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Letters from Alaska 
 
 AND 
 
 The Pacific Coast, 
 
 BY 
 
 Horace Briggs, Ph. D. 
 
 BUFFALO 
 
 1889. 
 
m *^ '58 
 
 ':J^^^^.^ of <£i. cK. cKntc^inaon, 
 aSuffcfo, ?fl. ei|. 
 
 \f 
 

 . I' i> *; '■' •! 
 
 PREFACE 
 
 loST of the letters eirjbraced iq this panqphlet, 
 
 describing the places oq the Pacific coast visited 
 by my father, have already appeared iq tf]e 
 
 Commercial Advertiser of this City, 
 
 They are re-published iq this form, with some 
 additioqs aqd clqaqges, in the belief that tF]ey 
 wii! coqtribute sonqething to the general kqowl- 
 edge of a very interesting portion of our vast 
 don\aiq, 
 
 Dora Briggs North 
 
 SI PARK PLACE, 
 Buffalo, January, f888. 
 
 2.06064 
 
. I 
 
CO NT ENTS. 
 
 
 PAQC 
 
 Oregon . . ' . 
 
 . ' 9 
 
 Portland. Oregon . • . 
 
 14 
 
 An^erica's Venice 
 
 . 18 
 
 Alaska . . 
 
 23 
 
 Sitkr . .■ . 
 
 . 32 
 
 Tl^e Greek Church 
 
 40 
 
 Natives of Alaska . 
 
 . 43 
 
 The Sitkan Mission . . 
 
 54 
 
 The Story of Metlakahtia . 
 
 .61 
 
 Puget Sound . • • . • 
 
 71 
 
 A Lesson iq Geography . 
 
 . 78 
 
OREGON. 
 
 The Geology - Climate .-Geography -- The Wool 
 Tariff -- Vis-a-vis with a Panther. 
 
 John Day Valley, 
 
 April, 1888 
 
 • l 
 
 The whole State is a lava-bed, and for that matter, so is a 
 large part of Idaho. Utah, and Nevada. The great need of 
 these territories and states is water, and as this can be distri- 
 buted by irrigation on limited tracts only, the vast areas of 
 upland which cover most of theii surface must remain unpro- 
 ductive. 
 
 If the plow-share of reconstruction had, in past geological 
 ages, scooped out the country between the Rockies and the Si- 
 erras, from the Columbia River to the Gulf of California, let- 
 ting in an arm of the Pacific six hundred miles wide, and leav- 
 ing the few fertile spots as islands, we believe the territory 
 on each side of this supi)Osed gulf would be much 
 more productive than now 3 that it would more than off- 
 set' the loss of so much sapd. The eastern part of Ore- 
 gon would be included in this inland sea, and the brown hills 
 now affording scanty grass foi ]ii< J^ent demands, and the Blue 
 Mountains sparsely covered wil!i (-'low pine trees, would go to 
 fill up some of the fathomless cavi.ns in the great Western ocean. 
 But Oregon, of which I wish pr .u alarly to speak, is as it is, 
 that is, it was left in a tumble vhen its surface cooled, 
 so that there is little of level land in all its ninety thousand 
 
10 
 
 square miles. The Mlue Mountains and their foothills are 
 scattered wildly over nearly two-thirds of its surface ; the 
 Cascade range, and fifty miles further west, the Coast 
 range, traversing the State from north to south, together 
 with their adjoining lands, occupy the other third. 
 The Cascade range, a continuation of the Sierra Nevadas, is 
 appropriately named, for waterfalls mark its course from South- 
 ern California to British Columbia, the most noted of which are 
 those of the Yosemite Valley, but the most picturesque of then 
 all is the Multnomah Falls, near che Columbia. The stream, 
 twice the size of the Scajaquada at Main Street, plunges in a 
 white foam, down a fall of basalt, seven hundred feet, and is 
 kept nearly uniform in size all the way down by fringes of vines 
 and mosses which are always green. Then again, two tall, 
 shapely trees in the foregro nd frame the whole in a picture of 
 exquisite beauty surpassing iviinnehaha, Giesbach, or the Bridal 
 Veil in the Yosemite. 
 
 The Columbia river, in carving its way through the Cas- 
 cades, has left many pinnacles, castles and towers, standing en- 
 tirely isolated from the massive walls of the range, and, at a 
 distance, looking like works of art. One of these. Castle 
 Rock, has quite a tree growing from its apex. This, from its 
 unapproachable position, has been named the tree of Forbidden 
 Fruit, a fragment left of Eden. From his propensity to over- 
 come what are usually regarded as impossibilities, some Yankee 
 will doubtless invent a method of scaling this cone, and plant 
 the Stars and Stripes a hundred feet above the valley. 
 
 The lava, on cooling, here crystallized in the usual form 
 of all basaltic rocks, when not amorphous — that of five-sided, 
 sometimes four-sided, prisms. 
 
 These columns are usually in a perpendicular position, and 
 rarely more than fifty feet in length. Packed together as they 
 are with lines of stratification only to separate them, they form 
 
11 
 
 r foothills are 
 8 surface ; the 
 t, the Coast 
 south, together 
 
 other third, 
 ra Nevadas, is 
 se from South- 
 ;d of which are 
 resque of ther-. 
 The stream, 
 
 plunges in a 
 ed feet, and is 
 fringes of vines 
 gain, two tall, 
 in a picture of 
 1, or the Bridal 
 
 rough the Cas- 
 s, standing en- 
 inge, and, at a 
 these. Castle 
 This, from its 
 ; of Forbidden 
 ensity to over- 
 , some Yankee 
 one, and plant 
 illey. 
 
 ihe usual form 
 t of five-sided, 
 
 • position, and 
 3gethcr as they 
 lem, they form 
 
 the massive walls on each side of the river rising tier after tier 
 upon the ones below, for hundreds of feet. 
 
 At Shoshone Falls in Idaho, this columnar structure pre- 
 sents a wall a thousand feet high, and nearly six miles 
 in length. The valley of the VVillamstte river between 
 the Coast and Cascade ranges, fifty m 'es in width and 
 extending far to the south, is the garden of Oregon. A 
 crop of wheat, oats, flax, and potatrt ,, can confidently be ex- 
 pected if planted with any care, and apple . pears and cherries 
 are as prolific and of as fine a quality is can be found in any 
 state on the continent. 
 
 Indeed, the soil from lava is well known to be fertile and 
 adapted to fruit culture. The vineyards around Mt. Vesuvius 
 and Mt. yEtna are fruitful yet, after the cropping of a thousand 
 years, and the soil of Oregon is not an exception. 
 
 The vapors arising from the Pacific are precipitated by the 
 lofty range of the Cascades so freely that, in most seasons, rains 
 fall as frequently as in England, and the residents of Willamette 
 valley are hence, by way of derision and envy, called " Web- 
 feet" by the people east of this range, — by envy, because 
 the clouds, squeezed of their moisture, by the cold peaks of 
 the mountains on the west, are rainless to them. 
 
 Nearly the whole of the State has a rich soil, but the west- 
 tern third only is favored with moisture enough to render crops 
 certain without irrigation, and this must be confined to narrow 
 valleys. 
 
 The Columbia, called in Thanatopsis the Oregon, drains 
 an immense territory, having its main sources in British Co- 
 lumbia and in the Yellowstone National park. Its chief tribu- 
 taries are the Spokane, Snake, John Day, Deschutes and the 
 Willamette. Much the larger part of the 175,000 people in the 
 Stale are to be found along the valleys of these rivers. They 
 are cosmopolitan, tracing their origin and nationality to Spain, 
 
12 
 
 1 , 
 
 Palestine, Germany, Ireland England, New York, and last but 
 not least, to Chinas 
 
 An old resident slv ;. bhrewd observer of the times, re- 
 marked that " the Jews anu i ._ Chinamen have got this coast." 
 
 The shekels are in the h r.is of the former, and " John " 
 has captured the labor. , Tiu- is a "new country" and fortunes 
 must be made by somebody,, irn] the Hebrews, who have always 
 been a thrifty people, secure i! em ; but they also cling to their 
 gains with great tenacity, and are hence called " Mossbacks, " 
 for their want of public spirit. 
 
 ** John " is insulted on the 'lightest provocation, or even 
 without excuse. Cities enact ordinances discriminating against 
 him, and he is boycotted, bur he swings along the streets with 
 easy gait, peddles vegetables that are fresher and crisper than 
 the natives furnish, has plenty of washing in spite of ** white 
 laundries," is almost the only laborer on the railroad tracks, is 
 on the farm and in the kitchen, works over old placer beds, and 
 thrives on what would cause a "strike" among Hibernians. 
 The patois of the eastern part of the State is an interesting study 
 for the philologist. For instance, a farm is a " ranch, " a fry- 
 ing-pan is a " skillet," a pail is a ** bucket," a flock or a herd 
 is a " band, " and to carry is to " pack, " as when one brings 
 water from a spring he is said to " pack " it. At one place in 
 John Day Valley where I staid a few days, bread was passed to 
 me in a ' 'steamer" in which it had been moistened and warmed, 
 for cold or stale bread is rarely seen on their tables. My tea 
 was brewed in a can, the label on which was " Sugar Corn, 
 Bangor, Me., " and the hostess poured coffee for another guest 
 labelled " Deviled Turkey, " both the devil and the turkey ap- 
 pearing as a part of the illuminated label. The great industry 
 east of the Cascades was once the rearing of cattle, but within 
 a few years, sheep have, in great degree, replaced them and ru- 
 ined the country for grazing, by their close cropping and sharp 
 
)rk, and last but 
 
 3f the times, re- 
 got this coast. " 
 
 r, and " John " 
 y " and fortunes 
 who have always 
 so cling to their 
 " Mossbacks/' 
 
 Dcation, or even 
 ninating against 
 the streets with 
 ind crisper than 
 spite of " white 
 lilroad tracks, is 
 placer beds, and 
 3ng Hibernians, 
 nteresting study 
 ranch, " a fry- 
 i flock or a herd 
 vhen one brings 
 At one place in 
 id was passed to 
 led and warmed, 
 tables. My tea 
 s ** Sugar Corn, 
 or another guest 
 d the turkey ap- 
 I great industry 
 ittle, but within 
 ;d them and ru- 
 pping and sharp 
 
 13 
 
 hoofs. President Cleveland's wool tariff has made every sheep- 
 owner a republican. Canned goods and eastern bacon com- 
 prise a large part of the edibles of cattle-producing regions, and 
 the stream of immigration and travel can easily be traced by 
 the long line of empty tin cans and Milwaukee beer-bottles. 
 
 The gloryof Oregon is its climate. There is scarcely a 
 day in the year in which the sun does not shine. Winter lasts 
 about five weeks only. The air east of the Cascade range is 
 dry and highly aromatic, for no trees of any size but evergreens 
 are to be found. In these forests, usually on mountains and 
 foot-hills, few dangerous wild animals remain. Occas- 
 ionally one does appear to render the situation inter- 
 esting, especially to one who is unarmed. Permit me here to 
 illustrate, even at the price of using the pronoun in the first 
 person. During a journey of a hundred miles over the IJlue 
 Mountains by stage, of which the driver and I were the only oc- 
 cupants, about two o'clock one morning, a long-bodied, short- 
 legged animal darted out from the shadow of a clump of bushes 
 into the moonlight, thirty yards from the st;ige, which, by the 
 way, was an uncovered buck-board, and began to lash his tail. 
 At first I was startled and asked the driver if he was armed. 
 He had a pistol of a large caliber, but refused to use it, or per- 
 mit me to try my skill at our companion, through fear of ren- 
 dering the horses unmanageable. " If you should wound the 
 panther," for such he was, "he would raise a cry, and no horse 
 in Oregon would abide his yell. " His reasons were of such 
 force that I conlented myself by watching the beast as he trotted 
 along on the snow nearly parallel with the road, and kept a 
 sharp eye upon us. Intense interest soon took the place of my 
 fright, for I had my first opportunity of seeing so formidable 
 an animal in his native wilds, and I deeply regretted that he 
 parted company in that lonely forest after having been vis-a-vh 
 with us for more than three miles. 
 
4 
 
 PORTLAND, OJEIEGON. 
 
 Rapid Growth-- Enterprise -- Mt. Hood-- Mt. St. Helens. 
 
 1 ! 
 
 Portland, May, 1888. 
 
 This aspiring city, tiie metropolis of Oregon, is situated 
 on the Willamette river, a dozen miles from its confluence with 
 the Columbia, and a hundred miles from the sea. 
 
 It has a population of about 45,000 made up chiefly of 
 ** Eastern people, " Hebrews and " Celestials, " and is a good 
 example of the rapid growth of American towns ; for, forty- 
 five years ago, the site was a general rendezvous of the native 
 tribes that held undisputed possession of nearly all this part of 
 the Pacific coast. 
 
 The Willamette Valley, the most fertile portion of the State, 
 has contributed much to make Portland what it is, besides 
 bringing into being and supporting several other flourishing 
 towns like Salem, the capital, Albany, Eugene and Corvallis. 
 
 It is built upon a slope rising gently and running back a 
 mile to a line of steep hills or bluffs which nearly hem in the 
 town on three sides. This slope has been so nearly occupied, 
 that the town has begun to climb the bluffs, and the growth in 
 that direction will be aided by a cable road now nearly com- 
 pleted. These hills are slashed with deep ravines, hence the 
 new growth will be on very uneven ground. 
 
 The city is laid out in squares, about 400 feet on each side, 
 w'ich generally observe the cardinal points of the compass, 
 and are bordered by a vigorous growth of poplar, maple, and 
 
t. St. Helens. 
 
 D, May, 1888. 
 
 311, is situated 
 onfluence with 
 
 e up chiefly of 
 ' and is a good 
 ns ; for, forty- 
 s of the native 
 all this part of 
 
 an of the State, 
 Lt it is, besides 
 ler flourishing 
 id Corvallis. 
 unning back a 
 \x\y hem in the 
 tarly occupied, 
 I the growth in 
 )w nearly com- 
 ines, hence the 
 
 t on each sidej 
 f the compass, 
 ar, maple, and 
 
 1 
 
 15 
 
 locust trees, giving it quite the appearance of an eastern city. 
 Few of the streets are paved, macadam and gravel covering 
 the greater number. 
 
 Business blocks, about three stories high, are of brick, 
 but much the larger number of all its structures is of fir, which 
 clothes the Pacific coast from California to the Arctic circle, 
 and like nearly all the evergreens, have a trace of the same 
 color, pale red, as the Sequoias of the Nevada range. The 
 Chinook Salmon seems to have tinged fish and flower and tree, 
 as gold was supposed to gild the waters of the Pactolus. 
 
 The city is by no means compactly built, the residences in 
 particular, having large grounds around them, and hence, it 
 has a decidedly suburban appearance. The only notable struc- 
 ture is the High School Building, and that is nondescript in 
 architecture, finical with mouldings and other ornamentations, 
 and does not impress the spectator with the idea of fitness or 
 solidity. 
 
 Subscriptions to the amount of half a million have been 
 obtained for the purpose of erecting a decent hotel, and the 
 subscribers propose to utilize the foundation laid by Mr. yil- 
 lard, some years since, when he controlled the finances of the 
 Northern Pacific Railroad ; and the progressive men of the 
 town have just completed a Fair Building for the purpose of 
 displaying the products of the coast. 
 
 The municipal authorities are putting forth the strongest 
 efforts to absorb East Portland and Albina, on the east bank of 
 the river, and they also hope to utilize the great water-power of 
 Willamette Falls, a dozen miles up the river, either by dynamic 
 or electric machinery, for manufactories, few of which Port- 
 land has yet on account of the high price of fuel. Most of the 
 manufactured goods found on her markets bear labels from 
 towns east of the Mississippi. 
 
 .'ortland has a large wholesale and jobbing trade with Ore- 
 gon, Washington Territory, British Columbia and Alaska, 
 
16 
 
 It I 
 
 .— t.: Z— il — »~ 4.- <*rtP f\nr\ nr\rs 1 it.~ „— i._;i 1 
 
 aiiiuuiiiiijg 111 iiic ctg^ic^citv; lu ■pou,yj\jKj ,\j\j\j, aii(.( no ici<tii scxica 
 
 are nearly as large. 
 
 Altogether this is a lively, enterprising and ambitious town 
 and is generally disliked by its rivals because of its boasting, 
 and bold preteijsions. 
 
 Young men are now coming to the front, and demanding 
 of the " Mossbacks, " with some show of success, more liberal 
 contributions for improvements in the city, for attracting trade, 
 and for extending her lines of commerce to more remote 
 sources of supply and demand. 
 
 Until the U. S. Government gives deeper water on the bar 
 at the mouth of the Columbia, vessels of over 2,000 tons will 
 not be able to reach her wharves, and her trade with China can- 
 not therefore attain to large proportions. Yet she has a large 
 coasting trade, and English sailing vessels frequent her harbor 
 for lumber and salmon. 
 
 The Portlanders are hospitable to strangers. The far-see- 
 ing, not only in Portland, but even in Buffalo, desiring to at- 
 tract capital and population, have come to understand that a 
 gejiial welcome to a new-comer often wins more than a formid- 
 able array of facts and figures. 
 
 There is malaria on the alluvial lands along the river, quite 
 evident from the sallow faces seen on the streets ; hence, qui- 
 nine is in demand, — ^'Mix it with our dough, " remarked a 
 captain of one of the river-boats. 
 
 Take it all in all, however, it is a bright, active, flourishing 
 town, having more pleasant homes, and more well-to-do people 
 in proportion to the number, than can be found in any other 
 this side of the Missouri river. 
 
 The Portlanders are pardonably proud of the mountain 
 views from their upland streets. The long line of the Cascade 
 range, to the east, is marked by such peaks as Hood, Jefferson, 
 Adams and St. Helens, on a clear day, all in full view. 
 

 id ambitions town 
 56 of its boasting, 
 
 t, and demanding 
 
 ;cess, more liberal 
 
 •r attracting trade, 
 
 to more remote 
 
 r water on the bar 
 er 2,000 tons will 
 e with China can- 
 t she has a large 
 equent her harbor 
 
 ers. The far-see- 
 lo, desiring to at- 
 understand that a 
 ire than a formid- 
 
 ng the river, quite 
 eets ; hence, qui- 
 gh, " remarked a 
 
 ictive, flourishing 
 well-to-do people 
 3und in any other 
 
 of the mountain 
 ne of the Cascade 
 
 Hood, Jefferson, 
 full view. 
 
 
 1^ 
 
 T'u^ r~_ -._ 1 1 .1 - .1 - /". - - '1 - 1 • 1 1 
 
 J. ii\- iv/iiii^i, av^ctllCU etllU aCctlllCU UllU UllCll vciicu in ClOUUS, 
 
 towers far above his neighbors, and, from under his crystal 
 cap hung 12,000 feet in air, with his weather eye he watches J[ 
 the gambols of Pacific's waves seventy- five miles away. He 
 surveys a large part of the State, catches glimpses of Shasta 
 in California, and exchanges nods with the regal Ranier on 
 Puget Sound. 
 
 His sister, Mt. St. Helens, just over the Columbia in 
 Washington Territory, is almost a perfect cone, with clear-cut, 
 regular sides. She stands quite alone, supported by no out- 
 lying foot-hills, and her isolation challenges instant attention. 
 With her feet planted in a sea of dark evergreens, she lifts 
 her shapely form 8,000 feet cloud-ward, and down to the base, 
 is robed in a snowy mantle which she wears the entire year.. 
 
