Bisbee daily review. [volume] (Bisbee, Ariz.) 1901-1971, 1908-05-08
POET LAR|AT RICE
ON ALASKA LAND.
Concerning His New Home,
Former Arizonan Is Very
Enthusiastic,

Few are the old Artaonans VINO
know not Mike Rice, the poet Lar
| iat'' of the southwest he has filed
| with credit many stations in south.
western life, from the sublime height
of prospector t7Wn to that of legs
| lative attache. For a while he la
bored as a member of the Gazette
staff, at time when his poetic abil-
| ity was peculiarly acceptable and was
keenly appreciated by his employers
and the public. Latterly he has been
up in Alaska From Valdez he has
just written an old friend in Phoe-
| nix, 1t would appear from the letter
that he has not amassed great
| wealth, but that contentment abides
with him now as in the past. Con-
corning his new home he is enthus-
iastic, as the following extract wit
nesseth:
Don't suppose that this is an epis-
tie from spirit land, as its author is
materially animate; although some
what antiquated, and some the worse
Of wear; otherwise in the best of
health, with the 'wanderlust' as
strong as ever. l have been so long
expatriated from the land of SUE
shine and silver that it is only the
recollection of old and loyal friends
that impresses me with the truism
that old Arizona is still on the map
For five years / have roamed over
the frozen north-land, and yet my ap-
petite for adventure is just as keen
as the day l punched the first burTo
over the torrid trails OF the verdure-
less desert. ..
Alaska is a wonderful country, I'M
limited in area and exhaustlss In re-
sources, the frontier of futurity and
the cradle of great achievements
There is something indescribably fas-
cinatfng about the Land of the Mid
night Sum- while the long and
dreary winter nights sometimes have
depressing effect, there is ample
compensation in the nightless sum
mers. To an old Arizonan the first
years residence in Alaska is like
awaking in a new and wondrous
world and the charm of change IS
intensely fascinating. 70
"A cruise along the meander of her
coast line, her labyrinth of fathom-
less bays and inlets, leaving the base
of precipitous mountains and wonder
full glaciers, is an experience never
to be forgotten.
L often marvel why Americans
Will seek surcease of cares amongst
the musty and unsanitary countries
of the old world, when they could en-
Joy so much undefiled natural beau
ty and grandeur beneath their own
flag, and all from the decks OF pala-
tial steamers, making it possible for
the most sedentary and feeble to en-
joy Alaska's sublimity That anyone
should boast of knowledge of Paris,
Venice and Rome, and plead ignor-
ance of Alaska's preseutments, is
shameful, and mpatriotic 1t is the
paradise OF the sportsman, the Nee
ca of the ambitious, the workshop or
the artist; and a paradox for all
chimes beneath the armament
1T is unnecessary to cross the
ocean to visit Vesuvius. a MaeI-
strom, Matterborn, a Windermere
or Lomond, as they are mere minia-
lures of what Alaska can present in
her catalOg of Alpine views, eruptfve
volcanoes, sublime cataracts and ex-
haustless fields of translucent gla-
ciers. l have gathered the most lus-
cious wild berries, and odiriferous
flora, where thirty days before the
snow lay ten feet deep, and at the
\
miles long. a mile wide and 500 feet
in height
The time is near when the tide OF
tUorist travel will be to this fair
land Of the north and the fortunate
excursiOnist will not be disappointed
An adequate description of the excel
lence of Alaska is impossible in a
mere letter, and ! would suggest that
you could give yourself no greater
treat than a summer jaunt through
the inland passage, as far north as
Valdez"
The fact that Alaska has mines IS
not unknown elsewhere, but it would
appear that predatory wealth" is
organizing a raid upon the greatest
of the mineral fields OF the ter
ritoTy, where copper is said to lie m
virgin masses, in quantity for the