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From Yellowstone Park to 
 Alaska. 
 
BY FRANCIS C. SESSIONS 
 
 President of the Ohio Historical and Archaeological Society 
 
 ILLUSTRATED BY C. H. WARREN 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 WELCH, FRACKER COMPANY 
 189O 
 
We are indebted to Chas. N. McFee, Esq., of the 
 Northern Pacific Railroad, for the use of a few of the 
 illustrations from photographs. 
 
 THE PUBLISHERS. 
 
 COPYRIGHT 1890 BY WELCH, FRACKEK COMPANY 
 
From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 
 
 i. 
 
 THE JOURNEY FROM ST. PAUL WESTWARD. 
 
 OUR tour to Yellowstone Park and Alaska 
 commenced at St. Paul. We passed 
 through the beautiful country of Minnesota, 
 with its ten thousand lakes and picturesque 
 outlooks, and all along the road we saw the 
 best growing corn that we had seen any 
 where, of rich green color, already tasseled 
 out, although it was but the twelfth of July. 
 There was great complaint of a want of rain 
 to save the spring wheat. 
 
 We passed through some of the largest 
 wheat farms in the world, one farm of fifty 
 thousand acres, the property of Mr. Dal- 
 rymple, interesting us particularly. It is a 
 great curiosity to see the reaping and binding 
 machines at work upon these immense farms. 
 
 M766016 
 
io From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 
 
 Like the ranks of an advancing army, scores 
 abreast, they circle about, covering immense 
 tracts. Still it seems that there ought to be 
 some law preventing so great an amount of 
 our lands getting into the hands of such 
 monopolies, who do not endeavor to en 
 rich the soil, but to work it to the last de 
 gree. Our small farmers hold a conservative 
 influence in our government, and such great 
 landholders are detrimental to our best 
 interests. 
 
 Bismarck, the capital of Dakota, is another 
 flourishing city of twelve to fifteen thousand 
 inhabitants, with its new State house and 
 many public buildings and stores. At Man- 
 dan, just across the Missouri River from Bis 
 marck, is the terminus of the Missouri and 
 Dakota division of the Northern Pacific, and 
 is on the wrong side of the river to compete 
 successfully with Bismarck. Some Boston 
 gentlemen built a number of handsome brick 
 stores, which are liable to prove a bad invest 
 ment, as they are not likely to be occupied. 
 The lignite coal beds crop out west of here, 
 and are of great value to Dakota and the 
 railroad. 
 
 After passing many flourishing cities and 
 villages, we come soon on to what is called 
 
From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. n 
 
 " Bad Lands," where we see the cattle upon 
 a thousand hills feeding upon dead grass, 
 which seems to nourish them, as they are fat 
 and sleek. The great drouth is likely to have 
 a serious effect on the cattle ranches this 
 winter. 
 
 Medora is named after the wife of the Mar 
 quis de Mores, a wealthy French nobleman, 
 who married an American lady, and has a 
 residence and large slaughtering pens here, 
 sending dressed meat east. His early experi 
 ence in stock raising was not a success, and, 
 to use the words of a ranchman, " He fooled 
 away millions of his wife s money, thinking 
 all he had to do was to stock the country and 
 let them run." Almost every town has its 
 daily papers, and here a cowboy came on to 
 the train to sell "The Bad Lands Cowboy" at 
 ten cents apiece. The publisher says in his 
 prospectus, " Price, two dollars a year. We 
 don t publish this for fun." 
 
 Montana is a great grazing country, and 
 has as great a reputation for its stock as 
 Dakota for its wheat. For many years, up to 
 eighteen eighty-one and eighty-two, inclusive, 
 this was the finest buffalo hunting country on 
 the continent ; but the slaughter that season 
 reached two hundred and fifty thousand 
 
12 From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 
 
 hides, and the buffalo is not seen any longer. 
 We noticed on the sides of the railroads rings 
 tramped on the ground, with a path around 
 them. We supposed them to be some Indian 
 relic, but were informed by a gentleman on 
 the train, who was an old buffalo hunter, 
 that when the cow is breeding, the bulls 
 tramp around her, guarding her with jeal 
 ous care, and changing off with other bulls 
 from time to time until the calf can run about. 
 
 One new brick hotel has the name of 
 "Gladstone" prominent where all travelers 
 can see it, showing how popular the states 
 man is in the far West as well as throughout 
 the civilized world. 
 
 We were glad to get to Livingstone, where 
 we left for the Yellowstone country. The 
 town of Livingstone, although but three years 
 old, is flourishing and prosperous, with a 
 newspaper and a national bank, the latter in 
 the hands of a receiver, probably on account of 
 the high rates of interest for loans from one 
 and one-half to two per cent, per month, which 
 fact ought to break any bank. The thermo 
 meter here is at one hundred and nine de 
 grees in the shade. This fact causes us to 
 hasten our journey to Yellowstone Park, 
 where there was eighteen inches of snow on 
 

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 v ^. \ -^* 
 
 CANON OF THE YELLOWSTONE. 
 
From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 13 
 
 July fifteenth, and the day before it was 
 snowing on the mountains. 
 
 The railroad only runs to the Park, as the 
 government will not allow it to cross the 
 border of the Park reservation. It now runs 
 along the Yellowstone through the valley, 
 between mountains some three thousand feet 
 high, forming the lower canon. We soon 
 pass through a valley called Paradise, dotted 
 here and there with the comfortable houses 
 of the ranchmen. The high snow moun 
 tains soon come in view, "a panorama of 
 stately domes constantly unfolding a succes 
 sion of the grandest pictures." We soon enter 
 the second canon, with a narrower gorge, the 
 sides rising almost perpendicularly over a 
 thousand feet high, the scene presented very 
 like some of the valleys of Switzerland. As 
 we passed Cinnabar Mountain, with its broad 
 strip of vermillion-colored rock, we come 
 upon what is called the Devil s Slide, with 
 walls hundreds of feet high, smooth and verti 
 cal, with bright red and brown interstreaked, 
 presenting a beautiful contrast of brilliant 
 colors. The heavy rains had swollen the Gar 
 diner River, and heavy rocks had slid down, 
 rendering impassable in places the mountain 
 road. Everywhere we see evidences of vol- 
 
14 From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 
 
 canic eruptions ; the scene grows grander as 
 we advance, and we begin to realize what 
 wonders are in store for us during a week s 
 stay in the Park. We see our first hot spring 
 beside the river, and our driver, a rather face 
 tious character, observes " that he has often 
 caught trout in the river, and then thrown 
 his line over into the hot spring and cooked 
 them." This does not seem to be merely a 
 stage driver s hallucination, but is vouched 
 for by others. The prospect up the canon 
 was grand, indeed, but we soon were obliged 
 to leave the top of the stage on account of 
 the high wind, with forebodings of a cyclone. 
 From the hot springs is visible the white 
 formation which extends down the valley like 
 a series of grand waterfalls struck into mar 
 ble, with exquisitely filagreed terraces, which 
 inspired us with a feeling of awe not unlike 
 that which we felt upon beholding Niagara 
 Falls for the first time. The terraces are fif 
 teen hundred feet high, where we find beauti 
 ful pools, with scolloped edges, indented and 
 fretted like the most perfect corals. 
 
 On the top we find a broad plateau sev 
 eral acres in extent, with hot springs of every 
 description at hand. As the steaming water 
 trickles from edge to edge over the white 
 
From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 15 
 
 brims of these successions of natural vessels, 
 it presents a beautiful sight. Our attention 
 was called to one spring on the summit where 
 all the colors of the rainbow blended in most 
 exquisite harmony ; others more composite, 
 now turquoise blue, now red, now green and 
 yellow colors given the water by the mineral 
 deposits beneath. We did not remain long, 
 as night was approaching, and climbing was 
 fatiguing. There are fourteen marvelous ter 
 races from the top of which one can over 
 look them all ; but the altitude is such as to 
 render breathing laborious. 
 
 The geysers in Yellowstone Park are fre 
 quently compared to the Te Tarata springs 
 of New Zealand, where the basins have the 
 same general form, but instead of being com 
 posed of calcereous material, are siliceous. 
 The Te Tarata covers an area of about twelve 
 acres, but the springs near Hierapolts resem 
 bling more these springs, though they are not 
 so extensive. Passing along the canon, we 
 soon come upon the middle or bridal falls," 
 described by some as of singular beauty 
 and grace ; but with our minds absorbed by 
 the unique beauty of the geysers, we scarcely 
 esteemed them worthy of especial notice. 
 
 The ride through the canon was especi- 
 
1 6 From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 
 
 ally refreshing, the thermometer at sixty de 
 grees instead of at one hundred and nine, as 
 on the Northern Pacific Railroad, a refresh 
 ing rain the night before adding freshness 
 and invigoration to the mountain air, and we 
 were exhilarated by the grand view of the 
 mountains and lakes, coming every little while 
 upon a beautiful open park, covered with 
 flowers, whose green lawns were quite in con 
 trast with the charred and blackened trees of 
 the lower valleys. Larkspur, columbine, the 
 hare-bell and the evening primrose grew 
 wild in beautiful profusion, and though they 
 claim that they have frosts every night, in 
 the morning the blossoms are uninjured. 
 
 We stopped for dinner at Norris Geyser 
 Basin, quite in trim for the excellent dinner 
 of mountain trout and Rocky mountain sheep, 
 which was served us. Formerly the road 
 passed over the mountains three thousand 
 feet high, which required a day to ascend ; 
 but now we traveled over the road construct 
 ed by the government engineers, which passes 
 through the canon of Gardiner river. We 
 met a large number of teams carrying lumber 
 and provisions, and the skill of the driver 
 was often taxed to the utmost in his endeavor 
 to pass them on the narrow road ; but the 
 
From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 
 
 drivers and teamsters are a happy lot, hailing 
 each other with a good word. At one place 
 where we came into collision, the teamster 
 hailed our driver : "We will go into camp if 
 we cannot pass." To which our driver re 
 plied : " Well, we ll have lots of water, wood 
 and grass." 
 
 Our driver pointed out to us a herd of ante 
 lope, beautiful creatures, feeding in a meadow 
 in the distance. Bears we did not see, and 
 indeed very little large game. We stopped 
 to take a drink from a lemonade spring, only 
 wanting the sugar to make it very palatable. 
 So many of the springs contain poisonous 
 substances, that although the water looks 
 limpid and clear, it is not safe to partake 
 unless a sign is there denoting that the water 
 has been subjected to chemical analysis. 
 Along Beaver Lake, which was formed by 
 the dams of the beavers, it is said, are the 
 obsidian or volcanic glass cliffs, a species of 
 lava, I doubt not, some two hundred feet 
 high. Colonel Norris, late superintendent of 
 the Park, found that he could not break the 
 rocks by blasting, and being obliged to con 
 struct a road through them, built huge fires 
 in the fissures, and when thoroughly heated, 
 threw water upon them so as to fracture them. 
 
1 8 From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 
 
 We soon came to the Divide, and the beau 
 tiful " Lake of the Woods" by the roadside, 
 where we see our first geyser. At the lower 
 geyser basin is the famous fountain, which 
 we were fortunate in seeing in motion, throw 
 ing the hot water fifty feet high, resembling 
 some of the larger fountains in Versailles. 
 It gave us warning by its rumble and roar, 
 and we advanced cautiously. The springs 
 and paint-pots are beautiful, indeed, the lat 
 ter curiously named, of various colors, black, 
 yellow, green, etc., that blubber away like an 
 old-fashioned pudding pot of my boyhood s 
 remembrance. One pool is fully twenty-five 
 feet across, and looks like an enormous tub of 
 white lead. We pass the Mammoth Geyser 
 Basin, quite secluded in the wild wood, with 
 here and there geysers that throw up water 
 red as blood, others blue as turquoise, and 
 others of mud. We ride along the caiion of 
 the Gibbon river until we come to the Falls of 
 the Gibbon, but we do not delay long here. 
 Some stages come at the forks of the Firehole 
 river, from the Salt Lake City route, coming 
 from the Union Pacific by the Utah Northern ; 
 but they are obliged to ride over a hundred 
 miles by stage, entering the Park at the 
 wrong place, when we had only six miles to 
 
From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 19 
 
 drive to the Park by way of the Northern 
 Pacific. 
 
 We come, after riding with springs and 
 geysers in view in every direction, to "Hell s 
 Half Acre," where is the largest geyser in the 
 world, the famous Excelsior. Colonel Norris 
 says that in eighteen hundred and eighty it 
 showed its full power, elevating sufficient 
 water to the height of from one hundred to 
 three hundred feet to make the Firehole river 
 a foaming torrent of steaming hot water, 
 hurling rocks of ponderous weight like those 
 thrown from an exploded mine, over the sur 
 rounding country. A telegram was received 
 from the manager of the Yellowstone National 
 Park Hotel, saying that there were strong in 
 dications yesterday that the great geyser on 
 " Hell s Half Acre," is about to erupt. Strong 
 convulsions were felt in the morning, shaking 
 the houses at the fails, and on the upper and 
 lower basins. Crockery and glassware were 
 thrown from the shelves, and windows were 
 broken. There is considerable apprehension 
 that if there is an eruption, much damage will 
 be done to the Park. We were disappointed 
 not to see this remarkable geyser in one 
 of its violent eruptions. It is too choice of its 
 powers and, it is said, only plays when gen- 
 
20 From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 
 
 erals or presidents come to see it. The 
 grand prismatic spring, with its beautiful 
 tints of yellow, orange, red and green, repaid 
 us well for the disappointment in not seeing 
 the Excelsior in fuller eruption. Certainly 
 this spring, revealing to us its many beau 
 tiful colors as through a perfect prism, is one 
 of the most beautiful objects we have seen. 
 
 The Firehole river, fed by numerous hot 
 streams, from every direction, is certainly 
 rightly named. We were weary enough 
 after this fifty-two mile ride, with our minds 
 and eyes continually on the stretch to take in 
 the wonders about us, and were glad to come 
 in view of the hotel, overlooking the. upper 
 basin. Early in the morning we were called 
 up to see the " Old Faithful " display, as it 
 never fails, while the others cannot be relied 
 upon. There is a long piazza extending 
 around the hotel, and visitors sit and watch 
 the geysers from this pleasant point of view. 
 " The Castle," " The Bee Hive," " The Giant, 
 ess," "The Saw Mill," " The Grand," "The 
 Giant," and many others display successively 
 their marvelous beauties, and from point to 
 point the visitors rush to see the sights. 
 
 There are some four hundred hot springs 
 and twenty-six geysers here. The names are 
 
PARK. 
 
From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 21 
 
 given them from some peculiarity of natural 
 construction, " Old Faithful," so named, no 
 doubt, because it never fails at the appointed 
 time of eruption. It is, perhaps, only a 
 question of time when all these geysers will 
 cease to erupt. When such a misfortune 
 occurs it will take away one of the grandest 
 attractions of the Park, although the magnifi 
 cent scenery, the grand canons, and the lakes 
 and falls will remain forever. The upper 
 geyser basin is about four miles square. The 
 Firehole river runs through it, with forests 
 and high mountains on either side. The for 
 mation is white, and the vast areas look like 
 marble quarries, with steam and high erup 
 tions issuing from the crevices. An English 
 man, who was rather disappointed with 
 America and its beauties evidently, was com 
 pelled to admit that these geysers were 
 worthy a pilgrimage from England ; but 
 when his attention was called to the numer 
 ous hot springs, he could see no interest in 
 them. He was greatly exercised because 
 some ambitious young men had cut their 
 names at the very base of " Old Faith 
 ful." He raised his voice, and, in a gruff 
 tone, said : " It is most extraordinary, 
 sir ; most extraordinary." A wag in the 
 
22 From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 
 
 party replied : " Why, sir, I have seen the 
 names of Lord Byron and Von Humboldt 
 cut high on the Pyramids of Egypt ! " " A 
 most extraordinary statement, sir ; it can 
 not be true." According to his notion we 
 have nothing here in America equal to Eu 
 rope, with the exception of Niagara Falls, 
 and the best view of them is from the Can 
 ada side. 
 
 We visited all the geysers, one by one. The 
 natives do their washing in some of them, 
 the linen coming out clean, but much the 
 worse for wear, we fear. The " Bee Hive" is 
 well named, resembling the thing with ex 
 actness. Even so the " Lion," the " Lioness 
 and Two Cubs " resemble the living things 
 in appearance, as from the continual growl 
 ing which they keep up. " The Saw Mill " 
 geyser should be called the " Rocket," as it 
 resembles one in motion, though the noise is 
 very like a saw mill. Each geyser exhibits its 
 own graceful peculiarities, and no human 
 hands could arrange jets to give a greater 
 variety and beauty to the grand display. 
 
 We particularly enjoyed visiting the gey 
 sers with a party of scientists sent out by 
 the Northern Pacific Railway to examine the 
 springs with regard to their medicinal quali- 
 
From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 23 
 
 ties. The observations and discussions with 
 an old traveler of our party, who is also 
 something of a philosopher as well as a 
 scientist, were highly interesting and instruc 
 tive. Our first call was upon " Old Faithful," 
 whose terrible rumbling was heard from a 
 distance, and whose wonderful gush of water 
 shot up at least one hundred and fifty feet, 
 or higher, I suppose, than the spires of some 
 of our city churches. As the wind drove 
 away the steam from the boiling hot water, 
 which stood in a solid column, we gazed in 
 wonder on the grandeur which words failed 
 to express. Our driver gave us an interesting 
 story, which, of course, we were all expected 
 to believe. In the winter, he says " that they 
 place a toboggan over Old Faithful geyser, 
 and when there is an eruption it carries them 
 to the height of one hundred and fifty feet, 
 the stream freezes to ice, and they ride down 
 and off into the country for miles." We 
 spent the day in wonder and surprise, seated 
 in the shade, theorizing upon the causes of 
 these eruptions. They are not volcanic, but 
 the result of chemical combinations, and 
 probably extend all over the country as far 
 as the hot springs of California. Some say 
 that the geysers are failing in their power, 
 
24 From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 
 
 and it is predicted that they will soon be 
 come extinct ; but they will probably break 
 out in new places. 
 
 The area of Yellowstone Park is over two 
 million of acres. Its surface is, in a large 
 part, rolling, with several groups and short 
 ranges of mountains diversifying it. In the 
 eastern part, extending its whole length, and 
 forming the watershed between the Yellow 
 stone and the Biglow, stand the rugged vol 
 canic peaks of the Yellowstone Range. Nearly 
 all the Park is covered with a dense growth 
 of magnificent fine timber ; indeed, west of 
 the one hundredth meridian there is no area 
 so densely timbered, with the exception of 
 Washington, now a state. The mean elevation 
 of the Park above sea level is between seven 
 and eight thousand feet, which implies too 
 cold a climate to admit of agriculture, ex 
 cept in certain very limited localities. It is 
 safe to say that not more than one per cent 
 of this ever can, by any possibility, be used 
 for agricultural purposes. Except along the 
 northern border, grazing land exists only in 
 small patches of a few acres each. There are 
 not, so far as known, any mines or mineral 
 deposits within the Park. 
 
 During the months of June, July and Au- 
 
From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 25 
 
 gust the climate is pure and most invigorat 
 ing, with scarcely any rain or storms of 
 any kind ; but the thermometer frequently 
 sinks as low as twenty-six degrees. There 
 is frost every month in the year. 
 
 All through the Park are numerous hot 
 springs, which are adorned with decorations 
 more beautiful than human art ever con 
 ceived, and which have required thousands 
 of years for the cunning hand of nature to 
 form. 
 
 Congress acted promptly on the recom 
 mendation of Dr. F. V. Hayden, United 
 States Geologist, who explored this region, 
 relative to this reservation for a National 
 Park, in eighteen seventy-one and eighteen 
 seventy-two. It would not have been possible 
 at any subsequent period to have reserved it, 
 for it would have been taken possession of 
 under the preemption laws of the United 
 States. To Dr. Hayden are we indebted for 
 this grand National Park, which will be 
 visited more and more by our own people 
 and by travelers from distant parts of the 
 world to see the geysers and the grandest 
 scenery in the world. 
 
 The greater part of the surface of the Park 
 consists of high rolling plateaus, broken by 
 
26 From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 
 
 stream beds, cliffs and canons. Several small 
 groups of mountains diversify the surface ; 
 among them the Red Mountains in the 
 southern part, rising seven thousand feet 
 above the general level, or more than ten 
 thousand feet above the sea ; and the Wash- 
 burn group near the middle of the Park. The 
 eastern border of the Park is occupied by a 
 high rugged range, to which has long been 
 attached the name of Yellowstone Range. 
 Index Peak, the highest measured in this 
 range, exceeds eleven thousand seven hun 
 dred feet in height. In the northeastern 
 corner of the Park is the southern extremity 
 of the Gallatin Range, culminating in Elec 
 tric Peak, a magnificent summit, eleven 
 thousand one hundred and thirty-five feet 
 above the sea, which overlooks almost the 
 whole Park. 
 
 There are several lakes, the Yellowstone, 
 Shoshone, Lewis and Heart. The shores of 
 the Yellowstone Lake are generally flat, and 
 timber-covered meadows occur at rare inter 
 vals. From the summit of Mount Washburn 
 we have a grand comprehensive view of the 
 Grand Canon. The apparently bottomless 
 gorge may be traced from its head, at the 
 Great Falls to Junction Valley, a distance of 
 
From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 27 
 
 nearly twenty miles. The depth of the canon 
 is from eight hundred to one thousand two 
 hundred feet, and the width is almost as uni 
 form as the depth. The canon is without 
 doubt entirely one erosion, and has been cut 
 by the waters of the Yellowstone river since 
 the flow of the Thyrolites, and probably very 
 greatly since the conglomerate forming era. 
 The Yellowstone rushes down from the Great 
 Falls, forming one of the wildest torrents that 
 the w r orld can show. 
 
 There are glaciers in the neighborhood of 
 the Teton Mountains, at elevations much 
 below twelve thousand feet, and in the midst 
 of glacial times descended in immense sheets 
 to four thousand and five thousand feet. It 
 would, therefore, be a matter of surprise if 
 traces of glaciers were not found here, not 
 only in the high valleys, but upon surfaces 
 of the broad plateaus of the Park. 
 
 John Coulter was the first white man who 
 ever saw any of the springs or geysers in this 
 wonderful region. He was connected with 
 Lewis and Clark s expedition, and on their 
 return, in eighteen hundred and six, left the 
 expedition to go back to the headwaters of 
 the Missouri to trap and hunt. After a nar 
 row escape from the Black-feet Indians, he 
 
28 From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 
 
 lived for some time with the Bannock Indians, 
 who ranged through the country in which 
 the Park is located. In eighteen hundred 
 and ten he returned to St. Louis, and told 
 wonderful tales of the region, which were not 
 believed. " Coulter s Hell " was the term 
 afterwards applied to the region by the hun 
 ters and trappers who heard of it from him, 
 but had never been there. As far back as 
 eighteen hundred and forty-four, James 
 Bridger, one of the best and most noted of 
 Rocky Mountain guides, is said to have des 
 cribed some of the wonderful springs and gey 
 sers, but his stories were supposed to be made 
 out of whole cloth, and, although it is said, 
 he endeavored to get some of the western 
 newspaper men to publish some of his tales, 
 they were so marvelous that no one would do 
 it. Bridger, in one of his recitals, described 
 an immense boiling spring, that is a perfect 
 counterpart of the geysers of Iceland. As he 
 was uneducated, and probably had never 
 heard of the existence of such natural marvels 
 elsewhere, there is no doubt but that he spoke 
 of what he had actually seen. In eighteen 
 hundred and seventy the Washburn party 
 explored the region, and two of its number 
 described its wonders in magazine articles. 
 
... ,. - -^ 
 
 OLD FAITHFUL GEYSER, YELLOWSTONE PARK. 
 
From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 29 
 
 IT. 
 
 THE "UNEXPLORED COUNTRY." THE BEAUTIES 
 OF YELLOWSTONE PARK. 
 
 DURING the summers of eighteen hun 
 dred and seventy-one and seventy-two, 
 the geological survey of the territories, under 
 Dr. Hayden, made their explorations .of the 
 Park, and gave the world the first scientific ac 
 count of the region. Within the limits of the 
 Park are the sources of two of our largest 
 rivers, viz., the Missouri and Columbia. 
 
 We have had a great desire to visit the 
 wonderful country, which was put down in 
 our earlier geography as " Unexplored Coun 
 try," ever since we read Dr. Hayden s report 
 of his explorations of the Yellowstone in eigh 
 teen hundred and seventy or seventy-two, 
 published by Congress, and sent us by Hon. 
 S. S. Cox, then our representative in Con 
 gress. Through Dr. Hayden s influence this 
 country was devoted by Congress, in eighteen 
 hundred and seventy-two, to the purposes of 
 a National Park, under the control of the 
 
30 From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 
 
 Secretary of the Interior, represented by a 
 superintendent, whom we met at Mammoth 
 Hot Springs, and who kindly aided us by 
 offering to give us letters to his assistants on 
 our route, to assist us through the Park. His 
 men protect and carry out the law of Con 
 gress, which forbids the destruction, defacing 
 or removal of any natural object of interest, 
 however small ; and who protect the game, 
 any violation being punished by a fine or im 
 prisonment, or both. To avoid trouble, not 
 the least formation or petrifaction should be 
 removed. 
 
 The name, " Yellowstone Park," does not 
 seem an appropriate one to us, and many 
 persons get a wrong impression of this coun 
 try by the name Park. It is fifty-five miles 
 long and sixty-five miles wide, and contains 
 three thousand five hundred and seventy-five 
 square miles, and is nearly as large as the 
 State of Connecticut, situated in the heart of 
 the Rocky Mountains, about one thousand 
 miles from St. Paul on the east, and about 
 the same from Portland, Ore., on the west. 
 It is in Wyoming, Idaho and Montana Terri 
 tories, nearly in the north-western part of the 
 first named. 
 
 Our ride from the Upper Geysers was a 
 
From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 31 
 
 most enjoyable one. We were obliged to re 
 turn to the Lower Geyser basin and take a 
 temporary road across the country. We pass 
 over a diversified country, with picturesque 
 mountain scenery, ascending the hills by 
 a rough road of ten miles. At the top 
 of the mountain we look back upon a grand 
 panorama of mountains and valleys over 
 looking the Yellowstone Lake and the 
 Yellowstone Park, and upon the Rocky Moun 
 tains, with the snow upon their tops. Not 
 often do you witness a grander view. We 
 come suddenly upon several small lakes, 
 nestling in among the evergreens. One is 
 called " Mary s Lake," which I admire on ac 
 count of its being the name of the dearest 
 friend I have on earth. We soon see more 
 hot springs in the distance, and come to 
 Sulphur Lake, which smells strongly of brim 
 stone. Alum Creek is one of the small streams 
 which flow into the Yellowstone, and out of 
 its banks come red-hot, hissing springs of 
 water, impregnated with alum, which gives it 
 a green color. We see scarcely any game on 
 the way, but one of the superintendents, 
 whom we have for a passenger, shows us 
 where a herd of elks had to be driven from 
 the road so that the wagon could pass ; and 
 
32 Prom Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 
 
 last spring when they were building the road 
 near the obsidian cliffs, the snow was so deep 
 that they had to take their men away. 
 They left one man to guard their provisions 
 in a tent. At night two bears paid him a 
 visit, and he climbed up the pole of the tent, 
 cut a hole in the top and caught hold of the 
 limb of a tree, from where he saw the bears 
 helping themselves to the hams, etc. In the 
 morning they departed. Before night he 
 expected their return and climbed a tree, 
 and surely enough they came. He shot one, 
 and in the morning was glad enough to 
 return to his companions, telling them that 
 he did not care to watch any longer, and 
 finally told them the reason. They returned 
 the next day and hunted the other bear until 
 they shot him. 
 
 As we pass the divide we go down the 
 mountain and come out upon beautiful parks, 
 interspersed with green fir trees and covered 
 with beautiful flowers and green grass, as 
 handsome as if laid out by a landscape gar 
 dener. We saw some of the most beautiful 
 Norway spruce trees we had ever seen, except 
 in Norway. 
 
 We see Sulphur Mountains in the distance, 
 and are told pure sulphur could be got from 
 
From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 33 
 
 them in great quantities, which shows itself 
 in heaps of bright yellow crystals. We soon 
 come upon the Yellowstone River, swiftly 
 running to the canon, with its clear, limpid 
 water. A storm has been threatening us, and 
 all at once we had use for our rubber over 
 garments, as there was no cover to the wagon, 
 and great hailstones were rained upon us 
 with too much force for our comfort, and we 
 lose somewhat the view of the rapids in the 
 approach of the upper falls of the Yellow 
 stone. The scenery is grand, but we are 
 glad to get to the temporary hotel, and dry 
 ourselves by the warm stove and get a good 
 dinner. We start out at once for the lower 
 falls, through the mud, to get a view, and are 
 well paid. Determined to get up at five 
 o clock in the morning and see the falls and 
 the Yellowstone grand cafion, we get a good 
 night s sleep, with plenty of blankets over us, 
 and are ready with Mrs. S. for a six-mile 
 tramp. We were fortunate in providing our 
 selves with patent mosquito net galashes, as 
 the mosquitoes and flies were terrible the 
 largest we ever saw, and terribly in earnest. 
 Some one told us that there were seventeen 
 different kinds of flies in the Park, and that 
 " many of them weighed a pound." 
 
