LOCATION OF THE GEASS LANDS. 15 



lands lie, but owing to the flatness of the land and the slight eleva- 

 tion above the sea level they are very ill-drained, notwithstanding 

 the gravelly nature of the soil. 



I Traveling along these rivers in a canoe one receives the impression 

 that the grass is tall and rank on these flat lands. This, in fact, is 

 the case on a very narrow strip just along the river banks, where there 

 is a fine growth of bluetop {Calamagrostis langsdorfii) and sedge 

 [Garex sitchensis Presc). This strip of tall grass is, however, 

 nearly always confined to the immediate banks of the rivers. The 

 great mass of the land is covered with a thin layer of bog moss, which 

 supports but a scant vegetation of grass and sedges less than a foot 

 high. 



i It is a conservative statement to say that fully 80 per cent of these 

 Yakutat grass lands are thus scantily grassed. Apart from tlids 

 scant amount of grass, which j^ractically precludes the cutting of 

 winter forage, another serious difficulty presents itself in the fact 

 that poison parsnip {Cicuta douglasii) occurs quite plentifully over 

 all the land that is the least boggy, which, as before stated, is 80 per 

 cent of the area. Thus, even if these meadows were used only for 

 grazing, great care would need to be exercised in the spring, when 

 grass is scanty and the sweet but very jDoisonous tubers of this plant 

 are frequently forced to the surface by the frost. 



While the above statements are true concerning the Yakutat 

 meadows as a whole, there are small areas which are exceptional. 

 For example, along the lower Ankow River occurs a narrow strip 

 of several hundred acres Avell grassed with silver-top {Deschamiyi^ia 

 caespitosa) and beach rye {Elymus mollis) and free from Cicuta. 

 Care would need to be exercised in utilizing even this, as the sur- 

 rounding l)oggy lands bear an abundance of poison parsnip. 



Again, the strip of land lying just within the ocean dunes is often 

 well grassed with beach rye and red fescue {Fesfnea rubra). 



A particularly good area of arable land lies along the railway 

 where it reaches the Setuck River. This consists of 3 or 4- square 

 miles of gravelly, well-drained, level land, at present looking much 

 like a worn-out meadow. It is apparently very well adapted to such 

 cultivated grasses as smooth brome-grass and tall meadow oat-grass. 

 It will undoubtedly grow all sorts of hardy vegetables. The present 

 grass covering is rather scanty, but it is probable that this can be 

 greatly increased by cultivation. This particular piece of land is 

 well worthy of the attention of homesteaders. 



It is within the bounds of j)ossibility that the larger part of the 

 Yakutat \)\',\m can be drained and made into fine meadow lands. In 

 its present state, however, this land is not adapted to stock raising, 

 with the exception of such small areas as above noted. 



