, 1886-06-10
sENSAA NENS.
FoRr WRASGEL, May 50, 1856.

FoHT WRANGEL, May 50, 1856.
Ed ARGUs:-The summer season this
year is very back waEl,. Here it's within
day Of the first Of June AMI the noun
tains still covered with snow. Last year
this time the weather was quite settled
but rains and fogs have prevailed during
the entire month. Business Is rather
duh here at WrangeI. The long looked
for steamer Alaskan" from Port Town
send arrived here the 18th. Notwlih-
standing the lateness Of the season in a
business way, she carried full cargo OF
freight up the Stiklne River. She will
undoubtedly turn out good Investment,
and Will be a great blessing to The
miners up in the northern British
Columbia. The canoe freight charges
from here to the mining region up the
Stikine was, and still is from S45 to $50
per ton. As the distance is only l5O
mixes, the profits awaiting the Alaskan
must be qui satisfactory to her owners.
The steamer Yukon, from Seattle came
in few days later bound for Stil:a.
The Idaho arrived the 23d, bound
north; she went up to Cross Sound and
ChiIkat this trip. which is further north
than usual. The passenger trave! on her
was rather light.
Mr.. Frank Pixley, editor of the S. +.
ArgOnaut, came up on the Ancou or her
last trip, and we can look for something
spicy in that paper.
This season promises to be q big one
in the way of summer excursions. Two
steamers month will make business
brisk.
1t is hard to understand why this
route is not more popular, especially
with Eastern people. Its novelty and
the beautiful scenery re unsurpassed.
The trip through the Straits of Magellan,
so much talked about, does not compare
with it. This route is bound in time to
be very popular as summer excursion
route as it becomes more generally known.
Wrangel is little out of the short way
to Sitka. but its growing Importance
threatens the prestige of Sitka as the i'm
portant settlement in Alaska. The for
mer will always be the big seaport, pos
sessing as fine aud as approachable
harbor as it has, but Wrangel possesses
the advantage in being the port of clear
ance for the mining region of British
Columbia, and being also on the direct
route to Juneau from the states.
The prospeetors have mostly started
out this season already, and the outlook
is good for some important finds in this
region.
The Indians are away from the villages
in summer camp for hunting. Deer are
just beginning to be good. Salmon will
begin to run towards the last of JuAe.
Wild geese and trout are prentiful in this
region, and the month of June viii be a
fine one for sportsmeu.
In the Kygahni country, around the
Prince OF Wales Islands, the natives are
fur-seal hunting, and will be so engaged
till about July 1st, then they begin to
pack salmon or dry it for winters use.
There are authentic and reliable re-
ports from Port Simpson, B. O., and
Hawkan, tJacksonl Alaska, to the effect
that wrcekage has floated in during the
past three months through Dixon's en-
trance, indicating a disaster to some
large sailing ship. From all accounts ii
must settle all doubts as to the fate of
the whaling bark Amethyst. Tubs of
butter, studdipgsail booms, tackles and
a gilt star counter sunk in large circu-
lar disc of wood, painted white, are some
of the reported wreekage recovered. The
butter tubs have branded max on the
head, consisting of letter T resting on
a crescent moon, looking little like an
anchor. Some OF the gear recovered will
soon be forwarded to San Francisco for
Identification.
The Indians here at Wrangel are dying
off very rapidly. Last year the deaths
were l6 per cent of the population, and
births only per cent. At this rate it is
not hard to see the result. immortality
is at the bottom of most If the trouble,
although consumption is the apparent
cause of mortality. The prospects this
year in an agricultural way in this re-
gion are very flattering. Mr.. Young,
who has farm at the north of the
Stikine River, has been expecting a
couple OF horses up by the steamer. The
garden truck raised in this region is
very fine, and with the settling up of this
region, agriculture will receive unduubt-
edly the importance it desires. p.