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32X

■■■M

ALASKA

ITS SOUTHERN COAST

AM)

THE SITKAN ARCIIIFPXAGO

E. RUHAMAH SCIDMORP:

WITH MAP AND ILLUSTRATIONS

"Berlin, Sept 5. — We have seen of Germany erumpli to show that its climate
is neither so genial, nor its soil si, fertile, nor it'> resources of forests and mines so
rich as those of Soiitiiem Alaska." — /^'/7//;i;'/ //. Snwrii — Travels Around tlu
World, Part VI. chap. v. page 708.

BOSTON
D. LOTHROP AND COMPANY

32 Franklin Street

nmMm-mmmv^^'mm

p'^o^

'oA-

265313 /

Cofyris^ht, by
D. I.oTiiKnr AND Company,

Ei.ECTROTYPKD BY

C. J. I'l-Ti-Rs AND Sov, Boston.

t-r^* »■•«■« 1*!J,1^T-''.-Ti'PY)«^:»^ftT*;';

PREFACE.

Thesf. chapters arc mainly a republication of the
series of letters appearin«i in the columns of the
S/. Louis Globc-Democmt fXwx'Wig the summer of 1883,
and in the St. Louis Globi'-Dvmocmt and the New
York Times (hiring the summer of 1884. To readers
of those journals, and to many exchange editors, who
gave further circulation to the letters, they may carry
familiar echoes. The only excuse for offering them
in this permanent form is the wish that the compar-
atively unknown territory, with its matchless scenery
and many attractions, may be better known, and a
hope that those who visit it may find in this book
information that will add to their interest and enjoy-
ment of the trip.

In rearranging the original letters many errors have
been corrected and new material incorporated. Dur-
ing brief summer visits it was impossible to make
any serious study, solve the mysteries of the native
people, or give other than fleeting sketches of their
out-door life and daily customs. Elaborate resumes
of the writings of Baron VVrangell and Bishop Venia-
minoff have been given by Professor Dall in his work
on "The Resources of Alaska," and by Ivan Petroff
in the Census Report of 1880 (Vol. IX.), and have

111

PREFACE.

since been so often and so generally quoted as
hardly to demand another introduction to those
interested in ethnology. Such mention as I have
made of the traditions and customs of the Thlinkets
is condensed from many deck and table talks, and
from conversations with teachers, traders, miners, and
government officers in Alaska. Wherever possible,
credit has been given to the original sources of
information, and the "Pacific Coast Pilot" of 1883
and other government publications have been freely
consulted. The nomenclature and spelling of the
" Coast Pilot " have been followed, although to its
exactness and phonetic severity much picturesqueness
and euphony have been sacrificed.

The map accompanying the book is a reduced
section of the last general chart of Alaska published
by the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey, and
is reproduced here by the permission of the compiler,
Prof. William H. Dall.

Of the illustrations, the cut of the Indian grave at
Fort Wrangell was one accompanying an article
published ir. Harper s Weekly, August 30, 1884, and
other pictures have been presented to readers of the
Wide Aivakc magazine of March, 1885. For views
of the Davidson glacier, the North River, and the top
of the Muir glacier, and the interior of the Greek
Church at Sitka, from which cuts were made, I am
indebted to a daring and successful amateur photo-
grapher of San Francisco, to whom especial credit is
due.

To the officers of the ship and agents of the
company I have to express appreciation of the favors
and courtesies extended by them to my friends

.»
•■-v

PREFACE. ▼

and to myself, Kach summer I bought my long
purple ticket, reading from Portland to Sitka and
return, with pleasurable anticipations ; and all of them
— and more — being realized, I yielded up the last
coupons with regret.

For information given and assistance rendered in
the course of this work I am under obligations to
many people. I would particularly make my ac-
knowledgments in this place to Prof. William H.
Dall, Capt. James C. Carroll, Hon. Frederic W.
Seward, Prof. John Muir, Prof. George Davidson,
Capt. R. W. Meade, U.S.N., Capt. C. L. Hooper,
U.S.R.M., and Hon. J. G. Swan.

E. R. S.

Washington, D. C, March 15, 1885.

!■ £

■^■n

CONTENTS.

CHAPTIR I'A(;K

I. Thk, Stari — Port Townsfnd — Victoria — Na-
na i mo . . I

II. The ItRiKSH Columbia Coast and Tongass . r6

III. Cai'E Fox and \aha Hav . 26

IV. Kasa an Hay 31

V. Fort W'RANiiKi.i, and the Stikink 46

VI. VVranuell Narrows ani» Taku (ii a( ikk;. ... 72
VII. Ju., J .'. , SiLVKR Bow Basin, and Dougla>^s Is-
land Mines 81

VIII. The Chilkat Country 100

IX. Bartlett Hay and the IIooniahs 123

X. Muir Glacier and Idaho Inlet if

XI. Sitka — The Castle and the Oreek Church . . 153

XII. Sitka — The Indian Rancherie 174

XIII. Sitka — Suhurus and Clim.ate 184

XIV. Sitka — An Historical Sketch 198

X.V. Sitka — History SucceediNci the Transfer . . 214

yyi. Education in Alaska 229

XVTI. Peril Straits and Kootznahoo 236

■CVIII. KiLLISNOO AND TUV. LaND OE KaKES 246

XLX. The Prince ok Wales Island . .... . • • 258

XX. HowKAN. or Kaioahnke , ♦ . . 269

XXI. The Metlakatlah Mission .....»,.. 280

XXII. Homeward Bound 289

XXIII. Sealskins 300

.>1XIV. Ti*E Treaty and Con(;ressional Pajers .... 315

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

PAGB

Map of Alaska Frontispiece

Three Carved Spoons and Shaman's Rattle 38

Totem Poles at Fonr Wranuell 53

CiRAVE at Fori" Wrangeli 55

Silver Bracelets and Laurettes 61

A Thlinket IUsket 90

The Davidson Glacier 103

Chilkat Blanket 106

Thlinket Bird-IMpe (Side and bottom) lr^

Diagram of the Muir Glacier 133

River on North Side of the Muir Glacier 137

Glacier Bay — Front 01 the Muir Glacier 141

Section of the Muir Glacier (Top) 144

Section of the Muir Glacier (Front) 147

Sitka 155

The Greek Church at Sitka 162

Interior of the Greek Church at Sitka 165

Easter Decorations in the Greek Church at Sitka . 167

Basket Weavers at Killisnoo 251

Indian Pipe 268

ToiEM Poles at Kaigahnee or IIowkan 273

The Chief's Residence at Kaigahnee, showing Totem

Poles 274

Halibut Hook 276

Tiii

V- : i

SOUTHERN ALASKA

AND

THE SITKAN ARCHIPELAGO.

CHAPTER I.

THE START — PORT TOWNSEND

NANAIMO.

VICTORIA —

ALTHOUGH Alaska is nine times as large as
the group of New England States, twice the
size of Texas, and three times that of California, a
false impression prevails that it is all one barren,
inhospitable region, wrapped in snow and ice the
year round. The fact is overlooked that a territory
stretching more than a thousand miles from north to
south, and washed by the warm currents of the Pacific
Ocean, may have a great range and diversity of cli-
mate within its bor^lers. The jokes and exaggera-
tions that passed current at the time of the Alaska
purchase, in 1867, have fastened themselves upon the
public mind, and by constant repetition been accepted
as facts. P'or this reason the uninitiated view the
country as a vast ice reservation, and appear to be-
lieve that even the summer tourist must undergo the
perils of the Franklin Search and the Greeley Relief
Expeditions to reach any part of Alaska. The official
records can hardly convince them that the winters at

imm

SOUTHERN ALASKA.

Sitka are milder than at New York, and the summers
dehghtfully cool and temperate.

In the eastern States less has been heard of the
Yukon than of the country of the Congo, and the
wonders of the Stikine, Taku, and Chilkat rivers are
unknown to those who have travelled far to view the
less impressive scenery of the Scandinavian coast.
Americans climb the well-worn route to Alpine sum-
mits every year, while the highest mountain in North
America is unsurveyed, and only approximate esti-
mates have been made of its heights. The whole
580,107 square miles of the territory are almost as
good as unexplored, and among the islands of the
archipelago over 7,000 miles of coast are untouched
and primeval forests.

The Pribyloff or Seal Islands have usurped all
interest in Alaska, and these two litiie fog-bound
islands in Behring Sea, that are too small to be
marked on an ordinary map, have had more attention
drawn to them than any other part of the territory.
The rental of the islands of St. Paul and St. George,
and the taxes on the annual one hundred thousand
sealskins, pays into the treasury each year more than
four per cent interest on the $7,200,000 originally
paid to Russia for its possessions in North America.
This fact is unique in the history of our purchased
territories, and justifies Secretary Seward's efforts in
acquiring it.

The neglect of Congress to provide any for in of
civil government or protection for the inhabitmts
checked all progress and enterprise, and kept the
country in the background for seventeen years. With
the development of the Pacific northwest, settlements,

THE SITE AN ARCHIPELAGO. o

mining-camps, and fisheries have been slowly growing,
and increasing in numbers in the southeastern part of
Alaska, adjoining British Columbia. The prospec-
tors and the hardy pioneers, who seek the setting sun
and follow the frontiers westward, were attracted
there by the gold discoveries in 1880, and the impetus
then given was not allowed to subside.

Pleasure-travellers have followed the prospectors*
lead, as it became known that some of the grandest
scenery of the continent is to be found along the
Alaska coast, in the region of the Alexander or Sitkan
Archipelago, and the monthly mail steamer is crowded
with tourists during the summer season. It is one of
the easiest and most delightful trips to go up the
coast by the inside passage and cruise through the
archipelago ; and in voyaging past the unbroken wil-
derness of the island shores, the tourist feels quite
like an explorer penetrating unknown lands. The
mountain range that walls the Pacific coast from the
Antarctic to the Arctic gives a bold and broken front
to the mainland, and everyone of the eleven hundred
islands of the archipelago is but a submerged spur or
peak of the great range. Many of the islands are
larger than Massachusetts or New Jersey, but none
of them have been wholly explored, nor is the survey
of their shores completed. The Yosemite walls and
cascades are repeated in mile after mile of deep salt-
water channels, and from the deck of an ocean
steamer one views scenes not paralleled after long
rides and climbs in the heart of the Sierras. The
gorges and cafions of Colorado are surpassed ; moun-
tains that tower above Pike's Peak rise in steep in-
cline from the still level of the sea ; and the shores

* SOVTHERy ALASKA.

arc clothed with forests and undergrowth dense and
impassable as the tangle of a Florida swamp. On
these summer trips the ship runs into the famous
inlets on the mainland shore and anchors before vast
glaciers that push their icy fronts down into the sea.
The still waters of the inside passr.ge give smooth
sailing nearly all of the way ; and, living on an ocean
steamer for three and four weeks, one only feels the
heaving of the Pacific swells while crossing the short
stretches of Queen Charlotte Sound and Dixon En-
trance.

The Alaska steamer, however, is a perfect will o' the
wisp for a landsman to pursue, starting sometimes
from Portland and sometimes from San Francisco,
adapting its schedule to emergencies and going as
the exigencies of the cargo demand. It clears from
Puget Sound ports generally during the first days of
each month, but in midwinter it arranges its depar-
ture so as to have the light of the full moon in the
northern ports, where the sun sets at three and four
o'clock on December afternoons.

When the steamer leaves Portland for Alaska, it
goes down the Columbia River, up the coast of Wash-
ington Territory, and, reaching Victoria and Port
Townsend three days later, takes on the mails, and
the freight shipped from San Francisco, and then
clears for the north. The traveller who dreads the
Columbia River bar and the open ocean can go across
overland to Puget Sound, and thence by the Sound
steamers to whichever port the Alaska steamer may
please to anchor in.

The first time that I essayed the Alaska trip,
the steamship /fh//o with its shining b^ack hull, its

THE SITKAN ABCtllPELAGO. 9

ti im spars, and row of white cabins on deck, slipped
down the Columbia River one Friday night, and on
Monday morning we left Portland to overtake it. It
was a time of forest fires, and a cloud of ignorance
brooded over Puget Sound, only equalled in density
by the clouds of smoke that rolled from the burning
forests on shore, and there was an appalling scarcity
of shipping news. The telegraph lines were down
between the most important points, and the Fourth
of July fever was burning so fiercely in patriotic veins
that no man had a clear enough brain to tell us where
the ship /(/a/io was, had gone to, or was going to.
For two restless and uncertain days we see-sawed
from British to American soil, going back and forth
from Victoria to Port Townsend as we were in turn as-
sured that the ship lay at anchor at one place, would
not go to the other, and that we ran the risk of losing
the whole trip if we did not immediately embark for
the opposite shore. The dock hands came to know
us, the pilots touched their hats to us, the agents
fled from their ticket-offices at sight of us, and I think
even the custom-house officers must have watched
suspiciously, when the same two women and one
small boy paced impatiently up and down the various
wharves at that end of Pusfet Sound. We saw the
Union Jack float and heard the American eagle
scream on the I'ourth of July, and after a night of
fire-crackers, bombs, and inebriate chorus-singing,
the /da/io came slipping into the harbor of Port
Townsend as innocently as a messenger of peace,
and fired a shot from a wicked little cannon, that
started the very foundations of the town with its
echoes.

O SOUTHERN ALASKA.

Port Townsend, at the entrance of Puget Scumd, is
the last port of entry and custom-house in the United
States, and the real point of departure for the Alaska
steamers. It was named by Vancouver in 1792 for
his friend, " the most noble Marquis of Townsend,"
and scorning the rivalry of the new towns at the
head of Puget Sound, believes itself destined to be
the final railway terminus and the future great city of
this extreme northwest The busy and thriving little
town lies at the foot of a steep bluff, and an outlying
suburb of residences stretches along the grassy
heights above. A steep stairway, and several zig-zag
walks and roads connect the business part of Port
Townsend with the upper town, and it argues strong
lungs and a goat-like capacity for climbing on the
part of the residents, who go up and down the stair-
way several times a day. /\ marine hospital flies the
national flag from a point on the bluff, and four miles
west on the curve of the bay lies Fort Townsend,
where a handful of United States troops keep up the
traditions of an army and a military post. Near the
fort is the small settlement of IrondrJe, where the
crude bog ore of the spot is successfully melted with
Texada iron ore, brought from a small island in the
Gulf of Georgia. The sand spit on which Port
Townsend society holds its summer clam-bakes, and
the home of the ' Duke of York," the venerable
chief 0*" the Clallam tribe, are points of interest
about the shores. *

Across the Straits of Fuca there is the pretty
English town of Victoria, that has as solid mansions,
as well-built roads, and as many country homes
around it, as any little town on the home island. It

THE SITKA X ARdllPELAGO. *

has an intricate lantl-locked harbor, where the tides
rush in and out in a way that defies reason, and none
have ever yet been able to solve the puzzle and
make out a tide-table for that harbor. All Victoria
breathes the atmosphere of a past and greater gran-
deur, and the citizens feelingly revert to the time
when British Columbia was a separate colony by
itself, and Victoria the seat of the miniature court
of the Governor-General and commander-in-chief of
its forces. There is no real joy in the celebration
of "Dominion Day," which reminds them of how
British Columbia and the two provinces of Canada
were made one under the specious promise of a con-
necting railway. Recent visits of Lord Dufferin and
the Marquis of Lome stilled some of the disaffec-
tion, and threats of annexation to the United States
are less frequent now.

Victoria has " the perfect climate," according to the
Princess Louise and other sojourners, and there is a
peace and rest in the atmosphere that charms the
briefest visitor. Every one takes life easily, and
things move in a slow and accustomed groove, as if
sanctioned by the custom of centuries on the same
spot. Business men hardly get down town before ten
o'clock in the morning, and by four in the afternoon
they are striding and riding off to their homes, as if
the fever and activity of American trade and compe-
tition were far away and unheard of. The clerk at
the post-office window turns a look of surprise upon
the stranger, and bids him go across the street, or
down a block, and buy his postage-stamps at a sta-
tioner's shop, to be sure.

The second summer that my compass was set for

!'l

so UriIEUS A LA S KA .

the nor'-norwest, our party of three spent a week at
Victoria before the steamer came in from San P'ran-
cisco, and the charm of the place grew upon us every
day. The drives about the town, along the island
shores, and through the woods, are beautiful, and the
heavy, London-built carriages roll over hard and per-
fect English highways. Ferns, growing ten and
twelve feet high by the roadside, amazed us beyond
expression, until a loyal and veracious citizen of
Oregon assured us that ferns eighteen feet high could
be found anywhere in the woods back of Astoria , and
that he had often been lost in fern prairies among the
Cascade mountains, where the fronds arched far above
his head when he was mounted on a horse. Wild
rose-bushes are matted together by the acre in the
clearings about the town, and in June they weight the
air with their perfume, as they did a century ago,
when Marchand, the old French voyager, compared
the region to the rose-covered slopes of Bulgaria.
The honeysuckle attains the greatest perfection in
this climate, and covers and smothers the cottages
and trellises with thickly-set blossoms. F2ven the
currant-bushes grow to unusual height, and in many
gardens they are trained on arbors and hang their
red, ripe clusters high overhead.

For a few days we watched anxiously every trail of
smoke in the Straits of Fuca, and at last welcomed
the ship, one sunny morning, when the whole Olymjiic
range stood like a sapphire wall across the Straits,
and the Angels' Gate gave a clear view of more
azure slopes and snow-tipped summits through that
gap in the mountain front. Instead of the trim
propeller Idahoj the old side-wheeler, the Ancoji, was

;;

.1 <

THE SITKAN AlWlllPELAQO.

put on the Alaska route for the summer months,
and the fact of its haviny; taken five days for the trip
up from San Francisco did not prepossess us with
any false notions of its speed. The same captain
and officers from the hfa/io were on board, and after
making the tour of Puget Sound again, we were quite
resigned to the change of ships by the time we
finally left Victoria.

At Victoria the steward buys his last su.)plies
for the coming weeks of great appetites ; for with
smooth water and the tonic of sea and mountain
air both, the passengers make great inroads on the
ship's stores. The captain often affects dismay at
the way the provisions disappear, and threatens to
take an account of stores at Sitka and bring the ship
down by the outside passage in order to save some
profit for the company. During the last hours at
the Victoria wharf, several wagon -loads of meat had
been put in the ice-boxes of the Af/con, when some
live beef came thundering down the wharf, driven
by hallooing horsemen. Each month the ship takes
up these live cattle and sheep, and leaving them to
fatten on the luxurious grasses of Sitka, insures ?
fresh supply of fresh beef for the return voyage. It
was within half an hour of sailing-time when the
herders drove the sleek fellows down to the wharf,
and for an hour there was a scene that surpassed any-
thing under a circus tent or within a Spanish arena.
The sailors and stevedores had a proper respect for
the bellowing beasts, and kept their distance, as they
barricaded them into a corner of the wharf. The
ship's officer who had charge of loading the cargo is "a
salt, salt sailor," with a florid complexion ; and it was

V 7i P.

!|tf-

Ill

HO urn Kit y a la ska .

his brave part to advance, flap his arms, and say
" Shoo ! " and then fly behind the first man or barrel,
or dodge into the warehouse door. The crowd gath-
ered and increased, the eighty passengers, disregard-
ing all signs and rules, mounted on the paddle-boxes
and clung to the ratlines forward, applauded the
picador and the matador, and hummed suggestive airs
from CartHin. When the lasso was fastened round
one creature's horns, and his head was drawn down
close to a pile, there were nervous moments when we
waited to see the herder tossed on high, or else vol-
untarily leaping into the water to escape the savage
prods of the enraged beast. Theie was great delay
in getting the belts ready to put round the animals
so that they could be swung over into the ship, and
while the great bull-fight was in progress and the
hour of sailing had come, the captain rode down the
wharf in a carriage, strode on to the ship and de-
manded, in a stiff, official tone, " How long have these
cattle been here .^ " " More than an hour, sir, replied
the mate. " Turn those cattle loose and draw in the
gang-plank," was the brief order from the bridge, and
the one warning shriek of the whistle scattered the
spectators and sent the excited beasts galloping up
the wharf. While the gang-plank was being with-
drawn, two Chinamen came down on a dog trot,
hidden under bundles of blankets, with balanced bas-
kets across their shoulders, and pickaxes, pans, and
mining tools in their arms. Without a tremor the
two Johns walked out on the swaying plank, and,
stepping across a gap of more than two feet, landed
safely on deck, bound and equipped for the deserted
placer mines on Stikine River.

TIIK SlTKAN AUCUIPKLAGO.

We left Victoria at noon, and all the afternoon
the passengers gave their preliminary ohs ! and ahs !
strewed the decks with exclamation points, and buried
their heads in tlicir pink-covered maps of British
Columbia, while the ship ran through narrow chan-
nels and turned sharp curves around the picturesque
islands for the possession of which England and
America nearly went to war. San Juan Island, with its
limekilns, its gardens, meadows, and browsing sheep,
was as pretty and pastoral a spot as nations ever
wrangled about, and the F^mperor of Germany did
just the right thing when he drew his imperial pencil
across the maps and gave this garden spot of San
Juan to the United States. The beautiful scenery of
the lower end of the Gulf of Georgia fitly introduces
one to the beauties of the inland passage whi h winds
for nearly a thousand miles between the islands that
fringe this northwest coast, and even the most cap-
tious travellers forgot fancied grievances over state-
rooms, table seats, and baggage regulations. The
exhausted purser, who had been persecuted all day
by clamoring passengers and anxious shippers, was
given a respite, and all was peace, satisfaction, and joy
on board. In the nine o'clock gloaming we rounded
the most northern lighthouse that gleams on this
shore of the Pacific, and, winding in and through the
harbor of Nanaimo, dropped anchor in Departure
Bay.

The coal mines of Nanaimo have given it a com-
mercial importance upon which it bases hopes of a
great future ; but it has no bu.stling air to it, to im-
press the stranger from over the border with that
prospect. In early days it was an important trading-

murnm

M! S

SOUTHERN ALASKA.

;

t ;1M

■■■'fl

post of the Hudson Bay Company, and a quaint old
block-house still stands as a relic of the times when
the Indian canoes used to blacken the beach at the
seasons of the great trades. The traders first opened
the coal seams near Nanaimo, and thirty years ago
used to pay the Indians one blanket for every eight
barrels of coal brought out.

Geologists have hammered their way all up the
Pacific Coast without finding a trace of true coal, and
on account of the recent geological formation of the
country they consider further search useless. The
nearest to true coal that has been found was the coal
seam on the Arctic shore of Alaska near Cape Lis-
burn. Captain Hooper, U. S. R. M., found the vein,
and his vessel, the CoriviN, was supplied with coal
from it during an Arctic cruise in 1880. Otherwise,
the lignite beds of Vancouver Island supply the best
steaming coal that can be had on the coast, and a
fleet of colliers ply between Nanaimo and the chief
ports on the Pacific.

The mines nearest the town of Nanaimo were ex-
hausted soon after they were worked systematically,
and operations were transferred to Newcastle Island
in the harbor opposite the town. A great fire in
the Newcastle mine obliged the owners to close and
abandon it, and the whole place stands as it was
left, the cabins and works dropping slowly to decay.
Even the quarry from which the fine stone was taken
for the United States Mint at San Francisco is aban-
doned, and its broken derricks and refuse heaps
make a forlorn break in the beauty of the mild
shores of the island. ,

Richard Dunsmuir found the Wellington mines at

THE SITK.XN AUnilPELAGO.

Departure Bay by accident, his horse stumbling on a
piece of lignite coal as he rode down through the
woods one day. The admiral of the British fleet and
one other partner ventured ^'i,ooo each in develop-
ing the mine, and at the end of ten years the admiral
withdrew with ^$0,000 as his share, and c. year since
the other partner sold out his interests to Mr. Duns-
muir for ^150,000. At present the mines pay a
monthly profit of /^8,ooo, and Yankee engineers claim
that that income might be doubled if the mines were
worked on a larger scale, as, with duty included, this
black lignite commands the highest price and is most
in demand in all the cities of California and Oregon.
Mr. Dunsmuir is the prime mover in building the
Island railway, which is to connect Nanaimo with the
naval harbor of Esquimault near Victoria. Charles
Crocker and Leland Stanford of the Central Pacific
road are connected with Mr. Dunsmuir in this under-
taking, and to induce these capitalists to take hold of
it the colonial government gave a land grant twenty-
five miles wide along the whole seventy miles of the
railroad, with .dl the timber and mineral included.

The great Wellington mines have had their strikes,
and after the last one the white workmen were sup-
planted by Chinese, who, though wanting the brawn
and muscle of die Irishmen, could work in the sulphur
formations without injuring their eyes. By an explo-
sion of fire-damp in Ma)-, 1884, many lives were lost,
and gloom was cast over the little settlement on the
sunny bay.

On this lee shore of Vancouver Island the climate
is even softer and milder than at Victoria, and during
my three visits Nanaimo has always been steeped in

SOUTHERN ALASKA,

a golden calm of steady sunshine. While waiting for
the three or four hundred tons of coal to be dropped
into the hold, carload by carload, the passengers
amuse themselves by visiting the quiet little town,
stirring up the local trade, and busying the post-
master and the telegraph operator A small boy
steers and commands the comical little steam-tug that
is omnibus and street car for the Nanaimo and Well-
ington people, and makes great profits while passen-
ger steamers are coaling.

When all the anglers, the hunters, the botanists
and the geologists had gone their several ways
from the ship one coaling day, the captain made a
diversion for the score of ladies left behind, by order-
ing out a lifeboat, and having the little tug tow us
around the bay and over to Nanaimo. When the
ladies had all scattered into the various shops, the cap-
tain made the tour of the town and found that there
was not a trout to be had in that market. Then he
arranged that if the returning fishermen came back
to the ship in the evening and laid their strings of
trout triumphantly on deck, a couple of Indians should
force their way into the admiring crowd and demand
pay for fish sold to the anglers. Can any one pic-
ture that scene and the effect of the joke, when it
dawned upon the group }

A great bonfire on the beach in the evening
rounded off that coaling day, and the captain de-
clared the celebration to be in honor of Cleveland
and Hendricks, who had that day been nominated
at the National Democratic Convention in Chicago.
AlthoMgh the partisans of the other side declined to
consider it a ratification meeting on British soil, they

^'"If'l

THE SITKAN ARCHIPELAGO.

helped heap up the burning logs and drift-wood until
the whole bay was lighted with the flame ^>. With
blue lights, fire-crackers, rockets and pistol -popping
the f^te continued, the Republicans deriding ail
boasts and prophecies of their opponents, until the
commander threatened to drop them on some de-
serted island off the course, until after the election.
History has since set its seal upon the prophecies
then made, and some of the modest participants of
the Democratic faith think their international bon-
fire assisted in the result.

.so VTllElt S ALASKA.

CHAPTER II.

THE BRITISH COLUMBIA COAST AND TONGASS.

IF Claude Mclnotte had wanted to paint a fairer
picture to his lady, he should have told Pauline
of this glorious northwest coast, fringed with islands,
seamed with fathomless channels of clear, green, sea
wat(?r, and basking in the soft, mellow radiance of this
summer sunshine The scenery gains everything
fronj being translated through the medium of a soft,
pearly atmosi)here, where the light is as gray and
evenly diffused as in Old England itself. The dis-
tant mountain ranges are lost in the blue vaporous
shadows, and nearer at hand the masses and outlines
show in their i)ure contour without the obtrusion of
all the garish details that rob so many western moun-
tain scenes of their grander effects. The calm of the
brooding air, the shimmer of the opaline sea around
one, and the ranges of green and russet hills, misty
purple mountains, and snowy summits on the faint
horizon, give a dream-like coloring to all one's
thoughts, A member of the Canadian Parliament, in
speaking of this coast country of British Columbia,
called it the '*sea of mountains " and the channels of
the ocean through which one winds for days are but as
endless valleys and stecji cartons between the peaks
and ranges that rise abruptly from the water's edge.

.; I

THE SITKAN AliCHIPELAGO.

Only the fiords and inlets of the coast of Norway,
and the wooded islands in the Inland Sea of Japan,
present anything like a counterpart to the wonderful
scenery of these archipelagos of the North Pacific.
From the head of Puget Sound to the mouth of the
Chilkat River there are seven hundred and thirty-two
miles of latitude, and the trend of the coast and the
ship's windings between and around the islands make
it an actual voyage of more than a thousand miles
on inland waters.

The Strait or Gulf of Georgia, that separates Van-
couver's Island from the mainland, although widening
at times to forty miles, is for the most part like a
broad river or lake, landlocked, walled by high moun-
tain ranges on both sides, and choked at either end
with groups of islands. The mighty current of the
Frazer River rolls a pale green flood of fresh water
into it at the southern entrance, and the river water,
with its different density and temperature floating on
the salt water, and cutting through it in a body, shows
everywhere a sharply defined line of separation. In
the broad channels schools of whales are often seen
spouting and leaping, and on a lazy, sunny afternoon,
while even the mountains seemed dozing in the wave-
less calm, the idlers on the after deck were roused by
the cry of "Whales !" For an hour we watched the
frolicking of the snorting monsters, as they spouted
jets of water, arched their black backs and fins above
the surface, and then disappeared with perpendicular
whisks of their huge tails

Toward the north end of Vancouver's Island, where
Valdes Island is wedged in between it and the main-
land shore, the ship enters Discovery Pass, in which

SOUTIlEliN ALAHKA.

are the dangerous tide rips of Seymour Narrows. The
tides rushing in and out of t:ip. Strait of Georgia dash
through this rocky gorge at the rate of four and eight
knots an hour on the turn, and the navigators time
their sailing hours so as to reach this perilous place
in daylight and at the flood tide. Even at that time
the water boils in smooth eddies and deep whirlpools,
and a ship is whirled half round on its course as it
threads the narrow pass between the reefs. At other
times the water dashes over the rapids and raises
great waves that beat back an opposing bow, and the
dullest landsman on the largest ship appreciates the
real dangers of the run through this wild ravine,
where the wind races with the water and howls in
the rigging after the most approved fashion for thrill-
ing^narine adventures. Nautical gossips tell one of
vessels that, steaming against the furious tide, have
had their paddle wheels reversed by its superior
strength, and have been swept back to wait the favor-
able minutes of slack water. Others, caught by the
opposing current, are said to have been slt)wly forced
back, or, steaming at full speed, have not gained an
inch of headway for two hours. The rise and fall of
the tides is thirteen feet in these narrows, and al-
though there are from twenty to sixty fathoms of
water in the true channel, there is an ugly ledge and
isolated rocks in the middle of the pass on which
there arc only two and a quarter fathoms. Long be-
fore Vancouver carried his victorious ensign through
these li ;nown waters, the Indians had known and
dreade ^hese rapids as the abode of an evil spirit,
and for iialf a century the adventurous Hudson Bay
traders went warily through the raging whirlpools.

THE SITKAN ARCHIPELAGO.

Although the British Admiralty have made careful
surveys, and the charts are in the main accurate,
there have been serious wrecks on this part of the
coast. The United States man-of-war Sarauac was
lost in Seymour Narrows on the i8th of June, 1875.
The Sarauac was an old side-wheel steamer of the
second rate in naval classification, carrying eleven
guns, and was making its third trip to Alaskan
waters. There was an unusually low tide the morn-
ing the Sarauac entered the pass, and the ship was
soon caught in the wild current, and sent broadside
on to the mid-rock. It swung off, and was headed
for the Vancouver shore, and made fast with hawsers
to the trees, but there was only time to lower a boat
with provisions and the more important papers before
the Sarauac sunk, and not even the masts were left
visible. The men camped on shore while a party
went in the small boats to Nanaimo for help. No
attempt was ever made to raise the ship, and in the
investigation it was shown that the boilers were in
such a condition when they reached Victoria, that
striking the rock in Seymour Narrows was only one
of the perils that awaited those on board. No lives
were lost by this disaster, and Dr. Bessels, of the
Smithsonian Institute, who was on his way up the coast
to make a collection of Indian relics for the Centen-
nial Exposition, showed a scientist's zeal in merely
regretting the delay, and continuing on his journey
by the first available craft. In April, 1883, the
steamer Grapplcr, which plied between Victoria and
the trading-posts on the west coast, took fire late at
night, just as it was entering Seymour Narrows.
The flames reached the hempen rudder-ropes, and

HOUTIlERy ALASKA,

the boat was soon helplessly drifting into the rapids.
Flames and clouds of smoke made it difficult to
launch the boats, antl all but one were swamped.
The frantic passengers leaped overboard while the
ship was whirling and careening in the rapids, and
the captain, with life-preserver on, was swept off,
and disappeared in midstream. The Grapplcr finally
drifted in to the Vancouver shore, and burned until
daylight. Another United States war vessel, the
Suwani'c was lost a hundred miles beyond the Sey-
mour Narrows by striking an unknown rock at the
entrance to Oueen Charlotte Sound.

In crossing this forty-mile stretch of Queen Char-
lotte Sound the voyager feels the swell, and touches
the outer ocean for the first time. If the wind is
strong there may be a chopping sea, but in general it
is a stilled exjjanse on which fog and mist eternally
brood. The Kuro Siwo, or Black Stream, or Japan
Current, of the Pacific, which corresponds to the
Gulf Stream of the Atlantic, touches the coast near
this Sound, and the colder air from the land striking
this warm river of the sea produces the heavy vapors
which lie in impenetrable banks for miles, or float in
filmy and downy clouds along the green mountain
shores. It is this warm current which modifies the
climate of the whole Pacific coast, bends the iso-
thermal lines northward, and makes temperature
depend upon the distance from the sea instead of
upon distance from the equator. Bathed in perpetual
fog, like the south coast of England and Ireland,
there is a climatic resemblance in many ways be-
tween the islands of Great Britain and the islands of
the British Columbia shore. The constant moisture

m 5«

^•»*.«.'-zK3J»it3J'.tt -i-liX.'

'!§

Tin: SITKAS AllCIirPKLAdO.

and the lon^^ days force vej^etation like a hothouse,
arnl the density of the forests and the luxuriance of
the undergrowth are equalled only in the tropics.
The i^ine-trecs cover the mountain slopes as thickly
as the grass on a hillside, and as fires have never
destroyed the forests, only the spring avalanches and
land-slides break their continuity. 71iere is an in-
side passage between the mountains from Queen
Charlotte to Milbank Sound that gave us an after-
noon and evening in the midst of fine scenery, but
for another whole day we passed through the grand-
est of fiords on the British Columbia coast.

The sun rose at three o'clock on that rare summer
morning, when the ship thrust her l)ow into the clear,
mirror-like waters of the T'inlavson Channel, and at
four o'clock a dozen passengers were up in front
watching the matchless panorama of mountain walls
thai slii)}")ed silently past us. The clear, soft light,
the jHU'e air, and the stillness of sky, and shore, and
water, in the early morning, made it seem like the
dawn of creation in some new paradise. The breath
of the sea and the breath of the pine forest were
blended in the air, and the silence and calm added to
the inspiration of the surroundings. The eastern
wall of the channel lay in pure shado v, the forest
slopes were deep unbroken waves of green, with a
narrow base-line of sandstone washed snowy white,
and beneath that every tree and twig lay reflected in
the still mirror of waters of a deeper, purer, and softer
green than the emerald.

The marks of the spring avalanches were white
scars on the face of the mountains, and the course
of preceding landslides showed in the paler green of

HOUTIIEHN ALASKA.

the ferns, bushes, and the dense growth of young
trees that quickly cover these places. Cliffs of the
color and boldness of the Yosemite walls shone in
the sunlight on the opposite side, and wherever there
were snowbanks on the summits, or lakes in the
hollows and amphitheatres back of the mountain
ridge, foaming white cataracts tumbled down the
sheer walls into the green sea water. luigles soared
overhead in long, lazy sweeps, and hundreds of
young ducks fluttered away from the ship's bow, and
dived at the sharp echoes of a rifle shot. In this
Finlayson Channel the soundings give from 50 to 130
fathoms, and^ from the surface of these still, deep
waters the first timbered slopes of the mountains rise
nearly perpendicularly for 1,500 feet, and their snow-
crowned summits reach 3,000 feet above their perfect
reflections. From a width of two miles at the en-
trance, the pass narrows one half, and then by a turn
around an island the ship enters Tolmie and Fraser
channels, which repeat the same wonders in bolder
forms, and on deeper waters. At the end of that
last fiord, where submerged mountain peaks stand as
islands, six diverging channels appear, and the intri-
cacy of the inside passage up the coast is as marvel-
lous now, as when Vancouver dropped his anchor in
this Wright Sound, puzzled as to which way he
should turn to reach the ocean. Finer even than the
three preceding fiords is the arrowy reach of Gren-
ville Channel, which is a narrow cleft in the moun-
tain range, forty-five miles long, and with scarcely a
curve to break the bold palisade of its walls. In
the narrowest part it is not a quarter of a mile in
width ; and the forest walls, and bold granite cliffs,

■;i.

THE S I TK AN A li (in I'KL A a 0.

rising there to their greatest height, give back an
echo many times before it is lost in h)ng rever-
berations.

Junerging from Grenville Channel, the church and
houses of Metlakatlah, the one model missionary
settlement on the coast, and an Arcadian village of
civilized and Ciiristianized Indians, were seen shining
in the afternoon sun. At tliat point the water is
tinged a [)cder green by the turbid curients of the
Skeena River, and up that ri\er the newest I'^l Do-
rado has lately been found. Miners have gone up in
canoes, and fishermen have dropped their lines and
joined them in the hunt for gold, which is found in
nuggets from the size of a pea to soliil chunks worth
^20 ami $6o. " Jern," tiie first [)rospector, took out
$6oo in two days, anil in the same week two miners
panned out j>68o in six hours. One nugget, taken
from a crevice in a rock, was sent down to Victoria,
and found to be pure gold and worth $26. Other
consignments of treasure following, that quiet colo-
nial town has been shaken by a gold fever that is
sending all the adventurous spirits off to the Lome
Creek mines.

Before the sunset hour we crossed Dixon Entrance
and. the famous del)atable line of 54° 40'. and the
patriots who said the northern boundary of rhe
United States should be " Fifty-four Forty, or Fight,"
are best remembered now, when it is seen that the
Alaska possessions begin at that line. We were within
the Alaska boundaries and standing on United States
soil again at the fishing station of Tongass, on Wales
Island, It is a wild and picturesque little place, tucked
away in the folds of the hills and islands, and the ship

sour lit: lis Alaska.

rounded many points before it dropped anchor in
front of two new wooden iiouses on a rocky shore that
constituted Toni;ass. A chister of bark huts and
tents further down thi; beach w:is tlie home of the
Indians wiio catch, salt, and barrel the salmon. There
was one white man as host at the fish house, a fur-
capped, sad-eyed mortal, who wistfully said that he
had not been " below " in seven years, and entertained
us with the si^ht (^f his one hundred and forty bar-
rels of salmon, and the vats and scow fiUeil with
split and salted or freshly cauj^dit fish. He showed
us a string of fine trout that set the amateur fisher-
men wild, and then gallantly offered to weigh the
ladies on his new scales. Over in the group of Ton-
gass Indians, sitting stolidly in a row before their
houses, there was a " one-moon-old " baby that gave
but a look at the staring white people, and then sent
up one pitiful little barbaric yawp. A clumsy, fiat-
bottomed scow was rowed slowly out to the steamer,
and while the salt, the barrel hoops, barrel staves, and
groceries were unloaded to it from the ship, a ball
was begun on deck. A merry young mrner bound
for the Chilkat country gave rollicking old tunes on
his violin, and a Juneau miner called off figures that
convulsed the dancers and kept the four sets flying on
the after deck. " The winnowing sound of dancers'
feet" anil the scrape of the fiddle brought a few In
dian women out in canoes, and they paddled listlessly
around the stern, talking in slow gutturals of the
strange performances of the " Boston people," as all
United States citizens have been termed by them
since Captain Gray and John Jacob Astor's ships
first came to the Northwest coast. At half-past ten

THE SITKAN ARCHIPKLAUO.

o'clock daynght still lingered on the sky, and the
Chicago man gravely read a page of a Lake Shore
railroad time-table in tine print for a test, and then
went solemnly to bed, six hundred miles away from
the rest of the United States.

SOUTHERN ALASKA.

CHAPTER III.

CAPE FOX AND NAUA BAY.

U '

FROM the Tongass fishery, which is some miles
below the main village of the Tongass Indians
and the deserted fort where United States troops
were once stationed, the ship made its way by night
to Cape Fox. At this point on the mainland shore,
beyond Fort Tongass, the Kinneys, the great salmon
packers of Astoria, have a cannery that is one of the
model establishments up here, Two 'arge buildings
for the cannery, two houses," a store, and the scattered
line of log houses, bark houses and tents of the In-
dian village, are all that one sees from the water. In
the cannery most of the work is done by the Indians,
but a few Chinamen perform the work which requires
a certain amount of training and mechanical skill.
The Indians cast the nets and bring in the shining
silver fish with their deep moss-green backs and fierce
mouths, and heap them in slippery plies in an outside
shed overhanging the water. A Chinaman picks
them up with a long hook, and, laying them in a row
across a table, goes through a sleight-of-hand per-
formance with a sharp knife, which in six minutes
leaves twenty salmon shorn of their heads, tails, fin.s,
and inwards. Experienced visitors to such places took
out their watches and timed him, and in ten seconds

'\«i

V
*

THE SITKAS ARCHIPELAGO.

a fish was put through his first rough process of trim-
ming, and passed on to men who washed it, cleaned
it more thoroughly, scraped off a few scales, and by
a turn of revolving knives cut it in sections the
length of a can. Indian women packed the tins,
which were soldered, plunged into vats of boiling
water, tested, resoldered, laquered, labelled, and
packed in boxes in quick routine. There was the
most perfect cleanliness about the cannery, and the
salmon itself is only touched after the last washing
by the fingers of the Indian women, who fill the cans
with solid pieces of bright red flesh. In 1883 there
were 3,784 cases of canned salmon shipped from
this establishment as the result of the first sea.son's
venture. In the following year. 1,156 cases were
shipped by the July steamer, and the total for the
season was about double th^t of the prerccu'^g year.

Owing to the good salmon season and the steady
employment given them at the cannery, the In-
dians held their things so high that even the most
insatiate and abandoned curio-buyers made no pur-
chases, although there has been regret ever since at
the thought of the wide old bracelets and the finely-
woven hats that they Lt escape them. At Cape
Fox a shrewd Indian came .d)oard, and spied the
amateur photographer taking groups on deck. Imme-
diately he was eager to be taken as well, and followed
the camera around, repeating, " I low much Siwash
picture.^" He was not to be appeased by any state-
ments about the photographer doing his work for his
own amusement, and i)leaded so hard that the arHst
finally relented and turned his camera upon him.
The Indian stiffened himself into his most rigid atti-

'M,

SOUTHERN ALASKA.

tude, when directed to a corner of the deck between
two lifeboats, and when the process was over he could
hardly be made to stir from his pose. When we
pressed him to tell us what he wanted his picture for,
he chuckled like any civilized swain, and confessed
the whole sentimental story by the mahogany blush
that mantled his broad cheekij.

Up Revillagigedo Channel the scenery is more like
that of the Scotch lakes, broad expanses of water
walled by forest ridges and mountains that in certain
lights show a glow like blooming heather on their
sides. The Tongass Narrows, which succeed this
channel of the long name, give more vie vs of ca-
ftons filled with water, winding between high bluffs
and sloping summits. It was a radiant sunny morn-
ing when we steamed slowly through these beautiful
waterways, and at noort the ship turned into a long
green inlet on the Revillagigedo shore, and cast an-
chor at the head of Naha Bay. Of all the lovely
spots in Alaska, commend me to this little landlocked
bay, where the clear green waters are stirred with the
leaping of thousands of salmon, and the shores are
clothed with an enchanted forest of giant pines, and
the undergrowth is a tangle of ferns and salmon-berry
bushes, and ;ae ground and every log are covered
with v/onderful mosses, into which the foot sinks at
every step.

The splash of the leaping salmon was on every
side and at every moment, and the sight of the large
fish jumping above the surface and leaping through
the air caused the excitable passenger at the stern to
nearly capsize the small boat and steer wildly. As
the sailors rowed the boat up the narrow bay, where

Till!: aUKAN AltCllIPELAaO.

the ship could barely swing round with the tide, the
Chicago man pensively observed : " There 's a thou-
sand dollars jumping in the air every ten minutes ! "

The anglers were maddened at the sight of these
fish, for although these wild northern salmon can
sometimes be deluded by trolling with a spoon-hook,
they have no taste for such small things as flies, and
are usually caught with seines or spears, except dur-
ing those unusual salmon runs when the Indians wade
in among the crowded fins and shovel the fish ashore
with their canoe paddles.

At the head of Naha Bay, over d narrow point of
lar :, lies a beautiful mountain lake, whose surface is a
• ifi! t,elow the high-water mark, and at low tide there
is a fine cascade oi fresh water foaming from between
the rocks in the narrow outlet. During the run of
salmon, the pool at the foot of the fall is crowded with
the struggling fish ; but the net is cast in the lake as
often as in the bay, and the average catch is eighty
barrels of salmon a day. The salmon are cleaned,
salted, and barrelled in a long warehouse overhanging
the falls, and a few bark houses belonging to the In-
dians who vv-^rk in the fishery are perched pictu-
resquely n the little wooded point between the
two wat. r;, 1^ 'oating across this lovely lake in a slimy
boat that t. e 'ndians had just emptied of its last
catch of salmon, the beauty of its shores v^as more
apparent, and the overhanging trees, the thickets of
ferns, bu5:hes, and wild grasses, the network o( fallen
logs hidden under their thick coating of moss, and
the glinting of the sunshine on bark and moss and
liche;; ;. ^-xrited our wildest enthusiasm. In Alaska
one setc • ,ic greatest range of greens in nature, and

SOUTHERN ALASKA.

it is an education of the eye in that one color to study
the infinite shadt^s, tints, tones, and suggestions of
that primary color. Of all green and verdant woods,
I know of none that so satisfy one with their rank
luxuriance, their beauty and picturesqueness ; and one
feels a little sorrow for those people who, never hav-
ing seen Alaska, are blindly worshipping the barren,
burnt, dried-out, starved-out forests of the East. In
still stretches of this lake at Naha there are mirrored
the snow-capped summits whose melting snows fill
its banks, and the echo from a single ^j^stol-shot is
flung back from side to side before it J iway in
a roar. Beyond this lake there is a chain f lakes,
reached by connecting creeks and short portages,
and the few white men who have penetrated to the
farthest tarn in the heart of Revillagigedo Island say
that each lake is wilder and more lovely than the last
one. A mile below the fishery, and back in the
woods, there is a waterfall some forty feet in height ;
and a mountain stream, hurrying down from the
clear pools and snow-banks on the upper heights,
takes a leap over a ledge of rocks and covers it with
foam and sparkling waters.

The fishery and trading-post at Naha Bay was es-
tablished in 1883, and shipped 338 barrels of salted
salmon that first season. In 1884 over 500 barrels
were shipped, and throughout June and July the sal-
mon were leaping in the bay so thickly that at the
turn of the tide their splashing was like falling rain.

THE SITKA^/ ARCHIPELAGO.

CHAPTER IV.

KASA-AN HAY.

KASA-AN, or Karta Bay opens from Clarence
Strait directly west of Naha Bay, and the long
inlet runs in from the eastern shore of the Prince cf
Wales island for twenty miles. There are villages
of Kasa-an Indians in the smaller inlets and coves
opening from the bay, and carved totem poles stand
guard over the large square houses of these native
settlements. The bay itself is as lovely a stretch of
water as can be imagined, sheltered, sunny, and calm,
with noble mountains outlining its curves, and wooded
islands drifted in picturesque groups at the end. It
was a Scotch loch glorified, on the radiant summer
days that I spent there, and it recalled one's best
memories of Lake George in the softer aspects of its
shores. ■

Smaller inlets opening from the bay afford glimpses
into shady recesses in the mountain-sides, and one
little gap in the shores at last gave us a sight of the
trader's store, the long row of lichen-covered and moss-
grown sheds of the fishery, with the usual cluster of
bark houses and tents above a shelving beach strewn
with narrow, black canoes, A group of Indians
gathered -^n shore, their gay blankets, dresses, and
cotton kerchiefs adding a fine touch of color to the

SOUTIfKRN ALASKA.

scene, and the men in the fishery, in their high rubber
boots and aprons, flannel shirts and big hats, were
heroic adjuncts to the picturesque nnd out-of-the-way
scene.

There was a skurrying to and fro and great excite-
ment when the big steamer rounded slowly up to the
little wharf, and bow line, stern line, and breast lines
were thrown out, fastened to the piles and to the trees
on shore, and the slack hauled in at the stentorian
commands of the mate. Karta, or Kasa-an Bay has
been a famous place for salmon for a score of years,
and is best known, locally, as the Baronovich fishery.
Old Charles V. Baronovich was a relic of Russian
days, and a character on the coast. He was a Slav,
and gifted with all the cunning of that race, and after
the transfer of the country to the United States, he
disturbed the serenity of the customs officials by the
steady smuggling: that he kept up from over the
British border. Ke would import all kinds of stores,
but chiefly bales of English blankets, by canoe, and
when the collector or special agent would nenetrate
to this fastness of his, they found no damaging proof
in his store, aid only a peppery, hot-headed old pirate,
who swore at them roundly in a compound language
of Russian, Indian, and English, and shook his
crippled limbs with rage. He was also suspected of
selling liquor to the Indians, and a revenue cutter
once put into Kasa-an Bay, with a commander whom
smugglers seldom baflfled, and who was bound to un-
cover Baronovich's wickedness. The wily old Slav
received the officers courteously. He listened to the
formal announcement of the purpose of their visit, and
bade them search the place and kindly do him the

THE SITKAN AHtUIPELAGO.

honor of dining with him when they finished. Baro-
novich dozed and smoked, and idled the afternoon
away, while a watch kept a close eye upon him, and the
officers and men searched the packing-house, the In-
dian houses and tents, and the canoes on the beach.
They followed every trail and broken pathway into
the woods, tapped hollow trees, dug under the logs,
and peered down into the waters of the bay, and
finally gave up the search, convinced that there w::s
no liquor near the place. Baronovich gave them a
good dinner, and towaius the close a bottle of whis-
key was set before each officer, and the host led with
a toast to the captain of the cutter and the revenue
marine. '

This queer old fellow married one of the daughters
of Skowl, the Haida chief who ruled the bay. She
is said to have been a very comely maiden when Baro-
novich married her, and is now a stately, fine-looking
woman, with good features and a creamy complexion.
While Baronovich was cleaning his gun one day, it
was accidentally discharged, and one of his children
fell dead by his own hand. The Indians viewed this
deed with horror, and demanded that Skowl should
take his life in punishment. As it was proved an
accident, Skowl defended his son-in-law from the
charge of murder, and declared that he should go
free. Ever after that the Indians viewed Baronovich
with a certain fear, and ascribed to him that quality
which the Italians call the "evil eye."

With the passion of his race for fine weapons and
fine metal work, Baronovich possessed many old arms
that are worthy of an art museum. A pair of duel-
ling pistols covered with fine engraving and inlaying

SOl'THEliN ALASKA.

were bought of his widow by one of the naval officers
in command of the man-of-war on this station, and
an ancient double-barrelled flint-lock shot-gun lately
passed into the hands of another officer. The shot-
gun has the stock and barrels richly damascened with
silver and gold, after the manner of the finest Span-
ish metal work, and the clear gray flints in the trigger
give out a shower of sparks when struck. Gunnell
of London was the maker of this fine fowling-piece,
and it is now used in the field by its new owner, who
prefers it to the latest Remington.

Baronovich was a man with a long and highly-col-
ored history by all the signs, but he died a few years
since with no biographer at hand, and his exploits,
adventures, and oddities are now nearly forgotten.
The widow Baronovich still lives at Kasa-an, unwil'
ling to leave this peaceful sunny nook in the moun
tains, but the fishery is now leased to a ship captain,
who has taken away the fine old flavor of piracy and
smuggling, and substituted a rSgimc of system, en-
terprise, and eternal cleanliness.

The wandering salmon that swarm on this coast by
millions show clear instincts when they choose, with-
out an exception, only the most- picturesque and
attractive nooks to jump in. They dart and leap up
Kasa-an Bay to the mouths of all the little creeks at
its head, and three times during the year the water is
alive with them. The best salmon run in June and
July, and in one day the sei'^e brought in eighteen
hundred salmon in a single haul. Two thousand and
twenty-one hundred fish have weighted the net at dif-
erent hauls, and the fish-house was overrunning with
these royal salmon. Indian women do the most of

THE SITE AN ARCHIPELAGO.

the work in the fishery — cleaning and splitting the
fish and taking out the backbones and the worthless
parts with some very deft strokes from their murder-
ous-looking knives. The salmon are washed thor-
oughly and spread between layers of dry -salt in large
vats. Brine is poured over them, and they are left
for eight days in pickle. Boards and weights are laid
on the top of the vats, and they are then barrelled
and stored in a long covered shed and treated to more
strong brine through the bung-hole until ready for
shipment. Of all salt fish the salt salmon is the
finest, and here, where salmon are so plentiful, a bar-
relled dainty is put up in the shape of salmon bellies,
which saves only the fattest and most tender portions
of these rich, bright red Kasa-an salmon.

Over fifteen hundred barrels were packed in 1884,
and under the new r/^imc the Kasa-an fishery has
distanced its rivals in quantity, while the quality has
a long-established fame.

These Kasa-an Indians are a branch of the Haidas,
the finest of the Indian tribes of the coast. They
are most intelligent and industrious people, and are
skilled in many ways that render them superior to
the other tribes of the island. Their permanent
village is some miles below the fishery, and their
square whitewashed houses, and the tomb and mortu-
ary column of Skowl, their great chief, n^akes quite
a pretty scene in a shady green inlet near Harono-
vich's old copper mine. A few of their houses at the
fishery are of logs or rough-hewn planks, but the
most of them are bark huts, with a rustic arbor hung
full of drying salmon outside. These bits of bright-
red salmon, against the slabs of rough hemlock bark,

SOUTHERN ALASKA.

make a gay trimming for each house, and when a
bronzed old hag, in a dun-colored gown, with yellow
'kerchief on her head, stirs up the fire of snapping
fir boughs, and directs a column of smoke toward the
drying fish, it is a bit of aborigine life to set an
artist wild. Their bark houses are scattered irregu-
larly along the beach above high-water mark, and a
fleet of slender, black canoes, with high, carved bov/s,
are drawn up on the sand and pebbles. The canoe
is the only means of locomotion in this region of
unexplored and impenetrable woods, and the Indian
is even more at home in it than on shore. No horse-
man cares for his steed more faithfully than the
Siwash tends and mends his graceful cedar canoe,
hewn from a single log, and given its flare and grace-
ful curves by being steamed with water and hot
stones, and then braced to its intended width. The
Haida canoe has the same high, double-beaked prow
of the Chinook canoes of Puget Sound, but where
the stern of the latter drops in a straight line to the
keel, the Haida canoe has a deep convex curve. By
universal fashion all of these canoes are painted
black externally, with the thwarts and bows lined
with red, and sometimes the interior brightened with
that color. The black paint used to be made from
a mixture of seal oil and bituminous coal, and the red
paint was the natural clay found in places throughout
all Indian countries. Latterly the natives have
taken to depending on the traders' stores for paint,
but civilization has never grasped them so firmly as
to cause them to put seats or cross-pieces in their
canoes. They squat or sit flat in the bottom of their
dugouts for hours without changing position. It

TU£ SITKAN AUCllll'ELAiJO.

gives white men cramps and stiff joints to look
at them, and sailors are no luclcier than landsmen in
thel.' attemj)ts to paddle and keep their balance in
one of ' hese canoes for the first time. The Indians
use a broad, short |)addle, which they plunge straight
down into the water like a knife, and they literally
shovel the water astern with it. The woman, who
has a good many rights up here that her sisters of
the western plains know not, sits back of her liege,
and with a waving motion, never taking the paddle
out of the water once, steers and helps on the craft.
Often she paddles steadily, while the man bales out
the water with a wooden scoop. When the canoes
are drawn up on the beach they are carefully tilled
with grass and branches, and covered with mats or
blankets to keep them sound and firm. A row of
these high-beaked canoer thus draped has a very
singular effect, and on a gloomy day they are like so
many catafalques or funeral gondolas, Baronovich's
olil schooner, the Pioneer of Cazan, lies stranded on
the beach in the midst of the native boats, moss
and lichens tenderly covering its timbers, and vagrant
grasses springing up in the seams of the old wreck.
The dark, cramped little cabin is just the place for
ghosts of corsairs and the goblins of sailors' yarns,
and although it has lain there many seasons, no
Indian has yet pre-empted it as a home for his
family and dogs.

The thrifty Siwash, which is the generic and com-
mon name for these people, and a corruption of the
old French voyagers' sauvage, keeps his valuables
stored in heavy cedar chests, or gaudy red trunks
studded with brass nails; the latter costly prizes

SOUriiKUN ALASKA.

with which the Russian traders used to tempt them.
At the first sound of the steamer's patldle-wheels, —
and they can be heard for miles in these fiords, —
the Indians rummaj^ed their houses and cliests and
sorted out their vaUiable things, and when the first

ipi^f^

fpIFf^^ljpri

THREK CARVED SPOONS AND SMAMAN's KAITI K.

ardent curio-seeker rushed throuf^h the packin^f-
houses and out towards the hark huts, their wares
were all displayed. The Haidas are famous as the
best carvers, silversmiths, and workers on the coast ;
and there are some of their best artists in this little
band on Kasa-an Bay. An old blind man, with a
battered hat on his head and a dirty white blanket

THE ^.^KAN AliCIJIPtJLAGO.

fvrappcti around him, sat befcc one bark hut, with a
'arge wooiicn bowl filled with carved spoons made
from the horns of the mountain goat. These spoons,
once in common use amoni; all these people, are now
disappearing, as the rage for the tin and pewter uten-
sils in the traders' stores increases, although many of
them have the handles polished and the bowls worn
by the daily usage of generations. The horn is nat-
urally black, and constant handling and soaking in
seal oil gives them a jetty lustre that adds much
to the really fine carvings on the handles. Silver
bracelets pounded out of coin, and ornamented with
traceries and chasings by the hand of •* Kasa-an
John," the famous jeweller of the tribe, were the
prizes eagerly sought and contended for by the
ladies. The bangle mania rages among the Haida
maids and matrons as fiercely as on civilized shores,
and d' v wrists were outstretched on which from
three . ^ne bracelets lay in shining lines like jointed
mail. Anciently they pounded a single heavy brace-
let from a silver dollar piece, and ornamented the
broad two-inch band with heraldic carvings of the
crow, the bear, the raven, the whale, and other em-
blematic beasts of their strangely mi.xed mythology.
Latterly they have become corrupted by civilized
fashions, and they have taken to narrow bands, ham-
mered from half dollars and carved with scrolls, con-
ventional eagles copied from coins, and geometrical
designs. They have no fancy for gold ornaments,
and they are very rarely seen ; but the fancy for silver
is universal, and their methodical way of converting *
every coin into a bracelet and stowing it away in
their chests gives hope of there being one place

SOUTUERN ALASKA.

where the surplus silver and the trade dollars may
be legitimately made away with.

In one house an enlightened and non-skeptical
Indian was driving sharp bar;^ains in the sale of medi-
cine-men's rattles and charms, and kindred relics of a
departed faith. His scoffing and ir f^verent air would
have made his ancestors' dust shake, but he pocketed
the chickamin^ or money, without even a supersti-
tious shudder. The amateur curio-buyers found
themselves worsted and outgeneralled on every side
in this rich market of Kasa-an by a Juneau trader,
who gathered up the things by wholesale, and, carry-
ing them on board, disposed of them at a stupendous
advance. " No mere spoon," said the old blind -^hief
as he jingled the thirteen dollars that he had received
from this trader for his twenty beautifully carved
s;?'- ns, and the tourists who had to pay two dollars a
piece for these ancestral ladles echoed his refrai'.i and
began to see how profits might mount up in ' /ading
in the Indian country. Dance blankets from the
Chilkat country, woven in curious designs in black,
white, and yellow wool, spun from the fleece of the
mountain goat, were paraded by the anxious owners,
and the strangers elbov/ed one another, stepped on
the dogs, and rubbed the oil from the dripping sal-
mon overhead in the smoky huts, in order to see and
buy all of these things.

