The Alaska daily empire., 1915-01-01

Ie" attractive houses. The whole is dominated by the school house on the hill and two or three lit tie churches.
 We leave Wrangell in an hour, not. however. before We have listened to the improvisions of the local poet. Robbie Burns. he calls himself. and informs us quite truly as the jinEles come pouring without effort or cessa. tion from my lips that.
 "I use the best of language
 Always in my rhyme"
 We fear that he has missed both his proper vocation and perchance the straighter path. since frequent re- courses to the inspiration for all these lyrics has evidently failed in the bet terment of his fortunes even as in the case of the Bard of Ayrshire.
 As we swing away from the town We cross wider stretch of water and soon approach the far-famed Wrangell Narrows. The wooded shores draw closer and closer, they are | ANSS oOA NPA' nhus as "S pIOCSSu
 our way. they often flatten out close to sea level. Ever verdant. these slopes possess mysterious fascina- tion. They keep silent guard over the long. slim passage that lies so quietly between them. Winds rarely
 disturb this stretch of water. Only
 the great tides which surge back and
 forth remind us that this is no in
 land lake and from here We may tray
 el without hindrance by devious
 windings to the great Pacific. Along
 the shores first to the starboard, then
 to the port, are stationed the untiring
 guardians of the shadows whose sin
 gle beam, like the edge of Cyclops.
 peers out into the darkness. or faint
 ly flickers by day.
 Even at high tide the channel in
 places is so restricted in width that
 two good-sized steamers must pass
 within a few yards of each other.
 The banks on either side often slope out to the waters edge like cultivat-
 ed lawns. Behind the trees g1bw
 thick and straight, a marShalled host.
 Here and there an island rears its
 woody crest out of the mirroring Wa ter. Wonder, a gruesome reminder of some early tragedy antedating the days of careful charts the skeleton
 hull of an old ship still clings to a rocky bar. The tide varies some
 twenty odd feet. If your boat through
 delay encounters low tide, she may
 anchor at the entrance to the Mar.
 rows or nearly through them on the
 southern side of the bar All night
 she swings within sight of a red light
 that appears with equal stcadiness up
 and down the shore
 With the dawn, which fortunately } breaks clear and perfect we weigh anchor and emerge from the Mar rows to dock at Petersburg. a scrag } gly but thriving community with it: salmon canneries and lumber inter ests. Thence we proceed northward at length entering Stephens Pas sage; and after passing Taku InIe and the southern tip of Douglas Isl and and are within sight of the capi ( tai of Alaska.
 The Gastincau Channel regiol 1 probably affords more points of in ! tercst to the traveller in Southeast ern Alaska than any other locality ] Upon it's shores are situated Juneau the capital city of the territory, th E well-established communities of Doug E las and Treadwell opposite, an, across from these to the south thu new town of Thane. An up-todat \ ferry service connects all four. Tn ! big freight steamers call at one O all of these towns as the freight an, passenger business demands. but al E ways at Juneau. Silently the boat slip up to the channel from the soutl or from the Westward, in all weatt CTS and at all times of the day an year.
 We made Juneau our headquarter from which we plan to explore al the neighboring vantage points Pic turesque in the extreme is the situa tion of the town. Rising from tn water front by abrupt stages, tn \ streets command at almost ever of view of both water and mountains On the right as we dock Mt Robert towers up to about 1000 feet, reach E ing back from the precipitous slop above the channel in long, snow-coy cred ridges to its summit. It's wood \ ed shoulder Is directly above tn ! wharves and on one of the mali streets. Here, after a heavy fall the snow lies thick on the spruc < trees. In summer they drip, mois and dark from the steady downpouI or shine a wonderful green agains \ a vivid blue on these more rare day ! when the sky Is naked of any cloud Only limited amount of land available in the central portions o < Juneau for business purposes. At tn back of the ridge drops abruptly t the floor of narrow valley, scare \ a quarter of mile wide, down whic boil in noisy fervor the waters c 1 Gold Creek, which pauses to wide l into tho onol1 oLoTinO Dond Aho,