QassJE9_Qa 
 Book , A3 
 
LASKA £M 
 THE YUKON 
 VALLEY 
 
 ILLUSTRATED 
 
NASHVILLE 
 
FROM POINT BARROW, THK MOST NORTHERN POINT OK ALASKA, TO SOUTHEAST AI,ASKA (AS INDICATED BY DOTTED I.INKS), 
 IS SUPPOSED TO BE THE RICHEST MINING SECTION. 
 
ALASKA 
 
 AND THE 
 
 YUKON VALLEY 
 
 HOW TO GET THERE 
 
 JOURNEY FULLY DESCRIBED 
 
 LAND OF GOLD 
 
 ITS MINERAL FIELDS— SEALS— FISHERIES- 
 FUR BEARING ANIMALS— REIN- 
 DEER AND PEOPLE 
 
 FULLY ILLUSTRATED 
 
 PRESS OF 
 
 BRANDON PRINTING COMPANY, 
 
 NASHVILLE, TENN. 
 
copyright, 1897, 
 
 by Mclean 4 harri80n, 
 
 nashville. 
 
 M>0 
 
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 PREFACE. 
 
 Volumes would be required to contain the result of 
 explorations along the coast and islands of Alaska, 
 some thirty thousand miles, exceeding that of the 
 United States. And volumes will be required to tell 
 the story when the country is known. 
 
 In this little book, attention can be called to only 
 the prominent features, employing much so well 
 said by the press of Juneau and Sitka in the laudable 
 enterprise, now successful, of attracting public atten- 
 tion to the resources. 
 
 The illustrations are from photographs made by 
 Messrs. Winter & Pond, of Juneau, Alaska, from 
 whom views may be obtained of any desired section. 
 
 Lytton Taylor, Esq., ex-United States Attorney 
 of Alaska, has rendered valuable assistance in the 
 compilation of this book. 
 
ALASKA. 
 
 OTHIXG great is lightly won, and 
 seemingly it is the will of Provi- 
 dence that to attain marked success 
 an expenditure of time, energy, 
 and an indomitable will are re- 
 quired. Especial^ is this applica- 
 ble to the prospector in Alaska for 
 anj^ of its known or undiscovered 
 wealth. Here all belonging 
 to the mineral kingdom awaits 
 the coming of man. Its future 
 is not dependent upon a single 
 product. Equality is not the 
 rule, 3 r et every intelligent effort 
 will be rewarded. 
 
 Alaska ! The last West, the great domain of the 
 North . If regarded as part of the Union , San Fran- 
 cisco is, perhaps, two hundred miles east of its exact 
 center; and, with its far-reaching arm, seemingly offers 
 protection to the Sandwich Isles in the hour of peril, 
 and to assert upon the "high seas" our claim to it. 
 
 A vast country, of volcanic origin, covered with 
 ice and snow many months of the year, or in the 
 absence of both, by impenetrable forests and covering 
 of moss, protecting and concealing the earth, the 
 secret of its riches has been well kept ; and now an 
 invitation, limited by nature, is extended the present 
 generation — a reserve held for countless ages, denied 
 
6 ALASKA. 
 
 to all others. The wisdom of Providence is most 
 clearly established. In a land of sunshine, gold as a 
 commodity greater than necessity requires would be 
 produced ; with sunshine, a vast country could be 
 pillaged in a few seasons; with sunshine, the suste- 
 nance and need of unborn generations might be 
 destroyed ; with seasons moderating, ice disappearing, 
 His will may be surmised. 
 
 Its ownership over a century by Russia was not 
 productive of good results, viewed from an American 
 standpoint, and its control, if tradition is to be accred- 
 ited, was that of cruelty, ignorance encouraged, and 
 vice not restrained. The development of the country 
 was not encouraged, and the discovery of mines of 
 value probably criminal, the "find" forfeited to the 
 crown. 
 
 The United States, through the efforts of a few 
 citizens, in the most general way has recognized 
 Alaska, and in 1884, provided for a civil government, 
 adopting the laws of Oregon, so far as applicable, and 
 not in conflict with the laws of the United States, for 
 its government. That the laws of Oregon are not 
 applicable, may be surmised in many instances; espe- 
 cially those having reference to seasons. To deter- 
 mine the distinction is difficult, unless familiar with 
 climate a thousand miles distant. 
 
 Until lately the opinion of the member of Congress 
 was about that of those he represented, and, by reason 
 of distance, little thought was given to the neglect and 
 waste of untold millions of wealth that constituents 
 of all could enjoy. 
 
 For years the people have urged and implored con- 
 sideration by Congress. They have sought for such 
 
PUGET SOUND, MT. RAINIER IN DISTANCE — PAGE 15. 
 
ALASKA. 
 
 measures whereby homes could be secured, and that 
 sentiment prevail ; yet for mining and manufacturing 
 purposes land can only be acquired. They ask 
 local government and for authority to direct public 
 affairs. They ask for the rights accorded all other 
 citizens of the Union. 
 
 Millions of feet of timber annually decay, some 
 which is of great value, notably, the yellow cedar, yet 
 one foot can not enter the markets of the world, the 
 law prohibiting its exportation. 
 
 With, millions of acres of nutritious grasses similar 
 to that successfully employed, with a climate alike, in 
 Patagonia by the Scotch ranchmen in raising sheep, sus- 
 taining here alone the deer wandering from the mount- 
 ain fastness; with its far-bearing animal-, its waters 
 rich with animal life, should not the appeal be heed 
 Why should not Alaska be the fond home of unt 
 millions of people? Christiana. Stockholm, Glas- 
 gow, Edinburgh. St. Petersburg. Moscow and other 
 large cities are north of Sitka. "By the bright 
 light" demanding the attention of the world at this 
 time, speedy relief should be accorded a country suf- 
 fering more from ignorance than snow. 
 
 Southeast Alaska is a broken, mountainous - 
 covered with timber to an almost uniform heigh 
 i.Soo feet, beyond by mosses. A damp climate along 
 the coast, its winters about those of the District of 
 Columbia The plains of the interior are dry 
 cold, comparatively free in winter from wind and rain, 
 with the thermometer varying from ioo degrees above 
 in summer to 70 degrees below the freezing poi: 
 winter. Both sections are remarkably he;/ ad no 
 
 epidemic prevails. 
 
10 ALASKA. 
 
 About six hundred miles west from Sitka the timber 
 disappears, and a barren, more pronounced volcanic 
 land is presented. The plains are level and rolling. 
 
 With warm winds and currents from Japan coming 
 in contact with the cold, the nearly three hundred days 
 of annual rainfall are explained. With the return of 
 currents or winds to Asia's shores, cooled off, we find 
 Japan with more than two hundred days of rain, a 
 great rice producing country, largely owing its wealth 
 to Alaska's fields of ice, and which maj^ perform other 
 great good of which we are unconscious. 
 
 The forests of Alaska can only with difficulty be 
 penetrated, by reason of fallen timber and thick under- 
 growth. Upon the plains or in the clearing, in the 
 absence of snow, the moss is deep, and serves well as 
 a protection to moisture and ice beneath, and is of 
 rapid growth under the snow. Except in beds of 
 streams the difficulties encountered scarcely can be 
 imagined — they can not be described. The old miner 
 best can overcome these. The novice will soon wish 
 he was dead. 
 
 THE JOURNEY. 
 
 Two routes are now in use ; others have been sug- 
 gested, and briefly these will be considered. 
 
 m'kenzie river route. 
 
 The extension of the Canadian Pacific Railroad from 
 Edmonton, in the Province of Alberta, or Prince 
 Albert, in Saskatchewan, to the river mentioned, or 
 to some tributary of the Great Slave Lake, to connect 
 with a line of steamers to ply upon the McKenzie 
 
ALASKA. 11 
 
 towards the headwaters of the Porcupine River would 
 be practicable, and some, perhaps, along this stream 
 have found a wav to the Yukon fields. 
 
 WRANGEL AND STIKEEX RIVER ROUTE. 
 
 Wrangel. in Alaska, and a few miles from the 
 Stikeen River in British Columbia, is the starting 
 point of another route. Along that river to connect 
 with a trail the Canadian Government have under 
 consideration. This would be the most practicable 
 and direct route to the British possessions. That Gov- 
 ernment is much embarrassed, and unless by the 
 McKenzie River Route can not reach the possessions 
 except through the possessions of the United States. 
 This way would develop again a well-known mining 
 section. 
 
 TAKE RIVER ROUTE. 
 
 About thirty miles south of Juneau it is proposed 
 establishing a road, and it is claimed that this would 
 prove the most direct route to the British fields. If 
 so, Juneau would be the starting point. 
 
 THE OCEAN ROUTE. 
 
 This is to sail from "Frisco or Seattle 4.000 miles 
 across the Northwest Pacific Ocean and Behring Sea 
 to St. Michael, a custom station north of the mouth of 
 the Yukon River, where transfers are made to river 
 steamers constructed for navigation on that river, and 
 a tedious journey of 1,800 miles to reach the placer 
 mining regions of the interior. 
 
12 ALASKA. 
 
 cook's INLET AND COPPER RIVER. 
 
 This inlet, named for and explored by the famous 
 navigator, north to west of Sitka, has been explored 
 and considerable development work has been done. 
 And along the Copper River, by an expert engineer, 
 an entrance could be effected to the interior, following 
 the course of this stream. This is an inconvenient 
 way ; reliable charts do not exist, tides are very high, 
 and a very unfriendly tribe of Indians is in this 
 direction, said to wear feathers and paint themselves 
 as those in the West ; if true, a characteristic of this 
 tribe solely. 
 
 JUNEAU ROUTE. 
 
 This means taking passage by steamer at some 
 point on the coast. Seattle is suggested as most con- 
 venient and quickest, it being some 800 miles north of 
 San Francisco, this is a saving of a trip at sea for that 
 distance. This route is strongly commended to those 
 bent on profit and of limited means ; the Ocean, or 
 St. Michael route, to the man of pleasure. The 
 Yukon is navigable during the summer and early fall 
 only. Practically, the Juneau route is not used by 
 reason of absence of snow, then the Yukon is navi- 
 gable. When the Yukon is closed, then the Juneau 
 route is open, and the journey is made over the snow. 
 
 OFF FOR ALASKA. 
 
 Seattle, the 'starting point, named as many of the 
 towns in the West and South are, after an Indian of 
 distinction, is a city of 40,000 population, on Puget 
 Sound, in the State of Washington. The commerce 
 
SEATTLE, WASHINGTON — PAGE 12. 
 
- 
 
ALASKA. 15 
 
 shipped to and from foreign countries is so great that 
 the custom reports of Port Townsend in tonnage rank 
 next to New York. Ocean steamers, however, sail 
 from Tacoma, a rival city twenty-eight miles away. 
 The elevations in the city are numerous, and there is 
 a resemblance to Cincinnati. As a characteristic of 
 the coast for miles north, here is a wooded section; 
 the largest mills of the country supply timber of such 
 lasting and excellent quality that sailing vessels are 
 constantly in attendance to transport cargoes to the 
 African mines. 
 
 Largely dependent upon mining interests, here 
 ma} T be found supplies for the miner and miller. 
 
 The view presented is true of the Sound country, 
 and, as stated, extends for many miles along the 
 coast. Contrary winds and tides across the Straits of 
 Juan de Fuca may cause a dip or swinging motion of 
 the vessel, and involuntarily passengers may feed the 
 fish, but this is soon passed — the straits are — and the 
 Gulf of Georgia, between Vancouver's Island and 
 the mainland, affords a harbor that is usually quiet 
 and gentle as the most placid navigable stream in the 
 interior. This is true nearly to Sitka. There is a 
 chain of islands extending a thousand miles north, 
 and this inland passage between the islands and the 
 mainland is the route we are supposed to be travel- 
 ing. Excepting Queen Charlotte's Sound, at north 
 of Vancouver's Island, an arm of the sea requiring 
 about three hours to cross, and about twenty-five 
 miles fiom shore but in sight thereof; then Mill- 
 bank's Sound, a couple of hundred miles north, and 
 south of Princess Royal Island, requiring about one 
 hour to cross, and Dixon's Entrance at the boundary, 
 
16 ALASKA. 
 
 requiring a like time for passage, the journey may be 
 likened to a trip down the Mississippi. 
 
 The view of one of the passages is shown, repre- 
 senting a channel three to five miles in width and 
 forty-five miles in length. 
 
 After a journey of nearly one thousand miles, we 
 are within Gastineaux Channel, an arm of the Pacific, 
 and rapidly approaching the Queen City of the 
 Northwest. 
 
 JUNEAU. 
 
 Situated upon the mainland, in 1881 "the site was 
 then a wilderness covered with thousands of standing 
 trees, and strewn with as many fallen, in various 
 stages of decay." With Douglas, two miles away 
 upon the island so named, are four or five thousand 
 people. With no communication except by water, 
 here is found a live, active people, a fine water sys- 
 tem, an electric plant, telephone system, largest 
 mining industries in the world, good wharves, large 
 stores, and various industries, and several weekly 
 publications. Upon the sloping hillside, it rests upon 
 gold bearing ore, it is at the mouth of a deep gorge 
 or canon, through which flows quite a creek, rising 
 about four miles away in an almost circular basin — 
 embracing many acres and "with millions in sight" 
 — known as the "Silver Bow Basin," and from which 
 millions of dollars in dust and ore have been recov- 
 ered. Stamp mills, hydraulic appliances, and other 
 means are employed to recover the product. 
 
 With the force obtained by use of water, the earth 
 is loosened some ninety feet, rich in gold. Thus 
 

 THE INLAND PASSAGE — PAGE 15. 
 
ALASKA. 19 
 
 freed, the earth is carried along the course of Gold 
 Creek, flowing towards Juneau. At proper intervals, 
 large wooden pans 20x40 feet or larger, are placed. 
 and over these the water flows : the gold, being the 
 heaviest, precipitates, and remains at the bottom, and 
 during the season with the water turned away, a 
 fortune, from time to time, is collected. Xot all the 
 gold is saved, much escapes, and is to-day embedded 
 along the banks of the creek down to and in the salt 
 water. This is but one of the properties of the 
 Xowell Gold Mining Company; the enormous invest- 
 ments by that company have been productive of the 
 greatest good, and could the people do so, its honored 
 President would enjoy a seat in the United States 
 Senate. Through this basin is a road about four 
 miles in length, the longest in Alaska upon which 
 teams are used. 
 
