The Northern Pacific farmer. [volume] (Wadena, Minn.) 1878-1885, 1885-08-06
IN ALASKA.
How the Land Looks to m Old Scou,
and Miner.

ian Francisco Bulletin.
An old pioneer Californian writes to
friend and former mining partner in
his city, from Granville, Burrard In
ct, B. G. 1t may be said, by way of
preface, that the writer has had a most
extraordinary and varied experience.
About the year 1874, he resided in
one of the then border states of the
west, and was student of medicine,
and in very poor health-suffering
from consumption" the doctors said,
and it was agreed that. nothing would
save him but trip ACROSS the Rocky
Mountains. He Joined party of trap
pers and came through to Oregon in
that year. Afterwards he drifted down
into Mexico, and was hunting Alaches
for the state of Chihuahua. He was
on Mexican SOL when the war COM
menced in 1916, and was brought
close to deaths door with severe at
tack of fever. During his sickness he
was taken care of by an old Mexican
woman, who managed to keep him
hidden from the civil and military au-
thorities till he became convalcscent,
when he eluded the officials and made
his way to the American lines, convey
ing some. important information to Gen.
Taylor. He then entered the spy service
and was kept busy TIL the close of the
war, often running terrible risks.
In 184S he came through to Califor-
MIA with Col. Graham's command. and
encountered the usual viciss:tudes of
miners life in the pioneer days, in the
counties of Calaveras, Tuolumne and
Mariposa. He went north in the first
Frazer river excitement-then to
Cariboo. Returning to California, he
joined an expedition and went to South
America. crossing two ranges Of the
Andes, for the purpose of prospecting
the headWaters of the Amazon. The
enterprise PANIED out rich in hair
breadth escapes from huge serpents,
evil-d sposed wild beasts, venomous
insects and mountain torrents but add
ed nothing to the wealth of the party.
He afterwards tried Arizona, failed,
and then turned his attention to the
frozen north, joining the Russian tele
graph expedition as head explorer, and
subsequently engaged in several pros
pecting excursions under difficult and
dangerous circumstances.
For several years his whereabouts
has not been known to his California
friends till the reception of the letter
above ment oned. After a brief ac-
count of logging camp, where he had
been putting in his time for eighteen
months, he gives a chapter Of his pros
pecting and mining experience in Brit
ish Columbia and Alaska. He went to
the Stickcen or Cassiar mines in 1874,
when he met with an acc:dent-get-
ting his right ann dislocated, in conse-
quence of VIII oh he came to California
for repairs -afterward returning to
Cassar. After two or three seasons
of unsuccessful mining, he took up a
farm near the head of navigation on
the Stickcen. The land proved pro-
ductive, and he had good crops of po,
tatoes, cabbages, turnip5, oats and
barley. Hay was his principal crop.
About the time he was fairly under
way in his agricultural venture, the
mines failed and the packers had to
take the trains out Of the country-ut-
terlv running the hay market, and as
turnips and potatoes would not sell
for money his three years. labor as a
tller of the soil went for nothing, ex-
cept to add to the sum of what he
knew about farming.
He then went to the Alaska mines at
Harrisburg, between Sitka and Chill
cot. There were some very fair placer
mines in this ne;geborhood, along the
SIDE of mountain on the mainland
and also on Douglass Island. but their
extent was very limited, and they were
all taken up before he reached the
place. He writes that the climate in
that region is "horrible -everlastjng
rain and snow" 1t is the worst
place in all Alaska The mines are up
Gastenaut Inlet. The great glaciers
near the coast condense the clouds as
they come up the inlet, so there is rain
or snow nearly all the time.
On Douglass Island there are some
good paying quartz mines, and a big
mill is now being built there.
In the Basin mines, on the mainland,
there is a great deal of galena united
with the gold in quartz, and some
very beautiful specimens have been
found.
The Indians are employed in the
mines and they are good workers.
They are accustomed to the rains and
mind no more about being wet than
beavers and muskrats.
I'm their houses says the writer,
'there is a very strong odor-some-
thing like that of wet dog-rather I'M
pleasant till one gets used to it,
The Indians all along the Alaska
coast get plenty to eat; their bill of
fare including herring, salmon, hall
but, Goldfish, seals and whales. Fine
black tailed deer are very plentiful
along the coast-some of them being
marvels Of fairness. In the woods
there is a great abundance and varie-
ty of berries. The bears get so fat
they ''can hardly get about Noun
tain sheep, marmots, minks, martin,
ermine, weasels, offers, foxes, and all
other fur-bearing animals are plenti-
full Of the feathered tribe there are
geese, ducks, looms and divers and
other water birds, several varieties of
grouse, eagles, hawks, and jay birds.
In summing up his experience in
that territory, he concludes that Alas
ka is a rough looking country, but is
better than it looks. There is an
abundance of mineral wealth, but it is
a hard country to prospect. The gla-
GERS, the fallen trees, the moss, but,
worse than all, the cold rains, are
enough to discourage the stoutest
prospector. Nevertheless, there are
likely to be many important discover
les made, now that the civil law is es-
tablished in the territory. Sometime
in the near future we may expect from
the writer something of interest regard
ing the interior of Alaska.
Flower Gardens.
Chicago News.
The old-fashioned flower garden,
with it's beds of fragrant, struggling