Old Skowl bid defiance to the missionaries while he
lived, and kept his people strictly to the faith and the
ways of their fathers. If they fell sick, the shaman or
inedicine-man came with his rattles and charms, and
with great hocus-pocus and " Presto change " drove
away or propitiated the evil spirits that were tor-

■I

THE SITKAN ARCHIPELAGO.

meriting the sufferer. If the patient did not imme-
diattly respond to the tr^:atment, the doctor would
accuse some one of bewitching his victim, and
demand that he should be tortured or put to death in
order to relieve the afflicted one. It thus became
a serious matte for every one when thw doctor was
sent for, as not even the chiefs were safe from being
denounced by these wi.-ards. No slave could be-
come a shamati, but the profession was open to any
one else, regardless of rank or riches, and the medi-
cine man was a self-made grandee, unless some great
deformity marked him for that calling from birth.
As preparation for his life-work he went off by him-
self, and fasted in the woods for many days. Return-
ing, he danced in :renzy about the village, seizing
and biting the flesh of live dogs, and eating the
heads and tongues uf frogs. This latter practice
accounts for the image of the frog appearing on all
the medicine men's rattles ; and in the totemic car-
vings the frog is the symbol of the shaman, or speaks
of some incident connected with him. Each shaman
elected to himself a familiar spirit, either the whale,
the bear, the eagle, or some one of the mythological
beasts, and 'ited with its qualities, and under the
guidance of this totemic spirit, he performed his
cures a^id miracles. This token ". 'as carved on his
rattles, his masks, drums, spoons, canoes, and all
his belorgings. It was woven on his blankets, and
after death it was carved on bits of fossil ivory,
whale and walrus teeth, and sewed to his grave-
clothes. The sJiammi's body was never burned, but
was laid in state in the large grave boxes that are
seen on the outskirts of every village. Columns

rfmmaismmmmBmmmm

SOUTHERN ALASKA.

capped with to-emic animals and flags mark these
little houses of the dead, and many of them have
elaborately carved and painted walls. The shaman s
hair was never cut nor touched by profane hands,
and each hair was considered a sacred charm by
the people. Captain Merriman, while in command
of the U. S. S. Adams, repeatedly interfered with
two sJiamans, who were denouncing and putting to
torture the helpless women and children in a village
where the black measles was raging. He found the
victims of this witchcraft persecution with their
ankics fastened to their wrists in dark, underground
holes, or tied to the rocks at low tide that they
might be slowly drowned by the returning waters.
All threats failing, the two sliavtaus were carried on
the Adamc, and the ship's barber sheared and shaved
their heads. The matted hair was carried down to
the boiler room and burned, for if it had been
thrown overboard it would have been caught and
preserved, and the shamans could have retained at
least a vestige of authority. The Indians raised a
great outcry at the prospect of harm or indignity
being offered their medicine-men, but when the two
shaved heads appeared at the gangway, the Indians
set up shouts of derision, and there were none so
poor as to do them honor after that. A few such
salutary examples did much to break up these prac-
tices, and though their notions of our medicine are
rather crude, they have implicit faith in the white, or
" Boston doctors."

If these fish-eating, canoe-paddling Indians of the
northwest coast are superior to the hunters and
horsemen of the western plains, the Haidas are the

THE srfKAN AliCUIPELAGO.

most remarkable of the coast tribes, and offer a fas-
cinating study to anyone interested in native races
and fellow man. From Cape Fox to Mount St. Elias
the Indians of the Alaska coast are known by the
generic name of Thlinkets, but in the subdivision of
the Thlinkets into tribes, or kivansy the liaidas are
not included. The Thlinkets consider the Haidas as
aliens, but, except in the language, they have many
things in common, and it takes the ethnologist's eye
to detect the differences. The greater part of the
Haida tribe proper inhabit the Queen Charlotte
Islands in the northern part of British Columbia, and
the few bands living in villages in the southern part of
Alaska are said to be malcontents and secessionists,
who paddled away and found hemes for themselves
across Dixon Entrance. I have neard it stated, with-
out much authority to sustain it, however, that old
Skowl was a deserter of this kind, and, "101: approving
of some of the political methods of the other chiefs
in his native village, withdrew with his followers and
founded a colony in Kasa-an Bay. This aboriginnl
" mugwump," as he would be rated in the slang of th.
day, was conservative in other things, and his people
have the same old customs and traditions as the Hai-
das of the original villages on the Queen Charlotte
Islands.

Where the Haidas really did come from is an un-
ending puzzle, and in Alaska the origin and migra-
tion of races are subjects continually claiming one's
attention. There is enough to bo seen by superficial
glances to suggest an Oriental origin, and those who
believe in the emigration of the Indians from Asia by
way of Behring Straits, or the natural causeway of the

SOUTHERN ALASKA.

Aleutian Islands, in prehistoric times, find an array of
strange suggestions and resemblances among the
Haidas to encourage their theories. That the name
of this tribe corresponds to the name of the great
mountain range of Japan may be a mere coincidence,
but a few scholars who have visited them say that
there are many Japanese words and idioms in their
language, and that the resemblance of the Haidas to
the Ainos of northern Japan is striking enough to
suggest some kinship. Opposed to this, however, is
the testimony of Marchand, the French voyager, who
visited the Haidas in 1791, and recognizing Aztec
words and terminations in their speech, and resem-
blances to Aztec work in their monuments and picture-
writings, first started the theory that they were from
the south, and descendants of those who, driven out
of Mexico by Cortez, vanished m boats to the north.
To continue the puzzle, the Haidas have some Apache
words in their vocabulary, and have the samx gro-
tesque dance-masks, and many of the same dances
and ceremonies that Gushing describes in his
sketches of life among the Zunis in New Mexico.
Hon. James G. Swan, of Port Townsend, who has
given thirty years to a study of the Indians of the
northwest coast, has lately given much attention to
the Haidas of the Queen Charlotte Islands, and has
made large collections of their implements and art
works for the Smithsonian Institute. He found the
Haida tradition and representation of the great spirit,
— the Thunder Bird, — to be the same as that of the
Aztecs, and when he showed sketches of Aztec car-
vings to the Haidas they seemed to recognize and un-
derstand them at once. Copper images and relics

. i,. ..'• *jL ftA'/fei».. JLi'kJiLi

,■■!*■

THE SJTKAi: .RCHIPELAGO.

found in their possession were identical with some
silver images found in ruins in Guatemala by a British
archaeologist. Judge Swan has collected many
strange legends and allegories during his canoe jour-
neys to the isolated Haida villages, and his guide and
attendant, Johnny Kit-Elswa, who conducts him to
the great October feasts and dances, is a clever
young Haida silversmith and a remarkable genius.
Judge Swan has written a memoir on Haida tattoo
masks, paintings, and heraldic columns, which was
published as No. 26y of the Smithsonian Contributions
to Knowledge, January, 1874. In The West Shore
magazine of August, 1884, he published a long arti-
cle with illustrations upon the same subjects, and his
library and cabinet, his journals and sketch-books,
contain many wonderful things relating to the history
and life of these strange people.

.1.1. V JUliilJlliWMI

aOVTUER]^ ALASKA.

CHAPTER V.

FORT WRANGELL AND THE STIK!N^.

THOSE who believe that all Alaska is a place of
perpetual rain, fog, snow, and ice would be
quickly disabused could they spend some of the ideal
summer days in that most lovely harbor of Fort Wran-
gell. Each time the sky was clearer and the air
milder than before, and on the day of my third visit
the fresh beams of the morning sun gave an
infinite charm to the landscape, as we turned from
Clarence Straits into the narrower pass between the
islands, and sailed across waters that reflected in
shimmering, pale blue and pearly lights the wonder-
ful panorama of mountains. Though perfectly clear,
the light was softened and subdued, and even on
such a glorious sunny morning there was no glare nor
harshness in the atmosphere. This pale, soft light
gave a dreamy, poetic quality to the scenery, and
the first ranges of mountains above the water shaded
from the deep green and russet of the nearer pine
forests to azure and purple, where their further sum-
mits were outlined against the sky or the snow-cov-
ered peaks that were mirrored so faithfully in the long
stretches of the channel. The sea water lost its
deep green tints at that point, and was discolored and

.■

rUE SiTKAy ARCHIPELAGO.

tinged to a muddy tea green by the fresh current of
the Stikine River, which there reaches the ocean.

The great circle of mountains and snow-peaks, and
the stretch of calm waters lying in this vast landlocked
harbor, give Fort WrangcU an enviable situation.
The little town reached its half-century of existence
last summer, but no celebrations stirred the placid,
easy-going life of its people. It was founded in
1834 by order of Baron Wrangell, then Governor
of Russian America and chief director of the fur
company, who sent the Captain-Lieut. Dionysius
Feodorovich Zarembo down from Sitka to erect a
stockade post on the small tongue of land now occu-
pied by the homes, graves, and totem poles of the
Indian village. It was known at first as the trading
post of St. Dionysius, and, later, it assumed the name
of Wrangell, the prefix of Fort being added during
the time that the United States garrisoned it with
two companies of the 21st Infantry. The Govern-
ment began building a now stockade fort there imme-
diately after the transfer of the territory in 1867, and
troops occupied it until 1870, when they vvere with-
drawn, the post abandoned, and the property sold for
$500. The discovery of the Cassiar gold mines on
the head waters of the vStikine River in 1874 sent a
tide of wild life into the deserted street of Fort
Wrangell, and the military were ordered back in
1875 and remained until 1877, when General How-
ard drew off his forces, and the government finally
recalled the troops from all the posts in Alaska.

During the second occupation of the barracks and
quarters at Fort Wrangell, the War Depai tment helped
itself to the property, and, assigning a jiominal sum

SOUTlIKliN ALASKA.

for rent, held the fort against the protest of the owner.
The Cassiar mines were booming then, and I'^ort
Wrangell took on something of the excitement of a
mining town itself, and being at the head of ocean
navigation, where all merchandise had to be trans-
ferred to small steamers and canoes, rents for stores
and warehouses were extravagantly high. Every shed
could bring a fabulous price. The unhappy owner,
who rejoices in the euj)honious name of W. King
Lear, could only gnash his teeth and violently pro-
test against the monthly warrants and vouchers given
him by the commandant of the post. Since the
troops have gone, the Government has done other
strange things with the property that it once sold in
due form, and Mr. Lear has a just and plain claim
against the War Department for damages. The bar-
racks and hospital of the old fort are now occupied by
thQ Presbyterian Mission. No alteration, repairs, or
improveuK ts having been made for many years, the
stockade is gradually becoming more ruinous, weather-
worn, and picturesque each year, and the overhang-
ing block-house at one corner is already a most
sketchable bit of bleached and lichen-covered logs.
The main street of Fort Wrangell, untouched by
the hoof of horse or mule for these many years, is a
wandering grass-grown lane that straggles along for
a few hundred feet from the fort gate and ends in a
foot-path along the beach. The " Miners' Palace
Restaurant," and other high-sounding signs, remain
as relics of the livelier days, and listless Indian
women sit in rows and groups on the 'unpainted
porches of the trading stores. They are a quiet,
rather languid lot of klootchmans, slow and deliberate

THE 8ITKAN AltlJIIirELAGO.

of speech, and not at all clamorous for customers, as
they squat or lie face downward, like so many seals,
before their baskets of wild berries. In the stores,
the curio departments are well stocked with elabo-
rately carved spoons made of the black horns of the
mountain goat ; with curiously-fashioned halibut hooks
and halibut clubs; with carved wooden trays and
bowls, in which oil, fish, berries, and food have been
mixed for years ; with stone pipes and implements
handed down from that early age, and separate store-
rooms are filled with the skins of bears, foxes, squir-
rels, mink, and marten that are staple articles of trade.
Occasionally there can be found fine specimens of a
gray mica slate set full of big garnet crystals, like
plums in a pudding, or sprinkled through with finer
garnets that show points of brilliancy and fine color.
This stone is found on the banks of a small creek near
the mouth of the Stikine River, and great slabs of it
arc blasted off and brought to Fort Wrangell by the
boat-load to be broken up into small cabinet specimens
in time for the tourist season each summer. None of
the garnets are clear or perfect, and the blasting fills
them with seams and flaws. The best silver bracelets
at Fort Wrangell are made by a lame Indian, who
as the chief artificer and silversmith of the tribe has
quite a local reputation. His bracelets are beauti-
fully chased and decorated, but unfortunately for the
integrity of Stikine art traditions, he has given up
carving the emblematic beasts of native heraldry on
heavy barbaric wristlets, and now only makes the
most slender bangles, adapted from the models in an
illustrated "jeweller's catalogue that some Philistine
has sent him. Worse yet, he copies the civilized

SOUHIElty ALASKA,

spread eagle from the half-dollar, and, one can only
shake his head sadly to see Stikine art so corrupted
and debased. For all this, the lame man cannot
make bracelets fast enough to supply the market,
and at three dollars a pair for the narrower ones he
pockets great profits during the steamer days.

On the water side of the main street there is a
queer old flat-bottomed river-boat, stranded high and
dry, that in its day made ;^I3$,0CXD clear each sea-
son that it went up the Stikine. It enriched its
owner while in the water, and after it went ashore
was a profitable venture as a hotel. This Rudder
Grange, built over from stem to stern, and green
with moss, is so settled into the grass and earth that
only the shape of the bow and the empty box of the
stern wheel really declare its original purpcse. There
is a bakeshop in the old engine-room, and for the
rest it is the Chinatown of Fort VVrangell. A small
cinnamon-bear cub gambolled in the street before this
boat-house, and it stood on its hind legs and sniffed
the air curiously when it saw the captain of the ship
coming down the street, bestowing sticks of candy on
every child in the way. Bruin came in for his share,
and formed the centre for a group that watched him
chew up mint sticks and pick his teeth with his sharp
little claws.

The houses of the Indian village string along the
beach in a disconnected way, all of them low and
square, built of rough hewn cedar and pine planks, and
roofed over with large planks resting on heavy log
beams. One door gives entrance to an interior, often
twenty and forty feet square, and several families live
in one of these houses, sharing the same fireplace in

mml^

THE SITKAN ARf'IlIPKLAGO.

the centre, and keeping peacefully to their own sides
and corners of the common habitation. Heraldic de-
vices in outline sometimes ornament the gable front
of the house, but no paint is wasted on the interior,
where smoke darkens everything, the drying salmon
drip grease from the frames overhead, and dogs and
children tumble carelessly around the fire and over
the pots and saucepans. The entrances have some-
times civilized doors on hinges, but the aborigine
fashion is a portihc of sealskin or walrus hide, or of
woven grass mats. When one of the occupants of
a house dies he is never taken out by the door where
the others enter, but a plank is torn off at the back
or side, or the body is hoisted out through the smoke
hole in the roof, to keep the spirits away.

Before many of the houses are tall cedar posts and
poles, carved with faces of men and beasts, repre-
senting events in their genealogy and mythology.
These tall totems are the shrines and show places
of Fort Wrangell, and on seeing them all the ship's
company made the hopeless plunge into Thlinket
mythology and there floundered aimlessly until the
end of the trip. There is nothing more flexible or
susceptible of interpretations than Indian traditions,
and the Siwash himself enjoys nothing so much as
misleading and fooling the curious white man in
the':--- matters. The truth about these totems and
their carvings never will be quite known until their
innate humor is civilized out of the natives, but
meanwhile the white man vexes himself with ethnolo-
gical theories and suppositions. These totems are for
the most part picture writings that tell a i)lain story
to every Siwash, and record the great events in the

tiOVTIIKliN ALASKA.

history of the man who erects them. They are only
erected by the wealthy and powerful members of the
tribe, and the cost of carving a cedar log fifty feet
long, and the attendant feasts and ceremonies of the
raising, bring their value, according to Indian esti-
mates, up to one thousand and two thousand dol-
lars. The subdivisions of each tribe into distinct
families that take for their crest the crow, the bear,
the eagle, the whale, the wolf, and the fox, give to
each of these sculptured devices its great meaning.
The totems show by their successive carvings the
descent and alliances of the great families, and the
great facts and incidents of their history. The rep-
resentations of these heraldic beasts and birds are
conventionalized after certain fixed rules of their art,
and the grotesque heads of men and animals are
highly colored according to other set laws and limi-
tations. Descent is counted on the female side, and
the first emblem at the top of the totem is that of
the builder, and next that of the great family from
which he is descended through his mother.

In some cases two totem poles are erected before a
house, one to show the descent on the female side,
and one to give the generations of the male side, and a
pair of these poles was explained for us by one of the
residents of Fort Wrangell, who has given some study
to these matters. The genealogical column of the
mother's side has at the top the eagle, the great tote^n
or crest of the family to which she belonged. Below
the eagle is the image of a child, and below that the
beaver, the frog, the eagle, the frog, and the frog for
a third time, shuw the generations and the sub-
families of the female side. By some interpreters

THE SITKA \ AliCrilPELACiO.

the frog is believed to indicate a pestilence or some
great disaster, but others niuintain that it is the
recognized crest of one of the sub-families. The
male toU-M })ole has at the top the image of the chief,

■ •>

TOTEM POLES AT FORT WRANOELL.

wearing his conical hat, below that his great totems
the crow. Succeeding the crow is the image of a
child, then three frogs, and at the base of the
column the eagle, the great totem of the builder's
mother.

SOUTHEIiN ALASKA.

in front of one chief's bouse a very natural-looking
bear is crouched on the top of a pole, gazing down at
his black foot-tracks, which are carved on the sides
of the column. A crossbeam resting on posts near
this same house used to show three frogs sitting in
line, and other grotesque fantasies are scattered about
the village. With the advance of civilization the
Indians are losing their reverence for these heraldic
monuments, and some have been dcstrc^ ed and others
sold; for the richest of these natives are so mrrcenary
that they do not scruple to sell anything that belongs
to ^hem. The disaj:)pear.ince of the /ofcm poles
would rob these villages of their greatest interest for
the tourists, and the ethnologist who would solve the
mysteries and read the pictures finally aright, should
hasten to this rich and neglected field.

In their mythology, which, as now known, is sadly
involved through the medium of so many incorrect
and perverted explanations, the crow or raven stands
supreme as the creator and the first of all created
things. He made everything, and all life comes from
him. After he had made the world, he created woman
and then man, making her «"preme as representative
of the crow family, while man, created las^ is the head
of tlic wolf or warrior's family. From them sprang
the sub-families of the whale, the bear, the eagle, the
beaver, and the frog. The Stikine Indians have a
tradition of the deluge, in which the chosen pair '.vere
given th^ shape of crows until the water had sub-
sided, when they again returned to the earth and
peopled it wit'i their descendants. No alliances are
ever made within the great families, and a crow never
marries a crow, but rather a member of the whale,

GRAVK AT luUr WKANCKLL

THE SITKA N ABCUIPELAGO.

bear, or wol' families. The man takes the totem of
his wile's f:.mily, and fights with them when the
great family feuds arise in the tribe.

On many of the totem poles tlie chiefs are repre-
sented as wearing tall, conical hats, similar to those
worn by certain classes in China, and this fact has
been assumed by many ardent ethnologists to give
certain proof of the oriental origin of these people,
and their emigration by way of Behring's Straits.
Others explain the storied hats piled one on top of
another, as indicating the number of potlatches, or
great feasts, that the builder has given. Over the
graves of the dead, which are square log boxes or
houses, they put full-length representations of the
dead man's totemic beast, or smooth poles finished
at the top with the family crest. One old chief's
tomb at Kort Wrangell has a very realistic whale
on its moss-grown roof, another a bear, and another
an otter. The Indians cremated their dead until the
arrival of the missionaries, who have steadily opposed
the practice. The Indian's idea of a hell of ice made
him reason that he who was buried in the earth or
the sea would be cold forever after, while he whose
ashes were burned would be warm and comfortable
throughout eternity.

These Thlinket Indians of the coast have broad
heavy faces, small eyes, and anything but quickness or
intelligence in their expression. They are slow and
deliberate in speech, lingering on and emphasizing
each aspirate and guttural, and any theories as to a
fish diet promoting the activity of the brain are
dispersed after watching these salmon-fed natives for
a few weeks. Many of their customs are such a

SOUTHERN ALASKA.

travesty and burlesque on our civilized ways as to
show that the same principles and motives underlie
all human action. When those expensive trophies of
decorative art, the /o/nn poles, are raised, the event
is celebrated by the whole tribe, A common Indian
can raise himself to distinction and nobility by giving
many feasts and setting up a pole to commemorate
them. After he owns a totem pole he can aspire to
greater eminence. That man is considered the
richest who gives most away, and at the great feasts
Q>x potlatchcs that accompany a house-warming or pole-
raising, they nearly beggar themselves. All the
delicacies of the Alaska market are provided by the
canoe-full, and the guests sit around the canoes and
dip their ancestral spoons into the various com-
pounded dishes. Blankets, calico, and money are
distributed as souvenirs on the same principle as
costly f v/rs are given for the German. His rank
and riches increase in exact ratio as he tears up and
gives away his blankets and belongings ; and the
Thlinket has satisfied pride to console himself with
while he struggles through the hard times that follow
a potlatch.

In the summer season Fort Wrangell is a peaceful,
quiet place ; the climate is a soothing one, and Prof.
Muir extolled the " poultice-like atmosphere" which
so calms the senses. The Indians begin to scatter
on their annual fishing trips in June, and come back
with their winter supplies of salmon in the early fall.
Many of the houses were locked or boarded up, while
the owners had gone away to spend the summer at
some other watering-place. One absentee left this
notice on his front door : —

THE SITKAN AliCHIPELAGO.

LET NO ONK UPEN OK SHUT THIS
HOUSE DUKLNG MV ABSENCE.

Over another locked door was this name and legend,
which combines a well-witnessed and legal testament,
together with the conventional door-plate of the
white man : —

A NAT I. A

SH.

Let all

tliat

read know

that

Am a f

iciul

lo tiie wli

tes.

Let

One mo

lest

this house.

case

Death i

t bel

uiigs to my

wilt.

Thus wrote Anatlash, a man of tall totems and
many blankets ; and stanzas in bkuik verse after the
same manner decorated the doonvay of many Thlin-
ket r^ bodes.

The family groups within the houses were as inter-
esting and })icturesque as the totem poles without ;
and strangers were free to enter without formality,
and study the ways of the best native society with-
out hindrance. These people nearly all wear civilized
garments, and in the baronial halls of Fort Wrangeil
there aie imposing heaps of red-covered and brass-
bound trunks that contain stores of blankets, festal
garments, and family treasures. In all the houses the
Indians went right on with their bTeakfasts and do-
mestic duties regardless of our presence ; and the

SOUTHERN ALASKA.

white visitors made friiem selves at home, scrutinized
and turned over everything they saw with an effron-
tery that would be resented, if indulged in in kind
by I'-e Indians. The women hud the shrewdest eye
to money-making, and tried to sell ancient and
greasy baskets and broken spoons when *^^hev hctd
nothing else in the curio line. In one house two
giggling damsels were playing on an accordeon when
we entered, but stoj)ped and hid their heads in their
blankets at sight of us. An old gentleman, in a
single abbreviated garment, crouched by the fireside,
frying a dark and suspicious-looking dough in seal
oil ; and the coolness and self-possession with which
he rose and stepped about his habitation were admira-
ble. He was a grizzled and surly-looking old fellow,
but from the number of trunks and fur robes i)iled
around the walls, he was evidently a man of wealth,
and his airy costume rather a matter of taste than
economy. Many of the men showed us buckskin
pouches containing little six-inch sticks of polished
cedar that they use in their great social games. These
gambling sticks are distinguished by different mark-
ings in red and black lines, and the game consists in
one man taking a handful, shufTling them around under
his blanket, and making the others guess the marks
of the first stick drawn out. These Indians are
great gamblers, and they spend hours and days at
their fascinating games. They shufHe the sticks to
see who shall go out to cut and gather firewood in
winter, and if a man is seen crawling out after an
armful of logs, his neighbors shout with derision at
him as a loser.

In addition to their silver bracelets, their silver ear-

^■■i^BW

^»^

THE .SITKA y AliCJlIPELAOO.

rings and finger rings, many of the women keep up the
old custom of wearing nose rings and lij) rings, that no

W'ii^:r<i5lijjlli''/i"

;">:^

SII.VKR HRACKLETS.

amount of missionary and catechism, seemingly, can
brccik them of. The lip rings used to be worn by all
but slaves, and the three kinds worn by the women
of all the island tribes are marks of age that take the
place of family records. When a young girl reaches
marriageable age, a long, flat-headed silver pin, aii
inch in length, is thrust through the lower lip. After
the marriage festival the Thlinkct dame assumes a

LABRKTl'ES.

bone or ivory button a quarter or half inch across.
This matronly badge is a mere collar-button com-
pared to the two-inch plugs of wood that they wear
in their under lips when they reach the sere and
yellow leaf of existence. This big labrette gives the

.so UTIIEUN u 1 LA SKA.

last touch of hidcousness to the wrinkled and blear-
eyed old women that one finds wearing them, and it
was from the Russian name for this trough in the
lip — kolosh — that all the tribes of the archipelago
were known as Koloshians, as distinguished from the
Aleuts, the Innuits, and Esquimaux of the north-
west.

Far less picturesque than the natives in their own
houses were the little Indian girls at the mission-
school in tlic old fort. Combed, cleaned, and mar-
shalled in stiff rows to recite, sing, and go through
calisthenic exercises, they were not nearly so strik-
ing for studies and sketches aboriginal, but more
hopeful to contemplate as fellow-beings. Clah, a
Christianized Indian from Fort Simpson, B. C, was
the first to attempt mission work among the In-
dians at Fort Wrangell. In 1877 Mrs. McFarland
was sent out by the Presbyterian Board of Missions,
after years of mission work in Colorado and the west,
and, taking Clah on her staff, she labored untiringly
to establish the school and open the home for Indian
girls. Others have joined her in the work at Fort
Wrangell, and everyone on the coast testifies to good
results already attained by her labors and example.
She is known and reverenced among all the tribes,
and the Indians trust in her implicitly, and go to her
for advice and aid in every emergency. With the
establishment of the new industrial mission-school at
Sitka, Mr.s. McFarland will be transferred to the
girls' department of that institution. The Rev^ Hall
Young and his wife have devoted themselves to the
good cause at Fort Wrangell, and will continue there
in charge of the church and school. The Presby-

rut: siTKAy aihuwelma).

terian missions have the strongest hold on the coast,
and the Catholics, who built a church at Fort Wran-
gell, have given up the mission there, and the priest
from Nanaimo makes only occasional visits to his
dusky parish icjners.

The steep hillsitle back of Fort Wrangell was
cleared of timber during military occupancy, and on
the lower slopes the companies had fine gardens,
which remain as wild overgrown meadows now. In
them the wild timothy grows six feet high, the blue-
berry bushes are loaded with fruit, salmon berries
show their gorgeous clusters of gold n'ul scarlet, and
the white clover grows on long stems and reaches to
a fulness and perfection one can never imagine. This
Wrangell clover is the common clover of the Fast
looked at through a magnifying glass, each blossom
as large and wide-spread as a double carnation pink,
and the fragrance has a strong spicy quality with its
sweetness. The red clover is not common, but the
occasional tops are of the deepest pink that these
huge clover blossoms can wear. While the hillside
looked cleared, there was a deep and tangled thicket
under foot, the moss, vines, and runners forming a
network that it took some skill to penetrate ; but
the view of the curved beach, the ])lacid channel
sleeping in the warm summer sunshine like a great
mountain lake, and the ragged peaks of the snowy
range showing through every notch and gap, well
repaid the climb through it. It was a most perfect
day when we climbed the ridge, the air as warm and
mellow as Indian summer, with even its soft haze
hung round the mountain walls in the afternoon, and
from those superior heights we gazed in ecstasy on

SOUTH Kit X A LA SKA.

the scene and pitied all the people who know not
Alaska.

When IVofessor Muir was at Fort Wrangell one
autumn, he climbed to the summit of this first moun-
tain on a stormy ni.ij^ht to listen to the fierce music of
the winds in the forest. Just over the ridge he found
a little hollow, and gathering a few twigs and
branches he started a fire that he gradually increased
to quite a blaze. The wind howled and roared
through the forest, and the scientist enjoyed himself
to the utmost ; but down in the village the Indians
were terrified at the glow that illuminated the sky
and the tree-tops. No one could exi)lain the phe-
nomenon, as they could not guess that it was Professor
Muir warming himself during his nocturnal ramble
in the forest, and it was with difficulty that the
minister and the teachers at the mission could calm
the frightened Indians.

On a second visit to Fort Wrangell on the IdaJio,
there v^as the same warm, lazy sunshine and soft still
air, and as connoisseurs we could the better appreciate
the fine carvings and ornamental work of these aes-
thetic people, who decorate every household utensil
with their symbols of the beautiful. Mr. Lear, or
" King I.ear," welcomed us back to his comfortable
porch, and as a special mark brought forth his great
horn spoon, a work of the highest art, and a bit of
bric-a-brac that cost its possessor some four hundred
dollars. Mr. Lear is that famous man, who "swears
by the great horn spoon," and this elaborately carved
spoon, made from the clear, amber-tinted horn of the
musk ox, is more than eighteen inches long, wnth a
smooth, graceful bowl that holds at least a pint. This

rilK si Ik AN AUCHlPELAdO,

spoon constituted the sole assets of a bankrupt debtor,
who failed, ovviiif; Mr. Lear a large sum ; and the
jocose trader first astonished us by saying that he
had a carved spoon that cost him four huntlred dollars.
The amateur photographers on shipboard raved at
sight of the beautiful amber spoon with its carved
luiiidle inlaid with abalone shell, and, rushing for
their cameras, i)hotographed it against a gay back-
ground of Chilkat blankets. Mr. Lear has refused all
offers to buy his great horn spoon, nuiting one per-
sistent collector by assuring him that he must keep
it to take his medicines in.

The skies were as blue as fabled Italy when the
Idaho "let go" from Fort Wrangell wharf that glori-
ous afternoon, and we left with genume regret. The
Coast-.Sui ve\' steamer J/asslcr came smoking around
the point of an island just as we were leaving Fort
Wrangell ; and our captain, who would rather lose his
dinner than miss a joke, fairly shook with laughter
when he saw the frantic signals of the Ilasslfi; and
knew the tempestuous frame of mind its commander
was working himself up to. After gixingthe Hasslcr
sufficient scare and chase, the IdaJio slowed up, and
the mails that she had been carrying for three month.^
were transferred to the Coast-Survey ship, while the
skippers, who arc close friends and inveterate jokers,
exchanged stiff and conventional greetings, mild
sarcasm, and dignified repartee from their respective
bridges. The pranks that these nautical people play
on one another in these out-of-the-way waters would
astonish those who have seen them in dress uniforms
anrl conventional surroundings, and such experiences
rank among the unique side incidents of a trip.

SOVrilKUN ALASKA.

A boat-race of another kind rounded olf the day of
my third and hist \ isit to Fort Wran<;ell, and the
Indians who hail been waiting for a week made ready
for a re<j;atta when the ^iiwon was sighted. It took
several whistles from our impatient cai)tain to get the
long war-canoes manned and at the stake-boat ; and,
in this particular, boat-races have some points in
common the world round. Kadashaks, one of the
Stikine chiefs, commanded one long canoe in which
sixteen Indians sat on each side, and another chief
rallied thirty-two followers for his war-canoe. It
was a picturesque sight when the boatmen were all
squatted in the long dug-outs, wearing white shirts,
and colored handkerchiefs tied arountl their brows.
While they waited, each canoe and its crew was
reflected in the still waters that lay without a rii)ple
around the starting-point near shore. When the
cannon on the ship's deck gave the signal, the canoes
shot forward like arrows, the broad paddles sending
the water in great waves back of them, and dashing
the spray high on either side. Kadashaks and the
other chief sat in the sterns to steer, and encouraged
and urged on their crews with hoarse grunts and
words of command, and the Indians, paddling as if
for life, kept time in their strokes to a savage chant
that rose to yells and war whoops when the two
canoes fouled just off the stake-boat. It was a most
exciting boat-race, and bers and enthusiasm ran high
on the steamer's deck during its progress. The
n-nney that had been subscribed by the traders in
the town was divided between the two crews, and
at night there was a gv^nd potlaUh, or feast, in honor
of the regatta.

TUK S 1 Tl\ - 1 V .1 IK 11 1 1 'EL . I (UK

fi7

The trade with the Cassiar mines at the head of the
Stikine River once made Fort Wranj;ell an important
l)lace, but the rival boats that used to race on the
river have ^^one below, and the region is nearly aban-
doned. As early as 1862 the miners found gold dust
in the bars near the mouth of the river ; but it was
twelve years later before Thibert and another trapper,
crossing from Minnesota, found the gold fieUls and
quartz veins at the hcail-waters of the stream, three
hundred miles distant from Fort Wrangell, within the
liritish Columbia lines. Immediately the army of
gold-seekers turned there, leaving California and
the I'^razer River mines, and in 1874 there were
two*thousand miners on the ground, and the yield
was known to have been over one million dollars.
Light-draught, stern-wheel steamers were put on the
river, and the goods and miners transferred fiom
ocean steamers at F(»rt Wrangell were taken to
Glenora at the head of navigation, one hundred and
fifty miles from the mouth. From that point there
was a steep mountain trail of another one hundred
and fifty miles, and pack trains of mules carried
freight on to the diggings. Freights from Fort
Wrangell to the mines ranged -at times from twenty
to eighty and one hundred and sixty dollars per ton i
and in consequence, when the placers were exhausted,
and machinery was necessary to work the quart/
veins, the region was abandoned.

The official returns as given by the British Colum-
bia commissioners are not at hand for all ofthe years
since the discovery of these mines, but for the seven
years here given they show the great decrease in the
bullion yield of the Cassiar fields : —

' . IIUL^ IJIIUIUUJ

iii!muiruii.iiikiiHM

B8 SOUTnEJii\ ALA. SKA.

Niunhor of Gold

Years. ininf-is. product.

1874 2,000 $1,000,000

1875 800 1,000,000

1876 1,500 556,474

1877 1,-00 499''^30

ij';79 1,800

1883 1,000 135.000

During- tliis year of 1884 the steamer.^ have been
taken off i'he river, and Indian eanoes are the only
niean.s of transportation. There are few besides Chi-
namen '*.'ft to v/'>rk the exhausted fields, and another
year will probably find thcni in sole possession.
VVh'le l!ie mines were at their best. Fort Wrangell
w'as the ^reat pc^int of outHtting and departure ; and
after tht troops vvere withdrawn, the miners made it
more aral more a plaee of Tirunken and sociable hiber-
nation, when t!!e .^eveie w either of the interior drove
them down the river. Thev conirreiiated in irreatest
numbers earl}- in the spring, many going up on the
ice in ^^Jbruary or March, before the river o])ened ;
although no mining could be done until May, and the
water froze in tl^" sluices in September.

The Cassiar .nmcs being in British Co'iimbia, the
rush of trade on the Stikine River caused i. -my com-
plications and infractions of t'.ie revenue laws of both
coi itries, and grent license vas aiiovved. Fhe exact
position where tiie boundary liiie crosses the Stikine
has not yet been determined by the two govern-
ments, and in times past it has wavered like the iso-
thermal lines of the coast. The diggings at Shucks,
seventy miles from Fort Wrangell, were at one time
in Alaska and next time in British Columbia ; and the
Hudson Bay Company's post, and even the British

THE SITKAN ARCHIPELAGO.

custom house, were for a long time on United States
soil before being remo\'ed beyond the debatable re-
gion. The boundary, as now accepted temporarily,
crosses the river sixty-five miles from Fort Wrangell
at a distance of ten marine leagues from the sea in a
direct line, and, intersecting the grave of a British
miner, leaves his bones divided between the two
countries ; his heart in the one, and the boots in
which he died in the other,

Vancouver failed to discover the Stikine on his
cruise up the continental shore, and, deceived ! y the
shoal waters, passed by the mouth. It then remained
for the American sloop /Ay/w/, Captain Cleveland, to
visit the delta and learn of the great river from the
natives in 1799. The scenery of the Stikine River
is the most wonderful in this region, and Prof. John
Muir, the great geologist of the Pacific coast, epito-
mized the valley of the Stikine as "a Yosemite one
hi idred miles long." The current of the river is so
strong that while it takes a boat three days at full
steam to get from Fort Wrangell up to Glenora, the
trip back can be made in eight or twelve hours, with
the paddle-wheel reversed most of the time, to hold
the boat back in its wild flight down stream. It is a
most dangerous piece of river navigation, and" there
have been innumerable accidents to steamboats antl
canoes.

Three hundred great glaciers are known to drain
into the Stikine, and one hundred and one can be
counted from the steamer's deck while going up to
Glenora. The first great glacier comes down to the
river at a place forty miles above Fort Wrangell, and
fronting for seven miles on a low moraine along the

sou THE UN A LA 8 KA .

. t

river bank, is faced on the opposite side by a smaller
glacier. There is an Indian tradition to the effect
that these two i^^laciers were once united, and the
river ran through in an arched tunnel. To hnd out
whether it led out to the sea, the Indians determined
to send two of th ,ir number through the tunnel,
and with fine Indian logic they chose the oW<-st
members of their tribe to make the perilous vayage
into the ice mountain, arguing that they might die
very soon anyhow. The venerable Indians shot the
tunnel, and, returning with the great news of a clear
passageway to the sea, were held in the highest es-
teem forever after. 7'his great glacier is from five
hundred to seven hundred feet high on the front, and
extends back for many miles into tiie mountains, its
surface broken and seamed with deep crevices. Two
young Russian officers once went down from Sitka
to explore this glacier to its source, but never re-
turned from the ice kingdom into which they so
rashly ventured. Further up, at a sharp ben.l of the
river called tiie Devil's Elbow, there is the mud
glacier, which has a width of three miles and a height
of two hundred or three hundred feet where it faces
the river from behind its moraine. Beyond this
dirt-covered, boulder-strewn glacier, there is the
Grand Cafion of the Stikine, a narrow^ S^'*S"^' two
hundred feet long and one hundred feet wide, into
which the boiling current of the river is forced, and
where the steamboats used to struggle at full steam
for half an hour before they emerged from the per-
pendicular walls of that frightful defile. A smaller
cafton near it is calleil the Klootchtnans, or Woman's
CaAon, the noble red man being always so exhausted

THE SITKAN ARCHIPELAGO.

by poHn<2^, paddling, and tracking his canoe through
the Grand Canon as to leave the navigation of the
second one entirely to his wife. The Big Riffle, or
the Stikine RajMds, is the last of these most danger-
ous places in the river; and at about this point, where
the summit line of the mountain range crosses the
river, the mythical boundary line is supposed to lie.
The country opens out then into more level stretches,
and at Glenora and Telegraph Creek, the steamboats
leave their cargoes and stcrt on the wild sweep down
the river to T^'ort VVrangell again As the boats are
no longer running on the river, future voyagers who
wish to see the stupendous scenery of this region
will have to depend on the Indian canoes that take
ten days for the journey up, or else feast and satisfy
their imaginations with the thrilling tales of the old
Stikine days that can be picked up on every hand,
and st!K j the topography of the region from the
maps of Prof. Blake.

SOUTHERN ALASKA.

CHAITKR VI.

WRANGKI.L NARROWS AND lAKU C.LACIKRS.

IF there were not so many more wonderful places
in Alaska, W'rangell Narrows would y;i\c it a
scenie fame, and make its fortune in the coming
centuries when touiists and yachts will crowd these
waters, and poets and seafaring n(nt.'lists tlcscrt the
Scotch coast for these n(,rth western isles. Instead
of William Black's everlasting C)l)an, and Stalfa, :i.nd
Skye, and heroines with a buir in their speech, we
will read of Kasa-an and Kaigan, Taku a:. 1 Chilkat,
and maidens who lis[) in soft accents the deep, gur-
gling Chinook, or the older dialects of their races.
Wrangell Narrows is a sinuous channel l)etween
mountainous islands, and for thiity miles it is iiard to
determine which one of the perpentlicular walls nt the
end of the strait will finally stop us with its impassa-
ble front. There are dangerous ledges un<l rocks,
and strong tides rusiiing through this pnss, and die
average depth of from four to twelve fr thoms is very
shallow water for Alaska. Although long known and
used by the Indians and the Hudson I^ay Company's
traders, it was not considered a safe inside passage ;
and as Vanccniver had not explored it, and there were
not any complete charts; it was little traversed by
regular commerce. After United States occupation,

TIIK SITKA X A m- HIP EL AGO.

•8

ar.u the increased travel to Sitka, tlie perils of Cape
Onimaney, off the south end of Baranotf Island, quite
matched any dangers there might be in the unknown
channel. Captain R. VV. Meade, in command of the
U. S. S. Saginaiu, made a survey ( f the Narrows
in 1869, and gradually the way thrt)ugh the ledges
and Hats and tide rips became better known. In
1884 Captain Coghlan, commander of the U. S. S.
Adaius carefully sounded and marked off the channel
with stakes and buoys, and the navigators now only
look for the favorable turn of the tide in siom^r
through the picturescpie reaches.

Leaving I''ort Wrangell in the afternoon, it was an
enchanting .'ip up that narrow channel of deej:)
waters, rippling between bold island :^hores and paral-
lel mountain walls. Besides the clear, emerald tide,
reflecting every tree and rock, theie was the beauty
of foaming cataracts leaping down the sides of snow-
caj)ped mountains, and the grandeur of great glaciers
pushing down through sharp ravines, and drG;)ping
miniature icebergs into the water. Three glaciers
are visible at once on the east side of the Narrows,
the larger one >. vtend'ng back some forty miles, and
measuring four miles across the fnmt, that faces the
water and the iermmal moraine it has built up before
it. The great glacier is known as Patterson Glacier,
in honor of the late Carlisle Patterson, of the United
Str.tes Coast Survey, and is the first in the great line
of glaciers that one encounters along the Alaska coast.
Under the shadow of a cloud the glacier was a dirty
and uneven snow field, but touched by the last light
of the sun it was a frozen lake of wonderland, shim-
mering with silvery lights, and showing a pale ethe-

''\

k s

SOUTHERN ALASKA.

real green, and deciJ, pure bluL'. in all the rifts and
erevasses in its icy front.

With the ai)i)earance of this first glacier, and the
presence of ice floating in tlie waters around us, the
conversation of all on l)oard took a scientific turn,
and facts, fancies, and wild theories about glacial
origin and action were advanced that would have
struck ixmic to any body of geologists, lieing all
laymen, there was no one to expound the mysteries
and ^peak with final authority on any of these frozen
and well-established truths ; and we floundered about
in a sea of suppositions, and were lost in a labyrinth
of lame conclusions.

A long chain of snow-cajjped mountains slowly
unrolled as the ship emerged from Wrangell Nar-
rows, more glaciers were brought to view, and that
strange granite monument, the " Devil's Thumb," as
namerl by Commander Meade, signalled us from a
mountain top.

Farther up, in Stephens Passage, flc^ating ice tells
of the great glaciers in Ilolkam or Soundoun l^ay,
and bes'CH.: the one great Soundoun glacier flowing
into the sea, there are three other glaciers hidden
in the high-walled fiords that open from the bay.
()ne of the first and most adventurous visitors to the
Soundoun glacier was Cai)tain J. W White, of the
Revenue Marine, who anchored the cutter Liiicohi in
the bay in i<S68. Seeing a great arch or tunnel in the
front of the glacier, he had his men row the small
boat into the deej) blue grotto, and they went a hun-
dred feet down a cry.stalline corridor whose roof was
a thousand feet thick. The colors, he said, were mar-
vellous, and, like the galleries eut in the Alpine gla-

TlIF SITKAN ARCIUPKLAGO.

ciers, showed fresh wonders with each advance. At
the furthest point the adventurous boatmen poured
out libations and drank to the s|>irits of the ice king-
dom. In 1876 golfl was discovered, and th^ Soun-
doun pkicers were the first ones worked in Akiska.
Professor Muir visited the glacier and mines of Soun-
tloun Bay in i<S7' , tnd at Shough, a cam]) in a valley
at the head (jf the inlet, found miners at work with
their priniiiive rockers an<l sluices. In i8<So these
mines yielded $10,000, and the miners believed the
l)ed of gold-bearing gravel inexhaustible. The dis-
covery of gold at Juneau tlrew the most of them
away, and the Sountloun placers have hardly been
heard of in later years.

Winding north, through a broad channel with
noble mountain ranges on either side, we passed the
old Hudson Bay Comj)any's trading post of Taku,
and at mention of this name those who believe in the
Asiatic origin of the Alaska Indians cried out in
delighted surpri.-j : "There is a Chmese city of the
same name and spelled in the same way as this —
Taku."

Reaching the mouth of Taku Inlet, into which the
Taku River empties, the floating ice gave evidence of
the great glaciers that lie within ; and, following up
this fiord for about fifteen miles to a great basin, we
came suddenly in sight of three glaciers. One sloped
down a steep and rather narrow ravine, :'nd its front
was hidden by another turn in the overla[)ping hills.
The second one pushed down between two higli
mountains, and, resting its tongue on the water,
dropped off the icebergs and cakes that cov-ercd
the surface of the dull, gray-green water. The front

HOUTIIKHN A LA SKA.

of this icy cliff stretched entirely across the half-mile
gap between the mountains, and its face rose a hun-
dred and two hunched feet irom the water, every foot
of it seamed, ja;4ged, and rent with _i;reat fissures, in
widch the palest [)risinatic hues were Hashinj^. As
the tide fell, lar^i;e pieces fell from tins from, and ava-
lanches of ice-fragments crashed down into I he sea and
raised waves thai rocked our sliip and set the ice-
floes i;rin(iin^^ toL;ether. Oi} the other point of the
crescent of this hay there lay tlie IarL;est _i;lacier, an
ice-fiehl that swept down fiom two mountain gorges,
and, sj>rea(Hng out iu fcUi sha[)e, descended in a long
sloj)e to a moraine of sand, pebbles, aiul boulders.
Across its rolbng fi-ont tliis glacier measured at least
three miles, and the Kav, level moraine was one mile
in width. TIk- .noraine's slope was so gradual that
when the small boats were lowered and we started
for shore, thev grounded one hundred leet from the
water-mark and there stuck until the passengers were
taken off one by one in the lightest boat, and then
carried over the last twenty feet of water in the
sailors' arms. It was a time for old clothes, to begin
with, and everyone wore their woist when they
started off ; but at the finish, when the same set
waded through a tpiarter of a mile of sand and min-
eral mud left exposed by the falling tide, and were
dumped into the boats by the sailors, a near i-elative
woidd not have owned one of us. The landing i f the
glacier i)ilgrims was a scene worthy of the nii^blest
caricaturist, and sym])athy welled u]) for the j^oor
officers and sailors who shouldered stout men and
women antl struggled ashore through sinking nnul
and water. The burly captain jiicketl out the slight-

Till-: ,s//7v-.LV Mlt'im'F.LAt.i).

est youn<; girl aiul carried her ashore like a doll ; hut
the second officer, deceived by the hollow eyes of one
tall woman, lifted her up ^^llantl), floundered for a
while in the nuui and the awtul surprise of her weight,
and then Ix-an-r and burden took a headlong plunge.
The newly-manicd man cai'ried his bride oil on his
back, and had that novel incident to ])ut down in the
voluminous journal of the hon(.:ymoon kept by the
yt>ung coui)le.

We trailed along in lilcs, like so many ants, across
the sandy moraine, sinking in the soft "mountnin
meal," stumbhng over acres of smooth rocks and
pebbles, and jum[)ing shallow streams that wandcrinj
down from the melting ice. I'atches of epilobium
crimsoned the ground with. r;ink blossoms near the
base of the glacier, [ind at list we began ascending
the dull, dirty, gra) ice hills.

There was a wonderful stillness in the air, and tlic
clear, sunny, blue sk\' brooded peiKcful'y over the won-
derful scene. The ciunching of the footsteps on the
rough ice could be heard a long wav, and fiom every
crevice came the ruml)le and roar of the streams
under the ice. Rising five hundred fert or moif by
a gradual incline of half a mile, we were as tar from
seeing the source of the glacier as ever ; and the vast
snow-fields from which the streams of ice emerge were
still hidden by the si)urs of the mountain roimd which
they poured. .-'Xt that point there were sf)me deej)
crevasses in the ice, and leaning over we looked down
into the bottomless rifts. The young Catholic j)riest,
forgetting everything in the ardor of the moment and
the ice-fever, labored like a giant, hurling vast bould-
ers into the depths, thai we might hear the repeated

tiO urn Kit S ALA SKA.

crashes as they struck from side to side, before the
splash told that they had reached the subterranean
river that roared so fiercely. In the outer sunshine
the ice sparkled like broken bits of silver, but in the
crevasses the colors were intensified from the jxdest
ice-green to a deeper and deei)er blue that was lost
in shadowy pur[)le at the last point. The travel-
lers who had learned their glaciers in Switzerland sat
amazed at the view before them, and owned that the
<;lacicr on which they were sitting was much larger
and more broken than the Mir dc Glace, while noth-
ing in the Alps could cc[urd the smaller glacier be-
yond, that lay glittering like a great jewel-house and
dropping bergs of beryl and sapphire into the sea.

Where the two arms of the glacier united, the lines
of converging ice-streams were marked by great trains
of boulders and patches of dirt ; and fragments of
quartz ami granite, and iron-stained rocks were
souvenirs that the pilgrims carried off by the pocket-
ful. We sat on rough boulders and looked down into
the ice-ravines on every side, and sighed breathlessly
in the ecstasy of joy. An earthly and material soul
roused the scorn ot the young Catholic divine by
sitting down in that exalted spot to eat — to munch
soda crackers from a brown-paper bundle — while the
wreck of glaciers, the crash of icebergs, the grinding
of ice-floes, and world-building were going on about
him.

We ran down the glacier slopes hand in hand, in
long lines that ''snapped the whip" and went all-
hands-round on the more level places, or crept in cau-
tious file along the narrow ridges between crevasses.
We drank from icy rills that ran in channels of clear

TJIK S1TKA\ MiiUll'Kl.AdO.

green ice, and crossing the moniine, wc waded throuj;h
mud ankle deep and were carried to the l^oals. Tlie
receding tide liad obliged the sailors to push the boats
further and further off, and when one frail bark was
about full there was a crash, an avalanche oi ice went
si)lashing into the sea from the smaller glacier up the
bay, and a great wave curling from it washed
the boat back and left it grounded. Men without
rubber boots were then so well soaked and so
plastjred with glacier mud that they just stepped
over the boat's side and helped the rubber-clad sailors
float it off. The lower deck and the engine-room
were hanging full and strewn with muddy boots and
drying clothes all day, and the stewards were heard to
wonder ** what great lun there was in getting all
their clothes spoiled, that the passengers vni<:(\ take
on so over a glacier."

When V^ancoLiver went to the head of Taku Inlet in
1794 he found "frozen mountains" surrounding it on
every side, and his boats were so endangered by the
floating ice, that his moi gladly luirried away
from it. Prospectors have had their camps at the
mouth of the river at the head of the basin, and have
searched the bars and shores of Taku River for miles
across the mountain wall. Their evidence and that
of the fur traders, who give scant notice to such
things, ])rove the Indian traditions, that the ice is
receding rapidly, and that the ice mountain that now
sets back with a great moraine before it, came down
to the water's c([g<:. in their fathers' days.

That day on the Taku glacier will live forever as
one of the rarest and r.-'st perfect enjoyment. The
grandest objects in nchiix were before us, the prime-

IMAGE EVALUATION
TEST TARGET (MT-3)

f/u

1.0

I.I

1.25

'- ilM

^' IIIIIM

1.4

IlM
1.6

Photograpnic

Sciences
Corporation

23 WEST MA N STREET

-VEB: 'f ?., NY. J4580
[nt.) 872-4503

l/x

SOUTHERN ALASKA.

val forces that mould the face of the earth vere at
work, and it was all so far away and out of the every-
day world that we might have been walking a new
planet, fresh fallen from the Creator's hand. The
lights and shadows on the hills, and the range of
colors, were superb, — every tiny ice-cake in the water
showing colors as rare and fleeting as the shades of
an opal, while the gleaming ice-cliff, from which these
jewels dropped, was aglow with all the prismatic lights
and tinted in lines of deepest indigo in the great
caverns and rifts of its front. The sunny, sparkling
air was most exhilarating, and we sat on the after-
deck basking in the golden rays of the afternoon sun,
and looked back regretfully as the glaciers receded
and were lost to sight by a turn in the fiord.

THE SlTKAy AliCniPELAGO.

CHAITI'R \'II.

JUNEAU, SILVER liOW HASIX, AND DOUGLASS ISLAND

MINES.

TURNING north from the mouth of Taku Inlet,
antl runnin<; up Gastineaux Channel, we were
between the steepest mountain walls that ve<.'etation
could cling to, and down all those verdant precipices
poured foaming cascades from the snow-banks on the
summits. This channel between the mainland shore
. and Douglass Island is less than a mile in width, and
the mountains on the eastern shore rise to two
thousand feet and more in their first uplift from the
water's edge. The snowy summits of the ranges
back of it reach twice that altitude, and are the same
mountains that shelter the glariers of the north
shore of Taku Inlet.

All of this Taku region is rich in the indications
of precious minerals, and prospectors have explored
miles of the most rugged mountain country in their
search for float and gravel. The presence of gold
along the shores of Taku River was long known,
but the Taku Indians, who guarded the mouth of the
river and kept the monopoly of the fur trade with the
interior Indians, were known to be hostile and kept
prospectors aloof. Prof. Muir found signs of gold
in every stream in the territory, ground by and swept

HOUTIIKltS ALASKA.

down from the higher ranges by the vast ice-sheet
that once covered this region, and by the ghiciers
that are still at work in all the fiords and ravines.
He believed that the great mineral vein extending
uj) the coast from Mexico to liritish Columbia con-
tinned through Alaska and into Siberia. With Ikit-
ish Columbian miners producing $1,000,000 and
$2,000,000 each year, and Siberia yielding its annual
$22,000,000, Professor Muir was certain that Alaska
would prove to be one of the rich gold fields of North
Afnerica. In one of his letters to the San Francisco
Bulletin in 1879, he gave it as his belief that the
richest quartz leads would be found on the mainland
shores east of Sitka, and that the true mineral belt
followed the trend of the continental shores. A
year later his prophecy was verified, and the present
mining town of Juneau, a hundred miles north and
east of Sitka in a direct line, promises soon to dis-
tance the capital and become the most important
town in tho tcrritorv.

The town of Juneau straggles along the beach
and scatters itself after a broken, rectangular plan,
up a ravine that o|)cns to the water front. T-ying at
the foot of a vertical mountain-wall, with slender
cascades rolling like silver ribbons from the clouds
and snow-banks overhead, and sheltered in a curve of
the still channel, Juneau has the most picturesque
situation of any town on the coast. There were
about fifty houses in i<S84, and the place claimed be-
tween three hundred and four hundred white inhabi-
tants, with a village of Taku Indians on one side of
the town, and Auk Indians on the other. The
Northwest Trading Company has a large store at

THE SITKAN AHCUIPELAGO.

Juneau, and a barber's shop and the si.i;n of " Rus-
sian Baths, every Saturday, fifty cents," shows that
the luxuries of civilization are creeping in.

As a mining camp, this settlement dates back but a
few years. In 1879 the Indians gave fine quartz
specimens to the officers of the U. S. S. Jamestown,
claiming to have found them on the shores of Gasti-
neaux Channel. In the following summer a pros-
pecting party was formed at Sitka, and left there
headed by Joseph Juneau and Richard Harris. They
camped on the present site of Juneau on Oct. i, 1880,
and followed up the largest of three creeks emptying
into the channel near that point. Three miles back
on this Gold Creek in the Silver Bow Basin, they
found rich placers and outcroj>ping quartz ledges.
When they returned to Sitka with their sacks of
specimens, there was a stampede and a rush for the
new El Dorado, and the camp, established in mid-
winter, has since grown into a town. Harris took
up a town site of one hundred and sixty acres,
and in the spring of 1881 miners from British
Columbia and from Arizona Hocked to the new
gold-fields.

The place was first called Pilsbury, for one pros-
pector; then Fliptown, as a miner's joke ; next Rock-
well, for the officer of the (J. S. S. Jamestown, who
came down with a detachment of marines to keeji
the camp in order; fourthly it was named Harri.s-
burg, and fifthly Juneau. This last name was for-
mally adopted by the miners at a meeting held in
May, 1882, and in the same conclave resolutions
were passed ordering all Chinamen out of the district,
and warning the race to stay away ; which they have

SOUTIIEUN ALA6KA.

(lone. At the same time the miners perfected an
organization, electeil a recorder, and adopted a code
of laws which should be enforced until the United
States should establish civil government and declare
it a land district. Even with this volunteer attempt
at law and order, the ownership of mining claims
was uncertain, as they belonged to the hrst and the
strongest ones who began work in the spring. For
want of a civil tribunal, miners' quarrels were settled
by fists, shotguns, or an appeal to the man-of-war at
Sitka. The whole town site and the Hasin are staked
off and claimed by three and four first owners, and
lawsuits are impending over every piece of mining
property. Without surveys, titles, or protection, the
Juneau miners have done little more than the ne-
cessary assessment work each year, although some
of the placers have paid richly. With things in such
an insecure state, capitalists were not willing to ven-
ture anything in the development of these mines, and
owners did little boasting of the richness of their
lodes, lest more miscreants should be invited to
jump their claims. The newly established dist.'-ict
court, whose clerk is i;v officio recorder of deeds,
mortgages, and certificates of location of mining
claims, will be overwhelmed with mining suits at its
first sessions, and every claim will supply one or more
cases for trial.

It is very difficult to ascertain the exact amounts
produced by these mines, although from ten to fifty
thousand dollars in gold is sent down by each steamer
during the summer months. To avoid the heavy
express charges, many of the provident miners carry
down their own hard earnings in the fall, and buckskin

THE SITKAN AltCUIPELAdO.

bags, tin cans, and bottles of gold dust are among the
curios put in the purser's safe. As far as known,
5135,000 was washed from the placers in i88i,
3250,000 in i<S82, and about $400,000 in 1883.

After the first season's stir Juneau experienced a
slow and steady growth, antl has not yet set up its
pretensions to a " boom." There is a calm and quiet
to the town that disappoints one who looks for the
wild and untrammelled scenes of an incipient Lead-
ville. The roving prospectors and the improvident
miners gather at Juneau when the frosts and snows
of winter drive them from the basins and valleys of
the mainland, and in that season Juneau comes near-
est to wearing the air of a mining town with the fever
and delirium of a boom about to come on. Tales of
fabulous riches are then current, and around the con-
traband whiskey-bottle prospectors tell of finds that
put Ormus and the Ind, Sierra Nevada and Little
Pittsburg far behind.

The first time that I visited Juneau it was getting
a large instalment of its annual rainfall of nine feet,
and it was only by glimpses through the tattered
edges of the clouds that one could see the slopes
of the steep, green mountains, with the roaring cas-
cades waving like snowy pennants against the forest
screen. The ground was soaketl and miiv, antl the
least step from the gravelly beach or the plank walks
plunged one ankle-deep in the black mud. Of the two
beasts of burden m the town, the horse was busy
hauling freight from the wharf, and the mule struck
a melancholy pose beside an ancient schooner on the
beach and refused to move. Depending upon such
transportation, travel to the Basin mines was rather

HOVraKliN ALASKA.

limited, ami a few miners and Indians descending the
steep trail from the forest, like Fra Diavolo in the
first act, quite excited the fancy. After a contest
with the best two hundred feet of the three miles of
the steep yet miry trail, we were convinced that the
mines wouUl not pay on that drizzly afternoon. With
the trees drippinj; around us and little rills running
down on every side, it was rather paratloxical to have
a wayfarer tell us that the miners were doing very
little just then, for want of water. It was strange
ent)ugh in a country of perpetual rain, with streams
dropping down from eternal snows, that the system
of reservoirs, ditches, and flumes slundd be incom-
plete. A sociable miner, with his hands in his
pockets as far as his elbows, engaged us in conver-
sation on a street corner, and we surrounded him
with a cordon of dripping uml)relkis and listened to
his apologies for the state of the weather, couched
in many strange iilioms.

"We haven't any Indian agents, or constables, so
there's never any trouble between us peaceable white
men and the natives," said the miner. "There's no
caboose antl no tax-collector; and as fish is plenty,
it 's as good a place as any for a poor miner. Want
of whiskey is the greatest drawback to the develop-
ment of this country, and something will have to be
done about it. Congress and them folks in Wash-
ington don't pay much attention to us, but we had an
earthquake a while ago," so the Lord ain't forgotten
us, if the government has," said the friendly miner,
with a solemn smile. He promised to bring some
quartz specimens to the ship for the ladies ; but we
never saw that friend again.

THE SITKAX AHVlIU'ELAiiO.

The mint s thus failin;; us in picturesquoness and
thrilliui^ incidents, the Indians came in for u full
share of attention. One vilkii^e wanders along the
beach bel(nv the wharf, and the other settlement is
hidden behind a knoll at the other side of the town.
In the latter, Sitka Jack has a summer-house as well
as at Fort VVran^ell, but, instead of trndinj; this
potentate at home, his door was locked, and the
neighbors said that he had gone up to Chilkat for
the salmon fishing. On one of the largest houses in
the village was the sign: "Klow-kck, Auke Chief."
Over another doorway was written :

"Jake IS a ijood Iwiv, a working man,
[■ruiul (<t till' wliitus, and demands protection."

