The Beaver herald. [volume] (Beaver, O.T. [Okla.]) 1895-1923, 1909-10-28
A Trip to Alaska and the Pa
Cific Northwest
Continued from last week.

Al tCW hotho ottb Nv VIZ
found ourselves in the Alaskan whal-
ing waters and here got our first sight
Of those monsters of the sea. For a
long time / had noticed the water be-
ing spouted high in the air much re-
sembling the action of the sand in a
Beaver county whirl-wind and was
beginning to wonder if l really was
going to sec anything like Beaver way
up in the waters of the Alaskan Pa
cific, when / heard some one shout,
'See the whale" or course / was oil
eyes for II / missed anything on that
trip it was when I was seasick. We
were all missing much then-however
/ found that IL was only the 'spouts"
which had been seeing all the time
that they had sighted. As we watched
now and then we could get a glimpse
through the glass Of theblack body Of
the whales of they spouted in the dis
lance but w had not proceeded far
until we got q fine view of a large
whale real close to u ship. The Of
ficers of our ship told us that. this
whale was a fine specimen and one of
the largest of those waters. Later we
saw a number of whales and numerous
porpoises and seals. Albatross and
sea gulls were in great abundance as
well as sea parrots and other birds the
names of which we failed to learn. 1t
was on our trip from Valdez to Seward
that we had our longest ocean ride.
We were in the open cea thirty-six
hours on this trip. Many, in fact, most
all experienced serious seasickness but
everybody kept sweet and If they
couldn't laugh they would ut least
smile.
1t was on this voyage that many Of
our most beautiful mountain scene
were to be seen. We passed the Fair
weather range whose lofty peaks rose
high toward Heaven and above the
clouds. Two peaks of this range in
particular seemed to stand side by side
and their suow-covered peaks seemed
to puncture the sky so tower
ing was their height. Mt. Mckinley
2 ,300 feet and the highest mountain
north of Mexico, was discernable as
we'll as Mt. st Elias, Is 024 feet, Mt.
Logan, 1880 feet and a number of
others. Mt. St. Elias is the corner
post of the international boundary
line between the United States and
Canada, where the boundary starts
and follows the 14lst meridian direct
to the Arctic can Around Mt. st
Elias clings the romance of discovery
as it was the first land sighted by Ber-
ing, July IS, 1741. A few Of the AL
aska mountains are crowned with fire
and snow. Mt. Wrangell is the most
southerly of the volcanic mountains
1t is not an active volcano but SMOKE
is frequently seen issuing from its era
tiers.
When we landed at Seward we had
reached our northern terminus and
when we set sail again it would be &c
turn our faces in the direction of home
IT'S true our ship went on to Port
Graham, on Cooks Inlet, but as this
was only a trading post with nothing
of interest to be seen, most of oul
party remained at Seward to take in
the scenes of that beautiful country
and to rest up somewhat for the re-
turn trip. At Seward we found anoth.
err railroad, the Alaskan Central, anC
were the guests of the company on
trip out to the end Of the line, some
fifty miles. Everything was arranged
for our convenience and lunch was pre-
pared for the midday meal. This was
a wonderful trip. The scenery wa.
unsurpassed and was varied to the ex
IRENE Leaving Seward we passed Owe
a long stretch of level country and &C
tually found vegetation existing as il
the states. 1.-The ranch' was pointed
out to us as we passed and Of course
looked at once for the cattle for that i
what we have ON Beaver county ranch
es but | found instead that they sale
"ranch" when in reality they mean
"farmp for before Vi real farm life pre-
scented itself. Potatoes, corn and va
rious other garden products wer
growing luxuriantly as well as grail
and other farm products. After
time we entered the mountains ant
here the real beauty Of the ride was Il
be seen. The scene was CONSTANT,
changing and each time it SCENE,
more enchanting. Now we were pass
ing through a dense forest with N
way to look but straight up and agai
we were in the open making our wa.
along the bank of some beautifn
stream or mountain lake. One of tn
prettiest scenes Of the trip was tina
presented by Mirror lake. As tn
$500 ;..nl;ao tho lata Ia a ,nasf naY