34 From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 
 
 We reach, with difficulty, " Lookout Point," 
 and are disappointed at the view on account 
 of the fog. We wait, amusing ourselves at 
 throwing stones at the eagle s nest, full .of 
 young eagles, which the old ones are guard 
 ing, and giving us warning by their screeches 
 and cries. It is on a high tower by the side 
 of the canon, in just such a place as you 
 would expect an eagle s nest. Soon we are 
 delighted to see the sun disperse the fog, and 
 a grand scene commands our view. We look 
 in one direction, and the sun shines upon the 
 grand canon, with its different colored sides, 
 many hued, bright and shining, as the sun 
 shows himself upon them through the fog. 
 The Arkansas canon was splendid, but lacks 
 the bright-colored sides of the rocks which 
 reveal a different color as you pass the eye 
 down the canon, one thousand to one thou 
 sand two hundred feet deep, and the same 
 size across the top, with the little stream of 
 the Yellowstone, as it looks to us, which 
 comes dashing down from the lower falls. 
 We turn to the right, and see the falls of the 
 Yellowstone, about three hundred and fifty 
 feet high. We are on a precipice, and we 
 grow dizzy as we cast our eyes down, and my 
 wife cautions me to step back ; but having a 
 
From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 35 
 
 steady head, I do not fear, as I am entranced 
 by the view of so many colors, like the colors 
 of the rainbow. On the summit of the canon 
 we see in the distance projecting rocks look 
 ing like some old castles on the Rhine, one 
 especially like Heidelberg Castle, another like 
 a pulpit, with the preacher in earnest deliver 
 ing his sermon. We look in wonder, and re 
 gret to leave ; and, as we return, step out 
 upon the projections and cliffs on the way to 
 get different views of the grand canon and 
 falls. It is delightful to walk up and down 
 the trail beside the canon, which is twenty 
 miles long. We are higher than Mt. Washing 
 ton, and the air is so clarified that it is diffi 
 cult to breathe, and we cannot walk rapidly 
 without resting. After rain, the air is cool 
 and invigorating, and a six-mile tramp gives 
 us a good appetite. We are disappointed in 
 not finding upon the table some of the moun 
 tain trout, which are so plenty in the Yellow 
 stone. One of the boys stopping at the hotel 
 in a few minutes caught a string of twenty- 
 five to thirty, and the cook gave us what 
 remained after their meal. Here they give 
 us ham, salt meat, etc., when we all would 
 like so much better the trout, which can be 
 had so readily. We take another look at the 
 
36 From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 
 
 upper falls, which are not so high as the lower 
 falls. It falls one hundred and fifty feet, and 
 cannot be painted from its peculiar scenery 
 and associations. It is more picturesque and 
 beautiful than the lower. These falls add 
 great beauty to the scene. Either the canon 
 or the falls alone would be grand, but 
 when seen together make one of the most 
 charming, awe-inspiring scenes in the world, 
 and I have to yield my often expressed opin 
 ion that the " Yosemite Valley " stood out in 
 all its glory beyond anything else in nature 
 as God s grandest display of overpowering 
 grandeur and inexpressible beauty. But these 
 equal it, although it is difficult to compare 
 them with the Yosemite ; both are beyond 
 human description. All the descriptions I 
 have read do not begin to equal the real sight 
 to a lover of the sublime. There is nothing in 
 the wide world like these two scenes. Not Ni 
 agara Falls, which plunges from only half the 
 height of these falls, although the volume of 
 water is far greater, but it lacks the surround 
 ings to give it the highest place among those 
 glorious works which God has made for his 
 people to wonder at and think of His al 
 mighty power. We leave here with regret, 
 and take our wagon fourteen miles in a 
 
From -Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 37 
 
 new road cut through the pine forests, just 
 wide enough to go pass, and when we 
 met a wagon we were obliged to get out and 
 cut down trees to let it turn out for us. Our 
 ride is to Norris Basin. On the way we get 
 a view of Mount Washburn and some of the 
 mountains near the lake. We did not visit 
 the lake, as there is no steamer there from 
 which we could see its beauty, and we are 
 told that it does not equal Lake George or 
 Como, and next year the Park Association ex 
 pects to have a road there, a steamboat on 
 the lake, and a hotel. The mountains are not 
 equal to those of Switzerland, but, alto 
 gether, where in the wide world can anyone 
 see such geysers, hot springs, canons, falls, 
 lakes, mountains and picturesque scenery? 
 Our government ought to appropriate suffi 
 cient to make good roads, and give such pro 
 tection worthy of so grand a reservation, so 
 that all can enjoy it. 
 
 We met our friend, the grumbling Eng 
 lishman, who complains " that this is not a 
 park, and that there is nothing here worth 
 notice but the geysers and canons." He 
 asked me : " Who gave those stupid names 
 to the geysers ? " I replied that I thought that 
 they derived their names from some peculiar 
 
38 From Yellow stone Park to Alaska. 
 
 appearance connected with each one. I 
 asked him: " What do you think of Yellow 
 stone Lake?" He said: " I did not visit it. 
 The lake was nothing but a body of water 
 surrounded by land, which one could see 
 anywhere without coming so far." This is a 
 grand lake, with numerous mountains around 
 it, each near eleven thousand feet high, and 
 three more, each about ten thousand feet 
 high, besides, in the Park twenty-five others 
 quite high. Yet these mountains and lakes 
 are nothing to our Englishman, and he was 
 terribly disappointed that the geysers did not 
 all go off for his benefit. We did not have 
 time to visit the Hoodoo Mountains, which 
 are east of the Park, on account of our 
 steamer sailing from Puget Sound on the 
 twenty-sixth. Those who have visited these 
 mountains say that they are of great altitude, 
 very wild and difficult of access, and full of 
 petrified forests and Rocky Mountain sheep. 
 We will have to wait visiting this country 
 until another time. From the protection 
 given the wild animals and birds in the Park 
 by the government, the Park must eventually 
 be full of elk, antelope, big horn sheep, 
 foxes, coyotes, badgers, otter, beaver, mink, 
 rabbit, squirrels, etc. We saw but few, as at 
 
From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 39 
 
 this time of year they go to the moun 
 tains. What we did see were comparatively 
 tame. We asked the superintendent if we 
 should be allowed to kill a bear, if one ap 
 proached. He replied, cautiously, " don t let 
 the bear hurt you." 
 
40 From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 
 
 III. 
 
 THE RETURN FROM THE PARK. THE NORTH 
 ERN PACIFIC RAILROAD. HELENA. THE 
 
 BEAUTIES OF THE COLUMBIA RIVER. 
 
 OUR return from the tour of the Yellow 
 stone Park was devoid of interest, and we 
 were glad to get a good rest at the Mammoth 
 Hot Springs Hotel, where we found letters 
 and papers waiting us from home. We re 
 turn to Livingstone and continue our journey 
 on the splendidly equipped cars of the 
 Northern Pacific Railroad, with its elegant 
 buffet cars, where one can get as good 
 a meal as at most hotels, and at reasonable 
 rates. The road is so smooth, but little motion 
 is observed, and the ride is a pleasant one, 
 except in this hot, dry, dusty season. 
 We found it much more comfortable at 
 home, when we expected as we got further 
 north to find cooler weather. West of Liv 
 ingstone the scenery is much more interest 
 ing than east. We come to Gallatin, where the 
 rivers Jefferson, Madison and Gallatin come 
 
From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 41 
 
 into one channel, forming the Missouri river. 
 The scenery here is grand, as the waters pass 
 through the wild and rocky canon ; and here 
 begins the Missouri river, the greatest in the 
 United States, nearly four thousand five hun 
 dred miles long. We soon come to Helena, the 
 capital of Montana, where we are met at the 
 depot by Rev. Frank D. Kelsey and family. 
 The Rev. Mr. Kelsey is pastor of a promi 
 nent church here, the Congregational, and is 
 highly spoken of as a successful, able minis 
 ter. One of the millionaire cattle dealers 
 here said : "They did not need any ministers 
 here, but it was a good place for Mr. Kelsey s 
 promising boys." Helena is said to be one of 
 the wealthiest places,/ rata, in the United 
 States. There are five or six millionaires, 
 and we were shown several private residences 
 costing from forty thousand to sixty thou 
 sand dollars. Even some of the ministers 
 take a hand in mining stocks. One made one 
 thousand five hundred dollars, and was so 
 elated that he put his own and -his wife s 
 money on a venture, and lost it all. Helena 
 has a population of ten thousand. It is near 
 some of the best gold and silver mines 
 in the country ; within twenty-five miles 
 there is said to be three thousand quartz 
 
42 From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 
 
 mines. One mine was sold lately to English 
 capitalists for one million five hundred thou 
 sand dollars. This territory is as valuable 
 and noted for its grazing lands as Dakota for 
 its wheat lands, and many fortunes have been 
 made in the cattle business ; as many million 
 aires have made their fortunes in the latter 
 business as by mining. Mr. Kelsey pointed 
 out an old mine where gold to the value of 
 thirty million dollars had been taken out. 
 
 We pass through the Flathead Indian 
 reservation for many miles and see the 
 Indians at the stations, some of the babes 
 with a board pressed to the top of the head to 
 flatten it. We pass some beautiful lakes, and 
 are glad to ride along a rapid river, called 
 Clark s Forks. The scenery is quite in con 
 trast with the dry fields covered with sage 
 bush, and this river is an oasis in this barren- 
 looking country, and the scenery is quite pic 
 turesque as we wind along the stream. We 
 stop at Spokane Falls, the first town of im 
 portance on the road in Washington, on a 
 river of the same name, with splendid water 
 power, and a thriving, growing city. It had 
 more the appearance of life and energy, judg 
 ing by the business about the station and in 
 the distance, than any place we have seen. 
 
From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 43 
 
 In Italy at the stations our car conductors 
 give us five notes of warning before leaving 
 the station, but on this road they do not seem 
 to give one, and one of the ladies, formerly 
 a citizen of Columbus, now of New York, was 
 left, and we had great difficulty to get the 
 conductor to stop the train for her. By 
 being threatened and cajoled, he stopped, but 
 would not run back to the station, and we 
 were glad to see a dog-cart driven by a young 
 lady, whom we had seen drive up to the station 
 with two other young, handsome-looking 
 girls, evidently to take a look at the people in 
 the cars as they passed ; when the one driving 
 saw our lady friend had. been left behind, she 
 said : " Girls, get out, quick," and politely 
 offered her services to overtake the train, 
 which was accepted, and we were glad to see 
 them coming with all speed. A five dollar 
 bill was offered her for her kind deed, 
 but she declined to take it, with a vigorous 
 shake of the head. We gave the young lady 
 in the dog-cart three cheers, which made the 
 welkin ring. 
 
 We leave the cars early next morning at 
 "The Dalles," to take steamer for Portland, 
 which is one hundred and ten miles distant 
 by river. We are delighted to get "where 
 
44 From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 
 
 rolls the Oregon." The Columbia river is 
 noted for its grand scenery, and our expecta 
 tions are more than realized. It is navigable 
 over seven hundred miles. " The Dalles " is 
 a beautiful town, with many home-like resi 
 dences, with well-kept grounds. From here 
 a large amount of fruit is shipped east. Co 
 lumbia river is full of salmon, and they have a 
 sort of patent floating fish-wheel which scoops 
 them up in great numbers. They say " one 
 fisherman caught so large a quantity that he 
 could not dispose of them, and had to haul 
 five tons on to his fields for compost." We 
 saw some salmon weighing from thirty to 
 fifty pounds, which were selling at two cents 
 per pound. The scenery going down the 
 river is grand, and as the river changes we 
 come suddenly upon something new to attract 
 our attention. In the middle of the river is 
 an island used by the Indians to bury their 
 dead. They build huts, into which they 
 throw their dead bodies, and when full, build 
 others. 
 
 We ride about fifty miles and take cars 
 around the Cascades, six miles, and then take 
 another steamer fifty-five miles down the 
 river. Our attention is soon called to a grand 
 old snow-covered mountain as it lifts its peak 
 
Prom Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 45 
 
 high above the river. It is Mount Hood, 
 eleven thousand two hundred and twenty- 
 five feet high, and we see it all the way to 
 Portland, together with Mount Adams and 
 Mount St. Helens, all the same height, look 
 ing so grandly, covered with snow-white gla 
 ciers, and we occasionally see beautiful water 
 falls. We were glad at Portland to get an oil 
 painting by a celebrated local artist of Mount 
 Hood and Muttnowah and Latourelle Falls. 
 We pass old Fort Vancouver. Now there is 
 a thriving village here and large military bar 
 racks station. We soon leave the beautiful 
 Columbia river, which goes on to the Pacific 
 ocean, and come upon the Williamette river, 
 whose scenery is not so grand, but pictur 
 esque and beautiful. In the distance we see 
 Portland, situated upon rising ground from 
 the river, which gives a good view of the 
 beautiful High School building, costing one 
 hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars, 
 and of many of the costly private dwellings 
 located upon the hill-side. Crowning all is a 
 most picturesque park, with its pine and fir 
 trees and deep ravine and glades, a spot which 
 nature has adorned in its most generous way 
 for such a purpose. Portland is a handsome 
 city, with more fine stone blocks of stores 
 
46 From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 
 
 than any city of its size we have ever seen. 
 The city has about sixty thousand population 
 and has a business-like appearance, and, it is 
 said, there are fifteen or twenty millionaires 
 here. On a clear day you can see from the 
 park five or six snow-crowned mountains. 
 Mount Hood, Mount Jefferson, Adams, St. 
 Helens and Tacoma. No more grand moun 
 tains can be seen anywhere. They seem to 
 start out by themselves and invite you to gaze 
 upon them, and you never tire of the sight. 
 Portland is one hundred miles from the Pa 
 cific ocean, and some predict that Tacoma, on 
 Puget Sound, will be the great city of the 
 Pacific coast, when Alaska shall have devel 
 oped her great resources. 
 
 We stop here to spend the Sabbath, expect 
 ing to take steamer for Port Townsend, oppo 
 site Victoria, British Columbia, on the San 
 Juan de Fuca Strait, and from there the 
 steamer Idaho for Alaska. Tacoma is a 
 growing city, with a first-class hotel, cost 
 ing two hundred thousand dollars, a fine 
 building erected by the Board of Trade. In 
 deed, I have never seen outside the great 
 cities their equal. Three hundred and fifty 
 thousand dollars was spent here last year for 
 water-works, and with its fine Episcopal semi- 
 
From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 47 
 
 nary for young ladies, costing two hundred 
 thousand dollars, its public school buildings 
 and college, and its location at the terminus 
 of the Northern Pacific Railroad, its excellent 
 harbor, where the largest ocean vessels can 
 ride, has a great future before it, and may be 
 come a great city. 
 
 As we sat on the veranda of the Tacoma, 
 our attention was called to a grand sight of a 
 snow mountain, lifting its tall peak through 
 the smoky sky, and surprised us with its 
 lofty grandeur and beauty. It was Mount 
 Tacoma, fourteen thousand four hundred 
 and forty-four feet high. We have seen no 
 such mountain in America, and it reminds us 
 of Mount Blanc as we saw it when the clouds 
 suddenly lifted above it and revealed it in all 
 its glory and majesty. Fifteen glaciers are 
 said to be on it, and a visit to it is worth the 
 journey of three thousand miles. Our Eng 
 lishman softened a good deal as we sat to 
 gether and gazed upon the scene. He said, 
 with enthusiasm, " That is worth a ourney 
 from London to see ! " 
 
48 From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 
 
 IV. 
 
 TACOMA. THE MOUNTAIN SCENERY, AND IN 
 TERESTING SURROUNDINGS. 
 
 HTACOMA is beautifully located on an arm 
 J^ of Puget Sound. We rode about the 
 city, and were delighted with the many hand 
 some homes, surrounded with vines and 
 flowers. We never saw more beautiful roses 
 and honeysuckles, running in great profusion 
 over the verandas and porches of the houses. 
 The climate is never very cold, but extremely 
 wet in the winter. The lumber trade is an 
 important branch of industry, and one 
 saw-mill can cut two hundred and forty 
 thousand feet of boards in one day perhaps 
 the largest lumber-mill in the United States. 
 The whole city is well laid out on rising 
 ground overlooking Puget Sound, and in the 
 distance Mount Tacoma. This grand old 
 mountain on one side, and Puget Sound on 
 the other, give splendid scenery. There is 
 quite a contest between the people of Tacoma 
 and some of the rival towns in regard to the 
 
From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 49 
 
 name which the mountain should bear. On 
 our way from Portland we came in view of 
 a mountain which they called Rainier. I 
 never had heard of the name, and asked, 
 " When we should see Mount Tacoma ? " No 
 answer was given. It seems the other towns 
 who claim an interest in the grand old moun 
 tain, and are jealous of Tacoma, prefer 
 Rainier, after an old French navigator. The 
 Tacoma people claim that Tacoma is the old 
 Indian name, and means " soaring toward 
 heaven." Many of the towns and rivers 
 retain their Indian names, which are more 
 appropriate than any high-sounding name 
 of old cities and towns. 
 
 There are few points on the American con 
 tinent that can rival Oregon for grand and im 
 posing scenery. The lofty peak of Mount 
 Hood, like a magnificent Egyptian pyramid 
 sheeted in snow, and set upon an immense 
 green wall, is the most beautiful mountain on 
 the Pacific coast, if symmetry of form be 
 regarded as an element in beauty ; ami in 
 height and massiveness "it is surpassed only 
 by Mount Tacoma, fourteen thousand, four 
 hundred and forty-four feet high. The great 
 sugar loaf of Mount Saint Helena, though 
 on the Washington side of the Columbia 
 
50 From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 
 
 River, belongs to the scenery of Oregon, as 
 well as that of the neighboring territory, 
 and so does Mount Adams. All three of 
 these glittering peaks, as well as the summit 
 of Mount Tacoma far in the north, and of 
 Jefferson on the southern horizon, we saw 
 from the beautiful park rising above Port 
 land on the south. The lower peaks and 
 ranges of the Coast and Cascade Moun 
 tains, and the California and Siskiyou Moun 
 tains in southern Oregon, present to the eye 
 a thousand pleasing outlines. 
 
 In the grandeur of its shores the Columbia 
 ranks first of American rivers. Its current 
 is as impetuous as that of the Mississippi ; 
 its mountain walls and palisades are far 
 loftier than those of the Hudson ; cataracts 
 like those of the Yosemite Valley dash over 
 its basaltic cliffs. The Maltnomah Falls, 
 Columbia River, are nine hundred feet high, 
 and the Gatouroll Falls are equal to Yose 
 mite or Nevada Falls. We took steamer at 
 the Dalles, where the Columbia buries itself 
 in a profound crevice, whose depth has never 
 been fathomed, showing of its surface only 
 as much as can be compassed by a stone s 
 throw ; at Astoria it becomes a broad tidal 
 estuary, whose farther shores lie in dim dis- 
 
From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 
 
 tance ; at the Cascades it is a foaming head 
 long torrent ; at the mouth of the Willa 
 mette it is a placid lake, encircling many 
 green islands. The Williamette has an 
 emerald-green current, and flows between 
 gentle slopes, through farms and woodlands, 
 past orchards and pretty villages a placid 
 and idyllic stream, save where it leaps down 
 forty feet in one bound at its falls, and makes 
 a small Niagara of white foam and rainbow- 
 tinted spray. 
 
 My time is too limited to tell you of the 
 beautiful city of Portland, with its pictur 
 esque park and cemetery overlooking the 
 surrounding country, with its snow-capped 
 mountains and the rivers in view. One can 
 see here all the grandeur and loveliness in 
 landscapes that mountains, rivers, valleys, 
 waterfalls, lakes and ocean can give, a com 
 bination of Switzerland, New England and 
 Norway. Washington possesses a great 
 multitude of harbors, perhaps more than 
 any other country of equal extent on 
 the globe. Puget Sound, which has an 
 average width of two miles, and a depth 
 never less than eight fathoms, runs one hun 
 dred miles inland. Captain Wilkes says : 
 " I venture nothing in saying there is no 
 
52 From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 
 
 country in the world that possesses water 
 equal to this." 
 
 We took steamer from Tacoma for Port 
 Townsend, across Puget Sound, where we 
 took the steamer Idaho for Alaska. Tacoma 
 is a delightful city, with a splendid harbor, 
 and no doubt when the Northern Pacific 
 Railroad finish their road from Pasco on the 
 main line, a distance of two hundred and 
 forty miles to Tacoma, on Puget Sound, and 
 all their shops are removed here, with their 
 great interest in Tacoma s prosperity, this 
 will be one of the large cities on Puget Sound. 
 
 When the lumber interests shall fail in 
 Michigan and Wisconsin, as they will at no 
 far distaat day, this great country can sup 
 ply the country for many years, and Michi 
 gan lumber dealers are already investing 
 largely in forest lands on Puget Sound. A 
 great city is to arise on these shores, and 
 Tacoma, Port Townsend, and Seattle are 
 each claiming that there are special reasons 
 why it should be the great city of the future. 
 
 We remained two days at Port Townsend, 
 and were delighted with the place and its 
 commercial advantages. It is the port of 
 entry for the Puget Sound district, and has 
 a large trade with vessels coming in and 
 
From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 53 
 
 with the islands on the sound. After break 
 fast we took a stroll through the town, and 
 were surprised at its large and beautiful 
 stores and fine stone building occupied by 
 the First National Bank. We then walked 
 up the long steps leading to the residences, 
 and had a fine view of the harbor, and the 
 Olympian on the right and Cascade Snow 
 Mountains on the left, with Mount Rainier 
 and Mount Adams towering above them all 
 in majestic glory. The citizens of Tacoma 
 say that Tacoma is the original Indian name, 
 and that Rainier was a drunken Frenchman, 
 who had charge of a company of marines on 
 the ship commanded by Vancouver, the 
 great navigator, who discovered this region, 
 and gave his name to Vancouver Island. 
 Puget was mate on the vessel, and from him 
 came the name Puget Sound. 
 
 Fort Townsend is in full view across the 
 bay. We were met by the health officer of 
 the port, Doctor Minkler, formerly of Ober- 
 lin, Ohio, and when he learned we were from 
 Ohio, we were no longer strangers, but taken 
 to his home to dine, and driven in his car 
 riage about the place, which is on a high emi 
 nence, from which you can see Seattle and 
 Victoria, the latter in British Columbia, 
 
54 From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 
 
 across the Strait of San Juan de Fuca, forty 
 miles way. We never saw better corn, pota 
 toes, fruit and vegetables than here. One 
 man, on about three hundred square feet of 
 ground, had raised enough in five or six years 
 to pay for the ground, a good house and out 
 buildings, and the living of his family. His 
 fruit cherries, pears, apples and small 
 fruits and his vegetables were splendid. He 
 raised strawberries, fourteen of which 
 weighed a pound. From this ground the fir 
 trees were cut, proving that the soil on which 
 grow this kind of trees produces as well as 
 any soil. 
 
 Seattle is an enterprising city of ten thou 
 sand population, and seems to have more life 
 than the other places here, and is building a 
 canal from the Sound to Lake Union, about 
 three miles, so that they can take vessels 
 from the Sound to a fresh-water lake, which 
 at once takes off the barnacles from the bot 
 toms of the ships, saving a great expense of 
 cleaning them off. The place is noted for 
 the operations of a mob on the Chinese, who 
 attempted to drive them off, but were pre 
 vented by a police force made up of the best 
 citizens, including business men, clergymen 
 and other professional men. One of the mob 
 
From Yellmv stone Park to Alaska. 55 
 
 was killed and several wounded. The mob 
 finally raised two thousand dollars to pay 
 the fare of the Chinese to San Francisco, at 
 ten dollars per head. When the Judge of the 
 United States Court heard of the movement, 
 he directed all the Chinese to be brought be 
 fore him, and told them "that all who chose 
 to go of their own free will could go ; all 
 that chose to remain should be protected to 
 the extent of the law," and United States 
 soldiers were sent for to protect them. About 
 one-half remained. As a result, house ser 
 vants and laundry work have doubled their 
 wages, and they would be glad to have them 
 return. 
 
 Victoria, on Vancouver s Island, the capi 
 tal of British Columbia, is a fine specimen of 
 an old English town, of about seven thou 
 sand five hundred population, with splendid 
 roads in every direction, which makes the 
 drives about the city a delight, together with 
 the well-kept home-like residences, embow 
 ered in honeysuckles, roses and other flowers, 
 which made the place look more like Califor 
 nia, which is remarkable, considering it is in 
 latitude forty-eight degrees twenty-five min 
 utes north ; about the same latitude as the 
 Straits of Labrador, or about five hundred 
 
56 From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 
 
 miles north of Columbus, Ohio. After waiting 
 two days for our steamer, the Idaho, we are 
 at last on our way to Alaska. 
 
 Our route to Alaska lies through an inland 
 passage all the way for about twelve hundred 
 miles, only passing out into the Pacific Ocean 
 a few hours. The scenery is much like that 
 of the coast of Norway and the Baltic and 
 Gulf of Finland, but more grand^ with the 
 mountains on either side, covered with pine, 
 fir, hemlock, cedar and spruce, rising from 
 the shores to the height, in some places, of 
 from five to ten thousand feet, and all the 
 way snow-covered mountains, and water 
 falls, with rivers from glaciers flowing many 
 miles to the sea. This inland passage ex 
 tends to Chilkat, Alaska, for about twelve 
 hundred miles. There are numerous straits, 
 channels, sounds, inlets and rivers running 
 out in every direction, and every few miles 
 we come suddenly upon some fresh surprise 
 of sublime beauty of scene. At Wright s 
 Sound we can look in every direction, and see 
 bays and inlets coming in through the moun 
 tains to a central point, rendering the scene 
 one of unusual grandeur. Our good steamer 
 moves along so quietly through the smooth 
 water that we can hardly realize that we are 
 
From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 57 
 
 in motion What a tour for rest for the 
 weary ! No telegrams, no borrowers, no 
 beggars, no bores, no mails, no newspapers 
 for many days. After passing Vancouver s 
 Island, the largest in this vicinity, and which 
 the British have not yet explored, we pass 
 through a large number of islands, those at 
 the right called San Juan Islands. We meet 
 at Nanimo, the coaling station, the steamer 
 Anchor, from Alaska, and in the beautiful 
 bay, when a cannon is fired, fourteen distinct 
 echoes are counted as they reverberate among 
 the mountains. We meet a number of ca 
 noes with Indians on their way probably to 
 Victoria ; when one of the ladies attempts 
 to turn the camera upon one of the canoes 
 with three Indian women, they paddle out of 
 the way as fast as possible. We sail up Naha 
 Bay and stop at Loring, to take on a quan 
 tity of barrels of salmon. There is a fishing 
 and packing establishment here, under the 
 direction of a Cincinnati man. He expects 
 to ship two thousand barrels of salmon this 
 summer. He caught and packed three thou 
 sand ; one hundred in one day ; and could 
 have caught five thousand, if he could have 
 packed them. The salmon cost him about 
 one cent apiece, averaging eight pounds 
 
58 From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 
 
 each. There are a number of Indian men 
 and women at work washing and prepar 
 ing them for salting, which is done rap 
 idly, as if they were experts at the business. 
 The men receive one dollar and fifty cents 
 per day and the women one dollar. Anyone 
 who doubts the Indian s willingness to work 
 should see these industrious people. The 
 superintendent says he has more applicants 
 than he can employ. 
 
 We take a boat through the rapids to a 
 beautiful little lake, called Adorable Lake, 
 after Miss Dora Belle Miller, daughter of the 
 late Senator Miller, of Califonia, who visited 
 here last year. Our Captain, who is a Swede, 
 piloted our boat over the rapids and around 
 the lovely little lake to the falls of Naha 
 river, showing us the salmon traps across 
 the river. When the tide comes in they are 
 washed down the river, when it goes out the 
 passage-way is stopped up, and they are 
 easily scooped up. 
 
 In the morning early we find ourselves at 
 Fort Wrangell, an old Indian town, formerly 
 the port to the Cassian mines, which are not 
 now worked, and only a few whites remain, 
 with a Presbyterian Missionary Station, with 
 one missionary, Rev. Mr. Young, who has 
 
From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 59 
 
 been here seven years, and has a church of 
 over fifty members, all Indians. Mr. Young 
 is Post-master also ; we were there on Sunday 
 and the missionary had to give up church 
 service to open the mail. There are public 
 schools, under the care of the Government, 
 and a training school, under the charge of 
 Mrs. Young, who is enthusiastic in her work, 
 and has just procured a team of horses for 
 the farm (the first ever here), by her efforts 
 among her friends in Portland. There is a 
 farm of fifteen hundred acres connected with 
 the station, raising potatoes, turnips, etc. 
 Mr. Young informed us that one thousand 
 acres could be cut with a mower. They 
 intend to demonstrate that there is good 
 soil in Alaska for farming purposes. Gover 
 nor Swinford, Governor of Alaska, went on 
 shore with us, and added a free man to the 
 town, by freeing a slave. The Indians in 
 Alaska make slaves of their prisoners of war, 
 and also of the children who have lost their 
 parents, or when they can capture one. 
 This man who was freed was stolen from 
 Victoria when a boy of nine years ; his mas 
 ter had sent him with a canoe, gun and 
 blankets on some errand to his fishing-place, 
 and he escaped, and was overtaken by his 
 
60 From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 
 
 master at Wrangell. The Justice of the 
 Peace took the master prisoner, knowing the 
 Governor was coming, and this delightful 
 Sunday morning he was given his emancipa 
 tion papers, with the great seal of the Gov 
 ernment attached, which the Indians always 
 respect ; they gave him the canoe, gun and 
 blankets, and sent him free about one thou 
 sand miles to Victoria, where he was cap 
 tured so many years ago. 
 
