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ALONG

ALASKA'S QrCAT PiVCR

A POPULAR ACCOUNT OF THE TRAVELS OF AN ALASKA
EXPLORING T^XPEDITION ALONG THE GREAT
YUKON RIVER, FROM ITS SOURCE TO ITS
MOUTU, IN THE BRITISH NORTH-
WEST TERRITORY, AND IN
THE TERRITORY OF
ALASKA.

liY

FREDERICK SCHWATKA,

LAURENTE OI' THE PARIS OEOORAPHICAI. SOCIETY AND OH THE IMPE
RIAI, OEOORAPHICAI, SOCIK.'Y OF RUSSIA; HONORARY MEMBER
BREMEN OEOORAPHICAI. SOCIETY, ETC.. ETC., COM-
MANDER OF THE EJiPEDITlON.

Together with the Latest Information on the
Klondike Country.

FULL Y ILL USTRA TED.

CHICAGO

The Henry Publishing Co.
1898

OOPTKIOBT, 1888,

Qbo. U. Hnx Oo.

8'
Q

PREFACE.

rpHESE pages narrate the travels, in a popular sense, of
an Alaskan exploring expedition. The oxpt'dition* was
organized with seven members at Vancouver Barracks,
Washington, and left Portland, Oregon, ascending through
the inland passage to Alaska, as far as the Chilkat country.
At that point the party employed over three score of the
Chilkat Indians, the hardy inhabitants of that ice-bound
country, to pack its effects across the glacier-clad pass of the
Alaskan coast range of mountains to the head- waters of the
Yukon. Here a large raft was constructed, and on this primi-
tive craft, sailing through nearly a hundred and fifty miles
of lakes, and shooting a number of rapids, the party floated
along the great stream for over thirteen hundred miles; the
longest raft journey ever made on behalf of geographical
science. The entire river, over two thousand miles, was
traversed, the party returning home by Bering Sea, and
touching the Aleutian Islands.

The opening up of the great gold fields in the region of
the upper Yukon, has added especial interest to evei'ything
pertaining to the great Northwesc. The Klondike region is
the cynosure of the eyes of all, whether they be in the clutches
of the gold fever or not. The geography, the climate, the
scenery, the birds, beasts, and even flowers of the country
make fascinating subjects. In view of the new discoveries

1473114

PREFACE.

in that part of the world, a new chapter, Chapter XIII, is
given up to a detailed description of the Klondike region.
The numerous routes by which it may be reached are
described, and all the details as to the possibilities and
resources of the country are authoritatively stated.

Chioaoo, March, 1898.

COIS TENTS.

Cbaptbb

Introductory . . . . .

. 9

II.

The Inland Passage to Alaska ,

III.

In The Chilkat Country

. 86

IV.

Over The Mountain Pass ....

Along the Lakes

. 00

A Chapter About Rafting ....

181

VII.

The Grand Canon op The Yukon .

. 154

VIII.

Down Tue River to Selkirk

175

IX.

Through The Upper Ramparts

. 207

Through The Yukon Flat-Lands

264

XT.

Through The Lower Ramparts and End of
Raft Journey

. 289

XTI.

Down The River and Home

818

XIII.

The Klondike Regions . . . .

. 846

XIV.

Discovery and History ....

868

XV.

The People and Their Industries .

. 886

XVI.

Geographical Features ....

418

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

9tmm

FRONTISPIECS (DB4WNDT Wm. ScHMEimm) ....

The INI.AND Passaoe 12

S<!ENE8 in THE iNIiARD PaSSAQB 19

BiTKA, Alaska 29

GiiiLKAT Bbacelet 86

Pyramid Harbor, GniLKAT Inlet 43

CiiiLKAT Indian Packer 68

Methods op Trackino a Canoe vp a Rapid 64

Ganoeinq up the Dayat 65

Dayay Valley, Novrse Riveb 78

Salmon Spears 7g

Dayay Valley, from Gamp 4 77

Walking a Loo 80

Ghasinq a Mountain Goat 82

Ascending the Perrier Pass 8S

Snow Shoes 87

In a Storm on the Lakes 90

Lake Lindeman 93

Lake Bennett 101

Pins for Fastening Marmot Snabb 112

Lake Bove Hg

Lake Marsh , 12i

" Stick " Indians 127

" Snubbing " the Rapt 181

Among the "Sweepers" ........ 184

Banks op the Yukon 186

Scraping Along a Bank 140

Prying the Rapt off a Bab "... 145

Course op Raft and Axis of Stbbam 162

Whirlpool at Lower End of Island . , 158

Gratlinq 15^

Grand Canon 1Q8

The Cascades Igg

Alaska Brown Bear Fighting Mosquitop 174

In the Rink Rapids I75

Clay Bluffs on the Yukon 178

Outlet op Lake Eluktassi I84

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

The Rink Rapids 191

LoRiNQ Blutt • • . 198

Kit'l-ah-oon Indian YnxAOC 197

iNOEitsoLL Islands 201

The Ruinh of Bklkibk • . . 206

In the Upper RAUPAR-ra 207

Mouth of P'^llt River • • 209

LooKiNo Up Yckon from Selkirk 213

Ayan Orave at Selkirk . 217

Atan Indians in Canoes 221

Atan and Cbilkat Oamrlino Tools ...... 227

I*LAN of Atan Summer House : . 229

Konit'l Ayan Chief 230

Ayan Moose Arrow St&i

Ayan Wintfji Tent 238

AOratelBank 236

Moose-Skin Mountain 243

ItoQUETTE Rook 250

Klat-ol-klin Yillaoe ......... 253

FisBiNQ Nets 258

Salmon Killing Club 259

Boundary Butte 261

A Moose Head 264

Moss on Yukon Ritxb 267

Steamer " Yukon " 276

Indian "Cache" 289

Lower Ramparts Rapids 295

Mouth of Tanana 803

nuklakayet 807

The Raft, at End of its Jodbnkt 812

Indian OuT-DooH OuN CoTEBiNO . 818

Falling Banks of Yukon 819

Anyik 330

oonalaska 844

The Klondike Oold Disooveries 848

At the Foot of Chilkoot Pass 850

The Descent of Chujcoot Pass 864

A Midday Meal 358

At the Head of Lake La Babob . ' 860

Indian Paokebb Fording a Riteb 864

Tbb Whitb Horse Rapids 366

ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER.

CF\PTF,R I.

INTBODUuTORY.

|HI8 Alaskan exploring expedition was coiu-
postid of the following members: Lient. Sell watka,
U. S. A., commanding; Dr. Goorge F. Wilson,
U. S. A., Surgeon ; Topographical Assistant Charles A.
Homan, U.S. Engineers, Topographer and Photographer ;
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, a miner, who had
lived in Alaska and was well acquainted with 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 traversed 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 sense. I had hoped to
be able, through qualified subordinates, to extend our
scientific knowledge ot the country explored, espec-
ially in regard to its botany, geology, natural history,
etc.; and, although these subjects would not in any

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 18 as follows : When 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 be exercised by the army in
Alaska ; and this proviso 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 cduntry 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 specialisty in science,
with the disappi'oval of the General and the Secretary
hardly dry on the paper. 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 put
on the Alaska route, only a two or three line notice had

INTRODUCTORY.

gotten into the Oregon papers announcing the fact;
a notice that in spreading was referred to in print by
one government official as "a junketing party," by
another as a "prospecting" 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 in its hands to conduct
it through its long journey than was afterward appro-
priated by Congress to publish its report.

Leaving Portland at midnight on the 22d, the Victo-
ria arrived at Astoria at the mouth of the Columbia the
forenoon of the 23d, the remaining hours of daylight
being employed in loading with supplies 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 Juan de Fuca, the southern
entrance from the Pacific Ocean which leads to the in-
land passage to Alaska.

♦ Tlie largest river on the North American continent so far as this
mighty stream flows within our boundaries. . . . The people of
the United States will not be quick to take to the idea that the vol-
ume of water in an Alaskan river is greater than that discharged by
the mighty Mississippi ; but it is entirely within the bounds of honest
statement to say that the Yukon river . . . discharges every
hour one-third more water than the " Father of Watera," — Petroff'a
Qovernment Report on Alaska.

CHAPTER H.

THE INLAND PASSAGE TO ALASKA.

iliAND PASSAGE " to
Alaska is the fjord -like
channel, resembling a great
river, which extends from
the northwestern part of
Washington Territory,
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 Tchichagoff Island limits it on the seaboard.

From the little town of Olympia at the head 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.

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 Fuca 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 24th of May we entered the
Strait of Juan de Fuca, named after 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
decfJive 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 Olympian
Mountains, whose tops are covered with perpetual snow,
and upon whose cold sides drifting clouds are con-
densed.

Through British Columbia the sides of this passage are

ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER.

covered with firs and spruce to the very tops of the ateep
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 the 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 shape of glaciers to the very water's level, and the
tourist beholds, on a regular line of steamboat travel,
glaciers and icebergs, and many of the wonders of arctic
regions, although upon a reduced scale. Alongside the
very banks and edges of these colossal rivers of ice one
can ga.lier the m<'st beautiful of Alpine flowers and
wade up to his waist in grasses that equal in luxuriance
the famed fields of the pampas ; while the singing of the
birds from the woods and glens and the fragrance of the
foMage 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 saw 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 us
snowing plainly by his condition that he krew every bar
in and about Victoria. With the bar pilot on the bridge,

THE INLAND PASSAGE TO ALASKA.

ft^ as to save insurance should an accident occur,
we entered the picturesque little harbor in safety,
despite the discoveries of our guide that since his last
visit all the buoys had been woefully misplaced, and even
the granite channel had changed its course. But Vic-
toria has many embellishments more durable than bunt-
ing and banners, and most conspicuous among them are
her well arranged and well constructed roads, in which
she has no equal on the Pacific coast of North America,
and but few rivals in any other part of the world.

On the 26th we crossed over to Port Townsend, the
port of entry for Puget sound, and on the 27th we
headed for Alaska by way of the Inland Passage.

For purposes of description this course should have
been designated the "inland passages," in the plural,
for 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
pea. 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 should 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-

ALONG ALao^KA'S GREAT HTVER.

of-war Saranac was lost just eight years before we
passed through. At the northern end of this pictur-
esque Discovery Passage you see the inland passage
trending away to the eastward, with quite a bay on the
left around Chatham Point, and while you are wondeiing
in that half soliloquizing way of a traveler in new lands
what you will see after you have turned to the right,
the great ship swings suddenly to the left, and you find
that what you took for a bay is after all the inland pas-
sage itself, which stretches once more before you like
the Hudson looking upward from West Point, or the
Delaware at the Water Gap. For all such little surprises
must the tourist be prepared on this singular voyage."

The new bend now becomes Johnstone Strait and so
continues to Queen Charlotte Sound, with which it con-
nects by one strait, two passages and a channel, all alike,
except in name, and none much over ten miles long.
At nearly every point where a new channel diverges
both arms take on a new name, and they change as
rapidly as the names of a Lisbon street, which seldom
holds the same over a few blocks. The south side of
Johnstone Strait is particularly high, rising abruptly
from the water fully 5,000 feet, and in grandeur not
unlike the Yellowstone Canon. These summits were
still covered with snow and probably on northern slopes
snow remains the summer through. One noticeable
valley was on the Vancouver Island side, with a con-
spicuous conical hill in its bosom that may have been
over a thousand feet in height. These cone-like hills
are so common in flat valleys in northwestern America
that I th ought it worth while to mention the fact in this
place. I shall have occasion to do so again at a later

THE INLAND PASSAGE TO ALASKA.

point in my naiTative. Occasionally windrows occur
through the dense coniferous forests of the inlapd pas-
sage, where the trees have been swept or leveled in a
remarkable manner. Such as were cut vertically had
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 e£fect 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 enter 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 felt 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

ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER.

even as it is the vigorous old Castilian explorers have
not received all the credit to which they are entitled, for
many of their discoveries in changing hands changed
names as well : the Queen Charlotte Islands, a good
day's run to the northwestward of us, were named in
1787 by an Englishman, who gave the group the name
of his vessel, an appellation which they still retain,
although as Florida Blanca they had known the banner
of Castile and Leon thirteen years before. Mount Edge-
cumbe, so prominent in the beautiful harbor of Sitka, was
once Monte San Jacinto, and a list of the same tenor
might be given that would prove more voluminous than
interesting. American changes in the gioat northwest
have not been so radical. Boca de Quadra Inlet has
somehow become Bouquet Inlet to those knowing it best.
La Creole has degenerated into Rickreall, and so on : the
foreign names have been mangled but not annihilated.
We sail across Queen Charlotte Sound as if we were
going to bump right into the high land ahead of us, but
a little indentation over the bow becomes a valley, then
a bay, and in ample time to prevent accidents widens into
another salt-water river, about two miles wide and
twenty times as long, called Fitzhugh Sound. Near the
head of the sound we turn abruptly westward into the
Lama Passage, and on its western shores we see
nearly the first sign of civilization in the inland passage,
the Indian village of Bella Bella, holding prooably a
dozen native houses and a fair looking church, r/hile a
few cattle grazing near the place had a still more civilized
air.

As we steamed through Seaforth Channel, a most
tortuous affair, Indians were seen paddling ip their hag»

SOBNBS IK THBl INLAND PASSAGB.

THE INLAND PASSAGE TO ALASKA.

canoes from one island to another or along the high, rocky
shores, a cheering sign of habitation not previously
noticed.

The great fault of the inland passage as a resort for
tourists is in the constant dread of fogs that may at any
time during certain months of the year completely
obscure th(} grand scenery that tempted the travelers
thither. The waters of the Pacific Ocean on the sea-
board of Alaska are but a deflected continuation of the
warm equatorial current called the Kuro Siwo of the
Japanese ; from these waters the air is laden with
moisture, which being throwii by the variable winds
against the snow-clad and glacier-covered summits of
the higher mountains, is precipitated as fog and light
rain, and oftentimes every thing is wrapped for weeks
in these most annoying mists. July, with June and
tiugust, are by far the most favorable months for the
traTrcler. The winter months are expf^^able, with storms
of rain, snow and sleet constantly occurring, the former
along the Pacific frontage, and the latter near the
channels of the mainland.

Milbank Sound gave us another taste of the ocean
swells which spoiled the flavor of our food completely,
for although we were only exposed for less than an hour
that hour happened to come just about dinner time ;
after which we entered Finlayson Passage, some twenty-
five miles long. This is a particularly picturesque and
bold channel of water, its shores covered with shaggy
conifers as high as the eye can reach, and the mountains,
with their crowns of snov? and ice, furnishing supplies of
spray for innumerable beautiful waterfalls. At many
places in the inland passage from here on, come down the

ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER.

steep timbered mountains the most beautiful waterfalls fed
from the glaciers hidden in the fog. At every few miles
we pass the mouths of inlets and channels, leading away
into the mountainous country no one knows whither.
There are no charts which show more than the mouths
of these inlets. Out of or into these an occasional canoe
speeds its silent way perchance in quest of salmon that
here abound, but the secrets of their hidden paths 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 passages,
we enter the straightest of them all, Grenville Channel,
so straight that it almost seems to have been mapped by
an Indian. As you steam through its forty or fifty miles
of mathematically rectilinear exactness you think the
sleepy 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 place it seems to be not over two or three hundred
yards wide, but probably is double that, the high tower-
ing banks giving a deceptive impression. The windrows
through the timber of former avalanches of snow or land-
slides, now become thicker and their eflFects 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.

THE INLAND PASSAGE TO ALASKA.

Ou the 29th of May, very early in the morning, ,/e
crossed Dixon Entrance, and were once more on Aniei!-
can soil, that is, in a commercial sense, the United States
having drawn a check for its value of $7,2(X),0(K), and
the check having been honored ; but in regard to govern-
ment the country may be called no man's land, none
existing in the territory. Dixon Entrance bore once a
Spanish name in honor of its discoverer, a name which
is heard no more, although a few still call the channel
by its Indian name, Kai£' aee. Broad Dixon Entrance
contracts into the narrow Portland Inlet, which, i)utting
back into the mainland for some seventy-live miles, forma
the water boundary between Alaska and British Col-
umbia. From here it becomes a thirty mile wide strip
drawn "parallel to tide- water," which continues with a
few modifications to about Mount St. Elias.

The forenoon of the same day we entered Boca do
Quadra Inlet, where a pioneer company had established
a salmon cannery, for which we had some freight. The
cannery was about half completed and the stores were
landed on a raft made of only two logs, which impressed
me with the size of the Sitka cedar. The largest log
was probably seventy -five feet long and fully eight feet
at the butt. It is said to be impervious to the teredo,
which makes such sad havoc with all other kinds of
wood sunk in salt water. Owing to its fine grain and
peculiar odor, handsome chests can be made of it in
which that universal pest, the moth, will not live. It is
purely an Alaskan tree, and even north of Quadra Inlet
it ife *ound in its densest growth. As around all white
hat nations in frontier lands, we found the usual number
of natives, although in this case they were here for the

ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT F^^^ER.

commendable object of seeking employment in catching
salmon whenever the run should commence. Their
canoes are constructed of the great cedar tree, by the
usual Indian method of hollowing them out to a thin
shell and then boiling water in them by throwing in red
hot stones in the water they hold, producing pliability
of the wood by the steaming process, when, by means of
braces and ties they are fashioned into nautical "lines."
The peaks of the prows are often fantastically carved
into various insignia, usually spoken of as " totems,"
and painted in wild barbaric designs (see page 43,) the
body of the boat being covered with deep black made
from soot and seal oil. Crawling along under the somber
shadows of the dense overhanging trees in the deep dark
passages, these canoes can hardly be seen until very near,
and when a flash of the water from the paddle reveals
their presence, they look more like smugglers or pirates
avoiding notice than any thing else. The genial super-
intendent, Mr. Ward, spoke of his rambles up the
picturesque shores of the inlet and his adventures since
he had started his new enterprise. A trip of a few days
before up one of the diminutive valleys drained by a
little Alpine brook, had rewarded him with the sight of
no less than eight bears skurrying around through the
woods. He had an Indian companion who was
armed with a flint-lock, smooth bore Hudson Bay Com-
pany musket, while the superintendent had a shot gun
for any small game that might happen along, and even
with these arms they succeeded ii bagging a bear apiece,
both being of the black — or small — variety. Hunting
the little black bear is not far removed from a good
old-fashioned "coon" hunt, and not much more dan-

THE INLAND PASSAGE TO ALASKA.

gerous. The dogs, mostly the sharp-eared, sharp-nosed
and sharp-barking Indian variety, once after a bear,
force him up a tree to save his hamstrings being nipped
uncomfortably, and then he is shot out of it, at the
hunter's leisure, and if wounded is so small and easily
handled by the pack of dogs that he can hardly be
called dangerous. Not so, however, with the great brown
bear, or barren-ground bear of Alaska, so oft in spoken
of in these parts as the " grizzly " from his similarity
in size and savageness to "the California King of the
Chapparal." Everywhere in his dismal dominions he is
religiously avoided by the native Nimrod, who declares
that his meat is not fit to be eaten, that his robe is almost
worthless, and that he constantly keeps the wrong end
presented to his pur^juers. Although he is never hunted
encounters with him are not altogether unknown, as he is
savage enough to become the hunter himself at times,
and over some routes the Indians will never travel unless
armed so as to be fairly protected from this big Bruin.
This Indian fear of the great brown bear T found to be
co-extensive with all my travels in Alaska and the
British North-west Territory. Mr. Ward told me that
wherever the big bear was found, the little black variety
made bis presence scarce, as the two in no way affiliate,
and the latter occupies such country as the abundance
of his big brother will allow. These districts maj' be
intermixed as much as the black and white squares on a
chess-board, but they are as sharply, though not as
mathematically, defined, each one remaining faithfully
on his own color, so to speak. A new repeating rifle
was on our vessel consigned to the sportsman super-
intendent, and he expected to decrease the bear

ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER.

census during the summer, so far as his duties would
allow.

About noon, after much backing and putting of lines
ashore, and working on them from the donkey engines
fore and aft, we succeeded in turning our long steamer
in the narrow channel, the pilot remarking in reply to
«;he captain's inquiries as to shoals, that he wished he
could exchange the depth for the width and he would
have no trouble in turning around.

Through this part of the inland passage sea-otters are
said to be found, and it was thought that one or two
were seen by some of the people on board, but no one
could vouch for tb« discovery.

The everlasting mountain scenery now commences to
pall and offers nothing in .e way of the picturesque
except the same old high mountains, the same dense
growth of timber on their steep sides, and the same salt-
water canals cutting through them. A valley putting
off any where would have been a relief, and breaks in
the uniformly high mountains that looked as if they
might be ravines, so persistently became other arms and
canals of the great networks of passage, that we were
any thing but sorry when a fog bank settled down about
two hundred feet above our eyes and out the fjord as
sharply at that height as if it had been the crest line of
a fortification extending off into miles of bastions and
covered ways.

Early morning on the 30th found us at the little port
of Wrangell, named after one of Russia's many fam
ous explorers in northern regions. It was the most
tumble-down looking company of cabins I ever saw,
the " Chinese quarter " (every place on the Pacific

THE INLAND PASSAGE TO ALASKA.

coast has its "Chinese quarter" if it is only a single
house) being a wrecked river vessel high and dry on the
pebbly beach, which, however, was not much inferior to
the rest of the town. Not far from here comes in the
Stickeen river, the largest stream that cuts through the
south-eastern or " tide-water strip " of Alaska. About
its headwaters are the Cassiar mines of British
Columbia, and as the Stickeen river is the nearest
available way to reach them, although the traveler's
course is against the stream of a mountain torrent, the
circumstance has made something of a port of Wran-
gell, which nearly ten years ago was at the height of its
glory of gold-dust and excitement. Even at this dis-
tance the dark green water of the deep channel is tinged
with a white chalky color ground from the flanks of the
calcareous hills by the eroding glaciers, then swept into
the swift river and by it carried far out into the tortuous
passages. Every stream, however small, in this part of
the world, with glaciers along its course or upon its trib-
utaries, carries this milk -like water in its current.

With all its rickety appearance there was no small
amount of business doing in Wrangell, no less than four
or five fair sized backwoods stores being there, all appar-
ently in thrifty circumstances. Indian curiosities of all
kinds were to be had, from carved spoons of the mount-
ain goat at "two bits" (twenty-five cents) apiece to the
most! elaborate idols or totemic carvings. A fair market
is found for these articles among the few visitors who
travel in this out-of-the-way corner of the earth, and
when the supply is exhausted in any line the natives
will immediately set to work to satisfy the demand. One
huge cai /ed horn spoon was evidently of very ancient

T'T

ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER.

make and very line workmanshiiD, an old pioneer of these
regions who luid owned it for many years liaving refused
sixty dollars for it from some curiosity collectors only
the year before.

From Wrangell we debouched westward by Sumner
Strait, the wide salt-water river that continues the nar-
row fresh-water river of Stickeeu to the Pacific Ocean.

Batvveen five and six in the afternoon we are rounding
Capj Onimaney, where our pilot tells ns it storms eight
days in the week. It certainly gave us double rations of
wind that day, and many retired early. Even the old
Spanish navigators who first \dd eyes upon it must have
borne it a grudge to have called it Pu/da Oeste de la
Eiitrada del Principe.; all its geographical cliaracter-
istics and relations being shouldered on it for a name.

Early next morning we were in the harbor of Sitka, or
N.nv Archangel, as the Ki, sians called it when they had
it for their capital of this province. The strong, bold
bluffs of the interior passages now give way to gentler
elevations along the Pacific seaboard, but the country
gradually rises from the coast until but a few miles back
tile same old cloud-capped, snow-covered peaks recur,
and as we stand well out to sea they look as abrupt as
ever.

Sitka is a picturesque place when viewed from any
point except from within the town limits. From the
south-west, looking north-east. Mount Edgecumbe (of
C'Ook) affords a beautiful background against the west-
ern sky, and wlien that is full of low white clouds the
abrupt manner in whi(!h the point of the mountain is cut
off gives it the ajipearance of being buried in the clouds,
thus seeming several times higher than it really is.

I'!

THE INLAND PASSAGE TO ALASKA.

The harbor of Sitka is so full of small islands that
looking at it from a height it seems as if it could only be
mapped with a pepper-box, and one wonders how any
vessel can get to her wharf. Once alongside, the water
seems as clear as the atmosphere above, and the smallest
objects can be easily identiiied at the bottom, though
there must have been fully thirty or forty feet of water
where we made our observations.

On one of the large islands in Sitka harbor, called
Japanese Island, an old Niphon junk was cast, early in
the present century, and her small crew of Japanese
were rescued by the Russians, Sitka has been so often
iescribed that it is unnecessary to do more than refer
the reader to other accounts of the place.

Ten o'clock in the forenoon of the 31st saw us under
way steaming northward, still keeping to the inland
passage, and en route to deliver wrecking machinery at
a point in Peril Straits where the Eurekn, a small
steamer of the same line to which our ship belonged, had
formerly run on a submerged rock in the channel which
did not appear upon thechaits. The unfortunate boat
had just time to reach the shore and beach herself before
she filled with water. The Eureka's wreck was reached
by two in the afternoon, and as our boat might be de-
tained for some time in assisting the disabled vessel,
many of us embraced the opportunity to go ashore in
the wilds of the Alexander Archipelago. The walking
along the beach between high and low tide was toler-
able, and even agreeable for whole stretches, especially
after our long confinement on the ship, where the facili-
ties for promenading were poor. To turn inland from
the shore was at once to commence the ascent of a slop*

t» ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER.

that might vary frcm forty to eighty degrees, the climb-
ing of which almost beggars description. The compact
mass of evergreen timber had looked dense enough from
the ship, but at its feet grew a denser mass of tangled
undergrowth of bushes and vines, and at their roots
again was a solid carpeting of moss, lichens, and ferns
that often ran up the trees and underbrush for heights
greater than a man's reach, and all of it moist as a
sponge, the whole being absolutely tropical in luxuri-
ance. This thick carpet of moss extends from the shore
line to the edges of the glaciers on the mountain sum-
mits, and the constant melting of the ice through the
warm summer supplies it witli water which it absorbs
like a sponge. The air is saturated with moistiire from
the warm ocean current, and every thing you see and
touch is like Mr. Mantalini's proposed body, "dem'd
moist and unpleasant." It is almost impossible to con-
ceive how heavily laden with tropical moisture the atmos-
phere is in this supposed sub-Arctic colony of ours.
It oozes up around your feet as you walk, and drips
from overhead like an April mist, and nothing is exempt
from it. Even the Indians' tall, dead " totem-poles" of
hemlock or 3pruce, which would make fine kindling
wood any where else, bear huge clumps of dripping moss
and foliage on their tops, at heights varying from ten
to thirty feet above the ground. An occasional stray
seed of a Sitka spruce may get caught in this elevated
tangle, and make its home there just as well as if it were
on the ground. It sprouts, and as its branches run up
in the air, the roots crawl down the "totem-pole " until
the ground is reached, when they bury themselves in it,
and send up fresh sustenance to the trunk and limbs,

THE INLAND PASSAGE TO ALASKA.

which until then have been living a parasitic sort of life
off 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 pierc^ing
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-
perience 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 cot Id find a footing in its present
condition. Then, 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

ii:

ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER.

trf

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 smali
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 ambei
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
tlie passage. A last night on the Pacific's rolling water,
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. we
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

'niE INLAND PASSAGE TO ALASKA.

of the Pacific coast. Here I saw many of the Kootznahoo
Indians of the i)hice, who do the principal lishing 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 artilicial blackness is an
adjunct, while the remainder followed the custom in
order to protect their faces and especially their eyes
from the intense glaie of the sun on the water while fish-
ing. Chatham Strait at iis 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 rea'.h
in this great inland salt-water river, our voyage on the
Yictoria terminated. Icy Straits 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 rr.ck and ice even
tne am:)hibious Indian seldom ventures.

CHAPTER III.

IN THE CHILKAT COUNTUV.

i^;

II J

! 1

Cim.KAT 11

LKT MADK riIDH
8ILVB1I COIN.

IIILKAT ((mntry wjis reached on the morn-
ing of the 2d of June and we dropped anchor
in a most pieture.s(pie little port called Pyra-
mid Harbor, its name being derived from a
conspicuous conical island that the Chilkats
call Schlay-liotdi, 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 was
manned by about a half dozen white men as directors
and workmen in the trades departments, the Chilkats
doing the rougru i- work, as well as furnishing the fish.
They diffeied in no material respect fi-om the salmon can-
neries of th'- <:;i« at Columbia River, so often described.
Just above them comes in the Chilkat river, with abroad
shallow mouth, which, at low water (sixteen feet below
high water) looks like a large sand flat forming part of
the shores of the harbor. On these bars the Indians spear
the salmon when the water is just deep enough to allow
them to wade around readih'.

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 five times as many houses, called Kluk-wan,

IN THE CHILKAT COUNTRY.

being quite a distance up the river. Tll(^se Chilkats are
subdivided into a number of smaller clans, named after
the various animals, birds and fishes. At about the time
of my arrival the chief of tlie Crow clan had died, and as
he wad a very important i)erson, a most sumi)tuous fu-
neral was expected to last about a week or ten days.
These funerals are nothing but a series of feasts, i)ro-
tmcted accoi'ding to the importance of the deceased, and
as' they are furnished at the exi)ense of the administra-
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, congregates at the pleasant ceremo-
nies, and gorges to his utmost, being worthless for work
for anotiier 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 tliese people, the priests or
medicine men being the only ones exempt. The latter
claim a sort of infallibility and all of their predictions,
acts, and influences callable of survival, live after them
so long as their bodies exist, but should these be lost by
drowning, devouring, or cremation, this infallibilitj'^
ceases. Therefore these defunct doctors of savage witch-
craft inhabit the greatest portion of the few gi'aveyards
that one sees scattered here and there over the shores of

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 Indians 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 Aljnne 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-vich, 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 rivih'zed country, ''^here were a few
slaves among my numerous Indian packers, slavery

IN THE CHILKAT COUNTRY.

having once tiourished extensively among tlie Chilkats,
but having diniinislied both in vigor and extent, in
direct ratio to their contact with the whites. Formerly,
slaves were treated in the many barbarous ways common
to savage countries, sacrifi(«d 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 .cross their breasts, every cracking of
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 rolling 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 tlie 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 distinguish 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 amenument to the United States
constitution is not held inviolable in all parts of that
vast country. As among nearly all savages, the women
are brutalized, but they appear to iiave one prerogative
of the most singular chaiactcr, that is well worth relat-

ALONG ALASKA S GREAT RIVER.

ing. Nearly every thing 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 first obtained. The
royal succession is most oddly managed with reference
to women's rights. The heir-apparent to the tluoije i j
not the oldest or aiiy other child of the king and nv ■
but is the queen's nearest blood relative of the ma^ti y^^v-
suasion, although the relationshij) may bo no closer, per-
haps, than that of cousin. As this curiously 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 honor.s. One rich Indian woman of
Sitka who took a fancy to a slave, purchased him for the
purpose of converting him 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
cheaper than the usual run of such bargains. When a
couple of Chilkats tie the nuptial knot, they at once, if
I)ossible, adopt a boy and ji giil, although these can
hardly b(; said to stand in the place of adopted children,
when it is understood that they are really a conjugal
reserve corps for the bride and bridegroom in case of
deat^i. Should the man die the boy becomes the widow's
husband v.ithout further ceremony, and vice versa. Of
course such conjugal mixtures present the most incon-
gruous aspects in the matter of age, but h pp* jr thesp
examples are infrequent.

Tliis Chilkat country is most thoroughly Aljnne in
character, and in the quiet, still evenTn,r.^, lar up on the
Btet^p hillsides, wh^re the dense i-prtioe tin.b n is bi'okeu

# f '\

IN THE CHILKAT COUNTRY.

op 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 liunt, for as soon
as Brui.i put in an appearance there was always some
Indian hunter ambitious enough to toil up the ateep
mountain sides after liim. 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 car 'd
the Cinnamon Ben.rs. Another high class clan is the
Crows, tlie plebeian di'isions being the Wolves and
Whales, and the division line is so strong that it leads

■ to feuds between the i;lans that, ^ i respect of slaughter,
are almost entitled to the name of w«rs, while between
the high and low caste intermarriage is almost unknown.
As the Brown Bears, or Cinnamon Bears as they are gen-
erally called, are the highest clan, so copi^er is their most
highly prized metal. With copper the Chilkats have
always been familiar, gold and silver coming with the

'whites; and therefoie a brown bear's 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 3tand well In the front rank of savage artists.
When civilizaiion firs< came in contact with these people
they were in the paleolithic stone age of that material,
and their carvings were marvels of design and execution,
although subserving the simplest Avants of a simple
people. Of metals they possessed only copper, and that
in such small quantities as to be practically out of
the account. AVith the whites came gold and silver,
and the latter from its comparative cheapness became

ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER.

■;■!

their favorite metal. Coins were hammered out into
long slender bars, bent into bracelets, and then beau-
tifullj'" engraved, some of their designs having been
l.^Towed from civilization and copied faithfully in
t although the old savage ideas of workmanship

are ;:• 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 Avhite customers, when they
are sold at from one to five or six dollars a pair
according to their width. . The initial piece of this
chapter is sketched from one in the possession of the
author and made by one of his hired Indians. Ear-rings,
finger-rings, beads and ornamental combs for the hair
arc 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 somu(!h
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
design. The exact significance of these totem i)oles
remains still undetertuined, and the natives themselves
seem averse to throwing much light on the subject.
This fact alone would appear to indicate a superstitious
origin. Some say the totem poles represent family
genealogies, life histories, and tribal accounts, all of
which conjectures may be well founded. They are
simply logs of Avood standing on end in front of the
houses, and facing the water. This face is covered from

m Tin? CIIILKAT COUNTRY.

top to bottom, for a height of from five to thirty feet,
with tho most curious carvings, as sliown to a limited
extent on page 19. The "totem" or tribal symbol,
which may be a wolf, a bear, a raven, or a fish, often
predominates, while representations of crouching human

PYKAMID IIAUBOR, CIIILKAT INLET.

(Chilkat Imlian Canoe In the forcgronnd.)

figures are favorite designs. The making of totem poles
has ceased among the Indians, altliough 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«

ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER.

try but displays a Tliukit totem pole or two, while some
possess extensive collections. The best carving is shown
in the isolated poles standing in front of the houses, but
frequently the houses themselves are fantastically carved
in consi)icuous places to suit the owner's fancy.

Some of these houses are quite respectable for savage
housemaking, the great thick puncheon planks of the
floor being often quite well polished, or at any rate
neatly covered with white sand. Attempts at civilization
are made in the larger and more aristocratic abodes by
partitioning the huge hovel into rooms by means of dra-
peries of cloth or canvas. In some the door is made as
high as it can be cut in the wall and is rertched by
steps from the outside, while a similar flight inside gives
ac.jss to the floor. The fire occupies the center of the
room, enough of the floor being removed to allow it to
be kindled directly on the ground, the smoke escaping
by a huge hole in the roof. The vast majority of the
houses are squalid beyond measure, and the dense resin-
ous smoke of the spruce and "ae blackens the walls with
a funereal tinge, and fills the house with an odor which,
when mingled with that of decayed salmon, makes one
feel like leaving his card at the door and passing on. It
takes no stretch of the imagination to conceive that such
architecture provides the maximum of ventilation when
least needed, and it is a fact that the winter hours of
the Chilkats are cold and cheerless in the extreme. They
sit crouched around the fire with their blankets closely
folded about them and even drawn over their heads,
the house serving indeed as a protection from the
fierce wind and deep snow drifts, but no more.
They look on all this foolishness, however, with

■

IN THE CHILE AT COUNTRY.

a sort of Spartan fortitudi? 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 snow is convenient roll
around in it like so many polar bears ; and when they
get so 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 wonder 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 imhappy 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 aJtamans, 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 'he 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

ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER.

signs would consume more of my space than the subject
is worth. Wlien a Chilkat dies the body is burned at
sunrise, having lirst been dressed for tlie ceremony in a
costume more e]aborate than any wliicli it ever wore in
life. The corpse must not be carried out at tlie door,
whicli is deemed sacred, a superstition very common
among savage races. A few boards may be talcen from
tlie rear or side of tlie hovel, or the body may be hoisted
through the capacious chimneyinthe roof ; butwhen the
Chilkat in his last illness sought his house to lie down
and di'3 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 c )ri>se 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 walk into the woods around Chilkat shows the
traveling to be somewhat better than in equally mount-
ainous country near the coast, and where paths had been
cut through the dense timber to the charcoal pits formed
and maintained by the canneries, the walking was ex-
ceedingly agreeable and pleasant, especially by way of

jn the chilkat country.

4lt

contrast. As one recedes from the coast and gets beyond
the induence 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 linds
it but little wor?:^ than the tangle-woods and swamps of
lower latitudes. The watei's 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 retura
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 villa^:e during the
salmon fishing season is a busy place. Near the water,
loaded with the fish, their pink sides cut open ready for
drying, are the scaffoldings, which are built just high

; t..

ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVEH.

enough to prevent the doj^s from investigating top
closely ; while out in the shallow water of the shoals or
rapids, which often determine the site of a village, may-
be seen iish-weirs looking like stranded baskets that had
served their purpose elsewhere and been thrown away up
the stream, and w hich had lodges I here as they floated
down. !Miiny of the siilmon are converted into fish-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 Avith 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 alDugside 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 with
si)oons, and after all has been procured that it is possible
to obtain by this means, the gelatinous mass isx)ressed so
as to get whatever remains, and all is preserved for w in-
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.

a single salmon and a quart of tknir are considered a suf-
ficient ration per man for even that severe trip. If t hey
are working for white men the enii)loyers are 8>ii)i)osed
to furnish the flour and the Indians the iish. VV^hile
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 i)eople, yet any thing like
a practical joke played upon one of them is seldom
appreciated by the recii)ient with the sheepish satisfac-
tion so common to civilizjition. An army officer, Lieut.
C. E. S. Wood, who spent some time among them
sketching and drawing something besides Ins pay, relates
in the Century Magazine the story of an Indian who
laboriously crawled up on a band of decoy ducks that
somebody had allowed to remain anchored 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 ar-. >] -manded direct
and indirect damages for the injuries i.- Lad suffered 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 which 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

vLONQ ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER.

were numerous and valuable this haggling would often
continue for hours, as the Indian never counts time as
worth any thing in his bargains. While we were there
an Indian brought 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 black fox skins, not nuiny years back, they also
learned, in some unaccountable waj% the met' ' of mak-
ing them to order by staining the commoi fox or
cross fox skin by the application of some native form of
blacking, probably made from soot or charcoal. Many
such we^-o dispo.sed of before the counterfeit was
detected, and even after the cheat was well known the
utmost vigilance was needed to prevent natives playing
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 counter 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, Avhen, 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 ju.st as the conversation as to the i)rice
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 i)alm, to the
surprise of the white man and absolute consternation

IN THE CHILKAT COUNTRY

01 the Indian. The former rapidly but unavailingly
tried to verify the Doctor's experiment, 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 best light he could view it in,
after all the explanations, was that it had been a con-
spiracy betwevMi the two white men to get the skin at
low rates, and the plot having failed, according to their
own confession, and he aimself having received his own
price to quiet hitn, ought to be satisfied. The Doctor
remarked as helinished 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 iirepondera-
ting development of the chest and upi)er 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 Chilkats 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 .o
the Chilkats both in mental, physical, and moral quali-
ties. In warfare they are as brave as the average Indians

1473ti4

ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER.

\\\

of tlie United States, and have managed to conduct their
own affairs witli considerable order, in spite of govern-
mental intorferencfc at tin;es. I quote from a correspon-
dent writing from there as late as August, 1884, to the
New York Times of November 23d : "The Indians have
a great respect loc a man-of-war, with its strict discipline
ar-^ busy steam launches that can follow th«^ir canoes to
the remote creeks and hiding places in the islands, and
naval rule has been most praiseworthy. The army did
nc good for the country or the natives, and its record is
n )f, a creditable one. The Tlinkits sneered openly at the
i:i'id forces, and snapped their fingers at challenging
tViil forbidding sentries, and paddled away at their
}.ieq,sure."

CHAPTER rV.

OVER THE MOUNTAm PASS.

pY the 6tli of June all of our
many arrangements tor depart
ure were fully completed, and
tlie next day the party got
under way shortly before 10
o'clock in the forenoun. Mr,
Carl Spuhn, the Manager of
the North-west Trading Com-
pany, which owned the west-
ern cannery in the Chilkat
cmi.KAT fNDiAN PACKER. I^lt-^t, wlicre my party had
been disembarked, Avho had been indefatigable in his
ejfforts to assist me in procuring Indian pacliers, and in
tof ny other ways aiding the expedition, now placed at
mj disposal the little '3am Inunch of the company, and
behinl it, tied one t the otlier by their towing ropes.
Was a long string ol from twelve to twenty canoes, each
containing from two to four Chilkat Indians, our pros-
pective packers. Some of the Indians who liad selected
their packs carried them in the canoes, but the bulk of
the material waa on the decks of the steam-launch
"Louise." They disappeared out of sight in a little
while, steaming southward down the Chilkat Inlet,
while with a small party in a row-boat I crossed this

ALONG ALASKA'.'i GREAT RIVER.

'•

channel and tlien by a good trail walked over to the
Haines Mission, in Chilkoot Inlet, presided over by Mr.
Eugene S. Willard and his wife, with a young lady
assistant, Miss Mathews, and maintained by tlie Pres-
byterian Board of Missions as a station among the Chil-
kat and Chilkoot Indians. Crossing the " mission trail,"
as it was called, we often traversed lanes in the grass, which
here was fully five feet high, while, in whatever direction
the eye might look, wild flowers were growing In the great-
est profusion. Dandelions as big as asters, buttercups
twice the usual size, and violets rivaling the products
of cultivation in lower latitudes were visible around.
It i)roduced a singular and striking contrast to raise the
eyf s from this almost tropical luxuriance a"vi allow
them to resi; on the Alpine hills, covered, half way down
their nhaggy sides, with snow and glacier ice, and with
cold mist condensed on their crowns. Mosquitoes were
too plentiful not to be called a prominent discomfort,
and small gnats did much to mar the otherwise pleasant
stroll. Berries and berry blossoms grew in a profusion
and variety which I have never seen equaled within
the same limits in lower latitudes. A gigantic nettle
was met with in uncomfortable profusion when one
attempted to wander from the beaten trail. This
nettle has received the appropriate name of "devil-
sticks;" and Mr. Spuhn of the party told me it was
formerly used by the Indian medicine-men as a prophy-
lactic against witch-craft, applied externally, and with
a vigor that would have done credit to the days of old
Salem, a custom which is still kept up among these
Indians. Gardens have been cultivated upon this nar-
row peninsula, the only comparatively level track of

OVER THE MOUNTAIN PASS.

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 rough 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 oif 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 toe southward,
turned around the sharp cape of the x>eninsula, 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-five 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 our north-
ward course I'p 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 up 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 geiun-al character as the inland pas-
sages in this part of Alaska, of which I have already

ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER.

1 I

\l i

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, many of them dashing fron) such
dizzy precipitous heights that they are reduced to
masses of iridescent spray by the time they reach the
deep 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 c-aft, 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 pantaloon.-^, 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

OVER THE MOUNTAIN PASS.

when the greatest sediment is brought down by the swift
muddy stream, i. i?., during tl)e 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
watei the canons carried our effects. The river once
reached the canoes proceeded up the stream to camp, the
launch whistled us adieu, ^nd as she faded from sight,
the last link that bound us to civilization was snapped,
and our explorations commenced. The distance from
the Hair es' Mission to the mouth of the Dayay where we
disembark<^i! was sixteen miles.

At this camp No. 2, we found a small camp of wander-
ing TaTik-TieesTh 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 pan, oi the very stream we desired to
explore. It has only been vtdthin ilio last few years that
these Tahk-heesh Indian'^ have been allowed to cross
over the mountains into the Chilknt country for purposes
of trade, the Chilkats and Chilkoots united having from
time immemorial completely monopolized the profitable
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

ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER.

miles nround. These furs were again lashed in packs
and carried back over the same perilous paths to the cof-
fers of the wliite traders, and although they realized but
a small fractional portion of their value, yet prices were
large in comparison with the trilling cost to the venders.
When the trade was at its best many years ago, these
trips were often made twice a year during the spring and
summer, and so great was the commerce in those days.,
that no less than from eight to ten tons of trading material
found its way into the interior by way of these Alpine
passes, and was exchanged for its equivalent in furs. As
a consequence, the Chilkat nation is the richest tribe of
Indians in the great North-west. Their chief. Shot-rich,
alone is worth about ten or twelve thousand dollars in
blankets, their standard of wealth, and others in propor-
tion, according to their energy in the trade. Shot-rich
has three large native houses at Klukwan, the main
Chilkat town, two of which are filled with blankets worth
from two to four dolUirs apiece. The trail on which we
were now plodding along is known among the Indians as
the Chilkoot trail to the interior, and takes from two to
four days, packing their goods on their backs, until the
headwaters of the Yukon are reached. It was monopo-
lized solely by the Chilkoots, who had even gone so far
as to forbid the Chilkats, almost brothers in blood, from
using it, so that the latter were forced to take a longer
and far more laborious route. This route of the Cliilkats
led them up the Chilkat River to near its head, where a
long mountain trail that gave them a journey of a week
or ten days, packing on their backs, brought them to a
tributary of the Yukon, by means of which the interior
was gained. Once on this tributary no serious rapids or

OVER THE MOUNTAIN PASS,

other impediments were in their line of travel, \phile 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 live hundred miles,
burned the buildings and appropriated the goods.

As the Tahk-heesh or Silcks were al lowed 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 Avas my intention to take advantage of this oppor-
tunity to reach the head of the riv^r, and then fight my
way c own 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 laughed 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

' !

n ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER.

hundred and fifty or two hundred miles of lakes stretched
oefore us, and what, they argued, can be more helpless
than a raft on a still lake ( 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 nnwieldiness 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 summed 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 th's part of
the river to be unnavigable even for canoes, creep r for
short stretches, and as filled with rapids, canon j, whirl-
pools and cascades.

After camping that night on the Dajay, bundles were
all assorted and assigned. The packs varied from thirty-
six to a hundred and thirty-seven pounds in weight, the
men generally carrying a hundred pounds and the boys
according to their ag*^ 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

■ ■'i

OVER THE MOUNTAIN PASSL

Indians we completed our number of packers, a circTun*
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 ".'liite luen 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 si umber 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

ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER.

the bank of tlie river. I observed that they ** tracked "
their ciinoeH a<^ainst the current in two ways, each nietliod
requiring two men to one canoe. The diagrams givcj
will show these methods ; .\\x No. 1, an
Indian pulls the canoe vurh a rope,
while a companion just in ^lisrear and
following in his steps ke-i ps the head
of the canoe in the stream, « ^th a long
pole, at just such distance a.* hv> »uiy
desire according to the obstivles that
lire presented. li" the watei 1/om V.\^
bank for some distance out, say twelve
or iifteen feet, is clear of all olstacles,
his companion will fall to tie rear as
far as his })ole will allow and assist the
ropeman by pushing np 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 bj^ pushing. The advan-
tage over the first is that in "boiling"
water full of stones, the bowTnan 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

o
<

IT.

G
O

■k

OVER THE MOUNTAIN PASS.

against the current than in the other. Some few of the
Indians judiciously vary the two methods to suit the cir-
cumstances. On lor g 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
pr.rt 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 circuitous river cuts deep
into the high hillsides that form the l.oundaries of its
narrow valley. In these crossings from iifty to a hund-
red yards would often be lost. The Indians seemed to
make no effort whatever to stem the swift current in
crossing, but i)ointed the canoe straight across for the
other bank and paddled away as if dear life depended
on 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 Svood with which to cook
their nieals ; although all they had 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 willow, and where these small forests did not exist
were endless ridges of sand, gravel and even huge bowl-
ders cutting acrosis each other at all angles, evidently the
work of wa'ter, assisted at times by the more powerful
agency of moving or stranded ire. All day we had been
crossing bear tracks of different ages, and after camping
some of the white men paddled across the river (here

ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER

I # ti

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, probably four hundred yards away and at
an angle of twenty degrees above our position in the rivei
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 differ-
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 very 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 nearer to
the bed of the stream.

I could not but observe the peculiar manifestations of
surprise characteristic of the Ghilkats. Whenever one
uttered a shout over some trifle, 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 would ensue
as to strike us with astonishment. This maybe 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

OVER THE MOUNTAIN PASS.

he
en
rn
at

Bomewliat of a gang of coyotes howling around a frontier
cau:p or the bayings of Indian dogs on moonlight sere-
nades, from which one would be strongly tempted to
believe tliey 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 trifling mishap of a com-
panion in wl:ich the sufferer is expected to join, just as
the man who chases his hat in a muddy street on a windy
day must laugh with the crowd. Such characteristics of
good nature are generally supposed to be accompanied
by a generous disposition, especially as toward men of
the same blood, but I was comjielled to notice an almost
cruel piece of selfishness which they exhibited in one
point, and which told strongly against any such theory
as applied to Indians, or at least this particular band of
them. When we got to the mouth of tlie Dayay river,
many of the packers had no canoes in which to track
their bundles or packs to the head of canoe navigation,
and their companions who owned such craft flatly and
decisively refused to take their 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 which I liave already alluded and which with
them is carried to an extreme hardly equaled in the
social distinctions of any other savage people. Nor
was this the only conspicuous instance of selfishness dis-
played. As I have already said, the Dayay is ^'^ry tor-
tuous, wide and swift, and therefore has very few fords,
and these at inconvenient intervals for travelers carry-
ing a hundred pounds apiece on their backs, yet the
slight service of ferrying the packers and their packs

ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER.

I I

across the stream was refused by the canoemen as rigidly
as the other favor, and where the ri /er cut deep into
some high projecting bank of the mountain flanks, 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 spare packer in the event of
sickness among my numerous throng, for even in such a
case I found them as disobliging and imaccommodating
as before, utterly refusing to touch a sick man's load
until he had promised them the 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 there in little parties for the purpose of
gambling, and oftentimes their orgies would run far into
the small hours of the night. The gambling game which
they called la-liell was the favorite during the trip over
the Chilkoot trail, although I understand that 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 " continue sitting about two or three feet apart,
with their legs drawn up under them, a la Turque, the
place selected being usually in sandy ground under
the shade of a grove of poplar or willow trees. Each
man lays a wagrr with the person directly opposite him,
with whom alont he gambles as far as the gain or loss of
his stake is concerned, although such loss or gain is
determined by the success of the team as a whole. In

ovi:r the mountain pass.

