Goldsboro weekly argus. [volume] (Goldsboro, N.C.) 1885-1909, 1897-07-29
Take
Simmons Escer ReguEGs0rs

simmons LscSr ResSEEGs01s
show at Sitka a mean winter tenn
|perature of 33 degrees Fahrenheit,
and in summer hardly ever reach
ing above Is degrees.
The shortest winter days are
only about four hours long, and
in summer the nights are orres
pondingly short, the sun setting
about 10 p. m. and rising before
2 a. No., giving practically, by the
bright twilight of this latitude and
the aurora borealis, daylight
throughout the "a hours. At the
present season-the longest days
of the year-when the weather is
fine the atmosphere is wonderfully
clear and the scenery sparkles with
an excessive brilliancy, due to the
exceptional hYgrometric qualities
of the air. One cannot find, the
world over, such grandeur as is
offered by a rising or setting sun
over the rugged, lofty, snow-clad
peaks and mountains of the Fair
weather range, with the broad
blue Pacific as a background. The
spectrum effects, in varied tints of
sunshine against the irregular
masses of snow and ice, more than
three miles above the sea level, are
the sights of a lifetime.
The mountains from the snow
line to the waters edge are over
grown by huge forests of. fir,
spruce, pine and hemlock, which
are overrun by bear, dear, and
other animals while the waters
TEEN with fish. The soil, though
not deep, is like that Of all VOL
canic countries, surprisingly fer
tile, and of itself is capable Of
supporting the needs Of the ma
tive population, without the aid
of the other gifts with which
nature has so layishly endowed
them. In almost every creyice
in the rocks, at times, almost,
without a vestige Of soil,a stunts
ed tree is found. Ia the spring
and summer the forests are gay
with ferns, shrubs, and brightly
cclored tall grass and wild flow
ers together with d variety of
edible roots and berries. In short
the vegetation of Alaska may be
said to have only two limits-the
ice of the mountain tops and the
tides of the sea.
The waters are deep, the main
difficulty experienced in naviga-
ting the inlets, boys and pass
sages being to find places sufis
GENTLY shallow in which vessels
can anchor. The tides rise and
fall twice daily through a range
of from twelve to twenty feet and
are SO swift and rush with such
enormous force through many of
the passages as 10 make naviga-
ton hazardous, and prevent even
the largest steamers from stem
ming the current except at fa-
vorable times. Travel is entirely
by water, all The Indian villages
beng built upon the water
courses, and here the canal
reaches its highest state of de.
The woods III SO encountered
with the trunks of trees which
have for ages past been uprooted
winds, storms or avalanehes
and the fallen trunks and limbs
SO covered with moss and overs
grown with other trees, that it is
well nigh impossible to walk
through them. At times it seems
that one is walking over a trestle |
work of moss.covered dead trees |
many feet above the real ground,
and the difficulty of walking, |
and slipping over such
surfaces is SO very firing that
persons ever venture any
distance from the water front.
Add to this difficulty the fact tia
the forests are so dense as TO
make the circulation of ar very
and consequently the shorts
est walk makes one extremely
warm and exhausted. threatened
with the probability of a suns
stroke, while snow and ice are to
be seer all around, and we have
the principal reason why Alaska
has been SO little explored.
The bare tracts covering large
areas along the mountain slopes
where huge landslides or ava~
lanches. starting amongst the ice
and snow and working their path
to the water below, snow capped
ranges with sparkling
in their sides and val>
floating glacier ice in the
boys and straights, the bright
aud densesy green vegetation ev-
the blue water of the
ocean as it winds and circles in
thousands OF ways around the
numerous islands and rocks, all
give a characteristic beauty to-
the scenery of Alaska which is
not duplicated ii any part Of the
and of which the world at
large has SO little knowledge.
It, w. 7