 The Indians live in comfortable log houses 
 covered with boards. Some of them are 
 painted and are quite comfortable, setup on 
 piles, with only one room, with a raised 
 platform on one side of the room for seats, 
 there are no chairs, but some bunks for 
 beds. In the center of the room the floor is 
 not laid and a fire is made, on which the sal 
 mon is roasted ; the house is full of smoke, 
 as there is no chimney, the smoke going out 
 of a hole in the roof of the house. The In 
 dians were mostly away from their homes 
 on their summer fishing excursion, some of 
 them forty miles away on fishing claims 
 inherited from their fathers. They respect 
 the rights of others, and on no account will 
 they trespass upon the claims of others. 
 Some of our party tried to bargain with the 
 
From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 61 
 
 Indian women for the silver ornaments and 
 other curios. They are sharp at a bargain, 
 and when their price was accepted, they 
 wanted more, putting their fingers upon 
 their eyes, as much as to say, " do you see 
 anything green ? " One of the most curious 
 things which attracted our attention was the 
 curiously carved poles, from ten to fifty feet 
 high, in front of the more pretentious 
 houses. There are various interpretations 
 given to the curious devices carved upon the 
 poles. The eagle, the bear, the whale, the 
 crow, the raven, the frog and other animals 
 were carved. On one, a pole perhaps sixty 
 feet high, was a bear, with marks of his feet 
 from the bottom to the top. They venerate 
 these, and to cut one down or injure it is 
 sufficient cause for war. Over the grave of 
 a chief was a house of logs, and on the top 
 was a bear hewed out of a log ten feet long. 
 These Thlinket Indians have various inter 
 pretations of these heraldic monuments 
 One will interpret one way and another an 
 other way ; anyway they say, : to make up a 
 big story to fool the white man." An Indian 
 gave me a drawing of one with various devi 
 ces, with a dragon s head on the top, who 
 was trying to settle a dispute between two 
 
62 From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 
 
 families who had intermarried, and threat 
 ened to destroy both, if they did not become 
 reconciled. There are perhaps fifty of these 
 poles in the village, many of them showing 
 a good deal of artistic skill, and would do 
 credit to the artist as a wood carver. They 
 looked as if they had been made many years 
 ago. 
 
 We called on Judge Swan, an agent of the 
 Smithsonian Institution at Port Townsend, 
 and he gave us much valuable information in 
 regard to these Alaska Indians, their habits, 
 customs, etc. In front of his office the In 
 dians erected a long pole, and placed on the 
 top a swan, an emblem of peace, which 
 answers also for a sign. They did it as a re 
 gard for his services in settling some dispute 
 between two tribes, and averting a war. 
 Judge Swan read to us his report to the 
 Smithsonian Institution at Washington, giv 
 ing his reasons why these Indians of Alaska 
 were descended from Aztecs of Mexico, and 
 are not Mongolian, as some claim, on ac 
 count of some representations on the totem 
 poles, of long conical hats like the Chinese, 
 and say they came here by Behrings Straits 
 from China. Some of the Indian girls were 
 quite pretty. They are shorter than the 
 
From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 63 
 
 North American Indians, with round faces, 
 and look more like the Laplanders. The 
 Indians used to make great feasts, and on 
 such occasions released or killed six or seven 
 of their slaves, and almost impoverished 
 themselves by their gifts. 
 
 Leaving Fort Wrangell at ten in the morn 
 ing, we have had a red-letter day. The day 
 is clear, and a cold wind is blowing just 
 enough to give us a bracing atmosphere. 
 We soon sail through a narrow channel, 
 called Wrangell Narrows, and see a long 
 range of snow-covered mountains, some of 
 them, with deep, clear white snow, and the 
 waterfalls coming down from the glaciers, 
 and the deep, clear water, with the little 
 steamer gliding over it, gives to our sur 
 roundings a most attractive enjoyment. We 
 watch with interest the glaciers, and soon 
 meet great green-colored icebergs floating 
 down from them ; these are the first glaciers 
 we have seen. We find from our map that 
 the largest is called " Patterson Glacier," 
 and is forty miles long, and from three to 
 four miles wide in front. 
 
 We thought that we never enjoyed a sail 
 on Lake Como in Italy or on the coast of 
 Norway equal to this from Fort Wrangell 
 
64 From Yellowstone Park to Alaska, 
 
 to-day. We lingered on the deck until into 
 the night. In the morning early we find 
 ourselves in the harbor of Juneau, named 
 after an old miner of that name, to whom we 
 were introduced. We go out on shore, 
 and come to the Indian encampment, and 
 look in upon their houses and tents, while 
 they are preparing their breakfasts on the 
 open smoky fires. Some of them were half 
 clad. One invited me in to a repast of picked- 
 up salmon in a dish, from which eight or ten 
 were dipping it with wooden spoons. With 
 the dirt and filth around the room, the 
 breakfast did not seem tempting enough to 
 partake of. The old Indian brought out his 
 package of recommendations. He was an 
 Indian chief, and over his door was a sign, 
 " Chief Klow Kek." His papers were from 
 United States officers, and spoke of him as an 
 honest, reliable Indian, and a good friend 
 of the white man. We gave him a cheer, 
 and he replied "good." In almost every 
 house and along the wharf the Indian women 
 bring out an old box, in which are their 
 treasures of silver bracelets, which they ham 
 mer out of a silver dollar, with curious de 
 vices carved upon them, selling them from 
 three to six dollars a pair. Their wrists are 
 
From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 65 
 
 covered with them, and on their fingers are 
 silver rings, and in their lips are ornaments. 
 Many of the women look hideous enough with 
 their faces daubed with black paint ; some of 
 them had bangs plastered all over their fore 
 heads. The women do all the business in 
 making bargains, and are very sharp, and 
 some of the girls, who had not painted their 
 faces, looked quite pretty, with small feet. 
 
 One of the ridiculous practices of the 
 Alaska Indian is that of taking a salt water 
 bath early on the coldest winter morning. 
 Not only do the male adults among them 
 indulge in this practice, but the children, 
 even those of tender years, are compelled to 
 participate, under the penalty of being 
 thrown into the ice-cold water, and kept 
 there until they learn to take their medicine 
 like a man. They affect the belief that the 
 process is necessary to the future health and 
 strength of their rising generation, on the 
 principle, we suppose, that those whom it 
 does not kill will be able to endure almost 
 any hardship thereafter somewhat on the 
 theory of the "survival of the fittest." 
 
 One of the coldest days of the winter, thus 
 far, and about six o clock, white people living 
 near the ranch were awakened, and kept 
 
66 From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 
 
 awake, by a wailing and a howling which at 
 first led them to believe that a thousand or 
 more spirits of the damned had broken loose 
 from the infernal regions and found refuge 
 within the persons of as many native shamans, 
 and through whom they sought to inaugu 
 rate a little sheol of their own. But it was 
 only the natives slinging their children into 
 the cold waters of the bay, and then " warm 
 ing them up," when they came out, by the ap 
 plication of the necessary amount of caloric 
 through the medium of a bunch of spruce 
 boughs well laid on. That there was " wail 
 ing and gnashing of teeth," and a screeching 
 and groaning calculated to strike terror to 
 the soul of the uninitiated just awakened 
 from his slumbers, is not to be wondered at. 
 The bodies of the voluntary as well as unwill 
 ing bathers may be a little less aromatic now, 
 but we don t look for any perceptible decrease 
 in the mortality list in consequence. 
 
 Though offering premiums as an incentive 
 to cleanliness in the " ranch," the governor has 
 given strict orders that the children shall not 
 be put through any more such ablutionary 
 exercises until the gentle spring and genial 
 summer time comes again. 
 
From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 67 
 
 V. 
 
 " ALASKA." ITS BOUNDARIES AND RESOURCES. 
 ITS EARLY HISTORY, ETC. 
 
 THE name of Alaska comes from Al-ay- 
 ek-saor" Great Country." We had no 
 correct idea how great a country Alaska was 
 until we began to read about it with a view 
 to taking a tour there. We had thought of it 
 as a vast country of mountains and ice, with 
 out much value. 
 
 One of the chief boundary lines between 
 Alaska and the British Possessions is a line 
 drawn due North from the top of Mount 
 Saint Elias to the Polar Sea. The advantage 
 obtained for England by this treaty is incal 
 culable, and was largely foreseen by British 
 Statesmen at the time, and the imbecility of 
 it on our part is just beginning to be seen, 
 when we have to run through their country 
 six or seven hundred miles to get to Alaska. 
 One reason, no doubt, why Mr. Seward bought 
 Alaska of Russia, was because he felt so keenly 
 our disgrace. Congressional records prove 
 
68 From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 
 
 that we claim to go to the Russian Posses 
 sions, in north latitude fifty-four degrees forty 
 minutes, and it was shown by maps in the 
 archives of Holland that our claim was well 
 founded. Great Britain, to our great cha 
 grin, has possession of fine harbors on the 
 Pacific coast, and has a great railroad, the 
 Canadian Pacific, running from Montreal to 
 the Pacific, claiming a much shorter route to 
 China and Japan, and competing with our 
 transcontinental lines. This deed alone of 
 yielding this valuable country to England, 
 without cause, was enough to stigmatize 
 Polk s administration forever, and wHl ever 
 remain as a stigma on the name of the Secre- 
 of State, James Buchanan. 
 
 Alaska contains five hundred and eighty 
 thousand square miles, and is nearly fifteen 
 times larger than Ohio, which has forty thou 
 sand square miles. Alaska is as large as all 
 the United States north of North Carolina, 
 Georgia and Alabama, and west of the Missis 
 sippi river. The main land lies between fifty- 
 four degrees forty minutes and seventy-one 
 degrees north latitude, and between one hun 
 dred and thirty degrees and one hundred 
 and seventy degrees west longitude ; and the 
 western boundary, according to Russian 
 
From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 69 
 
 treaty, is one hundred and ninety-three de 
 grees west of Greenwich very near to Asia. 
 Quoddy Light, on the east coast of Maine, is 
 in latitude forty-four degrees forty-seven 
 minutes, longitude sixty-six degrees, fifty- 
 eight minutes west ; San Francisco is in lati 
 tude thirty-seven degrees forty-eight min 
 utes, longitude one hundred and twenty-two 
 degrees twenty-six minutes ; the ^Elutian 
 Islands, the most western part of Alaska, are 
 in fifty-three degrees north latitude, one hun 
 dred and eighty-seven and one-half degrees 
 west longitude. Alaska is therefore just 
 about as far west of San Francisco, as Maine 
 is east, or about the center of the United 
 States east and west. 
 
 The extreme length of Alaska, north and 
 south, is eleven hundred miles, and its 
 extreme breadth eight hundred miles ; a dis 
 tance greater, north and south, than from 
 Lake Michigan to the Gulf of Mexico, and 
 almost equal in extent, east and west, from 
 the same lake to the Atlantic Ocean. The 
 coast line of this country extends twenty-five 
 thousand miles, being two and one-half more 
 than the Atlantic and Pacific coast-line of the 
 whole United States. 
 
 Peter the Great sent out an exploring ex- 
 
70 From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 
 
 pedition under the command of Vitus Beh- 
 ring, a Danish Captain, who began his over 
 land journey in 1725, and not until 1741 did 
 he discover Alaska in latitude fifty-five 
 degrees twenty-one minutes. Peter the 
 Great died before the discovery was made. 
 The great Russian Fur Company was formed 
 in 1 783 by Siberian merchants, and held sway 
 over the country for many years. Alexander 
 Baranoff for many years ruled the country 
 with an iron hand, at the head of this great 
 Company. His history and rough experi 
 ences in this vast solitude are full of romance 
 and are extremely interesting. In 1799 he 
 came to Sitka, and in 1802 the Indians massa 
 cred all the inhabitants. Baranoff was ab 
 sent, and escaped. He remained thirty years 
 in Alaska, and died on his way to Siberia in 
 1818, having been superseded by the Com 
 pany at the age of seventy-two. He seems 
 to have been the great leader while Russia 
 held Alaska. 
 
 Alaska was purchased, with certain im 
 provements, March 30, 1867. After a good 
 deal of negotiation and several offers by our 
 Government to Russia through Secretary 
 Seward, Alaska was delivered to the United 
 States by the payment of seven million two 
 
From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 71 
 
 hundred thousand dollars, or less than two 
 cents per acre. Secretary Seward, upon 
 being asked once what he considered the 
 greatest act of his life, replied, " The pur 
 chase of Alaska." He was derided and 
 laughed at, at the time, and the purchase 
 was called " Seward s folly," and many con 
 sidered that for the seven million two hun 
 dred thousand dollars we had got a vast 
 country containing nothing but mountains 
 and ice. But the climate of Sitka in winter 
 is milder than that of New England, and the 
 summer delightfully cool and bracing. The 
 effect of the Japanese currents on the coast 
 causes the mild temperature. 
 
 The Alaska Commercial Company has paid 
 nearly as much in royalty to the United 
 States, and in rental of the Islands of Saint 
 George and Saint Paul, for the privilege of 
 catching seals, as was paid for the whole of 
 Alaska, and Secretary Seward is vindicated. 
 
 The Czar of all the Russias, no doubt, 
 hoped the purchase would create a war be 
 tween the United States and Great Britain and 
 he was glad of the opportunity to spite Eng 
 land, as he hated her with intense hatred. 
 
 Congress seems to have neglected this 
 country, as not worthy of attention, for sev- 
 
72 From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 
 
 enteen years. Soon after the purchase, 
 adventurers of all kinds poured into the 
 country. Mr. Bancroft says, " Speculators, 
 politicians, office-holders, tradesmen, gam 
 blers, and adventurous women flocked to 
 Alaska. Stores, saloons, and restaurants 
 were speedily opened. Squatter claims were 
 put on record. Vacant lots were stacked out 
 and frame shanties were erected. The prices 
 of real estate promised very speedily to make 
 a total, at Sitka alone, equal to the purchase 
 price of the whole territory." 
 
 Some one relates that a log house, with 
 lot, was held at ten thousand dollars. At the 
 first charter election there were as many can 
 didates as voters. The Russians were 
 offered by the Hudson Fur Company their 
 passage paid to Russia, and all the better 
 class availed themselves of the offer, and five 
 years later there was less population than 
 when Russia had possession. 
 
 The neglect of Congress, to provide any 
 form of civil government or protection for 
 the inhabitants, checked all progress and en 
 terprise, and a great collapse came, and the 
 country was nearly deserted. Since the 
 Northern Pacific Railroad has been built, 
 and the development of the Puget Sound 
 
From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 73 
 
 country, fisheries have been growing, and 
 mining interests have received attention, and 
 it seems as if a new era was about to dawn 
 upon Alaska, and the steamers in the sum 
 mer are crowded with tourists and prospec 
 tors the former to see the grandest scenery 
 in the world. 
 
 Not until May, 1884, did Alaska have a 
 territorial government, and as the provisions 
 could not take immediate effect, it added 
 nothing to the development of the mining 
 interest that year. The governor and civil 
 officers were not appointed until July, 1884, 
 and reached the country in September, at the 
 close of the mining season. The act of Con- 
 gress provides for a governor and four com 
 missioners, a district judge, a marshall and 
 clerk. The bill creates the district of Alaska 
 a land district, and among other things, pro 
 vides that " the laws of the United States re 
 lating to mining claims and the right inci 
 dent thereto, shall, from and after the pas 
 sage of this act, be in full force and effect in 
 said district," etc. " Provided, that the 
 Indians or other persons in said district shall 
 not be disturbed in the possession of any 
 lands actually in their use or occupation ; 
 also, that parties who have located mines or 
 
74 From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 
 
 mineral privileges therein, under the United 
 States, applicable to the public domain, shall 
 not be disturbed therein, but shall be allowed 
 to perfect their title to such claims by pay 
 ment as aforesaid ; and provided, also, that 
 the land, not exceeding six hundred and forty 
 acres, at any station now occupied as mis 
 sionary stations among the Indian tribes, in 
 said section, with the improvements thereon, 
 erected by and for such societies, shall be 
 continued in the occupancy of the several re 
 ligious societies to which said missionary so 
 cieties belong, until action by Congress. But 
 nothing contained in this act shall be con 
 strued to put in force, in said district, the 
 general laws of the United States." Mining 
 matters were at a stand-still, as it took time 
 for the officers to settle the contests and- liti 
 gation in which every piece of property was 
 involved, and all definite action was post 
 poned until last year. 
 
 On account of this unsettled condition of 
 the country, mining and other interests have 
 not advanced. Governor Kinkead reports : 
 " The mining interest, in my opinion, bids fair 
 to take front rank in value of product. I 
 confidently expect that within the next de 
 cade the production of precious metals in the 
 
Prom Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 75 
 
 district will be an important factor in the 
 finances of the general government." 
 
 High and precipitous mountains, densely 
 covered with timber and chapparel, fallen and 
 decaying trees, the earth covered with moss 
 and vegetation to the depth of one or two 
 feet, seem almost to forbid the progress of the 
 prospector. 
 
 We visited Douglas Island, nearly opposite 
 Juneau, where we saw in operation one of the 
 largest stamp-mills in the world. A company 
 from San Francisco having located here a 
 plant costing four hundred thousand dollars. 
 The manager kindly showed us through the 
 works and the mines, a short distance, where 
 one hundred or more Chinese were busy at 
 work blasting and picking out the gold quartz 
 from the great mountain of quartz ; it is then 
 run into the top of the mill which is on a 
 level with the tunnel. The mill is designed 
 for the reduction of gold ore carrying sul- 
 phurets and free gold, and has one hundred 
 and twenty stamps, of nine hundred pounds 
 each, with a crushing capacity of three hun 
 dred and sixty tons per day. The ore when 
 it comes to the mill goes through the grizzlies 
 and rock-breakers into the ore bins, from 
 which it is drawn out directly into the feeders, 
 
76 From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 
 
 which feed it into the batteries, where it is 
 crushed wet and amalgamated. Then from 
 the copper plates it is taken to and passed 
 over the free concentrators, which save the 
 sulphurets and the tailings, and sluiced off. 
 From the concentrator room the sulphurets 
 are taken to the chlorination works, where 
 they are treated for the gold which they con 
 tain, by the chlorine gas, and the gold comes 
 out in fifteen thousand and eighteen thousand 
 dollar bricks, which are shipped monthly by 
 steamer to the mint in San Francisco. About 
 one hundred thousand dollars per month is the 
 product. This company expects to illuminate 
 their mill with powerful electric lights, which 
 will diffuse sufficient light to enable work to 
 be carried on with the same facility in the 
 night as in the day time. This company 
 bought the claim of a prospector for one 
 hundred and fifty dollars. 
 
 Douglas Island is twenty miles in circum 
 ference, and is called a gold island. Proper 
 ties already claimed and partly developed 
 there aggregate in value twice as much as 
 the amount Mr. Seward paid for the whole of 
 Alaska ; and Douglas Island is but one of 
 the eleven hundred islands of the archipelago 
 of which there are promises of mineral 
 
From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 77 
 
 wealth. It was eighty-seven years after 
 Vancouver s surveys before the prospectors 
 found gold on its shores ; but the island 
 retained the old nomenclature, and is still 
 Douglas Island, as Vancouver named it, in 
 honor of his friend, the Bishop of Salisbury. 
 While we were at Juneau, opposite Doug 
 las Island, on our return, a most dastardly 
 outrage was perpetrated upon the poor 
 laboring Chinese, who, we had noticed, were 
 so industriously at work at the mines on 
 Douglas Island. A band of lawless, lazy 
 men chiefly saloon-keepers and their hang 
 ers-on held public meetings, and sent a 
 committee over, demanding of the Chinese 
 that they leave the island at once. They 
 consulted Mr. Treadwell (who had done more 
 to develop the mining interests of Alaska, 
 and call attention of the country to the great 
 richness of Alaska in gold, by establishing 
 his great stamp works, and proving to the 
 world that not one-half has been predicted 
 of the value of these mines). The Chinese 
 said to him : " You say go, we go. You say 
 fight, we fight, you bet." Mr. Treadwell ad 
 vised them to submit, as there were less than 
 one hundred of them, with only a few pis 
 tols, while there were twice the number in 
 
78 From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 
 
 the mob, well armed. They were taken to 
 Juneau by the mob, and forced on two sloops, 
 forty on one and forty-seven on the other. 
 They were poorly clothed, and there was no 
 room on the sloops for them to lie down. 
 They were sent adrift down to Fort Wrangell. 
 We saw them a few miles from Juneau ; as 
 there was a dead calm the vessels did not 
 make much headway. There was a cold 
 rain-storm, and the poor Chinese were suffer 
 ing greatly. We learned that they arrived at 
 Fort Wrangell, and would have suffered terri 
 bly, had not Mr. Treadwell sent his tug with 
 plenty to relieve them, and as the little set 
 tlement was without any supply of pro 
 visions, it was thought some of them would 
 starve. Fortunately, in a few days, the 
 steamer Archon, Captain Carrol, came along 
 and towed them back to Douglas Island. 
 Governor Swinford, on hearing of their con 
 dition, immediately sent the United States 
 steamer Pinta, Captain Nichols, to Wrangell. 
 He brought them back, and took steps to pun 
 ish the parties who violated the law; but owing 
 to the want of funds, the prosecution was 
 abandoned. One, and principal, reason the 
 mob give for their outrageous deed, is that 
 they do not oatronize the saloons. Their op- 
 
From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 79 
 
 position extends also to the Indians, whom 
 they will not allow to work. 
 
 In the vicinity of Sitka the most valuable 
 gold claims yet discovered are being devel 
 oped by a company incorporated under the 
 laws of Wisconsin. Captain Cowles, formerly 
 of Columbus, O., is Secretary and Treasurer 
 of the Lake Mountain Gold and Silver 
 Mining Company. He sent a sample of the 
 quartz to an assayist in Boston, who reported 
 that it contained one thousand eight hundred 
 and forty dollars to the ton, and is likely to 
 prove a bonanza to the company. Pros 
 pectors are numerous, and great discoveries 
 of gold are reported in the Yukon country. 
 We left some parties at Chilcoot, who were 
 going over the Chilcoot Pass, where the In 
 dians have a trail, some thirty-five miles in 
 length, to a chain of lakes about three hun 
 dred miles long, which connect with the head 
 waters of the Yukon River. This river is 
 not only one of the largest on the continent, 
 but one of the largest in the world, and from 
 this point, from which the miners strike it, to 
 its mouth, is a distance of two thousand 
 miles. Valuable mineral discoveries have 
 been made on the banks of the river, and 
 miners have staked large claims. One is re- 
 
8o From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 
 
 ported on a vein of gold-bearing quartz six 
 hundred feet wide. The prospectors are con 
 vinced that gold exits all through the Yukon 
 country, but its remoteness from all base of 
 supplies, and the long, severe winters of the 
 interior, left a mining season of four months 
 too short to be profitable. 
 
 Professor Muir, of California, who is one of 
 the most scientific men of the West, has 
 visited Alaska, and sees no reason why this 
 may not become one of the richest mining 
 countries in the world. He believes that the 
 great mineral vein, extending up the coast of 
 Mexico to British Columbia, continues 
 through Alaska to Siberia. With British 
 Columbia producing one million to two mil 
 lion dollars each year, and Siberia yielding 
 twenty-two million dollars, why should not 
 Alaska, with the same geological formations, 
 be equally productive in gold and silver? 
 Copper, cinnabar, iron, coal and marble are 
 found in great quantities. 
 
 When our lumber supplies fail us, as they 
 are fast growing less in Michigan and Wis 
 consin, great things may be expected in 
 Alaska in the future. From the time that we 
 set sight on Alaska until we reached Chilcoot, 
 the most northerly place our steamer reaches, 
 
From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 81 
 
 one is amazed at the immense forests of fir 
 trees which cover the mountains, islands and 
 valleys, coming down to the water s edge, 
 and reflected so beautifully in the deep, clear 
 water. There are five species of valuable 
 woods. Commercially speaking, they range 
 as follows : yellow cedar, spruce, hemlock, 
 elder and a species of fir or black pine. The 
 yellow cedar, susceptible of taking a fine 
 polish, is considered valuable for boat build 
 ing and finishing purposes. It sells for 
 eighty dollars per thousand in San Francisco. 
 It possesses a delightful odor, which, like 
 camphor wood, it retains for a longtime, and 
 manufactured into boxes and chests, is very 
 valuable for packing furs and other goods, as 
 it is said to be moth preventive. We brought 
 away some photographs of a yellow cedar 
 log, fifty feet long and seventy-four inches in 
 diameter, and, it is said, they are frequently 
 found one hundred feet high, with a diame 
 ter of four or five feet. Some of the enter 
 prising people of San Francisco built saw 
 mills in Alaska and shipped lumber to Cali 
 fornia, but the vessel was seized by the 
 United States authorities, and the lumber 
 confiscated. British Columbia offers great 
 inducements to settlers to develop the coun- 
 
82 From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 
 
 try and show to the world its value, even at 
 a loss of a few trees that are of no value, ex 
 cept they are sawed into lumber and shipped 
 where lumber is in demand, but, in Alaska 
 no one is allowed to saw the trees except to 
 use on the spot, and there are no laws giving 
 any one a title to the land, and no one can 
 own a home here. The Russians carried on 
 ship building extensively in Alaska, and the 
 time may not be far distant when ship build 
 ing will rank among the foremost industries 
 of Alaska. 
 
 At Fort Wrangell, Juneau and Sitka we saw 
 at the stores valuable furs, especially bear and 
 seal. The fur trade is exceedingly valuable, 
 as the beaver, fox, marten, ermine, otter and 
 wolf are numerous. The cinnamon and 
 black bear in great numbers are found in 
 south-eastern Alaska, while further north, 
 near the great Yukon river, the rein-deer roam 
 undisturbed by man. The islands are full of 
 deer. Captain Hunter, of our steamer Idaho, 
 captured four deer in one of the narrow 
 channels of the Alaska waters, out of quite a 
 herd which were swimming across, which he 
 sent to friends in San Francisco. I kept con 
 tinually on the lookout to capture some to 
 put into our Franklin Park, at Columbus, 
 
From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 83 
 
 Ohio. The Alaska Commercial Company 
 has a monopoly of the fur seal business, for 
 which they pay to the United States an an 
 nual rental of fifty-five thousand dollars, and 
 a royalty of two dollars and sixty-two and 
 one-half cents for each seal killed, and are 
 limited to the killing of one hundred thou 
 sand seals annually. 
 
 The principal points where the fur seals are 
 caught are the islands of Saint George and 
 Saint Paul, belonging to the Pribyloff group, 
 one thousand seven hundred miles west of 
 Sitka. They have already paid nearly as much 
 to our Government as Secretary Seward 
 paid for the whole of Alaska. Th is company 
 gathered last year nine-tenths of the world s 
 supply of seal skins, and the company has 
 made an immense fortune. These northern 
 latitudes seem to swarm with fish and game. 
 The salmon fisheries are the most numerous, 
 and as they seem to be failing and dimin 
 ishing on the Columbia River from year to 
 year, Alaska will probably become the main 
 source of the world s supply. Some of the 
 finest salmon in the world are found in 
 Alaskan waters, and the largest ever caught, 
 weighing over forty pounds, was at the 
 mouth of the Yukon River. It is the chief 
 
84 From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 
 
 food of the Indians, and they had come down 
 from the interior at this season of the year 
 to catch their winter supply. They have 
 their own fishing waters, which have de 
 scended to them from their ancestors, and 
 they regard the rights of each other to the 
 different waters for their salmon fisheries 
 with jealous care. 
 
 In their huts you can see them seated on 
 the ground around the fire, cooking the 
 salmon, after dressing them, on the coals and 
 throwing the entrails out in the sand in front 
 of their huts to decay, emitting a terrible 
 stench. It is said they take ten million to 
 twelve million a year, or three times as many 
 as are required for the canneries of the Paci 
 fic Coast. 
 
 At Naha Bay, as our steamer sailed in, the 
 salmon were so thick that the steamer seemed 
 to plow through them and turn up their 
 silvery sides, giving us an idea of their 
 beauty and great numbers. At Killisnoo 
 there is a large company, called the North 
 west Trading Company, who have a large 
 establishment for rendering fish oil, which is 
 used, no doubt, for cod oil, and also for 
 making " Lubin s Extracts." The company 
 have just shipped one hundred and fifty tons 
 
From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 85 
 
 of fish oil to Liverpool. This is the first 
 shipment ever made direct to England from 
 Alaska. They also shipped a car load to 
 London and another to Dundee. It is there 
 purified of its fishy odor, and then shipped 
 back to this country as salad oil. 
 
 Thus Alaska is entering into competition 
 with the Mediterranean in supplying the 
 civilized world with one of its own valuable 
 condiments, and when we can learn to purify 
 it of its " fishy odor," the olive groves of 
 Greece and Algiers will have to yield to the 
 waters of Alaska. One large firm from San 
 Francisco had its superintendent and a party 
 of Chinese on board our steamer, who were 
 landed at Chilkat to start a canning estab 
 lishment, on account of the failure of the 
 salmon fisheries on the Columbia River. 
 
 There are not probably over one thousand 
 white inhabitants in Alaska, and from forty 
 to sixty thousand Indians, and only a few 
 towns on the water courses ; none in the in 
 terior. Sitka is the capital. During the 
 Russian occupation, the town of Sitka, al 
 though the centre of government and busi 
 ness, was far from being an inviting place. 
 It is probable that the Russians cared little 
 to make it so. They lived on terms of singu- 
 
86 From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 
 
 lar familiarity, and even intimacy, with the 
 Indians. Native servants commonly called 
 their masters by their first name. Baranoff 
 had by a native woman a daughter, of 
 whom he was very proud. In 1805 a Rus 
 sian visitor found Baranoff living in what 
 he could describe as little better than 
 a hut. His bed during heavy rains was often 
 afloat, and a leak in his roof was looked upon 
 as too small a matter to receive attention ; 
 and yet Baranoff was a man of education and 
 real attainment, as well as a very able admin 
 istrator. Savage ways of life, and the savage 
 want of a sense of refinement and cleanli 
 ness, had obviously been far too readily 
 adopted. It was a majority had conquered 
 at least in the matters of social and domestic 
 decency. 
 
