Phonal Paper No. 20 ' Senes

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SUKVEY

CHARLES D. WALCOTT, DlRECTOlt

A

RECONNAISSANCE IN NORTHERN ALASKA

ACROSS THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS, ALONG KOYUKUK, JOHN,

ANAKTUVUK, AND COLVILLE RIVERS, AND THE

ARCTIC COAST TO CAPE LISBURNE, IN 1901

BY

FRAISTK CHARLES SOHRADER

WITH NOTES BY

W. J. PETERS

WASHINGTON

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 

1904
CONTENTS.

Page.

Letter of transmitted --__._.......-.-.......--..-..-........•.-............-..-..---........ 9

Introduction..............................................................:............... 11

Methods of work.......................................................................... 14

Dog sledding ............................................................. 14

Camping ...'..............•................................................ 15

Chronologic summary of operations ........................................ 15

Methods of scientific work................................................. 17

Itinerary and topographic methods, by W. J. Peters......................................... 18

Plan of operations................................................. ................... 18

White Horse to Bergman.............................................................. 19

Reconnaissance up Alatna River ....................................................... 20

Reconnaissance up John River......................................................... 20

Canoe trip from Settles to Point Barrow................................................ 21

Methods of topographic work ............................................................ 24

Previous explorations ..................................................................... 25

Historical sketch...................................................................... 25

Chronologic list of works .._.._.._......................................-......__...__.. 31

Population and conditions ................................................................. 33

On the Koyukuk....................................................................... 33

Natives................................................................... 33

Whites ..'.............................................•.................... 34

. Transportation and means of travel........................... .............. 34

The placers............................................................... 35

On the Arctic coast.............................................-------------.-.-...... 35

Natives. ............................................................ i..... 35

Whites..................................................:................ 36

Transportation and means of travel.......................................... 37

Table of distances ......................................................................... 37

Geography ................................................................................ 38

Location and general features .......................................................... 38

Mountain province.................................................................... 39

Endicott Mountains ............................................................... 40

General features .............................................................. 40

Ancient plateau feature o£ Endicott Mountains.................................. 42

Drainage ............................---..:---....--------------------.....--. 43

Koyukuk province.........................-----.............------....-..----....--.- 44

General features .............................................................. 44

Drainage .........-..'-....-----,.,.---...............^...................... 45

3
4 CONTENTS.

Geography—Continued. Page.

Arctic slope province .................................................................. 45

Anaktuvuk Plateau ............................................................... 45

Arctic Coastal Plain ............................................................... 46

Drainage ......................................................................... 46

Colville River................................................................. 46

Anaktuvuk River .............................................................. 48

Coast line......................................................................... 48

From Colville Kiver to Point Barrow ....................................... 48

From Point Barrow to Cape Lisburne and beyond........................... 49

Geology.................................................................................. 50

Geological map and sections ........................................................... 50

Outline of geologic history ............................................................. 52

Sedimentary rock formations .......................................................... 55

Paleozoic rocks ........-.............-..........................................'.. 55

Structure..................................................................... 55

Skajit formation (Upper Silurian)................................. ............ 56

Character and occurrence................ ................................. 56

Structure.........-................................'....................... 56

Age...................................................................... 57

Correlation............................................................... 58

Totsen series (Silurian)........................................................ 58

Character and occurrence.................................................. 58

Structure................................................................. 59

Age...................................................................... 59

1 Correlation ............................................................... 59

Stuver series (pre-Devonian)................................'.-................. 60

Character and occurrence.................................................. 60

Structure.........-.-----......--...........-.....-..--.-................. 61

Age •_....................................;................................ 62

Correlation............................................................... 62

Lisburne formation (Devonian) ................................................ 62

Character and occurrence.................................................. 62

Structure................................................................. 64

Age....... .>.............................................................. 64

Correlation............................................................... 65

Distribution ............................................................... 67

Fickett series ................................................................. 67

Character and occurrence.................................................. 67

Structure................................................................. 69

Age.................................:.............-...-..-......... :..... 70

Correlation ............................................................... 71

Mesozoic rocks.................................................................... 72

Corwin series (Jura-Cretaceous)..........................................:.-... 72

Character and occurrence.................................................. 72

Structure. .............................................^......-.----.-.--. 73
CONTENTS. 5

Geology—Continued. Page. 

Sedimentary rock formations—Continued. 

Mesozoic rocks—Continued.

Corwin series (Jura-Cretaceous)—Continued.

Age _....___.;........-.--.--_.-.--.---....-.--....-.-.---......--..-.-.-. 74

Correlation ...;........................................................... 74

Anaktuvuk series (Lower Cretaceous) .......................................... 74

Character and occurrence .................................................. 74

Structure......................-.-.....--..-.;.-.-....-..---.....--...-... 75

Age ...................................................................... 76

Correlation.......:........................................-.....-...-.... 76

Koyukuk series (Lower Cretaceous)............................................ 77

Character and occurrence.. ................................................. 77

Structure .................................................................. 77

Age...........-.......---.-.--. .......................................... 77

Correlation ................................................................ 77

Bergman series (Cretaceous?) ----...------.-.,..-.--..-.-..--.................. 77

Character and occurrence".................................................. 77

Structure..............-....--......-.--..-...----.-..--.................. 78

Age....-..,.-.----..--.-------.-----.-..--.---.-----------..-..---------. 78

Nanushuk series (Upper Cretaceous) .....-..-..__............................__ . 79

Character and occurrence.................................................. 79

Structure..............-............-....................:................ 80

Age...................................................................... 80

Correlation...-.....,------..---------.-.-.---.........-.....-..-......... 80

Tertiary rocks.....-.-......--------------..-------.-.----;------------....-...... 81

Colville series (Oligocene and Pliocene) ........................................ 81

Character and occurrence.................................................. 81

Structure............................................ .................... 82

Lower Colville (Oligocene)................................................. 82

Upper Colville (Pliocene) ................................................. 83

Pleistocene deposits...........-..---.-.------..-.--.-----.-.......-............-.. 84

Glacial deposits and glaciatioii................................................. 84

Ground-ice formation and Kowak clay ......................................... 91

Gubik sand.................................. ................................. 93

Recent mud, muck, ground ice, dune sand, silts, and gravels....-.---..-..-..-_.. 94

Inland region....._....--.---.--.--.---....-_.--_.........;._........._.._.. 94

Coastal region ................................'.............................. 95

From Colville River to Point Barrow..--..-_.-.---.-...-.---_............._ 95

From Point Barrow to Cape Lisburne ...................................... 90

Recent fossils from the Arctic coast............................................ 96

Table of provisional correlations ........................................................ 97

Mineral resources....-...-..-..-...-.--.----------.......--....-.---..-....-.............. 98

General statement ....-.-..---..-.-.-----...-..----..-....----.-.-..--................ 98

Gold...........---.-.-.---.-...---..-.-----.-.--..--..--..-.----------.--.------.--.- 98

Copper...........-----.------- ......- v ---.-..-----..--.....---......-.--..--........- 104
6 ' CONTENTS.

Mineral resources—Continued. Page.

Lead..................'............................................................... 105

Antimony____...._._..__.._-..--..--..--------.------------.....-.......-...._......_ 105

Zones of metalliferous mineralization................................................... 105

In the Totsen scries............................................................... 105

In the Fickett series .......--......---..-....-...-.-.--....--.....-..-............ 106

Coal ............ .................................................................... 106

General statement .......--.-.....--...--..--.....---.--..--.--....----........... 106

Koyukuk region ................................................................... 107

Koyukuk River.___..-_...._.-..._.__-..-._._.-.._..__._...__.._._..__._._.___ 107

John River............. .......................................... .......... 107

Arctic slope ........-...-..-----.-...---.--..-.--.-..---......--......-----.-.--.. 107

Anaktuvuk River...-..-.....--.-...----.-....-.......-..-...-................ 107

Colville River ................................................................ 107

Northwest coast ...........-..---...-..--.--..--..--..-.-......-.........-........ 109

Wainwright Inlet. ....•........................_•............................... 110

Cape Beaufort ................................................................. 110

Thetis and Corwiii mines..--....-..--.-....---......--'......--................ Ill

Area south of Cape Lisburne...._.............................................. 113

Analyses of coal ............---.-...--.. .--.---.-....-........---....--.......... 114

Climatic conditions ...........-..-......--.....---......--.-.--..-..--..--.-..-..-.....-.. 114

Meteorologic record for 1899 ..--..-..-.-........-.-...-----.--...-.-...-.----..-.-..... 114

Meteorologic record for 1901, by W. J. Peters............................................ 122

Meteorologic record for 1885-86, by Lieut. G. M. Stoney.................................. 123

Temperatures in 1901....................-................_.................-........... 125

List of arctic plants collected ..-...-..-'--.--..-.-....-..---.-.------.-.--.--.-.-.------.--. 130

Index....................-........-......--.........-.......---......---.....-----:--.--. 135
ILLUSTRATIONS.

Page. 

PLATE I. Outline map of Alaska, showing areas covered by larger scale maps................. 11

II, Topographic reconnaissance map of northern Alaska .....................^......... 38

III. Geologic reconnaissance map of northern Alaska................................... 40

IV. A, Inland edge of Anaktuvuk Plateau and north base of Endicott Mountains; B, 

Lisburne limestone and Fickett series in Endicott Mountains at head of John 

River __...._....._...._......_...................'............................_ 42

V. Sketch map of Cape Lisburne region, showing coast line and localities of coal deposits. 44

VI. A, Topography of John River Valley in Endicott Mountains, from near south 

edge of Fickett series; B, Glaciated side slopes of John River Valley in Endicott 

Mountains..................................................................... ""46

VII. A and B, Bisected view of Endicott Plateau and Endicott Mountains carved from it.. 46 

VIII. A, B, O, D, Bisected view of Colville Eiver bluffs in Tertiary coastal plain of Colville series•..__._...........-.....-.....-.....--...-.-...-.-..............._... 48

IX. A, Arctic coast and edge of moss-covered- Arctic Coastal Plain; B, Skajit limestone on John River in Endicott Mountains...................................... 50

X. A, North edge of Skajit limestone, dipping north, on John River in Endicott 

Mountains; B, Lisbur'ne limestone and ground moraine, from Cache Lake, near 

Anaktuvuk Pass in Endicott Mountains 1, C, Cape Sabine and undulating plateau; 

D, Cape Halkett, showing ground ice terrane rising 30 feet above tide............. 56

XI. A, Qnartz gash stringer veining in Fickett series on John River in Endicott Moun

tains; B, Structure in Anaktuvuk series on Anaktuvuk River..................... 70

XII. A, Base-level feature in Nanushuk series on Anaktuvuk River; B, Structure and

rapid alternation in bedding in Nanushuk series on Anaktuvuk River ............. 80

XIII. A and B, Structure in Colville series; C, Coal bed and rocks of Corwin series at

Corwin mines.................................................................. 82

XIV. A, Pliocene fossil locality in Colville River bluffs (Colville series); B, Glaciation in

upper John River Valley in Endicott Mountains ................................ 84

XV. A, Ice remnant of John Valley Glacier in Endicott Mountains; B, Timbered terminal moraine resting on Fickett series, on John River ........................... 86

XVI. A, Barrier reef and Eskimo grave on Arctic coast, near Icy Cape; B, Abandoned

Pleistocene flats of Colville River showing mounds and lakelets................... 96

FIG. 1. Sketch section of supposed Paleozoic rocks on the coast south of Cape Lisburne....... 40

2. Diagrammatic profile showing relations of Endicott, Yukon, and Koyukuk plateaus... 44

3. Sketch profile showing structure in Anaktuvuk series on Anaktuvuk Biver, 10 miles

above Willow Creek............................................................. 46

4. Geologic reconnaissance section on the Arctic divide west of Anaktuvuk Pass.......... 51

7
LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL.

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, 

UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL, SURVEY,

Washington, D. C., August 3,1903.

SIR: I have the honor to transmit herewith a manuscript by Mr. F. C. Schrader, 

entitled "A Reconnaissance in Northern Alaska in 1901," and to recommend its publication as a professional paper.

This report is based on an exploration made by Messrs. W. J. Peters and F. C. 

Schrader from Yukon River to the Arctic Ocean during the winter and summer 

of 1901. Besides important geographic results, the investigation is the first to 

throw light on the complex geology of the Rocky Mountain system of northern 

Alaska. Mr. Peters, leader and topographer of the expedition, has contributed 

notes on itinerary, topographic methods, and climate. 

Very respectfully,

ALFRED H. BROOKS, 

Geologist in Charge Division Alaskan Mineral Resources.

t

Hon. CHARLES D. WALCOTT,

Director of United States Geological Survey.
U.S.GEOLOGICAL SURVEY PROFESSIONAL PAPER NO. 20

154° ISO- 134° 13O°" 116°

OUTLINE MAP OF

AI. A S KA

showing area covered by larger scale maps,

Plates II and III. 

. Routes of WJPetersandF.C.Sclrrader, 19O1

ZZZ~Z! Routes of WC-Mendeiihall andD.LJleaburn.19Ol / Sfc ,______ Routes of F.C.Schrader andt G.eerdine,1899 / ,b}J:J

Scale

Cape

SfViurst,

O

A
A RECONNAISSANCE IN NORTHERN ALASKA IN 1901.

By F. C. SCHBADER.

INTRODUCTION.

Since 1898 the United States Geological Survey has been carrying on systematic 

topographic and geologic surveys in Alaska under an appropriation made for the 

investigation of the mineral resources of the Territory. This work has included not 

only areal surveys of regions already being developed by the miner and prospector, 

but also explorations and investigations of regions that are little known or entirely 

unexplored. As a result of these explorations a network of reconnaissance traverses 

has been extended over a large part of Alaska, where route surveys of this character 

must necessarily precede more detailed topographic and geologic mapping. They 

serve to outline the main geographic features of the country and afford the pioneer 

or prospector a guide for his journeys as well as help him to select his field of 

operations. The present report and maps are the results of such an investigation.

Previous to 1901 but two journeys a which yielded any geographic results had 

been made across northern Alaska by white men. The first of these was made l)j 

Lieutenant Howard, U. S. Navy, in 1886, and extended from Kowak Eiver to Point 

Barrow, while the second, made by J. H. Turner, in 1890, followed the one hundred 

and forty-first meridian from the Porcupine. The conditions under which these 

journeys were carried on precluded instrumental work. The present survey must 

therefore be considered the first made with precise instruments from the Yukon to 

the north coast of Alaska. In connection with the traverses made of Chandlar and 

Koyukuk rivers by Mr. T. G. Gerdinc, and of Dall, Alatna, and Kowak rivers by 

Mr. D. L. Reaburn, both of the Geological Survey, it outlines some of the most 

important of the physical features and drainage channels of northern Alaska.

The exploration on which the following.report is based was made by the writer 

during the season of 1901, while attached as geologist to a party in charge of W. J. 

Peters, topographer. The other members of the partj^ were Gaston Philip, topographic assistant; Thomas M. Hunt, George H. Hartman, Charles H. Stuver, Ben

a For references and details see pp. 29 and 33 of this report,

11
12 KECONNAISSANC K IN NOBTHEKN ALASKA IN 1901.

Bennett, and Joe Edge, camp hands, all of whom rendered untiring and efficient 

service and manifested genuine interest in the expedition. Sections prepared by 

Mr. Peters are credited to him in the proper places.

As early as 1896 the Survey considered projects for reaching this unexplored 

field in northern Alaska, but owing to the remoteness of the region and the difficulties of transportation, no plans could be devised which did not involve the wintering 

of a party in this arctic country at great cost and much loss of valuable time. The 

first plans submitted were by Mr. J. E. Spurr, who proposed a traverse from 

the lower Koyukuk to Point Barrow, essentially along the route followed by 

Howard. The probable existence of a passable route 200 miles east of the above, 

between the upper Koyukuk and the Arctic slope, was not learned until 1899. The 

transportation difficulty, however, became less formidable when the discovery of 

gold on the Koyukuk, in the widespread search which attended the Klondike excitement of 1897 and 1898, led to the location of a trading post at Bergman, on Koyukuk 

River, near the Arctic Circle, nearly 500 miles above its mouth, and subsequently to 

annual visits to this post by the steamboats of a reliable company.

In the light of this later information, gained by a visit to the upper Koyukuk in 

1899, the plans of the present expedition were formulated by the writer and submitted to the Director-of the Survey, who approved them, and preparations were 

accordingly begun in the spring of 1900. The writer being otherwise engaged, the 

task of purchasing and assembling' at San Francisco the necessaiy outfit, including 

four months' provisions for eight men, fell to Mr. Alfred H. Brooks, who was aided 

by Mr. R. B. Marshall.

The outfit, including canoes and supplies, was shipped from San Francisco 

through the Alaska Commercial Company early in the spring of 1900 and stored at 

the Bergman post until called for by the Survey party in 1901. From this base it 

was planned to carry the work northward across the Rocky Mountains of northern 

Alaska to the Arctic coast, and to conduct a parallel return traverse, from some other 

point on the coast than that at which it was reached, southward into the Ko3rukuk 

Basin, if conditions should permit. In case the return trip to the Koyukuk should 

be found impracticable the party was to proceed northwestward along the coast and 

seek relief at Point Barrow, where it was hoped it might be picked up by a returning revenue cutter or arctic whaler. In the event, however, that no such vessel 

appeared (as proved to be the case), it was proposed to at once continue southwestward along the coast in native skin boats or by dog sleds, as conditions might 

permit, until some chance vessel along the coast or some mining camp in the Nome 

region should be reached.

As this northern region was practically unsurveyed and much of it was entirely 

unexplored, it was planned to make an instrumental survey along the route of 

travel, which was to traverse the Rocky Mountains stretching across northern
PLANS AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS. 13

Alaska, as already noted. It was believed that by this means, even though the' 

actual survey was of a reconnaissance character and embraced only a narrow 

strip, the general physiographic features of the region would be determined and 

important contributions would be made to geographic and geologic knowledge. It 

was planned to carry on the work in as much detail as the adverse conditions 

would permit. It was believed by the writer that the metamorphic rocks of 

Paleozoic age or older, which are the source of the placer gold in the Koyukuk 

Basin, extended to the west, and probably formed important members of the formations which make up the Rocky Mountains, and hence valuable economic results 

of the investigations were to be expected. In short, the expedition was planned to 

collect information of all kinds relating to the geography, geology, and resources 

of the region; and data bearing on the preparation of the proposed general map a 

of Alaska for public use wore particularly desired.

Owing to the shortness of the Arctic summer it was important that progress 

should be as rapid as possible, regardless of the character of the weather, and as 

much of the energy of the party was expended in contending against the swift 

currents of John and Anaktuvuk rivers, the accompanying report' is necessarily 

incomplete. For want of opportunity to make more extended observations many 

important problems had to be left unsolved. This is especially true with reference 

to the structural relations of the Paleozoic rocks in the northern part of the range, 

and to the relation of these Paleozoics to the Mesozoic rocks forming the Anaktuvuk Plateau or "Great Plains" on the north. The time devoted to actual field 

work in carrying the line from Bergman, on the Arctic Circle, to Pitt Point, on 

the Arctic coast, a distance of 513 miles, was sixty-five days.

For courtesies, information, and material assistance rendered on our long winter 

trip necessary to reach the field of work, thanks are due the Canadian Development 

Company and other leading trading and transportation companies, as well as 

numerous individuals at various points along the route of travel down the 

Yukon, and to the United .States army officers at Eagle. In the Koyukuk region 

the ever hospitable hand of the prospector and miner was generously extended. 

Special thanks are due, also, to the Alaska Commercial Company for the excellent 

condition in which our supplies were delivered and wintered at Bergman, and to 

Mr. Gordon C. Bettles, Pickarts Brothers, and other pioneers, for valuable information concerning the people, geography, routes, trails, resources, and conditions of 

the country.

On the Arctic coast, where the larder and foot gear of the party had become 

reduced to inadequacy, the generosity of the Eskimos, manifested in their gifts of 

fresh fish, the loan of their mukluks, the use of their skin boats for transportation, 

and their aid as guides to Point Barrow, was of material value and too greatly

aTopographic map ol Alaska, compiled by the U. S. Geol. Survey, 1902.
14 RECONNAISSANCE IN NORTHERN ALASKA. IK 1901.

appreciated to pass without notice. Thanks are also due to Mr. Charles Brauer and 

others for hospitality and courtesies received at Cape Smyth, and to Captain Ericson 

for transportation on the steamship Arctic from the Corwin coal mines, near Cape 

Lisburne, to Nome.

The determinations of the fossils collected on the trip and referred to in this 

report were made by Drs. Lester F. Ward, W. H. Dall, T. W. Stanton, George H. 

Grirty, Mr. Charles Schuchert, and Prof. William M. Fontaine, each dealing with the 

fossils from the horizons of which he has special knowledge. The coal analyses and 

mineral tests were made by Messrs. George Steiger and H. N. Stokes in the chemical 

laboratory of the Survey, and the assays for gold and silver by E. E. Burlingame 

" & Co., of Denver, Colo. Fig. 1 (p. 40) and other information bearing on the Cape 

Lisburne region have been generously contributed by Mr. A. G. Maddren.

METHODS OF1 WORK.

Dog sledding.—As the success of the work required the surveyors to reach 

the field before the break-up of winter, and Point Barrow by September 1, the 

party set out from Skagway early in February, and, after proceeding over the Coast 

Range by the White Pass Railway, traveled by dog sled from White Horse 1,200 miles 

down the Yukon to Bergman, which was reached April 10. Traveling by this means 

is known, in the language of the country, as "mushing," and the traveler is called a 

"musher." The "musher" does not ride on the sled, which is used only for carrying the absolutely necessary supplies and luggage, but follows the sled afoot and 

urges the dogs forward, or runs ahead on snowshoes to break a trail where none 

exists, or where, as frequently happens, it has been drifted over. To keep trail 

breaking and friction in travel at a minimum the dogs are all hitched tandem, from 

five to nine in a team. The Survey party used four teams, or about forty dogs in all. 

Their feed, which is given once a day, usually at night, consists of some cereal, rice, 

meal, or flour, cooked with meat, fish, or grease. Rice and bacon, flavored with a 

little dried salmon, is best. It is affirmed by experienced and reliable prospectors 

throughout Alaska that on arduous prospecting trips, where a man is dependent for 

sustenance on the food supply packed on his own back, he, too, can go farther and 

accomplish a greater amount of hard work on rice and bacon than on any other ration.

At the present day two classes of dogs are used for sledding in Alaska—the 

"inside" or native, consisting of Siwash and Malemut, and the "outside," consisting 

of various breeds of imported dogs, principally from the United States. The outside 

dog excels in intelligence and is usually desirable for a leader, but the native dog is 

best for all-round service and for long, hard trips, as he requires loss food and care, 

and having a dense pelt, much like that of the wolf, is less affected by the severity of 

the climate, hardship, and exposure. He is also less liable to become footsore on a 

trail of rough ice and freezing slush.
METHODS OF WORK. 15

In ''mushing," the best progress is made in relatively cool weather, at a temperature 10° or 12° below zero. As the atmosphere warms under the midday sun, 

the dogs, especially the natives, pant and become tired or lazy, and can not be 

urged. On a long trip, under reasonable conditions, 25 miles is a good average 

day's drive." In one instance, where the trail was good, 46 miles were covered 

by the Survey.party in a single day. The mail carriers on the lower Yukon are 

known in exceptional instances to have made as high as 60 miles, the record for 

the Yukon country.

Camping.—During the last two years, sled journeys on the upper Yukon have 

been rendered less arduous by the so-called road houses, which are located at points 

a fair day's drive apart, and which consist usually of a log cabin and a dog kennel. 

Though the accommodations are of the crudest order, these places facilitate progress 

by affording the weary traveler much-needed shelter and rest, and by lessening the 

amount of outfit and supplies he is compelled to transport on a long journey. The 

rates charged by these road houses average about 11.50 a meal.

Where there are no road houses, as was the case beyond Fort Yukon, the traveler 

at the end of the day's drive selects his camp spot for the night, and, unless provided 

with tent and stove, digs a hole through three or four feet of snow to the 

ground for a fireplace. As a shovel is rarely carried, the snow is scooped out with 

an axe and snowshoes. In sleeping on the snow and ice, spruce boughs, where 

available, form a desirable mattress. A light-weight tent, provided with broad 

bottom flaps and a closable entrance, besides affording protection from storm and 

cold, is useful in keeping the dogs from lying on one's bedding or person, as they are 

wont to do on a cold night. A light-weight sheet-iron stove, suited for cooking 

inside the tent, is very desirable, but not indispensable, as an outdoor fire is usually 

required lo cook the dog feed.

Chronologic'summary of operations.—After doing some triangulation and topographic work in the Koyukuk Valley, principally between the Arctic Circle and the 

sixty-seventh parallel, the party waited at Bergman for the disappearance of the 

snow and ice—the "break-up," as it is called; for the sheet of soft snow or slush, 

several foet in thickness, which everywhere overspreads the country during the thaw 

period of spring renders travel of every kind at that time impossible. Owing to the 

heavy snowfall of the previous winter and the lateness of the spring, the break-up 

period of 1901 was of unusual length, extending from the middle of May to June 6, 

about twenty-five days. During this time some astronomic observations and other 

investigations of a local nature were made.

Except its arching feature, the breaking up of the ice on the Koyukuk, as 

observed lay the writer at Bergman, differed but little from that seen on most 

of the large rivers in northern United States. As the stream beneath the ice 

became swollen and distended its ever-increasing hydrostatic pressure gradually
16 RECONNAISSANCE IN NORTHERN ALASKA IN 1901.

bulged or raised the formerly level ice floor along the middle part of the river 

into a low arch, whose crown, by May ,26, stood about 5 feet above its edges 

or pedal extremities, which were still frozen fast to the shores. In the meantime the excess water, increased by surface drainage due to thaw, unable to find 

passage beneath the ice, formed broad overflow streams, several feet in depth, 

coursing on the surface of the ice that' formed the limbs of the.arch on either 

side between the crown and the shore. These conditions increased until the 29th, 

when, at 2.30 p. in., the ice, now visible in the middle of the river only along 

the crown of the arch, broke or parted transversely and almost bodily moved 

one-eighth of a mile downstream, when it was stopped by a jam; but at 6.30 it again 

started and moved about a mile. Soon after this, with increased rise of the river, 

a general breaking up of the ice took place, and it continued to run more or less 

steadily until June 6, when the river cleared of it and became navigable. So^far 

as observed, the ice rarely exceeded 2i feet in thickness, this comparative thinness being probably due to the protecting heavy mantle of snow. Permanent ice 

usually forms on the river by October 10.

Stoney 8 has described a break-up witnessed by him at Fort Cosmos, on 

Kowak River, which was probably in most respects similar to that on the Koyukuk just described. In Stoney's description occurs the statement that "the ice 

suddenly became covered with water, increasing in depth on both sides of the river 

and decreasing toward the middle." As no reason appears to be assigned for the 

otherwise peculiar increase of water at the sides and its decrease toward the middle, 

the writer infers that this phenomenon was. due to the ice-arch feature, which 

seems not to have been recognized by the observer at the time.

The arching feature of the ice, which seems to bo characteristic in the breaking 

up of Arctic rivers and does not attend those in temperate zones—granting a rise 

in the water at the head of the rivers in both zones—is ascribed by the writer 

primarily to the presence of permanent subterranean frost, in whoso icy grasp 

the edges and lateral portions of the ice become so firmly welded and held to the 

frozen earth along shore and the shallow riparian portions of the river bed that 

it is not released until thawed from the surface downward by almost midsummer 

suns. In temperate climates, on the contrary, where perennial underground frost 

does not exist, the longshore ice is the first to give way, and is often replaced 

by open-water leeways due to the warming and thawing influence of the underground temperature soon after the climax of winter is past.

After the break-up the party proceeded by river steamboat 80 miles up the Koyukuk to Bettles, a new supply post near the sixty-seventh parallel. From this point, 

commencing June 13, after doing a day's work on Lookout Mountain, the work 

was continued northward 125 miles, with Peterborough canoes, up a large tributary

agtoney, Liout. George M., Naval Explorations in Alaska, U. S. Naval Institute, Annapolis, Md., 1900, p. 52.
SUMMARY OF OPERATIONS. 17

of the Koyukuk, John Rivcr,s to its headwaters, thence-by a 5-mile portage via 

Anaktuvuk Pass through the mountains to the upper waters of Anaktuvuk River, 

the large east fork of the Colville, which flows .northward to the Arctic coast. 

These rivers were descended by canoe and the coast was reached August 15. The 

ice on the Colville is reported to have broken up July 16.

After mapping a considerable portion of the Colville delta, the work was continued by canoe 100 miles northwestward along the coast to Smith Bay. Here, 

owing to the lateness of the season, the stormy weather, and heavy surf incident 

thereto, the plane-table work was dropped and the journey was continued with 

Eskimos, who, traveling in :walrus-skin boats of native make, were encountered on 

the journey to Point Barrow. These skin boats were found to be more seaworthy 

and to sail better than our Peterborough canoes.

September 3 Point Barrow was reached, where it was hoped' that passage to the 

States might be procured on a vessel of the United States Revenue-Marine Service 

or some whaler; but when it was learned that all such vessels had gone, and that the 

ice on the ocean was expected to close within a week (September 10 being the 

usual date), supplies and an open whaleboat were hastily procured and the party 

proceeded southwestward along the coast, hoping to make connection with a. whaler 

several hundred miles farther south, at Point Hope, where one was expected to touch 

to leave her native crew. By exceptional good fortune, however, on September 18, 

at the Corwin coal fields, 80 miles above Point Hope, the steamer Arctic was met. 

which carried the party to Nome, where it landed on September 26. From here 

passage to Seattle was readily obtained on one of the numerous Alaskan steamers.

Metliods of scientific work.—As the Koyukuk did not break up until June, and 

the expedition, to be successful, was obliged to reach Point Barrow early in September, the season of work was necessarily limited to a period of less than three 

months, during which 500 miles had to be traveled. Since it was impossible to make 

more than from 3 to 7 miles a day up the swift waters of John River—and to accomplish even this required the united efforts of the entire party—it became necessary 

to make almost daily advances, and therefore many mountains could not be climbed 

that might have afforded more extensive opportunity for observation.

The topographic work was carried on by a combination of the plane table, 

triangulation, and tachomctry, of which an account is given by Mr. Peters on pages 

24-25. An independent traverse was carried on by the geologist by means of compass 

and aneroid to serve as an immediate base for locations in-the geologic notes. In this 

traverse the distances were paced or estimated, and the work was daily connected 

with the more accurate surveys of the topographer, while from the topographic 

stations and other established points panoramic photographs with recorded bearings

a Named for John Bremner, pioneer prospector and explorer, who was killed and robbed by a native in the Koynkuk 

region in 1888. Its native name is Alchichna, meaning wind river, so named on account of the fierce wintry blasts that 

sweep down it from the Arctic side of the divide, through Anaktuvuk Pass. See also note on p. 58.

189—No. 20—04——2
18 RECONNAISSANCE IN NORTHERN ALASKA IN 1901.

were usually taken to show the character and relations of surrounding rock masses 

and to supplement topographic sketches.

So far as possible the geologic section was continuously examined, and, where 

conditions permitted, detailed sketches and diagrammatic notes were made of 

contacts, structures, mineral zones, and other important features.

ITINERARY AND TOPOGRAPHIC METHODS.

By W. J. PETERS.

Following is an extract from the letter of instructions from the Director of the 

Survey:

PLAN OF OPERATIONS.

"The object of the expedition under your charge is to execute a reconnaissance 

survey from Bergmaii to the Arctic Ocean. The advance will be made by ascending 

some tributary of the Koyukuk to the divide against which head streams' flowing 

northward to the Arctic Ocean, and thence down such a stream to the Arctic. The 

return trip will be preferably over-land over a route east of that traversed in reaching 

the Arctic, so as to obtain as much information relating to the interior as possible. 

If the main branch of the Colville is not descended, however, in going northward, it 

will probably be advantageous to return along its course. If time or other circumstances do not permit of the overland return, the most practicable alternative route 

will probably be along the shore via Point Barrow, until the party may be picked up 

by a vessel of the Revenue-Cutter Service or a steam whaler cruising in the Arctic. 

If relief should not be obtained from the above sources, the journey should be continued southward until a vessel becomes available or the mining camps arc reached.

"As the territory to be traversed is so entirely unknown, you are especially 

instructed to secure all topographic and geographic information that can possibly 

be obtained. Sights to all mountain peaks should be taken, distances estimated if 

intersections are not practicable, and sketches made. In short, no opportunity 

should be neglected for locating, however approximately, all features that can bo 

seen, especially in view of the fact that it is proposed to prepare a general map of 

Alaska on the scale of about 40 miles to the inch, and that your party will probably 

be the only one that will penetrate this region on a geographic mission for many years.

"You are further instructed to afford every facility to the geologist accompanying the party for the prosecution of his special work, and to consult with him 

in regard to all important emergencies."

In accordance with the above instructions I left Seattle February 9 on the steamer 

Victorian, accompanied by three men—Gaston Philip, assistant, Tom Hunt, arid 

Charles Stuver. It had been arranged that the rest of the party, under Mr. Schrader, 

should join us at Bergman before the thawing of the ice and snow. We - arrived at 

Skagway" February 15, where we were obliged to wait three days on account of 

the snow blockade on the White Pass and Yukon Railway.

«I wish here to make acknowledgment of the courteous treatment shown us by Mr. E. S. Bushy, supervising officer 

Canadian customs, on presentation of the letter of Mr. John McDougald, commissioner of customs (Canadian), furnished 

me through the Director of the Geological Survey.
. ITIWEBABY. 19 

WHITE HORSE TO BERGMAN.

We left Skagway on February 18 and arrived the following day at White Horse, 

the terminus of the railway. We found the thermometer at 55° below zero, but it 

rose 30° before we started on our march. On February 21 we left White Horse with 

335 pounds, principally instruments and personal baggage, on each of two sleds. 

The first marches were made very short to avoid the lameness which results from 

the vigorous exercise of untrained muscles.

Fifty-three road houses are distributed along the 369 miles of trail extending from 

White Horse to Dawson. This stretch of trail was broad and hard packed by 

pedestrian, dog, and horse. Considerable heavy freighting was being carried on by 

horse sled. Below Dawson the trail was narrow, in deep snow, and no wider than a 

dog sled. From Dawson to Eagle, a distance of 106 miles, there are but four stopping places, while farther down the Yukon they are even less frequent and usually 

not so well supplied, owing to their remoteness and to the scarcity of patrons. It is 

240 miles by winter trail from Eagle to Fort Yukon, and along this stretch are scattered 12 road houses. During the last portion of the journey, from Fort Yukon to 

Bettles, a distance of 330 miles, there are no cabins, and we were dependent on our 

own resources. The trail followed there had been made by some parties that preceded 

us a few weeks, but owing to subsequent snowfalls it was frequently obliterated. 

This trail followed Chandlar River to Granite Creek and extended up that stream 

about 20 miles. It then led directly over the summit, crossed the South Fork of the 

Koyukuk, again ascended a divide, and finally descended into Slate Creek, another 

tributary of Koyukuk River. From Slate Creek to Bergman there had been much 

travel by prospectors sledding their summer's supplies up from Bergman.

The whole party stood the low temperature and arduous travel without bad 

effects. Only woolen garments were worn, which were found to give ample protection while on the march. Wolf robes, one to each man, afforded a warm sleep. 

Our principal discomfort was due to wet feet. Probably the best footwear for wet 

snow and overflowing streams are mukluks, or the native boots made on the coast.

Spruce timber was found on all the river bottoms and extending up the tributaries and gulches. Two short stretches, one on the divide between the Chandlar 

and South Fork of the Koyukuk and the other on the divide between the South Fork 

and the main Koyukuk, are above timber, but both of these were crossed in less 

than one day, so that every night we had firewood and some sheltering spruce, though 

it was small and scattered near the two divides.

Moose tracks were plentiful in the Chandlar Flats, and ptarmigan were occasionally found along the trail, but no other game was seen.
20 RECONNAISSANCE IN NORTHERN ALASKA IN 1901.

We arrived at Bettles April 14, and were hospitably eared for by Mr. Turner, 

the agent at this post. The following day we proceeded to Bergman to examine our 

supplies, which had been sent in the previous season, and found them intact.

RECONNAISSANCE UP ALATNA RIVER.

The party was now divided into two parts for the purpose of reconnoitering a 

route through the mountains to the Colville waters. Mr. Philip was placed in charge 

of one of these, and, employing a native guide, ascended Alatna River a about 90 miles, 

to its eastern branch—the Kutuark. On May 5, his provisions becoming exhausted 

and the increased flow of water betokening a break-up, he turned back, after climbing 

a mountain near the mouth of the Kutuark, from which the head of this stream 

appeared to be completely surrounded by high mountains. The northern limit of 

timber appeared a few miles above the confluence of the streams. Up the western 

branch the timber extended as far as the valley floor could be seen.

Returning, Mr. Philip reached Bergman May 10. On this trip a few natives on 

their winter hunt for caribou were encountered.

RECONNAISSANCE UP JOHN RIVER.

On April 23, with the remainder of the party and a native, I started up John River. 

The first day's march was over the lowlands and directly toward a gap in the mountains. This direct course avoided many large bends in the river, and by night we 

camped close to the foot of the mountains, having made 16 miles. April 24 we 

entered the mountains, which rose from 3,000 to 4,000 feet above the valley, and 

traveled over the frozen stream, with but few cut-offs. On this trip we overtook a 

native woman, whose four previous camps we had passed. She was subsisting on 

rabbits that she caught with primitive traps. Camp was made after a march of 

10 miles. On April 25 overflows were frequently encountered in the morning, but 

in the afternoon we were again in deep snow, which was soft, and necessitated the 

breaking of a trail. This was very tedious work, as the trail had to be traveled 

several times by all of the party and tramped down with snow shoes before it would 

support the sled. Sixteen miles were made in this day's march. Natives were seen 

in the afternoon. On April 26 we were traveling in soft, deep snow, and after going 

10 miles were glad to end the weary tramp. On April 27 more natives were seen, 

who gave us the welcome information that little snow was ahead of us, and but little 

further on was the bare ice of the frozen stream. Jn the afternoon another camp of 

natives was found, and shortly after we ran onto bare ice, which was a great relief 

to man and dog. The day's march was 17 miles. On April 28 the traveling was on 

bare ice. 'Early in the morning we reached timber line and took on a supply of fire-

<i Called Alien River by Mendenhall in Prof. Paper 0. S. Geol. Survey No. 10, 1902.
ITTNEEAKY. 21

wood. Grass could be seen protruding through the snow. Wind drifts and marks 

in the snow indicated very strong wind storms; indeed, we had been warned by the 

natives last met to go into camp if a blow from the north came on. The pass was visible at the end of a march of 20 miles. I left camp standing and proceeded to explore 

the pass, which appeared to be short and easily passable. It was impossible to estimate correctly the length of portage for the canoes on account of the frozen conditions. On April 30, being satisfied that the mountains could be crossed through this 

pass, which I called Anaktuvuk, from the northward-flowing river that it leads to, 

we started on the return to Bergman, which, with our now lightened sled, we reached 

on the morning of May 3. During our absence Mr. Schrader had arrived with 

the rest of the party, according to the original plan. He had found the trail again 

covered with snow, and to make better progress had thrown away tent, stove, and 

other articles.

On the reconnaissance up John Rivei', about thirty natives—men, women, 

and children—were counted. It is their custom-to ascend the tributaries of the 

Koyukuk in winter to hunt. Caribou is their principal source of food. They never 

go beyond timber line, and it is very seldom that natives of the north coast come as 

far south. When the waters run they build rafts and float down, bringing skins to 

Bergman for trade.

It was now too late to move the cache of provisions with sleds, for the snow was 

fast becoming.soft and the streams were beginning to run. We therefore proceeded 

to Bergman to await the breaking up of Koyukuk Elver, and spent the remaining 

time in starting plane-table work in that vicinity. A base was measured on the river, 

and four points had been occupied with plane table, when travel became impossible.

At Bergrnan there were three white men. and but one of these, Mr. Powers, the 

agent, was there permanently. Not more, than half a dozen natives live near the 

trading post. Mr. Powers succeeded in keeping a horse all winter, feeding him 

oatmeal and hay, made from a coarse native grass. Several horses were also wintered 

at Settles.

The cost of travel from Seattle to Bergman, via Skagway,-during the winter, is 

about $800 per man. The cost of freight from San Francisco to Bergman, by ocean 

and river steamers, was $150 per ton.

CANOE TRIP FROM SETTLES TO POINT BARROW.

On May 29 the river ice broke, but jammed again in a few minutes. It alternately 

moved and jammed until June 6, when the river became practically clear of ice. On 

June 8 the river steamer Luella came down from winter quarters and carried the 

party and outfit up again to Bettles. Preparations were immediately begun for 

ascending John River, and Lookout Mountain was occupied with the plane table.
22 RECONNAISSANCE IN NOETHEBN ALASKA IN 1903.

A horse was hired, to be used later in packing across the divide, and T. M. Hunt 

was instructed to provide himself with ten days' provisions and proceed up the valley 

of John Eiver to good grazing, there to await the arrival of the party, which would 

work up the river in canoes. The canoes started June 13, when the water was high 

and very swift. Progress was best made by reaching out from the bow of the canoe, 

clinging and hauling on projecting bough branches and snags (which is known as 

"milking the brush"), and aiding the advance by the judicious use of a pole from 

the stern. High water gradually decreased until June 27, from which time on poling 

and tracking were more advantageous. Working canoes up this stream necessitated 

constant wading in the water at a temperature of about 50°. No ill effects, however, 

were observed in any of the party. Snow had by this time disappeared, except on 

some of the highest mountains. Occasional stops of one day each were made to 

ascend prominent points to carry on the mapping. The northern limit of spruce was 

passed July 8. Beyond this was a thin growth of willows along the stream and its 

tributaries. On July 9 we passed through a narrow gorge in which the stream was 

very swift and many bowlders occurred. This was one of the most dangerous parts 

of the river, and from this point to the camp of July 15 the river was a constant succession of rapids and dangerous rocks, and should not be descended in boats by any 

one unfamiliar with it. Between camp July 15 and camp July 16 the stream is sluggish. Above the latter point it spreads out, becoming shallow and swift. From 

camp July 17 the outfit was packed over by the men and horse to a small lake which 

empties into the Anaktuvuk, and which 1 have called Cache Lake. Numerous small 

lakes occur in the pass and along the sluggish parts of the stream.

Grayling abound in the lakes and in the pools that occur in the streams. Several 

caribou were shot, and signs of goats were frequent on the mountain tops. Everything having been packed over to Cache Lake, on July 22 mail and reports were 

intrusted to a native, together with the horse, to take back to Bettles.

On July 24 the party started down the Anaktuvuk. About 4 or 5 miles above 

camp July 28 the mountains end and the stream runs through rolling tundra in a 

fairly straight course. The channel frequently spreads out and becomes so shallow 

that wading had to be resorted to in order to lighten the canoes. Many caribou 

were seen, and one was shot. A small grove of balm of gilead, consisting of about 

a dozen trees, was passed August 3. Mosquitoes, which had been extremely annoying since June 14, had practically disappeared. Eedtop grass was seen growing in 

many places, particularly at camp August 5. Between camp August 6 and the 

mouth of the Anaktuvuk willows became thicker, and some were several inches 

in diameter. Among these were scattered a dozen or two balm of gilead, which, 

growing to a height of about 30 feet, look gigantic in the absence of other timber. 

The stream flows through a country that is almost flat, covered with moss, and dottedwith small lakes.
CANOE TRIP FROM BETTLES TO POINT- BARBOW. 23

From the camp of August 8 the bluffs of the Colville were seen, and on August 9 

we ran into that river, which, at the confluence of the Anaktuvuk, is 12 feet deep 

and about 800 feet wide, with a current running 4 miles an hour. High-water 

marks were 10 feet above the stage of August 9. The water was fairly clear, but 

increased in turbidity as we floated down. I believe this turbidity is due to the wash 

from the bluffs, from which muddy little rivulets continually drip with the thawing 

of ice. Five miles below the mouth of the Anaktuvuk a short stretch of rapid water 

(6 miles an hour) occurs, in which bottom was touched at 21 feet in midstream. 

Though it is possible that deeper water might have been found, I doubt if it would 

have been more than 4 feet at that stage. Between the rapids, shown on the map 

accompanying this report, the current was not over 2 miles an hour, and in them it 

was not greater than 6 miles. The rapids shown are all very gentle, and average not 

more than 100 yards in length. Four feet of water was the minimum found over all 

of these swift places, except the one opposite Sentinel Hill,a where the depth was 

not over 3 feet. At high water, which probably occurs in June, all of these small 

rapids would disappear. Grood grass was found on " Coal" Bluffs.

At Sentinel Hill the Colville divides and thence flows in two or more channels. 

The one nearest the bluffs on the western side of the valley is the deepest. Twentyfour miles below Sentinel Hill the end of the bluffs is reached, and the river, containing four islands, runs in one channel through a flat whose surface is 10 to 15 feet 

above sea level. The river gradually widens from 1,100 feet at the end of the bluff 

to 5,000 feet at the head of the delta. The head of the delta, where a very small 

tide is perceptible, was reached August 13. The main channel has a course N. 30° E. 

magnetic, and is the one farthest to the right, or the most easterly one. There was 

not sufficient time to follow this to the sea. It is over 12 feet deep at the head of 

the delta and apparently continues unbroken to the ocean. This is the only one that 

would be navigable for river steamers. In the endeavor to find the native village of 

Nigaluk, several channels were explored and the delta was roughly mapped, but it 

being evident that we had passed the westernmost or left-hand channel, on which 

Nigaluk is probably located, and not having time to return, we put out to sea. I 

estimated the delta to be about 20 miles wide.

