The transport Lawton arrived on October 8 with perishable subsistence and other stores. The weather was then freezing, and some of the stores from her were frozen on the dock the night of landing and before they could be removed to storage.

The chartered transport Kvarven arrived in the harbor on the same date as the Lawton, loaded principally with coal and machinery. She drew loaded 25 feet, and in consequence had to anchor a long distance from shore and was fully exposed to the sea. Every effort was made to discharge this ship, but, due to the lateness of the season, the severity of the weather, and the attendant difficulty in lightering, it could not be done with the facilities at hand. Two hired barges were lost in the attempt and two Government barges broke loose and drifted away, one landing a few miles off across the bay, and the other about 60 miles up the coast, neither of which could be recovered last season. The bay froze over on October 21 and the Kvarven returned to Seattle without discharging half of her cargo of coal; also having on board a new boiler and other materials for the river steamer General Jeff C. Davis, which would have been put in place during the past winter for the improvement and increased efficiency of the boat this summer. Generally speaking, lightering after September 1 can not be done with safety and reasonable economy, owing to the rough weather, more than about half the time; and after October 1 until the close of the bay, two or three weeks later, lightering is safe probably one in five or seven days.

These conditions emphasize the necessity for prompt shipment in early summer of all supplies for this port, and I here reiterate the recommendations of my last annual report upon this important subject.

This season the ice did not leave the bay of St. Michael until the 3d of July. That was an unusually late date for the going out of the ice, but it shows how short the season may sometimes be for open-water traffic. The average date of opening of St. Michael Bay, extending over a period of twenty-four years, is June 12.

The confusion and tendency to lawlessness incident to the rush of people into Cape Nome and vicinity having subsided to normal conditions practically by the close of last summer, and the civil courts being in operation, the most important work in the department, after providing for the housing and supply of the troops, became that of constructing the military telegraph line and military road through Alaska.

In connection with the telegraph line, it is proper to remark that in the original plan for its construction it was proposed that a large section of the line should be for the present a land cable, to be replaced gradually by a permanent line regularly constructed should the conditions justify; also that St. Michael would be connected by cable with Unalaklik, the point of departure from the coast to the Yukon. On account of the accident of last year to the cable ship a land line has been constructed to Unalaklik, and the use of land cable was abandoned altogether by the signal department.

The line between Fort St. Michael and Kaltag on the Yukon River was completed on May 6, since which time it has been in continuous operation. The connection has further been completed to Nulato, a distance of 190 miles from Fort St. Michael, and about 650 miles via the mouth of the Yukon River. The total length of line constructed up to date aggregates approximately 400 miles. The work is being pushed along the Yukon River above Nulato, and by the close of navi

gation in September it is hoped that there will be telegraphic communication between this point and Fort Gibbon, a distance by the line of about 420 miles.

There are many difficulties to be overcome in such construction which are peculiar to the arctic climate. Along the coast of Norton Sound and a portion of the portage from Unalaklik to Kaltag is a "tundra" country, merging into spruce forests with dense undergrowth as the Yukon is approached. This latter condition extends generally throughout the Yukon Valley. The surface of the country is covered with moss and decaying vegetable mold to the depth of 1 or 2 feet, soft and spongy in summer, from the frequent rains and thawing below. Beneath this spongy surface the ground is permanently frozen. The tundra is also covered with hummocks, commonly known as "nigger heads." Animals sink to their knees when attempting to walk on the tundra and wagons to the hubs, even without any load at all. Transportation across such a region in summer by the ordinary methods, for the placing of poles and wire and supplying construction camps, is therefore practically impossible, and this work must be done in the winter. This has been energetically done during the past season. The climate is rigorous. The cold is intense and continuous from November to include part of April, and blizzards are severe and of frequent occurrence in vicinity of the coast. While it may appear a hardship to require men to work out of doors and to camp out under such conditions, the duty to be performed necessitated this method. The men were amply supplied with warm clothing, and all necessary provisions for their comfort were made.

Only one serious accident occurred during the work of construction, one man having been smothered by a snow slide near Vesolia Sopka, otherwise known as Old Woman's Mountain. Notwithstanding the cold to which the detachments were exposed, there were no serious cases of frost bite.

Maj. Frank Greene, signal officer, U. S. V., department signal officer, left here March 28 by dog sled for Fort Gibbon, to give instructions relative to the construction of telegraph line between Nulato and Gibbon.

