San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1897-11-15
ALASKA SEASONS.
The Changes Are Swift and Very
Marked.
Summer Rapidly Follows When Win
ter breaks Up. and the Very
Warm Weather and Mos
quitees Follow.

Ordinary wooden clothing for the
body and leather boots for the feet are,
of course, utterly unsuitable, and can
be worn only at serious risk when trav-
cling. Indian snowshoes are essential;
the Norwegian variety proved worth
less.
As the season advances the snow set
ties, and at night firm crust forms.
The most favorable months for travel
ing are March and April. The mid
winter days are short, with sunlight in
some ATTITUDES from ten in the morning
to three in the afternoon. When nee
essary, one can travel fairly well by
starlight and moonlight over the snowy
tundra, but not in the woods. In May
the snow is wet and heavy and travel
difficult. Pools of water and the first
mosquitoes then begin to appear. By
May 20 the river bursts its bonds of ice
and foods the lowlands; ice, debris and
broken timber pouring, with a grinding
noise, bsadlong toward the sea. For
at least 3week navigation is impossible.
Summer, swift-footed, trips upon the
heels of winter. The sun pours down
with violence not soon forgotten,
though in the shade it is always cool.
The cry of the brant, northward bound,
is continually heard, and myriads Of
smaller water fowl appear on every
hand. All the minor forms of life,
native to the region or migrants from
the south. with startling suddenness
people the copses and pervade the air.
Vegetation springs into leaf and flower
at a bound, and, with hardly a hint Of
spring, summer is upon us.
Mosquitoes, the pest of the north,
appear in clouds. Except in midstream,
or where brisk breeze is blowing, life
without a net and leather gloves is
misery. The Indians smear their faces
with mixture of grease and charcoal,
paddlewith smudge on square of
turf in the bows of their birch canoes.
The caribou, moose and bear, driven
from the thickets, plunge into the river
for temporary respite. Curiously
enough, during three summers, black
flies and midges, so plentiful to the
eastward, were encountered only once
on the Yukon; possibly, near its head
waters, ourluck would,have been worse.
The records show that the lower Yu-
kon valley has summer temperature
much in excess of that normal to the
latitude. As the days are long, the
traveller will prudently sleep at noon
| g. IL ha oAo1or
hours when the sun sweeps low along
the northern horizon and the mos
quitoes are less active.
Frosts appear in mid-September.
Early in October the Yukon begins to
be covered with ice; though it is not
fully ice-bound until late in November.
So the round is completed.
One serious danger menaces the large
population now pouring into the dis
trict. The upper Yukon is country
where subsistence has always been diff
fcult. The first party which ever
reached it-that under Robert Camp
bell, of the Hudson Bay company, who
named the Pelly river-though COM
posed of seasoned voyagers, was, if ira
dition be reliable, forced to support life
by cannibalism before it could reach
help. In 1866 not more than 800 In
dams were able to find subsistence be-
tween Fort Yukon and Fort Selkirk
The abundant fish and game of the low
er Yukon are absent. The river steam
ers available for transportation cannot
during the remainder of the present
season, carry up to Dawson City much
more food than will supply its present
population. 1t seems improbable that
any large proportion of the people now
hurrying over the Chi1ltat portage car
transport-if indeed they possess-food
enough to carry them over the winter
and up to the arrival of summer sup
plies from the lower Yukon.
Serious hardships, and even probabl,
starvation, therefore, confront thu
rash and foolhardy who push forward
without proper supplies into a region
whose limitations they do not realize
Fortunately, it is likely that many o
those least prepared for the undertak
ing will never get over the divide, ant
will be obliged to remain in southeast
er Alaska, where the rush to Kondik,
will have left open many opportunitie!
J for employment. Were it otherwise
the coming winter and spring would
probably furnish material for tragedy
Even as it is, the circumstances offel
ground for grave apprehensions.-Wil
liam Healy Dali, in Forum.
Why People Forget Names.