150 ALASKA AND ITS MINERAL RESOURCES 



of 3f miles, the rise is about 1,800 feet. The trail is free from 

 mud, and traveling is not difficult, though in places the ground 

 is covered with bowlders. From Scales to the summit of the 

 pass the ground rises 1,000 feet in a distance of about half a mile, 

 and masses of broken rock or talus make the climb very difficult, 

 and impossible for pack animals. The building of an aerial or 

 wire tramway, with buckets carrying 400 pounds of freight, has 

 been contemplated for this portion of the route. From the sum- 

 mit of Chilkoot pass to Lake Lindeman, a distance of 15 £ miles, 

 the trail descends first very steeply to a small lake called Crater 

 lake, and thence more gradually along the drainageway of a 

 chain of lakes known as Long, Canyon, and Deep lakes, which 

 are connected with one another and finally with Lake Lindeman 

 by small streams. Till late in spring the whole of this drain- 

 ageway is frozen over, and one travels from the summit to Lake 

 Lindeman by sled. On either side of the pass, especially on the 

 south, snow sometimes accumulates to a depth of 50 or 60 feet, 

 forming a sort of neve of limited extent. Late in the season, 

 when the drainage is open, a ferry sometimes plies on Long lake, 

 a distance of four miles. From the foot of Lake Lindeman there 

 is portage past the rapids to the head of Lake Bennett, where 

 the Dyea and Skagway trails meet. 



From the head of Lake Bennett to Dawson, 548 miles, there 

 is a continuous waterway through lakes and rivers, which may 

 be followed in summer by boat and in winter on the ice. Long 

 stretches are navigable by light-draught steamers. Boats may 

 be procured or built at the head of the lake, but in some respects 

 the most advantageous method is to start early enough to travel 

 on the ice as far as the foot of Lake Lebarge, where timber for 

 boat-building is abundant, as in this way the dangerous passage 

 of the White Horse rapids is avoided. Lake Bennett is 26 miles 

 in length, narrow and canyon-like in form, and deep at the 

 lower end. Fifteen miles below the bend, where the southwest 

 arm comes in, strong winds often prevail, producing a rough sea 

 that is dangerous for boats, and parties are often storm-bound 

 there for several days. A sluggish stream, 1\ miles long and 

 often not more than three feet deep, known as Caribou crossing, 

 extends from the foot of Lake Bennett to Tagish lake. Thence 

 there is clear sailing 19 miles down Tagish lake and five miles 

 along a river deep enough for ordinary river steamers to Marsh 

 or Mud lake. Marsh lake is 19 miles long and empties into 

 Fiftymile river, whose current averages three to four miles an 