Tracks of caribou were numerous on the delta, and later I learned that caribou 

frequent the coast to avoid the clouds of mosquitoes in the interior. On August 18 

wo left the delta and its mud flats and followed the coast, which varies from a low 

beach to ice bluffs 10 to 20 feet high. A camp of natives was seen on the delta, but 

little information could be obtained from them. They appeared friendly, but were 

not communicative. On August 20 these natives overtook us, followed by about a 

dozen umiaks, each containing from three to six persons—men, women, and children— 

on their way to Point Barrow. As they appeared to weather seas that we dared not

<* An isolated hill, so named on account of being a prominent landmark.
24 RECONNAISSANCE TN NOKTHEKN ALASKA IN 1901.

attempt in our canoes, and as our time, was getting short and storms were brewing, 

I decided to induce these natives to take us in their boats;

Along' the coast we were dependent for firewood on the ocean drift. This is 

abundant in places, but at several camps there was barely sufficient for our need. 

It does not compare in quantity with that found on the southern coast of Seward 

Peninsula. Among the logs, which were principally spruce, were noticed a redwood 

and one or two pines. Drinking water is to be had almost everywhere along the 

coast, even on the small islands, provided they are covered with moss. It is, however, often brackish.

After losing several days by storms, we arrived at Point Barrow on the evening 

of September 3, and at Cape Smyth about midnight. Mr. Brauer, agent of the 

whaling station here, gave us a warm welcome. A steam whaler had left a day or 

two before, and as no more vessels were expected to pass the point, ho supplied us 

with a whaleboat with which to sail to Cape Hope, where he thought we would likely 

catch a vessel bound home. We started on September 5, as there was danger of the 

ice pack being driven in if the wind shifted to the northwest or north.

The coast from Cape Sniyth to Cape Beaufort is very low, with a sandy beach, 

back of which bluffs rise rarely to a height of 75 feet. No high land could be 

discerned in the interior. Except when prevented by the storms of September 6, 9, 

11, 12, and 13, we were constantly working toward Cape Hope, sailing, rowing, 

or towing.

In the afternoon of September 18 we sighted the funnel and masts of a steamer 

lying off the coal veins east of Cape Lisburne, and about dark, there being a perfect 

calm, this steamer, which proved to be the Arctic, was boarded. She was taking on 

a load of coal for Nome, and on the night of September 21 she steamed away, arriving at Nome September 26. Here one of the regular steamers was taken for Seattle, 

whore the party was disbanded.

METHODS OF TOPOGRAPHIC WORK.

At intervals of about 10 miles prominent points adjacent to the river were ascended 

for topographic sketching on the plane table. Two signals, usually stone cairns 

about 6 or 7 feet high, were left on each of these points to mark the ends of the base 

which .was to be used in determining the distance to the next station. This next 

station was usually selected first, so that the base might be laid off at right angles to 

a line joining the two stations, or as nearly so as the shape of the summit would 

permit. The direction of the base was always projected on the plane-table sheet to 

permit of the measurement of the angle between it and a line to any other station 

that might be occupied. The length of the base was from 300 to 600 feet, and was 

chosen with regard to the estimated distance and direction of the next station so as to
PREVIOUS EXPLORATIONS. 25

subtend an angle of about 22 minutes, which was measured with the micrometer 

screw of the alidade.

Between stations a traverse of the river was made with prismatic compass and 

stenometer. The plat of the traverse was transferred to the plane-table sheet 

and fitted to the located points. The orientation of the plane table was controlled 

by the azimuths, determined with the theodolite when necessary.

The method of plane-table locations was followed from Bergman to a point 20 

miles beyond the summit, and, judging from intersections on points on cither side of 

the route, it was satisfactory and sufficiently accurate for the publication scale of the 

accompanying exploration map. The compass and stenometer were used from a 

point 20 miles beyond the summit to the end of the traverse, on the Arctic coast.

PREVIOUS EXPLORATIONS.

HISTORICAL SKETCH.

Soon after the discovery of America interest was awakened in, and attempts began 

to be made to find, a northwest passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean, and 

these led directly or indirectly to explorations of Alaska and adjacent regions. The 

discovery of the northwestern side of America, and especially of the Arctic coast 

of Alaska, was preeminently the work of the English and the Russians.

For the benefit of the reader who may desire to extend his knowledge on this subject, a list of works from which much of the information here compiled has been 

drawn is given at the end of this chapter. Though the following sketch aims to 

note the more important of these discoveries and explorations, it does not attempt 

to be exhaustive.

Samuel Hearne," of the Hudson Bay Company, reached the Arctic Ocean as early 

as 1770 by way of Coppermine River, in longitude approximately 110°. His journey was considered as demonstrating the practicability of reaching the coast by this 

route and means of travel, and, what was of much greater importance, the absence of 

any waterway connecting Hudson Bay with the Pacific Ocean.

In 1778 Captain Cook's expedition,* composed of the vessels Resolution and Discovety, in search of the northeast passage, explored the northwest coast from Norton 

Sound to latitude 70° 41', a little north of Icy Cape, where they were obliged by the 

ice pack to turn back. The conclusion reached at this time (and the correct one it 

afterwards proved to be) was that no passage existed south of latitude 65°, and that 

it must be sought north of Icy Cape.

In 1789 Sir Alexander Mackenzie, a member of the Northwest Trading Company, descended-to the mouth of the great river which bears his name. In its delta he

nHearne, Samuel, A Journey from Hudson's Bay to the Northern Ocean, Dublin, 1796, p, 162. See also Barrow!s 

Arctic Regions, p. 300.

•&Cook.'s Voyage to the Pacific Ocean, 3 vols.. London, 1785, vol. 24 pp. 446-465.
26 KECONNAISSANCE IN NORTHERN ALASKA IN 1901.

located Whale Island, so named by him from the large number of white whales 

observed at this point. He also made observations on the tide of the Arctic Ocean. 

His descriptions and locations of channels were later found by Sir John Franklin, to 

be very complete and accurate. ^ •

In the year 1815 Lieutenant von Kotzebus,B of the Russian Navy, penetrated 

Bering Strait and explored the sound which bears his name, together with the northwest region as far north as Cape Lisburne. After this time we have no record of 

this part of the coast until the voyage of Captain Beechey, who explored the larger 

part of the entire Arctic coast in the years 1825-1828.

In 1826, under the auspices of the Earl of Bathurst, Sir John Franklin descended 

the Mackenzie to its mouth and surveyed the coast line to the west as far as Keturn 

Beef, near longitude 149° W. Acting in conjunction with Franklin, Captain Beechey, 

of the Blossom, had entered Bering Strait and sent a boat expedition in charge of 

Master Thomas Elson, which in the same year explored the coast as far north as 

Point Barrow, the north westernmost point of the American continent.* The exploration of the intervening distance, consisting of 160 miles of coast line, between the 

points reached by Beechey and Franklin on the west and east, respectively, was subsequently completed, and the north coast of the continent was outlined about ten 

years later, in 1837, by Dease and Simpson, by whom many of the natural features 

along this section of the coast were named.

In his westward advance beyond the mouth of the Mackenzie, Franklin was the 

first to round the great chain of the northern Rocky Mountains, consisting here, as 

he perceived from the coast, of several parallel ranges. These are the Richardson, 

Buckland, British, Romanzoff, and Franklin mountains. According to Dease and 

Simpson the portion of the Rooky Mountains visible from the coast does not terminate, as conjectured by Franklin, in the Romanzoff chain, but after a brief interval 

the Romanzoff Mountains are succeeded on the west by another chain, less lofty but 

equally picturesque, which was named by Dease and Simpson the Franklin Mountains. These mountains present a .precipitous front to the coast.

In the days of these earlier discoverers the above-named parallel ranges, rising 

from 2,000 to 3,000 feet, were apparently supposed to be the final termination of the 

Rocky Mountains extending northward from the United States and British Columbia. 

The great extension of the main axis to the west along the sixty-eighth parallel and 

its development into a range nearly 100 miles in breadth and 6,000 feet high were 

unknown. Not until the performance of the work forming the basis of this report 

was a correct idea of this obtained.

At the same time that Franklin was conducting his discoveries westward along 

the coast, a detachment of his party proceeded from the rnouth of the Mackenzie

a Ball, W. H., Alaska and its'Resources, London and Boston, 1870, pp. 329-330.

6 Voyage of Captain Beechey to the Pacific and Behring's Straits, London, 1836. <)
PREVIOUS EXPLORATIONS. 27

eastward, connecting their explorations with those previously made by him near the 

mouth of Copper mine River,

In the meantime, the Russians, having obtained a foothold in Bering Sea and on 

the coast to the south, pushed up the Kwikpak, or lower Yukon, which Malakoff, a a 

creole, explored in 1838 as far north as Nulato, below the mouth of the Koyukuk, 

where he built a small post for the purpose of trading with the natives. In 18i2 

Lieut. A. Zagoskin, of the Russian Imperial Navy, explored the Koyukuk for 50 

miles or more above its mouth, but explorations on the upper Koyukuk were not 

made until some time after much of Yukon River had been ascended and explored.

While the above explorations were being conducted along the coast during the 

first half of the century, in the interior the pioneers of the Hudson Bay Company, 

representing the English, pushed still farther northwestward from their remote outposts on the Mackenzie into regions then unknown, in quest of new fields in 

which to ply their fur trade. Liard and Dease rivers were explored, and in 

18i2 Robert Campbell descended the Pelly to its confluence with the Lewes, where 

Fort Selkirk was subsequently established in 1849. Also in 18i2 J. Bell* crossed 

the divide from the Peel River drainage into that of the Porcupine, and in 18i7 

McMurray descended the Porcupine to its mouth and founded Fort Yukon, on the 

banks of the river of this name, under the Arctic Circle, whence trade was opened 

with the natives. Not until two years later, however, when Campbell descended the 

Yukon from Fort Selkirk, was it learned that the two posts were on the same stream. 

The river was not ascended to this point from the western coast, however, until 1863, 

when the trip was made by Ivan Simonson Lukeen, an employee of the Russian 

American Company, and the Yukon of the English and the Kwikpak of the Russians 

were found to be identical. Not until then was it fully realized that the Yukon 

flowed into Bering Sea instead of northward into the Arctic Ocean by way of the 

Colville, as had been supposed, and as was represented on the maps of our school 

geographies until and even subsequent to that time.

In 18i9 Lieutenant Pullen, of H. M. S. Herald, made a boat voyage from Bering 

Strait to the Mackenzie, and in 1850 the boats of the Plover, starting from Cape Lisburne, reached Bailey Island, in longitude 127°. In 1850-185i Commander Captain 

McClure, of H. M. S. Investigator, proceeded from Bering Strait to Banks Island 

and Lancaster Strait, where the crew finally abandoned the ship in the ice, and by 

walking over the ice to Beechey Island discovered and made the northwest passage. 

Also, in 1850 and 1855, Capt. R. Collinson, of the Enterprise, sailed from Bering 

Strait to near King William Island, in Victoria Strait, whence, being short of coal, 

he retraced his course to Bering Strait. In 1852-53 the Plover, in command of Capp. 104.

«Dall, W. H., Alaska and its Resources, London and Boston, 1870, p. 48.

&Spurr, J. B., Geology o£ the Yukon gold district, Alaska: Eighteenth Ann. Eept. U. S. Geol. Surrey, pt. 3, 1898,

L
28 RECONNAISSANCE IN NORTHERN ALASKA IN 1901.

tain Maguire, wintered at Point Barrow, in Moores Harbor, whence members of the 

expedition made journeys southwestward to Tasiak River and eastward along the 

coast to Return Reef, in longitude 150°, Maguire himself going as far as Smith 

Bay.

In the autumn of 1860 Robert Kennicott, 8 crossing from the Mackenzie, arrived 

at Fort Yukon, and in the spring of 1861 descended the Yukon as far as Small 

Houses.^

In 1865 J. T. Dyer and R. D. Cotter,* in connection with the Western Union 

Telegraph expedition, are reported to have made a very creditable exploration of the 

country between Norton Bay and the mouth of Koyukuk River, on the Yukon.

In 1866 Ketchum and Laberge, explorers for the Western Union Telegraph 

expedition, ascended the Yukon to Fort Yukon with Lukeen, and later, in 1867, continued their investigations up the river as far as Fort Selkirk.

In 1867 Dr. W. H. Dall, at first in connection with the Western Union Telegraph 

expedition and later at his own expense, in descending the Yukon, visited the Koyukuk. Though Dall's work was necessarily of a pioneer character, his contributions 

to our knowledge of the interior of Alaska were very important, as they gave the 

first clue to the geology of the Yukon Basin.

Astronomic observations made at Nulato b}7 Capt. C. W. Raymond, who ascended 

the Yukon in 1869, materially aided in more accurately locating the mouth of the 

Koyukuk, also the position of the upper Koyukuk, which until recently rested 

largely upon the astronomic determinations subsequently made by him in the same 

year at Fort Yukon.

The first whaler is reported to have entered the Arctic Ocean in 1848, and since 

then whaling has there been an important industry.

From 1881 to 1883 a signal service station, in charge of Lieut. P. H. Ray, of 

the United States Army, was maintained at Point Barrow, which was one of the 

polar magnetic stations located by international agreement. The report of this 

expedition and station gives statistics and valuable tables containing results of 

meteorologic, astronomic, magnetic, zoologic, ethnologic, geographic, and some 

marine observations. In making inland explorations, a part of the upper course of 

Meade River was mapped and the Meade River Mountains were discovered.

In 1884 additional valuable information On northwest Alaska, including the 

Kowak River region, was gathered on the cruise of the Corivin, by Capt. M. A. Healey 

and officers of the United States Revenue Service. Their work was subsequently 

continued by various other revenue cutters, some of which have visited the northwest 

coast of Alaska almost every year. Of these visits the most notable is probably that 

of the U. S. revenue cutter JBear, which sent out the winter overland expedition of

nSmithsonian Reports, 1861, pp. 89-40; 1864,'p. 417.

* Dall, W. H,, Alaska and its Resources. London and Boston, 1870, p. 277.
PREVIOUS EXPLORATIONS. 29

Lieutenant Jarvis and Drs. Call and Lopp to Point Barrow, for the relief of the 

.whalers in the Arctic Ocean. These investigations, including the explorations of 

Kowak River, by Lieut. J. C. Cantwell, and of the Noatak, by Asst. Engineer 

S. B. McLanigan, of the Comoin, were continued in 1885.

Jn 1885 Lieut. H. T. Alien, of the United States Army, leaving the Yukon by way 

of the Tozikakat route, reached the Koyukuk near the Arctic Circle and ascended it 

to near the sixty-seventh parallel. In the same year a detachment of Lieutenant 

Stoney's expedition crossed from his camp on the Kowak to the lower Koyukuk by 

way of the Dakli.

During the winter and spring of 1886 further explorations were made on the 

Arctic slope by Lieut. W. C. Howard,* who, on a trip that was productive of 

important results, crossed from Stoney's camp on the Kowak to the head of the 

Colville, Chipp (Ikpikpuk) River, and thence by way of the head of Dease Inlet 

to Point Barrow. Howard's trip showed that a low pass leads through the mountains from the Kowak to the Noatak; that another leads from the Noatak to the 

upper waters of the Colville, and that on the upper Colville in the region of 

longitude 156° W. the mountains are succeeded on the north by au undulating 

country, in which the river has a winding course, with steep banks. Farther northward, down Chipp (Ikpikpuk) River toward the coast, the undulating country is 

reported to give way to a "dead level waste of tundra."

To the east, Mr. R. G. McConnell, of the Canadian geological survey, descended 

the Mackenzie in 1888 on geologic reconnaissance work as far as the mouth .of Peel 

River, near the sixty-eighth parallel, whence he crossed by way of the Porcupine 

to the Yukon.

In 1889 Mr. I. C. Russell, who as geologist accompanied the Alaskan-Northwest 

Territory boundary survey parties sent out by the United States Coast and Geodetic 

Survey, ascended the Yukon from its mouth to its source, and soon after published 

valuable geologic and geographic notes on his observations made along the route.

In 1890 the Arctic coast opposite Herschel Island was visited by Mr. J. H. Turner, of the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey, in connection with the international boundary survey between the Canadian Northwest Territory and Alaska. 

On this trip Mr. Turner made a geographic reconnaissance from the Porcupine 

across the Davidson Range, following the one hundred and forty-first meridian, 

which resulted in a material contribution to our knowledge of the mountains and 

country in this region.

In 1892-1894 Mr. Frank Russell, under the auspices of the Iowa State University, descended the Mackenzie, principally to make ornithologic and ethnologic 

investigations/'

aStoney, Lieut. George M., Naval Kxplorations in Alaska, U. S. Naval Institute, Annapolis,"Md., 1900. 

b Russell, Frank, Explorations in the Far North, published by the University of Iowa, 1898.
30 . RECONNAISSANCE IN NOETHEKN ALASKA IN 1901.

In 1896 extensive geographic and especially geologic contributions were made 

to our knowledge of the Yukon Basin by a United States Geological Survey party 

in charge of Mr. J. E. Spurr, a who descended the river and mapped the gold- and 

coal-producing districts.

Owing to the extended interest taken in Alaska by reason of the Klondike discoveries, during the years 1897 and 1898 the Koyukuk 6 was visited by 1,200 or more 

prospectors, miners, and adventurers, many of whom ascended the river by steamboat nearly to the Arctic Circle. Some of these subsequently explored and prospected various tributaries as far up as latitude 67° 30'. Many spent the winter of 

1898-99 here. During approximately the same period, 1897-98, some of the prospectors who had ascended the Kowak crossed the divide to the northeast and reached 

the Koyukuk by way of the Alatna.

In 1899 a United States Geological Survey party," conducting a reconnaissance 

traverse from Fort Yukon to Nulato, ascended Chandlar River, and, crossing 

from its headwaters, mapped the Koyukuk from near the head of its middle fork, 

near the sixty-eighth parallel, to the mouth of the river at the Yukon.

During the summer of 1900 a party of prospectors crossed the divide between the 

head of the Koyukuk and the Arctic drainage by way of Dietrich River and descended 

the Arctic slope along the one hundred and fiftieth meridian to a point probably a 

little north of the sixty-ninth parallel. From a personal interview with members 

of this party the writer infers that the country is passable by pack train. It is, 

however, mountainous and is reported to contain some glaciers of considerable 

size, but these are probably valley glaciers only. To the east of this the country 

has been traversed by deserters from whaling vessels at Herschel Island, who made 

their way in a destitute condition from the coast to the Yukon by way.of Chandlar River. From accounts given by some of these men in a personal interview, the 

writer obtained the impression that this part of the region is largely a waste of rugged mountains, containing some glaciers, which are probably confined to the heads of 

the valleys.

During the season of 1901 a geologic reconnaissance survey was also made from 

Fort Hamlin, on the Yukon, by way of Dall, Koyukuk, Alatna, and Kowak 

rivers, to Kotzebue Sound by a party in charge of Mr. W. C. Mendeuhall.^

During the years 1901 to 1903 the region lying between the Colville Basin 

and the international boundary was visited, it is reported, by S. J. Marsh and 

T. G. Carter, two prospectors who landed at Camden Bay in the fall of 1901, and,

oSpurr, J. E., Geology of the Yukon gold district, Alaska: Eighteenth Ann. Eept. U. S. Geol. Survey, pt. 3, 1898.

bSchrader, F. C., Preliminary report on a reconnaissance along tho Chandlar and Koyukuk rivers, Alaska: Twentyfirst Ann. Eept. U. S. Geol. Survey; pt. 2, 1900, p. 458.

cOp. cit.

ciMendenhall, W. C., Reconnaissance from Fort Hamlin to Kotzebue Sound, Alaska: Prof. Paper U. S. Geol. Survey 

No. 10, 1902.
CHRONOLOGIC LIST OF WORKS EXAMINED. 31

proceeding inland during the following winter, prospected without success on 

Kugrua Eiver, about 90 miles from the coast, during the summer of 1902, where 

they remained in camp during the next winter, in latitude approximately 69°, 

longitude 146°.

Mr. Marsh reports that this section of the country is barren or timberless, and 

consists largely of tundra swamps and niggerheads, underlain by rocks which he 

regards as a geologically young and nonmineral-bearing limestone formation. The 

country is reported to be plentiful in game, of which caribou, bear, wolves, foxes, 

and ptarmigan are the most important, the latter being very abundant. Kugrua 

River, which flows northward into the Arctic Ocean, is estimated to be about 280 

miles long. Besides the Kugrua, four other rivers of considerable size are reported 

to enter the ocean between the Turner and the Colville.

In the spring of 1903 Mr. Marsh crossed the divide to the south of the Kugrua-, 

where he reports that he found a mineralized zone on the headwaters of Chandlar 

River, which stream he descended to the Yukon.

During the summer of 1903, it is reported, a prospecting party, of which James 

L. Reed and Walter Lucas were members, crossed from the Kowak by way of the 

headwaters of the Noatak and of the Alatna, a tributary of the Koyukuk, to the 

Killik, a tributary of the upper Colville, which they descended to its mouth. The 

Killik is said to transport much floating ice, to be about 100 miles long, and to have 

many rapids in the lower 50 miles of its course. They then explored the Colville 

for a distance of 175 miles below the mouth of the Killik and for 50 miles above it, 

and found this section of the Colville to be 400 to 500 yards wide and navigable, 

with a current of about 6 miles an hour. The topography of this part of the basin 

is reported to be undulating, with low hills, as described by Howard, and the rocks 

to consist of a sandstojie formation in which thick veins of bituminous coal crop out 

along most of the creeks. This coal was burned by the prospectors in their camp 

fires. As no trace of gold was found, the formation is inferred to be probably nonauriferous.

Excepting willows, which occur along the streams, and are often of large size, 

the country is timberless; there is no spruce. Game is present and caribou are 

plentiful.

CHRONOLOGIC LIST OF WORKS EXAMINED.

1784. COOK, JAMES. A voyage to the Pacific Ocean * * * for making discoveries in the northern

hemisphere. 3 vols. Vol. 2. London. 4°. 421, 548, and 556 pp. 

1796. HEAKNE, SAMUEL. A journey from Prince of Wales's fort, in Hudson's Bay, to the Northern

Ocean * * * in the years 1769, 1770, 1771, and 1772. Dublin. 8°. 459 pp., 5 maps,

4 pis. 

1801. MACKENZIE, Sir ALEXANDER. Voyages from Montreal on the River St. Laurence through the

continentof North America to the Frozen and Pacific oceans, in the years 1789 and 1793. 4°.

viii, cxxxii, 412 pp., 3 maps, 1 pi. London.
32 RECONNAISSANCE IN NORTHERN ALASKA IN 1901.

1821. Ko'izEBUE, Lieutenant OTTO VON. A voyage of discovery into the South Sea and Bering

Straits, * * * 1815-1818. 3 vols. Vol. I, pp. 187-240. London. 8°. xvi, 358, 442,

433 pp., 7 maps, 7 pi. 

1828. FRANKLIN, Sir JOHN. Narrative of a second expedition to the shores of the polar sea. in the

years 1825, 1826, and 1827. Philadelphia. 8°. 318 pp., 1 map. 

1831. BEECHEY, F. W. Narrative of the voyage of the Blossom to the Pacific Ocean and Bering

Straits. London. 

1836. BEEUHEY, F. W. Voyage of Captain Beechey to the Pacific and Behring's Straits, 1825-1828.

London. 

1843. SIMPSON, THOMAS. Narrative of the discoveries of the north coast of America effected by the

officers of the Hudson's Bay Company during the years 1836-1839. London. 8°. six, 419

pp., 2 maps. 

1848. MOOEE, Commander T. E. L. General proceedings of Commander T. E. L. Moore, of H. M. S.

Plover, through Bering Straits and toward Mackenzie River, 1848-49. British Blue Books.

London. 

1850. SHIMJNGLAW, JOHN J. Narrative of Arctic discovery from the earliest period up to the present

time. London. 

1854. McCiAiRE, ROBERT. Cruise of the Investigator, by Captain McClure. Blue Books, Accounts, and

papers. Navy. Vol. 42.

1854. British Blue Books. Arctic expeditions, 1854-55. Vol.35. 

1857. AJSMSTHONG, ALEXANDER, M. D., R. N. A personal narrative of the discovery of the northwest

passage. * * * London.. 8°. xxxii, 616 pp., 1 pi., 1 map. 

1861. KENNICOTT, ROBERT. Exploration of the Hudson's Bay territory. In Smithsonian report, 1861,

. pp. 59-60. 8°.

1861. RICHARDSON, Sir JOHN. The polar regions. Edinburgh. 8°. ix, 400 pp., 1 map, 1 pi. 

1864. KIRBY, W. W. A journey to the Youcan, Russian America. In Smithsouiari report, 1861. pp.

416-420. 8°.

1868. DALL, W. H. Explorations in Russian America. American Journal of Science, 2d ser., vol. 45, 

pp. 96-99. 8°.

1869. WHYMPER, FREDERICK. Travel and adventure in the Territory of Alaska. * * * New York. 

8°. xvix, 353 pp., 1 map, 16 pi. German edition: Alaska. Reisen und Erlebnisse in hohen 

Norden. Translated by Dr. Friedrieh Steger. Braunschweig, 1869. 8°. 1 map, 16 pi.

1870. DAM,, WTLLIAM H. Alaska and its resources. London and Boston. 8°. xii, 628 pp., 13 pi.

1871. RAYMOND, Capt. CHARLES W. Report of a reconnaissance of the Yukon River, Alaska Territory, 

July to September, 1869. By Capt. Charles W. Raymond, Corps of Engineers, U. S. Army. 

Senate, Executive documents, No. 12. 42d Congress, 1st session. 8°. 112 pp.

1883. Cruise of the revenue steamer Corwin in Alaska and the northwest Arctic Ocean in 1881. Notes 

and memoranda: Medical and anthropological, botanical, ornithological. Washington. 4°. 

120pp., 13 pi.

1884. HOOPER, Capt. C. L. Report of the cruise of the U. S. revenue steamer Thomas Corwin in the 

Arctic Ocean, 1881. Washington. 4°. 147 pp., 16 pi.

1885. RAY, Lieut. P. H. Report of the international polar expedition to Point Barrow, Alaska, 1881- 

1883. Executive documents, No. 44, House of Representatives, Forty-eighth Congress, 

second session. 4°. 695 pp., 22 pi., 2 maps.

1886. TURNER, L. M. Contributions to the natural history of Alaska. Results of investigations made 

chiefly in the Yukon district and the Aleutian Islands; conducted under the auspices of the 

Signal Service, United States Army, extending from May, 1874, to August, ] 881. Washington, 

4°. 226pp., 26 pi.

1886. BANCROFT, HUBERT HOWE. History of Alaska, 1730-1885. The works of Hubert Howe Bancroft. 

Vol. 33. San Francisco. 8°. 775 pp., 1 map.

1887. HEALEY, Capt. M. A. Report of the cruise of the revenue steamer Corwin in the Arctic Ocean

in the year 1885. Washington. 4°. 102 pp., 42 pi., 3 maps. 

1887. ALLEN, Lieut. HENRY T. Report of an expedition to the Copper, Tanana, and Koyukuk rivers,

in the Territory of Alaska, in the year 1885. Washington. 8°.. 172 pp., 29 pi., 5 maps. 

1889. HEALEY, Capt. M. A. Report of the crnise of the revenue marine steamer Corwin in the Arctic

Ocean in the year 1884. Washington. 4°. 128pp., 40 pi.
POPULATION AND CONDITIONS. 33

1890. McCoNSELL, R. G. Report on an exploration in the Yukon and Mackenzie basins, N. W. T. 

Geological and Natural History Survey of Canada. Report 1888-89. New series 4. Montreal. 8°. 145pp.

1890. RUSSELL, ISRAEL COOK. Notes on the surface geology of Alaska. Geological Society of 

America, Bull. I, pp. 99-162.

1891. RUSSELL, ISRAEL COOK. An expedition to Mount St. Elias, Alaska. National Geographic 

Magazine, vol. 3, pp. 53-204, 12 pi., 7 maps. 8°.

1892. Report of the superintendent of the 0". S. Coast and Geodetic Survey, fiscal year ending June,

1891. Part 1. Division of Alaska, pp. 82-96. Washington. 4°. 

1892. BALL, WILLIAM HEALEY, and HARRIS, GILBERT DENNISON. Correlation papers. Neocene. Bull.

U. S. Geol. Survey No. 84. Washington. 8 C . Alaska, pp. 232-268, 1 map. 

1894. KNOWLTON, F. H. A review of the fossil flora of Alaska, with descriptions of new species.

Proo. U. S. Nat. Mus., vol. 17, pp. 207-240. 1 pi. (No. 998.) Washington. 8°. 

1898. SPURR, J. E. Geology of the Yukon gold district, Alaska. Eighteenth Ann. Rept. U. S. Geol.

Survey, 1896-97, pt. 3. Washington. 8°. pp. 87-392, 8 pi., 14 maps.

1898. RUSSELL, FRANK. Explorations in the far North, Being a report of an expedition under the 

auspices of the University of Iowa during the years 1892, 1893, and 1894. Published by the 

university. 8°. vii, 290 pp., 22 pi., 1 map.

1899. Report of the cruise of the U. S. revenue cutter Bear and the overland expedition for the relief 

of the whalers in the Arctic Ocean from November 27, 1897, to September 13, 1898. Washington. 8°. 144 pp., 60 pi., 1 map.

1900. SCHRADER, FRANK CHARLES. Preliminary report on a reconnaissance along the Chandlar and

Koyuktik rivers, Alaska, in 1899. Twenty-first Ann. Rept. U. S. Geol. Survey, 1899-1900,

pt. 2. Washington. 8°. pp. 441-486, 9 pi., 1 map. 

1900. STONEY, Lieut. GEORGE M., U. S. Navy. Naval explorations in Alaska. U. S. Naval Institute,

Annapolis, Md. viii, 105 pp., 7 pi., 3 maps. 

1902. MENDENHALT/, WALTER CURRAN. Reconnaissance from Fort Hamlin to Kotzebue Sound, Alaska,

by way of Dall, Kanuti, Alien, and Kowak rivers. Prof. Paper U. S. Geol. Survey No. 10.

Washington. 4°. 68 pp., 6 pi., 4 maps.

POPULATION AND CONDITIONS.

ON THE KOYTJKTJK.

Natives.—So far as can bo judged, there are about 100 native inhabitants on the 

upper Koyukuk. The United States census for 1900 places the population of Peavey 

village, near the South Fork of the Koyukuk, at 35. The settlements of the Koyukuk 

natives, each consisting usually of a few cabins and tents, are sparsely scattered along 

the river from below the Arctic Circle to the sixty-seventh parallel of latitude. They 

are generally located at the mouth of some tributary stream, as in the case of Alatna 

River, Pickarts Creek, and Kanuti River. Their village at Bettles, which is larger 

than most others, forms an exception to the above rule, and exemplifies the disposition of the natives to remain near a trading post and the abode of white men.

At the post the natives arc frequently employed by the whites for boating, sledding, 

and other work, for which service they receive provisions and clothing-, which, added 

to what they get of game and fish, make up their living. They take but little interest 

in prospecting or mining. Apart from the partial sustenance they procure at the 

post, their chief source of food and clothing is the wild Alaskan reindeer or caribou, 

bear, salmon, whitefish, rabbits, grouse, and ptarmigan. 

189—-No. 20—04——3
34 RECONNAISSANCE IN NORTHERN ALASKA IN 1901.

The Koyukuk country is also visited by the Kowak natives from the northwest, 

a more hardy and industrious race than the Koyukuks.

Whites.—After the exodus of the thousand or more inexperienced adventurers 

who in the Klondike rush reached the upper Koyukuk in the fall of 1898, wintered 

there, and disappeared from the country almost with the ice when navigation opened 

in the following spring, about a hundred sturdy men, mostly prospectors and miners 

who had arived with the influx the preceding fall, remained. Stimulated by the discovery of placer gold, they continued to prospect and began to mine some during the 

summer and engaged to some extent in development work during the following 

winter. In the meantime, especially in the months of February and March, 1900, as 

the reports of the presence of gold became authenticated, many people from various 

camps along the Yukon were attracted thither. This materially increased the mining 

activity of the district, which in a general way has continued to the present time; so 

that in 1901-2 about 200 white people, mostly miners and prospectors, wintered 

there, and at present 0 (1903-4) they number about 350, the most of whom are prospecting or doing development work about the mines. Besides the people who winter 

there, many others reside there during the summer only, while working their claims. 

Since the discovery of gold the wage for the district has been f!2 a day. Ground 

that will not yield, this amount or more is not worked. Board is f 6 a day.

Transportation and means of travel.—Since 1900 there have been two supply 

posts* in the country, Berginan and Bettles, both operated by the Northern Commercial Company, successor to the well-known Alaska Commercial Company. Of 

these posts, the lower and usually the best stocked is Bergman, at the head of 

steamboat navigation, near the Arctic Circle, and about 450 miles above the mouth 

of Koyukuk lliver. At high water, however, in both spring and fall, steamboats 

ascend with freight to Bettles, near the sixty-seventh parallel, about 80 miles above 

Bergman. From Bettles, which has become, the leading distributing point for the 

country, the supplies are conveyed to the various mining camps, about 75 miles 

farther up the river, by rowboat during the open season, or, preferably, by dog 

sled in the winter. The country is also reached by pack train from the Yukon in 

summer, by way of Chandlar Eivcr from Fort Yukon and by way of Dall Eiver 

from near Fort Hamlin, the distance in each case .being about 150 miles. Pack 

horses have been used to some extent during the last few summers, both for 

packing and for working at the mines, but the heavy snowfall renders the horse unfit 

for winter use. A shorter route than either of the above, leaving the Yukon at a 

point about midway between the Dall and the Chandlar and about 100 miles from 

Coldfoot direct, is now being investigated.

alnformatiori on present (1903) conditions in the district has been contributed by Mr. L, M. Prindlc, a member of the 

Survey, to whom it was recently furnished by miners en route from there to the States. 

ft Besides these, the company keeps a branch post at Coldfoot.
POPULATION AND CONDITIONS. 35

The principal post-office is at Bettles, but mail is also distributed from Bergruan 

and from Coldfoot, at the mouth of Slate Creek. . The judiciary of the district, consisting of United .States commissioner, probate judge, coroner, and recorder, is 

located at Slate Creek, near the center of the mining region. Since early in 1901 

these offices have been held by Judge D. A. Mackenzie, a former citizen of Seattle, 

and one of the pioneers of the Koyukuk country.

The placers.—The gold placers are shallow deposits, well suited for development 

by men of moderate means, who are able and willing to work. No one, however, 

should go to this country intending to mine without taking with him a jTear's supplies, 

commonly known as a "grub stake," or its money equivalent, about $1,000. The 

mining period is confined to about 24 months in summer.

The placers now being worked extend over a large area, but occur chiefly on 

the middle drainages of the Middle and North forks of'Koyukuk River, where they 

embrace a score or more creeks with their tributary gulches, some of which have 

been discovered recently. The gold is coarse. The yield of the district to date, as 

shown on page 102, is about $717,000.

ON THE ARCTIC COAST.

Natives.—With the exception of about a dozen white persons at Cape Smyth, 

near Point Barrow, and some at Point Hope, the bleak Arctic coast of northern 

Alaska is inhabited only by the Eskimo. From the international boundary to Point 

Hope, through a distance of 800 miles, the native population aggregates about 1,500 

persons. Their settlements are far apart. The principal ones are those of Point 

Hope, Cape Smyth, Nuwuk at Point Barrow, Nigaluk at the mouth of the Colville, and 

Barter Island about 150 miles farther east. There is also a settlement at Herschel 

Island, east of the international boundary, and one in the Mackenzie River delta. 

There is yearly communication between all these points. The census of 1900 credits 

Point Hope village with a native population of 314, and the settlement of Cape 

Smyth, probably including Nuwuk,a with a population of 623. That of Nigaluk, at 

the mouth of the Golville, also probably amounts to about 200. There are also smaller 

settlements or single huts at points along the coast, as at Wainwright Inlet and Icy 

Cape, which are occupied in winter but generally vacated in summer.

The principal food supply contributed by the sea is derived from the whale, 

walrus, seal, polar bear, and some small fish. Salmon, herring, smelt, and other 

small fish are found in the inlets and rivers. During the summer season there are 

large numbers of geese and ducks. The principal land quadrupeds are Alaskan 

wild reindeer or caribou, brown and black bear, wolverine, marten, wolf, hare, lynx,

a Nuwuk, meaning In Eskimo " the point," is the name of the native village on Point Barrow proper, while the main 

settlement of the white people, where are the trading post, mission, and post-office Barrow, is 9 miles southwest of Point 

Barrow, at Cape Smyth, to which the name Point Barrow is generally though somewhat incorrectly applied.
36 BECONNAI88ANCE IN NORTHERN ALASKA IN 1901.

fox, beaver, muskrat, and lemming. Of these, the most important for food and 

clothing, and fortunately the most abundant, is the caribou, whose migrations the 

natives follow. Berries and roots are also used for food by the natives.

As the coast region is destitute of timber, affording only a few dwarfed willows 

at distant points along the rivers and inlets, the principal fuel of the natives is driftwood, most of which has been discharged into the ocean by the larger arctic rivers, 

whose headwaters lie in forested regions. This is fairly well distributed along 

the coast, but is not so abundant as often supposed.

The Alaskan Eskimos, so far as seen by the writer, are not the dwarfed race of 

people they are often depicted. The men will probably average nearly 5£ feet in 

height and 150 pounds in weight. They are generally robust, muscular, and active, 

inclining rather to angularity than to corpulence. The face may be described as flat, 

broad, and rounded, with high cheek bones. The eyes are brown or dark and the 

hair is black. As a people they are relatively intelligent and industrious and appear 

to be reasonably honest and moral. They are hospitable, good-humored, and cheerful, 

apparently free from care, and generally patient and tactful in manner. Their feelings have been described as lively but not lasting, and their temper is frequently 

quick but placable. The conjugal and parental affection is strong. Though thankful 

for favors, their gratitude is of short duration.

Owing to its mixture with that of representatives of other races who reach the 

arctic regions, principally on whaling vessels, the blood of the Alaskan Eskimo is 

rapidly losing its purity. Children of pure Eskimo blood are reported to be very few.

Whites.—There are atpresent about a dozen white persons living atPoint Barrow. 

There is a mission school here at present, in charge of Doctor and Mrs. Call. A 

trading post, maintained here by the Cape Srayth Whaling and Trading Company 

for purposes of trade with the natives and whalers, is now in charge of Charles 

Brauer. The keepers of the post engage to some degree in whaling, in which they 

employ the natives. Early in April the whaling parties proceed by dog sled 10 or 

more miles out over the ice to the open sea, where they pursue their calling in open 

skin boats.

Point Barrow is almost annually visited by vessels of the United States Revenue 

Service and by various whaling vessels. Ten of the latter are reported to have called 

there during the summer of 1901. Whaling in this part of the Arctic Ocean has 

been carried on with varying success by several companies during the last half 

century, but is now reported to be on the decline. The pursuit is hazardous, as the 

vessels are often caught in the ice pack.

In 1901 effort was being made by a Japanese to establish a small trading post at 

the mouth of Staines River, near the one hundred and forty-sixth meridian.
TABLE OF DISTANCES. 37

Transportation and means of travel.—Transportation and travel in this barren 

region is principally by native skin boats along the coast and streams during the 

short open summer, and by dog sled over the snow and ice in winter; though the 

north coast Eskimos sometimes make trips into the interior from the mouth of 

Chipp (Ikpikpuk) River southward to the head of Colville, Noatak, and Kowak 

rivers. Their knowledge of the country in general is not definite beyond a distance 

of 40 or 50 miles from the coast.

The native skin boats, or umiaks, are usually made of walrus skin. Being light, 

flat-bottomed, and responsive to sail, they are admirably adapted for use in the 

shallow waters of the deltas and tidal mud flats so characteristic of the Arctic coast, 

and for small craft are very seaworthy.

TABLE OF DISTANCES.

The following table, prepared by Mr. Peters, is here inserted to afford an idea 

of approximate distances along the route of travel.

Distances up John River.

Mouth of John Biver..................................................................... 0

Fool Creek ..............................................................:............... 51

Hunt Fork .............................................................................. 92

Rocky Gorge .............................................................................. 106

Anaktuvuk Pass .......---.--.-.----..-.-..----.-..--.----...-.-----..................... 120

Cache Lake..........-.-....----.--.-.-.-...-....------.--.-...--................. ...... 125

Distances down Anaktuvuk and Colville rivers.

Cache Lake.................................'.........-..................................... 0

Canyon ................................................................................. 43

Small grove Bairn of Grilead............................................................... 54

Ice field..........-....-....---.-.-..-----..-.-..----.-.-....----..................._.... 63

Two native huts ...................................................'.........:........•.... 101. 5

Mouth of Anaktuvuk River;.............................................................. 114

Kapid "...................:.........................................................'.... 117

Rapid o ................................................................................... 119.5

Rapid o ...................--...'.....-................................................... 121

Sentinel Hill ............................................................................ 140

Rapid « .............---.-..--- :...-............:....................................... 143

Rapid* ............................'..................................................... 147

Rapid a .................................................................................. ] 57

Ocean Point............................................................................. 164

Head of delta. ............................................................................ 192.5

Arctic Ocean .............................................................................. 212

aThese rapi 3s are short stretches of the river, running about C or 7 miles an hour, with no rough Water.

\
38 ' RECONNAISSANCE IN NORTHERN ALASKA IN 1901.

Distances along coast from Colville River to Cape Smi/th.

Middle channel of Colville River......--.-...--.........-......_.......___._.._._.________ 0

West channel............................................................................ 17

Cape Halket...............-.........-.......---.....--..-..-..--...._.,......_.......__. 67

Pitt Point ............................................................................... 90

Simpson Cape ....,...............-.....................................'................. 137

Tangent Peak............................................................................ 189

Point Barrow............................................................................ 198

Cape Smyth......................................................................'........ 207

GEOORAPHY.

LOCATION AND GENERAL FEATURES.

The region here considered, as shown on the outline map, PL I, lies in northern 

Alaska, mainly in its middle part. The area covered by the detailed maps (Pis. II 

and III) trends in a nearly northward direction from the sixty-sixth parallel of 

latitude approximately along the one hundred and fifty-second meridian to about the 

seventy-first parallel at the Arctic coast, a distance of about 400 miles. The maps 

are based entirely on observations made during the present exploration along 

Koyukuk, John, Anaktuvuk, and Colville rivers, except that to these have been 

added some notes of observations made by Mr. T. G. Gerdine and the writer in 

the Koyukuk district in 1899.

Geographically the region consists of three well-marked provinces—the mountain or middle, the Koyukuk or southern, and the Arctic slope or northern.

Orographically the mountain range, forming the middle province, is regarded 

as a northwestern continuation of the Rocky Mountain system of the United States, 

which, extending northwestward through Canada nearly to the Arctic Ocean, bends 

abruptly to the west beyond the Arctic Circle and trends nearly westward across 

northern Alaska, forming the great trans-Alaskan watershed between the Yukon 

Basin on the south and the Arctic Ocean on the north. In its northward and finally 

westward course the range forms a prominent feature of the "concentric" orography 

of Alaska, and embraces in its southward-facing curve the great basin of the Yukon 

and the well-known, but not always well-defined, Yukon Plateau.

From its character and relation to the range, it seems probable that the gently 

rolling plain bordering the mountains on the north and sloping gently to the Arctic 

Ocean may be physiographically correlated with the Great Plains in western United 

States, while the basin of the Yukon corresponds to the great Interior Basin of 

the West, lying between the Eocky Mountains and the Coast Range.

In their trend across Alaska the mountains agree with those in the Canadian 

territory adjacent to the east, which extend nearly to Mackenzie River. In the
GEOGBAPHY. 39

region north of the mountains, both in Canadian territory and in Alaska, the valleys 

trend northward toward the Arctic coast, while those on the south trend southwestward toward the Yukon.

Considering the country more in detail, we may note that the line of profile 

extending through the region as a whole, in a north-south direction (see PI. II), 

beginning on the south, at the sixty-sixth parallel, traverses for the first 120 miles of 

its course an undulating country whose low, rounded hills attain elevations of from 

1,000 to 3,000 feet. It then crosses a rugged range of mountains 100 miles wide and 

about 6,000 feet high, whence it descends steeply to the elevation of 2,500 feet at the 

inland edge of a gently northward-sloping plateau or rolling plains country (PI. IV). 

It then traverses this rolling plain for 80 miles, and thence passes for about 80 miles 

through a nearly flat, tundra country or coastal plain to the Arctic coast.

To facilitate description each province will be treated separately,

MOUNTAIN PROVINCE.

The most striking is the middle or mountain province, which, as noted, consists 

of an inland range of rugged mountains trending east and west across the field 

between latitudes 67° 10' and 68° 25', as shown on the topographic map, PL II. 

These mountains here have a width of about 100 miles and an average elevation of 

about 6,000 feet.

