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..^J

rUNIVERSlTY

llBRARY

u
a

o -

SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY

13642-PC.

SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY LIBRARY

DATE DUE

ly n »H. 1 8^

m^^

eirn /^U69 7

Z '

-'^t OCT 1 3 1381

f^ 9o^ S^t{3 //^

IV ra

SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY

PROFESSOR HEILPRIN'S NEW BOOK.

ALASKA
AND THE KLON DIKE.

A Journey to the New Eldorado. With Hints to the
T-aveler and Observations on the Physical History
and Geology of the Gold Regions, the Condition of
and Methods of working the Klondike Placers, and
the Laws governing and regulating Mining in the
Northwest Territory of Canada. By Angelo Heil-
PRiN, Professor of Geology at the Academy of Nat-
ural Sciences of Philadelphia, Fellow of the Royal
Geographical Society of London, Past- President of
the Geographical Society of Philadelphia, etc. Fully
illustrated from Photographs and with a new Map
of the Gold Regions. lamo. Cloth, $i. 7s.

It may fairly br said that Professor Hcilprin's interesting and .luthoritative hook
presents for the first time an accurate general account of th , region which has lo
recently become famous. Much has been written about the Klondike, but a large
proportion uf this material contains so many exaggerations that a proper perspective ii
impossible. It was for the purpose of discriminating between fact and fancy by meant
of a personal knowledge of the region and its varied conditions that Professor Heilprin,
an experienced traveler and the leader of the Peary Relief Expedition of 1891, made
his journey through the region. He now presents the results of his observations in
a series of graphic chapters which describe the features of the journey, the character
of the country, and the life of the mining camps. To those specially interested in the
practical possibilities of the region, the book will make a special appeal. Students will
find it the first adequate presentation of the Klondike gold problem made by a geologist,
and it will prove invaluable to prospectors and others practically interested, since it fur-
nishes assistance not to be found in any other publication.

Tkit book it for sal* by all booksellers ; or it will be sent by mail om receipt 0/ price, by
tki publiskers,

D. APPLETON AND COMPANY,

7a Fifth Avs^nue, New York.

(OOK.

APPLET0N8'

KE.

to the
iistory
lion of
s, and
in the

Heil-
r Nat-
Royal
ent of

Fully
/ Map

loritative book
which has so
e, but a large

perspective is
ancy by means
tssor Heilprin,
>f 1892, made
ibservations in
, the character
iterested in the

Students will
by a geologist,
, since it fur-

r>/ o/pritt, fy

York.

GUIDE-BOOK TO ALASKA

AND

THE NORTHWEST COAST

INCLUDINO

THE SHORES OF WASHINGTON, BltlTISII COLUMBIA,

80UTHKASTEHN ALASKA, THE ALEl'TIAN AM)

TUE SEAL ISLANDS, THE BERINO AND THE ARCTIC COASTS,

THE YUKON RIVEU AND KLONDIKE DISTRICT

ELIZA RUHAMAH SCIDMORE

AUTIIon OF

'ALARKA: its SOUTHKRN coast and the SITKAN ARCniPBLAOO,'

" JUIBIEUUA DATB IN JAPAN," " WE8TWAKI) TO THE FAR EA8T,"

AND "JAVA, TIIK GARDEN OF TUE EAST"

WITH MAPS AND MANY ILLUSTitATIONS

NEW EDITION
WITH A CHAPTER ON THE KLONDIKE

NEW YORK

D. APPLETON AND COMPANY

1899

CoPTBiOBT, l^Ofl. 1890, 1896, 1800,

bt d. appleton and company.

•

CONTENTS.

PAOI

Introduction 1

THB PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.

The Paciflc ForMt Keserve and Mt. Itainicr 6

The International Houndary Line 19

Vancouvir Island 14

Tides ■ 16

Thk Inland Ska 17

From Victoria to (|ueen Charlotte Sound . . . . . .17

The Vicinity of Nanaimo 18

The Upper End of the Oiilf of Georgia 19

Seymour Narrows or Yaculta Rapids— The Great Malstrom SI

The Head of Vancouver Inland 29

From (^uikn Charlotte to Milbank Socnd 98

Nal(wakto Rapids 94

The Coast of British Columbia 96

From Milbank Sound to Dixon Entrancb 97

Gardner Canal or Inlet 98

The Skeena River 29

The Tsimsian Peninsula 81

Nass River, Observatory Inlet, and Portland Canal .... 88

Thb Q0KXN Charlotte Islands 84

llieUaidas 87

ALASKA.

Climate op Southeastern Alaska 40

The Native Race of Southeastern Alaska— The Tlinoits . 43

Tllnglt Customs 4S

The International Boundary Line 48

The Southern Islands fil

Mary Island Customs District 69

New MetlakahUa 68

Metlakahtla 64

The Na-t. Country 86

The Paciflc Salmon 66

Salmon Canneries 67

CONTENTS.

rAoi

Tni RiTn.i.AainRDo Lakss and Bibii Cahal M

PniNci or Walib latAiiD 00

FnitT Wranhill 00

Tub Htikini Rivib 08

Itinerary of the Stikinc River TO

MinliiK Region" of the Htllclne TS

1 itomatlonal Boundary Line on the Stiklne 78

Proii Sumnbr Htiiait to I'rincb Prbobrick Soi7ND via Wranoiix

Nahrowh 78

Along I'rince Frederick Soand 74

T»'e Thunder Hay (llBcler 76

GlaclalTheory of theNatlven '•^

Kupreanoff and Kulu iHJandi), the Land of Kakca .... 77

From Capb Fanhhawb to Takit Inlbt, Shucks and Sum Du\i ^ tb . 78

Taku Inlet and the Taku Olaclem 80

The llarrlH Mining DUtrlct— Juneau and Ita Vicinity .... 89

The Silver Bow BaHin Mine* 88

The Largest Quartz-Mill In the World 80

Admiraltt Inland 87

Fisheries of the Region 88

Alonu Chatuax Strait and Ltnn Canal 90

Tub Cbilrat Coitnthy and the Pasrbs to tub Yukon . . . 9R

The Great Tribe of the Tlingit Nation 88

To the Yukon River and Mining Campa 06

Glacibr Bat 97

Discovery and Exploration of Glacli-r Bay 97

Indian Traditions 90

Scientists' Camps ...... S 9B

Itinerary of the Bay and Inlet 100

Muir Inlet and the Great Mulr Glacier 100

The Lateral Moraines 108

The lute of Recession 104

The Ascent of Mt. Wright to the Ranging Gardens and Mountain-
Goat Pastures 106

On thv. Mainland Shore of Cross Sound 100

The ChicagofT Island Shores 106

From Chatham Strait to thb Ocban bt Pbril or Pooibbhi Straits, 106

Baranof Island and the Russian Settlements 110

The Purchase of Russian America 118

The Transfer of Russian America to the United States . . .118

An Abandoned Territory 114

Sitka, tub Capital op thb Tbrritort op Alaska 116

Russian Orthodox Church of St. Michael 117

The Indian River Park 110

The Indian Village 120

The SitkauB and their RecordB 190

The Ascent of Veratovoi 189

00NTBNT9.

Bzcnnloni In the Bay and Vicinity of HItka Ml

The Aarent of Mt. KilKt-ciimbo !•♦

flilver Bay and the HItka Mining District ...... IJM

TllE BARANOr HllORK lOUTII or HiTKA W

The White Hiilphur Hot Hprlnga tii

••To WB»TWAni»" Pll" • "ITKA TO UNAI.AHKA, AI-ONO Till COWTI-

NkNTAL SlIOBB "8

Prom HItka to YakiiUt IW

Mt. Ht. Eliaa IV

TontincnUl AU V» , . 18*

Prince Winia .. Sound ami Ita t. '.-at (llaclcm 184

t^ook'H Inlet and thu Ki-> al I'uiuiHiila 185

Tides IW

Kadlak ant* the Onm Palinon Cannerli-a 187

The (ireateat Hulmoii Hirtam in the World 188

Tho Shuniauii' IhIbikIh and the Cod P'i»herlea 188

The AliaMka IVnInmila 140

Thi Alkiitian Ihi.andu 141

ExcurHlona from Unalanka 148

The Bkbino 8ba and Hiiokkm 144

The Prlhylov or Seal Ulanda 148

The Heal Inland LeaHeb 148

CallorhinuH UrHlniw. the Fur Seal 147

The licrintt Sea yucation 148

Other iHlanda In Bering 8ea 188

Bering Strait *80

In THE Arctic Ocean .181

The Yukon Mininq KEoioNa 188

The Stikine Uoutc IW

The Taku Uoute IW

The Skagway Koute 188

The Dyea Route 188

The Chilkat Koute, Dalton and Bound Trails ..... 180

The Copper River Trail 188

Cook'B Inlet Route 188

St. Michael's Route . . , 1<>8

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

TACIRO PAOX

BoADWAT IN Stani-et Pabk, Vancocvkb 14

Indians, keab Nkw Wbstminstbr 17

Thb Goroe of the Homathco !•

Johnstone Strait ®

A Haida Totem-Pole . 8f7

Tlinoit Woman **

Hutu, or Thunder Glacier 75

(From a photograph by Lient. A. P. Nlblack, U. 8. N.)

JUHEAD ®

The Treadwbll Mine, Douglass Island 86

Front op Mure Glacier and Mt. Case, prom West Moraine . . 101

(From a photograph by F. Jay Haynes.)

Salmon-Berry Market, Sitka 118

The Old Fur Warehouse, Greek Church, and Peak op Mt. Vebs-

TOVOI, HiTKA 121

CusTOM-BousE, Castle, and Barracks, Sitka 19*

Mt. St. Eliab, prom End op Samovar Hills HO

(From a photograph by Prof. Israel C. Russell.)

Mt. Shishaldin Mi

(From a photograph by Lieut. A. L. Broadbent, U. 8. R. M.)

Cut on Claim 18, Eldorado Creek 1<S

MAPS.

Glaciers op Mt. Rainier •

General Map op Alaska ^

The International Boundabt Line M

Chilkat and Chilkoot Bats 02

Glacier Bat ^

The Coast prom Sandy Bay to Cape Edward 128

Mt. St. Eliab Region !•

Chiep Routes op Alaskan Explorers 184

Klondike Gold Region 100

The Route op the Alaska Excursion Steamers . . . In Pocket

AI.ABKA and KlONDUKX RKOION

TABLE OF DISTANCES.

NAUTICAL MILm.

San Francisco to Victoria, B. C 760

San Francisco to Tacoma 850

San Francisco to Sitlta (outside passage), 1,614 statute miles, or 1,298

San Francisco to Kadiak 1,760

San Francisco to Unalaska direct 2,418 statute miles, or 2,068

Tacoma to Seattle 28

Seattle to Port T .wnsend 38^

Port Townsend lu Victoria 81

Victoria to Active Pass 38

Victoria to Nanaimo 78

Victoria to Seymour Narrows 160

Victoria to Tongass Narrows (K .chikan) 660

Tongass Narrows to Port Clicster 16

Tongaos Narrows to Loring 24

Loring to Yess Bay 22

Loring to Fort Wrangell 88

Fort Wrangell to Glenora, on Stikine River 160

Fort Wrangell to Juneau 146

Fort Wrangell to Sitka 825

Juneau t3 Douglass Island (Treadwell Wharf) 2^

Juneau t) Bemer's Bay 46

Juneau t<i Chilkat 89

Juneau to Muir Glacier 160

Juneau to Killisnoo 104

Juneau to Sitka 176

Chilkat to Bartlett's Bay 98

Bartlett's Bay to Muir Glacier 80

Bartlett's Bay to end of Glacier Bay 60

Muir Glacier to Tacoma 1,218

Muir Glacier to Sitka 160

Killisnoo to Sitka 72

Sitka to Silver Bay 12

Sitka to Hot Sulphur Springs 16

Sitka to Mt. Edgecumbe 13

Sitka to Chilkat 180

Sitka to Yakutat 200

Sitka to Kadiak 660

Sitka to Unalaska (1,283 stotute miles) 1,100

Sitka to Tacoma 1,878

Unalaska to St. Paul, Pribylov Islands 200

St Paul to Sitka 1,600

St. Paul to San Francisco 2,300

INTRODUCTION.

The Northwest Coast is the general term applied by laet cen-
tury explorers and diplomats to all that part of the continent of North
America lying l)etween the Columbia River and Yakutat Bay, or between
its landmarks, Mts. Rainier and St. Elias. The State of Washington,
the province of British Columbia, and the southeastern or Sitkan dis-
trict of Alaska occupy each a third of this coast. The bulk of the Ter-
ritory of Alaska i.;s beyond Mt. St. Elias. Itf coast offers little of
interest or attraction beyond the Alia&ka Peninsula, und the interior is
sparsely inhabited.

Southeastern Alaska is the only portion of the vast Territory
now accessible to tourists and pleasure travellers, and the Alaska mail
and excursion steamer routes include a tour through the archipelago
fringing tlic Northwest Coast and sheltering an inside passage over a
thousand miles in length.

The Coast Range presents a bold front to the o.ean from the Colum-
bia river northward, and the Columbian and Alexander Archipelagoes are
half-submerged peaks and ranges — the veritable " Sea of Mountains."
Glaciers gem all these Cordilleran slopes, and the tide-water glaciers at
the head of Alaskcn inlets are paralleled only in the strait of Magellan,
in Iceland, Greenland, and polar regions. The scenery is sublime be-
yond description, and there is almost a monotony of such magnificence
n the cruise along the Northwest Coast. The mountains are covered
with the densest forests, ail undisturbed game preserves, the waters
teem with hundreds of varieties of fish, and the northern moors are the
homes of great flocks of aquatic birds. The native people are the most
interesting study of ethnologists, and totemism in a living and advanced
stage may be studied on the spot. Settlements are few and far be-
tween, mining and fish-packing the chief industries.

The climate of the Northwest Coast is far milder than that of the
Northeast Coast of the continent. The Knro Siwo, the Japan or
Gulf Stream of the Pacific, flowing northward from the Southern Ocean,
follows the line of the Aleutian Islands, makes a great toop in tht

INTRODUOnON.

Gulf of Alaska, and flows southward along the coast. It greatly modi-
fies the climate, bends the isothermal lines northward, and makes cli-
mate and temperature depend upon distance from the warm Kuro Siwo
rather than on distance from the equator. The high mountain ranges
condense the soft, warm vapours accompanying the Japan Stream, and
the annual precipitation is greater than on any other part of the conti-
nent. The rainfall averages from 80 to 140 in. along the coast, but the
least mountain barrier, as with the Olympics on the Washin ton coast,
reduces the precipitation to one half on the lee side.

Steamship lines conveying United States and Royal mails give fre-
quent communication throughout the year with all the Northwest
Coast and are availed of by pleasure travellers. They offer unknown
delights of ocean travel, and from deck chairs tourists view near at
hand the tide-water glaciers and the highest mountains of the conti-
nent, pursMing the placid channels of water-floored cafions for a fort-
night with scarce a ripple encountered. As a yachting region it offers
more than the Hebrides or the Norwegian coast.

RAIL AND STEAMER ROUTES TO THE NORTHWEST.
(See Route Map, in pocket, last cover, and aieo the Klondike chapter.)

Puget Sound is the usual point of departure for Alaska, and is
reached from the East by five great transcontinental railway lines : by
the SotUhem Pacific, from Ogden or San Francisco via Sacramento and
Ht. Shasta to Portland, and thence to Tacoma and Seattle ; by the
Union Pacific, from Omaha and Ogden direct to Portland, Tacoma, and
Seattle; by t' Nortliem Pacific, from St. Paul via the Yellowstone
Park to Tacoma and Seattle; by the Oreat Nortliem, from Dulutb,
Winnipeg, or St. Paul to Everett on Puget Sound and Seattle ,; ""d by
the Canadian Pacific, from Montreal via the Great I^akes, W inuipeg,
and the Canadian National Park to Vancouver and thence to Victoria
or Seattle. The excursion companies in Eastern cities usually choose
different routes in going and returning, giving their patrons opportunity
to visit in this way both the Yellowstone and the Canadian National
Parks.

Alaska tourists reach Victoria and Puget Sound ports by sea by
the steamers of the Pacific Coast Steanuhip Company (Ooodall, Perkins
& Co.), from San Francisco. This same company dispatches every
6 days mail steamers from Tacoma to Sitka the year round. The
Alaska mail steamers have accommodationa for about 100 paasea-

INTEODtTOTlON.

gen, take 11 days for the vojage of 2,800 to 8,000 miles from
Tacoma to Sitka and return, calling at Victoria, Nanaimo, Mary Island,
Loring, Fort Wrangell, Juneau, Hkagway, Killisnoo, and at many can-
neries and out-of-the-way places to receive and deliver freight dur-
ing the summer weeks. A day is given to the Muir Glacier in
Glacier Bay in the tourist seasou. The excursion steaTiCr Queen, of
the P. C. S. S. Co., makes semi-monthly trips during June, July, and
August each year. It is scheduled to make the tour from Tacoma and
return in 11 days. It has accommodations for 260 passengers, carries
almost no freight, is not bound by a mail contract, and arranges its
course and movements to reach the places of interest at most con-
venient hours. It visits the Taku as well as the Muir Glacier. These
steamers of U. S. register make no other stops in British Columbia
after coaling at Nanaimo. Fare, reduced now to |60 for the round
trip from Tacomit

The Canadian Pacific Navigation Company, of Victoria, dispatches
semi-monthly mail steamers from Victoria to Port Simpson and way
ports the year rotmd. When inducements are offered tliey visit the
Queen Charlotte Islands, but do not cross the Alaska line. The C. P.
N. Co. arrange for one or more excursions from Victoria to Sitka and
return each summer, a steamer accommodating from 1 80 to 1 50 pas-
sengers, visiting the larger Indian villages and settlements of the Brit-
ish Columbia coast, its principal fiords, and the chief points of interest
in Alaska. Passengers cannot land in Alaska from ships of British
register save at ports where U. S. customs officers are stationed. Fare,
$80 for the round trip from Virtoria to Sitka.

The steamer accommodations by either line are first class in every
respect — the excursion steamers, catering to an expensive class of
pleasure travel, offering roost luxuries and comforts. As all the voy-
age is in smooth, landlocked watcts, save the short interval of Queen
Charlotte Sound, sea-sickness is not to be anticipated by any one. In
the nightless days of the northern summers little is lost by darkness.

Private steamers may be chartered at San Francisco, Tacoma,
Seattle, or Victoria at rates varying from |200 to $6<K) per day. There
are few pilots, however, able to take steamers the length of the coast,
and sailing yachts are helpless in the narrow, draughty channels,
swept by strong tidal currents, or on the open coast with its rocks,
ledges, and inshore currents. Launches with sleeping accommodations
fcr 4 or 10 may be chartered for hunting and exploring cruises at

INTEODUCTION.

Juneau, at the Treadwell mine on Douglaa Island, and sometimes at
Loring, Ghilkat, and Killisnoo, at prices ranging from $20 to $40 per
day, according to size and fuel used. Launches chartered for long
cruises can meet the mail steamers at Mary Island or Fort Wrangel
if desired. Those intending to camp or cruise in launches should
take the greater part of their provisions and outfit from the Sound.
All commodities are naturally dearer in the Alaska settlements. A
few vegetables, with unlimited fish and game, may be had at any set-
tlement ; fresh beef at Juneau only. Indian canoes are rented from
$2 per day upward, each oarsman paid by the day in addition.

Tourists make the usual preparation for an ocean voyage, carrying
their own deck chairs, heavy wraps, and rugs. The warmest wraps
are needed on cloudy and rainy days, and while the steamers lie o£f the
tide-water glaciers. Every provision should be made for the frequent
rain!^, although on many trips not a single rainy day is recorded. Rub-
ber shoes, boots, and leggings, waterproof coats and cloaks, add much
to the certain comfort and enjoyment of the voyage. Alpenstocks for
the glacier may be rented from the porters. Spiked shoes, ice axes,
and ropes are not needed.

United States money is current everywhere, and the Indians greatly
prefer silver coin to gold or notes in any dealings with whites. All bag-
gage of travellers is subject to a customs examination on crossing the
boundary between Washington and British Columbia. The frequent
communication with China causes extra vigilance by health officers at
Victoria and Port Townsend for small-pox cases, and the traveller may
be saved untold annoyance and delays if provided with a vaccination
certificate before embarking. While cholera is present iu Chinese
ports every summer, its germs have never survived the long ocean voy-
age in the quarter century of steam communication between our Pacific
coast and Asiatic ports.

The plan of this book follows as nearly as possible The Cana-
dian Guide Books, Parts I and II. Names of places and objects of
importance are printed in large-faced type or in ItcUict ; the names
of railway and steamship lines are printed in full once, and abbreviated
by initial letters whenever repeated : Hudson's Bay Co. becomes H. B.
Co., and the points of the compass are Indicated by the initials N. for
north, S. for south, etc.

THE GUIDE BOOK TO ALASKA.

THE FUOET SOUND COUNTRY.

Thk first section of the Northwest Coast, including western Wash-
ington, is so fully described in Appletons' General Guide, that but few
other references are needed for the Alaska tourist, who begins and ends
his Toyagings here.

Tacoma. the county seat of Pierce County, population 36,006 by cen-
sus of 1890, is situated on a bluff 180 ft. high, overlooking Puyallup or
Commencement Bay, as named by Commander Wilkes in 1841, who there
commenced his surveys of the Sound. The first house was built in
1862. The general passenger station of the N. P. R. R. is on the edge
of the bluff at the intersection of Pacific Ave. All baggage checked to
" Tacoma " is left at this station, unless checked to " Tacoma Wharf,"
the branch station a mile below at the water's edge. Sound, Alaska, and
ocean steamers depart from this wharf. Electric cars connect the two
stations, and there is an excellent cab and oomibus system with a mod-
erate tariff posted in each vehicle. The Tacoma, on the edge of the
bluff, and The Donnelly (formerly The Fnffe), the leading hotel — rates
$3 per day and upward. Smaller hotels on the European plan, and lodg-
ing houses, are numerous, and restaurants are found on Pacific Ave. and
on the numbered streets leading from it. The large hotels take on the
character of watering-place resorts in the summer season, and the arrival
and anticipated departure of Alaska steamers fill them to overflowing.

The steamers of the P. C. S. S. Co. leave Tacoma every five days for
San Francisco and weekly for Alaska. The Puget Sound and Hawaiian
Traffic Company dispatch a monthly steamer to Honolulu. The North-
em Pacific Company dispatch a steamer monthly for Hong-Kong and
Yokohoma. The Nippon Yuaeu Kaisha (Japan Mail Steamship Com-
pany) dispatch monthly steamers between ^okohoma, Seattle, and
Tacoma. There is a daily steamer to Victoria, touching at the prin-
cipal cities on the Sound, and almost hourly communication by boat and

THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.

train with Seattle 80 miles distant. Many excursions invite the Alaska
tourisc who has a few days at command. The great hop ranches around
Puyallup may be visited by carriage, by trains of the N. P. R., and by
the Lake Park Motor Co.'s trains. Puyallup Valley is one of the garden
spots of the State, and in September the river banks are lined with the
canoes and tents of the Indian hop-pickers, who come from the Ck>lum-
bia plains and even the Alaska islands. It is one of the points of de-
parture for mountain-climbers who essay the ascent of the great peak
of Mt. Rainier, now surrounded by a Government forest reserve.

The Pacific Forest Reserve and Mt. Rainier.

This park of 967,680 acres was created by proclamation of Presi-
dent Harrison, February 20, 1893. Forty-two townships of Pierce,
Lewis, Yakima, and Kittetas Counties were withdrawn from entry to

QLAOICRS
OF

>j. , ,.^^ MOUNT BAINIEB

> " . :^ B|| tnm tb* "Nivtiwim

^0010011^% TrutoootliMatftl Sunvy,"

ar BAILEY WILLIS.
1883.

1. Liberty ("ap, 14,282. 2. Dome, 14,869. 8. South Peak. 4. Longmlre Spra.
6. Paradioe Valley. 6. '"■braltar. 7. Eagle Cliff. ♦Crater.

protect the head waters of the Puyallup, Carbon, White, Natchez,
Tietan, Nisqually, and Cowlitz Rivers which flow from the glaciers radi-
ating from the summit of Mt. Rainier like the spokes of a wheel. The

THE PUOET SOUND OOUNTRT.

park meaoures 86 miles from E. to W. and 42 miles from N. to S. There
are trails and waggon roads to the points of intereHt on the W. and S. side.

Mt. Rainier (14,444 ft.) is the highest peak in the Cascade Range,
chief in a group of volcanoes, and rises abruptly from the low forest
lands covering the 56 miles between its base and Puget Sound. Van-
couver saw it from Marrowstone Point, opposite Port Townsend, May
10, 1792, and named it for his friend Rcar-Admiral Rainier, onr of the
Lords of the Admiralty. It was smoking splendidly when Fremont left
the Columbia in 1842, the Pathfinder alluding to it as Regnier, and, with
many, Itelieving that it had been named for Lieutenant Regnier, of Mar-
chand's cxi)ediuon (1791).

The Puyallup Indians call the peak Tnh-ko-bah, the Nisquallys Tah-
ho-mah, the Duwamish Ta-ko-bet, all meaning the snowy or snow moun-
tain. For years the local and landsman's name was Tacoma, naviga-
tors using the chart name of Rainier. The rivalry between the cities of
Seattle and Tacoma made the mouiu lin'snamea subject of bitter strife,
the N. P. Co. printing it as Tacoma in all maps and publications. In
1890 the U. S. Board of Geographic Names decided that Rainier must
stand on all Government charts, maps, and publications, Vancouver's
charts having l>een accepted and used as authority for a century.

The peak is a symmetrical pyramid, as viewed from Seattle; a
double peak from Tacoma ; and from Olympia or Yelm Prairie on the
line of the N. P.. south of Tacoma, it shows its three peaks in outline
like Mt. Fairweather and Mt. St. Elias.

The first attempt to climb the great peak was made by Dr. William
Frazer Tolmie, surgeon of the H. B. Co.'s Fort Nistjually, in 1833, and
resulted in his reaching Tolmie Peak by way of Crater Lake on the
N. W. slope. Lieutenant A. V. Kautz reached the South Peak in 1857 ;
Messrs. P. B. Van Trump and Hazard Stevens reached the Dome or
Crater Peak in August, 1870; and Messrs. A. D. Wilson and S. F.
Emmons, U. S. Geological Survey, in October, 1870, At the close of
1892, 88 climbers were known to have reached the summit, all ascend-
ing by the Gibraltar Trail on the S. side, save Warner Fobes and two
companions who climbed the ridge on the N. E. side by the White
River Glacier, in 1884, and George Bayley and P, B, Van Trump on the
W. side in 1892. One woman. Miss Fay Fuller, reached the summit
August 10, 1890, and over 200 climbers of the Mazamas Club reached the
summit from their grand encampment in Paradise Valley, in July, 1897.

Eight days is the least time in which an experienced climber can
make the round trip from either Seattle or Tacoma to the summit of
Mt, Rainier and return. P. B. Van Trump, the veteran guide, lives at

THE PUOET SOUND CODNTBT.

Yelm Prairie ; George Drirer, guide, may be communicated with through
7^« Tacoma, Tacoma; and Mr. E. C. Ingraham, the Seattle publisher,
will advise any intending dim Iters who may appeal to him there. Eton-
ville (P. 0.) is the point of real departure, and may be reached by daily
stages or hacks from Puyallup, Roy, or Yelm Prairie stations on the
N. P. R., either route involving a ride of 26 or 30 miles. The next
stage is 18 miles to Kemahan's Palisade Farm in Succotash (Su-ho-tas,
" black raspberry ") Valley. A third start is made before sunrise, in
order to ford the Rainier Fork of the Nisqually (6 miles beyond) before
the melting ice and snow raise the glacial torrent.

Longmire't hot soda springs hotel is headquarters for campers and
climbers, and offers plain shelter and comforts. A horse trail leads
thence 4 miles to the foot of the Nisqually Glacier, the Nisciually
River emerging irom an ice cavern in its front. A switchback trail of
2 miles leads 1,200 ft. un the front of the Nisqually Bluff and ends in
Paradise Valley (6,700 ft.), a park at the snow-line carpeted with wild f.ow-
ers. Good climbers may leave their horses at the foot of the glacier, climb
and cross the ice to Paradise Valley, which is 6 miles from the summit.
It is one day's hard climb with creepers or lumbermen's " calkf,"' over
ice and snow to the foot of Gibraltar Rock (11,000 ft.), where the night
is spent. An early start is made to cross the dangerous ledges on Gi-
braltar's face and cut steps up a steep ice cliff before the day's avalanches
begin, and the twin craters with a common central rim upholding the
snowy Dome or Crater Peak (14,444 ft.) may be reached before noon.
Climbers usually aim to spend the night in the ice caves formed by the
sulphur vent-holes in the crater. Food is warmed over steam jets, and
with lights the ice caverns may be explored for hundreds of feet. The
larger crater is three quarters of a mile in diameter, and both but vent-
holes of a vaster cone of preglacial days. The Liberty Cap, Tacoma,
or North Peak (14,000 ft.), tlic apparent summit seen from Tacoma, is 2
miles distant from South Peak, and the true or Crater Peak lies mid-
way. The height, 14,444 ft., as given in Gannett's Dictionary of Alti-
tudes, is the result of triangulations from a base-line on the Sound
measured by Prof. George C. Davidson. Mr. A. D. Wilson, of the North-
ern Transcontinental Curvey, gives 14,900 ft. as the result of over one
hundred trigonometrical determinations from the E. side of the moun-
tain.

A shorter and easier Rainier excursion may be made by the Bailey
Willis trail from Wilkeson station on the N. P. R. to Observation Point

THE PUOKT SOUND COUNTRY.

at the head of the Edmundfl Glacier, named for the Hon. George F.
Edmunds, of Vermont, acting Vicc-Preflident of the United States at
the time of bis visit, in 1883. The Point (10,0()0 ft.) commands as ex-
tensive a view as the summit save to S. E., and the black cliff 4,000
feet high rising immediately behind it may be distinguished from Seat-
tle. Ladies hav. reached the point by horse and sled without walking.
The Meadows, Crater Lake, Eagle Cliff, Lace Falls, Prospect Park, and
the Bailey Willis, the Edmunds, and the Puyallup Glaciers feeding the
one river, are objects of interest on that route. The view from Eagle
Cliff which overhangs the Puyallup River 2,600 ft. below it, and com-
mands a full outline of the snowy summit, is extolled as the finest
mountain view on the Pacific coast by many Sierra and Alpine climbers.
The glaciers of Mt. Rainier were first reported by Messrs. Wilson and
Emmons, of the U. S. Geological Survey, in 1870, and mapped by
Bailey Willis, of the Northern Transcontinental Survey, in 1883. The
Cowlitz Glacier, on the S. side, is 12 miles long and from 1 to 8 miles
wide, broken by several magnificent ice falls. No systematic explora-
tions or thorough study of these glaciers have been made. All have an
average motion of 12 inches a day in midsummer.

Original accounts of the earlier ascents of Mt. Rainier and descrip-
tive articles have been published as follows : Emmons, S. F., Bulletin
No. 4 of American Geological Society (N. Y.), session 1876-'77 ; Fobes,
Wanier, The West Shore Magazine, ^'"'ttle, September, ISBJS; Hen-
dricknon, C. D., The American Magk,...ie, London, November, 1887 ;
Kautz, A. v.. Overland Monthly Magazine, San Francisco, June,
1875 ; Muir, John, " Picturesque California," New York and fc'^n Fran-
cisco, part xviii. ; Stevens, Hazard, Atlantic Monthly Magazine, Boston,
November, 1876; Willis, Bailey, Columbia College (N. Y.) School of
Mines Quarterly, January, 1887 ; Report of Tenth Census (1 880), Wash-
ington; Smith, Rev. E. C., Appalachia Magazine, April, 1894; Snyder,
Carl, Review of Reviews, February, 1894 ; Mazaraas Club Proceedings,
1897.

The Alaska excursion steamers usually leave Tacoma at daylight, pas-
sengers going on board the night before. A few hours' stay are allowed
at Seattle, which is fully described in Appletons' General Guide.

Seattle^ population 42,837 by the census of 1890, the commercial
rival of Tacoma, was named for the old Duwamish chief, and fronts
on Elliot, originally Duwamish Bay. The stations from which the
Northern Pacific, the Union Pacific, the Great Northern, the Columbia
& Puget Sound, the Seattle & Northern, and the Seattle, Lake Shore &
Eastern Ry, trains depart, are on the water front in close proximitj

THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.

to Tesler's and Commercial Wharf, where Sound and ocean ateamera
land. Cabs and omnibuseH have moderate tariff of chargeH. The
Jtanier and the Denny, ratea $8 a day and upward, are the leading
hotels. The ship's delay utiually allows time for a ride by cable or
electric cars to the heights around the harbour or to Lake Washington
or to Lake Union, 2 miles distant.

Port Townaend, the " Key City of the Sound," population 4,608,*
is the port of entry for the Puget Sound customs district, and point of
departure of U. S. mails for Alaska. San Francisco passengers usually
join the Alaska steamers at this port. Excursion steamers make
short stops, but mail steamers receive and discharge the larger part of
their cargo hero, and often lie for 24 hours. The new Custom-House
and Court-House on the edge of the blufF command fine views, and
electric railways crossing the peninsula to the Fuca shore afford menns
of passing the waiting hours. There is a large modem hotel near the
wharves of the Port Townsend k Southern Ry., which is under con-
struction, and will connect the west shore towns with the other rail-
way systems at Olympia. Fort Townsend, a two-company military
post at the end of the bay, may Le reached by fi-milo carriage-roads, or
by small steamers which ply between the town and the Irondale blast-
furnaces and Port Hadlock mill beyond. Small steamers run between
Port Townsend, Port Angeles, Pysht, and Neah Bay on the Fuca
shore. There is a large village of Makah Indians at Neah Bay, 4 miles
E. of Cape Flattery. The women are the finest basket-weavers on the
coast, and their gayly coloured wares may be bought at Port Townsend
and Victoria.

Everette is the terminal point of the Great Northern Ry. from
St. Paul. Its rail communications permit passengers to join Alaska
steamers at Anacortes or Seattle. Everette's growth has been since
1690, and among its industries are ship-yards where whaleback freight
and passenger steamers are built.

Anacortes, on Fidalgo Island, population 2,000, is 108 miles
from Seattle, and terminus of the Pacific division (Portland, Seattle k
Anacortes Line) of the N. P. R. There is a fine modem hotel, The
Anacortes, in a pine grove adjoining the wharf. Alaska and San

* Through neglect to enlarge the city limits and include newly
settled additions before the census of 1890, Port Townsend showed
little increase of population in the decade, and Jefferson County was
given credit for the great increase in inhabitante.

THE PUOET SOUND OOtTNTBY.

FranclRco •teamers of the P. C. 8. S. ('o. call repilarly, and the Round
boats give daily eommuDication with Seattle and Taeoroa. Alaska
steamers sometimes visit Fairhaven, population 4,000, and What-
coni) population 10,000, the tig^o enterprising towns on Bellingham
Bay.

All this upper end of the Sound is dominated by Mt. Baker (10,-
810 ft.), an extinct volcano, whose many native names — Pukhomis,
Puksan, and Kulshan — all mean "the fire-mountain." Galiano and
Valdes called it .(//. Carmelo. Vancouver saw it l&ter from the strcit
of Fuca or New Dungeneas, at first vaguely floating above the clouds,
and then the whole slope of "the lofty mountain discovered in the
afternoon by the third eutenant, and in compliment to him called
by me Mt. Baker," Monday, April 80, 1792. Baker drew all of Van-
couver's charts.

The mountain has been in eruption many times in thix century, by
Indian tradition. There was an eruption in 1862, when a great body
of lava flowed down the side of the mountain, and showed as a black
mass amid the snow all winter. There are no trails on its slopes, and
it is much more dilHcult of ascent than Mt. Rauier. It was first as-
cended from the W. or Luromi side by Edmund T. Coleman, an English
landscape artist and Alpine climber, in August, 1868.* Mr. E. S.
Ingiaham and a party of six left the railroad at Silver Lake Station,
followed the Nooksack cafion, and made the last climb on the W. side.
They found the summit, July 3, 1891, an elliptical plateau, a third of a
mile in length, probably a snow-filled crater. A small crater, 1,000 ft.
below, was filled with sulphur crystals and sulphurous gas, and steam
blew in clouds.

The group of Washington Islands lying between Bellingham
Bay and the strait of Fuca constitute Inland County, with Friday
Ilarboar on San Juan Island as the county seat. There are ranches
and fruit farms on all these islands, and this maze of water-ways at the
boundary line offer great inducement in the way of protection to
smugglers of opium and Chinese. The smugglers own swift schooners
and launches, and easily elude the one slow revenue cutter assigned to
the patrol of the sound.

San Juan Ittland, 14 miles long and 6 or 7 miles wide, contains
vast deposits of limestone. A half million barrels of lime are shipped
from the ovens at Roches Harbour each year. It is shipped to all parts

* See Mountaineering on the Pacific, Harper's Monthly, November,
1869.

THE PUOET SOUND COUNTRY.

of the coast, and seTeral vessels loaded with cargoes of lime have been
fired by a leak or a daehing wave.

THE INTERNATIONAL BOUNDARY LINE.

San Juan Island nearly caused a ww between Great Britain and the
United States, both countries claiming ownership, as the Oregon Treaty,
June 16, 1846, did not specify whether the boundary line should pass
through Canal de Uaro or Rosario strait. Sir James Douglass and
Govemoi!' Isaac Stevens both claimed jurisdiction. The Sheriff of
Whatcom County sold O. B. Co. sheep for taxes. An American citizen
shot a British pig, for whose loss $lOi> was no equivalent to its owner ;
and sentiment waxed bitter. Genera! Harney hurried troops off from
Steildcoom, and established a military post on one end of the island in
1869, just as the British and American boundary commissioners had
begun their work of peaceable settlement. A British war ship re-
mained on guard ; the garri.^D was increased ; General Scott came
from Washington, and offered joint occupation by both Governments
until the boundary line should be decided. Until 1S71 a company of
United States soldiers held the southern end of the island, and an
equal number of British blue jackets the northern point. There was
amicable intercourse, the two garrii^ons entering into athletic contests
with ardour; and succeeding the Treaty of VVashington, 1871, the
Emperor of Germany, as arbitrator, decided that de Haro was the main
channel and the water boundary. The British withdrew in November,
1872, replanting gardens in order to leave San Juan exactly as they
found it. It commands the straits, and its thousand-feet-high hill
affords a site for the most effective battery in the world. The dip-
lomats split finest hairs in their arguments. One strait was said to
separate the continent from Vancouver, the other to separate Van-
couver from the continent ; and Lord John Russell said : " San Juan
is a defensive position if in the hands of Great Britain ; it is an ag-
gressive position if in the hands of the United States. The United
States may fairly be called upon to renounce aggression ; but Great
Britain can hardly be expected to abandon defence."

The Strait of Juan de Faca, leading to the Pacific, is a magnifi-
cent highway, 83 miles in length and 12 miles in width, but broadening
into a considerable sound at the eastern end. It is close walled on the
United States side by the Olympic range, chief among whose snowy
Bummits is " the Mt. Olympiut of Meares," " the most remarkable moun-
tain we had seen off the coast of New Albion, ... a summit with
a very elegant double fork," rrote Vancouver. Long before him Juan
Perez had named it the Sier> i de Santa Rosalina.

This is the fabled strait of Anian supposed to lead through to the
Atlantic, and for which the greatest navigators of two centuries
Bought. Such & strait was first Axploited bj the Portuguese naviga-

TH3 PUGET SOUND COUNTET.

tor Cortereal, who claimed to have sailed from tbe Labrador coast
through a narrow strait to the Indian Ocean in the year 1 600. Eighty-
eight years later Maldonado said that he too had sailed through these
straits of Anian to the Western Ocean. Then Admiral del Fonte has-
tened north-vard from Oallao in 1C40 to intercept some Boston ships
that were to come through this northwest passage to interfere with
Spanish interests in the Pacific. Del Font£ gave full details, and told
all about the great archipelago of San Lazaria and the great river
under the 63d parallel. He described the natives, gave the names of
their villages, their numbers, and, sailing up a river to a lake, passed
out by another river into the Atlantic, and there found a ship from
" Malteshusetts." In the year 1692, Apostolos Vr.ienanos, or Juan de
Fuca, a Greek pilot in the employ of the Viceroy of Nov Spain, took a
caravel into "a broad opening between 47° and 48°.'' He sailed east-
ward for 100 miles, and past divers islands for 20 days, where be saw
men clad in the skins of beasts, and emerged into the Atlantic. Con-
sidering his duty done, he sailed back through his straits and down to
Acapuico ; was sent to Spain to report the marvel to the king, and
some years later told his tale of discovery and royal neglect to an Eng-
lish consul in Italy, who tried vainly to interest Sir Walter Raleigh in
the matter and have the old man taken to England. Then began that
series of voyages in search of the straits of Anian, which employed all
the great navigators from Frobisher and Drake to Vancouver, and filled
their day with such true sea-stories as have no match now. Every
adventurer and every navigator out of a job claimed to hnv; gone
through the straits, or to be willing to go at some one else's expense,
and the wits and romancers made fine play with the theme.

Captain James Cook, on his third and last voyage of discovery,
sought for tbe strait, but missed it, discovering Nootka, on the W. coast
of Vancouver Island, which the Spaniards had previously found, and
where they later built a fort to ward off Russian advances toward their
California colonies. In 1787 Berkely found the broad strait; in 1788
Meares sailed into and named it for Juan de Fuca ; in 1 789 Captain
Kendrick, of Boston, sailed arovind Vancouver Island; in 179f^ Lieu-
tenant Quimper entered Puget Sound and the Gulf of Georgia ; in 1791
Caamano explored and discovered the Eraser River ; and in 1792 Gaiiano
and Valdes surveyed the Gulf of Georgia and circumnavigated the
great island, overtaken and accompanied by Vancouver. The latter
had been sent in accordance with the provisions of the Nootka Con-
vention, which, in adjudging indemnity for British ships seized and sold
for invading the Spanish colonies, decreed that the Spaniards should
abandon their Nootka fort, and the Northwest Coast become virgin soil
free to trade and settlement by all people. Vancouver was charged tc
investigate the alleged discovery of De Fuca's strait, and to explore
the coast for a passage into the Atlantic. Spanish explorers, and Boston
and British fur-traders had preceded him in many instances, but al-
though he met them, saw their charts, and received much aid, his
charts and narrative ignore their work, and. bein^ the first published,
won him a discoverer's honours throughout. His charts were the only

VANCOFVEB ISLAND.

ones in use between Puget Sound and Dixon Entrance until the Wilkes
Exploring Expedition surveys, in 1841, furnished new charts from Com-
mencement Bay to the Gulf of Georgia, and the Richards and Pender
surveys, 1868-'68, of the entire British Columbia coast were made the
basis of a new set of admiralty charts. Vancouver is the authority
for many charts of southeastern Alaska now in use.

Vancouver Island.

The island of Quadra* and Vancouver, as those two agreed to call
it in 1792, is the largest island on the Pacific coast of North America,
800 miles long, from 40 to 80 miles wide, and in area nearly equalling
Ireland, which its climate resembles. It is mountainous throughout,
the main range, a continuation of the Olympics, showing many peaks
6,000 and 8,000 ft. in height. The shores are deeply indented, many
inlets penetrating to the heart of the island, which is deiisely wooded
throughout, with occasional small prairies at the southern end. Mineral
deposits have been uncovered at many places, and extensive coal fields
are worked on the C orgian shore. Settlements have advanced slowly
on the west coiist, which is beset with many dangers to navigation,
but which in time must attract fishing communities. Scottish crofter
families have already been colonized for that purpose.

After the abandonment of Nootka, the first settlement was made by
the H. B. Co. in 1844, when they built a fort at the native Camosvn,
" the place where camass grows," wliich became Fort Victoria. In 1849
her Majesty assigned all of Vancouver Island to the H. B. Co. forever.
In 1868 it was bought back by the Crown for £5T,.''>00, just as the
Fraser River gold excitemi nt brought 30,000 people to the colony at
once, and a canvas city of 15,000 inhabitants surrounded the stockade
for months. Vancouver was a separate colony, and Sir James Douglass
its Governor, until 1866, when it became one province with British
Columbia, under the same distinguished Governor. In 1871 British
Columbia joined the Dom'uion of Canada, with an understanding that
the Domini 3n would build a railway to the Pacific. Delay in fulfilling
that promise caused disaffection and a strong sentiment for annexation
with the United States. The completion of the C. P. R. in 1885
brought a revival second only to Fraser River times, and the island
cities have grown as rapidly as their younger rivals on the mainland
shore. Exteni^ive fortifications protect Esquimault, the British naval
station, which commands the strait of Fuca.

Victoria, population 20,00(^^», fully described in Thk Canadian
GriDK-BooK, Part II, offers much to the tourist who awaits the

* Quadra was Spanish commandant at Nootka in 1792.

Unitilirtiy in Sldiilcy I'uik, I'ancuuver,

VANCOUVER ISLAND.

Alasba steamer at that point. The Driard ($3.60 per day) and tb«
Dalleu (|3 per day), are the leading hotels, and the Mt. Baker Hotel,
at Oak Bay, reached by electric cars. T.ie P. C. S. S. Co.'s steam-
ers land passengers at the outside wharf, and the C. P. N. Co.'s steam-
ers land at the wharves at the inside harbour. An electric railway
connects the outside wharf with the business part of the city, and its
branch lines reach Esquimault and the suburbs. Cabs are cheap, and
the drives about Victoria are much famed for the picturesque scenes
they lead to, and their perfect road-beds. There is daily communica-
tion between Victoria, Vancouver, New Westminster, Port Townsend,
Seattle, and Tacoma. The C. P. N. Co.'s mail steamers make semi-
monthly trips to Barclay Sound, on the W. coast of the island, and
to the N. coast. C. P. N. Co.'s excursion steamers depart at inter-
vals for Alaska during the summer months, calling at Vancouver,
Alert Bay, Fort Rupert, River's Inlet, China Hat, Gardiner's Inlet, Port
Essington, Metlakahtla and Port Simpson, in addition to the chief
points of interest in Alaska — Fort Wrangel, Sitka and Juneau, and
skirting past but not landing at the Muir and Taku Glaciers.

The P. C. S. S. Co.'s steamers regularly call at Victoria in going and
returning, and their steamers plying between San Francisco and the
Paget Sound ports make it a regular port of call every five days.

The C. P. R. Royal Mail Steam^^hip Line to China and Japan and
the Canadian Australian Line call at Victoria in going and returning.
The steamers of the N. P. R. Co. to China and Japan, the Puget
Sound and Hawaii Traffic Co.'s Honolulu steamers, and the Nippon
Tuseu Kaisha vessels, also cal! at Victoria.

The Island Railway, 80 miles in length, connects Esquimault and
Victoria with Nanaimo on the Gulf of Georgia. It wr s begun in 1884
and completed in 1888, its projectors, Robert Dunsmuir and his sons,
James Bryden, Leiand Stanford, C. P. Huntington, and Charles Crocker,
receiving a Government subsidy of $760,000, and a grant of land ten
miles in width on either side of the road-bed, with all the minerals and
timber included. Passengers may, at tneir own expense, agreeably
break the steamer trip by taking this short rail route between Victoria
and Nanaimo, and enjoy the island forests and scenery.

In a single day, or during the usual waits of Alaska mail and ex-
cursion steamers at Victoria, the to'irist can see the fortifications, war
ships, and dry dock at Esquimault ; the boiling-tide rapids at the Gorge,
the true Esquimault, or " rush of waters " ; the Colonial Museum and

VANCOUVEK ISLAND.

new Oovernment building; the Songhies Gamp across the harbour; the
curio shops in Johnson Street; Chinatown; and on certain days hear
the Military Band play in Beacon Hill Park. There are two golf clubs
at Victoria, which visitors properly commended may have use of. The
Dominion tariff prevents the shops from offering many inducements to
shoppers and amateur smugglers to the United States. Sooke, Saanich,
Gowichan, further inlets and distant lakes, with their tidy British inns,
snug shooting-boxes, or rough c&mps, offer much to sportsmen and
anglers who may prolong their stay.

TIDES.

The tides of the Pacific coast differ greatly from those of the
Atlantic. Lieutenant R. 0. Ray, U. S. N., in the U. S. Hydrographic
Office, "Coast of Britiijh Columbia," explains these Pacific tides in
this reference to those of the strait c tuca and Gulf of Georgia :

" The great and perplexing tidal irregularities may therefore be said
to be embraced between the strait of Fuca, near the Race L-^lands, and
Cape Mudge, a distance of 160 miles ; and a careful investigation of the
observations made at Esquia>ault, and among the islands of the Haro
Archipelago, shows that during the summer months. May, June, and
July, there occurs but one hi'^h and one low w.-\ter during the twenty-
four hours, high water at the full and change of the moon happening
about midnight, and varying but slightly from that hour during any
day of the three months; the springs range from 8 to 10 ft., the neaps
from 4 to 5 ft. The tides are almost stationary for two hours on either
side of high or low wate' , Uiiless affected by strong winds outside.

" During August, September, and October there are two high and low
waters in the twenty-f ^ur hours ; a superior and an inferior tide, the
high water of the superior varying between Ih. and 3h. a. m.. the range
during these months from 3 to 6 ft., the night tide the highest.

" During winter almost a reversal of these rules appears to take place :
thus, in November, December, and January the twelve-hour tides again
occur, but the time of high water is at or about noon instead of midnight.

" In February, March, and April there are two tides, the superior high
water occurring from Ih. to 3h. p. m. Thus it may be said that in sum-
mer months the tides are low during the day, the highest tides occur-
ring in the night, and in winter the tides are low durng the night, the
highest tide occurring in the day.

" The ebb stream has always been found to run southward through
the Haro Archipelago, and out of Fuca Strait for two and one-half >. urs
after it is low water by the shore, the water rising during that time ; the
ebb is stronger than the flood, and generally two hours' longer duration.

" The tides during those months when two high and two low wat'^rs
occur in the twenty-four hours are far more irregular than when
there is only one twelve-hour tide ; and another anomaly exists, viz., the
greatest range not infrequently occurs at the first and last quarters,
instead of at the full and change of the moon,"

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THE INLAND SEA.

The Inland Sea.
From Victoria to Queen Charlotte Sound.

The P. C. S. S. Co.'s steamers after leaving Victoria skirt the shores
of San Juan Island and enter the Gulf of (Jeorj^ia by the narrow Active
P(tMi between Miiyne and (Inlinno Islands, discovered by and named for
the U. S. S. survey ship Actii'c, in 1H5K. The C. P. N. Co.'s steamers
use Pliintjwr I'dsn, named for H. B. M. S. Plumper. Both are very nar-
row, with steep, picturesque banks. The Ciulf of Georgia and its
connecting waters comprise an Inland Sea greater in extent than that
famous one lying between the three great islands of Japan, and it is
more richly endowed by Nature. The lOO-mile stretch between Active
Pass and Cape Mudge is the finest part of this Inland Sea, that is 40
and 60 miles broad off the mouth of the Fraser River. The Crown
Mountains on the Vancouver shore are snow-capped all their length,
and Mt. Baker is chief in the white host of Cascade peaks on the main-
land shore.

The fresh water of the Fraser River may be distinguished miles
away on emerging from Active or Plumper Pass, the fresh flood strip-
ing and mottling the surface with a paler green, and with its different
density and temperature floating over the sea-water or cutting through
it in solid bodies that everywhere show sharply defined lines of separa-
tion. Vancouver scouted the idea of there being a great river such as
Caamano claimed to have found a year before and named the Rio
Blanco in honour of the Prime Minister of Spain, although his ships were
then anchored in the midst of these mottled waters which every tourist
notes.

The Fraxer Hirer, whose head-waters were discovered by Sir Alex-
ander Mackenzie in 17915, and whose course was followed from head-
waters to tide-waters by Simon Fraser in 1808, is described in all its
length in Appletons' Canadian Guide-Book, Part II. Full accounts of
the cities of New We.stminster and Vancouver are found there as
well.

Passengers arriving from the East by the C. P. R. may join the
Alaska excursion steamers of the P. C. S. S. Co. at Victoria. The
Alaska mail and excursion steamers of the P. C. S. S, Co. do not touch

THE INLAND SEA.

at Vancouver. Steamers for Victoria (Monday excepted) and Nanaimo
leave Vancouver daily upon the arrival of the overland trains.

The Vicinity of Nanaimo.

Nanaimo, 40 miles acroBs from Vancouver, population 4,000, is a
busy colliery town, where Ala8ka steamers of the P. C. S. S. Co. remain
from six to twtiit -four hours while coaling. It is fully described in
The Ca.nadian Guide Book, Part II. The town itself offers little
of interest to the tourist save the old H. B. Co. block-house, dating
fr«m 1883.

Coal was discovered in 1860 through the Indians, who brought a
canoe load of the black stones to the H. B. Co. blacksniiths at Vic-
toria. At first the Indians were paid one blanket for 8 barrels of coal
taken out. Four companies now operate the Nanaimo mines; the har-
bour is busy with waiting and loading ships, and the output is about
600,000 tons a year, selling at the wharf for $3 and $3.60 per ton.

The Alaska steamers as often coal at the Wellington wharves in
Departnra Bay, which is separated from Nanaimo harbour by New-
castle Island, whose coal-pits and stone (jiiarry are abandoned. A
steam ferry connects Departure Bay wharves with Nanaimo, and a 6-
mile carriage road through the forest gives beautiful outlooks upon the
water. The Wellington mines lie 5 miles from the wharves, connected
by railway and carriage road. The mines were discovered by the late
Richard Dunsmuir, Scotch coal expert of the H. B. Co., whose horse
stumbled and uncovered the outcroppings of the best coal in the neigh-
bourhood. The British admiral, Mr. Dunsmuir, and one other ventured
£1,000 each in developing the property. At the end of two years Mr.
Dunsmuir bought the admiral's share for £50,000, and at the end of five
years the remaining partner's share for £160,000. The 6 Dunsmuir
mines at Wellinu'm and North Wellington clear over $60,000 each
month, and the pits are surrounded by long rows of colliers' tenements.
Native, Chinese, Cornish, and frontier miners have been employed, and
after a serious riot, calling for troops to suppress it, the owners closed
one group of mines for two years, and its village was depopulated.
Wellington commands a higher price than Nanaimo coal, and is used
in city gas works on the coast. Dr. George M. Dawson, who recently
examined these bituminous coal measures, found that the cretaceous
rocks holding these coal-beds filled a trough 130 miles in length along
the east shore of Vancouver Island. Dr. Harrington's analysis of this

/* -*2

\. .v-^

The Gorge of the Uomuthco.

THE INLAND 8EA.

true bituminous coal gave an average of 6-29 per cent of aih and 147
per cent of water.

BenldeB the carriage roads already mentioned, one is lieing cut to
(he Miimniit of Mt. Jiemon, l>etiin(l Nanaimo.

Tlie Hiirroiiii(lin>? forests are of (^reatc^t intcrt'^t to hotaniHtR, and
wherever the roeks are iiiicovered thi\v nhow the grooved and rounded
carvings of a glacial garden. The carriage road is often a tunnel
thr'-.jjh tlie densp, darit foliage of tlie iiuge Doii^das firs, and the last
of the ricii, red-barlicd madiofia-trees or Men/.ies arlnitus grow among
tlie evergreens. Tliere is an especially fine grove of niadrf^nas on the
knoll between the coal wharves and the block-house in Nanaimo.
Ferns of many varieties and of gijjantic si/e thriv(! — those 6 and 9 ft. in
length being easily found at the en<l of summer — and among the many
strange wild flowers there is a blue clover. Azaleas brighten the for-
ests in May ; the sallal, thimble, salmon, and blackberries abound in
August. Arhh/s Irljit/inn, the Oregon sweet-leaf, or deer-fool, grows
rankly everywhere, and Nanaimo children gather bunches of this en-
duringly fragrant leaf for sale on steamer days. Sportsmen find deer,
bear, and elk, or wapiti, in the wilderness. Grouse and Chinese pheas-
ants, which have spread from the first birds imported by an Oregon
club, abound. The smaller streams and lakes contain trout and malma ;
salmon will take a spoon at the least, and eo<l are easily caught in the
harbour, (damping outfits for a stay in the wilderness may be secured
at Nanaimo, and it is possible to reach many remote inlets by the
smaller vessels that often call.

