The great West., 1891-10-09
FRESH NEWS OF ALASKA.
THE LATEST EXPLORATIONS IN
THE UNKNOWN.
An Immcnss Valley Thickly Covered
With Luxurious Grass es, Stretch-
ing for Miles In Every
Direction.

The expedition of Messrs. Glave
aud Walton into the interior OF Alaska
bids fair to extend the range of geo.
graphical knowledge says the San
Francisco Call. MIR. Glave served an
apprenticeship as an explorer under
Stanley, and Walton is an old mining
prospector who has spent some years
In Alaska Last spring the pair
started into the interior of the terri.
tory with number of horses intend
ing to prospect for silver; but wheth-
er they succeeded or not in their inn
mediate object they seem to have
found pretty good country, much
better than was supposed to exist In
that ice- bound region. Our present
knowledge Of Alaska is very limited.
We have some United States officials
at Sitka. which is village of some
1900 inhabitants, on an island near
the southeastern corner of the terri
tory. A hundred and fifty miles north
east of Sitka is a military post in an
old Russian fort at Wrangle. Another
inhabited point in the archipelago is
Juneau, where the mines are being
worked, and there is a population OF
some 2, 500 whites and Indians. Far
out towards the western extremity OF
the Aleutian chain is a village named
Unalaski where some fishermen and
hunters rendezvous. North of this in
the heart of Behring sea- are the
Pribiloff islands, which are the pre-.
serve of the fur seal. Finally, within
ten years. the Yukon, the great river
of Alaska has been navigated from its
mouth, in 62 degrees north, for dis
tance of over 1000 miles into the
British possessions and nearly to its
source in the Canadian Rocky noun
tains. On the banks of the Yukon
salmon canneries have been estab.
lished and some little trading in furs
is done-though the lease OF the ter
ritory calls such work poaching. This
is about all we know of the territory.
An impression has prevailed until
lately that the interior of Alaska re.
sembled the interior of Northern ST.
beria; that at depth of two or three
feet below the surface the ground was
perpetually frozen, the warmth of the
brief summer being unable to melt it
In Siberia vast stretch of land inter-
venes between the forest region and
the shores of the Arctic. 1t was prob
ably once the bed of a sea, which grad
ually receded leaving swamp behind.
This moist land froze solid, and has
never thawed. 1t is known as the
sf,,n.3,.o - on6 - tho
surface that cultivation of the soil
above 1t Is impossible. It has often
been stated that much of Alaska is
similarly covered with tundra, and that
may be the case for anything that we
know.
But Sitka in 81 degrees north, en-
Joys a temperate climate in conse-
Quence Of the warm japanese current
which bathes its shores. And the Yu-
hon, five or six degrees nearer the
pole, is open for many months of the
year 1t freezes over of course, as
winter approaches but in summer it is
free from ice. These new travellers
now state that in the heart of Alaska
quite at a distance from the Yukon.
but still probably about the same
meridian, they found in June an i'm
Nsnse valley thiekly clothed with lYy-
urious grasses, stretching for miles in
every direction. When Capt Glave
wrote his horses were reveling in wild
timothy, bluetop and bunch grass.
1t is hardly to be expected that con-
tinental Alaska will ever export cereal
food. But it will be gain if it is dis
covered that it can feed a population
which can exploit its fisheries it's
hunting grounds and its mines. The
numbers of the fish which inhabit its
lakes and its rivers are abundant. And
like all the rest of the northern por-
ton of this continent. the country is
intersected with rivers flowing out of
lakes which are past counting, Such
a region must abound in animal life.
Wherever rivers run wild animals will
be found.
Libraries for Farming Commnnities.
4