The news and herald. (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1877-1900, 1883-09-27
Gliinpses OF Alaska.

Glimpses OF Alaska.
! Three sunny aud beautiful days wer
| spent sailing through tho enchanted islands
with steep mountain sides ana bold rock
| reflected In clear waters, cascades dashln,
down between the pine trees, and lofty
| snow peaks taking On tho delicate glow
and flush of tho late sunset light. The
midnight skies had been dyed with tn,
iiames OF the aurora, and the early sunrise
was dream Of faint and misty colorlns
just before we rounded the point Of
green island one morning and saw tho
before us. Next to Kodiak and Sitka
Wrangell is one of the oldest settle n.entt
III Alaska, and for eighty years has been {
great trading post along the coast. Til
Hudson Bay Company and tho RBsslal
| Government had forts and stations here
and for few years after the purchase O.
Alaska garrison of United States troops
was maintained at Fort Wraugell. al
different counsels prevailed at head
quarters, the troops were withdrawn and
then returned, and after small fortune
had been expended in this abandonment
and restoration of the military, the soldiers
took final leave twelve years ago, and
the block house, stockade, and the log
quarters were given over TO picturesque.
ness and decay.
AS a point Of departure for tho Casiar
mines On the Stickeen river, Wrangell has
maintained Its Importance even after the
Withdrawal Of troops, and the minors and
prospcctors Of the gold region make 1t a
base of supplies in all seasons, and place
for social Information when the snow and
6riun fhnto Hnxuy, ~.
retreats. A few trading stores stragglo
up the main street that runs parallel with
the beach. At one end this thoroughfare
ls guarded by the stockade aud sally-port
OF the old fort, while at the other It gradu-
ally changes into q rambling Indian
village, set with totem posts and fringed
along the water front with long cedar
canoes. Tho Indian houses front directly
on the beach, and behind them are the
grass-grown ruins of the old Russian tort
and its outlying graveyard. The houses
are low and square, built of rough hewn
cedar planks, with few attempts at paint
and outer decorations besides the tall
totems that guard the doorways Of the
chiefs and the other great men. These
totems arc the shrlncs and show places Of
Wrangell, and tho ordinary tourist can
appreciate something Of the great interest
that ethaologists have taken in them. A
pair of especially fine totems were taken
from here IN 1915 and sent to the Centen.
NAL Exposition, and since then they have
occupied a place In the great hall of the
Smithsonian Institute.
The t,,tems of Wrangell are ancient and
weather worn, spotted with moss and
lichens and bearing tufts of grass and
waving bushes in the crevices, and the
hGfFY dim,G5vaa" by tnfss t5Inihg" aid soft.
ening OF the elements. The totems by the
doorways stand forty and sixty feet high;
carved from base to crown with huge,
grotesque faces Of men and animals, the
bear, the whale, the wolf, and tho raven
standing as most prominent among the
heraldlc beasts that represent the great
families of the Thlinkels. Each one of
these faces has o significance equivalent to
the quarte1lngs on the shield Of q noble
family, and mans ancestors and able
ances arc to be read on his totem posts by
all who run. The carving and painting
of the symbolic heads is q work Of savage
skill, and the cost of these poles ls aston
ishing even In this day Of extravaganza In
decorative art. The noble Thllnkct must
first fell his tall cedars and set the artist to
work, and then comes the grand Cere-
mony Of erecting the posts before his
home. a feast is given of all the deli
cacles the Alaska market can afford, and
potlach or gifts of blankets and calico
are given away so generously that tic
totem party often costs as high as 81, OOC
and $4,000. a mans rank and riches arc
considered greater the more he gives away,
and as the blanket is the unit of value, his
wealth and standing increases according as
he tears and distributes blankets on the
occasion of his housc-warming and pole
raising parties. Totems are also erected
over the square-box houses in which they
deposit the ashes Of their cremated dead
and the town abounds in picturesque little
tombs niched in between the houses of thu
living. Surmountcd by fox or whale
once painted in brilliant colors, but nov
toned down by the MOSES, the ferns
tralers, and rank vegetation that rapidly
crceps over and conceals everything II
this moist, temperate climate, the houses
Of the dead are more picture, que thai
those of the living.