It is unfortunate that the term Alaskan has already been applied to a local 

range lying south of the Yukon, as that name would seem to be the most fitting term 

by which to designate this portion of the great Rocky Mountain system, which here 

extends east and west entirely across the northern part of the Territory. That these 

mountains are regarded as a northwestward continuation of the Rocky Mountain 

system has been noted, and the term Rocky Mountains has been broadly applied to 

them on the map.

That portion of the main range lying between the international boundary and 

Mackenzie River has been called the Davidson Mountains, while to the several 

small groups on the north, between the main range and the coast, and extending from 

the one hundred and thirty-eighth to the one hundred and forty-eighth meridians, 

the names Richardson, Buckland, British, Romanzoff, and Franklin have been applied. 

They are all probably more or less closely connected with the main range, from 

the northern side of whose great bend to the southwest between Mackenzie River 

and Colville River they seem to branch. So far as known they trend in a general' 

northwestward direction, but have a somewhat imbricated relationship, each group 

tending to overlap the inland part of the one next to the west. They seem to represent the northward dying out of the range near the Arctic coast. If they are considered a part of the range in the region of the one hundred and forty-seventh
40 RECONNAISSANCE IN NOETHEEN ALASKA IN 1901.

meridian, they give to it a breadth of about 210 miles. In elevation these groups 

lie generally between 2,000 and 4,000 feet, while the height of the 

| main range near the international boundary is from 5,000 to 7,000 

feet. From this point, with but slight if any decrease in elevation, the 

range continues westward to the one hundred and fifty-third meridian, 

beyond which, in the region at the head of Colville and Noatak rivers, 

it diminishes in height, and seems to divide into two parts or ranges. 

Of these, the northern range, continuing westward, terminates in the 

low mountains and abrupt sea cliffs of Paleozoic rocks at Cape 

Lisburne (see PI. V and fig. 1), while the southern forms the divide

a between Noatak and Kowak rivers.

» I .

•S? -in

I ^ ENDICOTT MOUNTAINS.

** GH 

H °J

"<J ° GENEKAL FEATURES.

o

3 It is probably to the range between Noatak and Kowak rivers,

| as seen from Lookout Mountain, on the Koyukuk, that Alien in 1885

£ gave the name Endicott Mountains. Though the name appears on

c Alien's map,0 and is referred to in the text of his report, it is not

| £ known to have come into use or to have appeared on any of the

10 o

I g numerous succeeding Alaskan maps. Alien refers to the mountains

| | of this region as comparatively low, and says the highest are the

I £ Endicott Mountains, between Koyukuk and Kowak rivers, which,

§ extending northward, were supposed to contain the headwaters of

I Colville River. The highest peaks were estimated at 4,000 feet. As *s

o printed on Alien's map, however, the term is given a broader signifi-

§ cance, applying to practically the entire portion of the range embracing

en

=3 the headwaters of the Koyukuk and the sources of the drainage ways

1>

*• m which flow in an opposite direction into the Arctic Ocean, between the 

| ^ one hundred and forty-fifth and one hundred and fifty-fourth meridians. 

^ As the term embraces and seems fittingly to apply to all that part of 

the range considered in this report, it will here be retained, and the 

mountains will be referred to in this report as the Endicott Mountains. 

I Where crossed by the Geological Survey party the range lies

<n

§ between the rolling, hilly country of the Koyukuk Basin on the south 

and a very gently undulating plateau country on the north. On the 

south the rise from the rolling country to the mountains is by foothills, 

but rapid. On the north the mountains break off abruptly, much as 

they do along the edge of the Great Plains in western United States.

aAllen, Lieut. H. T.. Reconnaissance in Alaska, 1885, Washington, Government Printing Office, 1887.
ENDICOTT MOUNTAINS. / 41

Pronounced faulting and uplift are evidenced- by marked deformation of the strata 

and in some places by fault scarps miles in extent.

The comparatively regular southern edge of the range trends approximately east 

and west, in latitude 67° 10', while the northern edge, where it was crossed, in the 

region of Anaktuvuk River, latitude about 68° 25', presents a concave front to the 

north, as shown on the maps (Pis. II and III). This crescentic feature is repeated by 

several low concentric ridges in the Anaktuvuk Plateau to the north. These seem to 

have been formed by a part of the same orographic uplift as the main range, for 

they lie parallel with its front and grow weaker and finally die out northward with 

increase of distance from the seat of maximum uplift.

West of the Anaktuvuk the crescentic front of the range soon gives way to 

a more nearly westward trend, bearing in the direction of Cape Lisburne. To the 

east of the Anaktuvuk, however, the curved front continues in a northeasterly and 

finally north-northeasterly direction, so that in about latitude TO0 and longitude 147° 

it reaches a point within 35 miles of the coast, where it merges with the Franklin 

Mountains, one of the northern groups previously noted. From this point eastward 

to Mackenzie River the northern edge of the mountains continues near the coast.

Along the one hundred and fifty-second meridian the range is somewhat higher 

in the northern than in the southern part, and contains two distinct orographic axes, 

the surface of the northern having an elevation of a little more than 6,000 feet, and 

that of the southern somewhat more than 5,000 feet. Between these axes there is a 

slight depression, where the surface has apparently been somewhat more rapidly 

reduced by erosion in soft rocks. This is notably true on the west side of John 

River, somewhat north of the middle of the range, where in the region of the sixtyeighth parallel and the one hundred and fifty-third meridian the country between the 

head of Hunt Fork, which flows southeastward into John River, and the head of the 

Colville on the northwest, probably does not exceed 5,000 feet in elevation.

The topography of the range varies, depending on the character and structure of 

the rock formations. That of the Fickett series, composed of phyllites, slates, 

quartzites, and conglomerates, is characterized by sharper crests and peaks than the 

limestone areas, whose ridges, being broader and more rounded, are often studded 

by knobs and bordered by steep cliffs, with extensive slopes of heavy talus at their 

foot.

Though marked cliffs and precipices occur, the side slopes of the valleys, as shown 

in PL VI, J., can generally be ascended without difficulty. They are moss covered 

to within about 2,000 feet of the top of the mountains, where steeper slopes of barren 

,rock and talus begin. Exceptions occur in the faulted Paleozoics in the northern 

side of the range, at the head of the Anaktuvuk, where some scarps rise abruptly to 

a height of several thousand feet above the valley.
42 RECONNAISSANCE IN NORTHERN ALASKA IN 1901.

ANCIENT PLATEAU FEATURE OF ENmCOTT MOUNTAINS.

Where best observed on this reconnaissance, principally on John and Anaktuvuk 

rivers, a view across the top of the range presents the general appearance of an 

ancient plateau or peneplain from which, by deep dissection, the mountains have 

been carved. The former surface of the plateau is evidenced by numerous closely 

crowded peaks, rising generally to an elevation of .6,000 feet, where they present an 

even sky line, as shown in PI. VII, A. and B. For this plateau feature of the range 

the name Endicott Plateau is proposed. About 4,000 feet below this level lie the 

floors of the main valleys, at an elevation of about 2,000 feet; and the open Anaktuvuk 

Pass, near the northern edge of the range, between John and Anaktuvuk rivers, is 

at an altitude of scarcely 2,500 feet.

Since for geologic purposes the accompanying geologic section (see section 

on PI. ITI) is confined to the line of traverse along the valleys, where the elevation 

has been much reduced by erosion, the profile of the section does not express the plateau character of the range. This feature is probably best shown in the illustrations 

forming PI. VII, which are reproduced from photographs taken on the upper part 

of John River, near the top of the range, at an elevation of about 6,000 feet.

It seems to the writer not improbable that, as our knowledge of the physical 

geography of Alaska becomes more complete, it will be found that the Endicott 

Plateau, including its extension to the oast, possibly beyond the Davidson Mountains, may be correlated with the Chugach Plateau, a similarly dissected plateau 

surface, which is observed in the westward continuation of the St. Elias Range, at 

an elevation of about 6,000 feet. a

The interstream areas, which in general rise to the surface of the Endicott Plateau, 

are rarely flat topped, but consist of a network of peaks connected by irregular and 

often sharp-crested ridges. Only occasionally does an isolated peak rise a little 

above the general level of the plateau. None that could be observed are monadnocks.

The relation of the Endicott Plateau to the supposed Yukon and Koyukuk 

plateau features, to be considered later, is diagramrnatically illustrated in fig. 2 (p. 44). 

So far as known, no rocks younger than Lower Carboniferous have been found in 

the Endicott Plateau. But as it seems not improbable that Upper Carboniferous 

and possibly even Lower Mesozoic rocks may be present in the Fickett series, it 

does not seem safe to suggest for the plateau an ago earlier than Mesozoic. It seems 

undoubtedly older than the supposed Yukon Plateau, which in turn is considerably 

older than the Koyukuk Plateau, as the latter lies at a much lower level and is composed of rocks which are in part Cretaceous, and some possibly younger.

a Sohrader, F. C., and Spencer, A. C., Geology and Mineral Resources of a Portion of the Copper Hiver District, Alaska; 

a special publication of the U. S. Geol. Survey, 1901.

See also Sehrader, F. C., A reconnaissance of a part of Prince William Sound and the Copper Eiver district, Alaska: 

Twentieth Ann. Eept. U. 8. Geol. Survey, pt. 7,1900, p. 375.
U. 8. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY PROFESSIONAL PAPER HO. £0 PL. IV

A. INLAND EDGE OF ANAKTUVUK PLATEAU AND NORTH BASE OF ENDICOTT MOUNTAINS. 

Frc.n surface of the plateau at 2,200 feet; looking southwest.

B. LISBURNE LIMESTONE AMD FICKETT SERIES IN ENDICOTT MOUNTAINS AT HEAD OF JOHN RIVER. 

From ar\ attitude of 6,000 feet; looking west. Fickett senes is in left background.
ENDICOTT MOUNTAINS. 43

Since the Yukon Plateau, as to whose age there is slight difference of opinion, 

has been shown by Dawson,a Spurr,6 and other writers to be due to Eocene or 

early Neocene erosion, if the present writer is correct in his supposition concerning the representation of this plateau feature in this northern field, the interrelations of the several features here make it obvious that the Endicott Plateau, which 

is certainly post-Lower Carboniferous, must be at least pre-;Neocene and is probably 

considerabty older, and that the Koyukuk Plateau is at least post-Eocene and possibly 

considerably younger.

DRAINAGE.

In the portion of the range crossed by the Survey party the drainage is 

principally southward into the Koyukuk. The master stream is John River, 

which rises near the northern edge of the range. The main drainage ways are 

therefore transverse, extending across the strike and trend of the rocks, as well as 

across the trend of the range. The small tributaries, being nearly always controlled 

by rock structure, flow in general along the strike and enter the master stream at 

right angles, producing a rectangular drainage system.

Though John River Valle}7 is intramontane and contains some canyons, it is 

broad and in general open. A portion of it, near the middle part of the range, 

seems to lie in a syncline in the Fickett series, trending a little east of south. The 

valley probably averages about 1£ miles in width, from base to base of the mountains. 

Portions, however, are much wider and contain flats, through which the river freely 

describes great bends from side to side. ' The present stream channel has apparently 

been sunk into several older valley floors, as is shown by the bed-rock benches along 

the sides of the valle3r . Of these benches the most pronounced occur at heights of 

1,700 feet, 600 feet, and about 100 feet above the present stream, and seem to mark 

stages of comparative rest in the progress of orographic uplift. It is probable that 

the 600-foot bench may be correlated with the benching noted on the Koyukuk, in 

the region of Red Mountain/

At the head of John River, benches sloping northward against the present drainage seem to denote that a considerable area lying at the head of this stream formerly 

drained northward, through the Anaktuvuk and the Colville, into the Arctic Ocean, 

instead of southward, through the Koyukuk and the Yukon, to Bering Sea, as at 

present.

The bed-rock benching and the topography of the lower side slopes of the valley 

'are frequently found to have been materially modified by ice action, which has

nDawson, G. M., The physiographical geology of the Eocky Mountain region in Canada: Trans. Eoyal Soc. Canada, 

vol. 3,1890, sec. 4, pp. 1-74.

6Spun, J. E., Geology of the Yukon gold district, Alaska: Eighteenth Ann. Kept. U. S. Geol. Survey, pt. 3, 1898, 

pp. 257-265.

cSchrader, F. C., Preliminary report on a reconnaissance along the' Chandlar and Koyukuk rivers, Alaska, in 1899: 

Twenty-first Ann. Rept. U. S. Geol. Survey, pt. 2,1900, p. 408.
44 RECONNAISSANCE IN NORTHERN ALASKA IN 1901.

eroded the rocks and brought down deposits of gravel and drift, as shown in PI. 

VI, B. Such deposits, however, rarely attain a thickness of more than 100 feet.

The John River system, just described, is believed to be a fair type of the other 

adjacent drainage systems of the mountains, such as Hokotena River or Wild Creek 

and North Fork, which trend parallel to it and also flow south into the Koyukuk.

KOYUKUK PROVINCE.

GENERAL FEATURES.

This province, extending from the southern base of the mountains 120 miles 

southeastward to the limit of the map at the sixty-sixth parallel, lies mainly in the 

northwestern part of the large basin of the Koyukuk, which forms the northwestern 

part of the Yukon Basin. 0 It consists mainly of a rolling or hilly country of known 

and supposed Mesozoic rocks, whose hills rise to elevations of from 1,000 to 3,000 

feet, while the main valley floors lie at approximately 600 feet.

The general accordance in height of the hills and ridges of this province at two 

different levels strongly suggests that the present topography has been carved from two

ENDICOTT PLATEAU saoo'

YUKON?PLATEAU 3000* S 

KOYUKUK PLATEAU

FIG. 2.—Diagrammatic profile showing relations of Endicott, Yukon, and Koyukuk plateaus.

former plateau features (see fig. 2). Though, for need of further investigation, this 

question can not be discussed in detail in this place, it may be noted that of these two 

features the lower level, at about 1,200 feet, is relatively distinct and well marked, 

and represents the general elevation of the land mass over the larger part of this 

portion of the Koyukuk Basin, as may be seen on the map (PI. II). For it the name 

Koyukuk Plateau is suggested.

The higher level, which also suggests a former plateau now dissected and largely 

removed by erosion, lies at about 3,000 feet, but it is indefinite. Its best expression 

occurs along the base of the mountains, where portions of nearly flat-topped ridges, 

rising gently northward, soon merge into the foothills of the mountains, while to the 

south they become lost in irregular ridges and- hills, descending to the lower or 

Koyukuk Plateau. This higher level, where formerly observed, at an elevation of 

from 2,500 to 3,000 feet, to the east, on Chandlar and upper Koyukuk rivers, 

near the sixty-seventh parallel, was supposed to represent the Yukon Plateau, 6 but

a For a more complete description of the Koyukuk Basin the reader is referred to Preliminary report on a reconnaissance along the Cliandlar and Koyukuk rivers, Alaska, in 1899: Twenty-first Ann. Kept. U. S. Geol. Survey, pt. 2,1900, 

p. 467. See, also, Recent work of the United States Geological Survey: Bull. Am. Geog. Soc., vol. 34, No. 1, Feb., 1902.

SSchradcr, F. C., Preliminary report on a reconnaissance along the Ohandlar and Koyukuk rivers, Alaska, in 1899: 

Twenty-first Ann. Kept. U. S. Qeol. Survey, pt. 2,1900, p. 99.
U.S.GEOLOGICAL SURVEY PROFESSIONAL PAPER NO. 2O PL.V

162°

XG9°E. Cape f-isblime 

Coal mines

Adapted from Beecheyfe Chart

SKETCH MAP O F CAVE LI S B UR N E REG! O N

SHOWING COAST LINE AND LOCAI.ITIES OF COAL DEPOSITS

JULIUS BIEN RCO. LITH.N.Y.
KOYUKUK AND ARCTIC SLOPE PKOVINCKS. 45

owing to its feeble development to the northwest and to its remoteness from the 

known Yukon Plateau feature, the present work, though it yields supporting 

evidence, has not gone far toward confirming this supposition.

DRAINAGE.

The drainage of this province, which is separated from that of the Arctic slope 

by the above-described mountain range, is southwestward. The master stream is 

the Koyukuk, which flows into the Yukon. It is navigable for some distance above 

Bettles, to near the sixty-seventh parallel. Next in size are John and Alatna rivers, 

tributaries to the Koyukuk from the north, and South Fork from the south, all of 

which at high water may be ascended by steamboat for 20 to 30 miles above their 

mouths. Other prominent tributaries are Hokotena River or Wild Creek and Alashuk 

River from the north and Kanuti River from the south.

All the above streams, as shown on the map, meander over their broad, flat 

valley floors, which vary from 1 to 10 or more miles in width. On the lower and 

middle portion of the Koyukuk the flats attain a very much greater width, being, in 

a measure, comparable with the Yukon Flats. To this portion the name Koyukuk 

Flats 0 has been applied.

ARCTIC SLOPE PROVINCE.

This province, beginning at the north base of the Endicott Mountains, in latitude 

68° 25', extends 160 miles northward to the Arctic coast. From the Anaktuvuk and 

Colville it appears to extend eastward -to the foot of the mountains, 70 to 80 miles 

distant, while on the west it is inferred to probably extend to the Arctic coast, 

between Point Barrow and Cape Lisburne, a distance of about 400 miles. It is mainly 

with the eastern portion of the province that we shall here have to deal. This 

portion embraces almost the whole of the Colville Basin, and consists primarily of 

two distinct features, plateau and coastal plain. For the former feature the name 

Anaktuvuk Plateau is proposed.

ANAKTUVUK PLATEAU. .

Beginning at the north base of the Endicott Range, at an elevation of 2,500 feet, 

as shown on the left in PI. IV, A, this gently rolling plateau or plains country, composed of Mesozoic rocks, extends with gentle slope northward for a distance of 80 

miles, to latitude 69° 25', where, at an elevation of 800 feet, begins the nearly flat 

coastal plain next to be described. In the Anaktuvuk Valley a still more gentle 

aspect is given to the topography of the Mesozoic rocks by the glacial drift.

The most prominent features of this plateau are a few low, broad ridge's, which 

lie parallel to or concentric with the curved front of the mountain range, and the 

shallow drainage valleys (see PI, IV, A), trending north and south. These ridges

aSchrader, F. C., Preliminary report on a reconnaissance along the Chandlar and Koyukuk rivers, Alaska, in 1899: 

Twenty-first Ann. Kept. U. S. Geol. Survey, pt. 2, 1900, p. 468.
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instances are without outleand present no suggestion ofthe ment ofany system drainage. Alongthe west side ofCo eroded edge ofthispart theplain formscontinuous stec which gradually decrease inheight northward, from200 fe< mouth oftheAnaktuvuk toabout 80feeat Ocean Point,

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' ARCTIC COASTAL PLAIN.

a point fewmiles aboveit, on theAnaktuvuk, ispresented in

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of Anaktuvuk River. Asectional profile of this ridge,sketcl

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much thesame typ ofopography, alsocut in Mesozoic rocks 

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MR
U. 6. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY PROFESSIONAL PAPER rJo. PL. Vi

A. TOPOGRAPHY OF JOHN RIVER VALLEY IN ENDICOTT MOUNTAINS. 

From near south edge of Fickett series: looking S. 60° E., into Skagit formation.

B GLACIATED SIDE SLOPES OF JOHN RIVER VALLEY IN EMDICOTT MOUNTAINS

Looking N. 15° E.
V. 8. GEOLOGICAL SUFVEY PROFESSIONAL PAPER HO. 20 PL. VII

ME.

SW.

BISECTED VIEW OF ENDICOTT PLATEAU AND ENDICOTT MOUNTAINS CARVED FROM IT, PRINCIPALLY IN FlCKETT SERIES. 

From Foifc Peak, at 6,000 feet, near head of John River. ..-I, Looking east; Ji, looking south.
DRAINAGE OF AEOTIO SLOPE PEOVINCE. 47

northern part of the Endicott Mountains, near the sixty-eighth parallel and the one 

hundred and fifty-third meridian, whence it soon makes a large detour to the west 

and back, and then, inflowing northward to the ocean, traverses both the Anaktuvuk 

Plateau and the coastal plain. Practically all its tributaries of any importance are 

received from the right, or southeast. The chief of these—the Ninuluk, Anaktuvuk, 

and Itvelik—head in the mountains.

In the inland part of the coastal plain, at the mouth of the Anaktuvuk, as shown 

by continuous bluffs, the Colville has sunk its bed to a depth of 200 feet (see PI. VIII), 

and at Ocean Point, 40 miles farther north, where it permanently leaves the bluffs, to 

a depth of 80 feet below the surface of the plain. In this downcutting, from a point 

above the mouth of the Anaktuvuk to the coast, the. Colville has migrated laterally 

westward, into the terranes composing the plain, to such an extent that, while its left 

or western shore is for the most part lined by steep-faced bluffs, rising from 80 to 

200 feet above the stream to the level of the plain, into which it is still cutting, on 

the right or east it is bordered by an expansive waste of low abandoned flats, laid 

waste by the river, for which the name Colville Flats is proposed.

These flats occupy a triangular area of probably 2,000 square miles, extending 

from the mouth of the Anaktuvuk as the apex northeastward to the coast, where, 

including the Colville delta, they attain a maximum width of probably 50 or 60 

miles. They are dotted by numerous shallow ponds and lakelets. The monotony of 

their almost dead level is occasionally relieved by low mounds of gravel, rising 10 to 

40 feet above the surface. In fact, from near the mouth of the Anaktuvuk the 

Colville seems formerly to have flowed more directly northeastward through the 

area now occupied by the flats and entered the ocean through Gwydyr Bay, from 30 

to 40 miles east of its present delta, if not Prudhoe Bay, still farther eastward, at 

the base of Return Reef, as shown by the broken lines on the map forming PI. III.

At the head of the Colville delta, where the edges of these flats form the stream 

banks, their surface lies about 10 feet above the river. ' Here they are composed 

chiefly of dark mud, muck, and ground ice, while at certain localities farther inland 

the banks give way to stretches of gravel beach sloping gently to the water's 

edge.

The Colville delta at present has a radius of about 15 miles and a width across 

the front of about 20 miles. It is composed of low islands, which coastward gradually pass into marshes, mud flats, bars, and expansive shallows, which are continuous 

with the very gradually deepening sea floor. Near the head of the delta sand dunes 

have been formed on some of the islands to a height of 60 or more feet. As the 

"Pelly Mountains" of Dease and Simpson, represented on their map to the west of 

the Colville delta, do not exist, it seems probable that the features which these men 

mistook for mountains were merely low sand dunes, similar to those above referred
48 EECONNAISSANCE IN NOETHEEN ALASKA IN 1901.

to. This view is strengthened by the fact that under certain conditions of light along 

the coast low objects become, by refraction, enormously exaggerated in vertical scale. 

Colville River has formerly been described as having four mouths, but it probably has five or six. The westernmost is said to be shallow, but the second from the 

west is navigable and is used by the natives in ascending and descending the river on 

the west. Whether any of these channels will admit river steamboats was not learned. 

If so, it must be the right or most easterly channel, which seems to be the main 

one. Once across the delta, judging from its gradient and volume, the river can 

probably be ascended by steamboat for a distance of 150 or more miles above its 

mouth. McClure, in crossing Harrison Bay in 1850, found the freshening influence 

of the Colville to extend 12 to 14 miles seaward, the surface of the water being of a 

dirty mud color and scarcely salt.

ANAKTUVUK HIVEH.

Next to the Colville, the principal stream of this province is Anaktuvuk 

River, the large southeast tributary of the Colville, which, rising in the northern 

part of the mountains, flows almost directly northward across the Anaktuvuk Plateau 

and joins the Colville at the inland edge of the coastal plain. At about 30 miles 

from the mountains the Anaktuvuk is joined on the east by Willow Creek, a stream 

equal to itself in size.

Above Willow Creek, owing to the swiftness of the current and frequent riffles 

formed by large bowlders that beset the bed of the stream, the Anaktuvuk can 

hardly be regarded as navigable at ordinary water for canoe or rowboat. In the 

upper section of the river, the valley, as shown in PI. IV, A, is shallow and open, 

with no bluffs or banks to speak of. The tundra extends almost to the water's edge.

Below Willow Creek the floor of the valley consists of a gravel- or bowldercovered flat, a mile or more in width, along the edges of which the gentle, mosscovered side slopes are occasionally interrupted by low bluffs rising from 20 to 100 

feet above the river. Willow Creek and Nanushuk River both seem to head in the 

mountains to the southeast of the edge of the plateau, while Tuluga River, on 

the west, apparently takes its rise on the plateau, near its middle part.

COAST LINE.

from Golmlle Riv&r to Point Barrow.—The northern Arctic coast of Alaska, 

from the mouth of the Mackenzie to Point Barrow, trends a little north of west. It 

is low and flat, the actual shore line being formed by a low shelving beach (PL IX, A), 

whose seaward extension forms the shallow sea floor. From east of the Colville 

westward to Point Barrow the surface of the tundra often descends to or within a 

few feet of tide level, so that the same gentle slope seems to be continued in the very
PROFESSIONAL PAPER NO- 20 PL. VIII

ERTIARY COASTAL PLAIN OF COLVILLE SERIES. 

7 and T), looking northwesi.
COAST LINE OP ARCTIC SLOPE PROVINCE. 49

gradually deepening sea floor. The greatest height of the bluffs is about 30 feet. 

The drainage ways are consequently broad and very shallow.

The coast line is comparatively regular, though" not nearly so uniform as represented by the early explorers Dease and Simpson. It is more or less broadly sinuous 

or wavy, its first striking uniformity being broken by occasional lagoons, shallow 

embaymcnts, and inlets; but in comparison with the coast of southern Alaska, for 

example, in can not be called indented. Some of the embayments mark the mouths 

of rivers, but most of the larger ones seem to occur independent of inland drainage. 

The deepest, and perhaps the only one to which the terra indentation will strictly 

apply, is Dease Inlet, at the head of which is situated Admiralty Bay, which receives 

the Chipp (Ikpikpuk) River. The principal streams entering the sea between 

the Colville and Point Barrow are Garry, Smith, Sinclair, Chipp (Ikpikpuk), and 

Meade rivers. These rivers, however, could not all be visited by the party in its 

rapid progress along the coast. So far as known, they in general have wide mud-flat 

deltas, much the same as the Colville, which pass seaward into shallows, merging 

with the shallow coastal shelf of the sea.

It is judged that the coastal shelf extends far offshore, with a slope probably 

even less than that of the nearly level subaerial coastal plain. Captain McClure 

found the soundings so exceedingly regular that during the foggiest weather the 

vessel could stand inshore with the most perfect confidence in 3£ fathoms of water, 

and the Investigator is reported to have passed the mouth of the Colville 40 miles out 

to sea in 3i fathom's. The range of tides on this portion of the Arctic coast is very 

small, being only 2 or 3 feet.

Point Barrow, the northern extremity of this low coast and of the American 

continent, is a low spit of gravel and sand, projecting to the northeast, in latitude 

71° 23', longitude 156° 40'. It is 4 miles in length and about one-fourth mile in width, 

but expands at the end, where it rises to a height of 16 feet and sends out a long, 

narrow ridge, which extends east-southeastward for a distance of more than 2 miles. 

This ridge finally gives way to a line of sandy islets, inclosing a shallow body of 

water of considerable extent, named Elson Bay, after the discoverer of Point Barrow.

From Point Barrow to Ca/pe Lisburne and beyond.—The trend of the coast line 

changes from northwest to southwest at Point Barrow and thence extends about 300 

miles southwestward to Cape Lisburne. It continues comparatively straight and 

regular, but it is not so low as on the north. It soon loses the almost featureless 

edge which is characteristic of the flat coastal plain on the north, and gradually comes 

to exhibit low, but seldom rock-faced, bluffs, rising 30 or 40, rarely 70, feet above 

tide. Back from the shore a very gently rolling surface rises very gradually toward 

the interior, but no highlands or mountains can be seen. Seaward the bluffs overlook immense stretches of brackish lagoons, from one to several miles in width, which 

189—No. 20—04——i
50 RECONNAISSANCE IN NORTHERN ALASKA IN 1901.

rather persistently line the coast. These lagoons are screened from the force of the 

open sea by broad wave-built barrier reefs and beaches of sand and gravel, through 

which occasional narrow channels, cut by the ebb and flow of the tide, connect with 

the outer water. On portions of the coast not thus protected, during a northwest 

gale the mouths of the smaller valleys become entirety clogged and the streams themselves are then dammed back by the broad beach barriers thrown up by the violent 

surf. In the rear of these barriers the lower reaches of the valleys then become 

temporarily converted into broad lakelets, whose surface may rise 5 or 6 feet above 

normal tide level; but with the abatement of the storm a new drainage channel is 

opened through the beach and the lake disappears.

Near Cape Beaufort, latitude 69° 15', the above-described low topographic relief 

gives way to a range of hills or low, rolling mountains, which, sweeping a little south 

of west, appear at the coast with an elevation of 800 to 1,000 feet. They are supposed by the writer to represent 'the westward continuation of the Meade River 

Mountains, already referred to. Farther southwest they seem to merge into the 

somewhat more pronounced and rugged mountains of Cape Lisburne, which, as 

noted, are supposed to represent the westward continuation of- the northern axis of 

the Endicott Range, noted at the head of the Anaktuvuk, in longitude 152°.

Here these mountains, as noted, terminate at the coast in abrupt sea cliffs, forming the bold promontory of Cape Lisburne, which rises to a height of 850 feet above 

tide. From Cape Lisburne the mountains, with decreased altitudes, continue southwestward in several successive parallel ridges, trending at about-right angles to the 

coast. The shore line, however, is here less abrupt, as shown in fig. 1 (p. 40).

About 30 miles south of Cape Lisburne the shore extends out nearly 15 miles to 

the west in an immense tongue of low, sandy land, known as Point Hope, which is 

backed by .bluffs at its inland end.

From Point Hope southeastward to Cape Krnsenstern, at the entrance to Kotzebue Sound, the coast is reported to be low and somewhat rocky, with intervals of 

lagoons and wave-built barrier reefs, somewhat resembling those already described; 

but in latitude 67° 35', opposite the great bend of the Noatak, low mountains, known 

as the Mulgrave Hills, again approach the coast.

The streams entering the coast on the northwest are nearly all short. The principal, beginning at the north, are Kcc, Kukpowruk, Pitmegea, and Kukpuk rivers.

GEOLOGY.

GEOLOGIC MAP AND SECTIONS.

The results of the very incomplete observations concerning the distribution 

of the geologic formations here treated of are represented on the accompanying 

geologic map (PI. Ill), the colored portion of which, comprising an area of about 

27,000 square miles, lies mainly between the one hundred and fiftieth and one
U. 8. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY PROFESSIONAL PAPER MO. 20 PL. IX

A. ARCTIC COAST AND EDGE OF MOSS-COVERED ARCTIC COASTAL PLAIN. 

Fmm west of Cclville River; kicking s. 45° E.

B. SKAGIT LIMESTONE ON JOHN RIVER IN ElslDICOTT MOUNTAINS. 

Looking S. 65° E.
At the north base of the mountains, where the profile, descend-

-ft ffi

|

ffi N

ing from the mountains, passes from the upturned Devonian onto *

GEOLOGIC MAP AND SECTIONS. 51

hundred and fifty-fifth degrees of longitude. As the line of traverse ^ „ 

extends in a north-south direction across the trend of the terranes, §

which has been found to be relatively constant, especially in the moun- J

^ ^-$3" 

tains, the boundaries delimiting the various formations on.the north and 5 11 tt

on the south, along the line of the section, are approximately correct f E^ 

and in some instances are well defined. In an east-west direction some a 3 SJ

Oo C ttt j

liberties have been taken in making such broad generalizations as 5- * * j

seemed permissible from the regularity of the terranes in the mountains | •

and their relations and lithologic resemblance to those previously I

so

mapped to the east. |

The boundaries of the post-Paleozoic formations of the Arctic g '

s slope, approximately determined on paleontologic and lithologic ° :

evidence along the route of traverse, have been extended eastward § 0

and westward on topographic evidence and on observations and »

collections made by the writer in returning southward along the g ^:

coast from Point Barrow to Cape Lisburne. &* £•

PJ ..

Pleistocene till, which farther north is found resting on Lower Cretaceous, a belt several miles wide has been left blank, in view of the 

possible occurrence of Carboniferous and Lower Mesozoic rocks i 

between the Devonian and the Cretaceous; and similar contact gaps J? 

have been left in other parts of the section. On topographic grounds, 

however, it seems probable that the' Mesozoic and Carboniferous 

formations are absent at the above point on the Anaktuvuk, having 

been removed by erosion, and that the inland edge of the Lower 

Cretaceous or Jura-Cretaceous may rest directly on the Devonian, {-j ^ 

as indicated in fig. 4. Areas away from the route traversed, where % 

the geology is unknown, are also left blank; while, on the other hand, g3 G)

general geologic information and the probable occurrence of certain 8 o 

formations are represented by notes printed in red. East of the g ? 5 

geologically colored portion of the map the notes applying to the £ ~" ° 

region lying north of the Arctic Circle are based on the work of the "| « a 

writer in a previous year, a while those to the south of the Circle, on 

the west, and along Alatna and Kowak rivers in the region of the 

sixty-seventh parallel are by Mr. W. C. Mendenhall, geologist in charge |~ 

of the Kowak expedition, whose work* has just been published. "|

aSchrafler, F. C., Reconnaissance along the Chandlar anfl Koyukuk rivers, Alaska: Twenty-first Ann. Kept. U. S. 

Geol. Survey, pt. 2,1900, p. 448.

bMenflenhall, W. C., Reconnaissance from Fort Hamlin to Kotzebue Sounfl, Alaska: Prof. Paper U. 8. Geol. Survey 

No. 10,1902.

z

p
52 RECONNAISSANCE IN NORTHERN ALASKA IN 1901.

A profile and geologic section appearing on PI. Ill, drawn on the same scale 

as the map, illustrate the structural features and relations of the various rock 

formations. It extends from the southern edge of the map at A (PI. Ill) to 

the foot of the Colville delta and the Arctic, coast at J. In order to show the 

structure in the Tertiary coastal plain and to represent the flats and delta near sea 

level at the north, the scale of the section has been vertically exaggerated 5:1 as 

compared with the horizontal scale, and in order to represent more accurately the 

relations of the rocks as actually observed the section follows the somewhat zigzag 

line of traverse. Where it traverses the rocks diagonally, as in the northern 

edge of the Fickett series, compensation has been made therefor by reducing the 

dips of the rocks in the section. As the line of traverse follows the valleys, where 

the topography has been reduced by erosion, the profile rarely rises to the normal 

height of the adjacent land mass. Consequently the peneplain feature of the Endicott 

Mountain summits is not expressed by the profile. From studies thus far made of 

the section it promises to be of far-reaching importance, not only in deciphering the 

geology of Alaska, but also in making correlations with Asiatic stratigraphy.

Near the northern edge of the range, as shown on the map, the section traverses 

the mountains to the east of the Anaktuvuk Valley, but as the rocks have here been 

disturbed by folding and faulting, a supplementary short profile section (fig. 4), showing the rocks as they appear on the west side of the valley, has been introduced. It 

extends from the Lower Carboniferous at Contact Creek on John River a distance 

of about 25 miles northeastward across the Devonian, along the north side of 

Anaktuvuk Pass, to the Cretaceous of the Anaktuvuk Plateau on the west of 

Anaktuvuk River. The base of this section represents approximately the elevation of 

the floor of the Anaktuvuk Valley and that of the pass, which is about 2,500 feet. 

The mountains rise to about 5,500 feet. Besides the faulting shown between the 

Devonian and the Lower Carboniferous on the south, and in the Devonian itself 

toward the north, the section supposes the Lower Cretaceous to be resting unconf ormably on the upturned and eroded Devonian.

OUTLINE OF GEOLOGIC HISTORY.

The rocks composing the section hero considered, extending geographically from 

the sixty-sixth parallel to the Arctic coast, a distance of nearly 400 miles, comprise 

representatives of most of the geologic ages ranging from Silurian to Recent, as 

shown in the accompanying table.
OUTLINE OF GEOLOGIC HISTOEY, 53

TABLE OP GEOLOGIC FORMATIONS. ' 

Sedimentary rocks.

[Recent stream gravels, dune sands, mud flats, silts, 

Pleistocene .....................................\ beach gravels, Gubik sand, ground ice, and glal cial drift.

Nearly horizontally stratified, fine-grained calcareous silts. Tertiary (Colville series).

[Pliocene.

(Oligocene.

Mesozoic

Paleozoic.

Sand, clay, shale, soft sandstone and limestone 

with lignites, hard ferruginous sandstone, and 

conglomerate.

Soft sandstone, limestone, shale, and coal.

Sandstone, slate, grit, conglomerate, and coal.

Upper Cretaceous (Nanushuk series).

Cretaceous (?) (Bergman series).

Lower Cretaceous (Ko- \Impure limestone, sandstone, slate, and associated 

yukuk series). I igneous rocks.

Lower Cretaceous (An- \Principallyimpure sandstone or arkose, with some 

aktuvuk series). J conglomerate or grit.

Jura-Cretaceous (Cor- \Sandstone, impure limestone, shale, and bitumiwin series). J nous coal.

Lower Carboniferous \Phyllites, slate, limestone, sandstone, quartzite, 

(Fickett^eries). / grit, and conglomerate.

[•Limestone and shale. 

xMica-schists and quartz-mica-schists, 

Jsichistose and micaceous limestone.

' 8late'

Igneous rocks.

Post-Silurian dike (?) rocks, associated with the Skajit formation.

Cretaceous and post-Cretaceous dike rocks, associated with the Koyukuk series. /

The oldest rocks encountered in the field consist of several metamorphic series. 

They are principally of sedimentary origin, and have acquired their present character 

largely by processes of mountain building, which, broadly speaking, seem to have 

been in progress intermittently since Middle Paleozoic time, and are probably still 

going on.

These metamorphic rocks are exposed only in the mountainous portion of the 

field. The different series are here designated by the names Skajit, Totsen, Stuver, 

Lisburne, and Fickett. Though the Totsen series is mainly sedimentary, it includes 

also some greenstone-schists of igneous origin, which appear to be old basaltic flows, 

but may be intrusives.

With probably a single exception, igneous rocks were not observed with any of 

the other metamorphic series. This exception was on John River, near the middle 

of the Skajit formation, at a point about midway between camps of June 23 and 

June 24. Here, in the face of the upper part of a cliff which rises steeply to a height 

of 2,000 feet above the edge of the stream, as seen from the opposite side of the 

river, looking northeast, but which, owing to difficultjr of access and lack of time 

was not visited, the limestone is cut by what appears to be two classes of dikes (but
54 ~ RECONNAISSANCE IN NORTHERN ALASKA IN 1901.

which may possibly be veins), one dark and the other light. These supposed dikes 

are thin, and they are younger than the schistosity of the country rock. The dark 

ones are the older, and cut the rock for the most part obliquely to the schistosity or 

bedding, which they slightly exceed in dip, the dip being to the north, at an angle of 

about 45°. The light dikes cut the rocks at nearly right angles to the dark dikes 

and dip south at an angle of about 80°, and seem to follow fault planes or fissures 

that were manifestly produced subsequent to the intrusion of the dark dikes.

The above division of the rocks is based largely on paleontologic evidence. But 

the Totsen series, in which no fossils were found, is assigned to a low place in the 

geologic scale by reason of its crystalline character or high degree of metamorphism 

and the known relatively low stratigraphic position in which similar rocks occur in 

adjacent regions. The Stuver series, in which likewise no fossils were found, is 

regarded as among the older rocks by reason of its field relations to the overlying 

Devonian. -

After the deposition of the oldest Paleozoic sediments occurring in the present 

southern axis of the main range, this part of the region seems to have been uplifted 

and subjected to dynamic action and metamorphism, following which a portion of 

the field probably remained above sea during the .whole or a part of the period 

in which the Devonian sediments were being laid down in the region now occupied 

by the northern axis. During this period of deposition, which possibly extended 

into early Mesozoic, the later Paleozoic sediments, including apparently the Carboniferous, seem to have been deposited unconformably against the older rocks 

of the southern axis. This period was followed by stress, uplift, and the exertion 

of mountain-building forces, resulting in folding, metamorphism, and deformation 

of the strata.

Then followed a long pause, during which the reduction of the land area by 

subaerial erosion nearly to sea level gave rise to the peneplain or formerly nearly 

level surface of the Endicott Plateau. This base-leveling was, in turn, followed by 

elevation of the region, whence upward movement seems to have continued more or 

less intermittently down to the present time. Uplift was accompanied by vigorous 

dissection of the plateau, from which the Endicott Mountains, as we find them 

to-day, seem manifestly to have been carved.

Contemporaneous with this uplift and dissection the sediments eroded from the 

range were borne to the sea and deposited as new terranes on both the north and 

the south side of the mountains. These later deposits range in age from Middle 

Mesozoic to recent. Though throughout this period the Endieott Plateau seems to 

have stood above the sea, the region was subjected to somewhat pronounced changes 

of level and disturbance, as is evidenced by deformation and unconformities extending from Middle Mesozoic to Pleistocene.
SEDIMENTARY ROCK FORMATIONS. 55

The later of these disturbances is that suggested by the vigorous cutting of the 

left or west bank of Colville River into high bluffs (PI. VIII), while the east bank 

consists only of the edge of an expansive waste of low flats abandoned by the river in 

its lateral migration during its down cutting. This shifting or lateral migration of 

the river was evidently brought about by a tilt, which is apparently more than a local 

disturbance, for other examples indicate that there has been a general tilt throughout 

northern Alaska, which has caused and is still causing the larger rivers, notably the 

Yukon, the Porcupine, the Koyukuk, the Kowak, the Golville, and the Anaktuvuk, 

to cut their western banks." This differential upward movement of the region probably extends eastward to the international boundary or farther, and, judging from the 

lateral migration of the Colville into the Pleistocene as well as the Tertiary and 

Mesozoic terranes, it took place, in part at least, in the Pleistocene, and is probably 

still in progress.

During Lower Cretaceous time, deposition on the south of the range, in what is 

now the Koyukuk Basin, was apparently accompanied by igneous extrusions and 

followed by intrusions, which latter continued into post-Cretaceous time,6 while the 

range itself and the Arctic slope, so far as observed along the route of traverse, are 

relatively free from igneous rocks. It was supposed by the writer that the northeastsouthwest trend of the Koyukuk Valley, from the Yukon to the sixty-eighth 

parallel, probably represented in a general way a line of weakness in the earth's 

crust, along which igneous phenomena are especially manifest. More recent work, 

however, along Kanuti and Kowak c rivers and on' Kotzebue Sound, shows that the 

igneous rocks are distributed over a much wider area in this northern country than 

in that occupied by the Koyukuk Valley.

SEDIMENTARY ROCK FORMATIONS. 

PALEOZOIC ROCKS.

STRUCTURE.

Beginning with apparently the oldest, the several formations or rock series will 

be briefly described. As the field is new and the investigations have not been detailed, 

the formation names introduced are proposed provisionally.

To afford a more comprehensive view of the relations of the several series and 

to avoid repetition in referring to them individually, it will be well to note at the outset 

some features of structure which are common to nearly all the Paleozoic rocks, and 

which apply to the range as a whole, namely, that the series all strike approximately

a The fact that the Yukon in the lower part of its course is cutting its right or western bank has been noted by Ball. 

Russell, Spun-, and others.

ftSchrader, F. C., Reconnaissance along the Chandlar and Koyukuk rivers, Alaska: Twenty-first Ann. Kept. U. S. Geol. 

Survey, pt. 2,1900, p. 481.

a Mendenhall, W.' C., Reconnaissance from Port Hamliu to Kotzebue Sound, Alaska: Prof. Paper, U. S. Geo]. Survey, • 

No. 10, 1902, map, p. 30.
56 BECOJOTAISSANXIE IN NORTHEBN ALASKA IN 1901.

east and west, parallel with the trend of the range. They are nearly all traversed 

by the dominant jointing of the range, which cuts the rocks in a direction about 

northeast-southwest, with dip nearly vertical or inclined steeply to the northwest, at 

angles of 75° to 80°. There arc also usually one or more sets of secondary jointing or 

minor structure, trending in general northwest-southeast, sometimes approximately 

at right angles to the major jointing.

The above statement of the structures affecting the Paleozoics in the range 

applies, also in a limited way to the upland Mcsozoics on either side.

With the exception of the greenstone-schists occurring in the Totsen series, the 

Paleozoics of the range, as well as the younger formations of the Arctic slope, are 

all sedimentary, and, so far as observed, are relatively if not wholly free from 

association with igneous rocks of any kind.

SKA JIT a FORMATION (UPPER SILURIAN).

Character and occurrence.—The Endicott Range, as noted, has two distinct axes, 

of which the southern seems to be composed of the older rocks (see PI. Ill), those 

of the Skajit formation and the Totsen series, the former playing the principal part.

The rocks of the. Skajit formation (PI. IX, B) consist of heavy-bedded crystalline limestone and mica-schist. Weathered surfaces, parallel with the bedding and 

planes of movement and crushing, present a silvery sheen, due to the presence of 

mica, while some layers grade wholly into mica-schist. On a fresh fracture surface 

the limestone is found to be highly crystalline, generally fine or medium grained, 

and of impure white or bluish-gray color, the latter apparently denoting the more 

dolomitic phases of the rook. It weathers to a dirty gray or light brown, sometimes 

tinged with red.

