Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1897-12-16
THE TAKOU OF ALASKA.
A Kind Of Weather Worse Than Blizzard. a
Cyclone and a Typhoon combined.

A new kind of storm has come out of
Alaskan regions to increase the hard
ships of the lives of gold hunters. 1t
is called locally a 'takou," and. ac-
ccrling to the stories of those who
have just come down from Juneau. it
is neither cyclone nor q typhoon nor
blizzard, nor even an area of high
pressure. They say it is as bad as all
of these rolled into one and then null
tipled by itself as long as it lasts.
The takou always blows from the
mountains into the sea, and the cold.
high destructive wind lasts half an
hour or longer.
The coming of a recent takOu was
heralded by a wild, screeching, crash
ing tumult from the mountain forests.
Then the storm burst on the ambitious
but infantile cities along the coast,
and tents were torn from the ground
and went sailing off in tatters; cab
ms were thrown down, and the logs of
which they were built were smashed
one upon another: rowbOats We're
swept from their fastening and blown
so far that they have not since been
seen A number of people were injured
but none seriously. Il
The takou seemed to grow worse as
it howled its way along into the cham
mel, and was at it's greatest force about
midday, when it struck the Detroit
steaming from Dyea to Juneau. The
Detroit was well filled with passengers,
a number of whom had just made their
way with great hardship out of the
do ho toll u
breath against the Detroit, and the lit
tie craft tipped over on it's side. Then
it righted in time to receive the full
force of the storm. which tossed the
boat about like a toy. The engines
worked without effect, and the officers
and crew were powerless
The passengers rushed about with white
faces, some praying, some raving with
that in another moment the boat wOuiC
be wrecked. The tempest tossed the
craft and its frightened people this way
and that, threw it up above the boiling
waves and splashed it down again. ant
finally, as if tired of the plaything, dashed
it high and dry on the beach on the lower
end of Douglas island. 80 feet beyond the
highest water mark And there the boa
still lies. while the owner wonders if he
shall have to wait for another takou t
get II down TO the water dSdiH
When the tempest reached Juneau il
was still travelling seward with velo
city of nearly 30 miles an hour 1t wa:
loaded with dust and the spray of the SCI
and combination of the two in the form
of mud and it carried gravel and th'
branches of trees in assorted sizes an(
pelted people who did not run for Cove
with hailstones as large as pigeons eggs
There is hardly house in the city tina
does not show some effects of the storm:
bombardment.
The steamer Topeka was locked at th
Pacific Mail wharf with five stout cables
| out The ship quivered an instant unde
the blast, and then the five cables parte'
| as if they had been so many strands 0
sewing silk, and the steamer started of
at headlong speed. The two anchors wer
| hurriedly dropped, but the boat was car
! ried along by the tempest at such rat
| that she was driven half way across TIL
| harbor. Il distance of about two miles
before the anchors took hold.
Her running gear was disarranged. par
of her upper works were stove in. and on
of her boats was smashed. AS yet n
| fatalities have been reported. although
number of people received injuries.
The takou is well known to old resi-
dents of the extreme north, and by ever
| one of them it is more dreaded than
the blizzard by the people of Dakota an
! Nebraska, but it is long time since on
! has ragged as far south as Juneau.