4° 
ALASKA. 
Peninsula are basalt and lava. There is on the northeast shore of 
Norton Sound an abundance of sandstone and clay beds containing 
lignite. Sandstone is also abundant on the Yukon, alternating with 
the Azoic rocks. The superincumbent soil differs in different 
places. In some localities, it is clayey, and in such situations is quite 
frequently covered with sphagnum, which always impoverishes the 
soil immediately beneath it. In others, it is light and sandy, and 
over a large extent of country it is the richest alluvial, composed of 
very fine sand, mud, and vegetable matter, brought down by the 
river and forming deposits of indefinite depth. * * * The 
soil is usually frozen at a depth of 3 or 4 feet in ordinary situa¬ 
tions. In colder ones, it remains icy to within 18 inches of the 
surface. This layer of frozen soil is 6 or 8 feet thick. Below that 
depth, the soil is destitute of ice, except in very unusual situations. 
Lieutenant Allen (Report on Expedition to Alaska, 1885) 
says: 
I believe that lettuce, radishes, turnips, beans, peas, potatoes, carrots, and 
possibly buckwheat and barley, can be raised in favored localities on the middle 
and upper Yukon and Tanana. The climatic conditions of the coast do not 
prevail here; there is not as much humidity. . . . The summers, though short, 
are very hot. The sun is almost continually above the horizon, and the ther¬ 
mometer has been known to read 1 12 0 and 1 15 0 F. Although the soil usually 
remains frozen the year round at a depth of 1 or 2 feet below the surface, 
this would not necessarily interfere with agricultural pursuits. By cultivation 
and proper drainage, the distance of the ice bed below the surface would be 
considerably increased. 
CATTLE. 
\ I 
With reference to cattle and other live stock, Mr. Petroff says: 
There have been repeated attempts to raise stock cattle, sheep, and hogs in 
large herds within the borders of Alaska. The subject is one in which the 
Russians first naturally took a deep interest, for they were fond of good living 
and were as desirous as any people could be to have the best of beef or mutton 
and the sweetest pork on their tables. They brought over hardy selections 
from the Siberian stock, placing the cattle at almost every point of importance 
for trial. The result, alter years of patient and persistent attention, was that 