The Lighthouse on the north end of Entrance fsland, at the entrance
of Nanaimo harbour is the last one on the British Columbia coast, and
Nanaimo is the end of telegraph lines.

On the Vancouver shore the Crown Mountains rise in a splendid
line of peaks. Mt. Albert Edward ^6,968 ft.) is due W. of Texada
Island. Alexandra Peak (6,394 ft.) is next in line northward, followed
by Crown Mountain (6.100 ft.) and by Victoria Peak (7,500 ft.), the
latter lying due Vr. of Discovery Passage.

The Upper End of the Galf of Georgia.

The Great Fiords and the Saliah Villages.

Sechelt Arm of Jervis Inlet contains a great tidal rapid whose
roar is heard for miles, and which only needs to be exploited to obscure
the fame of the Norwegian Malatrom and Salstrom.

W> THE IXLANT) SEA.

Sechelt ^Wii^sion in Trail Baj, across the gulf frcni Nanaimo, is
a tidy village with a large Roman Catholic church, where excursion
steamers often touch. A first representation of the Passion Play was
given here in 1890, and native communicants from all parts of British
Columbia assembled for the religious ceremonies, which occupied three
days. These scenes from the life and crucifixion of Christ were re-
peated at the mission opposite Vancouver City in 1891, and at Mission
Junction on the Fraser in 1802.

Phosphorescent seas of wonderful brilliancy are often witnessed in
the Gulf of Georgia, and black whalts may always be seen spouting
singly or in school,".

Texada Inland is 27 miles in length and 4 in breadth, with Mt. Shep-
herd (2,90(5 ft.) rising above its many ridges. There are large deposits
of coarse magnetic iron-ore, containing only "003 per cent of phos-
phorus, valuable for steel-making, and enhanced in value by the neigh-
bouring coal-beds.

Denolalion Sotmd and Bate Inlet indent the mainland, the latter
the most famous fiord along the gulf. It is 40 milts in length, often
less than a mile in width, and the precipitous mountain walls rise from
4,000 to 8,000 ft. in height. Soundings of 400 fathoms have been
made without bottom, and the clear waters are so darkly green as to be
almost black. Dense forests clothe these walls ; glaciers, si.ow-banks,
and cascades gleam among the green. Lord Duffcrin and th» itJarquis
of Lome began the praise of Bute Inlet as the scenic gtn^ of the
coast, and its reputation increa-ses yearly.

The Cape Mwlije villatrc marks the limit of the Salish tribes which
inhabit the coast between it and the head of Pugot Soimd. The Salish
are fast dying, and some have l>ecome extinct within a decade. They
had a toteinic organization, pos-*e8sed many arts, yiermanent hoi^^s,
seaworthy and graceful canoes, when the first whites came. Their
black, shovel-nosed dug-out canoes make pictures in the still waters be-
tween wooded shores, and the Chinook canoe is said to have given the
lines for tiie American clipper ships of the China and East Indian
trade. They are a stiperior people, dilT -ing thus from the canoe Indi-
ans of So\ith America, and quite as aggressive as the meat-eating tribes
of the interior. Cape Mu/lge potlatches, or feasts, where the host
divides all his property among his guests, are famous, one in 1892 rep-
resenting an expenditure of *f),0<)Oin the gifts distributed. In 1888 the
neighbouring Cowichans htd at-cumulated personal property estimated
at i{;40'7,000. The British Columbia legislature forbade potlatches,
and in one year their wealth d^cr ased to |!80.000 — the prohibition
of potlatches quenching all their desire to accumulate. Before the

THE INLAND SEA.

whites came the sign-language was used between the tribes. Since
then the general medium of communication, with whites as well, has
been the Chinook Jaigon compounded by H. B. C'o.'s factors from
Salish, French, English, Russian, and Xanaka speech. It has a vocabu-
laiy but no grammar, and one quickly learns its simple arrangements
from the printed manuals, and finds it a useful accomplishment on the
coast. Siwanh, the Chinook name for an Indian, is a corruption of the
French sauvage. Klahowyah, the usual salutation, is the native equiva-
lent for t'le " Clark, how arc you ? " as a white trader was always
greeted by arriving friends.

Beymonr Narrows or Yaculta Rapids — The Great
]Malstroin.
Discovery Passage, 23 miles in length, separates Vancouver
from Valdes Islam/, and the geological formations of its banks show
how recently the t.. ^ islands were one. Midway in the pasu are the
8eymonr Nan own, named for the British admiral, but known to the
natives as YacnUa, the home of an evil spirit, who lived in its depths
and delighted to snatch canoes and devour theii occupants, and to vex
and toss whalea about. The Richards and Pender surveys reduced the
fabled dangers to exactness. The Narrows are a mile and a half long
and less than half a mile wide, and the ebbing tide from the Gulf of
Georgia races thro'i^h at a speed varying fi-om to 10 and 12 knots
an hour. Ripple Rock lifts a knife-edged reef for 3oO yards down
the centre of the pass, with 13 ft. of water over the.se pinnacles, and
depths of 100 fathoms around them. Ships are timed to reach the
Narrows during the favourable quarter hour before or after the ten
;ninutes of slack water, when the whirlpool boils and simmers mildly.
The few who have inadvertently gone through with the racing tide
have seen the whole gorge white with foam, waves rearing and break-
ing nadly, deep holes t)oring down into the water, fountains Iwiling up
li'te geysers, and ships reeling, shivering, and staggering in the demon's
hold. Ships steaming 12 knots an hour have made but a cable's head-
way in two iiours, and have often been swept back to await the favour-
able half hour in the many convenient coves near. Many vessels were
wrecked before the pass was fully known.

The U. S. S. Sarana", a second-rate side-wheel steamer of 1 1 guns,
was lost in Seymour \arrows June 18, 1875. It entered the pass too
late, was caught in the current, and struck broadside on Ripple Rock.
It swung off, was headed lor the Vancouver shore, and made fast with
hawsers to trees ; but there was only time to lower a boat with the na-
perp and a few provisioub, when the Saranac sank 60 fathoms deep,

THE INLAND SEA.

and the crew camped on shore while a small boat went to Nanaimo
for help. In 1882 the U. S. S. Wachusett ventured within Yaculta'a
realm too late, was seized by the demon, dra^rn down in a big eddy and
hurled against the rock with such force that its falsj keel was entirely
torn away. In 1883 the little coasting steamer Grappler, returning
with the pack and crew from northern canneries, took tire as it entered
the Narrows. The hemp rudder-ropes burned ; the frantic passengers
leaped overboard as the boat careened and whirled in the rapids ; the
captain was sucked down in an eddy with his lit >-nr7!ii«rver belted on,
and few escaped. The rings of floating kelp '.ut ' ru the race-way
are said to be the queues of the 70 Chine-o ' - : . the OrappUr.

The Norwegian Malstrom, lying between the ii («f ^ ouiherly islands of
the Loffoden group, atta'js a spc 1 of 6 knots an hour, only when a
westerly gale aids the tide : and the greater Salstrom in behind Tromao
has but a little stronger current at the ebb. The fortification of the
shores ut . jIs point is part of the scheme of defense of Victoria and
Vancouver.

The Head of Vanconrer Island.

Johnaimie Strait, 65 miles in length, and Broughton Strait, 14 miles
in length, varying from I to 2 miles in width, continue the double
panorama of forested slopes and bold mountain walls.

The Alert Bay cannery, on the S. side of Cormorant Island, has
drawn a village of 160 Rwakiutl Indians from the abandoned village
of Cheslakee, at the mouth of the Nimpkish River. Missionari^? have
not been able to do anything with these people. The most Mith^rly
totem-pole, and the only one known to have been erected or (tst '! xgt
within ten years, is to be seen in front of the chief's h*-' 8( . >Tt
Bay. The graveyard is most interesting, with painted l *- .., x\
poles, many flags and streamers. The eccentric fashions in head-ii tun-
ing ceased with the Salish people at the line of Cape MuJge, and tbe
Kwakiutl cranium was elongated, and drawn up Into pyramidal shape.
A few very aged people show the peculiar shapes of skull once in
vogue, and fine specimens have been obtained from graves. The
Alert Bay Indians will give the old peace and festival dances in cos-
tume, if a Bufficient purse is made up by their white visitors.

FoTt Rupert, an old H. B. Co. post, is in Beaver I/arbour, 9 miles
beyond Broiighton Strait. The fort w»' »()i: in 1849, .f»i: strongly de-
fended because of the natives near it .he freq:; r? visit;' of the
Haidas and northern tribes. There was a heavy earth«\i'. .. - •^ x : In
August, 1866, '.ad in 1867 tlie ranche was bombarded by H. ii, M. S. Clio
until the tribe surrendered some h'd;ic>n murderers. Since then the Kwa-
kiuils bnve been pt<icea\l9 'hA t>icit «nnalB eventless. The young

QUEEN UHABLOTTE SOUND TO MILBANK 80UND. 23

men desert the village every summer, to work at mills and canneries.
Tlie block houses and gateway of the old fort remain, and also the chief's
house, a famous old lodge 100 ft. long and 80 ft. wide, resting on
carved corner [)osts. The great potlatch dish, in shape of a recumbent
man, holding food for 100 people, is shown. Coal-mines were worked
by the H. B. Co. before the Nanaimo veins were discovered, and the
cleared fields and gardens are still productive.

Beyond the Broughton Archipelago there are several fine fiords,
the narrow King Come Inlet having an 1 8-mile-long wall of snow-peaks ;
and McKenzie Sound vertical walls that almost shut the sunlight from
the flooded gorge, that is only foreground and approach to the noble
peak Vancouver, named for Sir John Philip Stephens, of the Admiralty.

At the W. end of Galiano hland there is a spire of rock crowning
a promontory 1,200 ft. high, which Admiral Phelps, U. S.N. , and Hon.
J. G. Swan argue to be " the great headland or island with an exceed-
ing high piimacle or spired rock like a pillar thereon " which Juan de
Fuca saw. They show how easily the Greek may have sailed for
20 days behind Vancouver Island, (ind, believing the ocean beyond
Queen Charlotte Sound to be the Atlantic, retraced his course from
this pinnacle in good faith.

From Queen Charlotte Sound to Kilbank Sonnd.

At Qaeen Charlotte Sound there is a 40-mil[.<> gap in the island
belt. Captain Gray first charted the expanse as Pintard Sound, for
the Boston owner of his vessel. Vancouver recharted it as named by
Captain Wedgeborough, of the Expenment, in 1786. Sometimes the
swell of the outer ocean may be felt, but more often it is a stilled ex-
panse, where mists and fogs perpetually hover and play fantastic tricks
among the ragged islands and the near snow-peaks. Piloting, which is
all by sight along this coast, is often by echo along this reach, and the
mariner's acute senses tell, as the sound is flung back, how the shores
are trending, and have even detected, by a strange quality in the echo,
the presence of another ship's sails. Feeling around its rocky edges,
both of Vancouver's ships struck ; and in July, 1889, the U. S. S. Su-
wanc was lost on an unknown rock in Shadwell Passage.

The Kuro Siwo strikes full against this entrance, on its recurved
course, and .Hs warm air, condensed by Mt. Stephens and the white host,
lies in solid lanks upon the water, in and out of which one passes as
through a do'jr ; or the tips of a ship's masts sparkle in the sunlight of

24 QUEEN CHARLOTTE SOUND TO MILBANK SOUND.

a high white plain, the hull invisible. Bands of fog pencil the hillfiide
with Japanese conventional cloud effects ; a gray canopy truncates the
mountain pyramids ; or filmy, downy tatters of clouds, mere mist trailers
finer than cobweb, drift across green heights, are tangled in the forest,
or gathered in still ravines. Every branch and twig sparkles with vivid
greenness in tiiis dewy air, washed clean with perpetual mists.

The Kuro Siwo gives the British Columbia coast the climate of
Ireland, of Devonshire and Cornwall, and fosters a fa: richer vegetation
on shore, all ferns, bushes, and thirsty plants growing as in a hot-house.
In forests as dense as any that Stanley describes, and choked with an
undergrowth through which an explorer must cut his way, water-
courses, and the paths made to them by bears, are the only possible
footways below the level of a thousand feet. Tiie Menzie and Merton
spruces, and the Douglas fir, stand as closely together as blades of
grass, and the eye sees only leagues and leagues of tree-tops on every
slope and shore, their foliage so intensely green, when near at hand,
blending and toning to the richest bronze, grey and olive in the dis-
tance, and often glowing in the late afternoon ns if the foliage reflected
some concealed colour, or the slopes were clad in blooming heather. No
forest fires darken the air beyond Vancouver's shores, and the scar of a
land-slide or wind-break is clothed with green by a second season. A
crevice in the rock for safe lodging, a handful of sand or gravel to
cover its roots, and a young spruce will prick forth and spread its thin
branches, until in time its own needles form a soil and support thick
layers of moss. A whole forest thu-; thrives on air and rocks, the trees
crowding one another in their growth, and, with no tap-root to steady
them, they fail by acres before a storm wind. Their own weight
often pulls the thin skin of earth from the rocks, and acres of perpen-
dicular forest go thundering down into the bottomless channels, and
Nature decorates th^- 'leights afresh. Madronos disappear, and the fa-
mous yellow or AlasKa cedars {Ctipressis nxitkakemnti) of the Northwest
coast show in the forest from Fort Rupert northward.

Nakwakto Rapids.

The Great Mahtrom or Reversible Tidal Cataract.

Belize Inlet is the strangest piece of glacial carving on the coast
as it zigzags and straggles by many deep cuts to the foot of Mt. Ste-
phens. It holds a malstrom twice the strength of Seymour Narrows,
in the long, narrow gateway that gives entrance to its wonderland.
There are Indian villages along those cafions, but it is only for ten min-
utes at a time that a canoe can pass the Nakwakto Rapids to reach
them. In the first narrows of SHngsby Channel^ which are but 200
yards wide, there is a maelstrom where the tide makes 9 knots an hour
at the turn. The canon continues for 5 miies and widens to 400 yards
at the Nakwakto Rapids, the KahtsisiUa of the natives, and the most

QUEEN CHARLOTTE SOUND TO MILBANK SOUND. 25

remarkable place of its kinJ on the coast. The ebb tide races out at a
speed of 16 and 20 knots uu hour, the waves running up th^ face of
Turret Isle, which rises 80 ft. above the water in mid-channel. There
is magnificent scenery in the labyrinth of farther Inlets, and at the end
of one arm there is a peak 5,000 ft. high which easily acquired the
name of Perpendicular Mountain.

The Coast of British Colombia.

Tlie Innide Passage through the Columbian Archipelago.

Fitzhngh Sound, first in the line of channels separating the Co*
lumbiaii Archipelago from the mainland of British Columbia, trends
80 miles due N. a smooth river running between mountain banks.
Just within its entrance, on the shores of Calvert Island, is Oatsoalis
or Satiety Cove, a mariner's refuge since Duncan's time (1787). Van-
couver anchored and repaired ships there before returning to Nootka in
1792, and his men explored the neighbouring inlets in small boats. Mail
steamers and canoes rest there when fog, storm, or darkness prevent
their crossing the sound. In August, 1885, the P. C. S. S. Ancon broke
her main cylinder on her way southward and was anchored in the cove
for ten days, while Captain James Carroll made the 221-mile voyage to
Nanaimo in a life-boat in four days and returned with help. The pas-
sengers made it a gala season of adventure and exploration, and re-
gretted leaving. Mt. Buxton, 3,430 ft., is the sharp-pointed peak on
the Calvert shore.

Rivers Inlet, the next indentation of the mainland coast, pene-
trates 20 miles inland, widening into loch-like expanses so sheltered by
the precipitous ridges and ranges that it is clear and sunny within when
the Sound is banked with fog. There are three canneries at the end,
and the C. P. N. steamers call regularly during the summer season.
The Bella Bellas' village of Owikino is near the larger cannery, but
presents little of interest in the way of polos or graves. Two canoe-
loads of Owikino seal-hunters were killed at Sorrow Island by the Kit-
kahtlds, a Tcimsian tribe, in January, 1892, and a bittei Indian war re-
sulted ; war canoes carried chanting braves in paint and regalia up
and down the channels seeking foes, and the cunstables required the
aid of gunboata to suppress and settle the difficulty.

Vancouver explored Burke Canal and its branches, Bentinck
Arm and Dean Canal in 17".>3, his second season on the Northwest
Coast. There is a large native village at the end of Bentinck Arm,

26 QUEEN CHAELOTTE SOUND TO MILBANK SOUND.

60 milea from the sea, where Sir Alexander Mackenzie completed the
first crossing of the continent of North America in 1 793. The Biiquias,
or Bella Coolas, inhabiting these fiords, are an estray branch of the Sa-
lifeh people, isolated in the heart of the Kvvakintis country, and they re-
ceived Mackenzie hospitably, and informed him that '* Mactibah " (Van-
couver) had just been there. Dr. Dawson says that the Biiquias' trail
to the interior and the upper Fraser has existed from time immemo-
rial, and the Tinneh tribes called it the Orecuie Trail, because of the
supplies of oulachon and other oil acquired in trade with the Biiquias.
There was a H. B. Co. post at this important point, and in Cariboo
times many prospectors reached the diggings over the old Indian trail
from Burke Canal.

Cascade Inlet, in Dean Canal, is the Geiranger of this coast, so
strangely wanting in great waterfalls. The fiord is 1 1 miles long and
three quarters of a mile wide, with innumerable waterfalls leaping
from its tremendous cliffs. Vancouver wrote that these cascades
" were extremely grand, and by much the largest and most tremendous
we had ever beheld, their impetuosity sending currents of air across
the canal."

One of Vancouver's men. Carter, died, and others were made numb
and ill for days, from eating mussels in Poison Cove. Special provi-
dence, far more than Duncan's or Caaraano's charts, helped Vancouver to
successfully navigate in this region, where a maze of water-ways, and hun-
dreds of cul-desncs test the pilot's memory. One attractive little open-
ing in Hunter Island is known as The Trap, and a vessel getting in can-
not turn around nor make a tour of the blockading islet which is the bait
to the trap, but must be pulled out backward. An English gunboat
was once lost in this labyrinth region for two weeks ; and when Mr.
Seward visited Alaska, in 1869, his pilot also lost the way. The Bella
Bellas have a bad name, and when they took one aboard to steer the
ship through to Finlayson^a Channel, a pile of silver dollars was put
before the pilot as the reward for a safe passage, and pistols pointed
at either ear promised other reward for any treachery.

Jacobsen's Inlet is named for the Tromso scientist, who has
made large collections and long ethnological reports to the Bergen find
Berlin museums, and once took seven Bella Coolas to Europe. There
is a splendid waterfall 300 ft. high in this inlet.

Lama Passage^ named for an old H. B. Co. ship, is a beautifully
wooded way, its northern shore broken at one place by a graveyard
with kennels of tombs painted with totemic designs, and many flags and
streamers flying from tall poles. In an opposite cove, on Campbell
Island, the remnant of .the Bella Bellas are gathered in a model village,
with mission., church, school, store, and cabins shining with whitewash,
and 80 dazzling one with their immaculate array that passers-by dis-
credit the curdling tales of the past. They were long the most treach-
erous, bloodthirsty, and turbulent ttibe, and made the Ufe of the H. B,

FROM MILBANK SOUND TO DIXON ENTRANCE.

Go. agents such a dangerous imprisionnient that the post of Fort Mc-
L->u(jhlin was only maintained for a few years after its establishment in
1834. In 1868 the company tried it again, and the new fashiona in
Bella Bella have made life profitable and worth living.

From Milbank Sound to Dixon Entrance.

The Oreat Scenic Region.

There are only 8 miles of Milbank Sound to be crossed to re-
gain the shelter of the great islands again, and it is so fringed with
islets that a ship is often past it before its passengers have suspected
any opening to the ocean. The finest scenery on the steamer's regular
course through the Columbian Archipelago lies between Milbank Sound
and Dixon Entrance, a double panorama of unbroken beauty 200 miles
in length. The tourist cannot afford to lose an hour of this scenic
watch. Green slopes are reflected in greener waters, every tree and
twig growing double, and only bands of algae or tide-washed rock tell
where reflections part. The shores rise almost perpendicularly for
1,000 or 1,600 ft., above which snow-clad ridges rise as high again,
and the channels vary front an eighth of a mile to 2 miles in width.
Tall trees climb and cling to these walls like vines, and cascades slip-
ping out from the snow-banks flash among the green and go singing to
the sea. The mountain contours tell where lakes must lie in rocky
amphitheatres, and overflow in these roaring ribbons.

Finlayson Channel is 24 miles in length, from 1 to 2 miles
in width, with depths of 60 and 150 fathoms. Helmet Mountain on the
W., and Stripe Mountain marked with the line of a great land-slide, are
at the entrance of the channel. Bell Peak (1,280 ft.), on Cone Island, is
commonly known as China Hat, from its outlines. The village of
China Hat and fantastic graveyard are seen from the C. P. N. Co.'s
steamers, which regularly call for mails. Sarah Island divides the
channel's northern end. Its landmarks are two waterfalls that leap
from the snow-banks and descend in full view to the sea. Tolmie
Channel, W. of Sarah Island, is 16 miles in length, and from a half
mile to a mile in width. The scenery increases in charm as the ships
pass through Hiehish Narrows, a quarter of a mile in width at the head
of Sarah Island, and enters

Graham Reach, 17 miles long and less than a mile in width.
McKay Reach coatiuues the ^magnificent panorama for the next 8 milea

FROM MILBANK SOUND TO DIXON ENTRANCE.

The mountains rise more abruptly, granite cliflffi tower perpendicularly,
their front glistening with glacier polish and latticed over with fine
cascades ; more waterfalls and land-slides are reflected in the glassy
reaches ; great alcoves on the heights betray the hidden lakes, and
side canons, lesser Yosemites, lead away into the wilderness of Princeta
Royal hhind. In McKay Reich and Wright Sound there is no bottom
at 226 fathoms.

At Wright Suniid submerged peaks stand as islands ; six diverg-
ing channels open, and the tourist with an Admiralty Chart is as puzzled
as were Caamano and Vancouver a century ago, to know which way
leads on or out to the ocean.

Gardner Canal or Inlet.

Ursida and Devwstalion Channels, behind Gribbel Island, lead to
the grand canal which Vancouver named f< i Vice- Admiral Sir Alan
Gardner, who recommended that Vancouver be given charge of the
expedition to Nootka and the Northwest Coast. Whidbey explored it
in that summer of 1 793, and reported that it wus " almost an entirely
barren waste, nearly destitute of wood and verdure, and presenting to
the eye one rude mass of almost naked rocks, ri^«ing into rugged moun-
tains, more lofty than any he had before seen, whose towering summits
seeming to ove/nang their bases gave them a tremendous appearance.
The whole was covered with perpetual ice and snow that reached, in
the gullies formed between the mountains, close down to the high-
water mark, and many waterfalls of various dinient^ions were seen to
descend in every ditection " — a description that might as coldly de-
scribe the Sogne Fiord, the Naerodal, the Yosemite, or any other rival
canon's walls. But Mr. Whidbey went the 60 miles of its length,
" where it terminated, as usual," and the explorer gave up getting into
Hudson Bay by that route.

Tourists consider the Gardner Canal, or Kithip Cation, the
culmination of the scenery of the British Columbian coast, as it cleaves
its narrowing way for 50 miles between gloomy walls, to where a great
mountain blocks the end, with glaciers resting on its sides, cascades
foaming down to join the sea, and cannery buildings dwarfed to toys
at its base.

The Old Man, a conspicuous landmark on the cafion walls, rises
perpendicularly 2,000 ft. from the water, and soundings at its base-
line give a depth of over 1 ,400 ft. The hlander has been laid along-
side, and passengers have gathered ferns from the seamed and over-
banging wall. Irving Falls, on the opposite wall, descend 2,000 ft. by
successive leaps, and there is a fine frothy fall draining the glacier

FROM MILBANK SOUND TO DIXON ENTRANCE.

above the Price cannery. The KitlupH, who inhabit the Bummer Bolm-
on villages on the inlet and the oiiliclian viihige on the Kcmano River at
its head, have few legends connected with the fiord. Kitlup, in Tnimsian
speech, is derived from Kit, "the people," aml/iz/M, "sewed garments"
— some vague distinction of earlier days. The cannery was established
by Coates, the Scotch thread manufacturer, in 1889. C. P. N. excur-
sion steamers first visited the fiord in August, 1891.

There is a village' of Christian Indians at Hartley J/arbovr who
were formerly members of Mr. Duncan's community at Metlukahtla,
and who, without siding with their leader or the bishop, withdrew to their
old home when the troubles began. Tliey have a neat village with a
church, school-house, and saw-mill, and the men find summer work at
the canneries.

Grenville Channel, the arrowy reach cutting northwestwardly
from Wright Sound for 46 miles without bond or break, was named for
the Right Hon. FiOrd Grenville, Secretary of State, who gave Vancou-
ver his commission for the expedition to the Northwest Coast. Un-
til Gardner's Inlet was exploited Grenville Channel was considered
first of Columbian fiords, and the deep, glass-floored, echoing green lane
is still a boasted show place on the Alaska route. Lone Inlet is the
only break in the wall, and the cannery is niched in a fold in the ro< ks,
through which a salmon stream cascades from a high lake. Right
Hon. William PitCs Archipelago is W. of Grenville Channel, and, in
Chatham Sound, Capt Ibbetson immortalizes another of Vancouver's
friends in the Admiralty office.

The Skccna River.

Sl^eena River, the largest stre';.. '-i the province above the
Fraser, is navigable by small steamers • oO miles above its mouth,
and for 200 miles by canoes. Its name — Skee, "terror, calamity, trou-
ble," and Eeiia, " a stream " — was given it because of poisonous shell-
fish, which killed many canoe-loads of the first people who came around
from Nass River.

It is the greatest salmon stream of the Northwest Coast, and can-
neries dot its shores for 20 miles. Vancouver was first to enter it, and
named Por< Ensiriffton (or a naval friend; and the H. B. Co.'s post was
built there in 1835, adjoining the native village of Spuksut. It is the
most in\porriint settlement on the livcr, with a hotel, church, school,
cannery, mill, and fish-refrigerating works, where salmon are frozen,
hermetically sealed, and shipped to England. It was considered as a

30 FROM MILBANK SOUND TO DIXON ENTEANCB.

possible terminus for the C. P. R., bein^ 4nO miles nearer to Asiatic
ports than the towns at the mouth of the Fraser, and its distance from
the United States boundary and immunity in eatte of war were also in its
favour. Land acquired a (^reat value witli the prospect, and is still held
at $100 and 1^800 an acre, as the owners believe that a branch of the
present trunit line must soon come northward.

The canneries at Port Essington, Cluxton, Cascade, Al)erdcen, In-
verness, Standard, and Mumford Landing produce over 80,000 cases of
salmon each season. Tiiey are properly restricted by Government regu-
lations, and officers are stationed on the river during the season to
enforce them. Each fishing-boat pays a tax of $20 a season. The
size of the nets is prescribed by law, and a wr "' close season from
Saturday to Monday allow a fraction of the sal i reach the spawn-

ing-grounds. Over 100 fisliing-boats may be . . at once when the
seine:; are being set or drawn, and more than $60,000 was paid in
wages on the Skeena during the salmon season of 1892. The work is
performed by Indians, Chine.'<e, Japanese, Greeks, and Scandinavians,
and many remain during tlie winter to work in the saw-mills. Lumber
sells at fifty cents per thousand in this section.

The Kwakiutls' empire ceases at the Skeena mouth, and the Tsim-
aians, the greatest of the coast tribes, occupy the coast to the Alaska
line. The Tsimsians have always held a monopoly of the inland trade,
maintained a grease trail with the Interior, and kept the Tiuneh in ad-
mirable subjection. The few of these mountaineers occasionally seen
on the river explain why Fort Stager and Fort Hazelton, on the upper
Skeena, remain the only H. B. Co.'s stockaded posts.

There have been gold fevers and great diggings on the upper Skeena
for 30 years. The Omineca excitement at the head-waters of Peace
River in 1871 emptied Skeena camps, but in 1883-'84 there was a
boom on Lome Creek, and fishermen dropped their nets, and loggers
left for the mines.

C. P. N. mail and excursion steamers do not go beyond Port Essing-
ton ; but while freight is being handled, tourists have often opportunity
to take launches or canoes to the Hot Springs 3 miles across, or to the
waterfall, 12 miles above. The Western Union Telegraph Co. built its
lines to Telegraph Creek, 60 miles above the mouth of the Skeena River,
in 1866, but the wires through the dense forest country were soon
wrecked.

FROM MILBANK SOUND TO DIXON ENTRANCE.

The THimsian Peninrala.

Metlakahtla — " the open channel," or " the channel open at
either end " — U a half-ruined Tsimsian village, which for 27 years was
the home of Mr. Dunciin's colony of Christianized Tsimsians — an actual
Arcadia, a living Utopia and model commune that proved much that
political economists doubt.

William Duncan was sent from England in 18f)7 as a lay worker for
theChurcii Mission Society, in response to Admiral I'revosi's account of
the teiTible condition of native life on this const. Sir James Douglass
and all the H. B. Co.'s agents tried to dissuade him from going to Fort
Simpson, where there wa~ the greatest number of the worst savages in
the region. Within thrci , ears Mr. Duncan had learned the language, and
80 attached 60 of the Tsimsians to him that they went with him to this
site of an abandoned Tsimsian settlement. , They cleared, drained, and
cultivated the land, built a village of tidy two-story cottages, a church,
school-house, saw-mill, salmon cannery, and co-operative store. They
had their own trading schooner, their brass band and fire brigade, and a
village council of elders ordered municipal afTairs. They learned to do
carpentering, house-building, cabinet-making, shoemaking, coopering,
tanning, and rope-making. The women were taught to weave shawls,
blankets, and cloth from mountain goat wool, to sew and cook. It was
a model industrial settlement, and there was evolved a community life
more ideal than anything Plato or Bellamy has imagined. Every visitor,
from Lord IJufferiu to the roughest seafaring frontiersman, could but
praise this " work that stands absolutely without parallel in the history
of missions." For 20 years the peace and prosperity of the 800 Metla-
kahtlans were unbroken. In 1881 Bishop Ridley objected to the form
of the simple religious services Mr. Duncan held, and the omission of
the communion service ; and the Society was disappointed at the few
converts and baptisms reported. After continued criticism and inter-
ference, Mr. Duncan resigned his mission. The bishop established
himself in residence and failed to win the respect or confidence of the
people. He quarrelled with the head men, he struck them with his
fists, he carried a rifle, and called for a man-of-war to protect him.
The people petitioned him to go away, and begged Mr. Duncan to re-
turn. Church and state upheld the bishop ; the community property
was called church property. Mr. Duncan returned, and suggested emi-
gration to the United States side. When ready to leave, the Canadian
authorities prevented the pilgrims taking anything but their personal
property with them, and their houses, mills, and works were left intact
as church property for the 120 of 800 who remained with the bishop.
The empty dwellings fell to decay, the clearing partly relapsed to un-
derbrush, the large church was partitioned off to hold the ' iidful of
worshippers, and when a few years later the bishop departed, the ruin
was complete. The nearly deserted village remains as a monument of
misdirected religious zeul, of civil injustice and oppression, the shame
and reproach of church and state.

^2 FROM MILBAJK SOUXD TO DIXON ENTEANCE.

The Japanese emp (oyed in the Skeena Hiver fisheries have built
a little village of tlie'.r own uear Meilakihtla, ;\nd reproduced a corner
of Japan. They have thoir own schooner and cannery, and have
begun the mauufocture of fancy woodenware for the tourist trade.
They affiliate readily witl- the Ijotter class of natives, and, besides the
resemblance in features and many customs, their use of the same car-
penters' and carvers' tools amazes the white residents.

Port Siini;>son, the most important H. B. Co. post on the coast,
^ 16 miles beyond Metlakahtla. Rocks and ledges oblige ships t >
make a great detour to reach tiie wharf. In 1831 the U. B. C'". Lui) ,
a first post at Port Simpson, 40 miles up the Nass River, but as the
Tsim.«ians firmly held tliAr monopoly of trade with the interior, the
profitless isolation only endured for three years, and the post was
moved to this bit of Tongass ground on the N. shore of the Tsimsian
peninsula. It ictained the name given it in honour of Lieutenant
Simpson, R. N., who was in charge of the company's ship-building, and
who died at the first foit on the Xa^s.

The Tsimsians had originally twelve villages on the Skeena for
salmon-fishing, twelve on the Nass for the oulachan-fishing, and twelve
permanent winter villages on the coast near to halibut grounds. The ,
beaches about Fort Simpson had been common camping grounds for
all tribes for more than a century, and the Tsimsians, tlie greatest
traders and gre.'-e merchants of the c<»a*t, did a large business at their
spring fair, when the oulachan silvered sound a/id inlets f' miles, and
the wnters were aliv:; with canoes fi-om every (juarter. After the fort
was built the May fairs were larger; i4,OOU savages were often en-
camped around the stockade ; the Ije.ich wa» bkck wHli canoes, and
perpetual revel and bedlam went on. The fort was often attacked;
attempts were made to burn it, ;<n(i when Sir (Jeorge Simpson enforced
prohibition in trade in 1842 fh»r .<iavages withheld their furs for the
Boston ships, which continued to give rum. The fur-trade has now
fallen to the meiest frnction, the .stockade and block-houses have been
torn down, and the warehouses, where l>ear, otter, beaver, fort, mink,
and marten skins used to dangle by the tens of thousands, are all but
empty. Tiie II. B. Co. fortress is only a general country store, The
day of beads, red calicj, and toy looking-glasses has gone by, and
clocks, fancy lamps, sewing-machines, orguinettes, silk goods, chem-
ical fire-engines, and marble tombstones are objects of Tsimsian pride.

The In Han Villnnc on the i.>land wholly changed its appearance
within the decade of loSl)-'90. The old lo Iges were replaced by cot-
tages, and the totem-pole" nearly all destroyed, only a half dozen
remaining from tlie forest that used to encircle the beach. The tribe
paid $750 for the granite mon-.wnent over the giave of their old chief,
on which is chiselled : " In Memory of Abraham Lincoln, Chief of the

PROM MILBANK SOUND TO DIXON ENTKANCE.

EiUhee Tribe. Died at Por^ Simpson, July 21, 1890, aged 86 rears.
He said : ' Let me die in peace Peace I leave with you.' "

Methodist missionaries succeeded Mr. Duncan at Port Simpson,
and the Rev. Mr. Crosby and liis aids have almost parallelled v he Met-
lakahtla miracle, and the church, school, hospital, and museum are the
points cf great interest. The Salvation Army has a band among these
Tsiiu.sians. The village is governed by a municipal council of elders.
They have their tire co npany and brass band, and duriug the small-pox
epidemic at Victoria in 1892 nil suljmitteO to vaccinstion, and closed
the bridge to the village whenever a Victoria steamer was in port.

All the Dixon Entrance region is bathed in perpetual mists and
rains, t nd the moist greenhouse atmosphere of summer forces a ranli
vegetation. The finest raspberries in the world are said to grow in the
old H. B. Co. gardens — inch-long globes of crimson dew that melt at a
touch — rose-red bubbles that have never felt dry air, a withering sun,
or a du.Ji particle. i

Fort Simpson is confident of becoming the terminus of the next
great transcontintental railroad line, the farthest city of the Canadian
Northwest. Suburban tracts and wild tiniljer lands are hehi at a pre-
mium, and sites for roi-.Tnl-house and car-shops have been discussed.
Till! rail"..iy will follow the ^ shore of Work Canal, which cuts south-
ward to within a mile of the SLi'tna River. Mt. McNeil, on its N. shore,
is a snowy, conical peak 4,300 ft. in height. The fiord, but 800 yaids
broad, widens into a lake-like eipan'se at the end, and the scenery
along its walls is highly praised.

Nass River, Observatory Inlet and Pr;.iland Canal.

Nats Kiver heads 100 miles inland, and its shores are historic
ground to all the coast tribes, the scenes of half the myths and legends,
the cradle cf the native race. There are several canneries and mills
along its banks, and an Indiau mission. The site of the original Fort
Simj ?ou is almost opposite Echo Cove, the most picturesque cannery
site on the coast. Tl.e sce.i>;ry up to that point is wonderfully fine,
and the i-aiions and gorge? (pyond offer every temptation to those con-
templating any canoe tr^^)B. The salmon-fisheries of the Nass are
regulated in the same way as those on the Skeena.

The coming of the oulichan in March and April is occasion for the
great fish festival of the year, and the tribes gather from all quarters
to rt ip the Nass harvest. The Haidas bring their canoes to exchange
for ouliolian-oil ; the Tinneh come do«n from the mountains with
pelts and horns ; and every Tsim.-ian man, woman, and least child
help gather the living silver from the water. The oulichan (Thale-
ichlhyn panficnj<\ or candlf-fish, is most nearly like the Atlantic cape-
lin, has a delicate flavour when freshly caught, and contains more oil
than ucy other known fish. It melts like a lump of butter in the

THE QUEEN CHAELOTTE ISLANDS.

frying-pan, and when dried, threaded with a spruce wick, and stuck
in a bottK% bums like a candle. A bunch of them touched to the fire
furnish a suilicient torch. They exist in greatest numbers, and schools
of them coming in from the sea fill the river and inlets from bank to
bank. The natires rake, shovel, dip, and seine them by canoe-loads,
and either dry them and string them through the eyes, or prc^ the
oil and store it for winter use, as age cannot impair its iiualitie.-. A
little oulichan has been smoked and salted for export, and ranks as a
rival to herring as a whettar to dull appetites.

Portland Canal sep< rates Alaska from B-itish Columbia for the
60 miles that it cuts into the heart of the Coast Range. Captain Gray
was first to discover these waters, and af^er running into Portland
Canal and Observatory Inlet was sure he had found Del Fonte's River.
The Spanish commandant at Nootka gave Captain Gray's charts to
Vancouver, and full reports of his voyage. The Englishman estab-
lished an astronomical observatory here under Puget and himself,
went with a yawl and two small boats on a reconnoissance that in-
cluded the shores of Portland Canal, and the circumnavigation cf
Retillagigedo Inland, He covered 700 geograpuical miles in twenty-
three days.

Portland Canal U walled by mountains 3,000 and 4,000 ft. high at
the entrance, while those at the end of the fiord tov^er to twice that
height. At tho time of the Alaska purchase the surveyors named the
heights on one side for distinguished Americans of that day, and Pea-
body, Rousseau, Halleck, Adams, Seward, Johnson (Reverdy), and Lin-
coln's name grace peaks and ranges that, guarding the still channel
below, combine and compose themselves into as noble landscapes as
can be Keen in any of the broader fiords. Much careful surveying and
exploration has been done in its reaches since the Alaska and British
Columbia boundary line has become a subject of discussion.

The Clueen Charlotte Islands.

The Queen Charlotte Island group lies off the island belt of
the immediate mainland coast, placed much as the Loffoden Islands are
with respect to Norway, and, like them, bordered with extensive cod
banks. The islands are a half-submerged mountain range, the direct
continuation of the Olyujpics and the Vancouver Island chain. The
compact archipelago measures 180 miles from N. to S., and 60 miles
across at the greatest width of Graham Island. The Kuro Siwo in its
recurved course falls full 'upon the Queen Charlotte shores and givei

THE QITEEN CHABLOTTE ISLANDS.

the islands a milder, moister, ind more even climate than Fort Simp-
son or the Skeena River settlements enjoy. The west coast is a region
of almost perpetual rain, the peaks ris?Ing sheer 2,000 and 4,000 ft.
from the ocean's edge, catching anJ foudensing all the clouds and va-
pours borne "vith the warm ocean current. The eastern shores are less
rugged, and, sheltered by the mountain hairier, enjoy a sunnier and
drier climate. Cattle have been successfully raised for fifty years, and
potatoes grown for a hundred years.

■All the islands are densely forested, and each a vast dead fall of
timber. Log jams arch and dam every stream, and the wilderness is
almost untouched.

Although Juan Perez discovered these islands in 1774, Dr. George
M. Dawson has sliown how very pos.sible it is that this i? Ikl Fonte's
Archipeiago of San Lazario, where the men wore the skins of
beasts and travelled in great canoes hewn from a single log ; where
there were river-ways vexed by lapids no greater than the tide rips and
currents that race thro'igh the inlets to-day ; nnd Mynbasset and the
name of Del Fonte's other village are as near to Massett and its rivals
as Spanish recorders oonld come in 1640. After Perez, La P^rouse
sighted the islands ; ar. <'!i < 'aptain Gray, of Boston, visited them and
named them for his sIn) iie Washinrffon Mands. Next, in '787,
Captain Dixon, who was exploring for a London ftir coropan t(. lehed
these shores, obtained a large nuni)>' of sea otter skins which were
then the common dress of the peopii, ami named the uTOup the Queen
Charlotte Islands, in honour of his ship. <'«ptain Di\.>n gives a full
description of the shores and their people in his Voyage Around the
World, and sums up the natives as dirty, thievish, inipmien* md mur-
derous cannibals. In 1791 Marchand came to tbt- Northwest Coast,
surveyed and explored along the W. coast, and m his Voyages says
that the people were " good husbands, good lathers, . . . hospi-
table, mild, intelligent, and industrious people, endowed with great
good sense, to whom the useful arts are not unknown : who join to
these even the agreeable ones, and who may be said t< have already
made considerable advancen;ent towards civilization" , le recognized
Aztec words and terminations in their speech, and ; nblances to Az-
tec work in their monuments and picture writings. For the next
twenty years the islands were much resorted to by fur-traders, but
when the sea otter became extinct they were passed by for a half cen-
tury. The traders had given the people potatoes, and from fur fisher-
men they turned to truck farmers, and took canoe-loads of potatoes
to each I'ort Simpson fair. In 1861 the H. B. Co.'s agent at Fort Simp-
son showed the chief Edlnso a ' iece of gold-bearing quartz, and asked
him to look for such stones on his island. An old squaw showed
where a great vein cropped out on the face of a bluflf on Graham Isl-
and, and in the next year the company established a post at Uttewas
Tillage, on Mcmett Inlet, and their employes worked the ledge at Gold

THE QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS.

Harbour until it dipped down into the sea. Some miner?, who char-
tered a schooner and sailed for the new gold region, were wrecked on
the coast and held as slaves until ransomed.

Massett is reached by the C. P. N. Co.'s steamers on their irregular
cruises fro.n Victoria, and by small trading steamers from Fort Simp-
son. Its old lodges are being abandoned, its famous totem-poles are
tottering to decay, and the spirit of progress is fast eliminating every
element of picturesqueness. Masnett Inlet is the Clyde of the coast and
canoe-making is always in progress.

The Haida canoe ''as a curved bottom, flaring sides, a high round-
ed stern, and a long, projecting prow. It is the lightest most buoyant,
graceful and cranky craft on the coast. The old w».r canoes were 60
and 60 ft. long, elaborately painted and carved, and often carried 100
warriors. The Haida family or travelling canoe, wMch one seet" all up
and down the coast, is a slender, graceful, gondola-hke affair 20 or 30
ft. in length and 4 or 6 ft. wide. The hunting or otter canoes are
cockle-shell? 6 or 10 ft. in length, in which HaicJa experts go far to
sea. All these crafts are hewn from the single log of red cedar, and
are given their flare and graceful curves by being filled with water and
hot stones until the steamed wood can be braced out to the desired
widtli. Travelling canoes range in price from ^75 to f 150 at Port
Simpson, and liunting cinoes faO to $50; but the canoe market has its
fluctuations like any other, and there are often seasons of great bar-
gains. The canoe requires constant care while out of the water. It
must be protected from the sunV heat and always kept wet, and the
draped canoes along a village beach are the most picturesque adjuncts
of native life.

There are large oil-works at Skidegate, where the livers of the
dog-fi-ii, which swarm in incredible numbers in winter and spring,
yield an oil much valued by tanners. A soft, black slate is found on
the banks of a cre^'k at the head of Skideyate Inlet, and the Haidas
carve from It riiniature totem-poles, boxes, plaques, and pipes, often
inlaying them with haliotis shell. The slate is soft and easily cut
with a knife when first quarried, but quickly hardens, and will crack
if exposed to the sun or heat before it has seaso.ied.

There is a colony of Norwegian fishermeri on the W. coast who
catch and cure halilMit and the famous black cod {Anoplopomajimhria),
a valuable fvwd-fisli which has a different name in each section of the
Pacific coast. As S|)anish mackerel it is little valued at San P'rancisco.
It attains perfection farther N., and along the strait of Fuca ranks
first with epicuK'.^ ■»« " 6c.i/ioit'," the popular Makah name adopted by
the Fish Commission. The Haidas call it the skil, and catch it wit'.i
wooden books attached to trawl-liaes. The hook is steamed to the

fl***^.

hrv

A JJaida TotemPok:

THE QITEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS.

shape of the letter U and set with ".n incurved barb. When not in use
the ends of the hook are bound fast with thongs. When baited the
ends are held apart by a little stick, and, as the skil nibbles the bait,
it pushes out the chip and the hook closes upon him like a trap. The
chip ascending tallies one sAi/ caught ; but as dop-fish and shark wait
upon the trawl, the fishermen often pulls up only the hundred heads.

THE HA1DA8.

A church mission was established at Massett in 1876. Dr. Har-
rison came to it in 1878, and has studied the language, made a vocabu-
lary of 10,000 Haida words, translated hymns and songs, and rescued
much of their folk-lore and tradition. Tne Haidas are fast dwindling.
Mr. John Work recorded 6,593 inhabitants to the 31 villages visited
in 1841. In 1878 there were but three permanent winter villages occu-
pied — Massett, Skidegate, and Gold Harbour — and the Haidas num-
bered less than 2,000. Only 700 Haidas were enumerated in 1891.

The Haidas are the fine flower of the nativ? races of the coast.
They are taller, fairer, with oval faces and more regular features than
any of the Columbian coast tribes, and are nearer to tiie Tlingit than
to any other people I'iiey are aliens to the Tlingits, and differ from all
their neighbours physically and mentally, in speech and customs, and
many similarities are more often the result ot Haida influences. The
Tlingits call them De-Kinw* " people of the sea " ; and these Pacific
Northmen rivalled the earlier Vikings in their journeys to distant shores.
The Vancouver and Puget .: uund country w.-re their Britain and their
Normandy, and coppery Erics and Harolds swept the coasts, attacking
native villages, Hudson Bay Company posts, and white settlements.
They once seized a schooner in Seattle harbour and murdered all on
board, and Haida was a name of terror.

Their origin is the puzzle of ethnologis. They have the tradition
of a deluge and a sole surviving raven, from whom sprang Qu-a-cda,
" the people," as they call themselves, and from which came ihe
T.-<imsian word Haida. One tradition makes Forrester's Inland, farther
out in the ocean, the craille of their race. Those who incline to
Marchand's theory of an Aztec origin identify them as the deiscendants
of thoce whom Cortes drove out of Mexico, and who vanished in boats
to the N, Their legend of the thunder-bird is the same as the Aztecs
and Zuiiis. They have images and relics similar to silver images and
objects found in Guatemalan ruins. They have modern Apache words
in their .speech, many of the same dances, masks, legends, and picture-
writings as the Zuiiis. Their resemblance to the Japanese is quite as
marked, and as the Kuro Siwo touches so directly on the Queen

* Franz Boas, Report of 1889 to the British Association for the
Advancement of Science.

THE QUEEN CHAELOTTE ISLANDS.

Charlotte shores, more junks may have been stranded here than else-
where, during those centuries when the Japanese Iniilt sea-^ohig junks
and travelled afar. They have Japanese words in their speech, they sit
at all their work, they cut towards them in using: tools tliat are the same
as Japanese use to day. Like their oestlietic cousins over the sea, they
are imitative and adaptive rather than orij^inative, and they improve,
elaborate, and reline upon all they borrow. In many of their customs,
in their bark weaving and their carved columns, they are akin to New
Zealand and South Sea people. Whether they copied the totem pole
from those before the houses in the mysterious city sunk in the sea,
from the Now Zealand tiki, or from the Kwakiutls' simple heraldic
pole, they have carried it to its finest development. Forests of these
columns stand in their old villages, their only records and monuments
of any past, brief pictographic chapters in Haida history, genealogy, and
folk-lore — a rude and monstrous heraldry, an elaborate symbolism, a
system of colossal hieroglyphs. The pure heraldic columns, the kerhena
or door-posts, formed part of i\w old houses themselves, and the in-
mates entered by an oval hole hewn at the base of the column. The
chat, or mortuary column, was a smooth pole surmounted with the great
totem of the dead man, and as often with a box or a hollowed space
containing the ashes. There are forty splendid poles at Maasett or
Uttewas village, as many more in the villages around the inlet ; fifty-
three poles at Skidegate ; the finest collection of all at Laskeek on Tauoo
Island, and many at Cumshewa and Skfidaus.

In 1878 Dr. George M. Dawson made a geological survey of the
islands, examining the bituminous coal-veins on Graham Island, and
the anthracite deposit near Skidegate. His " Monograph on the Queen
Charlotte Islands" was embodied in the Annual Report of the Director
of the Canadian Geological Survey for 1879, and is a text-book for the
islands and their people. An interesting paper on "The Haidas," by
Dr. Dawson, was published in Harper's Monthly, August, 1882. In

1883 Hon. J. G. Swan, of Port Townsend, spent several months canoe-
ing around the W coast and visiting the villages to stiidy Haida
tattoo, masks, carvings, and heraldic paintings for the Smithsonian
Institution, which had published his earlier studies In that line as No.
267 of Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge, January, 1874. In

1884 Mr. Newton H. Chittenden made an exploration of the islands for
the Government of British Columbia, and his pamphlet, " Hyda Land
and People," contains a most interesting resume of his work.

blse-
inks
y Bit
laino
tliey
rove,
ums,
New
pole

sea,
aldic
;hese
lents
, and
im, a
rhena
le in-

The
great
space
?« or
fifty-
rauoo

if the
I, and
Jueen
rector
or the
!." by
. In
3anoe-
Haida
Ionian
IS No.
k In
ds for
L Land

ALASKA.

(See General Map qf AUmka.)

Alaska itficlf is nine timcy the size of the New En?;lan(l States, twice
the »hi! of Texiis, and three times as inrgc as Ciilifornia. It sttetelies lor
more than 1,000 miles from nortli to soiitli, and the Aleutian Islai.ds
trailing over into the Eastern hemisphere make the half-way point of
the United States a little \V. of San Francisco. The island of Attn is
over 2,000 miles W. of Sitica, and the distance from Cape Fox to Point
Barrow is as great as from the north of Maine to the end of I<1orida.
Alaslia contains 580,107 square miles, with a coa.Ht-line of 18,211 mDes,
greater than the coast-line of all the rest of the United States. The 1, 100
islands of the Alexander Anhipelar/o have an estimated area of 31,206
square miles, and the Aleutian Mamh comprise 6,391 square miles.
The Cordilleran mountain system is merged in one great range at the
Alaskan line, and a host of lofty peaks surround Mt. St. Elias, the highest
mountain on the continent, and sentinel of the third highest range in
the world. Curving down to southwestward a line of volcanoes joins
those of the Kurile Islands and of Japan, and completes the Pacific's
" ring of fire.'' Low ranges and leagues of tuiidru stretch to the Arc-
tic. The southeastern Alaska, which tourists know, is but the handle
of a dipper, and residents " to westward " — i. e., Unalaska and beyond —
hardly consider a visit to the Sitkan region as going to Alaska.

The United States bought this vast country from Russia in 1867
for less than half a cent an acre. Dr. Dall's figures* show that
iilaska was a paying investment, returning a clear net profit of 8 per
cent upon the first cost for the ivt-st five years. The two tiny Seal Isl-
ands paid 4 per cent on the original $7,200,000, and in their first
lease retum*^d a sum equal to the purchase money to the Treasury.
The gold-mines have since added an equal sum to the wealth of the
world, and the salmon industry yielded $7,500,000 in six years, 1884
to 1890. It is the most sparsely inhabited part of the United States,
averaging one inhabitant to each 19 square miles. Its lands were
never subject to entry, save mineral claims, until 1898; it has no
representation at Wa.shington ; Congreai refuses to provide a suitable
or efficient form of government ; there are three military posts within
its borders, and no telegraphic communication ; but by the spirit of
the people it gains slowly, and the last frontier is moving northward.

* See Harper's Magazine, January, 1872.

40 CLIMATE OF ALASKA.

The population of Alaska is classified xs follows in the eleventh
census (18SK)):

Whites , 4,:«)3

Mix>'>l (Riicsian and native) 1,819

IndiaiiH 23,274

Moiigoliaiifi 2,287

All others 113

Total 3^798

The Indians are »^ a divided as follows :

Kskimo 1.2,784

Tliiigit 4,739

Athahaekan 3,441

Aleut 9«8

Tsimpsean 951

Ilyda 891

Total 23,274

By decision of the General Land Office, October 26, 1897, it was
conceded that the nstives, not Laving been distinctly exempted, as na-
tives in the Treaty ot '''.ssion. have the same rifihts as white citizens
to prospect, locate, enter and receive patents for mineral lands.

CLIMATE OF SOLTnEASTERN ALASKA.

'• BKiti.iN, September .5. — U'e have eeen of Germany enongh to show that its
climate is neither ho genial, nor its soil mi fertile, nor its rceio'irces of forests and
.nines so "-ich as those of southern Alaska."— W.lliam H. SewabjI, Travels
Arouti'J tue World, Pari V'l.. chap. v.. page 708.

In cliiuate and all ph-sical features southeastern Alaska is a repeti-
tion of soiithern Norway, ciijoyine. however, a far richer forestation.
In latituJe, confiiutation, tempci iture, rainfall, and ocean curienti! it is
identical. During the thirty-six years that lae Russians kept meteor-
olOitical records at Sitka the mercury went below 0° F, but four times.
While Su. Johu'.s, Nowfo.indland, is bekagiiered by icebergs in summer
and its harbour is froz' u solid in wiuvor, Sitka, 10° N. of it, has always
an open roadstcai! <<:[>d only the ends ol the loviger fiords are ever closed
by ice. '-ilka I'astit , tyinp 17', or 3 miles, N. of Baiiiioral Castle in
Scotliunl, lias a hijiuer aveiasre winter teni()eraturo than the Iliphland
hon)e. i^utka's mean temp 'ature for the year is 43'3 against Ber-
gen's 4tTi. Tiie ."^now rarely lies on the ground for any time at sea-
level, mist and riii?)s soon reducing it to .-^lasli, ns in Kentucky or the
Di:jtrict of Columbia, the isothermal e<|uals of this region, '''he snow-
line on the moiMitains is at 2,5fM) and 3.000 ft. Hkatiug is a rare
pleasure for Siikan-*, m\(\ the Ru.-isian bishop toll Mr. Seward how de-
lighted he was fo co ne and live in " such a nice, mild climate."

The winter of 1879 -'80 was the most severe known in the century;
3 ft. of fnow remained on the level for three months, and the mercury
fell to —70°, as in Dakota or Montana.

CLIMATE OF ALASKA.

The mean temperature of the air and of the surface sea-water and
the precipitation for each month of the year at Sitka are thus given by
the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey in its Alaska " Coast
Pilots "of 1883 and 1891:

January...
F'i'uniary..,

itiarch

Aori)

May

June

July

August

September .

October

November..
Deceuibcr..

Year.

Temjwrttun of j T«'.i!p«nture of
the afr. ' surface taa-waUr.

