Douglas Island news., 1899-04-12
WHHT KIND OF BUCKS ?
Juneau EIks Go to Skaguay to Institute a LOdgein in that City. The Duty Performed. A
 Peculiar Characteris-
 tic of the Order.
GRAND RAPIDS MAIDEN TRIP,

On the evening of the third of this month. at a little after o'clock, the steamer, City of Grand Rapids, blew her "let %" whistle and soon she was backing away from the Peoples wharf, at Juneau. towards the middle of the channel. She had started on her mi tial trip on the run between Juneau and Skaguay. The vessel was built at Seattle last year and during the month of November she came to Ju- neau, where she lay at rest during the winter She is 120 feet long, p foot beam and is fixed to carry fifty passen- gers. She is twin-screw vessel with sets of double engines and boilers. She is a good, stanch, well-built boat, and why she remained idle all winter was mystery we could not solve. She is indeed a nice boat and her trip to Skag- uay at once made her a favorite for which we predict a good and con- stantly increasing patronage.
 The crew of the City of Grand Rap ids is composed of Cornell, captain; Dr. c. M. Droste, purser and manager; AXel Fast, engineer; Capt. Sloan, pI- lot: Percy Brandon, steward; and Vine Harding, stewardess.
 It wasn't long until the boat got un- der full headway and the News man soon commenced looking around for the herd of buck Elks that were on board going to Skaguay to institute a lodge in that city. Every secret order has it's peculiarities, and the Elks order is no exception to the rule. One Is that whenever you find an Elk he IS sure to be a good fellow and dead gone on his order. The influence the order exerts on it's members is truly marvel ous, and it is said, and we believe 1t too, that you can take most any kind of a man, real sausage cOver," if we may truthfully describe him, and by taking him into the order, he is at once converted into decidedly good fellow Whenever you meet a lot of Elks you will find whole-souled, genial, good fellowship.
 We were not long in finding the Elks on board the boat and who do you sup pose they were? We'll, there was Mat lock to start with, and if you can travel with more companionable fellow, do it. Judge Delaney, one of the brainiest men in Alaska, and one of the best. C, s. Blackett, a shrewd, careful lawyer, a good story teller and au-round good fellow. John T. Spickett, who can en- tertain a crowd a whole evening all by himself. ". A. Richardson, quiet and unassuming, but who can find plenty to say when the time comes for offering up libations to the Gods. George Walk CT, the handsomest of all the bucks, gave touch and tone to the herd George Bach, who everybody knows is one of the best fellows living, Charles Cobb and Axel Fast the engineer made up the delegation from Juneau. There were forty passengers on the first trip of the Grand Rapids, hut the Elks seemed to herd together. It is but nat ural that they should do so, and it seemed quite pleasant to herd with them, for true Elk is always prepared for good time, but on this trip Mat lock was especially we'll fixed, and it was with extreme pleasure and satis- faction that we joined the ring that en- circled Matlock and Matlock's best.
 The stateroom accommodations on the Grand Rapids were excellent and everybody had good sleep and the