The Indians came from both villages and huddled
in groups on the wharf. Nearly all of them were
barefooted, for those rich enough to afford shoes
ti'ke them off and put them away when the ground is
wet or muddy. They seemed quite unconscious of
the weather, and, though u^ishod, were wrapped in
blankets and in many cases carried umbrellas. The
women and children tripped down in their bare
feet, and sat around on the dripping wharf with a
recklessness that suggested pneumonia, consumption,
rheumatism, and all those kindred ills from which
they suffer so severely. Nearly all the women had
their faces blacked, and no otie can imagine anything
more frightful and sinister on a melanch(>lv dav than

HOUTJIKliS ALASKA.

to be confronted by one of these silent, stealthy fig-
ures, with tile great circles (jt the vvliites ol the eyes
alone visible in the shadow of the blanket. A dozen
fictitious reasons are given f(;r this face-blacking.
One Indian savs that tiic widows and those who have
suffered great sorrow wear the black in token thereof.
Another native authority makes it a sign of happi-
ness, while occasionall) a giggling dame confesses
that it is done to preserve the complexion. Ludi-
crous as this may seem to the bleached Caucasian
and the ladies of rice-powdered and enamelled coun-
tenances, the matrons ol high fashion and the swell
damsels of the Thlinket tribes never make a canoe
voyage without smearing themselves well with the
black dye, that they get from a certain wikl root of
the woods, or with a paste of soot and seal oil. On
sunny and windy days on shore they protect them-
selves from tan and sunburn by this same inky coat-
ing. On feast days and the great occasions, when
they wash off the black, their complexions come out
as fair and creamy white as the palest of their Japa-
nese cousins across the water, and the women are
then seen to be some six shades lighter than the tan-
colored and coffee-colored lords of their tribe. The
specimen women at Juneau wore a thin calico dress
and a thick blue blanket. FIcr feet were bare, but
she was compensated for that loss of gear by the
turkey-red parasol that she poised over her head with
all the complacency of a Mount Desert belle. She
had blacked her face to the edge of her eyelids and
the roots of her hair ; she wore the full parure of
silver nose-ring, lip-ring, and ear-rings, with five
silver bracelets on each wrist, ami fifteen rings orna-

Tllh: silh'.W AUf'lIlPKI.AdO.

minting her bronze fnigers; and a more thrroiif^hly
proud antl sclt-satisticd creature never arrayed licrself
according to the behests of high fashion. Tiie chil-
(h"en {)attered around barefooted and wearing but a
single short garment, altliough the chi)- was as cold
and drear as ii\ our November. Not one of these
|)oor youngsters even ventured on the croopy cough,
tliat belongs to the civilized child tliat has onlv put
his head out of tloor^ in sucli weather. One can
easily believe the records and the statements as to
the terrible death r.ite among these peoj)le, and
marvel that any ever live beyond their infancy. So
few old people are seen among them as to continually
cause remark, but by their Spartan system only the
strongest can possibly survive the exposure and iiard-
ships of such a life. Consumption is the common
ailment and carries them away in numbers, yet they
have no medicines or remedies of their own, trust
only to the mcantations and hocus-pocus of their
medicine-men, and take not the slightest care to
protect themselves from e.\|)osure. (j.eat epidemics
have swept these islands at times, and forty years ago
the scourge of smallpox carried off iialf the natives
of Alaska. The tribes ne\cr regained their num-
bers after that terrible devastation, and since then
black measles and other diseases have so reduced
their people that another fifty years may see these
tribes e\tinct. The smoke of their dwellings and
the glare from the snow in winter increases diseases
of the eye, and most interesting cases for an oculist
are presented in every group.

Indian women crouched on the wharf with their
wares spread before them, or wandered like shadows

SOVTUEltS ALASKA.

about the ship's deck, offering l)askcts and mats
woven of the tine threads of the inner bark and roots
of the cedar, and extentUng arms covered with silver
bracelets to the envious <;aze of their white sisters.
There was no savage modesty or .simi)licity about the
prices asked, and their first demands were generally
twice what the articles were worth. They are keen
traders iind sharp at bargaining, and no white man

III.lNKri' HASKKI.

outwits these natives. Conversation was carried
t)n with them in the Chinook jargon, the language
comi)0v;n(le(l by Hudson Hay Company traders from
French, I'jiglish, Russian, and the dialect of the
Chinook tribe once living at the mouth of the Colum-
bia River. The Indians from California to the Arctic
Ocean understand more or less of this jargon, and in
Oregon and Washington Territory Chinook is a most
necessary accomplishment.

At the traders' stores in town we found whole

THJC SlTKAy AlH lUrELAUO.

museums of Indian curios, and revelled in the oddi-
ties and strange art-works of the people, 'llie round
i)a^kets of .>pht eeilar, woven stt tij;htl) as to be water-
proof, aiul ornamented in rude j;eometrieal ilesi;;ns
in bright colors, are the tirst choice for souvenirs
among tourists. Afi jr that the carvings, the minia-
ture totems and canoes, the grotesque masks aiul
dance rattles, take the eve. rhcre were, too, tiie fine
ancestral spoons matle Ironi the horns of mountain
g(Xit and musk ox, and fini.shed with handles carved
in full and high relief, and inlaid with l-'ls ol abalone-
shell, bears' teeth, and lucky .>tones froiv, the head of
the cotlhsh. Of furs and skins everv' sto'e held a
great su|)ply, and when bearskins ;i.d s(iuir'el robes
had n(; effect the traoers would bring oiii- their trea-
sures ol otter, fox, and seal, and .show ihe bales of furs
ihat awaiteil transjiortation to the south. A robe of
gray squirrel two yards stjuare was bought for one dol-
lar and fifty cents, and sealskiris at eight dollars, .silver-
fox skins for twentv-hve dollai s, and sea-otter skins for
one bundled dollars, continued the ascending scale of
prices. The real entertainment of the day came after
we had bouiiht our baskets and spoons and carviiiL's
at the traders' stores, and were enjoving a (^-w dry
hours in the cabin. 'I'hen the Indian women came
tapping at the windows with theii- i)racelets. and the
keen spirit of the trade having i)ossesse(.l us, we made
wonderful bargains with the i denting savages. A lap
on the window, and the one word " Hracelet ! " or the
Chinook " Klickivilly,' would bring all the ladies to
their feet, and the mechanical " how much " that
followed became so automatic during the day, that
when the porter rapped at night for lights to be put

SOUTHERN ALASKA.

out, he was greeted with a "how much" in response.
For each bracelet the Indians wailed out a demand
for "mox tolla^ two lollars in our tongue. They
finally came down to "• let tolla sitciiuiy or one dollar
and fifty cents, and rapidly disposed of their trea-
sures. Some lucky j)urchasers happened upon the
unredeemed pledges in the pawn branch of a jolly
old trader's store, and for " sitcuin toilih' oi* fifty
cents, walked off with flat silver bracelets a quarter
of an inch wide, carved in rude ticsigns of leaves and
scrolls.

Even Indian societv is dull in the summer time, as
they all go off in great parties to catch their winter
supplies of fish. While the salmon are running no
Indian wants to stay at home in the village, but no
angler can imagine that they need go far to drop the
line, when one copper-colored Izaak dropped his hali-
but hook off the Juneau wharf and pulled up a fish
weighing nine hundred pounds. Being clubbed on
the head and hauled up with much help, the mon-
ster halibut was sold for two dollars and fifty cents,
which statement completes about as remarkable a
fish story as one dares to tell, even at this distance.

Halibut of ninety and one hundred pounds have
been caught over the ship's side in these channels,
and Captain Cook tells of one weighing five hundred
pounds, and other navigators of those weighing nine
hundred pounds. Halibut is a staff of life to tlie
Indians, and their menu always comprises it. They
catch the halibut with elaborately-carved wooden
hooks made of red cedar or the heart of spruce roots,
fastened to lines of twisted cedar bark, or braided
seaweed. Clubs carved with the fisherman's totem

TflK SITKAN ARCH IP KL AGO.

and other designs are used to kill them with when
drawn up to the side of the canoe. At many of the
fisheries a great deal of halibut is salted and packed
before the salmon season begins, and halibut fins are
choice morsels that command a higher price by the
barrel than salmon bellies.

The second time that I saw Juneau it was like
another place in the last golden glow of the afternoon
sun. They had been having clear weather for weeks,
and under a radiant blue sky Juneau was the most
charming little mountain nook and seashort; village
one could look for.' The whole summit ranges of the
mountains on the Juneau sliore and on the island
were visible, and at a distance the little white houses
of the town looked like bits of the snowbanks, that
had slid three thousand feet down the tntck of the
cascades to the beach. We determined on an early
start for the mines the next morning, an.xious to
see the places that bafHed the pilgrirns the first time.

The site of the mining camp in the Silver Bow
Basin is even more picturesque, and the trail from
Juneau leads straight up the mountain side, then
down to a second valley, and along the wild cafion
of Gold Creek and into the basin of the vSilver l^ow.
All the way it leads through dense forests and luxu-
riant bottom land, where the immense pine-trees, the
thickets of ferns and devil's club, and the rank under-
growth of bushes and grasses, continuallv excite one's
wonder. We rose at half past five in order to go
out to the basin and get back before the ship sailed
at ten o clock, and in the fresh, dewy air and the pure
light of the early morning it was a walk through an
enchanted forest and a happy valley. The trail wound

SOUrUEHN ALASKA.

up to fifteen hundred feet, dropped by long jumps
and slides to the first level of the cation and reached
fifteen hundred feet above the sea again in the Hasin.
The devil's club, a tall, thorny plant with leaves
twelve and more inches across, grew in impassable
clumps in the woods, and the sunlight falling on these
large leaves gave a tropical look to the forest. The
devil's club is the prospectors' dread, and the thorny
sticks used to do to switch witches with in the Indians'
old uncivilized days. licJiiiiopaiiax horrida is the
botanist's awful name for it, and that alone is caution
enough for one to avoid it There were thickets of
thimbleberry bushes covered with large, creamy-
white blossoms ; and clusters of white ranunculus,
white columbine, blue geranium, and yellow monkey
flowers grew in i)atches and dyed the ground with
their massed colors. The ferns were everywhere,
and under bushes and beside fallen logs, delicate
maidenhair ferns, with fine ebony items, were gath-
ered by the handful. \Vc met a few well-dressed
Indians hurrying to town, and an occasional miner;,
who gave us a cheery greeting.

Blue jays flitted down the path before us, flashing
their beautiful wings in the sunshine ; and v\'here the
canon grew steeper and narrower. Gold Creek roared
like a muddy Niagara. High up in a ravine a melt-
ing snowbank disclosed a great cave underneath, and
its edges were fringed with waving grasses and flow-
ers. Kvcn hvflraulic mining cannot scar and dis-
figure this countrv, where a mantle of green clothes
every bare patch in a second season, and mosses and
lichens cover the stores and boulders. The moss or
sphagnum, that covers the ground, is as great an

THE SlTKAy ARCmVKLAiiO.

obstacle to the prospectors' search as the thickets of
"devil's club." A campfire built on this moss
gradually burns and sinks through, and the miner,
returning to his open fire, often finds it lying deep
in a well-hole that it has made for itself. In view of
the obstacles encountered, the tliscovery of these
mining regions is most remarkable, and is the great-
est monument to the prospectors' zeal.

We passed picturesque little log cabins and crossed
the debris of hydraulic mines, wntchetl the men in a
narrow gulch cleaning up their sluices, and going
around the corner of Snowslide (nilch, just this side of
Specimen Gulch, we met Mr. H. and his dog. Down
we all sat, dog included, and indulged in the light and
dry repast that v.-e carried in our pockets. ]\Ir. H. was
a typical and ideal miner, and in his high boots, can-
vas trousers, flannel shirt, big felt hat, and heavy
gold watch chain, made exactly the figure for the
landscape, as he rested on a big boulder beside the
roaring creek. We started to tell him the great
news that Alaska at last had a governor and a gov-
ernment, and, bethinking ourselves of the little side
incitient of Presidential nominations, began to tell him
about them. He manifested so little excitement over
Blaine and Logan that we asked if his seven years
without seeing the polls had made him so indifferent.

" Oh ! Lord no ; I 'm a Democrat though, I guess,
ma'am," said Mr. IV, apologetically.

"Then we'll never tell you who they have nomi-
nated if you are on that side," said a Republican,
firndy, and Mr. R's Homeric laugh made that moun-
tain glen ring before he was enlightened as to Cleve-
land and Hendricks.

■ " 1

y(i

.so UTIJEUN ALA SKA.

Our miner told us of a piece of quartz that he had
found the day before, that looked "as if the gold had
been poured on hot and had spattered all over it,"
and then we had to part with him and hurry on in
different ways.

Silver Bow Basin is a place to deli^jjht an resthetic
miner with in the way of landsca})e, and any one with
a soul in him would surely appreciate that little round
valley sunk deep in the heart of great mountains,
with snow-caps on every horizon line, a glacier slip-
ping from a great ravine, and waterfalls tumbling
noisily down the slopes. A little cluster of cabins is
set in the middle of this Basin, and tiny cabins, dump
piles, and lines of flumes can be seen on the sides of
the steep mountains. The camp had fallen away in
numbers since the precetling year, and the mining
community dwindled from two hundred to less than
one hundred workers. As the placers showed signs
of exhaustion, the roving adventurers had lert, and the
most of those living in the basin were chiefly occupied
in holding down their quartz claims until the reign of
law and the rush of capitalists should begin. Placer
claims that had yielded 'hirty dollars and fifty dollars
a day to the man were abandoned, as the debris from
the old glaciers and land-slides came to an end.
Across the range in Dix Bow Basin the same condi-
tions existed. Returning on the trail, we met a few
miners going back to their cabins and claims, and
one sociable fellow stopped for a time to talk to us.
He complimented the small party on our energy in
taking that early stroll, and in the most regretful
way apologized for the roughness and wildness of the
very surroundings with which we were so enraptured.

}

■:

THE SITKA y Alit'UIPELAGO.

A jolly old fellow with a shrewd twinkle in his eye
came up the trail swinging his coat gayly, and, jjlant-
ing himself in the pathway, took off his hat with a
fine flourish and said to me, " Madam, I was told to
watch out for you on this road, and to look you
squarely in the eye and tell you to hurry back to the
ship or you would be left." There was a shout all
round at this unmistakable message of the skipper,
and the gay miner enjoyed it most of all. Timing
ourselves by our watches, we lingered long on the
last mile, sitting on a log in the cool shade of the
forest, where the trail almost overhung the little
town. We could watch the peoi:)le walking in the
streets beneath, and in the still, slumbering sunshine
almost catch the hum of their voices, Pistol-shots
raised crashing echoes between the high mountain
walls, and set all the big ravens to croaking in hoarse
concert.

On the east shore of Douglass Island, opposite
Juneau, the grouj) of Indian huts and canoes on the
beach, and the skeleton of a fiume striking across a
gorge and down to the water, tell of the mining
camp there. Running across the narrow channel,
the ship anchored off the Treadwell mine, on Doug-
lass Island, and while the miners' supplies were being
put in the lighter, we all went ashore and climbed the
steep and picturesque trail to the mill. The super-
intendent took his lantern and marshalled the file
into the tunnel to see the air-drill at work, and
then we all filed out again. The Treadwell is one of
the remarkable mines on the Pacific coast, and said
to be one of the largest quartz ledges in the world.
The vein is over four hundred feet wide, cropping

sourifEny Alaska.

out on the surface ami crossed by three tunnels. The
ore is not hi<;h grade, !)ut is easily mined and milled,
and the supply is inexhaustible. The owners are
Messrs. Treadwell, Frye, Freeborn, and Hill, of San
Francisco, and Senator J. I*. Jones of Nevada. So
far only a small 15-stamp mill has been at work on
the ore, but the owners have decided to eiect a
120-stamp mill this year and develop the jiroperty
systematically The progress of the Treadwell mine
has been carefully watched by rnniers and capitalists,
and its success has done much to encourage others to
hold on to their properties in the face of all the dis-
couragements they have had to undergo through gov-
ernment neglect.

The Bear Ledge, owned by Captain Carroll and
his partners, adjoins the Treadwell or Paris claim,
and is a continuation of the same rich vein ; and from
the richness and extent of these and other mines, it
is believed that a large town w\\\ eventually spring up
on the island. A town-site was located and called
Cooperstown, in i8(Si, soon after the discovery of
gold on the island, but so far only the tents of i)lacer
miners have marked it. For two seasons lawless
bodies of men worked the placers on the surface of
the Treadwell lode, and, as there was no power to
appeal to, the Treadwell company were forced to en-
dure it. During the summer of 1883, over twenty-
five thousand dollars was taken from the surface of
the ledge in this way. The miners pounded up the
rich, decomposed quartz in hand-mortars, and as it
was impossible to extract all the gold by the rude
process employed, they dumped over into the chan-
nel richer quartz, in many instances, than had been

..JK^VM.T.^rVTW^I&'T-.llX:.'

TIIK SITKAN AHClIlPKLAdO.

worked in the Treidwell mill. The deposit of decom-
posed quartz on the top of the Icd^e was in some
places ten feet deep, and in workin;]^ it the squatters
took the water of the I'aris, or Hayes Creek, and shut
off the mill supply entirely. There was a sharp
contest l)etween the mill-owners and the hydraulic
miners, and the man-of-war at Sitka had to he sent
for before the matter was adjusted. They pled^^ed
themselves, "until such time as they should have civil
law," to let the mill have the use of the water for
twelve hours and the miners for the other twelve
hours of each twenty-four, and the squatters were not
to blast the lode, but only wash the surface ground.

An island gold field is a rarity in mining annals,
but all Douglass Island is said to be seamed with
quartz lodes, and it is ridged with high mountains
from end to end of its twenty-mile boundaries. It
was eighty-seven years after Vancouver's surveys be-
fore the prospectors found the gold on its shores, but
the miners have retained the old nomenclature, and
the island is still Douglass Island, as Vancouver
named it in honor of his friend, the Bishop of Salis-
bury.

!*f;'

• i

i '

100

t^OVniKliy ALASKA.

CHArTKk VIII.

THE CM ILK AT COUNTKV

JUNKAU is far cnou£jh north to satisfy any rea-
sonable summer ambition, and with its latitude
of 58° 16' N., the young mining town and future
metropolis is but little above the line of Glasgow,
Edinburgh, Copenhagen, and Moscow. The deep
waters of Gastineaux Channel are obstructed by
ledges just north of Juneau, and the eighteen feet
fall of the regular tides leaves islands and reefs visi-
ble in mid-channel. For this reason the ship had
to return on its course, and round Douglass Island,
before it could continue further north, and when that
island of solid gold quartz was left behind, the vessel
entered a maze of smaller islands and threaded its
way into the grand reaches of Lynn Canal. Van-
couver named this arm of the sea for the town of
Lynn, in Norfolk, I'^ngland, the place of his nativity,
and his explorers began the song of prai-j that is
chanted by ^very summer traveller who follows their
course up the high-walled, glacier-bound fiord. The
White Mountains present bold barriers on the west,
and along the eastern shores the great continental
range fronts abruptly on the water. Each point or
peak passed brought another glacier into view, nine-

THE SITKAN AltiUlPELAUO.

101

teen glaciers in all being visible on the way up the
canal. The great Auk glacier was first seen, and
then the Eagle glacier, toppling over a })rccipice
three thousand feet in air, their frozen crests and
fronts turning i)innacles of silver and azure to the
radiant sun.

Not even " the blue Canary Isles " could have of-
fered a more "glorious summer day" than tlie one
that we enjoyed while tlie /</ii//o steamed straight
up Lynn Canal, headed for the north pole. The sun
shone so warmly on deck that we laid aside wraps, and
sat under the grateful shade of an umbrella. There
was a sj)arkle and freshness to the air, and under an
ecstatic blue sky fleecy white clouds drifted about the
mountain summits and mingled their vapory outlines
with the fields of snow. We revelled in the beauties
of the scenes, and appreciated at the moment tiiat
this passage leading to the Chilkat counti)- is ijerhaj)s
the finest fiord of the coast. Lynn Canal siumbered
as a sapphire sea between its iiigh mountain walls,
with scarcely a ripple on its surface. The blue ex-
panse was streaked with a greenish gray where the
turbid streams poured in from the melting glaciers,
and was marked with a distinct line where the azure
water changed to green, and then it faded away into
gray again, where the fresh waters of the Chilkat
River flowed in.

At the head of Lynn Canal a long pomt juts out
into the current, with the Chilkat Inlet opening at
the left, and the Chilkoot Inlet at the right. Opposite
this tongue of land on the Chilkat side is the great
Davidson glacier, sweeping down a gorge between
two mountains, and spreading out like an opened fan.

10-J

HorriiKiiy Alaska.

'I'ht.' glacier is tincL- miles across its front and twelve
iuiiidred teet hi^l), where it slopes to reach tlie level
ground, and it is separated troni the waters of the
inlet by a terminal moraine covered with a thick,
forest of pines. The symmetry of its outlines and
the grand slope ol its broken surface are most im-
pressive, and this mighty torrent, arrested in its
sweej), shows in eveiy |)innacle and crevice all the
blues of heaven, the i)alest tints of beryl and glacier
ice, and the sheen of snow and silver in the sunshine.
It is worthily Jiamed for Professor (ieorge Davidson,
the astronomer, and its lower slopes were explored
b\' liim during" his visits to the Chilkat country on
goxcrnment an<l scientific missions.

Rountling a sharp point beyond the glacier, the
mk IdaJio swe[)t into a circling, half-moon cove, where

a picturesque Indian camj) nestled at the foot of
the precipitous Mount Labouchere, not named foi the
witty editor of tlie London 7/7////, but foi' one of the
Hudson Hay Company's steamers that first ])enctrated
these waters and anchored regularlv in this Pyramid
Harbor. The cannon-shot, which was such an impor-
tant feature in the progress of the IdaJio, gave a
tremendous echo from mountain to mountain, and
glacier to glacier, and thundered and rolled down the
inlet for uncounted seconds, [is the anchor dropped.
The tents and bark huts, and the trader's store of the
little settlement, showed finely against the ileej) green
mat at the foot of the vertical mountain, and in the
early afternoon all lay in clear shadow, and the moun-
tain seemed to almost overhang the ship as she swung
round from her anchor chain. There was an excited
rushing to and fro on shore ; dogs and Indians gath-

A A

jf.-

rUH SirixAX AltClUPKLAfiO.

105

ered at the beach, and canoes put off before the
sliip's boats were h)\vered to take us ashore.

The Northwest 'I'raiHn^^ Corni)any's hirj^e store and
salmon canneiv were quite overlooked in the travel-
lers' hasty rush for tlie Indian tent.^, that were scat-
tered in <;roups alon^j; the narrow clearin;j; between
tide-water and mountain wall. Hefore each tent and
cabin were tranies, hunf; with what looked to be bits
of red Hamiel at a distance, but i)roved to be drying
saliuon when we reached them. It was a gaudy and
effective decoration, and a Chilkat salmon is as bright
a color, when caught, as a lobster after it has been
boileil. Though a warlike and aggressive people, the
Chilkats practise many of the arts of peace, and the
wood-carvings and curios that the had for sale were
eagerly bought. Miniature totem j)oles and canoes,
pipes, masks, forks, and spoons changed ownership
rapidly, and Indians and i)asscngers regretted that
there were no more. Hone sticks, used for martin-
traps by the Tinneh tribes of the interior, were to
be had, with every stick topjjcd with some totemic
beast, and there were queer little fish and toys of
soapstone, made by the same peaceful natives. Cop-
per bracelets, covered with Chilkat designs, were
offered by a lame rascal, who said, " Gold ! gold ! " to
the eager curio-seekers who snatched at his shining
wares. Copper knives and arrow-tips were also dis-
played, and articles of this metal are distinctly Chil-
kat work, as the art of forging copper was long a
secret of theirs. Relics of the stone age were
brought forth, and granite mortars and axes, and
leather dressers of slate, offered for sale. Stone-
age implements a s being rapidly gathered up in this

106

so UTHEIiX . 1 LA SKA.

country, and a trader, who has received and filled large
orders for eastern museums and societies, threatens
to bring up a skilled stonecutter to su))i)ly the in-
creasing demands of scientists, now tluit the Indians
have })arted with most of their heirloom specimens.

In one tent two women were at work weaving a
large Chilkat blanket on a primitive loom. These
blankets, woven from the long fleece of the mountain

< 1111 K \r HI.ANKI-.r.

■■; 1 '

(

goat, have been a specialty of the Chilkats as long as
white men have known them. Tlie chiefs who met
Vancouver were wrapped in these gorgeous totemic
blankets or cloaks, and in early thi}-s they were common-
ly worn by the chiefs and rich men. Since the traders
have introduced the v/oollen blankets of commerce,
the native manufactures have been neglected, and
now that the art is dying out, the few that remain i,i
the possession of the natives are highly valued and

THE Sir KAN AnCtUPELAGO.

10'

only taken from their cedar boxes on the occasion of
<,q-eat feasts and ceremonies. These blankets are
found among all the Thlinket tribes, and the llaidas
at Kasa-an Hay had many Chilkat cloaks and gar-
ments stored away in their cabins. The blankets
average two yards in width intl about one yard in
depth, and are bordered at tlie ends and across the
bottom with a deep fringe. The colors are black,
white, and yclU)w, with occasional touches of a soft,
dull blue. Soot, or bituminous coal, gives the base for
the black dye, and they get tlie pu?"e, brilliant yellow
from a moss that grows on the rocks. The blue is
made by boiling copper and seaweeds together. They
makQ fine trophies for wall decorations, or, as rugs or
lambrec[uins, are suijcrior to the Navajo and Zuni
blankets of the New Mexico Indians. The totemic
figures woven in these cloaks tell allegories and
legends to tlie natives, antl the conventionalized
whales, eagles, and ravens are full of meaning, record-
ing the great battles between, the clans, the incidents
of family history, and deeds at arms. The price of a
bl:i.nker ranges from twenty to forty dollars ; the fine-
ness of ihe work, the beauty of the design, and the
anxiety of the purchaser all helping to increase the
price.

As in all Indian villages, the fierce, wolfish-looking
dogs showed an inclination to growl and snap at the
white people, but the hard-featured, strong-minded
women of the Chilkat tribe silenced them with a
word, or a skilfully thrown bnintl snatched from the
family camp fire. 1'he children and the dogs were
always getting under foot and crowding into each
group, and in the Alpine valley, where the afternoon

108

tiOl'TIfKIiy A LA Sh'A.

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r!|

f ii

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a 1!

shadows brought a pleasant sharpness to the air, the
youngsters were as scantily clad as in the tropics.
They sat on the tlamp ground dwd stole handfuls of
rice from the pots boiling on the fires, or furtively
dipped the spoons into the mess one minute and hit
the dogs with the table utensil the next. One boy,
who had sold a great many little carved toys to the
visitors, dashed off into a thicket of wild roses, and
gallantly brought back fragrant pink blossoms for his
customers. Sitka Jack's carved canoe was drawn up
on shore, and that grandee at last appeared to us,
and after selling his own pipe and carved possessions,
he wandered about aiid interfered in every one's bar-
gains by urging the natives to ask more for their
curios.

Of the white celebrities residing at Pyramid Harbor,
there was one with the enviable fame of being " the
hantlsomest man in Alaska," and when he went
gliding out to the ship in a swift native canoe, and
appeared on deck as ii just step])cd aside from a
Broadway stroll, there was a perceptible flutter in the
ladies' cabin. Another fine-looking man of distin-
guished manner, founil wandering on shore, proved to
be a French count, who, having dissipated three
fortunes in the gayeties of a Parisian life, has hidden
himself in this remote corner of the world to ponder
on the ])hih)so|)hy of life, and wait for the favorable
stroke that shall enable him to return and shine once
more among his gav comrades of the boulevard, the
Hois and the opera foyer.

At l^yramid Harbor the ship reached the most
northern point on her course and the end of the inside
passage. At 59° 11' N. we were many degrees distant

■^

THK SITh'AN AliCHIPELAaO.

109

from the Arctic Circle, i^ut, although it was mid-July,
the sun did not set until half past nine o'clock by
ship's time, and the clear tw'light lasted until the
r^^yal flush of sunrise was batliing the summits of the
higher mountains. At midnight tine print could be
read on deck, and at the hour when chuichyards yawn
the amateur photogra})hers turned their cameras upon
the matchless panorama before them, and the full
witchery of that serene northern night was felt when
the crescent of llie \uung moon showed itself faint
and ethereal in the eastern sky.

We had been watching a rocky platform up on the
nn)untain side, in the hopes of seeing the bea' with
her cubs, who, living in some crexice near there, was
said to promenade on her airy perch at all hours of
the day antl look down defiantly on the settlement.
We were tiring of that cuckoo-clock amusement,
when a shaggy man came on the scene and .-^aid to
the j)hotographers, —

" Vou ought to have been here in June, if you
wanted to see long days. You never would know
when It was time to go to bed then."

"Doesn't it ever get dark here.''" we yawned at
him in chorus.

" Sometimes," he answered. " 'Bout long enough
to get your overcoat off, I reckon."

A year later there was the same beautiful trip up
Lynn Canal, and as a mark of growth and progress
the Ancofi found a large wharf to tie up to at Pyramid
Marbor. The canner\' l)uikling had been enlarged,
and the huHan tents replaced with log and bark
houses. The cannery, that had been a losing venture
in the first year, gave promise of better returns, and

110

SOUTH Eli N ALASKA.

Pyramid Harbor wore quite a prosperous air. The
Indians and their curios were again the sole distract-
ing interest of the passengers, and the Chilkats, as
before, sold everything desirable that they owned.

A strapping young Indian seized upon us as ve
were wondering on shore, rattled off the few words,
" My papa, Sitka Jack, my papa heap sick," and soon
we were chasing over grass and gravel, at the heels of
this young Hercules, to his neat log house. The son
of Sitka Jack showed first the curios he had for sale,
and then his pretty wife, who wore a yellow dress and
a bright blue blanket, and had a clean face illuminated
by soft black eyes and rosy cheeks. Lastly he led us
at a quickstep to the place where his venerable papa
sat crouched in a blanket. The son spoke luiglish
well, but so rapidly, that he brought himself up breath-
less every few minutes, and the docile, infant-ile way
in which this six-footed fellow spoke of his **papa"
more than amused us.

The "papa" is one of the head chiefs of the Sitka
tribe, but goes to Chilkat Inlet every sum • f^r to visit
his wife's relations during the salmon season. He
is an arrant old rascal, and has made a great deal
of trouble at times ; but in his feeble old age he
has a kindly and pleasant smile, and a quiet dignity
that is in great contrast to his vehement, impetuous
young son. Mrs. Sitka Jack is the sister of Doniwak,
the one-eyt'd tyrant who rules the lower Chilkat
village, and now that her liege is becoming helpless,
her influence is more su))reme than ever. She sat
like a queen, kindly rela.xing some of the grimness of
her expression when she saw that we had been buy-
ing from her son, but everything indicated that she

THE 161TKAN AlWHIPELAdO.

Ill

had the most eloquent and obstreperous chief of the
Sitkans completely disciplined. One of her Chilkat
nephews was introduced to us by her glib son, and
the hulking young savage fairly crushed our civilized
hands in his friendly grasp, and critically examined
our purchases.

A wild-looking old medicine-man, with long red hair,
hovered on the outskirts of the grou}), and finally
showed us, with innocent pride, a naval officer's letter
of credentials, which testified to his having a good
ear for music, since he neither flinched nor winked,
when a large cannon was slyly touched off at his
elbow, during one of his visits on board a man-of-war.

Three-F'ingered Jack, a celebrity of another order,
wandered about the camp arrayed in the cast-off
uniform of a naval officer, with his breast pinned full
of tin and silver stars, like a German diplomat.
Sitka Jack's son looked cjuite unconscious while the
three-fingered lion passed by; but when we directed
his attention to him, the son of his papa gave a pity-
ing, contemptuous look and declared that he did not
know who it was. As well might we ha 'e asked one
of the Capulets who Romeo was.

Kloh-Kutz, or Ilole-in-the-Cheek, the head chief of
the Chilkats, appeared to us only in flying glimpses,
as he ran up nnd down the steps of the trader's store.
He is a wrinkled old fellow now, and the hole left in
his cheek by a v/ound is decorated by a large bone
button similar to those that the women wear in their
cheeks. When Professor Davidson, of the Coast
Survey, went to t!ie Chilkat country in 1867, on the
revenue cutter Lincoln, Capt. J. VV. White command-
ing, to gather material for a report upon the topo-

112

SOUTUEIiX ALASK.t.

) :

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graphy, climate, and the resources of Alaska, called
for by the Congressional committees having the mat-
ter of the purchase of the territory in charge, he first
made the acquaintance of Kloh-Kutz, then in his
prime.

In 1869 Professor Davidson revisited the Chilkat
country to observe the total eclipse of the sun, and,
by invitation of Kloh-Kutz, established his observa-
tory at the village of Klu-Kwai', twenty miles up the
Chilkat River. The station was called Kloh-Kiitz in
honor of tiic distinguished patron and protector of
the scientists, who gave them the great council-house
for a residence. In the ardor of his hospitality Kloh-
Kutz was going to have the name "Davidson"
tattoed on his arm, but at the suggestion of the
astronomer gave up that elaborate design, and had
" Seward ' traced across his biceps with a needle
and thread dipped in soot and seal oil and drawn
through the flesh. He was quite willing to wear his
name when he learned that Seward was the great
Tju'c, or chief, who bought the country of the Rus-
sians and thereby rai-'-ed the price of furs so greatly.

In advance of the eclij^tse, Professor Davidson told
his host what would happen ; that the sun would be
hidden at midday, and darkness fall upon the land
on the 7th of August, and that it would come as a
great shadow sweeping down the valley of the Chil-
kat. The Indians had always gathered and silently
watched the white men wdien they pointed their
strange instruments at the sun each day, but they fled
in terror when the great darkness began to come, and
did not return until the eclipse was over. They
regarded Professor Davidson with the greatest awe,

TIIK .s/77i.rv AliCIIIPtLACO.

as a wonderful mcdicinc-man wlio could perform
such great miracles at will ; and Kloh-Kulz, delighted
with the great trick of his friend, made a serious
offer of all his canoes, hlankets, and wives, if the
astronomer would tell him "how he did it," and
divulge the secret conhdentially to a brother con-
jurer.

The evening before the eclipse, wonl reached Pro-
fessor Da\idson that Secretary Seward and his party
were at the mouth of the Chilkat River, to convey
him back to Portland on tlieir steamer, as soon as
his observations were completed. Kloh-Kutz was
invited to come down and meet the great '/'ycc, and
hold a council with (ien. Jeff. C. Davis, the military
commandant, who had gone up from Sitka with the
Seward party. Kloh-Kutz ciiose the flower of Chil-
kat chivalry to go below with his great war canoe
and carry a letter from Professor Davidson to Mr.
Seward, urging him to " come up hither " and see
the territory he had bought ; and luring on the ex-
premier by saying that he had discovered an iron
mountain, the ore of which was seventv per cent
iron. Referring to this fact in a speecli made at a
public meeting in Sitka afterwards, Mr. Seward
said :

'•'When I came tiiere I found very i:)r()j)erly he had
been studying the heavens so busily that he had but
cursorily examined the earlli under his feet ; that it
was not a single iion mountain he had discovered,
but a range of hills, the very rlust of which adheres
to the magnet, while the range itself, 2,000 feet high,
extends along the east bank of the river thirty
miles."

^n-

114

so U Til Eli y A LA SKA.

Mr. Seward and liis son, and General Davis, with two
staff officers, and others of the party, left the ship in
three canoes early on the morning; of the day of the
eclipse. They were half way up to Klu-Kwan village,
when tin; shadow bej;an to cross the sun, and the
weird, unearthly light fell upon the land. The In
(Hans in the canoe said the sun " was very sick and
wanted to go to sleep," and they refused to paddle any
further. The canoes were beached quickly, and the
visitors made a sociable camp-fire for themselves, and
cooked their (hnner by its blaze Late in the after-
noon they reached the village, and that evening Kloh-
Kutz made a call of ceremony upon the guests in the
council-house. There was an array of Chilkat chiefs
and Chilkat women to witness the meeting of the
Tyees, and after a speech of welcome, Kloh-Kutz
drew up his sleeve .dramatically and showed the
'• Si:\VAKD " tattoed with his totems on his arm.
The great diplomat was quite astonished and be-
wildered, and the handwriting on the wail hardly
made a greater sensation in I^elshazzar's court,

The next morning the iva-way or official council,
was held with the aid of two interpreters, one to
translate English into Russian, and the other to
translate Russian into Chilkat. Believing that if
Mr. Seward bought Alaska, he must still own it in
person, Kloh-Kutz ignored Gen. Davis, as being only
the great Tyee's servant, and addressed himself
directly to the supposed ruler of the whole country.
His grievance was that, ten years before, three
Chilkats had been killed at Sitka, and now, "What
is the great Tyee going to do about it?" Kloh-
Kutz was not to be put off by the diplomatic answer

TlIK SITKAN AUruiPELAGO.

115

that the murder had happened during Russian days.
He said that " the Tyee of tlie Russians was so poor
that he could not keep his land and iiad to sell it,"
but for all that he must have rejiaration for liie loss
of his three Chilkats. To his mind one Chilkat was
worth three Sitkans, and if the Tyee would let him
kill nine Sitkans, the aeeount would be squared.
With a finesse worthy of a diplomat who had dealt
with all the great nations (»f tlie earth, Mr. Seward
finally brought Kloh-Kutz down to aeeejHing forty
blankets as an indemnity, and he and his sub-chief
Colchica and their wives led the guard of honor that
escorted the great Tyee back to his shi}). Captain
C. C. Dall, who commanded the steamer Active
during that memorable cruise, gave a great entertain-
ment to the chiefs on board, and fireworks rounded
off that memorable evening. Mr. Seward presented
a flag to the Chilkat chief, and at the banquet in
the cabin, he and Professor Davidson gave astronomy
by easy lessons to their Chilkat visitors, and dis-
claimed any agency in the eclipse as an accompani-
ment of the Tyee's visit.

Kloh-Kutz is delighted yet to show his Seward tat-
too mark to any one, a^nl to tell of the visit of the great
Tyee. Me is a chief ot advanced and liberal notions,
a high-strung, im]-)erious old fellow, and has a fine
countenance, marred onlv by the wound in his cheek,
which was received at the hands of one of his own
tribe during some internecine troubles. His assailant
held a revolver close to Kloh-Kutz's head, and when
the chief looked scornfully at it, the trigger was
snapped. Weak powder prevented the ball from
inflicting any more seriou.^ injuries than to enter his

I I

i
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M>r 77/ /•;/.' A ALASKA.

•1

1 ! .!•

check and tear awav a few teeth Klnh-Kutz swal-
lowed his teeth and handed the Inillet back to his
[issaikmt witli a fine gesture, saying: " You cannot
hurt me. See ! "

A few years since a young (icrnian was sent up to
estabhsh tiie tracHng post at Pyramid Harbor, and
was intro(hiced to Kloh-Kutz as a great Tyec. When
the agent failed to recogni/.e, or understand the
meaning of the "vSiiwahd" on Ids cU-ni, Kloii-Kutz
was disgusted, and refused to treat with him as any-
thing but a mere trader

" How can lie be a Tyce, if lie does not know the
chief of all the Tyees ?" scornfully said Kloh Kutz.

On the east shore of Chilkat Inlet, opposite
Pyramiti Harbor, is the rival trading station of
Chilkat, where Kinney, the Astoria salmon packer,
has another cannery. In the rivalry and competition
of the first year (1S83) btween the Pyramid Harbor
and Chilkat canneries, the jiricc of salmon rose from
two to fifteen cents for a single fish, and the Indians,
once demoralized by opposition prices, refused to
listen to reason when the canneries had to, and
Chinese cheap labor was imported. There has been
wrath in the Chilkat heart ever since the Chmese
cousins went there, and old Kloh-Kutz indignantly
said : " If Indian know how to make Jiooclii)ioo (whis-
key) out of an oil can and a piece of seaweed, he
knows enough to can salmon."

During its first year the Kinney cannery shipped
sixty barrels of .salt salmon and 2,890 cases of canned
salmon, working at a great disadvantage for want of
proper nets. In 1884 the amount of .salmon shipped
was doubled.

-jJI|M|M1,i'm;

THK SJTKAN Alii llirKLA'JO.

117

Chilkat and Pymmirl Harbor arc rivals also in the
fur tratle, and at Chilkat especially, tlie skins and
furs shown were finer than had been seen at any
of the cjtluM' tradin;^ ('laces. The shrewd C'hilkals
are as hard bargainers as the old Hudson Hay Com-
pany people ever were, and they get the furs from
the interior tribes for a mere trifle in comparison
to what they demand for the same })elts from tlie
traders. In Hudson Hay Company trades, the cheap
flint-lock muskets used to be sold to the Indians, by
standing the gun on the ground and l)iling u]) marten
skins beside it, until they were even with the toji of
the gun-barrel. That hoax is eciualled now by the
tricks of the Chilkats, who sell gunpowder to the
unsophisticated men of the interior tribes at an aver-
age rate of twenty-five dollars a pound, and boast of
their smartness at this kind of bargaining which brings
a profit of one hundred and even two thousand per
cent. Onlv one tourist was ever known to get the
better of a Chilkat at a bargain, and that was when a
common red felt tennis hat, bought for half a dollar
at Victoria, was exchanged for a silver bracelet bv a
Chicago man, who regretted for the rest of his trip
that he had not bought a box of hats to trade for
curios.

Hack of the Chilkat cannery a few miles, and fac-
ing on Chilkoot Inlet, is the mission station of Haines,
named for a benevolent lady of Hrooklyn, N. Y., who
supports the establishment, presided over by the Rev.
K. S. Willard and his wife .

Either the Chilkat, or tlie Chilkoot Inlet gives en-
trance to a chain of rivers and lakes, that, leading
through gorges and mountain passes, conducts the

118

SOUniEIiN ALASKA.

. >j

H I

prospector by a final portage to Lewis River, one of
the head tributaries of the Yukon. The Chilkat In-
dians, with a fine sense of the importance of their
position, have always closely guarded these approaches
to the interior, and preventetl tiie Indians of the back
country from ever coming down to the coast and the
white traders. They have thus held the monopoly of
the fur trade of the region, and, while keeping tt.c
interior Indians back, have been quite as careful not
to let any white men across.

On account of this guard, Vancouver's men expe-
rienced some of the hospitable attentions of the Chil-
kats when they were exploring the channel in 1794.
A canoe-load of natives bore down upon Whidby's
boat, and urged the Englishmen to accompany them
on up the Chilkat River to the great villages, where
eight chiefs of consequence resided. Vancouver's
men declined the invitation, and the chief, command-
ing the first canoe, made hostile flourishes with the
btass speaking-trumpet and other nautical insignia
that he carried. They followed the boats out to the
mouth of the channel, and alarmed the iMiglishmen
greatly, as they feared an attack by the whole tribe
at any moment.

The Russian and Hudson Hay Cn?iii)any's ships
traded with the Chilkats for a half c 'nr.ury without
ever dealing directly with one of the natives of the
interior, from whom came the vast stores of furs
that were exchanged each year. The Chilkats met
the men of the Tinneh (interior) tribes at an estab-
lished place many miles from the mouth of the river,
and occasionally, as a matter of diplomacy, they
would bring a great Tinneh chief down under escort,

THE Sir K Ay MtCllirF.LAUO.

HI)

aiul allow him to look at Iho "fire ship" of the
traders.

The first man to run the j^auntlet of the Chilkoot
Pass was a red-headed Scotchman in the emj)loy of
the Hu Ison l^ay Company, who left l-'ort Selkirk in
1864 and forced his way alone through the unknown
country to Chilkoot Inlet. The Indians seized the
adventurer and held him prisoner until Captain Swan-
son, with the Hudson Hay Company steamer La-
boiii/icn-, came up and took him away. In 1872 one
George Holt dotlged through the Chilkoot Pass, and
went down the Lewis River to the Yukon. In 1874
Holt again crossed the Chilkoot Pass, followeil the
Lewis Riv'T to the V'ukon, and then down that mighty
stream to a place near its mouth, where he crossed
by a portage to the Kuskokquin River, and thence
to the sea.

In 1877 a party of miners set out from Sitka under
the leadership of ICdmund Bean, and attempted to
cross by the Chilkoot i*ass, but the Intlians obliged
them to turn back.

\\\ 1878 and in 1880, prospecting parties left Sitka
for the head waters of the Yukon, and the latter com-
pany, through the clever diplomacy and active interest
of Captain Ik'ardslee, commanding the U. S, S. James-
toivii, were hospitably received by the Chilkats and
guided through their country, when convinced thai
they wt)uld not interfere with their fur trade. They
found indications of gold all the way, and large gravel
deposits. This party descended the Lewis River to
Fort Selkirk and there divided, one set of prospectors
going down to Fort Yukon, and the others up the
Pelly River and thence to the head waters of the

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mimmmmmm

120

sour HERN ALASKA.

. -I

Stikine River and the Cassiar region of British Co-
lumbia.

la the spring of 1882 a party of forty-five miners,
all old Arizona prospectors, left Juneau for the head
waters of the Yukon. They returned in the fall, and
reported discoveries of gold, silver, copper, nickel,
and bituminous coal in the region between the Cop-
per and Lewis Rivers.

In the spring of 1883 one Dugan led a party from
Juneau over the divide. In September they sent back
by Indians for an additional supply of provisions, in-
tending to remain in the interior all winter. They
reported placer mines yielding one hundred and fifty
dollars a day to the man, but another party, that left
Juneau soon after Dugan, returned in September
without having found any placers that yielded more
than twenty-five dol'ivis a day.

Altogether more than two hundred prospectors
crossed from Lynn Canal to the Yukon country dur-
ing the first tliree years after the Chilkats raised their
blockade, l^he Chilkats kept control of the travel,
and charged six and ten dollars for each hundred
pounds of goods that they T)acked across the twenty-
four-mile portage intervening between the river and
the chain of lakes.

In May, 1883, Lieut. Schwatka and party crossed
this same divide, and made a quick journey of more
than two thousand miles by raft down the Lewis
River to the Yukon, and down the Yukon to St. Mi-
chael's Island in Belunng Sea, and thence to San
Francisco by the revenue cutter Conviri.

In April, 1884, Dr. Everette, U. S. A., and two
companions went over the Chilkat Pass to work their

THE STTKAX AlUJUlPKLAdO.

121

way westward to Copper River and descend it to its
mouth. In June, Lieut. Abercronibie, U. ^il A., and
three companions were lauded at the month ot Cop-
per River, with orders to ascend that streai.i and
descend tlie Chilkat to Lynn Canal. These expedi-
tions were sent out by order of General Miles, com-
manding the l)ei)artment of the Cohniil)ia, who
visited Alaska in 1882, and has since manifested a
great interest in the Territory.

The present maps of this upj)er region of the
Yukon give only the general courses of the rivers, and
have not changed in any important details the Rus-
sian charts. A unKjue map of the country is one
drawn h\ Kk^h-Kutz antl his wife foi" Profes.sor Da-
vidson, and which was made the basis and authority
for one official chart, the original remaining in Vvo-
fessor Davidson's possession at San I'rancisco. Kloh-
Kutz has known the \'ukon route tiom childhood, and,
lying face downw.ird, he ;ind his wife chewoi\^the back
of an old chart all the ri\ers, with the pi-olile of tlie
mountains as they ap[)ear on either side ol tiie water-
courses. The one great glacier in which, the Chilkat
and the Lewis brat^ch of the Yuktui River heatl, is
indicated o\ spow-shoe tracks to show the mode of
progress, and the limit of each ot the lourteen days'
journev acn^ss to h'ort Selkirk is marked by cross
lines on this original Chilkat map. The father of
Kloh-Kutz was a great chief and fur-trader before
him, and was one of the jxirty of Chilkats that went
across and burned h'(»rt Selkiik in 1851, in retalia-
tion for the Hudson Hay Compa.iy's interference
with their fur trade with the Tinnehs.

The Doctois Krause, of the ("icographicd Societv

I I

122

.so UrifEhW ALA SKA .

of Bremen, who spent a year at the mouth of the
Chilkat lately, made some ex])lorations of the region
about the portages of the Yukon, and their maps and
publieations liave been of great value to the Coast
Surv^ey. There are dangerous ]-a})ids and eanons on
the watercourses leading to tlie Yukon, and none but
miners and the most adventurous traders will prob-
ably ever avail themselves of this route ; although by
going some six hundred miles up to Fort Yukon,
whieh is jiist within the Aretic Cirele, the land of
the midnight sun is reached. Professor Dall, who
spent two years on the Yukon, has fully described
the country below Fort Yukon in his '• Resources of
Alaska;" and the Schiefflin Brothers, of Tombstone,
Arizona, who followed his i)ath on an elaborately
planned prospecting expedition in 1882 added little
and almost nothing more to the general knowledge of
the region. The Schieff^lins found gold, but considered
the remoteness from the sources of supplies, and the
long winters, too great obstacles for any mines to
be ever successfully worked there. There are fur-
traders' stations all along the two thousant! miles of
the great stream, and within t'le United States boun-
daries, the Alaska Commercial Company, and the
VYestern Vm Companv of San Francisco, buy the
pelts from the Indians, and dixitle the great fur trade
of this interior re-ion.

I i

TUE SlTKAy AliL'UlPKLAGO.

123

CHAPTER IX.

BARTLETT BAY AND THE HOONIAHS.

FROM Pyramid Harbor the ship went soutli to
Icy Straits and tip the otlier side of the long
peninsula to Glacier Hay, so named by Captain
Heardslee in 1880. At the mouth of it, in unknown
and unsurveyed waters, began the search foi> a new
trading station iii a cove, since known as Bartlett
Bay, in honor of the owner of the fishery, a merchant
of Port Townsend.

Vancouver's boats passed by Glacier Bay during his
third cruise on this coast, and his men s;iav only
frozen mountains and an expanse of ice as far as the
eye could reach. It is only within a decade that any-
thing has been kr.own of the extent of the great bay
?iu the foot of the Fairweather Alps, and no surveys
K:ve been made of its shores to correct the imperfect
en' rts now in use. Revenue cutters, men-of-war, and
traders' ships had gone as far as the entrance, but
were prevented from advancing by adverse wintls
and currents, floating ice, and shoaling waters. The
old moraine left by the ice-sheet that once covered
the whole bay forms a bar and barrier at its mouth,
and the channel has to l)e sought cautit)usly.

Skirting the wooded shores and sailing through ice
floes, every glass was brought into requisition for signs

124

.so I ' Til K UN A LA SKA .

'. I

of life on land. Towards noon a white man and two
Indians were .si^i;htcd si«^nalling- from a canoe, and the
steamer waited while they parldled towards it. They
had been oft' on an unsuccssful hunt for the sea
otter, and gladly consented to have their canoe hauled
up on deck and to impart all their knowledge of Hart-
lett Cove. At three o'clock a resounding bang from
the cannon announced to the Hooniah natives on shore,
that the first ship that had ever entered that harbor
was at hand. A canoe came rapidly jiaddling towards
us, and a wild figure 'n the stern and shouted to

the captain to "go close o the new house and anchor
in thirteen fathoms of water." This was Dick Wil-
loughby, the first American ])ioneer in Alaska, a local
genius, and a far-away, ])olar variety of " Colonel Sel-
lers," most interesting to encounter in this last re-
gion of No-Man's Land. Dick Willoighby came to
this northwest coast in [858, emigrating from Virginia
by way of Missouri. Since that time he has ranged
the Alaskan shores from the boundary line to Beh-
ring's Straits, trading with the Indians, and prosj^ect-
ing for ;dl the known minerals. Willoughby's mines
and possessions are scattered all up and down the
coast, and there is not a new scheme 01 enterjirise in
the territory in which he has not a share. His mines,
if once developed to the extent he claims possible,
would make him greater than all the bonanza men,
and in crude and well-stored gold, silver, iron, coal,
copi)er, lead, and marble he is fabulously rich. In all
the twenty-five years he has spent here, Dick Wil-
loughby has gone down to San Francisco but once,
and then was in haste to get back to his cool northern
home.

THE SITKA.\ ARCHIPELAGO.

125

A little Indian camp edged the beach below Wil-
lou^hbv's log house and store, and the natives came
out to look at us, with quite as much interest as we
went on shore to see them. A small iceberg, drifted
near shore, was the point of attack for the amateur
photographers, and the Indian children marvelled with
oi)en eves at the " long-legged gun" that was pointed
at the young men, who posed on the perilous and pic-
turesque points of the berg. Icebergs drifting down
the bay, and small cakes of ice washing in shore with
the rising tide, secured that luxury of the summer
larder to the Indians, and in every tent and bark
house on shore there was to be found a pail or basket
of ice-water. In Willoughby's store tliere were curios
and baskets galore, and after his long and quiet life in
the wilderness the \hh)v man was nearly distracted,
when seven ladies began talking to him at once, and
mixetl up the new style nickel pieces with the money
they offeretl him.

The packing-house had just been built, and the
shij) unloaded more lumber, nets, salt, barrel-staves
and hoops, and general merchandise and provisions
for the new station. The small lighters and canoes
in which the freight was taken ashore made unload-
ing a slow process, although the whole native pojnda-
tion assisted. The small boys joined iii the carnival,
and little Indians of not more th.an six \ears trooped
over the rocky l)each barefooted, and carried bundles
of barrel-sta\es and shingles on their heads.

We roamed the beach, hunting for the round, cup-
like barnacles that the whales rub off their tormented
sides, and the children, quick to see what we were
looking for, trooped up the beach ahead of us, and

"■"■f

''^m^mmmmimmmmmimimmmmmmmmmmmKm,

126

SOUTHERN A LA SK A .

soon returned with dozens of them that they sold for
a good price. Back in the Uttle valley and natural
clearing, the giound was covered with wild flowers
and running strawberry vines, and the botanist was
up to his shoulders in strange bushes, up to his
ankles in mire, and in wild ecstacy at his finds.
When we complimented Dick Willoughby upon the
promising appearance of his little vegetable garden,
and the great crop of strawberries coming on, he
assured us that in a few weeks the grou ul would be
red with fruit, and that he did not know but that he
would be canning the wild strawberries by another
year.

In one tent the best Indian hunter lay dying
from the wounds received in an encounter with a
bear, his face being stripped of Mesh by the clawing
of the fierce animal, and his body frightfully mangled.
The Indians, to whom remnants of their superstition
cling, viewetl him sadly as one punished by the
spirits. Their old shamans taught them that the
spirit of a man resided 'a the black bear, and it was
sacrilege to slay this animal, representing their great
totem. The old men mutter prayers whenever they
find the tracks of a bear, and cannot be induced to
bring in the skin entire. It is rare to find an Alaska
bear skin with the nose on, the Indians believing
that they have appeased the spirit if they leave that
sacred particle untouched. The black, the grizzly,
and the rare St. Elias silver bear are found in this
Hooniah countrv, and their skins at the trader's store
ranged in price from eight to twenty dollars.

The mountain goat — Aploceriis Montana by his full
name — disports himself on all the crags around

THE S!TK. \ .V ,1 1!( lUVKLA CO.

127

Glacier Bay, and leaps throucjh the p^lacial regions of
the Fairweather Aljis. lie has a lon^, silvery white
hair, that is not particularly fine, but his sharp, little
black horns are great trophies for the hunter, and
are carved into spoon handles by the expert crafts-
men of all the Thlinkct tribes.

H I

THI.INKKT HIKD-l'iri-, (MDK AND KOlTuM).

The cool waters of Glacier Hay, filled with floating
ice, are the great summer resort for the wary sea otter
and the hair seal. The fur seal is occasionally found,
but iHvt in such numbers as to make it a feature of
the hunting season ; and as the })elts are stretched
and dried before being brought in by the Indians,
they are valueless to the furrier. The Hooniahs
inhabiting this bay and the shores of Cross Sound
and Icy Straits claim the monopoly of the seal

I'/H

SOCTUKUN ALASKA.

and f)tter fisheries, and have had ^reat wars with the
other tribes who ventured into their hunting g^rounds.
Indians even came up from British Cohunbia, and a
few years ago the Hooniahs inxoked tiie aid of the
man-of-war to drive away the trespassing " I^ing
George men."

The seal is food, fuel, and raiment to them, and
square wooden boxes of seal oil stand in every
llooniah tent. Age increases its (jualities for them,
anil rancid seal oil and dried salmon, salmon eggs,
or herring roe, mi.xed with oil, and a salad of sea-
weed dressed with oil, are the national dishes of all
the Thlini<et tribes. Boiled seal flippers are a great
dainty, and in one liooniah tent we peered into the
family kettle, and saw the black flippers waving in
the simmering waters like human hands. It looked
like cannibalism, but tlie old man who was superin-
tending the stew said: "Seal ! Seal all same as hog."
The Chinook term for seal is rocho Sizvas/i^ or, liter-
ally, " Indian hog," and it quite corresponds to
American pork in its universal use.

In one smoky tent, a native silversmith was hard
at work, pounding from half dollar pieces the silver
bracelets which are the chief and valued ornaments
of the Thlinket women. This Tiffany of the Hooniah
tribe nodded to us amiably, carefully examined the
workmanship (^f the bracelets we wore, and then
went on to show us how they were made. We sat
fascinated f m- nearly an hour in the thick smoke that
blew in every direction from the fire, to watch this
artist make bracelets with only the rudest implements.
He first put the coin in an iron spoon and set it on
the coals for some minutes, and when he drew out

TIIK >/7'A.I V Mi(im'i:iA<;n

12!i

the spoon, and took the silver disk ])ct\v('(.Mi a paii of
old pincers, he noddetl liis he;ul to us and nuitteretl
Kliuuniii — the Lhiiiuok unid [or soft. l[oldin<: it

with the pincers, he haniinereti il on an old piece
of iron, and heating it, turnini; it. and poiin(dn,L; away
vigorously, he soon laid a long sKuder strip of silver
before us. Another heating, a deft hammering and
polishing, and the bi:u'elet was iead\ to he engraved
with a clumsy steel point in simjjle geometrical
designs, or with the conx enlionali/rd do--l"ish. salmon,
seals, and whales of Ilooidah art. After tiiat it was
heated and bent into shai)e to lit ilu- wiist.

I'^or these Klickwillii s, or bracelets, the white
visitors were asked 'liree dollars a pair, while the
native rule is to i)ay the silversmith just twice the
value of the coins used, lie was an amiable old
fellow, this Jlooniah silversmith, and he kept no
secrets of his art from us. liringing out finger rings,
nose rings, long siher li[) pins, and eanings to
show us. The Indian women in his tent were well
bedecked with silver t)inaments, and if all thiee of
them were his wives, the silversmith's trade must be a
profitable one. Each women had her wrists covered
with rows of closely fitting bracelets, alwa\s in odd
numbers, and doid)le rows of rings were on their
fingers. The men of these tribes sport tlie nose
riuiJ as well as the women, and are not satisfied with
wearing one jxur ot earrings at a time, but pierce
the rim of the ear with a succession of holes, and
wear in each one a silver hoop, a l)ead, or a charm, in
memory of some ixirticular (\(:q<\.

The Hooniahs are next to the llaidas in skill and
intelligence, and in the graves of their medicine men

\M)

sorriiKny .\laska.

■ I,

arc found carvings on bone, and fossil ivory, moun-
tain ^oat liorns, and shells, that prove that they
once possessed even jj^reater skill in these thin;;s.
On the grave cloth of one shaman buried near a vil-
lage on Cross Sound, were lately found some flat
])ieces of ivory and bone, four and six inches long,
carved with faces and totem ic symbols. y\gc had
turned them to a deep rich yellow and brown, and a
slight rubl)ing restored the brilliant polish, that
enhanced them when they were first sewed to the
blankets and wrappings <^f the dead shaman. Mis
rattles, masks, drums, and implements of his i:)rofes-
sion, buried with him, were of the finest workmanship,
and proved the superiority of the ancient carvers.

The Hooniah women weave baskets from the fine
bark of the cedar and from split spruce roots, and
ornament them with geometrical patterns in brilliant
colors, but the w^eaving that we saw was not as fine
as that of some of the more southern tribes.

rUK slTKAy Am UII'KLAdO.

CIIAITI'.R X.

flH 3

MUIR (il.ACIF.K AND IDAHO INLET.

IllCN Dick \Villoii<;hby inlti cf the -rcat gla-
cier thirty miles up the l)ay, the thud of
whose fall in<; ice could be heard and felt at his house,
and declared that it once rattled the tea-cups on his
table, and sent a wave wasiiing high uj") on his shore,
the captain of the JiiaJio said he would go there,
and took this Dick Willoughby along to find the place
and prove the tale. Away we went coursing up
(jlacier Hay, a fleet of one hundred and twelve little
icebergs gayly sailing out to meet us, as we left our
anchorage the next morning. Kntcring into these
unknown and unsurveyed waters, the lead was cast
through miles of bottomless channels, and when the
ship neared a green and mountainoiis island at the
mouth of the bay, the captain and the pilot made me
an unconditional present of the domain, and duly
entered it on the ship's log by name. It is just off
Garden Point, and for a summer resort '^'ridmore
Island possesses unusual advantages. lie. tied and
suffering humanity is invited to visit that emerald
spot in latitude 58° 29' north, and longitude 135° 52'
west from Greenwich, and enjoy the July temper-
ature of 45°, the seal and salmon fishing, the fine
hunting, and the sight of one of the grandest of the

: f

: I

■ . »

* I

1 •)«

SOlTHKUy ALASKA.

many fjicat <;laciers that l)rt':ik directly into the sea
al()n<; the Alaska cDast.

