YUKON RIVER 



6404 



YUKON RIVER 



chief physical feature of the region, but it was. 

 and still is to a degree, of the greatest economic 

 importance. 



It is navigable practically throughout its en- 

 tire length. From its mouth to Dawson it is 

 traveled by large steamers, and between Daw- 



THE YUKON RIVER 



son and White Horse Rapids by smaller ves- 

 sels. Above the rapids is another navigable 

 stretch about a hundred miles long. Many of 

 the tributaries, including the Tanana and Por- 

 cupine, are also navigable for considerable 

 distances. This network of 3,500 miles of 

 navigable waterways made possible the rapid 

 development of the gold fields, and is still a 

 large factor in transportation, even though the 

 rivers are frozen for eight or nine months of 

 the year. 



Sources of the Yukon. From Fort Selkirk, 

 where the Yukon is formed by the confluence 

 of the Pelly and Lewes rivers, to the head- 

 waters of the Lewes is a distance of nearly 350 

 miles. The Lewes rises in a series of small 

 lakes in the extreme northwest corner of Brit- 

 ish Columbia; its principal affluent issues from 

 Lake Bennett, which lies partly in British Co- 

 lumbia, and partly in Yukon Territory. This 

 lake is only twenty-five miles from Skagway, 

 on Lynn Canal. From, this point the Lewes 

 and then the Yukon describes a vast, irregular, 

 semicircular arc, ending on the west coast of 

 Alaska. 



Four Divisions. The valley of the Yukon 

 proper, from the confluence of the Lewes and 

 Polly rivers to the mouth, may be divided into 

 four physiographic divisions the Upper Yu- 

 kon, Yukon Flats, Rampart Region and Lower 

 Yukon. 



Upper Yukon. This section, extending from 

 Fort Selkirk to Fort Yukon, at the confluence 

 of the Porcupine with the main stream, is about 

 450 miles long. The Yukon, like the Lewes 

 and most of its tributaries, has cut a channel 

 from one to three miles wide and from 1,500 



to 3,000 feet deep in the elevated plain or pla- 

 teau which constitutes most of Eastern Alaska 

 and the Yukon Territory. The principal tribu- 

 taries of the Upper Yukon are the Selwyn, 

 White, Stewart, Klondike and Forty-Mile. The 

 first important discoveries of gold in this region 

 were made on Forty-Mile Creek, but these 

 were overshadowed a few years later by the 

 richness of the Klondike field. At the junction 

 of the Klondike River and the Yukon is Daw- 

 son, the capital and largest settlement on the 

 river. 



Yukon Flats and Rampart Region. After 

 flowing northwest for 450 miles the Yukon 

 turns almost at right angles and flows south- 

 west for 200 miles through the famous "Flats." 

 These are level, areas of sand bars and low 

 islands, covered with dense thickets of spruce. 

 There the river channel is constantly shifting, 

 and at seasons of high water increases in width 

 from a normal of ten miles to forty, fifty or 

 even a hundred miles. The "great bend" of the 

 Yukon, where it receives the Porcupine River, 

 is about three miles north of the Arctic Circle. 



The "Flats" come to an abrupt end at the 

 Ramparts, a splendid gorge which extends for 

 110 miles to the mouth of the Tanana River. 

 In this part the Yukon Valley has an average 

 width of one to three miles. The Tanana, 

 which is the Yukon's largest tributary lying 

 wholly in Alaska, flows northwest for about 

 400 miles, roughly parallel to and about 125 

 miles west of the Upper Yukon. The sources 

 of the Tanana are glaciers in the Alaska Range. 



Lower Yukon. At the mouth of the Tanana 

 River the Yukon gorge ends, and the river en- 

 ters a lowland fifteen miles or more wide. 

 From this point to the sea, a distance of 800 

 miles, the valley is never less than two miles 

 wide, and the river has created many channels 

 and small islands. Along the north side of the 

 valley are ranges of hills or low mountains 

 which extend to the delta. On the south side 

 the hills extend to within a hundred miles of 

 the delta, where they are merged into the 

 coastal plain. 



The Yukon delta covers nearly 9,000 square 

 miles. ' There are about twenty-five outlets 

 each not less than 600 feet wide, and numerous 

 smaller ones. All of them, however, are shal- 

 low and are filled with sand bars. Steamers 

 enter the delta by the arm known as the Apoon 

 Pass, which is about four feet deep at low 

 water. The sea for miles around is silted up, 

 and ocean-going ships usually proceed to Saint 

 Michael, seventy miles north, where they trans- 



