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Those too large to be entirely included in one exposure are filmed beginning in the upper left hand corner, left to right and top to bottom, as many frames as required. The following diagrams illustrate the method: Un des symboles suivants apparaitra sur !a dernidre image de cheque microfiche, selon le cas: le symbole •-^> signifie "A SUIVRE", le symbols V signifie "FIN". Les cartes, planches, tableaux, etc., peuvent dtre fiimis A des taux de reduction diffirents. Lorsque le document est trop grand pour dtre reproduit en un seul clich6, il est filmi A partir de Tangle sup^rieur gauche, de gauche A droite, et de haut en bas, en prenant le nombre d'images n^cessaire. Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la m6thode. 1 2 3 ■ 1 2 3 4 5 6 ,\vv i». V ■• •- >v< I » .1 Proof RTCHING Lake I,02iise, near Laggan. By K. C. Af/JVOA'. ■^Mm^v'-m.f CALIFORNIA AND ALASKA ANiJ ()V|-.K THE CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILWAY CoinpIlmciUs of H)r. Mm. Sewar^ mcbb. NKW VORK AM) LONDON' C. I'. IT IN AM' S SONS Sbe ftnicherboclter pteee 1890 infVRMlHT IIV WILLIAM SKAVARK WK.UU i8uu ttbc ftniclKTboclicr prtM. «c» Botk Klolrotyiwil. I'rilite.l. in.l ll.'Uii'l I'V U. p. Pulnam'i Sons 1(1 IIIK VAII KD IRIKM) AM) KIMI ADVIb JAMES W. McLANE, M.I). rillS HOOK IS DKOICATKI) IIY THE AUTHOR INTRODUCTION. IN accordance with a time-honored custom, T must, at the outset, explain in a few words why tiiis work is given to the public. In the winter of i888-g. I determined upon takinjr a trip with my family across the continent to the Pacific coast, and from thence to the city of M(;xico. A few friends were invited to accompany us on our journey. The intention was to be absent alioiit thn^e months and a half, and th«- ist of March, 1889, was ajjfreed upon as the startinjr-day. But the seven- illness of my dau,L,diler, which began but a few days prior to our time for leaving, disarranged all our plans, and the day of departure was postponed until the first week in April. The more I thought of this proposed journey, the more interesting and important it se(;med to me in the prospective. For, to me at least, it was something more than a trip of pleasure, as, indeed, it could not but bTER XVH. Mf)UNTAIN.S AM) GdKC.KS f)\ TIIK CANADIAN Pacific Railway , ,, CHAPTER XVIII. From Kamlooi's to Vancouvk.< 141 CHAPTER XIX. In Alaskan VVatkks CHAPTER XX. In Alaskan Watkrs, (Conclnded) '49 160 CHAPTER XXI. Victoria— Winnipeg — Huntinc; Experiences . 171 CHAPTER XXII. From Winnipeg, Homeward Hound . 182 ETCHINGS. INDIA PROOF IMPRESSIONS. J PACK Lake I.ouisk, nkak Lacu.an. By R. C. Minor, Frontispiece Mission- ok San Li is Rky, Cai.. By C. Y. Turner, 52 North Ak.\i, Biscotasinc; Laki,. By J. C. NicoII, 112 MuiR CiLAciER, Alaska. By R. Swain Gifford, 166 FULL-PAGE PHOTOGRAVURES. Interior ok Car " Ellsmkrk "... Interior ok Dininu-Car, Si'Kciai, Train Old Front ok San Micuki. Church, Santa Fi' South Pasadena. Sierra Madre Mountains, and Raymond Hotel ..... The Pal.ms ok Glenannie .... Olive Grove ....... Street View in Los Ani;elks Hotel del Monte, Monterev (two mews) 42 ami 4 Arizona Garden at Del Monte The Lake at Monterey The Picnic Party at Monterey Old Live Oak at Monterey The Drive itirouiiii ihe Pinks, Monikkev Rocks, near Monterey .... Seal Rock Covered with Seals, near Monterey On the Coa.st, near Monterey . Mission ok Santa Barbara — Buildini; I'AGR 2 4 24 32 34 36 3« 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 54 xvi Ftill-pagv Photogravures. ' i rAOB 55 56 57 5« 60 Mission oi- Santa Barhara — Tiik Ciarden . Old Mission Church, near Monterkv Mission 01 San Carlos, near Monterey . A Farm Team near the Mission, Monterey Marii'osa CltRo\E--Hi(; Trees El, CaITIAN, YoSEMITE VaI.I.EY . . . . l •34 •35 •36 •37 •38 '39 140 141 142 '44 '45 146 •47 148 '49 '50 xviii Ftdl-page Photogravures, Floating Ick, neak Muir Gi.acikr . '52 Lincoln Strket, East, Sitka, Alaska • '54 Indian Ciiiek's Grave, Alaska . .156 Russian Bloc k-House, Sitka, Alaska .158 Scene in Indian Town, Sitka, Alaska . . 160 Indian River Canyon, from " Pinta" Anchoraoe, 162 Favorite Bay, " Home okthe Herring," Killisnoo, 164 Juneau (Alaska) and Harbor . .168 Indian Village, Alert Bay, Alaska . . .169 Wrangel, Alaska . . 1 70 Fraser Canyon, Showing Four Tunnels above Si'UzzuM, Canadian Pacific Railway . .172 Hotel Banff, Canadian National Park, Cana- dian Pacific Railway . . . . .174 View from Banff Hotel, Looking down Bow Valley, Canadian Pacific Railway . '75 Red Sucker Cove, North Shore Lake Superior, Canadian Pacific Railway . . . .176 Red Sucker Tunnel, Canadian Pacific Rail- way . 177 Main Street, Winnipeg 178 A Canadian Backwoods Team, near Sudbury, Canadian Pacific Railway . . . • '79 Alaskan Game, Killisnoo 180 Skirting Nepigon Bay, Canadian Pacific Rail- way . . . .181 Full-page Photogravures. xix Nei'igon Rivkk, and Hiids.in Hav Company's Post, Lookinc down Till, Ri\t:k kkom vKAk Canadian I'a( ikk Raiiwav Hkiuci; Thundkk Capi;, Lakk Siphkior .... NkPIOoN liAV. IKOM NKPKiON .STATION Jackitsii Hav, Canadian Pa( iik Raiiwav Nkpkjon Rivkk and Hkidci;, Canadian I'ac iitc Ram. WAV ....... TvpiLAi. Raiiavav Vifw, Noktii .Siiokk Lakk SnpKKioK, Canadian Pacikic Raii.wav . A Tow ON Lakk .Sipkrior—Coai. Vksski.s Rk- Ti:KNIN(i KKOM TlUNDKR \\\\ Canadian Pa( ikk Railwav Station. Montkkai. . 1S2 'S3 184 '«5 186 187 18S 189 FROM NEW YORK TO CALIFORNIA AND ALASKA. CMAI'TIK I. HOW WE TRAVHLLED. THli special train of four cars in which we inatlc our journey was |)rol)al)ly the; most thorouijjiily (•(lui|)iH;il and most hixurious one that has ever h(!en used by a |)arty of travellers. On that account the reader will be interested in a description of it. The first car was what is called a "combination car." The forward part of it was used for the storaj,'e of bai^jj^as^c ; next to this apartment was a sleepini^-room for the cooks and porters. After this a bath-room, and next adjoinini^^ a lar^e smokinj^- or drawinj^-room, at one end of which was a Cuickerinij piano, and at the other a desk, a complete library, and proper compartments for j^uns, tishinj^-rods, and sportini^ paraphernalia. This smokinjf-room was in- tended as a sittin- "^ •^^'^M Interior of Dining-Car. Special Train. •=-V' 'K • ' '■.t^f. :?*; m m ' :'1 " w J. i ^ il t' I -•s> From New York to Omaha, At Windsor, where the transport /as in wailinji^ and when; we were transfern.'d to the Detroit side, our first mishap occurred. In taking the train off the transport, the couphn^ between the " Mari(|uita" and the dining-car was broken. This caused a delay of three quarters of an hour. I'Voni Detroit to Chicago our runninj,^ time was faster, if any thing, than on the Canada .Southern division, the indicator at one time registering a speed of sixty-nine miles an hour. Between Niles and Michigan City, a dis- tance of thirty-six and a half miles, we covered in the remarkable time of thirty-two minutes, including one stop for grade crossing, which occupied at least two minutes. We arrived at Kensington, near Chicago, at 5.06, having made the run from .Suspension Bridge to Kensington, four hundred and ninety-seven and a half miles, in eleven hours and eleven minutes, not including the delay of three cjuarters of an hour at Detroit. All switches were spiked, and all freight and passenger trains side-tracked to enable us to make this fast run. Notwithstanding the remarkable speed at which we travelled, none of the party realized the rapid rate at which" we ran all day. In thinking over these wonderful performances of locomotive speed we are reminded of the phenomenal growth and development of the railway in the last century. It seems almost incredible that the first locomotive, in- vented in London only eighty-five years ago, could not make steam, and could neither travel fast nor draw a heavy load. The first locomotive in this country was run in 1829, and operated by the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company, connecting the coal mines with the canal. That T California and j-llaska. II w II same year, Peter Cooper expenmented with a little locomo- tive, and once related, with j,rreat ^lee, how, on the trial trip, he had beaten a gray horse attached to another car. (^n our arrival at Chicago our division superintendent, Mr. .Spoor, and a number of railroad men were waiting to meet us. The party, with the exception of the children, went to the Richelieu Hotel, where we dined. In the meantime the train was sent on the belt line to the Chicago and Northwestern Depot. We left Chicago a little after eight o'clock Monday morning, April cSth, and arrived in Council Hluffs. four hundred and ninety-three; miles from Chicago, in about twelve hours, the (juickest time that has ever been made between these two points. As on the Michigan Central, the road was cleared, and the switches were spiked the entire distance. We had only one engine with the same engineer all the distance from Chicago to Council Hluffs. This cir- cumstance is remarkable, for the distance has never been covered before in one run by one engine. The officials of the road, however, had spare engines at different points, fired up with crews in waiting to take the place of ours should any thing give out. A master mechanic was also sent all the way through with the train, in order to be in readiness should any accident occur to the engine. Our engineer, not being accustomed to the last three divisions of the road, had a pilot over each di'Msioji,. and was thus enabled to keep up his high speed. On our arrival at Council Bluffs, through some mis- understanding, the Union Pac'fic Uailroad had an engine and crew ready to take w:-, through " special " to Ogden, From Nciv York to Omaha. 7 they havinj,' conciivcd thi- iiksi that it was our intention to jjo dinxtly ihrouj^'h to the I'acific coast via the Union and Central Pacific lines, and had arranjijed to j;ivc us a very fast run to the coast. There is no doubt that had we jjone by their line we should have made the cjuickest time from oc(!an to ocean that has ever been made, or is likely to be made for years to come. Mr. Orr, their representative, met us at the Union Depot, and taking special engine and car we went with him to see the city of Omaha, returning late in the evening. Council Bluffs is one of the oldest towns in Western Iowa. As early as 1846 it was known as a Mormon settle- ment and called Kanesville, a name which it retained until 1853, when the Legislature granted a charter designating the place as the City of Council Hluffs. The city includes within her corporate limits about twenty-four scjuare miles, and the surrounding country is rich in farming land. I^'rom the appearance of the country we passed through at this time we were reminded that spring-time was at hand. In various sections we gaw the farmers ploughing, and the grass starting out of the ground. The soil was of a dark color, evidently of sufificient richness to be inde- pendent of a fertilizer. One does not wonder that farmers in this section of the country can raise from forty to forty- five bushels of corn to the acre. When we entered the .State of Iowa, which we did after passing Fulton, the large amount of stock, especially cattle, seen on every farm, was particularly noticeable. At every town between Chicago and Omaha there were groups of people at the various stations, ranging in I I 'I I 8 California and Alaska. \'A lilt li % numbers from fifty to five hundred, waiting to see our train go through. For it was known all along the line of the road that our excursion party was coming, from the fact that the switches at all stations had been spiked, all trains side-tracked, and employes of the road near the several stations had been placed with white flags at the different crossings just previous to the passage of the train. These peculiar preparations, of course, brought an inquiring crowd about, who waited to see our train pass through. The city of Omaha, to which point our special train was taken on the morning of the 9th, furnishes a striking example of Western guwth and enterprise. Each time that the visiter stops here he finds some new evidence of improvement. Portions of the town that, but a few months before, were barren plains, are laid out in streets and lined with substantial houses of fine appearance. The raihoad terminals and properties near the depot serve to indicate that this city is one of the most important railroad centres of the West. Omaha was settled in 1834, when a few squatters fixed upon this section for their residence, "^he country at that time being a part of the Territory of Nebraska. The situation of the town commands for it an extensive trade with the West. The shops of the Union Pacific Railroad, the smelting works for refining silver ore from the moun- tains, and manufactories of various kinds give employment to muny mechanics and laborers. The bridge across the Missouri, built by the Union Pacific Company, and costing over a million dollars, is one of t'le finest structures of the % From Nezu York to O in aim. kind in the country. It stands sixty feet above high-water mark, and has, besides a railroad track, a street-car track and wagon way. The ride from Omaha to Kansas City was through a part of the country which was new to most of us, and full of inte."est. We followed the river route the whole dis- tance f^ Kansas City, passing the city of Leavenworth, one of the largest and most flourishing towns in the State, surrounded by one of the richest agricultural regions in the valley of the Missouri. In 1853, only thirty-six years ago, die site of this city was covered with hazel-brush, and wolves roamed about the country unmolested. Now it has schools, churches, academies, and theatres. It is the headquarters for outfitting government supply trains for Western posts, and has a very l""-ge trade with the Terri- tories. The government farni, located here, is one of the largest and most productive in the country. Fort Leaven- worth, two miles from the city, is situated on a bluff one hundred and fifty feet high, and was established in 1S27. Connected with the fc^rt is stabliuir for eitrht thoi s-ind horses and fifteen thousand mules. (^ur stop at Omaha was made particularly agreeable and noteworthy from the fact that, soon after our arrival, Hishop Worthington of the Episcopal Diocese of Nebraska called upon us. and took the ladies of the party for a drive around the city. We did not have such a pleasant experi- ence at Kansas City. Through some misunderstanding on the part of the railroad officials, our train, instead of being taken into the depot, was left in the freight yards. .\s a result of this arrangement, the ladies were deprived I lO California and .ilaska. m of the pleasure of visiting various points of interest in the city. Some of the gentlemen of the party, with consider- able difficulty, managed to find their way to the passenger depot, and rode about town in the well-known cable cars. Though Kansas City was settled in 1830, it was twenty- five years before it began to improve and increase in population. After the breaking out of the war its com- merce was almost ruined, but with peace came prosperity, and since 1865 its advance has been marvellous. Kansas City has the honor of having built the first bridge across the Missouri, whi'-h it did at a cost of one million dollars. Soon after our arrival at this place the Pinkerton night- watchman reported for duty — his services being considered necessary from Kansas City to San Francisco. When passing through Topeka, on the Atchison, To- peka, and Santa Fe Railroad, Mr. Robinson, the General Manager of the road, called upon us and, on behalf of the President of the company, extended to us the use of his company's line on our Western trip, courteously adding that arrangements had been made to make our trip as pleasant as possible. The country through which we passed at this time, though very flat and sparsely populated, seemed admirably adapted to farming. Tne appearance of the farms and buildings showed that the people enjoyed more than the usual degree of prosperity peculiar to pastoral life. A notable sight served to recall the past history of this country, and place it in sharp contrast with the present — this was the old cattle trails used by ranchmen in driving their cattle from Texas and the South into Montana, From New York to Oviaka. 1 1 Wyoming, and Dakota, before railroads had been built to perform such service quickly and cheaply. Sitting in our luxuriously appointed palace-car, and noting this point of interest, togetner with the overland wagon roads used in former years, we could not but recall the vast progress that has been made of late years in furnishing transportation facilities for a journey across the continent. 1-1 W P CHAPTER III. DENVER AND COLORADO SPRINGS. WR r J Pueblo, the chief city of Southern Coloi o, on the evenint^ of April loth, where we were delayed for two liours, owing to a wash-out. The Spanish-speaking people and the I'Vench hunters and trappers who lived in this section before the march of improvement began, gave queer- sounding names to the mountains, streams, and the small settlements as they began to be formed. Pueblo is a sample; but when the early settlers came they soon changed all this, and the brakemen on the Western roads certainly have cause to be thankful that plain Anglo-Saxon names have repla^jed the queer titles that were common in the early days. It was so cold coming up the grade over the mountains that we had to build fires in all the cars, but when we reached Denver we founil the weather warm and pleasant. Our stop at this point was made more agreeable from the fact that we received our mail, which had come over the Union Pacific line from Chicago. \Vc sent a mail-bag East with letters from all parties to relatives and friends ■ ill i Deliver and Colorado Springs, 13 at home. The chronicler of the expedition had talked m\.o a phonograph a diary of the experiences that had befallen the party since starting from New York. The cylinders containing this material were included in the outgoing mail, and were in such a shape that they could be tran- scribed by a clerk into "every-day English." Denver has a right to lay claim to the title " Queen City of the Plains " ; it is to-day one of the largest and, in many respects, one of the handsomest towns in the West. Twenty years ago its population was only fifteen hundred ; to-day it has over eighty thousand inhabitants. Thirty years ago the inhab-n-us formed an odd social mixture. There were refined an ' educated men from the Eastern towns, and there were rough and disreputable characters, hailing from the puriieus of our great cities and the rough settlements of the far West, all animated with one purpose— the search for gold. In 1873 Denver suffered from the financial disaster which had been felt in the East, and in 1875 and 1876 it was visited with the grasshopper plague, which resulted in a great loss of crops and the withdrawal of a large amount of capital from the banks. After these clouds of adversity came the sun- shine of prosperity, only two years bter, in 1877, when the export of beeves was the largest ever known. Two years ago the real-estate sales amounted to $29,345,451. an increase of eighteen millions over those for the vear 1886. ^ Though Denver is a thorough, go-ahead, practical city, where money and business enterprise are highly appreci- ated and made the most of, it is claimed that the town 14 California and Alaska. contains more resident college graduates than any other town of the same size in the United States. It makes no pretensions to be a literary centre ; the class of literature found in its wholesale and retail book-stores, however, shows it to be abreast of the culture of the day. Denver may be called the commercial centre of Col- orado, and, in some respects, resembles the thriving town of Springfield, Massachusetts. It is situated on a series of plateaus, fifteen miles from the foot of the Rocky Mountains. The selection of the site was made by acci- dent. The early gold-hunters who went into the State found a few grains of gold in the sandy bed of Cherry Creek, a small stream that Hows into the South Platte River near the town. The hunters called the place Auraria, a decidedly appropriate cognomen. When it became known that gold had been found in this vicinity, hunt^rs came from all parts of the States as well as New Mexico, and it became, even for those times, a thriving settlement, where hunters and miners could replenish their stores and complete their outfits for expeditions into the mountains. Aa a matter of fact very little gold was found here, but the adventurers kept up the delusion of the fabulous richness of the mountain placers as long as they could. When the bubble finally burst, the town was named Denver, in honor of Col. J. W. Denver, who was then the Governor of Kansas, in which all this mountain region was then included. Fifteen railroads to-day centre in Denver. The Union Depot would be a credit to any of our well-developed is Denver and Colorado Springs. 15 Eastern cities. It is constructed almost entirely of stone quarried in the State, and is 503 feet long by 69 feet wide. The central tower is 165 feet high, and contains an illuminated clock. An idea can be formed of the im- mense amount of railroad traffic carried on in this structure when it is stated that over two hundred thousand pieces of baggage are handled within its walls in the course of a year. Denver is practically supported by the three great industries, mining, agriculture, and stock-raising. Though silver was not found until 1870, the yield of that metal in 1886 was nearly $17,000,000. Ore is sent to the city not only from Colorado but from New Mexico and Old Mex- ico, Montana, Arizona, Idaho, Oregon, Nevada, and .South America. Of six million acres of agricultural land in Colorado, two thirds have been taken up, and millions of dollars are invested in raising cattle and sheep. The city itself hr.s a very inviting appearance. Wc drove through its handsome streets, and admired the beautiful residences and buildings to be seen on every hand, not forgetting that this wonderful development was the growth of the last twenty-five years. After seeing every thing of interest in the city, and obtaining certain necessary supplies, we left for Colorado Springs. This is a beautiful city, charmingly situated at the foot of Pike's Peak. When Lieutenant Zebulon Pike was ordered, in 1806, by General Wilkinson, to explore the region between Missouri and the frontier of Mexico, he described the great peak, saying that it " appeared like 1 H ! it i6 California ajid Alaska. a small blue cloud." He named it Mexican Mountain, but afterwards, in honor of his bravery, it was given the name of Pike's Peak. It may not be generally known that we owe the existence of Colorado Springs to a railroad company — or rather, to the National Land and Improvement Company, which was started by the Denver and Rio Grande Railway Company. This organization purchased a tract of land, five miles distant from the Springs, and spent large sums in laying out broad streets and planting along their sides rows of Cottonwood trees. It expended forty thousand dollars for the construction of a canal so that water could be brought to the town. In order to develop the place, it gave a valuable building lot for church purposes to each of the Christian denominations. Each deed of land pro- vided a heavy penalty in case liquor should be sold, or otherwise disposed of, on the premises. How far these temperance principles are carried out at the present time, we do not know. We have heard, how- ever, that when a man wants his beer, he gets a certificate of membership in a " beer " club, thus becoming a share- holder, and the law cannot prevent him from using the beverage. Colorado Springs is noted, far and near, as a health resort, and, during the summer months, its hotels are crowded with health-seekers from Western Kansas and Southern California. In the winter season many New Yorkers and residents of our large Eastern cities are seen on its streets. According to competent medical authc 'ty, the climate and waters are good in cases of J± Denver and Colorado Spri7igs. i; nervous exhaustion, bad circulation, clefectivi; nutrition, anil malaria. The climate is also said to be good for consumptives, setting the healthy processes of life going with increased vigor. Persons who an; affected with heart trouble, however, are not advised to visit this section of the country. 1 V CHAPTER IV. THE PARKS OF COLORADO. ON the mornintj of April i 2th, soon after break- fast, our party divided, some starting in car- riages, and some on horseback, for Manitou and the Garden of the Gods, others taking a different direction. Manitou, much to the dehght of its residents, has gained the name of the Saratoga of the West. It is about five miles from Colorado Springs, and has grown from a small settlemi;nt of log cabins to a good-sized village. It lies at ths base of Pike's Peak, and seems perfectly hemmed in by surrounding hills, and altogether shut ofT from the outside world. The air is very line, and the waters arc: said to be a cure for rheumatism, liver troubles, blood poisoning, and diabetes. It seems that the Indians of Colorado, in early times, were in the habit of using these waters when they felt the need of a tonic. The beneficial effects of the climate and the waters are illustrated by the saying of the Western man, that he was kept there simply as an example of what the country would do for a man, adding, that he came from Chicago on a mattress. i8 (' The Parks oj Colorado. 