The Descent of Chilkoot Pass
"At the Cassiar diggings we found a few Chinamen working placers, but they made only a bare living, so our party, after looking over the ground, decided not to stay there. We concluded to push on for Lake Teslin, which is about 140 miles to the north of Cassiar.
"Previous to that time some white men had been as far on that route as the Koukitchie Lakes, seventy-five miles beyond Telegraph Creek, but we blazed the way from that point on to Lake Teslin and through to the Yukon River. It is probable that we made some deviations from what is now the known route. The tramp to Lake Teslin was not so very difficult, considering that we were in a country never before trodden by the foot of a civilized man. We had some trouble with rivers and creeks, and had to cut down trees and lay bridges across Nahlin River and Beebe Creek. It is a comparatively safe and easy journey, nevertheless.
"On the 19th day of July we reached Lake Teslin. It is one of the most beautiful bodies of water on the American continent. Its dimensions are about 130 miles long by an average of three and one-half miles wide. When we were there the ground was free from snow and vegetation was abundant. We remained in the vicinity of Lake Teslin some two or three weeks, when our party divided and two of us decided to try to find our way to the Yukon River. Before starting out we prospected up the Nisulatine River, but found no gold. Upon leaving the lake we followed the Hootalinqua or Teslin River, a fine stream about 120 miles in length, toward the Klondike country. It flows into the Yukon just above the Klondike district, where it and Thirty-Mile or Lewes River join in practically forming the Yukon. Here all the trails in that country meet together in a great canyon in Seminow Hills. Thirty-Mile River drains the lakes about Dyea Pass.
"After leaving the mouth of the Hootalinqua River, we followed the Yukon slowly into Dawson City, which we reached on the 12th of October."
In the preceding chapters many general statements as to the climate of the region of the Yukon River have been made, but so great is the difference between the climate of the coast regions and that of the interior, that it is necessary to go into detail to get any definite idea of any particular region or district.
The difference in climatic conditions which obtain on the coast and in the interior, even thirty miles back, is very marked. The climate of south-eastern Alaska, is much milder than the climate in the same latitude on the Atlantic coast. This is due to the warm current of the Pacific that sweeps up from the south-west. Summer weather on the coast is much more liable to be wet and cloudy than in the interior. May, June, and July are usually all one could desire, but from that on to the opening of winter disagreeable weather is the rule and not the exception. At St. Michael, during this period, rain falls four days in seven. In October the winds sheer round from the south-west to the north and fine weather sets in. During the fall, wind storms are of frequent occurrence.