North Iowa times. [volume] (McGregor, Iowa) 1867-current, 1869-04-14
Life In Alaska.
From Harper's Magazine for April

From Harpci's Magazine for April
One can hardly imagine the rapidity
with which summer comes on in this regl.
on. On the 9th OF May the river was full
of ice. Ten days after the so.vagers had to
Law bv during the MONDAY heat. The
thermometer then stood at eighty degrees
in the shade. On the 9th Of June the
Americans parted with their Russian CON-
panions. On the 23d they reached Fort
Yukon, having rowed and tackled six hun
bred miles against a swift current. The
trip lasted twcnty-ninc days, out OF which
they had laid by only three. A few weeks
later they descended the same space, hay
ing the current with them, in seven days.
They remained at Yukon until the Sth
Of July, being NEST he .,itab' y entert lined.
The fort had quite civilized look. There
were freshly p!astcrcd walls, glazed vim
dows and open fire places, magazines,
stores, fur-room and ice~wcll Camped
around were quite five hundred Indians,
who had come there to trade. Some wore
their native costomes of skins; others
were tricked out in coats and shirts of CIV
ilized people. One old chief, known as
''Red Leggings," was gorgeous in a scarlet
coat, with brass buttons and epaulets.
The Indians were of many tribes. There
were, for example, "Foolish Folks
'Wood Folks" ''Birchbark Folks" "Rat
Folks" and ''IIill Folks"
The fur room of @ fort was a rare
sight. From the beams hung marten skins
by the thousand, while the cheaper kinds
Of furs were lying upon the floor in huge
heaps. There was fair supply of the
silver gray and black fox. There is story
that one unlucky employee of the company
bou ght the skin of white fox, which had
been cunningly dyed black, paying more
pounds than he should have paid shillings;
the overplus was deducted from his salary.
"Skins' are the currency Of Fort Yukon.
The unit is a beaver skin, estimated at
about half dollar. Two martens count
as one beaver and so on.
The one thing which strikes the reader
mt once, and which confirms what is told
by Richardson, Kane, Hall and all other
Attic explorers, is the superabundance of
animal life existing in these northern re-
gions. Strange as it may seem, tropical
and semi>tropical regions are almost bare
of living creatures. Strain and his party
wandered for weeks through the thick for
ests of Central America, never seeing an
animal or rarely bird and as far as one
can judge the rivers seem almost destitute
of fish. But life abounds in the Attic re-
gions. The rivers swarm with fish almost
begging to be caught. The Kamchatdales
have reindeer by the thousand. Whymper
and his friends, during their brief stay at
Nulato bought the skins of 500 white
hares, which were used to cover their
blankets. The Indians had caught them
and appropriated the meat to their own
use. Moose meat, varied by beaver, is the
standing food of tn $50 who have got tired
Of salmon and such like fish. The delicacies
are a moose's nose and beavers tail.
RUNNING Our OF MEETING.-Lorenzo
Dow is reported to have stopped persons
leaving his meeting by requesting "ali
who had holes in the heels of their stock
ings to 90 then or stay through" A SINH
lar instance, though more truthful and in
better taste, is given in the history of
phineas Rice, a Methodist itinerant =
While he was stationed in one of the New
young people, of both sexes, were accus-
Of the evening service. 1t annoyed him.
and he determined to stop it. The next
Sabbath evening before he commenced lJls
SeTmOO, uc Sdiu, SOHe VI my UTctucIcH
have been greatly affected that so many
Young women leave church before tie SER
vice is through. But tell them that they
ought not to feel so, for doubtless most of
those that 20 out are young women who
live at service, ard their mistresses require
them to be in at nine O'Clock; and the
young men have to go out to wait upon
them home; so hereafter, when these
young women leave church before the SER
vice is over you will understand who they
are, and not feel badly about it, The
brother who gave me this fact said We
were no more annoyed after this; they
either stayed away, or stayed till the meet
ing was closed"
Our friends in Canada will doubtless be