31-4
32-9
35-7
40-8
470
52-4
55-6
M 9
PI -5
',4-0
38- »
33-3

890
390
39-5
420
465
480
49-0
500
61 -5
48-9
44 4
41-7

43'3

450

Prwlpltatioa.

7-35
6-45
5-29
5- 17
4 13
3-68
4' 19
6-96
9-66
11-83
8 »5
8-39

81-69

Tiie old residents insist that the climate is changing; that the sum-
mers are wanner and drier than lornierly ; and that, allowing for the
different hours at which Baron Wrangell and his successors took the
temperature, the records show three degrees increase of average tem-
perature .-^ince 1835. The rapid retreat of all the tide-water glaciers
during even 20 years is offered as a^iother proof, and there was only
one ot the old-at.vle, pijrpetually rainy summers in the decade 1880-'90.

The greater Gull Stream of '.tie Pacific and the loftier mountain
ranges give southeast ervi Alaska a greater rainfall than southern Nor-
way. Bergen's aimual 72-25 inches and the Xordtioid's extreme 78
inches are exceeded by Sitka's annual HI inches, and Fort Tongass's
1 18-30 inches — all exceeded, however, by Cape Flattery's 140-9 inches in
1885-'86. There have been wet seasons in Alaska of 286 and 340
rainv days. This heavy precipitation gives the mountains their shin-
ing crowns, feeds the glaciers, forces the luxuriant vegetation, brings
every leaf and twig to its fullest perfection, and keeps the toliape so
fresh and dewy that at times the green sparkles and almost dazzles one
with its intensity. Witii all the down-pour or drizzl" of days, there is
nothing like that soul-piercing, nmrrowpenctraiiiif; dampness, that
awful chill of the ocean that creeps into Atlantic cities far to south-
ward, (juns do not rust ; cigars and tobacco do not mould or mildew.
Clothes dry under a shed on tlia rainiest days, even under awnings on
shipboard ; and the tourist finds that his gloves and shoes show no re-
luctance in being p-ullcd on on wet mornings.

Tliere is a blessed immunity from thunder-storms', and the rare dis-
pkys of thun<ler an<l lightning in the mid.st of <■ inter hail and snow-
storms frighten the Indians greatly. There arc fine auroral displays in
the long winter nights ; but no one remembers seeing any such electric
exhibitions as enlivened the early years of the century, when Langs-

CLIMATE OF ALASKiu

dorff mentions the air being so cliarged with electricity that bhiish
green balls of lire — St. Elmo lights — cianced on the bayonet tips of
the rauskels and the inetul head? of the fiagstafTs on the palisade. In
this century one great eirtluiuake at Sitka split oft the front of Verslo-
voi, another razed tlie citadel, and slight trenibling.s have been felt
at times, notably during great storms. Two great cyclonic storms
have occurred since the transfer of the country. One occurred Ju.<!t
after that ceremony wlien Sitka harbour was crowded with ships. All
dragged anchors, two were wrecked, and the man-of-war bearing the
U. S. Commissioners home nearly foundered off Ca{)e Omnianey.

The next great hurricane came October 26, 1880, 13 years to the
day afrer the transfer cyclone. It was accompaided by heavy earth-
quake shocks. Captain lieardslee reported 14 revolving pales which
passed up the coast during his command at Sitka, estray typhoons that
belonged on the other side of the ocean.

With Norway, Scotland, and Ireland to prove the contrary, it is
often asserted that grain and vegetables cannot be grown in Alaska.
Baranof cleared 15 kitchen gardens in 1805 and ripened barley and
potatoes, and common vegetables, as has iieen done every year since.
Fine grasses spring naturally on any clearing; wild timothy and
coarser grasses grow 3 and 4 ft. high, ami clover thrives unheeded.
Vancouver found the natives cultivating potatoes and a kind of tobacco,
and each farady had its little plantations in sheltered nooks where they
sowed their tubers like grain, and siathered them the next winter or
spring. There were gardens on either side of the stockades at Sitka
which provided fresh vegetables, and hot-house frames secured the
Russians many delicacies.

In Uniteil States days residents have successfully raised radishes, let-
tuce, carrots, onions, cauliflower, cabbaL-e, peas, turnips, beets, parsnips,
and celery ; and single potatoes have weighed 1 pound 6 ounces. Vejie-
tables are raised every year at Yukon missions and trading-posts. Uay
has been cured in southeastern Alnska everj summer liince 1805, and
by adopting Xorwegiun methods larger crops could be better cured.

In Norway wheal is cultivated as far N. as 04" ; rye up to the line of
69° ; barley and oats as far N. as 7t> ; apples, phinis, and cherries to
64° ami 65° ; and wild raspberries, strawberries, currants, and goose-
berries up to the North Cape, 71° 10. The length of the sr.mmer
days compensates for the lo"er teinpi'rature, and there is usually a
fortni}.'ht or more of realh liot weather in the Sitkan region ead- sum-
mer — a fortrdglit of hot days 18 hours long, in 1K91, with the mer-
cury passing 8(l° every noon, and reaching 93° on board the U. S. S.
Pinta. Noiwegians long ago discovered that seeds and plants from
southern Europe had to be acclimated lor two or three years before
yielding a good crop. Even niaph -trees undergo a change when trans-
planted from southern to northern Norwav, the ni;:htlfss days forcing
the heaves to an enormous dzo, while the tree itself is low and stunted,
and all common wild tlowcrs attain unusual size and colour in the
BOrthlands.

ALASKA — NATIVE EACE8.

THE NATIVE RACE OF SOUTHEASTERN ALASKA.-THE TLINGITS.

The 1 1 tribes of Tlingits inhabiting the coast and islands of south-
eastern Alaska were roughly estimated by the Ru8.<ians as numbering
from 25,000 lo 30,000. General Halleck's estimate of 18C9 gave
12,000 or 15,000. The census of 1880 enumerated 6,4 S7 Tlingits;
that of 1890 but 4,457. Epidemics of small-pox, black measlfs, and
grippe, with the vices of civilization, have thus depleted their ranks.

The word Tlingit is their name for " man," " people." The Rus-
sians called them Koloschiam, from the Aleut name Kalushka (little
trougi.), for the hibrette worn in the lo«er lip. There are as many
separate traditions of a supernatural oriain, a deluge, and a sole surviv-
ing couple as there are tribes of Tlingits. There is no legend to point
distinctly to trans-Pacific origin, but many tell of a migration from the
S. E., Nass River country.

Their propitiation of evil spirits, their shamanism, their belief in
the transmigration of souls, tlieir worshipful regard for the spirit* and
ashes of their ancestors, are essentially Asiatic. Some ot their myths,
their carvings and constructions, and many words, are Aino; their
metliods, tools, and postures at work are Ja|)anese. Their totem-poles
are kin to the \ew Zealand tiki and the Easter Island images ; and
there are many resemblances to Maori and South Sea people. Their
sun worship, their Nature- worship, with offerings to mountains, winds,
and glaciers, are nearly Aztec, and the same Thunder Bird reigns from
the Isthmu* of Panama to the end of Tlingil land. Thej have the same
dances and masks as the Zunis, the same totems as the Ilurons, Dela-
wares, and Omahas. They arc nearest to the Ilaidas, but have much
in common with Tsimsians and Kwakiutls, and are greatly superior to
the Salish. They tire totally different stock from the inti ho; or Tinneh
tribes, of whom all Tlingits speak contemptuously as Stik Indians.

Totvmism is the base of their social organization, the totem or tribal
mark distinguishing the dwelling and every belonging of tiiese people.
Only animal totems occur, and they live under the protection of and
are inspired by these guardian animals, who are often believed to have
been the ancestors of the race. The crow or raven, representing
woman, the creative principle, and the wolf, the aggr.ssive or fighting
creature, are the great totems of the coast, and each are subdivided
into clans. Men do not marry women of their own totent. The to-
temic is stronger than family or tribal bonds. Men often rlect indi-
vidual totems, usually the animal seen or dreamed of during their lonely
fasts in the woods preceding their majority and iheir initiation into the
rites and great ceremonies o*' the elan. Those elective totems, added
to the clan and family totems, account for the storied images on the
totem-poles. The totem-pole has no religious signilicanee, and is not
an object of 'dolatrous worship. Its heraldic designs and quarterings
are displayed in the same way and for the same reason that a Euro-
pean parades his crest and scutcUeuu. The Tlingits understand the

ALASKA — NATIVE RACES.

spread eagle to be the " Boston man's " totem, and the lion and the
uuicorn the two totems of the " King (n'orge men," Their bears,
whales, frogs, and wolves are no more difficult to recogidze in their
rigidly conventional zed carvings than thegriffina, dragons, and y?ei/r-</€-
liy of European heraldry.

Frazei's small volume, Totemism, Edinburgh, 1877, is a textbook,
and those interested in pursuing the subject in its wide range will find
it discussed in tlie following woiks: E. Clodd, Myths and Dreams;
EncyelopiL'dia Biitannica (Frazer), Totemism and Sacrifice; Sir John
Lubbock, Orijiin ol Civilization ; Andrew Lang, Custom and Myth ;
A. P. Niblack, The Coast Indians of Southern Alaska and Northern
British Columbia; Sayce's Introduction to the Study of Early Lan-
guages ; W. Robei'tson Smith, Kinship and Marriage in Early Arabia ;
E. B. Tylor, Anthropologv, Early History of Mankind.

Tlingit speech has been studied and vocabularies made by Dixon,
Marchand, Lisiansky, Wrangell, Veniaminoff, Furulielm, Emmons, and
Boas, with many notes of their idlotiis and constructions, translations
and notations of their songs. The common speech is much currupted
by Russian, English, and Chinook. Lieutenant Emmons has found
evidences ol an older language, a classic to all Tlingits. Mr. Charles
Walcott noted " the Japanese idioms, constructions, honorific, separa-
tive, and agglutinative particles." Like the Javanese, the Tlingits can-
not pronounce / ; like the Chinese at. i the ancient Mexicans, ihey can-
not pronounce r. Dr. Boas finds the labials all absent from Tlinpit,
which h;i8 no grammatical sex and no forms for plural. Captain Cook
first noticed the many terminations like the Aztec ijrl, more marked in
Ilaida ; and Dr. Dawson employs in Ilaida words the Greek x t" ^^^
press a stronger palatal than Englisli affords. Tlingit is the hai'shestof
all coast tongues. Horatio Hale has noted that all these haisher lan-
gu ipea lease at the Cohnnbia, where the coast climate changes so mark-
edly. The Northwest Coast is the rainiest part of the world with a
climate of perprtual April or October, and these peofde s( end their
lives in canoes. " Their pronun( iation is that of a people whose vocal
organs have for genei'alions been affected by continuous coughs and
catarrhs, thickening the mucous membrane aiid obstructing the air-
passages."* It has been compared to the Del Fuegian speech of which
Darwin has said : " The language of these people, according to our no-
tions, scarcely deserves to be called articulate. Capiaiti Cook has
compared it to a man clearing his throat, but certainly no European
ever ch-ared his throat with so many hoarse, guttural, and clicking
sounds." Any one attemj)ting to record Tlingit words by phonetic
sign-* is baulked by sounds im])ossible of imitation, aspirates and gut-
turals past conveyance by our signs. Charles Warren Stoddard has
called Tlingit "a confusion of gutturals with a |)lei<itu(le of saliva —
a mois, language with a gurgle that approaches a gargi", . . . and the
unaccut tomed ear scarcely recovers from the shock of it."

* Proceedings of the British Association for the Advancement of Sci-
ence, 1890.

Tlinyit Woman.

ALASKA — NATIVE BACE8.

In common with all Northwest Coast people, the Tlingits have in-
herited a magnificent development of the slioulders, chest, and arms
from generations of canoe-paddling ancestors, but the rest of the body
is stunted and deformed, and all are bow-legged and pigeon-toed,
shuffling, shambling, and moving as awkwardly as aquatic birds on
land. Tlieir mental superiority to the Tinneh of the interior and the
plains tribes of the United States may be the result of their exclusive
fish iliet. It was never Tlingit fashion to flatten or elongate the skull,
their mutilations comprising tattooing, and the wearing of labrettes,
nose and ear ornaments. The Labrette was formerly the woman's bailge
of age, rank, and condition, but is only seen on older women now.
Young girls are still, as formerly, "brought out " and introduced social-
ly as any debutante among Caucasians. The d<'hut<intc''s lower lip was
formerly pierced and an inch-long copper or silver pin worn, until re-
placed by a small bone or wooden stud after marriage, which gradually
increased until dowagers wore a huge block or plug — " a wooden bowl
without handles," La P6rouse says — that measured two or three inches
acro.-^s. Captain Cook's men called him to see the Aleut who, having
removed the labrette, was sujiposcd to have two mouths. Captain
O'Dowd told Langsdorff of a chief's wife in Chatham Strait who could
conceal her whole face by a dexterous turn of the lip holding an enor-
mous labrette.

TLINOIT CUSTOMS.

In earlier days painting and tattooing were imiversal. They paint
now only for great dances and potlatches, but continue to black their
faces as a summer protection from tan and insects. This coating of
soot and seal oil has been mistakenly called a badge of mourning.
Governor Swincford forbade face-blackening, and punish* d offenders,
while Rangeley and Adirondack fishermen were permitted to use tur oil
and fly ointment ; a id climbers of Mt. Rainier blacked their faces
upon reaching the snowline.

There are often fine exceptions to the regulation flat, hea^'y-jawed,
anil high-cheeked faces; and women often show strong, eagle- visages
of more regular mould. These family arbiters and tyrants are hardest
of bargainers, and contemptuous of man's interference. Marriages
are arranged by the elders for the best advantage of the clan and
family, and while woman is sui)remo, all wealth and power descending
through her, polygamy is practised. Upon a man's death his widows
pass to the next heir in his mother's family. Younger brothers and
nei)liews, inheriting such widows, may purchase freedom by blankets.

The Tlinyits have their political societies, with honours as often be-
stowed upon humble worth. All of the totem contribute to the potlatches
of their chief, working and saving for years to make an extravagant dis-
play and division of wealth. The potlatch is usually given at the full
of the moon, and the host's clan and totem do not accept any gifts.
The seating and serving of the guests are as precisely ordered as at a
court function, and bhuxished follows any oversights. Hospitalities are
returned in kind, and the social ledgers of the totems regularly balanced

ALASKA — NATIVE EACE9.

In early times they were incessant dancers; songs, chants, and
dramatic representations accompanied all welcomes, partincs, feasts,
fights, funerals, and visits. Trading was not a mere mercenary trans-
action when a line of canoes advanced, circled, and mano-uvred
around a ship ; painted men in ceremonial dress, powdered with the
eagle-down of peace, chanted in chorus, and the chiefs delivered reci-
tatives and obligatos. Boston traders gave them rum, and a deserter
of a whaler's crew and a discharged United States soldier have credit
for teaching iliem to distil hoochinoo, or native drink. They have
many games of cliance, the favourite being a crude /«« tan played with
52 cylindrical sticks with different marks. The sticks are either
drawn and mateheii, or players guess the position, number, or odd and
even of the sticks the dealer liMes under a mass of cedar shreds.
Pools and individual stakes are made and sticks cashed by the winners
by a regular taritf. The dealer chants, and the players join in ; and
when all a Tlingit's wives, canoes, slaves, blankets, and tows are hang-
ing in the balance, the whole lodge sw ells the frantic chorus. Playing-
cards are much used, and in summer one may find poker parties play-
ing all day on the beach and utilizing the midnight light. Their first
tokens of wealth were the town — curved copper shidds ornamented
with totemic cuttings, said to have come originally from the Chilkats,
and said to be imitations of the copper plates nailed to conspicuous
trees by the first Russian discoverers. A fow was worth $800 to $1,000
by the blanket scale — a "two and a half point" H. B. Co. blanket
counting for iill.50 — and often sold for ten slaves. Iliaqua shells were
retiioj from circulation when a Yankee had imitations made of porce-
lair and the Russians for a long time gave a leather money. Coin
oni_j came to them after the transfer. Silver is highly valued, and
stored in bulk or beaten into ornaments.

The whites Inve had to yield to Tliugit ideas of justice and to-
temic laws : an eye for an eve, a tooth for a tooth, or a material equiv-
alent, are strictly demanded. A blanket indemnity will solace any
wound to pride, honour, or affection, and their logic follows every loss
and injury to first causes. The Tlingit who shot at a decoy duck
made the decoy owner pay for the cartridges ; the otter hunter,
rescued from a broken and sinking canoe, demanded the value of the
canoe when set ashore; the rel.itives even of a burglar made the
owner of the stolen rifle pay for the burglar killed by its accidental
discharge. White doctors pay for any dead patients whom they have
treated ; and when Haronovich accidentally .shot his own child, he him-
self had to pay the Whale totem, or his wife's clan, so many hunUred
blankets, or be killed himself to lialance the account.

In illness the Tlingit sent for his xfuiman or medicine-man, who,
continuing his fasts alone in the forest throughout life, continued to
receive inspiration from his guardian and familiar animal spirits. In
frantic parad(!s and dances about a village, a shaman l)it live dogs and
ate the heads and tongues of frogs, which contained a potent medicine.
He performed his miraculous euros imder the spell of his special
totemic spirit, and an emetic of dried frogs and sea-water gave him a

■«*,

ALASKA — NATIVE RACES.

vision to perceive the soul Icavinc a man's body, ability to catch
and replace it, anil cast out the evil spirits which had possessed the
patient. When the chant, dance, and hocus-pocus failed to cure, the
shaman denounced some one for charmin;; or bfw itchin<; hia patient,
and deinan<led his torture or death. Usually the infirm or the aged
poor, slaves or personal enomios, wore dcnounceil and subjected to
fiendish tortures. Captain K. C. Morriman, U. S. \., broke the power
of shamanism in the archipelafro by rcpeateil rescues of those charged
with witchcraft, by fine anil ptmishmcnt of tribe and shamans, and
finally by taking the shnman.s on board his ship, shaving off and
burning their long sacred hair and sending them out bald-headed, to
be met with roars of Tlingit laughter. There have been few cases of
witchcraft since.

While all other Tlingits were cremated, so as to make sure of a
v.-arm and comfortable future, they believed that the shaman's body
would not burn, and such were buried in sitting posture in little pavil-
ions in remote and picturesque spots surrounded by the blankets,
tows, masks, wands, rattles, and paiaphernalia of his trade. Shamans'
graves have yielded richest treasures for ethnolocrical museums. Other
Tlingits were cremated with elaborate cereinonii's, the wailing, pyre-
building, etc., always conducted by people of another totem, and the
ashes and bones stowed away in a carved grave-box or canoe, or
niched in mortuary columns. Personal possessions and food for use
in the spirit-land were burii'd with the dead, and often a slave was
despatched so as to attend his master beyond. The missionaries have
effe*tually l)roken up the practice of cri'mation, on the grounds of
heathenism, and inliumation is now praeti-ed. The Tlingits believe
that after death the spirits take possession of the bodies of animals,
revisit their homes, and teach the mysteries of life to fasting youths
in the forest ilarthquakes are caused by ghosts, and the aurora
borealis is the ghost-dance of dead warriors who live in the plains
of the sky, from which the earth was cut loose and fell to the sea.

They have their lucky and unlucky numbers, their signs and marks
for the propitiation of evil. They saw outlines in the constellations, and
had their names and legends for these otter-skins and bailers in the sky.

Their folk-lore, myths, and traditions reveal a poetry and richness of
imagination not to be expected from these stolid people.

The Crow, in whom lives Yehl, the great spirit and creator, first
dwelt on Nass Hiver, where, having created himself luul the world, he
turned two blades of grass into the parent race. The Tlingits increased
and became a great people, and spread far and wide. Suddenly dark-
ness came, and all life stopped. A Tlingit stole the sun and hid
it in a box on Japonski Island, but the Crow found it, and, flying
off with it, set it so high in the sky that none could steal it again.
Again the Tlingits increased and spread abroad, but after many gen-
erations there came a great Hood, and all perished save two Tlingits
who were long tossed about on a raft, until the crow appeared and car-
ried this pair to Mt. Kdgecimibe, where they lived until the waters fell.
It is related in some versions that another raft of people was borne

THE BOUNDARY LINE.

away to the southwcstward l\v the flood and that thev are the parents of
the other races of the earth. Then, a^nin, it is said that tiie two Hurviv-
ors of the flood were supernatural creatures, (jiie of whom descended
through the crater of Mt. Edprecunibe and there stays to hold the earth
up out of the water, while the other lives as the great Thunder Bird
Ilahtla, who dwells in the crater, the flapping of whose wings is the thun-
der and whose glances are lightning. Ilahtla is personated by the osprey,
who rides the storms and seizes the salmon from the waters, and hia
inverted face glares from ceremonial blankets and carved bo.xes. The
visit to he." V and the stealing or killing of the sun is common to all
the N'ortl. t iiTi people, and Dr. Fraz Hoas gives several variations of
it current among the KwakiutI and other British Columbian tribes.

THE INTERNATIONAL BOUNDARY LINE.
"Fijh/./our Forty."

Bodegay Quadra named the great strait Perrz Inlet in 1775, but
Vancouver preferred that it should be Captain Dixon's Entrance, as
named for and by that commander of the Queen Charlotte in 1787. It
has also been known as Grmntza Somid and ICi/r/ane Strait. It very
evenly divides the Northwest Coast, and with its prolongations runs a
natural water boundary far inland.

At this entrance. COO miles N. of Boundary Bay and the torty-ninth
parallel, one re-enters the United States, the once northern boundary of
the Oregcm Territory liccoming the southern boundary of Alaska. Suc-
ceeding the Nootka Convention of 17i>t>, the Northwest Coast became
virgin soil o|)en to free settlement and trade by any people, and three
nations claimed it. The Russians asserted ownerslii|) down to the
Columbia, and then withdrew to 51°, or to the north end of Vancouver
Island. The British clai.ued the coast from the Columbia River to
55", and the United States claimed all W. of the Rocky Mts. between
42° and 54° 40 . In 1818 the United States and Great'lbititin agreed
to a joint occupancy of the region, and in 1819 the United States bought
Florida from Spain, and with it aetpiired all of Spanish rights and
claims on the coast N. of 42''. By the number of its trading posts and
vessels regulaily visiting the coast, the United States was virtually in
possession of the region, but British fur-traders were pushmg westward
from the interior.

The Emperor of Russia, by his ukase of 1821, forbidding all foreign
\ossels from approaching within 1(M) Italian miles of his possessions in
the North Pacific, ])Uiposely brought about the conventions of 1824-'26
to adjust the rival claims to North American territory and to regulate
trade. By the treaty of 1824 with the United States, un,d that of 1826
with (Jreat Britain, Russia agreed to 54" 4n' as the southern limit of
her posses^ions, and allowed the vessels of the other two nations to
freely trade for a [)eriod of ten years. The useless and t:ninhabited
interior was parcelled out in even thirds — Russia taking the north-

THE BOUNDAKY LINE.

western or Yukon region, Enpland the Mackenzie region and all be-
tween Iludrton Bay and the Uncky Mts., while the Oregon territory,
all W. of the RockieH and N. of 42", was claimed for the t'liited States.
In 1828 the joint occupaiion of tlie Nort Invest < 'oast by the United
States and (Jreat Britain was indolinitely extended. In 1837-'38 socie-
ties lor emigrating to Oregon were formed in the United States, and in
1843 that great waggon train with a thousand jx'ople crossed from the
Missonri River to the (.'ohimbia, and the country demanded the imme-
diate settlenu'nt ol the northwestern boundary. President Txler, in his
animal message to Congress in I84;i, cleclared that "United Slates
rights appertain to all Itetween 42" and 64 4o' ". Slave interests were
then negotiating for Texas, and, to gain it without interlVience, Calhoun
was discus>ing a settlement with the British mini.-ter with the forty-
ninth parallel as the Oregon lioundary, which the latter rejected, as his
predecessor had in 1807 when JetVerson had proposeil tlie same line.
The Whigs and Henry Clay coin elled moderotion and coniproniise,
but the Democrats raised the war-cry of "riftyfoui Forty, or Fight!"
and elected Polk as the champion of that cause. In his inaugural mes-
sage President I'olk said, "Our title to the country of Oreg<in is clear
and uncpiestionable," and in his first message lie declared l'r)r"all of
Oregon or none." Yet through party spite and bickerings, the hatred
of Lewis Cass, who led the " Fifty-four Forty " party in Congress,
President Polk and the Southern Democrats retreated from their posi-
tion, and on June 15, IH4C>, Secretary Buchanan concluded the famous
Oregon Treaty with Minister I'akenham on the same terms — the line of
the forty-ninth paiailel — as otlered by Calhuun two years before and
by Jetterson forty years before.

Thomas II. Benton gives his own views and defence of this retreat
from the first i)i)sition of hi- party in regard to the Orajou QiicMiou in
his Thirty Years in th,-" United States Senate. The dearest sumndng
up of tl.c s'tuation is giv 'n by Mr. IJlaine in his Twenty Years in Con-
gress, vol. i., chap. iii. ; aiid later (chap, xiii.) he says : " Meanwhile, . . .
we lost thai vast tract on the north known as British Columbia, the
possessioti of 'vhich after the aciiinsitioti of Alaska woidd have given
to the United ;-tates the coniinuous frontage on the Pacific Ocean, from
the southern lino of Califorida to Herintr Strait."

By the trtati'S of 1824-':J5 the limits of Russian possessions are
thus defined, and the same articles were repeated in the Treaty of Wash-
ington of i8fi7 :

" Commencing from the southernmost point of the island called
Prince of W'ales Island, which point lies in the parallel of 54 degrees
40 minutes north latitude, and Ix'tween the i:Ust and the lH3d degree
of west longtitude (meridian of (ireeiiwicii), the said line shall ascend
to the north along the chamul called Portland Channel, as far as
the point of the continent where it strikes the 56th degree of north
latitude; from this last-mentioned |)o!nt the line of demarcation shall
follow the summit of the mountains situatei' parallel to the coast iis far
as the point of intersection of the 141st degree of west longitude (of
the same meridian); and finally, from the said point of intersection,

THE BOUNDARY LINE.

tii
hi

the siiiil meritliiin line of the Ulst degree, in its prolongation as far as
the Fiozi'u Ocean.

"IV. With lefeienfe to the line of demarcation laid down in the
preceding article it is understood —

" 1. Tliat tlie irilimd ciilled I'rincc of Wales Island Bhall belong
wholly to Kiissia" (now by tlds cession, to the I'nited ."states).

"2. Tliat wlienever the siiiiiinit of the inountains which extend in
a direction par.illel to tlie coa.-t from tiie fiCith degree of north latitude
to the point of intersection of the 141st dc^tree of west longitude shall
prove to be at the distance of more than ten marine leagues from the
ocean, the limit between the British possessions and the line of coast
which is to belong to Hus>iii as alxtve n\entioned (that is to say, the
limit to the possessions ceded by this convention) shall be formed by a
line parallel to the winding of the coast, and which shall never exceed
the (iistance of ten marine leagues therefrom."

The boundary line from Mt. St. Elias to Portland Chaimel has not
been surveyed nor determined. For the last twenty-eight years of Kus-
sian ownership the " Thirty-ndle Strip," as it was called, was leased to
the Hudson Hay Company, who paid an animal rental for the territory
Canada now claims as partly her own.

The recent growth of Alaska and British Columbia has made the
international boundary a (piestion of moment and interest, and " Fifty-
four Forty " may again become a campaign slogan.

During the Fisheries Conference at Washington in 1887-'88 an in-
formal discussion of the Alaska and British Columbia boundary wa«
conducted by Dr. W. II. Dall, of the Smithsonian Institution, and Dr. G.
M. Dawson of the Doiniiuon (ieological Survey, both scientists of first
repute, and both personally acquainted with the regions under discussion.
Dr. Dawson [)resented a new nuip showing the boundary line claimed by
his Goverimient, as drawn by Major-tieneral It. I). Cameron, which
narrows the thirty-mile strip to five ndles in width in numy places, and
absorbs it entii ely as part of British Columbia in others. This Cameron
line leaps hays and iidets ; gathers in all of Glacier Bay, Lynn Canal,
and Taku Iidet; takes all of iheStikine Hiver, and, instead of following
" along the channel known as Portland Channel," it strikes to tide-
water at the head of Burroughs's Bay and follows by Behm ('anal and
Clarence Strait to Dixon Enti ance. By this arrangement, Revillagigedo,
Wales, and Pearce Islands and the great peinnsula between Behni Canal
and Portland Canal, are annexed to British Columbia ; also the islands
of the Gravina group, on one of which Mr. Duncan's colony of
Metlakahtlans have found refuge — the island which the United States
used for a military post ad then for a custom-house for twenty years,
and even Mary Island, where the U. S. custom-house now stands.
Claiming all of the Alaska coast up to 5t)° by this arrangement, the late
Sir John Robson, Premier of British Columbia, suggested that the
United States yield up the small remaining strip of nuiiidand between
56" and St. Elias, for certain concessions in sealing matters. All Cana-
dian maps are now drawn according to the Cameron line ; and the
Canadians, who are keenly alive to the advantages of possessing this

THE SOUinERN ISLANDS.

territory, have repentedly cnlled tlie attention of tlic United Ptntes to a
mutter wliieii liaH sectncd to be reniinlt'd witli indillVrcncc on our nide of
the line.* Tiie U. S. const iind (ieodctii' Survey lias niiule careful 8ur-
vcvH of tlie Portland Cannl, Hflitn rmnl, lunl St. Klias region-", and

tTATUrr HlLtt

ewcedM

marked the croasinj? of the line of the Hist meridian on the Yukon
River; and late in 18!)2 Prof. T. C. Mendenhall was appointed commis-
sioner on the part of the United States, and Mr. W. h. King on the
part of Canada, to consider and determine the true line.

The Southern Islands.

Vancouver divided the island belt above Dixon Entrance into the
Prince of Wales and the George the Third Archipelago* The
two were as often known as the Sitkan Archipelago, and in 1667

* Sec Century Magazine, July, 18!tl : "The Disputed Boundary
between Alaska ami British Columbia." Also Extra Senate Document,
No. 14tt, Fiftieth Congress, 2d Session, Report on the Boundary Line be-
tween Alaska and British Columbia, and Century Magazine, May, 18v>5.

THE SOUTHERN ISLANDS.

Professor Davidfoii snppested the present name of tlie Alexander
ArchipRliit^u, in oomi>liiiient to the Russian emperor.

The inilitiiry prn^t of Fort Tnngass was btiilt on an ialet between
Wales Ixlnml iind ilie mainland, facing the Tlckhonsiti llnrbnur of Kiis-
sian trddera, as* often culled Clement or Crescent City. The buikiinps
were on the bliilT on the X. si<le of the if^land, 10 miles di.stant from
Fori S'n.p.iort. The garrison v^as soon withdrawn, and a customs oflicer
remained until 1669. The rainfall of ]18"30 in. a year, and the splen-
did ceaar-trees 8 ft. in diameter, uaade it famous.

The Tongass, Tumgass, Tamgas, or Tungiiash tribe of Tlingita
Wi're oiilr the remnant of a great people numbering BOO altogether in
lHfi9, and diminished to 225 in 1890. A swampy trail leads a half
mile across the island from the fort to their chief village, where 24
massive totem-poles guard the semicircle of i ined lodges.

A tablet on one house r^ads:

" TO THK MEMORY OF KBBETfB,

HEAJ) nilEF OF THE TONGASS,

WHO DIKD IN 1880, AGED 100 YEARS."

Two fine totem-poles also record the honours of this Neakoot, who
assumed the name of John Jacob Aster's Captain Ebbetts, as a compli-
ment to that trader.

There arc beautiful views around the island, and a canoe can thread
myriad foresl-walled laric.*, in one of which there is a ledge of slate
glittering with superb garnet cr\8tal3.

Ya.kconver named the small sharp poini of the mainland for the
Right Hon. Charles James Fox, and the bay l)€)ond for Quadra, the
Spanish commandant at Xootka. Salmon canneries were established
at both places during the salmon lK>om of lHs;}-'84, but the Ca/>f Fox
c;uiiK'ry was moved to Khhik'in, in Tougiiss Narrows, and the boca de
Quadra was deserted after a few seasons.

Mary Island Tustorns District.

The first flag and light seen on the Alaska coast are at the U. S.
custom house on Mary Island, a green dot named for the daughter
of Admiral Wiuslow, who cruised past it with her father in the U. S. S.
Saj-anw in 1872. Tliis Government station was built in 1891, and one
may see the white buildings frotr) afar, or hear the siren wailing when
mists or darkness brood upon these reef and rock strewn waters. Siiins
may enter and clear a? Mary Nland, and tlte deputy and a row-boat ere
expect: d to exert a sufficient moral force to prevent the Juneau whis-
ky fleet from taking on contraband cargo anywhere across the British

THE SOUTHERN ISLANDS.

line and scatterinf:^ to northward by myriad channels. A few years ago
there were 21 mo r. Ad toteni-polec, many ruined houses and picturesque
graves over or. Cat Mand, where a larj^e community used to dwell ; but
many of the venerable columns have been cut, stolen, burned, and
wantonly defaced.

The CraTina Islands were first seen and named by Caamano.
Anuelte, the largest island of the group, is 17 miles in length and over
4 in width, and was named for Mrs. William II. Dall in 1880. It is
mountainous tliroughout, and Mt. larnffan, 8,684 ft. in height, retains
its snow-cap throughout the year, and is easily distinguished from any
side.

J'oinl Davixon was christened by Vancouver in nonour of Alexander
Davison, owner of the fleet's storcship, and the Englishmen camped for
a night at that place. Nicholh Paxx, separating Annette and Gravina
I.-ilands, was named for Captain II. E. NichoUs, U. S. N., who first sur-
veyed Its dangerous ledges. He also named Port Chester, where he
found the ruined lioiiscs and decaying poles of a Tongass community,
wboiu the L'hilkats had massacred sixty years before.

New Metlakahtla>

When Mr. Duncan's people sought a new home on thp Alaska side,
the site of this deserte<l village offered all that the native mind deemed
essential— a good bench foi' canoes, .-loping land for cultivation, a good
salmon stream near by. water-power for a sawmill, and nearness to the
mail steamer's route. It is p'raost the only good canoe beach in the
region ; but the wind-.' wept pass, lillcd witii reefs and tidal cur-
rents, is the dread of stean:icrs, and there is but a cramped anchor-
age a half mile off shore. In bad weather, and whenever it is post-ible,
the mail steamers leave their co'^signments at Kivhikau, the distribut-
ing station in ToiKjaxx Xtirroux, 12 miles distant, and tourists rarely see
the actual marvel of -New Metiaklitla.

Mr. Dimciin visited ?'asteni cities oi the I'liited States in 1886-'87,
and speedily enlisted fiiciulH to uid the Metlakiilitlans. Rev. Henry
Ward Bcecher and Dr. Phillips Brooks wer»> especial champions of his
cause, but all creeds and jieoplc assisted. Mr. Duncafi was assured at
Washington that his people would be protected in the ownership of
any lands tln'\ might select, whenever, by the extension of the general
land-iaws to Ala.^kn, that Territory was open to settlement; and the act
of Congress, March 8, 1K!U, provided:

"(Skction 16.) That, until otherwise provided by law, the body of
land.) known as Annette Islands, situated in Alexander Archipelago in

THE SOUTHERN ISLANDS.

southeastern Alaska, on the N. side of Dixon's Entrance, be, and the
same is hereby, set a|)art us a reservation for the use of the Metlakahtla
I. dians, and those people known as Mothikahtlans, wiio have recently
emi^irated from Hritifih ("ohimbia to Ahinka, and such otlier Alaskan
natives a*i niM> join th'-m, to be held and used by them in common, un-
der such niies and ref;ula»i**ns, and -ubject to such restriction?, as may
be prescribed frotn time to time by the Secretary of the Interior."

Pour hundr*-*! M^'tlakaiiflans crossed to Alaska in the spring of
1887. Dedicatorr services ^orc held on the arrival of Mr. Dimcan,
Auftu-it 7. IH87 . the Unit>*d waten flag was raised and saluted by the
tolling of the new ohureh-bHI, and a psalm chanted l)y the people. The
old totem-poles were des^troyed, wrve two given to the -1 ^a Museum,
and, apportioning t!ie tv»«-iots *i'>-i)rding to their owti r rr'3 of indi-
vidual rank tmA pre* «!d<-tiee. th*- Xetljffcahtlans began building their
present attr*etive vilbj^e. The .-a« inill was burned in 1*^80, but within
six weeks if was rebuilt, and f■^'A^ new machinery was cutting 6,imiO ft,
of lumber a day. A second fire destroyed the mill in Sha'-'li, 1892, but
it was again rebuilt ; and in January, 1893, the mill and half the settle-
ment were burned.

The salmon cannery ships from 6,0() ) to 8,000 cases each year, and
all the industries of the old Metlakahtla 1 ave been revived. They print
their own newspaper ; and the photof rapher, the silversmiths, the
carvers, and bark-weavers do a large bi.siness on the occasional tour-
ist days. The churcii and the octagonal school-house, the boys' and
the girls' boarding-home, Mr. Duncan's residence, the cannery, the saw-
mill, and the stoie, are the poiots of interest, and on steamer days the
band plays on a platform built on the tall cedar stump. The Govern-
ment day-school relieves Mr, Duncan of much of his old work, and Dr.
Bluett having volunteered his services to the people, they have suit-
able medical attendance.

The original Tsimsians, with the Haidas and Tlingits who have
joined them, have all subscribed to and faithfully lived up to this code :

METLAKAHTLA, ALASKA.

nKCLARATION OF RKSIDENTS.

We, thf people of Metlakahtla, Alaaka, in order to secure to ouradve.s and
our poHterlli/ the blemn()s of a ('hrlxiian home, do severallif mtb-
iicriht. to tlf foQ/iwiv.fj rules for the reijulaiion of our eondurt and
town (fair*:

1. To reverence the .Sabbath, a-^d to refrain from all unnecessary
secular work on that day; to attend divine worship; to take the
Bible (or our rule of faith ; to regard all true Christians as our breth-
ren ; and to tie truthful, honest, and industrious.

2. To be faithful and loyal to the Government and laws of the
United States.

THL 'SOUTHERN ISLANDS.

3. To render our votes when called upon for tlie election of the
Town Council, and to promptly obey the by-laws and orders imposed
by the said Couni'il.

4. To attend to the education of our children and keep them at
school as rei^ularly as possible.

6. To totally abstain from all intoxicants and gambling, and never
attend heathen festivities or countenance heathen cu.-^tonis in surround-
ing villages.

6. To strictly carry out all sanitary regulations necessary for the
health of the town.

7. To identify ourselves with the progress of the settlement, and to
utilize the land we hold.

8. Never to alienate, give away, or sell our land, or building-
lots, or any portion thereof, to any person or persons who have not
subscribed to these rules.

The Na-a Country.

RcTillagigedo Island, first seen by Gr.iy and Caamano, was
named by Vancouver in honour of the Conde de Revillagigedo, Viceroy
of New Spain, wiio sent out the expeditions of Quadra, Caamano,
Gdliano, and Valdes. Its Indian name Xa-a, " The country of the dis-
tant lakes," arose from tlie chain of pools which are linked throughout
its northern half. Measuring 50 miles from N. to S. and 25 miles
across its greatest breadth, it is almost divided by the long inlet named
for Captain James C. Carroll, which, opening from Tonc/anx Xarrows,
cuts to within a couple of miles of Hehni Cava', which almost encir-
cles the island with its graceful loop. The island is mountainous
throughout, and its deeply indented shores hold some beautiful scenery.
The only settlements have been on the west shores.

The cannery at K'uhikan, or Fish Creek, in Tongass Narrows, is
the post office and distributing point for the neighbourhood. In August
this small stream is packed with humpbacked salmon, and by follow-
ing the trail from the beach for 200 yards the tourist may see one
of the oft-described pools crowded from bank to bank with salmon,
and watch the leaping of this saltatory species. The fall is some 15 ft.
above the level of the pool at low tide, and the mass of salmon coming
in with the flood wait until the waters rise their regular 12 ft. and
shorten the jump. Imi)atient fish are Uways making the dash at the
face of the fall, regardless of the tide, during the weeks when the hump-
backs are running. Kichikan is a centre of a rich salmon country, and
all the waters sparHu witli leai)ing fi<h during their successive " runs."
PoitU Hiyijina was named by Vancouv "r for the Sefior Vallenar de Hig-

THE SOUTHERN ISLAM>8.

gins, the President of Cliile, and Clover Pass was discovered and sur-
veyed by Lieutenant Richiirdson Clover, U. S. N., while in command of
the coast-survey steamer Patterson.

At Loriiig, at the entrance of Naha Bay, there is a large salmon
cannery which has absorbed in the one establisnment several smaller
canneries and fisheries, and packs the catch of half a dozen streams of
the n 'j^hlioui hood. There is a post-office and trading-store ia connec-
tion with it, and a village of Tongass Indians have settled beside this
permanent settlement. The wreck of the Ancon remains a conspicuous
object on t'le rocky shore, where it was blown by a williwaw or " vool-
ly " as it was letting go from the wharf at high tide on August 26, 1889.
The patsengerb walked down the "ang-plank as the ship settled, and,
with all the ship's furnishings removed to the cannery loft, living there
for five days until the next steamer returned them to Port Townsend.

THE PACIFIC SALMON.

There are five varieties of the Pacific salmon (Onror^i/nrA; the
hook-jawed). The Pacific salmon and the Pacific trout differ so from
the Atlantic species that it is a fine ([uestion whethei' there are any
true salmon or trout on that coast, and whether any game lawt can be
legally enforced under such names.

Onfi>rfii/iu/(u.s rh'Oiich.i, or king salnior, is the qninnat of the Co-
lumbia, the Chinook and Taku faithcr X., but everywhere recognized
a8 the tiiec (chief), /.vciiiging from (lit to 80 pounds in the Stikine, it
increases to loit po;jiids in tlie Yukon. Its flesh is pale, and coming in
pairs and not in great schools, it is not the wh -'e pack of any one can-
nery.

Oneorhj/nehus nerka, the red salmon, is the blue-back of Oregon,
the sockcyc of the Fraser, and the canncr's favourite because of the
toughness and tlx' deep tint -if its flesh. It averages (\ and 10 pounds
in weight, and visit' ilic coast in incredible nuiubei'.s.

(hKorhiiiiehus kiKiitrli, the silvc:' s.almoii, is the most beaiitiful of
its kind :iu(l the most spiiitcd. It alw.ys chooses clear water, and leaps
falls with agility. Its flesh is pale, ard is unfit foi' caninng within a
few hours after landing.

Onror/iijiir/ius eforlmxrha, the humpback, is rnost abimdant of the
species, and averages from .'i to lo pouiuis. The /lalc flesh I'ooks soft in
cans and is not desired Uiv packing, although of fine flavour. The
hnni|)back i> even more phni*''' d than the red sahmui, and can outjunip
any other species. Tl.eir leaps have not been recorded, like that Dram-
men River salmon in Norway tliat juiii{)ed U\ ft. up the face of a fall,
but Lieutfuaiu Nihiack photographed one in the act of s[>ringing eight
feet.

The first run of tyees comes in the early :pring. In June the red
galmon come in by Dixon Entrance, closely followed by the silver ealnj-

THE SOUTHERN ISLANDS.

on. In August the huinpr)aeks appear, and in September there is a
ia.-.t ru;. of ^/wv to the up-stroam and mountain lake spawninfi-j^rounds.
The younf^ salmon seeks the sea with tlie liij;li water in spring, and re-
turn:' at tl:o end of two years to its birth])laee.

The iiialnia or Dolly Viirden trout follow thr) salmon in from the
sea to devour their eggs, and tlie crudest taekl.^ biiited with salmon
roe will catch 1 a;d fi pound fish of the most l)caii;jfi!l colouring.

There is also the cut-throat trout, with the vivin red mark below
the gills, and the large steel head, (iairdner or rainbow troat, so often
classed as a salmon, and packed as s])eckl('<l salmon at many canneries.
Prof. David S. Jorda.i, the firsi authority on i'acific coast fish, says that
any one who can count can tell the difference between a salmon and a
trout. A I'acific salmon has ''rom I'A to 16 rays in the anal or last
lower fin, while a trout has but !• or 10 rays. The oiigiiia! Atlantic
salmon has but 10 or 11 rays in the anal fin.

Fine distinction!- .s to parrs, charrs, smolts, .and grilses ,'■• ■ not
weighed in Alaska. Ti li canners desire only an abundance of firm, ed-
fleshed fish.

The rivalry of Alaska canneries ;:ieatly injured the business on the
Columbia. The 37 canneries in Alaska, representing an investment of
niv.i-e than .■*4,< t(iO,0( »0, employ between .'),imhi and fi.OOit people and
1 1 >0 steam- vessels. The pack of 18H1, amounting to 78!i,noi» cases of
48 one-pound tins each, so overstocked the market that a combination
was formed. 2!t canneries were closed, an<l the ])ack of lH9:i reduced
to4(»(»,0(Mt ciwes. Only '2 of the 17 caimeries in southeastern Alaska
were operated that year, those at Loring and ("hilkat. In 1893 the
pack was limited to t)5u,onO cases.

SALMON CANNERIES.

At Lonng the beat opportunity is alTorded for watching the can-
ning of salu'.on, which is in ji'Cigress fro'ii June to Se]iteml)er by a
large force of Chinese contract workmen. The seining and outdoor
work are done by wliite men, a lew In<iians being sometimes e'uployed
under them. While industrious to a degree, the Tlingit car> o! be de-
pendeii Uj)on ; an<l the native is too apt to strike, to start . '.iia a pro-
longed ]totlatch, or go berrying or tishiiig on his own account, in the
height of the salmon run. In the skilful mi'.nijjuhition of the cans and
macl'.ines within doors, neither he iior the white man can approach the
automatic exactness and de.'cteiity of the Chinese, who, beins; paid by the
piece, take no account of n day's working hours, .nd keep the ma-
chinery moving as long as there are fish in the cannery. The fish are
thrown from the arri\intr scows to a latticed floor, or loaded liirectly
into the trucks and rolled into the canneiy. The cleaner seiz. s a fish
and in two seconds trims and cleans it — beheading, detailing, and rend-
ing it with so many -trokes of his long, thin ktdfe. It is washed,
scrajied, cut in sections the length of a can, packed, soldered, steauK-tf,
tested, vented, steam<'d again, resoldered, laccpiered, labelled, and
boxed. The tin is taken u|) in s'leets, and an ingenious machine
5

THE SOUTTIEBN ISLANDS.

punches, rolls, and fits the covers to the cnns, which roll down an
inclined gutter of melted solder which closes the edj^cs. Tiie experts
can tell, by a tap of the tiiiger, if each can is air-ii{^lit. if not her-
metically closed, the contents rapidly chanj^e, hurst the cans in transit
" below," or explode un|ileasisiitly in distant nwirkcts. The Alaska
canners are not held to any restrictions as in Ihilish Cohnnbia, not
taxed or hindered in any way. They may take any piece of ground
they see fit in tracts of HJO acres, and rcieive a patent after paying
$1.25 an acre and the cost of survey. There is no tax ujion cannery
boats, no limit to the size of net-nieshes, no close season, and the salm-
on inspector, who is supposed to prevent the placing of weirs and
traps in the streams, has no vessel at his command with which to en-
force the laws. The canneries drain the country of their natural
wealth; make no permanent settlements, nor any improvements; sjjend
almost nothing of their profits in the Teriitory ; and arc a fruitful
BOirce of trouble and corruption among the native people.

The Rcvillagigedo Lakes nud Bchm Canal.

The famed beauty of Naha Bay is not apparent from Loring.
There is a fine waterfall a (piarter of a mile above the cannery, reached
by a trail through the woods. Two miles above Loring the bay nar-
rows and terminates in a cuf-Je-sac, where 1U,()00 salmon have been
drawn ashore from a single cast of the seine. A sharp point of land
separates this cove from the first in the chain of four lakes, and the
connecting stream is less than 10l> ft. in length. This L<ikr Ailnrnhle
is more properly a lagoon, as it is 12 ft. below high-tide mark, and the
cascading stream empties and tills the lake by turn and the seine is
east at either end of tliese rapids.

Lake Adorable, as it was named in 1885, is 4 miles long and 2
miles across, with magnificent mossy forests closely surrounding it. It
glitters with leaping sahnon all summer long, as tln^y en ss it to nm
the gauntlet of the cascading streiims that join lake to lake Car into the
heart of the island. Large salmon have several times taken trout-fiies
from these shores and wrecked light rods, (ireedy nialnia follow with
the salmon, and may always be caught. Roth black and cinnamon
bears are found on the island. They are fi'-st seen in si)ring, when
they come out to feed upon the skunk-cabbage (Li/sirhton Kamchathn-
*m), which with its huge tropical leaves is like a bamina-tree half
buried. Four blaciv bears have been seen at once pawing salmon
ashore from the sedges along Lake Adorable, and in the dense salmon
berry thickets an.l along the shores of the farther lakes they arc less
often frightened away by man. The old smoke-house on the stream

THE SOUTHERN ISLANDS.

connecting the first and second lakes lias several times been used as a
sportsman's camp, and touches upon the most complete wilderness,
while near to a base of supplies. There is a snmll red deer on the
island, but the skin-hunters threaten its early extermination in the
region, as 25,000 skins were shipped from Loring in 1890. Wolves
are numerous; geese, swans, mallard, teal, and a so-called canvas-back
duck tlock by the farther lakes ; and eagles always tempt shots when
a sportsman has once seen the extjuisitely fine and downy robes made
from their breasts.

Escape Point, tit the northern entrance of Xaha Bay, celebrates
Vancouver's escape from the Indians who attacked his party in Trai-
tor»' Cove, 3 miles beyond. Canoes had followed the white men from
the bend of Hehm Canal, and " the old vixen," with the large labrette in
her lip, who steered and commanded the largest canoe, was bent on
hostilities from the start. While the three boats were separated, the
vixen came alongside Vancouver's yawl, snatched the lead-line and
made fast with it. Her crew donned wolf masks, jumped aboard and
seized the muskets ; five canoes closed in, their crews shouting and
dancing. The commanding virago was plainly exhorting them to an
attack, when Vancouver gave the order to fire with the weapons they
had drawn from the arms-chest. Those in the small canoes rolled out
and swam ashore. Those in the big war canoe cut the line, and all
sprang to one side, careening the canoe so that its side shielded them
as they padilled away. Two of Vancouver's men were wounded, and
befor" ;licy could ])roceed the swimmers climbed the sheer bluft" and
hurled rocks down upon the boats.

Yess Bay, on the mainland fhore opposite Traitors' ('ore, is a
mere ship-way through the fore-*;, navigable h large steamers for '1
miles to a point where the cauner; - situated, imd accessible oidy to
canoes beyond that jwint. The nunow passage i~ exceetlingly pictar-
esrpie, and the brawling stream bv the •.•annery wads to a lake of great
beauty, where tin pounds of trout have been lured by the ci»mmonest
fly in two hours. The ('oast Survey named the place .)/i/A>n«/(/ Ai//,
but the local name having became well est blished in comaerce before-
hand, it is only alluded to as Vrmi Bui/.

Bi(rroiiphs\s Jiai/, at I lie mouth of (lie I'nuk River, is a deep bowl in
the mountains where Vancouver fished in August, 179--. and called his
prizes "hunchbacked salmon." "'Th*^ had little <it the coloin- and
nothing of the flavour of salmon, and they wer«^ '^ery insipid and indiffer-

THE SOUTHERN ISLANDS.

«>

ent food," he wrote. The shores were covered with deiid salmon then, ns
they are now at the height of the run, when the retreating tides strand
acres of fish on tlie ri\er bars. A cannery was established at Bur-
roughs's Hay in 1885, and while it was in operation the mail steamers
regularly made the tour of Behm Canal *. There is placer gold in the
bars of the Uiiuk Fiiver, a turbid, glacier-fed stream, which heads IdO
miles inland. It is navigable for 70 miles by canoe, hut hunters of
the bear, mountain goat, and mountain sheep, which abound in this
region, are warned by the surveyors of dangerous rapids and whirl-
pools.

The mainland shores arc very abrupt all along Behm Canal, the
way is narrow, and Commander Newell, U. S. N., who was among the
first to carry a large steamer around Kevillagigedo, declares the view
northward from Point Sykcs the finest in .southern Alaska. The
landmark in that stretch id the New FMd> stone Rock, which rises
like a ruined vine-dad tower 250 ft. from the water, with a circumfer-
ence of less than 00 yards at the base. There are a few crevices in
its side to maintain the green wreaths and plumes that permanently
decorate it, and it could be easily scaled. Vancouver named it after
breakfasting on its sundy base ; and in 187!> the Coast Survey named
the Rudifiird Biuj and the other points near it for engineers and oth-
ers connected with the building of the famous Eddystoue Light on the
coast of England.

Prince of Wales Island.

Prince of Wales, the largest island of the Alexander Archipel-
ago, is second in size to Vancouver Island, extending 2uo miles from
N. to S., with a breadth of 20 and (10 miles. It is a miniature conti-
nent, with an island belt on the ocean coast sheltering a continuous
Inside Passage, navigable by canoes and launches. It is mountainous
throughout ; cedar groves dot its shores ; fine salmon streams lead to
scores f)f mountain lakes, and in climate it has been called the Lan-
cashire of the coast. Ik'cause of it.-* wealth of cedar and salmon. Con-
gress was once asked to declare the island a government reservation of
ship timber for the use of the navy-yards on the Pacific coast, and to

* Named for Major IJehm, commandant at the Russian port in Kam-
chatka, where Cook's ships wintered under Captain King. Geoige
Vancouver was miilshipman on this third and last voyage of the great
navigator, James Cook.

THE SOUTHERN I8LAND9.

lease the Halmon-fislierio.s. The very mention of Alaska has always
heen Huffieiont to convulse the ('on^ress at Wiishinjiton ; and although
the proponed reservation was larger than the Siiite of New Jersey, and
would have brought in a eon«iderable revenue, the humorous legislators
did nothing.

The yellow cedar {CiipremK iinlhih'TiKiK), wh'u'h ranges from the
Queen Charlotte Islands to Yakutat is the most valualjle timl)er on
the Pacific coast. The tree reaches a diameter of 5 and 8 ft. and a
height of I5(t ft., growing in patches and small gi'oves, and easily
distinguished from the rigid, symmetrical spruces by its darker foliage,
its ragged and uneven limbs with their [)lumy, willowy, tasselled tips.
It hiS a pale-yellow colour and a close fine grain, exhaling a slight
resinous odour when fiist cut. The Chiiiese valued it highly, and the
Russians carried on a large trade in cedar logs. \t ('aiuou it was
made into chests that jiasscd as camphoi-wood, and wi.en ca.'ved and
scented was palmed off as sandal-wood. It is as much tlie aversion of
moths as are the other fragrant cedars. It is the one shi[) timber of the
Pacific coast, the only wood which repels the teredo, and shius' tim-
bers hcve been found to be souiul and good after lying under v. ater for
thirty yeais. The few vcfsels built of yellow cedar have ihe best
standing, since hulls of Oregon pine can only be insured as A. No. 1
for three years, and the average Puget Sound pile is eaten through in
the same time. One million dollais a year is said to be sjient in driv-
ing and replacing piles in Puget Sound wharves, while the yellow cedar
of Alaska is untouched, and the law forbids its exportation. Small
lots of yellow cedar have been sold at Portland for ^75 jjer thousand
feet ; local cabinet-makers have made much use of it, and Hon. Wil-
liam II. Seward secured enough cedar during his visit to Alaska to
finish the great hall of his Auburn residence. The natives use this
wood for canoe and house building, for totem-polett and all carved
work. The inner bark furnishes them with a tough fibre which re-
places ropes or thongs, and, finely shredded, is woven into mats, sails,
blankets, baskets, and hats. They destroy countless tree.s l)y this
girdling, and ghosts of dead cedars show all along shore.

All the S. and W. coast of Prince of Wales Island is historic ground.
At Cape Chacon, or the traders' Musatchie Nose, Juan Perez landed in
1^14, and finding a mttive with a Russian gun hi his possession, marked
the line of 54° 40' as the limit of Russian rule, and by the same token
the northern boundary of Spanish possessions.

