The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1896-01-30
| On Destruction Island He Has Many Things
to Relieve tho Monotony of His Life.


to Relieve tho Monotony of His Life.
From the Seattle Post-Intelligencer
The keeper of the government light
house which was established a few
years ago on Destruction Island doubt
less leads a lonely life, but he has
some experiences which a lover of the
romantic and the adventurous might
well covet. The island itself is not
without a certain weird fascination.
Thirty-five miles south OF Cape Flat
terry 1t rises abruptly from the face of
the ocean.
1t has a picturesque, though wild
and rugged beauty. and ii stands fac
ing the northern blasts that have sent
more than one stout ship to the bot
tom, ii calls up the name of Isle de
Dolores, which the early Spanish navi-
gator. Quadra, gave IL to commemorate
his misfortune and the later name of
Destruction Island, given II in 1887 by
Captain Berkeley on account of the
sad fate of several of his crew who
were murdered on It's savage coast. On
wild and stormy nights, when the wind
is whirling the sea into foam against
the beetling edges of the island, the
scene passes the merely beautiful and
becomes majestic and sublime. On
such nights the keeper has visitors
that do not come to the door of the
ordinary landlubber. Flocks of wild
fowl attracted by the bright light, fly
blindly toward 1t, and with the force
of the wind added to that of their own
stout wings, they are driven against
the lens with a momentum that some
times skaters the thick glass. but Oft
ener results merely in instant death
to the birds. Sometimes there is a
positive volley of birds against the
face of the light, and as many as a
dozen have been known to strike IL
simultaneously After a stormy night
ii is not uncommon for the keeper to
pick up as many as 20 dead birds.
Many of these are of the choicest kind,
and the keepers table seldom lacks a
supply such as an epicure might crave.
During the day the keeper is fire.
quently greeted by the thrilling sight
of a whale hunt by Indians in the
neighboring waters. a chase as hazard
Gus and exciting as any on mountain
or plain. Each canoe goes out with
a crew OF six oarsmen, one sportsman
i'm the bow, and the captain or helms
man in the stern. To the end of the
spear an air-tight sealskin, inflated
like bladder. is attached by a line so
feet long. dozen of these boats go
out together when a whale is sighted.
Stealthily a single boat moves out
from the little fleet and approaches
the big game. the oarsmen stoical and
statuesque. 1t is moment of grave
peril.
splashing oar, a sudden move, a
wavering hand or hot head at the
helm, and boat and crew would go
down beneath single stroke from the
great monster now so near. At pre-
cisely the right instant the sportsman
hurts his spear with unerrinE aim. and
the battle begins. And then one stand
ing on the cliff sees the little boat dart
away and the whale fiercely churnnC
the water. The other boats come up
rapidly. Weakened by loss of blood,
retarded by the alright skins that
float on the water, and worn out by
turning hither and thither in whimsi-
cal pursuit of his many foes. the whale
slowly gives over the unequal contest
and is towed at last, like a great hulk
of a merchantmen. to Neah Bay
where the Indians gather for a great
feast.