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First Chi'istiaii Endeavor Convention in Alaska^ Norernber., 1002. 
 
 The first Christian Endeavor convention in Alaska 
 was held in November of 1903, at Wrangell. The 
 highways of Alaska are waterways, so travel and 
 definite dates are somewhat uncertain. Storm bound 
 on the road to the convention, the various delegates 
 gathered at Klawock held a meeting by the way. 
 It was an occasion of gladness and blessing. It was 
 
 reported as the greatest unifying power seen up to 
 that time in southeastern Alaska. Old sores and 
 troubles were forgiven and forgotten as the people 
 mingled together in praise and prayer. As in David’s 
 day, music is .a powerful factor in bringing peace to 
 the passions of men. The native band in more than 
 one of our Alaskan fields is the pastor’s strong ally. 
 
EST of San Francisco as far as Maine is 
 east of it— so far west do our Alaskan pos- 
 sessions extend. As far as from the Gulf of 
 Mexico to Canada — so far is it between 
 Alaska's southern and northern shores. As great 
 as the area of all our land east of the Mississippi 
 river — save only Michigan, AVisconsin and the 
 States touching the Gulf — so great is the area of 
 Alaska. As far as from Miuneaiiolis to Portland, 
 Oregon— so far is it, as a bird Hies, from the south- 
 ernmost of our own mission stations in Alaska to 
 the most northern. 
 
 A mighty river, navigable through all its length 
 across the entirn peninsula, and a thousand miles 
 beyond, the Yukon has taken its place among the 
 great rivers of the world. 
 
 The recently discovertHl Mt. McKinley in its 
 height is rivalled by few mountain peaks in any 
 continent. 
 
 Mineral and agri<mltural wealth — the treasures 
 of the earth — are matched by the fishing industry 
 and the treasures of the sea. In the decade closing 
 with 1000 Alaska's population doubled, the added 
 thirty thousand being mainly ‘'boys” from the 
 East in search of wealth— the wealth that perishes. 
 
 In all this vast land what is our Church doing'? 
 When missions were opened in the great teiritory 
 purchased from Russia, there was a compact be- 
 tween the denominations by which each agreed to 
 concentrate its elTorts for the natives to the special 
 part alloted to it. To the Presbyterian Church was 
 given the southeastern extension of the territory. 
 A mission teacher anil an ordained missionary in 
 1877 entered the untried field with its unknown 
 and horrible heathen customs. 
 
 Too long for telling here is the story of the 
 struggle — slow at first — between the powers of dark- 
 ness and the messengers of Him who is the Light. 
 Little by little the dawn broke. Gradually old 
 customs lost their power. 
 
 Our Juneau mission illustrates the progress made 
 on all our Alaskan fields. Here our native church 
 was organized in 1887. On its charter list were 
 thirteen — whites and Indians— of whom only one 
 now survives. The present pastor is the Rev. L. F. 
 Jones, who has been for ten years on that field. 
 During this time almost three hundred have been 
 added to the church, all save three on confession of 
 faith ; two hundred infants have been baptized ; 
 sixty native marriages have been performed ; and 
 in connection with the Juneau church there has 
 been erected a substantial hall, which is located in 
 the native village, and in which the natives gather 
 not only for socials and band practice but also for 
 religious services during the week. A Juneau paper 
 — and not all editors are in sympathy with mission 
 lines of service — voluntarily prints this editorial 
 tribute to Mr. Jones and his church: 
 
 “The effect of church work upon the lives and 
 morals of the natives may' be seen, not only in in- 
 dividual characters, but in a comparison of what 
 the natives do to-day as compared with what they 
 did when the missionary first came amongst them. 
 This, by the way, is the only true mode of compari- 
 ^ sou — not to compare the natives with our white 
 civilization but the natives now with what they 
 were when religion found them. 
 
 “ Many old customs in vogue at the beginning of 
 this period have disappeared. Then, burning the 
 dead was a custom which has given way entirely to 
 Christian burial. Then, witchcraft was in vogue 
 but is now a thing of the past. Gambling was then 
 rife but has now vanished. Then, native street 
 girls were plentiful and frequented dance halls of 
 the whites. Now they are scarce and frequent no 
 
 dance halls. The old marriage custom is fast pass- 
 ing away. Feasting and dancing, which used to 
 engage all of their time during the winter, are on 
 the decline and are lightly indulged in. Until re- 
 cently they were devoid of public spirit, but now 
 they build sidewalks and provide street lights by 
 public subscriptions. They are building better 
 homes, take more pride in furnishing them, and 
 families are more and more individualizing them- 
 selves. These are some, not all, of the indica- 
 tions of progress. And no one can deny that the 
 ‘ Church' is the chief agency in bringing about these 
 reforms. . . . 
 