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 kept. 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 bs^-^k, then
again under an apron or hat resting on his lap, duiing
ail of which time the whole assembly are singing in a
low measured melody the words, "Oh! oh! oh! Oh,
kcr-shoo, ker-shoo ! — " 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 way. The bone " king and queen " are
then handed to an Indian in the other row, and the same
performance repeated, although it may be twice as long,
or half as short, as no native attempts to discern the

I i !

ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RlVEk.

whereabouts of the " king" until he feels he has a revel-
ation to that effect, produced by the incantation. A
game will last any where from half an hour to three hours.
Whenever the game is nearly concluded and one party
has gained almost all the willow sticks, or at any other
exciting point 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 ground under a hat or apron, 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 prospective pay for the trip was all gone
before it was half earned. Men and boys alike entered
the contest, and from half a dozen places 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 the evening camp)
with pictures upon the.n that would prohibit their pass-
ing through the mails. These habits do not indicate
any great moral improvement thus far i^roduced by con-
tact with civilization.

Two miles and a half beyond the head of canoe navi-
gation, the Kiit-lah-cooTc-ah River of the Chilkats comes
in from the west. This is really larger in volume and
width than the Dayay, the two averaging respectively
fifty and forty yards in width by estimation. I short-
ened its name, and called it after Professor Nourse of
the United States Naval Observatory. Large glaciers
feed its sources by numerous waterfalls, and its canon-
like bed is very picturesque. Like all such streams its

si! *i|

OVER THE MOUNTAIN PASS.

?ft

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 anticipate
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
eac^ 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

ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT lilVEti.

1,1

I ^ .;;l

sub- Arctic America that I think them worthy of <lescrip.
tion. Ti.? poh^ is from eiglit to twelve feet in 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 projects from the tip of
the pole 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, the pole spike
penetrating its back. In the
figure tliere is represented the
cross-section of a fish (its dorsal-
fin D) just before the spear
strikes. Among 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 musk-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

'uL,

Ul >

S 3

"S >

o. r!

3 <n

I ;S

OVER THE MOUNTAIN PASS.

T»

to a fly in streams where salmon are spawning, as they
then live on the salmon roe to the exclusion of every
thing else.

At this camp I saw the Chilkat boy i)ackers wn stling
in a very singular manner, diflferent from any thing in
that branch of athletics with which I am acqiu'inted.
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, i. e. , those touching
their opponents, are raised high in the air, carried past
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 at
the elbows, the contest commences. It evidently requires
no mean amount of strength to get on top of an equal
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 Elvers, wa, 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 10th of
June our course lay over the rough mountain spurs of
the east ride 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 7:16 in the

ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER.

if. ;

I if

f 1

« ■ ;

evening ; nearly liiilf the time, however, being occupiv^a
in resting from the extreme i'atlgne of the journey. In
fact, in many places it was a terrible scramble up and
down hill, over huge trunks ai^d 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 'he
pleasure of carrying a hundred pounds on one's back.
Sometimes we would sink in almost to our knees, while
every now and then this agony vas supplemented by the
recurrences of long high ridges of rough bowlders of
trachyte with a sjilintery fracture. The latter felt like
hot iron under 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 the
force employed
must have been
enormous, and I
could only ac-
count for it on the theory that ice had been an im-
portant agent in the result. So recent were some of
the ridges that trees thirty and forty feet hijijh were
embedded in the debris, and where they were not
cut off and crushed by the action of the rocks they were
growing as if nothing had happened, although half the
length of their trunks in some cases was below the tops
of the ridges. T hardly thoight that Jiny of the trees
could be over forty or fifty y^ars old. Where these

POSITION OF Tni! FKET IN WALKING A T.OG,
AS )'RACTICED BY TUS CIIILKAT INDIAN!?.

OVER THE MOUNTAIN PASS.

«1

ridges of great bow 'J'lrs were very wide one would be
obliged to follow close behind some Indian lyackur
acquainted witii the trail, which might easily be lost
before re-entering the brush.

That 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 other 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 Camp
5, we passed over two or three hundred yards of snow
from three to fifteen feet deep. This day's march of the
10th of June brought us to the head of the Dayay river
at a place the Indians call the "stone-houses." These
stone-hou.ses, however, are only a loose mass of huge
bowlders piled over each other, projecting high above
the deep snow, and into the cave-like crevices the
natives crawl for protectio. 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 directly northward, and seemingly impas-
sable, there loomed up for nearly four thousand feet the
precipitous pass through the mountains, a blank mass
of steep white, which we were to essay on the morrow.

Shortly after camping I was told that the Indians had
seen a mountain goat nearly on the summit of the western
mountain wall, and I was able to make out his presence
with the aid of field-glasses. The Indians had detected
him with their unaided eyes, in spite of his white coat

Ill
1 1

82 ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER.

b(nng against a background of snow. Had the goat
been oa the .siiniiiiit of a mountain in the moon I should
not have rci'aided liim as uny safer than where he was,
if thp Indians "wenf e\"n lull f as fatigued as I felt, and

CHASING A MOUNTAIN GOAT IN THE PICUUIKB PASS.

they had carried a hundred pounds over the trail and I
had not. But th*^ identity of the goat was not fully
established before an Indian, the only one who carried a
gun, an old flint-lock, smooth bore, Hudson Bay mus-
ket, made preparations for the chase. He ran acro.ss the
valley and soon commenced the ascent of the mount-

OVER THE MOUNTAIN PASS.

ains, in a li Ae while almost disappearing on tlie vvliite
sides, looking like a fly craM-ling over the front of a
house. The Indian, a "Stick," iinally could be seen
above the mountain goat and ^vould have secured him,
but that a little black cur dog which had started to fol-
low him when he was almost at the summit, made its
appearance on the scene just in time to frighten the ani-
nuil and started him running down the mountain side
toward the pass, the " Stick" closely following in pur-
suit, assisted by the dog. Just as every one expected
to see the goat disappear through the pass, ho wheeled
directly around and started straight for the camp, pro-
ducing great excitement. Every one grabbed the first
gun he could get his hands on and waited for the ani-
nial' 8 approach. A shot from camp sent him flying up
the eastern mountains, which were higher tluin those of
the west, closely followed almost to the summit by the
Indefatigable " Stick," who finally lost him. I thought
it showed excellent endurance for the mountain goat,
but the Indian's pluck was beyond all praise, and as he
returned with a jovial shake of the head, as if he met
such disappointments every day, I felt sure that I would
not have undertaken his himt for all the goat meat in
the country, even with starvation at hand.

On Ihe morning of the next day about five o'clock, we
commenced tlie toilsome ascent of this coast range pass,
called by the Indians Kotusk Mountains, and by seven
o'clock all my long pack train was strung up the j)iecip-
Itous pass, nuUiing one of the prettieist Alpine sights
that I have ever witnessed, and as seen from a distance
strangely resembling a row of bowlders projecting from
the snow. Up banks almost perpend:cular they scram-

im ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER.

bled on tlieir liands and knees, helping themselves by
every projecting rock and clump of juniper and dwarf
spruce, not ev<n\ refusing to use their teeth on them at
the worst places. Along the steep snow^ banks and the
icy fronts of glaciers steps were cut with knives, while
rough alpenstocks from the valley helped them to
maiitam their footing. In some such places the incline
was so steep that those having boxes on tlieir backs cut
scratches in the icy crust with the corners as they passed
along, and oftentimes it was possible to steady one's self
by the open palm of the hand resting against the snow.
In some of these places a single mis-step, or the caving
in of a foot-hold would have sent the unfortunate trav-
eler many hundivid feet headlong to certain destruc-
tion. Yet not the slightest accident happened, and
about ten o'clock, almost exhausted, we stood on the
top of the piiss, enveloped in a cold drifting fog, 4,240
feet above the level of the sea (a small portion of the
party having found a lower crossing at 4,100 feet abov«
sea- level). How these small Indians, not appa.i^ncl;
averaging over one hundred and forty pounds in weight,
could carry one hundrtnl pounds up such a precipitous
mountain of ice and snow, seoms marvelous beyond
measure. One man carried one hundred and thirty-
seven pounds, while boys from twelve to fourteen car-
ried from fi'^ty to seventy pounds. I called this the
Perrier Pass after Colonel J. Perrier of the French i'eo-
graphical Society.

Once on top of the Pass the trail leads north wprd and
the descent is very rapid for a few hundred yards to a
lake of about a hundred acu't's in extent, which was yet
frozen over and the ice covered with snow, although

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!■■■■

OVER THE MOUNTAIN PASS.

drainage from the slopes had made the snow very slushy.
Over the level tracks of snow many of the Indians wore
their snow-shoes, which in the ascent and steep descent
had been lashed to their packs. These Indians have two
kinds of snow-shoes, a very broad pair used while pack-
ing, as with my party, and a narrower and neater kind
emjjloyed while hunting. The two kinds are figured
below. This small lake, abruptly walled in, greatly
resembled an extinct crater, and such it may well have
been. From this re-
semblance it received
its name of Crater
Lake, a view of which
figures as the frontis-
piece. Here there Avas
no timber, not even
brush, to be seen ;
while the gullies of the
granite hills, and the
valleys deeply covered
with snow, gave, the
whole scene a decid-
edly Arctic appear-
ance. I noticed that
my Indian packers,
in following a trail on snow, whether it was up hill, on
a level, or even a slight descent, always stei>ped in each
other's tracks, and hence our large party made a trail
that at first glance looked as if only five or six had passed
over ; but when going down a steep descent, especially on
soft snow, each one made his own trail, and they scat-
tered out over many yards in width. I could not but be

CHILKAT HUNTING AND PACKING SNOW-
SIIOKS.

The Tisiiiil tlioiiBH are nscil to fncten them to the
feet, butai'orotBliovMi in the lllii»cratiou.

ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER.

impressed with the idea that this was worth considering
should it ever be necessary to estimate their numbers.
Prom the little crater-like lake at the very head of the
Yukon, the trail leads through a valley that converges to
a gorge ; and while crossing the snow in this ravine we
could hear the running water gurgling under the snow
bridge on which we were walking. Further down the lit-
tle valley, as it opened at a point where these snow-
arches were too wide to support their weight, they had
tumbled into the stream, showing in many places abut-
ments of deep perpendicular snow-banks often twenty to
twenty-five feet in height. Where the river banks were
of stone and perpendicular the packers were forced to
pass over the projecting abutments of snow, undermined
by the swift stream. It was hazardous for many to
attempt the passage over the frail structure at the same
time. Passing by a few small picturesque lakes on our
left, some still containing floating cakes of ice, we caught
sight of the main lake in the afternoon, and in a few
hours were upon its banks at a point where a beautiful
mountain stream came tumbling in, with enough swift
water to necessitate crossing on a log. Near the Crater
Lake a curlew and a swallow were seen, and a small black
bear cub was the only other living thing visible,
although mountain goats were abundant a short distance
back in the high hills. We had gotten into camp quite
late in the evening and here the contracts with our Indian
packers expired.

Imagine my surprise, after a fatiguing march of thir-
teen miles that had required fourteen hours to accom-
plish, and was fully equal to forty or fifty on any good
road, at having the majority of my packers, men and

OVER THE MOUNTAIN PASS.

boys, demand payment at once with the view of an
immediate return. Some of them assured me they would
make the mouth of the Dayay before stopping, and would
then only stay for a short rest. It should be remembered
that we were so far north and the sun so near his north-
ern solstice that it was light enough even at midnight,
for traveling purposes, especially on the white snow of
the worst portion of the journey, Perrier Pass. I had
no reason to doubt their assurances, and afterward
learned that one of them went through to the mission
without stopping, in sjjite of a furious gale which was
raging on the Dayay and Chilkoot Inlets.

CHAPTER V.

ALONG THE LAKES.

I ii

tN A BTOKM UN THB LAKES.

hirge lake near the head
of the Yukon I named in
honor of Dr. Lindeinan,
of the Bremen Geograr' i-
cal Society. The country
thus far, including the
lake, had already re(!eived a most thorough exploration at
the hands of Dr. Aurel Krause and Dr. Arthur Krause,
two German scientists, heretofore sent out by the above
named society, but I was not aware of the fact at that
time. Looking out upon Lake Lindeman a most beauti-
ful Alpine-like sheet of water was presented to our view.
The scene was made more picturesque by the mountain
creek, of which I have spoken, and over which a green
willow tree was supposed to do duty as a foot-log. My
first attempt to pass over this tree caused it to sink down
into the rushing waters and was much moi-e interesting
to the spectators than to me. Lake Lindeman is about
ten miles long, and from one to one and a-half wide, and
in appearance is not unlike a portion of one of the broad
inland passages of south-eastern Alaska already
described. Fish were absent from these glacier-fed
streams and lakes, or at least they were not to be enticed
by any of the standard allurements of the fishermen's

ALONG THE LAKES.

wiles, but we manag^'d to kill a few dusky grouse and
green-winged teal ducks to vary the usual government
ration ; though all were tough beyond measure, it being
so near their breeding season.

Over the lake, on quiet days, were seen many gulls,
and the graceful little Arctic tern, which I recognized as
an old com])anion on the Atlantic side. A ramble among
the woods next day to search for raft timber revealed a
number of bear, caribou and other game tracks, but
nothing could be seen of their authors. A small flock
of pretty harlequin ducks gave us a long but unsuccess-
ful shot. The lakes of the interior, of which there were
many, bordered by swampy tracts, supplied Roth, our
cook, with a couple of green- winged teal, duck and drake,
as the reward of a late evening stroll, for, as I have said,
it was light enough at midnight to allow us to shoot, at
any rate with a shot-gun.

While the lakes were in many places bordered with
swampy tracts, the land away from them was quite pas-
sable for walking, the great obstacle being the large
amount of fallen timber that covered the ground in all
dii-ections. The area of bog, ubiquitous beyond the
Kotusk range, was now confined to the shores of the lakes
and to streams emerging from or emptying into them,
ar, i while these were numerous enough to a person desir-
ji;g to hold a straight course for a considerable distance,
the walking was bearable compared with previous experi-
ence.

Two of the Tahk-heesJi or " Stick" Indians, who had
come with us as packers, had stored away in this vicinity
under the willows of the lake's beach, a couple of the
most dilapidated looking craft that ever were seen. To

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ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER.

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call them canoes, Indeed, was a strain upon our con-
sciences. Tlie only tlieory to account for their keeping
afloat at all was that of the Irishman in the story, " that
for every 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 poplar, and are generally called
*' Cottonwood canoes;" and as the trees from which they
are made are not very large, he material " runs out" so
to speak, along the waist or middle of the canoe, where a
greater q'mntity 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 the per-
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 •' Siicks "
that " it was just around the point of land" to which
they pointed and which may have been four or five miles
distant. 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

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ALONG THE LAKES.

I did not know the length of the lake I thought I would
await thoir return before attempting further progress.
Even if they could accomplish the bargain in double the
time they proposed I was quite willing to let them pro-
ceed, as I understood the outlet of the lake was a narrow
river full of cascades and rocks through which, according
to Indian report, no raft of more than a few logs could
possibly float. 1 did not feel disposed to build a couple
of such cumbersome craft to traverse so short a distance.
A southern gale setting in shortly after their departure,
with waves running on the lake a foot or two high, was
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 — ^o explain matters which required
no explanation.

In the meantime, haviitg surmised the failure of our
Indian contractors, the best logs available, which 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 pii:f>
which united them by auger holes bored through both,
the logs being cut or "saddled out" where they joined,
as is done at the comers 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

ALONG ALASKA S OF EAT 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 stem oar with which to do the steering
completed the rude craft. On the evening of the 14th of
June ths 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 eflPects 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, the raft
swung by ropes into the swift current of the stream so as
to float it well oul 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 «vas 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

ALONG THE LAKES.

surface presented to the f arious gale to drive them along
at a good round pace, especially when near the bold
rocky shores, where all their vigilance and muscle were
needed to keep them from being dashed 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 on
the bottom one would occasionally cramp between a
couple of submerged stones and be wrested violently
from their hands as the raft swept swiftly by before it
could be extricated. The remainder of the personnel^
white and native, scrambled over the rough precipitous
mountain spurs on the eastern side of the lake, wading
through bog and tangled underbrush, then up steep
slippery granite rocks on to the ridge tops bristling with
fallen burned timber, or occasionally steadying themselves
on some slight log that crossed a deep caiion, whose bed
held a rushing stream where nothing less than a trout
could live for a minute, the one common suffering every
where being from the mosquitoes. The rest of the stores
not taken on the raft found their way along slowl} by
means of the two dilapidated canoes, previously described,
in the hands of our own Indians.

As we neared Gamp t, at the outlet of Lake Linde-
man, on the overland trail we occasionally met with little
openings that might be described by an imaginative per-
son as prairies, and for long stretches, that is, two and
three hundred yards, the walking would really be pleas-
ant.

An insx>ection of the locality showed that the lake we
had just passed was drained by a small river averaging
from fifty to seventy-five feet in width and a little over a
mile long. It was for nearly the whole length a rr^peti-

ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER.

tion of shallow ropids, shoals, cascades, ngly-looking
bowlders, bars and network of drift-timber. At about
the middle of its course the worst cascade was split by a
huge projecting boM'lder, just at a sudden bend of the
stream, and either channv3l was barely large enough to
allow the raft to pass if it came end on, and remained so
while going through, otherwise it would be sure to jam.
Through this narrow chute of water the raft was "shot "
the next day — June 16th — and although our predictions
were verified at this cascade, a few minutes' energetic
work sufficed to clear it, with the loss of a side-log or
two, and all were glad to see it towed and anchored
alongside the gravelly beach on the new lake, with so
little damage received. Here we at once commenced
enlarging its dimensions on a scale commensurate with
the carrying of our entire load, both personnel and
materiel. Around this unnavigable and short river the
Indian packers and traders portage their goods when
making their way into the interior, there being a good
trail on the eastern side of the stream, which, barring a
few sandy stretches, connects the two lakes. I called
these rapids and the portage Payer Portage, after
Lieutenant Payer, of the Austro-Hungarian expedition
of 1872-74.

By the 17th of Jnne, at midnight, it was light enough
to read print, of the size of that before my readers, and
so continued throughout the month, except on very
cloudy nights. Many bands of pretty harlequin ducks
were noticed in the Payer Rapids, which seemed to be
their favorite resort, the birds rarely appearing in the
lakes, and always near the point at which some swift
stream entered the smoother wat«r. Bhujk and brown

ALONG THE LAKES.

bears and caribou tracks were seen in the valley of a
small stream that here came in from the west. This
valley was a most picturesque one as viewed from the
Payer Portage looking westward, and was quite typical
of the little Alpine valleys of this locality. I named it
after Mr. Homan, the topographer of the expedition.
We were quite fortunate in finding a number of fallen
logs, sound, and seasoned, which were much larger than
any in our raft, the only trouble being that they were
not long enough. All of the large trees tapered rapidly,
and at the height of twenty or twenty-five feet a tree
vas reduced to the size of the largest of its numer-
ous limbs, so that it did not offer surface enough
at the small end to use with safety as the side-log or
bottom-log of a well-constructed craft. We soon had a
goodly number of them sawed in proper lengths, or, at
any rate, as long as we could get them, their numerous
limbs hacked off, and then, with much labor, we made
log- ways through the brush and network of trunks, by
means of which we plunged them into the swift river
when-they were floated down to the raft's position. One
of the delights of this raft-making was our having to
stand a greater part of the day in ice-water just off the
mountain tops, and in strange contrast with this annoy-
ance, the mosquitoes would come buzzing around and
making work almost impossible by their attacks upon
our heads, while at the same time our feet would be
freezing. When the larger logs were secured, they were
built into the raft on a plan of fifteen by forty feet ; but,
takin;;^ into account the projections outside of the comer
pins, the aotual dimensions were sixteen by forty-two.
Th'iQ0e we|^ gever afterward changed.

i'i

100

ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER.

f,M

T .^ elevated decks were now constructed, separated
by a lower central space, xvhere two cumbersome oars
might be rigged, that made it possible to row the ponder«
ous craft at the rate of nearly a mile an hour, and these
siu{>-oars were afterward used quite often to reach some
camping place on the beach of a lalce when the wind had
failed us or set in ahead. The bow and stem steering-
oars were still retained, and we thus )iad surplus oars
for either service, in case of accident, for the two services
were never employed at once under any circumstances.
There was only one fault with the new construction, and
that was that none of the logs extended the whole length
of the raft, and the affair rather resembled a pair of
rafts, slightly dove-tailed at the point of union, than a
single raft of substantial build.

The new lake on which we found ourselves was named
Lake Bennett, after Mr. James Gordon Bennett, a well-
known patron of American geographical research. While
we were here a couple of canoes of the same dilapidated
kind as those we saw on Lake Lindeman came down
Lake Bennett, holding twice as many Tahk-heesh Indians
who begged for work, and whom we put to use in
various ways. I noticed that one of them stammered
considerably, the first Indian I ever met with an impedi-
ment in his speech.

Among my Chilkat packers I also noticed one that
was deaf and dumb, and several who were afflicted with
cataract in the eye, but none were affected with the lat-
ter disease to the extent I had observed among the Es-
kimo, with whom I believe it is caused by repeated at-
tacks of snow-blindness.

On the summits of high mountains to the right, or

Il^^^_l

inKs

Aijoifo Ttii! LAkis.

106

i-nstward of Lake Bennett, were the familiar blue-ice
glaciers, but in charming relief to these. were the red
rocks and ridges that protruded amid them. Specimens
of rocks very similar in col .i 'vere found on the lake
beach and in the terminal mor.i aes of the little glaciers
that came down the gul'^bcb, and these having shown
iron as their coloring n/j'Ler, Igave to this bold range
the name of the Iron-capped M</uutains.

On the morning of the iJch of Jane the constructors
reported that their work wixs done, and the raft was im-
mediately hauled in closer to 8hoi-e, the load put on and
carefully adjusted with reference to an equita^^e weight,
the bow and stem lines cast loose, joA. after rowing
through a winding channel to get past the shallow mud-
flats depoitited by the two streams which emptied them-
selves near here, the old wall tent was again spread from
its ridge-pole, lashed to the top of the rude mast, and
our journey was resumed.

The scenery along this part of Luke Bennett is very
much like the inland passages of Alaska, except that
there is much less timber on the hills.

I had started with four Chilkat Indians, who were to
go over the whole length of the Yukon with me. One
of them was always complaining of severe illness, with
Buch a wonderful adaptation to the amount of labor on
hand that I discharged him at Lake Bennett as the only
method of breaking up the coincidence. The best work-
man among them discharged himself by disappearing with
a hatchet and an ax, anu I was left with but two, neither
of whom, properly speaking, could ba called a Chilkat In-
dian ; in fact one was a half-breed Tlinkit interpreter,
" Billy " Dickinson by name, whose mother had been a

'-a

lOi

AlOifG ALASKA'S GREAT RlViStL

!l :

Tsimpsean iDdian woman and whose father kept the
store of the North-west Trading Company in Chilkat
Inlet. " Billy," as we always called him, was a rather
good-looking young fellow of about twenty-five years,
who understood the Tlinkit language thoroughly, but
had the fault of nearly all interpreters of mixed blood,
that when called on for duty he considered himself as
one of the high contracting parties to the bargain to be
made ; a sort of agent instead of an interpreter, and being
a wonderfully poor agent he became still worse as an
interpreter. He was as strong as two or three or-
dinary men of his build and in any sort of an emergency
with a sprinkle of dangerous excitement about it he put
all his strength to use and proved invaluable, but in the
hum-drum, monotonous work of the trip, such as the
steering of the raft or other continuous labor, his Indian
nature came to the front, and he did every thing in ih»
world on the outskirts of the work required, but would
not be brought down to the main issue until compelled
to do so by the application of strong language. Our
other native companion was named Indianne, a Chilkat
Tahk-heesh Indian, whose familiarity with the latter
language, through his mother, a Tahk-heesh squaw,
made liim invaluable to us as an interpreter while in the
country of this tribe, which stretches to the site of
old Fort Selkirk at the mouth of the Pelly River.
Physically, Indianne was not all that might be required
in an Indian, for they are generally supposed to do twice
as much out-of-door work as a white man, but he was
well past fifty years and such activity was hardly to be
expected of him. Besides being a Tahk-heesh, or Stick
interpreter, he was fairly familiar with the ground as a

ill

li!

ALONG THE LAKES.

106

guide, having traveled over parts of it much oftener
than most Indians, owing to the demand for his services
as an interpreter among the Sticks. Through tlie medium
of our two intei'preters, and tlie linowledge found in each
tribe of the language of their neighbors, we managed to
get along on the river until English and Russian were
again encountered, although we occasionally had to use
four or five interpreters at once.

There was a fair wind in our favor as we started, but
it was accompanied with a disagreeable rain which made
things very unpleasant, as we had no sign of a cover on
our open boat, nor could we raise one in a strong wind.
Under this wind we made about a mile and a half an
hour, and as it kept slowly increasing we dashed along
at the noble rate of two or two and a half miles an hour.
This increasing wind, however, also had its disadvant-
ages, for on long, unprotected stretches of the lake the
water was swelling into waves that gave us no small
apprehension for our vessel. Not that we feared she
might strike a rock, or spring a leak, but that in her
peculiar explorations she might spread herself over the
lake, and her crew and cargo over its bottom. By three
in the afternoon the waves were dashing high over the
stern, and the raft having no logs running its entiie length,
was working in the center like an accordion, and with as
much distraction to us. Still it was important to take
advantage of every possible breath of wind in the right
direction while on the lakes ; and we held the raft
/igidly to the north for about two ho;irs longer, at which
time a perfect hurricane was howling, the high waves
sweeping the rowing space so that no one could stand on
his feet in that part, much less sit down to the oars, and

I 1

i !

ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT HlVEli.

as a few of the faithful pins commenced snapping, we
headed the vessel for the eastern shore at as sharp an
angle as it was possible to make running before the
wind, and which I do not think was over two points
of the compass, equal to an angle of about twenty
degrees.

ITiis course brought us in time to a rough, rocky beach
-stiewn with big bowlders along the water's edge, over
which the waves were dashing in a boiling sheet of water
that looked threatening enough ; but a line was gotten
ashore through the surf with the aid of a canoe, and
while a number of the crew kopt the raft off the rocks
with poles, the remainder of the party tracked it back
about a half a mile along the slippery stones of the
beach, to a crescent-shaped cove sheltered from the
waA'es and wind, where it was anchored near the beach.
We at once began looking around for a sufficient number
of l'>ng logs to run the whole lengtli of the raft, a search
in which we were conspicuously successful, for the tim-
bei* skirting the little cove was the largest and best
adapted for raft repairing of any we saw for many
hundred miles along the lakes. Pour quite large trees
were found, and all the next day, the 20th, was occu-
pied in cutting them down, clearing a way for them
through the timber to the shore of the lake, and prying,
pulling, and pushing them there, and then incorporating
them into the raft. Two were used for the side logs and
two for the center, and when we had finished our task it
was evident that a much needed improvement had been
made. It was just made in time, too, for many of our
tools were rapidly going to pieces ; the last auger had
slipped the nut that held it in the handle, so that it

ALONG TilE LA^E^

VHt

could not be withdrawn from the logs to clear it of the
shavings, but a small hand-vise was firmly screwed on as
a substitute, and this too lost its hold and fell overboard
on the outer edge of the raft in eight or ten feet of
water, and ice-water at that. A magnet of fair size was
lashed on the end of a long j)ole, and we fished for the
invisible implement, but without avail. "Billy" Dick-
inson, our half-breed Chilkat interpreter, of his own
free will and accord, then stripped himself and dived
down into the ice-cold water and discovered t'lat near
the spot where it had sunk was a precipitous bank
of an unknown depth, down which it had probably
rolled, otherwise the magnet would have secured it.
Other means were employed and we f ot along with-
out it.

The day we spent in repairing the raft a good, strong,
steady wind from the south kept us all day in a state of
perfect irritation at the loss of so much good motive
power, but we consoled ourselves by observing that it
did us one service at least — no mean one, however — in
keeping the mosquitoes quiet during our labors.

Across Lake Bennett to the north-westward was a very
prominent cape, brought out in bold relief by the valley
of a picturesque strea m, which emptied itself j ust beyond.
I called it Prejevalsky Point after the well-known Rus-
sian explorer, while the stream was called Wheaton
River after Brevet Major-General Frank Wheaton, U. S.
Army, at the time commanding the Military Department
(of the Columbia) in which Alaska is comprised, and
to whose efforts and generosity the ample outfit of the
expedition was due.

On the Slst we again started early, with a good breeze

108

ALONG ALASKA'S OttEAT RtVEtt.

behind us that on the long stretches gave us quite heavy
seas, which tested the raft very thoroughly, and with a
result much to our satisfaction. It no longer conformed to
the surface of the long swelling waves, but remained rigidly
intact, the helmsman at the steering oar getting consider-
ably splashed as a consequence. The red roc^ks and
ridges of the ice-covered mountain tops that I have men-
tioned finally culminated in one bold, beetling pinnacle,
well isolated from the rest, and quite noticeable for
many miles along the lake from either direction. This
I named Richards' Kock, after Vice- Admiral Richards,
of the Royal Navy. The country was becoming a little
more open as we neared the northern end of Lake Ben-
nett, and, indeed, more picturesque in its relief to the
monotonous grandeur of the mountain scenery. Lake
Bennett is thirty miles long. At its north-western ex-
tremity a couple of streams disembogue, forming a wide,
flat and conspicuous valley that, as v^e approached it, we
all anticipated would prove our outlet. Several well
marked conical buttes spring from this valley, and these
with the distant mountains give it a very picturesque
appearance, its largest river being sixty to seventy-five
yards wide, but quite shallow. It received the name of
Watson Valley, for Professor Sereno Watson, of Har-
vard University.

About five o'clock the northern end or outlet of the
lake was reached. As the sail was lowered, and we
entered a river from one hundred to two hundred yards
wide, and started forward a," a speed of three or four miles
an hour — a pace which seemerl t<m times as fast as our
progress upon the lake, since, from our proximity to the
shore, our relative motion was more clearly indicated,

ALONG THE LAKES.

109

our spirits ascended, and the prospects of our future
journey when we should be rid of the lakes were joy-
fully discussed, and the subject was not exhausted when
we grounded and ran upon a mud flat that took us two
hours of hard work to get clear of. This short stretch of
the draining river of Lake Bennett, nearly two miles
long, is called by the natives of the country *' the place
where the caribou cross," and appears on the map as
Caribou Crossing.

At certain seasons of the year, so the Tahk-heesh In-
dians say, these caribou — the woodland reindeer — pass
over this i)art of the river in large numbers in their
migrations to the different feeding groimds, supplied
and withdrawn in turn by the changing seasons, and
ford its wide shallow current, passing backward and
forward through Watson Valley. Unfortunately for
our party neither of these crossings occurred at this
time of the year, although a dejected camp of two Tahk-
heesh families not far away from ouis (No. 10) had a
very ancient reindeer ham hanging in front of their
'^rush tent, which, however, we did not care to buy.
The numerous tracks of the animals, some apparently as
large as oxen, confirmed the Indian stories, and as I
looked at our skeleton game score and our provisions of
Government bacon, I wished sincerely that June was one
of the months of the reindeers' migration, and the 21st
or 22d about the period of its culmination.

The very few Indians living in this part of the coun-
try — the " Sticks " — subsist mostly on these animals and
on mountain goats, with now and then a wandering
moose, and more frequently a black bear. One would
expect to find such followers of the chase the very har-

^-^1

f .

l''

116

ALOMa ALASKA'S GREAT RIVEH.

\ 1 ,: >

diest of all Indians, in compliance with the rule that
prevails in most countries, by which the hur.i^r excels
the fisherman, but this does not seem to be the case
along this great river. Here, indeed, it appears that the
further down the stream the Indian lives, and the more
he subsists on fish, the hardier, the more robust, the
more self-asserting and impudent he becomes.

After prying our raft off the soft mud flat we again
spread our sail for the beach of the little lake and went
into camp, after having been on the water (or in it) foi
over thirteen hours.

The country was now decidedly more open, and it was
evident that we were getting out of the mountains.
Many level spots appeared, the hills were less steep and
the snow was melting from their tops. Pretty wild rose-
blossoms were found along the banks of the beach, with
many wild onions with which we stuffed the wrought-
iron grouse that we killed, and altogether there was a
general change of verdure for the better. There were
even a number of rheumatic grasshioppers which feebly
jumped along in the cold Alpine air, as if to tempt us to
go fishing, in remembrance of the methods of our boy-
hood's days, and in fact every thing that we needed for
that recreation was to be had except the fish. Although
this lake (Lake Nares, after Sir George Nares) was but
three or four miles long, its eastera trend delayed us
three days before we got a favorable wind, the banks not
being good for tracking the raft. Our old friend, the
steady summer south wind, still continued, but was really
a hindrance to our progress on an eastern course.
Although small. Lake Nares was one of the prettiest in
the lacustrine chain, owing to the greater openness of

ALONG THE LAKES.

country on its banks. Grand terraces stretching in
beautiful symmetry along each side of the lake plainly
showed its ancient levels, these terraces reaching neai-ly
to the tops of the hills, and looking as if some huge
giant had used them as stairways over the mountains.
Similar but less conspicuous terraces had been noticed
on the northern shores of Lake Bennett.

Although we could catch no fish while fishing with
bait or flies, yet a number of trout lines put out over
night in Lake Nares rewarded us with a largo salmon
trout, the first fisb we had caught on the trip. I have
spoken of the delay on this little lake on account of its
eastward trend, and the next lake kept up the unfavor-
able course, and we did not get off this short eastern
stretch of ten or fifteen miles for five or six days, so
baffling was the wind. Of course, these protracted
delays gave us many chances for rambles around the
country, some of which we improved.

Everywhere we came in contact with the grouse of
these regions, all of them with broods of varying num-
bers, and while the little chicks went scurrying through
the grass and brush in search of a hiding place, the old
ones walked along in front of the intruder, often but a
few feet away, seemingly less devoid of fear than the
common barn fowls, although probably they had never
heard a shot fired.

The Doctor and I sat down to rest on a large rock with
a perturbed mother .grouse on another not over three
yards away, and we could inspect her plumage and study
her actions as well as if she had been in a cage. The
temptation to kill them was very great after having been
80 long without fresh meat, a subsistence the appetite

112

ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER.

loudly demands in the rough out -of -door life of an
explorer. A mess of them ruthlessly destroyed by our
Indian hunters, who had no fears of the game law, no
sportsman's qualms of conscience, nor in fact compassion
of any sort, lowered our desire to zero, for they were
tougher than leather, and as tasteless as shavings ; and
after that first mess we were perfectly willing to allow
them all the rights guaranteed by the game laws of lower

latitudes.

Quite a number of
marmots werf> seen by
our Indians, and the
hillsides were dotted
with their holes. The
Indians catch them for
fur and food (in fact,
every thing living is
used by the Indians for
the latter purpose) by
means of running
nooses put over their
holes, which choke the
little animal to death
as he tries to quit his
underground home. A
finely split raven quill, running the whole length of
the rib of the feather, is used for the noose proper,
and the instant this is sprung it closes by its own
flexibility. The rest is a sinew string tied to a bush
near the hole if one be convenient, otherwise to a
peg driven in the ground. Sometimes they employ a little
of the large amount of leisure time they have *m their

CiBVBD PINS 1«B FASTENING 41 A It
KOT SNABES.

ALONG THE LAKES.

hands in catting these pegs into fanciful and totemic
designs, although in this respect the Sticks, as in everv
thing else pertaining to the savage arts, are usually muc h
inferior to the Chilkatsin these displays, and the illustra-
tions give on page 112 are characteristic rather of the latter
tribe than of the former. Neai'ly all the blankets of this
Tahk-heesh tribe of Indians are made from these marmot
skins, and they are exceedingly light considering their
ivarmth. Much of the warmth, however, is lost by the
ventilated condition in which the wearers maintain them,
as it costs labor to mend them, but none to sit around
and shiver.

The few Tahk-heesh who had been camped near us at
Caribou Crossing suddenly disappeared the night after
we camped on the little lake, and as our "gum canoe"
that we towed along behind the raft and used for emer-
gencies, faded from view at the same eclipse, we were
forced to associate the events together and set these
fellows down as subject to kleptomania. Nor should I
be too severe either, for the canoe had been picked up by
us on Lake Lindeman as a vagrant, and it certainly
looked the character in every respect, therefore we could
not show the clearest title in the world to the dilapidated
craft. It was a very fortunate circumstance that we were
not worried for the use of a canoe afterward until we
could purchase a substitute, although we hardly thought
such a thing possible at the time, so much had we used
th*» one that ran away with our friends.

The 23d of June we got across the little lake (Nares),
the wind dying down as we went through its short drain-
ing river, having made only three miles.

The next day, th^ 24th, the wind seemed to keep swing-

Ii4

ALONG ALASKA'S ORE AT RIVER.

ing around in a circle, and although we made five miles,
I think we made as many landings, so often did the wind
fail us or set in ahead.

This new lake I called after Lieutenant Bore of the Ital-
ian navy. Here too, the mountainous shores were carved
into a series of terraces rising one above tlie other, which
probably indicated the ancient beaches of the lake when
its outlet was closed at a much higher level than at
present, and when great bodies of ice on their surface
plowed up the beach into these terraces. This new lake
was nine miles long. The next day again we had the
same fight with a battling wind from half past six in the
morning nntil after nine at night, nearly seventeen
hours, but we managed to make twelve miles, and better
than all, regain our old course pointing northward.
During one of these temporary landings on the shores of
Lake Bove our Indians amused themselves in wasting
government matches, articles which they had never seen
in such profusion before, and in a little while they suc-
ceeded in getting some dead and fallen spruce trees on
fire, and these communicating to the living ones above
them, soon sent up great billows of dense resinous smoke
that must have been visible for miles, and which lasted
for a number of minutes after we had left. Before camp-
ing that evening we could see a very distant smoke, appar-
ently six or seven miles ahead, but really ten or twenty,
which our Indians told us was an answering smoke to
them, the Tahk-heesh, who kindled the second fire, evi-
dently thinking that they were Chilkat traders in their
country, this being a frequent signal among them as a
means of announcing their approach, when engaged in
trading. It was worthy of note as marking the ex.rst-

ALONG THE LAKES.

115

•nee of this primitive method of signaling, so common
among some of the Indian tribes of the plains, among
these far-oif savages, but I was unable to ascertain
whether they earned it to such a degree of intri-
cacy with respect to the different meanings of compound
smokes either us to number or relative intervals of time
or space. It is very doubtful if they do, as the necessity
for such complex signals can hardly arise.

This new lake on which we had taken up our northward
course, and which is about eighteen miles long, is called
by the Indians of the country Tahk-o (each lake and
connecting length of river hasa different name with them),
and, I understand, receives a river coming in from the
south, which, followed up to one of its sources, gives a
mountain pass to another river emptying into the inland
estuaries of the Pacific Ocean. It is said by the Indians
to be smaller than the one we had just come over, and
therefore we might consider that wc /ere on the Yukon
proper thus far.

Lake Tahk-o and Lake Bove are almost a single sheet,
separated only by a narrow strait formed by a point of
remarkable length (Point Perthes, after Justus Perthes
of Gotha), which juts nearly across to the opposite shore.
It is almost covered with limestones, some of them
almost true marble in their whiteness, a circumstance
which gives a decided hue to the cape even when seen at
a distance.

Leaving the raft alongside the beach of Lake Tahk-o at
our only camping place on it (Camp No. 13), a short stroll
along its shores revealed a great number of long, well-
trimmed logs that strongly resembled telegraph poles,
and would have sold for those necessary nuisances in a

I'S,

'i I

'ft 'I

11«

ALONO ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER.

ti ',\

J
fit

'R »,

civilized country. They were finally made out to be
the logs used by the Indians in rafting down the stream,
and well-triinmed by constant attrition on the rough
rocky beaches while held there by the storms. Most
of these were observed on the northern shores of the
lakes, to whi'jh the current through them, slight as it
was, coiii>led with the prevailing south wind, naturally
drifts them. I afterward ascertained that rafting was

LOOKIXO ACROSS LAKE BOVB FROM TERTUES POINT.
Field Peak In the far distance. (Named for Hon. David Dudley Field.)

quite a usual thing along the head waters of the Yukon,
and that we were not pioneers in this rude art by any
means, although we had thought so from the direful
prognostications they were continually making as to our
probable success with our own. The "cotton wood"
canoes already referred to are very scarce, there prob-
ably not existing over ten or twelve along the whole
length of the upper river as far as old Fort Selkirk. Many
of their journeys up the swift stream are performed

ALONG THF LAKK8.

iir

by the natives on foot, carrying their limited necessitle-T
on their baclis. Upon tlieir return a small raft of from
two to six or eight logs is made, and they float down
with the current in the streams, and pole and sail
across the lakes. By comparing these logs with tele-
graph poles one has a good idea (f the usual size of the
timber of these districts. The scarcity of good wooden
cau'jes is also partially explained by this smallne^s of the
logs ; while birch bark can -s are unknown on the Yukon
until the neighborhood of old Fort Selkirk is reached.
This same Lake Tahk-o, or probably some lake very
near it, had been reached by an intrepid miner, a Mr.
Byrnes, then in the employ of the Western Union Tele-
graph Company. Many of my readers are probably
not acquainted with the fact that this corporation, at
about the close of our civil war, conceived the grand idea
of uniting civilization in the eastern and western conti-
nents by a telegraph line running by way of Bering's
Straits, and that a great deal of the preliminary sur-
veys and even a vast amount of the actual work had
been completed when the success of the Atlantic cable
put a stop to the project. The Yukon River had been
carefully examined from its mouth as far as old Fort
Yukon (then a flourishing Hudson Bay Company post),
some one thousand miles from the mouth, and even
roughly beyond, in their interest, although it had previ-
ously been more or less known to the Russian- American
ani Hudson Bay trading companies. Mr. Byrnes, a
pra tical miner from the Caribou mines of British
Co' ambia, crossed the Tahk-o Pass, already cited, got on
one of the sources of the Yukon, and as near as can
be made out, des^^ended it to the vicinity of the lake

118

ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER.

of which I am writing. Here it appears he was recalled
by a courier sent on his trail and dispatched by the
telegraph company, who were now mournfully assist-
ing in the jubilee of the Atlantic cable's success, and he
retraced his steps over the river and lakes, and returned
to his former occupation of mining.

Whether he ever furnished a map and a description of
his journey, so that it could be called an exploration,
I do not know, but from the books which purport to
give a description of the country as deduced from hif
travels, I should say not, considering their great inac-
curacy. One book, noticing his travels, and purporting
to be a faithful record of the telegraph explorers on the
American side, said that had Mr. Byrnes continued his
trip only a day and a half further in the light birch-
bark canoes of the country, he would Lave reached old
Fort Selkirk, and thus completed the exploration of the
Yukon. Had he reached the site of old Fort Selkirk,
he certainly would have had the credit, had he recorded
it, however rough his notes may have been, but he
would never have done so in the light birch-bark
canoes of the country, for the conclusivG reason that
they do not exist, as already stated ; and as to doing
it in a day and a half, our measurements from Lake
Tahk-o to Fort Selkirk show nearly four hundred and
fifty miles, and observations prove i that the Indians
seldom exceed a journey of s. k hours in their crampec*
wooden craft, so that his progress v/ould necessarily
have demanded a speed of nearly fifty miles an hour.
At this rate of canoeing along the whole river, across
Bering Sea and up the Amoor River, the telegraph com-
pany need not have completed their line along this part,

ALONG THE LAKES.

119

but might simply liave turned their dispatch over to
these rapid courier-s, and they would have only been a
few hours behind the telegraph dispatch if it had been
tvorked aa slowly as it is now in the interest of the
public.

We passed out of Lake Tahko a little after tv o o'clock
In the afternoon of the 26th of June, and entered the
first considerable stretch of river that we had yet met
with on the trip, about nine miles long. We quitted the
river at five o'clock, which was quite an iniprovement
an our lake traveling even at its best. The first part of
this short river stretch is full of dangerous rocks and
bowlders, as is also the lower portion of Tahko Lake.

On the right bank of the river, about four miles from
the entrance, we saw a tolerably well-built "Stick"
Indian houae. Near it in the water was a swamped Indian
canoe which one of our natives bailed out in a manner
as novel as it was effectual. Grasping it on one side,
and about the center, a rocking motion, for-, and aft, was
kept up, the bailer waiting until the recurrent wave was
just striking the depressed end of the boat, and as this
was repeated the canoe was slowly lifted until it stood
at his waist with not enough water in it to sink an oyster
can. This occiipied a space of time not much greater
than it has taken to relate it. This house was deserted,
but evidently only for a while, as a great deal of its
owner's material of the chase and the fishery was still
to be seen hanging inside on the rafters. Among these
were a great number of dried salmon, one of the staple
articles of food that now begin to appear on this part of
the great river, nearly two thousand miles from its
mouth. This salmon, when dried Defore putrefaction

120

ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER.

sets in, is tolerable, ranking somewhere between lim-
burger cheese and walrus hide. Collecting some of it
occasionally from Indian fishermen as we floated by, we
would use it as a lunch in homeopathic quantities until
some of us got so far as to imagine that we really liked
it. If smoked, this salmon is quite good, but by far the
larger amount is dried in the open air, and, Indian like,
the best is first served and soon disappears.

Floating down the river, and coming near any of the
low marshy points, we were at once visited by myriads
of small black gnats which formed a very unsolicited
addition to the million' of mosquitoes, the number of
which did not diminish in the least as v:e descended the
river. The only protection from them was in being well
out from land, with a good wind blowing, or when forced
to camp on shore a heavy resinous smoke would often
disperse a large part of them.

When we camped that evening on the new lake the
signal smoke of the Tahk-heesh Indians — if it was one-
was still burning, at least some six or seven miles ahead
of us, which showed how much we had been mistaken in
estimating its distance the day before. A tree has some-
thing definite in its size, and even a butte or mountain
peak has something tangible on which a person can base a
calculation for distance, but when one comes down to a
distant smoke I think the greatest indefiniteness has
been reached, especially when one wants to estimate it»
distance. I had often observed this before, when on the
plains, where it is still worse than in a hilly country,
where one can at least perceive that the smoke is beyond
the hill, back of whic^ it rises, but when often looking
down an open river valley no such indications are to be

ALONG THE LAKES.

had. I remember when traveling through the sand hills
of western Nebraska that a smoke which was variously
estimated to be from eight to twelve or possibly fifteen
miles away took us two days' long traveling in an frmy
ambulance, making thirty-five or forty miles a day, as
the winding road ran, to reach its site.

The shores of the new lake — which I named Lake
Marsh, after Professor O. C. Marsh, a well-known
scientist of our country — was composed of all sizes of

LOOKING SOITTHWARD FROM CAMP 14 ON LAKK HARSH

On the left Ic the Vahko PasB, on tlie right the Yukon Paes In the mountains, directly
over the point of laml. ile.wcen tbU point and the Tiikon Pass cao be seen the Yakoc
River coming into the lake,

clay stones jumbled together in confusion, and where the
water had reached and beat upon them it had reduced
them to a sticky clay of the consistency of thick mortar,
not at all easy to walk through. This mire, accompanied
by a vast quantity of mud brought down by the streams
that emanated from giinding glaciers, and vhich could
be distinguished by the whiter color and impalpable
character of its ingredients, nearly filled the new lake,
at least for wide strips along tlie shores where it had
been driven by the storms. Although drawing a littla

'■

mm^m

L22

ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER.

i! 1}

I t

■■ ! ^

less than two feet of water, the raft struck several times
at distances from the shore of from fifty to a hundred
yards, and the only alternative was to wade ashore in
our rubber boots (the soft mud being deeper than the
water itself) and tie the raft by a long line whenever we
wanted to camp.

One night, while on this lake, a strong inshore breeze
coming up, our raft, while unloaded, was gradually
lifted by the incoming high waved, and brought a few
inches further at a time, until a number of yards had
been made. The next morning when loaded and sunk
deep into the mud, the work we had to pry it off is more
easily imagined than described, but it taught us a lesson
that we took to heart, n T +hereaf ter a friendly prod or
two with a bar was generally given at the ends of the
cumbersome craft to pry it gradually into deeper water
as the load slowly weighed it down. When the wind
was blowing vigorously from some quarter — and it was
only when it was blowing that we could set sail and
make any progress — these shallow mud banks would
tinge the water over them with a dirty white color that
was in strong contrast with the clear blue water over the
deeper portion, and by closely watching this well-defined
line of demarcation when under sail, we could make out
the most favorable points at which to reach the bank, or
approach it as nearly as possible. Tliis clear-cut outline
between the whitened water within its exterior edges
and the deep blue water beyond, showed in many places
an extension of the deposits of from four hundred to
five hundred yards from the beach. It is probable that
the areas of water may vary in Lake Marsh at different
aen-sons sufficiently to lay bare these mud banks, or cover

ALONG THE LAKES.

them so as to be navigable for small boats ; but at the
time of our visit there seemed to be a most wonderful
uniformity in the depth of the water over them in every
part of the lake, it being about eighteen inches.

Camping on the lakes was ' generally quite an easy
affair. There was always plenty of wood, and, of course,
water everywhere, the clear, cold mountain springs
occurring every few hundred yards if the lake water was
too muddy ; so that about all that we needed was a dry
place large enough to pitch a couple of tents for the
white people and a tent fly for the Indians, but simple
as the latter seemed, it was very often quite difficult to
obtain. It was seldom that we found places where tent
pins could be driven in the ground, and v/lien rocks
large enough to do duty as pins, or fallen timber or
brush for the same purpose could not be had, we gener-
ally put the tent under us, spread our blankets upon it,
crawled in and went to sleep. The greatest comfort in
pitching our tent was in keeping out the mosquitoes, for
then we could spread our mosquito bars with some show
of success, although the constantly recurring light rains
made us often regret that we had made a bivouac, not
particularly on account of the slight wettings we got,
but because of our constant fear that the rain was going
to be much worse in reality than it ever proved to be.
I defy any one to sleep in the open air with only a
blanket or two over him and have a great black cloud
sprinkle a dozen drops of rain or so in his face and not
imagine the deluge was coming next. I have tried it off
and on for nearly twenty years, and have not got over
the feeling yet. If, after camping, a storm threatened,
a couple of stout skids were placed fore and aft under

1S4

ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER.

