The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1880-12-02
New York Times.l

New York Timesl
Commander l.. II. Beardslee, OF the
United States sl0op-of- jamestown. who
was stationed in the Territory Of Alaska
from June. 1879, to September last. is pay
ing a short visit TO this city. He gives some
Interesting facts connected with the most
northern OF our possessions, and in an in
ieIview with Times reporter the other
day said:
"Tbe interest shown bv the people gene
rally in Alaska and the ignorance concern
ing 1t are in an inyer-e ratio. The idea Is
generally entertained that 1t is cold. bar
req region. unfit for the habitation of white
people. This Is very nearly true OF North
west Alaska, which has been thoroughly
described by Captain Hooper, OF the Cor
win. hut Southeast Alaska, where all our
settlements and interests are located, Is TO
all lntents and purposes different country.
IL lies between the Arciic and North Tenn
perate zones, and
THE CLIMATE IS MILD AND UNIFORM.
The avcrage temperature for the year, as
shown by the Thermometer, is 43o. ranging
from $50 below zero in winter to 900 m sum.
mer. Excluding last winter. which was an
exceptionally cold season all over the Pa
snow on The level at the points where The
villages are located for the last forty-eight
wears, and this snow has never lasted more
than a week at a time. In The neghborhood
OF Sitka, and also on the terminal
moraines Of glaciers along Chatham
Straits, there are many thousands Of
acres OF land which can be cultivated
TO advantage. The timothy grass and
wild barley grow on these lands now, reach
ing TO height OF five or six feet, and are
30 dense that it makes tbicktt which 1t IL
difficult TO penetrate in some places. The
Uoonah Indians OF Cross Sound, the KOolZ'
noos ou Admiralty Island, and those in the
neighborhoOd Of Sitka. cultivate potatoes,
cabbaees, turnips, and crosses, but with no
very remarkable success. They are per-
fectly ignorant of agricultural methods, ana
sow their potatoes broadcast, as they WOuld
grain, leaving them until fall without the
least cultivation. The result is the small
watery walnuts,' as Mr.. Elliott has dubbed
them.
THE FOREIGNERS.
however, have, by means OF drainage and
proper cultivation, succeeded Tor some
wears past in raising in the vicinity OF ShKa
and Fort Wrangell good crops Of excellent
peach-blowand early-rose potatoes, cabbage'
weighing from fifteen 10 eighteen pounds,
lettuce, beets, turnips, cauiihowcrs weigh
ine from five TO eight pounds, and few
other vegetables. These crops are repro
duced annually from seed produced from
the same ground the year before. They arr
i'm all respects a. good as any YrgetaOl'
raised on the American continent
Commander Beardslee showed the re
nor,er n specimen of the early-rose potato
produced In Alaska. 1t is about four incbe'
long, two inches wide, and nearly oval il
form. II was one O! TWO thirds OF basket
fuI taken from single bill AT Fort Wran
pell on The 18Th of September, aud some
them. commander .Beardslec said, were o
double its size.
"THE MOUNTAINS"
he continued, (which skirt the coast o
Sitka are covered with dense growth
evergreen timber, such as ldrcO, spruce
bemlock, pine, and yellow cedars. Wlfnit
five miles OF Siika are acres OF spruce
and hemlock, from which logs 1oui
feet in thickness can be cut, am
which will furnish from 1000 TO 0,OO'
feet Of lumber TO each tree. This limbe
7 consider one Of the great resources OF
Alaska in the future. The time mus
eventually come when the mills on Puge
Snnnd. which are turning out lumber at th'
rate of 100000 feet day, VIII EXHAUST ln'
supDly from the forests OF Oregon ant
Washington Territory, and then this grea
Alaskan resourCt is coming into play. TIL
fishing resources 4 the Territory are almos
ineyhaustible. There are banks within
mile or Two from The shore, covered WIN
from five TO ten faboms OF water, wher
~, and cD0
fish is the time necessarily consumed II
hauling them from the water INTO the ooa'
THE FISHING GROUNDS
extend away up north INTO the lceDefgs
The cod are principally caught in the Gu'
of Alaska, where the water Is cOmparatlNei
warm. while The balibut must be sought II
the colder water OF the ocean. Anotner o
ltbe great resources OF Ala-ka is the fur trade
One animal aone-the fur seal>. nearly all o
which are killed at the Prybii IL Islands. o
ltbe mouth OF Behring Straits-pays to To
Government 5000, 900 annually. The com
mission is 80 on each skin, and the numDe
allowed TO be killed is limited to l0O,O an
nualIy. Only the young bulls are killed
and this number has no diminishing enel
on the stock from year to year. The suppi
is practically InexhaIslible.
.tWbat are the mine ralogical resources
, tho Territory Yv asked the reporter. "Jha
: is as vet a problem. A great number Q
: hedges OF auriferous quartz have been iounC
which have yielded valuable assays, but no
l.odv can know how deep they 90 or nov
, much there is OF them until somebody
! willing 10 risk 100000 10 thoroughly az
velon one of the ledges. Veins OF silve
have been found in certain granite mus
: snecimens of The ore OF which have pee
assaved in San Francisco aud found
Weld from 200 10 $50 ounces TO the tor
All we know OF
THE MINES,
however. is from the surface, and woul
not advise anybody to go 10 Alaska to local
n pold-or slyer-nine until capital has bee
, nsed there 10 discover how deep the ledge
, extend" ,,,.
with regard to the inhabitants OF Alask;
Commander Beal dslee says that In May 'ai
there were 453 white men at Sitka an
about 200 at Fort Wraugell. There al
also obopt 1000 COMMITMENTS OF the Gree
, Church, descendants OF the Russians wh
J went TO Alaska one hundred and forty year
aoo and intermarried with the natives
the Aleulian Islands. They call themsely'
white. and have strlyen hard TO get the IL
; dian blood out OF their veins by intermari.
: Ifnc only among themselves or WIN pul
: whites. These people are made citizens
!, the United States by the treaty which eede
Alaska 10 us. The coast Indians OF Alask
; who are principally Chilcats a9d Chile rot
peremptorily refused, up to a'year ago,
|, allow white men to penetrate to The interlo
= aud 1t was considered dangerous TO unde
80 .Yah On ayna1,tinn During the ll