288 REPOBT OF OFFICE OF EXPERIMENT STATIONS. 



saddles, at the Indian Creek cabin, and next morning we found that 

 the horses had made a clean sweep. For two days now, or until reach- 

 ing the relay station at Tanana, bread and mush were omitted from 

 our bill of fare. 



Indian Creek is little more than a brook flowing through the grass 

 country ; there are patches of spruce timber in places along close to 

 the banks. We crossed this stream on the morning of the 16th, and 

 passed over some very wet country, a great deal of which is nigger- 

 head land. There are evidences of peat formation here. In places 

 fire has burned down 3 or 4 feet below the level; these holes usually 

 are not more than 20 or 30 feet square, and have a soft sticky red clay 

 at the bottom of the pit. 



The dry lands between Indian River and the Mosquito Fork, which 

 is a continuation of South Fork, and which we crossed just before 

 noon, somewhat resemble the prairie soil of the Central States. There 

 were patches of very heavy growth of redtop. According to the 

 measurements of a Government party that had passed over a portion 

 of this trail in running a line from Valdez to Eagle, the point at which 

 we crossed the Mosquito Fork is 303 miles from Valdez. 



We had a much drier trail during the afternoon of the 16th; we 

 were gradually going up grade across a grass country dotted with 

 patches of scrub willows and small spruce trees. Grouse were very 

 numerous here, as they are the entire distance to Copper Center, 200 

 miles farther on. The surveying party had marked the distance from 

 Valdez on at intervals of 5 miles wherever a tree could be found for 

 a mile post, and these posts are looked for with interest, though it 

 sometimes happens that one is passed without being noticed. 



When we reached the cabin at Wolf Creek on the evening of the 

 16th we had practically crossed the Ketchumstock Flats. I estimate 

 that there are at least 750,000 acres of excellent grazing country in the 

 valley of the Upper South Fork and its tributaries. About half of 

 this area is sparsely timbered, but is still good grazing land. One can 

 obtain a good idea of the extent of the grass lands from a point a little 

 north and east of Indian Creek; from here the treeless region stretches 

 out for miles in all directions, and seemingly well up the sides of the 

 low hills that almost surround it. 



Much of this land could be brought under cultivation as easily as 

 prairie lands of the Middle West. As a money making proposition 

 there is no inducement for one to try farming in this section at the 

 present time; there is no mining camp of importance near, and there 

 would be no market for surplus products. Game is plentiful, however, 

 and the man in whom the spirit of the old pioneer is found might be 

 well pleased with the life he might live here by combining farming, 

 hunting, and prospecting for gold or other minerals. Again, I think 

 stock might be raised here at a very considerable profit; any desired 



