3-074-949 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Salmon-drying platforms on the Yucon River, Alaska, 1890. 'Lord Lonsdale's Travels in Arctic North America. The enterprising and courageous performance of the Earl of Lonsdale in travelling northward during many months of the year 1888, from the Saskatchewan River of the Great Western Territory of Canada to the shores of the Arctic Ocean, and thence crossing Alaska westward to the North Pacific...has excited much attention. We are favoured by Lord Lonsdale with an exact account of his journeys...Few people, except some officers of the Hudson Bay Company and of the Alaska Fur Company, have made acquaintance with those desolate regions..."With considerable difficulty, we reached Naushagak on Dec. 14, and were hospitably entertained by Mr. Clarke, agent for the Alaska Company. We did not leave here until Jan. 28, on account of the prevalence of storms and the want of dogs. Then we started going down the river, which is at one place six miles wide, divided by a small island. It is noted for its extraordinary yield of fish. In the summer as many as 100,000 cases of canned salmon, each case holding about six dozen cans, are filled by the fish of this river. The Illustration shows about 50,000 salmon drying on the beach, for winter provision".' From "Illustrated London News", 1890.