ALASKA AND ITS MINERAL RESOURCES 143 



of the lower stream are rapid. A winter route was also used 

 from Fort Alexander up the Nushagak and down the Chulitna; 

 in summer the morasses along this route ma} r not be passable. 



Beyond Norton sound, into Vhich empties the great Yukon, 

 that drains the whole interior region, the principal streams of 

 known importance are the Kowak and the Noatak, which flow 

 into Kotzebue sound. The Colville river, which empties into 

 the Arctic ocean, is supposed to head in the same general region 

 as the two just mentioned. 



The Yukon river has an estimated length of 2,000 miles, of 

 which three-fourths is continuously navigable for river steamers. 

 It empties into Norton sound through a wide delta in four prin- 

 cipal mouths 50 to 64 miles in length. For about a hundred 

 miles above the delta it has a general northwest course, then 

 bends at right angles and has a southwest direction up to the 

 bend at Fort Yukon, just within the Arctic circle. Here it re- 

 ceives the waters of the Porcupine, a stream having the same 

 general southwest course and heading near the mouth of the 

 Mackenzie river. Fort Yukon is distant in a direct line about 

 650 miles from the mouth of the river. Above this point the 

 general direction of the river is again northwest, but a short 

 distance east of the international boundary it turns to a north- 

 south course, which it maintains for nearly a hundred miles, 

 through the Upper Ramparts. It is at the bend below this north- 

 running stretch that the Klondike river enters from the east, 

 above which, and more or less parallel, are the Indian and Stew- 

 art rivers, all famous as draining a region phenomenally rich in 

 gold. Near the upper end of this north-south course the White 

 river enters in the same direction from the south. Above this 

 the Yukon resumes its northwest course and maintains it to Fort 

 Selkirk, which is near the head of navigation. At Fort Selkirk 

 it splits into two main branches : the Pelly, which drains the 

 Rocky Mountain regions to the northeast, and the Lewes, which 

 in several branches drains the region to the southwest and the 

 many lakes on the eastern side of the Coast ranges. 



The principal tributaries of the Yukon from Fort Selkirk to 

 Fort Yukon are, on the south side, in descending order, White, 

 Sixt}rmile, Fortymile, Mission, Seventymile, and Charlie rivers, 

 and on the north, from Dawson at the mouth of the Klondike 

 downward, the Chandindu, Tatondu, Tahkandit, and Kandik 

 rivers. From Fort Yukon to the open country near the mouth 

 of the river the longer streams coming from the southeast are 