The {^ray-^M-eeti .water, filled with sedinu'iit, told
that glaciers were near, aiul icebei\tjs, from the size ot
a hj)use down to the merest lumps, circled around us,
showinj; the ineflable shades of pale greens .ind
bhies, and clinking together musically as the steamer
passed by. The tides rush fiercely in and out of
(ilacier Hay, and heavy fogs add to the dingers of
navigation, and Captain Ik*ardsiee and Major Morris,
who entered it in the little steamer Favorite in i(S8o,
were obliged to i)ut back without making any explora-
tions. The charts as they now appear are very
faulty, the sketches having been made from informa-
tion given by Mr. Willoughby and Indian seal hunters,
and from brief notes furnished by Professor Muir.
At the head of every inlet aroimd the great bay there
'ire glaciers, and Mr. Willoughby said that in five of
these fiords there are glaciers a mile and a half wide,
with vertical fronts of seamed ice lising two hundred
and four hundred feet from the water. In one of
them a small island divides the ice cataract, and
Niagara itself is rc])eated in this glacial corner of the
north. At low tide, bergs and great sections of the
fronts fall off into the water, and Glacier iVay is filled
with this debris of the glaciers, that floats out from
every inlet and is swept to and fro with the tides.

Dick Willoiighbv stood on the bridge with the
navigators, and gave them the benefit of his expe-
rience. After a while he came back to the group
of ladies on deck, and, sitting down, shook his head
seriou.sly and said : —

"You ladies are very brave to venture up in such

(

rut: sir K Ay Mumii'KLAtu).

\\V.

a place. If you only knew the risks y'»ii are runnin;;^
— the (lan<;ers you are in!" And the pioneer's voice
had a tonr of the (leej)esl concern as he said it.

W'c received this with some lauj;hter, and c.\])ressed
entire confidence in the cai)tain and \)\\o\, wiio liad
penetrated glacial fastnessc anil unknown waters
before. A naval otficer on board echoed the W'il
lou,L;hby strain, and tleclared that a conmumder would
never attenij)l to take a man-of-war into such a dan-
gerous place, and deprecated Captain Carroll's daring
and rashness. The merchant marine was able to

l>I.\l.U.\M cil' rilK Ml IK i.l.AilKK.

retaliate when this naval comment was repeated, and
Clacier Hav was suggested as the safest place for a
government vessel's cruif^e, on account of the entire
absence of schooners.

The lead was cast constantly, and the IdaJio veered
gracefully from right to left, went slowly, and stoi)])ed
at times, to avoid the ice floes that bore down upon
it with the outgoing tide. Feeling the way along
carefully, the anchor was cast beside a grounded ice-
berg, and the photographers were rowed off to a
small island to take the view of the ship in the midst
of that Arctic scenery. Alou/it Crillon showed his
hoary head to us in glimpses between the clouds,

wmmmm

134

HOUTllEUN ALA SKA.

and then, rounding Willoughljy Island, which the
owner declares \v solid marble of a quality to rival
that of Pentelicus and Carrara, we saw the full front
of the great Muir Glacier, where it dips down and
breaks into the sea, at the end of an inlet five miles
long.

The inlet and the glacier were named for I'rofessor
John Muir, the Pacific coast geologist, wlio, as (ar as
known, was the first white man to visit and explore
the glaciers of the bay, Professor Muir >vent up
Glacier Pay, with the Rev. S, Mall Young, of P\)rt
Wrangell, as a c()m|)ani()n. in 1879. 'Phcy travelled
bv canoe, and Professor Muir, strapping a blanket on
hie back, and filling his pockets • 'th hard tack, started
off unarmed, and spent days of glacial delight in the
regior. These were the only white men who had
preceded us, when Caj^tain Carroll took the IdaJio up
the bay in T'*^X3, on \vhat was vUiite as good as a real
voyage of exploration.

Of all scenes and natural objects, nothing could be
grander and more impres.sive than the first view up
the inlet, with the front of tlie great glacier, the
slope of the glacial field, and the background of lofty
mountains unit(Ml in one j/Icture. Mount Crillon and
Mount I'airweather stood as sentries across the bay,
showing their summits fifteen thousand feet in air,
clear cut as silhouettes against the sky, and the still-
ness of the air was broken only by faint, metallic,
I inkling sounds, as the itx* floes ground together, and
the waters waslied up under the honeycombed edges
of the floating bergs. Steaming slowly up the inlet,
the bold, cliff-like fro">t of the glacier grew in height
as we approached it, and there was a sense of awe as

s
si

THE :srrhAS AlitUirHLAUO.

i;jr)

the ship drew near enough for us to hear the strange,
continual rumbling of the subterranean or subglacial
waters, and see the avalanches of ice that, break-
ing from the front, rushed down into the sea with
tremendous crashes and roars. Estimates of the
height of the ice '.lift increased with nearness, and
from a first guess of fifty feet, there succ<.'eded those
of two hundred and four hundr(.il feet, which the
authority of angles has since proven as correct.

The [dalio was but an eighth A a mile from the
front of the glacier, when the anchor was cast in
eighty-four fathoms of water at low tide, and near us,
in ihe mids. of these deep souncHngs, icebergs loaded
with boulders lay grounded, with forty feet of their
summits above water. Words antl dry figures can
give one little idea of the grandeur of this glacial
torrent liowing steadily ana solidly into tlie sea, and
the beauty of the fantastic ice front, shimmering with
all the prismatic hues, i.> beyond imagery or descrip-
tion.

AcconUng to Professor Muir, the glacier measures
three miles across the snout, or front, where it breaks
off into the sea. Ten miles back it is ten miles wide,
and si.xteen tributary glaciers unite to form chis one
great ice-river. Professor Muir ascended to the
glacier field :rom the north side, anti, following its
etlges for six miles, climbetl thehig! mountain around
which the first tributary debouc' os from that side.
He gives the thstance from the snout of the glacier
to its furthest source in the great neve, or snow-fields,
as forty miles. Detailed accounts of Professor Muir's
canoe journeys in glacier huul were given in his
letters to the San hTancisco Bulletin, and thev

13(1

SOl'THEliX ALA SKA.

abound in the most beautiful and poetic descri])tions
of the scenery. His paper on "The Glaciation of
the Arctic and Sub-Arctic Rc*,dons, v .ed by the
U. S. S. tomni in the year icS(Si," acci mpanies the
report of Captain C, I.. Hooper, U. S. R. '^ , published
by the government j^rinting office at W a^5hing■ton in
1885, and contains I'rofessor Aluir's observations and
deduclions upon tlie glaciation of the whole I'acific
coast Irom California to the Arctic.

No attempt has yet been made to measure the rate
of progress oJ the Muir glacier, although Captain
Carroll has sevei-al times promised himself to stake
off and niark points on the main trunk, and note
their positions trom month to month during the
summer. Mr. W'illoughby said that the Indians tcjkl
him that two )ears previously the line of the ice wall
was a half mile further down the inlet, and that
in their grandfathers' time il extended as far as
W'illoughby Island, h\e miles below. The okl mo-
raine that forms the bar at the mouth of the bay is
sufficient evidence to scientists that, the ice sheet
covered the whole ba\ within what I'rofessor Muir
calls "a ver\' sh oit geologict)! time ag\.>." The
ilooniah goat-hunters told Mr. W'illoughby ihat the
first tril)utary glacier connecteil with the Davidson
glacier in Lynn Caiud, and tl^it they often made the
journey across it to the Chilkat countr)'. Kloh-Kutz
told Professor Davidson that it was a one day's
journey on snowsboes — about thirty miles — over
to this bay uf great glaciers, and thirty tiays' journey
thence, through a region of high mountains and snow
fields, to the ocean at the foot of the Mount St. Klias
Alps.

T-

mmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Ji-

I s

THE SlTKAy AncniPELAGO.

139

The vast, desolate stretch of gray ice visible across
the top of ''he serrated wall of ice that faced us had
a stran*;e fascination, and the crack of the renchng
ice. the crash of the falHng fragments, and a steady
undertone hke the boom of the great Vosemite Fall,
added to the inspiration and excitement. There was
something, too, in the consciousness that so few had
ever gazed upon the scene before us, and there were
neither guides nor guitle books to tell us which way
to go, and what emotions to feel.

We left the stewards cutting ice from the grounded
bergs near the ship, and, putting off in the lifeboats,
landed in the ravine on the north side of the glacier.
We scrambled ovt-r two miles of sand and boulders,
along the steep, crumbling banks of a roaring river,
until we reached the arch under the side of the
glacier from which the muddy torrent poured. Near
that point, on the loose moraine at the side, there was
the remnant of a buried forest, with the .iannps of
old cedar-trees standing upright in groujis. They
were stripped of their bark, and cut off six and ten
feet above the surface, and pieces of wood were
scattered all through the debris of this moraine.
The disforesting of the shores of Glacier Bay is the
mystery that baffles I'rofessor Aluir, as on all this
densely wootled coast, this one bay lacks the thick
carpet of moss and the forests that elsewhere conceal
the evidences of glacial action. I'atches of crimson
ejiilobium covered the ground in spots, and Hourished
among the boulders at the QiVj:c of the ice sheet,
where only a thin layer of tlirt covers buried ice.

Reaching the sloping side of the ice-field, we
mounted, and went down a mile over the seamed

140

SO VTIIERN A LA SKA.

and ragged surface towards the broken ice of the
water front. The ice was a dirty gray underfoot,
but it crackled with a pleasant mid-winter sound, and
the wind blew keen and sharp from over the untrod-
den miles of the glacier field. The gurgle and hollow
roar of the subterranean waters came from deep rifts
in the broken surface, and in the centre and towards
the front of the glaciei, i he ice was tossed and broken
like the waves of an angry sea. The amateur photo-
graphers turned iheir cameras to right and left, risked
their necks in the deep ra\ines and hollows in tlie
ice, and climbed the surrounding points to get satis-
factory views, livery one gathered a pocketful of
rounded rocks and jiebbles, and shreds of ancient
cedar trees carried dow'n by the ice flood, and then,
liaving worn rubber shoes and boots to tatters on the
sharp ice, and sunk many times in the treacherous
glacier mud, we reluctantly obeyed the steamer's
whistle and cannon-shot, and started back to the
boats.

A nearer sweep towards the long ice-cliff showed
that the line of tlie front was broken into bays and
points, the middle of the glacier jutting far out into
the water, and the sides sweeping back in cvu"vos, as
the cliffs decreased in height, and finally sloped down
to the level of the side moraines. At points along
the front, subtei'ranean rivers boiled up, and, in the
dee]) blue crevasses, cascades rundown over icy beds.
In the full sunlight the front of tlie glacier was a daz-
zling wall of silver and snowy ice, gleaming with all
the rainbow colors, and disclosing fresh beauties
as each new crevasse or hollow came in sight.

A magnificent sunset flooded the sky that night.

/•/

'->

/ui

•'

* 1

1 '''

J (

; -i

■i

THE SITKAN AliCmVKLMiO.

143

and filled every icy ravine with

)f th

lig

htj

rose and orange
e glacier, as we

:s. At the last view o
steamed away from it, the whole brow was glorified
and transfigured with the fires of sunset ; the blue
and silverv i)innacles, the white and shining front
floating dreamlike on a roseate and amber sea, and
the range and circle of dull violet mountains lifting
their glowing summits into a sky flecked with crim-
son and gold.

It was a chill, misty morning, a year later, when the
watch again sighted " Scidmore Island, one mile off
the starboard beam," and its long, green undulating-
shore was visible through the rain. l\ntering Muir
Inlet, the A?icon went cautiously through the floating
ice and anchored in the curve of the south end of the
glacier's front, but a few hundred yards fn^m a long-
shelving beach that would have shone witli its golden
sand in sunlight. There were the same deep sound-
ings near the front, as on the other side of the
inlet, but the Aticoffs anchor was dropped nearer the
moraine shore, where the lead gave only twenty-five
fathoms.

Under the dull gray sky all dazzling effects of
prismatic light were lost, but the fretted and fantastic
front showed lines and masses of the purest white
and an infinite range of blues. Avalanches of crum-
bling ice and great pieces of the front were continually
falling with the roar and crash of artillery, revealing
new caverns and 'ifts of deeper blue light, while
the spray dashed high and the great waves rolled
along the icy wall, and, widening in their sweep,
washed the blocks of floating ice up on the beaches
at either side. The ship's cannon was loaded and

^'1

I J

•^m^'mnmmm

S(H'riIJ:i!.\ ALASKA.

fired twice point YAduk at the front of the j^lacier.
The report was followcc! b\ a sceoivl of silence, and
then an echo came back thai iiilciisified tlie first rin^;
many times, and was followeil 1)\- a Ion;;, sharp roll as
the echo was flun;; from ca\eni to cavern in the ice.

The small boats landed us on a beach strewn with
ice cakes, and lints of strandril shrimps marked the

SECl'lON OK THK MUIR GLACIER (Tol'.j

wash of the waves raised by the falling ice. Some
shrim|)s two and three inches long were found, but
the most of them were delicate littk- pink things not
an inch in length. The crimson epilobinm blossoms
nodded to us from every slope and hollow^)f the long
lateral moraine that lay between the watei' and the
high mountain walls. Over sand and boulders, and
across a roaring stream that issued from the side of
the glacier, the pilgrims crept to the foot of the slope,

TllK slTKAS Am ItU'KLAua.

145

and then \.\\^ a long incline of bouklei.s and dirtv ice
to a first level where they could look out over the
frozen waste and across \.\\v. broken front. Deep
crevasses seamed the ice plain in every direction, as
ori the noith side of the frozen river ; but, although
the view i> not so e\tende<l as on ihe other side, the
level ot the ice liekl is reached more easily, and it is a
steep bill onl)' a short climb u[) over the burietl
ice to the top ol the .^lacier. The treacherous gray
glacier mud — " the mineral j)aste,and mountain meal "
of Prof. Muir - engulfed one at c \er)' carelesi? step,
and rocks would sink under one, aiui land even the
high-booted ])i]griins knee-deep in the fine, stick\'
compound. A half-mile from what aj)peared to be
the bank of the fro/en river, there was clear solid
ice underlying the rocks and mud, and occasionally
caves in this side wall enticed the breathless ones to
rest themselves in the i)ale shadows of the glacier
ice. P'ragments and rounded pebbles of red and
gray granite, limestone, marble, schistose slate,
porphyry and quart/, were ])icked uj) on the way,
and many of the bits of t|uar:;z and marble were deeply
stained with iron. Tlu' Polish mining eiigineer with
the party assured us that ail (dacier liay was rich in
the indications of a gre:n silver belt, and held up car-
bonates, sulphates, and sulphurets to prove his asser-
tion.

From this south-side landing we easily approached
tlie base of the ice cliffs by f^dlowing up the beach to
the ravine that cut intv) the ice [it the edge of the
moraine. We got a far better idea of the height
and solidity of the walls by standing like pigmies in
the shatlow of the lofty front, and looking up to the

«!■

140

.so ! 'Til KilN A L A SKA.

grottoes and clefts in the cobalt and indigo cliff. It
was dry and firm on the beach, and the golden sand
was strewn wilh chipping bergs of sapijhire and
aqnamjirine that iiad been swept asliore by the
spreathng waves. 'J'hese huge i)locks of ice on the
beach, that had looked like dice from the ship, were
found to be thirty and fort) feet long and twent)
feet high.

The nearer (me ajiproached, the higher the ice walls
seemed, ami all along the front there were piiniacles
and spires weighing sevt/ral tons, that semied on the
point of to))i)ling every moment. The great but-
tresses of i(e that rose first from the water and
touched the moraine were as solidly white as marble,
veined and streaked with rocks and mud, but further
on, as the pressure was greater, the color slowly
deepened to tiiitjuoise and sai)phi!e blues. The
crashes of falling ice were magnihcent at that i)oint,
and in the face of a keen wind that blew over the ice-
field we sat on the rocks and watched the wondrous
scene. The gh^om}- sky seemed to heighten the
grandeur, and the billows of gray mist, jjouring over
the mountains on either side, intensified the sense of
awe and mystery. The tide was running out all of
the afternoon hours that we spent there, and the
avalanches of ice were larger and more frequent all
of the time. When the anchor was lifted, the ship
took a great sweep up nearer to the glacier's front,
and as we steamed away there were two grand
crashes, and great sections of the front fell off with
deafening roars mto the water. W'e steamed slowly
down the inlet, ami out into Glacier Bay, stopping,
backing, and going at half speed to avoid the floating

jf(i->

(H-

TllK .S77AMA ARVlHrKLAdO.

141)

ice all around us, that occasionally was ground and
crunched up by the paddle-wheels with a most un-
comfortable sound. With each thump from the ice,
and the recurrence of tlie noise in the paddle-box,
and then the sight of some red slats floating off on
the wpter, Dick Willoughby's concern was remem-
bered ; and the advantages of the screw propeller,
and the merits of the favorite and original Idaho,
were appreciated.

W'hile we cruised away in the mist and twilight,
the children, who never could be made to keep ordi-
nary bedtime in that latitude, celebrated the birthday
of one of their iuiml)er with high re\el. While they
danced around the cake on the cabin table, and blew
out the eight candles one by one \vit!i an accompany-
ing wish, the last boy wisheil that the happy youngster
might "celebrate many more birthdavs in Glacier
I^ay," and the elders ap})lau(led h?n.

Aftei the /dnho had made its first ^.dsit to the
Muir Glacier, and returned Dick Willoughby to his
Hooniah home and his strawberry farm, wi; had a
seven hours' enforced anchoiage. on the succeeding
day, in a narrow ftortl on the north end of Chicagoff
Island, which that same Willoughby !iad described
as an unkm)wn channel, "a hole in the mountain,"
and a short cut to the (^pcn ocean, that lie had trav-
elled many times hunself. l^'ollowing up his forty-
fathom channel, the lead marked shoaling waters, and
before we knew il the Idaho ran her nose on a
sloping bank, and stayed there until the returning
tide floated her off.

There had not been a canoe in sight, nor a sign of
life along the shores all that morning, but the ship's

150

SOUTHERN A LA SKA.

officers had hardly settled the fact that they were
hard aground before several cnoes were seen in the
wake, and the gangway was su -ounded with bargdin-
ing Hooniahs, who held up furs, baskets, and trophies
for us to buy. More and more of them canie pad-
dling down the narrow lane of emerald water, and
family groups in ixi] blankets were soon at home
around blazing camp hrcs on the narrow ledges of
the shore, and added greatly to the picturesquoness
of the scene. C)i all the little fiords we had been
into, this one was the most beautiful, and even Naha
Bay cannot surjxiss it. The narrow channel has
steep, wooded hills on either side, and a rugged,
snow-covered mountain stands sentry at the head
of the fiord, and the clear, green water was so still
that every tree and twig was clearly reflected; the
ship rested double, and th^^ breasts of the soaring
eagles were mirrored in all the shadings of their
plumage. The silence was profound, and every voice
or sound on deck was echoed from the mountains,
and could be lieard for a long distance up the inlet.
Had it not been for the Hooniah canoes following so
promptly, we might have supposed ourselves ex-
plorers, who had penetrated into some enchanted
region, or dreamers who were seeing this beauti-
ful valley in a strange sleej). It was exploration to
the extent that all our course up tlie inlet was across
the dry land of all the charts then published, and the
IdaJio was aground in the woods according to the
authorized ma|)s.

This Idaho Iniet, as it is now |)Ut down, is the
sportsman's long- sought paradise. The stewards, who
went ashore nith the tank-boa^> for fre.sh water.

iiA

^^>'

THE SliKAS Ai:( HII'KJ.AdO.

151

startled seven deer as they pushed their way to the
foot of a cascade, and the young men who went off in
an Indian canoe caught thirteen large sahnon with
their inexperieneed spearing. Mr. Wallace, the Hist
(ifficer, took a pai-ty off in the ship's small bouts, and
we swept gayly up the inlet, over waUrs where the
salmon and flounders could l)e seen darting in schools
through the water and just escaping the sti'okes of
the oar. At the mouth of the creek at the head of
the inlet, the fn.'shening current was alive with fish,
and some ol the energetic ones landed there, and,
pushing ahead for exploration, were sooi^, lo.st to sight
in the high grass and the underbrush that fringed the
forest. It began tf) lain about that tinu', and a drip-
ping group remained b\ the Inoats, watching the ram-
bow fish playing i.i thr waters, and enjoying the dry
Scotch humor of the offu-cr, who had led us otf on
this water picnic. Clouds rolled o\er our snow-capped
mountain and liluri'cd the landscape, and after an
hour of (juietly sitting in the rain. e\"en the amphibi-
ous Scot began to wish, too, that the wanderers would
return, kst the falling tide should leave us on the
wrong side of the shallows at the mouth of the creek.
As he took a less himiorous \icw ot the situation, all
the rest joined in the --train and began to bciatc the
Alaska climate with its constant downpour. Some
one was impelled in ask tin- genial Scotchman if it
was really true that tiie summit ^A Hen Nevis is never
seen oftener tli:in twice a veai. lie nearly u})set the
boat to refute thai slander, and his rmj)hatic " No ! "
may be still ringing and eclioini; around the north
end of Chicagoff Island.

After the first officer had returui-d Id.-, boatloads of

mmmm

l.ri

SOirniEliN ALASKA.

damj) but enthusiastic passengers to the ship, the
stories of fish, and boasts of the great bear-tracl^s
seen on shore, disturbed the tranquillity of the anchor-
age. The captain o{ the shij) took his rifle and was
rowed away to shallow waters, where he shot a salmon,
waded in, and threw it ashore. While wandering along
alter the huge bear-tracks, that were twelve inches
long by affidavit measure, he saw an eagle flying off
with. his salmon, and another fine shot laid the bird of
freedom low. When the captain returned to the ship
he threw the eagle and the salmon on deck, and at
the size of the former every one marvelled. The out-
spread wings measured the traditional six feet from tip
to tip, and the beak, the claws, and the stiff feathers
were rapidly seized upon as trophies and souvenirs
of the day. A broad, double rainbow arched over us
as we left the lovely niche between the mountains in
the evening, and then we swept back to Icy Straits
and started out to the open ocean, and down the
coast to Sitka, having a glimpse, on the way, of the
vast glacier at the head of Taylor Bay, that Van-
couver and his men visited while his ships lay at
anchor in Port Althorp, just west of our Idaho Inlet.

THE SITKAN AmillPELAaO.

ir)3

CIIAITKR XI.

SfTKA

THE CASTLE AM) THE (}REEK CIirKCH.

AT SIX o'clock in the mornin- the water lay
^ *^ still and motionless as we rounded the poin'
from which Mount lulgecombe lifts its hazy blue
slopes, and threaded our way between clearly re-
flected islands into this beautiful harbor, which is the
most northern on the I'acific Coast. In the mirror
of calm waters the town lay in shimmerin- reflec-
tions, and the wooded side of Mount Verstovaia that
rises sentinel over Sitka, was reflected as a 'dark
green pyramid that sloudy receded and shortened as
the ship neared the shore. By old traditions the
ravens always gather on the gilded cross on th- dome
of the Greek church when a ship is in sight, and one
lone, early rise'- flapped his big black wings and
croaked the signal before the ship's cannon started
the echoes. A steam launch put out cjuickly from
the man-o/-war Ac/^r„,s to carry the mail bags to that
ship, and a sleepy postmaster came down to look after
his consignments. There were signs of life in the In-
dian A'lllage. or mm/ien,, further up shore, and one by
one the natives assembled on the wharf with their ba.s-
kets and bracelets for sale, or, u.adering down with
the blankets of the couch wrapped about them, and
lying face downward with their heads propped on

!"-▼

154

sr^"mi:i:.\ Alaska.

their hands, yawned and studied the scene. They
sprawled there like seals, and some of the members of
this leisure class remained on the wharf for hours and
for nearly all day without stinin^i;.

The queer and out-of-the-wuy capital of oui' latest
Territory seemed quite a .nelropolis after the un-
broken wilderness \vc -had been jfjurneyiiii^' throut^h,
and the rambling collection of weather-beaten and
moss-covered buildings that have survived fiom Rus-
sian days, and the government buildings, in their coats
of yejlow-bmwn paint, smote us with a sense of
urban vastness and importance. At a first look
Sitka wears the air and dignity of a town with a his-
tory, and can reflect upon the bi-illi;int good old days
of Russian rule, to which fifteen years of American
occupancy hnve only given more lustre by contrast.
It is a straggling, jK'aeeful sort of a town, edging
along shore at the foot of high mountains, and shel-
tered from the surge and turmoil of the ocean by
a sea-wall of rock)-, pine-covered islands. The moss
has grown greener and thicker on the roofs of the
solid old wooden houses that are relics of Russian
days, the paint has worn thinner everywhere, and
a few more houses tumbling into ruins complete
the scenes of picturesque decay. Twenty years ago
there were one hundred and twenty-five buildings in
the town proper, and it is doubtful if a dozen have been
erected since. The esthetic soul can rexel in the
cool, quiet tones of weather-worn and lichen-stained
walls, and never be vexed with the sight of raw boards,
shingles, and shavings in this far northern capital. A
gravelled road leads straight from the wharf to the
front of the Greek church, the boa'xl walk beside it

"'-\l^w — '■ —

..'i ft . I'l

/.r^

\ ':

THK slTh'.W AH(lHI'i:LA<iO.

l.')7

painted with lines of whitt.- nn cither e(l;2;e, to '^uide
the wayfarer's steps on the {iitch-dark ni^^ht.s, that set
in so early and last so lon^ durinj; the winter season.
The barracks, the custon) liouse and the gov-
ernor's castle form a group of public buildings on
the right of the landing-wharf, and the small battery
at the foot of the castle terrace is (juite imposing.
The castle is a heavy, plain, square building, crowning
a rocky headland that rises precipitously from the
water on three sides, and tui'ns a bold embankment
to the town on the other. According to Captain
Meade, this eminence was called Katalan's i\ock by
the early Russian settlers, in memory of the chief
who lived on it, and the governors made it a })er{ect
fortress, with batteries and outer defences and sentries
at all the a})proaches. This colonial castle is in lati-
tude only 17' north of Queen Victoria's smnmerhome
at Balmoral. Two l)iiildings have crowned Katalan's
Rock before tlie pr(.'sent one, the first rude block-
house being destroyed by fire, and the second one
by an earthquake. The castle is one hundred anrl
forty feet long and seventy feet wide, built of heavy
cedar logs, while C(^pper bolts i)ierce the walls at
points, and are riveted to the rock to jiold it fast
in the event of another earthquake. The Russian
governors oi the colony resided in the castle, and
many traditions of social splendor hang to this forlorn
and abandoned old building. The Russian u-overnors
were usually chosen from the higher ranks of the
naval service and of noble families at home. These
captain-counts, barons, and princes deputed to rule
the colony maintained a miniature court around them,
and lived and entertained handsomely. Lutke, Sir

158

^0/■77//';7^.V ALASKA.

lulward Hclchcr, Sir George Simpson, and othef
voyagers of the early part of tliis century, give
charming pictures of the social life at Sitka. State
dinners were given by the governor every Sunday,
and a round of balls and gayeties made a visitor's stay
all too pleasant.

Baron Wrangell's wife was the first chatelaine
of the castle who left a social fame. She was
succeeded in hei pleasant rule by the wife of Gov-
ernor Kuprcanoff, who accom[)anied her husband to
Sitka in 1835, crossing Siberia on hijrseback to
Behring Sea. It was Madame Kuprcanoff who en-
tertained Captain J^elcher, and after a line of many
charming women there came the second wife of
Prince Maksoutoff, a beautiful chatelaine who made
the castle the abode of a gracious hospitality, and left
many social traditions to attest her tact and charm.
Society was more democratic in her days than it has
been at any time since, and the noble Russian hostess
overlooked rank and class, and welcomed all to the
castle on an equality. The admiral of the fleet and
the pilot were on the same social plane while under
the governor's roof, and at a ball the governor made
it his duty to lead out every lady, and the princess
danced with every one who solicited the honor, no
matter how humble his station. Caviare and strong
punches marked every banquet board, and at the be-
ginning of a ball the ladies were first invited out by
themselves to partake of strong and pungent appe-
tizers, and then the gentlemen gathered around the
side tables and took their tonics, A big brass
samovar was always boiling in the drawing-room, and
day or night a glass of the choicest caravan tea was

THE SITKAX AUCIIIPKLAnn.

offered to visitors. Some beautiful samovars were
brought out from Russia by the families of the higher
officers, and after the brass foundry was established,
they were manufactured at Sitka. Some of tlieseold
Sitka samovars are still to be found by the curio-
hunter.'^, and, as they grow rarer, they are the more
highly prized.

The governors brought all their household goods
with them from Russia; and surrounded themselves
with comfort and lu.xury. The castle was richly
furnished, the walls of the drawing-room were
lined with mirrors, and its interior appointments
were all that Muscovite ideas could suggest. When
it was turned over to the United States as govern-
ment }jroperty seventeen years ago, the castle was
well furnished and in perfect condition, hut after the
troops left, it was neglected like everything else, and
has been stripped, despoiled, and defaced. livery porta-
ble thing has been carried off, the curiously wrought
brass chandeliers, the queer knobs and branching-
hinges on the doors, and all but the massive porcelain
stoves in the corners of the large apartments. The
lantern, and even the reflector, that used to send bea-
cons to the mariner from the castle tower, have gone,
and the place is little better than a ruin. The hall
where the governors received and entertained the In-
dian chiefs is a rul)bish hole ; of the carved railing that
fenced off a little boudoir in the great drawing-room,
not a vestige remains ; ami not a relic is left of the
old billiard-room to prove that it ever existed.

The signal officer has rescued two rooms on the
ground floor for his use, but otherwise the only
tenant of the castle is the irhost of a beautiful Rus-

KiO

sorriii:u\ Alaska.

siaii, whose sad siory is closely modelled on that of
the Jiride of Lanimermoor. She haunts the drawing-
room, the northwest chamber, where she was mur-
dered, and pates the governor's cabinet, where the
swish of her ghostly wedding-gown chills every listen-
er's blood. Twice a year she walks unceasingly and
wrings her jewelled hands.

At Kaster time she wanders with sorrowful mien
from room to room, .ind leaves a faint perfume as of
wild roses where she passes. Innumerable young
officers from the mcn-ol-war have nerved up their
spirits and gone to spend a solitary night in the
castle, but ikjiio have yet held authentic converse
wilh the beautiful s])irit, :ind learned the true story of
her unresting sorrow. Uy tradition, the lady in black
was the daughter of n\)v of the old governors. On
her wedding night she disappeared from the ball-room
in the midst of the festivities, and after long search
was fouiul dead in one of the small drawing-rooms.
Being forced to marry against her will, one belief
was that she voluntarily took [)oison, while another
version ascribes the deed to an unhai)py lover; while,
altogether, the tale cf this Lucia of the northwest
isles gives just the touch of sentimental interest to
this castle of the Russian governors. Hie Russian
residents cannot identify this ghost with any mem-
ber of the governors' families, and say that the whole
thing has been concocted within a few years to keep
sailors and marauders away at night, and to en^^ertain
the occasional tourist.

The room is ])ointed out in the castle that was
occupied by Secretary Seward during his visit, and
the same guest-chamber has an additional interest in

Tin: .s/7A'.LV Mit Ull'ELMHi.

1(11

I i

the memory of Latly Kranklin's visit. It is possible
that vvitli the arrival of a territorial {governor the
eastle may a;^aia beeoiiie an official roitlenee ; and if
repaired and restored to its ori^^inal eomlition, it eould
be matle quite a i)leasant jjlace.

"Fhc Custom House buildiiiL; also shelters the post-
master, whose office, not beiu.L; a salaried one, does
not offer great temptations to any aspirinj;- eiti/ens as
yet. I lis com|)ensation was a little o\er one hundred
dollars for the last year, and by the quarterly
accounts, whicl\ all the Alaska postmasters are dilatory
about sendini;' to tin; dep;irtmenl, the Sitka post-
oflice has onlv about tlu; same amount of business
as the Juneau and W'rangell offices.

A detachment of marines from the man-of-war in
the harbor was quartervul in the old barracks at the
o])lK)site side of the steps leading' d(»wn from the castle
terrace. livery morning; while we were there, about
eif;iit men went throu.L;li ,uuanl mourit and inspection
with as much militar\' prcMsion and form as if a com-
])an\ or rej;iment were deploying on the paraile grount!.
The houses that were used for officers' quarters during
the time that a garrison was maintained were burned
by the Indians, after the soldiers were witlulrawn, and
there is a blank on that side of the green quadrangle.
The Indian \illage is reached throng' a gate in the
stockade fence at one side of the parade ground, and
in the .^ Russian davs the gate was closed e\ery night,
and the Indians obliged to remain outside until morn-
ing. Under United States rule they have been per-
mitted to roam as they pleased, and during the time be-
tween the withdrawal of the troops and the arrival of a
naval ship, they held the inhabitants at their mercy.

U'2

so U Til EH N A L A s K A.

The buildings on the main street are all heavy log
houses, some of them clapboarde<.i over, and a few of
them whitewashed, but deca\ has seized upon many,
and their roofs are sinking under the weight of moss.
Both at the Northwest Trading Com))an3 's store (.>n
the wharf, and in the lan;e, ramblinir stores on this

illV. CKIKK (lIL-KvU AT srrKA.

\ t

street, tuere \/'ere curios by the roomful, and every-
thing from canoes to nose rings were to be seen,
Tliough the prices vvere higher, as befits a capital,
the Sitka traders had the most tempting arrays of
carved and painted woodwork, and baskets, and
bracelets in endless .lesigns.

At the end of the main street, fronting on the small
square or court, stands the Russian Orthodox Church

J i-.''

THE SITKAN ARCHIPELAGO.

11)3

of St. Micliacl. It lias the green roof, the bulging
spire, the fine clock, and the chime of bells, that might
distinguish any shrine in Moscow. In these days of
its decadence, much of the glor\' has been stripped
from the Sitka church, and the faded vvulls and roof,
almost destitute of paint, tell a sad tale. It was once
a cathedral, presided over by a resident bishop, and
when dedicated in 1844, the venerable Ivan Venian-
imoff, Metropolite of M<-<cow, who had labored for
years as priest and bishoj) at Ounalaska and Sitka,
sent richest vestments, plate, and altar furnishings to
this church. Since the purchase of Alaska by the
United States, the richer and better class of Russians
have left, and there are only three families of pure Rus-
sian bloo^! to worship in the church. Of the Creoles,
or half-breeds, the emancipated serfs, and the con-
verted natives, who once crowded the church on Sun-
days and saints' days, not a third remain, and decreas-
ing numbers bow before the altar of St, Michael's
each year.

The Russian government, in its protectorate over
tliC Greek church, assumes the expenses of the
churches at Sitka, Ounalaska, and Kodiak, and about
550,000 are expoiuled annually for their support.
With the diminishing congregations, it is merely a
question of time when the Alaska priests will be
recalled, as the abandonment of the Russian chapel
in New York is significant of the coming change.

After the transfer of the territory, the Russian
bishop moved his residence to San I'rancisco, and,
taking charge of the chapel there, made annual visits
to the Sitka, Kodiak, and Ounalaska churches. The
last incumbent of the office, Bishop Nestor, was lost

164

SOCTHKIty ALA^HKA.

overboard while returning from OunalavS^ka to San
Francisco in May, 1883, and at Moscow me has

been found willing to be sent out to th^s uiocese.
Father Mitropolski. now in chargce with one iissistant,
was formerly .it the Ko('iak ehurch.

The exterioi of the churrh is not impojisiiiiBg, im
the ])amt has worn AV\d flaketl otf the walls, and the
panelled picture of St. Michael over the doorway is
dim and faded. The chime 6i six sweet-toned bells
in the tower were sent from Moscow as a gift, and
they retain their clear and vibrant tones, and still ring
out the hours. Our watches, that had hi mi keeping
Astoria or ship's time, were forty-five minut<'s alicad
of the true local time mdicated by the ornamental
dial of the church clock, and for tlw: lirirt time we
realized that the ship had veered to the westward
considerably while apparently going du-" noriii. A
more serious diiference of time had to he contended
with at the time of the transfer, as the Russian Sab-
bath, which came eastward from Moscow, did not
correspond to the same day of the week in our
calendar tni\elling westward. It took (official nego-
tiations to settle this difference and set aside the old
Julian calendar.

The interior of the cruciform church is richly dec-
orated in white and gold. In either transept are side
altars, and the main altar is re;t,ched tlirough a pair of
open-work bronze doors set wiih silver images of the
saints. In this inner sanctuary no woman is allowed
to tread, and on the smaller altars there the richest
treasures of the chur'-h are kept. Over the bronze
doors is a large picture of the Last Suj^per, the faces
painted on ivory, and trie figures draped in robes of

THE SIT KAN AUrniPELAGO.

!().■)

silver. On either side are large paintings of the saints,
covered with robes ajid draperies of the same beaten
silver, dm\ the halos, siii-roundin,;' their lieails, of gold
and silver .-^et with bi'illiaiU.s. ilea\) ehandelieis and
silver kunph hang troni tlu- ceiling, and tail eandte-
stieks and eensers are i)efore tlie [)ietured saints.

INIl l;|oK 111 Mil' ..KMK 1 II! Ki II \l >IIKA.

There is a small i.ha[)e! in the nortli transept, where
services are liel(] \n winter, and on one of the pan-
els of the altar there is :\^^ e\(|nisi!e i)aintin of the
Madonna. The sweet H\/antine face is painted on
i\or\, and a silver draper\' is wrapfied dhout the liead
and slKAilders. St. Micliael, .St. Xiehol;!^. and tlie
ghjrious eompanv of apostles and angels on the same
altars are robed in silver -ai nient^ with jewelled ha-

11)6

SOUTHERN ALASKA.

los. This chapel and the whole church still wore
the lavish Easter decorations of wreaths, festoons,
evergreen trees, and streamers of bright ribbons, both
July weeks that I visited it.

On the Sunday morning that the Idaho lay at the
Sitka wharf we all attended morning service at the
church, and were seated on benches at one side while
the congregation stood throughout the long service,
which was chanted by a male chorus concealed behind
a carved screen near the altar. The men stood on
one side of the church, and the women on the other,
and at places in tlic service they knelt and prostrated
themselves until their foreheads touched the floor, and
made the sign of the cross constantly. One aged man
especially interested me with the devout manner in
which he bowed and continually made the sign of the
cross during tlie service. He was poorly clad, and in
appearance he was one of Tourgenieff's serfs to the
life, as one pictures them from the pages of his novels.

On the following Monday — July i6, 1883 — \vc
heard the church bells chiming in full chorus at an
unwonted hour in the morning, and, iiurrying to the
square, we found that the Czar's manifesto was to be
read, and a grand Te Deum sung in honor of the
coronati(jn of Alexander III. /Although the Ruler of
Moly Russia had donned his 'mpenal coronet weeks
before, the official papers notifying the priest of that
event only came uj) with the mails of our steamer.
The usual morning service was elaborated in manv
ways. The choir of male voitx^s chanted all the Te
Deums appointed for such special occasions, the
priest wore his most sumptuous vestments of cloth
of gold and cloth of silver, the incense was wafted

THK s I J K A y A Ji ( 11 1 P EL A G 0,

1 ♦;'.(

in clouds tlirougb the wreathed and garlanded church,
and tlic kneeling congregation rose one by one and
went forward to kiss the richly-jewelled cross that
the priest extended towards them. A\. the close, a
joyous jH.'al rang out from the six sweet-toned bells
in the steeple, and the devout souls went about the
church kneeling and crossing themselves before the
altars, and kissing the silver and ivory bas-relief
images of the saints. Having doffed his splendid
robes and his purple velvet cap, Father Mitropolski
came forth and greeted his visitors, and had his
assistant bring out some of the ancient treasures
and vestments to show us. There were jewelled
crosses, chalices of silver and gold, jewelled caskets,
and quaint illuminated books in precious covers. The
bishop's cap sh.own us was a tall, conical structure
lined with satin, and covered with pearls, amethysts,
rubies, and enamelled medallions in filigree settings.
The crowns held over the heads of the bride .and
grcH)m during the marriage service were fine pieces of
Ivussian workmanship, and the silver basin for holy
water was well executed. Rich vestments of old dam-
ask, of heavy velvets embroideied with bullion and
set with small stones, and robes of cloth of gold and
cloth of silver, were displayed, together with the dra-
l)eries used t>n the altar on various occasions, and the
embroidered pall thrown over the cofhn at funeral
services. The choicest of the church treasures,
including an enamelled cross set with diamonds and
fine stones, and a book of the Scriptures with an
elaborately wrought silver cover weighing twenty-
seven i^ounds. were taken to the San P'rancisco
church after the tran.sfer. The bishop's robes and

170

SO nil KI! X A LAS KA.

special belonginj^s were taken there also, and after
Bishop Nestor's death the richest of them were sent
back to Russia. In 1869 the church was robbed of
much of its plate and treasures, by some dischari^ed
soldiers of the garrison, it was thought, and only a
few of the valuables wx're recovered.

During- our first stay the assistant priest found a
chest of old bronze medals, crosses, and enamelled
triptychs in the garret of the church, and tlie visitors
contributed well to the jjoor fund in order to obtain
these relics. It was certified that all the small
crosses and medals had licen blessed at Moscow
before being sent out to the colony, and tliese ikons
or images were given to the soldiers and others on
their saints' davs. A small bronze medal with the
image of St. Nicholas fell to my lot, with the head of
Christ in one corner, that of the Virgin in another,
and their names raised in old Slavonic characters
above them. It has a loop to be liung by a ribbon,
and St Nicholas' face is worn smooth by the reverent
lips that have touched it. These medals, — common
enough and to be bought for a few coppers in Russia,
— were hijihlv valued b\- us among our other Sitkan
souvenirs.

The priest of the Sitka church, Father Mitropolski,
is broad and liberal in his views, and quite astonishes
some narrower sectarians by his mode of life and
participation in ordinary amusements. His tolerance
and liberal tendencies were proved by his recently
reading the FCpiscopal marriage service before the
altar of the Greek Church, uniting at the time a
naval officer of Unitarian faith to a teacher at the
Presbyterian mission. Father Mitropolski. a wife,

THE SITKAX Mli llIPKLAao.

171

and a family of little daughters — Xenia, Nija. and
Alexandra — kce]i life and sunshine in the ram-
bling', half-ruined house, whieh, as the bishop's resi-
dence, was formerly the finest dwelling after the
castle. The roof was then bright emerald green, and
this and the green dome and ronf of the church
showed well in the cluster of red roofs that covered
the other Iniildings in the town. With diminished
church revenues and a lessening congregation, the
building has slowly fallen into sad decay, the galleries
and |)orches have dropjK'd off, and only a part of the
house is now occupied. The drawing-room contains
a few pieces of rich furniture as relics of its former
days, and the ])ortraits of the czars, and the shinitig
samovar, declare it the homr of loyal Russians. An
ancient guitar, made of some finely grained wood that
is hardly known to modern makers of that instru-
ment, was for a long time in the possession of P'ather
Mitropolski, having descended with the residence
from the line of bishops and priests. It is very
curious in its shape and details, one end of it being
rounded in a great curve, and the keyboard not rest-
ing on the body of the guitar at all. It has a sweet,
melancholy tone, and accompanies appropriately some
of the strange little Russian songs that are sung to
it. There is a |)ti\'ate chapel off the (h"awing-room,
which contains a lK,'aiitifull\- decorated altar, and
family service is held there daily.

A. Lutheran church, facing the (in-ek church on
the square, was founded by (M»\ernoi Mlolin, in
1844. for the Swedes and F'^imis employed !))■ the
fur company, and in the toundries and shipyard
at. Sitka. During the stay of the United States

1V2

sorruKity Alaska.

troops the Lutheran church was used by the post
chaplain, a Methodist. The abandoned church is
now in the last sta<;e of ruin, the roof sunken in,
and the walls dropi)ini;- ajxirt. The pipe-organ,
brought from Germany forty years ago, was rescued
by a young officer of musical tastes, and by clever
repairing it was put in good condition, and found to
be a very fine instrument.

Facing on this same church square is the ware-
house and the office of the old Russian-American
Fur Company. The solid log buildings have stood
the ravages of time and the damp climate, and a
mining-engineer and assaver has taken possession of
it for his office. Quite appropriately the headquarters
of the fur trade, which constituted the most valuable
interest of the early days, is now the laboratory of
an assayer, who tests the minerals upon which so
much of the future im])ortance of the territory
rests,

The officers' club-house, back of the Greek church,
is still in a fair condition, but the tea-gardens and the
race-course have vanished in undergrowth. A sturdy
little fir-tree, rooted in the crevice of a great boulder
or outcropping ledge of rocks in front of the club-
house, is one of the curiosities of Sitka, and has
been growing in that solid gran'tc as long as anyone
now living there can remember

The sawmill, with its large water-wheel, is drop-
ping to decay, the hospital building was burned while
used as a mission-school, and it is hard to trrice
the site of the old shijoyard, that was a most com-
plete establishment in its day. For a long time it
was the only yard on the coast, and vessels of all

77/ f; SlTKA.y AUi'lUPKLAGO.

\1',\

nationalities put in there for repairs. The Russians
had one hundred and eighty chureli holidays during;
the year, and ohserved tliem all carefully. luiglish
naval commanders, by keepini; their own Sabbath, and
lui\in<; the Russian Sabbath and holidays celebrated
In closing the shipyards and stopping work, used to
have long stays in the harbor ; and the impatient
na\igators, in view of the whirl of social life that
marked the visit of n strange ship, fairly believer!
that the tlelays were managed by the governor's
authority. At the foundries, ploughs were made and
exported to the Mexican j^ossessions south of them,
and the bells of half the California mission churches
were cast at the Sitka foundry.

At the end of the scattered line of houses that
fringe the shore, the Jackson Institute, a Presbyterian
mission-school antl home, occupies a fine site, facing
the harbor. The mission was founded in 1878, and
named for the Rev. Sheldon Jackson, who has charge
of the I'resbyterirn missions in Alaska, and the
building is soon to be enlarged, to accommodate a
larger number of pujiils than were first gathered in
it, under the care of Mr. and Mrs. Austin.

174

SOUrilHh'N ALASKA.

ClIMTICR XII.

SITKA

Till-: I?CI)IA\ RANCIir.KIK.

Tine doorway of the Greek ehurch, and the dial
on its towc!, face toward the harbor, and com-
mand the main street. Ik'yond the houses at the
right there is a httle pine-crowned hill, with the brol<en
and rusty ruins of a })owder-magazine on its slope, and
on a second hill beyond is the graveyard where the
Russians Inuietl their dead. i\n old bhjck house, that
commanded an angle of the stockade, stands sentry
over the graves, and the headstones and tombs arc
overgrown with rank bushes, ferns, and grasses. Prince
Maksoutoff's first wife, who died at Sitka, was buried
on the hill, and a costly, elaborately carved tombstone
was sent from Russia to mark the spot. After the
transfer and withtlrawal of troops, the Indians, in
their maraudings, defaced the stone, and attempted
to carry it off. It was broken in the effort, and left
in fragments on the ground. Lieutenant Gilman,
in charge of the marines during the stay of the
Adams, became interested in the matter, hunted for
the grave in the underbrush, and undertook the work
of replacing the tombstone. Beyond the Russian
cemetery, on the same overgrown hillside, are the
tombs of the chiefs and medicine-men of the Sitka
kivaii. The grotesque images and the queer little

77//; siri<A\ Miciurr.i.Ado.

17.')

burial boxes arc nearly hidden in ihc tannic of bushes
and vines, and iheir sides are covered with moss.

The Russians had a special chapel out on tiiis hill
tor the Indians to worship in, as .slunvn in old illus-
trations of Sitka, but tiie buildin;;" luis disapjieared.
There was a heavy stockade wall also, separatinj; the
Indian cemetery and village from the white settle-
ment, but it has nearly all been torn down and car-
ried off by the Indians during the years of license
allowed them after the troops left, anrl only frag-
ments of it remain in places,

Entering through the okl stockaile gate, the Indian
nvicJieric presents itself, as a double row^ of square
houses fronting on the beach. I^ach house is num-
bered and whitewashed, anrl the ground surround-
ing it gravelled and drained. The same neatness
marks the whole long stretch of the village, and
amazement at this condition is only ended when one
learns that the captain of the man-of-war fines each
disorderly Indian in l)lankets, besides confining him in
the guard-h(nise, and that the forfeited blankets are
duly exchanged for paint, whitewash, and disinfectants.
Police and sanitary regulations both are enforced,
and the Indians made to keep their village quiet and
clean. When all the Indians are home from their
fishing and trading trips, and congregated here in the
winter, they number ovei" a thousand, and all goes
merrv at the nmcherie. There are no totcju poles, or
can-eci grotesquely-painted houses to lend outward
int.'" ,'si to the village, and the Indians themselves are
too ri'Uch given to ready-made clothes and civilized
ways to be really picturesque.

Annahootz, Sitka Jack, and other chiefs have

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SOITHKHJ^ ALASKA.

pine doorplates over their lintels, to announce where
j^reatness dwells, but the palace of Siwash Town is
the residence of " Mrs. Tom," a painted cabin with
green blinds, and a green railing across the front
porch. Mrs. Tom is a character, a celebrity, and a
person of great authority among her Siwash neigh-
bors, and wields a greater power and influence among
her people, than all the war chiefs and medicine-men
put together. Even savage people bow do\vn to
wealth, and Mrs. Tom is the reputed possessor of
$io,cxx), accumulated by her own energy and shrewd-
ness. We heard of Mrs. Tom long before we reached
Silka, and, realizing her to be such a potentate among
her peojjle, we were shocked to meet that lady by the
roadside, Sunday morning, offering to sell l)racelets
to some of the passengers. The richest and greatest
chiefs are so avaricious that they will sell anything
thev own.

Mrs. Tom invited us to come to her green-galleried
chalet in Siwash town, " ne.xt door to No. 17," at
any time we j)leased. On the rainiest morning in all
the week we set our dripping umbrella points in that
direction, and found the great Tyee lady at home.
It was raw and chill as a New \'ork November, but
Mrs. Tom strolled about barefooted, wearing a single
calico garment, and wrapping herself in a white
blanket with red and blue stripes across the ends.
Her black hair was brushed to satiny smoothness,
braided and tied with coquettish blue ribbons, and
her arms were covered with bracelets up to her
elbows. She is a plump matron, fat, fair, and forty
in fact, and her house is a model of neatness and
order. On gala occasions she arrays herself in her

THE SITKAX AHCHIPLLAdO.

177

best velvet dress, her bonnet with the red feather, a
prodigious necktie and breastpin, and then, with two
silver rings on every finger, and nine silver bracelets
on each arm, she is the envy of all the other ladies of
Siwash town. When she came to the ship to be
photographed by an admiring amateur, she had, be-
sides her ordinary regalia, a dozen or more pairs of
bracelets tied uj) in a handkerchief, and we began to
believe her wealth as boundless as her neighbors say
it is. Like all the Indians she puts her faith mostly
in blankets, and her house is a magazine of such
units of currency, while deep in her cedar boxes she
has fur robes of the rarest qualiU'.

Mrs. Tom has acquired her fortune by her own
ability in legitimate trade, and each spring and fall
she loads up her long canoe and goes off on a great
journey through the islands, trading with her people.
On her return she trades with the traders of Sitka,
and always comes out with a fine profit. A romance
once wove its meshes about her, and on one of her
journeys it was said that Mrs. Tom bought a handsome
young slave at a bargain. The slave was considera-
bly her junior, but in time her fancy overlooked that
discrepancy, and after a few sentimental journeys in
the long canoe she duly made him Mr. Tom, thus
proving that the human heart beats the same in
Siwash town as in the Grand Duchy, of Gerolstein.

This interesting bit of gossip, duly vouched for by
some of the white residents, is opposed by others, who
say that Mr. Tom is a chief of the Sitka ^'zaii/i in his
own right, and that he made the mt^salliance when
he wedded his clever spouse, and that he owns a
profitable potato-ranch further down Baranoff Island.

17«

.so UTIIEHN ALA SKA .

Any one would prefer the first and more romantic
bioi,aaphy, but, anyway, Mr. Tom is a smooth-faced,
boyish-looking man, and evidently well trained and
managed by his spouse. In consideration of their
combined importance, he was made one of the dele-
gated i)olicemen of Siwash town, and he makes male-
factors answer to iiim, as he has learned to answer to
his exacting wife.

On the t)ccasion of another morning call, Mrs.
Tom was meditating a new dress, and the native
dressmaker who was to assist in the creation was
called in to e.xamme the cut of our gowns, when
we called upon her that lime. There was a funny
scene when Mrs. Tom discovered that what appeared
to her as a velvet skirt on the person of one of her
visitors, was merely a sham flounce that ended a few
inches under a long, draped overskirt. Her bewil-
dered look and the sorry shake of her head over this
evidence of civilized pretence amu.^ed us, and in slow,
disapproving tones she discussed the sham and swin-
dle with her dressmaker. She showed us her accor-
deons, and gave us a rheumatic tune on one of them,
and we were afterwards told that she gives dancing
parties in winter to the upper ten of Siwash town,
who dance quadrilles to the accordeon's strains.

Sitka Jack's house is a large square one fronting
directly on the beach, and during his absence at
Pyramid Harbor the square hearthstone in the mid-
dle was being kept v*'arm by the relatives he had left
behind him. When this house was built, in 1877, it
was warmed by a grand pot latch, or least and gift dis-
tribution, that distanced all previous efforts of any
rivals. An Alaska chief is considered rich in propor-

THE SITKA N ARCHIPELAGO.

179

tion as he gives away his possessions, and Sitka Jack
rose an hundredfold in Siwash esteem when he gave
his ^nim] />o//(iU'//. All his relatives assisted in build-
ing the house, and this same community idea entities
them to live in it. Over five hundred blankets were
given away at his fotlatcJi, and the dance was fol-
lowed by a great feast, in which much whiskey and
native lioochinoo figured. Hen llolladay, Sr., with a
large yachting jiarty. was in the harbor at the time,
and lent interest to the occa.sion by offering prizes
for canoe races and adding a water carnival to the
other festivities. Sitka Jack nearly beggared himsidf
by this great house-warming, but his fame was settled
on a substantial basis, and he has since had time to
partly recuperate. He has aged rapidly of late years,
and now he delights to crouch by his fireside in win-
ter evenings and relate the story of his <^\~(i-ix\. pot latch
of seven years ago, which was such an event that even
the wdiite residents date by it. Another great pot-
latch made the summer of 1882 historical, and the
presence of the Dakota, with (ieneral Miles and his
regimental band aboard, stirred the raiichenc to re-
doubled efforts.

Jack and Koo^ka, the silversmiths of the Sitka
kwaii, are very skilful workmen, and one can sit beside
their work benches and watch them fashion the brace-
lets that are in such demand. During the summer
months they can sell their ornaments faster than they
can make them, and in two hours after a steamer's
arrival their stock is exhausted, and they work night
and day on special orders while the vessel is at the
wharf. If you give them the order in the morning
the bracelets are ready in the afternoon, as carefully

180

SOUTHEIiN ALASKA.

finished and engraved as any of the others of their
make. In one doorway we saw a woman crouchinor
or lying face downwards, and slowly engraving a
silver finger ring. She had a broken penknife for an
engraver's tool, and slie held it in her closed haiul,
blade down, and drew it towards her as she worked.
Her attitude, and the management of the steel, set
the oriental theorists off into speculations again, and
they decided that she herself must have come straight
across from Japan, so identical were her proceedings
with those of the embroiderers and art workers in the
kingdom of Dai Nippon.

She was quite unconscious and self-possessed while
we stood chattering about her, and continued to
chew gum in the most nonchalant manner. Inside
of this barred doorway, the other members of the fam-
ily were sitting about the fire, taking their morning
meal. For their ten o'clock breakfast they were enjoy-
ing smoked salmon with oil, and an unhealthy looking
kind of dough, or bread, vvash<xl down by very bad
tea, judging from the way in which the tin teapot
was allowed to boil and thump away on the coals.
They are none of them epicures, and even in the
matter of sidmon they make no distinction, and cure
and eat the rank dog salmon almost in preference to
the choicer varieties. Although they are e.\i)ert hunt-
ers, and bring in all the venison and wild fowl for the
Sitka market, they seldom eat game themselves. It
takes away a civilizetl appetite to see them eat the
cakes of black seaweed, the sticks and branches
covered with the herring roe that they whip from the
surface of the water at certain seasons, and the dried
salmon eggs that they are so particularly fond of.

rilH SI IK A. \ Ml< Illl'ULAdO

l«l

They eat almost anythin<; that lives In 'he sea, and
the octopus, or devil-fish, is a dainty that ranks with
seal riippers for a feast. Clams of enormous size,
found on the beaches throuj;h the ishimls, anil mus-
sels are other stajile dishes.

The Sitka IniUans, we were assured b)' a resident,
'* are the sassiest and most rascally Siwashes to be
found in the country," but outwardly they cUffered very
little from the other tribes that wc had seen. They
have the same broad, flat faces, and from jjjenerations
of canoe-paddling ancestors have inhcriteil a ma<;niti-
cent development of the shouUlers, chests, and arms.
This development is at the e.\i)ense of the rest of the
frame, and, from sittinj^ cramped in their canoes, the
lower limbs are dwarfed antl crooked, and their bodies
affect one with the unpleasant sense of deformity.
They are stumblin^; and shamblinj; in their j;ait, And
toe in to e.\agi;cration ; and these amphibious, tish-
eating natives are as different as possible from the
wild horsemen of the plains, or the pastoral tribes of
the southwest. The Sitkans have the same mythology
and totemic system as the rest of the Ti\linket tribes,
and reverence the sjiirits of the raven, the wolf, th«'
whale, bear, and eagle : and their worship of the spirits
and ashes of their ancestors is quite equal to the
Chinese. They cremate their dead, with the excep-
tion of the merlicine men, who are laid awav in slate,
and the poles and fluttering rags set up around the
village indicate the sacred spots where the ashes
lie. They worship the spirits of the earth, air, and
water ; and the spirits of the departed ones, now occu-
pying; the bodies of the ravens that fly overhead.
exe.nj)t those huge croakers from shot and snare.

162

SOrillKUy ALASKA.

They show souk- belief in a future state by Haying
that the ti.imes of the aurora borealis are the spirits
of dead warriors dancing overhead. When a chief dies
his wives pass to liis next heir, and unless these
relicts i)urchase their freedom with blankets, they are
uniteil t(» their grandsons, or nephews, as a matter of
course. High-strung young Sivvashes sometimes
scorn these legacies, and then there is war between
the totems, all the widows' clan resenting such an
outrage of decency and established etiquette. Curi-
ously with this subjection of the women, it is ihey
who are the family autocrats and tyrants, giving the
casting-vote in domestic councils, and overriding the
male decisions in the UKJst high-hamled manner.
Hen-pecking is too small a word to describe the way
in which they bully their lords, and many times our
bargain with the ostensible head of the family was
broken up by the woman arriving on the scene, and
insisting that he should not sell, or should charge us
more. Woman's rights, and her sphere and influ-
ence, have reached a development among the Sitkans,
that would astonish the suffrage leaders of Wyoming
and Washington Territory. They are all keen, sharp
trailers, and if the women object to the final j)rice
offered for their furs at the Sitka stores, they get into
their canoes, and ])addle up to Juneau, or down to
Wrangell, and even across the border to the l^ritish
trading posts. They take no account of time or
travel, and a journey of a thousand miles is justihed
to them, if they only get another yard of calico in
exchange for their furs. All the Thlinkets are great
visitors, and canoe loads of visiting Indians can
always be found at a village. The Sitka and the

THE SiTKAy Alicnil'KLAiiO.

l«a

Stikinc kwaus seem to affiliate most, but visits
from members of all the tribes make the Sitka
iwicheric an aborigine metro[)(>lis. lUisybodies and
cosmo|M)litans, like Sitka Jack, live all over the archi-
l)elaj;o, atul it was this roamin:;- i)roi)ensity that gave
the military forces so much trouble durini; {garrison
(lays at Sitka. The land forces couKI do nothing;
with the scornful Indian^ in tiieir ligdit kaiiitns, ant!
when the ortler was given to let no Indian leave the
ranc/u)ii\ they snapped their fingers at the challeng-
ing and forbidding sentries, and paddletl away at their
pleasure. They have a great respect for a gun-
boat with its ceremony, potnp, and strict discij)line,
and its busy steam launches, that can follow their
canoes to the most remote creeks and hiding-places
in the inlands. The Indians emi)lt)yed on the AtLuns
were diligent and faithful serxilors, anil were much
pleased with their saihu's' cajjs ;iiid toggery, and the
official state surrounding them.

Inilian legends and tratlitions can be had by the
score at Sitka, but it is liard to \H'rify any of them,
and the myths, rites, and folk-lore of the people are
not to be gathered with e.x'actness dui ing the touch-
and-go excitement of a summer cruise. Bishop
\'eniamin()ff mastered their language, and translated
books of the Testament, hymns, and catechism, and
pui>lished several works on the Koloshians. Baron
Wrangell also wrote a great deal concerning them,
and abstracts from these two writers have been given
by Dall and IVtroff. Xo ethnologists have made
studies among the Thlinkets since Veniaminol^ and
Wrangell, a half century ago, and the field lies ready
for some northern Cushing.

