SPHAGNUM BOGS OF ALASKA 



171 



are a few fairly dense clusters of these trees on raised places a few 

 square rods in area, within the tundra. Many of the trees along 

 the border of this heath are dead. There does not seem to be 

 any evidence that they were killed by fire. The dead branchless 

 trunks are still standing and only a very few of these trunks 

 show any blackening or other fire injury and these are close along 

 the railroad where the fires have evidently been purely local. 





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•ii\. Mil 



Fig. 2. Tundra at Yakutat. 



The railway extends for a distance of about 5 miles across this 

 tundra. The shallow ditches along the grade of this road bed 

 offer good opportunity for studying the nature of the strata that 

 make up the soil. The observations made on these ditches were 

 supplemented by digging elsewhere. There was everywhere found 

 to be about one foot of decayed or decaying organic matter. 

 Beneath this is gravel, evidently glacial outwash. 



What drainage there is for this region is furnished by Lost 

 River and its small tributaries and the shallow ditches along the 