19 "The (jartlcn of the Clods " is the fanciful title which has been bestowed upon a valley of small dimensions, lyinjiT about four miles from Colorado Sprinj^s, Its special features are a number of shelf-like rocks, upheaved into perpendicular position, some of them rising to about three hundred and fifty feet in height. The road enters the Gar- den through a narrow passage-way, between two towering but narrow ledges of cliffs. This entrance is called the gateway. The rocks are mostly of a very soft brilliantly red sandstone, although one ridge of cliffs is of a white sandstone. Some of the foot-hills in the vicinity are surmounted by similar upheavals, forming ridges of ser- rated rock, while round the main cliff in the valley are separate spire-like columns. These rock formations for years have been a feature of peculiar interest to the geologist. These parks are really nothing more than large fertile valleys, shut in by the spurs or branches of the Rocky Mountains. North Park, which lies in the extreme north- ern part of the State, has not been thoroughly explored and settled, owing to its remote sftuation and colder climate. Its forests abound with bear, deer, and other wild game, and it is a favorite resort for the adventurous sportsman. Middle Park is directly south of North Park, and is surrounded by Long's Peak, Gray's Peak, and Mount Lincoln, each from thirteen thousand to fifteen thousand feet high. Its territory is made up of forests and large, expansive meadows, among the grasses of which will be found wild flowers of nearly every hue. South Park 90 California and Alaska. \l i\ n I i ( !' lies below. It is surroundecl by hijjh mountains, and its climat«! and scenery are delij^htful. San Luis Park, in Southern Colorado, is about twice the size of the State of New Hampshire. In its centre there is a beautiful lake, and its mountains are covered with forests of pine, fir, spruce, oak, and cedar, and large meadows which [jroduce a rich j^rowth of grasses. Cattle obtain the most wholesome subsistence on the grasses of the plains below, and medicinal springs are found in every direction. Monument Park, which is reached by the Rio Grande and Denver road, is so called from its resemblance to a vast cemetery containing monuments of a departed and long-forgotten race. These monuments are composed of a very close conglomerate, surmounted by a material of darker color and harder texture. Two of our party, on this occasion, with an engine and one of our cars, took a trip up the Colorado Midland Rail- road, over the mountains, as far as Green Mountain Park. This is a beautiful, sequestered little nook, and contains a summer hotel, surrounded by green and well-kept lawns. There is a fountain, too, and the whole appearance of the place is in striking contrast with the cold peaks of granite and snow that surround the settlement. On our return we took up the rest of the party at a way station, and all re- turned to Colorado Springs. The scenery on the Colorado Midland road is ex- tremely fine, and the journey was especially interesting, from the fact that we saw some wonderful specimens of engineering work. The bridges and viaducts on this road 'k m I il I The Parks of Colorado, 31 arc truly rcmarkabk-. In places the ^'ratle is from two hunclr(!cl and eijrhty to three hundred and ten feet a mile. The curves are very frequent ; the roa(l-i)((l wintliuj^^ first thr()u.i,di a tunnel, then passintj over a precipice across gor^^cs, all the- time pursuinjv a serpentine course, now twisting this way, now that, in making the ascent of the mountain. So sleep are the grades that not more than twelve freight cars are allowed to go down thir moun- tain with one engine, and six of these are required to be ecjuipped with air brakes. As the railroad pursues its winding way along the side of the mountain, the passengers can look down into the gorge below, and see the old road which the I'orty-niners used in their perilous trips across the continent to the gold- fields. Many travellers, it is said, were waylaid and killed in this section by the Indians; and many other, lay down to die, utterly worn out with fatigue, after their long and unsuccessful wanderings in search of the precious metal. From Colorado Springs we went to Pueblo. At that place, through the courtesy of the ofifiaals of the Denver and Rio Grande Railroj 1, an observation car was placed at our disposal, and we made a run over their line of about forty-four miles to Canon City, through the Royal Gorge, in which the Arkansas River runs. In many places the sides of the canyon through which this stream flows are so close that the only way a railroad could be built there was by putting rafters from one side to the other and suspending the track from them over the surging torrent beneath. i ■i 22 California and Alaska. Our party enjoyed this trip very much, and returned to Pueblo in time for dinner. Mr. Drake, Superintendent of the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroad, now left us, having been in our company two days ; he had shown us all the points rf interest along the route. ! :' ■ 1 < ill I if icSefeg^^SKcy fe>:;^;'5>€M H^ ^g^^l ii CHAPTKR V. SANTA FE /""^ N thetnorningof April 13th we left Trinidad with I 8 one enormous consolidated locomotive and one V — -^ mogul locomotive, and started over the Raton Range. The grade at this point is very steep, and it took these two heavy engines to haul our train over. A little over thirty years ago, " the Army of the West," then under ommand of General Kearny, marched over almost tie same route the railroad takes to-day. When the soldiers crossed the Raton Mountains they were often obliged to drag the wagons up with ropes on one side, and let them down on the other in the same way. At the top of the mountains we passed through a long tunnel and then commenced the descent of the western slope. The tunnel is approached on either side by a very heavy grade, and in some places shows singular seams or streaks of coal in its inner walls. Mr. Dyer, Superinten- dent of the New Mexico division of the Santa i road, had joined us at Trinidad, and very kindly p. fited out to us the objects of interest. We arrived at Las Vegas (which, in English, means "the meadows") about noon. 33 24 California and Alaska. It is at this point that passengers leave the train for the Hot Springs, about seven miles distant. The old Plaza, a short distance away from the railroad station at Las Vegas, is said to look about the same as when General Kearny, after crossing the mountains, stood there and made an address to the Mexican people. There is an ancient church with a rude cross in front. A large singular looking three-story building also attracts the atten- tion of the visitor. This is a hotel evidently of a rather primitive pattern. A certain witty traveller once stopped here, and the landlord assured him that he had slept in the same bed which, centuries ago, had been occupied by Mon- tezuma. In a burst of confidence the landlord also added that he intended soon to put an additional story on the structure. " I told him," said the traveller, " that he 'd better put a new story on the kitchen, and another coat of whitewash on those slats I skpt on." The weather in this section was warm, almost summer- like. As we receded from the country we had just been visiting, we looked back and saw the snow-capped moun- tains to the north of us, in the distance. As we journeyed to the south their towering icy peaks gradually grew smaller and smaller, and when we finally gained a complete entrance into the Southern land, they seemed like mere specks on the horizon. At Lamy, where we arrived about two o'clock, we left the main line and ran up to Santa Fe, reaching the quaint old city in a little over an hour. Our party there divided, some taking ':arriages and others walking, and started out to see the town. The most enthusiastic 1 ■'t\ O/d Front of the San Miguel Church, -' ' Sa7tta be. }'--'/. .'lA- (- ' 1 ' 1 t 'if I f 1 1 1 iVJi Santa Fk. 25 traveller would not call it a very inspiring place. The evidences of extreme poverty, dirt, and squalor were met with on every side, and these the bright sun and genial climate seemed rather to enhance than to modify. Pov- erty, when seen in some portions of a tropical climate, is neither sad nor disheartening, but there was something about the appearance of the poor of this town that was peculiarly depressing to the visitor. In a large public square we noticed a number of improvements being made by a gang of convicts, who were guarded by keepers stationed around the fences, seated on boxes or other improvised seats, each one with a heavy Winchester rifle across his lap. While in this part of the country we cannot fail to recall the fact that in 1527 a Spaniard, landing in what is now Florida, made an overland journey which occupied h.m nine years, passing through the country now known as New Mexico, and finally reached the City of Mexico. We have already alluded to the enterprising soldier and explorer, Z. M. Pike, who did much to start the profitable trade over what for years has been known as the Santa Fe Trail. This old town, and the settlement adjacent to it had, up to that time, been dependent upon Mexico for the various supplies they needed. Four men who started in 18.2. animated by the spirit of commercial enterprise, reached Santa Fe in safety, but they did not get back home until nine years later, having been im- prisoned on some pretext or other. In the following year, however-i8i3,-the famous Santa Fe Trail was really opened. It is about eight hundred miles i,. .ength 26 California and Alaska. .1. \ h bin I and remains very much to-day as it was half a century ago, when the necessities of commercial intercourse led to its being opened. The first traders used mules or pack-horses in carrying their merchandise, and it was not until 1824 that it was deemed advisable to employ wagons in the trafific. After this method of transportation was introduced, the amount of trade increased wonderfully. The initial points were towns on the Missouri River, about )ne hundred and fifty miles west of St. Louis. What a motley group of char- acters must have gathered at these centres in the early days of travel across the plains ! Of course there were traders, adventurers, plenty of that class of men who have failed in nearly every undertaking, and who may be called "the misfits" of life; there were young men who came from the East to the new country, ready to take their chances in almost any kind of speculation ; and there were old men who thought, as their lives were going out toward the setting sun of existence, their fortunes might as Avell tend in the same direction, and, singular to say, there were many invalids who believed that this rough journey across the plains, with its open-air life and excitement, might be to them a means of regaining the health they had lost. The quaint wagons, or " schooners," as they came to be called, were at first drawn by horses, then mules, and finally by mules and oxen. A party or caravan would number about one hundred wagons, and would be divided into four equal sections, each in charge of some responsi- ble man. At night the caravan would come to a halt, form a hollow square, and each member, in turn, would be Santa Fe. 27 obliged to mount guard. If these lay soldiers could have stood up together, the sight of them would surely have furnished a greater fund of amusement than I-alstaff's ragged band of warriors, for here were men representing not only all degrees of fortune, but all the leading nation- alities, some of them, during their midnight vigils, as brave and tempestuous as the lion-hearted Richard?others exhibiting the amusing cowardice of Bob Acres. In addition to the merchandise, each wagon carried a good supply of staples, flour, sugar, coffee, and bacon ; for fresh meat they depended upon killing buffaloes along the route. One of the most interesting things we saw as we came down the Raton Range through a pleasant valley, was the large " Maxwell Grant," representing one and three-quarter million acres. While we were passing through this section, we saw thousands and thousands of cattle roaming about,' and twice during the day our train ran into a number of them that had broken through the wire fence, unfortu- nately killing a few of the poor creatures each time. It was a strange sight, also, to see beautiful antelope occa- sionally dart up close to the track, and then scamper away at the sound of the locomotive whistle. ^ Our journey over the Atchison, Topeka. and Santa Fe road we found very interesting on account of the beautiful scenery along the route. The mechanical and working condition of the road, also, was far better than we had expected to find it. Its motive power is certainly equal to that of any road in the Eastern States, and, as far as could be seen, it is kept in perfect repair. 28 California and Alaska. A word or two about our domestic life upon the train, to which, by this time, we had become thorouj^hly accus- tomed. It certainly seemed strange to us, while travellinj^ throu_t,di a wild and desolate country, to listen to the notes of the piano in the buffet-car which we found the pleasant- est of lounging places, as we spent nearly every evening after dinner there singing and playing, the ladies generally retiring about ten, the rest of the party about eleven, after talking over what we had seen during the day. It was a long journey for children to undertake, but they remained perfectly well, and it was surprising to see how (juickly the little ones became used to the motion of the train. For two or three days after we started, it was a matter of considerable difficulty for them to maintain their equilibrium in their journeys about the car ; this was particularly the case with the baby. They had many a fall, which, however, in the e.xcitement of the journey, they took with much good-nature, and it was not long before they could navigate about their swift-moving nursery with as much confidence as the oldest railroad conductor on the road. It was a matter of great good-fortune to us that we brought the dining-room car, for there was scarcely a meal at which there were not present one or two guests. On various divisions of the roads we travelled over, we enter- tained the officials who showed us so much courtesy, and it would have been utterly impossible to have cooked for such a large party in the kitchen of either the " Ellsmere " or the " Mariquita." We found, too, that our stores held out well, which was a matter to be thankful for, as it would Santa Fc. 29 have been very difficult, in fact impossible, to get some of them in the sparsely settled country through which we passed. We received telegrams from home every day, and were thus kept en rapport with the domestic scenes we had left, and we were careful to send dispatches (,uite as often to the members of our respective families. CHAPTRU VI. SANTA MONICA. V ih H H ih-^ I I: OWING to some inisiinclcrslaiidintf, \vc were ilc- laycd in ^rcttinj^ a crew on tlu; Atlantic and Pacific Railroad, and lost considerable time on this account. This was the only road we had been over which did not provide a division superintendent to call attention to the scenery and point out the objects of interest. The country was Hat, and deserted-looking, and the train meandered throui^h it over a poor road-bed at a slow rate of speed. As we came over the Arizona divide down to the Colorado River, the scenery was very fine. When we crossed Canon Diablo, the gruesome remem- brance came to us that but two weeks before that time a train was "held up" by robbers. While singing hymns on Sunday evening, at a station where the train stopped to take water, an old resident of the neighborhood came to our buffet-car, the door of which had been left open on account of the heat. He received a pleasant greeting, and apologized for his intrusion by saying that he wanted to hear us sing the hymns and play the piano, as the music was something he never heard out 30 Santa Monica, 31 there ; it was thirty years sinci- he had been in any part of the country where reh'jrjous times wen- sunj,r. The scenery near a point called l'la.i,r Staff was very peculiar and different from any thing we had seen on this road thus far. An hour or so before reaclnnj,. this point, we entered a iarg^e grove of yellow pine-trees throu.^h which we rode until we reached the station mentionc^d. We passed through the Mojave Desert early on the morn- ing of Monday. April 15th ; as there was a very heavy dew the night before, we fortunately did not suffer from the dust to any extent. This desert must truly be a terrible place to pass through on a hot summer's day. With the excep- tion of the stubbly cactus, not a particle of vegetation of any kind can be seen as far as the eye can reach. On our arrival at Harstow, the ofificials of the California Central Railroad gave our train a fine run over the San Bernardino Mountains. In the high altitudes which we traversed we passed through snow near the summits of the hilltops ; then, coming down the mountain (the grade being one hundred and ninety feet per mile) we gradually entered a beautiful green and fertile valley. The town of San Ber- nardino. which was an old Mormon settlement, is located here, and just before entering it, we passed through an orange grove covered with a wealth of beautiful flowers. T he grass in the fields was growing luxuriantly, and the contrast between the cold and desolation of the mountain heights we had just left and the beautiful valley we were entering was truly remarkable. The whole valley is walked in by bold and precipitous mountains formed of soft, white stone, giving them the 3^ California and Alaska. I ;,R appearanco of white sand. Truit of all kinds grows in abi.ndance, particularly the orange and the lemon. Fro^n S m Bernardino we took the California .Southern road to Los Angeles, passing through Pasadena, cele- brated for its orange and fruit groves ; the temptation to stop here was very great, buL had to be resisted. At Los Angeles the agent of the Central Pacific Railroad Com- pany met our party, present" ig a very kind letter from Mr. Towne, the General Manager, who urged us to make our own plans for travelling over his road, stating that every convenience would be at our command, and adding that we should not hesitate to call upon hira for any servic j we wanted. An engine and crew were placed at our d-jpo'^al immediately with orders to remain with us as long as we required their services. We left at once for Santa Monica, a charming water: •> :- place on the coast out a few miles distant. It was here i .'>i we obtained our first view of the Pacific Ocean, the sight of which served to remind us more strongly than could a glance at our itinerary of the vast amount of territory we had covered ; for it wcis only nine days before this that we had left the Grand Central Depot in New York, and felt the warm hand-prcssu/e of our fri(inds Vv'ho had bade us good-bye. Considering the number of nights we did not travel, and the number of days spent in visiting different points of interest, the trip had been truly remark- able. We had cause to be chankful, also, that there hod been no accidents of any importance, and that all our party were in the enjoyment of perfect health. Every part of our train, up to this timi', stood the trip ren-.arkably well. Son//, Pascn/r;,'<7, Sierra Madre Mouii- id ins, and Raymojid I lot el. \ji r pi n ['Hi ; ' F i i\ ; 11 f: \::i I'i 11 a i Santa Monica, with the exception of the brake shoes, the wear upon which was so severe coming over the Raton Range, that they had to be renewed later on. On our arrival at the sea-coast the children expressed their joy by scampering on the beach, and one of our party visited the swimming-baths in the vicinity. The air was delightful, and blossoming roses and flowers could be seen in the beautiful garden in front of the hotel. Santa Monica, though a small town, is beautifully located, and has been called the Long Branch of the Pacific coast. Its population is very largely increased during the summer months. The hotel, a magnificent l)udding, standing against a mountain side, is owned by the railroad company. The upper stories ope., upon the bluff, and the lower floors upon the beach. During our stop here our train stood on a platform overhanging the Pacific Ocean at the edge of the bluff. We remainedliere until after dark. The night was clear, and the moon shone l)nghtly over the waves as the)- chased each other toward th(- beach. The landscape was beautiful, and recalled those lines of " The Culprit Fay " : 'l' is the middle watch of a summer night, The earth is (hirk. but the heavens an' 1)ri'i;l,t, Naught is seen in the vault on high Hut the moon, and the stars, and the cloudless sky. And the flood that rolls its milky hue, A river of light on the welkin blue. What might have been a serious accident aroused our party cjuite early the following morning ; a servant notified us that the dining-car was on fire, and the: crew could i m !'■ f in I 34 Califoniia and Alaska. not put it out. The fire extinguishers had been used, but not with entire success. It was not until a portion of the roof, wliich was discovered to be very hot, had been cut througli that the tlames burst through the aperture. The fire raged with considerable violence, but was quickly extinguished when once the source of the trouble had been found. The accident was caused by the use of soft coal in the kitchen range. We left Santa Monica at eight o'clock in the morn- ing ;ind arrived at Los Angeles after about an hour's ride. . C-,--i T/ie Palms of Clenannie. 'M^' ^v. W'^:' l-''-X'TS, '^^ :.^'^ ■,f-:r /fT^'V r ■ ; ^ i I,- » tH\ If! ' \' ■i-'\'-\, p 1: CIIAPTi;i< VII. LOS ANGELES. ON reaching Los Angeles, a number of mechanics, who were in waiting, promptly repaired the damage to our car, and the part)' went to a hotel for lunch, Los Angeles is the oldest and largest city in Southern California. It is situated in a narrow valley, on a river named after the town, and is about twenty-two miles from the sea. Along the banks of this river, for miles, are vineyards and orange groves, which are the pride of the place. The town has grown wonderfully during the past few years, on account of its reputation as a health resort. Here and there may be seen one-story houses, built in the Spanish style, their flat roofs covered with asphaltum, which abounds in the neighborhood. There is a rich tin mine at Temescal, about sixty miles distant, and the San Gabriel placer gold mines lie about twenty miles to the northeast. The business portion of Los Angeles is quite hand- some, and it is only in the American portion of the town that the streets are laid out with that painful regularity 35 li! I le^" Los Angeles. 37 cuttings from ten to fifteen inches long, the slips being put into the ground perpcndiruhirly aljout six or eight inches apart. The trees bear in four or five years, but they do not prockice a full crop until they are ten or twelve years old ; they continue to yield, however, until they are very old. Trees that are threescore and ten years old will bear one hundred gallons of olives ; the average yield is about twenty-five gallons per tree, i' the olive is to be pickled, it is gathered before it is ripe ; we get the phrase " olive-green " from the looks of the fruit at this time, for when ripe it has a maroon color, and looks very much like a damson plum. When the unripe fruit is gathered it is placed in tight barrels or casks, through which water is allowed to percolate ; then iv is put in strong brine, and is read)' for use in a few days. The methods for manu- facturing the oil are being improved upon every few years, and, even in their crude state, were an advance on the old Jewish plan, which seems to have been to tread out the oil with the feet. Seventy trees to the acre should yield about one thousand four hundred gallons of berries, and twenty gallons of berries yield about three gallons of oil, which is worth from four to five dollars per gallon, wholesale. California olives are sad ,o be better than the foreign fruit, because they have m'jre sunshine and a richer soil. An olive orchard will yielil about nine hundrecl dollars gross per acre. There is one old olive-tree near Santa Barbara that is thirty years old, and that lias yielded forty- eight dollars' worth of oil for several years in succession. A grove of old olive-trees, which was planted by Spanish \ ; " \]k 1 \l '% li 38 California and Alaska . missionaries, seventy years ago, is still a source of income to its owner. It is said that the largest grape-vine in the world grows about three miles from Santa Barbara, and a pleasant story is told about how it came to be planted. At the end of the last century a young Spanish lady started from Sonora on horseback to visit the country in question. Just before leaving, her lover broke from a neighboring grape-vine a branch, telling her to use it for a riding-whip. When the young woman arrived at the end of her journey, being of a more sensible turn of mind than most young people passing through the sentimental stage of life, and wishing to preserve the gift of her lover, she planted the slip in the ground. The vine, according to the story, appears to have been quite as thrifty as the far- famed bean-stalk we heard about in our childhood, for it attained immeiise proportions, and astonished the natives. The trunk is four feet four inches in circumfer- ence. After reaching the height of eight feet from the ground it sends out its branches, which are trained on hori.'.ontal trellises supported by posts ; so that the vine which started from a riding-whip is made to cover an area of five thousand square feet. Its annual yield for manj' years has been from ten to twelve thousand pounds of grapes. By a singular coincidence, a fig-tree grows near by, over which a portion of the vine extends, so that literally the owner of this vircyard could sit down under her own vine and fig-tree. The lady died when she was one hundred and thirteen years old. Much of the past beauty of this vine was destroyed when a portion of it was sent to the Centennial E.xhibition a few years ago. I !:!• Street ilezv in Los An^ele, ngeles. 11 1 1 •> I Hi H\ Los Angeles. 39 It would have been pleasant, if we could have spared the time, to have remained longer in this section, one of the most interesting parts of the State. Southern Cali- fornia includes seven counties : San Diego, San Bernar- dino, Los Angeles, Ventura, Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, and Kern. These counties contain about fifty thousand square miles, more than thirty million acres of land, and represent nearly one third of the territory of the whole State. San Diego, the farthest county to the south, is large enough to be a principality. Gold was found in the Isabella Mountains, forty-two miles northeast of the town of San Diego, in 1870, but the ore did not turn out to be very rich. Twelve miles from the town, which is five hundred miles from .San Francisco, and twenty-five from Los Angeles, a stone monument, erected by the government, indicates where the territory of the I'nited States ends and that of Mexico begins. San Bernardino County, the larg:;st in the .State, consists in a great measure of dry and destri Is!''- valleys, and inaccessible mountains. As already stated, there was a Mormon settlement here in 1847, but it was abandoned by those people in 1856, when they went to Salt Lake City. What Southern California can do for the industrious immigrant is illustrated in the settlement called Anaheim, located twenty mi'es south of Los Angeles. This place was founded by an association of Germans in 1857 ; the land, consisting of eleven hundred acres, being divided into fif'.y lots of twenty acres each, havi.ig a space in the centre for local improvements. The party, at the outset, consisted of fifty members, all Germans, of difTerent occu- pations and persuasions. The land was a barren plain. 40 California and Alaska. ! I and cost two dollars per acre. The lots wert- fenced by plantin_i,r willows, sycamores, and poplars, and one half of each lot was set out in yrape-vines. For three years Indians and Mexicans were hired to do the work, the stockholders pursuintj their regular vocations at home. An irrigating canal seven miles long was excavated, to- gether with subsidiary ditches, thus securing the thorough irrigation of the whole tract. In i860 the assessments were all paid in, the lots were assigned in a drawing, and the owners took possession and went to work. Ten years later a million grape-vines were growing, most of them bearing fruit, and there were ten thousand fruit-trees on the place. The population numbered four hundred, and the village contained a public school, a post-office, and a church. ^:^^^^p::mM^ CHAPTKR VIII. MONTEREY. WH left Los An.t,reles at tliree o'clock on the afternoon of April ,6th, making a pleasant run to Mojave. where we passed the re^rular passenger train on its way to San Francisco. It" was a beautiful, clear moonlight night, and the scenery, com- ing down the mountain, was so magnificent, that we regretted we had not started three hours earlier. The weather was so warm that we could keep the car doors open, and sit in the observation-room in the rear of the train, all lights having been put- out. The odor and freshness of the vegetation, as we passed throucdi the valleys, was something exquisite, and long to be remembered. With the beauty of the night, the ma.^- n.ficent scenery, and the fragrant exhalations from tire surroundmg country, the hour was very late before we retired. When we awoke in the morning, about half-past six o clock, .t was in the middle of one of the most beautiful and luxuriant valleys we had ever seen. We had read much about the beauties of California, but the richness 6 ' 41 V 42 Calif oniia and Alaska. f J '-■ ■ •111 the; luxuriance, tin: boundless wealth 1 I On the Coast, near A4onierey. i,- . ''.