CHAPTER I 



ALASKA : ITS HISTORY, INDUSTRIES, POPULATION, ETC. 



The ideas about Alaska prevailing in the mind of the 

 average Englishman of to-day are very vague ; and although 

 the country has been partly explored for many years by 

 small wandering parties of prospectors, it is surprising how 

 little even Americans in the Eastern States know about the 

 valuable territory owned by them in the far North- West. 

 The majority of persons are uncertain as to the exact position 

 of Alaska on the map, while others look upon it as merely a 

 wild uninhabitable little tract far up in the north-west corner 

 of the American continent, and chiefly celebrated for the 

 great gold-reefs first exploited along the valley of the Yukon 

 in 1895. As a matter of fact this so-called small territory 

 comprises an area of little less than 600,000 square miles ; 

 and when it is remembered that hitherto only very small 

 portions of it have been visited by naturalists, we are able 

 to form some idea of the field that lies open for scientific 

 research, when men of the right class are found with 

 sufficient energy to explore the country properly. It is a 

 country teeming with mineral wealth, mammal and bird 

 life, grand forests and other vegetable products, and 

 numerous remains of extinct creatures, dear to the heart of 

 the palaeontologist. 



