The copper country evening news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 18??-1907, 1897-10-28
ALASKA WEATHER.
Enect OF the Japan Current-AIidsummer
Days That Have No Night.

Enect Of the Japan Current-M idsummer
Days That Have No Night.
The climate of all that portion of the
Alaskan coast that is bathed by the
japan current extending from the
southern boundary of the territory
northward and westward to the island
OF Atoo, distance of nearly 1850
miles. is remarkably bland and free
from extremes of heat and cold through
out the year. 1t is rainy, how
ever, but the rain is of good quality.
gentle in its fall, filling the fountains
OF the streams, and keeping the whole
land fresh and fruitful, while anything
more delightful than the shining wealth
er after the rain-the great, round sun
days OF June. July and August-can
hardly be found elsewhere. An Alaska
midsummer day is day without night
In the extreme northern portion of the
territory the sun does not set for weeks
and even as far south as Sitka and Fort
Wrangel it sinks only few degrees be-
low the horizon, so that the rosy colors
OF the evening blend with those of the
morning, leaving no gap of darkness
between. Nevertheless, the full day
opens slowly. At midnight, from the
middle point between the cleaning and
the dawn, a low arc of light is seen
stealing along the horizon, with gradual
increase Of height and span and inten-
sity of tone, accompanied usually by red
clouds, which make a striking adver-
tisement of the suns progress long be-
fore he appears above the mountain tops.
For several hours after sunrise every
thing in the landscape seems dull and
communicative. The clouds fade, the
islands and the mountains, with ruffs of
mist about them, cast i'll defined shad-
ows, and the whole armament changes
to pale pearl gray with just a trace Of
purple in it. But toward noon there is
aglorious awakening. The cool haziness
of the air vanishes, and the richer sun
beams, pouring from on high, make all
the bays and channels shine. Brightly
now play the round topped ripples
about the edges of the islands and over
many plume shaped streak between
them, where the water is stirred by
some passing breeze.
On the mountains of the mainland
and in the high walled fiords that fringe
the coast still finer is the work of the
sunshine. The broad white bosoms of
the glaciers glow like silver, and their
crystal fronts and the multitude of ice
bergs that linger about them, drifting,
swirling, turning their myriad angles
to the sun, are kindled into perfect
blaze of irised light. The warm air
throbs and waivers and makes itself felt
as a life giving, energizing ocean en-
bracing all the earth. Filled with ozone,
our pulses bound, and we are warmed
and quickened into sympathy with
everything, taken back into the heart
| of nature, whence we came. We feel the
| life and motion about us and the uni
! versal beauty, the tides marching back
and forth with weariless industry, Law.
| ing the beautiful shores and swayine
| the purple dulse of the broad meadows
of the sea where the fishes are fed; the
wild streams in rows white with water.
! falls, ever in bloom and ever in song,
spreading their branches over thou
sand mountains; the vast forests feed
ing on the drenching sunbeams, every
cell in a whirl of enjoyment; misty
f1ocks of insects stirring all the air; the
wild sheep and goats on the grassy
ridges above the woods, bears III thu
berry tangles, mink and beaver and OF
ter far back on many a river and lake
Indians and adventures pursuing theiI
lonely ways, birds tending their yount
everywhere, everywhere beauty ant
life and glad. rejoicing action.
Through the afternoon all the way
down to the west the air seems to thick
en- and become soft, without losing it
fineness The breeze dies away, anC
everything settles into deep, conscious
repose Then comes the sunset with it
purple and gold-not a narrow arch O
color, but oftentimes filling more thar
half the sky. The horizontal clouds
that usually bar the horizon are fire.
on the edges, and the spaces of clear SIX,
between them are filled in with green
ish yellow and AMBER while the flock
of thin, overlapping cloudlets ar,
mostly touched with crimson, like TIT
outleaning sprays of a maple grove il
the beginning of Indian summer, and ;
little later a smooth, mellow purple
Pushes the sky to the zenith and fill
the air, fairly stepping and transfgur
ing the islands and mountains ant
changing all the water to wine. -Johil
Muir in Century.