Vol. LVII. No. 2518. 
NEW YORK, APRIL 30, 1898. 
*1 PER YEAR. 
FOOD GROWING IN ALASKA. 
POSSIBILITIES OF FARMING ANI) GARDENING. 
A Poor Outlook for Agriculture. 
Two Climatic Divisions. —Alaska may be properly 
divided into two general climatic regions. One in¬ 
cludes the islands and immediate coast line lying south 
of the coast ranges which skirt the territory along its 
entire southern edge, from the southeast corner to the 
southwest, where the main chain dips under the ocean, 
and its peaks form the Aleutian Islands. In consider¬ 
ing the climate of this part of Alaska, we must not 
forget one potent factor—the great Japan ocean cur¬ 
rent. It carries in its mighty tide the warm waters of 
the China Sea, which, after tempering the climate of 
the shores of Japan, sweep across the Pacific in a 
northwesterly course, and passing just south of the 
Aleutian Islands, turn southeastward and strike the 
shores of North America opposite Puget Sound. Here 
the current divides into two parts, one going on south¬ 
ward past California and Mexico, and the other, turn¬ 
ing northwest along the Alaskan coast, joins the main 
stream near the Aleutian Islands, thus forming a huge 
eddy of comparatively warm water. This makes the 
climate of southern Alaska much milder than its lati¬ 
tude would indicate. Ice on rain-water barrels out¬ 
doors at Fort Wrangel and Sitka has not been one- 
half inch thick during the whole of some Winters. 
The high coast ranges shut off this warming influence 
from all north of them. 
The other climatic division includes all north of 
these coast ranges ; hence, all that part of the valley 
of the Yukon lying west of the Canadian line, and all 
of the valleys of the Kowak, Naotak, Colville and all 
minor streams putting into Bering Sea and the Arctic 
Ocean, within the jurisdiction of the United States are 
in it, and a very different climate prevails. The Sum¬ 
mers are hot, but the Winters intensely cold. A con¬ 
siderable part of the tributaries of the Yukon are in 
Canada, and some of them head in the coast moun¬ 
tains in southeastern Alaska and British Columbia, 
and flow northward for several hundred miles before 
they form the main volume of the Yukon, which then 
flows almost directly westward into Norton Sound, 
which is a part of Bering Sea. Nearly the entire Yukon 
is below the Arctic circle, and most of it below the 
line where timber ceases to grow, although com¬ 
paratively little of this great valley is covered with 
timber. The greater part of this northern division, 
comprising many millions of acres, is what is called 
tundra. This is a flat, treeless, mossy region, often 
partially covered with water at times, and sometimes 
almost wholly so in the short Summers, and frozen to 
an unknown depth in Winter. Sometimes the tundra 
dries out on top, so that fire will run over the surface. 
But Little Farm Land. —There are some table¬ 
lands that are higher and have a profusion of plants 
growing on them. But I was told by a most intelli¬ 
gent explorer from Ohio, who has traveled all over 
the Yukon country and northward to the Arctic Ocean, 
as well as southward, that, when one leaves the 
tundra regions, nearly on a level with the streams 
and thousands of lakes, he must take to the glaciers 
and rugged mountains, or to the almost impenetrable 
jungles of trees and bi’ush. As to grassy plains, suit¬ 
able for the plow, he and others have repeatedly told 
me that there are almost none. Grain, fruit and vege¬ 
table growing, grazing and similar farm operations 
are almost entirely impossible in all of Alaska, except 
in a very small way along the southern coast and on 
some of the islands. Even there, the mountains and 
glaciers come boldly to the water’s edge in many 
places, with no more cultivatable area left than in 
the canons of the Colorado or the Gunnison. 
Occasionally, south of the coast mountains, on the 
mainland, there are small stretches of grassy or 
brushy lands that present moderately favorable con¬ 
ditions for farming. One of these places is near the 
mouth of the Stikine River, and not far from Fort 
Wrangel. I had a very dear friend, James W. Young, 
who was farmer for the Presbyterian school for the 
Indians there during several years, and up to the 
time the Government relieved the church of the 
solemn duty of educating the natives. He had charge 
of the first cattle and sheep which were ever taken to 
Alaska. He also received from me the first and, per¬ 
haps, the only improved fruit plants and trees that 
were ever sent to Alaska. I sent him little apple trees, 
strawberry, gooseberry and currant plants, potatoes, 
and large quantities of vegetable seeds. These were 
all planted near the mouth of the Stikine, and cared 
for for several years. What has become of them, I 
do not now know. He moved to a trading post on 
an island, and there gardened some, also. 
Stock, Poultry and Farm Crops. —This friend once 
visited me at Washington, D. C., for several weeks 
before he finally left for Alaska, and we had plenty of 
time to talk over all of these experiments. He said 
the cattle did well. They grew and propagated, and 
he fed them on marsh hay and some made of Timothy 
which he grew near Fort Wrangel. He said that he 
never cut better swaths of Timothy in Michigan or 
Pennsylvania, than there. He had sometimes turned 
the cattle out to graze as early as April 15. The sheep 
were a flat failure. Early potatoes made a fine crop. 
JOHN GOULD’S CORN FIELD; FOURTEENTH CONSECUTIVE CROP ON SAME GROUND. Fig. 137. 