184

aOVTUEHN ALA8KA,

CIIAITKR XIII.

SITKA — SII5LKIJ.S AND CLIMATE.

ENTHUSIASTS who have seen both, declare
that the Bay of Sitka surpasses the Hay of
Naples in the grandeur and beauty of its surround-
ings. The comparison is instituted between these
two distant ])laces, because the extinct volcano, Mount
lulgecumbe, rears its snow-filled crater above the bay,
as Vesuvius does by the curving shores of the peerless
bay of the Mediterranean. Nothing could be finer
than the outlines of this grand old mountain that rises
from the jutting corner of an island across the bay,
and in the sleepy, summer sun, Edgecumbe's slopes are
bluer than lapis lazuli or sapphire, and the softest, film-
iest gray clouds trail across the ragged walls of the
crater. It is more than a century since it poured forth
its smoke and lava, but jets of steam occasionally rise
from it now, and if an exploration of its unknown
slopes is ever made, some signs of active life will
doubtless be found. Great patches of snow lie within
the crater's rim, and, standing as a sentinel on the
very edge of the great Pacific, Edgecumbe is perpet-
ually wreathed with the clouds that float »n from the

rHK SITKAS A 1{( II I PEL AGO.

IS')

|in

sea. The Indians have fastened many of their
legends and myths to it, and the Creator and the
original crow are supposed to have come from its
depths and to still dwell therein, while Captain Cook,
the great navii^ator, gave it the name which it now
bears.

A hundred little islands lie in the harbor of Sitka,
within the great sweep of the Haranoft shores, whose
curve is greater than a semicircle at this point,
I'^ach one is a tangled bit of rock and forest, and
their dense, green thickets and grassy slopes are
bordered with mats of golden and russet sea-
weeds, that at low tide afld the last tine tone to a
landscape of the richest coloring. Kvery foot of
island shore off Sitka is sketchablc, and a picture in
itself; and the clear, soft light, the luminous trans-
parent tones, would be the rapture of a water-color
artist. Jaj)onski, which is the largest of this group
of little islands, lies directly abreast of Sitka, and
the Russians maintained an observatory on it dur-
ing their ownership. At the time of the transfer,
all of the larger islands of the harbor were marked
off as government reservations, but during these
seventeen years nothing has been rione to maintain
the government's claim, and settlers have lived on,
cleared, and cultivated the land without molestation.
The old observatory on Japonski Island has dropped
to ruins, the last vestige of it has disapj)eare(l under
the dense cover of vegetation, and the squatter who
now occupies it raises fine Japonski potatoes for the
Sitka market.
- During the time that the Russians kept their care-

■^■^■i

18fi

SOUTH FMS ALASKA.

fill meteorological records at the Japonski Observa-
tory and on shore, the thermometer went below zero
only four times, and the variation between the sum-
mer and winter lemiKT.iture is no <j^reater than on
the California coast, it is the warm current of the
Kuro Siwo, or Hlaek Stream of Japan, pcKuin*:; full on
this shore, that tnodifies the temperature, and brings
the fogs and mists that i)erpetuallv wieath the
mountains, so that l'"ort \\ rangell. though south
of Sitka, is colder in winter and warnu-r in summer
on account of its distance from the ocean current.
The Sitka summer temperature of 51° and 55^ pleases
the fancy of dwellers in the east, c|uite as much as
the even and temperate chill of 31" and 38° in mid-
winter. Ice seldom forms of any thickness, and
skating on the lake back of the church at Sitka is a
rarity in the winter amusements. While St. John's
in Newfoundland is beleaguered by icebergs in sum-
mer, and its harbor frozen solid in winter, Sitka,
ten degrees north of it, 1k!'< always an o))en roadstead.
As compared with the climate of Leadville, or some
of the torrid spots in Arizona, the miners at Sitka
and luneau have nothing to complain of, and never
have to contend against the fearful odds that opposed
the miners during the first rush to the Coeur d'Alene
region.

The mean temperature of the air and of the surface
sea water, and the precipitation for each month of
the year at Sitka, as given in the tables in the Alaska
Coast Pilot for 1883, are as follows: —

rUE sllKA\ AUrilll'KL.VH).

187

Month

^1 '

Zi ^

3 Z.

^ 3

Z t

2 y

(/I

January
February
March .
April
May . .
June . .
July . .
August .
September
Or»o',. r
November
December

3' 4

7-35

^2v

^•4.;

35-7

39-5

5-:!')

r.H

4-5

5- '7

47. >

4^.5

413

';?4

3.U2

:;5-';

4<)

4i'>

55v

6.(/)

5« 3

5'-5

(/r/)

4«-9

1 1. .S3

3««

44.4

SY),

33-3

41.7

«-39

Year

43.3 45.0 :;f.f«)

The onl\ drawback to tliis cool and cc)ual)Ic climate
is the h4.'avy rainfall, which even a Scotchman says
makes it *' a wee hair too wet." One soon j^ets used
to it, and ;^oes arouml unconcernedly in a panoply of
rubber and gossamer cloth, and rejoices that Sitka is
not Fort Tongass. where the rainfall was 1 iS. 30 inches
a year, for the time that the drenched and half-drowned
officers kept the records. With all this downpour
there is little dampness in the air, and, contradictory
as this may seem, it is proven by the fact that clothes
will dry under a shed during the heaviest rains.
Hoots and shoes do not mould, clothing does not get
musty as in other climates, and on shii)board it is
noticeable that kid gloves and shoes show no reluc-
tance at being pulled on on the wettest mornings.
The snow lies on the mountain tops and sides all

\HH

sourHKhW ALA SKA.

il!

IJP

I' .

the year through, though in a warm, dry summer
it retreats to the .summits and higher ravines. In
winter the snow seldom lasts long on the level, and
mist and rain, coming after each snowfall, soon reduce
it to slush. Those contradictions of climate are quite
at variance with the accei)ted ideas of Alaska, and
although its enemies say that it can never be made
to supi)ort a })()|)ulati()n since grain and vegetables
will not grow there, vegetables continue to be raised
in this part of the territory, as they have for more than
fifty years, and wild timothy and grasses grow three
and four feet high in every clearing. No very intel-
ligent methods of cultivating the soil have ever been
attem|)ted, and drainage is an unknown science.
Vancouver found the Indians cultivating potatvoes
and a kind of tobacco, and there are little plantations
back in sheltered nooks of the archipelago, where the
Indians go each year to plant and gather their pota-
toes. The Siwash sows his potatoes as a farmer does
his grain, and very fine tubers cannot be expected
from such farming. So far the residents of the ter-
ritory have been like those dwellers on western
cattle ranches, who count their cattle by thousands
and use condensed milk and imported butter, and
the tin can is oftener seen than the hoe or garden
tools among them.

Although hay cannot be cured in the natural way
in this rainy region, scientific farmers think it feas-
ible to cut and salt in trenches all the hay that
will be needed for the cattle for many years. Sleek
cows are grazing in the streets and open places
around Sitka, and the residents point with pride
to two venerable mules that were left by the quarter-

Tin: sir KAN ahchipelaoo.

181)

master, when the garrison was abandoned, and that
for seven years ran wild and " rustled " for them-
selves summer and winter. They weathered all the
wet seasons, fora<;ed for themselves in the winters,
and rioted in sweet ^^^rasses as hi^di as their ears
durin<T; the j)erfect, luxuriant summers, and are fjood
mules now.

The fine little spoui^es and the delicate coral
branches that are occasionally found in the harbor
puzzle one with another hint of the tropics in this
hii^h latitude, (ireat fronds of seaweed and kelp as
large as banana leaves drift on the rocks with the
rushing tid.^s, and the long, snaky if/i^w that float
on the water are often found eighty and one hundred
feet long. It is of these tough, hollow pipes that the
Indians make the worms for their rude Jioocliinoo dis-
tilleries, or, splitting and twisting it, make fishing
lines many fathoms in length. The same little teredo
that eats up ship timbers and piles in southern
oceans is as destructive here in the harbor of Sitka
as anywhere in the tropics. The ])iles of the wharf
only last five years at the longest, antl the merciless
borers eat up the timbers of the old wrecks and
hulks with which the first foundations for a wharf
were begun, and nothing but the yellow cedar of the
archipelago is said to withstand the teredo.

Among other things that Sitka can boast of as an
attruction is a promenade, a well-gravelled walk that
the Russians built along the curving line of the beach,
and through the woods, to the banks of the pretty
Indian River. Up and down this walk the Russians
used to stroll, and during the stay of the mail steamer
the walk to Indian River is taken once and twice a

11)0

so VTHEliN A L . I .S AVI

i'j.

day by the passengers, who are enraptured by the
scenery, and given such an opportunity to see the heart
of the woods and the mysteries of the forest growth.
In seasons past, many primitive and picturesque httle
bridges have spanned the rushing current of this crystal
clear stream, but high waters have swei)t them away
season after season. Lieut. Gil man, in charge of tlie
marines attached to the Adams, who rescued Princess
Maksoutoff's tombstone, and was general director of
public works and improvements, took his men and a
force of Indians belonging to the shijVs crew, and
cleared a new pathway from the beach to the river, in
1884. Me led paths up either side of the strea.n for
a half mile or more ; bridged the stream twice, and
threw two picturesque bridges across the ravines on
the river bank. A great deal of taste and ingenuity
was shown in choosing the route along the river, so as
to bring in view all the best points of scenery, and the
rustic bridges in fantastic designs add greatly to many
of the glimpses from under the greenwood trees. All
along Indian River the ferns run riot, covering the
ground in every clearing, and curling their great
fronds up with the huge green leaves of the " devil's
club," that would make parasols for people larger
than elfs or fairies. The moss covers everything
under foot with a close, springy carpet six inches
deep, and moss and lichens, ferns and grasses envelop
every fallen log and twig, and convert them into things
of beauty. Giant firs and ]Mnes rise abov'c the pros-
trate trunks of other large trees, whose wood is
still sound at the heart, although the roots of a tree
seventy feet high are arched and knotted over them.
These overgrown trunks of prostrate trees are scat-

n^:

THE SITKAN ARCHlPELAaO.

\\n

tered all through the woods, and on one side of the
river there is a fallen tree that would excite won-
der even in the proves of California. Where the
upturned roots are exposed, they are matted into a
broad flat base on which the ta)K'rin<;- trunk without
tap-roots once stood like a candle on a candlestick.
The fallen trunk is over ten feet in diameter, and
a man six feet hiL;h is ciwarfed when he stands be-
side the root. A second forest of ferns, bushes, and
young trees has sprung up on top of this overturned
tree, and its giant outlines will soon be lost in the
tangle of vegetation.

The size of the cedar-trees in the archipelago has
long been a matter of record, /irmy officers tell that
cedars eight feet in diameter were cut down when
they built the post at Fort Tongass, and Mr, Seward
often boasted of the great planks, four and five feet
wide, hewn by stone hatchets, that he measured in
Kootznahoo and Tongass villages.

One bridge hangs its airy trestles over Indian River
at a point where the main branch comes tumbling
down in cascades, and a side stream pours in its
sparkling, clear waters. Heyond that bridge, the path
winds out into a clearing, and past an old brewery
that flourished and made fortunes for its owners under
Russian rule. The United States has i)revented the
manufacture and importation of all kinds of liquors in
Alaska, and the brewery has been abandoned for many
years. All the acres of the clearing in which it stands
are covered thickly with blueberry bushes and rose
bushes, while white clover lies lik'^ snow-drifts on either
side of the corduroy road that leads into the town. The
salmon berries, that wave their clusters of golden and

•V >HB' . ' «m M> !*»«

■■■■

192

SOUTHERN ALA HKA.

'■\\^

crimson fruit in the woods and along the steep river
hank, disappear at the edge of this clearing, and the
blueberries are thicker than anything else that can
grow on a bush, l^ig ravens croak in the tall tree-tops
in the woods, inviting a shot from a sportsman, but,
when hit, they fall into such thickets that the most ex-
perienced bird dogs could never retrieve one. Tiny
humming-birds, with green and crimson throats, nest in
the woods along the river, and the drumming of their
little wings is the first warning of their presence. All
that woodland that borders Indian River is a part of
an enchanted forest, and more lovely than words can
tell.

Where the path again reaches the beach and brings
in view the harbor and its island, , a large si|uare block
of stone lies beside the path. It is popularly known
as the Blarney Stone, and dowers the one who kisses
it with a charmed tongue. All the men-of-war and
revenue cutters that have visited the harbor have left
their names and dates cut in the rock, and some
strange old Russian hieroglyphs antedate them all
and give a proper touch of mystery to it. Captain
Meade speaks of this Blarney Stone as a favorite rock
" on which Baranoff, the first governor, used to sit on
fine afternoons and drink brandy, until he became so
much overcome that his friends had to take him home."
There are several improbable and manufacti red le-
gends attached to it, but since the Indians have taken
to gathering around it and sitting on it in groups,
faith in the miraculous power of the stone has de-
creased among the white people.

In connection with this woodland walk along Indian
River, a tragic little story was told, to a company sip-

»- y

THE SITKA N AUCinPELAGO.

ina

ping tea around a shining samovar one night, that
invests even the garrison days that succeeded the
transfer with something of romantic incident. The
captain and a heutenant of one of the companies
stationed at Sitka in the first year of United States
possession fell desperately in love with the same
beautiful Russian. She was a most charming woman,
with soft, mysterious eyes, a pale, delicate lace, and a
slow, dreamy smile that set tlie two warriors wild.
All the garrison knew of their fierce rivalry, so mar-
velled not a little when their ohl friendshij) appeared to
be restored, and the two suitors started off on a hunt-
ing expedition together. One haggard man returned
two days later, and said that his companion had been
attacked and gored to death by an enraged buck in
the forest. He was gloomy and strange in his man-
ner, and at nightfall went to the house of the Russian
lady to break the news of his rival'^ death. The
friends of the lost officer talked the thing over, and,
suspecting that a duel had been fought, decided to go
out the next day and search for the body In the
morning the surviving rival was found dead in bed,
with a look of agony and horror on his face. One
story was that his victim had ai")|)eared to him, and
he had died of fright and terror ; the other was that
some unknown and subtle poison had been adminis-
tered to him in a cup of tea, and the official report
ascribed his death to heart-disease. The body of the
lost rival was found at the foot of a steep bank on the
shore of Indian River, where a tangle of ferns, bushes
and grasses shaded and almost covered the clear, still
pool in which he lay. His rifle was near him, and a
bullet-hole in the heart told the sad truth, that his

mnn

194

SOUTIJKRN ALASKA.

friends had suspected. His death was officially at-
tributed to the accidental discharge of his own rifle
while hunting, and under these two verdicts the real
truth was concealed. The family of the Russian
beauty disapj)eared from Sitka in a few months, and
the story had been half forgotten until the recent
opening of u path along Indian River recalled it to
some of those who liveil at Sitka at the time.

All around Sitka and its beautiful bay there are
sylvan spots where the si)ortsman and the angler
rejoice. The late Major William Gouverneur Morris,
who lived at Sitka for several years, and was collector
of customs at the time of his death, was an enthusi-
astic fisherman, and could tell templing tales of his
exploits with the rod. A small lake, a few miles
back from the town, was his favorite resort, and on
one occasion the Major's party caught four hundred
and three trout in three hours. At Sawmill Creek a
party of visiting anglers hooked sixty pounds of trout
one morning, and the little Indian boys land salmon-
trout from any place along Indian River.

At old Sitka, nine miles north of the j)resent town,
a salmon cannery was established in 1879 by the
Messrs. Cutting of San Francisco. The Sitka In-
dian.*-' offered great objections to the landing of the
Chinamen who were sent up tc start the work in
the cannery, and their spirit was so hostile at first,
that the agent feared he would have to abandon the
Chinamen or the whole project. The chiefs were
finally pacified by being assured that the Chinese
had only been brought to teach them a new process
of salmon-canning, and after a short time all but a
few of the Chinamen were sent back, and over one

THE STTlxAX AHClIIfKLAGO.

195

Ln-
he
I in
jst,
|he
[re
Ise
ks
a
ine

hundred Indians were employed at the cannery.
After four years the cannery was nKn'cd to a point
further north, and the Hay of Starri Gavan settleil
into its old deserted way. Over twenty-one thou-
sand cases of canned sahnon were shipped from tlie
new cannery in 1884, and the owners felt justified
in foUowini; the prospectors' luhicc to jj;'o further
north.

South of Sitka the bay is indented with many
inlets, and ten miles below the town are the Hot
Springs, destined to a<;ain become a resort and sani-
tarium, when Sitka regains the size and importance
of old. The springs are situated in a beautiful bay,
and the waters, im})regnated with iron, sulphur, and
magnesia, are efficacious in cases of rheumatism and
skin diseases. The Russian Fur Company erected a
hospital there for its employees, but in late years
only the Indians, occasional hunters, and i)rospec-
tors have patronized the springs to any extent. An
eccentric old lady, who writes blank-verse letters
to the IVesident and the Secretary of the Navy when
things go wrong in Sitka, spent some weeks in solitude
at the springs one summer, and was highly indignant
when the naval commander sent down and insisted
up(jn her return to the settlement, as they were all
alarmed for her safet\-. The lazy Indians who go to
the s])rings are said to sit in the pools of warm water
all night, rather than gather the wood for a camp-fire,
and they have great faith in the powers of the metli-
cated waters. Some of the enthusiasts, who have
the glory of the territory at heart, foresee the day
when the Hot Springs will be famous, and a summer
hotel, with all civilized accompaniments, draw visit-

■«

19(>

SOUTlJEliX ALASKA.

ors from all parts of the globe. Professor Davidson,
in an article in " Lippincott's Magazine," of Novem-
ber, 1868, tells of a glacier hidden away near the
bay, which will, of course, add to the attractions of
this summer resort of the next century.

At Silver Kay, nearly south of Sitka, the earliest
indications of gold were found in the archipelago.
Soon after the California discoveries of 1848, the
Emperor of Russia became convinced that there
must be mineral wealth in his possessions in America.
The directors of the fur company ignored all his first
suggestions about undertaking a search expedition,
and, as they did not want their own business intcrferetl
with, gave the hostility of the natives always as an
excuse for not making any attempts. Their course
was quite the same as that followed later by the Hutl-
son Bay Company's agents, when gold was discovered
on the Frazer River and in the Cariboo regions of
l^ritish Columbia. The Emperor, persisting in his
notion, sent out from St. Petersburg, in 1854, a
promising and adventurous young mining engineer,
named Dorovin, who, beginning at Cook's Inlet,
searched the coast down to Sitka without making
any great discoveries. Arrived at Sitka, the gay
north' est capital, he plunged into all the social dissi-
pations, and, after a year's idleness, sent back a
report condemning the country. He made no attempt
to search for minerals on Baranoff Island, and some
years later, when a Russian officer found a piece of
float gold in Silver Bay, the governor quieted the
interest without resorting to the knout, as old Bara-
noff did. Years afterwards a United States soldier
found float gold in the same place, and, getting help

THE Sirh'A\ AHVIIIPELAOO.

197

of
his
a
;er,

et,

m^-

from the garrison, discovered the quartz ledge of
Haranoff Island.

On Round Mountain, southeast of Sitka, are situ-
ated the Great Eastern, the Stewart, and other mines,
tliat attracted great attention at tlie time of their dis-
covery in 1 8/ I and 1872. The pioneers in this mining
district were Doyle and Haley, two soldiers, who had
lived in the mining districts of California and Nevada.
Nicholas Haley is the most energetic of miners, and
has carefully prospected the region about Sitka. He
has found stringers of quartz on Indian River, and
has more valuable claims at the head of Silver Bay
than on the long ledge cropping out on the slopes of
Round Mountain. The mines on this ledge have had
many vicissitudes, have changed hands m my times,
have been involved in lawsuits, while no one could
hold a valid title to a foot of mineral land in Alaska ;
and finally, through unfortunate management, the
work was stopped, and the mills have stood idle for
years. The want of civil government, or adequate
protection for cai)italists, has prevented the owners
from risking anything more in the development of
these mines, although the assays and the results of
working proved these Sitka mines to be valuable
properties.

198

aOUTUEHN ALASKA,

\ IM

• CHAPTER XIV.

SITKA

AN HISTORICAL SKETCH.

!!!

FOR a town of its size, strange, old, tumble-down,
moss-grown Sitka has had an eventful history
from first to last. Claiming this northwestern part
of America by right of the discoveries made by Beh-
ring and others in the last century, the Russians
soon sent out colonies from Siberia. The earliest
Russian settlements were on the Aleutian Islands,
and thence, moving eastward, the fur company, whose
president was the colonial governor, and appointed
by the Crown, established its chief headquarters at
Kodiak island in 1790. Kodiak still lives in tradi-
tion of the Russian inhabitants of the archipelago as
a sunny, summery place, blessed with the best climate
on this coast.

Tchirikoff, the commander of one of Behring's ships,
was the first white man to visit the site of Sitka, and
two boatloads of men were seized and put to death
by the savage Sitkans, July 15, 1741.

The first settlement was made in 1800 at Starri
Gavan Bay, just north of the present town, and
the place was duly dedicated to the Archangel
Gabriel and left in charge of a small company of
Russians. In the same year, when the rest of the
world was shaken with the great battles of Marengo

THE SITKA y ARCHIPELAGO,

199

ips,

land

path

larri
land
igel
of
the
[ngo

and Hohenlinden, the Indians rose and massacred the
new settlers and destroyed their buildini^s. Haranoff
was then governor of tiie colony, a Heree old fellow,
who bej;an life as a trader in Western Siberia, ami was
slowly raised to official eminence. He established the
settlement at Kodiak before he made the venture at
Sitka, and when he heard of the tiestriiction of his new
station, immediately arranged to rebuild it. In 1804
he tried it over a';ain, building the chief warehouse
on the small (iibraltar of Katalan's Rock where the
castle now stands, and dedicating the place to the
Archangel Michael. Haranoff was ennobled, and,
moving his headquarters to Sitka, remained in charge
until 1818. Me opened trade and negotiations with
the United States and many countries of the I'acific ;
he welcomed John Jacob Astor's ships to this harbor
in 1810, and made with them contracts for the Canton
trade, that were sadly interrupted by the war of 18 12
between our country and luigland.

In Washington Irving's " Astoria " there is a life-
like sketch of this hard-drinking, hard-swear nig old
tyrant, and the picture does not present an attractive
view of life at New Archangel, or Sheetka. In 181 1
Baranoff sent out the colony under Alexander Kuskoff,
and established a settlement at Fort Ross, in Cali-
fornia, in the redwood country of the coast north of
San Francisco. Grain and vegetables were rai.sed
there in great quantities for the northern settle-
ments for the space of thirty years, when the Czar
ordered his subjects to withdraw from Mexican ter-
ritory.

Baranoff ruled the colony ^'ith a rod of iron, and
his absolute power of life and death over those under

200

tiOUTllKHN ALASKA.

him, and the free use of the ktioiit, kept the turbulent
Indians, Creoles, and Siberian renegades in good
order. He died at sea on his way home to Russia,
and succeeding him as governor came Caj)tain Hague-
meister, and then a long line of noble Russians, gen-
erally chosen from among the higher officers of the
navy.

Under Russian rule the colony ran along in j^lea-
sant routine ; the southeastern coast was for a time
leased to the Hudson Hay Company, and their prox-
imity and the slow encroachments of the Knglish in
trade soon aroused Russia to a realization of the dan-
ger that threatened this distant colony in the event
of a war. Russian America was first offered for sale
to the United States during the Crimean war in
1854, by Baron Stoeckl, who afterwards concluded
the treaty of purchase in 1867. In 1854 the Kng-
lish threatened the town of Petrapaulovski on the
Kamschatkan coast, and the Russians foresaw the
blockading and bombarding of their towns on the
American side. This first offer was declined by
President Pierce, and later negotiations came to
naught in President Buchanan's day, when an offer
of ^5,ooo,CKX) was declined by Russia. Robert J.
Walker, who assisted in drawing up the legal docu-
ments of transfer when we did finally buy the terri-
tory, stated once that during Polk's administration the
Czar offered Russian America to the United States
for the mere payment of government incumbrances
and cost of transfer. Wily old Prince Gortschakoff
had to tell it, too, when his envoy made such a shrewd
sale for him, that his master was for years anxious to
get rid of this distant and unprotected colony at any

Tin: SITKA \ A li( 11 1 r HI. . I dO.

201

the
the
by ■
to
ffer

|rt J.

ocu-

erri-
the

:ates

nces
koff

rewd
s to
any

sacrifice, provided, always, that it did not fall into the
hands of the l'Jif;lisli, who wanted it so hadly.

In 1861 Russia and the United States held council
in rc^^'ucl to establishing; a telegraph line from this
country to ICurope, via Russian America, Hehring
Straits, and Siberia. l'\)ur years later an expedition
was sent out by the Western Union Te1e<j;raph Com-
pany, and several ships and a large corps of engineers,
surveyors, and scientists, were engaged in exploring
the coast from the United States boundary line north-
ward to the \'ukon country, and along the Asiatic
coast to the mouth of the Amoor River. Over
S3, 000,000 were expended in these urveys, and .1 tele-
grajih line was erected for some hundred miles up the
Hritish Columbia coast, reaching to a point near the
mouth of the Skeena River, that brought Sitka within
three hundred miles of telegraphic communication
instead of eight hundred and fifty miles, as has been
its condition since the scheme was given up. After
two years' work, the company abandoned the under-
taking and recalled its surveying parties. The
demonstrated success of the Atlantic cable, and
the difficulty of maintaining the line through the
dense forest regions of the coast and the uninhabited
moors of the North, induced the company to give
up the j)lan. Frof. Dall, of the Smithsonian Insti-
tute ; Whymper, the great I'.nglish mountain climber ;
iVof. Rothrockcr, the botanist, and Col. Thomas W.
Knox, who accompanied different parties of the
Western Union Telegraph Company expedition,
have written intf esting books of their life and
travels while connected with this great enterprise.

As the time approached for the expiration of the

"■''-■'^•- '•■'»'''. ^^^^S!!f«S!

MriuwiMHMMidliMyuMMfllil

202

SO UTHEILV A L A SKA.

;,(

ill.

lis

lease by which the Hudson Bay Company held the
franchise of the Russian-American Fur Company,
great desire was manifested by citizens on the Pacific
coast that the United States should purchase the
colony. The legislature of Washington Territory sent
a memorial to Congress in January, i866, urging the
purchase of the Russian possessions, and it was fol-
lowed by earnest petitions from all parts of the
Pacific coast. A syndicate of fur traders even pro-
posed to buy the country of Russia on their private
account, and sent a representative to Washington to
consult with Secretary Seward in regard to having
the United States establish a protectorate over their
domain in that case. The Hudson Bay Company's
lease was to expire in June, 1867, and in the spring
of that year the plan of purchase by the United
States government assumed definite shape. Negotia-
tions were entered into by Secretary Seward and
Baron Stoeckl, th'^ Russian minister, and, though
conducted with great secrecy, were soon rumored
about. At that time President Johnson was plung-
ing into the most stormy part of his career, threats
of impeachment were In the air, and the articles had
even been discussed by the House of Representatives
before its adjournment, March 4, 1867. All of the
preceding winter Washington had been full of rumors
of great schemes, looking to a drain on the Treasury,
and the House had grown wary and vigilant. Mexi-
can patriots, from three different camps, were
beseeching the aid of Congress and the State Depa t-
ment. The Jaurez and Ortega factions were implor-
ing loans of from $50,000,000 to $80,000,000, and
Maximilian's emissaries were doing their best in the

if^.j.

^-^..-.v*

THE SITKAX MtCltlPKLAdO.

2(»;;

f i

way of diplomacy to aid the fortunes of their imperial
master, who had just taken the held against the in-
surgents. With such discords at iiome, Secretary
Seward projected a hiliiian. stroke of foreign jujlicy,
and counted upon drawing off some of the hostile
fires, and thrilling patriotic breasts by this purchase
of Russian America, which should carry the stars
and stripes to the uttermost limits of the north, and
extend our dominion 3,000 miles west of the (iolden
Gate of California to that last island of Attn in the
Aleutian chain, "o'er which the earliest morn of
Asia smiles."

On the evening of the 29th of March, l^aron
Stoeckl went to Secretary Seward's residence on
Lafayette Square, joyfully waving the cable message
that gave i.he Czar's approval to the plan, as then
outlined. Baron Stoeckl proposed that they should
draw up the treaty on the following day, but the
Secretary said, " No ! we will do it now, and send it
to the Senate to-morrow."

There were no telephones at the capitol then, and
messengers were sent in every direction to summon
Secretary Seward's assistants, and open and light
the building at Fourteenth and S Streets, then occu-
pied by the State Department. Huron Stoeckl hunted
up his secretaries and chancellor, and at midnight
the company assembled, including .Senator Charles
Sumner, Chairman of the Senate Committee on
Foreign Relations. Leutze has preserved the scene
in a painting owned by Hon. Frederick W. Seward, of
Montrose, N. Y. Secretary Seward and his assist-
ants, Messrs. Hunter and Chew, and M. Bodisco,
Secretary of the Russian Legation, form p. central

■'-%-;uryrifl6i^^

\. •-«»»* M»f^iiirJ«

204

sou THE UN A LA SKA.

group. Baron Stoeckl stands beside the large globe
of the world, and the lights of the chandelier over-
head fall full upon Russian America, to which Baron
Stoeckl is pointing his hand. Senator Sumner and
Mr, Frederick Seward occupy a sofa in a corner back
of this group, holding a school atlas before them.

The signatures were affixed to the treaty at four
o'clock on the morning of March 30. The illu-
mination of the State Department at that unusual
hour attracted suspicious attention, and it was known
that something of imp>,rt was going on. It was
intended to keep the matter wholly secret until the
Senate had ratified the treaty, but journalistic enter-
prise ran high, and a New York reporter shadowed
the Secretary of State, and, hanging on to the back
of his carriage as he drove home with Biron Stoeckl
that night, caught an inkling of the terms of the
treaty and gave them to th^ world.

On the same day the treaty was sent to the Senate,
then convened in extra session, and, discussed in
secret conclaves, vvas confirmed on the loth of April,
chiefly through the agency of Charles Sumner, who,
although not favorable to the measure at first, arose
on the tenth day and delivered a sjieech, which was
one of the finest efforts of his life, and an ep'tome of
all that was known and had been written up to date
concerning Russian^ America, livery chart, every
narrative of the old discoverers, every scientific work
and special report, was consulted by that great scholar,
and his speech "on the cession of Russian America"
is still a work of authority and reference to those
who would study the question.

There was great surprise when the terms of the

ri/E SITKA N AHt'llIl'KLAiiO.

205

te,
in

il,
o,
se
as
of
te
cry
Irk

ir,

»t

[se
he

treaty were made known. Tlu' wits went to work
with their jokes on the "' Ksquimaux Acquisition
Treaty," and Sir Frederick Bruce, the British Minis-
ter, was so chagrined at the news, that he telegraphed
to the Karl of Derhy for instructions to protest
against the acceptance of the treaty. It was ratified
by the Senate by a vote of thirty yeas and two nays,
the opposing twain being Senators Fessenden and
Ferry.

While the matter was pending there were many
conclaves and dinner councils at the residence of the
Secretary of State. The '' polar bear treaty " and the
" l^isquimaux senators " were connnon names at the
capital, and of the Secretary's dinner parties one scribe
wrote: "There was roast treaty, boiled treaty, treaty
in bottles, treaty in decanters, treaty garnished with
appointments to office, treaty in statistics, treaty in
military point of view, treaty in territorial grandeur
view, treaty clad in furs, ornamented vvith walrus
teeth, fringed with timber, and flopping with fish."
Other menus gave "icebergs on toast," "seal flippers
f rappee," and "blubber au naturcl."

It was a great puzzle for a while to know what
name should be given to the new territory, as
Russian America vvoukl no longer do. The wits
suggested "Walrussia," "American Siberia," "Zero
Islands," and "Polaria," but at Charles Sumner's
suggestion it was called "Alaska," the name by which
the natives designated to Captain Cook the great
peninsula on the south coast, and which, translated,
means " the great land." The articles were exchanged
and the treaty proclaimed by the President, June 20,
1867. Secretary Seward was more than delighted

■** tonj iw u ii II

2()(>

SOUTH KliS A LA SKA.

I 1 ,

fi ■:

t . !

I,.:

with the success of his efforts, and the day after the
proclamation said : "The farm is sokl and l^elongs to
U»»" Me felt sure that he had the advantage of his
enemies .his time, and had gone far enough north to
counteract any leaning or sentiment toward the
South, that he had been accused of harboring. He
proposed to make General Garfield, then fresh in his
military honors, a first Governor of the Territory,
and later he intended to divide the country into six
territorial governments.

The President and his premier lost no time in
clinching the bargain, and immediately set about to
receive and occupy the Territcu^y, without waiting for
the House of Representatives to appropriate the
57,200,000 of gold coin to pay for it with. Br'gadier-
General Lovell H. Rousseau was furnished with a
handsome silk flag and many instructions by Secre-
tary Seward, and left New York the same August
in com])any with Captain Alexis Pestcl -^nroff and
Captain Koskul, who acted as Commissioners on the
part of Russia. Gen. Jefferson C. Davis, in com-
mand of 250 men, was ordered to meet him at San
Francisco, and left there at the same time as the
Commissioners, on September 27. (icn. Rousseau
and his colleagues were taken on board the man-of-war
Ossipvc, then in command of Captain Kmmons, and
when they reached Sitka, on the morning of Octo-
ber 18, 1867, found the troop ships already at anchor
there. Three United States ships, the Ossipec under
Captain Emmons, the Jamcstoicn unrler command of
Captain McDougall, and the Resaca under Captain
Bradford, were flying their colors in the harbor that
gay October morning, and the Russian flag fluttered

THE SIT KAN AHCHII'ELAGO.

2i)'i

from every staff and roof-lop. At half past three
o'clock in the afternoon the Unitetl States tro(jps, a
company of Russian soldiers, the ^rouj) of officials,
3ome citizens and Indians, assembled on the terrace
in front of the castle. The ceremony of transfer was
very simple, the battery of the Ossipcc startin^:^ the
national salute to the Russian flatj;, when the order
was given to lower it, and the Russian water battery
on the wharf returning, in alternation of shots, the
national salute to the United States flag, as it was
raised. The Russian flag caught in the ropes coming
down, wrapped itself round and round the flag-
staff, and although the border was torn off, the body
clung to the staff of native pine. The Russian
soldiers could not reach it until a boatswain's chair
was rigged to the halyards, and then one of them
untwisting the flag, and not hearing Captain Pest-
chouroff's order to bring it down, flung it off, and it
fell like a canopy over the bayonets of the Russian
soldiers.

The rain began then, and the beautiful I'rincess
Maksoutoff wept when the Russian colors finally
fell. The superstitious affected to find an omen
in this incident, but the American flag ran up gayly,
and when the bombardment of national salutes
was over, Captain Testchouroff said : " By authority
of his Majesty the Kmperor of Russia, I transfer to
the United States the Territorv of Alaska! " Prince
Maksoutoff handed over the insignia of his office as
governor, and the thing was done. There was a
dinner and a ball at the castle, an illumination and
fireworks that night, and the bald eagle screamed on
all the hill tops. The Russian citizens began to

2()M

aouriiEuy Alaska.

. , ]\

i>' uV.

-1 'h

f ■ 1

leave straightway, and in a few months fifty ships and
four hundred peoi)]e had sailed away from Sitka, and
the desolation of American ownership began. Only
three families of the educated class and of pure Rus-
sian blood now live there, to '-emember and relate
the tales of better days. After this formal transfer,
garrisons of United States troops were established
at Fort Tongass, near the southern l)oundary line, at
Fort Wrangell, at Sitka and Kodiak, under orders
of the Department of the Columbia ; but the ship
carrying the troops to establish a fort on Cook's Inlet
struck a rock and went to pieces when near its desti-
nation. All the lives were saved, and the project of
a fort at that point was then abandoned.

Immense sums were paid by the government for
the transpo^-tation of troops and freight in the few
months after the occupancy, and, by the time Con-
gress met, the United States had a firm hold on the
new possession. There were exciting times at Sitka
for a few months, and the first rush of enterprising
and unscrupulous Americans quite astonished the de-
parting Russians, who were unused to the tricks of
the adventurers, who alwavs hurry to a new countrv.

I'rofessor George Davidson was sent with eight
assistants to make a report on the general features
and resources of the country, and from July to No-
vember he cruised along the coast on the revenue
cutter Lincoln. He was mercilessly cross-examined
by the special committee of Congress during the
exciting winter that followed at Washington.

Secretary Seward trod a thorny pathway, and he
and his newly-acquired Territory were the theme of
every wit and joker in the public prints. Congress was

ij,"

TUE SITKAN AMCUIPELAUO.

209

in an ugly frame of mind, and even the party leaders
in the House of Representatives felt dubious about
getting an appropriation to pay for Alaska. The
wildest reports of the country and its resources were
current, and while one sage represented it as a gar-
den of wild roses, and a place for linen dusters, the
next one said the only products were icebergs and
furs, and the future settlers would cultivate their
fields with snow-ploughs.

The irrepressible Nasby wrote : " The dreary relic
of dijilomacy to the south of the North Pole is a land
reservation for the Blair family," and he advised
President Johnson to "swing around the circle," and
visit " this land of valuable snow and merchantaole
ice."

In a less humorous vein a Democratic editor said :
"Congress is not willing to take 510,000,000 from
the Treasury to pay for the Secretary of State's
questionable distinction of buying a vast uninhabit-
able desert with which to cover the thousand mortifi-
cations and defeats which have punished his pilotage
of Andrew Johnson through his shi})wrecked policy
of reconstruction. The treaty has a clause binding
us to exercise jurisdiction over the Territory and give
government to forty thousand inhabitants now crawl-
ing over it in sni^w-shoes. Without a cent of revenue
to be derived from it, we will hav^e to keep regiments
of soldiers and six men-of-war up there, and insti-
tute a Territorial government. No energy of the
American people will be sufficient to make mining-
speculation profitable in 60° north latitude. Ninety-
nine one-hundredths of the territory is absolutely
worthless."

imidmm

210

SOUTirKHN A LA SKA.

In this spirit tlie thing went on through all of that
stormy winter. The impeachment trial was held, and
President Johnson acquitted May 17, 1867. On the
following day General N. P. Hanks introduced a bill
appropriating $7,200,000 to pay for Alaska, and as it
iiung uncertain for weeks, it was determined to get the
apj)ropriation through in a deficiency bill, if the Banks
bill failed. At a night session on the 30th of June,
with the House in committee of the whole, and
General Garfield in the chair, General Banks made a
most eloquent speech, painting Alaska in glowing-
colors and luxuriant phrase, and winning the suffrages
of the disaffected ones on his own side by the audacity
of his genius. Judge Loughbridge, of Iowa, opposed
the bill, and three Democrats (Boyer of Pennsylvania,
Pruyn of New York, and Johnson of California),
made ringing speeches in its favor. The next day
C. C. Washburn made a severe speech against it,
and Maynarti, of Tennessee, spoke for it. Then the
grand "old commoner," Thaddeus Stevens, made an
oration in its favor, ending up with a fish story of the
skipper who ran his ship aground on the herring in
Behring Sea, and ran it so high and so dry on the wrig-
gling fish, that it broke in two. On the 14th of July
the bill passed by ninety-eight yeas, forty-nine nays.
Fifty-three members not voting, endangered its suc-
cess, but the House showed its temper by aclaujic
insisting that hereafter it should take part in the
consideration of treaties, as well as the Senate. Two
weeks later the Czar was chinking his bags of Ameri-
can gold, w^hen dust again rose from the State De-
partment. The cost of the cable messages sent by
the two governments, in regard to the negotiations

THE srrKAN ARC in PEL AGO.

211

lie
,vo

by
ns

and the transfer, amounted to nearly $30,ocx). When
their share of the bill was presented to the Russian
government, they refused to pay it, claiming that the
treaty provided that the United States should pay
$7,200,000 and all the expenses of transfer. There
were polite messa<jjes between the tliplomats, but at
last the cable comi)any reduced the bill, and our
State r/ei)artment i)aid for all of it.

In tlie enel many statements and prophecies con-
cerninjj^ the Territory have been disproved, but we
received a country of 580,107 square miles, equal in
area to one sixth of the whole United States, and for
this great empire we paid at the rate of one and
nineteen-twentieths of a cent per acre. The Alex-
ander archipelago itself, comprising 1,100 islands,
and an area of 14,142 geographical square miles,
will soon prove itself worth the purchase-money
alone, when it is explored, developetl, and settled.
Of the strip of main land, thirty miles wide and three
hundred miles long, off which the islands are an-
chored, Sir George SinijLson, Governor-in-Chief of
the Hudson Hay Compai;y, once said that all the
British ])ossessions in the interior, adjacent to it,
were useless, if this const strip were not leased to
them. For years Great Britain made overtures to
buy this strip, and hordes of its mining adventurers
made threats to drive the Russians away ; yet, by
the hooks and crooks of diplomacy, it came into the
possession of the United States, while the southern
border of this strip is distant six hundred and forty
miles from our once northern boundary, the forty-
ninth parallel. By leasing those tiny Seal Islands,
in Behring Sea, to the Alaska Commercial Company,

lilDIMJIWllW «— ■— fi

212

SOUTHERN ALASKA.

!M;

the government has derived a revenue of over $300,000
per annum, and the Territory has, in this way, paid a
fair percentage of interest on the purchase-money,
since it has been virtually at no expense to protect it,
or keep up a form of government. In view of the
later mineral discoveries, it is said that Douglass Is-
land alone is worth all that the United States gave
for the Territory, and events are slowly proving the
foresight and wisdom of Mr. Seward in acquiring it.

The Russians knew almost nothing of th*^ topo-
graphy or resources of the country when they passed
it over to us, as the directors of the fur company,
having absolute control, had made everything sub-
servient to their interests aiul trade. A clause in
their lease provided that the government shoukl have
the right to all mineral lands discovered, so that they
took good care to discourage exj^lorers ant! prcjspect-
ors. Baranoff is even said to have given thirty
lashes to a man who brought in a specinien of gold-
bearing quartz, and warned him of worse punishment
if he found any more ore. All the records and
papers of the fur company were turned over to the
United States, and the archives at St. Petersburg
were searched for any documents or reports pertain-
ing to Russian America. Two shelves in the State
Department Library at Washington are filled with
these manuscript records of early Alaskan events.
They are written in clear Russian text, as even as
print, and forty of the volumes are archive reports
of the directors and agents of the fur company.
Fifty of them are office records and journals, and one
bulky volume contains the ships' logs that were of
sufficier*". value and interest to warrant their preser-

ain-
tatc
vith
nts.
as
orts

my.

one
ft of

ser-

THE i^llKAIi AHClIirKLAdO.

213

vation. None of tlu;in liavc been translated, except
as students and specialists have made notes from
them for their own use. Mr. Ivan Petroff y;ave
these archives a thorough inspection in gatiiering the
materials for his valuable Census Report of 1880.

E ^fl

«jV^<'--1-'-'-'-'' - l't^>!K»'>'

214

SOVTIlKliS ALASKA.

CHAPTKK XV.

SITKA. nrSTOKV SUCCKRHING THK TRANSFER.

, ■ 1 ■'

If ui

AGRKAT event in the history of Sitka after the
transfer was the visit of lv\-Secretary Seward
and his party, and their stay was the occasion of the
last ^ala season that the phice has known. Mr.
Seward and his son had gone out to San Francisco
by the newly-completed lines of the Union and
Central Pacific Railroad, intending to continue their
travels into Mexico. He casually mentioned before
Mr. VV. C. Ralston, the banker, that he hoped some
time to go to his territory of Alaska. Within a few
hours after that Mr. Ralston wrote him that there were
two steamers at his service, if he would accept one
for a trip to Alaska. Hie fur company offered their
steamer, the I'idcliter, and Mr. Ikni Il:>lladay put the
steamer Active at the disposal of Air. Seward and his
party. Mr. Holladay's offer was accepted, and his
best and favorite commander, Captain C. C. Dall, was
given charge of the Active^ and everything {provided
for a long yachting trip. The others invited by Mr.
Seward to partake of this magnificent hospitality
were his son Frederick W. Seward and his wife,
Judge Hastings, of San Francisco, Mr. and Mrs.
Smith, of St. Louis, Hon. W. S. Dodge, revenue
collector and mayor of Sitka, Hon, John H. Kinkead,

THE SITK.W .\H( UIPElAdO.

215

tew

;ere

one

iieir

the

his

was

lideil
Mr.

tility

Lvife,

IMis.

niue

iad,

postmaster and post trader at Sitka, and Captain
FrankHn of the British Navy, a nejjhew of the
lamented Sir John l^'rankhn. They left San Fran-
cisco on the 13th ol July, 1869, aiul, touching at
Victoria, reached Sitka July 30. The Kx-Secretary
was received with a military salute on landing, antl
went to the house of Mayor Dodge. He kept the
Russian Sabbath by attending service in the Greek
church on our Saturday, and the American Sabbath,
by listening to the {oost chaplain in the Lutheran
church on t'^ t following day. Like many visitors
since then, Mr. Seward said, at the end of his second
day, that he had met every inhabitant, and knew all
about them and their affairs. On another day General
Davis gave a state reception at the castle, and Mr.
Seward being dissuaded from his original plan of
going up to Mount St. Klias, lest, after the voyage
across a rough sea, he should find the monarch of the
continent hidden in clouds, made up a party for the
Chilkat country instead. General Davis and his
family, two staff officers, and a few citizens, were
invited to join them, and they went in by Peril Straits
to Kootznahoo, and then uj) to the mouth of the
Chilkat River. The incidents of their visit to Kloh-
Kutz in his village have been related in a preceding
chajiter. Adding Professor Davitlson and his assist-
ants to their party, the Acfnr returned to Kootz-
nahoo, and visited the coal mine near Chief Andres
village, and spent another day on a fishing frolic in
Clam Bay. On his return to Sitka Mr. Seward was
the guest of General Davis at the castle, and on the
evening before his departure he addressed the as-
sembled citizens in the Lutheran church. He took

216

SOUTHEBN ALASKA.

ii ';

, I

I '

. (

leave with regret, and sailed away with a miHtary
salute on a clear and radiant day. They touched
at the Takou glacier and Fort VVrangcll, went up
the Stikine River to the mining camps on the bars
near the boundary line, and last visited Fort Ton-
gass. The adjoining village of Tongass Indians, with
its many fine /o/rm poles and curious houses, was
very interesting to them, and the old chief Kb-
bitts paid great honors to the Tyee of all the Tyees.
Mr. Seward carried away a large collection of Alaska
curios and souvenirs, and his lavish purchases quite
shook the curio markets of those days. By the
etiquette of the country the fur robes laid for him to
sit on in the chief's lodges were his forever after, and
the exchange of gift-:, consequent upon such hospi-
talities made his visits memorable to the chiefs by
Xhi^ potlatc/it's left them. Mr. Seward carried home
a dance cloak covered with Chinese coin;:, that the
Russians had probably gotten during the days of their
large trade with China, and sold to the Indians for furs.
When the Chinese embassy visited Mr. Seward at
Auburn, they gave him the names of the coins, and
some of them dated back to the twelfth and fifth cen-
turies, and to the first years of the Christian era. A
quantity of Alaska cedar was taken east, and, in com-
bination with California laurel, was usctl in the panel-
lings and furnishings of the Seward mansion at
Auburn.

A year later I.ady Franklin went to Sitka on the
troop-ship Ncivbern, and for three weeks was enter-
tained at the castle, and occupied the same corner
guest-chamber already made historic by Mr. Seward.
At that time, 1S70, she was neeirly eighty years of

THE HITKAN ARCUIPELAGO.

217

age, but she was a most active and wonderful woman.
She was accompanied by her niece, Miss Cracioft,
who was her private secretary, and her object in
visiting Alaska was to trace rumors that she had
heard of the finding of relics of her husband. It
was a fruitless search, and the widow of Sir John
Franklin only lived for five years after this second
trip to the Pacific coast in quest of tidings of the lost
explorer.

With the exception of these incidents, Sitka grew
duller and more lifeless by a slow-descending scale,
with every year that succeeded the transfer of the
territory to the United States. The officers of the
garrison chafed under the isolation from even the re-
mote frontiers of Washington Territory and Oregon,
and the soldiers kept tumult rising in the Indian vil-
lage. After ten years' occupation the military sailed
away one day in 1877, and as no civil government
was established to succeed their rule, the inhabitants
were in despair. In a short time the Indians began
to preaume upon their immunity from punishment,
and distilling their JioocJiinoo openly and without hin-
drance, soon had ])andemonium raging in the raiich-
crie and overflowing into the town. They burned
the deserted quarters and buikUngs on the parade
ground, killed and mutilated cattle, and the Russian
priest was powerless to prevent the defilement of his
church by crowds of lazy, indolent Indians, who lay
on the church steps and [gambled on anv and everv
day. Trouble was precipitated by the Indians mur-
dering a white man in November, 1878. The murder-
ers were arrested by some friendly Indians and put in
the guard-house, and immediately the whole village

218

SOUTHERN ALASKA.

i^^.\

was in arms. The white citizens, who had been
appealing' for the protection of their own government
before thi:>, were virtually in a state of siege and at
the mercy of the enraged Siwashes. The murderers
were sent to Oregon for trial, but still their people
raged. The three hundred white people were out-
numbered two and three times by the Indians,
and all winter they were in momentary dread of a
final uprising and a massacre. The Russians ar-
ranged to gather at the priest's house at any sign of
disturbance, and the collector of customs prepared
to send his family below.

When all hope of help from their own government
was gone, the citizens made a last, des-^erate appeal
for protection to the British admiral at Victoria.
Without waiting for diplomatic fol-de-rol, Captain
A'Court, of H. M. S. Osprcy, made all haste to
Sitka on his humane errand. He reached there in
March, 1879, and quiet was immediately restored.
Three weeks later the little revenue cutter Oliver
Wolcott came in, and anchor .cl under the protecting
guns of the big British war ship. The Indians
laughed in scorn, and the British captain himself felt
that it would be wrong to lea^e the people with such
small means of defence at hand. Early in April the
United States steamer Alaska came, and then the Os-
prey left. The captain of the Alaska declared his pres-
ence unnecessary, the Indian scare groundless, and,
cruising off down the coast and back to more attract-
ive regions, left the people again at the mercy of the
Indians. The naval authorities, after receiving the
report and recommendations of Captain A'Court, had
the grace to order the Alaska back, and it remained

THt> Sir KAN AliClUI'ELAGO.

•219

in the harbor of Sitka until relieved by the sailing
F>\\ip James f own, June 14.

T\\<t Jamestown was commanded by Captain Lester
A. Keardslee, who instituted many reforms, cruised
through all parts of the archipelago, kept the Indians
under control, and finally made an official report,
which is one of the most valuable contributions to
the recent history of Alaska. He was succeeded in
command of the Jamestowu by Captcun Glass, an
officer who displayed marked abilities in his manage-
ment of the charge entrusted to him. Me exhibited
a firmness that kept the natives in check, and exer-
cised justice and humanity in a way to win the ap-
proval of those cunning readers of character. He
made the Indians clean up their rancJicric, straighten
out the straggling double line of houses along shore,
and then he had each house numbered, and its occu-
pants counted and recorded. F^y his census of Sitka,
taken Feb. i, 1881, there were 1,234 inhabitants;
840 of these were in the Indian village, and only 394
souls composed the white settlement. He had a
' round-up " of the native children one day, and each
.!;t)e redskin was provided with a tin medal, with
w ' umber on it, and forthwith ordered to attend the
school, at ])eril of his parents being fined a blanket
for each day's absence. Aside f om this benevolent
and paternal work, the big Tvce of the Jamestown
used to terrify the natives by his sudden raids u)X)n
the moonshiners, who made the fiery antl forbidden
hoochinoo with illicit stills.

He supervised treaties of peace between the .Sti-
kine and Kootznahoo tribes, between the Stikine and
Sitka tribes, and kej)t a naval protectorate over the

rlOPP l ftJ

i;}i.f i ss sBm

220

sOUrilKliN ALASKA.

■'M

.,1

-vi

iii

■1!

infant mining camp at Juneau, until he was relieved
by Commander Lull, with the steamer IVar/iuseU, in
1 88 1. The fascination of the north country brought
Captain Glass back, in command of the Wachtisett, in
three months' time, and he remained at the head of
Alaskan affairs for another year.

In October, 1882, Captain Merriman was detailed
for the Alaska station, in command of the Adams^
and foj- a year he arl his ship played an important
part in local history, r sited all the points in the
archipelago, fought the g. -..t naval battle of Kootz-
nahoo, and cruised off to the settlements on the
Aleutian Iclands. Peace and order reigned in the
rancherie at Sitka, the Indians and miners of Juneau
were chastised when they deserved it, and protected
in what few rights they or any one had in the aban-
doned territory, and crooked traders and distillers of
Jioochinoo had an unfortunate time of it.

The Adams was the only visible sign of the nation's
power for which the Indians had any great respect,
and the nation's importance was adv^anced tenfold
when the "big Tyee " silenced the unruly Kootz-
nahoos. He was called upon to act as umpire,
referee, probate and appellate judge, and arbiter in
all vexed questions, in addition to his general duties
as protector and preserver of the peace. With the
Naval Register and the United States Statutes for
code and reference, Captain Merriman exercised
a general police duty about the territory. He main-
tained a paternal go\'ernment and protectorate over
the Indians, and the judgment of Solomon had often
to be paralleled in deciding the issues of internecine
and domestic wars. He had often to put asunder

THE SITKAI^ AliCUll'ELAGO.

221

)ld

in
ies
the
If or
^ed
tin-
ker
[en
line
ler

those whom Siwash ceremonies or the missionaries
had joined together, to protect the young men who
refused to marry their great-uncles' widows, to inter-
fere and save the Hves of those doomed to torture and
death for witchcraft, to prevent the kiUing of slaves
at the great funerals and potlatcJus, and to look after
the widows' and orphans' shares in the blankets of
some great estate. For these delicate and diplomatic
duties Captain Merriman was well fitted. The dig-
nity and ceremony that marked all his intercourse
with the natives raised him in their esteem, and his
finn and impartial judgment, his kindness and con-
sideration, so won them, that there were wailing
groups on the wharf when he sailed away from
Sitka, and they still chant the praises of this good
Tyee, who will always be a figure in history to
them.

Captain J. B. Coghlan succeeded him in command
of the Adams ^ and the Indians having been in the
main peaceful, and the mining camp all quiet, Ca})tain
Coghlan gave a great deal of time to caicful survey-
ing of the more frequented channels of the inside pas-
sage. He marked off with buoys the channel through
Wrangell Narrows, marked the more dangerous rocks
and the channel in Peril Straits, corrected the errone-
ous position of several bays and coves, examined and
reported new anchorages, and designated unknown
rocks and ledges in Saginaw Channel and Neva Strait.
In addition to this practical j)art of his profession.
Captain Coghlan looked to the other interests con-
fided to him. He visited all the Indian settlements,
looked up their abandoned villages, encouraged pro-
spectors and kept a keen eye on all mineral discover-

222

so ( ' THEHN ALA 8K A .

■i!

■J;

ies. An especial want in Alaska is a ^ood coal
mine, and although there are seams of it all through
the islands, none of it is valuable for steaming pur-
poses, and the Nanaimo coal has to be relied upon.
Early voyagers discovered coal a half century ago,
and a. vein on Admiralty Island has been regularly
discovered and announced to the world by every
skipper who has touched there since. Captain
Coghlan was keenly alive to the importance of finding
good coal in this favored end of the territory, and he
told the story of the latest discovery in a way to
make his listeners weep from laughter.

While out on a survey trip one day, an Indian came
to him mysteriously and said : " Heap coal up stream
here," at the same time stealthily showing a lump of
the genuine article. Quietly, and so as to attract as
little attention as possible, the captain, two sporting
friends, and the Indian started off, ostensibly duck-
hunting. After they left the harbor of Sitka the
Indian led the way up a narrow channel, and turned
into St. John the Baptist's Bay, where careful and
extensive surveys had been conducted but a short
time before. The officers began to look amr„3d, but
the Indian led on until he beached his canoe and
triumphantly showed them a pile of anthracite coal
stored under the roots of the tree. The coal-hunters
recognized it as some of the anthracite coal that had
been sent from Philadelphia, and this lot had been
stored there for the convenience of the steam
launches, on their trips bct\veen the ship and points
where they were surveying in Peril Straits. Sec iring
the quiet of the Indian, the officers went back to the
ship, and after a few days gave specimens of coal to

THE SITKAN ARCH IPHL AGO.

22'^

ting
uck-
the
rued
and
hort
but
and
coal
nters
; had
been
team
oints
iring
[o the
)alto

different experts on board. Tons of the same article
lay in the bunkers under them, but the experts went
seriously to work with their clay pipes and careful
tests. None of them agreed about it. One of them
declared it gooil coal, of good steaming quaHty and
pure ash. Another one said it vvas lignite, and of no
value, and never could be used for steaming. Rumors
of V c discovery of a coal mine soon spread through
Sitka, and one man started out to follow up what he
supposed had been the course of the coal-hunters, with
the evil intent of jumping that mine. The ship vvas
just starting oii on a cruise, so followed the jumper,
and overtaking him in his lone canoe at Killisnoo,
the coal-hunter turned pale and nearly died with fright
lest he should be punished with naval severity for his
wicked designs. The joke on the coal-hunters, the
coal experts, and the would-be jumper of the coal
mine made the ship ring when it was told.

In August, 1884, the Adams sailed away from
Sitka, and its place was taken by the Pinta, under
the command of Captain H. E. Nichols, who for
several years did most valuable work in the southern
part of the archipelago while in command of the coast-
survey steamer fiass/er. His surveys were the basis
for many of the new charts of that region that accom-
panied the Alaska Coast Pilot of 1883, compiled by
Prof. W. H. Dall. and his return with the Piuta allows
him to continue his surveys.

The Piuta is one of fifteen tugs or despatch boats
built during the war for use at the different navy
yards. It did service for many years at the Brooklyn
yard, but became notorious about two years ago
while undergoing repairs at the Norfolk yard. An

i^^l^X^^^S^'iSSK-.asi.'^

224

SOUTIlKliN A LASKA.

unconscionable sum was spent in repairing; ; a local
election was helped on, or rather off, by this means,
and the board of officers called to survey and report
upon the Pinta when the work was completed un-
hesitatingly condemned it, and declared it unsea-
worthy. A second survey was called in this awkward
dilemma, and on the trial trip the much-tinkered
ship made about four knots an hour. It went up to
Boston, ran into the brig Tally-IIo that lay at anchor
there, and more of its officers were brought up before
a court of inquiry. A daring officer was at last found
willing to peril his life in taking the Pinta around
the Horn, and to attempt this hazardous exploit the
armament was dispensed with until it should reach
the Mare Island navy yard in California. It started
the latter part of November, and reached San Fran-
cisco at the end of May, where more repairs were
made, its guns mounted, ai^d it then cleared for its
new station. Its detail comprises seven officers and
forty men, and a detachment of thirty marines quar-
tered at Sitka for shore duty.

These naval officers connected with Alaska affairs
have received great commendation for the course
pursued by them in the Territory, and the history of
the naval protectorate is in bright contrast to the
less creditable operations of military rule. As the
character of the country has become known, the use-
lessness of a lar.d force has been appreciated, and
it is most probable that a man-of-war will always be
stationed in this growing section of the territory.
Several naval officers, enjoying and appreciating the
beautiful country, hav^ made special requests to be
returned to the Alaska station, and are enthusiastic

THE SITKAN AliClUPKLAiW.

225

over the region that knows neitiicr newspapers nor
high hats. They have many compensations for tlie
larger social life they are deprived of, and are envied
by all the tourists who meet them. For the sports-
men there are endless chances tor shooting every-
thing from humming-birds to ducks, eagles, deer, and
bear. The anglers tell fish stories that turn the
scales of all the tales that were ever told, and the
lovers of nature feast on scenes that ordinary travel-
lers cannot reach, and but dimly cheam of in this
hurried touch-and-go .^f an Alaskan cruise. In
the curio line they have the whole Territory where-
from to choose, and the stone, the copper, and the
modern age yield up their choicest bits for their
collections. A practical man has told me that there
is the i)lace where the officers can save their money,
wear out their old clothes, and learn patience and
other Christian virtues by grace of the slovv monthly
mail. Some few amuse themselves with a study of
the country and its people ; and the origin, tribal
relations, family distinctions, and mythology of the
Indians open a boundless field to an inquiring mind.
They come across many odd characters and strange
incidents among the queer, mixed po))ulation, and
gather up most astonishing legends. One frivolous
government officer, stationed for a long time in tlie
Territory, once electrified some Alaska enthusiasts
in a far-away city by putting out his elbows, and
drawling with Cockney accent : *' Ya-as ! Alaska is
all very well for climate, and scenery, and Indians,
and that sort of thing, but a man loses his grip on
society, you know, if he stays there long ! "

It took seventeen years to date fn>m the signing

22f)

SOUTHERN A L A SKA.