The formation occurs in the southern part of the Endicott Mountains, where, in 

latitude approximately 67° 30', it occupies a belt that is from 15 to 20 miles wide, 

in which the mountains rise to an elevation of more than 5,500 feet above sea 

level, the rocks forming some of the highest peaks and most rugged topography of 

the southern axis of the range. Judging from the attitude or prevailing dip of the 

rocks and their extent measured across the strike, the formation probably has a 

thickness of at least 4,000 feet.

Structure.—The Skajit formation has a nearly east-west strike, parallel with 

the general direction of the mountains; but about 20 miles west of John River this 

trend changes to north of west. The structure in general indicates a broad anticliriorium whose middle part is occupied by a broad, shallow syncline. In general 

the dips are gentle, as shown in PI. IX, B and PI. X, A. The latter shows the

____________________I ___________ _________ _______ ______________ ________ ______ ___________

«The term Skajit is of native origin, and is taken from a group of rugged mountains occurring within the area of the 

formation to the east of John River. '
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEV PROFESSIONAL PAPER MO. £0 PL. X

A. MORTH EDGE OF SKAGIT LIMESTOME, DIPPIMG MORTH, OM JOHN 

RIVER, IM EMDICOTT MOUMTAIMS. LOOKIMG EAST.

K. LISBURME LIMESTOME AMD GROUMD MORAIME, FROM CACHE LAKE MEAR 

AMAKTUVUK PASS, IM EMDICOTT MOUMTAIMS LOOKIMG MORTH WEST.

G CAPE SABIME AMD UMDULATIMG PLATEAU. LOOKIMG SOUTH. l>. CAPE HALKETT, SHOWIMG GROUMD ICE TERRAME RISIMG 30 FEET 

ABOVE TIDE.
PALEOZOIC BOCKS, SKA JIT FORMATION. 57

formation as it disappears to the north uncpnformably under the Fickett series. In 

some localities, however, the faulting and folding have been intense.

Like the other Paleozoic rocks of the range, the Skajit formation is cut diagonally by the dominant northeast-southwest jointing, which divides the rocks into 

nearly vertical sheets varying from less than 1 to more than 10 feet in thickness, and 

by the secondary jointing sometimes at nearly right angles to this direction.

The joint planes are usually nearly vertical or have a steep westerly dip, and are 

sometimes locally followed by veins or veinlets of calcite and some quartz, carrying 

occasionally a little galena or iron pyrites and copper. Prospectors report that 

galena, probably of economic value, occurs on Wild Creek, 25 miles east of our 

route, in a wide "ledge" in limestone probably belonging to the Skajit formation.

Cleavage was also noted in a few instances, but none so pronounced or so well 

developed as that observed in similar rocks in the area to the east, at the head of 

Chandlar River.

Age. —-The Skajit formation, as seen in the geologic section, probably represents the oldest or next to the oldest rocks in the field. It is the principal formation 

forming the southern axis of the Endicott Range, of which it seems to be the lowest 

terrane exposed. It is unconformably below the Fickett series on the north, and 

apparently bears similar relation to the Totsen series on the south, where, as shown 

in the geologic section on PI. Ill, the probable unconformity is indicated by the beds 

of the Totsen series lying at a steeper angle than those of the Skajit formation, as 

well as by an abrupt change in the character of the sediments along the zone of 

contact. Similarly, on the north, where the heavy-bedded limestone of the Skajit 

formation finally disappears with a northerly dip, it is met by the overlying slates 

and schists of the Fickett series dipping south (section on PI. Ill and PI. X, A).

Though the limestone, as noted, is much altered by metamorphism, it contains 

faunal remains, some of which were collected in place on John River. While most 

of these forms are too greatly altered for determination, a single specimen has been 

identified by Mr. Schuchert as " having the ventral valve of a brachipod of the order 

of Meristina and Meristella, and also resembling a transverse Seminula, This kind 

of shell indicates that the rock can not be older than Upper Silurian and not younger 

than Lower Carboniferous."

On this evidence, and because the rock is much more disturbed and metamorphosed than the limestone of the Lisburne formation, in which Devonian fossils have 

been found in the northern axis of the range, the Skajit formation is provisionally 

referred to the Upper Silurian. This, if the inference be correct, places it among 

the oldest known fossil-bearing formations of northern Alaska. Late Upper Silurian 

forms have been found in the Glacier Bay limestone in southeastern Alaska." Ordoa Brooks, A.'H., Preliminary report on the Ketchikan mining district, Alaska: Prof. Paper U. S. Geol. Survey No. 1, 

1902, pp. 19-20.
58 RECONNAISSANCE IN NOETHEKN ALASKA IN 1901.

vician fossils have been found by the Survey party on Seward Peninsula,8 and Lower 

Silurian forms* were also found by Mr. A. J. Collier during the season of 1901 

in the same region.

Silurian fossils are also reported to have been collected c by Buckland, Dall, and 

others at Cape Lisburne and the adjacent Cape Thompson, but, so far as known to 

the writer, no section or description of the rocks is given. In Dana's Manual of 

Geology it is stated that species of Lithostrotion have been found in the Arctic coast 

lands between Cape Lisburne and Kotzebue Sound. Lower Silurian fossils were 

collected by Mr. Schuchert on the northeast coast of the continent, in Baffin Land.

Correlation.—From the schistose, crystalline, and micaceous character of the 

Skajit formation and its resemblance to similar rocks of the Bettles series, d it is here 

provisionally correlated with the schistose phase of the Bettles series occurring at 

the head of Chandlar River, with which subsequent detailed work in the intervening region may connect it. It seems probable that the limestone reported by 

prospectors to occur in the gold placer district in the Koyukuk, between the Skajit 

formation on John River and that on the Chandlar, represents this connection. In 

an earlier report e the Bettles series was tentatively correlated with the Fortymile 

series of Spurr. If, however, the Skajit formation proves to he Upper Silurian and 

its correlation with the Bettles series is correct, the previous correlation of the 

Bettles limestone to the north of the Yukon with the pre-Silurian Fortymile series 

to the south, in the Fortymile district, may have to be abandoned.

TOTSEN SERIES/ (SILURIAN).

OJiarqcter and occurrence.—This series of rocks occupies a belt about 12 miles wide 

on John River. It lies south of the Skajit formation, upon which the Totsen rocks 

seem to rest unconformably, while they in turn are unconformably overlain by the 

Bergman series on the south. The rocks are mainly mica-schists and quartz-micaschists, in both of which the essential minerals are biotite and quartz. There is also 

some much-altered greenstone or amphibole-schist. Locally the mica-schist becomes 

graphitic, graphite bodies one-eighth inch in diameter being noted, and in some cases

oBrooks, A. H.; Richardson. G. B.; Collier, A. J., and Mendenhall, W. C., Reconnaissances in the Cape Nome and 

Norton Bay Regions, Alaska: Special publication U. S. Geol. Survey, 1901.

bGraptolites were found by Messrs. A. H. Brooks and L. M. Prindle along the northern base of the Alaskan Range in 

the summer of 1902.

c Correlation papers, Neocene: Bull. U. S. Geol. Survey No. 84, pp. 248-249.

dSchrader, F. C., Reconnaissance along the Chandlar and Koyukuk rivers, Alaska: Twenty-first Ann. Rept. U. S 

Geol. Survey, pt. 2,1900.

elbid.

/The name Totsen is derived from the term Toteenbetna—formerly applied by the natives to Wild Creek—by 

dropping the final syllables, which signify river. On the map accompanying; the writer's report on the expedition of 1899, 

and on that in Mendeuhall's report of 1902 (Prof. Paper U. S. Geol. Survey No. 10), this name was erroneously applied to 

the stream which is now called John River, but which Alien designated Fickett's River. The word was spelled Totzenbitna by Alien. It is said to mean lune, the waterfowl.
PALEOZOIC HOOKS, TOTSEN SERIES. 59

the rock carries much secondary quartz, both in small veins and in lenticular bodies. 

Some iron pyrite is also present, which on oxidation gives a reddish-brown color to 

the rock. The quartz veins tend to follow the schistosity and are often locally contorted and twisted. Some carry irregular veinlets or stringers of epidote.

The series is believed to be essentially of sedimentary origin, but the sedimentation seems to have been accompanied by basaltic flows, which were later sheared 

with the sedimentary beds, giving rise to amphibolite-schist, of which the most 

prominent strip, having an apparent width of several miles, occurs near the southern 

part of the belt occupied by the series. Here the rock, judging'from the bent and 

crushed remnants of feldspar and augite shown.under the microscope, is plainly of 

igneous origin. Though on account of faulting and folding there is doubtless some 

duplication of the rocks in the Totsen series, its total thickness, judging from the 

prevailing dip and distance across the strike, is 6,000 to 7,000 feet.

/Structure.—-The Totsen series, like the older rocks composing the range, trends 

approximately east and west, and though the series as a whole has been intensely 

folded, the dip in general is monoclinal, being, so far as observed, southward, at 

angles of 60 to 80°; but in the northern part of the belt, John River Valley, for a 

distance of several miles, seems to follow a north-south syncline in the series. 

The series is traversed by the major northeast jointing of the range, and by a secondary structure at nearly right angles to the major jointing. Cleavage was noted at a 

few localities, but apparently much of this has been obliterated by disturbance.

Age.—The Totsen series is represented in the geologic section as it appears 

to occur in the field, namely, above the Skajit series. It thus seems to be younger 

than the Skajit, but the actual contact between the formations was not seen, as is 

shown by the gap in the section, and the age relations here indicated can not be 

demonstrated. Furthermore, while the Totsen series, so far as observed, consists 

essentially of rocks that seem undoubtedly to belong to the class of older crystalline 

schists found in Alaska,'and can not be correlated with the Fickett series, it should 

be noted that the observations made were confined to the line of traverse along 

John River, and the mountains in this part of the field not having been ascended, 

it is possible that the series may be overlain by or otherwise associated with rocks 

younger than those described above. The great thickness and probable extent of 

the Fickett series (to be noted later) to the north of the Skajit formation, makes it 

not unreasonable to suppose that members of this series may occur on the south side 

of the Skajit anticlinorium, but this point must be determined by future investigation.

Correlation.—The Totsen series can be correlated in a tentative way, on lithologic 

grounds, with the Lake quartz-schist* of Chandlar River. It is less evidently of

^aSchrader, F. O., Reconnaissance along the Chandlar and Koyukuk rivers, Alaska: Twenty-first Ann. Kept. U. S. 

Gebi.'Survey, pt. 2,1900, p. 474.
60 RECONNAISSANCE IN NORTHERN ALASKA IN 1901.

sedimentary origin, is more micaceous, and contains much less quartz and more 

greenstone-schist, of igneous origin. In some localities, however, it very, much 

resembles the more altered phases of the schists to the east of the Koyukuk, in the 

Slate Creek diggings, which also have been correlated with the Lake quartz-schist of 

Chandlar River. That the Totsen series extending beneath the younger formations 

in the Koyukuk Valley may connect with the Slate Creek schists is not improbable, 

especially since the Bergman series, which occupies a large part of the intervening 

Koyukuk Valley, seems to rest unconformably upon both.

STDVEK SERIES« (PRE-DEVONIAN).

Character and occurrence.—The next of the older groups of rocks to be considered is the Stuver series, comprising the oldest rocks exposed in the northern portion 

of the Endicott Range, and apparently forming the core of the north axis. (See 

section on PI. III.) The rocks of this series are principally conglomerates, with 

interbedded layers of quartzite, which toward the top pass into slate and shale. 

The pebbles composing the conglomerate are practically all siliceous and consist 

of black, slate-colored, red, green, and bluish flint and milky-white quartz. . They 

range in size from less than an inch in diameter' to cobbles, and in a few instances 

approach bowlderets. The cement is siliceous, usually dense, and often contains 

grains of cryptocrystalline or aphanitic silica, undoubtedly derived from the same 

parent rock as the pebbles.- Great force is required to break the rock with the 

hammer, and, when broken, the fracture plane is almost invariably found to take a 

direct course, traversing any pebbles, though perfectly sound, that may lie in its path; 

in fact, the cementation is so firm as to form of the conglomerate, as a whole, a rock 

substantially as hard as the hardest flint pebbles that are included in it.

The various colors of the pebbles in the conglomerate make it a very conspicuous 

rock, so that it is easily recognized where its fragments occur in Pleistocene and 

intervening formations. These fragments are conspicuous in the Lower Carboniferous rocks succeeding the Lisburne series, and are also represented in the Lower and 

Upper Cretaceous and in the Tertiary formations. No one of the parent rocks from 

which the various types of flint pebbles of the Stuver series have been derived has 

yet been observed. The specimens found in the placer mining gulches to the 

northeast, on the west side of the Koyukuk, and referred to by the prospectors as 

"emerald" and "adamant," probably represent flint pebbles derived from the Stuver 

conglomerate.

The interbedded quartzites in the Stuver series are medium grained and exceptionally hard and siliceous, and are usually of a gray or sometimes a pinkish or reddish color, while the slate is dark.

aThe name applied to this series Is taken from Mount Stuver, situated east of the Anaktuvuk, and named for a 

member of the party.
PALEOZOIC BOOKS, STUVEE SEKIES. 61

Where best exposed between the two limestone areas of the Lisburne formation 

to the north of the Anaktuvuk, the Stuver series, forming the lower part of the 

longer limb of an anticline, dips southward at an angle of 30° and passes beneath the 

limestone of the Lisburne formation. The relation of the two formations immediately at the contact is concealed by talus, but near by begins an exposure which, 

extending for several miles along the front of the mountains, shows the Lisburne 

formation dipping southward at an angle of 20°, this dip being but 10° less than 

that of the Stuver series, which, as it nears the Lisburne formation, gradually 

decreases southward. From this it is inferred that the Lisburne, where not faulted, 

probably rests conformably on the Stuver series. If any unconformity exists, it 

must be very slight.

As shown on the geologic map (PI. Ill), the exposure of the Stuver series is 

limited to a narrow belt, about 5 miles in width, that trends eastward for an unknown 

distance from the Anaktuvuk Valley, lying between the eroded edges of the Lisburne formation. The series is also supposed to form the bed-rock floor of the 

Anaktuvuk Valley, beneath the glacial drift, from the north edge of the mountains 

for a distance of 10 to 12 miles southward, to near the southern edge of the Lisburne 

formation. There are some small exposures of its upper member beneath the 

Lisburne along the base of the mountains on both the east and the west side of the 

valley, while on the south it has probably been brought into contact with the Lower 

Carboniferous of the Fickett series by faulting. Both here and at the north edge of 

the series the faulting seems to be normal.

Structure.—To convey a clearer conception of the controlling conditions here, it 

should be noted that the Stuver series lies in an east-west zone that exhibits the 

most marked geologic disturbance of the region. Pronounced faulting extends 

southward into the range for a distance of 15 to 20 miles from its seaward face. 

This zone extends along the crest of the divide between the Yukon and Arctic coast 

drainages, in the region at the head of John and Anaktuvuk rivers, and at the southern 

part of the great crescent formed by the north front of the Endicott Range. The 

beds in a general way retain the east-west trend noted in the older Skajit and 

Totsen series. Roughly considered, the uplift, which, judging from sediments in the 

post-Paleozoic rocks and the unconformable relations of these to the Paleozoic rocks, 

seems to have been going on since middle or late Paleozoic time, apparently took 

place in the form of a broad anticline, whose longer limb extends with gentle slope 

southward and whose shorter limb forms in part the north front of the range. Elevation was accompanied by faulting. The thrust or movement came from the south 

and apparently produced an overturned fold in the terranes forming the crest of the 

anticline. The faulting which accompanied this movement broke the beds into 

several great fault blocks. Erosion followed, which finally brought the Stuver
62 RECONNAISSANCE IN NORTHERN ALASKA IN 1901.

series to view along the axis of the fold. These are apparently the lowest and oldest 

rocks exposed in the northern part of the range.

Toward its northern limits and tho crest of the fold, as has been noted, the 

Stuver series dips southward at an angle of 30°. But still nearer its northern 

limits, practically at the crest of the fold, the beds have been strained, bent downward, and broken, and finally terminate in a well-defined fault scarp, as shown in the 

section on PL III. This scarp trends a little south of east and is visibly pronounced 

for at least 5 or 6 miles. Along this distance, in the higher part of the mountains, 

the edges of the broken, hard conglomerate beds forming the scarp are distinctly 

exposed, generally dipping about 30° S., while at a lower elevation along the face 

of the scarp the broken-off portions of the same strata have dragged "behind along 

the lower face of the scarp and stand nearly on edge, dipping northward at an angle 

of 80°. These nearly vertical beds of the Stuver series are met at the contact on tho 

north by the limestone of the Lisburne formation, which dips south at an angle of 

75° to 80°. (See section on PL III.) The contact of the two formations thus forms 

a reentrant angle of 25°, opening upward.

The conglomerate of the Stuver series, toward its north edge and along the fault 

scarp, is intersected by two systems of jointing about equally pronounced. One 

system trends east and west, with dip vertical; the other nearly north and south, 

with dip to the east at an angle of 80°. On the top of a low mountain along the edge 

of the scarp the same hard conglomerate is finely laminated by a well-marked 

cleavage trending N. 60° E. and dipping northwestward at an angle of 45°.

No estimate can be formed of the thickness of the Stuver series, as its lower 

limits are unknown. The exposed portion shows a thickness of at least 2,000 feet.

Age.—The Stuver series, from its position underneath the Lisburne series, which 

on paleontologic evidence is considered to extend to below Middle Devonian, is 

certainly not younger than Lower Devonian, and it is regarded as probably preDevonian.

Correlation.—No other Alaskan rocks with which it may be correlated are known 

to the writer. Sediments, notably of fine conglomerate, containing materials similar 

to those forming the conglomerates of the Stuver series, have been noted in the 

Mission Creek series of the Yukon district; but probably these, like the sediments 

derived from the Stuver series and now found in the Tertiary and other formations 

on the Arctic slope, have been many times deposited and reworked since they were 

derived from their original source.

LISBURNE FORMATION (DEVONIAN).

Character and occurrence.—Lisburne formation is the name here employed to 

designate the limestone, with some shale, occurring next above the Stuver series at 

the head of Anaktuvuk Kiver. The name is taken from Cape Lisburne, where
PALEOZOIC ROCKS, LISBUENE FORMATION. 63

apparently the same formation, consisting of limestone and shale, occurs. On the 

Anaktuvuk the formation occupies a belt 15 or more miles in width, extending 

north and south along the valley. Toward the west the belt narrows and appears to 

soon be delimited on the southwest by the fault scarp of Contact Creek, and, farther 

west, by the Carboniferous of the Fickett series; while to the east of the Anaktuvuk 

it seems to widen. The westward extension of the formation may, however, somewhat exceed that represented on the map before it disappears beneath the Carboniferous, fpr the mountains south of Contact Creek were not ascended.

Where examined along Contact Creek, the north side of the valley for several 

miles consists of a steep wall, or fault scarp, of the Lisburne .limestone, similar to 

that forming the scarp along the Anaktuvuk Valley on the east; while the rocks 

directly opposite, on the south side of the valley, less than three-fourths mile distant, 

are Carboniferous quartzite and conglomerate of the Fickett series. Northwest of 

this locality, however (as shown in PI. IV, B, a view looking westward from the 

south edge of a Lisburne fault block near Contact Creek), the Lisburne, still forming 

the crest of the axis, with an elevation of about 6,500 feet, is less disturbed. The 

beds on the right, which show a marked increase in shale at the expense of the limestone, dip northward toward the base of the range, while farther west the Lisburne 

seems gradually to disappear beneath the Fickett series as a broad anticline, with the 

longer limb sloping gently southward and the- shorter dipping more steeply northward, and probably playing an important part in forming the steep north front of the 

range, as has been shown to be the case to the east of'the Anaktuvuk Valley.

In the foreground of PI. IV, B, the Lisburne extends all the way across the 

field from left to right, but the sculptured cirque topography forming the top of the 

mountains in the left background lies in the slate and quartzite of the Fickett scries, 

which, to the northwest, seems to overlie the Lisburne and form the crest of the 

range, and probably also descends the north slope and underlies the Mesozoics of the 

Anaktuvuk Plateau at the north base of the mountains.

The rocks of the Lisburne formation may be characterized for the most part as 

medium-bedded semicrystalline limestone of impure white or gray color. They 

weather gray, light rusty brown, or chocolate. They form the mountains that rise 

to a height of 2,500 to 3,000 feet above the floor of the Anaktuvuk Valley. Near 

the summit (see PL X, B, and fig. 4) occur two beds of intercalated shale, each 

apparently several hundred feet thick, and containing some thin layers of dark-gray 

limestone.

On the east the extent of the formation is unknown. On the south it is apparently in contact with the Carboniferous, while in descending the slope of the mountains on the north it disappears beneath a mantle of glacial till, where, judging from 

the topography, it is probably soon met and overlain by Mesozoic strata, which probably rest unconformably upon it at this point. (See. fig. 4, p. 51.)
64 KECONNAISSANCE IK NORTHERN ALASKA IN 1901.

Judging from exposures observed in the region of the Anaktuvuk, the thickness 

of this limestone formation is probably a little over 3,000 feet.

Structure.—The entire area of the Lisburne formation here considered is deeply 

involved in the system of faulting and disturbed blocks referred to under the heading "Stuver series." As viewed from the Anaktuvuk Valley, looking either east 

or west (see section on PI. Ill; also fig, 4 and PI. X, £), the Lisburne series reveals 

but little of the disturbance it has undergone. On the southwest, however, toward 

Contact Creek, the rocks have been folded and broken into blocks, which in some 

instances are highly tilted. The fault on the west side of the Anaktuvuk, shown on 

the right of fig. 4, probably represents the westward extension of the same fault 

that gave rise to the scarp along the northern edge of the Stuver series, which series 

however, has not here been brought to view. At the north base of the mountains, 

west of the Anaktuvuk, the Lisburne formation disappears beneath the covering of 

glacial drift with a dip of 60° to the north. East of the Anaktuvuk it similarly disappears beneath the drift, but with an opposing dip at an angle of 75° S., against 

the fault scarp of the Stuver series, as shown in the section on PI. III. Between 

these two localities the Stuver series probably attains a steep westerly dip, of which 

there is some suggestion along the north edge of the valley, or a portion of the valley may be traversed by a north-south fault extending from the north edge of the 

mountains to the southern limits of the Stuver series.

In certain localities, notably on the south side of the Anaktuvuk, the Lisburne 

is cut by a close jointing, trending N. 27° E., with dip southeast-east at an angle 

of 85°, dividing the rocks into thin slices from 2 to 8 inches in thickness.

There can be but little doubt that the faulting between the Lisburne and the 

Fickett series continues eastward and connects with that along the southern edge 

of the Settles series, on Koyukuk and Chandlar rivers. Its alignment with the 

boundary of the Bettles series, as located in a previous year's work, a is shown on the 

geologic map, PI. III.

Age.—The most convenient disposition to make of the Lisburne formation would 

be to include it with the Fickett series and call the group Carboniferous and Devonian, 

since both Carboniferous and Devonian fossils occur freely in the stream gravels of 

the upper John and Anaktuvuk rivers, and none of the fossils found in place were 

sufficiently well preserved for identification. On lithologic grounds, however, the 

Lisburne formation can be set apart as qu'te distinct from the Fickett series, which 

it also seems to underlie. Therefore, on the basis of the Devonian fossils found in 

detached fragments of rock on the surface of the formation near the top of the 

mountains, and on the lithologic similarity of the rock attached to these fossils to that 

of the Lisburne formation, the formation is provisionally referred to the Devonian.

aSchrader, P. C., Reconnaissance along the Chandlar and Koyukuk rivers, Alaska: Twenty-first Ann. Eept. U. S. 

Geol. Survey, pt. 2,1900, pi. Ix.
PALEOZOIC BOOKS, LISBURNE FORMATION. 65

The fossils from the Lisburne formation collected by the writer have been 

identified by Mr. Charles Schuchert as follows:

Fossils of the Lisburne formation. 

Locality 455.

Productella (2 species).

Platystoma. .

Zaphrentis.

Fenestella.

Unitrypa.

Eridotrypa, nearly identical with E. barrandei (Nicholson) of the Middle Devonian. 

Localities 460 and 462.

Spirifer disjunctus. 

Localities 496, 498, 499, 501, 523, and 524.

Diphyphyllum (1 species). 

Locality 500.

Zaphrentis. 

Locality 528.

Aulocophyllum. 

Locality 533.

Zaphrentis.

Rhombopora.

Fenestella.

Hemitrypa.

Localities 455 and 528 appear to be of one formation of the Middle Devonian. The species present 

suggest very much the Athabasca-Mackenzie Middle Devonian, collected many years ago by Kennicott 

and described by Meek in the Transactions of the Chicago Academy of Sciences. 

Localities 460 and 462.

Spirifer diajunctus, one of the fossils characterizing the Upper Devonian. The same species is

also found in the Peace, Hay, and Liard River regions of Arctic Canada. 

Localities 496, 498, 499, 501, 523, and 524.

Diphyphyllum (1 species). This genus extends in America'from the Upper Silurian to the 

close of the Middle Devonian, and will probably also be found in the Upper Devonian, so that, 

unsupported by other evidence, it does not indicate an exact horizon. This or a very similar 

species has been found at or near the mouth of Mackenzie River in Devonian rocks. 

Localities 500 and 533 are probably also of Devonian age.

Correlation.—On lithologic grounds it appears that the Lisburne formation can 

safely be correlated with the medium-bedded, unsheared limestone portion of the 

Bettles series, which is best exposed near the mouth of Bettles River, on the 

Koyukuk," and it probably continues to the head of Chandlar River. Thus this 

limestone formation extends from the region west of the Anaktuvuk eastward 100 or 

more miles, and the presence of Devonian still farther eastward, to the north of the 

Chandlar, is rendered highly probable by a few fossils collected from the Chandlar 

River gravels in 1899 by the writer.* These fossils, a list of which follows, were 

identified by Dr. George H. Girty, whose statements thereon are here inserted.

"Schradcr, F. C., Reconnaissance along the Chandlar and Koyukuk rivers, Alaska: Twenty-first Ann. Kept. U. S. 

Geol. Survey, pt. 2,1900, p. 475. 

6 Ibid.

189—No. 20—04——5
66 RECONNAISSANCE IN NORTHERN ALASKA IN 1901.

Paleozoic fossils from the Chandlar River gravels.

Locality 211. Indeterminable.

Locality 22. Syringopora sp. 1. '

Locality 2. Syringopora sp. 2.

Locality 47. Spirifer, disjunctus type.

Locality 5. Cyathophylloid coral.

Locality 203. Crinoid stems.

Syringopora, so far as known, is not found above the Carboniferous; therefore 22 and 2 can be 

referred, with little doubt, to the Paleozoic.

The spirifer of locality 47 represents a type which is not found below the Devonian, and is, in a 

measure, restricted to rocks of that age. This spirifer can pretty safely be referred to the Devonian, and 

if, as I suspect, the form is Sp. disjunctus itself or one of its close allies, probably to the "Upper Devonian.

The coral found 'at locality 5 probably belongs to the genus Acervularia. The age indicated is 

certainly Paleozoic, and probably Devonian.

The crinoid fragments found at locality 203 indicate nothing positive as to age. From their 

character and abundance I should be inclined to determine the horizon as Paleozoic.

It should also be noted that the trend of the series continued still farther eastward, beyond the Chandlar River Basin, strikes the Porcupine near the Lower Eamparts, where Devonian forms were collected by Kennicott,a and where Mr. McConnell, of the Canadian geological survey, reports the limestone to yield such .fossils 

as Atrypa reticulwis, with fragmentary specimens of corals referable, in part at 

least, to the Devonian. 6 It seems highly probable that the Lisburne formation may 

also be correlated with the similar limestone and shale formation occurring at Cape 

Lisburne, which, though nearly 400 miles .distant, undoubtedly represents the westward continuation of the same mountain axis. (See PI. V and fig. 1, p. 40.) This suggestion is based, in a measure, on the statements of different persons who have found 

Paleozoic fossils in the Cape Lisburne region, and more especially on the recent 

reports of Mr. H. D. Duniars and Mr. A. Gr. Maddren. The fossils collected by 

Mr. Dumars in the region, with notes by the collector, have been presented by Mr. 

Maddren to the United States National Museum, where they have been examined 

by Mr. Schuchert, whose communication on them to the writer is as follows:

Paleozoic fossils from the Cape Lisburne region.

There is an interesting coral fauna of Middle Devonian age from "limestone cliffs 4 miles south of 

Cape Lisburne, just south of the mouth of a considerable stream, where the rocks strike east and west, 

and'dip south at 45°" (Dumars). This limestone contains—

Endophyllum, 2 species.

Syringopora, near S. tabulate.

Syringopora, near S. perelegans.

Diphyphyllum, near D. simcoense.

Diphyphyllum, near D. stramineum.

Zaphrentis, probably 2 species.

This limestone appears to be the same formation as that discovered by you last summer [at head 

of Anaktuvuk River] at localities 496, 498, 499, 501, 523, and 524, but more particularly at 455 and 528.

"Trans. Chicago Academy Sci., vol. 1,1867. SAnn. Kept. Geol. Survey Canada, new series, vol. 4,1890, p. 133 D,
PALEOZOIC ROCKS, LISBURNE FORMATION AND HICKBTT SERIES. 67

In his field notes referring to this locality Mr. Maddren states that the limestones forming the cliffs referred to contain corals and other fossils and also veins of 

ealcite. Fig- 1 (p. 40) is a profile section of the limestone and shale as sketched 

by Mr. Maddren at a locality a short'distance south of the point where the fossils 

were found in place. The section includes Cape Lewis and Cape Dyer. So far as 

known, however, no fossils were found in the limestone represented in it. Capo 

Dyer is described as the sea terminus of a limestone range, about 1,000 feet in 

height, which trends inland in an easterly direction, the rocks striking east and west 

and dipping 35° N. In the valley between Cape Dyer and The Ears there is said to 

be a syncline of shale containing an exposure of coal along a sea cliff that rises from 

5U to 100 feet above tide. The occurrence of coal here would seem to indicate the 

presence of some other horizon, probably Carboniferous or Mesozoie. According 

to Mr. Maddren the limestone beds at Cape Lewis also dip north and expose a 

thickness of 800 to 1,000 feet.

We may also note that the Middle Devonian discovered by Mr. Spurr in southwestern Alaska,® in the Kuskokwim country, is considered by Mr. Schuehert as 

about the same as that on the Anaktuvuk. The same is true of the forms collected 

by Mr. Brooks in southeastern Alaska. 6

Distribution.—The thickness of the Lisburne formation in the mountains on the 

Anaktuvuk and at Cape Lisburne on the coast, and the important part it plays in the 

constitution of the Endicott Range and the continuation of these mountains westward 

to at least the one hundred and fifty-second meridian, as discovered by Howard," as 

well as the general regularity in the disposition of the rocks, seem to render it 

highly probable that that formation is continuous between the Anaktuvuk and Cape 

Lisburne. Its lithologic resemblance to the limestones of the Settles series on the 

Koyukuk^ and the Devonian fossils found by the writer in the Chaiidlar River 

district, and by Kennicott and MeConnell farther east on the Porcupine, would lead 

to the inference that the Lisburne formation, or at least the Devonian, forms a pretty 

constant component of this northern Rooky Mountain range from Cape Lisburne 

eastward throughout northern Alaska, for a distance of 600 or more miles, nearly to 

the international boundary and probably beyond it.

WCKETT SEKIES (CARBONIFEROUS).

Character and occurrence.—The Fickett series, so named from the Fiekett River of 

Alien (now called John River), comprises rocks of very diverse character, ranging from

"Spurr, J. EM A reconnaissance in southwestern Alaska in 1898: Twentieth Ann. Kept. U. S. Geol. Survey, pt. 7, 1900, 

p. 179.

b Brooks, A. H., Preliminary report on the Ketehikan mining district, Alaska: Prof. Paper U. S.Geol. Survey No. 1,1902, 

p. 21.

oStoney, Lieut. George M., Naval Explorations in Alaska, U. S. Naval Institute, Annapolis, Md., 1900, p. 70.

tfSchrader, F. C., Reconnaissance along the Chandlaraiid Koyukuk rivers, Alaska; Twenty-first Ann. Kept, 

U. S. Geol. Survey, pt. 2, 1900, p. 475, ' •'
68 RECONNAISSANCE IN NORTHERN ALASKA IN 1901.

t

chloritic schists and phyllites on the south, through impure limestone, slate, sandstone, 

quartzite, and grit, to hard conglomerate on the north. As shown in the discussion 

of the Skajit, Totsen, Lisburne, and Stuver series, the Endicott Mountains contain 

two geologic axes, a northern and a southern, both composed of the older Paleozoic 

rocks, and, as represented on the geologic map and section (PI. Ill), the Fickett 

series lies essentially in what appears to be a broad trough between these two 

axes. This trough or syncline, judging from the unconformity of the Fickett 

series to the Skajit and Lisburne formations, and the difference in character of the 

sediments, was probably occupied by an arm of the sea in late Paleozoic time, when 

the axes on the north and the south seem to have stood above sea level; and the 

sediments of the Fickett series, judging from their calcareous content, were probably 

in part derived from these Paleozoic land areas.

Here the Fickett series has a width, or north-south extent, of about 50 miles. 

On the south its edges appear to rest unconformably on the eroded Skajit formation of the southern axis, as shown in the geologic section, while owing to the faulting at the head of John and Anaktuvuk rivers its relations to the older rocks of the 

northern axis are not definitely revealed. It seems, however, to meet the Stuver 

scries and the Lisburne formation by fault contact, as has been indicated. To the 

north of this contact, so far as observed in the region of the Anaktuvuk, all trace of 

the scries in place seems to have been removed by erosion. To the west, however, 

beyond the limits of the fault-block system of the Devonian, about 20 miles from the 

Anaktuvuk, it seems to overlie the Lisburne formation, and probably extends beneath 

the Mesozoics at the north base of the range. From the occurrence of Carboniferous 

fossils in the stream gravels it is inferred that the same conditions probably prevail 

to the east of the Anaktuvuk, but they have not thus far been actually observed.

Beginning on the south slope of the north axis of the range, the lower part of 

the Fickett series, as it seems to be, consists of dark shale, schistose slate, and apparently some dark limestone, which is succeeded by quartzite, grit, and conglomerate. 

The sediments in the quartzite, and more especially those in the grit and conglomerate, though they are often fine, bear a marked resemblance to the vari-colored 

conglomerate of the Stuver series, from which they seem undoubtedly to have been 

derived. The quartzite, grit, and conglomerate are hard and flinty, the grains and 

pebbles being thoroughly united by a siliceous cement. The best exposure of these 

rocks that was seen is that at Fork Peak, on John River, east of camp July 12, from 

which point for about 15 miles northeastward,,to beyond the Anaktuvuk portage, 

they present a steep face to the northwest, overlooking the upper part of John River 

Valley. Here the dip is gently south or southeast. Apparently these same conglomerates and grits were also encountered in the lower reaches of a deeply cut gulch 

about 20 miles south of Fork Peak, west of the mouth of Hunt Fork. Toward
PALEOZOIC BOOKS, FICKETT SERIES. 69

the top of Fork Peak the grit and quartzite give way to dark schistose slate and 

dark-gray micaceous sandstone.

Southward, at a geologically higher horizon, gray sandstone, limestone, gray 

schist, some quartzitic schist, slate, and conglomerate are encountered. These rocks 

are medium layered, variously interbedded, and more or less sheared. In the region 

of Hunt Fork a dark-gray or bluish schistose sandstone and soft slate become 

predominant^. Apparently ascending in the column, still farther southward, the 

rocks become for the most part very fine-grained gray or bluish quartz-schist, with 

finally greenish chloritic schist and slate, which continues to the southern edge of 

the series, where it rests uneonformably on the Skajit limestone formation. The 

quartzitic schist and the green chloritic schist often carry considerable quartz in 

small veins and stringers, trending more or less parallel with the schistosity and 

the bedding. But exceptions occur, as shown in PL XI, A, where a species of 

gash veining breaks across the bedding. This quartz frequently is most abundant 

in the bights of sharp folds and along lines of strain and breaking. So far as 

observed, the veins carry no valuable metals.

Besides the above-noted rocks, light-gray and dark or black limestones, apparently belonging to the series, but not met in place along the route traversed, were 

sighted and studied with the field glass both southeast and southwest of Fork Peak. 

These limestones, judging from the resemblance to the specimens found in the 

stream gravels, are the mother rocks of the fossils occurring so abundantly in 

the streams. Their position in the geologic section seems to be above the conglomerate, grit, and quartzite portion of the section and near the dark schistose 

slate and dark-gray micaceous sandstone, as shown to some extent'in PI. VII.

Structure.-—The Fickett series, like the other Paleozoics of the range, has been 

subjected to faulting and folding, incident to mountain building. The general 

structure, however, seems to be monoclinal, with strike and trend east and west and 

dip south at angles of 20° to 45°. The dip may vary, however, from southeast 

in some localities to southwest in others, while in certain eases the rocks lie nearly 

horizontal or dip very gently north. The prevailing southerly dip of the series as 

a whole seems to point to a greater and probably later elevation in the northern 

than in the southern part of the range since the Fickett was laid down.

The series is finely cut in some localities by the major nearly northeast-southwest jointing, whose planes are frequently slickensided and usually dip 70° to 

80° NW. Slight movement, or normal faulting, has frequently taken place along 

them. The rocks are also traversed by a secondary set of joints, trending nearly 

northwest and southeast, with dip nearly vertical, or in some instances 60° to 

80° SW.

The schists, and notably the slates, often exhibit excellent cleavages, a good
70 BECONNAISSANCE IN NOBTHERN ALASKA IN 1901.

instance of which is shown at Crag Peak, 10 miles south of Hunt Fork and 4i miles 

west of John River. Here the cleavage trends N. 35° E. and dips northwest at an 

angle of 85°. Four miles north of this point, on the west side of John River, 

occurs another good instance, in which the cleavage trends N. 70° E., with dip to 

the north at an angle of 45°. Also where the river crosses the sixty-eighth parallel 

a cleavage is found trending east and west, with dip south at an angle of 30°.

Age.—No fossils have been found in place in this series, but on the basis of 

abundant Lower Carboniferous forms obtained in the stream pebbles of the region, 

and the lithologic resemblance of these pebbles to the rocks of the series, and also 

from the relation of the series to the Lisburne formation (which is considered 

Devonian and seems to underlie it), the Fickett series is provisionally assigned to the 

Lower Carboniferous. Following is a list of the fossil forms collected by the writer 

within the area occupied by the series, largely on the headwaters of John and Anaktuvuk rivers. They have been identified by Mr. Schuchert, who reports as follows:

Fossils from the Fickett series.

Locality 493. Lithostrotion (of the group in which the corallitcs are not in close embrace).

Locality 495. Spirifcr striatus Martin, Productus scabriculus Martin, and Spirifer near S. neglectua 

Hall.

Locality 513. Productus scabriculus Martin. v

Locality 520. Productus semireticulatus Martin.

Locality 521. Spirifer striatus Martin; Productus, a very small undetermined species, and Cysto- 

•dictya nearest to C. lineata.

Locality 522. Spirifer striatus Martin and Fenestella.

Locality 525: Spirifer striatus Martin and Spiriferina cristata Schlotheim?

Locality 534. Streblotrypa near nicklesi Vine; Feuestella, several species, one of which is near F. 

cestriensia Ulrich; Cystodictya, Piunatopora, and Ehornbopora,

The above eight localities represent one formation, in the upper portion of the Lower Carboniferous. This fauna, however, is unlike that of the Mississippi Valley in that it does not have its characterizing fossils, as the screw-like bryozoan Archimedes and the blastoid genus Pentremiles. 

parisons must be deferred until larger collections are at hand.

Localities 497 and 529 have a Syringopora much like S. multattenuata of the Upper Carboniferous. 

This genus, however, has little stratigraphic value, but the development of the species present is 

indicative of Carboniferous.

Localities 511, 518, and 454 are represented by a crinoidal limestone, apparently the same as at 

localities 525 and 521 and probably from the horizon of the latter.

Localities 463 and 464 represent another horizon, since the lithology is quite different from any of 

the other localities. The only fossils present are large crinoidal columns like those'of the Lower Carboniferous.

Locality 461 also has large crinoid columns and may represent the Lower Carboniferous.

The above localities probably all represent the same Lower Carboniferous formation as that of 

the specimens from localities 493, 495, 513, 520, 521, 522, 525, and 534.

. Locality 519 has Fenestella, Ci/stodictya? and crinoid columns. The material is unsatisfactory 

and all I can do is to state that it indicates either Devonian or Carboniferous.
U. 8. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY PROFESSIONAL PAPER HO. 20 PL. XI

A. QUARTZ GASH STRIMGER VEINING IN FICKETT SERIES ON JOHN RIVER, IN ENDICOTT MOUNTAINS.

Looking southeast.

H. STRUCTURE IN ANAKTUVUK SERIES ON ANAKTUVUK RIVER 

Looking N. 1CT W.
PALEOZOIC BOCKS, FICKETT 8EE1ES. 71

In referring the series to the Lower Carboniferous, however, it should be borne 

in mind that the fossils were nearly all found in the northern part of the field, where 

they have apparently come from near the lower part of the section, and since the 

series is possibly 8,000 to 10,000 feet in thickness, it may extend not only into 

Upper Carboniferous but possibly into Lower Mesozoic.

Correlation.—Carboniferous fossils have been collected by Spurr 0 and Collier 

•on the Yukon above Circle, by Mendenhall and the writer in the northern part of 

the Copper Basin, and by Dall in southeastern Alaska, on Kuiu Island, but these all 

seem to be Upper or Permo-Carboniferous, and therefore afford no ground for close 

correlation of the rock occurring there with those of the section here considered.

Independent of paleontologic evidence, on purely lithologic grounds, some of the 

gray schist, sandstone, and limestone beds of the series toward the northern part 

were associated by the writer in the field with the West Fork series of Chandlar 

River,6 which is regarded as possibly the source of some of the Paleozoic fossils 

found in the river gravels below that point, and which has been relegated by 

Doctor Girty to Carboniferous or Devonian.

Carboniferous forms are reported to have been collected on Captain Beechey's 

voyage," 1825-1828, on the northwest coast between Cape Beaufort and Cape Thompson (see PI. V). More recently, in the Cape .Lisburne region, plant remains have 

been collected by Mr. Dumars which have been identified by Mr. David White as a 

small species of JLepidodendron, related to L. chemungense, and a small form of 

Stigmaria ficoides, indicative of Carboniferous age. This denotes at least the 

presence of Carboniferous rocks in the Cape Lisburne region, which, on future 

investigation, may be correlated with the Fickett series, and -suggests that the rocks 

of the two regions may be continuous in the mountains lying between them, as the 

Devonian is supposed to be. (Sec p. 6(5.)

In fact, if topographic criteria be taken into account—namely, the continuation 

of the mountains eastward beyond the international boundary—with what has been 

said of the occurrence of the Lisburne formation, it may here be briefly stated, in 

concluding the subject of Paleozoic rocks, that the present exploration, together 

with the evidence previously collected in the region to the east and that to the 

west, toward Cape Lisburne, seems to indicate beyond question the extension of 

a well-developed belt of Paleozoic rocks across northern Alaska, coinciding with 

the- trend of the Rocky Mountains from the one hundred and thirty-fifth meridian, 

near the Mackenzie, to the one hundred and sixty-sixth, at Cape Lisburne, a distance 

of nearly 1,000 miles.

"Spurr, J. 15., Geology of the Yukon gold district, Alaska: Eighteenth Ann. Kept. U. S. Geol. Survey, pt. 3,1898. 

bSehrader, F. C., Reconnaissance along the Chandlar and Koyukuk rivers, Alaska: Twenty-first Ann. Kept. U. S. Geol. 

Survey, pt. 2,1900.

c Voyage of Captain Beechey to the Pacific and Behring'a Straits, London, 1886, pp. 378-405.
72 BECONNAISSANCE IN WOBTHEBN ALASKA IN 1901.

In the Cape Lisburne region, as noted, the belt has a known width of nearly 75 

miles and the rooks terminate in abrupt sea cliffs. The thickness of the section here 

is not known, but from what has been learned of the attitude of the rocks, it is 

judged to be considerable, since nowhere do older rocks appear to be exposed beneath 

these Paleozoics; from which it seems safe to infer that the latter probably extend 

far seaward as a submarine feature; and as this part of the ocean is known in the 

main to be shallow, it seems not unlikely that the same formations may extend across 

its floor and appear on the Siberian coast. It may be noted, however, that Doctor 

Dall, who visited this coast, reports that the rocks on portions of it are essentially 

crystalline or igneous. Some lignite occurs on Wrangell Island, but we do not 

know that Paleozoic or other formations occur there.

MESOZOIC BOOKS. 

CORWIN SERIES (jUKA-CKETACEOUs).

Character and occurrence. —The name Corwiu is proposed for a series of sedimentary rocks which are younger than the Fickett series and older than the Ana'ktuvuk series (next to be described). The name is taken from Corwin Bluff, in the 

Cape Lisburne region (see PI. V), where the well-known coal mines of this name are 

located, and where rocks typical of the series are well exposed.