 As late as 1841, a traveler on his way 
 around the world, declared Sitka to be the 
 dirtiest and most wretched place that he had 
 ever seen. Four years earlier another trav 
 eler gave an opposite verdict. Possibly these 
 two visitors were in Sitka at opposite seasons 
 of the year. Sitka in January and Sitka in 
 July are very different places. One gentle 
 man who spent a year there told me that it 
 rained three hundred days in the year. 
 
From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 87 
 
 Rain and fog without end might make 
 even an earthly paradise, as a place of pro 
 longed residence, gloomy indeed. But there 
 is no doubt that Sitka in those days was a 
 most interesting and curious place. It may 
 be that the town has lost somewhat of its ac 
 tivity and acquired picturesqueness as well as 
 dirt, since the Russian flag was superseded by 
 the stars and stripes nearly twenty years ago. 
 
 We were all delighted one lovely August 
 morning as we came in view of Sitka, which 
 is beautifully situated on a level plateau, at 
 the foot of high snow-covered mountains, 
 and on the bay of the same name, with about 
 fifty islands in view, which are covered with 
 thick verdure of fir trees of different sizes, 
 and is a more beautiful bay than the Bay of 
 Naples, which it resembles. There is an 
 extinct volcano in view Mount Edgecomb 
 which is three thousand five hundred feet 
 high. Rising by a graceful elevation on one 
 side from its long cape stretching far out in 
 to the western waves, displaying at its top 
 the perfect rim of its crater leaning gently 
 over towards the town, and its other side 
 running abruptly into a bridge of peaks that 
 drop down lower and lower, until they are 
 lost in the interminable mass of mountains 
 
88 From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 
 
 to the north, it stands a most notable land 
 mark and beautiful back-ground to the island- 
 gemmed Bay of Sitka. 
 
 Professor Libbey, of Lieutenant Schwatka s 
 command, is the first person to ascend it, 
 and found it more of a volcano than had 
 been supposed. Sitka seemed like a gala 
 day, with its inhabitants all out of doors, 
 coming down to the steamer to get their 
 mail, which comes only once a month. All 
 business is stopped ; even the schools are dis 
 missed. Many of the ladies were stylishly 
 dressed and quite attractive in their appear 
 ance. A cannon on the steamer gave the 
 note of warning that the steamer was 
 approaching. Not only the two or three hun 
 dred white people came out, but the same 
 number of Indians came out from their cabins 
 in the Indian village, or rancherie, as they call 
 it ; and the basket-makers brought their bas 
 kets, and every Indian woman wore silver 
 bracelets ; one on each arm. These they 
 make from silver dollars, and sell to visitors, 
 as also various old horn spoons and medi 
 cine wands, moccasins, etc. They sprawl out 
 on the floor, and with their heads resting on 
 their hands they gaze at the people with stu 
 pid indifference. 
 
Prom Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 89 
 
 The most conspicuous buildings on the 
 highest part of the place, fronting the harbor, 
 are the two large establishments of the Pres 
 byterian Missions, which we mistook for the 
 Government Buildings. We were shown 
 through the old castle, which is high up on a 
 rock, called Kateland s Rock, in memory of a 
 chief who once lived there ; we reached the 
 top by a stairway, and from there had a 
 splendid view of the bay and mountains 
 around. The old castle was built of logs, and 
 covered with boards, and riveted to the rock, 
 to prevent its being shaken by an earthquake. 
 The castle is one hundred and forty feet long 
 by seventy feet wide ; if it could talk, it could, 
 no doubt, tell a wonderful history of the old 
 Russian Governors who inhabited it and main 
 tained the style of the Russian nobility. 
 
 History gives us vivid pictures of the social 
 life of Sitka, while the Russians had posses 
 sion ; all the old furniture and ancient relics 
 were carried off after the troops left, and we 
 could see nothing reminding us of its an 
 tiquity but the old porcelain stoves in the cor 
 ners of the large rooms. Attorney-General Ball 
 and wife occupy the first floor. Mrs. Ball in 
 formed us that when she talked of occupying 
 the castle, she was informed that it was in- 
 
90 From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 
 
 habited by a ghost, which had been often 
 seen, and no one dared to live there. "The 
 story of the ghost, whose sad story is modeled 
 on that of the Bride of Lammermoor. By 
 tradition the lady in black was a daughter of 
 one of the old governors. On her wedding 
 night she disappeared from the ball-room in 
 the midst of the festivities, and after long 
 search was found dead in one of the small 
 drawing-rooms. Being forced to marry 
 against her will, one belief was that she vol 
 untarily took poison, while another version 
 ascribes the deed to an unhappy lover ; while 
 altogether, the tale of this Lucia of the north 
 west isles gives just the touch of sentimental 
 interest to this castle of the Russian Gov 
 ernors." Mrs. Ball informs us that she 
 watched all the first night she occupied the 
 castle and no ghost appeared, and she has 
 no fears now. 
 
 Lieutenant McLean, of the Signal Service, 
 occupies the upper rooms for his office, and 
 has just brought his bride from Washington 
 to occupy other rooms. The houses on the 
 street are made of logs, and all over the little 
 town the houses had been white-washed, and 
 instead of the dirty-looking town we had been 
 told Sitka was, we found it clean and neat. 
 
From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 91 
 
 White and Indian boys were playing base ball 
 on the common or parade ground, and in 
 every door we could see the people eagerly 
 reading their letters, and it was interesting to 
 watch the expression of their faces, which 
 showed joy or sorrow according to the news 
 which the letters contained. 
 
 At the end of the street was the old Russian 
 Greek Church of Saint Michael, with its eme 
 rald-green dome, its bulging spire, and chime 
 of six silver bells, which ring out their silvery 
 tones echoing through the village. The panel 
 picture of Saint Michael over the door-way 
 has lost its lustre. The church is built in the 
 form of a Greek cross. There are a number 
 of paintings in it ; one of the " Last Supper," 
 the crowns and vestments covered with silver. 
 The church, like all Creek churches, contains 
 large candle-sticks, candelabra, etc., of silver. 
 It contains the Holy of Holies, into which no 
 woman is admitted. We did not see any Rus 
 sians in Sitka, only the old priest, who in 
 forms us that he has an audience of about 
 thirty-five Indians, and more are soon to unite. 
 This, I believe, is the only Greek church in 
 the United States, except on the Aleutian 
 Islands, and it shows by its old faded look 
 that the Greek religion does not flourish in this 
 
92 From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 
 
 country, and before many years this church, 
 like the one in New York, will be abandoned. 
 The government of Russia expends each year 
 fifty thousand dollars for the support of their 
 missions in Alaska, but they are fast dying 
 out. 
 
 It is interesting to visit the Indian village 
 or rancherie. In the winter a large number of 
 Indians are here, but many of them are now 
 away catching salmon for their winter supply. 
 Many of the houses were neat and clean, and 
 had beds covered with white, and a stove in 
 the room instead of a fire in the centre of the 
 room on the ground, with the smoke going 
 out of a hole in the roof. We learned that 
 those who are educated at the Mission soon 
 want to have things like the whites ; and those 
 who were in such nice order had been educated 
 at the Mission. In almost every house we 
 entered they would bring out, hidden away 
 in a pile of rags, a lot of skins, furs and vari 
 ous Indian relics to sell us. 
 
 We enjoyed a delightful walk to Indian 
 river along the bay, for one or two miles, re 
 turning by paths through the dense forest of 
 evergreens. Every little while leading us 
 along by the shore of the river, we found 
 plenty of yellow and black raspberries. The 
 
From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 93 
 
 grounds are arranged with paths and rustic 
 bridges across the river, and we were all de 
 lighted with the little show of civilization, 
 after riding over one thousand miles through 
 a wilderness. 
 
 Secretary Seward visited Alaska in 1869, 
 and was greatly pleased with his purchase. 
 He was received with great honors in Sitka, 
 and carried away a great variety of Indian 
 curios and souvenirs. By the custom of the 
 Indians, the fur robes laid for him to sit on in 
 the chief s cabin, were his. He, of course, had 
 to give presents to the chiefs in return, which 
 made his visit to Alaska a memorable one. 
 
 A quantity of Alaska cedar was taken east, 
 which was used for the inside finish of the 
 Seward mansion at Auburn. 
 
 A year later Lady Franklin visited Sitka, 
 when she was eighty years old, and the room 
 was shown us in the old castle which she had 
 occupied, as also had Mr. Seward, when there. 
 Lady Franklin hoped to find some trace of 
 her husband who was lost in the Arctic explo 
 ration. It was reported to her that he had 
 been heard from, and this remarkable woman, 
 at her great age, sailed from England and 
 came here to try to trace the rumors. It was 
 a long journey, in vain, and she died five 
 
94 From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 
 
 years afterwards ; this being her second trip 
 to the Pacific coast in search of her husband. 
 
 Alaska seems to have been considered of no 
 value by our government, and since Mr. Sew- 
 ard s death has been almost abandoned, until 
 within a year or two. The military sailed 
 away after ten year s occupation, and no civil 
 government was established, and the in 
 habitants were in a terrible condition. The 
 Indians committed various depredations with 
 immunity from punishment. Even white 
 men were murdered, and the murderers had 
 to be sent to Oregon for trial. There were 
 only about three hundred white people to 
 three times as many Indians. The white peo 
 ple made application for protection to the 
 British Admiral at Victoria, who, without 
 waiting for red tape orders, reached there in 
 March, 1879, to the great relief of the in 
 habitants. 
 
 Our Government finally sent a little revenue 
 cutter Oliver Wolcott which was too small 
 to be of any service, and the Indians defied 
 and laughed at the menace, so the British 
 Captain remained until the United States 
 steamer Alaska came in April. 
 
 The only protection the people have had 
 was from the navy, and the commanders of 
 
From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 95 
 
 the Jamestown, which succeeded the Alaska, 
 sailed through all parts of the Sitkan archipe 
 lago, and controlled the Indians and institu 
 ted many reforms among them. The com 
 mander, Captain Glass, seemed to be governor, 
 judge and marshal of Alaska, and displayed 
 great ability and exercised justice and 
 humanity in a way to win the respect and 
 control of the Indians. He made treaties 
 of peace between the Indian tribes, and, in 
 fact, kept a navel protectorate over Alaska. 
 
 Captain Merriman, and others who suc 
 ceeded him, were equally efficient in govern 
 ing the Indians and acting as umpire in their 
 quarrels. He seemed to have a paternal 
 interest in the Indians, and when he left 
 Sitka, crowds gathered at the wharf to say 
 farewell to the wise and paternal commander. 
 
 Those who succeeded Captain Merriman 
 found the Indians peaceful, and they spent 
 much time in visiting the different islands, 
 and looking after the mineral interests of 
 Alaska. 
 
 While we were at Sitka, the United States 
 steamer Pinta, Captain H. E. Nichols, was in 
 the harbor in control of the navel affairs. 
 He is a most intelligent gentleman, and, from 
 a long conversation with him, I have no doubt 
 
g6 From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 
 
 will sustain the reputation he gained while 
 engaged in the coast survey in the southern 
 part of Alaska. His surveys were valuable 
 to us through the charts he made for the 
 "Alaska Coast Pilot." 
 
 The people of Sitka speak in high terms of 
 the navel officers, quite in contrast with the 
 former military operations. 
 
 On account of the character of the country 
 it is impossible for a land force to be of any 
 service. The Government, after seventeen 
 years from the time of the purchase of Alaska 
 passed a bill, introduced by Senator Harri 
 son of Indiana, now President, ( it passed 
 the Senate and House of Representatives, 
 and was approved by the signature of Presi 
 dent Arthur), creating Alaska a Territory, 
 but not a land district. Hon. John H. Kin- 
 kead, ex-Governor of Nevada, who had once 
 resided in Sitka, was made first Governor, 
 and other officers were appointed, and reached 
 their destination in September, 1884. Gov 
 ernor Swinford, of Michigan, was appointed 
 Governor of Alaska, and an entire change of 
 affairs made in 1885 by the present adminis 
 tration. 
 
 Congress seems to be awake to the possi 
 bilities of the great country, and is slowly 
 
From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 97 
 
 passing laws to help its development, through 
 schools, by an appropriation of twenty-five 
 thousand dollars, and in other ways. 
 
 People visiting Alaska will enlighten the 
 public as to that country not being a territory 
 of mountains, icebergs and glaciers alone. 
 The growth of the forests is almost tropical 
 in its nature, certainly semi-tropical, and the 
 " entangled wildwoods " look like Louisiana 
 or Florida. 
 
 Very little is known of the flora of Alaska, 
 but it is stated that on Baranoff Island more 
 than three hundred varieties of wild flowers 
 are found. Among the more valuable grasses, 
 of which some thirty species are known to 
 exist in the Yukon territory, is the well-known 
 Kentucky blue grass. The meadow-wood 
 grass is abundant here. The blue-joint grass, 
 which grows from three feet to five feet in 
 height. Many other grasses grow abundantly, 
 and contribute largely to the whole amount 
 of herbage. Ten species of Elyonus almost 
 deceive the traveler with the aspect of grain 
 fields maturing a perceptible kernel, which 
 the field mice lay up in store. 
 
 At Juneau and Sitkawe saw the Indian wo 
 men weaving grasses into mats, baskets, dishes, 
 etc. Articles of clothing for summer use, such 
 
98 From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 
 
 as socks, mittens and a sort of hat, and vari 
 ous articles to sell to travelers as Indian 
 curios ; were also offered. 
 
 " In the winter, the grasses collected in the 
 summer for the purpose, and neatly tied in 
 bunches, are shaped to correspond with the 
 foot and the seal-skin sole of the winter boots 
 worn in that country. There they serve as a 
 non-conductor, keeping the foot dry and 
 warm, and protecting from the confusion." 
 Some of the mosses of Alaska are of special 
 economic value as a substitute for curled 
 horse hair in the manufacture of mattresses, 
 cushions, and for like purposes. 
 
 Wild hops, wild onions and wild berries 
 grow in profusion ; crab apples ; the largest 
 gooseberries we ever saw were in the garden 
 of Mr. Vanderbilt, at Sitka. Currents, black 
 and whortleberries, raspberries ; we picked, on 
 Indian River, very large red and white sal 
 mon berries ; there are also chicker berries, 
 pigeon berries and angelica. Almost every 
 flower is succeeded by a berry. 
 
 The " Coast Pilot," by Professor W. H. Ball, 
 of the Smithsonian Institution, represents the 
 country between Norton Sound and the Artie 
 Ocean as " a vast moorland whose level is only 
 interrupted by promontories and isolated 
 
From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 99 
 
 mountains, with numerous lakes, bogs and peat 
 beds. Wherever drainage exists, the ground 
 is covered with luxurious herbage and pro 
 duces the rarest as well as the most beautiful 
 plants. The aspect of some of these spots is 
 very gay. Many flowers are large and their 
 colors bright, and, though white and yellow 
 predominate, other tints are not uncommon. 
 Summer sets in most rapidly in May, and the 
 landscape is quickly overspread with a lively 
 green. The extreme heat and constant sun 
 shine cause it to produce rank vegetation. 
 
 From my own observation, I have no doubt 
 that Alaska will prove, when developed, as 
 valuable a country as Norway, and far supe 
 rior to Russia. 
 
 The Aleutian, or Seal Islands, as they are 
 called, are twenty-six hundred miles from 
 San Francisco, and about fifteen hundred 
 miles northwest of Sitka ; all communication 
 with them is by way of San Francisco. 
 There are seventy islands in all ; but the two 
 small islands of the group are called Saint 
 George and Saint Paul. The former is ten 
 miles long, and about five miles wide ; the 
 latter is thirteen miles in length by six in 
 breadth. St. George has a population of only 
 ninety-two, four only of whom are white ; 
 
ioo From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 
 
 Saint Paul has about three hundred, fourteen 
 of whom are white. 
 
 On the shores of these rocky islands, it is 
 said, nineteen-twentieths of all the seals of 
 the world are caught. Many of the ladies 
 who wear seal garments are not aware that 
 they are a product of our own country. 
 The skins are nearly all shipped to Europe, 
 because of the perfection of the dye the art 
 being said to be possessed by only two firms 
 in London and Paris, which gives them a 
 monopoly of the trade of the world. There 
 are dyers in this country, but they do not 
 have the skill to give so rich and dark a color 
 as the English and French. The art of 
 dyeing originated with the Chinese. 
 
 The seal catching season lasts only about 
 seventy days, and, in the meantime, the in 
 habitants have nothing to do but to go to the 
 Russian church. 
 
 When Secretary Seward purchased Alaska, 
 in 1867, the value of the seals was not taken 
 into account. Congress passed a law in 
 1869, making the Aleutian Islands a govern 
 ment reservation, and restricted the killing 
 of the seals to one hundred thousand an 
 nually. An average seal will measure six 
 and one-half feet in length, and weigh four 
 
From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 101 
 
 hundred pounds. When in Juneau we saw a 
 skin that measured seven and one-half feet. 
 
 The company were to furnish the inhabit 
 ants with a certain amount of subsistence 
 and fuel, to maintain schools for the children 
 and to prevent the use of fire-arms on 
 or near the sealing grounds. The contract 
 expires in 1890, and it is said that 
 an immense fortune has been made by 
 the wise and fortunate investment of these 
 San Francisco business men. The stock of 
 the company is divided into twelve shares, 
 and pays a dividend of about one million 
 dollars per year. 
 
 This company has also a contract which 
 amounts to a monopoly of the fur trade on 
 Behring and Copfer Islands, and at other 
 points on the Kamtchatka Coast, and forty 
 or fifty other trading ports in Alaska. 
 
 It was a great curiosity for us to visit the 
 offices and storage-room while we were in 
 San Francisco, and see the tens of thousand 
 of seal, fox, mink and marten skins hanging 
 from the rafters, and choicest of bear, deer, 
 beaver and lynx skins piled up in their great 
 store-rooms. 
 
 Sea otters and cod fisheries have become 
 an important industry. Judging by the 
 
io2 From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 
 
 hoarse and shrieking cries of the seals at the 
 seal cliffs, near San Francisco, we should 
 think the three million seals, which are said 
 to gather on the rockeries of Saint Paul and 
 Saint George Islands, would make a terrible 
 noise above the roaring of the ocean in a 
 storm as the waters dash against the rocks ; 
 and, it is said, during summer fogs the pilots 
 are guided to the islands by the noise. 
 
 The killing of the seals by the natives is 
 thus described : " They start out before dawn, 
 and running down the shore, get between the 
 sleeping seals and the water, and then drive 
 them inland, as they would so many sheep, to 
 the killing ground a half mile inland. They 
 drive them slowly, giving them frequent rests 
 for cooling, and gradually turning aside and 
 leaving behind all seals that are not up to re 
 quisite age and condition. When the poor 
 tame things have reached their death-ground, 
 the natives go around with heavy clubs and, 
 by one blow on the head, kill them." 
 
 On one trip, in 1883, the steamer Saint Paul 
 brought down sixty-three thousand seal-skins, 
 valued at six hundred and thirty thousand 
 dollars, and the tax paid to the government 
 amounted to one hundred and sixty-five thou 
 sand three hundred and seventy-five dollars. 
 
From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 103 
 
 There are said to be ten different tribes of 
 Indians on the coast of Alaska, and as many 
 more inland. At the taking of the last census 
 there was an effort made to take the number 
 of Indians in Alaska, but without success. 
 The number is estimated to be from forty to 
 fifty thousand. They do not look like our 
 North American Indians, but many of them 
 look like the Mongolians. 
 
 Hon. James G. Swan, correspondent of the 
 Smithsonian Institution, at Port Townsend, on 
 whom we called, thinks the whole population 
 up to the Arctic belt are of Aztec origin, and 
 gave us many reasons, on account of similarity 
 of language, features, implements, handiwork, 
 carvings, and religious emblems and cere 
 monies. 
 
 He showed us in his office some old silver 
 idols which he said resembled in size, feature 
 and figure, the Chiriqui idols of the Isthmus 
 of Panama. Mr. Newton H. Crittenden in 
 fers " from incidental evidences, that Hydahs 
 are castaways from Eastern Asia, who first 
 reached the islands of Southern Alaska." 
 
 Mr. Edward Vining, in his book entiled 
 " The Discovery of America, or the- Uncele 
 brated Columbus," inclines to the Chinese 
 origin, and reiterates the story from theorigi- 
 
io4 From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 
 
 nal Chinese source of the landing of Hwin 
 Shin and a party of Buddhist Monks on the 
 coast of Mexico about A. D. five hundred. 
 The Indians and Chinese working together at 
 the Treadwell mines, on Douglas Island, cer 
 tainly resemble each other. 
 
 Their houses are .built of logs, and often 
 covered with boards hewed out with an adze. 
 They are quite ingenious in wood carving, as 
 indicated by the heraldic emblems on their 
 totem poles. The various articles of carved 
 bone, metal, stone and silver, which they offer 
 for sale, are always original and unique. The 
 women wear silver pins in their lower lips. 
 Many of the articles enumerated they sell for 
 silver dollars, which they make up into other 
 articles for sale. They will not take in pay 
 ment gold or greenbacks, they want silver 
 only. "Oh, that all the silver dollars could 
 go to Alaska." 
 
 When educated in the schools, the Indians 
 would make good citizens, if they could be 
 employed at some regular business ; but in 
 Alaska there is, outside of the few mines and 
 fisheries, nothing for them to do, and most 
 of them go back to their tribes, who ridicule 
 them about their education ; so they resume 
 the old Indian habits, and some of them be- 
 
From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 105 
 
 come more uncivilized than ever. The girls 
 can find nothing to do, unless as servants, 
 and the demand for them is so limited that 
 the supply is excess. This is a serious ques 
 tion, and is difficult to solve until Alaska be 
 comes settled with whites, and her resources 
 are developed. 
 
 The Indians of Alaska seem much more in 
 telligent than the North American Indians, 
 Hon. V. Colfax, special Indian Commissioner 
 to Alaska, said in his report : " I do not hesi 
 tate to say that if three-fourths of them 
 (Alaska Indians) were landed in New York 
 as coming from Europe, they would be 
 selected as among the most intelligent of the 
 many worthy emigrants who daily arrive at 
 that port." The Indian inhabitants are divi 
 ded into four general divisions Koloshians, 
 Kenanians, Aleuts and Eskimo. These are 
 subdivided into many tribes and families. 
 
 The Presbyterians are doing a good work 
 in Alaska, with their five or six missionary 
 stations at Eort Wrangell, Juneau, Chilcot, 
 Sitka and some other places. We visited 
 their schools at Fort Wrangell and Sitka, and 
 were delighted with the success, as apparent 
 from the appearance of the boys and girls, 
 and from the answers given by them ; they 
 
io6 From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 
 
 were certainly as prompt and correct as from 
 white children of the same age in our 
 schools. Everybody but the missionaries 
 seem to decry their work, and think nothing 
 can be done to Christianize or civilize the 
 Indians. " When the children are educated 
 at the schools and return to their homes, 
 they go back to their old habits and customs, 
 and become leaders of all kinds of wicked 
 ness and deviltry, and that their education 
 only teaches them to be mean." But any 
 one looking into the homes of the educated, 
 who have attended the schools, will see a 
 marked difference. They are cleanly clad, 
 have neat homes and clean beds, with a little 
 stove to cook their food and warm their 
 rooms. Almost every Indian cabin is full of 
 smoke, as there are no chimneys, and they 
 all have disease of the eyes, and are short 
 lived from filth and improper food. Educa 
 tion teaches them to avoid these, and in time 
 the children will become good citizens. It 
 may take time, but it will surely come. 
 
 A paper is published at Fort Wrangell, 
 under the direction of Rev. Mr. Young, and 
 the type is set and the work all done by the 
 Indians. It is called the Glacier. 
 
 Rev. Mr. Williard, at Juneau, preaches to 
 
From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 107 
 
 nine different tribes of Klinket Indians, who 
 are gathered here in this town because of its 
 being a mining centre. We see them here 
 just from their forest homes, in all their deg 
 radation. Rev. Mr. White has just come 
 here to take charge of the work among the 
 whites, who are fully as difficult to Christian 
 ize as are the Indians. 
 
 In common with all savage people, the In 
 dians regard their women as slaves, and com 
 pel them to do the hardest work, while they 
 look lazily on, enjoying the luxury of a pipe, 
 and often require their services with harsh 
 words and cruel blows ; they are inferior in 
 looks and less in number than the men. 
 Their inferiority rises, probably, from the 
 cruel and harsh treatment they receive, and 
 their small number is, in great measure, 
 caused by the too prevalent custom of infan 
 ticide. Spared in infancy, the lesson of in 
 feriority is early burned into the lives of the 
 girls. While mere babes they are sometimes 
 given away or betrothed to their future hus 
 bands, and when they arrive at the age of 
 twelve or fourteen years, among the Tinneh 
 and the Thrinkets and others, they are offered 
 for ,sale. For a few blankets a mother will 
 sell her own daughter for base purposes for a 
 
io8 From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 
 
 week or a month, or for life. Said a great 
 chief: "Women are made to labor; one of 
 them can haul as much as two men can. 
 They patch our tents, make and mend our 
 clothes," etc. 
 
 A majority of the slaves are women. Poly 
 gamy, with all its attendant evils, is common 
 among the tribes. Those wives are often sis 
 ters ; sometimes a man s own mother or 
 daughter are among his wives. If a man s 
 wives bear him daughters, he continues to 
 take other wives until he has sons. One of 
 the chiefs is said to have forty wives. After 
 marriage they are practically slaves of their 
 husbands. We have remarked that the wo 
 men wear silver pins in their lower lips. 
 Upon arriving at a marriageable age the lower 
 lip of the girl is pierced and the silver pin is 
 inserted, the flat head of the pin being in the 
 mouth and the point projecting through the 
 lip over the chin. After marriage the pin is 
 removed from the woman s lip and a spool- 
 shaped plug, called a labut, about three- 
 quarters of an inch in length, is then substi 
 tuted. As the woman grows older, larger 
 labuts are inserted, so that an old woman may 
 have one two inches in diameter. 
 
 The method of warfare among the Alaskan 
 
From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 109 
 
 Indians is an ambush or surprise. The 
 prisoners who are taken are made slaves, and 
 the dead are scalped. The scalps are woven 
 into a kind of garter by the victor. 
 
 They believe in the transmigration of souls 
 from one body into that of another, but not 
 into that of an animal ; and the wish is often 
 expressed that in the next change they may 
 be born into some powerful family. 
 
 Those bodies that are burned are supposed 
 to be warm in the next world and the others 
 cold. If slaves are sacrificed at the burial of 
 their owners, this relieves the owners of labor 
 in the next world. 
 
 Their religion is a feeble Polytheism. All 
 the Alaskan Indians are held in abject fear by 
 the sorcerer and medicine men. Witchcraft, 
 with all its awful consequences, is of univer 
 sal belief. The medicine man, or sorcerer, 
 or showman, as he is often called, demands 
 large rewards before he begins his incanta 
 tions to heal the sick ; and if he fails, he al 
 ways declares that the failure is due to witch 
 craft. He then commences to find the witch, 
 and never fails. Hand over hand, as if fol 
 lowing an invisible cord, he traces the witch, 
 who is then tortured to death. He or she, as 
 the case may be, is bound with the head 
 
no From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 
 
 drawn between the knees, and usually placed 
 beneath the floor of some uninhabited hut un 
 til death takes place. 
 
 As the women do all the business, no con 
 tract is made without their consent. Pro 
 fessor Wright, of Oberlin, Ohio, made ar 
 rangements at Juneau for a canoe and two In 
 dians, to accompany him on his excursion to 
 Muir Glacier, and they were to meet his 
 party at Douglas Island. He was disap 
 pointed in not having them on hand. He 
 finally learned that the wife of one objected, 
 and wanted the price doubled for the canoe 
 and the services, and she must accompany the 
 party, to which he did not consent. Other 
 Indians came, and a new contract was made 
 after an hour s bargaining. He got the price 
 reduced from twenty-five to twenty-four dol 
 lars for four week s use of the canoe, and one 
 dollar and fifty cents per day for the services 
 of the Indian. The wife and daughter made 
 the contract, and received the money in ad 
 vance, and the money was placed in the hands 
 of a third party to pay the wages of the In 
 dian on his return. No matter what contract 
 the husband may make, even if the money 
 has been paid, the wives claim the right to 
 undo the contract and demand a return of 
 
From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. in 
 
 what has been paid. When the Indians be 
 come educated and Christianized, they want 
 to be married by a minister. In several In 
 dian homes the women had their marriage 
 certificate neatly framed and hung up in the 
 room. They took it down and brought it 
 to us with pride and pleasure beaming in 
 their countenances. 
 
 As the Indians approach a glacier, meeting 
 the floating ice, carefully avoid striking pieces 
 of ice, lest they offend the ice spirit. 
 
 We had a delightful stay at Sitka. As we 
 left our steamer we met the whole population, 
 as it seemed, out of doors ; you could see the 
 people along the street, in the doors of the 
 stores and houses reading their letters, some 
 times aloud to their friends. It was interest 
 ing to watch their faces and catch the expres 
 sions of joy or sorrow. The contrast between 
 the number of beautiful women and the 
 squalid row of Indian \vomen was very 
 marked. We think the society of Sitka is 
 highly cultivated, judging from what we saw 
 of it at their homes and at the grand bail 
 given by the Sitkans in honor of our passen 
 gers. At the close, a grand banquet was given 
 by Captain Hunter, and when we left, three 
 cheers were given with a vim from the steamer 
 
1 1 2 From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 
 
 to the Sitkans. We were entertained at the 
 Mission buildings, the most commanding in 
 the place, by the Rev. Mr. Austin and his 
 assistants, who have charge of the Mission, 
 where there are about seventy-five or eighty 
 pupils, many of whom showed great pro 
 ficiency. 
 
