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NATURALIST'S GUIDE TO THE AMERICAS 



and considerable quantities of Alpine 

 hemlock {Tsuga mertensiana) . Alders, 

 willows, and cottonwoods also occur and 

 the Devil's Club (Echinopanax) and 

 some of the Salmon berries and other 

 small shrubs persist in diminishing num- 

 bers as one proceeds westward. In the 

 eastern part of the region, these forests 

 grow in close juxtaposition to the 

 glaciers and are frequently uprooted and 

 displaced by the slow moving ice. 

 About Prince William Sound, there is con- 

 siderable good forest consistiiig mainly, 

 of Sitka Spruce and Alpine Hemlock. 

 Non-arborescent alpine vegetation occu- 

 pies its usual place above the coniferous, 

 but in much of the heights among the 

 great glaciers there are vast areas with- 

 out the slightest vegetable growth, only 

 rocks and ice fields. 



Animals: The Sitka deer does not ex- 

 tend to the glacial region nor do any of 

 the large game animals of the interior. 

 The only important large mammals are 

 the mountain goat, the great brown bear, 

 and the black and glacier bears. The 

 last is peculiar to the region but is possi- 

 bly not a true species but only a color 

 phase of the black bear. Small mam- 

 mals are principally the red squirrel, 

 meadow voles {Microtus), red-backed 

 voles [Evotomps) and shrews {Sorex). 

 Birds include some Arctic types of water- 

 birds, as murrelets, puffins, etc. Land 

 birds include sooty grouse, ptarmigan, 

 Steller's jay, northern raven, golden- 

 crowned sparrow, and representative 

 subspecies of the song sparrow and fox 

 sparrow. There are no reptiles nor 

 amphibians, 



D. Travel Conditions. Regular 



steamers from Seattle touch at Yakutat, 

 KatuUa, Cordova and various points in 

 Prince William Sound. A railroad runs 

 inward from Cordova to mines on the 

 Copper River and a government trail 

 for pack horses leads to the interior from 

 Valdez. The government railroad to 

 the interior has its terminus at Seward on 

 the south side of the Kenai Peninsula. 



3. Interior region 



A. Topography. This region embraces 

 the vast territory lying beyond the coast 



l)arrier ranges, being too irregular for 

 exact measurement but probably cover- 

 ing at least two-thirds of the total area of 

 Alaska. It comprises mountain, plateau 

 and valley. The great Yukon River 

 with its important tributaries, the 

 Tanana and the Koyukuk, course 

 through it and three other large rivers, 

 the Copper, the Sushitna and the 

 Kuskokwim belong mainly to it. Be- 

 tween the rivers are more or less defined 

 mountain ranges, the most important 

 being the so-called Alaskan Range in 

 which Mt. McKinley rises to the height 

 of 20,464 ft. North of the Yukon is 

 another range, the Endicott Mountains, 

 bordering on the Arctic Region, while 

 east of the Copper River is the group 

 known as the Nutzotin Mountains. 

 Elsewhere there are many lower less- 

 defined ranges and much rolling or 

 broken relief. The principal extensive 

 areas of relatively flat surface are found 

 in the central Copper River valley, the 

 south side of the Tanana River along the 

 base of the Alaskan Range, and about 

 the great bend of the Yukon where it 

 touches the Arctic Circle in the region 

 of the Yukon Flats. In other parts, 

 level land is easily found but not in 

 great uninterrupted areas. In all this 

 region there are scarcely any large lakes 

 although countless ponds and small 

 swamps are found. The large lakes, 

 Uiamna and Clark are too near the edge 

 of the region to be classified as properly 

 belonging to it. 



B. Climate. The climate of the in- 

 terior is relatively dry with great annual 

 extremes of temperature — a long cold 

 winter and a short hot summer. The 

 annual precipitation may be no more 

 than 12 in. and as much as 25 in. is 

 exceptional. Much of this is in showers 

 coming principally in August and 

 September. Snowfall during the winter 

 is not heavy and February, one of the 

 coldest months, is also one of those of 

 least precipitation. The summer cli- 

 mate is delightful, although in certain 

 seasons there may be two or three weeks 

 when it is very hot. Official records, 

 however, indicate that temperatures 

 above 90° are very rare. From Octo- 



