The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1867-12-16
Alaska.

ulcdllES hulcIlCduo uulil LII d ION hoHIhS
it becomes quite familiar to the nation.
Projects without number are formed with
| reference to trading with and "develop-
ing" Alaska, and in little while some
discovery Of wealth boarded in the bowels
of the earth will be made that will break
the heart of the Russian Emperor with
| regret that he sold it. Still Alaska has
| not been thus far discovered to be para
disc on earth.
An intelligent letter from Sitka Ear-
Dor, of late date, communicates some in
teresting facts, from which we CLEAN the
. following particulars: May, June, July,
January, and FEBRUARY, are the drest
months in the year. All the rest are
rainy, and March intensely so; yet, if it
! exceeds in wetness the month of October,
of which the writer speaks, then it must
| be deluged. He says during seventeen
days they had but one which was sunny, two
cloudy without rain, seven partially and
seven constantly raining. During last
August over twenty-one inches of rain
fell. The meteorological tables show that
for the last fourteen years eighty-five and
two-third inches fell annually. On the
goth of August there fell three inches OF
rain. When the sun does come forth in
the rainy months il is said to be laughable
to sec how all animals, from man down,
bask in its rays. The writer describes Sitka
as the region of incessant storms, dripping
forests, dank masses, dense mud, and
drifting mists-a paradise for ducks and
seagulls. Three Arizona miners, Disguised
with the aridity of that sunny region, aud
yearning for the sight of cloud, came
last June to Sitka. "They arrived in time
to enjoy the delightful humidity of Au-
gust, the rainfall averaging about one
inch daily !" A Celtic sailor, who had
been detailed from the John L. Stephens
to guard the town, returning to that
steamer after four-hour's endurance Of a
piticss storm, vented his Indignation as he
assembled the gangway by the remark,
L" Be Jasus, who bought this country! Ii
wasn't me! -
The Russian records affirm that the
highest point to which the mercury has ever
risen in Sitka was siXty-nine degrees, and
the lowest eighteen degrees above zero.
The temperature varies widely in different
localities. The weather is much colder in
the interior. On the Stikeep river, in the
same latitude as Sitka, but one hundred
and fifty miles from it, the mercury goes
down to thirty degrees below zero; but 1t
is correspondingly warmer IN the sum-
mer, Snow has not for five years
fallen to "a depth Of more than two
feet in Sitka; yet within three miles
of the town there is perpetual snow
at an altitude of h,S00 feet. In Sitka the
snow is soft, and seldom compact enough
for sleighiDg. Among the mountains Of
the main land it reaches depth almost
fabulous. A man who spent winter in
the Stikeen district, 100 miles east of
Sitka, states that an average depth Of
twenty feet Of snow covered the entire
district during the winter. 1t did not dis
appear even from the valleys until the last
of May. On Alaska peninsula and in the
vicinity of Cooks inlet the snow is about
the same as in lower Canada-siX or seven
feet. But in the country further north,
embracing the highlands about the head
waters Of the Kricpak, the average depth
in winter exceeds thirty feet.
Glaciers, of course, must be found in a
country nine-tenths Of whose surface is
covered by perpetual snow. There are
none in the vicinity of Sitka; but one is
seen from the entrance to the harbor to-
ward the northeast, hanging like glove
on the side Of the, mountain, with its
fingers reaching downward. From Stikeen
river to Behring's straits the glaciers ap-
pear ali along the Pacific coast. The
high mountains near Sitka are surrounded
by an atmosphere not cold enough for
glacial phenomena. Their height is not
known. Twenty miles north Of the mouth
OF Stikeen river there are glaciers rival
ling those Of the Alps in magnitude and
beauty. Just below the mouth Of the
Chilcat river there is glacier six miles
wide, and reaching to the top Of the noun
tains, 1000 feet high. The ice reaches
down within 100 feet Of the Pacific has
the blue Alpine color; and a number Of
streams Of water issue from it. These
glaciers wear q dreary grandeur, and have
been observed by navigators for more than
a century.
One of the first enterprises Of the Ame-
ricans was the formation Of an ice COM
pany, who expect to export 10000 tons of
ice annually. Immense deposits Of coal
are believed to exist in Sitka, and prepa-
cations are making for an energetic recon-
noissance, with the view Of finding more
closely what the country is made of.
The population of Sitka is much mixed
up. Many Russians have Indian wives.
they are simple people, and have never
lad anything to do with government, never
having to elect anybody or to concern
themselves with the machinery of govern
ment' that being supplied by the Gar of
Russia. What happy people! On one
SIDE OF Sltka is an Indian village, whose
dwellings are of logs, with hole in the
roof to supply light and let out smoke
they are curious compositions of savage
anu civilized life. The people of sitka
were much distressed that Ill., Ia