The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1920-06-25

| mluniSnC sun anu the North
| ern lights, the land of rO-
nance and gold, has a lure that draws
men to it-and then draws them again
and again. 1t is no mere legend that
the North calls back those who have
once lived In it's SHOWS and amidst its
towering mountains and known the
beauty Of its summers. There may be
exceptions among the great army of
| gold seekers who endured privations
during the Klondike ~ 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-
Gold 7"
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 trav-
speeds north thousand miles to
Skagway on palatial steamship
which winds in and 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 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
ly left behind. During the remainder
of the trip past towering mountains
and picturesque islands, CULTS and vii
lagos the ship is steaming through an
endless lake, sometimes a few miles
wide and then narrowing until one can
almost throw stone from the deck
first port of call, the traveller finds
himself in the land of totem poles,
those huge, grotesque 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 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 are
eaten throughout the world. Past
Bella and through Queen Charlotte
sound the ship moves northward to
Prince Rupert and Port Simpson, and
then enters United States waters.
Ketchikan, with the Stars and Stripes
floating over it, is famed for it's great
salmon stream and thriving fishing in
dustries. Farther north lies Wrangell
with its many interesting totem poles,
and then comes juneau, capital of
Alaska, from which the traveller can
go by automobile, one of the swiftest
things created by man, to the face of
a great glacier, one Of natures slowest
creations.
Wonderful Taku Glacier.
On Gastineau channel, close to
Juneau, he can see three of the larg-
est gold quartz mining plants in the
world wrestling the yellow metal from
the rocks. Near by, too, is Lynn
canal, the most beautiful ford in Alas
ka, and still another wonder of the
Northland is mighty Taku Glacier, an
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 con-
stantly falling with a roar to the wa
ter below. is In plain view of the pass
ing steamer. Some of these bergs, es-
timated to weigh so tons, disappear
beneath the waves and reappear sew