The Cook County herald. [volume] (Grand Marais, Minn.) 1893-1909, 1895-11-02
SEASON IN ALASKA.
Winter the Best for Travel In SNIte
Of Intense Cold


Rev. VIM. H. Judge, who,like Father
Barnum, is a Baltimorean, is stationed
at a mission house on the Shageluk,
a tributary of the Yukon. The Sis
te:s Of st. Ann have three houses in
the valley, and are cooperating with
tbe priests in the work which they are
trying to carry on. The priests are
kept on the go constantly, travelling
hundreds Of miles at a time in dog
sledges. They go up the Yokon as
far as the mines and the territory oc-
cupied by the Indians and along the
coast to the villages of the Esquimaux.
who are essentially a constructing
people, never to be found any distance
in the interior, and always relying
mainly for their food upon fish and
water animals
"Winter is the time for travelling
with u.s." said Father Barnum. "and
more especially the months Of March
and April. We have only two sea-
sons, summer and winter, ten months
Of winter and two months of summer
10 be more precise, we have ten
months when it is so cold that it is
dry and two months Of wet. cold that
corresponds with the summers in the
states.
with us the summer is most of the
! time exceedingly dreary On account of
the immense amount of fog. How
ever, when the weather is clear it is
very pleasant. The chief beauty of
this season consists in the duration Of
the light. The sky is brilliant all the
time. The distance between the points
where the sun sets and where it rises
+ is so slight that the last hues of even
ing merge into the glow of the aurora
The ground never thaws in the
western part Of Alaska. In summer
the great wet plains are covered with
| rank growth Of moss, but as soon as
1 one gets down beneath this the ground
4 is hard and icy. It is this which
| makes travelling so bad in the summer.
/ The feet and the sledges sink down
| into the moss with ease and it is very
| hard to eXtricate them.
! I'VE. call SO degrees below zero a
| mild winter, and when it doesn't 20
below that we laugh with JOY When
4 it gets up as high as zero we bank
the fires and send the Esquimaux
/ children out to play hocky on the ice.
1t has been frequently said that when
| the winter is a severe one in the Unit
cd States it is mild with the Alaskans
and vice versa. Last winter we had
! it very mild, and l was told on reach
| Ing this country that the winter here
was a severe and hard one.
| "Winter comes suddenly and in full
! regalia; there is no gentle gradation
about it's approach. The arctic cold
I is dry and intense. On a calm day
| one can move about out of doors with
out discomfort Of course, care has to
be taken that the face o: hands may
not freeze. If there is any wind, the
case is very different
''The dreariest feature of winter is
the darkness. The long hours of
! gloom from 2 o'clock in the afternoon
| until 10 in the morning render this
| season monotonous. Most of the time
| it is cloudy, and a lamp is needed the
| whole day. There is constant sue
| cesSiOn of storms, including terrific
blizzards, lasting from three to five
days, during which one can not ven-
ture out of doors except at the risk Of
life.
"In March the sun begins to be more
| powerful, and then the eyes are af-
fected by the glare. This snow blind
ness is extremely troublesome and
productive of much pain. Sometimes
after a trip the Jesuit fathers are
laid up for several days until the in
flalnmation of their eyes has subsided.
Smoked spectacles, of course, would
| prevent now-blindness, but the metal
lie rims render them unbearable; Cog
giles are much better. About June 10
the ice disappears and the long winter
| Is over at last."-BaltimOre Sun.
| Ketchup Cocktails.
Ketchup is now used for other pur-
| poses as we'll as for meats and vegeta-
bles, and greater demand will be
made for it's flavor if this new prac-
tice of using ketchup is kept up. A
few evenings ago / stepped into cne
Of the neighboring stores which is we'll
| stocked with groceries and liquors,
and while making purchase my at
| tention was attracted by an unusual
calling. l stepped to one side and be-
held a man standing at the bar coun-
ter. The bartender, who was ready to
serve his customer in any capacity
whatever, asked him to make his
wants known, when, to my surprise,
the man called for beer and ketchup,
and, without any ceremony whatever,
the barkeeper drew from the keg a
foaming glass of lager and, together
with a bottle of ketchup, he placed
them on the bar side by side. The Gus
toner uncorKed the ketchup bottle and
spiked we'll the beer with it's contents,
| and, after a lively shaking up, gulped
it down apparently with a relish, and
then departed as mysteriously as he
came. In reply tc a question the bar
tender stated that it was no unusual
occurrence to him, as often ketchup is
used in both whisky and beer.-Rich-
mond (Va) Star.
II find the Royal Baking Powder
superior to all the others in every re-
spect. 1t is entirely free from all adul-
I teration and unwholesome impurity,
and in baking it gives off a greater
volume of leavening gas than any
other powder. -. -"-
E,>s Walter S. Haines NJ. DE-
Chemist to the Chicago Board of
Honhh .-..'