'S I

;(' lit

of the treaty until the Congress of the United States
grudgingly granted a skeleton form of government
to this one Territory that has proved ittjlf a paying
investment from the start. Every year the IVesident
called the: attenti »n of Congress to the matter, and
once the commander of a Russian man-of-war on the
Pacific coast announced his intention of going up to
Sitka to examine into the defenceless antl deplorable
condition of the Russian residents, to whom the
United States had not given the protection and civil
rights guaranteed in the treaty. He never carried out
his intentions, however, and the neglected citizens
had to wait.

After innumerable petitions and the presentation
in Congress of some thirty bills to grant a civil gov-
ernment to Alaska, the inhabitants were on the point
of having the Russian residents of the Territory unite
in a |)etition to the Czar, asking him to secure for
them the protection and the rights guaranteed in
the treaty of 1869. The Russian government would
(h)ubtless have enjoyed memorializing the United
States in such a cause, after the way the republic
has taken foreign governments to task for the perse-
cutions of Jev's, peasants, and subjects within Eu-
ropean borders.

Senator Harrison's bill to provide a civil govern-
ment lor Alaska was introduced on the 4th of
December, 1883, and, with amendments, passed the
Senate on the 24th of January, 1884. It was ap-
proved by the House of Representatives on the 13th
of May, and, receiving President Arthur's signature,
Alaska at last became a Territory, but not a land dis-
trict of the United States, anomalous as that may
seem.

THE .^ITKAy AHrilll'KLAQO.

22:

Hon. John H. Kinkcad, ex-Governor of Nevada,
and who had once resided at Sitka as j)ost master anc^
post trader, was niatlo the first executive. The other
officers of this first j^overnnient were : John G. Brady,
Commissioner at Sitka; Henry States, Commissioner
at Juneau ; George I*. Ihrie, Commissioner at l'\)rt
\Vran;j;ell ; Chester Seeber, Commissioner at Ouna-
laska ; Ward MacAlhster, jr., L'nited States District
Judge; E. VV. Haskell, United States District Attor-
ney; M. C. liillyer. United States Marshal for the
District of Alaska ; and Andrew T. Lewis, Clerk of
Court. These officers reached theii" stations in Sep-
tember, 1884, and the rule of civil law followed the
long Lterregnum of military, man-of-war, and revenue
government in the country that was not a Territory,
but only a customs district, and an Indian reservation
without an agent.

The most sanguine do not expect to see Alaska
enter the sisterhood of States during this century,
but they claim with reason that southeastern Alaska
will develoj) so rapidly that it will bec(/(ne necessary
to make it a separate Territory with full and complete
form of govetnment, and skeleton rule be confined to
the dreary and inhospitable regions of the Yukon
mainland.

The citizens who have struggled against such tre-
mendous odds for so many years were rather bitter
in their comments upon the taidy and ungracious
action of Congress in giving them only a skeleton
government ; and the Russians and Creoles are more
loyal to the Czar at heart, after experiencing these
seventeen years in a free country. To a lady who
tried to buv some illusion or tulle in a store at Sitka,

228

SOUTH FAiS ALASKA.

the trader blurted out, "No, ma'am, there's no illu-
sion in Alaska. It 's all reality here, and pretty hard
at that, the way the government treats lis."

The dim ideas that the outside world had of the
condition of Alaska was evinced by the stories Major
Morris used to tell of dozens of letters that were
addressed to "The United States Consul at Sitka."
Governors of States and more favored Territories
regularly sent their Thanks<;iving i'roclamations to
"The Governor of Alaska Territory," long before
the neglected country had any such an official as a
governor, or any right to such a courteous appellation
as "Territory."

THE SITKAy AlittllPKLAGO.

229

» •

CHAITI'R XVI.

EDUCATION IN ALASKA.

ALTHOUGH tlic pride of this most advanced
and enlightened nation of the earth is its pub-
lic school system, the United States has done noth-
ing for education in Alaska. According to Petroff's
historical record, from which the following rcsum^ is
made, the Russian school system began in 1874,
when Gregory Shelikoff, a founder and director of
the fur company, established a small school at Ko-
diak. He taught only the rudiments to the native
Aleuts, and his wife instructed the women in sewing
and household arts. Through Shelikoff's efforts the
empress, Catherine H., by special ukase of June 30,
1793, instructed the mctropolite Gabriel to send mis-
sionaries to her American possessions. In 1794 the
archimandrite, Ivassof, seven clergymen, and two lay-
men reached Kodiak, Germand, a member of this
party, established a school on Spruce Island, and for
forty years gave religious instruction and agricultural
and industrial teachings to the natives.

In 1820 a school was established at Sitka, and
instruction given in the Russian language and re-
ligion, the fundamental branches, navigation, and the
trades ; the object in all these schools maintained by

, I

230

SOUTHERN ALASKA.

r I ;l!

.Ml

'•i

? l!

■ "i , If

>'' <

the government and the fur company being to raise
up competent navigators, clerks, and traders for the
company's ranks.

In 1824 Ivan V niaminoff landed at Ounalaska,
and be;;an his mission work amonij the Aleuts, He
translated the Scriptures for them, and cor.ipiled a
vocabulary of their language, and in 1838 he went
back to Irkutsk and vvas made bishop of che inde-
pendent diocese of Russian Amerita. Returning to
Alaska, he established himself at SiiKa, founded the
Cathedral church, and undertook the conversion of
the Koloschians, or Thlinkets. Me studied their lan-
guage, translated books of the Testament, hymns,
and a catechism, and wrote several works upon the
Aleuts and Thlinkets, which are still the authority
upon rdl that relates to their peculiar rites, supersti-
tions, beliefs, and customs.

In the year 1840 Captain Etolin, a Creole, educated
in the colonial school 2t Sitka, became governor and
chief director of the fur company, and, during his ad-
ministration of affairs, educational matters received
their full share of attention. A preparatory school
was founded by Etolin, who adopted the wisest mea-
sures for its success. Religious teachings were given
in all the schools, and arithmetic, astronomy, and riav-
igation were considered important branches. Etolin
himself was a fine navigato**, and, while in command
of the company's ships, he made a survey of the
coast, and a map which is still considered authority.
His wife establishc I a school for Creole girls, educat-
ing them in the common branches and household du-
ties, and furnishing them with dowrie:? Vvhen they
married the company's officers or employees. In

THE SITKAN AliCUIPELAOO.

231

use
the

ska,
He
ed a
\v«'nt
inde-
v^ to
:1 the
on of
ir lan-
ymns,
)n the
;hority
pcrsti-

ucated

or and

his ad-

'ceived

school

it mea-
given

lid nav-
EtoUn

Inimand
of the ■

I'chority.

educat-

liold du-

n they

s, Irt

F841 Veniaminoff founded •. theological seminary at
Sitka, and it was maintained until the transfer of the
territory and the removal of the bishop's see to Kam-
schatka. In i860 the school system was rcorgiinized
by a commission, the scope and efficiency ot the in-
stitution increased, and thorouijjh training in the sci-
ences and higher branches afforded.

In 1867 the territory passed into the possession of
the United States, the Russian support was with-
drawn from the schools, and educational affairs have
been at a standstill ever since. No rights were re-
served for the Indians in the treaty of 1867, so that
th ire is no real '• Indian Question " involved. The
Treasury regulations forbidding the imjjortation or
sale of intoxicating liquors makes the wl-.ole Territory
an Indian reservation in one sense ; but there have
never been any treaties with the tri1)es ; there are no
Indian agents within the boundaries ; and, uncontami-
nated by the system of government rations and an-
nuity goods, the parties have been left free, with but
one exception, to work out their own civilization.

In leasing the Seal Islands to the Alaska Commer-
cial Company, the government bound the company
"to maintain a sc':ool on each island, in accordance
with said rules and re;;"ulations. and s .".table for the
education of the natives of said islai is, for a period
of not less than eight months in each year." Gov-
ernment agents have seen that the company kept its
promises for " the comfoi t, maintenance, education,
and protection of the natives of said islands," and
having provided carefully for these essentials on
those few square miles ol land, the general gov-
ernment omitted to do ajiything for the rest of the

232

SOUTHERN ALASKA.

great country and its 33,246 native inhabitants, who
are certainly as much entitled to educational aid as
the inhabitants of the nearer Territories and the
Southern States. The Alaska Commercial Company
has maintained schools on St. Paul's and St. George's
islands as agreed, and, becoming interested in the
rapid progress made by one very 'aright and clever
young Aleut at St. Paul's, the company sent him to
Massachusetts to complete his studies. They paid
all his expenses for five years, and he left the Massa-
chusetts State Normal School with credit, and is now
in charge of the schools at the Seal Islands, an intel-
ligent and highly esteemed young man, in whom the
company takes a natural pride.

According to the census report of 1880, the native
population of Alaska numbers 33,246. Of this num-
ber 7,225 are Thlinkets and Haidas, inhabiting the
southeastern part of the Territory, and Pctroff gives
the followins: enumeration of v.he tribes : —

1 !

Tribes.

Chilkat 988

Hooniah 908

Kootznahoo 666

Kake 568

Auk 640

T^ku 269

Stikine 317

Prince of Wales Id. (West Coast) .... 587

Tongass 273

Sitka 721

Yakutat 500

Haida 788

Total 7,225

THE SITKAN ARCHIPELAGO.

233

While the military garrison was at Sitka, the wives
of the officers taught classes of the natives every
Sunday, and when General O. O. Howard's atten-
tion was directed to the matter, during a trip through
the country, he reported the condition of affairs to
the mission boards. The Presbyterian Board was the
first to enter the field, Mrs. Mcl^'arland esta])lishing
the school at Fort Wrangell in 1877. In i<S7<S a
school was started at Sitka ; in 1880 one was estab-
lished at Chilkoot Inlet, and after that, one among
the Hooniahs of Cross Sound, and at Mowkan and
Shakan, among the Haidas. A school for Russian
and Creole children was maintained at Sitka in 1879,
under the protection of Captain Glass, U.vS.N., whose
efforts in the cause i : Indian education have already
been recorded.

The Indians are quick to learn and an.xious t() be
taught, and, appreciating the praC'cal advantages of
an education, they unceasingly beg tor teachers and
schools. The only tirawback to their u))uard pro-
gress is their want of all moral sense or in.-tincts.
The missionary teachers sent out by the Presbyte-
rian Board have been well received by the Indians,
but, on account of a few unfortunate instances, aie
not popular with the white residents. The native
chiefs have often given uj) the council-houses ani'
their own lodges to them for school-rooms, and taken
the instructors under their special protection.

Recognition was at last given to the rights and the
wants of these people ir. 1884, and in section 13 of
the "Act providing a civil government for Alaska,"
an appropriation of $25,000 was made for the educa-
tion of all children of school age, without reference to

, ..v><t.^vUU^»i^«^

234

SOUTH Klty ALASKA.

) \,

race. The public schools contemplated in this act
are yet to be established, as the civil officers have
first to inspect, and make their reports and sugges-
tions as to the wisest dis])osal of the fund.

At the same session of the forty-eightli Congress,
the Indian ai)propriation bill made tins provision:
"For the support and education of Indian children of
both sexes at inckistrial schools in Alaska, $15,000."
The Presbyterian Board,of Missions, through the Rev.
Dr. Kendall, made application for a portion of this
fund in 1884, and the Commissioner of Indian Af-
fairs, in his letter recommending that it should be
granted, said : —

" In the total neglect of the government (since
Alaska was purchased) to provide for the educational
needs of Alaska Indians, thoy have been indebted
for such schools as they have had solely to religious
societies, and for most of these schools they are in-
debted to the society which Dr. Kendall represents.
For the establishment and support of its schools that
society, last year, expanded over $20,000, and also
expended nearly $5,000 for mission work. In the en-
largement of their educational work in Alaska, they
have therefore the first claim to assistance from the
appropriation recently made by government for the
support of schools in Alaska. Moreover, they have
now on the ground officers and employees who can
carry on the work."

A contract was therefore made with the mission
authorities at Sitka for the education and care of one
hundred pupils, at an expense to the government of
$120 per capita per annum, the expenditure to be
irade in quarterly payments from the appropriation

THE SiTKAy AUrUlPKLAdO.

•l'6'o

Since
ional
pbxecl

ious

c in-
ents.

that

also
le en-

they
im the

r the

have

o can

As^ion
pf one
lent of
to be
-iation

i
1

named above. It was estimated that for the first
year the whole expenditure would not exceed 1^9,000
or $10,000. The contracts are temporary, and can
be annulled at two months' notice should a different
policy prevail at "headquarters ; and the original inten-
tion of establishing a government industrial school
after the plan of the successful institution at Carlisle
Barraci<s, Pa., will probably not be carried out for
some time.

The Roman Catholics built a chapel at Fort Wran-
gell some years ago, but it has been closed for a long-
time, and there are no missions of that church now
maintained in southeastern Alaska at least. It would
seem as though this were a field particularly adapted
to the efforts of the Jesuits, who have always been so
successful among the native tribes of the ^?acific
coast.

Two Moravian missionaries from Hethlchcm, I'a.,
the Rev. Adolphus Hartman and the Rev. William
Weinland, were taken up to the Yukon region by the
U. S. S. Corwin in the spring of 1884, and will devote
themselves to mission work among the Indians of
the interior.

236

SOUTHERN ALASKA,

CHAPTER XVII.

PERIL STRAITS AND KOOTZNAHOO.

WHEN the steamer gets ready to leave Sitka,
there is always regret that the few days in that
port could not have been weeks. There are always
regrets, too, at not seeing Mount St. Elias, when the
passengers realize that the ship has begun the return
voyage. Mr. Seward was most desirous of seeing
Mount St. Elias from the sea, but was deterred from
carrying out his plan by the stories of the rough
water to be crossed, and the certainty of fogs and
clouds obscuring his view when he reached the bay
at the base of the great mountain. There are sel-
dom any passengers or freight billed for Mount St.
Elias, and the mail contract does not require the
steamer to run up that three hundred miles to north-
westward of Sitka and call at the mountain each
month. The U. S. S. Adams carried some prospec-
tors up to Yakutat Bay in 1883, and its officers took
that opportunity of visiting the great glacier that
fronts for seventy miles on the coast at the foot of
the giant peak of North America. One of the officers
made a series of admirable water-color sketches, but
no angles were taken to determine the exact height
of the mountain, and the elevation of the untrodden
summit is not yet determined with precision.

THE SITKAN ARVHIPELAao.

237

sel-
St.
the
Irth-
ach
i^ec-
ook
hat
(tof
ers
but
ght
den

In June, 1884, the /t/a/io went up lu the mouth
of Copper River to land Lieutenant Abercrombie,
U. S. A., and his exploring party, and the pilot's story
of the radiantly clear sky, and the view of Mount St.
Klias, one hundred and fifty miles away, added poig-
nancy to the regrets of the July passengers. From
a height of 17,500 feet, the mountain has now risen
to 19,500 feet, according to the latest "Coast Pilot,"
and somewhere it has been given an elevation of
23,000 feet above the sea. Fame and glory await the
mountain-climber who reaches its top, and every
American who rides up the Righi, or has a guide pull
him up other Alpine summits, should blush that a
grander mountain in his own country, the highest
peak of the continent, too, has never yet been accu-
rately measured, or explored, or ascended.

When, as the log says, "the ship lets go from
Sitka wharf," there are two routes to choose in start-
ing southward. One leads out through the beautiful
Sitka Sound, and past Mount Edgecumbe, to the
open sea, and then the course i' down the shore of
Baranoff Island and around Cape Ommaney to the
insitle waters. Fhe mountain outlines of the Haranoff
shore are particularly fine from the ocean, b ' a lands-
man finds more beauty in the peaks and ranges as
seen from the quiet waters of Chatham Strait on the
other side of the island. Cape Ommaney. in rough
weather, is more dreaded by mariners than the Co-
lumbia River bar, and wits and punsters take liberties
with its name when they round Cape Ommaney in a
head wind and chop sea. The Pacific raises some
mighty surges off that point, and there are small
islands and hidden rocks on all sides of it. Vancouver

,.-.... ^^' 'its

238

SOUTHERN ALASKA.

had to anchor for several days in a little bight before
he could venture around the cape, and in later times
it has been a place of peril and anxiety to the navi-
gators of the coast.

The other route from Sitka leads around the north
end of J^aranoff Island, and through Peril Straits
across ♦^j Chatham Strait. Peril Straits is a narrow
gorge or channel between the two mountainous
islands of Chicagoff and Baranoff, and is strewn
through all of its tortuous way with rocks and ledges
over which the rushing titles pour in eddies and
rapids. Several wrecks have occurred in this danger-
ous passage, and in May, 1883, the freight steamer
Eureka struck a rock, and was beached near shore in
time to save it from complete destruction. All lives
were saved, and the crew and salvage corps had a
camp near the wreck for three weeks, before the
ship was raised and taken to San Fx'ancisco for
repairs.

It was aptly named Peril, or Pogibshi, Strait, by the
Russians, though Petroff says that it was called that
on account of the death of one hundred of Baranoff's
Aleut hunters, who were killed by eating poisonous
mussels there, rather than on account of its reefs and
furious tides. It takes a daring and skilful navigator
to carry a ship through that dangerous reach, and it
is something fine to watch Captain Carroll, when he
puts extra men at the wheel and sends his big steamer
plunging and flying through the rapids. The yard-
arms almost touch the trees on the precipitous shores,
and the bow heads to all the points of the compass in
turn, as " the salt, storm-fighting old captain " stands
on the bridge, with his hands run deep in his great-coat

'Si-

rni-: sriKAy Aiu lui'KLAao.

23l>

oat

pockets, and drops an occasional "Stab'bord a bit!"
" Hard a stab'bord ! " or " Port your helm ! " down the
trap-door to the men at the wheel. Aside from its
evil fame, it is a most picturesque and beautiful chan-
nel, the waters a clear, deep gjreen, and the shores
clothed with dense forests of darker green.

Captain Coghlan made a survey of Peril Straits be-
fore leaving Alaska, and marketl off the channel with
buoys. He found so many rocks and reefs that had
been unsuspected, that the mariners said that they
would never dare to venture through Peril Straits
again, after learning how rock-crowded and dangerous
it was.

Down Chatham Strait, green and snow-covered
mountains rise on either side, and on the shores of
Admiralty Island marble blutfs show like patches of
snow on the long shore line of eternal green. The
old Indian village of Kootznahoo, the " Bear Fort" of
the natives, lies in a cove on the Admiralty shore,
and, from first to last, the Kootznahoo tribe have
proved an unruly set. They made hostile demon-
strations to Vancouver's men when they explored
the strait, and in 1869 the authorities had to deal
severely with them, destroying a village and carrying
the chief away as hostage, or prisoner, on the V. S. S.
Sagiimw. Tn October, 1S82, the shdling of t ,is
Kootznahoo village by Captain Merriman, \J. S, N.,
made a great stir, and editors si.x thousand miles
away heaped vituperation and invective upon the
head of that officer, without waiting to know of any-
thing but the bare fact of the shelling. The docility
of the Indians since then, and the expressed approval
of the Tyee's action by the' chiefs of the tribe, prove

240

SOUTllEllN ALASKA.

how efficacious his course was at the battle of Kootz-
nahoo. In Alaska, where the history of that bom-
bardment is still fresh, and the survivors are walking
about in paint and nose rings, the whole thing wears
a different aspect, and fragments that one remembers
of those blazing editorials appear now as most laugh-
able. Every scribe brought in a ringing sentence
about the "eternal ice and snows of an arctic winter;"
but they don't have arctic winters in this part of
Alaska, as a study of the Japan Current and the
isothermal lines will show, and while the battle raged
the thermometer stood higher than it did in New
York. Other errors were bound to creep in where
the fires of enthusiasm were kindled with so little in-
formation, and to the officers and people of Sitka the
newspapers were a source of unending entertainment
when the bombardment of Kootznahoo began to reach
their columns.

As related on the spot, that Kootznahoo story of the
torpedo and the whale is Homeric in its simplicity.
Some Indians went out in a canoe with the white men
emi)loyed by the Northwest Trading Company at Kil-
lisnoo. While paddling towards a whale, one of the
bombs attached to a harpoon exploded and killed an
Indian. If it had been a common Indian, nothing
would ever have been heard of the incident, but when
the natives saw their great medicine man laid low, they
raised an uproar. Going back to first causes, they
demanded two hundred blankets from the trading
company as compensation for their loss. The com-
pany naturally ignored this tax levied by the coroner's
jury, and straightway there were signs of war.

The Indians' demand for blood or ransom was made

TIIK SITKAN AliCJlIPELAGO.

241

stronger by their capturing one of the wliite men and
holding him as hostage, but when they found that he
was one-eyed they tried to send him back for ex-
change. They claimed that he was cultus (worth-
less), and demanded a whole and sound man for their
dead shaman. They made ready to murder all the
white men at the adjoining station, intending, how-
ever, to spare the agent's wife and children, as they
afterwards confessed. As the signs of the coming
trouble were more apparent, the little steamer Fa-
vorite was sent to Sitka with the agent's family,
and an appeal made for help to the Adains. Captain
Merriman returned in the Favorite, accompanied by
the revenue cutter Corwiu.

A great iva-iva was held with the ringleaders and
marauders, and to their bold demand for the two hun-
dred blankets. Captain Merriman responded vvith a
counter-demand, that the Indians should bring him four
hundred blankets, and forever after keep the peace,
or he would shell their village. Mistaking his word for
that of a common Indian agent, the red men went
their riotous way, and at dusk of a November after-
noon the Corivin anchored outside the reef and sent
the shot hurtling through the village. The Indians
gathered up their blankets and their stores of winter
provisions, and took to the woods, but the bombard-
ment was not so severe, but that a few rascally
Kootzr.ahoos stayed in the village and plundered the
abandoned houses. The tribute of blankets was paid,
the Kootznahoos humbled themselves before the big
Tyee, or their "good father," and a more docile, pen-
itent, and industrious community does not exist than
those same obstreperous Indians.

242

so UriIKU .V A L .1 fiKA.

The liquor that the Hudson Hay Company and the
Russian tradL-rs furnished to the Indians was very
weak and very expensive, and the Kuotznahoos rest
some of their claims to distinction on the fact that
the native drink, or hoochinoo, was first distilled hy
their people. A deserter from a vvhalinf;-ship tau^dit
them the secret, and from molasses or sugar, with
flour, potatoes, and yeast, they distil the vilest and
most powerful spirit. An old oil can and a musket
harrel, or a section of the long, hollow pipe of the
common seaweed {ncrciocistuni) furnish the appara-
tus, and the lioochinoo, quickly distilled, can be used
at once. After any quantity of it has been made,
its presence is soon declared, and the Indians are
frenzied by it. Ilooc/iii/oo is the great enemy of
peace and order, and the customs officers can much
easier detect a white man smuggling whiskey than
catch the Indians in the distilling act. It is appa-
rent enough when i"hey have imbibed the rank and
fiery spirit, but it is impossible to watch all the
illicit stills that they set up in their houses, or hide in
lonely coves and places in the woods. The man-of-
war is always on the lookout for indications of JioocJii-
iioo, and at the first signs a raid is made on a village,
the houses and the woods searched, and the stills and
supplies destroyed. With the cunning of a savage
race they have wonderful ways of hiding it in under-
ground and up-tree warehouses, and many exciting
stories are told by the naval officers of the great hoo-
chiuoo raids they have taken part in.

Liimmc or rum, these children of nature some-
times call the forbidden fluid, as, like their Chinese
cousins, the Thlinkets are unable to pronounce the

TUE SITKAN AHCUIVKL.UiO,

243

igo

letter r, and give the /-sound as its ecjuivalent in
every case. There arc many points of resemblance
between the Kootznahoos and the Orientals ; and
in writing of the origin of these Thlinket tribes of
the archii)elago, Captain Jieardslee, in his official
report, says : —

"All of the tribes mentioned except the Kootzna-
hoos seem to have sprung from a common origin ; they
speak the same language and luive similar customs
and superstitions, and from these the Kootznahoos
differ so slightly that a stranger cannot detect the
difference. Their legend is that originally all lived
in the Chilkat 'ountry ; that there came great floods
of ice and water, and the country grew too poor to
sui)port them, and that many emigrated south ; that
the Auks are outcasts from the lloonah tribes, and
the Kakes from the Sitkas, and botli tribes deserve
to be still so considered ; that the Kootznahoos came
from over the sea. and the Maidas, who live on Van-
couver's Island, from the south. I have imbibed an
impression, which, however, I could not obtain much
evidence to support, that all of the tribes except the
Haidas are Oriental, — in every respect they resem-
ble the Ainos of Japan far more than they do our
North American Indians, — and that the Kootznahoos
are of Chinese origin ; while the Haidas, who are
superior to all of the others in. intelligence and skill
in various handicrafts, are the descendants of the
boat-loads whom Cortez drove out of Mexico, and
who vanished to the north."

All this part of Admiralty Island is a coal field,
and veins and outcroppings of lignite have been
found on every side of it, and along the inlets and

244

SOUTHERN ALASKA.

1; ; .

if .i

f: I

ii ^ i. :

creeks leading to the interior. A good coal mine
would be worth more than a gold mine, in Alaslca,
and though seams have been discovered with regu-
larity since 1832, none of the explorers seem to have
found just the thing yet. In 1868 Lieutenant-Com-
mander Mitchell explored Kootznahoo Inlet, leading
into the heart of Adi .iralty Island, and at the head
of the perilous channel opened a coal seam. In the
following year, Mr. Seward's party went up to the
Mitchell mine, and they were enthusiastic over its
promises. The coal burned beautifully in the open
air, but when the real tests wtre put to it, and i*; was
tried in the boiler-room of the ship, it was foun'l to
contain so much crude resin that it was destruc-
tion to boiler iron. Geologically, the country is too
young to have even any ver)' good lignite beds, but
the archipelago is now swarming with coal pror>pect-
ors and coal experts, and there is such a general
craze for coal that it may yet be forthcoming. At
present the Nanaimo coal is depended upon entirely
for steaming purposes, and the mail-steamer has to
carry' its own supply ^ar the whole round trip, and
take as freight the coal needed for the government
ships at Sitka.

After Captain Hooper's mine of true coal at Cape
Lisburn, en the Arctic coast, the most promising
indication*;-, are at Cook's Inlet and annnd the VCenai
peninsula. Although irrelevant in this connection, it
perhaps naturally follow's in this lignite vein to men
tion a coal mine accidentallv discovered bv an En-
glish yachtsman. Sir Thomas Hesketh, while cruising
about Kenai. He treed an eagle on a hunting trip,
and. other means failing to dislodge it, the sportsman

THE SITKAN ARCHIPELAGO.

245

set fire to the tree. The roots ran down into a coal
seam, thac, taking fire, was burning two years later
v.hen the last ship touched there. Another escapade
of the ^'achting party v/as to set a dead monkey
adrift in a box, and when it washed ashore near
Kodiak, the Indians, who had had a tradition that
the evil spirit would come to earth in the shape of
a little black man, fled that part of the island in ter-
ror and never went back.

"WT^

240

SOUTHERN ALASKA.

CHAPTER XVIII.

KILLISNOO AND THE LAM) OF KAKES.

I I

1' '

:'' i' ' |)

I I i > I

AROUND the point from Kootznahoo, a sharp
turn leads through a veritable needle's eye of
u i)assage to Koteosok Harbor, made by the natural
breakwater of a small island lying close to the Admir-
alty shore. This island was named by Ca]itain Meade
as Kenasnow, or "near the fort." as the Kootznahoos
designated it to him. It is a picturesque, fir-crovvned
little islantl, and its dark, slaty cliffs are seamed with
veins of pure white marble. Its ragged shores hoUl
hundreds of aquariums at low tide, and in the way of
marine curios there are, besides the skeletons of
whales, myriads of star fish and jelly fish and barna-
cles strewing the beach ; the acres of barnacles giving
off a chorus of faint little clicking sounds as they
hastily shut their shells at the sound of any one
approaching.

On this little island of Kenasnow, 1:he Northwest
Trading Company has its largest station, Rillisnoo,
where coilfish are dried, herring and dogfish con-
verted into oil, and the air weighted with the most
horrible smells from the fish guano manufactured
therj. The company has extensive warehouses,
works, and shops on Kenasnow, and around the build-
ings there are gathered quite a village of Kootznahoo

sharp

eye of

atural

\.dmir-

Mcadc

Kihoos

owned

;d with

s hold

way of

ons of

harna-

giving

tis they
,ny one

irthwest
inisnt)o,
Ish con-
he most
[act u red
chouses,
ic build-
ktznahoo

THE SITKAN ARCHIPELAGO.

247

Indians, who are employed at the fishery. This sta-
tion represents an investment of over $100,000, the
oil works alone having cost '$70,000, ai\tl extravagant
management having doubled all the necessary ex-
penses of the first plant. As there was no water
supply on the solid rock of Kenasnow, a reservoir
with a storage capacity of 90,0(X) gallons of water
was constructed ; and., with cedar forests on every
side, every bit of lumber used was brought by freight
from below.

Killisnoo was first established as a whaling station,
but many causes decided the company to abandon
that branch of fishery. There is a tradition that the
Indians once regarded their great totemic beast, the
whale, with such veneration that they would never
kill it, nor eat of its fiesh and blubber. The Kootz-
nahoos have grown skeptical in many ways, and they
made no objections to harpooning the whale, until
the bomb explodetl in 1882 ; and after the troubles
following upon that impious adventure, the company
decided that whaling was not a profitable business,
and began to fish for cod and smaller fry.

The codfish are caught in the deeper waters of
Chatham Strait around the island, the Indians going
out in the fleet of small boats to fish, and turning
their catch into large scows, which are towed in by
the two steam launches that are kept constantly
busy. Connoisseurs pronounce this cod remarkably
fine, firm, and white, and as neither hake nor hail-
dock are ever found there, the Killisnoo codfish is
not open to the same suspicions as rest on so many
Eastern fish. They average in weight from three to
five pounds, and the Indians are provided with boats

248

.so UTHERN A LA SKA .

:rr:i

and paid two cenls apiece for every codfish caught. A
difficulty in the way of drying in the open air in this
moist climate has been solved by building a drying-
house, where the process is accomplished artificially.
There seems to be no limit to the quantity of fish that
can be caught, and during one visit at Killisnoo a scow
was towed in from Gardner Point loaded with eight
thousand fine large cod, and 1,576 boxes of the dried
fish were ready to be shii)ped south.

From the end of August into January, the waters
of Chatham Strait are black with herring. The In-
dians used to catch them with primitive rakes, made
by driving nails through the end of a piece of board,
and with this rude imi)lement they could quickly fill
a canoe with herring, each nail catching two and
three fish. Seines have supplanted the aborigine's
liand-rake, and a thousand barrels of silver herring
have been taken at a single haul, although the average
haul is about half as many barrels, and requiring
eleven men to each net then. Each barrel of fish
yields about three gallons of oil at the oil works,
which are managed by men who have had charge
of menhaden fisheries on the Atlantic coast. As
the result cf the first year's work, 82.000 gallons of
herring oil were shipped below in 188,^, selling at the
rate of thirty cents per gallon. Within the year an
attempt was made towards supplying the cod-liver oil
of pharmacy, and five cases of it sent below for trial
received the highest indorsement from physicians.

More picturesque and less fragrant than the build-
ings of the company were the log and bark houses of
the Indians, who have abandoned 'heir -old village
and fort of Kootznahoo, and settled iround the Kil-

77//-; .s777vMJV' ARCIflPKLAaO.

240

erage ■

iii-in<i; 1

f fish i

,'(>rks, ■ '

har<2;c 1

As 1

ns of 1

It the 1

^ar an

,'er oil

r trial

ns.

buiUl-

ses of

rillage

e Kil-

lisnoo station. The local ct'lobrity is tlio famou.s old
head chief of the Kootznabioos, Ivitchnatti or Sai;ina\v
Jake, who, for ilu- iniciuities of his tribe, was carried
off as a iiostagj in llie nian-of-war Sdi^i/mii' in 1869.
He was a prisoner for a loni; lime on board that ship
at the Mare Island Na\y Vard in California, and
when he was afterward returned to his people, he be-
came an apostle of jx'ace and the greatest friend of
the white man. Me is a crooked, bow-legged old fel-
low, and he superintended the tying up of the ship in
a most energetic wav. lie lurched and tacked across
the dock, waving his cane wildly to his underlings,
and giving hoarse, guttural words of the fiercest com-
mand. He wore a derb\- hat with a gold band, and
the uniform coat of a captain of the navv, while two

st(

his b

ve his name and
rank as the Killisnoo policeman, and a dangerous-
looking billy was suspended from his shoulder by a
variegated sash.

Besides being a hostage of war, Kitchnatti was
once denounced l)y a terrible shaman, who had an
incurable patient on hand. The chief was found
bound and tied for torture, and barely rescued in
time by naval friends. He has now no respect for
his own medicine-men, and proved it once by telling
one of the curio collectors that he knew where there
was a shaman's grave full of beautiful carvings and
trophies. He was bidden to get them, aad offered a
price for his grave-robbing. In a few days Jake re-
appeared, looking sad and despoTident. He men-
tioned the name of a sub-chief, and, with a tone of
severe disapproval, said : —

•' Heap bad Indian. He rob medicuie-man's grave.
Sell curios to trader. Bad man."

pnm

^■Vqil

WiiPiiiii

250

SOUTUKHN ALASKA.

\ ' I

1 !

' When Jake spied the photographers on shore, he
made wild signals, ran off to his cabin, and reap-
peared clad in fuller regalin ; then, drawing an old
cutlass, braced himself up in a "present-arms" atti-
tude before the camera, and nodded for the operator
to go on. He then led them to his neatly white-
washed house, and showed them a cigar-box full of
letters of credentials and testimonials of character
given him by naval officers, shij) captains, traders,
and missionaries. All of these Indians have a great
fancy for these letters. They beg them from every one
in power, and carry them around tenderly wrapped in
l^aper, to show them as certificates of their worth,
character, and importance. Some of Jake's letters
were profusely sealed with great splotches of red
wax, and there is a story that he for a long time
innocently showed a testimonial, which ran : '* The
bearer of this paper is the biggest scoundrel in
Alaska. Believe nothing that he says, ami look out,
or he will steal everything in sight." These poor
old men of letters have many funny jokes played on
them in this way, and it is really touching to see
the innocent pride with which they display these

msignia.

Jake pointed with pleasure to a row of illuminated
posters and portraits of theatrical celebrities that
decorated one wall of his cabin, and explained that
they were pictures of his friends. The faces were
those of Nat Goodwin, Gus Williams, John McCul-
lough, Thomas Keane, and others, and the high col-
ors and grand attitudes much pleased the old chief.
In quite another vein Jake pointed to a small box
tomb on the other side of the channel, where he had

I in
out,
[xior
d on
see
Ihese

ated
that
that
Iwere
:Cul-
col-
:hief.
box
had

< 1

■l>¥«#«-"i',;t>

THK SITKAN AHVlIIPKL.'iW.

2:)3

buried his little daughter a few days before. A flag-
pole, with a small United States flag at half-mast,
gave mute testimony to Jake's ideas of patriotism
and mourning etiquette. His wife betrayed her state
of grief by wandering about in a black dress, with a
black umbrella held down closely over her head all of
the time.

At Killisnoo blackened faces were almost the rule,
and every other native woman had her face coated
with a mixture of seal oil and soot. A group of
these blackamoors made a picture, as they sat inside
a cabin door weaving their pretty baskets of the fine
inside bark and roots of the cedar. One younger
woman wore a silver pin sticking out through her
under lip, another had a large wooden labrette in
her lip ; and when the photographer tried to take the
group, their neighbors ran up and joined in the
tableau.

At Killisnoo, once, the anglers baited their lines
and hung them overlxjard, as inducements to the cod-
fish. The lunch-gong summoned them below, but
they tied their lines and trusted to some fish swal-
lowing the hooks while they were gone. When the
first angler came up and touched his line, his face
glowed, and he began pulling in the weighty prize.
When the line left the water a bottle was dangling
on the end of it, tied with a sailor's knot, and hook
and bait intact. The second angler drew up a dried
codfish, and then, when they looked around for the
captain of the ship, he was nowhere to be found.

There are a few Kake Indians among the fisher-
men and workmen at Killisnoo, and their old home
or proper domain is on Kouiu Island, further down

254

SOUTllEHN ALASKA.

'■?' i

! ;

Chatham Straits. The Kakes are outcasts and rone-
p;ade.s among the tribes, and, from early days, there
has been reason for the bad name given them. They
were hostile, treacherous, and revengeful, and were
dealt with warily by the old traders. In 1857 a war
party paddled a thousand miles down to Puget Sound,
and at Whidby Island murdered Mr. Ebey, a former
collector of customs at Port Townsend, in retaliation
for an indignity jnit upon their men in the preceding
year. They carried his heau back with them, and
great war dances followed the return of the avenging
Kakes.

At the north end of Kouiu Island are the ruins of
the three villages destroyed during the ' ike war, in
1869. The origin and incidents of this war are thus
sketched in a private letter by Captain R. W. Meade,
U. S. N., who commanded the U. S. S. SagijtazVj at
that time in Alaskan waters : —

" The war was due originally to the killing of a
Kake Indian at Sitka by the sentry on guard at the
lower end of the town. There had been some trou-
ble with the Indians outside the stockade, and Gen-
eral Jeff C. Davis, who commanded the department,
with headquarters at Sitka, had given orders to pre-
vent all Indians from leaving Sitka during the night
— I think it was New Year's night. He had asked
me to co-operate with him, and my patrol-boats sent
several canoes back to the Indian village. About
daylight a canoe was discovered leaving the village.
The soldier nearest the canoe hailed and ordered the
canoe back, and as it did not go back after a third or
fourth hail, fired, killing a Kake Indian. The canoe
still continued to paddle off, and, though pursued by

THK siTKAN MiClllVKLAGO.

255

the boats of the Snj^iuaWy that had seen the firing,
escaped. Subsequently, in revenge for this, the Kakc
Indians murdered two Sit l<a traders, Messrs. Maugher
and Wali<er, md General Davis determined to punish
them by destroying their villages. 1 was asked to
co-operate, and, althougii I think the trouble could
have been avoided in the first place, yet, after the
wanton murder of two innocent men, I felt it my
(Uity to give the Kake tribe — a very ugly one — a
lesson. We therefore took on board some twenty-
five soldiers from the garrison at Sitka, and went to
the Kake country. The Indians abandoned their vil-
lages on our ai)proach, and three villages were de-
stroyed by fire and shell. A stockaded fort was also
destroyed by midship/man, now Lieutenant l^ridges,
of the Sa^i^inaw. The Indians were dismayed, and
no further trouble, I believe, has occurred with them.
There was no loss of life on either side — it was a
bloodless war."

The Kakes have never returned to these villages,
and in diminished numbers they roam the archi-
pelago, creating trouble and disturbances wherever
they draw up their canoes. Their visits are dreaded
equally by the natives and whites, and Captain
Beardslee peremptorily ordered them out of Sitka
when several war canoes, filled with a visiting party,
came abreast of the ranclicric, shouting and singing
their peculiar songs. Their unpleasaui. reputation
has, doubtless, kept settlers away from Kouiu Island,
and there is not yet as much as a salmon cannery or
packing house on its shores. The island is over sixty
miles long, with an irregular, indented shore, and
wherever the surveyors have followed its lines they

2r)«;

SOUTH I'JIiN .\l..lSlxA.

have seen forests of yellow cedar. This timber will,
in time, make Kouiu and the adjoinin}; island of
Kuprianoff the most valuable land sections in this
|)art of the Territory. The yellow cedar is srnd to
be the only good ship timber on the Tacific coast,
and is the only wood that can resist the teredo,
which eats up the pine piles under wharves in two
years from the time they are driven. The trees are
found five and seven feet in diameter, and attain the
heifTjht of one hundred and fifty feet, and the fine,
closely grained, hard, yellow wood was once exported
to China in large quantities by the Russians. The
Chinese valued it for its fine, hard texture, and they
carved it into chests and small articles, and exported
it as cam])hor wood, lis odor is liy some said to
resemble sandal wood, and, by others, garlic, but it
takes a beautiful satiny polish, and will be as valuable
as a cabinet wood as for shi[) timber. Some of it
that has been sent to I'ortland has been sold at
seventy-five tlollars a thousand feet, and iMr. Seward
prized very highly the fine cedar that he carried
home with him. As ihere has always been complaint
of the quality of the Oregon timber, and vessels built
of its pine could not be insured as A i but for three
years, it may seem strange that no attempts have
been made to utilize the vast forests of cedar scat-
tered through the archipelago. Seven years ago a
bill was introduced in Congress asking that one hun-
dred thousand acres of timber land on Kouiu Island
should be sold to a company, that guaranteed to estab-
lish a shipyard and build a vessel of twelve hundred
tons burthen within two years. The same inscrut-
able reasons that for a long time prevented anything

THE SITKAN AH(JlUrKLAG(h

being done for the development of Alaska prevented
the bill from becomin<r a law. Kven the present
act establishing a form of civil government does nm
make the Territory a land district, and nothin^^ could
seem more i)ervcrse than this action. Timber lands
can neither be bou-ht nor leased, and as settlers can
in no way accjuire an acre, there are few saw mills in
the Territory, and their owners are ^aiilty of stealing
government timher, and liable to prosecution if the
new officials press things to the finest point. Want
of lumber has been a serious hindrance and obstacle
to settlers, and the miners at Juneau had to pay
freight on, and await the monthly consignments of
Oregon pine that were shipped to a country crowded'
with better timber.

f '

258

SOUTHERN ALASKA.

,\ •

CriArTER XIX.

THE PRINCE OF WALES ISLAND.

-< /

i: (

I IKK Knuiu and Kuprianoff islands, the IVincc
— ^ of Wales Island is another home of the yellow
or Alaska cedar. It was named by Vancouver^ and
when the Co; st Survey changed his name of the
George III. Archipelaf;'o to the y\lexander Archi-
pelago, this largest island of the gronj) retained its
former designation It is from one hundred and fifty
to two hundred miles long, and from twenty to sixty
miles wide, ^at the surveys have never been com-
plete enough to determine whether it is all one island
01' a group of islands Great arms of the sea reach
into the heart of the is. and, and dense forests of cedar
cover it> hil^s and dales. The salmon are founti in
the grea.''est n imbers on every sitle of it. and the pio-
neer and most successful cannery and packing houses
aie on its shores. On account of its timber and its
saln:on, it was once i>roposed to declare the island a
government reservation of ship timber for the use of
the navy yards on the Pacific coast, and to lease the
valuable fisheries. The very mention of Alaska has
been provocative of roars of laughter in the houses of
Congress, and the ugh the reservatioii would have
been larger than the State of New Jersey, and its

Its

id a

kc of

the

has

'S of

have

1 its

THE SITKAN ARCUIVELAGO.

25V>

value incalculable, the wits took tlicir turn at the
^leasureand nothing was done. A citizen of Alaska,
who has chafed under the neglect and indignities put
upon this Territory, made scathing comments upon
the debates of both Mouse and Senate, brought about
by these ceckir reservation bills and the bill for a
Territorial government. His final shot was this : —

"If those Senators and ''^ongiessmen don't know
any more about the tariff, and the other things that
they help to discuss, than they do about Alaska, the
Lord help the rest of the United States. Their igno-
rance of the commonest facts of geography would dis-
grace any little Siwash at the I'^ort Wrangell School.
What have they ))aid for all these special government
reports for, if they don't ever read them when they
get ready to sj)eak on a foreign subject, to say noth-
ing of what can be found in the encyclo{);edias and
geographies } "

These Alaskans are keenly critical of all that is
written about their Territory, and they scan newspaper
accounts with the sharpest eyes for an inaccuracy or
a discrepancy. The statesmen who have assailed the
Territory in speeches and debates in Congress are
condemned with a certain thorough less and sweep;
and to introduce a co|)y of /7/< CtfNi^/rssiofia/ Rtron/,
containing such efforts, causes even worse explosions
than the one quoted. It was one of these revengeful
jokers who laid the scheme for having an eminent
senator introduce a bill to build a wagon road from
Kort Wrangell to a point on the Canadian Pacific
Railroad on the eastern sloj^e of the Rocky Moun-
tains. An a})propriation of $ioo,cxx) was asked for,
v.iu\ every married citizen was to receive six hundred

2^jO

80 urn EH V A L A H KA.

and forty acres of agricultural or grazing land 'n the
Territory. As the contemplated highway would lead
for a thousand miles across British C<4uinbia, through
the densest wood^ and over tli*- roughest coiMirtry,
and from tlie island tow n of F<>ri Wrangell only ten
lea'';ues of the route would be within the Alaska
boundaries, some of the joke can hv discovered.

( )n the west shore of I'rince of Wales Island there
is a large salmon cannery and saw-mill at Klawak,
belonfring to Messrs. Sisson, Crocker, & Co., of San
Francisco. It was established in l87<S, and the shi])-
ments of salmon are made direct by their own
schooners to San Francisco, or by their steam launch,
which makes frequent trip.s to Kaigahriee ar^d VorX
Wrangell, the nearest post offices and landing* of th*-
mail .steamer. In 1883 the Klawak cannery shipfx^d
10,000 cases of .salmon to San I'^rancisco, and in 1884,
8,000 cases were sent below. The Klawak settle-
ment is off the regular line of the steamer, and rarely
visited by it, now that the cannery i.s well established
and furnished with its own boats ; but it is described
as one of the many beautiful places in the archipelago
where the silver salmon run in greatest numbers.

b'or salmon fisheries and salmon canneries there
exists a perfect craze all along the Pacific coast, and
from the Columbia River to Chilkat such establish-
ments are projected for every possible jilace. At
the most northern point of our cruise we ])icked up a
piratical-looking man, in flannel shirt and tucked-uj)
trousers, who had been sent to Alaska "'to prospect
for salmon," by the owners of one of the large can-
neries at Astoria, Oregon. This piscatorial pros-
pector had for years been a pilot on the Columbia

TIIK <TTKAS AU(:iin*KI.A<i(>.

2(il

Jl'JO

sh-
At
pa

(>ect
:an-
ros-
ibia

Ri\cr, and this fact, together with his buccaneer air,
made him quite a character o\\ clcci<. 'llie pros-
pector was the kindest and best-naluicd man that
ever lived, with a bushy head and beard, and a mild,
tvvinlvling blue eye. Months of strolling in the mud
and moisture of Alaska soil had taught him to roll
iiis trou.-3ers well up at the heel, and he continued
that cautious habit after he came on board, often
pacing the dry and spotless decks of the [daho with
his checked trousers rolled halfway to his k-ices, and
the gay facings of retl leather strccd^ing his nether
limbs like the insignia of the knightly order of the
garter. Confidentially he said to the mate one day,
"Did you notice the terrible cold 1 had when I came
up with you? Weil, it was all because my wife ma^ie

me wear that white shirt." The sincerity and

earnestness with which he said this sent his accidental
listeners off convulsed, and liu- piospector's latest
remarks passed current in the absence of daily papers
and humorous columns.

Not all of the "salmon prospectors " are as worthy
and reliable as this shipmate, and in their solitary
quests they have time to gather and manufacture
some fish stories that leave all the i'^razer River yarns
far 1 ehind. At every place that we touched we were
shown or told about "the biggest liar in Alaska."
These great {)revaricators and end)roiderers of the
truth were not always in the salmon l)usiness, and
quite as often were searching for coal or the [jrecious
metals. One pretty bay was lamous as the residence
of such a man, who had beguiled capitalists below
into letting him sink S 10,000 in a fishery. When the
sliij) anc''ored off his lodge in the wilderness early

■■fUMMP^panpqp^

2Q2

so UTHERN A LA SKA .

' \

i 1

' -;

f' M

one rainy morning, a hirsute man on shore ran down
the beach, and, making a trumpet of his hands, con-
versed with the officers on deck. He had sent word
previously that he had eighty barrels of salmon ready
for shipment, but when the inquisitive men f:om the
steamer went off to his packing house, not more ilian
four hundri'd salmon lay pickling in the vats, with
not a barrel ready. I'his Mulberry SelU'is follov,e(l
them back to the small boats, talking volubly all the
way, and the last that we saw, as the anchor chains
rattled in and the ship mowd off, was the menda-
cious fisherman sttUiding in the rain, and talking
through his hand trnmpet, "Captain! can't you
wait a while,'" was the farewell plea that vve heard
wafting over the water, and all of that afternoon in
the cabin, while the rain pelted overhead, we were
entertained with anecdotes of this same celebrity and
other champion prevaricators of the Territory.

When we left Sitka on the Anco/i, and went out
over the rolling main and around Cape Ommaney,
the tirst stopi^ing-place! was at the north end of the
Prince of Wales Island, where a narrow winding
channel, not more than twice the width of the ship's
beam, leads into the beautiful basin of Red liay.

This intricate little place was known to the Rus-
sian traders long ago, and called Krasnaia Bay, btit
it was only in 1884 that a packing-house was built
and the shining silver salmon decoyed into seines.
It is a beautiful little place, hidden away on the
edge of the great island, and its air must be rest-
fid to the nerves. The beating of the ship's {^ad-
dle-wheels could be heard for miles in such quiet

land-locked waters, ami the steamer'

histl

e gave

THE snu.iX Mi('im'Kl.A(,iO.

205

;hc

'^'

lilt
es.
the
st-
ad-
liet

warning of its presence lung before it rounded
the last bends of the bay. Nevertheless, there were
no signs of life or excitement about the fishery, and
the two men in sight and at work on the beach did
not even turn their heads to look at t!ie large ocean
steamer bearing down towards them. No freight
seemed ready, neither boats nor canoes |)ut out, and
the passengers longed to l)e listeners wiien the cap-
tain and purser went ashore in the first gig and held
parley with the easy-going tishermen on the beach.
When we followed in the next l)oats the spicy pirt of
the interview was over, and we siciply found that
Red Bay was the most awful smelling p-lace in Alaska,
the beach a dirty cjuagmire covered with kelp and
heads and tails of salmon, and the Indians a hard and
fierce-looking set, The captain had only the pleasure
of the scenery and the excitement of some skilful
pilot practice for going in thtre, as the lone lisher-
men had no salmon ready to shij) aft'.-r all the re-
quests for the steamer to call on the Jidy trip.

Once out of the tortuous channel and a'ong the
shore some miles, we anchored at the mouth of
Salmon Creek, where a lighter lay ready loaded at
the packing-house, and three hundred and twenty-five
barrels of salted salmon were towed out to the ship
and put on board ;i.s the result of thv fust catch of
the first year of thi« new fishery. Fhere was an
energetic proprietor running that establishment, and
he welcomed the boat-load of visitors on shore and led
them over a half-acre of shavings into the side door
of the packing-house, A prying man of tlie party
spied a great string of salmon trout on the floor and
raised hysterical shrieks. "Oh! that's nothing," .said

HOUTllKliy . 1 LA SKA.

1 !
1 1

I '

the proprietor coolly, "a little mess that I caught for
the captain of the ship. The creek is full of them
out here. This Injun will get you some lines." A
veritable war-whoop followed the announcement, and
the anglers broke into a war-dance, circling at all
hands round, doing the })igeon-wings and chains in
such a frenzied manner that the astonished Indian^
crept up on the barrels and. sat gaping and trembling
in their blankets at the sight of their uncivilized
white brethren.

The Indians brought the fish lines, with common
hooks and small stones tied on for sinkers, and the
anglers were rowed out in an old scow and anchored
not fifty feet from the front of the packing-house.
It was not artistic fishing with fancy flies, and anglers
with patent reels and nets would have looked scorn
at the little groui) steadily pulling in all the hungry
trout that snapped at the bits of salmon or salmon
eggs hung out to them. An old Indian and a small
boy came paddling around in a leaky canoe, and were
pressed into service to cut bait for the busy fisher-
men. As the trout rtoi)ped into the scow faster than
one a minute, wild shouts rent the air, and the
Siwash adjutants joined in the yells that woukl have
frightened off anything else in scales but these
untutored Alaska trout. The flapping fish splashed
and spoiled the clothes of the fishermen, but they
never heeded that, and a tally-keeper was installed
on the "^our bags and barrels at the end of the scow.
The excitement was communicated to the idlers who
had stayed on the ship, and soon a second boat put
out for the fishing ground, full of wild-eyed anglers
anxious to join in the carnival. The\' anchored near

THE SITKA2i AliCIIIFKLAGO.

2u5

hoy
Uccl
o\v.
who
put
lers

the scow, and their efforts were received with shouts
of derisian as they be<^an pulling in devil-fish, toad-
hsh, sculpin, skate, and marine curios enough to stock
• museum, before a single trout was hooked, i'hc In-
dians came down and sat in solemn rows on the logs
on shore to watch the crazy white fishermen, and the\
made picturesque groujis that were reijcated in the
glassy mirror of water before them. ( )ne old fellow in
a red blanket made a fine point of color against the
thick golden-green wall of spruce-trees on the shore,
and children and dogs gave a characteristic fringe to
all the groups. When the last lighter put out for the
ship the lines were wound up, and the tally-keeper on
on the iiour bags read the reconl written on the barrel
tops. The two men, one small boy, and the brave
creature in six-button gloves who baited and tended
her own hook, caught altogether one hundred and ten
trout in the hour and a quarter at anchor in the old
scow. The weight was sixty pounds, and the fisher-
men were wild with glee. The one fair angler and
th'i tally-keeper having mopped the slimy boat and
the pile of fish with their dresses, and then seated
themselves on flour bags, hatl full view of the fishing
scene photographed on every breadth of their gowns.
"What shall I tlo witli my dress.'" asked one of
them when she readied the calm and well-dressed
company on deck, and a ciieerful woman said briskly :
** I guess you 'd better fry it, now that it is dii)ped in
batter."

Sailing southward thiough Clarence Straits, a trader
lo ig resident in the country told us of many Indian
superstitions, among others rejjeating that of their
belief that the aurora flames are the shadows of the

266

HOUTHERN ALASKA.

spirits of dead warriors dancing in the sky, and that
a great display of northern lights portends a war be-
tween th.,* tribes.

The folders of the Pacific Coast Steamship Com
pany head the notice of the Alaska route with the
insjjiring line ; " Glaciers, Majestic Mountains, Inland
Seas, Aurora I^orealis, and Nightless Days." All ot
this official j)romise had come to pass according to
schecUde, with the exception of the aurora, and al-
though the sky never grew dark, even at midnight,
we clamored for one display of northern lights.
The captain told us to wait and take the trip in
December if we wantetl to see the arches of flame
spanning the sky, and jets of brilliant color flashing
to the zenith like spray from a f<juntain. He further
wrought our fancies to the highest pitch by his
descriptions of the marvellous auroras that he had
seen on his mid-winter cruises, and the dazzling
moonlight effects, when each snow-covered peak and
range shone and glistened like polished silver iti the
flood of light, and the still waters repeated the
enchanted scene. Bright as the midnight sky was
with the lingering twilight of the long day, we had an
aurora that night as we steamed down along the
shores of the Prince of WaL^s' Island. The pilot
roused the enthusiasts to see Uie promised display in
the northern sky, and the arches and rays of pale
electric light were distinct enough to maintain the
word of the steamship company. The stars twinkled
in the ghostly gray vault overhead, and the wan,
white light flashed and faded in fitful curves, broad
rays and waving streamers, that rested like a vast
halo above the brows of the grand mountains lying
in black shadows at our left.

THK STTKAN MU'lIll'KLAfiO.

'2i

and
the
the
was
id an
the
pilot
ay in
pale
the
nkled
wan,
broad
vast

iyinib

The inexorable law of ship's duty only permits it
to linger at a harbor for the tiir.e neeessary to load
or iinloatl cargo, or for tiic time specified in the
mail contract, and in this same hard practical vein it
makes little difference whether a place is reached by
night or day. It is light enough these summer
nights to carry on all outdoor work, and the rare
visits of the steamer are enough to set all the
inhabitants astir at any hour, while the constant
excitement of the trip, and the strange spell o'" tiu'
midnight 'ight, makes the tourist indifferent to his
establishefl customs. Once on the Idaho we were at
anchor in Naha liay only trom five to six o'clock in
the morning, but it was barely two o'clock on a clear,
still morning when the rattling of the Aficon's anchor
chains again broke the silence of Naha 15ay. Al-
though we lay there for five hours, few |)assengers
could be roused to watch the sunrise clouds, the
leaping salmon, and tlie brilliant green and gold ot
the sun-touched woods and water. In the dew and
freshness of the early morning, Naha Hay was more
lovely than ever, and the little black canoes seemed
to float in emerald air, so clearly green were the
calm waters under them.

For another perfect summer afternoon the Ancou
lav at the whart in Kasa-an Bay, and, \\\ the mellow,
fndian summer sunshine, we roamed the beach, buy-
ing the last remaining baskets, bracelets, pipes, and
sjioons of the Indians, and ])uning hard at the
amateur's oar as we trailed across the bav in small
boats to watch the fishermen cast and draw the net.
The huge skeleton wheels on which the nets are
dried had raised many comments at every fishery.

'W^W.

2(»«

sf)( Tin:iiy Alaska.

h\\[ we had never been lucky cnou;;h to catch the
iiK'U rtoiiio anything; l)ut windinj; the nets on these
reels to dry. The fishermen had dropped the weight-
ed net when we reached the cove on the opj»osite
shore, and the line of hohbini; wooden floats showed
how this fence in the water was being gradually drawn
in, anti tlie area limited as it crept toward the beach.
The sun was hot on the water, and the far awa\- peal
of the lunch gong, sounchng in the stillness of the
mountain bay, caused us to turn back to the ship
before all the shining salmon were drawn up anrl
thrown into the scows. The fascination of the water

INDIAN PIPE.

was too great to resist, and in the warmer sun of the
afternoon we followed the shores of Baronovich's
little inlet, rowing close in where the menzie and
merton spruce formed a dense golden-green wall and
threw clear shadows and reflections upon the water.
We dipped into each little shaded inlet, posed in the
boat for the amateur's camera to preserve the scene,
and floated slowly over the wonderland that lay
beneath the keel. It was with real regret that we
saw the last barrel of salmon dropping into the hold,
and, steaming down the beautiful bay in full sunshine.
had a glimpse of the inlet where the village of Karta
and its ^oUm poles lies, before we turned into
Clarence Strait,

TIIH SITKA \ M!(llll'KL. [(,(>.

'%m

CIIAITI'R XX.

HOWKAX OK KAId AMNKi:,

TWV^i in its commercial mission tlic steamer
wandered amonj^^ the islands, touching at
infant settlements and tradin;; posts, and anchoiinj;
before Indian villa^^es with traditions and /otofi poles
centuries old. KouncHn- the southern end of the
I'rince of Wales Island to Dixon I<:ntrance, the fog-
and mist crept upon us as we iicared the ocean. It
was a wet and gloomy afternoon when the fda/io
anchored in the little American Hay on Dall Island,
not more than a mile from Mowkan, an ancient
settlement of the Kaigahnee Haidas and a place of
note in the archipelago. Howkan has more totem
poles than any other village, and is one of the most
interesting places on the route; but as Kaigahnee
Strait before the village is thickly set with reefs,
and swift currents and strong winds sweep through
the narrow channel, it is dangerous for vessels to go
near. The fur traders used always to anchor in the
little b >ys on the opposite shore, and to one of them,
.American Bay, the Northwest Trading Company was
cd)oui. ,0 ;nove its stores. Only a small clearing had
been maoe, and two buildings put up, at the time of
that first visit, and it looked a very dreary and forlorn

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Photographic

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23 WEST MAIN i^SSf T

WEBSTER, N.Y. )4SP!}

(716) 872-4503

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270

SOUTH Kli\ A LA SRA.

I I i

place, as we picked our way about in the rain, climb-
ing over logs and sinking in the wet moss.

After the cargo had been discharged, the captain
obligingly took the shij) over to the nearest safe
anchorage off •the village, and we had a warm
welcome on shore from the five white residents. For
two years the missionary's wife and sister had met
but one white woman, until the boatload of ladies
went ashore from the IdaJto^ and overwhelmed them
with a superfluity. We all gathered in the trader's
house and store at first, and these two white residents
of Hovvkan were none other than the Russian Count

Z and his pretty black-haired Countess, a couple

interesting in themselves and their history, and all
the more extraordinary in their being found in this
remote end of the world. The Count is a man oi
fascinating address and appearance, polished manners
and cultivated tastes, and, being exiled for Nihilistic
tendencies, he chose Alaska in preference to Siberia,
and made his way across the friendly chain of islands
to "the home of the free and the land of the brave."
He marrieil a charming Russian lady at Sitka, and.
with the calm of a philosophic mind and the patience
of a patriotic heart, he waits the time when amnesty or
anarchy shall ])ermit his return to holy Russia. Ad-
versity and years in the savage wilderness have not
robbed these people of their ease and grace of manner,
and the handsome Count had all the charm and spirit
that must have distinguished him in the gay world of
his native capital. The little Countess was unfeign-
edly glad to .see a few follow creatures, and in the
dusk of that dreary, wet uiglu welcomed us to her
simple home, and showed us her treasures, from the

THE slTKAA ARCHirKLAdO.

