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ALASKA
AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING

Photo by Dobbs.

LETTING THE WATER DO THE WORK. GROUND SLTITrTMr> n«
DANIELS CREEK, NEAR N0_4E, ALASKA N° °N

ALASKA
AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING

BY
JOHN J. UNDERWOOD

WITH NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS
AND A MAP

'I hear the tread of pioneers,
Of millions yet to be;
The first loiv ivask of ' luames inhere soon
Shall roll a human sea.
The elements of empire here
Are plastic yet and warm,
The chaos of a mighty -world
Is rounding into form. "
— Whittier

NEW YORK
DODD, MEAD AND COMPANY
i9!3

Copyright, 1913
By dodd, MEAD & COMPANY
Published, March, 1913

TO
THOSE GOOD FELLOWS
who are members of the national
press club, of washington, d. c,
and of the seattle press club,
of seattle, washington

ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The information contained in this book was gathered during
an almost continuous residence of fourteen years in Alaska
and the Yukon Territory. Much of this time, it is true, was
spent in fishing, hunting, exploring, mining, and various ways
other than the acquisition of data. But' what has been written
is as accurate as it is humanly possible to make it. The
writer's notes and observations have been checked up with gov
ernment reports and other official documents, and the works
of Alfred H. Brooks, Chief of the Geological Survey in Alaska,
Skidmore's " History of Sitka," Dall's " Resources of Alaska,"
Senator Sumner's speech on the resources of Alaska, and vari
ous documents in the state, treasury and other departments
of the government have been freely consulted.
It is hoped that it will serve not only as a guide for tourists
and sightseers who visit the Northern wonderland, but also
that it may contain matters of interest to the stock raiser, the
farmer, the miner, the prospector, the investor, and those who
may go to Alaska for purposes other than sight-seeing.
A few of the photographs herein reproduced were taken by
the writer, but the majority of them represent the work of
several professional photographers situated in different parts
of the Northland.

FOREWORD
THE LURE OF THE NORTH
Blood red, like a gigantic ball of fire, the sun was sinking
to rest behind the filmy cloud of sulphurous smoke that
zephyred lazily from the summit of Mount Katmai. Its
rays suffused the snow-capped crests of adjacent peaks with
shimmering pink and purple hues, as of millions of scintillating
gems reposing on a bed of white velvet. Like one hypnotised,
an Indian gazed at the scene, magnificent beyond description.
An officer of the law touched' the savage upon the arm.
" Come," he said.
The Indian turned.
" Here all things began and here all things will end," he
murmured in the guttural of his native tongue. " Here the
world was made: here have I lived, here have my fathers lived
before me, here would I make my home, here would I die.
But now the Indian is as the moon and the white man as the
stars. The paleface says I must go. Yet I shall return."
The Lure of the North was in the savage breast. Like the
white man who had come into his country and who, slowly,
surely, was blotting his tribes from off the earth, the son of
the wilderness had absorbed the spirit of his surroundings.
The difference between them lay in that the Indian knew his
return was inevitable. Intuitive was the knowledge in his
primitive mind that he would not be able to resist the uncon
querable yearning which compels those who have lived in
Alaska ever to turn their faces and footsteps towards the
North. ix

FOREWORD
As surely as each spring the sun returns to break the fet
ters that shackle lake and river, the wandering Alaskan, when
the trees begin to bud, remembers that wild roses grow be
neath the snow drifts; that nestling in the bosom of Mother
Earth are sleeping forget-me-nots, anemones and violets, wait
ing to be awakened by the life-giving breath of Chinook winds
and warm rains into velvety fields of fragrant blossoms.
As the salmon returns each spring to the stream of its na
tivity, as the myriad migratory birds each year seek again their
nesting grounds in the wilderness of marsh and lake and in the
cool waters of the Northland's million streams, the Alaskan
feels the insatiable desire to trek back into the realm where the
midnight beholds the sun and knows not stars nor darkness.
He thinks of the trout and greyling leaping in the eddies
and the dark silent pools. He hears the chattering and laugh
ing of a thousand little brooks and rills as they rush gaily
over the stones to mingle with the rivers. He scents the
pungent fragrance of the dank undergrowth crushed beneath
his moccasined foot as he treads the shadowy depths of the
primeval forests. In his ears rings the call of the moose at
twilight. In fancy he sees, afar on the high peaks, wild goats
and sheep with their gambolling young. Through the heavy,
green foliage of the forest, he may catch a glimpse of a fright
ened black bear or woodland caribou. Or, perhaps, he may
meet a snarling and ferocious grizzly as he strolls in his home
sick day-dream along the trails of the silent Northland.
He dreams, too, of a purling stream, whence he garners in
a pan the yellow, glinting gold. He hears the rhythmical
swish-swash of water slopping in his rocker or gurgling
through his sluice-boxes. In the early morning, when the pine
trees make long shadows, he feels the sting of frost in his nos
trils as he listens to the spruce hen clucking for her chickens or
the partridge drumming for its mate.

FOREWORD
Never yet has lived the expatriated Arctic Brother who has
not wondered why he ever came to pant and toil beneath brain-
baking suns and choke his lungs with the dust of hot, stifling
streets. What madness could have induced him to exchange
the God-given, pure air of the North for the foul atmosphere
of the city?
Satiated, then forgotten, is his desire to see and feel the nov
elties and taste the luxuries of the great outside world — the
white lights, the crowded avenues, the theatres, the motor cars,
the thousand and one things that man's ingenuity has devised
to pander to the pampered appetite of civilisation. He has
seen them. But he has seen, too, the lack of opportunity, the
distress, the worry, the oppression, the heart-breaking poverty;
and, with a deep and abiding disgust for the selfishness, shal
lowness and meanness of it all, he turns again to his beloved
Northland. The greatness — the bigness — of Alaska calls to him.
The great glaciers, weird and ghost-like, relics of past ages;
the towering mountains; the mighty rushing rivers; the vast
expanse of snow and ice; the phantasmagoria of the Northern
Lights; the largeness of heart and broadness of mind of the
people; the richness of the prizes that may there be won —
these are the things that ever lure him back to the North.
Bigness is the dominant note of Alaska's scenery. Bigness
is the dominant note in the hearts and minds of Alaska's peo
ple. It is a land of big mountains, big rivers, big forests, big
glaciers, big distances, big men. It is no cradle for the puny
nursling, for Alaska's way of rearing her young is inexorably
cruel. She kills and maims and drives to madness the weak
lings who seek to become her foster children. The death sting
of her fierce blizzard strikes to the heart and her iron cold
chills the brain. She allows only the strongest, the bravest,
the fittest, to survive. n

FOREWORD
Her moods are as varied as her scenery. Her glaciers, far
larger than the far-famed ice fields of the Alps, now thunder
in their progress like duelling batteries of heavy artillery; or
lie still, dull grey or steely blue, covered here and there with
age-old accumulations of debris. Their mood is that of desola
tion and death.
The shimmering waters of her lakes — lying sometimes
'neath fleecy clouds in the open, sometimes in the shadows of
overhanging, frowning mountains — change in their pellucid
depths from blue to violet, then to dark green and black, and
again to heliotrope, pink and gayer colours, soothing, saddening
and cheering by turns.
The precipitous mountains, lifting their rugged heads above
the clouds in mighty majesty, or showing their gaunt outlines
through the eddying mists like dancing skeletons, are funereal,
repellent, mysterious, stern. The lonely wanderer shrinks into
insignificance before their contemptuous grandeur. No bright
fancies are linked with their memories. Their very names tell
their story. Hope-deserted prospectors bitterly have called
them Starvation Peak, Death's Head Rock, Poverty Point,
Mount Weariness, Mount Disappointment, Mount Despair.
The forests, in places impenetrable through rank, half-
tropical undergrowth, seem to stifle a sad story of past magnif
icence. In their gloomy gorges brood the spirits of regret and
remorse. Few tender recollections linger in their dark can
yons. They are fear-inspiring in their sombre shadows. Yet,
in other places, Nature paints the woodland in her brightest
colours. White silver birch and quaking asp mingle with grey
poplar and larch and dark green spruce and tamarack, with
here and there a gigantic cedar standing like a silent sentinel
and throwing its black shadows into limpid lake or fjord.
Verdure stretches down to the water's edge. Feathered song
sters warble sweetly as they flit, in their bright plumage, from

xii

FOREWORD
tree to tree. Fragrant odours arise from the carpets of moss
and the hearts of millions of exquisitely coloured wildflowers.
On the fringe of the jungle, broad, verdant plains are covered
with a luxuriant growth of wild grasses. Thus it is that the
Northland speaks to the soul of the life and happiness that
abounds in a land of plenty.
Her rivers, like her forests, are contradictory. Kissed by
summer's suns and fed by winter's snows, they come tearing
down canyons like herds of wild and frightened horses, toss
ing high their foaming spray to warn the impudent voyageur
who would dare their fury in his flimsy canoe. Others flow
serenely over sandy bottoms, clear and sparkling, like sheets
of silver. At times they are peaceful, calm. Again they have
the strength of Titans.
' Sometimes Alaska becomes terrifying. And man, and bird
and beast — ¦ even her own wild ones — ¦ flee before the tempest
of her convulsions. Smoke and flame belch from her moun
tains. Inky clouds, broken only by the lurid volcanic fires and
the darting flash of lightning, forbid the sun. The air rever
berates with the crash of thunder and the booming of Nature's
artillery beneath the earth; and the seas boil and hiss as the
incandescent rocks plunge into their depths. The earth shud
ders and gasps as the top is hurled from some giant peak or
mammoth glacier is jarred from the couch where it has rested
for centuries. Perhaps, to the accompaniment of terrific de
tonations, an island rears its head of red-hot, glowing rock
through swirling clouds of steam from the bed of an Arctic
sea. Another island, perhaps, sinks into the depths, and ships
sail over the spot where once it lay and the lead can find no
bottom. Northward of the Yukon fierce winds sweep* savagely across
the dreary, barren tundras. The " musher," doggedly strug
gling against the blinding storm, stands out in the dim light of
xiii

FOREWORD
the Arctic winter, unreal, intangible — something apparently
animated, and yet grotesque and ghost-like. In the dark, silent
season, when the wolf-dog lies down in the snow and howls at
the icy moon and when the aurora suffuses the heavens with a
million darting, scintillating, iridescent rays, the winter travel
ler in the North — as the wind bites cruelly through his thick
furs — feels that he is alone and deserted; that death lies in
wait for him around the next bend in the trail; that he, like
others, who have dared the Northern blizzard, will be found
stark and cold on the frozen plain when the spring sun melts
his winding sheet of snow.
Alaska is the land of ever-changing impulses, but in all her
moods she engenders strength and virility. When the
Northerner is wandering through sylvan scenes, where brooks
are babbling, where the sun is shining overhead, where the sky
is blue and all the trees and shrubs and streams are coloured
in pastel shades, he is calm, contented, happy. When placed
before the fearful grandeur of rugged, snow-capped moun
tains, the terror of wind-swept plains or the silence of unre
sponsive forests, he is imbued with the courage and determina
tion that is essential to the conquering of the obstacles that
beset his path.
The dweller in the wilderness learns to acknowledge the
subtle charms of its solitude. He learns to read the lessons in
its rocks, and trees, and fields and falling leaves. He begins
to comprehend why the nomadic Arab loves his heritage of
desert sand.
With reckless courage and undying hope the Alaskan ever can
see the green fields in the distance or the peaceful valley that
lies just over the next divide. He climbs the rocky fastness, he
penetrates the untrodden wilderness, alone and unafraid. Al
ways is he certain that some day he will find the fortune that
God has placed there for him. Hardships, privation, misfor-
xiv

FOREWORD
tune he endures as a part of his daily lot. Often without re
ward he toils for many years. Perhaps, after a bitter, des
perate struggle against starvation or the elements, he succumbs
to the Arctic blizzard ; but he accepts his fate unflinchingly and
without complaint. Occasionally he finds his last resting place
in some deep, dark gulch, or on some barren mountainside,
where he sleeps in a nameless grave with none to mark the spot.
When the call comes, it finds him ready to pay the toll of the
trackless places without question or regret, for courage and for
titude abide everlastingly in his heart. In the cold, austere
mountains; in the silent forests, in the broad plains, in the
long leagues of the heart-breaking trail, he finds a fit compan
ion and a loving affinity in life or in death.
Yet with all the various moods and fancies that are born of
scenery so beautiful that it makes the heart ache, Alaska essen
tially is a land of plenitude — bounteousness. Beneath her
covering of moss and vegetation mineral treasure worth count
less millions lies hidden; her broad acres are covered with riot
ous growth of wild grain and luxuriant grasses; her forests
are filled with ripened timber; beneath her sod are billions of
tons of coal. With extravagant generosity she has provided
that posterity shall be nurtured and warmed with the food and
fuel of her bosom.
In the years yet to be her great forests will deliver their
wealth; her mines will surrender their riches; her seas will
give of their abundance; her hospitable soil will yield of its
marvellous productivity; her verdant fields will be harvested;
her cereals will be ground into flour without which neither
prince nor pauper can live; her sequestered inlets will become
thriving industrial centers where the rumble of her thousand
mills will mingle with the roar of many furnaces.
Alaska is calling for people. Her outstretched arms are
filled with generous offerings to those who would come and
xv

FOREWORD
free her from the isolation she has suffered for unnumbered
centuries. The sturdy men and women who conquered the great North
west, who pierced the back-bone of the continent with railway
tunnels, who made productive millions of acres of desert land,
were of the same hardy stock who, to-day, by their endurance,
energy and industry are slowly converting the vast wilderness
of Alaska into an Empire.
These are the unhonoured, unknown heroes of the North.
Some day, perhaps, some more gifted pen will undertake to
write their story. Mine shall be the more prosaic task of
writing something about the land that is theirs — "Alaska,
an Empire in the making."
The Author.

