Perth Amboy evening news., 1921-11-17

"The closing of the Yukon river
to navigation because of ice, noted in
a press dispatch late in October,
serves the double purpose of bring
ing annually to the attention of stay
at home Americans one of the great
est of their rivers, which to the ma
jority is probably little more than
a name, and of warning of the south
ward thrust of the icy fingers of win
ter which will soon grasp the shores
and straits of the Great Lakes" says
a bulletin from the Washington. ID.
c., headquarters OF the National
Geographic Society
THE Yukon, despite the general
failure to recognize it as such is one
of the great rivers of the world"
continues the bulletin. ut is over
1890 miles long and is both the
longest and the largest river flow
ing into Pacific waters in the west
ern hemisphere, surprising by a
considerable margin it's nearest COM
petitors, the Columbia and the Colo
RADIO. Among all the rivers of North
America the Yukon is SURPASSED in
length only by the Mississippi sys-
tenn and the Mackenzie. 1t is long
err than the st. Lawrence as we'll as
all the other rivers except the Mis-
sissippi system which flow INTO the
Gulf of Mexico or the Atlantic.
Among Greatest Rivers of the World
Though the discharge of the Yu-
kon is not accurately measured
it is its tremendous volume of water
rather than its length that causes it
to be ranked as a great river. 1t is
of course, far outdistanced by the
vast Amazon. greatest OF, rivers. and
the Congo. which probably ranks
second. But the Yukon has been
ecttmated to have t~hree-fourths of
the volume of discharge of the Mis-
sissippi, and if this estimate be ac-
curate the stream which it pours
into the sea is probably among the
half dozen greatest in the world.
ITO Alaska. heretofore having no
highway of steel into it's interior. the
Yukon has beer indispensable. Be-
cause of the shallow bars at its
mouth, ocean steamers cannot enter
the river; but at the harbor of st.
Michael, just north of the mouth,
freight is transferred to shallow
draught, stern-wheet river steamers
which ascend the stream not only
throughout the breadth of Alaska,
but for several hundred miles into
Canada.
THE Yukon, flowing through AL
aska roughly from east to west. di-
vides the territory into northern and
southern halves. Large areas along
the banks of the river and it's tribu-
taries as well as at considerable dis
tances from the stream can thus be
served by freight boats. The princi-
pie electives of the river steamers,
no err, are Dawson on the Yukon
ahtA so miles in Canada. and more
thar 1900 miles from the mouth, and
Fairbanks. the metropolis of inter-
ior Alaska, near the head of navi-
cation on the Tanana, a tributary of
the Yukon.
Route of Telegraph Line to Europe
THE Yukon is al international
river, rising nearly 500 miles within
Canadian territory, and sweeping in
a great arc to the north and east.
Although the river is over 1000 miles
long, one of its sources. a small lake
is within twenty-five miles of the
salt water to which it makes such
a roundabout journey.
1.-THE existence OF such a large
river as the Yukon in the far north
was long unsupported. A Russian
lieutenant, Zagoskin, entered its
mouth by boat in 1912 and traversed
II for several hundred miles. The
Hudson Bay Company had discover
ed it's ~headwaters in Canada; but