Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1878-05-03
Faeta About AIa.Ln.
tR.v sheldon Jackson, d. D., in Illustrated Chris
tian weekly1

HHeA Aneut Aiaakh,
IR,v. sheldon Jackson, D. D., In Illustrated Chris
tian wseklyl
On the Both of March, 1867, Alaska was
purchased from Russia for 81, 200. 600. On
the 2Sth Of May the purchase was ratified by
the United States Senate, and on the 18th of
October the country became n part of the
United States. As it is the latest of our ter
ritorial acquisitions so it is the least known.
Indeed, the interior regions of the country
away from the Yukon river are rs unknown
as any portion of Africa.
The word Al-akshak means "The Great
Land" and correctly describes the country.
1t is great territorily. From its eastern boun-
Diary to the island of Alton, the extreme
western limit, is two thousand two hundred
miles in an air line.
This island OF Alton, according to Prof.
Guyot is as far west of San Francisco as
Maine is east. Consequently between the ex-
treme east and west of the United States San
Francisco is the middle city.
The coast line of Alaska, following up and
down the bays and inlets according to the
measurements of the United States Coast Sur
vey, is about %, 900 miles, or once around
the globe. Its total area is about as large as
all the United States east of the Mississippi
river and north of the Carolinas and Alabama
1t has the great river Of the United States.
Aht luhon - ONtI l.UNO lllltb lung anu nav
igable for steamers from |, 500 to /, 500 miles.
With a varying width of from one to five
miles along its course, it is seventy miles
across the delta of its FIVE mouths. There
are places along its lower section where il
widens into bays. across which one bank can
not be seen from the other. and at n thousand
miles from its mouth, in places, it is twenty
miles wide. Not rs long as the combined
length of the Missouri and Mississippi it has
n greater volume of water. Larger than the
Ganges of India or the .Ornoco of South
America, it is one of the great rivers of the
world.
An Indian boy accompanying the scientific
party, as he rushed forward to the bank and
caught view of the grand river, threw up
his hands in establishment, eXclaiming, 1T is
not n river: it is sea-" No art of pen or
pencil can give adequate expression of its
vast eNpanse Of waters II was first discov-
cred and explored by Glasunof in 1885 and
by AIalakoff in 1888.
Fort Yukon, north of the Arctic Circle, is
the most remote of the posts of the Hudson
Bay Company. By mistake in calculations
it was founded ON the American side of the
boundary line in 1sI7.
At the time of Mr.. Dall's visit the fort con-
sisted of large house of six rooms for the
commander, large storehouSe, kitchen, four
| blockhouses pierced for muskets, and four
dwelling houses. The employees were mostly
from the north of Scotland. They had a
| chaplain, Rev. Mr. Mcdonald. The supplies
of provisions and goods are brought across
the country, and are said to be two years
in reaching the Yukon from York factory on
| Hudson Bay.
Their annual mail starts from Fort Quincy
on the Red river north of Minnesota, about
the middle of December. The letters for all
the Hudson Bay Company posts in the Great
| North Land are packed into small oblong
boxes and then dashed to dog-sleds. Two
men, one in advance. the other following
the sled drawn by dogs. start on their lonely
| journey towards the North Pole. On they
| plod, day after day, until crossing the north
end of Lake Winnipeg they reach Norway
| House. Here q side dog-mail is sent off to
| Fort York. thousand miles distant on Hud-
son Bay. Again plunging into the wilderness
up the Great Saskatchewan river, a month
brings them to Fort Carleton. Here other
! ide-mails are sent ont. On and on, and on.
through February, and March, and April
and May. that wonderful mail holds its way
steadily to the northwestward until in June,
the little handful of letters is carried into
| Fort Yukon. That mail-carriers curl up in
the snow with their dogs is the annual ro-
nance of the North.
Alaska has the great mountain peak of the
1t is the great island region of the United
States, containing an aggregate area of over
| 81 600 square miles, equal to the size of some
| of our important States. Indeed the North
Pacific coast is so sheltered by islands, that the
| trip of l, 800 miles from Puget Sound to Alas
ka is made by ocean steamers in smooth wa
ter passing through straits and channels be-
| tween the islands and main land.
1t is the great volcanic region. Stretching
l,ln T.1,, d. TO-
Shishaldin, the Akuten, the Makusin, and
sixty-one other volcanoes rear their heads
and ten of them belch out fire and ashes. 1t
| is the great medicinal spring region, that may
| yet become popular places of resort, for GER
tainly there is no pleasanter summer trip than
among the islands to Alaska One of these
springs. Goreloi, is reported to be a vast cal
| dron of surging chemical waters eighteen
miles in circumference.
The seal-tisheries make it valuable pos
session Then the valuable furs of the fox
marten. mink. beaver, otter, and other fur
bearing animals make it worth having. Its
fisheries are worth all it cost. The cod, sal
mon, halibut, herring, and other valuable
| fish of commerce are there in ineXhaustible
| quantities Two firms in San Francisco took
| 800, 600 worth of cod during 1877. Other
| parties are arranging to establish salmon can
neries this coming season.
Its mineral resources will some day attract
large population and prove to the world
that Alaska was no barren purchase.
The greatest surprise in connection with
Alaska is the mild winter climate of the North
Pacific coast peninsula, and islands The
great Japan current of the Pacific that gives
Oregon and California their delightful winter
climate, first strikes the shores of our North
American continent at the western end of the
Aleutian Islands, and imparts its greater heat
to the Alaska coast Consequently, while in
high northern latitude, it yet has a warmer
winter climate than New York city.