gold discoveries.

The observations were made with standard instruments, and are wholly reliable. The mean temperature of the months October, 1889, to April, 1890, both inclusive, are as follows: October, 33 degrees; November, 8 degrees; December, 11 degrees below zero; January, 17 degrees below zero; February, 15 degrees below zero; March, 6 degrees above zero; April, 20 degrees above. The daily mean temperature fell and remained below the freezing point (32) from November 4, 1889, to April 21, 1890, thus giving 168 days. as the length of the closed season of 1889-90, assuming the outdoor operations are controlled by temperature only.

The lowest temperatures registered during the winter were: 32 degrees below zero in November, 47 below in December, 59 below in January, 55 below in February, 45 below in March, 26 below in April.

The greatest continuous cold occurred in February, 1890, when the daily mean for five consecutive days was 47 degrees below zero. The weather moderated slightly about the 1st of March, but the temperature still remained below the freezing point. Generally cloudy weather prevailed, there being but three consecutive days in any month with clear weather during the whole winter. Snow fell on about one-third of the days in winter, and a less number in the early spring and late fall months.

Greater cold than that here noted has been experienced in the United States for a very short time, but never has it continued so very cold for so long a time. In the interior of Alaska, the winter sets in as early as September, when snowstorms may be expected in the mountains and passes. Headway during one of these storms is impossible, and the traveler who is overtaken by one of them is indeed fortunate if he escapes with his life. Snowstorms of great severity may occur in any month from September to May, inclusive.

3 a. m.

The changes of temperature from winter to summer are rapid, owing to the great increase in the length of the day. In May the sun rises at about and sets about 9 p. m. In June it rises about 1.30 in the morning and sets at 10.30, giving about twenty hours of daylight, and diffuse twilight the remainder of the time.

The mean summer temperature of the interior doubtless ranges between 60 and 70 degrees, according to elevation, being highest in the middle and lower Yukon valleys.

Speaking of the temperature of St. Michael's and vicinity, Mr. Petroff quotes from Mr. E. W. Nelson's report (1880) to the Chief Signal Officer:

During the past four years, the first mush-ice has begun to form in the bays from the 15th to the 18th of October, and the bays have been frozen over so

as to bear a man from the 25th to the 28th of October, with the exception of the year 1878, when a strong wind took the ice out, and it did not freeze again until the 10th of November. Up to the 15th of October, vessels could enter here without danger of meeting ice. In the spring, much more uncertainty exists, as to a great extent the date of open water depends upon what the prevailing winds may be. Long-continued north winds, following a severe winter, as in 1880, may keep the ice barrier in until the 20th of June, and it has even remained until nearly the 1st of July; but these late dates are exceptional. As a rule, the ice will be thoroughly broken up and a strong vessel may enter Norton Sound through the ice by the 10th of June. Between the 20th of June and the 1st of July may be called safe dates for any vessel except in an unusual season, as during a large part of June fine weather prevails.

As in most other places under high latitudes, there is no long gradation from season to season, but instead we have two well-marked periods—a long winter of about seven months, extending from October until well into May, and five months of summer. The winter is by far the best, as there are long periods of beautifully clear days, which are welcomed in spite of the usually accompanying intense cold. The summer is rendered very disagreeable by a large number of cold, misty rains, and the low overhanging stratum, which appears to shut down all about like a leaden covering.

As a natural result of these climatic conditions, the warm weather brings swarms of mosquitoes. Mr. Petroff says (speaking especially of the Kuskokwim region, although the same complaint is made by travelers in other sections):

There is a feature in this country which, though insignificant on paper, is to the traveler the most terrible and poignant infliction he can be called upon to bear in a new land. I refer to the clouds of bloodthirsty mosquitoes, accompanied by a vindictive ally in the shape of a small poisonous black fly, under the stress of whose persecution the strongest man with the firmest will must either feel depressed or succumb to low fever. They hold their carnival of human torment from the first growing of spring vegetation in May until it is withered by frosts late in September. Breeding here as they do in the vast network of slough and swamp, they are able to rally around and to infest the wake and the progress of the explorer beyond all adequate description, and language is simply unable to portray the misery and annoyance accompanying their presence. It will naturally be asked, How do the natives bear this? They, too, are annoyed and suffer, but it should be borne in mind that their bodies are annointed with rancid oil; and certain ammoniacal vapors, peculiar to their garments from

