Daily camera., 1897-10-19
ALASKA SEASONS.
The Changes Arc Swift and Very
Marked.
Summer Rapidly Follows When Win.
ter Breaks Up, and the Very
Warm Weather and Mos
Quitoes Follow.

Ordinary woolen 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 Sc y
ties, and at night a 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 floods the lowlands; ice, debris and
GrCken timber pouring, with grinding
noise, headlong toward the sea. For
at least week navigation is impossible.
Summer, swift-footed, ips upon the
heels of winter. The sun pours down
with a 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,
rative 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
@Tring, summer is upon us.
Mosquitoes, the pest or the north,
appear in clouds. Except in midstream,
o. where brisk breeze is blowing, life
without a net and leather gloves is
misery. The Indians smear their faces
with a mixture of grease and charcoal.
and paddle with smudge on a square of
turf in the bows of their birch canoes.
The caribou, moose and bear, driven
from the thiclets, plunge into the river
for temporary respite. CuriOusly
enough, during three summers, black
lies and midges, 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
mach in excess of that normal to the
...,..,.de. AS the days are long, the
esGv2lcr will prudently sleep at noon
a&d utilize for his work the cooler
ours when the sun sweeps low along
thc northern horizon and the mos
quitoes are less active.
Trosts appear in mid-September.
Larly in October the Yukon begins to
oe. covered with ice; though it is not
July ice-bound until late in November.
So The round is completed.
One serious uanger menaces the large
population now pouring into the dis
t.ict. The upper Yukon is country
where subsistence has always been DIFF
Acult. The first party which ever
.eached it-that under Robert Camp
JllI, of the Hudson Bay company, Va
AIMED the Pelly river-though com
posed of seasoned voyagers, was if ira
Jition be reliable, forced to support life
hv cannibalism before it could reach
help. In 1866 not more than 800 In
Lians were able to find subsistence be-
tween Fort Yukon and Fort Selllirk.
he abundant fish and game Of the low
Tr 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 Chilkat portage can
transport-if indeed they possess-focd
enough to carry them over the winter
and up to the arrival of summer sup
plies from TIE lower Yukon.
Serious hardships, and even probable
starvation, therefore, confront the
rash and foolhardv who push forward
without proper supplies into 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 in southeast
er Alaska, where the rush to Klondike
will have left open many opportunities
for employment. Were it otherwise,
the coming winter and spring would
probably furnish material for tragedy.
Even as it is, the circumstances offer
ground for grave apprehensions.-Wil-
liam Healy Dali, in Forum.