St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1885-11-08
LIFE IN ALASKA.
A Member of the New Civil Government
Gives First Impressions Of the
Country.
An Equitable Temperature, Wonderful
Scenery and Land OF Vast
Resources.
rD,,a Ancient Town of Sitka and Some
ofIts Notable and Interesting
Points.
How the Town is Reached---M ais
Once Month--A Newspaper TO
be Established.
Correspondence of the Globe.


STTKA. Alaska, Oct. "A, 1SS5.-The
leave-taking with friends and acquaintance
at St. Paul six weeks ago involved many
promises to write and tell something OF TINS
region of high mountains, deep waters ana
maonifcent distances. Through the me-
dium of the GLOBE l will say to all that
person could scarcely eXaggerate when oe-
scribing the scenery presented Wnen Jour
neying from Puget Sound to Sltka, the
Alaskan capital.
At Port Townsend we took passage on
the steamship Idaho, and were soon there
after steaming across the strait OF Juan del
Fuca, on our way to Victoria, British
Columbia After four hours run the ship
was winding her way into coy bay on the
shore OF Vancouver'S island. where Is SIT
uated the ancient town of Victoria, pleas
ant little city of 16, 600 inhabitants, noted
for its perfect climate, fine drives,
comfortable suburban residences and
its American consul. The chief charac-
teristic of the consul is bombast. His quail
ifcation for the position partly consists III
his distinct recollection of being the son-ln-
law of the late Senator Baker OF Oregon, a
circumstance there is no probability ne VIII
ever forget. He is further qualified IN be-
ing to an eminent degree
WHAT BEN BUTLER BOASTS
of not being accused of. To an American
everything in and about Victoria appears
decidedly English; unless it be the hackmen,
who undoubtedly were educated at Niagara
Falls.
When leaving Victoria the steamer made
she passage northerly through the Gulf OF
Georgia a body of salt water between the
large island of Vancouver and the main
shore of British Columbia. To all, save
single half-dozen, the scenery was new to
Tile ewes of the sixty passengers on board OF
the steamer. who thronged the open deck,
while she ran through narrow passages be-
tween rocky islands, made difficult and eX-
citing by the rapid flowing of the tide.
After passing the nOrtherly point OF
Vancouver the open sea is encountered Tor
distance of thirty miles, when the steamer
enters q grand archipelago of mountainous
Islands continuous for eight hundred miles.
following a serpentine channel between
them and the main lands varying from one
fourth of to five miles in width; walled on
either side by lofty mountains, whose
PERPETUAL sNOW-CLAD PEAKS
tower from q 900 to Is, 900 feet above the
$50 fathoms of water at their base. This
mountainous region has been aptly called the
American Alps. yet descriptive writers
familiar with both scenes agree in the state
less wonderful. One particular group we
passed in plain sight caused the passengers
to exclam with wonder as they gaZed on
their vast magnitude. Towering side by
side for distance of fifty miles or more,
Yying with each other in their aerial
penetration, one of which, named on the
charts Mt. Fairweather, yet presenting
but slightly greater grandeur than Others
adjacent, is thereon marked to be $500
feet high. Rising with steep incline from
the water their sides clothed with ever
green as far up as the timber line, thence is
presented gloomy region of barren rock,
black as night and vast in extent. all OF
which is surmounted by another region
where perpetual glaciers glisten in the sun
light with more than silvery Wilderness.
These scenes are graphically described
In book written by Miss Scidmore, pub
fshed by D. Lathrop & Co., Boston, 1885.
The volume is profusely illustrated and its
pages filled with interesting details concern
ing the country and its native population.
THE MOUNTAIN PEAKS IN ALASKA
are the highest On the continent, if not in
the world. Mt. Elias, 1880 feet; Mt.
Cook, 10000; Mt. Crilon, 49,
300; Mt. Fairweather, 1880. and
many others nearly as high, Alaska con-
tans great volcanic system, some sixty
volcanoes that have been active since its
first settlement by Europeans. 1t is the
great glacier region, some of which are
vastly greater and grander than the glaciers
Of the Alps. On Lynn channel is a glacier
computed to be 1900 feet thick at its lower
projection. In one of the gulches of Mt.
FairWeather is a glacier that extends fifty
miles to the sea. where it ends in perpen-
dcuar wall 800 feet high and eigh miles
nj N
intelligently describe this scenery we will
quote from Miss Scidmore's book:
The mountain range that walls the coast
gives bold and broken front to the main
land, and every one of the 100 islands of
the archipelago is but submerged spot or
peak of the great range. The
YOSEMITE WALLS AND CASCADES
are repeated mile after mile in deep
saltwater channels; the gorges and
canons of Colorado are surpassed;
mountains that tower above Pixies Peak
rise in steep incline from the still level of
the sea, clothed with evergreen forests
dense and impossible as the tangle of
Florida swamp. On her summer trips the
ship runs into the inletS on the main Shore
and anchors before vast glaciers that push
their icy fronts down into the sea- From
another writer | quote: 1.-The labyrinth of
that are in some places less than a quarter
of a mile wide, yet too deep to anchor, the
avalanche cutting broad road from noun
tain top to the waters edge, the beautiful
cascades born of glaciers, or the overflow
of high inland lakes pouring over mountain
precipiceS, or gliding like a silver ribOn
down their sides; the beautiful kaleido-
scopic vistas opening up among the numer-
Gus islets; mountain tops, domed, peaked
and Sculptured by glaciers, all go to make
up scene that
CANNOT BE PLACED ON CANVAS,
or adequately described with words"
These extracts truly represent the scenery
in this region. We saw monster glaciers
wedged in between high mountains, whose
icy walls reached far up the mountain side:
we saw thousands upon thousands of geese,
duck, and other wild fowl lowering over
the waters, and covering the surface of the
bays and inlets. We saw many whales, on
one occasion school of them within one
half mile Of the ship, exposing their huge
backs above the surface, blowing the water
in high columns, and Topping their tails
defantly in our faces. In ludicrous con-
trast to the majestic grandeur of the scene,
was a dude on the upper deck banging
away at a whale with No. 6 shot
That the mountain ranges of Southeastern
Alaska are rich in mineral there is evident
probability. Most every person you meet
has in his pocket specimen that some
body dug out of a mountain. They are
mostly of decomposed quartz, and show
free gold in small nuggets and particles.
On Douglas island is a gold mine with
MISUNDERSTANDING mill in full
operation, which is claimed to be producing
mineral at the rate of 500, 600 per month.
Jones Of Nevada. together with other min
inc CAPITALISTS of San Franciscn Tha