St. Landry clarion. (Opelousas, La.) 1890-1921, 1896-02-15
PICTURESQUE AND FERTiLE.
Strawberry Point in Alaska lis the Gar-
den Spot of the Northwest.

| II
den Spot of the Northwest.
/ The season that is just finished hat
been the most profitable in the matte
of tourists as well as gold miners tha
Alaska has ever had. Now that it il
/ over, ard the regular inhabitants of tn.
territory have had a chance to thinl
about it little, they are beginning t.
talk about the great things in store fol
them. Alaska is gorgeous in summer
/ Nowhere else in the world is there sucI
/ scenery as along the is1and-dottee
/ channel from Port Townsend to Ju
neau. Not only is nature dressed il
her best to receive the tourists who are
going there in ever-increasing throngs
but the inhabitants also get on theil
| good clothes and their good behavior
| and for four or five months the whole
| territory is arrayed in it's Sunday best
But this good clothes exhibition comes
only in streaks. It occurs for about
two days of each week, when the steam.
er from down below" is in The tour.
| 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 be 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
ALASKA. 1t lies between Juneau and
Sitka at the entrance to Glacier hay.
1T is 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
izes 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 plargts which
give the point it's name, They are SO
thick that when they are in blossom
in the early summer the land resembles
New York farmers field of daisies,
and in September, when the berries
ripen, they fairly make the ground
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.
It 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 corresponds
ing fall of snow in winter, are much less
than at Juneau. This is becas1se 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
in summer are like those Of
the interior, and not like the long,
steady drizzles and downpours of S,tla
and Juneau. Strawberry Points prob
ably the only place in Alaska where the
plays and the thunder roars
In typical summer shower. In places
on the benches there are bunches 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,
the giants 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 a |
continuous procession of tremendous
lcebergs, which pass down by the point |
like Il great feet of white war ships in |
review. The waters about the point |
5eem with fish, and there is game a.
plenty in the nearby woods Already |
'he enthusiastic Juneau men are plan-
ming their summer hotel and calling
Strawberry Point the Saratoga Of the
Northwest. IN. 7. Sun.