I ;

|]< I: I

II-

■i

the logs of the raft nearest the shore to prevent their
breaking off as they bumped on the beach in the waves
of the surf, a monotonous music that lulled us to sleep
on many a stormy night. The baggage on the raft, like
that in an army wagon or upon a pack train of mules, in
a few days so assorted itself that the part necessary for
the night's camping was always the handiest, and but a
few minutes were required after landing antil the even-
ing meal was ready.

So important was it to make the entire length of the
river (over 2000 miles) within the short interval between
the date of our starting and the probable date of depart-
ure of the last vessel from St. Michaels, near the mouth
of the river, that but little time was left for rambles
through the country, and much as I desired to take a
hunt inland, and still more to make an examination of
the country at various points along the great river, I
constantly feared that by so doing I might be compro-
mising our chances of getting out of the country before
winter should effectually foibid it. Therefore, from the
very start it was one constant fight against time to avoid
such an unwished for contingency, and thus we could
avail ourselves of but few opportunities for exploring the
interior.

On the 28th of June a fair breeze on Lake Marsh con-
tinuing past sunset (an unusual occurrence), we kept on
our way until well after midnight before the wind died
out. At midnight it was light enough to read common
print and I spent some time about then in working out
certain astronomical observations. Venus was the only
star that was dimly visible in the unclouded sky. Lake
Marsh was the first water that we could trust in which to

ALONG THE LAKES.

take a bath, and even there — and for that matter it was
the same along the entire river — bathing was only possi-
ble on atill, warm, sunny days.

Below old Fort Selkirk on the Yukon, at the mouth
of the White River (so-called on account of its white
muddy water), bathing is almost undesirable on account
of the large amount of sediment contained in the water ;
its swift current allowing it to hold much more than any
river of the western slope known to me, while its muddy
banks furnish a ready base of supplies. Its temperature
also seldom reaches the point that will allow one to
plunge in all over with any degree of comfort. One an .
noyance in bathing in Lake Marsh during the warmer
hours of the day was the jjresence of a large fly, some-
what resembling the "horse-fly," but much larger and
inflicting a bite that was proportionately more severe.
These flies made it necessary to keep constantly swinging
a towel in the air, and a momentary cessation of this
exertion might be punished by having a piece bitten out
of one that a few days later would look like an incipi-
ent boil. One of the party so bitten was completely
disabled for a week, and at the moment of infliction it
was hard to believe that one was not disabled for life.
With these "horse" flies, gnats and mosquitoes in such
dense profusion, the Yukon Valley is not held up as a
paradise to future tourists.

The southern winds which had been blowing almost
continuously since we first spread our sail on Lake Lin-
deman, and which had been our salvation while on
the lakes, must prevail chiefly in this region, as witness
the manner in which the spruce and pine trees invariably
lean to the northward, especially where their isolated

ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVEB.

condition an<J exjjosure on flat level tracts give the winds
lull play, to inlluencR their position. Near Lake Lin-
deman a dwarfed, coatorted pine was noticed, the fibers
of which were not only twisted around its heart two or
three times, in a height of fifteen or twenty feet, but the
heart itself was twisted in a spiral like a corkscrew that
made two or three turns in its length, after which, as if
to add confusion to disorder, it was bent in a graceful
sweep to tlie north to conform to the general leaning of
all the trees similarly exposed to the action of the winds.
There was a general brash condition of all the wood
which was very apparent when we started to make pins
for binding the raft, while it was seldom that a log was
found large enough for cutting timber. Tlie little cove
into which we put on the 19th of June, when chased by
a gale, by a singular freak of good fortune had just the
logs we needed, both as to length and size, to repair our
raft, and I do not think we saw a good chance again on
the upper waters of the Yukon. Further down, every is-
land — and the Yukon has probably as many islands
03 any half-dozen rivers of the same size in the world
put together — has its upper end covered with enough
timber to build all the rafts a lively party could con-
struct in a summer.

Lake Marsh also had a few terraces visible on the east-
em hillsides, but they were nearer together and not so
well marked as those we observed on some of the lakes
further back. Along these, however, were pretty open
prairies, covered with the dried, yellow grass of last
year, this summer's growth having evidently not yet
forced its way through the dense mass. More than one
of us compared these prairies, irregular as they seemed,

ALONG THE LAKES.

with the stubble fields of wheat or oats in more civilized
climes. I have no doubt that they furnish good grazing
to mountain goats, caribou and moose, and would be
sufficient for cattle if they could keep on friendly terms
with the mosquitoes. According to the general terms of
the survival of the fittest and the growth of muscles the
most used to the detriment of others, a band of cattle
inhabiting this district in the far future would be all

ST\CKS

AT LA\^L

From sketches by Sergeant Qloster.

tail and no body unless the mosquitoes should exj)erience
a change of numbers.

At Marsh a few miserable "Stick " Indians put in an
appearance, but not a single thing could be obtained
from them by our curiosity hunters. A rough-looking
pair of shell ear-rings in a small boy's possession he in-
stantly refused to exchange for the great consideration of
a jack-knife offered by a member of the party, who sup-

128

ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER.

posed the ornaments to be purely local in character and
of savage manufacture. Another trinket was added to
the Jack-knife and still refused, and additions were made
to the original offer, until just to see if there was any
limit to the acquisitiveness of these people, a final offer
was made, I believe, of a double-barreled shot-gun with
a thousand rounds of ammunition, a gold watch, two
sacks of flour and a camp stove, and in refusing this the
boy generously added the information that its value to
him was based on the fact that it had been received from
the Chilkats, who, in turn, had obtained it from the
white traders.

A few scraggy half-starved dogs accompanied the
party. An unconquerable pugnacity was the principal
characteristic of these animals, two of them fighting
until they were so exhausted that they had to lean
up against each other to rest. A dirty group of chil-
dren of assorted sizes completed the picture of one of the
most dejected races of people on the face of the earth.
They visited their fish lines at the mouth of the incom-
ing river at the head of Lake Marsh, and caught enough
fish to keep body and soul together after a fashion.
This method of fishing is quite common in this part of
the country, and at the mouth of a number of streams,
or where the main streai i debouches into a lake, long
willow poles driven far enough into the mud to prevent
their washing away are often seen projecting upward
and swayed back and forth by the force of the current.
On closer examination they reveal a sinew string tied to
them at about the water-line or a little above. They
occasionally did us good service as buoys, indicating the
mud flats, which we could thereby avoid, but the num-

S^f !

ALONG THE LAKES.

VtH

ber of fish we ever saw taken off them was not alarming.
The majority of those caught are secured by means of
the double-pronged fish-spears, which were described on
page 76. I never observed any nets in the possessiort
of the Tahk-heesh or "Sticks," but my investigations iu
this respect were so slight that I might easily have ovei
looked them. Among my trading material to be used
for hiring native help, fish-hooks were eagerly sought by
all of the Indians, until after White River was passed,
at which point the Yukon becomes too muddy for any
kind of fishing with hook and line. Lines they were not
so eager to obtain, the common ones of sinew sufiiciently
serving the purpose. No good bows or arrows were sf en
among them, their only weapons being the stereotyped
Hudson Bay (Company flintlock smooth-bore musket,
the only kind of gun, I believe, throwing a ball that this
great trading company has ever issued since its founda-
tion. They also sell a cheap variety of double-barreled
percussion-capped shotgun, which the natives buy, and
loading them with ball — being about No. 12 or 14 guage
— find them superior to the muskets. Singular as it may
appear, these Indians, like the Eskimo I found around
the northern part of Hudson's Bay, prefer the flintlock
to the percussion-cap gun, probably for the reason that
the latter depends on three articles of trade — caps, pow-
der and lead — while the former depends on but two of
these, and the chances of running short of ammunition
when perhaps at a distance of many weeks' journey from
these supplies, are thereby lessened. These old muskets
are tolerably good at sixty to seventy yards, and even
reasonably dangerous at twice that distance. In all
their huntings these Indians contrive by that tact pecu-

ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER.

liar to savages to get within this distance of moose, black
bear and caribou, and thus to earn a pretty fair subsist-
ence the year round, having for summer a diet of salmon
with a few berries and roots.

The 28th we had on Lake Marsh a brisk rain and
thunder shower, lasting from 12.45 p. m. to 2.15 p. m.,
directly overhead, which was, I believe, the first thun-
derstorm recorded on the Yukon, thunder being un-
known on the lower river, according to all accounts.
Our Camp 15 was on a soft, boggy shore covered with
reeds, where a tent could not be pitched and blankets
could not be spread. The raft lay far out in the lake, a
hundred yards from the shore, across soft white mud,
through which one might sink in the water to one's
middle. When to this predicament the inevitable mos-
quitoes and a few rain showers are added, I judge that
our plight was about as disagreeable as could well be
imagined. Such features of the explorer's life, however,
are seldom dwelt upon. The northern shores of the lake
are unusuiiil/ flat and boggy. Our primitive mode of
navigation suffered also from the large banks of "glacier
mud" a^ .> ? approached the lake's outlet. Most of this
mud was probably deposited by a large river, the
McClintock (in honor of Vice-Admiral Sir Leopold
McClintock, R. N.), that here comes in from the north-
east — a river so large that we were in some doubt as to
its being the outlet, until its current settled the matter
by carrying us into the proper channel. A very con-
spicuous hill, bearing north-east from Lake Marsh, was
named Michie Mountain after Professor Michie of West
Point.

CHAPTER VI.

A OHAPTEK ABOUT KAFTINO.

-z^^i^'m

' SNUBBING " THE RAFT.

AKE Marsh gave us
four days of variable
sailing on its waters,
when, on the 29th of
June, we emerged
from it and once more
felt the exhilaration
of a rapid course on a
swift river, an exhila-
ration that was not
allowed lo die rapidly away, by reason of the great
amount of exercise we had to go through in managing
the raft in its many eccentric phases of navigation. On
the lakes, whether in storm or still weather, one man
stationed at the stern oar of the raft had been sufficient,
as long as he kept awalie, nor was any great harm done
if he fell asleep in a quiet breeze, but once on the river
an additional oarsman at the bow sweep was impera-
tively needed, for at short turns or sudden bends, or
when nearing half-sunken bowlders or tangled masses of
driftwood, or bars of sand, mud or gravel, or vhile
steering clear of eddies and slack water, it was often
necessary to do some very lively work at both ends of
the raft in swinging the ponderous contrivance around to

X88

ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER.

avoid these obstacles, and in the worst cases two or three
other men assisted the oarsmen in their difficult task.
Just how much strength a couple of strong men could
put on a steering sweep was a delicate matter to gauge,
and too often in the most trying places our experiments
in testing the questions were failures, and with a sharp
snap the oar would part, a man or two would sit down
violently without stopping to pick out the most luxur-
ious places, and the craft like a wild animal unshaclded
would go plowing through the fallen timber that lined
the banks, or bring up on the bar or bowlder we had
been working hard to avoid. We slowly became practi-
cal oar makers, however, and toward the latter part of
the journey had some crude but effective implements
that defled annihilation.

As we leisurely and lazily crept along the lakes some-
body woald be driving away ennui by dressing down
pins with a hatchet, boring holes with an auger anc"
driving pins mth an ax, until by the time the lakes *vere
all passed I believe that no two logs crossed each other
in the raft that were not securely pinned at the point of
juncture with at least one pin, and if the logs were large
ones with two or three. In this manner our vessel was
as solid as it was possible to make such a crait. and
would bring up against a bowlder with a shock and
swing dizzily around in a six or seven raiie current with
no more concern than if it were a slab in a mill race.

I believe I have made the remark in a previous chap-
ter that managing a raft — at least our method of manag-
ing a raft — on a lake was a tolerably simple affair,
especially with a favorable wind, and to tell the truth,
one lan not manage it at all except with a favorable

A CHAPTER ABOUT RAFTING.

188

vnnd. It was certainly the height of simplicity Avhen
compared with its navigation upon a river, although at
first sight one might perhaps think the reverse ; at least
I had thought so, and from the conversation of the whites
and Indians of south-eastern Alaska, I knew that their
opinions coincided with mine ; but I was at length com-
pelled to hold differently from them in this matter, as
in many others. Especially was this navigation difficult
on a swift river like the Yukon, and I know of none
that can mai.;*'iin a flow of more even rapidity from
source to mouth than this great stream. It is not very
hard to keep a raft or any floating object in the center
of the current of a stream, even if left alone at times, but
the number of things which present themselves from
time to time to drag it out of this channel seems marvel-
ous.

Old watermen and rafting lumbermen know that while
a river is rising it is hard to keep the channel, even the
driftwood created by the rise clinging to the shores of
the stream. Accordingly they are anxious for the
moment when this driftwood begins to float along the
main current and out in the middle of the stream, for
then they know the water is subsiding, and from that
point it requires very little effort to keep in the swiftest
current. Should this drift matter be equally distributed
over the running water it is inferred that the river is at
" a stand-still," as the^ say. An adept can closely
judge of the variations and stage of water by this
means.

In a river with soft or earthy banks (and in going the
whole length of tlie Yukon, over two thousand miles,
we saw several" varieties of shores), the swift current, in

;

134

ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER.

which one desires to keep when the current is the motive
power, nears the shores only at points or curves, where
it digs out the ground into steep perpendicular banks,
which if at all high make it impossible to find a camp-
ing place for the night, and out of this swift carisnt. the
raft had to be rowed to secure a camp at eve /wft ile
breaking camp next morning we had to wo., i, ^a,ck
into the current again. Nothing co. id be more aggra-

AHONG TUB SWEEPERS.

vating than after leaving this swift cniTent tc find a
camp, as evening fell, to see no possible chance for such
a place on the side we had chosen and to go crawling
alohg in slack water while trees and brushes swept
rapidly past borne on thu swift waters we had quitted.

If the banks of a river are wooded — an''^ nt. stream en/
show much denser growth on its shores th ^ i,iie Yukuu —
the trees thnt are constantl y tumbling in from these placet*
that are being undermined, and yet banging on by their
roots, form a so'ies of cJu't uvx defrist oi ahatis, to which
is given the backwoods cogn'>men <ji ' iveepers," and a

A CHAPTER ABOUT RAFTING.

135

,-"4

man on the upper side of a raft plunging through them
in a swift current almost wishes himself a beaver or a
muskrat so that he can dive out and escape. -A - ^'

iTot only is the Yukon equally wooded
on its banks with the average rivers of
the world, but this fringe of fallen
timber is much greater in quantity
and more formidable in aspect r^-;^^ ^^^^
than any found in the temperate pig. 1.

zones. I think I can explain this fact to the satisfaction
of my readers. Taking fig. 1 on this page as representing
a cross-section 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 as to form an abatis
along the bank, trees so held will lean obliquely down
stream and any floa ing object will merely brush along
on their i.'ps withoi? t receiving serious damage. Figure
2, above, ropre-
aents a similar
sketch of a cross -
section on the
banks of the
Yukon, e 8 p e c - fig. 3.

ially along its numerous islands, these banks, as we saw
them, being generally from six to eight feet above the
level of the water. This is also about the depth to

tio. 2.

:ii

■fa;'

i ': Si!

^ n

; '"'

186

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 tenacity of ice
' ' support them ; and it is not until the water has exca-
.ed as far as c (five or six times as far ae in Figure 1),
fcuat the overhanging mass csd becomes heavy enough to
break oflf 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 away, it remains until
thawed out by the river water already but 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
by 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 brand, and +\7ig fero-
ciously standing at "charge bayonets,'' to resist any
thing that floats that way. In Fig. 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 man^
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 startlecl by the sound of a distant gun-shot on
the banks, whicL 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 e. 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 isl and was mad e out ahead and it appeared
tt) 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 peculiarly well practiced eye to
follow with certainty the line of the current of the stream
from the bow of the raft beyond any obstruction in
sight a fair distance ahead, and on more than one
occasion our hardest work with the oars and poles was
rewarded by finding ourselves on the very bar or flat we

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 cir>-uni-
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 gTeat distance
this was often quite as difficult 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
mud are very frequent obstructions in front of an island
— at least it was so on the Yukon — indeed the coinci-
dence was too frequent to _ j 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 tail 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 rignt 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

iu:

A CHAPTER ABOUT RAFTING.

189

island, as it was seen "'end on ".from above. People
were very prone to use these convenient reference marlcs
in malting 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 infer 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 stem — and looked
forward on the water flowing along, the imagination
easily conceives that one can follow up from that position
to almost any thirg 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 axis 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 answei 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 concei)tion of

140

ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER.

I J' -I

the wjty 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

¥r>

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 down a little, when
one or two, or even half-a-dozen persons would jump
ashore at a favorable spot, and with 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 "drop" the craft down
stream b ~ cneans 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 sulHcient 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 place 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
th3 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 '^his we did on the lakes in

u»

ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RTVER.

;'.:(

making a camp or in gaining the shore when a head wind
set in), but as ou^ two oars at bow and stem were the
most convenient for the greater part of the work, we
Ubod them entirely, always rowing our bundle of logs
broadside on to the point desired, provided that no bars
or other obstacles interfered. We generally kept the
bow end inclined to the shore that we were trying 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 accord-
ingly.

Our bundles of effects on the two corduroy 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 spread of
broadside area that was incapable of being lowered. More
frequently than was pleasant the 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 ahvays 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 as
it may seem so near the Arctic Circle — the sun would

A CHAPTER ABOUT RAFTING.

148

strike down from overhead with a blistering effect and a
bronzing effect from its reflection in the dancing waters
that nmde 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
flaps helped us to screen ourselves to a limited extent
from the tropical toraient, but if hung too high, the
stern oai"sman, 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 in those regions (ame 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 watei upon our faces.

"Cut offs" throuf,'h channels that led straight across
were often most decei)tive affairs, the swifter currents
nearly always swinging around the great bends of the
river. Especially bad was a peculiarly seductive "cut-
off" with a tempting by swift curii-Tts you entered it,
caused by its flowing over a shallow bar, whereupon the
current woidd rapidly and almost immediately deepen
and would consequently slow down to a rate that Avas
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

ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER.

of despond," 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 ponderous craft would go plowing
through and casting aside some of the most formidable
of them. I doubt ver}'^ much if snags did "s as much
harm as benefit, for as they always ind' d shoal
water, and were easily visible, especially glasses,

they often served us as beacons. I saw very few of the
huge snags which have received theaj^pellationof "saw-
yers" on the Mississippi and Missouri, and are so much
dreaded 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 uj ou one of them in
a swift current there was "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

►

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'M^

A CHAPTER ABOUT RAFTING.

147

have to be lifted before it would budge 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 simj^ly wading around),
the point nearest to a deep navigable cliannel and then to
swing the raft, end for end, up stream, even agaiust the
swiftest current that might come boiling over the upper
logs, until that channel was reached. There was no more
happy moment in a day's history than when, after an
hour or so had been spent in prying the vessel inch by
inch against the current, we could finally see the current
catch it on the same side upon which we were working
and perform the last half of our task in a few seconds,
where perhaps we had spent as many hours upon our
portion of the work. At one bad place, on the upper
end of an island, we had to swing our forty-two foot
corvette around four times. Our longest detention by a
sand bar was three hours and fifty minutes.

. vlud bars were not y- nrly so bad, unless the material
was of a clayey conshiency, when a little adhesiveness
would be added to • iie other impediments, and again, as
we always endeavored to keep in the swift water we sel-
dom encountered a mud bar. But when one occurred
near to a camping place, it materially interfered with our
wading ashore with our heavy camping effects on our
backs, and would reduce our rubber boots to a deplora-
ble looking condition. Elsewhere, it was possible to pry
the Dift riglit through a mud bank, by dint of muscle
and \jatience, and then we could sit down on the outer

148

ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER.

:m!-

l! i

logs of the deck and wash our boots in the water at lei-
sure as we floated along. Our raft dre sv from twenty to
twenty-two inches of water, and of course it could not
ground in any thing deejjer, so that good rubber boots
coming up over the thighs kei^t our feet comparatively
dry when overboard ; but there were times wiven 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 Avere about as iiseless 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 inlo a firm bed by a binding
of day almost as solid and unyielding as rock, we could
ask nothing bettei*. and in such cases we always went to
work with cneerful prospects of a speedy release. By
«imply lifting the raft with pries the swift 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 forward, we passed 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

m
m

A CHAPTER ABOUT RAFTING.

reloading. Such cases occurred fully a score of times
during our voyage. When the ;aft stranded on a bar
with the water on each side ho deep that we could not
wade p shore, 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 (w^thand
proportional current than through very swift water over
shallow bars.

Looking back, it seems almost miraculous that a raft
could make a voy;'"-" of over thirteen hundred miles, the
most difficult pa '' which was unknown, starting at
the very head whert fh> stream was so narrow t!ia) the
raft would have been brought at a standstill if a swung
out of a straight course end oi (an it did in the Payer
Rapids), and cot'ering nearly two months of daily
encounters with snags and bowlders, sti<'kingon luirs and
shooting rapids, and yet get through a 1 most unscathed.
When I started to build this one on Lake Lindeman I
had anticipated constructing two or three of t hese primi-
tive craft before I could exchange to good id sufficient
native or civilized transportation.

The raft is undoubtedly the oldest form of navigation
extant, and undoubtedly the worst ; it is interesting to
know just how useful the raft can be as an auxiliary to
geographical exploratic .1, and certainly my raft journey
was 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.

1 'i '*

i-\

restricted to streams whose upper waters can be reached
by the explorer. The traveleJ* 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 the presence of good, fair-sized timber along the
stream. The river too, must offer no falls of any great
size. My journey, however, has demonstrated that a
well constructed raft can go any where, subject to the
above restrictions, that a boat can, at least such a boat us
is usually employed by explorers.

I know of nothing that can give an explorer a better
opportunity to delineate the topograi)hy of the surround-
ing country with such instruments as are commonlj 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, wliere om 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 stead y pace, 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 dei^rnds upon this steadiness of
motion. The errors indea<l reckoning of Mr. Homan, my
topographer, in running i'lom Pyramid Harbor inChil
kat Inlet to Fort YukcM., both carefully determined by
astronomical observations and over a thousand miles
apart, was less than one per cent. , a fact which proves

!i^

A CHAPTER ABOUT RAFTING.

Iftl

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 ot Fort Yukon, before it
was astronomically determined by Captain Raymond.
Meridian 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 vr.ry
with the size of the raft, for one as large as ours ^^'ould
not always be needed and a small one can be more
readily handled in exploration. While rafting, field
photography, now so much used 'j / explorers, is very
difficult, as it can only be achieved at camping places
unless the apparatus is carried ashore in a canoe, if the
raftsmen have one ; and the ease with which separated
persons can lose each other along a river full of islands
makes this kind of work a little uncertain, and the serv-
ices of a good artist more valuable.

This summary covers nearly all the main points that
are strictly connected with geographical exploration, in
the meaning ordinarily accepted ; but on expeditions
where this exploration is the main object there are often
other mptters of a scientific nature to be taken into
account, such as the geology, botany, and zoology of the
districts traversed, to which the question of geograi)h-
ical distribution is important, and for all these objects
researches by means of a I'aft are at considerable disad-
vantage.

Also in rafting there is a slight tendency to over-esti-
mate the length of the stream, although the map may be
perfectly accurate. In the figure on page 152, the axis

163

ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER.

AA' is undoubtedly the accepted line on which to esti-
mate and measure the length of the stream between those
two points, and it is equally evident to one familiar with
the currents of a river that some such line as RB' would
represent the course of a floating raft, and the excess of
RR' over AA', both being developed, would be the error
mentioned. In this figure the relative curv'^s are exag-
gerated to show the principle more clearly. Again, every
island and shoal would materially affect this somewhat

mathematical plan, but I
think even these would
tend to produce an over-
estimate.

Drifting close along the
shores of an island, and
nearing its lower termina-
tion, we occasionally were
delayed in a singular man-
ner, unless prompt to
avoid it. A long, nar-
row island, with tapering
ends, and lying directly
in the course of the cur-
rent, gave us no trouble ;
but oftentimes these
lower ends were very blunt, and the currents at the
two sides came at all angles with respect to the
island and each other, and this was especially true of
large groupings of islands situated in abrupt bends of
the river. To take about the worst case of this nature
that we met, imagine a blunted island with the current
at either side coming in at an angle of about forty-five

A CHAPTER ABOUT RAFTING.

IBS

I:^^^n;^.

degrees to the shore line, or at right angles to each
other, as I have tried to show in figure on this page, the
arrows showing the current. At some point below the
island the recurving and ex-curving waters neutralize
each other in a huge wliirlpool (W). Between W and
the island the waters, if swift, would jMur back in strong,
dancing waves like tide-rips, and in some places with
such force as to cut a channel (C) into the island. It is

evident that with the
raft at R, it is neces-
sary to row to star-
board as* far as R'
before W is reachecl,
as otl)erwise it would
be carried back against
the island. We got
caught in one violent
whirlpool that turned
the huge raft around
so rapidly that I be-
lieve the tender stom-
achs of those prone to sea-sicl. .ss would soon have
weakened if we had not escaped by vigoroiis efforts. At
great angles of the swift vmter and broad-based islands
I have seen the whirlpool when nearly half a mile from
the island, and they were usually visible for three or four
hundred yards if worth noticing. So many conditions
were required for the creation of these obstacles thatthey
were not common.

CHAPTER VII.

THE GRAND CAfTON OF THE YUKON.

GRAYLING.

WE slowly floated out of Lake
Marsh it was known to us by
Indian reports that somewhere
not far ahead on the course of
the river would be found the
longest and most formidable
rapid on the entire length of the
great stream. At these rapids
the Indians confidently expected
that our raft would go to
pieces, and we were therefore
extremely anxious to inspect
them. By some form of improper interpretation, or in
some other way, we got the idea into our heads that
these rapids, " rushing," as the natives described them,
•'through a dark canon," would be reached very soon,
that is, within two or three miles, or four or five at the
furthest. Accordingly I had the raft beached at the river' s
entrance, and undertook, with the doctor, the task of
walking on ahead along the river bank to inspect them
before making any further forward movement, after
which one or both of us might return. After a short
distance I continued the joumey alone, the doctor re-
turning to start the raft. I hoped to be at the upper

THE GRAND CANON OF THE YUKON.

165

eud of the rapids by the time she came in sight so as to
signal her in ample time for her to reach the bank from
the swiftest current in the center, as the river was now
five or six hundred yards wide in places. It turned out
afterward that the great rapids were more than fifty
miles further on.

I now observed that this new stretch of river much
more closely resembled some of the streams in temperate
climes than any we had yet encountered. Its flanking
hillsides of rolling ground were covered with spruce and
pine, here and there breaking into pleasant- looking
grassy prairies, while its own picturesque valley was
densely wooded with poplar and willows of several
varieties. These latter, in fact, encroached so closely
upon the water's edge, and in such impenetrable con-
fusion, that camping places were hard to find, unless a
friendly spur from the hills, covered with evergreens,
under which a little elbow room might be had, wedged
its way down to the river, so as to break the continuity
of these willowy barriers to a night's good camping
place. The raft's corduroy deck of pine poles often
served for a rough night's lodging to some of the party.

Muskrats were plentiful in this part of the river, and
I could hear them "plumping " into the water from the
baaks, every minute or two, as I walked along them ;
and afterward, in the quiet evenings, these animals
might at once be traced by the wedge-shaped ripples
they made on the surface of the water as they swam
around us.

I had not walked more than two or three miles,
fighting great swarms of mosquitoes all the way, when I
came to a peculiar kind of creek distinctive of this por-

156

ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER.

tion of the river, and worth describing. It was not very
wide, but altogether too wide to jump, with slopes of
slippery clay, and so deep that I could not see bottom
nor touch it with any pole that I could find. These
singular streams have a current seemingly as slow as
that of a glacier, and the one that stopped me — and I
suppose all the rest — had the same unvarying canal-like
width for over half a mile from its mouth. Beyond thia
distance I dared not prolong my rambles to find a crossing
place for fear the raft might pass me on the river, so J
returned to its mouth and waited, fighting mosquitoes,
for the raft to come along, when the canoe would pick
me up. In my walks along the creek I found ;nany
moose and caribou tracks, some of them looking large
enough to belong to prize cattle but all of them were
old. Probably they had been made before the mosqui-
toes became so numerous.

The first traveler along the river was one of our old
Tahk-heesh friends, who came down the stream paddling
his " Cottonwood" canoe with his family, a squaw and
three children, wedged in the bottom. He ^jartio^'y
comprehended my situation, and I tried hard to ruike
him< understand by signs that I wanted simply to cross
the canal -like creek in his canoe, while he, evidently
remembering a number of trifles he had received from
members of the party at a few camps back, thought it
incumbent upon him to take me a short way down the
river, by way of a quid pro quo, to which I did not
object, especially after seeing several more of those wide
slack- water tributaries, and as I still supposed that the
rapids were but a short distance ahead, and that my
Indian guide expected to camp near them. The rain

THE GRAND CANON OF THE YUKON

167

was falling in a persistent drizzle, which, coupled with
my cramped position in the rickety canoe, made me feel
any thing but comfortable. My Indian i)atrori , a good
natured looking old fellow of about fifty, was evidently
feeling worried and harassed at not meeting other
Indians of his tribe — for he had previously promised me
that he would have a number of them at the rapids to
portage my effects around it if my raft went to i)iecos in
shooting them, as they were all confident it would, or if
I determined to build another forthwith at a point below
the dangerous portion of the rapids — and he ceased the
not unmusical strokes of his paddle every minute or
two in order to scan with a keen eye the river banks or
the hillsides beyond, or to listen for signals in reply to
the prolonged shouts he occasionally emitted from his
vigorous lungs. After a voyage of three or four miles,
he became discouraged, and diving down into a mass of
dirty rags and strong- scented Indian biic-a brae of all
sorts in the bottom of the canoe, he fished out an old
brass-mounted Hudson Bay Company flintlock horse-
pistol, an object occasionally found in the possession of
a well-to-do Yukon River savage. He took out the
bullet, which he did not desire to lose, and held it in his
teeth, and pointing the unstable weapon most uncom-
fortably close to my head, pulled the trigger, althougii
from all I have seen of these weapons of destruction (to
powder) I imagine the butt end of the pistol was the
most dangerous. The report resounded through the
hills and valleys with a thundering vibration, as if the
weapon had been a small cannon, but awakened no reply
of any kind, and as it was getting well along into the
evening my " Stick" friend pointed his canoe for an old

108

ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER.

; i

' 'I

camping place on the east bunk of the river (although
the boat was so warped and its nose so broken that one
might almost have testilied to its pointing in any oth.r
direction), and with a i'evv stroices of his paddle he was
soon on shore. Thereuixm I went into tlie simplest camp
I had ever occupied, for all tliat was done was to pull
an old piece of riddled canvas over a leaning polj and
crawl under it and imagine that it kept out the rain,
vvhicli if; did about as effectually as if it had been a huge
crochei tidy. My companions, however, did not seem to
mind the rain very much, their only apparent objeci'on
to it being that it prevented their kindling a fire with
their usual apparatus of steel and damp tinder ; and
when I gave them a couple of matches they were so i)ro-
fuse in their thanks and their gratitude seemed so genu-
ine, that I gave them all I had with me, probably a
couple of dozen, when they overwhelmed me with their
grateful appreciation, until I was glad to change the
subject to a passing muskrat and a few ducks that were
swimming by. I could not help contrasting their beha-
vior with that of the more arrogant Chilkats. They
seemed much more like Eskimo in their rude hospitality
and docility of nature, although I doubt if they equal
them in personal bravery.

There is certainly one good thing about a rain storm
in Alaska, liowever, and that is the repulsion that exists
between a moving drop of rain and a comparatively sta-
tionary mosquito v^hen the two come in contact, and
which beats down the latter with a most comforting
degree of pertinacity. Mosquitoes evidently know how
to protect themselves from the pelting rain under the
broad deciduous leaves, or under the lee of trees and

THE GRAND CANON 01 THE YUKON.

.69

branches, for the instant it ceases they are all out, appa-
rently more voracious than ever. All along this bank
near the Indians' camp, the dense willow brake cravvU-d
uj) and leaned over the water, and I feared there was no
camping place to be found for my approaching party,
until after walking back about half a mile I espied a
place where a little spur of spruce-clad hillocks infnnged
on the shore. Here I halted the raft and we made an
uncomfortable camp. Pish of some kind kept jumping
in the river, but the most seductive "flies" were unre-
warded with a single bite, although the weather was not
of the kind to tempt one either to hunt or flsh.

The next day, tiie 3Uth of June, was but Utile better
as far as the weather was concerned, and we got awn y
late from our camp, having overslept ourselves. Out
Tahkheesh friend, with his family, now preceded us in
his canoe for the purpose of indicating the rapids in
good season ; but of course he disappeared ahead of us
around every bend and island, so as to keep us feeling
more anxious about it. At one time, about eight o'clock
in the evening — our Tahkheesh guide out of sight for the
last half hour — we plainly heard a dull roaring ahead of
us as we swung around a high broken clay bluff,
and were clearly conscious of the fact that we were
shooting forward at a more rapid pace. Thinking that
discretion was the better part of valor, the raft was
rapidly swung inshore with a bump that almost ujiset
the w^hole crew, and a prospecting party were sent down
stream to walk along the bank until they found out the
cause of the sound, a plan which very soon revealed
that tliere were noisy, shallow rapids extending a short
distance out into the bend of the river, but they were

mmmmm

ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER.

ili

i'V

! V H

not serious enough to liave stopped us ; at least they
v/«uld have been of no consequence if we had not landed
in the first place, but, as matters stoou, they were
directly in front of our position on the shore, and so
swift was the current thuo we could not get out fast
enough into tTie stream with our two oars to avoid stick
ing on the rough bar of gravel and bowlders. Shortly
after the crew had jumped off, and just as they were pre-
paring to pry the raft around into the deeper water of
the stream, the most violent splashing and lloundering
was heard on the outer side of the craft, and it was soon
found that a goodly-sized and beautifully-spotted gray-
ling liad hooked himself to a lish-line that some one had
allowed to trail over the outer logs in tlie excitement of
attending to the more important diities connected with
the supposed rapids, lie was rapidlj' taken from the
hook, and when the line was again tlirowr. over into the
ripples another immediately repealed the operation, and
it soon became eiident that we were getting into the very
best of fishing waters, the lirst we had discovered of that
character on the river, '\iter Ihe raft was swung clear
of the outer bowlders of the reef and had started once
more on its w;iy down stream, several lines, poles and
Hies weregotten out, and it was quite entertnining to see
the long casts that were attempted as we rushed by dis-
tant ripples near the curve of the banks. More than one
of these casts, however, proved successful in landing a
fine grayling. A Jump ^nd a sx)lash and a miss, and
there was no more chance at fchtit ripjile for the same
fish, for by the time a recover and a cast could be made
the raft was nearly alongside of another tempting
place, so swift was the j'iver and so numerous the clean

THE GRAND CANON OF THE YUKON.

161

gravel bars jutting into it at every bend. Many a pretty
grayling would come sailing through the air like a Hy-
ing squirrel and unhooking himself en route, with a
quick splash would disappear through the logs of the
raft, with no other injury than a good bump oi' his nose
against the rough bark, and no doubt ready to thonk his
stars that his captors were not on land. Passing over
shallow bottoms covered with white pebbles, especially
those shoaling down stream from tlie little bars of which
I have spoken, a quick eye could often detect great
numbers of fish, evidently grayling, with their heads
up stream and propelling their tails just enough to
remain over the same spot on the bottom, in the swift
current. That evening we camped very late — about 10
p. M. — having hopes to the last that we might reach the
upper end of the Grand Canon. Our Stidc guide had
told us that when we saw the mouth of a small stream
coming in from the west and spreading out in a mass of
foam over the rocks at the point of continence, we could
be sure of finding the great canon within half a mile. An
accurate census of small creeks answering exactly to
tliat description having been taken, gave a total of about
two dozen, Avitli another still in vIhw ahead of us as we
camped. Knowing the penchant of our fishy friends
for half-submerged gravel bars, our camp was picked
with reference to them, and near it there were two of
such bars running out into the stream. Some fifty or
sixty grayling were harvested by the three lines that
were kept going until about eleven o'clock, by which
time it was too dark to fish with any comfort, for the
heavy banked clouds in the sky brought on darkness
much earlier than usual. Red and white mixed flies

162

ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER.

II '!

ill

were eagerJy snapped by the voracious and active creat-
ures, and as the evening shadows deepened; a resort to
more white in the mixture kept up the exhilarating sport
until it was too dark for the lisherman to see his fly on
the water. Tiie grayling caught that evening seemed to
be of two very distinct sizes, without any great number
of intermediate sizes, the larger averaging about a pound
in weight, the smaller about one-fourth as much. So
numerous and voracious were they that two or three flies
were kept on one line, and two at a cast were several
times caught, and triplets once.

On the morning of July 1st, we approached the great
rapids of the Grand Canon of the Yukon. Just as I had
exjiected, our Tahkheesh guide in his cottonwood canoe
was non est, until we were within sight of the upper end
of the canon and its boiling waters, and tearing along at
six or seven miles an hour, when we caught sight of him
frantically gesticulating to us that the rapids were in
siglit, which was plainly evident, even to us. lie i)rob-
ably thought that our ponderous raft was as manageable
in the seething current as his own light craft, or he never
would have allowed us to get so near. In the twinkling
of an eye we got ashore the first line that came to hand,
and tliere was barely time to make both ends fast, one
on the raft and the other to a convenient tree on the
bank, before the spinning raft came suddenly to the end
of ';er tether with a snappish twang that made the little
rope sing like a musical string. Why that little quarter-
inch manilla did not part seems a mystery, even yet, — it
was a mere government flagstaif lanyard that we had
brought along for packing purposes, etc. — but it held on as '
if it knew the importance of its task, and with the swift

mffmrrmfmnmrr.

THE GRAND CANON OF THE rUKON.

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
that the rapids were about five 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 liad previously been about
three hundred or three hundred and fifty yards in width,
gradually contracts as it nears the upper gate of the
canon and at the point where the stream enters it in a
high white-capped wave of rolling water, I do not be-
lieve its width exceeds one-tenth of that distance. The
walls of the caiion are perpendicular columns of basalt,
not unlike a diminutive Fingal's cave in ai)pearance, and
nearly a mile in length, the center of this mile stretch
being broken into a huge basin of about twice the usual
width of the stream in the canon, and which is full of
seething whirlpools and eddies where 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
act 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 thoroughfare paved with the whit-
est of marble. At the northern outlet of the 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 water 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 tlu^ craft out of the little eddy where
she lay, the poor vessel resisting as if she knew all that
was ahead of her and was loth to go, she finally swung

THE GRAND CANON OF THE YUKON.

167

clear of the point and like a racer at the start made
almost a leap forward and the die was cast. A moment's
hesitation at the canon's brink, and quick as a flash the
whirling craft plunged into the foam, and before twenty
yards were made luid collided with tlie western wall oi
columnar rock with a shock as loud as a blast, tearing
off 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, but
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 intliefoam
beyond as it subsided. Those on board of the raft now
got hold of a line from their friends on shore, and after
breaking 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.

168

ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER.

Near the spot where we camped, just below the cas-
cades that terminated the long rapids, 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 somewliat unsatisfactory places for promenades
unless one carefully watched his footsteps. Evidences
of conflagration in the dense coniferous forests were
everywhere frequent, the fires 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 mosquitoes. While 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 betwp n four and five hundred fine grayling, a
fishing grou^.d that excelled any we afterward found on
the Yukon River.

Our favorite fishing place was just below the cascades,
where a number of the disintegrating columns of basalt
had fallen in, forming a talus along which we could walk
between the water and the wall. A little beyond the
wall itself sloped down and ran close beside the little
ripples where we were always sure of a "rise" when the
grayling would bite. This was nearly always in the cool
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.

bait just as suddenly and as mysteriously. Light
northern winds brought fine 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 snapping at

THE CASCADKS AT TIIK END OF THE GREAT UAPIDS.
Head of Navigation on t)ic Yukon, 1660 miles from Aplioon moutli.

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, struggling
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.

Ill

on the surface around the swiftest corners that a spring
for it was at all certain, and even then a brown hackle
dancinj around in the same place would monopolize
every rise within the radius of a iish's eyesight. Our
Tahk-heesli friends, who had been nuide useful by us in
several ways, such as carrying elFects over the portage,
helping with poles md logs, and so on, were as much
surprised at this m.vel mode of lishing as the grayling
themselves, and expressed their astonisluuent, in guttural
grunts. They regarded themselves as admitted to high
favor when we gave them a few of the tlies as presents.
They ate all the spare 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 sotirce, as
we had no provisions to spare them. The largest gray-
ling we caught weighed two pounds and a quarter, but
we had the same invariable twosizesalroadj' mentioned,
with here and there a slight deviation in grade. These
grayling were the most persistent biters I ever saw rise
to a ily, 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 caiion
and rapids 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
w^as pretty thoroughly covered with small pines and

THE GRAND CANON OF THE YUKON.

171

spruce, and all along the i)ortage trail some Tiiners who
had been over it had cut these down near the path and
felled them across it, and had then barlv«Hl them on their
upper sides, forming stationary skids along which they
could drag their whip-sawed boats. Two Large logs
placed together on the steep declivity, and well trimmed
of their limbs and bark, made good inclines on which the
boat or boats could be lowered into the valh'v below.
Here they had floated their boats by towlines down to
the cascades, around which point they had again dragged
them. It may readily be imagiii 'd 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 walking the whole distance. The da} we walked
over the trail on the eastern side of the canon and rapids
was one of the hottest and most insufferable I ever
experienced, and every time we sat down it was only to
have " a regular down-east fog " of mosquitoes come buz-
zing around, and the steady swaying of arms and the
constant slapping of the face was an exercise fully as
vigorous as that of traveling. Our only safe plan was
to walk along brandishing a great handful of evergreens
from shoulcler to shoulder. As we advanced the mos-
quitoes invariably kejit the same distance ahead, as if
they had not the remotest idea we were coming toward
them. An occasional vicious reach forward through 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

172

ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER.

Dreeze on one's peppered face and to see the rascals dis.
appear. Our backs, however, were even tlien spotted
with them, still crawling along and testing every thread
in one's coat to see if they could not find a thin hole
where they might bore through. Once in the breeze, it
was comical to turn around slowly and see their effoi'ts
to keep under the lee of one's hunting sliirt, as one by
one they lose their hold and are wafted away in the
wind. 1 1 these pests had been almost unbearable before,
they now became simply fiendish 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 upward 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 some 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 far more benefit than the coolness due
to the altitude, while the mosquitoes are left luuiisputed
masters of the valleys, except for a few straggling
animals on their way from one range of mountains to the
other. Had there been any game, and had 1 obtained
a fair shot, I honestly doubt if I could have secured it
owing to these pests, not altogether on account of their
ravenous attacks upon my face, and especially the eyes,
but for the reason that they were absolutely so dense
that it was impossible 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 beat I could in a stifling
smoke from dry resinous pine knots. A traveler who
had spent a summer on the Lowe;' 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 i^rostration, unless
he were to take refuge in mid-stream. I know that the
native dogs are killed by the mosquitoes under certain
circumstances, and I heard reports, which I believe to be
well founded, both from Indi; is and trustworthy white
persons, that the great brown bear — erroneou.sly but
commonly called the grizzly — of these Regions is at times
compelled to succumb to these insects. The statement
seems almost i)reposterous, but the explanation is com-
paratively simple. 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 washed up along the river's
banks that attracts him. Covered with a heavy fur on
Ms body, his eyes, nose and ears are the vulnerable

174

ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER.

UF:.'

\ .: )

point', for mosquitoes, and here of course they con-
gregate in the greatest nnnibers. At lust wlien he reaches
a swarnp.v stretch tliey rise in myriads until liis fore-
paws are kept so busy as lie strives to keep his eyes

ALASKA UROWN ItKAR FIGirriKG MOSQUITOKS.

clear of them that he can not ^valk, whereupon he
becomes enraged, and bear-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 starve?
U) death.

CHAPTER A^TI.

DOWN TIIK KIVEU TO SELKIRK.

NE fev'ening about eight
. o'clock, while encaniped
below the cascades, we
could hear dull, heavy con-
cussions occurring at intervals
of two or three Uiinutes. The
sound did not at all resemble
that of distant thunder, and
moreover, the sky was cloud-
less. Earthquakes were sug-
iN Tiiii uiMt uAPius. gested, but the theory did not
seem plausible, and we ^ 'ere compelled to attribute it to
the cascades, which, I believe, have been known to cause
earth tremblings and analogous phenomena.

I noticed that a Tahk-heesh Indian in arranging his
head and breast bands for a load to be carried on his
back, adjusted them as follows : The breast-band was
grasped in the center by the jialm of the hand, and when
pulled out taut if the elbow of the packer just touched
the load, — box, bag or bundh;, — it was considered to be
in proper condition to carry. Tlie bn^ast band adjusted,
the head band is also pulled out, and between the two
there must be the width of the pack(>r's hand ; the liead-
band, which is not always used, being the longer. I hod

%'\

176

ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER.

hitLerto noticed this manner of arranging tlie load when
among my Cliilkat packers ; the most singular feature
of it being that the breast band passes over the arms so
at to pinion them to the sid*?^, making them apparently
useless wli^n the vaomt needed .

CLAY BLUFFS ON THE TJPPEK YUKON.

On tue 5tli of July we again got underway on our raft.
For the first few miles, eight or ten, the river is very swift
and occasionally breaks into light rapids, although I
believe a powerful light-draft river steamer, such as are
used on the shallow western rivers, could easily sur-
mount all the bad places we saw below the cascades of

DOWN THE RIVER TO SELKIRK.

177

the great rapids. If I ara right in my conjectures njjon
this point, the Yukon River is navigable for 18(50 miles
from the Aphoon or northernmost mouth of its delta.

Shortly afternoon we passed the mouth of the Tahk-
heen'-aorTahk River coming in from the west, which is
about two-thirds the size of the Yukon. By following
it to its head, wliere the Indians say is a large lake, the
traveler arrives at the Chilkat portage, the relation of
which with the Chilkoot trail has already been noticed.
Prom this point on my Chilkat guide, Indianne, was much
more familiar with the country, having been over the
Chilkat trail many tinies, and over the Chilkoot i)ortage
but once when a small boy. From the cascades to the
Tahk River, a distance of nearly twenty-live miles, the
banks of the Yukon are quite high and often broken into
peri)endicular bluff s of white clay, whose rolling crescent-
shaped crowns were densely covered with pine and
spruce. While the Tahk-heen'-a is the smaller stream,
its bed and valley apparently determine the general char-
acteristics of the river beyond its confluence, the high bold
bluffs of clay just mentioned being from this point suc-
ceeded by lower shores wooded to the water's edge.

The Tahk-het I'-a, like all streams not interspersed with
lakes on its upper course, carries cpiite muddy water,
and we all felt a little uneasy about our fine grayling fisliei--
ies, a foreboding well founded, for they diminished with an
exasperating siiddenness, our evenings seldom being
rewarded with more than two or three.

The last of the chain of lakes was reached the same
day at 5 p. yi., and we were pievented from taking ad-
vantage of a good v/ind by a three hours' detention on a
sand-bar that stret<'hed aliuost entirely across the river's

4\\

'VI

11'

178

ALONG ALASKA' Fi GREAT RIVER.

mouth. This bar had a deep channel on either side of it;
aid when our most strenuous efforts completely failed
to get thi! raft off, there was nothing to be done but to
put the load ashore, and as wading was impossible, the
<'ottonwood canoe was brought into action, slow as the
m..thod ^vas. Not having been used nuich lately its
condition was unknown, and as soon as we launched it,
the water came >">ouring 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 first load went ashore,
and "Billy" undertook to overcome this difficulty by
putting most of the load in the stern, taking his own place
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 both, the canoe's head going under water just
as it reaclK^d t le shore, upon which there was a liurried
scramble to unload it without damage.

This lak" was called by the Indians Kluk-tas'-si ; and,
as it wos one of the very few pronounceable names of
Indian derivation in this section of the country, I re-
tained it, although it is pos;-iible tbar this may be the
Lake Labarge of some books, the fact Ihat it is the first
lake above the site of oM Fort Selkirk being tlie only
geographic.ll datum in its favor, while all its other rela-
tions to equal points of importance are opposed to the
theory. In fact, it had evidentlj' been mapped by the
merest giiesswork from vague Indian reports.

I hope I shall be excused for again reviving the subject
of conjectural geography, so uncertain in its lesults and

DOWN THE RIVER TO SELKIRK.

170

SO prevf lent m Alaskan charts, especially those relating
to the interior, even when they are of an official charac-
ter. If the self-satisfaction of these parlor laap-niakers
has been gratiliod in following unknown rivers and
mountains wherever their fancy and imagination led
them, and no other liarm resulted, one conversant with
the facts might dismiss the manifold errors that occur
in their charts with a contemptuous smile at the method
pursued. But that harm of the most serious nature 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 finding
gold or silver in paying quantities, there was consider-
able diversitj'- of opinion in regard to the propriety of
any further advance in such a wild unexi)lored country,
the majority advocating a return. Among their number
was a young lawyer, a graduate of an eastern college, I
believe, who had joined the party in the hope of finding
adventures and of repairing his health, which had sufl'ered
from too close an application to his professional jf udies.
Having in his possession an official governmein chart
which pretended to map the route over which he had
come as well as that ahead of him, although he had re-
ceived j:>roof of its untrustworthiness in the past, hf) re-
solved to trust it once more. Numerous Indian villages
and towns were shown upon the chart at convenient in-
tervals along the remainder of the route. He thought
the villages might not be just where they were marked,
but believed that in the main their number and positions
were at least approximately correct. Basing his exi)ect

S44

n 1
I

180

ALONG ALASKA'^ GREAT RIVEH.

