ALASKA'S FISH 

 AND WILDLIFE 



Alaska, rugged and primitive, is 

 a land of surprises for the new- 

 comer — soldier, sportsman, tourist, 

 or homesteader. 



Giant strawberries, 50-pound cab- 

 bages, delphiniums 9 feet tall, 

 grow in parts of the country we 

 bought from the Kussians, whose 

 chief interest was the exploitation 

 of the country's rich fur re- 

 sources. Along with numerous 

 fishes, big-game animals, and game 

 birds, these fur resources are im- 

 portant in Alaska's economy today. 



Alaska is not the frigid land of 

 popular concept, though it does 

 have extremely cold weather. 

 Average annual snowfall in West 

 Virginia is more than that of the 

 Arctic lowlands, and greatest sum- 

 mer heat in central Alaska is about 

 on a par with that of New York 

 City. 



The weatherwise have learned to 

 expect almost anything in the way 

 of temperatures in Alaska, nearly 

 three-fourths of which is in the 

 North Temperate Zone. Record- 

 ings of 100° F. at Fort Yukon on 



the Arctic Circle and 99° F. at 

 Klukwan in Southeastern Alaska 

 top the highest recorded temper- 

 ature of 95° F. at Miami, Fla. Of 

 course, in some places the bottom 

 drops out of the thermometer. At 

 Tanana on the Yukon, 70 degrees 

 below zero have been recorded, and 

 Fairbanks, chief town of central 

 Alaska, has felt the bite of 66 de- 

 grees below zero. 



The temperature fluctuations 

 give the mosquitoes no trouble. 

 These pests thrive in many places, 

 particularly in swampy river bot- 

 toms like those along the Yukon, 

 one of the longest waterways in 

 North America. But even though 

 it has mosquitoes so fierce you need 

 a double headnet, Alaska does not 

 have snakes of any kind. 



Surprisingly, the glaciers are in 

 the south, southwest, and southeast. 

 They can form in these regions be- 

 cause of heavy precipitation and 

 high mountains — a combination 

 that even causes glaciers in equa- 

 torial Africa. Alaska's greatest ice 

 mass is the Malaspina glacier on the 