 DEVELOPMENTS NEAR JUNEAU 
 
 Are made annually. Those best known, are the 
 ''Silver Queen.*' rich in both gold and silver, and 
 extensively mined, and numerous other adjacent 
 properties in a basin about three miles south of Juneau. 
 known as "Sheep Creek.'* Sixty miles south is the 
 " Sumdum " region, very rich. Forty miles north at 
 "Berner's Bay." are exceedingly rich properties: 
 Funter's Bay. on Admiralty Island, and the island 
 itself, some twenty miles away. Montana Creek, ten 
 miles away, as rich as any. and undeveloped, by rea- 
 son of distance from salt water. Numerous other 
 properties might be named. 
 
20 ALASKA. 
 
 THE TREAD WELL MINE. 
 
 The mo -it extensive mining in this section is quartz, 
 requiring capital, and while the grade is sometimes 
 low, and the first cost for complete works is enor- 
 mous, yet the uniform and certain returns daily are 
 more satisfactory, more business-like, and for years 
 the profits ma}^ be reasonably anticipated with a de- 
 gree of certain ty. 
 
 The Treadwell is the largest stamp mill in the 
 world. Its principal ledge is about an eighth of a 
 mile from salt water, and is 350 feet in width and ex- 
 tends to an unknown depth. Upon a hillside, the 
 excavation purposely has been wedge-shape ; at the 
 base are openings, or pits, into a tunnel, along and in 
 which is an inclined track, so that cars placed in 
 motion easily roll to the mills. Very much like light 
 (in color) limestone, small specks of pyrites ma}^ be 
 observed, but rarely ever gold. Crushed as macadam, 
 placed in boxes or hoppers, in which "stamps," or 
 iron columns, weighing a thousand pounds, ascend 
 and descend, each crushing several tons daily. In 
 the process water trickles through the boxes, and as 
 reduced to dust, is carried over plates covered with 
 amalgam, or quicksilver, which gathers that gold 
 freed from foreign substances. The product, held in 
 solution with salts or sulphur, by machinery called 
 "concentrators," is separated from light and worth- 
 less substances, and, when collected in quantities suf- 
 ficient, is roasted to expel sulphur, etc. Upon cooling 
 it is emptied into vats and chlorine gas employed, 
 forming a solution, or chloride of gold. After two 
 days it is drawn off to other vats, and a deposit formed 
 
ALASKA. 23 
 
 called "precipitates" is collected. When treated by 
 the assayer it is called "bullion,'' and is ready for the 
 mint. The refractory ore ma}' be reduced by smelt- 
 ing, the nearest works being at Tacoma. Mines 
 differ, and for smelting purposes and for scientific 
 reasons, the cost differs and the profit varies. 
 
 Averaging about $3.50 per ton, and cost of milling 
 about $2.00, with three or four thousand tons mined 
 daily, a handsome revenue is derived. Water to 
 operate is brought by open canal twelve miles. The 
 mill runs the entire year, day and night. The man- 
 agement is the very best — pluck, thrift, enterprise, 
 and good management have their reward. Its worthy 
 superintendent is Robert Duncan, Esq. 
 
 Once costing, at time of original purchase, four 
 hundred dollars, fifteen million would not purchase it 
 now. Practically inexhaustible, and enough in sight 
 for twenty years, and several thousand in daily profit 
 — why go to the Yukon? There are others. Many 
 worthy men, rich in properties, unable to develop., 
 await the coming of capital . 
 
 ARRANGING FOR THE YUKON. 
 
 The absence of means of transportation of necessity 
 confines mining operations to salt water, whence 
 steamers may call. The absence of capital is the 
 greatest inducement to placer mining. The want of 
 it occasions serious questions to the adventurer in 
 arranging for his journey. At Seattle outfits may be 
 secured, and reasonable rates can be secured for 
 transportation. At Juneau every want ma}' be sup- 
 plied — large, varied and appropriate stocks of goods 
 
24 ALASKA. 
 
 are kept on hand. The merchants are live and expe- 
 rienced gentlemen. The}' are familiar, and inter- 
 ested in the country, and may be relied upon in their 
 representations to the new comer, and their prices are 
 very reasonable, competition is honorable and brisk. 
 No taxes are levied, nor license required of the 
 merchant, rent is trifling, hence inducements may be 
 offered that could not if said charges were fixed. A 
 miner's supply can be purchased at Juneau and carried 
 cheaper and with more satisfaction than if purchased 
 in the interior. 
 
 No representation ought to be made as to expenses. 
 An outfit should cost $150. A person, a stranger, 
 landing here ought to have $500, and provide for his 
 exit as well as entrance. The equipment will aggre- 
 gate eight hundred pounds. 
 
 OFF FOR THE YUKON. 
 
 The following estimated distances from Juneau will 
 be found approximately correct : 
 
 MILES. 
 
 Haines Mission ( Chilkat ) So 
 
 Head of canoe navigation. 106 
 
 Summit of Chilcoot Pass 115 
 
 Lake Liuderman 124 
 
 Head of Lake Bennett 129 
 
 Foot of Lake Bennett 155 
 
 Foot of Caribou Crossing 158 
 
 Foot of Takou Lake 175 
 
 Takish House 179 
 
 Head of Mud Lake 180 
 
 Foot of Lake Marsh 207 
 
 Head of Canon 225 
 
 Head of White Horse Rapids 228 
 
 Takaheena River 240 
 
 Head of Lake Le Barge 256 
 
Oft 
 
ALASKA. 27 
 
 MILES. 
 
 Foot of Lake Le Barge 286 
 
 Hootalinqua 320 
 
 Cassiar Bar 347 
 
 Little Salmon River 390 
 
 Five Fingers 45 1 
 
 Pelly River 510 
 
 Stewart River 630 
 
 Forty Mile 75° 
 
 From Juneau another journey must be made one 
 hundred miles to the head of navigation, or Lynn 
 Canal. This is a channel surpassing the Hudson 
 River in grandeur, and is man}* miles wide at places. 
 It is a long, straight shoot for the wind — this is the 
 headquarters for that article — and here appropriately 
 could have originated the storm maxim, "Never 
 mind the weather so the wind don't blow."' Landing 
 where in summer roses grow wild and bloom, and the 
 blue flag familiar to the Southern home waves its 
 brightest hues, standing as if to extend a welcome 
 and to adorn the " winner of gold " with the colors of 
 highest success, amidst ice and snow a brave heart is 
 not discouraged by the Chilcat Mountain range soon 
 to be crossed nor the journey ahead. Lately enterpris- 
 ing citizens have employed horses to transport freight 
 by a new route, claimed much shorter, and not diffi- 
 cult to ascend; formerly, and in majority of instances 
 now, those crossing the divide to economize undertake 
 this labor with Indian aid, who formerly maintained 
 jealously a monopoly, charging enormously therefor. 
 
 The passes are a few thousand feet above the sea, 
 and portions are steep and difficult. From the summit 
 to the lake at head of navigation is twenty miles, and 
 forty-three miles from salt water, twenty-seven miles 
 of which goods must be packed. Through a chain of 
 
1" ^LASXA. 
 
 lakes, then down Lev ris River, the first obstruction to 
 navigation is the White Horse Rapids, and next Lower 
 down the canon. Only the most skilled navigator 
 should brave the danger : both shoots _tre :.angerous 
 pieces of water. Five Fingers, so named from the 
 rock projecting through the waters across the chan- 
 nel. Beyond the canon the danger is trifling through 
 to the mouth of the Yukon. The early spring trip 
 has the advantage of passing over these dangers 
 ice when the river is frozen over. 
 
 At the foot of the canon some prefer to lay over 
 until navigation is : pen, building boats and abandon- 
 ing the pulling of their effects. 
 
 Leaving Juneau in January or February, traveling 
 upon the snow and frozen strea::> would probably 
 reach the fields before the beginning, or at the open- 
 ing of the season. A preferable time would be to 
 reach the lake, waiting until the ice breaks, and fol- 
 low in the rear of the jams. This break occurs about 
 the first of May. and by the first of June the miners 
 tri::: the fields in time for the season's work. 
 
 SELF-PRESERVATION. 
 
 Necessity impels honesty am mgst the native pop- 
 ulation. Engaged in hunting and trapping, if the 
 rights of other- were a ; t resj ecte I n place c f deposit 
 tache" would ever be secure. A similar motive 
 impels the miner, and. as a rule, the strictest integrity 
 is observed, or enforced, if needs be, in the mining 
 camp. Districts are formed, rules adopted, recorders 
 elected, and publicity- given to mining interests and 
 rights: courts meet, as are required: justice seldom 
 miscarries the sigh of remorse, wealth, or corrupt- 
 
TREADWELL LEDGE — PAGE 20. 
 
ALASKA. 31 
 
 ing influence of the man whose hands are red with 
 blood, can not save from punishment. Property rights 
 are enforced, intoxicants destroyed when a nuisance, 
 the weak are protected, and a female can not be aban- 
 doned if brought within the jurisdiction of the tri- 
 bunal. 
 
 THE YUKON COUNTRY. 
 
 The Yukon section may be divided into three 
 divisions: the Upper Yukon division, lying entirely 
 in British territory, and embracing the White, Stewart, 
 Pelly, Salmon, Lewis and Hootalinqua Rivers, which 
 branches form the headwaters of the main Yukon ; 
 the middle division embraces Fort Reliance and down 
 to the mouth of the Tananah ; the lower division 
 from the mouth of the Tananah to Norton Sound and 
 Behring Sea. It is in the middle division that the 
 recent discoveries have been made, or on the Yukon 
 from the west side, having their source in the Ratzel 
 Mountains, a low intermediate range running nearly 
 parallel with the Yukon, and forming the divide be- 
 tween the Yukon and Tananah Rivers. Prospectors 
 have not yet explored the streams putting into the 
 Tananah on the west side of this range, although lower 
 down, along the banks of the Tananah, gold in pay- 
 ing quantities has been found and a few T of the bars 
 worked. The output in gold dust from the middle 
 division alone for the year 1894 is estimated at about 
 $200,000, while perhaps from §25,000 to $50,000 more 
 has been mined in the upper and lower divisions. 
 
 The Yukon is navigable for more than 2,000 miles, 
 and tributaries navigable from tw r o to six hundred 
 miles into the interior. It is said that one-third more 
 
32 ALASKA. 
 
 water empties into the sea from the Yukon every hour 
 than rolls by New Orleans from the Mississippi during 
 the same time. At its delta, some seventy miles in 
 width, fresh water is found fifteen miles at sea. In 
 the spring of 1897 the river was higher and the water 
 swifter than ever known. This will retard mining. 
 
 The lower valley of the Yukon is principally 
 tundra, and consequently of no value except, perhaps, 
 for the breeding of mosquitoes and water fowl. Here 
 the mosquitoes fairly swarm, being in- such numbers 
 along the streams and in the swamps as to make the 
 country untenable for both man and beast, and here 
 is probably the greatest duck pond on earth, millions 
 of ducks, geese, brants, and swans breeding here 
 yearly. Above the banks of the river are principally 
 gravel terraces or benches fairly well timbered , which 
 increase in quantity as the country is traveled higher 
 up the stream, when low ranges lie upon either side, 
 and grassy plateaus reach out to great distances. 
 During the brief summer of this region the rather 
 small Indian population flock to the river banks 
 attracted by myriads of salmon crowding the waters 
 in their annual pilgrimage of reproduction in the 
 lakes at the headwaters. At this time the banks are 
 lined with summer villages and camps of fishermen , 
 who build their basket traps far out into the eddies 
 and bends of the streams and lay up their store of 
 dried fish for the long Arctic winter. The annual 
 congregation along the river banks completely drains 
 of human life the valleys and plains, and the traveler 
 passing up or down during this busy season would 
 form an entirely erroneous idea of the density of the 
 native population, if he should draw the conclusion 
 
■ 
 
 J 
 
 n 
 
ALASKA. 35 
 
 that the vast forests covering the mountain slopes on 
 either side were inhabited by other tribes. Were he 
 to make a brief excursion into these almost impen- 
 etrable forests and over the hills and mountains he 
 would quickly perceive that along the rivers alone 
 exist the conditions necessary to sustain life, the out- 
 lying stretches being a veritable "land of silence." 
 The small streams of the interior, and the vast 
 swampy plains that are covered with snow for seven 
 or eight months of the year, are only visited by the 
 trapper and hunter when the skins are prime. Where 
 the mountains are higher along the upper sources of 
 the Yukon, game is more abundant, and the inhab- 
 itants are less dependent upon the rivers and their 
 fish. 
 
 Along the headwaters are high ranges with lofty 
 snow-capped peaks, and lake upon lake and chains of 
 lakes. In the gravel along nearly all of the sources 
 fine gold is found, and some bars have paid fair wages, 
 notably on the Hootalinqua. and also on other stream?. 
 In the ranges veins of rich silver, copper, and lead 
 ores exist, but their location being so inaccessible and 
 so remote from any ore market, are passed over with 
 but a casual inspection by the prospector, who seeks 
 for placer diggings only. Small specimens oi these 
 ores, brought out by miners as mere curiosities, show 
 a preponderance of copper associated with galena and 
 antimony. Gray copper ores are common, notably in 
 the Lake district at the head of Lewis River, generally 
 highly colored with green and blue bromides. The 
 general substratum of this district is granite, although 
 the palaeozoic rocks are widely distributed in lime- 
 stone dvkes and belts of crvstalline schists. The ser- 
 
Alaska. 
 
 pentine also appears, showing a continuation north of 
 the gold-bearing belt running through the Omir: e : 
 Caribou, and Cassiar districts. A range reaching 
 north from the Lake district to the headwaters of 
 the Copper River is described as being similar in 
 formation and high mineral colorings to the Red 
 Mountain District of Colorado, famous for its 
 mense deposits of rich silver ore- 
 
 Placer mining in the Yukon is yet in its infan 
 and quartz mining has not yet begun. Humboldt 
 asserted that the matrix of American mines lay in 
 Alaska, and, truly, the discoveries that are being 
 brought to light, both along the coast and in the 
 interior, show that the famous explorer's prediction is 
 likely to blossom into a real:: 
 
 .tention several years ago was called to a quartz 
 formation in the Yukon near Fort Cudahy. cove 
 more than four mining claims, or eigh 
 surface assaying nine and ten dollars per ton in free 
 gold. 
 
 cept upon discovery of coal in paying quant: ti s 
 or introduction of electricity to furnish light, heat, 
 and power, centuries may elapse before such pro: 
 is developed. 
 