% ■ .^iV -■■ ■ .-:^-' .■!/-■-,,.■■ -v- , >■ ; V CHAPTER IX. THE MISSIONS. NO record of a journey in the far western section of the United States would be complete without some account of the famous Spanish missions. In the State of California alone there are about fifty towns whose names bear the prefix of the Spanish word San, equivalent to saint. That there is a religious or, at all events, an ecclesiastical significance attached to these settlements, will be apparent at once. The story of these missions is exceedingly interesting, and yet remains to be written with the fulness and accuracy the subject deserves. A few years before his death, our poet Longfellow, in acknowledging the receipt of a monograph on this subject of the missions, wrote to the giver, a resident of Cali- fornia : "A strange feeling of romance hovers about those old Spanish missions of California, difficult to de- fine, and difficult to escape. They add much to the poetic atmosphere of the Pacific coast." The first permanent mission in California was founded at Loretto, in 1697. From that point, Christianity gradu- ally extended to the north, stations were established at ! -{-i 52 California and Alaska. different points, and efforts made to christianize the Indians. The missionaries were frequently attaclced by the red men, and the progress that was made was accom- panied by considerable loss of life. Later on, the Jesuits came to this section, but met with a very poor reception, until, at last, every Jesuit in the State was carried off a prisoner. These Jesuits were replaced by I'Vanciscan monks, who always travelled in parlies of twelve. A party of them reached Loretto, which was then the centre of the mission work, in i 768. By order of the Mexican Government, three missions were founded in Upper Cali- fornia — one at San Carlos de Monterey in the north, another at San Diego in the south, and a third at San Bonaventura in the middle district. The expedition started out in three divisions, one by land, and two by sea. The mission of San Diego was founded on the i6th of July, 1769, on the banks of the stream of that name. The native Indians were apparently friendly, and every thing seemed to promise success. No sooner, however, had the missionaries erected two houses and a chapel, and were congratulating themselves on the prospective success of their undertaking, than the Indians commenced depre- dations. The door of the priest's dwelling was only a mat, and before they could resist their assailants, four or five of the inmates were wounded. Not long after this, however, amicable relations were established with the natives. This was the first of the series of missions which were established along the coast. The new settlement WL. placed under the tutelary guardianship of the patron saint of the Franciscans, San Diego, the Spanish for St. .;_..,.,. I'.'IVII/AG Mission of San Luis Rey, Cal. Proof liy C. y. Tl.'A'UJ.w 54 California and Alaska. as a relic of paganism, where it was also tolerated, but not approved. There is an anecdote told by a Spanish writer about the attempt of an archbishop to prohibit this dancing as sacrilegious. This raised such a tumult among the people that the Archbishop appealed to the Pope. The Pope ordered that the boys and girls should be brought to Rome in order that he might see them dance. After he had witnessed the performance, he laughingly ordered that they should be allowed to dance until the clothes they had on were worn out. The young people took the hint, and shrewdly saw to it that their clothes were always renewed piecemeal, so as never to be really new, and thus, according to the Pope's decision, the dancing was allowed to go on without direct slight to the Archbishop's scruples. Generally speaking, what maybe called the mission era in California began in 1769 and lasted until 1823. Be- tween those years tvvrenty-one missions were established, extending from San Diego in the south, to San Rafael an 1 Sonoma north of San Francisco. The mission o\ San Francisco was started in a rustic chapel in 1/76, and the coimtry around the bay was explored by the missionaries. Most of the missions were laid out in the form of a hollow square ; the enclosing wall of adobe bricks was twelve feet high and three hundred feet in length, on each side. A rectangular building, eighty or ninety yards in front, and about as deep, composed the mission. In one end w;)s the church and parsonage. The interior was a large and beautiful court, adorned with trees and foun- tains, surrounded by galleries, on which opened the rooms "■7.^1*" Mission of Santa Barhaj-a- lliiiiding. ■/ I ! I ■ I ■ 4 '^1 fx, I ii; W 4-4 Mission oj Santa Barbara The Gar den. '$". H S i fi^.-'.t^ .r .-Ml. ,-,.tl^-< 'li-:-.,: .Jo: J. ^j^,,; ^.Wfc I i * I 111 N ■I It: I f i I '?> l»i I i I li i J The Missions. 55 of the missionaries, stewards, and travellers, the shops, schools, store-rooms, and granary. In fact, the mission was at once a religious station, a fortress, and a town, A population was gathered around this centre, sometimes by persuasion, and sometimes by a show of force, and the people were taught to construct habitations outside the walls, and instructed in the various arts of peace and civil- ization. These small communities prospered for fifty years ; they were havens of rest during the peaceful and pastoral days of California. Connected with the mission was a building called the monastery, where Indian girls were taught by native women spinning and weaving, and other duties peculiar to their sex. The boys were taught trades, and those who showed excellence, were promoted to the rank of chiefs, thus giving a dignity to labor and an impulse to exertion. Each mission was directed by two friars, one of whom took charge of the religious instruction, while the other was the superintendent of the outside labors. It is sur- prising, considering the small facilities at hand, how much these missionaries accomplished in agriculture, architec- ture, and mechanics. They built mills, machines, bridges, roads, canals for irrigation, and succeeded, even in that early day, in transforming hostile and indolent savages into industrious carpenters, masons, coopers, saddlers, shoemakers, weavers, stone-cutters, brick-makers, and lime-burners. A United States commissioner (Bartlett) has borne testimony to the good work done at that time. "Five thousand Indians," he says, "were, at one iime, collected at the mission of San Gabriel. They are repre- i: w s: ■ 'I I I il ' I T n 56 Calif oniia and Alaska. scnted to have W-xtn sober and industrious, well clothed and fed ; and seem to have experienced as hij^h a state of happiness as they are adapted by Nature to receive. They began to learn some of the fundamental principles of civilized life. The institution of marriage began to be respected, and, blessed by the rites of religion, grew to be so much considered, that deviations from its duties were somewhat infrequent occurrences." In 1834 the property of the missions was secularized, and they rapidly decayed. In 1846 they were taken by the United States, and in 1847 they had a population of 450. At the mission of San Gabriel, at this time, excellent wine was being produced, and ships loaded with the products of the mission sailed regularly for Lima and San Bias. The missions collectively contained 30,650 Indians, 424,- ooc> head of cattle, 62,500 horses, 322,000 sheep, and raised annually i 23,000 bushels of wheat and maize. This prop- erty, under the direction of the government, was handed over to the authorities, who allotted some to each family. The missionaries were allowed rations for their support. The civil war, the discovery of gold, which drew a new population to the country, and the disappearance of the Indians to the mountains and forests, led to the dissolution of the missions, as they were originally established. We resume the story of our journey. On the evening of April 2 2d, an agent of the Yosemite stage line came from San Francisco to Monterey, for the purpose of mak- ing final arrangements for our trip to the far-famed valle)-. It was planned that we should have special stages all the way in and out, with the probability of making the return Old Mission Church, near Monterey l»i I 1 "^'^ 1^ I JJ m ', ';': ! -. ti Mission of San Carlos, near Monterey. I 1> I i - i M f'HM '-''' . .,.,„™-k ^.^J^^^l 91 ■' ^^^^^^^B^^ iv i, ■ ■■■* i ■ ' Pi- ■'-"•'*'-V.'?^J M L^-s 1 -"' •■ ' 1 k ^^- ■ :^'\.^^ ■■■a. -■»»•■' #>^^ "Pj- ' l '^i;^: .. V ^ .-_- lI H: ' ^H ^H ^ -/ ■ ' ^> : ) mM 1 J I I •I I' 1/ ^■ ! u II The Missions. 57 journey from the Yosemite in one day. This trip has never before been made in a shorter time. The followino- morning, the 23d, we took our bath a little earHer than usual, and gathered our things together preparatory to leaving on the two-o'clock train. We came as far as San Jose on the regular train. A special engine met us at this place and took the car " Ells- mere " through to Oakland. The rest of our train had been left at Monterey, with all the crew, except George de Barr, our chief steward, Armstrong, and our cook, Scotty. We arrived at Oakland about six o'clock. This is the principal town on the eastern shore of San hVancisco Bay, almost directly opposite the "Golden City" itself. The city owes its name to its magnificent gro cs of live oaks in which it was originally built, but it has now grown far be- yond their limits. These trees are not merely ornamental, but subserve a useful purjjose for parts of the town, in screening them from the fierce winds which come through the gap of the Golden Gate in the summer months, and to the force of which Oakland is especially exposed. The University of California is located here, and consists of various colleges devoted to arts, letters, and professional life. The drives around the city are very beautiful, quite equnl to those of San Francisco, and good roads penetrate the surrounding country in every direction. At Oakland Point, two miles from the city, there ;s an immense iron pier over the bay to the ferry-boat, which conveys i)assengers and freight to the cit)- of San Francisco. This wonderful pier, or rather wharf, is on the east side of San Fianciso, ant is eleven thousand t^ . r /I 58 California and Alaska. feet long, running out to a depth of twenty-four feet at low tide, and of thirty-one feet at high tide. Upon its last thousand feet it has twelve railroad tracks, a wide carriage- way, a passenger depot and railroad offices, ware-houses, and outside storage for forty thousand tons of grain or other merchandise, and three large docks, one of which affords ample space for five of the largest steamers or clippers afloat. The piles used, where the water deepens, arc sixty-five feet long, and are forty-two to fifty-four inches in circumference. The main wharf is eight hundred feet wide at the extreme or western end, and on it are pens for five hundred cattle, two immense warehouses, and a large passenger depot. At Oakland we were met by Mr. Curtis, Mr. Towne's assistant general manager, who Took us over to San Fran- cisco, where we all had dinner at the Cafe Riche. After dinner we walked back to the boat, and took the 9. 15 train for the south. As our train was leaving the depot, an officer on the staff of General Miles, commanding the Department of the Pacific, presented us with the General's card, saying that he hoped we would notify him of our return to the city, in order that he might render some service to make our stay in San Francisco agreeable. We reached Berenda about four o'clock on the mornine of April 24th, then took a branch line to Raymond, arriv- ing there about three hours afterwards. After breakfast we took a four-horse stage and started for Wawona, which is sometimes called Clark's. We had dinner at a half-way station called Grant's. The drive was exceedingly inter- esting from the manner in which the driver managed his horses, and also on account of the kind of horses used for this work. We changed horses seven times between Ray- .aifU^f-'^-.^-S i^MJi.^ ...■»■ i^'Vs^tV, // i'arm Team 'near the Mission, Monterey % f iff ill I..I ;i X i: i n TJie Missiojis. 59 mond and Wawona, t.'acli chanj^c consisting of four horses. It was surprising to sec what wiry beasts they were, and what an immense aiiount of work they could accomplisli. Our slioriest drive between the changes was six miles. On this we hail four half-wild, wiry, Nevatla ponies, roans, and they literally ran all the distance. Their speed was so great that we were very much concerned lest they should run away entirely ; but we were fortunate in having an expert driver to go over the route with us. The man- ner in which the stage would whirl around corners and dash down hills was quite appalling, and made the remem- brance of past experiences in the Catskills and the White Mountains seem tame, almost uninteresting. But all this rapid driving was done with good judgment. The brakes were tightly applietl to the wheels when occasion required, the effect being to bind the running-gear and the body of the vehicle together, thus preventing any swaying niotion and any possibility of upsetting. When night came we all felt fatigued, and, after a short walk, retired early, in order to be prepared for a timely start on the following morning. (. ! W CHAPTRR X. THE YOSEMITE VALLEY. N the morninjT of the 25th of April we rose at five o'clock, and, after a hurried breakfast, started, with a light wagon and four horses, to see the Big Trees. Two members of our party, Mr. and Mrs. Purdy, did not accompany us on this trip, as they had visited the scene about three years ago. The Big Trees are certainly one of the most remarkable features of California scenery. No other one of the natural curiosities of the Pacific States has become so widely known as these trees. They were discovered in 1852, and at once became famous over the world, more particularly on account of the exag- gerated statements in regard to their size and age. There are several groves of them, such as the Calaveras, the Mariposa, the South Grove, the Frezno Grove, and prob- eo ■ h ■J. ,• •i'-x Mariposa Grove— Big Trees. !* ^ : W I t |i t ! I ■■ i ' h u] If' The Yo Semite Valley. 6i ably many others not yet discovered. Although the name of " I. M. Wooster, 1850," is carved on one of these trees, it was not till 1852 that a hunter, by the name of Dowd, having wounded a bear, while pursuing his calling in these parts, really discovered them. He was following up the wounded animal, when he came to a group of these monsters of the forest. In his wonder at the sight he forgot all about pursuing the bear, and cpiickly returned to his camp, where he told his companions of v/hat he had seen. His storv was received with shouts of lauuditer and derision. Wishing to prove the truthfulness of his tale, a few days afterwards he told his companions that he had shot a big grizzly bear up in the mountains, and requested their help to get the beast. The party started off, Dowd leading the way over the path he had followed a f(>w days before, until, finally, he brought them face to face with tlie Big Trees ; they saw at once that, though he had deceived them about the bear, he had not been guilty of exaggeration in regard to the trees. So it appears that, though Wooster, whose identity never seems to have been established, may have first discovered them, Dowd, the hunter, was the first to make them known to the world. These trees have been seen by visitors from all parts of the world, and have been viewed with feelings of awe and wonder. The Cala\eras Grove is five miles long, and, by some travellers, is considered the most desirable to visit ; but we think the majority of sight-seers would prefer tha Mariposa Grove, as the Calaveras has lost much of its primitive condition — as one man says, " has \\ 62 California and Alaska. been converted into somethinsj^ like a tea-jj^arclen" — while the former remains in its original state. The Mariposa Grove is also regarded as being the most attractive, because here the trees are greater in diameter and much more num(^rous. There are four hundred and twenty- seven of them in the grove, varying in size from twenty to thirty-four feet in diameter, and from two hundred and seventy-five to three hundred and twenty-five feet in height. Botanically speaking, they are of the Sequoia gigantca species. There seems to be a belt of them running along the slopes of the Sierras, about four or five thousand feet above the sea level, and as far south as Visalia. They are so plentiful near that place that they are saw^ed up and used for lumber. In the same neigh- borhood, the Indians report a tree far in the forest, which is said to surpass in grandeur any tree of the kind that has ever been seen ; so far, no white man has ever beheld it. The leaf of the Sequoia gis;aii(ca is very much like that of the Arbor-vilec, the bark is soft and very spongy, and of a light-brown color; on all the largest trees it measures from twenty to thirty-two inches in thickness. This species grows on mountain slopes and is watered by the springs that come down the hill-sides, and wliich are filled with particles of fertilizing rocks and the ilecayed vegetation of centuries. I'or six months in the year it is warmed by a tropical sun and refreshed b) the balmy air of the Pacific ; in winter its roots have a warm covering of snow, and it is said, of some of these trees at least, that the ground never freezes beneath them. In fact, they have got nothing to do but to grow, and it is interesting to 'I hi Capitan, Yosemite Valley. \m-\ n r f^ ^ m The Yosemite Valley. 63 note that this species is not wearing out, for young trees can be seen growing vigorously. We say young trees, meaning about four hundred years old, because the monsters themselves are over two thousand years old. One of the largest of these is the Grizzly Giant ; it is one hundred and seven feet in circumference, and in the thickest place thirty-four feet in diameter. The first branch is nearly two hundred feet from the ground, and is eight feet in diameter. The writer took a num- ber of photographs of these trees and several views in the immediate neighborhood ; from these the illustra- tions which appear in this book were made. Most of the large trees have special names attached to them. Many are named after the States, others are named after cele- brated men, such as Longfellow, Lincoln, Grant, Ferdinand de Lesseps, George Washington, Daniel Webster, W. H. Seward, and Andrew Johnson. It seems a little incon- gruous that the names of these modern celebrities should be attached to trees whose chief claim to recognition, aside from their size, is their great age — trees that existed before Titus besieged Jerusalem, which were the contemporaries of an Attila or a Constantine, and which bid fair to live when the names they bear shall have faded into oblivion. Incongruous though it may be, however, it is gratifying that the names they bear arc those of Americans. The pertinence of this remark will appear, when I mention that the first British botanist who saw the trees, had the monumental assurance to christen them Wcllingtonia, although years before they had received the name of Washingtonia. British botanists still call the trees :) F i> wlMWini^,Mi*m 64 Califoniia and Alaskn. ]Vcllius;tonia, and will probably continue to do so for their own satisfaction. Probably a ([uartcr of the trees in all the groves arc over twenty-five feet in diameter ; the stump of one of them, thirty-two feet in diameter, has a house built over it. Five men worked twenty-five days with pump-augurs before they could cut it down. The stump is cut five feet from the ground, and a party of thirty-two have danced on it at once, not counting the musicians and spectators, who filled up i)art of the space. Twenty feet in length of this log would make forty-nine thousand feet of boards, which would Ijc worth s(;veral thousand dollars. One of the trees has been tunnelled, and a road built throuafh it, so that coaches can drive inside. When stand- ing underneath it the leaders' heads arc just outside the arch of the tree at one end, while the end of the coach is just outside the arch at the other. This, perhaps, will give a better idea of the enormous diameter of these trees than any arithmetical statements. The width of the opening throuiih this tree is sufficient to allow two statjcs to pass each other inside the tree. The Taithful Couple is about twenty-eight feet in diameter, reaches seventy feet out of the ground, and forms into two trees on one stem ; the faithful couple of trees having, in reality, but one life, a kind of Siamese-twins existence and being but one. The only tree which approaches the Scquoin in size and gran- deur is the Eucalyptus of Australia, which is from eighty to ninety feet in circumference. After we had gratified our curiosity with regard to the Big Trees, we returned to Wawona, where we took another ,-^ "■■ ;*■# ;*v ;'.{•'■',.' Dead Giant, TtLoliuniic Grove— Diarnctcr, 30 ft. S in. ^% ^, .s^„ ^. IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (AAT-3) /. ^/ 1.0 I.I 1.25 2.5 1^128 .50 ■^" t 1^ 12.0 2.2 i.8 1.4 V] ^% /] /: y /^ Photographic Sciences Corporation 33 >>EiT MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. MSSO (716) 873-4503 ^ s r-i;!,,.; ••' ! ,v iia-"'*!,n , i"»;i'-- ,i :inr;>;. ;j^i!. ;>, ,■! -; vvi) ' ; 1' i>iV-il ■■-!i\<- lj\ s w el, i.';i(ir|,-.i!! ■ .1 1 ^^-..'^V ^U -i^^ ^ i*^/,; '■}( % m The Yosemitc Valley. 65 stage and a fresh set of horses and started at once for the valley. On this drive we had three changes of horses and the scenery was simply grand. The ride was rather a rough one, but the views to be obtained were well worth the cost of the journey. We alighted from our coach at the world-rcnowntd Inspiration Point, which is a little green plateau, about twenty feet square, on the very verge of the southwest wall of the valley. The view from this situation, once seen, can never be forgotten. It embraces what might be called the whole gamut of the natural and magnificent ; you see mountains, rock, perpen- dicular ledge, towering spires thousands of feet high, snow- clad mountains, bald peaks peering into the blue vault of heaven, barren domes of gray granite, water-falls, cascades, and brooks, green fields, and winding streams, — the whole Yosemfte is here seen at one glance. There was a shelv- ing rock, upon which we were instructed to creep cautiously to the edge. It is no wonder that the first glance makes some weak persons giddy, especially when they are ex- hausted by the long ride. The beauty c.f the scene is indescribable in words ; the experience might be compared to a person looking over the edge of a grand cyclorama, executed on a magnificent scale, containing all manner of natural effects, and absolutely perfect in artistic execution. The party were particularly impressed with El Capitan, which is, indeed, the most prominent attraction to the eye when coming down the mountain-side into the valley. This mountain, called, in English, the Great Chief of the Valley, although not so high, by several thousand feet, as some of its giant neighbors, is remarkable on account of 9 66 California and Alaska. \\ 1 ^k its isolation, its breadth, its perpendicular sides, its bold, defiant shape, and its prominence as it stands out like a great rock promontory. It is three thousand three hun- dred feet in height, and the beholder stands in mute aston- ishment as he views its massive proportions. The Yosemite Valley was discovered in the spring of 1 85 1, by a party under the command of Major James Savage, who, at the time, was pursuing a number of preda- tory Indians, who made it their stronghold, considering it inaccessible to the whites. The name Yosemite was given to it in the belief that it was the Indian term for grizzly bear. The valley proper can hardly be called a valley ; it is in reality a rift in the earth's surface. It may be described as a chasm, varying in width from one mile to ninety feet, with granite walls from one thousand to four thousand feet high. Masses ot detached rock stand, in their soli- tude, like giant obelisks ; others have been split from top to bottom as though by a thunder-bolt. Through the windings of the valley Hows a river, cold as ice and clear as crystal, its source apparently being from the clouds above. There is luxuriant vegetation, and the extreme of barrenness, the softest carpet-moss and grassy lawns, and great ferns and wild roses, alternating with huge scat- tered rocks, where not even the lichen will cling. The traveller will note how the sunbeams brighten the summits of the giant mountains ; how the sunshine creeps down the sides of the cold walls, filling the valley with floods of golden glory, made brighter by the contrast of patches of deep shade, for there are some spots here which the sun never reaches — cold, and damp, and always dripping ; and Yoscvn/c ] alley, fyoiii Artisfs Point. and .y it ska 11 . ■i-:ii.-:Oi\. its bir*-,ui':t» iSA : .,H.f. , M^ -.,!.!. . it iti thrft' viK in i:,U».',.ii. ;is luj vi'rwi> ]t?; massive propnrtio'i'., Th<" N'lj ''inilc Vutloy vv;i> disco ."tr'-d in tht: '-jt'in^ ..j' i>y$\ hy A p4rly' tjdtjts the c«>!i!;n.iiH! u*' Nlii|or liaiits Sa\'age, who a! iIh- tiiii,-, was j>u>'Min!;; ,;; .'i':nishi roi |.-".;wi.i. I" t 1 ^>.;v-. V V ',n'>l' >•; f^' ^^ ^^i ■.iiui ■,:;\'::i n-r-i; .!;'- ' V':i'- -' {•■•">-•[ Ci '^ ;>.•., 'A ':...",< 1-,/ -I ,■ \ ■■■ \\ 'Sis :■ ^^ i'- Pi.'^ . ^'■.t\ "; ■■ ' V: I I - I I, il Ci -••■.) V, ivi AfU rvr-^Jitrr Nv (.!-•: ^ ■.vri-A't ot ,(>!ri.- :,ii'' j ', ;ii-'i ' ' T The Yosemite Valley. 67 there an; },'or^es with arms wide-open, as if forever io court the orb of day. Briefly stated, the chief features of the valley are its perpendicular walls, their j^reat heijjjht as compared with the width of the valley, and the small amount of di'bris formed at the base of these gij^antic mountains of rock. The JLjeneral opinion is that these jjreat mountains of rock have been gradually rent in twain from dome to base by some volcanic action and the chasm thus made widened by further volcanic action to its present width. The valley is one vast flower-garden ; plants, shrubs, and flow- ers of every hue cover the ground like a carpet ; the eye is dazzled by the brilliancy of the color, and the air is heavy with the fragrance of a million blossoms. There are trees of five and six hundred years' growth, of immense height, and yet in comparison with the vast perpendicular clefts of rock they look like daisies beside a sycamore of the forest. One interesting writer on the subject of the Yosemite advances the theory that it is possible that the spot may have been the Eden of Scripture. On the morning of the 26th we all, with the excep- tion of Ur. McLane, left the hotel on horseback for the trail to the top of Glacier Point. This is considered one of the most dangerous trails in the valley. At two or three places half-way up the mountain the wall on one side was actually perpendicular, and the path, not over two feet wide, was held up by .a few small stones, any one of which if loosened would roll thousands of feet below. It was a matter of much concern to us that one of the ladies became very much frightened at this stage of the journey. «• Cali/oniia and Alaska. i> I i If she could hold on to her horse, and retain her senses, we knew that all would hv wirll, because the intelli^'ent animal would not ^o over the cliff. It was utterly im- possible for her escort to be of any assistance, as, at this point, then; was scarcely sufificient space for a rider to stand alonj^side his horse. Before cominj^ to the danj^er- ous |)lace on the homeward journey, the lady dismounted and w.nlked with her companion nearly to the foot of the mountain. California mustangs are the horses used in this kind of service. They feed on oat-straw or moun- tain pasture, and can withstand very hard usaji[e. The Spanish saddle is used, with high peaks before and be- hind ; the stirrups are covered with huge leathers which fall five or six inches below the feet, and the legs are protected by broad leathern shields. On the afternoon of the day we made our trip to Glacier Point some of the party made a trip to Nevada Falls. Dr. McLane and the writer, procured a wagon and drove to the Yosemite Falls, and other points of interest in the valley. The Yosemite Valliy is situated on the Merced River, in the southern portion of the county of Mariposa, one hundred and forty miles a little southeast from San Francisco. At times this river flows along in a grave, respectable sort of fashion, then leaps over a precipice a hundred feet high, or more, then tumbles and foams its way through a devious course around massive rocks as large as a house. .Some- times it hops, skips, and jumps over its rocky bed appar- ently in playful mood ; sometimes its noise is almost deaf- ening, sometimes soft and low and musical to the ear. It Nevada Falls. ^1 * I I ;.i^:i::! ;i 1 . HM^HMT : ./^ I ^m \ ^. -^ -- A B^'^^'' \ *■ 4"' H 7» P5^^' . ^tf-. ~ ^ ,■ : Iil I k The Yo Semite Valley. 