The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1868-01-04
8itI1moltd 1ispattlr,
Observation-Disclosures 4, 1868
THE CIRCULATION OF TIE "DIS-
| PATCH" Is LARGER THAN THE COM
| B1NED CIRCULATION OF ALL THE
| CITY. t4=- as-an.
The Scientific Expedition to Alaska
Professor Davtson's Account Of his
Observations.
The San Francisco Bulletin saws

The San Francisco Bulletin says:
GA special meeting of the Academy of
Sciences was held in tbis-sity on Wednes-
day evening for the purpose of listening to
lecture by, Professor Dawson, chief of
the coast surveying expedition to Alaska,
on the geological, climatic, and geogr aphi-
cal peculiarities of that newly acquired
territory. He said that in the latitude of
the Alcutians and of Sitka this warm
water currect encounters and is underrun
by the cold current from the Arctic seas,
causing the great condensation and rain
fall noticeable at Sitka and at other points
| in the new territory. During observations at
Sitka for fourteen years the average fall
of rain each year was eighty-four inches.
There are to be,foupd but few valleys in
the country, ana-they ere all covered by a
| mossy carpet one to two feet thick.
There is heavy timber in the vicinity of
Sitka-trees one hundred and fifty feet
high and four to five feet in diameter. He
described yellow cedar which grows
there, and said he was taking home a
piece obtained from the hull Of vessel
built in the country thirty-two years ago
but the wood is still as sound as it was
when first cut. There is no wood on the
coast equal to 1.-THE rest being of little
note. There are no signs of hard wood in
the country.
"Little patches of ground in the interior
are cultivated by the Indians, but not a
valley Of 100 acres can be found on the
| whole coast. To show how humid the
atmosphere Of the country always remains,
he mentioned the fact that at no place ex-
cept Chillicote could they find where fire
had ragged in the woods. The best island
on the coast is Kodiack. There are hills
and wales with green herbage; thousands
of acres covered by green grass two and
| three feet high, affording abundant pas
turage, and excellent hay for use in win
ter. There is sufficient clear weather to
admit of the curing of hay for stock. The
waters of the archipelago abound in cod,
halibut, and salmon, the latter being par
ticularly abundant. In some of the small
streams inland the progress Of boats is fire.
quently impeded by them, and millions of
them are thrown on lee shores in banks
two or three feet deep, where they die.
Many of the best fishing banks between
Onalaska and Kodiack are kept secret by
| the fishers as legitimate advantage in
| their business.
"He had heard some persons say the
cod caught on the banks of Alaska were
not the true cod, but he could not detect
the difference, except that those caught
there are usually larger and have a better
flavor than those taken on the banks of
| Newfoundland. He said the aggregate OF
| territory where the cod are found consti-
tutes reservoir of fifty thousand square
| miles in extent, with from twenty-five to
| fifty fathoms Of water, and he entertained
| no doubt of the fact that the fisheries will
! in the course Of few years prove much
better and more lucrative than those on
| the eastern side of the continent. Already
| the importation of cod into British Colum-
bia has been quite stopped, and there is
| no reason why the same result should not
follow in this State. The principal diff
| Guilty in the way Of our fishermen has been
| that they were obliged to dry their fish
| from April to September; but in country
where nay can be cured, fish can be dried.
DR.. kellogg remarked that he had seen
men drying salmon iu the open air on
Spruce island. DR.. Dawson said, in the
lower part of Newfoundland it is impossi-
BILE to dry hay. He described a specific
| plSCl VI SalIlC lCuAu ou IAoOidSh duu
Alto islands, which were imported from
Siberia about fifty years ago. They are
small, hardy, round-lmbed, and their flesh
has fine flavor. They are pastured in
summer, and kept in adobe stables during
winter.
ale said that geological matters per-
tanning to the country still remain, to a
great extent, a mystery. The expedition
could not make any extensive surveys.
He believed, however, that they succeed
ed in finding the locality Of extensive de-
posts Of bituminous coal, and he thought
if Government would fit out an expedition
to explore it thoroughly the yield of coal
alone would more than pay for the terri
tory. Much Of the coal in the territory is
Ignite, but all Of it is easily obtained from
places contiguous to good harbors. Cop
per exists there in native form. He had
seen plates Of that metal kept by the In
dians as heirlooms, inscribed with certain
records and traditions. The copper comes
from point on Copper river about twenty
five miles from its mouth. He had no
hesitation, however, in saying that the de-
posts Of gold and copper sink into insignif-
cance when compared with the coal mea-
sures and fishing banks, on which latter
the whole value of the country depends"
A urSr rn pI-rIuppc A oorraspnndan ant