Chapter XIII: LONELY NORTHERN WASTES pp. 412-435

The Mississippi of Alaska: the Yukon River, and its Thorough
Exploration.—Its vast Deltoid Mouth.—Cannot be Entered by Sea-going
Vessels. Its Valley, and its Tributaries.—Dividing Line between the
Eskimo and the Indian on its Banks.—The Trader’s Steamer; its Whistle
in this Lone Waste of the Yukon.—Michaelovsky, the Trading Centre
for this Extensive Circumpolar Area.—The Characteristic Beauties of
an Arctic Landscape in Summer.—Thunder-storms on the Upper Yukon;
never Experienced on the Coast and at its Mouth.—Gorgeous Arches of
Auroral Light; Beautiful Spectacular Fires in the Heavens.—Unhappy
Climate. Saint Michael’s to the Northward.—Zagoskin, the Intrepid
Young Russian Explorer, 1842.—Snow Blizzards.—Golovin Bay; our
People Prospecting there for Lead and Silver.—Drift-wood from the
Yukon Strews the Beaches of Bering Sea.—Ookivok, and its Cliff-cave
Houses.—Hardy Walrus-hunters. —Grantley Harbor; a Reminder of
a Costly American Enterprise and its Failure.—Cape Prince of
Wales—facing Asia, thirty-six miles away.—Simeon Deschnev, the
first White Man to see Alaska, 1648. —His Bold Journey.—The Diomede
Islands; Stepping-stones between Asia and America in Bering Straits.
—Kotzebue Sound; the Rendezvous for Arctic Traders; the Last Northern
Station Visited by Salmon. Interesting Features of the Place.