71 cascades, that come leaping and dancing down the rocks. Visitors find no difficulty in going up to the very foot of the fall, where they can gaze at its magnificent power, and listen to its stupendous roar, until they are fairly drenched with the spray. The hotel at which we stopped at this point in our journey, although well-built and comfortable in some respects, is as badly kept as any place of the kind we had ever seen. This is very unfortunate, because if it were properly managed the natural surroundings are such that visitors would be tempted to remain several days in the locality, instead of getting through their sight-seeing, and leaving the place as quickly as possible. When travellers first began to come to this section, the " hotels," as they were grandiloquently called, were nothing more than inns, where the accommodations were of the rudest possibl- de- scription. We left the valley at half-past six on the morning of April 27th. The weather was cold, but bright. As we came past Inspiration Point we gave one last look at the grand scenery which had been to us such a source of pleasure for two days. We drove out the entire distance of sixty-four miles, and arrived at Raymond about five o'clock in the afternoon. Through the courtesy of the stage company at Wawona, the writer of the party secured a buck-board wagon, and, with his wife, drove all the way to Raymond, having one change of horses. We were all glad to get back to our car ; by this time it seemed to us, in a certain sense, like a permanent residence, and so far as the cuisine was concerned, in looking back upon our 72 California and Alaska. u>. I 1 I ■l! hotel experiences in the valley, there was certainly " no place like home," for the table at the hotels did not begin to compare with our own. At half-past six o'clock the train left for Berenda. It was composed of a dozen freight cars, two Pullman sleep- ers, our car, and a coach. Half-way to IJerenda, at one of the local stations, through the mistake of one of the switch-tenders, a switch was left open. Fortunately, the engineer was not running over twenty miles an hour at the time, and was able to prevent a serious accident by the immediate use of the air-brakes. We were all at dinner when the accident happened, and when the train brought up with a tremendous jerk, it almost upset every thing on the table. On going out it was discovered that the engine had run on a siding directly into a lot of freight cars, sending some of them on to the main track ahead, knocking others off their trucks, and altogether making a pretty bad wreck. It took us over half an hour to clear the main line of debris, before our journey could be resumed. While driving out from the valley, we had very cool and comfortable weather. On our arrival at Raymond we were surprised to learn that the people in that vicinity had been suffering from the heat. The evidence of the torrid state of the atmosphere was also to be seen on our car, the paint upon which had peeled off in many places, while the inside sash on the sunny side had been blistered by the heat, taking the varnish completely off. While going into, and coming out of the valley, we saw large quantities of quail, and our driver informed us that during the season the hunting is verj' good. We , (. \ iflacicr Poin(, ' j,joo fecfj Yosnnitc J^alley. T f ■• * . "I * /, rU'Cit. (■ ■ ft i: iji-v. ''i< '»' W'^'ii' ,-■■»" ■\i.nh" '' {lo ■ r' w:is . . .^M. .■-...' .<,,,.-,./.- \i ,,;:.; ,„nv l.w. Pu!h'...M ^lv^r■^,. ,vnv- '>'^''( ' t .V:-a\ ua*'',', ^- .^t'^'Hs^'x ••^»^t^^tV' ^ a j-iS> V li. . r« : it. ,i;. "l-: I. ■, il'.: ■I v rv . I Vti. ^ n ,f' ', ^ ;v,i.' -'.« V\'«:' til fri W jli ill 1 i; i il 1 '1 1 ■! ;| 1 ,' •• 1 South Dome, from Glacier Point. Ill I ■ i II t *!l P sW I) L The Yosemite Valley, n also passed a flume, of which an illustration is given herewith. This flume is built of plank and carries logs and boards to a distance of seventy miles. It is about two feet high, two feet wide, and eight inches deep, with flaring sides, and the water runs through it at quite a rapid rate. When it crosses ravines or winds around the moun- tain-side, it is supported on trestle-work. The lumber is sawed some distance up in the mountains, bound together in bundles of seven or eight planks, then let into the flume, and floated down stream to the railroad station. The part of the flume shown in the picture carries lumber down to Madera, a station on the Southern Pacific Rail- road, one hundred and eighty-five miles from San Fran- cisco. lo >«*< ^ ! Ay-- { ^^' *• , ,:,'■•-» .J i. , CHAPTER XI. SAN FRANCISCO. EARLY on the murninij of April 28th we left Berenda on the express, and arrived at Oakland about nine o'clock. We found an engine waiting for us, which immediately took our car and ran us special to Mon- terey, where we arrived about three in the afternoon. The children were all well, and overjoyed to see us, and listened with unfeigned pleasure to the stories we had to tell them of the wonders we had seen. Our return was made pleas- anter from the fact that we found three mail-bags awaiting us, and it took us several hours to reply to the generous batch of correspondence we found on our hands. On the following morning, Monday, we resumed our old habit and started immediately for the swimming-bath. In the afternoon, the writer engaged a buggy, and drove out to a ranch twenty-eight miles from Monterey. Cali- fornia ranches often consist of thousands of acres, and are conducted on a very large scale. The word " ranch " has come down from the early Spanish occupancy, and is found, in some form or other, all over the State ; farm- hands are called "ranchmen," and a man is "ranching" 74 Sail Francisco. 75 horses when he takes them to pasture. We will take one ranch of sixteen thousand acres as a specimen. It extends about four miles along a river, and there is not a field through which there does not run a living stream : these streams come down from the mountains. A flouring mill of great capacity is on one part of the ranch, and its wheels are kept running by the water from one of these streams. Between three and four thousand acres are sown with wheat and barley, and, by aid of machinery, twelve hundred bushels of wheat can be made ready for the mill in one day. The whole process of threshing, cleaning, etc., is gone through with in the field, and the grain at once put into sacks. Fifty horses or mules and about twenty men are employed from November until March, in making the ground ready, using the latest and most approved agricultural machinery. The laborers live on the place in a house at a little distance from that of their employer. Wild oats grow of their own accord, and six hundred head of cattle live on parts of the ranch not under cultivation. Then there are twelve hundred hogs, and fourteen thousand sheep, the latter having a shepherd for each two thousand of their number. We bade adieu to Monterey on the morning of the 1st of May, taking our special train. At Menlo Park we were met by the boys— Louis, Frank, and George Bird— who had remained at San Francisco in order to see the town, under the guidance of the Pinkerton detective, who. being an old Californian, was specially qualified to act as a guide. Louis brought some beautiful roses that he had procured for us in San Francisco, and a number of 'V 76 California and Alaska. III flowers of the same species were also handed us by a resi- dent of Menlo Park, after our arrival. After lunch we took carriages and rode out to Gov- ernor Stanford's stock farm. Through some misunder- standing, every one connected with the place, including Mr. Marvin, the manager, was absent. But after a little trouble we succeeded in getting a groom to show us some of the horses. We saw " Electioneer," and some of the stallions, together with the celebrated yearling " Electric Bells," owned by Miller and Sibley, and for which they paid in December, 1888, thirteen thousand five hundred dollars. He is a beauty, and very well-developed, and the groom assured us that his racing future was full of promise. After visiting the stables, we drove over to the Uni- versity buildings which Governor Stanford is erecting to the memory of his son. The main building is after the Spanish style of architecture, only one story high, and with tiled roof. It is in the form of a square, with a con- tinuous arcade or colonnade running aro. .;d it inside. The interior square is connected with the outside by four large arches under each side of the building. These structures occupy about four acres of ground, and when we were there a large body of men were at work on the premises, while others were engaged in grading and pre- paring the surrounding grounds. Menlo Park is beautifully situated at the foot of a mountain, the last of the sea-coast range. It is thickly wooded, and looked more like a park than any place of the kind we had ever seen. The roads are kept in superb lii: \an Fr ''anasco. n is condition, and the profusion of flowers we beheld was something wonderful. We drove through Governor Stan- ford's property, and saw his house and grounds ; also the large vineyard connected with it. Near his place, on the site where he intended to build a house, Governor Stanford has erected a mausoleum to the memory of his son. After our drive we returned to the car and left at once for San Francisca Subsequently we had the pleasure of meeting the Governor; also Mr. C. P. Hunt- ington, who was about starting for New York. The Governor talked freely about horse-raising, and one could see that he was thoroughly enthusiastic on the subject. You cannot walk about the City of the Golden Gate without thinking of its wonderful growth and recalling its early history. Only forty years ago men were living on this very spot, for the most part in tents and shanties. Some adventurers formed part of the population, but they were soon exterminated. Although there was an utter absence of the refining influence of women, good women were held in profound respect. Life and property were secure though locks and bars were unknown, and men trusted their money to people who a few hours before had been strangers to them. There was not a school, or a Protestant church, but men read their Bibles in their homes. The discovery of gold changed this condition of affairs, and brought to the locality the scum of the whole world — convicts from Australia ; the vagabonds of large European cities ; the toughs from New York, and " plug- uglies " from Philadelphia ; desperadoes from Central and n :i •.; 78 California and Alaska. m u 1 a South America ; outcasts from the South Sea Islands, and pariahs from all over the world. All kinds of crimes were common, and no man's life or property were safe. Then came the " Vij^ilance Committee," and the reign of swift justice, and finally San h'rancisco became one of the most quiet, law-al)idin_v^. well-jjjoverned cities in the world. San Francisco is famed for its restaurants. It is said they num- ber about four hundred, and that forty thousand people daily take their meals at them. They are of all trrades and prices — from the " I'oodle Dog," where a dinner costs from two and a half to twenty dollars, down to the Miner's Restau- rant, where it costs only forty cents. There are Iso a large number of French, German, and Italian restaurants where one may get a good breakfast for half a dollar, a lunch for twenty-five cents, and a dinner, <> la carte, including claret, for seventy-five cents. A tenderloin steak (and the beef is said to be of an excellent quality), potatoes, bread and butter, and a cup of coffee, will cost fifty cents ; a lamb chop, potatoes, bread and butter, and coffee, twenty-five cents ; salmon, bread and butter, and coffee, twenty-five cents ; an omelet, or eggs boiled, fried, or scrambled, with coffee, and bread and butter, thirty-five cents. A grade lower down, but in places which seem to be clean and respectable, one gets three dishes for twenty- five cents, and may obtain quite a decent meal for from twenty to thirty cents. The European habit of living in lodgings and taking meals at restaurants, is very much in vogue in San Francisco. Among the hotels is one which maybe called a California peculiarity. It is what would be called a second- or third-class hotel, but serves excellent Sci7i Francisco, 79 meals and lodjLjin^fs at fifty cents cacli ; this place j,'rew popular under the patrona}j;e of the miners, who, when they come into town from their distant camps ami cabins, insist on havinfj good fare thouf^di they are rather indiffer- ent to the manner in which it is furnished. This hotel has a special office for receiving clothes to he washed and mended, a well-chosen popular library with five thousand volumes, full files of newspapers anil magazines, an exten- sive and valuable cabinet of minerals, and a beautiful collection of stuffed birds, all for the accommodation and entertainment of its guests. Its reading-room is generally well-filled with plain, rough-looking men, each with book or newspaper in hand. The rule of the establishment is for every guest to buy a supply of tickets for meals and lodgings on his arrival, at the uniform rate of fifty cents (;ach, and the proprietor redeems, with cash, what have not been used u[) when the customer leaves. One feature of San I'Vancisco life is its bar-rooms ; many of which are fitted up in a style of almost Oriental grandeur. They are furnished with immense mirrors, reaching from fioor to ceiling ; carpets of the finest texture and the most exquisite patterns ; luxurious lounges, sofas, and arm-chairs ; massive tables covered with papers and periodicals, while the walls are adorned with beautiful and expensive paintings. Some years ago a picture which had hung on the walls in one of these drinking-places was sold for twelve thousand five hundred dollars. Some of the keepers of these places are said to be men of considerable education and culture. One of them, some years ago, was an art critic for a leading local m ' I M J I 80 Califorjiiii and Alaska. newspaper, and wrote a readable book of San F"rancisco reminiscences. There are two classes of these saloons whicii furnish a mid-day rejjast far too pretentious to be called a " free lunch." In the first a man jjets a drink and a meal ; in the second, a drink and a meal of inferior (juality. He pays for the drink (twenty-five or fifteen cents, according to the grade of the place) and gets his meal for nothing. This consists, in the better class of establishments, of soup, boiled salmon, roast beef of excel- lent (juality, bread and butter, potatoes, tomatoes, crackers and cheese. On the subject of eating, it may be said that the San Francisco markets supply almost every conceivable want of hungry humanity. The products of every clime are brought to the city. You can enjoy such luxuries as green peas, fresh tomatoes, celery, and cauliflower every day in the year, and even strawberries may be a perennial delight. Hero, for months in succession, are grapes of many varieties, at from two to fifteen cents a pound ; here are appljs from Northern California and Oregon, pears, figs, peaches, apricots, nectarines, plums, and blackberries from the neighboring valleys, and oranges, lemons, limes, and bananas from the southern counties, all in fullest per- fection of form and ripeness, and at moderate prices by the pound — for fruits and vegetables are uniformly sold by weight. Salmon is plentiful throughout the year at ten to twenty cents a pound, with smelts, soles, herrings, cod, bass, shrimps — in fact, every treasure of the sea, while the variety of game is unequalled. The Eastern visitor is struck with the good manage- ment of the Wells & Fargo Express Company, which has Sa/i Frdiicisco, 81 been a jjreat convenience in the far western part of the country. It extends to every vlllaj^rc, almost to every min- ing camp, in the Pacific States and Territories. It is said that the first three establishments set up in a new mininj; town are a restaurant, a billiard-saloon, and a Wells & I'ar^'o office ; these three enterprises represent the first stajfe of civilization. I n the early days the company carried more letters on the Pacific coast than the government did, for, though it first paid the government postage on every one, and then added its own charges, the certainty and promptness of its carriage and delivery being ahead of the post-office department, made the agency very much in favor with the public. It has carried as many as three millions of letters in the course of a year. It does errands of every sort, and to every place ; it exchanges gold and greenbacks ; it buys and sells gold and silver in the rough ; it owns all the principal stage lines of the interior ; and it brings to market all the productions of the gold and silver mines. On the morning of May 3d, by invitation of General Miles, commanding the Department of the Pacific, who had called upon us on the preceding afternoon, and kindly extended to us the use of the government steamer for a sail in the harbor, we went to the Mission Street wharf and boarded the vessel McDowell. We sailed out through the Golden Gate, visited the fortress and the Union Iron- Works, where they were building the San Francisco ; we saw the Charleston, which had just been completed, and was lying in a dock near by. About twenty-three miles from the Golden Gate are the Farallon Islands. They 82 California and Alaska. i, ^•'^ti i' !i I are six ruirged islets, and the meaninij of the word Faral- lon, which is Spanish, is a small pointed isiet in the sea. These islands are seldom visited by travellers or pleasure- seekers. On one of them is a government light-house, a brick tower seventeen feet high, surmounted by a lantern and illuminating apparatus. There is also a fog-whistle, which is a huge trumpet, six inches in diameter at its smaller end, and which is blown by the rush of air through a cave or passage connecting with the ocean. One of the numerous caves worn into the rocks by the surf had a hole at the top, through which the incoming breakers vio- lently expelled the air ihey carried before them. This cave has been utilized. The mouth piece of the trumpet or fog-whistle is fixed against the aperture in the rock, and the breaker, as it dashes in, blows the fog-whistle, which can l)e heard at a distance of seven or eiirht miles. The light-house keepers and their families on the unly inhabited island pass a very lonely life. Their house, ■vhich is built under the shelter of the rocks, seems to be open to perpetual storm ; the sound of the ocean's roar is never absent day or night ; wild birds scream, sea- lions howl, and every now and then here are dreadful storms to make the din more hideous. During the winter season the supply vessel is unable, sometimes, to make a landing for weeks at a time. The islands are inhabited by multitudes of sea-lions, and vast numbers of birds and rabbits. The latter animals are descendants from a few paii.-> brought to the islands, many years ago, by a specu- lator v'ho intended to make a rabbit warren for the supply of the San Francisco market. The animals increase very San Francisco. 83 rapidly, so much so that sometimes hundreds of them perish of starvation and general weakness. The sea-lions congregate hy thousands upon the cliffs, many of them bigger than an ox. They lie in the sun upon the bare and warm rocks, or, clmibing to high summits, fall asleep and finally pkmge into the ocean below. They are sometimes caught by the use of the lasso, which has to be held by half a dozen men, or quickly fastened to a projecting rock, or the seal would surely get away. The wild birds which breed on t'lese desolate islands are gulls, murres. shags, rnd sea-parrots, the last a kind of penguin. For many years a company has gathered from these islands the eggs of the murre, the season lasting from tlie middle of May until the last of July. About twenty men are employed in th"'. work, living on the island during the time in rude shanties near The usual landing-place. The eggs are laid in the most inaccessible places, and the eggers are obliged to climb to points which a goat would hesitate about approaching. The egger can- not carry a basket, but puts the eggs into his shirTboscm and when he has collected a suf^.oient number he takes them down the cliff to some place of deposit, where they can be put in baskets, and subsequently taken to the regu- lar receiving-house near the shore. These eggs are largely used in San iM-ancisco by th(; restaurants and bybaker.^for omelets, cakes, and custards. In the early days of Cali- fornia, when provisions were high-priced, the i^si^g -, and full of rich grasses ; in the fall and winter they are taken to the uplands, and there they lamb and are shorn. Sheep are sometimes loo Ciilifor7iia and Alaska. driven into the mountains, where they have green grass all summer, and it is not unusual to see groups of the ani- mals crossing the Sacramento without a driver, and in the fall returning, of their own motion, each to its respective owner. vi W CHAPTER XIV. MONTANA WE arrived at Portland, Oregon, on the morning of Sunday, Ma>- 5th. Mr. Hootiiby, of the Pullman Car Company, met us on our ar- rival, and did every thing in his power to make our stay pleasant and comfortable. We attended the Episcopal Church in the morning, and in the afternoon drove over the town and through the park. Portland is the largest town of Oregon, and lies on the banks of the Willamette. We noticed that Sunday was observed with much greater strictness than in most towns on the Pacific coast. Larrre trees are to be found on every hand, and the few farms that are to be seen must have been cleared at very great expense. Portland was one of the first cities to be settled on the northern slope of the Pacific coast, but it is only within the last few years that it has grown much in popu- lation ; most of the immigration has been towards Tacoma. Seattle, and other towns farther north. The valley of the Willamette is a most fertile region, and very attractive in its natural curiosities. Many remarkable instances are to be found here of those eccentric mountain formations known as beetlers— huge conical, isolated hills. 1. 1 1 02 Califoniia and Alaska. Ill h'. Wt; arrived at Tacoma about niiilniti^ht on the 5th, and were placed on a side-track. It is evidently a new and certainly not a very invitin^---'.ir ,7^./ y/A;.-/', ,;u.. (i '" '•■•* -• ■■ ' - :-.■ !,'''' ;,;P- ■ 111',: ' .n.l ),,, :. I, ■:'''^'':- ''; ■('■'.■'. I ;i' ii'*,.i . I'll ' ,i-V ' ■ : ! ti jT .,,■•■.■ ■ ,i '-') ' ' '1 ' ' ' ' ' ' >^' ■ .' 1' !i ;^' i ' . : !■ ! :!i i 'i < ' ! ■ i i .i '"i;: * .>i " r 1=1 ; ' III) ■.• M ' ■, ' '. y" i'A !' M ■] r. ,1 : ! ■ Sf ;.-■ !i, -, , ^ '¥ ] ^>\ ■■■-1? "■* •i -I 1 t fiiijHH 4 -1^ I M I 5 Mont ana. 107 Gulch, Peter's Gulch, Show-Dovvn Gulch, and Yankee Doodle Gulch. Helena is the second point of importance in the Territory. Near it are the low valleys of the Mis- souri, which are rapidly becoming the homes of thrifty farmers. In regard to the grazing qualities of this country, finer grasses have never anywhere been seen than between the Columbia and the Missouri rivers. Their nutritive qualities are apparent from the number and condition of the stock that feed upon them. Wild hay is cut from thousands of acres. The grass is mostly a wild bunch-grass, growing from twelve to eighteen inches high, and covering the entire country. Horses and horned stock by thousands, and sheep by the hundreds, all bespeak the wealth that is wrapped up in the native grasses of this region. Years ago it was prophesied that the wealth of this beautiful region would eventually con- sist of thousands of (leecy sheep to be sheared ; the streams of the Rocky Mountains themselves might be caught and harnessed to the spindles and looms of wool manufactories to be erected, and the wool-trade with the St. Louis market would constitute a trade replete with wealth and magnitude. The city was started by a few emigrants from Minne- sota, who discovered a gold mine, which, for several months, they worked quietly, amid their majestic mountain scenery, making no announcement of their wealth. In the winter of 1864 their secret became known, and a heterogeneous population was drawn to the locality. Claims advanced in price, and the discoverers reaped If iq8 Calif oniia and ^iiaska. I) V \* I fi' fortunes. A hundred ravines near Helena showed i^old, and every one of them was soon claimed from mouth to source. The first settlement made here was called Last- Chance Gulch. The years 1865 and 1S66 were those of the greatest excitement and immigration and gold production in the Territory. In the latter year, probably thirty-five thousand people were there, and twelve to fifteen millions of dollars were taken out, mostly from the sides and bottoms of the gulches. Two men washed out a ton of gold, and from a single " bar" in Conf(;derate Gulch three companies tool: a million and a half of dollars' worth. The ranchman finds in Helena a good market for his produce — ^butter, eggs, cattle, horses, eep, etc. The majority of the ranches are stocked with the best, and it is not a matter of wonder that they furnish the; finest veal, beef, and mutton in the world. It is a fact that cattle are herded during the winter months, and on the approach of spring are in better condition and fatter than cattle in the Eastern States which are corn-fed and kept stabled during the same period. The same remark also applies to horses and mules. Considering the newness of the country it is well supplied with produce. Thousands of tons of hay are put up every season, and esculent roots are raised in prolific quantities. We left Helena on the evening of the 9th of iMay, passing through the Prickly-Pear Canyon and following th'! Missouri River. The road crossed and recrossed the old stage route to Helena, which was abandoned only a few years ago. Prickly Pear Canyon, Manitoba K. R. \ p* . s 11; ,n I iff' ! ' 'A. v.^ \', I -\ '■■-, ^^ (, ■'/:-' '\ ^ ij n/ \ i Hf* I V H Hi f 1 . i 1 1 if K ' '1 ? 1 '11. 1 1 Hi . Iti'l i'' . r iv I fl 11 i|.J! ¥ ii ' 1 '' ' tt^^^ ' T" ■ t' Montana. \0() % ; tf drc.