xvi

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I PAGE
Leaving for Alaska — Vessel sails through the " Mediterranean
of the Pacific '' — Magnificent scenery along the shores of Pu
get Sound and the Strait of Juan de Fuca — How it im
pressed different people — Each sees in it that which most ap
peals to him — Spouting whales and playing dolphins seen
occasionally — Alaskan story told in the smoking room . . i
CHAPTER II
Through Southeastern Alaska waters — In the Inland Passage
— The first totem poles — No totems among the Eskimos —
Indian superstitions and some of their possible origins —
Barbarities of Indian wars — Totem pole heraldry — Woman's
place among Alaska Indians — Indian kinship — Indian hos
pitality — A totem pole erected to a white man — The Indian
" Bogey Man "  io
CHAPTER III
Arriving at Ketchikan — Prince Rupert — Railroad building in
Alaska and Canada — Scenery along the Canadian coast be
yond Prince Rupert — Lack of navigation aids in Alaskan
waters — Ketchikan — Luxuriant vegetation of Southeastern
Alaska — Ketchikan distributing point for mines — Mining
settlements  -3
CHAPTER IV
Metlakahtla and Wrangell — Metlakahtla and "Father Duncan"
— Intelligent Indians — Beyond Metlakahtla — Wrangell —
Its early boom — The Klondike strike — A reign of outlawry
— The " Single O Kid " — Wrangell now quiet and respect
able — Trolling for salmon — A trip up the Stikine River to
Glenora — Arithmetic at Wrangell  3°

CONTENTS CHAPTER V PAGE
Some Alaskan Glaciers — Leaving Wrangell — Alaskan Twi
light — Wrangell Narrows — Petersburg — Halibut, cod and
other fisheries — First near view of a glacier — " Dead " and
"Live" glaciers in Taku Inlet — Flowers on edges of ice
fields — The largest glacier in the world — Glaciers of Cop
per River  +1
CHAPTER VI
A centre of industry — The great Treadwell mine that has pro
duced five times the sum paid by the government for the en
tire territory of Alaska — The big stamp mill and concen
trating plant — Juneau, the capital of Alaska — Silver Bow
Basin and its mines — The origin of Hochinoo, a potent bever
age — Deserted Katalla — Cordova and glaciers .... 50
CHAPTER VII
Running past the exposed coast — Valdez and its mines — Seward,
the town where an undertaker can't make a living — Cook's
Inlet and Kenai Peninsula — Cook's Inlet and Kenai Penin
sula, an agricultural and mining region — Sitka, the former
capital of Alaska — Lover's Lane — An early tragedy . . 61
CHAPTER VIII
Buying from Indians — Purchaser should keep eyes open — Ivory
artificially aged — Elk teeth made while you wait — Natives
shrewd bargainers — Copper and silver ornaments — Native
engraving on ivory — Chilkat blankets — The story of basket
weaving — Helen Gould's prize — Yukutat baskets highly
prized — Attu baskets best workmanship  70
CHAPTER IX
Routes to Nome and the Interior — Unalaska and the Aleutian
Islanders — The route via Cordova and Chitina — Skagway
route is most popular in summer — Haines and the Chilkat
Indians — Skagway, a city of romance — The Arctic Brother
hood — A trip on the White Pass and Yukon Railway across
the mountains and along lakes and rivers to Atlin City . 79

CONTENTS CHAPTER X PAGE
From Caribou Crossing to Dawson — The source of the mighty
Yukon — Fifty-Mile River and the White Horse Rapids,
where many lives were lost in the Klondike stampede —
Miles Canyon — Lake Lebarge — Collins' tragic story — A
ride through Five Finger Rapids — Dawsons' past and
present  93
CHAPTER XI
Down the river to Fairbanks — Forty-Mile, the pioneer mining
camp of the Upper Yukon — The fighting dogs — Eagle
City, at the boundary line — Circle City — Wada's trip into
Fort Yukon from the Arctic, and the sad fate of his trousers
— Fort Hamlin and Rampart City — The Tanana River and
Fairbanks, the metropolis that sorely needs a railroad . . .105
CHAPTER XII
Through the river delta to the sea — The bloody tragedies and
crimes that distinguished the early settlement of the lower
Yukon — Old Forts along the river and at St. Michael —
Nome, where people isolated for eight months make winter
pass pleasantly — Ice floes drifting through Bering Strait —
Siberia only seventy-five miles distant — Land of the Eskimo 119
CHAPTER XIII
The starting point — Starting point for Alaska has many attrac
tions for tourists — Points of interest and picturesque beauty
— Its Golden Potlatch, the festival with which the discovery
of gold in Alaska is celebrated — Mountain climbing, motor
ing, boating and fishing trips — Energetic people build up
wonderful city in past ten years  141
CHAPTER XIV
Hunting Grounds — Game and fur bearing animals and birds of
Alaska — Mosquitoes make life a burden to the sportsman dur
ing certain seasons — Habits of the moose, caribou, mountain
sheep and goat and different varieties of bear — Where to go
and what to take — Notes on Game Laws — Where guides are
needed — List of the birds and animals indigenous to the
territory  156

CONTENTSCHAPTER XV PAGE
Fishing as an industry and sport — Salmon-canning business alone
annually repays to the people of the United States twice the
amount that was paid to Russia for the entire territory —
Like gold mining, the business has its romance of failure
and success — Good sport for anglers in Northern streams . 179
CHAPTER XVI
Transportation and communication — Transportation a vital prob
lem — Lack of aid to navigation — " The Flat Creek Limited "
— Trunk line railroad a necessity — Bering River coal fields
— Enormous tax on railroads — Government should lend aid —
The government telegraph system — Alaska's agricultural pos
sibilities and commerce  198
CHAPTER XVII
Climate, agriculture and grazing — All varieties of climate — In
fluence of Japan Current — Little zero weather on coast — Ex
treme humidity — Prolific vegetable growth — Agriculture in
Alaska — Forty miles of natural meadow — Climate of the
interior — Stock raising — Floriculture  21 _
CHAPTER XVIII
Mines, miners and mining — Alaska has produced in mineral thirty-
two times the purchase price of the territory — Gold — Cop
per — The fascination of mining — The life of the prospector
— Fabulously rich mines sold for a song — Half of Alaska
yet to be explored — Gold discovery at first discouraged by
Russians — Russians had knowledge of iron and copper 
Advent of American miners — First shipments of gold and
silver — The Treadwell mine — First placer mining 
Later discoveries — Copper development — Tin — Coal  Oil
— Marble — Graphite — Iron — Variety of Alaska's mineral
isation — The Alaska coal question 
CHAPTER XIX
The reindeer as a civilizer — Philanthropic work results in es
tablishing nucleus of tremendous industry — Reindeer can be

CONTENTS PACE
raised for market more cheaply than cattle and grazing
ground is unlimited — Animals become important factor in
food and transportation problems of territory — Convert pov
erty-stricken Eskimos into industrious, thrifty race .... 243
CHAPTER XX
The Alaska seal herd — Treatment of fur resources by United
States government forms one of the blackest marks in its history
— Unfairness shown to pelagic sealers — Ruthless slaughter
decimates greatest fishery wealth ever possessed by any nation
— Killing prodigal to the point of recklessness — Habits and
Characteristics of valuable mammals — Raising young seals 255
CHAPTER XXI
Modern whaling on Northern Pacific — Driven from their own
country by new laws, Norwegian whalers invade American
waters — Bowhead whale hunting in its decadence — Sup
planted by modern methods which afford most exciting sport
in the world — The tragedies and phantom ships of the Arc
tic  273
CHAPTER XXII
Raising fur for the market — Fox breeding a precarious, yet
profitable industry — Going into voluntary exile, sometimes
for more than a year at a time, ranchers lead life of solitude
— Interesting animal farm on Middleton Island — Others on
Yukon and Tanana Rivers — Raising foxes on Copper River —
Fish, birds, seal and potatoes form Mr. and Mrs. Reynard's bill
of fare  -83
CHAPTER XXIII
Alaska as a newspaper field — Pioneers of newspaperdom among
the vanguard to emblazon the glories and the riches of the
far North — Through difference in time often prints news
before it happens — Editors must have physical ability —
" The Eskimo Bulletin " one of the first newspapers published
in Northwestern Alaska — Unique journalistic ventures . . 394

CONTENTS
CHAPTER XXIV PAGE
Missionaries and education — Because they teach natives how to
figure the value of their furs, missionaries are not welcomed
by traders — " Cherokee Bob " believes that missionaries
and ministers have their uses — Natives instructed in ele
mentary and manual training — Country divided by differ
ent denominations to prevent confusion in minds of natives . 299
CHAPTER XXV
Dogs, dog " punchers " and dog races — The part played by this
animal in the development of Alaska — Its courage and stead
fast loyalty under adverse circumstances — Drivers perform
marvellous feats of endurance — The All-Alaska Sweep
stake Dog Race, the Derby of the far North, more interesting
and exciting than baseball championship — Animals bred from
wolves  310
CHAPTER XXVI
Spectacular volcanoes — Slumbering craters spread along Aleutian
Islands and mainland contiguous — How they spring into life
at intermittent periods — Ever changing they are filled with
surprises for navigators and natives alike — Islands appear
and disappear beneath waves — Two continents may yet be
made one by seismic disturbances  328
CHAPTER XXVII
The cost of living in Alaska — Meal prices vary according to loca
tion — Cheap in accessible places — Transportation problem
is important factor — Prospectors depend on country's resources
for subsistence — Cabinet officer given dinner composed of
game, wild berries and vegetables  ,.z
CHAPTER XXVIII
Discovery and early history — Vitus Bering, Danish navigator
credited with being discoverer of Alaska — Dr. G. W. Stel
lar, scientist, first brings before public the vast resources of an
empire that is now in the making — Atrocious depredations of
early freebooters, fur-hunters and traders of the frozen North
— Barbaric savagery practised by Russian pirates ... 350

CONTENTS
CHAPTER XXIX PAGE
British and Spanish expeditions — Spaniards contest with the
Ramanoffs for conquest of newly discovered territory — First
white settlers to colonize Dutch Harbor and Unalaska —
Fierce warlike people baffle attempts of early settlers — Re
garded as invaders and unlawful intruders by Russians —
Vancouver supplements work of explorers by exhaustive geo
graphical observations  357
CHAPTER XXX
Occupation by the Russians — Growth of Russian fur trade — St.
Petersburg takes cognizance of disorders and outrages com
mitted between rival companies — Warlike Thlingits refuse
to submit to Russian occupation — Romance combined with
history, how a beautiful princess held subjects in spell —
Her untimely end — How Rezanof wooed, won and lost the
Governor's daughter  367
CHAPTER XXXI
English explorers in Arctic — British navigators again attempt to
discover Northwest passage — Mouth of Mackenzie River dis
covered by Hudson Bay Company's trader — Various Frank
lin Relief Expeditions map much territory north of Bering
Strait — Western Union Telegraph Expedition spends $3,-
000,000 in construction, but lines proves useless  378
CHAPTER XXXII
American occupation — Purchase of Alaska from Russia in 1867
following bitter controversy which brought scorn upon Will
iam H. Seward, Secretary of State — Stars and Stripes car
ried to Northernmost part of America by brilliant stroke of
foreign policy — Congress torn in strife over purposed pur
chase — General Lovell H. Rousseau takes possession of
territory  • • ¦ 385
CHAPTER XXXIII
Transfer to the United States — National emblem flutters to the
breeze on memorable afternoon of October 18, 1867 — "Origi
nal " flags as plentiful as " genuine " scarabs at Port Said —

CONTENTS PAGE
History of Alaska up to and at the conclusion of Russian pos
session — Seed of discontent which to-day manifests itself sown
at early date — Murderous Indians terrify the whites . . .391
CHAPTER XXXIV
Systematic explorations by Americans — New era of development
begins soon after American acquisition — Approximate posi
tion of Canadian boundary line established — Private traders
and explorers do much good work — George Holt breaks
down opposition of natives to allowing white men to cross
White Pass into the Yukon — Klondike gold fields discovered
and rush commences  4°°
CHAPTER XXXV
Work of the U. S. Geological Survey— Dr. Brooks' researches on
behalf of the United States Geological Survey, the one reliable
medium in the discovery of auriferous gravel — Many millions
of dollars in gold now added to the world's supply — Diffi
culties overcome in a formerly unexplored empire — First au
thentic information of the new gold fields at Nome — Tales of
hardship and death  415
CHAPTER XXXVI
The discovery of the Northwest Passage — Roald Amundsen first
to bring ship through tortuous Northwest Passage — Human
interest stories of his fealty to the members of his intrepid
crew — sterling qualities of explorer characterised by sub
lime modesty which precluded dramatic embellishment of
world-famed deed — Story of his valour during long black, sub-
Arctic night  423
CHAPTER XXXVII
Alaska in short paragraphs — Four hundred tons of gold taken
out of Alaska since 1883, aggregating approximately two
hundred million dollars as a return for the far-sightedness of
Secretary Seward who was held up to ridicule when he com
pleted negotiations on behalf of the United States with Rus
sia in the purchase of Alaska for a consideration of $7,200,000 432

ILLUSTRATIONS
Letting the water do the work. Ground sluicing on
Daniels Creek, near Nome, Alaska  Frontispiece
Facing page
Cape St. Elias, the first part of Pacific North America to be seen
by White men  6
Iceberg in Controller Bay, where Vitus Bering made his landing . 6
Lover's Lane, at Sitka  18
Driving the golden spike in the Iditarod Railroad  26
Higher types of Eskimos. Ablakok, reindeer king of Cape Prince of
Wales, and the belle of a native village .... ... 34
Drying Tomcod for winter consumption. Eskimos dip these fishes
in seal oil and eat them raw  46
Chena stamp mill, Fairbanks district  54
Cliff mine mill, near Valdez ....  54
"Kissed by the summer's suns and fed by winter's snows, they come
tearing down canyons"  64
Squaw and papoose beneath a thatch of drying tomcod .... 76
Native children, a little afraid of the camera  76
Summer night at Cordova, the town that sprang into existence when
the construction of the Copper River Railroad was commenced 84
Map of Alaska  9°
Copper River bridge, built at a. cost of $2,000,000  98
On Fairbanks trail ...  no
Herd of walrus on the floes of Bering sea  126
Party of walrus hunters hauling the kill on the ice floes of Bering
Sea  134
Pete Larsen : Kadiak hunter and guide  144
Ursine pugilists; bear cubs, like children, are both playful and
quarrelsome   I5%
An Alaskan prospector  160
Three little bears up a tree  174

