Alaska -- Antiquities; Eskimos; Eskimos -- Anthropometry; Indians of North America -- Alaska; Indians of North America -- Yukon
_Fairbanks._--Before reaching Fairbanks, the inland capital of Alaska,
I am met by Prof. C. E. Bunnell, head of the Alaska Agricultural
College. This college, located on an elevation about 4 miles out of
the city, I visit with Professor Bunnell soon after arrival, to find
there some interesting paleontological and archeological collections.
Here are fair beginnings which well deserve the good will of the
Alaskans. Unfortunately the college has not yet the means for any
substantial progress or research in these lines, and the collections
are housed in a frame building where they are in serious danger from
fire. But their presence will aid, doubtless, in the saving of other
material of similar nature from the Tanana region, and specimens of
special scientific importance will doubtless be referred to scientific
institutions outside.
Fairbanks is a good-sized town, built on the wide flats of the Tanana
River. Its population, now reduced, includes some civilized natives,
most of whom, however, are mix breeds. A large petrified mammoth
tusk on the porch of one of the semi-log houses shows that these
are regions of more than ordinary biological interest. And there is
soon an occurrence which demonstrates this further. Mr. John Buckley,
the deputy marshal, takes me to an old Japanese resident, now a
rooming-house keeper, who has had a hobby of collecting fossils, and
who in the end is happy to donate to the National Museum a fine skull
of a fossil Alaskan horse, together with some other specimens, refusing
all payment. Such is the human Alaska, or at least the most of it.
Here, too, to a full hall in the library, a lecture is given on "The
Peopling of Alaska and America," after which follows a return to Nenana
to catch a steamer to the Yukon.
THE WRITER'S TRIP ON THE YUKON
TANANA--YUKON
June 17. Nenana: This is a small town on the Tanana, mostly railroad
buildings, with a hospital; there is one street of stores (three short
blocks), most of them now empty. About half a mile off a small Indian
settlement about an Episcopalian mission.
Country flat on both sides of the rather large river, except for some
hills back of the right shore beyond the railroad bridge, for a short
distance. The river flats seem scarcely 3 or 4 feet above water,
overgrown with brush and a few scrubby trees, later spruce thickets.
Purple flowers (fireweed) strike the eye.
No relics found at Nenana; no information concerning old sites or
abandoned villages along the stream.
Physically, the Indians seen at Nenana were submedium brown, good many
still full blood, pure Indian type, brachycephalic, faces (nose, etc.),
however, of but medium prominence. Moderate to good stature.
They are all fairly "civilized," wear white men's clothing, to which on
gala occasions are added bands or collars of beadwork, and speak more
or less English. The younger men are evidently good workers.
The distance from Nenana to Tanana is given as about 190 miles by the
river.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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