Special recognition is due to Lieuts. R. S. Offley and W. O. Smith, Seventh Infantry, and to Lieut. O. B. Grimm, signal officer, on the line from here to Kaltag, for their zeal and energy in the execution of this trying duty, and to Lieuts. P. M. Cochran and J. M. Loud, Seventh Infantry, working between Gibbon and Nulato, and to Lieut. G. C. Burnell, Signal Corps, working from Valdez; also to Lieut. Hj. Erickson, Seventh Infantry, who spent most of the winter in the work of exploring and locating a route through the untraveled region southward of the Yukon Flats between Rampart and Egbert. These officers did their work well and were subjected to the same privations and hardships as were the men under them, of whose wants they were always mindful.

Upon sections of the telegraph line elswhere the officers and men have put forth their best efforts in the face of unusual difficulties.

The post commander, Fort Gibbon, constructed during the winter two covered barges for use of the parties along the river, which have aided materially in the construction, and have afforded much comfort to the men as well as protection to the supplies. It will be impossible

to build the line beyond Fort Gibbon during the coming winter, and I recommend a continuance of the appropriation another year.

Owing to the difficulties of travel overland during the summer season and the experience of the natives in such travel, I recommend that two natives be employed at each telegraph station as line repair men. These natives are quite intelligent and possess some mechanical genius and powers of imitation. With but little instruction, they could be relied upon to make ordinary line repairs. The cost of employing them together with the returns of their employment will probably justify the expense. At each station should also be kept a dog sled and team of six dogs for use in making repairs in winter.

The cable from St. Michael to Nome, which was laid by the Alaska Commercial Company, salvors of the cable ship Orizaba, and operated for a time last fall, was carried away by the ice in November and has not been recovered up to the present time.

The work upon the "Trans-Alaskan military road," under Capt. W. R. Abercrombie, Second Infantry, acting engineer officer of the department, was prosecuted with energy and under trying conditions. The latest information from Captain Abercrombie is to the effect that the crossing of the Tanana will be reached by next November. The detailed report of his operations for last season is forwarded under separate cover, for the information of the War Department.

On account of the peculiarities of the terrain previously mentioned, it is almost impossible to have any drills except those of the most elementary character. In consequence, instruction in the school of the company and battalion, extended order, and minor tactics has not in some cases been given.

Target practice has been generally omitted, owing to the lack of proper ranges and absence of target materials, for which requisition has been made.

Owing to the isolation of posts in the department, to the lack of facilities for communication, for instruction in drill, and for convening courts-martial, it is natural to expect that troops left for several years to serve under these conditions must deteriorate in military efficiency. I therefore recommend that troops stationed in this department be relieved every two years. I would also recommend that only men with more than two years to serve be ordered to duty in Alaska. The barracks, quarters, and other buildings designed for Forts St. Michael and Davis have been recently finished and these posts are now complete so far as the plans have been made. The military bridge constructed across the Nome River at Fort Davis was carried away by ice in the spring, and a ferry has been established.

I have just made an inspection of the posts of Fort Egbert and Fort Gibbon, on the Yukon. The commands at these posts are well cared for and in a good state of discipline. Authority has recently been received for the transfer of Companies F and L at Gibbon to the States, and for the assignment of B and K, same regiment, from St. Michael and Davis to take their place. Camp Rampart was abandoned as a station for troops and the Government buildings there turned over to the signal department for use as a signal and telegraph station. This camp is only 70 miles from Gibbon, and has been garrisoned by a small detachment for the past two years.

In November and December a set of officers' quarters and a building occupied as the bakery at Fort Gibbon were burned to the ground.

The fires were due to defective flues of terra-cotta tiling, which is considerably used in this country. This tiling has little power of resisting either heat or cold, and the daily alternate heating and cooling, together with the lack of strength to resist the crushing weight of the joints, render its further use dangerous. These defects have been only partially overcome by wrapping each joint with asbestos millboard, where this could be had, and by binding with iron straps, and also by care in building slow fires at first. Careful and frequent inspections of each flue have also been made and defects reported at once. terra-cotta tiling should be replaced by more serviceable and safer material, either fire brick or double iron flues, for which requisitions have been made.

