ALASKA EXPERIMENT STATIONS. 291 



ing across the valley of the Tanana is comparatively easy, as all one 

 need do is to remove the windfalls that may lie across the proposed road, 

 and in some places standing* timber has to be removed also in order to 

 get the required width, 12 feet, for the trail. Before reaching the 

 Tanana Valley the task of the trail makers was not an easy one, but 

 the capable manner in which the difficulties that presented themselves 

 were surmounted showed that the men. understood their work. 



Leaving the Tanana Valley, our course is up the valley of the Tok, 

 in the direction of Mantasta Pass. This valley is several miles wide, 

 and has in places a clay soil very wet. In other parts the valley is 

 stony. There is no agricultural land here, but there are some beauti- 

 ful specimens of spruce and cottonwood. In crossing the Tok at a 

 point where it seemed necessary to partly unpack the horses, the water 

 being deep and swift, another member of our party had reason to 

 know that Indian rafts are not a safe means of transportation for one 

 unskilled in handling them. When we reached Mantasta cabin on the 

 evening of the 19th, we had crossed, or were then at the summit of, 

 the pass. The lake which lies just south of the cabin is stocked with 

 fish from the Slana River, a tributary of the Copper River. The 

 grade from the valley of the Tanana to this point has been so gradual 

 that it is difficult for one to believe that he has reached the highest 

 point on the trail, between the Tanana and Copper River valleys. 

 Sharp-pointed peaks that rise to a great elevation on each side of the 

 pass convince one that the trail from the coast to the Yukon would 

 have been a difficult one had not nature provided this pass. At Man- 

 tasta cabin we found the trail builders; they were camped here for the 

 night. They had no grain for their horses, and were compelled to 

 travel by short stages so that the horses might have more time to feed. 



On the morning of the 20th our trail was rocky, in the literal sense, 

 taking us over several miles of cobblestones of granite. Early in the 

 afternoon of the 20th, we reached a point from which the broad valley 

 of the Copper River could be seen, and towards the evening of the 

 same day we saw the stream itself off to the left. We camped out- 

 doors on the bare ground, not having a tent, on the night of the 20th. 

 The mail cabin is some two miles from the Government trail. During 

 the afternoon of the 20th, and all day until the evening of the 21st, we 

 traveled over a slightly rolling country, which was deeply covered 

 with moss, and upon which the timber, mostly spruce, was of small 

 size except close to the streams, and not of dense growth anywhere. 

 Through this section there are many small lakes having small streams 

 as outlets. Nigger-head land is also very common here, and there are 

 certainly many areas of considerable size in Alaska in which agricul- 

 tural possibilities are more favorable. 



The Chestochena River near the mouth spreads out in several chan- 

 nels, over a very wide bed. These shallow channels are constantly 



