The Mount McKinley National Park, Alaska, was established early in
1917. It is in the approximate center of Alaska and embraces
twenty-two hundred square miles. Mount McKinley is known to many
Indians as "The Great One." Its summit is 20,300 feet above sea-level.
On the north this stupendous mountain is exceedingly precipitous and
rises 18,000 feet in a distance of thirteen miles. It is doubtful if
there is a peak in the world that rises so high above the limits of
tree growth. And no mountain that I know of has slopes so completely
snow-covered. Its snow-line is at the altitude of 7000 feet, and from
this altitude upward only a few crags and rocky ridges show. The
upper 14,000 feet of steep slopes appears a vast towering white mass
of glaciers and snow. The largest glacier is the Muldrow. It is
thirty-nine miles long. The summit of this peak and a part of its
slopes are embraced in the Mount McKinley National Park.
This Park is a wild-life refuge. Its slopes are the greatest known
big-game range on the continent. Here are mountain sheep and caribou
by the thousand. Moose are common. Beaver are plentiful. And there are
grizzly, brown, and black bear. Many kinds of birds use the region for
their summer nesting-land. Brilliant wild flowers abound. Spruce,
birch, cottonwood, and willow are the more common trees, but none of
them grow large.
In 1902, D. L. Raeburn, of the Geological Survey, explored this
territory and brought out much valuable information concerning it. Mr.
Raeburn determined most of the boundary-line of the present Park. In
1903, James Wickersham attempted to scale the peak. It was first
conquered in March, 1913. The creation of this Park was brought about
chiefly through the efforts of Charles Sheldon. When completed, the
Alaskan railroad will be within fifteen miles of the Park
boundary-line.