ILLUSTRATIONS
Facing page
Alaska's seas and streams teem with fish. Halibut caught in
Cordova Bay; and a day's catch of rainbow trout at Seward . 182
Salmon fishing ....  *94
Revenue cutter Bear caught in the Northern ice pack . . . .206
Captain E. P. Bertholf, holding court in an igloo at Point Barrow 206
Wild berries grow luxuriantly in nearly all parts of Alaska . . 212
Garden of canteloupes, grown under glass in Fairbanks . . . 212
Wild geraniums ; wild anemones ; wild red currants and wild irises 220
Copper Mountain from head of Landlock Bay  230
Hydraulic mining on the Pioneer Company's ground at Nome . 238
Reindeer are used for pleasure rides by whites and natives . . . 244
Herds of reindeer in winter pasture .... . ... 252
Seal Colony on St. Paul Island  266
Whaling station at Point Barrow, the Northernmost point of the
continent  278
Barrow Eskimos aboard U. S. Revenue cutter, which visits them
once a year  278
Where sweet peas grow eight feet tall; A Skagway garden . . 288
Old Russian buildings at Kadiak; many were erected under Gov
ernor Shelikof  296
The Red Dragon Mission at Cordova, where Christiainty is com
bined with a library and pool room  300
Under the shadow of A. B. Mountain, is built the Skagway Camp
of the Arctic Brotherhood  300
Eskimo children at the Cape Prince of Wales Mission .... 308
Hauling freight on Bering Sea  314
Team of Siberian racing dogs on the frozen waste of Bering Sea . 324
The birth of Bogoslofi Island  334
Gardening is one of the principal forms of recreation at Skagway . 346
Eldred Rock light, Gastineau Channel  354
Cattle ranging on Kadiak Island  362
Government school and children at Kadiak, where manual training
is taught  374
A trip over the White Pass Railroad is one to be remembered . . 380
"Backed by beetling hills and fronted by a tranquil bay, Seward's
situation is a decidedly attractive one"  3gg

ILLUSTRATIONS
Facing page
Wild hay and red top grass grow luxuriantly near Seward . 396
W. R. Wise, a miner-rancher, mayor, chief-of-police and entire pop
ulation of Stillwater  396
"The shimmering waters . . . change in their pellucid depths
from blue to violet"  406
Indian burial in the barrens of the Far North  418
A group of scientific investigators .  418
A Northern merchant-Japanese sea-spiders abound  424
A group of native children at Nome  428
Pretty "Sunbonnet" girls and "Overall" boys, Nome  434

CHAPTER I
LEAVING FDR ALASKA
Vessel sails through the " Mediterranean of the Pacific " — Magnificent
scenery along the shores of Puget Sound and the Strait of Juan de
Fuca — How it impressed different people — Each sees in it that
which most appeals to him — Spouting whales and playing dol
phins seen occasionally — Alaskan story told in 'the smoking room.

c

Cif^\ LANG! Clank!"
Loud and clear the telegraph bell rang out
from the lower regions of the ship. The pro
peller began to churn slightly.
" Cast off your bow spring line. Take in the slack on the
stern lines." The order, full throated and resonant, came
through a megaphone from the officer on the bridge.
The steamship Admiral Sampson began to slip, slowly,
steadily, from the wharf on its way into the shimmering, opales
cent waters of Puget Sound. The voyage to Southeastern and
Southwestern Alaska had commenced.
Waving good-byes, shouting last farewells and messages to
friends — some with smiles and some with suppressed sobs —
the crowd of women and men on the dock melted farther and
farther away. The moving vessel seemed stationary. In an
other slip, close to the orie from which the Sampson had
emerged, and scheduled to leave for Alaska the same evening
with a big crowd of tourists, lay the Mariposa, the ship upon
which Robert Louis Stevenson, while travelling from point to
point in the South Seas, had written some of his charming
Stories,

2 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
The engine bell clanged at intervals. The ship backed and
went ahead, but presently, with her bow turned towards the
west, her speed increased. She was headed for the Strait of
Juan de Fuca, and then astern, silhouetted against the blue sky
line, Seattle's perspective of symmetrical sky-scrapers — rising
tier upon tier back into the hills, where boulevards had replaced
the foot trails and forest paths of a few years ago — came
into vision. It seemed a fitting monument to the genius of in
dustry manifested by its people.
Aboard the vessel was a distinguished crowd. Women and
men from the four corners of the earth, of all avocations and
pursuits were here assembled. Among them were Walter
L. Fisher, Secretary of the Interior; Congressman William
Sulzer, now governor of New York; Max Fleishman, a noted
hunter, who had just returned from Africa; Captain Bald
win, a former champion baseball player; officials and scientists
from Washington; several Alaskan prospectors, a playwright,
a number of newspaper correspondents, and many tourists and
hunters and others on business or pleasure bent.
Charmed by the wonderful scenery, they appeared to have
little desire to talk to each other. As the vessel sped along
towards the Strait of Juan de Fuca, with the picturesque,
snow-capped Selkirks, a spur of the Cascade Mountains, on
one side, and the Olympics, calm and majestic, on the other,
the passengers appeared absorbed in their own meditations. If
they spoke at all, it was to give birth to a superlative phrase
in regard to the scenery.
The fringe of trees along the shore-line, dotted here and
there with small settlements and quaint bungalows, made
pretty, rustic scene. The panorama was an ever-changing one.
The placid water reflected every colour of the arching sky. At
times the sea seemed bathed in amethyst; at others it faded to
violet and heliotrope or coral pink. The bright sun lit up the

a

LEAVING FOR ALASKA 3
background of white, glittering peaks. The foothills in the
middle-distance were clothed in a deep purple haze. Above
everything towered Mount Rainier, sharply chiselled against
the sky, the pearly whiteness of its topmost peaks glistening in
the sunlight like a field of diamonds.
Broken at intermittent periods by cliffs of chalk-white or
brown umber sand-stone, immense forests of fir and cedar,
dark green and black, stretched from the hills to the water's
edge. Here and there a little cascading stream, like a thread
of silver, could be seen dashing its troubled way down the
steep mountain sides. It was all inexpressibly beautiful.
" What a picture for an artist," murmured a young lady
tourist. There was a deep reverence in her voice.
" Imagine the thousands of summer homes that would be
built along these shores, if Puget Sound was near New York,"
said a real estate man from the city of lobster palaces and a
" Great White Way."
" I'll bet there's millions of trout in those streams," offered
a sportsman. " Those woods look to me as though they are
just full of deer and partridge," he added.
" Millions of horsepower to be harnessed, and billions of
feet of lumber to be cut," commented a practical man from
Minnesota. It seemed to impress them all differently. Some saw the
utility of it — the profit that lay latent. But all were en
tranced by its marvellous beauty.
The ship increased her speed. The shores of many islands
faded into the background as new ones came into vision to
take their place. But, ever-changing in splendour, the giant
crest of Mount Rainier could still be seen, maintaining its
sovereignty over all its kindred. It was a glittering, glorious
spectacle. Beneath it, as far as the eye could see, stretched
a panorama of every variety of scenery — a sea as smooth as

4 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
the proverbial millpond, bays, forests, lakes, rivers, waterfalls,
fertile valleys, and range after range of rock-ribbed, rugged
mountains. Each new vista seemed more beautiful than the
last. A newspaper man, fascinated, gazed at the ever-varying
scene. " What form of temporary insanity could have induced me
to spend my last vacation in Switzerland, when I might so
much easier have come out here ? " he asked in a voice of won
derment. " If I had only known," sighed a woman from an eastern
state, " I would have come long ago."
The vessel neared Port Townsend, a city perched on a high
bluff. The bell in the bowels of the ship clanged again. A
customs officer came aboard for a few moments. Then the
vessel resumed its voyage.
Little fishing and lumbering hamlets, like toy towns, dotted
the shore-line, while primitive forests and high mountains
formed their background. Occasionally, Indian dug-out
canoes, with their fantastically-shaped prows, could be seen
gliding on the surface of the water close to the shadowy shore
or across the open stretches between the verdant islands. Every
sweep of the eye brought a new vista on this remarkable piece
of water, which rightly has been called "the Mediterranean
of the Pacific."
Tumbling cascades came down from the hills, sharp prom
ontories protruded from the beach, and once in a while the
shore-line almost disappeared in inverted bays. At times the
ship was on a wide sea, at others it appeared to be sailing
through a river. At times it passed so close to the shore
that it appeared as though one easily could have cast a lariat
around one of the trees. Occasionally a salmon or trout leaped
from the cool, blue water, leaving a circling eddy to mark the
spot, and the sportsmen aboard, as they watched, had visions

LEAVING FOR ALASKA 5
in which they heard the singing of a reel and felt the tugging
of a line.
Yachts and yawls, schooners and square-riggers, fishing boats
and motorboats, passenger ships and freight ships, bound to
and from the Orient or Alaska, or from around the Horn,
specked the water in widely-separated places. They bespoke
pleasure-seeking, industry, prosperity.
The Sampson's industrious propeller continued to chug and
churn rhythmically. The vessel sped along. The beauty of
the scenery was an endless variety of wonders.
On the shores of many islands gigantic cedars stretched high
above the forests of spruce and pine. Although many cen
turies old, these great cedar trees, show no sign of decay, either
when standing or lying upon the ground. In places their
charred and blackened trunks stand for many decades as accus
ing witness of white man and Indian alike, who leave behind
them the unquenched camp-fire.1
Astern of the vessel was the placid, mirror-like sea; on
1A red cedar tree, 1137 years old was cut in the Snoqualmie forest
in 1 9 10 and marketed for shingles. This tree got its start in life
some 720 years before the discovery of America. At the time when
William the Conqueror fought the Battle of Hastings and founded
the British aristocracy, this Washington cedar had attained the dignity
that comes with 294 years; and when Cortez began the conquest of
Mexico it was hoary with the weight of 747 years. Perhaps, struck
by lightning or blown down by a storm, it fell to the ground two
centuries before Columbus crossed the Atlantic Ocean in search of
America. In the moss that formed upon it after it had fallen, another
cedar took root, and its roots spread down the sides of the dead tree
and reached the ground. The annular rings of the standing tree
showed it to be 757 years old, while similar marks of the fallen one
showed it had been growing 380 years before it was laid low. The
tree had lain on the ground for 757 years, and probably more. At
the end of that time, shingles from it were cut and scattered broad
cast in the United States to demonstrate the durability of the wood,
What Nature is long in producing she does not speedily destroy,

6 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
either beam the timbered hills, showing here and there the
scars left in their serrated sides by avalanches. As the vessel
neared the entrance to the Strait of Juan de Fuca, the sun
began to sink in a glory of gold and copper. Occasionally,
near Vancouver Island a spouting whale was seen, while
dolphins flashed back and forth from the bow of the vessel.
Evidently they were bent on a test of speed with the Sampson.
Close to the shore-line the trees and hills, reflected in the deep,
azure water, made a beautiful picture.
While some of the people aboard continued to gaze enrap
tured at the magnificent scenery everywhere presented, others
slowly became surfeited with it, and began to get acquainted
and to exchange confidences. In the light of the setting sun
the masts and spars of the vessel seemed burnished. The snow
capped peaks scintillated in pink and salmon colour. The tree-
tops turned to a deep purple and violet. An Indian paddling
across an open stretch of water with his family in a canoe
added a touch of the primitive to the magnificent scene. A
small schooner, its sails flapping idly in the still air, dipped
languidly to the scarcely perceptible swell.
As the travellers, with appetites sharpened by the invigora
ting atmosphere, wended their way, in response to the welcome
dinging of the dinner gong, to the dining room, they took a
last longing look at the gorgeous sunset, the beautiful meander
ing shore-line, the majestic mountains. They seemed to fear
there would be no scenery worth the while on the morrow.
The sportsmen aboard took one more intensely interested look
at the flocks of wild ducks that flew from time to time across
the water at the approach of the vessel. Perhaps, they, too,
feared they had shaped their itinerary wrongly. Considering
the many points of interest and manifold scenes of striking
beauty that had been encountered during the day one was
inclined to wonder why there were not hundreds of pleasure

Photo by MacPherson.
ICEBERG IN CONTROLLER BAY, WHERE VITUS BERING MADE
HIS LANDING

Photo by MacPherson.
CAPE ST. ELIAS, THE FIRST PART OF PACIFIC NORTH AMERICA
TO BE SEEN BY WHITE MEN

LEAVING FOR ALASKA 7
craft sailing this immense land-locked sheet of placid water.
A crowd gathered in the smoking room after dinner.
Among them were many who had visited the North before.
They began exchanging stories for the edification of distinguished
passengers making their first trip to the Northland. They
talked of rich gold strikes they had just missed, of big stam
pedes over the snow, of fishing and hunting, of the bears they
had killed and the big, speckled trout they had caught. From
fishing and hunting to other adventures was an easy step.
Each story seemed more miraculous than the one before. The
meeting broke up after an Alaskan angler told the story of a
fox farmer, who owned an island about 200 miles from Seward,
and, who, while out halibut fishing one day, cast over his
anchor with seventy fathoms of line attached. It was a good
story, full of action, of shifting scenes and changing colours.
Also it was highly improbable. In fact some of those who
listened thought the narrator was rather reckless in his man
ner of handling the truth.
" It seems strange," he said, " that when a man is fishing
on an ocean 5,000 miles wide and a thousand feet deep, that
he should cast his anchor and the fluke of it would land in
the blow-hole of a whale that is no larger than a man's fist.
" What's a blow-hole ? Why, the orifice in the top of a
whale's head from which he ejects water every time he comes
up to breathe. Yes, sir, and the fluke of that anchor lodged
right in that place. The whale happened to be swimming
right at the point where the anchor was sinking to the bottom.
You folks may not believe it. I wouldn't have believed it my
self, if it hadn't been proved to me.
" As soon as the anchor hit that whale where the pippin hit
the man who discovered the law of gravitation, the leviathan
of the deep started off at a terrific rate of speed, taking the boat
with him. He nearly snapped the line when he came to the

