Alaska sentinel., 1905-02-09

get from the noble ClYlllZed While men; but Mr. Sylvester was not of this kind; very soon the Indians found in him true friend and when he became well klpWn he was the only man with whom the Indians in that region would rade Alter q time lis trade became So large that the Hudson Bay Co5a pany established a post within his limits, hoping to obtain the yalua- ble furs that he was getting, bu, old conditions were not forgotten and the Indians would not trade with them.
 About this time Mr. Sylvester married an Indian maiden of this country and later, when his chil- dren were becoming old enough for schooling, he sold his three posts to the Hudson Bay Company for some thirty thousand dollars and on coming out of that country by way of the Stikine river, while waiting at Wrangell, Alaska, for some way to get below, traded for a general merchandise store and wharf at this place and commence ed business here.
 At this time communication with other places Was a sort of chance affair and if some sailing craft happened along it mattered but lit tie to the adventurers of that day whether the thing were seaworthy or not, for they considered them selves in luck not to have to resort to their own resources to get any where.
 After a time Mr. Sylvester took a partner into his business, Robert Reid, an "old timer" and true friend that had fought life's battles with him side by side. They had shared many a scanty meal to gether; yes, these men were friend, in the deepest meaning of all that friendship implies and as such they continued until that which man cannot evade closed their re- lations, as only the grave sever, such friendship as was theirs.
 These two men did business to- gether for years. Mr. Reid is liy- ing now and if the reader should go to Wrangell, Alaska, and hear somebody saying Bob -" bet your money that it is the same Bob of whom yog are reading, for Bob owns the wharf at Wrangell and he is usually there when the boats come and go.
 Just here let me give a short de- scription of Wrangell, which is a village of some eight hundred peo pie, about half whites and the rest Indians. It is a pretty place and like a great deal of southern Alas ka is so rough that a road would be so expensive to build that the work is done by men on sidewalks made of lumber; not even a horse car can be used. So men do the work there that the beasts of bur den have to do in most parts of Gods country. The climate is not so cold as in New England, in the winter time, the thermometer hard ly ever, if ever, gets as low as zero. On one night in 1901 it went down to eight above, and this was the coldest for the winter. l, having spent that winter in Wrangell, state this from my own knowledge.
 On November 3rd, '04, the SEN TINEL, paper printed in Wrangell says "Mr. F. H. Gray enjoyed q dish of fresh raspberries picked from the bushes in his garden, and the birds sing as sweetly as in mid summer, and the grass was invit- ingly green"
 Wrangell has many ravens and crows, as well as other birds. It may be interesting to those that have no particular knowledge of the raven to learn that they are
 
 good imitators. have heard them initiate a cat so well that after look ing for the cat l found I had been hearing a raven instead of a cat.
 Wranpell secms to be the totem pole center of Alaska. One writer says: Totem poles of enormous size and of great variety and of most grotesque patterns are here Some people think the natives real ly worshipped these carved wooden figures but this is not so. These totems are kind of reminder of their mythology and are said by some writers to antcdate ancient Egyptian religion. Some of these totems are immense in size. being made of large trees with place hollowcd out to hold the ashes of celebrated chiefs, and several show figures of humans, animals, fish,