I ) ,. . ,

ations on the help to be obtained froui these numer-
001:* 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 out
the hospitality which they nad received from the Indians
they had i)reviously met, and expressing his expectation
of meeting many others as friendly. Whether his rea-
soning influenced them or not I have forgotten, and it
matters but littlv3, but at any rate the party 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 thebars of which stream the pros-
pect of finding gold was greatest. During all this long
journey not a single Indian Avas seen by the party, and
only one desei ted house, with an occasional peeled spruce
pole at long intervals that marked the temjjorary camps

of the few wandering natives. Young C took the

jokes of his companions upon his chart and its Indian
towns good-naturedly enougli, and the map was nailed
to a big spruce tree and used for a target for rifle prac-
tice, but he often spokp 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, tal'en as
a whole, is worth the ink with which it is printed. Limi-
ted explorations and surveys in this vast territory, such
as those of Captain Raymond on the Yukon. Lieutenant,
Ray on the Arctic Coast. Lieutenant Stoney on the Put-
nam '•iver, and many others, are undoubtedly excellent,
second to none in the world made under similar circum-
stances, and conlined strictly to the country actually

Fi ^1

DOWN THE RIVER TO SELKIRK.

181

traversed by each, with broken line delineations in sur-
rounding districts, indicating conjectures; but as soon us
these or such portions of them as the AVashington com-
piler may see lit to take, are dumped into a great map of
Alaska, they are so mixed with conjectural topography
and map work that one must know the history of
Alaskan exploration about as well as the history of his
own life 1^ be able to discriminate between the good and
the worthless.

Like Lake Marsh, Kluk-tas-si is full of mudbanks
along its shores ; its is-iuing 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, that we thought we could detect a slight
current when making our way along in the blue water.
This was especially noticeable when the wind died down
to a calm. In spite of all this, Kluk-tas-si offered fewer
difficulties in the way of making landings than Lake
Marsh. It seemed to me that but a brief geological
period must elapse before these lakes are filled with
deposits, their new shores covered Avith timber, and
their beds contracted to the dimensions of the river.
Saoh ancient lakes appear to occur in the course of the
stream further on.

We started at seven in the morning and were occupied
until eight in rowing and sailing through the tortuous
channel which led to blue water in the deep portion of
the lake. To keep this channel readily we sent the
Indians ahead in the canoe, who sounded with their
long paddles, and by signals indicated the deepest parts.
In spite of their exertions we stuck a couple of times,

182

ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER.

M I

If i

m^f

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 put 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 several times during the day, but every time it
arose it was in our favor. That evening by tl|,e 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 upheav-
ing their huge flanks upon what seems to be a well-
marked island, but which is in reality 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 Eiver. The frequency of this name in Ameri-
can geographical nomenclature was to me sufficient
reason for abandoning it ; and I gave the name of Rich-
thofeii to the rocks and river (the latter, however, not
having been seen by us), after Freiherr 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
trip ; 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,

lit

DOWN THE RIVER TO SELKIRK.

183

picturesquely striped with tlie foliage of the dark ever-
green growing in the ravines. From the lake the con-
trast was very pretty, and showed a ret!:ularity that
scarcely seemed the work of nature. I named tliem
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 largest of which
weighed over eight pounds, that being the limit of the
pocket scales of the doctor. Saturday the 7th gave us
the most conflicting winds, and although we were upon
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, r ndtheday was employed in taking astronomi-
cal observations, arranging our photographic apparatus
and similar work, until early afternoon. At 1.30 I'.m.
a favorable breeze from the south sprang 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
exasperating 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 zephyr hardly sufficient to keep away the
mosquitoes. 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, made our
beds on the slanting declivity at a place where it was
Impossible to pitch a tent, and went to sleep only to be

I'M

184

ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER.

awakened at night by showers of rain falling npon oui
nptnrnetl faces. We congratulated ourselves that we
were in a i)Iace where the drainage was good.

In the sliallow water near the shores of Ljike Kluk-
tass:, especially where a little bar of pretty white sand
put out into the banks of glacier mud, one conld always
find innumerable shoals of small graylings not over an

111;

OUTLET OP LAKE KLUKTASSI.
Terminal Butte of the Haiicock Hills (on the right).

inch in length, and our Indians immediately improvised
a mosquito bar into a fish net, catching Imndreds of the
little fellows, which were used so successfully as bait
with the larger fish of tlie l.iko that we finallj^ thought
the end justified the meani.

Instead of dying down as we spread sail earlj in the
morning of the 9th, the windactnally freshened, upsetting
all our prognostications, and sending us along at a rate that

DOWN THE RIVER TO SELKIRK.

18S

:?1

allowed vis to enter tlie river early in the forenoon, and
1 doubt if the be.siegers of a fortress ever saw its Hag go
down with more satisfaction than we saw tlie rude wall-
tent sail come down forever, and left behind us the most
tedious and uncertain method of navigation an exjjlorer
was ever called upon to attempt— a clumsy raft on a
motionless lake, at the sport of variable winds. Our
joy was somewhat dampened at sticking several times on
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 in many
places as almost to deserve the name of rapids. This
was i>articularly the case where the swift stream cut into
the high banks that loomed some forty to sixty feet
above lis as we rushed by, a top stratum tliat rusted upon
the stiflf yellow clay being full of rounded bowlders,
which, when undermined, were letdown into the river's
bed, choking it partially with most dangerous-looking
obstacles.

During the whole day we were passing throiigh 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 fire were
quite old ; so old, in fact, that the dark rotting trunks
had become mere banks of brown stretclied along the
ground, the blackened bark of the stumps being the only
testimony as to Ihe manner of its destruction. Others,
again, were so recent that the last rain had not yet
beaten the white ashes from their blackened limbs,
while late that evening we dashed through the region of
smoke and flame we had discerned earlier in the day.

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ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER.

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It is wonderful what great wide strips of river these
flames will cross, probably carried by the high winds,
when light bunches of dry, resinous matter are in a
blaze. We saw one instance which, however, must be a
rare one, of a blazing tree that fell into the water, where
it immediately found a hydrostatic equilibrium, so that
its ui)per branches continued on lire, blazing and smok-
ing away like a small steam launch. It might readily
have crossed the river as it floated down, and becoming
entangled in the dry driftwood of the oi)posite bank,
have been the nucleus of a new conflagration, the limits
of which would have been determined by the wind and
the nature of the material in its path. Of course, in such
an intricate wilderness of bla(!k and brown trunks and
stumpf^ any kind of game that approaches to black in
color, such as a moose or black or brown bear ; in
fact, any thing darker than a snow-white mountain-
goat, can easily avoid the most eagle-eyed hunter, by
simply keeping still, since it could scarcely be distin-
guished at any distance above a hundred yards.

The western banks at one stretch of the river con-
sisted of high precipitous banks of 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 party perceived and
drew our attention to a brown stump which seemed to
have an unusual resemblance to a "grizzly bear," to
use his expression. The resemblance was marked by
all to such an extent that the stump was closely
watched, and when, as we were from four to six hundrv-d
yards away, the stump picked up its roots and began to
walk down the slope, there was a general scrambling

I«

DOWN THE RIVER TO SELKIRK.

187

around for guns, giving the stump an intimation that all
was not right, and with cae good look from a couple of
knots on its side, it disappeared among the rest of the
timber before a shot at a reasonable distance could be
fired. Thereafter our guns were kept in a more con-
venient position for such drift timber.

After we had made a good forty miles that day, we
felt perfectly justified in going into camp and about seven
o'clock we commenced looking for one. The river was
uniformly wide, without a break that would give slack
water where we could decrease our rapid pace, and that
day commenced an experience such aa I have treated of
in the chapter on rafting. Not knowing the efficacy of
this method at the time, we did not find a camp until
8:15, but back of us lay over forty-five miles of distance
traversed, which amply compensated us for the slight
annoyance. Ahead of us there still hung dense clouds
of smoke which seemed as if the whole world was on
fire in that direction. An hour or so after camping
(No. 24) a couple of miners came into camp, ragged and
hungry, the most woebegone objects I ever saw. They
belonged to a party that numbered nearly a dozen and
who had started about a month ahead of us. These two
had left a third at camp about a mile up the river (from
which point they had seen us float by), and were return-
ing to civilization in order to allow the rest of the party
food sufficient to enable them to continue prospecting.
The party, at starting, had intended to eke out their
civilized provisions with large game from time to time,
in order to carry them through the summer. Tliey were
well armed and had several practical hunters with them,
who had often carried out this plan while prospecting in

I'll

■

i [

;

188

ALONQ ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER.

what seemed to be less favored localities for game. Tlieir
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 mosquitoes, 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 I have already de-
8cril)ed, with but a mere pittance of food in their haver-
sacks. Possessing no reliable maps, they were obliged
to follow the tortuous river, for fear of losing it, since it
was their only guide out of the country. Large tribu-
taries coming in from the west, which was the side they
had chosen, often forced thi'iii to go many weary miles
into the interior before they could be crossed. They
hoped to find an Indian canoe by the time the lakes
were reached, but from the scarcity of these craft I
doubt if their hopes were ever realized. I heard after-
ward that they had suffered considerably on this return
trip, especially in crossing through the Perrier Pass, and
had to be rescued in the Dayay Valley by Indians from
the Haines ^[ission.

The country was constantly getting more open as we
proceeded, and now looked like the rolling hill-land of
old England. By the word open, however, I do not
mean to imi)ly the absence of timber, for the growth of
spruce and pine on the hills and of the deciduous trees
in the valleys continued as dense as ever, and so re-
mained nearly to the mouth of the river, varying, how-
ever, in regard to size and species.

Upon the 10th, the current did not abate a jot of its

DOWN THE EIVER TO SELKIRfT.

189

swiftness, and iilthony;h we st&rted tolerably late, yet
when Camp 2i> was pitched, at 8:15 p.m., in a thick grove
of little poplars (there being no jjiospect of a better
camp in sight), we had scored f)!) miles along the axis of
the stream, the best lecord for one day made on the
river. Abont 10 o'clock, that morning, we again passed
through forest fires that were raging on both sides of the
riv(>r, which averages at this point from !3()') f o 400 yards
in width. A commendable scarcity of mosquitoes was
noticed on this part of the river.

Shortly after noon we passed the moui'.h of a large
river, from 150 to 200 yards in width, which my Chilkat
Indians told me was called the Tah-heen -a bv t hem. The
resemblance of this name to that of the Tahk-heeii'-a
made me abandon it, and I called it aftcjr M. Antoine
d'Abbadie, Membre d'Institut, the Fiench exi)lorer.
In regard to Indian names on this -part of the Yukon
lliver, I found that a white man labors under one difliculty
not easy to overcome. The Chilkats, who ai-e, as it were,
the self-appointed masters over the docile and degraded
"Sticks," while in the country of the latter, have one
pet of names and tlie "Sticks," or Tahk-heesh, have
another. Oftentimes the name of a geographic-al object
is the same in meaning, dilfering only according to the
language. More oft<3n the names are radically different,
and what is most perplexing of all, the Sticks will give
the same name as the Chilkats in the presence of the
latter, tins acknowledging in the most humble and abject
way their savage sjizerainty.

For some time before reaching the mouth of the D'Ab-
badie high hills had been rising on the eastern slope,
until near this tributary their character had become trulj

190

ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT liJVElt.

,| -1

moiintiiiiions. I called them the Semenow Mountains,
after Von Seinenow, President of the Imperial Geo*
graphical Society of Kuswia, Tlioy extend from the
3)'Al)l)adi»! River on tlie north to the Newberry River
(after Professor Ne\vl)erry, of New York), on the south.
Between them and the Hancock Hills is located an iso-
lated and conspicuous butte which I named after
M. Charles Maunoir, of the Paris Geographical Society.
A very similar hill between the Tahk River and the
Yukon was named after Professor Ernst Ilaeckel, of
Jena, Germany. The mouth of the D'Abbadie marks
an important point on the Yukon River, as being the
place at which gold begins to be found in placer deposits.
From the D' Abbadie almost to the very mouth of the great
Yukon, a panful of "dirt" taken with any discretion
from almost any bar or bank, will when washed give
several "colors," to use a miner's phrase. The Daly
River comes in from the east some forty miles further
on, measured along the stream, forming, with the New-
berry and D' Abbadie, a singular trio of almost similar
streams. The last-mentioned river I have named after
Chief Justice Daly, of New York, a leading patron of
my Franklin Search expedition. The frequent occur-
rence of large tributaries flowing from the east showed
this to be the main drainage area of the Upper Yukon,
a rule to which the sole excepticm of the Nordenskiold
River (after Baron von Nordenskiold, thecelebrated Swed
ish explore^" of th(> Arctic\ which comes in from the west,
fifty miles beyond the Daly, and is the peer of any of the
three just mentioned. Immediately after passing thoai
rivers, the Newberry especially, the Yukon became very
much darker in hue, showing, as I believe, that the trib-

i :

DOWN THE RIVER TO SELKIRK.

utaries drained a considerable amount of what might be
called — possibly inappropriately — "tundra" land, /. e.,
where the water, saturated with the dyes extracted from
dead leaves and mosses, is pnn-ented by an impervious
substratum of ic«s from clarifying itself by luMcolating
through the soil, and is carried off by superficial drain-

LOOKIXa BACK AT THE KINK BAFIDS.

age directly into the river-beds. Where we camped on
the night of the 2oth I noticed that many of the dead
seasoned poplars with which we built our camp-fire and
sooked our food had been killed in pi'evious winters by
cne hares, that had peeled the bark in a circle around the
trunk at such a uniform height of from twenty to twen-
ty-four 'nches from the ground, measured from the lower

ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVj^R

edg-e of the girdle, that I could not but think that this
was ub>)('t the average depth of the winter snow, ui)on
which the liares stood at the time. On the 11th we
drifN'd over fifty iniles. Shortly after starting we
l)assed the mouth of the Daly, already referred to, while
directly aheiid was a noticeable hill named by the Chil-
kats Eagles' Nest, and by the Tahk-heesh Otter Tail, each
in their own language, I easily saw my way out of the
dini(Mdty by changing its name to I'arkman Peak, after
prof* ssor Francis Piukman, the well-known American
historian.

AVe passed the mouth of ttie Nordenskiold Rivevon the
afternoon of the 11th, and the saim; day our Indians told
us of a jtevilous rajtid ahead w}iich the Indians of the
conntry sometimes shot in their s;i. all rafts; but they
felt very anxious in n'gard to our :>:ilky vessel of forty-
two feet in length, as the stream r.ade a double sharp
bend with a liuge rock in the center. We started late on
the morning of the 12th, and at 10 o'clock st()i)ped onr
raft (>n the ea^.tern bank in order to go ahead and insjject
the rapids which we were abont 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 impeded by a luunber of massive
trap rocks, thirty to forty feet high, lying directly in the
channel and dividing it into three or four well marked
channels, the second from the east, being the one ordi-
narily used by the Indians. We rejected tiiis, liowever,
on account of a sharp turn in it whicli v^ould not be
avoided. These rapids were very picturesque, as they
rushed between the fantasti<'ally formed traj) rocks and
high towers, two of which were united by a slender nat-

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§ 2

» '•^

DOWN THE RIVER TO SELKIRK.

uxul bridge of stone, that spanned a whirlpool, making
the whole look like an old ruined stone bridge with bat
one arch that had withstood the general demolition.
We essayed the extreme right-hand (eastern) passage,
although it was quite narrow and its boiling current was
covered with waves running two and three feet high, but
being the straightest was the best for our long craft.
Thousands of gulls had made the top of these isolated
towers their breeding places, for nothing but winged life
could ever reach 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 shot, could, I believe, be
ascended by a light-draft river steamer provided with a
steam windlass, a sharp bend in *he 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
at their upper ends, are so loaded with great piles of
driftwood, oftentimes fifteen to twenty feet high, as to
make the vista in one of these archipelagoes 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 reveals only a dreary
stretch of felled timber, lying in unpictui'esque groups,

ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER.

I i

with the bright green of tlie ishind foliage making the
dreariness more conHpii'iious.

From Ijiike Kluk-tas-si alntost to old Fort Selkirk we
observed along the .iteep l)jiiiks of tlie river a most ron-
spicuous white stripe some two or three inches in width.
After our attention had Ix'cn attracted to this phenome-
non for two or thr(?e days, wc* proceeded to investigate it.
It averaged about two or t hree feet below the surface, and
seerm'd to separate the recent alluvial deposits from the
older beds of clay and drift btdow, although occasionally
it appeared to cut into both, especially the alluvium.
Occasionally, although at very rare intervals, there were
two stripes pai-allel to ea(?h other and separated by a few
inches of black earth, while oftentimes the stripe was
plain on one side of the river and wholly wanting on the
other. A close inspection showed it to be volcanic ash,
sufllciently consolidated to have the consistency of stiff
earth, but n'n-erthelt..o so friable that it <'oul(l be reduced
to powdor by the thumb and lingers. Tt possibly repre-
sents the result of some exceptionally violent erup-
tion in ancient times from one or more of the many
volcanic cones, now probably extinct, with whi('h the
whole southern coast of Alaska is studded. The ashes
were carried far and wide by the winds, and if the latter
then, as now, blew almost persi.stently froiu the south-
ward during the summer (and I understand the reverse
is the case in the winter), we could reasonably fix the
eruption 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 along the axis of the stream while the divid-
ers on the map hardly show half a dozen between the

It.

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! i .1!

DOWN THE RIVER TO SELKIRK.

199

same points. In the region about the mouth of the Nor-
denskiold River a conspicuous bald butte could be seen
directly in front of our raft no less than seven times, on
as many different stretches of the river. I called it Tan-
talus Butte, and was glad enough to see it disappear
from sight.

The day we shot the Rink Rapids, and only a few hours
afterward, we also saw our first moope plowing through
the willow brush on the eastern bank of the stream like a
hurricane in his frantic endeavors to escape, an under-
taking in which he was completely successful. When first
seen by one of the party on the raft, his great broad pal-
mated horns rolling through the top of the willow brake,
with an occasional glimpse of his brownish black sides
showing, he was mistaken for an Indian running down a
path in the brake and swaying his arms in the air lo attract
our attention. My Winchester express rifle was near
me, and as the ungainly animal came into full sight at a
place where a little creek put into the stream, up the
valley of which it started, I had a fair shot at about a
hundred yards ; took good aim, pulled the trigger— and
the cap snapped, — and I saved ray 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 wf! saw in the Yukon Valley, although in the
winter they are quite numerous in some districts, when
the mosquitoes have ceased their onslaughts.

That samo evening — the 12th, we encamped near the
first Indian '/illage we had met on the river, and even this
was deserted. It is called by them Kit'-ah'-gon (mean-
ing the place between liigh hills), and consists of one log
house about eighteen by thirty feet, and a score of the

200

ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER.

brush houses usual in this country ; that is, three main
poles, one much longer than the rest, and serving as a"
ridge pole on which to pile evergreen brush to com-
plete the house. This brush is sometimes replaced by
the most thoroughly ventilated reindeer or moose skin,
and in rare cases by an old piece of canvas. Such are
the almost constant habitations of these abject creatures.
When I first saw these rude brush houses, thrown
together without regard to order or method, I thought
they were scaffoldings or trellis work on wli. h the
Indians, who lived in the log house, used to dry the
salmon caught by them during the summer, but my guide,
Indianne, soon explained that theory away. In the
spr'ng 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 approaches
they have worked so far away, accumulating the scanty
stores of salmon, moose, black bear, and caribou, on
which they are to subsist, that they build a light raft
from the driftwood strewn along banks of rhe river, and
float toward home, where they live in squalor through-
out the winter. These rafts are almost their sole means
of navigation from th« Grand 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 aflPording plenty of birch bark from
which can be made the finest of canoes. Kit'-ah-gon is in
a beautiful largo valley, as its Indian name would imply
(I named it Vo;' Wilczek Valley, after Graf von Wilczek
of Vienna), and I was surprised to see it drained by so
small a stream as the one, but ten or twenty feet wide,
which empties itself at the valley's mouth. Its proximity

isfiiifii

un
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by
in.

ire

^ en

DOWN THE RIVER TO SELKIRK.

203

to the Pelly, twenty miles further on, forbids its drain-
ing a great area, yet its valley is much the more con-
spicuous of the two. Photographs of this and adjacent
scenes on tlie river were secured by Mr, Homan before
departing, and a rough "prospect" in the high bank
near the river showed "color" enough to encourage the
hope of some enthusiastic miner in regard to findini^
something more attractive. Looking back up the Yukon a
most prominent landmark is found in a bold bluff that
will always be a conspicuous point on the river, and
which is shown on page 193. I named this bluff aft
General Charles G. Loring, of the Boston Museum of Fine
Arts,

Prom Von Wilczek valley to old Fort Selkirk is but a
little over twenty miles ; and the river is so full of islands
in many places that for long stretches we could hardly
see both banks at a time, while it was nothing unusual
to have both out of sight at points where the islands
were most numerous. This cluster of islands (named
after Colonel Ingersoll, of Washington), is, I think, situ-
ated in the bed of on j of the ancient lakes of which I
have spoken, although the opinion of a professional
geologist would be needed to settle such a matter.

-i.. 3 p. M. we reached the site of old Fort Selkirk.
All our maps, some half a dozen in number, except one,
had placed the site of Selkirk at the junction of the
Pelly and Yukon between the two, the single exception
noted placing it on the north bank of the Pelly
where the streams unite. Noticing this discrepancy I
asked Indianne for an explanation, and he told me that
neither was correct, but that the chimneys of the old
rains would be found on the south side of the river about

204

ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVEll.

. I

■ ^
• a

a mile below the junction, and I found him correct, the
chimneys being visible fully a mile before we reached
them. Here we wei-e on land ftimiliar to the footsteps of
white men who had made maps and charts, that rough
and rude though they were, were still entitled to respect,
and accordingly at this point I considered that my ex-
plorations had ceased, although my surveys were con-
tinued to the mouth of the river ; making the distinction
that the first survey only is an exploration, a distinc-
tion which I believe is rapidly coming into vogue. Alto-
gether on the Yukon River, this far, there had been taken
thirty-four astronomical observations, four hundred and
twenty -five with the prisnuitic compass, and two for vari-
ation of compass. I have no doubt that these are suffi-
ciently accurate at least for all practical purposes of
geographical exploration in this countiy, until more ex-
act surveys are demanded by the opening of some indus-
try or commerce, should that time ever come. The total
length of this portion of the river just traversed from
Haines ^fission to Selkirk was five hundred and thirty-
nine miles ; the total length of the raft journey from its
commencement at the camp on Lake Lindeman being
four hundred and eighty-seven miles ; while we had
sailed and "tracked" and rowed across seven lakes for
a distance aggregating one hundred and thirty-four
miles.

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CHAPTER IX.

THBOUGH THE UPPER RAMPARTS.

T the site of old Fort Selkirk
commences the Upper Ram-
parts of the Yukon, or where
that mighty stream cuts
through the terminal spurs of
the Rocky Mountains, a dis-
tance of nearly four hundred
miles, the first hundred of
which, terminating near the
mouth of the Stewart River, are
almost equal to the Yosemite or Yellowstone in stujjen-
dous grandeur.

I was very anxious to determine beyond all reasonable
doubt the relative sizes of the two rivers whose waters
unite just above old Fort Selkirk, as upon this determi-
nation rested the important question whether the Pelly
or the Lewis River of the old Hudson Bay traders, who
had roughly explored the former, ought to be called the
Yukon proper ; and in order to settle this point I was
fully prepared and determined to make exact measure-
ments, soundings, rate of current and any other data
that might be necessary. This information, however, was
unnecessary except in a rough form, as the preponder-
ance of the old Lewis River was too evident to the most
casual inspection to require any exactness to confirm it.

108

ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER.

' ll ^

The ratio of their respective width is about five to three,
with about the ratio of five to four in depth ; the latter,
however, being a very rough approxinuition ; the Lewis
River being superior in botli, and for tliis reason I aban-
doned tlie hitter name, and it ai)pears on tlie 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 iittesting the manner of its fate. From the
careful and substantial manner in which the rubble stone
chimneys were constructed, this Hiulson Bay Company
post was evidently intended to be permanent, and frori
the comi)lete destruction of all the wood work, the Chil-
kat Indians, its destroyers, evidentlj^ intended that its
effacem(>nt 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
determination 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 rapid passage through a vast
tract of territory making the usefulness to science
highly problematical. The nearest point to the
Upper "fukon at Avhich 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

iiiiiiHi

ree,

the

♦

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 v 'H be
found in the Appendix.

The ex I lit 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, rlready been explored ; and to
my expedition fell the Ic of being the first to give it a
survey, which though is from perfection, is the first

il2

ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER.

Ifl

worthy of the name, and is, I believe, like that of the
Upper Yukon, sufficient to answer all purposes until
such time as commerce may be established on the river
subservient to the industries, either of mining or of fish-
ing, that may hereafter spring uj) along its course.

I have just spoken of the comparative sizes of the
Pelly and Lewis Rivers, as bhowing the latter to be
undoubtedly the Yukon projjer ; 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 Pelly 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 Pelly are a little richer
in placer gold ' ' color ' ' than any for a considerable dis-
tance on either side along the Yukon, creating the
reasonable inference that the mineral has been carried
down the former 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
wab 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 trade s
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 licli fur district they possessed

'ii

)f the

I until

river

fish-

O
O

I i

sBssj^j^ssssmi

THROUGH THE UPPER RAMPARTS.

SIS

an enterprise more valuable than a gold mine, if an
American can imagine such a thing.

The perpendiculttr blufE of eruptive rock, distinctly
columnar in many places, and with its talus reaching
from half to two-thiids the way to the top, 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 gap 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
s;revices 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
that 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

■il

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 Fort 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 represerted in the
figure, from which they seldom depart. It is . ashed at
the top by a wattling of willow withes, the lower ends of
the boards being driven a short v/ay 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
fiaunting 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.

le
is

^„^-.-.^»~»««""'-

i3: *iai

THROUGH THE UPPER RAMPARTS.

219

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
anu 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-

\i:

220

ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER.

,ii

ii!

II'
hi J

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 breed. In
the summer time these curs are eminentl y 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. IToman succeeded in getting a photograph
(page 221), of a grouj) 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 the hands of one of
the group, is of the cross-section on this
page, the ridge or rib r being always held to the
rear in using it. In addition to the paddle, 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

CROSS-SECTION AT AN
CANOE TADIILE.

THROUGH THE UPPER RAMPARTS.

228

it is extremely rapid during its entire course), that the
native canoemen use no other method in ascending it,
except for very short distances. The Eskimo method,
in use on the lower part 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
paddle 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 civilized, 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 below the
Grand Carion, and had found in varying numbers from
Perthes Point in Lake Bove, to the mouth of White
River, nearly a hundred miles below Selkirk, averaging
a trifle over a pound in weight ; and a trout-like salmon,
caught occasionally from Lake Nares to White River,
sometimes with an artificial fly, but more frequently on the
trout lines with baited hooks that were put out over night
wherever we camped. A most disgusting and hideous
species of eel-pout monopolized 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 refrain. Small black gnats, somewhat resembling the
buffalo gnats of the plains, were observed near Selkirk
in considerable numbers, and our Indians hinted that
they indicated the presence of large game, a story which

224

ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER.

we would gladly liave had corroborated, but in thh w©
were disappointed.

\V«? got away from Selltirk on July 15th, shortly after
noontime, 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 hundred miles further. 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, differing only in the pres-
ence every-where of innumerable islands, a permanent
characteristic of the Yukon, and one in which it ex(;eed8
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 finding insignificant i)arties of natives,
here and there, that it was a great surprise to us when
we suddenly rounded the lower end of an island about
four o'clock that afternoon, and saw from a hundred and
seventy-five to two hundred wild sav ;'ges 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 by couriers, and all of the
natives were apparently half-frantic with excitement for
fear we might drift by v'ithout 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

80 overwhelming when compared with our little band that
I gave the necessary orders in resi)ect to arms so as to
give the Indians as little advantage as possible in case
of an encounter at such close quarters. 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 gri(l' '-on of 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 the (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
placed on their hips, their arms akimbo, and they swayed
from side to side as far as their lithe bodies would per-
mit, keeping time to the rude tune in alternate oscilla-
tions to the right and left, all moving synchronously and
in the same direction, their long black masses of hair
floating wildly to and fro, and serving the practical pur-
pose of keeping off the gnats and mosquitoes which other-
wise might have made any out-door enjoyments impossi-
ble. During all this time the medicine men went through
the most hideous gymnastics possible along the front of
the line, one who had a blue-black blanket with a St.
George's cross of flaming red in its center being especi-
ally conspicuous. He excelled in striking theatrical atti-
tudes of the most sensational order, in which the showy
blanket was made to do its part, and he was forthwith

\ n

ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT EIVER.

ti ,

dubbed Hamlet by the men of the party, by way of a sub-
stitute for his almost unpronounceable name. Even after
the performance, this pompous 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 trifling object that attracted his
eye, as though he had never owned any thing of value in
his life. After the singing and dancing were over, a few
trifling presents were given to most of the Indians as a
reward for their entertainment. 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 the
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 arrest the earth's
revolution.

From a book written by a previous traveler on the
lower I'lver, who pretended to a knowledge of the tribes
upon its upper par', also, I had been deluded into the
idea that useful articles — such as knives, saws, and files,
— 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 that this was most gratuitous misinformation; for
the constant burden of their solicitations was a request

THROUGH THE UPPER RAMPARTS.

227

Ib-

for tea and tobacco, small quantities of which tliey get
by barter with intermediate riparian tribes. These
wants I found to extend among the natives throughout
the whole length of the river in varying degrees, and, as
the former article is very light, I would especially recom-
mend it to those about to enter the country for i)urposes
of scientific research, for which it is such a grand field.
Next to tea and tobacco, which we could only spare in
small quantities, fish-hooks seemed to be in good demand
among this particular tribe ; and the very few articles
they had to spare, mostly horn spoons, and birch-bark
ladles and buckets were eagerly exchaujed. Below
White River, fishing on the Yukon with hook and line
ceases, and fish-hooks are worthless as articles of ex-
change. Another article freely brought us was the pair
of small bone gambling-tools (shown
on this page) so characteristic of the
whole north-west country. They have
'v>en described when speaking of
the Chilkat Indian and I saw no
material difference in their Uoe by this particular tribe.
These Indians call the^mselves the A-yans — with an
occasional leaning (a the pronunciation toward I-yan ;
and this village, so they said, contained the majority of
the tribe, although from their understanding of the
question they may have meant that it was the largest
village of the tribe. Their country, as they claim it,
extends up the Pelly — the Indian name of which is
Ayan — to the lakes, up tiie Yukon from this pc"nt to
%\iQ village of Kit'-ah-gon, and down that stream to
near the mouth of the White and Stewart Rivers, where
they are succeeded by a tribe called the Netch-on'-deea

«r ■
IL

ATAN AND CHILKAT
OAMBLtNO TOOUl.

Scalo ^.

■ If

5 '

ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER.

or jVa-chon'-des — the Indian name of the Stewart River
being Na-chon'-de. They are a strictly riparian race
of people and define their country only as it extends
along the principal streams. From the river as a home
or base, however, they make frequent hunting excur-
sions to the interior in the winter time for moose and
caribou. This village, which they called Kah-tung,
seemed to be of a semi-permanent character ; the houses
or huts made of spruce brush, over the top of which
there was an occasional piece of well-worn cloth or dirty
canvas, but more often a moose or caribou skin. These
brush houses were squalid affairs, and especially so
compared with the bright intelligent features of the
makers, and with some of their other handicraft, such
as their canoes and native v.earing apparel. The little
civilized clothing they possess is obtained by barter with
neighboring tribes, and has generally been worn out by
the latter before they exch age, hence it is tattered and
filthy beyond measure, arvi in no wise so well adapted
to their purpose as the native clothing of buckskin. One
could hardly stand up in these brush houses, they were
built so low, and any attempt to do so was frustrated by
the quantities of odoriferous salmon hanging down from
the squat roofs, undergoing a process of »moking in the
dense clouds that emanated from spruce-knot fires on
the floor. These ornaments, coupled with the thick
carpeting of live dogs upon the floor, made the outside
of the house the most pleasant part of it. The houses
were generally double, facing each other, with a narrow
aisle a foot or two wide between, each one containing a
single family, and being about the area of a common or
government A tent. The ridge-poles were commoi: to

THROUGH THE UPPER RAMPARTS.

889

the two houses, and as both leaned forward considerably
this gave them strength to resist violent winds. The
diagram on this page gives a ground plan of an Ayan
double brush-house. The village of Kah-tung contained
about twenty of these

.**'

. T

(

cfer*

)

PLAN OP iiYAN eUHMER U0U8B Or BBUBU.

squalid huts, huddled near
the river bank, and alto-
gether was the largest In-
dian village we ^aw on the
whole length of the Yukon
River.

There was a most decided Hebrew cast of coui itenance
among many o2 the Ayans ; more pronounced, in fact,
than I have ever seen among savages, and so much so as
to make it a subject of constant remark.

Their household implements were of the most primitive
type, — such as spoons of the horn of the mountain goat,
vfjxy similar to those of the Tlinkits, but by no means so
•ive?) carved ; and a few bii^jkets, pans, and trays of birch-
Jrv"^";, ingeniously constructed of one piece so as not to
Ua'z .:nd neatly sewed with long withes of trailing roots.
(1 .? hner thread-like spruce roots, well -boiled, are, I be-
lieve, generally used by them in sewing their birch-bark
canoes and utensils.)

Their present village was, as I i\ave said, evidently
only of a semi -permanent character, nc°(\ iv the summer
during the time that salmon were ascending the river to
spawn ; the bright red sides of this lish, as they were
hanging around, split open, forming a not inartistic con-
i T;vi, with the dark green spruce boughs of the houses
and surrounding forests; the artistic effect, however, was
best appreciated when holding one's nose. Scattered

I '

i i-

i !

1=
m

230

ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER.

around in every direction was a horde of dogs that defied
computation, and it must be an immense drain on their
commissariat to keep these animals alive let alone in good
condition. The p^«^iount of active exercise they took,
however, would no "" 9 to reduce them in flesh, foi
their principal occupa seemed to be unlimited sleep.

kon-it'l, chief of the ayans.

Although we were not successful in getting a photograph
of the long group of dancers, we were more fortunate with
a group of the chiefs and medicine-man " Hamlet," from
which the portrait on this page, of Kon-it'l, their chief,
is taken. It was impossible to get them to face the

THROUGH THE UPPER RAMPARTS.

231

camera at such short range until one of the members of
the exploring party took his position with them, while
Mr. Homan secured the photograph.

The Ayan mothers, instead of carrying their babes on
their backs with their faces to the front, as is usually
done by savage women, unless when using a cradle, turn
them around so as to have them back to back, and carry
them so low as to fit as it were into the " small of the
back."

Most of the Ayan men, and especially the younger
members, were armed with bows and arrows, but there
was quite a conijiderable sprinkling of old flint-lock
JIudson Bay Company muskets among them, which they

AYAN MOOSE ARROW.

had procured by trade many years ago when Fort Sel-
kirk flourished, or by intertribal barter, and their cost to
these poor savages was almost fabulous. The Company's
manner of selling a gun was to set it upright on the floor
of the trader's store, and then to pile up 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-gray fox, and thoir aggregate value being
probably three to four hundred dollars. Their bows and
arrows were of the stereotyped Indian make, 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 point the usual double

ALOKG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVEk.

_% I i

barb of comnion arrows, while one side is prolonged for
two or tliree inches into a series oi barbs ; these latter
they claim have the effect of working inward with the
motions of the muscles of the animal if it be only
wounded. Once wounded in this manner these sleuth-
hounds of sav^ages will remain on the trail of a moose for
■days if need be, until this dreadful weapon has reached
a vital point, or so disabled the animal that it easily suc-
cumbs to its pursuers. In hunting moose in the summer
time, while these animals are swimming across the lakes
or broad streams, I was told by one of my interpreters
who had often traded among them, and was well ac-
quainted with their habits and customs, 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 t ., ^m-
ming as described by previous explorers 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 initated
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 picture
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.

838

gether, they are most villainous and piratical looking
things.

Only one or two log-cabins were seen anywhere in the
Ayan country and these had the dilapidated air of
complete and permanent abandonment, although this
whole district of the river is teeming with timber appro-
priate for such use. Probably the nomadic and restless
character of the inhabitants makes it irksome for them
to dwell in such permanent abodes, in spite of the great
comfort to be derived in their almost Arctic winters from

CROSS- SECTION THBOUGH AYAN WINTER TENT.

such buildings, if well constructed. The 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 Ayans
live mostly in tents, but by an ingenious arrangement
these ordinarily cold habitations 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-

i'-

2Si

ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RtVElt.

! I

ered with animal skins, and a thick banking of snow, sa,
two or three feet deep is thrown over the outside ten!
during the coldest weather of winter, making a sort ox
hybrid between tlie Esltimo igloo, or snow houpe, and
the Indian skin lodge.

Many of the Ayans were persistent beggars, and next
morning, the 16th of July, we got an early start before
many of them were about, for as a tribe they did not
seem to be very early risers.

Nearly directly opposite the Kah-tung village the per-
pendicular basaltic bluffs shown in the view at the moutb
of the Pelly cease ; and from this point on, the hills ovt
both sides of the river were higher and even mountain-
ous in character ; "the upper gates of the upper ram-
parts."

From this point on down through the ramparts small
black gnats became annoyingly numerous and pugna-
cious, while tlie j)lague of mosquitoes seemed to abate a
little. The mosquito-bars, 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 crawl through. Veils with the very
finest meshes would be needed to repulse their onslaughts,
and with these we were not provided.

Tha. day, the 16th, 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 tliander showers that wet us to the skin.

Everywhere in conspicuous positions near the edge ox
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

mnOVGH TffE UPPER RAMPaPTS.

23i

seen from the distance projected against the somber
green of the deep spruce forests.

About thii'ty-four miles beyond old Selkirk a small
but conspicuous mountain stream came in from the
south, which I named after Professor Selwyn, of Ottawa,
Canada.

The river was still full of islands, however, many of
which are Covered with tall spruce and look very pic-
turesque in the almost canon- like river-bottom, the steep
mountain sides being nearly devoid 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 berries that there
abound. Although we passed within half a mile of him,
he 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 cf 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 especially 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

,'i

S88

ALOm ALASKA'S GREAT RHTER.

I ;

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the swift current from underneath, which would have
been a good enough theory as far as the sound was
concerned ; but soundings in such places invariably
failed to touch bottom with a sixteen-foot pole, and,
moreover, when we were in sliallovver 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, figuratively speaking, — or in that
agitated condition so common in deep water immediately
after a shoal, a condition with whicli our experience in
prying the raft off shoals had rendered us familiar — I
attempted to account for it upon the theory explained
by the 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 half 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 a,
are borne along by
their own inertia and
the superficial current,
and literally dropped
on a gravel-bank at some point forward, such as &, and,
water 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 simply 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

fHROUGH THE UPPER RAMPARTS.

23t

joundinqs before and after the occurrence of these sln^-
lar noises would have settled this tlieory ; 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 the test, unless
one kept constantly sounding while upon the river. It
was observed on the lower river in a much less degree,
and probably might there have passed unnoticed if
previous experience had not recalled it to our attention.

That evening we camped at 8 o'clock, after trying to
conduct our cur .bersome vessel to a pretty little spot for
the purpose, but our well-used " snubbing" line parted
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, we made the best
of it and camped, for we were getting used to such
experiences by this t'me.

Next morning, about 7 o'clock, when we were nearly
ready to start, we found four Ayan Indians, each in his
birch-bark canoe, visiting our camp. They came from
the Kah-tung village above, having left it, as they said,
shortly after our departure on the preceding day, and had
camped for the night on the river just above us. They
expressed great surprise at the distance we had made by
simple drifting, having until this morning felt certain that
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

ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVEH.

I; >

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*:JIJ

III! : i

Pi fi 1 !

trader's store of which they spoke, and we kept passi'.ig
each other for the next three or four days. They had
spoken at tlie Iviih-tung village of this trading sta-
tion (whicli we took to be Fort Yukon), which
they said they could reach in three days; kindly
adding that we might make the distance with our
craft in a week or so. They now changed their
minds and thought we might only be a day or two behind
them. I found that the progress of the raft, when care
was taken to keep in the swiftest current, for twelve or
fourteen or perhaps sixteen hours a day, with no unusual
detentions, fully equaled the average day's journey of
the Indian canoes, which remained ir the water not more
than six or seven hours a day ; their occupants stopping
to hunt every animal that might be seen, as well as to
cook a midday lunch at their leisure. In fact my own
Indians, who had traded among them, more than hinted
that they were hurrying considerably in order to go along
with us and to reach the white trader's store as a portion
of our party.

These same four fellows, when they met us on the morn-
ing of the 17th, had with them the carcass of a black
bear, which they offered for sale or barter ; and on our
buying one hindquarter, which was about all that we
thought we could use before spoiling, they offered us the
rest as a gift. We accepted the offer to the extent of
taking the other hindquarter, for which we gave them a
trifle, whereupon the rest of the carcass was left behind
or thrown away on the beach, a circumstance which was
explained to us by the fact that all four of these Indians
were medicine-men, and as such were forbidden by some
superstitious custom from eating bears' flesh. They told

TIIROUOH THE UPPER RAMPARTS

230

US that tha juiiiial was tlie same black bear we luul seen
on the northern hillsides of the rivtr the day before.

The morning of the 17th and certain other periods of
the day were characterized by a heavy fog-bank, which
did not quite reach the river bottom, but cut the hill-
sides at an \ltitude of from three hundred to Ave hundred
feet above the level of the stream. The fog gave a dismal
and monotonous aspect to the landscape, but proved much
better for our physical comfort than the previous day, with
its alternating rain and blistering heat. We found these
fogs to be very common on this part of the ri\ er, being
almost inseparable from the southern winds that prevail
at this time of the year, I suppose these fogs proceed
from the moisture-laden air over the warm Pacific which
is borne on the southern winds across the snow-clad and
glacier-crowned mountains of the Alaskan coast range,
becoming chilled and condensed in its progress, and
reaching this part of the Yukon valley is precipitated as
rain or fog. The reason that we had escaped the fogs on the
lakes was that the wind came across tracts of land to the
south, and the hygrometric conditions were different.
A little further down the Yukon, but within the upper
ramparts, we suffered from almost constant rains that
beat with the southern winds upon our backs.

Shortly after one o'clock in the afternoon we floated
by the mouth of the White River flowing from the south-
west, which has the local name of Yu-ko-kon Heena, or
Yu-ko-kon River, a much prettier name than the old one
of the Hudson Bay traders. The Chilkats call it the
Sand River, from the innumerable bars and banks of
sand along its course ; and many years ago they ascended
it by a trail, which when continued leads to their own

240

ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER.

I a

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country, but is now abandoned. Some forty to fifty
miles up its valley the Indian trading trail wh'.ch leads
from the headwaters of the Tanana to old Fovt Selkirk
crosses its course at right angles ; usii since tlie destruc-
tion of Fort Selkirk in 1851, the Tai-ana Indians, who
then made considerable use of the trail to reach the fort
for trading purposes, employ it but little ; and only then
as far as the White River, wiiv e valley they descend to
reach the Yukon.

This stream resembles a river of liquid mud cf an
almost white hue, fro'.a which characteristic it is said to
have derived its name from tb e old Hudson Bay traders
— and no better illustration ui its extreme muddiness can
be given than the following : One of our party mistook
a mass of timber that hr.d lodged on the up-stream side
of a low, flat mud-bar, /or iioating wood, and regarde*!
it as evidence of a freshet, a theory which seemed cor-
roborated by the muddy condition of the water, until
the actual character of the object was established by
{^loser observation as we drifted nearer. The mud-bar
and adjacent waters were so entirely of the same color
that the line of demarcation was not readily apparent,
and had it not been for the drift rubbish around the
former it might have escaped our scrutiny even at our
short distance from it. The Indinns say that the "White
River rises in glacier-bearing lands, and that it is very
swift, and full of rapids along its whole course. So
swift is it at its mouth, that as it pours its muddy waters
into the rapid Yu':on it carries them nearly across that
clear blue stream ; the waters of the two river's mingling
almost at once, and not running distinct for miles side
by side, as is stated in one book on xilaska. From the

sssrtnca^m

THROUGH THE UPPER RAMPARTS.

241

fty
Us
irk
ic-
\iio
)rt
^en
to

month of the White orYu'-ko-kon to Bering Sea, nearly
1,500 miles, the Yukon is so muddy as to be noticeable
even when its water is taken up in the palm of the hand ;
and all fishing with hook and line ceases.

About four in the afternoon the mouth of the Stewart
River was passed, and, being covered with islands, might
not hv/e bt >:n notice'^ except for its valley, which is very
notifiable -a broad valley feiiced in by high hills. A
visit to the shore in our canoe showed its mouth to be
deltoid ill character, three mouths being observed, and
others probably existing. Islands were very numerous
in this i)ortion of the Yukon, much more so than in any
part of the river we had yet visited, and as the raft had
drif te(i on while I went ashore in the canoe, I had a very
hard task to find it again and came within a scratch of
losing it, having passed beyond the camp, and being
compelled to return. It was about nine o'clock in the
eveniiK]^ and the low north-western sun shone squarely in
our faces, as we descended the river, eagerly looking for
the ascending smoke of the camp-fire, which had been
agreed upon, before separation, as the signal to be kept
going until we retur'^ed. The setting sun throwing its
slanting rays upon each point of woods that ran from
the hillsides down to the water's edge, illumine "1 the top
of them with a whitish light until each cne exactly
resembled a camp-fire on the river bank with Jie feathery
smoke floating off along the tree tops. Even my Indian
canoeman was deceived at first, until half a dozen ap-
pearing togethej in sight convinced him of his enor.
All these islands were densely covered with spruce and
poplar, and the swift current cutting into their alluvial
banks, though the latter were frozen six or eight feet

(?f;

242

ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER

thick, kept their edges bristling with freshly-fallen tim-
ber ; and it was almost courting destruction to get under
this abatis of trees with the raft, in the powerful cur-
rent, to avoid which some of our hardest work was nec-
essary. The preservative power of this constantly
frozen ground must be very great, as in many places we
saw protruding from the high banks great accumulations
of driftwood and logs over which there was soil two and
three feet thick, which had been formerly carried by the
river, and from which sprung forests of spruce timber,
as high as any in sight, at whose feet were rotting trunks
that must have been saplings centuries ago. Yet
wherever this ancient driftwood had been undermined and
washed of its dirt and thrown upon the beach along with
the tree but just fallen, thy difference between the two
was only that the latter still retained its green bark, and
its broken limbs were not so abraded and worn ; but
there seemed to be no essential difference in the iiber of
the timber.

The evening of the ITTh, having scored forty geo-
graphical miles, we camped on a low gravel bar, and
bivouacked in the open air so clear and still was the
night, although by morning huge drops of rain were fall-
irg on our u]; turned faces.

On the 18th, shortly after noon, we passed a num-
ber of TaTik-ong Indians, stretched upon the green
sward of the right bank leisurely enjoying themselves ;
their birch-bark canoes, sixteen in all, being pulled up
on the gravel beach in front of them. It was probably a
trading or hunting party, there being one person for each
canoe, none of whom were women. Already we ob
served an increase in the size and a greater cumbrousnes)

THROUGH THE UPPER RAMPARTS.

243

in the build of the birch-bark canoes, when compared
with the fairy-like craft of the Ayans, a characteristic
that slowly increased as we descended the river until the
Male, or sealskin canoe of the Eskimo is encountered
along the lower waters of the great river. Of couree
this change of build reflects no discredit upon the skill
of the makers, as a hea> ier craft is required to navigate

i'i:

MOOSE-SKIN MOUNTAIN, AND CAMP 32 AT THE MOUTH OF DEKB

RIVER.

the rougher water, as the broad stream is stirrod up by
the persistent southern winds of the Yukon basin.

About 8.80 p. M. we passed an Indian camp on the
left bank, which, from the seeming good quality of their
canvas tentj as viewed from the river, we judged might
prove to be a mining party of whites. From t)'em we
learned that there was a deserted white man's store but

I ;

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ill

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ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER.

a few miles beyond, but that the trader himself, had
quitted the place several months before, going down to
salt-water, as they expressed it. This was evidently the
same trader the Ayans expected to meet at a little semi-
permanent station of the Alaska Commercial Company
dubbed Fort Reliance ; and they seemed quite discom^
fited at his departure, although he had left the preced-
ing autumn, and as we afterward ascertained more from
fear of the Indians in his neighborhood than any other
reason.

We camped that night at the mouth of a noticeable
but small stream coming in from the east, which we
afterward learned was called Beer Creek by the traders,
from the large number of caribou or woodland reindeer
seen in its valley at certain times of their migrations.

At this point of its courpe the Yukon River is extremely
narrow in comparison with the distance from its head —
about 700 miles, — and considering its previous mean
width, being here only two hundred or two hundred and
fifty yards across. It certainly must have great depth
to be able to carry the immense volume of water of so
swift and wide a river as it is above, for the current does
not seem to increase appreciably in this narrow channel.

Directly northward in plain sight is a prominent land-
mark on this part of the river, viz., a high hill called by
the Indians "the moose-skin mountain." Tvo ravines
that converge from its top again diverge when about to
meet about half way down the mountain slope, and
along these two arms of an hyperbola there has 1 en a
great landslide, laying bare the dull red ocheroiis soil
beneath, which contrasts almost vividly with the bright
green of the grass and folia,;^e of the mountain flank- and

THROrOH THE UPPER RAMPARTS.

245

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 were 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 reckoning— 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-
ever, proved so tempestuous, and the prospect so 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 b« 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 wc^e 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 was sick of the Indians,
the main tribe of which were peaceful enough, but con-
tained several ugly tempered communistic medicine-men

I ih

ill

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fill

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246

ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER.

who had threatened iil> life in order to get rid of his
competition in the drug business, which resulted greatly
to their linancial detriment.

Nearly opposite Fort Reliance was the Indian village
of Nog 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 replied
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 silly salutes that suggest the
vicinity of a powder magazine. I suppose 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-
five or eighty ; and therefore there must have been a
great number of visitors among them at the time of our
passing. They seemed very much disappointed 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.

