Ill— THE BOUNDARY NORTH OF FORT YUKON 



BY 

 J. HENRY TUENER 



There is perhaps no portion of the vast territory of Alaska so 

 little known as the country stretching northward from fort Yukon 

 to the Arctic ocean, eastward to the international boundary, and 

 westward to the headwaters of Koyukuk river. Simpson and 

 Franklin skirted its northern shore, Allen penetrated into it a 

 short distance, and Stoney proved the existence of a mountain 

 range trending to the eastward. Notwithstanding the fact that 

 the summits of lofty mountains are visible in the horizon to the 

 north of fort Yukon, the impression has long j^revailed that the 

 river plains extend to the shores of the frozen ocean. This idea 

 has even been advanced by an explorer of note within the last 

 few years. Travelers have sedulously avoided this region for the 

 obvious reason that the supposed absence of navigable rivers and 

 remoteness of trading posts and other means of communication 

 with the outer world would render it peculiarly unsuited for 

 summer exploration. 



It is believed that certain discoveries made during a journey 

 northward from camp Colonna in the spring of 1890 will throw 

 considerable light on the geography of this terra incognita. I 

 shall take occasion to revert to this question in closing my re- 

 marks. 



Mr McGrath has already described the river from its mouth to 

 old fort Yukon, at which point the two parties separated. On 

 August 3 the steamer Yukon, with the Porcupine River party and 

 its supplies aboard, left fort Yukon and three days thereafter 

 reached camp Tittmann, the then head of navigation, distant 158 

 miles from the mouth of the river. The time of arrival was un- 

 avoidably ill chosen, as the July droughts had reduced the stream 

 to its lowest summer ebb. 



Observations placed camp Tittman 39 miles west of the bound- 

 ar}^ Captain Peterson refused to tarry, since the river was still 

 falling, as plainly indicated by wet lines along the banks and 



(189) 



