advan- tage over the first is that in " boiling " water full of stones, the bowman may steer his end clear of all of these, only to have the seething waters throw the stern against a sharp corner of a rock and tear a hole in that part, an accident which can only be avoided by placing a poleman at the stern. It is readily apparent, however, that there is much more power expended in this method of making headway u H O ■< C5 'A o < O w Q O s H ^ H ttfrn-n tl il "I \ IP u ' \ OVER THE MOUNTAIN PASS. 07 1 i against the cuiTent than in the other. Some few of the Indians judiciously vary the two methods to suit the cir- cumstances. On long stretches of only moderately swift water the tired trackers would take turns in resting in the canoe, using a paddle to hold the bow out from the shore. The current of the Dayay is very swift, and two days' "tracking "is often required to traverse the navigable part of the stream. Every few hundred yards or so the river needs to be crossed, wherever the timber on the banks is dense, or where the cir(uiitous river cuts deep into the high hillsides that form the boundaries of its narrow valley. In these crossings from fifty to a hund- red vards would often be lost. Tlie Indians seemed to make no effort whatever to stem the swift current in crossing, but pointed the canoe straight across for the other bank and paddled away as if dear life depended o'l the result. The march of the 8th to Camp 3, brought us within a half mile or a mile of the head of canoe navigation on the river, and here the Indians desired to camp, as at that particular spot there is no dry wood witli which to cook their meals ; although all they luid to cook was the little flour that I had issued, the salmon being dried and eaten without further preparation. The Dayay Valley is well wooded in its bottom with poplar and several varieties of wiilow, and where these small forests did not exist were endless ridges of sand, gravel and even huge bowl- ders cutting across each other at all angles, evidently tiie v»'ork of water, assisted Jit times by tliL more powerful agency of moving or stranded ice. All day we had been i'rossing beni tracks of difl'erent ages, imd after cami)ing some of the white men paddled across the river (here mmmm "^"w" 98 ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER. II : ^ ; f- I thirty-five or forty yards wide) to take a stroll up the valley ; and while returning a large black bear was seen perched on a conspicuous granite ridge of the western mountain wall, i)robably four hundred yards away and at an angle of twenty degrees above our position in the river bottom. A member of the party got two shots at him, but he disappeared in the dense underbrush, evidently afraid that the sportsman might aim at something else and so hit him. Dr. Wilson and Mr. Homan fished with bait and flies for a long distance up and down the difl:Vr- ent channels of the river, but could not get a single ' ' rise * ' or " bite," although the Indians catch mountain trout in their peculiar fish- weirs, having offered us that very day a number thus captured. Like all streams rising in glacier bearing lands of calcareous structure, its waters are verv white and chalky, which may account for the apparent reluctance of the fish to rise to a fiy. The pretty waterfalls on the sides of the mountains still con- tinued and the glaciers of the summits became more numerous and strongly marked, and descended m^arer to tlie bed of the stream. I could not but observe the peculiar manifestations of surprise characteristic of the Chilkats. Whenever one uttered a shout ovei* some trifie, such as a comrade's slipping on a slimy stone into the water, or tumbling- over the root of a log, or any mishap, comical or other- wise, every one within hearing, from two to two hundred, would immediately chime in, and such a cry wouid ensue as to strike us with astonishment. This nuiy be repeated several times in a minute, and the abruptness with which it would begin and end, so that not a single distinct voice can be heard at either beginning or ending, reminds one vu \i ,. i 4 OVER THE MOUNTAIN PASS. 69 somewhat of a gang of coyotes howling around a frontier camj) or the hayings of Indian dogs on moonlight sere- na(h-s, from which one would be strongly tempted to believe they had borrowed it. Withal they are a most happy, merry-hearted and jovial race, laughing hilar- iously at every thing with the least shadow of comicality about it, and " guying" every trilling misliai) of a com- panion in which the sufferer is exjiected to join, just as the man who <'hases his hat in amuddy street on a windy dav must lauiih with the ('rowd. Such characteristics of good nature are generally supposed to be accompanied by a geneious disixxsition, especially as toward men of the same blood, but I was compelled to notice an almost cruel piece of selHshness which they exhibited in one point, and which told strongly against any such theory as api)lied to Indians, oiat least this i)arti(udar band of them. AVhen we got to the mouth of the Dayay river, many of the pa( kers had no canoes in which to track their bundh^s or packs to the head of canoe navigation, and tlieii- coinpanions who owned such craft flatly and decisively refused to take tlieir packs, although, as far as I could see, it would have caused them no inconvenience whatever. In many cases this selfishness was the effect of caste, to whi(;h I have ah'eady alluded and whicli with them is carried to an extreme hardly ecpuded in the social distinctions of any ot]i«»r savage i)eoj)le. Nor was this the cmly conspicuous instance of selfishness dis- l)layed. As I have already said, the Dayay is very tor- tuous, wide and swift, and thei-efore has very few fords, and these at inconvenient interv;ds I'or travelers carry- ing a hundred jwunds apiece on their backs, yet the slight sei'vice of feriying the packers and their packs mmmm'm I'l I I '" } 70 ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER. across the stream was refused by the canoemen as rigidly as the other favor, and where the river cut deep into some high projecting bank of the mountain ilanks, these unfortunate packers would be forced to carry burdens up over some precipitous mountain spur, or at least to make a long detour in search of available fords. My readers can rest assured that I congratulated myself on having taken along a si)are packer in the event of sickness among my numerous throng, for even in such a case I found them as disobliging and unaccommodating as before, utterly refusing to touch a sick man's load until he had promised them tlie lion' s share of his wages and I had ratified the contract. Every afternoon or evening after getting into camp, no matter how fatiguing the march had been, as soon as their simple meal was cooked and consumed, they would gather here and tliere in iittle parties for the purpose of gambling, and oftentimes their orgies would run far into the small hours of the niglit. The gambling game which they called la-?iell was the favorite during the trip over the Oliilkoot trail, although T understand ^hat they have others not so complicated. This game requires an even number of players, generally from four to twelve, divided into two parties which face each other. These " teams '' c(mtinue sitting about two or three feet apart, with their legs drawn up under them, d la Turque^ tlie place selected being usually in sandy ground under the shade of a grove of poplar or willow trees. Each man lays a wager with the person directly oi)p()site him, with whom alone he gambles as far as the gain or loss of his stake is concerned, although such loss or gain is detennined by the success of the team as a whole. In OVER THE MOUNTAIN PASS. 71 I other words, when a game terminates one team of course is the winner, but each player wins only the stake put up by his vis-a-vis. A handful of willow sticks, three or four inches long, and from a dozen to a score in num- ber, are thrust in the sand or soft earth, between the two rows of squatting gamblers, and by means of these a sort of running record or tally of the game is kei)t. The implements actually employed in gambling are merely a couple of small bone-bobbins, as shown on page 227, of about the size of a lady's pen-knife, one of which has one or more bands of black cut around it near its center and is called the king, the other being pure white. At the commencement of the game, one of the players picks up the bone-bobbins, changes them rapidly from one hand to the other, sometimes behind his back, then again under an apron or hat resting on his lap, during all of which time the whole assembly are singing in a low measured melody the words, "Oh! oh! oh! Oh, ker-shoo, ke:-shoo I — " which is kept up with their elbows flapping against their sides and their heads swaying to the tune, until some player of the opposite row, thinking he is inspired, and singing with unusual vehemence, suddenly points out the hand of the Juggler that, in his belief, contains "the king." If his guess is correct, his team picks up one of the willow sticks and places it on their side, or, if the juggler's team has gained, any one of their sticks must be replaced in the reserve at the center. If he is wrong then, the other side tallies one in the same Avay. The bone " king and queen " are then handed to an Indian in the otliHr row, and the same performance repeated, although it may be twice as long, or half as short, as no native attempts to discern the ^^^bS «//-' sate: MHM iSMi 72 ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER • I 11 f! 1 V ! whereabouts of the "king" until lief'.;els he has a revel- ation to tliat effect, proiluced by the incantation. A game will last any where from half an hour to tlir'^e hours. Whenever the game is nearly concluded and one party has gained almost all the villow sticks, or at tiny other exciting i)oint of the game, they have methods of " doubling up " on the wagers, by not exchanging the bobbins but holding both in one hand or leaving one or both on the grountl under a hat or ai)ron, and the guesses are about both and count double, treble or quadruple, for loss or gain. They wager the caps off their heads, their shirts off their backs, and with many of them no doubt, their i)rospeotive pay for the \v\\> was all gone before it was half earned. Men and boys alike entered the contest, and from half a dozen i)laces at once, in the woods near by, could be heard the everlasting refrain, the never-ceasing chant of "Oh ! oh ! oh ! Oh ! ker-shoo, ker-shoo ! " They used also to improvise hats of birch- bark (wherever that tree grew near llie evening camp) with pictures upon them that would j)rohibit their pass- ing through the mails. These habits do not indicate any great moral improvement thus far j)roduced l)y con- tact with civilization. "^ Two miles and a half beyond the head of canoe navi- gatitm, the Kut-lah-co « _5- 03^ t^ O i ^5 o t= — - E '^ -2 =■ '^ J--3 ce O B O — c f a c ?o So"* OVER THE MOUNTAIN PASS. 76 waters were conspicuously white and milk-like, and the most diligent fisherman was unrewarded. At the head of the Nourse River the Indians say there is a very large lake. The mountains that bound its course on the west are capped by an immense glacier, which might be traced along their summits for probably ten or twelve miles, and was then lost in the lowering clouds of their icy crests. These light fogs are frequent on warm days, when the difference of temperature at the upper and lower levels is more marked, but they disappear at night as the tem- peratures approach each other. This glacier, a glimpse of which is given on page 73, was named after Professor Baird, of the Smithsonian Institute at Washington. The march of the 9th of June took us three miles and a half up the Dayay River, and while resting, about noon, I was astonished to hear the Indians declare this was their expected camp for the night, for we had really accomplished so little. I was much inclined to anticii)ate that the rest of the journey was not much worse, and would give a forcible example of the maxim that ''dangers disappear as they are approached." The rough manner in which my illusions were dispelled will appear further on. Another inducement to stop at this particular point was found in a small grove of spruce saplings just across the river, which was so dense that each tree trunk tapered as regularly as if it had been turned from a lathe. These they desired for salmon- spears, cutting them on their way over the trail, and col- lecting them as they returned, so as to give the poles a few days to season, thus rendering them lighter for the dextrous work required. These peculiar kinds of fish- spears are so common over all the districts of Arctic and 78 ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT ItlVEli. sub-Arcti(! America that I tliink them worthy of (h'sorip- tion. The pole is from eight to twelve feet ill length, extending from P to P, as shown in the figure on this page. Two arms A A are made of elastic^ wood, and at their ends they carry in- curved spikes of iron or steel, S S, which act as barbs on a fish-hook. Another sharpened spike proje(5ts from the tip of the i)ole P, and the three to- gether make the prongs of the spear or gig. When the fish is speared the arms A A bend out as the spikes "ride" over its back, and these insert them- selves in its sides, tlie pole spike penetrating its back. In the figure there is represented the cross-section of a fish (its dorsal- fin D) just before the spear strikes. Vmong the Eskimo of King William's Land I found the spear - handles made of driftwood thrown on the beach, the arms A A made of very elastic nmsk-ox horn, and the spikes of copper taken from the abandoned ships of Sir John Franklin's ill-fated ex- pedition. Again at this camp (No. 4), the fishing-tackle of various kinds was employed vigilantly, but although the water seemed much clearer there were no results, the doctor advancing the theory that trout will not rise I i n v. > a I < s s O ' 2. '■^^ y. > c c -^ D > p. ^ f ?1 B :<) o c B E •r 5 ?S V* o r* v s -^ 3 c r* > ?. "^ a "' u; -^ o c ^,_,- < re §. < 5^ l-h <(S I t OVEJi THE MOUNTAIN PASS. 79 to SI fly ill stivaiiiH where huIiiiou are si)awning, as they then live on the Hiilinon roe to the exclusion of every thing else. At this camp I saw the Chilkat boy i)ackers wrestling in a very singular niannei', different from any thing in that branch of athletics with which I am acquainted. The two wrestlers lie flat on their backs upon the ground or sand and against each other, but head to foot, or in opposite directions. Their inner legs, /. e. , those touching their ojipouents, are raised high in the air, carried i>ast each other, and then locked together at the knee. They then rise to a sitting posture, or as nearly as possible, and with their nearest arms locked into a firm hold .it the elbows, the contest (Commences. It evidently requires no mean amount of strength to get on top of an ecp-al adversary, and the game seems to demand considerable agility, although the efforts of the contestants, as they rolled around like two angle worms tied together, ap- peared more awkward than graceful. Northward from this camp (No. 4), lying between the Nourse and Dayay Rivers, was the southern terminal spur of a large glacier, whose upper end was lost in the cold drifting fog that clung to it, and which can be seen on page 77. I called it the Saussure Glacier, after Professor Henri de Saussure, of Geneva, Switzerland. The travels in the Dayay Inlet and up the valley of the river had been reasonably pleasant, but on the lOth of June our course lay over the rough moui jain spurs of the east side for ten or twelve miles, upon a trail fully equal to forty or fifty miles over a good road for a day's walking. Short as the march was in actual measurement, it consumed from 7:30 in the morning until 7:15 in the . < (U m m mtmitm 80 ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER. evening ; nearly half the time, however, being occupied in resting from the extreme fatigUv- of tiie journey. In fact, ill many places it was a terrible scraml)le uj) and do.vn liill, over huge trunks and bristling limbs of fallen timber too far apart to leap from one to the other, while between was a boggy swamp that did not increase the l)leasiire of carrying a hundred pounds on one's back, Sometimes we would sii-k in almost to our knees, while every now and then this agony was suijphMuented by the recurrences of long high ridgey of rough bowldei's of trachyte with a splintery fracture. The latter felt like hot iron undei" the wet moccasins after walking on them and jumping from one to the other for awhile. Some of these great ridges of bowlders on the steep hillsides must have been of quite recent origin, and from the size of the big rocks, often ten or twelve feet in diameter, I infer that ''he force employed _^ must have been POSITION OK THE FEET IN WALKING A LOG, eUOmiOUS, aud I AS PRACTICED BY THE (./ILKAT INDIANS. ^^^^^^ ^^j^ ^^ count for it on the ti^eory that ice had been an im- ])ortant agent in the result. So recent were some of the riilgds that trees thirty and forty feet high were embedded in the debris, and where they were not cut off and crushed by the action of the rocks they weie growing aa if nothing had hapi>ened, although half the length of their trunks in some cases was below the tops of die ridges. I hardly thought that any of the trees could be ever forty or fifty years old. Where these r % OVER THE MOUNTAIN PASS. 81 ridges of great bowlders were very wide one would be obliged to follow close behind some Indian i)aeker aeciuainted with the trail, which might easily be lost before re-entering the brush. Til at day I noticed that all my Indians, in crossing logs over a stream, always turned the toes of both feet in the same direction (to the right), although they kept the body square to the front, or nearly so, and each foot passed the otlier at every step, as in ordinary walking. The advantage to be gained was not obvious to the author; as the novice, in attempting it, feels much more unsafe than in walking over the log as usual. Nearing Camj) /), we passed over two or three hundred yards of snow from tliree to fifteen feet deep. This day' s march of the I'^tli of June brought us to the head of the Dayay i"ver at a place the Indians call the "stone-houses." These stone-7iouses, however, are only a loose mass of huge bowlders piled over each other, projecting high above tlie dee]) snow, and into the cave-like crevices the natives crawl for protection whenever the snow has buried all other tracts, or the cold wind from the gla- ciers is too severe to permit of sleep in the open. All around us was snow or the clear blue ice of the glacier fronts, while diref* I should not have regarded him as any safer tlian wh*-rp he wa», if the Indians -were even lull f as fati" .^ .'^' /: V /A Photographic Sciences Corporation 13 WIST MAIN STRUT WHSTIR.N.Y. 14SaO (716) 872-4503 92 ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER. call them canoes, indeed, was a strain upon our con- sciences. The only theory to account for their keeping afloat at all was that of the Irishman in the story, " that for ev^ery hole where the water could come in there were a half a dozen where it could run out." These canoes are made of a species of poi)lar, and are generally called " Cottonwood canoes ; " and as the trees from which they are made are not very large, the material " runs out" so to apeak, along the waist or middle of the canoe, where a greater quantity is required to reach around, and this deficiency is made up by substituting batten-like strips of thin wood tacked or sewed on as gunwales, and calking the crevices well with gum. At bow and stern some rude attempt is made to warp them into canoe lines, and in doing this many cracks are developed, all of which are smeared with spruce gum. The thin bottom is a perfect gridiron of slits, all closed with gum, and the proportion of gum increases with the canoe's age. These were the fragile craft that were brought to me with a tender to transport my effects (nearly three tons besides thejo^r- sonnel of the expedition) almost the whole length of the lake, fully seven or eight miles, and the owners had the assurance to offer to do it in two days. I had no idea how far it was to the northern end or outlet of Lake Lindeman, as I had spent too many years of my life among Indians to attempt to deduce even an approxi- mate estimate from the assurances of the two " Sticks " that "it was just around the point of land" to which they pointed and which may have been four or five miles (listant. I gave them, however, a couple of loads of material that could be lost without serious damage, weighing three hundred to four hundred pounds, and as ALONG THE LAKES. 95 I did not know the length of the lake I thought I would await their I'etum before attempting further progress. Even if they could accomplish the bargain in double the time they proposed I was quite willir.g to let them pro- ceed, as I understood the outlet of the lake was a narrow riv3r full of cascades and rocks through which, according to Indian reports, no rait of more than a few logs could possibly float. I did not feel disposed to build a couple of such cumbersome craft to travei*se so short a distance. A southern gale setting in shortly after their departure, with waves running on the lake a foot or ;;wo high, v.as too terrible a storm for the rickety little boats, and we did not see any thing of them or their owners until three days later, when the men came creeping back overland — the gale still raging — to explain matters which required no explanation. In the meantime, having surmised the failure of our Indian contractors, the best logs available, whic^i were rather small ones of stunted spruce and contorted pine, had been floated down the little stream and had been tracked up and down along the shores of the lake, and a raft made of the somewhat formidable dimensions of fifteen by thirty feet, with an elevated deck amidships. The rope lashings used on the loads of the Indian pack- ers were put to duty in binding the logs together, but the greatest reliance was placed in stout wooden pins which united them by auger holes bored through both, the logs being cue or "saddled out" where they joined, as is done at the corners of log cabins. A deck was made on the corduroy plan of light seasoned pine poles, and high enough to prevent ordinary sized waves from wetting the effects, while a pole was rigged by mortising it into 1^ M ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER. one of the central logs at the bottom and supporting it by four guy ropes from the top, and from this was sus- pended a wall tent as a sail, the ridge pole being the yard arm, with tackling arranged to raise and lower it. A large bow and stern oar with which to do the steering completed the rude craft. On the evening of the 14tli of June the raft was finished, when we found that, as a number of us had surmised, it was not of sufficient buoy- ancy to hold all our effects as well as the whole party of whites and natives. The next day only three white men, Mr. Homan, Mr. Mcintosh and Corporal Shircliff, were placed in charge. About half the stores were put on the deck, tlie raft swung by ropes into the swift current of the stream so as to float it well out into the lake, and as the rude sail was spread to the increasing wind, the primitive craft commenced a journey that was destined to measure over thirteen hundred miles before the rough ribs of knots and bark were laid to rest on the great river, nearly half a thousand miles of whose secrets were given up to geo- graphical science through the medium of her staunch and trusty bones. As she slowly obeyed her motive power, the wind began blowing harder and harder, until the craft was pitching like a vessel laboring in an ocean storm ; but despite this the middle of the afternoon saw her rough journey across the angry lake safely com- pleted, and this without any damage to her load worth noticing. The three men had had an extremely hard time of it, and had been compelled to take down their wall tent sail, for when this was lashed down over the stores on the deck to protect them from the deluge of flying spray breaking up over the stern there was ample i mm mmmmm mm ■P^BHMI ALONG THE LAKES. n surface presented to the f uriotiH gale to drive them along at a good round pace, esiiecMally when near the bold rocky whores, where all their vigilantre and muscle were needed to keep them from being (lashed to pieces in the rolling breakers. They had started with a half dozen or so good stout poles, but in using them over the rocks t)n the bottom one would occsisioiuilly i ..y readers. Taking fig. 1 on this page as representing a cross-se(!tion perpendicular to the trend of a bank of a river in our own. climate, the stumps ss representing trees which if undermined by the water as far as c will generally fall in along cd, and carry away a few tr< three at most, then, as the roots of no more than one such tree are capable of hold- ing it so a!^ to form an abatis along th^ • '■ stream i nC FIG. 2. ; V "•■ trees so held will lean obliquely down d^[ floating object will merely brush ahmg on their tips \ Ivbout receiving serious damage. P^igure 2, above, repre- sents a similar sketch of a cross- section on the banks of the Yuko]; J spec- Fio. 3. ially alon. i. i umerous islands, these banks, as we saw them, being generally f rom six to eight feet abov e the level of the water. This is also about the depth to 136 ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER. which the moist marshy ground freezes solid during the intense cold of the Alaskan winter in the interior dis- tricts, and the banks therefore have the tenu,city of ice to support them ; and it is not until the water has exca- vated as far as c (five or six times as far as in Figure 1), that the overhanging mass csd becomes heavy enough to break off the projecting bank along cd. This as a solid frozen body falls downward around the axis c, being too heavy for the water to sweep a\ r t remains until thawed out by the river water alreao 'out little above freezing, by reason of the constant influx of glacier streams and from running between frozen banks. I have roughly attempted to show this process in Fig. 3. I think any one will acknowledge that the raft R, carried \yj a swift current sweeping toward c is not in a very desirable position. Such a position is bad enough on any river which has but a single line of trees along its scarp and trending down stream, but on the Yukon it is unfortunately worse, with every branch and twig fero- ciously standing at "charge bayonets," to resist any thing that floats that way. In F"ig. 3, the maximum is depicted just as the bank falls or shortly after ; and it requires but a few days, possibly a week or a fortnight, for all the outer and most dangerous looking trees to be more or less thoroughly swept away by the swift current, and a less bristling aspect presented, the great half frozen mass acting somewhat as a breakwater to further undermining of the bank for a long while. In many places along the river, these excavations had gone so far that the bank seemed full of deep gloomy caves ; and as we drifted close by, we could see, and, on quiet days hear, the dripping from the thawing surface, c s (fig. 2). A CHAPTER ABOUT RAFTING. 137 In other places the half polished surface of the ice in the frozen ground could be seen in recent fractures as late as July, or even August. Often when camped in some desolate spot or floating lazily along, having seen no inhabitants for days, we would be startled by the sound of a distant gun-shot on the banks, which would excite our curiosity to see the savage sportsman ; but we soon came to trace these re- ports to the right cause, that of falling banks, although not until after we had several times been deceived. Once or twice we actually saw these tremendous cavings in of the banks quite near us, and more frequently than we wanted we floated almost underneath some that were not far from the crisis of their fate, a fate which we thought might be precipitated by some accidental collis- ion of our making. By far the most critical moment was when both the current and a strong wind set in against one of these banks. On such occasions we were often compelled to tie up to the bank and wait for better times, or if the danger was confined to a short stretch we would fight it out until either the whole party was exhausted or our object was attained. Whenever an island was made out ahead and it appeared to be near the course of our drifting, the conflicting guess- es we indulged in as to which shore of the island we should skirt would indicate the difficulty of making a correct estimate. It takes a ^leculiarly well practiced eye to follow with certainty the line of the current of the stream from th J bow of the raft beyond any obstruction in sight a fair distance ahead, and on more than one oc(^aaion our hardest work with the oars and poles was rewarded by finding ourselves on the very bar or flat we ''■•^''^'"^IIWfT- 138 ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER. had been striving to avoid. The position of the sun, both vertical and horizontal, its brightness and the char- acter of the clouds, the clearness and swiftness of the water, the nature and strength of the wind, however lightly it might be blowing, and a dozen other circum- stances had to be taken into account in order to solve this apparently simple problem. If we could determine at what point in the upper end of the island the current was parted upon either side (and at any great distance tfcis was often quite as diihcult a problem as the other), one could often make a correct guess by projecting a tree directly beyond and over this point against the distant hills. If the tree crept along these hills to the right, the raft might pass to the left of the island, and vice versa ; this would certainly happen if the current was not de- flected by some bar or shoal between the raft and the island. And such shoals and bars of gravel, sand and mild are very frequent obstruction " in front of an island — at least it was so on the Yukon — indeed the coinci- de no was too frequent to be without significance. These bars and shoals were not merely prolongations from the upper point of the island, but submerged islands, so to speak, just in front of them, and between the two a steamboat could probably pass. Using tall trees as guides to indicate on which side of the island the raft might pass was, as I have said, not so easy as appears at first sight, for unless the tree could be made out directly over the dividing point of the current, all surmises were of little value. The tall spruce trees on the right and left flanks of the island in sight were always the most con- spicuous, being fewer in number, and more prominent in their isolation, than the dense growth of the center of the A CHAPTER ABOUT RAFTING . 139 island, as it was seen "end on" from above. Pepple were very prone to use these convenient reference marks in making their calculations, and one can readily perceive when the trees were near and the island fairly wide, both of the outer trees would appear to diverge in approaching, and according as one selected the right or the left of the two trees, one would ' tifer that our course was to the left or right of the island. As one stood on the bow — as we always called the down-stream end of the raft, although it was shaped no differently from the stern — and looked forward on the water flowing along, the imagination easily conceives that one can follow up from that position to almost any thing ahead and see the direction of the current leading straight for it. Eddies and slack cur- rents, into which a raft is very liable to swing as it rounds a point with an abrupt turn in the aris of the current, are all great nuisances, for though one may not get into the very heart of any of them, yet the sum total of delay in a day's drift is often considerable, and by a little careful management in steering the raft these troubles may nearly always be avoided. Of course, one is often called upon to choose between these and other impediments, more or less aggravating, so that one's attention is constantly active as the raft drifts along. In a canal-like stream of uniform width, which gives little chance for eddies or slack water — and the upper Yukon has many long stretches that answer to this description — every thing goes along smoothly enough until along toward evening, when the party wishes to go into camp while the river is tearing along at four or five miles an hour. I defy any one who has never been similarly situated, to have any adequate conception of 140 ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER. the way in which a ponderous vessel like our raft, con- structed of large logs and loaded with four or five tons of cargo and crew, will bring up against any obstacle while going at this rate. If there are no eddies into which it can be rowed or steered and its progress thereby stopped or at least slackened, it is very hard work indeed to go into camp, for should the raft strike end on, a side log or two may be torn out and the vessel transformed by the shock into a lozenge-shaped affair. Usually, under these circumstances, we would bring the raft close in shore, and with the bow oar hold its head .^*^ well out into the stream, while with the steering oar the stern end would be thrown against the bank and there held, scraping along as firmly as two or three men could do it (see diagram above^, and this frictional brake would be kept up steadily until we slowed do'vn a little, when one or two, or even half-a-dozen persons would jump ashore at a favorable spot, and ivith a rope complete the slackening until it would warrant our twisting the rope around a tree on the bank and a cross log on the raft, when from both places the long rope would be slowly A CHAPTER ABOUT RAFTING. 