The Ilanrnt/aii originally claimed all the ocean shores, but one hun-
dred and fifty or two hundred years ago they were driven northward by
the Ilaidas from North Island of the tjuecn Charlotte group, a baud of
pirates and freebootors who successfully defied the neighliotiringfilies,
and terrorized the nuiiuland coast. At last the other Ilaidas, combined
with the Nasa and Tsimsiau warriors, attacked North Island, routed the

THE floUTHERN ISLANDS.

rencpndes, and destroyed their villnpes. The Hiirvivors put to sea,
hindt'tl on tlie oi)!)^!!!' ^hore of tht- t'litrimi'c, and in time pii.slied tiieir
viUaiicH lip to Tk'vali Strait and around to Thorne May, on tlie K. side
of tlio island. Tliey drove the Frtnch fla^ from tldn coast early in the
century l)y killing the native otter-iiunters whom a French fader had
leased fi'oin the liussiaii chief manager at Sitka. After indi >nnifying
the Sitkans for their 2'-i dead relatives at !t«2no each, the Frenchman
had (i'.i otter-skins wortli if 5 each to take to Canton. His experience
deterred his coinitrynien from competing in the pro(ital)lr )ur-trade of
the Northwest Coast.

These Tleviakans, Kaigahnees, or Prince of Wales Hniilas, liave
their largest village at Ilowkaii) in Cordova IJay, itehind Dall Island.
The Uoston fur-traders used to anchor near the village in the harbour
which Captain Etholin surveyed in 1h;j;{, and named Aineric<in Bin/.
Ilowkan is a Stikine word meaning " fallen stoiu-," and the original
hoickan lies on the beach, whether myth or meteot'te none know.

The village is rarely visited by mail steamers, receiving its mail
and consignments by small steamer from .iAny/ IshiutI or Fort Wnnigell.
A Presbyterian mission was estal)lished at Ilowkan in 1H81. In 18M3,
wlien the writer first visited the village, it was a jjlaee of totemie
delight. Tall totem-poles guarded houses, ami skeleton ruins of
houses, crowded to the water's edge, ranged back through the under-
brush, and lined a farther beach where graves ami ruins were en-
tangled in a yoimg jungle. Mosses and lichens half covered the faces
of the crows and eagles, grasses and ferns flourished in every crevice
of the carvings, and bushes and even young s])ruce-trees, 1(> ft. high,
grew on the tojts of totem-poles. Skolka, the head chief, had a magnifi-
cent column by his doorway, with two children with storied hats above
his ancestral eagle and the image of a bearded white man beneath the
bird. He rea<l a sad chapter of his family history from this picture rec-
ord. A wonuin of the eagle clan went to gather salmou-i-ggs one day,
and while she cut fresh branches to lay in the water, and filled her
baskets, her two children played. When she was ready to reHirn she
called the children, luit they ran and hid. She called again and again,
but they answered her from the woods with the voices of crows, and
for many moons the crows mocked her cries. It was believed that tin;
white traders had stolen them. The lost ones never returned, and the
story of the kidnapped children has fiightene(l generations of little
eagles. The same twin~ and trader ornament a pole in Kasa-an Hay,
and exhort those sinall Kaigahnees of the eagle braiul to civil speech
and obedience. Skolka's next-door neighbour in days of yore was an
old chief, whose young and i)retty wife found a big frog while search-
ing in her liege's locks one day. The nine days' wonder was recorded
in tiie next tolem-pole erected, and there one may still see the old
chief, the frog, and tlie moon-faced bride to prove the tale.

The Kaigahnees, like every tribe, have a legend of a great flood and

THE SOUTH KRN I8LANP8.

a niiif^lo ((ituio coni'mj; to rent with two HurvivorH on the top of a moun-
tain. Ill 1Nh;j one iint'iciit claiiTU'*! to hiivc tlie bark lopi; tlmt held
the aiu'hor of tl"' liij; ciiiioc; when it ii'steil on the liif^ii iiiountaiii
l)eiii(i(i li(iwl<iii) — II taiisiiiiin of j^rcat power. Thi'V have a tale twin
to oiii'H of liOt's wife, t)iit tlicir Sodop' and (loniorrah were on Forrester
Isiaiiii, and u l)rothi'f and si.-itcr Hiviii;^ fioiii a pestilence were both
turned to stone, because the woman iool<ed baei< while cnwHiiif; a river.
Their petrified bodies still staiul in that river, and their petrified lodge
may be seen on its l)aiik.

When Wi^f^ins's storm.s were promised to all North America in March,
188'J, a white man at Kasa-an Hny read and ex|)lained the prophecies
to the Kai;^ahiiees. The warniiiir ran rapidly from village to village,
and at Howkan all lie;;aii moving their things to the high ground, and
were carrying up water and provisions for one svhole afternoon. They
believed that tiie promised tidal wave was coming, and, at the time set
for the storm, began to say, "Victoria all gone!" There was a heavy
storm outside that .March night, and the agent of the trading company,
returning from the Klin<|uan tishery in a whale-boat, wa.s drowned by a
wave upsetting the boat as he let go the tiller to furl the sail.

It was at i'ort Hazan, across iJall Island, that a Kaigahnee found
the remains of Payma>ter Walker, who was lost with the steamer George
S. Wrijflit, in Kebruary, 187;{. The loss of the Wiiijhl was one of the
tragedies of the sea, and is still a current topic in Alaska. The steame'
left Sitka im its return trip to Portland with several army otfieers arJ
their families and resident.-, on board. It was last seen at Cordrva
Bay, on the south end of I'lince of Wales Island, and, in the face of
warnings, the ua|)tain put out to sea in a heavy storm, as he was
hurrying to Portland for his weilding. It is supposed that the ship
foundered, or struck a rock on the '.^ueen Charlotte shore. The most
terrible anxiety prevailed as week after week went by with no tidings
of the Wi-'kjIiI^ and the feeling was intensitied when the rumour was
started that it had been wrecked near a village of Kuergefath Indians,
and that the survivors had been tortured and put to death. Two years
after the disajipearance of the Wrhjlit the body of .Major Walker was
found in Port Ba/.an, rccogni/ablc only by fragments of his uniform
that had been held to him by a life preserver. Other remains and bits
of wreckage were found in the island recesses, and the mystery of the
Wri(fhf was cleared.

In the Howkan and the Kaigahnee region everything has been named
and charted three and four times, fx/w Afnzon itself was named Cape
Muiioz by the Spaniards, and \'ancouver copied the name incorrectly.
Dixon had named it ("a])e Pitt before him, and Tebenkofl" c.illed it Cape
Kaigahnee afterward. The original village of Kaiffahiir^rwus near this
cape, but since its altandonment that name is as often applied to Howkan.
Kdli/an is the Japanese word for strand or seashore, and its use in this
eoimection give great comfort to those who contend for the Asiatic
origin of these people. The missionaries named the place Jackson, and
the Post-Otlice Department sent blanks and cancelling stamps marked
Haida Mission. Captain Nichols resisted all appeals to enter Jackson on

IMAGE EVALUATION
TEST TARGET (MT-3)

I I.I

11.25

■It lU 12.2

Illlim

U IIIIII.6

— 6"

Photographic

Sciences

Corporation

33 WEST MAIN STRfET

WEBSTER, N.Y. 14SS0

(716) 872-4503

^*^>

THE SOUTHERN ISLANDS.

the Coast Survey charts, and the Board of Geographic Xames made
Howkan the legal and odicial uppellatlon. This id only one of many
similar incidents in the naming of the region.

The Howkan Mission has a saw-mill beyond American Bay, and the
Klawak cannery and mill arc niched in the far end of Bucarelli Bay,
that picturesque, cedur-linod reach where Bodega and Maurclle took
possession in the name of Spain in 1775. Mail and excursion steamers
never visit this shore, and the Klawuk cannery runs its own schooners to
San Francisco, and steam launches to Howkan, or Fort Wrangel, for
mails. A mission and a Government school care for the Hanegas, who
inhabit this W. coast, a tnoe quite as untamable for a century as the
Kaigahnees. There is an inside passage from Dixon Entrance to Sumner
Strait, and a large cannery and saw-mill at Shakan, or Chican, off the
N. end of Prince of Wales. That saw-mill was doing a large business
in cedar shingles with San Francisco in 1889, when the zealous timber
agent descended, a cargo was contiscatcd, a large tine levied, and the
mill was silenced.

Vancouver sighted the " very remarkable barren, peaked mountain "
on the N. end of Prince of Wales, which he named for his friend
Captain Calder, of the navy ; but other navigators briefly describe Mt.
Calder as a volcano, and tell of its eruptiou towards the close of the last
century. The northern and eastern shores of the island down to Thome
Bay are claimed by the Stikines, and their first village is in Rtd Bay,
the Krasnaia of the Russian traders. The dreaded Eye-opener, or Shoo-
Fty Roek, is off its entrance, and by a sharp turn a ship runs into a
small opening that narrows until it can barely pa-ss. Beyond this
gateway the bay rounds out into a placid reach, with magnificent trees
crowding to the water's edge. There was a small saltery there in 1884,
and another at Salmon Creek, E. of Red Bay.

Kasa-an Bay, on the E. coast of Prince of Wales Island, pene-
trates some 17 miles in a westerly direction, and several fine salmon
streams empty into its arms and inlets. Skowl's old village, the original
Kasa-an, is on iSkowl Arm, which opens southwardly near the entrance.

At the time of Skowl's death his village held i7 great lodges,
and the threescore ot^m-poles constituted the finest collection of their
kind in Alaska. This jhief of the eagle clan was an autocrat of the
old school, ruled his people with a rod of iron, held them to the old
faiths and customs, and gave missionaries no welcome. A totem-pole
in his village showed the image of a priest, an angel, and a book, and
was intended as a derisive reminder of the efforts made to convert him.

THE SOUTHERN ISLANDS.

There Is an interesting old graveyard on the N. shore, half-way np Kasa-
an Bay, near the Baronovich copper^niinc, which was much ex])h)ited
twenty years ago.

The Baronovich Fkhery in in a cove of Karta lint/, at the extreme
end of the opening, and was established at the time of the transfer by
a Russian trader who married Skowl's daughter. It was a headcpiarters
of smuggling operations during the lirst years of Tnitod States owner-
ship of Alaska, and Baronovich was one of the first of pelagic sealers
or rookery raiders, returning with it,(M»() fur-seal skins from a mysterious
cruise in a small schooner in the summer of 1868. In 1886 the customs
officers found over ,$40,(»(X1 worth of prepared opium at this fishery,
packed in barrels and ready for shipment below as salt saltnon. Since
that event the fishery has been abandoned, and the catch of Kam-nii,
Tohtoi, Thome, and Stilmon Bays (jn the E. coast of Prince of Wales
Island, are towed in scows to the Lorinrf cannery.

Choloiondeley Sound, which extends inland for It) miles, was
named by Vancouver, and iJora liai/, its scenic boast, with Mt. Eu-
dora, 3,600 ft. iiigh at its end, were named for Mrs. Richardson Clover.
Motra Sound, anottier of Vancouver's discoveries, and the northern arm
reaching almost to the base of Mt. Hudora, is much lauded for ita scenic
combination. Niblack anchorage was named for Lieut. A. P. Niblack,
U. S. N., who conducted the surveys in this region and gathered the ma-
terial for his valuable work on The Coast Indians of Southern Alaska
and Northern British Columbia, published as part of the Report of the
U. S. National Musetuu, 1887-'88. It contains the fullest explanation
of the arts, customs, and social organization of these interesting iwople.

This report, and the other U. S. (iovernment publications referred
to, cannot be purchased, but can be obtained for any United States
citizen who makes proper application to a Senator or Representative
in Congress from his State.

Fort Wrangell.

Vancouver's Dnke of i'larence Strait is 107 miles in length,
and at its nc»rthern end is .sensibly discoloured by the fresh water of the
Slik-itw River. Fort Wrangcll, on the island of that name off the
mouth of that river, was the second settlement in southeastern Alaska
after Sitka, and commands a broad iiouutain-walled harbour that lies 80
miles in from the open ocean. This gives it warmer and drier sum-
mers and colder winters than places on the outer coast, the mercury
often rising above 90" in July, and remaining above 80" for a fortnight
at a time. The winter average of 28";j° leaves the harbour open, and
"^xtreme cold is rarely known. John Muir has highly extolled its bluuJ,

THE SOUTHERN ISLANDS.

soothing, " poultict'-Iike atn»oi»iilu'n'," iind ^n-iitly pruJHed the mountain
panoninia iinroiiud to one wlio clinilts tlit* liill liehiiid the old fort.

The first Hcttlenient on Wranf/tll Inhiiid wa« made hy order of the
chief manager, Adiiilrui-liaron Wraiiv;cli who sent the eaptain-lieiitenant,
Dionysius Feodorovieii Zaremlxi, down from Sitlta, in lH',i4, to erect a
8to<i'kade-poHt, and witli tlic aid of a corvette prevent tlie iliidmm Kay
('ompaiiy from re-estal»li.xliin(itradin{^ -posts <m tlie Stikiiie lliver. Tiiis
Jitdoubt Si. Dioiii/siwi was liiiilt on tlie first point of hind below the
wharf, and with the hostile threats of the natives Zarembo succeeded
in driving otT the Hritish ship. This hindrance to the free navigation
of the Stiliine was a plain violation of the Treaty of ?8"24, and after five
years of di|)lomatic controversy it was settled by Russia paying £2i»,000
indenmity and leasing all the Thirtji-mile Strip from Dixon Kntrance to
Yakutat to the H. \i. Co., li'st for a term of ten years, anrl then by re-
newed leases until the transfer of Russian America to the United
States. Sir (Jeorge Simjjson considered all the Hritish possessions in the
interior, adjacent to tlie Tliirty-mile Strip, as worthless, unless it were
leased to them. He named the new post Fori S/ikine, and his men led
an exciting life there, their lierce neighbours attacking and besieging
them, anil several times cutting their f(M)tbridge and the liui.ie that
carried water to the fort. After the discovery of gold nn the river and
the infiu.x of miners, fur-trading languished, the river posts were aban-
doned, and there was little loss to tin; company when its lease ended
with the transfer of Ru.^siaii America to the United States.

A new site was chosen for the United States military post of Fort
Wrangell in 1H()7. and the large stockade was first garrisoned by two
companies of the Twenty-first Infantry, that remained until 1870, when
the p«>st was abamioned, the groinid and liuildings ."old to VV. King
Lear for i?tjt)0. The discovery of the('a>siar mines, at the head- waters
of the Stikine, and sent a tide of new life into the deserted street, and a
company of the Fourth Artillery occui)ied the barracks from l^'7.5 to 1877,
when the (iovernment withdrew its troops from all posts in Alaska.
During the second occupation the tenants fi.xed the lent of the prop-
erty, and paid the protesting landlord a tenth of what he might have
received at that time. In 1884 the Treasury Department tcwk posses-
sion of the buildings, on the ground that the sale of 1870 was illegal,
and installed the deputy-collector in the fort. Twenty years after Mr.
Lear's purchase of the property, the Sitka court decided that, as the
original sale was illegal and uncimstitutional, Mr. Lear was entitled to
his #t»(>0 with interest, and the enune citebre was ended. As the old
binldings went to ruin, tbey lent Fort Wrangell a certain interest and
picturesqueness. The old tpiarters are used by the civil officers — a
deputy-collector, commissioner, marshal, postmaster, and superintend-
ent of education. During the Stikine-Klondike b<M)m of 1898 a com-
patiy of infantry were encamped on this parade ground, but want of
ground space necessitated the use of the broad 0. P. K. wharf for drill
and parade ground.

With the abandooiucut of the mining regions up the Stikine, Fort

THE SOUTHERN ISLANDS.

Fort

WrangeH'fl trade fJI to almost nothing, and the saw-mill represented
its chief indtiHtry, until the revival of navigation upon the Stikine, dur-
ing the Klondike excitement of 1H97 and 1898, made it a busy post
The Stikines do a large curio business in the summer season, and the
traders' stores overflow with coarse carvings, baskets, and native silver-
work. A few furs are brought from the Stikine country. Specimens
of dark-gray mica slate, sprinkled with large ahuandite garnets, are
brought from a ledge kiear Point Rothsay for sale.

There is an old river-boat on the beach, so built over and grown
with weeds that only the line of the guards suggests its original estate.
This Rudder Orange cleared .$135,000 each sea.Hon its stern-wheel
beat the Stikine flood, and when its machinery gave out beyond all re-
pair, it was floated ashore, and was a profituhle venture as a hotel.
Then it fell to the mission of a bakery, whose ('hinese proprietor gather-
ing his kind about him made it hcadcjuarters for those Celestials who
patiently worked abandoned placers.

As late as 188;} a forest of totem-poles rose by the great lodges in
the Stikines' villuge. In 1893 only a half dozen remained, and the
ehow pair guard a bay-win<lowed cottage which replaces the ancestral
lodge. One of these relates the legends of the builder's family, the
other that of his wife. The wife's pole is surmounted by her clan-
totem, the eugle. The image of a child, a beaver, a frog, an eagle, a
frog, and a frog, continue to the ground. This frrg is the crest of a
sub-family, the insignia of a medicine-man, a pestilence, a miraculous
cure, big medicine, or as the fcMxl of the eagle naturally represented
with it — all according to a.s many interpreters. The builder's pole is
covered with his own image, the two-storied hat inaicating two great
potlatches or degrees in greatness. Ueneath is his own mother totem,
the crow, and at the base of the pole the eagle, the totem of his wife,
and hence of his children. The finest of these poles were destroyed or
injured by fire in 1898.

The wolf and the whale, from two famous medicine-men's grave,
ornament the old parade-ground.

Shakcx'K Grave, on the point reached by a foot-bridge, is an object
of interest. Shakes and hi.-; rival, Qualkay, were in evidence when Sir
George Simpson visited Fort Stikine in 1841. Qualkay long ago suc-
cumbed and was set away in charge of his totemic guardian, but Shakes
cumbered the earth for another forty years, causing and spilling much
bad blood, foraging the lower coast to far Nisqually, opposing the mission-
aries, brewing hoorhitioo, and qiiurrelling with the other village c-.i t
as long as the breath was in him. lie was a chief of the old school,
like Skowl, and when he died there was a wake and a funeral that
paled all potlatch tales of old. His body was laid out in state trap-
pings. The carved chests were piled high. There were furs and blank-
ets galore ; lows past envious counting ; gangs of slaves, and last the
precious heirloom and in.signia of his line — a stuflfed grizzly with cop-
per claws and eyes, and movable jaws that assisted at great dances and
ceremonies, and, being possessed by the body of a man, took part in
theatrical representatiouB that depicted the great family legends. In

THG STIKtKE BIVEB.

dcluge-timc Shakes'^ anccHto.-H took the bear into their canoe and Raved
him from drowning. Wlien the canoe grounded on a niount4iin, the
boar brought theni f(M>d, and from an alliance witli tiiiH bear were de-
scended all his people. One bear column hIiows the f(M)tprintH of the
bear that crawled to the top of the tree whence he was rescued by
i^hakes's ancestors ; and wheti Shakes was laid away in a balconied pa-
vilion on the Point, a l>ear was put on guard.

Kadashan hati inherited the orca-stafF that ndes the tribe and a tine
war canoe. For a sutticient purse he and a rival tyee will muster crews
of thirty-two and paddle a spirited race. They paddle to a chant, the
fierce old war-song of the " northern Indians " that spread terror on
the lower coast.

Shualacka Point was the home of another chief, who long defied
the mi.ssionaries' efforts, but who was laid away in his ornamented
grave soon after Vlah, the Christian Tsiinsian, accetled to the Sti-
kines' re<|uest 'ind opened a school in their midst. Mr. Seward and
General Howard had vainly appealed to mission boards, but the letter
of a private .>toldier describing the pathetic efforts of these people to do
for themselves made most impression, and in 1877 the Presbyterian
Board sent Rev. Sheldon Jackson to investigate. He found the won-
derful Clah teaching in a dance-hall leased from the miners, and,
guarded by the chief Toyatt, opening his school with hymn and prayer.
A teacher was left for that winter, and the next year Mrs. McFarland
opened a girls' Itoarding-school, which, after its own building was
burned, was united with the Sitka ociiool. A ('atholic chapel was built
during garrison days, and receives periodical visits fmm the Jesuit
father at Juneau, but as the Tlingits have been given in charge of the
Presbyterian Board, the Roman church does not attempt any evangel-
ical work among them. A Methodist and a Presbyterian church and
Government ()ay school are the forces at work, and are judged suffi-
cient and satisfactory.

The pre-emptor of the old company gardens beyond the fort has
proved in these later days that vegetable and poultry raising are more
certain and profitable ventures in Alaska than mining. Cabbages and
mangel-wurzel reach prodigious size; cauliflowers measure 18 inches
around ; and peas, beans, lettuce, celery, rhubarb, and radishes thrive.
This enthusiastic planter believes that he could have ripened wheat
during two dry summers, and perhaps com. Wild timothy grows 6 ft.
high in old clearings, and clover-heads arc twice the size of Eastern
clover, each blossom wide-spread, as red and fragrant as a carnation
pink.

The Stikine River.

There is a salmon cannery at Labonchere Bay, 2 miles from
Fort Wrangell, on the north point of the island. A trail through the
woods connects the two settlements. This spot is better known aa
the Point Highjield of Vancouver, and commands a view of the mo h
of the Stikine River and the high peaks surrounding its delta.

THE 8TIKINE RIVEK.

Althotigh Vancouver's men, in reaching this point, were Burronnded
by the grey-groen and turbid Hood of the ^reat ntream, they did not di8>
cover it, tlie third great river of the coast which they almost entered
unaware^. Captain Cleveland, of the American sloop Dragon, and Cap-
tain Rowan, of the Ehzn, visited the delta and learned of the great
stream in 175'9. Hudson Bay ('o. cmploy68 knew the head-waters,
s(K»n after their repulse by Zarembo at Fort Dionysius. Mr. Robert
Campbell tells of his discovery of its sources in a letter to Senator M.
('. Butler, dated Riding Mountain House, Manitoba, November 30,
1881:

'* Being an employ^ of the Hudson Bay Co., I was for a series of
years employed by it in exploring, trading, and extending the trade in
the till then unknown part of the Rocky Mountains, and especially in
search of rivers, or sources of rivers, flowing from the west of the
mountains.

" In summer, 1838, I ascended to and established a trading post at
Dea.se's Lake (since then a gold field), and soon after, in July, I crossed
the mountain and came to the head-waters uf a river, which with a
party of two Indian boys and a half-breed I followed for some time,
and came to a tributary which we crossed on Terror Bridge, a very
shaky structure over a foaming torrent. About 16 miles beyond the
bridge we came on a ver)' large camp of Indians assembled there for
the double purpose of catching salmon, which abounded in the river,
and of trading with the then notable chief ' Shakes,' who ascended
there from Ftirt Highfield, a large trading station of the Russians, es-
tablished at the mouth of the river, on the Pacific coast. From these
Indians I was glad to learn that the name of the river was ' Stikene.'

" I gave notes to some of the Indians, to be delivered at any Hudson
Bay Co. post, relating the result of my discovery thus far, and as the
object of my trip was now attained I wished to retrace my ster s without
delay ; but it wa« with no little difficulty that we got away from the
camp of the savages. We owed gur safety to the Nahany chief, and
the tribe we came first in contact with va the morning. This discovery,
which made no small noise at the time, led in a great measure to the
Hudson Bay Co. leasing from the Russians a stretch of country along
the coast, for purposes of trade."

The Hudson Bay Co. first established Fort Mum/ord, 60 miles up
the river from Fort Wrangell, at the supposed Russian boundary line,
and Fort Glenora, 126 miles up river, at the head of canoe navigation.
When the miners came with steamboats, fir^i-arms, and blasting powder,
game was frightened away, and the Indians found more lucrative pur-
suits than hunting and trapping. In 1878 the company abandoned the
river |>osts, the mines failed, and the region relapsed into a wildeiness.

The scenery of Stah-Kccna, the Great River, will revive the for-
tunes of the region when increasing tourist travel makes it better
known. Prof. John Muir, who canoed its length in 1879, epitomized its
finest reach as " a Yosemite 100 miles long." Three hundred Udnggla-

THE 8TIKINE RIVKB.

dent drain directly into titc Stilcino, and Prof. Muir counted 100 from liifl
canoe. Tiie river is very sliallow at the moutli, witli a current running
6 miles an hour, but in the upper canons tiie current is terrific. Steam-
ers were withdrawn from the river in 188:{, but a relic continued to navi-
gate until 1891, although canoe travel was and is still more satisfactory
to those who can give a fortnight to the excursion. The dozen power-
fully-engined boats |>ut on the river in the spring of 1898 were nearly all
withdrawn at the end of three months. The fastest trips were mude in
80 houra up stream (tying up overnight) and 9 hount down stream.

Itinerary of the Stiklne River*

The first object of interest is the Popoff, or Little Olarier, 10 miles
above Point Rothsay. At the Big Bend, a few miles above, the Iikooi
River opens a valley southward, its course defined by the sharp needle
peaks of the Glacier Range. The natives, following the Iskoot cafiona
for 50 miles, reach a table-land from which they descend the Nusa
River to Fort Simpson. Pesides scenery of the wildest description,
peaks, precipices, and glaciers that defy Zermatt climbers, the Iskoot
region is a great preserve of big game. Grizzly, cinnamon, and black
bears, mountain goat and mountain sheep, deer and elk, roam undis-
turbed, grouse abound, and mosquitoes surpass in numbers and vo-
racity any others of their kind. The same condition as to game ond
insects exists all along the Stikine. The International Boundary Line,
as temporarily accepted, is a few miles beyond the Popoff Olacier, a
U S. Custom-Housc, a Canadian Custom-House and barracks of mounted
police, collecting duties and preserving order on the river.

The Great, or Orlebar Glacier, 20 miles above the Little Qla-
eier, and 40 miles from Fort Wrangel, is often visited in chartered
steamers, when mail steamers are delayed at the latter port for a
whole doy, and offers an interesting excursion. The glocier descends
through a mountain gateway less than a mile in width, and spreads out
in a broad, rounded, fan slope measuring 3 milca around its rim. A
tcnninal moraine half a mile in width lies between it and the river, a
place of sloughs and quicksands cut by the milk-white Ice Water
River, and scores of streams throtigh which the pilgrim wades to the
foot of ice-cliffs rising abruptly 600 and 700 ft. The glacier slopes
back easily and disappears in fine curves behind mountain spurs. Its
surface is much broken, but it has not been explored nor its motion
recorded. Two young Russian officers once came down frou Sitk» to

THE STIKINE RIVER.

explore thin K^acier to its Boiirce, but they never returned with its
secrcta. Old miners and river trndcrH say tliat it lia.i Hln-unl< and retreated
niueli Hiuec tlitwe good old days when "the hoys," with their ba^rt of
flour gold, and nuggets, used to eongtegate at liiuk\ liar (Choqiiette'n)
on the oppoMite bank, and, while boilini; thenmelves in the Hot Springt
baths, eonteinplated the great iee Htrcani over the way. A smaller gla-
cier faces the (ire<U O'lurier on the Hot Springs sidi", and there is an
Indian tradition to the effect that these two glaciers were once united,
and the river ran through in an arched tunnel. To find out whether it
led out to the sea, the Indians determined to send two of their number
through the tunnel, and with fine Indian logic they chose the oldest
members of their tribe to make the perilous voyage into the ice moun-
tain, arginng that they might die very soon anyhow. The venerable
Indians shot the tunnel, and, returning with the great news of a clear
passage-way to the sea, were held in the highest esteem forever after.

Near a betid in the river known to the miners as the DeviVs h'lhov,
the A/wi or Dirt Ulacier pours through a defile and spreads along
the river bank like a high lerrace for 'A miles. Next, the Flood Gla-
cier descends from a hidden nn'e. Every summer something gives way
in the glacial fastness and a flood bursts out with a roar, the river
rises several feet and races with a swift current, while the unknown
reservoir empties itself. Caution has kept miners and Indians away,
and no scientist has investigated to see how and where the ice spirits
build their dam. Beyond it is the dreaded Little Canon, a gorge a
half mile long, narrowing to a width of 100 ft., where ascending
Bteaniboats struggle for nearly an hour before they can emerge from
the frightful defile. Steamers often tic up for days, waiting for the
furious current to slacken. Ne.\t is the Kloochmnn's or Woinan^s
CaHon, where the noble Stikine, exl.austed by paddling or tracking
his canoe through the preceding caiion, leaves the cares of its naviga-
tion entirely to his wife. Here he crosses the backbone of the J/««»
or Sawbiick liaitf/e, and here are suniiuer canij>s by that fine salmon
stream the Clear wafer. The Hiij JiipjAe, or the Stikine liapidf, offer
the last difticulties for canoemen, and then the country opens out into
more level stretches, and a dry and wholly different climate causes
Shakof^s, Carpcnler^s, and Fiddlir'g liars, where men picked up for-
tunes 30 years ago, to scorch in dry suiiiuier heats.

At Glenora, R40 ft. above the sea, steamers discharge their cargoes
and start on the wild sweep down the river. Canoes can ascend an-

THE STIKINE RIVEH.

other 12 nilloH to the moutli of Tfhfjriiph Crrfk, where the H>jrveyor«
decided that the WeHtorn Union wiien ohoiild ctohh. and where tlic
Oreat (.'inlon of the Stikiiie hepins, n roelty gorpc Bo miles long (hat
no craft can tniverne, but wliicii in winter ofTers u level ice hif^liwuy
and a Hnow-shoerV short cut towiirds Cnssiar.

The wa^on and railway route to L<ikr TrMiit and the Yukon is de-
Hcribcd in the chapter at the end of the hook.

MININ(} HhXJioNS OK TlIK STIKINK.

II. H. Co. agents disclaim any previous knowledge of the existence
of gold along (lie Stikine Kiver, iind deny any exchange of gold dust
ounce for ounce ft)r lead Indicts as willi the natives on the Fraser. In
1861, Pierre riuxiuelte and Carpenter liis partner di-eovcred gold on a
bar near Ulenora. Camps (piiekly dotted the river's length, and in 1H7J}
richer fields were discovered in the Cassiar regions, at the head-waters
of the river, by Thihert and McCulloch, two trappers who had made
their way ovcrliind from .Minnesota. Ten tiiousand miners reached
the diggings in IH7t, and the yield was estimated at .'f^odo.tMK). The
new camps were Hoo miles from Fort Wraugell and lAO miles from
(ilenora. The {'cntre of trade was at Lnkctoirn, on Dease Creek, near
Dease Luke. The Omineea region at the head of I'eace and Skeena
Rivers was deserted. Four ocean steamers ran regidarly from Vic-
toria, traiisfcrrhig to six rivci steamers at Fort Wrangell. Freights
froni tiie latter place to tin- mines ranged from $20 to $«i> and $160
per ton, the last half of the transit being by puck-mules or on men's
backs over the roughest mountain trails known. While the mines
were paying, Fort Wrangell was the winter re>ort of the miners, and
the liveliest as well as the most important town in Alaska. Travel
turned iidand in February, miners travelling by snow-shoes and with
hand-sleds on the ice until well into March. Active work began in
May, and the freezing of the sluices in September closed the season.
When the placers were exhausted and machinery was needed to work
tite ((uartz claims, the miiu>rs left. Chinese for a long time worked
abandoned river bars and Cassiar placers.

Tl)e returns of the Cassiar mining tiistrict, as given by the British
Columbian Minister of .Mines, sliow the ({uick decrease in the bidlion
yield :

YIAR.

Number of
minari.

8.000

HOO

L.'iOO

1,!»0

' 1,866

Oold |iroduct.

$1,»>0,000
KiO.OOO

.^'i«.^~4

41I«,H80

4tt5,300
21*7.850
1!>8,900

YEAR.

Niiinlwr of
mini n.

1,000

Golil product.

1874

i 1882

$182,800
119,000

1876.

1 1883

1876

! 1884

101,t)00

1877

J886

B0,600

1878

1 1886

68,010

1879

j 1887

00,485

itwn

1881

14,880,009

BUMNER STRAIT TO PRINC^: FKKDERICK SOUND. 78

TIfK INTKHNATIONAL FJOINDAHY LINK ON THE 8TIKINE.

Till' leasing of tin; Tliirty mile Strip to the II. B. Co. did away with
the necessity of |»ieei.-*ely iimrkiiif; the houiidiiry line on the river, and
the Russians felt no eoiiciirn in the nititter until the ^old discoveries of
18A2. It was provided in the Kussian American Company's lease that
all niincriil lands should belon;^ to the crow n ; and the Czar, who had
bet'ii brooding; much over the mineral possibilities of his American
province, ordered Adndral I'opoflT to send a corvette from Japan to sec
if the Ilritish miners were cm Russian soil. Prof. William P. lilakc,
the gcolopst, acconipunied Captain Hassar<;uinc on the Rymla from
Hakodate in IHtt;{, and his report, with the Russian oftieers' maps, were
the first authentic p-o^rraphic and geido^ic information. Since their
survey five different jilaces have been designated as the boundary,
ranginf; from the Litlle (Jlaeier to the crossing of the Sawback Range.
The report of the IJuwson-McConnell survey of the river is included in
the Annual Rei>ort of the (Jeolot;ical Survey of Canada for 1887. The
rejiort of the Special V. S. Treasury Agent, W. (J. Morris, in Extra
Senate I»(jeument No. 59 — Forty-fifth Congress, third session, gives a
full account of the attempts to determine some limit during Cassiar
days and the necessity for some settlement of the question.

From Sumner Strait to Prince Frederick Sound via
Wrangell Narrows.

Namiicr Strait extends 80 miles from the mouth of the Stikine
River to the open ocean, and on its X. shore, 19 miles from Fort
Wrangell, a narrow river of the sea leads to Prince Frederick
Bound, the next great transverse channel in the archipelago. Wran-
gell 8trait, more commonly known as Wrangell Narrows, is 19
miles in length, at times not 100 yards in width, and in the course of
its windings presents features that entitle it to being one of the most
famous landscape channels on the regular tourist route. Vancouver's
men entered its mouth, but, believing it another iidet, turned back. It
was long considered navigable only for light-draught vessels at the
highest tide, and Covernraent transports went outside from Fort
Wrangell to Sitka, until the perils of Cape Ommanetf, the fogs,
storms, and currents of the ocean induced Captain R. H. Meade to 8ur>
Tey a way for the U. S. S. Saffhiuw, in 1869. Captain J. B. Coghlan,
U. S. N., voluntarily surveyed and buoyed the channel in 1884,

74 aUMNEK STRAIT TO PRINCE fRKDERICK SOUND.

I. I

later the Cuast Survey made HoundingH. The tender of the Thirteenth
LighthoiiHc DiHtriet, which iiieludeH all of the Tnited States fthorea be-
tween the Columbia River and Citpc Spencer, inflpecta and replaces the
buoys each suninicr.

The tourist should not miss any part of this scenic passage ; the
near diores, the forentcd heights, and the magnificent range of peaks
around the Stikines delta, coinpoHing some of the noblest lundscupes he
will see. The sunset effects in the broad channels at either end are
renowned, and the |M)HsesHor of a Claude Lorraine glass is the most
fortunate of tourists. He who has seen the sunrise lights in the nar-
rows has seen the best of the marvellous atmospheric effects and colour
displays the matchless coast can offer. It is a place of ' "sort for
eagles, whose nests may be seen in many tree-tops, and is a nursery
for young gulls who float like myriad tufts of down in the still reaches.
A hedge of living green rises from the water' .«« edge, every spruce twig
festooned with paler green mosses. At low tide, broad bands of
russet sea-weed {alg(B) frame the islets and border the shores, and
fronds, stems, and orange heads of the giant kelp float in the intensely
green waters. The tides rushing in from either end meet off t^nger
Pointy whose two red spar buoys are prominent in the exciting naviga-
tion. The tide-fall varies from 14 to 23 ft., and salmon, entering with
the tide, turn aside at the red spar buoys, clear an islet, manoeuvre to
the foot of a fall, leap its 8 ft. at high tide, and swim to a mountain
lake.

Along Prince Frederick Sound.

Prince Frederick Sound won its name from the meeting of
^Vhidbey and Johnstone on its shores on the birthday of U. R. H.
Frederick, Duke of York, in 1794. Vancouver lay ut anchor at the
time in Port Conclusion^ just within Cape Ommaney, while these two
lieutenants made their final search for some opening on the mainland
coast. Landing on the Kupreanoff shore, they took formal possession
of the country, and dealt out doultle grog to their men. This ended
the actual exploration, the fruitless search for the mythical straits of
Anian, and " with no small portion of facetious mirth " they remem-
bered that they had sailed from England on the 1st day of April to
find the Northwest Passage. These lieutenants made plain to their
chief the " uncommonly awful " and " horribly magnifeent " character
of the scenery along the Prince Frederick shore ; and Vancouver began
the lavish use of adjectives which is in vor^ie in Alaskan narratives to^]a} .

•c
i

StIMNEK STRAIT TO PRINCE FREDERICK SOUND. 75

I:
•c

The Dei'iVs TTiumh, a dark spire rising 1,600 ft. from the rim of
an amphitheatre 7,000 ft. above the sea, was named by Captain Meade
because of its resemblance to a similar tliumb or monolith on the
Greenland coa.st. This great landmark shows from the upper half of
Wrangell Xarrows, and looms from evory r|uarter as the ship boxes the
compass in its varied course. It is a finger-board to the touri.xt's first
Alankan glacier which is a prominent feature in the long panorama along
the N. wall of I'rince Frederick Sound. This glacier, named Patterson
for the late Carlile Pat.erson, ''lief of the Coast Survey, pours over
and down a great slope, showing a beautifully blue and rumpled front.
In Vancouver's time it dropped icebergs from the cliffs to the water.
A fine waterfall decorates the front of Jlorn Cliffs at the foot of the
glacier.

The Thander Bay Glacier.

The first tide-water glacier on the coast, latitude 56° 50' N., is
hidden at the end of Ilutli * {Thunder) Bai/, and sends out the myriad
bergs that sparkle along the sound. It is pictures(iucly set, debouch-
ing grandly from a steep caiion cutting at a right angle from the head of
the bay, and the walls are forested clo.ie to the glacier's edge. The J/ufli
is a pure white, deeply crevassed ice-stream half a mile in width ; and
the ice-cliffs, rising 100 and 200 ft. above the waters, are always top-
pling and crashing with the glacier's rapid advance. The bay is seldom
navigable, because of the ice-tloes, which ar" either packed solidly or
whirling with the tides. San Francisco ice-ships loaded from this gla-
cier as early as 1853, and halibut schooners often put into the sound
for ice to pack their catch. Lying at 5<)° 50 X. latitude, it shows all
the features of a Greenland glacier, but its wonders were unheralded
until John Muir visited it in 1879. The Stikiues claim to remember a
time when the glacier reached nearly to the mouth of the bay, and Van-
couver's description supports them.

GL.VCIAL TIIEOUY OF THE N.\TIVES.

The Stikines, heariTig tiie mysterious roars and crashes from within
this bay, believed it the home of the Thunder Bird, and Hutli's rough
syllables stand for that mythical creature, the flapping of whose wings
causes the rolling noises heard. All Tliiigits believe that in the begin-
ning the mountains were living crtatures, grandly embodied spirits,
wham they Jong worshipped. The glaciers are the children of the

* Since named by the Coast Survey Le Conte Bay and Le Conte
Glacier.

T6 8UMNEB STRAIT TO PRINCE FREDERICK SOUND.

mountains, and these parents hold them in their arms, dip their feet in
the sea, cover them with deep snows in the winter, and scatter earth
and rociis over them to ward off the summer sun. iSiUh is their gen-
eral name for ice, and its wiiispered sibilants suggest the Tlingits'
horror of cold, even their dull imaginations conceiving a hell of ice — a
place of everlasting cold aa the future state of those buried in the
ground rather than cremated. Sitih too Yehk is their ice spirit, an
invisible power of evil, whose chill breath is death, who manifests
himself in the keen, peculiur wind blowing over glacial reaches ; whose
voice is heard in the angry roar of falling bergs, and in the hiss, the
crackle, and tinkle of singing ice-floes. He hurls down bergs in his
wrath, he tosses them to and fro, cru.shes canoes, and washes the land
with great wavc^ When the ice-wind dies away and the glacier's front
is still, Sitth too Vchk sleeps or roams under ice labyrinths, planning
further destruction. The natives speak in whispers, for fear of rousing
or offending thi-s evil one, and refn.in from striking his subjects — the
icebergs — with their canoe-paddles. When they must make a journey
across a glacier, they implore the mercy of (SmA too Yehk with much
big medicine and incantations, speak softly, tread lightly, nnd neither
defile nor offend it with crumb or odour of their food. The hair-seals
are the children of the glacier, and proof again.st all this mii,::ic. They
may ride on the ice-cakes with impimity, and in under the Ilutli's and
Klumma Gutta's (Taku's) front the man-faced seals live, terrible
creatures whose spell can only be broken by one's pouring some fresh
water into the sea.

All the flats between Hutli and Point Highfield are visited by flocks
of ducks that offer sportsmen unrivalled opportunities.

The uiaird Glacier shows its upper slopes just west of the Patterson
Glacier, but the finer view of its full front and long reaches is obtained
from Thomas Bay, which, commanding views of other glaciers, of
waterfalls and splendid cliffs, has been much extolled as the scenic gem
of the sound.

Cape Fanshawe is the great landmark of the sound, a storm-
king and cloud-compeller that, fronting to southwestward, gathers to it
all the storms that drift and draught in from Cape Ommaney. Canoes
are storm-bound for weeks, and ships labour heavily to round this
promontory when the great winter winds blow ; but in summer the
waters ripple away to clear emerald and pearly reaches. The sound is a
favourite breeding-ground of whales, and in these safe, deep waters one
may see the leviathans frisking, and infant spouters taking their first
lessons. They were once snapped in the act by Lieutenant Niblack,
whose ready camera bad already caught the flying eagle and the leaping
salmon.

BTIMNER STRAIT TO PRINCE FREDERICK SOUND. 77

Kapreanoif and Knin Islands, The Land of Kakes.

Less is known of Knpreanofl* and Knin Islands — the Land of
Kakes — than of the others of the archipelago, because of the bad
name of that tribe inhabiting them. The Kakes frightened Van-
couver's men by their manners, and are dreaded by other Tlingits, who
say that they are outcast Sitkans.

They were the most dreaded of all the " northern Indians " who
devastated the lower coast. In 1H56 several canoe-loads were driven
from place to place in Puget Sound, and ordered to go home by the
U. S. S. Afaxsachmettx, which served a final notice to those encamped
on the spit oppo.-*itc Port Gamble's mills', and then opened fire. The
Kake chief and several of his men were killed, and the Mmsuchusetta
took the Kakes as far as Victoria, and once more told them to go.
Two years later a war party of nearly a thousand a: rived at the sound,
and, landing on Wb''ibey Island in the night, callet' out and shot Colonel
Eby, collector of customs. They mounted his heu;? and those of three
other whites on poles in their canoes, and paddled away in triumph.
No retaliation was attempted, but some years later Captain Dod, of the
Beaver, visited a Kake village, and bought Colonel Eby's scalp for six
blankets, six handkerchiefs, and two bottles of rum. In 1866 the
Kakes seized the schooner Royal Charlie, anchored near a Kuiu village,
murdered the crew, and scuttled the ship. The finding of a few relics
during the Kake war of 1869 cleared the mystery of that craft. They
divided honours with the llaidas and Stikines in piracy and murder
down the coast, but were looked down upon by both those superior
people. The famous " Kake War " of 1809 arose from the Kakes
murdering two Sitka traders in revenge for the shooting of a Kake by
a Sitka sentry. Captain Meade took the U. S. S. Saghiaw and destroyed
three villages by fire and shell.

These three villages were in bays on the northern end of the island,
and it was many years before the Kakes attempted to rebuild them.
They roamed the archipelago as waifs and free-lances, creating trouble
wherever they di^ew up their canoes. Their visits were dreaded by
natives and whites. A few of the better-disposed Kakes were toler-
ated at Killisnoo for a time, but their reputation effectually kept
fishermen and mineral prospectors away from their shoi-es. The mili-
tary census of 1809 estituated the inhabitants of Kuiu and Kupreanoff
Islands at 2,000. Petroff's censuH of 1880 numbers them 568. The
enumeration of 1 890 gives but 236 Kakes, and notes but the two vil-
lages of Port Ellix on Kuiu and Port liarrie on Kupreanoff Island.
In 1891 a Government school was established at Hamilton Bai/ at the
north entrance of Kchi Strait, and in January, 1892, the teacher, C.
n. Edwards, was killed by two men who came in a small sloop, as he
believed, to sell litjuor to the Kakes.

Kekn Strait, connecting Sumner Strait and Prince Frederick Sound,
was long suspected to afford a safer and more direct ship-ch nnel than
Wraugel Narrows, and more scenic beauty is claimed for it.

CAPE FAN8HAWE TO TAKU INLET.

Kuiu Island is the most extraordinary arrangement of forest-
land ever scattered upon Alasitan waters. Map-makers' favourite but
unpleasant comparison is to amass of entrails surrounded by flies. The
Island is over 60 miles in length and 30 miles across at its widest point,
but it is such a mass of peninsulas, isthmuses, and inlets fringed with
tiny islets that the ordinary statement of dimensions cannot describe
it. Its shores are least surveyed of any in the archipelago, and mail
steamers have only touched at the cannery at Vancouver's Foint EUia
in the Bm/ of Pillars. Dense groves of yellow cedar may be seen on
its shores, and in both 1874 and 1876 the Alaska Lumber and Ship-build-
ing Company prayed Congress to grant it or to sell it 100,000 acres of
timber lands on Knin hlaml, binding itself to establish mills and
yards, and build a vessel of 1,200 tons burden within two years. The
fianchise was refused, and Kuiu remains a wilderness.

From Cape Fanshawe to Taka Inlet, Shucks and Sum

Dmn Bays.

Mt. Windham, 2,r)00 feet in height at the N. entrance of Windham
Bai/, marks the beginning of Stephenson Pajtsape, 25 miles above Cape
Fanshane. The mining-camp of Shacks, the Shuk'hte of the Tlingits,
lies at the end of Windham Bai/, 8 miles from the entrance.

Gold was discovered at this place in 1876, and in the centennial
year 30 miners were at work. In 1879 Professor John Muir visited
the camp, and the miners put him on the trail of more glacial game
than he had anticipated. After the Juneau discoveries Shucks was
abandoned f ( • ten years, when a company took up the basin and began
hydraulic mining on a large scale. Their pipe-line and Hume lead to
the [fncle Sam Basin, l,OiM) ft. above the bay, whence it is a short
climb to the crest of the divi<le between Shucks Bay and the . :hem
arm of Sum Bum Bay. The higher meadows, thickly carpeted with
dwarf laurel, violets, daisies, anemones, buttercups, lilies of the vallev,
and that royal flower, the black Kamchatka lily (Fritillaria Kamschat-
krnsis), are rich botanical ground, and to the sportsman the region pre-
sents the greatest attractions. These are the chosen pastures of the
mountain-goat ; and the mountain-sheej), keeping usually to the second
anil interior ranges, comes to the coast between Cape Fanshawe and
Taku.

Shucks is the accepted site of the '* Lost Rocker," the standard
romiince necessary to eac'i mining region. In that dim time of mys-
tery and fable " before the transfer," two Stikine miners found pockets
of nuggets in a lone bay near ('a;)c Fanshawe. They were attacked by
Indians, and one miner killed. The other, left for dead beside his
rocker, managed to crawl and paddle away to a s-ttlement, and died

CAPE FAN8HAWE TO TAKIT INLET.

while describing the place where the rocker full of nuggets was left.
For a quarter of a century prospectors have searched for the phantom
rocker. Jo Juneau admits of having thought of it, and the tradition,
dear to the Alaskan herrt, has been dramatized, and every season
" The liost Rocker " draws crowds to the Juneau Opera-Uouse.

Sam Dam, the bay whose long-drawn Tlingit syiiab!es express
in sound and meaning the noise of falling ice, was named Holkham
Bay by Vancouver. The broad bay is seen from the steamer route
with the great 8um Bum Glacier sloping down from the snow-fields
beyond Aft. Harrison. It divides into the Endicott Arm, extending
26 miles in a southeasterly direction, and the Tracy Arm cutting N.
and then E., some 22 miles altogether. It is a great glacial trough,
soundings giving no bottom at 200 fathoms; is set with pinnacle
rocks and reefs, and contains but one anchorage. Strong tidal currents
and floating ice further oppose navigation.

No large steamers enter the bay, and Juneau launches proceed with
extreme caution. There are three small tide-water glaciers in inlets of
Endicott Arm. One of these caiions is known as Ford's Terror, in
honour of the draughtsman of the Patterson, who rowed in at slack
water to look for ducks. The tide turned with a roar, and the 6-mile
caiion, less than 100 yards wiue in places, was a stretch of rapids and
whirlpools in which small bergs from the glacier raced and ground to-
gether. The sportsman was a prisoner for six hours, when he was
able to make his escape with the last of the ebb-tide. There are
many such reversible cataracts within the bay, and gloomy canons
that only need their Hugo, their Verne, and their Dor6 to immortalize
them.

The most remarkable glacial exploit on this coast was that of Cap-
tain J. W. White, U. S. R. M., who took the Wn/atida into the bay
while on an exploring cruise in 18H8. Seeing a great arched opening
in the face of one tide-water glacier, he steered his gig into a vast blue
grotto, and was ro\»ed 100 ft. down a crystalline corridor. The colouring
of roof and walls and water was marvellous, the air was pure, palpitant
sapphire, and in the shadowy indigo alcove at the end the boatmen
poured out libations to the ice spirits. They emerged safely, unsuspect-
ing the perils they had braved.

The finest scenery of all is reported in Tracy Arm, and the camp
in Roaring Inlet was visited by Prof. John Muir in 1879. He found
two splendid tide-water glaciers in that magnificent fiord, one a mile
and the other a half mile wide, and common Swiss or Alpine glaciers
fronting on terminal moraines filled every ravine.

The Sum Dum mining camp was deserted for a decade after Ju-
neau's discoveries, but recently the claims have been relocated, and a
q'.artz-mill will do its feeble grinding beside the primeval mills of the
gods.

CAPE FANSHAWE TO TAKU INLET.

Port Snettuhnm gives promise of importance, when its ledges of
gold and silver are worked ; and prospectors report the Speel River
cafions at the head of the bay as rivalling any others in point of
scenery.

In Taku Harbour, or Locality Inlet, as Sir George Simpson named
it, the remains of the old II. B. Co.'s Fort Durham may be seen. The
TakuB drove the traders away at the end of three years, and the com-
pany secured their furs by annual visits of their steamers. The Takus
several times seized these ships and looted them, and were much
dreaded by all the whites. Most mercenary of all Tlingits and sharp-
est of bargainers, the Takus arc called "the Alaska Jews," and in view
of the financial advantages resulting did not oppose the coming of
miners. They were never a totem-pole people ; their villages are un-
interesting, .;nd they have too quickly assumed the outer habits of the
whites. They were estimated as numbering 600 in 1869, but in 1880
only 269 Takus were counted; and in 1890 they had fallen to 214,
with their largest village at Juneau.

Taku Mountain, 2,<»00 ft. high, a most symmetrical and densely
forested cone, and Grand Island, 1,500 ft. in height, are the two most
conspicuous landmarks. Above them is the Taku Open, a water cross-
roads, where Stephens's Passage, Taku Inlet, and G(u<tineau Chan-
nel come together — a broad and treacherous roach where canoes are
threatened by winds from the four quarters. Taku Inlet is the cradle
of squalls, and Taku Open their playground. In winter, fierce wUla-
waws or " woolies " sweep from the heights, beat the waters to foam,
and drive the spray in dense, blinding sheets ; but in summer it smiles
and ripples in perfect peace, sparkles with little icebergs, and is a
point of magnificent viewt,.

Taku Inlet and the Taku dilaciers.

Taku Inlet extends 18 miles in a N. E. direction from Stephens's
Passage, widening to a basin where the Taku River, a tide-water, and
an Alpine glacier discharge their floods.

It is one of the show places on the Alaska coast, ond is regularly
visited by excursion steamers. The Taku (• lacier was christened the
Schnhe Glacier in 1 883, in honour of Paul Seliulze, of Tacoma, and in
1891 was renamed the Fonter Olacier, in honour of the then Secretary
of the Treasury ; but locally to geologists, tourists, and navigators it
remains the Taku. The native name is iSitih Klunu Gntla, " th«

CAPE FANSHAWE TO TAKU INLET.

Bpirits' home." It is f^itth too Yehk's, the ice spirit's, very palace of
delight, and the fabled man-faced seals with their human hands live
and frolic in its clear blue grottoes and crystal dells. The ice-stream,
a mile in width, fills its canons from wall to wall, {tad its squarely
broken front rises from 100 to 20U ft. above the water. It is one of
the purest and cleanest glaciers, without medial or apparent lateral
moraines, and deeply fissured and crevassed for the 6 miles of ita
course which is visible from the water. Because of its purity, ships
prefer to fill their ice-boxes in this basin, and the process of lassoing
the icebergs and hoisting them on board is an interesting feature in
ship life.

On the north shore of the inlet there is a large glacier of the Swifts
type, two ice-streams joining and sweeping in a broad fan slope to a
terminal moraine a mile in width. A forest has grown upon the west-
ern edge 01 the moraine, and the sandy level is cut by many water-
courses and covered with beds of crimson epilobium. A landing is
sometimes made, and tourists arc given opportunity to visit this glacier,
which the natives call Sitth Kailiitrhlf, the Spaniards' Glacier. The
Kadischle was christened the Norris Glacier in 1886, for Dr. Basil
Norris, U. S. A., and in 18'.U was named the Windom Olaeier, in honour
of the late Secretary of the Treasury, To tourists and scientists it is
most commonly known as the Norris. It is more broken than eitht^r
the Mer de Glace or the Aletsch (ilacier, and is six times the width of
the former and three times the width of the latter at the last gateway,
where it spreads out into the great rounded front.

Whidbey and his men were doubtless the first whites, the supposed
Spaniards, to enter the inlet, August 10, 17!t4. From Vancouver's ac-
count, the rapid retreat of these glaciers maybe estimated. "From
the shores of this basin a compact body of ice extended some distance
nearly all around ; antl the adjacent regitm was composed of a close
connected continuation of the lofty range of frozen moimtains, whose
sides, almost perpendicular, were formed entirely of rock, excei)ting close
to the water-side, where a few scattered ('warf pine-trees found sutticient
soil to vegetate in ; above these the mountains were wrapped in undis-
solving frost and snow. From the rugged gullies in their sides were
projected immense bodie of ice that reached |)erpendicularly to the
surface of the water in the basin, which admitted of no landing-place
for boats, but exhibited as dreary and inhospitable an aspect as the
imagination can possibly suggest." The Tak is claim that their fathers
remembered a time when the Kadischle (N'orris-Windom) Glacier broke
off into the sea, and that the Kadischle came at that time.

None of these glaciers have bee.i explored or mapped, nor their mo-

CAPE FAN8HAWE TO TAKU INLET.

tion measured, although the basin is the most accetisible and convenient
place for a goolof^ist's summer camp. Joiin Muir savH tliat he only
"phinced" at tlio Taltu ^luciers in 1875», In 1889 Viscount de la
Sabbati^l•e and his comrades of the French Alpine Club camped here,
but mainly as H|)ort8men. In 1890 the Coast Survey charted the
waters.

The Taku River, leading to the interior, was known to the II. B. Co.
and its head-waters were carefully exj)lored by the Western Union
Telegi'aph Company's parties, IS^iS-'d?. Prospectors have followed the
Taku since, reporting it navigable for canoes for 60 miles, but plagued
with moscpiitoes. In 1891 Lieutenant Frederick Schwatka and Dr. C.
Willard Hayes ascended to the head-waters and crossed to an affluent of
the Yukon, by which they reached Fort Selkirk and proved the exist-
ence of an easy route to the northern mines.