 For symmetry she has probably no equal on the globe ; not 
 even that queen of the Alps, the Jungfrau, ranks her in this 
 quality. Turning a corner of almost any of the upper streets in 
 Portland, her slender form suddenly confronts the stranger like 
 a specter from the unseen world — she is revealed to him in a fig- 
 ure striking because so lofty, matchless in proportions, and so 
 chaste in color, that he is wont to stop in amazement, and then, 
 like the pious Chinook Indian, to adore — to worship at the 
 shrine of peerless beauty. If Constantine's mother, after 
 whom this peak was doubtless named, is correctly typified by 
 it, by unquestionable right she must be permitted to enjoy her 
 title, Saint. Just before sunset she exchanges her mantle of 
 spotless white for one of delicate pink, then for that of saffron, 
 and as the sun cuddles down into the Pacific for a night's 
 rest, sheflashes out with the radiance of the opal, and again, 
 as the light fades, she is marble, then gray, and finally, 
 steel-blue, harmonizing with the star-gemmed sky. She is 
 so tall, so chaste in form and color, the contrast between the 
 snowy gem and the dark green setting is so striking, she is 
 radiant with such varied hues, and there is so much of grace 
 in her general appearance, that Parthena, maiden, ought 
 to have been her baptismal name ; her resplendent summit 
 might well have been the scene of the Transfiguration, or the 
 foot-stool of the Ascension. 
 
r ri T* 
 
 ^F 
 
 AMERICA'S VENICE. 
 
 il ' 
 
 Salmon CatcTdng Facking Machinery - - Going- 
 
 a-Fishing. 
 
 Astoria, May, 1888. 
 
 This city, made famous by the pen of Washington Irving, 
 is situated on a bay of the Columbia river, about six miles from 
 the sea. Astoria was founded in 1811, by John Jacob Astor, 
 and here was laid the foundation of the fortune of the present 
 Astor family of New York, whose assets are counted by the mil- 
 lion. 
 
 No structure remains of those reared by the first settlerS; 
 the last one having been demolished three years ago. Its sit{ 
 is still pointed out to strangers, as is that also of the little bat- 
 tery on the hill, in the rear of the settlement. Astoria is th( 
 Venice of the great Northwest, for, barring a few building 
 straggling up the hill-sides, it is built out over the river 
 differing from the city of the Doges in this, the streets an( 
 walks are not water but planks. 
 
 By reason of the shallowness of the water inshore, wharve 
 and bridges to them were of necessity made at a distance iron 
 the land, and soon freight houses crept up on piles to them 
 and now the intervening space between the wharves and th 
 shore is occupied by other buildings that go to make a city 
 Cellars are above high water mark, and the sewerage questio 
 is reduced to the simple problem of cutting a hole in the floor 
 
 The streets, raised several feet above the water, so a 
 to be out of reach of the tides, rumble and roar as vehicle 
 
1 
 
 jsii- 
 
 inery - - Goin£- 
 
 lSTORIA, May, 1888. 
 
 Washington Irving, 
 about six miles from 
 y John Jacob Astor, 
 Drtune of the present 
 ! counted by the mil- 
 
 I by the first settlers, 
 e years ago. Its site 
 also of the little bat*- 
 nent. Astoria is the 
 ring a few buildings 
 out over the river, 
 this, the streets and 
 
 ater inshore, wharves 
 
 ide at a distance from 
 
 up on piles to them, 
 
 the wharves and the 
 
 it go to make a city. 
 
 he sewerage question 
 
 ig a hole in the floor. 
 
 )ve the water, so as 
 
 and roar as vehicles 
 
 19 
 
 trundle over them, giving forth a sound similar, doubtless, to 
 that created by the impious Salmoneus, when he attempted to 
 imitate the thunders of Jupiter. 
 
 Why this city should not have grown to be the metropolis 
 instead of Portland, a hundred miles inland, is one of the un- 
 answered questions that have arisen all along in the history of 
 commerce. It has the same outlet to the sea as its rival, and 
 looks out upon a harbor capacious and well-sheltered, and yet 
 Portland has eight times its wealth and population. 
 
 The chief industry here, as that along the Columbia for 
 a hundred and twenty miles, is catching and canning salmon. 
 There are sixteen hundred nets, each from twenty to twefity- 
 four hundred feet in length,and five thousand men, employed in 
 this work. 
 
 In this ambitious little city there are twenty-six canneries, 
 and some of them are running nights to ke.^ even with the 
 catch, and you count as many more of these manufactories from 
 here to the Cascades. The boats engaged in this traffic dot 
 the river for ninety miles, and the nets are so thickly scattered 
 over the lower part of the Columbia, that vessels with 
 difficulty pick their way among them ; in fact, steamers get 
 afoul of them, and ruin more or less of them every day. By 
 a law of the State these nets cannot be set on Sunday, so these 
 luckless fish can ascend the streams unmolested for twenty-four 
 
 hours. 
 
 Fish-wheels, thirty and forty feet in diameter, set in various 
 places, and made to turn on their axes by the current, pick up, 
 with t' eif wire nets, boat-loads daily. 
 
 Salmon scarcely multiply as fast as they are caught, for 
 there is strong proof that they are not as numerous as even ten 
 years ago, but it is a mystery to a stranger how so many have 
 escaped nets, wheels, spears and r.nglers's hooks as now throng 
 the Columbia and its tributaries. 
 
 
20 
 
 ill 
 
 It is almost incredible that from thirty to fifty tons of thi 
 royal fish are caught and packed every day, in this vicinity, fo 
 six days in the week, and this continues for three months. Yoi 
 readily infer that salmon are cheap — they sell for about fiv( 
 cents per pound at the canneries, and at the markets, choice 
 steak bring only ten. 
 
 And onr infers, also, that this industry must bring a large 
 revenue to this and to the states bordering on the Pacific, foi 
 migratory fish enter all the streams emptying into the sea fron 
 California to the Yukon river in Alaska. The largest part o 
 this product is shipped to England. 
 
 The plant for canning costs from two to eight thousanc 
 dollars. All the labor, performed chiefly by Chinamen, fron: 
 the tin plates to the illuminated labels, is done in the factory. 
 Machinery is employed to cut the fish into proper shapes, to 
 cook them in the great "steamers, " to transfer them from one 
 set of operations to another, and even to solder the cans. This 
 is done while the cans roll, one after the other, down an in- 
 clined plane. In the sides of this plane, along which each end 
 of the cans just graze, there is a groove containing melted sol- 
 der, and as they roll they take on a small quantity of the metal. 
 This is done at the rate of fifty a minute. 
 
 The refuse of the cannery goes to the phosphate manufac- 
 tory, and thus every part of the fish is utilized. Salmon do not 
 bite at bait or a fly so greedily as in streams which they fre- 
 quent on the Atlantic coast, but when one is hooked he is said 
 to be quite as gamy as his brethren of the East. And now, 
 indulgent reader, did you ever go a-fishing ? Taking it for 
 granted that you have been, and that therefore you will the 
 more readily grant some indulgence to a fellow-angler, I take 
 the liberty to relate a bit of my recent experience in angling at 
 Willamette Falls, about twelve miles from Portland. 
 
 For an hour yesterday the smaller fry had attempted to de- 
 ceive me by slight twitches at my hook, but the nerve that 
 
21 
 
 y to fifty tons of this 
 r, in this vicinity, for 
 r three months. You 
 ;y sell for about five 
 t the markets, choice 
 
 y must bring a large 
 ig on the Pacific, for 
 ing into the sea from 
 The largest part of 
 
 (vo to eight thousand 
 by Chinamen, from 
 done in the factory, 
 ito proper shapes, to 
 nsfer them from one 
 Ider the cans. This 
 e other, down an in- 
 long which each end 
 ntaining melted sol- 
 uantity of the metal. 
 
 phosphate manufac- ' 
 zed. Salmon do not 
 jams which they fre- 
 is hooked he is said 
 be East. And now, 
 ig? Taking it for 
 erefore you will the 
 'ellow-angler, I take 
 Tience in angling at 
 'ortland. 
 
 ad attempted to de- 
 but the nerve that 
 
 trembles along the line quickly recognizes the minnow or the 
 Aionster, and hence moves no hand by feeble nibblings. 
 The river below the Falls was unruffled, the afternoon was 
 drowsy, and the disciple of the genial Isaac Walton was in 
 
 i sympathy with the hour and was almost dozing. There 1 that 
 
 f was a jerk that almost left him without^a rod, and it called into 
 play every nerve in fish and fisher — one eager for triumph, and 
 the other fighting for life. 
 
 The line began to map out bewildering curves on the sur- 
 face of the placid stream ; it hissed in the sockets ; the angler 
 tried to check its outwaid flight, and his bleeding fingers re- 
 buked his temerity — only ten feet of it left, and still he called 
 
 i for more. He struck out in pirouettes and the river was in a 
 
 I foam. He leaped from his element as if he were a water-fowl. 
 His gyrations in the air took the form of parabolas and hyper- 
 bolas, and his sheeny sides flashed like a reflector. Then he 
 
 ; dropped like lead fathoms down and the rod was a crescent. 
 
 ^ The reel derricked him from the depths and away he flew till 
 the angler, blanched with terror, noted that almost the last 
 
 \ foot of the hundred was again spent ; but joy came when the 
 captive gave him six inches of grace and began to return— not 
 perfect joy, for he made toward his captor with terrific velocity 
 that he might take advantage of the slack. His trick failed, 
 and chagrined at his defeat, again he leaped into the air and 
 revealed through his scales the pink blood brought to the 
 surface by his struggles. 
 
 Then he churned the river into froth again. Will the line 
 stand the strain, will the leader bear another tussle, and will the 
 Limerick be true to its reputation ? Again the reel whizzed, 
 the sockets smoked, and the rod tossed like a tree in a tempest. 
 Will he never yield ? Twenty-five minutes, the Indian guide 
 said, the battle raged, and then, as he told off" the periods, five 
 more, then one long breathless minute and the royal Chinook 
 permitted himself to be drawn up on the sand 1 
 
1 !'' 
 
 !i i 
 
 'I I 
 
 , 22 
 
 This was my first salmon, and he was a magnificent fellow ; 
 shapely, broad in the back, muscular, and so beautiful in the 
 sweep of his lines that no moulding could improve his form. 
 ATid the thought that such a right royal feUow was my captive, 
 thrilled my whole being with exultation. How gloriously he 
 fought, and how I trembled from the battle ! liut what had I 
 done ? Ihad slain the king of his tribe, and as he lay quiet at 
 my feet, I sincerely wished I could restore so noble a creature, 
 and give him one more chance for his life. Was it cruel ? Did 
 you have lamb for dinner? The fish had an alternative — the 
 lamb had no choice — he was assassinated. He weighed — you 
 don't catch me there ; but he did carry avoirdupois enough, he 
 wielded muscle and nerve enough to make me glad that he did 
 not weigh more. This is not a fish story. It is simply an 
 attempt to record my appreciation of the endurance, the 
 symmetry and the noble qualities of the princely Chinook. He 
 was as brave as he was beautiful, superb in battle and king.y in 
 submission. . , 
 
 If, in the great day of final adjudication for fishes in the 
 hyaline courts of Nereus, his conduct in life should be called 
 in question, I shall be glad to be summoned as a witness to tes- 
 tify to his peerless character. He deserves, to change the my- 
 thology, a conspicuous place in the Valhalla of all the worthies 
 that ever sported and fought valiantly in mundane waters. 
 
 For myself, there can be but few pleasures, in the way of 
 sports, in store for me, after such a victory. I have " squeezed 
 the best drop from the orange, " and am almost prepared to 
 sing, " Nunc dimittds. " 
 
 ! 
 
 g^gfejMjjrrjuffiiiiiiniiiiiwwM 
 
magnificent fellow ; 
 \ so beautiful in the' 
 fl improve his form. 
 o\v was my captive, 
 
 How gloriously he 
 e ! But what had I 
 id as he lay quiet at 
 so noble a creature, 
 
 Was it cruel ? Did 
 
 an alternative — the 
 He weighed — you 
 rdupois enough, he 
 me glad that he did 
 i' It is simply an 
 the endurance, the 
 icely Chinook. He 
 battle and kingiy in 
 
 • 
 
 ion for fishes in the 
 ife should be called 
 [ as a witness to tes- 
 to change the my- 
 . of all the worthies 
 mdane waters, 
 sures, in the way of 
 I have " squeezed 
 almost prepared to 
 
 ALASKA. 
 
 Mr. Seward's Great Bargain-- E.vtent of its Terri- 
 tory -- A Rich Gold Mine -- Land- Locked, Waters 
 --Fishini Groands Unlimited - The Towrist's 
 Delight-- The Great Glacier. 
 
 Alaska, June, 1888. 
 
 From a financial point of view, did Mr. Seward make a 
 mistake in the purchase of Alaska ? This is a question which 
 almost every tourist will ask, and happily, it is one which is 
 easily answered by many facts, only two of which will be . 
 named here : 
 
 First : The fur companies that lease the seal-producing 
 islands have already paid into the United States treasury more 
 than five millions of dollars. 
 
 Second : One gold mine alone could not be bought for 
 Jthe price paid for the territory. 
 
 But what of Alaska, a term incognita to most people of our 
 country ? Well, this : According to the recent estimates by 
 Major Powell, who is regarded as good authority in the geo- 
 graphy of the territory, it embraces as much land all the 
 states east of the Mississippi. It has the highest mountain in 
 I^orth America, Mt. St. Elias, being 19,500 feet high. Its 
 glaciers are vastly greater in magnitude than those in Switzer- 
 land, and second in size to those in Greenland only. The 
 Yukon river is navigable for two thousand miles, and one 
 t^iousand miles from its mouth the average width is five miles. 
 
24 
 
 Attu, the most westerly of the Aleutian islands, is farthe 
 from San Francisco than Eastport, in Maine, is. 
 
 It is "the land of the midnight sun," and of ice and snow 
 The cod and halibut fisheries are practically inexhaustible, anc 
 factories for canning salmon are being establishsd on almos 
 every channel and strait. Prof. Bean of the Smithsonian Insti 
 tute says that there are sixty species of food-fishes along it: 
 coast. Of the numerous gold mines already discoveied, th< 
 Tread well, on Douglas Island opposite Juneau, is the mos 
 noted, and of this we propose to speak in detail. 
 
 It is not a mine in the common acceptation of that term, 
 but a quarry, the ore, a sulphuret of iron and gold imbedded 
 in a vein of bluish-white quartz, being taken from the side of a 
 hill. This vein is two hundred and forty feet in width and ex- 
 tends more than a mile over the hill, showing enough at the 
 present rate of quarrying to last a hundred years. 
 
 The plant now consists of one hundred and twenty stamps, 
 soon to be doubled, driven by water power, and chlorination 
 works; and the present output is about $90,000 per month. 
 There is some native gold whirh is collected in the stamp-mill 
 by quicksilver, but much the larger product is from the 
 chlor;' lation works by the following process : 
 
 '! le pulverized product of the stamps, a sulphuret of iron 
 and J Id, is first roasted in capacious ovens, in which the sul- 
 phur j driven off by heat, leaving an amalgam of iron and 
 gold. This amalgam, inclosed in huge tanks, is saturated with 
 chlor .ie gas, the product being chloride of gold, soluble in 
 water. Leaching brings out from the whole mass the chloride 
 of gold in the form of a heavy yellow liquid. The addition of 
 a few drops of sulphate of iron precipitates the metal in the 
 form of a black residuum, and this in turn is reduced in the 
 crucible to solid gold. 
 
 This process illustrates the part that chemistry now plays in 
 the reduction of nearly all the precious metals from their crude 
 
 It 
 
88 
 
 n islands, is farther 
 ine, is. 
 
 and of ice and snow, 
 ly inexhaustible, and 
 establishsd on almost 
 lie Smithsonian Insti- 
 "ood-fishes along its 
 eady discoveied, the 
 Juneau, is the most 
 detail. 
 
 Nation of that term, 
 I and gold imbedded 
 n from the side of a 
 feet in width and ex- 
 iving enough at the 
 
 years. 
 
 I and twenty stamps, 
 er, and chlorination 
 ^90,000 per month. 
 !d in the stamp-mill 
 oduct is from the 
 i : 
 
 a sulphuret of iron 
 IS, in which the sul- 
 tnalgam of iron and 
 ts, is saturated with 
 of gold, soluble in 
 ; mass the chloride 
 I. The addition of 
 es the metal in the 
 
 is reduced in the 
 
 mistry now plays in 
 lis from their crude 
 
 i 
 
 I 
 
 i 
 
 state. Now, inasmuch as most of the gold ores of this 
 territory are sulphures, the methods for refining in other 
 mines are similar to those in the Treadwell works. 
 
 Iron and coal have been found in great abundance, and 
 copper, lead, silver and antimony are widely distributed. 
 Again the Alaskan forests will "be quite as valuable as the 
 minerals when the timber regions of Oregon and Washington 
 territory shall have become exhausted, and this result, at the 
 present rate of denudation, will be reached in the near future. 
 
 Of its t aiber resources, Secretary Seward thus discouised: 
 " No beam, mast, spar, or plank, is ever required in land or 
 naval architecture, greater in length or size than can be had 
 from the forests of Alaska, and in close proximity to navi- 
 gable waters." 
 
 \mong the marked features of a sail through the numerous 
 channels that abound in southeastern Alaska, not the least 
 pleasing to the eye is the sight of the vast stretches of spruce 
 and black fir-forests clothing the hills and the mountains to the 
 snow line with their mantle of dark green. The growth is 
 thick-set, and on many extensive tracts the trees attain large 
 size. The Pacific states from Mexico to Behring Sea must 
 soon begin to draw upon these resources of timber, and fortu- 
 nate it is that they can be reached by vessels of great burthen. 
 
 Now, .summing the resources of this territory, a country 
 abounding in furs of priceless value, in mines the most exten- 
 sive in our broad land, in almost measureless forests, and in in- 
 exhaustible fisheries, and all this in our indisputable possession, 
 it would seem that we could give an intelligent answer to the 
 question which heads this article. From a commercial stand- 
 point did Mr. Seward, in negotiating for the purchase of Alaska, 
 over-estimate the advantage to this country ? He visited this 
 part of the territory, and in this town, Sitka, publicly declared 
 that he wa' gralified with the transaction, but he did not live 
 to know of the treasures that have since been revealed. In 
 
26 
 
 I'i 
 
 11 
 
 'jl : 
 
 l-!V 
 
 fact, little was known of the richness of the mines 
 day, and next to nothing of the wealth in fisheries, whi 
 now regard with surprise. If the Canadians shall persist 
 policy of shutting out our fishermen on t' Atlantic sea-l 
 the coasts and bays of the Pacific coast will more than 
 pensate for the loss we may sustain through their pig-hi 
 policy. In truth Massachusetts fisherman are already here 
 ing a rich reward of their labors. Tons ot cod are to-day 
 ing on the frames, barrels of halibut are on the docks aw£ 
 shipment, and salmon canneries are packing, in the aggre 
 more than a thousand cases daily ; all this and more is 
 Alaska is adding to the wealth of the world. 
 
 This is something about the territory against the pur 
 of which determined opposition found expression not on 
 the cabinet ofPresident Lincoln and in Congress, but in h 
 ed editorials and in " magazine thunders. " Jokes passe 
 facts, and senators and secretaries, favorable to the acquisi 
 were said to hold their sessions by moonlight on an ice-bei 
 Behring sea where they junketed on walrus-blubber. 
 
