Daily press. [volume] (Newport News, Va.) 1896-current, 1907-05-05

al b'StuieHque AltSKan COAST ever COM
opposed, is contained In letter whicn
II has just been received by Major
NGonzales s. Bingham, U. s. A., :rcm
d his old friend Lieutenant Colonel w.
n A. Glassford.
Lieutenant Colonel Glassford is OF
Ethe signal service corps, and has TOT
s several years been engaged In PEI.
greeting the telegraph and cable sys.
y TEN between the United States and
h Alaska.
Il Major Bingham was himself sta
d TONED In Alaska for some time, sup.
Il erintendins the building of the army
N posts at Nome and other points
q knowing, therefore, that he was au-
Il dressing an interested reader, Colo
X mel Glassford gave his friend an I'M
stinted account of the impression
made upon him by the granduer or
the scenery of Alaska, which he de-
clares to be unequalled.
The letter is SO very entertaining,
as we'll as instructive, that the Daily
{ Press obtained 1t from Major Bling.
ham with permission to publish IT,
1t is given In full below:
Seattle. Wash,
April 90. 1907.
My dear Bingham:-
have recently been conducting
some cable operations in Southeast
Alaska. aboard the cableship Burn
4 sidr!" The extreme beauty of the
scenery was so thoroughly enjoyed
II 1t has occurred to me that de-
Rt?iption of 1t might interest you.
\ III therefore include In this letter
ie Impressions that this most pic
hresqua country made upon me. Mrs.
Slassford was aboard with me and
shared my enjoyment and it is hoped
that in reading this you may share
some of the pleasure with MS.
Alaska, like all this Northwest, is
gradually forcing attention, and
comparison OF It's commerce with the
United States and other non.contigu-
GUS territories will show why this is
go, For Alaska during 1906. the com
merce was AZ millions, that Of Porto
Rico and Hawaii was AZ millions
each, while that of the Philippines
was II millions. The government
cable and telegraph has raen a great
factor in Alaska's development 1t
Is for this reason my work up here
has been so interesting.
am sure the timeyis renr when
trip to Alaska will be recognized as
unequaled, and it is the more pleasant
because the travel Is all within
smooth waters and II taken in the
summer the long daylight hours ena-
bile one TO miss no part of the pic.
tlre.
Puget Sound Is the most southerly
of II series Of embayments that stretch
from the 47th to the 29th meridian
or from Mount Rainier to Mount Fair
weather, distance of over thou
sand miles. Starting from Puget
|. Sound port the traveller is at once in
the presence of the Olympics and
Cascade Ranges. Mounts Rainier and
Baker almost rise out of the green
wooded islands and timber covered
shores. so close do they appear. The
Juan de Fllca Strait Is thanked by
the high Olympics, but opposite IS
the flatter Vancouver Island. on which
Is located the city of Victoria. AS
one passes Cape Flattery these scenes
give wav to the misty panorama of
the Pacific Shore.
The outside, or ocean, trip is eX-
ceptionai; the route usually taken be-
Ing the so-called Inside Passage"
About two years ago the Pilot of the
Burnside" ran the vessel upon Rip-
pie Rock ut Seymour Narrows, within
the Inside Passage, since which this
vessel has not been allowed to 20 to
Southeast Alaska except around this
track on the outside.
Sitka lies in, bay or sound which
has numerous small islands scattered
over its extensive surface. Behind
the town are rounded piedmOnts and
then abrupt rising mountains which
reach an altitude of some 5000 feet
They are always snow clad and are
very impressive, because of the con-
trast between their white SUBMITS
and the deep green of the timber
covered Islands and shore line at their
bases These bright gowned peaks
seem to be grouped and are persona
fled; perhaps because of their ap-
parent loneliness for, to associate
them In company, they are given
names like the Seven Sisters" the
Monks" etc. These bare and often
fantastic cloud shrouded tops, whose
bases are showed into the sea, have
such great contrast from head to foot
MS to resemble the bare gray heads,
white shoulders and backs of bowling
priests with surplice and soutane I'm.
der heavenly arched dome. Per-
haps the most picturesque of all is
the isolated volcanic cone of Edge
cumbe. $500 feet high, at the entrance
OF Sitka Sound. 1t might have been
named Alaska's Fujiyama, so close is
its resemblance to Japan's sacred
mountain. 1t appears quite as high
as Fujiyama and rises right out of
the sea. It's top Is truncated at an
inclination, hence part of the era