S47

spoKe only of tea and tobacco, for which tliey seemed
ready to barter their very souls. Their principal diet in
summer and early fall is furnished by the salmon of the
Yukon, while during winter and spring, until the ice
disappears, they feed on the flesh of moose and caribou.
A trader on the upper river told me that the ice of the
stream is removed from the upper ramparts and above
principally by melting, while all that covers the Yukon
below that part is washed out by the spring rise of the
river, there being 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 affair, —
somewhat resembling the Ayan town, but with a much
greater preponderance of canvas. Most o"f the native
visitors we saw were Tanana' Indians, and I was some-
what surprised to find them put the accent, in a broad
way, on the second syllable, Ta-nah'-nee, differing
radically from the pronunciation of the same name by
the Indians at the mouth of the river, and by most white
travelers of the Lower Yuicoi?. Prom this poii. a trail
leads south-westward over the mountains to a tributary
of the TauriUP, by means of which these Indians visit
Noo-klak-o. The lOtli was a most disagreeable day, with
alternating rain showers and drifting fog, which had foU
lowed us since the day of our failnre in securing ast:'o«
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 wo had to carry
our effects ashore on our backs, and there camp with
only half a dozen water-logged sticks for a camp-fire.
WHiat in the world any musquito wanted to do out on that
desert of a sand-bar in a cold drifting fog I could never

i ;

wmmm

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nil
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248

ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER.

imagine, but before our beds were fairly made they put
in an appearance 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, which I 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 space of about an
acre or two on the steep hillsides of the western slope.
Tlie raft was left to look after itself and we gave them a
running volley of skirmish fire 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. In 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 the weaker of the two, thts black bear, had good

THROUGH THE UPPER RAMPARTS.

249

It
\d

reason to be afraid of his more powerful neighbor. This
day's observation of the two species living together, in
one very small area, shows either an error of judgment
on the part of the observer mentioned, or a difiEerence of
the ursine nature in different regions.

After leaving the Stewart Eiver, which had been iden-
tified by a sort of reductio ad absurdum reasoning, I
found it absolutely impossible to identity any of the
other streams from the descriptions and maps now in
existence, even when aided by the imperfect information
derived from the local tribes. Indianne, my Chilkat-
Tahk-heesh interjjreter, got along very well among the
latter tribe. Among the Ayans were many who spoke
Tahk-heesh, with whom they traded, and here we had
but little trouble. Even lower down we managed to get
along after a fashion, for one or two of the Ayan medi-
cine-men who came as far as Fort 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
that tea and tobacco were the leading topics of conver-
sation everywhere. Beyond Port Reliance, 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 Rock on the Columbia River, although I
judge it to be only about one-half or two-thirds the size

i i

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;- ■■

'"•-^j'Tnii^iaiTTTgYiBra

I !

Mi i Jt

260

ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER.

of the 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 Geographical Society. The Indians have a
legend connected with it, so it is said, that the Yukon
River once iiovved along the distant hills back of it, and
that the rock formed part of the bluff seen in the illus-
tration just below, overhanging the western shore of
the river, both being about the same height and singu-

ROQUKTTE ROCK.
(Aa we approached looking down the stream.)

larly alike in other respects. Here the bluff and rock
lived many geological periods in wedded bliss as man
and wife, but finally family dissensions invaded the
rocky household and culminated in the stony-hearted
husband 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 emphasize the
perpetual divorce. 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 "the old wife." Despite a most
lisagreeable day, on the 20th we showed a record of
forty-iive geographical miles, by way of compensation
for the dark lowering clouds that hung over us like a pall.
The scenery passed that day would have been picturesque
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 perforated with liuge caverns that
would have made good dens for bears, but their situation
was such that no bears not possessing wings could have
reached them. On the map this blulf ligures as Cave
Rock.

We got a late start on the 21st, the wretched weather
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 mapped we were unable to iden-
tify it. A few minutes afterward we swung around a
sharp bend in the river and saw a confused mass of
brush or logs that denoted an Indian village in the dis-
tance, a supposition confirmed by the number of canoes
afloat in its front and by a motley crowd of natives 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 both Indians and houses
together. This was the first Indian village we had en-
countered on the river deserving the name of perma-
nent, and even here the logs of which the cabins, six
in number, were built, seemed to be mere poles, and by

252

ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER.

no means as substantially built as it might have been
with the material at hand. It was perched up on a high
flat 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 places wide
enough for a path to allow the inmates to pass. The
fronts of the houses are 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 path, where two persons can
hardly pass unless one of them steps indoors or down
the hill ; and when T visited tho village the road was
so monopolized by scratching dogs that I could hardly
force my way tlirough them. This street may have been
much wider in times of yore — for it seemed to be quite
an old village — and the encroachments of the eroding
river during freshets may have reduced it to its present
narrowness. If so, it will not be long before the present
village must be abandoned or set back some distance.
Farther up the river we saw a single pole house pro-
jecting over the ban!?: about a fourth or a third of its
length, and deserted by its occupants. The body of the
houses is of a very inferior construction, in which ven-
tilation seems to be the predominating idea (although
even this is not developed to a sufficient degree, as
judged by one's nose upon entering), and the large door
in front is roughly closed by a well-riddled moose or
caribou skin, or occasionally by a piece of canvas so
dirty that at the distance of a few feet it might be
taken for an animal's skin. The roofs are of skins
ba. .'-ened down by spruce poles, which, projecting beyond
the comb in irregular lengths, often six and eight feet,
gave the whole village a most bristling appearance. A

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THROUGH THE UPPER RAMPARTS.

26S

&rpi is built on the dirt-iloor, in the center of the hab-
itation, and the smoke left to get out the best vray it can.
As the 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.
The ascending smoke finds ample air-holes among the
upper cracks 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. 1 1 a journey of several days down the river,
at the time of our arrival.

A number of long leaning poles, braced on their down-
hill ends by cross uprights, were noticed on the gravel
beach in front of the village ; these serve as scaffoldings
upon Avhich to dry salmon in the sun, and to keep them
from the many dogs while undergoing this process.
While taking a photograph of the town, two or three
salmon fell from the poles ; and in a twinkling fully
sixty or seventy dogs werr^ huddled together about them
'\ a writhing mass, each one trying to get his share, — and
thpt of several others. The camera was sighted toward
them, a hurried guess made as to the proper focus, and
an instantaneous view attempted, but the negative looked
n.ore like a representation of an approaching thunder
shower, and I never afterward printed from it. Occasion-
all y i'l these rushes a row of scaffolding will be knocked
down, and if it hapi)ens to be loaded with salmon the

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ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER.

consequent feast will be of a more extensive nat re.
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 nu)uth of the White River ; and this spot, of course,
is no exception. I believe I do not exaggerate in the least
when I say, that, if an ordinary pint tin-cup were tilled
with it, nothing could be seen at the bottom uiitil 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. Tlie
salmon I saw them take were caught about two hundred
or two hundred and fifty yards directly out from the shore
in front of the houses. Standing in front of this row of
cabins, some person, generally an old man, squaw or
child, possibly on duty for that purpose, 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 uji some young man from the
cabins, who from his elevated position in front of them
would identify tlie salmon's position, and tlien run down
to the beach, pick up his canoe, T)addle nnd 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

I'HROUGH THE UPPER RAMPARTS.

267

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 powerful
strokes with both hands, he shot the little canoe to a
point near the position 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 thructing 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 bottom 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. Thtdr success depends of course in some way on
the motion of the fish. In vain they attempted to show
members of my party the coming fish. I feel perfectly
satisfied that none of the white men could see the slight-

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m ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER,

est trace of the movements to which their attention was
called. Under the skin roofs of their log-cabins and on
the scaffoldings upon the gravel beach were many hund-
red salmon that had been caught in this curious way.
The only plausible theory which I could evolve within
the limits of the non-marvelous, was, that the salmon
came alohg near the top of the water, so as to show or
indicate the dorsal fin, and that as it approached the
canoe, the sight of it, or more likely some slight noise,
made with that intention, drove the fish to the bottom
without any considerr.Me lateral deviation, whereupon
they "vere inclosed by the net. But my interpreters told
me (and I think their interpretation was correct in this
case, roundabout as it was), that this supei'ficial swim-
ming did not take place, but that the motion of the fish
was communicated from the deep water tc the surface,
often when the fish was quite at the bottom.

The nets used have already been partially described.
The mouth is held open by a light wooden frame of a

reniform shape, as shown in the
figure on this page, and as one
may readily see, this is of great
advantage in securing the handle
firmly by side braces to the rim
of the net's mouth as shown, that
being undoubtedly the object
sought. Further down the rivei
(that is, in the " lower ram-
parts"), the reniform rim becomes circular; thus ol
course increasing the chances of catching the fish ; all
the other dimensions, too, are greatly increased. When
the salmon is netted, a turn is immedi.vtely given to the

KL/IT-OL'KLIN FI^IHNQ NETS.

Scale, 1-30.

THROUGH THE UPPER RAMPARTS.

269

8ALU0N-KILLINO CLUB.

handle, thus effectually trapping 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 were lost upon this occasion after they had actually
passed into the net, owing to lack of agility in this opera
tion. When fully entrapped
and brought alongside, a fish- ^
club, 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 Indians,
who wore used to the heavy wooden canoes of their coun-
try, felt unsafe in employing them for all purposes, but
these were so much larger and stronger in build, and our
old Tahk-heesh "du(^-out" so thoroughly worthless,
that we felt safe in bi^ying one at this village, but for a
number of days "Billy" and "Indianne" paddled very
gingerly when making excursions in it.

A few Hudson Bay toboggan sledges were seen on
scaffolds at and near tlie village ; they seem to be the
lirincipal sledges of this part of the country. The snow
shoes of this tribe differed from those of the Chilkats by
trifling modifications only, being a sort of compromise
between the hunting and packing snow shoes of the
latter.

About a mile or a mile and a quarter belov; Klat-ol-
klin'. and 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 noAv deserted. "We afterward
learned that this trading station was called Belle Isle,

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ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER.

aud had only been built two years before, having teen
abandoned the preceding year as not paying. The In-
dians evidently must have surmised that the trader
would return, as they respected the condition in which
he left the building, in a manner most creditable to their
honesty, no one having entered or disturbed it since he
left. They evidently care very 'little for beads as orna-
ments, for I saw none of them wearing that much cov-
eted Indian adornment, while great quantities were
scattered around by the trader's store, having 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, but nowhere did I
see such total disregard for them as was shown here.

Near B^lle Isle is a prominent hill called by the In-
dians Ta-iot'-lee, its conspicuousness heightened by the
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 oper, 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 ramparts.

The next day we made thirty-six miles, and as the
whole 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-

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THROUGH THE UPPER RAMPARTA

S61

i. jnt, and we kept near it for some time. This specti lie
became more familiar as we descended, while everywhere
we met with the rough coarse dog-salmon strewn upon
the beach, frequently in such numbers, and tainting the
air so strongly with the odor of their decay, that an
otherwise good camp would be spoiled by their presence.

MOUNT TA-TOT'-lEE, OR BOUNDAKT BUTTB.
(AIm showing Midule Yakon River Indians' methods of killing swimming moow.)

The river rose ten inches that night— a fact easily
accounted for by the protracted and often heavy rains.
The forenoon of the 23d was very gloomy, but shortly
after noon the weather surprised us by clearing up.

^•'

ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER

At 3:30 that day we came upon another Indian town
called Charley's Village ; but the current was so swift
that we could not get the raft up to the bank so as to
camp alongside, but we were successful in making a
sand-bar about half a mile below. Charley's Village was
an exact counterpart of Johnny's, even as to the number
of houses — six — and the side of the river — the western ;
and considering this and the trouble to reach it, I did not
attempt to photograph it. When attempting to reach it
with the raft, so anxious were the Indians for our success,
that as many as could do so put the bows of their canoes
on the outer log of the raft, and paddled forward with
as much vehemence as if their very lives depended upon
the result. In three or four minutes they had worked
themselves into a streaming perspiration, and had
probably shoved the huge raft as many inches toward
the bank. We found a Canadian voyageur among them
of the name of Jo. Ladue, who, as a partner of one of the
traders on the lower river, had drif te'^ here in prospecting
the stream for precious mineral. " J / ' as he is familiarly
known, speaks of the natives of both these villages as
Tadoosh, and says they are the best-natured Indf a,ns from
here till the Eskimo are met with. Ladue had a fairly-
made scow over twenty feet long, about hall a dozen
wide, and three deep, which he wanted to hive us, but
as it would not hold all the party and effects we had to
decline the tender, despite his emphatic assurances that
we could not safely go much further with out* raft. It
was with Ladue that I first noticed particularly the pro-
nunciation of the name of the great river, on whose waters
we were drifting, a pronunciation which is universal
among the few whites along its borders, and that sounded

THROUGH THE UPPER RAMPARTS.

268

strangely at first ; that is with the accent on the first
syllable, and not on the second, as I had so usually heard
it pronounced in the United States. That night, the 23d,
the mosquitoes were perfectly unbearable in their
assaults, and if the weather had not turned bitterly cold
toward morning I doubt if we could have obtained any
sleep at all, for the mosquito-bars seemed to be no pro-
tection whatever.

I think I established one mosquito theory of a practical
bearing, on a pretty firm basis, while upon this trip "in
the land of the mosquito's paradise ;" and tliat was, if
the insects are so thLl^ that they constantly touch each
othar Ol *he mosquito-bar when crawling over it, it will
be no protection whatever, if tlie meshes are of the usual
size, and they will come in so fast that comfort is out of
the question, but otherwise there is some chance which
increases as their numbers diminish. Even if there are
two or three to the square inch of your bar of many
square yards, it surprises you how few get through, but
the minute they begin crawling over each other they
seem to become furious, and make efforts to squeeze
through the meshes which are often rewarded with suc-
cess, until a sharp slap on the face sounds their death
knell. The doctor, in a fit o^ exasperation, said he
believed that two of them would hold the legs and wings
of another flat against its body, while a third shoved it
through ; but I doubt the existence of co-operation

among them,
another.

I think they are ic^ mean to help one

CHAPTER X.

THROUGH THE YUKON FLAT-LANDS.

AFTER passing
Johnny village in
descending the
stream, and more
pCT'ceptibly after
leaving Charley s vil-
lage, the country
opens rapidly, and
another day's drift
of forty-two and a
half geographical
miles brought us to
what an old trader
on the lower river calls the "Yukon flat-lands," an
expression so appropriate that I have adopted it,
although I have never heard any other authority for
its use.

While descending the stream on the 24th, late in the
forenoon, we saw a large buck moose swim from one of
the^many islands to the mainland just back of us, having
probably, as the hunter would say, "gotten our scent."
I never comprehended what immense noses these animals
have until I got a good profile view of this big fellow,
and although over half a mile away, his nose looked as
if he had been rooting the island and was trying to carry

THROUGH THE YUKON FLAT-LANDS.

206

away the greater part of it on the end of his snout. The
great palmated horns above, the broad "throat-latch"
before, combined with the huge nose and powerful
shoulders, make one think that this animal might tilt
forward on his head from sheer gravity, so little is
there apparently at the other end to counterbalance
these masses. When the Russians were on the lower
river these moose-noses were dried by them and con-
sidered great delicacies. A few winters ago the cold was
80 intense, and the snow covered the ground for so great
a depth throughout the season, that sad havoc waa
played with the unfortunate animals, and a moose is now
a rare sight below the upper ramparts of the river, as 1
was informed by the traders of that district. It is cer-
tainly to be hoped that the destruction has only been
partial, so that this noble game may again flourish in its
home, where it will be secure from the inroads of fire-
arms for many decades to come. Not long since the
little river steamer that plies on this stream for trading
purposes, owned by the Alaska Commercial Company,
could hardly make a voyage to old Fort Yukon and
back without encountering a few herds o'. these animals
swimming across the stream, and e'j.citing were the
bouts with them, often ending iu a victory for the
moose with the " Yukon " run aground on a bar of sand
or gravel ; but for some years not an animal has been
seen by them. Formerly the meat they secured in this
way, with what they procured from the Indians along
the river, assured them of fresh food during the month
or so they were absent from St. Michael's ; but their
entire dependence for this kind of fare has been thrown
upon the salmon furnished by the natives, which is

866

ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER.

much more difficult to keep fresh during the short hot
summer of the river.

This river steamer, the "Yukon," was daily expected
by "Jo" Ladue, and upon it ho intended to return to
Nuklakayet, his winter station. I also hoped to fall in
with it during the next week, as our civilized i^rovisions
were at a very low ebb and I wished to replenish them.
During a great part of our drift on the 24th, we were
accompanied by Jo and his three Indian allies, in their
scow, who said they would keep us company until we
met the "Yukon" steamer. AVhile we were leisurely
floating along, "Jo" saw a "short cut" in the river's
bend, into which we could not xow our ponderous craft,
and down this he quickly disappeared, remarking that he
would pick out a good camping place for us for the night.

Although we were well out of the high mountainous
country, we could see the chain through which we had
passed still bearing off to the left, the summits in many
places covered with snow, long fingers of which extended
down such mountain gullies as had a northern exposure.
As we emerged from the hilly country the soil, for the first
time, seemed to be thick and black wherever it was
exposed to our eye by the caving in of the banks ; and
grass, always good, now became really luxuriant for any
climate. In many places we saw grass ready to mow, were
it not for the fact that even the largest prairies have an
undergrowth of stunted brush which one might not
observe at a distance in the high grass, but which is very
perceptible in walking through it. The greatest obstacle
to cattle raising in the Yukon valley would be the dense
swarms of mosquitoes, although I understand that a
couple of head of cattle were kept at old Fort Yukon for

THROUGH THE YUKON FLAT-LANDS.

267

one or two summers. By burning oflf all timber and
brush from large districts and a little judicious drainage
it might be possible to encourage this industry witli the
hardier breeds of cattle, but at present the case is too
remote to speculate upon.

I now reniarked in many places along the flat river-bot-
toms — wliicli had high banlcs, however — that the ground
was covered, especially in little open prairies, with a tough
sponge-like moss or peat. If the bank was at all gravelly,
so as to give good drainage, and to allow of the river
excavating it gradually, as is usual in temperate
climes, this thick moss was so interwoven and com-
pacted that it would not break or separate in falling
with the river banks, but remained attached to the crest,
forming gi'eat blankets of moss that overhung the shores
a foot thick, as T have endeavored to represent on this
page, a. h. representing the moss. Some
of these banks were from fifteen to
eighteen feet in height, and this over-
hanging moss would even
then reach to the water,

keeping the shores neatly .„,, „^ ,„k„^ „,„5a.

sodded to the waters edge on the inclined banks, ar"'.
hanging perpendicularly from those that projected over.
Great jagged rents and patches were torn out of the
hem of this carpet by the limbs and roots of drifting
logs, thus destroying its picturesque uniformity. I
supi)ose the reason why it was more noticeable in open
spaces was that the trees and underbrush, and especially
their roots, would, from the effect of undermining, carry
the moss into the water with their heavy weight as they
feU.

ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER.

•rri-; I'll

At half past five o'clock we sighted a steamer clown
the river which we thought iiiight be the Alaska Com-
mercial Company's "Yukon" coming up around alow
island of sand, but it proved to be a beached boat called
the St. Miciiael's, lying high and dry, about ten ori':welve
feet above the present water level, on a long, low island
of sand and gravel.

Some years before, a rival corporation to the Alaska
Compau,', called, I believe, The Northern Trading Com-
pany, tried to establish itself on the Yukon River, (and
elsewhere in Alaska, but the Yukon district onlv cm-
cerns us here), and trading houses were built 'n many
places along the stream, most of them within a sliort
distance, perhaps a mile or two, of those established by
the Alaska Commercial Company. Fiei'ce competition
ensued, and 1 was told that the Indians got goods at
wholesale pricts in San PranMsco, i. e., at almost infini-
tesimal prices tv-mpared with those they were accus-
tomed to pay. The Ala.^ka Company was finally victori-
ous, Tmt found matteis considerably changed when the
struggle was over. When they attempted to restore the
prices of the old regime., and to ask immediate payment
— for both companies had given the Indians unlimited
credit- -such a hornet's nest was stirred up that ulti-
mately the company was obliged to abandon nearly a
half-dozen posts, all above Nuklakayet, for fear of the
Indians, who required a Krupp steam-hammer to pound
into their thick heads the reason why a man might sell
them a pound of tobacco for ten cents to-day and to-mor-
row charge them ten dollars an ounce ; especially when
they have to pay for the latter from the products of the
trap, and the former is put down in the account book in

THROUGH THE YUKON FLAT-LANDS.

269

an accommodating way. The Northern Trading Com-
pany also put on the Yukon River this boat, the St.
Michael's, a clumsily-built stern-wheet r that had win-
tered at Belle Isle, and on going down with the spring
freshet had etruck this bar, then under water, and as the
river was falling she was soon left high in the air.

We camped for the night on the same bar, which I
called St. Michael's Island, and about an hour afterward
"Jo" and his scow came along and pulled up to camp
on iue opposite shore. He explained his delay — for 1
really thought he had passed us and was camping further
down— by saying that he and his Indians had been hunt-
ing, aim he produced two or three ducks, in the very
prime of their toughness, as corroborative testimony, but
I surmised that the true story was that " all hands and
the cook" had gone to sleep, whereupon the scow had
likewise rested on the soft bottom of some friendly sand -
spit. The remainder of the journey confirmed this sus-
picion.

Starting from Camp No. 38, on St. Michael's Island,
the river, as the map shows, becomes one vast and wide
net- work of islands, the whole country being a' level as
the great plains of the West, and we were fairly launched
into the " Yukon flat-lands." As we entered this floor-
like country our Chilkat Indians^ seemed seriously to
think that we had arrived at the river's mouth and were
now going out to sea ; and I can readily imagine that even
a white person, having no knowledge of the country,
might well think so. There was an almost irresistible im*
pression that beyond the low flat islands in front one
must come in sight of the ocean.

As we started out into this broad, level tract, the

ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER.

^rl

'If

mountains to the left, or west, still continued in a bro-
ken range that was thrown back at an angle from the
river's general course, and projected into a sort of spur
formed of a series of isolated peaks, rising squaivly out
of tlie Hat land, and diniininhing in si/A until they dis-
appeared toward the north-west in a few sharp- pointed
hillocks just visible over the higii spruce trees of the
islands, I called them the Ratzel rancr**, or pmiks, alUst
Professor Frederick Satzel. of Munich,

This flat character of the country continji^g for aifm^
three hundred miles further, and the river, unconfined
by resisting banks, cuts numerous wide channel^n the
soft alluvial shores, dividing and subdividing and spread-
ing, until its width is simply beyond reasonable estima-
tion. At Fort Yukon, about a thousand miles from the
mouth, its width has been closely estimated at seven miles,
and at other points above and below it is believed to be
twice or thrice that width. This breadth is measured
from the right bank to the left across shallow chan-
nels and flat islands, whose ratio to each other is, on the
whole, tolerably equal. Some of these islands are
merely wide wastes, consisting of low stretches of sand
and gravel, with desolate-looking ridges of whitened
drift-timber, all of which must be under water in the
spring floods, when the river in this region must resem-
ble a great inland sea. In no pla<5e does this wide con-
geries of channels seem to abate its former swiftness a
single jot, but the constant dividing and subdividing
occasionally brought us to lane.s so narrow and shallow
that it seemed as though we could not get through with
our raft, and more than once we feared we should have
to abandon our old companion. For nearly three weeks

THROUGH THE YUKON FLAT-LANDS.

271

■ m

we vrere drifting *hrougli tliese . ^rribly monotonous tlat-
Jands, never knowing at uiglit whether or not we were
Canip'ng on the main bank, and by far the most fre-
c[\uu Jy camping 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 encam lament of four very line-
looking tents, situated on an island, and here "Jo"
Ladue told us he would 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 liver, and we floated out into the
lake-like expanse ahead with a vaguo feeling that so
much water could hardly possess any current, but never-
theless Ave sped along at our old pace. This sheet of
water was wider than the majority of the lakes at the
head of the stream, and it was hard not to revert to them
in thought, and imagine ourselves unable to move with-
out a sail and a good wind abaft. Very soon an omin-
oufs line of drift timber appeared in our front, seeming
to stretch from shore to shore as we approached it, and
the great channel broke up into hali a dozen f^maller
ones that went winding through sand-spits and log-
l<jcked debris, down one of which we shot and were just
breathing more freely when the same occurrence was
repeated, and we slipped, down a shallow branch that
was not over fifty yards in width, only to bring up on a
bar in the swift current, with less than a foot of water
ahead over tiie spit that ran from the bar to the shore.

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272

ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER.

Near the other shore was a channel so deep that we
might have fioatea with ease, but to reach it again we
should have lo pry our vessel up stream against water so
swift as almost to take ns oil our feet. Through this
deep channel every thing was carrit d on our backs to the
shore, and then commenced a struggle that lasted from
ten o'clock in the morning unti] well past two in the
afternoon ; our longes" 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
time on the trip when we made serious calculations re-
garding the abandonment of the raft and the building of
another. There were other occasions when such an event
seemed probable, 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 muji be the main bank (of
the eastern side). So steep was it that steps had to be
cut in it in order to reach the up with our c3Tnpiig and
cooking effects.

At this camp — 89 — and a few of the preceding ones
we found rosebuds large and sweet enough to eat, and
really a palatable change from the salt and canned pro-
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; the
increase in size being entirely in the iieshy capsule which
was crisp and tender, while even the seeds seemed to bo
less dry and " domiy," or full of " cotton," than those
of temperate climes.

The mosquitoes were a little less numerous in the flat-

THROUGH THE YUKON FLAT-LANDS.

273

lands, bat, at first, the little black gnats seemed to grow
even worse. Mr. Homan, who was especially troubled
by these latter pests, had his h^ uds so swollen by their
constant attacks that he could hardly draw his fingers
together to grasp the pencil with which he recorded his
topographical notes. Dr. Wilson and I experimented
with some oil of pennyroyal taken from the medicine
chest, which is extensively used as an important ingred-
ient of the mosquito cures advertised in more southern
clin es. It is very volatile and evaporates so rapidly
that it Avas only efiicacious with the pests of the Yukon,
for two or three minutes, when they would attack the
spot where it had been spread with their old vigor.
Mixed with grease it held its properties a little longer,
bii would never do to depend upon in this raosqnitc
intested country.

I noticed that evening that banked or cumulus clouds,
lying low along the horizon invarianly indicated mount-
ains or hills stretching under them if all the other parts
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 morning
when the air was clear in every direction. At no time
while we were drifting through the flat-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-

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274

ALOT^G AL^S^A'S GREAT RIVER.

ever the weather was clear ; and exaspei-atingly enougl)
our greatest share of clear weather was while we were
floating between the upper and lower ramparts.

All day on the 26th the current seemed to set to the
westward, and we left island after island upon our right
in spite of all our efforts, 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 the 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 tliat 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 mij;ht pass '* to-morrow among tlie islands without
seeing it unless we kept more to the right. After receiv-
ing this doleful information, which coincided so exactly
wiMi our own conclusions, v/e went to sleej), and
"Alexy" paddlfd away down stream, keeping a strong
course to the east, ^ ^ it would ha re rec[uired Great East-

THROUGH THE YUKON FLAT-LANDS.

275

•e

ern's engines on board of our cumbersome raft in order
for lis to make it.

From the moment of our casting loose the raft, on the
morning of the 27th, we commenced our struggle with the
current to gain ground, or rather, water, to the eastward,
often with double and treble comjjlements 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 Town the western cliannel. 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 had ferried our
way directly ac ross 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 RTO»md it hardly a good hop, skip and a jump
from its upp'^r point. We could not supj)ress a cheer
as the hard-earned victory was won, for to verify the old
adage that "it never rains but it pours " good luck, there
at the bank was the river steamei.' "Yukon" and from her
decks came a rattling volley of shots to welcome us and
to which wo replied almost gun for gun. A little more
hard pulling and wo, landed the raft just above the build-
ings and about three or four hundred yards above the
steamer, which we at once prepared to visit. The "Yu-
kon ' ' is quite a small affair compared mth the river boats
of the United States, but quite well built and well mod-
eled. They spoke of it as a ten-ton boat, although I
took it to be one of double or treble that capacity, its
machinery being powerful enough to drive a vessel of

wsm

ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVEh.

five or six times that tonnage against any ordinary out
rent, but very necessary for a boat of even the smallest
size on such a swift stream as the Yukon. The machin-
ery took up the greater portion of her interior and were it
not for the upper decks, it would have been difficult to

}■ Mfi

THK STBAMBR "YUKON," (iN A HERD OF MOOSB).

(A scene in the Yukon Flat-lands.)

find room for her large crew. The moment I caught
sight of the crew they seemed so like old acquaintances
that I was on the point of probing my 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 produced the effect of a

THROUGH THE YUKON FLAT-LANDS.

277

'St

n-
it
to

Qght
Liices
• tlie
cond
arity
of a

recognition. These Eskimos had been hired on the Lower
Yukon, and but for their being a little more stolid and
homely than those of north Hudson's Bay, I should
have thought myself back among the tribes of that region.
They make better and more tractable workmen than any
of the Indians along the river, and in many other ways are
superior to the latter for the white men's purposes, being
more honest, ingenious and clever in the use of tools,
while treachery is an unknown element in their character.
The master of the "Yukon" was Captain Petersen, and
the Alaska Company's trader was Mr. McQuestion, both
of whom had been for many years in the employ of that
company on the river. Prom the former I ascertained
through information which he volunteered, that he had
a large ten or twelve ton river schooner at the trading
station of Nuklakayet, some three hundred miles
further down the river to which I was welcome when I
reached that point with the raft. After the " Yukon "
had ascended the river as far as Belle Isle, he would
return and would pick us up wherever found and tow the
schooner or barJca as it was called in the local language
of the country, a sort of hybrid Russian vernacular.
Prom long experience on the river. Captain Petersen
estimated its current at about five miles an hour above
old Port Yukon for the short distance which he had as-
cended with the steamer ; but probably four from there to
Nuklakayet ; three and a half to Nulato ; and three be-
low that until the influence of the low tides from Bering's
Sea is felt. Of course this rate of speed varies somewhat
with the season, but is the average during the period of
navigation in July and August. He expected to over-
take me about the 15th of August somewhere near Nul-

ALONG ALASKA'S ORBAT RIVER.

t ! ,

\il''

'J <

'iV

ato, as he had orders to pull the St. Michael's off the
gravel bar where she was lying, the Alaska Commercial
Company having bought out all the eflfects of the rival
concern after the latter had expended between half a
million and a million of dollars without any reasonable
remuneration for the outlay. This 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
oeason, reduced us to find oui motive power still in the
f urrent. 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, (490.2) ; 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 point, a distance of over a thousand miles,
Mr. Homan's dead reckoning, unchecked the v. holt dis-
tance, was in error 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 places — 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 Cai)tain Kayniond in 1801) ; although
we continued our own as far as the Aphoon, or northern,
mouth of the Yukon River.

When Russian America became Alaska, or to be pre-
cise, in 1807, that date 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 prove to be on
Alaskan soil — west of the 141st meridian — the Hudson
Bay Company 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
Yukon River was made from its mouth to Fort Yukon,
which was published by the War Department, accom-
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 circulation. When I asked Captain Petersen
if he used Vkin\i.: m navigating the river, he said that he
seldom did, ns tl ore were no good ones in existence for
the permant h < i annels 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, anrl on being shown one, seemed aston-
ished that so good a map was in existence, and asked me

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(716) 872-4303

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280

ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER.

to send him a copy, which I was unable to do, as I could
not procure one at the proper department in Washing-
ton. The maps he had were those made by the Russians
when they wex'e in possession of the country, which are
still the best of such as can be procured.

The Indians in and around old Fort Yukon are known
to the traders as the Fort Yukon Indians, which is prob-
ably as good a name as any, as they are not entitled to
be regarded as a distinct tribe (or even as part of one), in
the ordinary acceptation of the word. The country of
the Hatlanus is not well stocked with game of the kind
that would sujjport any great number of Indians at all
seasons, and as the river spreads over so wide an extent,
the chances of catching fish are proportionately de-
creased, and altogether the flat-lands would be rejected
by the natives for other locations. I was told by those
who ought to know, and whose assertions seem to be
l)orne out by other evidence, that there were no Indians
who made this country their home until Fort Yukon was
established in 1848, an event which attracted the usual
number of Indians around tlie post who are always seen
about a frontier trading station, many of whom made it
their home. They came up the river, down the main
stream, and down the great tributary, the Rat or Porcu-
pine River which empties itself near the fort, so that
the settlement was recruited by stragglers from several
tribes, and it was for this reason that I spoke of them as
not being a distinct tribe. The Indian who assumed the
role of chief, Senati, as he is called by the whit« 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.

if.

THROUGH THE YUKON FLAT-LANDS.

881

Since the abandonment of the post by the Alaska Com-
pany, his force of character has done much to hold to-
gether the handful of natives that still cling to the old
spot ; but witli his death and the desertion of the place
by white tiiulers this part of the river will soon return
to its former wildness. When the Hudson Bay Com-
pany came upon the ilver at the point where they built
this fort, they felt safe from the encroachments of the
Russians, although trespassing upon Russian soil, as th«
Yukon was supposed to flow northward, and, like the
Mackenzie, to pour its waters into the polar sea. Old
maps may still be found bearing out this idea,* the Col-
ville being pressed into service as the conjectural continu-
ation of the Yukon int^t the Arctic portion of Alaska.

The 27th and 28th A'ere occupied in taking observations
to rate and correct the chronometer, much of the first
day being spent in company with ihe officers of the boat,
who recounted their interesting adventure? on the river
and its adjacent regions, in which their Ijves had been
spent. I recall an episode of Mr. McQueation's early
life which so well illustrates the extraordinary vigor of
the voyagevrs of the Hudson Bay Company in the
British north-west territory that I shall briefly repeat it.
His boyhood was spent in the northern peninsula of
Michigan and the states and territories to the westward,
until finally lie found himself at old Fort Garry, then an
important post of the Hudson Bay Company. Here he
was brought into constant contact with the restless

"^ As late as 1883, a flne globe l)earing that date, costing some
hundreds of dolhtrs, was received by the American Geographical
Society from a London firm, which still bears this error, corrected
' twenty years ago.

,:(

fiii

'If

ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER.

voi/ageurs, and from them he imbibed much of their
adventurous spirit, and was imbued with a longing to
visit the far nortli land of whicli they spolte. He lieard
of Atliabasca as otlier lads might hear of California and
Mexico and Peru, while the Ma(!kenzie and Yukon
resembled to his imagination some fabled El Dorado or
Aladdin's dream. He longed to see these lands for
himself, but he knew the hard work the toyageurs were
compelled to endure. He had seen the bundles and bags
and boxes of a hundred ])ouuds that they were to carry
on their backs around r:ii)ids too swift to pole or "track,"
and over the many portagcH and exchanges on their long
journeys. He knew he was not equal to the work
rcMHiirod, but with the enthusiasm of youth he deter-
mined to make himself equal to it by a course of jdiysical
training, and after several months presented himself to
an agent of the company as a full-fledged royageur. To
his delight he was accepted and entered on their books
at a monthly salary, 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 haid experien(!es of the journey, but it was by no
means destroyed. In a few days the other rnyageurs
began talking of the great portage, where every thing,
canoes included, had to be carried on their backs around
the swift rapids, and wishing ihat their task, tlu> hardest
they had to encounter in the 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

TnnOUOH THE YUKON FLAT-LANDS.

28&

the lower end of the great portage was reached at a small
cascade, and as the great canoe in which the young
voymfeiir was paddling was nearly at the 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 watsr to make room for the next. McQuestion
saw the chief of the canoe throw a bundle on the first
comer's back, ^^nd expected 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 off, however, McQuestion
watched eagerly for the reason, and was astonished to
see the chief init 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 shai-p 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, vvith each carrying the same weight, and
proceeding at the same gait. His heart sank within him,
and as he climbed the ledge of rock he felt almost like a
criminal on the way to execution. lie received his tT
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 lie attempted to cross.
He retiirned to the factor in charge of the expedition,
and a compromise was made by which he jjaid to that

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284

ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER.

functionary the amount per month he was to have
received in order to accompany the party as a passenger.
At one of the northern posts he obtained a situation
more to his liking, and thus drifted into the company's
employ, finally crossing over to the Yukon River, and
transferring his allegiance to the Alaska Company when
it succeeded his old masters.

On the forenoon of the 20th, the Yukon continued her
voyage up the stream, having accomplished all the
summer trading with the Fort Yukon Indians the day
previous, I was i)resent at an afternoon parley with
them, and was greatly impressed at the patience exhib-
ited and required by traders among these savages ; a
patience such as not one shopman in a thousand pos-
sesses, according to my experience, however great a
haggler he may be. McQuestion had learned the art of
patience from his old employers, probably the most
successful bargainers with savages the world has ever
seen. Indian No. 1 put in an appearance with a miser-
able lot of furs, and a more miseral)le story of poverty,
the badness of the winter for trapping, the scarcity of
animals and the inferiority of the pelts, his large family
in need of support, his honesty with the company in
the past, and a score of other pleas, the upshot of which
was a request that he might be supplied with clothing
and ammunition for another year in return for the pelts
at his feet. The trader replies, setting a definite price
in trading material for the amount of skins before him,
and the "dickering" begins. After half an hour or an
hour's talk of the most tiresome description, the dis-
cussion ends in the Indian accepting the exact amount
the trader originally oifered, or about one-tenth of his

THROUGH THE YUKON FLAT LANDS.

285

own demands. Indian No. 2, who has heard every word
of the conversation, then comes forward with the same
quality of furs and exactly the same story, the trade
lasting exactly the same time, and with exactly the same
result ; and so on with all the others in turn. Even
No. 12, of the dozen i)resent, does not vary the stereo-
typed proceedings any more than an actor's interpreta-
tion of a part varies on the twelfth night of the ])iece.
Tlien Indian No. 1 comes forward again with a package
of furs of a better quality than the first he displayed,
and solemnly affirms that these are the only ones he has
left, and that if the trader will not give him enough
clothing for himself and family, and enough ammunition
to last through the winter in return for them, they must
all go naked and perhaps starve for want of the means
of procuring food. This story, with its continuation,
lasts about half as long as the first, but ends in the same
way, as the Indian's eloquence has about as much effect
on the trader as it would on the proverbial row of stumps.
The farce is repeated by all the Indians in turn, and is
yet again repeated at least once before the entire trans-
action is over, during all of which time the white trader
sits composedly on his stool, and gives a patient and
unvarying answer to each in his turn, under provocation
that would have put Job in a frenzy before the first
circle was completed.

On the 29th of July we took an early departure, and
about noon passed an Indian village of five or six tents
and ten or a dozen canoes, which might have appeared
uninhabited bu*^^ for the dogs that surrounded the tents,
neai'ly a scor^ -> every one, proving that their owners
wera either a&.dep or only temporarily absent. The dogs

1 1

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286

ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER.

flocked down the beach and up the bank, and emitted
such a chorus of unearthly howls that we were grateful
to the (Mirrent for hurrying us away. That day we
drifted .'5().5 (geographical) miles in a tritle over thirteen
hours, showing but little diminution in the river's rate
of speed. It was an exceedingly hot blistering day on
the river, almost unbearable, and the lieat, coupled with
the clouds of mosquitoes, impelled the doctor to remark
that it was clear to the casual observer that we were in
the Arctic regions. About seven o'clock in the evening,
the thermometer marking 80° Fahrenheit in the shade,
we saw "sun-dogs," or parhelia, very plainly marked
on either side of the western sun, a phenomenon I had
so often observed in the Arctic winter and in Arctic
weather elsewhere, as to seem incongruous during such
tropical heat. A heavy rain showd came up about ten
o'clock at night and continued at intervals imtil late the
next morning.

" It is an ill wind that blows no one any good," and if
the gnats and mosquitoes did keep us awake all night
they allowed us to start two hours earlier than usual, and
in spite of a gale in the afternoon that made it very diffi-
cult to steer well and to keep off the lee banks, we
camped reasonably early and had forty-four miles to our
credit in addition. This wind was very cold and disa-
greeable, with heavy black clouds overhead ; a most
decided change in the weather since the day before, but
for the better, as the strong wind kept do^\ n the mos-
quitoes and gave us all a good night's rest.

The 31st was uneventful, and in fact it was only in the
casual incidents of our voyage that we found any thing
to interest us while floating through this region, a flat

THROUGH THE YUKON FLAT-LANDS.

287

desert clothed with spruce trees, all of a uniform size, and
monotonous in the extreme. We scored forty-livt^ geo-
grajHiical miles and retired at niglit in a rain shower,
which continued with such unabated fury next day that
we remained in camp. A stroll that evening (lis(;losed
the distal extremity of a mastodon's femur on the gravel
beach near camp, Mr. Ilonuin llnding a tooth of the
same animal near by. For many years the scatteied
bones of this extinct animal have been found along the
Yukon, showing tlmt this region was once its liome.
When at Fort Yukon an Indian brought the tooth of a
mastodon to a member of my party, and receiving some-
thing for it, probably more than he expected, told the
white man that the entire skeleton was protruding from
the banks of one of the islands, about a day's journey u])
the river. Our limited time and transi)ortation forbade
investigating it further. In a few years, I suppose, 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 general "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 wej'e 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

ALONG ALASKA'S ORE AT RIVER.

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 cac7ies mounted
high in the air on the corner posts, and two graves, all
of which seemed new in construction, although the place
was entirely deserted. Indian signs of all kinds now
began to appear as we approached the lower ramparts,
although no Indians were seen. By noon the blue hills
ot the ramparts were seen to our left, 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 which we had been threading our way
so long, with the upper gates of the lower ramparts ir
full sight, about a mile or two distant.

CHAPTER XI.

THROUGH THE LOWER RAMPARTS, AND THE END OF THE

RAFT JOURNEY.

INDIAN "CACIIB ' ON LOWEll YUKON.

•^ERY well defined indeed
are the upper gates of
the lower ramparts, and
one enters them from
above with a sudden-
ness that recalls his
childish ideas of moun-
tain ranges taken from
juvenile geography-
books, where they are
represented as a closely
connected series of tre-
mendously steep peaks, with no outlying hills connect-
ing them with the level valleys by gently rolling slopes,
as nature has fortunately chosen to do ; this approach
to the lower ramparts being one of the few exceptions.
The lower termination is not by any means so well marked
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
of 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.

' t

290

ALONG AXASKA'S GREAT RIVER.

This would give the lower nunparts a lengtli of about
one hundred miles along the river, or about one-fourth
the length of the upiterranipartH.

On August :id 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 Hat and monotonous dis-
tricts through which we had been drifting for many
days induced a peculiar depression difficult to describe as
well as to sufT,!', Our entry was signaled by thekillinj^
of three young but almost full-grown gray geese out of
a small flock which we surprised as we floated around »
point of land near the northern bank. This incident
ushered in a hunting season when our shot-guns niiglit
have done great service but for our unfavorable condi-
tion for hunting, i)lanted as we were upon a raft in thp
middle of a broad rivei .

We liad supposed that when we entered the ramparts
and the widely-scattered watei-s 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 conti-ary, 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
stranded upon a river bar or had been forced dov n a
side channel of slack water.

About one o'clock in the afternoon we passed three
canoes hauled up on the right 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

o.idently remaining over from the heavy rain-storm of
the day before. Persistent yelling aroused them, and
one of their number put off in his canoe, i)addling
around the raft, but not understanding each other, lie
returned to the shore, 'uning uttered but one word that
we could comprehend, <•/ /, tea).

A half-hour afterward we passed the mouth of the
Che-taut, a fair-size i stream coming in from the north.
Nerr t\\u point ami for some distance beyond, we saw
a number of old Indian ^ipns, such as gnives, habitations
and caches^ but the only living representatives of the
tribe were the three sleepei"s we had seen a few miles
back. Numbei-s of large wicker filj-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 tlie reindeer southward on
their migmtions, these Nimrods of the river hsisten
northward to meet them, for their skins fui'nish most
acceptable winter clothing, and their meat is a welcome
change from the dried salmon of the river. About six
o'clock we saw a fair-looking Indian log-house on the
right bank of the river, having a harrabora (Russian
name for log-cabin, half or nearly underground, the
"dug-out" of the AVest), and cache attached. All of
the Indian caches of the lower ramparts, and even 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
can walk underne«+h the floor, which is generally made of
poles or puncheons. A steep log leans against the dooU-«
sUl aQd is cut into steps, to enable the owner to jiticend

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293

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 tlie water's edge to the little x>l«iteau upon which
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 were 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 disease was raging among
the natives on the lower pai't, 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 known to
tmTrfj its whole course as rapidly as we had done, and

■ 3

THROUGH THE LOWER RAMPARTS.

S98

from the river as a base had spread right and left among
the native tribes, until the cold weather of approaching
winter subdued them, if they were amenable to the influ-
ence of temperature. I have never heard of any return
ing against the streani, but instances of their descending
it are not infrequent. Dr. Wilson tried to get a skull
out of the many ^e 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 prepared 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 cr 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 seemed irresistible that *^^hey are one and the same
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 up the
few mosquitoes of the evening before so completely that
they had to suspend operations altogether. Just before
starring Corporal Shircliff killed a large porcupine near

V'.

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294

ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER.

camp, an animal said to be quite numerous along the
river, and so abundant in the flat-lands 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 i)ast it. Its valley, however,
is quite noticeable, and one would immediately conjec-
ture that 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
simply 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 load 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 bullets had struck the bank and torn out the
gravel just beyond the animals so fast tliat all their
attention was absorbed in that direction and thus they
did not observe i^, the reports of the shots and the

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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 with wliich they sought
the woods, left no doubt as to their 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 saAv 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

S.)S

ALONO ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER.

mill!

If! I

could often see to tlie bottom in places three and four
feet deep. Probably these streams have their 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, f jrming a sort of natural ink, as it were.
Wherever the^e streams empty themselves, their waters
make a striking cont'-i.st with the white and muddy river,
and often where tlu 'e was aothing else to indicate that
we were approacHiing a tributary, we would see ahead a
dark stripe running out fioiu the bank and curving down
stream as it took up the new direction of the river's
course, and this would indicate the i)resence of a creek
from the hillsides, long before we could reach its mouth.
Two days after entering this hilly country we ap-
proached the rapids 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. We had a very good
map, Raymond's, of this part 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 distnnco from the
right bank Tbey were certainly the mildest rapids

ii:

THROUGH THE LOWER RAMPARTS.

29d

had ever seen, Durinj^ higher water, wlien the current
is swifter and the reef just projecits from tlie swift water,
these rapids may .appear mure formidable, but if this part
of the river had been wliolly unexplored until our
arrival, I doubt seriously wlu'ther we should ever have
observed them. At this point the river is only about
two hundred and Hftj'^ yards wide, and although tlie 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 " back-
bone" or su"imit of tlie 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 clouds
that were lowering over the crests, I should have lingered
awhile so as to procure a few photographs of the scenery.
Gloster'.-} 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 p.m.,
and the Indian village below ten minutes later. This is
called Senati's (Senatee's) village upon previous nuips,
and at the date of our arrival was made up of two ^vell-
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 soor paddling around
U8, whereupon a lively competition ensued for supplying

300

ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER.

vii

US with dried and smoked salmon. It was at this village
that I first noticed the round-rim ^ned hand net spoken
of in a former chapter as appearing on the lower
river. Their liandles 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 fish, 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 Ave 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 where we grounded in
shoal water so far from the shore that rubber-boots had
to be put on in order to carry the cooking and camping
effects to the selected spot. Cold and stormy as the day
had been 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 0th — 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, buthere the shores are so

THROUGH THE LOWER RAMPARTS.

30t

bold and the islands so few and conspicuous that they
can hardly escape casual observation, and an error of
even one upon the niai) would atti'act notice.

The Tanana Ili\er, to vvliich I have referred, is the
largest tributary of tlie Yukon, and is fully the peer of
the parent stream, at the point of conHuence. Were it
not for the fact that tlie geographical features which
must necessarily limit the draimige area of each preclude
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 River
at this point is a little over thirteen hundred miles in
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 nuike a great many wind-
ings within this area in order to ecpial 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-TcUn, 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 western frontiersmen, and in this they drifted to
the river's mouth. At the point where the two travelers
first sighted the Tanana, the trader estimated it to be

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302

ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER.

about twelve hundred yards wide, or very nearly three-
quarters of a mile, and as they were floating lifteen or six-
teen lioui's a d;:y for ten days, on a current whose speed
he estimated at six or seven miles an hour, it being much
swifter tiian the Yukon at any point as high as Belle
Isle, my informant computed his progress at from ninety
to a hundred miles a day ; or from nine hundred to a
thousand miles along the Tanana. lie estimates the
whole length of (he river by combining the result of his
observation with Indian reports, at from ten to twelve
hundred miles. Fear of the Tanana Indians appears to
be tlie motive for the rapid rate of travel through their
country, and although in general a very friendly
ti'ibe to encounter away from home, they have always
opposed any exploration of their country. The trader's
companion had suggested and promoted the journey as
a quasi scientilic expedition, and he collected a few
skulls of the natives and some botanical specimens, but no
maps^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 traders
called the new company, 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 probably 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 siuce leai'ued that Mi*. Bates made a map and took notes

;

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f i'-n

THROUGH THE LOWER RAMPARTS.

805

may be of the nature of a delta. It seemed to l)e verr
swift and brought down quantities of uprooted dri't tim-
ber of hirge dimensions as rompare*! with that brouglit l)y
the Yulion. Looking bark it reseiuhk'd u sudileniy
exposed inland lake on thebordei"s of tlie main stream,
and its swift waters so overwhelmed those of the Yukon
that a great slackening took place in the latter near
their contluence, forming a sluggish i)ool into which v»ti
helplessly drifted. All these circumstances give to the
Tanana the appearance of equality with the more import-
ant stream. Once in '. a 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 who 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 NuUlnkayet,
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 wa,s passed on the nortli
bank, apparently deserted ; and another hour brought
as 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. Tlie old store was nearly
demolished, while the once thriving Indian village had
hardly 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, iipon which they were spending the summer in
fishing for salmon. At the upper ends of these islands

ihjl

ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER.

they build oblique weirs or wicker-work wing-dami. con-
verging to a certain point, at which a large wicker-work
net is i^lacod, and into the latter the salmon are directed
and there caught. These 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 months, while they are
probably a score of feet in length. These, together with
the native hand-nets, already spoken of, are the only
appliances I saw used for catching fish ; but they serve
amply to supply the natives throughout the year, and
to give their numerous dogs a salmon apiece every
day.

