The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1884-06-28
INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT ALASKA.
A Faithful Report of the Actual Condition
of the Territory-The New Government
San Francisco Letter.


of the government for appointment to the Offices
created by the Alaska bill was to be expected
To people in the Eastern States Alaska is terra
incognita, and if not literally land overlooking
with milk and honey, ii is in imagination a re
! gion in which great fortunes are to be made af-
! ter the manner and methods of the Alaska Com
mercial Company The establishment of a much
needed provisional Territorial government for
Alaska is undoubtedly directing much attention
to the Territory. few observations upon the
actual condition and resources of southeastern
Alaska and the probable effect of the new legis
lation in its favor may perhaps be useful.
| Although the powers of the new government
extend over the whole of the vast territory of
Alaska, and over thousands of square miles
which have never been trodden by the foot of
white man, their Immediate application is prac-
ticaly limited to the district of southern Alaska
which includes strip of the main land thirty
miles wide, beginning at the parallel of 547 40'
north latitude and following the trend of the
coast line to CO. 80 and to the l4lst meridian of
west longitude. This strip of territory is of lit
tie known value except at one point,
namely, ut the mining district of Harris
burg, JUNEAU, or Takou, as it is indiferently
called, where is situated the only white settle
ment on the mainland Of southeastern Alaska.
Between this thirty mile strip of mainland and
the Pacific ocean, and following the coast line
northerly and westward, lie the numerous
| islands of the Alexander archipelago, which,
with their surrounding waters, are the most val
| uable of our possessions in southeastern Alaska.
| The largest of the 100 islands of the archi-
| pelago are Prince of Wales Baronoff, kon, Ad-
miralty, Kapreanoif, Revila, Gigedo Chicagoff,
and Etoliu They are all surrounded and in
| dented by navigable waters. which literally
| teen with food fish-halibut, salmon, cod and
| herring being found in almost fabulous album
dance, and in the greatest perfection.
| The land is covered with dense growth of
| timber, principally yellow cedar and a superior
! quality of spruce both of which occasionally
| grow to Dimensions of size sufficient to be
worked into valuable lumber. Trees that are
worth Telling for the mill are, however, excep-
tional, and those who believe that in the forests
of the Alaskan islands we have a grand reserve
| of timber, to be drawn from when the forests
| OF Washington Territory are exhausted, will be
| g1ievously disappointed Three fouIths of the
4 timber of the Alaskan forests is worthless -eX-
cept for fuel. The soil upon the rocky mountain
| slopes is very thin, and the larger islands are
! simply Mounting rising sheer up from the in
land seas, with but few and small areas of flat or
| valley land on the margin of the bays and rivers
| 1t is no unusual sight to see patches, covering
scores of acres, of dead trees uprooted and
| FRUSTRATED by the wind while mile after mile of
! standing trees which have run up to thirty and
| forty feet in height and dead for lack of noul-
| ishment, mars the beauty of the mountain
| scenery one sails past it.
| The white settlements in southeastern Alaska
| are few in number and scaut in residents Sitka,
| formerly the capital of Russian America, and
! the headquarters of the Russian-AinePican Fur
| Company, is continued as the American capital
| of the Territory, though it is ineonveniently
| situated upon the western shore of Baronof-on
1 harbor open to the Swes of the Pacific ocean.
mo 1fflI1 cfrac
| the town. 1t is off the inland route of trade
and travel, and subsists solely upon government
! support ia the shHpe of United States ship of
war, which, Is usually found at anchor in the har
| bor When a naval commander, in pursuance
of his plain and obvious duty TO visit other set
| Elements in Alaska, departs with his ship from
! the harbor of Sitka howl of Indignation and
4 remoastranee is heard from the traders and
| saloon keepers, and the old decaying town falls
! back into u season of dulness and inactivity,
/ compared with which deserted mining camp in
California is gay and lively residence. Sitkast
| has among its citizens u few old Russian pen
| sioners, who drag out purposeless existence
| having no occupation and but paltry pittance
| upon which to support their useless lives. 1t
! has a Russian church, with an officiating
priest supported by the Russian government,
and three or four respectable but needy Rus
sian families, and cosmopolitan collection of
twenty two white men-missonares, saloon
keepers and tr7lders-and nine white women
| The next best known town is Fort Wrangel,
L
| the principal river of Southeastern Alaska.
| Wrangel has grown up, eliminated and fallen
! into decay since the purchase of the Territory,
| in 1867, when company of the United States
army was stationed there and a custom house
| established It soon after was forced into some
/ Importance by the discovery of gold placer dig
gings at Cassiac, British Columbia. AS these
plaeers could be reached only by way OF the
Stickeen river, all the supplies for the miners,
who hocked there from Cariboo and California
had to pass through Wrangel. Light-draught
| steamboats, were sent up from Victoria to ply up
the river, and 1t was no unusual sight to two
or three ocean steamers and as many river steam
| boats in Wrangel harbor, discharging and load
| ing cargo. The winter climate at Cassiac being
/ very severe, and the snow and ice interfering
with mining and with the transportation of
supplies up the river, hundreds Of miners came
| down and wintered at Wrangel. large village
| of cheap and shabby houses soon grew up, and
| in the winters of 1876, 1877 and 1878 Wrangel
could boast of white population of 500 to 1000
men. After those years the production of the
Cassiac plaeers diminished, the miners left the
country, and with their exodus departed the
mushroom prosperity of Fort Wrangel The
shabby houses grew more shabby, ard are now
rotting to pieces, while the white resident popu-
laton has dwindled down to twenty-three men
and five women, including missionaries A saw
mill is now being erected at Wrangel, and one
and perhaps two ish-packing houses are prepar-
ing for work. IL is upon these industries.
coupled with moderate Indian trade that the
citizens of Wrangel must hereafter depend for
livelihood
By far the most important and promising of
all the settlements in Alaska is the mining
camp of Harrisburg Juinean- Gold was
found there in 1880, and camp was soon made
up of miners from Sitka, Wrangel, Cassiac,
and other places. Placer dggings were oc-
cupied and worked, and to the present time
have yielded profitable but not extravagant re
turns Quartz claims were located and recorded,
but for lack of capital in the camp and the
dissemination of outsiders to invest money in
| the Territory, and in the absence of all legal
| protection to their property, nothing has been
| done toward developing these claims. The
| quartz CLAIMS, placer diggings, and town are
| upon the mainland Directly opposite across
! island to which prospcetors who arrive at Har-
risburg too late to locate claims upon the main