pip. ?fo^' 2lY' JOHN H. KERR RESERVOIR BASIN — ^MILLER 39 



So far as is known, at the present time, no remains of the great 

 apes have been found in the New World, but just because they have 

 not yet been found does not preclude the possibility that someday 

 they may be discovered. "Thus far there has been no evidence, either 

 in the form of the remains of human precursors or of truly primitive 

 types of man, to warrant the occasionally expressed belief that there 

 was an indigenous origin and development in the Western Hemi- 

 sphere" (Roberts, 1943, p. 171) . 



Since it is not Imown how many times in the history of the world 

 a land bridge existed between Alaska and Siberia leaving the possi- 

 bility open for these forms to make their way to the New World, it 

 is not fitting to pontificate in saying that these forms of life are not 

 to be found here. To say so would place modern archeologists in the 

 same category as those in the past who vouched that Early Man could 

 not possibly have existed in the New World. Some of these men, 

 who were so positive that he never existed in the New World, lived 

 to repudiate their conclusions. 



It has been postulated that waves of migration of Early Man, after 

 crossing the Strait, traveled over a number of pathways. (1) He 

 could have gone north by fighting his way across the Brooks Range, 

 a really formidable barrier, and then have turned eastward along the 

 Arctic coast to the mouth of the Mackenzie River. Once this goal 

 was reached, the way to the southland and the Plains through an ice- 

 free corridor was open. (2) He could have traveled via the Upper 

 Yukon and its tributaries and the Liard and Peace River Valleys to the 

 Plains. (3) He could have gone south along the Eraser River, between 

 the Rockies and the Coastal Range and into the Great Basin (Roberts, 

 1943, p. 194). 



Just how long it would take a group of immigrant people, not ac- 

 quainted with either the geography or the topography to discover these 

 routes southward and into the interior of North America can be con- 

 jectured. Whether there were well-established animal or game trails 

 or other hints that abetted them is not known, but it is known that they 

 would have had to take one of these pathways. 



The presence of men in the New World at a time when lingering portions of 

 the great ice sheet still covered large areas of North America raises the problem 

 of glaciation, its effect on climatic conditions, its bearing on routes of travel, 

 the movement of peoples, and the animals that were their main source of sub- 

 sistence. Studies along these lines are far from complete and there is much to 

 be learned. Enough is linown, however, to provide a basis for a few broad con- 

 clusions. [ Roberts, 1943, p. 35. ] 



There are differences of opinion regarding the routes followed, although many 

 of those who have given serious thought to the problem believe that most of the 

 movements were by way of the Bering Strait region with the bulk of the early 

 aboriginal population arriving through that port of entry and gradually spreading 

 down across North America, through Middle America and into the southern 

 continent. [Ibid. p. 171.] 