8 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
end of the slack. It was drawn as tight as the ' G ' string on
a fiddle. The fox farmer was standing up, getting ready to
heave a fishing line overboard when the boat suddenly jumped
forward with a terrific lunge. Fortunately the weather was
calm. The whale headed due north, the bow of the boat just
skipping along the top of the waves like a hydroplane. It
swam about fifty miles in less than an hour, and then made a
wide detour and started back on a southerly course.
" That boatman v. as frightened all right. The wind
whistled against his face as though he were coasting down the
side of a mountain in an automobile equipped with neither
brake nor wind-shield. Volumes of spray curled away from
the bow of the boat as it skipped over the water, and behind it
was left a wake of foam.
" The fox farmer tried to walk to the forward end of his
craft, but the wind caught him and he fell back in his seat.
Then he noticed that the mammoth was headed for Cor
dova Bay. The monster squirmed, twisted and flashed through
the water, trying to get away, but its efforts were in vain.
Once in a while the marine giant came to the surface and
shot a thin column of water into the air. It could only blow
with one hole. The anchor was stuck fast in the other.
Finally as though making a last desperate struggle, the animal
turned and with terrific velocity headed again for the open sea.
It nearly capsized the boat in making the turn. The fox
farmer decided to let it go, and seizing a hatchet which he used
for bludgeoning halibut, he severed the line that bound his
boat to the whale. The exciting journey was ended. The
rancher wanted to go into Seward, anyway, as he was out of
supplies." Everybody greeted this yarn with incredulous laughter.
But the angler insisted that his fox-farming friend had proved
the truth of the story by showing the end of the anchor line,

LEAVING FOR ALASKA 9
which clearly manifested that it had been chopped off by a
sharp instrument.
" I thought you said the whale was in Cordova Bay," in
terposed one of the listeners. " Why did your friend go to
Seward ? "
" I haven't had much practice in telling that story," the
narrator explained, " and sometimes I get the geography mixed
up." He still insisted, however, that he had given a veracious
account of the adventure.
" Oh, well," said a newspaper man, who has a predilection
for golf, " I can see that we anglers and golf players have got
to stick together on this trip. I believe the story."
The group wandered from the smoking room to the cool
night air to think it over.
A million stars were twinkling in the heavens above and re
flecting themselves from their infinite heights into the depths
of the water below. Against the sky-line could be seen the
crests of the rugged mountains of Vancouver Island and the
mainland of British Columbia, between which the ship sped
on her way. Little cat's-paw waves, full of phosphorescent
fire, scintillated on the sea, and the wake left by the speed
ing ship was a glowing glory of ever-changing form and
shape. Looking into the black water from the side of the
vessel, the forms of mammoth fish, darting aside to escape what
perhaps they thought was a destroying monster, could be traced
by the effulgent glow that followed their every curve and turn.
It was a night to make one dream. It breathed infinity. It
was a night to make one meditate upon the things that are be
yond human ken.
And the propeller churned and churned in its never-ending
rhythmical gyrations, as the ship proceeded on its way to the
Northland.

CHAPTER II
THROUGH SOUTHEASTERN ALASKA WATERS
In the Inland Passage — The first totem poles — No totems among
the Eskimos — Indian superstitions and some of their possible
origins — Barbarities of Indian wars — Totem pole heraldry —
Woman's place among Alaska Indians — Indian kinship — Indian
hospitality — A totem pole erected to a white man — The Indian
"Bogey Man."
TRULY Alaska — meaning "Great Country"—
rightly has been named. No pen can describe the in
finite charm, the delicate colouring, the peaceful sub
limity, the dignified grandeur of the Inland Passage. In it
the least imaginative can find food for deep reflection.
The grey mists of morning curled around the blue hills
rising on both sides of the ship. Each fleeting shadow was
reflected in the azure water through which the vessel sped.
Down the sides of the rock-ribbed hills and through the forests
little cataracts chanted their lullabies. On every side was a
vista of enchanting beauty. The breath of the Japan Current,
warm and balmy, intermingled with the land breeze that
was aromatic with the fragrance of pines and cedars growing
profusely on the shores of the tortuous channels. Yet the air
had none of the languor of the tropics. It was clear, bracing
and invigourating. Its effect was soothing. Tired nerves re
laxed. Three hundred miles through winding, twisting waterways
of the Strait of Georgia, between Vancouver Island and the
mainland, with hundreds of islands lying in between, was a
io

THROUGH SOUTHEASTERN WATERS n
voyage of ever-changing charm and mysticism. Giant peaks,
in places crested with snow fields and small glaciers, rose
almost to the heavens. The sun, shining through the mists,
painted many rainbows.
Clang, clang," went the bell in the engine room just be
fore Seymour Narrows was reached, and the vessel slowed
perceptibly. Mariners have learned to run through this con
tracted waterway only under a slow bell and when the tide is
almost at a standstill. A United States warship, the Saranac,
in the days when the country was new, attempted to navigate
the pass at a time when the tide was full. The vessel was
caught in the current, refused to answer the rudder and one
of the jutting rocks near the shore pierced her hull.
Since that accident, vessels sailing to Alaska are so timed
that they reach the entrance to the " Narrows " at the turn of
the tide. If they miss the appointed time the passengers are
furnished with fishing-tackle with which to amuse themselves
until conditions are right for safe navigation.
In the spring tides, water churns through this narrow chan
nel at a speed of ten to twelve miles an hour. The waterway
is walled in by precipitous hills, so close that it appears one
might easily throw a biscuit ashore, while in places ugly,
shaggy-looking rocks protrude above the water's surface, add
ing to the danger. But when the water is slack — that is,
at flood tide — Seymour Narrows is as placid as the face of
a sleeping babe.
As the vessel threaded its way through picturesque Discovery
Passage, just beyond the Narrows, the passengers searched their
vocabularies for superlatives with which to express their feel
ings. The officer who left the bridge at this point, a man of
direct speech and plain thought encountered no such impedi
ment. " This scenery is pretty, all right," he said, " but personally

12 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
I'd like it a whole lot better if this salt-water river had been
laid out upon horizontal instead of vertical lines. If it had
been made only half as wide as it is deep, and if the tides had
been shifted to some other place, we'd go through with a whole
lot less trouble."
Having relieved himself of a few plans by which he would
have improved upon Nature, had the arrangement of things
been entrusted to him, he continued on his way to his " watch
below." As the Sampson emerged from this serpentine passage, Chat
ham Strait came into view. It appeared as though the vessel
would swing around into a bay. Then the ship headed for
a high, green, timbered mountain. Suddenly it veered to the
right and another unexpected channel opened up. It was like a
river slowly flowing through a box canyon with almost per
pendicular walls on either side. The feature that impressed
the practical man was the large number of lights, buoys, and
other aids to navigation which had been placed in these wa
ters by the Canadian Government, in contrast to the corre
sponding dearth of them so noticeable upon reaching Ameri
can waters.
It was the same scenery everywhere, and yet it was differ
ent. The high mountains were splashed with two distinct
shades of green — the dark green of the spruce, pine, and
cedar trees; and the intense, bright green of the clumps of
willows and alders that were interspersed through the forests.
Occasionally a vessel was passed. Now and then a small
Indian settlement was seen. Salmon-trout and other fishes
leaped from the water.1
*On one trip through Chatham Strait, the writer saw two deer-
obv.ously chased through the woods by the timber wolves - swimming
across the channel to one of the many islands. Louis Lane, an officer
of the steamship Corwin, a few years ago saw a deer swimming across

THROUGH SOUTHEASTERN WATERS 13
The same sinuous course, the same indented shore-line, con
tinued until the ship had reached Queen Charlotte Sound
where the swell from the open ocean is sometimes encountered.
The distance across the sound is thirty-seven miles, and at
times the weather is such as to cause those who readily fall
victims to seasickness some slight discomfort.
Vessels cross Queen Charlotte Sound in about three hours.
At the northern end is Fitzhugh Sound, and beyond that is
Lama Passage. Here is the old Bella Bella Indian Settle
ment, founded by the Hudson Bay Company. About sixty
years ago it was the scene of many sanguinary tribal wars, at
the termination of which a tribe known as the Bella Coolies
was almost exterminated.
Here many totem poles are seen. In front of almost every
house in the village one of these grotesquely carved totemic
tombstones have been erected that those who came afterwards
might read the family history of the warriors buried there.
Many lives were sacrificed in the fierce internecine wars
waged by the conflicting tribes, and the totem poles are conse
quently numerous.
The pictographic carvings upon these poles are not idols,
as is generally supposed, but are regarded as genealogical trees
or family registers. They tell the nursery tales and legends
of a primitive people. The carvings are symbolical of the
subjects they represent, and there always is some arbitrary
mark upon every pole by which members of the various tribes
can distinguish the clan represented.
Totems may be seen in large numbers at Killisnoo, Kassan,
one of these channels. He succeeded in lassoing the animal from a
small boat and managed to keep it aboard the ship for some time.
The deer met its death at Nome by drowning in its attempt to escape
by leaping overboard. In the winter months many deer may be seen
along the coast. Driven from the mountains by the deep snow, they
go to the lower levels and subsist upon the kelp along the beaches.

14 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
Wrangell, Ketchikan, Sitka, and other Northern ports, but
they rarely are seen north of Seward.
The totem pole is unknown to the Eskimo, who has little
wood at his disposal. Not only are the Eskimo methods of
tracing genealogy different from those of the Southeastern
natives, but so also are the methods of burial. Many of the
tribes of Southeastern Alaska practice a crude form of crema
tion, while the Indians of the far North wrap their dead in
canvas or other covering and raise them upon scaffolds to pro
tect them from the wolves and other predatory animals.
In the interior of Southeastern Alaska many of the natives,
after cremating their dead, leave the effects of the deceased
in a trunk or box upon the top of the grave. These graves
never are robbed.
The Indians in this region have many queer superstitions.
The writer, in a trip from the head waters of the Stikine
River to the head waters of the Francis River, and thence
across Dr. Dawson's Portage to the Pelly and thence down to
the Yukon, encountered Indians who held many strange be
liefs and superstitions.
On the Liard River there is a band of Indians who regard
the killing of a squirrel as an ill-omen. Neither will they
destroy land-otters, for they believe that the spirits of these
mammals enter the bodies of living squaws and the Indian
women become witches. The Hudson Bay Company's factor
at Liard Post, now dead, had a record of five otters being
killed by two French-Canadian trappers, who entered that
country. The following year the natives despatched five
squaws — at least, the squaws went hunting with the tribe
and never returned. The two offending trappers also mys
teriously disappeared about the same time.
These natives are afflicted with a yearning for medicine
that is almost an obsession. They will trade anything they

THROUGH SOUTHEASTERN WATERS 15
possess for drugs, and, sick or well, there is no limit to the
quantity of medicine they will swallow eagerly, provided the
taste is sufficiently nauseating. If one gives them medicine
that is pleasant to the taste, they have the deepest contempt
for its medicinal value and for the donor's skill as a physician,
but if the potion has all the evil tastes it is possible to con
coct, they regard it as a sovereign remedy for every form of
disease. These natives have a superstition that a big bear, endowed
with an evil spirit, lives in the mountains at the head of the
Liard River and they will not hunt in this region. This
mythical monster is supposed to have one foot that is shaped
like that of a moose, and a native who declared he had seen
the animal's tracks said that the imprints of its foot were
much wider than a sombrero hat.
In addition to this evil-spirited bear, according to the be
lief of the Indians, there resides somewhere between the head
waters of the Francis River, tributary to the Mackenzie, and
the source of the Pelly River, tributary to the Yukon, a race
of people who have fair skins, blue eyes and long, white beards.
There are three theories to account for this story of a sup
posed race of white Indians: First, that they are the descend
ants of lost Russian trappers; second, that they are the progeny
of the 5000 Vikings, the descendants of the followers of Lief
Eriksen, who disappeared from Newfoundland between the
fourteenth and sixteenth centuries; and third, that the race
has no existence in fact — at least in this region. The latter
theory probably is the correct one.
The writer and a party of prospectors spent eight months
in the mountains dividing the Mackenzie and Yukon water
sheds at their headwaters and during that time saw no trace
or mark that would lead to the belief that the country ever
had been inhabited, either by Indians or white men. Not an

16 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
axe mark was seen, nor was a fallen tree or trace of fire
discovered. In a few places cottonwood trees had been felled,
but on examination, in every instance, the marks on these trees
clearly showed that they had been gnawed through near the
butt by beavers or broken off by the wind. These facts, how
ever, do not prove that the entire section is uninhabited. It
is a vast, mountainous region, embracing thousands of square
miles of unknown territory, and it would take many years to
fully explore every part of it. Many of the divides are cov
ered by lakes, but there are few glaciers, as compared to the
conditions on the other side of the coast range. The tempera
ture, because of the high altitude, is intensely cold in winter.
In practically all parts of Alaska, the Indians have a legend
pertaining to a race of Nomadic white people, who live in
some remote part of the territory, but when one inquires for
their exact whereabouts, the natives always say they are liv
ing somewhere at a considerable distance from where the in
vestigator happens to be situated. Somehow, the Indians
make it appear that these white-skinned, blue-eyed savages are
always far beyond the reach of the explorer. Roald Amund
sen, discoverer of the Northwest Passage and of the South
Pole, searched diligently but fruitlessly for this probably
mythical tribe, while on the Arctic journey that resulted in
his discovery of a Northern waterway from the Atlantic to
the Pacific. Vilhjalmur Stefansson,2 a noted ethnologist, has
been in the Arctic regions eastward of the mouth of the
2 Since the above was written Professor Stefansson has returned from
the Arctic after having discovered a race of unknown people on Vic
toria Island. He informed the writer, on his arrival at Seattle, that
there are probably 2000 people on the island, and that he saw 'about
one half of them. Many of these Indians had blue eyes, red hair red
beards and fair eyebrows. Their skins were fair. Professor Stefans
son, who took cephalic measurements of the members of the tribe ex
pressed the opinion that they are of unquestionable European origin

