260 GANNETT 



The mountains increase in height toward the northwest, 

 but not at a uniform rate. They culminate near the coast 

 in the Fairweather Range, south of Yakutat Bay, at about 

 16,000 feet, and in the St. Elias Range, west of Yakutat 

 Bay, at 18,000 feet or more. These ranges are not regular 

 or continuous. While they follow the general direction 

 of the coast, toward the northwest, they are extremely 

 broken, being cut through on the mainland by many fiords 

 and by streams flowing into the heads of the fiords. The 

 Stikine, which reaches the coast near Wrangell, heads far 

 to the eastward, in Canada, and cuts across the entire 

 breadth of the Cordillera system. The same is true of 

 the Taku River, which, flowing through Taku Inlet, 

 reaches the coast near Juneau; and of the Chilkat, which 

 flows into one of the heads of Lynn Canal. Alsek River 

 heads far to the north, in Canada, and cuts a gorge through 

 the great Fairweather Range. These are the main rivers 

 of this coast, but there are many smaller ones, which head 

 either beyond the mountains to the north and east, or far 

 within them. 



The coast line from Cross Sound northwestward to 

 Prince William Sound is comparatively smooth and sim- 

 ple, containing no inlet of magnitude, with the exception 

 of Yakutat Bay. As far as Yakutat Bay it is closely bor- 

 dered by the Fairweather Range, which rises abruptly 

 from 10,000 to 16,000 feet almost from the water's edge, 

 bearing on the summit a succession of peaks and covered 

 with glaciers along both slopes. A day long to be re- 

 membered was that on which our ship steamed, between 

 8 o'clock in the morning and 6 in the afternoon, from 

 Yakutat Bay to Cross Sound, along the entire front of this 

 range, which was outlined against a cloudless sky. 



Yakutat Bay is a deep funnel-shaped bay, penetrating 

 far into the heart of the mountain region. At its apparent 

 head it turns sharply upon itself to the south and extends 