The Harris Mining DiHtrict. — Jnneaa and its Vicinity.

Gastineau Channel, named for an old II. B. Co. ship, which
was named for the Gastineau River near iuebec, Canada, separates
Douglass Inland from the mainland above the Taku Open. It narrows
from a mile and a cpiarter at the entrance to a half mile above the
Juneau wharf, and the preci[)itous mountains on the eastern side are
over 2,000 ft. in height, with many cascades slipping down those vel-
vety green precipices with continuous roar.

Juneau, the largest town in the Territory and the centre of mining
operations, is situated on the north or mainland shore of Gastineau
Channel, 10 miles above its entrance. It has a population of 1,500,
which in winter is largely increased by the miners who come in from
distant claims and prospecting tours. It has a court-house, several
small hotels and lodging-houses, 3 churches, 3 schools, a hospital, an
opera-house, a weekly newspaper, a volunteer fire brigade, a militia com-
pany, a brass band, and, in 1891, 22 saloons. A village of Taku Indiana
adjoins it on the E. below the wharf, and un Auk village claims the flats
at the mouth of Gold Creek. A few interesting graves are on the high
ground back of the Auk village, many ornamented with totcmic carv-
ings, and hung with valuable dance-blankets and other offerings to the
departed spirits which no wliite dares disturb. The town-site covers the
slope of Chicken Rulge, separated from Bald Mouruain by Oold Creek.
Numbered avenues running f "rallel with the beach terrace the slope,
and are intersected by Gold, Lincoln, Seward, and Harris Streets.
At Third and Seward Streets is the heart of the town, and the Indians
hold a daily open-air fish, berry, vegetable, and curio market there, in
addition to the curio market on the wharf on steamer days. There are

I»l

CAPE FANSHAWE TO TAKU INLET.

several curio shopH along Water or Front Street, and on Seward Street,
and the finest display of seal, otter, beaver, bear, fox, wolf, mink, er-
mine, squirrel, and eagle skins will be found at the largest trading
fltort'H. A jiitth It'iidH from the toj) of Seward Street to the Auk village
and to tlu' coriictery iionws (lold ("reek.

The eiiiintnco between the town and the Auk village is known as
Capitol Hill, and Juneau citizens arc contident that the future Legisla-
ture of Alaska will convene on that hill. Junenu miners wrested from
Congrcsti the few |)olitical advantages the Teiritoiy enjoys. They once
sent a delegate to Washington, and even had a clause moving the capi>
tal from Sitka to Juneau considered in Congiess. There is bitter ri-
valry between the capital and metropolis.

In 1871* Iniiians brought bits of goldipiar z from (iastiiicau Channel
to Captain L. A. Beardslee, comnuinding the C. K i^. Jatnextowu atSiika.
In IMHO .Mr. N. A. Fuller, a Sitka merchant, " gruh-staked " Josejjh Ju-
neau and Richard Harris and sent them to search " the large.'t of three
creeks lying between the Auk (JIacier and Taku Inlet." They beached
ttieir canoe on October Ist, and broke rich specimens from the "Fuller
the First " claim in tlie Hasin at the head of the creek three da}s later.
Returning to the beach, they held a meeting, with Joseph Jumau in the
chair, organized the " Harris Mining District of Alaska," and made Rich-
ard Ilanis re<'order. When the discovery was made known, there was
a stampetie for " the Taku Camp," and hundreds reached Jfincrx' Cove
that winter in order to be on the ground in the spring. A guard of
marines from the U. S. S. Jumpufoi^- aintained order during the first
year, but when withdrawn, an era of lawlessness succeeded, which was
slightly quelled by the vigilance committee of 18K3-'84. WI h tro land-
laws, and no Government recognition or protection, the miners could not
effect much until the passage of the organic act, in 1884, gave them
title to mineral claims, since which the region has rapidly progressed.

The new camp was named Pilzbury, for the first assayer who came ;
then Fliptown, as a miner's joke ; next Rockwell, for the marine officer
of the U. S. S. Jamextown ; fourthly, it was called Harrisburg ; and
fifthly, Juneau. This last name was formally adopted at a miners'
meeting held in May, 1 882, and at the same time all Chinese were or-
dered to leave the camp. There were anti-Chinese riots in 1886 ;
Chinese cabins were blown up by dynamite, and the Chinese in town
and at the mines on the island were driven on board a schooner and set
adrift without provisions. The town-site was surveyed and patented in
1892.

The Silver-Bow Basin Mines.

The mines in the 8ilrer-Bow Basin, at the head of Gold Creek,
are reached by a well-built waggon-road, 3^ miles in length. The old
trail may be seen zig-zagging across the hillside behind the beach, but

CAPE FANSIIAWE TO TAKU INLET.

ifl BO overgrown on the Biisin Hide tlmt itH use Ih imprartieahle. There
is a rontl al(»n(? oithiT niiic of the i-reek, that on the southern or Juneau
side aiTordiii)^ the tiiient viewH of the o|)|)OHite VoHeniite wnllx.

Snouiilitie (liifc/i, on thii* Juneau Me, usuiilly hars the palhway with
deep Hnow-banks thiou^hoiit the Huniiner. " CouiterH," or tlie Taku
Union mill, is half-way up the oaflon, aiul on the northern side a wire
tramway brings buckets of ore from a elaiin high on linlil ifoitiitain,
among bryanthus meadows where the mountain-goat browHeH. (iranite
Creek, a clear blue nuxmtain stream, joinn (iold Creek at the entrance
to the Kilver-How lia^in, which a party of Montana minerH named for
their laHt camp in that State. This deep bowl in the mountains haa
long received the (//ftm ground from the perpendicular walls, and was
the rich placer-ground worked in those first years when a half million
in gold dust and nuggets was carried out by the miners each seaj«on.
When these placers were worked as low as their water system woul<i
allow, the claims were abantloncd. Over 60 old placer claims, all the
level floor of the Basin, are owned by the Silver-Bow Basin Mining
Company, of Boston, which has driven a tunnel 3,000 ft. in length in
from Charlotte Basin below, and made an upraise of 90 ft. to pita
where two hydraulic giants are washing out the banks by many acres
each season. Work is continued night and day from May to Octolier
by the use of electric lights. The .same company have actpiired many
of the quartz claims surrounding the Basin, and their 20-stamp-mill
disposes of many tons of ore daily. The Silver Quiver, a vast
cataract of foam, in outline like an arrow-case, hangs high on the
farther wall, its 300 ft. fall dwarfed by its gigantic surroundings. The
Easteni Alaska Mill is driven by this waterfall, and the ore comes to it
in buckets moving on a wire tramway from the tunnel, 1,000 ft. above.

Sheep Creek, 4 miles S. E. of Juneau, holds a waggon-road which
leads by steep and picturesque shelves to a small basin where rich sil-
ver veins crop out. A mill was erected and the ore successfully worked
for two seasons, 1890-'91. The ore averaged $40 per ton, and beauti-
ful specimens of ruby-silver, averaging 75 per cent silver, were found.
The same veins crossing the ridge reappeared on GriruUtone Creek, on
the Tuku Inlet side. The Sheep Creek Basin is the most pictur-
esque of such high mountain valleys, its floor a vast flower-bed, and its
perpendicular walls support gleaming glaciers.

Lemon, Montana, and iSalinon Creekn, on the mainland shore above
Juneau, hold large gravel-beds, which it is proposed to work with by-

CAPE FANRIIAWE TO TAKU INLET.

draiilic ginntH. The upper iciichos «»f (I(l^^tin(•^ul ('Imnnel were not navJ-
gable in Vancouver's time, Ijeeuuse of the floating ioe from the great
Auk Oliiiitr* the SiUh h'/ir Cfianaje (tlie phice where beef or meat
U found). Tiie Auks gave it tliis mtmc l)eeauHe they were always 8ure
of finding inountain-gont on the |)iistuies around its neve. The glacial
d6brii4 hiis now tilled out the channel, until it is only navigable to
canocH at high tide.

TheHe Auks, who claim Douglas Island and the shores fronting
it, are naid to be outcasts from the llooiiah tribe, and have always had
a bad name. They numbered H(»() in 18t>9, in 1K80 they were counted
for tl40, and in 1H!»() there were but 277 foimd by census enumerators.
When Vancouver's ii> i hurried away from the trumpeting Chilkats
they fell among the Ai.kh Their canoes trailed after and surrounded
Whidbey's l)oals. With daggers lashed to their wrists, the warriors
landed in advance, and danced on the beach, si)ears in hand. Mr.
Whidbey became nervous, and considering it more "pnidcnt and hu-
mane " not to disturb them, whilcdaway the night in his boats, and then
returned to the fleet at Port Althorp.

The LarKCNt Quartz-.>lill in the World.f
Donglas iNland, 2.'i miles long and averaging from 5 to 8 miles
in width, is as much a treasure-island aa the Pribylolfs. One mine, the
Treadwell, has yielded more gold than was paid for all of Alaska,
and while a few prospectors have ciossed the island, they have only
scratched its shore-line in their search for minerals. Vancouver named
the island for his friend the Hishop of Salisbury. It was an untouched
wilderness until 1881, when miners, who came too late to stake off
anything on the Juneau side, made a camp op|)osite the tiny Juneau
Isle. John Treadwell, a San i-Vancisco builder, unwillingly took the
original Bean and Matthews claim on Paris Creek as security for the
loan of $150. After it had fallen to him, he bought the adjoining
clain: of M. Pierre Joseph Ernsara, or " French Pete," for $300.
Messrs. Frye, Freeborn, and Hill, of San Francisco, and Senator John
P. Jones, of Nevada, became equal partners with him. Mr. Treadwell
remained on the ground, and personally held and defended his prop-
erty from lawless squatters, who washed off the surface of his lode,
and could not be driven off until the organic act secured his title.

* The Auk Glacier was named the Mendenhall Glacier by officers
of the Coast Survey ir. 1891.

f There are single mining corporations in Hungary and South Africa
employing aa many stamps, but in separate buildings and plants.

CAPE FANSHAWE TO TAKU INLET.

Over $800,000 haa been spent upon the Tieadwcll works since
then; $100,000 was spent on a ditch 18 miles long, and $30O,0C0 in
experimenting with different processes of chlorination before a satis-
factory one was found. The one mill of 880 stamps, the largest of its
kind in the world, has never stopped night or day, summer or winter,
save to set new machinery. Two thousand eight hundred and sixty
tons of ore is milled each day, averaging from $3 to $7 per ton in value,
and milled at a cost of $1.25 per ton. The ore is quarried in open pits,
and, falling through ore-shoots to cars in the tunnels below, is moved
by gravity through every process. The heavy plume of smoke from the
Treadwell's chlorination works has killed vegetation for a mile up and
down the island's edge.

The mill-owners make no objection to tourists visiting the establish-
ment, but as they cannot undertake to suspend work nor to station
guards or guides, visitors are urged to exercise great caution in enter-
ing tunnels, where trains are always moving ; pits, where blasts are be-
ing fired ; and the mill, where no voice can be heard to warn them of
belts and cogs. By following the path around to the left of the mill,
one may reach the edges of the two great pits, and by following the
pipe-line up to the reservoir, a quarter of a mile from the wharf, he
reaches a meadow of dwarf laurel and countless strange wild flowers.
The ditch and flume furnish a pathway through the heart of the forest,
following the convolutions of the hillsides to a point 8 miles above the
mill in air-line, but 18 miles distant by the flume.

The ifexiom mine, adjoining the Treadwell on the east, is owned by
the same stockholders, and further claims assert the extension of the
game mineral vein nearly to the foot of the island.

The Beards Xest mine, adjoining the Treadwell on the west, is
owned by German and Engli,-h capitalists, and, owing to disagreements
between mining engineers and stockholders, the big mill was never op-
erated after its comi)lction in 1888. Its jiroinise built up the adjacent
Douglas Citi/, which held liut 800 inhabitants in 1890, with a street
of stores, a saw-mill, a church, and a school-house.

The U. S. Geological Survey has never made examination of this
mineral region. The enormous deposit of low-grade ore cm the Tread-
well claim is a fault or freak, a mere pocket or chimney of quartz
not parallelled elsewhere on the channel. The most experienced min-
ing superintendents confess themselves puzzled in this country, geo-
logically unlike any other. The country rock, the general formation, is
slate, which, with granite, holds the quartz veins, but the veins are
broken, confused, thrown in every way, often without distinct walls,
and a large party contend that there are not any true fissure veins in
the country. Dr. George M. Daw.Mjn visited the Treadwell for his own
geological satisfaction, t id wrote in " The American Geologist," Au-
gust, 1889 : " It presents none of the characters of an ordinary lode or
vein, being without any parallel or arrangement of it« constituents, and
showing no such coarse crystalline structure as a lode of larger dimen-
sions might be expected to exhibit."

Miners' wages range from $2 per day for Indians, and from $3 per

ADMIRALTY ISLAND.

day uptvard for white men, with board and lodging provided by tlie em-
ployer. The co8t of provisions averages more than $1 a day for each
man in the larger establishments. Beef eattle are brought up from the
Sound and slaiighte'-ed at Juneau, which is the only place in Alaska en-
joying a regular supply of fresh beef. With the abundance and cheap-
ness of venison, duck, salmon and other fish, the prospector lives bet-
ter with less exertion and cost than in any other known mining region.
Ten-pound salmon may be bought for five and ten cents in the summer,
halibut as cheaply in the winter, and a wiiole deer for ^2 at any season,
and the miner has less to contend with thin in Arizona, Montana, or
other new countries. Every condition of 'ife in those regions is re-
versed, however. All travel is by water, the canoe becomes his pack-
mule, and water-courses are his only trail.:. He has to cut his way
through an unbroken forest from the moment he leaves his canoe, sink-
ing knee-deep in the thick moss or sphagnum, and a camp-fire built on
such ground gradually bums a deep well-hole for itself. A tent and
a Sibley stove are necessary in this region of frequent rains.

Admiralty Island.

Admiralty Island, 100 miles in length, with an average breadth
of 30 miles, is unsurveyed like the other great islands, save as the
prospectors have followed the shores and the water-courses. Kootz-
nahoo Inlet cuts it nearly in two, and is an inland sea embracing a
small archipelago of its own, sheltered in the heart of the little Ad-
miralty continent.

Olass Peninsula, on the eastern side, is a considerable island itself,
and only joined to the parent shore by a spongy isthmus, over which
the Auks drag their canoes. JIawk Inlet almost cuts loose the north-
ern end of the island, which is as large and considered as rich miner-
alogically as the opposite Douglass Island. A snow-capped mountain
range fills the interior. Marble bluffs front for miles on the western
shore, and coal has been found in Kootznahoo Inlet, and on the south-
eastern shore.

Gold quartz veins were found on the northern shore, and this " Tel-
lurium Group " promi.ses to build a second Juneau in the picturesque
bay named for Captain Robert FutUer, an early navigator of the North-
west Coast.

Killisnoo, on Kenasnow (" near the fort ") Island, holds Kotcosok
Harbour between it and the Admiralty shore, and is the site of large
oil and guano works. There are a post-office. Government school, and
Russian chapel at this place, and a village of Kootznahoo Indians,
under command of their great chief Kitchnatti, cr Saginaw Jake.

ADMIRALTY ISLAND.

Tbe first post of the Northwest Trading Company was established
here in 1880 as a shore station for whaling. The explosion of a bomb
harpoon killed a great medicine-man in 1882, and the company re-
fused the Kootznahoos' demand of 200 blankets as indemnity. The
natives held a white man as ransom, but discovering him to possess
but one eye they returned hirn as cnltus (worthless), and demanded a
whole and sound man as an equivalent for their dead shaman. Their
threats to murder the whites at the station were answered by Cap-
tain Merriman, the naval comnumder at Sitka, who hurried over in
a revenue cutter, held a council, and bombarded the village of Angoon,
the Bear Fort of the Kootznahoos in the gieat inlet. Much indigna-
tion was vented by Eastern editors at the occurrence, and sad pictures
were drawn of the natives left shelterless among "the eternal ice and
snows of an arctic winter." The mercTiry stood 20 higher for the
month than in New York and Boston, and the Kootznahoos. securing
front seats on the opposite shore, watched the bombardment and
cheered the ncatjst shots. The tribe saved their winter provisions
and all their belongings, save what pilferers took during the bondiard-
ment. They paid a line of 4u0 blankets, and have since kept the
peace.

FISHERIES OF THE REGION.

The cod •••hich abound in Chatham Strait were for a time packed
at Killisnoo, e natives receiving two cents apiece for the 8,000 and
10,000 fish of a pounds' average weight which they brought in daily from
their trawls. The cod were dried artificially, and an excellent quality
of cod-liver oil was made, but this factory could not comjiete with the
yhumagin fleet which controlled the market at San Francisco. The
herring, " which has decided the destiny of nations," next made the
fortunes of Killisnoo. From September to May all these waters are
visited by great schools of herrings, and once in August the mail
steamer passed through one school for four hours — the water silvered
as far as could be seen, many whales and flocks of gulls attracted
by this run of plenty. The natives rake them from the water with a
bit of lath set with nails, and a family can fill a canoe in an hour.
Spruce branches are laid in shallow water along the shore, and the
herring roe deposited on tliem are stored in cakes for winter use. The
factory's crews net from 300 to 600 barrels of herring at a single
haul. Often 1,000 barrels are seined at once, and 1,500 barrels were
recently taken by one cast of the seine in Sitka harbour. The same
machinery and processes are used at Killisnoo as at the menhaden
factories in the East. Each barrel of fish when pressed yields 3
quarts of oil, valued at 25 and 36 cents a gallon. The refuse of 60
barrels of fish, dried and powdered, furnishes one ton of guano, worth
$30, and is much in demand for Hawaiian sugar plantations and ('ali-
fornia fruit ranches.

One hundred whites and 50 natives are employed, and the factory is
a model of neatness and order, despite the odours. Its gardens are
worthy of a vitiit.

ADMIRALTY ISLAND.

THE KOOTZNAHOOS.

Saffinaw Jake is a chief object of into.est to tourists. His people,
the Kootznahoos, whose name lias been spelled in fifteen ways, claim to
have come from over the seas, and deny any common origin with the
Tlingits. They first manufactured the native spirit, fioockinoo, which
carries more frenzy in each drop than any other liquid, and is dis-
tilled in old coal-oil cans from a mash composed of yeast and molasses
or sugar, mixed with flour. They made hostile demonstrations to Van-
couver's men, and Whidbey believed it " more humane and prudent "
to leave before; tempted to hurt the Kootznahoos. They murdered
traders and prospectors as soon as the Russians left, and in 1869 Com-
mander Meade, U. S. N., went in the Satfinaw, shelled the village in
the inlet, took Kitchnatti prisoner and conveyed him to Mare Island,
Cal., where he was confined on the I'ktginaw for a year. The result of
this arrest rendered it unnecessary to transfer the garrison from
Sitka and build a post on Admiralty Island, as had been contem-
plated. The tribe, reduced to 47i) souls in 1890, one half the number
reported in 1869, are peaceable "followers of this old chief, who wears
a gaudy uniform, and posts this scutcheon over his log-cabin door :

" KITCHNATTI."

" By the Governor's commission,
And the company's permission,
I'm made the (irand Tyhee
Of this entire illabee.

"Prominent in Bonf, nnd story,
I've attained the top of tjlory.
As ' Sapinaw ' I'm known to fame,
Jalie ' is but my common name.' "

A young demagogue, a common Kootznahoo politician, has lately
set up as a rival and successor of Jake, displays a bombastic couplet
on his door-post, and matches every move the great man makes.

There is a large lagoon opposite KiUimoo, reached by a rocky pass
at high tide and by carries at low water, where herring swarm in their
time, malma swim in the tourists' season, and luck always attends a
fisherman. Killimioo is an admirable headquarters for sportsmen,
who can here charter launches and find native guides and canoemen.

Kootznahoo Inlet can busy sportsmen-explorers for more than
a month, and is a maze of islands, inlets, bays, coves, lagoons, creeks,
and lakes. The narrow entrance is 3 miles above Killisnoo, and just
within there is a reef-strewn pass, where the tide runs out with great
ovurfalls and roars, attaining a speed of 12 knots an hour — the equal
of Seymour Narrows. At the Seiorul linpids, Captain Meade aa-
chored the Saginav) at slack water in 1 869, but with the ebb of the

tide the whirlpools and overfalls ciiused the vessel to keel over, to

ALONG CHATHAM 8TEAIT AND LYNN CANAL.

sheer violently and nearly snap its cables before it could get away.
He named the place HeWs Acre. The large village facing this watery
acre, although deemed a secure retreat in all attacks, was strongly forti-
fied, and the older lodges and the graveyard are interesting.

Veins of bituminous coal at the head of tiie inlet were discovered
by Lieutenant Mitchell, U. S. N., in 1868, were visited by Mr. Seward
the following year, and have been regularly rediscovered every season
since. As first tested, it burned quickly, produced great hi at, but
rapidly destroyed grate-bars and boiler iron. Many interesting fossil
plants and shells and larger rcniaias have been found in the shales,
clay, and sandstones of these foniations, and the supposed collar-bone
of a pterodactyl, exhumed here by Rich and Willoughby, was long ex-
hibited at Juneau. Bear, deer, wild fowl, salmon, niaima, and trout
reward those seeking them, and artists are promised landscape re-
wards.

Along Chatham Strait and Lynn GanaL

Chatham Strait and its northern continuation, Lynn Canal,
afford the noblest water-way in the archipelago, a broad highway run-
ning almost due N. and S. for 200 miles, with an average width of 6
miles. Geologists easily recognize it as the bed of a great glacier.
Colnett and the early fur-traders knew it nnd named it before Van-
couver arrived, ard the latter wrote that " the sea-otter were in such
plenty that it was easily in the power of the natives to procure as
many as they chc-^e to be at the trouble of taking." The free fishing
which Russia allowed for the ten years after the conventions of 1824-
'25 exterminated the precious animal.

Chatham Strait is a playground of inferior whales, great toteniic
creatures whom the Tiiniiits l)elieved were once ))ears, hut, going to
sea, wore off their fur on the rocks and had their feet nibbled off
by fishes. A demon, or the all-niisciiievous raven, often creeps down
the whale's throat, and causes such agony that the whale rushes to
shore and vomits the intruder on the beach. Paintings and carvings
showing the demon in the whale's body are often assumed as proof
that the Tlingits have a Jonah legend and direct Asiatic descent. The
('hatham Strait whales are credited with the same aggres ve disposi-
tion as the cinnamon bear, attacking and destroying canoes. A few
years ago, a duck-hunter, who unintentionally wounded a frolicking
vhale, was attacked, and only escaped by reaching shallow water.

Halibut-fishing may be followed with success anywhere in the
strait, and the crudest tackle with a bit of salmon or a herring for
bait will decoy "chicken halibut" of 30 and 60 pounds while 9,
steamer waits at Killisaoo wharf.

ArX)NG CHATHAM STRAIT AND LYNN CANAL.

liynn Canul, the grandest fiord on the coast, was named for
Vancouver's native town in Norfolk, England, and Point Couverden at
its entrance celebrates his own country estate. It extends for 55 miles
to Seduction Pointy where it divides into the Chilkat Inlet on the W.
and the Chilkoot Inlet on the E. It has but few indentations, and the
abrupt palisades of the mainland shores present an unrivalled pano-
rama of mountains, glaciers, and forests, with wonderful cloud eflFects.
Depths of 430 fathoms have "been sounded in the canal, and the conti-
nental range on the E. and the White Mountains on the W. rise to
average heights of 6,000 ft., with glaciers in every ravine and alcove.

The Eagle (vlacier shows first on the mainland shore above the
Ank Glacier. " It is surmounted by a rocky crag, which resembles
our national bird so much more than does the fipure on the new dollar,
that we christened it the Eagle Glacier," wrote Captain Beard.slee in
August, 1879.

The Cameron Boundary Line * crossing from Point Whidbey to
Poini Bridget would cut the fiord in two and give to Canada Ber-
ner's Bay, where the Tucknook placers and the Seward City mines
give great promise. Captain White, who found rich sulphurets at
Funter Bay in 1868, took the Wayanda into Berner's Bay and found
" numerous quartz veins containing sulphurets," which he had also
found " occurring in similar formation along the N. E. shore of Admi-
ralty Island, and on the mainland as far as Taku Harbour, 60 miles
S. E. of Berner's Bay."

WiUiam Henry Bay, on the opposite shore, is a nook commend-
ed to sportsmen by Captain L. A. Beardslee, whom the struggling salm-
on tripped up as he attempted to wade the stream ; who found many
bear-tracks, and evidences of the best duck-shooting. Fifty spider
crabs were speared by his companion in a few hours, a crab whose
claws measure 5 ft. from tip to tip, and whose 7-inch shell is packed
with a fine, delicious meat.

Seduction Point was so named by Vancouver because of " the ex-
ceedingly artful character" of the natives inhabiting it. Several
canoe-loads of Chilkats met Whidbey at this point, seemed most
friendly and hospitable, and led the way up the western arm, but grew
hostile when the Englishmen refused to cross the bar and ascend the
river to the village where tight chiefs of consequence resided. All
were arrayed in ceremonial dress, wearing the fringed narkheen, or
Chilkat dance-blanket, with tall head-drcsse.s, and one flourished a

* S«e map on page 61,

92 CHILKAT COUNTRY AND PA8BE8 TO THE YUKON.

brass speaking-trumpet with great effect. When Whidbey returned
from this cruiHC, Vancouver abandoned all hope of finding the North-
west Passage :

" From the close connccticm and continuation of the lofty, snowy
barrier, little probability can remain of there being any navigable
communication, even for canoes, between such waters (Hudson Bay)
and the North Pacific Ocean, without the interruption of falls, cata-
racts, and various other impediments," and for 90 years explorers
halted at the foot of this great barrier, the " firm and close connected
range of stupendous mountains forever doomed to support a burden
of undissolving ice and snow,"

The Davidson Glacier, which sweeps superbly from a gorge in
the White Mountains and spreads out in a broad, evenly ribbed fan
front, is the most imposing and symmetrical ice-stream of its type in
the region. It is named for Prof. George Davidson, the astronomer,
who explored its lower slopes during his visits to the Chilkat country
in 1867 and 1869. It has built a termipal moraine far out into the
channel, and a half-mile-wide forest belt encircles the three-mile curve
of the glacier's foot. The moraine is channelled with streams and is
swampy throughout. The base of the glacier presents a chaotic mass
of grimy ice-blocks, and it is a tortuous mile up the ice cliffs and be-
tween crevasses to the line of the mountain gateway, where Prof.
Davidson found the ice-level 646 ft. above the channel. Steam-
launches can be chartered at the canneries to convey tourists to this
glacier, and a tolerably dry path has been found leading to the ice.
The finest view of the glacier is had from the ship when direcii^
abreast of it in the morning. From Pyramid Harbour the ice mass
seems to project in air and overhang its base.

The Chilkat Country and the Passes to the Yukon.

There is a small glacier in the canon behind Pyramid Harbour
which lies at the foot of the precipitous mountain named for the H. B.
Co.'s ship Labouchere. This remarkable mountain rises as straight as
a mason's wall for 2,000 ft. above the beach, "subtending an angle
of more than 30° as seen from the shore of the harbour," and shad-
owing a ship at anchor. It has been climbed in two hours by an
approach from the west side, but its forests contain many bears, whom
the climber must be prepared to meet. The cannery and trading station
at Pyramid Harbour were established in 1882, and have been successful,
save in the season of 1891, when a spring avalanche wrecked the can>
nery and cabins. There is usually a large camp of Chilkat Indians be-

■<0

591

'0 ■

59'

Unexplored Re^rons

liS'ao'

West or GreenwkcK

«5*

Scale 1 : 050,000.

IS miles.

Qhilkut and Chilkoot Bay*.

ClIILKAT COUNTRY AND PAflSEfl TO THE YUKON. 93

low the cannery, and, in addition to hasitets, spoons, and curios, they
often make a flower inurkct with the wild roses and iris which attain
wonderful .size and colour in this Alpine valley. Wild strawberries are
found on the flats, together with the salmon-berries and thimble-ber-
ries of the coast.

The little Pyramid Mand, off Pyriimid Harbour, has been also
known as Stimy, Sandy, Farewell, and Oltservatory Island. The native
name is Shla-hntch. It is the U. 8. astronomical station, its posi-
tion 69" ir north and 135° 20' west, and is tlic tourist's farthest
north, where he exposes photographic plates, and reads fine print, ^i
midnight in July.

Chilkat, tt rival cannery and trading station, was built on the op-
posite side of the inlet in 1884, and as a point of departure for Yukon
travellers this Chilkat has become quite a village. The Chilkat can-
nery is one of the largest in southeastern Alaska, and its catch of king
and red salmon busies a large force of whites and Chinese. The na-
tives were not altogether pleased with the canners' invasion, and there
have been many troubles. The rivalry of the canneries once raised
the price of a single salmon from two to fifteen cents, and when the
two establishments agreed upon a common price for the next season
the Chilkats rejected their terms. Once fifteen cents, always fifteen
cents, they insisted. Chinese and whites were sent for, and there has
been trouble nearly every summer since. The Chilkats naturally ob-
jected to this invasion of their own-fishing grounds, the seining of the
river of every salmon, and the great waste and destruction of other
fish that are their mam food supply ; but each time the Governor and
the man-of-war are summoned, and the Chilkats arc bidden to lot the
white poachers and their nets alone, on pain of punishment.

A trail a mile and a half long leads through the miry woods across
to the site of the mission staticm of Haines, on Ch'ilkoot Inlet, whence
Yukon miners canoe to the end of Dyea Inlet. Dr. and Mrs. Willard
abandoned the mission a few years ago because of the hostile and sus-
picious actions of the I'-.dians after the death of a child to whom they
had given medicines. This Chilkoot and the Chilkat and other trails
to the Yukon are fully described in the chapter at the end of the book.

THE GREAT TRIBE OF THE TLINtJlT NATION.

The Chilkats and the Chilkoots, really one tribe, are the great
people of the Tlingit nation. CapUiin Beardslee says, that " their
legend is that originally all the Tlingits lived in the Chilkat country ;

94 OHTLKAT OtTNTRT AND PAfiBES TO THE YUKOil.

that there came groat floodrt of ice and water, the country grew too
poor to support them, nuil many emigrated south." No ^cologiflt
takes exception to tills legend.

They have always been great grcawe-truders and middle-men, and
possessed more wealth than any other tribes. They were opposed to
any white interference with their trade with the Tinnehs, or interior
tribes, and for fifty years successfully resisted the attempts of traders
and miners to cross the pusses to the Yukcm basin. The Chilkats' fur-
trade was most valuable to the H. IJ. Co., but its agents never saw or
traded directly with the Tinnehs, who furnished the pelts brought to
them at Mt. Loboiic/ietr. The Chilkats met the Tinnehs at the divide
and bought their furs.

The Tinnehs never attempted to pass the line, and the few brought
as guests were overpowered with the sights of the great villages, the
war canoes, and the traders' fire-shij), smoking like a huge pipe, and
moving without puddle or sail. The H. H. Co. sold flinl-lock muskets
for as many mortcn-skins as could be piled between stock and muzzle,
and the fashion in gun-barrels progressed until the huntsman's weapon
was as tJill as liitiiself. The white men made a profit of a few hundred
per cent on these sales, and the Chilkats cleared a few thousand per cent
when trading with the Tinneh. A Boston brig visited Lynn Canal in
1807, and in an attempt to board and IcHjt her 70 Chilkats were killed.
Tliey were dreaded by the smaller tribes below them, and fought all
the villages between theii' homes and the Nass River.

The Chilkats "mustered about 2,0(10" in 1869, in 1880 there were
988, and in 1H9() only 811 of thetril)e, the enumerators finding that one
whole village had been wiped out by la t/rippe. Their winter homes
nrg in three villages uj) the Chilkat River — Iliiulnsrtuket, or Tondunkk
C' ihe village on the east bank of the river"), or Uoniwak's village, is at
tl'C mouth of the Chilkat Rivci', where only canoes can go. Kut-
k cuttln-Iu, " the place of gulls " — and no gull could speak it more
'lainly — is next on the river, and then comes the capital, Klukwan,
"old town," where Kloh-Kutz lived and ruled; where every house was
fortified with bastions and port-holes; where each totem had a splen-
did feast-house, with massive carved coluums inside; and the grave-
yards are still an ethnologist's jjaradise. In summer these villages are
depopulated, the peojjle fiocking to Chilkat and Pyiamid Harbour to
sell curios and spend what little they may acquire in debttucheries.
Saloons were openly kept in IS'.t'i, the Chilkats were able to buy liquor
by the barrel, if they wished, and the end of the great tribe is at hand.

Kloh-Kutz, ('hartrich, or Ilole-in-the-Cheek, their great heud-chief,
was a hero worthy of Cooper, and of the best type of C'hilkat warriors.
His father was one of the band that went over and destroyed the H. B.
Co.'s Fort Selkirk, on the Yukon, in 1851, because of interference with
their trade ; and Kloh-Kutz drew for Professor Davidson the first map
of the passes leading from the Chilkat country to the Yukon. The
great astronomer first knew him in 1867, and when he returned to
observe the total eclipse of the sun in 1869, Kloh-Kutz made the party
his guests, and established them in the council-house at Klu-Kwan.

OIIILKAT COUNTRY AND PASSES TO THE YUKON. 95

Mr. Sowanl 8|)ont oclipsc-dny (Auk'h^I' 8, 18fi9), nt Klu-Kwun, escorted
up 1111(1 down tilt- river by wiir canoes manned witli tlieflower of Cliilkat
chivalry. Tiienc people commanded the admiration of all whites who
knew them hefoie the canneries and miners came, and contact with
civilization wroiij^ht their ruin. Professor Davidson hroiipht first word
of them, and made a vocabulary of their dialect. Lieutenant C E. S.
Wood vi-ited them in 1877, and recorded much of interest in hia
" Amonft the Thlinkits in Alaska" (Century Mapi/.ine, July, 188'2), not-
ing their rope-duel, the counterpart of the Scandimivian Mtespnnnare.
Ensinn Hanus's report of his peace mission of 1880 is a valuable ethno-
logical contribution, and is leprinted in the census report of 1H!)(). The
Drs. Krausc came from Berlin to study them as finest and least cor-
rupted of Tlingit tribes, and their " Die TiUnket Indidncr" is the most
valuable publication of its kind. Lieutenant Kmmons learned much of
them before their decadence, and as proof of their friendship was per-
mitted to buy Kloh-Kutz's ancestral narkheen or dance-blanket after
the chiefs death.

The ('hilkats lonj; knew the art of forging copper, and many fine
specimens of jade have been obtained from them. They were great
himters as well as traders, and bear and mountain-goat were their espe-
cial game. The latter, the " wool-bearing antelope " is found through-
out their country, and they have the credit of first weaving the elaborate
narkhcfn, or dance-robes, known as t'hilkat blankets, but made by Hai-
das and Tsimsians as well. They wove them a century ago, but few are
made to-day, reduced size, coarse weaving, and traders' dyed yarns ren-
dering the modern ones poor imitations of the originals. The old blan-
kets, over 2 yards in width, I yard deep, with a yard-long fringe border-
ing three sides, were woven of finely spun goat-wool on a wnrp of fine
cedar threads suspended from an upright loom and tautened by weights.
The designs were combinations of totcinic figures, rigidly convention-
alized and balanced, that recorded the legenils of the wearer's family.
The claws and the inverted eyes found on nearly all blankets are those
of llutli, or Hah tia, the thunder bird ; the full face is the Iiear and the
whale's profile easily recognized. Each piece and part of the design
is woven separately, as in .lapanese tapestry, connected by occasional
brides, and the even satin stitch over and beneath every two threads

eenish-

,gr(

blue are the colour-i eini)loyed, and in a particularly fine blanket belong-
ing to a Nass River chief, a rich dull red was employed with fine effect.
The black is made from soot, charcoal, or lignite ; the yellow from sck^
A(m«', a sea-weed found on the rocks; the greenish-blue from boiling
co|)per and this sea-weed together ; and the red from spruce-juice, berry-
juice, and ochre.

To the Yukon River and Mining Camps.

Either the Chilkat or the ChUkoot Inkt leads to passes over the
continental range, by which the head-waters of the Yukon River may
be reached. The Drs. Krause, Dr. Everette, U. S. A., and Mr. E. J.

96 CHILKAT COUNTEY AND PASSES TO THE YUKON.

Glave have explored the head-waters of the Chilktt and Alsekh Rivers.
Mr. Glave descended the Alsekh to Dry Bay on the ocean-coast one
season, and in 1891 took pack-horses over the Chilkat, and proved the
feasibility of a pack-trail to the Yukon and the existence of suitable
pastures for such animals. His " Pioneer Pack-horses Jn Alaska," Cen-
tury Magazine, September, 1892, describes the regions traversed.

The Chilkoot Trail, used by miners since 1880, begins at Haleys,
26 miles from Chilkat Cannery; in 12 miles it ascends to the pass, and
in 11 miles more, or 23 miles in all, drops to Lake Linderman in the bush
country, beyon^l the range. Thore is a magnificent view over the lake
country northward from the summit of the pass. This Shaseki Pass
of the natives, Chilkoot of the miners, Perrier of St4iwatka, and Dyea
of Ogilvie, is 3,500 ft. above the sea, Chilkat Pass 3,100 ft., and While
Pass 2,400 ft. The Lewis River flows from the chain of lakes, and at
Fort Selkirk, 357 miles from Lake Linderman, unites with the Pelli/,
and forms the Yukon, which flows thence 2,000 miles to Bering Sea,
the third river in size in North America.

At the junction of the Porcupine River the Yukon touches the Arc-
tic Circle, tlie true " Land of the Midnight Sun."

Skagway and Dyea, chief points of departure for the Upper lu-
kon and Klondike, are fully described in the chapter at the end of the
book. The following is the table of distances to the Yukon mines, as
given on the U. S. C. and G. map, No. 3100:

Via ChUkoot Pass. i

9TAT. MILES. !

Seattle to Dyea l,!!.")

Dyta to DawBon sa?

Via Stikine liimr.

Seattle to Wrangell R.54

Wraiigell to Telegraph (rwk.. , HO
Telegraph Creek to head of Tes-

lin Lake 227

lioad of Teslin Lake to Daw-
son 525

Via St. Michads ami Yukon Jfirer.

8TAT. MILES.

San Francisco to Dii*c i L'arbour. . 2,345

Seattle to Dutch Harv, ur l.ftW

Dutch Ilarlwur to 8t. MichaelB 750

St. Michaels to mouth of Yukon. . . i)7

Dawson 1,260

" Stewart Kiver 1,321

" Fort Selkirk 1,425

" Five FinKcrltapids. 1,401

" Tesliti River 1,612

White Horse ItapidB l,Ca7

Small steamers have ascended to the foot of White Horse Rapids.
The Alaska Conimeri;ial Company, of San Francisco, chiefly controls
the fur-trade within United States lines from its ocean post at St.
Michaels, Steel steamers on the small lakes and a fleet of river
boats give quick ccmnection with ^cean steamers at St. Michaels. The
country ia almost destitute of game, forest tires started by miners hav-
ing driven animals back from the river ; and the herds of moose end
reindeer were rapidly exterminated after 1867, when the natives first
obtained good rifles and fired at everything from pure wantonness.
The river tribes are of Athabascan stock, poor and degraded. There
are Roman Catholic missions at Kosoriffsktf and Xulato, and an Epis-
copal mission at Auvik. K..ig salmon 5 and 6 ft. in length, and
weighing as much as 120 pounds, are repcrted as crowding the Yukon;

'-'»

oO-"

r^.

•t l:>

68
4U

vif-

f^J

ISLANDS

^rpANC'S I,

BY I,

5.^

;x;-V. xl >

''*'w.«l

SKETCH MAP OF
GLACIER L"AY AND MUIR GLACIER

By IIAUUY FIKLDINO REIP

GLACIER BAY.

red Halmon attain great size, and wild fowl gather on the flats in in-
credible numbers.

The head-waters of the Yukon were first discovercJ by H. B. Co.
men in 1840. The W. U. T. Survey explored the region in 1865, and
Dr. W. 11. Dall and Frederick Whyniper, who wintered there, have fully
described it in their works. Captain Raymond, U. S. A., made a mili-
tary rcconnoissance in 1867, when he obliged the H. B. Co. to remove
to British territory. A pioneer prospecting party crossed the Chil-
koot Pass in 1880, and miners have gone in increasing numbers each
season since. Lieutenant Schwatka crossed the Chilkoot and rafted
his way to the sea in 1883. in 1880 the U.S. Coast and Geodetic
Survey despatched the Turner and McGrath parties to definitely deter-
mine the line of the 141st meridian, the International Boundary Line.
McGrath placed his monument a little W. of the mouth of Forty-mile
Creek, and 1 3 miles farther E. than the Canadian monument erected by
William Ogilvie in 1887.

Glacier Bay.

Captain Beardslee's Glac 'jr Bay, the Sitfh-fffia-ee, or "great cold
lake " of the Hoonahs, indents the northern shore of Icy Strait, ex-
tending over 50 miles from N. W. to S. E , and is from 6 to 10 miles
wide. There are strong currents in the strait and the line of a termi-
nal moraine forms a bar off the bay's mouth. Steamers often anchor
for the night in Excursion Inld, a fev? miles E. of the entrance, or at
BartleiCs Hay, just within Point Gitstavus. The cannery established at
the latter place in 1883 was closed for many seasons, but there is a
Hoonah salmon camp on the beach each summer There is another
summer fishing camp in Biry Bail, 10 miles above Point Carolm, on
the W. shore. The natives only visit the upper reaches in search of
the hair-seal, which delight to ride arouud on the ice-cakes. Bears are
abiimlant in the fr rested regions, and have exterminated the deer, as
in the "hilkat cruntry, and the big white mountain-goat is found on
all the heig'iii.;. No salmon are found beyond the islands.

DISCOVERY AND EXPLORATION OF GLACIER BAY.

Vancouver's ships were anchored at Port Althorp, on the N. W.
shore of Chichagoff Island, while Whidbey and Lemesurieur explored
the regiim. They camped at Point Carolus, and reported that to the N.
and E. of that point " the shores of the continent form two large opei
bays which were terminated [July 12, 1794) by compact, solid moun-
tains of ice rising perpendicularly from the water's edge, and bounded
to the N. by a continuation of the united, lofty, frozen mountains that
extend eastward from Mt. Fairweather. In these bays also were great

GLACIER BAY.

quantities of broken ice, which, having been put in motion by the
springing up of a northerly wind, were drifted to the southward."

Tlie " frozen mountains," as he termed glaciers, were uncompre-
hended then, and his scarcely indented coast-line was retained in Te-
benkoff's later charts. The Russian traders named Icy Strait, and,
dreading its currents and icebergs, kept close to the S. shore, and
never knew the bay.

In 1869, Kloh-Kutz told Prof. Pavidson of a great bay full of
glaciers lying 30 miles to westwo.d of the Davidson Glacier, one day's
journey on snow-shoes. In 1877 Lieutenant C. E. S. Wood, while seal
and goat hunting after the forced abandonment of Mr. Charles Tay-
lor's plan to climb Mt. St. Elias, canoed about this " great bay 20
miles S. E. of Mt. Fairwcather," and crossed by the Muir Glacier to
Chilkat * In October, 1879, the glaciers were really discovered and
made known to the world by John Muir, the California geologist, who
had before that discovered the residual glaciers of the Sierras. He ca-
noed its length with the Rev. Hall Young, and spent a few days f near
the Pacific Glacier, and lectured that winter about " the Fairwcather
glacier:*.'' In September, 1880, Mr. Muir returned alone and spent .«cv.
eral weeks exploring and enjoying the glacier afterward named in his
honour. In July, Captain L. A. Boardslee, U. S. N., had entered
the bay in the trading steamer Favourite, accompanied by Cozian, the
famous Russian pilot, who had never heard of the bay before, and by
Dick Willoughby, who was living in a Hoonah village in Cross Sound.
Captain Beardslee went as far as Willougiiby Island, when fog shut
down and the owner of the chartered steamer insisted on returning.
He charted the lower part of the bay, and by dint of pcnsistent argu-
ment had the name of Glacier Bay accepted by the Coast Survey. He
gave a tracing of his chart to Captain JriHies Carroll, who took the
mail steamer Idaho up the bay in July, 1883, found the glacier John
Muir had described, and named both inlet and ice-stream for him.

Tourists have been taken to Aliiir Glacier by that same course
every summer, and the next discoveries in the bay were made by Cap-
tain Carroll in August, 1892, when he took the Queen to the front of
the Pacific Glacier, and found the jiicturesque and unsuspected
Johns Hopkins, Rendu, and Carroll Glaciers as nr.med by Prof.
Reid. The Coast Survey has not yet (1893) charted the bay.

INDIAN TRADITIONS.

The lloonahs could not tell anything of the glacier that the scored
hillsides, the windrows of old terminal moraines, whether as islands or
shoals, did not more plainly declare. They feared -ind kept away
from the region fraught with terrors and dangers, and only seal and
goat hunters ventured near. They say that in their " fathers' time " —

* See Century Magazine, July, 1882.

+ See N. P. folder Alaska, by John Muir ; Century Magazine, June,
1896 ; National Geographic Magazine, April, 1896,

GLACIEK BAY.

an indeterminate period, as often CO as 250 years before — the ice
reached to Bartlett's Bay. About 1860 it was in line with Willoughby
Island. " Long, long ago " the glacier advanced and swept away
Klemshawshiki, " the city on the sand at the base of the mountains,"
where the Beardslee Islands now rise. " It came down in a day and it
did not go away in ten years," they say, telling how the ice floods de-
scended, plowed up their fields, destroyed their houses, as the Corner
glacier once devastated its valley. Again, a great wave rushed in
from the ocean, swept away the village near Bartlett Bay, mowed down
the forests with icebergs, and left no living thing. They remember,
too, that a glacier once crept down and dammed up their best salmon
stream. Two slaves were offered up, and Sitth-too-Yehk relented, the
barrier melted, and the tyee gaily leaped again.

SCIENTISTS' CAMPS.

In 1886, Prof. G. Frederick Wright, of Obcrlin. Ohio, Rev. J. L.
Patton, of Greenville, Mich., and Mr. Prentiss Baldwin, of Cleveland,
camped for a month on the E. moraine, two miles below the ice front.
By observations m.idc on pinnacles of ice fixed in memory. Prof.
Wright figured an advance of 70 ft. a day, and included the results of
his studies in the first chapters of The Ice Age in North America (D.
Appleton & Co., New York).

In 1890, Joim Muir camped for three months on the east moraine,
joined by Prof. Hiury Fielding Reid, of the Case School of Applied
Sciences, Cleveland, Ohio, who had associated with him Messrs. II. P.
Cuahing, H. M. McBride, R. L. Casement, C. A. Adams, and J. F.
Morse. They built a substantial cabin a half mile below the ice wall
with a noble chimney of glacier-cut stones cemented with glacier mud,
and from this home station explored every part and arm of the glacier.
They mapped the glacial region by plane table from the higher .statics.*

Prof. Reid measured his base-line on the west moraine and trian-
gulated the heights of his stations ; a line of red and black flags was
set across the living stream, and sets of observations taken from sta-
tion E on the ridge of Mt. Wright and from K on the opposite spur, 3
miles apart. The result of this careful work reduced the glacier's pace
to about 7 ft. a day in nnd-stream.f The little company were a board
of geographic names and aptly baptized the landmarks found on the
map, and their work is accepted as final and exact by all scientists and
specialists.

In 1891 a pleasure party of seven, including the artist, T. J. Rich-
ardson, Mr. C. S. Johnson, a hunter of big game, two ladies, a maid

* See "Studies of Mulr (Jlacler in Alaska," by Harry Fielding Roid,
National Geographic Magazine, March, 1892. "Notes on the Muir
Glacier," by H. P. Cushing, American Geologist, October, 1891, and
March, 1893.

f Tl'c Mer de Glace advan-'es 33 Inches a day, the Aletsch 19
inchea, the Svartesen 12 inches, and the Selkirk Glacier 12 inches.

100

OLACIEK BAY.

and small boy, made the cabin a summer home. In 1892 Prof. Reld
devoted another season to mapping, exploring, and studying ice move*
ment.

Itinerary of the Bay and Inlet.

The shores of Glacier Bay are densely forested for 20 miles
above the entrance. The Beardilee Islands, cres; . of so many terminal
moraines are low, green gardens that successively illustrate the
stages of afforestation. Willoughby Island, a solid limestone mass 3J
miles long, from a half to three-quarters of a mile wide, and 1,500
ft. high, named for the old Alaska prospector, marks the gateway
to the glacial region. Francis Island, named for the Govern-
ment pilot, and the site of palteozoic fossil remains, lies N. W. of Wil-
loughby Island, close to the same western shore. Geikie Inlet, which
opens from the W. shore just above Fran'^is Island, holds the Geikie
and the Wood (Lieut. C. E. S.) Olacierf, at the end of its long rock
cutting.

Mt. La Perouse, 11,300 ft., Aft. Crillon, 15,900, and Mt. Fair-
weather, 15,500 ft., are visible from the entrance of the bay, and the
snows of the Crillon and Fairweatber summits feed the great glaciers
that slope from their height? to the bay. Mt. Fairweatber shows
the same pummit cntlinc as Mt. Rainier and Mt. St. Ellas, and this
triple-crowned peak, the sharply cut Gable Alouniain and the attend-
ant white host, with every foot of their elevation from sea-lcval to
summit visible, omplete one of the sublimest mountain views
in the world. Of the great glaciers pouring to the upper bay, the
Geikie, the Hugh Miller, and the Pacific were named by their first
visitor, John Muir, and the Wood, the Charpentier, the Johns Hopkins,
the Rendu, and the Carroll Glaciers by Prof. Roid. This end of the
bay is usually so blocked by ice that canoes rarely, and only one steam-
er, have navigated it. There is a large bay on the E. shore, below the
mouth of Muir Inlet. The last forest may be noted at this point, a
moss-hung, dark, mysterious place, among whose venerable spruces
John Muir found his richest botanical field.

Muir Inlet and the Great Muir Glacier.

Mair Inlet, 5 miles long and If to 3 miles wide, opens on the E.
shore 20 miles above Bartlett Bey. It stretches due N. and S., the
Muir Glacier walling the end with a line of ice-cliffs 9,200 ft. or
1} mile in length, rising 100 and 260 ft. from the water, and extending,

Reid
move*

mileH
minal
e the
giss 3}
1,500
teway
ovcm-
f Wil-
which
Geikie
I rock

Fair-

nd the
lacicrs
shows
d this
ittcnd-
!V2l to
views
ly, the
r first
)pkin8,
of the
steam-
Dw the
oint, a
prucea

theE.
S., the
ft. or
;nding,

GLACIER BAY.

101

it is believed, some 900 ft. below the surface of the sea in a long, plough-
shaped forefoot. The vast ice plain slopes back at a grade of 100 ft,
to the mile to the mountains, 10 and 13 miles distant from the inlet.
The Muir Glacier, 58" 50' N., and 136" 8' W., drains an area of
800 square miles. The actual ice surface covers about 360 square
miles, the mass of it 35 miles long and 10 to 15 miles wide, lying but
a few hundred feet above sea-level. It is fed by 26 tributary streams,
7 of wh'ch are over a mile in width. If all their affluents were named
and c-uu.ited, as in Switzerland, the Muir might boast 200 branches or
glaciers in its system. The mountain gateway, 2} miles wide, through
which it pours to the sea, is formed by spurs of Mt. Case (5,510 ft.)
and Mt. Wright (4,944 ft.) on the E., and a spur of the sharply cut
Pyramid Peak on the W. All the mountains immediately surround-
ing the glacier average from 4,000 to 6,000 ft. in height. The main
stream of the Muir flows from the N. W., rising in nevh 40 miles
distant. The main current of this magnificently crevassed and broken
ice pours through the great plain at a rate of about 7 ft. a day. All
efP'jrta to cross it within 10 miles back from the water front have
failed, but many believe it possible." *

Seven medial moraines stretch away in dark fan-rib lines from the
front, rising in terraces on the ice and indicating the course and source
of chief tributaries. Lateral moraines extend in crumbling bluffs and
gravel terraces for 3 miles down either side of the inlet.

Ships do not approach the ice wall nearer than an eighth of a mile,
because of the masses of ice fulling from its face with terrific noise
and agitation of the water, and of submarine bergs detached from the
sunken forefoot and rising to the surface with tremendous force.
Soundings of 86 and 120 fathoms have been made within 100 yards of

* Of the Norwegian glaciers, which may be most fairly used for
comparison with the Muir, the Jostedalbrae, the largest glacier in Eu-
rope, lies 3' N. of the Muir, at an elevation of 3,000 ft. above the sea,
and covers 470 square miles. It is an ice-cap on the top of a range,
with five arms flowing down and one reaching within 150 ft. of sealevel.
The Svartm-n, the show glacier of the Norway coast, 8 N. of the
Muir, and on the line of the Arctic Circle, is an ice mantle 44 miles
long and 12 to 26 miles wide, occupying a plateau 4,000 ft. above the
sea. The arm in Melii, visited by North Cape tourists, does not reach
tide-water. The Swiss glaciers, all lying from 4,000 and 6,000 ft.
above the sea are like those of Mt. Rainier, and in no way to be com-
pared to the Muir, 20 of whose arms each exceed the Mer de Glace in
size.

102

GLACIER BAY.

the ice wall. Every break reveals surfaces of intcn^cst clear blue ice,
which quickly weathers to opacjue whiteness and coarse granular snow.
The enormous pressure comJenses the original snow flakes to this clear,
transparent ice, which is often umber and darkest green with morainal
matter. Bergs 200 ft. in length, 60 and 70 ft. high, only one seventh
of a berg being visible, ire often seen near the front, but break apart
and grind together as they sail down the bay, and avalanches of loose
particles covor the bay with " mush ice " for miles.*

Steamers usually anchor one fourth of a mile below the E. end of
the ice wall. P. C. S. S. Co.'s ships usually remain six or eight hours,
taking advantage of the tide in entering and leaving the bay when
possible and landing their passengers. Vessels of British register can-
not land passengers, owing to U. S. customs regulations. A well-
built trail and board walk lead over the bluff and the quicksands of
glacial mud in the moraine to the surfu^ u of the ice, which is there a
rolling white prairie, over which a regiment of cavalry might deploy,
and where future tourists will travel on sleds, or even horses. There
are no dangers to require the ice-axe, roj)e, creepers, or extraordinary
costumes, unless the traveller goes out of his way and seeks them in
the crevass'-'d regions of mid-stream. Rubber shoes are a necessity,
but are quickly cut by the sharp ice crystals.

The Dirt Glacier, filling the canon between Mt. Case and Mt.
Wright, is a treacherous place full of sinkholes and quicksands of
glacier mud, where boulders reel and sink beneath one, and the fine
" mineral paste and mountain meal " make a sticky, slippery com-
pound that hardens like cement. It is worth walking far out on the
ice to see the splendid White Glacier, 4 miles long and a half mile
wide, sweeping from the E. side of Mt. Case with a black serpent of a
medial moraine curving down its dazzling slope. The eastern arm has
almost no motion, and melting zO ft. of its surface each year is fast
uncovering 7mna(afcs, or islands in the ice.

The slate knobs peeping through the ice abreast of Mt. Case, 8
miles from the beach, are known as the " Dumplings " ; the red granite
nunatak, a mile beyond, at the edge of the swift-moving crevasned ice,
is the tourist's " Mouse," 800 ft. in height. The " Hat," 4 miles across,
on the opposite bank of the raging ice torrent, is 1,855 ft. Both are
easily climbed by crevices or canons in their sides and command mag-

* Captain C. L. Hooper notes that in the Pacific arctic, off the Si-
berian and Alaska coast, 20 ft. is the average of the highest i;:c met.

GLACIER BAY.

