AGRICULTUEAL DEVELOPMENT IN ALASKA. 7 



great and little-explored region, and it is quite possible that there 

 are large tillable areas in its valley. 



Small areas of land for gardens may be found even above the 

 Arctic Circle along the Koyukuk, Chandalar, and other Yukon tribu- 

 taries that come in from the north. The Kobuk River, which empties 

 into Kotzebue Sound above Seward Peninsula and lies wholly above 

 the Arctic Circle, is said to offer some farming and gardening 

 possibilities. 



CLIMATE OF THE INTERIOR. 



Climatic conditions of the interior are determined by the latitude 

 and its relation to the bodies of water and mountain systems al- 

 ready mentioned. Much of the area of the interior, particularly 

 the Tanana Valley and the upper Yukon Valley in Alaska, lies north 

 of latitude 64° N., and extends above the Arctic Circle. Cut off from 

 the tempering influence of the warm waters of the Pacific that have 

 so much effect at the coast, both with reference to temperature and 

 precipitation, the result is light precipitation, short but quite warm 

 summers, and long, cold winters. It must be remembered that, while 

 the summers are short in number of days, there are 18 to 20 hours of 

 sunshine daily during the growing season, and that this, with com- 

 paratively high temperature, causes very rapid growth of vegeta- 

 tion. The lower Yukon and Kuskokwim region is in a lower lati- 

 tude, but this is counteracted by proximity to the cold waters of 

 Bering Sea, with no protecting mountain range to arrest the cold 

 air currents. 



As a result of the long winters, and, generally speaking, low tem- 

 peratures, during which the ground is deeply frozen, and the short 

 summers, there is frozen earth even in the summer time within a few 

 feet of the surface over much of Alaska. Because of this frost line 

 the moisture from the melted snow on the ground and the frost in it 

 can not drain away and can escape only by evaporation. This con- 

 dition of slow melting and evaporation is emphasized by the vege- 

 table growth and particularly the moss, which is a most efficient non- 

 conductor of heat as well as an excellent sponge for holding moisture. 



Over much of Alaska during the summer there is, then, a thin 

 stratum of saturated earth with its protecting coat of moss or other 

 vegetation, forming for the most part a morass impassable for 

 Avheeled vehicles and almost impassable for horses. Land travel by 

 teams is therefore practically out of the question in Alaska during 

 the summer, even where the mountains and timber growth do not 

 interfere. But with a coast line of 26,000 miles and 6,000 miles of 

 navigable rivers, one of which, the Yukon, bisects the territory with a 

 1 ,500-mile waterway, Alaska is marvelously well supplied with f acili- 