The rocks in the main have a strong lithologic resemblance to the Auaktuvuk 

series, and seem to be closely related to it in geographic and stratigraphic position, 

but as they are not known to occur in the interior along the route followed by 

this traverse, they will not be found represented on the geologic map nor in the 

geologic section. However, sufficient has been seen of the rocks along the coast from 

"Wainwright Inlet to near Cape Lisburne to lead to the inference that they probably 

form a part of the trans-Alaskan Rocky Mountain system; and on topographic, 

geographic, and lithologic grounds, as shown in what follows, it has been concluded that they are intermediate between the Fickett and Anaktuvuk series, a view 

which is also supported by paleontologie evidence. The series contains the Wainwright, Cape Beaufort.-Thetis, and Corwin coals, most of which are of good grade. 

The inland extension of the series is also further suggested by the occurrence of coal 

on the Colville, reported by Howard and by Eeed (see p. 31).

As observed along the coast, the Corwin series seems to extend from near Wainwright Inlet, latitude 70° 37', longitude 159° 45', southwestward a distance of 180 

miles or more, nearly to Cape Lisburne (see PL V). Beyond this point, farther 

inland, it seems to give way with marked unconformity to the Paleozoic rocks 

forming the core of the mountains terminating in the sea cliffs at Cape Lisburne and 

the coast south of that point (fig 1, p. 40).
MESOZOIC BOCKS, COBWIN SERIES. 73

. The series was first examined by the writer in the low coastal bluffs near Wainwright Inlet, where the rocks consist of layers of dense, earthy-colored or dark-gray, 

soft, impure limestone or calcareous shale, and hard, bluish gray sandstone of 

medium grain, all interbedded with dull-bluish,, softer shale. Here the land mass, 

composed in the main of these rocks, rises about 90 feet above sea level, and presents 

a nearly flat or very gently undulatory surface extending as far as can be seen.

Cape Beaufort (see PI. V) marks the southern termination of this very gently 

undulatory or nearly flat lowland, which extends southwestward from Point Barrow, 

and which is underlain by rocks belonging, in part at least, to the Corwin series. 

As we near Cape Beaufort, in proceeding southward, the surface soon rises by a 

succession of low, minor ridges, of which the cape itself is the chief. This ridge 

is about 800 feet high, and is a portion of a" warped and dissected plateau extending 

inland to the southwest (see PI. X, C). The rocks of this plateau, though resembling 

the Corwin series, seem distinctly more indurated and bear the stamp of greater 

age. For this reason it is thought that they may, on further research, prove to be as 1 

old as Triassic or possibly Carboniferous,- especially since Carboniferous fossils are 

reported to have been found somewhere in the region. For the present, however, 

the Cape Beaufort rocks are regarded as part of the Corwin series.

At Cape Beaufort the rocks consist essentially of thin-bedded, impure, gray and 

brown sandstone and arkose, with sometimes a little conglomeratic material containing lignitic plant remains. The sandstone is occasionally hardened,, almost to 

quartzite. There is also some very impure limestone, and some coal.

Farther west, in the region of Cape Sabine (see PI. V and PI. X, (?), considerable 

shale is also known to occur -v and still farther west, in the region of the Corwin coal 

mines, the rocks, as exposed in the beach bluff, are mainly soft, impure, dull-greenish, 

gray, or brownish sandstone, shale, slate, and coal. Some more typical hard, gray • 

sandstone, however, is also present. In general, the rocks occur in thin beds, from 

1 to 2 feet in thickness, but occasionally there are layers 4 to 8 feet thick. These 

heavier members are usually sandstone.

Structure.—Excepting the tilt which the beds have received by uplift, giving 

them a general southerly dip varying from a very low angle to 40° or more, they 

have been but little disturbed. Some folding, however, and apparently slight faulting have taken place.

In the lowland near Wainwright Inlet the rocks are nearly horizontal or dip 

very gently southeastward. At Cape Beaufort the strike is N. 25° W., with dip 

southwestward at an angle of approximately 20°. In the region of the Corwin 

mines the. strike is N. 45° W., and the dip 36° or more south westward. Here the 

rocks are also cut by two systems of jointing, trending nearly at right angles. The 

one trends nearly northeast and dips northwest at an angle of 60° to 70°, while the
74 BECOiraAISSANCE IN NOBTHERN ALASKA IN 1901.

other trends nearly northwest, approximately parallel with the strike of the rocks, 

and dips northeastward at an angle of 60° to 70°. These jointings, however, do not 

cut up the rock greatly, not nearly so much as do those in the Lower Cretaceous 

rocks of the Anaktuvuk series in the interior.

Age.—Remains of fossil plants found in the Cape Beaufort region, and more 

particularly in the shale near the Thetis mine at Cape Sabine, by Mr. Dumars, Mr. 

Woolfe, and others, have been identified 0 by Professor Fontaine and Doctor Ward as 

not older than the Oolitic of the Jurassic, nor younger than the Lower Cretaceous, 

and as probably transitional between the two. Similar evidence is afforded by 

fossil plants collected by the writer on the coast about 7 miles southwest of Wainwright Inlet, which have been identified by the same authorities as—

Nageiopsis longifolia Font.

Older Potomac of Virginia (Lower Cretaceous). 

Podozamites distantinervis Font.

Older Potomac of Virginia (Lower Cretaceous). 

Baiera gracilis (Bean) Bunbury. 

• Oolite of Yorkshire, England (Jurassic).

On the above evidence, therefore, the Corwin scries is provisionally assigned to 

the Jura-Cretaceous.

Correlation.—Except the Kennicott 6 formation in the Copper River district, no 

Jura-Cretaceous rocks with which the Corwin series can be correlated have thus 

far been found in Alaska.

ANAKTUVUK SERIES (LOWER CRETACEOUS).

Character and occurrence.—The Anaktuvuk series takes its name from the native 

name of the river along which it was observed by the writer'1. It underlies the 

southern or principal part of the very gently rolling Anaktuvuk Plateau, along 

the north side of the Endicott Range, whence, with surface sloping gently northward, 

it continues to form the country rock for a distance of about 50 miles, where it is 

succeeded by younger rocks.

Along the base of the mountains the series, judging from the topography (sec 

PI. IV), is believed to rest unconformably on the Devonian, or Lisburne formation. 

Of this, however, we have no conclusive evidence, as the actual relation between the 

two rocks was not seen, because of the covering of glacial drift. The first exposure 

of the series visited by the writer is about 8 miles from the mountains.

To the east the Anaktuvuk series is probably soon limited by the Paleozoic front 

of the range, while to the west and northwest it probably constitutes in part the

« A full description of these collections, including the forms collected by the writer, will appear in Doctor Ward's second 

paper on the Older Mesozoic floras, to be published by the U. S. Geological Survey.

z>Schrader, P. C., and Spencer, A. C., Geology and Mineral Resources of a Portion of the Copper River District, Alaska 

(a special publication of the U. S. Geol. Survey), 1901, p. 48.
MESOZOIC BOCKS, ANAKTUVUK SERIES. 75

so-called Meade River Mountains, and, continuing northwestward, may extend to 

the Arctic coast.

The series consists essentially of impure sandstone or arkose, with a little fine 

conglomerate. The sandstone is usually heavy bedded, beds 6 to 8 feet in thickness 

being common, and it is generally fine to medium grained, but in some localities 

becomes so coarse as to be almost a grit. In color it ranges from, dark or bluish gray 

to dirty greenish, while the coarser grained rock often presents a speckled or saltand-pepper appearance, and is seen to be composed of grains of the variously colored 

flints represented in the Skiver conglomerate. In fact, the color of the rock throughout seems to be determined largely by the relative abundance of the different colored 

sediments from-the Stuver series.

Northward from the mountains the rocks, though distinctly sedimentary, contain 

also some detritus of igneous rocks, as fragments of feldspar and some dark mineral, 

apparently augite or hornblende. The igneous rocks from which such sediments 

have been derived probably occur in the mountains lying far east or southeast of the 

plateau, as none were observed in the mountains in the region of the Anaktuvuk.

Conglomerate is apparently rare in the series, having been observed at but a 

single place—on the right bank of the Anaktuvuk about 2 miles below the mouth of 

Willow Creek, where it is exposed in a low point, interbedded with a few lens-like 

layers of sandstone. The conglomerate is typically rather fine, with scarcely a 

pebble exceeding three-fourths of an inch in diameter. The pebbles and cement are 

composed largely of sediments of the Stuver series, white quartz and dark or slatecolored flint being the most conspicuous. The pebbles are noticeable for their 

angularity, suggesting glaciation about the time the scries was deposited. The 

cementation is relatively firm for a young rock, but is not comparable with that in 

the Stuver or Fickett series. The cement is mainly siliceous, but contains also 

calcareous material, probably derived from, the Lisburne formation.

Owing to the low relief and the covering of drift and moss, no accurate idea 

can be formed of the thickness of the Anaktuvuk series, but it is estimated to be 

at least 2,000 feet.

Structure.—The strike of the Anaktuvuk series is approximately east and west, 

agreeing in this respect with the several series of rocks that compose the range to 

the south. Broadly considered the structure seems monoclinal. The rocks in 

general dip gently northward at varying angles, but subordinate gentle anticlinal 

and synclinal folds are present, the latter being occasionally open. These were 

probably caused by the same mountain-building forces that were exerted in the range 

to the south. This is suggested by the fact that the trend of the more pronounced 

folds in the plateau is parallel with the main folding of the range, as if all belonged 

to the same system. Besides the east-west major flexures, the plateau is also
76 BECONNAISSANCE IN NORTHERN ALASKA IN 1901.

traversed by a subordinate or minor system of cross folds or warpings, with axes 

trending1 north and south, giving1 rise to occasional low domes, as shown in fig. 3 

(p. 46), which also shows that the region has been subjected to considerable denudation.

The series is freely traversed by two systems of jointing, as shown in PI. XI, B. 

Of these, what seems to be the dominant or major system trends nearly northwest 

and dips southwest at an angle of 80°, while the minor system traverses the rocks at 

nearly right angles to the major, trending northeast, with dip 80° SE. Both 

systems seem to roughly correspond in trend with the similar structures in the 

Paleozoic rocks in the mountains to the south.

Age.—It has been determined, on paleontologio evidence, that the Anaktuvuk 

series is Lower Cretaceous. It contains typical Amelia beds of Alaska. The first 

fossils collected by the writer were found 8 miles north of the foot of the mountains. 

Subsequently others were found at several points farther north, principally at the 

first cross ridge on the Anaktuvuk, and in the bluff at the mouth of Willow Greek. 

Of these fossils the most characteristic, as determined by Doctor Stanton, are 

"Aucella crassicollis Keyserling, or closely related forms, and are of Lower Cretaceous age.

It should be borne in mind, however, that while its Jurassic forms prevent the 

Corwin series from being included with the Anaktuvuk series as Lower Cretaceous, 

it is not improbable that the discovery of such forms in the future may place the 

lower portion of the Anaktuvuk series, now assigned to the Lower Cretaceous, in 

the Jura-Cretaceous, since no fossils have yet been found in the extreme basal portion of the Anaktuvuk rocks.

Correlation.—On paleontologic grounds the Anaktuvuk series may be directly 

correlated with the Koyukuk series, next to be described. The rooks of the former, 

however, are free from all trace of igneous intrusions, while the Koyukuk scries is 

associated with igneous rooks," as dikes, and probably also as flows. 6

Lithologically the Anaktuvuk rocks boar little or no resemblance to the Mission 

Creek series, assigned to the Cretaceous by Spurr, 0 nor to the Kennicott formation 

or the Orca series of the Copper River district. AS shown in the table of provisional 

correlation, several other series of rocks found elsewhere in Alaska have also been 

referred to the Cretaceous—the Matannska series by Mendenhall, between Resurrection Bay and Tanana River; the Tordrillo, Holiknuk, Kolmakof, and Oklune by 

Spurr, in southwestern Alaska; and the Cantwell conglomerate by Eldridge, a in the 

Sushitna River region.

oSchrader, F. C., Reconnaissance along the Chandlar and Koyukuk rivers, Alaska: Twenty-first Ann. Eept. U. S. 

Geol. Survey, pt. 2, 1900, p. 477. 

6 P. 78, this paper.

a Spurr, J. E., Geology of the Yukon gold district, Alaska: Eighteenth Ann. Eept. U, S. Geol. Survey, pt. 3, 1898. 

dEldridge, G. H., A reconnaissance in the Suahitna Basin, Alaska: Twentieth Ann. Kept. U. S. Geol. Survey, pt. 7,1898.
MESOZOIC BOOKS, KOYUKUK AND BERGMAN SERIES. 77

KOYUKUK SERIES (LOWER CRETACEOUS).

Character and occurrence.—The rocks of the Koyukuk series consist of pink and 

reddish impure limestone, dark shale, slates, and some sandstones or arkose, with 

occasional associated igneous rocks. The latter include dioritic dikes, amygdaloids, 

and andesitic tuffs, which denote volcanic activity during and subsequent to Lower 

Cretaceous time.

The series is represented as occupying a small, roughly quadrangular area near 

the southern edge of the geologic map, lying principally between the sixty-sixth 

parallel and the Arctic Circle on Koyukuk River. It, however, is known to 

extend southwestward considerably beyond the limits of the map, .and may with 

further investigation be found to occupy a large part of the Koyukuk Basin. It is 

represented as limited on the northeast by the Bergman series, which in a general 

way it seems to underlie, and with which further study may show it to be closely 

connected in point of age.

Owing to wide breaks in the sequence of outcrops and the changing attitude of 

the rocks, no attempt will be made at present to form an estimate of the thickness of 

the series. It may be noted, however, that at one point where fossils were collected, 

near the southern edge of the map, on the right (or west) bank of Koyukuk River, 

the limestone exhibits a thickness of about 800 feet.

Structure.—The Koyukuk series has been variously disturbed by folding and by 

some faulting, but the prevailing dip, so far as observed, is northward, roughly 

speaking, at an angle of 40° to 45°. A profuse jointing trends N. 25° W., and dips 

steeply northeast, and a well-marked cleavage strikes northeast and dips 75° SE.

Age.—The age of the Koyukuk series is supposed by Doctor Stanton to be the 

same as that of the Anaktuvuk series. This determination is based on fossils collected 

by the writer in the impure limestone near the southern edge of the area mapped, on 

the right bank of the river, and at another locality a few miles farther down the 

stream, to the southwest. In each instance Doctor Stanton states that Lower 

Cretaceous age is indicated by the presence of Aucella crassicollis Keyserling.

Correlation.—See "Correlation" under Anaktuvuk series, page 76.

BERGMAN SERIES (CRETACEOUS?), a

Character and occurrence.—The term Bergman is here employed to designate a 

group of comparatively uniform rocks covering a large area in the Koyukuk Basin and 

forming in large part the Koyukuk Plateau (see p. 44). This series lies north of the 

Koyukuk series and has a north-south extent of 60 to 70 miles. On the north 

it rests unconformably on the schists of the.Totsen series, while on the south it is 

apparently infolded with the Koyukuk series, to which it is supposed to be closely 

related and which it is supposed to succeed in geologic age.

a The name Bergman is that of a trading post on Koyukuk River situated within the area occupied by the series, at a 

point where its rocks have become exposed by the incision of the valley into the plateau.
78 RECONNAISSANCE IN NORTHERN ALASKA IN 1901.

The Bergman series consists essentially of thin- or medium-bedded, impure, gray 

or brownish sandstone and dark slate, with some dark shale and occasionally conglomerate, but along the north it is bordered by a belt of conglomerate about 10 

miles wide which is apparently the basal member. The sediments of the scries have 

been derived very largely from igneous rocks, as is shown by the generally feldspathic 

constituents of the sandstones and the presence of basaltic, diabasic, and granitic 

pebbles or finer detritus in the conglomerate on the lower part of Alatna Eiver 

and at Lookout Mountain. The supposed basal belt of conglomerate along the northern border, however, so far as it was observed in the John Kiver region, is composed essentially of the debris of limestone and mica-schist derived from the Skajit 

formation and the Totsen series, on which latter it unconformably lies. This conglomerate is normally coarse, and in some instances contains bowlders.

Owing to the wide separation of the outcrops visited, data for forming an adequate estimate of the thickness of the Bergman series have not been obtained. From 

a general impression, however, it seems safe to suggest that it is probably at least 

2,000 feet.

Structure.—The Bergman series, like the Koyukuk series to the south, has been 

considerably folded and somewhat faulted, but apparently to a less degree than the 

latter. Faulting has been observed on Koyukuk River just below Bergman and 

farther downstream, below Ka'nutiRiver. Though local folding has been pronounced, 

and the rocks are sometimes highly tilted and stand on edge, the prevailing dip of 

the series seems to be gently southward. On the whole the series does not seem to 

have received from the geologically late crustal movement the widespread tilt exhibited by both the Anaktuvuk series on the north of the range and the Koyukuk scries 

on the south. Lookout Mountain apparently represents part of an anticlinal fold 

occurring in the series. Here the beds strike a little north of west and dip south 

at an angle of about 80°. A pronounced jointing trends northwest and dips 80° 

NE. A minor jointing trends north and dips east at an angle of 80°. On the north, 

where the beds apparently rest against the Totsen series, the dip is south at an angle 

of about 40°.

Age.—In 1899, owing to the presence of coal, lignite, and fragmentary plant 

remains in the beds, notably above Tramway Bar, and the resemblance of the beds in 

many instances to the Kcnai formation occurring elsewhere in Alaska, it was conjectured that the rocks might be Tertiary and in part Kenai. The more extended 

observations made during the last season, though a large area of the series was 

traversed, have thrown.no more definite light on the subject, for determining fossils 

were not found. It has been shown, however, that between Bergman and John 

River the series bears a marked resemblance lithologically to the Anaktuvuk series, 

or Lower Cretaceous, and that its rocks, on the whole, are more indurated than the
MESOZOIC BOCKS, NANUSHUK SEBIES. 79

coal-bearing Upper Cretaceous or Nanushuk series, both occurring in the Arctic slope 

region. Judging from this, and from the seemingly close relationship of the Bergman series to the Lower Cretaceous or Koyukuk series, and the bituminous character 

of its coal content (No. 187 in table of analyses, p. 114), it seems probable that on 

further investigation the Bergman series is more likely to prove to be Cretaceous 

than Tertiary.

NANUSHUK SEBIES (UPPER CBETACEOUS).

Character and occurrence.—This series is named from Nanushuk River, the native 

name of the stream on which it occurs, and which flows into the Anaktuvuk north of 

the middle of the belt. The series lies north of the Anaktuvuk series, which it seems 

to overlie unconformably, and is itself in turn overlain by the Tertiary Arctic coast 

strata, with which its relations are apparently also unconformable. The unconformity between the Anaktuvuk and the Nanushuk is inferred from the difference in the 

topography and the marked change in the character and attitude of their rocks. In 

the most northern observed exposure of the Anaktuvuk the dip is north, while in 

the most southern of the Nanushuk it is steeply south. The north-south width of 

the series, in the region of the Anaktuvuk, is about 30 miles, while its east-west 

extent is not known. It is probable that to the east it is soon delimited by the 

Anaktuvuk series, lying between it and the'Paleozoics at the foot of the range. 

Westward, or rather northwestward, it may possibly extend to the Arctic coast, 

in the region between Point Barrow and Wainwright Inlet, but of this we have no 

paleontologic evidence.

Along Auaktuvuk River the topography of the Nanushuk series is of a character 

intermediate between that of the gently undulatory region of the Lower Cretaceous 

or Anaktuvuk series and that of the flat Tertiary coastal plain, whose terranes will 

be next described.

The rocks of the Nanushuk series are best exposed in the north bank of the 

Anaktuvuk about 5 miles above the mouth of Tuluga River. The exposure occurs 

in a bluff about three-eighths of a mile long that rises steeply 120 feet above the 

river (PI. XII, A). The rocks, which here have a steep dip, are mainly thin bedded 

(PL XII, B). The beds range from 3 to 6 inches in thickness and exhibit rapid 

alternation. They consist of gray and brown sandstone, generally fine grained and 

sometimes friable, with some gray and impure fossiliferous limestone, dark shale, 

fine-grained gray quartzite, drab-colored and green chert, and black slate, stained 

reddish along the joints. Coal of good quality is also present (see analysis 107, 

p. 114). The beds strike N. 82° E., and dip south at an angle of 80°.

The above exposure seems to represent part of the south or upstream limb of 

an anticlinal fold which has been beveled off 'by erosion, for farther downstream the 

dip is north. Similar beds, probably belonging to the same series, were encountered,
80 RECONNAISSANCE IN NORTHERN ALASKA IN 1901.

but not examined, about 10 or 12 miles above this point on the opposite side of the 

valley. Northward toward the Colville, where they are finally succeeded by the 

}rounger formation of the Tertiary coastal plain, the beds scern to lie more nearly 

horizontal. They possibly floor the valley and form the bed of Colville Kiver 

down to about 5 miles below the mouth of the Anaktuvuk. Here_are rapids which 

probably mark the termination of the series in the river bed, though the rocks are 

no longer exposed in the banks. Below this point the bed of the Colville appears to 

lie in the younger and softer formations of the coastal plain, and the current continues 

slack nearly all the way to the coast.

Structure.—So far as observed, the strike of the Nanushuk series is about east and 

west, and though, from comparison with some of the older rock series, we might 

expect the prevailing dip to be northward, observation has hardly been sufficient to 

affirm that it is so. The apparent existence of at least one pronounced anticline has 

been shown in the previous paragraph. The series is traversed by a system of 

approximately horizontal jointing (PI. XII, B).

Age.—On paleontologic evidence the Nanushuk series is assigned to the Upper 

Cretaceous. The fossils were nearly all collected in the locality above described—on 

the north bank of the Anaktuvuk 5 miles above the mouth of the Tuluga. They 

have been identified by Dr. T. W.-Stanton, who reports the lot to be certainly of 

Upper Cretaceous age. The forms identified are as follows:

Fossils of the Nanushuk series from bank af Anaktuvuk River 5 miles above mouth of Tuluga River.

Inocefamus, a rather large species, fragmentary specimens.

A small Astarte, numerous specimens.

Nucula, numerous specimens.

Avicula.

Pectunculus, several specimens.

Thracia.

Tellina, 2 species.

Siliqua.

Modiola.

Scaphites.

Haminea.

Besides the above, there are easts and impressions of numerous bivalves not yet 

determined.'

Concerning the above list, Doctor Stanton remarks that the species are all apparently different from those with which he is familiar, but that several of them are of 

types known only in the Upper Cretaceous.

Correlation.—Upper Cretaceous rocks oceur also to the south of the Endicott 

Mountains in the Koyukuk and Yukon Basin, between the southern edge of the
L. 8. GEOLOGICAL 6LRVEY PROFESSIONAL PAPER ho. 20 PL, x(l

BASE-LEVEL FEATURE IN NANUSHUK SERIES ON ANAKTUVUK RIVER, 

Looking N. 30° E.

STRUCTURE AMD RAPID ALTERNATION IN BEDDING IN NANUSHUK SERIES ON ANAKTUVUK RIVER.

Looking N. 70° E.
TERTIARY ROCKS, COLVILT,E SERIES. 81

area here discussed and Nulato, and include, in part at least, the so-called Nulato 

sandstone. A description of this series was given in a previous report. a The fossils 

on which the assignment is made were collected by the writer in 1899 in the 

Nulato sandstone between Pickart's coal mine and Nulato, and are of interest as 

being the first Upper Cretaceous fossils found in Alaska. Of this collection, Doctor 

Stanton has reported ths following forms, and refers the beds to about the same 

horizon as the early Chico of the Pacific region in the United States:

Upper Cretaceous fossils from the Yukon Basin. 

Ostrea,

Anomia.

Mytilus.

Cardium. s

Opis?

Luciiia.

Trigonia cf. T. leana Gabb.

Corbula.

Actaeonella cf. A. oviformis Gabb.

East of the international boundary both Upper and Lower Cretaceous fossils 

have been found on the Porcupine by Mr. R. G. McConnell, of the Canadian geological survey.*

TEKTIARY ROCKS. 

COLVILLE SERIES (oLIGOCENE AND PLIOCENE).

Character and occurrence.—The Colville series is named from the large river 

along which it occurs and is excellently exposed. It is a series of Tertiary terranes 

which underlies the flat tundra country, or Arctic Coastal Plain, that succeeds the 

more southerly rolling plain formed by the Upper Cretaceous or Nanushuk series, 

which it apparently unconformably overlies, being itself in turn unconformably 

overlain by the Gubik sands. The strata which have been thus grouped extend' 

along the Colvillo from some distance above the mouth of the Anaktuvuk nearly 

to the Arctic coast, occupying a belt 80 to 100 miles wide. Judging from tha 

topography, the series probably has a very considerable extent in an east-west 

direction, possibly reaching the northwestern coast in the region of Point Barrow 

and farther southward. It also appears along the northern coast in places between 

Point Barrow and the mouth of the Colville, but has not been recognized.

The inland edge of the coastal plain, formed essentially by this series, has an 

elevation of about 800 feet, from which, with very gradual slope, the surface descends 

approximately to sea level at the coast. Beyond this, the very gradually deepening

agchrader, F. C., Reconnaissance along the Chandlar and Koyukuk rivers, Alaska: Twenty-first Ann. Kept. U. S. 

Geol. Survey, pt. 2, 1900.

6 Ann. Kept. Geol. and Nat. History Survey of Canada, vol. -1,1888-1889, Montreal, 1890, pp. 122-125 D, "

189—No. 20—04——6
82 RECONNAISSANCE IN NORTHERN ALASKA IN 1901.

sea floor seems to be its continuation. Thus the subaerial tundra country and the 

submarine coastal shelf almost appear to be parts of the same plain. Beneath the 

sea, deposition is still active, while on most of the surface of the subaerial portion of 

the plain the work of erosion has hardly yet begun.

The series consists principally of heavj7 -bedded silts, soft sandstone, limestone, 

shale, and lignite. It is best exposed along the Colville in the region of the mouth 

of the Anaktuvuk, where it forms steep-faced bluffs about 200 feet in height, extending for a number of miles both up and down the river (PI. VIII).

Structure.—The Colville series has been but little disturbed. The beds lie nearly 

horizontal. On the left bank of the Anaktuvuk, 10 or 12 miles above its mouth, 

they dip southward at an angle of -4° or 5°, but from near the mouth of the Anaktuvuk, along down the Colvillo nearly to the coast, they dip northward or northeast 

ward (see PI. VIII), so gently that great care is required to detect the introduction of 

successively newer and younger beds, as one ascends the geologic section in proceeding northward downstream. In the vicinity of the mouth of the Anaktuvuk 

some very broad, shallow depressions or folds are revealed. Above the mouth the 

dip is northward, at an angle of 8° to 10°, but a few miles below it is southward at 

about the same angle, so that the lower part of Anaktuvuk Kiver seems to lie in a 

very shallow synclinc.

Besides this gentle folding, the bods have also suffered slight faulting (see PI. 

VIII, S). The maximum vortical throw in the faults observed is about 2 feet. 

Lateral crowding has also taken place, producing local crumpling or folds and small 

overthrusts, as shown in PI. VIII, B, C, and PI. XIII, A. In nearly all cases 

the crowding or thrust seems to have come from the south, indicating that crustal. 

movements have apparently taken place 'in the mountain region in geologically 

recent time. The inland or upstream side of any particular stratum which has been 

broken or disturbed has been crowded or overthrust onto the coastal or downstream 

side of-the same, often producing a short overlap. Disturbance, however, is hardly 

noticeable in the younger Pliocene portion of the beds toward the coast.

Observations made along Colville Kiver indicate that the series has a thickness 

of 500 or 600 feet.

On account of difference in degree of consolidation of the beds, together with 

their fossil and lignite contents, the series has been separated by the writer into two 

parts, upper Colville and lower Colville. It is possible that an unconformity may 

exist between the lower and upper parts of the series, but if present it must be very 

slight.

Lowffi" Colville (Oligocene).—This constitutes the main portion or lower threefourths of the section exposed at the mouth of the Anaktuvuk. It is about 150 foot 

thick, while the upper Colville at this same locality is about 40 to 50 feet thick.
LJ. fi. GEOLOQICAL SURVEY PROFESSIONAL PAPER MO. 20 PL. XIII

STRUCTURE IN COVILLE SERIES (TERTIARY). 

,4, Looking S. 50° W.; /?, looking S. 65° W.

C. COAL BED AND ROCKS OF CORWIN SERIES AT CORWIN MINES 

Looking S. 45° E.
TERTIARY BOCKS, OOLVILLE SERIKS. 83

The lower Colville contains the more indurated class of rocks and consists mainly 

of partially consolidated silts in beds 6 to 8 feet in thickness. They are usually light 

siate-colored or ash-colored, and constitute about one-half of the lower Colville 

section, and are generally much less consolidated toward the top than near the base. 

The harder rocks, which increase in volume toward the base of the section, include 

impure, dull gray, medium to fine grained sandstone with detrital lignitic plant 

remains; slate-colored and brownish calcareous shale, with disseminated undeterminable vegetable detritus; lignitic coal in layers 1 to 5 feet in thickness; dark 

siate-colored or brownish chert, containing cavities incrusted with chalcedonic silica; 

rusty brown, very ferruginous sandstone or impure iron stone, and some ironstained siliceous conglomerate, which also contains lignitic vegetable remains. 

There are also a few layers of hardened silts, forming a rock of very fine texture, 

resembling soft, smooth hone stone.

The lower Colville is tentatively classed as Oligocene, on account of the presence 

in it of lignite beds and vegetable remains, and from its resemblance to the Kenai 

beds occurring elsewhere in Alaska, and also on the ground of its relation to the supposed Pliocene silts which it immediately underlies. Several specimens of the shale 

collected from it, bearing lignitic plant remains, were examined by Doctor Dall, 

who reports that "the vegetable fragments are probably the needles of Sequoia, 

langsdorffii Heer. These beds containing vegetable remains in northern Alaska are 

usually Upper Oligocene."

Upper Colville (Pliocene).—This portion of the section is practically free from 

indurated rock. It consists of nearly horizontally stratified beds of fine gray, slatecolored, or ash-eolored calcareous silts, containing faunal remains. It is tentatively 

assigned to the Pliocene on the basis of fossils collected in place by the writer in the 

bluff (near its top) on the west side of the Colville about a mile north of the seventieth parallel (PL XIV, A). These have been reported on by Doctor Dall as follows:

Fossils from upper Colville series in bluff on west side of Colville River 1 mile north of seventieth parallel.

Chrysodomus, 2 species, both undescribed and very interesting; the first Tertiary arctic shells 

(not Quaternary) I have ever seen. Perhaps they are Pliocene. 

Amauropsis sp., fragments. 

Tachyrhynchus polaris Beck. 

. Macoma frigida Hanley. 

Macoma incongrua von Martens.

Astarte semisulcata Leach (possibly Quaternary intrusion). 

Saxicava arctica L.
84 RECONNAISSANCE IN NOKTHEBN ALASKA IN 1901.

PLEISTOCENE DEPOSITS.

GI/ACIAI/ DEPOSITS AND QLACIATION.

Glaciation in geologically recent time in northern Alaska has not been of a continental character comparable to that of the northern United States and of the Cordilicran glacier, which overspread the vast field of the Pacific coast mountains in 

southern Alaska between the Yukon and the coast. It has been far more extensive, 

however, than has generally been supposed. In the valleys nearly every where,, 

within the Endicott Range evidence of ice action is shown by bed-rock scorings, 

local roches moutonnees, terminal moraines, and deposits of till on the lower valley 

slopes and benches. It has modified preexisting topographic forms, both by erosion 

of the rocks and by deposition of drift. In some cases, as revealed in places by 

erosion of the glacial deposits, steep-faced bed-rock benches in the sides of the valleys were covered and concealed by the drift, whose surface slopes gently down from 

the steep mountain side a distance of one-half mile or more, nearly to the present 

stream (PI. XIV, !fl).

In the lower part of the intramontane section of John River, where the valley 

occasionally widens, it is sometimes floored by a till sheet, from 50 to 100 feet 

thick, containing ponds and lakelets, some of which seem distinctly to be of glacial 

origin. Till is prominent also in the mouths of some of the side valleys, as Till Creek 

Valley, which opens into that of John River on the east at about the sixty-eighth 

parallel. Here good exposures show the deposit to be typical till. It has a thickness of at least *100 feet, and forms a broad terrace or sort of small, triangular 

plateau a mile or more in extent, occupying the mouth of the side valley. It slopes 

westward, to where John River has been crowded to the bluffs on that side of the 

valley. On the east it overspreads and conceals the lower benching and bed-rock 

topography. Till Crook, a torrential stream, flows in a small canyon whose steep 

banks are formed of the bowlder clay 'or ground moraine.

In the region of Fork Peak, near the head of John River, at the confluence of 

several of its tributaries, the valley is wide and open and is floored by a till sheet at 

least 150 feet in thickness. The surface declines to the southwest, denoting that the 

deposit has largely come from the northeast, a view which is supported by bed-rock 

striae farther down the valley. The till ascends the northwest slope of Fork Peak to 

an elevation of 2,500 feet, and may continue much higher, but becomes obscured by 

younger talus and coarse debris of doubtful character, which, however, also exhibits 

sin ill-defined terminal moraine topography. At the elevation of about 3,500 feet is 

a bench overlain by talus and drift, which, judging from topography, was probably 

largely deposited by a local hanging glacier.
U. 8. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY PROFESSIONAL PAPER WO. 20 PL. XIV

A. PLIOCENE FOSSIL LOCALITY IN COLVILLE RIVER BLUFFS (COLVILLE SERIES), TERTIARY COASTAL PLAIN. 

Latitude 70° 1'; looking N. 25° W. Native Eskimo family ir foreground.

B. GLACIATION IN UPPER JOHN RIVER VALLEY, IN ENDICOTT MOUNTAINS.

Looking S. 25° W.
PLEISTOCENE DEPOSITS, GLACIATION. 85

The John Valley till sheet extends across the divide by way of Anaktuvuk Pass 

and is continuous with that of the Anaktuvuk Valley and the Arctic slope. At the 

pass the valley is 3 miles wide and open, and its surface is so flattened with infilled 

drift that the small streams descending from the mountains in this locality arc 

deflected by the merest obstacle to either side of the divide, flowing sometimes northward by way of the Anaktuvuk to the Arctic, and at others southward to John River 

and the Yukon.

At the pass occur lakelets of glacial origin. One of these, Cache Lake (PI. X, £), 

just northeast of the divide, is 30 feet or more deep. Its surface lies about 100 feet 

below that of the adjacent ground moraine, giving for the till sheet here a thickness 

of at least 130 feet. Just south of the pass the till sheet formerly extended entirely 

across the valley, as is shown by the flat-topped outlying remnants of ground moraine 

in its middle. These rise to the height of more than 100 feet above the stream, 

and accord in level with the ground-moraine terraces on cither side.

On the whole, the till sheet in this northern part of the range seems rarely to 

extend up the side slopes to more than 500 or 600 feet above the floor of the valley. 

Judging, however, from the rounded and sometimes relatively flat-topped aspect of 

the mountains near the middle of the range (Pis. XIV, B, and XV, A), certain areas 

were not only occupied by an ice cap, but the tops of some of the lower mountains 

were planed off by ice movement.

Naturally, the side valleys in this region were among the last to become free 

from glaciers, some of which probably remained long after the disappearance of the 

ice from the adjacent parts of main valleys. This is shown by the presence of relatively fresh terminal moraines in the side valleys. Four miles northwest of the 

middle of John Eiver Valley the small valley of Contact Creek is crossed by such a 

moraine. !+• is typical, being about 60 foot high and one-fourth of a mile in length, 

measured parallel with the valley. A similar but older feature occurs in John River 

Valley, near the middle of the range, about 12 miles in direct line south of the sixtyeighth parallel. Here the valley flat is crossed by a terminal moraine about 60 feet 

high, a portion of which is shown in PI. XV, B. It still forms a continuous ridge or 

dam across the valley, except where the river has cut a notch-like passage, 200 yards 

wide, at the left. At the right the moraine seems to be continuous with the till sheet, 

which is 10 to 20 feet thick, and rests on the bed-rock benching at a height of about 

100 feet above the river. As seen in looking parallel with the valley, the ridge 

presents an undulating profile and is sharp-crested, owing to its upstream side being 

cut away by the river. Though it exhibits but little of the typical hummock-andkettle topography of a terminal moraine, it is composed mainly of typical bowlder 

clay carrying striated pebbles and bowlders, some a foot or more in diameter. The 

materials noted are of the same constitution as those of the river gravels, there being
86 RECONNAISSANCE IN NORTHERN ALASKA IN 1901.

no erratics. The principal surface or front of the moraine, which slopes southward, 

supports a growth of spruce, some of the trees having a basal thickness of 14 feet.

A few miles above this moraine occurs the last lingering remnant of the John 

Valley Glacier. It consists of a lone, roughly circular mass of ice about 300 feet in 

diameter, rising from the middle of the gravel-covered valley flats to a height of 60 

feet, as shown in PI. XV, A. At the top the ice terminates in several distinct knoblike prominences, projecting 10 to 20 feet above the main mass. One of these is 

cylindrical or pipe shaped. The others are crudely pyramidal. The ice is partially 

capped and flanked by a deposit of genuine till from one to several feet thick, to 

whose protection it doubtless in large measure owes its preservation. From three 

sides small streamlets of light-colored muddy water, arising from the melting of the 

ice and thickened with glacial rock flour from the till, flow down and deposit their 

load of fine, argillaceous sediment over the flats around the foot of the mass. This 

glacial mud is of very light color. It is sticky, and differs decidedly from the present 

stream deposits of the valley. This ice mass is undoubtedly a remnant of the John 

Valley Glacier. Its presence at this late date, after apparently all the other glacial ice 

has disappeared from the surrounding region, together with the rounded topography 

of the adjacent mountains, already noted (PI. XV, A), suggests that this locality is 

probably near what was the belt of maximum precipitation, and consequently of 

maximum ice accumulation, that traversed the mountains" during Glacial time, and 

is therefore among the last to become free from ice.

In the north slope of Anaktuvuk Pass, between John and Anaktuvuk rivers, the 

till topography is locally rough and in part terminal morainic. North of Cache Lake 

it contains occasional stretches of distinctly teruiino-lateral moraine, trending toward 

Anaktuvuk River, aud for the last 10 or 12 miles of its course, before leaving the 

mountains, the Anaktuvuk meanders sluggishly through a belt of flats one-half mile or 

more in width, which lie about 100 feet below the surface of the till sheet or ground 

moraine on either side. This till sheet, with a slope that rises gently in the main, but 

which is sometimes terraced, extends from the edge of the flats to the base of the 

mountains, li miles distant. Near the flats the topography is often of a morainic 

type, being composed of characteristic hummocks and kettles, and undoubtedly 

represents a lateral moraine, deposited along the edges of the valley glacier that 

occupied the flats toward the close of Glacial time.

The height to which the drift, as a sheet, rises along the northern edge of the 

mountains away from the Anaktuvuk Valley was not determined. Judging from 

distant observations, however, it in some cases probably ascends the valleys to 800 

to 1,000 feet above the general level of the Anaktuvuk Plateau.

As Anaktuvuk River leaves the mountains its current becomes less sluggish and 

its channel is soon beset with glacial bowlders. At about 4£ miles from the edge
U. S. GEOLOGICAL 6URVEV PROFESSIONAL PAPER NO. 20 PL. XV

A ICE REMNANT OF JOHN VALLEY GLACIER IN ENDICOTT MOUNTAINS 

Looking southwest.

TIMBERED TERMINAL MORAINE RESTING ON FICKETT SERIES ON JOHN RIVER.

Lnoking southwest.
PLEISTOCENE DEPOSITS, GLACIATICXN. 87

of the mountains the river bluff on the left exposes a thickness of a little over 100 

feet of typical till. From this point the deposit continues laterally up the side slopes 

of the valley, and apparently overspreads the plateau indefinitely, while the lower 

portions of the deposit, extending downstream, form terraces along the river. At 

about 10 miles from the mountains and 2£ miles east of the river, at an elevation of 

3,400 feet, or nearly 700 feet above the Aralley floor, the top of a rounded sandstone 

hill, which rises to the general level of the plateau, bears patches of till a foot or 

more in thickness.' Here, too, some of the less firm portions of the bed rock have 

been disturbed, while others bear markings that have been interpreted as imperfect 

glacial striee. These trend approximately parallel with the valley. A view of the 

surface of the plateau from this point, as shown in PI. IV, seems to indicate the 

presence of drift almost everywhere, though the deposit is probably thin on the tops 

of the higher ridges.

Till occurs farther down the Anaktuvuk, forming terraces and moraines similar 

to those noted in the intramontane section of the valley. About 15 miles north of 

the mountarns, just below camp July 1, on the side of the valley, there is a 

lateral moraine that rises to a height of about 150 feet above the valley flat, which is 

here about three-fourths mile wide. The steep angle, 45° to 60°, at which the drift 

materials lie, as exhibited in the face presented to the valley, clearly denotes that 

they were deposited largely against an ice wall. Just in front of this moraine is a 

characteristic overwash plain from whose upper edge an unquestionable terminal 

moraine extends indefinitely, both to the east and to the west, away from the valley.

A little north of the above region, about 23 miles from the mountains, occurs the 

first pronounced cross ridge of Lower Cretaceous beds, through which the river has cut 

a short canyon. A few miles east of the river this ridge attains an elevation of about 

2,500 to 2,600 feet. On ascending the ridge in this vicinity, from the plateau on the 

south, the till sheet was found to continue up to the elevation of about 2,250 feet, 

where, on the slope becoming a little steep, it suddenly ceases and the bed rock 

becomes exposed and continues so across the broad top of the ridge, while till is again 

encountered on its north slope, which descends into Willow Creek Valley.

On the top of the above ridge, however, are glacial erratic bowlders, which, 

though not abundant, are decisive in showing that an ice sheet passed over the ridge. 

As these erratics occur 400 to 500 feet above the ground moraine, it is inferred that 

they were probably transported as englacial or superglacial material. Here,-also, 

large blocks of bed-rock sandstone have been moved from their original position to 

an extent that can not be accounted for by frost or weathering, so that their transportation seems to have been the work of moving ice.

About 10 miles northward, on Willow Creek Ridge, a similar feature, no glacial 

drift was found. At a few points the edges of the sandstone beds are disturbed, as
88 RECONNAISSANCE IN NORTHERN ALASKA IN 1901.

if by ice action, but the evidence as to the agency is not conclusive. On descending 

the slope northwestward, however, toward the Anaktuvuk, erratics of the Stuver 

conglomerate were found at an elevation of about 1,650 feet. The surface in this 

locality, however, is so densely covered with moss that drift may extend above this 

elevation and yet not be exposed. But on the whole, from this point northward, the 

till seems rapidly to become restricted to the lower side slopes of the valley, where 

it forms low bluffs and terraces.

About 14 miles below Willow Creek, near camp August 5, bluffs of probable 

till, resting against the bed-rock sides of the valley, rise to a height of 125 feet 

above the valley flats, and there, apparently as a thin veneer, the deposit overspreads the adjacent bed-rock bench. This bench is half a mile or more in width, 

nearly flat topped, and densely covered with vegetation, so that away from its 

river edge no satisfactory examination of the deposit could be made. A few 

hundred feet above the upper or distal edge of the bench, however, are outcrops 

of sandstone, presenting no drift or indication of ice action.

Twelve miles north of the above locality, about five miles above the mouth of 

Tuluga River (see PI. XII, A), a similar bench, lying at 100 feet above the river, is 

capped by a deposit of gravel and sand 20 feet in thickness. Some of the pebbles 

approach the size of bowlderets, and even bowlders.- Though they are waterworn, 

' no stratification is apparent in the deposit, which has much the aspect of a sandy till. 

Its position suggests that it may have been deposited here by waters from the glacier 

that possibly occupied the valley at this point. The deposit may, however, be 

fluviatile.

Sixteen miles farther down the Anaktuvuk, about 10 miles above its mouth, the 

bluff on the lef.t is again capped by from 10 to 40 feet of sand and gravel, in which 

the gravel is more distinctly washed and rounded than in the deposit above noted, 

but the absence of stratification and the character of the material again suggest that 

glacial waters may possibly have been an agency in its deposition. If this inference 

is correct, the ice stream which occupied the Anaktuvuk valley must have extended 

down nearly to this point. There is, however, no reason to suppose that it extended 

below it. On the adjacent part of Colville River there seems to be no evidence of 

glaciation within a score or more miles above the mouth of the Anaktuvuk. The 

drainage of this section of the Colville does not seem to have been interrupted since 

the Tertiary.

From the conditions above described it is concluded that in the region of the 

Anaktuvuk Valley, in that portion of the Colville Basin embraced by the curving 

front of the Endicott Mountains, an ice sheet in the form of a small regional or piedmont glacier, gradually thinning out toward the north, extended from the front of 

the range northward across the inner part of the Anaktuvuk Plateau to the region of 

Willow Creek, a distance of 30 or more miles. Beyond this point ice flowage seems
PLEISTOCENE DEPOSITS, GLACIATION. 89

to have been-confined substantially to the present drainage ways, in the form of valley 

glaciers, of which that of the Anaktuvuk is the chief.

There is evidence that the Anaktuvuk glacier extended northward to the sixtyninth parallel, and there are some indications that it may possibly have extended 30 

miles farther, to within 10 or 12 miles of. the present mouth of Anaktuvuk River, 

but it is not to be supposed that it crossed Colville River, if indeed it ever reached 

it. This latter statement is probably also true of the ice streams to the west that 

must have occupied the valleys of Ninuluk, Killik, Kurupa, and Kucher creeks, 

which enter the Colville a little north of the sixty-ninth parallel.