 But the tourist to this land of the " midnight sun " 
 more than furs, and fishes, and mines. From the head of F 
 Sound in Washington territory to Glacier Bay in Alaska 
 route for eleven hundred miles is through some one of 1 
 numberless, narrow straits, broad channels, and inland 
 hemmed in by islands some of which are empires in area, 
 headlands, promontories, and hills whose rounded sides 
 clothed in dark foliage, and mountains whose heads are usi 
 veiled in white mists, and whose evergreen skirts trail ir 
 
 sea. 
 , '• Hills peep o'er hills, and Alps o'py Alps arise'* ' * ":1^i ■ 
 
 **' ''Almost every foot of land is in a grand and lofty tun 
 but the sheltered waters are as calm as a- pond except w 
 they are broken by the leaping salmon seeking to escape 
 
less of the mines in his 
 ilth in fisheries, which we 
 adians shall persist in the 
 )n t' Atlantic sea-board, 
 ast will more than comr 
 through their pig-headed 
 nan are already here reap- 
 ns ot cod are to-day dry- 
 ire on the docks awaiting 
 )acking, in the aggregate, 
 11 this and more is what 
 world. 
 
 tory against the purchase 
 id expression not only in 
 1 Congress, but in labor- 
 lers. " Jokes passed for 
 orable to the acquisition, 
 iniight on an ice-berg in 
 ilrus-blubber. 
 
 le " midnight sun " sees 
 From the head of Puget 
 icier Bay in Alaska, his 
 rough some one of these 
 unels, and inland seas, 
 are empires in area, past 
 hose rounded sides are 
 1 whose heads are usually 
 Tgreen skirts trail in the 
 
 ■ . K'> J..' ' 
 
 <^ Alps arise" . l.]U .f,r,io-' 
 grand and lofty tumble, 
 s a' pond except whtjre 
 seeking to escape the 
 
 27 
 
 pursuit of the murderous porpoise, and even he in turn is 
 chased by the "killer" whale. 
 
 After threading the narrows of British Columbia, the voy- 
 ager enters Alaskan waters, and then fishing villages, quaint in 
 architectural design, newly-built, and picturesque in situation, 
 appear on almost eveiy bay and fiord. Besides the natives who 
 constitute the bulk of the population, here reside for three 
 months in summer, factors of the old Hudson's Bay Company, 
 New England skippers, and Oregon fisherman, whose Indian 
 employees scour every inlet and sound and bay, every day in 
 the week during the short season, and gfther a rich harvest of 
 salmon, halibut, and cod. 
 
 In these chill waters, fed incessantly by the mountain 
 snows, for the mountains are always white, the finny tribe have 
 a firm texture of fibre, and delicacy of flavor, produced only in 
 h'gh latitudes ; and the fishes that he sees upon the docks, and 
 in storehouses are almost as numberless as the snow flakes. 
 
 Not the least interesting feature of an Alaskan trip is the 
 sigh ^ of numerous glaciers treading the mountain glens, and 
 filling with icy mass, from two hundred to a thousand feet in 
 thickness, the valleys and broad basins. 
 
 On their surface they are heaved into hillocks, split into 
 pinnacles, ai»d rent by yawning crevasses, and go crackling 
 and crunching, and growling down their easy slopes ; and when, 
 with bold and glistening front, they have reached the channels, 
 huge masses cleave from the parent glacier, and float away as 
 icebergs, so numerous that the steamer is often obliged to 
 change its course to avoid a collision. 
 
 The color of these wandering masses varies from a dead 
 white to ultramarine and sapphire, and they too are often sur- 
 mounted with turrets and cas'ellated forms, shapely and shape- 
 less. 
 
 The most notable of the glaciers in southeastern Alaska, is 
 the Muir, named from x'rof. John Muir, a geologist of some 
 
;:i 
 
 28 • . 
 
 reputation, since he gave the first uncolored description of it. 
 It is forty miles long, and back on the laiid, in a basin of the 
 mountains, being reiinforced by fifteen tributaries coming 
 down the glens from dilTerent points of the compass, it swells to 
 an Icy sea twenty-five miles in diameter. Thence it moves with 
 resistless power, bearing rocks and long lines of detritus on 
 its billowy surface. Just before it reaches the bay it is com- 
 pressed by two sentinel mountains into, and is forced through, 
 a gorge one mile in width. 
 
 Emerging from this narrow gateway, it moves on, at the 
 rate of forty to sixty feet a day, to the waters whence it ori- 
 ginally came, buttressing the bay with a perpendicular wall 
 eight hundred feet high, three hundred feet of ultramarine. crys- 
 tals tipped with purest white being above the surface ; and 
 being pushed beyond its support in the underlying rock, a 
 battle begins between cohesion and gravity. The latter force 
 always prevails, and vast masses break from the glacial torrent 
 with the combined crash of falling walls and heavy thunder, and 
 tumble into the bay with a dash and a shock that agitates 
 the waters miles away, making navigation perilous to craft of 
 all sizes The almost deafening roar made when these masses 
 are rent away, the splashing baptism they receive in their fall, and 
 the leaping waters, are lively witnesses to the birth of an ic eberg, 
 which henceforth, as an independent existence, goes on its mis- 
 sion of girding the shores, butting against its fellows, and of 
 scaring navigators. 
 
 While the ship was resting unmoored near the front of this 
 icy barrier, we were startled by the sudden appearance of a 
 mass of dark crystal, vastly larger than our own ship, shooting 
 up from the depths, and tossing our steamer as if it were an egg- 
 shell. As the vessel careened, the frightened passengers were 
 sent whirling against each other, over chairs, or prostrate upon 
 the deck. This strange visitor had doubtless been broken off 
 from the roots of the icy mountain, hundreds of feet below the 
 
 \m 
 
description of it. 
 in a basin of the 
 ibutaries coming 
 mpass, it swells to 
 2nce it moves with 
 les of detritus on 
 :he bay it is com- 
 is forced through, 
 
 moves on, at the 
 ers whence it ori- 
 erpendicular wall 
 ultramarine. crys- 
 the surface ; and 
 iderlying rock, a 
 
 The latter force 
 
 the glacial torrent 
 
 eavy thunder, and 
 
 ock that agitates 
 
 rilous to craft of 
 
 hen these masses 
 ^e in their fall, and 
 
 thofan iceberg, 
 
 , goes on its mis- 
 ts fellows, and of 
 
 r the front of this 
 
 appearance of a 
 
 vn ship, shooting 
 
 if it were anegg- 
 
 l passengers were 
 
 »r prostrate upon 
 
 been broken off 
 
 of feet below the 
 
 V 
 
 surface, and hence, had unexpectedly appeared upon the scene. 
 Had it struck the ship fairly, nothing but a miracle could have 
 saved us. 
 
 Having recovered somewhat from our dumb amazement, 
 about twenty of us were sent on shore in the captain's gig. 
 Landing some distance below the ice-wall, we climbed seventy 
 feet up a lateral moraine, crawled, shoe-deep in wet gravel, 
 down into the valley of a glacial river, forded it, paddled 
 through glacial mud covered with shingle just deep enough 
 to hide the creamy pools, slipped prostrate upon ice made 
 treacherous by a thin disguise of detritus, and barked our shins 
 and cut our shoes on the sharp angular blocks of granite and 
 basalt strewn for two miles, in great profusion, along our peril- 
 ous route. 
 
 Blocks of finest marble hedged our pathway, we trod upon 
 chips of jasper and chalcedony, the product of different moun- 
 tains far up on the peninsula, and we passed two exquisitely 
 beautiful boulders of veined porphyry, weighing two or three 
 hundred pounds each, roun led and polished by centuries of at- 
 trition. They were of dark purple, streaked with quartz 
 spotlessly white, very desirable specimens for a cabinet, or for 
 out-of-door ornamentation. 
 
 After more than an hour of plunging, and sprawling, and 
 of pulling each other out of gray mire, about half of our num- 
 ber reached the uncovered glacier, and at the first glance, we 
 felt that here we should stand with uncovered heads, for we 
 were in the presence of the marvellous manifestations of super- 
 human power in action, and looked, with unveiled eyes, upon 
 the potent agencies by which much of this planet has been 
 fashioned. 
 
 Away in the distance was the white lake fed by numerous 
 frozen rivers, and these rivers were born of mountain snows fifty 
 miles distant. The white robed mountains themselves, aeons 
 in the paSt, were smoothed and grooved far up their flinty 
 
rr 
 
 
 ■i 
 
 30 
 
 sides, when this same glacier was three-fold deeper, and many 
 times more ponderous and mighty than it is to-day. 
 
 Stretched along the base of the mountains till they are only 
 a line in the distance, were the records of those gray old years 
 in the form of moraines, a hundred feet high, and appearing 
 like a range of hills. . , 
 
 The lateral portion of this crystal river, perhaps an eighth 
 of a mile in width, is heaved into rounded hills and beetling 
 precipices, quite resembling the sea in a storm, while the mid- 
 dle and much the wider part is splintered into countless spires 
 and needles and pinnacles, ten, twenty, thirty feet in height, 
 and of a beautiful ultramarine at the base shaded to a dead 
 white at the summit. • 
 
 In the onward march of the glacier, these pinnacles are oc- 
 casionally wrenched from their seats in the solid ice beneath, 
 — they nod, then totter, and then make a plunge, and are shat- 
 tered into a cloud of acicular crystals that sparkle like the 
 frosted snow under a full moon of a winter's night, only with 
 more of color, — they are diamonds on the wing. 
 
 Again, the whole surface is riven by a thousand crevasses, 
 . 4 along the bottom of which streams of clear water find their 
 way, often broken by waterfalls that plunge farther down into 
 the dark blue abysses out of sight. These chasms are frightful 
 gaps to one peering down a hundred feet between their 
 turquoise walls. A slip, a frail alpenstock, a feeble grasp ol 
 the guide's rope, and gravity would close the scene without 
 further ceremony. 
 
 The molecular structute of the glacier is continually chang- 
 ing, adjusting itself to the elevations and depressions of its 
 rocky bed, and hence, there is an incessant clicking and 
 crackling, interrupted here and there by an explosion, heard 
 over every inch of the surface. 
 
 The wHole scene is weird, and strange in sight and ir 
 sound, — in the voices that rise to the air from the azure depths 
 
 ;i!!lli 
 
31 
 
 d deeper, and many 
 1 to-day. 
 
 ins till they are only 
 hose gray old years 
 igh, and appearing 
 
 I 
 
 11 
 
 r, perhaps an eighth 
 1 hills and beetling 
 orm, while the mid- 
 ito countless spires 
 hirty feet in height, 
 ise shaded to a dead 
 
 jse pinnacles are oc- 
 le solid ice beneath, 
 lunge, and are shat- 
 hat sparkle like the 
 's night, only with 
 tving. 
 
 thousand crevasses, 
 lear water find their 
 e farther down into 
 chasms are frightful 
 
 feet between their 
 :, a feeble grasp of 
 >e the scene without 
 
 s continually chang- 
 
 depressions of its 
 
 gssant clicking and 
 
 an explosion, heard 
 
 ge in sight and in 
 rom the azyre depths, 
 
 
 — fascinating because every step is perilous, majestic from its 
 massiveness, and awful because its march is irresistible. 
 
 Consider what a force in wearing away mountains and 
 glens an icy torrent must be, one mile wide, eight hundred 
 feet deep, and in the middle flowing sixty feet a day; it goes 
 grinding and groaning and cracking in startling explosions, 
 all mingled in a loud wail like that from the Fitans im- 
 prisoned under Mt. ^tna. 
 
 Now let any one in fancy frame for himself this picture : 
 Snow-capped mountains in the back-ground, two of them, 
 Fairweather and Crillon, more than 15,000 feet high, thick set 
 with glittering peaks and clear cut as silhouettes on a dark sky ; 
 the great glacier, child of Arctic snows, turreted and pinnacled, 
 and splintered into a thousand strange forms, upon which Iris 
 has flung the varied hues of amethyst, and turquoise, and sap- 
 phire ; huge masses riven from the crystal river with a thunder- 
 ing roar, reeling and toppling into an amber sea, thickly dot- 
 ted with new-born and vagrant icebergs ; and all this scene 
 glorified and transfigured by the setting sun, — looking upon 
 this picture through the creative power of imagination, one 
 can readily conceive that the enraptured tourist, standing in 
 the presence of the realities, would call that day spent with the 
 Muir glacier, the day of all the days he ever passed in gazing 
 upon and listening to the wild wonders of our planet. 
 
 But hark ! That was not an explosion of the glacier's ar- 
 tillery, — it was the echo of the steamer's whistle ringing along 
 the glens of the mountains, softened, indeed, by distance, as 
 , are the notes of the Alpine horn. 
 
 In just one hour we must be on the ship, or be left without 
 couch, or food, or fire, in these wild and awful solitudes, ninety 
 miles from the nearest habitation ; and we made it in time, re- 
 gardless of shoes or shins. 
 
:■ 
 
 Hill 
 
 
 1 W :i 
 
 .1 
 
 1 
 
 ' 
 
 V 
 
 
 SITKA. 
 
 Baranoff's Castle - - A Dismantled Palace that oug 
 to he Preserved -- The " Boulevard" -- J^otahle 
 Buildings-- The Solitary Mule -- Climate. 
 
 oiTKA, July, U 
 
 Archangel, the first settlement in this part of the Rus 
 possessions in America, and dedicated to the Archangel 
 briel, was founded in 1800, on Gavan bay, about six miles f 
 the present capital, but its inhabitants having been murdt 
 by the natives, Baranoff, then governor of the province, ere< 
 in 1804, a warehouse on Katalan's rock, a noted eminenc 
 the present seedy town, and dedicated it to the Archai 
 Michael, and named it New Archangel, or Sitka, altho 
 Tchirikoff, a captain in Behring's fleet, visited it in 1741. F: 
 1804, then, till 1867, the date of occupation by the Un 
 States, Southeastern Alaska also was subject to Russia, as 
 more northern portion had been before, and Sitka was made 
 capital of all the Russian-American possessions. 
 
 Baranoff, a brutal old soldier and trader, having been 
 N'ated to some rank among the nobility, transformed the w 
 house into a castle, held his court there, and began a seriei 
 amusements and fetes which were repeated for many yean 
 succeeding governors with more or less semi-barbaric disp 
 Traces of the former glory of the place are still to be seei 
 moss-covered structures of great size, — in warehouses stepf 
 out on piles a hundred feet over the harbor, in court-ho 
 jail, and custom-house, in club-house, barracks, and w( 
 shops, all of spruce logs closely fitted together, and bol 
 
'i Palace that ought 
 ivard" -- Jfotahle 
 fule - - Climate. 
 
 oiTKA, July, 1888. 
 
 this part of the Russian 
 1 to the Archangel Ga- 
 ay, about six miles from 
 ; having been murdered 
 of the province, erected 
 :k, a noted eminence in 
 ;d it to the Archangel 
 yel, or Sitka, although 
 visited it in 1741. From 
 upation by the United 
 jbject to Russia, as the 
 and Sitka was made the 
 ssessions. 
 
 rader, having been ele- 
 r, transformed the ware- 
 , and began a series of 
 5ated for many years by 
 is semi-barbaric display, 
 e are still to be seen in 
 ■in warehouses stepping 
 harbor, in court-house, 
 , barracks, and work- 
 1 together, and bolted, 
 
 33 
 
 each tier to the one below, so that they would scarcely fall 
 apart if tumbled over. The better class of these were covered 
 with boards, and painted with ochre ; they had double win- 
 dows, and a huge half-moon window in the gables. Solid, 
 ponderous, and rude as old Baranoff himself, during whose 
 iron sway the most of them were erected, had they been better 
 protected at the foundation, they would yet last a hundred 
 years. 
 
 Those venerable buildings, about twenty-five in number, a 
 dozen rusty cannon and carronades of ancient pattern and 
 doubtful efficiency drawn up in front of the custom-house, a 
 dilapidated dock, and a broken fire-engine, are part and par- 
 cel of the appurtenances turned over to the United States at 
 the time of the transfer in 1867. 
 
 Tov/ering above all its old-time associates, the castle is the 
 first building seen as one approaches from the sea. Katalan, 
 an Indian chief, gave his name to the rock on which the castle 
 now stands, and made it his seat of government long before 
 the tyrat Banranoff built his warehouse, afterward his palace. 
 Since the removal of Katalan's wigwam, three structures 
 have been erected on its site ; the first was burned, and was re- 
 placed by one of brick brought from Holland, each brick hav- 
 ing the word STENWICK in block letters stamped upon it. 
 This second edifice was demolished by an earthquake, and 
 Dutch tiles are now to be found in chimneys of modern date, 
 or strewn along the beach. 
 
 The present castle, one hundredand forty by seventy feet, 
 was built of heavy cedar logs, fastened to the rock and to each 
 other by copper bolts, and sheathed with boards painted yel- 
 low. Recently it has been robbed piecemeal of its costly fur- 
 niture, its broad mirrors, and showy chandeliers, and nothing 
 now remains but the bare walls, and Russian brick stoves cased 
 with sheet-iron and reaching to the ceiling. A few rooms 
 are pointed to as having been fitted up for Secretary Seward 
 
;l 
 
 iii'ii 
 
 nil 
 
 ■|4 
 
 and party while here, but they too have been stripped of the! 
 furnishings, the doors swing with every wind, and the boys liav 
 made the windows a target with damaging effect. So much c 
 the history of Alaska, and especially of Sitka, clusters aroum 
 this decaying palace, that Congress ought to appropriate a fe\ 
 hundred dollars to preserve it from further desecration and ulti 
 mate ruin. 
 
 The customary ghost story comes in for a share in th 
 history of this ducal mansion. A beautiful Russian, daughte 
 of one of the old governors, was compelled by her " crue 
 parients" to pledge her hand to a man whom she did no 
 love. During the festivities of the evening appointed for he 
 marriage, she absented herself, and when she was sought b; 
 her friends with some apprehension that all was not right, sh( 
 was found lifeless in her boudoir. She now haunts the draw 
 ing-room and paces the governor's cabinet, and wherever he 
 spectre passes i^ leaves behind a slight perfume of roses. 
 
 Mr. Seward and suite were not interrupted by a visitatior 
 from her, probably because they were not expecting it, sinct 
 the tale had been carefully withheld from them until they wert 
 about to depart. 
 
 The only street proper — Lincoln is its modern name — be- 
 gins with the dock and extends half a mile, curving with the 
 shore of the crescent-shaped bay. Huge warehouses, govern- 
 ment offices, a village inn in which Lady Franklin, in 1870] 
 was a guest while waiting for tidings from her lost husband, 
 three or four stores that have on sale everything from nails tc 
 silks and seal-skins, and a score of dwellings, are strung sdong 
 this thoroughfare, nearly all built of heavy logs, and reared b) 
 the Russians away back in the '* wee sma' hours " of the cen- 
 tury. There are lanes and by-ways, leading to the Russian 
 quarter on the east, and an alley through a gateway in an old 
 stockade to the more populous Indian division on the west, bui 
 
 5B9S1 
 
35 
 
 en stripped of their 
 i, and the boys liave 
 effect. So much of 
 tka, clusters around 
 to appropriate a few 
 iesecration and ulti- 
 
 n for a share in the 
 1 Russian, daughter 
 led by her " cruel 
 whom she did not 
 y appointed for her 
 n she was sought by 
 all was not right, she 
 low haunts the draw- 
 let, and wherever her 
 ume of roses. 
 
 upted by a visitation 
 t expecting it, since 
 them until they were 
 
 • 
 
 Is modern name — be- 
 ile, curving with the 
 warehouses, govern - 
 Franklin, in 1870, 
 her lost husband, 
 I'thing from nails to 
 gs, are strung along 
 logs, and reared by 
 hours " of the cen- 
 ing to the Russian 
 gateway in an old 
 ion on the west, but 
 
 I 
 
 all these more recent dwellings look puny beside those of the 
 Baranoff pattern. 
 