 In was not until the fall of 18S7 that the Mecca or 
 coarse gold diggings was found in the gravel ban 
 Forty Mile Creek — a small tributary the Y 
 putting in from the west side and emptying in about 
 64 degrees north latitude and 141 degrees west longi- 
 tude, presumably is British territory. H 
 before the discovery of the digging- >" 
 mining was res -fully prosecuted on a number : 
 
 the upper tributaries of the Yukon, the Stewart. Pelly . 
 
ft 
 
 ILL**' 
 
 "Xttrt'-' 
 
 loL t^S BHE ~~~ ' 
 
 
 4 
 
ALASKA. 39 
 
 Lewis, and Hootalinqua Rivers, the bars being classed 
 as "fine gold" diggings. At stages of low water, a 
 number of bars on these streams yielded large profits. 
 and as high as from fifty dollars to one hundred dollars 
 a day to the man has been made by sluicing. But 
 the available rich spots on the low bars became worked 
 out in time, and the higher bars not yielding sufficient 
 returns on the outlay necessary to reach and work 
 them, the miners were compelled to branch out and 
 seek new sections bearing richer diggings, which led 
 to the discovery of coarse gold on Forty Mile, and 
 following in their order the more recent discoveries 
 on Sixty Mile, Miller, Glacier, and Birch Creeks. 
 
 FORTY MILE. 
 
 In the spring of 188S, active mining operations 
 commenced on Forty Mile, and have been carried on 
 with good results ever since, and it is estimated that 
 over half a million dollars in gold has been taken 
 from the gulch and the small feeders putting into it. 
 On Forty Mile, nearly all of the available rich ground 
 has been worked out, but there are high bars along 
 the stream which are rich, and have not as yet been 
 touched, owing to the difficulty in placing water on 
 them, and the hard-frozen condition of the ground. 
 
 MILLER CREEK 
 
 Is sixty-five miles from Forty Mile Post, and has been 
 worked two seasons. Owing to the lateness of last 
 spring, sluicing did not commence there until June 
 ist, a month later than the season before; but, due to 
 the fact that a number of claims were fairly opened 
 
40 ALASKA. 
 
 up, the output was greater this year than last, it being 
 estimated at about $125,000. There are forty-two 
 claims located on Miller Creek, each 500 feet in ex- 
 tent. Those near the mouth have a top covering 
 over the pay gravel of sand and loam, from twenty 
 to twenty-five feet in thickness, the pay streak vary- 
 ing from eight to thirty-five feet thick ; further up the 
 pay dirt is slightly less in thickness, and covered with 
 from three to fifteen feet of loam, sand, and ice. Last 
 season about 175 men were mining on the creek. 
 Wages were $10 a day. Although mine owners en- 
 deavored to bring about a reduction to $7, the attempt 
 proved ineffectual, and $10 per day remains the stand- 
 ard wage scale throughout the Yukon countrj 7 . 
 
 GLACIER CREEK 
 
 Is a new discovery, made late in the fall of 1893. It 
 is situated four miles east of Miller Creek, separated 
 from it by a low divide, and is a branch of Sixty Mile. 
 The gulch is eight miles long, varying in width from 
 one and one-half miles at the mouth to sixty feet at 
 the head. In two days after its discovery the entire 
 gulch was located by fifty-five miners. The prospects 
 on Glacier Creek are even better than on Miller Creek. 
 
 THE KOUKUK RIVER 
 
 Empties into the Yukon from the north, a few miles 
 above Nulato,and about 700 miles above St. Michaels, 
 in the Lower Yukon division. Diggings were struck 
 700 miles up the river from the mouth, just above the 
 Arctic Circle, and the stream is navigable for steam- 
 ers up that distance. " The diggings found at this 
 

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ALASKA. 43 
 
 point have paid fairly well. Coarse gold has been 
 found on the river, some nuggets weighing as high as 
 $7.50. Scattered in the gravel along the stream are 
 large quantities of gold-bearing float quartz, and a 
 part}- provisioned last spring to ascend the stream to 
 its source, if necessary, to search for the mother veins, 
 but no reports have }^et been received from them. 
 
 BIRCH CREEK. 
 
 The above-named creek is the scene of strikes and 
 excitement in the Yukon country. The creek runs 
 parallel with the Yukon, on the west side, for nearly 
 300 miles and has the remarkable feature of a portage 
 only six miles across between it and the Yukon 200 
 miles above its confluence with that stream, so a trip 
 by water from one terminal of the portage to the other 
 would involve 400 miles of travel, though the two 
 points are distant from each other only six miles by 
 land. A town is now growing up on the Yukon side 
 of this gateway to the Birch Creek mines, named 
 Circle City. The rich gulches or creeks so far dis- 
 covered are from fifty to sixty miles above Circle City, 
 and are named respectively Mastodon Creek, from the 
 number of mastodon bones found upon it ; Independ- 
 ence Creek, Squaw Gulch, Mammoth Creek, and 
 Miller Gulch. They are considered the richest pros- 
 pects yet found in the Yukon country and the easiest 
 to mine. 
 
 FORTY MILE POST. 
 
 Forty Mile Post is situated on a point of land near 
 the mouth of Forty Mile Creek, or properly speaking, 
 river, between the junction of that stream and the 
 
44 ALASKA. 
 
 Yukon, distant about sixty-five miles below the Arctic 
 Circle. At high stages of the spring floods the town 
 is surrounded with water and the streets inundated. 
 
 CIRCLE CITY. 
 
 Circle Circle, the second town in size and impor- 
 tance in the country, deriving its name from the fact 
 that it is located almost exactly upon the line of the 
 Arctic Circle, lies on the Yukon side of the Birch 
 Creek portage in a naturally beautiful situation. It 
 is the distributing point for the Birch Creek country. 
 Fully 300 lots have been staked off and recorded, the 
 recording fee being $2.50. 
 
 TRADING STORES. 
 
 The Alaska Commercial Company carries a stock 
 of general miners' supplies and provisions, and they 
 also operate a small store at the mouth of Stewart 
 River. The North American Trading and Trans- 
 portation Company, managed by Captain J. J. Healy, 
 carries a somewhat larger stock. These stores receive 
 their supplies mainly from San Francisco and Chicago 
 by ocean steamer to the mouth of the Yukon, and 
 from thence the cargo is transported up the river by 
 small stern-wheel steamers. Its trading posts are 
 established at St. Michael, Circle City, and Fort 
 Cudahy, with Alaska headquarters at Circle City. 
 These companies will no doubt prove equal to the 
 emergencies of the season, and their imports, with 
 miners, will sustain the population. 
 
PASSAGE THROUGH CANYOX. 
 
ALASKA. 47 
 
 KLONDIKE. 
 
 The latest strikes, and reported covering a territory 
 of five by thirteen miles, are the districts called 
 " Hunker" and "Bonanza." There are about eight 
 hundred claims staked out, and between two and three 
 thousand persons there. There was about $1,500,000 
 in gold mined last winter. The claims now staked 
 out will afford employment for about five thousand 
 men. 
 
 Dawson City is one of the most moral towns of its 
 kind in the world. There is little or no quarreling 
 and no brawls of any kind, though there is consider- 
 able drinking and gambling. Miners gather after night- 
 fall, drink and play until late in the morning. They 
 have some big games sometimes, costing as much as 
 $50 to draw. A game with $2,000 as stakes is an 
 ordinary event. 
 
 Circle city, only a few miles away, has mail once 
 each month. 
 
 MINING IN THIS SECTION. 
 
 Mining ia this section is placer or sluicing. In 
 summer months the prospector can easily arrange with 
 his tents and sustain himself, and very often a little 
 creek that a boy would pass as ' ' not a good place for 
 minnows ' ' is the place of deposit of hundreds of 
 thousands of dollars in dust. 
 
 A plan adopted in the open season is to locate and 
 mark the pay dirt, the next winter to thaw the ground 
 by fire; as softened it is removed and the fire rebuilt 
 in the same spot. This method is continued until 
 the deposit is exhausted or satisfactory quantities 
 
48 ALASKA. 
 
 removed. The dirt is washed the next spring; that 
 summer fortune or failure is announced. 
 
 Cost of maintenance may be two or three dollars 
 daily, and labor for three months commands ten to 
 fifteen dollars per day. An increase of population 
 will reduce wages ; it ought also to reduce the cost of 
 living. Lumber is quoted at $130 per thousand ; eggs, 
 $2 per dozen; bacon, $1 per pound ; flour, 15 cents 
 per pound, and gum boots, $25 per pair. 
 
 OTHER FIELDS. 
 
 If a line is drawn from Point Barrow, the most 
 northern point of Alaska, to Juneau, or southeast 
 Alaska, and imagine a belt 200 miles wide, here prob- 
 ably would be contained the field containing gold that 
 will demand first, and perhaps longest, attention of 
 civilization, and will be known best as the "gold 
 field" in Alaska. There are many exceptions to this 
 territory, for gold is found in every section along the 
 coast. 
 
 At the boundary on Annette Islands, the reserva- 
 tion of Metlakahtla Indians, rich deposits have been 
 found. 
 
 Wrangel, at the mouth of the Stikeen River, is the 
 entrance to the Cassiar country, once very rich, now 
 abandoned to Chinese working deserted claims. In 
 quick succession follows the Sumdum and Juneau 
 region. Belonging to this section are the 
 
 RUBY SAND DIGGINGS. 
 
 Northwest from Juneau, about 140 miles, lie the 
 rich ruby sand diggings. They commence just above 
 
GIAXT AT WORK — PAGE 19. 
 
ALASKA. 51 
 
 Lituya Bay. and along the beach at the foot of the 
 Fairweather range, rich deposits of ruby and black 
 sand are found at intervals for many miles, or as far 
 up the coast as Yakutat. For several years past a 
 number of these claims have been worked at a good 
 profit, and during the coming season a number of new- 
 claims will be opened up by new men in the field. 
 The gold is fine, but heavy and bright, and amalga- 
 mates readily, and by careful sluicing but a very small 
 per cent of the precious metal escapes in the tailings. 
 although they are practically black sand diggings. 
 which are generally conceded to be very hard to work, 
 These deposits are the result of glacial action in the 
 ranges back, the constant downward movement of the 
 huge glaciers that breast almost the entire length of 
 the Fairweather range in their sliding motion grind- 
 ing down the mountain slopes and the streams, con- 
 veying the auriferous sands to the sea. where they rind 
 a level, and the surf "rocks" and "pans" or sepa- 
 rates the light and heavy materials, leaving them in 
 alternate layers in banks along the beach. The black 
 and ruby sand and gold being the heaviest materials. 
 naturally affiliate, and together in solid streaks ribbon 
 the banks of gray sand, which is light, and mixes 
 only to a very small extent with the heavier materials 
 and carries no gold whatever. 
 
 THE COPPER RIVER SECTION. 
 
 This section has long been a source of much specu- 
 lation as to its mineral resources, owing to the imple- 
 ments manufactured from native copper and chunks 
 of the pure native, metal brought down to the coast by 
 the Indians inhabiting the section of country near the 
 
02 ALASKA. 
 
 headwaters. In early days the Russians made an 
 attempt to ascend the river to the copper deposits, 
 but they treated their native Copper River Indian 
 guides with such inhuman cruelty that the savages 
 arose in a body while the Russians were sleeping and 
 brained them with axes to a man, which is a matter of 
 history . Since then prospecting parties have attempted 
 to ascend the river to its source, but the glaciers, swift 
 currents and rapids, with their high and precipitous 
 banks, were difficulties almost insurmountable, and 
 the risks of life so great that the mineral deposits of 
 the upper Copper River are yet an unsolved problem. 
 
 cook's inlet. 
 
 Near the head of this remarkable inlet the early 
 Russian settlers carried on placer mining for years, 
 and certain favored mining localities are yet being 
 worked by American miners. Late in the fall of 1894 
 news was brought into Juneau that extraordinarily 
 rich diggings had been struck near the head of Turn 
 Again Arm, and quite a large amount of coarse gold 
 was the result of the clean-up from a few days' run. 
 Turn Again Arm is a narrow estuary reaching out east 
 from the head of Cook's InleL to within about fifteen 
 miles of Prince Williams Sound. 
 
 UNGA ISLAND. 
 
 Unga Island, lying south of the Alaska Peninsula, 
 and about half way between Kodiak Island and 
 Unimak Pass, has been the scene of active quartz 
 mining operations for a number of years, and a forty- 
 stamp mill has been erected on the property of the 
 Alaska Commercial Company with very satisfactory 
 
ALASKA. 55 
 
 returns. The ore on which thej- have been running 
 the past year assays about $20 per ton, and sometimes 
 $1,000 per ton. 
 
 NORTON SOUND. 
 
 On the shore of Norton Sound, latitude 65 degrees 
 north, high above the mouth of the Yukon River, 
 another stamp mill is at work, which is the most 
 northern milling operations in the world. It is called 
 the Umalak Mine, and is owned and operated by J. C. 
 Green. Mr. Green secured possession of this mine in 
 1 88 1, and has since spent $100,000 in developing it, 
 and from its ore he gets 143 ounces in silver to the ton. 
 It is one of the best paying properties in Alaska. 
 
 KADIAK ISLAND. 
 
 Kadiak, the largest Island of Alaska, is also rich 
 in wealth, and awaits the coming of the explorer and 
 capitalist. 
 
 SITKA. 
 
