Morgan County Democrat. (McConnelsville, Ohio) 1886-1943, 1933-09-14

I'LL oAbys oNDtNIIiIJOl
arrive at Juneau the capital of
| Alaska. 1t is modern little city
teeming with activity from its mines,
fisheries, governmental and COM
mercial life. In this city is the gold
stamp mill of The Alaska Juneau
Gold Mining Co., the largest quartz
gold mine in the world. and always
an object of interest to the tourist.
We visited the museum which
proved to be exceptionally interest
ing, this museum contains the
worlds largest collection of early
Indian and Eskimo curios, afford
ing us an excellent educational op-
portunity to learn the habits and
modes of living of the original in
habitants of Alaska From Juneau
we made a side trip by motor to
/ beautiful "Auk Lake. and Menden-
hall glacier, another wonder from
the Ice Age. The auto ride to AUX
Lake and Mendelhall glacier is a
rare treat. Comfortable cars roll
smoothly over the wonderful Glac-
! ier Highway, as some of the pret-
1 tiest scenery in southeastern Alaska
! comes into view; but all good things
| come to an end, and we now find
/ ourselves once more afioat. Leav-
4 ing Gastineau channel and Juneau,
| the steamshS continues northward
4 through Lynn canal, with frequent
ly marvellous view of blue tinted
Davidson Glacier.
The next stop is Chilkoot Bar
! racks, adjoining the town Of Haines,
once famed as the starting point of
the Dalton trail into the interior
before the Skagway trail was open
/ ed. This is the country Of the Chill
kat and Chilkoot Indian tribes.
Chilkoot Barracks is the only mill
1 tary post maintained in Alaska.
/ Monday, Aug. IA. We are land
/ ing at Skagway, the gateway to the
I Klondike, with its early day history
/ This is our last port of call. This is
the end of our journey by boat.
j
/ Taiya inlet. Skagway sprang into
life and became famous almost over
night, during the gold rush of '97
and '9S. 1t is the tranfer point in
to the Canadian Yukon Territory,
and is the ocean terminus Of the
7 White Pass & Yukon Route Rail
Line, the route which so closely fol-
lows "The Trail of '9S" that the trail
itself can be seen from the car win
doWs, as the train winds its way up
to the summit of the White Pass.
In Skagway, Blanchards Garden
4 is a show place worthy of mention;
here we find flowers of many varie-
ties growing to such enormous size
! as to almost defy imagination.
At Skagway we leave the S. s.
! Alaska, and continue our journey
/ by rail via the White Pass & Yukon
route. We are now heading toward
Bennet Lake beyond the divide; we
4 will soon be at end of our journey.
We pass many interesting views
which l will more fully describe on
the return journey, as we are sched-
uled to make these stops on the re-
turn trip. We now arrive at Ben
/ net Lake, once city Of some TO-
| 900 population, now deserted city
with a possible population of so
1 One of the outstanding landmarks
of this deserted city, is Presbyte-
rian church built in 1899, and now
badly out of repair. Lake Bennett
lies west of the divide, and at this
point thousands of miners gathered
during the winter and early spring,
built boats and prepared for the
rush to the gold fields as the ice
broke and streams became navigable
in the early summer.
We are now at the end of our
trail, but it is the real starting place
for those who wish to brave the
hardships and seek fortune in the
interior. But as we were not pre-
pared to meet the hardships, and
having little knowledge relative to
the mining game, we decided TO
wend our way to civilization and
the good ship Alaska, where we
knew food and comfort awaited us.
Not wishing to give any false i'm
net, ] must admit that the eats
served at the big railroad station
dining hall at Lake Bennett would
be credit to many hotels in the
east Wild game meats were serv-
ed. salads and pastries that would
certainly have tickled the palates
of the boys of '9S, could they have
enjoyed them.
On our return trip to Skagway
we stopped at the International
Boundary; a huge monument has
been erected at this point white
Pass 20 miles out of Skagway,
This monument is situated on the
line between British Columbia and
Alaska. Water on one side flows
east to Behring Sea, some 1900
miles distant, and on the other side
flows 20 miles to the Pacific. Many
of our party straddled the line and
stood, one foot in British Columbia,
and one foot in Alaska.
Our next stop was at Inspiration
Point, II miles east of Skagway: at
this point a monument was erected |
in memory of more than 5000 pack |
horses that lost their lives there. |
The old trail is still visible, |
and shows the wear Of the thou