A little after six o'clock we sighted the Nuklakayet
trading station, and after much hard labor succeeded in
making a landing there, for the channel was most tor-
tuous, and without our Indian pilot we should probably
have missed the place altogether, so much dodging
through winding ways and around obscure islands was
necessary. Mr. Harper, whom we found in charge, was
the only white man present, although Mr. McQuestion,
and another trader who was down the river at the time
(Mr. Mayo), make the station their headquarters. It Is
the furthest inland trading post at present maintained
by the Alaska Commercial Company— or any other cor-
poration on the river— although there were formerly
others of which mention ha« been inade, but an occasional
visit of the river steamer hus taken their place. Nukla-
kayet was once on the flat bottom land at the junction of
the Tanana and the Yukon, and was considered a sort of
neutral ground for the British traders from above and

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THROUGH THE LOWER RAMPARTS.

309

the Russians below, there being at that iime summer
trading camps only in existence.

Here Mr, Harper had attemijted 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-five geographical or niu^ty-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 orisp 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-
peded by the swarms of mosquitoes, while agricul-
ture on a considerable scale would be retarded by the
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 him
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 her
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

810

ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER.

US safely through so many trials, surpri.-ing us with
its good qualities. It had explored a larger portion
of the great river than any more pretentious craft,
and seemed to deserve a better fate.

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CHAPTER XII.

\ i

DOWN THE RIVER AND HOME.

HE 7th of August we rematned
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 GUM COVKRINO, -flftv hpinC OWTlPfl hv tllfi stfl-
ON TUB LOWER YUKON mVEB. '" "^ j' '-"^"% UMUtJU Uy LllW SlU-

tion, the majority of wliich Mr. Harper feared he should
have to kill to save the expense of feeding them through
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 party. The Eskimo
dogs of Alaska are larger, finer-looking, and a much
more distinct variety than those of North 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 diflEerence in size, shape and general appearance.

314

ALO\(J ALASI^A'S GREAT RIVER.

From all I could learn, and I was careful to inquire of
their capabilities, I do not think the Alaskan Eskimo
dogs can compare with the others in endurance, whether
as regards fatigue, exposure or fasting. For all the
purposes of men who are never in fear of starvation, I
think it more than probable that the Alaskan Eskimo
dog would be found superior on short journeys and trips
between points where food is procurable ; but for the
use of explorers, or of any one who may 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 endurance of the
Hudson Bay species, they seemed 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 the wooden frames
are covered with sealskin, are also first noticed at this
place ; although the Eskimo people themselves are not
found as regular inhabitants until Anvik has been
passed, some twenty or thirty miles. I saw both kinds,
the smaller variety, or 7clak, 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 "lines,' with a result much more
visible than with those of Hudson's Straits and Bay.

On Wednesday the 8th of August, we got away late,
and there being a slight broeze 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,

■!!f

DOWN THE RIVER AND HOME.

better than all, making it very easy work to keep in the
strongest currents.

Indian villages or camps were seen occasionally on the
upper ends of islands, with their iish -traps sot above
them, and from some of these we obtained fresh salmon.
As the trading stations are approached, these Indian
cami)s increase, the largest being generally clustered
around the station itself, while a diminution both in
numbers and size is perceptible in proportion to the dis-
tance from these centers. As many of these camjjs are
but temporary sunmier afifairs, which are abandoned late
in the fall, this clustering around the white men's stores
becomes more marked at that period. That night's
camping, however, plainly showed us that the "barka"
was not as good as the raft for the purpose of approach-
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 w^ere 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 campi ig places were now selected with reference to
steep banl 75 that had at least three feet of water at their
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 furious gale, with
white capped waves running over the broad river and
dashing over our boat. We ran into shoal water, dropped
anchor, and tried to protect ourselves by crawling in
under the leaking decks. Here we remained cooped up
until four o'clock in the afternoon, when the gale abat-

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ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER.

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^,n;

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 attacks, or the season had affected the insects,
for tbey appeared iesj 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 lltli 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 " \ iikon" 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
whicb 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 prior 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 Melczecargut, yet all the sur-
roundings made " Ed " Schelfelin think it would not pay
to put 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 Scheffelins 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 Nuklakaj'et 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 ordt-r to contract expenses, so that
the company might make a small percentage on the large
capital invested, until the traders found themselves with-
out 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 large number of Eskimo
dogs at Nuklakjiyet had been selected by him for the

* Diggings that will pay an ounce of gold per man a day, or, aa
jl^ld usually runs, from |10 to |20 per day.

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318

ALOSG ALASKA'S GREAT lilVER.

purpose of sletlginij cr-jjcditions in wintpr time. He
thought seriously of invading the 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 ho was
th<! prhu'o of good fellows.

Tlie " Nl'w Racket'' left us very early in the morning,
having tied u^) alongside of camp the night before, while
we started al)()iit Ih > usual time, an hour after daylight.
About 3:30 p.m. that day — the 12th — we passed a very
considerable Indian village called Sakadelontin, com-
posed 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 jjale from the .south made even drifting difficult.
UiTon a couple of northward-trending stretches of the
riv(>r irhfit were encountered on the 13tli we set the jib,
and .spun along at the rate of six o» seven miles an hour.
At one 1)1 ace where we were held against the high banks
by the force of the gale, we went ashore, and much to
our surprise found a nu)st prolific huckleberry patch,
where we all regaled ourselves as long as tlie wind lasted.
These berries were quite common along thi ; 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 wood or
birch-bark full of them, which the natives wanted to
trade for tea or tobacco. We camped in what is called

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DOWN THE RIVER AND HOME.

321

by the river steamer men the "cut-off sloagh," 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, fo); nearly a quarter of
a century. It was occupied by the trader? of the Alaska
Company until a year or tw^o before my arrival, as well
as by traders of the "opposition," when the killing of
ons of the latter led to trouble with the Indians, so that
both companies withdrew.

Many years ago, one cold winter night, the Russians
of the station were massacred, along with a number of
friendly Indians who had assembled around the station.
In this disaster fell ah English naval officer, Lieuten-
ant Barnard by name, who was locking for traces of Sir
John Franklin, even in this out-of-the-way corner of the
earth. A respectable hx. ad -board marks his grave, but
the high grass and willows have buried it almost out of
sight.

Here also lies buried a locally noted Russian char.".c-
ter of hard reputation, Kerchinikoff by name, whose

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322

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 career. It was romancingly said by way of illus-
trating his prowess among tlie native tribes, that if the
skulls of his Indian victims had been heaped together in
his grave they would not only till it but enor(i,h would
have remained to erect a high m.onuirr.^ :t l'^ mem-

ory. He died at a great age, having becu hvai his very
youth a terror to all the tribes on the lower river, but
wholly in the interests, as he interpreted them, of the
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 N"ulato transmitted liis re-
quest to the headquarters of the Russian Fur Company
at far-off Sitka, but did not receive even the courtesy of
an answer. With one or two companions he put a co^; iVie
of old rusty Russian carronades in the prow of histr. nng
boat, — the identical one on which we were driftii. C' t. i
the river, and which he himself had built — and in lie a r'
proper ammunition, which he was unable to get, he
loaded his guns with spikes, hinges and wliatevei- scraps
of iron and lead he could pick iip 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 appar tiy absurd !■ :n?nds,
having never even heard of such ^ cuing as n ^ r. jp
Spears were hurled and arrows shot at the boat. !iicii
thereupon slowly approiichcrl. having its cannon pointed
at the dense crowd. When ai arrow buried itself iu

LOWN THE RIVER AND HOME.

323

■>*■

the prow, the terrible report of the two '.-arronades
made answer, and about a score of Indians were stretched
upon the beach, while the wounded and panic-stricken
fled in great numbers to the woods for protection. Prom
thc.*^^ 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 encountere 1 a half-breed who spoke 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.
Tliis neatly-dressed young fellow took me down to his
cache, and seemed especially delighted in showing me
his new "parka," or reindeer coat, for winto.. wear. It
was one of the highly-prized " spotted " 2>«''/i«-?. The
spotted reindeer are bred only m Asia, and tlieir hides —
for the tribe owning them will never allow the live animals
to be taken n way- -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 offered a
good price for this particular "parka," but the owner
would not part with it, as they are esi)eclally valuable
and tolerably rare at this distance up the river, and only

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ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER.

the wealthiest Indians can aflFord 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 place 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, bi^t 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 with a fair wind, its change to a gale that kept us
against the banks, and of our passing a few Indian towns.

DOWN- THE RIVER AND HOME.

This continuous drifting against a head wind taught
us one singular thing, however, viz. : that our boat would
drift faster against this wind when turned broadside to
it and exposing the greatest surface to its action, tlian
when facing it bow or stern on and with a minimum of
exposed surface ; this fact being the very reverss of what
we had supposed, indeed, we had endeavored to avoid
this very position. Thereafter we kept 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 have saved our work at the steering
oar which we rigged at the stern.

The 18th and 19th we fought our way down the river,
inch by inch, against the \vind. 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 flew
great white masses of foam, the wide river resembling a
sheet of boiling milk in the darkness. Although we were
in a well-sheltered cove, which had remained calm the
evening before, even in the high wind, yet tliis gale sent
in such huge waves that our "barka" was on the point
of being wrecKed, and was only saved by the severest
labor of the crew. The little birch-bark canoe was swept
f?om hei deck and thrown high up on the beach, where it

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929 ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER.

resembled a mass of brown wrapping paper which the
storm had beaten down upon the stones. The gale slowly
died down on the 20th, but ceased too late to give us a
chance to start, and we remained over night, a heavy fog
and rain terminating the day.

On the 21st we saw a couple of oomlens, {hidarra —
Russian) or large skin-boats being hauled up stream by
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 time 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, the 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 wh ^e country 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 themselves at the slough's lower end. When
the Innoka is the higher its waters find an outlet into

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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 she coukl make St. Michael's 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 before the l.')th
of September, yet there was fear that the boat might
pass us or tLe "Corwin " lind 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 surprise in the shape of
a favorable wind came to our aid after 10 a. m., and at
1:30 p. M. we landed at the mouth of the An vie or Anvik.
The picturesquely-situated trading station is about a
mile or a mile and a-quarter above this point, but the
shoals were so numerous, the channel so winding, that
this was the nearest point we could make, especially with
a foul 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.

Prom this place I sent a courier to St. Michael's, who
was to ascend the Anvik River to the head of canoe navi-
gation, and thence to make a short port.age to a stream
emptying near the post, the entire distance being readily
covered in three days, or in two if sufficient energy is
displayed. He promised i"o be there without fail in three
days, i. e., by the 25th, and I paid him a little extra for

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328

ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RJ JEf,.

the extra exertion. He arrived about a week nfter I did
and we were ten days in reaching St. Micliapl's frcm this
point. My object was to let the " Coiv/in"* know that
my party was coming. Tlie "Leo," an Alaskan trading
schooner, was also expected to touch fit St. Michael's to
exchange some signal officers, 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 such a lonely and outlandish srot. He h-idbeen
furnished with meteorological inst/uPi' nts by tte Signal
Service, to which he made regular /r.r/,rts. He informed
me that he has seen ice of such d- '/Jt. by the 4tli of Sej)-
tember as to cut the thick cq r.ring of a hldarra or
oomlcn ; but this, of course, is ^ c-ry unusual. The year
before our arrival — 1882 — the ic^ did not form until the
12tli of October, and the first of that month may be re-
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 re sistance or
even annoyance, the others were to side with their fel-
lows, seize the trader and secure him until his store was
plundered and the booty removed, when he was to be
liberated, or murdered if aggressive. In some way the
Anviks got an inkling of the plot, and prepared to side

DOWN THE RIVER AND HOME.

889

with Mr. Fredericksen, and when the preliminaries com-
menced with the cutting open of one of the trader's
finest skin-boats — hidarra — the Shagelooks saw them-
selves confronted by such an array of well-armed Anvik Iji-
dians, that they were perfectly satisfied to let the business
drop. The christening was carried out according to i^ro-
gramme, but the baffled Shagelooks vowed vengeance on
both t'x Anviks and the trader whenever an opportunity
might occur, and they were not reticent in so informing
him at their departure, hinting that their turn miglit
come when the Anviks left to hunt reindeer for their
winter supply of clothing. That season would soon be
at hand, and the Anviks had the alternative of losing
their autumn hunting or of leaving the station in a
weakened condition at their departure. The arrival of
a body of troops, small in number as we were, was a
cause of congratulation, and Mr. Fredericksen 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 whatever
in that vast territory, and my orders had emphatically
repeated the clause. In fact, it was a debatable point
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
aniversal right of self-preservation. I told Mr. Freder-

330

ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER.

til II

icksen, however, to make the most out of my visit, which
I suppose he did.

A foresail was borrowed from liini, with which I could
make my way from the mouth of the river to St. Michael' s,
should any accident have happened to the ' ' Yukon. ' ' It
was too large and would havt to be cut to fit, an expe-

ANVIK.
(Looking down both the Yukon and Anvik Rivers.)

dient to which I did not intend to resort until we reached
the mouth of the river.

Mr. Fredericksen's station is on the banks of both the
Yukon and the Anvik, as the streams approach within
about fifty or seventy-five yards of each other at this
point, although their confluence occurs, as I have said,
about a mile below. The illustration above is from
the station looking toward the point of confluence.
Wnen the present trader first came to the station a i»^

DOWN THE RIVER AND HOME.

331

years previously, the two rivers were far apart at tliis
point, but the Anvik has encroached so largely 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.

Anvik is the last station in the Indian country, and at
Makagamute, thirty or forty miles below, the Eskimo
begin to appear, and continue from that point to the
mouth of the river.

We started again on the 23d, with a fine breeze behind
us, passing Makagamute or moot (pronounced like boot,
shoot), at 1:30 p.m. It was compos 'd of eight or ten
houses of a most substantial build, flanked and backed
by fifteen to twenty cacJies, and had altogether a most
prosperous appearance, impressing a stranger with the
superiority of the Eskimo over their neighbors. The
doors were singular little circular or rounded holes, very
like exaggerated specimens of the cottage bird-houses,
which some people erect for their feathered friends.
Villages were much more numerous on the 23d, than
upon any previous day of our voyage. Everywhere
might be seen their traps and nets for catching salmon,
of which fish they must capture en jUv.ous quantities, for
they live upon salmon the year rouiia.

Myriads of geese might be observed in all directions
during this fine we&ther, preparing and mobilizing for
their autumnal emigration to the south ; and the air
was vocal with their cries.

On the night of the 23d we had a severe frost, the
heavy sedge grass near camp being literally white with
it, and the cook was heard grumbling about the con-

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ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER.

dition of his dishcloth, wliich wjis about a^ flexible as a
battered iiiillt-pan, until thawed out by means of hot
water. The few uiusquitoes we saw next morning were
X)itiable looking creatures, although I doubt very much
whether any sentiment was wasted on tliem. However
much the cold spell threatened to hasten the arrival of
winter, and to send the ships ut St. Michael's flying
south, yet thedisconifltureof the mosquitoes afforded us
a good deal of consolation, and thereafter our annoy-
ances from this source were but trifling,

Starting at H a.m. with ahead breez ten o'clock

the wind had become a gale and we wert ., ..icely making
half a mile an hour, when at 2:20 I'.M. we saw the
steamer "Yukon," with the St. Michael's in tow, coming
round a high precipitous jioint 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 from
both the "Yukon's" decks and our own. The point
around which the 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. Tn 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

DOWA THE RIVER AND HOME.

888

Mission wlien he arrived there, lie intended tu return
for us.

We made the Mission that evening at the ui)per or
"opposition" store, wliicli 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 charge t)f the
boat.

By next niorring at nine o'clock we had these securely
lashed to the sides lud were under way, stopping three
miles below at the Mission jjiojjer. Here is an old (Jieek
church, presided over by a half-breed priest, which
looked strangely enough in this far-away corner of the
world. The interior was fitted up with all th(» ornanients
customary in the Grreek cluirch, the solid silver and
brass of more stately structures in Russia being rei)ro-
duced in tinsel luid trappings of a cheaper kind. The
Greek priest is also the Alaska Comi)any's trader, and
he came aboard to go to St. ^lichael's to get a winter's
supply of trading material for his store. His handsome
little sloop was tied behind the big "barka" to be
towed along, while from its stern the line ran to the
sloop's yawl, in which an Indian had been allowed to
come, he tying his little skin canoe behind the yawl, thus
making a queue of vessels of rapidly dindnishing
sizes, quite ludicrous in appearance. With the St.
Michael's alongside in tow, and our guards piled 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 tl: ^ the
"Yukon" had blown out a cylinder-head just after leav-
ing St. Michael's Bar and while trying to make Belle Isle,

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ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER.

for which reasoii their return voyage liad to be made
under reduced steam in order to avoid a repetition of the
accident.

A serio-comic io'^-ident connected with this mishap
deserves to be recounted. Among their Eskimo deck-
hands was a powerful young fellow, deaf as a post, who
. vays slept in the engine-room when oft' duty, with his
head resting on a huge cross deck-beam as a pillow, jit a
point in front of the engine thai liad 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,
as they soon learned, a stout kick on any part of the
beam would suffice ; whereupon he would sit up, give
a great yawn, stretch his arms and be ready for work.
When the cylinder- head of the engine bleAv out, it struck
the beam directly opposite liis own head, and buried
itself until the spot looked afterward as though a chain-
shot had struck i' ; l)ut with no more e:ffect on the deaf
Eskimo than to make him rise ivp and yawn, a I begin
to stretch himself, when the rush of steam from the next
stroke of the engine completely enveloped Lim, befoi'e
the engineer could inter^<;re, 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 s^^opped about every couple of hours
to take on wood, which fortunately had been cut for us
beforehand in most places, so that the delays were not
,very long. In ascending or descending the river, the
steamer finds a considerable qiiantity of the wood it
requires already cut at convenient x^oints, the natives
of course being paid for tbeii labor. This is the case

DOWN THE RIVER AND HOME.

335

between the river's mouth and Nuklakayet, or tliere-
abouis, but above this point, and even at many places
below it the captain 11, obliged to go ashore roar a
great pile of drift-wood, and send a dozen nxnien 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 suj)plied them with wood when in the
neighborhood. We stopped the night of the 2;'5th near
a native village, and as we were to start very early in the
morning, the doctor and myself, at the captain's invita-
tion, made oui^ beds under the table, on the dining-room
floor of the steamer, that being the first time we had
slept under a roof since leaving Chilkat ; although the
doctoi' made some irrelevant remarks about a table not
being a roof, evidently wanting to extend back the
period of our claim.

On the 26th, running about twelve hours, less our time
at "wooding" places, we made Andreavsky, and nearly
the whole of the next day was spent in unloading the
logs, mooring the St. Michael's in winter quarters, and
washing down decks, for it was to this point that the
"Yukon" would return for the Avinter after making St.
Michael's. The hill' of the right bank rapidly dimin
ish i'\ height as one approaches Andreavskj^ and in the
vicinity of that p'^ice are only entitled to the name of
high rolling ground. Near the river the trees disappear
and are replaced by willow-brake, although the up-
stream ends of the numerous islands are still co.-ercd
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.

1 :

336

ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER.

From the most northerly of these mouths to the most
southerly is a distance of about ninety miles, according
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 bj
our crew for 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 Aplioon or northernmost
mouth, was reached next day at 1 p. m., and we spent
the afternoon in preparing the boilers for the change to
salt water; 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 ol erection.

Starting at early daylight on the morning of the 29th,
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, where we commenced the
slow and tedious threading of its shallow channels be-
tween their mud banks. For untold ages this swift,
muddy river has deposited its sediment upon the shallow
eastern shor»jS 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. Tlie 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 logs
that weighed lis to the M;uards, sent us a dozen times on
the low mud flats, to escape from which gave us much
trouble. Our delay at Coatlik had also lost us some
of the tide, there being about two feet of water on the
bar at ebb and nearly as much more at flood 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 mouth
comes in the Pastolik River, and once across the bar of
mud near the confluence, the channel of the latter
stxeam is followed to deep water. This muddy sedi-
ment is very light and easily stirred uji, and wiien a
storm is raging the whole sea as far as the eye can
reach resembles an angry lake of mud. From the Pas-
tolik River on, t westerly wind gradually increased
to a gale, the sea ruunin^^ very high and -nakiiitf liiany
of us quite sea-sick. Fearini; to round Point ilomant-
zoff, the captain put back and anchored ii! a somewhat
sheltered cove, returning about half way to the Pasto-
lik. A flat-bottomed river boat anchon^d in iV-ring's
Sea during a gale, loaded with a log-hnnsc and towing a
number of craft, certainly did net seem a very safe abid-
ing place.

Early on the morning of the 30th wr • "< uder way,
the weather having moderated considtM.iy during the
night, and constantly improving as we proceeded. We
rounded Cape Romantzolf about the middle of the fore-
noon, and as we passed between Stuart and St. Michael's
Islands, shortly before noon, nothing was left of yester-
day's angry sea but a few long ground- swells, wliich dis-
turbed us but little. At noon we rounded the point that

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ALOIS G ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER.

I 1

li 1

liid the little village of St. Michael's, and were received
by a salute of three discharges from as many ancient
Kussian carronades, to which we responded vigorously
with the whistle. All eyes swept the bay for signs of
the " Corwin," 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, rnd 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 hci^v^ 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 statf of the latter might be inferred from the fact
that the clay of our arrival was the first fine one they had
had at the redoubt (as St. Michael's is called here and in
the Yukon valley), for over six weeks, during wh'ch
there had been r.n almost continuous storm.

There was also a vessel, the "Alaska," at Golovnin Bay,
about sixty miles north of St. Michasl's, across Norton
Sound, which was h iding with silver ore lor San Fran-
cisco, and was exjiected to depart about the 1st of
October. It was possible that she might call here, e7i
route, as the minii'g company to which she belonged had
a considerable quantity of material stored at this point.

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DOWN THE RIVER AND HOME.

339

The evening of the 30th we spent at u 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 Avith 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. Meant! su 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 "Leo" as our-
selves.

St. Michael's, Michaelovski, or " the redoubt," as it is
variously called — St. Michael' a liedoubt being the official
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 A^'i.ska Commercial Company. Mr. Neumann
was the superintendent, and a very agreeable and affable
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' sujoply is
secured. The "opposition" store, three miles across

t. {■:

340

ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER.

the bay, seems much better situated in this and other
resi)ects, but when St. Michael's was selected by the
Russians over a third of a century previously, the idea
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 steamer
until Captain Petersen became master, when he boldly
put out to sea, as a preferable route to " the slough," as
it is sometimes 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 performance 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 fragments threw it out
of doors into the sea, "sending it to the scliooner," as
he said. After a long and tiresome rigmarole, another
blue bead was produced which he affirmed to be the same
one, telling us that it had been to the vessel, and by
returning whole testified her safety. A somewhat si milar
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

IV^

DOWN THE RIVER AND HOME.

841

preflvited the loss of the Jeannette and the conseqiient
death of the two Eskimo from this point. For his favorable
hews Mr, Neumann rewarded him with a sa(^k of flour ;
and I suppose he would have been perfectly willing to
furnish more good news for more flour.

The next day I took a genuine Russian bath in a house
erected many years ago for that purpose by the Russians.
It may be more cleansing, but it is less comfortable than
the counterfeit Russian bath as administered in American
cities.

The 2d of September was the warmest day they had
had that summer, the thermometer marking 05° Fiihren-
heit. Late in the afternoon the ' ' Yukon ' ' set out on her
return to Andreavsky amidst a salute from the carron-
ades and the screaming of the steam-whistle.

On the 3d my Golovnin Bay couriers, who I supposed
had started on the preceding day, and were then forty
or fifty miles away on their journey, came nonchalantly
to me and reported their departure. I bade them
good-by, and told them not to delay on the idea that 1
wanted the "Alaska" next year and not this, and
promising me seriously to remember this, they departed.
The next day — the 4th — they re^ ned, having forgotten
their sugar, an article of luxury they had not enjoyetl for
months previously, and again departed. I expected to
sec them return in two or three days for a string to tie
it up with, but their outfit must have been complete this
time, for I never saw or heard of them again ; but I could
not help thinking what valuable messenger service the
telegraj)!! companies were losing in tliis 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, where

'if

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848

ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT PdVER.

we boarded her. Although already overcrowded for a
little schooner of about two hundred tons, Lieutenant
Ray kindly made room for my additional party, there
being by this addition about thirty-five on board and
seventeen in the little cabin. While trying to make
Point Barraw, the "Leo" had been nipped 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 repaired at Oonalaska, and if mat-
ters came to the worst she would be condemned,

A few days were spent in chatting of our experiences,
getting fresh water on board and exchanging signal
observers, and on the morning of the 11th, at a.m.,
under a salute of six guns, we weighed anchor and
started, with a strong head wind that kept constantly
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,
80 little progress 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 increased the

DOWN THE RIVER AND HOME.

343

next day that evening saw us "hove to" for fear of
running into Oonalaska Ishind during the niglit. This
run across Bering's Sea in less than three days was stated
by our master, Captain Jacobsen, to be tlie 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 bold relief. A very light breez»^ spi-ang
up about noon, and with its help at 6 I'.sr. we entered
the heads of Oonalaska harbor, and at nine o'clock we
dropped anchor in the dark about half a mile from the
town. Most of us visited the place that night and had a
very pleasant reception by Mr. Neumann, the agent of
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 point 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 charge that the " Leo " would have
to be repaired, accordingly she was lightened by dis-
charging her load, and on the morning of the 20th 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

ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER.

.**

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islands, while some of the party got out their fishing
tackle and succeeded in securing a few fine tliouj^h
small trout from the clear mountain streams.

This grand chain of islands jutting out boldly into the
broad Pacific receives the warm waters of the Japanese
current — Kuro Siwo — a deilected continuation of a part

OONALASKA.

of the Pacific equatorial current corresponding to our gulf
stream. From this source it derives a warmer climate
than is possessed by any body of land so near the pole,
althoiTgh it lies in about the same parallels as the British
Islands. The cold of zero and the oppessive heat of
iummer are equally unknown to this region. Grasses

DOWN THE RIVER AND HOME.

846

grow luxuriantly everywh(>re, upon which the reindeer
used to graze in numerous he*-ds, Iheir keen sight and.
the absence oi' timber protecting them from the rude
weapons of the native hunters until the introduction of
firearms, after which they were rapidly exterminated.
In a few days we heard with pleasure that the " Leo" was
ready and we soon quitted Alaska for good. The north-
A^est winds sang a merry song through our sails as the
meridians and parallels took on smaller numbers, and in
a very few days, the twinkling twin lights of the Faral-
lones greeted our eyes, and anchored safely within the
Golden Gate, our journey ended.

;, T,,

II I

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CHAPTER XIII.

THE KLONDIKE REGION.

On pape 244, Schwatka says:

"We camped that nijilit at the mouth of a noticeable
stieam cominjf in from tlie east, which we afterwards
learneil was called Dwr Ci'eek by the traders, f: oni i he
lar};e number of caribou or woodland reindeer sem in
its valley at certain times of their migrations."

This is the stream that is now known the world over
as the Klondike. What the Indians really called it was
"Thron-Diuck," from which comes the word "Klondike."

The Klondike is a small river about forty yards wide
at the mouth, and shallow; the water is clear and
transparent, and of beautiful blue color. Dawson City
is located at the mouth of the river, and althoufjh it
was located only a few months ago, it is now the scene
of great activity.

Upon this stream and several of its alHuents have
been found the rich deposits of gold. The river is about
140 miles in length, and the gold-bearing creeks, where
the richest deposits have been found, run into the Klon-
dike from r southerly direction.

The principal creeks are the Bonanza, entering the
Klondike two miles from its junction with the Yukon;
El Dorado Creek, a branch of Bonanza Creek, from
twelve to fifteen miles in length; about seven miles far-

346

1 !l

UIE KLuyDlKE REiilOX.

347

ther lip Bonauza <*re«'k is CJoM Hottcmi fYcck; aiul a
few miles boyoud is AtlaiuH (Vcek. Tlicro an* several
smaller ereeks emptying iuto Buuauza deek, wliieli are
gold-bearing.

About twelve miles up the Klondike is Bear (Yeek,
whiih has several tributaries, and twelve miles faiihei'
up is Hunter (Veek. About ten miles fai-tlier up .he
Klondike is Too Mueh (Jold Oeek. Bonauza and Kl
Dcu'ado ereeks have produ'Kl the richest deposits of
gold yet found, but al! the creeks mentioned havv' some
verj' rich dep<»:;Irs.

The knowledge of these gold fields in the far north
is not new. From early in the (lays of the Russian occu-
pation of this territory it has been known Miat there
were vast deposits of the precious metal in ^ laska. It
is said that the existence of gold in quantities along tht-
Yukon and its tributaries was known to the f u'-trading
companies a century and a half ag«). These companies
were not after minerals, and they were merely guarding
the immense wealth which abounded in the fur indus-
tries when they did not give their knowledge to the
world. Other fur companies have followed the ex-
ample of the early tnulei-s and have kept the secret.
The}' foresaw the effec of a rush of immigrants.

The aborigines of Alaska have been familiar with the
precious yellow^ metal for a time that is old even in
their legends. The earliest voyagers to the coasts of
Alaska noticed the bits of shining gold here and there
among the ornaments of the natives, and for these they
traded knives, guns, and fancy trappings. Be^yond the
few ounces which they gaintnl in this way, however, no
gold was obtained from those regions. In 1741 the

3*8

ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER.

Hi !

Russian explorer, Bebring, after whom the great Alas-
kan Sea is uamed,fountl gold, but he found what seemed
to him more attractive, fine furs. Upon the value of
the furs he laid gi'eat stress in his re^ ft to his monarch,
and the result was that the country was granted by th;-
Emperor Paul for f'- -gathering purposes alone to the
Kusso-American Fur Company, and thus it remained
until the purchase by the United States in 1867.

That there were deposits of gold in those icy regions
was hinted by the earlj'^ explorers, and incomplete rec-
ords show that more than one party put civilization be-
hind for the purposx" of investigating the country, in
fact, enough men had left for that region to produce suf-
ficient gold to cause the Director of the Mint to credit
Alaska with three hundred thousand dollars in gold
ar'd two Ihousand dollars in silver 1*2 1885. Most of
this metal came from Douglas Island. In 1890 the total
output of lode and placer mines in Alaska was put at
four million six hundred and seventy-five thousand dol-
lars, and in 1897 the f;old output, it is estimated, will
reach twelve million dollars.

There Avas a great g,:ld craze in the extreme North-
west in 1858. Tn ili'^ OO's there was a i)eriod when the
annual 1 "oduction of the Northwest Province? reached
three mi) 'ions, seven hundred thousand dollars. The
known deposits were exhausted, however, and by 1890
the product fell off to less than half a million dollars.

On page 190 of this volume Mr. Schwatka says, "The
mouth of the D'xVLoadie marks an important point on
the Yukon Kiver as beijig the place at which gold com-
menced to be found in placer deposits. From the D'Ab-

, HI 1' ;

Tiui Ki.oNKiKii Gou) Discoveries.

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THE KLONDIKE REGION.

340

badie almost to the very mouth of the great Yukon a
pauful of 'dirt' taken with any discretion from almost
any bar or bank will, when washed, give several 'colors'
to use a mi Heir's phrase."

The United States Government sent Professor J. S,
Spurr, H. B. Goodrich and F. C. Schrader of the Geo-
logical Survey, into the Yukon District early in '9G.
Prof. Spurr, the chief of the Survey, has made the fol-
lowing preliminary statement:

"Much has been written of late concerning the possi-
bilities of Alaska as a gold-producing countr}\ As a
matter of fact the productions of the present year may
be roughly estimate<l at thi-ee million dollars. This
amount, however, comes from a region of half a million
square miles, or about one quarter as large as i;he
United States. Of the mines whicli produce this gold
some are in the bed rock, while otliers are placer dig-
gings.

"The bed rock mines are few in number and situated
on the southeast coast, which is the most accessible
part of the territory. The chief one is the great Tread-
well mine, neai' Juneau, and there are also important
mines at Burner's Bay, at the Island of Unga, and other
places.

"The latest strike is the Klondike. Most of these
mines, however, are in low grade ore, and the produc-
tion is only made profitable by careful management and
operations on a very large scale. The placer mines are
those which occupy the most prominent place in the
popular mind, since they are remote from civilization
and in a countiy about which little is known, and which
is, on account of this uncertainty, dangerously attrac-

lis

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350

ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER.

the to the average man. This gold producing country
of the interior is mostly in the vicinity of the Yukon
River, or of some of its immediate tributaries."

The great Klondike strike was made in the early win-
ter of ISOO-D", but nothing was known of it in the
United States until June 15th, 1897, when the "Excel-
sior" ai'rived in San Francisco laden with Klondike
miners, who were in turn laden with gold. These min-
ers had left the Klondike District, and gone down the
Yukon River to St. Michael, carrying with them their
loads of gold, which averaged |10,000 to the man.
About a month later, on July 17th, 1897, the steamer
"P(»rtla.nd" reached Seattle from St. Michael, Alaska,
and brought the verified news of the great gold dis-
coveries in the Upper Yukon region and also nearly a
million and three-quarters in gold dust as freight, with
the owners of the same. All of this gold had been
taken fi*om the placer mines of the Klondike within the
year.

Such was the beginning of the great Klondike gold
craze, which has seize<l thousands of miners and specu-
lators, a great proportion of whom will be drawn into
that region in the couim^ of the year.

The great problem to be solved by those who contem-
plate going to the Klondike region is the method of get-
ting there, and of sustaining life after they reach the
country.

There are three principal ways of going to the Klon-
dike j.old tields. One is the route taken by Mr. Schwat-
ka, as described by him in previous piiges. This route
is through the famous Chilkoot Pass, the dangers and

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'!' ■;

THE KLONDIKE REGION.

351

h.'-

hardships of which he has pointed out, but in no wise
magnified. In fact, he made the journey under the
most favorable circumstances. Another route is tlie all-
water route from Seattle by way of the mouth of the
Yukon. It is a fifteen days' voyage from Seattle to St.
Michael, which is on the westera coast of Alaska,
north of the mouth of the Yukon River. In making this
trip one passes through the chain of Aleutian Islands
and past the Pribilof Islands, which is the great breed-
ing ground of the fur seals.

From St. Michael the trip is made up the Yukon in a
flat-bottom river steamer in from fifteen to twenty days.
The distance from Seattle to Dawson City by way of St.
Michael and the Yukon River is about 4,725 miles.
The distance from Seattle by way of the Chilkoot Pass
route, that which was followed by Mr. Schwatka, is
estimated as about 1,G00 miles.

The back door route is the old Hudson Bay Tinmk
Line, which has been traveled since 1825. This is by
way of St. Paul to Edmonton, Northwest Territory, on
the Canadian Pacific Railroad. This route from St.
Paul and Minneapolis, by way of the Soo Line and the
Canadian Pacific, is all rail as far as Edmonton. A
stage line runs to Athabasca Landing on the Atha-
basca River forty miles away. Thence the route is by
canoe due north, into Athabasca Lake, and finally into
Great Slave Lake, the source of the McKenzie River.
Following the McKenzie River to its mouth, the Peel
River must be taken south, and then by poi*tage, the
Rocky Mountain range is crossed. The Stewart River
rises just west of the mountain range, and thus the way
to the Klondike is opened. The Hudson Bay Company

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352

ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER.

gives the distance as 1,882 miles. This route is almost
constantly used by the Indians and trappers. It is
down grade all the way. The Hudson Bay Company
has small steamers plying wherever the water is of
sufficient depth.

Still another way that is recommended is known as
the Takou route. The entrance to this inlet is ten or
twelve miles south of Juneau, and is navigable for the
largest ocean vessel a distance of eighteen miles to the
mouth of the Takou River. This river is navigable by
canoe for a distance of fifteen miles to Nakinah River.
Ef J 's a portage of seventy miles to Lake Teslin, one
of the chain of lakes which form the headwaters of the
Yukon. The total distance from Juneau to Lake Tes-
lin is one hundred and fifty miles. It is said that this
route would require not over twenty days' time to reach
Klondike from Puget Sound. The approximate dis-
tance from Seattle to Dawson City over this route is
1,650 miles.

Sti?i another route, and one which is highly recom-
mended by a number of Canadians who have been over
it, is the Stikeen River route. The Canadian Govern-
ment has decidetl to make a large grant for opening up
this all-Canadian route to the Yukon.

One of the party who assisted in laying out this route
says: "We left Fort Wrangel on May 17th, and after
a pleasant run up the Stikeon River 110 miles on the
steamer we reached Telegraph Creek. On the 23d of
May we left to commence operations by following up
Diese Lake trail to Tahltan Bridge, and then running to
the left of Tahltan River on the old Hudson Bay trail to
a place called Jimtown. From this point we decided

1:,

THE KLONDIKE REGION.

353

to cut a new trail from Telegraph Oreek straight across
on the left of Tahltan River, crossing the left fork about
fifteen miles from Telegraph, and five miles fui-ther on
connecting with the old Hudson Bay trail.

The old trail was cleared of all obstructions and
followed to the old Hudson Bay post, where some log
buildings still stand. This point is a hill of consider-
able size, there being about three miles of heavy grade.
This can be remedied by cutting a new trail around tlie
hill, following the creek. The country in general is
very open, and what timber there is, is veiy small and
scrubby. The trail runs through a valley from five to
twenty miles wide, which presents no difflculties.
About thirty miles this side of Lake Teslin we reached a
summit where waters run north. I may say the head-
waters of the Yukon commence from this point.

From this point the Klondike may be reached in
eight or ten days, with smooth water and no portages.
With the proposed improvements on the trail the trip
could be made in about fifteen days with a pack train
from Telegraph Creek Fort Wrangel can be used as a
supply station over this route, the distance from Fort
Wrangel being about nine hundred miles. Another
advantage of this route is that the supplies may be pur-
chased at Fort Wrangel, and thus no duty need be paid
the Canadian Government.

One member of a party of gold seekers who folio. ved
the Stikecii route has given the following account of
the route in detail. Since this route is to be im])roved
by the Canadian Government this description is of con-
siderable value:

"From Seattle we went to Fort Wrangel, 140 miles

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354

ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER.

this side of Juneau, and there we took the 150-ton
steamer 'Alaskan,' which plies on the Stikeen Itiver.
The Stikeen River is ver^- broad at some points, and at
others, where it runs through canyons, it narrows down
L » 100 feet or so, just room enough for the »:.teamer to
pass between the steep, rocky walls. Kapids were nu-
merous, and frequently the crew would have to go
ashore and 'line* the steamer through a nari*ow rajud,
where the ^" ter ran so swiftly that it made us dizzy.
When neariiig a bit of water of this kind the propeller
was neA'er used. After shutting down the machinery,
lines would be attachetl to a steam capstan on the deck
of the steamer. The ends of these lines then were made
fast to trees on either side of the river, and by means
of the steam capstan the boat was wai*ped along cau-
tiously until open water wa»s reached.

"The w"eather was not so cold as we looked for, just
bracing. The trail along the Stikeen follows the left
bank of the river almost to the conference of the Iskoot
River, where it crosses the Stikeen, following the left
bank of the Iskoot to Telegraph Creek. At that point
the trail trends to the west and north as far as the
Tahltan River, following that course over a great, flat
plateau until the foot of Teslin, or Allen's, Lake is
reached.

"There were five in the party which reached Tele-
graph Creek on the 'Alaskan.' At the creek six white
men and two Stick Indians joined our party. We hired
the Indians to act as guides as far as the Cassiar gold
diggings, near Diese Lake, seventy-two miles to the
north of Telegraph Creek. We started for Diese Lake
afoot, packing our provisions and supplies, of which

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Thk Descent of Chilkoot Pass.

i'l •

THE KLONDIKE liEUlON.

365

we bad an abumlauit', ou thirteen horses. On this
journey we made about six miles ever}- twonty-fouP
hours, i^oinj; into camp whenever we felt like it,

"At the Cassiar dij'i4;in};s we found a few Cliiuanien
worlvinj; plaeers, but tliey made only a bare livin;j;, so
our party, after lookinjj; over the <?rouud, (h'cided not to
stay there. We eonchuled to push on for Lake Teslin,
which is about 140 miles to the north of Cassiar.

"Previous to that time some wliite men l.ad been as
far on that route as the Koukitthie Lakes, seventy-five
miles beyond Telegraph Creek, but we blazed the way
from that point on to Lake Teslin and through to the
Yukon River. It is probable that we made some devia-
tions from what is now the known route. The tramp
to Lake Teslin was not so very dinicult, considering
that we were in a country never Ivefore trodden by the
foot of a civilized man. We hr.d some trouble with
rivers and creeks, and had to cut down trees and lay
bridges across Nahlin River and Beebe Creek. It is a
comparatively safe and easy journey, nevertheless.

"On the 19th day of July we reached Lake Teslin.
It is one of the most beautiful bodies of water on the
American continent. Its dimensions are about 130
miles long by an average o three and one-half miles
wide. When we were there the ground was free from
snow and vegetation was abundant. We remained in
the vicinity of Lake Teslin some two or three weeks,
when our party divided and two of us decided to ti^ to
find our way to the Yukon River. Before starting out
we prospected up the Nisulatine River, but found no
gold. Upon leaving the lake we followed the IToota-
linqua or Teslin River, a fine stream about 120 miles in

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ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RlVEli.

length, toward the Klondike country. It flows into the
Yukon just above the Klondike district, where it iiud
Thirty-Mile or Lewes Itiver join in practically forming
the Yukon. Here all the trails in that country meet
to};ether in a j^reat canyon in Seminow Hills. Thirty-
Mile Kiver drains the lalcos about Dyea Pass.

"After leaving;; the mouth of the Uootaliuqua River,
we followtxl the Yukon slowly into Dawsou City, which
we reached on the 12th of October."

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In the precedJiiji' cnapters manv general statements
as to the climate of the region of tue Yukon River have
been made, but so great is the difference betwcM?n the
climate of the coast regions and that of the interior,
that it is iiecessary to go into detail to get any definite
idea of any particular region or district.

The difference in cliuuitic conditions which obtain on
the coast and in the interior, even thirty miles back, is
\Qvy marked. The climate of southeastern Alaska, is
much milder than the climate in the same latitude on
the Atlantic coast. This is due to the warm current of
the Pacific that sweeps up from the southwest. Sum-
mer weather on the coast is much more liable to be wet
and ..loudy than in the interior. May, June, and July
are usually all one could desire, but from that on to the
opening of winter disagreeable weathcn- is the rule and
not the exception. At St. Michael, during this period,
rain falls four days in seven. In October the winds
sheer round from the southwest to the north and fine
weather sets in. During the fall, wind storms are of
frequent occurrence.

The climate is the greatest terror of the country in

lii

THE KLONDIKE REOJOA.

357

tlio popular estimate and in the estimation of those who
hav<? been ii !i>e goUl region in reeent years. The* pros-
pector is willing to seule mountains, traverse plains,
cross rivers, shoot rapids, and brave a thousand perils,
but the thought of living in a country whose temi)era-
ture is often represented as being comparable with that
of a vast refrigerator is appalling. The average tem-
perature in the Klondike country during the four cold-
est months of the year is not ordinarily much lower
than twenty degrees below zero. The average winter's
snowfall in that part of Alaska is only about two feet,
whereas on the coast it is ten times that much. The
snowfall in the vicinity of Fort Cud.ahy is only about
two feet during the winter, although it is as much as
twenty feet along the coast where the intluence of the
Japan current is felt.

It is bitterly cold in Arc.ic Alaska. Forty degrees be-
low zero for days at a stretch is not uncommon. The
general conception of the climate of the great North-
west is largely due to those who have merely skirted the
coast. And it is not very remarkable that the reports
are not more true of the whole of the Alaskan country,
for the coast line is over twenty-six thousand miles long
and extends through many degrees of latitude. Any
one traveling any considerable part of such a distance
would easily feel justitied in drawing a general con-
clusion as to the climate f)f the whole country.

As stated above, the climate of the interior, including
in that designation practically all of the country excejjt
a narrow fringe of coastal margin, is one of extreme
rigor in winter, with a brief, but relatively hot summer,
especially when the sky is free from clouds.

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ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER.

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In the Klondike region, in midwinter, the sun rises
from 9:30 to 10 a, m., and sets from 2 to 3 p. m., the total
length of dayliyht being about four hours. The sun
rises but a few degi'ees above the horizon, and it is
wholly obscured on a ^reat many days, so the character
of the winter months may be easily imagined.

The Ciiited States ^:oa*t and ^J.'odetic Survey in 1889-
90 madf a series (j4 (observations covering a period of
six months a-u rh*» Yukon, not far from the .'o of the
present g«^*l disc<»irf»ies. Tke ofceervations vv\.^e made
with standard in«trumeBiH and are wholly' reliable.

"The meau temperature of the months, October to
April, both inclusive, are as follows: October, 33 de-
grees; November, 8 degrees; December, 11 degrees
below zero; Januarj-, IT degi-ees below zero; February,
15 degrees below zei*o; March, (! degrees above zero;
April, 20 degrees above zero. The daily mean temjiera-
ture fell and remalncMl below the freezing point (32)
from November 4th to April 21sv, thus giving 1G8 days
as the length of the closed season, assuming the out-
door oi>erations are controlled by temper.ature only.

"The lowest temperatures registered during that
winter were: 32 degrees below zero in November, 47
below in December, 59 below in Januaiy, 55 be-ow in
February , 45 below in March, 2G below in April,

"The greatest continuous cold occurred in February,
when the daily meau for five consecutive days wasx 47
degrees below zero. The weather mo<lerated slightly
about the tirst of March, but the temperature still re-
mained below the fi-eeziug point. Generally cloudy
weather prevailed, there being but three consecutive
days in any month with clear weather during the wh<»le

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Imii

THE KLONDIKE REGION.

35!)

winter. Snow fell on about one-third of the days in
winter, and a less munber in the early spring and late
fall months. In the interior, the winter sets in as
early as September, when snow shu'nis may be expe(te4l
in the mountains and passes. Headway during one of
these storms is impossible, and the traveler wlio is over-
taken in one of them is indred fortuuate if he escapes
witli his life. Snow storms of great severity may oecur
in any month from September to May, inclusive."

The changes of temperature from winter to summer
are rapid, owing to the great increase in the length of
the day. In May the sun rises at about 3 a. m. and sets
about 9 p. m. In June it rises about 1:30 in the morn-
ing and sets at 10:30 p. m.> .uiving about twenty lioui*s
Mf daylight, and diffuse twilight the remainder of the
time.

Notwithstanding the marked variations in the
climate Alaska is essentially a healthy country. The
only prevailing diseases are those of a bronchial nature,
and in most easels these troubles can be directly traced
to imprudent exposure.

The snow of the interior partakes much of the char-
acter of frost, sifting slowly down in intensely cold
weather until it lies several inches deep, light and
flulTy; but at times, in wann weather, it t*.ows and
settles into a hard crust, affording excellent sui face for
sledding.

The great precipitation and humidity of the atmos-
phere in Southern Alaska cause the entire coast region
to be clothed in a mantle of perennial green. Vegeta-
tion is dense and the forests magnilicent. The soil is
rich, though in the heavily timbered region it is shal-

860

ALONG ALASKA'S UllEAT RIVER.

I 4'

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low, and from the most oastera point of the territoiy
to Kodiak root crops are easily grown.

The numerous islands that skirt the coast of Alaska,
the great plains of the interior, intersected by deep
rivers, gigantic snow-crowned mountains, the active
volcanoes and the mighty ice fields, with many other
singular, beautiful and awe-inspiring gifts of nature
combine to make the country of the new gold fields one
of notable grandeur and wonder.

The great rivers of the interior drain immense val-
leys, with mountain ranges everywhere visible. Lakes
are abundant, often surrounded by tundra or swamps,
very frequently impenetrable, covered with brush, rank
grasses, and other vegetation. After the interior is
reached — and by this is meant after the coast moun-
tains are crossed, in many places only twenty or thirty
miles from the coast — the soft earth and luxuriant vege-
tation of the coast country give place to frozen ground,
and lichens and mosses on the mountain sides and in
the valleys. But though the vast plains of the interior
are within the grasp of the ice king for eight months of
tiue year, with the advent of the long days of summer,
water runs, flowei's bloom, and grasses spring into life
as if by magic, and their growth is at once luxuriant
and rapid, even though in many places the soil is never
thaAved beyond a few inches below the surface. In the
far north, at St. Michael, and at Point Bairow, wells
have been dug through sixty feet of solid ice, and the
same condition has been noted on the Yukon, at Forty-
Mile.

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The effect of the wide cliiuatic raiij;es is inanifest in
the fauna aud llora of the territory. The former eorrc-
spends vei'y chj.sely to the siib-arctic type; the hitt«'r
presents a variety of brilliance and sobriety at once de-
li^htfnl and astonishinji,'. The animals belonj;' ':ir^ely
to the fnr-bearin}"' si)eeies, thouj;h natives of more tem-
perate re{j;ions survive and even t hrive with projjer care.

A{;'i"ieulture will probably never besuceessfii in that
region, for the season is too short and crops are too un-
certain of maturity. In the Yukon basin vegetables of
the hardier soils do fairly well. Turnips, radishes,
and salad plants and even potatoes hav(> been success-
fully cultivated at St. Michael and at Fort Yukon.

At Fort Selkirk <«,ardenino' has produced some results
that ar(» very [dcasins' both in size and variety. The
whole Yukon basin raises fine berries and {"rass, but
other crops are hard to mature, and thouj^h the fodder
is plenty and good, the long, severe winter precludes
success in stock raising. The timber of the Yukon is
principall.y willow, alder, cottonwood, spruce, low fir,
hemlock .and birch. Nortli of the basin the growtlis be-
come stunted and finally disappear.

William Ogilvie, Dominion Land Surveyor, reported
on this region to the Canadian Department of the In-
terior, as follows:

"The agricultural capabilities of the country along
the river are not great, nor is the land that can be seen
from the river of good (juality. When Ave consider
further the unfavorable climatic conditions that prevail
in the region, it may be said that as an agricultural dis-
trict this portion of the country will never be of any
value.

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"Alouj^ the east side of Lake Benuott, ()i>p()site the
Chilkoot or wostoru arm, there are some Hats of dry,
j;i-av('Ily soil, wliieh wouhl make a few fariiiH of limited
extent. On the west side, around the mouth of Whea-
ton Hiver, tlieri' is an extensive Hat of sand and «;ravel,
covered with small pine and spruce of stunted j^rowth.

