The Sunday herald and weekly national intelligencer., 1891-12-20
THE WONDERS OF ALASKA.
A MILD CLIMATE AND ABUNDANCE OF
VEGETATION AND GAME.
Pittsburg Dispatch.

Pittsburg Dispatch.
Mr.. j. II. Ferguson has returned after an
absence of eight months spent in the north
western portion of Alaska, and while the
United States Government does not appear to
know how to utilize It's extensive purchase of
$4,000 square miles, or something more than
twelve times the size of Pennsylvania, 1t is
Creditable to this city that a few men have
had the courage to invest $4,000 in survey
ing and prospecting in the Gland of the mid
night sum-
Regarding the trip, Mr.. Ferguson, who was
in charge of the expedition, said: "The object
OF the expedition was the exploration of that
point Of Northwestern Alaska bounded on the
north by Kotzebue Sound, south by Norton
Sound, and west by Behring'S Sea. We char
tered a steam vessel in San Francisco with a
full complement Of mechanics and stores for
years absence. The cabin passengers in
cluded MIR. Ii. s. Maui photographer and
assayer; DR.. Laubthoro, United States deputy
surveyor; G. H. Wallace, superintendent; j.
W. Sanders and two other members of the
expedition and myself. We had about forty
miners and sailors, six horses, q steam launch,
and two portable houses.
"We set sail from San Francisco on Decora-
ton Day, May 80, 1891. After pleasant
voyage of twelve days we touched at Unga
Island for coal, and some of us went on shore
to look at the country and fish and hunt. We
found lakes and streams full of speckled trout,
with rutfled grouse and ptarmgan in abund-
ance on the shores On our arrival at Una
laska we met the United States revenue cut
tiers, Bear and Rush. Leaving there we
steamed for Golovine Bay, and after delight
full trip of four days, ninety-siI hours of un-
intermitting sunshine reached our destination
In the latter part Of June
''Most people get their impressions of
Alaska from the tourist visits made to Sitka
and the surrounding country and imagine in
consequence that Alaska is frozen desert
and that its characteristics are snow, fee, fog,
and mosquitoes l was very agreeably sur
prised when we reached Golovine Bay, near
the entrance to Behring'S Straits, to find grass
in protusion and several varieties Of flowers
and no indications of snow or ice. We
established two town sites ard credit should
be given to some Pittsburgers for the first sur
yeys and ownership Of land in that portion of
Alaska
ut is apparent that the northwestern por-
tion of Alaska owes Its temperate climate to
warmth derived from the so-called Japan cur
rent which touches those shores and exerts it's
its influence rs to 100 miles inland I have
personally explored the country 100 miles into
the interior, and to that distance found abund-
ant vegetation and timber, but am inclined
to think that beyond that limit the country is
barren
"ln order to reach our prospective point
we ascended a river which has been named
Fish River, emptying into the bay in which
we anchored. We had taken a hat-bottomed
stern-wheel steamer with US, and we went up
the river in some barges towed by her. 1
think it one Of the most beautiful rivers l ever
saw, banks we'll wooded for at least seventy
i've miles, water as clear as crystal and bot
tom fine gravel. Even when the river rose in
the fall the water was hardly discolored 1t
is full OF fish, salmon, salmon trout, white
club, and herring. The land also abounds in
small game, swan, geese, ducks, sage-cock,
ruff1ed grouse, and ptarmigan. I could not
at first understand why the flesh Of the birds
was so unusually tender and better than those
we get in the States, but / soon discovered
that the country was literally covered with
blueberies. cranberries, salmon berries, and
strawberries, and in addition, what l never
saw IN the States, the white and red currants
growing wild.
'As another proof Of the mistaken ideas we
have of that country may state that when
we left Golovine Bay, September 26, we had
experienced no really cold weather, had not
seen any snow, and with the exception of
eight or ten days rain we spent as pleasant
summer as you could have In any of the
States.n