THE S USHITNA Rl VER, A L A SKA 325 



ington. Everywliere you go in clear woatlier you can see its 

 glorious summit dominating the nortlicrn lan(lsoai)e. There is 

 no question in my mind that it is a very liigh jieak, as we could 

 see three distinct ranges of mountains between our j)oint of ob- 

 servation and its cam(d-hump summit, which towered thousands 

 effect above all the other mountains. Two of tiie three ranges 

 are covered with eternal snow and must be of considerable alti- 

 tude, though appearing low in comparison with lofty McKinley. 



The last range in front of this great i)eak is very broken and 

 irregular. We could see cliffs that showed fronts of several 

 thousand feet of perpendicular walls, and on all sides were gla- 

 ciers and snowfields. I have talked with about thirty persons 

 who have seen this great peak from the Sushitna valley in the 

 past two seasons, and they all agree that it is the highest moun- 

 tain they have ever seen. One party, who had been in the 

 vicinity of the St Elias range, thought it looked higher than any 

 of the mountains of that group. 



The Indians of Cook inlet have always called this the Bulshaia 

 (great) mountain, it so manifestly dominates all the other moun- 

 tains in that portion of Alaska. It appears to me higher than 

 any of the peaks of the Fairweather group, near which we were 

 becalmed on a clear day on our return voyage. 



I had also a chance to compare its height and distance with 

 that of Mt Iliamna one clear day when we were camped on an 

 island at the mouth of the river. Field-glasses brought out the 

 detail on Mt Iliamna, but made no change in the cloud-like ap- 

 pearance of Mt McKinley. Iliamna is 12,096 feet high, and was, 

 according to the government chart, 100 miles distant from our 

 point of observation. Notwithstanding its greater distance. Mt 

 McKinley show'ed a greater angle of elevation above the horizon, 

 and is certainly a much higher mountain. There are four high 

 peaks in the cluster about Mt McKinley. all unnamed at present. 



About 90 miles above the lower forks the river again branches 

 into three large streams. The western fork seems to occujiy the 

 main valley, though I am of the opinion that the middle fork is 

 the longer and at certain seasons of the year carries the most 

 water. In the hot days of June, July, and August the western 

 branch, fed by the great snowfields and glaciers of the ranges 

 about Mt McKinley, is a roaring torrent, a flowing sea of mud, 

 so much earthy matter does it carry in solution. Parties win) 

 have ascended this branch say that about 60 miles up it forks 

 into two nearly equal streams. The southwestern branch they 



