The weekly intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1891-1901, 1897-08-28
AIettar From Alnska.


The 2jth of July, after going on
board the steamer Mexico, we were
assigned sleeping place more suitable
for quqdrupcds than for the human
kind; but few friendly words aud II
hearty handshake with the steward
(Which left me a dollar poorer and
him Il dollar riehe), got me good
berth. After the lines were east off
and whilst the steamer was pushing
out from the wharf, the goldhunters
waved good bye To their thousands of
friends who had come to bid us a last
farewell, and loud hurrahs tor KIon-
dixie arose.
When out of sight of our friends on
land we began to make up to our
neigLbors on board, and found them Of
almost every class and kind-judges,
county officers, doctors, business men
in all lines, and working men of every
trade. They were all riierr, from Il e
beardless youths of Il, trying To
smooth their invisible moustaches, 10
the men of co, with white hal and
snowy boards.
We landed at Port Townsend and
Victoria, and left the latter place nj
l O'Clock in the morning of the Goth,
in the most splendid weather, which
held on all day. The scenery was the
grandest in scale that one could imag
inc. Majestic mountains lifted their
tops, covered with thousand year old
SHOWS, ill our view of them was lost
in the light clouds. A lot of whales
tumbled around IN their glad play,
sometimes lashiug the water TO foam
with their tails
The 9th it rained, and just as we
village, beautifully situated, they
hoi>ted owe, beard a dead horse from
the steamer aud presented 1t 10 the
hungry dweliers in lac village for food.
I'm the forenoon We passed thousands
uf islands cl al IN evergreen timber and
surrounded with glis,eninS water ~
noon we passed Mllibank Sound, which
is about ten miles wide, opening into
the Pacific. Later on we had I. sIraI g
current, running between high cr n
mountains, on whose sides ran small
creeks, making here aud there the In"-t
beautiful waterfalls.
he 2Sih of July. ~ 9 o'clock in the
morning, We r:.Ss',i The boundary Iii e
belwern British C"Imbm and Ai"sh u.
an,! had ii vi>Ir from, th.. e. s. ieVrisn,
officer Irun Maiin'> l>inud. Cuulin
ing our rnru,.A uhdrr he mnst dclish :
fnl circumstances ."r could nla%iut
we landed nj Ia n'clnck toren,.on i,
MellakaIhla, AN ln'!iau village OF grc I
natural beauty of situaiiun, In, ing 2UU
houses THIS harbor Is ii pieily bay .
well protected by high mount ,ins, ,a,i
of Que of which comes a grnnd wafer
fall into lhe bay. The inn:.t' uf the
villages are On - rather high n ,dr uf
civilization, there being SEQ of th, III
They have II large salmon cannery, II
steam saxmill, church and funr
stores. Just before leaving, ut 10 so
O'Clock, an Indian music band Cf
eight instruments came aboard and
serenaded us with Il number of well
selected pieces. and never was music
better appreciated and rewarded wItal
lively hand-clappings and cheers than
we bestowed on the newly civilized
children of nature. AT : O'Clock in
evening we met the steamer Al-ki, and
she laid alongside the Mexico, and " e
had an hours conversation with her
passengers, after which we steamed
onward. Shutdown WAS at . 10 in the
landed at Fort Wrangell aud laid there
till morning.
july 30. Fort Wrangell is an Indian
village with three stores aud II saw MILL
that makes boxes for salmon, and there
is also II brewery here. I lie most note
worthy thing here is II lot of "Tolen
poles" which The natives raise in
memory OF their dead friends. They
are from % to 40 feet high, carved
with figures Of men, bear, birds, sc.
At 1880 we steamed ont from Port
Wragnell harbor, which has The most
natural beauty of any | have ever seen;
nearly round basin, set with green
clad islands, back of which rise high.
snow-clad mountain tops in the most
fantastic forms.
came TO Wrangell Narrows, which are
surrounded with an especially beautiful
landscape Here we could easily cast
a stone ashore on either side from tie
neck OF the steamer. AT 2:15 we saw
the first ice come lloatlng in the water,
and at 3 O'Clock they lowered boat
and hoisted two great chunks of it
aboard. Who knows what thousands
of years 1t may have lain in glaciers, to
oe oToksh OH anu hoal aWhy ~ tue
ocean and be lished up for mans use?
At / o'clock, between the 29th and
30th, we steamed by The celebrated
Treadwell mine, with its fine electric
lighting; then by Douglass City, after
which we landed at Juneau. Juneau
lies on the sides of two 2,000-foot high