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diff --git a/36435-8.txt b/36435-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..7f43bfb --- /dev/null +++ b/36435-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4574 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Wonderland; or Alaska and the Inside Passage, by +Lieut. Frederick Schwatka and John Hyde + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Wonderland; or Alaska and the Inside Passage + With a Description of the Country Traversed by the Northern + Pacific Railroad + +Author: Lieut. Frederick Schwatka + John Hyde + +Release Date: June 16, 2011 [EBook #36435] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WONDERLAND; OR ALASKA AND *** + + + + +Produced by Jens Nordmann, Greg Bergquist and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + + + + + + + + + Transcriber's Notes: + +The original spelling and minor inconsistencies in the spelling and +formatting have been maintained. + +The ligature oe has been marked as [oe]. + +A list with all corrections applied to the text has been added at the +end of the text. + + + Formatting: + +Text in italics has been marked with underscores (_text_) and bold text +using the equals sign (=text=). + + + + + [Illustration: COLUMBIA RIVER, LOOKING EASTWARD FROM ROCK BLUFF.] + + + + + Wonderland; + + OR + + ALASKA AND THE INLAND PASSAGE + + BY + + LIEUT. FREDERICK SCHWATKA. + + WITH + + A Description of the Country Traversed by the + Northern Pacific Railroad. + + BY + + JOHN HYDE, + + Author of "The Wonderland Route to the Pacific Coast," "Alice's + Adventures in the New Wonderland," etc., etc. + + + Copyrighted, 1886, by CHAS. S. FEE, General Passenger Agent + Northern Pacific Railroad, St. Paul. + + + + +[Illustration: Rand McNally & Co.] + + + PRINTERS AND ENGRAVERS, CHICAGO + + + + + INTRODUCTORY. + + +"Multi discurrent, et augebitur _stultitia_." Thus did one of the +profoundest of modern thinkers parody the prediction of the Hebrew +prophet who foretold the time when, with increased facilities for travel +and intercommunication, there should come a great enlargement of the +bounds of knowledge, and a corresponding amelioration of the condition +of humanity. + +It would, however, be strange indeed, if the complex process of social +evolution, even in its present stage, were not marked by some of the +indications of a retrograde movement. The age in which we live has +undoubtedly its peculiar follies and foibles, which are but thrown into +relief by the qualities that more generally distinguish it. + +But many are running to and fro, and knowledge is being increased. +Nature is revealing herself to the traveler in new forms and aspects, +and disclosing to his wondering gaze mysterious pages of her great book +hitherto hidden from him. + +And while extensive tracts of country, presenting physical features to +which the entire known world furnishes no parallel, have been brought by +railroad enterprise within reach alike of the curious sight-seer and the +inquiring student, a vast region, of almost unexampled wealth-producing +capabilities, has, by the same agency, been thrown open to that +advancing tide of civilization which is rapidly overspreading the world. + +Hence the traveler journeying to Wonderland--to that enchanted realm +where the most extravagant creations of the fancy appear trivial and +commonplace beside the more extraordinary works of Nature--sees also, in +process of solution, some of the hitherto most perplexing problems of +economics; observes, as he can not do with like facility anywhere else +in the world, the well-ordered plan upon which the bounty of Nature is +distributed; and witnesses the unlocking of vast storehouses of good, to +supply the increasing needs of the human race. + +It may be doubted whether the world affords another tour at once so +delightful and so instructive as that which, beginning at the head of +the Mississippi valley, and crossing the great wheat fields of Dakota +and Eastern Washington, the stock ranges of Montana, and the gold and +silver ribbed mountains of Montana and Idaho, embraces also the wonders +of the Yellowstone National Park, and the incomparable scenery of the +Columbia river, to crown all with the stupendous sights of that Great +Land whose unique natural features have earned for it the well-deserved +title of "Wonderland." No longer one of peril and hardship, but, on the +contrary, one of absolute luxury, this tour has, within the last two +years, attracted thousands of pilgrims from all parts of the civilized +world. To them, as well as to all other lovers of the sublime and +beautiful, and to the students of the mysteries of Nature in all lands, +who may have the good fortune to visit the far Northwest in 1886, the +following pages are respectfully inscribed. + + + + + CONTENTS. + + PAGE + The Advantages of Travel--Introductory 3 + The Development of the Northwest--St. Paul and Minneapolis 7, 8 + Minnesota Lakes and their Attractions for the Angler 8-10 + Brainerd, Duluth, Superior and Ashland 10 + Red River Valley 12 + The Changes of a Half Century 13 + Great Wheat Farms of Dakota, and the Capital of the Territory 14 + "Bad Lands" of the Little Missouri 15, 16 + Yellowstone River 16-19 + Yellowstone National Park 20-22 + Helena and the Romance of Mining 23-26 + Main Range of the Rocky Mountains 26, 27 + Butte City, the greatest Mining Camp in the World 27-30 + The Flathead Country 30, 31 + Clark's Fork and Lake Pend d'Oreille 31-34 + Spokane Falls 35 + Palouse and Walla Walla Wheat Countries 36, 37 + The Columbia River 37-40 + Portland 40, 41 + The Willamette Valley and Southern Oregon 42, 43 + The Lower Columbia and City of Astoria, with Fisheries 43-46 + Western Washington: its Scenery and Resources 46 + The Sovereign Mountain: Tacoma 47 + Puget Sound 48-54 + Victoria, British Columbia 55, 56 + Discovery Passage 58 + Queen Charlotte Sound 60 + Varieties of Fish found in Inland Passage 62 + Wrangell, Alaska 63, 64 + Indian Life, Facilities for Studying 67-71 + Sitka, Alaska 73-77 + Hot Springs Bay, Alaska 77 + Climate of Sitka 79 + Land of the Chilkats 81-84 + Juneau, Alaska, and the Mines of Douglas Island 84-86 + Glacier Bay 86-92 + Glaciers of Alaska 93-95 + Mount St. Elias 95, 96 + + + + + INDEX TO ILLUSTRATIONS. + + PAGE + Alaska's Thousand Islands, as seen from Sitka 78 + An Alaska Indian House, with Totem Poles 66 + Chancel of the Greek Church, Sitka 75 + Chilkat Blanket 81 + Columbia River, looking Eastward from Rock Bluff Frontispiece + Detroit Lake and Hotel Minnesota, Detroit, Minn. 11 + Falls of the Gibbon River, National Park 29 + Floating Fish Wheel, Columbia River 42 + Hotel Tacoma, Tacoma, W. T. 47 + Lake Pend d'Oreille, Idaho 33 + Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel, National Park 21 + Mount Hood, from the Head of the Dalles, Columbia River 38 + Mount Tacoma, W. T. 44 + Old Faithful Geyser, National Park 18 + Scenes among the Alaskan Glaciers 89 + Scenes in the Inland Passage 59 + Sitka, Alaska 72 + T'linket Basket Work 68 + T'linket Carved Spoons 85 + T'linket War Canoe 83 + Yellowstone River, National Park 25 + + + + + FROM THE GREAT LAKES TO PUGET SOUND. + + + "=To the doorways of the West-Wind, + To the portals of the Sunset.=" + +While, in the old world, armies have been contending for the possession +of narrow strips of territory, in kingdoms themselves smaller than many +single American States, and venerable _savants_ have been predicting +the near approach of the time when the population of the world shall have +outstripped the means of subsistence, there has arisen, between the +headwaters of the Mississippi and the mouth of the stately Columbia, an +imperial domain, more than three times the size of the German empire, +and capable of sustaining upon its own soil one hundred millions of +people. What little has been done--for it is but little, +comparatively--toward the development of its amazing resources, has +called into existence, on its eastern border, two great and beautiful +cities, which have sprung up side by side on the banks of the great +Father of Waters. + +It is there, at St. Paul and Minneapolis, that the traveler's journey to +Wonderland may be said to begin. And what could be more fitting? for are +they not wonders in themselves, presenting, as they do, the most +astonishing picture of rapid expansion the world has ever seen? + +But it is not their magnitude that excites the greatest surprise. If +there is a single newspaper reader in ignorance of the fact that the +State census of 1885 found them with a population of 240,597? or that +the 23,994 buildings erected within their limits since the beginning of +1882, represent a frontage of over 100 miles and an expenditure of +$69,895,390, or that their banking capital considerably exceeds that of +either San Francisco, New Orleans, Cincinnati or St. Louis, it is +through no fault of the cities themselves. But the visitor may bring +with him a just appreciation of their size and commercial importance, +and yet have had no conception of their beauty, nor of the abounding +evidences of public spirit and private enterprise that will confront him +at every turn. + +The position of St. Paul, at the head of navigation, and as the focus of +the railway activity of the Northwest, commands for it an extensive +wholesale trade, its sales aggregating, in 1885, the large sum of +$81,420,000. The surprise with which the visitor views the stately piles +that are the outward and visible signs of the vast commercial and +financial interests of the city, the creation of a few brief seasons, is +no greater than the astonishment with which he realizes the absence of +all appearance of immaturity. In no city in the Union are the business +quarters more solid and substantial; in none is the domestic +architecture more attractive. Nothing is crude, nothing tentative, +nothing transitional. + +Clustered around the great Falls of St. Anthony, stand those colossal +flouring mills that have been more than ever the pride and glory of +Minneapolis, since they enabled her to pluck from Chicago's crown one of +the brightest of its jewels. It is a startling commentary upon the much +vaunted supremacy of the great metropolis of the West, that, while the +wheat attracted to its market fell gradually from 34,106,109 bushels in +1879, to 13,265,223 bushels in 1885, the amount handled by the millers +of Minneapolis increased, within the same period, from 7,514,364 bushels +to 32,112,840 bushels. The mills have a total flour-manufacturing +capacity of 33,973 barrels per day, an amount equal to the necessities +of the three most populous States of the Union, or of one-half the +population of Great Britain. + +But to turn from the romance of figures to that of song and story. +Should the traveler have any desire to visit the far-famed falls of +Minnehaha, it is now he should gratify it. Situated almost midway +between the two cities, they can be easily reached, either by train, +carriage or river steamboat. The poetic interest with which they have +been invested by their association with the legend of Hiawatha +constitutes but the least of their claims upon the traveler's notice; +and, should he turn aside to visit them, not even the sublime scenery of +Wonderland will entirely efface the memory of their laughing waters. + +The residents of St. Paul and Minneapolis are fortunate in having, +within easy access, two of the most beautiful of Minnesota's ten +thousand lakes, White Bear and Minnetonka. Justly celebrated for the +beauty of their scenery and the excellence of their hotel and other +accommodations, they are resorted to annually by thousands of visitors +from far and near. Minnetonka is not inappropriately called the Saratoga +of the Northwest; but no designation, however high-sounding or +significant, can do justice to the exquisite beauty of its scenery or +the sumptuousness of its hotels. + +It is time, however, that we were directing our steps toward that +scarcely less luxurious hotel which is waiting to convey us to the +fir-clad slopes of Puget Sound! While holding in honorable remembrance +the names of Watt and Stephenson, surely posterity ought not altogether +to forget those of the inventors of the sleeping car and dining car; for +the railway train of early days was hardly a greater advance upon the +old stage-coach than is the completely equipped train of to-day over its +predecessor of even twenty-five years ago. + +The journey from St. Paul to Puget Sound may be said to fall into eight +geographical divisions, with well-marked natural boundaries, and +corresponding in the main to the divisions into which the line has been +formed for operating purposes. The first extends to the Red River of the +North, a distance of 275 miles, lying wholly in the State of Minnesota. + +The great attractions of this State are its pine forests, covering +nearly one-half of its entire area, and its numerous beautiful lakes. Of +the latter, there are no fewer than 215 within twenty-five miles of St. +Paul, and they extend right through the central part of the State, on +both sides of the railroad, to the prairie region bordering upon the Red +River. Many of them are of exceeding beauty, especially in the district +known as the + + + LAKE PARK REGION, + +a richly diversified section of country, presenting the most charming +scenery. + +Among the most famous, are Lake Minnewaska, on the Little Falls and +Dakota division of the road, fifty-nine miles from its junction with the +main line; Clitherall and Battle Lakes, on the Fergus Falls and Black +Hills branch; and Detroit Lake, on the direct line to the West, 230 +miles from St. Paul. All these have fine pebbly beaches, lined with +beautiful borders of timber, and their accommodations for all classes of +visitors--anglers, sportsmen and families--are exceptionally good. + +Like all the waters of Minnesota, they teem with fine, gamey fish of +many varieties. The accomplished editor of the _American Angler_, +writing in his well-known journal, after a visit to the Northwest in the +summer of 1885, stated, that, during a life of nearly a quarter of a +century as an angler, no experience with a rod had equaled in variety +and weight the two days' fishing he had had on Detroit Lake. Nor was Mr. +Harris' success exceptional. A score of one hundred pounds per day on +two rods, is, as he goes on to state, considered quite a modest record. + +For what is locally regarded as a good catch, we must turn to that of +the three gentlemen who, on the afternoon of June 1st, 1885, brought in, +as the result of less than three days' work, 603 pike, 138 black bass, +178 rock bass, 28 cat-fish and 25 pickerel; the entire catch weighing +2,321 pounds. This "fish story" is well authenticated. Eastern anglers +can have no conception how full of fine fish, of many varieties, these +Minnesota lakes are. For black and rock bass, maskalonge, pickerel, +wall-eyed pike, and an infinite variety of smaller fish, a recent writer +in the _American Angler_ pronounces Detroit Lake the finest fishing +ground on the continent. Nor need any angler or sportsman--for prairie +chickens, ducks and deer are abundant--expect to have to look to sport +to make up for the deficiencies of accommodation; for the Hotel +Minnesota is said, on the highest authority, to be a gem of a hostelry +for anglers, every facility and convenience they could wish for being +obtainable at moderate charges. + +The scenic attractions, also, are of a high order, the natural features +of the surrounding country being of the most diversified character. The +air is pure and invigorating, and hay fever and malarial diseases are +absolutely unknown. + +Lake Park is another delightful resort in this region, having good +fishing and boating within easy distance, and a first-class hotel +adjoining the depot. + +Before arriving at Detroit, the traveler from St. Paul passes through +Brainerd, the "City of the Pines." The selection of this city for the +location of the machine shops of the railroad has given a great impetus +to its growth; nevertheless, for deer and bear hunting, it is still one +of the best localities in the State. There is fine fishing, too, in its +immediate vicinity, and its hotel accommodations also are very good. +Here it is, also, that travelers from the East, coming by way of the +Great Lakes, join the west-bound train. + +The distance to Brainerd from Duluth, the point of debarkation, at the +west end of Lake Superior, is 114 miles. + +The traveler, who, in 1886, visits Mr. Proctor Knott's "Zenith City of +the Unsalted Seas," will find the straggling village of five years ago a +busy city of 20,000 inhabitants, with abounding evidences of the +commercial importance it has attained. By reason of the advantages +afforded by the great waterway of the continent, for the direct shipment +of wheat to the Eastern States or to Europe, Duluth has become almost as +formidable a rival of Minneapolis as that city is of Chicago. It handled +last year no fewer than 15,819,462 bushels of wheat, while its saw mills +cut up 125,000,000 feet of lumber, and an extensive trade was also +carried on in coal, salt and lime. + +A few miles distant, and connected with it by a railway whose +construction involved the building of an exceedingly fine iron bridge, +is the city of Superior, also with excellent terminal facilities. The +eastern terminus of this, the Wisconsin division of the railroad, is +Ashland, an important town and favorite summer resort on Lake Superior. +Midway between this town and Duluth the line crosses the Brule river, +whose excellent fishing grounds its recent opening has, for the first +time, rendered accessible. + +The Brule river proper is a large stream, averaging 100 feet in width, +of clear, cold water, flowing, its entire length, through one of the +great forests of Wisconsin. With high banks, and free from low or marshy +ground, it is an ideal trout stream. The best fishing on the river is to +be had in a stretch of fourteen miles, extending six miles above, and +eight miles below, the crossing of the Northern Pacific Railroad. The +trout attain a large size, catches of three and four pound fish being an +everyday occurrence. In the surrounding forest, game, including moose, +deer, beaver and pheasant, is found in great abundance. Large quantities +of venison were shipped hence by rail during the winter of 1885-86, the +shipments from November 1st to December 15th alone exceeding 13,000 +pounds. + +[Illustration: DETROIT LAKE AND HOTEL MINNESOTA, DETROIT, MINN.] + +Almost equal to the exciting pleasures of the chase is that of shooting +the Brule river rapids in a canoe. Accompanied by an experienced guide, +the visitor performs this feat without danger; let him attempt it alone, +and he is sure of a ducking. For the angler and sportsman, the Brule +possesses an additional attraction in the fact, that, while most +excellent accommodations are to be had at the railroad crossing, +including boats, fishing tackle and guides, there is no settlement of +any kind within a considerable distance. + +The line from Duluth to Brainerd follows, for many miles, the winding +valley of the St. Louis river, through scenery for the most part stern +and wild, yet not without an occasional suggestion of the gentler beauty +of the far-off Youghiogheny. Between Fond du Lac and Thompson the river +has a descent of 500 feet in a distance of twelve miles, tearing its way +with terrific force through a tortuous, rock-bound channel. The best +point for observing the fine effect of these impetuous rapids and +cascades, known locally as the Dalles of the St. Louis, is near the +twentieth mile post westward from Duluth. + +Pursuing its way in the direction of Brainerd, the train traverses a +country comparatively little known. Its scanty population is engaged +almost entirely in logging, lumber manufacturing, and hunting, the +immense forest covering the face of the country abounding with deer, +bear, wolves, foxes and other game. + +Emerging from the deep recesses of the forest, and passing swiftly +through the lake region already referred to, we find ourselves in a +level prairie country, and can dimly descry, in the far distance, the +thin, dark line which another hour's ride will show to be the narrow +fringe of timber that marks the course of the famous Red River of the +North, that true Arimaspes, with whose golden sands thousands and tens +of thousands have been made rich. + +This, then, is the renowned Red River valley, the story of whose amazing +fertility has attracted, from older States and still older countries, +one hundred and fifty thousand people. The greatest influx has taken +place since 1880, the increase in population between the census of that +year and that in the spring of 1885 being 38,719 on the Minnesota side +of the river, and 54,918 on the Dakota side. + +Although there are vast tracts of land still uncultivated, the general +appearance of the valley is that of a well-settled agricultural country. +But this will occasion no surprise to those who remember that its annual +wheat crop has now reached 25,000,000 bushels, and its crop of other +cereals 15,000,000 bushels. + +Not a little surprise, however, is occasioned by the discovery that the +"valley" of which the traveler has heard so much is not a valley at all, +but a great plain, whose slope toward the river is so slight as to be +wholly imperceptible. + +Where the railroad crosses the river, have sprung up the cities of +Moorhead and Fargo, the former in Minnesota, the latter in Dakota. With +such advantages of situation as they possess, and with the days of +booms, with all their unhealthy excitement and fictitious values, gone, +never, it is to be hoped, to return, these cities must continue to +increase in commercial importance, with the development of the rich +country surrounding them. + +Fargo is, indeed, the largest city in the entire Territory of Dakota, +and will probably retain its position as such for many years to come. + +It is needless to repeat here the oft-told story of Dakota's marvelous +growth. Time was when it was capable of being wrought up into a mosaic +of wondrous interest and beauty; but, with the multiplication of +agencies for giving it publicity, its charm, for the present generation +at least, has passed away. It will, nevertheless, afford the historian +of the nineteenth century material for one of the most interesting and +instructive chapters of his work. + +Writing, in 1828, his "Principles of Population," the great historian of +Europe said: "The gradual and continuous progress of the European race +toward the Rocky Mountains has the solemnity of a providential event: it +is like a deluge of men rising unabatedly, and daily driven onward by +the hand of God." But at that time the State of Illinois, but half way +toward the Rocky Mountains and one-third of the way to the Pacific +Ocean, was almost the limit of its mighty flow. Wisconsin, with no +noteworthy settlements of its own, formed part of the Territory of +Michigan; Iowa was an altogether vacant region, without any form of +organized government; while other great States of to-day were still +either mere parts of the Louisiana purchase, with as yet no separate +identity, or were comprised within the then far-extending territory of +the republic of Mexico. + +The traveler to the Northwest, by the Northern Pacific Railroad, +traverses that section of the far-extending dominion of the American +people that was the last to be overspread by that great tide of +civilization. He sees its evidences in the happy and prosperous +homesteads that dot the fertile plains of Dakota, and nestle under the +sheltering bluffs of the winding valleys of Montana; he is able to bear +witness, also, to its having penetrated the fastnesses of the Rocky +Mountains, and converted the hillsides of Eastern Washington and the +fair lands of Oregon into smiling wheat fields and fruitful orchards. + +But, notwithstanding the hundreds of flourishing settlements scattered +along the great highway of travel, with here and there a goodly town or +city, he can not but wonder at the apparent sparseness of population +when he remembers that one and a half millions of people have their +homes between the Great Lakes and Puget Sound. + +But let him consider the vast extent of the country; let him call to +mind that Dakota, with her 415,664 inhabitants, has yet 230 acres of +land to every man, woman and child within her borders, her population +averaging less than three to the square mile; that the density of +population in Oregon and Washington is but two and one-half and two to +the square mile, respectively; while both Montana and Idaho have +considerably more square miles than they have inhabitants. + +The county of Cass, which stretches westward from Fargo, is one of the +best settled sections of the Northwest, there being no land whatever +subject to entry. It contains some of the largest wheat farms in the +world, and it has produced more than one wheat crop of 5,000,000 +bushels. This county has an actual wealth of over $20,000,000, and, with +its 120 school houses and numberless churches, it may be taken as +admirably illustrating both the capabilities of the country and the +character of the people who are building it up. + +At Dalrymple, eighteen miles from Fargo, and at Casselton, two miles +farther west, are the + + + GREAT WHEAT FARMS + +of Mr. Oliver Dalrymple, comprising some 50,000 acres. Continuing +westward, we pass, in rapid succession, various flourishing settlements, +among them being Valley City, on the Sheyenne river, the judicial seat +of Barnes county. + +Presently the train descends into the valley of the James, or Dakota, +river, and the prosperous city of Jamestown is reached. + +From this point a branch line extends northward, ninety miles, to +Minnewaukan, at the west end of Devil's Lake. This remarkable body of +salt water, with its deeply indented and richly wooded shores, where the +briny odor of the ocean mingles with the fragrance of the prairie +flower, is surrounded by some of the best farming lands in Dakota. Its +attractions for the tourist, angler and sportsman have obtained wide +recognition, fish and game being very plentiful, the climate highly +salubrious, the scenery picturesque, and the hotel accommodations good. +The James river is said to be the longest unnavigable river on the +continent, if not in the world, its flow, for hundreds of miles, being +distinguished by scarcely any perceptible increase of volume. + +Crossing a high table land, 1,850 feet above sea-level, and 950 feet +higher than the Red river at Fargo, and known geographically as the +Coteaux de Missouri, the train rapidly pursues its way past various +large and well-managed farms to Bismarck, the capital of the Territory. + +This city has long commanded an important trade with various settlements +on the Upper Missouri, the steamboats employed having transported as +much as 45,000,000 pounds of freight within a single brief period of +navigation. It is the shipping and distributing point of a vast area +whose only railroad facilities are those afforded by the great +transcontinental line that here crosses the Missouri river. With the +various important settlements that have been established in that great +tract of country, Bismarck has either stage or steamboat communication. +While, however, river navigation is limited to a comparatively short +season, the stages run regularly all the year round, having even been +known not to miss a single trip, or to be more than a few hours late, +during an entire winter. + +But it is not the Fargos, the Jamestowns or the Bismarcks with which the +tourist chiefly concerns himself. They attract his attention only +because of the evidence they afford of the development and stability of +the country, and the enterprise of the people, and he is far more +interested in the crossing of the Missouri river, than in either of the +two cities that frown at each other across its turbid waters. + +The bridge, by which the railroad is carried across the great river, +here 2,800 feet in breadth, although 3,500 miles from the Gulf of +Mexico, is a structure of immense strength, and not more substantial +than it is graceful. It consists of three spans, each of 400 feet, and +two approach spans, each of 113 feet, with a long stretch of strongly +built trestle work over the gently sloping west bank of the river. + +Here the train runs into Mandan, a pleasant little city, nestling under +low ranges of hills which encompass it on three sides. This is the +terminus of the Missouri and Dakota divisions of the road. The change +from Central to Mountain time is made at this point, and the west-bound +traveler sets his watch back one hour. + +The country west of the Missouri river presents an entirely different +appearance from that through which the tourist has been traveling since +he entered the Territory at Fargo. It is more diversified; its numerous +streams, with handsome groves of cottonwood upon their banks, meandering +through pleasant valleys, clothed, where still uncultivated, with that +nutritious bunch grass, which, but a few short years ago, made them the +favorite feeding grounds of the buffalo. The vast beds of lignite coal +that underlie this portion of the Territory crop out at various points, +twelve car loads being mined daily at Sims, 35 miles west of Mandan, for +shipment by rail. The most important settlements on this division of the +road are Gladstone and Dickinson. + +Twenty miles west of the latter town, the line enters the singular and +picturesque region known as the Bad Lands of the Little Missouri. For a +full hour the train pursues its way through scenery of which the whole +world is not known to afford any counterpart. + +The product of natural forces, still working to the same end, the +picture that meets the astonished gaze of the traveler, suggests, where +it does not utterly bewilder, either supernatural agency or the +operation of laws whose reign has ceased. Reasonable hypotheses all +failing, one's imagination connects the weird and mysterious scene with +some early geologic epoch when, perchance under the brooding darkness of +night, the yet plastic earth was tortured by some wild spirit of Caprice +into the fantastic forms in which we see it to-day. But evidences of +intelligent design are not altogether wanting, and we turn from mounds +of wonderful regularity and symmetry of form, standing like Egyptian +pyramids, to reproductions of the frowning battlements of Gibraltar or +Ehrenbreitstein, or the dome and towers of some great cathedral. + +Marvelous as they are, however, these forms and outlines excite even +less astonishment than the wealth of coloring in which they are arrayed. +Composed largely of clay, solidified by pressure, and converted into +terra-cotta by the slow combustion of underlying masses of lignite, each +dome and pyramid and mimic castle is encircled with chromatic bands +presenting vivid and startling contrasts. Huge petrifactions and vast +masses of scoria contribute to the weirdness of the scene, and, as if to +complete its plutonic appearance, smoke goes up unceasingly from +unquenchable subterranean fires. + +It is a mistake to suppose that these lands are worthless for +agricultural or stock-raising purposes. The valleys