 Conspicuous among the structures on the one street, is the 
 old Russian Club House, which was second only in importance 
 to the castle, as the centre of gayety, especially in winter, when 
 from ten to fifteen men-of-war lay in the harbor, and the 
 officers were quartered on shore. Gambling and dancing were 
 the chief amusements engaged in, to vvhich horse-racing was 
 added, the animals having been transported here at great ex- 
 pense. According to all accounts, the semi-barbaric splendor 
 of their sports and festivities was scarcely inferior to those of 
 the home country. 
 
 But the glory of the club house has departed. Decay has 
 seized upon the unprotected foundation logs, the roof is moss- 
 grown, impecunious tenants find a lodging in the office and 
 gaming-rooms, and handkerchiefs once waved by beauty's hand 
 to her favorites from the now creaking balconies, have fluttered 
 out of sight. 
 
 On a rise of ground back of the Indian division of the 
 town, there are little toy houses over Indian graves, more notic- 
 able than the airy homes on the beach their tenants dwelt in 
 while living. Adjacent to these is the Russian cemetery, — a 
 three-barred cross marks each mound, and inscriptions in 
 Graeco- Roman characters are engraved on a few prostrate slabs. 
 On the same eminence and hard by the cemeteries, are two 
 crumbling Martello towers, one pentagonal, and the other oc- 
 tagonal in form, having loop«holes for musketry. From the 
 fact that they were roofed ove^, cannon were probably never 
 mounted upon them. In short, the old is everywiiere ; — beside 
 the tottering buildings, old samovars, old andirons, matchlock 
 muskets, bits of ancient crockery and tiles, and queer fasten- 
 ings for doors, are to be found in situ, or in the curio shops. 
 The only team within ninety miles is a span of superannuated 
 mules drawing the only wagon on the only street in Sitka ; 
 
30 
 
 although a still older army mule, left by Gen. Jeff. C. Da' 
 and his army at the time of, and after, the transfer in 18( 
 wanders in the lanes rnimolesed and unharnessed, or stan 
 with bowed head in the lee of some crumbling structui 
 only a little more ancient than himself, and seemingly 
 symj)athy with him, musing, doubtless, on the perilous seer 
 he had witnessed in war, or on his more fearful sufferings 
 crossing the plains. In summer he mumbles grass and weec 
 in winter he shares with vagrant dogs the contents of girbag 
 buckets, or follows the receding waters of the sea, and dir 
 on clams. In this latter method of appeasing hunger, he oft 
 has the companionship of the improvident Sitkans, sin 
 their custom reiterates the proverb : "When the tide is oi 
 the poor man's table is spread. " 
 
 In the channels made by the many islands between Bai 
 noff and the open sea are fine fishing-grounds, affording se 
 mon, salmon-trout, halibut, bass and cod. The sound or ai 
 bladder of the red cod, a species living in deep waters, e 
 pands and fills the throat on being brought to the surfac 
 hence, in that condition, he is unable to return to the dee 
 again. ' . 
 
 During the month of July, salmon retail at about thre 
 fourths of a cent a pound, ana halibut are a trifle cheaper, ai 
 venison brings six or seven cents. Most of the other suppli 
 for the table come from the " States, "and by the time th( 
 reach here they have nearly doubled in price from the lar 
 freight charges ; hence, leaving out of the account fish ar 
 game, comfortable living is expensive. 
 
 Sitka is in an amphitheatre, hemmed in by mountains ( 
 all sides except that fronting the sea. Notable in this sen: 
 circle of peaks is Edgecombe, an extinct volcano, named 1 
 Capt. Cook, the great navigator, and Verstovia, so calh 
 because it was supposed to be a Russian verst in height. 
 
87 
 
 >y Gen. Jeff. C. Davis 
 the transfer in 18G7, 
 nharnessed, or stands 
 crumbling structure, 
 f, and seemingly in 
 an the perilous scenes 
 •e fearful sufferings in 
 bles grass and weeds, 
 J contents of girbage- 
 of the sea, and dines 
 asing hunger, he often 
 vident Sitkans, since 
 When the tide is out, 
 
 islands between Bara- 
 ^rounds, affording sal- 
 1. The sound of air- 
 g in deep waters, ex- 
 3ught to the surface ; 
 o return to the deeps 
 
 retail at about three- 
 e a trifle cheaper, and 
 st of the other supplies 
 
 and by the time they 
 : price from the large 
 the account fish and 
 
 d in by mountains on 
 Notable in this semi- 
 it volcano, named by 
 Verstovia, so called 
 n verst in height. It 
 
 -1 
 
 I 
 
 is now known to be higher than that. Its base is in the out- 
 skirts of the village. 
 
 This little capital is farther north than Queen Victoria's 
 palace in Scotland, yet it experiences no such extremes of tem- 
 perature as Balmoral feels. The mountains are covered per- 
 petually with snow, although the thermometer rarely falls 
 to zero, and sinks below that point only once in about 
 every three years ; and the average temperature for twelve 
 months in 1886-7 was only a little less than that for liufTiilo, 
 being forty-two degrees. 
 
 The precii)itation of moisture, however, is enormous, vary- 
 ing from seven to ten feet — that of the year named above was 
 one hundred and thirty inches, and there were two hundred and 
 nineteen cloudy days, and yet it is asserted that clothes will dry 
 under an open shed during a rainstorm, and that when it rains 
 it never pours. Thunder-storms and cyclones never visit Sitka, 
 and, like Ireland, there are no snakes or toads on the island. 
 
 Agriculture can never be an important factor in the re- 
 sources of the country, for two reasons ; the summers are com- 
 paratively cold, and the land is nearly all set up edgewise. 
 Little snow falls in the valleys, and frosts rarely occur till late 
 in October, so that vegetation has nearly six months' range of 
 growth, but edibles make no rapid advance by reason of the 
 cool days and chilly nights. 
 
 Potatoes, lettuce and cabl^-^ge mature in ordinary seasons, 
 and the grasses grow luxuriantly wherever they can get a foot- 
 hold. Black alders, the only deciduous tree, sometimes six 
 inches in diameter, are found along the streams, but spruce, 
 often of gigantic size, covers the country up to the snow line. 
 The Kuro Siwo, or Japanese current, sweeping from the tropi- 
 cal regions along this coast, moderates the rigor of the 
 climate usual in high latitudes, and furnishes material for the 
 abundant rainfall. It drifts into the bay, the algse of more 
 southern seas, and the teredo also, which ruin the harbor 
 
38 
 
 
 i 
 
 I 
 
 i 
 
 1 1 
 
 j 
 
 1 > 
 I ] 
 
 i 
 
 ' 
 
 piles in about five years — a pest whose customary habitat is far 
 less than 00 degrees of latitude. 
 
 Ravens, held sacred by the natives, eagles, ducks and a 
 russet humming-birds, comprise the more common of the feath- 
 ered tribe, and there is just one pair of swallows in all Sitka. 
 
 By a recent census the population of this picturesque town 
 was about one hundred whites, three hundred Russians, and 
 eight hundred natives. Notwithstanding the mixed character 
 of the population, government officials and their families, offi- 
 cers of the U. S. gun-boat stationed here, and their wives, help 
 much to make a choice" circle, so that the sojourner finds agree- 
 able people in several pleasant homes. 
 
 If there is any one thing more than another to which the 
 Sitkans point with pardonable pride, it is their boulevard, which 
 is simply the extension of their only street to Indian river, a 
 beautiful stream a mile away. It skirts the bay and is bordered 
 on each side by, and overshadowed with, trees, with occasional 
 openings to give outlooks npon the island-dotted sea. Now 
 frame these snatches of charming scenery in a circle of dark- 
 green mountains whose heads are often veiled in a filmy mist of 
 purest white, sometimes so thin as; o reveal the more distant 
 peaks as spectre mountains of a shadowy world, and the tourist 
 is ready to confess that he has seen few such promenades in all 
 his journeyings. 
 
 At the junction of the river with the sea there is a small 
 glade to which the " whites " resort for picnics, the Russians 
 for a revel, and the whole population for a stroll. All the water 
 for drinking and cooking is wheeled from the river along this 
 boulevard in hand-carts, for the word enterprise has not yet 
 found a place in the lexicon of the drowsy Sitkans. At all 
 times by day and far into the night, some one may be seen 
 on this embowered thoroughfare. 
 
 The term night, just used, has little significance in this 
 latitude, or rather, it is a misnomer for weeks in mid-sumilier. 
 
80 
 
 itat is far 
 
 ks and a 
 the feath- 
 Sitka. 
 que town 
 ians, and 
 character 
 ilies, offi- 
 ves, help 
 ds agree- 
 
 irhich the 
 d, which 
 1 river, a 
 bordered 
 ccasional 
 a. Now 
 of dark- 
 y mist of 
 e distant 
 le tourist 
 les in all 
 
 s a small 
 Russians 
 the water 
 long this 
 1 not yet 
 . At all 
 be seen 
 
 The sun of course goes out of sight, but his rays so linger 
 about the northern horizon that, without artificial light, and in 
 absence of the moon, it is not difficult to read at midnight. 
 People retire as the fowls seem to do, by the clock, and not 
 for the darkness, — "the evening shades prevail" here at no 
 hour. If the sleeper awakes at half-past three in the morning, he 
 is quite likely to find his room flooded with sunlight, and chil- 
 dren from lower latitudes complain of being sent to bed before 
 dark. 
 
 The sun never scorches, its light is never dazzling, as it 
 often is in Buffalo, but it is subdued as in tCngland, and, de- 
 spite its long continuance, it does not interfere with ten hours 
 of sleep for the tourist. He eats and sleeps as if he were born 
 for these exercises alone, and if there were scales in town he 
 would generally be found to be rapidly increasing his avoirdu- 
 pois. The atmosphere is saturated with drowsiness and repose, 
 and there are few sounds and little bustle to disturb one's quiet. 
 
 Taking into account, then, the salubrity of the climate, 
 the opportunity for undisturbed rest, the ease of access to the 
 fine fishing grounds among the islands and to game in the for- 
 ests, the quaint structures reared by the old Russians, the 
 unique character of its people, the interesting history of the 
 town, its charming surroundings, and the unequaled scenery on 
 the way here, we believe that, for three months in summer, Sit- 
 ka is one of the most attractive resorts in all our broad do- 
 main. 
 
 :e in this 
 •summer. 
 
THE GREEK CHURCH. 
 
 Reniarhahle Paintings -- The Russian Ritual •• Cu- 
 rious a,nd Anomalous State of Affairs -- J^ot a 
 Territory Prohibition in AlasJca - - A Law 
 Unto Themselves. 
 
 I 
 
 ' Sitka, July 11, 1888. 
 
 The Greek Church in Sitka — in form a Greek cross, and 
 placed on an expansion of Lincoln street, — is the first structure 
 sought by tourists just landed from the steamer ; and sensibly, 
 too, for it is a well-preserved building, and the only one serving 
 the people now as it did the old Russians, and because, also, 
 there are only two others in America, and the ceremonies in 
 this church are strictly orthodox, quite up to the forms observed 
 in Russia. It is built of the universal material used here, spruce 
 logs, sheathed with boards, which are protected with a dove- 
 colored paint and trimmed with white. The spire resembles a 
 minaret, and the dome over the central part of the church has 
 the bulge of a Mahomedan mosque, both of a bright green color 
 and each surmounted by a gilded cross with triple bars. 
 
 A raven, a common bird of the country, is sa.d, to 
 perch upon one of these crosses whenever the gun of 
 an incoming steamer announces the approach of tourists, and 
 to croak his welcome to them in a strain as harsh and dolorous 
 as the "Nevermore" of Poe's uncanny bird. In the open 
 belfry there is a chime of six sweet-toned bells which make 
 almost the only sounds that break the silence of the sleep} vil- 
 
 ^« 
 
 
41 
 
 lage. The interior is gaudy with paintings, intended to repre- 
 sent patriarchs and prophets, draped in silver and gold, and 
 two bronze doors of open-work pattern, with panels bearing 
 images of saints and holy men, cut off the altar and robing- 
 room from the auditorium. Into this altar-room no woman is 
 permitted to enter. 
 
 Without the metallic coverings, some of these paintings are 
 said to have merit, the undraped copy of the Transfiguration 
 is far superior to ordinary church pictures. In a side room is an 
 exquisite Madonna ''with sweet Byzantine face." The holy 
 child, in an erect posture, leans against her shoulder, and his 
 face, like his mother's, has a look of deep meaning. This too 
 is a painting of great merit, and even a third of the thirty will 
 bear criticism. 
 
 The priest conducts the intoned service in the altar-room, 
 with the bronze doors wide open, so that the worshippers, stand- 
 ing in the auditorium under the dome, have a fair view of the 
 performance. During the Miserere, however,' the valves are 
 closed; and his wailings are thereby subdued. 
 
 The chorister?', shut off from the audience by a screen, re- 
 spond to almos' every sentence uttered by the priest, and their 
 part is well performed. The whole service is in Russian, and 
 since three-fourths of the audience are native, not more than 
 that proportion understand it. 
 
 The ritual is more elaborate than that of the Roman 
 Catholic church, and the genuflections, the crossings, and the 
 prostrations of Russians and Indian? 3,like, can scarcely be out- 
 done by the most thoroughly ceremonial church in the mo.'her 
 country ; — in two words, they are strictly orthodox ; for during 
 the hour of worship, there is an almost incessant pointing of the 
 fingers to the head and breast, or kneeling, or crouching with 
 the head upon the floor, each motion performed three times. 
 This can be done in a church in which there are neither pews 
 
42 
 
 nor seats, and where every one from czar to meanest subject, 
 worships in a standing position when not going through with 
 the movements. 
 
 As a part of the exercises, the priest presents himself before 
 the congregation with a golden chalice in each hand. Each of 
 these cups, covered with a little doyley, is said to contain, the 
 one bread, the other wine. He pronounces a blessing, and, 
 returning to the throne-room, is supposed to partake of thr- 
 emblems vicariously. . At a very early period in life, however, 
 the worshippers do have the sacrament administered to them in 
 person. The parents come forward with the babe to a dais on 
 which the priest stands holding a chalice of gold, gemmed and 
 elaborately etched. He first adjusts a scarlet bib under the chin 
 of the infant, and with a delicate spoon, pours into the mouth 
 of the little copper-face a few drops of wine, pats the tongue 
 three times and dismisses him for another. An acolyte stands 
 near who administers the bread, and the faces of the parents 
 beam with joy tjiat the child is now saved. A sermon, extem- 
 poraneous, about ten minutes long, and uttered with great ear- 
 nestness, follows. Lastly, the priest brings out a heavy golden 
 crucifix, set with rubies and emeralds, and presents it to be 
 kissed, first to the babies, then to the youth, and finally to the 
 adult worshippers, and then there is a rush for the (Joor. 
 
 In funeral ceremonies, the body, covered with a thin veil 
 only, and preceded by thfe priest, bareheaded, swinging a cen- 
 ser, and chanting a dirge, is borne from the house of. the 
 deceased, and is followed by mourners wailing as in Oriental 
 countries. 
 
 This church was once a cathedral, had a resident bishop, 
 and was the possessor of large wealth in crucifixes, .osiers, and 
 plate, adorned with precious stones ; but after Alas/:? becatv»** n 
 part of the Union, most of the Russians went back o the mother 
 country, and the bishop soon followed, leaving only three real 
 Muscovites in the diocese. The rest ol the congregation is made 
 
 '^ 
 
43 
 
 St subject, 
 3ugh with 
 
 ;elf before 
 Each of 
 ntain, the 
 ing, and, 
 ie of th<- 
 however. 
 ) them in 
 a dais on 
 imed and 
 the chin 
 le mouth 
 2 tongue 
 e stands 
 : parents 
 , extem- 
 reat ear- 
 ^ golden 
 it to be 
 y to the 
 
 hin veil 
 
 i a cen- 
 
 of. the 
 
 3riental 
 
 bishop, 
 Jrs, and 
 !carn'* n 
 mother 
 ree real 
 is made 
 
 up of Creoles, Indians and half-breeds, the latter exhibiting the 
 vices that generally come of mingling the blood of degenerate ^ 
 races. The present priest is highly respected by all Sitkans. 
 He puts forth great efforts to correct in his people their inborn 
 love for drinking, and rebukes them for idleness and disregard 
 for law and order , but he has become discouraged, has sent his 
 resignation to the Czar-Pope, and contents himself with teach- 
 » ing the children, and with the simple performance of his duties 
 
 as priest. 
 
 To the tourist, at first, it seems strange that so conspicuous 
 a structure as this church is, should be set down in this shabby 
 town, but when he studies its history, rich in past glory and 
 usefulness, and finds that, for long years, it has kept faithful vigil 
 among these moldering structures, and been an open gate to the 
 people, leading to a higher life, he is forced to feel that, how- 
 ever much those races have failed to realize the enjoyments of 
 that better life, a beneficent hand that guides all things well, did 
 plant this church in Sitka, the capital of this great territory. 
 
 Congress unwittingly establ'shed a monarchy in Alaska, 
 and made the judge the autocrat ; and it was brought about in 
 this way : By a stroke of the pen, that body enacted " that the 
 general laws of the State of Oregon, now in force, are hereby 
 declared to be the law in this district, so far as the same may be 
 applicable and not in conflict with the laws of the United 
 States." Note the " English as she is wrote," and that this is 
 not a territory, but a district. 
 
 Now, when a case is brought before the judge, it rests solely 
 with him to determine whether the laws of Oregon apply to it 
 or not, and whenever an appeal from his conclusions has been 
 made to the higher courts in Oregon, no decision has ever been 
 given of it, because those courts declare that misdemeanors 
 in Alaska do not come under their jurisdiction. Again we 
 quote another enactment, which will be new to most people in 
 the "States." *' The importation, manufacture, and sale of 
 
44 
 
 intoxicating liquors in said district, except for medicinal, 
 mechanical, and scientific purposes, is hereby prohibited." Do 
 people generally know that a stringent prohibitory law, enacted 
 by the United States Government, applies to one-fifth of our 
 country ? 
 
 Despite this prohibition, in Juneau there are twenty saloons, 
 six in Sitka, and c '- ir almost every settlement in Alaska, openly 
 selling liquor to any except to Indians, and the judge now 
 
 presiding daily violate .his law by patronizing these saloons 
 in Sitka. No retailer can be punished for these infractions, 
 for there are so few qualified jurymen in the settlements, that a 
 vendor of liquors, or a patron, or sympathizer, is sure to find his 
 place on the jury. 
 
