Note 1 — Chapter I · INTRODUCTORY.
Reading edition
The largest river on the North American continent so far as this mighty stream flows within our boundaries.... The people of the United States will not be quick to take to the idea that the volume of water in an Alaskan river is greater than that discharged by the mighty Mississippi; but it is entirely within the bounds of honest statement to say that the Yukon river ... discharges every hour one-third more water than the "Father of Waters."—Petroff's Government Report on Alaska.