The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-08-10
FARMING ON THE YUKON.

Since writing the purely speculative
article upon the agricultural possibili-
ties of the Yukon region, based upon
the refutation of the talk and reports
that have preceded the settlement of
all new regions, we have seen, in the
Montreal correspondence of the New
York Evening Post, extracts from a
report made to the director of the
Canadian geological survey of the eX-
ploration of the Klondike region by
William Dawson's party in 1887, which
confirms what was pure surmise. The
party spent the summer on the upper
Yukon and it's tributaries, and their
data relate to observations made in
that season of the year, although they
give meteorological data taken from
notes made at the old Hudson Bay
Fort Yukon, located on the siXty-third
parallel, two degrees further north
These show the mean temperature of
summer to be 567 degrees, of winter
-23.S degrees, and mean annual of
1853 degrees. The report calls attention
to the lines of isotherm that show at
Fort Yukon, in summer, temperature
that permits ga landscape decked with
well-grown forests, with intervening
slopes Of meadow, while in the same
latitude in Hudson strait we find, even
in summer, merely a barren waste Of
rocks and Ice
Mr.. Dawson found a region embrace
ing some $4,000 square miles in. which
he feels no hesitation in saying that
such hardy crops as rye, barley, tur-
nips and flax can be successfully cult
vated.' Horses and cattle can be sus-
tanned, the meadows furnishing excel
lent hay, while the game Of the land
and the fish of the rivers will contrib
ute to the products Of the fields to
maintain life. He likens the country to
the northern portion of European Rus
sia where a million and a half persons
find support, and he feels confident
that this area will, some time in the
future, be utilized for settlement by
agriculturistS. He does not wish to
be understood as saying. that 1.-The coun-
try is suitable for immediate occupa-
ton by a large, self-supporting agri-
cultural community" but holds that
agriculture may, before many years,
be successfully prosecuted in conjunc-
ton with the natural development of
the resources of this great country"
He bases his conclusions in this re-
spect upon all the facts he was able to
gather, as well as from an examination
of the natural flora of the country
and the observed advance of vegeta-
ton.
1t is safe to predict that, unless the
yield of gold there is vastly greater
than it was in the early settlement of
California, the men who will find surer
wealth and gather it with the most
certainty will be those who go there
next spring prepared to open up land
and grow such hardy vegetables as
can be safely planted. The market
will be there for all that can possibly
be produced, with an appetite for it
and means of payment that will put
| financial risks out of question 1t will
be. some years, undoubtedly, before
| transportation will be so cheapened as
to reduce the price in the home market
to a normal, and meanwhile the farmer
will be taking out of his fields a richer
yield than the average miner will be
getting from his placer. 1t was so in
California, and in every gold or silver
region that has been since developed,
and it will be(so in the upper stretches
of the Yukon. If you feel the fever of
adventure burning in your veins, and
must go to Alaska, take plows and
spades, horses and cows, chickens and
seeds, instead of pick and pan, and To-
cate on the first piece of valley land
and go to work. You will dig more
gold out of your patch of farm than
YOU would out of the gravel beds