The Portland daily press., 1896-11-28


just above Sitka. On the 9th of Daosn,.
bsr. 1872, the first blast ever made in the
territory for ore was touched off bach of
Silver Bay, ten miles above Sitka. Tho
fur and fishing interests. both along the
coast and In the interior, are not more
than bali worked. Nearly every fur-
| bearing animal known to commerce ia to
be found in Alaska, and her coast waters
and inland streams are alive with
salmon, tlack cod, halibut, sturgeon.
aud trout. On the big interior plateaus
there are thousands of wild goats and
big horn sheep to be found, besides
countless droves of elk, wapiti, and rein
eer. !"
Chow about the IndiansP"
"The Alaska Indians, as usual thing,
are peaceable and inoffensive. That is
their natural condition. Contact with
civilization am sorry to say has not
| Improved them morally or phys lily.
Some of the interior tribes are cannibals
and the women all practice infanticide.
| The Innnits live very comfortably in
rock houses or topeks built of spruce logs
fastened together without nails OF pins
and about twelve or fifteen feet square
The entrance door isl small hole
through which one must enter on the
hands and knees. Bear or deer skin
mattings are hung before the entrance
| to exclude the air. Outside s,of the en-
trance in winter is passage way under
the snow which leads to small shed
built at the surface of the ground. All
the coast Indians speak mongrel tongue
called Chinook but the languag of the
interior Indians is known as Umaleet. /"
LATE NEWS OF MASTODONS.
Regarding this monster a copy of the
Alaska News which has just been re-
ceived says:
"We learned that the existence of living
Inastodons near the headwaters of White
River was not the more fabrications of
| the Northern furriers, but that the Stick
Indians had positively seen such animal.
One of the Indians said that, while
hunting one day in that unknown Sec
tion, he came across an immense track,
sunk to depth of several inches in the
moss. and from the description as the
Indian marked 1t out to him In the
sand, 1t much resembled an elephants
track. and was iargersaround than bar
rel. Upon striking ii, the Indian fol-
lowed up this curious trail which to all
appearances was very fresh, and, track
ing from one immense stride to the other
for a distance of some miles he came in
full view Of his game. And what camel
The hupter gave one look, then turned
and fed as though pursued by the evil
one.'
| These Indians, as class, arc the brav-
est of hunters, and, with no other
weapon than the spear, will attack and
slay the st. Elias grizzly. But the i'm
mense proportions of this new kind of
game both startled and filled the hunter,
brave as he was with great fear, and he
imagined his only safety lay in swift and
| Immediate flight. He described it rs
being larger than Harper's (the post
trader's) store, with great, shining. .yel-
lowish tusks. and a mouth large enough
to swallow him at single gulp. He
same as were the huge bones scattered
over that section. II suoh an animal is
now in existence, and there is no reason
| to doubt the veracity of the Indian, as
other Indians, and also Mr.. Harper, have
| confirmed it, they inhabit section of
very Eigh altitude, and one but rarely
visited by human beings. and these only
Indiana We also have no reason to
doubt the Indians tale. for at no very
| distant period the Yukon country was
inhabited by these animals, and hun
dreds of their massive skeletons found
strewn along tho creeks are the silent
| but truthful witnesses. On Forty Mile
| Greek bones can he found projecting
partly from the sand and among the
diftwood along the stream. On creek
| below this these skeletons are quite
numerous. One ivory tusk projects nine
feet out of sand bank, and is larger
aronnd than mans body. A single
tooth would be good load for a strong
man to carry. This certainly would be
a great field for the scientist. for, to all
appearances. it is rich in natures curl
osities.