The daily morning journal and courier., 1895-08-30

head of the harbor, and appear quite buildings form semi-circle around the inviting. Prominent among the build ings Is the Greek church, This build Ing stands on a hill, and It's square tow CT rises far above the roofs of the other structures. The town is huddled about the church, no regard being paid to streets, but the houses built as happen ed. All are close together, and there Is but room in places for a person to pass between them, To the right are
 the buildings of the training school, and in contrast to the village they are
 palaces, Beginning at the right of the row of buildings they are Austin hall for boys, Kelly hall for girls, then the church, flanked by the museum and the
 Shepard Industrial building; the par sonage, the hospital and number of cottages for teachers. This is the larg- est school in Alaska and one of the most
 successful, It was established by the Presbyterian church.
 It is more than probable that two or
 three schooners will be at anchor in the
 harbor, and in the lower bay will be found quite a fleet of native kiyacks,
 grouped in twos and threes, their oc- cupants fishing for halibut All hail the arrival of the steamer, and the na-
 tives follow it to its dock. There is
 quite hotel here, and much to see in | the stores and streets.
 This place like Wrangell has greatly | depreciated since the transfer from the | Russians and now is much smaller than when In the height of it's glory in 1866. | For self-protection and comfort the | Russian officers of the Russian-Ameri- can company built large apartment
 house. or flats, here, and fine buildings | they were, too, compared with those we find there to-day Some of them were | 150 feet in length and 50 to 80 feet wide, three stories high, with huge attics. | They were constructed of huge spruce | logs, smoothly trimmed down to tim bers twelve inches square. These were snugly dovetailed at the corners and
 the roof covered with sheet iron. The exteriors were painted a faint lemon | yellow, while the roof was red-ochre. | The windows were uniformly small, but | fitted neatly into artistic casemates, usually with double sashes. Within the | floors were laid with whipsawed blanks, tounged and grooved by hand and high
 ly polished The walls were ceiled up
 on sides and overhead with light boards
 and generally papered with gaudy pa
 per. Rugs of tapestry and furs were
 thickly strewn over the floors, and the houses afforded very comfortable shel- | ters from the cold and storm. But all these are of the past, and to-day the huts of the natives and the frame cot | tages of the whites are the most DOT | tentious structures to be found, beside l the school.
 | Again, the shipyard of the Russian
 American company situated here was one of the best equipped of the Russian d empire, and here were built and repair ed the immense fleets of that once pow | erful company A number of work
 shops were also built here, and at the
 blacksmith shops were made numerous
 agricultural implements. In fact, these
 afforded the only source of revenue to I the plant Thousands of the primitive ploughshares and rude hoes and rakes lused in California and Mexico were made here Axes, hatchets and knives were also made for purposes of trading with the natives for their furs
 Then force of from six to eight hun dred white men, with wives and fanlf- lies. with the sixty attaches of the gov ernment, lived here. Now, as you step ashore you scarcely pause to notice the handful of whites who have assembled on the wharf, but at once the impress l sion of general decay is made upon your lmind: the houses are settling here there and everywhere, rotting on their foun- dations, and scarcely more than half of them occupied, while the total popula- tion is considerably less than one thou sand souls.
 And so, as we go through out this section of Alaska, all through the AL exander Archipelago, we will find the same decay and relapse into its for mer state of semi-barbarism. But, in spite of this decline of her prosperity, Alaska can never lose her glory, for
 that consists almost entirely in her scenic variety and her aboriginal life.
 Her mountains, glaciers, islands and her natives can never be taken away, land these, coupled with the serenity of
 her wilds, make visit ever to be re-
 membered, and those who have been to
 Alaska always wish to return to that
 ouiet. peaceful place to spend their days C. EfSNhol WALootN'