 Alaska has no legislature, and no one in Washington to 
 bring her wants to notice. In fact, Congress has refused to afford 
 her any relief by enacting wholesome laws. It is a case of cul- 
 pable neglect on the part of that body. The compensation 
 granted to the people is that there is no taxation. There is no 
 ownership of land or home, except that promised by the treaty, 
 to persons in rightful possession at the time of the transfer. 
 Hence there is no inducement for people to make this a perma- 
 nent residence. There is no organized town, no officer of a 
 village, not even a road-master, and of course, no corporate 
 authority to compel the observance of sanitary regulations, or 
 ordinances for the public weal. 
 
 Under this singular condition of affairs, disturbances of the 
 peace, and the violation of personal rights, must be expected ; 
 the only wonder is that they are not of more frequent occur- 
 rence. The general regard for fair play, and an innate love for 
 decency and order on the part of most of the white people, save 
 the country from anarchy. 
 
 The officers of the " District " are a governor, a district 
 attorney, a marshal, and four commissioners, or justices, who 
 take cognizance of minor offences and cases, one each for Sitka, 
 Wrangel, Juneau, and Ounalaska ; but these authorities have no 
 vessel by which to reach far-off settlements, sometimes a thou- 
 sand miles distant, and hence the people in those remote places 
 must necessarily be a law unto themselves. The whole blame 
 for this anomalous and loose state of affairs rests upon Congress. 
 
NATIVES OF ALASKA. 
 
 Evidence of Japanese Origin -- Skill and Taste in 
 the Arts -- bcme Interesting Products -- The To- 
 tem-Pole - The Wonderful Chilcat Blanket 
 .-Accomplishments of t?ie Women-- Cu- 
 rios for Tourists -- The Medicine 
 Man --Houses --Mrs. Tom, the 
 Rich Beauty. 
 
 Sitka, July, 1888. 
 
 Naturalists study types of the animal kingdom best in the 
 embryo, or as near to that condition as is practicable. 
 
 Adopting this method of investigation, and comparing the 
 pappooses of the Thlingkits, the natives of Southeastern Alas- 
 ka, with the babies of the Japanese as seen in San Francisco 
 and Portland, we were struck with what to us was a discovery 
 that the Thlingkits are not Indians, but Japanese in origin. In 
 some instances, so striking is the resemblance in the eyes, 
 cheek-boi.es, lips, noses, and form in general, that, should the 
 little rolly-polies change cradles, we believe the mothers only 
 could detect the transfer ; and the mothers themselves differ no 
 more than one could readily suppose they would, living for a 
 hundred years or longer in conditions quite dissimilar in re- 
 spect to climate, food and surroundings. 
 
 The Thlingkits use several words, and have not a few cus- 
 toms, that prevail in some parts of Japan. Again, Japanese 
 junks have been found from time to time stranded along tho 
 coast, ever since Alaska was first visited by explorers. 
 
46 • 
 
 Finally, the United States district court for Alaska, has 
 declared that " these people are not Indians, and that they 
 can sue and be sued, and go and come at pleasure." Our 
 conclusion, that they derive their origin from Japanj not from 
 China, is simply a theory, and we present it for what it is 
 worth. 
 
 In further support of this theory, however, it may be add- 
 ed that, unlike the Indians of the other territories, these peo- 
 ple seek employment, and are to be found in canneries, in 
 mills, and voluntarily engage in service as sailors, as 'long- 
 shoremen, and even as house-servants. Like the Japanese, 
 they are skillful artisans in wood, bone and silver. From huge 
 logs of spruce, they fashion their canoes to fine lines and even 
 balance, without square or gauge, guiding their simple tools, 
 the axe and the adze, by the eye alone. 
 
 From the horns of the mountain goat, first by boiling till 
 they are soft, and pressing them in a wooden matrix, they mold 
 spoons and ladles, and cover the long handles with grotesque 
 figures, so neatly carved and so smoothly polished, that the 
 supply never equals the demand. Their canoe-paddles, worked 
 out with an axe and knife, are marvels of curve and poise. 
 
 With the head of an axe for an anvil, a cold chisel, and a 
 clumsy hammer, the Thlingkit silversmith, seated on a plank, 
 fashions from coin, bracelets, rings and pins, in forms so 
 unique, and with a jack-knife etches them with figures so origi- 
 nal, that lady tourists capitulate at first sight. The scheming 
 Siwash, with grave countenance but illumined eye, indicates 
 the price with uplifted fingers, and it is always paid. In a word, 
 he rivals the Swiss carver in producing curios and articles for 
 ornamentation, and is quite as shrewd in a bargain with mdis- 
 creet visitors. But it is in Totem-poles that their ideals of the 
 carver's art find their fullest expression. These so-called poles 
 are huge logs, from ten to sixty feet in length, and are generally 
 erected in front of a chief's dwelling. They are genealogical, 
 
 ^}i I 
 
47 
 
 aska, has 
 hat thev 
 " Our 
 not from 
 vhat it is 
 
 be add- 
 lese peo- 
 
 ries, in 
 s 'long- 
 ipanese, 
 m huge 
 nd even 
 - tools, 
 
 ling till 
 ;y mold 
 otesque 
 hat the 
 worked 
 
 56. 
 
 > and a 
 plank, 
 ms so 
 origi- 
 eniing 
 icates 
 Word, 
 es for 
 indis- 
 f the 
 poles 
 trally 
 ical, 
 
 and historical, containing in carved hieroglyphics the record 
 of the brave deeds of the sachem and of those of his lineage, 
 deep cut and sharp in outline, so that they can easily be dis- 
 tinguished, although parts of them are high in the air, and 
 readily interpreted by those verseil in Thlingkit traditions. 
 Prominent among the grotesque figures that crowd the front of 
 the pole from bottom to top, are the hideous forms of the chief 
 and his ancestors, generally sitting in a squat position, having 
 broad faces, the matked characteristics of which are great, 
 threatening eyes, grim and terrible, glaring upon their enemies 
 beneath, writhing under tortures. Around and between these 
 figures are distributed, so as to leave but little unoccupied 
 space, the images of the raven, their creator and the repository 
 of the souls of their fathers, of the eagle, their sovereign, and 
 of the salmon, the preserver of life ; and from the midst of the 
 assemblage of hideous forms, on a few poles, the great eye of 
 evil looks out askance, suggesting devil-worship among the 
 barbarous tribes of America, as in Africa. 
 
 It is asserted by those who have mingled with these peo- 
 ple, that the great end sought in worship is the same that 
 is striven for by heathen all over the world, that of propitiat- 
 ing evil spirits, thinking that good spirits will take care of 
 themselves, or, at the worst, will not harm them. 
 
 On the back of the poles there is a rectangular niche cut 
 deeply inward, as a receptacle for the ashes of the deceased; for 
 they are far in advance of their white brethren in mortuary cer- 
 emonials, having practiced cremation time out of mind. At 
 Fort Wrangel a few weeks since, the ashes of a chief were re- 
 moved from a pole in which they were deposited forty years 
 since. They were buried by his tatterdemalion son, who hopes 
 that his remains will find the place once occupied by his father's; 
 but that is doubtful, for the pole is cracked and crumbling, 
 and can scarcely bear the rigor of another Alaskan winter. 
 
48 
 
 Hard by this tottering stub is another surmounted by a 
 raven, one by an eagle, one by a statue of a chief wearing a 
 plug hat — this is a recent addition — and another by a nonde- 
 scrijDt animal, hideous to the last degree. 
 
 Conspicuous among these monuments is a log pen sur- 
 mounted by a huge alligator, very old, holding wide open a 
 mouthful of formidable teeth. Where did these people, so long 
 ago as when this image was erected, get their idea of an al- 
 ligator ? 
 
 Missionaries have discouraged cremation, and where they 
 have made converts, totem-poles are now rarely carved, so that 
 these two customs, peculiar to these people, and, to our no- 
 tion, excusable, have fallen into desuetude. 
 
 The native women exhibit, great skill, and good taste in 
 weaving and coloring baskets. The material is the inner bark 
 of the root of the yellow cedar, and until recently, the dyes 
 were all from plants indigenous to the country. Now aniline 
 dyes are employed, deeper and more glaring than, but not so 
 soft, as the home products. The baskets made by the Yakutat 
 women are preferred by travelers, and reaspnably, for they are 
 firm, durable, and so compactly braided that they hold water, 
 and by throwing in hot stones, potatoes can be boiled in them 
 without harm to the texture. 
 
 Besides basket-work, the women in Sitka weave from the 
 same material, mats and gaudy coverings for walking- canes, 
 and bottles, and they know how to sell them. They have two 
 prices for their wares, one for residents, and for tourists any 
 price they think they can induce a stranger to pay. On 
 ** steamer-days," which occur every two weeks in summer, the 
 natives and the white traders combine to make the most of 
 their opportunity, and lady passengers, to the utter disgust of 
 their more discreet husbands and brothers, on seeing a tempt- 
 ing array of Indian curios, go wild at the sight, and pa> the 
 price usually given for the gratification of misguided fr.oy. 
 
49 
 
 ited by a 
 vearing a 
 I nonde- 
 
 pen sur- 
 ! open a 
 
 so long 
 )f an al- 
 
 ere they 
 , so that 
 
 our no- 
 taste in 
 ler bark 
 he dyes 
 
 aniline 
 : not so 
 ^akutat 
 hey are 
 
 water, 
 n them 
 
 am the 
 canes, 
 ve two 
 its any 
 . On 
 ;r, the 
 lost of 
 :ust of 
 empt- 
 i> the 
 hKcy. 
 
 These women ply their trade in furs, in berries, in baskets, or 
 in carved wood and horn, sitting in the usual squat position on 
 the walls, or docks, but they rarely invite attention to them, 
 either by word or gesture — they simply display them upon a 
 bit of cloth and look their appeals to those passing. 
 
 They wear silver ear-drops, have numerous rings upon 
 their fingers, and sport a bundle of bracelets on each wrist, 
 the number being measured by their bank-account, and the 
 wealthiest of the belles have surpassed their fairer sisters in the 
 adornment of their persons, in that they insert a labret, a 
 stem of bone, in a hole made about an inch below the edge 
 of the lower lip ; and fashion rages among the dusky beau- 
 ties of Juneau to the extent that they, too, daub their faces with 
 paint — not with rouge and flour, but with fish-oil and lamp- 
 black, presenting a spectacle more hideous, according to our 
 fancy, than do the belles of a modern ball-room. However, 
 tastes differ. 
 
 The ambition of the average lady tourist to possess an or- 
 nament which her neighbor is unable to procure, is quite grati- 
 fied when she has gathered among her treasures a Chilcat blank- 
 et. These are made of the hair of the mountain goat, are about 
 two about yards long by one in width, and have a long fringe 
 on three sides. The body of the blanket, very thick and firm, is 
 a curious arrangement of white, black and yfllow colors, in 
 parallelograms, rhombs, and Roman key- work. Conspicuous 
 among these figures and widely apart, two great eyes, elongat- 
 ed horizontally, peer out from the maze, with so steady, sol- 
 emn, and searching a look, that when seen for the first time, 
 they incline one to shrink from their stare. 
 
 Shamans, or medicine men, array themselves in these 
 blankets when they practice their incantations, and Chilcat 
 dudes in dances. They are showy but harmonious in the ar- 
 rangement of the colors, and civilized people use them with 
 great effect in mural decorations. A Chilcat woman mn 
 
60 
 
 weave and embroider a fine specimen in about six months, and 
 it readily sells for ^75- The Shaman, or medicine man, like 
 the poet, is born, not made. At birth there are certain indi- 
 cations that he is to be set apart for the sacred office of healing, 
 and when he is of suitable age, he is put into training for his 
 work- One of the Mulisnensable conditions for success in it 
 is that the student shai' pjrtul.p '>f the flesh of a witch, and 
 unfortunately some inuore'it and defenceless member of the 
 tribe must suffer to satisfy the demand. 
 
 All ailments are suppo.-ed to be produced by demoniacal 
 possession, and hence the (■oct( » en'.ers the sick-room dressed 
 in fantastic costume, pendent lo which are rattles, beads and 
 little bells ; his hair stands bristling, his eyes glare wildly, he 
 dances in the fire and shakes a big rattle which he carries in 
 his hand, he puffs and blows md screams to scare away the 
 w'tches. If he succeeds, the young Shaman becomes a Tyee 
 doctor, that is, a great medicine-man. If the patient does not 
 recover, it is evident that the witch is a strong and dangerous 
 one, and must be traced to some luckless person who harbors 
 the evil spirit, and that persoi, must pay the penalty by be- 
 co:ning food to fortify and nourish more doctors. 
 
 The usual manner of treating those accused of being witches 
 was illustrated at Chilcat last March. The victim was a young 
 woman, eighteen years old, and her accuser was an enemy. Her 
 hands were tied behind her naked body, her head was drawn 
 by her hair backward at right angles with her chest, her feet 
 were stretched up on the back, and both feet and head were 
 fastened to the hands. In this condition she was to remain 
 until she perished, but after six days of suffering she was rescued 
 and sent away from her would Ije murderers. 
 
 Their traditions are childish, like those of all barbarous 
 people — one will suffice. They worship the spirits of the air 
 and of water, and imagine that the souls of their ancestors, 
 which they also worship, have their final rest in the raven ; 
 
51 
 
 heuce that bird, regarded sacred, is quite tame, and in winter 
 c(>»nes to their dwellings for food. A boy-tourist tried his gun 
 on one of them at Juneau, and learned by the rumpus he raised 
 tl at he had, in the eyes of the natives, committed a sacrilegious 
 act. 
 
 To overcome the difficulty the white traders and the diffei- 
 ■■:n- tribes had in holding communication, the Hudson's Hay 
 Company, many years ago, framed a Polyglot language out of 
 ll e various tongues spoken on this coast, comi)rehensive enough 
 f( r commercial purposes, thereby anticipating Volapiik by forty 
 yrais, and this mongrel tongue is now in common use from 
 Oregon to Siberia. This jargon in which, beside Indian, many 
 English, French, and Scotch words find a place, is the far- 
 famed Chinook. 
 
 The population of Alaska is about forty thousand, found 
 chiefly among the Aleuts, InnuitF, Tinnehs, Hydahs, and 
 Thlingkits. The latter are divided into ten tribes occupying 
 southeastern Alaska, and number more than six thousand. 
 
 It has been the policy of both the Russian and American 
 g<jvernments to keep the natives in a separate portion of a vil- 
 lage from the traders, and to encourage them to build bet- 
 ter dwellings than wigwams. Hence along the coast com- 
 fortable habitations are common. The Sitkans, a tribe of the 
 Thlingkit people, live in frame houses all numbered 'p mul- 
 tiples of fifty. The population is above eight hundred. 
 
 In summer it is much less, few but women and children 
 being left, for the males are away at work in mills and canner- 
 ies, or catching and drying fish for their food supply. "Tn- 
 diantown" would then be as quiet as the rest of Sitka, except 
 for the fights of the vicious wolf-dogs, almost as numerous as 
 the people. In winter, when the bucks are at home, times a^e 
 livelier. Although a stringent enactment by Congress prohibits 
 the sale of intoxicating liquors in the territory, the law is vio- 
 lated many times a day, even by the officials appointed by the 
 
f.2 
 
 United States government, and the natives, hovering around 
 drink-holes in Sitka, get a taste occasionally, despite the pen- 
 alty for selling liquor to Indians. Among the vices the natives 
 have leirned from the touch of a quasi civilization, is that of 
 the home manufacture of a d»'ir.k called hoochinoo^ the ** Jersey 
 Lightning" of these children of the Arctics. It is made in a 
 rude still from fermented molasses, and is probably the vilest 
 stuff ever invented, for when taken it sets on fire the blood, lets 
 loose the baser passions, and throws the victim into a state of 
 uncontrollable frenzy. The United States marshal has broken 
 up several of these illicit distilleries, but the territory is so large 
 that he has not yet reached a lithe of them. 
 
 Several of their houses have cooking-stoves in them, and 
 are neatly kept as housekeeping goes in Alaska, while in other 
 and larger ones inhabited by three or four families and as many 
 villainous dogs as there are people, the fiire is built in the 
 middle of the one room, and the larger volume of smoke finds 
 its way out of a hole in the root. There is also a dais about a 
 foot high, extending around the room, one side for each family, 
 on which are deposited, in seeming disorder, beds, stools, 
 clothing, provisions, and the implements of their pursuits. 
 
 Their houses are set close together and at all angles near the 
 rocky shore, and in front, high up on the rocks, out of reach 
 of the tide, lie their light canoes, covered with rags to preserve 
 them from cracking ; while still higher above these, on frames, 
 hang long strips of salmon and malodorous codfish-drying. 
 
 The women, dressed in civilized costume of bright colors, 
 sit. by their doors, weaving baskets, or awaiting customers for 
 their curios spread before them, and the men use the rocks as a 
 work-bench on which they hew out their canoes or carve paddles. 
 For so many generations have they sat curled up in these totter- 
 ing boats, and swung their paddles, that they have spindling legs 
 and chests abnormally developed. 
 
58 
 
 Anna Hoots, a man, and Sitka Jack, sport door-plates, 
 and the former claims to be the sagamore of the tribe, but he 
 has never yet given a potlach worthy of a chief, and hence his 
 claim is not acknowledged. 
 
 The great Tyee lady of Indiantown is a Mrs. Tom, whose 
 wealth is estimated at all sums from ten to fifty thousand dollars, 
 chiefly in blankets; for these articles are the legal tender of the 
 tribe. She is rich in furs also, and valuable curios, and silver, 
 all of which she has acquired by trading, making long journeys 
 in her canoe all alone, in order to barter with distant tribes, 
 among whom furs are cheap. She speaks several dialects, and 
 Chinook fluently, and this acquirement has given her great 
 pecuniary advantage. The great Tyee lady is '* fat and forty," 
 is always beaming, dresses in fashion, and on " steamer days" 
 and Sundays, wears an abundance of jewelry. She is the 
 nabob of the village. 
 
THE SITKAN MISSION. 
 
 Its Growth-- The Industrial Department -- A Live- 
 ly Prayer Meeting -- Enemies of the Mission - 
 What of their Future? 
 
 Sitka, July 1888. 
 
 Among the places of interest in this quaint town, the Mis- 
 sion holds the first rank. Long before the tourist reaches the 
 capital, he has heard, the story of its one live institution, and, 
 as soon as he sets foot on shore, taking in the Greek church 
 on the way, he makes a bee-line for it. Although quite young, 
 it has a national reputation. It is beautifully situated on a 
 curve of the bay, just outside the old village limits, Init quite in 
 sight of the town. 
 
 Like all great successful enterprises, it is a grov/th, 
 although its hopeful beginning in April, 1880, can scarcely %e 
 called a growth, for it jumped into notoriety by registering l 
 the opening 103 pupils, chiefly Indian children. 
 
 Miss Olinda Austin, the first teacher, was sent out h) i< 
 mission society in the city of New York. Under her niaii- 
 agement, the number soon increased so as to include nearly all 
 the native childre not suitable age, and e\en parents applied 
 for admission, but could not be received for want of rooru. 
 From a day school it (itveloped into a boarding school, 
 in this way : Some o^ the boys applied to the teacher 
 for permisssion to live in the school-house, because, as thty 
 alleged, there was so much drinking, talking and carousing 
 
mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmsmmmmmm 
 
 55 
 
 at home, that they could not stud3\ Wlien the teacher- 
 told them that there were no accommoilations for them, 
 they replied that they would provide for themselves, and 
 having permission to try the experiment, seven native 
 boys voluntarily left their homes, each with blanket and 
 dry provisions, and took up their abode in a vacant room. 
 Soon other boys joined them, and thus commenced the board- 
 ing department of the school. 
 
