pace ee Other Rivers Many other streams such as Big Salmon, Little Salmon, Ladue, Sixtymile, Klondike, Fortymile, and McQuesten Rivers can be ascended with small power boats using experienced pilots. Navigable seasons for these streams, particularly the smaller ones, vary considerably, and can only be determined locally and seasonally. Aids to Navigation On the Yukon River system all aids to navigation, such as buoys and markers, are placed in position by the White Pass and Yukon Company under the direction of the steam- boat captains and pilots. Aids are placed at the head of Lake Laberge each year to mark the steamboat channel through the flats to deep water, and also at the foot of the lake for the same purpose. Other markers are maintained in various sections of the river channel as required. Some work has been undertaken by the Dominion Government in improving navigation conditions at such points as Thirty- mile River, Five Finger and Rink Rapids, and at Hell’s Gate. On Stewart River, cables have been installed for “lining” boats up over rapids and shallow stretches. Some rocks dangerous to navigation have been removed. Water Transport History of Development Water transportation on Yukon River has developed gradually from primitive beginnings. For the most part, early explorers used canoes or rough boats constructed of hand-sawn lumber, and in at least one instance the Yukon was navigated downstream (by Schwatka) for hundreds of miles on a raft of logs. As trade developed, steamers worked their way up the river from St. Michael, on Bering Sea, and larger craft replaced smaller ones as traffic increased. The Klondike gold rush, which followed a strike on Bonanza Creek in 1896, precipitated an unprecedented demand for transportation, and the subsequent era of boat construction provided sufficient vessels to serve the river system for years. The small stern-wheeler Wilder taken north in 1866 in the service of the Russian-American Telegraph Company, is believed to have been the first steamer operated on Yukon River (7). In 1869, the Yukon, a 50-foot boat drawing 15 inches of water, was assenibled at St. Michael and carried a party of the United States Boundary Survey upstream. This boat later was acquired and operated by the Alaska Commercial Company, one of the principal trading organi- zations on the lower Yukon. In 1871, the St. Michael ascended the Yukon as far as Fort Selkirk. The New Racket, built in 1883, was also acquired by the Alaska Commercial Company and operated for several years (8). In 1889, this company added the Arctic, 140 feet in length, to their holdings, and later, the Alice and Bella. In 1892, the North American Trading and Transportation Company assembled the P. B. Weare (175 feet long and 28 feet beam) at St. Michael, the largest boat on the river at the time. This [110 } company subsequently added a sister ship, the J. J. Healy, and later, the C. H. Hamilton. River traffic was greatly increased by the Klondike strike. In 1897 only two ocean-going vessels discharged freight and passengers at St. Michael. The following year more than 20 vessels carried gold-seekers intent on reaching the Klondike via the Yukon River. Whereas 5 river steamers supplied the needs of Dawson and vicinity in 1897, the next year a total of 47 river steamers were on the stocks ‘in Seattle, in sections on the decks of steamers for assembly at Dutch Harbour or St. Michael, or were already at St. Michael or in Yukon River, awaiting the break-up of the ice (7). Construction of the White Pass and Yukon Railway from Skagway, Alaska, to Whitehorse was commenced in August, 1898, and when the line reached Lake Bennett in 1899, small steamboats were constructed and used to transport material to Carcross at the north end of Lake Bennett. Boats also were constructed for use between Bennett and the head of Miles Canyon and Whitehorse Rapids on Lewes River just above Whitehorse (6). The transportation company controlling the new rail way, now known as the White Pass and Yukon Route, also established steamer services on Yukon River from Whitehorse to Dawson, and from Dawson to points on the lower river. These services were operated in Canada by a subsidiary, the British Yukon Navigation Company, and in Alaska by its affiliate, the American Yukon Navi- gation Company. With the aid of its railway line, which handled freight and passengers expeditiously from tide- water at Skagway to Whitehorse, the White Pass and Yukon Route gradually built up an increased volume of trafhe, and for several years thereafter, the White Pass and Yukon Route enjoyed what was practically a monopoly on river transportation from Whitehorse to the mouth of the Yukon River. On the completion of the Alaska Railroad from Seward to Fairbanks in 1922, the American Yukon Navigation Company, by agreement, relinquished its business on lower Yukon River to the United States Govern- ment-owned line of river boats operated in conjunction with the Alaska Railroad. In turn, the latter agreed not to operate vessels up river from Tanana, Alaska, into Yukon Territory. The affairs of the American Yukon Navigation Company have since been wound up, and its equipment sold (6). For some time after the dissolution of the American Yukon Navigation Company, the steamers of the British Yukon Navigation Company made spring and autumn trips to Circle and/or Fort Yukon, Alaska, in order to transport supplies to the merchants at these points, and to the traders on the Porcupine River. In 1946 the Alaska Railroad extended its steamer service upstream from Tanana to Fort Yukon and in 1947 will handle all freight and passenger business to that section of the river via Nenana and the Alaska Railroad