TWO HUNDRED MILES UP THE KUSKOKW1M 



By Charles Hallock 



Many mighty rivers besides the Yukon flow out of Alaska into 

 Bering sea, of which the largest and most notable is the Kusko- 

 kwim. It is 800 miles long. From its source in the geographical 

 center of the province, it flows with many a majestic sweep and 

 sinuous curve out from granite walls ; through rounded foothills 

 and level plains, into the bosom of the sea some two degrees north 

 of the Aleutian peninsula, and with the great bay of the same 

 name, into which it empties, constitutes the phenomenal counter- 

 part on the Pacific of the bay of Fundy and the river Peticocliac 

 on the Atlantic, though the Kuskokwim is beyond comparison 

 the larger river of the two. It is so wide at its mouth that its 

 shores are invisible from mid-channel, and it is navigable for 

 barges for a distance of 500 miles up. The tide rises fifty feet, 

 and when it runs out it exposes a vast area of oozy mud flats 



KUSKOKWIM RIVEU FROM KOLMAKOVSKY 



85 



