Explorations in Alaska, 1899: For an All-American Overland Route from Cook Inlet, Pacific Ocean, to the Yukon |
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a. m. Aug a. m. July a. m. Sept ADJUTANT Alaska August bacon birch brush cache canoe Captain Glenn Collected on Keechatno Commanding Expedition Cook Inlet Cook Inlet Exploring Coschaget creeks detachment dog harness dog teams Echeatnu River FAMILY Fifty pounds Gibbon glaciers harness herd Indian Village Inlet Exploring Expedition interior J. S. HERRON July 18 June Keechatno River Knik Arm Koyukuk Koyukuk rivers Kuskokwim River Kustatan Lake Minchumina McKinley Range miles military Minchumina moose mountains mouth navigation Nome Nulato overland pack horses pack train paraffined canvas sacks Photograph Portage Bay Prince William Sound rafting railroad Rampart City rations reindeer route Seattle Shesoie Simpson Pass Slinkta snow snowshoes spruce steamboat Suchitna Indians Suchitna River Suchitna Station Sunrise Tanana River Tateno Tatlathno Telida timber Tonzona transportation trip Turnagain Arm Twenty-fifth Infantry Upper Kuskokwim country Vinasale winter sled trail winter trail Yentna River Yukon ice Yukon Indian Yukon River
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Page 32 - ... the elevation on the crest taken with barometer and psychrometer 3,600 feet above sea level, and practicable for trails, roads or railroads. There was no need for the pick or shovels. While in this pass I came upon two enormous brown bears, asleep (sometimes called the glacier bear, or the grizzly). Led by the Indian Slinkta, I crawled around to the leeward and then approached them, too near, I thought to myself, as I had a poor gun, only a few cartridges, and the nearest tree was 5 miles away....
Page 4 - River. 2. This expedition will cover as much territory as possible and will collect and incorporate in the reports all information that may be valuable to the development of the country explored regarding topographical features, available routes of travel, feasible routes for railroad construction, appropriate and available sites for military reservations, adaptability for agriculture and stock raising, mineral...
Page 46 - ... horses without packs. All other rivers intersected by the pack-train trail were forded, except some boggy -bottomed creeks, which I bridged. The Tatlathno, at Telida, is about 30 yards wide, the Kuskokwim, where the trail crosses, about 20 yards wide, the Cosna about 15 yards wide. I judge the Kuskokwim to be navigable for large river steamboats as far as the Echeatnu, and for small steamboats as far as the Tatlathno, and the Chedotlothno as far as the island at camp, August 25. The Tateno was...
Page 46 - Dilliuger, and a branch of the Tonzona were crossed by us in this manner. The Ecolena we crossed by riding over on the horses behind the packs. Where practical, we usually cut a large spruce tree to fall across so as to make a foot log, on which we crossed while the horses swam over. The general characteristics of interior Alaskan rivers are strong currents, great erosion and sedimentary deposits, shifting channels, and rapid rise and fall in the spring. They are frozen from about November 1 to about...
Page 38 - Chedotlothno and the Kuskokwim are shown in photograph No. 22, page 40. August 25, I lost two pack horses by their having been snagged, one in the abdomen and one in a lung. I was obliged to abandon the canvas canoe here on that account. August 25 to September 1 brought us to higher and firmer ground. Photograph No, 18. — Tonzona River. About September 1 frosts at night killed off the mosquitoes ; also the grass and leaves.
Page 42 - I proceeded to go into camp there for two months, until we could get winter clothes and socks made of our horse blankets, procure mits, fur caps, moccasins, and snowshoes for the party from the Indians, and to wait until conditions were favorable for snowshoe travel.
Page 50 - ... from about a quarter to about a half-mile in width. The largest and most important lake in this part of Alaska is Minchumina, situated close to the Kuskokwim, but drained into the Nitzutalina, thence into the Kontaithno (Toklat), a tributary of the Tanana. The route exploited pierces the centre of Alaska. It touches navigable points and winter trails on the most important river systems of Alaska, namely, the Suchitna, Kuskokwim, Tanana, and Yukon, and consequently taps the country drained by...
Page 38 - ... canoe here on that account. August 25 to September 1 brought us to higher and firmer ground. Photograph No, 18. — Tonzona River. About September 1 frosts at night killed off the mosquitoes ; also the grass and leaves. September 3 I began feeding the horses flour. A violent earthquake occurred at 2 pm on the 3d. A sack of evaporated potatoes was punctured and leaked out on the trail about this time, which ended our potato diet. EXPLORATIONS IN ALASKA, 1899. Photograph No. 19.— House at Deserted...
Page 64 - Miners, mail contractors, freighters, and traders in the interior of Alaska, the men who actually travel and are on the ground and whose interests are involved, all condemn, reindeer transportation in the strongest terms. Even some of the Lap reindeer herders informed me that dogs were better than reindeer. I will cite one example. A herd of about...
Page 41 - We filed along like coolies with fifteen days' food and other impedimenta harnessed on our backs, making packs so large and heavy that progress was a continuous performance of wrestling, the pack having the advantage of a doubleNelson hold and the assistance of the brush and timber.