 As located now, Sitka is about twelve miles north 
 of New Arch Angel, or Old Sitka. It is upon the 
 west side of Baranoff Island. Its bay and harbor 
 are the most beautiful in the world, inclosed by 
 innumerable islands. Through three passages the 
 largest vessels may enter. This was the original 
 mining district of Alaska, and here was attracted the 
 attention of the gold-hunter. By accident, a soldier 
 was shown a piece of " ribbon rock " that was readily 
 recognized as akin to the Nevada and California ore. 
 Extensive plans were made, and success seemed cer- 
 tain, but it was Sitka's sad fortune that an Indian 
 
56 ALASKA. 
 
 hunter brought free gold to Joe Juneau from Gold 
 Creek. This led to the abandonment of the Sitka 
 District and the establishment of that at Juneau. 
 
 No question exists but that this and adjacent islands 
 are rich in gold, as "The Stewart Mine," "The 
 Lucky Chance," "The Holdfast," "Billy's Delight," 
 "Printer's Joy," and "Whale Bay," are all silent 
 witnesses. Lack of capital retards progress. Some 
 day these will make rich returns. An island only 
 twenty-eight miles in width, never crossed, is rich in 
 gold, copper, silver, and nickel. This is but an illus- 
 tration of the extent of development. Everything is 
 found along the coast, and occasion has never required 
 a trail constructed across. To the curious, it may be 
 suggested that wild animals are very numerous, and 
 four miles away from the capital, "footprints in the 
 sand" of Mr. Bear, as large as hats, may be noticed. 
 Would you explore it ? 
 
 The oldest town on the Pacific coast, and historic, 
 too, will justify more than passing notice. Here is 
 the naval headquarters of the Northwest, and the seat 
 •of government, and it may not be amiss to say its 
 present Governor is the ablest ever appointed — Hon. 
 John G. Brady. He has spent many years here, speaks 
 the Indian language well, and understands enough of 
 the Russian. He is a gentleman in the broadest 
 acceptation of the term — one that will extend a 
 cordial invitation to every honest man to Alaska, and 
 to this source is respectfully commended every seeker 
 of reliable information concerning the Northwest. 
 
 Here, too, was the Russian Castle, destroyed by 
 fire March 17, 1894. 
 
 Baranoff Castle was one of the oldest and best 
 
<* 
 
ALASKA. 59 
 
 known landmarks of Sitka, and has been visited by 
 thousands of tourists from all over the world as one 
 of the relies of Russian sway in that territory. Its 
 name, also Baranoff Island on which Sitka is situated, 
 is derived from Andrew Andryeviteh Baranoff, who 
 took possession of the island in 1799, as agent of the 
 Russian- American Fur Company. 
 
 Under the charter of this company from the Czar, 
 its representative was Governor of the Territory and 
 held absolute sway there until 1862. The castle is 
 supposed to have been Baranoff's residence on the 
 island, which he left in 18 16. It w T as built on the 
 apex of a hill occupying a commanding position, and 
 on account of its age was fast going to decay ; by 
 means of subscriptions raised in Sitka repairs were 
 made to keep it standing. This was accomplished 
 mainly through the efforts of Edwin T. Hatch, Col- 
 lector of Customs for Alaska. In his report for 1891, 
 Governor Lyman E. Knapp said concerning the 
 castle : 
 
 "It is a sentiment universally shared that the old 
 Russian Governor's residence ought to be rehabil- 
 itated and preserved as a relic of the past, and at the 
 same time made useful for official residences or other 
 Government purposes. ' ' 
 
 It ma}* be interesting to notice observations made 
 as to times of apparent sunset, remembering that 
 twilight is to be added, adding one or more hours of 
 light, so that in summer seasons "yesterday is to-day 
 and to-day is to-morrow" — a season when Nature 
 seems to dissipate. 
 
60 
 
 ALASKA. 
 
 TIMES OF APPARENT SUNSET, SITKA, ALASKA. 
 Latitude 5J oj / north ; Longitude ijj° if west, r 
 
 MONTH. RISES. SETS. LENGTH OF DAY. 
 
 October 31 7.45 A.M. 4.15 p.m. 8 hrs. 30 min. 
 
 November 30 8.41 a.m. 3.19 p.m. 6 hrs. 38 min. 
 
 ^December 21 9.00 a.m. 3 .00 p.m. _ oTlirs, 00 min. 
 
 — December 31 8.50 a.m. 3. 10 p.m. 6 hrs. 20 min. 
 
 January 31 8.08 A.M. 3.52 P.M. 7 hrs. 44 min. 
 
 February 28 7.04 A.M. 4.50 p.m. 9 hrs. 52 min. 
 
 March 22 .......... . 6.00 a.m. 6.00 p.m. 12 hrs. 00 min." 
 
 ^March3i 5.26 A.M. 6.34 P.M. 13 hrs. 08 min. 
 
 April 30 4.17 a.m. 7.43 P.M. 15 hrs. 20 min. 
 
 May 31 3.19 a.m. 8.41 p.m. 17 hrs. 22 min. 
 
 June 21 3.00 a.m. 9.00 p.m. 18-hrs. 00 min. 
 
 June 30 • 3.05 A.M. 8.55 P.M. 17 hrs. 50 min. 
 
 July 31 '. 3.44 A.M. 8.16 p.m. 16 hrs. 32 min. 
 
 August 31 4.58 A.M. 7.02 P.M. 14 hrs. 04 min. 
 
 September 22 6.00 a.m. 6.00 p.m. 12 hrs. 00 min. 
 
 September 30 6.23 a.m. 5.37 p.m. ii hrs. 14 min. 
 
 Here, too, is St. Michael's Church, the principal 
 Russian Church, maintained by the Czar. The follow- 
 ing description of it, and the Easter celebration twelve 
 days later than our own, may prove of interest : 
 
 ''Sitka, Alaska, May 3, 1894. 
 
 "Friday afternoon and Saturday night were inter- 
 esting times here with the Indian and Russian popu- 
 lation, it being Good Friday and Easter with them. 
 We witnessed the Good Friday services at the Greek 
 Church, commencing at 3 o'clock Friday afternoon. 
 They were very beautiful and impressive. There 
 were two or three benches near the center of the 
 church for visitors ; the members all stood or knelt 
 during the entire service. The church was filled with 
 men, women, children, and babies, each one, except, 
 and perhaps, the babies, held a long thin candle in his 
 
ALASKA. 61 
 
 or her hand. In the center of the church on a plat- 
 form, slightly raised, rested a white sarcophagus, 
 partly covered with a black pall. From this a black 
 carpet led a little way and then up a few steps into 
 the sanctuary, the doors of which were closed. The 
 services had not begun when we arrived, but young 
 men were lighting candles about the sanctuaty, in 
 the lamps hanging before the sacred pictures and in 
 large candlesticks, between the doors of the sanc- 
 tuary. These doors, by the way, are not ordinary 
 ones. Just in front are wide brazen, perforated ones ; 
 on either side of these on the panels of the swinging 
 doors are fine paintings of the Madonna and Child, 
 and the Christ. On either side of these, again, 
 are paintings of St. Michael (the Patron Saint of 
 the church) and the Dragon, and the other — I don't 
 know the legend of: — an angel with outspread wings, 
 scattering flowers. Directly above the brass doors is 
 a fine painting of the "Last Supper." I should have 
 said that most of these paintings are covered, except 
 the face and hands, with handsome robes of gold or 
 silver, beautifully chased and decorated. There are 
 a great many of these fine paintings in the church, 
 and, while very old, their wonderful smoothness and 
 softness is marvelous. This is especially true of a 
 Madonna and Child and a Christ in the little Sunday- 
 school-room adjoining the church, the infant Christ 
 bearing such a resemblance to the grown man, that it 
 is wonderful. 
 
 ' ' The church building itself is a very plain one of 
 frame, with painted wooden floors, and was, of course, 
 built by the Russians when Alaska was a Russian 
 territory and when Sitka was a larger and more 
 
62 ALASKA. 
 
 aristocratic place than it is now. A great deal of the 
 splendor and wealth of the church has been removed 
 to San Francisco, to the Greek Church there, as St. 
 Michael's was robbed a few years ago. and they think 
 it unsafe to keep their money and jewels here. The 
 priest is a Russian, who can not speak a word of 
 English. He is very much beloved by his people, 
 and, it is said, is a very earnest and good man. The 
 service was in Russian and the short sermon in the 
 Indian tongue. The choir was composed of boys and 
 young men, some of them having very sweet voices. 
 The priest himself has a very good voice, and chants 
 part of the service. Of course, we could not under- 
 stand a word. The priest's robe was of black velvet, 
 trimmed with silver lace and silver crosses. There 
 were also two young men, one in a black robe of dif- 
 ferent cut from the priest's, and the other in a purple 
 one. During the sen-ices the doors of the sanctuary 
 were thrown open. Even-thing within was draped in 
 black. An image representing the dead body of 
 Christ rested on the altar, and four tall candlesticks, 
 holding lighted candles and draped with black, stood 
 two at the head and two at the feet. There was a 
 great deal of walking back and. forth by the priest, 
 swinging incense, bowing and crossing, at one time 
 bringing fonvard a Bible beautifully bound in black 
 and silver. Toward the close of the sen-ices the brass 
 doors were closed, the priest himself being within the 
 sanctuary, and half a dozen young men. laymen in the 
 church, going into the sanctuary by a side door. 
 About this time I discovered that the candles the 
 men, the women and children held were now being 
 lighted. Soon the bell in the tower began to toll, the 
 
* Z* ■< ■* ill V »H 
 
 CHTTRCH AT SITKA — PAGE 49. 
 
ALASKA. 65 
 
 : gation kneeled, one of the small doors opened 
 ...o young men came forth, each holding one of 
 the black-draped candlesticks before mentioned. Then 
 came the priest, with four young men helping him to 
 bear aloft in its narrow casket the body of the dead 
 Christ. Following them came two more candlestick- 
 bearers, the choir in the meantime chanting in a 
 minor key and the bell in the tower tolling. The 
 body was then carefully laid in its resting place in the 
 sarcophagus. The priest then walked three times 
 around the sarcophagus, bowing and swinging incense. 
 He then kissed the lips, a Bible resting on the breast 
 and the feet of the body, and then retired behind 
 the doors of the sanctuary. Three laymen then 
 approached, and, placing a soft white silk, lace- 
 trimmed scarf about one side of the body and sar- 
 cophagus nearest the congregation securely pinned it 
 in place. They, too, then turned, kissed lips, Bible, and 
 feet, crossed themselves, and made way for others. 
 Every man, woman, and child in the church went 
 forward and reverently did the same; even tiny babies 
 too small to walk were held over it and taught to kiss 
 the dead Lord's lips. It was a very solemn ceremony. 
 We returned, feeling that we would never regret the 
 two hours spent in the Greek Church that afternoon. 
 Kaster services begin at 12 o'clock Saturday night and 
 last from that hour until 4 o'clock next morning. I 
 believe the priests and some of the people sat up the 
 last part of Friday night, as I heard the bell tolling 
 continually and understand they had a procession and 
 marched around the church. 
 
 "We were so much pleased with our visit on Friday 
 that we determined to go Saturday night. Accord- 
 
66 ALASKA. 
 
 ingly we arrived about 11.45 p - M - The} T were jt 
 lighting the candles in the large chandeliers and in 
 the swinging lamps. They lighted also two huge 
 candles in handsome brass and silver sticks, some 
 five feet high. These are lighted on Easter only. 
 We were invited to seats in the gallery, where we met 
 quite a number of visitors. Many of them I had 
 already met. I had a good seat, looking down di- 
 rectly upon the body, which still lay in the tomb. 
 The people wore their finery ; there were lots of little 
 tots in white muslin and summer hats, and all with 
 lighted candles in their hands. The scene, you can 
 imagine, was a beautiful one. The priests with the 
 young men soon came, and amid profound silence 
 lifted the body and carried it behind the doors of the 
 sanctuary. The sarcophagus was lifted down and 
 moved to one side of the church. At 12 o'clock ex- 
 actly the cannon boomed and the chimes in the church 
 tower rang merrily. It was Easter, and Christ was 
 risen. The doors of the sanctuary were thrown open 
 and the priest came forth robed in a gorgeous Easter 
 robe of cloth of silver with gold-embroidered, red 
 under-robes. He held a large cross, a candelabra 
 •with burning candles, and the censer. He was fol- 
 lowed by the two young priests, holding handsome 
 frames containing paintings of Christ and the twelve 
 apostles, and then came all the laymen and choir boys. 
 They formed in procession, passed through and out of 
 the church and marched three times around the 
 church, outside, singing their Easter hymns, the 
 chimes above keeping time. We then had time to 
 look around us. All the somber hangings and draper- 
 ies had been removed and everything shone in white, 
 
MADONNA AND CHILD — PAGE 6l 
 
ALASKA. 69 
 
 silver, and gold. About the Christhead in the Last 
 Supper was a crown of artificial red flowers, and arti- 
 ficial white ones on the Madonna, and Child, and the 
 Christ. The black carpet had given place to a rich 
 velvet one. Within the sanctuary the altar was draped 
 with white — the tall candlesticks in their natural 
 brass or silver. The Bible, a beautiful one, was seen 
 bound in white, seemingly ivory and silver. Soon 
 the little procession returned and the regular services 
 began." 
 
 In the north end is located the Indian village, the 
 American population in the center, the Russian in the 
 south end, with names seemingly queer; but as they 
 are pronounced as spelt and spelt as the}* sound, one 
 soon learns to call them fluently. 
 
 KADIAK. 
 
 A thousand miles westward are Wood's and Kadiak 
 Islands. Here was the favorite Russian home in 
 America, and only by the ukase of the Czar did they 
 remove to the Baranoff Islands, westwardly. While 
 the climate of their new home is like that of the Dis- 
 trict of Columbia, at the former spot it is still more 
 equable and pleasant. With this removal the claim of 
 the Russians was extended south and west, and con- 
 flicts began brewing a century ago with the British 
 over boundaries. California contained a Russian set- 
 tlement, and during the administration of Mr. Polk, 
 who planted the laws of the United States on the 
 coast, an offer was made to the United States of the 
 entire coast — l> 54-40 or fight." 
 
