The Madison journal. (Tallulah, Madison Parish, La.) 1888-current, 1920-06-26

"a midnight sun and the North
ern lights the land Of 70
nance and gold, has lure that draw,
men TO it-and then draws them again
ana again. IL 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 priyatiOns
| during the klondike rush of 1896. but
/ travel and entertainment conditions
today are totally unlike those when.
/ 10 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."
There was an inadequate and infe-
rior steamship service nOrthward
along the coast and no railroad 10
make easy the perils and hardshlps
OF passes, canyons and r0ck-fanged
rapids where death was ever at the
argOnaut's elbow. Nowadays the trav-
eler, leaving Victoria or Vancouver.
speeds north a thousand miles 10
Skagway on palatal 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
whiried TO safety or 10 death nearly |
quarter Of a century ago. are viewed !
In comfort from the windows Of a rail- I
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 q few miles
wide and then narrowing until one can
almost throw a stone from the deck
10 either shore. AT Alert Bay, the .
1rst port of call. the traveller finds
himself in the land of totem poles. a.
hose huge, grOtesque carvings repre-
'enting the protective familiar. usual
y an animal, which each Indian Sc !,
ects for himself at his initiation into J,
he tribe. Many Of these poles are as !,
all as the houses before which they :,
stand, and a close-range view dis
loses their weirlness Of design.
Side by side with these strange To-
ems of a passing race are salmon =,
packing the fish which are =
aten throughout the world. Past :
Bella and through Queen Charlotte !,
ound the ship moves northward TO
rince Rupert and Port Simpson, and =
hen enters United States waters.
-etchikan, with the Stars and Stripes -
eating over it, is famed for its great :"
llmon stream and thriving fishing in -
ustries. Farther north lies Wrangell =
18th its many interesting totem poles. -
nd then comes Juneau, capital of :,
laska, from which the traveller can ',
by automobile, one of the swiftest -
lings created by man, to the face of =, ~
great glacier, one of natures slowest y
cations.
Wonderful Taku Glacier. -
On Gastineau channel, close TO di
lneau. he can see three of the lare- in
gold quartz mining plants in the fir
1rld wrestling the yellow metal from as
e rocks. Near by, too, is LYNN cl,
nal, the most beautiful ford in Alas.
I, and still another wonder of the
'rthland is mighty Taku Glacier an
founding mass of ice one mile long wo
d rising from the water from 200 To tbi
feet. This great glacier, from of
lose summit huge bergs are CON-
ntly falling with a roar to the wa.
below, is in plain view of the pasS
steamer. Some of these bergs. es- no
lated TO weigh 30 tons, disappear los
heath the waves and reappear sew dus