Evening star., 1937-04-04
TOURS TO ALASKA
T0START IN JUNE
"Inside Passage" Ships
Promise to Be Popular
With Tourists.

SEATTLE, April 3-Alaska will
step to the front this Summer as a
tourist mecca and is already sounding
call which is echoing in transporta-
ton circles, according to steamship
and tourist officials who are making
early preparations to meet the de-
mands of a record season. Transit
companies whose ships voyage the
finland Passage" are preparing, for
earlier schedules and extra Sailings,
with the famed waterway to be fea-
tured as a vacation cruise in itself
Alaskan tours this year start in
June and continue throughout the
Summer. Carefully planned to por-
tray the various sections Of the coun-
try, they are typical of what may be
seen in the diversified vacation land,
and the Inland Passage is a men,
ory treat in itself The route intro
duces the regal scenic splendor and
aWe-lnSplrlng beauty of Southern
Alaska. Through the warm sheltered
seas protected by snoW-clad towering
peaks, the brilliant northern sun paints
a picture of magic rainbows framed
by the heavy green-clad shores. Quaint
Indian villages and their century-old
totem poles contribute to the response
to the untamed life of the north.
From Ketchikan. the first port of
call, Wrangell, the oldest settlement,
will be visited before the steamer heads
up the inletS to Taku Glacier. Juneau,
which is now experiencing the thrill
of a new gold rush, will remind the
visitor of Alaska of old and the tricks
of '98 by its quartz gold mining oper-
atlonS. Old SkagWay, where the trail"
leads to the White Pass and Yukon,
is now modern city located amid one
OF Alaska's scenic gems, and exhibits
the gorgeous Towering of the North
in Summer. At Sitka once capital
under Russian rule. the traveller re-
Verts back to the dawn of the eight
eenth century. Old Russian block
houses and the beet-shaped st. Michael
Cathedral reveal the splendor of a
once transplanted empire of the Tsars
Tour itineraries invariably include
the scenic districts of Mount McKin-
ley mightiest of North America s
heights. Rising $4,000 feet above sea
level, one surveys the golden heart Of
Alaska. From its immense base arc
the llmltlesS stretches of the kings of
mountains with singing cascades and
glacier streams to carry out the at.
moSphere of the wild,
From the Wonderlands of Mount
mckinley tour parties may journey ir
modern de luxe trains to north of thf
Arctic Circle and in the play of ths
mldnlght sun visit the Upper Yukon
AT this point, within a few degrees
OF the Arctic Circle, visitors will be-
surprised at the warm, pleasant
"eather OF Summer. Here the Eskimos
Will gather to greet the cruise passen.
gers and put on some of their native
games, dances and the thrilling KAYAK
races. On the islands are the grea
seal herds, giving the cruise neophyte
Arctic exploration touch.
Names OF White Horse, Klondike and
Dawson, with the untamed beauty OF
the restless river scenes become init.
mate subjects of travel on some o1
the announced cruises. On special Arc.
tlc Circle voyages ice breakers precede
the steamer, which begins its call al
the Dutch harbor on the Alaskan
peninsula. Among the high lights in
the Summer itinerary will be Cordovs
OF the glacier country, Valdez, the
mountain fastness town on Prince Viii.
liam Sound, and Seward, named fol
the man who inspired AIaskas pur.
chase, and the districts of Cook Inlet