The indicator., 1897-10-30
ALASKA SEASONS.
The Changes Are Swift and Very
Marked.
summer Rapidly Follows when Win
ter Breaks IN, and the Very
Warm Weather and Mos
auiIoc. Follow.


body and leather boots FOR the feet are,
of course. utterly unsuitable, and can
he worn only at serious risk whsn trav-
cling. Indian suovshoes 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
lug are March and April I ne mid
winter days are short. with sunlight in
some ATTITUDES from ten in the morning
TO three in the afternoon. When nee
rssary. one can travel fairly well by
Starlight and moonligh 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 Hoods the lowlaudS: ice, debris and
broken timber pouring, with grinding
noise, hcadloug toward the sea. For
uf least a week navigation is impossible
Summer, sNift-footed, trips upon the
heels Of winter. The sun pours down
with violence not soon forgotten,
y
The cry of the braut, uorthwar,l 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 hint of
spring. summer is upon us.
Mosquitoes, the pest of the north,
appear in clouds. Except Il midstream,
without net and leather gloves is
misery The Indians smear their faces
with a mixture of grease and charcoal
and paddlewith smudge on a square of
turf in the bows Of their birch canoes
The caribou, moose and bear. driven
from the thickets, plunge into the river
for a temporary respite. Curiously
enough. during three summers, black
flies and mdges, so plentiful to the
eastward. were encountered only once
on the Yukon; possibly, near its head
waters, our luck would have been worse
The records show that the lower Yu-
kon valley has a summer temperature
much in excess of that normal to the
latitude. As the days are long. the
traveller will prudently sleep at noon
and utilize for his work the cooler
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 meuaces the large
population now pouring into the dis
Iict. The upper Yukon is country
where subsistence has always been dIf-
fcult. The first party which ever
reached it-that under Robert Camp
bell, Of the Hudson Bay company. who
named the PeIly river-though com
posed Of seasoned voyageTs, was. if ira
dition be reliable, forced 10 support life
by cannibalism before it could reach
help. In ls66 not more than 800 In
dinns were able to find subsistence be-
tween Fort Yukon and Fort Selkirk
The abundant fish and game Of the low
cr Yukon are absent. The river steam
ers available for transportation cannot.
curing 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
hurIying over the ChiIkat portage car
trausport-if indeed they possess-food
enough to carry them over the winter
and mp TO the arrival Of summer sup
plies from the lower Yukon.
Serious hardships, and even probable
starvation, therefore. confront the
rash and foolhardy who push forward
without proper supplies into a region
whose limitations they do not realize.
Fortunately, it is likely that many Of
those least prepared for the undertake
ing will never get over the divide, and
will be obliged to remain 10 southeast
er Alaska, where the rush TO Klondike
Will have left open many opportunities
for employment. We're it otherwise.
the coming winter and spring would
probably furnish material for tragedy.
Even as it is, the circumstances offer
ground for grave pprehensions.-Wi
liam Healy Dali, in Forum.