ALASKA EXPERIMENT STATIONS. 289 



quantity of hay could be put up for the winter use, and when ready 

 for market the animals could be driven to Dawson or Eagle and 

 shipped in barges to points along the lower river. Perhaps the easiest 

 route to this section at the present time would be from Fortymile 

 Post up the Fortymile trail to Steele Creek and then over the trail we 

 traveled. 



Horses have lived through the winter in this grass section on more 

 than one occasion. A Mr. Anderson, of Steele Creek, has a black 

 horse that was taken up last spring after having spent the winter on 

 the Ketchumstock Flats. The Indians told of two horses that were 

 turned loose by a Mr. Holeman in the fall of 1899. These animals 

 have passed two winters in this section, and were seen a few miles from 

 the trail two days before we passed the village. 



On the morning of September 17 our path was one of ups and 

 downs, each succeeding grade taking us to greater heights. Just 

 before noon we reached the summit, of the divide between the Forty - 

 mile and the Tanana Rivers, and we ate lunch some distance down on 

 the Tanana side. Judging from the vegetation, frosts are several days 

 earlier on the Yukon than on the Tanana side of the divide. 



Before leaving Eagle I noticed that the leaves of the cottonwood, 

 birch, and alder were highly colored, and had begun to fall. On the 

 Tanana side the leaves of these trees were still green. None of the 

 vegetation showed the least injury from frost. I gathered some veiy 

 good raspberries here ; the berries had evidently been ripe for some 

 time, and though the flavor was good it would have been better had 

 the berries been gathered at an earlier date. The raspberries here 

 differ somewhat from those on the Yukon. Here the bush stands 

 erect and tall, and the berries do not drop immediately after ripening, 

 which is the case with the Yukon variety, the bushes of which do not 

 make an erect growth. Good specimens of spruce and cottonwood are 

 growing well up toward the summit on the Tanana side, the growth 

 being dense in places. 



The slope on the Tanana side is much steeper than that on the Forty- 

 mile side of the divide. Early in the afternoon we reached the 

 lowlands of the Tanana Valley. For 6 miles the ground is deeply moss 

 covered, and small patches of nigger-head land are passed over. The 

 timber is only fair until we approach Lake Mansfield, where the indi- 

 vidual trees are large. This lake is a beautiful body of water, circular 

 in outline, and about 3 i miles in diameter, and having a sandy shore. 

 Water fowls were plentiful and the lake is said to be well stocked 

 with fish. The Indians set traps in the outlet, on the south side of the 

 lake, and large numbers of white-fish are taken in this manner. The 

 salmon does not get up this far. From Lake Mansfield to the station 

 on the Tanana, a distance of 8 miles, the soil is a brown sandy loam, 

 with a sandy subsoil. In general the timber growth is not dense, 

 H. Doc. 334 19 