103

nificcnt views of the glacier, its branchen, the surrounding mountains,
and the inlet. The Mouho is easily reached on steamer days by grK)d
walkers, who, keeping well to the right until past the Dirt Glacier,
may follow an air-line to its base without having to turn aside for a
crevasse. There are lakes, blooming epilobium, and tattered driftwood
in its recesses. The whole surface is brilliantly polished, and ava-
lanches of pebbles are fretpient. A cairn on the highest point is
Prof. Reid's flag station H, and cards of climbers will be found in
tins and bottles. A field glass will show the ancient spruce-trees grow-
ing on Tree Mount, 2,7uO ft., and miles due E., a " Foret," correspond-
ing to the "Jardin" of the Mer de Glace. The triple-crowned A/i!.
Young is 16 miles distant, and on its other side are the feeders of the
Davidson Glacier in Lynn Canal. Endkott Lake at its base, and Berg
Dike N. of it, are miniatures of tlie glacier's inlet front, replicas of the
MargcUen Zee in the Aletsch Glacier which moved Prof. TjTidall to
such raptures. These lakes are not seen from the Mouse, but a
glass shows the Girdled Glacier. The extraordinary moraine with
two ends and no present beginning runs from the Dumplings to the
brink of the ice-cliffs on Berg Lake, a glacial phenomenon discovered
by Prof. Muir. Snow Dome, Bed ^ft., Bluck Aft., and Galtle Mt, are
easily identified on the N., and magnificent ice falls, cliains of nuuataks
and eddies over uncovering islands, may be studied, while at one's feet
is the broken, tempc stuous ice-stream, so evidently in action that one
listens for its roar and to see the great ice waves comb over and scat-
ter their spray. The silence is profound, and the north wind that
blows perpetually with the current of the ice-stream makes no sound.

The Morse, Cashing, McBride* Casement, and Adams
Cilaciers were named by Prof. Muir < ■\ 'eserved recognition of the
excellent work of those members of his . iif of 1890 in exploring these
main tributaries of the Muir.

The Lateral Moraines.

It is an easy walk up the east beach to the base of the ice-cliffs
whose wings override the gravel-bed of an older moraine, and hold
many spruce and alder twigs. As falling bergs send great waves
across the inlet, it is a little dangerous to follow the beach at lugh tide.
Six Iloonah hunters were swept from the narrow footway by a berg
wave a few seasons since, and incautious visitors have many times been
drenched knee deep. There are quicksands at the water's edge, and

104

GLACIER BAY.

the crumbling blufTri and melting ice-cliffH launch tonii of Hand, boulders
and ice-blocks witiiout warning. A roaring torrent emergcH from an
ice cafion at the end of the beach and prevents (1891-'92-'93) access
to caves at the base of the ice wall as formerly. Mony subglucial
streams boil up at the base of the.-^e cliffs, and these fierce torrents fill
the air with a steady undertone like the boorn of the Yoseniite Fall.
The tide-full of 16 ft, leaves a dark-blue base-line by which one may esti-
mate the heights above.

A considerable stream, the Eiuit River, drains the extreme flank of
the glacier, and reaches the inlet a half mile below the ice. On its
farther bank there is a large flat covt ^ with driftwood, mainly
spruce, and in hollows in the gravel tcr there are the stumps of

large spruce-trees, whose fringed Ubn of an oversweeping ice

sheet. Streams are uncovering other buried spruce groves, and one
such is disclosed on the beach below high-tide mark. Shrimps, shells
of spider crabs, and sea-weed are found on this beach. The whole
perpendicular front of Mt. Wright is scored and grooved to a height
of 2,000 ft., which, with the spruce and alder stumps found in the
older moraine beneath the ice-wings, prove that the glacier has ad-
vanced and receded in times past with different climatic conditions.
The whole glacial basin was possibly once a forest, and salmon streams
frolicked in all the tributary canons. At another time there was one
vast sea of ice over all tlie region, and the battlemented summit of Mt.
Wright was but a nunatak.

On the West Moraine the draining stream is much larger, and a
tributary has uncovered a buried spruce forest whose stumps are 10
and 15 ft. in height. The rounded arch of the tunnel from which the
stream flowed in 1883 has fallen in, and it is a long and wearisome ap-
proach to the surface of the ice on that side.

THE KATE OF RECESSION.

Rain weathers and breaks away the ice most rapidly, and during a
close watch maintained by the writer in July and August, 1891, it did
not seem that the stages of the tide had any connection with the fall
of ice. On many warm, clear days, when a hot sun fell upon the ice
front for 16 and 18 hours continuously, there was no sound. After
days of silence came tremendous displays, one quarter and one third of
the long wall falling away at once. These falls often occurred in the
middle of the night and frequently at daybreak, contraction in the
colder hours seeming to free most bergs.

By photographic evidence the glacier receded more than 1,000 yards

GLACIER

BAY.

106

between Prof. Wright's visit of 18ft« and Prof. Reid's first camp in
1890. Pliotcgrapbs taken by the writer in 1891 showed a retreat of
800 yards in the next year. Prof. Miiir recognized a retreat of a mile
between his visits of 1880 and 1890, and the writer was as much be-
wildered l)y tiie nmrl^ed dianges occurring between 1883 and 1890. In
1894 and 1896 the ice was still retreating.

The Ascent of MU Wright, to the Hanging Gardens and
Mountain-(>oat Pastures*

By crossing the East River, following the tributary stream that de-
scends the steep ravim ,n the right, and cliuibing by the boulder-filled
crevices on its north wall the tourist may reach the lung spur of JWt.
Wright. Professor Reid's cairn and flag Station E, at the brink over-
looking the glacier's front wall, command a magnificent view. Station E
may be reached in two and a half hoin-s from the landing, when the bridge
near the cabin allows East River to be crossed at that point. An easy
slope through knee-deep lupin-beds, over acres of bryanthus, butter-
cups, forget-me-nots, violets, blue-bells, gentians, geums, asters, and
golden-rod leads from Station E to a 3,000-foot terrace extending
south a couple of miles and commanding views of all the inlet and
lower bay, out to the Chichagoff shore. This region is the favourite pas-
ture of mountain-goats ; hoof-marks and tufts of wool are seen all the
way, ptarmigan run beside one, and marmots whistle on every side.
During the weeks the writer spent at Muir Glacier in 1891, the hunters
kept the camp larder well supplied from this lofty game preserve. The
view from this second terrace (3,000 ft.). Flag Station V, is best in the
early morning, when Mts. Crillon, Im Peroime, and Fairweather are clearly
cut on the western sky. The Fairweather group hides any view of Mt.
St. Elias, 100 miles distant. Station E commands the finest view of
Mt. Case's dark, red-purple, slate mass, its velvety patches of vege-
tation and its jewelled glacier gleandng high on its shoulder.

By photographs taken from Station E, in 189()-'91-'92, Professor
Reid has been able to note very closely the rate of recession. Tourists
sufficiently interested in glacial phenomena to climb to that outlook with
cameras may assist this study by forwarding such pictures, wi*'. dates
attached, to Professor H. F. Reid, care of Secretary of National Geo-
graphic Society, Washington, D. C. Photographs from V, from M, on the
beach close to Muir's cabin, and from A B on the bluff S. of the mouth
of West River on the west side of the Inlet, will also assist in the record.
Auroras, Mirage, and the Phantom City. — Brilliant auroral displays

106

GLACTER BAT.

are often witnessed in August, and mirages frequently appear. By
refraction the ico-flocs are often magnified into ice-cliffs 1,000 ft.
high, apparently barring a ship'.s retreat southward. The so-called
Phantom oi Silent City was a hoax of Dick Willoughby's in 1889.
iliousaniw of prints from a cloudy negative of Bristol, England, were
sold, upjn his statement that he had seen and photographed the city
from Glacier Bay.

Amateur photographer:* will find it aimoxt impossible to secure a
&harn negative of a mirage. The lines of glimmering ic cwffs leave
no definition or shadow, waver and fade quickly. The reflected light
from these glaciers and .smw-fields misleads even professional photog-
raphers to over-expose their negatives. The smaller stops in a lens
are often sufficient for an instantaneous exposure, and such exposures
may be successfully made with ordinary stops on cloudy days. In
weak sunliglit the lens should be stopped down, and in the de\ loping-
room the bromide should be in hand.

Oil the Mainland Shore of Cross Sound.

Dundas Bay and Tayhr Bay, W. of Glacier Bay, contain tide-
water glaciers and are favourite sealing-grounds of the natives, who
bittc!;- resented the ine\irsion of Tsimsian seal-poachers w\ 1880
The Isimsians were driven (/flf, but threaten '' to return with 90
canoes and exterminate the Hoonahs. By the iiuervcntion of Captain
Beardslee, U. S. X., and Dr. Powell, Irdian Commissioner for British
Columbia, an impending wa.' of all the coas; tribes was averted, and
the Tsimsians were tlutatened with severe punyjliinent if any more
poacliing should be reported. The glacier in Taylor Bay wa.s visited
by Mr. Charles Taylor and Lieutenant C. E. S. Wood in 1877, and
explored by John Muir in 1880. Its front and slope are seen at lonj^
range from ships passing through Cross Sound

The C'hichagofl' Island Shores.

Chichagolf Island, named for the Russian navigator who first
attempted to find a .Northeast Passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific,
is least known of the greater islands of the arcliipelago. It is about 70
miles iong, with an average breadth of 40 niiies. CVo.«s Sound, lead-
iv.g in from the ocean on the N., was named by Captain Cook on Holy
Cross Day, May 3, 1778. I'ort Althorp, within its entrance, was Van-
couver's anchorpge for several weeks in 1793. Idaho Inlet, E. of

*-• *.'

GLACIER BAY.

107

Port Althorp, was discovered by Captain James Carroll, July, 1883,
upon Dick Willoughby's assurance that it was a broad forty-fathom
channel leading to the op m. ocean N. of Salisbury Pound, frequently
traversed by himself. The Idaho ran aground a few miles from the
entrance in waters alive with salmon and flounders, between shores
where deer wandered in plain sight, and many boar-tracks could be
seen. A saltcry built in 1884 was closed after a few years.

The Hoonahs (Iloon, " the north wind," and iah, "lake "), inhabit-
ing Chichagoff Island and the shores of Icy Strait, have been longest
preserved from contact with white civilization. They have had a
bad name from earliest times. In 1862 they seized the II. B. Co.'s
ship Labouchere at Swanson's Harbour, imprisoned the captain and
crew, and looted the vessel completely. It was not the M. B. Co.'s
policy to retaliaie and injure the fur-trade, and they passed by Hoonah
anchorages for several seasons. Ambassadors besought the resump-
tion of trade, and when the " fire canoe " came again the whole tribe
joined in the water parade, tlie songs and dances of peace, filled the
sir with the eagle down of peace, and carpeted the deck with potlatch
ttter-skins. In 1867 the thief in his war-canoes met the U. S. revenue
cutior Lincoln, but was not allowed on board. " You come Icy Strait.
Me give you big fight ! " the chief bawled in Chinook as he left.

The Hoonahs numbered about 1,000 in 1869. In 1880 there were
908 enumerated, and in 1890 only 690. Their chief village of Kom-
tokton in Port Frederick, has been known as lioonah P. 0. since the
mission and Government day school was established. Tt numbered
438 inhabitants in 18f»0. The smaller village of Klookukboo has but
16 inhabitants. Lieutenant C. E. S. Wood, in the Century Magazine,
July, 1882, and Captain Boardslee, in his Forest and Stream letters of
1 '78-'79, have given interesting descriptions of Komtukton, the Hoo-
nahs, and their legjiids.

Tie finest halibut gmnda in the archipelago a-c those off Point
Adolphus.

As soon as the ice breaks, in March, a hundred canoes are seen
fishing among the floes. Captain Buardslce and one other angler
caught 47 halibut averaging 40 pounds each in one hour in J ily, after
the regular halib\it season. One lioonah managed the canoe, clubbed
and gaffed the fish, caught with salmon bait and native tackle. Tlin-
gil halibut hooks, lines, and clubs are most ingeniously and often
richly decorated. The lines are made of the giant kelp (nercocystis\
which often grows to a length of 30(i ft. in ti.ie-swept channels. It
is S')aked and bleached in fresh water, and then stretched, dried,
smoked, and worked until it is as firm as leather but pliable as silk.
The foot-long hook is cut from the heart of spruce cr cedar 'oots —

108

FKOM CHATHAM STRAIT TO THE OCEAN.

for the halibut can detect the taste of resin — and this hook as well as
the club are carved with the owner's totem and other sifrnificant de-
vices bound to ensure the fisherman's luck. With such tackle, a lone
fishemoan can haul up and quiet even a 200.pounder ; but chicken
halibut, weighing 30 or 40 pounds, are the choice, and 70-pounder8 the

There is a canoe Tjortage from Port Frederick to the Tenalcee Pas-
aoffe, leading into Chatham Strait. There are hot sulphur springs on
the passage, long resorted to by the natives, and a chosen winter camp-
ground of miners. There are also hot sulphur springs on the W.
coast of Chichagoff, between Cape Edward ana Lisianski Strait,
strong sulphur water bubbling up in natural rock pools on the beach.

From Chatham Strait to the Ocean by Peril or Po-

gibshi Straits.

Peril Straits, the Tlingits' Koo-le-tchika (a dangerous channel),
40 miles in length, bend in a great bov. xrom Chatham Strait to Salis-
bury Sound, separating Chichagoff and Baranof Ldands. It is a famous
landscape repch, and at the two narrows there are strong tidal rapids.

Th'? east half of the straits is a broad, smooth water-way for 18
miles, narrowing beyond the opening of lloonah Sound on the north
shore. Deadman*s Reacii is the smooth stretch on the Baranof
side before reaching Poverotnoi (Turnabout) Island, a symmetrical
green island that blocks the pass. On one side of it is the true Po-
gibshi, or Peril Point, and op])osite is the Poison, or Pernicious Cove,
where one hundred of Baranof's Aleut hunters were killed by eating
poisonous mu8.«els in 1799. For this reason the Russians as often
called them Pagoobnoy, or Pernicious Straits. For the next 3 miles the
half-mile-wide channel i.s swept by strong tidal currents, the tides from
Chatham Strait and the open ocean meeting at these First or North-
ern Rapids. A half hour of slack water intervenes between the
hours when the tides race at eight and ten knots an hour, and vessels
are timed to pass within that limit of safety.

The straits widen beyond the Rapids, and inlets open magnificent
vistas from the moin cation, whone steep shores are densely forested
from tide-line to the snow-line of the mountains. At the Second
or Southern Rapids, 12 miles beyond, the channel "at its narivwest
part is scarce 100 yards in width, and is rendered very dangerous by
the sunken rocks over which the tide rushes in its strength with the

FROM CHATHAM STRAIT TO THE OCEAN.

109

sound of a roaring cataract, the current often running more than ten
knots an hour. . . . For 8 miles the navigation is the most dangerous
of any in southeastern Alaska, exeep. Kootznahoo Inlet, owing to the
strong tide and the sunken rocks chat obstruct this passage."

Baranof traversed these straits in 1804, and LangsdorfF wrote an
account of his exciting nm with the tide in 1805. These straits were
surveyed and buoyed by Ca])tain Coghlan in 1884, and since then there
have not been any such di.sasters as befel the U. S. S. \y\ii/anda and
the mail steamer Eureka. Touri' Is going through at high-water slack,
when the current boils slowly, Jo not see nor hear the bore 4 ft. high
rushing by, eddies sucking down, waves boiling up, spar-buoys borne
under, aiKl kelp snapping in the current, as at the turn of the tides.

Salisbury Sound was named for Portlock's friind, the noble
?Tai(j.ns of Salisbury, in 1787. The Spaniard Galiano anchored there,
in the Puerto de los Remedios, in 1775. Captain Cook called it the Bay
of Islands in 1778, and the Russians named it Klokacheff Strait. The
peak of Mt. St. Elias has bei-ri .<een from its mouth. St. John the Bap-
tist Bay, at its eastern end, holds beaches and bluffs of marble and a
vein of lignite disc( I liy Professor Blake in 1867.

Neva Strait, leadin j from Salisbtiry to Sitka Sound, was little used
in Russian days because of the sunken rocks and ledir' in White-
stone Narrows, and vessels v ;ii around Kruznff Island to avoid
them. Surveys have made the course , lain and 8af< hut as it can only
he run at a certain stage of the tide by large steamers, » few hours'
anchorage is sometimes enforced.

Nakwasina Pthssage surrounds Ilalleck Islan I, and is a great resort
of winter sportsmen. It was recommended a^ -a site of a new military
post to which the garrison of Sitka should be removed Qvan-siuski/,
"the place where qvass was brewed," is the local uanto for the level
meadows and the hay ranch maintained by the Ru Company, and

occupied since 1 867 by American settlers, i)'. hland is an un-

mistakable landmark at the southern entiance ot Nakwasina.

The entrance to Katliana Bay is 2 miles S., and within it there
is another hay ranch and a cabin resorted to by sportsmen for bear,
deer, duck, geese, grouse, and swan shooting in the winter. This Kat-
liansky camp is 3 miles in fnmi the entrance, and there is a sharply
cut pyranudal peak as landmark at the end of the valley.

The Bay of Starri Gavan, or Old Sitka, 2 miles below Katliana
Bay, is the site of Baranofs first settlement, the Fort Archangel Gabriel
established in 1799 and destroyed by the natives in 1802. Jt is 3 miles

110

FROM CHATHAM STRAIT TO THE OCEAN.

N. of the present Sitka, on the E. shore of Sitka 8oand, which is 14
miles long and from 6 to 7 miles broad, an island-studdf J expanse
sheltered between the KruzoflF and Baranof shores.

Baranof Island and the Russian Settlements.

Lisianski, who first surveyed them, named Baranof, Chichagoff,
Kruzoff, and Jacobi's Islands, and charted them in 1805 as the Sitka
Islands. Baranof, best known of any island in the archipelago, is
over 120 miles long and about 80 miles wide. All its shore-line has
not been surveyed, the interior is unknown, and no one has yet (1893)
crossed it. There is a cannery at Red Bay on the S. W. shore, but
the only other settlements are in the immediate neighbourhood of
Sitka.

The Russians reached the Pacific shores of Siberia in 1 639, Vitus
Bering, by commission of Peter the Great, discovered the strait sepa-
rating Asia and America in 1728, and in 1741, at the behest of the
Empress Anne, started to find Vasco da Gama's fabled land. His two
ships separated in a storm and fog about latitude 46 N. Bering sailing
N. E. reached Kayak Islam? on St. Elia.; Day, July 17, 1741, saw and
named the great mountain, touched at the Shumagins, and was ship-
wrecked on the Comandorski Islands. The commander died, but the
scurvy-stricken crew survived, reached Kamschatka with the pelts of the
sea-otters on whose flesh they had lived, and stimulated traders to con-
tinued voyages in search of such furs. Tschirikow, reaching the coast
near Sitka, sent a boat's crew in to reconnoitre the bay ; at the end of
six days sent a search paity for them, and left after a three weeks' stay
slim t of fourteen men and all their boats. The defiant behaviour of
canoe-loads of natives that paddled out to the ship, the din on shore
and columns of pmoke, pointed to some savage sacrifice at the base of
his Mt. St. La^uria.

In 1783. (iregory Shelikoff, a rich Siberian merchant, established a
post on Kadiak Island, and joined to him Alexander Baranof, a Rus-
sian merchant who had entered the Siberian trade and been ruined by
the loss of his caravans. Baranof pushed the enterprise in every way,
and in May, 1199, reached Sitka Sound ar.d built a stockaded post 8
miles N. of the ])rcsent town. An imperial charter with monopoly of
the American Dosscssions for twenty yoars had been obtsined by
Resanof, the si a-jn-law of Shelikoff, and a court councillor, and Bar-
anof was mad"' cliief manager of the Russian American Fur Company, in
which nine ri\ id Siberian firms were consolidated and members of the
imperial family were stockholders.

The fon ?t Sitka was destroyed in 1802, and all save a ffw Rus-
sians, who found refuge on a British trading-ship, were murdered.
Baranof was at)Hent at the time, but returned in August, 18<'4, with
800 Aleut and Chugach hunters. The natives fled at sight, and he

FROM CHATHAM STRAIT TO THE OCEAN.

Ill

went back through the archipelago destroying villages everywhere.
The Sitkans entrenched themselves on Katlean's Rock, or the Kekoor —
"ft hill at the end of a peninsula" — and at the mouth of Indian River.
Captain Lisiansky had arrived meanwhile with a man-of-war, and in
two days captured the Kekoor, and four days later the river fort ca-
pitulated, the occupants fleeing in the night, however, killing dogs and
strangling babes lest any sound betray them. By Baranof's advice Re-
aanof went to Japan and vainly attempted to open trade to secure sup-
plies for the new colony. Baranof contemplated building a fort on the
Columbia, but through Resanof opened trade with the Spanish colonies
in California. Resanof, whose wife had died, paid court to Donna
Concepcion Arguello, daughter of the alcalde at San Francisco Bay ;
they were betrothed, and Resanof died in Siberia while on his way tc
Petersburg to obtain the Czar's consent to the marriage. Baranof
was suspicious of John Jacob Astor's fort on the Columbia and his
many ships, and distrusted the New York trader's ofifer of a perma-
nent alliance of interests, which was cut short by the War of 1812.

Baranof established an agricultural colony at Bodega Bay in the
redwood country north of San Francisco, and the mil's and lands were
tended until sold to General John A. Laiicr for .$30,000, a few years
before the discovery of gold in California. An Hawaiian colony pros-
pered for a time, and Baranof planned the annexation of those islands,
but, after eighteen years of service, he was summarily deposed, his
son-in-law, a young naval officer, took charge, and until 1864 the chief
managers were naval officers, who filled five-year terms at a salary of
$6,000 a year, with a residence and many perquisites furnished by the
company. Baranof, Nanok, or the master, as all Tlingits called him,
died in Batavia on his way home to Russia, April, 1819. Resanof in
his journal, Langsdorif, Lisiansky, and Washington Irving have pic-
tured this able tyrant and his surroundings, and the wretched condi-
tion of the Aleuts he impressed as hunters, and the promyschlniks or
indentured Siberian labourers whom he kept so deeply in debt that
they were never free to leave. None of the chief managers succeed-
ing Baranof were able to make as large returns as he, and after re-
newed leases the company saw the advisability of closing out, and the
Russian Government the disadvantage of holding such remote depend-
caciea.

The Russian chief managers were :
Gregor Sholikofif, August 3, 1784, to July 27, 1791.
Alexander Baranof, July 27, 1791, to January 11, 1818.
Lieutenant Yanovsky for Captain Hagemeister, January 11, 1818,
to January, 1821.

Captain Mouravieff, January, 1821, to January, 1826.
Captain Chistiakoff, January, 1826, to January, 1831.
Baron Wrangell, January, 1831, to January, 1836.
Captain Kupreanoff, 1836-1840.

112

FROM CHATHAM STRAIT TO THE OCEAN.

Lieutenant-Commander Etholin, 1810-1845.
Captain Michael Tebcnkoff, 1845-1850,
Lieutenant-Commander Rosenberg, 1851-1853.
Captain Voevotsky, 1854-1859. .

Captain Furuhelm, 1859-1864.

The military governor, Prince Deraitrius Maksoutoflf, 1864, to Octo-
ber 18, 186Y.

Baron Wrangcll, the arctic explorer, was a diplomatic agent to
Mexico as well as chief maniiger at Sl.ku ; and after Captain Moura-
vieff, Captain Etholin was the great constructor and most entei-prising
manager. His was the golden age of the colony. Captain Tebenkoff
made thorough surveys ; and Kudin, an Aleut from the parish school,
drew the 38 charts, and Terenticff, another Aleut, engraved on copper
the maps of the great atlas of 1848, which is authority where not suc-
ceeded by the U. S. Coast Survey's recent work. Prince Maksoutofif,
the only " governor," was detailed toward the end of the fur company's
last lease, when their unwillingness to continue the charter under the
same burdensome conditions made it probable that the Czar would
have to govern this like his other provinces, instead of farming it out.
The approaching expiration of that profitiible lease caused him to seek
a purchaser for these remote possessions, so impossible to defend in
case of war, and so dirccily adjoining British territory.

THE PURCHASE OF RUSSIAN AMERICA.

In 1844-'45 the Emperor Nicholas oifered Russian America to the
United States for the mere cost of transfer, if President Polk would
maintain the United States line at 54" 40', and shut England out from
any frontage on the Pacific. In 1854 it was offered to the Uni*;od
States, and again in 1859, when $6,000,000 was refused. From 1861 to
1 866 survey parties of the W. U. T. traversed Alaska, choosing a route
for a telegraph line to Europe via Bering Strait. The success of the
Atlantic cable in 1866, after the failure of 1869, ended the project, and
the line completed to the Skeena River was abandoned. A California
commercial syndicate proposed the leasing and then the purchasing of
the country in 1864 and 1866, and the project was informally consid-
ered at St. Petersburg. Secretary Seward deeply appreciated Russia's
tacit alliance in .sending its fleets to the harbours of San Francisco and
New York in 1863, and keeping them there at that critical time when
France and England were on the point of recognizing the Richmond
government. Upon an intimation that the ('zar wished to sell Russian
America to any nation but England, Secretary Seward opened negotia-
tions with Baron Stocckl in February, 18<)7. A treaty of purchase was
sent to the Senate March 30, 1867, reported April 9th, ratified May 28th
by 30 yeas to 2 nays, and proclaimed by President John.son June 20,
1867. Senator Charles Sumner, who especially championed the pur-
chase, suggested Alaska — the name the natives gave to Captain Cook

FROM CHATHAM STRAIT TO THE OCEAN.

113

— for the name of the mainhind. It was intended to make General
Garfield a first Governor of the Territory, and later divide it into six
Territories.

THE TRANSFP:R of RUSSIAN AMERICA TO THE UNITED STATES.

Immediate military occupation was decided upon. General Lovell
H. Rousseau, as commissioner on the part of the United States, and
Captains Pestschouroff and Koskul on the part of Russia, met at Sitka,
October 1 8, 1 867. Three men-of-war, the Osxiprr, Jtwicstoirn, and Jicsaca,
and General Jefferson C. Davis and '2M) regular troops were in waiting,
and at half past three o'clock that afternoon Prince Maksoutoff and
Vice-Govemor (lardsishoffand the commissioners met the United States
officers at the foot of the Governor's flap-staff. Double national salutes
were fired by the men-of war and the land battery as the Russian flag
was lowered and the American flag raised. Captain Pestschouroff ad-
vanced as the Russian flag fell, and said : " General Rousseau, by au-
thority of his Majesty the Emjieror of all the Russias, I transfer to
ycu, the agent of the United States, all the territory and dominion now
possessed by his Majesty on the continent of Americf. aiid in the adja-
cent islands, acconling to a treaty made between tho.^e two powers."
General Rousseau accepted, with similar brief phrases, and his young
son raised the uuw flag slowly. Prince Maksoutoff gave a dinner and
ball that riight, the 8hip|)ing was dressed, and fireworks were displayed.

There was an immediate exodtis of all Russians able to leave, the
Grvemment offering free transportation to and homes in the Amoor
settlements. The Julian gave way to the Gregorian calendar over-
night, and a day was u; v/pj)ed from Sitki's records to right the difference
of twenty-four hours betweoi the Russian day coming eastward from
Moscow and our day commg westward from Greenwich.

During the summer of 1 867 Prof. George Davidson and eight scien-
tists made a reconnoissance of southeastern Alaska, and their report
with Senator Sumnei's speech, were > strongest arguments Secretary
Seward offered in his "/i'«.Wa« ^•l;«f/7Vfi" (Fortieth Congress, second
session. House of Representatives, Ex. Doc. 177), siibmitted at the con-
vening of Congress in December. Tiiere was bitter opposition to ap-
propriating the $7,20O,()()() gold equal to $10,000,000 in paper at that
time, to pay for the territory so summarily taken possession of ; but on
July 14, 1868, the House agreed by a vote of 98 against 49, and the draft
was handed Baron Stoeckl. Corruption in the purchase was alleged, and
a winter of investigation followed the winter of contest and ridicule.
In 1869 ex-Secretary Seward visited Alaska, was first a guest of Mayor
Dodge, and went off to Prof. Davidson's observatory intheChilkat coun-
try. Returning by way of Kootznahoo, Mr. Seward was the guest of
General Davis on the Kekoor, and addressed the citizens in the Lutheran
church. He visited the Taku Glacier, the mining camps on the Stikine
and Fort Wrangell, and was more than ever convinced of the great ad-
vantages gained by the purchase of Alaska. Lo 'y Franklin reached
Sitka by the troop-ship Newbe^ti in 1870, and with her niece Miss

114

FROM CHATHAM STRAIT TO THE OCEAN.

Cracroft was a guest of the commandant on the Kekoor. The dis-
covery of gold in 1871 lent an excitement to garrison life, and army
pay-vouchers were sunk in mining experiments at Sitka as protitlessly
a.* navy pay-vouchers were poured into Juneau prospect-holes ten years
later.

Alaska was at first a separate military department, General J. C.
Davis commanding, with garrisons at Sitka, Fort Tongass, Fort Wran-
gell, Kodink, Fort St. Nicholas in Cook's Inlet, and a detail on the Seal
Islands. Eight officers succeeded General Davis at Sitka, after Alaska
became a part of the Department of the Columbia, and June 14, 1877,
Sitka, the last garrison, was vacated, and " all control of the military
department over affairs in Alaska" ceased. In 1897 a military post
was established at St. Michaels ; in 1898, at Dyca and on the Yukon.

AN ABANDONED TERRITORY.

Within a few months after the troops left Sitka, the Indians had de-
stroyed all Government property outside the stockade and threatened a
general massacre. Appeals to Wa.-^hington for protection were un-
heeded. The residents were besieged in the old fur warehouse in
February. H. B. M.'s Onprey, Captain Holmes A'Court, was at Esqui-
mault, when a last desperate appeal came to Victoria, and without
orders or instructions hurried north, arriving from the ocean as a great
war party was coming in from Peril Strait for the final attack. The
residents attempted to raise the British flag and implore annexation
and protection by England, but were prevented by Michael Travers,
Duke of Japonski, an ex-sailor of the United States navy. Captain
A'Court remained until a revenue cutter and a man-of-war arrived.

A man-of-war has been continuously detailed to service in south-
eastern Alaska ever since, and until the establishment of civil govern-
ment such commanding officers were virtually naval governors and the
ships Jamestown, Wachusett, Adams, and JHnta the seat of government.
Captain Lester A. Beardslee, whose reports (Forty-sixth Congress, second
session, Senate Ex. Doc. No. 145, and Forty-seventh Congress, first ses-
sion. Senate Ex. Doc. No. 71) are the most valuable contributions to
Alaskiana since the transfer, was succeeded by Captains Glass, Merri-
man, Coghlan, and Nichols.

Thirty bills providing a form of government for Alaska were intro-
duced between the transfer and the passage of Senator Harrison's bill,
May 13, 1884, which gave the nondescript tract the skeleton of civil gov-
ernment ; a governor, district judge, marshal, clerk, and commissioners ;
with right to enter mineral claims, but distinctly withholding the general
land laws. Attempts toward securing representation at Washington
failed, and the invitation to join in the Columbian Exposition on a foot-
ing with other Territories was the first civil recognition given the so-
called district, and the admission of delegates to the National Conventions
at Minneapolis and Chicago in 1892 the first political privilege. " Alas-
ka for the Alaskans " is vehemently claimed as a fit rule in executive
appointments. The general land laws were extended to Alaska in 1898.

The Territorial Governors have been : John H. Kinhead, of Nevada,

SITKA AND VICINITY.

116

May, 1884, to September, 1886 ; A. P. Swineford, of Michigan, Septem-
ber, 1885, to June, 1889 ; Lyman E. Knapp, of Vermont, June, 1889 ;
James Sheakly, June, 1893; John 0. Brady, of Alaska, June, 1897.

The Russian archives, manuscript journals, records, logs, and ac-
count-books were transferred from Sitka to the State Department at
Washington in 18H7, and, with TikhmeniefT's history of the colony, offer
much of interest to those reading Russian text and script.

Sitka, the Capital of the Territory of Alaska.

Sitka, the capital and seat of government of the Territory of Alaska,
is situated on the VV. coast of Baranof Island. It is the official resi-
dence of the Governor, United States District Judge, and other Territorial
officers, and had a population of 1,188 in 1H90, composed of 298 whites,
869 natives, and 81 Chinese. Sitka is the home port for the U. S. man-
of-war detailed for protective duty in these waters, and its marines are
quartered on shore.

The town is built on level land at the mouth of Indian River at the
foot of Mt. Verttovoi (.'1,2115 ft.). Lincoln, the main street, extends
from the Government wharf to the old Russian saw-mill, and the Gov-
ernor's Walk, a beach road built by the Russians, continues to the Point,
a half mile distant. A large parade-ground fronts the harbour. A gran-
ite monument at its centre is the U. S. Astronomical Station (latitude
67° 02' N., and longitude 136° 19' W.). Mail steamers remain twenty-
four hours, and excursion steamers make shorter stay. Ships' time is
one hour in advance of local time, which tourists should remember. The
chief objects of interest are the ruins of the " Castle," or old residence
of the Russian Fur Company's chief managers, destroyed by fire in
March, 1894, the Greek cathedral church, the Indian village, the block-
houses and Russian cemetery, tie Sitka Mission and Industrial School,
the Sitka Museum, and the Park along the banks of Indian River. There
are several traders' stores with curio departments, and private dealers in
curios offer interesting and very expensive souvenirs. The Alaska totem
spoon was designed by the late Frederick Schwatka, and tw^o native sil-
versmiths make unique silver trophies. The spoon mania has always
flourished in Alaska, and the Haidas' carved goat-horn spoons are real
works of art. Spoon-polishing is a fashion of every tourist season.

The Barrackt and Oustom-House at the right of the wharf were built
by the Russians, and the barracks building is the Territorial jail and
court-house, with apartments above for civil officers. A long flight of
steps leads to the Castle, as Americans have called it since 1867, crown>

116

8ITKA AND VICINITY.

ing a rocky eminence 80 ft. in lieight. Biiranof first occupied a leaky
two-roomed cabin at the foot of Katlean'rt Rock, where the barracks or
jail kitchens stand. Later he built a block-house on the height, which
was burned. Governor Kuprcanoff built a large mansitm, which was
nearly comi)leted at the time of Sir Edward Belcher's visit, 1S37. It
was destroyed by the great earthquake of 1847, and rebuilt on the same
plan. Lisiunsky, Lutke, and Whyniper have given pictures and descrip-
tions of these three citadels protected by stockades, bastions, and bat-
tery of forty pieces, and with Sir (icorge Simpson have described its
Bocial life. It is a massive structure, measuring 8() x 51 ft., b\iilt of cedar
logs, joined with copper bolts and rivetetl to the rock. It is three stories
in height, with a glass cupola, which was formerly the light-house of the
harbour, the lamp standing 110 ft. above the sea. It was richly fur-
nished and decorated when transferred to the U. S. military commandant
in 1867, but after the departure of the troops was looted of every be-
longing, wantonly stripi)ed, and defaced. No repairs were made until
1893, and just after the completion of the repairs the castle was de-
stroyed by fire, March 17, lo 94.

Baranof's daug iter, Mme. Yanovski, was the first hostess on the
Kekoor (lH0<S-'2\), but the Baroness Wrangcll (1831-'36) was first to
leave any social fame. Mme. Kupreanoff (1830-'40) crossed Siberia on
horseback to accompany her husband to this distant post. Mme. Etho-
lin (1840-'45), a native of Helsingfors in Finland, was the Lady Boun-
tiful of blessed memory who did most 'or the colony. She established a
school for Creole girls, dowered them, imd gc. j them wedding feasts in
this home. Sir George Simpson has descriV <,'d her refined hospitality,
the banquets of 30 and 50 guests, the .ostly plate, and appointments.
Mme. Furuhelm (1859-'64), a Petersburg beauty, was long lemembered
for her accomplishments and kindness. The first Princess Maksoutoff
(1864), an Englishwoman, died soon after her ariivai, and was buried
in the Lutheran cemetery on the knoll in line half-way between the two
block houses. The second Princess Maksoutoff was young and beautiful,
with great tact and charm, and made life on the Kekoor one round of
gaiety until the day when with streaming eyes she watched the Russian
flag flung down and the United States colours run up on the citadel's flag-
staff. It was the residence of the successive military commandants from
1867 to 1877, and Lady Franklin and Mr. Seward were entertained there.

Two young officers of the U. S. S. Adams and the purser of the
Idaho manufactured a ghost story to meet the demands of the first
pleasure travellers in 1883, who insisted that the deserted and half-
wrecked castle must be haunted. A Lucia di Lannnermoor, condemned
to marry against her will, killed herself, or was killed by a returned
lover, in the diawing-room, the long apartment on the second floor,
Qorth side, adjoining the ball-room, where she walks at midnight,

SITKA AND VICINITY.

117

General Davis oleiirod iiwiiy the old shi|)-yard, and filled in and made
the prt'Hent purade-ftiound. The offK-'crs' quarteiH that fronted on two
sides were nearly all l)urned by the natives between 1S72 and 1877, the
one nearest the sea-wall and native village being used as residence by
the territorial governors. The heavy stockade around the settlement
was torn down piecemeal after the troops left. The Sitka Historical
Society was organized in time to preserve the two block-houses.

The large log building next the Custom-IIouse, occupied by the Sitka
Trading Company, was the old fur warehouse, and often held pelts to
the value of $1,000,000 in Russian days.

' Russian Orthodox Church or St. Michael.

Baranof built a small chapel in 1816, but when Ivan Veniaminoff
was made bishop of the independent diocese of Russian America he
built this cathedral, occupying a quadrangle midway in the main street.
It was dedicated in 1844. Veniaminoff, then Metropolitan of Moscow,
Bent rich vestments, plate, pictures, and altar furnishing to the church,
which was also under the special protection of the imperial family, who
filled it with gifts. The chime of six bells in the cupola was sent
from Moscow.

The interior is richly decorated, and is open to visitors on steamer
days for a small admission fee, which goes to the poor fund of the
parish. There are no seats, the congregation standing or kneeling, and
a male choir chanting throughout all services. The interior is finished
in white and gold, and the inner sanctuary, where no women may enter,
is 8epar!''.ed Iiom the body of the church by elaborate bronze doors.
The picture of the Ascension over these doors was formerly in the
chancel of the Lutheran church. Massive candlesticks stand at either
side of the doors, and the screen holds full-length pictures of St. Michael
and St. Nicholas in armour and robes of beaten silver, with jewelled
halos and helmets. The chapel and the altar in the right transept are
dedicated to St. John the Baptist. The chapel of St. Mary on the left
is used for winter services, and the altar picture of the Madonna and
Child, their sweet Byzantine faces shadowed with heavy silver draper-
ies, is much admired.

The church treasury contains many rich vestments, jewelled crowns,
crosses, caskets, and reli(|uaries ; a fine baptismal bowl, illuminated
breviaries and missals with jewelled and enamelled covers. The bish-
op's mitred cap and the crowns used in the wedding ceremony are very
ornate. The bishoji's see was transferred to San Francisco in 1868,
and the great diamond cross, and a Bible whose silver covers weighed
twenty-seven pounds, were taken there, together with the richest vest-
ments. In the following year discharged U. S. soldiers robbed the
church of the Czar's jewelled Bible and many valuable pieces of plate,
a few of which were recovered in a mutilated condition.

The Czar of Russia, as temporal head of the Greek Orthodox

118

8ITKA AND VICINITY.

Church, maintains the 17 churches and 92 chapcU in Alanka, and the
chapelH in Chicaj^o and San FraiuiKco, at an expcuHe of !j;tt(),(M»0 a year.
He transferred the hishop'n see from Sitka to San Francisco, and then
to Unalaska, and l)ack to Sitka, partially restoring at last some of its
plory to this Catlicdral of St. Mictiael. The hisiiop k- des in the lonp,
green-roofed dwelling on the Governor's Walk, and tliere in a tiny
Chupel of tlie Annunciation off bis drawing-room whose aitur shines
with many tine silver icons.

The Chapel of the Kesurrection, built into the stockade near the
present Marine Barracks, was used for the native communicants until
the transfer. It was once seized and used as a fortress during an up-
rising of the natives. It fell to ruin and was destroyed mme years ago,
and all communicants now woiship together at St. Michael's.

The Lutheran church, built by Governor Etholin in 1840 for the
Swedes and Finns emjjloyed in the foundries and sliiji -y- ds, was the gar-
rison church after the transfer, later was abandoned, u!id (inally torn
down. Prince Maksoutoff sent all the plate and fii.. 1: .. • back to the
mother church in F'inland in 1867. Lieutenant (Jilrnan rcscueii and re-
paired the wrecked organ, that afterward found a place in the museum.

The ponderous log building on the S. side of the church, occupied as
a general trading-.^tore, was formeily the head office and counting-house
of the Russian-American Fur Company. The deacon's house and other
dwellings, which are church property, face on the \. side. The Officers^
Cluh-House at the corner of the quadrangle was a richly appointed
building in Russian days. It was the club-house of the U. S. military
officers, but only a tenement-house since the garrison left. A small
spruce-tree growing from the crevice of a bouldei", beside the engine-
house facing the club-house, is one of the regidar sights of the town.

The eminence N. of the church, formerly the tea-gardens and race-
track of the Russians, is reserved as site for a Governor's mansion. A
path continues to the liuxiian Cemetery overlooking Swan Lake, which
at one time furnished ice for a large ice-house whose stone foundations
remain on the point of land S. of the church. A railway connected the
lake with the ice-house, and shipments were made to San Francisco.
The winters proving too mild, and the ice too thin and porous, operations
were conducted at Gloubokoe Lake, or the Redoubt, then transferred to
Kodiak, and finally suspended upon the perfecting of ice-machines.

Foundries once occupied the land between the church and the saw-
mill. Ploughs and farm implements were exported to Pacific colonies,
and the bells of nearly all the mission churches in California were cast
here. These works and the ship-yards, being the only ones of their
kind on the Pacific shores until after the gold discoveries in California,
made Sitka the rendezvous of all ships and fleets.

The ^^ Blarnei/- Stone" a square block on the beach opposite the
Mission, is believed to dower the one kissing it with a magic tongue,

SITKA AND VICINITY.

119

Baranof is said to have spent many fine afternoons sitting on it. There
is a Rust<ian inscription on the face, and each U. S. man-of-war or rev-
enue cutter used to cut its name on it as imperishable record of entry.

The Sitka Mission and Industrial School was established by the
Presbyterian Board in 1878. In 1884 the Indian appropriation bill
provided " $15,000 for the support and education of Indian children of
both sexes at indu'^trial schools in Alaska." An allowance of $120 per
capita was made for each pupil enrolled. In 1888 this educational
fund was transferred to the Board of Education, and the Indian Bureau
ceased to have any connection with the natives of Alaska. There were
164 pupils in 1890-'91, and the group of buildings include dormitories,
schoolrooms, work-rooms, a hospital, church, museum, cooper, car-
penter, blacksmith, and slioemaktr°' shops. The laundry and industrial
school building were the gift of Mr. and Mrs. Elliot F. Shopard, of New
York. There is a model settlement of school graduates beyond the
Mission. Exercises are held in the school-rooms on steamer days. The
Mission band plays there, and usually as a farewell at the wharf.

Chief Michael's village, destroyed by Lisiansky in 1804, occupied
the Point KolosJumskoy at the mouth of Indian River. Afterward
the Swedes and Finns in the Russian Company's employ built their
group of cottages, and traces of the ruins may be found in the park-
like rea'.'h.

The Indian River Park.

Kalosch'nskaia Retscha, or Indian River, has been admired by
every visitor of the century. It rises in the valley that opens behind
the town, and is fed by the snow-banks of Versiovoi and the Three
Utothers, or Valley Mountains. In Sir George Simpson's time (1844) it
was so crowded with salmon that a canoe could not be forced through.
Malma trout are the best catch of summer weeks now, and salmon
swim occasionally. By Executive proclamation of June 21, 1890, a
strip of land 500 ft. wide on the right bank and 250 ft. wide on the
left bank of Indian River, between the falls and its mouth, were re-
served for a public park, and 10 acres of land beyond the Mission grant
was reserved for a naval and military cemetery. It is a beautiful natu-
ral park, and contains much of interest to the tourist — thickets of
devil's club 20 ft. high, thickets of salmon-bfrry and thimble-berry
uushes, and a wealth of ritrango fenis and mosses. One path leads from
the Governor's Walk through the model village beyond the Mission to
the river's bank, and two other paths lead from the Governor's Walk

120

8ITKA AND VICINITY.

to the bridge spanning the stream above its mouth. Many side paths
diverge from the main path along the left bank, which extends from
the falls to the beach. At the latter point are the gravep of Lisian-
eky's men who were killed by ambuscaded Indians while obtaining
water for the ship in 1804. The path continues thence to Jamestown
Bay.

On the right bank near the falls, the prostrate trunk of a cedar 10
ft. in diameter, with a group of young trees growing on its mossy ter-
race, lies I'cside the path. The rustic seat.'", bridges, and the cleared
path are part of public improvements made by Lieutenant Oilman, U. S.
M. C, in 1884. His nistic bridge at the falls was destroyed by wood-
cutters, who allowed untrimmed trees to float down and jam above it ;
and the lower bridge was destroyed by flood. The Davis Road con-
nects the old brewery above the falls and the Governor's Walk, cross-
ing a high swamp covered with blueberry bushes and moroshkies
(Rubus chcBmavo)~us\ a small ground berry. The Cemetery Road joins
it near the beach.

The Indian Villa(?e.

The native village fronting on the harbour N. of the wharf has been
transformed since 1880, and does not contain one of the original lodges
or great communal dwellings of old. Captain Glass had the village
cleaned in 1881, and the houses numbered, for record and sanitary
inspection. An ambition to display the highest number has caused
each one to raise the figures on his doorway since such discipline was
relaxed. The silversmiths and basket- weavers oft(Mi have choice pieces
of their work in reserve, and the tourist readily pays a higher price for
the privilege of purchasing on the premises. Afrs. Tom, who is not a
princess, but of commonest Yakutat stock and of an inferior totem, is
possessed of great wealth in silver dollars, and is one of the shrewdest
and largest traders in the Territory, owning schooners and branch stores.
Extensive advertising has made her famous and raised the prices of her
goods, but few of the romantic histories current have any foundation
in truth.

A trail leads up the beach to the sawmill, and another across to

Swan Lake. Gavan, or Harbour Hill, N. of the village, is 2,200 ft. in

height.

THE SITKAN8 AND TIIKIR RECORDS.

General Ilalleck's census of 1869 estimated the Sitkans at 1,200
Captain Glass's winter census of 1881 found 840. The othcial census

in
thf

ttVl

thii

ber
pro
gat

SITKA AND VICINTTY.

121

■•9

■^

of 1890 reeordofl 814 villajrers in July, l)nt rcsidcnta say that there are
always more than l.OOO livinp in the ranch in winter.

The Sitkmis are of mixed and common stock, descended from out-
casts, renegades, malcontents, and wanderers of many tiibes. The
original word " Sheelka " — kIi (whIki, a mountain, and lukimn, a village —
is freely translated as " the [leople living at the base of the moimtain "
( Verstovoi), and the tiue Slicetka was the fortified village of 800 people
destroyed by Baranof and Lisiansky at the Point. All other Tlingits
looked down upon them at that time, and a Iloonah or Kootznalioo
child was most insulted when called " as gieat a blockhead as a Sitkan."
An old Kootznahoo told Lisiansky that long, long ago, in a bay (Kat-
liansky) near Old Sitka, two orphan brothers of unknown origin lived
alone in a world of plenty until Chat, the younger, ate a sea vegetable
like the prickly cucumber. The elder knew it was the one forbidden
fiuit ; the abundance ceased, and the two nearly starved. The bay
was common hunting-ground to all tribes, and some visiting Stikines,
pitying them, left them Stikine wives of the ("row clan to teach thera
how to live in the changed world. All Sitkans of the Kaksatti, or
Crow totem, are descended from this pair. The Kaksattis and the
Kokwantons, or Wolf clan, about evenly divide the tribe now, the latter
a band of mixed Auk and Chilkat stock, who came over from the
Kootznahoo country in Baranof's time.

Until 1821 the Indians were not allowed to settle on the fort shore,
and they kept to the harbour islands. Lutke (1827) first described the
present ranch, the vast lodges with the totem's elhgy before the door,
and the feasts and dances that went on at these signs of the Crow, the
Wolf, and the Hear. Although the fort was strongly defended, 3,000
warriors once appeared, demanded blankets, and began a dance
that frightened the Russians into c()m|)liance. In 1880 an epidemic
of small-pox began, lasted for four years, and reduced all the tribes
to one half their number. Long before tlie Russians came the great
Crow had sent the same fatal disease as i)unishment for the continual
wars among the Tlingits ; but the medicine-men ascribed this epidemic
to the white priests and doctors, an.', like the Salish, viewed baptism
and vaccination as rites of evil effect. In 1855 the Sitkans attacked
the fort, but were quickly s ibdued.

They were displeased a> the change of flags, puzzled by the lax rule
of the new owner, an<l K.itlean told (Jeneral Davis to put his soldiers
in canoes if he expectr j to control the Tlingits. When the troops left
they enjoyed a seasor. of lawlessness, l>ut were ipiickly brought around
by the man-of-war government. Schools and |)ros()erous trade have
transformed then-, and they are but trontier lishermen, loggers, or
boatmen, differing only in complexion and occasional speech from the
average white b.'.ckwoodsmati. Their canoes are the only picturesque
thing left them and the winter dances are fast taking on the nature of
historical play*, repre?outatioi\s of ancient times and customs. The
berry feast in midsummer is often celebrated witli spirit, and a water
procession of decorated canoes carries the whole tribe off on a picnic to
gather salmon-berries on favoured shores,
9

122

SITKA AND VICINITY.

Lisiansky made a vocibulnry of the Sitkan dialect, and Dixon re-
corded several of their songs. Huron Wriingtll wrote imicli of them, and
Veniaminoff compiled a vuluablo othnolojiical work. lie recorded their
legends and folk-lore, and described their customs in detail. Since the
transfer the only ethnological work has been that of Lieutenant George
T. Emmons, U. S. N., whose collections in the Museum of Natural His-
tory, Central Park, New York, and for the Ahiskan section in the Co-
lumbian Exposition at Chicago in 18'.'o, eml)ody all of Tlingit art, and
his note-books contain all of Tlingit record and lore resulting from nine
years' systematic study.

The Ascent of Verstovoi.

The ascent of Verstovoi is the most profitable day's excursion around
Sitka. The first shoulder, the Mountd'm of the Cross (2,597 ft.), com-
mands as fine an outlook as the very tip of the Arrow-IIead peak, and
may be reached by either of two trails, in two and a half or three hours
from the wharf. No climber should attempt it alone or unarmed, as the
way puzzles woodsmen, and bears are numerous in the salmon season.

The old Rtissian Trail starts from the ford of Indian River at the
end of the wood-road leading past the cemetery. It was cleared in the
last decade of Russian rule, when an energetic Alpine Club member
scaled and planted crosses on all the heights around the bay. During
this official's stay there was an epidemic of mountain-climbing, and the
Russian women took part in the many picnics and dances on the
heights. The trail is now overgrown and blocked in many places, and
is longer than Koster^s Trail from Jamestown Bay.

The V limber may be rowed to the water-trough in Jamestown Bay,
where Koster^s Trail begins, or follow the path leading from the Lisi-
ansky graves on Indian River through to the bay. At low tide short
cuts may be taken across the thick, slimy beds of sea-weed covering the
rocky beaches. The same Executive proclamation that reserved the
banks of Indian River, reserved a tract of land 250 ft. wide on either
side of the little stream feeding the U. S. S. Jamestown's water-trough.
The trail is about two and a half miles to the Cross, a steep and steady
ascent, first following the stream to the logger's cabin. The dense
underbrush ceases at about the level of 800 ft., and beyond every-
thing is covered with moss. At the timber-line are beds of yellow vio-
lets and acres of heathery bryanthus and cassiopea, daisies, buttercups,
anemones, and cyclamen. The view of the Barauof mountains. Silver
Bay, the ocean, sound, and Mt. Edgecumbe, with Sitka at one's feet,
well repay the climber who reaches the tall wooden Cross,

SITKA AND VICINITY.

123

Vrrnfovoi, named hccnusc the Hiunmit was thought to he one verst
distant from the Cantle, ha.i also l)PC'n known as I*y]»iitT Mountain, the
Poucc, llu! Arrow Head, and Anciior Pcali — tlie hitter iiet'ause a snowy
anchor is si'en from the \. outlincil near tlie summit. The Verstovoi
pealt t-annot he reached from tiie .lamestown side. Tlie climber must
circle around the snow-fields on the valley side to reach the small plat-
form ;J,2I»1 ft. altove the hay. A record was left by the W. U. T. sur-
veyors who reached the top and took observations in 1805, mid the
JmiicHtowii'H oHicers erected a fla;.;-.staff, which each climbing party re-
plants. The peak i.s said to have been split by an earth(|uake in the
last century, exposing the smooth, triangular mass shaped like an arrow-
head. By climbing the slippery grass and bryaiithus beds on the Cross
side to the hanging hemlock grove, one may see the great tent roof of
Mt. Crillon and tlie trijjle peak of Mt. Fairweatlier lying a hundred
miles due N.

Excursions in the liay and Vicinity of Sitkn.

No other settlement in Alaska offers so much in its immediate
neighbourhood as Sitka. The a.-^cent of Ver^fovoi i.i the only land
excursion possible from the town. All other trips involve cruises in
canoe or in sail-boat, unless a launch is brought I'lom Juneau or Killis-
noo. ShumakofT, Clements, Frobese, and other local guides will under-
take all arrangements for sportsmen, naturalists, or pure pleasure-seek-
ers. The usual rates arc $2 a day for a canoe, and an additional per
diem for each oarsman. Sail-boats with covered cabins cost $5 to $10
a day. The regular day's wages for camp hands and others is ,$2. The
guides expect more.

The Harbour Islands. — It is possible to make a canoe or fish-
ing trip among the harbour islands during the steamer's regular wait.

Japonski, opposite the Indian village, is the largest of the 130 Har-
bour Islands, it measures a mile in length and is a half mile in
width. Its name, " Japan," was given because of the residence there of
the crew of a Japanese junk wrecked at this point in 1805. It was the
site of a large native village in IJaranof's time. In 1S40 Captain Etholin
built a magnetic and meteorological observatory, and records were kept
until the day of transfer. General Davis reserved all the harbour isl-
ands for military <ise, and Japonski was garrison, stock-yard, and naval
coal station in turn. Michael Travers, " Duke of Japonski," lived
there and cultivated vegetable gardens and hay-fields, until the recla-
mation of the land for Government use in 1890 drove him insane, and a
special agent was sent from Washington, D. C, to convey him to St.
Eliziibeth's Asylum near that city, the only refuge of the kind available
to Alaskan patients. The coal-sheds and powder-magazine are the
only buildings besides Travers's cabin. Etholin's observatory was
burned by the Indians when the troops left.

124

SITKA AND VICINITY.

//iiihnur hliintl lies S. of .Taponski, and contains several Indian
rar/iiK often niistiiM'ii for shamans' firavt-s, and Alriitsii Island beyond
is llie site of tnickniirdcns of a retired ninrjne. Tlie siiip channel lies
between Ahut.ski and Kidkini i>lHnds, tlie latter tiie home of a chief
converted and liaptized by Venianiinofl", and wlio related to the latter
much of the legend and folklore he recorded.

Mokhiiiiti (Kiifriied) Jslnm/ is the landmark for ships fi'oin the
ocean. It was chosen for a lijrht-hoiise site in 18H7, and (!a|)tain Heard.s-
lee'8 wooden beacon on the seaward blufl' is often taken for a shonmu's
grave. Snjmtl hhoid was the place for bonfires to lij^ht and lead ships
in Russian days. The (iriufi of a gun ciiiised the beacon on the citadel
roof to (lash out, and men were in waiting to light the signal-fires that
marked the course into the harbour. Departing ships were blessed by
the Itussian bishop in full canonicals, and deck, mainnuist, Hag, and
crew were sprinkled with the jewelled holy-water brush. All small
boats rowed three times round, singing a farewell, and nine cheers sjjed
the ship as the sails filled.

