Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-09-28
CAMPAIGN ON SNOW SHOES
WORK OF ARCHDEACON STUCK IN
ALASKAN WILDS.
His Presence at the Convention Of st.
Andrew Brotherhood an In
teresting Incident.

One OF the most Interesting figures at
the convention Of the Brotherhood of st.
Andrew in the capital is Archdeacon
Stuck, who has charge of the mission OF
the Episcopal Church in the interior OF
Alaska Except for his present visit to the
United States the archdeacon has spen,
practically all of the past three years In
the wilds, where few white men travel, In
the interior of Uncle Sans most northe rly
territory. The Rt Rev. DR.. Stuck has
been taking an active part in the proceed
lngs of the convention, but he has also
found time to relate interesting incidents
or his work to circles of his fellow church.
men.
Stuck has afforded material for several
leading articles in 'St. Andrews Cross. +"
the Official publication Of the Brothe rhood
Of st. Andrew.
His Missionary Work.
In speaking Of missionary work In Alas
ka. the archdeacon said:
I'VE have eight missions in the interior
OF Alaska and nine on the coast. At each
mission we have a hospital as we'll as a.
church, and we keep a trained nurse at
the hospital whether there is any one else
az the mission or not. Our full mission
stan includes trained nurse, a teacher
and priest, but we do not always have
full staff 1t is much less difficult to
secure women to take up the work than 1t
IS to secure good. capable men. The men
seem to dread to go to the interior of
Alaska on account of the climate, the tso
laton and the necessity of abandoning so
many comforts and the sociability of civ
ilized lfe."
Archdeacon Stuck has had a long taste Of
lie In the wilds. having spent the past three
years travelling through the wilderness of
interior Alaska He spent the past spring
establishing mission. which he appropri-
ately calls ST. Johns in the Wilderness at
point situated on the Koynkuk river and
ten miles north of the Arctic circle Leav-
ing there on July g. by travelling steadily
he reached Seattle August 10.
In spite of the influx of gold diggers which
has been In progress there during the past
ten years, Archdeacon Stuck SAYS that
Alaska is still an unknown territory AS
an Illustration of this, he stated that the
koynkuk river, a branch of the Yukon is
so large as to be navigable for GOO miles,
yet very few people outside of Alaska have
ever heard Of it.
OF Indian Race.
Discussing the natives, Archbishop Stuck
stated that those of the interior were of an
entirely different race from the Eskimos of
the coast, being related to the Indians of
the United States.
The Alaskan Indians, he said. are a. mild
hammered and harmless race, but the effect
o. ciVillzdtlon mas not been generally bene-
hcial to them, the Illicit sale Of liquors in
the territory having debauched many of
them and worked the race as a whole a
great injury.
1T is not the miners who sell liquor to |
the Indians, but the hangers-on who follow |
the miners. They are the riffraff of the |
population, and they infest the Yukon" |
said the archdeacon. They pretend to |
keep road houses and cut a little wood, but |
their chief business Is selling liquor to the |
Indians. After they get the Indians drunk !
they will set them to gambling and get |
everything, even to the coats on their |
backs, out of them. The only man who
stands between the Indian and this sort of |
thing Is the missionary"
Outside OF Fairbanks there are no police |
in the interior Of Alaska, and no sheriffs
The only officers of the law are a few
United States deputy marshals, who claim
to be simply process servers and will not |