141 allowed to pay out under strong and increasing friction, or "snubbing" as logmen call it, and this would bring the craft to a standstill in water so swift as to boil up over the stern logs, whereupon it would receive a series of snug lashings. If the position was not favorable for camping we would slowly "droj)" the craft down stream by means of the rope to some better site, never allowing her to proceed at a rate of speed that we could not readily control. If, however, we were unsuccessful in making our chosen camping ground and had drifted below it, there was not sufficient power in our party, nor even in the strongest rope we had, ever to get the craft up stream in the average current, whether by tracking or any other means, to the intended spot. Good camping places were not to be had in every stretch of the river, and worse than all, they had to be selected a long way ahead in order to be able to make them, with our slow means of navigation, from the middle of the broad river where we usually were. Oftentimes a most acceptable i)lace would be seen just abreast of it, having until then been concealed by some heavily wooded spur or point, and then of course it would be too late to reach it with our slow craft, while to saunter along near shore, so as to take immediate advantage of such a possible spot, was to sacrifice a good deal of our rapid progress. To run from swift into slacker water could readily be accomplished by simply pointing the craft in the direction one wanted to go, but the reverse process was not so easy, at least by the same method. I suppose the proper way to manage so clumsy a concern as a raft, would be by means of side oars and rowing it end on (and this we did on the lakes in 142 ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER. making a cani]) or in gaining the sliore wlien a head wind set in), but as our two oars at bow and stern weie the most convenient for the greater part of the work, we used them entirely, always rowing our bundle of logs broadside on to the point desired, provided that no bars or other obstacles interfered. We generally kei)t the bow end inclined to the shore that we were trving to reach, a plan that was of service, as I have shown, in passing from swift to slack water, and in a three mile current by using our oars rowing broadside on we could keep at an angle of about thirty degrees from the axis of the stream as we made shoreward in this position. The knowledge of this fact enabled us to make a rough calculation as to the point at which we should touch the bank. The greater or less swiftness of the current would of course vary this angle and our calculations ac(*ord- ingly. Our bundles of effects on the two cordurov decks made quite high piles fore and aft, and when a good strong wind was blowing — and Alaska in the summer is the land of wind — we had by way of sail power a sj,read of broadside area that was incapable of being lowered. More frequently than was pleasant ths breeze carried us along under "sweepers" or dragged us over bars or drove us down unwelcome channels of slack water. In violent gales we were often actually held against the bank, all movement in advance being effectually checked. A mild wind was always welcome, for in the absence of a breeze when approaching the shore the musquitoes made exist- ence burdensome. During hot days on the wide open river — singular a» it may seem so near the Arctic Circle — the sun would A CHAPTER ABOUT RAFTING. 143 strike down from oveiliead with a blistering- eifect and a bronzing effect from its reflection in the dancing waters that made one feel as though he were floating on the Nile, Congo or Amazon, or any where except in the very shadow of the Arctic Circle. Roughly improvised tent flies and flai)s helped us to screen ourselves to a limited extent from the troi)ical toraient, but if hung too high, the stern oarsman, who had charge of the "ship," could see nothing ahead on his course, and the curtain would have to come down. No annoyance could seem more sin- gular in the Arctic and sub- Arctic zones than a blister- ing sun or a swarm of mosquitoes, and yet I believe my greatest discomforts m those regions came from these same causes, certainly from the latter. Several times our thermometer registered but little below 100° Fahr- enheit in the shade, and the weather seemed much warmer even than that, owing to the bright reflections that gleamed from the water upon our faces. " Cut offs " through channels that led straight across were often most deceptive affairs, the swifter currents nearly alwa3^s swinging around the great bends of the river. Especially bad Avas a peculiarly seductive "cut- off " with a tempting by swift current as you entered it, caused by its flowing over a shallow bar, whereupon the current Avould rapidly and almost immediately deepen and would consequently slow down to a rate that was provoking beyond measure, especially as one saw one's self overtaken by piece after piece of drift-timber that by keeping to the main channel had "taken the longest way around as the shortest way home, " and beaten us by long odds in the race. And worse than all it was not always possible to avoid getting in these side "sloughs 144 ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER. of desi)oiid/' even when we had learned their tempting little tricks of offering us a swifter current at the en- trance, for this very swiftness produced a sort of suction on the surface water that drew in every thing that passed within a distance of the width of its entrance. Of submerged obstructions, snags were of little account, for the great 2)onderous craft would go plowing through and casting aside some of the most formidable of them. [ doubt very much if snags did us as much harm as benefit, for as they always indicated shoal water, and were easily visible, especially with glasses, they often served us as beacons. I saw very few of the huge snags which have received the appellation of "saw- yers" on the Mississippi and Missouri, and are so much dre:.ded by the navigators of those waters. Sand, mud and gravel bars were by far the worst obstruction we had to contend with, and I think I have given them in the order of their general perversity in raft navigation, sand being certainly the worst and gravel the slightest. Sand bars and spits were particularly aggravating, and when the great gridiron of logs ran up on one of them in a swift current there w-as "fun ahead," to use a western expression of negation. Sometimes the mere jumping overboard of all the crew would lighten the craft so that she would float forward a few yards, and in lucky instan- ces might clear the obstruction ; but this was not often the case, and those who made preparations for hard work were seldom disappointed. In a swift current the run- ning water would sweep out the sand around the logs of the raft until its buoyancy would prevent its sinking any deeper, and out of this rut the great bulky thing would md in lat m- ten )rk lin- of lild w ni \ H A CHAPTER ABOUT RAFTING. 147 have to be lifted before it would buJge an inch in a lateral direction, and when this was accomplished, and, completely fagged out, we would stop to take a breath or two, we would often be gratified by seeing our noble craft sink down again, necessitating a repetition of the process. The simplest way to get off a sand bar was to find (by sounding with a stick or simply wading around), the point nearest to a deep navigable channel and then to swing the raft, end for end, up stream, even against the swiftest current thai might come boiling over the upper logs, until that hannel was reached. There was no more hai)py moment in a day's histoiy than when, after an hour or so had been spent in prying the vessel inch by inch against the (Mirrent, we could finally see the current catch it (m the same side upon which we were working and perform the lust half of our ta^k in a few seconds, wlieie perhaps we had sjoent as many hours upon our port ion of the work. At one bad place, on the upper ond of an island, we had to swing our forty-two foot corvette around four times. Our longest detention by a sand bi' was three hours and fifty minutes. iNlud bars were not nearly so bad, unless the material was ol a clayej^ consistmcy, wli.'U a little adhesiveness would be added to the other impediments, and again, :w, we always endeavored to keei> in file swift water we ;!- doll) encou^iitered a mud bar. But when one occurred UHnr to a camping phice, it materially interfered Avith our wadii.g ashore with our heavy camping effects on our Itacks. and would reduce our rubber boots to a deplora- ble looking condition. Elsewhere, it was possible toj^ry the raft right through a mud bank, by dint of muscle and patience, and then we could sit down on the outer 148 ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER. logs of the deck and wash our booi:s in the water at lei^ sure as we floated along. Our raft drew from twenty to twenty-two inches of water, and of course it could not ground in any thing deeper, so that good rubber boots coming up over the thighs kept our feet comparatively dry when overboard ; but there were times when we were compelled to get in almost to our middle ; and when the water was so swift that it boiled up over their tops and filled them they were about as useless an article as can be imagined, so that we went into all such places barefooted. The best of all the bars were those of gravel, and the larger and coarser the pebbles the better. When the pebbles were well cemented into a firm bed by a binding of clay almost as solid and unyielding as rock, we could ask nothing better, and in such cases we always went to work with cheerful prospects of a speedy release. By simply lifting the raft with pries thesvviit current throws it forward, and since it does not settle as in sand, every exertion tells. By turning the raft broadside to the cur- rent and prying or "biting " at each end of the " boat " alternately, with our whole force of pries, leaving the swift water to throw her forwtird, we p.issed over gravel bars on which I do not think the water was over ten or eleven inches deep, although the raft drew twice as much. One of the gravel bars over which we passed in this man- ner was fully thirty or forty yards in length. In aggravated cases of whatever nature the load would have to be taken off, carried on our backs through the water and placed on the shore, and when the raft was cleared or freed from the obstruction it would be brought alongside the bank at the very first favorable spot for A CHAPTER ABOUT RAFTING. 149 reloading. Such cases occurred fully a score of times during our voyage. When the raft stranded on a bar with the water on each side so deep that we could not wade ashore, the canoe was used for ' ' lightering the load, ' ' an extremely slow process which, fortunately, we were obliged to employ only once on the whole raft journey, although several times in wading the water came up to our waists before we could get to shore. In fact, with a heavy load on one's back or shoulders, it is evidently much easier to wade through water of that depth and proportional current than thrcugh very swift water over shallow bars. Looking back, it seems almost miraculous that a raft could make a voyage of over thirteen l.^!indred miles, the most difficult part of which was unknown, starting at the very head where the stream was so narrow that the raft would have been brought at a standstill if it swung out of a straight course end on (as it did in the \ pr Rapids), and covering nearly two months of tl.iily encounters with snags and bowlders, sticking on bars and shooting rapids, and yet get through almost unscathed. AVhen I started to build this one on Lake Lindeman I had anticipated constructing two or three of these primi- tive craft before I could exchange to good and sufficient native or civilized transportation. The raft is undoubtedly the oldest foim of navigation extnnt, and undoubtedly the worst ; it is interesting to know just how useful the raft can be as an auxiliary to geographical exploration, and certainly my raft journey wjis long enough to test it in this respect. The raft, of course, can move in one direction only, viz. : with the current, and therefore its use must be 150 ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER. restricted to streams whose upper waters can be reached by the explorer. The traveler must be able to escape by the mouth of the stream or by some divergent trail lower down, unless his explorations prove the river to be nav- igable for such craft as he finds on its lower waters, when he may use these for returning. The building of a raft requires tlie presence of good, fair-sized timber along the stream. Tlie river too, must offer no falls of any great size. My journey, however, lias demonstrated that u well constructed raft can go any where, subject to the above restrictions, that abo^tcan, at least such ,x boat as is usually employed by explorers. I know of nothing that can give an explorer a better opportunity to delineate the topography of the surround- ing country with such instruments as are commonly used in assisting dead reckoning, than is afforded by float- ing down a river. I believe the steady movement with the current makes "dead reckoning" much more exact than with a boat, where the rate of progress is vari- able, where one hour is spent in drifting as a raft, another in rowing, and a third in sailing with a changeable wind, and where each mode of progress is so abruptly exchanged for another. Any steady par^e, such as the walking of a man or ahorse, or the floating of a raft carefully kept in the axis of the current, makes dead reckoning so exact, if long practiced, as often to astonish the surveyor him- self, but every thing depends upon this steadiness of motion. The errors in dead reckoning of Mr. Homan, my topographer, in running from Pyramid Harbor in Chil kat Inlet to Port Yukon, both carefully determined by astronomical observations and over a thousand miles apart, was less than one per cent., a fact which proves A CHAPTER ABOUT RAFTING. 151 that rafting as a means of surveying may be ranked with any method that requires walking or riding, and far exceeds any method in use by explorers ascending a stream, as witness any map of the Yukon River that attempts to show the position of Fort Yukon, before it was astronomically determined by Captain Raymond. Meridia;i observations of the sun for latitude are hard to obtain, for the reader already knows what a task it is to get a raft into camp. This difficulty of course will vary with the size of the raft, for one Jis large as ours would not always be needed and Ji small one can be more readily handled in exploration. While rafting, field I)hotograi)liy, now so much used by exjilorers, is very 3 H .(*• = r S3 MS ift THE GRAND CANON OF THE YUKON. 165 water pouring in a sheet of foam over the stem of the shackled raft, she slowly swung into an eddy under the lee of a gravel bar where she was soon securely fastened, whereupon we prepared to make an inspection of our chief impediment. A laborious survey of three or four hours' duration, exposed to heat and mosquitoes, revealed tlint tlie raj^ids were about live miles long and in appear- ance formidable enough to repel any one who might con- template making the passage even in a good boat, while such an attempt seemed out of the question with an un- manageable raft like ours. The Yukon River, which had previously been about three hundred or three hundred and fifty yards in width, gradually contracts as it nears the upper gate of the ciifion and at the point where the stream enters it in a high white-capped wave of rolling water, I do not be- lieve its widtli exceeds one-tenth of that distance. The walls of the canon are perpendicular colunms of basalt, not unlike a diminutive Fingal's cave in appearance, and nearly a mile in length, the centei' of this mile stretch being broken into a huge basin of about twice the usual width of the stream in the canon, and whicli is full of seething whirlpools and eddies ^vliere nothing but a fish could live for a minute. On the western rim of this basin it seems as though one might descend to the water's edge with a little Alpine work. Through this narrow chute of corrugated rock the wild waters of the great river rush in a perfect mass of milk-like foam, with a reverberation that is audible for a considerable dis- tance, the roar being intensified by the rocky walls which Jict like so many sounding boards. Huge spruce trees in somber files overshadow the dark canon, and it re- 166 ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER. sembles a deep black tlioioiighfare paved with the whit- est of marble. At the northern outlet of th>.- canon, the rushing river spreads rapidly into its former width, but abates not a jot of its swiftness, and flows in a white and shallow sheet over reefs of bowlders and bars thickly studded with intertwining drifts of huge timber, ten times more dangerous for a boat or raft than the narrow canon itself, although perhaps not so in appearance. This state of things continues for about four miles further, offering every possible variety of obstacle in turn, when the river again contracts, hemmed in by low basaltic banks, and becomes even narrower than before. So swift is it, so great the volume of water, and so con- tracted the channel, that half its wator ascends the slop- ing banks, runs over them for nearly a score of yards, and then falls into the narrow chute below, making a veritable horseshoe funnel of boiling cascades, not much wider than the length of our raft, and as high at the end as her mast. Through this funnel of foam the waves ran three or four feet high, and this fact, added to the boiling that often forced up columns of water like small geysers quite a considerable distance into the air, made matters very uninviting for navigation in any sort of craft. Every thing being in readiness, our inspection made, and our resolution formed, in the forenoon of the second of July, we prepared to "shoot" the raft though the rapids of the grand canon, and at 11:25 the bow and stern lines were cast loose and after a few minutes' hard work at shoving the craft out of the little eddy where she lay, the poor vessel resisting as if she knew al that was ahead of her and was loth to go, she finally swung THE GRAND CANON OF THE YUKON. 167 clt^ar of the point and like a racer at the start made ill most a leap forward and the die was cast. A moment's hesitation at the canon's brink, and qnick as a flash the whirling craft i)lunged into the foam, and before twenty yards were made liad collided with the western wall of colunmar rock with a shock as loud as a blast, tearing oif the inner side log and throwing the outer one far into the stream. The raft swung around this as upon a hinge, just as if it had been a straw in a gale of wind, and again resumed its rapid career. In the whirlpool basin of the canon the craft, for a brief second or two, seemed actually buried out of sight in the foam. Had there been a dozen giants on board they could have had no more influence in directing her course than as many spiders. It was a very simple matter to trust the rude vessel entirely to fate, and work out its own salvation. I was most afraid of the four miles of shallow rapids below after the canon, but she only received a dozen or a score of smart bumps that started a log here and there, l)ut tore none from the structure, and nothing remained ahead of her but the cascades. These reached, in a few minutes the craft was caught at the bow by the first high wave in the funnel-like chute and lifted into the air until it stood almost at an angle of thirty degrees, when it went through the cascades like a charge of fixed bayonets, and almost as swiftly as a flash of light, burying its nose in the foam beyond as it subsided. Those on board of the raft now got hold of a line from their friends on shore, and after br«'aking it several times they finally brought the craft alongside the bank and commenced repairing the dam- age with a light heart, for our greatest obstacle was now at our backs. i 168 ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER. Near the spot wliere we camped, just below the cas- cades that terminated the long rajiids, was found a small grove of sapling spruce through which the lire had swept a year or two before, and the trees were thoroughly sea- soned and sound, the black burned bark peeling as freely from them as the hull of a chestnut, leaving excellent light and tough poles with which we renewed our two decks, our constant walking over the old ones having converted them into somewhat unsatisfactory places for promenades unless one carefully watched his footsteps. Evidences of conflagration in the dense coniferous forests were everywhere frequent, the tires arising from the careless- ness of the Indian campers, and from the making of signal smokes, and even it is said, from design, with the idea of clearing the district of moscpiitoes. AYhile wait- ing at the cascades of the rapids to repair our raft, our fishing tackle was kept busy to such an extent that we landed between four and five hundred fine grayling, a fishing ground that excelled any we afterward found on the Yukon River. Our favorite fishing i)lace was just below the cascades, where a number of the disintegrating columns of 1 usalt had fallen in, forming a talus along which we could \vjilk between the w.'iter and the wall. A little beyond the wall itself sloped down and ran close beside the little ripples Avhere we were .ilwaj^s sure of a "rise " when the grayling would bite. This was nearly always in thecool of the mornings or evenings, or in the middle of 'the day when even a few light fleecy clouds floated over the sun. Yet there were times when they would cease biting as suddenly as if they were disciplined and under orders, and that without any apparent reason, returning to the THE GRAND CANON OF THE YUKON. 169 bait just as suddenly and as mysteriously. Light northern winds brought line sunny weather, and with it a perfect deluge of light brown millers or moths migrat- ing southward, thousands of which tumbled in the waters of the river and filled every eddy with their float- ing bodies. These kept the grayling busy snai)ping at THE CASCADES AT THE EXD OF THE GREAT RAPIDS. IIuiul of Navigation on the Yukon, 180C inik'S from Aphoon mouth. them, and indicated to a certain degree when to go fishing, but still it was remarkable that our efforts should be so well rewarded when there were so many living, fctruggling bait to tempt them away from our flies. Strangest of all we were most successful when casting with brown flies. The millers caught by the water and drifted into eddies would not be touched, and it was only when a solitary moth came floating along beating its wings and fluttering 170 ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER. on the surface around the swiftest corners that a spring for it was at all certain, and even then a brown hackle dancing around in the same jjlace would monopolize every rise within the radius of a fish's eyesight. Our Tahk-heesh friends, who had been made useful by us in several ways, such as carrying effects over the portage, helj)ing with poles and logs, and so on, were as much surprised at this novel mode of iishing as the grayling themselves, and expressed their astonishment, la guttural grunts, They regarded themselves as admitted to high favor when we gave them a few of the flies as presents. They ate all the sjjare grayling we chose to give them, which was often nearly a dozen apiece, and, in fact, dur- ing the three or four days we were together their subsis- tence was almost altogether derived from this source, as we had no provisions to spare them. The largest gray- ling we caught weiglied two pounds and a quarter, but we had the s.ime invariable two sizes already mentioned, with here and there a slight deviation in grade. These grayling were the most persistent l)iters I ever saw rise to a fly, and more uncertain than these uncertain fish usually are in grasping for a bait, for there were times when I really believe we got fifty or sixty rises from a single fish before he was hooked or the contest aban- doned. The portage made by the Indians around the canon and rai)ids was over quite a high ridge just the length of the canon, and then descended abruptly with a dizzy incline into a valley which, after continuing nearly down to the cascades, again ascended a sandy hill that was very difficult to climb. The hilly part around the canon was pretty thoroughly covered with small pines and THE GRAND CANON OF THE YUKON. 171 spruce, and all along the portage trail some miners who had been over it had cut these down near the path and felled them across it, and Jiad then barked them on their upper sides, forming statitmary skills along which they could drag their whip-sawed boats. Two large logs l)la(red together on the steep declivity, and well trimmed of their limbs and bark, nuide good inclines on which the boat or boats could be lowered into the valley below. Here they had floated their boats by towlines down to the cascades, around whi(!h x^oint they had again dragged them. It may readily be i uuigined that such a chapparal of felled brush and poles across our path did not improve the walking in the least. It was a continued case of hurdle w^alking the whole distance. The day we walked over the trail on the eastern side of the canon and rapids Avas one of the hottest and most insufferable 1 ever experienced, and every time we sat down it was f)n]y to have " a regular down-east fog ' ■ of mosquitoes comelmz- zing around, and the steady swaying of arms and the constant slapping of the face w^as an exercdse fully as vigorous as that of traveling. Our only safe plan was to walk along brandishing a great handful of evergreens from shoulder to shoulder. As we advanced the mos- quitoes invariably kept the same distance ahead, as if they had not the remotest idea we were coming toward them. An occasional vicious reach forward thi*ougli the mass with the evergreens would have about as much effect in removing them as it would in dispersing the same amount of fog, for it seemed as if they could dodge a streak of lightning. Nothing was better than a good strong wind in one's face, and as one emerged from the brush or timber it was simply delicious to feel the cool 178 ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT lUVKli. breeze on one* s jieppered face and to see tlie rascals dis- appear. Our backs, however, were even then spotted with them, still crawling along and testing every thread in one's coat to see it* they could not find a thin hole where they might bore through. Once in the breeze, it was comi(;al to turn around slowly and see their efforts to keep under the lee of one's hunting shirt, as one by one they lose their hold and are wafted away in the wind. If these pests had been almost unbearable before, they now became simply tiendish while we were repairing our raft ; nothing could be done unless a wind was blowing or unless we stood in a smoke from the resinous pine or spruce so thick that the eyes remained in an acute state of inflammation. Mosquito netting over the hat was not an infallible remedy and was greatly in the way when at work. A fair wind one day made me think it possible to take a hunt inland, but, to my disgust, it died down after I had proceeded two or three miles, and my fight back to camp with the mosquitoes I shall always remember as one of the salient points of my life. It seemed as if there was an ujiward rain of insects from the grass that became a deluge over marshy tracts, and more than half the ground was marshy. Of course not a sign of any game was seen except a few^ old tracks ; and the tracks of an animal are about the only part of it that could exist here in the mosquito season, which lasts from the time the snow is half off the ground until the first severe frost, a period of Mome three or four months. During that time every living creature that can leave the valleys ascends the mountains, closely following the snow line, and even there peace is not completely attained, the exposure to THE GRAND CANON OF THE YUKON. 173 the winds being of fur more benefit than the coolness clue to tlie jiltitude, while the mosquitoes are left undisimted masters of the valleys, except for a few straggling aninials on their way from one range of mountains to tlie other. Had there been any game, and had I obtained a fair shot, I honestly doubt if 1 could have securt'd it owing to these pests, not altogether on ac« ount of their ravenous attacks upon my face, and especially the eyes, but for the reason that they were absolutely so dense that it was im])ossible to see clearly through the mass in taking aim. When I got back to camp I was thoroughly exhausted with my incessant fight and completely out of breath, which I had to regain as best I could in a stilling smoke from dry resinous pine knots. A traveler who had spent a summer on the Lower Yukon, where I did not find the pests so bad on my journey as on the upper river, was of opinion that a nervous person without a mask would soon be killed by nervous prostration, unless he were to take refuge in mid-stream. I know that the native dogs are killed by the mosquitoes under certain circimistances, and I heard reports, which I believe to be well founded, both from Indians and trustw^orthy white persons, that the great brown bear — erroneously but commonly called the grizzly — of these regions is at times compelled to succumb to these insects. The statement seems almost jjreposterous, but the explanation is com- paratively simpte. Bruin having exhausted all the roots and berries on one mountain, or finding them scarce, thinks he will cross the valley to another range, or per- haps it is the odor of salmon Avashed up along the river's banks that attracts him. Covered with a heavy fur on his body, his eyes, nose and ears are the vulnerable '^*l ALONG JLA.'^KA'S GREAT RIVER. poir'^s for mofquitoes, iind linre of course they con- grrgjite in the greatest imiul)ers. At last when he readies a swampy stretch they rise in myriads until liis fore- paws are kept so busy as he strives to keej) liis eyes AlASKA 1{R< ,WX itIMi FIGHTINti MOSQCITOKS. clear of them thnt he caii not walk, whereupon he becomes enraged, and beor-like, rises on his haunches to fight. It is now a mere question of time until the bear's eyes become so swollen from innumerable bites as to render him perfectly blind, when he wanders helplessly about until he gets mired in the marsh, and so starves to death. l>^'- /7r ClIAPTEKVIH. DOWX Tin: RIVER TO SELKIRK. evening about eight o'clock, while encamped below the cascades, we could hear dull, heavy (con- cussions occurring at intervals of two or three minutes. The sountl did not at all resemble that of distant thunder, and moreover, the sky was cloud- less. Earthvpiakes were sug- iN THE uiNK uAPiDs. gested, but the tiieory did not seem plausible, and we were compelled to attribute it to the cascades, which, I believe, have been known to cause earth tremblings and ana logons phenomena. [ noticed that a Tahk-heesh Indian in arranging his head aiid breast bands for a, load to be carried on his back, adjusted them as follows: The breast-band was giasped in the center by the palm of the hand, and when pulled out taut if the elbow of the packer just touched the load, — box, bag or bundle. — it was considered to be in proper condition to carry. The breast band adjusted, the head band is also pulled out, and between the two there must be the width of the packer's hand ; the liead- baud, uliichis not always used, being the longer. I had 176 ALONG ALASKA'S GJ:EAT RIVER. hitherto U()ti(!e(l this inaniier of arjanging the load when among my Chilkat i>acker.s ; tlie most singular feature of it heing that the breast band passes o^-ei* five ai'nis so as to pinion tiiem to the sides, making them apparently- useless when the moKt needed. M :;]i CLAY BLUFFS ON THE UPPER YUKON. On the ntii ol' -luly we again got undei" way on our raft. For the tirst few miles, eight oi- ten. tlie river is very swift and oc(;asionally breaks into light rapids, although I believe a powerful light-draft river steamer, such as are used on tlie shallow western rivers, could easily sur- mount all the bad. places we saw below the cascades of V>VW;y^:()rtage, the i-elation of wiiich with the Chilkoot trail has already been noticed. From this point on my Chilkat guide, Indianne, was much more fanuliar with the country, having bec^n over the Chilkat trail many times, and over the Chilkoot i)()rtage but om .'