and ravines are +covered with nutritious grasses, and thousands of cattle may be seen +grazing where the buffalo and other herbivorous wild animals were wont +to roam in days gone by. The term "Bad Lands" is a careless and +incomplete translation of the designation bestowed upon the country by +the early French _voyageurs_, who described it as "_mauvaises terres +pour traverser_." + +At the crossing of the Little Missouri, the Marquis de Mores, a wealthy +young French nobleman, has established the headquarters of an extensive +stock raising and dressed meat shipping business. + +From this point, Medora, excursions may be made to Cedar Cañon, one of +the most interesting localities in the Bad Lands; or to the burning +mine, where may be seen, raging, perhaps the most extensive of the +subterranean fires of the entire region. It is also a good point from +which to start out on hunting expeditions, large game being by no means +exterminated. + +Sixteen miles beyond the Little Missouri, the train passes Sentinel +Butte, a lofty peak rising precipitously from the plain on the south +side of the railroad. One mile more and the Montana boundary is crossed, +at an elevation of 2,840 feet above sea-level. + +In crossing the great Territory of Dakota, the tourist has traveled 367 +miles; in traversing that of Montana, he performs a journey of no less +than 800 miles, almost equivalent to the distance from New York to +Indianapolis. Fortunately, the luxurious appointments of the train +render weariness well nigh impossible, and the trip hourly becomes more +interesting and enjoyable. + +At Glendive, 692 miles from St. Paul, the road enters the valley of the +Yellowstone, the windings of which famous river it follows, more or less +closely, for 340 miles. + +The valley, from five to ten miles in width, is inclosed by high bluffs +of clay and sandstone, their curious formations occasionally reminding +the traveler of the Bad Lands, though they have but little variety of +color. + +If the Red River of the North may justly be regarded as the true +Arimaspes, the Yellowstone may, with equal propriety, be designated the +modern Amphrysus. It is upon its banks and those of its tributaries that +there has been developed, since the opening of the Northern Pacific +Railroad, that vast grazing interest which has given Montana as great a +reputation for its stock as Dakota has for its wheat. + +For many years,--up to and including the winter of 1881-82,--this was +the finest buffalo hunting country on the continent. But the slaughter +that season was enormous, 250,000 hides being shipped East, principally +from Miles City. Few have been seen since that time. There are hunters +who believe that small herds might still be found north of the +international boundary; but, so far as the United States is concerned, +the buffalo is practically extinct. There is, however, a small herd in +the National Park. Safe from the hunter's deadly repeater, they will +probably multiply rapidly, as it may be supposed that they will soon +know instinctively the limits within which they are unmolested. + +Miles City, a few years ago the principal rendezvous of the hunter, is +now the great resort of the grazier and cowboy, it being the metropolis +of the stock interest of the Territory. + +The development of this interest within recent years has been as rapid +as that of wheat raising in Dakota, and the economist who should turn to +the United States census reports for 1880 for the present condition of +any considerable section of the Northwest would be led seriously astray. + +In 1880, Montana contained 490,000 cattle and 520,000 sheep. According +to a recent report of the Governor of the Territory, it contains, at the +present time, 900,000 cattle, 1,200,000 sheep, and 120,000 horses. The +grazing interests of the West are moving steadily toward Eastern +Montana; for, so rapidly do cattle thrive on the nutritious grasses of +these northern valleys, that a yearling steer is worth $10 more in +Montana than in Texas. + +Glendive, already mentioned as the point at which the railroad enters +the Yellowstone valley, is second only to Miles City in importance as a +shipping and distributing point. It is also a divisional terminus of the +railroad. + +Two miles west of Miles City is Fort Keogh, one of the largest and most +beautiful military posts in the United States. It was established in +1877 by Gen. Nelson A. Miles, as a means of holding in check the warlike +Sioux. There are but few Indians to be seen now along the line of the +railroad, and those are engaged in agricultural and industrial pursuits. +The extinction of the buffalo has rendered the Indian much more amenable +to the civilizing influences brought to bear upon him than he formerly +was, and very fair crops of grain are now being raised at the various +agencies. At the Devil's Lake Agency, 60,000 bushels of wheat were +raised in 1885, and purchased by the United States Government at $1 per +hundred pounds. The Crows, along the northern border of whose +reservation--nearly as large as the State of Massachusetts--the road +runs for two hundred miles, are said to be the richest nation in the +world, in proportion to their numbers, their wealth aggregating $3,500 +per head. This, however, is due to the natural increase of their live +stock, chiefly ponies, rather than to their own industry and thrift. + +Out amid the solitudes of the far Northwest--for it must not be supposed +that the entire country is a succession of settlements--it is wonderful +with what interest the traveler regards that trivial event of daily +occurrence, the meeting of the east-bound train. But, as he peers +through the car window, or stands out on the platform, in critical +survey of its passengers, it probably does not occur to him that he is +as much an object of curiosity to them as they are, each of them, to +him. He represents the far East of this great continent, they the far +West. He, perchance, is making his first trip to the Pacific slope, they +theirs to the Great Lakes or the Atlantic coast. Among them, however, +may be distinguished merry groups of returning tourists, while, +reclining in a luxurious Pullman car, or tempting dyspepsia with the +rich and varied dainties of the dining car, may be seen one of the early +settlers of California, a weather-beaten pioneer, who reached the +Pacific slope by way of the Horn, twenty years ahead of the first +transcontinental railway, and now goes east, by the Wonderland route, to +revisit the scenes of his childhood. + +[Illustration: VIEWS OF "OLD FAITHFUL" GEYSER, YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK.] + +Twenty-nine miles east of Billings, the next divisional terminus and +important trading point on the line of the road, the traveler will +observe, rising from the right bank of the river, a huge mass of +sandstone, interesting as bearing upon its face the name of William +Clarke, cut in the rock by the veteran explorer himself, when he visited +the locality in 1806. He will, about the same time, be able dimly to +descry the peaks of the Big Snow Mountains, which, at first scarcely +distinguishable from the fleecy clouds that hang around them, +subsequently loom up grandly, constituting one of the most beautiful +pieces of scenery in the Northwest. + +The disciple of Izaak Walton will not have traveled 225 miles along the +banks of the Yellowstone without having seen many an inviting spot for +indulgence in what his great master called the most calm, quiet and +innocent of all recreations. His arrival, therefore, at Billings, the +largest town on the upper river, and the metropolis--notwithstanding +that it has a population of only 2,000--of a region larger than Maine, +South Carolina, West Virginia or Indiana, affords a not unfitting +opportunity for a brief reference to the incomparable trout fishing +afforded by the numerous streams accessible from points on the Montana +and Yellowstone divisions of the road. + +The Yellowstone river itself, west of Billings, has no superior as a +trout stream. It contains trout of four distinct varieties, and fishing +is so easy as at times to be in danger of losing its charm. The +individual scores of various tourists, reported in the _American Angler_ +during the summer and fall of 1885, and not containing any that were +phenomenally large, averaged twenty-five trout per hour for each rod, a +record with which the most ardent angler ought surely to be satisfied. A +majority of these scores were made in the vicinity of Livingston, near +which town another visitor is reported to have caught twenty-one fine, +large trout "after supper," while two others are stated to have brought +in 160 as the result of "a day's sport." The Yellowstone also contains a +gamey fish known to local anglers as grayling, but pronounced by Mr. W. +C. Harris to be the whitefish (_Corregonus tullibee_). That gentleman +refers, in a recent article, to the abundance, in these waters, of the +celebrated "cut-throat" trout, whose size and abundance, in conjunction +with the picturesqueness of its habitat, will, he adds, when generally +known, "make a visit to the Yellowstone imperative to the angler who +aspires to a well-rounded life as a rodster." Among other waters, +mention may be made of Rosebud Lake, a beautiful spot reached by wagon +from Billings, where the trout fishing is declared to be splendid; +Little Rosebud Creek, near Stillwater, where eighty-seven trout are +reported to have been caught in four hours with a single rod; Prior +Creek, near Huntley; Mission Creek, twelve miles east of Livingston; and +Sixteen-Mile Creek, sixteen miles from Townsend, all of which are said +by visitors to afford excellent sport. + +It must not, however, be supposed that the angler enjoys a monopoly of +sport in this country of varied attractions; for grouse and ducks are +plentiful, as are also, on the mountain ranges, deer, elk and antelope. + +Passing Springdale, where the traveler will observe hacks in readiness +to convey visitors to Hunter's Hot Springs, two and one-half miles +distant, the train approaches, amid scenery increasing in grandeur, the +little city of Livingston. Whatever interest may, in the near future, +attach to this place as a resort of the gentle brotherhood from all +parts of the continent, it will certainly fall short of that which will +belong to it as the gateway of that world-renowned region, the + + + YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK. + +"Situated," to quote the distinguished geologist, Professor John Muir, +of California, who recently visited it, "in the heart of the Rocky +Mountains, on the broad, rugged summit of the continent, amid snow and +ice, and dark, shaggy forests, where the great rivers take their rise, +it surpasses in wakeful, exciting interest any other region yet +discovered on the face of the globe." While it contains the most +beautiful and sublime of mountain, lake and forest scenery, its fame +rests, not upon that, but upon the extraordinary assemblage of the +curious products of Nature's caprice, and the infinitely wonderful +manifestations of almost extinct forms of her energy that are found +within its borders. Approached by a branch of the Northern Pacific +Railroad, extending southward from Livingston to its northern boundary, +and the only railroad within one hundred miles, this remarkable region +has, by a judicious expenditure of public money and by admirable +individual and corporate enterprise, been rendered so easy of +exploration that the tourist may within the brief period of five days +visit all its most interesting points. + +So majestically do the snow-capped mountains tower above the lesser +hills that inclose the charming valley whose various windings the +railroad follows, from Livingston to Cinnabar, that the traveler can +scarcely believe that still more magnificent scenery lies beyond. And +truly the cloud-piercing Emigrant's Peak, with its famous mining gulch; +the yet loftier Electric Peak; the colossal Sphinx; and that most +singular formation, the Devil's Slide, form the most fitting +introduction that the human mind can conceive to the wonders of the +National Park. + +Conveyed by an excellently equipped Concord coach from the terminus of +the railroad to the hotel at Mammoth Hot Springs, six miles distant, the +tourist finds himself surrounded by all the conveniences of modern hotel +life. + +And within full view of the hotel, from which they are distant but a few +hundred yards, are the exquisitely filigreed and richly colored terraces +formed by the Mammoth Hot Springs, not the least of the wonders of this +famous region. Here one hardly knows whether to admire more the +delicacy of the formation or that of the coloring, the former not being +excelled by that of the finest lace, while the latter surpasses, both in +brilliancy, harmony, and subtle gradations, any chromatic effects known +to exist beyond the limits of this enchanted ground. + +The keenest interest of the newly arrived tourist, however, usually +centres in those constantly recurring evidences of tremendous force, the +geysers. With few and unimportant exceptions, these are found within the +limits of certain distinctly marked areas, known as the upper, middle, +lower and Norris basins, to which one or two days' time is devoted, +according to circumstances. The most celebrated of the geysers--those +with whose names the world has been made familiar by the pen, brush or +camera of author or artist--are in the upper basin. Here are found the +Giant and Giantess, the Castle and Grotto, the Bee Hive, the Splendid +and the Grand. Here, too, is Old Faithful, the constancy of whose hourly +eruption makes it impossible for even the most hurried visitor to the +upper basin to leave without witnessing at least one display of its +tremendous energy. + +[Illustration: MAMMOTH HOT SPRINGS HOTEL--YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK.] + +The reader, who, not having visited the National Park, has yet gazed +into some of the profound gorges to be found in the great mountain +ranges of the far West, will read with astonishment, if not with +incredulity, that there is but one cañon in the world,--the Grand Cañon +of the Yellowstone. Perhaps slightly exceeded in depth, as it certainly +is in gloom, it is yet made to stand pre-eminent among the natural +wonders of the world by the majesty of its cataract and the gorgeous +blazonry of its walls. To say that the former--no mere silver ribbon of +spray, but a fall of great volume--is a little more than twice the +height of Niagara, would, by means of a familiar comparison, enable +almost any one to form a not altogether inadequate conception of its +grandeur. But for the matchless adornment of its walls, we have no +available comparison; naught but itself can be its parallel. One great +writer describes it as being hung with rainbows, like glorious banners. +Another, borrowing from Mr. Ruskin, likens it to a great cathedral, +with painted windows, and full of treasures of illuminated manuscript. +But, as we take our stand on the brink of the Falls, with twelve miles +of sculptured rock spread out before us, rising from 1,500 to 2,000 feet +in height, and all aflame with glowing color, we have to acknowledge, +with a distinguished writer and a no less celebrated artist, that, +neither by the most cunningly wrought fabric of language, nor the most +skillful manipulation of color, is it possible to create in the mind a +conception answering to this sublime reality. For countless ages, frost +and snow, heat and vapor, lightning and rain, torrent and glacier, have +wrought upon that mysterious rock, evolving from its iron, its sulphur, +its arsenic, its lime and its lava, the glorious apparel in which it +stands arrayed. And the wondrous fabrication is still going on. The +bewildered traveler would scarcely be surprised to see the gorgeous +spectacle fade from his vision like a dream: but its texture is +continually being renewed; the giant forces are ever at work; still do +they-- + + "=Sit at the busy loom of time and ply, + Weaving for God the garment thou seest Him by.=" + +For the minor wonders of this world of marvels, the formations of +geyserite and the petrified forests, Tower and Gibbon Falls and the +cliffs of volcanic glass, the caldrons of boiling mud and transparent +pools of sapphire blue, the reader is referred to special guides to the +Park. + +It only remains to be stated that there is regularly established +transportation daily between all the principal points, that the +distances are not fatiguing, that the charges are reasonable, and the +equipment everything that could be desired. + +The angler need scarcely be reminded that this is the far-famed region +where the juxtaposition of streams of hot and cold water enables him to +cook his fish as fast as he can catch them, without moving from his seat +or taking them off the hook! + + + WESTWARD STILL. + +Resuming his westward journey at Livingston, the traveler finds himself +ascending the first of the two great mountain barriers that had to be +surmounted by the engineers of the Northern Pacific Railroad. By a grade +of 116 feet to the mile, the line reaches, twelve miles from Livingston, +an elevation of 5,565 feet above sea-level. Here it is carried under the +crest of the range by a tunnel 3,610 feet in length, from which it +emerges into a fine, rocky cañon, at the western portal of which is the +military post of Fort Ellis. A few minutes more, and the train runs into +Bozeman, a beautifully situated and flourishing little city of twenty +years' growth. Few cities can boast of more magnificent scenery, +majestic snow-capped ranges standing out against the sky on every side. + +Westward for thirty miles extends the rich and fertile Gallatin valley. +It is no uncommon thing to get forty bushels of hard spring wheat, or +sixty bushels of fall wheat, to the acre in this valley, and its barley +is of such superior excellence as to be in great demand for malting +purposes at Milwaukee and other Eastern cities. + +Twenty-nine miles west of Bozeman, are Gallatin City, and the bright +little town of Three Forks, commanding the valleys of the Madison and +Jefferson, the agricultural lands of which, now being brought under +cultivation, are not inferior to those of the older settled valley of +the Gallatin. + +Four miles more, and the tourist comes upon a point of considerable +geographical interest, the three mountain streams just mentioned pouring +their waters into a common channel, to form the Missouri river. It is +through a rocky cañon, abounding in wild and magnificent scenery, that +the greatest river on the continent enters upon its long course of 4,450 +miles. For nearly fifty miles, the line follows its various windings, +until finally the river runs away northward through that profound chasm +known as the Grand Cañon of the Missouri, or the Gates of the Rocky +Mountains. Visitors to Helena will find an excursion to the Grand Cañon, +occupying not necessarily more than two days' time, one of the most +delightful experiences of their transcontinental journey. + +The most important town between Bozeman and Helena, is Townsend, the +shipping and distributing point for no inconsiderable portion of one of +the best counties in Montana. It has daily communication by coach with +White Sulphur Springs, a health resort of great local repute. This +coming rival of older and hitherto more famous spas, lies in a beautiful +valley, 5,070 feet above sea-level, and surrounded by the grandest of +Rocky Mountain scenery. Its accommodations for visitors of all classes +are most excellent, including, as they do, one of the best hotels in the +Territory. Six miles distant are Castle Mountain and Crystal Cave, the +latter a cavern of great extent, having twenty-three separate chambers, +full of curious and beautiful stalactitic and stalagmitic formations. +The town, mountain and cavern were all fully described and admirably +illustrated in the _West Shore Magazine_ for July, 1885. + +Not so much by way of tribute, either to its own beauty or that of its +situation, as in recognition of its wealth, its commercial importance +and the commanding position it has so long occupied in the mining world, +Helena, the capital of the Territory, is called the Queen of the +Mountains. Situated on the eastern slope of the continental divide, +1,155 miles from St. Paul, it became a great distributing point and +financial centre, even when hundreds of miles of mountain and prairie +separated it from the nearest railroad. Dependent upon the Missouri +river for its commercial intercourse with the world, it was in a state +of well-nigh complete isolation during the greater part of every year. +Under other conditions, this comparative isolation would have stunted +its growth and cramped the energies of its people. But with the assured +product of their labor such a commodity as gold, with its universality +of demand and stability of value, the sturdy settlers in Last Chance +Gulch had always the most powerful of incentives to restless energy. +With the steadily increasing production of the precious metals, if not +in its own immediate vicinity, at least in the country it dominated, +Helena grew rich, until now it claims to be the wealthiest city of its +size in the United States. + +It was on the afternoon of the 15th of July, 1864, that a party of four +miners, weary and sick at heart, pitched their tents in that +desolate-looking gulch where now stands this flourishing city. +Disappointed at not being able to secure claims in the then prosperous +camp of Virginia City, and reduced to great extremity, they regarded the +little gulch on the Prickly Pear as their "last chance." Finding gold in +paying quantities, they resolved to settle down; and it is said, that, +before two years had elapsed, each of them was worth $50,000. + +In the meantime, the little camp in what was thenceforward known as Last +Chance Gulch had attracted miners from all parts of the Rocky Mountains. +It is stated, in a recent official publication of the Territory, that +the gulch yielded $30,000,000 during the first three seasons it was +worked; but these figures so far exceed the popular estimate, that they +are repeated only under reserve. The present annual production is said +to be about $50,000. It would seem to the visitor as though every square +foot of ground had been dug up, and, if it be his first experience of a +placer mining district, its appearance will strike him as singularly +novel. + +The romance of mining is well illustrated by the story of the citizen of +Helena who was digging out a cellar to his house, when a passing +stranger offered to remove the pile of earth that was being heaped up in +the roadway, and promised to return with one-half of whatever dust he +might obtain by the washing to which he proposed to submit it. +Permission granted and the earth removed, the citizen thought no more of +the matter. Great, therefore, was his astonishment when, a few days +later, the half-forgotten face of the stranger appeared at the door, and +he was handed, as his share of the yield of that unpromising dirt, the +equivalent of $650. + +Possibly, however, a story involving only a paltry sum of three figures, +may not answer to the reader's conception of the romantic. It does not +excite his imagination. He expects to read of millions. If so, let us +turn to the story of the miner, who, confident that he was the possessor +of a valuable claim, held on to it in spite of the most adverse +circumstances, hiring himself out in winter that he might have a little +money wherewith to work upon his claim in summer, until, at last, after +eight years of indomitable perseverance and patient toil, he was able to +sell his property for $2,250,000; or that of the weary and penniless +wanderer, who, having tramped all the way from Nevada, began a toilsome +search, to be continued through much suffering and privation for several +years, but destined to be rewarded at last by the discovery of one of +the richest veins of gold in the Territory, a vein that has yielded, up +to the present time, $4,000,000 worth of gold. + +The tourist will find an hour's chat with an old-timer an interesting +and not altogether unprofitable exercise, albeit he may find it hard to +discriminate between statements that he may venture to repeat and those +made for his especial benefit as a tenderfoot. + +He need not, however, discredit such stories as that a four-mule team +once hauled to Fort Benton, for transportation down the Missouri river, +two and one-half tons of gold, valued at $1,500,000; nor yet, that in +the early days potatoes were worth fifty cents per pound, and flour one +dollar, or that oranges were sold at a dollar each, and small pineapples +at seven dollars. These are facts not more startling than many others +that might be quoted. In the mining world, at least, truth is positively +stranger than fiction. + +[Illustration: YELLOWSTONE RIVER, NATIONAL PARK.] + +The annual production of the precious metals in Montana has increased +enormously within recent years, doubling itself between 1880 and 1882, +and trebling between 1882 and 1884. The annual output now approaches +$30,000,000, and the Territory stands at the head of the gold-producing +regions of the world, notwithstanding that upward of $200,000,000 worth +has been extracted from its soil. + +Among the many famous mines on the eastern slope of the mountains are +the Drum Lumon, shipping $80,000 worth of bullion per month, of which +fully one-half may be set down as profit; the Gloster, shipping $50,000 +worth per month; the Whitlach Union, long the most celebrated gold mine +in the Territory; those of Red Mountain, said to be the most important +undeveloped mineral field in the United States; the Clark's Fork, +bordering on the National Park, and now yielding, and with no railroad +facilities, 855 tons of ore per day; those of the Helena Mining and +Reduction Company at Wickes, reached by a branch of the Northern Pacific +Railroad from Prickly Pear Junction, and known to have shipped as much +as $125,000 worth of ore in a single month; and the Lexington, which has +produced silver ore averaging in assay value from $15,000 to $20,000 per +ton. Visitors to the New Orleans Exposition of 1884-85 will remember the +magnificent exhibits from the last-mentioned mine, as also those from +the Cable and Drum Lumon mines, the latter including one solid chunk of +high-grade ore weighing 1,715 pounds. + +The most valuable gold nugget ever found in Montana is said to have been +worth about $3,200. There is a nugget in the vault of the First National +Bank at Helena, weighing 47.7 ounces, and valued at $945.80. But the +most interesting sight in the city is, undoubtedly, the process of +assaying at the United States Assay Office, where may also be seen those +marvelously adjusted and delicately graduated scales, by which the +weight of even an eye-lash can be exactly determined. + +The next stage of the traveler's journey westward from Helena lies +across + + + THE MAIN RANGE OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. + +It is by way of the Mullan Pass--so named from the fact of Lieut. John +Mullan, U. S. A., having built a wagon road through it in 1867, to +connect Fort Benton, Mont., with Fort Walla Walla, W. T.,--that the +railroad is carried over the continental divide. The highest elevation +of the pass itself is 5,855 feet; but, by the construction of a tunnel +3,850 feet in length, the line was made to reach the western slope +without attaining a higher elevation than 5,547 feet. + +It is not until Butler is reached, thirteen miles from Helena, that +either the scenery or the construction of the road calls for special +notice. But at that point the scenery becomes exceedingly picturesque, +the rocks towering above the pines and spruce like the ruins of some +ancient stronghold. From now on, too, the tourist will find constant +employment in observing how the gigantic barriers, which seem to forbid +all further progress, are, one after another, overcome. + +Amid scenery increasing in wildness and grandeur, the train pursues its +tortuous course; through Iron Ridge Tunnel, near which the track forms +an almost perfect letter S; across innumerable ravines; along rocky +shelves and through deep cuttings, until at last it enters the eastern +portal of the Mullan Tunnel. A few minutes later the traveler is looking +out upon the grassy hills and pleasant valleys of the Pacific slope, the +approach to the tunnel from the west presenting a singular contrast to +the savage grandeur that distinguishes the approach from the east. + +Following the valley of the Little Blackfoot, the train presently +arrives at Garrison, where passengers desirous of visiting the most +flourishing mining city on the American continent, if not in the world, +must change cars. + +"The most flourishing mining city on the American continent, if not in +the world!" exclaims the reader. Even so; and yet we are not in Nevada, +nor yet in Colorado; and, besides, the former is about played out; and, +as for Leadville, every one remembers the disasters that overtook her, +culminating, as they did, in the failure of all her four banks. The city +is Butte, that, at the last United States census, had a population of +only 3,363, but now claims six times that number, and has a monthly +mining pay-roll of $620,000. + +The line from Garrison runs through the beautiful Deer Lodge valley, in +which are many fine farms. Deer Lodge City, the judicial seat of the +county, is pleasantly situated 4,546 feet above sea-level. Being well +laid out, it presents, with its wide streets and handsome public +buildings, an exceedingly attractive appearance. + +It is at the head of this valley, on the western slope of the main range +of the Rocky Mountains, and fifteen miles from the Pipestone Pass, that +there has been witnessed, during the last three or four years, that +rapid growth of population and wealth that is without parallel, even in +the marvelous annals of mining. Here, encompassed on three sides by +lofty ranges of mountains, Butte pours forth the smoke of its +innumerable furnaces; for not only is its production of silver so great +that it has come to be designated the "Silver City," but its copper +mines are such as to give employment to the most extensive smelting +works in the United States. Its total production during 1885, valued at +$15,000,000, viz., $5,000,000 worth of bullion and $10,000,000 worth of +copper matte, was twice that of Utah, and three times that of Nevada. It +also exceeded that of the whole of California, or the combined +production of Idaho, New Mexico and Arizona. + +The leading silver mines of the district are the Alice, Moulton, +Lexington and Silver Bow, which alone employ 210 stamps and produce 230 +tons of ore daily. The magnificent appliances of the Alice mine, +including the great Cornish pump that cost $40,000, are the wonder of +every visitor. The process of reduction, here as elsewhere, is somewhat +complex, especially in the case of the baser ores, being in part +chemical and in part mechanical. It involves the crushing of the ore to +powder, under the pressure of enormous bars of iron, weighing 900 pounds +each, and known as "stamps," and its subsequent roasting in