Wood River times. [volume] (Hailey, Idaho) 1882-1915, 1892-03-25

his south wcstern section of Alaska,
and one that can only be appreciated
by the explorer or hardy frontiersman,
is the ease and pleasure with which one
can travel the coast waters, only to
Ilrnge into the toughest OF ''roughing
t, as soon as these are left ,and the AL
p ne interior essayed.
On board the Topeka was the New
York Ledger Alaskan expedition that
had this prospect ahead Of it, the SUBJ
scribcr bsing in command. One OF our
main objects was to cover as much UNI
expl, red country as possible, in any di-
| II .t.t II, yet Il general plan had been
form cd to follow my old explorations Of
| 1857 10, or near, the Pelly and Yukon
river confluence, and there begin the
| work into the unknown interior west
| Wa and southwestward.
We had occasion to change this plan
SO us to cover more unexplored country
than usual. 1t came about by discus
sing new and UNEMPLOYED route
| lively metropolis OF our distant
colony, 1.-The largest city in the largest
territory in the largest republic in the
wo.iu, as they used to periodically
r.v IL. 1t was to go over what was
called the TahlSu trail that led to q
,rge lake in the interior, and by its
] draining river. gain the Yukon, where
joined my old trail of 1883, and could
then carry out the program as pre-
viously planned. 1t was believed IN
available commercial trail light be
OF, ned this way, that, with Juneau as q
basis, could be made to supply the
Yukon valley even to Behring sea,
better than by any known route, while
1t would be no small feather in the cap
of the New York Ledger expedition, to
be able to do this preliminary pioneer
ing This belief was founded on in
formation obtained from the interior
Indians when bringing out their furs,
and from prospcctors who had searched
this general line for precious minerals.
1t might he, also, that the present
Yukon traffic would not pay, while the
future might, and it was we'll to be
prepared with the information. The
many other reasons for or against this
trail can be made clearer as we travel
, over it later. When we arrived in jun
eau corresponding interest was soon
worked up by those on the steamer, the
citizens p'edging everything they could
to make the enterprise II success, and
SO we disen hrked here.
The first point We touched in Alaska
was Tongass. After Tongass, we
meet nothing but salmon can
Eeres for Il few days, reaching
Juneau on the 9ta of May,
where our freight is diserabarked and
we continue CT, for this me- tropolis is OF
enough importance to be touched by
the returning steamer, thus making a
short round trip.
, We wake up next day in Glacier Bay,
} on the first vessel OF the season tC
, essay it, as it is only visited in the in
terest of the summer tourists.
At Sitha we were crowded with pas
) sengers of the spring court term at
, juneau. There were ten prisoners,
i only six of them being murderers,
!. mostly confined to half-brecds and In
dams. The naturally resulting con.
u versation disclosed a statement that
\ there had never been simon-pure
A lynching, nor legal execution, in
4 Alaska. At Wrangeil, in early days, a
murderous gambler was made chairman
of a vigilance committee, the chair was
pulled out from under him and h.
5 broke this pea eeful record-also his
. neck; but any one familiar with from
tier Justice knows there is a wide
. chasm existing between this and lynch
ing. In n somewhat similar action, ar
h Indian murderer performed traot ion or
e a rope, to the satisfact on of the v'gi
y lance faction and the greater dis. ats
. faction of the lesser faction. killisnoe
u is very agreeable to the eye but some
p what abominable to the nose
e due to a fourishiny herring fishery
:. and atteadent guano factory
. The United States Marshal attemp.e
to arrest native here for trying tc
u drown squaw guilty of witchcraft.
have never yet seen anything bcwitch