Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1885-1890, 1886-04-24
EXPLORING ALASKA.

cavalry, is calling attention to the
wonders of our continent. in which
somewhere must lie tho resources OF
: future development and wealth. The
} accounts say that Lieut.. Allen has
put his name among the very greatest
| explorers. He travelled 1000 or3,O
miles in ALL He connected by an
} overland route, our settlements on the
: North Pacific with those on Behring
straits. Before he went over this
country We did not know anything
about & great river in the north of
!, Alaska.
When You go into tie North Pacific
you strike The town of Sitka, compar-
atively low on the coast, and the coast
above it forms {. grand arch, above
which is an unknown continent. The
great mountain of st. Elias stands up
to the height Of some $4,000 feet, like
| a lighthouse to the dark and icy
world beneath it. West of this noun
tain, perhaps 100 miles, is the Copper
river, on which Is another mountain
called Wrangel. This river is one of
the deepest points of indentation on
the coast. Up this river Allen went,
and then he crossed the great Alas
kan mountain range, which is the ter
mination of our rocky mountains,
that are called the Rockies till they
| get to the Yukon river, and west of
that river they continue for about 600
miles, no longer running north and
south, but east and west.
Crossing them, the young officer
went down their northern side till he
came to the River Tanenah, or Ten
nab, which up to 1869 had only ira
ditional existence, and is put on the
coast survey maps as a supposed river
only reported by Indians. It runs
like the rivers of Oregon, between
mountainous walls, and empties into
the great river Yukon, which has
meantime flowed through the bend of
the Rocky mountains and turned to
the Southwest. Along this river the
officer went 400 to 500 miles, and clos
ed his journey at Fort ST. Michael,
which is On Norton sound, a portion
Of Behring's sea-
The great Yukon river has been
Posts were established on it before
1910. 1t may be called the ST. Law
renee river of Alaska, running west
instead of east It rises behind Sitka,
flows north through lakes and cas-
cades, drains great watershed, and
then going through the mountains,
turns southWestWard and flows into
Behring sea, some 900 miles south of
Behring straits. This great atream
OF Alaska is believed to be 1,SoO miles
long. Some say it is fully 1000 miles
long and three -fourths Of it nayigable
for river steamers, and that on the
lower Yukon it is SO wide that one
bank is invisible from tbs other. At
places far up the river it is twenty
miles wide. It is one Of the largest
rivers in the world-larger than the
Ganges or the Orinoco-and equal to
The Danube Or La Plata.
There some wonderful ocean cur
rents in Behring sea, which make
his Northwestern coast warm and
mild, while all the Northeastern coast
If America about Newfoundland and
Labrador is like ice. The gulf stream
IF the Pacific in these parts is called
oy the Chinese the Black Stream;
'ome call it the Japan current. It
brings a warm. moist atmosphere,
which is condensed on the snow peaks
# the coast ranges, and cause the
wonderful rainfall which extends
along that coast as far south as Ore
ron.
There is said to be sixty-one volcanic
peaks in Alaska. Of which only ten
pit fire now. Mount st. Elias is put
loWn at 16, 1000 feet in some of the re-
,orts, Mount Fair Weather at 14,00O
Get. and the Redoubt volcano, on the
Alaska peninsula at 1000 feet The
Alaskan mountain range is really the
rocky Mountains joined to the coast
ange, as we cali it in California. The
wo ranges run into each other and
ecome identical North of the great
end of these mountains the country
GEMS to become comparatively level,
0 that the products OF the interior
an be taken down the Yukon river.
n this Yukon valley has been found
very different class of animals and
irds from what was known to the
3uth.
The superficial area OF Alaska is be-
eyed to be about $4,000 square
liles. Fifteen years ago Mr. Doll,
no led the Western Uulon Telegraph
tpedition into Alaska, said: '.The
cid now opened to America for ex-
|oration and discovery is grand.
he interior everywhere in Alaska
n.Hes#4 1