264 REPORT OF OFFICE OF EXPERIMENT STATIONS. 



GROWTH OF FARMING AND GARDENING IN THE INTERIOR. 



With a view to ascertaining what progress was being* made in the 

 interior along- these lines of work, and more particularly to visit the 

 Rampart Station and to see the condition of the work at Holy Cross 

 Mission at Koserefsky, where the Father Superior had engaged to carry 

 out certain experiments in grain growing. 1 started for the interior on 

 July 19 by the overland route. 



ITINERARY. 



I obtained transportation from Sitka to Juneau on the revenue-cut- 

 ter Rush, and arrived at the latter place July 20. From Juneau 1 

 went to Skagway on the Al-Iii, she being the first boat bound that wa}^ 

 I left Juneau on the night of July 22 and arrived at Skagway late in 

 the afternoon of the 23d. On the 24th I took the train for White 

 Horse. Left White Horse on the 25th and arrived at Dawson on the 

 27th. I was fortunate enough to get passage on a steamer bound for 

 the lower river, and I reached Eagle July 28, Holy Cross Mission 

 August 2, and Rampart August 13. 1 stopped here several hours, 

 long enough to enable me to transact the necessaiy business in connec- 

 tion with the station. Mr. Jones, who had been in charge of this 

 station for the past year, agreed to make the trip overland from 

 Eagle to Valdez, and I therefore took him with me to Eagle, where 

 we arrived August 18. I remained at Eagle until the 25th, when the 

 Leah left for Dawson, which j^oint was reached on the evening of the 

 28th. Dawson is the northern terminus for the boats on the lower 

 river, and the distance from Dawson to White Horse is covered by 

 boats of a smaller type, nearly all of which belong to the British Yukon 

 Navigation Company. I left Dawson on the steamer Yukoner Septem- 

 ber 2, and arrived at White Horse September 7. There I took the 

 train for Skagway, which was reached in the afternoon of the same 

 day. I left Skagway again on the steamer Cottage City on September 

 9; arrived at Juneau on the 10th, and was fortunate enough to make 

 immediate connection for Sitka by the City of Topeka. 



1 take great pleasure in acknowledging courtesies from the trans- 

 portation companies in the interior. The White Pass and Yukon Rail- 

 way Company gave me free transportation over their line; the British 

 Yukon Navigation Company charged me for berths and meals only, 

 and through W. H. Isom, esq., vice-president of the North American 

 Transportation and Trading ^Company, I was tendered free transporta- 

 tion on all the boats with which he was connected on the Lower Yukon. 

 This included the boats of the Northern Transportation Company, the 

 interest of all lines having been pooled for the season. 