It does not seem probable that the drift sheet on the Arctic slope much exceeds 

150 feet in thickness at any point. It apparently attains its maximum development 

in the valleys, not far from the mountains, the source of supply. Elsewhere on the 

slopes its surface seems to conform very largely to the preexisting topography of 

the underlying terranes.

In the southern part of the Endicott Mountains, evidence, of .glaciation, as has 

been shown, may be found up to an elevation of nearly 2,000 feet. From the point 

where John River leaves the mountains, southward to the region of Kanuti River, 

the Koyukuk Valley region exhibits a generally rounded topography, which suggests 

former glaciation, up to a height of 1,600 or 1,800 feet. On John River, near the 

base of the mountains, the drift, so far as observed, is essentially till. In some 

localities the deposit is at least 100 feet thick, and is marked by several terraces that 

rise successively from the river to the southeast, above which the surface continues 

to have.a rolling, apparently ground-moraine topography, that finally gives way to 

low, rounded mountains or hills, which also are supposed to be glaciated.

Observations in the above region away from the immediate route of travel were 

very limited. Along the route, however, glacial drift seems to be more or less 

continuous all the way down the open flats of John River Valley, as is shown by the 

topography and by occasional exposures of till rising to a height of 30 or 40 feet 

above the river or resting in thinner sheets on the bed-rock benches at elevations of 

from 30 to 100 feet above the stream.

Till is present near the mouth of John River and on the right or jwest bank of 

the Koyukukbetween Bettles and the mouth of Jane Creek, where it forms bluffs about 

100 feet high. Similar conditions seem to prevail to the eastward, in the region of 

Gold Bench" on South Fork, whence they apparently continue northeastward across 

the divide into the Chandlar River Basin, where till deposits similar to those on John 

River have been noted in a previous report, and have since been observed to extend 

up Granite Creek. 6 '

a When the only opportunity lor making observations at Gold Bench was presented, 5 feet of snow lay on the ground. 

6 Reconnaissance along the Chandlar and Koyukuk rivers, Alaska: Twenty-first Ann. Kept. U. S. Geol. Survey, pt. 2, 

1900, p. 478.
90 BECONNAISSANCE IN NORTHERN ALASKA IN 1901.

No glacial drift was noted on the top of Lookout Mountain, and, as the surface 

was deeply snow covered at the time it was visited, the elevation to which the drift 

ascends on its slope could not be learned. Southward, on the northeast side of the 

lower Alatna Valley, what seem to be till terraces occur along the south side of 

Double Mountain up to a height of 1,600 feet.

Just below the mouth of the Alatna the right bank of the Koyukuk presents a 

steep-faced exposure of clay and gravel, rising 80 to 100 feet above the river. 8 The 

lower 50 feet of this section seems to be till, and is distinctly separated by a welldefined contact from the upper portion, which consists mostly of gravels and silts, 

some of which are discordantly stratified.

From the character of the topography glacial drift is supposed also to occur on 

the opposite side of the Koyukuk and to extend southward toward the mouth of 

Kanuti Eiver. Mr. Mendenhall reports that in the country lying north of this 

region, on the upper waters of the Alatna and the Kowak, above the sixty-seventh 

. parallel there is evidence of glaciation similar to that in the same latitude on John 

Eiver. Furthermore, in the recent gravels along the Koyukuk near Bergman, 

notably on the south sjde of the river, there are large granitoid bowlders, totally 

foreign to the country rock of the region. These may have been brought here 

through the agency of river ice from far up the valley of South Fork, but it seems 

equally probable that they may have been brought by glaciers from the mountains 

to the north where similar rocks in place are known to occur.

The hill just west of Bergman consists of Bergman sandstone, but on its slope, 

at a height of nearly 200 feet above the river, there is a gravel deposit composed of 

heterogeneous materials. An examination, as thorough as could be made under 

unfavorable conditions, indicates that ice action was concerned in its origin. It contains characteristically angular and subangular ice-worn pebbles, with polished surfaces, often profusely striated. The strise are of distinctly glacial origin and can in 

no wise be ascribed to the action of river ice.

From the above-enumerated observations in this southern part of the field it is 

inferred that glaciation extended from the mountains southward into the Koyukuk 

Basin across the Arctic Circle and beyond Bergman, but observation has not been 

sufficient to determine whether this extension was in the form of a continuous ice 

sheet, or merely as valley glaciers. From topographic criteria, however, it seems" 

probable that most of the hills below 2,000 feet were covered by ice or neve", while 

such peaks as Mount Lookout and its higher fellows appeared as nunataks above its 

surface, and that glacial activity, or ice work, was largely restricted to the valleys 

and lower reaches of the hill slopes.

In the John River and Anaktuvuk Eiver portions of the Endicott Mountains the

a This bluff is the Dnatlotly of the natives.
PLEISTOCENE DEPOSITS, GKOUND-ICE FORMATION AND KOWAK CLAY. 91

glacier ice (save the single instance cited on John River) has disappeared. To the 

east, however, as noted under "Previous explorations," prospectors and whalers 

who "have crossed the .range in the vicinity of the one hundred and forty-ninth 

meridian report the presence of valley glaciers of considerable size.

The glacial phenomena that have been described tend to show that, although the 

Endicott Mountains (PI. VII) do not on the whole seem to have been overridden 

en masse by a moving ice sheet, they were doubtless, especially in their northern 

part, largely occupied by an ice cap or perennial neVe, constituting a breeding ground 

for glaciers. The zone of maximum snowfall, and consequently of ^maximum" ice 

accumulation, trending in an east-west direction, was apparently in the northern part 

of the range at least somewhat north of its median line. From this zone the ice 

moved off to the north and to the south, respectively, into the Colville and Koyukuk 

basins. Its flowage, especially during the latter part of the Ice age, was confined 

mainly to the valleys and drainage ways in the form of alpine glaciers, of which there 

is ample evidence. But there is also good reason to believe, as shown by the till 

sheet north of the mountains, that during the zenith of the Ice age the northern 

edge of the range was occupied by a more or less extensive ice sheet, which, as a 

small regional or piedmont glacier, thinning out toward the north, extended northward over a considerable portion of the Anaktuvuk Plateau, its occurrence at that 

time being, perhaps, similar to that of the Bering or Malaspina glaciers of to-day.

GBOUND-ICE FORMATION AND KOWAK CLAY.

At some localities along the Arctic coast there are stretches of low bluffs or 

banks of ground ice overlain by a deposit of dark muck and moss several feet in 

thickness. .Deposits of light-colored clay also are occasionally seen. The occurrence 

and distribution of these deposits appear, in a measure, to be as represented by 

Doctor Dall on his map of the "Known distribution of the Neocene formations in 

Alaska." 3

The ground-ice formation was hitherto supposed to be of very widespread occurrence in this Arctic region. To give an idea of the evidence on which this supposition rests I shall here freely quote from Doctor Dall's report. 6

"From information gathered from several masters of vessels in the whaling 

fleet, and derived from experience gained in the effort to dig graves for seamen who 

had died aboard vessels on this shore from time to time during the last twenty years, 

it would appear that somewhat north of Cape Beaufort the land between the low hills 

and the sea is low and the soil chiefly a sort of gravel. ' At a depth of 2 feet is a 

stratum of pure ice (not frozen soil) of unknown depth. This formation extends, 

with occasional gaps, north to Point Barrow, and thence east to Return Reef, where

a Ball, W. H., Correlation papers, Neocene: Bull. U. S. Geol. Survey No. 84,1.892, opposite p. 268. Becker, G. F., Reconnaissance of the golrl fields of southern Alaska: Eighteenth Ann. Kept. U. S. Geol. Survey, pt. 3,1898, pi. 1. 

'Op. cit.,p. 264.
92 RECONNAISSANCE IN NORTHERN ALASKA IN 1901.

the ice layer is about 6 feet above the level of the sea. It goes south at least as far 

as Icy Cape without any decided break, and is found in different localities as far 

south as Kotzebue Sound.' At Point Barrow, near the international station, under 

the direction of Lieut. P. H. Ray, U. S. Army, a shaft was sunk to a depth of 37 

feet 6 inches, which passed through successive layers of mud, sand, and fine gravel, 

with fragments of driftwood and marine shells, showing here and there large fragments of pure fresh-water ice, but no continuous stratum of ice. The formation 

here was clearly a beach alluvium, and relatively modern, a pair of Eskimo wooden 

snow goggles with sinew string still attached to them being found at a depth of 27J 

feet. The temperature of the earth varied from — 5° to +17.5° F.; below the 

influence of the external air the temperature of the earth was quite steady at 12° F. 

for nine months. The earth was frozen and was extremely hard and tough. Blasts 

put into the side of the shaft blew out without shattering the frozen earth around the 

drill hole. It is probable that excavations farther inland might have revealed the 

ice layer, which at the locality of the station did not exist."

The observations made by the writer, while boating along the coast, lead to the 

inference that the ground ice is not of so widespread occurrence as the above quotation indicates. Between the .Colville and Point Barrow the ice is possibly more or 

less continuous along the coast, but of its inland extension we have little evidence. 

Even along the coast it is not extensively exposed. Here long stretches of the low 

tundra country are apparently underlain by rock or earthy deposit.

Of the localities at which the ice was observed, the most important are Cape 

Halkettand Cape Simpson, at each of which it seems to be practically continuous for 

a distance of several miles. Cape Halkett, one of the most prominent promontories 

along this part of the coast (PI. X, D), terminates in an ice cliff rising 30 feet above 

tide level, and is overlain by a foot or two of muck, which in turn is carpeted by a 

nap of moss and grass at the surface. Judging from topography, the ice at this 

locality may extend inland several miles. Its thickness is not known, since its lower 

limit lies below tide level. As shown in the view (PI. X, D), the cape is being rapidly 

cut back by wave action, which undermines the cliff at tide level until by its own 

weight the ice breaks off in large blocks and is ground up by the surf.

Coal occurs at Wainwright Inlet, between Point Barrow and Cape Beaufort. A 

little southwest of that place the Jura-Cretaceous comes to the coast, and, judging 

from topography, seems to continue nearly all the way to Cape Beaufort, omitting 

a probable breach at Icy Cape. From Cape Beaufort to Cape Lisburnc rocks of 

the Corwin series (Mesozoic) are known to be almost continuous. It therefore 

seems, from the above facts, that the southern boundary of the ground-ice area represented on Doctor Dall's map should be shifted from the region of Icy Cape northward, probably to at least beyond Wainwright Inlet, a distance of 60 to 75 miles.

Of the Kowak clay containing Pleistocene vertebrate remains, referred to by 

Doctor Dall in connection with the ground ice, but little was seen by the writer. 

Observation, however, has been sufficient to suggest that, if present along the coast
PLEISTOCENE DEPOSITS, GROUND-ICE FORMATION AND GUBIK. SAND. 93

between the Colville and Chipp (Ikpikpuk) River, they are not only far from continuous, but are probably of very limited occurrence. Along the northwest part 

of the coast, the only locality at which what seems with certainty to be the Kowak 

clay was observed, is at Woody Inlet, about 50 miles southwest of Point Barrow. 

As this inlet is not far from the seventy-first degree of north latitude it is thought 

that the deposit may be near that in which Captain Beechey's party obtained elephant 

remains.

GBBIK SAND.

. Besides the Tertiarj* Colville series, which underlies the coastal plain along Colville River, the section here also comprises deposits supposed to be Pleistocene. Of 

these, probabl}' the most important and interesting is a surficial deposit of brownish 

sand or loam about 10 to 15 feet in thickness, which unconformably overlies the beds 

of the Colville series, apparently as a continuous mantle.

This deposit seems to be distinct from the Colville series and to extend over a 

large area of country. It not only forms the surficial terranc of the coastal plain 

along the Colville, but seems to occur at some localities along the coast from the 

mouth of the Colville westward, in some instances apparently overlying the ground 

ice and probably the Kowak clay formation, while its inland margin probably overlaps the coastal edge of the Upper Cretaceous of the Nanushuk series along the 

Anaktuvuk nearly to the mouth of the Tuluga, where, in certain localities, judging 

from topographic criteria, it also appears to overlie gravels which are very tentatively referred to as glacial, but to which its relation is not definitely known.

The deposit consists of fine sand, with apparently an admixture of considerable 

silt. In some localities it seems to be more sandy toward the base, and more earthy 

toward the top, where it terminates in from one to several feet of dark brown or 

black humus, clothed at the surface with moss and a little grass. It is ordinarily 

free from gravel, but in several instances subangular cherty pebbles ranging from 

mere sand grains to fragments as large as one-fourth inch in diameter were found. 

These occur very scattcringly and are sometimes roughened, as if wind worn. In 

some localities a fine gravel seems to intervene between the base of the deposit and 

the underlying Tertiary beds, as if representing the basal part of the deposit. •

The deposit as a rule is structureless or without stratification planes. Owing to 

this fact, together with its surficial and widespread occurrence, and the homogeneity 

of its materials for want of a better term in field work it was called loess, but in the 

fear that this term may be undesirable, it is here named the Gubik sand, after the 

Eskimo name of Colville River.

Various hypotheses have suggested themselves to account for the origin of the 

deposit, of which no one alone seems to be satisfactory. To the writer, the fluviatile 

delta theory, in conjunction with shallow, coastal conditions and intense arctic freezing, 

seems the most tenable.
94 BECOKNAISSANCE IK NOBTHEBN ALASKA IK 1901.

RECENT MUD, MUCK, GKOUND ICE, DUNE SAND, SILTS, AND GKAVELS. 

INLAND REGION.

The deposits mentioned in this heading are all represented on the map by the 

same color.

Along John Eiver and the Koyukuk the color represents recent stream gravels, 

together with alluvial sands, silt with ground ice, mud flats, and areas of till too 

small to be represented on the scale of the accompanying map.

Along Anaktuvuk River the color denotes recent stream gravels, while along 

Colville River it includes, besides the recent stream gravels, a large, triangular area 

of flats extending from the mouth of the Anaktuvuk to the coast and eastward along 

the coast a distance of thirty or more miles to beyond Gwydyr Bay. This large area, 

as noted, is regarded as ground abandoned by the Colville in its lateral migration 

westward since Tertiary time, as the river is supposed to have formerly flowed more 

directly northeastward from the mouth of the Anaktuvuk, and to have entered the 

sea through Gwydyr Bay, following th,e course indicated by the broken lines on the 

map. (PI. III.)

Though to the eye this area of flats seems a dead level the surface probably 

rises very gently from the Colville eastward, it is dotted by numerous ponds and 

lakelets. The monotony of the waste is somewhat relieved by occasional low mounds, 

as shown in PI. XVI, B. These arc composed, in part at least, of gravel and sand. 

Some of them rise as much as 40 feet above the flats. In shape they are low and 

rounded. Some have a tapering train on the lee side toward the coast. Their 

surface is usually scantily clothed with grass and other vegetation.

The origin of the mounds is not known. Only one of them was visited. Perhaps 

.the most plausible hypothesis is that they are remnants of beds belonging to the Tertiary Colville series, which, chancing to be capped with some hard stratum, were not 

worn down by the river to the level of the flats, and so formed nuclei favorable for 

accumulation of gravel, and subsequently became bars, and, later still, islands in the 

Colville, until the river abandoned its bed about their bases.

Along the Colville the edge of the flats often terminates in gravel bars, descending to the water's edge, or in low, steep-faced banks of frozen black muck and ground 

ice, showing that at least the surficial portion of the flats consists in the main of 

recent stream deposits and the decayed products of marsh vegetation. The banks 

decrease in height toward the coast, and finally vanish as the land surface passes into 

the bars, reefs, and tidal mud flats at sea level.

The geologic work now being done by the river in its lateral migration shows 

that the processes by which the flats were formed were essentially those of planation. 

In the inland region, as the shifting stream, in its very gradual down-cutting and 

relatively very rapid lateral cutting, sawed its way westward into the coastal plain, it
PLEISTOCENE DEPOSITS. 95

planated farther and farther on the west the ground which by its destructional 

work it claimed as its bed; while simultaneously, as it abandoned or receded from this 

planated ground on the east, it built thereon, notably at high-water stages, flood-plain 

and riparian deposits, which now constitute the surficial terrane of the flats. Thus, 

while degradation or destructional work was in progress on the west, aggradation or 

constructional work of flood-plain building was progressing on the east. At the 

same time in the coastal region the 'large amount of sediments borne down by the 

river was built into an expansive delta plain, which landward merges into and is continuous with the inland subareal portion of the flats, and seaward merges into the 

already mentioned expansive tidal mud flats, bars, and reefs at the coast.

The Colville Flats therefore appear to consist essentially of a Pleistocene veneer 

of flood-plain, ground-ice, and deltoid deposits resting on Tertiary beds of the Colville 

series that have been planated by the river in its lateral migration toward the west.

Another type of recent deposits is seen in the sand dunes that occur for a distance 

of a few miles along the upper part of the Anaktuvuk, just before it leaves the 

Endicott Mountains, and also over the inland portion of the Colville delta and adjacent 

mainland. The material of the dunes in both places is obviously river sand and silts 

derived from the wind-swept bars and flats exposed during stages of low water. 

This dune work is probably accomplished mostly during the dry, frozen periods of 

winter, when the bare ice surf ace is favorable for wind transportation of the material.

COASTAL REGION.

From Colville River to Point Barrow.—Though the Tertiary beds of the Colville 

series may come to the Arctic coast in some localities, they have not been positively 

identified there. From Colville River to Point Barrow the shore line materials 

consist mainly of recent beach deposits of mud, muck, some sand and gravel, and 

deltoid mud flats, backed in places by low banks of older dark muck and ground ice 

(see PI. IX, A and PL X, D). West of the Colville, in Harrison Bay, deposits of 

sand or loam are occasionally seen, which, from similarity in character of material, 

seem to belong to the Gubik sand.

The eastward swing, or retreat, of Colville River in relatively recent time 

from bluffs of its own cutting on the west, leaving a portion of the Colville Flats on 

its west or left side, along the section extending from Ocean Point to the coast, a 

distance of nearly 40 miles, suggests for this particular part of the region a local tilt 

to the eastward in Pleistocene time, or at least subsequent to the production of the 

bluffs and the Colville Flats, which must have been formed by the river. If this tilt 

or differential uplift to the west of the Colville has been far-reaching in its westward 

extent, it favors the existence of a coastal belt of late Pleistocene as far as it extends.

To local differentials in elevation along this costal line of uplift are to be ascribed 

the occasional ground-ice cliffs as at Cape Halkett and Cape Simpson, alternating with
96 RECONNAISSANCE IN NORTHERN ALASKA IN 1901.

long stretches of low shelving beach. The ice cliffs appear merely to represent completely solidified bays, lagoons, lakelets, or perhaps other coastal bodies of ponded 

water now raised into low anticlines and out back by wave action.

From Point Harrow to Gape Lisburne.—Southwest of Point Barrow the coast 

line grows more marked. It is not so low, flat, and shelving as on the north, and the 

water is consequently less shoal. Here the long stretches of mud flats found on the 

north are in the main wanting. The mainland bluffs at the edge of the tundra, 

though still low, are not only higher than on the north but are almost continuous, 

and are frequently composed of true bed rock (Mesozoic terranes); between the 

base of these bluffs and tide water there is a narrow fringe of recent beach gravels 

and sand, whoso surface slopes steeply seaward. However, from Wainwright Inlet 

to near Cape Beaufort there are extensive wave-built barrier beaches or bars of 

recent marine gravels and sand (see PI. XVI, A), sheltering immense stretches of 

brackish lagoons lying between the bars and the mainland. Toward Cape Lisburne, 

the most bold and important promontory in. this part of the northwest, the coast 

becomes steep and rock bound (PL V) by the Mesozoics and Paleozoics that have 

been described.

BECENT FOSSILS FHOM TJHK ARCTIC COAST.

The following invertebrate fossils were collected along the Arctic coast between 

Colville Kiver and Cape Lisburne. The identifications are by Dr. W. H. Dall, of 

the United States Geological Survey.

Chrysodomus fornicatus Gray, 649,« 650, 654.

0. despectus L., 639.

Admete couthouyi Jay, 652.

Margarites gtriatus Sowerby, 647. ,

Tellina lutea Gray, 647.

Macoma frigida Hanley, 636, 639, 647, 650.

M. tenuis Leach, 639, 652.

M. baltica var. inconspicua B. & S., 636.

Astartc arctica Gray, 636, 639.

A. borealis Schumacber, 636, 639, 650, 652, 654.

Venericardia alaskana Dall, 652.

Saxicava arctica L., 650.

Serripes gronlandicus Beck, 636, 654.

Cyrtodaria kiirriana (Morch) Dunker, 639, 650.

Tbraeia beringi Dall, 654.

Mytilus edulis L., 650.

Modiolaria nigra Gray, 650.

Yoldiasp.-fragm., 639.

a The numbers refer to localities.
U- S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY PROFESSIONAL PAPER NO. 20 PL. XVl

A. BARRIER REEF AMD ESKIMO GRAVE ON ARCTIC COAST NEAR ICY CAPE. 

Looking S. 25" W.

IJ. ABANDONED PLEISTOCENE FLATS OF COLYILLE RIVER. SHOWING MOUNDS AND LAKELETS.

From 30 miles inland: looking N. 80° E.
TABLE OF PROVISIONAL CORRELATIONS.

_L

c

2

z!

>

0

f-3

Paleozoic .....

-

•

Jura-Cretaceous

Carboniferous . '.

Pre-Silurian

.

Pliocene.... 

Miocene

Oligocene.. -

Eocene . . . .

(............

Upper. 

Middle.

Middle.....

f.. ..........

{... .........

Schrader: Chandlar and Koyukuk 

rivers. 1899.0

'

Koyukuk flats.

clays. 

Basalts of Koyukuk Mountain 

and Chandlar River.

Nulato sandstone ?.

igneous rocks.

West Fork series (?)..........

Mendelhall: Ball, Kanuti, Alatna, 

and Kowak rivers and Kotzebue 

Sound, 1901. !>

including glacial deposits, 

Kowak clays and ground-ice 

formation.

Basalts, andesites, and andesitic breccias.

Schrader: Chand

Anaituvuk, and 

Arctic coast fro

Point Barrow to 

1901.

(flats), sands

Gubik saud. 

Till and glacial 

Dpper Colville

Lower Colville

Bergman series 

ous rocks. 

Anaktuvuk ser

Totsen series.

Skajit formatio

oSebrader. F. C.. Bcconnaissance along the Chandlar and Kovuiuk rivers, Alaska: Twenty-first Ann. Rept. U. S. Geol. Survey, pt. 2, 1900, pp. 471-482

''Meiidenliall. W. C., Reconnaissance from Fort Hamlin to Kotzebue Sound, Alaska, bv wav of Dall, Kanuti, Alien, and Kowak rivers: Prof. Pa

No. 10, 1902, pp. 31-48. " 
98 KECONNAISSANCE IN NOBTHERN ALASKA IN 1901.

MINERAL RESOITRCES.

GENERAL STATEMENT.

Under the head of geology, it has been shown that the rocks forming the mountains about the head of the Koyukuk Basin comprise several metamorphic series, 

namely, the Skajit, Totsen, Fickett, Bottles, Lake quartz-schist, and West Fork series. 

In these mineralization has taken place. It is in the southern part of the region that 

the efforts of the prospector are being rewarded, and, in some cases, handsomely.

Though indications of mineralization occur to some extent nearly all the way 

northward through the Endicott Mountains, the principal producing region is on the 

upper parts of Middle and North forks of the Koyukuk. Though the region also 

contains coal and some lead, copper, and antimony, thus far gold only has proved 

to be of economic importance.

GOLD,

Placer gold has been known in the Koyukuk Basin since the early nineties, if 

not before. It was first discovered in the bars of the river, of which the most noted 

seem to have been Hughes and Florence bars, both far below the present placer diggings. Tramway Bar, above the sixty-seventh parallel, about 570 miles above the 

mouth of the river, is among the earliest discoveries. The discovery of Slate, Myrtle, 

and the other creeks that have been among the chief producers for the last four 

years was made during and subsequent to the spring of 1899. These are mostly 

above Tramway Bar.

Koughly considered, the Koyukuk gold district,' or gold diggings, frequently 

referred to as the most northern mining camp in the world, as known at present is 

contained in a rectangular area of about 3,500 square miles, lying between latitudes 

66° 55' and 67° 55' and longitudes 149° 30' and 151° 20'. a It accordingly trends 

north and south. Its length is about 70 miles and its width about 50 miles. 

Diagonally through it from northeast to southwest flows Middle Fork of 

Koyukuk Kiver, while the northwest portion is drained by North Fork and the 

southeast portion by South Fork. The principal field of present operations is 

near the middle of the district, on the middle drainages of Middle and North forks.

It is only in certain localities in this area, however, that profitable gold placers 

have been found. The formations on which these placers lie, so far as known, are 

the Lake quartz-schist, the West Fork schist, the Bergman series, and probably also 

the Skajit formation, for some of the later discoveries are reported to occur on micaschist, limestone, and marble;* but whether any or all of these formations are the 

original source or mother rock of the gold can not yet definitely be stated, as 

the season's work afforded no facility for visiting the diggings. The Slate Creek

" For location and outline of the district, see geologic map, PI. III.

& On Clara and Emma creeks the country rock is reported to bo mica-schist and marble.
GOLD. 99

gold, however, is probably derived from the Lake quartz-schist. 0 These schists are 

traversed by quartz veins of considerable size, the larger of which are not known to 

carry more than a trace of gold, but a series of smaller veins or veinlets and small 

lenticular quartz bodies or leaflets contained in the schist are to some extent auriferous. Nearly all quartz specimens which have been assayed show at least a trace 

of gold.

The principal diggings when the region was visited by the writer in 1899 were 

those of Slate Creek and Myrtle Creek, which lie along the zone where the Lake 

quartzite-schist gives way to the West Fork* series on the south. This zone is also 

along the line where the mountains give way to the dissected supposed Yukon 

Plateau. Here in March, 1899, coarse placer gold was discovered in paying quantities on Slate Creek, an east side tributary of Middle Fork of the Koyukuk, which it 

joins 16 miles above Tramway Bar. The country rock is a series composed of micaschist, quartz-schist, and slate, and is cut by some igneous intrusives. It is uplifted 

and stands on edge. The gold occurs as shallow creek and gulch diggings, and is 

found principally near or on bed rock in joints, fissures, and crevices. The gravels 

rarely exceed 3i feet in thickness. The diggings begin about 9 miles above the 

mouth of Slate Creek, at the confluence of the two main forks, of which the north 

one is known as Myrtle Creek, and the south one as Slate Creek proper. From 

this point the diggings extend to the head of Myrtle Creek, a distance of 5 or 6 

miles, and considerably farther up Slate Creek.

Two mining districts had been organized and are known as the Slate Creek 

and Myrtle Creek districts. The gold, as seen here, is bright, clean looking, coarse, 

and considerably rolled or flattened, denoting transportation. The largest nugget 

taken out had a value of nearly $20. The bench gravels along these creeks are also 

auriferous and are reported to prospect from 3 to 5 cents per pan. Considerable 

mining was also being done near the sixty-seventh parallel on various tributaries of 

South Fork with fair success; here at present the principal camp is that of Gold 

Bench.

Though the Slate and Myrtle creek districts, with a few others, are reported 

to have yielded well during the season of 1899 and 1900, and are still producing, 

subsequent exploitation has resulted in the discovery of much richer deposits farther 

up the river, all occurring, according to reports of the miners, in much the same 

class of metainorphic rocks as those noted for Slate and Myrtle creeks.

Of these newer discoveries, the principal are Emma, Clara, and Gold creeks, and 

other smaller streams tributary to' Hammond Creek, while the discovery of gold on 

Union Gulch, about 15 miles above Slate Creek, is reported to have been made

aSchrader, F. C., Reconnaissance along the Chandlar and Koyukuk rivers, Alaska, in 1899: Twenty-first Ann. Bept. 

U. S. Oeol. Survey, pt. 2, 1900, pp. 474-483. 

6Ibid., p. 475.
100 RECONNAISSANCE IN NORTHERN ALASKA IN 1901.

during the summer of 1901. Other new creeks, reported to be producing, are Vermont, Swift, and Nolan. The two best producers thus far are reported to be Emma 

and Gold creeks. The gravels on Hammond Creek are reported to contain much 

iron pyrites, which, in sluicing, rapidly fills up the riffles, and in some specimens 

visibly exhibits embedded bodies and particles of free gold—a fact of no 

small economic importance, as it seems to point very strongly to deposits of goldbearing pyrites or ore probably present within the Hammond Creek Basin as the 

source of the gold. During the summer of 1902 very promising prospects were 

discovered also on North Fork of the Koyukuk about 35 miles above its mouth. 

Here the belt containing gold-bearing gravels, locally considered, is said to have a 

width of about 20 miles and to trend in a general east-west direction about parallel 

with the mountains. The principal streams on the Fork are Mascot, Washington, 

and Big Four creeks. The discovery was made on Washington Creek in August, 

but the principal producer seems to be Mascot, a west-side tributary, which was 

discovered in September (1902), and during the season ,of 1903 yielded nearly 

$100,000 in gold. This gold is coarse. It contains several $100 nuggets, and 

other large ones of less value. The gravels are shallow; they range from 

a few inches to several feet in thickness, and contain a little black sand. Their 

shallowness enables the ground to be worked at a profit of about YO per cent of 

the yield, which is much greater than that in most of the creeks of the Koyukuk 

district. The gold is found mostly on bed rock and in the extreme basal part 

of the overlying gravels, and where the bed rock is rotten or decayed the gold 

frequently extends a foot or more into it. The bed rock is mica-schist. It contains 

stringers of quartz and is occasionally cut by porphyry dikes. Gold prospects 

have also been found west of the above, on tributaries of the Hokotena.

The Tramway Bar diggings are bench placers, consisting- apparently of deposits 

of auriferous river gravels resting on a bench of bed-rock conglomerate and sandstone, at about 80 to 100 feet above the level of the river. The gravels are mostly 

coarse, consisting largely of rolled cobbles and pebbles of quartz-schist and other 

rocks composing the mountains to the north. Several attempts have been made to 

work these deposits, but thus far with only moderate success. This is owing apparently to the remoteness of the region, the difficulty of transportation, and more 

especially to the lack of capital to utilize the water supply, which could readily be 

drawn from the river above the placers or from lakelets said to occur on higher 

ground lying westward.

The Tramway conglomerate has not as yet been found to be a fossil'placer, as 

was formerly supposed, nor docs it seem to bear any relations to the richer digging's 

occuring in the region of mctamorphic rocks much farther up the river.

Prospects of gold arc also reported to have been found on some of the tributaries
GOLD. 101

of John River. Colors were obtained here by the writer from gravels in the mouth 

of a small ci'eek near the north edge of the Totsen series, and specimens of vein 

quartz collected in place from sandstone and schist near the middle of the Fickett 

series assayed 0.03 ounce, or about 60 cents per ton. Though this may not be 

promising from an economic point of view, it seems to denote the presence of gold 

in the Endicott Mountains and points to the quartz as its probable source.

Coarse placer gold is reported to have been found by prospectors on the Arctic 

side of the divide, opposite the head of the Koyukuk Basin and farther eastward. 

Further investigations are contemplated here by men who have visited the region. 

This reported occurrence suggests the northward continuation of the auriferous 

schists of the Koyukuk district.

So far as observed by the writer, and learned from the accounts of prospectors, 

some of whose observations in the district have been extensive, the Koj'ukuk diggings 

in general are shallow, the gravels being but a few feet thick. Owing to this fact 

the placers are essentially what is known as summer diggings. Burning and drifting have been tried, but with only moderate success. About the only streams on 

which any winter work was done during the winter of 1902-3 are Hammond and 

Gold creeks. The richest placers are those in the creek beds and gulches; but 

gold-bearing gravels, sometimes of promising grade, occur also at higher elevations on the benches. Much of the gold occurs in the bed-rock cavities or in joint 

and cleavage crevices. It is coarse, much flattened, and ranges in size from that of 

a lima bean down to small grains. It is of high grade, being much purer than most 

of the Alaskan placer gold, and runs from $19 to $19.60 per ounce.

An exception to the flattened form of the gold occurs at Gold Bench on South 

Fork. Here the principal diggings are on a gently sloping bench at from 30 to 60 

feet above the stream. On the bench the, gold is all flattened, similar to that of the 

Koyukuk district in general, and is nearl}T all found within 8 to 10 feet of the surface. At the foot of the bench, however, the gold found in the high-water gravels 

of the present stream is of totally different character. It is not flat and smooth,"but is 

round or angular, some particles being so sharply angular, rough, and honeycombed 

as to suggest little, if any, transportation since it was released from the mother rock.

Coarser gold than has been mentioned in the preceding paragraphs has also been 

found at various localities in the Ko3r ukuk district. The largest piece found in 1900 

is an 18-ounce nugget,' having a money value of about $350, and is reported to be 

from Clara Creek. The largest found during the season of 1901 is a $660 nugget, 

said to have come from Union Gulch. In 1902 a much larger nugget, having a 

money value of about $1,100, was brought out. It is reported to have been found 

on Hammond Creek. This nugget was seen by the writer. It is flat, oblong in outline, having somewhat the shape of a man's hand. It consists of almost pure gold,.
102 RECONNAISSANCE IN NORTHERN ALASKA IN 1901.

very little quartz being present. It presents a clean, bright(surface and is of a deep, 

rich color. Another nugget, nearly as large as the above, having a weight of 50 

ounces and valued at about $1,000, was found on Hammond Creek during the sameyear, 

but was not brought out of the country until this fall (1903). It is described by Mr. 

Prindle as oblong and elongated in outline, flat on one side and rounded on the other. 

According to the most reliable information obtained, the production of the 

Koyukuk district from 1899 to 1903 was about $717,000, distributed among the 

various creeks and gulches, principally as follows:

Production of^gold in the Koyukuk district from 1900 to 1903.

Myrtle Creek .........................................

Gold Bench ..........................................

Gold Creek .......:...................................

Tramway Bar. ........................................

Porcupins OrcGk

Total................-.......--.-.--.---....-...

1900.

$40, 000

25, 000

1,000?

27, 000

1,000

2,000

5,000

1,000

500

1,000

103, 5001

1901.

|7, 000

60, 000

40, 000

2,000

50, 000

i, 500

1,000

1,000

1,500

164, 000

1902.

ffllOO, 000

1903.

6300, 000

« Season's yield,'including new discoveries. & Season's yield, including North Fork and new discoveries.

The total of the above table is $667,500. To this should be added $40,000, which 

is known to be the approximate output of sundry smaller diggings, not given in 

the above list in 1901; about $6,000 output in 1899 derived mostly from. Slate 

and Myrtle creeks and various points on South Fork, and $3,000 to $4,000 won 

from the Tramway and other bars in previous years, all of which to date gives 

an aggregate yield for the Koyukuk district of about $717,000.

The relatively low yield, not much exceeding $100,000 for the year 1902, is 

reported to be due to the exceptional dryness of the season and consequent lack 

of water for operations on most of the creeks. On Gold Creek but little sluicing 

could be done, but while the water lasted the jaeld was rich. On one claim the 

owners are reported to have washed out $12,000 in ten days.

In connection with the above statement concerning gold should be mentioned 

the reported recent discovery of supposedly promising pyritiferous gold-bearing ore 

near the head of Alatna River, principally on the divide between it and Noatak 

Eiver, which flows westward into Kotzebue Sound. The locality is northwest of 

Bergman, in approximate latitude 67° 40', longitude 155°. The men who made the 

. discovery state that the locality is. 170 miles from Bergman, but this must be by the 

river route where the distance traveled is necessarily greatly increased by the very
GOLD. 103

tortuous course of the Alatna. Our knowledge concerning the geography of this 

region is not definite, but the distance across country in a straight line from 

Befgman to the Koyukuk can hardly exceed 100 miles, and it is probably less.

The discovery seems to have been made by a party of prospectors and miners 

who visited the region by sled during the winter of 1902-3, and in company with 

others continued to prospect there during the summer of 1903. At present a score 

or more men are reported to be interested in the holdings.

The country rock is described as quartzite, slate, and schist, and is inferred by 

the writer to be in all probability a westward extension of the Fickett series (Carboniferous) which is prominently developed on John River, 60 miles distant, and in 

which, as indicated on the map (PI. Ill) and on page 106, a mineralized zone in the slate 

and quartzite was" observed by the writer in 1901. Without here affirming that the 

mineral deposits of these two regions are connected, it should be noted that the newly 

discovered Alatna deposits seem to lie directly in the trend of the John River 

deposits and have the same strike. This suggests that the deposits of the two regions 

may represent the same mineral belt.

The Alatna ore deposits are reported to consist of six or more veins, or ledges, 

known as the Copper King, Copper Queen, Lucky Six, Mammoth, Iowa, Gray Eagle, 

Silver King, and Ground Hog. They are on an average about 1 mile apart, and are 

accordingly included in a belt about 6 or 7 miles in width. They lie nearly 

parallel and trend in a northeast-southwesterly direction, and, so far as prospected, 

are in general nearly vertical, or dip about 75° NW.

About half of the veins are reported to have a width of approximately 75 feet, 

while the minimum width of the smallest is given as 10 feet. Some of the veins 

have been traced by croppings for distances varying from several thousand feet to 2 

miles. ' . *

Through the courtesy of Mr. Prindle the writer has received for study six of 

these Alatna ore specimens, brought out by the miners in the fall of 1903. In 

these specimens the ore consists essentially of iron pyrites and quartz, with also 

chalcopyrite (copper pyrites) which is conspicuous in two specimens. With the 

chalcopyrite is associated a little bornite and a trace of malachite. Another specimen 

is composed essentially of stibnite or sulphide of antimony and epidote. One specimen contains feldspar as a gangue mineral in addition to quartz, and is locally stained 

reddish brown by hematite or iron oxide, which is seemingly an alteration product 

of the pyrites.

The quartz is largely of the finely granular sugary type, and often remains 

as a porous honeycombed or coralline-like mass where the metallic contents of the 

ore have been leached out of the more exposed croppings. This "skeletonized" 

mass is occasionally traversed by small discontinuous stringers of firmer, greasylustered, and evidently younger quartz, producing a semibanded appearance, which,
104 RECONNAISSANCE IN NORTHERN ALASKA IN 1901.

considered in connection with slickcnsiding and planes of weakness exhibited by 

other specimens, shows that ore deposition was followed., by rock movement and 

consequent crushing, which produced fractures, into which the barren stringers 

were subsequently deposited by silica-charged solutions.

The specimens at hand contain both white and yellow iron pyrites, which is mostly - 

fine-grained and normally occurs massive with the quartz, but in a few cases an 

imperfect parallelism, or banding, apparently representing -depositional layers of 

quartz and pj^rites in varying amounts, is perceptible.

The value of the ore rests in its auriferous content. At least three of the 

larger veins are reported, from assays made for the owners in San Francisco, to 

carry from $40 to $90 per ton in gold.s The gold seems to be contained, very finely 

disseminated, in the pyrites, for so far as known no free gold is visible. None 

was seen in the specimens examined by the writer.

Should these deposits prove to be of economic value, it is noteworthy that besides being easily accessible by land, they can be approached at high water by way 

of the Alatna River with flat-bottom steamboat to a point within 6 miles of the 

locality, and at low water to a point within 20 miles. The region is reported to contain a large amount of small timber having a stumpage of about 1 foot in diameter.

COPPER.

The only indications of copper seen in this northern country by the writer were 

in detached fragments of quartz, apparently derived from veins, and carrying some 

iron pyrites, copper pyrites, malachite, and a trace of bornite. Such specimens were 

found sparingly in the river gravels on the upper Chandlar in 1899. b Some, seen in 

the possession of prospectors, were reported to have been collected on Mineral Creek, 

at the head of Chandlar Lake, on the west side. A ledge is also 1'eported to have 

been found on East Fork of the Chandlar, which assayed well in copper. But the 

ore is not known to occur in quantities of commercial value.

In the Koyukuk Basin the indications are much the same as above described, the 

occurrences being on the upper waters or the tributaries heading in the limestone 

mountains. The principal specimens seen by the writer during the recent work 

consisted of waterworn fragments found in the John River gravels and derived apparently from quartz veins. They contained some copper pyrites and a little bornite. 

Similar specimens were seen in the hands of Kowak natives on John River. What is 

supposed to be a vein of considerable size, containing iron and apparently copper 

pyrites, was observed in a steep limestone cliff of the Skajit formation overlooking 

the river, where no examination or collection could be made.

tiThe Survey has just completed the assay of four of the above-described ore specimens, with the following results, in 

ounces per ton: Specimen B, gold 0.05; silver none. Specimens C and D, gold, trace; silver, trace. Specimen F, gold 0.10; 

silver, 0.08. These results are not promising.

6Op. cit., p. 482.
LEAD AND ANTIMONY. 105 

LEAD.

Galena is known to occur in the Bettles limestone on the upper waters of the 

Chandlar and the Koyukuk. It is also reported on East Fork of the Chandlar. 

Specimens have been seen from Bettles River. Some reported to be from the upper 

part of Hokotena River or Wild Creek, which is the next large river above John 

River, were presented to the writer by Messrs. Windrick and Bettles. In one 

instance the Wild Creek galena is associated with, or partly incloses, qiiartz crystals 

five-eighths inch in diameter and an inch or more in length, while in another instance 

the associated quartz seems to be chalcedonic. The ledge occurs on Michigan Creek 

(the large east-side tributary of the Hokotena), 3 miles above its mouth, and is supposed to be in the Skajit formation. It is reported to be of considerable size. Those 

who have prospected it are hopeful that it may prove to be of economic value. It is 

reported to assay some silver and several dollars in gold per ton.

On the east side of the divide -between Middle Fork and South Fork, opposite 

the head of Minnie Creek, a limestone mountain of considerable size is reported 

by 'prospectors, in which galena is said to occur in large quantity.

ANTIMONY.

Pebbles and angular fragments of antimony sulphide, sometimes several inches 

in diameter, are found in the gravels of Gold Creek. A specimen of this mineral 

was determined in the chemical laboratory of the Survey to be a good grade of relatively pure stibnite. It is traversed by quartz stringers. Judging from the resemblance of the quartz to that seen in the Lake quartz-schists and the locality at which 

the antimony occurs it is inferred that this rock is probably the source of the ore.

Owing to the remoteness of the region the copper, lead, and antimony ores are 

not in themselves likely to prove of economic value unless the deposits are very 

exceptional in quantity and character.

ZONES OF METALLIFEROUS MINERALIZATION.

In the Totsen series.—About 40 miles above the mouth of John River, near the 

northern edge of the Totsen series, as shown on the geologic map (PL III), the micaschists, in an area several miles wide trending northeast and southwest, across the 

valley, are stained a pronounced reddish-brown or hematite color, denoting apparently a zone in which iron pyrites and other sulphides occur more or less abundantly in the schist. Though the rock could not be examined in detail, it seems 

probable that the stain is due to iron oxide derived from the sulphides by oxidation. 

The residuary soil formed by the disintegration of the schist in this belt is not nearly 

so red as the rock itself, but is rather of a yellow-oeher or limonite color, which 

seems to be due to more extensive oxidation and weathering or to leaching out of 

the mineral matter.
106 RECONNAISSANCE IN NORTHERN ALASKA IN 1901.

In the Fiokett series.—Toward the northern edge of the Fickett series, oast of 

John River, in the Fork Peak region, where the country rock consists of heavybedded gray and pinkish quartzite and slate, there is a belt about 2 miles wide which 

is~stained bright reddish brown, purple, and some other colors. As shown on the 

map, this belt also trends northeastward a distance of apparently about 15 miles to 

a point where the Fickett series gives way to the Lisburne formation. It seems also 

to extend southwestward beyond John River, but in that direction it is apparently 

not so conspicuous.

Here again the stain, which is surfioial, is due to iron pyrites acted on by the 

process of, weathering. A fresh fracture surface in hand specimen shows the zone ofstain or weathering to be nearly always definitely marked, but in its penetration of 

the rock it may vary in different cases from a mere film to a zone nearly one-fourth 

inch in thickness. As the rock is known to contain iron pyrites very finely disseminated, and all of the five stained specimens tested by the chemical laboratory were 

found to contain ferric oxide (Fe3Os), with some sulphuric oxide (SO3) present in four 

cases, the stain seems undoubtedly to be iron oxide derived from the pyrites by 

process of weathering. The brilliant peacock or bornitp color, which by the inexperienced prospector would readily be mistaken for indications of copper, is iridescent 

hematite. The specimen in which no sulphuric oxide occurs was found to contain also 

sidorite (FoCOs).

Whether these zones of mineralization may prove to be of economic value can 

not be affirmed at present, as the rapid progress of the party through the country 

did not permit opportunity for examination. It may be noted, however, that both 

zones are closely related to formational boundaries, the southern being near the 

unconformable and probably deformational contact of the Totseu series with the 

Skajit formation, while the northern lies along the fault contact of the Fickett series 

with the Stuver series and Lisburne formation; and both zones trend in a general 

way parallel with the dominant jointing or major structure of the mountain range. 

The localities at which placer gold claims have been staked by prospectors, and gold 

colors panned by the writer on John River, lie within the southern zone.

COAL.

GENERAL STATEMENT.