 Ever anxious to dispose of its American domain, 
 and fearing encroachments by the Lion, Russia, in 
 
 1 
 
-. ia= .-; l 
 
 [867 ceded Alas a bo the X. nion. by uncertain wfefys 
 
 ~r.: "-.'.:'.'.-. 15 : : .: \ ::/. -. :;.:^ n^ -: 
 ing. yet providing, in a suspicious manner, for calls 
 ten narine leagues from the shore, in absence of the 
 — ;:-::;.::: ra . /- -_h tit: United Statt 
 
 near : r ~t: ■_-■-.-.--:-•-_ e - : 
 
 inwardly thirty miles, as against England's contention 
 :tr. "ir:-. : — . : ': :.:t ;:' :ht 
 
 chain of islands along the coast. 
 
 THE REP»DEER. 
 
 The reindeer is food, clothing, transportation and 
 fuel lor the Eskimo. 
 
 Nearly extinct in America, the supply is now ob- 
 tained in the northeast corner of Siberia, along the 
 An: : 
 
 Domestic animals not being able to stand the cli- 
 mate, the uncertainty in mining not justifying the 
 building of steam roads, dogs too expensive and 
 costly to maintain, the reindeer offers the solution of 
 :it 'y.'^r: .: :rs -;-;;::. 7 :.---_ 7. ;r:-ie- 77.:!'- 
 vms of acres of moss and lichen consumed by it. 
 
 . :; ' " : a:: - : 'tt-'.Tt .7. : : ;- ■ : 
 
 Jackson ((general agent of education in Alaska), now 
 on the Siberian coast, to the Secretary of the Interior, 
 the following extracts are freely mac 
 
 ARCTIC TRAHSPORTATI0H. 
 
 The introduction of the domestic reindeer will solve 
 the question of arctic transportation. The present 
 transportation of that region is by dog-sleds. One 
 
 : ;; : :: -:;.;.:-- f-.r :it :rai^r -,r \-\ - -- '- . : - : - \ 
 
second load oi food foi the two teams oi dogs, and 
 the) make but short distances pei da) Tins diffi 
 cult) oi transportation has been one great drawback 
 u> the development of the countr) it has interfered 
 with the plans oi the f\u trader; it has interfered with 
 Government exploration Onl) three years ago when 
 the United States Coast and Geodetic Survej sent 
 two parties to determine the tuinu.tttou.il boundary 
 between Alaska and British America the small steamei 
 that was conveying the supplies up the Yukon Rivei 
 w.ts wrecked, and it was with the utmost difficult) 
 that the surveying pai ties were kept from starvation, 
 because oi the difficult) of sending sufficient food 
 
 ■« miles along that great valle) b) dog*sleds it 
 ceiudeei had been introduced into the countr) there 
 would have been uosuch difficult) in furnishing food 
 Bills have been before Congress foi several years pro 
 posing to establish a militar) post iti the Vukon Val 
 \\ 11 such -t post is established it is uot >t all 
 improbable that a combination oi circumstances ma) 
 some wintei b) which the forces that shall be 
 stationed there will be reduced to starvation, unless 
 reindeei transportation shall have become so system 
 atized that food can readil) be seut in from othei 
 >ns Hie 'ame is true with reference to the ( rO\ 
 erumeut officials whom it ma) be found ueeessar\ to 
 station in that region 
 
 The same is true oi the fort) 01 more missionaries 
 and theii families that are now >< tttered through that 
 vast region also, oi the teachers md theii families 
 whom the Government has ient into that couutr) 
 
 These ire now separated from all communication 
 with the outside world receiving theii mail but « ,m > < 
 
72 ALASKA. 
 
 a year. With reindeer transportation they could have 
 a monthly mail. 
 
 During the past three years whalers have been 
 extending their voj-ages east of Point Barrow to the 
 mouth of the Mackenzie River, and wintering at Her- 
 schel Island. To the owners of this property it would 
 be worth tens of thousands of dollars if they could 
 hear from their vessels in the winter before new sup- 
 plies and additional vessels are sent out in the spring. 
 But this can not now be done. Last winter letters were 
 sent out from the field, overland, by Indian runners 
 that ascended the Mackenzie, crossed over to the Por- 
 cupine, and descended the Porcupine and Yukon 
 rivers down to St. Michael, on the coast. It was ten 
 months before those letters reached their destination. 
 It was a great satisfaction to the owners to hear of the 
 welfare of their ships and crews, but the news was too 
 late for business purposes. Millions of dollars' worth 
 of property and thousands of lives are involved in the 
 whaling business. With the introduction of domestic 
 reindeer into that region it will be both feasible and 
 perfectly practicable to establish a reindeer express 
 during the winter from the Arctic coast down to the 
 North Pacific coast of Alaska. 
 
 The southern coast of Alaska on the Pacific Ocean 
 never freezes, and is accessible all the year around to 
 vessels from San Francisco or Puget Sound. 
 
 A reindeer express across Alaska, from the Arctic 
 to the Pacific Ocean, would have a corresponding com- 
 mercial value to that section, as the telegraph between 
 New York and London to theirs. It would enable 
 the owners of the whaling fleet to avail themselves of 
 the latest commercial news, and keep a more perfect 
 control over their business. 
 
ALASKA. 73 
 
 COMMERCIAL VALUE. 
 
 The introduction of domesticated reindeer will add 
 a new industry to that country, which will go to swell 
 the aggregate of national wealth. Lapland sends to 
 market about 22,000 head of reindeer a year, the sur- 
 plus of her herds. 
 
 Through Norway and Sweden smoked reindeer 
 meat and smoked reindeer tongues are everywhere 
 found for sale in their markets, the hams being worth 
 10 cents a pound and the tongues 10 cents apiece. 
 There are wealthy merchants in Stockholm whose 
 specialty and entire trade is in these Lapland products. 
 The reindeer skins are marketed all over Europe, 
 being worth in their* raw condition from $1.50 to 
 $1.75 apiece. The tan skins (soft, with a beautiful 
 yellow color) find a ready sale in Sweden, at from $2 
 to $2.75 each. Reindeer skins are used for gloves > 
 military riding trousers, and the binding of books. 
 Reindeer hair is in great demand for the filling of life- 
 saving apparatuses, buoys, etc., and from the reindeer 
 horns is made the best existing glue. One great article, 
 smoked reindeer tongues, and tanned skins are among 
 the principal products of the great annual fair at 
 Nischnij Novgorod, Russia. In Lapland there are 
 about 400,000 head of reindeer, sustaining in comfort 
 some 26,000 people. There is no reason, considering 
 the great area of the country and the abundance of 
 reindeer moss, why arctic and subarctic Alaska should 
 not sustain a population of 100,000 people with 2,000,- 
 000 head of reindeer. In Lapland the reindeer return 
 a tax of $1 a head to the Government, so that they 
 yield an annual revenue to the Government of $400,- 
 000. 
 
74 ALASKA. 
 
 With the destruction of the buffalo the material for 
 cheap carriage and sleigh-robes for common use is gone. 
 Bear and wolf skins are too expensive ; but with the 
 introduction of the reindeer their skins to a certain 
 extent take the place of the extinct buffalo. 
 
 The commercial importance of introducing domes- 
 ticated reindeer in Alaska was so manifest that shrewd 
 business men on the Pacific coast at once appreciated 
 the great possibilities involved, and hastened, through 
 their chambers of commerce and boards of trade, to 
 take action urging their several delegations in Con- 
 gress to do what they could to secure an appropriation 
 of money for these purposes. 
 
 Under favorable circumstances a swift reindeer can 
 traverse 150 miles in a da)'. A speed of 100 miles per 
 day is easily made. As a beast of burden they can 
 draw a load of 300 pounds. 
 
 The progress of exploration, settlement, develop- 
 ment, government, civilization, education, humanity, 
 and religion, is all largely dependent in that region 
 on reindeer transportation. 
 
 If there is any measure of public policy better es- 
 tablished than another or more frequently acted upon, 
 it has been the earnest and unceasing efforts of Con- 
 gress to encourage and aid in every way the improve- 
 ment of stock, and the markets of the world have been 
 searched for improved breeds. The same wise and 
 liberal policy will make ample provision for the intro- 
 duction of the reindeer, which of all animals is the 
 most serviceable and indispensable to man in high 
 northern latitudes. 
 
 If it is sound public policy to sink artesian wells or 
 create large water reservoirs for reclaiming large areas 
 
ALASKA. 75 
 
 of valuable land otherwise worthless ; if it is the part 
 of national wisdom to introduce large, permanent, and 
 wealth-producing industries where none previously 
 existed, then it is the part of national wisdom to cover 
 that vast empire with herds of domestic reindeer, the 
 only industry that can live and thrive in that region, 
 and take a barbarian people on the verge of starvation, 
 lift them up to a comfortable support and civilization, 
 and turn them from consumers into producers of 
 national wealth. 
 
 In 1 89 1 the sixteen reindeer purchased averaged 
 $10.25 each. This last season the general average 
 was brought down to $5 each. 
 
 So far the purchase of the reindeer has been defrayed 
 from the money contributed by benevolent individuals. 
 
 PERMANENT FOOD SUPPLY. 
 
 The population, which is now upon the verge of 
 starvation, will be furnished with a permanent, reg- 
 ular, and abundant supply of food. As has already 
 been stated the native supply of food in that region 
 has been destroyed by the industries of the white 
 men. The whale and the walrus that once teemed in 
 their waters and furnished over half their food sup- 
 ply, have been killed or driven off by the persistent 
 hunting of the whalers. The wild reindeer (carribou) 
 and fur-bearing animals of the land, which also fur- 
 nished them food and clothing, are largely being 
 destroyed by the deadly breech -loading firearm. It 
 will be impossible to restock their waters with whale 
 and walrus in the same way that we restock rivers 
 with a fresh supply of fish. But what we can not do 
 
 
76 ALASKA. 
 
 in the way of giving them their former food, we can, 
 through the introduction of the domestic reindeer, 
 provide a new food supply. 
 
 Upon our return southward from the Arctic Ocean 
 in the fall of 1891, Captain Healy providentially 
 called at the village on King Island, where we found 
 the population starving. The appeal for food was so 
 pressing that the captain detailed a lieutenant to make 
 a thorough examination of the village, and invited 
 me to accompany him. In a few houses we found 
 that the families in their great distress had killed 
 their sled-dogs to keep themselves from starving. In 
 the larger number of families they were making a 
 broth of seaweed, their only food supply. In all 
 human probability, if the ship had not learned their 
 condition, the following summer not a man, woman, 
 or child would have been left alive to tell the story. 
 A few years ago the same thing happened to three 
 large villages on the Island of St. Lawrence, and 
 when, the following season, the revenue cutter called 
 at the village, the putrefying corpses of the popula- 
 tion were found everywhere — on the bed platforms. 
 on the floors, in the doorways, and along the paths, 
 wherever death overtook them. 
 
 At King Island, having ascertained the condition 
 of things, a purse was made up from the officers and 
 a few others on board the ship, and the captain 
 steamed some two hundred miles to the nearest trad- 
 ing post, and purchased all the provisions that could 
 be obtained, which were taken back to the starving 
 village. This supply sustained the population alive 
 until seal and walrus came some months later around 
 the village. The movement of the seal and walrus, 
 
ALASKA. 79 
 
 since their numbers have become greatly diminished, 
 is so uncertain that, while a village may have plenty 
 to eat one season it will be on the verge of starva- 
 tion another. 
 
 In the winter of 1890-91 there was a sufficiency of 
 food at Point Hope. In the winter of 1891-92 the 
 same population had to leave their village and make 
 their way, in some instances hundreds of miles, to 
 other villages to keep from starving. In 1891 one of 
 the teachers on the Kuskoquim River wrote me that 
 the inhabitants of that valley had had but little 
 opportunity during the summer of 1890 to provide a 
 sufficient food supply of fish, that consequently starva- 
 tion faced them all winter, and that it was with great 
 difficulty that they survived until the fish returned 
 the following season. A teacher on the Yukon River 
 reported the summer of 1893 tnat some of the natives 
 to the north of him had starved to death. This same 
 scarcity of food exists across the entire northern por- 
 tion of North America, so that now, under the 
 auspices of the Church of England, subscriptions 
 have been opened in London for a famine fund out of 
 which to send relief to the starving Eskimo of Arctic 
 British America. This condition of things will go 
 on, increasing in severity from year to year, until the 
 food supply of the seas and of the land is entirely 
 gone, and then there is nothing left but the extermin- 
 ation of the native population. The general intro- 
 duction of the domestic reindeer alone will change 
 this entire condition of things, and furnish as reliable 
 supph' of food to that people as the herds of cattle in 
 Texas and Wyoming do to their owners, or the herds 
 of sheep in New Mexico and Arizona. The reindeer 
 
80 ALASKA. 
 
 is the animal which God's providence seems to have 
 provided for those northern regions, being food, 
 clothing, house, furniture, implements, and trans- 
 portation to the people. Its milk and flesh furnish 
 food. Its marrow, tongue, and hams are considered 
 choice delicacies. Its blood, mixed with the contents 
 of its stomach, forms a favorite native dish. Its 
 intestines are cleaned, filled with tallow, and eaten as 
 sausage. Its skin is made into clothes, bedding, tent- 
 covers, reindeer harness, ropes, cords, and fish lines. 
 The hard skin of the fore-legs makes an excellent cov- 
 ering for snow-shoes. Its sinews are made into a 
 strong and lasting thread. Its bones are soaked in 
 seal oil and burned for fuel. Its horns are made into 
 various kinds of household implements, into weapons 
 for hunting, fishing, or war, and in the manufacture 
 of sleds. Then the living animal is trained for riding 
 and dragging of sleds. The general introduction of 
 such an animal into that region will arrest the present 
 starvation and restock that vast country with a per- 
 manent food supply. It will revive hope in the 
 hearts of a sturdy race that is now rapidly passing 
 away. Surely, the country that sends shiploads of 
 grain to starving Russians, that has never turned a 
 deaf ear to the call of distress in any section of the 
 globe, will not begrudge a few thousand dollars for 
 the purchase and introduction of this Siberian rein- 
 deer, and the rescue of thousands of people from 
 starvation. 
 
 REPEOPLING THE COUNTRY. 
 
 The introduction of domestic reindeer into Alaska 
 will not only thus arrest the present starvation, but 
 
ALASKA. 81 
 
 will assist in increasing the population. With a more 
 generous food supply this population will commence 
 to increase in numbers. Occupying a region whose 
 climatic conditions are so rigorous that but few white 
 men will ever be willing to make their permanent 
 home in it, it is important, if we would save it from 
 being an unpeopled waste and howling wilderness, 
 that we build up the people who through generations 
 have become acclimated, and who are as fervently 
 attached to their bleak and storm-swept plains as the 
 people of temperate and torrid zones to their lands of 
 comfort and abundance. 
 