large, +hollow cylinders, salt being largely employed in the former, and +quicksilver in the latter, stage of the operation. The roasting mills of +the Alice mines treat 100 tons of ore per day, and their bullion +product approaches $100,000 per month. + +The great Lexington property, which has produced $1,000,000 per annum +for four years, is owned by a French company. It claims to be the most +complete mine in the entire West, and it is certainly one of the richest +and most extensive. + +The Moulton and Silver Bow have a daily capacity of forty and thirty +tons of ore respectively. They are magnificent properties, well +developed and exceedingly productive. The former makes the proud boast +of working its ore to a higher percentage of its value than any other +mill in the district. + +But it is the copper mines and smelters that represent the largest +capital; give employment to the greatest number of men; have the largest +production, both in tonnage and aggregate value; and, it may be added, +make the most smoke. + +At the head of the rich and powerful companies engaged in this industry, +stands the Anaconda,--its mine at Butte, the greatest copper property in +America; its smelting works, at the neighboring town of Anaconda, the +largest of their kind in the world. Sold, five years ago, for an amount +that would not now be more than sufficient to pay its employés a week's +wages, its property is roughly estimated to be worth $15,000,000. With +certain contemplated additions to its smelting capacity, it will handle +daily 1,200 tons of ore, yielding 180 tons of matte, or 108 tons of pure +copper. Its entire machinery run by water-power, it yet requires for its +furnaces no less than 180 cords of wood per day; in view of which +enormous consumption it is stated to have recently let a contract for +300,000 cords, representing upward of $1,000,000. Second only to this +gigantic concern, is the Parrott Company, whose total matte output for +1884 was 14,856,323 pounds, containing 9,324,805 pounds of pure copper, +valued, including its silver contents, at about $1,250,000. With largely +increased capacity, its production of pure copper will probably have +reached 15,000,000 pounds in the year just drawing to a close. Among +other leading companies, may be mentioned the Montana, owning some of +the richest and most steadily productive mining property in process of +development; Clark's Colusa, said to have in sight, above the 300-foot +level, at least 150,000 tons of valuable ore; and the Bell and Colorado, +two of the richest copper-silver mines in the district. + +So much for the mines and smelting works of Butte. What of the city +itself? Briefly, it may be said to be a typical Western town, as seen in +flush times; nothing too big for it, nothing too good; its quivering +energy finding expression, now in the erection of a $150,000 court +house, and now in that of the finest opera house on the Pacific slope, +outside of San Francisco; its business enterprise filling magnificent +stores with costly goods, suited to the tastes, pocket-books and +spending proclivities of a community that on last Christmas eve spent +$6,000 in presents in a single one of its stores. + +[Illustration: FALLS OF THE GIBBON RIVER, YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK.] + +There are several good trout streams in the vicinity of Butte, and it is +pleasant to know that, in a city whose amusements are mainly of a very +different character, there are those who know how to handle the rod. + +Proceeding westward from Garrison, the traveler will have some fine +views of mountain scenery, including the snow-clad peaks of Mount +Powell. Drummond, twenty-one miles west, is the station for the rich +mining districts of New Chicago and Phillipsburg. Granite Mountain mine, +near the latter place, is exceedingly rich. A vein of ore, six feet +wide, and assaying from 125 to 2,000 ounces of silver to the ton, is now +being worked, the output reaching $120,000 per month. + +Soon the train enters Hell Gate Cañon, at first a beautiful valley, from +two to three miles in width, but narrowing as we go westward, until from +between its stupendous walls we suddenly emerge upon a broad plateau, +where stands the city of Missoula. Formerly a remote and isolated +frontier post, Missoula is now a place of considerable importance. +Extending southward for ninety miles is the valley of the Bitter Root +river, well watered, exceedingly fertile and thickly settled. Here are +raised fine crops of wheat and oats, as well as vegetables, apples and +strawberries. + +The tourist has now entered the finest game country in the Northwest. At +any point along the line, for a distance of nearly three hundred miles, +he will find deer, elk and bear in great abundance. Let him but place +himself on their trail, and he will certainly soon have them within +gunshot. Even in the vicinity of Missoula there is excellent sport, one +local trapper obtaining $160 bounty for bear last season. Ducks and +prairie chickens are also plentiful, and various species of trout abound +in the mountain streams. + +The most interesting, as it is the most accessible, of the Indian +reservations contiguous to the line of the Northern Pacific Railroad, is +that of the Flathead tribe, through which the line runs for many miles +in the course of its north-westward sweep from Missoula. At Arlee +station, the visitor is within five miles of the agency, and at Ravalli +a like distance from St. Ignatius mission. For a full account of the +excellent work carried on among the Indians by the Jesuit Fathers, +together with an exceedingly interesting description of the Flathead +country generally, the reader is referred to an article in the _Century +Magazine_ for October, 1882, from the accomplished pen of Mr. E. V. +Smalley, as well as to sundry articles in that gentleman's own magazine, +_The Northwest_. From a point about 500 feet from the summit of +Macdonald's Peak, a few miles north of Ravalli, there is a remarkable +view of a deep mountain gorge known as Pumpelly Cañon, which has many of +the striking features of the Yosemite valley, in California. Two +waterfalls, having an apparent height of about 800 feet, leap into this +profound rocky cañon, and form a small circular lake of a dark blue +color. This lake falls, by another cataract, into a second lake of +exactly the same size and shape as the first, while still another +cataract leaps from the lower lake into a deep ravine filled with +magnificent forest trees. An excursion to Macdonald's Peak may be made +from the mission in a single day. Tourists are, however, recommended to +take blankets and provisions, and encamp upon the crest of the mountain +to witness the sunrise. Saddle horses are obtainable at the mission, and +there is a good trail all the way. + +Thompson Falls, 101 miles west of Missoula, is the starting point for +the C[oe]ur d'Alène mines. The distress that followed the arrival in +this district, in 1883, of several thousand half-starving adventurers, +who, expecting to pick up in a few hours' time nuggets enough to make +them rich for life, brought neither blankets to protect them from the +cold of winter, nor the means of returning to their far-distant homes, +or even of reaching less remote centres where work could be obtained, +gave the C[oe]ur d'Alène mines a blow from which they were slow to +recover. The development that has since taken place, especially since +the introduction of hydraulics, has, however, abundantly demonstrated +that former claims as to the richness and permanence of the mines were +well founded, and we shall probably soon see here the richest placer +mining camp in the world. + +The matchless river scenery that has done so much toward placing the +Northern Pacific Railroad system in the proud position it occupies +to-day at the head of the scenic railways of America, is not alone that +of the peerless Columbia. For 140 miles of its course, in Western +Montana and the Panhandle of Idaho, it follows the windings of a stream +that for grand and imposing scenery is second only to that renowned +river itself. Should the traveler wake up in the morning, anywhere +between the point at which the waters of the Missoula empty themselves +into the bright green flood of the Pend d'Oreille river and the head of +Pend d'Oreille Lake, he will almost certainly suppose that it is in the +current of the far-famed Columbia that he sees reflected, perhaps +hundreds of feet beneath him, the varying forms of those stately +mountains that soar thousands of feet above. But he is as yet almost a +day's journey from the classic regions of the Columbia, albeit the +lordly stream, whose scenery will be, hour after hour, a succession of +surprises and delights to him, is one of the principal forks of that +mighty river, whose still grander scenery it may be said to foreshadow +in miniature. + +Between the Yellowstone National Park, on the one hand, and the Columbia +river, on the other, Clark's Fork and the beautiful lake into which it +widens out before turning northward to the British possessions, have +been almost completely overshadowed. But their ten thousand beauties +will assert themselves. They have not to be sought for in out-of-the-way +places, nor are they so localized that a mere passing glimpse is the +only reward of strained attention as the train flies onward. On the +contrary, from an early hour in the morning until long past noon, there +is a continuous unfolding of scenes in which are combined, with Nature's +inimitable skill and infinite variety, all that is grandest in mountain, +all that is most graceful in woodland and stream. So evenly distributed +are the beauties of this long stretch of river scenery, that it is not +easy to single out particular points as calling for special notice. +There are, however, two that must arrest the attention and command the +admiration of every traveler. The first, one mile east of Cabinet, where +the river, which has been flowing for some distance considerably below +the level of the railroad, enters a magnificent rocky gorge; and the +other, about the same distance east of Clark's Fork, where it flows, +without a ripple, through a forest of stately pines, whose forms are, +with singular fidelity, reflected in its clear and tranquil waters. Soon +it is lost to view, but only to reappear, after a short interval, in the +form of the lovely + + + LAKE PEND D'OREILLE. + +One of the largest sheets of fresh water in the West, Lake Pend +d'Oreille will certainly yield to none in the beauty and variety of its +scenery. Fifty-five miles in extreme length, and from three to twelve +miles in width, it has an irregular shore line of probably 250 miles, +richly diversified with rock and foliage, and surmounted by lofty ranges +of hills. The railroad follows the north shore of the lake for about +twenty-five miles, passing several little settlements, among which are +Hope, Kootenai and Sand Point. Such accommodations as have hitherto been +available to the visitor have been provided by respectable residents of +Sand Point; but for the season of 1886 arrangements will be made that +will constitute Hope the more convenient halting place. That, also, will +be the point of arrival and departure for steamers making the tour of +the lake. + +While the view from the car windows is not to be compared with the +scenery at the southern end of the lake, it must, nevertheless, be +pronounced superb. In the immediate foreground, the green waters break +soothingly upon a pebbly beach, or fall in crested waves. On the right +and left recede into distance the deeply indented shores, here clothed +with luxuriant forests, there bare and precipitous. Yonder, nineteen +miles away, is Granite Point, rising perpendicularly from the water 724 +feet, with Granite Mountain behind it, towering 5,300 feet above the +level of the lake, itself surmounted by the snowy peaks of Pack Saddle +Mountain, and they, in turn, by the great purple range of the C[oe]ur +d'Alènes. + +Not a few Eastern travelers passing over the Northern Pacific Railroad +have remarked upon the resemblance borne by the scenery of Lake Pend +d'Oreille to that of their own famous Lake George. It is, however, if +possible, even finer, the mountains being loftier, and the forests more +luxuriant, than those inclosing the hitherto unrivaled lake in Northern +New York. + +To fully set forth the attractions of this region for the sportsman, or +to do anything like justice to its waters as fishing grounds, would +require more space than is devoted in this pamphlet to the entire +country between the Great Lakes and Puget Sound. Nowhere, probably, in +the United States, is there such an abundance of large game as in the +forests of Northwestern Montana and Northern Idaho. Within a few miles +of any of the stations on Lake Pend d'Oreille may be found mule deer, +white-tailed deer, elk, caribou and moose, black and cinnamon bear, and +mountain sheep. Of winged game, geese, ducks and partridge are +plentiful, and they may be shot at any season of the year. Various +applications have been made to the Northern Pacific Railroad Company, by +local hunters, for special rates for the shipment of game East; but the +Company has steadfastly refused to encourage the wholesale destruction +of game for commercial purposes, preferring that it should be reserved +for legitimate sport. + +[Illustration: LAKE PEND D'OREILLE, IDAHO.] + +The true sportsman will immensely enjoy an excursion into the Kootenai +country. The best route is from Kootenai station to Bonner's Ferry, on +the Kootenai river, a distance of thirty-three miles by wagon road, and +thence by boat, either down to the lake, a further distance of ninety +miles, or up into the mountains. Complete camping outfits may be +obtained from Spokane Falls, the nearest town on the line of the +railroad. + +That the waters of Clark's Fork and Lake Pend d'Oreille are full of fine +fish of many varieties, is established by overwhelming testimony. The +want of a common nomenclature, however, is somewhat embarrassing to one +whose opportunities for personal observation have been limited. Perhaps, +therefore, it will be best to allow the local anglers to tell their own +stories. Beginning with the town of Thompson's Falls, to which reference +has already been made, we find a recent correspondent of the _American +Angler_ claiming for Clark's Fork an abundance of salmon trout, of a +species of large lake trout, and a species of whitefish, known locally +as "squaw fish." Salmon trout are, he says, caught at all times of the +year, except in midwinter and during high water in the month of June. +They average from one-half to two pounds each, and the fishing is best +during early spring and late fall. Lake trout have been caught weighing +as much as eighteen pounds each; but the average is about six pounds. +The "squaw fish" is said to be gamey, but of comparatively little value +for the table. The same correspondent says that the mountain streams +emptying into Clark's Fork in the vicinity of Thompson's Falls, afford +excellent mountain trout fishing, and he quotes large scores made by +local anglers. At Heron, which, by the way, is a divisional terminus of +the railroad, with a first-class hotel operated in connection with the +dining car department, trout is said to be so abundant as to be thought +nothing of; "grayling," sometimes reaching ten pounds in weight, are +almost as plentiful; and it is said to be no uncommon thing to see them +jumping out of the water, pursued by large whitefish. Bull River, eight +miles distant, yields salmon trout weighing up to twelve pounds. The +waters of Lake Pend d'Oreille contain, in addition to the common lake +trout, a species weighing from five to ten pounds each, and occasionally +caught weighing as much as twenty pounds, speckled on both back and +sides, and generally resembling Mackinac trout. They are a fine table +fish, being much superior to lake trout. The "squaw fish" of this lake +are said to resemble the pike. They weigh from one pound to five pounds +each. From about the middle of August until the snow flies, the trout +fishing is "the best in the world." There is also a fish resembling the +herring, found in one part of the lake in immense shoals. + +Soon after leaving Lake Pend d'Oreille, the line enters a dense forest +containing few settlements, and little that is interesting or +picturesque, beyond the beautiful Lake Cocolala, a long but narrow sheet +of water on the north side of the track. On the borders of the forest +the train pauses a moment at Rathdrum, the nearest point on the railroad +to Fort C[oe]ur d'Alène, on the lake of the same name. This lake even +rivals, in the beauty of its waters and the grandeur of its mountain +scenery, its more accessible neighbor, Lake Pend d'Oreille, while its +conveniences for boating and fishing are equally good. + +At the station of Idaho Line, the train enters the Territory of +Washington, pursuing its way in a southwesterly direction across the +great Spokane Plain. + +A short run, and we are at Spokane Falls, a bright and busy little city, +charmingly situated on the Spokane river, near the celebrated falls from +which it takes its name. Built upon a gravelly plateau, sloping gently +toward the river, overlooked by beautiful pine-clad hills, and with +lofty mountain ranges in the far distance, Spokane Falls can not but +produce a favorable impression upon the passing traveler. Its falls, +which are its chief natural attraction, and will be the secret of the +great commercial and manufacturing importance that undoubtedly awaits +it, are situated on the north side of the town. The river is divided by +basaltic islands into three great streams, curving toward each other, +and pouring their floods into a common basin, from which the united +waters come surging and foaming to make their final plunge of sixty-five +feet into the deep chasm below. The tremendous force with which the +river tears through its rocky channels, and hurls itself over the falls, +is perhaps best illustrated by a comparison with the Falls of St. +Anthony, at Minneapolis. While the latter represent a force of 135,000 +horse power, the former represents one of 216,000 horse power, +utilizable with equal facility. Several extensive flouring mills, as +well as saw mills, are already in operation; and there is no doubt that, +with the development of the rich wheat country of Eastern Washington, +there will come an immense extension of the manufacturing industries of +Spokane Falls. + +It is probable that the town will soon have two important feeders in +branch lines of railway, extending, the one northward to the Colville +mining region,--the other southward to the Palouse wheat country. These +lines will open railway communication with two of the richest sections +of country west of the Rocky Mountains. + +Until within the last year or two, the settlements of the Colville +valley have been confined to the scattered homes of ranchmen. But +recently the tide of immigration that has been flowing into the +Territory has reached this remote region, and agricultural operations of +a general character are being engaged in. The valley is as fertile as it +is beautiful, and not only fine wheat, but fruit of excellent quality, +is being raised there. + +In the Chewelah district there have recently been found so many rich +veins of silver that Mr. E. V. Smalley, who visited it in November, +1885, declares that it is almost certain to become, within a few years, +the greatest silver camp on the continent. + +Sixteen and forty-one miles respectively westward from Spokane Falls, +are Cheney and Sprague, in a good agricultural country, whose rapid +development is building them up as solid and substantial towns. Cheney +has a large hotel, and is, moreover, the nearest railway station to +Medical Lake, a large sheet of water possessing remarkable curative +properties, and situated nine miles west. Good hotels and bathing +establishments having been erected, Medical Lake is now an exceedingly +pleasant resort, the surrounding country being very attractive. + +From Palouse Junction, sixty-nine miles west of Sprague, a line extends +eastward into the Palouse country. So far as regards scenery, a ride +over this line to Colfax and Moscow is as uninteresting a railroad +journey as could well be found, the line following a series of valleys +that have the appearance of having once formed the rocky bed of some +considerable stream. + +Colfax is a busy little city in the Palouse river valley, hemmed in so +closely on both sides that one of its rivals recently suggested that it +might find it an advantage to be roofed over. But it does a considerable +business for so small a place, shipping a large proportion of the +agricultural produce of the valley, estimated, in 1885, at two million +bushels of grain. The agricultural methods of Eastern Washington will +strike most visitors as somewhat peculiar. It is not in every State of +the Union, nor in every Territory, that the farmer can plow and sow +"just when he gets ready." But here plowing and seeding may be seen in +progress ten months out of every twelve, and instances have even been +known of winter wheat being sown every month in the year, and all coming +to harvest in its proper turn. And such crops! Thirty, forty and fifty +bushels to the acre are raised so easily, that, had the farmer a nearer +market, he would soon get rich. The construction of the proposed branch +southward from Spokane Falls will, however, give him facilities for +shipping east over the Northern Pacific Railroad that will certainly pay +him better than exporting to England by way of Portland, as he does at +present. The self-binding harvester, so familiar an object in many other +parts of the country, is here unknown, the grain being cut by immense +"headers," propelled by from four to eight horses each. This +strange-looking machine, an exemplification of the old saying, "the cart +before the horse," is better adapted than any other to the peculiar +conditions of the country, straw being of no value, and threshing +usually going on simultaneously with the cutting of the grain, although +the wheat may, after cutting, lie in the fields for many weeks without +detriment. + +The climate of Eastern Washington, to which alone this remarkable state +of things is due, differs entirely from that of the western half of the +Territory, from which it is divided by the Cascade range of mountains. +It is a mistake to suppose that the humidity which characterizes that +portion of the Territory bordering on the Pacific Ocean, distinguishes +it as a whole. On the contrary, the eastern half is remarkably dry, and +that, too, without those extremes of temperature that usually accompany +a dry climate. Should there be a spell of severe cold during the brief +winter season, it is invariably cut short by the "Kuro-Siwo," or +Japanese current, which, striking the coasts of British Columbia and +Washington Territory, sends a warm wave over the entire Northwestern +country, sometimes extending even to the valleys of Montana. + +Continuing westward from Palouse Junction, a run of little more than an +hour brings us to Pasco, the eastern terminus of the Cascade division of +the railroad. This important division, intended to establish direct +communication between the magnificent harbors on Puget Sound and the +Eastern States, is already operated to the extent of 122 miles, or +ninety miles westward from Pasco, and thirty-two miles eastward from +Tacoma. Its eastern section has given a great impetus to the development +of the agricultural capabilities of the Yakima, Klickitat and Kittitas +valleys, which are well adapted, not only to stock raising, but also to +the cultivation of fruits and cereals. In this section wool growing is +also engaged in with great success. This industry is one of considerable +importance both in Washington and Oregon, the entire clip for 1885 being +no less than 13,000,000 pounds. + +There are few revelations more surprising to an Eastern tourist than +that of the magnitude of some of the great Western rivers. The Snake +river, for example, is known to him, if at all, merely as one of the +various tributaries of the Columbia; and, when he finds himself crossing +its mighty flood by a bridge 1,672 feet in length, and learns that its +force and volume are such that it drives itself like a solid wedge into +the waters of the Columbia, he is apt to wonder that he knows so little +about it. Future tourists will not regard this tributary stream with any +the less interest for being told beforehand that it is longer than the +Rhine, more than three times the length of the Hudson, and that, +straightened out, it would reach from the Missouri valley to the +Atlantic ocean. It is, moreover, a great commercial highway, being +navigated by steamers of considerable tonnage for 150 miles. It flows +for a long distance in a deep cañon, the sides of which are so +precipitous as to render the river almost inaccessible. Immense shutes +have therefore been constructed for the transfer of the wheat that forms +the staple product of the country from the warehouses on the high banks +to the boats and barges anchored below. + +Another section of the famous wheat country of Southeastern Washington, +identified with the unmusical name of Walla Walla, borne by the oldest +and best town east of the Cascade Mountains, is reached by a branch line +extending from Wallula Junction. With 100,000 acres of land cultivated +to cereals, with 800,000 apple trees, 100,000 pear, plum and peach +trees, 25,000 grape-vines, large herds of cattle, and still larger +flocks of sheep, the county of which Walla Walla is the judicial seat +may be taken as fairly illustrating the varied capabilities of Eastern +Washington. Scarcely less prosperous is the adjoining county of +Columbia. These counties, however, being well settled, reference is made +to them only as foreshadowing the future condition of those younger +counties, adjacent to the Northern Pacific Railroad, which are now in +course of settlement. In many of the latter the cultivation of the soil +presents even fewer difficulties than in these older settled regions, in +many parts of which there is scarcely an acre of level land to be found. + +Returning to Wallula Junction, and there resuming our westward journey, +we at once enter a region of surpassing interest, none other than the +famous land-- + + "=Where rolls the Oregon.=" + +Its navigable waters within 450 miles of those of the Missouri river, +the great Columbia drains an area almost equal in extent to the united +area of France and Germany. Excluding the portages at the Cascades and +Dalles, with several less important rapids, the river is navigable to +Kettle Falls, 725 miles from its mouth. These falls, on the upper river, +are not accessible by rail, being a considerable distance above the +point at which the railroad enters its valley. They are said to be more +impressive even than the famous Cascades on the lower river, there being +a perpendicular fall of twenty feet, and then swift rapids between rocky +banks of quartz and porphyry. It is on the upper river, also, that there +occur the Little Dalles, where the waters tear through a contracted +channel with terrific force, constituting, at least at high water, an +impassable barrier to navigation. + +[Illustration: MOUNT HOOD--FROM THE HEAD OF THE DALLES, COLUMBIA RIVER, +OREGON.] + +From Wallula to within a few miles of Portland, a twelve hours' ride, +the tourist enjoys an uninterrupted succession of views of that superb +scenery which has given the Columbia river its world-wide reputation. +Never for more than a few moments does he lose sight of its mighty +flood,--now flowing onward with all the majesty of the lower +Mississippi, and now surging through the rocky barriers that impede its +course; here confined within lofty basaltic walls, there inclosing +numerous beautifully wooded islands; and here again marked by long +stretches of bare white sand driven continually by the unceasing winds. +For some miles west of Wallula the banks of the river are low, and +possess no special object of interest. It is not, indeed, until he +reaches the Great Dalles that the tourist sees any indication of the +magnificent scenery he is approaching. There, however, he has his first +glimpse of the queenly Mount Hood, whose snowy peak, soaring 11,225 feet +above the sea, stands out sharply against the sky at a distance of +thirty-five miles. The Dalles themselves, scarcely noticeable, except +when the river is at flood, constitute one of the most curious and +interesting sights in the world,--nothing less than that of the mighty +Columbia turned on edge. Here, within a gorge so narrow that a child may +fling a pebble from bank to bank, is confined the greatest river of the +Northwest. The chasm through which it flows has never been fathomed, and +can only be approximately determined by an inversion of the grand +proportions of the river where it flows through its ordinary channel. + +At Dalles City, the eastern terminus of navigation on the middle river, +the tourist finds himself in an attractive town of nearly forty years' +growth. Here he may with advantage make a brief stay, resuming his +journey either by train or by steamer, the fine boats of the Oregon +Railway & Navigation Company plying daily between this city and +Portland. From the heights commanding the town, magnificent views are to +be obtained, Mount Hood looming up in the southwest, and Mount Adams, +another of the great peaks of the Cascade Range, in the north. + +We have now left behind the low-lying shores that extend for so many +miles between the Dalles and Wallula. Henceforward the scenery increases +in interest every mile, the mountains becoming loftier and more +precipitous, the rocky shores more rugged, and the intervening foliage +more luxuriant. + +It should be stated that the scenery, especially on the south side of +the river, appears to much greater advantage when viewed from the deck +of a steamer than when seen from the train. In consideration of this +fact, railway tickets are available by steamer without extra charge. The +boat leaving the Dalles early in the morning, there is a loss of one day +involved in taking the steamer on the westward journey; but, returning +from Portland, the tourist is able to reach the Dalles in time for that +day's east-bound train. + +Forty-three miles from the Dalles are the Cascades, where the river +changes from a placid lake to swift rapids and a foaming torrent. Before +the completion of the railroad every pound of freight had to be +transferred, at this point, from a steamer navigating the river above +this insurmountable barrier to one navigating it below, or _vice versa_. +The railway portage of six miles on the Washington side of the river is +still operated, and the transfer of such passengers as choose to +complete their journey by water is made so speedily and conveniently as +to enhance, rather than otherwise, the pleasure and interest of the +river trip. + +In view of the importance of the river as a free commercial highway, +Congress has made several appropriations for the construction, at the +Cascades, of a system of locks. It is certainly a gigantic undertaking, +and many years will