-U I'alls (at which point wc arrivc^d ahoiit t:I (:v(;n o'clock in the; oveninir) is situated at tlu; wonderful falls of the Missouri kiv(M-, just where th(; Sun River (Miipties into that stntaui. The town is Iniautifully located, and it is safe to say it has more natural resources, as a town site, thai any otiier place in the country. At this i)oint the Mis- souri Riv(;r has a fall of live hiuidred feet in a f I'W miles. riv le country around th(- town is a <■(• ly undulaliuL; plain, var\inir from the land hcinic of an excellent ([iiality and a sandy loam to a dark clay loam, without any admixlun; of sand. This dt^scription of country extends for miles around (ireat I'alls, the ne.irest mountains, plainly in si^dit and densely timhered, \)v\\v^ tw(;nty-five mihis away. The principal street is lined with husin of brick and stone;. Thou,H-h the t old, it ha .1 population of two tl ess houses, hui It own IS on ly th rce years lousand miiahilant s, |)iil)h(: ic school-house parks, electric lis^-hts, a line hotel, and puhl Iwentually it will he the distrihutin^r point for.iH the mines in the neij^hhorhood ; it will he to Montana what I )enver and the country surrounding- it are lo ('olorado. (Jn the morniiii.1 of tl le loth o f M I)', Willi an eii'dne and the 1)11 iTet car, we. went to San ('olii, ll'OUt sixteen mil(;s south of ( ireat I'" located. These mines alls, where the new coal-mim are were (|[sco\'en .1 a short linn ■f ii'lorc; we visit(;d them, and hav e now heell worked .ihout a )'ear and a ha I hey ha\<: a workin- lhi( ;ne roni seven to fourteen feel. Previous to tl lel r discovery the railroad at this point was compelled In haul it - roal from St. I' iUll .'I distance o f lift {r,>^^'^'iJ2^. i_J*^ J^^-v ^X'- m :/yj:<,>f-. X~f ^-k"^ \ ( IIAI'III^' W. \ I i» ■w. V i 5 Ml !-» rill-; (.ai^I)1-:n oi' Montana. O N I i'a\ ru fur I' ( iiial lal'i ., ■• oihIiil; cast, \vi- joiinicyci WO luiiHlii'd null ■. llin '11','h llu' iidilh liasm. Willi h is K nowii as he ( lardiii ol Molilalia. Ilriiioii, which is hirt\' niilis noi'tluasl ol ( ircal I'alls, is one ol ihc LM'cal shi|)i)iiiL',' points dl Monlana. In iSSS lh('r<' were shi|)|i(i\t\-tu() ihoiisaiid li\i' hundi'cd head n| shci|), and ncaily two million poniids ol wool. I roni the " ( .aidiii ol Montana " cast ol ( iri-at I'alls, on llic Manitoba l-'ailioad, in lln- same period, tlicrr wen- shipped I hirtN'-fuc tlioiisaiid head of lal calth, niiietv- lonr ihonsand head of sheep, and ahonl two and a half million I M II lllds of wool. W e p.issed thldll!. h Assinihoia, near to whiil 1 IS I'ori Assinilioiiie, which we could sei liom tlu- Ir.iiii. This is !<• of the lar^csl ,niil hest-hnill military ]iosts in ihe ol lilted Stales, the I iiiili hiii's alone ha\ ill'' cost oxer two fantr millions ot dollars. 1 here are seven loinpanie- oi niianir)', and two ol cavalry slatioiiiil Ik ic llefore the railroad \\as hnill, some two \'eai's and a hall a:;o. 1 leleiia, two hiiiulr<' '/i^ The Garden of Montana. 13 railroad communication. Bear Paw Mountains, rising out of an almost level prairie, can be seen for miles around. The range is about seven thousand feet higli, and is cov- ered by large tracts of pine timber. Several streams of fine spring water gush forth on the plains from the sides of the mountain range. Valuable leads of gold, silver, and lead were discovered two summeTs ago. and many mines were located. At the base of these mountains is one of the most attractive tracts of land ever seen ; it is slightly rolling, and elevated about five hundred feet above the valley of the Milk River. .Summer before last we W(;re told that the grass was waist-high o\'er the whole face of the country, and very thick ; it had been nourished by the frequent summer showers which are peculiar to this section. Large veins of the finest bituminous coal, from si.\ to twenty feet in thickness, crop out at frequent inter- vals along the banks of the streams. The country through which we i)assed towards evening was unsettled and looked very new ; although a fertile and good grass country, for a distance of two hundred miles we saw only four houses, and those were railway stations. Many of the stations on this part of the road consist of simply a switch or siding, with the name put on a post driven into the ground ; attached to the post is a box containing a telegraph key connected with the wires, so that an operator ma)' telegraph in case of necessity. The Manitoba road carries an operator on each &!" its trains, so that these; boxes can be used in case of need. There are no lam|)s on these switches, and if there were there are no inhabitants here to attend to them, 15 I # m 114 California and .ilaska. During a part of the journey the writer took one of the children on the engine, where he remained an hour ; it was the first experience of the kind he had ever had. We saw a number of wolves on the prairie, and, at times, passed many groups of Indians, especially at Assiniboine, where we purchasetl from them a number of buffalo horns. Although this country is so sparsely inhabited, it must be borne in mind that only eighteen months before we saw it there was no railroad passing through the section, and the Government had only a year before opened this great reservation for settlement, which, in itself, is an empire con- taining about eighteen millions of acres, eligible for free homes under the United States land laws. This great tract through which the railroad runs is the cream of the Territory, and. without doubt, in the future will represent the great grain-producing section of the United States. Many people suppose that because this Territory is near the northern boundary its climate is severe ; the contrary is the case. It is within the limits of the warm winds which blow from the Pacific coast in the winter. These winds are called " chinooks," and as long as they continue, which is often for days at a time, the weather will be mild and spring-like. The limit of the " chi- nook" winds is three hundred, miles east of the mountains, and within this section all kinds of stock graze at large the year round. The valleys arc protected, and with the high plains are all richly watered. The slight snows melt imme- diately after they fall, leaving the ground bare, and it is very seldom that there is enough snow to allow sleighing. The rivers, if they close at all, remain frozen but for a few weeks, the ice invariably going out the last of January or The Garden of Ahmtana. 1 1 tlurin^^ I'cbruary. Si.Lrnal-service records show that the temperature in the winter is often hii^jn-r at (Ireat I-alls than at San Antonio, Texas, or at Memphis, Tennessee. I.i the vicinity of Great Falls the climate is especially bene- ficial to persons with weak lungs, consumption and kin- dred diseases being almost unknown. The following table will give a V(;r>- good idea of the temperature at Great Falls, which is only a few miles east of Helena, and if anything is a milder climate than at Helena : Temperatures for Fehruarv, 1888, at February i 2 3 4 :: \ :: I •■ ,2 a U (( 12 :: '3 :: I ■■ :i " i9 20 K 21 24 Helena. 27 7 A.M. 30 28 22 24 32 38 46 44 36 44 46 40 42 28 36 34 40 34 34 34 3 I'-M. 3(> 24 32 30 34 36 40 38 44 42 48 S6 40 30 20 48 46 42 42 38 40 CHICA(iO. 7 A.M. 3 I'..M. 30 28 30 32 24 6 14 12 16 4 4 16 26 26 8 14 28 36 48 28 18 St. Louis. 7 A.M. 3 I'.M. 32 32 32 3-^ 20 24 '4 o 6 12 18 28 42 16 16 36 40 42 46 24 38 46 28 38 32 44 34 38 28 40 32 40 34 38 34 16 34 44 4 6 34 52 2 6 28 12 10 30 34 32 32 22 22 48 34 32 32 36 38 30 20 18 34 34 34 36 20 34 34 14 40 16 6 4 6 14 18 24 18 44 34 48 46 30 16 26 24 44 36 .S2 38 56 58 46 36 44 46 42 30 22 12 IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 2? 4» 7. ^ H 1.0 '- l^jS 12.5 I.! l"^ ■- 11111^^^5 1.25 1.4 6" — V ^/ >% />< ^5 *v^ .V '%' o 7 fliotographic Sciences Corporation 23 WIST MAIN STt't^^t WnSTIR.N.Y. 14SJ0 (716) t73-4S03 ^ *\^ \%^ ^ ^ :\ • •6 California and Alaska. The farmers begin the work of sowing their crops in February and March. The summers are not excessively hot. Harvest commences in August, and fall work is continued through the months of September, October, and November. Mild autumn weather lasts into Decem- ber, thus giving a season of nine or ten months of beauti- ful weather. A notable feature about the climate is the dryness of the air ; in the winter the mountains can be easily seen from sixty to one hundred miles away. Wheat yields from thirty to sixty bushels per acre, oats from fifty to one hundred and five bushels per acre, barley forty to seventy bushels, timothy from one and a half to three tons per acre, and other grains in proportion. Timber grows freely along the rivers ; saw-mills, tanneries, flouring-mills, and mechanics' shops are in active and profitable opera- tion ; so that, with a climate almost as favorable as that of Colorado, and a soil more fertile, and an industry simi- larly diversified, Montana seems sure to occupy an import- ant place in the commercial future of the Great West. The Great Falls of the Missouri, from which the town of Great Falls takes its name, are esteemed by travellers as holding rank scarcely below the cataracts of Niagara. Beyond Council Bluffs commences a country of great interest and grandeur, called the Upper Missouri ; buf- falo, elk, and mountain sheep abound. Lewis and Clark, and other travellers, relate having seen here large and singular petrifactions, both animal and vegetable. On the top of a hill they found a petrified skeleton of a huge fish, forty-five feet in length. Navigation is very danger- ous, on account of the swift current, the countless islands Great Falls of I he Missouri River, Monl'ina. '-T^-'^'W.^ n ; I -;*U'ji*.' ■\'' ':,ji '''■'; '■ .uir^i 5-i(»>.,-vJ' i-'r:- :i!.^ -'■(' i'' ^"W i^i^l^- f'-i :!.;> .1 S ■/, .^SW^^'. I I u The Garden of Montana, '>7 and sand-bars, and the murderous " snags" and " sawyers." A " snajj " is a tree which, when washed away from the bank, floats into the stream, and then partially sinks ; the roots become fastened in the bottom, and then the sharp stems, rising nearly to and above the surface of the water, are the fatal snags that almost instantly sink any steamer striking them. They always lie with their sharp ends pointing down the stream, and conseejuently are danger- ous principally to ascending steamers. When a steamer is descending the stream, it slides over them, instead of being impaled. They are then known as " sawyers," if they project above the water, the current giving them a waving motion. At a low stage of water, navigation is almost impossible. The Great Falls of the Missouri are also wonderful considered from a utilitarian point of view, or, in other words, the amount of water-power which they would be capable of furnishing, which, as estimated by a prominent engineer, would be one million horse-power. It would seem to be only a question of time when the town of Great Falls will be another .St. Paul or Minneapolis. The Manitoba road intend building a line north of Great Falls, to connect with the Canadian Pacific. i' ..iJi CHAPTHR XVI. FROM ST. PAUL TO MANITOBA. WH arrived at St. Paul on Sunday morning, May I 2th, about half-past seven o'clock, and after breakfast went at once to the Ryan House. Soon after our arrival Mr. I'. H. Clarke, of the Omaha road, called upon us ; we had the pleasure of dining with him, and afterwards spent the evening with Mr. Hill. After getting comfortably settled in our rooms in the morning, we took carriages and drove around the city. Some of our party went to church, and in the afternoon we took another drive around the town. The follosving ( Monday) morning, the writer's brother, Walter, Vice-President ; Mr. Flagg, Gen'l Superintendent ; Mr. Spoor, Division .Superintendent; and Mr. .Smith, private secretary, arrived from New York. The morning was occupied in talking over " Company " matters. After lunch our whole party went out to Mr. Hill's farm. While Mrs. Webb and the writer were admiring the stock on the place, the rest of the party went fishing. We returned to the city about seven o'clock, in time to see Walter and his party off to Chicago. Mr. Smith had Ii8 tl».i , SB "»■." ^ i >- -^ Cow- Boys, Manitoba Railroad. i} m ^ : 4 u J ml 1 HAIT' H KVI !■!/( 'M ^r |'\i'l !'» ,V \M1( i|v\. ^ t " vr".::-.,^'V'"> r : ) ■ t r i < . i : ' ' \ ■-\ I \' ■'< k ! ( ! i lit >■ ui 1 ' i;'i 'i; !^ I m' i> '.-.-'.'"• V\ ait- ! , ^ ■' ' i '' ^ -IM' ii' , "^i^ i 1 I,' , , I f .1 ; -•;■;. ' ■■:Mt.'ii !t-!i' \(t:, -Lllh '■ IJMl' UnO;. ]!.l'''\ '"'liir ''U' I" • -' .i;.,i un 111' jdiii.'f^ ilic '■'•■; "' li ■ • ' ;• •'• < I ii;<. li I From St. Paul to Manitoba. 119 arranged to remain, ami accompany us a little way on the Canadian Pacific, when, with Louis, he inteniled to take the train, j,'oinj^ home to New York by way of Montreal. We had expected Mr. Creij,diton Webb to join us here and take Louis' place, but for some reason he could not get away. Soon after breakfast we all went over to Minneapolis. On our arrival there we were met by Mr. Thomas Lowry, who favored us with a pleasant drive over the city, show- ing us the parks and other places of interest, and takinj^ us around the suburbs of the city. The writer had been to Minneapolis many times before, but must confess that not until this occasion had he ever realized the extent .ind beauty of this ma;:nificent city. The saw- and grist-mills here are numerous and extensive. Thu Driving Park, south 01 die town, is an enclosure of seventy-tive acres, and used for the purpose indicated by its name. Lakes Harriet and Calhoun also affortl delightful drives, while Lake Minnetonka is twelve miles to the west. At half-past twelve we returned to St. Paul, and at once busied ourselves in getting ready to start for Winni- peg. At this point the cars were all cleaned both inside and out, the trucks and running gear were overhauled, and a plentiful supply of provisions laid in, in fact every preparation was made for our second long trip to the Pacific coast. Promptly at three o'clock, with Mr. Mohler, the genial Assistant General Manager of the Manitoba road, we started northward. Mr. Hill, Mr. Clarke, and a group of other friends came down to the station and bade us good- I M I20 California and Alaska. 'f \ by. The ride during the evening on our way north was exceedingly interesting ; we saw a new part of the road, and the scenery was somewhat different from what is seen on the western section. We found the track to be in excellent condition, and made very good time after we came out of St. Paul. As we entered the park region of Minnesota, we were continually passing lakes ; it is said that there are ten thousand of these within an area of one hundred square miles. I hcse lakes form one of the most inviting and picturesque features of the State. They are found in every section, and are annually visited by large numbers of tourists and pportsmen. Sometimes they are little ponds a mile in circumference, and again sheets of water forty or fifty miles in extent. Their shores are charmingly wooded, and frequently present fme pictures of cliff and headland. The waters are pure and transparent, and are filled with white-fish, trout, pike, pickerel, sucker, perch, and other finny inhabitants. The largest of these lakes are the Minnetonka, the Osakis or Spirit Lake, White Bear, Kandiyohi, Otter Tail, and Mille Lacs. This is a very fertile wheat country. Romantic stories of the wonders of the land which now forms the State of Minnesota were told more than two centuries ago by the zealous French missionaries, who had, even at that remote period, pushed their adventures thither ; nevertheless, scarcely twenty years have elapsed since immigration has earnestly set that way, creating populous towns and culti- vated farms along the rivers and valleys before occupied by the canoe and the wigwam of the savage alone. Some \\ : From St. Pan! to Manitoba. 121 idea of the marvellous _«,fro\vth and development of this young State may be formed from the fact that during the past decade the cultivated area of Minnesota has increased nearly three hundred per cent., the population nearly two hundred and fifty per cent., and the value of nanufactures about two hundred and fifty per cent. It seemed quite like home to get back to our train and spend our evenings in the buffet-car. The kindness and attention of the Manitoba officials could scarcely be ex- ceeded ; nothing was left undone to make our journey over their lines thoroughly comfortable and enjoyable. Their treatment reminded us of the generous hospitality we had received on the Southern Pacific more than any other ex- perience we had met with since leaving the Pacific coast. The Manitoba people are certainly to be congratulated upon having such a superb piece of property, and beyond a doubt there is a truly wonderful future in store for it. Persons who are looking for homes in the West should not fail to consider carefully the advantages to be derived from locating on the line of this road in Montana ; we were given to understand that the company offer extraordinary induce- ments to settlers. We passed through Winnipeg early on the morning of May 15th. Before arriving, the writer had received a tele- gram from the American consul at that place inviting our party to stop over at that city and attend a banquet which it was intended to give in our honor, and, at the same time, be presented to the Governor of Manitoba. We were obliged to decliae this flattering invitation, as we had ar- ranged to stop at Winnipeg on our homeward journey, i !| 122 California and Alaska. and besides it was the wish of Mr. Van Home that we should go directly through to the coast and stop at differ- ent points on the Canadian Pacific road on our return. After leaving Winnipeg the country presented the ap- pearance of one broad, level plain — not a prairie, but a widening of the valleys of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, which unite at Winnipeg. There were large numbers of cattle to be seen, and, behind the trees, glimpses of well- tilled farms with comfortable farm-houses. The farmers here devote their energies to dairy products and to cattle- breeding. For nearly one hundred miles we followed the course of the Assiniboine River, which is marked by a belt of timber. Between Winnipeg and Brandon the stations are about eight miles apart, many of them representing lively and enterprising towns, and at nearly all of them are large grain elevators. We arrived at Brandon about ten o'clock on the morning of May 1 5th, and there bade good- by to Louis and Mr. Smith. Brandon has a population of five thousand four hun- dred, and is a divisional point on the railway. It is the largest grain market in Manitoba, and the distributing market for an extensive and well-settled country. It has five grain elevators, a flouring-mill, and a saw-mill. A rail- way is being built from Brandon northwest to the Saskatche- wan country. At this point, too, the standard time changes to " mountain time" — /. <■., it is one hour slower. After changing engines, and having the train carefully examined, we proceeded on our westward journey, passing through a rolling prairie, and about one hundred miles from Brandon we entered the Province of Assiniboia. We ill From St. Paul to Majiitoda. 23 saw a great number of ponds and small hills covered with low brush, where it is said excellent sport can be had in the wild-fowl season. At Broadview, a pretty place, but a divisional point dependent upon the railway, we changed engines again. A short ride from here brought us to the celebrated Hell farm, which embraces one hundred square miles of land. The work upon this vast estate is per- formed with military precision and discipline. The fur- rows ploughed on this farm are usually four miles in length ; one furrow out and one back is considered half a day's work and in the afternoon the same amount of labor is performed. The cottages on the farm are built of stone, and barns can be seen for miles around ; the large collection of buildings at the headquarters near the railway station include a church, a flour-mill, and, of course, a grain elevator, and it may be said here that in this section an elevator will be found wherever there is wheat to be han- dled or stored. After passing Qu'Appelle we went for eight miles through a small-timbered country and then entered the great Regina Plain, which seems to be apparently bound- less, extending in all directions ; the soil is very fertile to a great depth. Regina is the capital of Assiniboia, and the distributing point for the sections of country lying far north and south. A railway runs from here northward, and will soon be extended to Edmonton on the North Saskatche- wan. The Executive Council of the Northwest Terri- tories, which embrace the provinces of Assiniboia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Athabasca, meets here. The Lieuten- ant-Governor's residence is at this place, and in the imme- ^1 124 California and Alaska. ; ' mm ' m diate neighborhood are the headquarters of the celebrated Northwest Mounted Police, whose buildings, including officers' quarters, drill hall, barracks, offices, store-houses, stables, etc., could be plainly seen from the train. The Northwest Mounted Police is a military organization num- bering one thousand young and picked men, who are sta- tioned over the Northwest, for the purpose of watching the Indians and preserving order generally. Moose Jaw, where we changed engines, is another divisional point. There we saw a number of Indians, encamped on the banks of the river. The Indian name for this place is " The-creek -where -the -white - man -mended- the-cart-with- a-moose-jaw-bone." After leaving Moose Jaw we noticed that the prairie was well .narked in all directions with old buffalo-trails, and here and there the old wallows. This section was once the home of the buffalo ; we say was, for their number is rapidly decreasing. Not one was visible, for they quickly leave the land which is traversed by the train. Once, however, this country was blackened by their hordes as they wandered over it at their will, or marched from one feeding-ground to another. In making this remark we may say that they do not run in a mob as represented in some pictures, but move in single file, like policemen. We crossed hundreds of their deeply worn tracks leading straight away into the distance, and surely indicating that the slopes of the Rockies are fitted for the purpose to which they are being applied by the settler, viz., the rearing and feeding of cattle. On this day we ran very fast, and by half-past seven o'clock had covered five hundred and ten miles, arriving at 3?' yiezi' of Xarrozcs, IHscotasing Lake. aI mm I 24 » ! I i if I . .. ;t i i .;^. t>er''i'«>r' tl. ...^ . yo»!!>if aifl r?!tk':ii msrji, \U'0 arc- stu- tu*iifM !i\-:- S|,ic i\t">rsh\vc-t. tilt iU-: i'u.'ti'>'' ^'^ -'UinV:'; Uk- indif)ns ant) pr^ £:^:5-. o'l ' kr. .M lill.il. -itJt/ r — Tf ♦ Vf ■■■■ if. ;■■■ ■■ V'' ■ My;' [ CI u»«i \ ■•a *':') ^ ^ a 'V -.:• J. 1 u fi .1 i mii, .;li I^te7i' of Special 7 ram ?! i ill From St. Paul to Manitoba. 127 the mountains beyond. The Hudson Bay Company have here an important post, and it is one of the principal sta- tions of the Northwest Mounted PoHce. Lumber is easily obtainable here, as it is floated down the Bow River from Banff. Parties going into the extreme Northwest leave the train here, and after travelling from three to four hundred miles into the interior they find the largest and best horse-ranches in existence. One of eleven farms be- longing to Sir John Lister Kaye is located at Calgary. Sir John married Miss Yznaga, of New York. As we passed through Calgary we saw his car standing on a side-track, he having recently come over on a visit from the other side. His eleven farms are located along the line of the road between Brandon and Calgary ; there are ten thou- sand acres in each of them, and they are all situated near towns, or the nucleus of towns, and will eventually be ex- ceedingly valuable. The land originally cost a large English stock company, which Sir John represents, about $3 an acre. It is only a question of time before it will be worth from $20 to $25 an acre for farming purposes alone ; much of this property would bring that price to-day, owing to its proximity to growing towns. Sir John visits the farms twice a year and overlooks the work. After leaving Calgary and crossing the Bow, we ran throusfh larije ranches, and immense herds of horses and cattle were to be seen on every side. At Morley, a station near the mountains, we stopped for about five minutes at a trader's store and picked out a number of horns, heads, etc., and a beautiful grizzly-bear skin. At Kananaskis the mountains appeared to be close at hand, and we entered ■I { . / i i y n 'is I'' 128 California and Alaska. ( \\ the tjap or pass through which the Bow River runs, and which we were to pass through, and soon crossed the Rockies. The scenery at this stage of the journey was grand and impressive. yXbove us, on both sides, we saw vertical walls rising to a dizzy height, snow-laden, seared and scarred by enormous gorges and promontories. At Canmore we changed engines, and here had an excellent view of the mountain, representing in profile what are called the " Three Sisters." I'^ollowing the How River we entered the Canadian National Park. We hauled up on a side-track and waited for the transcontinental train for the East to pass. The weather ])cing quite warm, we took the children out for an airing ; some of the party amused themselves by firing at a mark, while others made use of their fishing-rods in How River. The ride from here on through the mountains was grand beyond description. Each mountain as it loomed up into view seemed grander and more imposing than the last. The scenery in this part of the country is certainly more magnificent than any thing we had dreamed of. As we neared the summit, an altitude of five thousand three hundred feet above the sea. Castle Mountain was seen ahead, a sheer precipice five thousand feet high, surmounted with turrets, bastions, and battlements complete, and partly snow-capped. At the summit we passed by a small lake called Summit Lake, in which were vividly reflected the surrounding mountains. About half a mile east of this point, the water, as it trickled down the mountain side and entered the ditch on the side of the road, could be seen to divide, part running to the east and part to the west. From here ,,l II: Mount Stephen, Canadian Pacific Railway. ■m i 'ii ! Ill .) 11 \ III \ \ .. p -■ ,' ■ '.','i' 1 ^ ■ ' n ' •:,• V ,.• ' i :;■ ■. ■■ 'r ■ ■I , I .i ' 'il >' 111! - " '- .ilil.W li ■• v\ ■ ' ', I ' ' ■-' I \l .. ■ I (.■ 1, i!r-i:.i •i>\\;..^. \ ANj ^^^^^v^. ) VI ■;, I ,i"ii ''t i.i ■ ( ' u . ' M I ', ■ J: _;i- J - ! \' ' fi I JWUI ..I. Vi^^r^WU^II tLR^V^^WnP H^ a \ 'lew of special Train at bleld^ Showing Ml Field in the Dista^ice. I Si r^ f A I i 1 1 ji. Si 'I r. i ■ i ^ .ft I 1 m ?l From St. Paul to Manitoba. 