Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1873-02-26
GIT fteeman
MONTPELIER, VT,
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 1873.
A Trip to Alaska.
BY DIR. u. II. MCINTYRE.


say, the real one would be. Dr. Mcintyre is the
General Agent of the Alaska Commercial Company
and has been, since returning from London, where
the Company has an annual sale of seal skins, etc
staying for few weeks in Randolph and Pomfret
He starts on his fourth journey the seal islands,
in Behring'S sea, Thursday of this week. His
capture of the sea-otter and seal
was given without notes, that we have to omit
the most interesting part of his description
On our proposed trip across the continent
we will make but few stops, although day
at Niagara, and one il Chicago, would be
well spent. Beyond the Mississippi, alter
crossing the fertile fields of Iowa and Eastern
Nebraska, we at length come upon the plains
We can now stop looking out of the car
window. drop back in our very comfortable
Pullman car seats and rest our aching necks,
fjr there is nothing of interest TO be seen for
the next two days, unless some stray herd Of
antelopes makes Its appearance near the track
A two days stop is made by most tourists
to visit Salt Lake City, forty miles from the
main line of the railroad but as we are
bound for much longer trip than is gener-
ally taken, we will push ahead around Salt
Lake, and on again to the westward
Near the summit of the Sierra Nevada
Mountains the track runs around the side OF
very high peak, and that very dangerous
lookin. place Is pointed out to us, known as
Cape Horn, where a single mis-step of the
iron horse would send the train down preci-
pice more than twelve hundred feet, and
iuta the river that runs below While pass
iug here some emineat gentleman, on having
his attention called to this place as the train
was running at an uncOmfortably high rate
D.. speed, remarked that he {" appreciated an
oppressive sensation of insecurity But as
the train Oh which we are travelling has
sltely pissed the danger, We shall, after
a5Ju. three hDurs be amply repaid for all
nervousness, by emerging from the snow
drifts All sn)w-shels Of the Sorras, and en-
terin5 one Of the ploAslntest valleys of Cali
fJrni,. o. this l3:h day of February the
wheat IS already Xix or eight inches high.
and the whole tac, of the country bears a
most pleasing asp3cs. Along the line of the
rJld, to-, the various mining operations will
attract our attention, and keep us constantly
boxing out the car windows. until fatigue
from novel sightseeing, AMI the very un-
comfortable heat experienced down about
Sacramento by Elstern travellers, at this sea-
sln Of the year, causes us to settle back in
0ur seats again with a sigh of regret, that
our powers of endurance are limited but
in part repaid by the opportunity to think
Of the wonderful change which five six
hours ride from the bleak summit of the
sa1w-capped mountains to the pleasantest
of verdure- dressed valleys, has brought US
Seven days, when no stops are made to see
sights, to fight with Rocky Mountain snow
drifts, is the schedule time from Vermont to
SIN Francisco The distance is about $500
ing meals and sleeping car, is about Sl75
or for second class about $50
As we are going to Alaska W. make appli-
cation for passage at the Office of the Alaska
Commercial Company. If the salesman is
toj busy to exhibit them, you may here
see s}me very fac furs-skns of the Siberian
Sable perhaps-nOo larger than ones two
palms, and worth at wholesale $50 to $50
each You, gent'emoD, wLo are taking this
inexpensive trip may be able to afford a set
of these fur5 for your wives next year at
cost of $500 to $1,000 for collar and muf.
To make our visit complete and thoroughly
enjoyable. we must wait few days for an
earthquake; one of those delicate vibrations
which does no damage to property, but only
sends down, playfully, loose bricks from
chmneys and c1rnces on the heads of unsus-
pectng strangers. As for the native San
franciscan, he is said to walk the street
with one eye on the cornice and the other on
Tie pavement, with muscles braced ready
for a spring into the middle Of the street
the first premontions of shake.
had the N sfortune to be on the fourth
floor of o.e Of the hotels when the very
heavy shake of October, 1868, Oc Cured,
which you may remember, threw down sew
eraj buildings, frightened out wits, broke
glass, etc Perhaps [ have only need to add
tlat didn't stay IN that room long. Three
hslls of stairs seemed to offer no more OBJ
stlc.e to reaching the street than 50 much
distance on a level flor.
After one OF these earthquakes it is ONE
thing of pleasure to leave town, so We will
prepare for d good spell of sea sickness, and
head our steiner nOrthwArd along the Pa
cihe cast to wards AIaskt. II the journey
be ma le in summer the sea is not generally
- ioI ta MI
an; trip to our first stopping place, Astoria
IN Oregon, at the mouth of the Columbia
rIv,r, a small town founded by John Jacob
Ast)r, of New York, about 1910, and one of
the first fur trading posts on the western
coast. Olr next stop will be at Victoria,
on Vancouvcrs Island, which is, you know,
under the British a ~ Close at hand is the
small sand, San Juan, which the Emperor
Of Germany, as arbitrator bstween our coun-
Try and England, has justawarded to the Uni
ted States and about which we came very near
gong to war with England few years ago
not from any particular value which the
Island represents, but as matter OF prlncl-
pie hot to be g done = out of anything oi
however little value perhaps better illus
trated by the irreverent remark of the boy
IN contemplating his bread very thinly spread
over with butter, that = Ii was not the but
ter he cared about, so much as the way the ole
woman spread it, From Victoria our route
takes US through what are called the inland
passage a distance Of nine hundred miles
'oSltka. These passages are formed by th'
mainland Of the continent on one side, ane
the outlying islands On the other. The,
vary in width from twelve miles to less thar