Geographie Character: Northern Division. 99 
Pacific coast in its windings, the main body of this mountain system occupies 
the Alaskan peninsula, disappearing in the sea at the extremity of the main- 
land. All of southeastern Alaska is a mountainous region, culminating in 
Mount St. Elias on the coast, at an elevation of 18,100 feet (5516 m), and the 
recently discovered Mount McKinley 20,467 feet (6238 m) high. Mount McKinley 
is of granite weighted down with not less than fifty disconnected glaciers with 
everywhere precipitous walls. The mountains of Alaska, especially those about 
Mount St. Elias and thence south-eastward, are covered with great glaciers 
prominent among which is the Malaspina, with its feeders Agassiz, Seward, 
Marvine and Hayden glaciers. Muir Glacier is also a noted one at the head 
of Glacier Bay. Volcanoes active and extinct also occur in Alaska, and the 
evidence of former volcanie activity is witnessed by portions of the entire 
peninsula. Northward from the higher ranges Alaska descends in a succession 
of lower ridges to the valley of the Yukon. 
The Yukon River, 2000 miles (3218 km) in length, rises in British Columbia, 
flows north-west with a very sinuous course with rapids and deadwater to the 
Arctic Circle. There it is joined by the Porcupine, one of its largest branches 
and finally after many turnings, it empties into Bering Sea. It is a broad muddy 
stream full of shoals and rapids. Other large rivers drain the country. One 
of the characteristics of Alaska is the network of rivers that covers its surface. 
The Copper, the Tanana, the Sushitna, the White and Kuskokwim are prominent 
rivers. On the south, the Stikine is the first river of large size rising in British 
Columbia. 
British Columbia including Vancouver Island is the Pacific province of 
the Dominion of Canada. The physiography of the country is exceedingly 
complex. The rivers, abrupt in their turns are swift and turbulent. The lakes 
are narrow and deep. Two great physical features make up the topography 
of British Columbia, viz., the Rocky Mountains and the Coast Mountains. The 
Rocky Mountains are continuous with mountains of the same name in the 
United States. Their elevation is greatly reduced at the Peace River, but as 
they run northward, they rise again and parallel the western edge of the 
Mackenzie River valley, until they run out as they approach the Arctic Ocean. 
The Coast, or Cascade range commences at Puget Sound and continues along 
the Pacific coast to the head of Lynn Channel. It is this range which gives the 
precipitous character to the sea coast with its deep fjords and land-locked harbors. 
Rising from a region of foot-hills 20 miles (32 km) wide, formed by the 
folding of the strata, the Rocky Mountains present from the east an abrupt 
and serrated outline against the sky, revealing by their sharp summits their 
recent geologic age. This range is the latest formed of all the chains in British 
Columbia. The rocks are old, however, ranging in age from the Cambrian 
to the Carboniferous. Crystalline rocks are practically absent and many ridges 
are formed of limestone strata which perhaps underlie the eastern plains and 
TT 
I) Stieler's Atlas, Karte von Canada, gibt 5900 m an. (Drd.) 
7* 
