out two hundred yards wide, but a great part of it is filled with
ever-shifting sand-bars, the main volume of water being confined to a
channel not more than one hundred yards in width. The current is very
strong, certainly not less than eight miles per hour. The color of the
water bears witness to this, as it is much the muddiest that I have ever
seen.[9]

[Footnote 9: The White River very probably flows over volcanic deposits
as its sediments would indicate; no doubt this would account for the
discoloration of its waters. The volcanic ash appears to cover a great
extent of the Upper Yukon basin drained by the Lewes and Pelly Rivers.
Very full treatment of the subject is given by Dr. Dawson, in his report
entitled "Yukon District and Northern portion of British Columbia."]

"I had intended to make a survey of part of this river as far as the
International Boundary, and attempted to do so; but after trying for
over half a day, I found it would be a task of much labor and time,
altogether out of proportion to the importance of the end sought, and
therefore abandoned it. The valley as far as can be seen from the mouth,
runs about due west for a distance of eight miles; it then appears to
bear to the south-west; it is about two miles wide where it joins the
Pelly valley and apparently keeps the same width as far as it can be
seen.

"Mr. Harper, of the firm of Harper & Ladue, went up this river with
sleds in the fall of 1872 a distance of fifty or sixty miles. He
describes it as possessing the same general features all the way up,
with much clay soil along its banks. Its general course, as sketched by
him on a map of mine, is for a distance of about thirty miles a little
north-west, thence south-west thirty or thirty-five miles, when it
deflects to the north-west running along the base of a high mountain
ridge. If the courses given are correct it must rise somewhere near the
head of Forty Mile River; and if so, its length is not at all in keeping
with the volume of its discharge, when compared with the known length
and discharge of other rivers in the territory. Mr. Harper mentioned an
extensive flat south of the mountain range spoken of, across which many
high mountain peaks could be seen. One of these he thought must be Mount
St. Elias, as it overtopped all the others; but, as Mount St. Elias is
about one hundred and eighty miles distant, his conclusion is not
tenable. From his description of this mountain it must be mo