Anthropological Survey in Alaska

by Aleš Hrdlička

The Yukon Below Tanana

BRIEF HISTORY

The Yukon is the principal river of Alaska. It is one of the greatest and most scenic rivers in the world. It is approximately 2,300 miles long (from the headwaters of the Lewes River), in its middle and lower courses ranges at times with its sloughs to several miles in breadth, and includes many hundreds of islands of its own formation. Its scenery is still essentially primeval, affected but little by human occupation or industry. It has, in fact, gone considerably back in these respects since the gold rush was over.

This great stream has been known to the white man for less than a century. Cook, in September of 1778, sailed near, discovering Stuart Island and Cape Stephens of the St. Michael Island, but missed the river.

In 1829 P. E. Chistiakof, director (1826-1830) of the Russian-American colonies, sent the naval officer Vasilief to explore the coasts between the Alexander Redoubt (at the mouth of the Nushagak) and the Shaktol or Norton Sound, and in 1830 Vasilief explored the larger part of the Kuskokwim River, of which the Russians knew already from their earlier explorers. Here they heard of an even greater stream to the north.

In 1831, on the recommendation of Vasilief, Michail Dmitrievich Tebenkof was sent to Norton Sound with the view of further exploration and the establishing of a post in that region. Tebenkof discovered that Cape Stephens was not a part of the mainland but of an island; and he built here a fortified post which in honor of his patron saint is called St. Michael, a name which subsequently passed to the whole island. The post was to serve both trade and further exploration.

From St. Michael, at the end of 1834, a small party is sent out under the leadership of an educated "kreol" (son of a native mother and Russian father), Andrei Glazunof, and on January 26, 1835, they reach the good-sized Indian village of Anvik, on the Kwikhpak, or Yukon.[15] From here Glazunof travels down the river to the large village of Aninulykhtykh-pak (above Holy Cross), the last Indian (as distinguished from Eskimo) village down the river, whence Glazunof sends most of his party back to St. Michael and himself proceeds to the Kuskokwim.

In 1836 the Russians effect the first settlement on the Yukon, at Ikogmiut (Zagoskin, 6), later known as the Russian Mission.

In 1838 Malakof, over land portage, reaches Nulato and builds there a trading post, which, during his absence the next winter, is burned by the natives. In 1841 Dieriabin rebuilds and fortifies this post, becomes its headman, and is there eventually (1851) killed by the Indians.

In 1841 Lieut. Laurenti Alexief Zagoskin is delegated to explore the "Kwikhpak," with its portages to the Kotzebue Sound, and the Kuskokwim River; and in 1843 he navigates and maps 600 miles of the Yukon, or from about the mouth of the Apkhun (northern) pass to the mouth of the Novitna River, with approximately 100 miles of each, from their mouth, of the Koyukuk and of the Ittege (or Innoko) Rivers.

The Russian post at Nulato remains until the sale of their American dominions by the Russians to the United States in 1867. From it and from St. Michael individual Russian traders ranged over the river and its lower affluents, but there was no further noteworthy scientific exploration. In 1863, however, Lukin, who after Vasilief and Kolmakof helped to explore the Kuskokwim, reached to Fort Yukon.

Meanwhile the river has been visited by both the English and the Americans. In 1847 Mr. Bell, of the Hudson Bay Co., having heard of the great stream from some of the Indians who visited the fort on Peels River, set out in quest of it, accompanied by a native guide, and reached it by the Rat and the Porcupine Rivers.[16]

Between 1843 and 1867 the river in its lower and middle reaches is freely traversed by the Russian traders. In 1851 Nulato is reached by Lieutenant Barnard, of H. M. S. Enterprise, in search of Franklin, only to be massacred there with some of the Russians and natives by the offended Indians of the Koyukuk. In 1861 Robert Kennicott traverses a part of the Yukon, and in 1865 he, with Capt. Charles S. Bulkley, leads there the expedition of the Western Union Telegraph Co., which is accompanied by William H. Dall and Frederick Whymper, and results in much information. Already, however, in 1863, Strahan Jones, commander of the Peels River Fort, has descended the Yukon to the mouth of the Novitna River or the uppermost point reached by Zagoskin, thus completing its identification as one and the same great stream. This point and the Tanana mark the westernmost penetration by the English (the Hudson Bay Co.).

In 1865 begin American explorations proper. In that year, under an agreement with the Russians, Maj. Robert Kennicott, heading a party of the Western Union Telegraph explorers, crosses from St. Michael to Nulato. Kennicott dies in Nulato a year later, but the explorations are carried on to result eventually in a series of valuable publications, more particularly by Dall and Whymper.[17]

The researches under the auspices of the Western Union Telegraph Co., themselves backed by the Government, are followed by explorations under the direct auspices of the American Government. Thus, in 1869 there is a reconnaissance of the river by Capt. C. W. Raymond; in 1883, that by Lieut. Frederick Schwatka; in 1885 by Lieut. Henry T. Allen; in 1898 by Capt. W. P. Richardson; and these are succeeded by the geological surveys of A. H. Brooks and companions.[18]

From 1878 on commenced placer and mining explorations for gold in Alaska leading gradually to the eventual great gold rush of the later nineties, which brought a whole flotilla of large river steamers and other craft to the Yukon and led to a rapid growth of some of the old and the establishment of a number of new settlements along its banks. The rash passed in turn, many of the miners and others departed, boats became idle and were beached or taken to the St. Michael ship "bone yard," where, together with most of the buildings, they are now (1926) being broken up; and the Yukon has reverted in a large measure to its former primeval, dormant, lonely state.

Such, in brief, is the white man's history of the Yukon, with all of which the river remains but half known, at best. It has never been fully surveyed, which would be a vast and unending task. It contains a large number of barely known little tributaries that are lost in the jungle-covered flats with their many pools and lakes. It has innumerable islands and channels, in which the traveler is easily lost, and it cuts and builds constantly during the open season. Its valley is squally and rainy. The stream may one moment be like a great, liquid, softly flowing mirror, to be in a few minutes churned into an ugly and dangerous roughness from which every smaller boat must seek shelter. Its shores are inhospitable, except for the native fisherman and hunter, and torment man with swarms of gnats and mosquitoes.

But there is no malaria; no snakes or other poisonous things. And when the weather is decent the water, the wooded shores, and the fresh, clean virginal parklike islands have a greatness and charm that compensate for much. Besides which there is the still more intensive allure of original exploration. Botany, zoology, and above all paleontology, find here still a fruitful field, while for anthropology, and especially archeology, the land is still largely a terra incognita.