L02 I. C. RUSSELL— 5URFACE GEOLOGY OF A.LASKA. 



Mc( J rath and his parly for the purpose of making astronomical and magnetic 

 observations, while the Bteamboat proceeded nj) the Porcupine river with 

 Mr. Turner and bis party. I accompanied Mr. Turner to within about forty 

 miles of his destination : which was as far as the steamboat could go, owing 

 to low water in the river. < >n returning from the Porcupine river trip I 

 remained a Pew day.- at Fori Yukon, and then proceeded to Mr. McGrath's 

 Btation on the Yukon at the boundary, arriving there on August ID. I re- 

 mained with Mr. McGrath about a week, and then continued the ascent of 

 the Yukon, reaching the mouth of the Pelly river, the destination of the 

 " Yukon ", on August 31. 



< >n arriving at Pelly river I made arrangements for continuing my journey 

 with a party of miners who were on their way from Forty-mile creek to 

 Juneau. We left the site of Fort Selkirk on September l,and "poled" and 

 " tracked " our open boat up the Yukon to the mouth of the Lewes, and then 

 ascended that stream, passing through lakes Lebarge, Tagish, Xares, and 

 Bennett to Lake Lindeman. From Lake Lindeman, which is at the head 

 of boal navigation, I crossed the Chilkoot pass on foot, and reached the 

 head of Taiya inlet, the extreme northern reach of Lynn canal, on October 

 ]. From there I proceeded to Juneau in an open boat, and took passage in 

 the steamship "(i. W. Elder" for Port Townsend, and thence proceeded to 

 Washington, D. C, by rail. 



Tie- time -pent in Alaska and the neighboring portion of the North \Vest 

 Territory, during which at least occasional opportunities for geological work 

 were afforded, was about three months. During that time I traveled by 

 Bteamboat, open boats, and on loot about twenty five hundred miles. Oppor- 

 tunities for geological work were thus necessarily very Limited. 



The accompanying paper has been -prepared not with the hope of contrib- 

 uting largely to geological science, but because the observations relate to a 

 little known region and for that reason may have some interest. If the 



paper - ther purpose than to direct the attention of future travelers 



to certain questions of geological importance, I shall consider that it has 

 DOl been w ritien in vain. 



Tie- route followed had been previously traversed by W. II. Dall from 

 Michael- to Fori Yukon, and by G. M. Dawson from the uth of the 



Pelly river to Juneau. Since returning I have learned that previous to my 



journey R. S. McConnell descended the Porcupine river to its mouth, and 

 then followed the same route to Juneau that was traversed by Dawson and 



myself. An account of McConnell'8 explorations was read before the 

 American • ■■ - • i < t \ at it- New York meeting, in December, 1889, 



and appears elsewhere in tin- volume. In the following page.- references will 

 frequently be made to the writings of the gentlemen jusl mentioned, and I 

 am pleased to say these will necessarily be in the direction of commendation. 