.'hen a small boy. From the cascades to the Tahk Rivei, a distance of nearly twentj'-iive miles, the banks of the Yukon are quite high and of ten broken into {)ei'pendicular bluffs of white day, whose rolling crescent- shaped crowns were densely covered with pine and spi'uce. While the Tahk-heen'-a is the smaller stream, its bed and valley apparently determine the general char- acteristics of the river beyond its c(mfluence,the high bold bluffs of clay just mentioned being from this point suc- ceeded bv lower shores wooded to the water's edu'e. The Tahk-heen'-a, like all streams not interspersed with lakes on its upj)er course, carries (piite muddy wnter, and we all felt a little uneasy about our line grayl ing fisher- ies, aforebodii g well founded, for they diminished with an exasperating suddenness, our evenings seldom being rewarded with more than two or three. The last of the rhain of lakes was reached the same day \\\ n 1'. M., and we were prevented from taking ad- vantaireofa y-ood wind bv a three hours' detention on a sau(l-l):ir tliat stretched alnu* -t entirely across the river's 178 ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER. mouth. This bar liad a deep cliannel on eitlier side of it, and when oui* most strenuous efforts completely failed to f?et the raft rff, there was notiung to be done but to put tile load ashore, and as \vadin<2; was impossible, the (;ottonwood canoe was brought into a(!tion, slow as the method was. Not having been used much lately its (!ondition was unknown, and as soon as we launched it. the water came pouiing in from a dozen cracks where the gum had scaled off. One very vicious looking hole was sud- denly developed in the bow as the tirst load went ashore, andfc" Billy" undertook fo overcome this difficulty by putting most of the load in the stern, taking his own i)lace there so as to allow the bow to stand well out of the water. With every load the leak grew worse, and about the fourth or fifth trip there was a most despei-ate struggle between the canoeman and the leak to see which would conquer before they reached the shore, the result being a partial victory for bofh, the canoe's head going under water just as it reached the shore, upon which there was a liurried scramble to unload it without damage. This lake was called by the Indians Kluk-tas'-si ; and, as it was one of the very few pronounceabh^ names of Indian derivation in this section of the country, I re- tained it, although it is jiossible that this may be the Lake Labarge of some books, the fact that it is the first lake above the site of old Fort Selkirk being the only geographical datum in its fav^or, while all its other rela- tions to equal points of importance are opposed to the theory. In fact, it had evidently been mjipped by the merest guesswork fi'om vague Indian reports. I hope I shall be excused for again reviving the subject of conjectural geography, so uncertain in its results and DOWN THE RIVER TO SELKIRK. 179 SO prevalent in Alaskan charts, especiilly those relating to tli'B interior, even when they are of an official charac- ter. If the self-satisfaction of these parlor iiiai)-niakers has been gratified in following unknown rivers and mountains wherever their fancy and imagination led them, and no other harm resulted, one conversant with the fac'ts might dismiss the manifold errors that occur in their charts with a contemptuous smile at the method pursued. But that harm oi the most serious luiture can result from these geographical conjectures is evident from the following true story told me by the person, in- terested. A party of miners had crossed the Chilkoot trail and were on a " prospecting tour " down the river and lakes. Discouraged at the outlook as to fhiding gold or silver in paying quantities, there was consider- able diversity of opinion in regard to the propriety of any further advance in such a wild unexplored country, the majority a Ivocating a return. Among their number was a young lawyer, a graduate of an eastf'rn college, I believe, who had joined the party in the lu^pe of finding adventures and of repairing his health, wiiich had suffeivd from too close an application to his i)rofessi<)nal studies. Having in his possession an official government chart v> ] I ich pretended to map the route ovei- which he had come as well as that ahead of him, although he had re- ceived proof of its untrustworthiness in the ])ast, he i-e- solved to trust it once more. Numerous Indian villages and towns were shown upon the chart at convenient in- tei'vals along the remainder of the route. He thought thf villages might not be just where they were marked, but believed that in the main theiivnumlxM'andimsitions were at least approximately corr-ect. Basing his expect m:/-- m 5 .,1 180 ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER. ations on the help to be obtained from these numer- ous Indian villages, he announced to the party his deter- mination to continue his travels, whatever might be the conclusion to which the others should come, pointing t)ut the hospitality which they had received from the Indians they had previously met, and expressing his expectation of meeting many others as friendly. Whether his rea- soning intiuenced them or not I have forgotten, and it matters but littlo, but at any rate the i)arty gave up the idea of returning and continued on drifting down the river and prospecting wherever the conditions seemed favor- able, until old Fort Selkirk was reached, when they as- cended the Pelly, upon the bars of which stream the pi'os- pect of finding gold was greatest. During all this long journey not a single Indian was seen by the party, iind only one deserted house, with an occasional peeled spruce pole nt hmg intervals that marked the temporary camps of the i jvv wandering natives. Young C took the ]V)kes cf Ills companions upon his chart and its Indian towns good-naturedly enough, and the map was nailed to a big spruce tree and used for a target for rifle prac- tice, but he often spoke to me in a far different strain as he recounted the chances of his taking the journey alone aided solely by this worthless map. In fact there is not an official or government map of Alaska, that, taken as a whole, is worth the ink with which it is printed. Limi- ted exj^lonitions and surveys in this vast territory, such as those of Captain Raymond on the Yuk«)n, Lieutenant, Ray on the Arctic Coast. Lieutenant Stoney on the Put- nam river, .'iiid nuiny others, are undoubtedly excellent, second to none in the world made under similar circum- stances, and i'onfined strictly to the country actually DOWN THE RIVER TO SELKIRK. 181 traversed by each, with bcoken line delineations in snr- roiimling district indicating conjectures; but as soon as these or such portions of them as the Washington com- piler may see lit to take, are dumped into a great ma]) of Alaska, they are so mixed with conjectural topograi)hy and map work that one must know the history of Alaskan exploration abo';t as well as the history of his own life to be able to discriminate between the good and the worthless. Like Lake Marsh, Kluk-tas-si is full of mudbanks along its shores ; its issuing waters being clear as a mountain stream, while its incoming tributaries are loaded with earthy deposits. So full of these is Kluk- tas-si, and so much more contracted is the waterway through them, thiifc we thought we could detect a slight cuirent when making our way along in the blue wat(^r. This was especially noticeable when the wind died down to a (;alm. In spite of nil this, Kluk-tas-si ott'eivd fewer difficulties in the way of making landings thnn Ijake Mnrsh. It seemed to me that but a brief geological periojl must elapse before these lakes are filled with de])()sits, their new sliores covered with timber, and their beds contracted to the dimensions of the river. Such ancient lakes appear to occur in tiie course of the stream further on. We started at ^even in t\u- ujoruingjuid were occupied until eight in rowing and sailing through the tortuous channel which led to blue water in the dee]) portion of the lake. To keep this channel readily we sent the Indians ahead in the canoe, who sounded with their long pachlles, ami by signals indicated the deepest ])arts. Ill spite of their exertions we stuck a couple of times, 182 ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER. and had to lower sail and jump overboard. The wind kept slowly increasing and by the time we set the full spread of our sail in bold water, we were forging along at such a rate that we i)ut out a trolling spoon, but noth- ing was caught, the huge craft probably frightening every thing away. The wind died down and sprang up again sevei-al times during the day, but every time it arose it was in our favor. That evening by the time we reached Camp 21, on the eastern shore of the lake, we had scored about thirteen miles, a very good reckoning for lake travel any time. The west bank of this lake is very picturesque about fourteen or fifteen miles from its southern entrance, large towers and bastion-like projections of red rock uphenv- ing their huge flanks upon what seems to be a well- marked island, but which is in realitj^ a part of the mainland, as our Indians assured us. According to the same authorities a river comes in here at this point, hav- ing shores of the same formation, and called by them the Red River. The frequency of this name in Ameri- can geographical nomenclature was to me sufficient reason for tibandoning it ; and I gave the name of Rich- thofen to the rocks and river (the latter, however, not having been seen by us), after Preiherr von Richthofen of Leipsic, well known in geographical science. The next evening was a still and beautiful one, with the lake's surface like a mirror, and the reflection of the red rocks in the quiet water made the most striking scene on our trij) ; two warm pictures of rosy red in the sinking sun joined base to base by a thread of silver, at the edge of the other shore. The eastern shores of the lake seem to be formed of high rounded hills of light gray limestone, DOU'iV THE RIVER TO SELKIRK 183 ])iotni'esqiiely striped with the foliage of the (hirk ever- gieeii growing in the ravines. From tlie hike the con- trast was very i)retty, and sliowed a reguljirity tliat scarcely seemed the work of nature. I named them the Hancock Hills after General Hancock of the army. A number of salmon-trout were caught in this lake (the first one was caught in Lake Nares), the lai'gest of which weighed over eight pounds, that being the limit of the po('ket scales of the do(rtor. Saturday the 7th gave us the ni. i; conflicting winds, and although we were ui)on the waters of Kluk-tas-si, for twelve liours we made but nine miles, a head wind driving us into Camp 22. We did not allow the 8th to tempt us on the lake so readily, and the day was employed in taking astronomi- cal observations, arranging our photographic apparatus and similar work, until early afternoon. At 1.30 p.m. a favorable breeze from the south sjirang up, and by 2 o'clock was raging in a gale, blowing over the tent where we were eating our midday meal, filling the coffee and eatables with sand and gravel, and causing a general scampering and chasing after the lighter articles of our equipment, which took flight in the furious wind. Most exasi)erating of all, it quickly determined us to break camp, and in less than half an hour we had all of our effects stored on the vessel, and were pulling off the beach, when just as our sail was spread the wind died down to a zei)hyr hardly sufficient to keep away the moscpiitoes. At 7 o'clock the lake was as quiet as can be imagined, and after remaining almost motionless for another hour we pulled into the steep bank, nuide our beds on the slanting declivity at a i)lace where it was impossible to pitch a tent, and went to sleep only to be 184 ALONG ALASKA'S UHKAr lilVKR. awakened at night by wliowf^'s of rain rnllin^- upon our iiptiirmMl faces. We congratulated ourselves that we were in a pkice where the drainage was good. In tlie sliallow water near the shores of Lake Klidc- tassi, especially wliere a little bar of pretty wliite sand put out into the banks of glacier mud, one could always lind innumerable shoals of sjuall graylings not over an OUTLKT OF LAKE KLCKTASSI. Terminal Butte of the Hancock Hills (on the right). in^'h in length, and our Indians iniiuediately improvised a mosquito bar into a fisli net, catching hundreds of the little fellows, which were used so successfully as bait with the larger iish of the lake that we finally thought the end justified tlie means. Instead of dying down as we spread sail early in the morningof theOth. the windactually freshened, upsetting all our prognostications, and sending us along at a rate that DOWN THE RIVER TO SELKIRK. 185 lit it at allowed us to eiitd" tlio river early in tlie forenoon, and I doubt if the besiegers of a fortress ever saw its ria;L,^ go down with more satisfaetion tlian we saw tiie rude wall- tent sail come down forever, and left behind us the most tedious and uncertain method of navigiition an explorer was ever called ui)on to attemjjt — a clumsy raft on a motionless lake, at the sport of variable winds. Our joy was somewhat dami)ened jit sticking sevei'al times ou the bars, one of which delayed us over half an hour. In all these rivers just after emerging from the lakes the current was quite swift, and so shallow inniaiiy places as almost to deserve the name of rapids. This was particularly the case where the swift stream (Mitinto the high banks that loomed some forty to sixty feet above us as we rushed by, a topstratum that i-ested upon the stiff yellow clay being full of rounded bowlders, wliicli, when undermined, were letdown into the river's bed, choking it partially with most dangerous-looking obstacles. During the whole day we were passing through burned districts of heavy timber that looked dismal enough, backed, as they were, by dense clouds of black smoke rising ahead of us, showing plainly that the devastation was still going on. Many of these sweepings of tire were quite old ; so old, in fact, that the dark rotting trunks had become mere banks of brown stretched along the ground, the blackened bark of thestunq^s being the only testimony as to the mannei- of its destruction. Others, again, were so recent tha tlie last rain had not yet beaten the white ashes frojh their blackened limbs, while late that evening we dashed through the region of smoke and flame we had discerned earlier in the day. U IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) % <: V. «?0 V w^ 1.0 I.I Ui|28 |2.5 e m 122 1 1.25 1 U^ 1^ ^ 6" ► y^ . / f ^'^ ■^ ^/. y /^ Photographic Sciences Corporation 23 WIST MAIN STRiiT WnSTIR.N.Y. MStO (716) •73-4S03 \ iV ^ •s^ :\ \ O^ 4* 4kp ^ iV <> 1K6 ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER. It is wonderful what great wide strips of river these flanies will eroHH, probably carried by the high winds, when light btinehes of dry, resinous matter are in a blaze. VV^e saw one instance whicli, however, must be a rare one, of a blazing tree that fell into the water, where it immediately found a hydrostatic eiiuilibrium, so that its upper branc^hes continued on tire, blazing and smok- ing away like a small steam launch. It might readily liave j-rossed the river as it floated down, and becoming entangled in the dry driftwood of tlie oi)i)osite bank, liave been the nu<*leus of a new conflagration, the limits of whii^h would have been determined by the wind ard the nature of the materisil in its i)ath. Of course, in s\\v\\ an intricate wild«n-ness of blsick and brown trunks and stum])s, any kind of game that apjn-oat'hes to black in col(>r, such as a moose or black or brown bear ; in fact, any thing darker than a snow-white mountain- goat, can easily avoid tlie most eagle-eyed hunter, by 8imj>ly keeping still, since it coidd scarcely be distin- guished at any distance above a luindred yards. The western banks at one stretch of the river con- sisted of high i)recipitous banks oi clay, fringed with timber at the summit. In one of the many little gul- lies that cleft the top of the bank into a series of roll- ing crescents, a member of the i)arty perceived and drew oui' attention to a bi'own stump which seemed to have an unusual resemblance to a "grizzly bear," to nse his expression. The resemblance was marked by all to su<'h an extent that the stump was closely watched, and when, as we were from four to six hundred yards away, the stump ])icked up its roots and began to Walk down the slope, there was a general scrambling DOWN THE RIVER TO SELKIRK. i&r around for guns, giving tlie stump an intimation that all was not right, and with one good look from a couple of knots on its side, it disappeared among the rest of the timber before a shot at a reascmable distance could be iired. Thereafter our guns were kept in a more con- venient [)osition for such drift timber. After we had made a good foily mil«*s that day, we ft'lt perfectly justified in going into camp ami about seven o'clock we commenc^ed lo(»king for one. The river was uniformly wide, without a break that would give slack water where we could decrease our rapid pace, and that (lay commenced an experience such as I have treated of in the chapter on rafting. Not knowing the efficacy of tills method at the time, we did not find a camp until ^!:l^^ but back of us lay over forty-five miles of distance traversed, which amply <'ompensated us for the slight annoyance. Ahead of us there still hung dense clouds of smoke which seemed as if tlie whole world was on tire in that direction. An hour or so after camping (No. 24) a couple of miners came into camp, nigged and hungry, the most woe-begone objects I ever saw. They l)elonged to a party that numbered nearly a dozen and who had started about a month ahead of us. These two ha«l left a third at caujp about a mile up the river (from wliichpoint they had seen us float by), and were n*turn- ing to civilizaticm in ordei- to allow flu* rest of the party food sufficient to enable them to cimtinue prospecting. The party, at starting, had intended to eke out their civilized provisions with large game from time to rime, in order to carry them through the summer. They were well armed and had several ])ractical hunters with them, who had often carried out this plan while prospecting in 188 ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER. what seemed to be less favored localities for game. Their experience confirmed the Indian reports that the caribou and moose follow the snow-line as it retreats up the mountains in the short summer of this country, in order to avoid the mosciuitoes, with the exception only of a few stragglers here and there, on which no reliance can be i)laced. It was certainly a most formidable under- taking for these ragged, almost barefooted men to walk back through such a country as 1 have already d«!- scribed, with but a mere pittance of food in their haver- sac^ks. Possessing no reliable nui])s, they were obliged to follow the tortuous river, for fejir of losing it, sinliical Society. A very similar hill between the Tahk River and the Yukon was named after Professor Ernst llaeckel, of Jena, Germany. The mouth of the D'Abbadie marks an important point on the Yukon River, as bein^- the place at which gold beplars with which we built our cami»-fire and c()(>ked our food had been killed in previous winters by the hares, that had ])eeled the bark in a circle around the trunk at such a uniform height of from twenty to twen- ty-four in les from the ground, measured from the lower 192 ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RlVEli. edge of the girdle, that 1 eoiil. not hut think that this was uhoiit the average (h«i)th oi' the winter snow, upon which the hares stood at the time. On the 1 1th we drifted over iifty miles. Shortly after starting we passed the moutli of the Daly, already refi'rred to, while directly ahead was a noticeable hill named by the Cliil- kats Kagles' Nest, and by the Tahk heesh Otter Tail, each in their own language. 1 easily saw my way out of tin* dilliculty by changing its name to Parkman Peak, aft«'r l*rofessor Francis Parkman, the well-known AuKM-ican historian. We j)assedthe moutli of th<^ Nordenskiuld Hiveron the afternoon of the IJth, and the same day our Indians told lis of a perilous rapid ahead which the Indians of the country sometimes shot in their small rafts ; but they felt very anxious in regard to our bulky vessel of forty- two feet in length, as the stream made a double sharp bend with a huge rock in the center. We started late on the morning of the Tith, and at 10 o'clock stopped our mft on the eastern bank in order to go ahead and inspect the rai)ids which we were about to shoot. I found them to be a contraction of the river bed, into about one-third its usual width of from four to six hundred yards, and that the stream was also impede^l bj'' a numbei' of massive trap rocks, thirty to forty feet high, lying directly in the channel and dividing it into three or four well nuirked channels, the second from the east, being the one ordi- narily used by the Indians. We rejected this, however, on account of a sharp turn in it which could not be avoided. These rapids were very picturesque, as they rushed between the fantastically formed trap rocks and high towers, two of which were united by a slender nat- X / DOWN THE RIVER TO SELKIRK. m ural bridge of stone, that spanned a whirlpool, making the whole look like an old mined stone bridge with but one ar(;h that had withstood the general demolition. We essayed the extreme right-hand (eastern) passage, altliough it was quite narrow and its boiling current was <'overed with waves ruuMing two and three feet high, but being the straightest was the best for our long vnitt. Thousands of gulls luid made the toj* of these isolated towers their breeding pUu-es, for nothing but winged life <*ould ever reaeh them, and here, safe from all intrusion, they reared their young. As we shot by on the raft they rose in clouds and almost drowned the noise of the roar- ing waters with their shrill cries. This extreme right- hand channel through which we snot, could, I believe, be ascended by a light-draft river steamer provided with a steam windlass, a sharp bend in the river bank just before it is entered giving a short and secure hold for a cable rope ; and if I am not too sanguine in my conject- ures, the cascades below the Grand Canon mark the head of navigation on the Yukon River, as already noted. I named this picturesque little rapid after Dr. Henry Rink, of Christiana, a well-known authority on Green- land. After the Yukon receives the many large tribu- taries mentioned, it spreads into quite a formidable magnitude ; interspersed with many islands, all of which :it their upper ends, are so loaded with great piles of driftwood, oftentimes fifteen to twenty f«'et high, as to make the vista in one of these archipelag<>es quite dif- ferent according as one looks up or down the river, the former resembling the picturesque Thousand Isles of the St. Lawrence, while the latter reveah only a dreary stretch of felled timber, lying in unpicturesque groups, im ALO.\(i ALASKA S (iUEAT UlVh'U. with tin* lnJLclit f;r«'«'ii of flu* islniul folia^r iiisikiii/j^ tlu» (In'jiriiu'ss more coiispiciKMis. From Ijjikr Kliik-tas-si uliiiost to old Fort Srlkirk u«» obstTvril siloiiu; tli»^ strop l>:inks of tli<^ riviT a most <'oii- spiciioiis wliito stripHsomn tvvoorthn'eiiiclK's in width. After our attention had been attracted to this phenome- non for two or tliree days, »ve proceed edio invesli carried far and wide by the winds, and if the latter then, as now, blew almost persistently from the south- ward during the summer (and I understand tlie reverse is the (^ase in the winter), we could reasonably fix the erni)ti(m at that time of the year. The Yukon River as it widens also becomes very tor- tuous in many places, and oftentimes a score of miles is traversed alon«? the axis of the stream while the divid- ers on the maj) hardly 8ho\y half a dozen between the >.■ V DOWN THE RIVER TO SELKIRK. 199 same points. In tlie region about the moutli of tiie Nor- (lensiviold River a consjucuous l)alletely successful. When first seen by one of the i)arty on the raft, his great broad i)al- mated horns rolling through the top of the willow brake, with an occasional glimi)se of his brownish black sides showing, he was mistaken for an Indian running down a path in the brake andswa ying his arms in the air to attract our attention. My Winchester express rifle was near me. and as the ungainly animal came into fidl sight at a j)Iace where a little creek i)ut into the stream, u]) the valley of which it started, T had a fair shot at about a hundred yards ; took good aim, pulled th" trigger — and the cai> sna])ped, — and 1 saved my reputation as a marks- man by the gun's missing fire. This moose and another about four hundred miles further down the river were the only two we saw in the Yuk(m Valley, although in the winter they are (pilte numerous in some districts, when the mosquitoes have ceased their onslaughts. That same evening — the 12th, we encamped near the first Indian village we had met on the rivei\ and even this was deserted. Tt is called by them Kit'-ah'-gon (mean- ing the])lace between high hills), and consists of one log house about eighteen by thirty feet, and a score of the 800 ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVFlt. brush houses usual in this countiy ; that is, three iiinin poles, one much longer than the rest, Jind serving as a ridge pole on which to pile evergreen biush to com- I)lete the house. This brush is soinetinu's rei>liiced by the most thoroughly ventilated reindeer oi- moose skin, and in rare cases by an old piece of canvas. Sucii are the almost constjint habitationsof these abject creatures. When I tirst suvv these rude brush houses, thrown together without regard to order or method, I tliouglit they were scaffoldings or trellis work on which the Indians, who lived in the log house, used to dry the sjilmon caught by them during the sujnmer, but u y guide, Indianne, soon explained that theory jiway. In the spring Kit'-ah'-gon is deserted by its Indian inmates, who then ascend the river with loads so light that they may be carried on the back. By the time winter api)roaches they have worked so far away, accumulating the scanty stores of saluion, moose, black bear, and caribou, on which they are to subsist, that they build a light lal't from the driftwood strewn along banks of the river, and float toward home, where they live in squalor through- out the winter. These rafts are almost their sole means of navigation from the (Irand Canon to old Fort Selkirk, and the triangular brush houses almost their only abodes ; and all this in a country teeming with wood fit for log-houses, and affording plenty of birch bark from which can be made the finest of canoes. Kit'-ah-gon is in a beautiful large valley, as its Indian name would imjtly (I named it Yon Wilczek Valley, after Graf vpears on the map as the Yukon to Crater Lake at its head. At old Fort Selkirk nothing but the chimneys, three in number — two of them quite conspicuous at some dis- tance — are left standing, the blackened embers scattered around still attesting the manner of its fate. From the careful and substantial manner in which the rubble stone chimneys were constructed, this Hudson Bay Company post was evidently intended to be permanent, and from the complete destruction of all the wood work, the Chil- kat Indians, its destroyers, evidently intended that its effacement should be complete. The fate of this post has been alluded to in an earlier part of the narrative. Here we remained two or three days, making an astronomical determinaiion of position, the mean of our results being latitude 62° 45' 46" north, longitude 137° 22' 45' west from Greenwich. No meteorological observations were taken thus far on the river, the party not being furnished with a complete set of instruments, and our rai)id passage through a vast tract of territory making the usefulness to science highly problematical. The nearest point to the Upper Yukon at which regular observations of this character are recorded is the Chilkat salmon-cannery of the North-west Trading Company, on Chilkat Inlet. The two regions are separated by the Kotusk Mountains, a circumstance which makes meteorologi- cal inferences very unreliable. Climatology is better H cr tt ♦D „ O O ^. I— C- M H O 3 ^ H E IT to ^ H to D a IT fl> O t3 r r W so THROUGH THE UPPER RAMPARTS. 211 represented, however, in regard to the subject of botany. Quite a number of botanical specimens were collected on the Upper Yukon, and have since been placed in the able hands of Professor Watson, curator of the Harvard herbarium, for analysis. While only a partial and crude collection made by an amateur, it has thrown some little light on the general character of the flora, as limited to the river bed, which we seldom quitted in the discharge of our more important duties connected with the main object of the expedition. Pro- fessor Watson's report on this small collection will be found in the Appendix. The extent of the Alaskan expedition of 1883 was so great that I deemed it best to divide the map of its route into con- venient sections ; and the three subdivisions, the second of which this chapter commences, were made wholly with reference to my own travels. It is therefore not intended in any other way as a geographical division of this great river, although it might not be altogether unavailable or inappropriate for such a purpose. The Middle Yukon, as we called it on our expedition, extends from the site of Old Fort Selkirk to old Fort Yukon, at the great Arctic bend of the Yukon, as it is sometimes and very appropri- ately termed — a part of the stream which we know approx- imately from the rough maps of the Hudson Bay Compa- ny's traders, who formerly trafficked along these waters, and from information derived from pioneers of the Western Union Telegraph Company and others. This part of the river, nearly five hundred miles in length, had, therefore, already been explored ; and to my expedition fell the lot of being the first to give it a survey, which though far from perfection, is the first I 212 ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER. worthy of the name, and is, I believe, like that of the Upper Yukon, sufficient to answer all purposes until such tine as commerce may be established on the river subservient to the industries, either of mining or of fish- ing, that may hereafter spring up along its course. I have just spoken of the comparative sizes of the Pelly and Lewis Rivers, as showing the latter to be undoubtedly the Yukon proper ; and the view on page 209, taken looking into the mouth of the Pelly from an island at the junction of the two streams, as well as that on page 213, looking back up the Yukon (old Lewis River), from the site of old Selkirk, shows the evident preponderance of the latter, although in the case of the Felly but one of its mouths, the lower and larger of the two that encircle the island, can be seen distinctly. The ^bars at the mouth of the IM l^^are a little richer in placer gold "color" than any for a cons: ^prable dis- tance on either side along the Yukon, creating the reasonable inference that the mineral has been carried down the foimer stream, an inference which is strength- ened by the reports that gold in paying quantities has been discovered on the Pelly, and is now being worked successfully, although upon a somewhat limited scale. Even the high, flat plateau on which old Fort Selkirk was built is a bed of fine gravel that glistens with grains of gold in the miner's pan, and might possibly "pay" in more favorable climes, where the ground is not frozen the greater part of the year. Little did the old traders of the Hudson's Bay Company imagine that their house was built on such an auriferous soil, and possibly little did they care, as in this rich fur district they possessed mm « i >» THROUGH THE UPPER RAMPARTS. 21B an enterprise more valuable than a gold mine, if an American can imagine such a thing. The perpendicular bluff of eruptive rock, distinctly columnar in many places, and with its talus reaching fro m half to two-thirds the way t o thet^ij_as shown in the view looking into the mouth of the Pelly, on page 209, and the view on page 205 also, extends up that stream on the north or right bank as far as it was visited, some two or three miles, and so continues down the Yukon along the same (north) bank for twelve or thirteen miles, when the encroaching high mountains, forming the upper gates of the ramparts, obliterate it as a later formation. In but one place that I saw along this extended front of rocky parapet was there a ^ap sufficient to permit of one's climbing from the bottom, over the rough debris, to the level grassy plateau that extended backward from its crest; although in many places this plateau could be gained by alpine climbing for short distances, up the crevices in the body of the steep rock. This level plateau does not extend far back before the foot of the high rolling hills is gained. In the illustration on page 209 the constant barricades of tangled driftwood encountered everywhere on the upstream ends and promontories of the many islands of these rivers are shown, although the quantity shown in the view falls greatly below the average, the heads of the islands being often piled up with stacks ten or twenty feet high, which are useful in one way, as forming a dam tha , serves during freshets and high water, to protect them more or less from the eroding power of the rapid river. A grave or burial place of the Ayan (or lyan) Indians 216 ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER. probably some three months old, planted on the very edge of the river bank near the site of old Fort Selkirk, was a type of the many we afterward saw at intervals from this point for about two-thirds of the distance to old Port Yukon, and is represented on page 217. Before burial the body is bent with the knees up to the breast, so as to occupy as little longitudinal space as possible, and is inclosed in a very rough box of hewn boards two and three inches thick, cut out by means of rude native axes, and is then buried in the ground, the lid of the coffin, if it can be called such, seldom being over a foot or a foot and a half below the surface of the pile. The grave's inclosure or fence is constructed of roughly-hewn boards, standing upright and closely joined edge to edge, four corner-posts being prolonged above, and somewhat neatly rounded into a bed-post design represented in the figure, from which they seldom depart. It is lashed at the top by a wattling of willow withes, the lower ends of the boards being driven a short way into the ground, while one or two intermediate stripes of red paint resem- ble other bands when viewed at a distance. From the grave itself is erected a long, light pole twenty or twenty- five feet in height, having usually a piece of colored cloth flaunting from its top ; although in this particular instance the cloth was of a dirty white. Not far away, and always close enough to show that it is some super- stitious adjunct of the grave itself, stands another pole of about equal height, to the top of which there is fastened a poorly carved wooden figure of a fish, duck, goose, bear, or some other animal or bird, this being, I believe, a sort of savage totem designating the family or sub-clan of the tribe to which the deceased belonged. «w r' ■■ J 3 Ik L-.:.:' ■_. ^n;;_- , ■, . ','. n^ ^9 j:ifr AYAN GRAVE NEAR OLD FORT SELKIRK. TiOoking across and down the Yukon River. Tl SI si T] p] til it pi ar wi he si( it5 ge CO mi to ar la| ev thi gr; thi co: to] de th( an in in th! THROUGH THE UPPER RAMPARTS. 