Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1896-01-25
PICTURESQUE AND FERTILE.


1 FsS ONE0X0I f<tN0 81 itH@s
strawberry rolnt IN Alaska Is the Gar
den Spot of the Northwest.
The season that Is just finished has
been the most Profitable in the matter
of tourists as well as gold miners that
Alaska mas ever had. Now that 1t is
over. and the regular inhabitants Of the
territory have had a chance to think
about 1t q little, they are beginning to
talk about the great things in store for
them. Alaska is gorgeous in summer.
Nowhere else in the world is there such
scenery as along the island-dotted
channel from Port Townsend to Ju-
neau. Not only is nature dressed in
her best to receive the tourists who are
lgoing there in ever-increasinS throngs,
but the inhabitants also get on their
good clothes and their good behavior,
and for four or five months the whole
territory is arrayed in its Sunday best.
But this good clothes exhibition comes
only in streaks. 1t occurs for about
two days Of each week, when the steam
er from "down below is in. The cur
lists come and go with the steamers,
and rarely stay over from one boat to
another. AS the steamers lie in each
port only day or less, the tourists
have not much chance to make last
ing impression. Now, however, there
is likely to he change. Juneau men
are nothing if they are not hustlers,
and with the recollection Of this sea-
sons profits and possibilities they are
! arranging to put up big hotel on
Strawberry Point, at the entrance to
Glacier bay, in southeastern Alaska.
Strawberry Point is one Of the most
beautiful and picturesque spots in all
Alasl.a. 1t lies between Juneau and
Sitka at the entrance to Glacier hay.
1t is a glacial moraine, which extends
out into icy straits about ten miles from
the mainland, and separates the en-
trance to Glacier bay on the east from
the little narrow strait between Pleas
ant island and the mainland on the
west. The moraine has an elevation
of from so to 100 feet above high tide,
and contains hundreds of acres of fer
tile level land. If there is place in the
territory where agricultural pursuits
can be carried on it is at Strawberry
Point. The soil is rich, sandy loan,
and the benches are mostly free from
the marshy ground which character
ICES most of the level land along the
coast in southeastern Alaska. The
whole peninsula is covered with lux
urious growth of blue joint and other
grasses, and many acres of it are dotted
with the strawberry plants which
give the point its name, They are so
thick that when they are in blossom
in the early summer the land resembles
a New York farmers field of daisies,
and in September. when the berries
ripen, they fairly make the gre und
red.
The climate of Strawberry Point is
much pleasanter than at most other
places in Alaska. At Sitka, for instance,
the average is 220 days of rain, snow or
fog in year. Juneau is about as bad.
1t never gets very cold because of the
influences of the warm japan current,
but there are very few days of clear
skies and bright sunshine. But at
Strawberry Point the precipitation of
rain in summer, and the correspond
ing fall of snow in winter, are much less
than at Juneau. This is because across
the bay in the west the lofty Fair
weather range lowers like an army of
giant sentinels stationed there to pro-
tect this little garden spot from the
terribly icy winds that would sweep
across from the Pacific if these noun
tains did not hold them back. The
rainfalls in summer are like those of
the interior, and not like the long,
steady drizzles and downpours of S,tka
and Juneau. Strawberry Points prob
ably the only place in Alaska where the
lightning plays and the thunder roars
in typical summer shower. In places
, on the benches there are punches of
young cedar and spruce, with OCCASION
al thickets of alders, but most of the
ground is clear and rolling.
The grandest scenery in Alaska is on
view from Strawberry Point. Besides
theNgiants of the Fairweather range,
there are the great ice cathedrals Of
the Muir and Pacific glaciers, which
loom up 20 miles away and send Off q
continuous procession of tremendous
icebergs, which pass down by the point
like great feet of white war ships in
review. The waters about the point
TEEN with fish, and there iS game a.
plenty in the nearby woods. Already
the enthusiastic Juneau men are plan
ming their summer hotel and calling
Strawberry Point the Saratoga of the
Northwest" IN. Y. Sun.