 We were kindly invited to Lieutenant 
 Emmon s house to see the museum of Alaska 
 furs and Indian curiosities, arranged in ar 
 tistic style, and also to Mr. Vanderbilt s, to 
 see his painting of " Muir Glacier," by 
 Hall, of Chicago ; no painter, however, can 
 do justice to so grand a sight. Mrs. Vander- 
 bilt has been in Alaska for a number of years ; 
 she is a native of Ohio, and seems contented 
 and happy with her beautiful children, and 
 artistically arranged house, with a garden of 
 flowers and vegetables, showing that they 
 can be cultivated here. We never saw larger 
 gooseberries or more thrifty vegetables. 
 
 Sitka is an old town, established by the 
 Russians as their capital of Russian America. 
 The first boat load of Russians to land there 
 were put to death, in 1741, by Indians. Old 
 Sitka is just north of the present place ; it 
 was abandoned in 1800 on account of a mas 
 sacre, by the Indians, of all the Russians. 
 
From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 113 
 
 The present site was built upon in 1804, by 
 Governor Baranoff. Alaska was under mili 
 tary rule for many years, and Sitka became a 
 tumble-down old town. Since Congress 
 passed a bill giving Alaska civil government, 
 every interest in Alaska is looking up, and 
 Sitka is catching the spirit of improvement. 
 
 All the old prospectors who are familiar 
 with Mount Saint Elias, say that the ascent to 
 the top is almost impossible. A party re 
 turned a few days since who had tried to ex 
 plore the mountain ; they could only ascend 
 seven thousand two hundred feet, while the 
 mountain is nineteen thousand five hundred 
 feet in height, and they were prevented going 
 higher than they did on account of the clouds. 
 The snow line is at the base of the mountain, 
 and several miles of glacier had to be trav 
 ersed before the party reached the base prior 
 to making the ascent. They were four days 
 in reaching their destination. Lieutenant 
 Schwatka reports discovering an unknown 
 river, of great width, full of mud, which he 
 named Jones river, in honor of the editor of 
 the New York Times. Lieutenant Schwatka 
 reports also finding a number of mountain 
 peaks not before reported. On the whole, the 
 discoveries do not seem to be of much value 
 
ii4 From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 
 
 to the history of Alaska. Lieutenant Schwat- 
 ka reports " the resources of Alaska are great, 
 but that some interests like that of mining, as 
 in other sections, was uncertain. " Other inter 
 ests or products are," he said, " thoroughly 
 assured, but need development." The fishe 
 ries he mentioned, among other things, as 
 very promising, but needing a population 
 along the Pacific coast to develop the enter 
 prise. The fur seal interests are leading at 
 present. 
 
 Mount Saint Elias was the first point of 
 land discovered by Vitus Behring, a Russian, 
 who first discovered Russian America, in 
 June, 1741 ; he called the mountain Saint 
 Elias, on account of its being discovered on 
 Saint Elias Day, and the name has clung to it 
 ever since. 
 
 Above Sitka, nearly at the foot of Mount 
 Saint Elias, in the sixteenth degree of latitude, 
 near the Arctic circle, delicious strawberries 
 were found as sweet-flavored as in any other 
 latitude. The Indians picked them, and the 
 supply lasted four days. 
 
 Old pioneers, like Dick Willoughby, pro 
 phesy that the top of the mountain will never 
 be reached. Dick is quite a character here; he 
 came from Virginia in 1853, and knows the 
 
From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 115 
 
 whole country, and has several mining claims 
 staked out. He gave us some specimens of 
 quartz with free gold, and some with gold and 
 sulphuret, and others with gold and silver, 
 and much valuable information. He ought 
 to be the richest man in Alaska, from his 
 knowledge of its gold deposits ; but, like all 
 prospectors, will probably let them slip 
 through his hands. 
 
 All intoxicating spirits and opium are pro 
 hibited in Alaska, by act of Congress. Colo 
 nel French, Collector, publishes a notice in 
 the " Alaskan," stating that he has " seized 
 one box containing nine bottles of whiskey, 
 marked benzine ; eighteen bottles of whiskey, 
 marked Calisaya bark ; four barrels of sugar, 
 each containing a ten gallon keg of whiskey ; 
 one barrel ground coffee, containing a five 
 gallon keg of whiskey ; " showing how de 
 termined the whiskey men are to smuggle in 
 whiskey, as they make great profits out of it. 
 
 While we were at Killisnoo, we were amazed 
 by seeing marching up and down the wharf, 
 Indian Chief Jack, dressed in full uniform. 
 He changed his dress three times. The last 
 was of costly furs. He formerly engaged in 
 a revolt against the whites, but suddenly 
 changed, and the Killisnoo Company now 
 
n6 From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 
 
 pay him a salary as a sort of chief of police. 
 He sold the ladies of the party some splendid 
 Chilcoot Indian blankets, at forty dollars 
 each. He has two or three pretty Indian 
 wives, and one lady amateur photographer 
 wanted to photograph them, but they were 
 not inclined to allow it. The Chief and our 
 Captain finally succeeded in bringing them in 
 front of the camera, and I have no doubt they 
 will make an attractive picture in their Indian 
 dress. 
 
 There are but two white families among 
 the fifty to one hundred Indian families here. 
 One of these is Russian; the Count, who had 
 to flee his country on account of being a Nihi 
 list, has a beautiful wife and children. Our 
 ladies were invited to his house to a Russian 
 tea. The tea was served hot in glass tumb 
 lers, with lemon. The hostess explained that 
 the hot tea did not break the glasses because 
 of the silver spoon being in the tumbler. 
 
 The other was an intelligent family from 
 Maine. Both families seemed quite con 
 tented, and, I should judge, mu st exert a good 
 iufluence upon the Indians, as we have seen 
 nowhere more order or neater Indian homes 
 and better dressed Indians. The old chief 
 got up a grand Indian war dance for our 
 
From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 117 
 
 benefit, which was exciting enough for those 
 who had never before witnessed one. 
 
 At Juneau we met an enterprising young 
 man of twenty-two years, from Boston, who 
 had been well educated, and from one of the 
 old rich families. He had Yankee pluck, and 
 was determined to strike for himself. He 
 came to Oregon a short time ago, and bought 
 six cows. He brought them up here by 
 steamer, to start the milk business, as there 
 are no cows here, and gets twenty cents per 
 quart for his milk. He is making ten dollars 
 a day, and expects to clear three thousand 
 dollars next year. 
 
 As a general thing, this is no place for men 
 to come expecting to make fortunes or secure 
 a home. The miner has to lie idle for a great 
 part of the year on account of the rain, and it 
 is with difficulty he can get his products to 
 the market. There are no territorial laws, 
 except those relating to locating mining 
 claims. The lands cannot be sold or cleared 
 for agricultural purposes; the trees cannot 
 be cut for commerce, and all who have come 
 here to open saw-mills are obliged to go over 
 the line into British Columbia, where a liberal 
 policy invites people to develop industries. 
 There they can buy all the lumber they want, 
 
n8 From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 
 
 and ship where they please. A bill, we 
 understand, has been introduced in Congress 
 to open an overland commercial route be 
 tween the United States and Asiatic Russia 
 and Japan. Major Powell, Superintendent of 
 the Geological Survey, says that a railroad is 
 feasible over this vast extent of country, and 
 that the difficulties to overcome are not 
 greater than in the construction of the trans 
 continental railroads now in operation. When 
 this is accomplished, what may we not expect 
 from the development of this great territory, 
 which is fifteen times greater in extent than 
 Ohio. 
 
 Tourists are just beginning to come to 
 Alaska, and we predict that before many years 
 there will be a great rush to witness the 
 grandest scenery in the world, and enjoy over 
 two thousand miles of salt-water breezes 
 without the annoyance of sea-sickness, as the 
 route lies almost entirely inland, and is not 
 without attractions from the time you leave 
 Tacoma, Washington, until you arrive at 
 Chilcot, where you can have porterage about 
 thirty miles over the mountain to the lakes 
 and Una River, one of the tributaries of 
 the great Yukon River, which is navigable 
 one thousand eight hundred miles, and rises 
 
From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 119 
 
 near the Pacific Ocean, runs north and then 
 southwest, and empties into Behring Sea ; in 
 all it runs two thousand miles. We have 
 visited the Yosemite Valley, Norway, Sweden, 
 Switzerland, etc., and we can truly say that 
 in this tour of Alaska we see in one grand 
 panorama all these places combined, only on 
 a much more grand and magnificent scale. 
 Better accommodations than we now enjoy 
 will come with the influx of travelers, though 
 we must say that Captain Hunter of the Idaho 
 is one of the most obliging officers that ever 
 commanded a steamer ; always willing to get 
 down his charts and point out the different 
 bays, sounds, straights, seas and inlets, moun 
 tains, islands, etc. 
 
 We were favored with delightful weather, 
 which was an exception, as the steamer which 
 preceded ours had fog and rain nearly all the 
 way. I should advise all coming here to bring 
 heavy winter clothing, as we had need of ours 
 the whole distance. 
 
 Glacier is the name given to the immense 
 masses of ice which accumulate on the peaks 
 and slopes and in the upper valleys of lofty 
 mountains. The phenomena of glaciers form 
 one of the most interesting subjects of scien 
 tific investigation, whether we regard their 
 
120 From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 
 
 formation, structure or appearance. In all 
 parts of the globe they have the same general 
 characteristics ; but though the glaciers of 
 other countries have often been described by 
 geographers and naturalists, it is chiefly in 
 respect to those of Switzerland that we pos 
 sess detailed information. In that country, 
 as indeed in every other, those parts of the 
 mountains that rise above the line of congela 
 tion, are covered with perpetual snow, which 
 being partially thawed during the summer 
 months is, on the approach of cold, converted 
 into ice, thus constituting what is called a 
 glacier. The ice so formed descends along 
 the slopes of the mountain into the valleys, 
 by which the ridges are furrowed where it 
 accumulates into large beds or fields, present 
 ing, where the descent is gradual, a very level 
 surface, and with a few crevices, but where 
 there is a rapid or rugged declivity, being rent 
 with numerous chasms. 
 
 These chasms are frequently many feet wide 
 and more than one hundred feet deep. Their 
 formation, which never takes place in winter, 
 but is frequent during the summer, is accom 
 panied with a loud noise, resembling thunder, 
 and a shock which makes the adjacent moun 
 tains tremble. They are subject to change 
 
From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 121 
 
 every day and almost every hour, and it is 
 this circumstance that renders the ascent of 
 glaciers so dangerous to travelers, and they 
 are covered with elevations rising from one 
 hundred to four hundred feet. 
 
 Though the snow line of the Alps is found 
 at an elevation of about eight thousand feet 
 above the level of the sea, some of the glaciers 
 descend so far downward that their lower ex 
 tremity is not more than three thousand five 
 hundred feet above it. We noticed this par 
 ticularly in the valley of the Chamouni, where 
 the singular spectacle is presented of huge 
 pyramids of ice, of a thousand fantastic 
 shapes in juxtaposition to the most luxurious 
 pastures, or towering in majestic grandeur in 
 the midst of verdant forests. 
 
 The principle of descent of glaciers is two 
 fold, one of a slow and gradual character like 
 the dunes of France, by which a progressive 
 movement of about twenty-five feet annually 
 is effected ; the other of a rapid and impetu 
 ous kind, in which a portion of the ice having 
 been disrupted from the main body glides 
 down the mountain s side, accumulating as 
 it goes, and precipitating into the valleys 
 beneath immense stones, fragments of rock 
 and other substances to which it had adhered. 
 
122 From Yellowstone Park to Alaska, 
 
 Philosophers and naturalists have attrib 
 uted this downward movement of a glacier to 
 various causes. Saussure maintained that it 
 was nothing more than a slipping upon itself, 
 occasioned by its own weight ; on the other 
 hand, Agassiz ascribes this motion to the ex 
 pansion of the ice resulting from the congela 
 tion of the water which has filtered into it 
 and penetrated its cavities ; while Mallet is 
 inclined to attribute it to the hydrostatic 
 pressure of the water which flows at the bot 
 tom and makes rents in the mass. 
 
 When the debris which the glaciers accum 
 ulate in their descent has been deposited in 
 the valleys, it constitutes what in Savoy is 
 termed their moraine or border, an essential 
 feature in the Alpine glaciers. These bor 
 ders present every variety of aspect, but their 
 most usual appearance is that of unfathom 
 able bogs and morasses, wholly destitute of 
 vegetation, and, in many instances, fraught 
 with infinite peril to the traveler. 
 
 The moraine of the Alaska glaciers resem 
 bles a military fortification ; alongside the 
 Davidson glacier and at the foot of the Muir 
 glacier, it was piled up on the side of the 
 water with bowlders, sand and debris difficult 
 to climb over. 
 
From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 123 
 
 The Alpine glaciers occupy a superficial 
 extent of one thousand four hundred and 
 eighty-four square miles. From Mount 
 Blanc to the borders of the Tyrol they are 
 reckoned about four hundred, of which the 
 greater number varies from ten to fifteen 
 miles long and from one to two and one-half 
 wide, and one hundred to six hundred feet 
 deep. Besides the grand and picturesque 
 appearance they present externally, their 
 lower extremities are sometimes excavated 
 by the melting of the ice into the form of 
 immense grottoes adorned with the finest 
 stalactic crystalizations, whose brilliant azure 
 tints are reflected on the foaming streams and 
 torrents which generally issue from these 
 caverns, forming altogether so beautiful and 
 imposing a picture, as to defy the most faith 
 ful pencil to adequately portray. 
 
 We shall never forget our walk, with our 
 alpenstocks, across the Mere de Glace, feel 
 ing our way along, lest we fall into the deep 
 crevasses two to three hundred feet down. 
 
 At the Rhone glacier are seen some of the 
 finest sights in Switzerland ; every minute 
 during our descent some fresh impression of 
 the magnitude of its frozen billows and its 
 yawning crevasses came in sight. At the foot 
 
124 From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 
 
 of the glacier we get a grand view ; it extends 
 fifteen miles, and looks like Niagara Falls 
 frozen over, on the American side of the 
 Falls, extending fifteen miles up the Niagara 
 River. This glacier is the source of the river 
 Rhone, which flows onward to the sea at 
 Marseilles, five hundred miles away. It has 
 been said to issue " from the gates of eternal 
 night at the foot of the Pillar of the Sun," 
 and really poetry is excusable in sight of 
 such a scene of unparalleled grandeur. The 
 ice cavern and grotto are magnificent. 
 
 The Aletsch glacier is said to be the largest 
 in Switzerland and is about twenty miles 
 long by four miles wide. Here Agassiz per 
 formed a series of experiments on glacial 
 action, and proved that this glacier moves at 
 the rate of eight inches a day, or eighty-five 
 yards per year. 
 
 In high arctic latitudes, while the line of 
 perpetual snow comes down to the sea level, 
 the phenomena of glaciers are displayed on 
 the grandest scale. Thus they were seen by 
 Dr. Kane in latitude seventy-nine to eighty 
 degrees, spreading over the western coast of 
 Greenland, and sloping so gently toward the 
 water that the effect of an inclined plane was 
 perceived by looking far into the interior 
 
From Yellowstone .Park to Alaska. 125 
 
 towards the east. In this long range the 
 angle of the slope was from seven to fifteen 
 degrees. From this glacier to the southern 
 extremity of Greenland, a distance exceeding 
 one thousand two hundred miles, Dr. Kane 
 imagines a deep sea of unbroken ice may ex 
 tend along the central portions nearly the 
 whole length of the continent a sea "that 
 gathers perennial increase from the watershed 
 of vast snow-covered mountains, and all the 
 precipitations of the atmosphere upon its 
 own surface." " Here was a plastic, moving 
 semi-solid mass, obliterating life, swallowing 
 rocks and islands, and plowing its way with 
 irresistible march through the crust of an in 
 vesting sea." 
 
 On our tour through Norway we visited 
 several glaciers, one said to be sixty miles 
 long. Dr. Joseph Hooker speaks of a glacier 
 in the Himalayan Mountains which presents 
 a vertical height of fourteen thousand feet. 
 Iceland, Spitzbergen, the Caucasus and Altai 
 have their glaciers, but in central Europe, in 
 Switzerland, Savoy, Piedmont and the Tyrol, 
 it is said they cover one thousand four hun 
 dred and eighty-four square miles. 
 
 As we approached the glaciers of Alaska, 
 especially the great Muir glacier, and climbed 
 
126 From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 
 
 to the top, we realized that the glaciers of the 
 Alps and Norway were not to be compared to 
 these " that lay glittering like a great jewel 
 house, and dropping bergs of beryl and 
 sapphire into the sea." 
 
 According to Dr. Newberry, " glaciers once 
 covered most of the elevated portions of the 
 mountain belts in the West, as far south as 
 the thirty-sixth parallel, and all the eastern 
 half of the continent to the fortieth parallel 
 of latitude. That the ancient glaciers, which 
 occupied the area described, were not pro 
 duced by local causes, but were the ex 
 ponents of a general climatic condition. 
 That they could not have been the effect of a 
 warm climate and an abundant precipitation 
 of moisture, and, therefore, afford proof of 
 the truth of what is called the glacial period. 
 That all the highest portions of the Sierra 
 Nevada Mountains were once covered with 
 snow fields, and that glaciers flowed from 
 these down the valleys on either side." 
 
 We stopped a few days at the foot of 
 Mount Shasta, in California, a grand old 
 snow-covered mountain, which once bore 
 many glaciers, of which miniature represen 
 tations still remain. " The Cascade Range 
 of mountains, which we see from Puget 
 
From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 127 
 
 Sound, exhibits," says Dr. Newberry, " per 
 haps the most impressive record of ice action 
 known ; all the higher portions of the Range 
 are planed and furrowed by glaciers which 
 descended into the valley of the Des Chutes 
 on the east and the Willamette on the west, 
 at least two thousand five hundred feet below 
 the snow line of Mount Ranier, or, as the 
 people of Tacoma say, Mount Tacoma." 
 
 Mount Hood has three distinct glaciers, 
 and all the country in that region is said to 
 be glaciated. In British Columbia the signs 
 of ancient glaciation are conspicuous in all 
 the high country which has been explored, 
 as also on Vancouver s Island. All along the 
 coast farther north, the ancient glaciers have 
 left their mark in all the fjords, and those of 
 the present day descend lower and lower 
 until, in Alaska, they reach the sea level. 
 Over all the western mountain ranges the 
 traces of ancient glaciation are alike in 
 character, and apparently of the same date, 
 and are evidently the effect of general and 
 not local causes, says Dr. Newberry. 
 
 It is well that one visits the glaciers of 
 Switzerland and Norway first, then they are 
 prepared to see in ur own country in Alaska 
 a more magnificent sight in purely glacial 
 
128 From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 
 
 scenery than can be seen anywhere in the wide 
 world. We see on our route to Alaska no less 
 than six large glaciers, including the David 
 son, Sundown, Brady, Patterson, Taku and 
 Muir. After entering Alaska, above Fort 
 Wrangell, one beautiful morning, we see three, 
 all visible at once, on the east side of the nar 
 rows ; the larger one, called the Davidson, 
 extending back forty miles, measuring four 
 miles across the front that faces the water and 
 the terminal moraine it has built up before it, 
 and this is the first in the great line of gla 
 ciers along the Alaska coast. We had Pro 
 fessor Wright, of Oberlin, and the Rev. Dr. 
 Patton, of Michigan, on our steamer, who were 
 authority on glaciers, from whom we got 
 much information. For one, I was free to 
 acknowledge my ignorance of glacial origin 
 and action, although I had opportunities to 
 see such grand sights of them where they ex 
 ist in their grandeur and picturesqueness, in 
 Switzerland and Norway ; after witnessing 
 these in our own country, I determined to 
 read and study and know more of their his 
 tory and what scientists say about them. 
 
 If I had time, I should like to relate you 
 what I don t know about glaciers, but life is 
 too short forme to do this part of my subject 
 
From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 129 
 
 justice, and I will confine myself to giving 
 you an account of those in Alaska, as they 
 appeared to us. One must see them to real 
 ize how grand and extensive they are. Before 
 we reach Taku Inlet, into which the Taku 
 river empties, we see in the distance the high 
 snow-covered mountains on both sides of the 
 river, and as we approach they present a more 
 magnificent appearance, as we see them from 
 different points of view, and that strange 
 monument, the Devil s Thumb, we could see 
 from a mountain top. 
 
 Farther up in the Stephen s Passage, float 
 ing in belts of the great glaciers in Holkam 
 or Sundown Bay, and besides the one great 
 Sundown glacier flowing into the sea, there 
 are three other glaciers hidden in the high- 
 walled fjords that open from the bay. One 
 of the first and most adventurous visitors to 
 the Sundown glacier was Captain J. W. White, 
 of the Revenue Cutter Lincoln, who anchored 
 the cutter in the bay, 1868. Seeing a great 
 arch or tunnel in front of the glacier, he had 
 his men row the small boat into the deep blue 
 grotto, and they went one hundred feet down 
 a crystalline corridor, whose roof was a thou 
 sand feet thick. The colors, he said, were 
 marvelous, and like galleries cut in the Alpine 
 
130 From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 
 
 glaciers, showed fresh wonders with each ad 
 vance. At the farthest point the adventurous 
 boatmen poured out libations and drank to 
 the spirit of the ice kingdom. 
 
 In 1876 gold was discovered, and the Sun 
 down placers were the first that were worked 
 in Alaska. Professor Muir visited the glacier 
 and mines in Sundown Bay in 1879, and at 
 Shough, a camp in a valley at the head of the 
 inlet, found miners at work with their primi 
 tive rockers and sluices. Reaching the mouth 
 of Taku Inlet, into which the Taku river emp 
 ties, the floating ice gave evidence of the 
 great glaciers that lie within ; and following 
 up the fjord for about fifteen miles to a great 
 basin, we came suddenly in sight of three 
 glaciers. One sloped down a steep and rather 
 narrow ravine, and its front was hidden by 
 another turn in the overlapping hills. The 
 second one, pushed down between two high 
 mountains, and resting its tongue on the water, 
 dropped off icebergs and cakes that covered 
 the surface of the dull-green water. The 
 front of the icy cliff stretched entirely across 
 the half-mile gap between the mountains, and 
 its face rose a hundred or two hundred feet 
 from the water. Every foot of it seemed 
 jagged and rent with great fissures, in which 
 
From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 131 
 
 the palest prismatic hues were flashing. As 
 the tide fell, large pieces fell from this front, 
 and avalanches of ice fragments crashed 
 down into the sea and raised waves that 
 rocked our ship and set the floes grinding 
 together. 
 
 On the other point of the crescent of this 
 bay, there lay the largest glaciers ; an ice 
 field that swept down from two mountain 
 gorges, and spreading out in fan-shape, des 
 cended in a long slope to a moraine of sand, 
 pebbles and bowlders. Across its rolling 
 front this glacier measured at least three 
 miles, and the low level moraine was one mile 
 in width. The moraine s slope was so gradual, 
 that when the small boats were lowered, and 
 we started for shore, they grounded one hun 
 dred feet from the water-mark, and there 
 stuck until the passengers were taken off, one 
 by one, in the lightest boat, and then carried 
 over the last twenty feet of water in the sai 
 lor s arms. 
 
 Some one gives an interesting description 
 of experience : " It was a time for old 
 clothes, to begin with, and every one wore 
 the worst when they started off ; but at the 
 finish, when the same set waded through a 
 quarter of a mile of sand and mineral mud, 
 
132 From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 
 
 left exposed by the falling tide, and were 
 dumped into the boats by the sailors, a near 
 relative would not have owned one of us. 
 The landing of the glacier pilgrims was a 
 scene worthy of the nimblest caricaturist, and 
 sympathy welled up for the poor officers and 
 sailors who shouldered stout men and women, 
 and struggled ashore through the sinking 
 mud and water. The burly Captain picked 
 out the slightest young girl and carried her 
 ashore like a doll ; but the second officer, de 
 ceived by the hollow eyes of one tall woman, 
 lifted her up gallantly, floundered awhile in 
 the mud, and the awful surprise of her weight, 
 and then bearer and burden took a headlong 
 plunge. The newly married man carried his 
 bride off on* his back, and had that novel 
 incident to put down in the voluminous 
 journal of the honeymoon kept by the young 
 people." 
 
 As we sail along through the beautiful is 
 lands, we reach Lynn Canal, so called by 
 Vancouver, who honored this arm of the sea 
 with the name of his native place in Eng 
 land. The clear blue sky and bright sun and 
 balmy atmosphere made us all exclaim, 
 "This is a perfect day;" and grander and 
 more enchanting than ever, the scenery opens 
 
From Yelloivstone Park to Alaska. 133 
 
 up to our view as we sail through Lynn 
 Canal, with its bold white mountains on the 
 west, and on the east shows the great con 
 tinental range which fronts abruptly on the 
 water. We pass peak after peak, and at every 
 point we are surprised at another, and still 
 another, glacier, until nineteen glaciers in all 
 are passed, when we reach the head of the 
 canai. 
 
 The great Auk glacier was first seen, and 
 then the Eagle glacier, toppling over a preci 
 pice three thousand feet in air, their frozen 
 crests and fronts turning pinnacles of silver 
 and azure to the radiant sun. At the head of 
 Lynn Canal, Chilkat Inlet opens to the left, 
 and Chilcoot Inlet to the right. Opposite to 
 the tongue of land, on the Chilkat side, is the 
 great Davidson glacier, which spreads out 
 like a fan, as it sweeps down through two 
 mountains. We sail beside it for three miles. 
 It is twelve hundred feet high, and the term 
 inal moraine is covered with verdure of green 
 fir trees, which separate it from the waters. 
 
 We met Professor Davidson, the astrono 
 mer, after whom it is named, in San Fran 
 cisco. We had a delightful conversation with 
 him about this wonderful country, and es 
 pecially about this glacier, which he dis- 
 
134 From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 
 
 covered, while making scientific explorations 
 for the government ; he also gave us much 
 information about Muir glacier. We were in 
 Mr. Keith s studio, in San Francisco, at the 
 time. Mr. Keith is the artist who painted my 
 Muir glacier, and Professor Davidson com 
 mended the painting highly, he thought it 
 gave a more correct idea of the great glacier 
 than anything he had ever seen. 
 
 Professor Davidson tells a good story, that 
 while in the Chilkat country in 1869 he was 
 also there in 1867 gathering material for a 
 report upon the topography, climate and re 
 sources of Alaska, called for by the Con 
 gressional Committee having the matter of the 
 purchase of the territory in charge, he made 
 the acquaintance of Chief Kloh-Kutz. Pro 
 fessor Davidson was the old chief s host, and 
 he told him that there was to be an eclipse of 
 the sun, and that it would be dark at midday 
 on August seventh. The Indians were greatly 
 interested as the men pointed their instru 
 ments at the sun each day, but they fled in 
 terror when the darkness began to appear, 
 and did not come back until the eclipse was 
 over. 
 
 They thought Professor Davidson was a 
 god, or, as they called him, a wonderful 
 
From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 135 
 
 medicine man, who could do such wonderful 
 deeds, and the old Chief Kloh-Kutz wanted 
 to have the name "Davidson " tattoed on his 
 arm. Secretary Seward and party were in 
 Alaska at the time of the eclipse, and on their 
 way to the Chilkat country. The Indians who 
 were employed to take them up in a canoe, 
 refused, when the eclipse came on, to paddle 
 any further, and said : " The sun was very 
 sick and wanted to go to sleep." The canoes 
 were beached quickly, and the visitors made 
 a camp fire for themselves and cooked their 
 dinner. Chief Kloh-Kutz had been told that 
 Mr. Seward was the great Tyee or chief, so he 
 had Mr. Seward s, instead of Professor David 
 son s, name tattoed on his arm, with other to 
 tems. When at the meeting of the Chiefs 
 and Chilkat women in the council chamber to 
 receive them, the old chief rolled up his 
 sleeve and, much to the astonishment of Mr. 
 Seward, he saw his name on the old chief s 
 arm. Thinking Mr. Seward owned Alaska, 
 he addressed himself through an interpreter 
 to him. He said that ten years before, three 
 Chilkats had been killed at Sitka, and now, 
 " what is the great Tyee going to do about 
 it ? " Kloh-Kutz was not to be put off by the 
 diplomatic answer that the murder had hap- 
 
136 From Yellowstone Park to Alaska, 
 
 pened during Russian possession ; he said 
 " that the Tyce of the Russians was so poor 
 that he could not keep his land, and had to 
 sell it," but for all that he must have repara 
 tion for the loss of his three Chilkats. He 
 considered one Chilkat worth three Sitkans, 
 and if the Tyee would let him kill nine Sit 
 kans, the account would be squared. With 
 the finesse worthy of a diplomate, who had 
 dealt with all the great nations of the earth, 
 Mr. Seward finally bought off Kloh-Kutz by 
 giving him forty blankets as an indemnity. 
 Kloh-Kutz delights to show his Seward tat 
 too mark to visitors. 
 
From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 137 
 
 VI. 
 
 GLACIER BAY. THE FAMOUS MUIR GLACIER. 
 SOME SCIENTIFIC FACTS CONCERNING IT. 
 
