4 BULLETIN 50, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



150 inches annually have been recorded. This heavy snowfall at the 

 higher levels, accumulating through the ages and solidifying into 

 ice, forms the great glaciers, and we have here on the south coast of 

 Alaska in this 200 by 400 mile area, much of which lies plainly in 

 sight from the decks of steamers, the most extensive permanent snow 

 and ice field in the world, outside of the polar region. In fact, nearly 

 all of the permanent snow fields and glaciers of Alaska are in this 

 area, there being, strange as it may seem, comparatively few that lie 

 wholly north of the Arctic Circle, even in the Arctic mountain system. 

 At the shore line of this same south-coast snow and ice field, in sight 

 of the great glaciers, the temperatures are so high in winter that zero 

 is rarely reached. The winters at Sitka, Juneau, and other points in 

 southeastern Alaska are never as cold as they are at Washington, 

 D. C.j though the mean annual temperatures are about the same, the 

 summers on the Alaskan coast being cooler than those in Washing- 

 ton. But it does not follow that because the south coast has a mild 

 climate the conditions are favorable for agriculture. The cool sum- 

 mers and excessive precipitation, with much cloudy weather, are dis- 

 tinctly unfavorable, excepting for the growth of grass, garden vege- 

 tables, and small fruits. Vegetation is slow in maturing, and the 

 curing of hay and grain quite difficult; to which may be added the 

 fact that land available for tillage is very limited because of the 

 mountainous topography. 



Two considerable drainage areas are on the seaward side of this 

 Pacific mountain system, that of the Copper River, which heads in 

 the Nutzotin and Wrangell Mountains, and that of the Susitna, 

 which heads in the Alaskan Range. In the valley of the Chitina, 

 which unites with the Copper River 100 miles back from the coast, 

 and in the valley of the latter above that point, there are areas of 

 possible tillable land in flats and benches along the streams. A few 

 homesteads have been located in these areas. Because of the Chugach 

 Mountains that lie between these areas and tidewater to the south, 

 the precipitation is very much less than immediately on the coast 

 and the extremes of temperature are greater, the summers being 

 warmer and the winters much colder. 



Passing westward into the Cook Inlet region, we find in the valley 

 of the Susitna and that of the Matanuska, both of which streams flow 

 into the Cook Inlet at the north end, and extending down the east 

 and west shores of the inlet, particularly on the east shore, to the 

 southern end of Kenai Peninsula, considerable areas of tillable land. 

 On the east side, near Seward, at the head of Resurrection Bay and 

 up the river of that name, is a limited area of tillable land with a 

 number of good homesteads. There are other homesteads at Sun- 

 rise, Hope, Knik, Kenai, and other points in the Cook Inlet region. 