probably elapse before its completion. + +To a great convulsion of nature, of whose occurrence there is abundant +evidence, may be traced a singular Indian tradition, that Mount Hood and +Mount Adams formerly stood close to the river, connected by a natural +bridge. The mountains, so goes the story, becoming angry with each +other, threw out fire, ashes and stones, and so demolished the bridge, +choking the river, which had previously been navigable. The present +remoteness of the mountains is attributed to the anger of the Great +Spirit, who hurled them thus far asunder. Both, in common with other +peaks of the Cascade Range, are extinct volcanoes; and the Indian +tradition may have its origin either in some great eruption, or in some +sudden movement of what is known as the sliding mountain, an immense +mass of basaltic rock gradually wearing its way toward the river. + +After gazing in admiration at the fine scenery surrounding the Cascades, +the tourist will scarcely be prepared for the announcement that the +grandest of all is yet to come. But, after leaving Bonneville, not only +is the general effect grander and more imposing, but the objects of +special interest are more numerous. Here it is that the advantage of +making the trip by steamer is most apparent; for, let the train travel +ever so slowly, it is impossible for even the most quick-sighted +traveler to take in all the points of interest that crowd one upon +another. + +On the north side is Castle Rock, rising abruptly from the water's edge +a thousand feet or more. Farther down the river, also on the north side, +is Cape Horn, an imposing basaltic cliff projecting into the water. On +the south side there descend from the lofty perpendicular walls that +frown upon the river for many miles, numerous waterfalls, of +indescribable beauty. Here is the lovely Oneonta, 600 feet of silver +ribbon, floating from the dizzy height. A few moments more, and we are +opposite the still more beautiful Multnomah Fall, which has a descent of +no less than 820 feet. At this point the train stops fifteen minutes to +enable passengers to ascend to the rustic bridge, there to enjoy the +best possible view of this incomparable fall, and its wondrously +beautiful setting, contrasting so strikingly with the wild scenery +around it. + +At the Pillars of Hercules, two gigantic columns of rock, one on either +side the track, and forming, as it were, the western gateway to this +marvelous region, the railroad leaves the river, and runs right on to +Portland. The steamer continues its course, past the beautiful city of +Vancouver, to the mouth of the Willamette river, by which great +tributary of the Columbia, it soon reaches + + + PORTLAND. + +Its phenomenal growth, its commanding position on one of the great +waterways of the continent, its wealth, commerce and enterprise, and the +singular natural beauty of its situation, render the capital of the +Pacific Northwest one of the most attractive cities on the American +continent. + +Fifteen years ago Portland contained a population of 1,103. By 1880 the +construction of the western section of the Northern Pacific Railroad, +and the approaching completion of the great transcontinental system, had +so stimulated the growth of the city that its population had increased +to 17,577. To-day it is estimated at 30,000, or, including the suburbs +of East Portland and Albina, at 40,000, and a handsomer city of its size +can not be found in the United States. + +In everything that distinguishes a great metropolitan city, the progress +of Portland has been even more remarkable than the rapid growth of its +population. The handsome business blocks that line its principal streets +bear witness to the magnitude of its trade and commerce, while its +churches, schools and other public buildings testify to the high moral +tone and refined taste of its citizens. + +Although one hundred miles from the coast, Portland, like London, +Rotterdam and Antwerp, is virtually a seaport, and its growth and +progress are based upon the solid foundations of its natural advantages. +Loading at its wharves, or riding at anchor on the broad bosom of the +river, may be seen, not only river craft of all sorts and sizes, but +ocean-going vessels of 3,000 tons. When the great wheat crop of Oregon +is in course of shipment to Europe, there may be seen a fleet of as fine +merchantmen as can be found in the world. The salmon exports alone, for +the year ending August 1, 1885, required 120 large vessels, having a +total capacity of about as many thousand tons. The total value of the +exports to foreign countries for the year just mentioned, was +$5,857,057, and that of domestic exports $6,699,776, making a grand +total of $12,556,833. In addition to several hundred thousand tons of +wheat, and the 120 ship loads of salmon already mentioned, the exports +from the Columbia river included over eleven million pounds of wool, +over two million pounds of hides, nearly five and one-half million +pounds of hops, and twenty-nine million pounds of potatoes. + +Portland is said to number among its merchant princes twenty-one +millionaires, and certainly there are few cities whose private +residences are more strikingly indicative of wealth and refinement. The +picturesque surroundings of the city render it an exceedingly desirable +place of residence. From the summit of Robinson's Hill a view that it is +no extravagance to pronounce one of the finest in the world may be +obtained. At one's feet lies the city, nestled in rich foliage. +Stretching away, for many miles, from where their waters unite in one +common flood, may be seen the Columbia and Willamette rivers. But above +all, bounded only by the limits of the horizon, is the great Cascade +Range, with all its glittering peaks. On the extreme right, +seventy-eight miles distant, as the crow flies, is seen the snowy crown +of Mount Jefferson; across the river, fifty-one miles distant, rises +Mount Hood, one of the most beautiful mountains on the coast, and the +pride and glory of Oregon; to the northeast stand out the crests of +Mount Adams and Mount St. Helens, and in the same direction, but one +hundred miles away, may be descried the great Tacoma, the grandest +mountain on the Pacific slope. All these five peaks are radiant with +eternal snow, and it may well be imagined that the effect of the +uplifting of their giant forms against the clear blue sky is grand in +the extreme. + +Tourists coming northward from San Francisco have the choice of two +routes and two modes of travel. They may either take one of the fine +steamers of the Oregon Railway and Navigation Company, sailing every +five days, and performing the voyage in from sixty to seventy-two hours, +or they may travel overland by the Oregon & California Railroad, a line +that traverses not only the most fruitful plains, but also the most +beautiful valleys, of this rich State. + +For the benefit of such travelers, and also in view of the possibility +of there being those who, both coming and returning by the Northern +Pacific Railroad, would like to visit the garden of Oregon, and, if +possible, obtain a glimpse of Mount Shasta, it may not be out of place +to give a brief description of the line extending southward from +Portland to the southern boundary of the State. + +For upward of one hundred miles our route lies along the Willamette +valley. This is the largest valley in the State, being 150 miles in +length, with an average width of fifty miles. Inclosed on the east side +by the Cascade Mountains, and on the west by the Coast Range, it +contains an area of about four and one-half million acres of rich and +beautiful land. Some of the pleasantest towns in the Northwest are to be +found in this valley. + +[Illustration: FLOATING FISH WHEEL, ON THE COLUMBIA RIVER, OREGON.] + +First comes Oregon City, sixteen miles from Portland; this is the oldest +town in Oregon. It is situated just below the beautiful falls of the +Willamette, amid highly picturesque scenery. Its chief interest for the +tourist centres in the falls, which represent a force of over a million +horse power, or about eight times that of the Falls of St. Anthony. They +may be seen a few hundred yards south of the station, on the west side +of the track. Hitherto there has been seen no considerable extent of +fertile country; but in Barlow's prairie there appears a fine tract of +agricultural land inclosed by tributaries of the Willamette. Others +succeed it, and soon good homesteads, surrounded by shade trees and +orchards, are seen in every direction. The next town of importance is +Salem, the State capital, beautifully situated on the sloping banks of +the river. The capitol, and other State buildings, may be seen from the +train; and the entire city, with its broad streets and fine oak groves, +presents a pleasing appearance. + +The twenty-eight miles intervening between Salem and Albany afford some +fine views of the Cascade Range, Mount Hood being visible at a distance +of seventy miles, and the nearer southern peaks in still bolder +outline. Eugene City, 123 miles from Portland, is also charmingly +situated and finely laid out on the edge of a broad, rich prairie +overlooked by a ridge of low hills. Its geographical position, at the +head of navigation, commands for it the trade of a large section of +country. It is also the seat of the State University, and is otherwise +an educational centre of great importance. + +In the course of the next seventy-four miles the railroad ascends about +2,000 feet to Roseburg, the judicial seat of Douglas county, traversed +by another of the famous valleys of Oregon, that of the Umpqua. This was +formerly a great stock country; but its pastures have gradually +disappeared before the plow, and cattle have given way to grain. It is, +moreover, a fine fruit growing region. The tourist is now approaching +those intricate valleys which have made this line of railway from +Roseburg to its terminus at Ashland at once so costly and so +picturesque. + +Cow Creek Cañon, so winding that thirty-five miles of track had to be +laid to attain twelve miles of actual distance, abounds with wild and +beautiful scenery. From the valley of the Umpqua, the railroad passes +into that of the Rogue river, in Josephine county. This county is +equally famed for its natural beauty, its healthful climate and the +wonderful productiveness of its soil. Grains, fruits and vegetables of +every description, yield prodigiously, and their quality is not to be +surpassed. + +The great attractions of the county for the tourist are the two +limestone caves situated thirty miles south of Grant's Pass, and fifteen +miles east of Kerbyville. There is said to be a good wagon road from the +latter place to within five miles of these caves, and arrangements are +in progress for the early completion of the road. According to an +official publication of the county, there is another route, _viâ_ +Williams Creek, by wagon road, to within eight miles of the caves, and +thence, by a mountain trail, on horseback. The scenery along this route +is stated to be grand beyond description, embracing many of the lovely +valleys of this charming county, and, in the distance, the snow-capped +mountains of the Cascade Range, terminating in the tremendous peak of +Mount Shasta. The caves themselves consist each of a series of chambers, +adorned with beautiful stalactites of prismatic colors, and other +curious and delicate formations, presenting exquisite patterns, and +sparkling with the lustre of diamonds. + +At Ashland, 341 miles from Portland, the tourist arrives at the southern +terminus of the road. Connection is made with the California and Oregon +Railroad, at Delta, California, by stage. This is an exceedingly +enjoyable stage ride, the first twenty miles of the journey being over +the Siskiyou Mountains, from whose summits the long Sierra Nevada and +Cascade Range can be traced for nearly 200 miles. + +No tourist should return East without first taking a trip down the + + + LOWER COLUMBIA + +to Astoria, that city of most interesting historical associations, and +no little actual importance in these stirring days of trade and +manufactures. Admirably appointed steamers, making fast time, run daily +between Portland and Astoria. The trip need not, therefore, occupy more +than two days. The distance from Portland to the point at which the +Willamette discharges itself into the Columbia, is twelve miles, in the +course of which opportunity is afforded for observing the progress being +made by the city in its manufacturing and other enterprises. The busy +wharves are also passed, and the stately ships riding at anchor. + +[Illustration: MOUNT TACOMA.] + +After the first few miles of the Columbia the tourist may be surprised +to find that the scenery of the lower river is far from being tame or +monotonous. The river itself winds considerably for so great a body of +water; the forest, too, is luxuriant, and the hillsides are covered with +heavy fir; numerous islands occur at intervals, wooded and exceedingly +pretty. Where the river has worked its way through the Coast Mountains, +the scenery, though not so abrupt, stern or impressive as that of the +middle Columbia, presents many fine effects, the lofty walls of the +river being surmounted by hills of considerable altitude. + +Not far from Columbia City, on the north or Washington bank of the +stream, is an island rock known as Mount Coffin, and formerly an Indian +place of sepulture. Here the tribes deposited the bodies of their noted +chiefs and warriors. In his canoe, previously rendered useless, and +with his bow and arrows, the dead hero was here laid to rest. + +After passing Kalama, the tourist comes upon some of the great canning +establishments, which before long are passed at such short intervals +that they seem to line the north bank, on which most of them are +situated. + +The fisheries of the Columbia river are almost as famous as its scenery. +The canning industry, which was first established in 1866, has within +the last few years attained great importance. Producing the first year +some 4,000 cases, representing, at the high price they commanded, $16 +per case, a total value of $64,000, it has steadily increased its +product, until now it has reached upward of half a million cases. The +catch of 1885, which was 524,530 cases, fell short of that of 1884 by +132,000 cases, in consequence of the markets of the world being +temporarily overstocked. It is remarkable that the supply should at all +exceed the demand, when the gigantic extent of the industry is taken +into consideration. The great perfection to which the methods employed +in capturing the salmon have been brought, is probably accountable for +the recent glut in the market. Among the most effective contrivances for +the purpose, is the floating fish-wheel, by means of which the fish are +literally scooped up out of the water in shoals. The industry gives +employment to 1,500 boats, 3,000 fishermen, and 1,000 factory hands, the +latter principally Chinese. The canning season is from April 1st to July +31st, when the lower Columbia is alive with fishing boats, and the +canneries are in full operation. + +As we approach Astoria, the river widens out into a broad estuary, some +seven miles across. Here is Tongue Point, a bold headland running out +into the river from the Oregon shore. + +In a beautiful bay between this point and Point Adams, is Astoria, built +partly on piles, and partly on the shelving hills. For the story of its +early history, of the arrival of John Jacob Astor's trading ship, +"Tonquin," and of its subsequent British occupancy, the reader is +referred to Washington Irving's delightful volume. It is sufficient to +say that it is to-day an exceedingly interesting city to visit, not more +on account of its being the oldest British settlement in the Northwest, +and the central figure in the salmon fishing of the Columbia river, than +for the novelty of its construction. + +Its busy wharves and abundant shipping proclaim it a seaport of +considerable importance, requiring only a railroad or the removal of the +barriers to the navigation of the middle Columbia, to make it a great +city. + +Opposite Point Adams is Cape Hancock, formerly known as Cape +Disappointment. On the sea-coast, both on the Washington side, north of +Cape Hancock, and on the Oregon side, south of Point Adams, are various +summer resorts attracting crowds of visitors during the season. On the +Washington shore is Ilwaco, beautifully situated on the north shore of +Baker's Bay, with a long, crescent-shaped beach of fine, white sand +sloping to the water, and heavily wooded hills in the rear. This growing +place, with its hotels, stores, church and school house, is rapidly +growing in popularity. Steamers meet the Portland boat at Astoria, +where passengers are transferred without inconvenience or delay. They +call, both going and returning, at Cape Hancock, affording tourists an +opportunity of visiting Fort Canby, and the great lighthouse, from which +there is one of the most extensive and magnificent views on the entire +Pacific coast. On the Oregon shore of the ocean are Clatsop Beach, where +there are good hotel accommodations and excellent hunting and fishing, +and a popular resort known as Seaside, boasting a multitude of +attractions, including a fine ocean beach and a trout creek. Should the +tourist be unable to make a long stay at any of these places, he ought +at least to pay them a brief visit, if only to cross the great bar of +the river, and to see where its mighty flood discharges itself into the +ocean at the rate of 1,000,000 gallons per second. + +The climate of this section is exceedingly humid; but its summers are +delightful. Its rainfall is mostly in winter, when it is both heavy and +continuous. It is said, that, if a barrel, with the two ends taken out, +be placed upon its side with the bung-hole uppermost, the rain will +enter by that small aperture faster than it can run out at the two ends. +For this story, however, the writer can not vouch, any more than for +that of the recent visitor to the National Park, who is said to have +caught, in one of the lakes of that remarkable region, a fish so large +that, upon his dragging it ashore, the water of the lake fell six +inches. + + + TO PUGET SOUND. + +The tourist has now become more or less familiar with the natural +features and resources of that great country lying between the Snake +river and the Pacific Ocean, and between the Columbia river and the +Siskiyou Mountains. + +There remains only Western Washington, with its extensive forests, its +rich coal mines, its hop gardens, and its far-famed inland sea, on which +he is to embark on his voyage to the great land of the far North. The +Pacific division of the Northern Pacific Railroad follows the Willamette +river from Portland to its confluence with the Columbia, and the latter +river from that point to Kalama, where trains are conveyed across the +river by the finest transfer boat in the world, built expressly for the +railroad company, and constructed to carry thirty cars at one time. From +Kalama the track strikes almost directly northward for Puget Sound, +passing through long stretches of dense forest, but also intersecting a +tract of country containing a larger area of fertile agricultural land +than is contained in any other county in Western Washington. + +The chief towns of this region are Chehalis and Centralia, and they give +evidence of thrift and prosperity. But the attention of the tourist as +he travels onward is largely occupied with the magnificent peaks of the +Cascade Range, whose forms of dazzling whiteness constitute, with their +background of deepest blue and the dark forests which clothe their base, +a picture of marvelous beauty. For more than one hundred miles after we +leave Portland, there looms up behind us the graceful contour of Mount +Hood, while to the east are seen at intervals the majestic forms of +Mount St. Helens and Mount Adams. + +But the grandest scene of all is yet to come. After leaving Tenino, +there is a revelation of almost unequaled grandeur in the view of Mount +Tacoma, the loftiest peak of the entire range. If Mount Hood can claim +to be considered, as is generally admitted, the most graceful and +beautiful mountain on the Pacific coast, Mount Tacoma can certainly +claim to be the most majestic and sublime. Towering 14,444 feet above +sea-level, and thus exceeding by more than 3,000 feet the height of any +other mountain in Washington or Oregon, it seems to rear its massive +head close to the very battlements of heaven. No other mountain, even in +the Yellowstone National Park or in the main range of the Rockies, will +have produced so great an impression upon the traveler as will the +mighty Tacoma. As he gazes at its majestic form, he is inclined to doubt +whether there is in the whole world one that could establish a better +claim to universal sovereignty. In lines that will live as long as the +English language itself, Byron declared Mont Blanc the monarch of +mountains. But Byron never saw the matchless Tacoma. It, too, has its +throne of rocks, its diadem of snow, and, though less frequently than +Mont Blanc, its robe of clouds, an adjunct of doubtful advantage except +in the exigencies of versification. + +[Illustration: "THE TACOMA" TACOMA. W. T.] + +Mount Tacoma has, embedded in its mighty bosom, no fewer than fifteen +glaciers, three of which have been rendered accessible to visitors. +Comparing them with the glaciers of the Alps, Senator Edmunds, of +Vermont, declares that the finest effects he witnessed during the course +of a long tour in Switzerland, fell far short of what he saw on his +visit to Mount Tacoma. At the great hotel, at Tacoma City, guides and +camping outfits are always obtainable. Excursion parties are frequently +made up during the summer season, the trip being entirely free from +difficulty or danger, even to ladies. + +It is at the city of Tacoma that the tourist first looks over the blue +waters of Puget Sound. This is the western terminus of the Northern +Pacific Railroad. Occupying a commanding position upon a high plateau +overlooking Admiralty Inlet, Tacoma has an excellent harbor, capable of +receiving the largest ocean-going vessels. It has also some fine public +buildings, among them being the Anna Wright Seminary for girls, a +monument of the beneficence of Mr. C. B. Wright, of Philadelphia. Its +luxuriously furnished hotel, the Tacoma, erected at a cost of $200,000, +occupies one of the finest sites in the world, overlooking, as it does, +the picturesque shores of the bay, and commanding a magnificent view of +the imperial mountain. + +A few miles northward is Seattle, also with an excellent harbor, and the +promise of becoming a city of great importance, an extensive section of +rich country being naturally tributary to it. + +There is no more delightful climate than that of Puget Sound. The +summers are cool, the maximum temperature at Tacoma in the summer of +1884 being eighty-nine degrees, and in that of 1885, eighty-five degrees +only. + +The Cascade division of the railroad, extending eastward from Tacoma, is +developing a very rich bituminous coal country, and great quantities of +the mineral are being shipped from Tacoma, where immense bunkers have +been erected to facilitate its exportation. This line also reaches the +fine hop growing country of the Puyallup valley, whose product has +steadily risen in Eastern markets, until now it commands as high a price +as that of the State of New York. + +But never was the tourist less disposed than now to concern himself with +agricultural or commercial statistics. With eager expectation, impatient +of delay, he is hastening toward that veritable Wonderland of the World +that constitutes the Mecca of his pilgrimage. He is about to enter upon +the final stage of his long journey, in that far-famed Inland Passage, +whose incomparable scenery, extending in one unbroken chain for more +than a thousand miles, alone surpasses those stupendous works of Nature +upon which he has so recently gazed. + + JOHN HYDE. + + + + + ALASKA AND THE INLAND PASSAGE. + + +Man travels for business and pleasure. The former can be easily +described, by a slight interpolation in a well-known mathematical +definition, as "the shortest distance and quickest time between two +points." The latter bears to this mathematical rectilinear exactness the +relation of the curves,--Hogarth's "line of beauty," the rotund circle +and graceful sweep of the Archimedean spiral, and bends of beauty beyond +computation; and, as any of these are more pleasing to the eye than the +stiff straight line, so any tourist's jaunt is more pleasing to all the +senses than the business man's travels. But, as all straight lines are +alike, and all curves are different, so are their equivalents in travel, +to which we have alluded. One tourist, as a Nimrod, dons his hunting +shirt and high-topped boots, and, seeking the solemn recesses of the +Rockies, slays the grizzly and mountain lion, and thus has his "good +time;" another drives through the grand old gorges of the Yellowstone +Park, and the deep impressions left by a lofty nature are his ample +rewards; and yet again, where physical exertion is to be avoided by +delicate ones or those averse to its peculiarities, one may float down +the distant Columbia, with its colossal contours, and, without even +lifting a finger to aid one's progress, view as vast and stupendous +scenery as the world can produce. Thus each place suits each varying +disposition, from the most roystering "roughing it," developing the +muscles in mighty knots, to where the most ponderous panorama of nature +may be enjoyed from a moving mansion, as it were. Could we conceive a +place where all these advantages would be united into one, or where one +after the other might be indulged at pleasure, we would certainly have a +tourists' paradise, an ever-to-be-sought and never-to-be-forgotten nook +of creation. Such a tour is to be encountered on "the inland passage to +Alaska," as it is called by those knowing it best. + +In this rough, rocky region, Nature has been prodigal of both land and +water,--making the former high and picturesque, and the latter deep and +navigable, and running in all directions through the other, apparently +for the purpose that it might be easily viewed. From the northwest +corner of Washington Territory, through all of the coast line of British +Columbia, and along Alaska's shores to the long-cast shadows of Mount +St. Elias, stretches for nearly two thousand miles a picturesque +panorama that seems as if the Yellowstone, the Yosemite, Colorado, and +Switzerland and the Alps, were passing in review before the spectator; +and, when the greatest northing is gained, Greenland and Norway have +added their glacier-crowned and iceberg-bearing vistas to the view. It +looks as if the Yellowstone National Park had sunk into the sea until +the valleys were waterways, and the feet of the high mountains had been +converted into shores. A grand salt-water river it is that stretches +from Puget Sound, itself a beautiful sheet of water, to our distant +colony of Alaska, a good round thousand miles, and whose waters are as +quiet as an Alpine lake, even though a fierce gale rage on the broad +Pacific outside. + +Beyond the parallel of Sitka, though the grand scenery may be no more +imposing than that through which the tourist will have passed in coming +from Washington Territory, he will find some of the curiosities of +nature which are to be found only in the dreaded frigid zones,--icebergs +and glaciers. Before the waters of Northwestern Washington Territory are +out of sight, great patches of snow are to be seen on the highest of the +grand mountains bordering the inland passage. These little white +blotches in the northern gullies become larger and larger as the +excursion steamer wends her way northward, until the loftiest peaks are +crowned with snow. Then, across connecting ridges, they join their white +mantles; and, in a few more miles, the blue ice of glaciers peeps from +out the lower edges of the deep snow. Lower and lower they descend as +the steamer crawls northward, until the upper parts of the passage are +essayed, when they have come to the ocean's level, and, plunging into +the sea, snap off at intervals, and float away as icebergs, some of them +higher than the masts of the large, commodious steamers that bear +tourists to this fairy-land of the frigid zones, if one can be allowed +such an expression. Glacier Bay, which the excursion steamers visit on +their summer trips, has a great number of these frozen rivers of ice +debouching into it; and its clear, quiet waters, reflecting the Alpine +scenery of its shores, are ruffled only by the breaking of the icebergs +from the terminal fronts of the glacier, that send waves across its +whole breadth, and with a noise like the firing of a sea-coast cannon. +Muir Glacier is the greatest of this grand group, and surpasses anything +nearer than the polar zones themselves. There is no use in going into +mathematical measurements,--its two and three hundred feet in height and +its breadth of several miles; for they but feebly represent its +grandeur, the deep impressions that figures can not measure when viewing +this frozen Niagara of the North. Not until the blue Adriatic has +pierced its way into the heart of the high Alps, or some ocean inlet has +invaded the valleys of the vast Yellowstone Park, will we ever have an +equivalent to this display of Nature's noblest efforts in scenic +effects. Were the other scenery as monotonous as the ceaseless plains, a +visit to the Alaskan glaciers and icebergs would well repay any one's +time and effort; but, when the tourist travels through the greatest +Wonderland of the wide West to reach these curious sights, he or she +will be paid over and over tenfold. + +So far everything may be seen from the decks of an elegant steamer; but, +should the tourist want a little "roughing it," let him stop over in +Glacier Bay, from one steamer's visit to another, two weeks to a month +apart, and clamber over the glaciers and row around among the icebergs +to his heart's content, and until he almost imagines he is an arctic +explorer. He will descend from the tumbled surface of the frozen seas of +ice on the glacier's surface, only to wade through grass up to his +waist, that waves in the light winds like the pretty pampas fields of +South America. In these fields of grasses he may pitch his tent, which, +with a cook stove and a month's rations for each person, is all that is +needed, beyond the baggage of the other tourists. Hunting is found in +the mountains back of the bay, fish in the waters, and small game in the +woods near by. + +Or, if longer and rougher jaunts are wanted, ascend the Lynn Channel, +and then the Chilkat, or Chilkoot, Inlet, hiring two or three Indians to +carry one's camping effects on their backs to the lakes at the source of +the great Yukon river of the British Northwest Territory and +Alaska,--the third river of America. Going by the Chilkoot trail, over +the Alaskan coast range of mountains, which will furnish Alpine climbing +enough to suit the most eager, on snow and glacier ice, one comes to a +series of lakes aggregating 