 AS we advanced up Glacier Bay, which is 
 twelve miles long, and which was all ice 
 when Vancouver explored this country less 
 than one hundred years ago, icebergs began to 
 increase in number and size to such an extent 
 that the steamer had great difficulty in steer 
 ing clear of them. Soon we see in the dis 
 tance the great Muir Glacier, and how the ice 
 sloughed off, and the sound reverberates 
 around us like a great explosion of artillery 
 as the ice falls into the water and throws 
 great waves, which rock the steamer. We 
 steer up almost to the very foot of the 
 glacier, which rises perpendicularly above us 
 four hundred feet, and crash after crash 
 comes the ice tumbling down in such propor 
 tions, as makes one feel that the steamer 
 might be submerged by it. 
 
 The ice is a beautiful torquoise blue, and is 
 
138 From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 
 
 in regular pinnacles, with great crevasses 
 running into the glacier. We soon prepare 
 to go ashore in the little boat, for a long 
 tramp, to get a look at the top of the glacier ; 
 it seems but a short distance, and we walk on 
 and over the sharp rocks which have been 
 crushed by the power of the ice ; sand covers 
 the ice, and when we think we have a firm 
 footing, we find we are only stepping on ice 
 covered with sand, and find ourselves in 
 danger of a fall. We try many high points, 
 but are not satisfied until we reach the highest 
 peak of ice, and have one of the grandest 
 views the eye can survey. 
 
 The glacier is said to be five miles wide 
 and eighty miles long, to the grand old 
 mountains of Crillow, fifteen thousand nine 
 hundred feet high ; Mount Fairweather, 
 fifteen thousand five hundred feet ; Mount 
 Cook, sixteen thousand feet, and many others. 
 Sometimes Mount Saint Elias can be seen, 
 which is the highest mountain in North 
 America, and the Devil s Thumb, looking no 
 higher than the Washington monument, a 
 sheer monster, six thousand feet high, with 
 faces almost perpendicular. The whole 
 glacier looks like a long mountain range of 
 ice ; we can count no less than fifteen tribu- 
 
Prom Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 139 
 
 tary glacial streams, any one of which, Mr. 
 Hallock says, " is as large as the great Rhone 
 glacier," which we crossed in Switzerland, 
 and which seemed so wonderful at the time. 
 
 " Drawn from the inexhaustible but an 
 nually diminishing accumulations of snow, 
 which fill the mountain valleys to a depth of 
 at least two thousand feet, these separate 
 streams unite like the strands of a rope to 
 form the irresistible current of the Muir." 
 No one could cross it, it is so full of deep 
 crevasses and wedge-shaped and rounded 
 cones of solid ice, capped by discolored and 
 disintegrating snow. We gaze in wonder 
 until our feet are cold standing upon the ice, 
 and start to return, creeping over the sharp 
 ice lest we fall into the deep gulches. Our 
 steamer in the distance looks like a child s 
 toy vessel. We selected some beautiful speci 
 mens of bowlders which, by the action of the 
 ice upon them, were as smooth as if polished. 
 We think if a good hotel were erected on the 
 terminal moraine it would be well patronized ; 
 we should like to stay a week and hear the 
 ice tumbling down, and look upon the 
 : translucent depths of the glacier ice, whose 
 radiance emulates the blue and green beryl, 
 turquoise, chrisophos and emerald." 
 
140 From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 
 
 On our return to the vessel, after getting 
 a good wetting from the waves which come 
 so suddenly while trying to reach the boat, 
 we compare our wornout shoes in climbing 
 sharp rocks, those wearing rubbers found 
 them cut into shreds, and the experiences of 
 each are interesting. 
 
 We had climbed probably five or six miles, 
 but we did not experience any fatigue, as a 
 cold, bracing wind came off the glacier. The 
 thermometer, according to the steamer s re 
 port, was in water forty degrees ; outside 
 water forty-four degrees. 
 
 This glacier and the Davidson, which, ac 
 cording to Hallock, " are spurs or outflows 
 of the same ice field, which has an unbroken 
 expanse of four hundred miles, are large 
 enough to lay over the whole domain of 
 Switzerland." 
 
 We left our friends, Professor Wright, of 
 Oberlin, and Dr. Patton, of Michigan, on the 
 shore near the glacier, where they camp out 
 for a month to take measurements of the 
 progress of the glacier, its height, etc., and 
 various phenomena in regard to it, which 
 will be of great interest to the scientific 
 world. They looked lonely enough under 
 the great bare mountain, and beside the great 
 
From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 141 
 
 mountain of ice, with only two Indians for 
 companions. 
 
 Professor Wright in his report says : " The 
 Muir glacier presents to the observer many 
 points of interest that have not heretofore 
 been carefully studied. Among them its 
 motion is likely to attract most attention ; 
 to appreciate the facts it is necessary first 
 to give a brief description of the glacier. 
 
 " The glacier is not single, but compound, 
 and has by no means free course to the sea. 
 Roughly speaking, it may be said to occupy 
 an amphitheatre about twenty-five miles in 
 diameter from north to south, and thirty 
 miles from east to west. The opening of this 
 amphitheatre is towards the south-south-east 
 into Muir Inlet or Glacier Bay, and is, accord 
 ing to our measurement, but two miles wide 
 from one shoulder of the mountain approach 
 ing it from the southeast to the correspond 
 ing shoulder of a mountain in the south-west. 
 Through this narrow opening all the excess 
 of snow fall above, what melts upon the be 
 fore-mentioned amphitheatre must find its 
 escape. Into the centre of this amphitheatre 
 no less than nine first-class glaciers pour 
 their contents. Were one to reckon the 
 respectable sub-branches visible, he would set 
 
142 From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 
 
 down the whole number of affluences at more 
 than twenty. Four of the main branches 
 come in from the east. But these have nearly 
 spent their force on reaching the focus of the 
 amphitheatre, and their medial moraines are 
 crowded together about the eastern side of 
 the outlet, having formed the receding series 
 of terminal moraines upon that side. The 
 first tributary from the south-west also prac 
 tically loses its force before reaching the main 
 current, and is piling up a series of terminal 
 moraines along the western border. 
 
 " The main flow of ice reaching the water 
 of Muir Inlet is from four main branches, two 
 coming from the north-west and two from the 
 north. The course of these tributaries is 
 marked both above and below their junction, 
 by a rough broken surface, much elevated 
 above the other portion of the ice. The mo 
 tion of this portion of the glacier proves to 
 be much more rapid than has been generally 
 supposed. Observations upon three portions, 
 four hundred, one thousand, and one thousand 
 five hundred yards from the front, show in 
 that nearest the front a motion of one hun 
 dred and thirty-five feet per day. The sum 
 mit of the lower one was a little over three 
 hundred feet above the water, that of the 
 
From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 143 
 
 next about four, and of the third consider 
 ably more than four hundred, perhaps five 
 hundred feet. The motion rapidly demin- 
 ishes on approaching the medial moraine, 
 brought down by the branches from the east. 
 Along a line running parallel with that of the 
 greatest motion, and about half a mile east 
 from it, the rate of motion observed at two 
 points was about ten feet per day. Thus we 
 get an average daily motion in the main chan 
 nel of the ice flow, near its mouth, of about 
 forty feet across a section of one mile. From 
 this an approximate estimate can be made of 
 the daily discharge. 
 
 " The height of the ice front at the extreme 
 point, is two hundred and twenty-five feet. 
 Back a few hundred feet it is a litt e over 
 three hundred feet, and at a quarter of a mile 
 it reaches a height of four hundred feet. 
 The depth of the water one quarter of a mile 
 in front of the center, is eighty-five fathoms 
 or five hundred and ten feet. Thus the con, 
 elusion is reached that a stream of ice seven 
 hundred and thirty-five feet deep, five thous< 
 and feet wide, and one thousand two hun 
 dred feet long poured out into the inlet dur 
 ing thirty days of our stay in camp. This is 
 at the rate of one hundred and forty-nine 
 
i 4 4 
 
 From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 
 
 million cubic feet per day. If this seems an 
 improbable result, it is because one has not 
 witnessed the many signs of the movement 
 which is going on. 
 
 " Scarcely ten minutes passes, either in the 
 day or night, without the reverberation of an 
 extensive fall of ice. This reverberation can 
 be heard for miles and reminds one of the 
 bombardment of a city, or of a first-class thun 
 der-storm. The waves startled by these falls, 
 frequently wrapped in foam the beach near 
 our camp, two and one half miles distant. 
 Frequently the floating ice was so thick over 
 the inlet that it was difficult to find passage 
 way for our canoe. One of the many large 
 masses of ice projected sixty feet above the 
 water and was about four hundred feet 
 square. The portion above the water was 
 somewhat irregular, but allowing that a sym 
 metrical form thirty feet high would have 
 contained all the ice above the water, that 
 would give us a depth of about two hundred 
 and fifty feet ; upon this calculation, that sin 
 gle berg contained forty million cubic feet. 
 The house that measures forty by fifty by 
 thirty feet contains sixty thousand cubic 
 feet. 
 
 " The dimensions of the Idaho are, length 
 
From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 145 
 
 one hundred and ninety-five feet, width thirty- 
 one feet by thirty feet above water, making 
 one hundred and eighty-four thousand, one 
 hundred and forty cubic feet : that berg 
 was two hundred times larger than the 
 Idaho. 
 
 " Thus we can see that the rate of motion 
 shown by our measurement in the main chan 
 nel of the ice current accords with the other 
 facts. The largeness of the results need not 
 surprise us, even when compared with that of 
 Swiss glaciers, for the Swiss glaciers are con 
 tracted affairs in comparison with the Muir 
 glacier. The outlet of the Muir glacier is 
 four times as wide as those measured by Pro 
 fessor Tyndall, and the area occupied by the 
 whole glacier is certainly six times as large as 
 the whole surface from which the Mount 
 Blanc glaciers derive their snow. 
 
 " Ice moves not so much from the inclina 
 tion of its bed as from the extent of its mass. 
 
 " This is the first time that accurate obser 
 vations have been made upon the movements 
 of so large a mass of ice, and the results will 
 not surprise those who have had the main 
 elements of this problem in their minds." 
 
 We did not go north of Sitka on the Paci 
 fic coast, but Lieutenant Schwatka says : 
 
146 From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 
 
 "Almost as soon as Cape Spencer is doubled, 
 the southern spurs of the Mount Saint Elias 
 Alps burst into view, Crillon and Fairweather 
 being prominent, and the latter easily recog 
 nized from our acquaintance with it from the 
 waters of Glacier Bay. A trip of an hour or 
 two takes us along a comparatively uninter 
 esting coast, as viewed from the square off 
 our starboard beam ; but all this time the 
 mind is fixed by the grand Alpine views we 
 have ahead of us, that are slowly developing 
 in plainer outline here and there as we speed 
 toward them. Soon we are abreast of Icy 
 Point ; while just beyond it comes down a 
 glacier to the ocean that gives about three 
 miles of solid sea-wall of ice, while its source 
 is lost in the heights covering the bases of the 
 snowy peaks just behind. The high peak to 
 the right, as we steam by the glacier front, is 
 Mount La Perouse, named for one of the 
 most daring of France s long list of explorers, 
 and .who lost his life in the interest of geo 
 graphical science. His eyes rested on this 
 range of Alpine peaks in 1786, just a century 
 ago. Its sides are furrowed with glaciers, 
 one of which is the ice-wall before our eyes, 
 and which is generally known as the La Pe 
 rouse glacier. The highest peak of all, and. 
 
From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 147 
 
 on the left of this noble range is Mount Cril- 
 lon, named by La Perouse, in 1786, after the 
 French minister of Marine ; while between 
 Crillon and La Perouse is Mount d Agelet, 
 named for the astronomer of that celebrated 
 expedition." 
 
148 From Yellowstone Park ta Alaska. 
 
 VII. 
 
 MOUNT CRILLON, MOUNT FAIRWEATHER AND 
 SISTER PEAKS. THE INDIANS AND THEIR 
 PECULIARITIES. 
 
 CRILLON cleaves the air for sixteen thou 
 sand feet above the sea, on which we 
 rest, and can be seen for over a hundred miles 
 at sea. It, too, is surrounded with glaciers 
 in all directions from its crown. Crillon and 
 La Perouse are about seven miles apart, 
 nearly north and south of each other. 
 
 About fifteen miles north-west of Crillon is 
 Lituya Peak, ten thousand feet high ; and the 
 little bay-opening that we pass, between the 
 two, is the entrance to Lituya Bay, a sheet of 
 water which La Perouse has pronounced as 
 one of the most extraordinary in the world 
 for grand scenery, with its glaciers and Al 
 pine shores. Our steamer will not enter, 
 however, for the passage is dangerous even to 
 small boats one island bearing a monument 
 to the officers and men of La Perouse s ex 
 pedition, lost in the tidal-wave which sweeps 
 
From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 149 
 
 through the contracted passage like breakers 
 over a treacherous bar. 
 
 Some ten or twelve miles north-west from 
 Lituya Peak is Mount Fairweather, which 
 bears abreast of us after a little over an hour s 
 run from Lituya Bay. It was named by Cook 
 in 1778, and is generally considered to be a 
 few hundred feet shorter than Mount Crillon. 
 It is in every way, by its peculiar isolation 
 from near ridges, almost as high as itself, a 
 much grander peak than Crillon, whose sur 
 roundings are not so good for a fine Alpine 
 
 display. 
 
 Fairweather, too, has its frozen river flow 
 ing down its sides ; but none of these reach 
 the sea, for a low, wooded country, some three 
 or four miles in width, lies like a glacis at the 
 seaward side of the Saint Elias Alps, for a 
 short distance along this part of the coast. 
 The sombre, deep green forests add an im 
 pressive feature to the scene, however, lying 
 between the dancing waves below and the 
 white and blue glacier ice above. 
 
 Rounding Cape Fairweather, the coast 
 
 trends northward ; and, as our bowsprit is 
 
 pointed in the same direction, we have a view 
 
 of immense glaciers reaching to the sea. 
 
 From Cape Fairweather (abreast of Mount 
 
150 From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 
 
 Fairweather) to Yakutat Bay, (abreast of 
 Mount Vancouver), no conspicuous peak rears 
 its head above the grand mountain chain, 
 which, for nearly one hundred miles, lies be 
 tween these two Alpine bastions ; but, never 
 theless, every hour reveals a new mountain of 
 five to eight thousand feet in height, which, 
 if placed anywhere else, would be held up 
 with national or state pride as a grand acqui 
 sition ; here they are only dwarfed by grander 
 peaks. 
 
 On our return from Alaska, our steamer 
 anchored off Metlakahtla, an Arcadian village 
 of civilized Indians, built around a bay on 
 Chimsgan Peninsula, just below the Alaskan 
 boundary line, and but a little way south of 
 Fort Simson, in British Columbia, the chief 
 Hudson Bay Company trading post of the 
 region, where the great canoe market and the 
 feasts and dances of the Indians enliven the 
 centre of trade each fall. The coast is rugged 
 and fierce as the natives who inhabit it. Met 
 lakahtla, in the distance, looks like a New 
 England village, with its white frame houses 
 and large white frame meeting house. 
 
 The story, as learned, of these Indians, of 
 their terrible barbarity, is almost too horrible 
 to believe. Nine Tsimshean tribes centre 
 
From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 151 
 
 around Fort Simson, notorious on the whole 
 coast for their cruel, bloodthirsty savagery- 
 given up to dark superstition and atrocious 
 habits of cannibalism they were constantly 
 waging wars upon the neighboring tribes. 
 Their warfare was carried on with revolting 
 cruelty, and in taking captives they enslaved 
 the women and children and beheaded the 
 men. 
 
 Mr. William Duncan, of England, left mer 
 cantile life to take up this missionary work, 
 under the auspices of the English Church 
 Missionary Society, in 1857 ; he came around 
 Cape Horn ; the Governor of the Hudson 
 Bay Company urged upon him the folly of at 
 tempting to civilize the murderous hordes of 
 the North Pacific, warning him that they 
 would murder him. Mr. Duncan seems to 
 have been one of the noblest and most heroic 
 men that ever undertook to christianize and 
 civilize the Indians. General Sheridan says : 
 "There is no good Indian but a dead Indian." 
 Mr. Duncan showed most conclusively that 
 they are subject to the same influences that 
 white men are. 
 
 The Tsimshean s beliefs and superstitions 
 are merely based on their rich fund of legen 
 dary lore. They have a version of the crea- 
 
152 From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 
 
 tion, and of the flood ; they believe in good 
 and evil genius, and in special deities who 
 control the seas and storms. They believe 
 that the world was once wrapped in utter 
 darkness and inhabited only by frogs ; the 
 frogs refusing to supply the devil with oolu- 
 chan, he, to be avenged, sneaked into heaven 
 and stole daylight, which was kept there in 
 the form of a ball, and broke it over their 
 heads, and thus gave light to the world. The 
 chief traits of the devils were lying and 
 stealing. 
 
 The world was at one time very close to 
 heaven, so very close that the people in 
 heaven could hear the voices of those on 
 earth, and the people on earth could hear the 
 voices of those in heaven ; the children of 
 the earth made such a clamor that they dis 
 turbed the great Shimanquet Lakkah, and he 
 shoved the earth" a long way off. In the next 
 world the good will have the best quality of 
 fish and game, while the wicked will receive 
 only that caught out of season and of the 
 poorest quality. 
 
 The medicine man, claiming direct inter 
 course with the spirit world, held great in 
 fluence over the people. He arrayed himself 
 in the skin of a lion or wolf, the head and 
 
From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 153 
 
 muzzle of which formed a helmet, the tushes 
 falling about the temples. A hideous carved 
 mask covered his face, while armlets and 
 anklets, of repulsive design, encircled his 
 shrivelled limbs. To add to the ferocity of 
 his appearance, the exposed parts of his body 
 were daubed with red and black paint, and he 
 was covered with -pendant charms, such as 
 dried skunk skins, distended fish-bladders, 
 tails of animals, feathers, rare shells, highly 
 polished little horns, eagles claws, engraved 
 bones and teeth, which dangled about him as 
 he advanced into the room, with a series of 
 postures and jerks, armed with a mystic wand 
 and a large wooden rattle, fashioned in the 
 form of an eagle, with a demon covered on 
 its back, pulling out a man s tongue with its 
 teeth, he proceeds aggressively to overpower 
 and frighten away the evil spirits by giving 
 vent to a series of unearthly wailing and gut- 
 teral sounds, vehemently brandishing and 
 marking time with the rattle. If not success 
 ful in frightening away the evil one by these 
 noises, he begins to hack the ailing part and 
 suck and burn it out. 
 
 The Shaman receives a liberal retainer, in 
 view of securing his cleverest arts in exor 
 cising the invading demon. This evil spirit 
 
154 From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 
 
 was supposed to be sent, by some designing 
 enemy, who, if discovered, was killed by the 
 relative of the afflicted. If the patient re 
 covered, the Shaman received an additional 
 fee ; if he died, the fees must be returned 
 forthwith, and he also sometimes suffered 
 death as a penalty for his "bad medicine." 
 
 All of the Northern Pacific tribes of In 
 dians are full of inordinate personal vanity 
 and pride. Because of a slight taunt or in 
 sult, a man will sometimes kill a slave or de 
 stroy all his property, believing that he there 
 by wipes out the disgrace. 
 
 " Some years ago," says Mr. Welcome, "an 
 officer in charge of a division of an Arctic 
 Search Expedition indiscreetly gave out that 
 he was about to send for a certain prominent 
 chief, word of which reached the ears of the 
 chief in question, who was in the habit of 
 being waited upon, or the honor of his 
 presence requested ; so when the officer s 
 emissaries arrived, they were carved, and 
 grilled, and eaten by the affronted chief and 
 his council this to wipe out the insult." 
 
 They give great feasts when they accumu 
 late enough property, and impoverish them 
 selves. Most of their property is in furs and 
 blankets, which is their exchange. Sometimes 
 
From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 155 
 
 at their feasts they kill their slaves and give 
 away their furs and blankets ; and the one 
 who can give the greatest feast, and give 
 away the most, is considered the most promi 
 nent and greatest man among them. 
 
 When the girls reach the age of puberty, 
 they are confined for one month in an isolated 
 cabin. No one is allowed to see them at this 
 time, and it is supposed that they are away 
 on a voyage to the moon, or to some other 
 celestial abode, and at the end of the month 
 they return to their people, amid great feast 
 ing and rejoicing. 
 
 It is on the occasion of a feast accompany 
 ing Potlach, or giving away, or destroying 
 property, or the return of a maiden, or the 
 initiating of youth into the mysteries of 
 Shaminism, that dog eating and cannibalism, 
 devil dancing and other wild revelries occur. 
 In one of his letters Mr. Duncan writes : " To 
 attempt to describe their condition would be 
 but to produce a dark, revolting picture of 
 human depravity. The dark mantle of de 
 grading superstition envelops them all, and 
 their savage spirits, swayed by pride, jealousy 
 and revenge, were ever hurrying them on to 
 deeds of blood. Their history is little else 
 than a chapter of crime and misery." 
 
156 From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 
 
 Shortly after Mr. Duncan s arrival he wit 
 nessed, while standing on the gallery of one 
 of the bastions, a most sickening sight. A 
 party of hideously painted and bedecked 
 cannibals, tearing 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, accom 
 panying their fiendish orgies with unearthly 
 howls and the weird beating of their medicine 
 drums. Bespattered with the blood of their 
 victims, maddened with rum, frenzied by 
 their hysterical enthusiasm in these super 
 stitious rites, they wrought themselves into 
 wild, furious delirium, imitating ravenous 
 wolves in their ferocity. These ceremonies 
 continued during the night, and were followed 
 by debaucheries lasting several days, during 
 which time most terrible atrocities were per 
 petrated, several of their number being slain 
 just without the gates of the fort. 
 
 These were the barbarians whom Mr. Dun 
 can came across the Atlantic to civilize. He 
 commenced at once to learn their language, 
 and he called Clark, one of the most intelli 
 gent Tsimshean natives, to assist him in 
 learning it. In the fort all intercourse with 
 them was by means ot signs common to the 
 
; 
 
 ., 
 
 DEVIL S THTMB. ALASKA. 
 
From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 157 
 
 coast ; no white man had ever been able to 
 master the language. At the end of several 
 months he was able to write sufficiently in 
 the language to explain to them what he 
 wished to accomplish among them, and to 
 bring to them a message from God, not to 
 trade for their blankets and furs, and to show 
 them how they could be equal to the white 
 man. They considered him a supernatural 
 being, and he was received among them 
 kindly, notwithstanding the warning he had 
 received from the inmates of the fort that his 
 life was in danger. It was difficult to gain 
 their attention, they were so much interested 
 in the buttons on his coat. He repeated 
 over and over what he desired to teach them, 
 until they gave due heed to what he wanted 
 them to learn. 
 
 Their figures of speech were picturesque 
 and expressive. One minister says : " Mr. 
 Welcome addressed them as children of the 
 forest, and was not a little confused when he 
 found that his interpreter could only render 
 it in the Chinook jargon, * Tanass man cupah 
 hyyn stick, signifying little men among many 
 sticks and stumps." 
 
158 Prom Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 MR. DUNCAN AND HIS MISSION WORK AMONG 
 THE NATIVES. 
 
 Q PEAKING of translations, Professor G. F. 
 vJ Wright told the Boston ministers of a 
 ludicrous turn in an Indian version of the 
 twenty-third Psalm, which he found in his 
 Alaska peregrinations. The missionary had 
 been handicapped in his endeavor to trans 
 late " The Lord is my shepherd," by the utter 
 absence in Alaska of anything like ordinary 
 sheep. He finally thought he had sur 
 mounted the difficulty, and passing the result 
 of his labors over to the natives, was dum- 
 founded to hear them read, " The Lord is a 
 first-class mountain sheep hunter." 
 
 Mr. Duncan told them the simple story of 
 the Bible and Jesus Christ, and how terrible 
 was the crime of murder, and contrasted 
 what made the difference between them and 
 the white man. He opened a school at one 
 of the chief s, and children and older persons 
 gladly came ; he built a log school-house. 
 
From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 159 
 
 They soon began to see the difference be 
 tween the white men and themselves, and 
 learned the secret of eternal things, which 
 they did not possess. He was a good pastor ; 
 he visited the homes of all classes, and 
 learned all their customs, and got into their 
 hearts, and found that they were susceptible 
 to kindness and attention, the same as the 
 white people. 
 
 The Shamans, or medicine men, were his 
 greatest hindrance, for they soon learned that 
 their sorcery would come to an end if the peo 
 ple were enlightened, as they would not then 
 believe in their jugglery. But he was deter 
 mined to thwart them in their fury to stop 
 the schools, and many times, by his boldness 
 and daring, prevented them murdering him. 
 
 They found in him a friend when they were 
 sick or in trouble ; he showed them the 
 material advantages to be gained by follow 
 ing the teachings of Christ and the new life 
 he did not teach them spiritual things first. 
 Mr. Duncan found them extremely filthy. I 
 don t think we ever saw, in all our travels, 
 such filth and stench as we experienced in 
 their huts and cabins in Alaska. Mr. Dun 
 can went to the foundation of things, and at 
 once set about cheapening the price of soap 
 
160 From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 
 
 by teaching them how to make it. They 
 formerly had to pay one mink skin, worth a 
 dollar, for a bar of soap the thickness of one 
 finger, whereas he produced a large bar for 
 sixpence ; this was only the beginning of the 
 introduction of other industries, which had a 
 decided effect upon them. 
 
 The Alaskan Commercial Company has a 
 monopoly of the fisheries and trade in furs 
 throughout Alaska and, it is said, opposes all 
 territorial government, education, and every 
 civilizing effort, because it affects unfavorably 
 the Company s greed of gain. We met their 
 agents everywhere decrying the schools, the 
 missions, and opposing the admission of 
 Alaska as territory under the laws which 
 govern other territories of the United States. 
 When any movement is made to get an 
 appropriation from Congress for educational 
 and other matters for the good of Alaska, 
 agents and lobbyists are sent to Washington 
 to work against the measures, because, for 
 sooth, it would effect unfavorably the trade 
 of the Alaskan Commercial Company ; the 
 mineral laws alone are in force. 
 
 Mr. Duncan soon began to have great oppo 
 sition in his work from the Hudson Bay 
 Company, because these civilizing habits, 
 
From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 161 
 
 which he taught the Indians, affected their 
 trade. At the end of four years he had a 
 number of sincere followers, but the influence 
 and bad habits of the white, and the drunk 
 enness which gathers around a trading-post, 
 and the influence and intercourse with the 
 Indians who continued their heathenish rites, 
 and who tried in every way by taunting 
 them to destroy the work of the Christian 
 white man. 
 
 " One of the most serious difficulties," said 
 Mr. Welcome, "in reforming the women, lay 
 in the practice of the parents selling their 
 daughters, and that the men hired out their 
 wives and slaves to white men for prostitu 
 tion. In holding slaves as their concubines, 
 not unfrequently the white traders left child 
 ren of their own blood in slavery." 
 
 Mr. Duncan decided to go off by himself 
 and gather the Indians about him where they 
 would be safe from these influences. He 
 selected a place called Metlakahtla, about 
 twenty miles from Fort Simson, and the site 
 of one of the ancient Tsimshean villages. 
 Metlakahtla presented the advantages of 
 good and convenient fishing and hunting 
 grounds, a good harbor, and a suitable soil 
 for gardening ; besides nature has modeled 
 
162 I? to in Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 
 
 its surroundings on a plan of remarkable 
 beauty and grandeur. Mr. Duncan pulled 
 down his school-house and formed his mater 
 ials into a raft to be navigated to Metlakahtla 
 harbor. He describes as extremely solemn 
 and impressive the embarkation of his little 
 flock of fifty Tsimshean Indians, in their six 
 canoes. They had great opposition from 
 the Shamans, and some promised to follow 
 them. 
 
 Now, in about twenty or twenty-five years, 
 they have built up a model town that they 
 have reason to be proud of. Those who 
 joined Mr. Duncan in the new location, sub 
 scribed to the following rules : 
 
 First. To give up their ahhid or Indian 
 devils. 
 
 Second. To cease calling in the Shamans, 
 or medical men, when sick. 
 
 Third. To cease gambling. 
 
 Fourth. To cease giving away their pro 
 perty for display. 
 
 Fifth. To cease painting their faces. 
 
 Sixth. To cease indulging in intoxicating 
 drinks. 
 
 Seventh. To rest on the Sabbath. 
 
 Eighth. To attend religious instruction. 
 
 Ninth. To send their children to school. 
 
From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 163 
 
 Tenth. To be cleanly. 
 
 Eleventh. To be industrious. 
 
 Twelfth. To be peaceful. 
 
 Thirteenth. To be liberal and honest in 
 trade. 
 
 Fourteenth. To build neat houses. 
 
 Fifteenth. To pay the village tax. 
 
 Is not the above a pretty good set of rules 
 to govern any cummunity ? A strip of land 
 was marked out for church purposes and 
 the rest of it divided among the Indians. 
 
 Most of those who knew of Mr. Duncan s 
 movements, prophesied that his efforts to civ 
 ilize such barbarous tribes of cannibals would 
 be a failure, but he put his whole heart and 
 soul into the work. 
 
 His faith has been proven in the wonder 
 ful results attained, and the self-respecting, 
 self-supporting community at Metlakahtla 
 proves that the Indians can be civilized as 
 well as educated in one generation, if the 
 right man and the right means are employed. 
 He placed upon the Indians themselves much 
 of the responsibility ; he taught them to gov 
 ern themselves. He organized a village 
 council of twelve, including the chiefs who 
 had joined him, and a constabulary force ; 
 he was obliged often to use his own judgment 
 
1 64 From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 
 
 arbitrarily, but the council was consulted on 
 all important matters. 
 
