Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1897-08-08

an hour, and the immediate river
trough is narrow, being rather close
ly bofdered by terraces of 100 feet or
! more in height. Above this point,
to the lake, the current is Quite slack;
the terraces gradually retreat toward
the bases of the hills, and wide,
swampy flats occur.
The water above the canyon Is
quite clear and blue, showing that It's
turbidity further down is entirely due
to the washing away and falling In OF
the high banks of silt. The turbidlty
of the Tahk-heena is probably also due
to the same cause.
Lake Marsh, so named by Schwat-
ka, is known to the miners as Mud
lake. 1t is twenty miles in length,
with an average width of about two
miles. pretty uniformly maintained.
The upper end of Lake Marsh is
connected with Tagish lake by a wide,
tranquil reach Of river five miles in
length. The current is hereSFery
slack and the depth from six to twelve
| feet.
| STILL WATER NAVIGATION.
| From the description just given it
will be seen that the navigation by
| steamers from the head Of the canyon
through Lake Marsh and Tagish lake
| within FIVE or six miles Of the lake
is moderate, not exceeding three miles
will offer no difficulties. while the
| tranquil character of the connecting
| river between the two lakes is such
| as to practically render Lake Marsh
| the lower portion of an extensive sys-
tenn of still water navigation, which
includes not only Tagish lake, but
! also Lake Mares, Lake Bennett, and
possibly other connecting waters, and
which will prove Of the greatest util-
! ity at no distant date in facilitating
J the opening up and development or
! the mineral resources of the country
"a their vicinity.
THE through distance from the
| lower end of Lake Marsh to the head
of Lake Bennett, measured along the
central line of the various lakes and
connecting waters is about seventy
| miles, as follows: Marsh lake, 20
miles; river, miles; Tagish lake,
1875 miles; Lake Mares, 2.7 miles;
Bennett lake, 25.S miles
THE still water navigation, how
ever, includes also the west arm OF
Bennett Lake, about II miles; Windy
arm of Tagish lake, about IL miles;
'Tako arm Of the same lake, at least
20 miles; making total Of about lib
miles.
1T is certain that the greater part
of the waters constituting the Lewes
river enter by the Tako arm. Lake
Linderman occupies the continuation
Of the same valley in which Lake Ben
nett lies, but is separated from that
lake by small, rapid stream Of
niH in length. The stream falls
about twenty feet between the two
| lakes and is rough and rocky"
1t must be remembered that the
Expedition was moving toward the
| Chilkoot pass from the Yukon river,
so that the lakes would be Just re-
versed in their position TO traveller
who had gone from Talya inlet.
Much information of an especially in
| tereSting nature in regard 10 LeWes
river is given in the report, as fol-
! lows:
The total length of the route by
| the Lewes river from the landing on
| Lake Lindeman to the site of Fort
Selkirk is 357 miles. From the outlet
of Lake Lebarge is a distance of 300
miles, in which the total descent is
$40 feet.
WHEN THE RIVERS FREEZE.
Information obtained respecting
the dates of opening and closing OF
rivers in spring and autumn is very
/ fragmentary. IL would appear, how
ever, that the rivers throughout the
| region open early in May, while they
may be expected to freeze in SLACK
water any time after October is,
when hard frost occurs for several
days consecutively. Loose ice began
to form in rivers as early as Septem-
Der 20, but this generally precedes
actual closing Of rivers by two weeks.
| IN some sections the rivers do not
| freeze over well until November. In
1887 some of the lakes were not open
for navigation until June 10, but that
season was a ve.y late one.
Miners entering the Yukon district
by the Chilkoot pass and Lewis river
frequently leave the head of the Lynn
canal in April, and after crossing the
pass, for which fine weather is essen
tial, continue on Gown the lake on
the ice and then, if it is necessary to
walt at some convenient point FOR open
ing of navigation, they do so and build
their boats. In ascending the river
much depends on the build of the boat
employed and skill of. the man in pol
ing, as well as on the occurrence of
head winds or otherwise on the lake.
The whole distance from Forty Me
| creek TO Lake Lindeman has been
made once or twice in so short a time
as thirty days and | believe even this
record has been surpassed by a couple
| or days on one occurrence, but under
very exceptional circumstances.
| Our actual travelling time from the
| mouth Of the Lewes TO the lower END
Of Lake Labarge, deducting all stop
pages, was twelve hours and fifteen
minutes. From the head OF Lake La
barge 10 the lower end of Lake Marsh
the time, deducting stoppoges as be-
fore and not including the time occu-
pied on the poTtages at Miles canon
| and White Horse rapids, was twenty
five hours and fifty-fve minutes. Much.
however, depends on the stage OF water
in the river, as when it is unusually
high the current is not only stronger,
but many Of the bars and beaches are
covered and the polling and travelling
is much worse. The time occupied in
tTaversing the lakes is not incldued in
the above statement.
TIMBER FOR BOATS.