The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1941-11-13
Interesting Things
About Alaska Told
By Soldiers at Sitka

Lieutenant Lawrence Brown, for
merly attached to the Fairmont Times,
is with the Third Battalion Communi-
cation Section, 201st Infantry, located
at Sitka, Alaska. In a letter addressed
to all his friends in the newspaper bus
mess, he reveals many interesting
things about Sitka.
Excerpts from his letter should be
of interest. 1t reads as follows;
81 think it's one Of the finest places
that I've ever seen and has some of
the most beautiful hills, rather noun
tains, that one could possibly mag
inc.
owe arrived here on the 18th of Au-
gust, and as the ship wound its
way among hundreds of small pine
covered islands and finally dropped
its anchor in the bay just out from
Sitka; and as l stood on the deck that
morning and watched the sun slowly
mount its way over the mountain
peaks, snow-covered and piercing the
heavens, and as the small village here
began to awaken, and as small fishing
boats slowly moved out of the fleet
and broke away for better hunting
elsewhere, l thought to myself that
this couldn't be anything less than
paradise The shore line and the pines
lining them were never more beautiful
in any picture Yes indeed, that was
one of the most inspiring moments in
my life.
Though the town was built for
about 1900 people, and it now houses
nearly 5000, and there isn't a paved
street in the place, it does boast a new
postofice and courthouse combined,
and there is a beautiful park estab-
lished by the Department Of the Inter-
ior. There isn't much in it except
scores of totem poles.
"The Indians here are thick as feas
on a dogs back and are just typical
Indians. There are relics of the old
Russian kingdom, including all old
Russian church and an old Russian
cemetery.
although prices are sky-high, ra-
dio reception is poor; the towns lone
hotel is fairly nice; there are no rail
roads, which means that the only
transportation are two or three pri-
vately owned planes a week from
Juneau and about three boats a week
from somewhere, l have begun to like
the place So if ever have any money
on which to retire, l wouldn't mind
spending my old days here.
Recreation is a problem, but fish
ing and boating are filling the bill at
present. Nearly every evening you
can see some of the men mounted on
a huge rock out in the bay pulling in
II and IA inch stuff with nothing more
than green pole, cheap string for
| line and hook that usually sells three
for dime. Bait usually consists of
some meat rinds or a piece of clam
that they dig up, for up here the fish
are not fussy. They don't demand fly
and a spinner. Back on Baronoff Is
land (where the town is situated)
there is a small stream called Indian
River, and in it trout and bass lie
thick.
"Sitka is located on Baronoff Island,
founded by Urince Baronoff, Russian
explorer and soldier, somewhere
around the turn of 1900 or slightly
before. Sitka was one time capital of
Alaska, as you probably remember,
and the evidence of the old Russian
domain still remains. Almost in the
center of Sitka is an old Russian GEM
etery containing possibly dozen
graves of Russian soldiers and Rus
sian princess, killed by the Kik-Siti
Indians, many moons ago. The grave
stones are of course in Russian, but
remarkably clear. AS for the cathe-
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