Grand Rapids herald. [volume] (Grand Rapids, Mich.) 1892-1959, 1893-09-01
IN THE NORTH LAND
An Unknown Portion OF the Alas
kan Border
ouEEaEsT SPOT IN AMERICA
SYLVAN solitades that Teem With Bix-
Horn sheep. Mountain Goats
and Caribou

try, between the ALASKA intcrnatif,kAt
boundary and the great divide. there Is
an unknown region lying between the
one hundred and thlrty-sixth and one
hundred and torty-Grst nsrbiians and
extending from the sixty-fourth par
aliel OF Latitude northward To the
Arctic coast. which according % .
writer ia the New York Evening Post
remains to-day the sole incognita OF
the North American oontiUcrt There
l. no other geographical district or
division between the two oceans which
has not been officially visited by gov
ernsnent agents. prospected by miners
or timber hunters. explored by adven-
turers or trapped over by runners OF
the fur companies Esen interior Lab
rador il better known Only three or
four white traders whose names are CT
record have ever made IL an object In
al these years Ia penetrate into viii
darness Ia whose expansive area OF three
hupdred miles square are scarcely six
score OF impecunious grovehng red
skins. aud whose annual proceeds az
the chase would hardly paw collector
for the hardship OF win sering where
the temperature for five mouths at
least persistently keeps below the zero
point. This isolated and trackless re-
gion has many characteristics Of tbs
Yellowstone National park II IL much
siashed by deep canyons and bumped
By high mountains interspersed with
vast swamps. which are flied with ami
NAL remains. and upland valleys where
thermal springs gush frum the TANKS
OF iee-elad peaks. and tepid rivers fiovs
which never freeze. There are exhala-
tons % natural gas from low-lying
tracts BIZ lake and river sides whose
odor Is percsptible for long distances,
and there Is also lake lying in a deep
valley at the foot of Sheep mountain
which has never been known To- freeze.
This natives regard it with supersti-
tious dread. and keep aloof. sheep
mountain is nearly four thousand feet
in height and within the arctic belt.
Live maStodons were reported some
years ago 10 have been seen here by
Indians. but the red men undoubtedly
had mirage on the brain
Here. in the depths of these sylvan
solitudes, big-horn sheep and noun
tain goats abound. and moose roam IN
such numbers, according TO the
authority of Dominion Surveyor
Oeilvie. who wintered there in 1878,
that all the willows for miles above
and below his camp were cropped al
most-bare. Vast numbers of caribou
Chamber over the hillsides in winter.
feeding upon the moss which lies
buried under the snow. and this they
obtain by paving away its frosty
covering. They face uphill and pull
the snow down towards them with
their forefeet, exposing patches OF the
succulent growth. which having
cropped, they proceed to draw the
snow above into its place, and so ad-
vance gradually TO the crown of the
slope. Some patches of ground which
have been paved over were found To
extend for more than a mile in length
by a quarter of a mile in breadth.
Mr.. Ogilvie. In the course of his tenn
porary sojourn while locating the in
ternaupnal boundary line, was able TO
secure a census of all the whites and
Indians on the route. men. women and
ordinately savage themselves, have a
mortal fear of apprehension of hypo-
thetical tribe called Nahones, who are
said 20 inhabit hills at the headweters
of the Laird and Pelly rivers. and are
represented as being not only exceed
incly fierce, but cannibals. impervious
20 bullets and frost, lying out uncov-
cred without fire in the severest win
ter weather and eating their meat
raw. Nothing but extreme pressure.
ike starvation, will induce these tim
orous sborigines TO venture near their
abiding place. and then only in strong
force Their fear. however, must be
born purely OF the imagination, for
they do not profess To have ever seen
a single individual of the dreaded Ma
homes
Altogether this primitive country Ii
very interesting. and so are its peo-
rle. ethnologieally. though they are by
ro means personally attractive OF
pleasant - deal with by q voyage
down the Mackenzie river in one of the
Hudson Bay compsny's freighting
steamers a tourist can reach Fort Nc
Pherson At the Mackenzie delta IN
twenty days from Winnipeg. aud from
there IL would be quite possible 10 fol-
low the surveyed route TO the Yukon,
and there take one Of the Alaska Cora
mercial company's steamboats, ON its
return trip 10 Fort -. Michael on
Behring sea. all In The course OF a sim
gle season: or the tourists might 90
overland by tho regular miners aud
packers trail from the confluence Of
Forty Mile river 10 Chilcst. in south
eastern Alaska, and thence take
steamer 81 Sitks. though the chance
OF being hung mp In The interior for The
winter would tend 20 discourage such
venturesonc excn4 ION f3r the present
AflksnIlnHfAr1 r,gfQ fAAr Arnne