81» This second pole may be, and very often is, a fine young spruce tree of proper height and shape and convenient situation, stripped of its limbs and peeled of its bark. The little " totem " figure at the top may thus be easily placed in position before the limbs are cut off. It is some- times constructed as a weather-vane, or more probably it is easier to secure firmly in its position by a wooden pin driven vertically, and so as the green wood seasons and shrinks it becomes as it were a sepulcral anemoscope without having been so intended. These poles may be horizontally striped with native red paint, and the out- side pole has one or more pieces of cloth suspended from its trunk. These graves are always near the river shore, generally on the edge of a high gravel bank which is in course of excavation by the swift current, and when fresh and the boards white are visible from a distance of many miles. There is no tendency, as far as I could see, to group them into graveyards, beyond the fact that they are a little more numerous near their semi-permanent vil- lages than elsewhere, the convenience of interment being evidently the controlling cause of location. Leaving out the two high poles, there is a rough resemblance to the graves of civilized countries ; and no doubt much of their form and structure is due to the direct or indirect contact with civilization. My own Indians (Chilkats) told me that they formerly placed the bodies of their dead on pole scaffoldings in the branches of the trees near the river bank, somewhat after the manner of the Sioux and other Indian tribes of our great western plains ; and in one instance a very old, rotten and dilapidated scaffold in a tree was pointed out to me as having once served that purpose, although there were no indications to con- 220 ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER. n> firm the story ; but these might have easily been obliter- ated. They also make small scaffoldings or little caches in the lower branches of trees to protect their con- tents, usually provisions and clothing, from bears, wolves, and possibly from their own dogs, of which they possess large numbers of a black and brown mongrel breea. In the summertime these curs are eminently worthless except as scavengers for the refuse decaying salmon, but in the winter season they are used to draw the rude native sledges and to assist in trailing moose and caribou. Mr. Homan succeeded in getting a photograph (page 221), of a group of Ayan or lyan Indians, with their birch-bark canoes. We found it very difficult to keep these nervous fellows still ; and, as far as fine rendering of features is concerned, the photograph was not perfect. Their birch-bark canoes are the best on any part of the long river for lightness, compactness, and neatness of build and design, and form a most remarkable contrast to the unwieldy dilapidated "dug- outs" of the Tahk-heesh Indians above them on the Yukon. The Ayan canoe paddle, well shown in outline in th^ hands of one of the group, is of the cro-s-section on this page, the ridge or rib r being always held to the rear in using it. In addition to the jiaddle, the canoe- man keeps with him two light poles, about as long as the paddle itself, and as heavy as its handle ; and these are employed in ascending the river, the pole man keeping near the shallow shores, and using one in each hand on either side of the canoe, poling against the bottom. So swift is the river in these parts (and in fact CRD?»-">"rTiON AT AN CANOB PADDLE. CD K W o w "^iBWfwr THROUGH THE UPPER RAMPARTS. it is extremely rapid during its entire course), that the rative canoemen use no other method in ascending it, ex(?ept for very short distances. The Eskimo method, in use on the h)wer i)art of the river, of harnessing dogs to their craft like canal horses and towing them along the banks, I did not see in operation during my stay among the Ayans, although they possessed all the requisites for such an easy and convenient method of navigation. In descending the river the current is the main motive power, especially for long journeys, and the l)addle is only sparingly used to keep the canoe in the swiftest part of the stream. When required, however, they can go at a speed that few canoemen in the world, savage or civilizetl, can equal. Two species of fish were caught from the banks near the site of Selkirk, the grayling being of the same kind we had caught near the rapids just above and be]<>w the Grand Canon, and had found in varying numbers from Perthes Point in Ltike l^ove, to the mouth of Wliite River, nearly a hundred irdles below Selkirk, averaging a trifle over a pc and in weight ; and a trout-like salmon, cjiught occasionally from Lake Nares to AVhite River, sometimes with an jis'ificia.l flJ^ butmore frequently on the trout lines with baited hooks that were put out over night Avuerever we camped. A most disgusting and hideous species of eel-pout monoi)olized our trout lines whenever they were put out at this point, from which even the invincible stomachs of our Indian allies and visitors had to refi'ain. Small black gnats, somewhat resembling the buifalo gnats of the plains, were ojjserved near Selkirk in considerable numbers, and our Indians hinted that t hey indicated the presence of large game, a story which 224 ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER. we would gladly have had corroborated, but in this we were (disappointed. We jL:ot away from Selkirk on July loth, shortly after noontin.e, having waited for a meridian culmination of the sun in order to take an observation for latitude. The country gradually becomes more mountainous as we descend, and this bold character continues with but slight exceptions for over a mmdred miles :'urther. The river view reminded me strongly of the Columbia River near the Cascades, the Hudson at West Point, or the Potomac at Harper's Ferry, diflFering only in the pres- ence everywhere of innumerable islands, a permanen^^ characteristic of the Yukon, and one in which it exceeds any other stream known to me, whether from observa- tion or description. Although we had understood from the few Indians who had visited us in their canoes, that their village was but a few miles below Fort Selkirk, we had become so accustomed to iinding insignificant jjarties of natives, here and there, that it was ii great surprise to us when we suddenly rounded the lo .ver end of an island about four o' (;lock that afternoon, and saw from a hundred and seventy-five to two hundred wild savages drawn up ready to receive us on the narrow beach in front of their brush village on the south side of the river. Our coming had evidently been heralded bj'' couriers, and all of the natives were apparently half -frantic with excitement for fear we might drift by without visiting them. They ran up and down the bank wildly swaying their arms in the air, and shouting and screaming to the great fleet of canoes that surrounded us, until I feared they might have un friendly designs, and in fact, their numbers appeared THROUGH THE UPPER RAMPARTS. 225 {I i SO overwhelming when compared with our little band that I gave the necessary orders in respect to arms so as to give the Indians as little advantage as possible in case of an encounter at such close c^uarters; A line was car- ried ashore by means of these canoes, and every man, woman and child in the crowd made an attempt to get hold of it, the foremost of them running out into the ice-cold water up to the very arm-pits in order to seize it, and the great gridiron ol logs went cutting through the water like a steam-launch, and brought up against the shore in a way that nearly took us off our feet. Immediately after our raft was securely moored, the crowd of Indians who lined the narrow beach commenced singing and dancing — men and boys on i;he (their) left, and women and girls on the right. The song was low and monotonous, but not melodious, bearing a resemblance to savage music in general. Their outspread hands were phioed on their hips, their arms akimho, and they swayed from side to side as far as their lithe bodies would x^er- niit, keeping time to the rude tune in alternate oscilla- Hon,- to the right and left, all moving synchronously and in .1, same direction, their long black masses of hair tl(, Srri;- wildly to and fro, and serviuij: the practical pur- l)ose of keeping off the gnnts and mosquitoes which other- wise might have made nny o.it door enjoyments impossi- ble. During all this time the mediv-^ire r.ien went through the most hideous gymiiastirs possible along the front of the line, one who had a blue-black bhinket with a St. rieorge's cross of flaming red in its center being especi- ' ; : > conspicuous. He excelled in striking theatrical atti- tudes of the most sensational order, in which the showy blanket was made to do its x>art, and he was forthwith 226 ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER. I dubbed Hamlet by the men of the party, by way of a sub- stitute for his almost unpronounceable name. Even after the performance, this pomi)ous individual strutted along the banks as if he owned the whole British North-west territory ; a pretension that was contradicted by his per- sistent begging for every trilling object that attracted his eye, as though he had never owned any thing of value in his life. After thr s'nging and dancing were over, a few trilling presents weit n to most of the Ii^dians as a reward for their enter L.anment. A photograph was at- tempted by Mr. Homan of this dancing group, but the day was so unfavorable, with its black lowering clouds, the amateur apparatus so incomplete, and the right moment so hard to seize, that the effect was a complete failure. Once or twice we got the long line in position in their best attitudes, " Hamlet " looking his most ferocious, and re- sembling a spread eagle with the feathers pulled out, but just as the photographer was ready to pull the cap off the camera, some impatient young fellow, inspired by tlie crowd and the attitude of dancing, would begin to hum their low song of Yi-yi-yi-yi's and it was as impos- sible to keep the others from taking up the cadence and swaying themselves as it was to .irrest the earth's revolution. From a book written by a previous traveler on the lower river, who pretended to a knowledge of the tribes upon its upper part also, I had been deluded into the idea that useful articles — such as knives, saws, and liles, — were the best for trading purposes with these Indians, or for the hire of native help; but I was not long in find- ing out tliatthis was most gratuitous misinformation; for the constant burden of their solicitations was a request THROUGH THE UPPER RA^fPARTS. 227 for tea Jiud tobacco, .small quantities of which they get by baiter with intermediate rii>arian tribes. These wants I i'ouud to extend anumg tlie natives througliout the whole length of the river in ^ trying degrees, and, as the former article is very light, 1 would especially recom- mend it to those about to enter the country for [)uri)os«^s of scientific research, for which it is such a grand Held. N.>xt to tea and toba(?co, which we could only spare in small cpiantities, fish-hooks seemed to be in good (hMuand among this particular tribe ; and the very few articles they had to spare, mostly horn spoons, and birch-bark ladles and buckets were eagerly exchanged. l^ielow White River, fishing on the Yukon with hook and line ceases, and fish-hooks are worthless as articles of ex- change. Another article freely brouglit us was tiie pair of small bone gambling-tools (sliown on this page) so characiteristic of the whole north-west country. Tliev have been described when si)eaking of tiie (.Miilkat Indians and I saw no material k his ijosilioii with them, while Mr. Iloman secured tlie i>h()tograi)h. The Ayan mothers, instead of currying their l)al)es on their backs with their faeces to the front, as is usually done by savjige women, unless when using a cradle, tiirn them around so as to have them back to back, and carry them so low as to tit as it were into the " small of the back." Most of the Ayan men, and es[)ecially the younger members, were armed with bows and anows, l)uttii(;re was quite a considerable sininkling of old Hint lock Hudson Bay Conii)any muskets among them, which they ^-^VV^C^-^ AYAV MOUSE ARROW. had ])i-ocured by trade many years ago when Fort Sel- kirk iioui'ished. or by intertribal barter, and their cost to these poor savages was almost fabulous. The (jonii)any's manner of selling a gun was to set it uiH'ight (mthetloor of the trader's store, and then to ])ile ui) furs alongside of it until they reached the muzzle, when the exchange was made, many of the skins being those of the black and silver-gi-ay fox, and their aggregate value being probably three to four hundred dollars. Their bows and arrows were of the stereotyped Indi.'inmake, with no dis- tinguishing ornament or peculiarity of construction worthy of notice. The moose arrows used by this tribe, shown in illus- tration on this page, have at the i)oint the usual double 232 ALOXa ALASKA'S GREAT lilVEIt barb of common arrows, wiiile one side is prolon«^e(l for two or three inches into a series of barbs; these latter they chiim have the effect of working inward witli the motions of the muscles of the animal if it be only wounded. Once wounded in this mimner these sleuth- hounds of savages will remain on the trail of a moose for days if need be, until this dreadful weap(m has reached a vital point, or so disabled the animal that it easily suc- cumbs to its pursuers. In iiimting mf)ose in the summer time, while these animals are swimming across the hikes or broad streams, I Avas told by one of my interpi-eters who had often traded among them, and was well ac- quainted with their habits and cust(mis, that these Ayans (and in fact several tribes below them on the river), do not hesitate to jump on the animals' back in the lake or river, leaving the canoe to look after itself, and dispatch the brute with a hand knife, cutting its throat or stab- bing it in the neck as illustrated on page 261. Of course, a companion in another canoe is needed to assist in get- ting the carcass ashore, and secure the hunter's canoe. They often attack the moose in their canoes while swim- ming as described by previous exi)lorers on the lower river, but say that if by any unskillful movement they should only wound the animal it may turn and wreck their vessel, which is too great a loss for them to risk. A flying moose will not turn in the water unless irritated by wounds. The knives they use in hunting are great double-edged ones, with flaring ornamental handles, well illustrated in the upper left hand corner of the jiicture mentioned. They tell me these knives are of native manufacture, the handles being wrapped with moose leather so as to give the hand a good grip. Alto- THROUGH THE UPPER RAMPARTS. 233 gether, they iire most villuiuoufs and piratical looking things. Only one or two log-cabins were seen anywhere in the Ayan country, and tiiese had the dilapidated air of <;omplete and permanent abandonment, altliough this whole district of the river is teeming with timber appro- priate for such use. Probably the nomatlic and restless character of the inhabitants makes it irksome for them to dwell in such permanent abodes, in sj)ite of the great comfort to be derived in their almost Arctic winters from CROSS-SECTION THROUGH AYAN WINTKR TENT. such buildings, if well constructed. Thf^ severity of the winter is shown by the moist banks of the river, the appearance of which indicates that they have been frozen some six or eight feet in depth. In winter the Ayjui live mostly in tents, but by an ingenious arrangement these ordinarily cold habitatione are made reasonably comfortable. This winter tent is shown in cross-section above, I being the interior, and P P the tent poles well covered with moose or caribou skins. A second set of poles, p p, are given a wider spread, inclosing an air space, A S, a foot or two across. These, too, are cov- 264 ALONG ALASKA'S GHEAT RIVER. ei'ivl with iuiiriial skins, uiid a thick banking of .snow, ss, two or tiuve feet deep is tiirown over the outside tent during the coldest weather of winter, making a sort of hybrid between tlie Eskimo it/loo, or sm)vv house, and tlie Indian skin hulge. Afiiny of tile Ayans were persistent beggars, and next morning, tlie Kith of .July, we got an early start before many of them were about, for as a tribe tliey did not seem to be very early lisers. Neai'Iy directly opposite the Kah-tung village the per- pendicular basaltic blulfs shown in the view at the mouth of the Pelly cease ; and from tliis point on, the hills on both sides of the river were higher and even mountain- ous in character; ''the upi)er gates of the upper ram- l)arts." From this ])oint on down through the ramparts small blac^k gnats Ixv-auie iinuoyingly numerous and pugna- cious, while the plague of moscpiitoes seemed to abate a little. The moscpiito-biii's, which were some protection from the latter, were of no use against the former, the little imps sailing right between the meshes without even stopping to ciJi wl through. A'eils with the very finest meshes would be needed to repidse their onslaughts, and with these we wei'e not j^rovided. That day, the lOth, we drifted forty-seven miles, through a most picturesque section of country, our jour- ney being marred only by a number of recurring and disagreeable thunder showers that wet us to the skin. Everywhere in conspicuous ]>ositions near the edge of the river banks we saw straggling and isolated Ayan graves, resembling, in general, the one photographed at Selkirk, and not unlike pretty little white cottages, when THROUGH THE UPPER RAMPARTS. 835 seen from the disttuicf projected against tlie somber green of the (lee[) spriire forests. About thirty-four miles beyond old Selkirk a small but (ronspicuioua mountain stream vume in from the south, wliich I named after Professor Selwyn, of Ottawa, Canada. The river was still full of islands, however, many of whi(;h are eovereil with tall spruce, and look very pic- turesque in the almost canon-like river-bottom, the steep mountain sides being nesirly devoiil of heavy forests. In one of the many open spaces far up the mountain side, we saw a huge black bear, evidently hunting his daily meal among the roots and berii -s that there abound. Although we passed within half a mile of him, lie took no more notice of us than if our raft had been a floating chip, and we did not disturb his search with any long-range shots. A little further down, and on the same side of the river, the northern, we saw three white mountain goats on the very highest ridges of the hills. Timid as they are, the only notice they deigned to give us was that such as were asleep roused themselves and stood gazing at us until we had drifted well past, when they began grazing leisurely along the ridge. About this time our attention was quite forcibly called to a singular phenomenon while riding on the raft, which was especdally noticeable on quiet sunny days. It was a very pronounced crackling sound, not unlike that of a strong fire running through dry cedar brush, or that of the first rain drops of a thunder storm falling on the roof of a tent. Some of the men attributed it to the rattling on the logs of the raft of a shower of pebbles brought up by ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER. the swift current horn underneath, which would have been a good enough theory as far as the sound wae concerned ; but soundings in such places invariably failed to touch bottom with a sixteen-foot pole, and, moreover, when we were in shallower and swifter waters, where the bottom was pebbly, the sounds were not observed. As the noise always occurred in deep water of a boiling character, iiguratively speaking, — or in that agitated condition so common in deep water immediately after a shoal, a condition with which our exi)erience in prying the raft off shoals i. d rendered us familiar — I attempted to account for it upon the theory explained by tlie figure just below. The raft x, drifting with the arrow, passes from a shallow to a deep stretch of water. The Yukon River is a very swift stream for its size (we drifted that day, July 16, forty-seven and a luilf geo- graphical miles in eleven hours and fifty minutes, and even this rate cannot represent the swiftest current), and the pebbles, carried forward over the shallows and reaching the crest r/, are borne along by their own inertia and the superficial current, and literally dropped on a gravel -bank at some point forward, such as b, and, w^ater being so excellent a conductor of sound, an observer on a low floating craft, during quiet days, might distinctly hear this falling, whereas it would not be heard if the pebbles were sim'ily rolling along the bottom in swifter and noisier water. The suddenness with which this crackling commenced and the gradual manner in which it died out, seem to confirm this idea. A series of THROUGH THE UPPER RAMPARTS. 237 soundings before and after lie occiirrenc^e of these singu- lar noises would have settled this theory ; but the sound recurred so seldom (say twice, or perhaps three times, a day in this part of the river), that it was impossible to predict it in time to put the theory to t'le test, unless one kept constantly sounding while upon tlie river. It was observed on the lower river in a much less degree, and probably might there have passed unnoticed if l)revious experience had not recalled it to our attention. That evening we camped at 8 o'clock, after trying to CO' duci our cumbersome Aessel to a i)retty little spot for tlie jjurpose, but our well-used "snubbing" line i)arted at the critical moment and we drifted down into a most miserable position among the high, rank willow shoots, laden with water from the recent rains. Towing or ''tracking" our craft back against the swift current with our small force was plainly out of the question, and as the river bank seemed of the same character, as far as we could see, some two or three miles, v.e made the best of it aad camped, for we were getting used to such experiences by this time. Next morning, about 7 o'clock, when we were nearly ready to start, we 'ound four Ayan Indians, each in his birch-bark canoe, visiting our camp. Tliey came from tlie Kah-tung village aboAC, having left ii, as they said, shortly after our de])arture on the prece* ing day, and hiid cjimped for the night on the river just above us. They expressed great suri)rise at the distatice we had made l)y simple drifting, .laving until this morning felt certain thiit they had passed us the day before around some one of the many islands in the broad river. They were going down the river some two or three hundred miles to a white 238 ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER. trader's store of wliich they spoke, and we kept i)assing- each other for the next three or four days. They liad spoken at the Kah-tun4r> in shape and color resembles a gigantic moose-skin stretched out to dry. That day's drift gave us forty- seven and a half miles, and all our scores vvero good while passing the ramparts, the -delays from sand, mud and gravel bars being very small. Believing that I was now in close proximity to the British boundary, as shown by our dead rec^koning— kept by Mr. Homan, — I reluctantly determined on giving a day (the 19th of July) to astronomical observations, — reluctantly because every day was of vital importance in reaching St. Michael's, near the mouth of the river, in time to reach any outgoing vessels for the United States ; for if too late to catch them, we should have to spend a dismal and profitless year at that place. That day, how- evei', proved so tempestuous, and the prospect s(j unin- viting, that after getting a couple of poor "sights " for longitude, I ordered camp broken, and we got away shortly after eleven o'clock. A few minutes before one o'clock we passed the abandoned trading station on the right bank of the river, which we surmised from certain maps and from subsequent information to be the one named Fort Reliance. It was a most dilapidated -looking frontier pile of shanties, consisting of one main house, probably the store, above ground, and three or four cellar-like houses, the ruined roofs of which were the only vestiges remaining above ground. The Indians said that Mr. McQuestion, the trader, had left on account of severe sickness, but his own story, when we met him afterward on the lower river, was that he Avas sick of the Indians, the main tribe of which were peaceful enough, but con- tained several ugly tempered communistic medicine-men 246 ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER. who had threatened his life in ordei* to ^et rid of his competition in the drug business, which resulted greatly to their Jinancual detriment. Nearly opposite Fort Reliance was the Indian vilhige of No()-klak-6, or Nuclaco, numbering about one hund- red and fifty people. Our approach was welcomed by a protracted salute of from fifty to seventy-five dis- charges of their old rusty muskets, to which we re])lied with a far less number. Despite the great value of pow- der and other ammunition to these poor isolated savages, who are often obliged to make journeys of many hund- reds of miles in order to procure them, and must often- times be in sore need of them for hunting purposes, they do not hesitate in exciting times — and every visit of a stranger causes excitement — to waste their ammunition in foolish hangings and sillj'^ salutes that suggest the vicinity of a powder magazine. I supi)ose the expendi- ture on our visit, if judiciously employed in hunting, would have supplied their village with meat for probably a month ; and yet we drifted by with hardly a response. This method of saluting is very common along the river from this point on, and is, I believe, an old Russian cus- tom which has found its way thus far up the stream, which is much beyond where they had ever traded. It is a custom often mentioned in descriptions of travel fur- ther down the river. The permanent number of inhab- itants, according to Mr. McQuestion, was about seventy- live or eighty ; and therefore there must have been a great number of visitors among them at the time of oiir passing. They seemed very much disax)pointed that we did not visit their village, and the many who crowded around the drifting raft in their little fleet of canoes THROUGH THE UPPER RAMPARTS. t47 spoKe only of tea lind tobsKJco, for whicli tliey seemed ready to baiter tlieir very souls. Their i)riii('ii)al diet in summer and early fall is furnished by the salmon of the Yuk(m, while during winter and sprin*;:, until the ice disappears, they feed on the flesh of moose and caribou. A trader on the upper river told me that the iee of the stream is removed from the upper rami)arts and above principally by melting, while all that covers the Yukcm below that part is washed out by the si)rin,uj rise of the river, there bein<^ fully a month's difference in the mat- ter between the two districts. Noo-klak-o' was a semi- permanent village, but a most squalid-looking affaii-, — somewhat resembling the Ayan town, but with a. mucli greater preponderance of canvas. Most of the native visitors we saw were Tanana Indians, and I was some- what surprised to find them ])ut the accent, in a bioad way, on the second syllable, 7^n-)i(ih'-m'(\ diffeiing radically from the ]>ronunciation of the same name by the Indians at the mouth of the river, and by most white travelers of the I^ower Yuk(m, Fnmi this point a trail leads south-westward over the mountains to a tributary of the Tanana, by means of which these Indians visit Noo-klak-o, The 10th was a most disagreeable day, with alternating rain showers and drifting fog, which had fol- lowed us since the day of our failure in securing astro- nomical observations, and to vary the discomfort, after making less than thirty miles we stuck so fast on the upper point of a long gravel bar that we had to carry our effects ashore on our backs, and there cam]) with only half a dozen water-logged sticks for a cam]>-tire. What in the world any musqui ^ wanted to do out on that desert of a sand-bar in a cold drifting fog I could never 248 ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER. ima«;ine, but before our beds were fairly made they put in an appeai-ance in the usual unlimited numbers and made sleep, after a hard day's work, almost impossible. Starting at 8:10 a.m., next morning, from Camp 33, at 11:30 we passed a good sized river coming in from the west, whit'h [ named the Cone-Hill River, from the fact that there is a prominent conical hill in the center of its broad valley, near the mouth. Just beyond the mouth of the Cone-Hill River we suddenly came in sight of some four or five black and brown bears in an open or untimbered s])ace of about an a'Te or two on the steep hillsides of the western slope. The raft was left to look after itself and we gave them a running volley of skirmish lire that sent them scamper- ing up the steep hill into the dense brush and timber, their principal loss being loss of breath. By not attend- ing to the navigation of our craft in the excitement of the short bear hunt we ran on a submerged rock in a current so swift that we swung around so rapidly as almost to throw a number of us overboard, stuck for a couple of minutes with the water boiling over the stern, and in general lost our faith in the ability of our vessel to navigate itself. Tn a previous chapter I have men- tioned having been told by a person in southern Alaska, undoubtedly conscientious in his statement, and having considerable experience as a hunter, that the black and brown bear of his district never occupied the same localities, and although the sequence of these localities might be as promiscuous as the white and black squares on a checker-board, yet each species remained wholly on his own color, so to speak ; and this led him to believe that tne weaker of the two, the black bear, had good THROUGH THE UPPER RAMPARTS. M» reason to be afraid of his more ])owerf ul neighbor. This day's ol)servation of tlie tw<> species living togetlier, in one very small area, shows eitiier an error of judgment on the part of the observer mentioned, or a difference of the ursine nature in different regions. After leaving the Stewart River, which had been iden- tified by a soi't of reduvtio ad absiudum reasoning, I found it absolutely impossible to identity any of the other streams from the descriptions and niai)s now in existence, even when aided by the imperfec*; information derived from the local tribes. Indianne, my Chilkat- Talik-heesh interpreter, got along very well among the latter tribe. Amonj;' the Ayans were numy who spoke Talik-heesh, with whom they traded, and here we had but little trouble. Even lower down we numaged to get niong after a fashion, for one or two of the Ayan medi- cine-men who came as far as Port Reliance with us, could occasionally be found, and they understood the lower languages pretty fairly, and although we struggled through four or five tongues we could still make out tluit tea and tobaccu) were the leading topics of conver- sation everywhere. Beyond Fort Relinnce, and after bidding adieu to our four Ayans, we were almost at sea, but occasionally in the most roundabout way we man- aged to elicit information of a limited character. About the middle of the afternoon of that day, the 20th, we floated past a remarkable-looking rock, stand- ing conspicuously in a flat level bottom of the river on the eastern side, and very prominent in its isolation. I could not but notice the strong resemblance between it and Castle Ro(;k on the Columbia River, although I judge it to be only about one-half or two-thirds the size UM 250 ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER. of die latter, but much more prominent, not being over- shadowed by near and higher mountains. I called it the Roquette Rock, in honor of M. Alex, de la Roquette, of the Paris (ieographical Scciety. The Indians have a legend connected with it, so it is said, that the Yukon River once tlowed along the distant hills back of it, and that the rod formed purt of the bl uif seen in the illus- tration just below, overhanging the western shore of the river, both being about the same height and singu- UOQUETTE KOCK. (As we Hpproiched looking down the Htream.) larly alike in other respects. Here th^- hi lift' and rock lived many geological periods in w 'Ided bliss as man and wife, but finally family dissen ions invaded the rocky lioiisehold and culminated in the stony-hearted luisband kicking his wrangling wife into the center of the distant plain, and changing the course of the great river so that it flowed between them to emjihasize the perpetual di\oi'ce. The bluff and the rock, so my in- THROUGH THE UPPER RAMPARTS. 