Baraboo weekly news. [volume] (Baraboo, Wis.) 1912-197?, 1916-07-27
MANY INDIANS
AND TOTEM POLES
FOUND IN ALASKA
Continued from first page.)

to the departed during his long jour
ney The totem pole stands hard by
and when a number of these frail
houses and gaudily painted poles are
found together, they present most
unusual sight to the onlooker.
Some of the mill owners induced the
Indians to purchase expensive turned
pieces to use in the erection of the
dead houses, so that it cost the natives
no small sum-in fact so much that it
made some of them poor. This prac-
tice is now discouraged.
Of course totem poles standing in a
climate where it rains nearly all the
time during a greater portion of the
year, soon decay. We saw poles in all
stages from almost new poles to those
ready to fall to pieces. Many of those
standing in front of houses burn when
the frail homes go up in smoke.
Contact with the white man is rap
idly bearing the Indian away from his
totem and other aboriginal ideas. A
few of the old men can still make
them but the young men are not being
taught to cut them out. Many small
ones are made to sell to the tourist,
but the time will no doubt come when
the larger ones will no longer be made.
Those in cemeteries are falling to de-
cay and those in villages are meeting
similar fate
Fortunate Climate Is Cool
Many of the Indians live at centers
like Sitka, Wrangell and other places,
during the winter, and in the summer
go to the fishing grounds and Gamer
les. Along the inland passage the
tide comes to a great height and many
of the houses are built over land
flooded every twelve hours Sewers
are not necessary, for the sea water
clears the surface of all rubbish at.
regular periods. If an Indian camp
near a cannery gets a little foul dur
whole landscape during the winter
months, while the Indians are gone.
A little filth does not worry an Indian
at the most The temperature is near
ly always cool and rains are abundant.
Evening in an Indians Home
At Juneau the Indian village is on
piling at a prominent place on the
water front Desiring some totem
halibut hooks and baskets we ven
tured into the storm center of the alb
original habitation. ] entered one of
the homes in search of the hooks,
while Mrs. Cole remained on the out
side to dicker with a dusky faced
woman for some baskets. The lower
floor of the house was one large room
with a stairway leading to the region
above. In the room was a bed stove,
cupboard, table, chairs, and few 9th
err articles. Some skins hung on the
walls, not plastered. When cold wealth
er comes the Indians all huddle about
the stove, burning but little wood,
and not caring whether the rest of the
world is warm or cold.
The only persons at home were
father and son, the boy working in
mine. l explained my mission, and
while the father and son ate their
supper of cold meat and bread, the old
man explained the meaning of the "a
the Indian language, and the son ex-
planned to me in English the childish
belief of the Indians in the unseen
spirit embodied in the raven. 1t is
small wonder that these primitive peO-
pie, cut off as they were for many
years from intimate association with
other races, attributed supernatural
powers to the raven. With our own
poet, Edgar Allen Poe, they have i'm
mortalized this bird of darkness in
the totem, and today hand down, by
word Of mouth, fading tales Of it's pow
er and greatness. Everywhere along
the Alaskan coast the raven is seen.
It's uncanny croak greets you in the
morning, and from daylight until dark
they can be seen stalking or flying
about the shore weirdly calling. Spec
tral-like they seem to the visitors who
watch them with unusual interest.
No Snakes in Alaska
There are no snakes in Ireland, and
none in Alaska, except those of the
booze variety. Prohibition is getting
such a hold in the territory that those
sometimes found in mems boots will
no longer exist. The climate is too
cool for reptiles.
There is plenty of wild life all the
way from Ketchikan to the Arctic
ocean. Just before we reached Ketch-
ikan a hunter brought in five eagles,
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