 It could not be expected that their sense of 
 justice and right would predominate, having 
 been educated so many years in such barba 
 rous practices. Their sitting in judgment 
 was often very anomalous, especially in pas 
 sing judgment upon the offences of their own 
 people. 
 
 " Various public works," says Mr. Welcome, 
 "were required, and consequently a tax was 
 necessary ; this was fixed at one blanket, 
 valued at two dollars and fifty cents, for each 
 male adult ; and one shirt, valued at one dollar, 
 for such as were approaching manhood. The 
 first assessment yielded to the exchequer the 
 following unique return : One green, one 
 blue and ninety-four white blankets, one pair 
 white trowsers, one dressed elk skin, seven 
 teen shirts and seven dollars." 
 
 They were put to work in making the 
 premises healthful, by digging drains, making 
 roads, etc. They built two large houses to 
 accommodate the wild Indians who came to 
 trade with them, so that they should not 
 mingle with their old companions in their 
 uncivilized state. They dug wells and formed 
 a public common and play ground. Mr. 
 
From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 165 
 
 Duncan introduced innocent games to keep 
 them from the more deleterious games of 
 gambling, to which they had habituated them 
 selves. He introduced trades and encouraged 
 them to hunt and fish, and gather berries, and 
 planned for the sale, by exporting their vari 
 ous products of furs, fish, etc. 
 
 It was with great difficulty that he could 
 change their former customs and habits, as 
 they clung to them with great tenacity. He 
 freed all slaves that he could reach ; many 
 fugitives came to Metlakahtla, and he kept 
 them until they could be restored to the orig 
 inal tribes from which they came ; this was as 
 terrible a crime in the eyes of the old chiefs, 
 as the harboring of slaves by the abolitionists 
 in this country before the war, in the eyes of 
 those south of Mason and Dixon s line. His 
 life was often in danger, but he was supported 
 in his work by his followers. Slavery still 
 exists in Alaska and British Columbia, but I 
 have no doubt to a limited extent among the 
 inland tribes, owing to Mr. Duncan s humane 
 work offering an asylum for slaves from all 
 parts of the Indian settlements in the north 
 west. 
 
 The hostility of the Hudson Bay Company s 
 agents to Mr. Duncan was great, on account 
 
1 66 From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 
 
 of his buying his own vessel to transport the 
 products of his settlement ; he did this to 
 prevent imposition and extortion, and his in 
 troduction of the trades and industries of 
 civilization interfered with that company s 
 monopoly. All the coast traders lost no 
 opportunity to traduce him, charging that his 
 mission was simply a private money-making 
 scheme ; the slave traders and Shamans and 
 chiefs were alarmed to see the success of Mr. 
 Duncan s civilizing efforts upon the Indians, 
 as it was destroying their power and influence 
 over them, and all were sworn enemies, using 
 every means to overthrow, his mission. 
 
 His heroic conduct in treating the small 
 pox, which broke out among the Indians with 
 fearful ravages, destroying thousands of lives, 
 added greatly to his influence ; he vaccinated 
 all who came to him, and only five Tsimshe- 
 ans who came with him to Fort Simson died, 
 and these took the plague while caring for 
 outside sufferers. The Indians were so de 
 moralized at its terrible ravages, that trade 
 and all avocations among the tribes were sus 
 pended ; he did all he could to relieve them, 
 far and near ; great numbers came to him for 
 aid, and as far as he could he ministered to 
 them, guarding the safety and welfare of his 
 
From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 167 
 
 own people ; all this gave him great favor 
 with the Indians. 
 
 He fought all adverse influences single- 
 handed in this community of half-enlightened 
 savages. On the first voyage of the vessel to 
 Victoria, Mr. Duncan could not get a pilot, so 
 he navigated the vessel himself. The Indians 
 had contributed something towards its pur 
 chase, and at the end of a few months a hand 
 some dividend was paid on each share ; his 
 own share of the profit he devoted to the ob 
 jects of his mission. 
 
 He established a store on the co-operative 
 plan, in which each villager was a stock 
 holder of at least one share. They were as 
 tonished when they found that their invest 
 ment of ten blankets had increased to eleven. 
 This was a new revelation. Formerly, in 
 storing up their furs and blankets in their 
 own huts, they became injured and de 
 preciated by mildew and insects. 
 
 Prosperity began to smile upon this Ar 
 cadian community. Mr. Duncan, with his 
 wonderful zeal and great energy, conquered 
 in spite of the many obstacles which 
 threatened his progress. As they began to 
 show signs of development, he delivered sim 
 ple lectures, illustrated by maps and a stere- 
 
1 68 From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 
 
 opticon, on history, geography, astronomy, 
 morals, etc. He seems to have had the power 
 to wield successfully the influence of pastor, 
 ruler, and every other calling that was neces 
 sary to instruct and civilize the Indians. 
 
 At one of the elections for village council- 
 men an incident occurred which would be 
 amusing to some of our politicians. "The 
 ballot in favor of a candidate must be unani 
 mous, in order to secure election. On one 
 occasion a black ball was cast, and as the 
 nominee enjoyed an excellent reputation, Mr. 
 Duncan gave out that he would like to see the 
 dissenter privately. Early the next morning 
 the individual called and complained, that on 
 a certain day the candidate had been given 
 one dollar too much in making change at a 
 store, and had asked him if he ought to keep 
 it. "He ought to know himself that he 
 ought to be honest, withont asking me, that 
 is why I thought he ought not to be a council 
 man." The severest form of punishment was 
 public whipping for the crime of threatening 
 or attempting bloodshed, and which occurred 
 only four or five times. They were naturaily 
 so proud and vain, that they considered it a 
 great disgrace. 
 
 In dealing with some offences, a black flag 
 
From Yellowstone Park to Alas a. 169 
 
 was hoisted over the prison. The people 
 would inquire of each other, " who is the of 
 fender?" When it was known, public opin 
 ion made it sjo warm for him, that he was 
 obliged to reform or leave the village. 
 
 To keep up their growth in civilization, the 
 old houses were pulled down, and new and 
 better ones erected. The cost of the new 
 houses was beyond their means, and Mr. 
 Duncan promised to assist them for each 
 house, sixty dollars in lumber. A new church, 
 holding one thousand two hundred people, a 
 town hall, dispensary, reading room, market 
 house, blacksmith, carpenter, cooper and tin 
 shops, work sheds and soap factory were 
 built, and a sea-wall to protect the village, 
 water power and saw mills were erected. 
 An old Indian who heard that Mr. Duncan 
 intended to make water saw wood, said, " If 
 it is true that Mr. Duncan can make water 
 saw wood, I will see it and then die." 
 
 Mr. Duncan used the profits from various 
 investments, received assistance from friends, 
 and used his own private funds. He visited 
 England in 1870, and procured machinery, 
 and learned various trades, such as weaving, 
 wire pulling, twine spinning, brush making, 
 etc. He also learned the gamut of several 
 
i yo From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 
 
 musical instruments, and on his return to 
 Metakahtla, organized a brass band of 
 twenty-one instruments, which gained great 
 renown on the coast ; an organ was also 
 placed in the church. 
 
 On his return he was received with all 
 pomp and honor, as if he had been a king. 
 His account was exceedingly graphic and in 
 teresting. They assured him that they had 
 constantly prayed for his safe return, and now 
 God had answered their prayers and revived 
 their hearts after much weeping. Many sat 
 up all night with him talking over what had 
 happened. What a contrast between this and 
 his reception in 1857 ; then they were all 
 superstitiously afraid of him. 
 
 Such a grand success and change at Met- 
 lakahtla had its influence upon other tribes far 
 into the interior, and up and down the coast. 
 A number of chiefs had been converted, some 
 of them the most fierce barbarians, and Se- 
 gair, a leader of the cannibal feast which Mr. 
 Duncan witnessed on his first arrival, and 
 
 who boasted of the number of lives he had 
 
 
 
 taken, was " at length humbled and led like 
 a lamb." He, at one time, tried to assassin 
 ate Mr. Duncan. He became a cabinet maker 
 and carpenter, and a truly exemplary Chris- 
 
From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 171 
 
 tian. The Indians from Metlakahtla went 
 out among all the tribes in all that region at 
 their own expense, and taught them in simple, 
 figurative language. Here is a sample of 
 their method : 
 
 " Brothers, sisters, you know the way of 
 the eagle? The eagle flies high, and the 
 eagle rests high. He rests on the highest 
 branch of the highest tree, then he is free 
 from fear of all beneath him. Brothers, sis 
 ters, Jesus to us is the highest branch of the 
 highest tree. Let us rest on him, then. We, 
 too, need not fear, all our enemies beneath 
 us." 
 
 The whole coast, both Indians and white, 
 heard of the wonderful change, and flocked 
 to the village to trade, and see the almost 
 marvelous transformation. 
 
 The Chilkat Indians, whom we visited in 
 Alaska, have the reputation of being a fierce 
 and bloodthirsty tribe, and who live five or 
 six hundred miles from Metlakahtla, visited 
 them, arraying themselves in all their mag 
 nificence of barabaric finery, so as to impress 
 the people with their greatness and import 
 ance. They were astonished at the sight of 
 the buildings, and of their thrift, so much 
 like the white people of Victoria. They 
 
172 From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 
 
 wanted to see the man who was chief and 
 manager of the village, who had wrought 
 such wonders. 
 
 Mr. Duncan came to them with his com 
 mon working clothes on ; they pretended 
 that they could not see him, and looked over 
 and beyond him ; they preserved their coun 
 tenances in solid rigor to maintain their great 
 dignity, never uttering a word, save the cere 
 monies of a formal greeting. He conducted 
 them to his house, and gave them the place 
 of honor for distinguished guests ; they con 
 tinned to look at him in utter silence for some 
 time, and finally broke out : " Surely, you 
 cannot be the man ! Why, you are a little 
 man, and we expected to see a great and 
 powerful giant, gifted in magic, with enor 
 mous eyes, that could look right through us 
 and read our thoughts ! No ; it is impossi 
 ble ! How could you tame the wild and 
 ferocious Tsimsheans, who were always 
 waging war, and were feared throughout the 
 whole coast? They tell us you have God s 
 book, and you have taught them to read it ; 
 we want to see it." 
 
 Upon the Bible being placed before them, 
 and on being told that it was by following 
 the teachings of this book that the Metla- 
 
From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 173 
 
 kahtlans had become enlightened, each one 
 touched it reverently with the tip of his 
 finger, and said, " ahm, ahm," it is good, it is 
 good. After remaining several days, seeing 
 the wonderful village, trading, etc., they re 
 turned, impressed very much, no doubt, with 
 the things they had seen. 
 
 The influence of these Christian Indians 
 for good has been very great on our Alaskan 
 tribes. While our soldiers were at Fort 
 Wrangell some of these Metlakahtlans were 
 employed as laborers. They were sober, 
 Sabbath-keeping Indians, and through their 
 influence a considerable number of the 
 Stickeens, at that place, were led to Christ 
 before Mrs. McFarland, our first missionary 
 teacher, reached Alaska. They became mem 
 bers of the first church organized there 
 under the successful labors of Rev. Mr. 
 Young. Phillip, the first native teacher and 
 interpreter, and Mrs. Dickinson, also an in 
 terpreter, were both educated at Metlakahtla. 
 
 One Sabbath morning, soon after the 
 church was organized, as the people were 
 gathering for public worship, five stalwart- 
 looking Indians, clad in army blue, and each 
 with a water-proof on his arm, walked into 
 the chapel, and reverently worshipped God 
 
174 From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 
 
 there, although it afterward appeared that 
 they could not understand the dialect used in 
 the services. They proved to be Metlakahtla 
 Indians, who had been carrying goods up the 
 Stickeen River to the Cassar mines. On their 
 return, Saturday night overtook them at 
 Fort Wrangell, and, true to their principles, 
 they fastened their boats to the shore, and 
 kept the Sabbath. Monday morning they 
 went their way homeward. But such an 
 object lesson could not fail to have an in 
 fluence on the ruder and less Christianized 
 race, for they have influenced for good all the 
 tribes with which they have come in contact. 
 
From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 175 
 
 IX. 
 
 A REVIEW OF MISSION WORK IN ALASKA. 
 THE CLOSE. 
 
 MR. DUNCAN was inspired to dedicate 
 himself to this great work of civilizing 
 these people on account of a graphic portrayal 
 of the barbarous degradation of the Tsim- 
 shean savages, in Admiral Preroth s narrative. 
 After twenty-five years absence, the Admiral 
 says : " God has brought me back again, 
 amidst all the sundry and manifold changes 
 of the world, face to face with these tribes, 
 amongst whom I have witnessed only blood 
 shed, cannibalism and heathen deviltry in its 
 grossest form ; now they are sitting at the 
 feet of Jesus, clothed and in their right mind. 
 The very church warden, dear old Peter 
 Simpson, who opened the church door for 
 me, was the chief of one of the cannibal 
 tribes." 
 
 " Mr. Duncan began his work," says Mr. 
 Welcome, " by first mastering the tongue and 
 
176 From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 
 
 then studying, in their own homes, the minds 
 and inner life, the habits and customs of these 
 painted, half-naked savages, as at night they 
 clustered around their hearth-stones, the blaz 
 ing fire casting a weird glow over their 
 swarthy faces. He learned from them their 
 ideas of the creation, of the mystery of death, 
 their religious superstitions, their history as 
 told in legends ; in short, he studied them 
 and their capacities, as a student studies the 
 relative equivalents of the elements in chem 
 istry ; as a Samaritan to their sick ; as a peace 
 maker when fierce passions stirred strife ; as 
 a comforter in their hours of trouble and woe, 
 he not only won their affection and confi 
 dence, but he also implanted in their hearts 
 the germs of good will and forbearance 
 towards each other ; he exemplified and up 
 held by his own pure life those true princi 
 ples of morality that stand the crucial test of 
 the ever suspicious scrutiny of the savage." 
 
 He dispensed with everything in the way of 
 form or ceremony that would distract their at 
 tention and taught them the simple truths of 
 the Christian religion. Some one says, " the first 
 step towards teaching a savage is to feed him ; 
 the stomach being satisfied, he will listen to 
 instruction, not before." Mr. Duncan grasped 
 
/ ; oin Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 177 
 
 intelligently the true science of civilization ; 
 he learned the insistent needs and pliant ca 
 pacities of the savages ; we have seen how 
 effectively he provided for these needs, and 
 trained these capacities. 
 
 In 1881, after Mr. Duncan s wonderful suc 
 cess, he met with great persecution from 
 those who naturally should have been his 
 warm friends and supporters ; he was only a 
 layman, and would not take Church of Eng 
 land orders ; his answer to the Bishop of Co 
 lumbia, who urged him, was, " that he feared 
 that church orders would prove to him, what 
 Saul s armor was to David, only an incum- 
 brance, and therefore he preferred the stone 
 and the sling." 
 
 Though Metlakahtla might rightly be con 
 sidered Mr. Duncan s own particular domain, 
 and the Indians have proved their apprecia 
 tion of his faithful, unselfish labors by a love 
 and devotion rare in such races, his plainest 
 rights have been invaded and an effort made 
 to drive him from his field of labor, and di 
 vide and distract his followers. 
 
 The Indians of British Columbia, without 
 conquest, treaty or compensation, are declared 
 to have no rights in the land which has been 
 occupied for centuries by them or their an- 
 
178 From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 
 
 cestors, and this, their land, is now claimed 
 to be the property of the Queen, while these 
 "ancient children of the soil" are driven 
 from their homes to seek others in Alaska, 
 under the United States Government. 
 
 The United States have great reason to feel 
 humiliated by the history of their treatment 
 of the iiborigines, but the one principle, which 
 is also recognized by Great Britain, has at ail 
 times prevailed and been maintained, namely, 
 that the Indian has the right of possession 
 which can only be taken from him by conquest, 
 or obtained through treaty or compensation. 
 But the Canadian Government seems to have 
 wrested the land and homes from these 
 Indians because they have not the power to 
 resist, which is not one whit better than high 
 way robbery. 
 
 Alaska is only thirty miles distant from 
 Metlakahtla ; Mr. Duncan was delegated to 
 visit Washington and lay the case before the 
 United States Government, and ask certain 
 privileges and encouragement for them to 
 move into Alaska ; every encouragement that 
 was consistent with international courtesy, 
 was given Mr. Duncan by the authorities, and 
 he addressed the following letter to the Secre 
 tary of the Treasury, dated February 9, 1887 : 
 
I 1 tit 111 Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 179 
 
 " Sir : 
 
 u I have the honor to address you on behalf 
 of a community of Tsimshean Indians, num 
 bering about one thousand souls, now located 
 at Metlakahtla, British Columbia, near the 
 border of Alaska, and in whose interests I 
 have been deputed to visit Washington. 
 
 " This people for twenty years have been 
 struggling their way to civilized life, and 
 their substantial progress has won for them 
 the admiration of all who have visited their 
 settlement. 
 
 " Of late years, however, their prosperity 
 has been cruelly arrested by the untoward 
 action of the Provincial Government in refer 
 ence to the land question. It would seem 
 that British Columbia has assumed that the 
 Indians have no rights in the land, and a land 
 policy has been adopted there altogether 
 foreign to the edicts and usages which have 
 been followed in all other parts of Canada. 
 
 "The Indians, thus wronged, are driven 
 almost to desperation, but rather than pro 
 ceed to hostilities, they have decided to aban 
 don their homes and seek protection under 
 the American flag. They are looking anx 
 iously to this country for sympathy, and for 
 permission to build themselves a village in 
 
i8o From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 
 
 Alaska. The losses involved in such removal, 
 to such a poor people, are very appalling, 
 hence the burden of my letter, which is, that 
 if you can, by any lawful means, permit them 
 to take into Alaska their belongings, free of 
 duty, you will confer a great favor upon a de 
 serving and suffering community. 
 " I have, etc , 
 
 " W. DUNCAN." 
 
 Governor Swinford, of Alaska, indorsed 
 the request. The removal of these civilized 
 and largely educated Indians into Alaska will 
 not only add a number of industrial enter 
 prises, but will have a very beneficial effect 
 upon the natives of that territory ; they will 
 make good industrious citizens, whose influ 
 ence upon the native tribes of Alaska will go 
 far toward their complete civilization. 
 
 Dr. Jackson, United States Agent of Edu 
 cation in Alaska, says : " A few years ago 
 Congress was ready to vote a large sum of 
 money to encourage a colony of Icelanders 
 to remove to Alaska. Surely the Govern 
 ment can afford to help these people who ask 
 no money help. The Secretary of the 
 Treasury granted the request of Mr. Duncan, 
 relative to free entry of all articles belong 
 ing to such Indians, except such as mav be 
 
From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 181 
 
 found to consist of merchandise, imported 
 and intended as such for sale. All lands in 
 Alaska being public domain, the Govern 
 ment cannot set apart any reservation in 
 Alaska, and the land there can only be dealt 
 with by Congress. But the Metlakahtlans 
 might move into Alaska, and settle upon un 
 occupied land, reporting the occupancy to 
 the department, and ample provision will be 
 made to meet the necessities of law-abiding 
 inhabitants." 
 
 Mr. Duncan, therefore, with the Metlakaht- 
 lan Indians, left their homes, with all their 
 industries, and moved into Alaska, settling at 
 Port Chester, Annette Island, where he has 
 founded the new town of Metlakahtla, and it 
 is being rapidly built. 
 
 The English people clogged the departure 
 of the Indians in every way ; Senator Vest, 
 who visited them last summer, found their 
 canoes on the shore, and the Indians ready 
 to sail ; the ecclesiastics seized their store 
 and workshop ; they stole from them eight 
 thousand feet of lumber, and they had white 
 men under arms ready to fire on the Indians 
 if they attempted to bring away the build 
 ings which they themselves had made. The 
 poor savages were almost afraid to take away 
 
1 82 From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 
 
 their personal property, but they bore as 
 Christians what these fanatics put upon 
 them. There are now about one thousand or 
 more of them in Alaska. They are clearing 
 the forest, and have built a line of houses 
 nearly a mile long among the big trees on 
 the shore. They have put up a steam saw 
 mill, and have built a salmon cannery one 
 hundred feet long and thirty-four feet wide. 
 They are going to put up a big general 
 house, and they hope to extend their civilizing 
 work to other Alaskan tribes. 
 
 They are a valuable addition to our people 
 in Alaska, and there is no doubt that Uncle 
 Sam will give them a good title to their new 
 home. It remains to be seen whether this 
 new move for liberty of worship will prove as 
 successful on a small scale as that of the Pil 
 grim Fathers. 
 
 At first they were not contented, they 
 feared being shut off from fishing in British 
 waters, and being excluded from Victoria, 
 their most accessible market, by the customs 
 tariff. It remains to be seen how much they 
 are willing to sacrifice for liberty. 
 
 The passage of Senator Dawes s " Severalty 
 Bill " gives hope of a new era in the treat 
 ment of the Indians in the United States. 
 
From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 183 
 
 The President has appointed commissioners 
 under the bill, and the process of allotment 
 has already begun. The work of civilization 
 and education has not, however, kept pace 
 with the work of allotment. The friends of 
 the Indians are divided in opinion ; one party 
 wanting guardians, or receivers, appointed 
 to take care of his property, who shall be 
 amenable to the courts, like other guardians; 
 the other, that of creating a non-partisan com 
 mission, who shall take charge of all Indian 
 tribes during the period of transition from the 
 icservationsystemtothatof Indian civilization. 
 We think we have demonstrated what has 
 been done by one individual with the 
 Tsimshean Indians, and what can be done 
 with our Indian tribes, with teachers em 
 ployed who are devoted and self-sacrificing 
 in their work. The Government, we learned, 
 has a sort of contract system with the Pres 
 byterian Missions in Alaska, to give a certain 
 amount towards educating the Indians ; and 
 also in other sections, a sort of partnership 
 with different religious organizations, which 
 has created a good deal of denominational 
 jealousy, on account of so large a proportion 
 of Indian education drifting into the hands 
 of the Roman Catholics. 
 
184 From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 
 
 The Indian agents appointed by the Gov 
 ernment are not working in harmony with 
 the teachers of the Indian schools, and in 
 some cases at cross-purposes. We have some 
 evidences of the same jealousy existing in 
 our own country, as in the case we have been 
 considering. 
 
 It becomes us, as American citizens, to 
 study the Indian problem, of which we read 
 so much. What is this problem? The 
 " Christian Union " answers the query thus : 
 " It is the question how Indians shall be 
 brought to a condition of self-support, and of 
 equal rights before the law, in which they 
 will no longer require the special protection 
 and control of the Government. It is im 
 portant for the white people of our country 
 that the Indians should have a fair chance, 
 should be improved and civilized. If the in 
 ferior race is not instructed and elevated, it 
 will be pauperized and debased. Whenever 
 this is the fate of an Indian tribe, its women 
 will be an everlasting curse to the young 
 white men, and to the homes of the white 
 people. Perhaps apart of the retribution for 
 our national wrong and injustice to the In 
 dians may come upon us in that way." 
 
 We have had the pleasure of drinking in 
 
From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 185 
 
 the picturesque scenery of Switzerland, 
 Scandinavia, and as far north as North 
 Cape, with all the glories and giandeur of 
 the fjords, glaciers and mountains of Norway 
 and the midnight sun. Through the country 
 of the Tyrol, and almost every country of 
 Europe, although so enjoying the grand and 
 overpowering views of our own Yosemite 
 Valley, with mountains and water-fails, can 
 ons and lakes of the Yellowstone Park, but 
 where in the wide world can you see, for two 
 thousand miles, such a grand panorama of 
 all that you can see in the above places? 
 which daily and hourly is unrolled to your 
 view, from the time you leave Port Townsend, 
 on Puget Sound, across the Straits of Fuca 
 to Victoria, British Columbia, passing Van 
 couver s Island, hrough the Gulf of Georgia, 
 Queen Charlotte s Sound and numerous is 
 lands, sounds, inlets, etc., passing Princess 
 Royal Island and San Juan Island on the 
 right. These islands came near causing a 
 war between Great Britain and the United 
 States in 1856, but an arbitration was ac 
 cepted, with Kaiser William, of Germany, as 
 arbitrator, and he decided in favor of the 
 United States. 
 
 It is impossible to describe Alaska and its 
 
1 86 From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 
 
 wonderful scenery. One must go himself and 
 witness on what an immense and massive 
 scale everything appears. Words fail to ex 
 press what one sees as one sails among the 
 ten thousand islands, numerous glaciers and 
 great mountains, with beautiful bays, inlets, 
 rivers, lakes, sounds and the verdure of trees 
 as they bend down to the water s edge, re 
 flecting their beauty in the clear water. 
 When we see what God has done for this great 
 country of ours, for its material interests, and, 
 last, though not least, created for us the 
 grandest natural scenery in the wide world, 
 and given us an opportunity to gaze upon 
 His wonderful works and drink in the health- 
 giving breezes from mountains and ocean, 
 why should we not turn our thoughts to the 
 great Author of all things and worship Him 
 and serve Him more devoutly than ever ? 
 
APPENDIX. 
 NOTE. 
 
 ALASKA MISSION WORK. 
 
 Mr. Duncan, the missionary layman, writes from Metlakahtla, 
 their new home in Alaska, hopefully, although they have been 
 quite unfortunate. He says, "We speak plainly of the treatment 
 we have received from the Government of British Columbia and 
 Canada, and the Church Missionary Society of London, England, 
 which together have eventuated in our leaving our old settlement 
 and migrating to Alaska." Mr. Duncan gives an account of " A 
 Day at Metlakahtla," which is full of interest : 
 
 " Having twenty-two men employed, I began the duties of the 
 day by going to look after them. I found waterproof coats doffed, 
 and everybody outside seemed brisk and busy. Before I had fin 
 ished my inspection, I was summoned to breakfast ; but I told the 
 cook to ask Dr. Bluett not to wait for me. Having finished my 
 work outside. I took a hasty meal. Then the school-bell rang, and 
 quickly one hundred and thirty-two children, all with happy faces, 
 took their places in school. (I should note here that thirty-five of our 
 youths have been taken to the Industrial Training School at Sitka, 
 about 250 miles north of this). We commenced school as usual, by 
 singing a verse of the good old hymn, * Guide me, O Thou Great 
 Jehovah. Prayer followed, and then the scripture lesson the 
 subject this morning being the meeting of Jacob and Esau. The 
 children then marched to their classes, seven in number, the sexes 
 being divided, with the exception of the first class. I have three 
 native assistants, and we go to work at what is called the three 
 R s, and soon the usual hum of school sets in. We teach the chil 
 dren to read and write in English, but I am sorry to say the lessons 
 
From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 
 
 furnished in the primary reading books are generally very unsuit 
 able for Indian children, having too much nonsense about cats 
 owning tails, and dogs being able to bark, and so forth ; all such 
 information appearing very ridiculous to the Indian aspirant 
 after learning, when translated into his mother tongue. This morn 
 ing the reading lesson in one class was exceptionally good ; it was 
 the fable of the dog and the shadow. After reading the lesson, the 
 children were asked to write on their slates what they thought was 
 the lesson the fable teaches us. One boy wrote, When people let 
 fall the truth they find nothing. 
 
 " We have no fire in our school, and the building we are tempor 
 arily using is so drafty, that if king Alfred with his candle clock oc 
 cupied it, he would be obliged to use curtains to keep the flame 
 steady. I therefore gave the children ten minutes recess to warm 
 themselves by a scamper on the beach. The lively scene which 
 ensued would take too long to describe. I suppose this is the only 
 school in Alaska where there is no fire, yet I doubt very much 
 whether there be such another healthy community of children in 
 any part of the territory as ours is. Time being up, lessons re 
 commence. At the end of the three school hours, the children 
 seem glad to get their freedom. The boys rush to secure their 
 wonted places for their favorite game of marbles, and so fascinated 
 are they with this game, that they seem to forget they need any 
 food before returning to school. On several occasions I have 
 caught them playing in pouring rain, and twice lately I saw them 
 playing on the road by the light of a lantern. I see that an Indian 
 boy is as proud of his bag of marbles as a white boy is. 
 
 " A little pleasant excitement was caused in the village this morn 
 ing by two men employed by our musicians setting to work to 
 fell a huge and noble-looking pine. The stir was due to the diffi 
 culty of the undertaking. The tree had to be cut about twenty- 
 four feet from the ground, and made to fall in a certain direction, 
 to avoid crushing the houses near to it. The men performed their 
 work admirably, and were so elated with their success that they 
 nailed a pole on the top of the stump with four small American 
 flags attached to it. The twenty-four feet of the trunk left stand 
 ing is to form the base for a stand on which the Brass Band will be 
 mounted to greet our friends, or any Government officials when 
 they come to see us. 
 
From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. in 
 
 " In the afternoon I went to our steam saw-mill, to talk over the 
 work to be done, with our native foreman. The men have lately 
 completed an order for over i6,o<x> cases from a salmon cannery 
 about thirty miles distant. All the work of sawing, planing and 
 stencilling these cases was done by the natives, and done so satis 
 factorily that the order given us for another year is nearly doubled 
 
 " I then stepped into a sash and furniture work-shop, latelj 
 erected by two native artisans on their own account. They have 
 managed to bring into their service a small stream to turn the 
 wheel by which their lathe is worked. The men were busy execu 
 ting an order from a neighboring Indian tribe for a grave fence. 
 I noticed, too, they had finished a nice-looking bedstead of yellow 
 cypress, which, I learn, forms part of on order from Portland, Ore 
 gon. My business with them was to tender the work of making 
 me some large windows and doors for the new school we are 
 erecting if we can agree upon the terms. I left them to think 
 over the prices, and let me know them to-night. 
 
 " I next walked to the site on which we are erecting our perma 
 nent school, and gave some directions to the workmen. 
 
