The Canon City record with which is consolidated the Canon City cannon., 1916-06-08
A CANON
CITY GIRL
WRITES Of
TRIP TO
ALASKA
DESCRIPTION OF TRIP FROM
SEATTLE TO UNCLE sAM's
MOST NoRTHERLY POSSESSION

The following letter was received a
few days ago by A. Page of this city
from his daughter, Mrs. w. B. Phelps,
and will be interesting reading tol
her Canon City friends. Mrs. Phelps
whose husband is a mining engineer,
has made her home in Seattle since
her marriage couple of years or so
ago. In the course of her letter she
says:
Kink Alaska.
May IA, 1916.
My Dear Father:
Two weeks ago today We steamed
out of Seattle for the north. The trip
is certainly a beautiful one and one
well worth while. Our boat made a
great many stops on the way up,
principally on account of the salmon
canneries along the coast, for which
we carried either passengers or
freight.
Our first port of call was Ketchikan
on Tuesday evening, where large
fish canning business is carried on.
Our next stop was at Juneau about
IL O'Clock the next night. Thursday
morning we were at Hoonah and there
/ went through a big canning estab-
lishment. They were making boxes
and cans in readiness for the coming
of the salmon, which begin their run
in these waters about June first and
continue for something like six weeks.
They have to have everything ready
SO as not to lose any time when the
fishing season is on. The manufac-
ture OF the boxes and cans was a very
interesting process to me.
We remained there for nearly -
hours and the young folks on board
the boat got the Indians to play for
them while they danced. They sue
ceeded in getting together pretty
good band and the music it provided
was not as bad as it might have seem
ed, although not at all classic in
its compos ton. Up to this place we
had taken on our trip north what is
called 1.-The inside passage" which
winds in and out between islands and
high mountains on the mainland. One
unaccustomed to the sea would think
the captain would lose his way, but
there is no record of anything like that
ever happening. On leaving Holnah
our course was out into the ocean
and we soon got into rough water.
Friday morning Mathilde and l we're
both seasick and continued so all
day, or until we reached Yakutat.
another cannery town. at Z O'Clock in
the evening. We were at Kakutat
about eight hours and from there wo
could see Mt. ST. Elias and Behring
glacier.
Saturday morning we were in rough
water again and l was seasick again,
but Mathilde escaped. Towards even
ing we stopped at another little vii
lage, but could not land. Passengers
and freight had to be taken from the
big boat into little ones, or Fighters"
as the sailors call them. Sunday NOR
ming we were again on the Inside
PdSSd6c anu sledmeu lLtO OOruOVd
about noon. At the present time they
are shipping out about a million dol
lars worth of copper ore month. From
Cordova to Valdez is run of six hours
and the trip is one of remarkable
scenic beauty. There is volcano
that can be seen very plainly before
reaching Valdez and it is at times
active. Valdez lies at the foot of
Valdez glacier and is picturesquely
situated. There I met Mr.. Middle
kamp, who used to live in Pueblo,
good many years ago. He was a
Schoolmate of Bemiss and knew the
Testers. 1t is mining that keeps Val.
dez up
Sunday night we made several stop1
and about 3 O'Clock the next afternoon
We were at Seward, the prettiest town
in Alaska. 1t is located on a little
bay with very attractive surround
fngs. The town contains cement side
walks and some nice looking stores
and seems to do big business We
steamed out OF Seward at O'Clock
in the evening and soon entered
Cooks inlet. Tuesday about noon our
boat hove to" out in the ocean and
there wasn't thing that one could
see that made them stop. Some one
loaned me a pair of glasses and about
four or five miles of on shore there
was what appeared to be quite a \