129 our descent was rapid, as v;e crossed the deep gorge of the Kicking Horse. Here the scenery is subUme, even terrible. Looking off to the north you behold one of the grandest mountain valleys in the world, stretching far away in the distance, with great white, glacier-bound p'jaks on either side. On the lelt of the track you see the double head of Mount Stephen, eight thousand feet above the valley, and get an occasional glimpse of Cathedral Mountain. The grade from the summit is so steep and perilous at this point that a heavy consolidation engine was put on ahead of our locomotive, and we were taken down at a speed of not over ten miles an hour. Every mile or so there is a switch to a track leading up the mountain side ; in case any thing should occur to make the train un- manageable, a switchman stands ready to -^nen the switch, stop the train in its downward course, and send it up-hill, where it would soon stop. At F"ield, at the foot of Mount .Stephen, is an excellent hotel managed by the railway company. It is a favorite stopping-place for sportsmen. Rocky Mountain sheep, goat, and grizzly bears arc to be found in large numbers in these mountauis. We remained here a few moments, and the writer took a view of our train, with Mount Field in the distance ; an attempt was made to take it with Mount Stephen in the distance, but the latter acclivity was too high. Leaving Field we crossed the Otter Tail River, then the Beaverfoot at the left. The Otter Tail Mountains rise abruptly to an immense height, while to the south, to an immeasurable distance, the Beaverfoot Mountains can be. seen. The river and railway here enter the Kicking Horse 17 !; ]| I w I ft )K 1 i I ;,o California and Alaska. Canyon, which rapidly deepeiis, the walls, an easy stone's throw from either side, rising vertically thousands of feet. The railway runs for twelve miles down this grand chasm, now crossing over to ledges cut out of the solid rock, twisting and turning in every direction, while towering cliffs almost shut out the sunlight, and the roar of the river and cars is increased a hundred-fold by the echoing walls, until the train, running out into a valley, suddenly emerges into daylight. \$^ \ ;,.; I Lower Kickm^- Horse Canyon, near Golden. 'Jl ii t rr:^/->r//i'i ///<;, I'i I 1 ■ • (■ .'. :!ii- J^. '»::", M •' 'liuC- ■ - 1 li •til! M' ■ ' ' , i .' i i<'\ . -.1 ' . '1.; ' i 1 , fr« ill ': \] Vi ^ ^ Ii 1 ^'W li *■■ >. 1^ i'. \ l\ II K : 1 1 V^n' '' ff il J ' Canadian Pacific Raihvay Station and Mount Donald Glacier. ^^^^ :*ji'f' f| n 1 "^ ^r^w^fiPtBIP^iWfi Nil 1 i : i mi ',:S ■i^ .■^ ' CHAPTtK XVI!. MOUNTAINS AND GORGES ON THE CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILWAY. ~^ AFTER we passed throujifh the Kickinjr Horse Canyon and entered the valley we saw before us the Columbia River, a stream of great width, moving northward, and obtained our first glimpse of the celebrated and long-looked-for .Selkirks, which had so often been the subject of our conversation, and which we had long been anxious to see. Our expectations in regard to their grandeur were not to be disappointed, for on the day we saw them they presented a noble appearance, as tliey seemed to rise from their forest-clad bases, and lifted their ice-capped heads high into the sky above. In form they are simply incomparable, and as they stood there in their matchless majesty, bathed in the glow and warmth of the afternoon sun, they called forth expressions of the highest admiration from every member of the party. The Canadian Pacific Railway is divided into four divisions, tne Eastern, the Ontario and Atlantic, the Western, and the Pacific. At Donald, which is the be- ginning of the Pacific Division, \vc changed engines 131 . I- ii ■ i I 1X2 California and Alaska. ;iiul had the pleasure of inci;tinj^ Mr. Marpolc, the Division Superintendent of the road. Here, too, \vi; were compelled to bid <^ood-hy to our friend Mr. Nil)lock, who had accom- panied our party from Swift Current, and had kindly given us details and descriptions of the scenes throuj^h which we had passed, and which, in some measure, and it is feared but imperfectly, have betMi transferred to these |)aifes. Donald is charmingly situateil on the Columbia RiviT, within the very shadow of the SelkirUs. The headquar- ters of the mountain division is located here, with the repair shops, etc. At this point the traveller changes to " I'acific time " — the time goes back one hour. Leaving Donakl we crossed the Columbia River and entered the Selkirks, going up lieaver River and crossing it on tile right side of the mountain. The ascent was commenced at Hear Creek, one thousand feet above Meaver River. At this point a magnificent view is had of Beaver Valley, which extends off to the south until it is finally lost in the mountains. I'Vom here a long line of the higher peaks of tlu; Selkirks is seen, culminating in that loftv mountain. Sir Donald. The railroad here ascends the banks of Bear Creek at a grade of one hundred and sixteen feet to the mile. The construction of this part of the road is a triumph of engineering skill ; many narrow gorges in the mountain side, the pathways of avalanches, had to h.ive the bridges over them pro- tected. The most noticeable of these bridges was the Stony Creek bridge, the highest structure of the kind in the world, the distance- below the rails being two hundred and ninety-five feet. We found, upon inquiry, that the if*^ V 1 I Mount Donald, fivm Tote Road. I'mi. », "^p ■> IP la Is : . \': 1 Moitntains and Gorges. 133 great difficulties of the railway company from snow in the winter season occur from Bear Creek and the Summit, and a similar distance down on the other side. These bridges are protected by heavy logs, built in the shape of angular piers, and so placed in the gorge as to break the slide of snow and subdivide it ; in that way its force is lessened, and it is guided away under the bridges. The snow-sheds, which we entered not far from here, cost the company over $3,000,000. They are open on the side for the purpose of admitting the light, and are completely equipped with hose, etc., to be used in case of fire, and are guarded by men day and night. These sheds are built of heavy squared cedar timber, dove-tailed and bolted to- gether, backed with rock, and fitted into the mountain side in such a manner as to bid defiance to the most terrific avalanche. As we ascend the mountain, Bear Creek is gradually compressed, by Mount Macdonald on the left and the Hermit on the right, into one narrow deep ravine, which forms a contracted portal to Rogers' Pass at the summit. As our train emerged from ihe snow-sheds. Mount Mac- donald was seen towering a mile and a quarter above the railway to an almost vertical height, its numberless pin- nacles piercing the very zenith. As Mr. Van Home says in describing the scene : " Its base is but a stone's throw- distant, and it is so sheer, so bare and stupendous, and yet so near, that one is overawed bj' a sense of immensity and mighty grandeur. This is the climax of mountain scenery. In passing before the face of this gigantic preci- pice, the line clings to the base of Hermit Mountain, and, .<'l f^;sma [. 134 California attd Alaska. as the station at Rogers' Pass is neared, its clustered spires appear, facing those of Mount Macdonald, and nearly as high. These two matchless mountains were once apparently united, but some great convulsion of nature has split them asunder, leaving barely room for the railway." This pass was named after Major A. B. Rogers, by whose adventurous energy it was discovered in 1883 ; pre- vious to that time no human foot had ever been planted on the summit of this great central range. The pass lies between two lines of huge snow-clad peaks. The pass on the north side forms a prodigious amphitheatre, under whose parapet, seven or eight thousand feet above the valley, half a dozen glaciers may be seen at once, and so near that their shining green fissures are distinctly visible. The changing effects of light and shadow on this brother- hood of peaks, of which The Hermit and Macdonald are the chiefs, can never be forgotten by the fortunate travel- ler who has seen the sunset or the sunrise tinting their battlements, or has looked up from the green valley at a snow-storm, trailing its white curtain along their crests, with perchance a snowy peak or two standing serene above the harmless cloud. The line of peaks connecting Macdonald with Sir Donald stretches to the south, their rear slopes having been visible in ascending the Beaver. This pass-valley has been reserved by the government as a national park. Leaving Selidrk Summit, the road commences to de- scend the mountains, and off to the right is seen, for many miles far below, the deep valley of the lllicilliwaet, which Great Glacier, Canadian Pacijic Railwav. \ ' / ! '■ tn h'f -ua ^i t;- I >;! ''tiiiii: '• ' '■;■!-,. i f ■n I [I Jl ■ M i J lacier I lot el and Moitntaiii. III] i .in I? I ^fapnmnF"! 1. J) i|ii..i.ii. II uiii LLUpHi Mountains and Gorges. 135 makes its way westward, following a devious course through the mountains. The line of the railroad can easily be traced, until it finally reaches the bottom of the valley by a series of extraordinary curves, doubling upon itself again and again. Some views of this portion of the road are given. Directly ahead is seen the Great Glacier of the Sel- kirks, a vast plateau of sloping ice, extending as far into the mountains as the eye can reach. It is claimed by the Pacific Railway people that this glacier is as large as all the glaciers in Switzerland combined. We passed in front of the snow-sheds on an outer track, which is provided so that travellers may view the scenery in summer, and arrived at Glacier Station ; an illustration of the snow-sheds and the summer track is given herewith. The train remained at the station about half an hour, and, as we did not have time enough to visit the Great Glacier, our party all left the train and took a stroll in the woods. The hotel here is a very handsome building, after the Swiss chalet style, and is owned and managed by the railroad company. It serves not only as a dining-room for passengers, but also as a pleasant summer resort for sportsmen and tourists. Owing to the heavy grades here, and all through the mountains, the dining-cars are not run on the through trains, as they make the trains too heavy ; but the railroad company have provided, at proper distances and at the most interesting and convenient places where the scenery is the finest, comfortable hotels, where passengers are able to get an excellent dinner, the trains stopping at such stations \\ 136 Calif 07^nia (ind Alaska. between one half and three quarters of an hour. Pas- sengers are also allowed to remain two or three days at a station, or lie over for a train. The Great Glacier is about half a mile distant from the hotel, and only a hundred feet above the level of the building ; a good path has been made to it, so that its exploration is quite practi- cable and easy. The water for the fountain in front of the hotel is furnished by piping a stream coming out from the Great Glacier. This stream also furnishes water for the hotel and railroad. The agent of the hotel informed us that game is very abundant in the mountains near by, the locality being especially celebrated for the big-horn sheep or mountain goat ; Canada bears are also killed here during the season. Elk, deer, and other game, how- ever, are not found at quite such high altitudes. Views of our special train at this static. 1, together with views of the depot, (ireat Glacier, Mount Hermit, and the valley iielow, are given on other pages. A tame Canada liear was chained to the piazza of the hotel ; he had been caught in the mountains five months before we saw him, and his antics furnished considerable amusement to pas- sengers during their stop at the station. Leaving the Glacier House, the road makes a rapid descent to the celebrated loop of the Canadian Pacific Railway. The line makes several startling curves and twists, crosses the valley, then doubles back to the right a mile or more to within a stone's throw of the track, then, sweeping around, crosses the valley again, and at last con- tinues down the dell parallel with its former course. On looking back, the railroad track is seen on the mountain Sailor Bar Bluff, beloiv Spuszum, Canadian J\icific Railway. I I f rrr ii« i If i; i lyKli' 11' H'l 1 11 : I Top View, Sailor Bar Bluff. -^ I I FT 1 1 1 iH \ iH i f m 1'^? fy H I Mountains and Gorges. 137 side, cutting two lonj,^ parallel gashes in the mountain, one above the other; far to the left, and still IiiL^hcr above on the other side of the valley, is sec'n the giant snow-shed, just below the summit near Rogers' Pass. At Illicilliwaet we crossed for the first time the Illicil- liwat^t River. The stream is ver)' small here, but the water is e.xceedingly turbulent and of a pea-green color, caused by glacial mud, but it rapidly clarifies ; its sourci; is said to be in the interior of the (ireat (".lacier. The scenery is very wild, as the gorge through which the river runs is very deep at places, and fdled with the gigantic forest-trees for which British Columbia is justly noted. At Albert Canyon the train often runs along the brink of several remarkably deep fissures in the .solid rock, the walls of which, on each side, rise to a height of one hundred feet, and at the top are very heavily wooded. The river is fully three hundred feet below the railway, and is compressed into a boiling flume not more than twent\' feet wide. We had our train stop here for a few minutes, while we walked up antl down the track viewing this truh' rcinarkable freak of nature. Th(; depth of the water must be very great, as the gorge through which it flows is very narrow and the volume of water flowing through it is enormous. At Revelstokc, a railway divisional point on the Columbia River, we changed engini^s. \Vc had seen the Columbia River on the other side of the Selkirks at Donald ; since then it had made a detour around the northern extremity of the .Selkirks, while the course of the railroad is directly across the mountains. At this point 18 * '3S California and Alaska. N it mn llic river is not only larjur, Imt is one; thousund und fifty fc(;t lower down, than at I )onalcl. I'roni this point it is navigable southward some two hundred miles, down to the I'nited Staters boundary. whcM'e it expaiids into a number of lakes, around which then; is said to l)e a beautiful and fertile country, where opportunities for sporl are also un- limileil. Accordinn to the railway officials this country has been rarel)' visited !))■ siiortsn'.en ; miners are about the only people who have (;ver penclraled its unknown recctsses. KootcMi.iy Lake and \'alley art; both r(;ach(;d Irom this point. Aft(;r leavuit; Ri,;velstoke we crossed the Columi)ia River upon a bridi^^c about hall a mile lon^, and enler(;d .mother raiiL^e of mountains by l'-ai,de I'ass. The railway ol'ficials call particular attention to this pass, which is so deep-cut and direct that it se(;ms to have been |)urpos(;ly provided for the railway in compensation, perhaps, for th(; enormous difficulties tin; engineers had to o\'ercome in the Rockies and the Selkirks. The hii^hest point the niilway is compelled to rc;ach in crossinj^- this ran-^'e is onl\ live hundred and twenty-li\i feet above the Columbia. At the summit four b(;aulifi i lakes ari' passed in cpiick succes- sion, each one occupyim,^ llu; entire width of the valley and brcini; thi' railway on the mountain side in ordir to pass them. This valley is lill(;d with a (k;nse L^rowth of immens(; trees, indii^enous to this coast — sfjruce, Douirjas lir, hemlock, c(;dar, balsam, and many oth(;r varieties. .'\t Craij^(,'llachie, twenty-(;it;ht mil(;s from Revelstokc, the last spike was driven in the Canadian I'acilic Railway on th(; /th of November, 1HS5, the radroads from the east and west meetiiT'' h.(;re. At Sicamous, situated on the Interior of Snozv-Shcd, Gmadian Paciji Railway. ■ihc I w llA i ' i .1 •I* 1 il m 'M ) h) flrni/U R^inj^c, from IlofeJ, Shoving (\nni ^ffcat Shuswap lakes, vvc reached wliat is said to be th(; {•enlre of one of tile hest sporlillj^ regions on tile ( anadfaii I'acilic line. Northward, within a (hiy's journey, carihoii an; saikanaj,^'in Lake, where there is a lar^c settlement ; stt;am- boats asc(!nd the river thirty miles, and a railway is pro- posc^d. " i'Or lilly miles the line winds in and out the b(;ndin^ shores, while t^aese and ducks lly over the waters, and li^dit and shallow play upon the opposite banks. Iliis lake, witn its bordering slopes, skives a luKt reminder of Scottish scenery. 'Ilu; railway in ^^cttiuL,^ around it leads nt different and man)' times towards ev<'ry one of the; r 140 Call /or II id and . I la ska. i. lliirly-two points of llw; compass. I, caving; the Salmon arm of the lak<' rallwr than ^o a (:ii( iiilous ( oiirsc aroiMid llic nionnlains to rcacli lln' sonllnvcstcrn aim, lln' line strikes tiirou^fli tlx; forest over the top of the intervening rid^e I Notch I I ill |. We come out at some Odo feel eleva- tion above this ' arm,' and ^et a mai^nilicent view across the; lake, its windinij shores on both sides of tiie lonj; and narrow slieet of water stretchinj^f far on either hand, with hi^d) moimlain ridi^cs for tlie opposite backL^roiind. I he line gradually nms dowidiill until it reaches the hvel of the water, but lure it has passed the lake, which has nar- rowe(l into the |soiilh bran< h of the| 1 hompson River. Then the valley broailens, and the <'ye, thai has been so a<"(:iistome(l to rocks and roughness and the imiidi.ibiled desolation of the moimtaiiis, is gladdened by the si^^ht of j^M'ass, fenceil lields, i^rowini; crops, hay-stacks, and j^ood farm-houses on the level surface, while herds of cattle, sheep, and horses roam over the valley ami borderini; hills in lan^e numbers. i his is a ranchiiv.^ countr)', extending far into the mountain valleys west of the ( iohl Ran^M; on both sides of the railw.iy, .\\\(\ is one of tin' L;;irilen spots of British Columbia. . . . I he peo|)le are compara- tively old settlers, havini; come in from the Pacific coast, and it does one's heart iMJod, alter havini| jiassed the rude little cabins and huts o( the |)lains and mount.iins, to see their neat and trim cottages, with the evidences of thrift that are all around." Many of our party compared the scenery around Shu- swap Lake to the counli)' about Lake ( leornc, but ihi; landscap(,' in the former locality is on a very much lar^(;r and grander scale. Snf)fyl\ or Toll' l\(>(ui. near Spdiiisli ' Rn>er. I IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) A 1.0 !f «a la I.I '^ mi ■J 2 2 c Hi It i^ 12.0 M L25 1.4 1.6 ■ < 6" ► 72 0% w ^J> / Photographic Sciences Corporation n WIST MAIN STRUT WnSTIR.N.Y. MSM (716) S72-4S03 i^I-^ ■ \ii <>t !t%.(i ,;i. I I ? -I'M 111 V ,,■':> n .\ fi'.'./.t-* V- i I i I w ~^» '^^^^T M M Mountain Creek Bridge, Containing 1 ,500,000 feet Timber, Canadian Pacific Raihvay. 1 1 • ^ ■' ' s , u ;^\ '1 ■ I CHAPTER XVIII. FROM KAMLOOPS TO VANCOUVER. WE remained at Kamloops one night, that being a divisional point, and after changing engines early in the morning, we started for Vancouver. Kamloops now has a population of about one thou- sand. It was settled years ago as a Hudson Bay post, and is the principal town in the Thompson River Valley, and the largest that the traveller passes through until he arrives at Vancouver. The Thompson River is seen here ; many steamboats ply up and down the stream, and we noticed a number of saw-mills along the shore. The Chinese are largely employed here to do the rougher sort of work. The grazing on the hills in the background is said to be very fine. Cattle are left out-of-doors all winter, the climate being very much milder than it is two or three hundred miles westward. Kamloops is the supply point for the large ranching and mineral country to the south, which is reached by stage lines running semi-weekly from the town into the districts beyond. Just after leaving Kamloops the river widens and forms Kamloops Lake. The railroad crosses to the southern MI "42 California and ^Uaslui. shore, now entering a tunnel, now passinjf over a trestle, in a way to remind the traveller very much of the Dela- ware and Hudson road on the west shore of Lake Cham- plain. As the lake narrows into the river the railroad enters a series of tunnels. From this point to Port Moody on the Pacific coast the road was built by the Dominion Government and transferred to the railway company in 1886. While the road-b-jd of this section is very well built, the sides and slopes of the same are not fully protected, and the company are constantly troubled with landslides from above, and the sinking of the track from below, owing to the " quicksandy " nature of the soil. The Canadian Pacific Railway Company claim a million dollars or more from the government in order to make this portion of the road ecjual to the rest of their line. It certainly did appear to our party as a very inferior kind of work compared with what we had seen on the part of the line we had traveled over. The scenery on this portion of the road and along the Thompson River is at first very wild and picturesque, but soon becomes exceedingly unin- teresting. There is very little vegetation to be seen on either side of the river — nothing, in fact, but round-topped, treeless, and water-cut hills, the color of which varies from the richest yellow to a reddish-gray, or iron-ore, with here and there a few masses of olive-green color, caused by the scanty vegetation. Shortly after leaving Kamloops Lake, as the train went round a curve, where the bank overhung the track, and we were all standing on the platform, we were suddenly startled by a large bird which alighted near to us, and settled on the railing of the platform. We were i1 \ Forest Trees, English Bay, Vancouver. •"SiSfei it i. > V i I •\' .-..■( , i *' ; ■ • I .r. ,■ I V 1 1 i f From Kamloops to Vancouver. 143 so surprised that, for a few moments, we did not realize what it was ; it proved to be a large partridge. Had any of us been quick enough we might have caught it without any trouble ; as it was, when we attempted to catch it, it flew off int ^ the brush. We stopped the train, and getting our shot-guns started in pursuit, thinking that there might be other game in the neighborhood, which would have proved a very palatable addition to our larder. We had no success, however, though the little incident afforded us considerable diversion. At Lytton, at the confluence of the Thompson and Fraser rivers, the scenery is very grand. Six miles below here our train crossed the Fraser River, a steel cantilever bridge being at that point. The scenerj'^ here became wilder as the gorge deepened and the size of the river increased. The banks were steep and rugged, their tops covered with a dense growth of trees. The old govern- ment road continues along the F"raser River, twistin;^ and turning about, now passing under the railroad, then along by its side, sometimes many hundred feet above the road until, at Cisco, it is forced to the height of over one thousand feet above the river. It is said that the width of the road here is not sufficient to allow two teams to pass, and that it is held in place by iron rods, or bridge-trusses, inserted in the mountain side. Mr. Marpole informed us that it was not uncommon to see Indians on the projecting rocks down at the water's edge spearing salmon, or capturing them with scoop-nets ; the salmon are dried on poles and sold to Chinamen. 144 California and Alaska. V Along the river on the sandy channel piers Chinamen and Indians are occasionally seen washing for gold, anil many of the inhabitants on the banks of the stream gain their subsistence from what little gold they find in washing the gravel. They are a lazy, thriftless class of people, washing for gold two or three days in the week, and living on the proceeds for the remainder of the time. This road was originally built by the government of Columbia for the convenience of miners above Lytton, where enormous ([uantities of gold were originally taken out by washing. At North Bend we stopped to change engines, and all the party got off the train and visited the hotel, which is owned by the railroad company ; here we saw another tame brown Canadian bear, which afforded the children great amusement. During the day we stopped the train at many points along the Fraser River, where the line crosses large canyons, on trestles. The scenery from North Bend to Yale, twenty-six miles, has been described as not only intensely interesting, but start- ling, even " ferocious." The volume of water in the river being so large, and the walls at the sides coming out close together, the stream is compressed into a roaring torrent. At Spuzzum the government road crosses the chasm by a suspension bridge, at the side of the railway bridge, and keeps close to it all the way to Yale. Here the railroad runs through a series of five or six tunnels. It should be stated that this government road has been rendered almost absolutely valueless for wagons, from the fact that, wher- ever the railroad crosses it, no means have been provided for passing the road, either above or around the railway ; mt Douglas Firs, on V ancoiwcr Town Site. T r*i ,'' . f " .Ar.^ ' y 8'*\i,-p sjsj l!V^ sai'i-tv t:i>i!f»r^'i pi»r:.i 5}'1:!jt-.,in!i,'^» ri' t*^- ;ir,\ frTi! >:■ 5's.i!':!'!V*j^ ".; lU5>j^J^>l':n^:«/' tr^li:'; ^»'h.i\ -^'.i'- i^''r '.'.;>*. ^'IP '., I - .' . ,n\- : '-',;■■ , r. -/.V..:,-. .,'-*■-• ?.-!'Ort ill* ! ' I 'h ■.\Wv\ yf'>"*'s"V '-v'*' -^-vs??^!^''! '^'A .•v."«r\ -'^.^'a.^^^ ":'-'V VUU- Roadway in Stanley Park, Vancouver. I' kt %' I / From Kamloops to Vancouver. 145 pack-trains can now cross, hut they are compelled to climb steep trails in order to get around these places, Yale is at the head of navigation on the Fraser River. At New Westminster Junction there is a branch line to the important town of New Westminster, a town of some five thousand inhabitants, on the Fraser River, about eight miles distant. When we passed through here, this road was being constructed to Seattle, and it was expected that before long through connection by rail could be had with that town. We reached Fort Moody, at the head of Burrard Inlet, about two o'clock on the afternoon of May 17th. At one time this was the last station of the railroad, and, on that account, was quite a settlement ; but it is now very much dilapidated and run down, owing to the terminus having been removed to Vancouver. As the railroad sweeps down here to the shore, we could once more see the Pacific coast and salt water, an outlook which was truly refreshing after such a continuous stretch of mountain scenery. Snow-tipped mountains were to be seen on the opposite side of the inlet, beautiful in outline and color, especially so on the afternoon when we saw them in the sunlight. Here and there, at intervals, ~n the opposite coast, saw-mills and villages were to be seen. At one or two of the villages there were ocean steam-ships at the wharves being loaded with the celebrated Douglas fir, which is sent to all parts of the world. These trees are found twenty, thirty, and even forty feet in circumference. Our speed on this particular day was necessarily slow, owing to the fact that this section of the road is considered 19 If i J very clanfj^crous, and is about tlu; only part on which any accidents ever occur ; at one moment the road-bed over- hanjfs a river, on trestle-work or embankment, and the next moment enters a short tunnel, only to reappear again on another trestle. After our arrival at V^ancouver, Mr. Harry Abbott, the General Superintendent of the western end of the road, called upon us with his wife, and extended to us the courtesies of the road at this terminus. On the morning after our arrival we took a carriage and drove over the town, going through the new park, which promises some day to be one of the wonders of the coast. The trees here are enormous, and the growth might be called a primeval forest, which it really is, with the underbrush taken out. Vancouver, the Pacific terminus of the railway, is com- paratively a new town, and reminds one of the growth of such Western towns as Duluth or Great I'^alls. Until May, 1886, its present site was covered with a dense forest. The following July a severe fire swept away every house in the place but one ; all the buildings now standing have been erected since that date. The hotels, business blocks, and residences are of the most approved architec- ture, and would be a credit to any city in the United States. Large and extensive wharves have been built by the railroad company and private corporations, and the town promises to develop into one of the future cities of the Pacific coast. The paved streets are well laid out, and lighted with electricity. A plentiful supply of pure water is brought through large pipes, laid across the harbor, from a spring in the mountains on the other side of the Vancouver, froiii Cimadiau Pacific Rail- way Docks. 