The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1899-07-10
ALASKA AS A HUNTING PLACE
GAME ON THE INCREASE, DESPITE
THE TNRUSH or MINERS
The Unknown Interior Full of Wild
Animais--Some Moose and Carbon to
fin Abundance.
TIA Abuntiun 10.

+, be Found-nlountain Goats and Bear
iD Abundance.
l When gold was first discovered in Cal
ifornia, in 1S49, thousands of excited
prospectors focked .thither from al
quarters forgetting everything else IL
their haste to dig for the precious metal
Not until after this intense fever of eX-
1 element had abated, and eyes bent up.
on beholding nothing but gold were al
length turned to the natural advantages
and limitless resources of the country
about, was the real worth and value OF
California comprehended. When at last
gold had been forgotten for a moment
a greater and richer discovery still was
made.
II does not require the wisdom and
forethought of u seer to predict that
the history of California will be repeat
ed / nAlaska. The recent discovery of
sold there has brought prominently to
notice country which heretofore has
been almost, if not quite, unknown to
the general public. Now they are has
tening to it by tens Of thousands as
rapidly as transportation will allow,
roads are being opened through it, rail-
ways projected, water transportation
lines established, and before many more
months have passed the population Of
this hitherto unknown territory will be
such as may we'll be envied by many a
district in the east.
AT present the attractions are the gold
fields, and these alone. But il is rea-
sonably safe to assume that they will
not continue to be SO for any great
length of time. The Alaskan gold de-
posts are very tickle and have always
been so. The existence of gold in Alas
ka has been known since 1884, even be-
fore it was in California, and it has
been continuously mined ever since with
the results already mentioned; and 1t
will be but natural if the deposits on the
Klondike and neighboring streams prove
no exception to the rule When these
gold deposits are exhausted and no
longer yield in paying quantities the de-
velopment of Alaska will begin in earn
est, for then its many more stable and
reliable advantages will be appreciated,
and any one going there to-day with the
! intention of leaving the delusiVe yellow
metal severely alone and devoting HIM
self entirely to pursuits Of a more trust
worthy character will not come away
disappointed.
When finally the pioneers of Califor-
MIA had cleared their eyes of binding
visions of gold without limit and began
to look about them one Of the first and
most noteworthy circumstances which
came to their attention was the great
abundance of game on pevery hand.
f,a, ,t
lace forthwith in a life devoted to hunt
ing, fishing and trapping, and never was
a spoiled child more lavishly INDUCED
by a doting parent than were these
early nmrods of California favored by
benignant nature with bounteous and
unstinting hand. The conditions in
Alaska are much the same to-day.
Dame Nature is standing with open
arms to receive and welcome any who
will come in acceptance of her invita-
ton, and the lover Of the gun who
makes haste to improve the opportunity
while he may. be he disappointed miner,
invalid in search of health in outdoor
life, or enthusiast of the tribe of Esau,
will find himself in the midst of much
the same lavish abundance of game as
the "forty-niners" did in California.
It IS a remarkable fact that game is
actually on the increase in Alaska to- |
day. 1t is well known that the moose |
was formerly unknown within its linn
its, but driven from the forests of lower |
Canada and the United States by the .
constant onslaughts of the huntsman, |
it has gradually Travelled westward and |
northward until 1t has finally reached |
the Alaskan peninsula, and, breeding |
for years practically free from molesta-
ton it has become abundant there to-
day. When the agents of the Hudson
Bay company first arrived in its vicinity |
they found the Indians dwelling about
the Hyland river unwilling to ascend it
or to have anything to do with the
about it's headwaters, supersti-
tiously maintaining that long before, as
a party of braves of their tribe were as
cendng the river in canoe, suddenly a
terrible black something rose seemingly
out of the very water itself, overturned
the canoe and drowned most of the
hunters in the whirlpools, Might not
the legend have been an account, exag-
gerated by the simple and overawed IN
lians of their first meeting with a
moose. especially as during the summer
liOnthS tIlc dillIlll DllVIl LItluelltS tue
of streams, standing shoulder
leep in the water to avoid insects? An
Indian, unfamiliar with the
moose and it's character, meeting it for
he first time, might well be impressed
With superstitious awe and dread, such
| powerful and formidable front does it
,ften present.
A second factor which has resulted in ,
he increase Of game animals in Alaska |
S the manner in which tn eIndians and Z
White hunters as WELL following their G
Example, capture such meat as they ,
nay stand in need of. The country be- ,
ng as a general thing rough and diff | +.
ult to traverse the huntsman paddles | ,
long some waterway in his canoe, scan ,
ing the banks as he goes until he !
ONES upon his quarry feeding or loiter-
ag at the waters edge. The result is
hat the vast interior of the country at
distance from the streams and navi-
able waterways is seldom visited by !
he huntsman, and as a consequence its
lid animal life augments from year to -,
ear. So Alaska has proved the natural :,
oral Of tn continent into which all =
S game animals have gradually been | "
riven and penned in amid surroundings "
hich are far from being unfavorable. =
1 fact, here they have found a refuge
Imrably adapted to their needs and u