THROUGH SOUTHEASTERN WATERS 17
Mackenzie River from 1907 to 191 2, searching for this lost
tribe and studying the ethnology of other tribes.
The Indians of the Liard and Francis Rivers will not hunt
in the country in which these streams have their source. They
are afraid of the bear with the moose-foot and evil spirit,
which, a long time ago, they say, killed a number of their
people. The country is overrun with game animals of every
description, the moose paths resembling cattle tracks on the
Texas plains. Its inaccessibility has prevented any great num
ber of white men from going into this region, and the diffi
culty of transporting trophies to the coast does not make it
an ideal ground for hunters. This country is the habitat of
the silver-tipped bear, the largest and most ferocious animal
of the species. It is probable that in some prehistoric time,
the natives, then equipped with spears, bows and arrows and
other primitive weapons, fought with one of these animals
and the bear won. Such an incident may have been the
nucleus of the tradition of the bruin with a bad spirit and the
cloven hoof.
Fort Francis, at the head of the Francis River, at one time
the farthest outpost of the Hudson Bay Company, was de
stroyed more than one hundred years ago by Chilkat Indians,
who crossed the coast range from Skagway to wage war and
levy tribute on the interior tribes. The traders were mur
dered by the invaders, many Indians were killed and others
marched back to the coast as slaves. This tragedy may have
had a bearing on the fact that the Indians rarely travel east
ward of Francis Lake. The natives at Liard Post say that
in former years the traders consumed " five snows " — five
years — in making a trip from Fort Francis to Ottawa and
return. In Southeastern Alaska the natives have learned the uses
of mineral springs, in which, when afflicted with sickness, they

i8 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
bathe. They have a knowledge of elementary hygienics.
When suffering from influenza they build wickiups by stretch
ing hides over bent willow-poles, into which they carry heated
stones. When a sufficiently warm temperature is attained, the
sick native crawls in, taking with him a large quantity of wa
ter to drink. The effect is much the same as that of a Turk
ish bath.
It is not many years since practically all the natives of the
North Pacific Coast engaged in war with interior tribes and
enslaved those whom they captured. The captives were sub
jected to all of the barbarities that it was possible to conceive.
One of the popular forms of amusement was to tie an old
and decrepit slave to a rock at low-tide and allow him to be
drowned by the incoming water. Another highly amusing
pastime was to lash the slave in a leather sack and then jump
upon him until every bone in his body was broken.
An old-time resident of the territory informed the writer
that at Katalla many years ago four native slaves were buried
alive at the corners of a house that was about to be built.
The slaves seemed to enjoy the ceremony as much as did their
captors. Thanks to the energetic efforts of the missionaries
these barbarous customs no longer are practised.
Of ancient Indian customs and usages the totem-pole, which
may be termed the Indian heraldry, alone has been allowed
to remain. It represents the various tribes and families.
Among the totems of the Haidas are the eagle, thrasher,
whale, crow, wolf, and bear. Sub-totems are sometimes
formed by the naming of a child for some natural object. To
one who can decipher them, the poles erected in front of the
houses form a history of the family within.
The figure at the top is the principal symbol of the male
occupant, and the grotesque carvings represent traditional
folklore or events connected with the history of the tribe.

LOVER'S LANE, AT SITKA, IS A PRETTY GRAVELLED PATH,
WHERE "CROAKING RAVENS FLY OVERHEAD, AND TINY
HUMMING BIRDS, WITH BURNISHED BREASTS, FLIT BE
TWEEN THE BOUGHS."

THROUGH SOUTHEASTERN WATERS 19
Ages ago, according to " Father " Duncan, who has lived
with the Metlakahtla Indians for nearly fifty years — and also
according to ethnologists of note — the totem was first
adopted to distinguish the four social clans into which the
race is said to have been divided. These clans were known
as the Kishpootwadda, the Lacheboo, the Canadda, and the
Lackshkeak. The Kishpootwadda symbolically were represented by the
fish-back whale in the sea, the grizzly bear on land, the grouse
in the air, and the sun and stars in the heavens. These sym
bols are most numerous in the totems. The Canadda symbols
are of the frog, raven, star-fish, and bull-head. Those of the
Lacheboos are the wolf, heron, and grizzly bear. The
Lackshkeaks selected the eagle, beaver, and halibut. Mem
bers of a clan whose heraldic symbols are the same, although
living hundreds of miles apart and speaking different lan
guages, are regarded as blood relations.
In the dim past, according to native traditions, the Indians
lived in a beautiful land where there was unlimited game and
an abundance of fish. It was in this mythical realm the crea
tures who head their totems revealed themselves to the heads
of the leading families of the day.
Like more aborigines, the Indians of Alaska have a leg
end of a flood which once covered the earth. Clam-shells
found in the high gravels of the hills in many parts of the ter
ritory are pointed to in verification of the legend. This flood,
according to tradition, devastated the country, and the In
dians scattered in every direction. When the waters sub
sided they settled on the land where their boats rested, and
there formed new tribal relations. This theory of a deluge
accounts for the wide separation of families blood-related and
having the same totems.
It is one of the ambitions of the leading members of each

20 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
clan to represent the symbols of heraldry in carvings or paint
ings. Upon the death of the man at the head of a family a
totem to his memory is erected in front of the house of his
successor. On this pole there is carved the genealogy of the
dead Indian. Families having the same crest are forbidden
to intermarry. A Frog may not marry a Frog, nor an Eagle
an Eagle, but a Lochinvar of the Frog family may woo and win
— sometimes with a club — a maiden of the Whale family, or
vice versa. By some tribes the marriage relations are fur
ther restricted, if the creatures of their clan have the same
instincts. For a Whale to marry a Halibut would be an
embarrassing mesalliance, and both animals being carnivorous,
it would be extremely bad form — to say the least — should
a Wolf and a Bear intermarry. Such a union is not to be
thought of. It wouldn't be tolerated and would lead to so
cial ostracism of the contracting parties.
Unlike the savage tribes in other parts of the world, the
native women of Alaska have a more important place in the
affairs of the people than do their lords and masters. Here
the ambitions of the Suffragists have been carried to the fullest
extremes. The women of the family do all the bartering
and trading, and the children take the crests of their mothers.
The members of the father's family are not even regarded as
relatives. A man's heir is not his own son, but his sister's
son. It is a very complicated system of relationship, but one
that tends to create hospitality among the various tribes. To
what one has the others generally are welcome. A strange
Indian upon entering a settlement looks up the totem-poles
which to him are the city directory, and then goes to a house
having one of his crests. This kinship often restores peace be
tween hostile tribes.
There is no more hospitable person on earth than the
Alaskan Indian, and the further north one goes, the greater

THROUGH SOUTHEASTERN WATERS 21
will one find the manifestation of this spirit of generosity.
Hundreds of hungry prospectors along the shores of Bering
Sea and the Arctic Ocean have been succoured by the Indians
who themselves were impoverished. In the winter of 1902
hundreds of gold-seekers traversed the Inmamachuck River,
which empties into Kotzebue Sound. Many of the treasure
hunters ran out of food, and but for the generous hospitality
of the natives, would have perished of starvation. This un
usual strain upon their food supply left the Eskimos very short
of provisions in the following spring, when, to add to their
other troubles, a scourge of pneumonia broke out, and being
without nourishing food, they died by the hundreds. Prac
tically the whole tribe was wiped out. These unselfish peo
ple gave up their own lives to save the lives of the white
strangers. This is not by any means the only instance of
their self-sacrifice, and, to the shame of the white man be it
written that his government, while making reservations and
conferring many other blessings upon the murderous Sioux
and Apaches and dog-eating Iggorotes of warmer climes, has
done little for the benefit of these kind-hearted people who
became wards of the United States when their territory was
purchased from Russia.
One of the most interesting totem poles in Southeastern
Alaska and the only one so far as known to the writer that
ever was erected in the honour of a white man, is situated at
Ketchikan. It was carved many years ago to the memory of
John Swanson, a trader for the Hudson Bay Company.
Swanson was the captain of a sailing vessel when he married
his Indian bride. Later they moved to Victoria and when
Swanson died his wife returned to her native home. Nailed
to the pole are the clothes worn by the trader on his wedding
day. The pole is crested by an eagle, and beneath it are the
carvings of the clan to which Mrs. Swanson belonged.

22 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
The Alaskan Indians, like almost every other primitive race,
have a " bogey man " story, which has a questionable use in
frightening children. In a Northern village is a totem sur
mounted by the whitened face of a European, flanked upon
either side by the figure of a child wearing a tall hat. The
natives account for its existence by the following story:
Long ago a chief's wife left a temporary summer camp.
Taking her two children, she crossed one of the narrow chan
nels to an island where she gathered spruce boughs for holding
salmon eggs. Before entering the woods she drew the canoe
up on the beach and warned the children to remain by it.
When she returned the children had disappeared. The mother
called to them many times and they answered' always from
the woods in the voice of crows. When she sought the crows
they mocked her from the trees. The children never were
recovered, and the shaman, or medicine man, of the tribe in
some occult manner, later discovered that they had been stolen
by a white man.3 This story, in various forms, is told
throughout Alaska. The reader may not believe it, but if he
remains unconvinced, the Indian will furnish corroborative
testimony by showing the totem pole.
3 Some of the Indian legends bear a striking similarity to the folk
lore of the Maoris of New Zealand, especially those stories which per
tain to fishing. The "bogey man" fable of the blacks of Eastern
Australia has to do with a loathsome monster known as the bunyip,
which, in the dense tropical darkness, draws its horrible bulk from out
the lagoons and sloughs. The bunyip, according to the black-fellows,
is somewhat of a cross between a colossal octopus and an elephant.
Native children are very much afraid of it, and even grown-up blacks
rarely move through the woods after dark.

CHAPTER III
ARRIVING AT KETCHIKAN
Prince Rupert — Railroad building in Alaska and Canada — Scenery
along the Canadian coast beyond Prince Rupert — Lack of naviga
tion aids in Alaskan waters — Ketchikan — Luxuriant vegetation
of Southeastern Alaska — Ketchikan distributing point for mines —
Mining settlements.
PRINCE RUPERT, the terminal point for the Grand
Trunk Pacific Railroad, situated at the mouth of the
Skeena River, came into view almost at the opening
of Dixon's Entrance. It is one of the most prosperous cities
in the Northwest. Backed by government assistance, in the
shape of guaranteed interest on bonds, the promoters of the
railroad have opened up the vast mineral deposits of British
Columbia and the great wheat plains of the Alberta country.
Desert wastes have been converted into thriving wheat fields,
and forest wildernesses have been reclaimed.
Besides receiving financial aid from the government, the
Canadian builders were knighted by the King of England.
Those who attempted to build railroads in Alaska were, and
still are, compelled to pay a license fee of $100 per mile per
annum to the government and a dockage tax of ten cents the
ton on every pound of freight they handle either into or
out of Alaska, while in addition they have been accused of
almost every crime on the calendar.
Another distinct difference between the American and
Canadian procedure lies in the fact that the Canadian build
ers are allowed to use the fuel found in the country and to
23

24 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
cut ties from the adjacent forests. Those who attempted to
build railroads in Alaska were not allowed to use the fuel
that existed almost beneath their tracks of steel, but were
forced to import coal from Canada and to pay a duty upon it,
and the taxes and restrictions imposed by the Forestry Bureau
of the U. S. Department of Agriculture have made it more
economical for them to import their ties and other lumber
from far-off Washington and Oregon.
One of the plans of the Alaskan coal mihers was to sell
coal to the Grand Trunk Pacific Railroad, and a contract for
delivery was entered into. Now the conditions are reversed.
The thought that Canada soon will be selling coal to the
United States navy, and that ships running to Alaska — a
country that has within its borders an almost unlimited sup
ply of good coal — are utilising fuel oil from California, does
not inspire the deepest sense of admiration for the manner in
which the United States government has managed the affairs
of its Northern possession. Practically every large enterprise
in Alaska now is burning California oil.
Beyond Prince Rupert are high mountains, at times thrust
ing themselves to the heavens and again merging into rotund,
timbered hills, which suggest to the prospector that perhaps
the erosion of ages had left deposits of precious metal in the
streams flowing between them.
Some of the peaks, with their sharp, saw-tooth tops, sil
houetted against the sky-line, appeared weird, grim, and for
bidding. Others sloped gently from green middle heights,
as though tempting the wayfarer through these labyrinthine
channels to come ashore and take a stroll through their cool
ing woods. Many of the steep hillsides bore the trace of scars
left by avalanches that had cut wide swaths through the tim
ber. Some were crowned by beds of ice that glittered in the
sunlight and brought a thrill to the hearts of the mountaineers