 They are a race worth saving. I find that public 
 opinion, gained perhaps by a more familiar knowledge 
 of the Eskimo of Greenland and Labrador, conceives 
 of the Alaska Eskimos as of the same small type; but 
 this is not true. 
 
 In the extreme north, at Point Barrow, and along 
 the coast of Behring Sea they are of medium size. 
 At Point Barrow the average height of the males is 
 5 feet 3 inches, and average weight 153 pounds; of the 
 women, 4 feet 11 inches, and weight 135 pounds. On 
 the Nushagak River the average weight of the men 
 is from 150 to 167 pounds. From Cape Prince of 
 Wales to Icy Cape and on the great inland rivers 
 empt}4ng into the Arctic Ocean, they are a large race, 
 many of them being six feet and over in height. At 
 Kotzebue Sound I have met a number of men and 
 women six feet tall. Physically they are very strong, 
 w T ith great powers of endurance. When on a journey, 
 if food is scarce, they will travel thirty to forty miles 
 without breaking their fast. Lieutenant Cantwell, in 
 his explorations of the Kowak River, makes record 
 
82 ALASKA. 
 
 that upon one occasion when he wanted a heavy stone 
 for an anchor a woman went out and alone loaded into 
 her birch-bark canoe and brought him a stone that 
 would weigh eight hundred pounds. It took two 
 strong men to lift it out of the canoe. 
 
 Another explorer speaks of a woman carving off 
 on her shoulder a box of lead weighing two hundred 
 and eighty pounds. In the summer of 1893, in erect- 
 ing the school building in the Arctic, there being no 
 drays or horses in that country, all the timbers, lum- 
 ber, hardware, etc., had to be carried from the beach 
 to the site of the house on the shoulders of the people. 
 They pride themselves on their ability to outjump and 
 outrun any of our race who have competed with them. 
 They can lift a heavier weight, throw a heavy weight 
 farther, and endure more than we. They are a strong, 
 vigorous race, fitted for peopling and subduing the 
 frozen regions of their home. 
 
 Arctic and subarctic Alaska cover an empire in 
 extent equal to nearly all Europe. With the covering 
 of those vast plains with herds of domesticated reindeer 
 it will be possible to support in comparative comfort a 
 population of 100,000 people where now 20,000 peo- 
 ple have a precarious support. To bring this about is 
 worthy the fostering care of the General Government. 
 
 DOMESTICATED REINDEER IN ALASKA. 
 
 [House Report No. 1093, Fifty-second Congress, first session.] 
 
 Mr. Alexander, from the Committee on Agriculture, 
 submitted the following report : 
 
 The Committee on Agriculture, to whom was 
 referred the bill (H. R. 7764) to secure the introduc- 
 
ALASKA. 85 
 
 tion of domesticated reindeer into Alaska, report the 
 same with a favorable recommendation. This bill does 
 not properly come within the jurisdiction of the Com- 
 mittee on Agriculture, but should have been consid- 
 ered by the Committee on Appropriations. At the 
 suggestion of the Chairman of the Committee on 
 Appropriations, the Committee on Agriculture, having 
 heard the testimony of the missionaries from Alaska, 
 the Commissioner of Education, and others in regard 
 to the merits of the bill, have considered it and rec- 
 ommend its passage. 
 
 The testimony showed that there are no reindeer in 
 Alaska ; that Alaska could support many times enough 
 reindeer to furnish the inhabitants with food and 
 clothing, and that the reindeer skins are indispensable 
 for clothing; that the whale and walrus, the principal 
 supply of food, have been destroyed to such an extent 
 as to cause much suffering for food ; that dogs are 
 used for transportation, and in many places the supply 
 of food is becoming so scarce that the natives are com- 
 pelled to eat their dogs, thus depriving them of the 
 means of hauling their supplies : that for the develop- 
 ment of the country the domesticated reindeer is abso- 
 lutely indispensable ; that the domesticated reindeer 
 can make a speed of nineteen miles an hour, and that 
 a fair average rate of speed is twelve miles per hour ; 
 and this means of transportation is necessary to 
 develop the gold fields of the interior, which can only 
 be worked from two to two and one-half months a 
 year ; that the reindeer would be distributed at the 
 Government schools, the native youths taught to herd 
 and rear them, the increase to be given to worthy 
 students and native teachers for services rendered ; 
 
86 ALASKA. 
 
 that this will induce the natives to become herders, be 
 self-supporting, and not a charge upon the Govern- 
 ment ; that the natives have no vessels that can trans- 
 port the live reindeer from Siberia to Alaska ; that the 
 vessels from San Francisco to Alaska leave the first of 
 May to the first of June, none later than the last date 
 mentioned, and that if anything be done this year it 
 is absolutely necessary to get the appropriation in 
 time to send the goods for the purchase of the reindeer 
 by the revenue cutter that leaves San Francisco the 
 first of June. 
 
 The description given by the missionaries and others 
 of the country, the habits of the natives, etc., was 
 interesting. The distress caused by the continued 
 failure of the food supply shows plainly that the 
 natives will not be able to sustain themselves, and will 
 become a charge upon the Government. For these 
 and other reasons, the Committee on Agriculture urge 
 the passage of this bill. 
 
 FUR-BEARING ANIMALS. 
 
 It would be but a repetition to again call attention 
 to Alaska's undeveloped territory. In remote sections 
 never visited, animals, too, await the demands of civil- 
 ization or the decrees of fashion. Most common are 
 the bear and seal life. 
 
 The brown bear is a huge, shaggy animal, varying 
 in length from six to twelve feet, and is found in 
 nearly every section of Alaska. An expert fisher, he 
 frequents the streams during the salmon season, and 
 throughout the coast region of Alaska the banks of 
 these streams are literally lined with hard-beaten trails 
 

 
ALASKA. 89 
 
 of the several species of bears, all being inordinately 
 fond of a fish breakfast. The bears are the great road- 
 makers of Alaska, and their well-trodden trails through 
 the timber and underbrush offer facilities for the pro- 
 gress of man through jungles which would otherwise 
 remain impenetrable, leading generally to the shallow 
 fording places of streams and rivers and to the easiest 
 passes over ridges and mountains. The favorite berry 
 patches of the bears present the appearance of being 
 trampled down by a drove of cattle. The hunter has 
 the utmost respect for the brown bear, for the crack of 
 a gun and the sting of a misdirected bullet cause him 
 to turn quickly and accept the challenge, and the wise 
 hunter will continue the battle only from the branches 
 of the tallest tree in the neighborhood. The skin of 
 the brown bear is quite valuable. 
 
 The black bear is the most numerous of the ursine 
 family inhabiting Alaska, and his glossy fur is more 
 valuable in the market than those of his cousins. 
 These animals occasionally attain a goodly size, but 
 they are shy and not ferocious, although when one is 
 cornered or has cubs, the hunter may become involved 
 in a very interesting fracas. The skins of this species 
 constitute a very important item in the fur trade of 
 Alaska. 
 
 The St. Elias Grizzly, inhabiting the regions north 
 of Glacier Bay in the St. Elias Alps, is the largest and 
 most ferocious of his genus, being closely allied to the 
 grizzlies of the Sierra Nevada. He has a shaggy coat 
 of a tawny yellow of small commercial value, but his 
 size and ferocious appearance make the boldest hunt- 
 ers tremble ; and give our Indian hunter the choice 
 of meeting: face to face with the St. Elias Grizzlv or 
 
90 ALASKA. 
 
 the devil, and he will take His Satanic Majesty and let 
 His Bearship pursue the even tenor of his way. The 
 hunter always seeks a point of vantage before chal- 
 lenging the shaggy monster to battle, which the 
 grizzly more often seeks of his own liking upon meet- 
 ing his natural enemy, man. His is a battle unto 
 death, and he never runs away. 
 
 The Bald-face Bear is considered by some to be a 
 cross between the brown and black bear, but as they 
 are quite numerous in this vicinity, we are inclined to 
 believe that they are a distinct species in themselves. 
 They are hardly as large as the average-sized black 
 bear, but they more than make up for the differ- 
 ence in size with their cousins in ferocity and cussed- 
 ness. They are nearly black in color, and, as the 
 name, "bald-face," implies, have a white face. Old 
 hunters say the bald-face bear is a holy terror. The 
 ferocious little brute, with its activity, can send a 
 whole pack of hunting-dogs yelping into the brush, 
 and, invariably, when pursued too closely by the pack, 
 the hunter has to mourn the loss of a favorite dog or 
 two, and always feels lucky to come out of the fracas 
 with a whole skin himself. Every year a number of 
 our Indian hunters fall victims to the savage little 
 beast. 
 
 The Ice Bear, which is rare in this section of 
 Alaska, is closely allied to the Polar Bear of the 
 Arctic regions, and likely they are of the same 
 species. They are of a grayish-blue color, and are 
 entirely inhabitants of the glacier regions, and are 
 generally seen meandering over the hummocks of the 
 glaciers or asleep in the crevasses of the ice. Some 
 years ago two prospectors killed an ice bear which 
 
ALASKA. 91 
 
 was lying asleep on top of a huge iceberg that had 
 become detached from the Muir Glacier in Glacier 
 Bay. The berg was floating smoothly along with the 
 outgoing tide just at the entrance to Cross Sound, 
 and his bearship, serenely sleeping, evidently had no 
 thought of the long sea voyage that he was about to 
 embark upon. This bear sometimes attains quite a 
 size, but is not considered a dangerous customer by 
 hunters, and its skin is not valuable. 
 
 There are bears and bears in Alaska — a paradise 
 for the bear hunter, and probably the greatest bear 
 country on earth. Senators, Congressmen, German 
 Barons, and Knglish Lords have hunted bearin Alaska, 
 and have not failed to return home and proudly ex- 
 hibit a skin to admiring friends as the trophy of their 
 hunt. But it might be admissible to state that these 
 gentry always employ an old bear hunter to accom- 
 pany them in the chase, and the old hunter's wages, 
 or the present of a handsome rifle, is the price of his 
 silence as to who killed the bear. 
 
 jThe Sea Otter seems to exist chiefly on a line parallel 
 with the Japanese current, from the coast of Japan 
 along the Kurile Islands to the coast of Kamschatka, 
 and thence westward along the Aleutian chain, the 
 southern side of the Alaska Peninsula, the estuaries 
 of Cook's Inlet and Prince William's Sound, and 
 thence eastward and southward along the Alaskan 
 coast, and as far south as Washington and Oregon. 
 South of Cape Spencer on the Alaskan coast this 
 animal has been almost exterminated, and the persist- 
 ent search for these valuable skins had a tendency to 
 all but exterminate them to the north and west. The 
 skins brought into Juneau by Indian hunters are 
 
92 ALASKA. 
 
 taken mainly on the Fairweather grounds, off Lituya 
 Bay and Cape Fairweather, but a gradual decrease in 
 the number of skins brought in is noticed yearly. 
 Sea otter skins range in value from $75 to $450 each, 
 according to size and quality. 
 
 The Land Otter is one of the most widely distrib- 
 uted fur-bearing animals in Alaska, ranking in this 
 respect next to the common cross fox. It is found 
 along the whole coast of Alaska. Within the Arctic 
 Circle the land otter is confined to the upper courses 
 of rivers emptying into the Kotzebue Sound and the 
 Arctic Ocean. It is found along the whole course of 
 the Yukon, also the Kuskoquim, and probably on all 
 the streams of Western Alaska. 
 
 The Beaver was once one of the most important of 
 our fur-bearing animals, but both in suppty and demand 
 a great decline has taken place in the last half-century. 
 Throughout the whole interior region north of Cook's 
 Inlet and south of the Yukon river, the beavers have 
 frequently suffered from excessive and prolonged cold 
 during the winter, the ice in rivers and ponds forming 
 so rapidly and to such thickness that the animals 
 found it impossible to keep open the approaches to 
 their dwellings under water, and they died from 
 starvation before the spring thaws opened their 
 prisons. The interior Indians state that after an 
 extraordinarily cold winter they have frequently found 
 the putrefying carcasses of hundreds of beavers in 
 their so-called lodges. Thousands of old beaver dams 
 all over the continental portion of Alaska also testify 
 to the former abundance of the animal which is now 
 thinly scattered all over the same ground. 
 
 The Red Fox is the fur-bearing animal found in all 
 
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 - 
 
 K 
 
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 I 
 
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ALASKA. 95 
 
 sections of Alaska. From Point Barrow to the south- 
 ern boundary, and from the British line to the Island 
 of Attoo, this animal is ever present. It varies in size 
 and in the quality of its fur, from the finest Nushigak 
 variety, equal to the high-priced Siberian fire-fox, 
 down to the diminutive, yellow-tinged specimen that 
 rambles furtively over the rocky islands of the 
 Aleutian chain. Its color gives variety among the 
 uniform snow-white robes of its polar cousins along 
 the Arctic shore, and with the unwelcome persistency 
 of the poor relation it mingles with the aristocratic 
 black and silver foxes, always managing to deteriorate 
 in course of time the blood and coating of the ' ' first 
 families." 
 
 The Black or Silver Fox is the king among the 
 various tribes of the vulpes family. He is found in 
 his prime in the mountain fastnesses of the interior 
 and on the headwaters of the larger rivers. Here he 
 appears of large size, with long, soft, silky fur, vary- 
 ing in color from a silver tint to a deep jet black, the 
 latter being the most rare and highly valued. An- 
 other species of the fox family is generally found 
 with the silver fox, forming, in fact, the connecting 
 link between the red plebian and the black aristocrat. 
 This is the cross-fox, partaking of the distinguishing 
 qualities of both the red and black, evidently the re- 
 sult of unrestrained intermixture. The skins of the 
 silver foxes form a most important element of trade 
 in the Yukon basin. 
 
