The Beaver herald. [volume] (Beaver, O.T. [Okla.]) 1895-1923, 1909-10-14
A Trip to Alaska and the Pa
CifiC Northwest
Continued from last week.

ht"hh NV
Totem poles, salmon fisheries and mag
niiicent scenery in general, we again
boarded the Northwestern to re-
sumo our journey to the wonderful
northland and with every forward
movement of the mighty ship new
scenes were brought.t to our view. In
our Journey so far we had sailed along
the inside passage steaming in and out
among the many beautiful islands at
times coming so close to shore that it
seemed we might almost reach out our
hands and pluck a flower or fern with
which the entire surface of the land
was SO gorgeously arrayed. For Won
der and splendor the islands could not
be surpassed by the far-famed Thous-
and Islands OF the st. Lawrence them
selves. But, after leaving Ketchikan
the scene was changed. Snow-capped
mountains rearing their lofty peaks
far above the horizon were to be seen
on every hand and the valleys and
canons intervening were filled with
immense glaciers. As we first looked
upon the scene it appeared as il a
mighty river vas rushing madly down
the mountain side but upon closer in
spection through the field glass we
were convinced that we had reached
the land of glaciers and icebergs and
before the day had passed we had ac-
tually experienced all the thrills of
sailing right among the wonderful
things themselves. As we sailed up
Taku Inlet we got our first real view
of the icebergs. Some of the early
birds" gave the alarm that they had
sighted an iceberg and it was not long
before the deck was lined with eager
sight.seers anxious to get a first look
How we did marvel at the beauty OF
the floating ice. We thought we mad
seen the real thing when we looked at
those small pieces of ice and called it
an iceberg. Had our vessel right
about faced right there we would have
come home fully convinced that we
had seen the frozen icebergs Of the
frozen north in all their grandeur. As
it was we had only just begun to taste
of the real pleasures of our visit. Our
good ship steamed along at a good rate
and the floating ice became more nu-
merous and much larger. Every once
in awhile we would pass within only a
short distance of a berg and a shout of
delight would go up from all but i'm
agine our surprise when we took time
to look ahead and saw that we were
headed straight toward a whole
swarm of icebergs, many of them
half as large as our vessel Itself and in
such close proximity that it seemed
almost impossible for us to sail any
further among them. Looking a little
farther ahead we saw the marvellous
Taku glacier from which the bergs were
being constantly sent tumbling into
the sea sending the silvery foam surg.
ing high up the wall-like cliffs. Still
M ship pressed onward. Two pilots
with eagle ey', walked the upper deck
and one stood at the helm to steer our
craft through safely and we crept
along at a snail-like pace, the bow OF
the ship pushing the smaller bergs
aside and fairly grating against the
sides OF the larger ones. Every officer
and every boatswain was at his post of
duty and every knot of progress was
made with the utmost caution for nav
igation was extremely dangerous and
II We missed our course it meant dis
aster. We were all too much enchant-
cd with the beauty and grandeur OF
the scene to realize fully just to what
an extent W were taking our lives in
our own hands to satisfy our curiosity
to see but now and then when it seem.
ed our boat would surely strike against
one of the huge islands of ice even the
bravest hearted would forget the beau
tiful and a thrill of fear would almost
cause them to turn pale and tremblc.
When we had advanced as far as il
vas deemed advisable by the Captain
and much farther than your humble
servant cared about going, we dropped
anchor and remained for a few min
utes until all had an opportunity of see-
ing the mighty glacier and the kodac
fiends had snapped some of the beauty
to carry home with them. Thea we
beat our retreat and when we were In
clear water again we all took a good
breath and sat down to ponder and
talk oyer the sights we had seen.
From this time on icebergs and gla-
ciers were no uncommon sight, We
had them nearly all the way along
At times as many as twelve or fisteer
glaciers could be counted within full
view of the deck. II eve words failed
to express the beauty and charm Of