The Manchester journal. [volume] (Manchester, Vt.) 1861-current, 1917-11-22

q
days exile ! gained II pounds /
weight.
St Michael is, ! believe. the frs
! settlement in Western Alaska--many
many years before there was ever
white man at Nome. and many year
before We purchased il from Russia
II was the first town between Whit.
Horse and Nome, POO miles, that wa
not built Of logs. although there ar,
a few OF the ancient log buildings o
the Russians yet standing, in splen
did preservation-one of which wal
being remodeled for school for whit,
children. And ii was very interesting
to me to note the way those log house.
were built, as the workers sawed
through the logs for windows for tn,
school house.
Each log was grooved, followed out
so that ii would seat over the log un-
der, and before the log was fitted, dry
moss was laid between. This made a
very warm building.
There is no timber along the lower
Yukon, and ST. Michael is built of
lumber, all shipped in from the out
side, and you may be certain no UNI
necessary buildings were erected, or
any waste room in the houses All the
fuel, soft coal in sacks, has to be
shipped from the States. The army
posts had just received 5000 sacks and
the soldiers were busy unloading it.
The first place of interest that got
me was Russian fort, not a dozen
rods from the hotel. 1t was octagon
inshape, about 10 feet across, built of
heavy logs, and with roof running to
a peak. Inside, rusting away. are
seven old Russian cannons, curious,
low guns with solid iron wheels, and
the barrels fastened to the standards
with ropes. All around the blockhouse
are holes, with barred doors, for the
use of the cannons, and above them
long Sits, about three inches wide, for
the use of the small arms. They told
me this blockhouse was built in 100.
On the main street of the town is
another Russian building, now used
for repair shop, and over the door
copper tab ct, Built by the Russian
Fur Co. in 1888"
After had looked over the ancient
Russian fort l walked up to the army
post, with its modern buildings, and
concluded we had made some progress
in Alaska since Car Peter went into
the real estate business.
st. Michael is some busy during the
short summer season. This is the
point where the incoming ocean ships |
their freight to the up-river /
boats and where the down-river trans
fer their passengers. Very little
freight goes out of Alaska.
There is big force of longshore-
men at st. Michael. They work Is
hours day and get so cents an hour,
seven days in a week, while at Nome,
Ito miles across the bay, the wage
scale is one dollar per hour.
But it is only during the summer
season that the yeast works in st.
When the winter sets in,
'cean navigation closes and the Yukon
reezes to a depth of four feet, then
he town initiates the bear-hibcrn-
ties.
When the last boat goes out it blows
is whistle for full half hour in
fierd long-drawn-out walls, while the
,nesome, heartsick people who remain
a, stand on the shore and watch it
epart, And then for a week there is
ne grand drunk. Everybody goes to
= You cannot get waited on in the
torres. All are trying to drown their
prov And this condition is true of i,
very river town on the Yukon. 4
st. Michael is trimmed with desola- /
on--former greatness. On one side S
{ the town are six steamboats,, drawn a
p on the bank and rotting down. In a
he bay on the other side are seven 5
yer steamers, all seaworthy, pulled
p on skids and idle. These represent ,
lndreds Of thousands of dollars. /,
hese Abandoned boats give one the :
eling that he is looking at ceme- +
ny. They are the monuments of V
rmer life. ALASKA is dying" said r
tourist as we stood on a point and
oked down on the village. T
The army post we built for a large y
lrrison, but the soldiers are not there Il
w, only 40 remain, and | don't know :
by they are kept. Many of the .,
lildings are vacant now, and the post ?,
in keeping with the rest Of the sur II
findings. y
! sat on the hill near the wireless h
alton looking down on the town, with "
Y chin in my hands. An Eskimo y
me along, looked at me and asked,
'routte ~ I pn,Jad .t,,o- ,, ur.