 . Early in 1881, Capt. Glass of the U. S. steamship James- 
 town, then stationed in Sitka, established a rule, " compelling 
 the attendance of the nati\e children upon the school." He 
 also ordered Indian -town to ue cleaned up, ditches to be dug 
 around the houses for drainage, the houses to be numbered, and 
 a neat tin label to be appended to the neck of each child, 
 contfc^ining his or her numl)er. t vgether with the nuudjer of his 
 house. With these numbers and the teacher's register as guides, 
 a truant could be traced to his home, and the father called 
 upon to account for the absence. These were arbitrary pro- 
 ceedings, but, as there was no civil law to meet the case, the 
 naval officer assumed the reviponsibility, and broke up truancy. 
 The school continued to gvo-.v,. not only in numbers, but also 
 in the influence which it gained over th^ adult native popti- 
 lation. There are now 175 pupils. 
 
 A great revival occurred in ]88t. Nearly all the larger 
 pupils and many of the parents pruf^ssed religion, and a church 
 was organized, which, excepting the Greek church, is the only 
 one existing in the capital. It now numbers more than a hun- 
 dred members. 
 
 In 1885, by the advice of the Mission Society, an Indus- 
 trial and Training school was added,, to which Congress gave a 
 liberal support at a fixed price per pupil. Then cam'' the call 
 for more buildings, and other teachers and instructors in the 
 trades, and the benevolent responded cheerfully and generously. 
 Mrs. Elliott F. Shepard, a descendant of the Vanderbilts of New 
 
56 
 
 York, contributed [the means to erect a carpenter's shop, a 
 shoe-shop, and a hospital for gitls, and others have with like 
 generosity, assisted the Missionary Society in building and fur- 
 nishing a blacksmith's shop, a printing office, and a laundry, 
 so that the institution now numbers a dozen structures, two of 
 them quite large. 
 
 Within five years, the average time the pupils spend in 
 school, they acquire a fair knowledge of the English 
 language, and show proficiency in reading, writing, and in 
 mathematics. The girls learn to cook, sew, knit, make 
 garments, and do laundry- work ; the boys, to build houses, 
 make furniture, to do work in the lathe, in the shoe and black- 
 smith's shop, and are quite as expert in carving as the girls are 
 in embroidery, — both do excellent work. 
 
 They are studious in school, and altliough their minds 
 work slowly, they are patient and persevering. They are neat in 
 person, note carefully the conduct of visitors, and desire to 
 imitate "Boston people" as they call tourists; but they are 
 sharp critics when "Boston" behaves itself unseemly. At 
 meal-time they march quietly to their places, ask a blessing by 
 singing a few lines, take their seats at a signal, eat with a fork, 
 use a napkin, make little clatter of dishes, and speak no words 
 above a whisper while at the table. The young men make a 
 fine appearance in a military parade, and are passionately fond 
 of the drill, and when, at one of their exhibitions, the writer 
 counseled them to be loyal to the Union, they warmly 
 applauded. 
 
 Some of the whites in the village, considering their infer- 
 iority in numbers in comparison to that of the Indians, have 
 protested against the policy of allowing these cadets to have 
 real muskets for drill, and when, on the Fourth of July, these 
 dusky young soldiers in line marched proudly through the town, a 
 few terror-stricken people were loud in their denunciations of 
 such exhibitions as that of Indians under arms ; but every man 
 
mamm 
 
 ■Hi 
 
 67 
 
 of them, had there been occasion, would have stoutly defended 
 the flag under which he was marching, and all who sought pro- 
 tection under its sheltering folds. 
 
 In their celebration of Fourth of July they sang patriotic 
 songs, read the Declaration of Independence, listened to an 
 oration by a native, and cheered the flag. During the recep- 
 tion which, by permission, they gave in the evening, they were 
 quite as decorous as would be an equal number of white boys 
 and girls. Their parents came also, and looked on, apparently 
 delighted. 
 
 For some time past these children have all been indentured 
 to the Mission for a term of years, to be clothed, fed and 
 trained as the children of a great family. The object in binding 
 them legally is to keep them in a healthful atmosphere, morally 
 and physically, and away from debasing influences. The re- 
 gime of the Mission is similar to that which obtains in our 
 military and naval schools, except that more of parental tender- 
 ness is exercised in the case of the native. 
 
 Besides their Thlingkit names, these pupils often tak 
 those of noted persons of whom they have heard, or of their 
 benefactors, — people who pay for the maintenance of a child 
 in the mission. 
 
 Our table-waiter at the little hotel in Sitka, had assumed 
 .'orhis newnomen, ''Benjamin Butler,"or more briefly, "Ben," 
 as he is known in the political world. 
 
 The change wrought in their condition is indeed mar- 
 velous. They are civilized and seemed to be pleased witli their 
 new life, and a large majority of the students are leading 
 exemplary. Christian lives. 
 
 Now let any one look into the wigwams, malodorous and 
 filthy to the last degree of endurance, in which these children 
 passed their first years, and then observe them in school, on the 
 play-ground, and in the shops, clean, cheerful, industrious, 
 *' clothed and in their right mind," and we think he will be 
 quite reaOy to exclaim, '* What God hath wrought." 
 
08 
 
 
 The prayer-meetings for adults are unique. Their chaplain, 
 the Rev. Mr. Austin, opens the meetings, and then tells them 
 that the further exercises are in their hands. Immediately a 
 a native arises and offers prayer or brief remarks, all in the 
 Thlingkit tongue, and another verse is sung. Scarcely before 
 its last note is ended, another is on his feet, sometimes two or 
 three at a time ; and thus there is a rapid alternation of song 
 and prayer for thirty minutes, and even at that they complain 
 that the time allotted is too brief, for all have not had a chance. 
 And what a lesson this is for participants in similar meetings in 
 civilized communities. 
 
 Even the great Tyee lady, of whom mention has been made 
 before, the Mrs. Croesus of the rancherie, Princess Tom, loaded 
 with bangles and rings, and arrayed in scarlet and yellow, and 
 envied by all the other belles of the tribe, is not ashamed to 
 take her place among the humblest of her sisters, and offer 
 prayer to the same Savior that they adore. 
 
 The Mission with its open doors, and comforts within, 
 has become a " refuge for those fleeing from death, the house of 
 hope to the starving and friendless, and an asylum for girlhood, 
 and escaping slaves." Two or three cases out of many will 
 illustrate : A little girl, ten years of age, was accused of being 
 a witch, and two chiefs were dragging her, bound by a rope, to 
 to their prison for such persons. Rev. Mr. Austin rescued her, 
 and she found a refuge in the Mission. "A girl of fourteen, about 
 to be sold into a life of sin for the benefit of a relative, escaped 
 from her grandmother who was guarding her, and fled to the 
 school." A boy who had been sold as a slave escaped, and 
 sought protection in this home of the friendless. In view of 
 the wonderful changes that have been wrought in the lives of 
 these people, it seems, at first thought, almost incredible that 
 many white inhabitants of Sitka are bitter enemies of the Mis- 
 sion ; but this opposition can be accounted for in most cases. 
 Because of this excellent work, the Greek church has fewer 
 
69 
 
 communicants, and the parochial school a less number of pupils; 
 whiskey-dealers lose custom, traders make less profits, and the 
 impure find no favor with the chaste; and all these classes com- 
 bined have been powenul enough to win to their party some of 
 the government officials. 
 
 The teachers have repeatedly been summoned before the 
 court for alleged illegal acts, and fined. The superintendent, 
 Rev. Sheldon Jackson, D. D., was imprisoned for rescuing 
 girls from leading shameless lives, and all the managers have 
 been denounced in public meetings for inducing the native to 
 m?ike a man of himself; but the influence of the Mission still 
 grows, and bids fa-r to live down all opposition. Even during 
 the present summer, the U. S. Judge remitted a fine he had im- 
 posed upon Prof. Kelley, doubtless because he had found that 
 his decision was an unpopular one. 
 
 The Mission has already become the most important in- 
 stitution in Alaska for civilizing the native, and seems to have 
 almost solved the Indian problem in our country. Just one 
 •question awaits an answer in bitka— what shall be done with 
 the Indian when he has become civilized and educated ? There 
 are no manufactories in town, ami there is little call for labor 
 
 in any of the trades. 
 
 The graduate is no longer an Indian,— even his relatives 
 sneer at him because he lias departed from their customb. He 
 is above them and they will have no intercourse with him, 
 unless he resumes the breech-clout, which a few do. The 
 whites do not receive him into favor, because, as they alle;^e, 
 he is still a " Si wash," a term used when speaking with con- 
 tempt of an Indian,— and for menial service they prefer a 
 Chinaman. The poor fellow has been touched with refinenv nt 
 enough to make him feel more keenly his isolation. A few find 
 work in the scattered industries along the coast, but the fact 
 that they have been taught not to labor on Sunday shuts niuny 
 out from employment. 
 
60 
 
 In view of these discouragements many boys will not 
 attend the school, and the question has been agitated, even in 
 enlightened communities ; does education, after all, make the 
 Indian a better man ? The answer has almost invariably been 
 given in the affirmative by those best qualified to know : and 
 even traders and other enemies of missions are compelled to 
 acknowledge that the teacher and the preacher have wrought a 
 great change for good among them. 
 
 Taking another step in the attempt to improve the condi- 
 tion of the pupils in the school in Sitka, the managers have 
 commenced to colonize them ; that is, as soon as a young man 
 graduates, they advise him to marry some one of the girls of his 
 class, and to encourage him to take this step, and keep away 
 from his tribe, they furnish him with the materials with which to 
 build a cottage on the portion of the Mission grounds assigned 
 for this purpose. The enemies of the school protested against 
 the policy of establishing another Indian division within the 
 town limits, but three neat cottages are already occupied, and 
 more will be erected when needed. 
 
 The superintendent finds employment for these new fami- 
 lies as best he can, and as soon as the institution can command 
 the means to build a sa'v inill and a salmon cannery the prob- 
 lem will be solved without resorting to migration. The solution 
 has already been given at Metlakahtla, and this will be the sub- 
 ject of my next communication. 
 
 Note. — According to an agreement entered into by the four denom- 
 inations, — when, we do not know, — the southeastern part of Alaska was 
 assigned to the Presbyterians as their missionary ground, the Youkon 
 valley to the Episcopalians, and the great northwest portions, including the 
 Aleutian Islands, to the Baptists and Methodists. 
 
THE STORY OF METLAKAHTLA. 
 
 William Duncan's Glorious Work - - A Cannibal 
 
 Tribe Converted - - A Model Conununity, and How 
 
 Bigotry Destroyed It -Mr, Duncan Removed- - 
 
 The Indians Despoiled of their Property -- 
 
 They Seeh Refuge on American Soil-- 
 
 And Begin life Anew. 
 
 (( 
 
 Victoria, B. C., August, 1888. 
 
 At Columbia, on the coast of the Pacific, a practical 
 missionary genius named William Duncan, has succeeded in 
 civilizing a body of Indians, degraded by cannibalism, and, at 
 his Metlakahtla mission, stands at the head of a community of 
 some thousand persons, which has a larger church than is. to be 
 found between there and San Francisco. Testimony to the 
 value of the results was borne in 1376, by Lord Dufferin, then 
 Governor-general of Canada, who declared that he could hardly 
 find words to express his astonishment at what he witnessed." 
 — EncyclopcBciia Britannic a. 
 
 Some time in 1856, the Englisi> Missionary Society of Lon- 
 don, having learned that this Mi. Duncr^n had volunteered to 
 go as a missionary among the Indian tribes of BritishColumbia, 
 accepted his offer, and sent him out the next year under their 
 auspices. He left a lucrative position in Englan.i to accept the 
 munificent salary of £100 a year ! He arrived in Victoria, via 
 Cape Horn, and there decided to work among the tribes near 
 Fort Simpson, a trading post of the Hudson's Bay Company, 
 near the coasl, about six hundred miles north from Victoria. 
 
 ill 
 
02 
 
 Sir James Douglass, then governor of the territory, endeav- 
 ored by the strongest arguments that he could bring to bear 
 upon him to dissuade him from his purpose, declaring that from 
 hi knowledge of them, he would fall a sacrifice, swift and 
 gh 'Stly, to the murderous instincts of those barbarous hordes ; 
 ]>u Vi. Duncan, trusting in the Higher Power which he be- 
 lie- ed had led him to this coast, kept his resolution and went. 
 
 When he arrived he soon learned to what jeopardy he had 
 exposed himself. Their ferocity had compelled the Company 
 to lake extreme measures for safety. The fort was strongly 
 forafied; and, with few exceptions, no [ndian was allowed with- 
 in its W3.11s, All goods to and from the post were conveyed 
 under a strong escort, and trading was carried on through a 
 small window; and even this was marked on its casings with 
 numerous bullets. 
 
 J'hese savages were ';annibals. Tiiey held captives as 
 slaves, and butchered and ate tliem at will. They believed in 
 witchcraft, in the scorcery of the Shamans, and in devils and 
 evil spirits which they propitiated by sickening orgies. They 
 were polygamists, and sold their daughters for immoral pur- 
 poses to traders and whisky dealers. 
 
 Shortly after his arrival, Mr. Duncan witnessed, from the 
 wall of the fort, a scene which almost discouraged him : " A 
 party of painted and bedecked cannibals tore, limb from limb, 
 the body of a woman who had just been foully murdered by a 
 chief, each struggling for a morsel of the human flesh which they 
 devoured, accompanying their fiendish orgies with howls and 
 weird beat of their medicine drums." 
 
 Such was his introduction to the Tsimpshean Indians in 
 October, 1857, and this incident gave him his first lesson in his 
 work. 
 
 For the first eight months he kept himself within the fortifi- 
 cation, observing their conduct as best he could from the walls, 
 and studying and reducing to writing their language under the 
 
 ti 
 tl 
 
 c( 
 
 S2 
 Sll 
 
68 
 
 tutorship of a friendly Indian. Then he ventured out, and, to 
 their astonishment, began to talk to them in their own tongue. 
 
 In his interviews with them he endeavored to win their 
 confidence, first by giving cheap presents to the children, then 
 by taking an interest in their affairs, by counseling them, at the 
 same time " telling them about God, their Creator, and per- 
 suading them to love Him as their best friend." 
 
 Finally, contrary to the custom of the white men whom 
 they had before known, he began to trust them, and that, he 
 says, was the secret of his success. Then they trusted him, 
 listened to him, and believed him. 
 
 After a time Mr. Duncan '* opened a school at the house 
 of one of the chiefs, and it was attended by both children and 
 adults." Finding the Indians responsive, with the assistance 
 of a few of his most zealous followers, he erected a log school 
 house, and soon had an attendance of 200. But, in all his 
 efforts he had to contend against the opposition of fur traders, 
 whisky dealers, soldiers and bad Indians. 
 
 Hence, after he had gathered a little church of about fifty 
 converts, he determined to seek another location, remote, from 
 these evil influences, and he selected a place called Met-la-kaht- 
 la, a site of one of the ancient Tsimpshean villages, about 
 twenty miles from Fort Simpson. To this place he resolved 
 that no one should be admitted as a resident who did not sub- 
 scribe to certain rules, the substance of which is as follows : 
 
 To give up "ahlied," or devil-worship, to cease to call 
 medicine men when ill, to stop gambling, painting their faces, 
 using intoxicating drinks, to rest on the Sabbath, to attend re- 
 ligious instruction, to send their children to school, to be 
 cleanly, industrious, peaceful, honest in trade, to build neat 
 houses and to pay village tax. 
 
 Mr. Duncan organized a village council of twelve, three of 
 whom were chiefs, and a police force, and the inhabitants had 
 occasion to know, Mr. Duncan not excepted, that they were x->ot 
 
 Hi' 
 
64 
 
 meiely figure-heads. Gradually they became educated in the 
 principles of equity and order, grew to be industrious, and 
 seemed to be pleased with their changed mode of life. 
 
 For twenty years and more they continued to prosper until 
 a new generation arose who knew no other manner of living. 
 They built a saw-mill, and then better houses, laid sewers, 
 made roads and sidewalks, erected a church building at an ex- 
 pense of ten thousand dollars, built a fine school house, and 
 two houses for the entertainment of other Indians who came 
 there to trade. They established a co-operative store that 
 brought profit to the stockholders, — a great surprise to them. 
 They dug wells, built a cannery, an assembly hall, offices, and 
 carpenters' and blacksmiths' shops, and several practiced the 
 shoemaker's trade. They were taught how to make soap, and 
 then its use, and how to weave cloth. 
 
 And Mr. Duncan himself had first to be educated in the 
 trades which he established, and, for this purpose, he went to 
 England, and there, like Peter the Great of Russia, he took 
 lessons in the various manufactories. In all his plans, two ideas, 
 that they might be inclined to lead Christian lives, and become 
 self-supporting and independent, seemed to have been promi- 
 nent J and these two objects pursued to their fulfillment, will, 
 in our opinion, solve the "Indian problem," not only in 
 British Columbia, but in the United States. 
 
 In no one effort did Mr. Duncan reveal his fitness for his 
 work more than in gradually modifying their domestic habits, 
 without shocking them by a sudden change, and he seems to 
 have felt his way along the line of procedure by a species of 
 development. 
 
 At first, each family in the village had a separate cottage, 
 but the Indians, having be n accustomed to herd together, sev- 
 eral families in one large hut, were lonesome, and hence, back 
 of each two houses and coupling both, he built a general assem- 
 biy-room for the two families, somewhat after the fashion of a 
 
65 
 
 wigwam, having a hearth in the center, and a large opening in 
 the roof for the escape of smoke. This arrangement answered 
 Mr. Duncan's idea of family privacy, and their idea of social 
 privileges. 
 
 Again, he insisted upon their taking one meal each day as 
 civilized people, sitting at the table and using knives and forks, 
 and left them free to take their food at other ineals, both in kind 
 and manner, as they chose. They soon adopted the white 
 mail's customs at every repast. 
 
 It will readily be seen that his labors were herculean, for he 
 not only taught school three hours a day, but he also superin- 
 tended the manufactories, received traders and visitors, presided 
 at the village council, was sanitary engineer and overseer, set- 
 tled disputes, conducted a large Sunday school, and preached 
 three times a week. To the Indians he seemed ubiquitous. 
 
 Briefly, he was teacher, pastor, magistrate, and patriarch, 
 and the whole colony loved him as a father, for he was true and 
 kind, though decided, in all his dealings with them. The 
 great wonder is, that before he had prepared trained assistants, 
 he did not utterly collapse under the burden, for he was gener- 
 ally in the harness fifteen hours a day. 
 
 At length he had the gratification of seeing as the fruit of 
 his labors, a community of twelve hundred happy, thrifty, 
 educated, well-dressed, well-behaved, civilized, Christianized 
 natives, a marvel in the history of missions on this continent 
 — all brought about by the wise counsel and firm-handed 
 guidance of a Christian hero. 
 