ARRIVING AT KETCHIKAN 25
and the big game hunters. Others were bathed in pearly mists
on which the rays of the sun painted opalescent rainbows.
Occasionally small clearings in the timber indicated the pres
ence of the settler.
Hundreds of streams cascaded boisterously down the rugged
hillsides, landing at the bottom in gigantic splashings of sil
very crystals. The mystery and mightiness of mountain and
running water were everywhere. In places rivers joined the
sea, from broad verdant valleys. Little gushing brooks and
rivulets, emerging from the woods over clear, pebbly bottoms,
hinted to the angler of the futility of going further to look
for sport.
The colouring of the water through which the vessel floated
was a study. Sometimes it was a silver-grey. As the sun
light struck it, it turned to blue and dark green, to red and
violet, to creamy pink and lilac, and to a hundred other shades
of colour. Along the shores were reflected the deep shadows
of woods and mountains. The unalterable majesty of it all
— the richness and delicacy of its colourings, the suggestion
of strength and immutability — made it a scene of stupendous
magnificence impossible of description.
With an ever-changing, ever-varying panorama, the vessel
slipped from Lama Passage into Millbank Sound, a short dis
tance from the open sea, and thence through Lover's Lane,
another beautiful picture of winding, tree-fringed water and
wrinkled coast-line, into Graham's Reach. Along the shore
at intervals, canneries and lumber camps were sighted, for the
Canadian forests are open to exploitation and much of the
wood is cut and manufactured into paper-pulp. At every
bend and on every shoal and turn there was an acetylene
light, a buoy, or other beacon to guide the mariner.
The vessel in response to its ever-pounding propeller glided
through McKay Reach, Wright Sound, Grenville Channel

26 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
and Chatham Sound, to Dixon's Entrance, passing Port Simp
son, a small Canadian settlement which had — and perhaps
still has — hopes of becoming the terminal for a transconti
nental railroad.
Cape Fox, near Dixon's Entrance, is the Southeasternmost
point of Alaska. From this promontory to as far north as
the traveller cares to go, he will find an alarming lack of light
houses and of other aids to navigation, which is in sharp con
trast to the conditions prevailing in Canadian waters.
Off to the right lies Rudyerd Fiord. In the centre
of this little bay there arises, sheer and precipitous, a great
rock monolith that is several hundred feet high. Some of the
excursion steamships make a trip around the fiord, that the
passengers may have a close view of this wonderful piece of
natural sculpture.
From Dixon's Entrance the vessel sped through Revilla
Gigedo Channel into Tongas Narrows, another constricted
waterway, and the city of Ketchikan came into view. This
city gave the cabinet officer and others their first distinct im
pression of the profligacy of Alaska's resources.
Beneath the compact mass of timber seen from the ship
grows a still denser mass of bushes, vines, and berry-plants of
every description, and an underbrush that is strongly sug
gestive of the tropics. Moss, lichens, ferns, and millions of
dainty wild flowers are everywhere. The air all along the
coast is saturated with moisture from the Japan Current, and
this vaporous atmosphere, combined with the vast amount of
strong sunlight that prevails in the north during the summer,
makes the vegetable and plant life grow quickly and with a
luxuriance almost beyond belief.
In front of one house sweet peas had been planted. They
had attained a height of fully eight feet and were literally
showered with fragrant blossoms. Even some of the totem

Photo by Huey.

DRIVING THE GOLDEN SPIKE IN THE IDITAROD RAILROAD

ARRIVING AT KETCHIKAN 27
poles were bewhiskered with clumps and sprays of moss, and
m occasional places trees could be seen sprouting from this
moss, their roots extending down the sides of other trees or
down logs to the ground. Humming birds and other repre
sentatives of the feathered tribes flitted from bough to bough.
Alaska's bountifulness is further shown in the cascading
stream that enters the sea from the back of the town and which
is reached by a winding board-walk. Lying in the clear wa
ter, below the falls, can be seen countless thousands of salmon,
their tails wiggling slowly, giving them just sufficient propul
sion to maintain a steady position against the current.
Every few seconds one of these fishes separates itself from
the mass and, swimming with incredible swiftness through
the adverse currents, leaps into the boiling water of the min
iature Niagara. Sometimes the salmon jump several feet out
of the water. Occasionally they reach a nook or cranny in
the rocks above, where they fight desperately against the tor
rent. Sometimes they make the riffle, but more often than
not they are thrown back into the cataract, only to try to climb
the falls time and time again.
" If at first you don't succeed," apparently is the motto of
the salmon family. The word " fail " fs unknown in their
lexicon. Exhausted by their efforts, they lay in the slack wa
ter for a few minutes to recuperate their energies and then,
impelled by the instinct that urges them to reach the spawning
grounds, they make another struggle to surmount the obstacle.
Photographing salmon in the act of jumping a waterfall is
exceedingly difficult, and the number of films one can spoil,
without getting a picture of the kind desired, is remarkable.
The fishes flash plainly into vision, sometimes leaping several
feet out of the water. In attempting to obtain photographs
one can quickly discover that the eye moves faster than the
hand. Usually by the time the camera is focussed the salmon

2_ ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
either has been thrown back into the torrent at the foot of
the cascade or has climbed the rapid, and another fish 'is leap
ing at some other point.
A youngster sitting above the rapids had a string of trout
weighing several pounds, which he said he had caught in two
hours. While we watched he hooked two big ones, and the
expeditious manner in which he landed them certainly con
veyed the impression that he was not addicted to that unfor
tunate habit of recklessly making the element of elasticity the
principal component of the truth that distinguishes so many
anglers. This stream rightly is named Fish Creek. It con
tains many fishes besides salmon.
Lying out in the bay, not a half a mile from the shore, was
a floating cannery — the "Glory of the Seas." Beside the
hulk lay a scow containing many thousands of silver salmon.
Although fishing is one of its principal industries, Ketchikan
is not by any means a fishing village. The city is the dis
tributing point for a number of mines situated in the hills
behind the town. It is the first American port of entry in
Alaska. Having abundant water-power in its back-yard, it is
naturally well lighted. The population is increasing and at
the time this was written, Governor Walter E. Clark had just
visited the city with a view to enlarging the government school
accommodations. Though none is surrounded by the historic interest that
pertains to many similar institutions in Alaska, there are
churches of different denominations at Ketchikan. The peo
ple of Ketchikan are strong fraternalists, either lodges or clubs
of all the better known fraternal organisations having been
inaugurated. All passenger vessels plying in Alaskan waters are equipped
with wireless telegraphy, but the only news received at sea is
that which comes in brief bulletins that are picked out of the

ARRIVING AT KETCHIKAN 29
ether from time to time as they are despatched from one ship
to the other.
At Ketchikan, where a daily newspaper is published, the
traveller gets his first complete news of the outside world.
The Inland Passage has a news service peculiar to itself. It
has to do with boats that pass, of new strikes that have been
made, of what the cannerymen are doing, of when the con
servation craze will subside, of proposed new forms of govern
ment, and so forth.
The main business section of Ketchikan lies upon a flat just
a few feet above sea-level. It is surrounded by a mineralised
zone, in which Sulzer, Niblack, Hadley, Coppermount, and
Hollis, are the principal settlements. Sulzer is named for
the New York governor who has much money invested in
its vicinity. Several mines are situated upon the adjacent
islands. Following the board walk which trends beneath overhang
ing trees, the tourist obtains his first close glimpse at the
totem poles. The city was once the home of the Thlingit
Indians. As evidence of their occupation, covering a period
of many centuries, there still remain numerous totemic monu
ments. There are many things of interest to the tourists, not
the least attractive being the many curio stores, where can be
purchased Indian baskets and many souvenirs made by the
natives during the winter season.
Being industrious and prosperous, few of the residents of
Ketchikan concern themselves with the political conflicts which
have been the cause of so much dissension in the territory, and
especially at the National capital. Their transportation prob
lem was solved by nature. The ships unload right at the
edge of the land. Being close to Seattle and to the coal sup
plies of British Columbia, these people are not deeply affected
by the conflict over the Alaskan fuel problem.

CHAPTER IV
METLAKAHTLA AND WRANGELL
Metlakahtla and "Father" Duncan — Intelligent Indians — Beyond
Metlakahtla — Wrangell — Its early boom — The Klondike Strike
— A Reign of outlawry — The "Single O Kid "— Wrangell now
quiet aiid respectable — Trolling for salmon — A trip up the
Stikine River to Glenora — Arithmetic at Wrangell.
IN the grey dawn the vessel left the wharf at Ketchikan
and for two hours wound through narrow twists and
"turns of placid water. As the sun's rays cast their ef
fulgence on the high peaks, and as hundreds of birds in the
timber began their morning anthem, the vessel glided into a
small bay. On a broad table-land lay that dream of aborig
inal restoration, Metlakahtla, the missionary station, of which
for more than fifty years " Father " William Duncan has been
the guiding spirit and presiding genius.
The morning mists, blue and pearly grey, curled around
the mountain tops. The sea, placid as a mirror, was clear as
crystal: long strands of snake-like kelp and masses of sea
weed drifted idly in the moving tide. Little sponges, sea-
urchins and delicately coloured corals could be seen on the
bottom. Vari-coloured, translucent jelly fish floated lazily,
flabbily, in the shimmering water.
Behind the town of many buildings, standing out from the
tangle of dank vegetation, the lilac-tipped hills rose tier upon
tier. On the other side of the bay jagged peaks thrust their
giant heads through fleecy vapours that obscured the upper
sky. In the rosy dawn Metlakahtla looked like a city asleep.
30

METLAKAHTLA AND WRANGELL 31
It awakened to life at the sudden blast of the steamship's
whistle. Hundreds of Indians, men, women and children, came to
the dock, for the arrival of the " Big White Chief " from
Washington was expected. There are no more intelligent and
prosperous Indians in Alaska than the Tsimpseans who live
at Metlakahtla. They are well educated in the elementary
branches, have a definite system of municipal government, own
stores, blacksmith shops, salmon canneries, cooperage works
and other industrial enterprises and many have highly culti
vated gardens. Every enterprise is conducted by Indians
solely. They have several organisations, including a temper
ance society and a brass band which is much sought at the
country fair and exposition gatherings through British Colum
bia and the Northwestern States. They wear the clothes of
civilisation and conduct themselves very much in the way of
a white man.
Prior to the arrival of the Cabinet Officer, there had been
a little trouble among them. Some of the more progressive
favoured the inauguration of a high school, and they wanted
to know what was going to become of the sawmill, canneries
and other establishments on the death of " Father " Duncan,
who, though hale and hearty in the year 19 12, was slowly
declining. A meeting was called in the church, which is
fitted with a spire, belfry and splendid organ, and the ques
tion was debated pro and con.
Annette Island, on which the settlement is situated, is under
the jurisdiction of the United States, although the progenitors
of the inhabitants, as well as many of those still alive, were
born in British Columbia. In 1887 the Indians moved the
village, bag and baggage, from British territory. The Island
has been made an Indian reservation, and missionaries who
have endeavoured to obtain the establishment of reservations

32 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
in other sections of the territory, have complained bitterly that
the only thing ever done for the Northern Indian by the
United States government was the creation of this reservation
for the benefit of a tribe of aliens. The criticism is not a
just one, however, as much beneficial work for the natives has
been done by the United States Bureau of Education, par
ticularly in the establishment of the reindeer industry, which
has advanced many of the Eskimos from a blubber-eating class
to the pastoral stage of life.
During the summer season, the Metlakahtla Indians en
gage in salmon fishing with which they supply their own up-
to-date cannery and here, as elsewhere, many of them devote
their time to the exciting sport of capturing King salmon by
trolling. When the vessel pulled out, a big band of Indians were on
the wharf to wave good-bye and give a cheer for the ship, a
number of bashful half-caste children standing pathetically in
the foreground. Everybody was sorry to leave this cleanly,
thriving, pretty and in many ways remarkable place.
On leaving Metlakahtla higher and more rugged mountains
appeared. The timber was thicker, the vegetation more
luxuriant. Streams having their sources in the snow-kissed
fields at the mountain crests, rushed down the hillsides.
Numerous flocks of gulls and terns hovered gracefully around
the mouths of the salmon-choked creeks, darting and pecking
at the eyes of fishes as they wriggled over the riffles and shal
lows. From sinuous waterways, the vessel glided into Clarence
Strait, a long sheet of water lying between Etolin and Prince
of Wales Islands, on both of which are situated some val
uable mines and commercial ore bodies of prospective value.
In places, the forests had been blown down, leaving on the
ground a mass of tangled and criss-crossed timbers. These

METLAKAHTLA AND WRANGELL 33
windrows are picturesque because of the amount of devasta
tion that has been wrought by the strong gales.
Occasionally the coast range is split by wide valleys from
which flow big streams. Upon most of these rivers, salmon
canneries have been established. Halibut fishing schooners
were passing by the dozen — the Sampson was nearing the
better fishing grounds. The coast-line on both sides was in
dented with many little bays and inlets, dotted at intervals
with small settlements and camps.
Great fields of kelp, with long tentacles spread out on the
water like a giant octopi, were scattered here and there. This
salt water vegetation has its roots in the rocks and shoals,
and for that reason is avoided by mariners. In the absence
of proper aids to navigation, these kelp fields are used as bea
cons, but as some of the masses are not growing to the bottom,
they are not the best guides conceivable.
In this region, the Alaska red and yellow cedar are pre
dominant in the forests. Great shaggy trees, centuries old,
many of them over-ripened, raise their hoary heads. The
Alaska cedar is said to be impervious to the teredo, that per
nicious little borer that makes life miserable to the owners of
docks on the Pacific Coast and correspondingly pleasant to
the owners of creosoting plants. To make the docks worm
proof, piles used on the Pacific Coast are saturated in creosote
before being driven into the sea floor.
Some of these Alaskan cedars attain a height of approxi
mately 200 feet, and many of them are more than thirty feet
in circumference at the butt. The wood makes splendid fur
niture, which is very durable. As has been pointed out, the
cedar is a long lived tree, and its durability is in keeping with
its longevity. The furniture in the Arctic Brotherhood build
ing, a handsome log structure erected at the Alaska- Yukon-
Pacific exposition, held at Seattle in 1909, was made of

34 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
Alaskan cedar. The building and furniture was presented to
the University of Washington at the close of the fair. The
Alaskan cedar has a pungent odour not unlike the sandal wood
of Australasia and the Orient.
A wide valley through which the turbid Stikine River
empties into the sea marks the approach to Wrangell, one of
the oldest settlements in Southwestern Alaska. Beyond the
valley, nestling under the steep hills and circling around the
bay like a half moon, have been erected the buildings that form
the town. Situated on the hill is an old Russian blockhouse
and half a mile from the wharf are many totem poles which
mark the graves of departed Indian chiefs. At widely sep
arated points are gardens in which berries and vegetables grow
prolifically. Wrangell was built ahead of its time. Although still a
prosperous community, it holds none of the glory incident to
the boom that it once knew. In the early days, 'way back in
the late '70's and early '80's, it was the outfitting point for
30,000 miners who stampeded up the Stikine River, across
the plateau from Telegraph Creek, at the head of the Stikine,
to Dease Lake, thence down Dease Lake and River to the
Cassiar gold diggings.
The waters of the Dease join the Liard and become a part
of the great Mackenzie River which empties into the Arctic
Ocean about 200 miles beyond the eastern boundary of Alaska.
Following Alaska's coast-line, from Wrangell to the mouth of
the Mackenzie River, is a journey of more than 10,000 miles.
It is a little more than 200 miles from Wrangell to a portion
of the headwaters of the same stream.
When the mines in the Cassiar range were worked out
the miners sought new fields of endeavour and Wrangell again
settled down to its quiet, humdrum existence. Deserted
cabins were nailed up. The gambling houses were closed.