constant wear, have a repellant power which even the mosquitoes, bloodthirsty and cruel as they are, are hardly equal to meet. When traveling, the natives are, however, glad enough to seize upon any piece of mosquito net, no matter how small, and usually they have to wrap cloths or skins about their heads and wear mittens in midsummer. The traveler who exposes his bare eyes or face here loses his natural appearance; his eyelids swell up and close, and his face becomes one mass of lumps and fiery pimples. Mosquitoes torture the Indian dogs to death, especially if one of these animals, by mange or otherwise, loses an inconsiderable portion of its thick hairy covering, and even drive the bear and the deer into the water.

V.

Towns and Trading Posts.

The capital of the Territory is Sitka, located in 57° N., 135° 17′ W., on a low strip of land on the west of Baranof Island. Mount Edgecumbe, an extinct volcano of 8,000 feet, opposite the town, is the landmark of the port. There is an industrial school, and the population was 1,190 in 1890. Salmon fishing and curing is the chief industry. Steamers ply once a month between Sitka and Portland, Oreg. The harbor is small but commodious. Mean temperature (forty-three years), January, 31.4°; August, 55.9°. Annual rainfall (thirty years), 84.06 inches. Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts called attention to the fact that the winter of Sitka is milder than that of many European capitalsBerlin, Copenhagen, Berne, Stuttgart, Vienna, or Turin. Mr. Dall (p. 255) says that the shortest distance from San Francisco Harbor to Sitka is 1,296 miles. By the inner passage, between the archipelago and the coast of British Columbia and Alaska, the distance is 1,647 miles; large sailing vessels have to go outside. Juneau (population 1,253, census of 1890) is located near the Lynn Channel, by which there are trails to the Yukon. Mr. Wilson (Guide to the Yukon Gold Fields) says that the year 1895 witnessed a great improvement in the town, and Juneau is to-day a progressive city with fine buildings, wharves, electric lights, waterworks, hotels, etc.

Wrangell, on the northern part of the island of the same name, is about 10 miles from the mouth of the Stikine, and is the point of departure for traders and miners penetrating into the interior by

way of that river. The regular mail steamer from Portland touches here both on the outward and return trips.

tants.

There are 316 inhabi

Douglas City, on Douglas Island, near Juneau, has a population of 402. This is the location of the Treadwell gold mine, with, it is said, the largest quartz mill in the world. Yakutat (population 308) is on Yakutat Bay. Nuchek is situated on Hinchinbrook Island, 432 miles by sea from Sitka, and 50 miles from the mouth of the Copper River. It was formerly an important trading post, but much of the commerce has been transferred. In regard to the Kenai peninsula, Mr. Petroff says:

A

At

Two of the trading stations are located at English Bay and Seldovia. Three more stations, consisting each of two rival stores, are located at Kenai (Rédoute St. Nicholas), on the river Kinik, and the village of Toyonok, or West Foreland. The central point of all this region is Kenai, once the site of the earliest permanent settlement on the inlet, the remnants of which can still be seen. Russian missionary is located here, and a new church is nearly completed. the time of the transfer of the Territory, Kenai was still a fortified place, with a high stockade and octagonal bastions at the salient points. Both stockade and bastions, with their primitive armament of 1%-pound falconets, have disappeared since then, but a number of new buildings have sprung up, and a thrifty colony of creoles has taken to the cultivation of potatoes and turnips on a larger scale than had ever been attempted before. Perhaps 10 or 12 acres are planted here now, and several of the families keep cattle. Some of the choicest salmon of the Territory is salted here and is barreled and shipped to San Francisco. The hunting grounds in the immediate vicinity do not yield their former abun-. dance of valuable furs, but the presence of the missionary establishment causes a concentration of natives from all parts of the inlet at least once a year and brings considerable trade to this old station. It was on the river Kaknu, or Kenai, that the Russian mining engineer Doroshin reported the existence of surface gold in paying quantities. After laboring with a numerous party in the mountains for two seasons, at great expense to the Russian-American Company, he returned with a few ounces of the precious metal, but he could present no inducement to the corporation to proceed any further in this enterprise. Since that time American prospectors have passed years in this region following up the Russian's tracks, but not one of them has thus far found gold enough to warrant him to work the find. In former years Kenai was also the site of a