A YUKON PIONEER, MIKE LEBARQE 137 



—40° and —66°. Snow fell but one day in February and 25 

 days were perfectly clear. 



With the middle of May summer comes at once, the Yukon 

 breaks up, the snow vanishes as if by magic, and vegetation 

 develops with astonishing rapidity until opening September 

 brings sharp frosts almost daily. 



By methods familiar to meteorologists the temperature means 

 for the three coldest months — December, January, and February 

 — have been calculated for all the points hereafter named, except 

 for St Michael, which is definitely known. St Michael, mouth of 

 Yukon, 3.3°; Anvik, 62° 37' N., 160° W., -1.2°; Circle City, 

 —10.2°, and Dawson, 64° 05' N.' 138° W., -24°. Any single 

 winter may be considerably warmer or colder than is here cal- 

 culated, but the means are practically correct and afford a good 

 idea of all intervening points in the valley of the Yukon, and 

 therefore have a definite value for all who seek to wrest from 

 rugged and inhospitable Nature the golden hoards of Alaska. 



A YUKON PIONEER, MIKE LEBARGE 



The first white men to explore the Yukon between the Russian 

 settlements and the Hudson Bay post called Fort Yukon were 

 Frank Ketch um, of St Johns, New Brunswick, and Michel Le- 

 barge, of Chateauguay, Quebec. After the death of the lamented 

 Kennicott, at Nulato, in May, 1866, the expedition which he had 

 planned and which was only waiting for the ice to pass out of 

 the river to make a start, was loyally and successfully carried 

 out by his chosen and faithful companions. They ascended the 

 river from Nulato to Fort Yukon, and then returned, crossing the 

 portage to St Michael to make their report to the commander-in- 

 chief of the Telegraph expedition, Col. Chas. S. Bulkeley.at that 

 port. The following year the party was augmented by Win. H. 

 Dall and Frederick Whymper, who wintered at Nulato. Ketchum 

 and Lebarge undertook a remarkable journey over the frozen 

 river to Fort Yukon in March, accompanied by two Indians. 

 They arrived safely at their destination just as the ice was break- 

 ing up, and after the freshet was over took birch canoes at Fort 

 Yukon and continued their explorations to the junction of the 

 Lewes and the Pelly at the site of old Fort Selkirk. Returning, 

 they joined Dall and Whymper at Fort Yukon, the second half 

 of the party having made the journey to that point in canoes. 



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