Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1900-09-05
a TRIP TO THE; LAND OF
THE MIDNIGHT sUN.

On our way to Alasika u stop at Fort
\ Wrangle revealed some very interesting
\ sights Of Indian life. Wrangl6 is sit-
luated on an island at the mouth Ut the;
4 stikine river, q glacier fed stream Of
4 water. 1t has a fine mountain-walied
harbor lying 80 miles In from 1.-THE ocean.
4 II is a quaint old place built. az i'll these
towns are, close along the shore, and
has it's Indian Village, where We had the
unusual privilege Of visiting the home
A OF noted chief of the Stikine tribes.
i The center of the house war a deep,
round basin where the cooking and
housework was done, altho 1t I did not
look as IL much homework was ever
done. Around this basin was broad
rim, or dias, on which the family cit,
land above this dias was still another
and broader, where they sleep. Chief
! Shake is a we'll known character, and
has many curious things in his possess
sion. One was the largest canoe ever
cut out OF a tree When you see how
perfect in every detail, and how SYM
lmetrical are these Indian canoes cut en-
}stirely by the eye, you can we'll UNDER
island how naturally the Indian children
love art in their s.hool work. Wrangle
II = q
All tribes are not totem Indians, and
by those that are, after becoming Chris
Itianized, this strange custom Of keeping
the family history is given up. For all
that We are taught Christ came not to
destroy but to build up, modern Chris
tianity destroys much that is beautiful
IN the lives of natures children. There
We're many things in the belief and
4 customs of the Alaska Indians that were
4 very beautiful. and we regret that civili-
4 cation and Christianity have taken them
away. Each family has5two totems, one
i is the record of the husbands family.
i and the other of the wife's line. Only
i animal totems are seen, and they live
under the protection of these guardian
4 anlmalssWho are believed to have been
the ancestors of the race-the Darwin
4 theory. Men never marry women of the
me totem as their own. These poles,
4 nave no religious Significance but are
A 70 the Indian what the family coat-of-
4 arms is to the Englishman. An educated
4 indian explained a carved spoon handle
81 10 US by saying. that eagle means to
4 us what masonic pin means to you.
4 am an eagle on my fathers side and
u bear on my mothers side The
q mcthers totem is' supreme In the family,
1 SO my totem is a bear. If / am sick or
IN trouble i find one who is a bear or an
4 eagie and they do for me just as MAJ
4 sons do for each other" There are three
j totem polas-the family totem, called an
Indian name which means staining
8 reyer. the death totem pole, in which
- .e placed the ashes of the dead afte
4 t}Nn,ation, and the historical totem,
Z. Which commentaries important events.
The Alaska Indians believe in the
trans migration of souls, and they wor-
4 ship the spirits of their ancestors They
= worshipsthe sun, and nature and make
4 offerings to the mountains winds and
81 glaciers. They believe in cremation,
3 and that after death the spirits take
4 posse ssion of the bodies of animals, re-
81 visit their homes and teach the mys-
4 teries' of life to fasting youths in the
i forests. Earthquakes, they say, are
A caused by ghosts. and the aurora Dor
calls. which is commonly seen in these
northwestern skies, is the ghost dance
4 of dead warriors. This belief recalls in
Long CLOVIS Hawai- ha.b the pretty
Indian SAYING that the rainbow is, tins
!; heaven of flowers: and the rainbows, s,y.e
q have seen on this Alaskan trip were
beautiful enough to be the heaven OF
i human souls, as we'll az of the flowers
81 The Indian legend of the creation is
s much more beautiful than our own. The
II CroW'-tle great spirit--dWelt on Mass
= river. a river famous among Indians
near Mary Islands. After the great
81 spirit created himself he turned INC
q blades of grass into the parent race. and
a these two blades of mankind increased
y ana became "a great nation. Now, don't
4 you think thai is a more reasonab BILE and
4 beautiful belief than our rib story ?
I. There is a Jonah legend of a demon
raven that crept down a whales throat
land caused such agony that the whale
swan to the shore and vonlited it up.
Then they tell how there came a great
flood, and Ill persisted but two who
We're long tossed about on raft until
q the great spirit appeared and carried
Il them to Mount Edgeccmbs mountain
seen at Sitka, where I, abode until
ne waters subsidized. matters ii
Whether We call the great spirit God or
8 the Grow, if we but worship Him ac-
lcord'ing to the wisdom and understands
Y ing given US; and when we talk OF
6 keathen barbarism, what canswe8 say al
the warning and taking of life among
u the most Christianzed races, of today?
n Win lIiS 1iliid1A 1t IL d lilt LOT d lie,
81 With US 1t is thousands of lives for gold
. and lands and worldly ACKNOWLEDGEMENT.
. 49,
81 After hours of sightseeing. question
81 ing and kodaking in this.towrs of totems
We hurry aboard our boat to learn that
+ we must go 100 miles out of our way
4 thru the outer passage, because the
tides are against our going thru the fa-
4 nous Wrangle Narrows, another dam
\ gerous passage at places not 100 yards
s lin width. But on our return we came
u safely thru. and enjoyed to the utmost
d this beautiful landscape channel. The
Il wooded shores, carpeted With velvety
4 grass, something rarely ssen on our
Il way, the forest-covered mountains and
snow-covered peaks, and the curious!y
y irregular shores composed, in truth, a
q picture of marvellous charm. This is the
q home of eagles and their nests. could be
q seen in the tall tree tops Sea guls by
s the thousands, like tufts of down, float
II about over the water. Sea weeds with
their great brown. bulbs and long stems
4 float around like sea monsters. Buoys
II land light houses mark the hidden rocks.
and all is so strange and wonderful that
i no one remembers the dangers of this
marrow way.
4 NELLIE REID-CADY. 81
Whatcom. Wash, Camp Idlewild, July