142 Unwers-ity of Calif ormia Publicatioiis in Zoology [Vol;24 



westward to Bering Sea ; on the west, the Taku, Stikine, and Skeena 

 rivers follow parallel courses westward through the Coast Range to 

 the Pacific. Headwaters of all these streams rise from nearby points 

 in northern British Columbia. 



For some distance from its source the Stikine flows from east to 

 west, following fairly closely the 58th parallel of latitude, and receiv- 

 ing from time to time tributaries of considerable size. In the Tele- 

 graph Creek region the river gradually turns, first toward the south- 

 west, then almost due south. Some twenty miles from the coast, about 

 at the British Columbia-Alaska boundary, it bends sharply to the 

 westward once more, and reaches salt water near the town of Wrangell, 

 amid the network of islands forming the Alexander Archipelago. 



A tributary of importance to the upper Stikine is Clearwater 

 Creek, entering from the northwest some thirty miles below Telegraph 

 Creek. Near the Boundary there is a small stream that is locally 

 called ' ' Clearwater Creek, ' ' and there is apt to be confusion between 

 the two if the facts are not known. 



Our work did not take us above the middle Stikine Valley, with its 

 uppermost limit at Telegraph Creek. In this section, from Telegraph 

 Creek down stream nearly to Doch-da-on Creek, the valley is rather 

 broad, the mountains rising at a distance on either side. Just south 

 of Doeh-da-on Creek the Stikine begins its passage through the Coast 

 Range. The valley, already much narrowed, becomes still more con- 

 stricted ; some five miles below Doeh-da-on Creek the river is hemmed 

 in between the rocky walls of Kloochmap Canon, the uppermost of the 

 two narrow gorges through which the Stikine passes in the lower part 

 of its course. The mountains from this point on become much higher 

 and more precipitous. From Doeh-da-on Creek looking northward and 

 eastward the valley is broad in extent and the mountains are relatively 

 low and rounded. Many of the summits are bare of snow during the 

 summer months. To the southward and westward a jumbled mass of 

 jagged peaks and ridges arises, forbidding in the extreme, and pressing 

 closely in upon either side of the river. 



Where the Stikine passes through the mountains, the river valley 

 is exceedingly rough and covered with a forest that is virtually im- 

 penetrable. In this connection it is of interest to quote some state- 

 ments of Emmons (1911, pp. 9-10) in his description of the country 

 of the Tahltan Indians, who occupy the region of the upper Stikine. 



The lower valley of the Stikine from just below Gleuora to the coast, a direct 

 distance of about eighty miles, is included within the coastal range and consti- 

 tutes a region of great humidity, with leaden skies and an annual precipitation 



