The Wrangell sentinel. (Wrangell, Alaska) 1909-current, 1928-01-26

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struction. This mill was estab-
nshed by Mr.. Sylvester. one of the
great pioneers and builders of the
far reaches of the Lizard and Mac
kenzie basins. as well as Of the Cas-
star region. On one of my visits
this mill had an order for over one
million feet Of lumber to be shipped
to Atlantic City for its famous
eboardwalk."
To see Wrangell right. as vel as
many other parts of Alaska all tour
lists should obtain a stop-over. good
for a week or more. which all steam
ship lines are pleased to give. This
is really the only way to see Alaska.
Accommodation in Wrangell, and
in few other places are ample,
meals excellent, and charges reason
able, much lower than in most out
side points.
Wrangell is the sportsman's par
adise. Here hunting big game is
the sport. and Wrangen the supply
center. Situated at the mouth Of
the famous stfkine river, which
stretches up into the Cassiar Region.
is the greatest big game hunting
territory in the entire world. The
trapper and prospector also find
Wrangell the spot to organize their
trips into the Interior. Near here
are also silver and lead mines. mar
Bile quarries. and the famous garnet
mine,e of which I will speak of lat
er. because it has a fabulous story
attached to its history. By the way.
I had an interview with young boy
whom Rev. Corser dubbed the gar
net king of Wrangell," and he told
me about the lost garnet mine"
With the Rev. Harry Corser. in
the staunch gas cruiser, Pal" of
Wrangell. we went on an explora-
ton journey to the site of the lost
town of "Chu-Gu-san, situated on
the mainland. After an interesting
trip we found the old Indian settle
ment. which had been abandoned
three hundred years ago. Here
many quaint stone axes were found
and we determined the size of the
place by the earthworks that de-
noted the fort-like protection of the
Indian stronghold. l spent quite
time here exploring the site, find
ing some rough agates and garnets.
We went on a hike over the pack
trail or tote road" made to reach
the Lake Virginia lead-silver mines,
visited Virginia Lake, known as the
Lake in the Mountains" explored
Mill Lake falls. the Harding Creek,
! (named after the late President
Harding). Virginia Lake is fed by
| the waters from an enormous gla-
cier, running out to the ocean over
beautiful falls near Chu-Gu-San.
Among the finds at the latter place
have been primitive arrowheads,
spear points, stone axes, hammers,
ETC., all hundreds of years old, be-
ing the oldest site known on main
land.
had also the pleasure of chatting
with Mr.. E. P. Lynch, one of the old
pioneers, a mine of information,
courteous gentleman of the old
school, who gave me much histori-
cal data. The first miners, Tibbetts
and McCulloeh, were Canadians, and
came in from the Lizard and Peace
river district, down to Dease Lake,
where today others are working
gold mines. That was before the
first gold rush into this section
Five thousand gold hunters came to
Wrangell one spring and started up
the icy bed of the Stikine. The riv-
er broke up early and many OF the
gold seekers were washed out on ice
floes into the ocean near Wrangell'
Indians went out in boats to the
rescue of the men and dogs. as many
of the gold hunters had their sup
plies on dog sleds. This was Ions
before anybody thought of the Yu-
kon or the Klondike.
Mr.. Lynch gave some interesting
details of the early history of Wran-
CELL. The two prospectors, Tibbetts
and MeCulloch, first discovered gold
in the Cassiar region on the Lizard
river, below 40-mile canyon, in
1873. They came in from Atha-
basca Landing north of Edmonton
Alberta, via the Mackenzie river
When they got to DeaseLake Indians
told them that there were other
white men, who had come in to the
iufarior hv NAV of WranPeIl anf