251 formant told me, are still known among the Indians as "the old man" and " tlie old wife." Desjnte a most disagreeable day, on the 20th we showed a record of forty-live geograi)liical miles, by w^ay of ('omi)ensation for the dark lowering clouds that hung over IIS I'ke a pall. The scenery passed that day would have been pic^turesque enough when viewed through any other medium than that of a wretched drizzle of rain. Just before camp- ing we saw high perpendicular bluffs of what appeared to be limestone, frowning over us from the eastern shore, which were jjerforated with huge caverns that would have made good dens for bears, but their situation was such that no bears not i)ossessing wings could have reached them. On the map this bluff ligures as Cave Kock. AVe got a late start on the 21 st, tlie wretched wejither being good for late sleeping if for nothing else, the mid- dle of the forenoon finding us just pulling out. At noon we passed a good-sized river coming in from the east, but if it had been ma])ped we were unable to iden- til'y it. A few minutes afterward we swung around a shaip bend in the river and saw a confused mass of bi'ush or logs that denoted an Indian village in the dis- tance, a siii)position coujirmed ])y the number of canoes afloat in its front and by a motley crowd of luitives on the bank, well mingled with the inevitable troop of dogs that to the eye of the experienced traveler is as sure a sign of an Indian village as botli Tiidians and liouses together. This was the first Indian vilhige we had en- coiuitered on the river deserving the name of perma- nent, iind even here tht> h)gs of which the cabins, six in number, were built, seemed to be mere poles, and by 253 ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER. no means as substantially Iniilt as it might have been with the matei'ial at hand. It was peiclied n]) on a higli fiat bank on the western side of the river, the gable ends of the house fronting the stream, and all of them very close together, there being only one or two ; laces wide enongh for a path to allow the inmates to i)ass. The fronts of the liousesare nearly on the same line, and this row is so close to the scarp of the bank that the "street" in front is a very narrow i>ath, where two persons (,'an hardly pass unless one of them stej)s indoois or down the hill ; and when I visited the village the road was so monopolized by scratching dogs that I could hardly iovre my wav through them. This street mav have been much wider in times of yore— for it seemetl to be quite an old village — and the encroachments of the eroding river in til! tll« an sIk all do THROUGH THE UPPER RAMPARTS. 255 fire is built on the dirt-floor, in the center of the hab- itation, and the smoke left to get out the best way it can. As tlie occupants are generally sitting flat on the floor, or stretched out at full length on their backs or stom- achs in the dirt, they are in a stratum of air compara- tively clear ; or, at least, endurable to Indian lungs. Tlie ascending smoke flnds ample air-holes among the upper cradsLs of the walls, while that dense mass of it which is retained under the skins of the roof, making it almost impossible to stand upright, is utilized for smok- ing the salmon which are hung up in this space. The Indian name of the village is Klat-ol-klin', but it is gen- erally known on the Middle River as Johnny's Village, after the chief's Americanized name. That dignitary was absent on a journey of several days down the river, it the time of our arrival. A number of long leaning poles, braced on their down- hill ends by cross uprights, Avere noticed on the gravel bea(;h in front of the village ; these serve as scaffoldings upon which to dry salmon in the sun, and to keep them from the many dogs while undergoing this procn^ss. While taking a ])h()iograph of the town, two or three salmon fell from the poles ; and in a twinkling fully sixty or seventy dogs were huddled together about them iu a writhing mass, each one trying to get his sluuv. — and that of several others. The camera was sighted toward them, a hurried gu«^ss made as to the proper focus, and an instantaneous view attemjtted, but the negative looked more like a representation of an approaching thunder shower, and I never afterward printed frcmi it. Occasion- ally in these rushes a row of scaffolding will be knocked down, and if it hai>pens to be loaded with salmon the 256 ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER. 1 I I consequent feast yf\\\ be of a more extensive nature. These dogs were of a smaller breed, and noticeably of a darker color, than the Eskimo dogs of the lower river. They are employed by these Indians for the same pur- poses, but to a more limited extent. It was at this village that what to me was the most wonderful and striking performance given by any natives we encountered on the whole trip was displayed. I refer to their method of fishing for salmon. I have already spoken of the extreme muddiness of the Yukon below the mouth of the White River; and this spot, of course, is no exception. I believe I do not exaggerate in the h-ast when I say, that, if an ordinary pint tin-cuj) were filled with it, nothing could be seen at the bottom until the sed- iment had settled. The water is about nine or ten feet deep on the fishing banks in front of the houses, where they fish with their nets ; or at least that is about the length of the poles to which the nets are attached. The salmon I saw them take were caught about two bundled or two hundred and fifty yards directly out from the shore in front of the houses. Standing in front of this roAv of cabins, some person, generally an old man, squaw or child, i)ossibly on duty for that purjiose, would an- nounce, in a loud voice, that a salmon was coming up the river, perhaps from a quarter to a third of a mile away. This news would stir uj) some young man from the cabins, who from his elevated position in front of them would identify the salmon's position, and then run down to the bea» li, pick up his canoe, x^addle and net, launch the former and start rapidly out into the river ; the net lying on the canoe's birch deck in front of him, his movements being guided by his own sight and that of a THROUGH THE UPPER RAMPARTS. 257 half dozen others on the high bank, all shouting advice to him at the same time. Evidently, in the canoe he could not judge well of the fish's position, especially at a dis- tance ; for he seemed to rely on the advice from the shore to direct his movements until the fish was near him, when with two or three dexterous and i)owerful strokes with both hands, he shot the little canoe to a point near the x)osition he wished to take up, regulating its finer movements by the paddle used as a sculling oar in his left hand, while with his right he grasped the net at the end of its handle and plunged it into the water the whole length of its pole to the bot- tom of the river (some nine or ten feet) ; often lean- ing far over and thrusting the arm deep into the water, so as to adjust the mouth of the net, covering about two square feet, directly over the course of the salmon so as to entrap him. Of seven attempts, at intervals covering three hours, two were successful (and in two others salmon were caught but escaped while the nets were being raised), salmon being taken that weighed from fifteen to twenty pounds. How these Indians can see at this distance the coming of a single salmon along the l)ottom of a river eight or ten feet deep, and deter- mine their course or position near enough to catch them in the narrow mouth of a small net, when immediately under the eye a vessel holding that number of inches of water from the muddy river completely obscures an ob- ject at its bottom, is a problem that I will not attempt to solve. Their success depends of course in some way on the motion of the fish. In vain they attemi)ted to sliow members of my party the coming fish. I feel perfectly satisfied that none of the white men could see the slight- 258 ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER. est trace of the movements to wliieli their attention was called. Under the skin roofs of their log-cabins and on the scalfolilings uj^on the gravel beach were many hund- red salmon that had been caught in this curious way. The only i)lausible theory which I could evolve within the limits of the non-marvelous, was, that the snlmon came along near the top of the water, so as to show or indicate the dorsal fin, and that as it api)roached the canoe, the sight of it, or more likely some slight noi se, made with that intention, drove the lish to the bottom without any considerable lateral deviation, whereuiion they were inclosed by the net. But my interpreters told me (and I think their interi)retation was correct in this case, roundabout as it was), that this superficial swim- ming did not take place, but that the motion of the lish was communicated from the deep water to the surface, often when the lish was quite at the bottom. The nets used have already been partially desciibed. The mouth is held open by a light wooden frame of a leniform shape, as shown in the figure on this page, and as one mayreaciiy see, this is of gioat advantage in securing the handle lirmly by side braces to the rim of the net's mouth as shown, that being undoubtedly the object KLAT-OL-KI,lN FI.SIIINO NETS. Scale, 1-30. sought. Further down the river (that is, in the "lower ram- parts"), the reniform rim becomes circular; thus of course increasing the chances of catching the fish ; all the othor dimensions, too. are greatly increased. AVlicn the salmon is netted, a tuin is immediately given to the THROUGH THE UPPER RAMPARTS. 259 HALMON-KILLING CI.UB. handle, thus effectual J y trai)ping the fish below the mouth of the net, and upon the dexterity thus displayed no little of the fisherman's success depends. Two sal- mon wei'e lost upon this occasion after they had actually l)assed into the net, owing to lack of agility in this opera- tion. When fully entrai)ped and brought alongside, a fish- ^ chib, as shown, is used to kill the salmon immediately by a hard blow over the head, for the struggles of so large a fish might easily upset a frail canoe. Up to this time the birch-bark canoes on the river had been so fragile and " cranky " that my Chilkat Inilians, who were used to the heavy wooden canoes of their coun- try, felt unsafv? in employing them for all i)uri)oses, but these were so nuich larger and stronger in build, and our old Tahk-heesh "dug-out" so thoroughly worthless, that we felt safe in buying one at this village, but for a number of days "Billy" and "Indianne" paddled very gingerl y when making excursicms in it. A few Hudscm Bay toboggan sledges were seen on scaffolds at and near the village ; they seem to be the principal sledges of this part of the country. The snow shoes of this tribe differed from those of the Cliilkatsby trifling modifications only, being a sort of comi)r(>mise between the hunting and packing snow shoes of the latter. About a mile or a mile and a quarter below Klat-ol- klin', jind on the same side of the river, is a fairly con- structed white man's log cabin, which had once been used as a trading store, but was now deserted. We afterward learned that this trading station was called Belle Isle, 860 ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER. and liad only been built two years before, having betjn abandoned tiie preceding year as not paying. The In- dians evidently must have surmised that the trjider would return, as they respected the condition in wliich he left the building, in a manner most creditable to their honesty, no one liaving entered or disturbed it since he left. They evidently (rare very*little for l)eads as oi'iin- ments, for I saw none of them wearing that much cov- eted Indian adornment, w'.iile great quantities were scattered around by the trader's store, liaving been trampled into the ground. At no place on the river did I find such an eagerness for beads as characterizes the American Indians of milder climes, i it nowhere did I see such total disregard for them as was sliown here. Near Belle Isle is a prominent hill called by the In- dians 7\t-tot-7r(\ its consi)icuousness heiglitened by tlie comparative flatness of the country which lies between two entering rivers and a great bend of the Yukon. As our survey showed it to be just within Alaska, bordering on the boundary between it and the British Northwest Terri- tory, I gave it the additional name of Boundary Butte. The country was now noticeably more open, and it was evident that we had already passed the most mountainous portion of the chain, the intersection of which by the river forms the upper ramx)arts. The next day we made thirty- six miles, and as the wliole day had been a most disagreeable one when at six o'clock we got drawn into an eddy, near which was a fair place to camp, I ordered the raft made fast and the tents pitched. That day — the 22d — while under way, we saw a large dead king-salmon, floating belly upwards with the cur- THROUGH THE UPPER RAMPARTS. 2»1 rent, and we kept near it for some time. This spectacle became more familiar as we descended, while everywhei-e we met with the rou{irtioularly the pro- nunciation of the name of the great river, on whose wjiteis we were drifting, a pronunciation which is univcrsnl among the few whites along its borders, and that sounded Til nova H THE UPPER RAMPARTS. M8 sti':iii,L!;t'Iy at lirst ; fliaf is with the jM-ccnt et through, but the minute they beody, while a third shoved it through ; but I doubt tlie existence of co-opei-ation among them. I think they are too mean to help one another ^ ^ ■ d ir U-i^Li.' ^n'-'-.i^if^i^^ JY'^^f, u/*^ nZm])aiiy until we met the " Yukon" steamer. V\'hile wh whiv iHisuidy floating along, "Jo" saw a '"sliort cut" in th*' rrvfr's bend, into wlii<'h we could not row our \><>m\*-r or thrice that width. This breadth is measured from the right bank to the left across shallow chan- nels and Mat islands, whose ratio to each otlu'r is, on the whole, tolerably eipial. Some of these islands are merely wide wastes, consisting of low stretches of sand and gravel, with desolate-looking I'idges of whitened drift-timber, all of which must be under water in the spring Hoods, when the ?'iver in this region must resem- ble a great inland sea. In no place does this wide con- geries of v'hannels seem to abate its former swiftness a singh^ jot, but the constant dividing and subilividing occasi.mally brought us to Lines so narrow and shallow that it sec ~.ied as though Ave could not get through with our raft, and more than once we feared we should have to al)andon our old C()mi)anion. For nearly three weeks THROUGH THE YUKON FLAT LANDS. 271 we wera di'if tin^ through these terribly monotonous fiat- lands, never Ivnowing at night whether or not we were camping on the main banli, and by far the most fre- quently camxjing on some island with nothing but islands in sight as far as the eye could see. On the 25th we got under way quite early, and at 8:30 A. M. passed an Indian encampment of four very line- looking tents, situated on an island, and here ",Io'* Ladue told us he w^ould stop and await the arrival of the Alaska Company's new steamer. I had suspicions that " Jo" did not like the pace we kept up, or rather that he did not relish being awakened whenever his scow sought the quiet of an island shore. But a few minutes afterward there was a junction of several (channels of the river, and we floated out into the lake-like expanse ahead with a vague feeling that so much water could hardly possess any current, but never- theless we sped along at our old pace. This sheet of water was wider than the majority of the lakes at the head of the stream, ane shore. 272 ALOXa ALASKA'S (JliJ'JAT HI V Eli. Near the oIIm!!' .slioro was a channel ho deep tliat we Mii^lit have lloatcd with ease, but to reach it again we .shoiihl hav«! to pry our vessel ii[> stream against waterso Hvvil't as almost to take us off our I'eet. Througli tliis deep channel (jvery thing was carried on our l)a(;ks to the shore, and tiien <;oninien(HKl a struggle that lasted from ten o'clock in the morning until well past two in the afternoon ; our longest and most trying delay on the trip, and which limited our day's travel to thirty-six miles In fourteen hours' work. Half as much would have satisfied us, however, for I think it was the only tim<; on the trip when we made sei'ious calculations re- garding the abandonment of the raft and the building of J- nother. There were other occasions when su(!h an event seemed ])iobable, but in some way we had managed to escape this necessity. Our camp that evening was on a bank so high and solid that we conjectured it must be the main bank (of the eastern side). So steeji was it that steps had to be <'ut in it in order to reach the top with our canix)ing and cooking effects. At this (Uimp — ;J0 — and a few of the preceding ones we found rosebuds large and sweet enough to eat, and really a palattible (change from the salt and canned ]>ro- visions of our larder. They were very much larger than those we are accustomed to see in the United States proper and somewhat elongated or pear shaped ; tlie inci'ease in size being entirely in the fleshy capsule w^hicli was crisp and tendei", whil«» even the seeds seemed to be less dry and ''downy," or full of "cotton," than those of tem[)erate climes. The mosquitoes were a little less numerous in the flat- THROUGH THE YUKON FLAT-LANDS. 273 lands, but, at lirst, the little l)hi('k arts of the sky were clear. At that time we recognized the Romantzoff range by this means, bearing north- west, a discovery we easily verified the next moining when the air was clear in every direction. At no time while we were drifting through the Hat-lands, when the weather and our position were favorable, were hills or mountains out of view, although at times so distant as to resemble light blue clouds on the horizon. Although we were at the most northern part of our journey while in this level tract, actually passing within the Arctic regions for a short distance at old Fort Yukon, yet there was no part of the journey where we suffered so much from the downpouring heat of the sun, when- 1 1 1 ■ 1 1 ' H ! '' 1 ■! iif't i i m 1 u J 874 ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER. ever the weather was clear ; and exasperatiiigly enough our greatest share of clear weather was while we were floating between the upper and lower ramparts. All day on the 2Gth the current seemed to set to the westward, and we left island after island upon our right in spite of all our eiforts, for we wanted to keep the extreme eastern channels so as to make old Fort Yukon, where we had learned that an Indian, acting as a trader for the Alaska Company might have some flour to sell. Our most strenuous efforts in the hot sun were rewarded by our stranding a number of times on the innumerable shoals in tlie shallow river, delaying us altogether nearly three hours, and allowing us to make but thirty-three miles, our course bringing us almost in proximity to the western bank. I knew that we must be but a short dis- tance from old Fort Yukon, at which point I intended to await the river steamer' s arrival so as to procure provis- ions, for I had only two days' rations left; but this day had been so unfavorable that I almost gave up all hope of making the Fort, expecting to drift by next day far out of sight of it. About eleven o'clock that night " Alexy," the half-breed Russian interpreter for Ladue, came into our camp in his canoe, saying that Ladue had gone on down to Fort Yukon that day, keeping the main right-hand channel which we had missed, and that we were now so far to the west and so near Fort Yukon that we might pass it to-morrow among the islands without seeing it unless we kept more to the right. After receiv- ing this doleful information, which coincided so exactly with our own conclusions, we went to sleej), and " Alexy'' paddled away down stream, keeping a strong course to the east, but it would have requiieu Great East- THRO ran the yukox flat- lands. 275 «rn's enfifines on hoaitl of our (Munhersoni*' raft in order for us to nuike it. From tlie moment of our oastin<; loose the raft, on tlie morning of the 27tli, we commenced oui* struggle witii the current to gain ground, or rather, water, to th(^ eastward, often witii double and treble complements of men at both oars. Point after point we successfully essayed, working like pirates after their prey ; and fully a half dozen of these, I believe, were so closely passed across their upper ends that a score less of strokes would have allowed us to float down the western channel. Almost at the last min- ute we got such a straight away course to the right bank that looking backward it seemed as if we liad ferried our way directly.across the river, and as we rounded the last island Fort Yukon's old dilapidated buildings burst into view, in the very nick of time, too, for that particular island extended well below the site of the old fort, and we passed around it hardly a good hop, skip and a jump from its upper point. We could not suppress a cheer as the hard-earned victory wjis won, for to verify the old adage that "it never rains but it j)ours" good luck, there at the bank was the river steamer " Yukon" and fnmiher decks came a rattling volley of shots to welcome us and to which we replied almost gun for gun. A little more hard pulling and we landed the raft just above the build- ings and about three or four hundred vai'ds above the steamer, which we at once prepared to visit. The "Y'u- kon" ! i[uitea small affair comi)are(l with the river boats of th<> United States, but quite well built and well mod- eled, rh 'y spoke of it as a ten-ton boat, although I took it io be one of double or treble that capacity, its machinery being ])owerful enough to drive a vessel of a '1 I *i I!! IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 I.I 11.25 i ^ Ilia t '- ilillM IIU U III1II.6 <^ ^l "^ ^ Photographic Sciences Corporation 73 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, NY. MSSO (716)87a-4S03 •Sfc*- S76 ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER. five or six timtis tlisit tonnaye against any ordinary cur- rent, but very n(M;essary for a l)oat of even tlie .smallest size on suc^li a swift stream as the Yukon. The machin- ery took u^) the greater i)ort ion of her interior and were it not for the upper decks, it would have been difficult to TUB STBAMKR " YTKOX," (jV A HERD OF MOOSE). (A Bccno in the Yiiknn Flat-lan(1».) find room for her large crew. The moment I caught sight of the crew they seemed so like old acquaintancres that I was on the point of i)robing niy memory for the circumstances of our former meeting, when a second thought convinced me that it was only my familiarity with the Eskimo face that had ]»roduced the effect of a. THROUGH THE YUKON FLAT LANDS. 277 recognition. These Eskimos had been hired on tlu' I.ower Yukon, and but for their being a little more stolid and homely than those of north Hudson's Hay, 1 should have thought myself back among the tribes of that region. They make better and more tra<;table workmen than any of the Indians along the river, and in many other ways are superior to the latter for the white men's jxirposes, being more honest, ingenious and clever in the use of tools, while treachery is an unknown element in their <'haractHr. The miister of the " Yukected to over- take me about the loth of August somewhere near Nul- 878 ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER. ato, as he had orders to pull the St. Michael's oflf the gravel bar where slie was lying, the Alaska Commercial Company having bought out all the effects of the rival concern after the latter had expended between half a million and a million of dollars without any reasonable remuneration for tlie outlay. Tliis the captain thought would detain him a week or ten days, and if I could get as far as Nulato, or Anvik, it would save him towing the *'barka" that far on its way to St. Michael's or "the redoubt," as they all call it on the river. Thus we should be doing each other a mutual favor. The "barka," however, had none of its sails, except a jib, and this circumstance, coupled with the head winds that we should be sure to encounter on the lower river at this season, reduced us to find our motive power still in the current. Provisions were purchased in sufficient quantity to last as far as Nuklakayet, where we could select from a much more varied stock. Our dead reckoning, as checked by the astronomical observations, showed the distance from the site of old Fort Selkirk to Fort Yukon to be four hundred and ninety miles, and two-tenths, (400.2) ; and the entire dis- tance of the latter place from Crater Lake, at the head of the river, nine hundred and eighty-nine (989) miles ; the raft journey having been twelve miles less. In run- ning from Pyramid (Island) Harbor of Chilkat Inlet, the last point we had left which had been determined by as- tronomical instruments of precision, to Fort Yukon, the next such i)oint, a distance of over a thousand miles, Mr. Iloman's dead reckoning, unchecked the whole dis- tance, was in eiTor less than ten miles ; and from Fort Selkirk, determined by sextant and chronometer — the THROUGH THE YUKON FLAT LANDS. 279 latter regulated between the above two i)laces — to Fort Yukon, the error was less than six miles. At this point we connected our surveys with the excellent one given to the lower river by Captain Raymond in 1809 ; although we continued our own as far as the Aphoon, or northern, mouth of the Yukon Ri^'er. When Russian America became Alaska, or to be pre- cise, in 1867, that dat« found the Russians established as traders only on the lower river a considerable distance below the flat-lands, while in 1848 the Hudson Bay Com- pany had established Fort Yukon within their territory, a port which they were still maintaining. Upon our ac- cession, it was determined to fix the position of Fort Yukon astronomically, and if it should i)rove to be on Alaskan soil — west of the 141st meridian — the Hudson Bay Comi)any employes would be notified to vacate the premises. This was done by Captain Raymond in 1809. In the course of this occupation a good map of the Yu kon River was ti nwl*^ frrwn jf*^ iTmntli to For^ Yukon, which was^piiiiliahe d by th e WaK -D^partment, acctmi^- panied by a report. With this it may be said that the results of the expedition ceased, as that department of the government does not publish and sell maps made un- der its direction, and they therefore are practically de- prived of cir(uilation. Wlien I asked Captain Petersen if he used maps in navigating the river, he said that he seldom did, as there were no good ones in existence for the permanent channels of the river, while the temporary channels were so variable that his old maps were of lit- tle service. He had never heard of the Raymond map being published, and on being shown one, seemed aston- ished that so good a maj) was in existence, and asked me W 280 ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER. to send him a copy, wliich I was unable to do, as I could not [irocure one at the proper department in W'vshing- ton. 'IMie maps he had were those made by the Russians wiien tliey were in possession of the country, which are still tlie l)est of sucli as can be i)rocured. The Indians in and around old Fort Yukon are known to the traders as the Fort Yukon Indians, whicli isprob- al)ly as good a name as any, as tliey are not entitled to be regarded as a distinct tribe (or even as part of one), in the ordinary acceptation of tlie word. Tlie country of the fiatlands is not well sto<^ked with game of the kind thiit would supi)ort any great number of Indians at all seasons, and as the river spreads over so wide an extent, the chances of catching tish are proportionately de- creased, and altogether the Hat-lands would be rejected by the natives for other locations. I was told by tliase who ought to know, and whose asserticms seem to be borne out by other evidence, that there were no Indians who made this country their lumie until Fort YuVon was estal)lisiied in 1848, an event which attracted the usual number of Indians around the post who are always seen about a frontier ti-ading station, nuiny of wlumi made it their home. They came up the river, down the nuiin stream, and down the great tributary, the Rat or Porcu- pine River wliic^h empties itself near the fort, so that the settlement was recruited by stragglers from se\ eral tribes, and it was for this reason that I Mj)oke of them as not being a distinct tribe. The Indian who assumed the role of chief, Senati, as he is called by the white peo- ple, a savage of more than ordinary authority and deter- mination, came from the lower ramparts where there ex- ists a village bearing his name, which he still visits. THROUGH THE YUKON FLAT-LANDS. 281 Since the abandonment of the post by the Alaska Com- pany, his for(!e of character has done much to liold to- gether the handful of natives that still cling to the old spot ; but with his death and the desertion of the i)lace by white traders this part of the river w ill soon return to its former wildness. When the Hudson Bay Com- pany came upon the river at the point where they built this fort, they felt safe from the encroaclimrnts of the Russians, although trespassing upon Russian soil, as the Yukon was supposed to flow northward, and, like the Ma(;kenzie, to pour its waters into the polar sea. Old mai)s may still be found bearing out this idea,* the Col- ville being pressed into service as the cimjectural continu- ation of the Yukon into the Arctic portion of Ahiska. The 27th and 28th were occupied in taking observations to rate and correct the chronometer, much of the first day being spent in company with the officers of the boat, who recounted their interesting adventures on the river and its adjacent regions, in which tiieir lives had been spent. T recall an episode of Mr. McQuesticm's early life which so well illustrates the extriiordiniiiy vigor of the Toyagcurs of the Hudson Hay Conipjiny in the British north-west territory that 1 shall brietiy repeat it. His boyhood was spent in the northern peninsula of Michigan and the states and tei-ritories to the westward, until finally he found himself at old Fort (Jaiiy, then an important y>ost of the Hudson Bay Ca]iy. Here he was brought into constant r-ontact with the restless * As late as 1883, a fine fflobe lieariiipr that date, costiiif,' some hundreds of dollars, was received by the American (Jeogiaphical So<.Mety from a London firm, which still bears this enor, corrected over twenty years ajfo. 2»2 ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER. voyageurSy and from them he imbibed miu-li of their adventurous spirit, and was imbued with a longing to visit the far north land of which they spoke. He heard of Athabasca as other lads might hear of California and Mexico and Peru, while the Mackenzie and Yukon resembled to his imagination some fabled El Dorado or Ahiddin's dream. He longed to see these lands for himself, but he knew the hard work the voyageurs were compelled to endure. He had seen the bundles and bags and boxes of a hundred pounds that they were to carry on their backs around rapids too swift to pole or "track," and over the many portages and exchanges on their long journeys. He knew he was not equal to the work required, but with the enthusiasm of youth he deter- mined to make himself equal to it by a course of physical training, and after several months presented himself to an agent of the company as a fuli -fledged noyageur. To his delight he was accei)ted and entered on their books at a monthly salaiy, that probably being the least im- portant part to him at the time. The first party which started northward in the spring included young McQuestion in its number, the most enthusiastic of all. Days wore on and much of his enthusiasm was repressed by the hard experiences of the journey, but it was by no means destroyed. In a few days the other rioyageurs began talking of the great portage, where every thing, canoes included, had to be carried on their backs around the swift rapids, and wishing that their task, the hardest they had to encounter in tlie northern regions, was well over. McQuestion rather regarded it in the light of variety, as a break from the monotony of weary paddling over still and " tracking " through swift water. At last THROUGH THE YUKON FLAT LANDS. 