Coal in one form or another, and varying in age from Tertiary to possibly Ca.rboniferous, is more or less widely distributed in northern Alaska. It occurs in the 

Koyukuk drainage on the south side of the mountains, in the plateau on the Auaktuvuk, in the coastal plain on the Colville, and on the northwestern coast, in what is 

commonly known as the Cape Lisburne region, at Wainwright Inlet, Cape Beaufort, 

and several points between Cape Beaufort and Cape Lisburne (PL V).
COAL. 107

KOYUKUK REGION.

Koyukuk Rimer.—On Koyukuk River, in what was formerly supposed to be the 

Kenai" series, lignite and coaly material in small amount is common in the sandstone, 

grit, and especially in the conglomerate. The best occurrence is just above Tramway Bar, where there is a vein nearly 12 feet thick, of which the middle 9 or 10 feet 

seems to be relatively pure fuel. Its analysis is given under No. 187 in the table on 

page 114, which shows it to be a low grade of bituminous coal. There seems to be 

no reason why with development this vein should not prove serviceable for local use.

John River.—Coal detritus in considerable quantity and of a character to suggest 

the probable occurrence of coal of economic value somewhere in the region north of 

this locality was seen in the John River gravels near the base of the Endicott Mountains. This coal may apparently with safety be called a good grade of bituminous. 

It breaks with a conchoidal fracture and has a bright shiny or glossy black surface.

ARCTIC SLOPE.

Coal has been found also at several points on the Arctic slope, notably on 

Anaktuvuk and Colville rivers.

Anaktuvuk Rimer.—Coal was first encountered by our party on the Anaktuvuk, 

in the east bank, about 5 miles above the mouth of Tuluga River, about 130 miles 

from the Arctic coast, in latitude 69° 11', longitude 151° 4'. This coal is of Upper 

Cretaceous age, forming part of the Nanushuk series, from which the fossils at this 

locality were collected. As shown in PI. XII, J3, the rocks here dip steeply south, 

at an angle varying from about 80° to nearly vertical, and rise to a height of 100 or 

more feet above the river flats. The coal is conformable with the rocks of the series 

of which it forms members and occurs in several beds, each a foot or more thick. It 

is laminated parallel with the bedding, apparently denoting pressure. Though in 

the weathered state it has the appearance of lignite, it is shown by No. 607 in the 

table of analyses on page 114 to be a bituminous coal, having a fuel ratio of about 

1.20. The quantity thus far observed, however, is hardly sufficient to lead to the 

belief that the bed will prove of economic value in so remote a region.

Colville Rivei\—At about 30 miles north of the above locality and at a distance 

of 100 miles from the coast, on the Colville, in the region of the mouth of the Anaktuvuk, in latitude approximately 69° 32', longitude 151° 30', lignitic coal appears in 

considerable quantity. It is found in the Colville series, which underlies the Arctic 

Coastal Plain in this region, and here rises 200 feet above the river nearly to the surface of the plain, forming bluffs along the left or west side of the river for 10 miles 

both above and below the mouth of the Anaktuvuk. (See PI. VIII.)

a SchracJer, F. C., Reconnaissance along Chandlar and Koyukuk rivers, Alaska: Twenty-first Ann. Rept. U. S. Geol. 

Survey, pt. 2,1900, pp. 477 and 485.
108 RECONNAISSANCE IN HORTHEftN ALASKA IN 1901,

Here the coal is abundant and conspicuous. In the talus at the foot of the bluffs 

it is strewn about in detached blocks and bowlders ranging from 1 to several feet 

in diameter. Its occurrence in place in the bluffs is for the most part in the lower 

half of the section, where it appears in half a dozen or more beds that are from ] to 

3 or more feet in thickness, and are conformable with the Colvillc series, of which 

they form members. The beds lie for the most part nearly horizontal or dip very 

gently northward, and arc well exposed for a distance" of probably 10 or more miles 

along the river. They are represented by the dark or black layers in PI. VIII.

The associated rocks, of which a fuller description is given under the head of 

geology, consist in general of heavy beds of partially consolidated silt, soft shale, soft 

sandstone, very impure limestone, and intermediate types of deposits.

So far as observed in ascending the geologic section, the coal layers in most 

cases are underlain by a heavy bed of soft sandstone or shale 3 to 6 feet thick, with 

an intervening thin 6 to'8 inch layer of shaly under clay. The shale bed often 

contains fragmental lignitic plant remains.

As~ shown in the table of analysis (p. 114), where it is indicated by No. 620, 

the coal seems to be a good quality of lignite, with volatile.matter 30.33^ and fixed 

carbon 30.2*7. As the specimen was considerably weathered, it is probable that the 

analysis here given may fall somewhat short of representing the average efficiency of 

the coal. On several occasions the coal was used by the party in camp fires, and 

gave good satisfaction. It burned readily and yielded considerable heat.

The coal in general presents a dull-black appearance, and at first appears massive, 

but on closer observation is found to contain nearly horizontal, more or less discontinuous beds and thin layers of highly metamorphosed material, which is of a deeper 

black and has a somewhat high anthracitic luster. The main body of the coal seems 

to be composed largely of a mass of similarly well-metamorphosed, short, and glistening needles or spicules, variously compressed together in horizontal arrangement, 

presenting somewhat the appearance of an imperfect fibrous or woody structure.

From the known occurrence of such lignite and lignitic plant remains in the 

Kcnai (Oligocene) elsewhere in Alaska, and from the position of this coal in the beds 

above the Upper Cretaceous and below fossil-bearing Pliocene beds, the coal is 

inferred to be Oligocene. The vegetable fragments collected from the shale beneath 

the coal were examined by Doctor Dall, who suggests that they are probably the 

needles of Sequoia langsdorffii or some related conifer. He also suggests that the 

mass of this coal is probably composed of the trunks of Sequoia.

From an economic point of view, it should be stated that this coal is probably 

not suitable for export or for steaming purposes, and, though it is abundant it is 

unlikely, from its remoteness, under present conditions of the country, to prove to 

be of value for local use. It is not difficult of access, however, and could readily be
COAL. 109

brought to the coast on river barges by way of the Colville, and probably on river 

steamers at high water; or over a cheaply constructed railroad across the coastal 

plain. Owing to the shallowncss of the coast, however, difficulty would probably be 

experienced in loading it on ocean vessels.

Judging from the report of Howard, and that of Reed, coal or lignite apparently 

occurs also on the headwaters of the Colville. Concerning the region above the 

native village of Etivolipar, in latitude approximately 68° 20', longitude 156°, Mr. 

Howard makes the following statement:

"During the forenoon we passed a hill, about 500 feet in elevation, with outcrops of coal. On the sides of this hill beyond the coal were also found pieces of 

a substance called wood by the natives. It was hard, brittle, light brown in color, 

very light in weight, and burned readily, giving out quantities of gas. This material 

was scattered about in all shapes, sizes, and quantities. " a

Mr. Howard's visit to the region was a hasty overland trip made in the closed 

season when the ground was covered with snow and ice, and it embraced but a 

small section, probably 40 to 50 miles, of the Colville. That of Mr. Reed was 

made in the open season when conditions were most favorable for observing and 

making investigations. Mr. Reed, who, in company with Mr. Lucas, is reported- to 

have explored and prospected along the river for a distance of 200 or more miles, 

mostly downstream from the mouth of the "Killik" (see p. 31 of this paper), 

likewise reports that thick veins of bituminous coal crop out in the sandstone 

formation along most of the creeks, and states that the coal was burned ~by his party 

also in their camp tires.

From the topographic description given b}r Messrs. Howard and Reed, and from 

the geographic position of the region, being practically on a line with, and about 

intermediate, in distance between the Cape Beaufort and Cor win regions on the northwest coast, and that of the upper Anaktuvuk in the interior, at which points the 

rocks are known to be coal bearing, or at least of Mesozoic age, the writer infers the 

sandstone formation in which the coal or lignite occurs on the upper Colville to be 

in all probability Mesozoic, arid possibly also like the Corwin series, Jura-Cretaceous. 

And since the Mesozoic coals of the Territory are usually 'a good grade of bituminous character, it would not be surprising to find the upper Colville region to 

contain fuel of substantial economic value, similar to the coal produced by the Corwin and Thetis mines on the northwest coast, next to be described.

NORTHWEST COAST.

Coal has been known in the vicinity of Cape Lisburne (see sketch map, Pi. V) for 

half a century, and since 1879 whaling vessels have replenished their suppty from 

this locality. It occurs als.o at several places along the coast to the northeast as far

aStdney, Lieut. George M., Naval explorations in Alaska, U. S. Naval Institute, Annapolis, Md., 1900.
110 RECONNAISSANCE IN NORTHERN ALASKA IN 1901.

as Wainwright Inlet, a distance of about 200 miles. It is not certain, however, that 

the beds at these various points represent the same coal field or even that they all 

occur in the same formation. Though these coals have been somewhat exploited, 

and numerous fossils, ranging from early Paleozoic to Mesozoic, have been reported 

from the region, no definite conclusion has been reached concerning the geologic age 

of the rocks in which the coals occur.

Wainwright Inlet.—The most northerly occurrence of the coal yet reported along 

this coast is at Wainwright Inlet, latitude 70° 37', longitude 159° 45'. Here it is said 

by Mr. Woolfe, 0 who discovered it in 1889, to occur on the banks of Koog River, 

which flows into the inlet. As the river is shallow at its mouth, flat-bottomed boats 

or lighters would be required for getting the coal to the sea. The coal is described 

by Mr. Woolfe "as being of better quality and containing less detritus than the 

Cape Lisburne mineral. It appears to be a light but hard lignite, burning briskly, 

with but little ash." It is somewhat surprising that this coal should excel the 

Cape Lisburne coal in fuel efficiency, as the latter is believed to be the older, more 

highly metamorphosed, and carbonized. Though the writer was not able to visit 

the Wainwright Inlet exposure, at a point about 20 miles southwest of the inlet 

paleontologic evidence showed the country rock to be probably Jura-Cretaceous 

(p. 74). Judging from topographic criteria, the same formation seems to extend 

beyond Wainwright Inlet. Samples of apparently good coal were found near the 

place where the fossils were collected. Analysis of one of these, however, No. 

653 in the table (p. 114), shows that it is a lignite.

Though coal float is found in the beach gravels at several localities along the 

coast, actual outcrops of coal were not seen and are probably not numerous.

Cape Jieaufort.—Cape Beaufort, in latitude about 69° 10' and longitude 163° 36' 

(see PI. V), marks the coastal terminus of the line of demarcation between the very 

gently rolling or nearly flat lowland tundra country on the north and the more hilly 

and low mountainous region on the south which merges with mountains that terminate in Cape Lisburne. It lies about 70 miles northeast of Cape Lisburne. The term 

cape is hardly applicable to Beaufort, however, as there is here no real promontory, 

but only a ridge rising to a height of about 800 feet above the uniform shore line.

A 6-foot vein of coal occurs in the folded and faulted sandstone of this ridge. 

It is probably best exposed about one-eighth to one-fourth of a mile from the coast, 

whence it seems to extend farther inland and with care can probably also be traced to 

the coast. So far as observed, the vein dips gently southward with the rocks of the 

region. As shown in the table of analyses under No. 665, page 114, this is a good 

bituminous coal.

It may be well to note that Doctor Dall, in his report on Alaskan coal and

a Report on population and resources of Alaska at the Eleventh Census, 1890, Washington, 1893, p. 133.
COAL. Ill

/

lignites, includes under the name of "Cape Beaufort coal measures" all the coal from 

near Cape Lisburne to Cape Beaufort, inclusive, covering a stretch of more than 40 

miles in extent. As the coal throughout this region may possibly, on further investigation, all be found to be of the same geologic age, it may for the present fittingly 

be referred to under the one name. It should be remarked, however, that the vein 

at Cape Beaufort, which is the extreme northern limit of the field, is relatively little 

known, while that which is most familiar as the source of supply for the whalers is 

in the extreme southwestern part of the field. Doctor Ball's basis for thus including 

the coal of this entire region under one head is probably the description and extent 

of the occurrence of the coal given by Mr. Henry D. Woolfe, whose report, as condensed by Doctor Dall, is here quoted: 0

"Along the beach and coast line from Cape Lisburne for at least 40 miles an 

extensive and well-defined coal field exists. I was engaged for two seasons in 

exploiting these deposits. Research developed the existence of a body of coal 

extending over an area of 25 square miles. There are along the coast line for the 

distance mentioned numerous veins of coal from which the whalemen obtain supplies 

of fuel. The coal is of the type of semibituminous lignite. It makes steam quickly, 

but there is a very large percentage of ash and clinker, and its constant use causes an 

early burning out of the furnace bars. * * * At present the whalemen dig out 

their supplies from the surface veins, climbing the cliffs to obtain it. * * * With 

any wind, except from the coast or southeast, there is no protection on the coast 

mentioned, and the work of boating the coal off to a vessel lying at some distance 

from the shore is difficult, and in windy weather dangerous. With the ice pack 

offshore a lee is obtained which makes smooth water and facilitates coaling. The 

limit of the important coal-bearing area to the north is at Cape Beaufort, though 

small seams arc seen farther on. Between the seams bands of clear ice intervene, 

and I have noticed on the shelving banks of a small creek that runs through the 

coal land an oily exudation resembling petroleum."

Until the past few years Mr. Woolfe had seen more of this coal field than any 

other man, and we are fortunate in having the benefit of his observations, though the 

field may not prove so large or rich as he inferred.

Thetis and Corwin mines.—Turning our attention to the southwestern and apparently most important part of the field, we find here the Thetis and Corwin coal 

mines, old supply points of the whalers and United States revenue vessels. These 

names, Thetis and Corwin, which have appeared on the charts for many years, are 

taken from vessels of the revenue service which replenished their coal bunkers at 

these mines on their annual cruises in the Arctic.

The Thetis mine is situated near the mouth of Thetis Creek and east of Cape 

Sabine, a low and unimportant promontory, shown in Pis. V and X, O. The coal 

here is said to occur in sandstone and shale.

a Ball, W. II., Report on coal and lignite of Alaska: Seventeenth Ann. Kept. U. S. Geol. Surrey, pt. 1,1896, p. 820. 

ft.Ibid.
112 ' EECOJSTNAISSANCE IN NOBTHEBN ALASKA IK 1901.

The Corwin mines, which at present seem to be by far the most important, 

accessible, and productive, are situated farther to the southwest, near the southwestern limit of the coal measures referred to by Dall, and about 30 miles east 

of Cape Lisburne (see PI. V). Coal is reported to have been obtained here by the 

whaling vessels as early as 1879. Its occurrence, so far as observed, is in 10 or 12 

beds, varying from 1 to 16 feet in thickness, all being apparently quite persistent. 

The edges of these beds are exposed for a distance of about three-eighths of a mile 

along the coast, which cuts them diagonally, forming a steep cliff that rises from 

30 feet on the west to more than 100 feet above tide on the cast, where it attains its 

maximum in a low prominence known as Corwin Bluff. The coal beds, conformable 

with the country rock in which they occur, strike N. 45° W. and dip southwestward 

at an angle of 36°, as shown in PL XIII, B; but eastward, in Corwin Bluff, where 

the rocks are more disturbed, the dip steepens.

The. country rock in which the coal occurs, as shown in the above view, is 

sandstone, shale, and slate, and is probably Jura-Cretaceous. It is more fully 

described under the head of geology, page 72. As noted, it very much resembles 

the rocks of the Anaktuvuk series, but is supposed to be older.

Some of the coal in the Corwin mines has been partially crushed, but not greatly 

damaged, by rock movement. In mining much of it is taken out in large blocks, 

1 to 2 or more feet in diameter, and nearly all of the beds are comparatively pure. 

Average samples collected by the writer gave the analyses under numbers 669 and 

671 in the accompanying table, page 114, showing the product to be a bituminous 

coal of fair grade, with a fuel ratio of 1.10 and 1.30. It is, however, hardly satisfactory for blacksmithing or steaming purposes. It was used on the steamship 

Arctic, on which the party took passage for Nome, but with much the same results 

as indicated by Mr. Woolfe. Though it burns readily and produces steam quickly, 

it is of low specific gravity and not lasting. It takes about double the amount of this 

coal as compared with Comax coal to maintain a given steam pressure. It burns 

with little smoke, but produces a large amount of ash and clinker. This instance, 

however, can hardly be considered a fair trial, as, owing to the want of timber, the 

facilities for mining were so poor that much "bone," rock, and dirt, or foreign 

debris found its way into the coal and thence into the furnace. The coal is reported 

to be good for cooking and household purposes.

Mr. Charles L. Norton, a of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is said to 

have made the following report to the Corwin Trading Company on "Cape Lisburne 

coal," which was probably collected at or in the region of the Corwin mines:

"I find that the specimens of Alaska coal which you recently sent me have a 

calorific power of 7,560 calories per gram. This is quite as good as the average 

western coal, and is not more than 10 per cent inferior to the best eastern coals."

a Brooks, A. H., The coal resources of Alaska: Twenty-second Ann. Kept. U. S. Geol. Survey, pt. 3, 1902, p. 566.
COAL. 113

The Corwin mines were operated to some extent during the summer of 1901 by 

the Arctic Development Company, who disposed of the coal in the Nome market, 

mostly for domestic purposes, where it is said to readily command $18 or $20 per 

ton in competition with the Comax or Washington coal at $25 per ton.

As it is only on the exposed edges of the veins in the face of the beach bluff that 

mining has thus far been carried on, it may be that the quality of the coal will 

improve somewhat with depth, but presumably not to an important extent, since at a 

distance of 10 to 15 feet below the surface the coal appears bright, firm, dry, 

and unweathered.

There is undoubtedly a large amount of coal in the region of the Corwin mines, 

but there are no harbor facilities. The beach is exposed to heavy surfs, much as it 

is at Nome, and the water is shallow, so that ocean vessels do not often approach 

within three-eighths of a mile of the shore. The coal is loaded aboard the vessels by 

lighters, as at Nome, which, as it can be accomplished only at periods of quiet weather 

or favorable wind, is, to say the least, expensive, uncertain, and tedious. A project 

of constructing an aerial tramway for loading purposes, from the bluff out to the 

anchorage of the vessels, is said to be under consideration.

The claims in the vicinity of the mines have been taken up, mostly by the Arctic 

Development Company of San Francisco, whose reported plan of future development 

work includes the sinking of a shaft on one of the large middle veins, and crosscutting to the others.

Area south of Cape Lisburne.—Westward, toward Cape Lisburne, the Corwin 

series, in which the coals of the Thetis and Corwin mines occur, is supposed to give 

way to Paleozoic rocks, for the limestone cliffs 4 miles south of Cape Lisburne are 

known to contain Devonian corals and other forms. At about one-third of a mile 

north of this limestone locality, according to Mr. A. G. Maddren, who explored this 

section of the coast in 1900, there is a 4- to 5-foot vein of coal in shale, which dips 

north at an angle of 60°. This is at a point about one-third of a mile north of the 

coral limestone locality. This coal, Mr. Maddren thinks, is considerably older than 

that of the Corwin and Thetis localities. He reports:

" It is hard and breaks with a bright fracture. It was tried in the galley stove 

and gave a more intense fire than Nanaimo coal. The engineers said there was not 

enough underdraft beneath the main boiler to burn this coal fast enough for steaming purposes, that it was too hard and needed forced draft. The only point that 

seems to be against this coal is its lack of weight. It seems to have a low specific 

gravity, but this may be only at the surface, where it is leached out by the weather.!'

The low specific gravity here mentioned would seem to place this coal in the 

same class with the Corwin coals, and suggests its possibly being a specimen somewhat more highly altered by metamorphism. Whether it is of greater geologic age 

than the Corwin, as supposed by Mr. Maddren, can not definitely be stated, but it 

189—No. 20—04——8
114 EECONNAISSANCE IW NOETHEEN ALASKA IN 1901.

should be noted that in the shale associated with the coal there is reported to have 

been found by Mr. Dumars a small specimen of Lepidodeiidron, which has been 

determined by Mr. David White, who states that it is related to Lepidodendron 

chomungense, and that it indicates an age for the shale either of Upper Devonian or 

Lower Carboniferous.

• Mr. Maddren also reports that in the valley between Cape Dyer and The Ears 

(shown in fig. 1) a syncline of shales occurs containing at least one exposure of coal 

along the low sea bluff that rises from 50 to 100 feet above tide. He also states that 

just south of Cape Lewis there is a bluff of shales that seem to contain "coal blossom."

ANALYSES OF COAL.

The following analyses were made by Mr. George Steiger, chemist of the Survey:

Table of coal analyses.

Ash.................

Coke................

187 

Koyukuk 

Elver 

above 

Tramway 

Bar.

4.47

34.32

48.26

12.95

100. 00

1.40

607

Anaktuvuk River,

6.85

36.39

43.38

13.38

100. 00

.54

Trace

1.20

620

Colville 

Elver.

11.50

30.33

30.27

27.90

100.00 

.50

Trace

653

Wainwright 

Inlet.

10.65

42. 99

42.94

3.42

100.00 

.62

Trace.

None.

665

Cape 

Beaufort.

7.18

36.38

51.23

5.21

100. 00

.48

Trace.

1.4

669

Corwin 

mines.

10.47

40.12

46.16

3.25

100. 00

.27

Trace.

1.10

671

Corwin 

mines.

7.23

38.68

50.05

4

(\A

100. 00 

.23

Trace.

1.30

Cape 

Lisburne.u

3 7r;

AQ 7K

47 QQ

5.11

100.00 

.36

1 OR

CLIMATIC CONDITIONS.

METEOROLOGIC RECORD FOR 1899.

The following is a record of meteorologic observations made by the writer on 

a reconnaissance along Chandlar and Koyukuk rivers in 1899, mainly in latitude 65° 

to 68°, longitude 145° to 158°. The localities at or near which they were made are 

designated by the position of the dates (month and day) on the map. 6

The thermometer used in this work is an H. Green, cylindrical bulb, Fahrenheit 

scale.

a Brooks, A. H., The coal resources of Alaska: Twenty-second Ann. Kept. U. S. Geol. Survey, pt. 3, 1902, p. 665.

bSchrader, F. C.. A reconnaissance along the Chandlar and Koyukuk rivers, Alaska, in 1899: Twenty-first Ann. Eept. 

U. S. Geol. Survey, pt. 2,1900, opposite p. 448.

The localities refer to camps pitched by the party en route at the close of its day's traverse. Hence the morning observation of any given date was usually made at the camp preceding the one of the date by which the observation is designated 

on the map, and the 2 p. m. observation of the same date was made at a point about midway between the two camps.
CLIMATIC CONDITIONS. 115

The meaning of the abbreviations used in the table to denote the kind and amount

of clouds is as follows:

A-cu =alto-cumulus.

A-s =alto-stratus.

Ci =cirrus.

Ci-cu=cirro-cumulus.

Ci-s =cirro-stratus.

Cu =cumulus.

Cu-n =cumulo-nimbus.

N =nimbus.

S =stratus.

S-cu =strato-cumulus.

0 =clear sky.

1 =sky one-tenth cloudy.

5 =sky five-tenths or one-half cloudy. 

10 =sky all cloudy.

The wind velocities here given were determined by estimate, but as some judgment had previously been acquired by the observer in forming estimates of wind 

velocity by noting the impressions it makes upon the person and the speed of light 

objects transported by it, and then comparing the estimates thus formed with the 

readings of standard anemometers, with which he had several years' experience, the 

estimates here given are believed to be approximately correct.

Since the barometric readings here given were made on an aneroid, where there 

were no field facilities for its comparison with a mercurial barometer, they purport 

to be of minor value only.

In the preparation of the table for publication, suggestions have been contributed 

by Dr. Cleveland Abbe, jr.

Meteorologic observations along Chandlar and Koyukuk rivers essentially at 7 a.m. and 2 and 9 p. m., from

June 19 to September 23, 1899.

Locality and date.

Sort Yukon:

21,9a.m.

2p.m.

9p.m.

22,7a.m.

Mouth of Chandlar River:

June 22,2p.m.

2p.m.

9p.m.

Temperature.

Degr. F. 

58 to 60

59

58.9

64

63

63.8

74.5 

56.6

64.2

63

55

Clouda: Kind 

and amount.

Cu. 9 .......

Cu. 8 .......

Ci-cu. 5.....

Ci-cu. 8 .....

Ci-cu. 8 .....

Ci-ou. 4 ..... 

Ci-cu. 7 .....

Ci-ou. 3 . ....

Ci-eu. 7 .....

Wind: Direction and 

velocity in 

miles per 

hour.

High.

High.

Moderate.

0

0

SW. 10. 

0

SW. 15.

SW. 15.

0

Barometer. 

(Aneroid.)

29.2

29.15

29.1

29.15

29.14

29.12

29.16 

29.1

29.07

29.01

28.98

Weather.

.....do............

.....do............

.....do............

.....do............ 

If air. .............

.....do......:.....

.....do...... ......

Remarks.
116 RECONNAISSANCE IN NORTHERN ALASKA IN 1901.

Meleorologic observations along Chandlar and Koyukuk rivers essentially at 7 a. m. and 2 and 9 p. m., from

June 19 to September S3, 1899—-Continued.

Locality and date.

Chandlar River:

July 1,7a.m.

9p.m.

6,7a.m.

Temperature.

De.gr. F. 

52

60

50

51

55.6

54

51

57.5

54 6

48

55

48

53

59.5

53

54

59

52.5

44 5

46.5

46.5

44 

47

49

53

52

54

49 

50

55

56.5

CO

60.5

56

52

65

55

CQ

69

Clouds: Kind 

and amount.

Ci. 8........

Ci.2........

Ci. 4. ........

Ci 1

Ci.C........

a Q

Ci. 1........

N. 9 ........

N o

Ci.l........

Ci-cu. 8 .....

Ci-cu. 4.....

Ci cu 2

N.10. .......

N. 9-. .......

Cu-S. 8. .

N. 10........

Cu-n.9......

N. 10........

N. 10.. ......

N. 10........ 

N-cu. 8. ....

N-cu.6......

N o

N. 7.. --.-...

N O

Ci-cu. 1 .....: 

Ci.2........

Ci 3

N.8.. .......

Ci.2........

r1 ! 9

a q

Ci-cu. 4..'... 

N. cu. 8......

Q

0............

0............

0. ...........

Wind: Direction and 

velocity in 

miles per 

hour.

SW. 15.

SW. 15.

-SW. 20.

SW. 15.

SW. 10.

SW. 5.

SW. 4.

SW. 15.

SW. 20.

GYV 1(1

0

SW. 2.

SW. 3.

NNW. 5.

W. 5.

W. 2.

SW. 20.

SW. 15.

SW. 10.

SW. 5. 

SW. 8.

W. 20.

SW. 20. -

SWW. 20.

S. 77° W. 1. 

S.77°W.5.

S. 77° W. 20.

SW. 20.

SW. 20.

W. 30.

W.20.

W.20. 

W.20.

W.I.

W.10.

W.5.

W. 2.

W. 10.

Barometer. 

(Aneroid.)

29.05

29.06

29.15

29.15

29.16

29.12

29.6

29.12

29.1

29.11

29. 05

28.9

28.92

28.8

28. 85

29.8 

29.06

29.05

29 1

29.04

29 1

29.2 

29.30

29.20

29.0

28.90

28.1

00 Q

28.9

OQ fj

28.18

28.8

Weather.

.....do............

.....do............

.....do............

.....do............

Bright............

Brightf?).........

Bright............

.....do............

.....'do............

.....do............

.....do............

.....do............

.....do............

.....do............

.....do............

Bright............

.....do.............

.....do............

.....do............

5 p. m.

. Remarks.

River = 54.5°.

(?)•

Do.

ture river = 52°.

Rained all p. m.

Rainy all night. 

Clearing (?).

Do.

Do.

Clear and fine.

Bright.

of mountains and Yukon 

flats.

Bright; temperature river below Forks=55°, 11 a. m.; temferatnre Lake Fork = 55. 5, 

1.30 a. m.

Forks=55.8, 12 m. 

Bright.

Fine warm day.

Do.

Warm day; temperature river

=56°.
CLIMATIC CONDITIONS. 117

Meteorologic observations along Chandlar and Koyukuk rivers essentially at 7 a. TO. and % and 9 p. m.,from

June 19 to September 23, 1899—Continued.

Locality and date.

Chandlar RiverContinued.

11,7a.m.

2p.m.

'12,7a.m.

13,.7a.m. 

2p.m.

16,7 a.m.

2p.m.

17,7a.m.

2p.m.

18,7a.m.

2p.m.

9 p.m. 

19,7a.m.

2p.m.

9p.m. 

20,7a.m.

2p.m.

23, 7 a. m.

9p.m.

Temperature.

Hegr. F.

58

73.5

61

56.5

57

62.5

53

56 

50

49

55

52

58.5 

54 

53.5

55.5

58

59

50

53

53

.51,5

54 

46.5

48

48.5

45.5

55

51

47

53 

47

44

48

59 

49

59

70

55

59 

67

56

51

74

55

Clouds: Kind 

and amount.

0.. ..........

0............

0............

N.10.. ......

N. 9.. .......

N. 9. ........

N. cu. 8.....

N.10........ 

N. 10........

N.10........

N. 8... ......

Ci.2.. ...... 

Ci.l.. ...... 

Ci.l.. ......

S.4. ........

N.7.........

N.10........

N.10........

N.10....--..

N.10........

N-cu. 8 . .... 

0............

Ci-cu. 2 .....

2............

N.9.........

N.9.........

N.9.... ......

N.10........ 

N.9.........

N. 9.. .......

Ci-cu. 8.....

Ci.l........

Ci-cu. 4..... 

Ci. 9........

0............

Ci.2........

N. 5. ........

Ci. 5 ........ 

Ci-cu.' 2.....

Ci-cii. 5.....

0............

N.7. ........

Wind: Direction and 

velocity in 

miles per 

hour.

0

0

W. 2.

0

W.30.

W. 20.

SW. 20.

SW. 10. 

0

SW. 5.

0

SW. 5.

SW. 10. 

SW. 15. 

SW.2.

SW. 3.

SW. 10.

SW. 1.

0

0

0

SW. 5.

SW. 15.

SW 30

SW. -20.

SW. 10.

SW. 15.

SW. 10.

SW. 5.

SW. 10. 

SW. 6.

SW. 20.

SW. 15. 

SW. 15.

SW. 20.

SW. 5.

SW. 10.

S. 10.

0

SW. 2.

0

SE. 10. 

NWW. 10.

W. 5.

SWW. £.

NEE. 4.

NEE. 3.

Barometer. 

(Aneroid.)

............

............

-

...........

............

...........

Weather.

.....do............

.....do............

.....do............

.....do............ 

.....do............

.....do............

.....do............

Brightand sunny. 

.....do............ 

.....do............

.....do............

.....do............

Showery?.........

Foggy ............

Rainy and foggy .

Threatening; 

showery.

Dubious ..........

Dull..............

Bright............ 

.....do............

....do....'........

....do............

....do............

....do............ 

....do............

....do............

....do............

....do............

Remarks.

Sultry.

Do.

Granite Creek.

Showery. 

Do.

46.5°.

Temperature river=49°.

Temperature river=45°.

Do.

Dubious. Location: Chandlar 

Lake.

Showery in p. m.

tains.

Cool.

Do.

•Do. 

Do.

Warming.

Do.

Cooling.
118 RECONNAISSANCE .IN NORTHERN .ALASKA IN 1901.

Meteorologic observations along Chandlar and Koyukuk rivers essentially at 7 a. m. and £ and 9 p. m., from

June 19 to September S3, 1899—Continued.

Locality and date.

Chandlar River— 

Continued.

9p.m.

2p.m.

Koyukuk Biver: 

Aug. 2,7a:m. 

2p.m.

3,7a.m.

9p.m.

9p.m.

Temperature..

Degr. F. 

56

68

59.5

71

55

61

73 

60

60

61

46

49

58

48

07

68

50

61

52

51

74

62

67 

74

60

57

52

45 

52

46

45

54

56

54

48.5

54

53.5

65

50

63

67.5

45

Clouds: Kind 

and amount.

Ci-cu. 2 .....

Ci.l........

0.-.--.....-.

o............

0............

Ci. 3........

Cu-n. 5 .....

Ci-cu. 3.....

0............

0. ...........

0...... ...

0............

0............

0............

N.I.........

Ci-cu. 5.....

Ci.2........

N.6.........

Ci-cu. 4.....

N.7.........

N.lti........

N.10........

Ci-cu. 4..... 

0. ...........

s. s. ........

Cu.4........

Cu-n. 9 .....

N.10........

N.9.........

N. 9 and fog.

Ci-cu. 2.....

0............

Ci-cu. 4.....

0............

Ci.3... ....

Wind: Direction and 

velocity in 

miles per 

hour.

SWW. 5.

SWW.

0

SWW.

SWW. 5.

0

NW. 10.

NW. 16. 

0

NW 5

NW. 15.

NW. 5.

0

0

0

NW.5.

0

0

0

0

0

NW.5.

0

NW.5. 

NW.8.

NW.5.

NW.4.

0

W.4. 

W.4.

SW.7.

0

SW.4.

0

0

0

W.5.

0

0

0

NW.4.

NW.5.

0

Barometer. 

(Aneroid.)

............

............

............

Weather.

Bright............

Showery about 

lake.

Hazy; bright-....

minutes.

Clearing..........

Rainy ............

.....do............

Remarks.

Do.

Fine.

Do.

Do.

Koyukuk portage at 3,500'.

Clearing.

Fine.

Fair.

Comfortable.

Clearing and cool. 

Warming fast (?).

Cold. Location: MountHorace

at 5,600'. 

Do.

Cool.

Comfortable.

Cool.

Comfortable.

Clearing (?). and colder; river

rose 2 inches. 

Clear(?) warming (?).

Evening clearing (rained during night). 

Bright and warming.

Showery 5 to 8 p. m.

Bright.

Temperature creek=55°.

Cool.
CLIMATIC CONDITIONS. 119

Meteorologic observations along CJiandlar and Koyukuk rivers essentially at 7 a. m. and % and 9p. m.,from

June 19 to September S3, 1899—Continued.

Locality and date.

Koyukuk RiverContinued.

11,7a.m.

9p.m.

17,7a.m.

19,7a.m.

2p.m.

26.9 n.m.

Temperature.

Degr. F. 

57

68

58

49

69

58.5

63.5

74

54

52.5

54

56

56.5

69

48.5

49

68

52 

50

66.5

57

46

52

50

46.5

34

48

63

53.5

52.5

61

50.5

59

44 5

65

46

43

52 

43.5

43

50.5

oo

43

52

. 45

41

53

63

Clouds: Kind 

and amount.

Ci-cu. 3.....

Ci-cu. 4.....

Ci-cu. 4.....

N.8... ......

N. 10.. ......

Ci-cu.4.....

Ci-cu. 4 .....

Ci-cu. 2.....

Ci-cu. 10.... 

Ci-cu. 10... -

N. 10. .......

N.10........

N. 10.. ......

N. 10.. ......

N.10........

N. 10.. ......

0...... ......

S.2.........

Ci-cu. 3.....

S.2.........

S

n

N 9

N.10........

Cu. 7. .......

Cu-s. 8 ......

Cu-n. 4...... 

S.2... ......

0... .........

C; o

Ci.2........

Ci.2........

9.8.........

Wind: Direction and 

velocity in 

miles per 

hour.

NW. 4.

NW.2.

0

NW.2.

NW.4.

W.2.

NNE.

NNE. 5.

NNE. 4.

NNE.

NNE.

NNE.

..............

NNE.

SW. 6.

SW. 4.

SW. 3.

0

0

0

0

NB. 3.

NE. 3.

NE. 4.

E.

SW.

0

0

0

SW. 4.

SW.6.

0

SW. 3.

SW. 4. 

0

SW. 4.

SW. 4.

SW. 4.

SW. 10.

SW. 9.

SW. 2.

SW.4.

SW. 2.

Barometer. 

(Aneroid.)

............

............

Weather.

"

night.

Sprinkled ........

.....do............

.....do............

Raining ..........

.....do............

.....do............

Showery.. ........

Showerv. .........

Remarks.

tain at 5,000'. 

Do.

Do.

Fine day.

Do.

,

Ion Myrtle Creek.

Foer

Do.

Do.

Do.

Do.

DO. 

Do.

Do.

Do.

Do.

DO.

Do.

Do.

Warm: hazy.
120 RECONNAISSANCE IN NORTHERN ALASKA IN 1901.

Meteorologic observations along Chandla.r and Koyukuk rivers essentially at 7 a. m. and 8 and 9 p. TO. , from

June 19 to September 83, 1899—Continued.

Locality and date.

Koyuknk River — 

Continued.

28,7a.m.

2p.m.

Sept. 1,7 a.m.

8,7a.m. 

2 p.m.

11,7 a. m

12.7 a. m

Temperature.

Deijr. F. 

54

56

53

48

. 47

52

54

43

51

89

36

50.5

45.5

52.5

45

61

52

51

57

51

58

. 49.5

45

55

47

47.5

47.5

44 

58.5 

49

41

50.5

48.5

• 48

• 47 

53

49

• 34

Clouds: Kind 

and amount.

N.10. .......

N.10........

N. 10.. ......

Ci-n.8 ......

Ci-n.S ......

Ci-n.7 ...... 

Cu. 5........

Ci-n.7 ......

Ci-s.4. ......

Ci-s. 3 .......

na/,y .......

Cii-ii.8......

Ci.3 ........

Ci-s.4".......

N.9.........

N.10. .......

N.10........

N.10........

N. 10 ........

N-s. 9 .......

Cu-s. 7 ......

Ci-ou.3 .....

Ci. 1 .......

Cu-s. 7...... 

Ci-s. 1 ......

Ci-s.2....^-

S-n.S ......

S-n.8 ... ..

Ci-cu. 2 ....

N. '8... -....:

N.IO.'...-.-.. 

Cu-s: 4.....

S. 2 .......;

Ci-s.4......

Wind: Direction and 

velocity in 

miles per 

hour.

SW. 4.

SW. 5.

SW. 2.

SW. 6.

SW. 7.

SW. 6.

SW. 10. 

SE. 4.

0

SW. 8.

SW. 10.

SW. 2.

NE. 3. 

SW. 2.

SSW. 3.

0

E. 7.

0

0

0

0

SE. 4.

0

SW. 8.

sw. i.

0

SW. 10.

NE'. 12 (?). 

NE! 12 (?).

N. 3.

E. 8.

0

0

NE. 1.

0

SW. 4. 

• S. 15.

0

0

Barometer. 

(Aneroid.)

...........

............

............

Weather.

.....do............

v

Stormy ...........

.....do............

.....do............

.....do............

Some fog .........

night.

....................

.....do........---.

Fog. low and dense

Kemarks.

Do.

Clearing (?) (river rising).

Clearing (?).

Fine morning; frost.

Do.

inches since. 

Do.

Cool.

Tine morning. 

Fine day a. m. (river 51.5°).

Fine a. m.; threatening now.

Moderately fair evening.

Dubious (river 49°).

line (river 49°).

Very foggy and misty. 

Fair day (river 50°).

Fine morning (frost).
CLIMATIC CONDITIONS. 121

Meteorologic observations along Chandlar and Koyukuk. rivers essentially at 7 a. m. and 2 and 9 p. m., from

June 19 to September #5, 1899—Continued.

Locality and date.

Koyukuk River — 

Continued.

9 p.m.

Lower Yukon 

River:

14,7a.m. 

2 p.m.

15,7 a.m. 

Nulato: 

Sept. 15,2 p.m.

Steamer Weare:

Holy Cross:

Andreafski:

Steamer Wearc 

50 miles below 

Andreafski:

Sept. 20,2p.m.

Aphoon mouth:

Norton Sound:

St. Michael:

22,7a.m.

9p.m. 

23, 9 a.m.

2p.m.

Temperature.

Degr. f. 

52.5

49.5 

44.5

Kll

47.5.

41.5

51 

39

37

48 

32

21

qo

0-1

32. 5

37

qq K

27 5

37 

34

33.5

39

35

34

35

Frozen 

hard.

Clouds: Kind 

and amount.

S-Cu. .......

Cu-n. 10 .... 

Ci-s. 2 ......

Cu-s. 4......

Cu-s. 5...... 

S-n.6. ......

S-n. 8.......

S-n. 9....... 

S-n 4

10...........

10...........

10...........

Ci-cu. 6..... 

10...........

N.8.........

Ci-a. 4 ......

10...........

Ci-s. 10 .....

10...........

10...........

Ci-cu. 7.....

Ci-cu. 4..... 

Ci-cu. 6 .....

Wind: Direction and 

velocity in 

miles per 

hour.

E. 2.

0 

0

SW. 12.

SW. 16.

SW. 20. 

SW. 20.

sw. 10.

SW. 15.

SW. 10. 

NW. 3.

NE. 2.

NE. 9.

NE. 8.

NNW 3

SW. 2.

SW. 1.

0

0

s.

10.

SW. 5.

W. 2.

Nearly calm. 

Nearly calm.

SW. 10. 

0

Barometer. 

(Aneroid).

............

............

Weather.

Eainy ............

Rained hard in 

night. 

Stormy (?)........

Showery (?)...... 

Showery. .........

.....do............

....--•do... .........

ingly. 

.....do............

Some log .........

.....do:...........

Snowing. ....... .

.....do............

Snowing.......... 

.....do.........:..

Remarks.

Station. 

Stormy, but clearing.

Storming.

Storming.

Do. 

Cold.

ing hard now.

Do.-

Blustery. 

Wintry.

Fog.

Snowed all a. m.

Cold. 

Do.

Do. 

Do.
122 KEOONNAISSANOE IN NOBTHEKN ALASKA IN 1901.

METEOROLOGIC RECORD FOR igoi, BY W. J. PETERS.

Snow was found to average about 6 feet deep in the Koyukuk Valley in April, 

and as the preliminary expeditions ascended the north tributaries flowing from the 

Endicott Mountains in April the depth was found to decrease until the grasses were 

visible in the floor of the passes. By June this deep snow had practically disappeared from the lowlands. Natives report that north winds blow through the passes 

of the Endicott Mountains with great force in winter, during which season it is 

dangerous to travel. It is not only dangerous to. face the wind, but there is risk of 

the sled being broken by its being blown against projections in the smooth ice. 

Fogs were found on the pass in April and dense haze in July. In both cases this 

seems, to have been blown in from the coast.

The following table, showing the temperatures at Uglaamie, 9 miles from Point 

Barrow, is taken from the report of the Eay expedition, 1881-1883:

Temperature observations at Uglaamie, 

[In degrees Fahrenheit.]

Month.

1881.

1882.

March ...............

July .................

1883.

March ........_:.....

May ................I

July .................

Mean. - -

0

—18

-15

—23

_ 4

_ 4

22

34

43

38

31

9

_ f

-17

-17

— 6

-13

___ 0

23

... 32

3fi

37

Maximum.

30

20

— 2

23

32

37

53

65

59

51

41

29

8

12

24

26

16

38

' 51

53

60

Minimum.

-28

-45

-52

-30

-23

- 2

24

27

27

19

—22

-35

—42

-42

—34

—51

-30 •

-14

18

27

22
CLIMATIC CONDITIONS. 123

The highness of the minimum temperatures given here for the winter months, 

which are 30° to 40° above those of the Koyukuk country in the interior, is obviously 

due to the moderating influence of the ocean. At Cape Bathurst, northeast of the 

Mackenzie, in longitude 127° 30', and latitude nearly as far north as that of Point 

Barrow, the lowest temperature experienced for the past, two winters is reported by 

Mr. Fox, one of the white keepers of a trading post here, to be —36°.

Thunder is rare at Point Barrow, but is known by the natives to occur.

Precipitation at Uglaamie, 9 miles from Paint Barrow; taken from the report of the Ray expedition, 1881-188S.

Month.

March ................

May .................

July .................

August ...............

September ............

October ..............

1881.

Inches..

0.73

.44

,1S82.

Inches. 

0.44

.04

.51

.39

.44

.61

1.39

1.46

1.10

1.05

.34

.24

1883.

Inches. 

0.14

1.02

.14

.55

.31

.30

1.04

1.66

METEOROLOGIC RECORD FOR 1885-86, BY LIEUT. G. M. STONEY.

The following temperatures and notes were taken by Stoney? on upper Kowak 

River, principally at Fort Cosmos, about 120 miles from the coast, in approximate 

latitude 66° 53', longitude 157° 23'. As they are continuous throughout a year, 

they cover a more extended period of time than any other data yet made in the 

interior of this northern country, and are regarded as one of our most important and 

reliable records concerning it.

Temperatures on Koivak (Putnam) River.

July, 1885: . '

Lowest temperature during month .................................................. 32°.F.

Highest temperature during month.................................................. 70

Mean temperature during month..................................................... 49

August, 1885:

Lowest temperature during month ................................................... 32° F.

Highest temperature during month .................................................. 68

Mean temperature during month....................................'................ 47

astoney, Lleut. George M., Naval Explorations in Alaska, U. S. Naval Institute, Annapolis, Md., 1900, pp. 104-106.
124 RECONNAISSANCE IN NOETHEBN ALASKA IN 1901.

September, 1885: : " • " '

Lowest temperature .during month ................._......_..__..____..._._..;.__.... 5° FHighesttemperature during month.................................................. 69

Mean temperature during month................!.....;............................. 39

October, 1885: . ' ,. . : .

Lowest temperature during month ...............................................I.... — 4° F.

Highest temperature during month..................... -......._....._._....__...._. 46

Mean temperature during month....... ...i-...................^.................... 16

November, 1885: , .

Lowest temperature during month .................................................. —44° F.

