The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1869-09-16
Mr.. Seward Paints Alaska.

Mr.. SEWARD has gone over the sea front
age of his purchase on the Pacific, and
makes great affair of it. Naturally he
would not desire 10 depreciate the advan-
tages and riches Of Alaska. It would be
little excusable in him to color his picture
of it little highly, and this he certainly
has done in speech which he made recent
~ in Oregon after his return from Alaska.
His description of the country is very full
considering the brief time he devoted to it
and how he skinned along the coast. The
coast line of Alaska and its islands is
$4,000 miles, while the coast line of all the
United States outside of Alaska is estima-
ted at only from 10000 to 1900 yet the
area of Alaska and islands is only ST ,000
square miles, while that of the United
States is estimated at from 1858, G6G to
3,230,572 miles. This difference is &C.
counted for by the long, narrow neck o.
southern Alaska and its great number OF
islands.
By the climate of Alaska Mr. SEWARD
is fairly enthuscd. II is cooler in sum
mer and warmer in winter than New York.
There the eagle scars and lumming-
bird fiutters. And yet he admits that the
country is wet and temperature cold during
part of the year. Some visitors have exc
Grated the everlasting moisture, and cold,
saturated earth, which streamcd with
springs, while the atmosphere was damp
and chilly in the last degree, and that a
great part of the year. Mr.. SEWARD con-
fesscs 10 the Inconsistency OF the climate,
facctiously remarking that it was honest,
for it made no pretension TO consistency !!
He puts great faith in the healthness Of
Alaska, saying that manhood exhibits
"activity and energy, while infancy seems
exempt from disease, and age relieved
"from pain" That's Paradise itself
The forests were splendid. No BEAM"
he says, I" or pillar, or spar, or mast, Or
"plank, is ever required in either the land
q or the naval architecture of any civilized
!" State greater in length and width than
" the trees which can be hewn down on the
g coasts of the islands and rivers here, and
" conveyed directly thence by navigation"
lie gives a poor account of the Indians,
considers that they will soon disappear and
their place be taken by white men, and that
Alaska "will become ship-yard for the
supply of all nations And to this
grand possession Mr.. SEWARD is confident
we shall add British Columbia.
In minerals, there are copper and iron,
and coal and gold, al in supcrabundance.
The placer and quartz mines of gold are
worked in some places. Grass is plentiful,
and, of course, horses and cattle. The
wild animals include deer in profusion,
bear of several sorts, mountain sheep,
wolves, foxes, the beaver, the otter, the
mink, the racco0n, marten, ermine, sQuir-
rel, with other fur-bearing animals, which
have so enriched the Hudson's Bay com
pany.
The ice crop failed this year, though large
expectations are based upon that article of
trade. And it is suggested that glaciers
may supply the deficit of the short crop, if
that sort of ice will do. Glaciers and hum
ming birds =" Amt that dainty dish to
set before the King? ?" But there are very
lofty ranges of mountains all through Sitka,
and the glaciers are formed on the sides Of
these mountains. The deep valleys are
probably mild from the shelter afforded by
the mountains, and then the climate is more
gentle on the Pacific than it is on the At
iantic In the same latitude.
Of the sea, such is the variety and album
dance of its products that Mr.. SEWARD
dous.s whether it does not prove that the
sea affords more for the sustenance Of man
than the land. He enumerates the sea
otter, the fur seal, hair seal, and the wal
rus; and the waters are said, furthermore,
to swarm with salmon, cod, and other deli
cions fish.
Now, here is certainly very great mix
tnre, from the humming bird to the seal and
walrus, the inhabitant of the arctic seas.
Alaska extends long way upon the Pa
ciiic coast, and embraces variety of tenn
peratmes. Ii Mir. SEWARD met with the
hnmming-bird anywhere in the neighbor-
hood Of the walrus he must have been
rapidly on his way TO hum The New
York Commercial AdUertiscr, however, fa-
eetiousiy suggests that if We only " follow
$ The eagle and the hunming bird we may
!" yet incorporate al the rest asaar as the
"pele."
Alaska, we doubt not, has many adyan-l