289 the lower end of the great portage was reached at a small cascade, and as the great canoe in which tlie young ooyageur was paddling was nearly at tlie lower end of the line, he could plainly see the indications ahead. The canoes came up and landed at the little rocky ledge, their one hundred pound bundles were thrown out on the bank, high and dry, and the canoe itself was dragged from the water to make room for the next. McQuestion saw the chief of the canoe throw a bundle on the first comer's back, and exj)ected to see him start off over the trail to the upper end of the portage, said to be ten or twelve miles across, and running through a tanglewood with all kinds of obstructions occurring the whole way. As the man did not start oflf, however, McQuestion watched eagerly for the reason, and was astonished to see the chief put a second bundle of a hundred pounds upon the other for the packer to carry, a load under which he expected to see the poor fellow stagger or fall. He did not fall, however, nor even stagger, but wheeled in his tracks and started off at a good sharp run, and disappeared over the hill. In a few minutes he reap- peared on the crest of another hill, still maintaining his rapid gait, and with half a dozen others following him on the trail, with each carrying the same weight, and proceeding at the same gait. His hecrt sank within him, and as he climbed the ledge of rock he felt almost like a criminal on the way to execution. He received liis two bundles, started off, and managed to keep up his gait over the crest of the nearest hill, when he fell, spread out at full length over the first log he attempted to cross. He returned to the factor in charge of the expedition, and a compromise was made by which he paid to that ril 284 ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER. functionary the amount per month he was to have received in order to anrney up the river. Our limited time and transjiortation foibade investigating it further. In a few years, I sui)p()se, the bank will be excavated by the undermining river, and the bones swept away and scattered over many bars and beaches, for it is in such places that the greatest numbers are found, while a complete skeleton in situ is a rarity. In spite of slight showers and a generjil ' ' bad out- look, " we started early next morning, and were very soon driven into a slough on the left (southern) bank by a strong north-west wind. Through this spot the cur- rent was so stagnant that we were over two hours in making a little less than two miles. At one time the head wind threatened to bring us completely to a stand- still, so slight was our motive power. Nor was this our only episode of the same character. Several times the exasperating wind played us this trick, and when we camped for the night after twelve hours spent on the ^-'^o^ 288 ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER. a water, we could only reckon twenty-six miles to our credit. The event thoroughly established the fact that the central channels of the many which penetrate this flat district contain the swiftest currents, while along the main banks there are numerous water-ways open at both ends with almost stagnant water in them. About three in the afternoon we passed a double log house on the right bank with two or three small log caches mounted high in the air on the corner posts, and two graves, all o^hich seemed new in construction, although the place was entirely deserted. Indian signs of all kinds now began to appear as we approa'ched the lower ramparts, although no Indians were seen. By noon the blue hills ot the ramparts were seen to our 4ef t, and by the middle of the afternoon, we could make out individual trees upon them, and at half-past seven o'clock we camped on the last island in the great group of from two to ten thousand through whick we had been threading our way so long, with the upper gates of the lower ramparts in full sight, about a mile or two distant. CHAPTER XI. THROUGH THE LOWEU ItAMPAIlTS, AND THE EXI) OF THE HAFT JOUUXEY. ERY well defined indeed are the upjjer gates f>f the lower ramparts, jind one enters them from above with a sudden- ness that recalls his childish ideas of moun- tain ranges taken frojn juvenile geography- ^ books, where they are represented as a closely connected series of tre- INDIAN "cache" on LOWEK YUKON. mendously steep peaks, with no outlying hills connect- ing them with the level valleys by gently rolling sloi)es, as nature has fortunately (ihos^n to do ; this approach to the lower ramparts being one of the few exceptions. The lower termination is not by any means so well mnrked as after the rapids at Senati's village are passed; there is a gradual lowering of the range, broken by many ab- rupt as well as gradual rises until the delta at the mouth iOf the river is reached, far beyond the point at which any traveler has placed their western limit. I think I agree pretty well with others in placing it about the mouth of the Tanana or Nuklakayet trading station. . I Miii 290 ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER. This would give the lower i-amparts a length of about one hundred miles along the river, or about one-fourth the length of the upper ramparts. On August 3d we started at 7:30 a. m., and half an hour afterward our hearts were gladdened by re-enter- ing the hilly country, for the flat and monotonous dis- tricts through which we had been drifting for many days induced a peculiar depression difficult to describe as well as to suffer. Our entry was signaled by the killing of three young but almost full-grown gray geese out of a small flock which we surprised as we floated around a point of land near the northei u bank. This incident ushered in a hunting season when our shot-guns might have done great service but for our unfavorable condi- tion for hunting, planted as we were upon a raft in the middle of a broad river. We had supposed that when we entered the ramparts and the widely-scattered waters of the river were united into a single channel, our speed would surely increase ; in fact, we had^been told as much by the steamboat men. On the contrary, the current was distinctly slower than that of any main channel of the stream through which we had drifted since leaving the head of the river, and after floating for thirteen hours we could only reckon thirty-six geographical miles to our credit, the poorest record we had made except on days when we had strandod upon a river bar or had been forced down a side channel of slack water. i^hout one o'clock in the afternoon we passed three canoes hauled up on the riglit bank, their owners being asleep on the warm sand of the shore, nearly naked. Their clothes were hanging out to dry, and they were THROUGH THE LOWER RAMPARTS. 291 evidently remaining over from the heavy rain-storm of the (lay before. Persistent yelling aroused them, and one of their number put oflf in his canoe, paddling around the raft, but not understanding each other, he returned to the shore, having uttered but one word that we could comprehend, chi/ (tea). A half-hour afterward we passed the mouth of the Che-taut, a fair-sized stream coming in from the north. Near this point and for some distance beyond, we saw a number of old Indian signs, such as graves, habitations and caches, but the only living representatives of the tribe were the three sleepers we had seen a few miles back. Numbers of large wicker fish-traps were seen along the beach, none of which, however, were set ; and, in general, an air of desolation prevailed. As soon as the early cold snaps of approaching winter along the Arctic coast of Alaska send the reindeer southward on their migrations, these Nimrods of the river hasten northward to meet them, for their skins furnisli most acceptable winter clothing, and their meat is a welcome chunge from the dried salmon of the river. About six oN^lock we saw a fair-looking Indian log-house on the right bank of the river, having a harrahnra (RuHHrnn name for log-cabin, half or nearly underground, the "dug-out" of the West), and carJic attached. All of the Indian cachet of the lower ramparts, and ewn fur- ther down the river until the Eskimo are encountered, are merely diminutive log-cabins from about four by four to eight by eight, mounted on corner logs so high that one «an walk underneath the floor, which is generally made of poles or puncheons. A steep log leans against the door- sill and is cut into steps, to enable the owner to ascend 202 ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER. (see initial piece to this chapter). The owner of this particular cabin had displayed much more than the usual energy in the construction of his domicile, there actually being a fence inclosing a small yard on one side of the house, and wooden steps leading up the steep bank from the water's edge to the little plateau upon wliicli the cabin was built. These were roughly but ingeni- ously constructed of small, short lengths of log, the upper sides being leveled with an adze or ax. We camped at 8:30 p. m. near several Indian graves, about a mile or two above the mouth of the Whym- per River, which comes in from the left, and just on the upper boundary of the conspicuous valley of that stream. There wei*e quite a number of graves at this point, forming the first and only burying place we saw on the river that might be called a family graveyard, i. e., a spot where a number, say six or seven, were buried in a row within a single inclosure. From its posts at the corners and sides were the usual totems and old rags flying, two of the carvings representing, I think, a duck and a bear respectively, while the others could not be made out. We had heard, in an imperfect way, on the upper river, that some aisease was raging among the natives on the lower part, and that whole villages had been swept away and bodies left unburied, but this proved to be wholly sensational. A mild form of measles had indeed attacked a small town, causing one or two deaths, but this was the only foundation we could find for the report. The Yukon River, however, is a great thoroughfare for contagious disease, and mala- dies raging among the Chilkats have been kn^wn to travel its whole course as rapidly as we had done, and THROUGH THE LOWER RAMPARTS. 293 from the river as a base had spread right and left among the native tribes, until the cold weather of ai)i).'()aching winter subdued them, if they were amenable to the influ- ence of temperature. I have never heard of any return ing against the stream, but instances of their descending it are not infrequent. Dr. Wilson tried to get a skull out of the many we assumed were at hand, to send to the Army Museum's large craniological collection, but although several very old-looking sites were opened, the skulls were too fresh to be properly prex)ared in the brief time at our disposal. The most welcome change in this hilly country is the diminishing of the gnats and mosquitoes into quite endurable numbers. We found several varieties of ber- ries near this camp, one or two of which were quite pal- atable ; the crisp rosebuds still continuing to appear, although perhaps they were not so large as those* we found near old Fort Yukon. These lower ramparts so closely resemble the ramparts of the Upper Yukon in many particulars that the convic- tion soemed irresistible that thev are one and the same ft/ chain of mountains, and if I may be excused the simile, are stretched like a bow-string across the great arc of the Yukon, as it bends northward into the Arctic flat-lands, which latter beyond the timber line become the great Arctic tundra. The night of August 3d was very cold, only a few degrees above freezing, and besides the chance it gave us for a most comfortable night's rest, it stiffened ui» the few mosquitoes of the evening before so completely that they had to suspend operations altogether. Just before starting Corporal Shircliff killed a large porcupine near 294 ALONG ALASKA'S QUE AT RIVER. camp, an animal said to be quite numerous along the river, and so abundant in the tlat-linds near Fort Yukon as to attach his name to the large tributary which joins the river at that point. It was nearly eight o'clock when we started, and after a mile's drifting we passed the mouth of the Whymper River, which we could not see until after we had got well past it. Its valley, however, is quite noticeable, and one would immediately conjec- ture tlijft a river of considerable dimensions flowed through it. A somewhat ludicrous incident took place at a short distance below this point. As we were drifting along a couple of wolves came trotting leisurely around a point of land just ahead of us, and the corporal and the cook picking up their rifles began firing at them with the usual fatal results — to the ammunition — the wolves siifli)ly snapping at each shot as it was fired, but not apparently increasing their pace, though they were but seventy-five or a hundred yards away. After fully half a dozen shots had been discharged as fast as the two could h)ad and fire, an Indian house broke unexpectedly into view around the point from which the wolves had come, and in one breath two or three of the amused spec- tators called out to the sportsmen that they were firing at Indian dogs, as was proved by the tameness of the animals and their proximity to the house; whereupon I told the men to desist. The funny thing was that they really were wolves, and the two men had fired so rapidly and the bjiUets had struck the bank and torn out the gravel just beyond the animals so fast that all their attention was absorbed in that direction and thus they did not observe us, the reports of the shots and the H Su _. B t- 3 » THROUGH THE LOWER RAMPARTS. 297 echoes of the impacts being so confusing. The moment we ceased and they heard our voices and got one look at us out on the river the rapidity witli which tliey sought the woods, left no doubt as to tlieir species. The Indian house and surroundings were deserted and the wolves had been smelling around and investigating some old ani- mal refuse near by. This part of the river was particularly abundant in Indian signs of a permanent character on both banks of the river, but not a living soul was seen anywhere. A most exasperating gale of wind raged all day, driv- ing us into areas of slackwater in which we could scarcely move, and keeping us alongside of steep banks in the river bends ; and when camp was made shortly after eight o'clock, after being on the water over twelve hours, we had made but twenty-six and a half miles. During the day we saw a number of places at which the red rocks crop out from the summits of the high hills, resembling those on the eastern side of Lake Lin- deman, which had been named the*' Iron-Capped Mount- ains" on that account. The contrast of color was not so great, however, for on the latter range the rocks pro- jected through the snow and blue-ice of the glacier-cap, while in the lower ramparts they were surrounded by brownish-red soil and autumnal foliage. I doubt if I should have noticed them but for their great similarity to those on the headwaters of the river. Our Camp 47 was near a small stream on the left bank and I observed that all of these little creeks passing through the wet moss and tundra-like carpet under- neath the dense timber, were highly colored with a port- wine hue, although their waters were so clear that one 298 ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER. could often see to the bottom in places three and four feet deep. Probably these streams have *]ieir sources in the iron-impregnated soil and rock of the adjacent mountains, and if flowing through land where the drain- ings have absorbed the dyes from decaying leaves and vegetation, acquire this deep red color, almost verg- ing on purple, forming a sort of natural ink, as it were. Wherever these streams empty themselves, their waters make a striking ccmtrast with the white and muddy river, and often where there was nothing else to indicate that we were approacHiing a tributary, we would see ahead a dark stripe running out fi'cmi the bank and curving down stream as it took up the new direction of the river's course, and this woukl indicate the }/resence of a creek from the hillsides, long before we could rer.ch its mouth. Two days after entering this hilly country we ap- proached the rai)ids of the lower ramparts, of which we had heard and read so much that we felt a little anxiety as to the danger of approaching them. AVe had a very good map, Raymond's, of this i)art of the river, and knew just about where to expect them, and this circumstance, coupled with the instructions received on the upper river to keep well toward the left bank, reassured us somewhat ; but still we had double complements of men at both bow and stern oars to be used in case of emergency. A little bit uncertain at one point in regard to our position with respect to the rapids we made hasty inquiries at a small Indian village near which we drifted, and its occupants told us that we had passed the rapids about half a mile back, the natives pointing to an insignificant reef of low white bowlders that jutted out a short distance from the right bank. They were certainly the mildest rapids I TH ROUGH THE LOWER RAMPARTS. 299 had ever seen. During liigh»»i' water, when the current is swifter and the reef just projects from the swift water, these rapids may appear more formidable, but if tliis part of the river had been wholly unexplored until our arrival, I doubt seriously whether we should ever have observed them. At this point the river is only about two hundred and fifty yards wide, and although the cur- rent noticeably increases, its increase can not, I think, be in any proportional to the vast volume of water the river must carry through such a narrow channel ; the stream must, therefore, be unusually deep. This part of the lower ramparts, which maybe assumed to be the " bacrk- bone " or summit of the chain of high hills through which the river has cut its way, is very picturesque, and had it not been for the squally weather and the black (Oouds that were lowering over the crests, I should have lingered awhile so as to procure a few photographs of the scenery. Gloster's sketches served our purpose too well in such places to think of delaying very long for this object at any point of the journey, and one of them is shown on page 295. I think it would be a fair estimate to say that the hills of the upper ramparts in their highest ele- vations are nearly twice the height of the corresponding ones in the lower ramparts. We passed the rapids of the ramparts at 2:10 7».m., and the Indian village below ten minutes later. This is called Senati's (Senatee's) village upon previous maps, and at the date of our arrival was made up of two well- worn tents and four birch-bark houses, the whole contain- ing from forty to fifty souls. Over half a dozen canoes put off from the village and were soon paddling around us, whereupon a lively competition ensued for sui)plying ^ 300 ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER. US with dried and smol^ed Halmon. It was at this village that I first noticed the round-rimmed hand net spoken of in a former chapter as appearing on the lower river. Their handles of ten and twelve feet in length may appear to contradict my conjecture as to the unus- ual depth of the river here, or the Indians may go fur- ther down to lish, as we saw large numbers of their caches perched along the right bank some distance below. Our camp was a forced one that evening, — the 5th — as we got stuck on a sandspit at the head of an island where we had to make " a rubber-boot camp" as the men designated any place w lie re we grounded in shoal water so far from the shore that rubber-boots had to be put on in order to cany the cooking and camping effects to the selected spot. Cold and stormy as the day hud l)een the mosquitoes sent a fair representation to inform us that we had not been deserted by them. From Camp 47 to Camp 48, Mr. Homan figured the day's run of nearly twelve hours' uninterrupted drift at but twenty-seven miles, and this in the narrowest portion of the ramparts, where we had hoped the current would increase. I was much inclined to think that our prog- ress had been underestimated four or five miles, and that a desire to coincide with Captain Raymond's maps had marred an otherwise almost faultless reckoning. Shortly^ after noon on the 6th — having started at half- past eight — we passed the mouth of the Tanana, having found one more island on this stretch of the river than is mapped by Raymond. A half-dozen more islands in many parts of the wide river or even half a hundred more or less at any point in the flat-lands might have escaped detection on any previous map, but here the shores are so THROUGH THE LOWER RAMPARTS. 801 bold and the islands so few and conspicuous that tliey can hardly escape casual observation, and an error of even one upon the maj) would attrai^t notice. The Tanana River, to which I have referred, is the largest tributary of the Yukon, and is fully the peer oi the parent stream, at the point of confluence. Were it not for the fact that the geographical features which must necessarily limit the drainage area of each i)reclude the Tanana basin from equaling that of the Yukon, a casual observer standing at the junction of the two might well be puzzled to know which of the two was entitled to be regarded as the main stream. The Yukon Kiver at this point is a little over th rteen hundred miles iu length from its head, and a glance at a map will show that in its great northward bend it has inclosed the Tanana, which would have to make a great many wind- ings within this area in order to equal the Yukon in length, a case which we are not justified in assuming. There is a rough method, however, of arriving at its length, according to the story told me by an old trader on the river, upon whose word I can rely. With one white companion, and some Indians as packers, he crossed from the trading station at Belle Isle, near Johnny's village or Klat-ol-Min, in a southwest direction, over the hills that divide the Yukon and Tanana basins, ascending a tributary of the former and descending one of the latter, the journey occupying two or three weeks, after which the Indians were sent back. A boat was constructed from the hide of a moose, resembling the " bull -boat" of the weste > n frontiersmen, and in this they drifted to the river's m uth. At the point where the two travelers first sighted the Tanana, the trader estimated it to be 302 ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER. about twelve hundred yards wide, or very nearly tliree- quarters of a mile, and as they were floating flf teen or six- teen hours a day for ten days, on a current whose speed he estimated at six or seven miles an hour, it being much swifter than the Yukon at any point as high as Belle Isle, my informant computed his progress at from ninety to a iiundred miles a day ; or from nine hundred to a thousand miles along the Tanana. He estimates the whole length of the river by combining the result of his observation with Indian rex)orts, at from ten to twelve hundred miles. Fear of the Tanana Indians appears to be the motive for the rapid rate t)f travel through their country, and although in general a very friendly tribe to encounter away from home, they have always opposed any exploration of their country. The tiader's companion had suggested and promoted the journey as a quasi scientific expedition, and he collected a few skulls of the natives and some botanical specimens, but no niai)s*or notes were made of the trip, and it was afterward said by the Alaska Company's employes that the explorer was an envoy of the "opposition," as the old trad«^rs called the new comx)any, sent to obtain information regarding the country as a trading district. Allowing a fair margin for all possible error, I think the river is from eight hundred to nine hundred miles long, not a single portion of which can be said to have been mapped.* This would jirobably make the Tanana, if I am right in my estimate, the longest wholly unexplored river in the world, certainly the longest of the western continent. As we drifted by its mouth we could only form an approximate idea of its width, which was apparently two or three miles, including all channels and islands, which * I have since ieariied that Mr. Bates made a map and took notes. H o g V a &< B S 'B •■<' fl (° n •>! ?1 1 h- ? o r* o % R) o OD (!^ o ^ o < NN m q o B *t H ^ >• o > a > » rn Tf P Tl S b t] e; a] tl tl h( Tl ai at ar tM w; dr hi th fo] ho ba us Trj exi otl del hai Inc isif fist THROUGH THE LOWER RAMPARTS. 305 may be of the nature of a delta. It seemed to be ^ery swif J; and brought down quantities of uprooted drift tim- ber of large dimensions as compared with that brought by the Yukon. Looking back it resembled a suddenly exposed inland lake on the borders of the main stream, and its swift waters so overwhelmed those of the Yukon that a great slackening took place in the latter near their confluence, forming a sluggish pool into which >ve helplessly drifted. All these circumstances give to the Tanana the appearance of equality with the more import- ant stream. Once in its current we went skimming along at a rapid rate that revealed the force of the new stream. At 1:40 P.M. we passed an Indian village of four tents and two birch-bark houses, containing from twenty to twenty-five souls. Among the canoemen w^ho visited us was a half-breed Indian, very neatly and jauntily dressed, who spoke English quite well, and whom we hired to pilot us to the trading station at Nuklakayet, the channel to which was very blind, and difficult to follow, as we had been told at old Fort Yukon. An hour later a large native village was passed on the north bank, apparently deserted ; and another hour brought us to the "opposition" store of the old Northern Trading Company, around which was grouped quite an extensive collection of Indian cabins, graves, caches., and other vestiges of habitation. The old store was nearly demolished, while the once thriving Indian village had hardlj'^ a sign of life in it. At half -past four o'clock we passed two or three small Indian camps on the upper ends of some contiguous islands, upon which they were spending the summer in fishing for salmon. At the upper ends of these islands ■i i I 1'' i fp I ii ■ V, Sim 306 ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER. they build oblique weirs or wicker- work wing-dams con- verging to a certain point, at which a large wicker- woik net is placed, and into the latter tlie salmon are directed and there caught. Tliese wicker-work nets are similar to those heretofore spoken of as having been seen scattered along the beach in front of a small house just after enter- ing the ramparts, and some of them are so large that a man might walk into their open mouths, while tliey nie probably a score of feet in length. These, together with the native hand-nets, already spoken of, are the only api)liances I saw used for cjitching hsh ; but they serve amply to sui)ply the natives througliout the year, and to give their numerous dogs a salmon apiece every day. A little after six o'clock we sighted die Nuklnkayt't trading station, and after much hard labor succeeded in making a landing there, for the channel was most tor- tuous, and witliout our Indian i)ilot we should i)i()bal)ly have missed the place altogether, so much dodging through winding ways and aro^^nd obscure islands was necessary. Mr. Harper, whom we found in cliaige, was the only white man present, although ^Ir. McQuestion, and another trader who was down tlie river at tlie time (Mr. Mayo), make the station their headquarters. It is the furthest inland trading post at present maintained by the Alaska Conunercial Comj^any— or any otliei- cor- poration on the river —although there were foi-merly others of which mention has been made, l)ut an occasional visit of the river steamer has taken their place. Nukla kayet was once on the flat bottom land at the junction of the Tanana and the Yukon, and was coTisidered a sort of neutral ground for the British traders from above and w » c c 1-5 K C cr. H ft jr. v. ^! I 1 I '! fi ! t ^ I ^^vmmmmmmm^ ^^mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm THROUGH THE LOWER RAMPARTS. the Russians below, there being at that time summer trading camps only in existence. Here Mr. Harper had attempted a small garden, which is certainly the most northerly garden existing in the ter- ritory of the United States, if not in the western conti- nent ; it being eighty-iive geographical or ninety-eight statute miles from the Arctic circle, or within a couple of days' journey of the polar regions. The garden is shown in the illustration taken from a photograph made by Mr, Homan. Its principal vegetables were turnips, the largest of which raised that year weighed a little over six pounds. They seemed particularly crisp and acceptable to our palates, most of us eating them raw, d la Sellers. I never knew before that turnips were so palatable. A few other hardy plants and veget- ables completed the contents of the garden. Gar- dening in this country, however, must be greatly im- Ijeded by the swarms of mosquitoes, while agricul- ture on a considerable scale would be retarded by tlie wet and mossy character of the soil. Mr. Hai-per has chosen a south-eastern slope directly on the river bank, and here the immediate drainage has helped liim to overcome the latter obstacle to the success of his garden. We inspected the "barka," or decked schooner of ten or twelve tons, and I decided to take her, although fear- ing that we might find many more discomforts in lier cramped quarters, than upon our old raft. Here, too, the old raft was laid away in peace, perhaps to become kindling-wood for the trader's stove. Rough and rude as it was. I had a friendliness for the uncouth vessel, which had done such faithful service, and borne ? ! l r I 310 ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER. US safely through so many trials, surprising us with its good qualities. It liad explored a larger portion of the great river than any more pretentious craft, and seemed to deserve a better fate. H as M > 5' 3 S ^ o H a g w B. Oi w O 'v! s o •*) >< c M 9f H 2 r/i o W «-, n O 3" '>1 B s ^..^ t^ o -S c^ ^ s » 1 3 M (3 b4 2 -^ » hrt O CA 5- <^ so OO M w v< m i\ II < •m \ » f CHAPTER XTI. DOWN THE KIVER AND HOMi:. HE 7th of August we remained over pumping out the bilge- water from the "barka" and transferring freight from the raft to the schooner, and making use of our photographic appar- atus. At Nuklakayet the Eskimo dogs begin to appear, forty or INDIAN ouT-DooB otTN covERiNo, fiftv bcintT ownpd bv thp stn- ON THB LOWER YUKON RIVKB. "^ ^J^ UClllj, UV> UCU Uy lllC &ld- tion, the majority of which Mr. Harper feared he sliould have to kill to save the expense of feeding them tlirough the winter. As each of them ate a salmon a day, it will be seen that this cost was no small item. I remembered the trouble I had once experienced in obtaining even a smaller number of these useful creatures ; a difficulty which many another Arctic traveler has encountered, while here was a pack about^ to be slaughtered that • would well suffice for any sledging ])arty. The Eskimo dogs of Alaska are larger, finer-looking, and a much more distinct variety than those of Xorth Hudson's Bay, King William Land country, and adjacent districts ; a description of any one Alaska dog answering nearly for all, while among the others I have named, there was the widest difference in size, shape and general appearance. 314 ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER. Prom all I could leam, and I was careful to inquire of thoir cai)abilities, I do not think the Alaskan Eskimo dogs (run (iompare with the others in enduranc^e, whether as regards fatigue, exposure or fasting. For all tho puqioses of men who are never in fear of starvation, I think it more than probable that the Alaskan Eskimo dog would be found sui)erior on short journeys and trii)s between points where food is i)ro('urable ; but for the use of explorers, or of any one who nuiy be exposed to the danger of famine, the others are undoubtedly far superior. When I told some of the Yukon River traders, who had spent much of their lives in the native country of these dogs, of some of the feats of endui'ance of the Hudson Bay species, they seeuied to think, judging from their countenances, that I was giving them a choice selec- tion from the Arctic edition of Munchausen. Eskimo boats, or those in which tlie wooden frames are covered with sealskin, are also first noticed at this place ; although the Eskimo people themselves are not found as logular inhabitants until A'" Ik has been passed, some twenty or thirty miles. I saw both kinds, the smaller variety, or kiak, in native language, and the large kind, or oomien., of the Eskimo. An attempt had evidently been made to fashion the bow and stern of the latter into nautical "liB*'s." with a result much more visible tiian with those of Hudson's Straits and Bay. On Wednesday the 8th of August, we got away late, and there being a slight breeze behind us, we set the jib — the only sail with the boat — and were agreeably sur- prised at the manner in which our new acquisition cut through the water, with even this little help ; the sail assisting her probably a couple of miles an hour, and, DOWN THE RIVER AND HOME. 315 better than all, making it very easy work to keep in the strongest currents. Indian villages or camps were seen o(!casionally on the upper ends of islands, with their fish-tra])s set above them, and from some of these we obtained fresh salmon. As the trading stations are approached, these Indian camps increase, the largest being generally clusleied around the station itself, while a diminution botii in numbers and size is perceptible in i)r()p()rtion to the dis- tance from these centers. As many of these cjimps are but temporary summer affairs, which are abandoned late in the fall, this clustering around the white men's stores becomes more marked at that i)eriod. That night's camping, however, i)lainly showed us that the " baika '* was not as good as the raft for the purjjose of approa<;h- ing the shore, it drawing about three feet to the raft's twenty inches, so that "rubber-boot camps" might be quite numerous in the future. Worst of all, our rubber boots were but little protection in three feet of water, and filling to the top, became more of an impediment than otherwise in carrying our effects to the shore. Most of our camping places were now selected with reference to steep banks that had at least three feet of water at tlK.'ir foot, yet were not so high but that a long gang-plank could reach the crest. On the 9th, we started early with a light wind in our face that within an hour had become a iurious gale, with white capped waves running over the broad river and dashing over our boat. We ran into shoal water, droi)ped anchor, and tried to protect ourselves by crawling in under the leaking decks. Here we remained cooi)ed up until four o'clock in the afternoon, when the gale abat- 1 3 : \ 'l t ! fl '•' i ^ ■ 1 1 (?, 316 ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER. ing somewhat we pulled up anchor and drifted for six or seven miles, going into camp at eight o'clock, having made eight and a-half miles for the day. After camping, the gale died down to a calm, and allowed us the full benefit of the mosquitoes. Either we were getting used to their pttacks, or the season had affected the insects, for they appeared less numerous than on the upper river. The 10th was another day starting well with a favorable breeze and ending with a heavy head-wind. That day we passed the Newicargut and still saw many Indian camps where fishing for salmon was going on. The 11th was an aggravating repetition of the events of the two preceding days. That day we passed the Meloze- cargut, and camped opposite the mouth of the Yuko- cargut. *"Cargut" is the native name for river, and Sooncargut, Melozecargut, and Tosecargut, have been changed to Sunday-cargut, Monday-cargut, and Tuesday- cargut by the English speaking traders of the district. Another object now influenced our selection of camps for the night, and that was to choose a spot with few or no islands in its front, so that the descending river steamer " Yukon " could not pass us while in camp by taking a channel hidden from our view. Shortly after midnight a steamer's whistling was heard far down the river, and after a great deal of anxiety for fear it was the " Yukon" that had passed us unnoticed, we heard the puffing approach nearer and nearer, and soon saw the light of an ascending river steamer. It proved to be a very diminutive but powerful little thing which Mr. Mayo was taking to Nuklakayet for the ♦ Spelled Chargut on Mr. Homan's map. DOWN THE RIVER AND HOME. 817 winter. Two brothers of the name of Scheffelin, the elder of whom is well known in frontier mining history as the discoverer of the celebrated Tombstone district of Arizona, having amassed a fortune in that territory, decided to try the mining prospects of the Yukon and its tributaries, and the i)rior year had chartered a vessel in San Francisco on which they put this little river steamer, and sailed for the Yukon. Here a year was spent in prospecting, and although ' ' ounce diggings* were struck" on or near the Melozecargut, yet all the sur- roundings made " Ed " Scheifelin think it would not pay to j)ut capital in such an undertaking, although it might remunerate the individual effort of the itinerant miner whose capital is his pick-ax, pan and shovel. Early in the spring the Schtffelins got a letter from Arizona which determined their return to the United States, and they had left the river a few weeks previously, the three traders at Nuklakayet buying their little river steamer, which the former owners had named the *' New Racket.