The age-herald., 1897-10-26
AlAsKKs DEPLETED RICHES.
rom the Chicago 1lImes4Hsrald.

From the Chicago Tl1mes-H srald.
 Tacoma. Wiash-Alaskas geld Has hardly been teuched-at least, that is the current opinion here in the cities of the Pacific slope, where the opportunity for weighing Klondike sto.ies and Klordike nuggats is far better than in the esat Tine older and be;ter-known source Of wealth, the antic furs, are s6ll plentiful, and, except in the case of the seal, show little evidence of exhaustion. For years to come the white man can dig gold and the Indian can hunk and trap. bur Alaska had weslth of another sort which is rapidly disappearing with no hope, alas! of future discovery of new supplies
 Before civilization overlook him the Alaskan Indian was rich in the personal property produced by his own handle -atf For .fand travel he had his ivory -shod sledge braced into deer horns and bound together with tough thongs Ito resist tho shocks from jagged surfaces of ice His kyak of walrus hide was stanch, light and seaworthy. His weapors and uten- SIS were marve1ously adapted to their respective usss. from the heavy wiaIlrus spear, tipped with the tusl1 of former victim, to the light fish lance, with it's barbed tips. For protection from rain and surf the Alaskan had a waterproof coat made of the stomach of the bear. It weighed practically nothing and was as intfch better thar the macintosh of conlmerce as an Indian shawl is betten than government blanket. salmon met made of deer sJnew took a long time to weave, hut when done it lasted for many years, while the stronger whale bone net was practically indestructible.
 The cleverness of thsse northern tribes in wrestling 1rom the bare world around them ithe necessariss and even the adorn- menus of life excites the admiration of all ethnolcgists. The whale, the walrus, the bear and the deer were th.ir gold mines and furnished them with nearly everything they used. The great cup like verteb.ae of Ithe whale were filled with burning oil to heat their homes. From the walrus hide they made an ar- cnor which would turn not only the blcws and thrusts of their own weapons, but even the white mans bullets. The fire furs of the north and the fine wool of the mountain sheep made clothing perfectly adapted to their needs, and if the various Ala skan tribes lacked any comfirts or luxurfes they were entirely unconscious of the deprivation. Thsy were, to use the New England idiom, Every we'll fixed.'
 I spent several hours the other day talking with a prominent Alaska trader about the changes which have taken place in this far-off corner of the coun- try. The Alaskan Indian. he told me, is still rich, because Alaska furs are the finest in the world. Moreover, the na- tive hunters have become shrewid and the white man can no longer get any commercial advantage in a transaction with tbsm. 'The day has gone by,'' said the trader, when you can go up to Alaska with lot of calico and beads and tring down a schooner load of fine furs. The most profitable articles now to USE in the Alaska trade are high-g'rada sewing machines, piano lamps and hun drad-dollar music boxes. The Indian knows the market to a dot. How much Climax tobacco? will be asked, if to- baoco is the commodity under consid- eration. A difference of 10 cents from the San Francisco price will bring about a deadlock in which the trader muzt yield if he wants the furs. At my trading 1 a little less than the retail price in Chi- cago."
 Although the Alaskan can earn plenty of money and a few of them are thrifty enough to accumulate wealth, they are no longer rich in beautiful things, as they were twenty or more years ago. Then they were not only clever artisans, but skilled artists. The Chilkat blanket was probably the most beautiful textile ever woven by a savage people. It was made from the wool of the mountain sheep, dyed with the soft permanent na- tive colors and decorated with a design which represented the structure of a whale or bear, or whatever figured prom inently in the totem of the owner. An old Chilkat blanket is now worth any where from fifty to several hundred dol lars, and is difficult to get at that. The new ones are woven of Germantown yarn and are worth nothing. With bas- kei5 the case is equally deplorable A do1en years ago the traders had their warehouses stacked high with the fine old baskets dyed in vegetable dyes or decorated only in the natural tints of the roots and grasses. Today it is hard to get enough baskets in the old dyes to fill museum orders. The baskets made in Alaska now are colored with anFine dyes and are fit only for the counters of the cheap bazaar.
 But why is it." asked, eff the Indian is 50 shrewd commercially that he does not prefer to sell a vegetable-dyed bas- ket for ten dollars to mineral-dyed one for dollar?" Because sai1 the trad- CT, The does not have to sell baskets at all. The same labor expended in other ways will buy him our factoIy-made utensils for his own use. The Alaska arts were too laborious to practice for exportation. The knowledge of them survives only with the old snuaws; the young ones are too lazy for the inter- minable tasks of their grandmothers. These cid women treasure the hand- ma1e heirlooms they have kept SO long