328 A WINTER WEATHER RECORD FROM KLONDIKE 



ice first started on the river and ran for an hour and then stopped. 

 From this it will be noted that the river was covered with a prac- 

 tically unbroken sheet of ice for a little over six months. On 

 May 17, at 4 a. m., the ice began running again, and was still 

 plentiful on the 19th, but was nearly gone on the 20th. The 

 final entry of this interesting record, made on May 23, is as fol- 

 lows : " Start for St Michael tomorrow." 



During my residence at St Michael, from June, 1877, to June, 

 1881, I learned from the Yukon traders that the ice breaks first 

 in the upper river, and the general breaking up proceeds thence 

 down to the delta, several days intervening between the opening 

 of navigation above and the clearing of the great river below. 

 The fur traders of the upper Yukon usually started as soon as 

 the river became pretty well freed from floating ice, and were 

 joined on their way by the traders stationed lower down. The 

 little flotilla of barges usually reached the river mouth at about 

 the same time. By this time the river delta would be free, and 

 if the sea ice had opened out from shore the boats would pro- 

 ceed northward along the coast to St Michael, 60 miles away. 

 The date for the ice to break away from the coast between the 

 Yukon mouth and St Michael varies greatly and may occur at 

 any time between May 31 and July 1. It usually takes place 

 before June 10. The river boats frequently arrived at St Michael 

 before it was possible for vessels to pass the barrier of pack-ice 

 offshore. 



In Mr McQuesten's record the first wild geese were noted on 

 March 31. This is a month before the}'^ used to appear along 

 the coast and is a good indication of the more rapid advance of 

 spring on the upper river. 



The following summar}^ of these observations brings out some 

 interesting points, but it is probably not ordinarily the case that 

 January should be warmer than either December or February, 

 as it was that season. Commencing with the long nights that 

 come on in October, the temperature sank steadily, and in De- 

 cember was noted the greatest cold of the winter ( — 67° on the 

 20th). In January occurred a strange' and prolonged upward 

 oscillation of the temperature that probably does not generally 

 occur. Following this during February there was another period 

 of intense cold, which lasted until March 1. In this latter month 

 the effect of the returning sun became strikingly evident. The 

 widest range of temperature in any month (88°) was during 

 March. The thermometer used was a Fahrenheit. 



