The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1892-06-13

eumnsr. I grinding ice-pack surRing back
ward and forward through It most Of tn
Nemaining season.
hall also assume that II 10 impractic-
able - construct and maintain with safet,
I railway over ) glacier or any Of its mo.
yAines lying close TO its field Of, motion.
with this data and the present known ex
plorations in tho far northwest, enough
information 10 brought together to outline
10 probable course Of the Rorthernmos,
possibls railway OF the North American
continent terminating on the Pacific coast
10 might be we'll to state, also, that / in.
tend 70 consider only . perpetually open.
winter harbor for such . terminus.
II any far Southwestern railway 10 evel
constructed il will be based wholly on the
trans-PaciAo freight and passengers il car
handle 40 better advantage than existing
linsa, and not upon any local or even any
Alaskan traffic whatsoever; although / do
mot wish TO be understood at all as assert
ang that this will be too trivial to take into
aceou1k
This bsinK true, n road terminating in
d hAsbor that can be blocked by ice or
other equivalent reason for even a week
petition with other lines Of lower l~atitndss.
Keeping this idea IN mind in reference to
4hs Bering sea coast, it may be said that
practically no such Aarbor exists thereon.
All the karbors above Bristol bay are closed
more Of less BY ice during the winter, st.
Michaels the most important, for q mum.
Der Of months in the midst of that season.
The region Of Bristol bay is one of dense
fops during the winters, which. to say the
least. would greatly interfere with tho use
3ulnsss OF an all-ths-ysar-round harbor.
The terminus must therefore be looked
for on the Pacific coast east of the first
Aleutian island pass, Akutan, I believe.
No railroad can be put through the Pacific
coast ranges of mountains from Akntan
pass to Cross sound without running over a
number Of live or moving glaciers; in
vantage can be taken Of the probably open
harbors Of Cooks inlet, Prince William
sound or YRkutst bay. AZ soon 90 Cross
sound IL entered all of the coast harbors-
juneau, WranRsl, ETC., are constantly open,
and like those Just considered, it Is 4 mere
matter OF getting inland to the vast inter
Tor plateau, whore, like the great plains of
our own western states. railroad construc-
fion can be At a minimum of cost and
deviation Of direction.
Thu only available way is to take advan-
taEe Of some of the rivers cutting through
The high glacier-clnd range that skirts this
shore. II the valleys Of these streams are
not obstructed by glaciers putting down
the tributary valleys and reaching to the
parent stream-a very common occurrence
in this country. Of such streams there are
! number in this region, the Chilkat, the
Dayay, the Takou, tho Stickeen, the Mas,
n so or down to the well-khown Frazer
river, whose picturesque valley is already
utilized by the Canadian Pacific railway,
tho n~ortherAmost of the great transcoatl-
mental lines.
l&s38Tba Ch;Ih.A L. .l.u,l1> - .e -
u - by such q circultoua route around by
the north that il cannot be compared with
Others more frvorably situated. The Daysy
is ice-looked with glaciers. The Takou ia
the river examined by the New York Ledger
expedition last spring and the examination
sxtendsd from it's mouth. including the
great Takou inlet into which it emptied. to
its very ~hsadwaters and by a low pass led
out on the great inland plateau.
The nearest present harbor to the Ia
kou's mouth isl Juneau, the metropolis Of
Alaska, and here the largest ocean steamer
could land. 1t 10 ten to twelve miles down
atwo-mile wide channel to the entrance to
Iakou inlet and up it fifteen to eighteen
miles to where the river of the same name
I'M IN. The river, however, is very
swift and muddy, bringing down enormous
quantities Of silt and sediment and has
built ont bars at its mouth until that point
cannot be reached by vessels of consider
able draft. A railroad on the southeast
bank. however, could round the hills here
and como down to any point on the inlet,
me whole of which is essentially a mag
niicent almost landlocked harbor. There
are several glaciers to be seen from the
reach the stream or project their moraines
shorsto, and would consequently DO no OBJ
struction to = roadbed.
The first thirty miles up the stream would
be bottom" work, with On occasional dirt
ont around some projecting point.
About forty miles from the mouth the
river branches, the South fork being the
more important, bus our Investigations
continued up the North fork, as we fol
lowed our Indian guides. l believe the
South fork, from what l could learn, would
give a more direct line, and less circlins to
the north. but the North fork leads out
through a very low pass, with easy gradients
Il named it the PtsrmiRan pass), and
would throw the resulting road across the
south end OF the Ahk-Klain (''The Big
Lake,, which would give summer naviga,
tion for about 1000 miles the whole Length
Of tho mighty Yukon river to Bering sea.
From this head of the Yukon il would
gain the nayigable waters of the Mackenzie
and open that great river its whole length
70 the Arctic ocean.
It would then plunge southeastwart
oAIO0ku bu6 AtuhbHSCa country TO tht
lower Saskatchewan, and keeping between
the two great lakes-Winnipeg and Mani.
~toba-ioin the railway system at the -four
fishing CITY of Winnipeg. having connec
tions in every direction, and especial,
profnse toward the bulk Of population il
ths United States.
1t might be noted here that what ha
long been known as the Hudson Bay rail
road (now called Winnipeg d. Pacific, I be
lieve) follows my line between Lakes Mani
soba and Winnipeg, curling around dow
the Nelson river by one branch, and throw
Ing . more important and more recentl
projected branch westward to the Pacif
coast down the NAas or Skeena river. til
n~orthernmost streams of the British Anal
lean Pacific lying wholly therein, theme
out Dixon entrance.
The TAkoa River railroad can make con
neetien with others sooner by bendln
down 10 the Edmonton branch of the G,
madam Pacific from Calgary or TO meet tn
Prince Albert. Regina line; buy such devit
zion turns u AWAY from its direetness I
tion.
Canadian governmental policy might di,
eAts that n ceuld not encourage the COL
etsNetion OF q road the terminus of whic
vaA on . foreign soil. especially as agains
We already projected Winnipeg a. Pacif
bue : glance u the map will show tn,