The Wrangell sentinel., 1954-07-23
(Continued from Page One) RIVER BOAT STORY

RIVER B0AT STURY
 To 4elsglapA Green ill British Col umDla.
 Inns rYefDOat trip up the Stik-I inc provides d unlQue vacation tor peUp4e WHO are looking for some thing that is out of the ordinary IL n4gat as wen pe said .figHt HOW, 50 mere will be no misunderstand- ing, however, that thls is not what eYeu the most eXuberant tour pro moter would describe as luxury cruise.
 Tnere are no golf courses, swim ming pools, tenms courts or super hotels along the Stikine, and the bars. while they are frequent, are stuctly mud and sand. If bright lights are what you are looking tor, this is definitely not the place to find them. There are no telephones, newspapers or stock market tick CTS, and executives who wish to keep in touch with their offices and thus carry their troubles wEth them will also do well to shun the Stikine River country.
 The route. on the other hand, trayerses a magnificent wilderness with some of the finest scenery on the continent. There are glaciers and mountains, - big mountains climbing to eight and ten thousand feet, scattered all along the way. Some of these mountains have names on the maps and several have Indian names that are next to unpronouncable in the original and more than a little salty in translation, the Tlinget sense of comparison and humor being what it was There is also fishing and big game hunting, for bear, moose, sheep, goats and deer in season, and there are horses for riding and other accommodations for sports men who wish to stop over at the end of the river journey.
 The Judith Ann,, snub-nosed and
 Judith Ann ship-Shape
 wholly utilitarian and light built to keep the draft down Cor is it up?) is clean and ship-shape and carries ten passengers, two to a stateroom, with entirely adequate facilities for their comfort. There is always steamboat coffee and on the range in the galley, and out of the galley come meals that are plain and good and, if anything, overadequate, even for the ap- petites whipped up by long hours in the brisk fresh air of the river
 The Stikine has been an artery of trade and commerce for nobody knows how many years, but except that the glaciers have melted back good deal of it probably looks little different today than it did in 1861 when Alexander Choquette discovered gold on Bucks Bar ck in 1862 when Captain William Moore pushed the first steamboat the Plying Dutchman." up it's steep grades. Trapper's cabins al infrequent intervals along the banks are the only visible works of man There was big boom in river steamboating in the 1S70's, after the discovery of gold in the Cas- siar, and another during the Klon- dike Raah. The Stikine was one of the routes to the gold fields, sevenr teen steamers piled it's waters at one time and traffic cops were ne- cessary in places to keep things from snarling up.
 Said to be the sWiftest of Alaska s nayigable rivers, the Stikine drops nearly 600 feet in 160 miles, com pared with about the same drop in a thousand miles on the Yukon and in 1500 miles on the Mississippi. Because of this heavy climb, the Judith Ann takes three long days to grind her way up to Telegraph Creek but slides back down the riv- CT in twelve hours or less. At cer- tain places during stages of high water the current is so fast that her 225-horsepower diesel engines won't churu her mp against il and it becomes necessary to run out a long steel cable, fasten the end q. shore and then wind her up theca. bic on her power capstan.
 Captain of the Judith Ann this is the dean of Alaskas rivermen, Captain S. D. "Sid' Harrington Any trip up the Stikine is bound to be enjoyable, but in company with Captain Sid it becomes some thing special He has an endless fund of stories of people and places and events in A1aska's history. 2 history in which he has had part for better than half century, and