The daily morning journal and courier., 1895-08-30
IN FAR AWAY ALASKA
4 NEV HAVEN COLONY MAY BE LO-
 GATED THERE.


 Some of the Striking Features of This Far
 Away Possession of Uncle Sam-Its Fjords-Its Mineral wealth-Busy In- dustries.
 Apropos of the fact that a number of New Haven people are contemplating founding colony in southeastern Alaska the following description of the country will be interesting.
 An attempt to adequately describe this wonderful region Is almost hope less, and to realize it's grandeur of scenery requires the use of a vivid imagination. To call it the Swltzer- land of America would be similar to comparing the infant to the matured man, for its mountain scenery, it's glaciers and it's people are far ahead of the Alps, and it's frozen rivers, great and sublime as they are.
 | DiXon's Entrance, north of Graham | Island of the Queen Charlotte group, Is the southern boundary of Alaskan possessions, and after crossing this we | find ourselves in land different from any we have ever seen before. Our l gentlemanly skipper tells us we are steaming through the waters of the Pay cific Ocean, but unless he had said so we would scarcely realize it, and even then it is hard to believe that | these calm waters are the same which we saw tossing and tumbling at the entrance to Puget Sound. Imagine a | fjord, or countless numbers of them, | between islands whose mountainous sides loom up thousands of feet above 1 the steamers deck on every turn, so narrow in places that the steamers l rigging nearly scrapes the rocks. The Alexander Archipelago, through which we are now vending our way, is one 1 of the largest in this vast island re- | zion. It is 300 miles from north to 1 south, and is eighty miles wide. Throughout this vast length and breadth there are estimated to be from | 2,000 to 5000 separate islands of all 1 sizes, Some scarcely large enough to | stand upon, and others containing acres of land. All are formed princi- pally of rock, and are in their prime val state. No attempt has ever been made to cultivate the soil here, and indeed such an attempt would end but in failure. Only a narrow beach at the best is to be found and in most cases the steep mountains rise direct from the shore, their feet being Tapped by the waters of the fjords.
 All is delightfully."- quiet, the quiet of contentment and peace. To the weary business man or woman sailing through here it seems like heaven. The noise and hustle of civiliza ton are left far behind, and the only sound beside that of the steamer is the occasional thun- der of an iceberg breaking loose from it's parent glacier far in the heart of some cleft of the mountains. It sounds like distant thunder and echoes and lre-echoes through the hills. Now and
 then is heard the cry of wild bird but no signs of civilization are found As the steamer passes through Clar- ence Strait one sees a Kiyack, or na- tive boat, with its solitary occupant shoot across the calm waters, but in a moment it is gone leaving only it's wake as evidence of it's passing flight. Then one turns his attention again to the course of the steamer, and sees be fore him "a wall of rock, thousands of feet high, apparently barring our
 way, and there seems no escape. Te
 turnabout and retrace our course is
 impossible; the fjord is too narrow Just as We seem to dash into this mountain canon appears entering the
 one in which we are at right angles Into this the steamer turns, barely es. jcaping running her nose into the trees
 on the rocks and we begin to breathe
 again. Island after island is passed and with every turn of the pilot vince new wonders burst upon our vision Water, rocks, trees, and snow-cappec peaks are the principal factors il
 the landscape, constantly varied, anG
 it seems as though we were looking
 through a Kaleidoscope, so brilliant are the colors and numerous the
 changes. This continues until we reacl Wrangell Island and Fort Wrangell
 When the Cassiar mines in British
 Columbia were prosperous, Wrangel was a very busy little transfer station
 the most important place in Alaska then between four and five thousand
 miners passed through every sprine
 and fall as they went up to and came
 down from the diggings on the Stikint
 tributaries above. They left most o
 their earnings among the store and sa
 lon keepers of Wrangell The fort i:
 now deserted, and the town nearly so
 the whole place is rapidly returning tt
 its original state as a native village
 the government buildings erected hert
 by the troops previous to their with
 drawal in 1877, costing $150,00O, were
 sold for a few hundreds, and are nov
 going to pieces. The main street i
 choked with decaying logs and stumps
 It has been aptly described in the fol
 lowing words by one who saw the plac,
 in 1883:
 Fort Wrangell is fit introduction
 to Alaska. It is most weird and wilt
 of aspect. It is the keynote to the sub
 lime and lonely scenery of the north
 It is situated at the foot of conical hills at the head of a gloomy harbor file,
 with gloomy islands. Browning cliffs beetling crags, stretch away on al
 sides, surrounding it. Lofty promonto ries guard it, backed by range afte range of sharp, volcanic peaks, which il
 turn are lost against lines of snow,
 mountains It is the home of storms | in, hn h,-aIx