 Lord Dufferin gave his estimate of the value of his labors 
 in a speech before the provincial parliament cf British 
 Columbia, in 1876, in these words : "I have visited Mr. Dun- 
 can's wonderful settlement at Metlakahtla and have thus been 
 enabled to realize what scenes of primitive peace and innocence, 
 of idylic beauty and materia,! comfort, can be presented by the 
 stalwart men and comely maidens of an Indian community, under 
 
66 
 
 the wise administration of a judicious and devoted Christian 
 minister." The Bishop of Columbia said of this work : " All 
 former work, varied and interesting and impressive as minis- 
 terial life is, seems insignificant before this manifest power of 
 the Spirit of God touching the heart and enlightening the 
 understanding of so many recently buried in the darkness and 
 misery of ignorant and cruel superstition." 
 
 The Church Mission Society, under whose auspices Mr. 
 Duncan was prosecuting his labors, so approved of his manage- 
 ment, that they sent circulars containing an outline of his plans 
 to other missions under their control, and recommended their 
 leaders to also make industrial instruction a leading feature of 
 their work. 
 
 In brief, the triumph of the mission seems to have been a 
 a matter generally conceded by all except the traders, and 
 their opposition arose, of course, from self-interest. Bishops, 
 admirals, captains, honorables, and a long list of visitors, 
 warmly expressed their admiration of the work. 
 
 But after twenty-five years of prosperity and sunshine, clouds 
 began to hover over the little community. Mr. Duncan was a 
 layman, and when urged to "take orders," he answered that he 
 thought he could do more good in the capacity of teacher and 
 general manager, than to add to those offices that of ordained 
 minister. Clergymen from Victoria and other places could, and 
 did come, to officiate in the more important ordinances of the 
 Church, and there was more pressing need for an industrial 
 teacher than for a priest. But Mr. Duncan's suggestions were 
 disregarded, and right here began the rupture that has brought 
 religion into disgrace, and ruined the once united, happy, 
 and prosperous colony. The Society, yielding to ecclesiastical 
 pressure, sent them a bishop. 
 
 From the letters and voluminous reports we have read, and 
 from the numerous verbal accounts we have listened to, pro a.nd 
 con, we are forced to the conclusion, that this particular bishop 
 
 h 
 
 CI 
 
et 
 
 was the wrong man for the place, — that ht; was dictatorial and 
 bigoted. Being a high churchman, he sharply criticised what 
 he termed Mr. Duncan's loose views in regard to the practice of 
 certain Church forms and ceremonies. He introduced so much 
 of pomp and color and ceremony in his ministrations, that the 
 pecf «le turned in astonishment to their leader for an explanation. 
 He claimed to be head of the mission by virtue of his office. 
 He demanded the accounts of the colony, and when produced, 
 he charged the man who had made Metlakahtla what it was, with 
 misappropriating funds, and claimed that all the moneys sent 
 by individuals to Mr. Duncan personally, and for a specific pur- 
 pose, were the property of the society. These moneys had all 
 been nvested in public improvements, ana Mr. Duncan be- 
 lieved that they belonged to the colony. 
 
 It is needless to give further details of the rupture, nor is 
 it difficult to conjecture the result. Two factions arose. About 
 sixty gave adherence to the Bishop, a thousand remained loyal 
 to their leader, and some went back to their old ways, declar- 
 ing that since Christians quarreled thus, they were no better than 
 savages. 
 
 At length the Mission Society felt called upon to sustain the 
 bishop, and consequently, to dismiss Mr. Duncan. The Society 
 also claimed the land on which the little community had erected 
 their public buildings, and the government confirmed that 
 claim by declaring that "all public lands belonged to the 
 Queen;" although Lord Dufferin, governor-general of the 
 dominion, had assured the Indians that " they had a j^ e- 
 scriptive right to their lands," and that they should not be 
 deprived of them without compensation. Consternation seized 
 the poor Indians, and they began to concert plans for a rebellion. 
 The minister of the interior wrote, in a bundle of negatives, 
 thus : "If there has not been an Indian war, it is not because 
 there has been no injustice." 
 
68 
 
 With admirable tact Mr. Duncan suppressed attempts to do 
 violence, and went to England and to Ottawa seeking relief. 
 He obtained promises, but relief never came. Then ne 
 resigned his position as president of the village council, 
 and prepared to leave the colony, thinking that by his absence 
 the breach might be healed ; but the Indians, in full assembly, 
 unanimously recalled him to the leadership, promising to stand 
 by him at all hazards. By the advice of his friends in Victoria 
 he consented to return after a, short vacation. 
 
 Hut what could the people do ? They could not live in 
 peace with the Bishop, and they had already been informed that 
 the adherents of Mr. Duncan had no claim to the mission 
 grounds, nor to the soil on which their ancestors had lived 
 for a century. Consequently, to abandon the place seemed to 
 be the only alternative ; and finally they resolved to seek a 
 refuge beyond the dominion of ecclesiastical tyranny. Annette 
 Island in Alaska, uninhabited, and only ninety miles distant, 
 seemed to be a favorable location. 
 
 Mr. Duncan was deputed by the Indians to go to Washing- 
 ton and obtain, if possible, the permission to settle in that island, 
 and such exemptions from duties as could legally be granted 
 them. He bore with him a remarkable document, a part of 
 
 which is here copied : 
 
 Victoria, E. C., Nov. 16, 1886. 
 
 To the Lovers of Civil and Religious r.iberty in America: 
 
 The bearer, Mr. William Dui.can, for thirty years a de- 
 voted missionary of religion and civilization in North British 
 America * * is. on his way to Washington, deputed by the 
 native Christian brethren of Metlakahtla to confer with the 
 United States authorities on matters affecting their interests and 
 desires. 
 
 Like the Pilgrim fathers of old, thi:. afflicted but prosper- 
 ing and thrifty flock seek a refuge from grievous wrongs, and 
 hope to find it under the American flrg. 
 
69 
 
 They prefer abandoning the home of their fathers, and the 
 precious fruits of their industry, to subruitting to the violent 
 seizure of their lands, arid the intolerable stings of icligious 
 greed and interference, *" * * * '■'' ' * ''''' 
 
 • This document was signed by Bishop Cridge, B.W„ Pearse 
 surveyor-general. Senator Macdonald of the Dominion Parlia- 
 liament, and by several other prominent citizens of Victoria. 
 The Royalists of the province call this a ''treasonable docu- 
 ment." It is a sharp arraignment for illiberality and intoler- 
 ance, but it caniiot be gainsaid. 
 
 The secretary of the treasu y at Washington remitted the 
 duties on their effects, and the authorities gave the Indians a 
 pledge that, "when the general land-laws of the United States 
 were extended to Alaska, ample provision would be made for 
 all law-abiding inhabitants." Relying on these promises, the 
 little colony, with sad hearts, began last summer to remove, 
 like the Pilgrims, to their Plymouth Rock, new Metlakahtla. 
 Then came the question of weum and /ui/m .; — how much of the 
 property could they take with them ? When they were told 
 they could claim nothing of all the monuments of tlieir labor, 
 save their personal effects, they appealed to the charitable and 
 benevolent of the United States to obtain means 'for the trans- 
 fer,and wherever Mr. Duncan told the story of their wrongs, 
 the people responded generously. 
 
 Now most of the dwellings' of the old mission .^re unoccu- 
 pied, the shops and the manufactories are idle, — it is a "deserted 
 village." A few gather for worship in the great church that once 
 was crowded, and the Bishop keeps up a show of activity, but 
 the heart of the colony has gone. Doubtless the * Bishop and 
 the government see their mistake, and would gladly undo the 
 wrong, but it is too late. The stricken, wronged, plundered 
 people are sheltered under the protecting wing of a great nation 
 that is able and willing to shield the weakest refugee. 
 
 *The Bishop has recently returned to England. 
 
m 
 
 IIS 
 
 70 
 
 These colonists are poor, but hopeful, and they have 
 commenced to build their new city with all the ardor they ex- 
 hibited in their earlier efforts to rear for themselves neat and 
 pleasant homes, feeling that their new possessions are theirs 
 permanently, and not to be taken away by the stupidity of a 
 priest, or by official plundering. 
 
 xMr. Duncan gray-haired, and weary, still leads them, en- 
 couraging them by his cheering, words to live upright lives 
 and to suffer all for the Master by whose spirit they have been 
 lifted up from the condition of cannibals to become « living 
 epistles." ^ 
 
 There has been no attempt in this sketch to glorify this 
 remarkable man,-it is a simple record of well-attested facts 
 Being human, and stung as he was by the keenest provocations^ 
 that of obstructing his cherished and successful work by ec- 
 clesiastical intermeddling, he made mistakes; but his great 
 heart was always right, and, living a simple, earnest. Christian 
 lite, he has won respect, even from his enemies. 
 
 A resident of Victoria, a lady who is a shrewd observer 
 of men and things, and who has been acquainted with the mis- 
 sion irom its beginning, epitomizes her opinions of it in these 
 words : -The conversion of the Tsimpshean Indians has no 
 paraHel in the history of Christan work in all British America 
 but the wonder bf Metlakahtla is Mr. Duncan." 
 
PUGET SOUND. 
 
 Scenery -- Cities -- Growth -- Beautiful Victoria. 
 
 Victoria, August, 1888. 
 At present, the tide of migration in the United States is 
 toward the great unoccupied Northwest, chiefly by Scandinj- 
 
 vians. ' 
 
 During the past Spring and present Summer they have occn 
 pouring into Oregon and Washington Territory at the rate of 
 one thousand a month. The Dane drifts naturally to the valleys 
 and lowlands,— the Swede and Norwegian, to the home-remem- 
 bered and forest-covered uplands. 
 
 The first settlements are reasonably made about the great 
 water-ways, such as the Columbia and Paget Sound, but until 
 the bar at the mouth of the former has been deepened, and a 
 ship canal has been cut around its cascades, the latter will at- 
 tract the trade in heavy staples, such as lumber aijd wheat, and 
 Washington Territory will get the larger number of settlers— just 
 now it is receiving two-thirds of the immigrants. 
 
 The Territory is quite uneven, tossed into ranges named 
 the Rockies on the east, the Cascades through the center, and 
 the Olympians in the west, answering to the coast range further 
 
 south. 
 
 Mt. St. Helens, described in a previous letter, Mt. Ranier 
 near the head of the Sound, Mt. Baker in the extreme north, all 
 in the Cascade range, and Mt. Olympus in the west, are peaks 
 conspicuous not alone for their height, but especially for their 
 isolation, standing as they do almost alone. 
 
72 
 
 Mt. Ranier, 14,444 feet high, is quite regular, but is scarred 
 and seamed, is grand and grim, very difficult of ascent, and can 
 be seen a hundred miles and more away. The Tacomans have 
 re-christened it after their own town, but the new baptismal 
 name is not recognized outside the city limits. It is so strik- 
 ing in altitude, isolation, and outline, it so challenges the 
 attention, that the tourist instinctively turns to it, even when 
 it just lifts its head above the horizon, as he does to the central, 
 figure of a great painting. 
 
 The Sound is a beautiful she(!t of wa^:er, and although it is 
 but one hundred and forty miles long, it has 2,000 miles of 
 coast, because of its numerous f.ords and channels. Hood's 
 Canal cuts into the land with a ram's-horn' twist 15 miles.^ 
 Place the spread fingers of two hands upon a flat surface, 
 and let a mark be made close about them ; when the fingers 
 are removed, the outline will bear some resemblance to the pro- 
 jections of land and the firths and bays. There is no lack of 
 good harhors except where the water is too deep and the shore 
 is rocky. 
 
 Two cities, Tacoma at the head or south end of the 
 Sound, and Seattle, fifteen miles down and on the east side of 
 it, are fierce rivals; the latter at present, having the lead in 
 enterprise and population. 
 
 The Northern Pacific Railroad corporation gives the 
 weight of its powerful influence to build up the former, its 
 present western terminus, and the town has a phenomenal 
 growth, but the vim and push of the old Chinook town, Seattle, 
 have out-stripped the Tacomans in the race. They have a 
 better harbor, and are nearer the coal mines and lumber 
 region. 
 
 A month ago, Tacoma had a population of 12,000, and 
 Seattle, 16,000; but such is the influx by immigration that a 
 census remains accurate for scarcely a week. Ask a person on 
 the street for directions as to street or location, and in two out 
 
73 
 
 of three instances the answer will be, " I do not know, I have 
 been here a few days only." Hotels are paying investments, 
 and the asking prices for corner lots are fabulous. Money 
 circulates freely, and labor commands it readily. The bustle 
 and rush, and daring in "taking chances," would surprise 
 a Chicagoan. There are structures in both places that would 
 be a credit to any city. The stranger within a week, catches 
 the spirit of the place, his pulse beats faster, he too quickens 
 his pace, hurries, he knows not why, to and from his meals, 
 spends his last minute in watching the surging crowd, or 
 listening to the illuminated tale of a real-estate dealer, and then 
 rushes to catch the. train out of town. When he is in it, he 
 likes the feverish intensity that characterizes life in such places, 
 but he enjoys the calm when he is out of it, and contemplates 
 it at a distance. 
 
 These towns harmonize in one purpose, that of turning the 
 commerce of eastern Oregon and of the Territory from Port- 
 land to the Sound; and that juirpose finds some fulfillment. 
 
 Port Townsend, on che angle of land where the Sound and 
 the Straits of Juan De Fuca unite, is also presenting its claims 
 as the coming city. It has a capacious harbor, commands the 
 channel, and is less than a three hours' sail from Vancouver's 
 Island. The fact that shrewd business men are putting their 
 money into substantial improvements for the town, shows what 
 they think of its future ; and two railroad corporations have 
 already made bids for accessible water-fronts. Nearly all the 
 commerce of the Sound must pass this gateway, and the con- 
 tiguous territories are beginning to pay tribute in her mart. 
 
 Vancouver's Island, the pearl of British Columbia, for sixty 
 miles runs parallel with the northwest coast of Washington 
 Territory, and these two portions of land include between them 
 the Strait, the great channel to the Pacific. 
 
 And right here we pause to remark, that few Americans, 
 while on the ground, can conten. plate with complacency, the 
 
 ■,m 
 
'74 
 
 fact that this island and the adjoining province are governed 
 by a foreign power, since he knows that it belonged to us by 
 all considerations of justice, and of implied treaty stipulations, 
 but was lost to us through the ignorance, stupidity, and coward- 
 ice of weak politicians. "Phifty-Phour-Phorty or Phight," 
 was the sentiment of all true Americans, but the party which 
 shouted it most loudly was the fi/.st to surrender. 
 
 A range of mountains occuoies a large part of the island, 
 leaving patches here and there only, fit for cultivation; but it 
 has the finest coaling stations on the coast from Mexico to the 
 Arctic Circle. They sue Nanaimo and Wellington, on the v/est 
 side of the island, about eighty miles from Victoria. The coal is 
 semi-anthracite in character, and quite free from impurities, and 
 American steamers pass the great veins of Washington Territory 
 and pay an extra price here because of its superior quality. 
 
 Victoria, the capital and metropolis of British Columbia, is 
 the gem of all the towns of the Northwest, in location^ in enter- 
 prise, and in promise. Her commerce embraces, not only the 
 whole north Pacific coast, but extends from Japan to Montreal, 
 New York, and even to England. Twenty wholesale firms do 
 business on her streets, and the old Hudson's Bay Company, 
 still rich and tyrannical, has one of its chief stations here. 
 It is a great entrepot for fish, lumber, and furs, and points with 
 pride to the large number of its Croesuses. 
 
 "We should soon be a dangerous rival to San Francisco, 
 if we could but annex the Pacific coast to British Columbia," 
 whispered a far-seeing young Victorian facetiously, and so they 
 would, for they are 800 miles nearer Japan than those living 
 within the Golden Gate, and are already winning the lion's 
 share of the Oriental trade. 
 
 The tea trade is practically their own now, both for Canada 
 and a large pait of our own country. English ships that come 
 around the Horn for salmon, can place English goods on the 
 wharves at Victoria without duty, and at a small advance on 
 
 the 
 are 
 
 tuou^ 
 outer 
 
 harbj 
 fines! 
 
76 
 
 the original cost, so that most articles of English manufacture 
 are quite as cheap there as in Buffalo. 
 
 The enlrance to the inner harbor is long, rocky, and tor- 
 tuous, and can pass ships no larger than 2,000 tons, but its 
 outer harbor, two miles away, is ample for ships of all sizes. 
 
 At Esquimau, five miles to the northwest, there is a better 
 harbor, and the dominion government has just completed the 
 finest dry-dock on all the coast. 
 
 The population, of Victoria, about 14,000, is chiefly 
 Anglo-Saxon, with a large sprinkling of ** Celestials " and 
 Indians. 
 
 Here one notes genuine English customs. Business men 
 go to their offices at nine or ten in the morning, and leave at 
 four for their homes, real English homes, standing near the 
 center of large grounds, far from the street, walled in, and 
 concealed from the gaze of the vulgar by shrubbery. Here the 
 icy Englishman that held you at arm's length "on Change," 
 unbends, and gambols like a boy. 
 
 When an outside barbarian has proved himself, or has come 
 properly introduced, he may be invited within; and if he is 
 thus honored, he finds to his surprise that the truculent mas- 
 ter in business has suffered a complete metamorphosis, and that 
 he is a charming host, for he is cordiality itself, and dispenses 
 with a liberal hand. 
 
 According to the number of inhabitants, such families are 
 numerous, and being educated and well-to-do, and this being 
 the residence of governmental officials, society is of a higher 
 order of intelligence and refinement than in most towns of 
 equal size. 
 
 As children they received their education in EngUnd, 
 hence, English customs and peculiarities are emphasized by the 
 Victorians as they are by colonists generally. But constant 
 intercourse in business with their cousins over the Straits of 
 Fuca, and the irruption of Yankees who have '* come to stay," 
 
 m 
 
 S'ga 
 
 ^•' -t'l ' 
 
70 
 
 are gradually working a change in the ways of doing things, to 
 the disgust of the staid " burghers." The younger men are 
 trying to keep step with their intruders, and begin to consider 
 annexation not an unmitigated evil, although as yet they dis- 
 cuss it in undertones. 
 
 The climate is cool, but quite as salubrious as that of any in 
 which the writer ever lived. The thermometer rarely rises to 
 80 degrees in summer, and does not often descend to zero in 
 winter, — for the three warm months of the year it registers 
 about 70 during the day, and (10 for the night. As in Alaska, 
 the Kuro Siwo accounts for the comparatively mild winters. 
 The air is invigorating, the sun is out daily, and from a sani- 
 tary point of view the climate is considered by many preferable 
 to that of California. Wheat, and fruits of the temperate 
 zones, rarely fail of giving good returns, and the city is in a 
 bed of flowers. 
 
 There are many pleasant drives into the surrounding 
 country in which one gets almost a surfeit of water and moun- 
 tain views, and from Beacon 'Hill, rising in the center of the 
 Park, there is a fine outlook up the island ; east into the main- 
 land, where Frazer's River has carved a deep passage through 
 the Cascades to the Gulf, southeast into the Territory where 
 Mt. Baker, with hoary, head, looms up 12,000 feet, and nearer, 
 to the numerous islands at the foot ofth,e Sound, among which 
 is San Juan, the possession of which our government saved 
 from surrender by arbitration ; while still farther south, 145 
 miles away by the lines of sight, is grand old Ranier, the most 
 commanding of all the peaks of this coast. 
 