*' The wages of these traders had been reduced by the Alaska Company in order to contract expenses, so that the company might make a small percentage on the large capital Invested, until the traders found themselves with- oul: 'sufficient means to live upon, and they had bought the boat intending to organize a small trading company of their own upon the river unless their former wages were restored. The Scheffelin mining expedition was an expensive one, and remarkably well "outfitted " in every necessary department. The 'irge number of Eskimo dogs at Nuklakayet had been selected by him for the * Diggings that will pay an ounce of gold per man a day, or, as gold usually runs, from $10 to f 20 per day. 318 ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER. purpose of sledging expeditions in winter time. He thought seriously of invading tlie prospective gold fields of Africa as his next venture, showing plainly the roving spirit which had served him so well in the arid deserts of Arizona. No one could meet him anywhere without wishing him good luck in his wild adventures, for he was the prince of good fellows. The " New Racket" left us very early in the morning, having tied up alongside of c mi)the night before, while we started about the usual time, an hour after daylight. About 3:30 p.m. that day — the 12th — we passed a w'v considerable Indian village called Sakadelontin, jai I)osed of a number of birch-bark houses and some ten or twelve caches., and containing probably fifty or sixty people. It is one of the few large villages to be found at any great distance from a trading station. Before reaching it we observed a number of native coffins perched up in the trees, the first and only ones we saw so situated on the river. All day on the 12th and 13th a heavy gale from the south made even drifting difficult. Upon a couple of northward-trending stretches of the river that Avere encountered on the 13th we set the jib, and spun along at the rate of six or seven miles an hour. At one place where we were held against the high banks by the force of the gale, we went ashore, and much to our surprise found a most prolific huckleberry patca, where we all regaled ourselves as long as the wind lasted. These berries were quite common along this part of the river, and nearly every canoe that put off from a camp or village would have one or two trays or bowls of v ,,r'l or birch-bark full of them, which the natives wr t u to trade for tea or tobacco. AVe camped in what is called «?■¥ m ' 5 w o^ ts w »; w I i^ '^ 1 O O o b; a Ci as or be of M In am Jo] ear the sig] I ter DOWN THE RIVER AND HOME. 321 by the river steamer men the "cut-oflf slough," Just south of the mouth of the Koyukuk River, a northern tributary of considerable dimensions, which empties into the Yukon at a point where it makes a short but bold bend to the north, the "slough" making the route about one-fifth shorter. The mouth of the tributary is marked by the Koyukuk Sopka (hill), a high eminence which is visible for many miles around. This feature is char- acteristic of this part of the Yukon Valley, isolated hills and peaks often rising precipitously from a perfectly level country. The 14th saw us make Nulato, quite an historical place on the river. It was the furthest inland trading station of the old Russian-American Fur Company at the time of our purchase of Alaska, and had been used as such by them, under different names, for nearly a quarter of a century. It was occupied by the traders of the Alaska Company until a year or two before my arrival, as well as by traders of the "opposition," when the killing of one of the latter led to trouble witii the Indians, so that both companies withdrew. Many years ago, one cold winter night, the Russians oJ! the station were massacred, along with a number of friendly Indians who had assembled around the station. In this disaster fell an English naval officer, Lieuten- ant Barnard by name, who was looking for traces of Sir John Franklin, even in this out-of-the-way corner of the earth. A respectable head-board marks his grave, l)ut the high grass and willows have buried it almost out of sight. Here also lies buried a locally noted Russian charac- ter of hard reputation, Kerchinikoff by name, ^^h()se t ■I 888 ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER. story was told me by more than one of the traders, who had known him and heard of his doings in his adven- turous cai'eer. It was romancingly said by way of illus- trating his prowess among the native tribes, that if the skulls of his Indian victims had been heaped together in his grave they would not only till it but enough would have remained to erect a high monument to his mem- ory. He died at a great age, having been from his very youth a terror to all the tribes on the lower river, but wholly in the interests, as he interpreted them, of thf; great iron monopoly to which he belonged. Many years ago the few Russian traders of the Andreavsky station had been massacred by the Indians. Kerchini- koff asked for protection and a sufficient force to punish the murderers, and those at Nulato transmitted his re- quest to the headquarters of the Russian Fur Company at far-off Sitka, but did not receive even the courcesy of an answer. With one or two companions he put a couple of old rusty Russian carronades in the prow of his trading boat, — the identical one on which we were drifting down the river, and which he himself had built— and in lieu of proi^er ammunition, which he was unable to get, he loaded his guns with spikes, hing' • and whatever scraps of iron and lead he could pick up around Michaeloffski, and appearing suddenly before the Indian village, de- manded the surrender of the murderers. The natives gathered in a great crowd on the shore of the river, laughing derisively at his apparently absurd demands, having never even heard of such a thing as a cannon. Spears were hurled and arrows shot at the boat, wlii(?h thereupon slowlyjipproached, having its cannon pointed at the dense crowd. When an arrow buried itself in DOWN THE RIVER AND HOME. 323 the prow, the teiTible report of the two oarronades made answer, and about a score of Indians were stretched upon the beach, wliile the wounded and panic-stricken fled in great numbers to the woods for protection. From that day not a single drop of white man's blood was ever shed by any savages upon the lower river, until Kerchin- ikoff himself, while lying on his sledge in a drunken stupor, was stabbed to death almost within a stone's throw of the graves of those whom he had avenged. We landed at Upper Nulato (the "opposition" store), and here encountered a half-breed who si)()ke tolerable English, and who pointed out the places just men- tioned. "Hello, where you come ? " was his first question, to which we briefly replied, one of the members of the party remarking it was quite windy hereabouts, refer- ring to the three or four days' gale we had had. " AUee time like that now," was his cheerful answer. This neatly-dressed young fellow took me down to his cache, and seemed especially delighted in showing me his new "parka," or reindeer coat, for winter wear. It was one of the highly-prized "spotted" 7?r;;A'a.s'. The spotted reindeer are bred only in Asia, and their hides — for the tribe owning them will never allow the live animals to be taken away — find their way into Alaska by way of Bering's Straits by means of intertribal barter, while numbers are brought by the Alaska Company from Rus- sian ports on that side, and are used as trading material with such tribes as wear reindeer clothing, I uITered a ^ood price for this particular "parka," but the owner would not part with it, as they are especially vuIiiMble and tolerably rare at this distance up the river, and only ! I ! ^ T 1 : 884 ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER. the wealtliiest Indians can afford to buy them. He told me this was the only one at Nulato at the time, but I did not know how much faith might be put in the statement. Bad as the weather was, we got a good series of observa- tions on the sun, while at Nulato, on the afternoon of the 14th. On the 15th the old familiar gale from ahead put in its appearance as we started in the morning, but to every body's great surprise it hauled to the rear in the middle of the afternoon, and when we camped at 8:20 p. m., hav- ing used our jib in sailing, an Indian from a village near by told us the jjlace was called Kaltag ; so that we had made an extraordinary run under all the circumstances. Indian villages were quite numerous during the day. About Kaltag occurs the last point on the river at which high ground comes down to the water's edge on the left side, and for the rest of the voyage, a distance of some five hundred miles, precipitous banks only are found on the right side, while the country to the left resembles the flat-lands seen further back, but the horizon is much more limited than that of the flat-lands, hills appearing in the background, which finally become isolated peaks, or short broken ranges. The morning of the 16th ushered in a heavy gale from ahead, accompanied by a deluge of showers, and as the camp, 57, was fortunately situated at a point where all the channels were united, so that the river steamer could not pass unnoticed, I determined to remain over. It would be as tiresome to my, readers as it was aggra- vating to us, to repeat in detail the old story of our start- ing wiJ^h a fair wind, its change to a gale that kef>t us against the banks, and of our passing a few Indian towns. DOWN THE RIVER AND HOME. 886 Tliis continuous drifting against a head wind taught us one singular thing, however, viz, : that our boat woukl drift faster against this wind when turned broadside to it and exposing the greatest surface to its action, than when facing it bow or stern on and witli a niininium of exposed surface ; this fact being the very reverse of what we had supposed, indeed, we had endeavored to avoid this very position. Thereafter we l^ept the^'barka'" broadside to the head wind, a very difficult undertaking, which required hard and constant work at the steering- oar ; but the mile or mile and a-half an hour gained over the vessel's drift was well worth it. I spoke of this after- ward to the river men and found they had long since anticipated me by a much easier contrivance, viz. : by tying an anchor or a large camp-kettle full of stones and suspending it from the end of the jib-boom so that it would trail in the water. This method, a number of them assured me, would liave saved our work at the steering oar which we rigged at the stern. The 18th and 19tli we fought our way down the river, inch by inch, against the wind. The latter night the storm culminated in a perfect hurricane, felling trees in the forest, hurling brush through the air, and raising waves four and five feet high, from whose crests Hew great white masses of foam, the wide river resembling a sheet of boiling milk in the darkness. Although wf were in a well-sheltered cove, which hnd renuuned calm the evening before, even in the higli wind, yet this gale sent in such huge waves that our "barka" was on the jmint of being wrecked, and was only snved by tlie severest labor of the crew. The little bircli-bark canoe was swept from her deck and thrown high up on the beach, where it 326 ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER. resembled a mass of brown wrapping paper wliicli the storm had beaten down upon tlie stones. The gale slawly died down on the 20th, but ceased too hite to give us a chance to start, and we remained over night, a heavy fog and rain terminating tlie day. On the 21st we saw a couple of oomiens, {hidarra — Russian) or large skin-boats being hauled up stream l)y native dogs on the bank, somewhat after the fashion of canal-horses on a tow-path. We had baffling winds most of the day, some few of which we could take advantage of, but at 6 p. M. the wind had settled down to its regular ' ' dead-ahead ' ' gale. We camped at half-past nine o'clock at Hall's Rapids, (named by Raymond), but found them at the t^me of our visit to consist only of some rough water along the rocky beach, while the high land mapped by him on the south- eastern bank was wanting. As I said before, tlie high land on the right bank with low country upon the left is a state of things which continues until the delta is reached, when the whole countiy becomes level. About six or seven o'clock in the afternoon we were passing the upper ends or entrances, seven of them alto- gether, of the Shagelook slough, which here makes a great bend to the eastward and incloses an area larger than some of the New England states before it again meets the Yukon River far beyond. This Shagelook slough receives the Innoka River in its upper portion and when the Yukon is the higher of the two it carries part of its waters into the upper entrances of the slough receiving the waters of the Innoka, and both streams emptying theniselves at the slough's lower end. When the Innoka is the higher its waters find an outlet into DOWN THE RIVER AND HOME. 327 the Yukon by the upper mouths. We now began to feel anxious about the " Yukon," as she was very much over- due. From this point slie could make St. Miehaers in three or four days, and although we had received official assurances from Washington that the revenue cutter "Corwin" would not leave St. Michael's lief ore the IHth of September, yet there was fear that the boat might pass us or the " Corwin " find some official emergency to call her elsewhere before this date. The night of the 21st-22d, was a bitterly cold one, •verging on freezing, and we slept soundly after our loss of sleep the night before. We started quite early, how- ever, and a little meteorological suri)rise in the shape of a favorable wind came to our aid after 10 a. 3i., and at 1:30 P. M. we landed at the mouth of the Anvic or Anvik. The picturesquely-situated trading station is about a mile or a mile and a-quarter above this point, l)ut the shoals were so numerous, the channel so winding, that this Avas the nearest point we could make, es])ecially with a f(ml wind. Right alongside of us was a large Indian village, where we learned to our satisfaction that the * ' Yukon ' ' had not yet passed ; for one of the party at our last camp had interpreted some Indian information to mean that the boat had passed down two days before. From this place I sent a courier to St. ^vlichael's, who was to ascend the Anvik River to the head of canoe navi- gation, and thence to make a short portage to a stream emptying near the i)ost, the entire distance being readily covered in three days, or in two if sufficient energy is displayed. He promised to be there without fail in three days, i. e., by the 25th, and I paid him a little extra for 388 ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER. the extra exertion. Tie arrived about a week after I did and we were ten days in reaching St. Michael's from thia point. My object was to let the "Corwin" know that my party was coming. The "Leo," an Alaskan trading schooner, was also exi)ected to touch at St. Michael's to exchange some signal offi(^ers, and I sent word to her, re- questing her to wait for us if the " Corwin " had gone. Mr. Fredericksen was the trader, and a very intelligent per- son for su(^h a lonely and outlandish spot. He had been furnished with meteorological instruments by the Signal Service, to which he made regular reports. He inforjned me tiiat he has seen ice of such dex)th by the 4tli of Sej)- tember as to cut the thick covering of a bidarra or oomien ; but this, of course, is very unusual. The ye"v before our arrival — 1882 — the ice did not form until 12th of October, and the iirst of that month, may be i u- garded as the average date of its formation. Mr. Fredericksen warmly welcomed my arrival at his station, having recently had some serious trouble with the Indians, who were not even yet quieted. A number of Shagelooks, as he termed them, had come down the river, a short time before, to meet the Greek priest from the mission at Ikogmute, who had come to Anvik in or- der to baptize them. While the Shagelooks were wait- ing for the priest, they arranged a plot to rob the trader. Some one or two of them were to provoke him in some exasperating way, and if he showed any resistance or even annoyance, the others were to side with their fel- lows, seize the trader and seuld soon be at hand, and the Anviks liad the alternative of losing their autumn hunting or of leaving the station in a weakened condition at their dei)arture. The arrival of a body of troops, small in number as we were, was a cause of congratulation, and iMr. Frederickson intended to make the most out of it with discontented natives by way of strengthening his position. We could do absolutely nothing for him. When the president withdrew the military forces from Alaska, the executive order had "clinched " the act by providing that the military should exercise no further control wluitever in that vast teriitory, and my orders had emi>hatically repeated the clause. In fact, it was a debatable i)()int whether my expedition was not strictly an illegal one. and in direct violation of the president's order, since it was simply impossible to send in a military party that might not exercise control over its own members, which is all that soldiers ever do without an order from the president, and as to an attack by Indians we had the universal right of self-preservation. I told Mr. Freder- 4| 1J30 ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER. icksen, however, to make the most out oi my visU, which I siipi)os8 he did. A foresail was borrowed from liim, with which I coiikl iriak > my way from the mouth of the river to V>t. Michael' s, should any accident have happened to the ' ' Yuk on. " It was too large and would have to be cut to fit, an expe- IsiHifflP! ANVIK. (Looking down both the Yukon and Anvik Rivers.) dient to which I did not intend to resort until ne reached the mouth of the river. Mr. Frederick sen's station is on the banks of both the Yukon and the Anvik, as the streams npi)roach within about fifty or seventy-five yards of each other at this point, although their confiuence occurs, as I have said, about r mile below. The illustration above is from the station looking toward tlie \M,\i\t of confiuence. When the present trader first came to the station a few mmm mmm DOWN THE RIVER AND HOME. 331 years previously, the two rivers were fur apart at tliis point, but tlie Anvik has encroached so hirgely upon its left bank that Mr. Fredericksen expected another year to unite the streams at his place, if the Anvik did not actually sweep him away or force him to change his residence. An; ik is the last station in the Indian country, and at Makagamuto, thirty or forty miles below, the Eskimo begin to appear, and continue from that jxiint to the mouth of the river. We star^'ed again on the 23d, with a fine l)reeze behind us, passing Makagamute or moot (pronounced like boot, shoot), at 1:30 p.m. It was composed of eiglit or ten houses of a most si'bstantkd build, flanked and backed by fifteen to twenty caches, and had altogether a most prosperous ajipearance, impi'essing a stranger with the suj)erioiUy of ihe Eskimo over their neighbors. The doors were singular little circular or rounded holes, vnry like exaggerated specimens of the cottage bird-houses, which some people erect for their feathered fritnids. Villages were much more numerous on the 23d, tlum upon any i)revious day of our voyage. Every:vliere might be seen their ti'aps and nets for catching salmon, of which fi.sh they must capture enormous (piantities, for they live upon salmon the ; ear round. Myriads ol geese might be observed in all directions during this fine weather, pre])aring and nio))ilizing for their autumnal Hinigiation to the south ; and the air w.'^s vocal with their cries. On the night of the 23d we had a severe frost, the heavy sedge grass near camj) being literally white with it, and the cook was heard grumbling about the (;on- . r f f 332 ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER. dition oi his dishclotli, wliich was a))out as flexible as a battered niilk-imn, until thawed out by means of hot water. The few musquitoes we sa w next morning were pitiable looking creatures, although I doubt very mucli whether any sentiment was wasted on them. However much the cold spell threatened to hasten the arrival of winter, and to send the ships at St. Michael's flying south, yet the discomfiture of the. mosquitoes afforded us a good deal of consolation, and thereafter our annoy- ances from this source were but trifling. Starting at 8 a.m. with ahead breeze, by ten o'clock the wind had become a gale and we were scarcely making half a mile an hour, when at 2:20 p.m. we saw the steamer "Yukon," with the St. Michael's in tow, coming round a high precipitous point about three miles abaft of us, and there went up a shout of welcome from our boat that drowned even the voice of the gale, and almost simultaneously the flash of a dozen guns went up frc!a both the "Yukon's" decks and our own. The point around which tho steamer had been sighted, a con- spicuous landmark, I named Petersen Point, after Captain Petersen of the " Yukon," that being the only name I gave on the river below old Fort Y'ukon. In about half- an-hour the steamer was alongside and we were taken in tow, and once more began cleaving the water, in defiance of the gale. The captain knew we had started from Anvik the day before, but our progress on the first day had been so great that he had become uneasy for fear he might have passed us. He had kept the whistle going at frequent intervals, but of course knew that it could not be heard far in such a gale. If we had not yet reached the DOWN THE RIVER AND HOME. 333 Mission when he arrived there, he intended to return for us. We made the Mission that evening at the upper or "opposition" store, which was being torn down, and the best logs of which were to go on board the river steamer to be taken to Andreavsky, the trading station kept by Captain Petersen when not in cliarge of the boat. By next morring at nine o'clock we had these securely lashed to the sides and were under way, stojiping three miles below at the Mission proi)er. Here is an old Greek church, presided over by a half-breed x^i'if^t, which looke d strangely enough in this far-away c(jrner of the world. The interior was litted up with all the ornaments customary in the Greek church, the solid silver and brass of more stately structures in Kussia being repro- duced in tinsel and trappings o'" a cheapei- kind. The Greek priest is also the A In si; a Company's trader, and he came aboard to go to MicUaeFs to get a winter's supply of trading material fur liis storf'. His handsome little sloojj was tied behind the big "baika ' to be towed along, while from its stern th«' line ran to the sloop's yawl, in which an Indian had been Jillowed to come, he tying his little skin canoe behind th«' > a wl, thus making a queue of vessels of rapidly (liniinishing sizes, quite ludicrous in appearance. With tl*' St. Michael's alongside in tow, and our guards pil I with hewn logs as far as the upper deck, we were a motley crowd indeed when under way. The captain explained his unusual delay on the trip by the fact that the "Yukon" had blown out a cylinder-head just after leav- ing St. Michael's Bar and while trying to make Belle Isle, 334 ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER. for which reason their return voyage liad to be made under reduced steam in order to avoid a rej)etition of the accident. A serio-comic incident connected with this mishap deserves to be recounted. ^ mong their Eskinio deck- hands was a powerful young fellow, deaf as a i)()st, who always slept in the engine-room when off duty, with his head resting on a huge cross deck-beam as a pillow, at a point in front of the engine that had broken down. Whenever he was wanted, as there was no use in calling him, they would walk up and tap him with the foot, or, ?s they soon learned, a stout kick on any part of the beam would suffice ; whereupon he would sit uj), give a great yawn, stretch his arms and l^e ready for work. When the cylinder-head of the engine blew out, it struck the beam directly opposite his own head, and buried itself until the spot looked afterward as though a chain- shot had struck it ; but with no more effe<5t on the deaf Eskimo than to make him rise up and yawn, and begin to stretch himself, when the rush of steam from the next stroke of the engine completely enveloped him, before the engineer could interfere, and he comprehended that he was not being awakened to go to work. He got off with a trifling scald on the back of his neck ; but his escape from death seemed miraculous. All that day we stopped about every couple of hours to take on wood, which fortunately had been cut for us beforehand in most places, so tliat the delays were not very long. In ascending or descending the riAer, the steamer finds a considerable quantity of the wood it requires already cut at convenient points, the natives of course being paid for their laboi". This is the case map ■^ DOWN THE RIVER AND HOME. 335 between the river's mouth and Nuklakayet, or there- abouts, but above this point, and even at many places below it the captain is obliged to go ashore near a great pile of drift-wood, and send a dozen axuien to do this duty. The greater part of the huge stockade of old Fort Yukon and some of its minor buildings have for several years supplied them with wood when in the neighborhood. We stopped the night of the 2i)th near a native village, and as we were to start very early in the morning, the doctor and myself, at the cajitain's invita- tion, made our beds under the table, oii the dining-room floor of the steamer, that being the first time we had slept under a roof since leaving Ohilkat ; although the doctor made some irrelevant remarks about a table not being a roof, evidently wanting to extend bac^k the period of our claim. On the 26tli, running about twelve hours, less our time at "wooding" places, we made Andreavsky, and nearly the whole of the next day was spent in unhjading the logs, mooring the St. Michael's in winter (piarters, and washing down de(;ks, for it was to this point tnat the "•Yukon" would return for the winter after making St. Michael's. The hills of the right bank rai)ipear and are replaced by willow-brake, although the up- stream ends of the numerous islands ai'e still covered with great masses of drift timber, containing logs of the largest dimensions. Before Andreavsky is reached we come to the delta of the Yukon, an interminable con- course of islands and channels never yet fully explored. . i I '■:»? 836 ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER. From the most northerly of these mouths to the most southerly is a distance of about ninety miles, accoixling to local computation. Late as it was when we started on the 27th, we reached a point half way to Coatlik, where wood was cut by our crew i'* r the morning's start. All semblance of rolling country had now disappeared, except in the dis- tance, and the country was as flat as the lower delta of the Mississippi. Coatlik, seven miles from the Aphoon or northernmost mouth, was reached next day at 1 p. m., and we spent the afternoon in preparing the boilers for the change to saltwater, and in taking on another log house, which was to be transported to St, Michael's, there to be used in completing a Greek church in course of erection. Starting at early daylight on the morning of the 20th, a steam-valve blew out, and it looked as if we should be delayed two or three days for repairs, but the captain fixed up an ingenious contrivance with a jack-screw as a substitute, and at half-past nine in the morning we again proceeded. Soon afterward we reached the Aphoon mouth of the river, Avliere we commenced the slow and tedious threading of its shallow cliannels be- tween their mud banks. For imtold ages this swift, muddy river has deposited its sediment up(m the shallow eastern shores of Bering's Sea, until mud and sand banks have been thrown up for seventy or eighty miles beyond the delta, making it unsafe for vessels of any draft to cross them even in moderate weather. St. Michael's is the nearest port to the mouth at which vessels of any size can enter and anchor. The heavy wind still raging made it difficult to steer the boat through the winding DOWN THE RIVER AND HOME. 337 channels, and this, coupled with the heavy load of lo^i^s that weighed us to the guards, sent us a dozen times on the low mud flats, to escape from which gnve us uuu'h trouble. Our delay at Coatlik had also lost us some of the tide, there being about two feet of wsiter on tlie bar at ebb and nearly as much more at Hood tide. So shallow is the stream that the channel is indicated by willow canes stuck in the mud, at convenient intervals, serving the purpose of buoys. Near the Aphoon niouth comes in the Pastolik River, and once across tlie bur of mud near the confluence, the (channel of the latter stream is followed to deep water. This muddy sedi- ment is very light and easily stirred uj), and wlien a storm is raging the whole sea as far as the eye can reach resembles an angry lake of mud. From the Pns- tolik River on, the westerly wind gradually increased to a gale, the sea running very high and making many of us quite sea-sick. Fearing to round Point Roman! - zoff, the captain \mf 'oack and anchored in a sonicNvlmt sheltered cove, returning about half way to the Pasto- lik. A flat-bottomed rivei* boat anchored in Bering's Sea during a gale, loaded with a log-houj^e and towing a number of craft, certainly did not seem a very safe abid- ing place. Early on the morning of the 3()th we got und^r way, the weather having moderated coasiderably during tlie night, and constantly improving as we proceeded. We rounded Cape Romantzoff about the middle of tlie fore- noon, and as we i)assed between Stuart and St. Mi<'liaers Islands, shortly before noon, nothing was left of yester- day's angry sea but a few long ground swells, which dis- turbed us but little. At noon we rounded the point that I 338 ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER. hid the little village of St. Michael's, and were received by a salute of three discharges from as many ancient Russian carronades, to which we responded vigorously with the whistle. All eyes swept the bay for signs of the "Cor win," but a boat putting off from shore told us that she had left on the 10th of August, nearly three weeks before. The ' ' Leo, ' ' which was due about the 15th of the month, had not yet arrived, and although it was known that she had a signal observer on board to take the place of the one now at St. Michael's, it was not positive that she would arrive there at all, if hampered with heavy gales. She had been chartered by the government to proceed to Point Barrow, on the Arctic coast of Alaska, and take on board Lieutenant Ray's party of the International Meteorological Station at that point, and it was not altogether certain that she might not have been wrecked in the ice while engaged in this somewhat hazardous undertaking ; the chances varying considerably each season according to the state of the ice and the weather. The state of the latter might be inferred from the fact that the day of our arrival was the first tine one they had had at the redoubt (as St. Michael's is called here and in the Yukon valley), for over six weeks, during which there had been an almost continuous storm. There was also a vessel, the "Alaska," at Golovnin Bay, about sixty miles north of St. Michael's, across Norton Sound, which was loading with silver ore for San Fran- cisco, and was expected to depart about the 1st of October. It was possible that she might call here, en route, tis the mining company to which she belonged had a considerable quantity of material stored at this point. DOWN THE RIVER AND HOME. 339 The evening of the 3()tli we spent iit ii dance in the Eskimo village near by, after which we went on board the " Yukon " to sleep, which however was almost impos- sible on account of the boat's heavy rolling while at anchor. I was a little surprised to find that I could carry on even a very limited conversation with the Eskimo of this locality, the last of that tribe I had lived among being the natives of the north Hudson's Bay regions, of whose existence these Eskimo knew nothing. On the 31st I sent a couple of Eskimo couriers to the "Alaska" at Golovnin Bay, asking her to call at this port in order to take my party on board, after which I sat down to await results. Meantime we had moved on shore into Mr. Leavitt's house, which was kindly i)ut at our disposal. Mr. Leavitt was the signal observer, and had been stationed here over three years, and he was as anxiously awaiting the arrival of the "I^o" as our- selves. St. Michael's, Michaelovski, or "the redoubt." as it is variously called — St. Michael's Redoubt being theotficial Russian title, translated into English — is a little village on an island of the same name, comprising about a dozen houses, all directly or indirectly devoted to the affairs of the Alaska Commercial Company. Mr. Neumann was the superintendent, and a very agreeable and atl'able gentleman we found him, doing much to make our short stay at the redoubt pleasant. There are no fresh water springs on the island near the post, and every few days a large row-boat is loaded with water-barrels and taken to the mainland, where four or five days' supply is secured. The "opposition" store, three miles across 840 ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER. the bay, seems much better situated in this and other respects, but when St. Michael's was selected by the Russians over a third of a century jneviously, the id* a of defensibility was the controlling motive. The passage between the island and the mainland is a river-like channel, and was formerly used by the river steanu-r until Captain Petersen became master, when he boklly put out to sea, as a preferable route to " the slough," as it is sometitnes called, there being a number of danger- ous rocks in the latter. On the evening of the 31st we again visited the Eskimo village, in company with most of the white men of the redoubt, in order to see the pe»-formance of a noted "medicine-man" or shaman from the Golovnin Bay district. He was to show us some savage sleight-of-hand performances, and to foretell the probability and time of the ''Leo's " arrival. In the latter operation he took a large blue bead and crushing it to fnigments threw it out of doors into the sea, "sending it to the schoonei'," as he said. After a long and tiresome rigmarole, another bliu; bead was i)roduced which lie affirmed to be the same one, telling us that it had been to the vessel, and by returning whole testified her safety. A scmiewhat similar performance with a quarter of a silver dollar told him that the "Leo" would arrive at St. Michael's about the next new moon. There was nothing remarkable about these tricks ; and another of tying his hands behind him to a- heavy plank, and then bringing them to the front of his body, and lifting the board from the floor of the medicine house, was such a palpable deception as to puzzle no one. This polar priest, however, had a great reputation among the natives all about Norton Sound. He had i .Lv DOWN THE RIVER AND HOME. 341 .1:^^' predicted the loss of the JeaniwUe and the consequent death of tlie two Eskimo from this point. IA)r his fiivorabhi news Mr. Neumann rewarded him with a sack of tiom-; and I suppose he would have been i>erfectly willing to furnish nioi'e good news for more Hour. The next day I took a genuine Russian bath in a house ere(5ted many years ago for that purpose by tiie Russians. It nuiy be more cleansing, but it is less comfortable than the counterfeit Russian bath as administered in American cities. The 2d .Q^^September was the warmest day they had had that sumnierTtTielliermometer marking (55° Fahren- heit. Late in the afternoon the "Yukon'' setout on her return to Andreavsky amidst a salute from the carron- ades and the s(!reaniing of the steam-whistle. On the 3d my Golovnin Bay couriers, who I sui>[K)sed had started on the preceding day. and were thcnfoity or iifty miles away on their journey, came nonchjilantly to me and reported their departure. 