Photo copyngnt by Lomen Bros.

HIGH TYPES OF ESKIMOS. ABLAKOK, REINDEER KING OF CAPE
PRINCE OF WALES AND THE BELLE OF A NATIVE VILLAGE

METLAKAHTLA AND WRANGELL 35
The hulks of a couple of old vessels that had been used as
boarding houses in the days of mining and alcoholic excite
ment were left to rot. The customs house still was maintained
and once in a while a revenue cutter, in quest of smugglers,
visited the place.
In 1897, Wrangell again was electrified into metropolitan
and cosmopolitan life by the gold strike on the Klondike
River, a tributary of the Yukon. Many gold hunters, believ
ing they could reach the new Eldorado by the Teslin Lake
route from Telegraph Creek and thus avoid the dreaded Chil-
koot Pass and White Horse rapids, landed at Wrangell.
Little did they suspect they were facing a difficult journey up
a dangerous stream and they likewise were ignorant of the
obstacles and difficulties to be met on the trail to Lake Teslin.
Many of them, finding there would be no horse feed on the
Teslin road until late in the summer, and it being impossible
to pack their supplies on their backs across the 200 intervening
miles, decided to change their plans, and instead of heading
for the El Dorado at Dawson, crossed the divide into the
Cassiar range. Few were rewarded for their efforts and many
died of exposure and hardships.
With the influx of adventurers from all parts of the world
to Wrangell, the boards were ripped from the doors of houses
and gambling palaces and faro layouts and roulette wheels
and nearly every other device recognised by the gambler as
having a certain utility in the process of separating the unwary
gold hunter from his bank roll were installed. When this para
phernalia failed to accomplish the desired result with neatness
and despatch, more strenuous methods sometimes were adopted.
Wrangell in those days was one of the most lawless towns
the writer ever has seen, either in Alaska or anywhere else.
A member of a noted family of Arizona outlaws acted as
deputy United States marshal. Holdups were common occur-

36 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
rences. Many bullet-pierced bodies were found in the bay.
The " Soapy " Smith gang of outlaws, who contemporaneously
" operated " at Skagway and who, after a desperate gun fight
between their chief and the better class of citizens, were run
out of that town, were no better nor worse than the lawless
element which infested Wrangell.1
One of the Wrangell plans for acquiring the stranger's
money was to post on a tent a notice reading " Information
About the Klondike Given Free." Everybody was interested
in the Klondike and scores of argonauts entered the canvas
structure, only to have a revolver poked in their faces and
their cash and jewellery removed from pockets or money belts.
Complaints to the authorities were remarkably ineffective.
The gang was well organised and only once, so far as the
Writer was able to learn, were they beaten at their own game.
On this occasion they crossed with a clean-faced, mild looking
youth of about nineteen summers. The lad was known as
the " Single O Kid." He received the nickname on account
of his proficiency as a sharpshooter, either with revolver or
rifle. This unostentatious, innocent looking youngster, in a
shooting gallery at Wrangell, hit a bull's-eye 125 consecutive
shots. The gang nicknamed him and left him severely
alone. One day, however, a plan was laid by the gang to relieve
1The head of the "Soapy" Smith gang several times caused to be
posted outside his gambling establishment a notice to the effect that
men were being recruited for the Spanish-American war which was
then in progress. Hundreds of men, tired of packing outfits across
Chilkoot Pass, decided to join the army. They were drafted into a
room and told to strip in readiness for a physical examination. Then
they were called into another room and while one of the gang, who
pretended to be an army surgeon, "made a stall"— to use the vernacu
lar—at conducting the examination, his confederates proceeded to go
through the pockets of the clothes left in the adjoining room and re
moved everything of value.

METLAKAHTLA AND WRANGELL 37
the " Kid's " uncle of his loose change. A " friendly " game
of draw poker was begun and the victim treated to an ocular
demonstration of what is colloquially known as a " cold deck."
In less than half an hour his bank roll was reduced to the
rubber band which had encircled it. The " Single O Kid "
watched the play and backing towards the door as his relative
arose from the table, pulled two revolvers. The gamblers
didn't wait for an invitation to throw up their hands. " Un
cle " recovered not only his own money, but collected also
several thousands of dollars from the pockets of those who had
attempted to fleece him.
While the " Kid " held his " irons " pointed at the gang,
with their blue hammers curled back menacingly like the
heads of cobras ready to strike, his uncle left the building.
Politely then the gamblers were requested to face the wall, in
which position, in response to the " Kid's " gentle direction,
they remained for several minutes. In the meantime the
" Kid " vanished. That night he and his uncle disappeared
up the Stikine River and Wrangell knew them no more.
But Wrangell is different now. It is a quaint, quiet town
of about 1,000 people, about one-quarter being Indians. It
has a splendid wharf, sawmill, several fishing stations and
is headquarters for fishermen, hunters and trappers from the
interior. Although most of the deer which abounded on the
mainland and surrounding islands ten years ago and whose
carcasses occasionally could be seen piled upon the wharf like
so much cord wood, have been driven out by the wolves, there
still remain some good hunting grounds.
One of Wrangell's industries is salmon angling. The little
harbour is speckled with boats from the after ends of which
trolling lines are made fast. Angling for King salmon is a
profitable business and one that affords exciting sport.
The man who feels a thrill when a trout tugs at the end

38 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
of his line can find a manifold pleasure in a fight for the cap
ture of a King salmon. The King is decidedly game and
there is enough uncertainty as to the result of the struggle to
make it interesting. The fish are sold to the salteries. Those
who make a business of this sport earn as much as $20 per
day during the few weeks of the running season. A stout
line is needed and a spoon, so shaped that it will not only spin
but dart through the water in a sidewise movement, is re
garded as the best lure for their capture. A heavy sinker,
about four to six ounces, should be placed about eighteen feet
from the end of the line to which the spoon is attached. Good
goose and duck hunting is obtainable around the marshes and
lakes on the mainland and islands.
At the end of the half-crescent curve of the sea on which
the town is built are a number of Indian houses, which ob
viously were constructed with infinite care, many of the
boards having been hewed from the logs with an axe. Here
also will be found many interesting totem poles and a few
curio stores. It is customary for a number of squaws to meet
each vessel as it lands at the wharf, where they display their
baskets, fancy beaded moccasins and other articles of their
handiwork, for sale.
A trip by the river steamboat to Glenora, the head of navi
gation on the Stikine River, is calculated to prove attractive
to the tourist who desires to leave the beaten path of travel.
The boat passes through American territory for a distance of
about forty miles and then enters Canadian territory. Glenora
is about 1 60 miles from the confluence of the Stikine River
and the sea. The trip is one of marvellous scenic beauty. A
short distance from the mouth of the river the end of a re
ceding glacier that has cut a channel through the mountain
can be seen from the river steamer. Several glacial streams
join the Stikine River, heavily charging the waters with silt.

METLAKAHTLA AND WRANGELL 39
At Glenora the vessels are unloaded by the natives, who in
1898 learned enough of the ways of the white man to in
augurate and successfully conduct a strike for higher wages.
During the stampede to the Cassiar diggings in 1880, these
natives were not so well versed in the ways of the world.
Competition for the river trade was keen and a rate war be
tween the rival ships was begun. The captain of one vessel
as a means of attracting trade, engaged a string band to en
tertain the miners on their way up and down the river. His
hated rival installed a loud, shrieking whistle, not unlike a
calliope. When the band on one vessel began to play, the
captain of the other vessel blew the whistle to drown the mu
sic. On the first trip after the new attractions had been
installed, the ship with the band was the first to reach Glenora.
The natives enjoyed the music immensely. They were having
a fine time until an hour later, when the other craft hove in
sight around a bend in the river and the captain gave a few
blasts of his whistle by way of salute. Immediately every
Indian 'ceased work and took to the hills, where they re
mained several days. Neither captain could get his ship un
loaded, so an agreement was reached to eliminate the new im
provements. Apart from its other accomplishments Wrangell has evolved
many strange and awful modifications of the multiplication
table and some of its people can do weird tricks with the cal
endar when they think such a procedure is necessary to win a
debate. One of WrangelPs standard stories is that of an Indian
who became involved in a dispute with a trader over an amount
due him. The remuneration was fixed on a basis of hours
worked. The Indian could read a little and write less.
When his native eloquence failed to convince the trader of
the justice of his contentions, he prepared to clinch his ar-

40 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
gument by producing a ready reckoner which he had purchased
from the trader a year previously. Proudly he pointed to the
number of hours worked, the rate fixed and the amount placed
opposite. Was the trader convinced? Not at all.
" Why, that book ain't no more good," he explained. " It's
all out of date. That's last year's ready reckoner. The latest
ones ain't come in yet."
The Indian is still trying to figure it out.
The Secretary of the Interior was given an inadvertent
demonstration of this ability to produce an unexpected result
with figures. The citizens had elected a townsite trustee to
obtain a patent to the city lots in the name of their various
owners. A survey was necessary and a civil engineer was
employed at $10 per day to do the work. He worked until
the bill totalled $11,000. This was altogether beyond the
anticipations of the lot owners, so they asked the government,
through the cabinet officer, to pay the bill. In a meeting held
in a log cabin much of the blame was laid to the absent en
gineer. " Well, you folks must have known what the bill would
amount to," said Mr. Fisher. " If you knew it was costing
more than $10 per day, why did you allow the engineer to
keep on working for nearly three years?"
" We didn't let him work three years," argued one of the
citizens. " He worked only a little more than one year —
about nine hundred days in all."
" I have been told that they have nights in Alaska three
months long," commented a newspaperman, " but this is the
first time I ever heard of years containing 900 days each. Yes,
this is a wonderful country! "

CHAPTER V
SOME ALASKAN GLACIERS
Leaving Wrangell — Alaskan twilight — Wrangell Narrows — Peters
burg — Halibut, cod and other fisheries — First near view of a
glacier — "Dead" and "Live" glaciers in Taku Inlet — Flowers
on edges of ice fields — The largest glacier in the world — Gla
ciers of Copper River.
BEFORE wharves and warehouses had been constructed
at Nome, much freight and baggage from the fifty-six
ships that arrived there in the great stampede of 1900
was piled pell mell on the beach, and much of it was lost.
A lawyer's trunk was missing. His incessant inquiries the
first day made life a burden to the steamship agent. Finally
the agent, angry and irritated, said:
" Now, Judge, don't bother me any more. I'll give you
my sacred word of honour that I'll find that trunk for you
before dark."
The lawyer went away satisfied, but the next day he real
ised that it would not be dark for nearly two months.
This almost continuous daylight is one of the things that
makes a trip to Alaska a novelty. No man boasts that he
works from sun to sun.
On leaving Wrangell the passengers were able to read their
magazines and newspapers without artificial light until ten
o'clock in the evening and even later. As the ship continued
its way through winding passages, but ever working north
ward, the daylight lengthened perceptibly.
From Wrangell the route to Petersburg lies between the
mainland and an archipelago, of which Mitkoff and Kupreanoff
41

42 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
Islands are the largest. The passage, known as Wrangell
Narrows, is a most unusual piece of water for Alaska. In
contrast to nearly all other channels in the inside passage, this
narrow waterway is very shallow, a condition, which, perhaps,
has been caused by the heavy deposits of silt brought down by
the Stikine River and other big streams.
Congress has been threatening for some years to pass an
appropriation bill to dredge this channel. Parenthetically,
Congress in 1912 appropriated $180,000 for the establishment
of a lighthouse at Cape St. Elias, but a large amount of the
material for the beacon was lost in the wreck of a tender.
Petersburg, being the headquarters for the halibut fishing
schooners with several large canneries nearby and a sawmill in
constant operation, has grown wonderfully in the six years of
its existence. It has a permanent population of nearly 1,000,
every one of whom appears to be profitably employed.
The best time for halibut fishing is during the winter months
and it is no uncommon sight at this season of the year to see fifty
or sixty schooners in the harbour on the same day, especially ii the
weather is heavy on the fishing banks. Halibut are packed in
ice and shipped to Seattle, thence to the markets in the eastern
states. Much of the halibut served in the New York hotels
comes from Petersburg and its environs. This large and
nutritious fish wholesales at an average price of about ten cents
the pound and in November, 191 1, more than one million
pounds of halibut was landed on the dock at Seattle in one day.
Much has been written about the hardships and vicissitudes
endured by the prospectors in the interior of Alaska, but their
life is beset with no more dangers and privations than is the
life of the halibut and cod fisherman. Those who embark in
this business must be equipped by Nature to withstand the
rigours of an Alaskan winter at sea. The weather is not
particularly cold, in fact not so cold as in the harbour of New

SOME ALASKAN GLACIERS 43
York, but is damp, foggy, and generally miserable. Most of
the halibut fishermen own their boats and when the season
closes in April they devote their time to catching salmon.
The herring fishing industry here is being developed on a
commercial basis. A few years ago the Alaska herring was
used only for bait and for manufacturing fertiliser. Now these
fishes are shipped to the markets of the world, in competition
with the Norwegian herring, which they equal in flavour and
nutritive value. In many of the markets they are bought in
preference to the Norwegian variety.
Another source of income for the residents of Petersburg is
found in the rock cod, black cod, smelt, trout, bass and other
fishes of which there is an abundance, and many people are
beginning to market the soft-shelled crabs which can be netted
in thousands. When the tide is out at Petersburg, the table
is set, for the beach is covered with clams; and the day is not
far distant when these bivalves will be shipped to Seattle and
other places. The saw-mill cuts an average of forty thousand
running feet of lumber per day, and much of it is used in mak
ing the boxes in which fish is shipped.
Some of the halibut caught in this locality grow to tremen
dous size, a Chinaman catching one off the wharf in 191 1 that
weighed more than three hundred pounds. It took four men
to land this big fish.
Petersburg is ideally situated on a flat surrounded by hills
and, unlike most cities on the coast of Alaska, its expansion
is not impeded by the contour of the country. There are three
good hotels, a native school managed by the Bureau of Educa
tion, a school for white children which is managed by the com
mon council and a school board elected each year. Two
churches have been built and dedicated. Altogether it is one
of the most thriving, industrious communities in Alaska and it
is unusual in that one meets few natives selling curios.