"Alonj; the western shore of Ta^ish I^ake th(>re is a
large extent of low, s\\amj).v flats, a part of which might
be used for the production of such roots and <'ereals as
the climate would i)ermit. Along the west side of
Marsh Lake there is also much Hat surface of the same
general character, on which I saw some coarse grass
which would serve as food for cattle. Along the east
side the surface appeared higher and araced, and is
probably less suited to the requirements of the agri-
culturist. Along the head of the river, for some miles
below Marsh Lake, there are fiats on both sides, which
would, as far as surface confirmation goes, serve as
farms. The soil is of much better quality than any
heretofore seen, as is proven by the larger and thicker
growth of timber and underbrush which it supports.
The soil bears less the chaijicter of detritus, and more
that of alluvium, than that seen above.

"On the lower end of the lake, on the west side, there
is also a considerable plain which might be utilized;
the soil in parts of it is good. I saw one part where the
timber had been burned some time ago; here both the
soil and vegetation were good, and two or three of the
plants seen are common in this part of Ontario, but
they had not the vigorous appearance which the same
plants lun-e East.

"Northward from the end of the lake there is a deep

77/ A' KLOSDIKE liE(UO.\.

368

wide valley, which Dr. Dawson has nanu'd 'Oj^ilvic Val-
h',v.' ill this the iiilxi'd timber, j)»)i»lar and si)ruti', is of
a size whiili belolveus a fair soil; the herbajic, too, is
more thau usually rieh for this region. This valley is
exteusive, and, if ever reijuired as an aid in the susten-
ance of our i)eoi)le, will tij'ure largely in the district's
agricultural assets.

"JJelow the lake the valley of the river is not, as n.
rule, wide, and the banks are often steej) and high.
There are, however, many flats of modi'rate extent along
the river and at its confluence with other streams. The
soil of many of these is fair.

"About forty miles above the mouth of the Pelly
Kiver there is an extensive flat on both sides of the
Lewes. The soil here is poor and sandy, with small
open timber. At Pelly liiver there is a flat of consider-
able extent on which the ruins of Fort Selkirk stand.
It is covered with a small growth of pojdar and some
s])ruce. The soil is a gra "clly loam of about eight
inches in depth. This flat extends up the river for some
miles, but is all covered thickly with timber except a
small piece around the site of the fort.

"I think ten townships or 3(!0 square miles, would be
a very liberal estimate of all the places mentioned along
the river. This gives us 230,400 acres, or, say 1,000
farms. The available lands on the affluence of the riv-
ers would probably double this, or give 2,000 farms in
that part of our territory, but on most of the farms the
returns would be meager. Without the discovery aiul
development of large mineral wealth, it is not l:ke]y that
the slender agricultural resources of the country will
ever attract attention. In the event of such discovery

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ALOXa ALASKA'S CREAT lilVER.

however, some of the land inijj;ht be used for the pro*
diutiou of v('j;«'(jible food for the iiiiiiers, but even iu
that ease with the trans|)(ir( faeilities whuh the district
coiiiiiiands it is very (hmbtful if it could compete sue*
ccssfully with the South and East.

"The amount of timbei- tit for use in building and
nianufacturlu}; in the distiict alon;; the river is not at
all important. There is a hnj;t' extent of f<»rest which
would yield firewood and timber for use in mines, but
for the manufacture of lumber there is very little. The
great bulk <»f the timber in the district suilabh' for
nuinufacturin;^^ the luiub(>r is to be fiuind on the islands
in the river. On them \\w soil is waruu'r and richer,
the sun's rays strikiuj; the surface for a much longer
tinu' and more directly than on the banks.

"To estiimite thefpiantity of timber In the vi<inity of
the river, I would say that one-fourth of the area I
have y:iven as a;;ricultural land wouhl be a fair con-
jecture, but it must be borne in mind that there is not
more than a scjuare mile or so of that in any one plax,'e,
and nu)st of the timber would be small and poor.

"It may be said that the country mi«iht furnish much
timber, which, thoufjh not tit to be cla.ssed as men hant-
able, would meet many other requireuu'uts of the only
industry the country is ever likely to have, viz., mininji."

Surv'eyor O^ilvie's ofticial re]»ort on the fauna of the
Klondike district is in the main as follows:

"The princij)al f a'M procured in the district are the
silver gray and black fo.x, the numb;'r of which bears a
greater ratio to the number of re<l foxes than in any
other part of the country. The red fox is very ecmimon,

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Indian Packkrs I-okoing a Rivkk.

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THE KLONDIKE REGION.

866

and a speeioH calU'd the blue, is veiy abundaut near the
coast. Marten, or sable, are also uiiuierous, as are
lynx, but otter are scarce, and beaver almost unknown.
It is probable that the value of gray and black fox
skins taken out of the country more than equals in
value all the other furs.

"Game is not now as abundant as before mining; be-
gan, and it is difficult, in fact, imi>o8sible, to get any
close to the river. A boom in mining would soon ex-
terminate the game in the district along the river.

"There ai-e two species of caribou in the country, one,
the ordinary kind found in most parts of the Northwest,
and said to much resemble the reindeer; the other,
called the wood caribou, a much larger an<l more beauti-
ful animal. Except that the antlei-s are much smaller
it appears to me to "esemble the elk or wapiti. The or-
dinary caribou runs in herds often numbering hun-
dreils.

"There are four species of bear found in the district —
the grisly, brown, black, and a small kind locally
known as the silver-tip, the last being gray in color,
with a white throat and be.ird, whence its name. It is
said to be fierce and not to wait to be attacked, but to
attack on sight. I had not the pleasure of seeing any,
but heard many 'yarns' about them, some of which I
think were 'hunters' tales.' It appears, however, that
miners and Indians, unless traveling in numbers, <
especially well armed, give them as wide a berth as they
conveniently can.

"Wolves are not plentiful. A few of the common
gray species only are killed, the black being very scarce.

"The Arctic rabbit or hare is sonu'times found, but

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ALOXG ALASKA'S GREAT HI VEIL

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tlioy are not nuincnuis. Tliort* Is a curious fact in con-
nection with the ordiiiiivy liare or rabbit, wliicli I have
observed, but of wiiicli I hav«' never yet «een any satis-
factoiy exphmation. Their numbers vary from the
very few to myriads in periods of seven years.

"The Alaslvan birds include tlie j;rouse, ptarmigan,
snijM', mallard an<l teal duck, goose, loon, gray and bald
eagle, sea paiTot, gulls, auks and many other sea fowls.
The sea birds sujijily the Indians with a protitable pur-
suit, gathering their eggs from the rocks. The eggs are
a staple article of diet with the natives,

"The food tishes are numerous, but the salmon easily
leads them all in im])ortance, and the canning and
drying of this dainty tish nmke the third industry of this
teiTitory, gold being now the first, ol course, and furs
the second."

No account of the animal life of the Klondike district
would be complete without mention of the insects,
which make life a burden during the summer in the in-
terior. In the summer season when the days are some-
times really h<»t there are swarms of mosquitoes and
gnats which have not their eciual in the world, and
which are enough alone to discourage most men. The
horse tly is larger than the insect of t!u< same name in
the United States. In a preceding chapter Schwatka
reports that one of his pjirty, bitten by a horse fly, was
completely disabled for a week. He adds, "At the
moments of infliction it was hard to believe that one
was not disabled for life.

"The mosquitoes are equally distressing. Accord-
ing to the general terms of the survival of the fittest and
the growth of muscles most used to the detriment of

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THE KLOXDIKE REdlON.

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others, a band of cattle inhabitin;; this district in (he
far future, woubl bo all tail and no body, unless the
mosquitoes should experience a change of numbers.

"The Indians sinear the hands and face with a mix-
ture of grease and soot, which prevents the pest from
biting. At some seasons in this country they are in such
dense swarms that at night they will practically (-over
a mosquito netting, fairly touching each other and
crowding through any kind of nu'sh. I have heard it
asserted by people of experience that they form co-
operative societies and assist each other through the
meshes by pushing behind and pulling in front."

I I

■ I

si t

DISCOVERY AND HISTORY.

The actual discovery of the great northwestern pen-
insula of the American eoutiucnt cannot be dated fur-
ther back than the middle part of the eighteenth cen-
tury. Its remoteness from the centres of European
settlement and from the lines of trade and travel, and
v.» inhospitable climate made Alaska one of the latest
regione to yield to the advances of the explorer, 8>ir-
veyor and settler. At a date when the colonies on tne
North Atlantic coast of America numbered millions of
prosperous i)eople, already preparing to take indepen-
dent rank among the nations of the world, the very
existence of this enormous country was unknown. At
a very early date, however, voyagers from many lands
began their advances toward the far Northwest, and the
story of the discovery of Alaska must naturally include
a brief outline of these.

As early as 1542 the Spanish adventurers Coronado
and Juan Rodriguez de Cabrillo went up the Pacific
coast of Mexico, and sailed for some distance along the
coast of what is now the State of California. The
memory of the former has been locally honored in Cali-
fornia in the name of Coronado Beach. At this time
the Spanish considered themselves sole masters of the
South Sea, as the Pacific was called, and of all lands
bordering upon it. But their supremacy there was soon
disputed by the intrepid Sir Francis Drake. He not
only ravaged their South American seaports, but, in

T-

DISCOVERY AND BISTORT,

309

1579, sailed far to northward in a little scliooncr of two
hundred tons, entered the Golden Gate, and refitted liia
vessel in wliut is now the harbor of Sun Fi incisco.
Thirteen years later the Spaniards pressed still furtlier
up the coast. Apostolos Valeriaiios, best known as
Juan de Fuca, sailed from Mexico and pjissed tlirough
the straits that bear his name, and discovered Piiget
Sound. There adventure from the south made pause
for many years, still a weary distance from the Alaskan
peninsula.

More than a hundred years after the voyages of Cor-
onado, a different people, from a difl'erent direction, be-
gan to move toward the same goal. These were the
Russians, who had already taken possession of the greater
part of Siberia, and who were now pei-sistently pushing
on to the occupation of the whole realm between the
Baltic and the Pacific. They had already gone east-
ward as far as the Kolyma River, and possessed the
town of Nijni Kolymsk, in about 160° degrees east
longitude. In 1646 they advanced still further. Isai
Ignatieff, with several small vessels, sailed from the
Kolyma, and effected a landing on Tchaun Bay, in tlie
country of the Tchukchees. He found the trade in
walrus ivory so profitable that his example was soon
followed by others. The very next year the Cossack
Simeon Deshneff, with four vessels, sailed eastward, to
take possession of all the land in the name of the Eus-
Bian crown. The Anadyr River, of which reports had
been heard from the natives, was his goal. At the same
time, Michael Stadukin led an expedition overland in
the same direction. But both these enterprises failed.
Tlie year 1648, however, saw Deshneff's venture re«

i'i

870

ALONO ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER,

III

it*

peated. Three shipe sailed for the Anadyr, commanded
respectively by Simeon Deshneff, Gerasira Ankudinoff,
and Feodor Alexieff. They reached Behring Strait,
not knowing it was a strait, and Aukudinoff's vessel
was wrecked on East Cape. He and his men were taken
on the other vessels, and the exi)edition kept on. Desh-
neflf made his way around Cape Navarin and Cape
Oliutorski to the coast of Kamtchatka. There his ves-
sel was wrecked and he and his men made their way
homo overland, surveying, as they went, the Anadyr
Kiver. Again in 1652 Deshneff exi)lored the Anadyr,
in a boat, and the next year planned a trade-route, by
sea, from that river to Yakutsk, on the Lena.

Many other expeditions to Kamtchatka and the west-
ern part of Behring Sea were soon thereafter made.
Taras Stadukin in 1654 discovered the westernmost
Kurill Islands, and sailed round Kamtchatka into Pen-
jinsk Bay. In 1696, Lucas Simeonoff Moroscovich ex-
plored Kamtchatka by land, and during the next year
the Cossack Vladimir Atlassoff followed him thither
and by force of arms made the Kamtchatdales subjects
of the Czar. This conquest was marked by wholesale
butcheries of the helpless natives, and confiscation of
their goods. The conquest of the Tchukchees was at-
tempted in 1701, but failed, as did a second expedition
against them ten years later. This latter, however, un-
der the Cossack Peter Iliunsen Pc^off, in 1711, had one
highly-important result. It brought back definite re-
ports of the narrowness of Behring Strait, of the loca-
tion of the Diomedes Islands, and of the proximity of
the American continent. Then, for some years, all fur-
ther advance was stayed.

»*■'■ I

DISCOVERY AND HISTORY.

871

The next niv)vement was iiiulertiikeu by no lesm a per-
sonage than Peter the Great,

" tllAt CmT

Who nm<le ofirihea an Emi Ire."

It was at the end of his v ign and life. Two passions
moved liiin. One was tLe zeal for seieutific exploration
and knowledge of tl'c worhi ; the other, the desire to
extend his dominion across «,ho Arctic borders of another
continent. Accordingl} in 1725 he planned a great
expedition, drew up fnll Instructions with his own hand,
and delivered them to Admiral Apraxin ; then died.
His widow, who became Autocrat in his ttoud, ordered
the plan fulfilled, and it was done promptly. On Feb-
ruary 5th, 1725, the chief menibere of the expedition set
out from St. Petersburg, their leader and commander
being the illustrious Captain Vitus Behring.

The explorers made their way by slow stages to
Okhotsk. There they built two ships, the " Fortuna" and
the "Gabriel," and on July 20th, 1728, set sail on their
adventurous voyage. On this occasion they contented
themselves with traversing Behring Strait, and returned
without seeing the American coast or even the Diom-
edes Islands. A second voyage, in 172'J, Avas altogether
fruitless, and in the spring of 1730 Behring returned to
St. Petersburg without having achieved a single work
of importance or won the first fraction of his later fame.
But one of the objects of his expedition was presently
attained by others, accidentally. The Yakutsk Cos-
Backs, under Athanasids Shestakoff, had been for yeai*a
fighting to subdue the indomitable Tchukchees, with
little success. A party of them took the ship " Fortuna,"
abandoned by Behring, to make a war-like cruise along

, i:

ii i'

372

ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER.

jj-

! ■

1 -

V 1

the Tchukchee coast. They were soon wrecked in
Penjinsk Bay, and were routed in battle with the
Tchukchees. But the engineer and navigator of the
expedition, Michael Gwosdeff, made a boat from the
wreck of the " Fortuna," and with his surviving comrades
sailed to the Anadyr River. Thence they sailed to
Cape Serdze, expecting there to meet a Cossack expedi-
tion from overland. In this they were disappointed.
And presently a great storm arose from the eastward
and dove them, helpless, before it. Right across the
strait they were driven, to the American coast. Upon
the latter, however, they could make no landing. The
shore was inhospitable and the storm was furious. For
two days they cruised along the coast, and then, the
storm abating, made their way back to Asia,

Despite the failure of his first expedition, Behring
was received with honors and promotion at the Russian
capital, and preparations were pressed for another ven-
ture under his command. For several years he was en-
gaged in voyages along the Siberian coast, and to Japan.
But in 1741 the great achievement of his life began.
His pilot, Ivan Jelagin, had gone to Avatcha with two
ships, the "St. Peter" and the "St. Paul." On Niakina
Bay he had founded the town of Petropaulovsk, named for
the vessels. Thither went Wilhelm Steller, the Fran-
conian naturalist, and Louis de Lisle de la Croyere.
Thither, finally, went Behring, and on June 4th, 1741,
Bailed for America, On June 20th the two vessels were
parted by a storm, and did not come together again ;
nor did Behring and Chirikoff, tlieir commanders, ever
meet again in this world. Chirikoflf, in the " St. Paul,'
made quickest progress. On July 15th he reached the

DISCOVERY AND HISTORY.

878

began.

American coast, and anchored in Cross Sound. His
mate, Dementieff, and ten armed men, in the long boivt,
went ashore. They did not return, and on July 21st
Sidor Saveleff with other armed men went after them,
in the only other boat of the " St. Paul." They did not
return either. Bu<^ the next day two canoes filled with
savages came from the shore toward the ship, showing
only too plainly what had become of the landing
parties. The savages did not venture to attack the
ehij), but Chirikoff had no more boats in which to effect
a landing. So on July 27th he w^eighed anchor and
sailed back for Kamtchatka. He passed by numerous
islands, and on October Otli re-entered the harbor of
Petropaulovsk. Twenty-one of his seventy men had
perished ; among them Louis de Lisle de la Croyere,
the French naturalist, who died of scurvy on the day
of their return.

The " St. Peter," with Behring and his comrades on
board, meanwhile, was driven blindly through tempest
and fog toward the Alaskan coast. On Sunday, July
18th, he reached the land and disembarked. He was
at the foot of some low, desolate bluff which skirted the
shore for a long distance, and beyond which rose the
savage splendors of Mt. St. Elias and the Arctic Alps.
The spot was near what is now called Kayak Island.
For six weeks Behring tarried in that neighboihood,
refitting his storm-strained ship, laying aboard supplies
of water and food, and making a few explorations of the
coast. The two capes between which he landed he
named St. Elias and Hermogenes. Here the naturalist
Stellar found many interesting traces of the natives.
Going further north, into Prince William's Sound,

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374

ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER.

ii'l

yi;

Beliring became confused by the number of islands and
the difficulties of navigation, and abandoned the direc-
tion of the vessel to Lieutenant Waxel. They kept on,
pant the Kenai Peninsula, past Kadiak Island, and
down the coast of the slender Alaska Peninsula, to the
southwest, until they reached a group of islands which
they named Shumagin, for a member of the company
who died and w: buried there. This was on August
2yth. On September 3d a terrific stoini arose, before
which they were driven, helpless, far out into the North
Pacific, southward to latitude 48°. Scurvy broke out
among them with fatal force, and the disheartened men
resolved to return to Kamtchatka.

Thenceforward for weeks they suffered almost in-
credible hardships. Every one was suffering from
scurvy. So weakened were they by disease and famine
that it took three men to hold the helm. Only a few
sails were used, for the men were not able to hoist and
manage more. When these were torn away by the
storms, the helpless craft drifted under bare poles. The
weather was a chaos of wind and fog and snow. For
weeks they drifted blindly, now eastward, now westward,
scarcely hoping to see land again, and utterly ignorant
of the part of the ocean into which they had been borne.
But on November 4th a particularly furious gale drove
them ashore on an unknown coast. They were in the
southeastern part of Behring Sea, "on one of the Kom-
mundorski group of islands. The vessel was completely
wrecked, and the men built huts on the shore for winter
quarters. Waxel was still in command. Behring was
a victim to natural stupidity, constitutional cowardice,
and scurvy. All through the dreadful voyage from

DISCOVERY AND HISTORY.

875

Iriiice William Sound he had remained ii. his cabin,
Bhivering in abject terror. A few wi't'ks after lamliiij;;,
on December Sth he died. In honor of him his men
named the island Behring Island, and the group tbe
Kommandorski, while 13ehring Strait and Behring Sea
in their names give immortality to one of the lejust
worthy of men. AVaxel, Steller, and the olhers re-
mained on Behring Island all that winter, feeding on
the flesh of sea-lions and the monster Arctic manatee or
sea-cow, now extinct. They collected a considerable
store of furs of the sea-otter, blue fox and o her animals,
which they took back to Kiissia and thus greatly stimu-
lated the zeal of further conc^uest. In the summer of
1742 they made their way to Petropaulovsky in a boat
constructed from the wreck of their shio. Waxel
reached St. Petersburg with the oflicial report of the
expedition in 17.49.

Thenceforward the greed of gain led many Russian
adventurers to the waters and shores of Behring Sea.
Emilian Bassoff discovered Attoo Island, the western-
most of the Aleutian chain, in 1745, and Michael No-
vodtsikoff, in the same year, discovered other islands
near by, and got a rich cargo of furs. Other explorers,
who followed up the Aleutian chain were Ribinski, in
1748; Trapesnikoff, in 174J); Yagoff, in 1750; and
Ivan NikiforofT, who reached Unimak Island in 1757.
Simon Krasilnikoff, Maxim Lazeroff and others kept
up the work of discovering islands, getting furs, and
massacreing the natives. The Andreanoffsky Islands
were discovered in 1761, and named in honor of
Andrean Tolstoi, who fitted out Lazeroff's expec..tion.
In th3 winter of 1761-2, Pushkareff and his men lived

876

ALONG ALASKA'S QREAT RIVER.

8 ' i P

i' '.

!!;!

on the shore of False Pass. They were the first tc
spend a winter on the mainland of Alaska. The atroci-
ties committed by them excited the hostility of the
natives, and they were glad to get away in August,
1762. They took with them thirty natives, mostly
women, as prisoners and slaves ; but on the voyage
home they wantonly murdered them all except two.

War to the knife thereafter prevailed among the
natives and the Russians. The latter waged it with the
most ferocious energy, but were by no means always
victors. A whole expedition of fifty men was destroyed
on Unimak Island in 1762 ; and a similar party met
the same fate in 1763, on Oanalaska. Indeed, for years
the history of Russian progress in Alaska was one of
unrelieved horror, an inferno of lust, torture and
death.

And now the advance of the Spanish and others from
the southward was resumed. Juan Perez sailed from
Monterey in 1774, and discovered Queen Charlotte
Island and ^ootka Sound. The next year Bruno
Heceta discovered the mouth of the Oregon or Columbia
River. Then the famous English navigator, Jam..
Cook, came upon the scene. In 1778 he reached
Nootka Sound ; saw and named Mount St. Elias ; ex-
plored Cook's Inlet ; stopped for a time at Ounalaska ;
Bailed up Behring Sea, through Behring Strait, to Icy
Cape; explored Norton Sound and the adjacent waters;
touched again at Ounalaska ; and then sailed away to
the Sandwich Islands, where he was killed in February,
1779. In these few months this immortal Yorkshire
man and his Connecticut and Virginia comrades had
done more active work of discovery and survey than

DISCOVERY AND HISTORY.

377

all the Russian pillagers who had frequented that part
of the vforld for seventy-five years before.

The first permanent industrial and commercial settle-
ment was effected by the Russians under ShelikulT on
Kadiak Island in 1783. Three years later the ill-fated
La Perouse visited the Alaskan coast and saw Mt. St.
Elias. In 1787, two Russians, Lastochkin and Priby-
ioif, discovered two islands in the southeast part of
Behring Sea, Avhich have since become of enormous
Value. They named them St. Paul and St. George, and
called them together the Siiboff Islands. They are now
known, however, as the Pribyloff* Islands, and are
famous as one of the chief homes of the fur seals.

The Russian Government, about 1788, formally laid
claim to all the Alaskan lands and waters, and even to
the northern part of the Pacific Ocean. At the same
time the Spanish and English laid conflicting claims to
the region about Nootka Sound, and in 1789 came into
violent conflict there. United States expeditions were
also busy with explorations in that region, but the
Spaniards made no objection to their presence. Cajitain
Gray, of the " Washington," Captain John Kendrick, of
the "Columbia," Captain Metcalf, of the" Fair American,"
Captain Ingraham, of the " Hope," Captain Crowoll, of
the " Hancock," Captiiin Roberts, of the "Jefferson," and
Captain Magee, of the " Margaret," were among the
Americans conspicuous in exploration and trade, cliiofly
about Nootka Sound and the Straits of Juan de Fuca.
Captain George Vancouver, already mentioned as a
member of Cook's expedition, also spent much time in
exploring the coast, from the island which bears his
name northward to the Prince of Wales Islands, in the

I I

878

ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER.

'h. i^

British service; and Alexander Mackenzie traveled
across the continent from Canada and explored the
great river which has been named for him. The sur-
veys of Vancouver were the most thorough and ac-
curate that had been made.

To return, however, to the Russians. In 1782, Gre-
gory Shelikoff, of Rylsk, Siberia, a man of great ability
and energy, of remarkable brutality, and of unsurpassed
unscrupulou«r;3S8, entered upon an important campaign
for the establishment of trading posts. In this he was
accompanied by his wife, Natalie Slielikoff, a woman of
extraordinary ability. In 1787, the Czarina Catherine
II, gave him a medal in recognition of his services ;
and in 1790, by an imperial uktise, that notorious but
brilliant sovereign gave to a company, of which Sheli-
koff wjis the head, the practical monopoly of the Alaska
fur trade. Alexander BaranoiT, one of Shelikoff's sub-
ordinates, was soon made Chief Director of Affairs in
the Russo- American colonies. He, like his cluef, was
a man of consummate executive ability, and utterly
destitute of humane feelings or moral sense. In the
summer of 1793 he prevailed upon the Czarina to issue
another ukase, authorizing the sending of missionaries
to America to convert the natives to the Orthodox Greek
faith, and also the sending thither of Russian convicts
to teach them agriculture. Thirty convicts were thus
settled by Baranoff on the Kenai peninsula, and the
Archimandrite Joasaph, elder of the Augustin friars,
also went thither. Many other convicts and their fami-
lies, and monkisli missionaries, were in 1794 landed at
Kadiak and Cape St. Elias. As soon as they were
landed, Shelikoff refused to support them» and th«y

HT'" ■ H i.

mMsm

DISCOVERY AND HISTORY.

37U

were compelled to work for their living. In conHe-
quence the missionaries sent bitter complaints to the
Czar ; and these were accompanied by still more bitter
complaints from the natives, who were being subjected
to such brutalities as cannot be described in print.
These had little effect, however. In 1795, Shelikotf
died, and his wife succeeded him as president of the
company. At this time the population of Kadiak was
more than 3,G00 adults. The next year the first Greek
church was erected there, and Father Joasaph was made
Bishop. In 1799 the Czar Paul chartered anew the
Shelikoff company, re-organized as the Russian-Ameri-
can Company, for a term of twenty yeai*s. He gave it
absolute control of all the American coast-lands and
waters north of latitude 55°. The Company was re-
quired to survey the region, plant settlements, promote
agriculture, commerce and other industries, projjagate
the Greek faith, and extend Russian influence and ])os-
sessions as widely as possible. As for the natives, they
were by the same decree made the slaves of the Com-
pany. Baranofi" was made practically the supreme
head, the autocrat of the entire realm, on whose word
were suspended the issues of life and death.

Under this new regime the old policy of cruelty and
outrage toward the natives was pursued vnth added in-
tensity. Generally the Russians worked their will with
impunity, though sometimes the natives rose against
them with vengeful might, and on several occasions the
Russians were glad to flee to British and American
ships for shelter. Meanwhile explorations went on.
The American ship " Atahualna " in 1802 discovered
the mouth of the Stikine River. Baranoff explored

1 L

/ :i

880

ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER.

tlio lower part of the Copiioi River. In 1804 Bara.
noff took yitka from the natives, after a hard battle ;
renamed it New Arehangel, gave the island on which
it stood his own name, and made it thenceforth the
chief station in the colony. About this time an
attempt was made to plant trees on the Aleutian islands.
The Imperial Chamberlain, Count Nicolas Petrovich
Resanoff, founded a school at Kadiak, and effected some
valuable administrative reforms, especially in the colo-
nial courts and in the financial system. Then he. went
back to Russia to get the Czar's consent to his mawiage
with the daughter of Don Luis de Arguello, the Span-
ish governor of San Francisco. As soon as he was
gone, Baranoff undid all his reforms. Resanoff died
on his way to Russia. His betrothed never believed he
was dead, and never would marry another ; but waited
I)atiently for his return until she became very old and
died.

John Jacob Astor, having formed a company for the
Pacific fur trade, sent a vessel to Sitka in 1801), and in
1811 an agent to St. Petersburg to negotiate with the
Directory of the Russian-American Company. The
negotiations were successful, and in October, 1811, were
approved by the Czar, Mr. Astor Avas to furnish pro-
visions and supplies at stated pr'ces, and to take pay
therefor in furs from the Company. They v.ere to as-
sist each other against smugglers, respect eac^.i other's
hunting-grounds, and not to sell intoxicating liquors to
the natives. In 1817 Baranoff, having grown old and
weary of his toil, resigned the Chief Directorship of
the colonies, and was succeeded by Captain Leontius
Hagenmeister. He resigned within a year, and waa

DISCO pmi^ AND HISTORY.

381

Bucceeded by Lieutenant JanofFsky. At this time an
Iniper..;! Conmiis.sioner, Va*iili Uolofnin, was scut to
investigate and report on the abuses of administration.
As a result, in July, 1819, the Czar made sweeping
changes in the regulations of the colonies, which effecied
some substantial reforms.

There were now llussian settlements on five of the
Aleutian islands, four on the shores of Cook's Inlet, two
on Chugach Gulf, and one at Sitka. The last named
was a large and handsome place, surrounded by gardens
and wheat fields. In 1821 the charter of the Company
was renewed for twenty year^;. The profits of the en-
terprise, however, were now d'^clining. Not one of
Baranoff 's successors had a tithe of his ability, and the
result of his loss was seen in shrinking dividends. Ex-
plorations, however, were pushed vigorously. A two
years* expedition surveyed the coasts of Norton Hound,
Bristol Bay, and Nunivak Island. The Alexander
Archipelago also was thoroughly explored. The Rus-
sian Government in 1821 issued a proclamation of sov-
ereignty over the whole Pacific Ocean north of the 51st
parallel, and forbidding vessels of other nations to
approach within one hundred miles of the shores
thereof, save in cases of extreme distress. Against this
the United States and England vigorously protested,
and with effect. In 1824 a convention was signed be-
tween the United States and Russia, by which the North
Pacific was opened to American ships, and latitude 54°
40' was recognized as the southern boundary of the
Russian possessions ; and a similar treaty was made with
England the next year.

Kotzebue Sound was explored by the English Cap-

382

ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER.

ii.^*iil;'

tain Beechey in 1820. Captain Staninkovich explored
much of the northern coast of Alaska in 1828. In
1830 Cliernotf examined the harbor of Nuchek and the
moutli of tlie Kaknu liiver ; and Kohnakoff surveyed
the bay and river of Kuskoquini. In this year the
Company took formal 2)ossession of all the Kurile Is-
lands. The next year Baron von Wrangell became
Director of the Colonies, and an era of progress began.
The colony was opened for settlement to all Russians.
Fort St. Michael's, gi1 Norton Sound, was established.
Measures were taken to check the destruction of seals
and other sea animals. An observatory wjis founded at
Sitka. In 1835 Glasunoff explored the deltas of the
Kuskoquim and Yukon rivers, ascending the latter
stream as far as Anvik. Small-pox now broke out at
Sitka, and for several years ravaged all the settlements,
nearly depopulating some of them. In 1838 Malakoff
went up the Yukon Iliver to Nulato, and Kushevaroff
thoroughly explored the northeastern coast as far aa
Point Barrow. The next year Mt. St. Elias was ob-
served for the first time to emit smoke, but no further
erui)tion occurred. In 1843 Lieutenant Zagoskin as-
cended the Yukon as far as Nowikakat, Malakoff ex-
plored the Suchitna, Gregorieff the Copper River, and
Kashevaroff the shores of BehringSea.

The second charter of the Company expired in 1841,
and strong efforts were made to have it renewed at oncft
The Government hesitated, but finally, in 1844, re-
newed it on even more liberal terms than before. In
the summer of 1848 the first whaling vessel passed
through Behring Strait. It was the American ship
" Superior," commanded by Captain Roys. The ex-

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.L=il-

DISCOVERT AND HISTORY.

383

pcrinient was highly successful, uud in tlio next season
no less than one huudred and fifty-four Ameiinu.
whalei*s followed the example, all making great eatcheri,
and the industry was thus establislied in those waters.
English and American exi)lo»erH eontiiuuKl to visit to
northern coasts of Alaska, and surveyed almost every
portion of it.

As the ending of the third charter of the Company
approached, efforts were made to secure still another
renewal. A complete report on the operations of the
Company was made at the end of 1801. According to
it, the original capital was $73,500. In 1818 it was
" watered," and the shares were made flOO instead of
$112.50 each. In 1844 the Company had accumulated
a surplus of $337,500. At the end of 18G1 the capital
was $495,000, and the suri)lus $553,(XX). The original
investment had paid from six to ten per cent, net
annually, besides the enormous '^'^culations of the officei-a
and employes. Despite the earnest endeavors of the
Comi)any, however, the Czar finally refused to rei? jw its
charter, and the Company began to wind up its business.
In 1864 there was a great increase of American interests
in the colony. The Western Union Telegraph Company,
of New York, doubting the practicability of operating
a cable under the Atlantic, planned to construct a tele-
graph line to Europe by way of Alaska and Siberia. In
this the Russian Government agreed to co-operate. A
surveying expedition was accordingly sent to Alaska, and
much exploring work was done at a cost of more than
three million dollars. The incident, thougli Avithout
practical result in itself, drew so much attention to
Alaska and its resources that an American syndicate

(It ,

384

ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER.

t '

was formed to purchase for itself the charter which the
Czar refused to grant to the okl Russian Coin])any. Thia
caine to the ear of Mr. Seward, the American Secretary
of State, and he soon concluded that it would bo a good
bargain for the United States to buy the whole country
outright from Russia. This was done in 18G7. The
United States paid Russia 17,200,000 for the whole
Territory of Alaska. Nearly all of this went, at St.
Petersburg, to satisfy old debts and obligations incurred
by Alaskan enterprises. The treaty of sale was agreed
upon on March 30th; it was ratified by the United
States Senate on May 28th ; proclaimed by the Presi-
dent on Juii8 20th ; General Jefferson C. Davis was
appointed to take command of Alaska on September
6th ; and on October 18th the United States took formal
and actual possession of the country.

This new Territory was looked upon as an Indian
country and General Davis was really a military com-
mander. His headquarters were at Sitka, where he had
a garrison of about 250 men. A number of enterpris-
ing business men accompanied General Davis to Sitka,
and immediately began erecting storehouses and offices,
and purchasing the property of the old Russian Com-
pany. In less than a week several new stores were
erected and two drinking saloons, two bowling alleys
and a restaurant were in operation. All sorts and con-
ditions of men began flocking in, including pioneers
and squatters, and aspirants for political honors in the
Territory. There was talk of framing a city charter,
and of creating numerous lucrative offices. The usual
amount of crime and disorder of a frontier settlement
occurred, and soon all respectable inhabitants were com-

,L..fiJ

DISCOVERY AND HISTORY.

as:

pelled tc lock their dooi-H at niglittUU and not vciitiiro
out iigain until daylight. Diflicultii's with the IndianH
hIso soon began, and for many years the Territory was
in a state of disorder and confusion, bucking any
organized government.

In February, 18(58, the Russians began to return
home and to abandon the Territory to its new owners.
In i\\)A year many serious troubles with the Indians
occurred on the Yu'.on River, and on the Hrst of
January, 1801>, there was some disturbance at l^itka
itself. In Aj)ril, 18f)y, the publication of a newspaper
was begun at Sitka by a man who also followed the
avoaitions of lawyer and tailor. This paper ])asse(l out
of existence after about a year and was not revived. In
1870 the withdrawal of the military garrisons oeeurred,
excepting those at Sitka and Wrangell. In 1874 an
attempt was made to colonize Alaska with Icelanders,
who were at that time leaving their own ernuitiy in large
numbers. Several of them visited Alaska and were
pleased with the ap})earance of the country. An offer
was made to transport thither five liundred Icelanders
free of charge, but it Avas not accepted, and the seheuie
of colonization was finally abandoned. In 1878 a
serious outbreak of Indians occurred at Sitka, and the
inhabitants of that town were compelled to ap])eal Ibr
protection to the commander of an English war-ship.
In 1884 a regular territorial government was estab-
lished and a civil governor appointed, the military
garrisons having been withdrawn.

fr^'

m '

THE PEOPLE AND THEIR INDUSTRIES.

The United States census of 1890 definitely enti«
merated 21,929 inhabitants 'of Alaska, and estimated the
existence of about 8,400 more. Of those enumerated
there were 3,922 vhite males and 497 white females ;
82 black males ; 770 " mixed " males, and 798 "mixed"
females; and 2,125 male Chinese; while the native
population included 7,158 males and 6,577 females.
According to the same census there were in Alaska 11
organizations of the Orthodox Greek Church ; with 22
edifices with a seating capacity of 2,900 and a value of
1180,000. The communicants numbered 13,004. The
Roman Catholic Church had 6 organizations, with 6
buildings, seating 540 persons, and valued at $9,700.
There were 559 communicants. No less than 27 fire
insurance companies were doing business in the Territory,
and in 1889 the risks written and renewed by them
aggregated $1,710,184.

The people of Ahiska have been spoken of as Ameri-
cans, Russians, Hydahs, Tsimpseans, Tlilinkets, Aleutw,
liinuits or Eskimos and Tinneh, or Athabascan Indians.
Eight distinct languages and several dialects are spoken.
The Tsimpseans embrace only the settlement at Metlak*
ah tlii, about one thousand j !ople who came over from Brit-
isL Columbia. The Hydahs have some five or six villages
on the south end of Prince of Wales Island with about
nine hundred people. The Thlinkets reside in from
forty to fifty villages in the Alexander Archipelago and

TBE PEOPLE AND THEIR INDUSTRIES.

^Sl

•long the coast from Cape Fox to Copper River. All
these have becoiue partly civilized by contact with the
whites and through the influence of schools and mis-
sions, and there is a large number of those who can
speak English and have become excellent citizens. The
Aleuts are also partly civilized, but with a civilization
conforming more nearly to that of the R;:s.sian3 than
our own. These reside upon the islands of the Aleu-
tian chain, the Shunagin and Kodiak groups, the Ali-
aska Peninsula and the islands of St. Paul and St.
George in Behring Sea.

There are a few Aleut half-breeds in Sitka. Many
of these people talk the Rus ijn language. The In un-
its and Tinnehs (,'annot be s lid to be civilized, though
their barbarism has been modified by contact with white
people. The Innuits reside along the coast from Nusne-
gak, in Behring Sea, to the eastern limit of our domin-
ion in the Arctic region. Lieutenant Ray speaks ol
them as living in a state of anarchy, making no com-
binations, offensive or defensive, having no punishment
for crimes and no government. Given to petty pilfering,
they make no attempt to reclaim stolen property. They
are social in their habits an<l kind to each other. These
people are obliged to devote all their energies to i)ro-
curing the necessary food and clothing to maintain life.
Their intelligence is of a low order and the race is aj)-
parently diminishing. Physically they are strong and
possess great powers of enduranee.

The Tinnehs occupy the interior, the Yukon valley,
except the portions near its mouth, and come down to
the seashore only at Crook's Inlet. They ai-e called
"Stick " Indians by the Thlinkets These people have

I- i

ill!

!;•

ililii

388

ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER.

many traita of the North American Indians elsewhere,
and may properly be designated as Indians. The othei
natives of Alaska are not true Indians and have not
generally been treated as such by the government
They have no real tribal relations, though formerly the
heads of families were recognized as chiefs and called
Buch.

At the present time, among the Hydalis, Tsimpseans,
rhlinkets and Aleuts, the so-called chiefs have very
little, if any, power or influence, as such. Among the
Eskimos it may be doubted if the office ever amounted
to anythnig.

The progress of the natives of Southeastern Alaska
toward civilization is steady and certain, though it
must not be supposed that these people yet take hip;h
rank in learning, intelligence or morality. The edu-
cating and elevating influences of the schools and mis-
sions, though doing much, perhaps more than we should
expect under the circumstances, must be continued a
long time in order to effect anything like satisfactory
conditions.

In some respects the physical condition of the differ-
ent native tribes is alike and in othei-s not All are
strongly built, rather short, and by their habits of liv-
ing inured to hardship and endurance. The men have
very light or no beards, and frequently trim tne scat-
tering hairs on their chins closely or pluck t]'em out.
The average height is less than that of Euroi)ean3.
Tiiey have an Asiatic ca.st of features and the coast
people are generally thought to have originated from
Japanese stock. The Eskimos have a language very
similar to the Eskimos of Labrador and almost identical

TME PEOPLE AND THEIR INDUSTRIES. 380

with a small population upon the Asiatic side of Behr-

ing Strait. Physici lly they differ f ioin the Eskimos of
Greenland and Labrador, being more robuist and healthy -
All of the natives of Alaska have small and delicately-
formed hands and feet and rather a massive neaJ,
straight black hair, dark eyes, high cheek bones and
nut-brown complexion. All are to a large extent fish
eaters, though the Tinnehs, living in the interior, or
Ingalik tribes of the Yukon, are compelled to subsist
to a greater extent upon game and land products.

Their dwellings, not so unlike originally, have now
become quite different in style and manner of construc-
tion. Those residing in Southeastern Alaska have
frame or block houses wholly above ground, with sleep-
ing ai^artments partitioned off from the main or living-
room where the central fireplace is located, like tlie
state-rooms of a river steamboat, and many of the
Thlinkets have substituted the modern cooking-stove
and pipe for the fireplace and open chimney-hole in
the roof.

These people are all self-supporting; the Hydalis,
Tsimpseana, Thlinkets and Aleuts living comfortably
with plenty of food and blankets. The Eskimos, es-
pecially those of the Arctic region, have a hard time of
it to keep from starvation and death by free;:ing. The
Tinnehs, or Ingaliks, have less of the conveniences, not
to say luxuries of life, than any of the coast tribes. The
last-named two tribes have small, poorly built, partly
underground houses, ...ud their winter dwellings are en-
tirely covered with earth.

Mention has already been mad-:; of the town of Sitka,
Uie capital of the Territory. It is beautifully situated,

it*f-^^'

B Mfi

U^Ki ■

|- .;

390

ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVEB,

sheltered by a rauge of snow-covered niouutains oa die
cue side and on the other protected from the broad ex-
pause of the Pacific Ocean and its storms by a numer-
ous group of thickly-wooded islands. The waters of
the harbor are singularly clear, so that in looking over
the side of a vessel one can see the bottom at a depth
of many fathoms. A warm equatorial current bathes
this shore and bet«rs into these Arctic regions many
allonges, coral branches and other growths of wariner
latitudes. The towu itself lies clustered near the shoru
and presents a pleasing picture to the visitor a3 he ap-
proaches it from the sea. Its most conspicuous feature
is the old weather-beaten and moss-grown castle which
crowns a rocky hill. This structure is 140 feet long
and 70 feet wiu<. and is built of huge cedar logs. It
was for many years the official residence of the Rus-
sian governors and was at times the scene of splendid
social gatherings. In its upper story were arranged a
ball-room and a theatre, and the building throughout
was as richly furnished as a palace in St. Petersburg or
Moscow. Some of these rich furnishings still remain,
though as a whole the building is in a most dilapidated
condition. Another prominent building is the old
Greek Church with its emerald green dome, Byzantine
spire, fine chime of bells and richly decorated interior.
It is liberally maintained, as indeed are all the other
Greek Churches in the Territory, by the Russian Govern-
ment. Most of the houses in Sitka are built of heavy
logs, some of them being also clapboarded outside.
During the winter about 1,000 Indians live there and
the white population is composed of the government
officials and agents, a few store-keepers and traders* and

THE PEOPLE AND THEIR INDUSTRIES. 81)1

oa the

ad ex-

depth
bathes

perhaps four or five hundred niiiiei-s and prospectors
from the inland regions. In niid-v/inter there are OL>ly
about six hours of daylight in each day, and in mid-
summer there is for a time practically no night at all.
Uain is the principal feature of the climate, and this
abundance of moisture causes all vegetation to grow
luxuriantly. There is an abundance of vegetables and
•jome fruit, and domestic cattle are kept successfully.
Nowhere outside of the tro])ic.s is a more luxurious
natural vegetation to be found than in these islands of
southern Alaska. Sitka is a neat and clean city, and as
a rule is now cpiiet and orderly. It contains a large
industrial school, attended by 200 native boys
and girls; the course of study including nearly all use-
ful industries. Twenty miles south of Sitka, on the
same island, hot springs are to be found, the water of
which is rich in sulphur and Iron. For many genera-
tions these have been a sanitary resort of the natives,
and it is not ujilikely that in the near future they will
oe greatly visited by tourists from the United States
and elsewhere. The temperature of the water is about
165° Fahrenheit, and the springs are surrounded by
tropical vegetation.

After Sitka, the most important settlement in the
Territory, is Fort Wrangell. It is beautifully situated
at the month of the Stickhin Eiver, where there is an
excellent and capacious harbor, surrounded by impos-
h^g- mountains. Tlie town consists of rather more than
100 houses, and includes about 500 permanent
inhabitants. There are two or three large stores for
the sale of goods to the natives and for the purchase ot
fiirs and other natural products, as well as the quaint

1 I

■«!

392

ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER,

'r . I

manufactures of the Indians. There is also a flourish-
ing industrial school for the Indian girls. A leading
native industry here is the manufacture of jewelry from
silver and ivory. In this the natives are very expert,
producing most elaborate jjatterns and copying any de-
signs given to them with the most patient and unfailing
fidelity.

When the United States took possession of Alaska a
great many active and ambition^ men on the Pacific
coast were imbued with the idea that much that was
really valuable in Alaska, in the line of furs and the
precious metals would be developed to their great gain and
benefit if they gave the subject the attention Avhich it de-
served. Accordingly, many expeditions were fitted out at
San Francisco, Puget Sound, and other points on the Pa-
cific coast, and directed to an examination of theseTeputed
sources of wealth in that distant country. Many years
have now rolled by, and in that time we hnve been en-
abled to judge pretty accurately of the relative value of
this new territory in comparison with that of our nearer
possessions, and it is now known that the fur-trade of
Alaska is all and even more than it was reputed to be
by the Russians.

In this connection the most notable instance, perhaps,
of the great value of these Interests may be cited in the
case of the seal islands. It will be remembered that at
the time of the transfer, when the most eloquent advo-
cates of the purchase were exhausting the fertility of
their brains in drumming up and securing every possi-
ble argument in favor of the purchase, though the fur
trade of the mainland, the sea-otter fisheries, and the
possible extent of trade in walrus oil and ivory were

mMk

THE PEOPLE AND THEIR INDUSTRIES. ;)U3

dwelt upon with groat enii)luisi,s, these fur-seal islaiuk
did not receive even a piussing notice as a source of rev-
enue or value to the public. Yet it luis transi)iro(l,
since the government has been wise enough to follow
out the general policy which the Russians established
of protecting the seal life on the Pribylof Islands, that
these interests in our hands are so managed and directed
that they pay into the treasury of the United States a
8um sufficient to meet all the expenses of the govern-
ment in behalf of Alaska, beside leaving a large excess
every year.

Of other resources, such as the adaptation of the
country for settlement by any considerable number of
our people as agriculturists or husbandmen, and its
actual value as a means of supplying gold and silver,
coal or timber, it must be said that as yet no very re-
markable gold or silver mines have been discovered, nor
have there been any veins of coal worked that would
in themselves sustain any considerable number of our
people or give rise to any volume of tradj.

The timber of Alaska in itself extends over a
much larger area of that country than a great many
surmise. It clothes the steep hills and mountain sides,
and chokes up the valleys of the Alexander Archipelago
and the contiguous mainland ; it stretches less dense,
but still abundant, along that inhospitable reach of ter-
ritory which extends from the head of Cross Sound to
the Kenai peninsula, whore, reaching down to the west-
ward and southwestwanl as far as the eastern half of
Kadiak Island, and thence across Shelikof Strait, it is
found on the mainland and on the peninsula bordering
on the same latitude ; but it is confined to the interioi

:iii

ll;

1 'it' ' '

; li^^

I 1

1 '

k'ii;u

1';;

394

ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER.

opposite Kadiak, not coining down to the coast as fai
eastward as Cape Douglas. Plere, however, it im2)inge3
on the coast or Cook's Inlet, reaching down to the
shores and extending around to the Kenai peninsula.
From the interior of the peninsula, above referred to,
the timber-line over the whole of the interior of the
great area of Alaska will be found to follow the coast-
line, at varying distances of from 100 to loO miles from
the seabord, until that section of Alaska north of the
Yukon mouth is reached, where a portion of the coast
of Norton Sound is directly bordered by timber as far
north as Cape Denbigh. From this point to the east-
ward and northeastward a line may be drawn just above
the Yukon and its immediate tributaries as the northern
limit of timber of any considerable extent. There are
a great number of small water-courses rising here that
find their v/ay into thte Arctic, bordered by hills and
lowland ridges on which some wind-stunted timber is
found, even to the shores of the Arctic Sea.

In thus broadly sketching the distribution of timber
over Alaska it will be observed that the area thus
clothed is very great ; yet wdien we come to consider
the quality of the timber itself, and its economic value
in our markets, we are obliged to adopt the standard
of the lumber-mills in Oregon and Washington.
Viewed in this light, we find that the best timber of
Alaska is the yellow cedar, which in itself is of great
intrinsic value ; but this cedar is not the dominant tim-
ber by any means ; it is the exception to the rule. The
great bulk of Alaskan timber is that known as Sitkan
spruce, or balsam fir. The lumber sawed from this
stock is naturally not of the first quality. These trees

THE PEOPLE AND THEIR INDUSTRIES. 305

ist as fai
nipinges
I to the
iiinsula.
erred to,
r of the
le coast-
iles from
1 of the
he coast
!!• as far
tlie east-
ist above
lortliern
'here are
ere that
lills and
amber is

f timber
•ea thus
consider
ic vahie
standard
liington.
mber of
3f great
mt tini-
le. The
Sitkan
om this
se trees

fjrow to their greatest size in the Sitka or Alexander
A.rcliipolag!). An interval occurs from Cross iSound
until we p.iss over the fair-weather ground at the foot
of Mount St. Elias, upon the region of Prince William
Sound and Cook's Inlet, where this timber again occurs,
and attains very respectable proportions in many sec-
tions of the district, notably at Wood Island and por-
tions of Afognak, and at the head of the Kenai penin-
sula and the two gulf's that environ it. The abundance
of this timber and the extensive area clothed by it are
readily appreciated by looking at the map, and are ren-
dered still more impressive when we call attention to
the fact that the timber extends in good size as far north
as the Yukon Valley, clothing all the hills within that
extensive region and to the north of Cook's Inlet and
Kenai peninsula, so that the amount of timber found
therein is great in the aggregate. The size of this spruce
timber at its base will be typified in trees on Prince of
Wales Island 50 feet and over in height, with a diam-
eter of at lrf;ist three feet. They have not grown as fast
as they won Id have grown in a more congenial latitude
to the south, such as Puget Sound or Oregon ; hence
when they are run through the saw-mill the freqiient
and close proximity of knots mar the quality and de-
press the sale of the lumber. Spruce boards are not
adapted to nice finishing work in building or in cabinet
ware, or, indeed, in anything that requires a finish and
upon which paint and varnish may be permanently
applied, for under the influence of slight degrees of heat
it sweats, exuding minute globules of gum or rosin,
which are sticky and difficult to remove.
The other timber trees iu southeastern Alaska, Kbt

800

ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER.

