142 ALASKA AND ITS MINERAL RESOURCES 



side of Baranof island, one of the outer tier, on which Sitka is 

 situated, is a volcanic crater, called Mount Edgecumbe. 2,855 feet 

 high. Further northwestward, forming part of the same moun- 

 tain line, the St Elias range, which follows the immediate coast, 

 contains many high mountains, and culminates to the north in 

 Mount St Elias at an elevation of 18,024 feet. Mount Logan, 

 further inland, is supposed to be still higher, and explorers report 

 that far in the interior, between Copper river and the Lower 

 Yukon, there is a group of mountains,- extending in the same 

 general direction, of equal or perhaps even greater elevation, the 

 highest point of which has been designated Mount McKinley. 

 A second line of elevation is supposed to extend southwestward 

 from near the head of Copper river, following the coast-line in 

 the direction of the Alaskan peninsula. 



The rivers entering into the waters of the Alexander archi- 

 pelago are generally short, and only two, the Stikine and the 

 Taku. are known to head beyond the crest of the mountains im- 

 mediately adjoining the coast. The Chilkat river is a consider- 

 able and rapid stream, entering the head of Lynn canal from the 

 northwest; it is probably less than 100 miles in length. The 

 next river northward is the Alsek, about which little is known, 

 but it is supposed to head on the east side of the St Elias range, 

 in the vicinity of Mount Logan. 



Copper river is a larger stream than any of those thus far men- 

 tioned, and heads in a mountainous country, containing several 

 high peaks with an estimated elevation of 12,000 to 18.000 feet, 

 and little known, except by the Indians. Rolled masses of native 

 copper, of which their knives were made, were obtained some- 

 where in this region. A northwestern branch of this stream is 

 said to head between the Sushitna and the Tanana rivers, pos- 

 sibly in the lake which on the map is represented as being 

 drained by the Sushitna. The Sushitna also is an important 

 stream, emptying into the head of Cook inlet, very wide and diffi- 

 cult of navigation near its mouth owing to the great rise and fall 

 of the tide. Its sources are in a high mountainous region, a main 

 northwestern branch being supposed to head near Mount Mc- 

 Kinley. 



The next large river, the Kuskokwim, is the second largest in 

 the Territory, its length being estimated at over 600 miles. It 

 drains a mountainous region difficult of access. The Russians 

 ascended it in boats as far as the Redoubt Kolmakof or crossed 

 from the Yukon by a portage near Oknagamut. The currents 