1 bade tlieiii good-by, and told them not to delay on the idea that I wanted the "Alaska" next year and not tliis, and promising me seriously to remember this, they departed. The next day — the 4th — they returned, having forgotten their sugar, an article of luxury they had not enjoyed for months previously, and again departed. I expected to see them return in two or three days for a string to tie it up with, but their outtit must have been com])lete this time, for I never saw or heaid of them again ; but I could not help thinking what valu.able messenger service the telegraph companies w^ere losing in this far-away country. Sure enough, on the 8th of the month the " Leo" bore down in a gale and was soon anchored in the bay, whei'e 342 ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER. we l)o;ir(led her. Although aheat^y oveirrowded for a little Hchooner of about two hundred tons, Lieutenant Ray kindly made room for my additional party, there being by thi« addition about thirty-five on board and seventeen in the little cabin. While trying to make Point Barrow, the '* Leo " had been nii)ped in the ice and had her stem split and started, sustaining other injuries the extent of which could not be ascertained. She was leaking badly, requiring about five or ten minutes at the pumps every hour, but it was intended to try and make San Francisco, unless the leaking increased in a gale, when she was to be rei)aired at Oonalaska, and if mat- ters came to the worst she would be condemned. A few days were spenc in (^hatting of our experiences, getting fresh v/at<^r ini board and exchanging signal observers, and on the morning of the 11th, at a.m., under a salute ot six guns, we weighed anchor and started, with a strong head wind that kept constnntly increasing. This gale was from the north-west, and as we had to beat a long distance in that direction in order to clear the great mud banks off the delta of the Yukon, so little X)rogress was made that after an all day's fight we ran back to St. Michael's in an hour's time and dropped anchor once more, to await a change in the weather. Next day we got away early and managed to beat a little on our course. The 13th gave us an almost dead calm until late in the afternoon, when we caught a fine breeze abaft and rounded the Yukon banks about midnight. This favorable breeze increased to a light gale next day and we pounded along at the rate of ten or eleven knots an hour. On the 15th the gale continued and so incr^^ased the DOWN THE JilVEli AND HOME. »43 next day that tneiiiu;^ .saw um "liove to" for fear of running into Oonala.ska Lsland during the night. Thiw run across Bering's Sea in less than three days wns stated by our master, Ca}«tain Jacobsen, to be the best sailing record across that sheet of water. The morning of the 17th opened still and calm, with a number of the Aleutian islands looming up directly ahead of us in bokl relief. A very light breeze sjjrjing up about noon, and with its help at (5 p.m. wc entered the heads of Oonalaska harbor, and at nine o'chx'k w»i droi)ped anchor in the dark about half a mile from the town. Most of us visited the place that night and had a very p'easant reception by Mr. Neumann, the agent ol the Alaska Company. Here we found that company's steamer the "Dora," and the revenue-cutter "Corwin," which had been lying here since leaving St. Michael's. These two vessels and everybody generally were waiting for the Alaska Company's large steamer " St. Paul "from San Francisco, upon whose arrival the ''Dora," was to distribute the material received for the various trading stations on the Aleutian Islands and the mainland adja- cent ; the " Corwin " would sail for some i)oint or other, no one could find out where, and the residents would settle down for another year of monotonous life. The last day's gale on Bering Sea had left no doubt on the minds of those in cliarge tiiat the '' Leo" would have to be repaired, accordingly she was lightened by dis- charging her load, and on the morning of the 2()th she was beached near by, the fall of the tide being suffi- cient to reveal her injuries, and to allow of temporary repair. We passed our time in strolling around examining the . II I mum" 344 ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER. islands, while some of the party got out their lishing- ta(;kle and succseeded in seciiring a few fine tliough small trout from the clear mountain streams. This grand chain of islands jutting <>ut boldly into the broad Pacific receives the warm wateis of the Japanese current — Kuro Siwo — a deflected continuation of a i)art OO^ ALASKA. of the Pacific equatorial currei ! corresponding to our gulf stream. From this sourc^e it derives a warmer climate than is possessed by any body of land so near the pole, although it lies in about the same parallels as the British Ishiiids. The cold of zero and the oi)pessive heat of summer are equally unknown to this region, (brasses DOWN THE RIVER AND HOME. 345 ^row luxuriantly every where, upon wliicli tlie reindeer used to graze in numerous herds, tlieir keen siglit and the absence of timber i)rotecting them from the lude weapons of tlie native hunters until the introduetion of iireai'ms, after whicli they were rapidly exterminatetl. In a few days we heard with pleasure that the "'Leo" was ready and we soon (piitted Alaska foi" good. The north- west winds sang a merry song through our sails as the meridians and parallels took on smaller numbei-s. and in a very few days, the twinkling twin lights of the Faral- lones greeted our eyes, and an(!liored safely within the Golden Gate, our journey ended. i .4 — -^i"""^"."* < " ' ' "*^^^Hipii«iiiiiPi«piiii|inq|iii|ipiHp|B|||| APPENDIX NO. I. PROFESSOR SERENO WATSON's " NOTE ON THE FLORA OF THE UPPER YUKON." (From the Science, of Cambridge, Masg., February 29. 1884.) Lieut. Schwatka was able to make a small botanical collection from about the head waters of the Yukon, which if of considerable interest as an indication of the climate of the region, and as showing the range nortli- ward into the Yukon valley, of some species previously- known scarcely beyond the British boundary. Lieut. Schwatka, ascending from the head of Chilkoot Inlet, crossed the main coast-range by the Perrier Pass, at an altitude of 4,100 feet, coming at once upon the source of the Yukon River, in latitude 59° 40'. A descent of twelve miles brought him to Lake Lindeman ; and upon the borders of this and other lakes within a distance of twenty-five miles, nearly equally on both sides of the sixtieth parallel, the larger part of the collection was made, between the 12th and loth of June. Tine sj)eci- mens gathered at even this date were in full bloom , excepting a few indicated in the following list by i)aren- theses, and the sedges and grasses, which were well developed. Anemone parvillora, Aquilegia formosa, Aconitum Napellus, var. Barbarea vulgaris, Arabis petruea, (Jardanune liirsuta, var., Viola cucuUata, Lui)inus Arcticus, Rubus Chauuemorus, (Poterium Sitchense ?), Ai'ctostaphylos Uva-ursi, Bryanthus empetriformis, Knlmia glauca, Ledum latifoliiim, (Moneses iinifloni), Pyrohi secnndn, Dodecatlieou Meiiditi, var., Polemoniuni liuniile, Mertensia paniculata. Polygonuuj vivipnrum, S48 APPENDIX. Saxifraga triciispidata, (Betula glandulosa), Saxifraga leucanthemifolia, (Alniis viridis), Parnassia Umbriata, Ribes rubrum, Epilobium spicatum, Epilobiuni latifolium, (Heracleum lanatum), Cornus Canadensis, Antennaria alpina, Arnica latifolia, (Senecio triangularis), Salix glauca, Salix Sitchensis, Habenariu dilutata, Streptopus roseus, Carex (2 sp.), Deyeuxia Langsdorffii, Festuca ovina, Lycopodiiim roniplanatum, Lycojm urn aiinotinum. Vaccinium i)arvifolium, The rest of the collection was made as opportunity offered, during the descent to Fort Selkirk, in latitude 62° 45', which point was reached on the 13th of July. It included the following species : — Anemone multifida, Galium boreale. Ranunculi]'' Flammula, var., Aster Sibiricus, Eryslmitm parmjiorum^ Achillea millefolium, Cerastium arvense, Aienaria laterflora, Arenaria physodes, Montia fontana, Linum perenne, Hedysarum boreale, Rubus arcticus, Fragaria vesca (?), Potentilla fruticcsa, AmelancJiler alnifoUa^ Parnassia i^alustris, Bupluerum ranunculoides, Hordeum jubatum. The species new to so northern a latitude are marked by italics. The season appears to have been as forward as I found it in 1808 in the lower mountain ranges rising from the plateau of western Nevada in lati- tude 40°. SERENO WATSON. Artemisia vulgaris, Arnica alpina, Arnica Chamissonis, Pyrola rotundifolia, var., Primula Sibirica, Myosotis sylvatica, var.. Pen tsenioit con/ertus, Pentsemon r/Imicus (?), Pedicularis flanmiea, Chenopodium album, Polygonum aviculare, Zygadenus elegans. APPENDIX NO. 2. COMPARISON OF THE MOST IMPOIITANT RIVEllS OF THE V/OKLI). r mmmm r APPENDIX. North end of Lake Kluktassi (Length " " 36.5) Maunoir Butte (east) . . , . Red Butte (west) Grizzly Bear Bluffs (west) . Mouth of the Newberry River (east) (( 351 22.1 16.2 3.2 9.4 8.9 38.0 41.0 10.7 30. 1 2."). 4 25.8 17.0 21.3 B'Abbadie " (east) Daly " (east) . Parkman Peak (east) Nordenskiold River (west) .... Rink Rapids Hoot-che-koo Bluff (east) .... Von Wilczek Valley (east) Fort Selkirk (west) (through Ingersoll Islands) (Total length of river explored, 486.8). (All of the above are in the 1st Part of the Map, Page 55). Mouth of the Selwyn River (south) . " " White " " ... " " Stewart " (east) . " " Deer " (east) Fort Reliance Mouth of the Chandindu River .... " Cone Hill " (west) Roquette Rock (east) Klat-ol-klin (Johnny's) Village (west) Belle Isle Station Boundary line between Alaska and British America (141° W (Total length of Yukon River in British North- West Territory, 783.5). (Total length of Yukon River in Alaska, 12fio). Mouth of Totondu ..... Tahkandik Charley's Village (west) St. Michael's Bar or Island .... Fort Yukon (See Part 2d Map for above). (Total length explored and surveyed) 33.0 62.1 0.7 05.0 6.5 12.0 27.5 13.0 33.0 1.1 20.3 10.0 22.4 20.0 47.4 97.0 077.0 262 APPENDIX. Chetaiit River (north) 196.0 Rapidsin the Ramparts (Senati's V^illage) . 59.0 Mouth of Tanana River, south, (Old Nuklakayet) 28.0 Nuklakayet (north) 18.0 (Total length of raft journey on Yukon River, 1803.2). Newicargut (south) 70.0 Melozecargut (north) 38.0 Yukoeargut (south) 22.0 Sakadelontin (north) 10.0 Koyukuk River (north) 37.0 Nulato (north) 22.0 Kaltag (north) 37.0 Hall'« Rapids 100.0 Anvik(west) 22.0 Makagamute (west) 14.0 Ikogmute Mission (north) . . . . 77.0 Andreavsky (north) . . , . . 100.0 Aphoon Village (north) . . . . 105.0 Coatlik 7.0 Aphoon mouth of Yukon River 5.0 (Total length of Yukon River from Aphoon mouth to Crater Lake, 2043.5). All the above are in Part 3d of the Map, in pocket of book. DISTANCES ON THE COAST (fKOM RAYMOND). Mouth of Aphoon Outlet o Pikmiktalik . 46.0 Pikmiktalik to anchorage off Redoubt St. Michael' s 27.0 Distance from Redoubt St. Michael's to Fort Yukon 1039.0 ( ) r\ \ INDEX. h Agriculture. 57. Ainsworth, J, C, 29. Alaska Commercial Company, 243, 265, 268, 274, 277, 278, 281, 284, 806, 317, 321, 323, 3:«, 339, 343. "Alaska" (ship), 338, 339, 341. Aleutian Islands, 343. Alexander Archipelago, 31 "Alexy" (half-breed Russian in- terpreter), 274. Amazon (Kiver), 143, 349. Amoor River, 118, !549. Andreavsky, 322, 333, 335, 341, 352. Anvik (or Anvic), 278, 314, 327, 328, 330, 332, 352, Anvik Indians, 327, 328, 329. Anvik River, 327, 330, 331. Aphoon Mouth (of Yukon River), 163, 169, 177, 279, 336, 337, 352. Arctic Preferences) 14, 75, S?, 91, 142, 143, 180, 211, 233, 273, 281, 286, 291, 293, 309, 313, 314, 338. Army, The, 10. Arrows (see bows also), 231, 232, Astoria (Oregon), 11. Avalanches, 17, 22. Ayan (or I-yan) Indians, 215, 216, 217, 220, 221, 22l\, 224, 225, 226, 227, 228, 230, 231, 232, 233, 234, 237, 243, 244, 247, 249. Ayan River (see Pelly also), 227. B ** Barka, The " (or trading schoon- er), 277, 278, 309, 313, 315, 325, 333. Barnard, Lieut. R. N., 321. "Barrabor}i.s," 2!M. Barrow, Point, 33S. Bates, Mr. (exploring Tanana\ 302. Baths and bathing, 125, 341. Bears, 24, 25, 34, 67, 91, 2l'(). 251. Bears, black, 21 25, 41, ()2, (i8, 88, 99, 109, 130, 186, 200, 235, 238, 239, 248. Bears, brown, (or "grizzly" or "barren-ground"), 25, 41, 99, 173, 174, 186, 248. Bella Bella, (Indian village), 18. Belle Isle (trading station), 259, 260. 269, 301, 302. 333, 351. Bennett, Lake, 100, 101, 103, 107, 108, 109, 111, 3.-J0. Bering's Sea, 118, 241, 277, 336, 337, 343. Bering's Straits, 117. 323. Berries, 41, 54, 130, 173, 235. Birch, (trees or timber), 72. Boca de Quadra Inlet, IS, 23. Boundary Butte, 260, 2;U. Boundary, The, 245. Bove, Lake, 114, 115, 116, 223, 350. Bows and arrows, 129, 231. British Columbia. 12, 13. 14, 23, 26, 117. British North - West Territory, frontispiece, 25, 226, 260, 281, 351. British, The, 306. Byrnes, Mr.. 117, 118. Cable, The Atlantic, 117, 118. Canadian PacKic Railway, 15, 22. Caudle-lish, (sec 8melt). Canneries, Salmon, (see Salmon canneries). I 854 INDEX. Canoes. 14, 21, 22, 24, 43, 48, 52, 53, r>7, 58, 55), (52, 63, 64, 67, 69, 70, \))i, 97, 100, 106, 113, 116, 117, 118, US), 151, 156, 157, 162, 178, 181, 188, 200, 220, 221, 223, 224, 225, 228, 229, 232, 237, 238, 241, 242, 243, 246, 251, 256, 257, 259, 202, 285, 290, 299. Canon, Grand, (see Grand Canon). Caribou (woodland reindeer), 91, 99, 109, 127, 130, 156, 188, 200, 220, 228, 244, 247. Caribou Crossing, 109, 113, 350. Cattle, 18, 127, 266, 267. Cassiar Mines, 27. Cave Kock, 251. Cedar (trees or timber), 23, 24, 57, 58. Charcoal, 56. Charley's (Indian) Village, 262, 264, 351. Chatham Point, 16. Chatham Soun(l, 22. Chatliam Straits. 34, 35. Chetaut River. 291, 3.')2. Cheyenne Indians, 51. Cliilkat, Alaska, 12, 36, 46, 59, 335. Chilkat Indians, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45. 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 53, 54, 59, 60. 61, 63, 68, 103, 113, 114, 128, 158, 176, 177, 189, 208, 219, 227, 23S, 259, 269, 292. Chilkat Inlet, 14, 35, 43, 49, 53, 57. 104, 208, 278.. Chilkat River, 36, 60. Chilkoot Indians, 49, 51, 54, 57. 59, 60. Chilkoot Inlet, 35, 54, 57, 89, 347. Chilkoot Trail, 60, 62, 70, 177, 179. Clans, Indian, 37, 41. Claystones, 121. Climate, 57, 208. Coatlik (Eskimo village), 336, 337, 352. Codtisli, 34, 47. Columbia (River), 11, 36, 224, 249. Colville River, 281. Gone Hill River, 248, 351. Congo (River), 143, 349. Congress, 10, 11. Copper, 41. Corwin (revenue cutter), 327, 328, 338, 343. Crater Lake, frontispiece, 87, 88, 208, 278, 350. 352. Cremation (Indian), 37, 38, 45, 46. Cross Sound, 13, 35. Curlew, 88. "Cut-off" channels, 143. D'Abbadie River, 189, 190, 351. Daly River, 190, 192, 351. Dayay Inlet, 57, 79, 89. Dayay River (and valley), 57, 58, 59, 63, 65, 67, 68, 69, 72, 73, 75, 77, 79, 89 350. Delta of ■ Yukon, 289, 326, 335, :536, 342. Deer, 34. Deer Creek or River, 243, 244, 351. "Devil-sticks," 54. Dickenson "Billy," 103, 104, 107, 178, 259. Disc'^vory Passage, 15, 16. Diseases, contagious, 292. Dixon Entrance, 13, 23. Dogs, 25, 46, 48, 173, 228, 230, 251, 252. 255, 285, 326. Dogs, Indian, 25, 69, 83, 12S, 220, 256, 294, 30(5. Dogs, Eskimo, 223, 256, 313, 314, 317. Dora (steamer), 343. Ducks, 91, 98, 158, 269. Eagle's Nest (of the Chilkats) I'eak, 192. Edgecumbe, Mount, 18, 28. Eel-pouts, 223. English, The, 105. Eskimo, The, 48, 76, 100, 129, 158, 223, 234, 243, 262, 276, 277, 291, 314, 331, 334, 339^ 340, .341. Eureka (steamer), 31. fi. INDEX. 866 Ferns, 32. FicldPeak, 11(5. Finj^al's Cave, 165. Fiulayson Pa.ssage, 21. Fir (trees or timber), 13, 14. Fisheries (see Salmon, Cod, Hali- but, etc.) Fish oil. 48. Fish-weirs, traps, nets, etc.. 48, ♦IS, 128. 120, 256, 257, 258, 259, 21)1, :'.()(), 3(16, 315. Fish-spiuirs, 75, 7(». Fit/hugh>ioun(l, 18. "Flatlands" of the Yukon, 264, 269, 271, 273, 276, 279, 280, 293, 294, 300, 324. Fiatterjj, Cape, 14. F'lorida Blanca, 18. Flounders, 47. Flowers, 14, .^.1, 110. Fly, large "hor.se," 125. Fogs (or mists), 21, 22, 26, 47, 54, 73, 75, 77, 79, 84, 239, 247. Fords (river), 68, 69, 70. Forests, 17, 235, 242. " fires, 168, 185, 186, 187, 189. Foxes (skins, etc.,) 50, 231. Fredericksen, Mr., 338, 329, 330, 331. Furs, 49, 59, 60, 231, 284, 283. Gah>s (see Storms). Ganil)ling, Indian, 70, 71, 227. Gardens, 54, 307, 309. Geese, 290, 331. General of the Array, 10. Glaciers, 14, 21, 22, 27, 32, 34, 54, 58, 59, 08, 72, 81, 84, 90, 103, 121, 239, 240, 29T. Glacier, Baird, 73, 75. Glacier, Saussure, 77, 79. Glo.ster, Serg't. Chas. A., 9, 127, 2it9. Gnats, 54, 120, 125, 223, 225, 234, 27^, 293. Goats, mountain, 34, 81, 82, 83, 88, 109, 127, 186, 229, 235. Gold, 27, 41, 179, 180, 190, 203, 212, 215, 317. Golovnin Bay, 338, 339, 340, 341. Grand Canon of the Yukon, 154, 161, 162, 163, 165, 1««. 167, 170, 171, 195, 200, 223. 350. Gra8.se.s, 14, 17, .54, 126, 266, 331, 344. Grasshoppers. 110. Grayling, 160, 161, 1^2. 168, 169, 170, 177, 184, 223. (ireenland, 12. Grenville, Channel, 22, Grouse, 63, 91, 110, 111. (riilf of Georgia, 15. Gulls, 91, 195.. H Haeckel Hill, 190. Haines Mission (see Mission). Halibut, 47. Hall's Kapids, 326, 352. Hancock Hills, 183, 184, 190. Hares, 191, 192. Harper, Mr., .306, 313. Harper's FerT y, 224. Hemlock, WZ. Homan, Mr. Clias. A., 9, 55, 68, 96, 99, 150, 20,3, 220, 22r), 231, 245, 273, 278, 287, 300, 309, 316. Huckleberries, 318. Hudson's Bay, 61, 129, 277, 313, 314, .339. Hudson's Bay Company, 61, 117, 129, 207, 208, 211, 212, 231, 239, 240, 259, 279. 281. Hudson's River, 16, 224. I Ice (see also Glaciers), 44, 80, 81, 84, 88, 1U8. 114. 136, 137, 191, 247, 328, 338, 342. Icebergs, 14. Icy Straits. 35. Ikogmiito (mission), 328, 333, 3.52. Indians, 9. 18,24, 25.49, 58,61, 62, r.r, ^)>^, 69, 7(1. 71, 75. 80, 81, 82, 84, 87, 92, 95, 97, 98, 110, 112, 114, 115, 12.3. 129, 138, 173, 234, 244, 245, 260, 268, 277, 329. Indian caches, 291. L 856 INDEX. ^ Indian carvings and engravings, Klat-ol'-klin, (Indian village), 283, 27, 36, 41, 42, 43, 44. i 255, 258, 25J), 'Z&i, 264, 301, Indian curiosities, 27, 127. | 351. Indian funerals and graires, 87, 46, ; Kluk-ta.s'-si, Lake, 17H. 181, 183, 215, 317, 219, 284, 288, 291, 293, ;{05, 818. Indianno (Cliilkat Indian), 104, 177, 200, 203, 249, 259. Indian packera, 37, 38, 48, 53, 81, 87, 88. !)5. 100. Indian villiigrs, 18, 36, 179. 180, 197, 199, 228, 229, 240, 251, 285, 298, 305, 315, 318, 322, 324. Indian women, 39, 40. 42, 231. Ingersoll Islands, 201, 203, 351. " Inland Passage " (to Alaska), 12, 15, 1"^, 18, 21, 26, 31, 35, 57, 90, 103. Inno!^a River, 326. Interpi-eters, 103, 104, 105, 245, 258. Iron Capped Mountains, 101, 103, 297. Jacobsen, Captain, 343. Japanese, The, 31. Japanese Current, 21, 47, 344. Japanese Island, 31. Johnny's Village (see Klat-ol- Klin). Johnstone Strait, 16, 17. Juan de Fuca Strait, 11, 13, 14. Juniper, 84. Junk Niphon, 31. Kah-tung (Indian village), 228, 229, 234, 237, 238. Kiaganee Strait, 23. Kaigan Village, 33. Kaltag, 324, 352. Kelp, 17. Kerchinikoflf. 321 322, 323. Kiaks, 243, 314. Killisnoo, 34. King William Land, 313. Kit'l-ah'-gon (Indian village) 197, 199, 200, 227. 184, 196, 350, 351. Kluk-wan (Indian village,) 36, 60. Koldewey, Cape. 93, 350. Kon-ifl Ayan (^hiof;, 230. Kootznahoo Indijins, 35. Kotusk Mountains, 83, 91, 208, 350. Koyukuk Indians. 321. Koyukul: River, '.V>\. .3i)2. Koyukuk Sopka. '.Vi\. Krause, Drs. Aurel and Arthur, 90. KuroSiwo (see Japanese Current). Kut-lah-cook'-ah (see Nourse River). Labarge, Lake, 178. La Creole, 18. Laduo "Jo.," 262, 266, 269, 271, 274. Lama Passage, 18. Liuinch, steam, " Louise," 53, 57, 58, 59. Leavitt, Mr. (signal observer), 339. " Leo " (schooner), 328, 338,339, 340, .341, 342, .343, 345. Lewis River, 207, 208, 212. I Libbey, Prof. Wm.. Jr., 349. j Lichens (see Moss). Limestones, 115, 182. 251 Lindeman, Lake, 90, 92, 93, 97, 100, 113, 125, 126, 149, 204, 297, 347, 350. LoringBluif, 193, 203. Lower Ramparts of the Yukon (see Ramj)arts). Lynn Channel or Canal, 12, 35. M Mackenzie River, 281, 349. Makagamute (Eskimo village), 331, 352. Maps, 55, 62, 118, 188, 196, 204, 211, 245, 249, 279, 281, 299, 300, 302. Marmots, 112, 113. LiU INDEX. 357 ■K- Miirsh, Lake, 121, 122, 124, 125, I2«, J 27, 128, 130, 131, 164, IHI, 350. Mastodons. 287. Miithowa, Miss, 54. Miiunoir Butte, ISM), 350. Mayo, Mr., 306, 316. MoClintock Kivor, 130. Mcintosh, J. B., Mr., 0, 96. McQuestion John, Mr., 245, 246, 277, 281, 282, 283. 284, 306. Medioine-men, Indian, 37, 45, 46, 54, 225, 238, 245, 240. Medioino-nien, Eskimo, 340. Molozecargut (river), 316, 317.352. Micliaelovski (see Ht. Michael's). Michie Mountain, 13(». Milbank Sound, 21. Military, The, 9, 10. 52. 329. Mission, Haines', 54, 59, 188, 204, 350. Missions, Presbyterian Board of, 54. Mississippi River, 11, 144, 336, 349. Missouri River, 144, 349. Mists (see Fogs). Monte San Jacinto, 18. Mooje, 109, 127, 130, 156, 186, 18S, 199, 200, 220, 228, 231, 232, 243, 247, 261, 264, 265, 276, 301. Moose-noses, 265. Moose-Skin Mbuntain, 243,244. Mosses and lichens, 17, 32, 33, 191, 267, 297, 309. Moscjuitoes, 54, 57, 97, 99. 107. 120, 123, 125, 127, 130, 143, 155. 156, 158, 165, 16S, 171, 172, 173, 174, 183, 188, 189, 199, 225, 2:54, 247, 263, 272, 273, 286, 293, 316, 332. ^oths or millers, 169. Muskrats, 155, 158. N Na chon'-dees (Indians), 228. Nares, Lake, 110, 113, 183, 223, 350. Neah Bay, 14. Nebraska, 121. Neumann Mr. (Sup't Oonalaska). 343. Neumann, Mr. (Sup't St. Michael's) 339, 341. New Archangel (Sitka), 28. Newberry River, 190, 351. Newicargut (or Frog River), 316, 352. "New Rackett," (river steamer), 317. 318. Nile (River), 14:5, WV.). Noo-klak-6 (Indian village), 246, 247. Nordienskiold River, 190, 192, 199, 351. Northern Trading Compai'V, 268, )im, 305. Northwest Trading Company, 53, 104. 208. Norton Sound, 338, 340. Norway, i2. Nonrse Riv(>r, 72, 73, 75, 79, 350. Nuklakayet, 266. 268, 277, 278, 289, 305, 306. 307, 312, 313, 316, 317. 319, 3:55. 3.')2. Nulato, 277, 21 i\ 321, 322. 323. 324. 352. 01yrai)ia, Wasl.ington Territory. 12. Olympian Mountains, 13. Ommaney, Cape, 2S, 34. Onions, wild, 1 10. Oomims, 314, 32*;, 328. Oonalaska, 342. 343. 344. Otter Tail (of the Tahk-heesh) Peak, 192. Pacific Coast, 15, 26, 28, 35, 47. Pacific Ocean, 11. 13, 21, 28,34, 35, 1 1 5, 239. 344. Parhelia. 286. Parkas, 323. Parkman Peak, 192, 351. Pastolik River. 337. Payer Porta^'c^ and Rapids, 98, 99, 101, 149. 350. Pelly River. 61. 104. 180. 203. 205, 207, 209, 212. 215, 227, 234. '"^fVl *358 INjJEX. Peril Straits, 31, 34, Perrier Pass, S4, 85, 89, 188, 347, 350. Perthes Point, 115, 116, 223, 350. Petei-sen, Captain. 277, 279, 332, 333, 340. Petersen".- Point, 332. Petroff, Ivuii (Special Agent Tenih Census), 11, 302. Pine (trees or timber) 44, 58, 95, 125, 12!'., 155, 170, 172, 173, 177, 18S. Poplar (trees or timber), 67. 70, 92, llio, 189, 191, 241. Porcupine (ov Rat) River, 280, 294. Porcupines, 293. I'ortland Inlet, 23. Portland, Oregon, 10, 11. Port Townsend, Washington Ter- ritory, 15. Potoma' River, 224. Prairies, i3, 97, 126, President, The, 10, 329. Pr(!jevalsky i'oint, 107, 35(^ Priest, The Greek, of Ikognuite, 328, 333. Puget Sound, 12, 15. Punta Oeste de la Entrada del I'raicipp, 28. Putnam River, 180 Pyramid Harbor, 36, 43, 150, 278. (jueen Charlotte Islands, 18 (^ue( n Charlotte Sound, 13, 15, lii, t^, 1 ). Kaft, the, 23. 61, (52, 91. 95, 96, 97. 98, 99, 100, 103, 105, 106, 107, 108, 110, 116. H7, 122. 124, 126, 130, 131, 132, 133, 136, 137, 139, 140, 144, 145, 147, 148, 149, 150, 151, 152, 154, 155, 156, 157, 1!!9, 160, 161, 162, 165, 166, 167, 168. 172, 178, 185, 192, 195. 199, 200, 22\>, 235. 236. 238, 241, 242, 246, 248, 262. 270, 272, 275, 277, 291, 30.». 312, 315. Rain, 21, 47, 63, 105, 123, 130, 156, 158, 184, 234, 237, 239, 242, 247, 251, 260. 261, 287. Ramparts, TiOwer (of Yukon River), 258, 274, 280, 288, 289, 290, 293. 29.';. 298, 299, 306, 352. Ramparts, Uj)i)er, 207, 215, 234, 239. 245, 247, 260, 265, 274, 293, 299. Rapids, 60, Z2, J)8. 154, 159, 160, 162, 165. 167, 168, 169, 176, 177. 185, 192, 223, 240, 289, 295, 298, 350, 352. Ritt River (see Porcupine River). Rat/.el Riing(>, or Peaks, 270. Ray, P. H;, Lieut. IT. S. A,, 180, 338, 342. Ravmond, Cajit.. U. S. A., 151, 156, 157, 180, 279. 298, ,300, 352. Red River (of Indians), see Richt- hofeu River. Reindeer, 291, 329, 345. RcMiideer, spotted, of Asia, 323. Reindeer, woodliTid, see Caribou. Reliance, Fort, 244, 245, 246, 249, 351. liichards' Rock, 108. 350. liichthofeii Red Rocks and River, 182, 350. Rink Rajids, 175, 191, 195, 199, 351. Rockwell, Capt. Cleveland, 29. rtocky Mountains, 207. ' Roinantzott" Mountains. 273. iionsuitzoff Point. 337. Itosebuds, 272, 29.3. Roth, Priv. John, U. S. A., '.». 294, :{31. Roquette Rock, 249, 250. 351. Russia, 2(j, 33.3. Russian American Fur Company, .321, 322. Riissifins, The, 28, 31, 47. 105, 246. 265, 279, 280, 281, 309, 321, 322, 340, 341. f Sakadelontin (Indian village), 318» 352. Salisbury Strait, 34. e»uiMniiu«fi«..i^iJt; iiflHili INDEX. 35i» Salmon, 22, 24. 3(5, 44, 47. 48, 49, 67. ri), 111, Hi), 120, i:{0, 17a, 200, 223, 228, 22'^, 255, 25(5, 257, 258, 25i), 261, 265, 21)1, 300, 305, 306, 313, 315, 316, 331. Salmon canneries, 11, 23, 36, 46, 47, 4! , 53, 208. Saluting (Indians), 246. Sand Kivor, see AVhite Kiver. San Francisco, 268, 317, 338, 342, 343. Saranac (U. S. man-of-war), 10. Schoffelin Brothers (prospecting Yukon). 317. Scientific matters, 9, 90, 151, 204, 208, 211, 227,347. Seaforth Ci)annel, 18. Sea -otters, 26. Secretary of War, Tlie, 10. Sediment, (river, lake, et^), 59, 121,122, 125. 181. 336, li. Seduction, Point.. 57. Selkirk. Fort, (il, 104, . .5, 117, lis, 12.5, 175, 178, 180, 196,200, 203, 20.1, 205, 207, 208, 211, 212, 21,3, 2 u;, 217,223,224, 231,234, 235, 240, 247, 278, 348, 351. Selwyn River, 235, 351. Senienow Mouiitains, 190. Senati (Indian Chief), 2S0. Senati's Village, 289, 299, 352. Seymour Narrows, 15. Shagclook Indians, 328. 329. Sliajjelook Slough, 326. Shamans, see Medicine-men. ShirclitT. Corp'l, V. S. A., 9, 96, 293, 294. Slioi-ricli (Cliilkat Chief), 38, 60. Silver. 36. 41. 179. 33S. Sioux Indians. 51, 219. Sitka, 18, 2S. 29. 31. 40, 322. Skecma lidet. 22. Slaves (Indian), and slavery, 38, .39, 40. Sledges. 220, 259. 318. Smelt (flsh), 17. Smokes, signal. 114, 115. 120, 168. Snags, 144. Snow, 13, 14, 21, 44. 45, .54, .58. 59, 81, 82. 83. S4, 87. 88, 172, 188. 192, 234. 239, 266. Snow-shoes, S7, 259. Soil, 57. 2(i6, 297, 309. Sooncargut. (river), 316. Spanisli explorers of Alaska, 17, 18, 28. Spruce (trees or timber), 14, 32. 40, 44, 58. 63, 75, 84, 95, 114, 125, 138, 155, 159, 165, 168, 171, 172, 177, ISO, 188, 219, 228, 229, 234, 241, 242, 252, 270, 287. Spuhn, Mr. Carl, 53, 54. St. Elias, Mount, 23, 35. Stewart River, 207, 227, 228, 241, 249, 351. Stickeen River, 27, 28. '"Stick" Indians, .see Tahk-heesh. St. Michael's Pedoubt, 124, 245, 265, 278. 322, :!27. .328, 330, 332, ,333, ,335, 336, 337, 339, .340, .342, 343, 352. "St. Michael's " (river steamer), 268, 269. 278, 3:52. 3.33, ,3.35 "Stone Houses," The, SI. Stoney, Lieut , I'. S. X., 180. Storms (and gales), 17, 21, 2^, 89, 90, 9.5, 97, 105, 116, 123, 143, 286,*2S7, 297. 31.5. 316, 318, 323, 324, 325, 326, 332, :?,37, 342. St. Paul (ocean steamer), 343. Saraner Strait, 2^. " .-^undogs," see Parlielia. Swallows, ss. " Sweepers," 134, 142. Tadoosh (Indians and villages), 262. Tah-hecn'-a (river), 189. Tahk-heen'-a, or Tahk River, 177, 189, 190, 350. Tu.ik-lieesh' (Stick) Indians, 59, 61, (12. 63, S3. 91, 92, 100. 104. 10.5, 109, 11.3, 111. 116. US. Hit, 120, 127, 12!», 15(;, 1.57, 1511. 161, 162, 170. 175, 1S9. 200, 220. Tahk-d L!rir Gap (Delaware River), 16. Watson, Sereno. Prof., 211, .347, .34H. Watson Valley, jiiH. 1(« 3^0. Western Union T«»iegrjiiph Com- fl«-ny, 117, 118, 211. WTi«\aton River. 107. 350. White River, 12.%, 1i'9, 223, 227, 2.39, 240, 241, 256, 351. White stripe on river bank — see Volcanic ash. Whymper River. 292, 204. Willard, Rev. Eugene S., 54, 57. Willows, 34, 67, 70, 90, 91, 128, 155, 159, 199, 216. 2.37, 335, 337. Wilwin, Dr. Geo. F.. Surgeon T.S. A., 9, .50, Ui. 68, 76. Ill, 154, 18;?, 26;^. 273, 2^iK Z'M. .335. Wrangell, 26, 27, 2S. Wrestling of Indian Vx)ys, 79. Wolves, 22(t. 294. 2'.fr Wood, Lieut . C. E. S. 4>9. Yellowstone Cafion, 16, 207. Yosemite, The, 207. "^'ukocargut (riv(;r), 316, 352. Yukokon. (river), see White River. Yukon, Fort. 117, 1.50, 15J, 211, 2!';, 238, 265. 266, 270. 273, 274, 275, 277, 278, 279, 280, 287, 293, 294, .332, 335, 351, 352. Yukon, Fort, Indians, 280, 284. Yukon River, 11, 37, 59, 60. 61, 88, 90. 103, 11.5, 116, 117, 118, 125, Ui.}, 129, 130, 133, 134, 1.3.5, 1.36, i;?8, 1.59, 151,154,1.57, 16.3, 165, 168, 169, 173, 176. 177, 180, 189, 190, 193, 195, 196, 20.3,204, 207, 208, 211, 212, 21.3, 215, 217, 220, 224, 227. 229, 2.36, 2.39, 240, 241, 244. 247, 2.50. 253. 256, 260, 268. 269, 276, 277, 279, 281, 284, 287, 292, 29.3, 301, 302. 305. 312, 317, 347. 350. Yukon " 319,321,326, 327 351,3.52. (river 306 330 steamer), 265, 206, 268, 2T5, 276. 277, 284, 316. 327, 330, a32. 333, 3X5, 339, 341. Yuknu \.dley, 12.5. 199, 2,39, 266, .321. 338, 347. *>> ^}\ V fi Hi i m I i A T r 1/ •'j^ i j,(|2;; --tj \ ^X, ,/ M---_ i^. _^T- •f I ^, IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) /> ^ >^&. 1.0 I.I |50 '■^" llHi ? ^ Ilia ^ IAS IIIIIM m |l.25 II 1.4 III 1.6 ^ 6" ► v] %' V M Photographic Sciences Corporation 23 Wt>T MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. MSSO (716) S72-4S03 T ,.ss cavca , C*eh« Village. louses <60 MISSIOIil '"af« )UO STATrfoM "?1 Cravca Viitat Fojt C*ch ttptf/ -f Vilh » .? Wllag, i V/^i **tpC3 I^O° tits- PART 3.- MAP OF YUKOI^ CASSELL & COMPANY, Timitbu, NEW YORK. ^ ^^llagT 'npSS >9 "o -f ) lie' Ii|7' iqo" Ji$5^ IP OF YUKON RIVER FROM FORT YUKON TO ITS MOUTH, ANO SMALL GENKUAL MAP Ol vrr ^^ 10 r ^ ..... r«»o«i >V- lOO "TO J.onffitudc 7 3 "WcJ^ yJ-^Tre. C8 TVtishingion flS liAL MAP OF ALASKA. To accoiupany 'Along Alaska'a Great River '* Ai ^^