banks at the bends. A few miles from where Akie River enters is a
network of islands, bars, and channels; in one place the river-bed being
half a mile wide. Twenty miles above the canyon the stream again
gathers in one channel, islands being occasional to Russel Creek, 72
miles above Grahame. Thence for 13 miles to Paul Creek the river has
several large loops. The valley narrows to 3 miles. Above Paul Creek
the stream skirts the mountains on the east side. Kwadacha River enters
96 miles from Grahame and Fox River 3 miles beyond, a small stream
which occupies the north-westerly trend of the main valley; the Finlay
here abruptly leaving this valley and coming from the west in a narrow
gap between mountains until after passing the foot of Prairie Mountain,
where the river is in a wide valley paralleling its original course. At 115
miles from Grahame the mountains close together at Long Canyon,5 miles
in length, in two places in which the river is cut into narrower channels
30 and 60 feet wide. Bad water occurs for half a mile and canoes are
lined up at low water, and at high water a portage is necessary. There
is no portage-trail. For 5 miles above the canyon the river is swift,
shallow, and broken by riffles. It has average width of 150 yards. At
125 miles from Grahame the stream turns abruptly from the north, in
Cascade Canyon, the main valley continuing westward and meeting the
Finlay again above the canyon, which is full of shallow rocky rapids
and 2 miles up has a 25-foot drop in a series of wild cascades. Above
the gorge-like canyon the valley is again wide, with an eastern continua-
tion across to Fox River, in places having width of 3 miles, but excepting
a couple of square miles of meadow and bottom north-east of Cascade
Canyon and small bottoms in loops the land is not of value, being stony
and gravelly and denuded of soil by forest fires which have swept the
whole upper valley. From Porcupine Creek the river is a succession of
shallow, boulder-strewn rapids. Above Thudaka River, a mountain
torrent, the river comes from the south-east, and after a couple of small
cascades falls through Reef Canyon, 2% miles long, into vertical walls.
Above Reef Canyon the rough country through which the river has
cut its way changes to alluvial flats occupying an ancient lake-basin;
the river, widened to 300 yards, having sluggish flow and the bed is
reed-choked and shores muddy. On either hand are large flats thickly
covered with willows and full of beaver meadows and ponds for a mile
from the river. This lake-like expanse is about 5 miles long and lies
north and south. At the head the current again becomes perceptible and
the river is soon a swift-flowing stream full of gravel-bars and islands
between high mountains. Twelve miles above Reef Canyon Thudegade
River enters from the west and 2 miles farther Delta Creek from the east.
A horse-trail from Lake Thutade leaves the Finlay here, follows up Delta
Creek, crosses the summit and down Bower Creek, reaching the Finlay
again a mile below Long Canyon. At Delta Creek the Finlay is 125
feet, running swiftly over a gravel bottom. It continues swift and full
of bars and islands until in latitude 57° 17’, 165 miles from Grahame,

Thirty-four.