Sea bass may be caught at each flood tide ofT the N. shore of Ju-
ponski, and on tlie S. shore between it and the bold bluffs of Charcoal
Island. Cod, floimders, and sea trout reward the angler, and any na-
tive boatman k>iows the best fishing-banks and trolling-grounds and
the times and places for salmon " runs." Hetween JapouKH and S(uiaJui
Island, next beyond, W. of it, is a sea garden worth floating over to
admire. The growths of sea-weed and submarine plants are of tropical
luxuriance. Fronds as large as a l>anana or lysichton leaf crowd stems
80 ft. long; kelp lines loo an'l 200 ft. long are coiled on the surface,
and their " orange heads " float in groups. Coral and sponges are found
in the bay, the teredo is as dcstruetive as in the tropics, and strange
drift is left by the ocean currents. ^Sasn/ui, \V. of Japonski, is the most
beautiful of tho island.s — the " black beaeh " o». the S. W. shore com-
manding the finest view of Alt. Edgecumbe. Beds of large blue-bells and
thickets of salmon-berries are found on all the islands, and they are
nesting-places of the olive-baeked thrushes, whose song is a repeated
" 7V Dvutn ! Tf Deutn ! Te Demn I " in ascending notes of entrancing
sweetness. Crows, the red footed "oyster-catchers," sidle over all
Alaska beaches in search of clams, but find al)alones on these islet
shores, pry them off and carry them to the trce-to]is to devour. These
scavengers are guardian spirits and the great Crow is tutelary genius
of the region. Deceased shamans and illustrious ones of the Crow
clan are supposed to assume this form, and this reincarnation saves
them from native shot or snare.

The Ascent of Mt. Edgecumbe.

The climbing of this extinct volcano on Kruzoff Island involves an
indefinite time, as one reaches its base by launch or sail-boat after
crossing waters open to the heaviest swells when southeast winds blow.
Fogs are frequent, and the waters are full of sunken rocks. Landing

SITKA AND Vicinity.

125

on the Sitkr side, there is a hard tramp for 5 or 7 miles through a
swampy foit ., to the actual slope. In favourable weather a better
landing may be made in a cove on the ocean side, whence it is only 2
or 3 miles to i^loping ground. Once out on the open lava and scoriae it
la but an easy walk up an incline, and the crater is entered by a gap in
the southeast rim. The snow leaves the slope.-* and crater entirely in
midsummer. Steam rises from many sulphur-crusted vent-holes, and
beautiful specimens of sulphur, lava, and volcanic glass are obtained.
Several women have made the ascent in recent years.

After Tschirikow charted this mountain of St. Lazaria it rvar nest
seen by Maurelle, the pilot of Heceta and Bodega y Quadra's expedition
sent out by the Spanish Viceroy Bucarelly. lie entered "the great
bay among mountains" St. Jacinth's day, August IG, 1775, named the
peak San Jacinto and the bay Guadalupe. La Perouse next saw
this peak of St. Hyacinth, and then Cook, May 2, ]V7><, named it Mt.
Fdgecumbe, and the bay the Hay of Terrors. Dixon called the l)ay
Norfolk Sound, and Marchand (1791) took his predecessors to task for
this renaming. " Que gugneroit la Goograpliie i\ ce changenient de
nom ? qu' y gagneroit I'iinmortti Cook " .'' lie exclaimed, when the natives
made him understand that the bay was Tchin-Kitane (a useful arm).
He did not record the native name — Thigh, or sleeping mountain.

Two Kadiak hunters climbed the mountain in 1804 and rcjjorted
the crater filled with water. Lisiausky and Lieutenant Powalshin a.^-
cended in 1805, an<i found "a basin 2 miles in circumference and 40
fathoms deep filled with snow,"' July 23d. Lisiansky estimated the
height at 8,000 ft., with forest reaching to within a mile and a half of
the top. Lutke was told (18'.i7) that the mountain was in crui)tion in
17'.*6 and 1804. In 18 "^ Professor Davidson estimated its height at
2,855 ft. In 1880 Professor William Libby, Jr., of Princeton College,
climbed to the crater's rim and gave its hciglit as ;{,782 ft. The whole
mountain, according to Prof. Libbey, is only a parasitic cone on a
greater volcanic nuiss of which the Ct'in(l\^ Iiin'k\ N. of Edgecumhe, was
the chief vent-hole. The r .al crater in the Camel's Back is 5 miles long
and 3 miles wide, a basin 1,500 ft. deep, with an internal slope of about
60°. The level floor is covered with forests anij open paiks, «it!i sev-
eral lakes. The Camel's Back rose from the sea c;. des ago, and built
around it the teriaced ])latforms constituting Kruzoff Island. Edge-
cumbe was formed on its uiert slopes only a few score centuries

ago.

Sportsmen find many attractions within the 18-mile limits of the
Kruzoff shores. There are licar and deer. There is a lake on the
Sitka side where rainbow trout may be t'aught. There are many clam
beaches, and a bay where Captain Beardslee found as many soft-shell
crabs as in those exceptional seasons when Mass(!tt Inlet and Prince fif
Wales bays have been edged with bioad windrows of cast-off shells.

12(;

SITKA AND VICINITY.

Silver Buy and the Sitka Mining District*

Silver Ray, or Serrebrcnnikof Bootka, n.s named for a Siberian ex-
ploiPr kincd at Copp<>r River, is the A''(Xv7'c, or " lake belonging to
black fish-men " of tiv- native?*. It opens at the south point of James-
town Bay, 2; miles twlow Sitka, and extends for 6 miles with a width
of lesH than half a mile (>«'tween mountains rising precipitously 2,000
ft. »nd mftr*- Lakes <^i tl*f south foot of Verstovoi feed Saw-mill Creek.
The remains of tktf Kussutn i-rib dam and fium'^ -iie on the bank a
quarter of * mile fiMnii the •fc'Mith. The mill was i oed by the In-
dians &1f0^ the 'Vyarture of ''i*' tr</"ps. Malma or Dolly Varden trout
are to ^■^ caught Mow tli^ dam, and in the farther waters the rarer
beautif s with the rainbow .-tj^eckles abide.

Round Afountinn, at the turn of the fiord, is a symmetrical green
landmark, with a lofty cave on its 'ast sid(! into which a canoe may t)e
rowed at high tide. Kalampipx Lwul-S/idc, on the oj)posi'.,e mountain
wall, marks where a Russian hunte in chasing a deer encountered a
bear just as the earth trembled and the crust of the mountain slipped
down into the water. The dcei' wa,' caught by the branches of a tree
at the water's edge, and Kaluinpy. ^hile hanging on the next tree, saw
the bear drown, /ienr B<ii/, the tirst indentation on the east shore and
liome of a famous gi i/./ly, holds a magnificent landscape cation, three
massive peaks ranging in echelon on one side with a massive broad-
armed cross outlined by the snow on KnpoUnoid's sHnmiit — a symbol
seen from the farthest end of Sitka Sound, A waggon-road leads up
the canon to a group of mines.

At the extreme end of the bay the Silver Creek Fall shoots down
300 ft. in long rapids, the last leap of 60 ft. bringing it to tide-waters.
From the wharf of the Stewart mine a road leads to thr mill and tun-
nels of a valuable group of mines. There it- fine fishing in Salmon
Creek, an<l trails lead to several mines, those of the Great Eastern
Group lying on the divide between Silver Bay and Gloubokoe Lake at
an elevation of 6,r>o0 ft.

The O'jl'f Mines. — The Russian Fur Company's officers nevci wunted
to discover and made but half-hearted search for precious minerals,
their charter providing that any lands containing miiicrals should be-
long fo the crown. Mining 1 us been most disastrous to fur trading
interests, and opposed by such everywhere. Baraiiof is saiil to have
kiouted a promyshlenik who brought a piece of gold (iuart/. from
Silver Hay, and discouraj.t'd prospecting for all time. I'rof. Blake
reported to Mr. Seward, iti 18*')7, that theic was little promise of
precious metals " in the hard conglomerate or grit passing into argil-

THE LARANOF SHORE SOUTH OF 8ITKA.

127

lite" in the iinniediiite neiylibourliood of Sitka. In ISYl Edward
Dovle ff)iiTi(i lioiit ^old in the Silver Bay wliores, uncovered a quartz
Ktrinner on Kdund Mountain, and anotlier on Indian River. Tlie Haley
and Kodijjcrs lode, on Sahiion Cieek, was the firtit worked by garrison
oliiecrti. The Stewart Mill, on the neighhourinj; claim, was built in
1877, and the Bald Mountain clain^s were worked for a few yeurs.
The Juneau discoveries drew miners away, and the district was vir-
tually abandoned. Governor Swineford's enerfry caused a revival of
milling' interest.s in 1885 ; other mills were built and work pushed, but
a second lull ensued when he left, and for several seasons only pro-
specting and assessment work was done. Differences among stockhold-
ers and want of means have prevented any of the mines being thor-
oughly and systematically worked for any time. The tons of high
grade ore taken out, and the rich specimens obtained, prove the ex-
istence and (piality of the lodes, and the prosperity of the region ii
but a matter of time.

The Baranof Shore south of Sitka.

The tourist can visit The Redonbt, or Drashnikoff settlement, in
the Toyon's, or Ozerski Bui/, 12 miles S. of Sitka, and return in a day
by canoe ; or one may go through to the Hot Springs in one day's
canoe trip, stopping at the Redoubt on the way.

From Sitka the course leads for 8 miles through a maze of wooded
islets to the mouth of the bay, that extends 4 miles as a narrow canon
or rock cutting to the natural dam holding the waters of the Glou-
bokoe Lake, or the " Deep Sea." Drashnikoff Peak rises at the end
of the bay perpendictdarly from the water 1,500 ft. The Russirn.s
had a fortified settlement and jail here, and cured their winter sup-
plies of salmon. There were 2 flour-mills, a saw-mill, tannery, church,
and resi'ence buildings, within a stockaded post, and substantial
weirs in the raj)ids i)etween the lake and bay. Lutke visited and
described the Redoubt in 1827, and Sir (Jeorge Simpson in 1844. The
buildings were burned by the natives after the troops left Sitka, aad
the stockade destroyed. The pioneer Alaskan cannery eptahlishcd at
old Sitka in 1878 was moved to the Redoubt, but closed in 189U and
for several seasons, and woik c(mducted at lied Bay, 20 miles below,
where the catch of several salmon streams could be centred.

(•loubokoc Litke, 8 miles long and less than three-quarters of a
mile wide, has a depth of 50 fathoms, and is chiefly fed by a large
stream at the N. V.. end. The stream may be ascended 3 miles, and
trails lead from tiie banks lo the mines on Balil Mountain and down
the range, and over the divide to Salmon Creek and Silver Bay. There

«»-,/'■'

128

THE BARxiNOF SHOEE SOUTH OF SITKA.

is a fine glacier on the mountain at the E, enJ of the lake, and the
mountain walls rise precipitously on either side of the flooded caiion.
From the S. E. end of the lake a portage of a mile crosses a low divide
to Hot Springs, or Klukacheff Bay. The Redoul)t is an admirable
headquarters for sportsmen or anglers, and permission may be had to
use some of the abandoned cannery buildings for shelter.

The White Sulphur Hot Springs.

At the highest tide, a chain of intricate passes may be used by
canoes, and several miles saved in the voysige from the Re.'oubt to
Hot Springs Bay. It is worth several hours' delay to thread these
labyrinths through the trees and rocks, and it furnishes the ideal
water trip of the archipelago, bringing more of landscape beauty in
range than any other three hours of canoeing. The Hot Springs cura-
t ve (jualities were long known to the natives, and the bay was noutial
ground where all tribes met, but none built a permanent villap".

Libiansky discovered or explored the liay in IHo.'i, and .-^pent a
week tliere. Lutke mentions his visitirjg the one house at the springs
in 1827 and in 1887 Cu[)tain Belcher spoke of the saw-mills p.c
" Les Sources, or warm 8[)rings, which serves as a sort of Hurryw-
gate to the colony." Sir (Jeorge Simpson enjoyed his stay in the
comlortablc (juarters at the hospital. In ISft'i the natives attacked
the aettleiuent, Imrued the buildings, and drove the invalids to the
w )ods. All ol th^m reached Sitka, allhowgh comnelled to cross the
mountains in tiic- dead of winter. The new stockaded i)ost contained a
hospital, chapel, residences for two doctoi:^, and o pharmacist, and
there was daily comimmication by stcam-laimch with Sitka. There
were gardens and hay-tields on the great cleared hillside, and the sub-
ter-anean heat still forces a rii'h vegetation. The i)uil(lings were all
burned by the natives after the dcpaiturc of the troops from Sitka.

By an oversight, the Hot Springs were omitted from the list of lands
reserved for Government use, aral ihis tract was taken up by a Sitka
merchant, who has built a group of cottages and a rude bath-house.
Arrangcnients for the use of these cottages inay be made in Sitka,
where the keys are kept. A ciiargC' of 50 ceiitf a inght is made for
each person sleeping in the hay-fiHed bunks of the cottages, using the
cooking-stoves and fiie-w,;;;ii.

The White Sulpl.'ur Spring bubbles from a gerij like pool and
crevices among the rocks, and has a temperature of 155° Fahr The
other spring has a temperature of 1-2 , and both are impregnated
with sulphur, iron chlorine, and magnesia. They are sovereign for

"TO WESTWARD" FHOM 8ITKA TO UNALASKA. 129

rheumatism and skin diseases, and are said to be the most valuable
springs medicinally of any N. of the Harriaou Hot Springs on the
Fraser River.

The evtensivv.' meadows and gardens cleared by the Russians are
relapsing to wililernesses again, and moscc'ifoes arc as many and ;enom-
0U8 as in tisiaMsity's day. There is a Tlingit .egend tliat the mosciuito
war^ originally a giant spider, but an evil spirit threw hiin in the (ire,
where he shrivelled to iiis present size and iiew away, with a coal of
fire in his mouth, with which ho retaliates upon manldml. Humming-
birds nest in the trees, and thrushes cull from island to shore.

The mountains ))ehind the bay are full of game, and the black-tailed
deer may be easily found, or lured by the low, wailing sound made by
blowing on i' blade of grass held between the thum!.*'' Sportsmpu
have had t)ear-h ating in the dense berry thickets, and the.e are sev-
eral trout streams near.

One of the finest views of Mt. Edgecumbe is from the Hot Springs
hillside, tlie hyacinthine peak seeming to float enchi-.ntcd beyond the
long. isIand-<lotti.'d water foreground. The ball of the July sun drops
evenly within the crater's edges, with the most superb colour pano-
rama nhat northern skies end sea can summon, and not an hour ot the
long-drawn summer sunsets should be missed by those who visit the
steaming hillside by the ocean.

"To westward" fram Sitka to Unalaska. along the
Continental Shore.

A steamer of the Xorfh American Commercial Co. leaves Sitka for
Unalaska \ipon the arrival of alternate mail steamer.- fiom the Sound
during seven nxmths in the year and on or about the :uh day of June,
July, and Augn.^t, when jjossihle. The P. C. S. S. Co. allow stop-over
l)rivilege8 to those holding its exclusion tickets, and the opportunity is
given the tourist to see Mt. St. Elias, a diflferent scenic panorama, and the
stcange life in the farthest and most out-of-th -way region of the United
States. The steamer calls at Yakutat, Orca., Nuchek, Kadiak, Kailuk,
Unga, and Sand Point, giving tourists opportunity to .-ce everything
of interest on or near the route, within the 27 or 30 days scheduled for
the round trip of 2,r)00 miles from Sitka. The fare, $120 for the round
trip, includes meals and berths going and loniing, hoard and lodging
at the X. A. C. Co.'s house at Dutch Harbour, Unalaska, and the trip
to Bogoslov beyond Unalaska. The steamer is staunch and well ofti-

130 "TO WKSTWARD" FROM SITKA TO UNALA8KA.

ccriul, and all the accoiiiiiiodations for tlic 22 cabin passcnf^tTsarcaliovo
deck. In niidsiiiiinier smooth passaj^es may be expected. The Kadiak
and Unalaska regions contain the oldest Hussian settlements, but they
had no regular commimicatioii with the rest of the worhl until the
establishment of this mail route in 1891. Up to that time even criminals
were sent to Sitka for trial by way of San Fi'aneiseo. The tourist ser-
vice was inaugurated in lH'.t3. Passage can be engaged only from the
N. A. C. Co.'s agent at Sitka.

From Sitka to Yakutut.

The westward steamer's course is directly out from the harbour to
the ojien ocean and around Mt. Edgecumbe. .Mt. St. Klias has been
seen from Salisbtiry Sound, at the N. I'ud of Kruzoflf Island, and on any
clear day is visible 100 miles at sea.

There are but two indentations in the plateau bordering the ocean
from Cross Sound to Yakutat Bay, and these. LUuya Hay and Dry Hay,
have no commercial importance.

The plateau supports four great peak.s — Mt. La P(5rouse (li,oOO ft.),
Mt. Crillon (\^,W<) ft.), Lituya Mt. (10,(10(1 ft.), and Mt. Fair.veather
(15,r)00 ft.). The Crillon and La J'eroutic Glacier join and front on the
ocean for 2 miles just N. of Icy Cape.

Lituya Bay, 40 miles N. of Cape Spencer, cuts in 6 miles to
the base of Lituya Mt. in T-shajie, and the crotJs-pieee is 8 miles in
length.

It presents the greatest dangers to navigation. The tide enters m a
bore, and it can only be lun at slack water. La Perousc lost two boats'
crews in this bore in 178(), and erected a wooden Monument to their
memory on Cenotaph Island within the bay. Dr. Dall surveyed the bay
in 1874, described his entering with tlu' tide as "sailing down-hill," and
epitomized its scenery as " a soi't of Yosemite Valley, retaining its gla-
ciers, and w'th its floor submerged tiOO or 80(i ft." Lieutenant (). T.
Emmons explored it, and crossed overland to Dry Bay. Ue then learned
the native legend of " the two men of Lituya," who, assuming the shape
of bears, sit at either side of the entrance holding a sail-cloth just be-
neath the surface, aiul rudely tossing any incautious canoemau who
paddles across it. Placer mining has been suecessfuUy conducted on
the shores of the bay since IHH'.i.

Dry Bay is a shallow lagoon at the delta of the Alsekh River,
which rises near the Chilkat's source and flows in behind Mt. Fair-

I'h.i i|.li l.^ I'r '1 1. r, Hussell,
Ml. SI. Elhi.t. from End • ,r Saiuorur JJills.

"TO WESTWARD" FROM SITKA TO UN ALASKA. 131

woiithor tluoufrli tlie (lc|)iession iioteii liy Captuin Cook. It was ex-
plored from source to inoutli In- the Frai/k Leslie Hxpeditioii of 1890,
along the old trail used by Klohkutz's Ciiilkats. This glacial river is
crowded with salriion in their season.

Yakutut Bay, 45 miles ahove Dry Bay, is only an indentation of
the coast curving inward some 20 miles, and the whole force of the
north PaciKc sweeps into it, rendering landing diftieult and dangerous
at all times. The bay always contains much floating ice from the gla-
ciers at its head, and a heavy surf beats (m the St. Ellas .-hore.

There is an Indian village, trading-store, and Moravian mission at
Port 3fulffrnve, opposite Khantiiak Island, where Barancf established a
colony of Siberian convicts. Several ships weio built there, but the
natives burned the fort and massacred the settlers. There was great
excitement in 1880 at the discovery of gold in the bhck-sand beaches,
and in 1883-'8t)-'88 there were considerable mining camps. By using
the same rotary hand amalgamators as on Californian gold beaches, as
much as ,$40 a day to the man was realized. The Yakutat chief ex-
acted licenses and royalty from the unprotected miners. A tidal wav
heaped the beach with windrows of dog fish, which, decaying in the hot
summer sun, 8oake<l the sands with oil and the mercury could not act.
The miners moved to a new beach ; a tidal wave w ashed all the black sands
away, and the camp was abandoned. The sea has since been restoring
the black sands. A vein of good coal was found a mile and a half in-
land and JiOO ft. above the bay, and, but for the difficulty of loading
ships in that bay, the coal problem would be solved for all the Sitkan
region. Yakutat village contains some original Tlingit lodges, and the
Yakutat women are the finest basket-weavers on the coast.

In 1890 Captain C. L. Hooper, U. S. R. M., pushed into the head of
Malaspina's Dhenvhnutmoit Hay, GO miles beyond the point where the
Spanish explorer reprc-^entcd the water-line as ending, and discovered
the Dalton and IIubl)ard tide-water glaciers. In 1891 Prof. Russell ex-
plored the bay farther in a canoe, and found it benJing sharply south-
ward and extending for another do miles to a level prairie country at
the foot of Mt. Fairwcather. Prof. Russell charted the bay and named
Mts. Unaua, Ruhamah, and Piuta,

132 "TO WESTWARD" FROM SITKA TO UNALA8KA.

iHt. St. VMan,

Since Bering Hifjlited tlie liolnhoi Sho/da (" <>;reut peak ") on St.
EliuB (liiy, 1741, it lias hi'cii tlie pmi of iiiiiiiy navif^iitors and explorers,
and tln'ir records of its Leiglit, latitude, and longitude are:

Height and Poaithm of Mt. St. h'licui.

DM6.

Authority,

IMgbt.

Latltudti.

Lon

gituda.

1778

Cook*

12,072 ft.

17,8.Vl ft.

n.R'JOfV
1(;,9.«-

i«,o;i8 »

1(1,758 "

14,070 "
lO.-'iOOi 100 "

(eBtlmated)
18,500 ft.

15,.350 "

18,100±100 "

18,110±100 "
18,024 ■'
18,080 "

1780

La PerouHO

00'

1.V

00"

140*

10' 00"

1787

I'ortlock und Dixon *

Doll^'lllHH ♦

1788

1791

Malufpiiin

(lO
tiO

17
22

;«
m

140
140

.W 17

1704

V^iiiK.'imvcr

HO 00

18;}7

BflclUT

lfW7

UuKHiun Ilyilrographic
Chart, 1M7H

(»

00
00

• M

21
20

:«i
w

00
45

141
140
140
140

141
141

00 00

1847

Toln'iikof (Noli'H)

.M 00

1849
1872

lVl)c'iikof (Clinrt VI 1 1

Bach. (,'an. IiihcIii

.54 00
51 00

1874
1877

EiiL'liHh Adiniiulty Chart
2172

r. 8. Cf .ant Survey

Prof. Cliac. Tavlor, Limit.
C. K. S. VVoodt

Lieut. F. Hchwatkn, Prof.
William Libhy, ijr., A.
W. Heton-Karr J

W. IL Topham, Kdwin
Tophain, William Wil-
lianiH, (ioornL- Broke

Mark B. Kerr, topofjra-
phcr II

Prof. I. C. RucHcll (for
National tJuographic So-
ciety;

00 00
00 12

1880

1888

1890

1891

140

.55 :iO

1892

Turner, McCirath (U. 8.

Coast Survi'v)

U S. C.aiid (t., McCJrath..
Prince Lui(;i, of Savoy

1894
1897

140

55 47

* No obscrvntions nindc. t Indians obliged them to turn back.

} New York Times K.\j)edition. Beached < 'haix llillH. No obHervatlouf* made.
f National (ieographic Society's Expedition, commanded by I'rof. I. C.
Ruweeli.

It wa.-^ reported as eniitting smoke ami vapour in 18H9, and in 18-17,
at tlie time of tlie gicat Sitka carthtiuake, tlamc ami ashes came from
its summit. I'rof. Ru.Hsell and F'rince Liiigi found sufficient geologic
evidence to prove that the peak is not volcanic.

The ascent of Mt. St. Elias offers the longest snow-climb in the
world outside of arctic or antarctic regions. The line of perpetual
enow is at 3,000 ft. Fuel and stippliea must be carried from the start,
and weeks spent in tents on the ice.

! I

"rqfn:

SKETCH MAP

MT S^ Elias Region

— — • f!»

•*- ». i^ jk < 1 4\S A.-*-. Vr < k *•

& a
© ®

IMAGE EVALUATION
TEST TARGET (MT-3)

k^O

% 4l

i^A^

I/.

1.0

I.I

128

^ lU |2.2

1^ I'

ui -.0 112.0

— 6"

L25 iiu 11.6

-P^

Piiotographic

Sciences

Corporation

23 WEST MAIN STREET

WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580

(716) 872-4503

•^^

f^^^

"TO WESTWARD" FROM SITKA TO UNALASKA. 133

The members of the Topham Expedition were all experienced Alpine
Club climbtTs, and were first to stand on Mt. St. Elias slopeiJ. They
ascended from Icy Bay to the rim of the crater on the S. E. side, a
point 11,460 ft. by aneroid measurement. Mr. Williams, of New Lon-
don, the only American of the party, left a tin box containing a United
States flag as a record at that point. The expedition of the National
Geographic Society of 1890, under Prof. I. C. Russell, crossed Yakutat
Bay and reached a height of 9,600 ft. on the E. face of the mountain
on the Newton Glacier. In 1891 Prof. Russell was sent again by the
same society. Six lives were lost in landing in the surf at Icy Bay, and
Prof. Russell reached the elevation of 14 500 ft. on the N. side of the
mountain, when driven back by storms and scarcity of provisions. He
explored the plateau of the Mala*pina Glacier from Icy Bay to Disen-
chantment Bay on the return. Prince Luigui Amedeo, of Savoy, three
companions, and six Italian guides made a tuccessful ascent 'a 1897, fol-
lowing the route of Prof. Russell. The elitnb up from the Malaspina
Glacier was accomplished in 80 days, the de^ nt in 1 days, without the
least delay or accident from start to finish of i e well-planned excursion.

The observations of the U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey party in
1892 were for the purpose of continuing Messrs. Turner and McGrath's
work on the international boundary line, and establishing the longitude
of Mt St. Elias. It is now definitely accepted as beyond the United
States lines, but as a natural comer-stone or monument sufficiently
raarking the line of the Hist meridian, although overtopped by the
neighbouring Aft. Logan (19,639 ft.), now accepted as the highest peak
on the North American continent, unless the newly-discovcred Mt
McKinley, far north of Cook's Inlet, should prove taller. The peak
of Orizaba, formerly the highest peak of the New World, is reduced to
18,314 ft by latest measurements (1892).

The full accounts of the later expeditions to Mt St. Elias since 1867
will be found in the following publications :

FiLLiPPO DK FiLiPPi, Dr. Revitta Mensile del Clvb Alpino liediano,
November, 1897. Translation, by Dr. Paolo de Vecchi, in Sierra Club
Bulletin, January, 1898.

Karr, H. W. Seton. *' Shores and Alps of Alaska." London :
Proceedings of Royal Geog. Soc, London. Vol. IX. 1' ^7.

Kerr, Mark B. Scribner's Magazine, March, 1891.

LiBBKY, Prof. William, Jr. Bulletin Am. Gcog. Soc., N. Y., 1886.

Russell, Prof. Israel C. Century Magazine, April, 1891, and
June, 1892. Natl. Geog. Soc. Magazine, Washington, D. C, May 29,
1891. Am. Journal of Science, March, 1892. Thirteenth Annual Re-
port, Director of U. S. Geol. Survey, 1892.

TopiiAM, H. W. Alpine Journal, London, August, 1889.

Williams, William. Scribner's Magazine, April, 1889.

Wood, C. £. S. Century Magazine, July, 1882,

134 "TO WES-nVARD" FROM SITKA TO UN ALASKA.

Continental Alaska*

While the steamer waits at Y'akutat, there ia in full view the mag-
nificent line of the St. Elias Alpa towering in the nky above the low,
green forest land. Upon leaving, the ship skirts along tho front of the
Malaftpina Olacier, which borders the ocean for more ili;m 60 miles,
with the sea breaking fully on its ice-clilTs in places. Mt. St. Eliati,
Ht Cook, and Mt. Vancouver are easily distinguished by their great
height. There is no break in the mainland mountain panorama from
Edgecumbe to Makushiu, 1,250 miles, and in this respect the voyage
is unparallelled.

The Copper River region was believed to be an El Dorado by the
Russians, but their efforts to explore it failed. Rufus Serrebrennikof
and his men were murdered before they had explored the river's mouth.

General Hiles's first expedition under Lieutenant Abercrombie,
U. S. A., in 1884, failed to ascend the river and come out by the
Chilkat countr}-. A second expedition, in 1886, was led by Lieutenant
H. T. Allen, U. S. A., who ascended the Cop/jer, crossed the divide to
the Tenana. sailed down that stream to the Yitlon, and explored the
Kotfukuk River before returning to San Francisco via St. Michaels.
His report (Forty-ninth Congress, second session, Senate Executive
Document, No. 126) gives a detailed account of the trip; of the
magnificent Miles Glacier, which fronts in ice-clifTs for 6 miles on the
banks of Copper River ; of IVood^a Canon, 40 yards wide, with perpen-
dicular walls; and of the smoking cone of Mt. Wrangel, which he re-
duced from fabled height to an actual 17,600 ft. No mountains of pure
copper were found, nor anything to induce others to run the risk of starva-
tion in the almost uninhabited country. In 1891 Lieutenant Schwatka
and Dr. Hayes came out to the sea by Copper River, after their great
circuit of the interior from Taku Inlet to the Yukon and White rivers.

Prince William's Scnsd and its Great Glaciers.

Nachek, or Port Etches, is at the entrance of Prince William's
Sound, as Captain Cook named the Chugach Gulf when he keeled and
mended his ships at Snug Corner Bay, 1778. Shelikoff came in 1783,
and Baranof built the ships that took his first expedition to Sitka.
The Russian trading-post was known as the Redoubt Constantine, and
the furs of the Copper River country are brought to Nuchek, where
there is a salmon-cannery and trading-post. In 1892 the Victoria
sealing fleet rendezvoused off Nuchek to meet their suppW steamer
Coquitlam, revictual, and transfer their catch of Pacific seali as before
Tcnturing into Bering Sea. Captain C. L. Hooper, with the revenue cut-

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"TO WESTWARD" FROM SFFKA TO UNALARKA. 135

ter Coricln, Hurprinofl tlioni in tlie net. nnil tlie Cofjuiflum, with iier valu-
able ciiif^o, wiis Hi'i/eii nn<l Uihcu to Sitkn for a violation of U. S. revenue
liiWH in tninsferring ear^o without authority of the customs district,
Orca, near tlie entrance of the Soun<l, has become a cunsideruble settle-
ment, as landing-place for those crossiiif^ Uy ValdtH J'am (lU) miles) to the
Copper Hirer mining regions, and via the Xanana lUver to the Yukon.

The ChugHch Alps surrounding^ Piincn William's Sound hold
some of the grandest scenery of tlie Alaska coast, and the tide-water
glaciern in the recesses of the sound even surpass those of southeastern
Alaska. Vancouver describes the gloomily magnificent sound, and Mr.
Whidby felt the groimd shake when tt miles away from the falling ice.
Prof. Davidson had a glimpse of the Ice falls in 18(17, and Russian offi-
cers told him of one glacier that showed a peculiar rose-red tint in a
certain light. Dr. Dall visited the sound in 1874, and declared the gla- ,
cial landscapes the finest of their kind. Mr. Seton Karr makes reference
to them in his " Shores and Alps of Alaska." The dangers of navigation
deter large vessels from attempting cruises in the unsurveyed waters,
and the floating ice menaces canoes, .so that the ntmiber, size, movement,
and general features of these Chugach ice streams await exploration.

- Cook*8 Inlet and the Kenai Peninsula.

Cook's Inlet extends inland 160 miles between the Alaska or
Chignik range and the mountainous Kenai Peninsula. Sheltered by the
great barrier on the west, its shores enjoy a different climate from any
of the coast region south of it, and the warm, cloudless summers won
Cook's Inlet the name of the Summer-land from the Russians. The
best agricultural land lies along the Kenai shore of the Inlet, and the
Russian company established five colonics of their pensioners in this gar-
den spot, where they raised crops and cattle, and still continue to do so.

The Inlet is renowned for its scenery, which ('a])tain Cook was first
to extol. He discovered the great estuary during his search for a pas-
sage to Hudson Bay, passing the south jMiint of Kenai Peninsula on the
birthday of the Princess Elizabeth, May 21, 1778. The mainland point, 40
miles across from this Vape Elizabeth, was named for Dr. Douglass, Canon
of Windsor. Captain Cook took possession in the name of His Majesty,
and buried coins and records in a bottle at Possession Point at the head
of the IiUet, and Vancouver searched for these records in vain. Cook
did not name the place on his map, referring to it as the Great River
in his text. Lord Sandwich wrote in " Cook's River " after the great
navigator's death. Cape Elizabeth is 650 miles from Sitka and 1,670
miles from Sao Francisco,

136 "TO WEflTWARD" FROM SITKA TO TNALASKA.

Coal- Fields. — Poitlock mentioned the c-oal-vcinf* In Graham or Eng-
lish Hnrhmir, near ('ape Kll/alK>tli, in 17K7, and the KiiHHianH afterward
worked them on a eonsideraltlu Heale, and exported much of thid lipiite
to ('uHfoiniii previous to tlie di>eoverv of tlie Vantouver eoal. Tram-
wavfi, otonc pieiti, and deeayiiiK l>nildinKH aie memorials to the im-
mense HuniR suuk by the Russian company and some San KranciHCo
merchants who shared in tlie enterprise at Coal Harbour in Chugachik
or Kachetnnk liaif. Recently, interest in these coal-mines has l)een re-
vived, and also in the old works near Fort Kenai, where the equal of
Nanaimo eoal was iiromi.'^ed.

Fort Kcnai, the old Redocbt St. Nicholas, was garrisoned by
U. S. troops for a few years aftci- the transfer. There are two trading
stations and three canneries in the Inlet, and king .salmon weighing 100
pounds ore often caught, (iold was found in small quantities by a
Russian engineer in 185fi; and prospectors, searching for ten seasons,
made such rich discoveries in lS5t6 that a rush of more than 2,000
miners occurred the following spring.

The Volcanoes. — Cook's Inlet is the finest Ahi.skan pleasure-
ground for scientists, sportsmen, anglers, artists, and yachtsmen, and
its climate enhances all attrictions. A chain of active volcanoes ex-
tends along the W. shore. Iliamna, the great volcano of the Inlet
(12,066 ft.), was named Miranda, the Admirable, by the Spanish navi-
gators. It is snow-dad, but steam and smoke issue from two cratere
near the summit, and when arrested for any time frequent earthquakes
are felt. Iliamna was ascended by a party sent from the Imperial Acad-
emy of Sciences at St Petersburg in 1 862, and by several parties of
U. S. officers w hile the garri.son was maintained at Fort Kenai, 40 miles
distant across the Inlet. There was an eruption in 1854, and in 1869
climbers found running lava near the lower crater, a vast oval bowl
full of sulphur crystals, and were driven from the upper crater by the
volumes of dense black smoke. Many hot springs occur on the slopes,
and the heat furnishes a luxuriant growth of trees in the valleys and
ravines. The natives have many superstitions concerning it.

Goryalya, or the Redoubt (11,270 ft.), stands N. of Iliamna,
and smokes and steams on a lesser scale. It was in eruption in 1867,
and ashes fell to a depth of one inch and a half on Kadiak island, 166
miles away.

Aagnstin, on an island near the mouth of the Inlet, is a tym-
metrical cone whose fires 'are extinct.

A trail leads from the native viliage in Kamishak Bay, S. of Ili-
amna, for 7 mileft through a gap in the mountains to a chain of lakes

TO WESTWARD" FROM SITKA TO UNALA8KA. 137

discharging at the end of 16 miles into Iliamna, the largest lake in
Alanka. Ilinmna Lake, 90 miles long and from 30 to 40 miles
wide, is an inland rettervoir or hatchery of king salmon, who use the
Kvichak River as their hi;;hwuy to Bering Sea. This chain of water-
courseri and the short portitf^c arc UHed by hunters who come over from
Bristol Bay to the sea-otter rooketlcs along the Cook Inlet and Shell-
koff sliores.

Either shore offers unlimited opportunities to sportsmen. The
only herds of wild reindeer remaining in Alaska are in the regions
along the Alaskan and Kenai ranges. The big brown bear of Cook's
lulet lias world-wide fume, and these monsters are the great prizes of
native hunters. Moose, caribou, mountain-goat, mounfAin-sheep, and
deer are found. There arc many trout streams besides the salmon rivers
on the E. shore, and wild fowl haunt the marshes in that same region.

The finest waterfalls in Alaska leap from the clifPs along the Inlet,
and the alternation of snow-pcuks, volouiioes. forested slopes, and fer-
tile prairies continually ciiarm the eye. There are glaciers in the
mountains on cither shore of the Inlet. Those facing the Kachemak
Bay coalmines were explored and named l)y the Russian scientists in
1862, and their map showing tlie Grew'mgk, the Wos^iesaeniki, the
LoroMn, and the Siid glaciers is included in the Gletacher-Karte,
of Berghaus's Physikal Atlas.

TIDES.

The Inlet is swept by tremendous tides, and there are strong tide
rips at the entrance and at the Forthtmh beyond Fort Kenai. In
Turnugiun Ann, or Resurrection Bay, tliere is u tide fall of 20 and 27
ft., and the tide enters in a liuire bore or wave. Expert canoemen
take advantage of and ride the bore safely, and are swept rapidly on
their way by its aid.

The natives, the Cliugachs, like the inhabitants of Prince William
Sound, are Indians of Athal)ascan stock. They are not a canoe peo-
ple, and differ as much from the Tlingits on one side as from the Es-
quimaux on the other.

Kadiak and the Great Salmon Canneries.

The dense forests of the Northwest Coast finally cease at the line

of the Kenai Peninsv.la, and tiiere are but scattered groves on the

Kadiak Islands. Beyond that line the shores are covered with grasses,

shrubs, and thick mosses, that, freshened by perpetual fog and rain, are

so brilliantly and intensely green as to dazzle the eye. The dug-out

canoe disappears at this forest edge, and boats of sea-lion or walrus
10

138 "TO WESTWARD" FROM SITKA TO UNALA8KA.

hide stretched over driftwood framett replace them. The bidarka, «
narrow shell pointed at either end, carricH one or two men, who nit
each in a smuil hatch furnished with an apron that foHtens around his
body, and these biaddere ride the roughest seas safely. Women and
children are even packed beneath the oarHnien's feet for short voyages.
Lutke called these bidarkann the " (Jossacks uf the sea," and Hillings
wrote, " If perfect symmetry, smoothness, and pro|)ortion constitute
beauty, they are beautiful beyond anything that lever beheld." They
have also the oowiak; or large open walrus-hide l)oat, as a family and
trading canoe, and these two craft, with slight modifii i.' a , are in use
from Kadiak around to tlie arctic coast.

In 1850 three Ru^<sian sailors deserted from Kadiak and reached
Shoalwater Bay, Wash., in bidarkus. In 1884 two Danes went from
Kadiak to San Francisco in a bidarka 19 U. long, making the l,AOO
mile.) to Victoria in 100 days' paddling, with frequent canips at night
along the coast. In 1892, a I'i-ton schooner was blown ufT Karluk in
a storm, and the one man navigated the 2,0i)0 miles to San Francisco in
20 days, a feat which matclies the bidarkans' record.

i.isiansky was told that the Kadiak Islands were once separated by
only the narrowest pass from the peninsula's shore. A huge Kenai
otter attempted to swim through and was caught fast. Its struggles
widened the Shclikoff Strait, and pushed Kadiak out to its present pos-
session. By tradition, the original inhabitants were descended from a
dog. There is one legend of a man and a dog being set adrift on a
stone that finally turned to an island. Another tells that the daugh-
ter of a great chief living north of " the peninsula of Alaxa " was ban-
ished in wrath with her dog husband and whelps. The dog tried to
swim back but was drowned, and the pups fell upon their grandfather,
tore him to pieces, and ruled in his stead. Lisiansky found the Ka-
diakers in the lowest stages, sitting on the roofs of their sod huts or
on the beach, like herds of animals, gazing at the sea in stupid silence.
The want of oral intercourse proved their estate, but the courteous ex-
plorer said that '' their ^implieity of character exceeds that of all other
people." He built ice hills for the Christmas of 1804, the Aleuts and
Kadiakers went crazy over toboganning, and the natives came from the
farthest points to watch.

Afo^ak, the nor..hem island of the group, was declared a Fish and
^mber Culture Reserve, by Executive proclamation of Dec. 24, 1 892.

The steamer calls on both E. and W. trips at the headquarters of
the N. A. G. Co. for the Kadiak region on Wood Island near St. Paul.
The furs of Copper River and the Kenai region reach those warehouses.
There are large ice-houses on the island, whence cargoes were shipped
to San Francisco previo'v a i^e perfecting of the ice-machine. The

"TO WESTWARD" FRoM SITKA TO UNALA8KA. 139

owners of the latter paid the Kadiak compuny a HiibHldy to witlulruw
from competition, but ice was regularly Htored year after year, and ttte
agent ruled patriarchally over a model village, virtually Hurruunded by
a park and pime i<reAerve.

Mt. Paul vt> 'Illation, 4UR), on the N. E. Hhore nf Kndiak Inland,
was the first heu \ .art-rs of ShelikofTs and Uaranof'n fur-trade, and,
as their early c ipital and older home, was the bouHt of the KuHHians in
Sitka's bci >r duv h is tho hendquarterK of the A. C. Co. in this
re^^ion, aiid furs to the value of i^H0O,0O(» are shipped yearly. Th'jre
was a garrison of U. 8. trwps here for a few years after the transfer.

The fireatett Salmon Stream in the World.

Karlnk is another important port of call on both tri])H of the mail
steamer. Two thirds of the et-'ire salmon pack of Alaska are furnished
by the ten canneries on the Kudiak Islands, which are almost entirely
supplied from the Karlnk River. This stream, on the W. coast of
Kadiak, is 16 mi)es long, from lOO to 600 ft. nide, and less than (i ft.
deep. These figures ^'ive the dimensions of the solid mass of salmon
that used to ascend the Karlnk to a mountain lake before canners came
with traps and gill-nets in 1884. The largest cannery in the world is
at Karluk. There were 1,100 employes altogether at the Karluk can-
neries in 1890, and over 200,0()Ci cases of 48 one-pound tins contained
the 3,000,000 salmon packed. A single haul of the seine has beached
1 7,000 salmon, yet each ebb tide then left thousands of stranded fish to
die on the banks and bars. The canners enjoy their monopoly without
tax, license, or any Government interference. The nearest civil oflicial
is the U. S. Commissioner at Unalaska, 700 miles away, or the customs
deputy at Sand Point. Stores, employes, and pack are conveyed to and
from San Francisco in the canners' own vessels, and the hundreds of
Chinese, Greek, Italian, Portuguese, and Americans constitute the most
untrammelled communities anywhere under one flag from May to Sep-
tember of each year. There is much agricultural land on these islands
and cattle graze the year round, the thermometer never recording zero,
and snow lying on the ground but for a short time.

The Shamagin Islands and the Cod Fisheries.

Bering landed on this group in 1741 to bury Shumagin, one of his
crew ; and Steller, the naturalist, who accompanied that expedition and
first classified the Pacific fishes, mentions the cod. Captain Cook and

140 "TO WESTWAED" FROM SITKA TO UNALA8KA.

Other navigators referred to the cod ; and Senator Sumner laid great
stress on the value of these cod banks in his farewell speech, thereby
causing several New England cod-fisliing communities to protest against
the purchase of Alaska. Prof. Davidson reported the Shumagin cod
banks — since named the Davidson Banks — in 1867, and twenty years
later the Fish Commission steamer Albatross began its work of sounding
and mapping the banks on either side of the Aleutian Islands. Over
10,000 square miles of cod banks were irveyed in three years. Popoff
Island, opposite Unga, is the headquarters of the cod-fishing fleet, and
there are large warehouses at HumboUU Harbour and Pirate Cove for
salting and storing fish. The industry is conducted by San Francisco
fish-dealers, and the cod are taken there to be cured. The dry California
climate is said to be the reason for that process not resulting as satis-
factorily as on the Atlantic coast. A colony of Gloucester fishermen
rounded the Horn after the troubles on the Great Banks in the Atlantic,
and many others have followed, but the immediate profits of sealing over-
shadow cod-fishing for the time being. The extinction of the fur seal
will give the cod-fisheries a greater following and importance; men
will depend upon more certain wages and employment, and cod will in-
crease in numbers, as each seal is said to consume in one summer cod
equalling in value the price of a raw sealskin. The pack of Shumagin
cod for 1890 was valued at $500,000, and for all the seasons from 1867
to 1890 at a total of more than $3,000,000,

A coalmine on Unga Island furnishes fuel for local consumption
here and around Kadiak, and the Apollo Gold Mine, on the same
island, has "been a paying concern from the start. The outer shores of
the Sbuinagius are haunts of the sea-otter.

The Aliaska Peninsula.

From Cook's Inlet to the beginning of the Aleutian chnin the E.
shore of the Aliaska Peninsula is a precipitous mountain range rising
abruptly from the sea. These dangerous shores are haunts f the sea-
otter, and in several places salmon streams connect with moun'utin lakes.
There are canneries and trading stations at Chignik Bay, Wrarigell,
Portage, and Pavioif Bays. A railway 13 miles in length connects
Portage Bay with llercndcen Bay and the Bering Sea shore, and brings
coal from the mines owned by the Alaska Commercial Company to ship-
ping wharves. This is regarded as the most v/uable coal deposit in
Bouthem Alaska.

THE ALEUTIAN ISLANDS.

141

Belkofsky, at the foot of the volcano Mt. Pavloff, is the centre of
the sea-otter trade. The village of 186 people maintains a handsome
Greek church, and there is a Government school.

A century ago sea-otters were plentiful along all the Alaskan coasts,
but persi.stent hunting has nearly exterminated them, and they now
take refuge on the stormiest and most dangerous shores, and live in beds
of floating kelp. The hunters lie in hiding on the rocks for days in
order to creep upon or surround their game, or they may happen upon
an otter while it sleeps floating on the water. Only natives were allowed
to hunt otter, and firc-fms were thus prohibited on the otter-grounds
until 1878, when the Secretary of the Treasury allowed white men mar-
ried to native women to be considered natives in regard to the privileges
of hunting, which " put otters at a discount and women at a premium."
The native spear and arrow are no longer used. Steamers and schoon-
ers cany contract hunters to the best otter-grounds, where they camp
until called for by those vessels. All the tide-water shores from
Prince William's Sound to the Aleutian Islands are otter-grounds, and
the peninsula coast near Helkofsky, the outer Shumagins, and the
Sannakh Islands are the richest grounds. Otter-skins have increased
enormously in value, and a single one of these purplish-brown pelts
sprinkled with delicate silver-tipped hairs is worth from §150 to $300.
It is the court fur of Russia and China, and at one time laws prevented
commoners from wearing it.

The Aleutian Islands.

The seventy islands of the Aleutian chain lie like natural stepping-
stone.' from the point of the Aliaska Peninsula for 1,000 miles toward
the Kamchatka shore, and Attu, the last in line, lies beyond the one
hundred and eightieth meridian and within the Eastern hemisphere.
They are of volcanic origin, and many cratere still smoke along the
chain. Only one island, Utialaska, contains a white settlement ; and
only one island, AmchUka, is seen from any established route of com-
merce. The Canadian Pacific steamships often sight the low, green
shores or see the reflected glow of the volcano on Amchitka on their
course from Vancouver to Yokohama. They are natural stations for
the proposed trans-Pacific cable route from British Columbia to the
terminus of the Siberian Great Northern telegraph liiles.

The islands are treelens, but covered with grass and mossp", and in
Buramer with a wealth of wild flowers. They are capable of cultivation,
and afford excellent pasturage. The temperature varies little from Sit-
ka's averages, and fog and rain are almost constant during the summer.
" The wolf's long howl " is not heard, but several islands are blue fox
ranches, and great care is taken to increase and improve the quality of

THE ALEUTIAN I8LAND8.

l)€lts from such preserves. Over two hundred blue fox skins are
shipped from Attu each season. Cod baniis border the islands, and
salmon and herring swarm, yet through improvidence the natives of
some remote villages barely manage to exist through the winters.

The Aleuts numbered but 900 altogether in 1890. They are now of
mixed Russian descent, but the original Aleuts were a gentle, intelligent
people when impressed by the first fur-traders, and in their speech and
customs showed resemblance to the Ainos of northern Japan. Baranof
literally enslaved them, took 1,000 Aleut hunters with their bidarkas
to Sitka in 1804, and often leased them under contract to British and
American traders for otter-hunting on the lower coast. Their damp,
half inderground houses and the native qvass have been sufficient rea-
son lor their rapid decline in numbers. Despite the introduction of
foreign liquors, only one murder was committed by Aleuts in fifty years.
They are quick to improve educational advantages, and Aleut women
of the better class possess many accomplishments. The older women
weave exquisitely fine baskets, cigar-cases, etc., from the dried gi-asses
and fibres, but the supply of this work diminishes each year.

Unimak Island, the first of the Aleutians, contains two volcanoes,
Shishaldin (8,953 ft.), and Poffrotnnaia, or Destruction (6,625 ft).
Shishaldin is the most .synniietrical and perfect cone along the whole
" Pacific Ring of Fire," tapering evenly from sea-level to the sharpest
point, from which a smoke peimant always floats. The sea beats at its
base, and the snowy cone retains its wliite covering to within 2,000
ft. of the surf the year round. It was in eruption in 1826, and in
1827 opened a new crater and rained ashes far and wide. The perpet-
ual mist and vapour in the atmosphere defeat photographers' efforts to
secure sharp negatives from a moving ship.

Unimak J'ass and Akutan Pass are the usual ships' entrances to
Bering Sea. Between the two lies the island holding the volcanic peak
of Akiitan, 3,988 ft. in height.

Uualaska, the most important island of the Aleutian chain, is
mountainous throughout, with the volcanic mass of Makushin, 6,961
feet, at its northwest end.

Dutch Harbour, on the north shore, fronting Akutan Pass, is the
headquarters of the North American Commercial Co., and tourists by
their niiiil steamer from Sitka wait here while the vessel refits for the
return cruise.

Captain Cook twice repaired his ships at this harbour in 1778, and
here mot Ismyh)fr, conujiandcr of tlic Russian factory on the other side
of the island. He gave tlie great navigator much information as to
local names, widch the latter received with caution. Here Cook wrote:
" They (the Aleuts) call it by the same name Mr. Staehlin gives to his

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THE ALEUTIAN ISLANDS.

143

great island, that is Alaschka. Stachtan Nitada, as it is called on the
modern maps, is a name quite unltnown to these people, natives of the
islands, as well as Russians, but both of them know it by the name of
America." Then later Cook wrote : " I have already observed that the
American continent is here called by the Russians as well as by the
islanders Alaschka, which name, though it properly belongs only to the
country adjoining Unimak, is used by them when speaking of the
American continent in general, which they know perfectly well to be a
great land."

Ilinlink, " the curving beach," more commonly known as Una-
laska, population 317, one mile below Dutch Harbour, is port of entry
for all ships passing in or out of Bering Sea and the metropolis of all
the region " to westward." The U. S. commissioner and deputy-col-
lector reside here. The Greek church is second in size and importance
to the cathedral at Sitka, and the bishop for a time resided here. Be-
sides the Russian parish school, there are a Government day-school and a
Methodist mission. It is headquarters for the Alaska Commercial Co.,
which occupies the old fort of the Russian Company. The ships of the
Pacific arctic whaling fleet call here for water, coal, supplies, and mail,
transship cargo, leave and receive news of the ice line, the position, and
catch of each whaler. In 1891, 1892, and 1893, during the modus Vi-
vendi, it was headquarters of the United States and British fleets en-
gaged in the Bering Sea patrol, and lines of captured sealers often
waited at anchor.

There is direct communication with Sitka, 1,250 miles, by monthly
mail steamer, from April to October, and frequent communication with
San Francisco, 2,100 miles, by traders' supply steamers, which take pas-
sengers under certain conditions.

Excursions from Unalaska.

Mrs. Shepard's " Cruise of the Rush " shows how agreeably time may
be passed on this northern isle, and suggests minor excursions to the
miniature forest, the waterfall, and the cave near Dutch Harbour. The
wealth of wild flowers carpeting all the hillsides is the delight of every
visitor, and none weary of the beautiful harbour and the landscape
wealth around. Those travelling by the Sitka steamer will find them-
selves the guests of the N. A. C. Co. at their Dutch Harbour establish-
ment, and every arrangement is made for those wishing to hunt, fish,
botanize, or climb.

BogosioT volcano, with its sen-lion rookeries, is the great point of
attraction, and a day's excursion to this island of St. John the Theo-

144

THE BERING SEA AND SHORES.

logian is included in the tour from Sitka by the N. A. C. Co.'s vessel.
It lies in Bering Sea some 40 miles W. of Unalaska harbour, and rose
from the waters in 1796 after a day of rumbling, thunder, and violent
explosions, accompanied by much sulphurous gas and dense smoke.
The rocky mass grew after a similar demonstration in 1806. It con-
tinued to grow for a quarter century, often showing a light at night and
darkening the sun with its smoke by day. There were di5.turbance8 in
1883, the year of Krakatoa's great eruption, and showers of fine ashes
fell from concealing clouds that finally lifted and disclosed a second
peak joined to the first by a sandy isthmus. Ship Rock, 86 ft. high,
stood on the isthmus. The earthquakes of 1889-90 left only a thread
of this isthmus, and in 1891 it had sunk beyond soundings. Ship Rock
had wholly disappeared, and a new peak was in action. The upper pails
of these peaks have been too hot for one to climb, and the inten.se heat
and steam are rotting away the rocks, that drop continually. Sea-lions
Bwarm on the rocks and ledges along shore, and myriads of birds have
their nests on the warm rocks. A landing is usually made and oppor-
tunity given for all to gather specimens and sou venire of the visit, cook
eggs over the steam-jets, and put the volcano to other practical uses.

Opportunity sometimes offers for a circuit of the island by sea, and
is an excursion much enjoyed. Makushiii Harbour, on the W. coa.st,
where Glottov and his Russians first landed in 1767, is some 30 miles
from Unalaska. The great mountain is easily climbed from that side.
Prof. Blake, Lieutenant Hodgson, and Dn. Kellogg, of Piof. Davidson's
expedition, climbed Mukushin, 6,961 ft., Septemlior, 1867, and found
" a crater 2,000 ft. broad by estimate, and filled with snow, in the north-
western portion of which was an orifice giving vent to clouds of smoke
and sulphurous fumes."

The voli-ano of Vxevidof, 8,000 ft., on Unimak Island, S. W. of Una-
laska, attracts attention. Borka, on the little island of the same name
at the N. E. end of Unalaska Island, is an Aleut village of as extraordi-
nary neatness and cleanliness as the show villages of IloUaud.

The Bering Sea and Shores.

The Nushegak and Knskokvim Rivers.

Bering Sea was described by Prof. Davidson as " a niighfy reser-
voir of cod," and a large cod bank extends all alcng the W. side of the
great peninsula. The Nusliegak River reaches the sea at Briittol Bay,
on whose shores are four large salmon cnnnciies, and the king ?a!mon
of the Kvichak and Nushegak average from 40 to 60 pounds' weight.
On this side of the peninsula all the coast people aie Innuits or Esqui-

THE BERING SEA AND SHORES.

145

maux {ces qui miauz), differing entirely from Aleut, Tllngit, and the
Tinneh or Athabascan tribes of the interior. They live in under-
ground huts, wear the loose parka or hooded smock, and skin boots,
and use dogs as draught animals. The Russians made few attempts
and had no success in civilizing or Christianizing them. There is now
a Moravian mission at C irmcl on the Nushegak, and one at Befhcl on
the Kuskokvim, with Government contract schools at both places.

