Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1888-08-26
WAY OUT IN ALASKA.
How q Tenderfoot Sought Gold in
Our Arctic Territory.
Roseato Romance Of Boundless Wealth
and Magnificent Scenery and tho
Stern Reality of Bacon and Beans
An Hospitable Indian.

An Hospitable Indian.
A writer in the Juneau City Mining Rec
ord gives a graphic description Of expert
ences while in the recent prospecting tour
In Alaska: On the morning Of July 9, he
says, we left Douglas City on the favorite
and fastsailing canoe Hiak, Captain Jim
doth well and favorably known 10 Alaskan
waters) for prospecting trip in Lynn
Canal. As the day was fine and the wind
lair the sail through. GastlneauX, Stephens
passage and Lynn Canal was delightful, as
each one is dotted with little islands, rising
from the waters edge to height of a
thousand feeto or more, whilst the mountains
on the mainland are thousands of feet high,
with ragged peaks not unlike the teeth of
an old-fashioned cross-cut saw, the spaces
between the peaks being flied with glaciers
and the peaks themselves are covered with
perpetual snow. AS l am chee-chaco in
the country chats what my chums call mel,
every thing appeared wild and picturesque,
and as burst out in ordinations of admir-
alton every once in while al the scenery,
they would say: ''Oh, shusksl that amt
nothing; you had ought to see the scenery
on the Yukon
The first night we camped on creek
about thirty miles from Juneau, where our
native told US there was some quartz. We
stayed and examined it, but did not think
enough of it to locate it. The next day we
arrived at our natives illahee las he called
it,, situated at Lynn Canal, and distant about
forty miles from Juneau. 1t is beautiful
bay, filled with many islands and teeming
with fish, from the mighty whale to the tiny
herring, while the woods and mountains are
foil -
grounding and the large and fierce brown
bear.
The Indian who accompanied US is fine
| specimen of his race; he stands over six feet
Ia his bare feet, and weighs over two hun
! dred pounds. He IS a Mormon ia procliv-
/ tiles, for he has a number of wives, who APP
| pear well satisfied with him as their lord
and master, and could see no sign of tho
green-eyed monster. He is bear hunter
by occupation, and an enthusiast in that
line, and many were the stories and hair
breadth escapes he related. l can well be-
ievc he is a good hunter as his larder is
well stocked with fish, flesh and fowl; his
wives were brown, fat and greasy; his
dogs, Of which he had seven, were all in
splendid condition, and that is more than
can be said Of most Indian dogs He told
us the peculiarities of each, and showed US
the many wounds they had received in their
encounters with bruin. He also showed us the
hole where he buried the bears heads, and
there must have been twenty skulls in it /
inquired of him why he did So and he told
me: Bear all same Indian; by and by he
go 70 the happy roofing ground"
AS host he is prince, and right royalty
he treated US to all kinds Of game put up in
Indian style. We had smoked porcupine
put up IN seal oil, and one of our crowd who
pretendS to be an epiCure said it was de-
licious; there We're seals f1ippers cooked in
grease, which were not dissirlilar to pigs
feet; baked ground hog stuffed with mus
sells, which gave the hog a fishy taste and
improved the flavor of the mussels. His
bears head cheese was actually immense,
and there were many more dishes too
numerous to mention. He showed many
kinds Of roots and herbs good for food and
medicine. He also showed his canned hal
ibut, hooks and all Of his dancing outfit.
HIS headSear and mask cost him fifty dol
lars; IL was wild and uncouth, and was
carved out of yellow cedar. 1t had large
nose like a parrots beak, eyes made of
mothcr-of-pearl, mouth which contained
the teeth Of the only siwash doctor on
Noah's ark, ears made from the hide of the
lions whiskers. His hunting knife had
some unique carving on the handle that
represented some Iraian myth the bears
wero afraid of. As a prospector, like many
more following that vocation, l do not con-
slider him success, as we examined many
places that he showed US, but could see
nothing except white and barren quartz
He had other places he wanted to show
us, and we would have gone with him, but
one of the party had an acute attack of in
fammatory rheumatism. The native told
US the extent Of his territory, and said he
expected white men prospecting on his do
main to pay him $3.50 per day for his knowl-
edge and services. He said tho land and |
water belonged to his ancestors from time /
lmmemorial, and be inquired if white men !
owning similar amount of land would al |
low every body on it. His argument brought |
forcibly to our mind the 'bloated bond |
holders of America and the land question
that is now agitating the British Empire,
where Lords, Dukes and Earls are holding
hundreds OF miles square that their ances-
tors acquired by might, while be claims his
by right. The only difference sec between
them and this Indian is that he will be glad
TO see you hunt or fish on his supposed
country, while if you caught a trout in their
waters or shot a pheasant in their woods
you would get about five years.
The next day we travelled against head
wind and a terrible rain, and after getting
drenched TO tho skin we canped 1t would
be very pleasant prospecting IN Alaska
were it not for the rain, head wind and
tides, thick brush and mosquitoes, and
few other little Inconvenience. Then,
again, if | was looking through tourists
eyes from the deck of an ocean steamer,
how romantic the majestic mountains and
rivers, hundreds of miles of pine-clad
shores, and every now and then vast
glacier! Then in smooth, narrow channels
can be seen the mammoth whale, forging
his way along nearly as fast as the steamer,
and every few feet can be seen the shining
silvery sides of beautiful salmon, dis
porting, or trying to escape from some
iuny monster who is trying to catch him
For meal. / saw seal gobbe one in less
han two seconds To me the animals on
such trip remind one of great menagerie,
without having to pay at the door, while the
waters are grand aqjNrium; and take it
altogether, were il not for the stern re-
llity of beans and bacon, a prospecting tour I
7 Alaska is like visiting an ever-changing |
panorama
The True Man Hidden. ,
Love sees the virtues that are of the snul |