150 miles in extent; and along these he may +paddle and return, shooting an occasional brown or black bear, moose, +caribou or mountain goat, while aquatic life is everywhere on these +pretty Alpine lakes. + +Throughout the whole inland passage, one is passing now and then some +Indian village, of more or less imposing appearance and numbers. In +Alaska they all belong to a single great tribe, the T'linkit, bound +together by a common language, but by no stronger ties, for each +village, or cluster of villages, makes a sub-tribe, having no sympathies +with the other, and they often war against one another. + +It is not often that one would want to call a tourist's attention to an +Indian village, for the average encampment or habitation of the "noble +red man" is not the most attractive sight or study; but, in the T'linkit +towns, we have no such hesitation, for, in the curiosities to be seen in +their houses and surroundings, they are certainly one of the strangest +people on earth. They are the artistic savages of the world. In front of +each log house, and often rearing its head much higher than it by two or +three fold, are one or two posts, called "totem poles," which are merely +logs on end; but, on the seaward face, the savage sculptor has exhausted +all the resources of his barbaric imagination in cutting in hideous +faces and figures, that, with a hundred or so such terrible "totems" in +front of a village, makes one think of some nightmare of his childish +days. The houses, too, are carved inside and out. Every utensil they +have is sculptured deep with diabolical but well executed designs, and +their spoons of mountain sheep and goat horn are marvels of savage work. +All these are for sale to tourists, and every excursion steamer brings +numbers of these romantic remembrances of a yet more romantic journey +back to civilization. + +But the inland passage to Alaska is not the only grand and picturesque +part of that great territory visited by the excursion steamers; for +beyond and as far as Mount St. Elias, they often sail to this the +greatest cluster of high mountains on the Western Continent,--Lituya +Peak, 10,000 feet high; and Fairweather and Crillon, a third taller; +then beyond, Cook and Vancouver cluster near sublime St. Elias, nearly +20,000 feet above the ocean that thunders at its base, and whose jagged +top may be seen a hundred and fifty miles to sea. How disappointing are +the Colorado peaks of 12,000 and 14,000 feet to one, for the simple +reason that they spring from a plain already 6,000 to 8,000 feet above +sea-level, and seem, as they are, but high hills on a high plateau. How +like pygmies they appear to Hood, Tacoma, Shasta, and others not so high +above the ocean base line, but whose nearly every foot above sea-level +is in mountain slope. How grand, then, must be hoary-headed St. Elias, +whose waist is the waters of the wide sea, and whose 20,000 feet above +sea-level springs from the Pacific Ocean, from whose calm waters we view +its majestic height. + +But let us commence at the starting point of our journey, and take our +readers step by step over the whole route. + +For many years the people of our great Northwest country, Oregon, +Washington and Idaho Territories, have spoken familiarly of "the Sound" +as one of their great geographical features,--in much the same way as +the people of Southern Connecticut or Long Island speak of "the +Sound,"--referring thereby to Puget Sound, that cuts deep into the +northwestern corner of Washington Territory. Many have visited it, and +sailed on its beautiful waters; beautiful enough in themselves or their +own immediate surroundings, but thrice grand and gorgeous in their +silver framing of snow-clad peaks and mountain ranges, surrounding them +on all sides. The long, narrow, picturesque sound, that looked not +unlike a Greenland fjord, or close-walled bay at the mouth of some grand +river,--one of those bays so slowly converging that a person can hardly +define where it ceases and the river commences,--was considered one of +the most beautiful and scenic places of the Northwest; and its people +delighted to show it to strangers, with its enhancing surroundings, +reaching from the prettily situated capital of the Territory, Olympia, +at the head of "the sound," to where the broad Juan de Fuca Strait leads +to the great Pacific Sea. Then Alaska was known only as Russian America, +when it was spoken of at all, so seldom was it heard, and seemed to be +as far away from the United States on that side of the continent, and as +little thought of, as Greenland or Iceland is to-day with our people of +the Atlantic coast. An occasional Hudson's Bay Company trading boat +steamed out of Victoria harbor, and disappeared northward, crawling +through a maze of intricate inland channels and Alpine-like waterways to +some distant and seemingly half-mythical trading post of that lonesome +land; but, as to anything definite as to where she was going, as little +was known by the people as if an arctic expedition was leaving the +harbor of New York or Boston, and not one hundredth of the _furor_ was +made about the departure, if, in fact, any notice was taken of it at +all. With the accession of Alaska, through the efforts of Secretary +Seward and Senator Sumner, the discovery of the Cassiar mines, in +British Columbia, but which must be reached through Alaska, and a few +other minor incentives, set many people to looking northward; they then +found that they could continue their trips on a long inland salt-water +river, of which the well-known Puget Sound was but a small part,--hardly +the equivalent of Narragansett Bay taken from Long Island Sound, or +Green Bay from Lake Michigan. Not that these were the first explorations +and discoveries of importance in the inland passage and its surrounding +woods and waters, by any manner of means. Cook and Clerke, as early as +1776; Dixon, from 1785 to 1788; Langsdorff, in 1803-8; La Perouse, in +1785-88; Lisianski, from 1803 to 1806; Meares, of the Royal navy, from +1788 to 1789; and especially Vancouver, from 1790 to 1795,--had all +peeped into this part of the country, and many of the explorations and +surveys were of the most extended nature; but, at about the time of +which I speak, the knowledge of the inland passage to the bulk of the +people, even in these parts so near to it, was nearly as musty as the +old volumes on the library shelves that gave the most information. In +fact, but little knowledge or interest was to be found regarding these +parts. Their history of development from that embryonic state where +everything told is regarded as bordering on the mythical, to where a +line of ocean steamers visits them with crowded passenger lists, is the +usual history of such developments. + +The inland passage to Alaska may be said to practically extend from +Tacoma, in Washington Territory, at the head of Puget Sound, to Chilkat, +Alaska, at the head of Lynn Channel, a distance of nearly 1,100 miles, +where the tourist taking a sea voyage has high shores in close proximity +on either side of him, except a few places here and there, where a short +communication with the ocean outside is to be had. But this "inland +passage," so called, is not the only one leading between the points +named. It is, rather, a Broadway in New York City, a Pennsylvania avenue +in Washington, State street in Chicago,--i. e., the main way; but every +few miles a vessel could turn off down another passage as readily as a +pedestrian or vehicle could down a side street, and, continuing a short +way, return to the main thoroughfare again. Probably all the channels +and straits and sounds and inlets in this part of Alaska, British +Columbia and Washington Territory, susceptible of navigation by +fair-sized ocean and river steamers, and all of them connecting with +each other in a perfect network of waterways, would, if placed end to +end, reach from a quarter to a third of the way around the world. Many +of them are so illy charted--or not charted at all--that no craft of +value would trust herself to follow their courses, while some of the +smaller ways, but probably none the less picturesque, have yet to bear +the first white man on their bosom. The most picturesque of all the ways +through this intricacy of picturesque channels has been selected, +carefully surveyed, and experienced pilots conduct the vessels to and +from Alaska on its waters. The whole length of the passage is heavily +timbered with various kinds of pine, fir, hemlock, cedar and spruce. +Here and there avalanches from the mountain tops have swept through the +dense timber, like a sickle through so much grain; and, although in a +few years the growth is restored, yet the varying shades of green in the +old and new growth of trees, running in perpendicular stripes up the +steep hillsides, plainly show the ancient and recent devastations. +Prettily situated Indian villages dot the narrow, shelving shores at +rare intervals along the passage; and, when these nomads of the +Northwest are seen, which is not infrequent, the chances are more than +likely that it will be in a canoe, where they spend two-thirds of their +out-of-door life. + +Says the "American Cyclopædia," speaking of this interesting part of +Washington Territory, the southern part of the inland passage: +"Washington Territory possesses a great multitude of harbors, perhaps +more than any other country of equal extent on the globe. Puget Sound, +which has an average width of two miles, never less than one nor more +than four, and a depth never less than eight fathoms, runs 100 miles +inland in a southward direction from the Straits of Fuca; and Hood's +Canal, twelve miles further west, with half the width, runs in the same +general direction about 60 miles. These two great estuaries, or arms of +tidewater, have depth sufficient for the largest vessels, and numerous +bends and corners where the most perfect protection may be found against +the winds." Captain Wilkes, in the report of his famous exploring +expedition, writes of Puget Sound: "I venture nothing in saying there is +no country in the world that possesses waters equal to these." The Coast +Range and Cascade Range of mountains are plainly visible from the sound. +Near the Columbia river the Coast Range is not very high; but west of +Hood's Canal it rises, in abrupt, beetling ridges, 7,000 to 9,000 feet +high, called the Olympian Mountains, many of the peaks being +snow-crowned throughout the year. The Cascade Range fairly bristles with +snow-clad peaks from 8,000 to over 14,000 feet in height, and in every +direction, almost, may be seen the grandest Alpine scenery in the +distance. + +Steaming northward through Puget Sound from Tacoma, with Seattle and +other towns upon our right, and Port Townsend, the port of entry to the +sound, upon our left, we come to Juan de Fuca Strait, which would lead +us to the Pacific Ocean were we to follow it out. It is the most +southern of all the waterways that connect the great sea with the +network of channels inside, and formerly was much used as a part of the +route to Alaska or Puget Sound from Portland, Oregon, or San Francisco, +California; the steamer putting out to sea for a day if from the former +port, and for four or five if from the latter, the passengers having all +the discomforts of a sea voyage for that time. Where Magellan sailed +over the Pacific Ocean it well deserved the name; but along the rough +northern coast the amount of stormy weather increases, and a voyage on +this part of the Pacific is not always calculated to impress one with +the appropriateness of the great ocean's name. The construction of the +Northern Pacific Railroad from the Columbia river to Puget Sound has +made these sea voyages unnecessary to reach a port on the inland +passage; and, unless a person's stomach is built on "nautical lines," so +that he really enjoys an ocean trip, he can save this discomfort by a +cut across lots on a railroad train. In fact, it must be kept in mind, +that, while the trip on the inland passage is an ocean voyage, equal to +one from New York City to Havana and return, it is, as far as +sea-sickness is concerned, as if the Hudson river was turned around in +the opposite direction, and we sailed on its waters from New York to +Havana and return; while the inland passage, in its southern part, is as +accessible by railroad travel, to the people of the United States and +Canada, as any point on the Hudson river. Therefore, broad Juan de Fuca +Strait, where the pulsations of the ocean's life outside are even felt +to its eastern end, in much diminished waves, however, carries fewer +persons than formerly, and especially of that reluctant class who look +uncomplainingly at the terrors of the sea, from the basis of dire +necessity. + +Crossing this strait, which has led to so many controversies as to +whether the old Greek from whom it is named actually discovered this +beautiful body of water, or only made a lucky guess in publishing to the +world a mythical journey of his, we sight and bear down on the beautiful +British island of Vancouver, whose metropolis is Victoria, and alongside +of whose docks we shall soon be made fast. + +Victoria, the city, was built on the site of old Fort Victoria, a Hudson +Bay Company trading post of that great British monopoly that held nearly +all British America under its control for two hundred years, and, +although broken as a monopoly, has yet an influence to assist or retard +the development of the country which is incalculable. The Fraser river +gold mine excitement in the '50's did much to build up Victoria, and +send it forward into the front rank of Pacific coast cities, a position +which she has held with varying fortunes, though now, in common with the +whole Northwest, once more on the ascending wave. + +Cities, like individuals, have their "hobbies," although seldom so +prominently marked; and the municipal "hobby" of Victoria is her +splendidly constructed roads, leading through the town and far beyond +the suburbs, and in which she has no superior on the Pacific coast of +North America, and but few in the world. If the steamer remains long +enough in the harbor,--and during excursion times in the summer months +they always do,--a drive should be taken on the Victoria roads, and +especially the one leading to Esquimalt harbor and return, some two or +three miles in all. It is but one, however, of the many beautiful +drives; but it is only necessary to mention them in a general way for +any one who would desire to test them, so readily can all needed +information be found on the spot. + +In quaint little smoke-stained and dingy-looking stores in +out-of-the-way nooks and corners of the streets are to be found the +Victorian curiosity shops, crowded with relics of the fast-disappearing +Indian tribes that once formed a much denser population in this part of +the country than at present. Pretty little mats and baskets are made +from the sea-grass, dyed with the juices from berries and other natural +dyes, and sold for the merest trifles. Curiously carved steatite houses, +in miniature imitation of the Indian dwellings, and "totem poles" made +by the Hydah or Haïda Indians, are to be seen for sale. Sometimes they +carve plaques with spread-eagles and other fanciful designs upon them; +rude but serviceable mats from the inner bark of the cedar tree, and all +the known--and unknown--knick-knacks that can come from the barbaric +ingenuity of Indian art, and which would require a pamphlet larger than +the one in the reader's hands to chronicle half. This is the beginning +of such curious wares that will be temptingly displayed before the +tourist at every town and stopping place on the route, and from which +may be selected such mementoes of the journey as will please the +individual fancy. + +Says a writer in the _Overland Monthly_, the _Century Magazine_ of the +Pacific coast: "Victoria, in a rock-bound and land-protected cove, is +the most attractive and the largest city on Vancouver's Island. During +the days of the Fraser river excitement, Victoria was a much more +energetic city than it is to-day. There were exciting times there then, +and, because of the great expectations which everybody indulged in, land +was bid up to an enormously high figure, and the town's prospects were +considered wonderfully brilliant. But the Fraser was a fraud, +comparatively, and its mines were quickly exhausted, so that Victoria +received a setback, from which it is only just recovering. It is a +picturesque town, thoroughly English, staid and conservative, and its +location is an enviable one. In the distance rise the blue-hued heights +of the Vancouver ranges, and nearer at hand lie the waters of Fuca +Straits; beyond which there can be seen the snowy peaks of the +Washington Territory mountains. Rounding the long point of land which +juts out into the sea to form Victoria harbor, the town lay all revealed +to us at last. In one direction were red painted shops set upon a high +bluff overlooking the bay, and eastward there were green fields and +trimly built cottages. + +"'Coming ashore?' we were asked at length. + +"'Not to-day,' the artist said. + +"'Then, don't judge Victoria until you see the place,' came the word +from the dock. + +"We promised, and said that when homeward bound we would make a call." + +Returning, the narrator continues, "On the wharf at Victoria stood our +friend of a month ago. + +"'Coming ashore?' he said, when he saw us. + +"'Yes.' + +"'Good, we can show you a pretty town. Disappointed in Alaska?' + +"'No; it's the grandest country for scenery I--' began the artist. + +"'Yes, yes, I know,' said our friend, interrupting him. 'Big glaciers, +fine sailing, curious sights, no sea-sickness. Same old story; hear it +every trip.' + +"Victoria is picturesque in every detail," continues the narrator. "The +land faces a land-locked bay, and behind the place stretch dense +forests, through which roadways extend to the various suburbs. During +our stay the frosts of early fall began to color the leaves, and at +night the air grew sharp and chill. But still the air was clear, and +down in the harbor white-winged yachts still moved over the bluish +waters." + +Vancouver Island, which forms the outlying barrier to, or seaward side +of, the inland passage from Juan de Fuca Strait to Queen Charlotte +Sound, is one of the largest islands in that vast archipelago which +forms the passage, and is the largest under British dominion. It was +called Quadra Island by the Spaniards, who held it by descent from +Mexico (then a Spanish colony) until the latter part of the eighteenth +century, when Vancouver, of the Royal navy, was sent from England to +receive its surrender from the Spanish; it having been ordered by the +home government at Madrid,--which he did from the Castilian governor, +Quadra. Vancouver called it Quadra and Vancouver's Island; but the +Spanish title has slowly disappeared under British rule. Vancouver +pushed his discoveries from here to Cook's Inlet during his two or three +years' cruise on this coast, and many of the names in the inland passage +and adjacent lands and waters are due to his explorations made nearly a +hundred years ago. + +Leaving Victoria and its picturesque surroundings behind us, we swing in +a huge circle around the southeastern coast of Vancouver Island, until +we are pointed northward once more. + +Strictly speaking, "the inland passage to Alaska, as defined by nautical +men, now begins, Puget Sound only belonging to it in a geographical +sense, but as similar thereto as 'peas in a pod.'" We shortly after pass +through a congerie of pretty islands, like the Thousand Islands of the +St Lawrence on a greatly magnified scale, when we come to the Gulf of +Georgia, one of the widest portions of the inland passage. The islands +we have left to the right (although it may change by the pilot not +taking the usual route, so many are they to choose from) are the San +Juan Islands, of far more importance than one would believe, looking at +the unpopulated shores; at least, they were so in 1856, when the United +States and Great Britain came very near coming to national blows about +their possession. The matter was finally left to arbitration in the +hands of the Emperor of Brazil, and then transferred to the present +Emperor of Germany, who awarded them to the United States. The British +troops then withdrew, a post of them having been on one end of the large +island, with an American post on the other. + +As we steam through the Gulf of Georgia we leave the highest point +(Point Roberts) of the United States off to our right, in the distance, +on the forty-ninth parallel. + +Some forty or fifty miles farther on, and we enter the first typical +waters of the inland passage,--Discovery Passage,--a narrow waterway +between high, mountainous banks; a great salt-water, river-like channel, +about a mile in breadth, and twenty-three and a half miles long by the +British Admiralty charts. A huge yellow bluff, projecting into the sea, +greets the eye as the passage is approached, and the great, wide channel +to the east is the one the tourist has selected as a matter of course +for the steamer to pursue; but she agreeably disappoints him, and enters +the narrow, picturesque way. This Discovery Passage is a Yankee "find," +having first been entered by a Boston sloop, the "Washington," in 1789. +The broad right-hand passage could have been taken, as the land to our +right is an island (of which the yellow clay bluff is the southern +cape), called Valdez Island after an ancient mariner who visited this +part of the world in 1792, in the Spanish galleon "Mexicana." At first +one is slightly nonplused at the frequency of Spanish names in these +quarters; but, as the early history of the country is closely searched, +the conclusion is forced on one more and more that these old Castilian +navigators have not even got their dues, and, where their names once +formed an honorable majority, they have slowly disappeared before the +constant revisions of the geographers and hydrographers of another +people, who have since acquired possession. We will come to many such +changes of nomenclature on our interesting trip. + +About two miles from the entrance to Discovery Passage we come to the +Indian Village of Yaculta, on Valdez Island. It is the first of many we +will see before we return to Victoria again, and, like most of them, it +is on one of the narrow, level places between the high hills and the +deep sea that happens here and there in this Alpine country; or its +inhabitants would have to live in the trees on the steep hillsides, or +in their canoes on the water. The large river coming in from the +Vancouver Island side, some five or six miles from the entrance to the +passage, is Campbell river, and is navigable for some distance inland by +boats and canoes. + +About half way through Discovery Passage we come to the Seymour Narrows, +a contracted channel of the passage, about two miles long, and not much +over one-fourth the previous width, where the tides rush through with +the velocity of the swiftest rivers (said to be nine knots at +spring-tides), a current which is so strong that it is generally +calculated upon in departing from Victoria so as to reach this point +about slack water. In the narrows is a submerged rock, with the +pretty-sounding alliterative title of Ripple Rock, on which the United +States man-of-war "Saranac" was lost in the summer of 1875. Ripple Rock +is now so well marked that it is no longer dangerous to navigation. +Northward from the narrows the hills rise in bold gradients, making the +change quite noticeable, and more picturesque. + +Chatham Point marks the northern entrance to Discovery Passage, and here +the tourist apparently sees the inland passage bearing off slightly to +the east from this cape, when, with a sudden swerve to the westward, the +ship swings around at full right angles to her original course, and +enters a channel which a minute before seemed to be but a bay on the +west side of the original water-way. The new channel is Johnstone +Strait, and is over twice as long as Discovery Passage, that we have +just left; or, to be more exact, about fifty-five miles in length. The +shores are now getting truly mountainous in character, ridges and peaks +on the south side bearing snow throughout the summer on their summits, +4,000 to 5,000 feet high, and the pilot will tell you that the waters on +which you are sailing correspond in their dimensions, in many places 100 +to 150 fathoms of line failing to reach bottom. The rough and rugged +islands which we pass to our right, about three or four miles beyond +Chatham Point, are the Pender Islands. The high mountains to the left +and front are the Prince of Wales range. About fifteen to twenty miles +after entering Johnstone Strait, a conspicuous valley is seen on +Vancouver Island, the only break in the high mountain range on that +side. It is the valley of a stream called Salmon river, named from that +delicious fish, which here abound, and in the pursuit of which the +Indians have shown this stream to be navigable for canoes for a number +of miles inland. A conspicuous conical hill, probably a thousand feet +high, rises in the valley and marks it to the traveler. Just beyond +Salmon river's mouth, some three miles, the strait widens, another +joining it from the north. The mountains to our left are now the New +Castle range, Mount Palmerston attaining the height of 5,000 feet. At +the northern end of Johnstone Strait we have a number of channels to +choose from,--Blackfish Sound, Weynton Passage, Race Passage and +Broughton Strait, the longest of all, and only fifteen miles in length, +which we take. All these channels simply indicate that there is a +cluster of islands where Johnstone Strait swells out into Queen +Charlotte Sound, which we enter as Broughton Strait is left behind, and +that as we select between different islands we take a different-named +channel. These particular islands are the Malcolm Islands, sometimes +confined in its application to the largest island. About half way +through the Broughton Strait comes in the Nimpkish river from the +Vancouver side. Mount Holdsworth is the high, conical peak we see to the +south from here. At the mouth of the river is the Indian village of +Cheslakee. It is said that an ascent of this river reveals the most +picturesque scenery in lakes and falls, a saying to which all the +surroundings in the inland passage itself, at this point, would give the +most ample corroboration. Directly north from the river's mouth is +Cormorant Island, which we leave to our right; and the bay in its side +is Alert Bay, where exist a salmon cannery, an Indian mission, a wharf +at which ships can land, and other signs of civilization. + +[Illustration: SCENES IN THE INLAND PASSAGE. + +From Schwatka's "Along Alaska's Great River," Cassell & Co. New York. +Publisher] + +Queen Charlotte Sound is one of the few openings to the Pacific Ocean. +It is about fifty miles long, and, in some places, nearly half as wide, +and looks like getting out to sea after having passed through the narrow +channels just left behind. It was entered and named by Wedgeborough in +the summer of 1786; so those visitors of 1886 to its grand waters may +celebrate its centennial, and drink a toast to Queen Charlotte, the +queen of King George III., and queen for fifty-seven years. About nine +or ten miles on its waters, and to our left, is Fort Rupert, a Hudson +Bay Company's trading post, with a large Indian village clustered around +it. Here fruits and vegetables are grown for the local demand. About +half way through Queen Charlotte Sound, and we pass through a narrow +channel, twenty-two miles long, named Goletas Channel. Emerging from it, +we leave Cape Commerell on our left side, and bid good-bye to Vancouver +Island, for this is its northernmost cape. Near the exit from Goletas +Channel, but by another passage, now seldom used, is where the United +States man-of-war "Suwanee" was wrecked, on a submerged rock, in July, +1869, when the inland passage was not so well known by pilots as it is +now. We can now look out to sea toward the Pacific Ocean; but a short +journey plunges us into one of the many passages ahead of us, the +smallest, or one nearest the mainland, being taken, called Fitzhugh +Sound. It was named in 1786 by Captain Hanna, is about forty miles long, +and with a width of about three miles. The first island to our left on +entering is Calvert Island. About ten miles from its southern cape is an +indentation in the island, called Safety Cove or Port Safety, probably a +mile deep. It was while delayed in this picturesque little harbor, in +1885, that Mr. Charles Hallock, the well-known author on piscatorial +pursuits, penned the following lines, descriptive of the inland passage, +which we find in the _American Angler_ of September, 1885: + +"The mainland is flanked throughout nearly its entire extent by a belt +of islands, of which the majority are sea-girt mountains. Of course, +throughout this extended coast-line there are many islands of many +different phases,--some of them mere rocks, to which the kelps cling for +dear life, like stranded sailors in a storm; while others are gently +rounded mounds, wooded with fir; and others, still, precipitous cliffs +standing breast deep in the waves. Most aptly has this wave-washed +region been termed an archipelago of mountains and land-locked seas. +Steaming through the labyrinths of straits and channels which seem to +have no outlets; straining the neck to scan the tops of snow-capped +peaks which rise abruptly from the basin where you ride at anchor; +watching the gambols of great whales, thresher-sharks and herds of +sea-lions, which seem as if penned up in an aquarium, so completely are +they enclosed by the shadowy hills,--one seems, indeed, in a new +creation, and watches the strange forms around him with an intensity of +interest which almost amounts to awe. + +"In this weird region of bottomless depths, there are no sand beaches or +gravelly shores. All the margins of mainland and islands drop down plump +into inky fathoms of water, and the fall of the tide only exposes the +rank yellow weeds which cling to the damp crags and slippery rocks, and +the mussels and barnacles which crackle and hiss when the lapping waves +recede. * * * * * When the tide sets in, great rafts of algæ, with stems +fifty feet long, career along the surface; millions of jelly-fish and +anemones crowded as closely as the stars in the firmament; great +air-bulbs, with streamers floating like the long hair of female corpses; +schools of porpoises and fin-back whale rolling and plunging headlong +through the boiling foam; all sorts of marine and Mediterranean fauna +pour in a ceaseless surge, like an irresistible army. Hosts of gulls +scream overhead, or whiten the ledges, where they squat content or run +about feeding. + +"Here and there along the almost perpendicular cliffs the outflow of the +melting snow in the pockets of the mountains leaps down in dizzy +waterfalls from heights that are higher than the Yosemite. From the +cañons which divide the foot-hills, cascades pour out into the brine, +and all their channels are choked with salmon crowding toward the upper +waters. I could catch