Kiiakokvhn Bay is the Fundy of this coast, the tide rising 60 and
fiO ft., and rushing in in a great bore or wave. The Kuskokvim is the
second great river of the Territory, and navigable for 900 miles from
its mouth. Well-populated Esquimaux villages line its banks, and the
natives have an abundant food supply in the salmon, white-6sh, seals,
and beluga, or white whale. Prospectors have found gold on all these
V/estern rivers, and the fur-trade is considerable, the Kuskokvim
country furnishing the finest black bear skins in Alaska. Moravian
missions have been established on this river.

The Pribylov or Seal Islands.

These four volcanic islands lie 220 miles N. W. of Unalaska, veiled
in perpetual mists and fogs of the summer season, and ringed round
with drift ice in the winter. They are treeless, covered with moss and
grass, and brilliant wild flowers in their season. The odours of the
rookeries, where hundreds of thousan<Is of seals gather annually, and
of the slaughter-grounds, where millions of seals have been killed for a
century, are perceived far at sea, and, with the barking of the animals,
are often the mariner's only guide in those dense and protracted fogs.
Only Government vessels are allowed to approach or enter the har-
bours.

St. Paul, the larger island, is 12 miles long and from 6 to 8 miles
wide, and its village is the hea(l(|uarters of the N. A. C. Co., leasing the
seal fisheries. St. George, 30 miles N., is a little smaller, and between
them lie the tiny Otter and Walius Islands. The 400 Aleuts inhabit-
ing the islands are gathered in tidy villages, with Greek churches and
school-houses. The islands are a Government reserve, and are leased
for terms of twenty years by the U. S. Treasury Department. For
over a century they have yielded more wealth than any gold-mine, but
with the settlement of the Northwest Coast their prosperity has dimin-
ished, and the seals wili be exterminated as ruthlessly as those of the
antarctic,

146

THE BERING SEA AND SHORES.

For forty years Siberian traders hunted fur the fabled island of
Amik, where they believed the " sea bears " lived. In 1786 Gera^sina
Pribyiov heard tlie bariiing througli the fog and found the fur-8eals'
Bummer home. Two million seals were killel within a year, and the
reckless slaughter so nearly e.xterminated tlie herds that Kesanof or-
dered killing stopped for live years, when the rookeries regained their
numbers. Baranof used tlic Piibyiovs as a bank. The senlskin, then
valued at $1 Mexican, was the unit of currency, and regularly taken in
payment for any commodity by American traders, who exchanged them
at Canton for silk and tea. In 1835 the islands were ringed with ice
into midsummer, the seals could not land, and the pups born in the
surf died with their mothers. The herd was again nearly extinct, and
Baron Wrangell stopped the killing uniil the rookeries had regained
their numbers. Sir George Simpson (1844) found the company taking
200.000 and 300,000 skins annually, and the market so overstocked
that the skins did not pay for carrying. In similar situations before as
many as 700,000 and l,000,00i skins were thrown into the sea to keep
prices up, and in Baranof's tiiae improperly cured skins were thrown
away in as great numbers.

THE SEAL ISLAND LEASES.

The value and importance of these islands were not appreciated at
the time of the transfer. No protection was afforded in 1868, and
seven concerns enjoyed free sealing that season. In 1869 they were
declared a Government reserve and guarded by soldiers, and in 1870
the islands of St. Paul and St. George and the seal-fisheries were leased
for twenty years to the Alaska (-ommercial Co., of San Francisco,
which had previously bought all the buildings and the good-will of
the Russian American Fur Co. throughout Alaska. They were per-
mitted to kill 100,000 seals each year, 80.000 on St. Paul and 20,000
on St. George, for an annual rental of $65,000, a tax of $2.62^ on
each skin, and 55 cents on each gallon of seal-oil. The lessees fur-
nished fuel and certain rations to the Aleuts, provided schools and med-
ical care, and paid them 40 cents for each skin taken. A special Treas-
ury agent resided on the islands each season to protect Government
interests, and guards prevented any killing on Walrus or Otter Islets.
At the expiration of their lease the A. C. Co. had paid f 6,966,666.67
to the Treasury, or 4 per cent interest on the sum paid for all Alaska.

The A. C. Co. was believed to have divided from #900,000 to $1,-
000,000 profits each year between 19. original stockholders. Holding
also the lease of the Comandorski Islands from Russia, they controlled
the sealskin su^ ;)ly of the world ; and having 86 other trading stations
in Alaska, they monopolized land furs as well. Salmon canneries and
coal-mines added to the profits of this most remarkable commercial
company, whose preserves were not invaded nor monopoly threatened
i.ntii toward the end of the Pribyiov lease. By their management
salted sealskins rose In value from $2.50 to $3 in 1868, to $10 and
$18 in 1884, and to $30 in If dO.

In 1890 a twenty-year lease was awarded to the North American

THE BERINO SEA AND SHORES.

147

Commercial Co., of San Francisco, for an annual rental of |100,00(>, a
tax of 19.62 on each of 100,000 skins taken, the islands then to return
over a million a year to the Government, or 14 per cent on Secre-
tary Seward's investment. Polapic sciilinf! nnd rookery raidinj? by the
Victoria Heet iiiid so dliniriished the herd tliat the lessees wore only
permitted to tiike 20,()0n skins the liist seiisoii, fM\ lor three seasons
while the seal question was a mattt-r of diploniutic liisciissiou only tlie
few seals suHicient for a food supply for the natives were killed.

CALLOmilNrH UKSIM'S, THK FLU SEAL.

For half the year the Aleuts and foxes have their isl.inds undis-
turbed. In May the "sea bears" swim throufrh the Aleutian j)asse8
alter a six months' circuit of a kite shaped track whose lower loop is
in the latitude of Los Auf^eles. They are followed as they sweep close
along the Northwest Coast by the increasing fleet of sealing schooners,
whose hunters secure about one seal out of ten shot. At the rooker-
ies, polygamous famii'es herd ij[i little groups on the rocks, and the
patriarch slays at houie with the little black pups all summer, while
the mother seals swim even 200 miles in search of their daily 10 and
20 pounds of cod or salmon. They are timid creatures, and at any
strange noise they rush to the water. The kee])ing of a pet dog lost
one Hussian manager ,'!il(lO,(»00 in one season by the depopulation of
a rookery. No fire-arms, whistles, or bells are allowed on the island.

The seal's fur is in best condition immediately on arrival, but he
assumes a new coat in August, which is in fine condition when about
to leave at the end of September. Only male seals from two to four
years of age are killed. These bachelors herd alone, and the Aleuts
running between them and the water in the early morning drive them
slowly to the killing-ground, where they are despatched by a blow on
the head, quickly bled, and the skins taken to the salting-house. Ex-
cept as the Aleuts make use of the flesh and blubber, the carcass goes
to waste. The cool, moist climate prevents these killing-grounds from
causing an epidemic, and by the next spring the hollow, bird-like bones
are lost in the grass and earth.

The salted skins are sent to London, the fur-market of the world,
auctioned off, and prepared for use. These perfect " Alaskas " com-
mand first price, and " Victorias " — the poachers' riddled, torn, and
slashed skins — inferior prices. Seven London firms, employing i ne
10,000 workmen, finish sealskins at a cost of 7 shillings each. No
machines have been able to supplant the many hand processes requir-
ing the greatest skill and nicety. The skins are worked in sawdust,
cleaned, scraped, washed, shaved, plucked, given from 8 to 12 coats of
dye with a hand-brush, washed, and freed from any remaining grease
by a bath of hot sawdust or sand. The Chinese began plucking and
dyeing fur-seal over a century ago to furnish an imitation of sea-otter.
French furriers have insisted on the darker dyes, but the strong nut-
gall and acid render the skins less durable than when dyed to the
bright brown of 30 years ago. Finished skins pay a duty of 20
per cent on re-entering the United States.

148

THE BERING SEA AND SHORES.

THE BERING SEA QUESTION.

As sealskinH rose in value and the seafuring population increased
on tlie Northwest Coast, pelagic pcaling and poacliin):; had their rise.
A tirst poacher went from San Franciaco in 1872. A revt-nue cutter
was soon detailed to cruise in Bering Sea and seize such craft. The
scalers then took out British papers and made Victoiia their home
port, and hy 1879 brought in and reported 12,600 skins to the Cana-
dian oRicials. In 188tl they brought in •)8,0*)7 skins ; the rookeries
were openly raided ; three Canadian vessels were seized ; the British
minister at Washington protested, and the liering Sen Quistion arose.

In 1887 six Canadian vessels were seized, and in the brief and argu-
ment prepared by A. K. Duluney, U. S. District Attoi-ney at Sitka, the
first formal plea was made that Bering Sea was an inland water, a
mare datuntm — no part of the Pacific Ocean ; and t'lat the United
States and Fussian boundary line from Bering Strait to Attn Island
enclo.sed protected seal waters within which the United States had com-
plete jurisdiction by virtue of rights obtained from Russia.

In 1890 over loo schooners trailed the Piibylov herd up the coast ;
and while the lessees of the islands could only take 20,000 skins, (50,-
000 skins were brought into Victoria. Schooners boldly raided the
rookeries, and the Aleuts battled with the crews.

June 16, 1891, after every schooner had cleared from Victoria,
Great Britain agreed to the inodiin vivituli proposed by the United
States, whereby all sealing in Bering Sea by citizens of either national-
ity should cease. The joint patrol of guniioats and cutters warned
73 and seizetl 6 schooners in Bering Sea. Conmiissioners from the
United States and Great Britain visited the islands and met in confer-
ence at Washington, in February, 1892. The tnodnn vivemli was re-
newed for another season, and a treaty of arbitration negotiated. The
seizure of the supply steamer Coqnitlam off Nuchek ]>reventid the
Victoria fleet from invading Bering Sea to any extent duiing 1892.

The tribunal of arbitration met in I'aiis, March 23, 1893. Its mem-
bers were : Justice John M. Harlan and Senator John T. Morgan, arbi-
trators for the Unite<l States ; Lord Ilannen and Sir John Thompson,
for Great Britain; Baron de Courcelles, for France; Gregers Gram,
for Sweden; and the Marquis Vcnosta, for Italy. Hon. John W. Fos-
ter appeared as agent for the United States ; Hon. E. J. Phelps, J. C.
Carter, Frederick Coudert, H. W. Blodgett, and R. Lansing, as counsel.
Hon. C. H. Tujiper appeared as agent for Great Britain, and Sir Charles
Russell, Sir Richard Webster, Mr. C. Robinson, and Mr. W. H. Cross
as counsel. The arl)itration covers the following points:

1. What exclusive juiisdiction in the sea known as the Bering Sea,
and what exclusive right in the scal-firheries therein, did Russia assert
and exercise prior and up to the time of the cession of Ala.ska to the
United States ?

2. How far were these claims of jurisdiction as to the seal-fish-
eries recognized and conceded by Great Britain ?

8. Was the body of water now known as Beriag Sea included in the

THE BERING SEA AND BUORES.

149

phrase "Pacific Ocean" as iiHed iu the Treaty of 1825 between Great
Rritain and KiiHsin, and what right, if any, in Bering Sea waH held and
exclimively exercised by Russia after said treaty ?

4. Did not all the rigiits of Russia as to jurisdiction and as to the
seal-fisheries in Bering Sea, east of the water boundary, in the treaty
btiween the United States and Russia of the HOth of March, 1867, pass
unimpaired to the United States tuider that treaty?

6. Has the United States any right, and, if so, what right of pro-
tection of property in the fur-seals frecpienting the islands of the United
States in Bering Sea, when such seals are found outside the ordinary
three-mile limit t

The tribunol rendered a decision adverse to the United States, refus-
ing to consider that the United States had entire property rights in the
seal herds, or to consider the question of damages to United States
property by pelagic sealing. The effeot of the decision made the United
States liable to damages for seizure and detention of sealing schooners.
The Secretary of State and the British ambassador, in 1895, fixed ujion
the sum of |425,()0(), as covering all such damages, but Congress re-
fused to appropriate that sum in settlement, deeming the amount exor-
bitant. In 1896, Congress authoiized o commission of one British, one
United States, and one Swiss citizen to examine and recommend such
claims for damages.

The tribunal instituted such regulotions as it judged sufficient to
protect the seal herds from extennination by pelagic sealing, but as
these proved wholly insufficient, the seals rapidly decreased, thousands
of young seals starving to death on the beaches each summer, and Con-
gress long discussed th ' ngley bill, which provided that tlie lessees
should kill every seal thai landed on the islands, and the Bering Sea
question thus be forever ended.

After examining all evidence at Victoria, the Claims Commission,
December 16, 1897, rendered an award to Great Britnin for $294,000,
with interest, which, added to it, amounted to $463,000.

A Seal Conference was held at Washington in October, 1897, in
which delegates from the United States, Russia, and Japan participated.
Great Britain declining to be represented. At this conference it was
determined that the seal herds were threatened with extermination, and
that the nations concerned should enter into a conference for the adop-
tion of regulations for their better protection ; and the three Govern-
ments invited Great Britain to unite in a convention for that purpose.
Great Britain again refused its concurrence. In November following,
a conference of expert naturalists, representing the United States, Great
Britain, and Canada, met in Washington after having made a thorough
investigation of conditions of seal life on tue Pribylov Islands. These
experts reached a series of conclusions in which they all joined, show-
ing that —

1. The seols had steadily declined in numbers since 1884 (when the
effects of pelagic sealing first began to be felt).

2. That the herd was at present only from one third to one fifth of
its former proportions.

160

THE BERING SEA AND SHORES.

3. That p«lagif Healin^i^, resulting in inditicriniinatc slaughter, was
the cause of tliii« decrousc.

4. That the killing of seals on the Pribylov Ixlands t. as unobjec-
tionable.

6. That the pelagic sealers bad observed the regulations in good
faith.

6. That while there was no danger of extermination of the herd as
long as it was protected on land, yet the buhiness hud already ceased
to be profitable cither to the lessees of the islands or to pelagic sealers.

Negotiations are now (1898) [>ending between the United States and
Great Britain for a revision of the regulations upon the basis of the
conclusions of the expert conference.

Further regulations, absolutely prohibiting pelagic sealing, also pro-
hibited the iniportntioo and sale of pelagic skins after December 20,
1897, and the law was rigorously executed at all the custom-houses
of the United States.

Other Islands in Bering Sea*

Less than 300 Esquimaux manage to exist on St. Matthew and St.
Lawrenre, and nearly all the inhabitants of the latter island died of
starvation in 1878-'79. Polar bears come down to these islands on the
ice-floes, and their glossy winter-killed skins, averaging from 12 to 15
ft. in length, bring from $30 to $60 in trade.

Ft. St. iMicliael's, on an island in Norton Sound, 70 miles N.
of the Yukon's mouth, is commercial headquarters for the Yukon and
Arctic regions, and was created a U. S. military post and reservation
in October, 1897. Miners and freight exchange from ships to light-
draught river steamers, as with its many mouths no navigable ship-
channel into the Yukon was found until the survey of 1898, and bars
extend for 100 miles from shore. There are 1,370 miles of navigation
between St. Michaels and Forty-Mile Creek, at the crossing of the inter-
national boundary line on the Yukon. There are a Swedish mission
and school in Norton Sound, and a Congregational mission and school
at the large Esquimaux village just below Cape Prince of Wales.

The Bureau of Education, in order to provide a future food sup-
ply for the natives, has established a reindeer farm at Port Clarence,
bringing the domesticated animals from the Siberian side and train-
ing Innult boys to care for them.

Bering Strait.

Bering Strait, dividing the continents of Asia and North Amer-
ica, is 36 miles wide between East Cape and Cape Prince of Wales,

IN THE ARCTIC OCEAN.

151

with the three Diomede lalandg standing midway. Tlie shallow water
and upward current prevent any great icebergs floating down through
this strait, and the ice to northward has rarely been seen to exceed
60 ft. in height above the water. There are no glaciers on either the
Bering or Arctic coast, hence no icebergs, but only packs and floes.
The Jemviette passed through this strait in 1879 and sunk off the
Siberian coast ; and N'ordenskjold brought the r*f/rt successfully through
from the Atlantic in 1880. Eugene Sue's Wandering Jew is described
as standing on the Siberian promontory and conversing acrcss the
waters 'ith the unknown female on Cape Prince of Wales; and tele-
graph ca'i .'S and railway bridges have been planned to connect the
continents at this point.

In the Arctic Ocean.

The Arctic Circle is drawr. across the water just above the capes,
and the true Land of the MidniglU Sun is entered. The shores of Kot-
zebue Sound are the same marsh and tundra, covered with summer wild
flowers, as seen along all the coast from the point of the Aliuska Pen-
insula.

The Pacific Arctic is the last whaling-ground left. The Pacific
whaling fleet, which numbered 600 vessels a century ago, incluJes but
60 now. There are 10 steam whalers, and they obtain fuel from the
coal-veins at Cape Lisbunie, discovered and used by Captain C. L.
Hooper during his arctic cruises in search of the Jcannttte. The aver-
age whaler is a dilapidated bark or brig, which with difficulty obtains a
crew and can seldom be insured. A few of these whalers have wintered
off the mouth of the Mackenzie River, in order to be on the ground in
the spring. The crew go on shares, each man on board taking a per-
centage of the sea.son's catch on his return to San Francisco. Oil is
not the prize sought now, and the bowhead, or Kadink whiile, nmks the
sperm, since whalebone commands $6 a pound, and a single boghead
yields from $6,000 to $7,000 in bone. The whalers trade with Sibe-
rian and Alaskan natives, and a revenue cutter patrols the Arctic each
season to see that liquoi's and fire-arms are not introduced ; to aid and
rescue whalers when necessary ; to give them communication with the
world below, and to administer justice.

Point Barrow, named by Beechey in 1826, which corresponds in
latitude to the North Cape of Norway, is 600 miles E. of Bering Strait,
"".lid the most northern point of Alaska and of the continent. A U. S.

152

IN THE ARCTIC OCEAN.

Bigaal station was maintained there for two years, as one in a chain of
Arctic stations maintained by European governments for magnetic and
meteorological observations. A refuge station was next built, 50 out
of 87 whalers having been wrecked near that point, and the crews of
12 whalers preferring to go down with their ships in 1877, than to
chance the slower death in small boats or on shore. A Government
school and Presbyterian mis.sion was built in 1890 to care for the Es-
quimaux settled around the station. It is visited and revictualled an-
nually by the revenue cutter. The refuge station was closed by the
Government in 1896 and the supplies sold, the whalers having made
no request for its maintenance when circulars requesting opinions were
sent to them. In the winter of 1897-'98 eight whaling vessels were
" nipped " and sunk off Port Barrow ; and the crews, forced to camp
on shore, were rescued from starvation by driving 500 reindeer across
from the Government reindeer station at ^t. Lawrence and donaiing
them as a food supply until relief vessels could reach them the follow-
ing July.

A first pleasure tourist visited the arctic whaling ground in 1891, a
New Yo'k yachtsman piiying $-5,01)0 for the three months' cruise in
a Japanese steamer chartered at Yokohama. Its presence created almost
as great an excitement as the Confedeiate piivateer '^hendmlooh wiicn
it appeared among tlic New Bedford fleet in 1805, captured ami burned
35 whalers, and sent three to San Francisco as ciirtcls. The f<hciwn-
doah made but one port in the tliirtien months after leaving (ilasgow.
It was the only vessel that carried the Confederate flag around the
world, and carried it for six months after Appomattox. It visited every
ocean save the Antarctic, carried its anchors at its bows for eight months,
ran 38,000 statute inilcs, and never lost a chase. A Melbourne n hab^r
warned and saved niiiny Yankee ships, and the Shennn'loah huiiicd for
the Australian ship in vain, else SItciutmloah claims might have aggre-
gated more than $tj,000,000.

Demurcatioii Point, (ioo miles E. of Point Barrow, is the inter-
national boundaiy line, where " tiie meridian line of the 141st degree iu
its prolongation reaches the Frozen Ocean."

Beyond lie the Northeast and the Northwest Passage, in search for
which ,vo generations of exjjlorers sacrificed their lives. The country
"beyond the north wind" still hues, and scientist, mariner, and fireside
tourists dream of the place where latitude stops, longitude cent-^rs,
time ends and time begins, and where the sun circles around the sum-
mer eky brooding above the pole.

THE YUKON MINING KKGIOXS.

153

The Yukon Mining Regions.
Klondik«<!, Forty Mile, Alyiiook, etc.

The upper and lower Vukon regions were discovered separately.
For a long time the unity of the t«o great streams was unknown, and
they remain to a degree separate regions now, one belonging to the
United States and the other to Canada. The mouth of the great river
was explored by GlasnofF in 1835, anri by Zagoskin in 1842, under the
name of the Kuichpak, but it was not wni'l 1863 that the Russians
ascended to the boundary line of their oossesfions at the crossing of
the 141st meridian, the fur-trade of which section was controlled en-
tirely by the H. B. Co., and its chain of forts reaching eastward to Hud-
son's Bay. H. B. Co. employees on the Mackenzie River had heard of
the river long before Mr. Robert Campbell (in 1840), in exploring and
extending trade to the westward of the Rocky Mountains, reached the
Pelly River. In the same letter, quoted at page 69, he further wrote :

'' The rascally Chilkat Indians from the Pacific coast were in the
habit of making trading excursions to Pclly. They ascended by Lynn
Canal, thence crossed over the mountains to the head of Lewis River.
Descending this river they came to the Pelly, where oftentimes, when
strong enough, they pillaged and massacred the Pelly Indians, than
whom there could be no more honest men."

In 1846 Mr. J. Bell, of the H. B. Co., went over from the Mackenzie
River, descended the Porcupine to a great river which the Indians called
the Yukon, and he first attached that name to the stream. Ft. Yukon, at
the mouth of the Porcupine River, was built by the II. B. Co. in 1847,
and in 1864 they built a new fort a mile lower down, for convenience in
landing. As it was always known that these stockades were on Russian
ground, the H. B. Co. paid a regular rental. Ft. Yukon was supplied
by the chain of forts reaching from York Factory on Hudson's Bay to
the mouth of the Mackenzie aud the upper Porcupine. Ft. Selkirk,
farther up the Yukon, built in 1849, was about to be abandoned when
the Chiikats attacked it in 18Q1, dtx)ve out the occupants, and plundered
and burned the buildings because of the H. B. Co.'s interference there
with their overland trade from LjTin Canal.

In 1866 Messrs. Ketchum and Lebarge, of the W. U. T. Co.'s sur-
vey parties, reached Ft. Selkirk from tne sea, and Dr. W. H. Dall and
Frederick Whymper passed the winter of 1865-'66 near Kidato.

154

THE YUKON MINING REGIONS.

M. Byrnes, of the W. U. T. Co. Survey, coming northward from the
Stikine River to the head-waters of the Taku, followed the lakes and
the Ilootalingua River to the Lewis, and camped on the Tako Arm of
Tagish Lake in August, 1 867. With the success of the Atlantic cable
the W. U. T. Co. abandoned its survey, and no further exploration was
made in that region until the mineral discoveries near Sitka from
1871-"77, and the tide of Cassiar miners drifting northward discussed
the Yukon as a next possible gold Held.

(►cean steamers from the south connect at i'V. Wrnncfell with the
few to the British side of the boundary line ; but no other evidence of
United States possession was given until the first miners came over
from the Chilkoot Pass in 1878-'79-'80, and the SchictHin brothers
arrived from St. Michaels in 1882.

The first white man to cross the divide between Lynn Canal and
the head waters of the Yukon, according to Chilkat and local Alaskan
tradition, was a red-headed Scotchman in the emi)l<)y of the U. B. Co.,
V .10, reaching the ruins of Ft. Selkirk in 1804, started alone along the
old "grease trail" to the sea. He hid from the trading parties of In-
dians all the way, crossed the pass, and was .seized and held until ran-
somed by Captain Swanson, of the H. H. Co.'a ship Labouchere, when he
came to trade at Pi/ramid Harbour. Believing that he was a Shaman,
because of his long red hair, the Indians treated him well. Dr. Daw-
son discredits this story of the lone Scotch pioneer, for the reason that
Ft. Selkirk was in ruins at that time. Goorge Holt, an old Casaiar
miner, claimed to have made his way across the pass in 1872, and again
in 1874, whon he left his Chilkoot escort and went down the Yukon to
the point where he crossed, by a Russian trail, to the Kuskokwim River,
and reached tne sea. In 1874, Arthur Harper, coming over from the
(-assiar by way of Mackenzif River and the Porcupine, reached the Yu-
kou and ascended to the White River, on which he, with two compan-
ions, wintered, and for the two open seasons prospected for copper with
poor results. They prospected the Forty-Mile Creek as vainly; ob.
tained provisions from St. Miehaeh, wintered near the Koyukuk, and
in 1873 joined the traders McQuestcu and llayo, who had opened
a post at Ft. Reliance, &\ miles from the mouth of the Klondikt
River,

In 1877 Lieutenant C. E S. Wood went to Chilkoot, intending to
cross and explore continental Alaska, but was prevented by the Indians.
In 1878 George Holt crossed with a trading party of Chilkoots, went

THE YUKON MINING REGIONS.

155

with them as far as Ft. Selkirk, a:id returned safely ; Rath and Bean,
two Sitka miners, being refused the privilege at the very same time.
In 1880 Captain Beardslee, U. S. N., took the case of the p-ospectors
in hand, and by his diplomacy and guarantees Bean and 19 miners, who
promised not to interfere with the fur-trade, were guided across to /V.
Selkirk, finding tine gold and large gravel dpopits all the way, A
trader who slipped in in the wai;e of the prospectors, was detected by
the Indians, brougiit back, and '.lis life saved only by Captain Beards-
lee's most active intervention. The Bean party divided at Ft. Selkirk,
one party prospecting as far as rt. Yukon and returning to Chilkoot,
the others ascending the Pdlji and ciossing to I)e<ue Lake and the Cas-
siar region. As this pioneer party went in, they met James Wynn of
Juneau coming out, and he claims to have also gone over the pass in
1879.

The Indians, finding that the packing of miners' supplies over the
pass was more remunerative tlian the diniini.-*hing fur-trade, lifted the
blockade. Small parties of miners crossed the pass in 1881 ; an or-
ganized party of Arizona miners crossed in 188'J. In 1883 James Du-
gan led a party tiiat made a permanent camp and remained all winter ;
and also, in 1883, Lieutenant Schwalka crossed the pass and made a
quick raft journey down to the sea, renaming all the peaks, passes,
lakes, and rivers, to the great confusion of geographers, map-makers,
and miners.

In 1882 the Schiefflin brothers, of Tombstone, Arizona, took their
own river steamer, launches, supplies, etc., to <Sy, Michaels, and for
more than a year prospected the Yukon banks for a thousand miles.
Tliey discovered the placers on Mymwk Creek, found good prospects in
many places, but because of the long winters and the remoteness from
the base of supplies decided that mining would not be profitable there,
and returned.

In 1886 coarse gold was found on Foity-Mile Creek at the supposed
boundary line, and stimulus was given to the steady influx of miners
from Juneau.

In 1800 -Mr. E. J. Clave explored from Cldlkat Pm.'i to the head-
waters of the Ahek River and to Dry Bay, and in 1891 took the " pio-
neer pack-horses" over, and with his camp-hand, Jack Dalton, found
pasturage and an ea.sy trail through the rolling bush country beyond.

In 1891 rich discoveries were made on Birch Creek, and Circle City
was established on the banks of the Yukon, 2t»0 miles below the bound-

156

THE YUKON MINING 11K(JI<>NS.

ary line, and connecting by an 8-mile portage with the head of Birch
Creek. This settlement was supposed to be on the line of the Arctic Cir-
cle when named, but has been determined as lying 76 miles southof it.

In 1895 there were further discoveries on Mosquito Creek at the
head of Forty- Mile Creek; and in that year a detachment of 20 Caneu
dian Mounted Police went in by way of iSt. Miefiaek and established lY.
Cudahi/, at the mouth of Forty- Mile Creek near the boundary line, and
instituted a regular Canadian mail service via Dyea to Victoria.

On August 12, 1897, the richest gold field aiong the Yukon was dis-
covered by Ceorge Carmack, of California, on Bonanza Creek, an affluent
of the Klondike River which empties into the Yukon some 70 miles
above or ei Jt of the boundary line. Upon the news of his great find,
anc" succeeding pans of $200 and even $300 in value, the country went
wild, and the other camp5 and towns along the Yukon were emptied
in that winter's rush to the Klondike. Harper and Ladue, traders from
Ft. Selkirk and Sirty-Mile, removed at once to the mouth of the new
river and laid out a town site named for Dr. (Jeurge M. Dawson, of the
Canadian Geological Survey. By the spring of 1897 the excitement
'.ad reached the Pacific Coast cities, and with the arrival in July of sev-
eral ships freighted with minors, their dust and nuggets, the fever was
communicated to the Atlantic coast, Europe, and Australia. There re-
sulted a wild rush of ill advised and ill-provided gold seekers and
adventurers, hundreds going by way of St. Michaels, and, because of
low water, spending the winter frozen ir on the lower Yukon, and thou-
sands attempting the passes from Lyim Canal, where the trails became
blocked and impassable, and many abandoned their provisions and tools
in order to reach Dawson before winter set in. Dyea and Shkagway,
on Chilkoot Inlet, were made United States sub-ports of entry, and the
Canadian Government stationed mounted police at the foot of Chilkoot
Pass and at the head of Taginh Lake.

A supposed scarcity of food at Dawson City moved the United States
Congress to appropriate $100,000 for a relief expedition to these new
Canadian mining camps in the winter of 1897-'98, where it was sup-
posed great suffering had resulted. Five hundred reindeer were im-
poited from Lapland, and every arrangement was completed by the 1st
of March, when the relief expedition was abandoned. An equal sum
was appropriated for the long-deferred survey of the mouths of the Yu-
kon River. Ft. Michael was made a military post, and a military recon-
naissance was ordered to choose site for a garrison in the Yukon Valley.

THE YUKON AIINIXG KEOIONS.

157

The general land laws of the United States were extended to Alaska,
and measures providing for the establishment of commissioners, courts,
land offices, and post routes in the Yukon Valley, all resulted from the
discovery of gold in Canadian territory. Rich discoveries on an arm of
Lake Atlin caused a stampede from Skagway and Dyea late in liS98.

The Yukon C!old Fields are reaciieii from four main points of
departure along the Alaskan coast.

The Stikine Route.

The Canadian Pacific Railway Co. maintains a line of ocean steam-
ers from Victoria and Vancouver to Ft. Wrangcll, coimecting there with
a line of light-draught, stern-wheel, river steamers, which ply between
Ft. Wrangell and Glenora, or at high water proceed to Telegraph Creek,
12 miles beyond. (Fare from Vancouver and Victoria to Ft. Wrangell,
including meals and berths on steamship, §25 first class, and $13 sec-
ond class. From Vancouver and Victoria to Glenora, $40 first class,
and $25 second class.) Independent miners may easily ascend the Sti-
kine in the winter on the ice or in summer in canoes. Detachments
of Canadian mounted police are stationed at ^.he boundary and Glenora
on the Stikine and at fAike Tediii.

The overland trai. and wagon road from Gltnora to Lake 7'cslin is

145 miles in length, and will soon be paralleled by a railway. The route

is through an open and rolling country where there is pasturage for a

limited supply of stock. A steamer has been placed on Lake Teslin,

which is from 2 to 15 miles wide and 100 miles long, and in the 562

miles of lake and river navigation between Taliu and Dawson the only

obstructions are the easily passed Rink Rapids. The Stikine River is

open for navigation from the first of May to the end of October, and

Lake Teslin opens a fortnight later in the spring. The itinerary of the

Stikine has already been given at page 68, The approximate distances

by the Stikine route are :

Vancouver or Victoria to Ft. Wrangell (ocean) 700 miles.

Ft. Wrantrell to Glenora (river) 125 "

(Jlennra to Lake Tefliu (trail or wagon) 14,> "

TcBlin to Ft. Selkirk Uake and river) 400 '•

Ft. Selkirk to Stewart Uivpr (river) 105 "

Stewart River to Dawson City (river) _67 "

. . Total dJHtance from Vancouver and Victoria to J>aw-

BonCity 1,512 mlleB.

The Takn Houte.

Independent miners have gone from Juneau by canoe or steam
launches to Taku Inlet and up the shallow Taku River lor 40 miles and

158

THE YUKON MINING REGIONS.

then by one of three routes to the lakes : 1. By the South Fork or Ink-
lin River to the wagon-road from Olenora to Teslin. 2. By the Middle
Fork or Nakinn River and over a low pass to Teslin Lake. 3. By the
North Fork and a short portage to LakeAtlin, and by portage to Tayinh
Lake. ,

The Skagway Route.

The bulk of Yukon travel has gone from Skapway on the east
shore of Chilkoot Inlet, over the WhUe Pass to Lake Bennett. Ska-
ffwat/, a town of 5,000 to 8,000 inhabitants, suddenly sprang into exist-
ence and was made a sub-port of entry in the summer of 18'J7, when
the first rush began to the Klondike. It has better whar\'e8, nearer
anchorage and land g facilities than the other ports of Li/nn Canal,
and the easy grade over the low White Pass assures its permanence.
It was s^ept by fire in 1898, but soon rebuilt. It has hotels, water-
works, electric lights, tourist bureau, freight and transportation com-
panies, and outfitting shops of every description. White Pass being
reported, wfs first explored and surveyed by Captain Moore, of Mr.
W. Ogilvie's survey of June, 1887, and named for Hon. Thomas White,
Canadian Minister of the Interior. The railroad surveyed to Ft. Selkirk
and Dawson was completed from Skagway to the summit of White Pass
at the end of 1898. The wagon-road to Lake Bennett is 52 miles in
length, crossing low bottom land for 4 miles, ascending to the summit of
White Pass (2,600 ft.) in the next 13 miles, and dropping thence by
easy stages for 35 miles to the head of Lake Bennett, where it unites
with the Djiea Trail. From that point there is navigation for small
boats the length of the Yukon, impeded only by the dangerous Miles
Canon and the White-Horse Rapid.*, where a portage of 2 miles is
necessary. Small light-draught steel steamers were placed on these
lakes in 1898, and convey passengers to the head of Miles Cation. At
the other side of White-Horse Rapids steam navigation is resumed, and
is continuous for the 1,600 miles to St. Michaels. There are saw-mills
on Lake Bennett, and boats may be built or pur' "lused.

The Canadian CustomHouse and station of Moimted Police was at
Tagish Houses, between Tagish Lake (a continuation of Lake Bennett)
and Marsh Lake, but during the year 1 897 the custom-house was tem-
porarily removed to the summit of White Pass, and another estab-
lished at Chilkoot Pass in February, 1898. Duty is levied on outfits
not purchased in Canada, and only the immediate personal effects, tools,
and provisions of miners are exempt.

THE YUKON MINING KKGIONS.

159

The Dyea Ronte.

This route follows the original Chilkoot trail of the Datives used b"
the pioneer prospectors, and still preferred by lightly equipped travellers,
as being the shortest trail over the range to the lakes. Dyea, lying 4
miles beyond Skagway, has the same harbour difficulties to contend
with. Ocean steamers anchor 8 miles out, and cargo is landed in light-
ers. An aerial tramway, carrying passengers and freight in cages trav-
elling on a steel cable suspended from a line of posts and towers, now
crosses the pass. This tramway is the application on a larger scale of the
simple arrangement of buckets and wire ropes by which ore is brought
down from difficult and inaccessible mine openings in mountainous
countries.

The trail from Dyea crosses the Dyea Creek seven times in the first
13 miles. Seven miles of this distance up the valley to the forks of the
creek may be made in canoes. Sheep Camp, 5 miles beyond, marks the
timber line, and there the real ascent begins, the path rising ),800 ft. in
the next 3 miles, 1,000 ft. of that ascent accomplished in half a mile ;
for which reason the pass is not available for pack-horses or vehicles
beyond the first few miles, and all goods must be packed on the back,
and even in winter packed to the summit of Chilkoot Pass, 3,500 ft.,
and then lashed to sleds and drawn or tobogganed down on the
other side. The descent of 1,320 ft. from the summit to Lake Linde-
man is accomplished by easy trail in 16^ miles, and at the foot of the
next, or Bennett Lake, the Dyea and Skagway Trails meet. The 27
miles of navigation on Lake Bennett, succeeded by 17 miles down Lake
Tagish, bring the miner to the Canadian custom-house, where duties
are levied on all American-bought goods save the immediate tools,
clothing, and provisions of the traveller. There are 19 miles of navi-
gation on Marsh Lake, succeeded by the Fifty Mile River, half-way in
which the dangerous Miles Canon and White-Horse Rapids necessitate
a portage of 2 miles, and the miner risks only his empty boat through
the fury of waters. River steamers can navigate from the foot of
White-Horse Rapids to St. Michaels, and more frequent and regular
steam communication from this point to Dawson is maintained each
season. Navigation on these upper lakes and streams does not open
usually before the middle of May or the first of June, and closes by the
end of September.

160

TIIK YUKON' MINING KKOIONSt.

The Chilkat Route, Dalton and Round Trails.

There are three routes from the head of Chilkat Met to the Yukon
River nt Ft. iSclkirk, or to the Nordemkjold River and liiiik Rapids, 70
miles above that settlement. The old Indian Irai! to Chilkat Paaa,
3,100 ft., was first explored and mapped by the Drs, Krause, of Bre-
men, in 1882, as far as Lake Arkell, and then traversed in part by Mr.
E. J. Glave and his camp assistant Dalton with pack-horses in 1891.
The present D<tlton Trail from Piiramid I/nrbour follows the west bank
of Chilkat River and then its west fork, crossing the mountains 45 miles
from the coast at a lower elevation (3,000 ft.) and to the west of the old
Indian trail, and following across a low, rolling bush country to Dal-
ton^s Hotise on the Krotahin River, and thence due north over the same
hilly country to Ft. Selkirk, or to Uink Rapids, where boats and barges
are taken for the journey to Dawson and the mining camps. This route
of 415 miles from Chilkat to Ft. Selkirk is used by pack trains of
horses, mtilcs, and dogs, and is srggested for the route of winter rein-
deer express service, since the reindeer moss has been reported as grow-
ing at one place near Chilkat Pa.ss ; and for many seasons droves of
cattle and sheep have been driven in over this trail to Ft. Selkirk.

The old Chilkat Trail, now the Bound Trail, follows the main
branch of the Chilkat River up to the Chilkat J^ass 3,100 ft., and de-
scending past the shore of iMke Arkell follows dirt .'t'v north to the
Nordenskjold River and Rivk Rapids on the Yukon.

The distances by the Dalton Trail, which is used entirely after navi-
gation closes, are estimated as

MILES.

Chilkat to Ft. Selkirk 41.')

" DawBon 600

" CircleCity H!0

" " Mynook 1,(X)0

" St. Michaels I.(i00

The di.-»tances by these routes from Lynn Canal are tiius given by
U. S. C. and G. Survey on Chart No 3100:

Via C'hi/koot PaJiK.

BTAT. hii.es.

Seattle to Dyca 1,11.5

Dyea to Dawson 627

Via Sttkine River.

Seattle to Wrangell 8.54

Wrangell to Telegraph Creek. . HO
Telegraph Creek to head of Tes-

linLake 227

Head of Teslin Lake to Daw-
son 525

Via St. Michaels and Yukon River.

STAT. MILES.

San Francisco to Dutch Harbour. . 2,846

Seattle to Dutch Harbour 1,9.56

Dutch Harbour to St. Michaels. . . . 750
St. Michaels to Mouth of Yukon. . . 07

" Dawson 1,260

" Stewart River 1,821

Ft. Selkirk 1,425

" Kive-FiuKer Rapids. 1,491

" Teslin River 1,612

" White-Horse Rapids 1,697

tl,H hnmllu'lr I'.ll »■>'

Gl I^iioitiitle

Ft. Hell

then; uiiito t(

when it WW*

travel over fi

stores niid he

and an inipoi

Offilvir, a

porta nt mitiir

UaWNOii

mouth of the

low, bopj^y sii

Joseph Harp

removed tlieii

receipt of the

in Auf^iist, 181

and the Cana(

the thoiiHands

every kind wl

18fl8. There

ure-house for

nadian Gover

change payal

established br

intervals furai

out over the

entry of the t<

stores, and wh

there during

Its boggy soil

able to acccmi

Improper fooci

many miners.

extreme sumn

90°, 100^ and

mer, and fallir

breaks up in tl

in September, i

and November

travellers. Wi

TIIK YIKON MINING Rl?0ION».

101

Ft, N«lkirk, at iho junction of tlie Lewis ami Peily Rivers, which
then! unite to form the Yukon, was a I!. B. ('o. post from 1849 to 1851,
when it was destroyed by the Cldlliat Indians. With tlie increase of
travel over from Alaska it heeaine an important campinR-pluce, and the
stores niid houses of traders have made a considerable settlement there
and an ini|)ortant place in steamboat navipition.

Oi/ilvir, at the mouth of Sixty-Mile Creek, j^ives access to that Im-
portant mining centre,

DaWNon City, on the north or ripht bank of the Yukon at the
mouth of the Klondike, or " Throndvik " (water full of fish), occupies a
low, bopny site between the hills and the river. It was established by
Joseph Harper, of Ft. Selkirk, and Joseph Ladue, of Sixty-Mile, who
removed their trading stocks from those places immediately upon the
receipt of the news of Carmack's discovery of gold on Bonanza Creek
in August, 189«. There is a station of mounted police at Daweor. City,
and the Canadian Government maintains perfect control and order over
the thousands of rough and lawless ones, criminals, and adventurers of
every kind who flocked to the Klondike in the excitements of 1897 Aud
1898. There are land, assay, and post offices, and a Government treas-
ure-house for the safe keeping of miners' nuggets and dust. The Ca-
nadian Government will purchase such treasure, and give bills of ex-
change payable at any Canadian bank. The Government has also
established branch treasure-houses in each mineral district, and at stated
intervals furnishes police escort to the boundary line for miners going
out over the passes with their treasure. In less than a year after the
entry of the town site Dawson had over 2,000 inhabitants, with hotels,
stores, and wharves, and from 6,000 to 20,000 people were gathered
there during the summer of 1898 when a disastrous fire occur-ed.
Its boggy soil caused much ill health, and the two bo.spitals were not
able to accommodate all the typhoid patients of that first open season.
Improper food was responsible for the scurvy that also attacked so
many miners. The thermometer has a range of 180° between the
extreme summer and winter temperatures at Dawson, standing at
90°, 100', and even 110^ in the blazinjc^ nightless days of midsum-
mer, and falling to — 60° and — 10° in the dark winters. The ice
breaks up in the river about the middle of May, begins to freeze over
in September, and is closed fast by November. September, October,
and November are the months recommended for the visits of pleasure
travellers. With the thawing of the spongy, mossy surface of the

.saab

162

THE YUKOK MINING KEGI0N8.

ground each year the whole land is afloat and steaming, and mosquitoes
and gnat9 swarm more thickly than in the tropics.

Klondike River is navigable for canoes for 40 miles above Daw-
son, and heads 90 miles above that point. With its chief affluent,
Bonanza Creek, and its tributaries, Boulder, Adams, Eldorado, Victoria,
McCarmack and Whipple, Last Chance, Hunker, Gold Bottom, and Too-
Much-Gold Creek, all the banks are staked off into claims, and work is
prosecuted the year round — the miners thawing out or sinking prospect
holes at the rate of one foot a day, and taking out the gravel and earth
in the winter and washing it out in sluices during the summer. Quartz
claims have been located on Klondike River as on Forty-Mile Creek,
Cone Hill on the latter stream being claimed as a solid mountain of this
same gold-bearing rock. A continuous system of gold-bearing rock is
said to run across Bonanza, Eldorado, Gold Bottom, and Hunter Creeks
on the Klondike, and across Miller, Glacier, and Forty-Mile Creek.
Coal of a poor quality, thin lignite veins, crops out iu this rej^ion and at
many places along the lower Yukon.

Eagle City, opposite Dawson, has caught the overflow of its
population, and Ft. Reliance, 6 miles below Dawson, has lost its im-
portance since the Klondike excitement.

Forty-Mile and the 'opposite ft. Cudahi/, the station of Mounted
Police at the mouth of Forty-Mile Creek, nr ; v ithin 10 miles by land or
30 miles by the windings of the river from the international bounds /
line. The head-waters and rich mineral regions of Forty-Mile Creek
are mostly within Alaska lines, and with interests so nearly touching,
and the mining population increasing so rapidly, the establishment of
this police station near the chief supply town of the upper river wa?
made imperative in 1896. In 1897 Forty-Mile wf" almost depopulated,
in the rush to the Klondike,

Circle City, 230 miles below iorty-Mile, which grew by the dis-
covery and necessities of the Birch Creek mining district, was almost
depopulated in 1897, '.ut is recovering in numbers. At Ft. Yukon there
are large stores and warehouses of the trading companies engaged in
Yukon purveying, and it is the great depot, chief supply and steamboat
station on the Alaskan section of the Yukon.

Mynook, at the mouth of the creek of that name, first prospected
by the Schiefflin brothers in 1882, and exploited by the rich discover-
ies of 1896 and 1897, has become an outfitting and supply station of
great importance. Jfi/nook is 70 mi't^s from the mouth of the Tanana

fe;

THE YUKON MINING REGIONS.

163

River, whence travellers from Orca by Valdea Pass and Copper River
trail reach the Yukon.

The Copper River Trail.

Ocean steamers landing at Orca station, in Prince William Sounds
give miners the chance of reaching Copper River, by a 30-mile trail
over Valdes Pass, at a point above the Miles Glacier and the other dan-
gerous stretches near the mouth of that stream. Rich placer re|;5on»
have been found along the Tonsino Creek, which empties mto Copper
River about 100 miles from the sea. The route up th*^ Conner River
across a low divide to the Tanana and down that stream wad explored
and first followed by Lieutenant Allen, U. S. A., in 1885.

Cook Inlet Route.

This route up the Sushitna River and across to the upper Tanana is
said to be feasible , and is suggested as the certain route of a railway
line from tide-^ .ter to the middle Yukon. Only a few independent
miners from the Cook Inlet camps are known to have attempted it.

St. Michaels Route.

Ocean steamers from San Francisco, Portland, Seattle, and Tacoma
convey passengers to St. Michaels, where the transfer is made to light-
draught stem-wheel river steamers, which are able to ascend the Yukon
from May to October, shoal waters and early freezing sometimes closing
navigation by September. A survey of the mouth of the river in 1898
is expected to make known some channel navigable for large vessels,
avoiding the delay in transshipment at St. Michaels and the danger of
navigation by flat-bottomed river boats across the 80 miles of rough
and open water between St. Michaels and the river. Navigation is
maiatained during the open season from St. Michaels to the foot of
'«Vuite-Hoi«e Rapids by the steamers of United StatcF and Canadian
companies. The estimated distances by this line are —

Victoria to St. Michaele (ocean) 2,800 miles.

St. MicliaelB to Dawson City (.river) l,ti,')0 "

4^450 "

From 36 to 40 days are occupied by this journey 16 to ^\j days
being the time of the usual river trip from St. Michaels to Dawson
under favourable circumstances. The fares from Victoria to Dawson
are $300 first class, and $260 second class.

BOOKS OF REFERENCE.

The following I'.rit contains the more easily accessible books con-

cerning Alaska and the Northwest Coast ;

Eakly Voyages.

Beechky, F. W. Narrative of a Voyage in II. M. S. Blossom in the
Years 1825-'28. London, 1831.

Belcher, Sir EnwAun. Narrative of a Vovage in H. M. S. Sulphur
during the Years 1836-'42. London, 1843.

Cook, James. The Account of his Third and La.st Voyage in the
Years 1776-'80. By James King.

Dixon, George. Voyage around the World in 1 785-88. London,
1789.

LANGsnoRFF, Geokoe II. VON. Voyngos. London, 1813,

La PicRousE, Jean Francois. Voyage around the World. London,

1798.

Lisianski, Imri Feodorovich. Voyage around the World, 1803-'6.
London, 1814.

LuTKE, Feodor Tetro ich. Voyage autour du Monde. Paris, 1835.

Marchand, Etiexne. Voyage around the World. Written by C. P.
Fleurien.

Me ARES, John. Voyages. London, 1790.

Poole. Queen Charlotte Islands. London, 1872.

PoRTLOCK, Nathaniel. Voyage around the World. London, 1789.

Simpson, Sir George. Narrative of a Journey around the World,

London, 1847.

(Sir (Jeorce Simpson wa* Governor of the Hiidnon Bay Company, and in
1810- '43 visited all the stntionM of hiw company, the Spaiiiwh colonieH in Cali-
fornia, the Kusflan settlements in North America, and returned to Europe
by way of Siljeria.)

Vancouver, George. A Voyage of Di-^'overy to the North Pacific

Ocean and around the World, performed in the Years 1790-'y5.

London, 1798.

(Prof. Dall has called attention to the fact that there is no biography of
Vancouver. The date of his birth is not known. He was midshipman with
Captain Cook on his third and last voyage. While superintending the publi-
cation of his voyages in London, Vancouver was challenged by a young officer
whom he had disciplined during a cruise. Old and feeble, he was unwilling
and unable to meet him, nor did he think the exercise of naval authority war-

BOOKS OF kp:ference.

165

ranted a duel as defence. IHb asHSilant meeting him in Bond Street after the
refuHal to flKht, struck Vancouver in the face and publicly insulted him. The
old officer, humiliated and chagrined, failed rapidly, and died May 10, 17iW,
just before his voyages were published. He is buried in the churchyard at
Ilam, near Richmond, Surrey. Dr. Dall has found reference to the challenge
to the duel in a story of Charles Keade, " What has become of Lord Camel-
ford's Body f "—Harper's Weekly, May 0, 187C).

Von Staehlin, J.
don, 1774.

Account of the New Northern Archipelago. Lon-

(This is the first published account of Bering's. Tchirikow's, and other Rus-
siau discoveries on the coast of North America.)

Wilkes, Charles, U. S. N.
dition, 1838-'42.

Narrative of the U. S. Exploring Expe-

Badlah, Alexander. The Wonders of Alaska. San Francisco, 1889.

Ballou, Maturin M. The New El Dorado. Boston, 1888.

Bancroet, Hubert Howe. Works. History of the Northwest Ccast,
vols, xxvii and xxviii. History of Washington, Idaho, and Montana,
vol. xxxj. History of British Columbia, vol. xxxii. History of Alaska,
vol. xxxiii.

Beardslee, Lester A. Letters in Forest and Stream in 1879, signed
" Pi-seco." Kcport on AfTairsi in Alaska, Congressional Document.

Bell, W. H. The Stlckeen River and its Glaciers. Scribucr's Monthly,
April, 1879.

Briogs, Horace. Letters from Alaskii, Buffalo.

CoLLis, Mrs. Sepfima M. A Woman's Trip to Alaska. New York,
1890.

Dall, William H. Alaska and its Resources. Boston, 1870. The
Coast Pilot of Alaska, 1883. Partial List of Books, Maps, and Charts
relating to Alaska and the Adjacent Region. (A quarto volume of 210
pages, cataloguing the literature of the region down .^ the year 1882.)

Davidson, George. Coast Pilot of Alaska. 1869.

Dawson, George M. Monograph on the Queen Charlotte Islands in
Annual Report of Dominion Geological Survey.

Elliott, Henry W. Monograph on the Seal Islands. Census Report,

1880. Our Arctic Province.
FiNCK, Henry T. The Pacific Coast Scenic Tour.

Glave, E. J. Pioneer Pack-IIorses in Alaska.
September and October, 1892.

Greenhow, Robert. The Northwest Coast.

(Mr. Greenhow was Librarian of the Department of State at the time the
Oregon question rose to prominence, and his book Is almost the argument
of the United States case, containing a resume of all the early history of
the region.)

Hallock, Charles. Our New Alaska, New York, 1886.
HiNE, C. C. Alaska Illustrated. Milwaukee, 1889.

New York, 1890.
Century Magazine,

166

BOOKS OF REFERENCE.

(Contains a sketch of life at Sitka
(A brief sketch of the fii mission

Irving, Washington. Astoria,
during Baranof's time.)

Jackson, Rev. Sheldon. Alaska,
work.)

Karr, H. W. Skton. The Shores and Alps of Alaska. London, 1887.
Proceedings of Royal Geographic Society, vol. ix, 1887.

Maynb, R. C. Four Years in IJritish Columbia and Vancouver's Is-
land. London, 1S(>2.

Milton, Chkadle. The Northwest Passage by Land. London, 1865.

MriR, John. Picturesque California, Oregon, Washington, and Alaska.
J. Deming. New York and San Francisco.

NiBLACK, Albert P , U. S. N. Tiie Coast Indians of Soutliern Alaska
and Northern British Columbia. Report of U. S. National JIuseum
1887-88.

NiCHOLLS, IIenrv E., U. S. N. v. S. Coast Pilot of Alaska. 1892.

Petroff, Ivan. Population )<nd Resources of Alaska. (A volume of
the Eleventh Census Report, 1890.) Internal Commerce of the United
States. (Published by Bureau of Statistics, U. S. Treasury Depart-
ment.) U. S. Census Report, 188(», and U. S. Census Report, 1890.

(Mr. Petroff gathered n'.ateriuls for H. II. BancroftV History of the North-
west Coast and Alaeku, ami wrote u part of the History of Alaska in that
series down to the yei'.r 18^1.)

PiERPOiNT, Edwaiu). From Fifth Avenue to Alaska. New York, 1883.

Ray, R. C, U. S. N. The Coast of British Columbia. U. S. Hydro-
graphic Office, 1891.

Reclus, Elisee. Geographic Univcrselle, Boreal America, vol. xv.

Rei- Henry Fielding. Studies of Muir Glacier. National Geo-
graphic Magazine, March, 1892.

Rollins, Alice Wellington. Palm to Glacier. New York, 1892.

Russell, Israel C. An Expedition to Mt. St. Elias. In National
Geographic Magazine, May, 1891, and Thirteenth Report of Director
of U.S. Geological Survey. (See also Century Magazine, April, 1891,
and June, 1892.)

ScHWATKA, Frederick. Along Alaska's Great River. New York,
1886.

SciDMORE, Eliza Ruiiamah. Alaska : Its Southern Coast and the Sit-
kan Archipelago. Boston, 1885. Alaska, in Reports of Director of
the Mint, 1883 and 1884. Monograph. Census Report, 1890.
Harper's Weekly, August 30, 1884, March 28, 1886, May 14 and
July 23, 1892. Century Magazine, July, 1891. Wide Awake,
March, 1885. Northwest Magazine, June, 1891. New York Times,
October, 1884. St. Louis Globe-Democrat, 1883 and 1884.

Sessions, Francis C. From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. New York,
1890.

■^^1^

BOOKS OF REFERENCE.

167

Shephk!'", Isabel. The Cruise of the Rush. San Francisco.
Sproat. Scenes and Studies of Savage Life. London, 1868.
Swan, Jamks G. The Northwest Coast. New York, 1867,
St. John. The Sea of Mountains. London, 1877.
Victor, Mrs. Frances Fuller.

(Mrs. Victor awiHted in gathering materials for II. H. Bancroft's histories,

and wrote the volumes pertaining to Oregon.)

Warhman, GEORfiE. A Trip to Alaslca. Boston, 1884.

Webb, Seward. Yellowstone Park and Alaska. New York, 1890.

Wellcome, Henry. Tiie Story of Metlakahtla. New York, 1887.-

Weli.s, Ensipn Rooer, U. S. N., and Joiix W. Kelly. Englisli-Eskinao
and Eskimo-p]ngliHh Vocalmlaries. U. S. Bureau of Education — Cir-
cular of Information No. 2—1890.

Whymi'er, Frederick. Travel and Adventure in the Territor- of
Alaska. London, 1868.

WiNTHROP, Theodore. Canoe and Saddle.

Wood, C. E. S. Among the Tlingits in Alaska. Century Magazine,
July, 1882.

Woodman, Abhy M. Picturcsiiue Alaska. Boston, 1889.

Wright, G. Frederick. The Ice Age in North America. New York,
1888.

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