Douglas Island news., 1904-01-13
Alaska and Mt. Mckinley.

The following extract from lecture delivered by Judge Wickersham, at Tacoma, Wash, contains much informa- ton of interest:
 Once upon time, possibly, the earth turned upon an axis different from that which it now revolves. The north pole was thea in the midst of the Sahara desert, and the south pole In the South Pacific. The equator was along the line of the Andean chain of mountains, extending through South and North America, out along the Aleutiau islands, down the east coasts of Asia, and thence onward to the place of beginning. This is line of great mountains and active and dead vol canoes. The mammoth, fossil OK and other great herbivorous animals then roamed over the fertile plains of equa- torial Alaska and Siberia. The miners in Alaska frequently unearth their great bones and tusks, and so recent was their death that often the odor of their flesh is unbearable. At later date, possibly. something happened, and Alaska is far from the equator.
 One night in Bristol bay, the Rush stopped and blew her whistles. The captain went on deck at a call from the officer in charge, who reported a vessel ahead on lee shore throwing up rock cts as signal of distress. The more crafty eye of the old captain soon saw that the rockets were far beyond the regulation size and then discovered that they issued from the distant sum- init of Shishaldin, perfect volcanic cone on Unimak island. We watched it for hours as the deep red of it's vol canic flame flared far above us through the inky darkness of the night. AS we sailed along the south shore of Alaskan peninsula the beautiful cone of Pavlof stood above us clad ip gar ments of snow. Every five minutes terrible internal explosion, possibly of gus, threw out column ofiuky smoke, which ascended with terrible force a thousand feet above it's summit. As the great globule of smoke slowly un- folded and drifted with the wind, tor rents of ashes fell like rain from cloud, blackening the snows to wind ,yor5 To fba rDo,pfo;p,s haea TDba southern coasts of Alaska bear the highest mountains in North America and the newest and most perfect vol canoes and from their high slopes come down glaciers beside which those of Switzerland are tame. Here is a new scenic region, rare and unknown except to few lucky Northern travel CTS.
 Alaska contains nearly 6O0,O0O square miles of territory-to be exact, 590,446 Texas, the largest state iu the union, contains only 266,011 square miles; Alaska is two and nearly one-fourth times as large. It is eleven times as large as New York and 4SS times as large as Rhode Island. The thirteen colonies contained only 100000 square miles, and were only thirds as large as Alaska. The states of California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Ne vada Have an area of only 520,142 squG4e miles; Alaska is as large as all five, with an overplus of area nearly equal to the territory which we obtain led from Spain by the treaty of Paris. In the near future it may be divided into four sovereign states, divided as follows: First, the state of Sitka, or Sumner, with its capital at Juneau; second, the state of Alaska, with it's capital at Valdez, third, the state of Seward, with it's capital at Nome; and | fourth. the state of Tanana, or Lincoln, with it's capital at Fairbanks.
 The mountains of Alaska make its climates. The moisture arising from the great North Pacific ocean current ! is precipitated by the barriers of the | high coast range, and the constantly | low temperature prevailing there, pro. duces the Columbia, Malaspina and Muir and other great glacial fields. The casual tourist sailing along the front of these stupendous glaciers reaching down from the cloud-capped heights of St. Elias range, is largely for the widely prevalent that the climate of Alaska begins with these ice fields on the south coast and extends away to the Arctic ocean in increasing intensity.