The climate is the greatest terror of the country in the popular estimate and in the estimation of those who have been in the gold region in recent years. The prospector is willing to scale mountains, traverse plains, cross rivers, shoot rapids, and brave a thousand perils, but the thought of living in a country whose temperature is often represented as being comparable with that of a vast refrigerator is appalling. The average temperature in the Klondike country during the four coldest months of the year is not ordinarily much lower than twenty degrees below zero. The average winter's snowfall in that part of Alaska is only about two feet, whereas on the coast it is ten times that much. The snowfall in the vicinity of Fort Cudahy is only about two feet during the winter, although it is as much as twenty feet along the coast where the influence of the Japan current is felt.
It is bitterly cold in Arctic Alaska. Forty degrees below zero for days at a stretch is not uncommon. The general conception of the climate of the great North-west is largely due to those who have merely skirted the coast. And it is not very remarkable that the reports are not more true of the whole of the Alaskan country, for the coast line is over twenty-six thousand miles long and extends through many degrees of latitude. Any one traveling any considerable part of such a distance would easily feel justified in drawing a general conclusion as to the climate of the whole country.
As stated above, the climate of the interior, including in that designation practically all of the country except a narrow fringe of coastal margin, is one of extreme rigor in winter, with a brief, but relatively hot summer, especially when the sky is free from clouds.
In the Klondike region, in midwinter, the sun rises from 9:30 to 10 a.m., and sets from 2 to 3 p.m., the total length of daylight being about four hours. The sun rises but a few degrees above the horizon, and it is wholly obscured on a great many days, so the character of the winter months may be easily imagined.
The United States Coast and Geodetic Survey in 1889-90 made a series of observations covering a period of six months on the Yukon, not far from the site of the present gold discoveries. The observations were made with standard instruments and are wholly reliable.
"The mean temperature of the months, October to April, both inclusive, are as follows: October, 33 degrees; November, 8 degrees; December, 11 degrees below zero; January, 17 degrees below zero; February, 15 degrees below zero; March, 6 degrees above zero; April, 20 degrees above zero. The daily mean temperature fell and remained below the freezing point (32) from November 4th to April 21st, thus giving 168 days as the length of the closed season, assuming the out-door operations are controlled by temperature only.
"The lowest temperatures registered during that winter were: 32 degrees below zero in November, 47 below in December, 59 below in January, 55 below in February, 45 below in March, 26 below in April.
A Mid-day Meal