The Marietta journal and courier. (Marietta, Ga.) 1909-1918, 1911-05-05
A SUMNER IN
--=-77-- ALASK A

cultivation does not improve them in
flavor, wild ones are really better
than any, they are never insipid nor
too acid
Il think Strawberries are best
cooked, but their fragrance is their
strong point. l prefer raspberries
and dewberries, anyhow. for delicacy
of flavor"
Mrs. Keller laughed and lowered
her voice to a confidential pitch: Il
never did have more raspberries than
| wanted, not even in Alaska where
they grow wild in such abundance. :"
THE idea! raspberries wild in Alas
ka? Whenever were you in that
dreadful, frozen land?"
Mrs. Keller smiled
Five years ago when Mr. Keller
was up there inspecting deposits of
marble, l went up and joined him,
spending August and September To
be sure, everybody wears furs in mid
below zero and there is warm cur
rent flowing around the islands along
the coast that tempers the climate
wonderfully. The wind blowing across
this Japan current toward the snowy
peaks in the peninsula cause rain to
fall more or less every day. This
accounts for the luxuriant ferns, both
the long fronded kind and the deli
cate maiden hair. The spruce and
hemlock trees are magnificent and
grow in dense forests far up on the
mountains
"Tell me about those wild berries"
There are several kinds growing
close together. The salmon berry Is
like our blackberry-the mellow,
sweet kind that grows in shady
swamps-and takes its name from its
color Then there are red whortle
berries, blueberries and black currants
all growing in profusion along the
banks of lakes swarming with brook
trout. The salmon are Matched in the
cold rivers and swim down to the
ocean. Scientists have tagged many
little fish, fastening the tags in their
fins, and they come back from the
ocean in three years, ascend the
streams that Graded them invariably
and die after depositing their eggs
Men often stand in these rivers to as
sist the fish in climbing shoals This
coming home to die is pathetic. Be
side fish there are deer and bears
and water plants whose roots, sliced
raw, make a fine salad When a fam
lily wants ice cream some one gets a
| lump from a glacier and cracks it up.
Then there are fat sea crabs that
need only to be roasted like clans.
The houses have electric lights and
running water, the power supplied
from the cascades of melting snow
tumbling down the mountains"
When the ship in which Mr.. and Mrs.
Keller sailed stopped at Skagway it
landed 700 sheep.
Two weeks were spent in Katchikan
"a jumping off place in the north.
| This town boasts one horse and wag-
on There Mrs. Keller stopped with
a family from Talledega, Ala, to
which place Mr.. Keller had been sum.
mOned to pass judgment upon a mine,
or quarry of some kind.
1t was almost like meeting home
folks.
Mrs. Keller brought home several
baskets woven by Alaskan Indians of
grass with colored borders One very
ornamental round one is used as
card holder and one for shells. Some
of those baskets will hold water, so
closely are they woven. They are
expensive, too, but fiery durable.
expensive, too, but very durable.
Mrs. Keller has many pictures Of
Alaskan towns, rivers and mountains.
! She came through Washington, Ore
gon and California on returning home
One of the most interesting places
she visited was Shasta Springs, near
the famous mountain that is always
white with snow.
And you can imagine the splendor
of the scene" she said, with that
great white mountain between a ris-
ing sun and a setting moon"
The last geography studied taught
that summers in Alaska were too
short for grain to ripen, but that
seems to have been a mistake. 1t is
really a wonderfully fertile country
and we can never think of it as wild
and barren since at least four Ma
rietta people have enjoyed sojourning
in Katchikan homes where they have
broiled steak of 80 many kinds and
darling little berry pies like our grand
mothers used TO make.
| Enraaf Avonua T. n