The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1876-05-18
Alaska,

The Sec rotary OF War has sent to the
United States Senate some items re-
specting Alaska" which were obtained
by citizen Of Portland, Oregon, Gin a
pleasant conversation" with Capt. J. W.
White, of the revenue maine service
Capt. Whites views of Alaska are more
encouraging than those of other persons
who have seen the Territory.
"1t Alaska was present; count the
fisheries, the turs, the lumber, the mines
of coal, iron and gold, the varieties of
fruits and vegetables that can be raised,
with its political value as military sta
ton. The Yucon River is navigable for
steamers 400 miles. 1t spreads out into
five mouths, inclosing level cottonwood
region or delta of seventy miles, covered
with grass. On Oonalaska the grass is
six to eight feet high, and so thick that
it must be parted to get through. 1t is
so on Kodiak. The small Russian cattle
that live entirely upon it are as fat as
seals. The live on it all the year, need
ing no shelter but the ravines. The wild
pea vines grow six, eight, and even
twelve feet long, furnishing choice food
for stock.
"There are no proper icebergs in those
seas. The warm Japan current divides at
the southwest point of the Aleutian
Islands. part going north through Beh-
rings Straits, which are too shallow for
anything but field-ice to pass, and only a
narrow polar current passes down near the
Asiatic coast, as the one from Greenland
passes down near the Atlantic shore. Ice
floats off the shores in winter and spring,
and soon dissolves with little danger to
shipping. The region is chilly, even in
summer, in the ravlnes hid from the sun,
but parts open to the sun, though frosts
and SHOWS are on the mountains, produce
!uxuriant vegetation, and fruits like
blackberries, larger than the Lawton, and
whOrtleberries, abound in their season.
sounded the shores seven hundred
miles by log northwest of Sitka, and found
the entire length Goldfish bank with
plenty of halibut also). The smaller cod
fish are in the shallower waters, nearer
the shore, of twenty or thirty fathoms, but
the best fisheries are farther out in seventy
or eighty fathoms. For example, one day
when sounding south of Kodiak, wishing
to lay in store of Goldfish, ordered the
sails set back and the lines prepared.
g. had barrel of Puget Sound clans
sailed for me (for bait) I took my lead
line, as large as my thumb, attached five
hooks above the lead, with a clam on
each, and fastened to the davit; soon the
bites-one, two, three, often five-were
felt. threw the line over the pulley and
put four men to pull, and up would come
two, three, and sometimes five cod, weigh
ing thirty to forty pounds apiece. We had
out about twenty lines and caught $50 fish
in two hours. met some fishermen and
n fc1, 60 rkh
instead OF catching the smaller ones of
five to fifteen pounds each near the shore
They replied that deep-water fishing was
too hard work.
II have seen coal-veins over an area
forty by fifty miles, so thick that it seems
one vast bed. 1t has excellent steam quail.
ity; leaves clear white ash. II comes
out in cube blocks, bright and clean. II
does not coke. The quantity seems to be
unlimited. This bed lies northwest OF
oitka, up Cooks inlet or bay, which ex-
tends to nearly sixty-one degrees north
and broadens into sea in some parts. II
is large body of water. Its shores,
though in part mountainous, reveal val
leys and plains and forests with large and
various resources.
"The Kalosh are q race of Indians,
shreWd and Warllke, who live on the main.
land mostly of Alaska proper You must
show your power and they will respect
you and do what you say, or what they
agree to do, exactly. When some of them
came on deck I showed them over the
ship. They watched everything, and a
little loosely said, Our guns are better
than yours They had Hudson's Bay
smooth bore muskets. said, All, we'll.
II ordered a gun set, put in shell,
and aimed at clay bank on the face OF
an island one and half miles off. /
knew the distance, having been sounding
it recently. The shell hit within ten feel
of the center, scattering the dust and dirt.
At first the smoke hid the object and thew
laughed at the failure; but as it cleared
and they saw the dust fly, they threw up
their hands in wonder and made no more
Jokes about my guns.
II was sent to Alaska by the Govern.
ment to reconnoiter, protect its interests
and make surveys, and was there in 1867.
'68, and go. l found four or i've fun
companies, Messrs. Hutchinson, Kohl &
Co. among them, killing seals on those
Islands as fast as they could hire the
Aleuts to do it. One Eastern firm,
who were too religious to work on
the Sabbath, did, with others, sell