 From the Park, your place of observation, the Strait of 
 Juan DeFuca stretches away to the south and west tweniy-five 
 miles to un almost precipitous wall, — a range known farther south 
 as the Coast Range, but here, the Olympian. Conspicuous 
 among its many peaks is Mt. Olympus, outrivaling his ancient 
 namesake, for he hangs his regal cap of snow 8,000 feet in air. 
 
 ancf 
 
 of 
 
 is 
 
77 
 
 and wears a look more grim and awe-inspiring than the throne 
 of "High-thundering Jove" in Thessaly. The whole range 
 is crowned with snow till snow comes again in autumn. 
 
 Now let the spectator re-survey the views from Beacon Hill: 
 —at his back is a pleasant city; all around him is a long sweep 
 of waters, mountains are on every side as they were "round 
 about Jerusalem;" from three different points of the compass 
 great isolated peaks stare him in the face, while across the Strait 
 there arises the abrupt barrier of classic name, clothed to the 
 foot with dark evergreens ; the Sierras are just tipped with snow, 
 and that edging is kindled into a lambent flame by the setting 
 sun, — this whole range for fifty miles thus adorned, and lifted 
 far above the observer, and outlined in sharp silhouette on a 
 sky of pale orange, — all this, with the surrounding views just men- 
 tioned, make a picture that can never fade from his memory. 
 
 "Beautiful for situation" is Victoria, salubrious is its 
 climate, joyous is its sunshine, and hospitable are its people. 
 
A LESSON IN GEOGRAPHY. 
 
 The Canadian Panific Railway - - The Selkirks and 
 
 the Rockies -- The Great Glacier -- Banff-- Wheat 
 
 Fields-- Winnipeg -- Fort Garry -- Legends. 
 
 Isl 
 thj 
 
 Winnipeg, Sf^ptember, 1888. 
 
 For scenic beauty, variety, and grandeur, North America 
 may challenge comparison with any other grand division of the 
 globe. There are no rivals to the canyons of the Colorado, or to 
 the Yosemite, or to the geysers of the Yellowstone, and in no 
 country do railroads defy such chasms as the Royal Gorge of 
 the Arkansas, or scale such heights as those of the Marshall and 
 Veta passes. Our neighbors, across our northern border, stimu- 
 lated no doubt by the daring of the Yankees, have pushed their 
 continental track over and through difficulties that, forty years 
 ago, were considered insurmountable. The Canadian Pacific 
 Railway extends from the Pacific to Montreal, a distance of 
 almost 3,000 miles. Its present western terminus is Vancouver 
 which has grown, in two years, from a forest to a city of 5,000 
 people, and its inhabitants have shown their faith in the future 
 of the town by erecting numerous fine public and private build- 
 ings, notable for size, solidity, and comeliness. Steamers load- 
 ing and discharging cargoes to and from the ports of Puget 
 Sound, San Francisc .nd Japan, frequent her harbor, Burrard's 
 Inlet, and in her warehouses are teas, silks, fish, and furs from 
 distant seas and lands. Swift steamers ply between the docks 
 and Victoria, the capital of the province, on Vancouver's 
 
70 
 
 Island, eighty miles away; so that the latter city shares with this 
 the honor and the advantage of being the western terminus of 
 the railway. 
 
 Leaving Vancouver for its trans-continental journey, 'he 
 train winds along Frazer's River, sometimes hanging out over it 
 two hundred feet below. The stream is quite rapid, although 
 navigable for a hundred miles, and as turbid as the Pactolus, 
 and for the same reason, since gold-hunters are boring the moun- 
 tains, or with great jels are washing away the hills along its 
 banks, and the yellow sediment tinges the Gulf of Georgia 
 fifteen miles from the mouth of the river. On our pathway we 
 pass numerous hamlets, each regarded as the embryo of a future 
 metropolis, and rejoicing in unpronouncabie names, some 
 foreign, but more Indian, and confused with Babel tongues; 
 and in eighteen hours from Vancouver, we reach, on a plateau 
 of the Selkirks, Kamloops, a town of 1,000 Scotch, Indians, and 
 Chinamen, and a sprinkling of as many other nationalities as 
 there are in San Francisco. The soil of this plateau is rich, 
 and wherever irrigation is practicable, wheat and fruits flourish. 
 It is also a fine grazing country, since bunch-grass clothes 
 all the glades and hills; hence, Kamloops, from its situation 
 and resources, has become the center of supplies for the vast 
 mineral and lumber regions of the interior of the province. 
 Here also is an old station of the omnipresent Hudson's 
 Bay Company, whose agents always selected the most favorable 
 places for trade and supplies, and the Company still holds them 
 despite the enactments of Imperial and Dominion Parliaments. 
 The Thompsop River traverses this table-land for fifty- 
 miles, expanding in several places into lakes bordered by trees, 
 or skirting along by prairies, glades, and farms, giving the 
 whole scene the appearance of a vast park. Now set this neat 
 little town on a gently-sloping bank of a tiny lake, and the 
 park in a frame of grass-covered hills and distant mountains, 
 and you have a picture which for softness and scenic beauty has 
 scarcely a rival in all the Dominion. 
 
 1 ^1 
 
80 
 
 Leaving this " Sweet Auburn " and " Vale of Cashmere " 
 in one, we '■ .gin to climb the Selkirks, a range of mountains 
 scarcely recognized even in our modern geographies ; they are, 
 however, stubborn facts, presenting a barrier to railway build- 
 ing quite as formidable as that of the Rockies farther east. Up, 
 up we creep, two great mogul engines snorting with the effort, 
 and awaking echoes in the glens that heretofore have been dis- 
 turbed only by the cry of the panther, or the scream of the eagle, 
 up above the timber-line, up among dizzy peaks where ice has 
 smothered every vestige of life, and frost is king. How pure 
 the air, how wide the expanse of glittering Sierras and 
 evergreen forests, how free and unfettered the soul, save 
 that sublimity and grandeur domina. ^ all the emotions! 
 Winding along the sides of thei peaks, and traversing the glens 
 of these upper regions, we just graze the base of Sir Donald, a 
 pyramidal monolith, towering a mile and half above the track, 
 and, turning a sharp curve, v e come face to face with the Great 
 Glacier of the Selkirks. This is said to be 1,200 feet thick, 
 a mile or more in width, and to have its origin far back among 
 the Sierras. Although it looms up a formidable barrier at first 
 sight, its surface is accessible, and can be safely traversed. 
 By the side of the track, a mile from the forefoot of the 
 glacier, is a pretty little hotel modeled after a Swiss chalet, 
 frequented by Englishman and Canadians ambitious for moun- 
 tain climbing ', and by young women of rosy cheeks and 
 masculine stride who also sport scrip and Alpenstock. From 
 this little pocket in the mountains our pathway doubles upon 
 itself many times as it climbs the valley of "the Illicilliwaet 
 River, a turbulent stream, past great glaciers, Titanic walls and 
 naked peaks of basalt, to the gateway of the range, guarding 
 which is Cheops, a pyramidal peak of massive masonry, and 
 just over the Illicilliwaet, Ross Peak, symmetrical in form, and 
 bearing an immense glacier on its eastern slope. This is the 
 great pass of the Selkirks, and the outlook ought to be very 
 
81 
 
 broad, but, to our disappointment, it is obstructed by thick- 
 clustering mountains. Hence, eastward we go, shooting 
 tunnels and snow-sheds, thundering over bridges, one of which 
 is 295 feet above the streaui, aud Hying in our downward 
 course along mountain sides in mazy loops, and in sight of 
 numerous noted peaks, bare, and bristling to the right and left 
 on the range, we suddenly drop into the valley of the Colum- 
 bia, a res[)ectable stream even at this point, more than a 
 thousand miles from its mouth, — here on foreign soil, and 
 almost as far north of the 49th parallel, as Astoria, where its 
 waters pour into the Pacific, is south of that line. Here we 
 again find patches of arable land, and a softer air ; but not long 
 do we tarry in the lowlands, for there lies acres our course a 
 barrier that, with few breaks, spans this Western World from 
 the Arctics to the Straits of Magellan ; and again we begin to 
 ascend, first up the gorge cut by the Kicking Horse, a rapid and 
 noisy river, quite as large as the Genesee at Rochester. Again 
 two ponderous mogul engines tug at our train, and for five 
 hours, we " drag our slow length along," making only about 
 fifteen miles an hour. After six hours of stern battle with 
 gravity, we come off victorious, and our faithful moguls shake 
 great drops of sweat from their panting sides, and take breath 
 in the dry cool air of the summit. 
 
 We are on the dividing line of the Rockies. Back of us 
 is British Columbia, which we are about to leave, forward are 
 the lessening peaks that point the way to the vast prairies of 
 British America. Above us soars Mt. Stephen, thrusting his bald 
 gray head three miles into the cold blue ether. Clustering 
 around, other peaks scarcely inferior in altitude, bearing such 
 names as Field, Cathedral, King and Deville, peer over into the 
 pass and look down upon our train. A few rods from the sta- 
 tion the melting snows trickle down, now on this side toward 
 the Columbia and the Pacific, and now to the east into the 
 Saskatchawan, Hudson's Bay and the Atlantic, — a narrow line 
 
on the ridge of the water-shed for the two oceai s. A child 
 with little mud-dikes, could direct much of it east or west at 
 will. Here our moguls part company, — one goes tearing dov/n 
 . the gorges to the Columbia again, the other propelled almost 
 by gravity alone, guides us in its flight down the eastern slopes, 
 skirting the mountains in cork-scr?w loops and curves, past 
 peaks named and nameless, over dark chasms, through tunnels 
 whose breath is smoke, and snow-sheds more stuffy than 
 tunnels, along the bottom of weird gorges where frothy 
 streams dispute the passage of the road, — down, down through 
 ppace in a dizzy whirl, and ^ieing with Jupiter Tonans in awful 
 roar; so our iron horse, with compressed lips and ^( losed 
 nostrils and without puff or snort, leaped down the Rockies 
 among tb*" foot-hills and into the National Park, and halted in 
 front of the far-famed Hotel Banff. Now that the tension was 
 removed, we caught our breath once more, and settled into 
 our seats, for had we not been shot out of the sky? 
 
 There has been little attempt to improve the Park. Cen- 
 turies ago, nature saved all that trouble and expense, by 
 diversifying it wiih mountains of no mean magnitude, several 
 peaks being from eight to t^n thousand feet in height, with 
 well-rounded hills from whose tops, easily reached, there ran 
 be had far-away views, with healing springs, one of which is 
 regarded a real Bethesda, with gravel-bedded streams and lakes 
 teeming with fish, with glades and meadows and surprises in 
 uncounted numbers. Its atmosjihere has the purity and vigor 
 of the mountains, softened from its severity among the glaciers, 
 and is so conducive to repose that nervous people, in a few 
 weeks, are said to regain tone and almost unlimited capacity 
 for sleep. (This statement did not abate anything from the 
 writer's hotel bill.) Doubtless some old crofter from the Skye 
 or the Hebrides named it from his ancestral home, for there is 
 a Banff among tht islands of the western coast of Scotland. 
 Quoting from the guide-book, which, for once, does not 
 
 so 
 
 villj 
 
 surii 
 
 onej 
 
 moi 
 
83 
 
 so exaggerate that one does not recognize the place, — the 
 village of Banff is 4,500 feel above the sea-line. All the 
 surroundings of forest and glade and mountain dispose 
 one to repose, — they all whisper "rest." It really is one of the 
 most charming resorts in all the Dominion. 
 
 But Buffalo, whose streets we have noi trodden for six 
 months, is beckoning us, and in obedience to the call, onward 
 and downward we still go. till, among the last of the foot-hills 
 we reach the bright little town Calgary, the most important we 
 have seen since we left Vancouver. It is situated on a hill-girt 
 plateau overlooked by the white peaks of the Rockies, and in 
 curn It looks down uj^on the grassy plains eastward. It i? the 
 center of traffic for great ranches, the entrepot for supplies for 
 the lumber and mining districts in the mountains, has a station 
 for the mounted police of the province, a.id a post of the all- 
 grasping Hudson's Bay Company. 
 
 Here we part company with our tired mogul, and under 
 the lead of a trim and fresh-looking racer, we soon arrive at 
 the head waters of the Jask, tchawan and look out upon prairies 
 which, for com]>ass, have no equal in North America ; — 
 bounded for fifteen liundred miles on the west by the Rockies, 
 and stretching eastward a thousand. 
 
 The provinces bordering on the foot-hilis, and reaching 
 northward into the basin of the Macker >ie, are grazing-grounds 
 for the countless beeves and horses that are destined to make 
 the Dominion master in the markets,while to the east and south, 
 the provinces of Alberta, Saskatchawan, Assiniboia, and Mani- 
 toba, are vast wheat fields, each a rival of our own Dakota. 
 
 Regina is soon reached, the capital of Assiniboia, and the 
 point for the distribution of sui)plies for the provinces north 
 and south; and here also, is another station for mounted police 
 who are often judge, jury, and sheriff on horseback, and hold in 
 check the restive Indians, some of whom had a share in the Riel 
 rebellion. Day and night we skim over the flowery prairies, 
 
 
 f 
 
 ' ^1 
 
84 
 
 leaving in ilie rear, ranches and villages, the iionies of cattle- 
 kings, — a vast expanse ot treeless plain. And yet, monotony 
 docs not reign supreme, for here and there are ponds frequented 
 by water-fowl, a belt of undulations resembling waves, a herd of 
 antelo|)es, a lone house, or station, on the wind-swept waste, 
 experimental farms cultivated by the railway company to exhibit 
 the capabilities of the soil, and miles of ripening grain stretch- 
 ing forward, and on each side of the track away beyond the 
 ken of the sharpest eye, and broken only by a station, an eleva- 
 tor, or a village. The tireless engine still descending — for we 
 are in the fertile valley of the Saskatchawan — sweeps on past 
 (^'Appelle, the seat of the late rebellion, and now of a flourish- 
 ing Indian mission, past Brandon, the grain-center for two 
 provinces, past Indian Head, — where, on Bell's farm of one 
 hundred square miles, plowing in furrows four miles long, 
 was being done by brigades, — on through towns and villages, we 
 have not space to name, till we reach the historic town, Winni- 
 peg, a place we have long desired to visit. This is an enter- 
 prising and beautiful city of 25,000 people, two-thirds of whom 
 are of French, English and Scotch origin, and the one-third 
 are Indians and half-bieeds. ' It is situated on a prairie, yellow 
 with flowers, at the junction of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, 
 both navigable, is twenty miles from the lake from which it 
 takes its r«ame, has radways radiating in several directions, by 
 which it commands the trade of the vast North and Northwest, 
 has an important post of the Hudson's Bay Company, and the 
 principal offices for the sale of railway lands in the different 
 provinces. It is handsomely built of brick, and of a yellow 
 limestone, mottled and variegated with fantastic figures, — has 
 street- railroads, electric lights, great flouring-mills and eleva- 
 tors, a fine court-house, a gaily-adorned postcffice, large stores, 
 and numerous other notable buildings, among which are the 
 parliament house and governor's residence. The extremes of 
 civilization meet without exciting surprise in this quaint city; 
 
85 
 
 moccasins, striped faces, and blanketed men, attract little more 
 attention than high-heeled shoes, Parisian bonnets, or the Eng- 
 lishman adjusting his monocular. Quaintest of all vehicles is 
 the Red River cart, in the construction of which not an ounce 
 of iron fmds a place, — that metal, as late as 1826, sold for one 
 dollar a poimd. It is, as its name signifies, two-wheeled, built 
 wholly of wood, with heavy felloes, spokes and shafts. Neces- 
 sity devi^-ed it, and it has ^'filled the bill" for eighty-seven 
 years, since it is better adapted to the soft, yielding soil of the 
 prairies than the iron-bound wheel of modern times. A single 
 s*eer., harnessed and driven as we do a horse, is the motive jiower. 
 Bcfoie the advent of railways, Winnipegers made pilgrimages 
 in these carts to St. Paul, five hundred miles south, consuming 
 weeks in the journey, taking down furs, and bringing back 
 comforts for their homes. An iron bridge over the Red River 
 leads to an odd little Fren( h village, St. Boniface, noted for its 
 cathedral, and because the archiepiscopal residence of Prince 
 Rupert's I^nd is located here. The cathedral is of cream- 
 colored brick, (juite plain, in both exterior and interior finish, 
 and has a chime of three sweet-toned bells. Who wrote the 
 poem entitled "The Silver Chimes of Boniface"? The church- 
 yard is nearly filled with graves, and most of the inscriptions 
 are in French, several of which terminate with R. I. P. The 
 see-house is embowered in trees, and th<» grounds are lighted 
 up with a profusion of flowers. Archbis'lfR>p I'eche, the present 
 incumbent, is fat and fifty, an<1 arrays hiim^-f in a purple cas- 
 sock, bordered with ji<M. but otherwise, without ornament. 
 He is always welcomed vri%^rever he c^rri^s his genial face. 
 In the extreme nortliern p4t#t f/f the cttf is an old English 
 cathedral, founded ii \€ turly ^t of tiuf r/eniury. Building 
 and surrounding y ''■ /^/// /^<eniOfi . are * %(ioA type of a 
 country church in i ' / <»<|l. 
 
 As early as Xl'^i. S/crtA ^k^k^, * WjiWeman of Scotland, 
 became deeply init t m^t i im tlK» '*iV<*rfHion of the Highland 
 
86 
 
 peasantry who had been evicted, and forthwith began to look 
 about for lands in the New World on which to colonize them; 
 but it was not until 1812 that a permanent settlement was made 
 on the Red River, the place selected. The Hudson's Hay 
 Company claim that they had a fort there in 17J)f5, and hence, 
 they regarded the Scotch immigrants as intruders. 
 
 Tiie site of the "Old Selkirk Settlement" is north some 
 twenty miles, near Lake Winnipeg, but the location at the junc- 
 tion of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers was thought to be a 
 more favorable one, and hence the present site of W^innipeg 
 has been occupied with an increasing number of whites for 
 seventy-five years, although in 1870 the population was only 
 about a hundred. Fort Garry was its earlier name, and a crumb- 
 ling gateway just off one of the principal streets of the city, 
 and traces of walls, mark the spot where there has been more 
 than one siege, and repulse, and capitulation. This gateway is 
 a high arch of yellow limestone, having two heavy valves or 
 gates of wood, a look-out. a platform for cannon in the upper 
 part of the arch, and loop-holes for musketry ; and near it are 
 traces of a bastion. It is a very striking and interesting ruin, 
 and some day the Winnipegers will regret the total destruction 
 of Fort Garry ; and suffer us to add here, Buffalonians, the 
 demolition of Fort Porter. 
 
 The origin of Indian names and traditions generally 
 awakes an interest, in the tourist, and those ot the tribes in 
 Canada are no exceptions, — one of each must suffice. Tribes 
 living near gave name to the Assiniboines from one of their 
 customs. They do most of their cooking by dropping hot 
 stones into vessels containing their food, immersed in water ; 
 hence they were called assini, (stone), and boine, (men), 
 stone-men, or Assiniboines. Manitoba is from Man itou, the Great 
 Spirit, and ba, pronounced in a low tone, whispering. The 
 name was applied in this way : Along the banks of the channel 
 which connects the two lakes, great and little Manitoba, are 
 
 M 
 
87 
 
 numberless flakes of thin slate which, when struck, emit a me- 
 tallic or tinkling sound. When the south wind stirs the waters 
 of this passage, these little flakes are rubbed against eac:h other 
 and give forth low musical sounds, varied according to the 
 size of the fragments ; and these tones are interpreted by the 
 Indians to be the whisperings of the Great Manitou, or 
 Manito-ba.