colliee.] GEOGRAPHY. 13 
tion facilities, so that in 1898 and 1899 there were nearly 100 steamers 
on the Yukon and its tributaries. At present probably 25 steamers 
furnish all the transportation required. At this time the principal 
Alaskan settlements on the river are Koserefski, Anvik, and Nulato, 
Indian villages, and Tanana, Rampart, Circle, and Eagle, mining towns. 
United States military posts are maintained at Tanana and Eagle, 
known as Fort Gibbon and Fort Egbert, respectively. Pis. Ill, B 
and VI, B show views of two characteristic towns — Eagle, a settlement 
of white men, and Nulato, an Indian village. 
The city of Dawson, in Canadian territory, is the most important 
settlement on the Yukon, and the traffic of the river consists largely 
of freight to this point. The White Pass and Yukon Railroad com- 
petes with the river steamers for the Dawson freight. All perishable 
goods for Dawson and points below go by this route. The greater part 
of the freight, however, still comes by the longer and slower river 
route. The steamers plying on the Yukon up to the present time 
have, in the majorit} T of cases, depended for fuel on wood cut and 
piled on the river banks. PI. IV shows the character of the steamers 
and the nature of the fuel used. In the earlier days of steamboat 
navigation it was customary for steamboats to tie up to the river 
bank while their crews cut wood and carried it on board. A few of 
the river steamers now burn coal altogether; others burn both coal 
and wood. Up to the present time wood has been easily obtained 
near the river banks, but since the timber of the Yukon is small and 
of slow growth, the supply is limited, and woodcutters are obliged 
to bring it a greater distance every year. PI. Ill, A shows the general 
character of the timber which has afforded fuel for river steamers. 
Coal mines have been operated at a number of points, the oldest 
being the Drew mine, first known as the Miller mine, 25 miles above 
Rampart. Mines in operation during 1902 are located at Five Finger 
Rapids and Cliff Creek, both in Canadian territory, and at several 
points near Nulato, in American territory. 
This coal has been burned with varying success by Yukon River 
steamers. The results obtained depend on a number of factors, among 
them being the character of the coal, the appliances for burning coal 
on the steamers, and the experience of the firemen. It is planned 
to use petroleum from the California fields as fuel on some of the 
steamers of the Northern Commercial Company during the season of 
1903. 
SKETCH OF GEOLOGY. « 
The first notes on the geology of the basin of the Yukon were 
those made by Dall, 6 who ascended the river to Fort Yukon in 
1866. Subsequent travelers occasionally referred to the geology and 
a This sketch of the geology was prepared with the collaboration of Mr. Alfred H. Brooks. 
&Dall, W. H., Am. Jour. Sci., 2d ser., vol. 45, 1868, pp. 97-98; also Bull. U. S. Geol. Survey No. 84, 
p. 247. 
