EXPLORATION IN ALASKA IN I907 — GIEMORE 7 



fifteen miles farther down, are a part. Covered with a dense vegeta- 

 tion, this level-topped bluff or "plateau terrace," as called by Russell, 1 

 extends along the left side of the river, only separated from it by a 

 heavily timbered flood-plain at its base. The Palisades were reached 

 July 3, and two days were spent in the studying of this historic 

 locality. Some scattering fossil remains were found, of which a 

 more detailed account will be given later. 



The evening of July 5 camp was pitched some five miles below the 

 Palisades, at the mouth of "Wasikakat" River, a small tributary 

 flowing into the Yukon from the south. This stream, which enters 

 the river through a low alluvial flat, was ascended some distance in 

 the expectation of reaching a place where it had dissected the higher 

 silts of the Palisade escarpment, but we were obliged to turn back 

 because of its small size and the consequent difficulty in navigating it. 



The mouth of the Nowitna River 2 was reached June 7. Inquiry 

 concerning the occurrence of bones along this stream elicited the 

 information from an intelligent Indian, who visited the headwaters 

 of this stream occasionally on hunting excursions, that he had seen 

 "big horns and other big bones" on the river bars, and a white 

 trapper also told us of having picked up the "shank bone" of some 

 large animal along the stream. 



The information was stimulating, for it had been planned before 

 leaving Washington that this stream should constitute one of the 

 principal areas of search. Before leaving Fort Gibbon, three weeks 

 provisions had been purchased in the expectation of the supply being 

 sufficient for us to reach the headwaters of this stream, the length 

 of which, as given by Dall, 3 is one hundred miles. We ascended the 

 stream for nine days, and at the farthest point reached, estimated 

 to be at least one hundred and seventy to one hundred and eighty 

 miles from the Yukon, found it to be a considerable stream still 

 (see pi. vi, fig. 1). It may be explained, however, that in a straight 

 line the distance covered might not be half of this estimate. Trap- 

 pers who have ascended its entire course estimate its total length as 

 being two hundred and seventy-five to three hundred miles. The 

 Nowitna enters the Yukon from the southwest, about seventy-five 

 miles below the mouth of the Tanana. It rises on the eastern flank 

 of the Kaiyuh Mountains, and we were told its headwaters are con- 



1 Russell, I. C. : Geological Society of America, vol. 1, 1890, p. 146. 



2 By a recent decision of the United States Geographic Board, this stream, 

 which has been successively designated Nozvekaket, Nozvikakat, and Nowi, 

 now becomes the Nowitna. 



3 Dall, W. H. : Alaska and Its Resources, 1870, pp. 87-282. 