14 '' ^', '///?■■ ?',V/'^ <'.v. :^-'--' ■': vil-r^'*::-. i^H'! !:, ./sent iht ,y ^^ >■,,-, wa, :,- ;„• Vx uU i,i"- ' y t .' 'i. lur ; ,'^* f-n*;- i^nK'V ,: ;,!'^' ■^i:^ ;,J^'^lf!l■.li, ,«;•( ;;■• next nsomc-nr 'uNt:? .. s*i^*rl u^.i.tJ, <'y,\\- i.i •■-■,,, .Mfiif aj^aih \^ii;r our wi'Tn'.i! a' VaiuoMVcr Mr. liruTV A-- -jU. roiu!, (;ai!t:'j •i;i.»!i us WJlh iiis >v:f--, and xunii^-d ■ tis till' ( ;>Ui'tCsi':'j; of ihr ro:ui .U thi^' l"r;n:;;i:-, th; !)>/■ rr, -!",._ vl' ^ ,•: ■■,,,;, ,. , .-u''''.'!,- v • '> ^ • > - . I - - , - \- . '5 "VVV 'CA U. ,?■,:.. /,'\ M^---^" ■V' ;■ ^'..iUKyA\i >i'U&u ii av". J-'O' •, 1^ s pr;- .' iU, Nil' n'r 1 DC" .5 ■"■!' : ■-■ . . -'■.'' 'ii :;' ■ 1 .■y^.v.;>^vXi-\'' ■ I - ■ ■ ■ i ^ 1 \ ' M OUP J>r>;'i|).-' 1 ... Uui\ ••:;'■ ■:■■ ' . v:v »'-r\ i I I k Stcaincr ' ' Islander. k^ t r\ I •S5v.>\\^>>A ^Vs\\^\\Z H,J I^^B T 1 B w > 1^ .'. \ 1^ ^ Frotn Katnloops to VancoiLver. h; sound. The country to the south of Vancouver has many fine farms, and is said to be well adapted to fruit-growing. Many parties remain here for the shooting and fishing, both of which are excellent, and can be had by making short excursions into the mountains towards the north. A regular line of steamers leaves Vancouver every day for Victoria, fortnightly for Japan, Yokohama, and Hong Kong, and twice a week for Seattle, Tacoma, and other Puget Sound ports. The city is beautifully located on a slight eminence, overlooking the sound, with Burrard Inlet on the north. About one o'clock on the afternoon of May i8th, the Islander, which had been engaged for our party, steamed into the harbor, having just come from Victoria in the morning. This vessel was a twin propeller boat, two hundred and forty feet in length, forty-two feet beam, and sixteen feet draught, with tremendous power, and was capable of making about nineteen miles an hour. Captain John Irving, the manager of the line, had charge of the vessel, and our pilot for Alaskan waters was the veteran Captain Carroll, the most celebrated pilot on the Pacific coast, who was one of the pio- neers, and had made one hundred and seventy trips to Alaska. He had become very wealthy, and was largely in- terested in mines, etc. We had also a very old pilot, an employe of the steamship company; from the nautical point of view we considered ourselves very well pro- vided for. The accommodations for passengers were ample ; the boat had about one hundred state-rooms, the manager's room being large and roomy, and the other apartments very comfortable. ' Mill • 4''^ Ciiliforiiia and .llaska. The . ill r';-is' i:. I -: s<>r;i.' |V.? ( r Ui-^T.' (,r,:;\ M.S-v h\ I; .;•]!! :/ \"^ rii '-.I C>' t'l!- ■ -irilf ■(■ji' (t !■. a ; ,'< !.■ ii! Ill .'^f^y.\\ .s,\'V\ ^-'a-AX ..u 'iiii; vi'lii-.ji: i !■ •_ I'l V ,1 •- , .(. . ,1'iw ( ' !i--.(r' -!■ ..! I :;.(, ■»>ft M ,1 n li flf ! I In Alaskan Waters. 151 Passing through McKay Reach, we entered Wright Sound. On our right were Douglas Channel and Verney Passage ; both these waters have been somewhat explored, and extend for many miles back into the country. The mountains on both sides of these passages are, according to the government chart, from three to five thousand feet high, but, in point of fact, many of these Waters have not been explored to any great distance. Sailing from Wright Sound and going north, we passed through Grenville Channel, leaving Pitt Island on our left and the Countess of Dufferin range of mountains on our right. The mountains on each side of this channel are about three thousand feet high, and are very heavily timbered with evergreens. The scenery was picturesque in the extreme. In the afternoon we passed through the Arthur Passage (Kennedy Island being on our right) and through Chat- ham Sound. As we passed through the sound the weather commenced to clear and before long the sun came out. Bearing to our right we arrived at Port Simpson at half- past six o'clock. This is a Hudson Bay post, the last English post before entering Alaska, and we found it to be one of the most interesting we had seen for some time. The Hudson Bay Company's agent, whom we met, was a very genial person ; he invited us up to the company's store, and showed us all over the premises. The main store is built of logs, and was constructed some sixty years ago ; part of the old stockade is still standing, and on one corner of it, up in the air, is one of the old turrets, the sides having slits for musketry, which were to be used by Ji 152 California and Alaska, ■ it the occupants to defend themselves against the Indians. The old powder magazine was built of stone, and is now used by the Hudson Hay officer for a dairy. The agent had all sorts of goods in his store. We bought some Winchester rifle cartridges, of which we were a little short, and some very old-fashioned spoons carved out of horn. We looked over a stock of skins and furs, but did not buy any. The steward took this opportunity to lay in a supply of fresh milk and eggs. The agent told us that the climate in this section is exceedingly agreeable throughout the year, although the place is in the latitude of 54° 35' ; he said that the flowers in his garden blossomed in January. Every thing sur- rounding the company's store was in the most admirable order ; the stockade and buildings were all neatly white- washed, the grass carefully trimmed, and the walks free from weeds. At one time Port Simpson was one of the most important posts of the Hudson Bay Company, but of late years it has become a very insignificant place. The Indian village outside of the walls of the post is very small, and in a very poor and needy condition. The prices paid for furs by the Hudson Bay Company are, of course, higher now than they were some twenty or thirty years ago, and the profits on them are very much less. On the other hand, it must be taken into considera- tion that it was formerly necessary to keep at least six or ten armed men here all the time to defend the post against the Indians, and further, that supplies can be landed here now at one tenth of tlie price charged for them thirty years ago. The agent told us that he thought the company Floatino Ice, near Mttir Glacier. > ' i . • i,\ \. <• )i * < ' «l 1.)!' ''Ur- 1 ,' - ' ;.„ ...,..,' .J ' " ' ' t.iji,! .it :!i< il|){i!(>,»« I. Ill • < ■ Ir.'ii,; K ;h! l ;' -If. ss :'> 'Xiv ll is •slu?K'-''.-ii ih'ii- vv "::-ii, f.in^) ,{-*.■ iu'.- broken aFi4 -.lit'ji'jy )"i!i(i ;!v;jr • i; (- M i a:iiun-'H ' . 4 m ;' , ■,"-)' ■ , .;! ■ r.:v: !',.r ;t ':nr In Alaskan Waters. 15s months ; at the time of our visit she was at Mare Island Navy Yard undergoing repairs and Lieutenant Turner was in charge of the forty marines, who were temporarily located in the old barracks. Alaska has been in the possession of the United States since October 18, 1867. The country was bought through negotiations carried on by William H. Seward, who was at that time Secretary of State. The wits of the period made merry over the acquisition, just as wits in former days made merry over our acquisition of Louisiana and Florida. Secretary Seward justified his action on the ground of th'e new country's natural wealth in timber, fisheries, minerals, and fur-bearing animals ; also on the ground that it would neutralize the power of Great Britain in the North Pacific and render the annexation of British Columbia possible in the future. " Alaska," said he, " may not be so valuable as we deem it ; but you cannot deny the value of the gold regions of the Cariboo country and Fraser River, the coal mines of Vancouver's and Queen Charlotte's islands, and the unrestricted possession of the magnificent Straits of Fuca. All these, following manifest destiny, will be ours in time ; besides," said he, " we owe a deep debt of gratitude to Russia for her unvarying friendship through long years, and for her kindly sympathy during the sorest of our national trials — the great rebellion." The sum of $7,200,000 was paid for Alaska, and it is estimated that the few mines near Juneau are worth more than that sum to-day. The Governor of Alaska, Hon. A. P. Swineford, has made interesting reports in re^'"ard to the resources and prospects of this new and remarkable country. He says '2 i' "' 113 156 California and Alaska. 4 '■"V that two years atj[o the population was estimated at about fifty thousand inhabitants ; of this number thirty-five thou- sand were classed as wholly uncivilized. Very little has been accomplished in the way of ajfricultural development. Herii and there a ranch has been started for the growinjr of root-crops, while in nearly all che settlements vej^etable gardens are maintained with very little labor. There are large areas of excellent grazing lands in the Territory, but very little has beeu done in the way of stock-raising. At nearly all the settlements on the Kodiak Islands and in Cook's Inlet white and creole people keep cows and make their own butter ; the Governor sees no reason, except the absence of a market, why Alaska might not rival Montana or Wyoming in the raising of stock. The great island of Kodiak comprises a geographical area of about five thou- sand square miles. Considerable progress has been made in the development of the mineral resources of the Terri- tory, There is a large stamp-mill on Douglas Island, the largest plant of the kind in the world, its output of gold bullion being estimated at not less than $i50,cmdo per month. New discoveries of valuable mines arc constantly being made, especially in Southeastern Alaska. It is pretty well established that other minerals besides gold and silver are abundant in various parts of the Ter- ritory. A large vein of very rich copper ore has been found on Kodiak Island, and large bodies of the same metal in its native state are known to exist on Copper River. Petroleum is found in different sections, while at Cape Prince of Wales, the most westerly point of the continent, there is a plentiful supply of graphite in the Indiajt Chief\s Grave, Alaska, [■ lB?^r'fe3^',."5^- :.'it-*4'W i... ! -i 1, V r f) T) h\ ■ \ * '■ V . \\ 1 l^i 1 t) V I In Alaskan Waters. «57 /. adjoininjf mountains. Anibt.-r t;xists in \\w\i(\ (niantities, and sulphur is found in connection with the numerous volcanic peaks and extinct cratcTs. Discoveries of iron, cinnaljar, and mica are recorded. Marble al)ounils ; there is every evidence of the existence of valuable slate beds ; fire-clay is found in connection with the coal seams ; and kaolin is amont; the discoveries reported. There is said to be coal enous^h in Alaska, and of the very best f|uality, to supply the wants of the whole of the Pacific slope for centuries, and it is prophesied th. t the time will soo'i come when the product of her mines will find other and wider markets than those of the Pacific coast alone, '''here are vast forests of valuable timber in the back country, but there are not more than half-a-dozen saw-mills eni^aj^ed in cutting' lumber, and they only partially supply the local demand. The fisheries of Alaska form an important industry. There are seventeen salmon canneries in operation, some of them very large establishments, and nearly all havinjT salting houses in connection. The codfishing tleet is steadily increasing, and halibut is being sent to Eastern cities in refrigerator cars. In 1888 twelve thousand tons of salmon were prepared for the market. The fur trade is also an important industry. There are thirteen public schools in the Territory, located respectively at the principal towns, and the In- dustrial Training School at Sitka is in a nourishing condition, though not accomplishing, it is said, all that might reasonably be expected ; the boys are taught car- pentry and cabinet-, boot-, and shoe-making, while girls I ■**■ 1 158 California and Alaska. "' '*, ' . ■ * \^\^ are instructed in housekeeping, sewing, knitting, cook- ing, and dressmaking. The average rainfall in Sitka and its immediate neighborhood is about forty-eight inches ; about one third of the year there is no rain. The weather is not very cold in winter, the thermometer rarely reaching zero on the coast. The mean temperature for the year is about forty-four degrees. January and F"ebruary have the low- est record — 29° 2' ; August highest — 56° 4'. Ice rarely forms to a thickness of six inches, and yet in summer the weather is not warm enough to ripen any grain. The months of June and July are generally clear, dry, and free from rain. The fall and spring are the rainy seasons. The comparatively mild temperature in this high latitude is accounted for by the existence of a great current of warm water, resembling our Gulf Stream, which, sweeping along the coasts of Japan and Asia to the northeast, crosses the Pacific, and washes the northwest coast of America as far down as the Bay of Panama, where it again diverges to the westward and forms the great equatorial current of the Pacific. At the head of Cross Sound are five large glaciers that are formed far back in the country on the slopes of Mount F'airweather and Mount Crillon, the former 14,708 feet high, the latter 13,400. The remarkable indentation and almost endless length of this coast, the thousand islands, the imi.iense number of mountains large and small, the maze of rivers through which the travclle>' passes, make this journey incompara- ble with any other which cnukl be made. We had often .!J alt i Russian Block-House, Sitka, Alaska. w If c,h C.'hfofnid ^m.'i „//?•- '.j,'\.' 'vii-io;. k.nj;-'-: i-n.k- .1., -11,! ,,. , I ■ in i-^.Ji.". 'Till!. ..'.i I Uti" ::i).isr f' , ,f !•■<; I y -■ ' Mir .;_:^ ; . . .'■^'ika is Si. I !{, 4 ('"ill' < ._ij),i' ..in. CK ''■ \^■"(_'^tbl:r vs ni.'.i- i, : if ■(•r"t./_T fircly f,!(-l;ini.- /,< :t-,.' ' . A>.i.. 'if" h; I .^i^?AA^. .vA\^^. :idmA\^y-:^ •7? ^■;_'/., t?'?" ' %VJ ,!N MASkAV VVATlfl^. {.o,u>;nuch. ") '(! '^ ;n <:'l iifc tn i.»- i M M^^ mAV ^•A'M^N\- ,^>'\\\?. ,^is\:,yQ\ 5S^•^V5^'■s\ Wi swv,Vf;n. . ',JU, till' -. Uiaj^ii- I-; ;,i>' ;< r ffv ':■ iU:!-;--: • a. En ■ .; ;;>. ■ i t iVl.lV •■>■,; , : . ;,•,,, , ,. ':::<■■" the c;iiiiil----> =1 .liu, 1 !^'U-\ ' ■} .s: i i:!r!u:i T '.•'. ■ ■'■:-. •Ui:'^:i (./ \\'\.:: mj^ ■■'»" / In Alaskan Heaters. i6i bright silvery skin and scales. It is caught by the Indians on bright moonlight nights. They use for this purpose a large rake, some six or seven feet long, with teeth of bone or sharp-pointed nails. This rake has a handle, and while one Indian paddles the canoe close to the " shoal of fish," the other sweeps the rake through the dense mass, bring- ing up generally three or four fish impaled on each tooth of the rake. The canoes are soon filled, and the contents being taken on shore, the squaws proceed to skewer the fish on long slicks, passing these sticks through the eyes until each one has as many as it will hold, when the whole are suspended in the thick, smoky atmosphere at the top of the hut, which dries and preserves the fish without salt, which is never used by the Indians. When dry, the candle-fish are carefully packed away in boxes of dried bark. The traders at Fort Simpson catch these fish in nets, salt and dry them in the usual manner practised by the whites ; and, when this is properl)- done no fish are more delicious than the candle-fish, the only trouble being that they are so rich that one soon tires of them. To use them as candles, a piece of wick or dried pith is passed through the fish with a bodkin of hard wood, and the tail being inserted in a cleft-stick or junk-bottle, the wick is lighted. The fish burns with a clear, steady flame. In point of wealth and power, after a few Indian chiefs, the most important person in the village is Mrs. Tom, a woman of great importance and influence among the natives. She is worth about $40,000, and, in that section of the country at least, is considered a wealthy woman. 1 B 1.^ Ml i! »U I 162 California and Alaska. We made her a visit, and found her not only willing to exhibit to us her large collection of curiosities, but anxious to part with many of them for a proper pecuniary consid- eration. Her house consists of three rooms, one of them very large. At the time Lieutenant Turner and our party made our visit she was not presentable, but called out to us that we should amuse ourselves by looking over her furs until she could prepare her toilet. She was not long in making her appearance, when she opened her trunks, searched in various recesses, and brought forth any num- ber of trinkets and curious articles, which she offered for sale. We made a number of purchases, including some very fine otter skins and a Chilcot blanket. We were told that she left the settlement for the Aleutian Islands every year in a large boat well stocked with provisions and arti- cles that she knows will be appreciated by the Indians ; these she trades away for rich furs and curiosities which she knows she can readily sell to the Americans who visit Sitka. These journeys sometimes keep her away for three months at a time. Mrs. Tom's ideas of matrimony are certainly very liberal ; she has almost any number of husbands, but rarely keeps one over two or three years, when she discharges him and purchases a new one. After we had made the purchases from her we requested her to send the articles to the steamer and we would pay the money to the hus- band who brought the package. She evidently had a very pessimistic opinion of man's honesty, for she quickly replied that, as the amount due was quite a large sum, she wished, if we had no objections, that we would pay her " cash hidian River Canyon, front ''Pin la' A nckorage. ■f) "I I fK i>i :\ ■•)VS '^■' V.,^V ,\\ \ 1 ] ■:i I" m 'fi..V W^' ssKB^smemmm .! f f| I II I In Alaskan Waters. 163 down " on tin; spot, saying- lliat sIk; would feci easier than if she had to wait f(jr one of her luisljanf the lioal, catchinu;- sonn' very fine black bass and halibut. 'I"he tishinj^ and deer-slujoting in this vicinity are said to be V(;ry ^ood. '['he Kussian-Aiiiiric m Company, once such an impor- tant factor in Alaskan life, commenced its existence in 1799 and was formed on the same; plan as the lludson Bay Company ; a body of Russians traders and merchants, however, had existed loni^ before; that date. i}(;twe<;n i'-;i2 and i i\ ■ .A' n btitai thron however, t vessel, becau^' nnk her at it had ever narked. iu wooden uld be able • a".m:J"i to patch jt up. Wt: hiul rain aimo.^t steadily from the thne w •>! 'I'l' f? fKn!»,!'> ..0^. mm;' tli.n ill, ■• •-(thcr would -^ar r.r.'is.'r!*!" th ;•■ .. h'Jiir^ Ai .v.';v',^\W ^^^^^r-^Wktvi •>lA-.fW\. ^v Uvtiwi'. i.1' I'.f. was o. • mass <.»f rivcn hrr'-wilh. - biilinjT away rr\ i,in/> tiiilfrto th»' stiUoti 1)1 this part;' ' r .-loyn niir!ut«»s«lnriti;^ V 'iwedid '; In Alaskan Waters. 167 not see or hear large pieces of ice falling, the masses being so large sometimes that they caused the vessel to rock. We anchored at this point all night, leaving about half- past three o'clock the following morning, as soon as we could see. We travelled south to Ainsley Island ; here, instead of going down through Chatham Strait, as we did when we came up, we turned around and went north, towards Lynn Channel, bearing off sharply to our right round Admiralty Island, going through Stevens' Passage, then back again between Douglas Island and the main- land to Port Douglas. We arrived at Douglas about two o'clock in the afternoon. It had rained steadily all day, and we had not been able to see any of the mountains ; at times the fog was dangerously thick. After tying up at the wharf, our party went through the celebrated Treadwell Mine, which has the largest stamp-mill in the world ; it is owned principally by Mr. D. O. Mills, and some gentlemen of San Francisco. We passed through a tunnel into the mountain, and entered the mine. The ore is all of a low grade, and is worth about ten dollars per ton. It is taken out by the use of Sargent drills worked by compressed air. The ore is quarried the same as any ordinary stone, after which it is all put into the crusher, and then into the stamp-mill. We spent two hours in this mine, after which we went across to Juneau, where we were obliged to fill the tank of our steamer with water. We remained there until seven o'clock in the evening. Juneau enjoys the distinction of being one of the dirtiest towns we had yet seen. The 1 68 California and Alaska. ) [V \ place was full of people, one hundred and sixty having arrived on the last trip of the Ancon, drawn to the locality on account of the great mining excitement which existed there at the time. Only a few days before we arrived, a party struck, about thirty miles south of the town, a rich silver ore, which assayed $i6o per ton. While at Juneau, at the special request of a young lady in New York, who is much interested in the work, we called upon Miss Matthews, who is in charge of the Presbyterian Mission here. While making this call we saw a young bear cub in the street ; we purchased it, and had it taken on board the boat, where it greatly amused the children. We left the dock at half-past three in one of the heaviest rains we had so far seen. A short distance from here wc passed Bishop's Point, and if we had had more time would have turned off into Taku Inlet, and sailed up to a very large glacier which is at the head of it. As we passed through Stevens' Passage we left Holcomb's Bay on our left. The old pilot we had on board told us that some twenty years ago, while he was sailing in this vicinity as mate on a vessel, the ship anchored here one night and did some trading with the Indians. There was some mis- understanding between the captain and the chief of the tribe, and the captain, in some way, insulted the Indians. That night the savages boarded the ship, and, taking pos- session, completely stripped her, the crew barely escaping with their lives. At nine o'clock, on the morning of Saturday, May 25th, the clouds broke away as we were entering Prince Fred- erick Sound, coming through Stevens' Passage from ■ yujiccui (.llaslun and Harbor, 'i ias^a. rawn {■ y n. a i ich' ' ■ "1, Mi^v ^'t:!'?h^^v-. who !'- in "hjtv):^^ of thf Prf'^tkyterinyi w 'I, u;v\\i !■ ' f i> ,(■■•'■ .",.■ 'It liii •>(ir; "'".;.! I'^vi "•'.'" ' •' '= ')■■■ ! '' ■ '.•-,,■•. ti. ■ i I Nl r ! ^m Indian Village, Alert Bay, Alaska. >i> >vX;s»\v. ;r\.ii \\V.V-. .'ii'i\H\\\' \ \^v,W«;\ =iJ^ _-_ ^^r 1 I ii I In Alaska 71 Waters. 169 Juneau. We here retraced our steps through Wrangel Narrows, and, after leaving the narrows, bore off to our left for Fort Wrangel. In the sunshine on this day the country looked beautiful, and it was the first opportunity we had had for many days to take a really good photo- graph. On our arrival at Fort Wrangel, at half-past one, every one went ashore. The town consists of about forty or fifty Indian houses, two missions and stores, and two or three houses in which a few white people live. Fort Wrangel is chiefly celebrated for its totem poles, of which the accompanying sketch will give a very good idea, as it will also of the street and stores. We understood that there was a large cannery about thirty miles north of this place, but we did not have time to visit it. After spending an hour and a half on shore, we started on our way to Vancouver. The bear which we obtained at Juneau proved to be a great source of pleasure to the children. He grew tame very rapidly, and became quite a pet. Sunday, May 26th, was the first really pleasant day we had had since leaving Vancouver, more than a week before. As already stated, we had had an hour or two of sunlight at times, but this particular Sunday was lovely from beginning to end ; there was not only an absence of rain, but the weather was so mild that we were all able to sit on the deck throughout the entire day. On the same evening, howe\'er, as we were crossing Charlotte Sound, about half-way over, it began to rain very hard, and by eight o'clock il became sc thick that we had difficulty in 22 ' i i 170 California and Alaska. finding our way into the narrows beyond. We looked forward eagerly to our arrival at Vancouver the following day, as we expected to find there mail and telegrams ; for the ten preceding days we had had no chance of receiving any communication from our friends. ir f f ^ra 11 gel, A laska . ■' njr nur vmy the ten prt'c any communica chance of ivctiv mg iends. \ I 1 .- ■ -.-. I' % ; Id* y* im / 4 li' i ^M fe| i^ tf ^ g^^ ^-^ i^ 1 ^ m ^^ ^^M-p-^ i 4-v^^''* v^ CHAPTbK XXI. VICTORIA— WINNIPEG— HUNTING EXPE- RIENCES. WE arrived at Vancouver about five o'clock on the afternoon of Monday, May 27th, and found there a large number of mail-bags, telegrams, and packages awaiting us. We remained until eight o'clock, removing our spare baggage and attending to necessary correspondence, when we left for Victoria, which we reached, after a pleasant run, during the night. After breakfast, in the morning, we went to the ofiice of the Northern Pacific Express Company, and found there two lost mail-bags, which we should have received at Lake Pend d'Oreille. In the morning we took a drive around the town ; in the afternoon some of the party took a steam launch and made a trip to Esquimalt and the English naval depot, while the rest drove over there in carriages. The roads on the island are excellent, being macadamized as they are in England. A number of English men-of-war are stationed here, among them some of the latest and most approved ironclads. Victoria is the capital of British Columbia, and is in the southern part of Vancouver Island. From the city one 171 i ? ., ■ij r »7 California and Alaska. has a fine view of the Olympia Mountains, just across the straits in Oregon, and, to the east, snow-capped Mount Baker. There is one railway on the island, and it leads to the mountains, the coal-fields, and to the harbor of Na- naimo. Fine deposits of anthracite coal are said to exist in the far interior of the western portion of the island. During the summer months a steamer leaves Victoria every two weeks for Alaska. The climate is much like that of the south of England. On our return from Esquimalt we all met at the /y/- rtWfl'^r, and through the courtesy of Captain Irving enjoyed a sail up the " Arm," a beautiful inlet from the sea, both shores of which are lined with handsome villas, occupied by wealthy residents of Victoria. We returned to the boat in time for dinner, and im- mediately afterward started for Vancouver. Instead of following a direct route we ran around to Esquimalt Harbor, and sailed in among the English ironclads, thus getting a very good view of the fleet. Our trip on the steamer Islander was charming and was thoroughly enjoyed, much of our pleasure being due to the kindness and courtesy of Captains Carroll and Irving, both of whom took special pains to describe the various points we visited. During the ten days we were on board the steamer, our life was comfortable in the extreme. There was no part of the boat which we were not welcome to visit, and most of the men, when not below with the ladies, spent the greater part of their time in Captain Irving's apartment, or in the pilot- house. In Iraser Canyon, shozvlng Four 'J\innels ■i above Spuzzum, Canadian Pacific Raikvy. A I '(' lit . ': . ' ' ■ ! . I -. ...» . 