 “The good work done by Rev. and Mrs. Jones 
 among the natives is deserving of great praise, and 
 their advancement under the guidance of Rev. Jones 
 is appreciated by all who have followed the progress 
 made by the natives during the past ten yeans.” 
 
 But the work to the natives in Alaska is now a 
 small part of the Church’s obligation. The Presby- 
 tery of Alaska is but one of two presbyteries of our 
 Assembly’ located in that territory. 
 
 About ten years ago occurred the first im]iortant 
 gold discovery. Then began the influx of whites to 
 the interior. This greatly increased the commer- 
 cial activity along the southeastern extension of the 
 territory and wholly changed the characteristics of 
 mission work there. Our missionaries face no longer 
 the simple conditions existing among the aboriginal 
 people, but are perplexed by the problems of a fron- 
 tier and changing region. In interior Alaska our 
 mission stations are few, but are located with a view 
 to reaching the miners in congested centers wherever 
 the latest gold discovery has attracted the throng. 
 
 During the past year two of our missionaries have 
 been located on the Tanana creek, about two hun- 
 dred and fifty miles from Rampart. The Rev. M. E, 
 Koonce, Ph. D., during five long and lonely’ years, 
 has held this outpost and ministered splendidly to 
 1 the minors w’ithin many miles of Rampart, scat- 
 tered at their diggings along the creeks. 
 
 The new gold field on the Tanana has our oldest 
 and newest Alaskan missionaries, the Rev. S. Hall 
 Y'oung, D.D., and his wife and the Rev. Howard M. 
 Frank and his bride. Fairbanks and Chena are the 
 two towns in which they are located. When that 
 part of the country shall have settled, after a more 
 thorough understanding of its mining conditions 
 and possibilities have been reached, there will prob- 
 ably be but one town. Our missionaries will watch 
 the changing situation and be quick to take advan- 
 tage of it. Meanwhile at each place a building has 
 been erected at which services are regularly main- 
 tained. An athlete in his student days, Mr. Frank 
 is practically proving the value of muscular Chris- 
 tianity by his weekly trips among the creeks, dur- 
 ing which he “mushes" scores of miles and preaches 
 to hungry-hearted men and women who gather in 
 road-houses and saloons to hear the once familiar 
 gospel story. 
 
 Nearly fifteen hundred miles distant is our next 
 missionary, the Rev. Herman M. Hosack, who has 
 two stations — Council and Teller — a hundred miles 
 apart. We have at Council an organized church. 
 For this whole region he asks two or three mission- 
 aries. There is work enough— and more — to keep 
 them busy. His field is unique in that on many 
 occasions at his services the entire population is 
 present — not a man or woman missing I 
 
 After three years of heroic isolation and stren- 
 I uous service in this Labrador of our western coast 
 ^ Mr. Hosack feels the need of coming to the States for 
 
 ' mental and spiritual uplift. Only those who have 
 
 i been absolutely alone, away from all whose ideals 
 and lives are noble, can understand the peril to 
 heart and life endured in our Arctic fields. 
 
“ For many years the northwest wind has been 
 bringing from that great land a wail of despair as 
 sad as ever came from the darkest corners of the 
 earth. It was the mute cry of men, women and 
 children living in the habitations of cruelty into 
 which no ray of divine light and love had ever pen- 
 etrated — the inarticulate moan of immortal souls 
 left to live and die without God and without 
 hope, all forgotten by the great Christian world 
 beyond them.” — Sheldon J.\ckson, D.D. 
 
 The first Presbyterian missionaries entered Ala.ska 
 in 1877. Figures are but a poor measure of spiritual 
 work in planting the Master’s Kingdom ; yet they 
 are forceful in illustration. 
 
 After ten years of Alaskan missionary service 
 Christianity had so grown that the Presbytery of 
 Ala.ska was erected with two churches, having one 
 hundred and sixty-three members, and nine minis- 
 ters. 
 
 Our last complete statement from the Presbytery 
 of Alaska was compiled a year ago and shows that 
 it now includes fourteen churches, twelve hundred 
 and twenty-two members, and fifteen ministers. 
 Of these one is self-supporting — the church at Skag- 
 way, a town unknown ten years ago. Three of the 
 churches are for white settlers, to whom at the be- 
 ginning of Alaskan missions it was not dreamed the 
 Church would ever need to send help. 
 
 Not a single one of the churches in the Presbytery 
 of Alaska has omitted offerings to the Boards, 
 while six churches have filled every column — an 
 example that many of our churches in the States 
 would do well to follow. 
 
 The Board of Home Missions of the Presbyterian Church in 
 the U.S.A., Harvey C. Olin, Treas., 156 Fifth Ave., Nesv York 
 
 No. 215-lst Eli.— 5, 1905. 
 
 THE WILLETT PRESS 
 NEW YORK