The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1892-09-16
FRED FUNSTON HEARD FROM.
Our Wide wanderer Sends a Graphic Ac-
count of Some of the Things He
Has Seen in ike Far North.
YAKUTAT BAY, Aug. 20, 1852


give the readers of the REGISTER an
idea of life up here at the jumping-of
place of the world.
1 shall not burden my letter with a
detailed account of the long voyage of
the little iron coast-survey steamer
"Hasslern from San Francisco to Yak
utat Bay, although volume could be
written on that subject alone, and
shall pass by briefly our visit to Port
Townsend and the pleasant stay of
three days at Victoria, the pretty cap
ital of British Columbia, a town as
thoroughly English as if it were stu
ated on the banks of the Severn in
stead of the coast of Vancouver's Is
land. From Victoria the Hassler
steamed to Departure Bay, B. c., for
coal and after stay of four days en-
tered the famous "inside passage" for
Alaska.
Tourists galore and the writer's of
guide books have described better
than l can that wonderful channel be-
tween the islands and the mainland
extending from Puget Sound, WASH
ingtoD, to Cross Sound, Alaska, by
which the largest ship ever built can
steam for fifteen hundred miles on salt
water and never once be in sight of the
open ocean or more than two miles
from land ON either side. Day after
day and night after night the Hassler
threaded that narrow and tOrtuOus
channel, sometimes three miles and
sometimes three hundred feet wide.
On either side were mountains and
impenetrable forests, the former some
times rising almost sheer for mile
from the waters edge. The water
was as smooth as glass, and for two
weeks not a cloud crossed the sky. 1t
was like navigating some mighty riv-
er. Time and again it seemed that it
was to end where some huge SNOW
covered peak blocked the way; but
when the supposed obstruction was
reached it was found that the passage
made sharp turn either to right or
left, and the little steamer kept on its
way. Occasionally an Indian village
with its inevitable totem poles was
passed, and the natives gathered in
groups on the beach, while their thou
sand or less of dogs barked furiously
at the white ship blowing through the
water. More than once deer were
seen at the waters edge, while seal
were as common as coyotes in Colo
RADIO.
We anchored for several days at
Port Simpson, on the extreme north
ern coast of British Columbia, only
twenty miles from the Alaskan line.
Inside log stockade, Fashioned and
loOp-holed, are the low buildings of
the trading post, and floating over
them the flag of the Hudson Bay Fur
Company. Port Simpson is pretty
much behind the times, and things
are done here as they were years ago,
when Sir George Simpson and Alex.
Mckenzie ruled the Northwest Terri
tory with a rod of iron. The supply
ship of the Fur Company calls few
times year, and sometimes a sealing
schooner stops for water. The Indians
a large number of whom live in the
vicinity, are allowed inside the stock
ade to trade, few at a time, first
carefully depositing their muzzle-load-
ing guns and sheath knives on the
outside. This indicates a distrust of
the noble red man that panied me
greatly, and shows tho hard-hearted-
ness of this great monopoly which has
in such a ruthless manner put stop
to the great biennial loOting of the
trading post and massacre of the en-
ployees which in years past has fur
nished so much amusement for these
simple children of the forest.
After a stay of four days at this
place we resumed our voyage up the
seemingly endless inside passage, the
country as we went farther north be-
coming more mountainous, with here
and there great glaciers extending
from the beach far back into the
mountains. On the thirteenth day of
May the Hassler. rounding the north
ern end of BaranOff Island, dropped
anchor in the Aarbor of Sitka, the cap
ital of Alaska, where she remained for
several days.
Sitka, with a population of two
hundred whites, mostly Russians, and
some eight hundred Indians, is the
center of civilization in Uncle SANS
far northern possessions. Here are
the marine barracks and the gun
boat Pinta, to keep the natives
straight, and the big Presbyterian
mission school in charge. of course,
of u Kansas man, Mr.. Alfred Docking.
The Greek Church of the Russians
also controls an Indian school, while
the old Russian church is one of the
sights of Sitka. On big rock near
the harbor is ''Baranoff Castle" the
old residence of Admiral Baranoff,
one Of the early Russian governors.
We climbed the steps and looked
the now empty rooms where
years ago the risky old Admiral and
his bibulous companions used to hold
high jinks through the long winter
nights, and where many luckless