The climate of posts in the interior of Alaska is subjected to greater extremes of temperature than are found at posts on the coast, but the winters on the coast of Bering Sea are, on the whole, more severe and last longer. The Yukon breaks up and is open for navigation three weeks or a month before vessels can arrive at St. Michael.

The records of Fort St. Michael show the mean recorded temperature (Fahrenheit) for the past winter to be as follows: November, 151°; December, 104°; January, 5 below zero; February, 34°; March, 5°; April, 150; average, 7.3 for six consecutive months. The lowest recorded temperature was January 11, 33° below zero. The average maximum for January was one-half degree below zero, and the average minimum for the same month was 104 below zero.

During the summer the mail arrives from the States by ocean steamship, two weeks to a month en route. This mail includes all classes. During the past winter the service carried only letter mail and was by dog sled. Outgoing, there were two mails in November and April, and four mails in December, January, February, and March, via Yukon River, Dawson, Y. T., and Skagway, a sled trip of about 1,600 miles, thence by steamer to the States. In January and February each, one mail left via Katmai, on Shellikoff Strait on the south coast of Alaska. Incoming mails were received as follows: January, 1; February, 3; March, 5; April, 4; May, 2; total, 15; advices received from the States being as late as March 10 or 15. All difficulties considered, the service was as satisfactory as could be expected. The mail averaged two and a half to three months en route.

In consequence of the exclusion of printed matter, no orders or circulars from the Adjutant-General of the Army have been received since the close of navigation in October. Information as to the more important orders have, in some cases, been received through personal sources. I recommend that in the future (from October to March, inclusive, at least) advance copies of all orders and circulars for all posts in northern Alaska be forwarded in the ordinary letter envelope and not in envelopes marked "Printed matter."

Some unscrupulous person or persons having originated and spread rumors of strikes of rich placer diggings on the headwaters of the Kuskokwim River and its tributaries, a large number of prospectors visited that section during the winter. It is a country difficult of access, of which but little is known, with practically no white settlements, and with no places where food supplies can be replenished. The rumors of rich strikes could not be verified, and many hardships were encountered by the prospectors who visited that region.

Information was received in February that three of these prospectors were badly frozen, destitute, and without medical attendance or supplies at a point on the Yukon River about 200 miles from here. Instructions were issued to the chief quartermaster to have these men brought into the post, and upon their arrival they were placed in the post hospital for treatment. They had been suffering for more than three weeks, and amputation of one or more members was necessary in each case. They became charges of the Government and were sent by the first available transportation to the States, where their families and friends could care for them.

Conflicting rumors having been received during the winter of the deplorable condition of the natives along the Yukon River, in March First Lieut. Howard R. Hickok, Ninth Cavalry, aid-de-camp, was directed to investigate the situation. Lieutenant Hickok made the trip to Russian Mission and return, a distance of 600 miles, by dog sled, visiting many native villages. The condition of the natives was reported to be much improved. The natives generally seemed to be faring well in the late winter and spring, except that a report from Kotzebue Sound, on the Arctic Ocean side of Bering Strait, stated the condition of the natives there to be one of destitution and want. The distance and difficulty of travel prevented any relief being sent from either here or Fort Davis. Recent observations of them along the Yukon River show that they have recovered from the distressed conditions which prevailed last summer and fall. But little sickness was reported among them. The run of salmon has been large and the catch abundant, which will furnish them ample food for the coming winter.

In November last an attempt was made by the citizens of Nome at incorporation, which, however, was defeated at the polls. By another election, held early in April of this year, incorporation was carried and municipal officers elected. In November the company stationed in the town of Nome was withdrawn from there to Fort Davis and a small detachment left to guard the Government building and reservation.

The location of department headquarters in Alaska for the past year is believed to have had a pronounced beneficial effect toward the protection of person and property and the establishment of good order in the Territory. This has been accomplished without friction with the civil authorities, and in harmony, it is thought, with the sentiment of all law-abiding and self-respecting civilians.

Although reports of new and rich strikes of gold northward and westward of Nome and up near the Arctic shore were circulated during the late fall and winter, they have not been confirmed. A recently reported strike on the Yukon, about 30 miles from Rampart, appears to have some foundation in fact, having been given out by apparently reliable parties.

Instructions have just been received relative to the merging of the department with that of the Columbia, and the transfer of these headquarters to Vancouver Barracks, Wash.

Very respectfully,

GEO. M. RANDALL, Brigadier-General, U. S. A., Commanding Department.