Highest temperature during month-................................................. 15

Mean temperature during month ..'..,..............................................., — 9.5

December, 1885: ' .

Lowest temperature during month ................................................... —65° F.

Highest temperature during month.................................................. 29

Mean temperature during month ............^....................................... —12.4

January, 1886:

Lowest temperature during month .................................................. —70° F.

Highest temperature during month.................................................. 31

Mean temperature during month .....'............................................... —13.5

February^ 1886:

Lowest temperature during month ................................................... —65° F.

Highest temperature during month....^..........................^.......'........... 26

Mean temperature during month ..................................................... —22. 5

March, 1886: ;

Lowest temperature during month .................................................. —38° F.

Highest temperature during month.................................................. 36

Mean temperature during month -....-..--.-.-.---.--...--.-.-..--.................. — 3. 8

April, 1886:

Lowest temperature during month ..................................^............... —22° F.

Highest temperature during month.................................................. 49

Mean temperature during month.................................................... 13

May, 1886:

Lowest temperature during month .................................................. 14° F.

Highest temperature during month.................................................. • 65

Mean temperature during month ..--...----.-....---......-......................... 35

June, 1886:

Lowest temperature during month .......---..-.-..---.-------...................... 32° F.

Highest temperature during month.--.--...--................... .................... 74

Mean temperature during month............ J........................................ 49

"Note.—During the month of December, 1885, in one hour the temperature rose 

29° F., barometer remaining quite steady. This sudden rise in temperature was 

closely followed by a terrible gale of wind. The thermometer, not the barometer, 

indicates an approaching gale. • It is dead calm when the thermometer stands low, 

and during the gales the temperature always goes above zero. The more sudden the 

rise of thermometer the harder the wind blows and the,more quickly it hauls. One 

should watch the thermometer closely and get under shelter if a gale is coming; for 

neither man nor dog can stand these gales. You must be under shelter. Have 

seen it snowing—that is a fine snow falling—when there was not a cloud in the sky 

and very light wind. It is advanced by some that there was a higher wind that 

carried the snow from the mountain peak.

« Mean temperature February 1 to 20 —33° F.
CLIMATIC CONDITIONS. 125

"When the thermometer is minus, it is denoted (—).

"The temperatures during the months of July and August were taken partly at 

Fort Cosmos and while at work on the river. The others were taken at Fort Cosmos 

and an accurate temperature taken every hour by spirit thermometers remaining outside; These were the best (registered) spirit thermometers, made specially for 

the Government for arctic observation.

"A person can't be too much impressed with the importance of watching the thermometer. I would recommend that the spirit thermometer have the liquid colored, 

as the white liquid is hard to read. The thermometer should also be protected by 

a wooden case, leaving only the bulb exposed, and even that should be screened. My 

observations were the mean of three excellent spirit thermometers." '

TEMPERATURES IN 1901.

Following are lists of temperatures encountered by the party. The record 

was kept by Gaston Philip. As the primary objects of the expedition could be 

obtained only by making daily moves, which were necessarily made at irregular 

hours during the twenty-four, these notes are not so complete as might be desired, 

but they will serve to give a fair idea of the general conditions that prevailed.

Temperatures on Dawson trail al 8 a. TO., February to May, 1901.

Date.

Feb. 19

20

21 

22

23

24 

25

. 26

27

28

Mar. 1 

2

3

4

5

' 6

7

8

9

10

11

12

Deg. F.

55

-40

—25 

-32

-22

-23

—28

—14 

—10

-10

0 

0

-45

—10

-10

0

8

16

16

16

-12

0

State of atmosphere.

Calm............

.....do ..........

.....do .......... 

.....do ..........

.....do ..........

.....do .......... 

.....do ..........

.....do .......... 

.....do ..........

Calm. ...-...----

.....do ..........

Locality.

Do.

Do.

Lake Laberge.

Do.

Do.

Do.

Near Fort Selkirk. 

Fort Selkirk.

Do.

30 miles below Fort Selkirk.

50 miles below Fort Selkirk.

Do.

Do.

Fortvmile.
126 RECONNAISSANCE IN NOETHEEN ALASKA IN 1901.

Temperatures on Dawson trail at 8 a. m., February to May, 1901—Continued.

Date.

Mar. 13

17

18

19

20

21

22

23

24

25

26

27

28

29

30

31

Apr. 1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

24

25

26

27

.28

29

30

May 1

2

3

4

3eg. F.

13

-23

-22

10

-10

- 8

- 4

2

0

0

0

-20

6

3

2

2

24

8

6

3

4

14

18

8

4

6

4

4

8

3

4

10

8

2

18

16

14

12

22.

16

18

State of atmosphere. Locality.

Near Eagle City.

Do.

Do.

Circle.

Do.

Do.

Do.

Do.

Do.

Do.

Do.

Do.

Do.

Do.

Do.

Do.

Do.

Do.

Do.

Divide between Chandlar and South Fork, Koyukuk River.

Slate Creek.

Koyukuk Eiver near Settles.

Do.

Do.

Do.

Do. .

Do. •

Do.

Do.

Do.

Do.

Settles.
CLIMATIC CONDITIONS. 

Temperatures on Dawson trail at S a. m., February to May, 1901—Continued.

127

Date.

6

7

9

Deg. V.

20

22

24

27'

12

State of atmosphere. Locality.

Bergman.

Do.

Do.

Do. ...

.......Do......

Temperature at morning, noon, and evening at localities between Bergman and Arctic coast.

, Bate.

May 1

9

10

11

19

-10

14

15

1 K~

17

1 Q

19

20

91

22

00

24

OE

26

97

28

OQ

30

31

June 1

2

3

4

5 

6

a. m.

Deg. F. 

1Q

14

1Q

14

14

34

> 33

35

qc

30

01

00

35

43

48

37

0.7

40

AQ

14

4fi

43

CA

32 

41

36

42

51

53

58 

38

Noon.

Deg. F. 

33

44

33

44

34

qc

36

38

40

39

56

44

45 

45

45

51

46

52

49

48

43

42

39

45

52

57

50

• 44

p. m.

Deg. F.

26

26

24

24

oe

31

°.i

00

31

26

OQ

• 42

• 40

• 41 

38

-- 43

46

... .42 .

• 40

••43

38

33

• -41

42

51

•54

- -45 

37

Atmosphere.

Bain, 0.02 inch; light wind north ..

Fair..............................

:_..:do--..:.... ..................

:....do ...........................

.....do ...........................

Snow; -precipitation to date, 0.67...

Wind southwest, cloudy; rain, 0.03. 

Snow.............................

Locality.

Do.

Do.

Do.

Do.

Do.

Do.

Do.

Do.

Do.

Do.

T)r\

Do'.

Do.

Do.

Do. 

Do.

Do.

Do.

Do.

T)r\

Do.

Do.

Do. 

Do.

Do.

Do.

Do.

Do.

Do. 

Do.
128 RECONNAISSANCE IN NORTHERN ALASKA IN 1901.

Temperature at morning, noon, and evening at localities between Bergman and Arctic coast—Continued.

Date.

June 7 

13« 

14 

15 

.16 

17 

18 

' 19 

20. 

21 

22 

23 

24 

25 

26 

27 

28 

29 

30 

July 1 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

7 

8 

9 

10 

11 

12 

14 

15 

16 

18 

19 

20 

21 

22 

23

uMost 0

which the r

a. m.

Dec/. F. 

35 

55 

42 

51 

60 

67 

57 

62 

.63 

61 

56 

56 

56 

48 

42 

48 

58 

51 

58 

1 56

57 

50 

50 

60 

60 

64 

57 

50 

47 

53 

44 

44 

5

62 

68 

72 

68

£ the dates 

espective o

Noon.

Deg. F. 

45

67

68

. 52 

68 

71

60

80

74

that follov 

bservation

p. m.

Deg. F.

40 

62 

55 

63 

52 

60 

64 

64 

60 

.58 

55 

49 

48 

52 

62 

62 

54

55

57 

44 

57 

65 

54 

64 

52 

49 

49 

55 

42 

51

61 

63

70 

72 

60 

v appear 01 

s were mac

Atmosphere.

Snow. ............................

Fair. .............................

.....do ...........................

.....do ...........................

Cloudy...........................

Fair. . __.......,............__....

.....do ..........................

Cloudy...........................

Fair..............................

.....do ...........................

Fair; rain, 0.09. ...................

Bain, 0. 26 ........................

Fair..............................

Rain, 0.02 ........................

Fair. .............................

.....do ...... ...................

Bain, 0.04 ........................

Bain, 0.08 ........................

Fair. .............................

.....do ...........................

... ..do. ......................... .

.....do ...........................

Fair. .............................

......do ...........................

. ....do. ......................... .

.....do.---...-...............--..

i the accompanying maps, Pis. II and III, and 

le.

Locality.

Bergman. 

Do. 

John River. 

Do. 

Do. 

Do. 

Do. 

Do. 

Do. 

Do. 

Do. , 

Do. 

Do. 

Do. 

Do. 

Do. 

Do. 

Do. 

Do. 

Do. 

Do. 

Do. 

Do. 

Do. 

Do. 

Do. 

Do. 

Do. 

Do. 

Do. 

Do. 

Do. 

Do. 

Do. 

Do. 

Do. 

Do. 

Koyukuk-Colville divide. 

Do. 

Do. 

designate the localities at or near
CLIMATIC CONDITIONS. 129

Temperature at morning, noon, and evening at localities between Bergman and Arctic coast—Continued.

Date.

July 24 

25 

26 

27 

28 

« 29 

30 

31 

Aug. 1 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

7 

8 

9 

10

11 

12 

13 

14 

15 

16 

17 

18 

19 

20 

21 

22 

23 

24 

25 

26 

27 

28 

29 

30 

31 

Sept. 1

a. m.

Deg. F. 

76 

68 

66 

62 

54 

' 34 

41 

44 

55 

62 

44 

52 

54 

60 

60 

44 

46 

43

48 

43 

48 

40 

38 

38 

38 

38 

52 

44 

39 

38 

42 

42 

37 

36 

32 

32 

31 

32 

33 

32 

189-

Noon.

Deg. F. 

85

36

74 

69 

67 

63 

65 

58 

52 

50 

' 48

52 

52 

55 

45 

42 

42 

40 

38 

44 

46 

50 

42 

42 

39 

38 

36 

33 

32 

34 

32 

33 

32

-No. 20

p. m.

Deg. F. 

80 

83 

60 

52 

50 

36 

50

64 

69 

64 

62 

58 

60 

64 

48 

44 

47

42 

60 

51 

52 

40 

42 

43 

38 

42 

44 

52 

40 

42 

39 

36 

33 

32 

32 

32 

32 

32 

32 

—04 —

Atmosphere.

Fair. . .............................

Rain, 0.20 ........................

Rain, 0.17 ..........-...-.-..- ...

Rain, 0.27 ........................

Rain, 0.05 ........................

Fair..............................

.....do....^.... ..................

.....do ..:........--.----.........

Fair............... ...............

Cloudy ---....-...------'-.-.......

Rain 0.04..... ....................

Cloudy, drizzling rain; river temperature 50°.

.....do...........----..--........

.....do...........................

Cloudy, sleet and rain; wind south. 

Fair. . ............................

Fair. .............................

Cloudy, rainy, strong wind east .... 

Snow squalls, all daystrong wind east 

Snow squalls, strong wind ..........

Wind iiprtheast ...........-----...

-9

Locality.

Anaktuvuk River. 

Do. 

Do. 

Do: 

Do. 

Do. 

Do. 

Do. 

Do. 

Do. 

Do. 

Do. 

Do. 

Do. 

Do. 

Do. 

Colville River. 

Do.

Do. 

Do. 

Colville River delta. 

Do. 

Do. 

Do. 

Harrison Bay: 

Do. 

Do. 

Do. 

Near Cape Halkett. 

Pitt Point. 

Smith Bay. 

Do. 

Do. 

Do. 

Do. 

Do. 

Do. 

Do. 

Do. 

DQ,
130 RECONNAISSANCE IN NORTHERN ALASKA IN 1901.

Temperature at morning, noon, and evening at localities between Bergman and Arctic coast—Continued.

Date.

Sept. 2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

a. m.

Deg. F. 

31

35

36

36

37

34

35

33

30

32

33

32

35

38

36

31

36

Noon.

Deg. F. 

33

35

36

36

35

34

p. m.

Deg. F. 

35

35

36

36

32

34

35

31

30

33

33

32

. 38

38

36

30

Atmosphere.

Clear.............................

.....do ...........................

.....do ...........................

.....do ...........................

.....do...........................

.....do...........................

.....do...........................

.....do ...........................

.....do ...........................

.....do ...........................

.....do ...........................

.....do ...........................

.....do ...........................

Locality.

Off Dease Inlet.

Near Refuge Inlet.

Do.

Do.

Peard Bay.

Off Belcher Point.

Do.

Off ley Cape.

Off Point Lay.

Do.

Cape Beaufort.

The minimum temperatures recorded for the Koyukuk district at Coldfoot are 

reported to be —80° and even lower, but the instruments on which these records are 

based are not known. It is hardly to be supposed, however, that it becomes much 

colder here than at Circle, Dawson, and other points on the Yukon. Though grass 

and other feed was scarce, a hoi'se is reported to have wintered at large on North 

Fork of the Koyukuk, on Mascot Creek, in 1902-3, and appeared to be in fair 

condition in the spring.

ARCTIC PLANTS COLLECTED.

The following plants, collected on the trip mostly by G. H. Hartman, have been 

identified, with the exception of the grasses, by Frederick V. Coville and W. F. 

Wight, botanists of the U. S. Department of Agriculture. The grasses were identified by Mr. Elmer D. Merrill. The localities of collections are designated by camp 

dates, which latter will be found on the topographic and geologic maps (Pis. II and

III).

. . EQUISETACEJE. (Horsetail family.) 

Equisetum arvense L. ........

At camp, August 12..
ABCTIC PLANTS COLLECTED. 131 

(Grass family.)

Arctagrostis latifolia (E. Br.) Griseb.

Point Barrow, September 4. 

Poa arctica E. Br.

At camp, August 12. 

Bromus arcticus Shear.

At camp, August 6. 

Elymus innovatm Beal.

Cape Smyth, September 5.

(Bunch-flower family.) 

Zygadenus elegans Pursh. 

At camp, August 5.

SALICACE*:. (Willow family.) 

Salix.

Cape Smyth, September 5. 

Salix.

• Point Barrow, September 4. 

Salix.

At camp, August 12. 

Salix.

At camp, August 5. 

Salix.

At camp, John Eiver, altitude 1,800 feet, June 20-21. 

Salix alaxensAs (Anders. ) Coville.

John Eiver, June 24; John Eiver Valley flats, July 8; at camp, John Eiver, July 10; at

camp, August 5; at camp,. August 6; at camp, August 12. 

Salix arbusculoides Anders.

At camp, John Eiver, June 28; John Eiver, 1,000 feet above valley, July 8; at camp, John

Eiver, July 10; at camp, August 6. 

Salix glauca L.

John Eiver, 1,000 feet above valley, July 8; at camp, Arctic slope, July 21; at camp,

August 6; at camp, August 12. 

Salix niphoclada Eydb. (apparently).

At camp, John Biver, July 10; at camp, Anaktuvuk River, August 5. 

Salix ovalifolia Trautv.

At camp, Colville delta, August 14. 

Salix pulchra Cham.

John Eiver, June 24; John Eiver, 1,000 feet above valley, July 8. 

Salix richardsoni Hook.

At camp, East Fork of John Eiver, July 16-17. .

/

BETITLACE^;. (Birch family.) 

Betula.

At camp, Arctic slope, July 21,
132 RECONNAISSANCE IN NORTHERN ALASKA IN 1901.

POLYGONACE^:. (Smartweed family.)

Polygonum plumosum Small.

At camp, July 21; at camp, August 12. 

Polygonum vii'iparum L.

At camp, August 12.

SILENACE^:. (Pink family.)

Alsine longipes (Goldie) Colville.

At camp, Colville delta, August 14. 

Arenaria laridfoUa L.

At camp, John River, July 10. 

Ammodenia.

Cape Smyth, September 5.

RANUNUULACE^:. (Buttercup family.)

Anemone.

At camp, Arctic slope, July 21. 

Anemone.

Low ground near John River, June 15. 

Anemone richardsoni Hook.

"Low ground near John River, June 15.

PAPAVERACE^:. (Poppy family.) 

Papaver radicalum Rottb. 

At camp, August 12.

BRASSICACE^:. (Mustard family.) 

Cochlearia.

Cape Smyth, September 5. 

Eutrema edwardsii R. Br.

At camp, Colville delta, August 14.

SAXIFR AGACE^E. (Saxifrage family.) 

Saxifraga hireulus L.

At camp, Colville delta, August 14. 

Saxifraga oppositifolia L.

At camp, John River, June 26 and 28. 

Saxifraga tricuspidata Retz.

At camp, John River, July 10. 

Parnassia palustris L.

At camp, Anaktuvuk River, August 5.

ROSACES. (Rose family.) 

Potentilla fruticosa L.

At camp, John River, July 10. 

Potent'dla vittosa Pall.

At camp, John River, July 10. 

Dryas integrifolia Vahi.

At camp, John River, June 26.. • '
ARCTIC PLANTS COLLECTED, , 183 

(Bean family.)

I/upinus.

At camp, John Eiver, June 28. 

Astragalus.

At camp, August 6. 

Astragalus.

John Eiver, June 28. 

Astragalus.

At camp, John Eiver, June 28. 

Astragalus alpinus L.

At canip, August 6. 

Aragallus.

At camp, John Eiver, June 28. 

Aragallus.

At camp, July 21. 

Aragallus.

. John Eiver, June 28.

ELJEAGNACEJE. (Oleaster family.) .

Lepargyrea canadensis (L.) Greene. 

At camp, John Eiver, June 28.

ONAGRACEJE. (Evening primrose family.)

Chamaenerion latifolium (L.) Sweet. 

At camp, August 5.

APIACE*,. (Celery family.) • 

Supleurum americanum Coult. and Eose. 

At camp, August 6.

PyROLACEjE. (Wintergreen family.) 

Pyrola rotundifolia L.

At camp, John Eiver, June 28.

ERICACEAE. (Heather family.) 

Ledum decumbem (Ait.) Lodd.

At camp, Arctic drainage, July 21. 

Rhododendron lapponicum (L.) Wahl.

At camp, John Eiver, June 28. 

Cassiope tetragona (L.) D. Don.

At camp, John Eiver, altitude 1,800 feet, on north slope, June 20. 

Andromeda polifolia L.

At camp, John Eiver, altitude 1,800 feet, on north slope, June 20. 

Arctous alpina (L.) Niedenzu.

At camp, August 12.

PRIMULACEJE. (Primrose family.) 

Androsace.

At camp, John Eiver, June 28. 

Androsace.

At camp, John Eiver, July 10. 

Dodecatheon frigidum Cham. & Schlecht. Shooting star.
134 RECONNAISSANCE IN NORTHERN ALASKA IN 1901.

SCHOPHULAHIACK*. (Figwort family.) 

Pedicularis.

At camp, July 21. 

Pedicularis verticittata L.

At camp, Anaktuvuk River, August 5.

CICHOKIACE*. (Chicory family.) 

Taraxacum.

At camp, Colville delta, August 14. 

Orepis nana Richards.

At camp, August 6.

ASTEBACE*. (Aster family.) 

Solidago multiradiata Ait.

At camp, Anaktuvuk River, August 5. 

Aster.

At camp, Anaktuvuk River, August 5. 

Aster sibiricus L.

At camp, August 12. 

Krigeron.

At camp, John River, July 10. 

Tanacetum.

At camp, August 12. 

Artemisia.

At camp, John River, July 10. 

Artemisia norvegica Fries.

At catnp, August 6. 

Artemisia tilesii Ledeb. • \

At camp, August 12. 

Petasites.

At camp, August 12. 

Arnica.

At camp, John River, July 12. 

Arnica.

At camp, August 12. 

Arnica.

At camp, Arctic slope, July 21. 

Arnica lessingii (Torr. and Gr.) Greene.

At camp, Anaktuvuk River, August 5. 

Senecio.

Point Barrow, September 4. 

Senecio lugens Richards.

At camp, August 6.
IN-DEX.

ljage.

Abbe, Cleveland, jr.,aid by ............................ 115

Alaska,investigations in .............................. 11-14

outline map of..................................... 11'

Alaska Commercial Company, acknowledgments to... 13

Alatna River, gold-bearing ore on................... 102-104

name of, note on .................................. 20

reconnaissance up................................. 20

Alien, H. T., eited on Endicott Mountains ............ 40

exploration by..................................... 29

Alien Eiver, name of, note on......................... 20

See Alatna Eiver.

AmpMbole-sehist. A'ecTotsen series.

Anaktuvuk Pass, glacial deposits near ................ 86

glacial lakes at.................................... 85

section west of, figure showing ................'.... -51

view near.......................................... 56

Anaktllvuk Plateau, extent and character of......... 45-46

view showing ..................................... 42

Anaktuvuk Eiver, Anaktuvuk series on, plate showing.. ....................................... 70

coal from, analysis of.............................. 114

coal on, occurrence of............................. 107

Colville series on .................................. 82

distances along, table showing.................... 37

fossils from, list of................................. 80

glacial deposits on................................. 86-88

Lisburne formation near .......................... 63

Nanushuk series on................................ 79

plate showing ................................. 80

profile across .....................^................ 46

Eecent deposits along ............................. 94

topographic features along ........................ 48

Anaktuvuk series, age and correlation of ............. 76,97

character and occurrence of ...................... 74-75

structure of........................................ 75-76

plate showing ................................. 70

profile showing................................. 46

Analyses, coal......................................... 114

Andrcafski, mctcorologic observations at and near ... 121

Antimony, occurrence of.............................. 105

Arctic coast, barrier reef and Eskimo grave near, plate

showing ................................... 96

character of ....................................... 48-50

coal on .......................................... 107-109

distances along, table showing.................... 38

fossils from ........................................ 96

inhabitants along, number and condition of...... 85-36

meteorologie observations between Bergman

and................................!..... 127-130

Eecent deposits along ............................. 95-96

view of............................................ 50

Arcti c Coastal Plain, edge of, view of.................. 50

extent and character of ........................... 46,81

Page. 

Arctic Ocean, depth of ................................ 49

Arctic slope province, coast line of.................... 48-50

drainage of........................................ 46-48

extent and character of ........................... 45-46

Area discussed, climatic conditions in .............. 114-130

geography of ...................................... 38-50

geologic history of.............................. 1.. 52-55

geologic map of.................................... 40

- geology of......................................... 50-97

location and -general features of................... 38-39

mineral resources of.............................. 98-114

plants collected in .............................. 130-134

, topographic map of................................ 38

Arkose. See Anaktuvuk series; Koyukuk series.

Barometer. See Climatic conditions.

Barrier reef on Arctic coast, plate showing............ 9C

Barrow, Point, coast between Cape Lisburne and, character of .................................... 49-50

coast between Colville River and, character of ... 48-49 

Eecent deposits between Colville River and ...... 95

between Cape Lisburne and................... 9G

settlement at .....:..:...-.^........................ 36

topographic features at............................ 49

trip from Settles to, account of.................... 21-24

Beaufort, Cape, coal at, occurrence of............... 110-111

coal from, analysis of.............................. 114

rocks exposed at................................... 73

topographic features near•-•--......................... 50

Becchey, P.\V., exploration-by- .-.•.>.>.•--....-........... 26

Bell.J., exploration by ...-.-.-...'•........;............... 27

Bennett,Ben,-work of-.-.-........-.-.-.....--....-....-.... 11

Bergman, glacial deposits-near. ^...................... 90

meteorologie observations-between Arctic coast

and......................................... 127-130

Bergman series, age of ................................ 78-79

character and occurrence of....................... 77-78

correlation of....................................... 97

structure of...... .-.•..-•.......................;...... 78

Bcttles, G. C., acknowledgments to ................... 13

Settles, trip to Point Barrow from, account of........ 21-24

Bibliography ....^..................................... 31-33

Braucr, Charles, acknowledgments to................. 14

reference to........................................ 3C

Bremner, John, river named for ...................... 17

Brooks, A. H., cited on fossils from Glacier Bay limestone ...................................... 57

cited on fossils from southeastern Alaska ......... 67

letter of transmittal by............................ 9

work of...........................i................ 12

Burlingamc, E. E. & Co., work of...................... 14

Busby, E. S., acknowledgments to..................... 18

Cache Lake, view from................................ 56

California Creek, gold on, production of.............. 102

135
136 INDEX.

Page. 

Campbel 1, Eobert, exploration by..................... 27

Camping, m anner of .................................. 15

CanadianDevelopmentCompany.acknowledgmentsto 13 

Cantwell, J. C., exploration by........................ 29

Cape. See next word of name.

Cape Lisburne region, Fickett scries in................ 72

fossils from, list of................................. 66

geologic section in................................. 41

map of............................................. 44

Carboniferous rocks, description of.................... 67-72

Carter, T. G., and Marsh, S. J., exploration by........ 30-31

Chandlar Basin, copper in............................. 104

Chandlar River, metcorologic observations on ...... 115-118

Chandlar River gravels, fossils from, list of............ 66

Chert. SeeN an ushuk series.

Chloritic schists. See Fickett series.

Clara Creek, gold on, production of................... 102

nugget from, size of................................ 101

Clay. See Kowak clay.

Climatic conditions, tables showing................. 114-130

Coal, analysis of....................................... 114

occurrence of.................................... 106-114

Coast along Arctic Ocean, character of................ 48-50

Coustal region, recent deposits in ..................... 95-96

Collier, A. J., cited on fossils of Seward Peninsula.... 58

reference to........................................ 71

Collinson, R., exploration by.......................... 27

Colrillc delta, extent and character of................ 47-48

Colville Flats, extent and character of....-----....--. 47

Colville River, bluffs on, view of...................... 48

coal from, analysis of.. J........................... 114

coal on, occurrence of........................... 107-109

coast between Point Barrow and, character of.... 48-49

distances along,, table showing.,.............-.--: 37

between Cape Smytb and ..................... 38

fossil locality on, view of.......................... 84

mounds near ...................................... 94

Pleistocene flats on, plate showing................ 96

Kecent deposits along ............................. 94-95

topographic features along.................. 46-48,81,94

Colville series,, character and occurrence of........... 81

coal In........................................... 107-109

correlation of...................................... 97

fossil locality on, view of.......................... 84

fossils from, list of................................. 83

river bluffs in, view of............................ . 48

structure of......'.................................. 82

plate showing ................................. 82

Conglomerate. See Bergman, Fickett, Stuver series. 

Contact Creek, Lisburne formation near .............. 63,64

moraine in valley of............................... 85

Cook, James, exploration by .......................... 25

Copper, occurrence of................................. 104

Correlation of Anaktuvuk series ...................... 76,97

of Corwin series ................................... 74,97

of Fickett series ................................ 71-72,97

of formations, table showing...................... 97

, of Lisburne formation.......................... 65-67,97

ofNanusliukseries............................. 80-81,97

of Skajit formation ................................ 58,97

of Stuver series.................................... 62,97

of Totsen series.........:....................... 59-60,97

Corwin scries, age of .................................. 74

character and occurrence of....................... 72-73

coal bed and rocks of, plate showing.............. 82

coal in........................................... 111-113

correlation of...................................... 74,97

structure of........................................ 73

Page. 

Corwin mines, coal at, occurrence .................. 112-113

coal from, analyses of ............................. 114

coal bed and rocks at.............................. 82

Cosmos, Fort, temperature at....................... 123-124

Cotter, R. D., and Dyer, J. T., exploration by......... 28

Coville, F. V., plants identified by.................. 130-134

Cretaceous rocks, description of....................... 74-81

Ball, W. H., exploration by........................... 28

fossils identified by................................ 96,83

. quoted on ground ice.............................. 91-92

reference to........................................ 71

work of............................................ 14

Dawson, G. M., cited on age of Yukon Plateau........ 43

Dawson trail, meteorologic observations on......... 125-127

Dease and Simpson, exploration by ................... 26

reference to........................................ 47,49

Delta at mouth of Colville River, description of....... 47-48

Devonian rocks, description of..... J.................. 62-67

Dikes on John River................................... 53-54

Distance, table of...................................... 37

Dog sledding, description of........................... 14-15

Double Mountain, till terraces on...................... 90

Drainage of Arctic slope province..................... 46-48

of Endicott Plateau ... .......................... 43

of Koyukuk province.............................. 45

Dumars, H. D., fossils collected by ............. 66,71,74,114

Dyer, Cape, rocks exposed at.......................... 67

Dyer, J. T., and Cotter, R. D., exploration by ......... 28

Eagle Bluff and Ironside Bench, gold at, production of 102 

Edge, Joe, work of..................................... 12

Eldridge, G. H., cited on Cantwell conglomerate...... 76

Emma Creek, gold on, production of.................. 102

Endicott Mountains, Anaktuvuk series near.......... 74-75

ancient plateau of, features of..................... 42-43

Fickett series in ................................... 68

general features of................................. 40-41

glaciation in, plates showing................ 58,70,84,86

Lisburne limestone and Fickett series in, plate

showing.................................... 42

Skajit formation in................................ 66,57

plate showing ................................. 56

Stuver scries in .................................... 60,61

views of ............................ 42,46,50,56,70,84,86

Endicott Plateau, drainage of......................... 43

features of......................................... 42-43

profilcshowing Yukon and Koyukuk plateaus and 44 

view of ............................................ 46

Ericson, acknowledgments to .......................'.. ]4

Eskimo grave on Arctic coast, plate showing.......... 96

Explorations, account of.............................. 25-33

Fickett series, age of................................... 70-71

character and occurrence of....................... 67-69

correlation of................................... 71-72,97

fossils from, list of................................. 70

metalliferous mineralization in, zones of.......... 106

moraine on, plate showing........................ 86

quartz stringers in, view of........................ 76

structure of...................................'..... 69-70

view of............................................ 42,70

Flats on Colville River, extent and character of ...... 47

Fontaiue, W. M., fossils identified by.................. 74

work of........----....--.-...-..--.-......---....- 14

Fork Peak, till at...................................... 84

Formations, table of................................... 53

Fort. See next word of name.

Fossils from Arctic coast............................... 90

from Cape Lisburne region........................ 66

from Chandlar River gravels...................... 66
INDEX. 137

Fossils from Colville series ...

from Fickettseries........

from Lisburne formation.

from Nanushuk series ....

from Wainwright Inlet...

'from Yukon Basin........

Franklin, Sir John, exploration by.

Page.

83

70

65

80

74

81

26

Geography of region, discussion of .................... 38-50

Geology of region, discussion of......................... 50-97

Gerdine, T. G., reference to............................ 38

work of............................................ 11

Girty, G. H., fossils identified by ...................... ' 66

work of................-..-.....----........---.... 14

Glacial deposits, description of........................ 84-91

Glacial lakes, occurrence of........................... 85

Glaciation, description of.............................. 84-91

in upper John River Valley, plate showing....... 84

Gold in Koyukuk Basin, Hammond Creek............ 100

John River .................................. 100-101

Mascot Creek .................................. 100

Myrtle Creek .................................. 99

NorthFork .................................... 100

SlateCreek.................................... 99

Tramway Bar.................................. 100

occurrence of..................................... 98-104

manner of..................................... 101

production of...................................... 102

Gold Bench, gold at, production of.......-.........--- 102

Gold Creek, antimony on.............................. 105

gold on, production of............................. 102

Greenstone. See Totsen series.

Grit. See Fickett series.

Ground ice, occurrence of...'.....---..........-......- 91-92

Gubik sand, occurrence of .........'................... 93

Halkett, Cape, ground ice at.......................... 92

view of............................................ 50

Hammond Creek, gold on ............................. 102

nuggets from, size of............................. 101-102

Hartman, G. H., plants collected by ................ 130-134

"work of.........--.-........-.-.......--........... 11

Healey, M. A., work of................................ 28

Hearne, Samuel, exploration by....................... 25

Hokotena River, lend on .............................. 105

Holy Cross, meteorologic observations at.............. 121

Hope Point, description of ............................ 51

native population at............................... ^36

Howard, W. C., exploration by ........................ 29

quoted on eoal from Colville River................ 109

reference to........................................ 67

work of....-...---..-......-............---........ 11

Howard and Reed, reference to ....................... 72

Hunt, T.M., work of .................................. 11

Ice, breaking up of.................................... 15-16

Icy Cape, barrier reef and Eskimo grave near......... 96

Igneous rocks, table of ..'............--................ 53

Inhabitants, number and conditions of ......... 33-3-1,35-36

Ironside Bench and Eagle Bluff, gold at, production of. 102 

John River, coal on.................................... 107

dikes on ........................................... 53-54

distances on, table showing ....................... 37

Fickett series on, plate showing................... 70

glacial deposits on ................................ 89

name of, note on .................................. 17

reconnaissance up................................. 20-21

Skajit limestone on, views of...................... 50,56

till along........................................... 84-85

Totsen series on ................................... 58,59

. viewson........................................... 50,56

Page. 

John River Valley, glaciation in, plate showing...... 84

glacier in, remnant of............................. 86

remnant of, plate showing ..... -;.............. 86'

gold in........................................... 100-101

moraine in......................................... 85

plate showing ...'..............'................ 86

topographic features of............................ 43 •

views of ........................................... 46

Kennicott, Robert, cited on Devonian fossils from

Lower Ramparts........................... 66

exploration by..................................... 28

Ketchum and Laberge, exploration by........'........ • 28

Koog River, coal on................................... 110

Kotzcbue, O. von, exploration by ..................... 26

Kowak clay, occurrence of............................ 92-93

Kowak River, temperature on ...................... 123-124

Koyukuk district, coal in.......'......................'. 107

copper In .......................................... 104

gold in, occurrence of............................ 98-104

production of.................................. 102

Koyukuk Plateau, proflleshowing Endicott and Yukon

plateaus and............................... 44

relation to Endicott Plateau....................... 42

Koyukuk province, drainage of....................... 45

general features of................................. 44-45

Koyukuk River, coal from, analysis of......... 1...... 114

coal on, occurrence of............................. 107

ice on, breaking up of............................. 15-16

metedrologic observations'along ................ 118-121

placers on ......................................... 35

population along.................................. 33-34

travel along, means of............................. 34

Koyukuk series, character, occurrence, structure, and

age of...................................... 77

Laberge and Ketchum, exploration by................ 28

Lagoons, occurrence of................................ 50

Lead, occurrence of.................................... 105

Lewis, Cape, limestone at............................. 67

Limestone. See Corwin series; Fickett series; Lisburne formation; Nanushuk scries; Koyukuk series; Skujit formation. 

Lisburne, Cape, coal from, analysis of ................ 114

coal south of..................................... 113-114

coast between Point Barrow and, character of.... 49-50

Recent deposits between Point Barrow and....... 90

section south of, figure showing................... 40

See also Cape Lisburne region. 

Lisburne formation, age of............................ 64-65

character and occurrence of....................'... 62-64

correlation of................................... 65-67,97

distribution of...-.......-......-........_......_.. r>7

fossils of, list of.................................... 65

. limestone of, views of ............................. 42,56

structure of........................................ 64

Lukeen, I. S., exploration by.......................... 27

McClure, Robert, exploration by...................... 27

reference to........................................ 48,49

McConnell, R. G., cited on fossils from Lower Ramparts....................................... 66

cited on fossils from Porcupine River............. 81

exploration by......'............................... 29

McDougald. John, acknowledgments to .............. ]8

McLanigan,s. C., exploration by.......... ........... 29

McMurray, ———, exploration by ..................... 27

Mackenzie, Alexander, exploration by................ 25

Mackenzie, B. A., reference to ........................ 35

Maddren, A. G., aid by ................................ 14

cited on fossils at Cape Lisburne .................. 67
138 INDEX.

Page.

Maddren, A. G., quoted on coal near Cape Lisbnrne .. 113 

reference to........................................ 66

Maguire, ———, exploration by ....................... 28

MalakofT, ———, exploration by.......-...--.....-.--- 27

Marsh, S. J., and Carter, T. G., exploration by ........ 30-31

Marshall, K. B., work of............................... 12

Mascot Creek, gold on................................. 100

Mcndenhall, W. C., cited on geology on Alatna and

Kowak rivers.............................. 51

cited on glaeiation on Alatna and Kowak rivors .. 90 

cited on igneous rock on Kanuti and Kowak rivers. 55 

exploration by..................................... 30

reference to........................................ 71

Merrill, E. D., plants identified by .................... 130

Mesozoic rocks, description of......................... 72-81

Metalliferous mineralization, zones of .............. 105-106

Meteorologic record for 1899, table showing......... 114-121

Mica-shist. See Skajit formation; Totsen series.

Michigan Creek, lead on............................... 105

Mineral resources, discussion of ...................... 98-114

Moraine on John River, plate showing................ 86

Moraines, occurrence of............................ 85-86,87

Mounds near Colvillc River ........................... 94

Mountain province, description of .................... 39-44

Myrtle Creek, gold on, occurrence of................ 100,102

gold on, production of............................. 102

Mushing, description of ............................... 14

Nanushuk series, character and occurrence of ........ 79

coal in............................................. 107

correlation of....................................... 88,97

fossilsof, listof.................................... 80

plate showing ...................................... 80

structure and age of............................... 80

Natives, number and condition of.................. 33,35-36'

North Fork Koyukuk River, gold on .................. 100

Northwest coast, coal on............................. 109-114

Norton, C. L., cited on coal from Corwiu mines....... 112

Norton Sound, meteorologic observations on.......... 121

Nuggets, size of........................................ 101

Nulato, meteorologic observations at.................. 121

Nulato sandstone, fossils of........,..-.............--.'. 81

Operations, chronologic summary of.................. 15-17

plan of............................................. 18

Paleozoic rocks, description of ........................ 56-72

structure of........................................ 55-56

Peneplain in Endicott Mountains..................... 42-43

Peters, W. J., meteorologic observations by ......... 122-123

report on itinerary and topographic methods by . - 18-25 

work of...-.........-.--...--..-..-.--.........---- • 11

Philip, Gaston, meteorologic observations by ....... 125-180

work of..........-..---.........----..........-..-. 11

Phyllites. Sec Fickett series.

Pickarts Brothers, acknowledgments to............... 13

Placers on Koyukuk River ............................ 35

See also Gold. 

Plants collected, list of .............................. 130-134

Pleistocene deposits, description of ................... 84-96

Pleistocene flats on Colville River, plates showing.... 96

Point. See next word of name.

Population, number and conditions of .......... 33-34,35-36

Porcupine Creek, gold on, production of.............. 102

Precipitation at Uglaamie............................. 123

Prindle.L. M., aid by.................................. 103

Pullen, exploration by ................................ 27

Putnam River. See Kowak River,

Quartz gasli stringer, in Fickett series, view of........ 70

Quartz-mica-sehist. See Totsen series. 

Qnartzite. See Fickett, Nanushuk, Stuver series.

Page.

Rainfall. See Precipitation.

Bay, P. H., work of.................................... 28

Raymond, C. W., work of.............................. 28

Reaburu, D. L., work of............................... n

Recent deposits, occurrence of ........................ 94-96

Reed, J. L., reference to............................... 109

Reed and Howard, reference to....................... 72

Reed, J. L., and Lucas, Walter, exploration by........ 31

Rivers. See Drainage.

Route, account of...............................;...... 18-24

Kussell, Frank, exploration by........................ 29

Sabine, Cape, rocks exposed at......................... 73

view of ............................................ 66

St. Michael, meteorologic observations at............. 121

Sand. See Gubik sand.

Sandstone. See Anaktuvuk series; Bergman series; 

Colville series; Corwin series; Fickett 

series; Koyukuk series; Nanushuk series.

Schists, chloritic. See Fickett series.

Schrader, F. C., cited on benches on Koyukuk River. 43 

cited on Settles series ....................... 58,64,65,67

cited on Chugaeh Plateau ......................... 42

cited on fossils from Chandlar River gravels...... 65

cited on glacial deposits in Chandlar River Basin. 89 

cited on gold at Slate Creek....................... 99

cited on intrusions in Koyukuk Basin............. 55

cited on Lake quartz-sehist of Chandlar River .... 59

. cited on Kenai series.............................. 107

cited on Koyukuk Basin . i........................ 44

cited on Koyuknk Flats........................... 45

cited on Koyukuk series .......................... 7(j

cited on Nulato sandston e......................... 81

cited on West Fork series of Chandlar River ...... 71

cited on Yukon Plateau ........................... 44

Sehrader, F. C., and Spencer, A. 0., cited on Chugaeli

Plateau.................................... 42

cited on Kennicott formation ..................... 74

Selinchert, Charles, fossil identified by.......... 57,05,66,70

reference to.. ^..................................... 58

work of............................................ 14

Sedimentary rocks, description of........... ......... 55-96

table of............................................ 53

Shale. See Bergman series; Colville series; Corwin 

series; Koyukuk series; Nanushuk series; 

Stuver series.

Silt. See Colville series.

Silurian roeks, description of.......................... 56-62

Simpson and Dease, exploration by ................... 26

reference to........................................ 47,49

Skajit formation, age of ............................... 57-58

character and occurrence of....................... 56

correlation of...................................... 68,97

structure of........................................ 56-57

limestone of, views of.............................. 50,56

Slate. See Bergman, Fiekett, Nanushuk, Stuver series.

Slate Creek, gold on, occurrence of.................... 99

gold on, production of............................. 102

Sledding, description of ............................... 14-15

Smyth, Cape, distances between Colville JRiver and.... 88 

settlement at...................................... 36

Snow. See Precipitation.

Spencer, A. C., and Schrader, F. C., cited on Chugaeh

Plateau.................................... 42

cited on Kennicott formation ..................... 74

Spurr, J- E., cited on age of Yukon Plateau............ 43

cited on Carboniferous fossils from Yukon Rasin.. 71 

cited on Devonian in Kuskokwim region ......... 67

cited on Mission Creek series...................... 76
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FEBRUARY, 1904.
INDEX. 139

Page. 

Spurr, J. B., exploration by............................ 30

plan of exploration proposed by................... 12

Stanton, T.W., fossils identified by.................... 76,81

work of............................................ 14

Steiger, George, analyses by........................... 114

work of............................................. 14

Stokes, H. N., work of................................. 14

Stoncy, G. M., cited on break-up of ice......:......... 16

cited on coal on Colville River .................. r. 109

cited on Endieott Range .......................... 67

meteorologic observations by.................... 123-125

Streams. See Drainage.

Structure of Anaktuvuk series......................... 75-76

of Anaktuvuk series, plate showing ............... 70

profile showing................................ 46

of Bergmaii series ................................. 78

of Colville series................................... 82

plate showing ................................. • 80

of Corwin series ................................... 73

of Fiokett series ................................... 69-70

of Koyukuk series................................. 77

of Lisburne formation ............................. 64

of Nanushuk series................................ 80

plate showing ................................. 80

of Paleozoic rocks ................................. 55-56

of Skajit formation................................ 56-57

of Stuver series.................................... 61-32

of Totsen series.................................... 59

Stuver, C. H., work of................................. 71

Stuver series, age and correlation of................... 62,97

character and occurrence of....................... 60-61

structure of........................................ 61-62

Temperature. See Climatic conditions.

Tertiary coastal plain, river bluffs in, view of......... 48

Tertiary rocks, description of ......................... 81-83

Thetis mines, coal at.................................. ill

Tides on Arctic coast.....:............................ 49

Till, occurrence of..................................... 84-90

Till Creek, till on......;............................... 84

Timber, occurrence of................................. 19

Topographic work, methods of........................ 24-25

Totsen series, character and occurrence of............ 58-59

structure and age of............................... 59

correlation of...................................... 59,97

Page. 

Totsen scries, metalliferous mineralization in, zones

of.......................................... 105

Totsenbet River, name of, note on.................... 58

See John River. 

Tramway Bar, coal near, analysis of.................. 114

coal near, occurrence of........................... 107

gold at, occurrence of............................. 100

prodnction of.................................. 102

Transportation, method of............................ 14-15

method of, on Arctic coast........................ 37

on Koyukuk River ............................ 34

Travel. See Transportation.

Tuluga River, glacial deposits near.................... 88

Turner, aid by......................................... 20

Turner, J. H., exploration by.......................... 29

work of............................................ 11

Twelvemile Creek, gold on, production of............ 102

Uglaamie, precipitation at............................ 123

temperature observations at ...................... 122

Union Gulch, gold in, production of .................. 102

nugget from, size of ............................... 101

Wainwright Inlet, coal at............................. 110

coal from, analysis of.............................. 114

Corwin series near................................. 73

fossils from, list of................................. 74

Ward, L. F., fossils identified by ...................... 74

work of....-..-........--..-.-....-...........---.. 14

Weather. See Climatic conditions.

White, David, fossils identified by.................... 71,114

Wight, W. F., plants identified by................... 130-134

Wild Creek, lead on ................................... 105

Willow Creek, till near ................................ 87-88

Wind. See Climatic conditions.

Woolfe, H. D., cited on eoal at Wainwright Inlet.-... 110

fossils collected by ................................ 74

quoted on coal at Cape Beaufort.................. Ill

Work, methods of ..................................... li-18

Yukon, Fort, meteorologic observations at............ 115

Yukon Basin, fossils from............................. 81

Yukon Plateau, age of.--...........--........--...-.-. 43

profile showing Endicott and Koyukuk plateaus .

and........................................ 44

Yukon River, meteorologie observations on........... 121

Zagoskin, A., exploration by.......................... 27

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