them with my hands as long as my strength endured, +so helpless and infatuated are these creatures of predestination. At the +heads of many of these rivulets there are lakes in which dwell salmon +trout, spotted with crimson spots as large as a pea; and the rainbow +trout, with his iridescent lateral stripe; and his cousin germain, the +'cut-throat trout,' slashed with carmine under the gills. And there is +another trout, most familiar to the eye in Eastern waters, and doubly +welcome to the sight in this far-off region--the _Salvelinus +Canadensis_, or 'sea-trout,' which I have recognized these many years as +a separate species. * * * Here he is in his garniture of crimson, blue +and gold, just like his up-stream neighbors of New England and the +Provinces. * * + +"The seas are full of strange species. Here the family _Percidæ_ is +regnant and supreme among the food fishes. The number of species and +varieties is remarkable. Here are the _Embiotocidæ_, or _viviparous_ +perch, which bring forth their young in litters, like cats or dogs, to +the number of eight to forty at a time. There are no less than seventeen +known varieties of them. Here, also, are at least fifteen varieties of +_Scorpænidæ_, all fine table fish, which are locally known as rock-cod, +groupers and snappers, but having no close relations at all to the +family of _Gadidæ_. I send herewith the differential characteristics of +four of them taken near our present berth, in latitude 51 degrees 30 +minutes. The scarlet snapper seems very closely allied to the _Lutjanus +Blackfordi_ of Eastern Florida and the Gulf of Mexico, from which he +could scarcely be distinguished in appearance. The others are all fish +of brilliant colors. No. 2 can scarcely be distinguished from the +fresh-water bass of the lakes lying west of the Mississippi,--the +_Micropterus_,--either in form, fin system or color. At Sitka I found a +fish of exactly the same shape, but black as a sea-bass of the Atlantic +(_Centropristis atrarius_). No. 4 belongs, I believe, to the family of +_Chiridæ_, and is locally known as a sea-trout. * * * These fish take +salmon roe, clams, sand-worms, crabs, meat and cut-fish bait. The black +bass of Sitka is taken alongshore with a trolling spoon. * * * The other +fish were taken chiefly in thirty fathoms of water on the young flood +tide. + +"Besides these fish, we have taken halibut, two kinds of flounder, +skates, dogfish of several kinds and strange shapes, sharks, sculpins, +etc.; some of the sculpins were beautifully marked in blue, red and +brown. * * I have had several of the species painted in oil, and will +forward them to the Smithsonian, with descriptions." + +But let us leave this piscatorial paradise, as painted by one who is an +artist in his line, and wend our way through the forty miles of Fitzhugh +Sound. Then comes Lama Passage, contracted, winding and picturesque, +about fourteen or fifteen miles long. About half way through we pass +very near the Indian village of Bella-Bella, and which is also a Hudson +Bay Company trading post. The Bella-Bellas were once a large tribe +living in these parts; but the little village, of about twenty Indian +houses, that the tourist passes on his left, represents the greater +portion of the tribe at present, and gives one a practical and forcible +illustration of the disappearance of "the noble red man." A mission +residence and a church, with the cattle on the cleared hills, give the +place quite a civilized aspect. After Lama Passage comes Seaforth +Channel, just as winding and pretty; the swingings to the right and +left, in places where the passage is apparently right ahead, increase +your respect for the pilot, and you wonder, in all these intricacies, +like Goldsmith's village schoolmaster, "how one small head could carry +all he knew." At Milbank Sound we look out to sea for a brief half-hour, +and then plunge into Finlayson Channel, a typical waterway of the inland +passage, like a great river. The sides are very high mountains, densely +timbered nearly to the top, where snow exists the year round, forming a +base of supplies for the beautiful waterfalls that dash down the +precipitous heights, like silvery columns, on a deep green background. +It is said that all the little streams of this region swarm with salmon, +giving the Indians a most bountiful supply. Then comes Graham Reach, +about twenty miles long; then Fraser Reach, of ten miles; and McKay +Reach, of seven,--that could all have been given a single name, and much +trouble have been saved. A little, irregular sheet of water, called +Wright Sound, and Grenville Channel, "as straight as an arrow," gives us +nearly fifty miles of rectilinear sailing. + +We are now getting far enough north to make the sight of snow a familiar +one, and the dense timber is striped with perpendicular windrows, where +large avalanches have cut their way through them in the winter, when the +snow falls heavily in these parts. Chatham Sound is the last channel we +essay in British domain, and a royal old sheet of water it is, with a +width of nearly ten miles, and about three or four times as long. After +about three hours on its bosom a great channel is opened east and west +before us, on which the swells from the broad Pacific enter. This is +Dixon Entrance, and the boundary between British Columbia and Alaska +beyond, whose blue mountains we see in the distance. The islands still +continue; and the number, in this part of Alaska alone, has been +estimated at eleven hundred, and this, too, excludes the rocks and +islets. Clarence Strait is the main channel as soon as Alaskan waters +are entered; but there are others on both sides of it which may be +taken. It is a little over a hundred miles long, and somewhat variable +in its width. It was named by Vancouver, nearly a hundred years ago, +after the Duke of Clarence. From Clarence Strait we enter Stickeen +Strait; for most of the steamers call at Wrangell, and this bends us off +of our course. + +Wrangell is a tumble-down, dilapidated-looking town, in a most +beautifully picturesque situation, and the first impression is to make +one ashamed of the displays of the human race compared with those of +nature. It is the port to the Cassiar mines; or, better speaking, it +was, for they have seen their palmiest days, a fact which is quite +evident on looking at their dependency, the town of Wrangell. The +Cassiar mines are in British Columbia, and to reach them the Stickeen +river, emptying near Wrangell, must be ascended, itself a most +picturesque stream, and one well worth visiting if the tourist can catch +one of the little boats that yet occasionally depart from Wrangell to +ascend the rushing, impetuous river. Says one writer of it, in the +Philadelphia _Dispatch_: "The Stickeen is navigable for small steamers +to Glenora, one hundred and fifty miles, flowing first in a general +westerly direction, through grassy, undulating plains, darkened here and +there with patches of evergreens; then, curving southward, and receiving +numerous tributaries from the north, it enters the Coast Range, and +sweeps across it to the sea through a Yosemite valley more than a +hundred miles long, and one to three miles wide at the bottom, and from +five thousand to eight thousand feet deep, marvelously beautiful and +inspiring from end to end. To the appreciative tourist, sailing up the +river through the midst of it all, the cañon, for a distance of one +hundred and ten miles, is a gallery of sublime pictures,--an unbroken +series of majestic mountains, glaciers, falls, cascades, forests, +groves, flowery garden spots, grassy meadows in endless variety of form +and composition,--furniture enough for a dozen Yosemites! while, back of +the walls, and thousands of feet above them, innumerable peaks and +spires and domes of ice and snow tower grandly into the sky. About +fifteen miles above the mouth of the river you come to the first of the +great glaciers, pouring down through the forest in a shattered +ice-cascade nearly to the level of the river. Twelve miles above this +point a noble view is opened along the Skoot river cañon--a group of +glacier-laden Alps, from ten thousand to twelve thousand feet high. +Thirty-five miles above the mouth of the river the most striking object +of all comes in sight; this is the lower expansion of the great glacier, +measuring about six miles around the 'snout,' pushed boldly forward into +the middle of the valley among the trees, while its sources are mostly +hidden. It takes its rise in the heart of the range, some thirty or +forty miles away. Compared with this, the Swiss _mer de glace_ is a +small thing. It is called the 'Ice Mountain.' The front of the snout is +three hundred feet high, but rises rapidly back for a few miles to a +height of about one thousand feet. Seen through gaps in the trees +growing on one of its terminal moraines, as one sails slowly along +against the current, the marvelous beauty of the chasms and clustered +pinnacles shows to fine advantage in the sunshine." + +Wrangell's log-cabin backwoods stores are good places to search for +Indian relics, the Stickeen Indians living in the vicinity being the +most prolific in the manufacture of these savage curios. Leaving +Wrangell, a westward-trending strait (Sumner Strait, after Senator +Sumner) of forty or fifty miles carries us directly out to the Pacific +Ocean; but an hour's run finds us turning into another passage,--Chatham +Strait,--one of the largest of the almost innumerable channels of the +inland passage, and which points squarely to the north. It is nearly one +hundred and fifty miles long, and about five or six miles wide. It was +named by Vancouver, about the end of last century, after the then Earl +of Chatham, and is a most noble sheet of water. + +Formerly the pilots used to go around Cape Ommaney, and put out to sea +in order to reach Sitka, although there was a channel leading from +Chatham Strait thereto which saved the roughness of a sea voyage. It was +shunned, however, by most of them, and, in getting the ominous name of +Peril Strait, certain supposed dangers were thought to be lurking in it. +Captain Carroll, who has spent half an ordinary lifetime in these +waters, and done much toward practically determining their navigability, +found that most of the peril was in the name,--at least to ships under +his management,--and Peril Straits[A] are used nearly altogether now, +making Sitka, though facing the Pacific Ocean, practically on the inland +passage. + + [A] The Russian name is Destruction or Pernicious Straits + (the reason for which appears further on), and, in its improper + translation to Peril Straits, many people supposed the name was + given on account of its dangerous navigation. + +Just before entering Peril Straits,--by the way, one of the most +charming of the many channels described,--we stop at a little place +ensconced in a narrow inlet of Chatham Strait, called Killisnoo. At +Killisnoo the Northwest Trading Company, of Portland, Oregon, have +erected quite extensive works for the capture and curing of cod-fish, +which has made this something of a port, at least for Alaska. There is +also a phosphate factory here, where phosphates are made from herring, +after the oil is extracted. This company formerly caught whales in this +strait; but I understand the enterprise has been partially, or wholly, +given up as not paying; or, at least, in proportion to the new +enterprises they have more recently opened. Around this part of +Admiralty Island are the Kootznahoo Indians, who have been quite a +warlike band of savages in the past, but have been quite mollified by an +incident in their troubles, which I will give in the language of a +correspondent to the New York _Times_, of November 23, 1884: + +"The Kootznahoo village, near the fishing station of Killisnoo, was the +scene of the latest naval battle and bombardment on the coast, two years +ago. A medicine man of the tribe who went out in a whale-boat was killed +by the explosion of a bomb harpoon, and the Indians demanded money or a +life as an equivalent for their loss. The Killisnoo traders did not +respect this Indian law of atonement, and the Indians seized a white man +for hostage. Finding that the hostage had only one eye, they declared +him _cultus_ (bad), and sent word that they must have a whole and sound +man, or his equivalent in blankets, to make up for their lost medicine +man. They threatened the massacre of the settlement, and word was sent +to Sitka for help. Captain Merriman, United States navy, went over with +the revenue cutter 'Corwin' and the steamer 'Favorite,' and made a +counter demand for blankets as a guarantee for their future peace and +quiet. Failing to respond, he carried out his threat of shelling their +village, the Indians having improved their hours of delay by removing +their canoes, valuables and provisions. Most of the houses were +destroyed, and the humbled Indians came to terms, and have been the most +penitent and reliable friends of the whites ever since. They have built +their houses now around the Killisnoo settlement; and, although Captain +Merriman left the Territory some time ago, they all speak of him as the +best of _tyees_, and the settlers say that the naval battle of Killisnoo +has made life and property more secure throughout the Territory." + +[Illustration: AN ALASKA INDIAN HOUSE WITH TOTEM POLES.] + +At present the inland passage in the Territory and British Columbia is +as safe from Indians as Broadway, in New York City, or State street, +Chicago. In no place in the world of which I know, or have ever heard, +are the facilities for studying Indian life so good for those who only +spend a tourist's jaunt among them. Many people along the far Western +railroads will remember seeing here and there a dirty group of assorted +Indians, begging for alms, and taking full advantage of all the +silver-plated sympathy showered upon them in that metal; for they were +parts of the curious scenes to behold. Generally they were a slim +delegation from some far-away agency, and a person living in Washington, +where the Indian chiefs occasionally visit in their full regalia, would +have a better chance to see typical Indians than the tourist, unless he +left the road and visited their agencies, a journey of toil and trouble, +and less welcome if the agent be a stranger. Alaska is widely different. +From its mountainous, Alpine nature, living inland is out of the +question; and the Indians seek the few narrow beaches and low points +scattered here and there through the inland passage as the places +whereon to build their little villages, and these are in as full view to +the passing steamer as New York and Brooklyn are to a boat going up or +down the East river channel. At rarer intervals more extensive plats of +level or rolling land have been found; and at some of these, in +proximity to certain places where business pursuits are carried on, +white men have erected their little towns; and around these, again, the +Indians have clustered their curious cabins in the most friendly way, +giving the greatest access to tourists during even the short time that +vessels stop at the ports to load and unload their freight. At Wrangell, +Sitka, Pyramid Harbor, etc., are to be seen villages of Stickeens, +Sitkas, Chilkats, Kootznahoos, etc., in close juxtaposition. In the +_Polaris_, of Portland, Oregon, under date of November 19, 1881, I find +the following description of the old Stickeen village, just below +Wrangell, from the pen of the Rev. Dr. Lindsley, a well-known divine and +missionary of the Northwest: + +"The next day we went to the site of the old Stickeen town. It was a +beautiful situation, looking out upon the sea, sheltered and with sunny +exposure. In the bay were several islands. One of them was kept sacred +as a burial place. The tombs were visible at a distance. These were +strong boxes raised above the ground for protection, built in the shape +of houses, sometimes painted, and within which the remains are +deposited. We could not but admire the rude taste, as well as the +sentiments which were thus conveyed. The buildings were falling into +decay; but enough remained to impress us with the fact that their +mechanical skill was of no recent origin. The Stickeens have occupied +the site for generations past; and here were immense wooden houses that +might have been standing a century ago, judging from the condition of +the wooden buildings which I had examined on the Atlantic coast, and +which are known to have been erected before the Revolutionary War. Those +buildings were frail; these, built of massive timbers and posts of from +two to three feet in diameter, some round, and others squared. The +planks for the floors were several inches thick. The mortise and tenon +work in the frames joined with accuracy, and other mechanical +contrivances appeared in these structures. All were large, and some +immense. I measured one house sixty by eighty feet. + +[Illustration: T'LINKET BASKET WORK. + +(Made by the Indians of the Inland Passage.)] + +"The domestic life is patriarchal, several families being gathered under +one roof. Genealogies were kept for ages, and honors and distinctions +made hereditary. To mark these, insignia, like a coat-of-arms, were +adopted, and in rude carvings they strove to represent them. I could +decipher, also, the paintings that once figured these upon the posts and +sides of houses. The eagle, the whale, the bear and the otter, and other +animals of sea and land, were the favorites, ofttimes coupled with a +warrior in the attitude of triumph. Gigantic representations of these +family emblems were erected near the house, on posts, twenty to thirty +feet high, covered with carvings of animals, and the devices stained +with permanent pigments of black, red and blue. [See illustration on +page 66, which is the front of a chief's house at Kaigan village.] +Imaginary creatures resembling griffins or dragons, and reminding you of +the mammoth animals that flourished in a distant geological period, were +carved on the posts or pictured on the walls. Raised figures resembling +hieroglyphics and Asiatic alphabets were carved on the inside wall. Some +of the posts containing the family coat-of-arms, thus highly carved and +decorated according to the native taste, were used as receptacles for +the remains of the dead, gathered up after cremation. Great sacredness +was attached to them. To injure one was to insult the family to which it +belonged; to cut one down was an unpardonable offense. + +"The description which I have now given will answer, with some +unimportant differences, for the native houses as they are found +elsewhere." + +Of the readiness of these Indians to give exhibitions of their savage +manners and customs for their visitors,--and which one will seldom see +elsewhere, and never with so little trouble and effort on the +spectator's part,--Dr. Lindsley says: "By previous invitation, the +missionaries and their guests assembled at the house of Tow-ah-att, a +_tyee_, or chief of the Stickeen tribe. An exhibition of manners and +customs had been prepared for us, to show us what Indian life had been. +* * * The insignia on Tow-ah-att's house were the eagle and wolf, +marking the union of two families. A brief address of welcome introduced +the entertainment. Among the customs shown to us by the dramatic +representation, were a warrior with blackened face, with spear and +helmet, and with belt containing a two-edged knife, or dagger; a chief +in full dress made of skins and a robe made of the wool of a mountain +sheep. [For this robe see the illustration on page 81.] Each of these +presented an imposing appearance. After these, masks and effigies +appeared; next, a _potlatch_ dance, in which a large number of the +natives of both sexes engaged. This was followed by dances which were +used only upon notable occasions which might be called sacred or +religious. These dances and the chants were regarded by the natives with +a species of veneration. We were struck with the comparative excellence +of the singing which accompanied these dances, displaying a considerable +amount of culture. Evidently much practice had been bestowed upon the +art, as the large number, young and old, who engaged in them, observed +the musical rests and parts with great precision. A large number of +whites and Indians were present at this entertainment, and the house was +not crowded. Our entertainers observed some formalities which could do +no discredit to the most enlightened assemblies. After an address of +welcome, and short speeches from visitors, one of the chiefs, +Tow-ah-att, delivered a formal discourse." + +Mr. Ivan Petroff, a Russian, of Alaska, who was deputized by the +Superintendent of the United States Census of 1880 to collect statistics +for his report regarding Alaska Territory, finds the following +interesting items regarding the Indian tribes which the tourist will +encounter in his trip to Southeastern Alaska: + +"The outward characteristics of the T'linkit tribe may be enumerated as +follows: The coarse, stiff, coal-black hair, dark eyebrows, but faintly +delineated over the large black eyes full of expression; protruding +cheek bones; thick, full lips (the under lips of the women disfigured by +the custom of inserting round or oval pieces of wood or bone), and the +septum of the men pierced for the purpose of inserting ornaments; +beautiful white teeth; ears pierced not only in the lobes, but all +around the rim. To these may be added the dark color of the skin, a +medium stature, and a proud, erect bearing (this only applies to the +men). The hands of the women are very small, and large feet are rarely +met with. + +"Before their acquaintance with the Russians, the only clothing of the +T'linkits consisted of skins sewed together, which they threw around +their naked bodies without regard to custom or fashion. In addition to +this, they wore, on festive occasions, blankets woven out of the fleeces +of mountain goats. From time immemorial they have possessed the art of +dyeing this material black and yellow by means of charcoal and a kind of +moss called _sekhone_. The patterns of these blankets, wrought in +colors, exhibit an astonishing degree of skill and industry; the hat, +plaited of roots, is also ornamented with figures and representations of +animals. + +"Both men and women paint their faces black and red with charcoal or +soot, and vermilion (cinnabar), which are their favorite colors. They +are mixed with seal oil, and rubbed well into the cuticle; subsequently, +figures and patterns are scratched upon this surface with sticks of +wood. The wealthy T'linkits paint their faces every day, while the +plebeians indulge in this luxury only occasionally. As a rule, the +T'linkits of both sexes go barefooted. + +"The men pierce the partition of the nose, the operation being performed +in early childhood, frequently within a few weeks after birth. In the +aperture thus made a silver ring is sometimes inserted large enough to +cover the mouth; but the poorer individuals insert other articles, such +as feathers, etc. They also pierce the lobes of the ear for the purpose +of inserting shark's teeth, shells, and other ornaments, while through +the holes around the rim of the ear they draw bits of red worsted or +small feathers. Veniaminoff states that each hole in the ear was pierced +in memory of some event or deed. + +"The ornamentation of the under lip of a female (now almost obsolete) +marked an epoch in her life. As long as she remained single she wore +this; but, as soon as she was married, a larger piece of wood or bone +was pressed into the opening, and annually replaced by a still larger +one, the inner side being hollowed out. It was, of course, impossible +for these individuals to close their mouths, the under lip protruding, +distended by the disk of wood or bone. + +"Veniaminoff states that among the T'linkits the married women are +permitted to have what are called 'assistant husbands,' who are +maintained by the wives. Among the T'linkits the office of vice-husband +can only be filled by a brother or near relative of the husband. + +"The T'linkits burn their dead upon funeral pyres, with the exception of +the bodies of shamans, or sorcerers, which are deposited in boxes +elevated on posts. The dead slave is not considered worthy of any +ceremony whatever; his corpse is thrown into the sea like the carcass of +a dog. When a T'linkit dies his relatives prepare a great feast, +inviting a multitude of guests, especially if the deceased has been a +chief or a wealthy member of a clan. The guests are chosen only from a +strange clan; for instance, if the deceased belonged to the Raven clan, +the guests must be from the Wolf clan, and _vice versa_. No certain +time is set for the cremation or for the festivities; this depends +altogether upon the magnitude of the preparations. Poor people who are +unable to defray the cost of such ceremonies, take their dead to some +distant cove or bay, and burn them without any display. When the guests +have assembled and the pyre has been erected, the corpse is carried out +of the village by invited guests, and placed upon the fagots. The pyre +is then ignited in the presence of the relatives; but these latter take +no active part, confining themselves to crying, weeping and howling. On +such occasions many burn their hair, placing the head in the flames; +others cut the hair short, and smear the face with the ashes of the +deceased. When the cremation of the body has been accomplished, the +guests return to the dwelling of the deceased, and seat themselves with +the widow, who belongs to their clan, around the walls of the hut; the +relatives of the deceased then appear with hair burned and cropped, +faces blackened and disfigured, and place themselves within the circle +of guests, sadly leaning upon sticks with bowed heads, and then begin +their funeral dirges with weeping and howling. The guests take up the +song when the relatives are exhausted, and thus the howling is kept up +for four nights in succession, with only a brief interruption for +refreshment. During this period of mourning, if the deceased had been a +chief, or wealthy, the relatives formerly killed one or two slaves, +according to the rank of the dead, in order to give him service in the +other world. At the end of the period of mourning, or on the fourth day +following the cremation, the relatives wash their blackened faces and +paint them with gay colors, at the same time making presents to all the +guests, chiefly to those who assisted in burning the corpse. Then the +guests are feasted again, and the ceremony is at an end. The heir of the +deceased is his sister's son, or, if he has no such relative, a younger +brother. The heir was compelled to marry the widow." + +While I was at Chilkat the chief of the Crow clan was cremated with most +savage ceremonials, no doubt well worth seeing, to which I was invited; +but my preparations for my expedition kept me from accepting the +invitation. + +[Illustration: SITKA, ALASKA.] + +Leaving Killisnoo, we cross Chatham Strait almost at right angles to its +course (or due west), here about ten miles wide, and enter Peril +Straits, about thirty-five miles long. They sweep boldly to the north in +a great arc, and, like all winding and rapidly and alternately widening +and narrowing of the inland channels, they are extremely picturesque, +more from the contrast of different scenes so swiftly changed before +one's eyes, than from anything radically new so presented. The old +Russian name for them was Paboogni (meaning "pernicious") Strait, and +they got this title rather from an incident of appetite than bad +navigation. In the latter part of last century the Russians used to +import the poor Aleuts of the Aleutian Islands, far to the westward, as +mercenaries to fight their battles for them against the T'linkit Indians +of this region; and, while encamped here, they partook of a large number +of mussels, which proved poisonous, killing some, and putting many on +the sick list for that particular campaign. In some of the very +contracted places the tides run with great velocity; but, by taking +advantage of the proper times (which the nearness of Killisnoo on one +side and Sitka on the other makes easy) and a more thorough knowledge of +the few impediments, the dangers to navigation here are now about _nil_. +Once through Peril Straits, we can look out on the Pacific Ocean through +Salisbury Sound for a few minutes before turning southward through a +series of short straits and channels "too numerous to mention;" and +then, after twenty to twenty-five miles of sailing, we come to Sitka, +the capital of the Territory. It is most picturesquely located at the +head of Sitka Sound, through which, looking in a southwest direction, +the Pacific Ocean is plainly visible. Looking in this way, its bay seems +full of pretty little islets, sprinkled all over it, that are almost +invisible as seen from the ocean when approaching, so densely are they +covered with timber, and so exactly like the timbered hills of the +mainland, against which they are thrown. The steamer, after winding its +way through a tortuous channel, finally brings to at a commodious wharf, +with the city before you, which is in strange contrast with the wild, +rugged scenery through which the tourist has been sailing. To our left, +as we pass on to the wharf, is the Indian village of the Sitkas, one of +the largest among the islands of the inland passage. To our front and +right stretch the white settlements of the town. At the large Indian +village, which is near--or, really, part of--Sitka, there are estimated +to gather fully a thousand Indians in the winter time, the summer +finding them partially dispersed over a greater area to gain their +sustenance. These houses are like those described as being near +Wrangell. In one way they have somewhat patterned after white men, in +partitioning off the ends and sides of these large rooms into sleeping +apartments by canvas and cloth drapery. It is said that the most +fiendish ceremonies and diabolical cruelties were practiced at their +"house-warmings," so to speak. Before the white men put a stop to these +ceremonies, a slave was killed, with the greatest cruelties, under each +of the corner uprights; and, as a house could not have less than four of +these, and sometimes had more, by its irregularities, one may +contemplate the suffering with which a large village like that at Sitka +has been baptized. + +In the town proper the Greek Church is the most conspicuous and +interesting object to the tourist, and especially those who have never +seen one of this religion. It is built in the form of a Greek cross, in +plan, and is surmounted by an Oriental dome over the centre, which has +been painted an emerald green color. One wing is used as a chapel, and +contains, besides a curious font, an exquisite painting of the Virgin +and Child, copied from the celebrated picture at Moscow. All the drapery +is of silver, and the halo of gold; so, of the painting itself, nothing +is seen but the faces and background. The chancel, which is raised above +the body of the church, is approached by three broad steps leading to +four doors, two of which are handsomely carved and richly gilded, and +contain four oval and two square _bas reliefs_. Above is a large picture +of the Last Supper, covered, like that of the Madonna, with silver, as +are two others, one on each side of the altar. Across the threshold of +these doors no woman may set her foot, and across the inner ones to the +innermost sanctuary none but the priest himself, or his superiors in the +general Greek Church, or the white Czar, can enter. The doors, however, +usually stand open; and the priest in residence, Father Metropaulski, is +exceedingly courteous to visitors, showing them the costly and +magnificent vestments and the bishop's crown, almost covered with pearls +and amethysts. The ornaments and the candelabra are all of silver, the +walls are hung with portraits of princes and prelates, and the general +effect is rich in the extreme. + +Next to the church in interest--with some visitors, probably, ranking +before it--is the old Muscovite castle on the hill. Here, in days gone +by, the stern Romanoff ruled this land, and Baron Wrangell, one of +Russia's many celebrated Polar explorers, held sway. It is said that it +has been twice destroyed, once by fire and then by an earthquake, but +was again erected with such staunch belongings that it will probably +stand for ages much as it is to-day. It is now used as an office for +United States Government officials, and it has a ball-room and theatre, +with the same old brass chandeliers and huge bronze hinges that adorned +it in its glory. The whole building has a semi-deserted and melancholy +appearance; but it is of exceeding interest, speaking to us as it does +of a grander history, when Sitka was the metropolis of the Pacific coast +of North America, and it was the centre from which such power emanated. +To sentimental tourists I will relate a tradition that has been +published concerning the stern old castle; and, whether it fits the +truth or not, it fits the sombre surroundings of the ancient pile. It +runs, that, when Baron Romanoff was governor, he had living with him an +orphan niece and ward, who, like all orphan nieces in feudal castles, +especially those who figure in tradition, was very beautiful. But, when +the baron commanded her to marry a beautiful prince, who was a guest at +the castle, she refused, having given her heart to a handsome young +lieutenant of the household. The old baron, who, like the rest of his +race in traditional accounts, was an accomplished diplomate, feigning an +interest in the young lieutenant which he did not feel, sent him away on +a short expedition, and in the mean time hurried on the preparations for +the marriage of the unhappy girl to the prince. Deprived of the support +of her lover's counsels and presence, she yielded to the threats of her +uncle, and the ceremony was solemnized. Half an hour after the marriage, +while the rejoicing and the gayety were at their height, the young +lieutenant strode into the ball-room, his travel-stained dress and +haggard appearance contrasting strangely with the glittering costumes +and gay faces of the revelers; and, during the silence which followed +his ominous appearance, he stepped up to the hapless girl, and took her +hand. After gazing for a few moments on the ring the prince had placed +there, he, without a word, and before any one could interfere, drew a +dagger from his belt, and stabbed her to the heart. In the wild +confusion that followed, he escaped from the castle; and, overcome with +grief, unable to live without the one he so fondly loved, yet ruthlessly +murdered, he threw himself into the sea. And now her spirit is seen on +the anniversary of her wedding night, her slender form robed in heavy +silk brocade, pressing her hands on the wound in her heart, the tears +streaming from her eyes. Sometimes, before a severe storm, she makes her +appearance in the little tower at the top of the building once used as a +lighthouse. There she burns a light until dawn for the spirit of her +lover at sea. + +[Illustration: CHANCEL OF THE GREEK CHURCH, SITKA.] + +Almost directly west from Sitka, about fifteen miles distant, is Mount +Edgecumbe, so named by Cook, it having previously been called Mount San +Jacinto by Bodega in 1775, and Mount St. Hyacinth again by La Perouse. +Tchirikov, before all others, I believe, got it chronicled as Mount St. +Lazarus; and it looked as if it would go through the whole calendar of +the saints, and their different national changes, if it had not gotten +pretty firmly rooted as Mount Edgecumbe. It is nearly 3,000 feet above +the level of the sea, and looks like a peak of 5,000 feet cut off by a +huge shaving plane at its present height. This truncated apex is a +crater, said to be, by those who have visited it, some 2,000 feet in +diameter by one-tenth as deep. In the early and middle summer time, the +snow from its table-like crown has partially disappeared, and the bright +red volcanic rock projects in radiating ridges from the white covering +that is disappearing, making a most beautiful crest to a mountain +already picturesque by its singular isolation. When in this condition, +with the western setting sun directly over it, and its golden beams +radiating upward, and the royal red ridges radiating downward, both +thrown against their background of blue sky and water and white snow, it +makes a superb picture that the brush of a Turner could hardly copy, let +alone a feeble pen describe. + +Lieutenant C. E. S. Wood, who visited this portion of Alaska in 1877, +and gave a graphic description of his travels in the _Century Magazine_ +of July, 1882, gives therein the following interesting Indian legend +concerning Mount Edgecumbe: + +"One drowsy eve we saw the peak of Edgecumbe for the last time. The +great truncated cone caught the hues of the sunset, and we could note +the gloom gathering deeper and deeper in the hollow of the crater. Our +Indians were stolidly smoking the tobacco we had given them, and were +resting after the labors of the day with bovine contentment. +Tah-ah-nah-kléck related to us the T'linkit legend of Edgecumbe. + +"A long time ago the earth sank beneath the water, and the water rose +and covered the highest places, so that no man could live. It rained so +hard that it was as if the sea fell from the sky. All was black, and it +became so dark, that no man knew another. Then a few people ran here and +there and made a raft of cedar logs; but nothing could stand against the +white waves, and the raft was broken in two. + +"On one part floated the ancestors of the T'linkits; on the other, the +parents of all other nations. The waters tore them apart, and they never +saw each other again. Now their children are all different, and do not +understand each other. In the black tempest, Chethl was torn from his +sister Ah-gish-áhn-ahkon [The-woman-who-supports-the-earth], Chethl +[symbolized in the osprey] called aloud to her, 'You will never see me +again; but you will hear my voice forever!' Then he became an enormous +bird, and flew to southwest, till no eye could follow him. +Ah-gish-áhn-ahkon climbed above the waters, and reached the summit of +Edgecumbe. The mountain opened, and received her into the bosom of the +earth. That hole [the crater] is where she went down. Ever since that +time she has held the earth above the water. The earth is shaped like +the back of a turtle, and rests on a pillar; Ah-gish-áhn-ahkon holds the +pillar. Evil spirits that wish to destroy mankind seek to overthrow her +and drive her away. The terrible battles are long and fierce in the +lower darkness. Often the pillar rocks and sways in the struggle, and +the earth trembles and seems like to fall; but Ah-gish-áhn-ahkon is good +and strong, so the earth is safe. Chethl lives in the bird +Kunna-Káht-eth; his nest is in the top of the mountain, in the hole +through which his sister disappeared. + +"He carries whales in his claws to this eyrie, and there devours them. +He swoops from his hiding-place, and rides on the edge of the coming +storm. The roaring of the tempest is his voice calling to his sister. He +claps his wings in the peals of thunder, and its rumbling is the +rustling of his pinions. The lightning is the flashing of his eyes." + +Looking inland are the glacier-clad summits of the interior mountains, +Vostovia predominating, where few people, even among the Indians of the +country, have ever been. Taking all its surroundings, it may be well +said, as has been written, that Sitka Bay rivals in scenic beauty its +nearest counterpart, the far-famed Bay of Naples. Near Sitka comes in a +beautiful mountain stream called the Indian river. A most picturesque +road leads out to this rambling brook, and a less frequented trail winds +up its valley; but, if the steamer stops long enough to warrant the +tramp, no one should fail to stroll along its two or three miles of +winding way, embowered in absolutely tropical foliage, so dense and deep +is it. It is the only road worthy of the name in Alaska; and, if one +wends his way through it, and then combines his information acquired +thereby with a view of the Alpine country of this part of the Territory, +he will plainly comprehend why there are no more roads than this +particular one, and feel willing to give full credit to its makers. It +is near the half-way point of the journey, also; and this warrants a +little inshore exercise that can be had at no other stopping place so +well. + +About ten or eleven miles south of Sitka, on the mainland, but protected +seaward by a breakwater of (Necker) islands, is Hot Springs Bay, on +whose shores are springs which give it its name. About six or seven +years before we obtained the Territory, the Russian American Fur +Company, whose headquarters were at Sitka (since Baron Wrangell +established them there in 1832), built a hospital at Hot Springs, which +was said to have had wonderful remedial powers in skin and rheumatic +diseases; but, for some reasons, the place has been abandoned (probably +the lack of government by the United States), and the buildings are +reported to be in a state of decay. The Indians used the waters for +illness, and thus called the attention of the Russians thereto. The +temperature of the water is from 120 to 125 degrees, and it contains a +number of elements held in solution, as sulphur, chlorine, manganese, +sodium and iron, besides combinations of these, and with other elements. +It is worth a visit to see these hot springs, with the thermometer +soaring up above the hundreds; for, in a day or two, by way of strange +contrast, you will be among glaciers and icebergs towering as far in +feet above your head. + +[Illustration: ALASKA'S THOUSAND ISLANDS, AS SEEN FROM SITKA.] + +The only way out of Sitka harbor, without putting to sea, is back +through Peril Straits again; and, passing back, one can hardly realize +that it is the same waterway, so radically different are the views +presented. In the harbor of Sitka is Japonskoi (Japanese) Island, which +may be identified by the captain's chart of the harbor, and which has a +curious history. Here, about eighty years ago, an old Japanese junk, +that had drifted across the sea on the Kuro-Siwo, or Japanese current, +was stranded, and the Russians kindly cared for the castaway sailors who +had survived the dreadful drift, and returned them to their country, +after an experience that is seldom equaled, even in the romantic +accounts of maritime misfortunes. The drifting of Japanese junks, and +those of adjacent countries, is not so infrequent as one would suppose, +and this fact might set the reflective man to thinking as to the +ethnical possibilities accruing therefrom, the settlement of North +America, etc. + +This Kuro-Siwo, or Japanese current,--sometimes called black current, or +Japanese black current, from its hue,--corresponds in many ways to the +Gulf Stream of the Atlantic: like it, its waters are warmed in the +equatorial regions under a vertical sun; and, like it, a great portion +of these waters are carried northward in its flow, and their heat poured +upon the eastern shores of its ocean, till their climate is phenomenally +temperate compared with the western shores in the same parallels. Sitka +is said to have, as a result of facing this current, a mean winter +temperature of a point half way between Baltimore and Washington, or +slightly milder than the winter temperature of Baltimore. It is said to +be no unusual thing to suffer from an ice famine in Sitka. A short way +inland the winters are not so temperate, more snow falling at that +season, while rain characterizes the coast face; but during the summer, +or excursion season, these rains are not unpleasantly frequent. I take +the following from a letter from Sitka, and published in the San +Francisco _Bulletin_ of January 9, 1882, before this country was really +opened to excursionists, although the subject was being discussed, so +much had been heard of this wonderland: + +"The climate, as shown by the meteorological data collected by the +signal service observers, is not of such a disagreeable character as +some would have us believe. The scientific data collected and tabulated +for the year 1881, as shown by the records at Sitka, Chilkoot, Juneau +and Killisnoo, disprove most emphatically the seemingly malicious +assertions in reference to its climate. + + ========================================================================= + |April.|May.|June.|July.|Aug. |Sept.|Oct. |Nov.| Dec. + --------------------+------+----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+----+----- + Mean Temperature | 42.5 |45.4|51.2 | 54.2|56.7 |54. |46.3 |41.8|34.8 + Max. Temperature | 56.5 |61. |65. | 67. |79. |63.8 |57.8 |52.8|44.9 + Min. Temperature | 31. |31. |41. | 43. |43.9 |40.5 |32. |22.5|14. + Total rainfall, | | | | | | | | | + inches | 4.21| 3.1| 1.54| 4.4| 1.98|12.11| 5.04|13.5|10.52 + --------------------+------+----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+----+----- + +"A study of the above data, combined with an actual experience, compels +the writer to admit that the summer weather of Southeastern Alaska is +the most delightful that can be enjoyed throughout the length and +breadth of this vast territory, and throws in the shade all the boasted +claims of many, if not most, of the famous summer resorts in the +'States.' There were only two days during the long, pleasant summer, +that were rendered disagreeable by that feeling of oppressiveness caused +by heat. The nights were cool and pleasant; the days always warm enough +for open windows, through which the invigorating breezes from the +snow-capped mountains or the broad Pacific, would blow at will; the +long, bright days, when the sun disappeared only for a few hours, when +twilight, after sunset, seemed to mingle with the rays of early dawn; +the nights beautified by the dancing beams of the _aurora borealis_, and +the myriad stars that seemed as if hung on invisible threads in the deep +blue firmament. * * In regard to the summer weather, I reiterate that no +one could possibly choose a more delightful place in which to spend a +portion of the heated term than in making a trip through this portion of +the Territory." + +"In Alaska, in midsummer," according to a late letter, "the almost +continuous light of day shines upon bright green slopes, shaded here and +there with dark timber belts, rising up from the deep blue waters. An +endless variety of bright-hued flowers, the hum of insects, and +melodious song of birds, * * * would cause a stranger, suddenly +translated there, to think himself in any country but Alaska."--_Chicago +Herald, 1885._ + +When we are some five or six miles back on our northward way to Peril +Straits, a pretty little bay, on Baronoff Island, is pointed out to us, +on our starboard (by this time all the passengers are able seamen) side, +called Old Harbor, or Starri-Gaven, in Russian. It was there that +Baronoff built his first fort, called the Archangel Gabriel, in 1799, +which, after a number of rapidly recurring vicissitudes, was +annihilated, and its garrison massacred, by the Sitka Indians, three +years later. Baronoff re-established his power at the present site of +Sitka, calling the new place Archangel Michael,--Archangel Gabriel +having failed in his duty as a protector; and from this name it was +called New Archangel, which changed to Sitka with the change of flags in +1867, although American maps had dubbed it Sitka before this. + +Once more in Chatham Strait, with the ship's head pointed northward, we +are on our way to the northernmost recesses of the inland passage, and +with the greatest wonders of our wonderland ahead of us. At its northern +end, Chatham Strait divides into two narrow waterways, Icy Strait +leading off to the west, to the land and waters of glaciers and +icebergs, while Lynn Canal continues broad Chatham to the north. Lynn +Canal is a double-headed inlet, the western arm at its head being called +the Chilkat Inlet, and the eastern arm the Chilkoot Inlet, after two +tribes of T'linkit Indians living on these respective channels. It is a +beautiful sheet of water, more Alpine in character than any yet entered. +Glaciers of blue and emerald ice can be seen almost everywhere, peeping +from underneath the snow-capped mountains and ranges that closely +enclose this well-protected canal, and render it picturesque in the +extreme. Here is the Eagle Glacier on the right, and dozens that have +never been named, and a most massive one (Davison's) on our left, just +as we enter Chilkat Inlet. At the head of Chilkat Inlet is Pyramid +Harbor, so named after an island of pyramidal profile in its waters. It +marks the highest point you will probably reach in the inland passage, +unless Chilkoot Inlet is entered, which is occasionally done. + +[Illustration: CHILKAT BLANKET.] + +We are now in the land of the Chilkats, one of the most aggressive and +arrogant, yet withal industrious and wealthy, Indian tribes of the +T'linkits. It should be remembered that all the Alaskan Indians of the +inland passage (except the Hy-dahs of Dixon Entrance) are bound together +by a common language, called the T'linkit; but having so little else in +sympathy that the sub-tribes often war against each other, these +sub-tribes having separate chiefs, medicine men and countries, in fact, +and being known by different names. We have already spoken of the +Stickeens, Kootznahoos, Sitkas, etc.; and by these names they are known +among the whites of this portion of the Territory, the title T'linkit +being seldom heard. At the salmon cannery, on the west shore, a small +but recently built village of Chilkats is clustered; but, to see them in +"all their glory," the Chilkat river should be ascended to their +principal village of Klukwan. + +Of this country,--the Chilkat and Chilkoot,--Mrs. Eugene S. Willard, the +wife of the missionary presiding at Haines Mission, in Chilkoot Inlet, +and who has resided here a number of years, writes in the _Century +Magazine_, of October, 1885: + +"From Portage Bay (of Chilkoot Inlet) west to the Chilkat river and +southward to the point, lies the largest tract of arable land, so far as +my knowledge goes, in Southeastern Alaska, while the climate does not +differ greatly from that of Pennsylvania * * * Here summer reaches +perfection, never sultry, rarely chilling. * * * In May the world and +the sun wake up together. In his new zeal, we find old Sol up before us +at 2:15 A. M., and he urges us on until 9:45 at night. Even then the +light is only turned down; for the darkest hour is like early summer +twilight, not too dark for reading. + +"From our front door to the pebbly beach below, the wild sweet pea runs +rampant; while under and in and through it spring the luxuriant phlox, +Indian rice, the white-blossomed 'yun-ate,' and wild roses which make +redolent every breath from the bay. Passing out the back door, a few +steps lead us into the dense pine woods, whose solitudes are peopled +with great bears, and owls, and--T'linkit ghosts! while eagles and +ravens soar without number. On one tree alone we counted thirty bald +eagles. These trees are heavily draped with moss, hanging in rich +festoons from every limb; and into the rich carpeting underneath, one's +foot may sink for inches. Here the ferns reach mammoth size, though many +of fairy daintiness are found among the moss; and the devil's walking +stick stands in royal beauty at every turn, with its broad, graceful +leaves, and waxen, red berries. + +"Out again into the sunshine, and we discover meadows of grass and +clover, through which run bright little streams, grown over with +willows, just as at home. And here and there are clumps of trees, so +like the peach and apple, that a lump comes into your throat. But you +lift your eyes, and there beyond is the broad shining of the river, and +above it the ever-present, dream-dispelling peaks of snow, with their +blue ice sliding down and down. * * + +"The Chilkat people long ago gained for themselves the reputation of +being the most fierce and warlike tribe in the Archipelago. Certain it +is, that, between themselves and southern Hy-dah, there is not another +which can compare with them in strength, either as to numbers, +intelligence, physical perfection, or wealth. * * * The children always +belong to their mother, and are of her to-tem. This to-temic relation +is considered closer than that of blood. If the father's and mother's +tribes be at war, the children must take the maternal side, even if +against their father. * * * In very rare cases a woman has two husbands; +oftener we find a man with two wives, even three; but more frequently +met than either is the consecutive wife. + +"The Chilkats are comparatively an industrious people. On the mainland +we have none of the deer which so densely populate the islands, owing, +it is said, to the presence of bears and wolves; but we have the white +mountain goat, which, while it is lamb, is delicious meat. From its +black horns the finest carved spoons are made, and its pelt, when washed +and combed, forms a necessary part of the Indian's bedding and household +furniture. The combings are made by the women into rolls similar to +those made by machinery at home. Then, with a great basket of these +white rolls on one side, and a basket on the other to receive the yarn, +a woman sits on the floor, and, on her bared knee, with her palm, rolls +it into cord. This they dye in most brilliant colors made of roots, +grasses and moss, and of different kinds of bark. + +[Illustration: T'LINKET WAR CANOE.] + +"It is of this yarn that the famous Chilkat dancing-blanket is made. +This is done by the women with great nicety and care. The warp, all +white, is hung from a handsomely carved upright frame. Into it the +bright colors are wrought by means of ivory shuttles. The work is +protected during the tedious course of its manufacture by a covering +resembling oiled silk, made from the dressed intestines of the bear. +Bright striped stockings of this yarn are also knitted on little needles +whittled from wood." + +An illustration of a dancing-blanket is given on page 81. These are made +by several of the T'linkit tribes; but the Chilkats so predominate in +the manufacture, both in numbers and excellence, that you seldom hear +them mentioned in Alaska, except as Chilkat blankets. Nearly all of the +T'linkit tribes, as the tourist will have seen by this time, spend most +of their out-of-door time in the water, in their canoes; and this +constant semi-aquatic life has told on their physical development to the +extent of giving them very dwarfed and illy developed lower limbs, +although the trunk and arms are well developed. When walking, they seem +to shamble along more like an aquatic fowl on land than a human being. +The Chilkats are noticeable exceptions. Although their country is much +more mountainous in appearance than others lower down, yet here are some +of the most accessible of the few mountain passes by which the interior, +a rich fur-bearing district, can be gained. The Chilkats have yearly +taken trading goods from the white men, lashed them into packs of about +a hundred pounds, and carried them on their backs through these +glacier-clad passes, and traded them for furs, bringing them out in the +same way. They monopolized the trade by the simple process of +prohibiting the interior Indians from coming to the sea-coast to trade. +The Chilkats therefore are probably the richest tribe of Indians in the +Northwest, the chief having two houses full of blankets, their standard +of value, at the village of Kluk-wan. + +To those who find their greatest pleasure in a rough, out-of-door life, +let them leave the steamer at this point, hire three or four Indians to +carry their company effects on their backs, and make an Alpine journey +to the head of the Yukon river, where lakes aggregating 150 miles in +length can be passed over in a canoe. The route leads up the Dayay +river, over the Perrier Pass in the Kotusk Mountains. The trip could be +made between visiting steamers, and I will guarantee the persons will +come back with more muscle than they took in. + +Bidding good-bye to the picturesque country of the Chilkats, the +steamer's head is turned south again; and, when just about ready to +leave Lynn Canal, we entered an intricate series of channels bearing +eastward, and which bring us to the great mining town of Juneau, where +many Alaskan hopes are centred. This is what a correspondent of the +Chicago _Times_, under date of February 23, 1885, says of this Alaskan +town and its curious history: + +"The centre from which radiates whatever of excitement and interest +there is in Alaskan mines is Douglas Island. The history of the +discovery of ore near this island, which eventually led to the location +of the present much-talked-of property, is similar to that attending the +finding of most of the large mines in the West. It seems that some +half-dozen years ago two needy and seedy prospectors named Juneau and +Harris arrived at an Indian village that still remains visible on the +shore across the bay from Douglas Island, in search of ore. They +prospected the country as thoroughly as they could, with but little +success, and were about to return home when an Indian said that he knew +where gold existed, and that he would reveal the place for a certain sum +of money. Hardly believing, but yet curious, Harris and Juneau accepted +the offer, and, with their guide, set out on a pilgrimage into the +interior to a spot now known as 'The Basin.' After a long tramp through +the forests, and up a deep valley, the Indian showed them a place where +there were nuggets of free gold and dirt, which, when panned, yielded a +handsome return. Claims were immediately staked out, and the adventurers +began their work in earnest. Later, the fact of the discovery became +known, and other miners entered the valley, and the region gained no +little celebrity, and became the scene of much animation. Four years the +work progressed, and a town, which to-day is of respectable size and +great expectations, was founded, and christened Juneau. + +"The Douglas Island mine is located within fifty yards of the waters of +Juneau Bay, and was discovered by a man named Treadwell, who sold his +claim a year or two ago to a San Francisco company. The new owners set +up a fine stamp-mill to begin with, and made thorough tests of the ore. +It is a 120-stamp mill, the largest in the world, and the company has +refused, it is said, $16,000,000 for the mine." + +[Illustration: T'LINKET CARVED SPOONS. + +(Made from the Horns of Mountain Goats.)] + +Since the above was written, and as late as last August, reports from +there gave the astonishing showing of enough ore in sight to keep the +120-stamp mill "running for a lifetime." The uninitiated in mining +mills, ledges and lodes, may grasp the value of the mine by saying its +output for a twenty-days run of the stamp-mill was $100,000 in gold, or +at the rate of $1,800,000 per year; which, estimating its value on an +income of five per cent. annually, would make the mine worth +$36,000,000, or just five times the amount we paid for the whole +Territory. There is no doubt whatever in the minds of many experts, that +there are a number of such places as the Treadwell mine yet to be found, +the great difficulty of prospecting in the dense, deep mass of fallen +timber covered with wet moss and thick underbrush on the steepest +mountain sides, coupled with the little probability of the Treadwell +being an isolated case in such a uniformly Alpine country, amply +justifying them in coming to such conclusions. A visit to the mines is +one the tourists can readily make. At Juneau we find the Takoo band of +T'linkits in a village near by, where nearly all that has been said +regarding Alaskan Indians may be here repeated. The very curious spoons +they carve from the horns of the mountain goat, which are figured on +page 85, and beautifully woven mats, and the baskets shown on page 68, +may be purchased; and, in leaving a few pieces of silver among them for +their own handiwork, little as it is that we have thus done for them, it +is far more than the extremists of either side in the Indian question +have done, those who would exterminate, or those who would +sentimentalize in print over their wrongs. + +Bidding the mining metropolis of Alaska farewell, our bowsprit is once +more pointed for the Pacific Sea; but, before we reach it, or get quite +to it, we turn northward and enter Glacier Bay, its name signifying its +main attractions. Glaciers, which are great rivers or sheets of ice made +from compacted snows, are functions as much of altitude as of high +latitude; and both unite here, with an air charged with moisture from +the warm Pacific waters, to make the grand glaciers which are to be seen +in this bay. In the immediate vicinity are the Mount St. Elias Alps, a +snowy range which culminates in the well-known peak from which it +derives its name; and, radiating from their flanks, come down these +rivers of ice, reaching the sea-level in the greatest perfection in +Glacier Bay, the largest one of the grand group being the Muir Glacier, +after Professor John Muir, the scientist, of California, who is said to +be the first to discover it. I will give the language of the man who +claims to be the second to arrive upon the scene, and who gives his +account in the St. Louis _Globe-Democrat_, writing from Glacier Bay, +July 14, 1883: + +"When Dick Willoughby told of the great glacier, thirty miles up the +bay, the thud of whose falling ice could be heard and felt at his house, +the captain of the 'Idaho' said he would go there, and took this Dick +Willoughby along to find the place and prove the tale. Away we went +coursing up Glacier Bay, a fleet of 112 little icebergs gayly sailing +out to meet us as we left our anchorage the next morning. Entering into +these unknown and unsurveyed waters, the lead was cast through miles of +bottomless channels; and, when the pilot neared a green and mountainous +little island, he made me an unconditional present of the domain, and +duly entered its bearings on the ship's log. For a summer resort my +island possesses unusual advantages, and I hereby invite all suffering +and perspiring St. Louis to come to that emerald spot in latitude 58 +degrees 29 minutes north, and longitude 135 degrees 52 minutes west from +Greenwich, and enjoy the July temperature of 42 degrees, the whale +fishing, the duck hunting, and a sight of the grandest glacier in the +world. + +"But one white man had ever visited the glacier before us, and he was +the irrepressible geologist and scientist, John Muir, who started out in +an Indian canoe, with a few blankets and some hard-tack, and spent days +scrambling over the icy wastes. Feeling our way along carefully, we cast +anchor beside a grounded iceberg, and the photographers were rowed off +to a small island to take the view of the ship in the midst of that +arctic scenery. Mount Crillon showed his hoary head to us in glimpses +between the clouds; and then, rounding Willoughby Island, which the +owner declares is solid marble of a quality to rival that of Pentelicus +and Carrara, we saw the full front of the great Muir Glacier, where it +dips down and breaks into the sea. At the first breathless glance at +that glorious ice-world, all fancies and dreams were surpassed: the +marvelous beauty of those shining, silvery pinnacles and spires, the +deep blue buttresses, the arches and aisles of that fretted front, +struck one with awe. In all Switzerland there is nothing comparable to +these Alaskan glaciers, where the frozen wastes rise straight from the +sea, and a steamer can go up within an eighth of a mile, and cruise +beside them. Add to the picture of high mountains and snowy glaciers a +sapphire bay scattered over with glittering little icebergs, and nature +can supply nothing more to stir one's soul, to rouse the fancy and +imagination, and enchant the senses. The vastness of this Muir Glacier +is enough alone to overpower one with a sense of the might and strength +of these forces of nature. Dry figures can give one little idea of the +great, desolate stretches of gray ice and snow that slope out of sight +behind the jutting mountains, and the tumbled and broken front forced +down to and into the sea. Although not half of the glacier has been +explored, it is said to extend back 40 miles. + +"What we could know accurately was, that the front of the glacier was +two miles across, and that the ice-wall rose 500 and 1,000 feet from the +water. The lead cast at the point nearest to the icy front gave eighty +fathoms, or 240 feet, of water; and, in the midst of those deep +soundings, icebergs filled with boulders lay grounded with forty feet of +their summits visible above water. At very low tide, there is a +continual crash of falling ice; and, for the half-day we spent beside +this glacier, there was a roar as of artillery every few minutes, when +tons of ice would go thundering down into the water. After the prosaic +matter of lunch had been settled, and we had watched the +practical-minded steward order his men down on the iceberg to cut off a +week's supply with their axes, we embarked in the life-boats, and landed +in a ravine beside the glacier. * * * We wandered at will over the +seamed and ragged surface, the ice cracked under our feet with a +pleasant midwinter sound, and the wind blew keenly from over those +hundreds of miles of glacier fields; but there were the gurgle and +hollow roar of the water heard in every deep crevasse, and trickling +streams spread a silver network in the sunshine. Reluctantly we obeyed +the steamer's whistle, and started back to the boats. + +"A magnificent sunset flooded the sky that night, and filled every icy +ravine with rose and orange lights. At the last view of the glacier, as +we steamed away from it, the whole brow was glorified and transfigured +with the fires of sunset; the blue and silvery pinnacles, the white and +shining front floating dreamlike on a roseate and amber sea, and the +range and circle of dull violet mountains lighting their glowing summits +into a sky flecked with crimson and gold." + +Since the above was written, in July, 1883, Glacier Bay has been one of +the constant visiting points of the excursion steamer, and the +experience of two or three years has shown the company how to exhibit +this great panorama of nature to its patrons to the best advantage, and +one will now be astonished at the ease with which the whole field may +be surveyed in this the most wonderful bay on a line of steamboat +travel. + +Our same correspondent speaks of an unknown passage down which they +traveled in a way that will delight the heart of a Nimrod; but he should +have added that almost half the inland passage is of that character so +far as the general world is wiser concerning it, and half of this, +again, may be wholly unknown, offering one of the finest fields for +short explorations without any of the dangers and difficulties which so +often beset greater undertakings, and rob them of all pleasure while +they are being prosecuted, and only compensating the explorer in the +results attained. Here is what he has to say: + +"For the twenty miles that we had come down the beautiful inlet, the +coast survey charts showed an unbroken stretch of dry land. To the +sportsman that unknown inlet is the dreamed-of paradise. When we went +out in the small boats, salmon and flounders could be seen darting in +schools through the water; and, as we approached the mouth of a creek, +the freshening current was alive with the fish. The stewards who went to +the shore with the tank-boats for fresh water, startled seven deer as +they pushed their way to the foot of a cascade, and the young men caught +thirteen great salmon with their own inexperienced spearing. The captain +of the ship took his rifle, and was rowed away to shallow waters, where +he shot a salmon, waded in, and threw it ashore. While wandering along +after some huge bear tracks, he saw an eagle at work on his salmon, and +another fine shot laid the bird of freedom low. When the captain +returned to the ship he threw the eagle and salmon on deck, and, at the +size of the former, every one marveled. The outspread wings measured the +traditional six feet from tip to tip, and the beak, the claws, and the +huge, stiff feathers were rapidly seized upon as trophies and souvenirs +of the day. A broad double rainbow arched over us as we left the lovely +niche between the mountains, and then we swept back to Icy Straits, and +started out to the open ocean." + +But we will not confine ourselves to the description of one person in +considering this the most fascinating and curious scene presented to the +Alaskan tourists. Grand, even to the extent of being almost appalling, +as are the Alaskan fjords, they are but the Yosemite or Colorado Parks, +with navigable valleys, as they would appear greatly enlarged; much as +we are awestruck at the feet of Mount St. Elias, it is but Tacoma or +Shasta in grander proportions, and so on through the list of scenes we +view: but in the glaciers we have no counterpart that can be viewed from +a steamer's deck, unless the polar zones themselves be invaded; and +here, in fact, we view the grandest sight to be seen in that dreary +zone, without any of its many dangers. Says Professor Denman, of San +Francisco, who has devoted much of his attention to glaciers, and +especially these of Alaska, compared with which he pronounces those to +be seen in Switzerland and other parts of Europe to be "babies:" + +"Muir Glacier is a spectacle whose grandeur can not be described,--a +vast frozen river of ice, ever slowly moving to the sea, and piling the +enormous masses higher between the mountain banks, until their summit +towers hundreds of feet in the air. Where the point of the glacier +pushes out into and overhangs the water, vast fragments breaking apart +every few moments of their own weight, and falling with a thundering +crash into the sea, to float away as enormous icebergs, it affords a +spectacle which can only be understood and appreciated by one who +beholds it with his own eyes. From the summit of Muir Glacier no less +than twenty-nine others are to be seen in various directions, all +grinding and crowding their huge masses toward the sea, a sight which +must certainly be one which few other scenes can equal." + +[Illustration: SCENES AMONG THE ALASKAN GLACIERS. (From Photographs.) + +No. 1 (Top). A Near View of the Terminal Front of the Muir Glacier. No. +2. Looking Seaward from the Surface of the Glacier. No 3. The Excursion +Steamer at the Front of the Glacier. No. 4 (Bottom). On the Great Frozen +Sea; a Near View of the Surface of the Glacier.] + +Says a writer, Mr. Edward Roberts, in the _Overland Monthly_: "I do not +know how wide, nor how long, nor how deep Glacier Bay is. One does not +think of figures and facts when sailing over its waters and enjoying the +novel features. Flood Switzerland, and sail up some of its cañons toward +Mont Blanc, and you will have there another Glacier Bay. But until the +sea-waves wash the feet of that Swiss peak, and until one can sail past +the glaciers of that country, there will never be found a companion bay +to this of Alaska. Norway, with all its ruggedness, has nothing to equal +it; and there is not a mountain in all the ranges of the Rockies which +has the majestic gracefulness of Fairweather Peak, which looks down upon +the bay. + +"Imagine the view we had as we turned out of Lynn Canal and moved into +the ice-strewn waters of the strange place. Above hung the sun, warm and +clear, and lighting up the wide waste of waters till they glistened like +flashing brilliants. Away to the left and right ran sombre forests, and +long stretches of yellow-colored stone, and rocky cliffs that now ran +out into the bay, and, again, rose high and straight from out it. No +villages were in sight; no canoes dotted the waters; but all was +desolate, neglected, still; and cakes of ice, white in the distance and +highly colored nearer to, floated about our ship. And there, in the +northwest, rising so high above the intervening hills that all its +pinnacles, all its gorges, and its deep ravines of moving ice were +visible, was Fairweather, loftiest, whitest, most delicately moulded +peak of all the snowy crests in this north land. From a central spur, +topping all its fellows, lesser heights helped form a range which +stretched for miles across the country, and on whose massive shoulders +lay a mantle of such pure whiteness that the sky above was bluer still +by contrast, and the forests grew doubly dark and drear. All through the +afternoon we sailed toward the glorious beacon, while the air grew +colder every hour, and the ice cakes, hundreds of tons in weight, grew +more numerous as the daylight began to wane. The glaciers of Glacier Bay +are the largest in Alaska. Formed among the highest crags of the +Fairweather range, they gradually deepen and widen as they near the sea, +and end, at last, in massive cliffs of solid ice, often measuring three +hundred feet high, and having a width of several miles. The surface of +the glaciers is rough and billowy, resembling the waves of a troubled +sea frozen into solid blocks of ice at the moment of their wildest +gambols. Constantly pressed forward by the heavy blocks that gradually +slide down the mountain ravines, the great frozen river keeps pressing +seaward, until the action of the waves crumbles away gigantic cakes, +that fall into the waters with a noise like the booming of cannon, and +with a force that sends columns of water high into the air. The scene +was one of arctic splendor,--white, ghostly and cheerless; while the +light was that so often described by visitors to the polar +sea,--uncertain, bluish, and strongly resembling a November twilight in +New England, when the sky is overcast, the trees are bare, and the +clouds are full of snow. Gaining at last a point barely three hundred +yards from the glacier, the ship was stopped short. Before us rose the +towers and solid walls, forming an embankment higher than our mast-head, +and towering upward in dense masses against the leaden sky. Taken to +Switzerland, the glacier of Alaska would cover that country three times +over; for the frozen rivers of our largest purchase are not only fifty +miles in length and three in width, but often twice that distance long +and ten times that distance wide." + +Lieutenant Wood, whom we have quoted before, in speaking of the T'linkit +Indians in the ice, says: "I noticed that, when journeying through the +floating ice in good weather, our Indians would carefully avoid striking +pieces of ice, lest they should offend the Ice Spirit. But, when the Ice +Spirit beset us with peril, they did not hesitate to retaliate by +banging his subjects. After picking our way through the ice for three +days, we came upon a small, temporary camp of Hoonahs, who were seal +hunting. We found little camps of a family or two scattered along both +shores. One of the largest glaciers from Fairweather comes into the bay, +and thus keeps its waters filled with the largest icebergs, even in the +summer season, for which reason the bay is a favorite place for seal +hunting. The seal is the native's meat, drink (the oil is like melted +butter) and clothing. I went seal hunting to learn the art, which +requires care and patience. The hunter, whether on an ice floe or in a +canoe, never moves when the seal is aroused. When the animal is asleep, +or has dived, the hunter darts forward. The spear has a barbed, +detachable head, fastened to the shaft by a plaited line made from +sinew. The line has attached to it a marking buoy, which is merely an +inflated seal's bladder. The young seals are the victims of the T'linkit +boys, who kill them with bow and arrow. These seal hunters used a little +moss and seal oil and some driftwood for fuel. * * * After about forty +miles' travel, we came to a small village of Asónques. They received us +with great hospitality, and, as our canoe had been too small to carry +any shelter, the head man gave me a bed in his own cabin. He had a great +many wives, who busied themselves making me comfortable. The buckskin +re-enforcement of my riding trousers excited childish wonder. I drew +pictures of horses and men separate, and then of men mounted on horses. +Their astonishment over the wonderful animal was greater than their +delight at comprehending the utility of the trousers. The Alaskan women +are childish and pleasant, yet quick-witted, and capable of heartless +vindictiveness. Their authority in all matters is unquestioned. No +bargain is made, no expedition set on foot, without first consulting +the women. Their veto is never disregarded. I bought a silver-fox skin +from Tsatate; but his wife made him return the articles of trade and +recover the skin. In the same way I was perpetually being annoyed by +having to undo bargains because his wife said '_clekh_;' that is, 'no.' +I hired a fellow to take me about thirty miles in his canoe, when my own +crew was tired. He agreed. I paid him the tobacco, and we were about to +start, when his wife came to the beach and stopped him. He quietly +unloaded the canoe and handed me back the tobacco. The whole people are +curious in the matter of trade. I was never sure that I had done with a +bargain; for they claimed and exercised the right to undo a contract at +any time, provided they could return the consideration received. This is +their code among themselves. For example: I met, at the mouth of the +Chilkat, a native trader who had been to Fort Simpson, about six hundred +miles away, and, failing to get as much as he gave in the interior of +Alaska for the skins, was now returning to the interior to find the +first vender, and revoke the whole transaction. + +"From the Asónque village I went, with a party of mountain goat hunters, +up into the Mount St. Elias Alps back of Mount Fairweather,--that is, to +the northeast of that mountain. For this trip our party made elaborate +preparations. We donned belted shirts made of squirrel skins, fur +head-dresses (generally conical), sealskin bootees, fitting very +closely, and laced half way to the knee. We carried spears for +alpenstocks, bows and arrows, raw-hide ropes, and one or two old Hudson +Bay rifles. Ptarmigan were seen on the lower levels where the ground was +bare. The goats kept well up toward the summit, amid the snow fields, +and fed on the grass which sprouted along the edges of melting drifts. +The animal is like a large, white goat, with long, coarse hair and a +heavy coat of silky underfleece. We found a bear that, so far as I know, +is peculiar to this country. It is of a beautiful bluish under-color, +with the tips of the long hairs silvery white. The traders call it 'St. +Elias silver bear.' The skins are not uncommon." This little mountain +trip of Lieutenant Wood's is especially spread before the attention of +those who find in this form of exercise their best recreation from their +regular duties. + +But, however much the tourists may want to dwell amidst the curious and +marvelous scenes of Glacier Bay (and so great has been this demand that +it is contemplated building a summer resort near by, that passengers may +remain over one steamer), yet a time must come when we will have to bid +good-bye to this polar part of our wonderland, and pass on to the next +grand panorama in view. Southeastward out of Glacier Bay into Icy +Straits, and we turn southwestward into Cross Sound, headed for the +Pacific Ocean, and for the first time enter its limitless waters. Cross +Sound was named by Vancouver, in 1778, in honor of the day on which it +was discovered, and is about fifty-five miles long. It corresponds on +the north to the Strait of Juan de Fuca on the south, these two +waterways being the limiting channels north and south of the inland +passage as it connects with the Pacific Ocean. As the Puget Sound +projects much farther to the south from Fuca Strait into the mainland, +hemmed in by snowy peaks, so Lynn Canal, "the Puget Sound of the North," +continues the Sound of the Holy Cross far to the northward, embayed by +glaciers, icebergs, and fields of snow. + +Recently, a trip out of Cross Sound, and northwestward about two hundred +miles along the Pacific coast, has been occasionally added to the scenes +of the inland passage, the new views presented being the Mount St. Elias +Alps, directly facing the Pacific, for the distance noted, and +containing within those limits the greatest number of high and imposing +peaks to be found in any range in the world. The inland passage (by the +use of Peril Straits to Sitka) became so perfect a river-like journey, +absolutely free from sea-sickness, that no one felt like breaking this +delightful trip by a sea journey, in any of its parts, however tempting +the display might be. A trip or two, however, soon convinced the company +that the mildness of the sea during the excursion season would warrant +them in taking it as a part of the journey; and since, as I have said, +it is taken occasionally, I think a short description of it would be +appropriate here. Should the hotel in Glacier Bay, or near vicinity, be +completed soon, it would be a good stopping-point for those who are sure +to feel sea-sick with the least motion of the waves; while, to all +others, the chances for good weather on the Fairweather Grounds, as they +are not inappropriately termed, are very good, and, conjoined with the +grand mountain scenery, should not be missed. Rounding Cape Spencer +(_Punta de Villaluenga_ of old Spanish charts), the northern point of +the Pacific entrance to Cross Sound, the journey out to sea is +commenced; a view about ten to fifteen miles off shore being the best, +or on what is known to the fishermen who here used to pursue the right +whale, "the Fairweather Grounds," being so named, it is said, from +Fairweather peak being in sight of most of it; and this, again, was +named by the indomitable Cook, in 1778, as a monument to the fair +weather he had cruising in sight of the grand old chain, a name which +most tourists may congratulate themselves is well bestowed. + +Almost as soon as Cape Spencer is doubled, the southern spurs of the +Mount St. Elias Alps burst into view, Crillon and Fairweather being +prominent, and the latter easily recognized from our acquaintance with +it from the waters of Glacier Bay. A trip of an hour or two takes us +along a comparatively uninteresting coast, as viewed from "square off +our starboard beam;" but all this time the mind is fixed by the grand +Alpine views we have ahead of us that are slowly developing in plainer +outline here and there as we speed toward them. Soon we are abreast of +Icy Point: while, just beyond it, comes down a glacier to the ocean that +gives about three miles of solid sea-wall of ice, while its source is +lost in the heights covering the bases of the snowy peaks just behind. +The high peak to the right, as we steam by the glacier front, is Mount +La Perouse, named for one of the most daring of France's long list of +explorers, and who lost his life in the interest of geographical +science. His eyes rested on this range of Alpine peaks in 1786, just a +century ago. Its highest point reaches well above 10,000 feet, and its +sides are furrowed with glaciers, one of which is the ice-wall before +our eyes, and which is generally known as the La Perouse Glacier. The +highest peak of all, and on the left of this noble range, is Mount +Crillon, named by La Perouse, in 1786, after the French Minister of the +Marine; while between Crillon and La Perouse is Mount D'Agelet, the +astronomer of that celebrated expedition. Crillon cleaves the air for +16,000 feet above the sea on which we rest, and can be seen for over a +hundred miles to sea. It, too, is surrounded with glaciers, in all +directions from its crown. Crillon and La Perouse are about seven miles +apart, nearly north and south of each other. About fifteen miles +northwest from Crillon is Lituya Peak, 10,000 feet high; and the little +bay opening that we pass, between the two, is the entrance to Lituya +Bay, a sheet of water which La Perouse has pronounced as one of the most +extraordinary in the world for grand scenery, with its glaciers and +Alpine shores. Our steamer will not enter, however; for the passage is +dangerous to even small boats,--one island bearing a monument to the +officers and men of La Perouse's expedition, lost in the tidal wave +which sweeps through the contracted passage like a breaker over a +treacherous bar. Some ten or twelve miles northwest from Lituya Peak is +Mount Fairweather, which bears abreast us after a little over an hour's +run from Lituya Bay. It was named by Cook in 1778, and is generally +considered to be a few hundred feet shorter than Mount Crillon. It is in +every way, by its peculiar isolation from near ridges almost as high as +itself, a much grander peak than Crillon, whose surroundings are not so +good for a fine Alpine display. Fairweather, too, has its frozen rivers +flowing down its sides; but none of them reach the sea, for a low, +wooded country, some three or four miles in width, lies like a glacis at +the seaward side of the St. Elias Alps, for a short distance along this +part of the coast. The sombre, deep green forests add an impressive +feature to the scene, however, lying between the dancing waves below and +the white and blue glacier ice above. Rounding Cape Fairweather, the +coast trends northward; and, as our bowsprit is pointed in the same +direction, directly before us are seen immense glaciers reaching to the +sea. From Cape Fairweather (abreast of Mount Fairweather) to Yakutat Bay +(abreast of Mount Vancouver), no conspicuous peak rears its head above +the grand mountain chain which for nearly a hundred miles lies between +these two Alpine bastions; but nevertheless every hour reveals a new +mountain of 5,000 to 8,000 feet in height, which, if placed anywhere +else, would be held up with national or State pride as a grand +acquisition. Here they are only dwarfed by grander peaks. The glacier +which we are approaching from Cape Fairweather was named, by La Perouse, +_La Grande Plateau_. It is a very low lying glacier, its grade as it +fades away inland being very slight, more like a frozen river than the +precipitous masses of ice which we have been used to seeing. Little is +known of it, beyond the seaward aspect; but it is probably the largest +glacier in Alaska, and the largest in the world, south of the polar +regions themselves. + +Wherever these glaciers reach the sea, or connect with it by draining +rivers,--and all large glaciers, at least, do this,--there is seen a +milky sediment floating in the water, which these "mills of the gods" +grind from the mountain flanks in their slow but rasping course down +their sides. Wherever they find calcareous strata to abrade, the water +is almost milklike in hue for miles around. The glacier of the Grand +Plateau is the last one facing the Pacific itself, as we move northward; +but, where little bays cut back through the flat lands at the foot of +the range, they may reach the glaciers which exist everywhere on the +mountain sides. + +Off the Bay of Yakutat,--a name given it by the resident T'linkit +tribes,--we have our best view of imperial St. Elias, the crowning peak +of this noble range, and the highest mountain in all North +America,--nearly 20,000 feet above the sea-level, and all of this vast +height seemingly springing from the very sea itself. No good picture has +ever been given of it, and no words have ever fully described it. All of +the superlatives of our language have clothed so many lesser peaks that +they fall flat and mentally tasteless in the presence of this Alpine +Titan, rearing his crest among the clouds as if defying description. +This want of words has been felt by so many who have visited the grand +scenery of Alaska, who saw that, in illustrating a fjord here or a +glacier there, they have but duplicated the word-painting of some other +writer describing a puny antagonist, compared with their subject, that I +will give it in the words of one who expresses the idea more closely +than I. It is from the pen of a correspondent in the Kansas City +_Journal_, under date of September 14, 1885. + +"The difficult thing for the tourist to do in regard to Alaska is to +describe what is seen for the general reader. Everything is on such an +immense and massive scale that words are diminutives for expression, +rather than--as travelers have been credited with using them--for +exaggerated descriptions. For example, people cross the continent to +sail for an hour or two among the Thousand Islands of the St. Lawrence, +and word-painting has been exhausted in exaltation of their beauties. +But here is a thousand miles of islands, ranging in size from an acre to +the proportions of a State, covered with evergreen forests of tropical +luxuriance, yet so arctic in their character as to be new to the eye, +and in regard to which botanical nomenclature but confuses and +dissatisfies. And in all this vast extent of mountain scenery, with +summits ranging from one thousand to fifteen thousand feet in height, +there is not enough level land visible to aggregate one prairie county +in Western Missouri or Kansas. Day after day there is a continuous and +unbroken chain of mountain scenery. I can not better impress the +character of the landscape, as seen from a vessel's deck, than to ask +the reader to imagine the parks, valleys, cañons, gorges and depressions +of the Rocky Mountains to be filled with water to the base of the snowy +range, and then take a sail through them from Santa Fé to the northern +line of Montana. Just about what could be seen on such an imaginary +voyage is actually passed through in the sail now completed by our party +of enthusiastic tourists for the past ten days. You may divide the +scenery into parts by the days, and just as it was successively passed +through, and any one of the subdivisions will furnish more grand +combination of mountain and sea than can be seen anywhere on the globe. +It is this vast profusion of scenery, this daily and hourly unrolling of +the panorama, that overwhelms and confuses the observer. It is too great +to be separated into details, and everything is platted on such a +gigantic scale that all former experiences are dwarfed, and the +imagination rejects the adjectives that have heretofore served for other +scenes: to employ them here is only to mislead." + +"As one gentleman, a veteran traveler, remarked to me, as we stood +looking north at the entrance to Glacier Bay, with the St. Elias Alps in +full view, and Mounts Crillon and Fairweather overtopping the +snow-covered peaks of that remarkable range: + +"'You can take just what we see here, and put it down on Switzerland, +and it will hide all there is of mountain scenery in Europe.' And then +he added: 'I have been all over the world; but you are now looking at a +scene that has not its parallel elsewhere on the globe.' + +"I cite this incident, as it is more descriptive, and gives a better +idea of contrast than anything of my own could do, giving, as it does, +to the reader, a conception of the vastness and immensity of the +topographical aspect of the shores of the inland seas through whose +labyrinthine passages we have for ten days past, and for ten days more +to come will be lost to the outside world, where nature reigns +undisturbed and unfretted by the hand of civilization." + +Here, under the solemn influence of Mount St. Elias, and in the +northernmost waters of the greatest ocean of our planet, we turn +southward to repeat in inverse order the things we have seen; or +perchance, as often happens, down a number of new channels, with their +varied scenery, before home is reached again. + +I have given a certain order in which the few ports of Alaska are +visited; but the reader must not for a moment think that this is always +rigidly followed. Sometimes some of them are left for the return +journey, and much depends on the amount of freight, and the number and +character of passengers. In the winter the trips are made wholly with +reference to mails, freight, and the few passengers; but in the spring, +summer, and fall these are wholly subordinate, and the trips are +converted into excursions in the broadest sense of the word. While +thousands of little channels remain almost wholly unexplored, which +probably would make the fortune of excursion companies if transported +elsewhere, yet it is evident that the greater attractions of the great +inland passage have been discovered, and are now shown to the tourists +to the Wonderland of the World. + + FRED'K SCHWATKA. + + * * * * * + + + + +The table below lists all corrections applied to the original text. + + p 5: Glaciers of Alaska -> shift after Glacier Bay + p 9: rock bass, mascalonge -> maskalonge + p 34: Bull river -> Bull River + p 39: it below, or vice versâ -> versa + P 46: and the great light-house -> lighthouse + p 72: SITKA, ALASKA. -> period added + p 85: running for a life-time -> lifetime + p 87: with a pleasant mid-winter -> midwinter + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Wonderland; or Alaska and the Inside +Passage, by Lieut. Frederick Schwatka and John Hyde + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WONDERLAND; OR ALASKA AND *** + +***** This file should be named 36435-8.txt or 36435-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/6/4/3/36435/ + +Produced by Jens Nordmann, Greg Bergquist and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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