El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1916-01-01

stopped at all of Uncle Sans e
on the Yukon.
miles through rocky islands in going
| from Seattle TO SkagWay; and later
! passed through the Aleutian archipela-
7 go, which extends from the end OF
| the Alaskan peninsula about as far
westward as the distance from the
/ Atlantic ocean to the Mississippi river
/ The island Of Kodiak is as big as Porto
/ Rico and Prince Of Wales island is as
| large as Connecticut All Of these
} islands are green from one years
! end to the other, and some
! have vegetation as densed as that OF
Coast Survey vessels are now explor-
! ing the waters and dragging the chan
nels for the terrible pinnacle rocks
I that rip open the bulls OF the big ocean
steamers The officials tell me that
the Alaskan coast line with its wind
ings. is longer than the girth OF the
world at the equator. and that 1t IS
for the most part unchartered me
department OF commerce is building
new ships for this work
Has Great NavigabIe Rivers
The rivers Of Alaska cover all parts
OF The territory, and their navigable
waters reach thousands OF miles 1
Travelled almost 2OO0 miles on the
Yukon That river is the fifth among
the great streams OF the North AmerI-
can continent. and in the United states
It is surpassed only by the Missls-
sippi-MissOuri. The Kusko lzW1IIl, which
lies south OF il. has just been opened
BY the coast survey vessels. and II IS
found that steamers can travel upon
it into the heart OF the continent as
far as from New York to Cleveland
spent two days steaming from the
Yukon up the Tanana river from Fort
Gibbon to Fairbanks That river flows
into the Yukon II viii be cut BY the
new railroad now building II has a
wide valley as long as from Philadel-
phia to Pittsburg-
And then there is the POrcupine, that
enters the Yukon at the Arctic circle.
It is a big stream, that flows 500 miles
down from the north Dan Cadzo, who
has a store on IL just beyond the
Canadian boundary, tells me he can 90
by steam all the way TO his station
Into the lower Yukon empties the
Innoka- up which you tan go to the
/ Iditarod gold region. and from the
north comes down the koyukuk, whose
sands are also gold bearing The
latter stream is 500 miles long
Have you ever heard OF the river
at Kotzebue sound They are now
washing gold from its sands
The mainland OF Alaska is practic-
ally unknown 1t consists Of great
with mighty ranges of mountains on
the north and the south These ranges
correspond to those which uphold our
Rocky mountain plateau but the CEN
gently down toward Bering sea The
fall is less than a foot to the mile all
the way from the Canadian boundary
The Yukon. " hich flows through IL, IS
so sluggish that il builds Up great
islands ard en- the Yukon flats. about
two DAYS ride from the boundary Of
Canada the stream in places is 20
miles wide. At the lower end of the
valley and along Boring sea there are
coastal plains. and another great plain
exJerds from the Arctic ocean back a
distance CT perhaps $50 miles before
the rugged highlands begin
Hns Highest American Mountain.
Alaska has the highest mountains on
some Of the greatest glacial fields
upon earth. and scores of its peaks
never lose their perpetual snow Nc
Kinley, which kisses the sky at over
north Of the ssthrus of Panama. and it
viii be OF easy access TO tourists when
the new railroad is finished
little farther east is mount st.
Elias. which is 5000 feet high. and
ABOUT mount krangen, in a territory
not three-fcurtES as big as Massa-
ehussets. there are ten snow clad
peaks twice as high as mount Wash
ington. and two which are higher than
mount Blanc
There are three mountains there Of
over 1e.o00 feet which have not yet
been named. They belong to the
Alaskan range, which runs around the
whole southern east and has width
mere and there OF approximately so
miles The range has several low
passes. and one Of these, Broad pass,
IS only 200 feet above the sea It is
from six to eight miles in width and
II forms an easy way for Uncle Sans
new railroad to get into the great
central valley. It is over that pass the
survey has been made
High Volcanic Peaks.
Extending westward from the Alas
IA range, we have the Aleutian noun
Jams, that run hundreds OF miles
through the Alaskan peninsula, and
lnen, dropping down into the sea. form
the Aleutian islands. extending 1900
miles farther. They are volcanic
peaks, some Of which are 5000 feet
nigh. The volcano OF Katmai belongs
10 that chain.
North of the great plateau is the
ROCKY mountain system This is not
so nigh as the mountains of the south.
wide.
Has Varied Climate.
e are apt to think of Alaska and
the North Pole as synonymous. They
remind US of nothing but glaciers or
OF mountains Of ice and of perpetual
sa1I We nave read Of the terrible
Soid, where the Thermometer falls to
20 degrees below zero: of the rein
oeer and dog teams flying over the
snow and Of the zimmerman darkness
OF the long winter nights
me truth is, Alaska is a world in
its climate, and the nights are so
5orlght that they seem almost day.
Only one-fOurth Of the country lies
inside the Arctic circle and has
weather that could be considered as
arctic Other parts of il are as tenn
perate as Tennessee or Kentucky. and
southeastern Alaska, a region larger
than Maine, has a winter climate
milder than that of Washington city.
Inc great Yukon valley, a land Of
rolling plains and plateaus. mas winters
IKE those Of Montana and northern
Dakota. and the summers of the whole
territory are not far different from
In midsummer I found the whole land
covered with a dense vegetation. and
II seemed to me that YOU could drop
a-Tt ~ int - 49,