Evening star., 1915-02-10

a1one-that Is. by literally feeling their
way along the bottom-but they made
the trip without mishap, using their
own observations as a guide.
X
Having thus completed their survey
of the mouth of the Kuskokwim. the
party proceeded
Mission Town up the stream
! IS Miles Inland. to my % nr,nc,ns, ns1
settlement of that part of Alaska This
is Bethel. a settlement of Moravian
missionaries. sent out by the Moravians
of Pennsylvania to convert the Eskimos
to Christianity. There were three fam
lies of them, and in addition to preach
ing the gospel they keep a small store
and trade with the natives.
There were two other white settle
ments in the region drained by the
kuskokwim. One of these is Tocotna,
500 miles from the coast. at the very
head of navigation. and the other Is
lGeorgetown. about halfway to the head
OF the river. The aggregate white
population of these three settlements,
ldurlng the greater part of the year, is
probably less than two hundred.
| The area of the kuskokwim valley is
about $4,000 square miles. Thus the
white popula tion of the region Is about
one man to every 25O square miles of
! territory. The white inhabitants are
are practically no white women, and
nearly all of the white men have Es-
| kimo wives.
The native population consists of
I fhO1Sn NJ fI-ni ipo1
Esklmos They own the reindeer herds
/ which range over the tundra. and live
upon the flesh of these animals and
! upon fish. They build low shacks.
which are partly excavations. and part
| ly made of bits of driftwood
Ihroughout the winter navigation of
the kuskokwim is. of course. impossi-
| Bile. and the little population of the re-
| Eion is absolutely cut off from the
outside world. From early June to late
october. however. small boats ply up
vessel from Seattle reaches the mouth
! with merchandise and supplies for the
traders There is always more cargo
offered for this vessel than 1t is able to
carry.
Although travel by water is fmpossi-
pie IN winter. that is the only season
When the great tundras may be crossed
during the summer they are covered
with lakes and marshes and are liter
ally impossible. In the winter all of
this surface water is frozen the land is
covered with deep snow: and the dog
teams of the Eskimos and traders make
the trip from the river to the noun
| tains with great speed.
Ihese mountains are known to con-
tain rich gold deposits: but SO great is
the difficulty of
MOUNTAINS hlch getting the pre-
in Gold Deposit. e,ouS sm% I'M metal & out.
OF taking supplies into the wilderness,
that a man cannot make more than
day wages at the placer deposits. In
ADDITION to these surface deposits,
there are great quartz veins of low
grade ore. requiring machinery for
their development, which, of course.
have not yet been touched
Gold. however, is not the onIv or
even the most important metal of the
huskokwim region. In the vicinity of
Bethel, quite near the river, there are
great deposits of cinnabar which is
the principal ore from which mercury
~ isv eneraceed. ~ act because of their proxim- |
hj ~ 70 the great waterway, it is proba- |
Die that these deposits will be the first
TO undergo commercial deveIopment-
me most Immediately tangible asset |
which will probably first be exploited.
IS It's salmon fisheries Every spring
the great schools of salmon run up the
huskokwin to spawn. Capt. Lukens
and his party saw them in great num- !
Ders In July. the fish frequently leap
ing clear OF the water. The Eskimos |
patrolled the banks with spear and dip |
net, taking puny toll from the hanks |
or the great finny army. Most of this |
immense food supply. however, is vast
ed, for the salmon dies Immediately |
after spawning. The exact extent Of
the salmon runs in the kuskokwin is
, not known, but there is every reason
to believe that 1t is great enough to
Justify commercial development
~ the present time agriculture is
practically unknown in this region; but
it is by no means certain that the Kus-
kokwin country is wholly untitled for
agriculture. Hardy northern wheats
are being raised upon the Yukon on
the kuskokwin. and a little farther
north.
The herding of reindeer by the Eski-
mos is the nearest approach to an in
dustry which the
Herd Reindeer region can at pres
for Livelihood. , tives s'aai aell tbe hae ana ma
mails to traders and others. The sur
vey party subsisted largely on reindeer
flesh. buying the animals for s25 apiece.
This sketch of one Alaskan valley
gives an idea of the undeveloped wealth
of that great region. Beyond doubt,
the mines and fisheries Of the Kuskok-
wir, will one day see a great Commer-