The Geography of Alaska 



219 



the so-called Yukon Flats, near the big 

 bend, and contracts again below in the 

 Ramparts, and then broadens out below 

 the mouth of the Tanana. 



The northern and eastern limits of 

 the catchment basin are generally de- 

 fined by the crest line of the inland 

 frontal ranges of the Rocky Mountain 

 system, but this does not always hold 

 true, for the Peel River, a tributary of 

 the Mackenzie, has its source west of the 

 Rockies. On the other hand, the Mac- 

 millan River finds outlet in the Yukon 

 drainage after traversing one of the 

 ranges of the Rocky Mountain system. 

 The southern and eastern divide of the 

 Yukon basin is even of greater irregu- 

 larity. On one hand, some of its tribu- 

 taries find their sources to the south of 

 the ranges of the Pacific Mountain sys- 

 tem, and on the other a number of large 

 rivers emptying into the Pacific have 

 their headwaters inland of this barrier. 



The Yukon River forms the great 

 natural highway of Alaska. In sum- 

 mer 3,000 miles or more of navigable 

 waters are found within its basin, and 

 in winter the frozen surface of the 

 river affords a route of travel for dog 

 teams. It was along the rivers that the 

 pioneer could best journey, for on his 

 crude rafts or boats, built of the timber 

 which grew on the banks, he could 

 transport necessary supplies, and later 

 the steamboat succeeded to that pro- 

 pelled by hand. 



The Kuskokwim, flowing into Bering 

 Sea, is second only to the Yukon among 

 Alaskan rivers, and includes probably 



upward of i-,ooo miles of waters which 

 are navigable for steamers. Its basin 

 lies west of the Alaskan range and en- 

 tirely within the plateau province. 



The Pacific drainage embraces two 

 classes of rivers : First, those whose 

 catchment basins lie entirely within 

 the coastal zone of mountains, and, sec- 

 ond, those whose courses reach into the 

 interior region and traverse the moun- 

 tains on their way to the sea. Of the 

 first the Sushitna and Copper, and of 

 the second the Alsek, Taku, andStikine 

 are the most prominent examples. 



The Arctic Ocean receives the waters 

 of a small part of the plateau provinces 

 through short rivers draining the north- 

 ern part of the Seward Peninsula and 

 some larger ones flowing into Kotzebue 

 Sound. Much of the larger part of the 

 Arctic drainage consists of that received 

 from the interior valleys of the Rocky 

 Mountain ranges and from their north- 

 ern slopes. Under the former are com- 

 prised the drainage basins of the Noatak 

 and the Kobuk, both streams including 

 navigable waters which are bounded 

 both north and south by the mountains 

 of the northern system. The second 

 class of waterways includes the north- 

 erly flowing streams which receive the 

 drainage from the seaward slope of the 

 Rockies. The Colville, the largest of 

 these streams, properly belongs to both 

 classes, for its source lies well within 

 the front ranges, which it traverses in 

 a narrow valley, and it also receives a 

 large amount of drainage from the north- 

 ern slope of the Rocky Mountains. 



" Commercial Japan in J 904/' a mono- 

 graph just issued by the Bureau of Sta- 

 tistics, shows that the trade relations 

 between the United States and Japan in 

 recent years have grown with greater 

 rapidity than between Japan and any 

 other nation. Japan sends us mainly 



what is not grown in this country — raw 

 silk, tea, rice, matting, bamboo, and 

 lacquered ware, etc. — while we in re- 

 turn ship her annually great quantities 

 of raw cotton, oil, iron and steel manu- 

 factures, breadstuffs and provisions, to- 

 bacco, scientific instruments, etc. 



