Klondyke Nuggets: A Brief Description of the Great Gold Regions in the Northwest — John Shaqi
Klondyke Nuggets: A Brief Description of the Great Gold Regions in the NorthwestLadue, Joseph
History
Klondyke Nuggets: A Brief Description of the Great Gold Regions in the Northwest
Ladue, Joseph
Alaska -- Gold discoveries; Klondike River Valley (Yukon) -- Gold discoveries
"Lake Nares flows through a narrow curved channel into Bove Lake
(Schwatka). This channel is not more than 600 or 700 yards long, and the
water in it appears to be sufficiently deep for boats that could
navigate the lake. The land between the lakes along this channel is low,
swampy, and covered with willows, and, at the stage in which I saw it,
did not rise more than 3 feet above the water. The hills on the
south-west side slope up easily, and are not high; on the north side
the deep valley already referred to borders it; and on the east side the
mountains rise abruptly from the lake shore.
"Bove Lake (called Tagish Lake by Dr. Dawson) is about a mile wide for
the first two miles of its length, when it is joined by what the miners
have called the Windy Arm. One of the Tagish Indians informed me they
called it Takone Lake. Here the lake expands to a width of about two
miles for a distance of some three miles, when it suddenly narrows to
about half a mile for a distance of a little over a mile, after which it
widens again to about a mile and a half or more.
"Ten miles from the head of the lake it is joined by the Taku Arm from
the south. This arm must be of considerable length, as it can be seen
for a long distance, and its valley can be traced through the mountains
much farther than the lake itself can be seen. It is apparently over a
mile wide at its mouth or junction.
"Dr. Dawson includes Bove Lake and these two arms under the common name
of Tagish Lake. This is much more simple and comprehensive than the
various names given them by travellers. These waters collectively are
the fishing and hunting grounds of the Tagish Indians, and as they are
really one body of water, there is no reason why they should not be all
included under one name.
"From the junction with the Taku Arm to the north end of the lake the
distance is about six miles, the greater part being over two miles wide.
The west side is very flat and shallow, so much so that it was
impossible in many places to get our canoes to the shore, and quite a
distance out in the lake there was not more than 5 feet of water. The
members of my party who were in charge of the large boat and outfit,
went down the east side of the lake and reported the depth about the
same as I found on the west side, with many large rocks. They passed
through it in the night in a rainstorm, and were much alarmed for the
safety of the boat and provisions. It would appear that this part of the
lake requires some improvement to make it in keeping with the rest of
the water system with which it is connected.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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