Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1878-05-20
FACTS ABOUT ALASKA.

I
was ratified by the United States SEN
ate, and on the 18th of October the coun-
try became part of the United States.
AS it is the latest of our territorial ac-
QUESTIONS, so it is the least know. In
deed, the interior regions of the country
away from the Yukon river are as un-
known as any portion of Africa.
The word Al-ak-shak means '.The
Great Land and correctly describes.
the country. 1t is great territorily.
From its eastern boundary to the island
of Alton, the extreme western limit, is
two thousand two hundred miles in an
air line. 81
This island of Alton, according to
Prof. Guyot. is as far west of San Fran
cisco as Maine is east. Consequently be-
tween the extreme east and west of the
United States, San Francisco is the mid
die city. @
| The coast line of Alaska, following
up and down the bays and inlets accord
ing to the measurements of the United
States Coast Survey, is about $4,000
miles, or once around the globe. It's TO-
tai area is about as large as all the Uni
ted States east of the Mississippi river
and north of the Carolinas and Alabama.
1t has the great river of the United
States. The Yukon is over 1000 miles
| long, and navigable for steamers from
1900, to 1900 miles. With a varying
width of from one to five miles along its
course, it is seventy miles across the
delta of its five mouths. There are pla-
ces along its lower section where it wild
ems into bays, across which one bank
cannot be seen from the other, and at a
thousand miles from its mouth, in pla-
ces, it is twenty miles wide. Not as
long as the combined length Of the Mis-
souri, and Mississippi. it has greater
volume of water Larger than the GAN
ges of India, or the Orinoco of South
America, it is one of the great rivers of
the world.
An Indian boy accompanying the SCI
entifc party, as he rushed forward to
the bank and caught view of the grand
river, threw up his hands in astonish-
ment. exclaiming, ..It is not river; it
is sea !'' No art of pen or pencil can
| give adequate expression of its vast ex-
panse of waters. 1t was first discovered
and explored by Glasunof in 1885 and
| by Malakof in 1888.
Fort Yukon, north of the Arctic Cir
Gle, is the most remote of the posts Of
the Hudson Bay Company. By mis-
take in calculations it was founded on
the American side of the boundary line
in 1947.
At the time Of Mr.. Dall's visit the
fort consisted of a large house of SIX
rooms for the commander, large store
I house, kitchen, four blockhouses pierced
for muskets, and four dwelling houses
The employees were mostly from the
north of Scotland. They had a chaplain,
Rev. Mr.. Mcdonald. The supplies Of
provisions and goods are brought across
the country, and are said to be two
years in reaching the Yukon from York
factory on Hudson Bay.
Their annual mail starts from For
) Gurney, on the Red river north of Min
nesota, about the middle of December
The letters for all the Hudson Bay Com
pany posts in the Great North Land are
packed into small oblong boxes and ther
lashed to dog-sleds Two men, one il
advance, the other following. the slec
drawn by dogs, start on their lionel.
journey towards the North Pole. Or
r they plod, day after day, until crossing
: the north end of Lake Winnipeg, the,
, reach Norway House. Here a side dog
mail is sent off to Fort York, a thousand
miles distant on Hudson Bay. Agail
) plunging into the wilderness up tn
: Great Saskatchewan river, a montl
: brings them to Fort Carleton. Here 9th
!. er side-mails are sent out. On, and on
e and on. through February, and March
E and April, and May, that wonderful
: mail holds its way steadily to the north
!. westward until, in June, the little hand
e full of letters is carried into Fort Yukon
E That mail-carriers curl up in the snoy
/ with their dogs, is the annual romano
of the North.
f Alaska has the great mountain pea
t of the continent, Muont St. Elias, l9,
500 feet high. 1t is the great islam
0 region of the United States, containin
v an aggregate area of over 81, 900 squar
0 miles, equal to the size of some of gu
s important States. Indeed the Mort
i Pacific coast is so sheltered by islands
that the trip of 1900 miles from Puge
t Sound to Alaska is made by ocea
: steamers in smooth water passing thrc
( straits and channels between the island
d and main land.
n tits the great volcanic region. Stretch
e ing along the Aleutian Islands for | so
s miles, the Shishaldin, the Akuten, th
e Makusin, and sixty-one other volcanoe
y rear their heads, and ten of them belle