The morning news., 1897-07-29
AN ORIGINAL ALASKAN.
HELPED TAKE POSSESSION OF THE
NEW TERRITORY.

10 Hoist the American Flag over
Al"Ska-Shot an Iudian For Tear
ing IL Down Washed For Gold In
the Yukon ana Explored the River
Some Distance.
From the Washington Post.
OF all the stories told and written OF
Alaska since the Klondike gold fever set
ln' there is none more interesting than that
of Mr. Joseph l, Keefer. a resident of this
city, who had the honor of assisting in
the planting of the first American flag on
Alaskan soil.
Mr.. keefer accompanied the Seward S ate
department expedition to Alaska in 1867. as
aid-de-camp to Capt T. e. Ketchum. The
nag that was unfurled as Alaska was Off
ciaLy and formally taken possession of
was the first ever hoisted over Russian
America As far as can be learned Mr.
heefer is the only surviving members of
the famous expedition, having been at the
time the trip was made into the far north
a mere lad of II, while the other members
OF the party were well advanced in years.
According to the best records obtainable
the last member of the party to perish
was Joseph Rothrock, young photogra-
pher' who died about ten years ago in a
Philadelphia insane asylum. The moor
IeAow could never get warm after maxi
ing a second trip to Alaska. and whi.a
dylhg he was wrapped in blankets and
pace" oy the furnace, although the heat
OF the summer was almost unbearable to
the ordinary person. No explanation was
ever offered for his strange condition.
,o, me lie pioneer, Mr.. Keefer, now resides at
oOS thirteenth street, and is engaged In tho
patent and pension claim branch of the
leSal procession. In 1894 he was prompt
~ 70 institute a search for the historic
olI OF bunting which carried him 10 Alas
ka. Greatly To his satisfaction the nag
was round in a box behind the original
DecIdratlon OF Independence. in the state
department. Upon being unfurled il was
discovered that a large portion Of
the blue field had been entirely destroved
ny ihoths, while the remainder of the en-
slBh was In comparatively perfect con-
dluon. II seems that the portion of the
flag which had been DESTROYED vas onco
saturated with human blood. The story
Dehlhd the blood stain is narrowing. but
VIII afford much satisfaction to all those
PdtrlotlcalIy inclined. As told by Mr.
keefer 1t is as follows:
w hen the United States took possession
OF Alaska, it was inhabited by a low class
of people, and aside from the half civil
ized natives, there We're numerous tick
et-ot-leave men and ex-convicts from Rus
sla The latter class know very well that
When Americans came upon the scene
they would have to seek other climes
and therefore tried to make our lot as
nara one as possible. They told the
credd!ous natives that we were coming
to make slaves of them: that having
purchased the country we had almost
bought In all the inhabitants. These wild
stories made some of the Indians feel re-
senttul toward us, and they did every
thlng to bother and hamper our work.
We first hosted the Stars and Stripes on
the old custom house in Sitka, and after
wards tloated 1t to the breeze from Fost
Cosmos fiagpole. While the feeling was
running strong against us, a native hap
pened by the fort and before We knew it
mad torn down the precious piece Of bunt-
ing. AS he was about to stamp on it, a
rifle shot rang out, the native whirled
about and fell across the starry field
his life blood oozing from a wound in the
temple. After this occurrence there were
no more attempts az flag destruction"
After narrating the above incident, Mr.
Keefer drifted into the all-absorbing
topic Of gold. He once washed for the
precious metal in California, along the
Calaveras river, and in the country Of
the same name. During his two years
stay in Alaska, Mr.. Keefer washed gold
in the vicinity of Sitka and Fost Cosmos
finding the per cent. of the metal three
times as great as In California. Mr.
Keefer also declares that he found many
beautiful crystals on the surface Of noun
tains which resembled diamonds. Accord
ing to his belief, should the depths Of the
mountains be gone into there is no tell
ing what amount Of precious stones might
be found.
II went up the famous Yukon river"
said Mr.. Keefer, but at this time all
that region of the country was a vast
wilderness, and there were no names at
tached to the sparsely settled Indian viii
lages encountered here and there The
klondike was unknown. We found fer
tile lands on which corn and vegetables
might be raised during one season Of the
year. Sitka was the only city known.
and 1t was populated mostly by Russians,
who have now nearly all gone home
"At the time ] was IN Alaska | suppose
there were 10000 native Indians In the
country, but now this number must have
dwindled down to something like 10000.
There are three classes Of natives: the
Tinklet, a half-civilized race are the high
est class. Next comes the Esquimau.
race found Is known as the Juneman tribe.
These people crawl around on hands and
knees greater part Of the time. and act
greatly like monkeys. The natives who
can be understood claim that their an
cestors came from the north pole; or. as
they call II, the edge OF the earth They
declare their race date back before the
Jesuits. IL is a fact that pieces OF stone
and pottery have been found with some
thing like Greek has reliefs on them. I
brought back piece OF tusk containing
many OF the queer heroglyphics which
was deciphercd by an eminent New York
scientist and found TO be form of
prayer.
There Is one peculiar thing about Alas
ka, ana that Is that the cold takes the
taste away from one We could eat goap
candles, and chew leather with the same
amount Of satisfaction as the best pre-
pared game. The appetite Is enormous
but the taste Is gone. The thermometers
in those days broke when 70 degrees be-
low zero was registered and we had no