The Wrangell sentinel., 1929-07-04

4 personal letter has been re- ceived at the Sentinel office from an eastern friend, who is Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society. He was first attracted to this coun- | try by the big game hunting in the Cassiar. Last summer he explored and mapped the South Nahanni riv- CT in Northwest Territory, from its junction with the Lizard river to the falls 123 miles up the river which he named Virginia Falls after his little daughter. He was the first white man to measure and photo graph the falls which according to his findings have a drop of 316 feet and are $50 feet in width. His letter, in part, follows:
 When the Wrangell Sentinel ar- rives each week, I am always inter ested in reading it. Today your June 18th issue came to hand, and I have been particularly interested in your article on the Nahanni stampede as chronicled by the Ed monton Journal. The river in Ques- tion is really the South Nahanni which flows into the Liard about 100 miles north of Fort Simpson. There is another river by the same name known as the North Nahanni that flows into the Mackenzie about 100 miles north of Fort Simpson, and the two should not be confused. Last summer, with a canoe crew consisting of George Ball and Albert Dease of Telegraph Creek, I ascend ed the South Nahanni river for a distance Of some 124 miles, in order Lo investigate Ahe remarkable water | .all, that has long been reported as | existing on the river. We found the lalls all right, after much labor had | been expended in forcing a twenty loot King canoe up stream for that distance. We were compelled to do l much polling and lining, and that with the help of ? l2 H. P. John son motor. We reached the falls within about three weeks time after .eaving Fort Simpson. There was considerable grief connected with | the ascent of the South Nahanni
 By way of illustration, let me say that the South Nahanni is two or three times as tough as the Stikine, and except for the first 25 miles, the river might be termed a succession of rapids and riffles. Of the PA miles covered, there is about 50 miles of box canyon to be encoun- tered. I understand the drop in the Stikine is about 4.6 feet per mile. According to my computations, the South Nahanni has a drop per mile about double that of the Stikine, which of course, makes it a very fast piece of water.
 "The article by the Edmonton Jour nal is very interesting, and so far as know, contains a good deal of truth concerning gold that is wait ing to be found on the upper reaches of the Flat River, which stream en- ters the South Nahanni 106 miles above it's mouth. I mention this mileage because your article states that the Flat River enters the South Nahanni "140 miles, up. The Flat River comes out of large valley from the south, thereby entering the South Nahanni on the left side going up stream. A similar stream, known as Mary River, enters the South Nahanni also from the south, ten miles below the Flat River, and these should not be confused. The Flat River may easily be identified | by al 1000-foot dome-shaped noun tain that stands in the middle of the valley of the South Nahanni River about three miles above the junction of the Flat River with the South Nahanni.
 For the use of any mutual friends in Wrangell or Telegraph Creek, thinking of prospecting this coun- try, I enclose blueprint of the map made last summer of the South Nahanni River. do not pretend to claim any great accuracy for the map, but it is good enough to trav- el by. You will note l have indi- cated on the map that the Flat Riv- CT leads up not far from the Hyland River, which information received at Fort Simpson. So far as mileage is concerned, the most direct route