 14 In the evening several of the men came to receive their wages, 
 and others to pay their accounts for lumber obtained at the mill. 
 
 " After supper one of our people came to see me privately about 
 a family quarrel, which he wished me to help him to settle. 
 While, however, he was telling his story, another man walked in 
 to press his complaint against a man of a distant tribe, a Hydah, 
 who, with his party, happened to be here for the purpose of trade, 
 and staying in the village guest-house. As it was supposed the ac 
 cused man would be leaving our village early the next morning, I 
 concluded to settle his case first. Accordingly I sent for our native 
 constable-who holds a commission from the Government and 
 directed him to go and tell the stranger I wanted to see him, and 
 that he might bring his friends with him. As the Hydah and 
 Tsimshean languages are totally unlike, I also sent for one of our 
 people who knows them both, to act as interpreter. In the mean 
 time several persons dropped in to listen, and as soon as the Hydah 
 and his friends arrived, we commenced the case. 
 " The affair was this : The complainant and the accused had met 
 
 while hunting bears on Prince of Wales Island. The former 
 
 greeted the latter courteously, but his civility was not reciprocated. 
 
iv From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 
 
 The Hydah, both by looks and words, and still more particularly 
 by suspiciously manipulating his gun, showed signs of anger. The 
 complainant stated that he kept his temper, otherwise he felt sure 
 violence would have ensued. In defense the accused said that the 
 complainant, not knowing the Hydah language, had allowed his 
 fears to be unnecessarily aroused, that the angry words he used 
 were not addressed to the complainant, but to the Hydah in com 
 pany with him ; and as for the way he carried his gun, that was 
 explained by the fact that he was hunting bears. As no act of vio 
 lence had been committed, or threatening language used, it only 
 remained for me to caution and instruct the accused man, which I 
 did very fully. I was glad to find that my words were well re 
 ceived. He thanked me, and said he was glad to hear good words 
 and know the law, and on his return home he would not fail to 
 tell his people what he had learned. The complainant and the ac 
 cused then shook hands, and went away with the greater part of 
 the audience. 
 
 " Among the few remaining was the man who came in first about 
 his family quarrel, and a Hydah (not from the same village as the 
 man I had just dismissed) who had a trouble to tell me. He said that 
 he had chosen a young woman of the Thlinket people for a wife, 
 and both the young woman and her guardian had favored his suit. 
 The engagement being made, he went over to her tribe, and had 
 already given a month s labor to her relations for their good will. 
 For some reason, however, of which he professed to be ignorant, 
 her guardian had suddenly annulled the engagement, and ordered 
 him to leave the village. I promised to send a message to the per 
 sons concerned by the first canoe which leaves here, and when I 
 have ascertained the facts on the other side, I shall know what to 
 advise in the case. There are, I am sorry to say, some old customs 
 still rife among these tribes in regard to marriage, which are con 
 stantly producing trouble. When questioned individually not an 
 Indian will venture to defend them, and yet they retain their hold 
 of the public mind. After the Hydah had left, I addressed the 
 man who had patiently waited some hours for a private interview 
 about his family affairs. The remedy for his trouble was humility 
 and kindness. These I prescribed for him, and he went away. 
 
 " I then kad two foremen to talk with about the morrow s work. 
 After they had left me I took a peep at the beautiful moonlit sky. 
 
From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 
 
 Soon I heard the bugle sounding in the village the welcome Go 
 to bed, and then came my quiet hour for reading." 
 
 Our Government is helping the work in Metlekahtla by appro 
 priating a certain amount for the schools. A sad disaster overtook 
 them last January. Their steam saw-mill, with all its contents, was 
 destroyed by fire at a loss of not less than $12,000. Not discouraged, 
 Mr. Duncan made plans for a new and larger mill, and started at 
 once for Portland, Oregon, to purchase the necessary machinery. 
 He says, " This may sound as if I already had the money in hand 
 to meet the outlay with, but such was not the case. I felt, how 
 ever, that we must have the mill, and doubted not that I should be 
 able to get extra time allowed to pay the bills." In a little over 
 two months the new mill was erected, and was double the capacity 
 of the old mill. Friends were found to" respond to Mr. Duncan s 
 necessities. 
 
 Mr. Duncan, by request, writes a letter giving some explanation 
 of the peculiar carving among the natives of Alaska, which is very 
 interesting : 
 
 " I am glad to learn from your letter of 28th of March, that the 
 silver spoons made by our native craftsmen are appreciated. In 
 answer to your enquiries respecting the maker and his craft, I beg 
 to inform you that he belongs to the Tsim-she-an nation, and his 
 name was Tsah-am-sheg-ish (The power that draws shoreward). 
 On becoming a Christian, some years ago, he was named Abel 
 Bafcr. In making tea-spoons, Abel tells me he beats each one out 
 of a silver dollar ; but for dessert-spoons, which require a dollar 
 and a half, he has to melt the silver in a crucible. After hammer- 
 jig the piece of silver to the required length and thickness, he then 
 forms the bowl of the spoon by beating the plate into a wooden 
 mould of the size and shape he wishes the spoon to be. This done, 
 he files and sand-papers his work (originally the dried skin of the 
 dog-fish answered for this purpose). He then uses a smoothing 
 stone, and he finally polishes with a handful of soft fibre the dried 
 and teased inner rind of cedar bark. His last operation is to carve 
 the handle. 
 
 " The designs he cut on the spoons sent you are peculiar to the 
 carving and painting of the Indians in this country, and are sym 
 bolical of the various crests or Totems (as they are sometimes 
 called) which seem to have been adopted in far back ages to dis- 
 
vi J<rom Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 
 
 tinguish the four social clans into which each band is subdivided. 
 The names of these four clans in the Tsimshean language are, 
 4 Kish-poot-wadda, Canadda, Lach-e-boo, and Lacksh-keak. 
 
 " The Kish-poot-wadda, by far the most numerous hereabouts, 
 are represented symbolically by the fin-back whale in the sea, the 
 grizzly bear on land, the grouse in the air, and the sun and stars in 
 the heavens. 
 
 " The Canadda symbols are the frog, the raven, the star-fish and 
 the bull-head. 
 
 " The Lacheboo take the wolf, the heron, and the grizzly bear, 
 for totems. 
 
 " The Lackshkeak the eagle, the beaver and the halibut. 
 " The creatures I have just named are, however, only regarded as 
 the visible representatives of the powerful and mystical beings or 
 Genii of Indian mythology. And, as all of one group, are said to 
 be of the same kindred ; so all the members of the same clan whose 
 heraldic symbols are the same, are counted as blood relations. 
 Strange to say this relationship holds good should the persons 
 belong to different, or even hostile tribes, speak a totally different 
 language, or be located thousands of miles apart. On being asked 
 to explain how this notion of relationship originated, or why it is 
 perpetuated in the face of so many obliterating circumstances, the 
 Indians point back to a remote age, when their ancestors lived in 
 a beautiful land, and where, in a mysterious manner, the mythical 
 creatures whose symbols they retain, revealed themselves to the 
 heads oi the families of that day. They then relate the traditional 
 story of an overwhelming flood, which came and submerged the 
 good land, and spread death and destruction all around. Those of 
 the ancients who escaped in canoes, were drifted about and scat 
 tered in every direction on the face of the waters ; and where they 
 found themselves after the flood had subsided, there they located 
 and formed new tribal associations. Thus it was that persons re 
 lated by blood became widely severed from each other ; neverthe 
 less they retained and clung to the symbols which had distinguished 
 them and their respective families before the flood ; and all suc 
 ceeding generations have, in this particular, sacredly followed 
 suit. Hence it is that the crests have continued to mark the off 
 spring of the original founders of each family. 
 " As it may interest you to know to what practical uses the na- 
 
From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. vn 
 
 lives apply their crests, I will enumerate" those which have come 
 under my own notice : 
 
 " First. As I have previously mentioned, crests subdivide tribes 
 into social clans, and a union of crest is a closer bond than a tribal 
 union. 
 
 " Second. It is the ambition of all leading members of each clan 
 in the several tribes, to represent by carving or painting their her 
 aldic symbols on all their belongings, not omitting even their house 
 hold utensils, as spoons and dishes ; and on the death of the head of 
 a family, a totem pole is erected in front of his house by his suc 
 cessor, on which is carved and painted more or less elaborately, 
 the symbolic creatures of his clan as they appear in some mythol 
 ogical tale or legend. 
 
 " Third. The crests define the bounds of consanguinity, and per 
 sons having the same crest are forbidden to intermarry ; that is, 
 a frog may not marry a frog ; nor a whale marry a whale ; but a 
 frog may marry a wolf, and a whale may marry an eagle. 
 
 "Among sons of the Alaskan tribes, I am told, the marriage 
 restrictions are still further narrowed, and persons of different 
 crests may not intermarry if the creatures of their respective clans 
 have the same instincts ; thus, a Canadda may not marry a Lash- 
 keak, because the raven of the one crest and the eagle of the other 
 seek and devour the same kind of food. Again, the Kishpoot- 
 wadda may not marry a Lacheboo, because the grizzly bear and 
 wolf representing these crests, are both carnivorous. 
 
 " Fourth. All the children take the mother s crest and are incor 
 porated as members of the mother s family, nor do they designate 
 or regard their father s family as their relations. A man s heir 
 and successor, therefore, is not his own son but his sister s son. 
 And in the case of a woman being married into a distant tribe 
 away from her relations, the offspring of such union when grown 
 up, will leave their parents and go to their mother s tribe and take 
 their respective places in their mother s family. This law accounts 
 for the great interest which natives take in their nephews and 
 nieces, which seems to be quite equal to the interest they take in 
 their own children. 
 
 " Fifth. The clan relationship also regulates all feasting. A 
 native never invites the members of his own crest to a feast, they 
 being regarded as his blood relations are always welcome as his 
 
vin From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. 
 
 guests ; but at feasts which are given only for display, so far from 
 being partakers of the bounty, all of the clansmen within a reason 
 able distance are expected to contribute of their means, and their 
 services gratuitously, to make the feast a success. In the fame 
 of the feast hangs the honor of the clan. 
 
 " Sixth. What I have just written reminds me to add that this 
 social brotherhood has a great deal to do with promoting hospitality 
 among the Indians ; a matter of immense importance in a country 
 without hotels or restaurants. 
 
 " A stranger, with or without his family, in visiting an Indian vil 
 lage, need never be at a loss for shelter ; all he has to do is to make 
 for the house belonging to one of his crest, and which he can easily 
 distinguish by the totem pole in front of it. There he is sure 
 of a welcome, and of the best the host can afford. There he is 
 accounted a brother, and treated and trusted as such. 
 
 Seventh.- I may mention, too, that the subdivision of the bands 
 into their social clans, accounts in measure for the number of potty 
 chiefs existing in each tribe, as each clan can boast of its headmen. 
 The more property a clan can accumulate and give away to rival 
 clans, the greater number of headmen it may have. 
 
 4 Eighth. Another prominent use made by the natives of their 
 heraldic symbols is that they take names from them for their chil 
 dren ; for instance, Wee-nay-ach, big fin (whale). Lee-tahm-lach- 
 taou, sitting on the ice (eagle). Iksh-co-am-alyah, the first speaker 
 (raven in the morning). Athl-kah-kout, the howler traveling 
 (wolf). 
 
 44 Ninth. And last, but not least, the kinship claimed and main 
 tained in each tribe by the methods of crests, has much to do with 
 preventing blood-feuds ; and also in restoring the peace when quar 
 rels and fightings have ensued. Tribes, or sections thereof, may 
 and do fight, but members of the same social clan may not fight. 
 Hence, in contests between two tribes, there always remain in 
 each some non-combatants, who will watch the opportunity to in 
 terpose their offices in the interests of peace and order. In case, 
 too, of a marauding party being out to secure slaves, should they 
 find one or more of their victims to be of their own crest, such a 
 person would be set free, and be incorporated as a member of their 
 family, while the captives of other crests would be held or sold as 
 slaves. 
 
From Yellowstone Park to Alaska. ix 
 
 " In writing of these matters, it must be understood that I have 
 kept in view the natives in their primitive state. The Metlakaht- 
 lans, who are civilized, while retaining their crest distinctions, and 
 upholding the good and salutary regulations connected therewith, 
 have dropped all the baneful and heathenish rivalry with which 
 the clannish system was intimately associated." 
 
 Mr. Duncan has made frequent efforts to get the Canadian Gov 
 ernment to reimburse the Indians who left Metlakahtla, their old 
 home in British Columbia, for Alaska, as the Indian agent refused 
 to allow them to take their buildings and other property with 
 them, and allowed strangers to appropriate the property ; much is 
 now destroyed or stolen. He has assumed full control, and is now 
 living with his family in the house Mr. Duncan built out of his 
 private means, after his connection with the Church Missionary 
 Society, of London. Mr, Duncan is in correspondence with our 
 Government, at Washington, upon the subject, and it is to be 
 hoped that this good man, who has done so much to civilize and 
 educate the poor Indian, will get his honest dues from the Govern 
 ment of British Columbia, which has persecuted and robbed him. 
 
 Last New Year s was celebrated by services in the church at 
 Metlakahtla, praying the old year out and the new one in. New 
 Year s night they had a tea party, and after tea fourteen good 
 speeches were made by native Indians, all aiming to point out the 
 way they should go, and inciting each other to courage amid their 
 misfortunes and discouragements. 
 
 We look with great interest to the result of this grand work of 
 Mr. Duncan s. 
 
WELCH, ERACKER COMPANY S 
 
 Recent Publications. 
 
From "IN WESTERN LEVANT 
 
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 EXTRACTS FROM THE PRESS, 
 
 " The hit of the year ! " State Journal. 
 
 " Full of color, picturesqueness and charming descrip 
 tion." From column review in X. ] . Tribune. 
 
 " A famous book." Neiu Orleans Picayune. 
 
 " Rising from the perusal of these sparkling pages, the 
 reader feels as if under the lingering influence of some wild 
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 " A very clever and readable volume by one of the most 
 unhackneyed, entertaining and imaginative of living 
 writers." A". 1". Sun. 
 
 " Into Morocco is vivid in rich wom-coLring, and every 
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 cisco Post. 
 
** Loti s account of travel into the interior of that country 
 by no means lessens the feeling of mystery, but rather en 
 hances it. He seems to have pursued his researches in a 
 sort of dream, and while observing closely and describing 
 clearly all he saw and heard, yet conveys throughout his 
 book that same atmosphere of unreality and delicious lan 
 guor, and one lays the book down with a sigh at having 
 completed its perusal, and with the brain filled with visions 
 of white-robed veiled figures, tents, hot, sandy deserts, and 
 long trains of silently moving camels. It is an enchanting 
 book, and the picturesque illustrations add not a little to its 
 charms. Milwaukee Sentinel. 
 
 " Only those who are familiar with the deep poetic feel 
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 conception of the character of this book without reading it. 
 Readers who love the romantic, will be delighted with the 
 book." Clevela nd Leader. 
 
 " Loti is, above all else, a literary colorist, and the pic 
 tures are wonderfully warm, sensuous and glowing." 
 Chicago Times. 
 
 " Mr. Loti has an artist s eye for the picturesque. "- 
 M iliva ukee Wisconsin . 
 
 " Rich in quotable extracts, for on every page is a pic 
 ture worth impressing on the memory for its beauty. It is 
 vivid and inspiring. Chronicle, San Francisco. 
 
 " A famous book, intensely interesting, beautifully illus 
 trated." New Orleans Picayune. 
 
 " Delightful reading." Toledo Blade. 
 
 " Sure of welcome. It is a series of emotions deeply felt, 
 exquisitely translated. "Boston Transcript. 
 
 " Full of charm ; not an effect is lost. We wish we had 
 space to quote at fuller length from this fascinating book." 
 Boston Literary World. 
 
 " One of the most fascinating books of travel that has ap 
 peared this year." The Writer, Boston. 
 
 " A book of sunshine." Chicago Herald. 
 
From "THE BANK TRAGEDY." 
 
The Delightful Tale of French Life and Manners 
 
 E X P I A T I N 
 
 BY TH. BENTZON 
 
 ADMIRABLY TRANSLATED 
 
 I2mo. ?-r cents. 
 
 " Far ahead of [its fellows in theme and general treat 
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 " A charming novel, and a welcome addition to the store 
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A FLORENTINE CHURCH. 
 from " On the ll ing Through Europe. 
 
" ON THE WING THROUGH EUROPE, by F. C. Sessions, 
 Esq.. is a modest and well written account of what a less 
 accurate man would not have seen, and a clearly given de 
 scription of what a sensible and thoughtful pair of eyes did 
 see in Europe. The exceedingly good taste, which is evi 
 dent on every page, is added to full and complete mention 
 of what one most wants to read about, and yet finds so little 
 written about, as related to these topics. The binding is in 
 harmony with the plan and execution of the whole volume." 
 Home Journal. 
 
 "They are written with a remarkable grace, ease and 
 clearness of style. His mind quickly seizes the salient 
 points of interest and besides penetrates into regions not so 
 often described by the ordinary traveler. It is a very inter 
 esting and instructive little book, and reveals the author 
 as a man of vigorous intellect, keen observation, deep sym 
 pathy and excellent powers of description." Adams, Mass., 
 Tra nscript. 
 
 " While written modestly, simply and with no effort at 
 vivid description, it does more to place the scenes, incidents 
 and historic associations of a tour through the British Isles 
 and on the continent of Europe before the reader intelli 
 gently, than any similar work we have ever seen. The 
 engravings are fine, and two letters of Rev. Dr. Hutchins 
 on famous English Divines, add greatly to the value of 
 the book." Cincinnati Herald. 
 
 "The letters are well written, and the descriptions of 
 scenery, incidents, etc., are peculiarly interesting, showing 
 that Mr. Sessions has been a careful observer. * * * 
 The book is an exceedingly handsome one in printing 
 and binding, and the elegant illustrations it contains add 
 very much to its value and interest. We can cordially com- 
 mend the work to our readers. It should have a very large 
 and general circulation." Dispatch. 
 
" It is entirely unpretentious, and written in a lively and 
 pleasing style. A breezy freshness and evident sincerity 
 pervade its pages, and it is pleasant to learn what an unpre 
 tentious writer can make out of the old cities and time- 
 honored buildings, the ancient rookeries and much-travelled 
 thoroughfares of these older lands. The printed text shows 
 good taste, and the illustrations add to its value." Christ 
 ian at Work. 
 
 " ON THE WING THROUGH EUROPE is the title of just such a 
 journal of a flying tour of Europe, during the year of the 
 Paris Exposition, as we might expect from almost any one 
 of our clear-headed and sensible men of business writing for 
 the entertainment of friends at home. Lively, concise, 
 straightforward, touching lightly but intelligently upon a 
 multiplicity of topics, without falling into sentimentality on 
 the one hand, or lapsing into a too prosaic literalness on the 
 other, it is an agreeable and unaffected record of impressions 
 of travel. Its author s brief descriptions of phases of 
 transatlantic life, manners, customs, and scenes, and of me 
 morable places and buildings, are distinguished by the busi 
 ness man s faculty for close and sharp observation of men 
 and things, and of arriving at rapid and generally just con 
 clusions concerning them." Harper" 1 * Monthly. 
 
 " The vast material upon which the traveler had to work 
 is certainly attractively and instructively used in the narrow 
 limits to which he confined his writing. Not the least at 
 traction of the work is the series of twenty fine engravings, 
 certainly the finest illustrations ever published in a work 
 of this kind." Times 
 
 " A series of very sprightly and readable letters to the Oh io 
 State Journal, and we must say that they have lost nothing 
 of their freshness and interest by reappearing in book form. 
 We are reading it with great pleasure. The mechanical 
 execution of the work as shown in letter-press and en 
 gravings is excellent very creditable to the taste of the 
 publishers." Springfield Republic. 
 
From "IN WESTERN LEVANT. 
 
1HOW HEADY. 
 
 BY WHOSE HAND? 
 
 A NOVEL 
 
 BY EDITH SESSIONS TUPPER, 
 
 A iithor of "By a Hair s Breadth, 11 etc. 
 
 MORE STIRRING, CLEVER AMD VIGOROUS THAN EVEN HER 
 PREVIOUS SUCCESSFUL NOVELS. 
 
 121110, Paper, 35 Cents. 
 
 ADVANCE NOTICES: 
 
 " Edith Sessions Tupper s latest novel, BY WHOSE 
 HAND, is a distinct advance on her previous work in firm 
 ness of touch and method of treatment of her subject. The 
 skill in plotmaking which the author manifests in a marked 
 degree, makes the novel a fascinating one for those who 
 wish to peruse a work of fiction which will hold the atten 
 tion to the last paragraph. As a novelist, Mrs. Tupper im 
 proves with each work." N. Y. Press. 
 
 " An original romance. The sedate reader (if any such 
 remain) will find the story somewhat emotional, but will 
 acknowledge its animation." Brooklyn Times. 
 
 " The authoress has an imagination which is always 
 vivid, and sometimes picturesque." Kate Field s Wash* 
 
Jl SX I l iti.iNUi I* 
 
 4 FOR TRAIT IN CRIMSONS 
 
 I bright and entertaining Drama-novel. 
 
 BY 
 
 CHARLES EDWARD BARNS. 
 
 Delicately printed on antique laid, bound in parch 
 ment paper, etc. I2mo. 35 cents. 
 
 Will be widely read and enjoyed by all readers of 
 this successful author. 
 
7rom "AS TIS IN LIFE." 
 
From "AS TIS IN LJFE. 
 
A STERLING NOVEL 
 
 Tlie Chicago Tribune Irize Story. 
 
 By a Hair s Breadth. 
 
 BY EDITH SESSIONS TUPPER. 
 
 READ WHAT THE PRESS HAS TO SAY OF IT. 
 
 " Her undoubted talents are of such an order that she may 
 reasonably expect to attain high rank among the Hedonists 
 of her time." Chicago Herald. 
 
 " The authoress of this work is a bright and rising nov 
 elist." N, Y. Press. 
 
 " The incidents are ingenious and well wrought together. 
 This work opens a new field of enterprise to the gifted and 
 versatile authoress." Jamestown Journal. 
 
 " This effort in the line of romance shows her power. 
 Her pen is her weapon. She has shown what she can do. 
 Her coming story, By Whose Hand? will be looked for 
 with interest It goes without saying that every ad 
 vantage that the plot presents is taken. The detail work of 
 the story is above criticism. From the introspective to the 
 mystical is but a step. This step has been taken by one of 
 the brightest women this country has seen." Buffalo 
 News. 
 
 " By a Hair s Breadth is ingenious, free from affectation, 
 and told with a degree of freshness and originality." 
 A . V. Sun. 
 
 " It is the reportorial capacity wonderfully developed in 
 Robert Fleming, the immensely clever reporter, that works 
 up the Paul Raymond murder. l By a Hair s Breadth has 
 merit, and Edith Sessions Tupper s hero knows by exper 
 ience the advantages to be derived from the plentiful use of 
 the blue lead pencil." A" I . Times. 
 
 " One of the brightest little stories that has come to us in 
 some time. A terse dramatic style combined with the ability 
 of painting striking descriptions with a touch of the brush 
 shows that Mrs. Tupper is an artist of no mean ability, and 
 her future work will be awaited with interest. Heretofore 
 her work has been confined to lyrical poetry, but the story 
 field should know her soon again. Morning Journal* 
 
VENICE. 
 2 nn " C>n the U fng Throng Europe." 
 
FRACKER COMPANY S 
 
 EDITIONS OF 
 
 he PorU of 
 
 A VENETIAN STUDY 
 
 IN BLACK AND WHITE : 
 
 A drama-novel of stirring incident, clever intrigue, 
 with a plot of startling development, the scenes 
 shifting from Gotham to the city of the Doges. 
 
 DIGBY: CHESS PROFESSOR: 
 
 A happy and unique drama-novel of New York life, 
 the interest centering in an exciting game of chess. 
 
 A DISILLUSIONED OCCULTIST: 
 
 . An East Indian episode, gathering interest from 
 a home-bound student of Hindu occultisms, and the 
 recital of his tragic history. 
 
 THIRTY-FIVE CENTS EACH, POST-PAID. 
 
 7 HE AMARANTH AND THE BERYL : 
 
 A volume of poetical works. 
 
 SOLITARIUS TO HIS DAEMON: 
 
 Thoughts and reflections of a thinker in search of 
 
 new truths in nature and the heart of man, 
 
 I2mo. Bond parchment-paper binding, exquisitely 
 
 printed on antique laid paper, with 
 
 engraved title-pages, etc. 
 
 FIFTY CENTS PER COPY. 
 NOW READY. 
 
i HK PITH OF A FEW ADVANCE 
 
 PRESS NOTICES : 
 
 u Barns works appeal to the more thoughtful class cf 
 readers. " Mercury. 
 
 " These poems are the rioduct of a deep dramatic in 
 stinct. . . . Solitarius to his Daemon is an excellent prose 
 work." Telegram. 
 
 " Mr. Barns writings show the man of thought and 
 culture . . . Solitarius is a work worthy of admiration. In 
 this his talents show to advantage. Journal. 
 
 " A work of high philosophy." Press. 
 
 " They touch a responsive chord, and furnish food for 
 many a fanciful reverie." News and Courier. 
 
 41 Vigorous, equally clever, and abounding in the re 
 sults of much reading and thinking." Brooklyn Eagle. 
 
 " Barns is a delightful essayist, and between his well- 
 rounded periods is a rich mine of thought and philosophy, 
 expressed in a most pleasing and impressive form. One of 
 those books which is as pleasing in a second reading as in the 
 
 first. . . .The poems are full of genius of the true point 
 
 Our readers will find in these books a surprise and a de 
 light." Christian at Work. 
 
 " These drama-novels display much curious learning and 
 a quaint humor." N. Y. Sun. 
 
 " These works will prove a valuable addition to any 
 library." San Francisco Call. 
 
From "IX XVEbTERN LEVANT. 
 
" Barns has a fertile pen. His drama-novels are pro 
 fuse in popular character, story and learning, written with 
 marvellous fluency.". . . Brooklyn Eagle. 
 
 " Barns is capable of excellent word-painting, admira- 
 >le technique, and moreover, a noticeably sweet and tender 
 versification. . . .Many of the poems combine a vigorous and 
 rich harmony with virility and manly sentiment." Phila 
 delphia Transcript. 
 
 11 In spite of many defects, it is more than borne upon 
 the reader that here are books with a genuine message for 
 the world. The writer is humble, earnest and hopeful ; not 
 aunted by conventions, nor driven into mistaking them for 
 truths, but yet respectful of them, acknowledging their place 
 in the world. His reading has been wide, if not indeed pro 
 found, and has furnished him with a rich treasury of refer 
 ence and allusion, and more than all, he is a sturdy promoter 
 of manliness, a virtue more than slightly underrated by 
 many of his contemporaries.... Barns will find many read 
 ers." Boston Herald. 
 
 " Barns books are unique, exciting, and beautiful 
 specimens of their art. "Phfla. North American. 
 
 " They cannot but be appreciated by all who seek real 
 literary gems." San Francisco Chronicle. 
 
 " A new writer has sprung into enviable prominence 
 a young poet , philosopher, and novelist, who has produced a 
 series of volumes sufficiently original in thought and admir 
 able in quality to merit the above titles These writings 
 
 have been remarkably amiably handled by the critics through 
 out the country, considering that they abound in crudities 
 and literary faults ; but they are the errors of a genius. Not 
 a single page of his books but bears an individuality not to be 
 
 mistaken A sincere student of nature in all its phases. As 
 
 Barns is young, and has had exceptional advantages as re 
 gards study and travel, there is no reason why, with his tal 
 ents, he should not become an important factor in the litera 
 ture of the country. . .."New York Graphic. 
 
- 
 
 AMSTERDAM. 
 
 From " On the Jl ing- Through Europe" 
 
A MOROCCAN WELL. 
 
" Solitarius is a series of thoughtful, quaintly writ 
 ten essays These drama-novels are readable and pleasing 
 
 productions by an author who revels in the eccentric The 
 
 volumes are choice in design, and are the very flower of the 
 printer s art." New Orleans Picayune. 
 
 " These productions are thoroughly unique." Chi 
 cago Inter-Ocean. 
 
 " The drama-novels are awake and alive, ; and that is 
 no small virtue when so many published books are torpid. . . 
 4 The Venetian Study is logical and impressive. The works 
 of this author must be regarded as very promising." Boston 
 Herald. 
 
 " The drama-novels are capital stories, well told, and 
 equally brilliant." Evening Telegram. 
 
 " Barns is both a philosopher and a poet. His prose is 
 stately, strong, and graceful ; his poems are exalted in tone, 
 
 majestic in style The drama-novels are the productions 
 
 of a master of English, an artist in description, and display 
 
 a rare versatility This young author s work is introduced 
 
 to the public in a most attractive form.... The series is of 
 great value." Minneapolis Journal. 
 
 5 " Barns is thoroughly in earnest, and is rilled with the 
 consciousness of the solemnity of his mission, and of the ur 
 gent need there is in the world for the truth his art would 
 
 teach The poems show a true, workmanlike touch, and 
 
 1 Solitarius is a work of truth and brilliancy." Chicago 
 Tribune. 
 
 " The author of these books has read much, travelled 
 widely, and thought deeply, and is enabled to use these con 
 ditions with effect in his writings which are elevated in tone, 
 in philosophy breathing a hopef /I, independent spirit, while 
 the reader is not allowed to fcrget that he is an American. . . 
 The poems are distinguished by an elevation of sentiment, 
 And a denn ; te purpose." A Ibany Journal. 
 
From "IN WESTERN LEVANT." 
 
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