10 THE FORESTS OF ALASKA. 



lines running out to a few mining camps, are utterly lacking, and the 

 total railway mileage does not exceed 350. Transportation in sum- 

 mer is by steamboats on the larger streams and by poling boats on 

 the smaller ones; in winter, by stages where the roads are good 

 enough, and more generally by dog teams. Alaska has 4,000 miles 

 of navigable rivers; without them most of the present development 

 would have been impossible. 



Alaska does not have even a territorial form of government, 

 though during the past few years it has had a delegate in Congress. 

 Called a territory by courtesy, its anomalous standing for years was 

 that of a customs district. It has executive and judicial officers 

 appointed by the President and the Senate, but no legislature; all 

 legislation is by Congress. 



Several sources of information have been used in the preparation 

 of this report ; a great deal of information has been obtained from 

 the publications of the United States Geological Survey, and Gree- 

 ley's Handbook of Alaska also has been helpful. Most of the ma- 

 terial, however, was secured at first hand in the summer of 1909. 



PHYSICAL FEATURES. 



The United States Geological Survey recognizes four main divi- 

 sions of the surface of Alaska. These are: 



(1) The Pacific Mountain system, which, in southeastern Alaska, 

 is a continuation of the mountains of British Columbia, extends 

 northwest to the Mount McKinley range, and then swings sharply 

 to the southwest, with a prolongation far into the Pacific Ocean, 

 represented by the Aleutian Islands. 



(2) The central plateau region, which includes most of the Yukon 

 and Kuskokwim basins. 



(3) The Rocky Mountain system, which bounds the central pla- 

 teau region on the north and northeast. 



(4) The Arctic slope to the northward of the Rocky Mountain 

 system. 



The Pacific Mountain region is characterized on the coast by 

 innumerable fiords and inlets, by deep inland passages and moun- 

 tains which rise thousands of feet almost straight up from tide water. 

 In the interior it culminates in Mount McKinley, the highest point 

 on the North American continent. There is very little level land in 

 this region, especially in the southeastern part. The mountains are 

 great masses of rock and the upper parts of them are covered with 

 perpetual snow and ice. On the coast many glaciers reach tide 

 water, but in the interior they are confined to higher altitudes. 



The Central Plateau region is not so much a plateau as it is a roll- 

 ing-hill and low-mountain country with wide stream valleys. Its 

 area is nearly as great as that of the other three combined. The 