'I ) i ffi ' ■V > Althoiijrh we thoroujjhly appreciated the jjrandeiir, magnifict'ncc, and novelty of the scenery we hail witness, il during our ten days in Alaskan waters, yet we \v(.'re all quite agreed that weird, strange, and grand though it might be, it did not begin to equal what we had s"en on the Canadian Pacific road near Mount Stephen when we crossed the Rockies, or Mount Macdonald when we journeyed over the Selkirks. On our return to Vancouver, on the morning of May 29th, we found our special train backed down upon the wharf, ready to receive us for our homeward trip. Every thing was immediately transferred from the boat to the cars. We had intended stopping over at Shuswap Lake to fish, but we received word from Mr. Marpole that the flifs and mosquitoes were biting faster than the fish ; he in- i ned us it would be better to continue directly to Banff. Our train really looked better now than on the day we started from New York ; the trucks of the cars had all been overhauled and painted. Mr. Abbott did all he possibly could for our comfort. The ride up the Fraser River Canyon was extremely interesting ; the scenery seemed to be even more beautiful than it did the day we journeyed down. We arrived at the junction of the Thompson and Fraser rivers about three o'clock in the afternoon, and reached Kamloops Lake about seven o'clock, just as we were about sitting down to dinner. None of us before had realized what a beautiful sheet of water this is. We reached Kamloops about nine o'clock, where Mr. Marpole and his master mechanic met us. I ' jii 174 California and Alaska. As it rained very hard on the morning of May 30th, we abandoned our intention of going to the Glacier, and rode directly through to Banfif. As we passed through we were unable to see Mount Macdonald owing to the fog and mist hanging over it ; but the scenery going up from Macdonald, alongside of the Kicking Horse Canyon to the summit underneath Mount Stephen, se'^nied to us even grander than it did on our outward trip. We arrived at Banff about four o'clock, where we took carriages and drove to the Hot Springs, and afterwards to the Hotel Banfif, which i;'. kept by the Canadian Pacific Railway. Here we had ai excellent dinner, after which we walked to the Bow River and then back to the cars in the evening. Banff is a station for the Rocky Mountain Park of Canada. This park is twenty-six miles long, about ten wide, and embraces the valleys of the Bow, Spray, and Cascade rivers, Devil's-Head Lake, and many mountains beyond. The hotel here is kept by the railroad company in the finest and most approved style. It was as good as any hotel we stopped at on our journey, almost equalling the hotel at Monterey. The building is beautifully located on the side of the mountain overlookincr the Bow River Valley, is supplied with every modern convenience and luxury that one could wish for, and is kept open during the entire year. A photograph of the view from the hotel is given on another page. Many excursions are made from here into the moun- tains by sportsmen, who can readily obtain the horses and camping outfits necessary for a two or three weeks' Hotel Banff, Canadian National Park, Canadian Pacific Railway. 1,1 ijtl J'l !: ^74 CalifiVHM amj Aiaska, wi;n-r uni.iblf to .,-.■. \? , aud mmt iv.pt;uu, .„.. , , ^,t ti„, ,eeneu-y s^^nnj; up iron. Macdonakl,ai.^*-.,Klr.r n Kickino- f {orH<- Can>.)n to the grauflt:.- ihan it ,L.! f-n'...:i .,ijnv;ir.l t-ip. W,; un-iv,x! at Banff aho.u f,>ur ocImo.. 'a1.,t.- u, i.K.k c,cm:u.. s auJ c?nrv.^ to tli<- H^l s.,r..H:-., ':^ '^'-var,!-, :o th,- Mole! S^, I •^'Wx^V \v>s\vi^\vrA ;Ai.■u\.v^^\^) X^^^>V\ \iNf,\\ (;\ '!!;•• 'v.Ut-1 l->v.r(: ;•; l.ry i V ;i ^'ali'ey is -.iip,- ;■ ■ /■'!' I is ^hvi\ on :i; ■viu;u!!rit. tile ''» '• ''i'_ vJrsv r 'lit .ih'. "f r U .1 I flUM f ill 1' 'l w View from Banff Hotel, Looking down Bozu Valley, Canadian Pacific Railway. n [lA I* ; -^\ . ' \ iV . \ ll / '' ft]' :|f Hunting Experiences. '75 sojourn. The mountains surrounding Banff average in height from seven to ten thousand feet. Devil's-Head Lake is situated at the very foot of Fairhohne Mountains. The illustration of Lake Louise near Laggan, given elsewhere, will furnish an excellent idea of the appearance of Devil's-Head Lake. It is situated in the very heart of snow-capped mountains, its shores rising perpendicularly out of the water with little if any vegetation upon them. The depth of the lake is in proportion to the height of the mountains at its sides. We had heard that very large trout were to be obtained in this lake, and consequently had made arrangements to drive out there in two wagons. As it was early in the season we were not able to obtain many boats ; a few of the party went out, however, and after an hour's fishing Mr. Kean returned with a foriy- iwo-ponnd lake trout. This locality is particularly cele- brated for big-horned sheep, and mountain goats are common on the neighboring heights. The Sulphur Springs at Banff are highly appreciated by invalids. The air here is soft and balmy, and the records show that the winters are not as severe in the valley as one might be led to expect. The government has built excellent roads, running in different directions, all through the valley and up the mountain sides. A good livery is kept at the hotel, where horses and carriages can be obtained for excursions in the vicinity. Bridle-paths have also been cut to quite a distance in the mountains. A party could stay a couple of weeks here with very great profit, not only on account of the shooting and fishing, but for the pleasure that would be derived 176 California and Alaska. 'f m from excursions to the different points of interest. A picture of the hotel is given on another page. We stopped for a few minutes about ten miles farther east, at Anthracite, a place where discoveries of anthracite coal have been made. From that point we did not stop until we reached Calgary, where we remained about half an hour, at the request of the mayor and some of the prominent citizens, and enjoyed a drive around the city. Calgary can be compared to the town of Great Falls, in Montana ; it seems to be similarly located, and will event- ually become a distributing point for the mines and mountain region surrounding it ; it is understood that this is now the case with regard to the Northwest and Mackenzie River country. The growth of this town with- in the past four years has been something phenomenal. From Calgary we hurried on eastward until, about sundown, we reached Medicine Hat, situated on the Saskatchewan River. This place is the home of Mr. Niblock, through whose energy enough funds have been raised to build a large hospital for the railroad people. The station at Medicine Hat is one of the prettiest build- ings on the prairie ; the experimental garden in front of the building in the summer time is one mass of flowers. We left Medicine Hat at half-past six on the evening of May 31st, taking with us Mr. Niblock's assistant, Mr. Coon, his celebrated ducking dog " Punch," and another dog which we borrowed from a gentleman in Medicine Hat. We ran slowly during the evening, so timing our- selves as to get within about half a mile of Goose Lake at three o'clock in the morning. The train was stopped here Rc({ Sucker Cove, North Shore Lake Superior, Canadian Pacific Raihaav. I 'I ■( f !i I I. 'X i 1'^ .... 1 ;:.„.l .,,,^. ! ... . ,, ' '1. y^y -\-v7 \ .,; A " \ ■ ( ^V v. , »viv"f\ H , ill - 1 If Mi! i ft" i a 1 t ' , ■I ': m\ in 4\ I ):| !' Red Slicker TunneL Canadian Pacific Railwa v. ni ! i I ;•/ ii Hunting Experiences. 177 on the main track, Mr. Coon having with him a telegraph instrument with which he tapped the wires and kept all east- and west-bound trains out of the way. We then had coffee, and the gentlemen of the party started with their guns and walked up the track, just as day was breaking. As we neared the lake, which lay to the south, we could hear gee'=e and ducks, as well as many other kinds of wild- fowl, making an incessant squawking and calling. When we reached the lake we found it fairly alive with geese and ducks of every description ; snipe, yellow-legs, and avecet were there in myriads. Owing to the easy manner in which wild-fowl can '"^^ killed here, the lake has been nicknamed, by Mr. Van H«. rne, " Blind-hunter's Lake " ; he truthfully contends that all a man has to do is to go there, fire off a gun, and he is sure to hit some- thing. It must be added however, that this remark only applies to the gunning season. As it was the close of the season, and our party only desired to obtain a few specimens of game, to be mounted in Winnipeg, we separated, some of us going to the north side of the lake, while others went to the opposite side. About half-past six we returned to the railroad track, at the north end of the lake, each with a few specimens of almost every kind of wild-fowl. All the party then went back along the track, and signalled for the train to come up, when we all got on. We made a run for a short distance until we came to another part of the lake, where a number of swan were seen. We stopped the train, and two of the party tried to stalk them, but found it impossible to get near them, as the swan would invariably get up 1 \\ 23 178 California and Alaska. t\ ! just before the sportsmen were within gun-shot distance. At Rush Lake we made another stop. This is, probably, the finest shooting hike on the line of the Canadian Pacific ; wild-fowl shooting is said to be better here than anywhere else along the road. After spending a half- hour at this lake, we all returned to the train and had breakfast. While waiting at the siding at this lake we were passed by the west-hound Continental. From Rush Lake to Winnipeg we made no stop, except to change engines and take water. We arrived at Winnipeg at about eleven o'clock in the evening, having made excep- tionally good time. The following day, Sunday, the second of June, the weather was bright, clear, and quite warm. Shortly after breakfast the American Consul called upon us, and we arranged with him for a visit to Governor Shultz. Some of the party took carriages and drove to church. In the afternoon the children all took a drive, and the men of the party visited Mr. Mines, the taxidermist, and left with him a number of heads and specimens that we had procured in the Rocky Mountains and elsewhere, such as moose, elk, and the black-tailed deer. The writer had the pleasure of capturing one of the largest moose heads that had ever been seen in that section of the country ; also quite a large elk head. We all enjoyed our visit in Winnipeg, especially our call upon Governor Shultz, whom we found to be an exceedingly agreeable person. He was very anxious, not only to hear about our trip to Alaska, but also to give the writer information in regard to the Mackenzie River I Main Slrccl, PVinnipeg. *.:.■»: -*.W.«^ 'laSf^^'^ -"-.•;^ -I =*"*?:«:♦ IX i m V ^^^^ L^U wr .., ,,notlu r sr,. Tins U. prnha!... |Jh nn--.4 ,houtHv -^-■■'■. on »h^. ^.- „{ rhr C.naaian ' -MM. . .viU^^u^v^•^ :.• ^^ i-. f^aul , '>. ixun-rluTc than ..ny^vhc^rft cf.. ,]. :, ,;., v.ad. ;,,,. -p,n,lu,. a hal! hot.r ar this hk.^ ., ,:J r.i,M-n.d i. ... .,-,in .nd had bfcakfasl. Whd,: ^.^img .u du s.h.„: ,m tic,. l;,ke we wtT<;]ia:i::;e(l uy th.-w*-H-hoand ConfiiU'!it;U. ' hroin ki,di Lake lo Winnii>-i; we mad, no stup. .x. ..-nt to riianL'v- '•n^inr.^and take wat^rr. \\V ,uri- d at U MMM,K,.^/.d t!>Otl! 'di'V.'.l, ^,■'^■J:, !^ "r-'^f i • ■. r ■ w -,..: 1,1 I nitn r.f I'uv party vi-vitpd Mr, ]\Uu ~. \h :^d ^viih him a lauidu r of-i=--,,;' ..,„.:, . ,1.7 iTIlV'S'U'. i:u., . .>, j ; M. til, it had «•■,<' ' '^ -f. 'f VV'c al! 'aijcn ':d i-;;- '- .>\Hn\ G'Jvr;,-),..) '.■ "d[, n, A!n;d.; !'•.■--■, tj.at- ) 180 California and Alaska. reports from Hudson Bay officials said that no such person had ever been at certain posts, and that it was next to impossible for him to have gone over to MoUesten's Land, or even to the eastern Arctic coast opposite ; — besides, the trip from here westward to the Yukon would have required a longer period. The city is situated on a level plain ; the streets are very broad, and the buildings mostly of brick. An illus- tration of the main street in Winnipeg is given elsewhere. Within the last few years the town, of course, has grown very rapidly, owing to the Canadian Pacific Railway pass- ing through it and the Manitoba Railroad reaching it from the south. Many branches of railroad now centre here. The Hudson Bay Company have a railway, which, when we were at Winnipeg, was completed as far as Shoal Lake, forty miles to the northwest. The depot of the Canadian Pacific Railway in this city is a handsome and imposing building, and is the divisional headquarters for that part of the road from Port Arthur to Donald, a distance of one thousand four hundred and fifty-four miles ; this is called the Western Division. The land offices of the Canadian Pacific Railway are also located here. In conversing with the ta.vidermist, Mr. Hines, and his son, both of whom are ardent sportsmen, the)' gave very interesting accounts of the game that can be found north of Winnipeg, at Lake Winnipeg. This game includes moose, caribou, bear, and, in the fall, any number of ducks. They also informed us that the facilities for getting to the hunting grounds were very good. The sportsman could follow the Hall River nearly the whole I Alaskan Game, Killisnoo. //v/. '/• >fn-, ■\i!:->) ,' H((_ /( : I in 'It V . ,!:- • • .l> '^"^•-'- -'•'■ ^V . •■ . O V,AyA'^,,\\v .if / 'S«r Skirting Nep,g„„ Ray, Canadia l\(ii/way. Pacifit nc -*^ WJ.r/'-'' -■■"- '■-. .5 ,'r^*' NV,'.,v,r', ti i ' t,f. m '"i** 1 9 if M' .(^ Htmting Jixperiences. iSi distance, part .,f the way by steamboat and the rest of th<. way m canoes, makin^r it exceedinj^ly easy to take plenty of supphes The country is said to resemble very nn.ch he Ad,rondacks or the lake region of Minnesota fron. the fact that, for miles and n.iles the hunter can go fron, one lake to another, oftentimes without having to make any carry, whil. at others he would only have from one o three hundred feet carry to n.ake. Thej- told us. also. hat the grounds for camping were excellent ; in fact from their account we came to the conclusion that a trip there dunng the months of September or October would amply repay any sportsman. ff-" I 1( iM t: i ■ ' 1 :.l CHAPTFR XXII. FROM WINNIPEG. HOMEWARD BOUND. WE left Winnipcjj; at three o'clock on the after- noon of June 2d, arriving at Rat Portage about sundown. The scenery west from Lake Winnipeg was very similar to what we had seen the two preceding days, until we approached Rat Portage, when there were some very picturesque views and numerous rock-bound lakes that we passed, many of which were studded with small islands and were very pretty. We arrived at Port Arthur about six o'clock on the morning of June 3d, first stopping at Fort William. The ride by moonlight the night before was through scenery different from any thing we had seen heretofore. The road twisted and turned around many low hills, across small lakes, winding down rivers, running all the time through an exceedingly picturesque country. The effect of the moonlight, now and then falling upon these beautiful lakes, of which there was almost a continuous line, was so pleasing as to induce many of the party to sit out on the rear platform until quite late in the evening. If we had not been in a hurry to reach Nepigon, where i8a er- ge ke >vo en us :rc lie n. ?h e. Is. le le 5e IS it NepiiTon River, and Hvdsoii Hay Com- pany s Pas/, LookiniT down the River from near Canadian Pacific Railway Pridpc. i falli h f) III >,"> ' t N / 't| id 'I .SI I \i Thunder Cape, Lake Sup. 'erior. >|! f I II hB' i ^m'i UI^B U i I From IVimiipeg^Honieward Bound. '83 the party proposed to have some fishing, we would have stopped over at Winnipeg until the morning, in order to enjoy th.s scenery, which, though it was not grand, was exceedmgly beautiful. We arrived at Port Arthur, more commonly called Pnnce Arthur's Landing, at about eight o'clock in the mornmg, and remained there until the Indians, who Fort w-n""T"' r " °"' '^^'"^ ^°"'-' -'••■-d f-- For Wdham, about half-past one. We procured a box- car for the canoes. The morning was occupied in visiting vanous stores, and purchasing provisions and needed ar .cles for the four or five days' camping trip up the Nepigon. We also went down to the docks, and went through one of the fine steam-ships of the Canadian Pacfic Company, which ply between Port Arthur and Owens Sound. Both this place and Fort William are noted for having a great number of large grain elevators. The extensive docks at Port Arthur are also a notable feature of the place. The steam-ship that we took here was a passenger boat, fitted up with every modern luxury and convenience Ihe engme-room was so arranged that visitors, instead of bemg warned away by the sign « No Admittance," were permitted to go through almost every part of it These boats were built on the Clyde, in Scotland, and the different pieces brought to this country and put together at Lake Superior. The principal freight carried by them IS grain. Directly across the bay from Port Arthur is Thunder tape, a view of which is given on another page. Behind r in i i 184 California a7td Alaska. this cape is Silver Islet, noted for having yielded fabulous amounts of silver ore. On the Western Division, west of Port Arthur, " Central " time and the twenty- four-hour system are used. East of Port Arthur, Eastern time and the old twelve-hour system are used. We made the short run from Port Arthur to Nepigon, and immediately on our arrival went down the Hudson Bay Company's coast and called on Mr. Flanagan, the head official of that company. He had been notified by Mr. Van Home to have every thing ready for us in the way of necessary supplies ; also canoes and Indians. We procured from him another boat, some Indian tents and blankets, and the party started up the river. It consisted of Messrs. Kean, Purdy, Frank Webb, and George Bird ; the writer and Dr. McLane had arranged to remain with the ladies and children while the other members of the party made their trip up the river. We had heard that the Nepigon had been pretty thoroughly fished, owing to its accessibility, and we were told that by going on to Jackfish we would find a number of streams, both east and west, that could easily be reached, and where the fishing was very good. We arrived at Jackfish, a.iout sundown. The road from Nepigon to Jackfish sweeps around the north shore of Lake Superior, and repre- sents a section of the railroad upon which some of the heaviest work on the entire line had to be done. The scene changes constantly, the road sometimes going over deep, rugged cuttings, viaducts, passing through tunnels, and sometimes on the very face of the cliff. One or two miles of road over which we passed cost the company f- V-\tf^& Nepigon Ba\\ from Nepigon Stat ton. 4 Vv I li^ \41n1 I Ciihfornui a in t..:i. uiic and t,! ■ \y ■,,.■ \->s\y _ \ './Jiipfi!- , ., 1,-. ^ I ' .J i tu,». \\ (, ,1' ) (I ! )jv;.,j(.>ti. ■■ >f ■ I'Ji -it ■ • ;-', i ■ !'i 'hi' • ' I' , \i j .' •(> I, U , , ' I ' . K v.- ibii ; , .It' !'■ jack fish wf rti'iU'" ' ; wid west:, f.!i4t : .:;; 'i'lHt?: a St.' il'-Ji ' 1*.- >VK-,l w rk :. ; '{.' n!i:^>:ra ri^ii-ft^; '^ !,' .-Vx^ ^- 1 I ;;j;r(<;t;;^TClT -,( ■•n:s^. } I : Jarkfish Bay, Canndum Pacijlc Railway, I I J^'^^^i^iJ^^^P^iomeward Bound. •85 nearly $500,000 per mile. The water along the shore at some places is from three to five hundred feet deep It was in this section of the country, views of which are elsewhere given, that the Canadian Pacific Railway spent over $1,500,000 in dynamite alone. The company had to use such a large amount of this explosive that they bu.lt an establishment of their own for its manufacture • the bu.ldmg was located on an island, which can be seen from the train. At Schreiber, a divisional point, we changed engines Ihe Division Superintendent whom we met here very kmdly introduced the writer to the engineer of this section of the road, a great fisherman. He not only told us where the best fishing was to be had. but arranged with the fore- man of the section at Jackfish, also quite a fisherman, to take us up and down the track on his hand-car as often as we might desire. From Schreiber to Jackfish the road is carried throun nets ,n the deep water beyond the islands. Quite a number of brook trout are also caught in this wav. each boat bringing in from thirtN- to seventv-five fish.' The I \:^ ))ii '-,/ lit 'k 1 86 California ami Alaska. fish arc clcancxl at oiicc and ship[)(;cl by express to the I'last, nearly every express train whicli stops liere takinjf on four or five barrels. When a fisherman conies across a particularly fine brook trout, or lake trout, he packs it in ice and ships it to some particular customer in Ottawa. I'larly on tht; morninn the following day, \)x. McLane not feeling very wi^ll, tlu; writer made the same trip without him. but as the" weather was very warm he met with little success. One of the men on the NcpiiTon River and /lnc(o\\ Cnnadum Pacific Railivav. !., m ||ji, ill IS' '■^■: J Typical Raii'ivdy View, North S/io/c Lake S ///>erior, Canadtan I \iciji.c Railzvay. .;>*>>. .v',ip*'*Vj4(i3»*'. ^r^ Ki I Ifll ill IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-S) 1.0 lii 1.1 128 1 2.5 |jo ■^" mbb :.o K ? '- iiiii m 1.25 III 1.4 1.6 <^ A 'V /a y Photographic Sdences Corporation •a V. ST MAIN STRUT WHSTfR.N.Y. MStO (716) 87a.4S03 1 o^ From Winnipeg, Homeward Bound. 187 car had been out in the morning to a little brook called Blackbird Creek, about two miles west of Jackfish, and caught ten fine trout with a fly ; some of the trout weighed as much as four pounds each. After lunch the writer took Mrs. Webb and Mrs. Purdy in a sail-boat, and sailed over to this creek, where we got out and fished awhile. We then went up on a high trestle and waited for Mr. Van Home, who was expected to come along with our train. The day before he had wired us that he was on his way to the Pacific coast, and he would stop and take up our train with his '* special " and take us back to Nepigon, where we had arranged to remain a couple of days until the boys came down the river. Owing to some little delay down the line we had to wait on the trestle two hours, but Mr. Van Home finally came along and picked us up. He and his party dined with us that evening, and after leaving us at Nepi- gon he started westward for the Pacific coast. His last words to us were : " Make yourselves at home, and call for what you want." Thursday, June 6th, we spent at Nepigon, waiting for the boys to come down the river, and did but very little fishing. The flies had got to be quite thick, and we had to be very careful all day to keep them from getting into the cars. Dr. McLane and the writer spent the evening with Mr. Flanagan and his family, and were delightfully entertained by his charming wife and daughter. Mr. Flanagan has been located here with his family quite a number of years, and is in charge of the Hudson Bay property. Some foot-races and rifle-matches between the 1 88 California and Alaska. porters on our train, which we got up on this afternoon, proved to be very amusing. About six o'clock the next evening word was brought to us by an Indian that our party was coming down the river ; we telegraphed at once to Port Arthur to send an engine to take us East. The boys arrived about seven o'clock, and, as soon as possible after their arrival, we started for Montreal. After leaving Jackfish, our journey led us through a very wild and barren coimtry, perhaps the most unin- teresting portion of the Canadian Pacific road. There was one succession of small lakes and insignificant mountains. We changed engines four times after we loft Schreiber — at White River, Chapleau, Carter, and Sudbury. Chap- leau is charmingly situated on Lake Kinogama, and here the railroad company have workshops, and a number of neat cottages for their employes. We arrived at Sudbury about evening. This place has a connection with the Sault Ste. Marie Railroad, through to St. Paul and Minneapolis, by the Duluth, South Shore, and Atlantic and " Soo " route. Just before this time a new passenger line had been opened from Minneapolis to Boston by this route. Large copper mines are situated a short distance from Sudbury, and a number of smelting works have been erected there. We left Sudbury on the evening of Saturday, June 8th, and arrived at Ottawa on the morning of the 9th, passing North Bay, a very pretty town on Lake Nipis- sing, during the night. The country from Sudbuiy to North Bay is very much frequented by sportsmen ; bear. A Tow on Lake Superior- Coal Vessels Returriing from Thunder Bay. thts Sft^rnoriir po4*ilik- alter t; iva}, we '•)rf!(i-'i i,f Ap. h, our journey led us through ' 'mtry, perhaps the most wn'tn- Wi)« •■i ■' ^'H. M'%\W^j\^ nuniber of We aruvr!ci at Sudbury aoout ovtjiing. This p]a:c! has a Cftnfjeriian with the Sanir Ste. Mario Railroad, by thf- Ouluth, route. Jjisl hi' fore ivpcnei! from i_-urgt; copper ..>)m Sucibury, and •n ett-cted tht-re • of Satur.j.^v, tij,n, 'Oing jth, throu;4h to St. f^ "^ ■• Shorn, and ...... -.iii^ a !!"■■ MiaflespoUs- • mines are sit; a ^wfliber of ' ^l4i^ and amved at i ' ! on I ;ti:s- ; Sudhtiiv to by sportsmen ; l)t;ar, • a|^^te|. Canadian Pacijic Railway Station, Montreal. ■^ X,,., —mtmnimmm^ ,\vu \\i\?, »nv.iv\\V;"A \\'' t.\ V\ \ VV\A\jV<\^>> ) .\\sr\Ns\AAK .ii^— IMfJinHi I i Prom W^innipeg, Ilomcwani Bound, 1^9 moose, and deer are said to abound throughout this region — such, at least, was the statement made by our train-hands. Very little timber seems to have been cut in this region, but wherever the land has been cleared it has been immeiliately taken for agricultural purposes. We spent the morning in Ottawa, and left • 'jout one o'clock for Montreal, making the run in three hours, and arriving in the new station of the Canadian Pacific Rail- way, near the Windsor Hotel. It was here that we began to feel that we had almost comj Ii fed our long and interesting trip. On another page an illustration is given of this new depot of the Canadir.;, Pacific Railway, and it is probably one of the finest pusseng':r c!<-pots in the country. Immediately on our arrival we went to the Windsor Hotel for dinner, and there met the genial manager, Mr. Swett, who gave us a very cordial reception, as usual. In the evening we walked around the city, getting back to the train about bedtime. Our train was taken around to the Grand Trunk Depot, and, on the morning of Monday, June loth, Mr. Flagg, Mr. Louis Webb, and Mr. Smith arrived from New York to welcome our return. We had intended to stay all day in Montreal, but towards noon the weather became warm and sultry, and. as the party became a little restless and anxious to go to Shelburne, the writer tele- graphed to St. Albans for an engine, and we left at five o'clock, reaching home about three hours later. The peo- ple of the whole town turned out to greet us on our arrival, and gave us an old-fashioned and right hearty welcome. 19° California and Alaska. Before closing this record of our western trip, it is only proper to say that the whole party were unanimous in the opinion that the courtesy and kind attention shown by Mr. Van Home and all of the officials connected with the Canadian Pacific Railway could never be fully repaid, and that it was only through their efforts that our trip had been so thoroughly enjoyable and interesting. It is not too much to say that Mr. Van Home literally verified the statement made in a letter to the writer prior to the com- mencement of our journey ; that statement was, that the Canadian Pacific Railway was at the disposal of the writer to come and go on as he willed, and that all he had to do was to command. Mr. Van Home's generous hospitality was certainly thoroughly appreciated by every member of the party, and will never be forgotten by the writer. THE END.