271

spirit
r\cl of
|feii:;n
the
her
the

big blue-eyed baby to a wonderfully painted dance
blanket. When we expressed curiosity at the latter,
the pretty Russian seized the <;reat i)iece of fringed
and painted deerskin, and, wrapping it about her
shouldeVs, threw her head back with fine pose, and
stood as an animated tableau in the tlusk and fire-
light of her Alaska chalet. "This was a cultns pot-
Idtcli,'' she said, with a dainty accent, as she explained
the way it came into her possession, and we all
laughed at the way the Chinook jargon interprets
that dilettante word as meaning "worthless." The
Countess told us a better one about her asking a
trader what had become of a man who used to live at
Sitka, and the trader answering her that he was
'wultusing 'A\o\x\\f\ here somewhere." IMiis Russian
family was most interesting to us. and. setting aside
all traditions of his rank, the Nihilist Count talked
business with the captain in a most American
manner, and, but for the inherent accent and rir, a
listener might have taken him for the most practical
of business men, whose whole life had been spent in
commercial marts, or as agent for a great trading
company.

All of these kind ])eople helped to show us about the
place, and give us bits of local history on the way.
and from them we learned that the Indian name
Howkan means a fallen stone, an(i this village was
railed so on account of a peculiar boulder that lay on
the beach. Like other places in Alaska, it has several
names, and several ways of spelling each of them
The traders call it oftener Kaigahnec than llowkan,
although old Kaigahnee. the original village of that
name, is many miles distant from this place of the

272

SOCrHKHX ALASKA.

fallen stone. The missionaries named it "Jackson"
in honor of the Rev. Sheldon Jackson, the projector
and manajj^er of Preshyterian missions in Akiska, and
tb i Post Office Department rec()<;ni'/ed it as " Haida
Mission " when the blanks and cancellinf;- stamps
were sent out for the small post-office. A request
was made by the mission people to have the place
put down as Jackson on the new charts, since issued
by the Coast Survey, but the commander of the
surveying steamer opposed it as an act of vandalism,
and on the maps it still retains the harsh old Indian
name by which it has been known for centuries.

The village fronts on two crescent beaches, and a
long, rocky point running out into the water fairly
divides it into two villages, so separate are their water
fronts. A fleet of graceful llaida canoes was drawn
up on the first and larger beach, all of them carefully
filled with grass and covered over, and their owners
joined in receiving the visitors, and accompanied us
on our sight-seeing tour. The houses at Howkan are
large and well built, and the village is remarkably
clean. Some of the chiefs have weatherboarded their
houses and put in glass windows and hinged doors,
but before or beside nearly ev^ery house rises the tall,
ancestral fo/em poles that constitute the glory of the
place.

Skolka, one of the great chiefs, has a large house
guarded by two tofrm poles, and at his offer the
house had been occupied for two years as a school-
room by the mission teacher. A flagstaff and a
skeleton bell-tower were added to the exterior decora-
tions of his house in consequen'c. and Skolka was
the envy of all the Kaigahnees. Skolka is a wise and

TUK SlTKjy AlH HirKLAdO.

27;i

liberal chieftain, and a nicnil)t.:r of' tlu; lui.i;lc taniiiy.
ICffigies of that tv)teinic bird surmount the poles
before his house, and on one pole ajipears the whis-
kered face of a white man, capped by an cajole, and
finished with the imaircs of two chiUh-en wearinji the
steeple-crowned mandarin hats of the Tyees. Skolka
explains these images as telliti}; tlu- story of one of his
ancestors, who was a famous woman of the Kajjjle clan.
She went out for salmon eggs one day, and when she

rOTF.M rii|,l>. W KAh.W i>K lliiWKW.

house
IX the
school-
land a
lecora-
:a was
Ise and

drew up her canoe on the beach upon her return, she
had several baskets filled. \ot seeing her two little
children, she called t<^ them, but thcv rnn and hid.
Later she called them again, and they atiswered her
from the woods with tlie voices of crows. Her worst
fears were realized when she found that a white man.
"a Boston man," had carried them off in a ship.
These two orphans never returned to their people.
Such is the simple kidnapping story that has been
handed down in Skolka's family for generations, and

274

sorrilHUN ALASKA.

this whiskered face on the /o/cw pole is said to be
almost the only instance of a Boston man attaining
immortality in these i)icture-vvritings.

" Mr. John " is another fine-looking chief, who
dresses in civilized style, and is rather proud of his
advanced ways of living and thinking. He lives in a

IMK ( IIIFKS RKSIHKNt K \l KAKIAN. >ll(i\\l\i. 1 1 M | M I'oI.KS.

large honse ncnr Skolka, nnd has n grand old to/n>/
|)olo before his doorway. In his queer idiom he
tells one. "T am :i ("row, but my wife is a Whale;"
and as Mrs. John is of generous build, there is lurk-
ing sarcasm in his statement.

The deceased chief, Mr. Jim, left some fine /ofr>//
poles behind him, and on the second beach of the
village there is a semicircle of ancient moss-grown
/(jfrm poles standing guard over ruined and deserted
houses. The mosses, the lichens, and the vines cling
tenderly to these strange old monuments of the
people, and, in the crevices of the carvings, grasses,

THE SITKAN AECHIPKLAnO.

27 '5

\totciti
If the
[rovvn
lerted
cling
If the
lasses,

ferns, and even young trees have taken root and
thrive. Back in the dense undergrowth rise the
mortuary poles, the carved totems and emblems that
mark the graves of dead and gone Haidas. Skolka's
father and uncles have fine images over their burial
boxes, and from the head of 'tiie ICagle on one of
these mortuary columns, a small fir-tree, taking root,
has grown to a height of eight or ten feet. In this
burying ground there are large boxes filled with the
bones and ashes t)f those said to have died when the
great epidemics raged among the islands a half cen-
tury ago.

We found the Howkan ship-yard under a large
shed, and the canoe builder showed us two cedar
canoes that were nearly completed. The high-beaked
Haida canoes are slender and graceful ns Venetian
gondolas, and the small, light canoes that they use in
hunting sea otter are marvels of boat-building. The
shapely skiffs that the boat builder showed us had
been hewn from single logs of red cedar, and were
ready to be braced and steamed into their graceful
curving lines. Our admiration of the work caused
him to offer a light, otter-hunter's canoe for fifty
dollars, but not one of the company made a purchase.
In one house we found a paralyzed man lying on a
couch in the middle of the one great room, and the
relatives gathered about him soon brought out their
treasures and offered them for sale.

Like all of their tribe, these Kaigahnee Haidas are
an intelligent and superior people, skilled in the arts
of war and the crafts of peace, and their carvers
have \ "ought matchless totem poles, canoes, bowls,
.spoons, halibut clubs and hooks, from time imme-

276

SUnilF.liS ALASKA.

niorial. These carvings show finer work and better
ideas than the art relics of the other tribes, and in
silver work thev unite surpass the rest of the
Thlinkets; although it is now claimed that they are
not Thlinkets, differing from them materially in their
language and tratliti(ins, while they have the same
totemic system, familiar spirits, and customs. The

II \I IIU I llixiK,

Haida women were all adorned with beautifully made
bracelets, and the superiority of Haida workmanshij)
and designs is proven by the way that the Indians, even
;tt Sitka, boast of their bracelets being Haida work.
Kenowin is the chief silversmith, and his daughter wore
a pair of broad gold bracelets carved with the Eagle
totem. Gold is very rarely worn by the Indians, and
they hardly seem to value the yellow metal, although
some Haida silversmiths have worked in jewellers'

THE SITKAS AUillJl'KLAGO.

277

Imade

Insbip
even
Iwovk.
wore
tagle
and
ioug;b
lellers

stores in Victoria successfully, and learned the pro-
cesses of acid treatments. Tlie liaitla rules of art, br
vvhicli they conventionalize any animal they depict, are
very exact, and on the large bracelet, shown in a pre-
vious illustration, the cinnamon bears represented a.s
advancinj; in i)i()tile are joined in one full, j;rinnin^
face which is recognized as the Haida crest. Tlieir
totemic Ka^le has now degenerated into a base copy
of the birtl on American coins, but otherwise their
art rules and traditions are unj)erverted. The key
and original idea in many of their designs is the
strange marking like a peacock's eye found on the
back of the skate fish or scul|)in, and besides carving
it on all their solid belongiiig.s. ihcv tattoo the
emblem on their bodies.

These Kaigahnees have a curious tradition, related
to us by the resident teacher, that (|uite resembles
the bibUcal story of the ark and the Hood. (.)ne old
Indian now ckiims to have the b.irk ro|)e which held
the anchor of the big canoe when it restetl on the
high mountain bark oi Howkan. 'i'hey have also a
story resembling that of Lot's wife, only .Sodom and
Gomorrah were on Forrester Island, and a brother
and sister, fleeing from a pestilence, were turned to
stone, because the woman looked back while crossing
the river. Their houses were petrified as well, and
the petrified bodies of the disobedient ones still stand
in the river to tell the tale.

When Wiggin's storms were being promised to the
whole North American continent, in March, i8<S.?, a
white man at Kasa-an Hay read the prophecies, and
explained them to the Indians. The warning spread
rapidly from island to island, and at Howkan tlie

278

80UTUEBN ALASKA.

natives began moving their things to the high ground,
and were carrying up water and provisions for one
whole afternoon. They believed that the 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, antl the
agent of the trading comj)any, returning from the
Klin([uan fishery in a whale-boat, was drowned by a
wave upsetting the boat as he let go the tiller to furl
the sail.

It was at Port Hazan, across Dall Island, that one of
the Kaigahnees, whom we saw, found the remains of
Paymaster Walker, who was lost with the steamer
Georgf S. li'rij^/if, in Februars, 1S73. Phe loss of
the Wrii^^/it was one of the tragedies of the sea, and
is still a current topic in Alaska. 'Pho steamer left
.Sitka on its return trip to Portland with several army
officers and their families and residents on board.
It was last seen at Cordova Bay, on the south end of
Prince jf Wales Island, and, in the face of warnings,
the captain put out to sea in a heavy storm, — as he
was hurrying to Portland for his wedding. It is sup-
posed that the sliij) foundered, or struck a rock in
Queen Charlotte .Sound. The most terrible anxiety
prevailed as week after week went by, with no tidings
of the Wrig/ity and the feeling wa.s intensified when
the rumor was started that it had been wrecked near
a village of Kuergefath Indians, and that the sur-
vivors had been tortured and put to death. Two
years after the disappearance of the Wrii^/it, the body
of Major Walker was found in Port Bazan, recogni-
zable only by fragments of his uniform, that had
been held to him by a life-preserver. Other remains

rHi-: siTKiy AHdiU'y.LAao.

279

ll when
Id near
ic sur-
Two
le body
;cogni-
|at had
emains

and fragments of the wreck were then found in the
recesses of the ocean shores of tlie i^hmd, and the
mystery of the lVr'i\'-/il was at last solved.

Further up this coast, beyond the Klawock can-
nery, the mission has a branch statitjn and a saw-
mill, and, in time, will establish a school in this
Shakan Island.

On my 'second visit to Kaigahnee Straits, the A/i-
con dropped anchor at two o'clock in the morning,
and it was up and off again befoie five o'clock. A
few enthusiasts did manage to rt)W (;ver to llovvkan
and back, but the rest of us were contented with one
sleepy glance at the little settleiuent that, in a year's
time, had surrounded the Northwest Trading Com-
pany's stores in American Ha\. It was with great
regret that we woke again to find the ship sailing
over the most placid of waters, as it coursed up
Di.xon Entrance. It touched at Cape Fox, where we
enjoyed the last of our delights and experiences on
Alaska shores, stopped in a twilight rain at Tongass,
and then slipped across the boundary line at night,
.md gave us all over again those enchanting days
along the British Cokunbia coast.

280

HOUTUEUy ALASKA.

CHAITKR XXI.

THE MliTLAKATLAH MISSION.

ON occasional trips the steamer anchors off Mctla-
katlah, tlie model mission-station of the north-
west coast, and an Arcadian villa«;e of civilizetl
Indians, l)uilt round a bay on the Chimsyan Penin-
sula, in liritish Columbia. Metlakatlah is just below
the Alaska boundary line, and but a little way south
of Fort Simpson, the chief Hudson Jiay Company
trading i>ost of the region, where the great canoe
market, and the feasts and dances of the Indians,
enliven that centre of tr^Je each fall.

It was a rainy morning when the Idaho anchored
off Metlakatlah, and the small boats took us through
tlie drizzle and across a gentle ground-swell to the
landing wharf at the missionary village. We were
met there by Mr. Duncan, one of the noblest men
that ever entered the mission field. He left mer-
cantile life to take up this work, and was sent out bv
the Knglish Church Missionary Society in 1857. He
spent the first four years in working among the
Indians at Fort Simpson, but the evils and tempta-
tions surrounding such a place quite offset his efforts,
and he decided to go off by himself and gather the
Indians about him at some place where they would be

TlIK SITKAN AHt nil'KI.AnO.

281

f Mctla-
i north-

1 Penin-
st below
iy south
Company

canoe
ncluiHS,

mchoved
through
to the
\\c were
est men
ft mer-
nt out by

long the

l1 tempta-

is efforts,

ather the

would be

safe from other influences. Kifty Chimsyans started
with him to found the villa<;c ot Mctlakatlah, and, in
the twenty-odd years, Micy have built up a model
town that tliey have reason to be proud of. When
they first went there, a stiip ol the land was marked
off for church purj)()ses, and the rest of it divided
amon^ the Indian^ ll was considered a lioubtful
experiment at first, but Mr. iJunc.m put !ns whole
heart and soul mto the enterprise, and e\\ v Indian
who went with him signed a temperarc pledge,
agreed to give up theii mcdicine-incn t. advisenj in
sickness, and to do no v ork on the Sabbath. His
faith huA ucen proven in the results attained, and the
self-respecting, self-supportinj; community at Metla-
katlah proves that the Inchan can be civilized as well
ah etlucated in one generation, if the right man y^d
the right means are emjjloyed.

At the end of twenty-three year.s there is a wcll-
laid-out village, with two-story houses, sidewalks,
and street lamps. A large Gothic church has been
built, with a comfortable rectory adjoining, and around
the village-green a school-house, a jniblic hall, and a
store are prominent buildings. All of these struc-
tures have been built b\ the Indians, and, with their
own saw-mill and ])laning-mill, they have turned out
the lumber and woodwork required for the public
buildings and their own houses. Mr. Duncan has
taught them all these necessary arts, working with
them himself, and dividing the profits of their labors
among the Indians. Under his manaf;ement the
Indians have established their cannery and store as a
joint-stock company, and these once savage islanders
understand the scheme, and draw their dividends as

282

SOUTHERN ALASKA.

gravely as if their ancestors had always done so be-
fore them. The cannery is a model of neatness, the
salmon being headed and cleaned on an anchored
boat far off shore, and brought to the cannery all
ready to be cut ant! fitted into tins. Everything is
done by the Indians themselves, from making the
cans to filling, soldering, heating, varnishing, label-
ing, and packing, and the Metlakatlah salmon bring
the highest pvkc in the London market, and each
year handsome dividends are paid to the islanders.
An average of si.\ thousand cases are shipped every
year, and each visitor that morning bought a can of
the Skeena River salmon to carry off as a souvenir of
Metlakatlah.

The women have been taught to spin and weave
the fleece of the mountain goat into heavy cloths,
shawls, and blankets. Boots, shoes, ropes, and leather
are also made at Metlakatlah, and there is a good
carpenter shop in the town. A telephone connects
the village store with the saw-mill a few miles dis-
tant, and the Indians ring up the men at the other
end of the wire, and "hello" to their brother Chim-
syans in the most matter-of-fact manner. The steam-
launch belonging to the cannery is engineered by
one of their number, and the \ illage compares favor-
ably with any of the small saw-mill settlements of
whites on Puget Sound.

While we wandered about the village under the
escort of Mr. Duncan and his faithful David, the
members of the brass band gathered themselves to-
gether and played '* Marching Through Georgia,"
** Yankee Doodle," and other of our national anthems
in honor of the American visitors. Twenty stal-

THE SITKAN ARCHIPELAGO.

263

wart Indians comprise the full band, and, although
nearly half of the musicians were off salmon fishing,
those left did some most excellent playing on horn,
cornet, and trombone, and sent farewell strains over
the water as we got into the small boats and \vere
pulled away to the ship. The Indians keep a visit-
ors' house at the landing for the entertainment of
friends in the adjoining tribes, and on the night pre-
ceding our arrival there had been a grand hanc[uet
and ball in honor of some canoe-loads of J laidas, who
had come to pass a few days at these guest-houses of
Metlakatlah. We found the J laidas looking much
dilapidated on the morning after the ball, and among
the picturesque groujis sitting about the great square
fireplace there was the most beautiful Indian maiden
seen on the coast. The Ilaida beauty had a warm,
yellow skin, with a damask bloom on her checks,
a pair of large, soft, black eyes, and dazzling teeth.
She gave a shy smile, and dropped her eyes before
the admiring gaze and the exclamations of the party,
and the susceptible young men from the ship imme-
diately offered to stop off and st:i\- with Mi Duncan
for a while. The Haidas had many curious things
with them, ano evinced a proper desire to make
trade. One woman wore a ])air ot wide, gold brace-
lets, engraved with tiie totemic eagle and the Maida
crest, aiKi, ))utcing iier price at eighty dollars, sat
stoical ard silent through all the offviMs of smaller
sums. They had fine silver bracelets, horn spoons,
and carved trit^.es of copper and wood with them, but
the desirable things were some miniature totem poles
carved out of black slate stone, and inlaid with piece-
of abalone shell to represent green and glistenin:;

284

SOUTH KliN ALASKA.

eyes for each heraldic monster. These little totem
poles are made of a soft slate found near Skidegate
on the Queen Charlotte Islands. When first quar-
ried it is very soft and easily worked, hut hardens in
a short time, and will crack if exposed to the sun or
heat. It takes a fine polish, and for the small slate
columns, fourteen and ei*;htcen inches hi^h, the In-
dians asked seven and ten dollars. We afterwards
saw dozens and scores of these slate totems at the
curio stores in Victoria, and thouj;h there seemed to
be a sufficient supply of them for all the tourists of a
season, the prices ranged from twenty to eighty
dollars, and for j)laques anri boxes of carved slate
the demand was proportionately higher.

It was with real regret that wc ))arted with Mr.
Duncan at the wharf, and il was not until we were
well over the water that we learned of the serpent or
the skeleton in this paradise. Though Metlakatlah
inight rightly be considered Mr. Duncan's own par-
ticular domain, and the Indians have proved their
appreciation of his unselfish labors l>y a love and
devotion rare in such races, his plainest rights have
been invaded and trouble brewed among h s people.
Two years ago a bishop was appointed tor the dio-
cese, which includes Fort Simjison, Metlakatlah, and
a few other missions, i'^u't Simpson is the older
and larger mission settlement, and the higher officers
of the church have always resided there, but Bishop
Ridley, disapproving of Mr. Duncan's IvOw Church
principles, went to Metlakatlah and took possession
as a superior officer, Mr. Duncan moved from the
rectory, and the bishop took charge of the church
services. In countless ways a spirit of antagonism

riiK siTKAy Alii Hirh:LA<;o.

285

was raised that almost threatened a war at one time.
The bishop informed the Indians that their store
and warehouse was situated on ground belonginj; to
the ehurch. Instead of compromising, or leaving it
there under his jurisdiction, the matter-of-fact Met-
lakatlans went in a body, pulled down the building,
and set it up outside the prescribed limits. In en-
deavoring to prevent this, the bishop was roughl)-
handled, and as he appreciated the hostile spirit of
the greatest part of the community he sent to Vic-
toria, asking the protection of a British man-of-war.
The whole stay of the bishop has been marked by
trouble and turbuici^.ce, and these scamlalous distur-
bances in a Christian commimity cannot fail to have
an influence for evil, and undo some of the good
work that has been done there. Mr. Duncan made
no reference to his troubles during the morning that
we spent at Metlakatlah, and his desire that we
should see and know what his followers were capable
of, and understand what they had accomplished for
themselves, gav".' us to infer that everything was
peace and happiness in the colony. One hears noth-
ing but praise of Mr. Dimcan up and down the coast,
and can understand the strong partisanship he in-
spires among even the roughest [)eoi)lo, His face
alone is a passport for jiiety, goodness, and benevo-
lence anywhere, and his honest blue e\es, his kindlv
smile, and cheery manner go sti'aight to the heart ol
the most savage Indian. His dusky parishioners
worship hinij as he well deserves, and in his twenty-
seven years among them they have only the un
broken record of his kindness, his devotion, his
unselfish and honorable treatment of them. He

28fi

SOUTHERN A LASh'A.

found them drunken savapjes, and he has made them
civilized men and Christians. He has taught them
trades, and there has seemed to be no limit to this
extraordinary man's abilities. When his hair had
whitened in this noble, unselfish work, and the fruits
of his labor had become apparent, nothing could have
been more cruel and unjust than to undo his work,
scatter dissension among his people, and make Metla-
katlah a reproach instead of an honor to the society
which has sanctioned such a wrong. An actual crime
has been committed in the name of Religion, by this
persistent attempt to destroy the peace and pros-
perity of Metlakatlah and drive away the man who
founded and made that village what it was. British
Columbia is long and broad, and there are a hundred
places where others can begin as Mr. Duncan began,
and where the bishop can do good by his i)resence.
If it was Low Church doctrines that made the Metla-
katlah people what they were a few years since, all
other teachings should be given up at mission sta-
tions. Discord, enmity, and sorrow have succeeded
the introduction of ritualism at Metlakatlah, and
though it cannot fairly be said to be the inevitable
result of such teachings, it would afford an irterest-
ing comparison if the Ritualists would go off by
themselves and establish a second Metlakatlah as a
test.

A later expression of opinion on the troubles of
Metlakatlah appears in the last annual report (1884)
to the Dominion Government, by Colonel Powell,
Superintendent of Indians in British Columbia. He
writes as follows : —

" I am exceedingly sorry to state that serious trou-

TiiK siiKAy AH( nu'hi.Aan.

2H7

|)ies of
1884)
owell,
He

Me and the most unhappy reli<2^ioiis rancor still exists
at Metlakatlah, dividing the Indians, and causini,^ infi-
nite dama<;e to Christianity in adjacent localities,
where sides are taken with one or other of the con-
tending; parties. The retirement of cither or botli
would seem the only true solution of the difficulties,
\nd if the latter alternative is not desirable, and as
fully nine tenths of the people are unanimous and
determined in their supjiort of Mr. Duncan, the with-
drawal of the agents of the society to more congenial
headquarters would, 1 think, be greatly in the inter-
ests of all concerned. Since the schism has occurred,
the larger following of Mr. Duncan have resolved
themselves into an independent society, with that
gentleman as their guide and leader. The forms of
the Anglican Church have been discarded, and they
have designated themselves ' The Christian Church
of Metlakatlah,' each member of which subscribes to
a declaration pledging themselves to exclusively fol-
low the teachings of the l^iblc as the rule of faith,
and that they will, to the utmost of their power, pre-
vent any divisions among the villagers, and do their
utmost to i^omote the s[)iritual and temporal pros-
perit\' of the community. This association includes
all the young and active residents of the village,
hence they are all enthusiastic and determined in
their desire for success. In addition to the large
store, which, I was told, belonged to the Indians,
and was a co-operative arrangement, Mr. Duncan has
devoted his spare energies to the establishment of a
salmon cannery, which, he informed me, was placed
upon the same footing. This has afforded employ-
ment for a great majority of the inhabitants, and

2^H

soiTlltJIiS ALASKA.

has kept them so busy for the last few months that
happily they have had no time to give to contention.
The secret of Mr. Duncan's great popularity with the
Indians at Metlakatlah is his desire and fondness
for inaugurating industries, which, after all, is the
strongest bond that can be made to unite these people.
The present difficulties, however, at Metlakatlah can-
not continue much longer without culminating in
serious consequences, means to avert which, of what-
ever nature they may be, should be promptly and
effectually enforced."

THE iSllKA^ AJitlJIl'LLAGO.

2Mi

ClIAPTKK XXII.

HOMi:\VAKI) HOL'NO.

T IFE on the waveless arms of the ocean has a
'L-' great fascination for one on these Alaska trips
and crowded with novelty, incidents, and surprises as
each day is, the cruise seems all too short when the
end approaches. One dreads to oct to land aoain and
end the easy, idle wanderin;;- throuoh the lono- archi-
pelago. A voyage is but one l)rotractecrmarine
picnic and an unbroken succession ot memorable
days. Where in all the list of them to place the red
letter or the white stone puzzles one. The passengers
beg the captain to reverse the engines, or boldly turn
back and keep up the cruise until the autumn gales
make us willing to return to the ic-ion of earthly
cares and responsibilities, daily mails and telegraph
wires. The long, nightless days never lose theirlpell
and in retrospect the wonders of the northland appear
the greater. The weeks of continuous travel over
deep, placid waters in the midst of magnificent
scenery might be a journey of exploration o^ii a new
continent, so different is it from anything else in
American travel. Seldom is anything but an Indian
canoe met, for days no signs of a settlement are seen
along the quiet fiords, and, making nocturnd visits to

290

snr'niKT{.\ alasf^a.

i ;

i I

small fisheries, only the unbroken wilderness is in
sight (luring waking hours. The anchoring in strange
places, the going to nnd fro in small boats, the queer
peoi)le, the strange life, the i)eculiar fascination of the
frontier, and the novelty of the whr)le thing, affect
one strongly. ICach arm of the sea and the unknown,
unexplored wilderness that lies back of every mile of
slu)re continually teinjit tlie imagination.

Along these winding channels in " the sea of moun-
tains," only the rushing tides e\er stir the surface of
the waters where the surveyor's line drops one hun-
dred, two hundred, and four hundred fathoms without
finding bottom, and the navigator casts his lead for
miles without finding anchorage. All i)iloting is b)-
sight, and when clouds, fogs, or the long winter nights
of inky darkness obscure the landmarks, the fog
whistle is kept going according to regulation, and the
ship's course determined by the echoes flung back
from the hidden mountains. Such feats in time oi
fog gave zest to ship life, and Captain Carroll, who
performed them, was accused of being the original of
Mark Twain's man, who made a collection of echoes.
At every place in Alaska he had a particidar echo that
he brought out with the cannon's salute. At Fort
Wrangell the hills repeated the shot five times ; and
at Juneau t came back seven times, before dying
:■ vay in a long roll. At Sitka there was the din of a
naval battle when the cannon was fired point blank
at Mt. Verstovaia, and up among the glaciers, the
echoes drowned the thunder of the falling ice.

Captain Carroll, for so many years in command of
the mail steamer on this Alaska route, is a genius in
his way, and a character, a typical sea captain, a fine

THE SITKAX AUdUPKI.Mid

•iyi

foa

navigator, and a bold and daring commander, whose
skill and experience have carried his ships through
the thousajid dangers of the Alaska coast, lie is
a strict discij^linarian, whose authority is supreme,
ami the eticjuette (if the bridge and quarter-deck is
severely maintained. When he leaves the deck and
lays aside his official countenance, the children play
and tumble over him and cling to him, and he is a
merciless joker with the elders. He is possessed of
a fund of stories ami adventures that would make
the fortune of a wit or racoutcnr on shore, and their
momentary piquancy, as of salt water and stiff winds,
makes it impossible for un^; to repeat them well.
His fish stories are unequalled, and the desjxiir of
the most accomj^lished anglers, lie leaves nothing
undone to promote the pleasure and comfort of his
passengers, who are in a sense his guests ouring the
three or four weeks of a summer pleasure trip, and
gold watches and several sets of resolutions have
expressed appreciation of his courtesy and attentions
to travellers. He is tleei)lv interested in the wel-
fare of the region that he lias seen slowly awakening
to the march of progress, and, being so identified
with these early days and the development of the
territory, is destined to live as an historic figure in
Alaskan annals.

The }nlot. Captain (ieorge, is everyone's friend,
and his patience and good nature have to ?,tand the
strain of a steady questioning and cross-e.xamination
from the beginning to the end of a cruise. He is
appealed to for all the heights, depths, distances, and
names along the route; and finally, when everyone
has bought a large Hydrographic Office chart of

292

S(>rrilKU\ ALASKA.

i \

i •
i

Alaska, Captain George is asked to mark out the ship's
course through the maze of island channels. He has
been pilot for twenty years on the northwest coast,
and Mr. Seward and many others who saw the country
under his guidance speak of him as a Russian. As
his early home in " tlie States" was at Oshkosl., one
can understand how that foreign-sounding nanu- mis-
led people. He, as well as all of the shii)'s ofhcers,
keeps a log of each cruise, aiul Captain (ieorge has
furnished many notes and iu)tices for the Coast Sur-
vey jjublications, and helps tiie memory of tiie tourists,
who keep some of the most remarkable journals and
tliaries for the first few days of the cruise.

A character in the lower rank on one trip was the
captain's boy, *' John," a faithful henchman and valet,
whose devotion and attachment to his master were
quite wonderful. John is a Swede 1)\' l)irth, and his
pale-blue eyes, fair ct)mi)le\ion. and light hair were
offset by a continuous array of sjjotlessly white jackets
and ties. In the most Northern latitudes John would
tii|) about the deck witli his spry and jaunty tread,
clad in these snowy habiliments of the troi)ics, and
after a ramble among Indian lodges on shore, John
would appear to our enraptured eyes as the very
apotheosis of cleanliness and starchy perfection. At
luncheon one day John set two pies before the cap-
tain, and announcing them as " mince and apple,"
withdrew deferentially behind his master's chair.
"Which is the apple i)ie, John.^" asked the captain,
as he held a knife suspended over a disk of golden
crust. "The starboard pie, sir," said John respect-
fully, and with a seriousness that robbed the thing
of any intention.

rilh: SITKA \ AUCllU'h'.I.Mio

IS the
valet,
were
lul his
were
kets
oukl
read,
, and
John
very
At
e cap-
pple,"
chah\
ptain,
jolden
spect-
thing

Two deck passen*;ers that enlivened the return trip
of the hill/to were small black hear cubs four or h\c

mon

ths old. There was always hii^h revel

th(

hurricane deck during the *' do)^ watches" when the

bears were

fed,

ind cakes anil hnni)s ot sugar from

the cabin table enticed them to play pranks. 'I'he
treacherous young bruin bought at Chilk<il grew fat
the \()vage, and was twice the size of a little

'!-.*'»

stunted cub bought of a trader at l'^)rt W'rangell. The
Chilkat cub climbed the riggi.ig like a born sailor after
a fortnight's training, but much teasing nuule iiirn
surly and susjjicious, and lie s\(»uid run for the rat-
lines at sight of a man. h'or the latlies, who ted them
on sugar and salmon berries, both bears showed a great
loudness, ami the two clumsy pets would irot around
the deck after them as tamely as kittens, antl stand
up and beg for sugar i)lainl\ . The little Fort W'rangell
i)ear would ciawl u^) on a bench beside one, antl make
plaintive groans until it w^as i)etted, and it would sun
itself contentedly there for hours. They were amiable
))layfellovvs together, but they were puz/.leil and be-
witched by the agile little toy-terrier "To(>...," who
liveil on an afghan in the caj>tain's cabin. That aris-
tocratic little mite of a dog delighted to caper around
and bewilder the beais with his cpiick motii')ns, and it
was a tunny by -play to watch these young animals to-
gether. One evening in the (ndf of Georgia, we lin-
gerctl on deck to watch a .stormy, crimscju sun.set, and
after that, when the moon rose like a fiery ball from
the water, and faded to pale gold and silver in the
zenith, the company grew musical and sang in en-
thusiastic chorus all the good old sea songs. W^ith
the tirst notes of the music the bears came pattering

294

SOLTllKHS ALASKA.

out, and, circlin;:; gravely before the singers, lay down,
lolded their lorepaws before tliem in the most hiunun
attitiule and listeneti attentively to " Nancy I.ee" and
"John Brown." Two yoim;^ fawns, caught as they
were swiininini;- the channel near l"'ort \\'ran<;ell one
inorninj;, were quartered on the lower tleck. In
captivity their soft black eyes were sadly pathetic,
and they were visiteil daily and fed on all the dainties
for tleer that could be gathere<l on >h<»re. l"'o\es,
strange birds, Ksquiinaux dogs, and othei pets have
been passengers on the re' irn trips ol the steamer,
and the officers of the ship iiave done then; share in
presenting animals to cHltercnt city gardens and parks.

As the <:\u\ ot Vant'onxer Islanil (hew near, tiie
scener\ of the iiritish CoUnnbia c<»ast gained in
beauty, with the j)rospect of so soon losing our wild
surroundings After lea\'ing Mctlakatlah tliere was
not a sign of civilization for two days, and in spite ot
Huffon and Henry James, ]y.. we grew the more
enthusiastic over the " bi ute nature " that so offends
those worldlings. The davs were clear, but one night
the fog promised to be so dense that the ship made
an outside run from the Milbank co (Jueon Charlotte
Sound, over waters so still that none suspected th:it
we had left the narrow inside channels.

We never met the oulikon, or "candle hsh " of this
coast, except as we saw the piscatorial torch at
grocers* stores in X'ictoria ; but we sailed for four
hours through a school of herring one afternoon, as
we neared the Vancouver shore. Sharks were fol-
lowing them by dozens, and sea-gulls flew overhead,
ready to swoop upon the unlucky herring that jumped
to the enemy in the air to escape the one in the water.

THE SJTKAy AHCHIPELAGO.

2^5

lite <»!
more
'cn<ls
nii:;iu
nuuk-
.rloUc
thill

f this

ch al

r foul-

jon, as

re fol-

head,
urn peel

water.

Both times on the return voyage we slipped through
Seymour Narrows without knowing it, so smoothly was
the water boiling at the Hood tide, and so absorbed
were we once in the soft poetic sunset that finally left
a glowing wall of orange in the west, against which the
ragged forest line of the summits and the mountain
masses were as if carved in jet Looking upwards,
even the masts and spars were sharpl) silhouetted
against the glorious amber zenith, and it was hours
before it faded to the pure violet sky of such mid-
summer nights. ^

Besides Mt. St. I^^lias, the Alaska passengers always
beg for a view of Bute Inlet, which opens from the
network of channels there at the he; i of the Gulf of
Georgia, and runs far into the heart of the mountain
ranfc that borders the mainland shore. We hung
over the captain's charts of the inlet with the great-^
est interest, and, with his explanations, imagination
could picture that grand fiord, not a quarter of a mile
in width, and with vertical mountain walls that rise
from four thousand feet at the entrance, to eight
thousand feet above the water's level at the head of
the inlet. Soundings of four huntlred fathoms are
marked on the chart, and with cascades and glaciers
pouring into the chasm, little is left for a scenic artist
to supply. A trail was once cleared from the head of
the inlet to the Cariboo mining district on the Fraier
river, and surveys were made looking to a terminus of
the Canadian Pacific Railroad, but both have been
abandoned, and Bute Inlet is not accessible by any
established line or boats. Lord Dufferin and the
Marquis of Lome vi -ited it on Briti.5h men-of-war, and
carried its fame to En^jland, by extolling its scenery

296

so UTflETi X ALASKA.

as the grandest on any coast. When Lord Dufferin
had gone further up and into Alaska, he made his
prophecy that thi* northwest coast, with its long
stretch of protected waters, would in time become one
of the favorite yachting grounds of the world.

If the beautiful Gulf of Georgia is wonderland and
dreamland by day, it is often fairyland by night, and
there was an appropriate finale to the last cruise, when
the captain came down the deck at midnight and
rapped up the passengers. " Wake up ! The whole
sea IS on fire" said the commander. We roused and
flung open stateroom doors and windows to see the
water shining like a sheet of liquid silver for miles on
every side. The water around us was thickly starred
with phosphorescence, and at a short distance, the
million points of lights mingled in a solid stretch of
miles of pale, unearthly flame. It lighted the sky
with a strange reflection, and the shores, which there,
off Cape Lazro, are twenty miles away, seemed near
at hand in the clear, ghostly light. A broad pathway
of pale-green, luminous water trailed after us, and the
paddle-wheels threw off dazzling cascades. Under
the bows the foaming spray washed high on the black
hull, and cast long lines of unearthly, greenish white
flame, that illuminated the row of faces hanging over
the guards as sharply as calcium I'ays. A bucket
was lowered and filled with the water, and the marvel
of the shining sea was repeated m miniature on deck,
each lime the water was stirred, ft was a most
wonderful display, and many, who had seen this glory
of the seas in the tropics, declared that they had
never seen phosphorescent waters more brilliant than
those of the Gulf of Georgia.

THE SITE AN ARCHIPELAGO.

297

lufferin
ide his
ts long
me one

ind and
;ht, and
e, when
;hX. and
e whole
sed and
see the
miles on
■ starred
nee, the
Tctch of
the sky
;h there,
led near
)athway
and the
Under
le black
white
ing over
bucket
marvel
3n deck,
a most
lis glory
ley had
mt than

With such an illumination and marine fireworks we
brought the last cruise virtually to an end, and another
morning found the ship tied to the same coal wharf
in Departure Bay. The pleasure travellers laitl their
plans for other trips, and in a few days the company
was scattered.

Those who went up the Frazor River to its cartons
said later: "The best of the I">azer only equals
Grenville Channel, and the dust and heai are intol-
erable after the northern coast."

Those who went down past Mt. Tacoma, Mt. Hood,
and Mt. Shasta, and into the Voscmite, said : " If we
had only seen these places first, and not after the
Alaska trip."

All agreed in the summing up of an enthusiast,
who had travelled the fairest scenes of Europe and
his own country, and wrote: "Take the best of the
Hudson and the Rhine, of Lake George and Killarney,
the Yosemite and all Switzerland, and you can have
a faint idea of the glorious green archipelago and the
Alaska coast."

My first journey on the /^(/<i//(> in 1883 ended with
our staying by the ship, and going around outside
from Puget Sound to the Columbia Riser, and then
we were tied up for three days at the government
wharf at Tongue Point, near Astoria, while three
hundred tons of Wellington coal was slowly unloaded.
The smoke of forest fires and the summer fogs hid
all the magnificent shores and headlands at the
mouth of the great river, and the hundreds of little
fishing-boats, with their pointed sails, that set out at
sunset, soon x'anished in the opaline mists. Afte'^
dark a thousand tiny points of Hame could be dimly

298

SOUTHERN ALASKA.

seen on the water, as the fishermen lighted the fires
in their boats to cook their suppers, or set their
lanterns in the bows as they sailed slowly back to the
canneries with their loads of salmon. Five days
after we crossed the Columbia River bar, the ship
reached Portland, and the journey was over.

The second cruise, which was blessed with clear
sunshiny weather from beginning to end, was con-
cluded at Port Townsend, where for three weeks we
enjoyed such perfect summer days as are known no-
where but on Puget Sound. With Mt. Baker on one
side as a snowy sentinel, and the broken range of the
Olympic Mountains a violet wall against the western
sky, it needed only the foreground of water and the
immaculate silver cone of Mt. Tacoma rising over
level woodlands, to make the view from Port Town-
send's heights the finest on Puget Sound. When a
great full moon hung in the purple sky of nig? ":,
miles of the waters of the bay were pure, rippling
silver ; and, like a vision in the southern sky, glistened
a faint, ethereal image, the peak of Mt. Tacoma, sixty
miles away.

Appreciating all that was overhead and around us,
we found a wonderland under foot one morning by
rowing and poling a small boat far in under the
wharf, at the low tide. The water having receded
thirteen feet, the piles for that distance were covered
with the strangest and most fanciful marine growths.
Star fish, pink, yellow, white, and purple, clung to the
piles, many of them with eighteen and twenty-one
feelers radiating from their thick fleshy bodies, that
were twelve inches and more in diameter. There
were slender, skeleton-like little starfish of the

THE SITKAN ARCHIPELAGO.

299

brightest carmine, and bunches of snow-white and
pale yellow anemones {actima) that looked like large
cauliflower blossoms when opened fully under the
water. Long brown pipes, growing in clusters on
the piles, hung out crimson petals and ragged stream-
ers until it seemed as though thousands of carnation
pmks had been swept in among the piles. The
serpuJa, that lives in this pipe-stem house, is valued
for fish bait, and the voyage under the wharf was
not wholly for studies in zoology. Huge jcKy.fish
floated by, opening and shutting their umbrella-like
disks of pink and yellow, as if some wind were blow-
ing rudely the petals of these wonderful blossoms
of the sea. Shells of the - Spanish dollar " lay on
the sands at the bottom, and at the water line little
jelly-fish could be seen shimmering like disks of ice
in the clear light of the early summer morning. A
scientist would have been wild at sight of that natural
aquarium, and to any one it would appear as a part of
wonderland, a beautifully decorated hall for mermaids"
revels, and a model for a transformation fairy scene in
some spectacular drama. The woods and drives, the
scenes and shores about Port Townsend, excite the
admiration of every visitor, and when the aquarium
under the wharf is regularly added to its list of
attractions, that charming town will have done its
whole duty to the travelling public.

300

SOUTUEliN ALASKA.

CHAPTKR XXIII.

SEALSKINS.

1 1

I HAVE never been to the Seal Islands myself,
and have no desire to cross the twenty-six hun-
dred miles of rough and foggy seas that lie between
San Francisco and the Pribyloff Islands, in Bering-
Sea. Considering that there are so many good peo-
ple who think that the Seal Islands constitute
Alaska, or that all Alaska is one Seal Island, it has
been urged that I must include something about the
seal fisheries if I mention Alaska at all. Ir defer-
ence to the prejudice which exists against having
people write of the regions they have never visited,
all apologies are offered for this reprint of a rambling
letter about the Seal Islands and sealskins, and con-
taining a few facts for which I am indebted to
members of the Alaska Commercial Company of
San Francisco, and others who have been to the
islands and are interested in the fur trade.

For all that has been written concerning the Seal
Islands, many very intelligent people have the vaguest
ideas of their position, size, and condition, and few
women who own sealskin garments even know that
the scientist's name for the animal that first wears
that fine pelt is CalloyJiinus ursifms, or are acquainted

TUh: sJTliAX MiCinrKLAdO.

aoi

con-
d to
ny of
the

; Seal

with any of the other remarkable facts and statis-
tics concerning the sealskin of commerce. Such an
absurd misstatement as the following" lately appeared
in a journal published at the national capital in an
article entitled " Our Northern Land," and worse
errors are frequently made : —

" The seal fisheries are situated near Sitka, and on
the first of July {1884) a railway will be begun be-
tween the two points."

When we first started for Alaska we expected to
find Sitka the centre of information about everything
in the rest of the Territory, but at that ancient capi-
tal less was known about the seal fisheries than at
San Francisco. The Seal Islands, discovered by the
skipper Gerassim Pribyloff in 1788, lie to the north
and west of the first of the Aleutian chain of islands.
St. Paul, the largest of these four little rocky islets in
Bering Sea, is fourteen hundred and ivinety-one
miles west of Sitka, and between two and three
hundred miles from the nearest mainland. All
communication with these islands is hy way of San
Francisco, and the company leasing them permit none
but government vessels, outside of their own fleet, to
touch at St. Paul and St. George. The Alaska Com-
mercial Company's vessels make four trips a year,
their steamers going in ten days generally, but the
Jcanncttc, when starting on its Arctic expedition,
fell behind all competitors in a sldw race by taking
twenty-five days to steam from .San I'rancisco to St.
Paul.

At the time of the Alaska purchase, in 186/; the
most ardent supporters of the measure laid no stress
upon the value of these Seal Islands, and Senator

302

SOUTHERN ALASKA.

Sumner made no reference to them in his great
speech which virtually decided the destiny of Alaska,
and made it a possession of the United States.
Hayward Hutchinson was one of the first of our
countrymen to engage in the fur trade after the trans-
fer, and, with a company of San Francisco capitalists,
bought the buildings and goodwill of the old Russian-
American Fur Company. He went from Sitka across
to the Pribyloff Islands in 1868, and there encountered
Captain Morgan, of New London, Conn., who, like
himself, had gone up to look over the possibilities of
the new Territory in the interests of home capitalists.
They joined forces, and, returning to San Francisco,
had long and quiet consultations with their partners.
Through their efforts, Congress passed a law in 1869,
declaring the Seal Islands a government reservation,
and prohibiting any one from killing fur seals, except
under certain restrictions. On the first of July,
1870, the islands of St. Paul and St. George were leased
for a term of twenty years to the Alaska Commercial
Company of San Francisco. The lease was delivered
August 31, 1870, and is signed on behalf of the
company by its president, John F. Miller, previous
to that time collector of the port of San Francisco,
and, since his retirement from the presidency of the
company, a United States senator from California.
Beginning with the first da'y of May, [870, they had
sole right to the seal fisheries. The annual rent of
the islands was fixed at $55,000, the payment to be
secured by the depc)sit of United States bonds to
hat amount. They were also required to pay a tax
of two dollars sixty-two and one-half cents upon
each of the one hundred thou.sand skins of the fur

rHK SITKAN ARCHIPELAGO.

303

upon
fur

seal permitted to be taken each year. Fifty-five
cents was to be p:iid for each gallon of seal oil ob-
tained, and the company was to furnish the inhabi-
tants of the islands with a certain amount of food
and fuel, to maintain schools for the children, and to
prevent the use of fire-arms on or near the sealing-
grounds. A bond of $500,000 was required of them,
and the original firms of Hutchinson, Kohl, & Co.,
of San Francisco, and Williams, Havens, & Co., of
New London, were merged into this Alaska Commer-
cial Company,

Although 269,400 sealskins are said to have been
exported from the islands from 1868 to 1869, it is
claimed that the company had up-hill work for three
years in getting themselves established and introduc-
ing their goods to the market. Since that time they
have ridden on fortune's topmost wave, and been the
envy of all the short-sighted rivals who might have
done the same thing had they been shrewd enough.
None of the original members have left the company,
save by death, and, it being a close corporation, they
keep their financial statements, their books, their
profits, and affairs to themselves ; and the outer world,
compelled to guess at things, puts a fabulous estimate
upon the sum annually divided among the stock-
holders. The officers of the company only smile
with annoyance, and shrug their shoulders, if one re-
peats to them the common gossip of San Francisco,
about each of the twelve shares of the stock paying
an annual dividend of $90,000, and they laugh aloud
if one appeals to them for the confirmation of it.
There will be a great scramble and competition
among rival traders in 1890, when the present lease

304

SOUrifKH.y ALASKA.

of the islands terminates, and by the bids and state-
ments made then, more light may be cast upon the
value of the franchise, unless fickle woman puts seal-
skin out of fashion by that time, and the tanners,
instead of the furriers, apply for the lease.

By a contract with the Russian government, dating
some years later, this same Alaska Commercial Com-
pany, in the name of two of its members, has a mono-
poly of the fur trade on Bering and Copi)er Islands,
and at points on the Kamschatka coast, By the terms
of this contract one of the members had to be a Rus-
sian, and the ships engaged in this trade on the Asiatic
side have to carry the Russian flag. Out of the com-
pany's fleet of a dozen vessels, two steamers fly the
Muscovite colors, and, on their regular trips up, carry
large cargoes of flour and provisions to Petropaulov-
ski, as well as tr their own stations.

Besides the Seal Islands, the Alaska Commercial
Company has thirty-five other trading posts in the
Territory, and its agents are established along the
Yukon, and at many points in the interior. The
trade in seal skins from the Pribyloff Islands amounts
to about one half of the general business transacted
by this corporation. At their offices on Sansome
Street, in San Francisco, the company has a museum,
crowded with specimens and curios. Seal life is repre-
sented at all ages, and all the birds and fishes and min-
erals of the country are shown. There are mummies
and petrifactions, reindeer horns, canoes, albino otter
skins, stone-age instruments, costumes and household
utensils of the natives, and needles, books, pipes, toys,
and oddities carved out of bone and ivory, and deco-
rated in black outlines with sketches of men and ani-

THK SlTliA\ .\H( IIU'ELAaO.

305

mals in profile. A ponderous old silver watch is
supposed to have belon-od to some one of the early
Russian governors, and tliere is a curious bronze
cannon, with an inscription in ancient Slavonic letter-
ing that no one has yet read. The company has been
very generous in giving specimens and collections to
different museums antl societies, antl its agents arc
instructed to gathar such things and send them to the
company's headquarters. In an uj)per room, where
there were sixty thousand fox skins, hanging tail
downwards from the rafters, thousands of mink and
marten skins, and piles of bear, beaver, lynx, and deer
skins, we were shown the skeleton of the extinct sea-
cow. The exact number of bones in the sea-cow's
body has been a matter of contention and uncertainty
to scientists, and there was once a wordy war over it.
Prof. Elliott, who made a long and careful study of
seal life for the Smithsonian Institution, and whose
monograph on that subject has been included in the
census reports of 1880, was a leailing combatant in
the battle over the sea-cow's bones. This fossil skele-
ton, sent down by one of the company's agents, was
presented to the California Academy of Sciences, and
the palaeontologists' war h over. Captain Niebaum,
one of the vice-presidents of the company, is a great
authority in matters pertaining to Arctic and polar
navigation, and he was consulted about the details of
the cruise by Captain De Long of the Jcantiettc expe-
dition, and the Alaska company freely supplied that
ship with provisions, clothing, dogs, and other neces-
saries when it reached St, Michael's Island. For his
own use, Captain Niebaum has had made a large map
of the polar regions, which is the most complete and

' i

308

SOUTHERN ALASKA.

unique chart in the country. On it are traced the
courses of all the exploring ships, and the dates of
their reaching important positions, and the artist,
who worked at this circumpolar chart for more than
one hundred days, is obliged, for a certain number of
years, to add to it each discovery or incident of explo-
nition in the arctic world.

The company's ships usually stop at Unalashka
Island on their way to St. Paul, and that chief trad-
ing post of the old Russian-American company has
become an even more important place under the new
regime. Unalashka is one of the largest of the
seventy Aleutian islands that stretch out in line to-
wards Japan, and on it was made the earliest Russian
settlement on the northwest coast. All of the Aleu-
tian islands are volcanic, and occasionally another
peak thrusts its head up out of the water, flames and
cinders come from the mountain tops, and earthquakes
and tidal waves create disturbances in honor of a new
island added to the chain. The climate is rather mild,
and the temperature varies little from the average at
Sitka. There is almost constant fog and rain during
the summer months, and the islands, though treeless,
are covered with luxuriant grasses. Cattle were
successfully kept by the Russians, and lately there
have been several plans laid for raising cattle and
sheep on these gras.sy islands on a large scale ; Lieut.
Schwatka, the hero of Arctic and Yukon adventures,
being a promoter of one of these schemes. At this
time, instead of cattle ranches, there are fox ranches
on several of the Aleutian Islands ; and even from
far-away Attn, the most western point in the United
States, a shipment of two hundred or more blue-fox

THE 8ITKAN AliCUIPELAGU.

307

;d the
tes of
artist,
e than
ber of
explo-

lashka
f trad-
ay has
le new
of the
ine to-
.iissian
; Aleu-
nother
es and
quakes
a new
r mild,
age at
:lurino-

eeless,
were
there
; and
Lieut.
t Lires,
it this
nches
from
Jnited
ue-fox

skins is regularly made each year, and care taken to
protect and increase the numbers of the foxes. Sea
otters are hunted all along the Aleutian shores ; and
in the group of Shumagin Islands, northeast of
Unalashka, the cod fisheries have become an impor-
tant industry. A small fleet of schooners from .San
Francisco make one or two trips every year to the
headquarters on Popoff Island, where from 500,000
to 600,000 fish are dried and salted each season.
The Alaska' Commercial Company has also a trading
station and a salmon cannery on Kadiak Island, be-
yond the Shumagins, and the sea otter is also hunteil
around Kadiak, by native hunters in their tight skin
canoes or bidarkas. Two men from Kadiak acquired
a certain fame in 1884 by journeying from that place
to San Francisco in one of these canoes, nineteen
feet long. They were Danes, — Feter Miiller and Nils
Petersen by name, — and, following the general line of
the shore, they made the sixteen hundred miles to
Victoria in one hundred and five day.s. It is consid-
ered quite a feat in these times, but, a century ago,
the natives thought nothing of such a journey.

Although Unalashka has a custom house and is a
port of delivery, the collector at Sitka only hears from
his Unalashka deputy by way of San I'^rancisco, and a
prisoner arrested at Unalashka has to be taken first
to San P'rancisco in order to reach the authorities at
the capital of the Territory. The culprit travels three
thousand nine hundred and ten miles to reach the
Sitka jail, while the distance straight across is but
twelve hundred and seventy-eight miles. Unalashka
is a headquarters for the whaling fleet of the North
Pacific, which now numbers thirty-eight vessels. The

.O-.

308

SOUTH EUX ALASKA.

whalers call there for mail, water, and supplies, and
stop on their way up each season to learn how the ice
is beyond ik'ring Straits. They leave word as to
the condition of the berj^s and floes, the positions of
the rcmainini;- ships and their catches, as they come
down each fall.

At the Tribyloff Islands, two hundred and twenty
and two hundred and seventy miles further north,
ncithci- whalers nor other trading ships are ever seen
The heaviest fogs rest upon them in summer, and ice
floes beleaguer them in winter, stilling the heavy
roar of the surf, and putting one and two miles of
broken ice between the shores and the open water.
The shallow waters, and the upward current through
Bering Straits, ])revent icebergs from floating down
from the Arctic Ocean, ami that element of danger
does not threaten the navigators in those foggy
waters. During the breeding season each summer,
United States ofificers are stationed on the two smaller
islands, Coppc!' and W^alrus, to prevent any seal
pirates from unlawfully killing the animals, and on
St. Paul and St. George islands special treasury
and revenue agents watch closely that none of the
regulations are disregarded.

The three hundred and ninety-eight natives who
inhabit the two islands are mostly haji breeds of the
Aleut tribe. Thev live now after a certain civilized
way, in neat and comfortable houses provided for
them by the company, but it was at first difificult to
get them to leave their filthy underground hovels.
They are nearly all members of the Greek Church,
and, with the help of the company, support a chapel
on either island. Bishop Nestor used to include these

.■<t«./'J,-«->.'J V'-.tJ BI^

rilK SlTh.W AlHllll'KLACO.

au9

who

pf the

Hlized

[cl for

lult to

levels.

lurch,

:hapel

these

little parishes on his annual visits, and celebrated the
mass in his richest vestments before their altars. To
prevent the evils of intemperance, the company is
careful that no intoxicants are sent up with their
stores, and suj^ar anil molasses are sold to the natives,
only in the smallest quantities, for fear that they
mi^dit distil the same hooclnnoo as the Thhnkets,
Kailin;; these lu.xuries, the jK")or Aleut satisfies his
sweet tooth with other substitutes. The greatest
quantities of condensed milk are sold them each year,
the seal hunters drinkmi; a can of milk at a time, or
spreading it thickly on their daily bread. The large
sums they receive during the few weeks of the sealing
season enable them to live in idleness and plenty for
the rest of the year. They arc inveterate gamblers,
as well as feasters and idlers, and after the long hiber-
nation and pleasuring of the winter they are anxious
and ready for the summer's work.

It has not been learned yet where Cal/or/iinus
ursinus stays for the rest of the year ; but early in June
the desolate shores of the I'ribyloff Islands become
vocal with the hoarse voices of the seal, which have
made this their gathering-place during the breeding
season for unnumbered years. It is estimated that
three million seals congregate on the rookeries of
St. Paul Island each summer, and those who have
looked down iij)on these rookeries at the height of
the season rej-tort it as a most astounding spectacle.
Acres of the rocky shore are alive with seals of all
sizes and kinds, and the very ground seems to be
writhing and squirming as the ungainly creatures drag
themselves over the rocks, or pause to fan themselves
with their flippers. Great battles are waged between

'A*<'yg4gi M^W !y«,-*i'

310

SOUTHERN ALASKA.

the heads of seal families from June to August, and
the harsh chorus of their voices is heard at sea
above the roar of the breakers, and is the sailors'
guide in making the islands during the heavy summer
fogs. Only the male seals from two to four years of
age are killed, and the skins of the three-year-olds
have the finest and closest fur. The method of kill-
ing them has nothing heroic or huntsmanlike about
it. The natives start out before dawn, and, running
down the shore, get between the sleeping seals and
the water, and then drive them, as they would so many
sheep, to the killing-ground, a half mile inland.
They drive them slowly, giving them frequent rests
for cooling, and gradually turning aside and leaving
behind all seals that are not up to the requisite age
and condition. When the poor, tame things have
reached their death-ground, the natives go round with
heavy clubs and kill them with one blow on the head.
The skins are quickly stripped from them and taken
to the salting-house, where they are covered with salt
and laid in great piles. The natives receive forty
cents for each skin taken in this way. After a few
weeks in the salting-house the company's steamer
brings them down to San Francisco. The special
agent of the United States Treasury at the islands
counts the skins before they are siiipped, and,
accompanying them to San Francisco, they are again
counted in his presence by the inspectors at that port,
The tax of $2.62% is pa"d on each skin, the dirty
yellow pelts treated to more salt, rolled into bundles,
and packed in tight casks ready to ^;hip to London.
Of these one hundred thousand sealskins, eighty
thousand come from the island of St. Paul, which is

THE SITKAN ARC HI PEL AGO.

St, and
at sea
sailors'
ummer
ears of
;ar-olds
of kill-
; about
unning
als and

many
inland,
it rests
leaving
lite age
:s have
id with
e head.

1 taken
ith salt
i forty
r a few

earner
pecial
slands
and,
again
port,
dirty
ndles,
)ndon.
ighty
ich is

si.xteen miles long and from three to si.K miles wide,
and twenty thousand skins come from the island of
St. George, which is not even as large. On one trip
in 1883, the steamer .S7. Pa/// brought down sixty-
three thousand sealskins, valued at $630,000, and
the ta.x paid to the government on them amounted to

^165,375-

When Callorliijius iirsinus has thus delivered up

his skin, and been salted and packed into barrels, he

is sent on by railroad and steamship to London,

where the Alaska Commercial Company controls the

sealskin market of the world. Over seven firms in

London are now engaged in the dyeing and dressmg

of sealskms, although there is a fiction still passed

around about the secret of dyeing being held by one

family of London furriers. Smiths, Oppenheimers,

and other great firms buy the sealskins, dress them,

pluck them, and give them the deep velvety brown

and black dye that constitutes them such articles of

luxury and fashion. A firm of Paris furriers has

been setting the fashion of dyes for several years,

and in accordance with their behests the color has

been made darker and darker, until it is now nearly

black. The oid London furriers shake their heads

at this change, as the strong nut gall and acids used

to obtain this rich dark tone are liable to eat and

destroy the leatner. Cheap labor is the only answer

to the question why this dressing and dyeing is done

in Europe instead of America. The long, coarse

hairs that overlay t^he fine fur have all to be removed

by hand, and is best accomplished by that " pauper

labor" at which emigrated demagogues rail. In New

York there is one furrier who attempts to rival the

■MM

31.2

SOUTH KRN ALASKA.

London and Paris houses, but the results have so far
proved his inability to outdo them in price and
quality of work. If well dyed, a sealskin will never
fade, spot with rain, nor mat together with dust, and
it is even told that one London dyer put one of his
sealskins in a tub and washed it with soap as a proof
that they would lose neither lustre nor color by such
treatment. It takes m.any handlings to turn the
coarse long hair of these skins into a short, velvety,
and glossy fur. Hot sand baths and chemicals are
used to get the grease and oil out of the skins, and
if this process is not thoroughly done at the time,
the dull and matted furs have to be puc through hot
sand again after they have been made up into garments
and worn. Six and more coats of rlye are necessary,
and it is applied to the surface only, so as co leave the
roots 01 the fine hairs a golden yellow. Like the
manufacture of gunpowder and so many other things,
the art of dyeing sealskin originated with the Chinese,
to whom the Russians used to sell nearly all of their
furs. It is most probable that it was their intention
to imitate the costly, purplish urown fur of the sea
otter, which in Russia, as well as China, was formerly
a badge of rank, and is still the most expensive fur
sold, single skins being shown at the San Francisco
warehouse, worth $ioo and S300. The otter skins
are brought down dried, and require only to be
dressed and plucked of the coarser hairs before
being ready to u.^c.

After being dressed and dyed, the sealskins pay a
duty of 20 per cent when they return to this country,
and the cost of sealskin garments may be won-
dered at when one counts the items. The raw :md

so far

; and

never

t, and

of his ^
proof

/■ such

n the

ilvety,

lis are

IS, and
time,

gh hot

rnents

essary,

ive the

ke the
hings,

linese,
their
cntion
le sea
merly
ve fur

ncisco

skins
to be
iK^fore

pay a
|untry,

i\ ;ind

THE 8ITKAN ARCHIPELAGO.

313

unsightly skins in their salt are worth from $ioto
$i8 each, according to quality. There is to be added
to this a tax of $2.62,^/^ each to the government ; a
charge of $6 or $S for the dyeing and dressing ; a duty
of 20 per cent when they are returned to this country ;
and a fair charge for all the transportation the skins
undergo, and the insurance on them during this
time. This gives a dressed sealskin ready for the
furrier to make up into garments, at an average value
of from $15 to ;^3e It takes three skins to make a
sacque of medium size, and the furriers always charge
well for the making, as the greatest skill and nicety
are required in sewing the skins. That furriers reap
a profit of one hundred per cent on each sealskin gar-
ment is quite evident.

