Butte semi-weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1886-1890, 1886-06-16
ABOUT ALASKA.
A Butte Man Furnishes q Few In.
teresting ssPOinters."

ttICSGluS 1O1uttISs
Mr.. Emery Valentine, the well-known
ieweler, who recently returned from q trip
to Alaska, was interviewed yesterday by
MINER representative, and furnished some
interesting pointers" in regard to that
much h-discussed Territory
II left Butte several months ago." said
Mr.. Valentine, land travelled to Portland,
Oregon, where engaged cabin passage on
a steamer bound for Juneau. The fare
was $50. The best route from Butte to
Alaska, however, is via Seattle, thence to
Vancouver, en- route to the North. After
leaving Vancouver our steamer stopped at
Nanaimo, or Departure Bay, a coaling
station, and the last point where civiliza.
tion is encountered until Juneau is reached.
The steamers course after leaving Nanimo
is through innumerable crooked channels,
whose water is as smooth as glass and
whose shores are mountains rising perpen-
dicularly to a dizzy height. The scenery is
somewhat changeable, however. On some
OF the undulating hills the brush
and timber is luxuriant and picturesque.
The narrowest of these waterways is Gran
vile Channel. where the hills on either side
can almost be touched by the passengers
who always are on deck as the steamer
warily passes through. The next stopping
place is Fort Tongas, which is the first
port in Alaska. A Government fort,
fish cannery and six white residents are
the objects OF interest at this point. Then
Cape Fox is reached, where handful of
sprinkling Of Cinnamon and
a swarm OF Indians greet the steamer.
Loring Postoffice, on Gigedo Island, is
another hamlet supported by a fish can
merry. and then comes Fort Wrangel, where
the United States revenne cutter ''Patti-
son" is stationed, and where fifty white
residents and an Indian mission are estab.
lished. On the ninth day out from Port.
land the steamer arrives at Juneau, a city
located at a mountain base facing the
south. Juneau has a population OF 900,
OF which 600 are whites and the remainder
Indians. The buildings are Of wood, and
the architecture more mixed than impos.
ing. Juneau boasts of nine general mer.
stores, seventeen saloons, three
drug stores, two hotels and restaurants,
two barber shops, two tinsmiths,
three shoemakers, two saw.mills,
one brewery and one jeweler. Juneau
ls partly dependent for support on
the placer diggings OF the Silver Bow Basin,
located about four miles north of the town.
where $50 men-mostly 1ndians-work for
81 a day. These diggngs, consisting OF
about fifty claims, have teen worked for
Eve years. and are well supplied with water.
Work on them is generally carried on from
the middle Of May till Christmas OF each
year. Douglas Island lies directly opposite
Juneau, being separated by channel OF q
nile in width. There are forty. eight loca.
lions unsurveyed on this island, among
Them the great Leadway mine and mill.
These mines are all on the same vein, but
owned by several parties. TIL. Treadway
mill is a handsome frame structure, con-
tanning 12O stamps, forty eight furnaces
and four roasters, all worked by seven.
oot turbine water wheel, which is supplied
oy fall Of 800 feet. The mercury never
lrops below degrees at Juneau and
Douglas. l did not visit Sitka, but learned
,hat the trip from Juneau to Sitka and re-
5urn occupies five days and the fare is $40.
There are no civil authorities at Juneau,
md one policeman, employed by the mer-
chants, protects the peace OF the town. I
would caution everybody not to 60 to
uneau or any point in Alaska to seek en-
for wages, as it is not to be &C.
cured at living wages. There is plenty OF
'oom up there for prospectors, however,
md life can be comfortably sustained at
low cost. Provisions are
heap, if not cheaper, than they can be pur'
.hased at Butte"