 The Arctic Fox. Of the Arctic foxes we find in 
 Alaska two varieties, both blue and white. The white 
 fox is found along the coast of Alaska from the mouth 
 of the Kuskoquim northward to Point Barrow and 
 
96 ALASKA. 
 
 the eastern boundary. Its fur is of a snowy white 
 and soft and long, but owing to its lack of durability 
 it does not command a high price in the market. The 
 blue fox is an inhabitant of the Aleutian Islands and 
 the Pribilof Islands, and skins of the finest quality 
 command a high price in the market. 
 
 The Mink is distributed almost as widely as the 
 red fox. It is most plentiful in the vast tundras and 
 marshes of the lower Yukon, Kuskoquim, Togiak and 
 Nushigak basins. The skin is of little value. 
 
 The Marten. The limits within which the Marten 
 is found throughout Alaska are almost identical with 
 standing timber. The animal is found as far north as 
 latitude 68°. The Alaska marten or sable is inferior 
 to the Siberian fur of that name (" sable " is simply a 
 corruption of the Russian word for marten, "sobol," 
 and is by no means a distinct animal). The marten 
 skin is worth about $1.50. 
 
 The Lynx is found along the southeast and western 
 Alaskan coast ; wolves along the coast and in the in- 
 terior ; muskrats exist all over Alaska ; rabbits and 
 marmots on some of the coast streams and abundantly 
 in the interior, and the wolverine roams from the coast 
 to the British line and far to the north, whose shaggy, 
 piebald fur is the principal trimming for the garments 
 of the interior Indians. — Alaska Miyiing Record. 
 
 SEAL. 
 
 PRIBILOF ISLANDS. 
 (From Report Treasurj- Department, 1S94.) 
 
 The seal islands, commonly called the Pribilof 
 group, consist of four distinct islands in Behring Sea, 
 
ALASKA. 97 
 
 situated between 55 and 57 north latitude, and about 
 170 west longitude from Greenwich. They are about 
 tw r o hundred miles west from the nearest point on the 
 mainland of Alaska, two hundred north of the Aleu- 
 tian chain, and two hundred miles south of St. Mat- 
 thew's Island, or, in other words, they are about two 
 hundred miles away from any other land. 
 
 The seal islands are nearly two thousand three 
 hundred miles from San Francisco, and about one 
 thousand six hundred miles, as the ship sails, directly 
 west from Sitka. 
 
 They are known, respectively, as St. Paul, St. 
 George, Otter, and Walrus Islands. 
 
 Otter and Walrus are small and of no importance, 
 and as the seals do not haul out at present on either 
 of them regularly, and as they are not included in the 
 lease, it will not be necessary to refer to them again. 
 
 St. Paul, the larger of the two principal islands, is 
 long, low, and narrow, its extreme length and breadth 
 being twelve and six miles, respectively, and its total 
 area being about thirty-six square miles. Around the 
 greater part of the island runs a long, low, sandy 
 beach, easy of access, where the seals haul out with- 
 out difficulty, and where they were to be found for a 
 century in greater numbers than on any other spot 
 on the earth. 
 
 St. George Island has an area of about twenty- 
 seven square miles, and its sides rise out of the water 
 so abruptly and so steep that there are only a few 
 places around the whole coast upon wmich anything 
 coming out of the sea can find a footing, and conse- 
 quently the number of seals landing must of necessity 
 be limited, which accounts for the great difference in 
 the numbers to be found on the two islands. 
 
98 ALASKA. 
 
 CLIMATE. 
 
 The islands are situated in the path of the Japan 
 current, which, on meeting the icy waters of the 
 north at this point, brings forth the dense summer 
 fogs for which Behring Sea is so justly famous, and in 
 which the islands are enveloped from Maj T to Septem- 
 ber. Owing to the difference of altitude, St. George 
 Island being much higher than St. Paul, there is a 
 very marked difference in the amount of rainfall on 
 each — fully five times the volume falling on St. George, 
 although the islands are only forty miles apart. 
 
 The average temperature for the year is about 35 °, 
 ranging from 35 ° to 6o° in the summer, and from 
 zero to 1 5 below in winter. 
 
 Both of the islands are of volcanic origin, and there 
 is not a sign of a tree, shrub, or vine on either of 
 them. The}' are covered in season with moss, grass, 
 and wild flowers, but it is impossible to raise anything 
 by cultivation, for, no matter how rich the soil may 
 be, there is not enough sunshine to ripen the crop. 
 Thick fog, leaden sky, drizzly rain, mist and moisture 
 are the general conditions ruling there, and during a 
 continuous residence of thirty months — fifteen on 
 each island — I saw only six wholly clear, sunshiny 
 days. 
 
 The surface of the highlands of St. George is cov- 
 ered with loose and broken rock — rock broken into 
 all shapes and sizes, from that of a pebble to boulders 
 weighing many tons, and thrown together into every 
 imaginable position except a level one. 
 
 On St. Paul the winds of centuries have heaped the 
 sands of the seashore into dunes of considerable height 
 and magnitude, and filled up many cavities and rough 
 
■ 
 
ALASKA. 101 
 
 spots, but, excepting a slight covering of most nutri- 
 tious reindeer moss, the greater part of the surface of 
 St. George remains to-day as it came from the hands 
 of the Creator. 
 
 And yet nature finds a use for those rugged and 
 unshapely rocks, for under and between them, where 
 the prowling, crafty fox can not penetrate, millions of 
 sea birds build their nests, and lay their eggs, and 
 rear their young. I use the word millions advisedly, 
 and I believe I might say billions, and yet be within 
 the bounds of truth. 
 
 One of the most beautiful sights to be seen in this 
 otherwise desolate region is the return of the birds 
 from the sea to their nests during the hatching season , 
 when toward evening they fill the air and darken the 
 sun for hours in their flight with their countless 
 numbers. 
 
 Here, too, on St. George Island the famous blue 
 fox finds a permanent home, and grows to perfection, 
 for here he has abundance of choice and dainty food, 
 and no one to molest him out of season. 
 
 seals. 
 
 To these islands, notwithstanding their cheerless 
 aspect, their dreary barren shores, their damp and 
 foggy climate, come the fur seals every year with the 
 unerring regularity of the seasons ; here they haul 
 out of the water and make their home on land for six 
 months at least, during which time they bring forth 
 and rear their young, after which they return to the 
 sea, and disappear in the depths of the great ocean 
 until the days lengthen out again and nature tells 
 them to return. 
 
102 ALASKA. 
 
 Given a few warm, sunny days any time about 
 April 20th, and the "first bull" may be seen carefully 
 reconnoitering a rookery, and eventually hauling out 
 anpl taking possession of the identical rock or spot of 
 earth upon which he dwelt with his family last year, 
 and upon which he himself, in all probability, was 
 born. 
 
 Early in May the breeding males or bulls begin to 
 arrive in large numbers and select their stations, upon 
 which they lie down and sleep for several weeks, or 
 until about the time the breeding females or cows are 
 expected, when they assume an upright sitting pos- 
 ture and send forth at intervals a cry peculiar to the 
 fur seal, which is supposed to be an invitation or sig- 
 nal to the approaching cows. 
 
 About the middle of May, and long before the 
 arrival of the cows, the large young males, or bache- 
 lors, begin to arrive at the islands; and they, too, 
 would haul out upon the breeding grounds were it 
 not that the bulls are there to prevent it by driving 
 them off. No male seal can stay on the breeding 
 grounds that is not old enough and strong enough to 
 maintain his position against all comers. The young 
 males are thus naturally forced to herd by themselves 
 at a safe distance from the breeding grounds during 
 the breeding season, and this regulation in turn serves 
 a very good purpose, for, as the breeding and killing 
 seasons run together through the months of June and 
 July, the young males can be easily surrounded and 
 driven to the killing grounds without having to dis- 
 turb the breeding seals. 
 
 None but young male seals are ever killed for food 
 or for skins or for any other purpose on the islands. 
 
ALASKA. 103 
 
 &bout June ioth the cows begin to arrive and haul 
 out and select their stations for the season. 
 
 It has been claimed that the bulls meet the cows at 
 the water's edge and fight bloody battles for them, 
 but my observation has convinced me that the cow 
 herself selects her station, and having once made a 
 choice, she is certainly compelled to remain there. 
 
 Shortly after the arrival of the cows the young 
 seals or pups are to be seen upon the rookeries ; and 
 it is safe to say that, with few exceptions, they are all 
 brought forth by July 25th. 
 
 I have for six years paid particular attention to the 
 formation of the harems or families, and I find that 
 from July ioth to 20th the rookeries are fullest and 
 at their best, and I have counted from one to seventy- 
 two cows in one harem. 
 
 After bringing forth their young the cows go into 
 the sea to feed, returning to and nursing their off- 
 spring every few hours at first, but gradually length- 
 ening their stay into days and weeks before they 
 return. 
 
 When about four or five weeks old the pups begin 
 to stir around and get acquainted with one another, 
 forming pods or crowds, and running in company, at 
 first inclining toward the interior of the rookery, and 
 afterwards, as they advance in age and strength, they 
 direct their steps toward the beach , where they paddle 
 around in the shallows until, step by step, they learn 
 to swim. 
 
 About the beginning of August the harems are 
 broken up, the compact formation of the herd is dis- 
 solved, and the different sexes mix and mingle to- 
 gether indiscriminately all over the rookeries and 
 hauling grounds. 
 
104 ALASKA. 
 
 When the bull hauls out in Ma) T he is as "round 
 as a barrel" and as fat and sleek and glossy as pos- 
 sible ; but after a four months' residence on land, where 
 he never tastes food or drink, he becomes so poor and 
 gaunt and weak that it is with the utmost difficulty 
 he crawls off into the sea when he leaves, late in 
 August or early in September, to take his annual 
 journey through Behring Sea and the North Pacific 
 Ocean. By September 15th the bulls have disappeared, 
 and by the middle of October the largest of the young 
 males have followed them. 
 
 Early in November the cows begin to leave, and if 
 the weather turns unusually cold or rough they do 
 not delay their departure. 
 
 The pups leave about the middle of November, 
 and the yearlings, male and female, leave early in 
 December. 
 
 In exceptionally fine weather it is common to see a 
 few seals in the waters around the islands all winter. 
 and in rare instances they have been taken on shore 
 as late as January; but the great herd follows a well- 
 defined and (at present) well-known path through the 
 Behring Sea and the North Pacific Ocean south and 
 east from the seal islands to the coast of California, 
 nearly opposite Cape St. Lucas, and return along the 
 American coast and the Aleutian Islands to Behring 
 Sea. 
 
 DRIVING AND KILLING. 
 
 When the first young males, or bachelors, arrive 
 at the islands in Ma)-, a drive is made for food for the 
 natives, who are hungry for fresh meat, not having 
 tasted any since the preceding November. 
 
 All of the driving is done under the immediate 
 
ALASKA. 107 
 
 and exclusive directions of the native chief, who is 
 the most experienced and most trustworthy man on 
 the island. 
 
 Should the seals happen to lie near the water, it 
 will be necessary to wait till the tide runs out before 
 disturbing them. At the proper time a dozen men 
 are on the ground, and silently and swiftly running in 
 single file along the beach they form a line between 
 the seals and the sea ; and then the startled animals 
 will immediately start inland, where the}' are slowly 
 followed by the men. until they are too far from the 
 beach to escape to the water, when the}" are put in 
 charge of three or four of the men, who bring them 
 along slowly to the killing grounds, which is never 
 less than half a mile away from the nearest breeding 
 seals. Xo other part of the work done in taking seal 
 skins is more carefully performed than the driving of 
 seals ; they are never driven at a pace greater than 
 about one mile in three hours, and most of the driving 
 is done during the night, so as to take advantage of 
 the dew and moisture, and to avoid the sudden appear- 
 ance of the sun, which is always more or less injurious 
 to seal life on a drive. The stories told by interested 
 men about careless and reckless driving are not true, 
 and, for obvious reasons, can not be true, because 
 overdriving means overheating, and an overheated fur 
 seal is one from which the fur has fallen and left the 
 skin valueless, and that means a loss to natives, les- 
 sees, and government alike. As there is no one to. 
 benefit by overdriving, it is never indulged in; and 
 during an experience of six years on the islands I 
 never saw a skin injured by overheating or overdriving. 
 
 As most of the drives are made in the night, the 
 
108 ALASKA, 
 
 seals are allowed to lie in the damp grass around the 
 killing grounds for several hours before killing takes 
 place ; and it is customary to allow them to rest for a 
 few hours, no matter when they are driven, because 
 it is best for the skin and for the flesh that the animal 
 be killed while it is cool and quiet rather than while 
 it may be warm and excited. 
 
 There are four different and well-defined killing 
 grounds on St. Paul Island, from some one of which 
 the most distant hauling ground or rookery is not to 
 exceed two and a half miles. 
 
 On St. George there are two killing grounds, from 
 some one of which the most distant rookery or haul- 
 ing ground is not to exceed three miles, and during 
 the past fifteen years there has not been a longer drive 
 made on either island than three miles, interested par- 
 ties to the contrary notwithstanding. 
 
 Generally the killing is done just after breakfast, 
 and the whole population turns out and takes part in 
 the work. 
 
 The men and boys are divided into grades or classes: 
 Clubbers, stickers, flipperers, and skinners; the 
 women and girls following the skinners and taking 
 care of the blubber and meat. 
 
 Two men at opposite sides of the herd will, by 
 advancing till they meet, cut out twenty or thirty 
 seals from the main body, and drive them up to the 
 killing ground, where six experienced men stand 
 armed with clubs of ash or hickory about five and 
 one-half feet long and about three inches thick at the 
 heavier end, which end is generally bound in sheet 
 iron to prevent its destruction by the continuous biting 
 of the seals. 
 
FISHERIES — PAGE 117. 
 

 ALASKA. Ill 
 
 The clubbers are under the immediate orders of the 
 lessee's local agent, who is a man of large experience 
 in seal work — one who can tell at a glance how much 
 the skin of any particular seal will weigh — and he 
 points out the seals to be clubbed. 
 
 A smart blow on the head knocks the seal down 
 and stuns him, and if the blow 7 has been properly 
 dealt, he never recovers ; but quite often it requires 
 tw 7 o or three blows from a bungler to finish him. The 
 clubbed seals are dragged into line and counted, and 
 then "stuck" and " flippered," or, in other words, 
 they are stabbed to the heart and allowed to bleed 
 freely, and then a knife is drawn around the head and 
 flippers, severing the skin and leaving it read} 7 for the 
 skinner, who strips it off in short order and spreads 
 it evenly on the damp grass, flesh side down, to cool. 
 