By the wise action of the government in reserving
the seal islands and leasing them to a responsible
company, the seal fisheries have become more and
more valuable. The seals are increasing in num.ber
yearly, and more than the regular 100,000 could be
killed each season without diminishing them to any
extent, although io regulate prices the company has
• ften taken less than the maximum number allowed in
^y. season. Alaska seal is now the only seal in the
nruket, since the rookeries of the Antarctic Sea
have been so persistently hunted ;hat the seals have
become extinct. The Shetland .-leals, found on the
islands of that name off Cape Horn, for a long time
furnished the finest skins in the market, and command-
ed almost double the price of the Alaska sealskins.
Not being protected by any government, the islands
were free hunting grounds for every ship that went
"round the Horn," and no skipper could resist a

314

SOUTHERN ALASKA.

venture at such costly pelts. From the Island of
South Georgia and i"he Island of Desolation 2,400,000
sealskins were taken annually from the time of their
discovery, in 1771, until within the last twenty years,
when the seals gradually became extinct. A San
Francisco furrier sent a schooner down to those Ant-
arctic islands a few years ago, and sixty skins were
all that were obtained, and in another season only
three skins were taken. All along the northwest
coast, from Vancouvc ' V Island to Unalashka, where
the authority and mono^. jf the Alaska Commercial
Company begins, a general warfare is waged on the
fur seal by independent hunters and traders ; but their
catch has seemingly no effect upon the millions of
seal that annually gather on the Pribyloff shores, and
the pelt grows coarser and poorer the further south
of those islands it is obtained. The seal's skin is in
its best condition during the summer months, when
the animals frequent the Pribyloff rookeries, and by
wise protection the government has an inexhaustible
source of wealth in these two small islands, that have
already paid into the Treasury, in rent and taxes,
nearly the whole amount that was paid to Russia for
the immense territory of Alaska, From the date of
the lease in 1870 up to March, 1884, the Alaska Com-
mercial Company has paid in*o the United States
Treasury $4,662,026. Having invested $7,200,000 in
the purchase of the Territory, comprising an area of
580,107 square miles, the government has derived an
annual income ranging from $262,500 to 55317,000
from two of the smallest islands off its coast.

THE SITKAN ARCHIPELAGO.

315

sland of

!,400,000

of their
ty years,
A San
ose Ant-
ins were
son only
Drthwest
a, where
nmercial

I on the
but their

II ions of
)res, and
er south
kin is in
IS, when
, and by
laustible
hat have
d taxes,
ussia for
i date of
ka Com-
1 States
o,ooo in

area of
'ived an
^3 1 7,000

CHAPTER XXIV.

THE TREATY AND CONGRESSIONAL PAPERS.

nPHE following is the official text of the "Treaty
A concerning the cession of the Russian Posses-
sions in North America by His Majesty the Emperor
of all the Russias to the United States of America ;
concluded March 30, 1867; ratified by the United
States May 28, 1867; exchanged June 20, 1867;
proclaimed by the United States June 20, 1867 : " —

Bj^ the President of the United States of America.

A PROCLAMATION.

Whereas a treaty between the United States of
America and his Majesty the Emperor of all the
Russias was concluded and signed by their respective
plenipotentiaries at the city of Washington on the
thirtieth day of March last, which treaty, being in
the English and French languages, is, word for word,
as follows : —

The United States of America and His Majesty
the Emperor of all the Russias, being desirous of
strengthening, if possible, the good understanding
which exists between them, have, for that purpose,
appointed as their Plenij^otentiaries : the President

316

SOUTHERN ALASKA.

of the United States, William H. Seward, Secretary
of State; and His Majesty the Emperor of all the
Russias, the Privy Counsellor Edward de Stoeckl,
his Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipoten-
tiary to the United States.

And the said Plenipotentiaries, having exchanged
their full powers, which were found to be in due form,
have agreed upon and signed the following articles : —

ARTICLE 1.

His Majesty the Emperor of all the Russias agrees
to cede to the United States, by this convention,
immediately upon the exchange of the ratifications
thereof, all the territory and dominion now possessed
by his said Majesty on the continent of America and
in the adjacent islands, the same being contained
within the geographical limits herein set forth, to wit :
The eastern limit is the line of demarcation between
the Russian and the British possessions in North
America, as established by the convention between
Russia and Great Britain, of February 28-16, 1825,
and described in Articles III and IV of said conven-
tion, in the following terms :

" Commencing from the southernmost point o' the
island called Prince of Wales Island, which point
lies in the parallel of 54 degrees 40 minutes north
latitude, and between the 131st and the 133d degree
of west longitude (meridian of Greenwich), the said
line shall ascend to the north along the channel called
Portland channel, as far as the point of the continent
where it strikes the 56th degree of north latitude ;
from this last-mentioned point, the line of demarca-
tion shall follow the summit of the mountains, situated

THE SITKAN AlUHllPELAdO.

317

.r the
point
north
egree
e said
called
tinent
itude ;
narca-
:uated

parallel to the coast as far as the point of inter-
section of the 141st degree of west longitude (of
the same meridian) ; and finally, from the said point
of intersection, the said meridian line of the 141st
degree, in its prolongation as far as the Frozen
ocean.

'* IV. With reference to the line of demarcation
laid down in the preceding article, it is under-
stood —

" I St. That the island called Prince of Wales
Island shall belong wholly to Russia " (now, by this
cession, to the United States)

" 2d. That whenever the summit of the mountains
which extend in a direction parallel to the coast from
the 56th degree of north latitude to the point of in-
tersection of the r4ist degree 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 Russia as above mentioned (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 distance of ten ma-
rne leagues therefrom."

The western limit within which the territories and
dominion conveyed are contained, passes through a
point in Behring's straits on the parallel of sixty-five
degrees thirty minutes north latitude, at its intersec-
tion b) the meridian which passes midway between
the islands of Krusen.stern, or Ignalook, and the
island of Ratmanoff, or Noonarbook. and proceeds
due north, without limitation, into the same Frozen
ocean. ,The same western limit, beginning at the

ai8

.SOUTIIEHN ALASKA.

same initial point, proceeds thence in a course nearly
soLitliwest, throuji;h Behring's straits and Behring's
sea, so as to pass midway between the northwest
point of the island of St. Lawrence and the southeast
point of Cape Ch(nikotski, to the meridian of one
hundred and seventy-two west longitude ; thence,
from the intersection of that meridian, in a south-
westerly direction, so as to pass midway between
the island of Attou and the Copper island of the
Kormandorski couplet or group in the North Pacific
ocean, to the meridian of one hundred and ninety-
three degrees west longitude, so as to include in the
territory conveyed the whole of the Aleutian islands
east of that meridian.

ARTICLE II.

In the cession of territory and dominion made by
the preceding article are included the right of pro-
perty in all public lots and squares, vacant lands, and
all public buildings, fortifications, barracks, and other
edifices which are not private individual property.
It is, however, understood and agreed, that the
churches which have been built in the ceded terri-
tory by the Russian government shall remain the
property of such members of the Greek Oriental
Church resident in the territory, as may choose to
worship therein. Any government archives, papers,
and documents /elative to the territory and dominion
aforesaid, which may be now existing there, will be
left in the possession of the agent of the United
States ; but an authenticated copy of such of them
as may be required will be, at all times, given by
the United States to the Russian government, or

TJIK SITKAN ARCIilPELAdO.

319

e by

pro-

and

)ther

erty.

the

erri-

the

ntal

e to

3ers,

nion

1 be

ited

to such Russian officers or subjects as they may
apply for.

ARTICI.K HI.

The inhabitants of the ceded territory, according;
to their choice, reserving their natural alh:giance,
may return to Russia within three years ; but if they
should prefer to remain in the ceded territory, they,
with the exception of uncivilized native tribes, shall
be admitted to the enjoyment of all the rights,
advantages, and immunities of citizens of the United
States, antl shall be maintained and protected in the
free enjoyment of their liberty, property, and religion.
The uncivilized tribes will be subject to such laws
and regulations as the United States may, from time
to time, adopt in regard to aboriginal tribes of that
country.

ARTICLE IV.

His Majesty the Emperor of all the Russias shall
appoint, with convenient despatch, an agent or agents
for the purpose of formally tlelivering to a similar
agent or agents appointed on behalf of the United
.States, the territory, dominion, property, dependen-
cies and appurtenances which arc ceded as above,
and for doing any other act which may be necessary
in regard thereto. But the cession, with the right of
immediate possession, is nevertheless to be deemed
complete and absolute on the exchange of ratifica-
tions, without waiting for such formal delivery.

ARTICLE V.

Immediately after the exchange of the ratifications
of this convention, any fortifications or military posts
which may be in the ceded territory shall be deli-

320

SOUTH K UN M.ASKA.

vered to the agent of the United States, and any
Russian troops which may be in the territory shall be
withdrawn as soon as may be reasonably and conve-
niently practicable.

ARTICLE VI.

In consideration of the cession aforesaid, the
United States agree to pay at the treasury in Wash-
ington, within ten months after the exchange of the
ratifications of this convention, to the diplomatic
representative or other agent of his Majesty the
Emperor of all the Russias, duly authorized to re-
ceive the same, seven million two hundred thousand
dollars in gold The cession of territory and domi-
nion herein made is hereby declared to be free and
unincumbered by any reservations, privileges, fran-
chises, grants, or possessions, by any associated con-
panies, whether corporate or incorporate, Russian or
any other, or by any parties, except merely private
individual property holders ; and the cession hereby
made conveys all the rights, franchises, and privi-
leges now belonging to Russia in the said territory
or dominion, and appurtenances thereto.

ARTICLE VII.

When this convention shall have been duly ratified
by the President of the United States, by and with
the advice and consent of the Senate, on the one
part, and on the other by his Majesty the Emperor
of all the Russias, the ratifications shall be exchanged
at Washington within three months from the date
hereof, or sooner, if possible.

In faith whereof, the respective plenipotentiaries

THE SITKAA' AHt'llll'KLAaO.

321

have signed this convention, and thereto affixed the
seals of their arms.

Done at Washington, the thirtieth day of March
tn the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred
and sixty-seven.

[^- ^J William H. Sewakd.

[^- '^•^ Edouard de Stoeckl.

And whereas the said Treaty has been duly ratified
on both parts, and the respective ratifications of the
same were exchanged at Washington on this twen-
tieth day of June, by William H. Seward. Secretarv
of State of the United States, and the Privy Coun-
sellor Edward de Stoeckl, the Envoy Extraordinary
of His Majesty the Emperor of all the Russias, on
ti.e part of their respective governments, —

Now, therefore, be it known that I. Andrew
Johnson, President of the United States of America,
have caused the said Treaty to be made public, to
the end that the same and every clause and article
thereof may be observed and fulfilled with good faith
by the United States and the citizens thereof.

In witness whereof. I have hereunto set my hand,
and caused the seal of the United States to be
affixed.

Done at the city of Washington, this twentieth
day of June, in the year of our Lord o^ • thousand
eight hundred and sixty-seven, and oi the Inde-

Fl si P^"^^"c^ «^ ^he United States the
■' ninety-first.

Andrew Johnson
By the President :

William H, Seward, Secretary of State

322

SOUTH KHN ALA S KA .

' .i'

#1^

'•■■:^

From the Revised Statutes of the United States
for the Second Sessior) of the Fortieth Congress is
taken the following : —

/f « At/ /tuiktnir an Approprtdtion of Money to carry into F.f-
fed thi- Treaty loit/i Russia of Manfi thirtieth, eighteen
hundred and sixty-seven.

Wmkrkas the President of the United States, on
the thirtieth of March, eighteen hundred and sixty-
seven, entered into a treaty with the Kmperor of
Russia, and the Senate thereafter gave its advice and
consent to said treaty, by the terms of which it was
stipulated that, in consideration of the cession by the
Emperor of Russia to the United States of certain
territory therein described, the United States should
pay to the Emperor of Russia the sum of seven
million two hundred thousand dollars in coin ; and
whereas it was further stipulated in said treaty that
the United States shall accept of such cession, and
that certain inhabitant.-, of said territory shall be
admitted to the enjoyment of all the rights and im-
munities of citizens of the United States ; and whereas
said stipulations cannot be carried into full force and
effect except by legislation to which the consent of
both houses of Congress is necessary : Therefore.
Be It enacted by the Senate and Ilonse of Representa-
tives of t/ie United States of Auieriea in Congress as-
senilded, That there be, and hereby is, appropriated,
from any money in the treasury not otherwise appro-
priated, seven million and two hundred thousand
dollars in coin, to fulfil stipulations contained in the
sixth article of the treaty with Russia, concluded at
Washington on the thirtieth day of March, eighteen
hundred and sixty-seven.

Approved, July 27. 1868.

TUK HliKA.S AUCUIFELAUU.

During the First Session of the Forty-eighth Con-
gress, the following bill, originating in the Senate,
became a law :

AN AC'I l'KOVn)IN(, A CIVIL GOVERNMENT EOK

ALASKA.

Bf it enacted by the Senate aud House of Represen-
tatives of the United States of America tn Congress
assembled, That the territory ceded to the United
States by Russia by the treaty of March thirtieth,
eighteen hundred and sixty-seven, and known a.s
Alaska, shall constitute a civil and judicial district,
the government of which shall be organized and
administered as hereinafter provided. 'l"he temporary
seat of government of said district is hereby estab-
lished at Sitka.

Si:c. 2. That there shall be appointed for the said
district a governor, who shall reside therein during
his term of office and be charged with the interests
of the United States (lovernment that may arise
within said district. To the end aforesaid he shall
have authority to see that the laws enacted for said
district are enforced, and to require the faithful dis-
charge of then- duties by the officials appointed to
administer the same. lie may also grant reprieves
for offences committed against the laws of the district
or of the United States until the decision of the
President thereon shall be made known. He shall
be ex officio commander-in-chief of the militia of said
district, and shall have power to call out the same
w^hen necessary ^J the due execution of the laws and
to preserve the peace, and to cause all able-bodied
citizens of the United States in said district to enroll

324

SOUTHERN ALASKA.

and serve as such when the public exigency demands ;
and he shall perform generally in and over said district
such acts as pertaiu to the office of governor of a
territory, so far as the same may be made or become
applicable thereto. He shall make an annual report,
on the first day of October in each year, to the Prcsi-
('ent of the United . tates, of his official acts and
doings, and of the condition of said district, with
reference to its resources, industries, population, and
the administration of the civil government thereof.
And the President of the United States shall have
power to review and to confirm or annul any re-
prieves granted or other acts done by him.

Sec. 3. That there shall be, and hereby is, estab-
lishea a district court for said dis. "ct, with the civil
and criminal jurisdiction of district courts of the
United Ctates exercising the juri^xliction of circuit
courts, and such oth'T jurisdiction, not inconsistent
with this act, as may be established by law ; and a
district judge shall be appointed for said district, who
shall during his term of office reside therein and hold
at least two terms of said ccairt therein in each year,
one at Sitka, beginning on i^he first Monday in May,
and the other at Wrangel, beginning on th^ first
Monday in November. He is also authorized and
directed to hold such special sessions as may be ne-
cessary for the dispatch of the business of said court,
at such times and places in said district as he may
deem expedient, and may adjourn such special session
to any otner time previous to a regular session He
shall have authority to employ interpreters, and to
make allowances lor the necessary expenses of his
court.

THE SITKA^ ARCHIPELAGO.

325

re-

ay,
first

and
ne-
iirt,
nay
iion
He
tn
his

Sec. 4. That a clerk shall be appjinted for said
court, who shall be ex officio secretary and treasurer
of said district, a district attorney, and a marshal,
all of whom shall during their terms of office reside
therein. The clek shall record and preserve copies
of all the laws, proceedings, and official acts applicable
to -said district. He shall also receive all moneys
collected from fines, forfeitures, or in any other man-
ner except from violations of tiie custom laws, and
shall apply the same to the incidental expenses of the
said district court and the allowances thereof as di-
rected by the judge of said court, and shall account for
the same in detail, and for any balances on account
thereof, quarterly, to and under the direction of the
Secretary of the Treasury. He shall be ex officio
recorder of deeds and mortgages and certificates of
location of mining claims pnd other contracts relating
to real estate and register of wills for said district,
and shall establish secure offices in the towns of Sitka
and VVrangel, i:i said district, for the safekeeping of
all his official records, and of records concerning the
reformation and establishment of the {)resent status
of titles to lands, as hereinafter directed : Provided,
I'hat the district court hereby created may direct, if
it shall deem ij^ expedient, the establishment of sepa-
rate offices at the settlements of VVrangel, Oonalashka,
and Juneau City, respectively, for the recording ol
such instrument!- as may pertai: to the several na-
tural divisions of said district most convenient to said
settlemer*;s, the limits of which shall, in the event of
such direction, be defined by said court ; and said
offices shall be in charge of the commissioners respec-
tively as Hereinafter provided.

326

SOUTHER :S ALASKA.

Sec. 5. That there shall be appointed by the Presi-
dent four commissioners in and for the said district,
who shall have the jurisdiction and powers of com-
missioners of the United States circuit courts in any
part of said district, bat who shall reside, one at
Sitka, one at Wrangel, one at Oonalashka, and one at
Juneau City. Such commissioners shall exercise all
the duties and powers, civil and criminal, now con-
ferred on justices of the peace under the general laws
of the State of Oregon, so far as the same may be
applicable in said district, and may not be in conflict
with this act or the laws of the United States. They
shall also have jurisdiction, subject to the supervision
of the district judge, in all testamentary and probate
matters, and for this purpose their courts shall be
opened at stated terms and be courts of record, and
be provided with a seal for the authentication of their
official acts. They shall also have power to grant
writs of habeas corpus for the purpose of inquiring
into the cause of restraint of liberty, which writs
shall be made returnable before the said district judge
for said district ; and like proceedings shall be had
thereon as if the ^ame had been granted by said judge
under the general laws of the United v.)tater> in such
cases. Said commissioners shall also have the powers
of notaries public, and shall keep a record of all deeds
and other instruments of writing acknowledged before
them and relating to the title to or transfer of pro-
perty within said district, which record shall be
subject to public inspection. Said commissioners
shall also keep a record of all fines and forfeitures
received by them, and shall pay over the same quar-
terly to the clerk of said district court. The governor

THE air KAN AliCtllPELAUO.

327

pro-
11 be
)ners
:ures
|:juar-
jrnor

appointed under the provisions of this act shall, from
time to time, inquire into the ope.ations of the Alaska
Seal and Fur Company, and shall annuaLy report to
Congress the result of such inquiries and any and all
violations by said company of the agreement existing
between the United States and said company.

Sec. 6. That the marshal for said district shall
have the general authority and powers of the United
States marshals of the States and Territories. He
shall be the executive officer of said court, and
charged with the execution of all process of said court
and with the transj)ortation and custody of prisoners,
and he shall be ex officio keeper of the jail or peni-
tentiary of said district. He shall appoint four
deputies, who shall reside severally at the towns of
Sitka, Wrangel, Oonalashka, and Juneau City, and
they shall respectively be ex officio constables and
executive officers -f ihe commissioners' courts herein
provided, and shall have the powers and discharge the
duties of United States deputy marshals, and those
of constables under the laws of the State of Oregon
now in force.

Skc. 7. That the general laws of the State of
Oregon now in force are hereby declared to be the
law in said district, so far as the same may be appli-
cable and not in conflict with the provisions of this
act or the laws of the United States ; and the sen' 'uce
of imprisonment in any criminal case shall be carried
out by confinement in the jail or penitentiary here
inafter provided for. But the said district court sb..ul
have exclusive jurisdiction in all cases in equity or
those involving a question of title to land, or mining
rights, or the constitutionality of a law, and in all

328

so U Til KUN ALA SKA .

criminal offences which arc capital. In all civil cases,
at common law, any issue of fact shall be determined
by a jury, at the instance of cither party ; and an
appeal shall lie in any case, civil or criminal, from the
judgment of said commissioners to the said district
court where the amount involved in any civil case is
two hundred dollars or more, and in anv criminal case
where a fine of more than one hundred dollars or im-
prisonment is imposed, upon the filing of a sufficient
appeal bond by the party appealing, to be approved
by the court or commissioner. Writs of error in cri-
minal cases shall issue to the said district court from
the United States circuit court for the district of
Oregon in the cases provided in chapter one hundred
and seventy-six of the laws of eighteen hundred and
seventy-nine; and the jurisdiction thereby conferred
upon circuit courts is hereby given to the circuit
court of Oregon. And the fmid judgments or de-
crees of said circuit and district court may be reviewed
by the Supreme Court of the United States as ia
other cases.

Sp:c. 8. That the said district of Alaska is hereby
created a land district, and a United States land-ofiice
for said district is herebv located at Sitka. The com-
missioner provided for by this act to reside at Sitka
shull be ex officio register of said land-office, and the
clerk provided for by this act shall be ex officio re-
ceiver of public moneys, and the marshal provided for
by this act shall be ex officio surveyor-general of said
tlistrict, and the laws of the United States relating to
mining claims, and the rights incident thereto, shall,
from and after the passage of this act, be in full force
and effect in said district, under the administrat'on

IHK SlTKA^S AHLHU'KLAdO.

H20

com-
Sitka
id the
rio re-
id for

said
jng to
[shall,
Iforce

thereof herein provided for, subject to such regula-
tions as may be made by the Secretary of the Interior,
approved by the President : Provided, That the In-
dians or other persons in said district shall not be
disturl)cd in the possession of any lands actually in
their use or occupation or now claimed by them, but
the terms under which such persons may iicquire title
to such lands is reserved for future legislation by
Congress : And provided further^ That parties who
have located mines or mineral privileges therein
under the laws of the United States applicable to the
public domain, or who have occupied and improved
or exercised acts of ownership over such claims, shall
not be disturbed therein, but shall be allowed to per-
fect their title to such claims by payment as aforesaid :
Afid provided also, Th^X. the land not exceeding six
hundred and forty acres at any station now occupied
as missionary stations among the Indian tribes in
said section, with the improvements thereo»t erected
by or for such societies, shall be continued in the
occupancy of the several religious societies to which
said missionary stations respectively belong until
action by Congress. T3ut nothing contained in this
act shall be construed to {nit in force in said district
the general land laws of the United States.

Sec. 9. That the governor, attorney, judge, mar-
shal, clerk, and commissioners provifled for in this act
shall be appointed by the President of the United
States, by and with the advice and consent of the
Senate, and shall hold their respective offices for the
term of four years, and until their successors are ap-
pointed and qualified. They shall severally receive
the fees of office established by law for the several

380

so UTllKlt S A LA SKA .

offices the duties of which have been hereby conferred
upon them, as the same are determined and allowed
in respect of similar offices under the laws of the
United States, which fees shall be reported to the
Attorney General and paid into the Treasury of
the United States. They shall receive respectively the
following annual salaries. The governor, the sum of
three thousand dollars ♦^he attorney, the sum of two
thousand five hundred doilars ; the marshal, the sum
of two thousand five hundred dollars ; the judge, the
sum of three thousand dollars ; and the clerk, the sum
of two thousand five hundred dollars, payable to them
quarterly from the Treasury of the United States.
The district judge, marshal, and district attorney
shall be paid their actual, necessary expenses when
travelling in the discharge of their official duties. A
detailed account shall be rendered of such expenses
under oath and as to the marshal and district attorney
such account shall be approved by the judge, and as
to his expenses by the Attorney General. The com-
missioners shall receive the usual fees of United
States commissioners and of justices of the peace for
Oregon, and such fees for recording instruments as
are allowed by the laws of Oregon for similar services,
and in addition a salary of one thousand dollars each.
The deputy marshals, in addition to the usual fees of
constables in Oregon, shall receive each a salary of
seven hundred and fifty dollars, which salaries shall
also be payable quarterly out of the Treasury of the
United .States. F.ach of said officials shall, before
entering on the duties of his office, take and subscribe
an oath that he will faithfully execute the same, which
said oath may be takon before the judge of said

THE SITKAN AliClIIPELAGO.

331

nferred

allowed

of the

to the

5ury of

/ely the

sum of

of two

he sum

Ige, the

he sum

:o them

States.

ttorney

s when

ies. A

cpenses

ttorney

and ns

e com-

lUnited

ICC for

nts as

rvices,

each.

ees of

ry of

shall

)f the

efore

Iscribe

rvhich

said

district or any United States district or circuit judge.
That all officers appointed for said district, before
entering upon the duties of their otTices, shall take
the oaths required by law, and the laws of the United
States, not locally inapplicable to said district and
not mconsistent with the provisions of this act are
hereby extended thereto ; but there shall be no
legislative assembly in said district, nor shall any
delegate be sent to Congress therefrom. And the
said clerk shall execute a bond, with sufficient sureties,
in the penalty of ten thousanil dollars, for the faith-
ful performance of his duties, and file the same with
the Secretary of the Treasury before entering on the
duties of his office ; and the commissioners shall each
execute a bond, with sufficient sureties, in the penalty
of three thousand dollars, for the faithful performance
of their duties, and file the same with the clerk be-
fore entering on the duties of their office.

Sf:c. lO. That any of the public buildings in said
district not required for the customs service or military
purposes shall be used for court-rooms and offices of
the civil government ; and the Secretary of the
Treasury is hereby directed to instruct and authorize
the custodian of said buildings forthwith to make
such repairs to the jail in the town of Sitka, in said
district, as will render it suitable for a jail nd peni-
tentiary for the purposes of the civil government
hereby provided, and to surrender to the marshal the
custody of said jail and the other public buildings, or
such parts of said buildings as may be selected for
court-rooms, offices, and officials.

Sec. II. That the Attorney-General is directed
forthwith to compile and cause to be printed, in the

332

aOUTllKUy ALASKA.

English language, in pamphlet form, so much of the
general laws of the United States as is applicable to
the duties of the governor, attorney, judge, clerk,
marshals, and commissioners appointed for said
district, and shall furnish for the use of the otficers
of said Territory so many copies as may be needed
of the laws of Oregon applicable to said district.

Sec. 12. That the Secretary of the Interior shall
select t'vo of the officers to be appointed under this
act, who, together with the governor, shall constitute
a commission to examine into and report upon the
condition of the Indians residing in said Territory,
what lands, if any, should be reserved for their use,
what provision shall be made for their education, what
rights by occupation of settlers should be recognized,
and all other facts that may be necessary to enable
Congress to determine what limitations or conditions
shoukl be imposed when the land laws of the United
States shall be extended to said district ; and to
defray the expenses of said commission the sum of
two thousand dollars is hereby appropriated out of
any moneys in the Treasury not otherwise appro-
priated.

Sec, 13. That the Secretary of the Interior shall
make needful and proper provision for the education
of the children of school age in the Territory of
Alaska, without reference to race, until such time as
permanent provision shall be made for the same, and
the sum of twenty-five thousand dollars, or so much
thereof as may be necessary, is hereby appropriated
for this purpose.

Sec. 14. That the provisions of chapter three,
title twenty-three, of the Revised Statutes of the

THE SITKAN AHCUIPKLAaO.

a;j3

1 of the
icable to
e, clerk,
or said
officers
needed
ict.

or shall
:ier this
istitute
)on the
rritory,
sir use,
n, what
gnized,
enable
ditions
United
md to
;um of
out of
appro-

r shall
cation
>ry of
Tie as
i, and
much
riated

United States, relating lo the unorganized Territory
of Alaska, shall remain in full force, except as herein
specially otherwise provided ; and the importation,
manufacture, and sale of intoxicating liquors in said
district except for medicinal, mechanical, and scien-
tific purposes, is hereby prohibited under the penalties
which are provided in section nineteen hundred and
fifty-five of the Revised Statutes for the wrongful
importation of tlistilled spirits. And the President
of the United States shall make such regulations as
are necessary to carry out the provisions of this
section.
Approved, May r;, 1884.

THE ENP.

:hree,
E the

3^i I 33 £'

IXDFiX.

Ahercrntnl)if, Lieut., r^i, :;<)■;.
Adams, L'. S. stt-atucr, 4J, 2 jo,

Alaska (..'oinmeicial Coinpanv,

122, J 51, 300.
Alaska, U. S. steamer, 21.S.
Aleut trii)e, <r2, 2]2, 30.S.
Alexander Archipelago, 3, 2rt.
Archives, Russian, 212.
Area, 2.

Arthur, President Chester A. 226.
Astur, John Jacob, 199.
Attn Island, 203, 306.
Auk glacier, loi.
Auk tiilte, 2T,2, 243.
Aurora liorealis, 265.

Ikuiks, iVathaniel P. 210.
Baranotf, 192, 196, 199, 212.
Baranotf Island of, 1.S5, ujl), 2-57.
Uaronovich. ^^2, 7,], 37.
IJartlert C\)ve, i2\.
Baskets, 60, 90, 91. 125. 162.
lieardslee, ('apt. I.. A. 219, 2\t,.
Boars, 54, 57, 126, 277.
Black Stream, see Kuio Siwo.
Blarney Stone, 192.
Bodisco, Secretary of Russian
Legation, 203.

Bracelets, Indian, 39, 49, 61, \(>S,

179,276.
Bradforil, Ca|>t. 2o(>.
lireweiy I91.
Buchanan, i'lesident, 200.
Mute Inlet. 21)5.

Candle lish, or oulikou, 294.

Canoes, 36, 66, 273.

Cape 1m;\, 26, 27, 279.

('arroll, Capt, James C. 9S, 23S,

290.
Ca>siar Mines, 67.
Cath(jlics, Roman, 6^,, 255.
Cedars, 189, 256, 258.
Census of inlKihit.int^., 2 ;2.
Chew. R. S. 203.
Chilkat blankets, 40, 106.
Chilkat inlet, 101, 1 10.
Chilkat River, 17, 101, i 12.
Chilkat tribe, 105, 232, 24^.
Chilkoot Inlet, tor, 117, 1 10.
Chinese coins, 216.
< limate, 1S6.
t'oal. 12, 222, 244.
Codtish, 247, 307.
Cod liver fiil, 2 ^X.
Coghlan, Capt. J. I;. 221, 259.
Congressional papers, ^,22- ]],
Cooperstown, 9.S.
Cook, Capt. 92, 205.

W f ^lM'WiM^ " *"'

INDEX.

(■(tral, 1 89.
<'rcm.itii)n, 57, i8r.
(.'rillon, Mt. ij;;, i VJ-
C'rinican war, 200.
Curios, Iiuliaii, jS, ^ij, G\, 105, loS,
i6j, 179, _7S.

Dall, ("apt, C. C. 1 15. jij.

Dall. I'rol. William II. \iz, 1S3,

::oi, 22J.
Daviilson, rr<»f. (leorgc (". 102,

III, 112, i3(), 20S. 21 5.
I )a\ idsDu ( ilai ii:r, 102.
l)avis, (ieii. J. C". 2o(), 215, 254.
Dt'partiiri; I'.av, 1 1, 297.
Devil's . lumil), 74.
Discovery I'ass, 17.
Dixon I'lntrancc, 4, 23, 269, 279.
Dou^Iabs Island, Si. 97, 99.
I > 11 Iter in, I .ord, 7, 295.
1 >uncan, Mr. 2S0.

Ma};lc glacier, 101.

I'lclipse of the sun in iSCk), i 12.

I'.clioes, 14.}, 133, 290.

I'-dgecunilje, Mt. 184, 237.

lUlucafion, 229-31;.

Ijiuiions, ("a])t. 206.

l'",l)idemics, 80.

Es(|uimault, 13.

I'*.s(juiniau.\, 62.

Mtolin, (.'apt. 2},o.

Everctte, Dr. 120.

Fairweatber, .\lt. 131.
I-'erns, S, Ju, 1)4, njr.
Finlavson C'luiniiel, r\.

Fish stories, 28, 34, 92, 194, 210,

225, 253, 2f)4, 2(kS.
Franklin, l,ady, i()i, 216.
Fiazcr Kiver, 17, Hp, 297.
Furs, 49. 91, 126, 127, 210, 303. 306.

ClainMing, (k>.

(lartield, James A. 20('), 210.
( lastineau.x ( 'liannel, 81.
(lilman, I.ieut. 17 \, luO.
(Ilaciation of .\la>ka, 136.
(ilacier I lay, 123. 131.

(ilacicrj — Auk, 101.

Daviilson, 102.

Eaijle, 101.

Muir, 135 -4<).

I'atterson, 73.

Soundoun. 74.

Stikine, 69

Taku, 75.
Glass, Capl. II. A. 219, :T,;'y
(ilenora, 69.

(Jortschaknff, Prince, 200.
'^'ircek Church, 1 ^3, 163,308.
( Ircnville Channel, 21.

aula mission, 272.
laiila tril)e, 35, 43, 232, 243, 269,

-75. 283.^
laidas, origin of, 44.
laincs mission, 117.
laley, Xicholas, 197.
larrison, Senator Benjann'n, 226.
lerring, 248, 294.
le.^keth. Sir Thomas, 244.
lolkam Hay, 74.
lolladay, IJen. 179, 214.
loochinoo, 179, 189, 217, 242, 309.

. -MO,

joO.

H<.oniaI, t.ila.. ,.4. 12:, ,->, ,.,;, Kc.uiali. 1), >:.
,,''°''3^'--*> I KilliMu,.,, ,46. ■

-';'Kr.^ap,.,-. r.. ,. -v.. .:.U.;Kinkca,I.J..h„II..,,
Hot ^|)rlng.s, 1.^3. I .-■ . -^ *

Howaid, (ieiil. ().(). .|;, j j ,
I low kail, 269.

Hudson I!ay (.'onipaiiy. io_, irS,
-oo. :!o.?, ^11.

Ifimlcr, William. -0,5.

Hutchinsun, llavwai<i Mi. j^02.

Ill

KiiMu-y's cannery, j(), m(i. 117.
Kiawak, ^(ta, >.-,,,

Kli'iiKut/. n I - 1^, iji, I ^6.
Kno.x. 'I'lionias \\ . jni.
•^odiak, !(,;, ,.,S, .'o.S, 229, J07.
K()l()sliian>, <ij.
Koot/iiahoo, 21^, _• 5j, _» v^.

K(iot/iialir..,,h,,iuljai(!nieiit of. jjr.
Koskid, ('apt. J06.
Koiiiii Island, 255.
Kraiisc, (lie hoctors. i2\.

Itlaho lalct, I.V)- :\

I'Klian r,.s,on,s S^. co 60 S--.,> P "' "". """""'• "'

..7. .So. ,S.. ^ ^' ' '■' h"'--'-'f. ^'-'a.n. .5S

Indian r)iicstion, 231.
Iiidiai\ Rivfi. S9.
In mi its, 62.

Irondalf, 6.

Irving, Washington, 199.

Kiiru Siwo, 20, 1S6, 240.

/ackson, Rev. Sheldon, 17:;, 272.
Jamest(j\vn, I'. S. ship, ^H).
Japan Ciirr-nt, see, Km*. Siwo.
Japonski Island, 1S5.

I.ahreltc's, 61.
I.ahouelKTL' Ml. loj.
I.tar, William King. 4S. 64.
Legends. ;,2. y,. 70. ,00, 177, 19;,
< -70, 27 J, 277.
r.eut/e's painting, 20";.
Lome, Marfpiis ot, 7, 2()^.
I.'>ii;;hl)iidj.;f. Judge, 210.

Jeanntttcarcticexpioringsteameri l'"'l' ''"''',/' ''■ --°-
301, 505. j ''iitheran Mission. 171.

JeMiils*235. I'-ynn Canal, 100, iO(>

Jones, Senator John P. 98.

Juneau, 82-93, i"^-

Kaigahnee, 2(x.).
Kake tribe, 2 52, 254,
Kake war, 254.
Karta, see Kasa-an Hay.
Kasa-an Bay, 31, 267.
Katalars Rock, 157, 199.

McDougall, Ca|)t. 206.
Maksoutotf, I'lince, 158, 174, 207.
Marchand, the navigator, 8.
Meade, Caj.t. R. W. 73! 74, ,5-,

192, 254.
Mcrrinian.Capt. F. C. 42, 220, 239.
Mctlakatlah, 23, 2S0-84.
Milhank Sound, 21.

'. '^4

INDKX.

Miller, Join- K. 302.
Minos — ' asNiar, 67, 6S.

Douglass, Id. <)S.

Harris or hmc-iiu
Taku, 81 -S4.

Sitka, i(/).

Skeciia, 23.

SouiKloiin, 75.

Treadwcll or Paris, 97.
Missions, 62, 117, 171, 1^3, 23

234. 235,

;<So.

Mitchell, I.icut.-ConiinaiKk r, 2.\.\.
Mitropolski, I''atiier, 164, 1O9, 170.
Monkey legend, 245.
Moravian missionaries, 235.
Morris, W'm. Goivcrneiir, 194.
Mylliology, 41, 54. 181. 183.

N^aha Bay, 28, 29, 30, 267,
Nanainio, : 1, 12, 13, 14.
Nasin-, Pctiolcinn V. 209.
Nestor, Uishop, 163, 30S.
Ni'diols, Capt. If. I". 22J,.
Nicl)auin, Capt. 305.

Onitnancv Cape, J37, 262.
Origin of tribes, 43, 57, 180, 243.
Otter, 127, 304, 312.

Pacific iJ'oast Stcatrship Coni-

p;.ny, 266.
Patterson GhiLier, 73.
|-eril Straits. 23S.
Pes.choiiroft', (!apt. .\ lexis, 206.
Petroff, Ivan, 183, 213, 229, 232.
Phosphorescence, 296.

Pierce, President, 200.
Pin a, U. S. steamer, 22 r.
Port Townsend, 4, 5, (>, 29S.
Potatoes, 185, 188.
Potlatehes, 58, 06, 17S, 221.
i'recipitation, ta'olc of veariv, 1S7.
IVesliytcrian Hoard ot" Missions,

2.34.
Prince of Wales M. 262, 25S.
I Prince of Wales Island tri!)e (west
coast), 232.
Prip ess Louise TIk. 7.
Purchase monev, 202, 20C, 210.
Pryamid Harbor, 102.

Queen Charlotte .Sound, 4, 20.

Ralston, William C. 214.

Red Pay, 2^2.

Revenue derived from Alad<a, 212.

Revillagigedo Channel, 28.

Rothrocker, Prof. 201.

Rousseau, (icn'. L. T. 206.

Russian-American tieaty, 202, 315.

vSaginaw Jake, 249.

Salmon canneries, 27, 29, 34, ro9,

r 16, I f, I >4, 2(x\ 281.
Salmon Creek, 2()3.
Salmon pros|).'ctor, 360.
Salmon trout, 203.
.Samovars, i V),
San Juan island, ti.
Saranac, U S. steainer, 19.
Schiefflin Pnos, 122.

•i-a O

=i3.

Schools, 6.', 117, rrj, 229,

Sclio(;l ap])roi>r!atioiis, j^, ^.
Schvvatka, Lieut. Fit-cici iciv, 1-0.
Sciclmoie Island, i 51, 143,
Seals. I. 38, 300, J09.
Seal Islands, j, ji ,, o^,-, 300, 30S.
Sealskins, 310, 311, 31J.
Seward, Frederick \V. 203. 214.
Seward, William II. .:, 112. n

INDKX.
3.5' I

'I'ally llo, brig, zz^.
Inkii glacier, 75-79, S;.
'I'aku Inlet, 75-7.), -i(,.
I'aku liver, 75-7'>-!, J16.
Taku tribe, j ^j.
Telcgraidi, 201.
relc{)!iuMe, jSj.
Temperature, i8()-,SS.

114, ri5, rrxD, 191, _•().:, 214, 244. ! 'credo, 189.
Seymour .\arro\vs, 18, i<;, jc)^. j ' '^'ritoiial governnicni. zzG, 227.
Shaman, or medicine man, 40, 41, i ' t'-'^'*<la iron ore, d.

• 39, J 30, 18 1, 249. I lliree- Fingered Jack, .11.

Shelikoff, Gregory, 2^9. Tiniber, 256.

Silver Bay, 196. Tobacco, 188.

Silver How Hasin, 93, 96. j ''"'JiiKasN 23, 26, 20S, 216.

Sitka, — 153- 2J(>. j 'I''>ngas> tribe, 23 j.

Castle, [57, 158. .59. ,00, I ''/^"K"^' I'oint. 297

Transfei oT ten iinr\. 207.

I'readwell iiiin'i, 07.

Treaty of purchase, 20J, J05, 204.

i()r.
Church, 153, (63. (71,
JacK, I to. 175, i7,s, 183.
Postma>ter, 153, 161.
Tribe, r8i, 232.
Si wash, 37, 51.
Skeena ri\cr, 2^, 201.
Skoika, 272.
.'^'lunddtm glacier. 74.
Soiiadoun placer niiues, 75.
S|)oiiges. 189.
Simoons, carved. 40, 64.
Starri (iavan, 195, J9S.
St. Klias. Mt. 215, 236.
Stevens. Thiddeus, .,0.
Stikine river, 49, 67-71, 2r6.
Stikine tribe, 49, 66, 2 ^'.
Stoeckl. Haron Kdward, 200
Stone age relics, 105, 225.
Strawberries, 126.
Sumner, c'harles, 204.
Suwanee, U. S. steamer, 20.

Unalashka Isl.md. 230, 306.

Vancouver. 6, 22

99, 100, 1 18, 12^,

02.

I 5-', -^39-

j X'ancouver Island. 12, 1 5, 17, 294.
Vegetation, 29. 63, 94. (,s,s, 100.
Veiiiaminolt, liishop Ivan, roj,

1S3, -30.
N'crstovaia. Mt. 153, 290.
X'ictoiia. 4 -9.

Wachusctt, I'. S. .steamer, 220.
Walk'.;, Knbeit j. 200.
\\'as|ibiirn, ( ', ('. 210.
Wellington mine, 12, 1 -j.

iiipli

wmmmmm

IXDKX,

White, ("apt. John W. 74, 1 11. Wrecks, — Siiwaiicc. I.'. S. steam-

Wliymi.cr, F. \V. Joi. , er, 20.

Willoughby, "Dick" 124, 131,! Wright, Creoigc S. 27S.

132, 136, 149. I Wright Sdiiiid, 22,

Wran,uell, Haron, 1 5S, 1S3.
Wrangcll, Fort, 46, 47, 20S, i'i6.
Wrangell Narrows, 72.
Wrecks, — (irai)|)lcr, 19.

Fiircka, 23S,

Saranac, U.S. steamer,
19.

Vakiitat tribe, 232, 236.

^"llkon river, 2, 119, 120, 121, 201.

StO ^' i^\ f

SOME SPECIAL BOOKS

FOR NEIGHBORHOOD CLUBS.

To m«et the growing demand for bookii for young people which shall
be «:> entertaining as stories, and at the same time ediicatignal in iuHu-
ence, we suggest the folUiwing :

I. The Beadlnir Union Library, a seriee prepared for the
Ciiautauqua Young Folks' Reading Union, $1.00 a yolume, fully illus-
trated; four volumes 1. iw ready, others in preparation: (a) Ma^tta
Charta StirrUs, thrilling tales of the world's great itruggles for liberty,
edited by Arthur Oilman; (^b) Old OceaH, the romance and wonders of
the sea, by Krnest Ingersoli; (c) Doorynrd /W-tr, fascinating natural
history, by Miss A. B. Harris, and including the author's curious experi-
ments with "A Winter Garden"; (d) The Great Composers, a con-
densed, comprehensive story of music and musicians, by H. Butterworth.

II. Our Business Boys. The ways to success in business life,
the rocks of danger, as described hy eirkty-thret busintss men, in re-
•ponse to inquiries by the author, Hev. i<. L. Clark. Price, 60 cents.

III. For reading after or in connection with, the above, there art
three volumes about those who have worked and won : (a) Mtn of M»rk,
(b) Noble Workers, (c) StorUs 0/ Success ; to which may well be added
(d) A Noble Life; or, Hints /or Living, hy Rev. O. A. Kingsbury;
each volume, $125.

IV. Charlotte M Yonge's Yoiuifif Folks' Histories, 1 1.50 a
volume:

Young Folks' History of England.
Young Folks' History of France,
Young Folks' Bible History.

Young Folks' History of Germany.
Young Folks' History of Greece.
YoUHg F'olks' History of Rome.

V. Lothrop's Library of Entertaining History. Edi-
ted by Arthur Giiman, M. A Each volume has one hundrea illustra-
tions. These histones are designed to furnish in a succinct but interesting
form, such descriptions of the lands treated as shall nieti the wants 01
those busy readers who cannot devote tnemselves to the study of detailed
.uid elaborate works, but who wi-^h to be well-informetl in historical
matters. ]$i.5o per volume.

AmericUfhy ,\r\\\\i\ Giiman, M. A. ; India,hy Fannie Ro|)er Feudge ;
Egypt, by Mrs. Clara F.rskme Clement ; Spntn, by Prof. James .\lbert
Harrison; Switser/aud, by Miss Harriet D. S. Mackenzie.

V! Popular Biographies, (f ^reat and good men, whose ef-
forts and .iccompiisliMiMiii.'., cainiot tail of helpful suggestions to young
people. F^acli volume illustrated. Price I1.50.

Daniel WiljNter.
Chaile> Sumner.

Jam^s .A. t .arfie
George Peabody

Id.

Abraham Lincoln.

Horace Greeley.

Henry Wilson.

Bayard Taylor. George Peabody

Henry W Longfellow Charles Dickens.

Washington. William the Silent

Benjamin Franklin.
Amos Lawrence.

Israel Piiir.im.
John G. V\ liittiei
David Livm].;stone.
Oliver Wfuitejl Holmes.

The above books sent, jiost-paid on receipt of pi ice. Send for full
catalogue of more than a thousand volumes, including many volumes of
•tarv, liiography, travel and adventure equally desirable with the abov*
t«r neigliiioihooci cubs and re.idini; liicles.

MARGARET SIDNEYS 1300K:>

Margaret Sidney may be safely i^et down as one of ihe best writers ol
juvenile literature in the country. — Boston Transcript.

Margaret Sidney's books are lia|)piiy describcil a,-- " siiouj; and pure
from cover to cover, . . bright and piquant as the mouniain Ivi-pzes, fir
d dash (111 pony back of a June morning." I'hi: same writer speaks of liei
as " An American authoress who will liold her own in the competitive
»;ood work executed by the many brigl.. i/riiing women of lo-day."

There are few better story writers than Margaret Sidney — HeratJ.
xnd Presbyter.

Comnienti* of Ihe Meculnr and RclisioiiH Pr«MM.

?IVE LITTLE PEPPERS AND HOW THEY GREW.
A charming work. . . The liome scenes in which these little Pep-
pers are L'iij;aged are capitally describee' . . VViil find prominent place
among the higher class of juvenile presentation books. — Religious Herald.

One of the best told tales given to me children for some time. . .
The perfect roprodnction of child-life in its minutest phases, catches one's
attention at once. —Christinn Advocate.

A good hook to place in the hands of every boy or girl. — Chicago
Inter-Ocean.

SO AS BY FIRE. .

Will be hailed witli eager delight, and found well worth reading. —
Christian Observer.

An admirable Simday-school book — Ark, t/sas Evangel.

We have followed with inionse inteit the itory of David Folso:»i. ,

. A man poor, friendless, and addicted tri drink ; . . the influence
of little C'ricket: . . tliL' faitlifn! caro of aunt Pliehe ; all steps by
which he chmbed to higher manhood. — U^oman at Work.

THE PETTIBONE NAME.

It is one of the linest pieces of American fiction that has been pub-
lished for some time. — Newsdealer i," Jiultettn, New York.

It ought to attract wide attention from the simjilicity of its styl , and
the vigor and originality of its treatment. — Chicago Herald.

This is a capital story illustrating New England life, Inter-Ocean,
C;hicago.

The characters of the story ^ee^l all to be studies ';rom life. — Boston
Post.

It is a New England tale, and its characters are true to the original
type, and siiow careful study and no little skill in po/traiture. — Christian
at IVork, New York.

To be commended to readers for excellent deli'ieations, sparkling style,
bright incident and geniine interest — The H-'atchfnan.

A capital story ; bright with excellent sketches of character. Conveys
good moral and spiritual lessons. . . In .short, the book is in ev«ry
wav well done. Ulustrated Chri.'itinn Weekly.

HALF YEAR AT BRONCKTON.

A live boy wiites : " This is about the best book that ever was written
or ever can be. "

'"This bright and earnest stcTv ought to go into the haiuisof every boy
who it old enough to be subjected to the temptations of school life."

lire
fir
lei

ivi-

7.;'

MARIE OLIVER'S STORIES.

3voh, i2mocIoth. illustrated, 51.50 each; the. cii?4 CO

RUBY HAMILTON. OLD AND NEW FRIENDS

SEBA'S DISCIPLINE.

Extracts from comments of well-known journals

RUBY HAMILTON.

This is a very excellent Si.Ma..y-sch()ol book which cin hi.
TK'I wen told'f '"^ youthfuf readers.-- 7i;;{':"...;;:^

is one of r. 1! ..^"r' ^''^■-^'' "" l^"'"^' ^^^'-^l^'-'"' lesson, and
IS one of the best books of its c\^^^.-PhilaMphia Ennuirer
Ih.s IS one ot the best Sunday-school bookC in l.oU ot/s
long and admirable list. Ti>e%tory is a sweet oe ad
charmingly to! d.-<:7;//;r/. y^/,Wvr. ^^^eet one, and

The .spirit throughout is healthy and devout. Al-

together It IS a charming and instructive book.-7;ft,/ d«r^/i.

OLD AND NEW FRIENDS.

A very excellent spedmen of the class of fiction designed
for young folk who have ceased to be children wTtC
^^vmg become mature men and women.-.V. K fJ^cX'^

Many readers will remember " Ruby Hamilton." a volume
which created quite a sensation at the timeof its Mibii.ation.
. • . !"'« volume, a continuation of this story ou<rht to
become us popular as its predecessor.-CV/,-,.//^/' J/i''J^

roV'^'^K l 'u'V'' '-'''Y""'''« Pi'-tuies of home-life. .
Cannot but help and strengthen the boy whose imuulses
are for good. -//m//</,/m//',v,/^,/^;.. " ""Pu'ses

I.ike all that comes from this author's pen, this volume
has merits of both substance and style.- ikternhhrlluTu

Owt'L/^.y^"' '/ '^""-^Tr' '^^ •'^^^''-^ ^^'^«'' ^'^"-V l^OOks--
Cincinnan Joiinial ana ^Messenger.

SEBA'S DISCIPLINE.

:,ctr''n'''f ^"if''^^''')'^'^ "-'^es of trouble in building up char-
acter. — VVt-itein jRecordi'r. ^ '

Has a varied and absorbing intotest from ics beginning to its

Close. . . Sometimes san and wjnderfullv

^athetic; some-

trnies bright and cheerful, it is impressive always. In everv

aa\,and one . . . that can .sr.rcely fail to benefit anv

reader whom God leads along ro.gh paths.- tS. S'L'"'

bhuuid be in every .Sunday-'ohool library.— 7//^ j,'/i,«./,^;-^.

rhe Yensie Walton Books.

These books, from the jjen of Mrs. S. R. Graham Clark, are possessed
of such conspicuous merits, as to secure fwf ttiem the unqualified com-
mendation of emiiietU religious j urnal" such as the Central Christian
Advoiate, The Journal ami Messenger, Th* New Orleans Christian
Advocate, The Lutheran Obser^'er, Christian at H'ork. The Dover
Morning Star, The Gospel Banner, Philadelphia Methodist, Herald
and Presbyter.

YENSIE WALTON. OUR STREET.

YENSIE WALTON'S WOMAMHOOD.

THE TRIPLE E. ACHOR.

iznio, cloili, illustrated, ut\iform binding, $1,50 each.
YBNblE WALTON.

" Yen-sie Walton," by Mrs. S. R. Graham Clark, Boston: D. Loth,
rop & Co. Full of striking incident and scenes of great pathos, with
occasional gleams of humor and fun by way of relief to the more tragic
parts of the narrative. The characters are strongly drawn, and, in gen-
eral, are thoroughly human, not gifted with impossible perfections, but
having those infirmities of the flesh which make us all akin. It will take
rank among the best and most [wpular Sunday-school books. — Episcopal
Register.

A pure sweet story of girl life, quiet, and yet of sufficient interest to hold
th6 attention of the most careless reader. — Zion's Advocate.

YENSIE WALTON'S WOMANHOOD.

The many readers who have made the acquaintance of " Yensie Wal.
ton " in one of the best Sunday-school books ever published, will be de-
lighted to ri.-new that acquaintance, and to keep their former companion
still further company through life. There is a strong religious tone to the
whole story, and its teachings of morality and religion are pure and
healthful and full of sweetness and beauty. The story is a worthy suc-
cessor to Mrs. Clark's previous work. — Roston Post.

The heroine is an excellent character for imitation, and the entire atmos-
phere of tliebook is healthful and purifying.— /'/('/*A«r^ Christian .4dvo •
Ciite.

OUR STREET,

Hy the same author, is a capital story of every day life which deals with

genuine character in a most interesting manner.

THE TRIPLE E,

Just published, is a b<5ok whose provoking title will be at once acknowl*
edged by the reader as an appropriate one. It fully sustains the authorV
letvitation.

<\CiIOR, a new book .

3ii-

J? 7^''

>ni-
'aH
an
'et

THE PANSY BOOKS

The g.,n„n..„cs. of the types of character which th y portray s l^,
«ma,kal>le; the.r heroes bring us face to face with eve y pha^ of ml

^llwh'r"- '^'^''" "' '"^'"""^ ^''^'"^^^^^ .h/aLaTs tS
through which victorious souls must go. »"W,'cs

"Her stories move alternately to laughter and tears." . . . "Brimful ol
the sweetness of evans;elical religion " "i „ Dnmtui o|

beneficent" " r ' -f ! u ' " ' '"''"^■"" ^•'"not fail u. be

oenencent. . ,,rl l.fe and character portrayed w.th rare ,«,« r, "

Impres.Mve and fasc natinu " " A „, j "■ ^-re pow , . ,

-Ulity appearit>g on every page'' \ '. ^ xTe Z: 1^ ""

i. sustained with ra.e power, la ' and interest." '« The^'XT.S

happmessol. rusting in God happily exemplified." . « No h '

for the young surpasses this colleciion " " v \ ""^'"K

.|.id.themsightgiv^„tothetrr.yofs.udy:n;:^^^^^
where Wen.' ' '^*"'"' "** ^"^^ "-'«'-- ^-"' words of praise every-

The '• Pansy books » may be purchased by any Sundar«chool witho...
h-tauon u to their character or acceptability. '^^'''^^ *>»»«>««

The Pansy Books.

An EndlcM Chain. Ii.co
A new Graft on the Family Trc
1.50.

Bernie's White Chicken 75
Chautauqua Girls at Home. ( co
Cunning Workmen, i 25
Divers Women. 1.50.
Docia's Journal. .75.
Dr. Deane's Way. 1.25.
Echoing and Re-echoing' 1 m
Ester Ried. 1.50 ^

Kster Ried " Yet Speaking." ,.co
Five friends, i.oo.
Four Girls at Chauta'.qua. ,.<;o.
^rotti Ditfer^^nt Standpoints ..so
('ttting Ahead. .75.
Crancljia's Darlings
Hall in the Grove.
Helen f.ester. .75.
Hou.sehold Puzzles
ffalf Hour Library.
Jessie Wells .75
lulia Ried. 1.50.
Ki>ig'.s Daughter (The), i.co.
Lmks in Rel)e<jca's Life, i.ro
Mary Burton Abroad. .75.
Mrs. 5<rfomon Smith Looking On.
i:f9.

1.50.

1.50.
320.

Man of I he House, i.eo.

Miss Priscilla Hunter and MyDaurt-
ter Susan. 1.25. *

Modern Prophets, t.co

Mother's lioys' and Girls' L-brtry
3,00. '

Mrs. Deane's Way. i at

Mrs. Harry Harper^sA wakening ,.00

Next ni.nj;s. ,.00. *

New Year-- langles. ,.oa

Pansy s Scrap Kook. i.oo.
. Pansy's Picture Book. 2,00.

Pansies. .75.

Pansy's Primary Library. 7. .a
. Pocket Measure. 1.50 '

Some Youiifi, Heroines. ».oa
Side bv Side. 60.
That boy Hob. 75.
The Little Pansy Series. 4.0a
Three People. 1.50.
Tip Lewis and His Lamp. i.a&
Two Boys, .75. ^

Wise and Otherwise, i to
What She Said. r.a$.

tft

ENTERTAINMENTS.

Entertainments; Comprising Directions for Holiday
Merrymakings, New Programmes for Amateur Perform-
ances, and Many Novel Sunday-school Exercises. Collect-
ed and Edited by Lizzie W. Champney. Boston: D. Lo-
tlirop & Co. Pric( $1.00. Mrs. Champney is known as a
popular magazine writer, a poet of no mean ability,
i'iie vohune before us is a specimen of her skill in another
.lirection — that of selection and compilation; a work requir-
iii;^ rare judgment and almost as much ability as would
l)e necessary to produce an original work. The table of con-
tents includes exercises for Temperance gatherings, Fourth
of July, Mis>ioiiary concerts, Decoration day, Thanksgiving
and Christmas. Principally, however, they are intended for
use at Sunday-school exhibitions and concerts. The ele-
ment of entertainment, says the author, must enter even in-
to religion, if it is to be dear to the popular heart. Enter-
ta:nments, at any rate, the multitude will have: it only re-
maitis for Christians to decide whether they shall jnake this
mighty power a Christian force, or leave all the merry and
bright things of this life to the service of Satan. Sunday-
school literature is very defective in dialogues and lecita-
tions of an attractive character, and the preparation of a
programme for such occasions is a matter of snpreme diffi-
culty. To make it easier, and to provide a source from
which material may be drawn for almobt any occasion, the
present work has been jirepared. Most of the mutter is new,
and is contributed by persons of experience in musical mat-
ters and entertainments of all kinds.

A chapter on " Accessories, Decorations, Sc .ery," etc.,
furnlslies full information upon those subjects, and a num-
ber of patterns for evergreen decorations for Christmas en-
tertainments are given. Taken altogether, the book exnctly
lills the place for which it was designed, and will be warmly
welcomed not only by schools and societies, but in every fam
ily where there are ehildren to be amused and instructed.

■3%

CHEERFUL WORDS*

In the whole range of En«li3li literature we cun caH to
mind tin: works of no single author to which the title,
'^Clieorfui Words," ean more properly apply than to those of
George Macdonald. ft exactly expresses the element which
permeates everything from his pen, whether sermon, essay,
.•«lury or poem — an element which strengthens while it
cheers, wl.ieh instills new light and life into the doubtingor
discoiiiaued soul, and incites i', to fresh effort.

In tlM" v(,lume before us the editor ha.s brought together,
With a careful and judicious hand, some of the choicest pa^
sages from MacdunaM's wcks, written in various kws and
upon vruinus subjoris, but all marked by healthv sentiment
and sunshiny feelmg. In (pioting what a late critic has said
of the "electrical consciousness" which characterizes his
writings, the editor remarks: - The breadth and manliness
of tonn and sentiment, the deep perceptions of human
nature, the originality, fancy and pathos, the fresh.' out-of-
door atmosphere everywhere apparent; above all, the earnest,
wholesome, but always nnobtrnsive religions teachin-Mhal
underlies all his writings, ,<rive to the works of Ger.rge'^Mac-
donald a certain mugnotic power that is indescribable"
And in the selecth.ns here made that power is simnilarlv ap-
parent. By turns they touch the heart, fire the i.nagination,
moisten the eyes, arouse the sympathies, ami bring into
active exercise the better feelings and instincts of mind and
heart.

The introduction to the volume is from tlie pen of James
r. Fields, a persona/ friend and ardent admirer (,f the au-
thor. He regards Macdonald a-s a master of his art and
.H.evesin h<.lding up for admiration those like him ' who
have borne witness to the et.rnal i,eauty and cheerful capa-
biht.es of the universe around us, and who are lovinely
remnKling us, whenever they write, of the "holiness of help-
fulness, *

♦Cheerful Words. Bv

fieor^e Macdonald tntrodnctio,, bv Jarr.esT
P.e,d.sandhoKraphvlnKmmat Brown. Spare Minute Series. Boston
U. Lothr.) ) .Sc 1..0. Price #1.00.

Spare Minute Series,

THOUGHTS THAT BREATHE.

From Dean Stanley. Introduction hv Phillips Hrooks.

CHEERFUL. WORDS.

From George MacUonald. Introduction by James T. Fields

THE MIGHT OP RIGHT.

From Rt. Hon. \Vm. E. Gladstone. Introduction by John D.
Long, LL. 1).

TRUE MANLINESS.

From Thomas Hughes. Introduction by Hon. James Russell
Lowell.

LIVING TRUTHS.

From Charles Kingslcy. Introduction l>y W. D. Howells.

RIGHT TO THE POINT.

From Theodore L. Cuyler, D. D. Introduction by New
man Hall, LL. B.

MANY COLORED THREADS.

From Goethe. Introduction by Alexander McKenzie, D.D.

Each volume^ \2fni\ cloth, $t.oo.

D. LOTHROP & CO., Publishers,

Franklin and Hawley Streets, Boston

:*■

9¥i^

!S.

'ooks.
;s 1". Fields
by John D.

nes Russell

Howells.
1 by New

ie, D.D.

IBoston