The Concordia sentinel. (Vidalia, Concordia Parish, La.) 1882-current, 1920-06-26

| L midnight SUD and the North
ern lights. the land of ro-
nance and gold has lure that draws
and again. 1t is no mere legend that
the North calls back those who have
once lived in its SHOWS and amidst its
towering mountains and known the
beauty of its summers. There may he
exceptions among the great army Of
gold seekers who endured privatiOns
during the Klondike rush of 1896. but
travel and entertainment conditions
today are totally unlike those when.
to quote Robert w. Service. good men
and bad men and bold" pressed into
the Northland leaving their homes and
their loved ones. "crying exultingly-
Goldi"
There was an inadequate and infe-
rior steamship service nOrthward
along the coast and no railroad to
make easy the perils and hardships
of passes canyons and rock-fanged
rapids where death was ever at the
argonaut's elbow. Nowadays the trhv-
eler. leaving Victoria or Vancouver.
speeds north a thousand miles to
Skagway on a palatial steamship
which winds In end out between pic
turesque islands and the mainland.
and White Pass. the mighty Yukon.
Miles Canyon. and White Horse Rap
ids down which bold adventures were
whirled TO safety or to death nearly
quarter of a century ago. are viewed
IN comfort from the windows Of a rail-
way train.
Up the inside Channel.
The long inside channel from Van
couver to Skagway is so well guarded
by innumerable islands from the
storms of the Pacific that the pass
age is exposed to the ocean In but
three short stretches which are quick
~ left behind. During the remainder
of the trip past towering mountains
and picturesque islands, CULTS and VIII
lagos the ship Is steaming through an
wide and then narrowing until one can
almost throw q stone from the deck
to either shore. At Alert Bay, the
first port Of call. the traveller finds
himself In tho land Of totem poles.
those huge, gIOteSuue carvings repre-
senting the protective familiar, usual
ly an animal. which each Indian Sc
lects for himself at his initiation into
the tribe. Many OF these poles are as
tall as the houses before which they
stand. and a close-range view dis
closes their weirdness Of design.
Side by side with these strange to-
TENS of a passing race are salmon
canneries packing the fish which nre
eaten throughout the world. Past
Bella and Though Queen Charlotte
sound the ship moves northward 20
Prince Rupert and Port Simpson, and
then enters United States waters.
Ketchikan, with the Stars and Stripes
floating over u. Is famed for its great
salmon stream and thriving fishing in
dustrieS. Farther north lies Wrangell
with its many interesting totem poles.
and then coEIes juneau. capital Of
Alaska. from which the traveller can
90 by automobile, one of the swiftest
things created by man. to the face Of
great glacier, one Of natures slowest
creations.
Wonderful Taku Glacier.
On Gastineau channel, close to
Juneau, he Gun see three of the Iarg-
est gold quartz mining plants In the
world Wrestling the yellow metal from
the rocks. Nesr by, too, ls Lynn
canal. the me st beautiful ford in AIas-
ka. and still another wonder of the
NOrthland is mighty Taku Glacier. an
astounding mass of Ice one mile long
and rising from the water from 200 to
300 feet. This great glacier. from |
whose summit huge bergs are COP
stantly falling with a roar to the wa
ter below, Is in plain view Of the pass
Ing steamer. Some Of these bergs. es-
tiInated to weigh so tons. disappear
beneath the waves and reappear sew