 These several operations are repeated till the 
 desired number are killed, when the remaining seals 
 are allowed to go into the water and return to the 
 hauling grounds. 
 
 After the skin has been removed, the women take 
 the carcass, and after stripping off the blubber or fat, 
 cut off the choice meat in strips to dry; and, when 
 dried, they pack it into the dried stomach of the sea 
 lion, where it is kept air tight and preserved for an 
 indefinite period. The remainder of the seal is boiled 
 and eaten as wanted. 
 
 When all the seals killed are skinned, the skins are 
 taken by wagon to the salt house, where they are 
 assorted and carefully inspected by the lessee's agent, 
 who throws out as rejected all skins that do not come 
 up to a certain standard. There are three classes of 
 rejected skins, namely: cut, small, and stagy. 
 
112 ALASKA. 
 
 A cut skin is one that has been bitten through by- 
 one seal biting another during one of their many bat- 
 tles, or it may have been accidentally cut during the 
 operation of skinning ; a small skin is one that weighs 
 a little less than the minimum standard set up by the 
 lessee's agent, generally less than six pounds. After 
 July the fur seal sheds his hair, and it is during the 
 shedding season, when the old hair is falling out and 
 before the new hair has attained its full growth, that 
 the skin is said to be stagy. 
 
 The fur of a stagy skin is just as good as any other ; 
 but the half-grown new hair, being shorter than the 
 fur, can not be plucked out by hand or machinery, 
 and is therefore considered a blemish on the skin, in 
 consequence of which its price and value are naturally 
 lowered in the market. 
 
 Heretofore, and until the adoption of the modus 
 vivendi in 1891, it was customary to allow the natives 
 to kill seals for food at any and all times when they 
 were to be found on the islands. And it was in this 
 way, and in this way only, that stagy skins were ever 
 taken and wasted, because all skins that are rejected 
 by the lessee's agent are wasted so far as government 
 interests and revenue are concerned. 
 
 No killing should be permitted for any purpose 
 whatsoever during the stagy season, say from July 31st 
 to November 15th. 
 
 After a thorough inspection, the skins are counted 
 one by one in the presence of the treasury agent, who 
 makes a record of the same in a book kept for that 
 purpose, and in which he also enters the date of the 
 drive, the rookery driven from, the hour of driving, 
 the state of the weather, the number of seals killed, 
 
ALASKA. 115 
 
 the number of skins accepted, the number rejected,, 
 and the cause of such rejection. 
 
 The accepted skins are then salted by the natives, 
 in presence and under the direction of the native 
 chief and the lessee's agent. The skins are spread 
 on the floor, hair-side down, and covered with a layer 
 of coarse salt ; again a layer of skins is laid on and 
 covered with salt as before, and the operation is 
 repeated until -all are salted. 
 
 After lying for at least five days in the first salt, 
 they are shaken out and examined, and resalted as 
 before, excepting that the top la} T er is now put down 
 first and the original position of all layers reversed. 
 
 When sufficiently cured, they are bundled by the 
 natives, who, spreading a thin layer of salt between 
 two skins, lay them flesh side to flesh side, and fold 
 the two into a neat, compact bundle, which they tie 
 securely with strong twine, and throw into the pile for 
 shipping. From the shipping pile they are again 
 counted out, bundle by bundle, by the Treasury agent, 
 in whose presence the} 7 are always taken from the salt 
 house to the boat, from which they are again counted 
 by the mate into the steamer that takes them to San 
 Francisco, where they are counted once more by the 
 customs officers, and finally packed into barrels by the 
 lessees and shipped direct to London via New York. 
 
 FISHERIES. 
 
 Through the purchase of Alaska, the United States 
 acquired a vast stretch of seacoast, which, as a fishing 
 ground, has no superior, and possibly not an equal, on 
 the globe. Her fisheries of salmon, cod, halibut, and 
 other merchantable fish capable of being prepared for 
 
114 ALASKA. 
 
 export, constitute the future supply of this continent. 
 This may be speaking in glowing terms, but the}' are, 
 nevertheless, facts which future developments will 
 prove. It would almost stagger the imagination to 
 give relative statistics between Alaska fields and others 
 well known to be enormous sources of supply. The 
 Newfoundland cod banks are surpassed by those of 
 Alaska, not in quality, but in extent of areas. It 
 would not be an unfair comparison to say that Alaska's 
 cod population exceeds that of the Atlantic as the 
 population of New York exceeds that of Alaska. 
 One river, the Yukon, could compare with a hundred 
 Columbia Rivers in numbers of salmon in the running 
 season, and in the matter of size, the Columbia fish 
 simply "isn't in it," for the king salmon is supreme, 
 and he is no uncommon fish that weighs a hundred 
 pounds. Nearly every stream and river putting into 
 the ocean from the coast range is a salmon stream, 
 upon many of which large canning establishments are 
 located and in operation, shipping their product to the 
 eastern markets. Throughout this extended coast 
 line halibut abound in such numbers as to be almost 
 beyond our belief, and this huge, flat, and palatable 
 fish already forms quite an important item in the fish 
 exports of this country. The great fishing industry 
 of Alaska lies in the future. 
 
 Mr. Tarleton H. Bean, of the Smithsonian Institu- 
 tion, has enumerated seventy-five species of food fishes, 
 over sixty of which he claims to be strictly adapted 
 to the use of man, while the remainder would be 
 classified only as bait for catching others. Of the sea 
 fishes, the cod stands foremost in quantity as well as 
 in commercial importance. Professor Davidson, of 
 
TOTEMS ' AND INDIAN RESIDENCE — PAGE 122. 
 
ALASKA. 117 
 
 the coast survey, states that the soundings of Behring 
 Sea and the Arctic Ocean north of Behring Straits 
 indicated the largest submarine plateau yet known. 
 In the eastern half of Behring Sea, soundings of less 
 than fifty fathoms are found over an extent of eighteen 
 thousand square miles, making quite a little codbank 
 in itself. The banks in the Gulf of Alaska are prob- 
 ably equal in extent to those of Behring Sea. In 
 general terms, it may be stated that the cod is distrib- 
 uted along the entire coast of Alaska, from the south- 
 ern boundary into the Arctic Ocean. There is no 
 essential difference between the Alaska cod and the 
 cod of the North Atlantic, but the facilities for the 
 pursuit of the industry are greater on the Pacific side, 
 owing to the numerous harbors within easy reach of 
 the fishing grounds. 
 
 In the canning and preparation of salmon for the 
 market, a number of large establishments are located 
 along the Alaskan coast, and this industry is gaining 
 yearly in the number of plants and shipments of fish. 
 
 In 1895, four million six hundred and forty-six 
 thousand salmon were canned, valued at over $300,000. 
 
 The herring are principally used in the manufacture 
 of oil, and the refuse, as a fertilizer, disposed of to the 
 planters of the Sandwich Islands. 
 
 GLACIERS. 
 
 From a few miles south of Juneau and northwardly 
 is the land of this ice formation. The frozen ' 'Niagara 
 of the north," in Glacier Bay, north of Cross Sound, 
 and amidst the Fairweather range of mountains — 
 of which St. Elias and Mt. Logan are the chief 
 — is found the " Muir Glacier," larger than all those 
 
118 ALASKA. 
 
 of Switzerland combined. Tourist steamers call here, 
 when ample time is afforded to explore this wonder, 
 extending, as is believed, with similar formations, 
 more than 800 miles. Gradually it recedes, yet for 
 years a solid front will be presented for several miles 
 across, more than 300 feet above salt water and 600 
 feet below. From time to time a mighty rumbling is 
 heard, a smoke seemingly arises, but of ice dust ; 
 blocks as large as houses fall to the waters below, to 
 be pointed out thereafter as ice floes or bergs. 
 
 GAME BIRDS. 
 
 The game birds of Alaska, not including water 
 fowl, can be summed up in the grouse and ptarmigan 
 in Southeastern Alaska, and the grouse, ptarmigan 
 and pheasant in the interior. Perhaps in no country 
 on the globe is water fowl more abundant than 
 throughout Alaska, the principal breeding grounds, 
 however, being far to the north of here in the tundra 
 of the Lower Yukon. The duck family includes 
 almost every known variety, and the same with geese, 
 and swans, both black and white] are found along the 
 entire coast line. The brant is a numerous inhabi- 
 tant of nearl)^ all sections, and the jacksnipe and 
 sand-pipers are also numerous. In the purchase of 
 Alaska, Uncle Sam acquired a vast stretch of marsh 
 country lying above the mouth of the Yukon River, 
 which, in every respect but one, is a valueless waste ; 
 but it is important in this one feature, as it is probably 
 the greatest duck pond on earth. Here breed by 
 millions the mallard, canvas-back, widgeon and teal, 
 and the plump and juicy goose that our American 
 

 ALASKA. 119 
 
 sportsmen are so fond of bagging, and the great 
 hotels so zealous to obtain to enumerate in their bills 
 of fare. 
 
 THE INDIAN POPULATION. 
 
 No doubt of Asiatic origin, and hence may have 
 originated the people found by Columbus upon his 
 discovery. The Behring Straits, narrow and shallow, 
 and some seasons frozen over, could easily be crossed. 
 The Japan current may have drifted some vessel 
 disabled to America's shore; either theory is prob- 
 able, both may be true. 
 
 In the south, speaking a language the vocabulary 
 of which is limited, and called the "Chinook." In 
 the central portion, the ' ' Klinket " or " Si wash. ' ' To 
 the north the race are called the "Aluets " ; each 
 section differing in speech. The people are quiet and 
 orderly as a rule ; the Copper River Indians have the 
 reputation of being fierce, and are an exception. 
 
 Civilization has proven a curse, except where mis- 
 sionary influence is exerted. The Presbyterian 
 Church has accomplished great good in establishing 
 schools, hospitals, and industries, and to it more is to 
 be credited than to all other denominations. Under 
 the direction of Dr. Sheldon Jackson that church has 
 won many battles for the cause of Christ. Thousands 
 have lived righteous lives and have found the way to 
 everlasting life, the result of his teachings. By 
 practical methods untold numbers have been rescued 
 from starvation and death through the same agency. 
 
 While slow, awkward, and indolent, energy is a 
 characteristic, and many are quite industrious, suc- 
 cessful as hunters, fishermen, and mine hands. They 
 
120 ALASKA. 
 
 are far superior to the negro. Shrewd as^ traders, 
 they sometimes venture to markets in the States to 
 satisfy themselves as to quotations, and to ' ' learn the 
 ways of the world." One Taku chief, in a seductive 
 game called "draw poker," led four kings to battle, 
 to learn that greater powers exist — and has ever since 
 abandoned the game. Those of Southeast Alaska 
 are known to the world best by that singular 
 emblem, the "Totem Pole," which sometimes reaches 
 forty and fifty or more feet in height. This may be 
 the family record, for his theory is that from the 
 eagle, the raven, the salmon, the whale, or bear, he 
 sprang. It again may record some tradition, or even 
 story of romance; it may be historic, and is never 
 used for worship or idolatry. 
 
 FLORA AND VEGETATION. 
 
 Wild flowers grow with a luxuriance not to be 
 credited until one has seen the carpets and beds of 
 flowers in some canon, or has waded through the 
 acres of blossoms in some mountain meadow. 
 
 There are three varieties of orchids found, the rat- 
 tlesnake plantain, and two hibernia ; and the wealth 
 of yellow flowers is as strangely significant of the 
 yellow metal hidden beneath them as in California. 
 Three buttercups, the arnica, nimulus, hawkbit, j-el- 
 low geum or Alpine geranium, jewel weed, golden 
 rod, yellow violets and yellow epilobium complete the 
 golden bouquet. The range of blue flowers is as won- 
 derful, and great blue bells, with cups more than an 
 inch in length, Alpine gentian, pansies, asters, lupin, 
 violets, monkshood, fleur-de-lis and forget-me-nots 
 star the beaches and the heights. Angelica, grass of 
 
ALASKA. 123 
 
 parnassus, smilacina, streptopus, spirae, daisies, an- 
 emones, violets, cyclamens, bunchberry and thimble- 
 berry, bryanthus, and the exquisitely fragrant mon- 
 eses garland and deck the earth with their white blos- 
 soms. The black Kamschatka lily is a royal and most 
 fascinating flower, and the rich tones of convolvulus, 
 the rosy cups of the dwarf mountain laurel, and the 
 pale-pink buds of the heathery bryanthus brighten 
 acres of the canon slopes and mountain meadows. 
 Epilobium grows rank and dyes the youngest mor- 
 aines with its vivid crimson. The devil's club, reaching 
 its thorny stocks twelve and twenty feet, to spread its 
 large prickly leaves to the sun, and the great skunk 
 cabbage, unfolding leaves five and six feet long, and 
 looking like a banana tree half buried, give a trop- 
 ical look to the forests . 
 
 WILD FRUITS. 
 
 In Juh* and August the weighted blueberry bushes 
 give a tinge of color to far reaches, and the salmon- 
 berries hang in red-ripe and gorgeous-yellow clusters 
 overhead. Here are huckleberries, both red and blue, 
 and the ever- welcome gooseberry. Along the coast 
 to the westward the beaches are vast strawberry beds, 
 the fruit of which is large and delicious. In marshy 
 tracts cranberries flourish, being generally small but 
 of excellent flavor. Various other berries are found, 
 some of which are eaten only by the natives, as the}* 
 have an insipid taste not enjoyed by civilized palates. 
 
 — Mining Record. 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 Such briefly, is the general outline of the interests 
 attracting the attention of labor and capital. Upon 
 

 124 
 
 ALASKA. 
 
 the completion of the Siberian Railway; with swift 
 steamers plying the narrowest portions of the Pacific, 
 connecting with a transcontinental steam line, reaching 
 to Alaska ; with the country developed and just laws 
 enacted, Alaska will take its place in the nation, the 
 home of a brave, hospitable, and prosperous people. 
 Its annual exportation of Si 2,000,000 will be in- 
 creased many fold. 
 
 
 MAR 11934