The Lexington intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1901-1949, 1902-09-06
JOURNEYING DOWN THE YUKON RIVER
Dr. Pamore Writes to his Paper from the Land of Gold
Hunters and Grass w idowS
S WINTER AND STARLESS 81
SUNLESS
Distinguished for Gold, Game Timber Marble Coal Furs
and Riotous immortality

Dr. Palmore, who has been taxing /
his vacation in Alaska, has been
giving the readers OF his paper some |
10 teresting letters Of travel. We copy
one from the Christian Advocate.
Through thousands of miles, where
Indians feed so exclusively on fish,
and white people on canned goods
imported from the east, we have
feasted on moose and caribou, fresh
from the mountain forests, and we
regret very much that our time was
so limited and the distance to be
compassed so great that we could MOI
take an extended moose hunt. 1t is
refreshing and exciting to listen to
tile indians tell their experiences and
exploits in hunting this magnificent
game while they exhibit the most
gigantic, lofty and many pronged
horns we have ever seen, taken from
the heads of animals nighunto l. 600
pounds The caribou 90 in large
herds, wilder than the antelopes Of
our western plains, and seem to bear
somewhat the relation to the Laplaud
reindeer as the savage bears to civili-
zatlon. This vast valley also abounds
in bear of many colors, varieties and
sizes, frequently seen swimming the
river to escape from the tormenting
mosquitoes. Their eyes are often so
swollen from the bite of these pests
that they cannot see, and falling in
their blindness TO find food, die Of
starvation The river flows through
many mouths into Behring sea,
through a delta more than seventy
five miles in width. Within $50
miles above the mouth Of The river
there is not a tree, but more than
10000 square miles Of green, level
tundra covered with low shrubs and
grass, in which millions Of wild geese,
| looms, ducks, cranes, swan and braRtS
spend their summers, lay their eggs
and hatch their young. When the
steamer blows its whistle, tens OF
thousands rise from their concealment
and darken the horizon in their fight
In a land of sunless winter Of
eight months, with mercury ranging
from forty to eighty degrees below
zero, where the ground has beer
solidly frozen to incredible depths fol
thousands of years, never lhawiuf
: more than eighteen or twenty inches
below the surface, it is astonishing
what a few weeks of perpetual sum
mer sun can accomplish in the way o
vegetables. Think of lettuce ant
radshes 10 vigorous luxuriance seryet
on your table in three weeks afte
plantinp Radishes are often servel
, in sixteen days after planting. Witt
> the aid of glass and scientific horti
culture, it would be difficult t
estimate the possibilities Of this sol
t. under the genial rays Of contlnuou
sunshine. The vastness Of timbere
l. areas OF mountain and valleys ar
!. bewildering to contemplate. Rive
!, steamers pause at perpendicula
!. mountain embankmentS and suppl
:. their furnaces with coal taken fror
; the strata few feet above the lev(
= of their decks. Furs, rich in variety
!. are bartered at every landing. India
: villages are aglow with silver and kin
( salmon, hanging high above the reac
r, OF dogs, on burdened SC folds 70
| winter consumption. There are ais
x said TO be regions Of marble wh'c
may yet rival the quarries Of Italy.
When a man catches gnld feyel
i, now called KlondlcItis, be cares bu
- little for game, timber agriculture
( horticulture, furs, coal or marble
(. only as stepping stones to the goal
,s his few rlsh desires. Phere is bu
i little doubt that there is gold sea
=, tered throughout this vast valley (
- wilderness aud silence, thousands
square miles of which were ney'
touched by the fopt Of civilized MAJ
! During ttis century there NAV be-
50 suriclrnt quantity OF tbisyel ow lel
is. evolved from its mysterious deptl