'i ,

Jiak and Cook's Inlet may he called exceptional. But
one very valuable species of yellow cednr (C mdkaaen-'
slfi) is foiiiul sciittered here and there witliin the Alex-
ander Archipelago and on the thirty-mile strii). Here
this really vain tble tree is found at wide intervals in
Bmall clumps, principally along slioal water-courses and
fiords, attaining a much greater size than the spruce, as
frequently trees are found KX) feet high, with a diameter
of five and six feet. The lumber made from these is
exceedingly valuable, of the very finest texture, odor
and endurance, and is highly prized by the cabinet-
maker and the ship-builder.

Thus it will be seen that the forests of Alaska are
altogether conifei'ous, as the small bodies of the birch
and the alder and willow thickets on the lower Yukon
and Kuskokvim Rivers can scarcely be considered to
come under this head. Aside from the yellow cedar,
which is rare, the timber wealth of Alaska consists of
the Sitka spruce, which is not only abundant and large
(trees of from three to four feet in diameter being quite
common in southeastern Alaska and Prince William
Sound), but also generally accessible.

To give even an ajiproximate estimate of the area of
timbered lands in Alaska is at present impossible, in
view of our incomplete knowledge of the extent of
mountain ranges, which, though falling within the tim-
ber limits, must be deducted from the superficial area
of forest covering.

A few small saw-mills, of exceedingly limited capac-
ity, have been erected at various points in southeastern
Alaska, to supply the local demand of trading-posts
and mining-camps, but finished building lumber is still

THE PEOPLE AND THEIR INDUSTRIES. 397

Jal. But
lufkaaeii-'
lie Alex-
p. Here
tervaU iii
urses and
spruce, as
liameter
these is
Lire, odor
3 cabinet-

laska are
he birch
r Yukon
lidered to
•w cedar,
)nsists of
ind iarge
ing quite
William

3 area of
ssible, in
jxtent of
the tim-
cial area

id capac-
theastern
ing-posts
3r is stili

largely imported even into this heavily-timbered region.
In all western Alaska but one small saw-iniil is knowi
to exist, which is on Wood Island, St. Paul Harbor,
Kadiak. This mill was first set up to supply saw-dust
lor packing ice, but since the collapse of that industry
its operations have been s[)asHiodic and not worth men-
tioning. Lumber from Paget Sound and British Col-
umbian mills is shipped to rearly all ports in western
Alaska for the use of whites and half-breeds, while the
natives in their more remote settlements obtain planks
and boaids by the very laborious process of splitting logs
with iron or ivory wedges. On the treeless isles of the
Shumagin and Aleutian groups, !is well as in the south-
ern settlements of the Aliaska peninsula, even fire- wood
is imported from more favored sections of the territory
and commands high prices.

The fisheries cover a very large area, but their value
uid importance, in consequence of the limited market
afforded for exportation on the Pacific coast, has not
been fully developed. The supply certainly is more
than equal to any demand.

The soil of Alaska is not sterile, being at many points
of the requisite depth and fertility for the production of
the very best crops of cereals and tubei-s. The difficulty
with agricultural progress in Alaska is, therefore, not
found in that respect. It is due to the peculiar climate.

Glancing at the map the observer will notice that
hydrographers have defined the passage of a warm
current, sufficient in volume and high enough in tem-
perature to traverse the vast expanse of the North
Pacific from the coast of Japan up and across a little to
the southward of the Aleutian Islands, and then defieet»

;v.is

ALOSG ATjASKA'8 GREAT RIVER.

iiig down to the mouth of the Cohimhia River, where it
turiid, one branch going north uj) along the coast o!
Ih-itisli Cohimbia by Sitka, and thouce again to the
westward until it tuina and bends back upon itself,
'ilie other grand arm, continuing from the first point
of bifurcation, in its quiet, steady How to the Arctic,
passes up to the northeastward through the strait of
Beliring. This warm current, stored with tropical heat,
gives rise naturally, as it conies in contact with the
colder air and water of the north, to excessive humidity,
wiiich takes form in the prevalent fog, sbet and rain of
Alaska, as noted and recorded with so much sur[)rise
by travelers and temporary residents fi'om other
climes. Therefore, at Sitka, and, indeed, on the entire
seaboard of South Alaska and the Aleutian Islands, in-
stead of fiiuliug a degree of excessive cold carried over
to the jnainlanil across the Coast range, which the lati-
tude would seem to indicate, we find a climate miicli
more i.iild than rigorous ; but the prevalence of fog
clouds or banks, either hanging surcharged with mois-
ture o' dissolving into weeks of consecutive rain, so re-
tard and arrest a proper ripening of fruits and vegeta-
bles in that climate that the reasonable certainty of
success in a garden from year to year is destroyed.

Wiien we look at Alaska w^e are impressed by one
Siilient feature, and that is the remarkable distances
which exist between the isolated settlements. It is not
at first apparent, but it grows on the traveler until he
is profoundly moved at the ex])cnditure of physical
labor, patience and skill required to traverse any con-
siderable district of that country.

The Sitkan district is esseatially one of rugged in-

THE PEOPLE AND THEtti INDVSTUIES. 'M)

where U
! coasc 0*
11 to the
oil itself,
nst point
le Arctic,
strait of
ical Iieat,
with the
miDidity,
(I ruin of
surprise
ni otlier
ho entire
amis, in-
ricd over
the lati-
ite much
ee of fog
ith niois-
iu, so re-
1 vegeta-
tainty of
yed.

I hy one
distances
It is not
until lie
[)hysicaj
my con-

fged in-

equality, being mountainous ou the mainland to the
exclusiou of all other features, and ecpialiy so on the
islands. It is traversed here, there and everywhere hy
broad arms of the sea and their hundreds and thousands
of lesser channels.

Land travel is simply impracticable. Nobody goes
on a road ; savages ami whites all travel by the water.
Perhaps the greatest humidity and the heaviest rainfall
hi the Alaskan country occur here. The equahde and
not rigorous climate permits of free navigation at all
Reasons of the year, and it is seldom, indeed, that the
little lakes and shallow lagoons near the sea-l'',el are
frozen so firmly as to allow of a winter's skating.

The Aleutian and Kadiak districtsare quite as peculiar
iu themselves and as much individualized by their gco-
lo,;ical age and formation as is the Sitkan division. They
hold within their boundaries a range of great il re-
mountains — grumbling, smoking, quaking hills ; some
of these volcanic peaks being so lofty and so impressive
as tio fix in the explorer's eye an image sui)erb and
gravid, and so magnificent as to render adequate descrij)-
tion impossible. Like the Sitkan district, the j^leutian
and Ivadlak regions are exceedingly mountainous, there
bein,^ very little low or level land compared with the
sum total of their superficial area; but in that jiortion
extei ding for 1,100 miles to the westward of Kadiak,
near! j over to Asia, bare o^ timber, a skeleton, as it
were, is presented to the eye and strikes one with a
sense of an individuality here in decided contrast with
that of the Sitkan country. Tlie hills not clothed with
timber are covered to their summits in most cases with
a thick crop of circumpolar sphagnum, interspersed with

'I'll !

ill!:

Ilii

ii I

K' ' 1

400

ALONO ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER,

grasses, and a large flora, bright and beautiful in tti«
summer season. To thoroughly appreciate how much
moisture in the form of fog and rain settles U2)0U, the
land, one cannot do better than to leave the ship in the
harbor, or the post where he is stationed, and take up
a line of march through one of the narrow valleys near
by to the summit of one of the lofty peaks. He will
step upon what appeared from the window of the vessel
a firm greensward, and sink to his waist in a shaking,
tremulous bog, or slide over moss-grown shingle, painted
and concealed by the luxuriant growth of cryptogamio
life, where he expected to find a free and ready path.

" Passing from this district," says Mr. Petroft", " a
very remarkable region is entered, which I have called
the Yukon and the Kuskokvira divisions. I have
during two summers traversed the major portion of it
from the north to the south, confirming many ne^ ' and
some mooted points. This region covers the deltoid
mouth of a vast river, the Yukon, and the sea-like
estuary — the Amazonian mouth of another — the Kus-
kokvim, with the extraordinary shoals and bars of
Bristol Bay, where the tides run with surprising volume.
The country itself differs strikingly from the two divi-
sions just sketched, consisting, as it does, of irregular
mountain spurs planted on vast expanses of low, flat
tundra. It is a country which, to our race, ])erhap8, is
far more inhospitable than either the Sitkan or Kadiak
divisions ; yet, strange to say, I have found therein the
greatest concentrated population of the whole Territory.
Of course, it is not by agricult'ral, or by mining, or any
other industry, save the aboriginal art of fishing and the
traffic of the fur traiio that the people live ; and, again,

TEE PEOPLE AND THEIP. INDUSTRIES. 401

i\ in ths

Dw much
upon. tKe
lip in the

take up
leys near

He will
he vessel
shaking,
}, painted
ptogamio
^ path.
3tro^, « a
ve called

I have
ion of it
ne^' and
3 i'eltoid

sea-like
he Kus-

bars of
; volume,
wo divi-
rrcgular
low, flat
I'haps, ia
Kadiak
rein the
I'rritorj.
, or any
and the

> again,

when the fur-bearing animals are taken into account,
the quality and volume of that trade are far inferior to
those of either of the previously named divisions, and
we find the natives existing in the greatest number
where, according to our measure of compensation, they
have tne least to gain.

" This country, outside of these detached mountain
regions and spurs, is a great expanse of l)og, lakes, large
and small, with thousands of channels between them,
and sluggish currents filled with grasses and other
aqueous vegetation, indicated to the eye by the presence
of water-lilies.

"The traveler, tortured by mosquitoes in summer,
blinded, confused and disturbed by whirling 'purgas,*
snow and sleet in winter, finding tlie coast rendered
almost inaccessible by the vast system of shoaling which
the current of tlie great Yukon has effected, passes to
the interior, whose su])erficial area comprises nearly
five-sixths of the landed surface of the Territory.

*' Here is an immense tract reaching from Behring
Strait, in a succession of rolling, ice-bound moors and
lov^ mountain ranges for 700 miles, an unbroken waste,
to the boundary line of British America. Then, again,
from the crests at the head of Cook's Inlet and the flanks
of Mount St. Ellas nortlnvard over that vast area of
rugged mountain and lonely moor to the east — nearly
oOO miles — ^is a great (.'c])anse of country, over and
through which not much intelligent exploration has
been undertaken. A few traders and prospectors have
gone up the Tennanah and over the old-established
track of the Yukon ; others have passed to the shores
of Kotzebue Sound overland from the Koyukuk. Dog-

;i:!t

f£ t

ill . i 1

1 ■ r'

r ■ '

'■■ 1

402

ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER.

sled journeys have been made uy tliese same peopl<i
among the natives of the Kuskokvim and those of the
coast between. Bristol Bay and Norton Sound. But the
trader as he travels sees nothing, remembers nothing,
but hii;'. trade, and rarely is he capabJe •/'" giving any
definite information beyond the sib gi n. T his losses
or his gains through the regions he lauy traverse. We
know, however, enough to suy now, without much hesi-
tation, that this great extent which we call the interior
is by its position barred out from occupation and settle-
ment by our own jjeople, and the climatic conditions are
such that its immense area will remain undisturbed in
the possession of its savage occupants."

The fur trade, which is at present the most impor-
tant Alaskan industry, consists of two general branches,
the trade in land furs and that in the furs of marine
animals. The former has not, in late years, der royiscd
in volume, though a decline has been notice^ '.i' \h-2
8upi)ly of certain sections. The land furs nov. j:> - • tr *
from Alaska consist of the skins of beai-s, brown ' 1 1
black, three or four kinds of foxes, including the veiy
valuable silver and blue foxes, otters, martens, beavers,
minks, muskrats, lynxes, wolves and wolverines. The
sea-otter and the fur-seal supply the pelagic furs, the
seal being by far the more .\mportant of the two. In-
deed, at present the fur-sea> constitutes wholly on-3-
half of Alaska's natural wealth. T' ^ value "i i^litf seal-
skins shipped from the Territory and sold In j : mxu
markets during the twenty-ihree ycai-s of Aiuerican
occupancy down to 1800 'ag^^'Tgates about $33,000,000.
In the same perior] the '. «1'b of other fure was
|1<)/X)0,000, and ol all ct^er exports only about

I'HE PEOPLE AND THEIR mDUSTRIES. 403

ae peoplfl

ose of the

But the

nothing,

iviug any

his losses

ise. We

iiuch liesi-

le interior

md settle-

ditions are

sturhed in

st impor-

brauclies,

of marine

der routed
'■(■A Iv thr,

rowu • 1.1
the veiy
I, beavers,
les. The
furs, the
two. lu-
olly o:i-3-
( ihe seal-

AiLeriean
5,000,000.
fui-8 was
ly about

114,000,00'). The canned salmon product, which dates
only from 1884, has amounted to nearly $7,000,000,
%nd tihe value of the cod-fish taken since 1868 has been
^ly $3,000,000. The supply of fish of various kinds
in Alaska is practically inexhaustible, but uie stores
lavklied upon the natives of that country by bountiful
nature could not be mora wastefully used than they are
now. Any development in the fishing industry nmst
necessarily be an improvement, causing a saving :ii the
supply. The proportion of Alaskan fish brought into
the markets of the civilized world, wlien compared with
the consumption of the same a: tides by the natives, is
60 very small that it barely deserves the name of an
industry of the country. The business, however, shows
a decided tendency to increase in magnitude, and with-
in the last few years the shipments of salted salmon in
barrels from the Kadiak- Aleutian divisions have been
fateadily increasing.

Next in importance to furs and fish are to be ranked
gold and silver. The first gold mines of r^^al impor-
tance were opened at the end of 1880, near the present
settlement of Juuea u. At present there are three or
four goli! producirg quartz mines which ship the pre-
cious metal to th'; United States, the largest of them be-
ing the Treadwell or Paris mine, which supplies a mill
with 240 stamps. There are also paying mines in the
Yukon region which have produced for some years
past gold dust to the value of from $40,000 to $90,000
tt year. The total value of the gold found in Alaska
^ince 1867 is about $4,000,000, but probably as large a
Bum has been expended in the same time in prospect-
uig and opening and equipping the mines. The annual

■ \:

III!: '^

jhI

1 V y.

'si

1: '■

IP'

i !

404

J LONG ALASKA'S GREAT KIVER.

output of silver is insignificant, amounting to onlj

about 13,000.

Coal lias been discovered in various parts of the
Territory, but it is all of the lignite variety. Only j)ne
of the veins is at present operated, and it is situated on
Herendeen Bay, on the nort". side of the Alaska pen-
insula. Other veins near Cape Lisburne are utilized
by the shijss which visit that region every year, but are
not otherwise systematically worked. Large deposits
of copper and of cinnabar are known to exist, but they
are far inland and not readily accessible.

Fourth in importance among the resources of Alaska
must be ranked timber. It is not at present, however,
an actual source of wealth, since its exportation is pro-
hibited by the United States Government and even the
utilization of the forests for local use for lumber and
fuel is much restricted.

The whaling industry is conducted by New Bedford
and San Francisco firms, chiefly north of Behring
Strait, but cannot properly be included among the re-
sources of Alaska. During the season of 1890 the pro-
duct of this industry amounted to 14,567 barrels of oil,
226,402 pounds of whalebone, and 3,980 pounds of
walrus ivory, besides considerable quantities of beavor,
bear and white fox furs.

" In this survey of the wealth and resources of Alaska
the observer is struck," says Mr. Petroff, in tlio census
report, " with one rather discouraging feature : that all
these vast resources, the products of land and sea, are
taken out of the country without leaving any equiva-
lent to the inhabitants. The chief industries, such as
salmon canneries, cod fisheries, mines, and the ivfl

W' I

far-;

to only

■ts of the
Only ma
tuated on
aska pen-
•e utilized
ir, but are
deposits
but they

of Alaska
however,

n is pro-
even tho

fliber and

Bedford
^ Behrinff
g the re-
) the pro-
els of oil,
3unds of
f beavcii',

>f Alaska
G census
that &11
sea, are
equiva-
such as
the fu"

TBE fEOPLE AND THEIR INDUSTRIES. 40")

trade, are carried on with labor hnported into Alaska
and taken away again, thus taking out of the country
the wages earned. Every pound of subsistence for these
laborers, as well as all of the clothing they use, is car-
ried by them into Alaska. The shipping of Abiska,
which has become of considerable value, is also carried
on wholly by non-residents of the Territory, and this
state of affairs extends even to the important tourists*
travel to the southeastern district of Alaska. Not only
the passage-money, but the whole cost of subsistence of
these tourists during- their stay in Alaska goes to tlie
California owners of the steamship lines. To give an
idea of the magnitude of this traffic it is only necessary
to state that the number of tourists* tickets sold ert(;h
season exceeds 5,000, each ticket representing an ex-
penditure of not less than $100, making a total of
$500,000.

"The insignificant payments for furs and labor to
natives are absorbed entirely in the purchase of small
quantities of food and raiment. The spectacle of so
vast a tract of country being thus drained continually
for twenty-three years without receiving anything to
speak of in return, cannot probably be equalled in any
other part of the United States and perhaps of the
world. At the same time the only prospect for a
change in these circumstances by immigration and
settlement of people who could supply the demand for
labor and develoj) the industries as residents of the
counlry would appear to be still in the far-distant
future."

The fur-gathering industry still holds the foremost
rank in Alaska, and the most important of its products

P'i

,-t •

406

ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER

are the pelts of the sea-otter and the fur-seal, ^t u
among the Aleutian Islands that these animals are
chiefly taken. The otter is widely distributed through-
out the archipelago. But the fur-seal is take ^ almost ex-
clusively upon the Pribyloff or Fur-seal Islands, where
they resort m incredible numbers. The taking of these
interesting animals is controlled by the Alaska Com-
mercial Company, which has enjoyed a monopoly of
the lucrative trade since Alaska came into the possession
of this country. The actual work of killing the animals
and removing the skins is done by the native Aleutians,
in the Company's employ, and the operation, albeit san-
guinary, is highly picturesque.

In former times, says Mr. Ivaii Petroff, the Aleutian
hunters prepared themselves for sea-otter expeditions
by fasting, bathing and other ceremonies. The sea-
otter was believed to be possessed of a very strong aver-
sion to the female sex, and consequently the hunter Avas
obliged to separat . himself from liis wife for some time
prior to his departure, and also to prepare the garments
he was to wear, or at least to wash with his own hands
such of his garments as had been made by women. On
his return from a successful hunt the sui^erstitious Aleut
of former times would destroy the garments used during
his expedition, and before entering his hut dress himself
anew from head to foot in clothing prepared by his
faithful spouse during his absence. The hunting gar-
ments were then thrown into the sea. One old man
stated, in explanation of this proceeding, that the set-
otters would find the clothing and come to the conclusion
that their late persecutor must be drowned, and that
there was no further danger. With the spread of the

•\ :•■

' \>'l

THE PEOPLE AND THEIR INDUSTRIES. 40^

al. xt la

mals are
through-
most ex-
Is, where
of these
ca Com-
opoly of
)ossession
3 animals
Ueutians,
Ibeit san-

Aleutian
:peditions
The sea-
ong aver-
Linter Avas
ome time
garments
vn hands
nen. On
3US Aleut
3d during
s himself *
1 by his
ting gar-
old man
the sec-
)nclusion
and that
id of the

Christian religion among the sea-otter hunters most of
these superstitious ceremonies were abolished, but even
at the present day the sea-otter hunter occu[)ies a prom-
inent position in the community and enjoys great social
advantages. Anything he may want which is not in
the possession of his own family will be at once supplied
by his neighbors, and weeks, and even months, are
spent in careful preparation of arms, canoes and imple-
ments.

The mode of hunting the animal has not essentially
changed since the earliest times. A few privileged
white men located in the district of Ounga employ fire-
arms, but the great body of Aleutian hunters still retain
the spear and in a few instances the bow and arrow.
The sea-otter is always hunted by parties of from four
to twenty bidarkas, each manned by two hunters. From
their village the hunters proceed to some lonely coast
near the hunting-ground, either in their canoes or by
schooners and sloops belonging to the trading firms, a
few women generally accompanying the party to do the
housework in the camp. In Ibrmer times, of course,
this was not the case. The tents of the partj are
pitched in some spot, not visible from the sea, and the
hunters patiently settle down tt* await the first favorable
day, only a smooth sea permitting the hunting of sea-
otter with any prospect of success. In the inhospitable
climate of Alaska -"^eeks and months sometimes pass by
before the patient huntero are enabled to try their skill.
A weatherwise individual, here ycleiit *' astronome,"
generally accompanies each party, givnig due notice of
the approach of favorable weather and the exact time
Arhen it is best to set out, and few Aleuts are bold

ii:n

1
1)

i|T

ii *

■•i

408

ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVESL

enough to begin a hunt without the sanction of this in-
dividual. At last the day arrives, and after a brief
prayer the hunters embark fully equipped, and in the
best of spirits exchange jokes and banter until the beach
is left behind ; then ^ilence reigns, the peredovchik or
leader assumes command, and at a signal from him the
bldarkas start out in a semicircle from fifty to one hun-
dred yards distant from each other, each hunter anx-
iously scanning the surface of the water, at the same
time having an eye upon the other canoes. The sea-
otter comes up to the surface to breathe about once in
every ten minutes, the smooth, glossy head remaining
visible but a few seconds each time.

As soon as the hunter spieb an otter he lifts his pad-
dle as a signal and then points it in the direction taken
by the animal, and the scattered bidarkas at once close
•n a wide circle around the spot indicated by the fortu-
nate discoverer. If the animal comes up within this
circle the hunters simply close in, gradually beating the
water with their hands to prevent the escape of the
quarry ; but very often the wary animal has changed
his direction after diving, and the whole fleet of canoes
is obliged to change course frequently before the final
circle is formed. As soon as the otter comes up within
spear's throw one of the hunters exerts his skill and
lodges a spear-head in the animal, which immediately
dives. An inflated bladder is attached to the shaft,
preventing the otter from diving very deep. It soon
comes up again, only to receive a number cl other mis-
siles, the intervals between attacks becoming shorter
each time, until exhaustion forces the otter to remain
oa the sur&ce and receive its death wound. The body

THE PEOPLE AND THEIR INDUSTRIES. 409

of the animal Is then taken into one of the bidurkus
and the hunt continues if the weather is favorable. On
the retui-u of the party each animal killed ia inspected
by the chief in the presence of all the hunters and its
ownership ascertained by the spear-head that caused the
mortal w" nd, each weapon being duly marked. The
man who first struck the otter receives from two to ten
dollars from the owner. The skins of the slain animals
are at once removed, labelled and classified according
to quality by the agents of the trading firms and care-
fully stored for shipment. It frequently happens that
a whole day passes by without a single sea-otter being
sighted, but the Aleut hunters have a wonderful
patience and do not leave a place once selected without
killing some sea-otters, be the delay ever so long. There
are instances where hunting parties have remained on
barren islands for years, subsisting entirely on " algaj "
and mussels cast from the sea. On the })rincipal sea-
otter grounds of the present time, the Island of Sannakh
and the neighborhood of Belkovyky, the hunting par-
ties seldom remain over four or fiv^ months without se-
curing sea-otters in sufficient number to warrant their
return. Single hunters have sold sea-otters to the value
of eight hundred dollars as their share of such brief ex-
peditions, but payment is not made until the return of
tlie party to their home station.

As soon as the result of a day's hunt has been ascer-
tained, the chief or leader reminds the hunters of their'
duty toward the Omrch, and with their unanimous con-
sent some skin, generally of a small animal, is selected
as a donation to the prie-^t, all contributing to reimburse
the owner. The schools also receive donations of this

■ ' ' '

i . • ■ ■•

a '

410

ALONG ALASKA'S 0REA1 RIVER.

kind, and the skins thus designated are labelled accord-
ingly and turned over to the trading lirnis, who place
the ca^h value at the disposal of the priest, liivalry
in the business of purchasing sea-otter skins has in-
duced the various firms ic send agents with small assort-
ments of goods to all the hunting-grounds, as an in-
ducement to the members of parties to squander some
of their earnings in advance.

The method of killing the sea-otter is virtually the
same in all sections frequented by it.

The killing of fur-seals is accomplished entirely on
land, and has been reduced almost to a science of the
greatest dispatch and system. The able-bodied Aleuts
now settled upon the two islands of Saint Paul and
Saint George are, by the terms of the agreement be-
tween themselves and the lessees, the only individuals
permitted to kill and skin the seals for the annual ship-
ment as long as they are able to perform the labor
efficiently within a given time. For this labor they are
remunerated at the rate of fortj' cents per animal.
Life-long practice has made them expert in using their
huge clubs and sharp skinning-knives, both imple-
ments being manufactured expressly for this use.
These men are as a class proud of their accomplish-
ments as sealers, and too nroud to bemean themselves
in doing any other kind of work. For all incidental
labor, such as building, packing, loading and unloading
;ressels, etc., the lessees find it necessary to engage
laborers from the Aleutian Islands, these latter indi-
viduals being generally paid at the rate of one dollar
per diem.

The work connected with the killing of the annual

1 accord-
vlio pliice

Rivalry
s lias in-
all assort-
as an ill-
ider some

tually the

itirely ou

ce of the

ed Aleuts

Paul and

sment be-

idividuals

riual ship-

the labor

ir they are

r animal.

sing their

h imple-

this use.

complish-

liemselves

incidental

inloading

engage

tter indi-

•ne dollar

le annual

THE PEOPLE AND THEIR hVDUSTHIES. 41 1

quota of fur-seals may be divided into two distinct
features, the separation of the seals of a certain ai-e and
Bize from the main body and their removal to the kill-
ing-ground forming the preliminary movements; the
final operation consisting of another selection among
the select, and killing and skinning the same. The
driving as well as the killing cannot be done in every
kind of weather, a damp, cool, cloudy day being espe-
cially desirable for the purpose.

As it is the habit of the young male seals up to the
age of four years to lie upon the ground back of the so-
called rookeries or groups of families that line the sea-
shore, the experienced natives manage to crawl m be-
tween the families aud the " bachelors," as they were
named by the Russians, and gradually drive them inland
in divisions of from 2,000 to 3,000. It is unsafe to
drive the seals more than Sve or six miles during any
one day, as they easily become overheated and their
Bkins are thereby injured. When night comes on the
driving ceases, and sentries are posted around each
division, to prevent the animals from straying during
the night, occasional whistling b'' n; sufficient to keep
them together. In the morm.i^j if the weather be
favorable, the drive is continued until the killing-ground
is reached, where the victims are allowed to re«t over
night under guard, and finally, as early as possible in
the morning, the sealers appear with their clubs, when
again small parties of tw^enty to thirty seals are separated
from their fellows, surrounded by the sealers, and the
slaughter begins. Even at this last moment anotlicr
selection is made, and any animal appearing to the eye
of the experienced Aleut to be either below or above the

412

ALONG ALASKA'm GREAT RIVER.

I! ,!'l : •

Bpccified age is dismissed with a gentle tap of the club,
and allowed to go on its way to the shore, rejoicing at
its uiurow escape. The men with clubs proceed from
one ground to the other, immediately followed by the
men with knives, who stab each stunned seal to the
heart to insure its immediate death. These men are in
turn followed by the skinners, who with astonishing
ra})idity divest the carcasses of their vUiable cover-
ing, leaving, however, the head and ners intact.
Only a few paces behind the skinners c - ^arts drawn
by mules, into which the skins are rapidly thrown and
carried away. The wives and daughters of the sealers
linger around the rear of the death-dealing column,
reaping a rich harvest of blubber which they carry
away on their heads, the luscious oil dripping down their
faces and over their garments.

The skins, yet warm from the body, are discharged
into caj'tacious salt-houses and salted down for the time
being like fish in bins. This treatment is continued for
Bome time, and after the application of heavy prer-jsure
they are finally tied into bundles of two each, securely
strapped, and then shipped.

xw" t ' '

n,^

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TO '

ini
I
1

Th
Fol

Fii ,,

6i;|

•A

MAW* 'Hgin^ ixt/sM aBwn Muew '

.twji,...--"

<5(

ALASKA

Total area,

570,390 sq. m.

I'W 31.795

White ....4,30!'
Mixed ... < 319
:='"-.:i... 23,274
McngoUan 2,287
All others.. 112

Indians:
Eskimo 12,784
Thllnket..4.l!S
Athabaskan

3,441

Aieut 968

Tslnipsean .9ai
Hyda 391

DISTtiCTt.

Po.

FiBsT, or South-"

eastern . .8088
Second, or

Kadlak..6112
Third, cr

lTnalaska.2361
FouBTH, or

Ku8ha^k.2;?<
Fifth, or Kus-

kokwim .5424
Sixth, or

Yukon... 3912
Skvknth, or

Arctl''...3222

•NIIF CITIES.

Fop.— Tbouiudi.

1 .Tuncau G9

1 Sitka C8

1 Karluk C5

Pop. -Banireii.

5 Kodlak 05

4 AfoKnak...C5
4 DouKla«....C9
3 ()uuala8ka.D2
3 Ft.WrangelC 9
3 Klawock...C9
3 .VuRhaKak..C4

2 Mitchell ...A 8

2 Lurtnir C9

2 Anvik B 8

2 Belkoffskl .D8
2 Unalaki:k..U8

2 Uiiea. C8

2 ChlTkat ....C8
1 Ikogmut

Mission.. B 4
1 KoK(flunK..C4

1 Nulato B4

1 Pa«to!lk....B3
1 Kaguyn'.c...C5
1 Jackson ...D9
1 Ft. St. Mich-
aels.. B 3
1 KllIl8noo...(;9
1 Morzhovol.I)3

1 Iiniglk <;4

Alaganlk...H6

Kutllk H3

Ft. Andreaf-
akl..B8

Weare B5

Circle City ..B7

Dawson B 7

Klondike

River. .B 8
Klondike

District.. B 8
Dye« C8

ii'

iiyp^'

•Ml

■■MajiiijMwi j i ,i iii .

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"atf

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AXSAIA

.STaiRTaia

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i
I

GEOGRAPHICAL FEATURES.

AX3A.1A

11 it; «Bi!j« (M

*! I

10!

-mm um

e,>. aX)t» r

>oas

According to the terras of the treaty between the
United States and Russia, the boundaries of Alaska are
as follows :

" Corjmencing ^om the southernmost point of the
island called Prince of Wales Island, which point lies in
the parallel of 54° 40' north latitude, and between the
131° and 133° west longitude (meridian of Greenwich),
the said line shall ascend to the north ulcjng the channel
called Portland Chu lel, as far as the point of the con-
tinent where it striken "tG" north hititude ; from this la-t
mentioned point, the line of <I<'ni ircation shail follow the
summit of the mountains situated parallel to t he coast as
far as the point of intersectioxi of the 141st ilegreeof
west longitude (of the same meridian) and finall} from
the said point of intersection the said meridian line of
the 141st degree in its prolongation as fai as the frozen
ocean.

" With reference to the line of demarcation ^ 1 down
in the preceding article it is understood :

" 1st. That the island called Prince of Wales Island
shall belong wholly to Russia (now by this cession to
the United States).

" 2d. That whenever the summit of the mountains
which extend in a direction parallel to the coast from
the 56th degree of north latitude to the point of inter-
section of the 141st degree of west longitude shall prove
to be at the distance of more than ten marine leagues

flf I ■>-.-■

414

ALONG ALASKA S OREAT RIVER.

'i;^:*;

'I,

from the ocean, the limit between the British possesssion
and the line of coast which is to belong to Russia as
above mentiomd (that is to say, the limit to the posses-
sions ceded by this convention^, shall be formed by a
line parallel to tne winding of the coast, and which
shall never exceed the distance of ten marine leagues
therefrom."

The boundry, in 1825, when this description was
made, was a theoretical one based on, the charts placed
beibre the negotiators, which they doubtless assumed
to be a substantially correct expression of geographical
facts. The country through which the line passes was
then substantially unexplored.

Much survey work has been done in recent years, with
the object of determining more accurately the boundary
between Alaska and the British possessions in North
America ; but the task is not yet complete. The general
outlines of the country, however, are familiar to all, and
recent maps indicate its boundaries on all sides with
substantial accuracy. The whole territory may be
roughly divided into six parts, as follows :

1. The Arctic division, containing 125,245 square
miles, and comprising all that portion of the North
American continent between the one hundred and forty-
first meridian in the east and Cape Prince of Wales, or
Behring Strait, in the west, the Arctic Ocean ir. the north,
and having for its soul iiern boundary a line indicating
the watershed betwocii the Yukon River system and
the streams emptying into the Arctic and impinging
upon the coast of Bt-liring Sea just north of Port
Clarence.

2. The Yukon division, containing 176,715 square

OEOGRAPHICAL FEATURES.

415

miles, and comprising the valley of tlie Yukon River as
far as it lies within our boundaries and its tributaries
from the north and south. Tiiis division is bounded by
the Arctic division in the north, the one hundred forty-
first meridian in the east, and Behring Sea in the west.
The southern boundary lies along a line indicating the
watershed between the Yukon and the Kuskokvim,
Sushetno, and Copper Rivers, and runs from the above-
mentioned meridian in the east to the coast of Behring
Sea, in the vicinity of Hazen Bay, in the west. The
island of St. Lawrence, in Behring Sea, is included in
this division.

3. The Kuskokvim division, containing 114,975
square miles, bounded on the north by the Yukon divi-
sion, and comprising the valleys of the Kuskokvim, the
Togiak, and the Nushegak Rivers, and the iatei'vening
system of lakes. The eastern boundary of this division
is a line running along the main Alaskan range of
mountains from the divide between the Kuskokvim and
Tennanah Rivers down to the low, narrow isthmus di-
viding Moller Bay from Zakharof Bay, on the Alaska
peninsula. Behring Sea washes the whole west and
south coasts of this division, which also includes Nuni-
vak Island.

4. The Aleutian division, containing 14,(510 square
miles, and comprising the Alaska peninsida westward
of the isthmus between Moller and Zakharof Bays and
the whole chain of islands from the Shumagin gioup in
the east to Attoo in the west, including also the I'ribylof
or fur-seal islands.

5. The Kadiak division, containing 70,884 square
miles, and comprising the south coast of the A lidska

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ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER.

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peninsula down to Zakharof Bay, with the adjacent
islands, the Kadiak group of islands, the islands and
coasts of Cook's Inlet, the Kenai peninsula, and Prince
William Sound, with the rivers running into them. The
main Alaskan range bounds this division in the north
and west. Its eastern limit is the one hundred and
forty-first meridian, which intersects the coast-line
in the vicinity of Mount St. Elias, while the south
shores of the division are washed by that section of the
North Pacific named the Gulf of Alaska.

6. The southeastern division, containing 28,980
square miles, and comprising the coast from Mount St.
Elias in the north to Portland Canal, in latitude 54°
40', in the south, together with the islands of the Alex-
ander Archipelago between Cross Sound and Cape Fox.
The eastern boundary of this division is the rather in-
definite line established by the Anglo-Russian
and Russian- American treaties of 1824 and 1825
respectively, following the summits of a chain of moun^
tains supposed to run parallel with the coast at a dis-
tance not greater than three marine leagues from the
sea between the head of Portland Canal and Mount
St. Elias.

The Arctic division is situated almost entirely above
the Arctic circle and is known to explorers only from
observations made along the seacoast. The interior
consists doubtless of frozen plains and low raiiges of
hills, intersected by a few shallow and sluggish streams.
The only rivers known to emerge from this part of
Alaska are the Colville, the Kok, the Inland or Noatak,
the Kooak, the Selawik and the Buckland. There are
many Tillages scattered along the coast and others are

GEOGRAPHICAL FEATURES.

417

reported to exist further up on all these rivers. The
coast settlements are visited every j ear by many vessels
engaged in whaling, hunting and trading. Their in-
habitants possess great commercial genius and energy,
and carry on an extensive traffic with the natives of the
A-sian coast, their common trading-ground being at
Behring Strait.

The only mineral of any value tliat is found on this
coast is coal, of which there are several good veins at
Cape Lisburne. The chief attraction for the navigators
who visit the coast are furs, oil and walrus ivory. Tlie
whahng industry is already beginning to decline here
as it has done in every other region of tho world.
Many seals are found here and polar bears are numftr-
ous. A few reindeer are found on the coast and moose
and mountain sheep are said to be ni, nierous in the in-
terior. Muskrats and squirrels abound evcrywliore and
their skins are offers; J for sale in large quantities.
Foxes also are plentiful, especially the wliite variety,
and their skins are much sought for by the American
and European markets. Aquati" ^nrds of all kinds are
found in countless hosts. The only fish of value is the
Salmon.

About thirty villages are known in this region, their
total population being a little over 3,000.

The Yukon division is the largest and in many re-
Bpcets most important o" all. As this volume is so
largely devoted to a dcH.'i Iption of the great river and
the country it traverses little need be said regarding it
here. Numerous trading posts have been established
and the waters of the river are jilied by steamboats.
Ko mineral deposits in large paying quantities have yet

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been discovered, but it is believed that important gold
mines will yet be found. The river abounds in fish and
the forests which border it in game. High as the lati-
tude is tlie summers are very warm and the vegetable
growths of the country are luxuriant. The coast line
of this division is particularly dreary. It is inhabited
by a hardy race of seal and walrus hunters, who occupy
numerous small villages. At Port Clarence, just south
of Cape Priuce of Wales, three or four villages are
clustered around a fine harbor. King's Island or Ouki-
vok is a small, high island, surrounded by almost per-
pendicular cliffs of basalt. On it is a village composed
of about forty houses, which are simple excavations in
the side of the cliffs. The inhabitants live almost en-
tirely by walrus and seal hunting. On the shores of
Golovin Sound small dej)osits of lead and silver have
been found. The most important point on the coast is
St. Michael, where there are several trading agencies.
The Island of St. Lawrence belongs properly to this di-
vision. It had originally a population of about 1,000, but
famine and disease have diminished it to one-half that
number. The people are Asiatic Esquimaux. There
are in all this division of Alaska about seventy-five
known settlements, with a total population of nearly
7,000; of whom perhaps about twenty-five are white,
2,500 Athabaskan and the rest Esquimaux.

The Kuskokvim division is, on the whole, poor in
such natural products as white men desire, and it has
therefore been little visited It contains a few mineral
deposits, however, including cinnabar, antimony and
silver. Game and fur bearing animals are not as numer-
ous as in other parts of Alaska, but there are many

GEOGRAPHICAL FEATURES.

419

seals in the sea and river, and minks and foxes are quite
numerous. Man)' salmon are also found in the river
and they form a leading article of food for the natives.
There are nearly a hundred villages in this division
with about 9,000 inhabitants, nearly all of them being
Esquimaux.

The Aleutian division comprises the western part of
the Alaska peninsula and the long range of islands ex-
tending toward the Asiatic coast. These islands appear
to be merely a continuation of the Alaskan range of
mountains. Many of them contain volcanic peaks, some
of which are still active, and all the islands are moun-
tainous. The soil is altogether treeless save for some
dwarf willows, but there is a luxuriant growth of grass.
On this account it was once thought that cattle could
be successfully raised here, but the long and stormy
winters made the experiment a failure. The people of
these islands are doubtless of Esquimau origin, al-
though distinct in language and in habits from the
remainder of that race. Their twenty-five or thirty
villages are inhabited by about 2,500 people, perhaps
100 of the number being white. Their principal in-
dustry consists in fishing and taking seals, sea-otters
and other marine animals.

The Kadiak division comprises the southern side of
the Alaska peninsula, numerous adjacent islands and
the coast of the mainland eastward to Mount St. Elias.
Its inhabitants are of Esquimau stock and resemble
greatly those of the Kuskokvim division. The coast
is frequented by great numbers of walrus, which animal
provides the inhabitants with food, material for their
oanoes and ivory, which is used for money and as an

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ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER,

object of trade. Many whales are also taken here. Oa
the land there are numerou& reindeer, brown bearg and
foxes, otters and minks. The island of Kadiak has for
a century and a quarter been one of the most important
portions of this division of Alaska. It wsis here that
some of the earliest Russian settlements were made, and
the population at the present time is considerable.
There are several villages devoted almost entirely to
the building of ships and boats.

North of the Kadiak group is the great estuary
known as Cook's Inlet, which was first visited by the
Russian traders a hundred years ago and was the scene
of many desperate conflicts between rival settlers as
well as between the Russians and the natives. The
natives here are almost giants in size and are strong,
active and warlike. Their houses are superior to those
of the Esquimaux, being constructed above ground of
logs and bark. They are expert fishermen, and the
waters in this region abound in salmon and other fish>
and the land in huge bears, moose, mountain sheep,
wolves and numerous smaller animals, while £;t;ese and
ducks and other wild birds are found by the million.
Timber exists here in great abundance, especially in the
valley of the Cojiper River. There are about fifty vil-
lages in the Kadiak division with a population of 4,500.

The Southeastern division consists of the narrow
strip of coast-land from Mount St. Elias southward to
Portland Canal. It is densely wooded and exceedingly
mountainous. The coast is deeply indented with bays
and sheltered by islands. The principal trees are
spruce and yellow cedar. On many of the islands oi
the Alexander Archipelago coal has been discovered.

, 1

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GEOGRAPHICAL FEATURES.

421

Copper and gold have also been found. The fur trade
is not now nearly as valuable as in forn>er years, al-
though it is still large and proiituble. The waters
swarm with salmon, halibut, herring and other fish.
The climate is not nearly as cold as might be cx])ected
in this latitude, but the rainfall is very heavy, an
average of 250 days in the year being stormy. The
fifty or more villages contain a total i)opulation of nearly
8,000, including about 300 whites.

We know, says Dr. Grewgink, the eminent Russian
Bcientist, of no more extensive theatre of volcanic ac-
tivity than the Aleutian Islands, the Alaska ])eninsula,
and the west coast of Cook's Inlet, Here we have con-
fined within the limits of a single crntury all the known
phenomena of this kind : the elevation of mountain
chains and islands, the sinking of extensive tracts of
the earth's surface, earthquakes, eruptions of lava, ashes
and mud, the hot springs and exhalations of steam and
sulphuric gas':':^. Not only does the geological forma-
tion of most of the islands and a portion of the conti-
nent point to volcanic origin or elevation, but we have
definite information of volcanic activity on twenty-live
of the Aleutian Islands. On these islands forty-eight
craters have been enumerated by Veniaminof and other
conscientious observers, and in addition to these we have
on the Alaska peninsula four volcanoes, two on Cook's
Inlet, one on Prince William Sound, one on Copper
River, and one in the vicinity of Sitka (Mount Edge-
combe) ; three other peaks situated between Edgecombe
and the Copper River have not been definitely ascer-
tained to be volcanic. The distance from the Wrange'il
volcano, in the vicinity of Copper River, to the Sitkan

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422

ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVEIt

Island ia 1,505 nautical miles. We have every reason
to believe that the Near Islands (the westernmost of the
Aleutian group) are also extinct craters ; and thus *re
find one continuous chain of volcanoes from Wrangell
to the Commander Islands (Behring and Copper),
pointing to the existence of a subterranean channel of
lava finding its outlet or breathing-hole through the
craters of this region. The nearest volcanoes to the
south of this line are Mount Baker on the American
continent, in latitude 48° 48', and the craters of tlic
Kurile chain of islands on the coast of Asia. That a
subterranean connection exists between this long line of
craters is indicated by the fact that whenever volcani/*
activity grows slack in one section of the chain it in-
creases in violence at some other point, an observatior
which has been confirmed by all observers.

From all information on the subject at our disposal it
appears that the craters of Mount Fairweather, Cryllon,
and Edgecombe, and Mount Calder (Prince of Wales
Island), have not been active since the middle of the
last century, and aa the universal law of volcanic ac-
tivity seems to place the frequency of eruptions in an
inverse ratio to the height of the volcanoes, we might
reasonably expect that the season of rest for these
craters will be a prolonged one ; but how terrible and
devastating must be the awakening of the sleeping
furnaces when it occurs. With regard to Mount St.
Elias, we have many authentic data as to its volcanic
nature. Belcher and Wrangell consider that the black
ridges descending from the summits of the mountains,
an'i the fact that the glaciers on Copper River exhihi*
a covering of vegetation, us proof of the volcanic char-

QEOQRAPHICAL FEATURES.

428

tcter of the mountain. The first phenomena may rest
entirely upon an optic dehision, as it is not ut all certuia
that the black strealcs consist of lava or aahes, while tiie
appearance of vegetation on the surface of glaciers on
Copper River is very probably clue to the fall of vol-
canic ashes ; the latter phenomenon may be traced aa
f .isily and with far more probability to the Wraugell
volcano.

One of the moat impressive physical features of the
whole Territory is the stupendous glacier at Muir Inlet.
This ice-field, says a recent writer, enters the sea
with a front two or three hundred feet above the water
and a mile wide. Fancy a wall of blue ice, splintered
into columns, spires and huge crystal masses, with
grottoes, crevices and recesses higher than Bunker Hill
Monument and a mile In width I It is a spectacle that
is strangely beautiful in its variety of form and depth
of color, and at the same time awful in its grindeur.
And not alone is the sight awe-inspiring. The ice-
mountain is almost constantly breaking to pieces with
Bounds that resemble the discharge of heavy guns or
the reverberations of thunder. At times an almofit
deafening report is heard, or a succession of them, like
the belching of a whole park of artillery, when no out-
ward effect is seen. It is the breaking apart of great
masses of ice within the glacier. Then some huge berg
topples over with a roar and gigantic splash that may
be heard several miles, the waters being thrown aloft
like smoke. A great pinnacle of ice Is seen bobbing
about in wicked fashion, perchance turning a somersault
in the flood before it settles down to battle for life with
the sun and the elements on its seaward cruise. The

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424

ALONG ALASKA'S GREAT RIVER.

waves created by all this terrible commotion even rock
the steamer and waali the shores miles awiiy. There is
scarcely five minutes in the whole day . . night without
gome exhibition of this kind. There are mountains
each side of the glacier, '\e one upon the right, or south
shore, being the highest. High up on the bare walls
are seen the scoriated and polished surfaces produced
by glacial action. The present glacier is retrograding
quite rapidly, as may be seen by many evidences of its
foi'mer extent^ as well as by the concurrent testimony
of earlier visitors. On cither side is a moraine half a
mile in width, furrowed and slashed by old glacial
streams which have given place in turn to others higher
up the defile aa the glacier recedes. Tliese moraines
are compose J of earth and coarse gru\el, with oc-
casional large boulders. On the north side the ma-
terial is more of a clayey soit, at least in part, and the
stumps of an ancient forest have been uncoveied by the
action of a glacial river, or overwhelmed by the icy
flood. Some scientistt: claim these forests are in reality
pre-glacial, and many thousands of years old. The in-
terior of the 2;reat moraines is yet frozen, and at the
head of one of the little ravii^es formed by former
glacial river discharges, a little strfcam still trickles
forth from a diminutive ice cavern. Notwithstanding
the contiguity of the ice itselx*, and the generally frigid
surroundings, blue-bells and other flowers bloom on
the moraine. In the centre of the glacier, some two
miles from its snout, is a rocky island, the top of some
ancient jieak the great mill of ice has not yet ground
down.
It is interesting to see how the massive stream of ice

Eifi

GEOORAPHICAL FEATURES.

425

conforma itself to its shores, separating above the obstacle
a'ld reuuiting below. On approaching or departing
from Muir Inlet, the voyager may look back upon this
literal sea of ice and follow its streams up to tlie snow-
fields of the White Mountains, which form the back-
bone of the peninsula between Glacier Bay and Lynn
Canal. The following facts relating to the Muir glacier,
its measurement and movement, are derived wholly from
Professor Wright's notes, llouglily speaking, the Muir
glacier may be said to occupy an amnhitheatre which haa
the dimensions of about twenty-live miles from north to
south, and thirty miles from east to west. The opening
of this amphitheatre at Muir Inlet is toward the south
southeast. It is two miles across from the shoulder of
one mountain to the otlier at the outlet. Into the amphi-
theatre pour nine glaciers, and the sub-branches that are
visible make the affluents moro than twentv in number.
Four of the main branches' come in from the east, but
these have already spent their force on reaching the
focus of the amphitheatre. The first tributary from the
southwest also practically loses its force before reaching
the main cui'rent. The main flow is from two branches
coming from the northwest and two from the north.
The motion is here much more rapid. Observations
made upon three ])ortIons of the main glacier, re-
spectively 300, 1,000 and 1,500 yards from the front,
showed the movement to be 135 feet at the first point,
65 at the second and 75 at the third, per day. The
summit of the lower point was a little over 300 feet
above the water, the second 400 feet and the third con-
siderably more, probably 500 feet. The motion rapidly
decreased on approaching the medial moraines brought

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126

ALONG ALASKA'S GH EAT RITKR.

down by the branches from tht eu*it. ^Vlong u line
moving parallel witli that of the greatest motion,
and half a dozen miles east from it, the rate ob-
served at two points was about 10 feet per day.
Thus we get an average daily motion in the main
channel of the ice flow, near its mouth, of about
40 feet across a section of one mile. The height of the
ice above the water in front, at the extreme point,
was found to be 226 feet. Back a few hundred feet the
height is a little over 300 feet, and at a quarter of a
mile 400 feet A quarter of a mile out in front of the
glacier the water is 85 fiithoras, or 510 feet deep. Tims
Professor Wright estimates that a body of ice 735 feet
deep, 5,000 feet wide and 1,200 feet long passed out into
the bay in the thirty days he was there, tliis movement
and discharge taking place at the raie of 149,000,000
cubic feet per day. He says that after the fall of a large
mass of ice from the glacier into the bay, the beach near
hia camp two and one-half miles distant from the glaciers,
would be wrapped in foam by the waves. One of many
large masses he saw floating about projected some GO
feet out of water, and was some 400 feet S(piare. Esti-
mating the general height of the berg above the water
to be 30 feet, and its total depth 250 feet, the contenta
of the masA would be 40,000,000 cubic feet

u Hue
motion,
ate ob-
er day.
he main
f about
it of the
e point,
[feet the
rter of a
it of the
f). Tims
735 feet
. out into
lOvement
1,000,000
if a large
ach near
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some 60
e. E&ti-
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! contents

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