44 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
Although many of the mountains along the circuitous route
were coroneted with small glaciers, sparkling in the sunlight,
it was not until Frederick Sound, a few hours' sail from Peters
burg, was reached that the first near view of one of these ice
masses was obtained. The approach to La Conte Glacier was
heralded by a flotilla of small ice floes, pieces of which were
being gathered by the fishermen for use in packing the product
taken from the sea.
Running through Frederick Sound into Stephens Passage, the
latter a beautiful strip of water lying between snow-crested
mountains, Taku Inlet was reached. Here is a sight the equal
of which can be seen in few other parts of the world — a
" dead " and a " live " glacier, lying a short distance apart.
The ship had reached the glacial belt, where mountains of ice,
almost as old as the world itself, were visible. The " dead "
glacier on the left, grey, dingy, receding, with a wide moraine
between its edge and the sea, was suggestive of an era long since
forgotten. The " live " glacier, with its sheer, jagged ice cliffs
rising abruptly from the sea, presented a view not unlike the
pictures one sees of the great Antarctic ice wall.
Like many other ice masses in Alaska, the " live " glacier
in Taku Inlet" keeps up an incessant thundering and creaking,
as it discharges tons upon tons of ice into the sea. There is
something awesome in these manifestations of Nature's power.
The sight of Bering, Muir, La Perouse, and other great ice
rivers, slowly, irresistibly creeping towards the shore, and from
the shore into the sea, is a magnificent one. The ponderous
bulk, the frigid vastness, the abysmal crevasses, the tints of
the ice cliffs, the minarets and spires of the glacial castles, the
gleaming palisades, the incessant crashing and grinding,
the floating hibernal bergs with their prisms reflecting a thousand
scintillating hues are sights and sounds which must enthrall
even the dullest imagination.

SOME ALASKAN GLACIERS 45
And yet it would seem that here have the equator and the
poles been wedded. At the edges — in fact in the very shadows
of these ice cliffs — beautiful wild flowers and wild grasses,
growing higher than a man's waist, attest the fertility of the
soil ; and in the near-by woods can be heard the voices of singing
robins and the low-toned notes of humming birds' wings.
On the bank of Copper River, adjoining the end of Childs
Glacier, there is a big field of wild red top hay and close by
spruce, willows, alders and other trees thrive. Dr. Stellar, the
scientist who accompanied Vitus Bering on his second voyage of
discovery in 1742, reported to the Empress Catherine that he
found forget-me-nots and other delicately tinted wild-flowers
growing at the edge of the ice fields, and it was only his great
reputation as a scientist that saved him from being branded
as the Russian equivalent of a nature faker.
Many of the glaciers seen along this route do not come down
to the sea. At Disenchantment Bay, an arm of Yakutat Bay,
a few years ago one of these gelid masses was thrown by seismic
activity into the water, and it is claimed by those who watched
the upheaval that the resultant wave reached a height of 137
feet. This story, however, is generally discredited.
The Malaspina Glacier, visible along the regular route from
Juneau to Cordova, in the year 1905-06 awakened to such
activity that its entire surface aspect was changed. Timber
was uprooted for miles and the bedrock twisted and contorted.
This glacier, by the way, is the largest in the world, having
a sea frontage of nearly 100 miles.
Watching an active glacier, moving steadily forward into a
river or sea, is one of the most fascinating sights imaginable.
No written description can give an adequate idea of its im
mensity, its sublime strength and its manifestation of irresist
ible power.
In August, 1912, a lake which had been imprisoned in one

46 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
of the numerous crevasses of Miles Glacier — on Copper River
a few miles above the railroad bridge — .broke through its re
straining walls and hurled thousands of tons of ice and an in
calculable amount of water into the river. With the bursting
of the ice dam, a wave estimated to be thirty feet high swept
down the river, spreading over the flats and deluging the sur
rounding country. Icebergs weighing many tons were jammed
against the buttresses of the bridge, but the structure stood the
strain. Professor Lawrence Martin, leader of the National Geo
graphic Society's 1910 Expedition to Alaska, in describing the
action of Childs Glacier, on Copper River below the railroad
bridge, says:
" Every time the ice cliff was undercut by the river, great
masses of ice would cascade down the front, raising a gigantic
wave in the river. People in Alaska speak of the discharge
from the front of Childs Glacier as ' sloughing.' A ' slough '
has always raised waves in Copper River, making it dangerous
to shoot the rapids in front of Childs Glacier in a boat, or to
line a boat up the opposite bank; but in the spring of 1910 the
conditions were accentuated by the advance of the glacier and
the pushing of the river, eastward.
" During the advance the waves washed up over a bank five
to twenty-five feet in height and rushed back 100 to 200 feet
in the alder thicket. Ice blocks up to ten tons in weight were
thrown in among the trees. Stones a foot or two in diameter
were hurled into the thicket. Alders nine to eleven inches in
diameter were stripped of leaves and bark and bent backwards
or broken off short or uprooted or buried beneath the gravel
and boulders and macerated trunks of other trees.
" The river bank, which was cut back some in the preceding
year, was in 1910 fairly eaten up by the ice-berg waves which
crossed the river, fifty to sixty feet by actual measurement

\ v
AM_IP__i^____k_i

' W ' ¦ ¦*%«% ""^ .
***£&?.¦ * ¦ " _' "Ber^?*. :
Photo by Dobbs.

DRYING TOMCOD FOR WINTER CONSUMPTION. THE ESKIMOS DIP THESE FISHES IN SEAL OIL
AND EAT THEM RAW

SOME ALASKAN GLACIERS 47
having been removed along the bank of the stream facing the
glacier. " Near the north margin of the glacier is an easily accessible
portion of the ice-front, which ends upon a nearly flat, out-wash
plain of glacial gravels, overgrown with alder and cotton-wood
trees fifty to one hundred years old. Here the glacier was
nearly without motion from 1905 to 1909, and probably for
some years before, so that small shrubs had begun to grow upon
the stagnant ice margin. This part of the' glacier advanced
1,500 to 1,600 feet before June 10, 1910, and 204 feet more
up to October 5. The rate of advance is phenomenal, avera
ging two to eight feet a day, and especially remarkable for the
edge of a glacier where the movement is always the slowest.
. . . Ice blocks were sliding down the frontal slope, many
of them being rolled over in to the forest; trees were over
turned, turf and grass were ploughed up and carried away on
the ice of the glacier.
" Yet one saw and heard little of a spectacular nature while
traversing the ice-front. It was an irresistible, steady move
ment, but slow, as the movement of the hour hand of a clock
is slow."
The railroad' bridge at the time of Professor Martin's exam
ination of Childs Glacier, was 1,575 feet from the north mar
gin of the ice mass. This bridge is the key to the $20,000,000
railway to the copper and coal mines. What the glacier will
do in the future, therefore, is a matter of deep interest, particu
larly to the owners of the railroad and the mines. No corps
of engineers living could save the bridge and railway if the
glacier should make an advance upon it. That such a con
tingency is not impossible is shown by the fact that within
recent years, according to Professor Martin's observations,
Hidden Glacier, in Yakutat Bay, has advanced two miles, or
more than 10,000 feet, and buried a bench mark placed near

48 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
the former terminus beneath 1,100 feet of ice, while the
Haencke Glacier advanced more than 5,000 feet in ten months.
Usually the sightseer, watching a glacier in action for the
first time, is loth to leave it. Attorney-General George W.
Wickersham, accompanied by Secretary of Commerce and
Labour, Charles Nagel, in 1910, made a trip up the Copper
River to inspect the railroad, then in course of construction.
The cabinet officers were accompanied by a number of promi
nent citizens from Cordova, who were desirous of showing the
distinguished visitors- everything of interest. They had planned
to go to Tiekel, a point a few miles beyond Childs Glacier, at
which place they stopped en route. The time at their disposal
was limited and the citizens, to whom the glacier was no longer
a wonderful attraction, were anxious to proceed further into
the interior.
The glacier was working splendidly, throwing immense
chunks of ice, larger than the capital building at Washington,
into the river. Fascinated, the cabinet officer watched.
" Well, Mr. Attorney-General ; it's getting late, and we
should be getting aboard the train for Tiekel," at last hinted
one of the citizens.
" Yes, yes, just a minute. Another berg is going to drop
presently." Another tremendous chunk, with terrific detonation, fell
thundering into the river, throwing a high wave that dislodged
rocks from the banks, and left salmon wriggling and flapping
among the bushes, after the water had receded.
"Wonderful!" exclaimed the cabinet officer. "Wait just
a few minutes, and we'll see another one go."
It was an hour or more later that the attorney-general re
gretfully allowed himself to be led away.
Some resembling church steeples, some appearing like castles,
the bergs floating in Taku Inlet and other Alaskan waters are

SOME ALASKAN GLACIERS 49
fantastically shaped. Many are the colour of turquoise, others
are pure, glistening white, while others have the brilliancy of
a blue-white diamond. The colours constantly change as the
sun rays play queer tricks of light and shade. It is no wonder
the glaciers inspired many of the interesting legends of the
natives.

CHAPTER VI
A CENTRE OF INDUSTRY
The great Treadwell mine that has produced seven times the sum paid
by the Government for the entire Territory of Alaska — The big
stamp mill and concentrating plant — Juneau, the Capital of
Alaska — Silver Bow Basin and its mines — The origin of hochinoo,
a potent beverage — Deserted Katalla — Cordova and glaciers.
APPROACHING Gastineau Channel the mountains,
clothed to the snow-line with forests of timber and
green foliage, seem to rise higher than ever. Glaciers,
great and small, are everywhere visible. Vast rivers of ice
fill the valleys. In Frederick Sound, the vessel passed close
to Patterson and Baird Glaciers, which dot Stephens Passage
with icebergs practically all the year through. A condition
appreciated by the fishermen, who thus are saved the cost of
maintaining an ice plant.
Entering Gastineau Channel, which separates Douglas Island
from the mainland, the great Treadwell mine, employing nearly
two thousand men and operating the second largest stamp mill
in the world, is about the first thing that attracts the sightseers'
notice. The thunderous roar of the machinery compels one's
attention. In the centre of the channel is a pretty island, on
which has been placed a lighthouse, and stretching out to meet
it is a gravel bar, from behind which a turbulent stream comes
tumbling down to the sea.
The Treadwell is one of the largest mines in the world and
there are few, if any, where the employes enjoy better living
conditions. Neat cottages, comfortably furnished, afford quar
ters for the married men, and a good hotel has been established
50

A CENTRE OF INDUSTRY 51
for those who prefer a life of single blessedness. A billiard and
pool room, a library, a club room, a theatre, a ball room, a
swimming tank, a turkish bath plant, a bowling alley and
photographic dark room are many of the modern conveniences
that have been installed for those who delve in the bowels of
the earth for golden treasure. The dining room and a modern
bakery plant are models of cleanliness and utility. The mine
and houses are lighted by electricity.
Nine hundred stamps and gigantic concentrating plants in
the past thirty years have extracted from the ore in this one
mine, gold amounting to five times the sum paid for the entire
territory by the government.
The Treadwell, discovered in the late '70's by Pierre Erus-
sard, known throughout the territory as " French Pete," who
died at Katalla in 19 12, was sold to John Treadwell, a carpen
ter, for about $400 — some say $300. Since 1882 it has pro
duced nearly $50,000,000 in gold and there is a sufficient
amount of ore blocked out to keep the machinery in operation
for seventy-five years to come.
Back of the present workings is a big, deep quarry, known as
the " Glory Hole." In former years the ore was taken from
this open gash, but when the cut became too deep, the plan was
abandoned and a system of main shafts adopted. These shafts
sink to a depth of 1,700 feet and the tunnels below extend for
a considerable distance under Gastineau Channel. A five stamp
mill was erected in 1882. To-day the noise from the tremen
dous mills sounds like the deafening roar of Niagara Falls many
times multiplied.
" Do not speak to the workmen " reads a warning to the
visitors. It is quite unnecessary, for the largest megaphone in
the world would leave the human voice inaudible in the terrific
din of the mill rooms. Mr. Kinzie, the manager of the prop
erty, is never too busy to issue a permit to those whose interest

52 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
in geology is sufficient to tempt them to make a trip towards
the centre of the earth in one of the cages.
The energy for the colossal plant is generated from a water
fall a few miles distant, but substitute steam power is used on
the few occasions when the weather becomes so cold that the
stream is covered with ice. In point of tonnage produced, this
mine is the largest in the United States, and there are few that
surpass it in the steady production of gold.
For many years coal was burned at the mines for heating
and domestic purposes, but failure to open the Alaskan fuel
measures to development finally forced the company, like every
other large enterprise in Alaska, to burn California fuel oil.
The tide of Gastineau Channel rises and falls from ten to
twelve feet. That part of the channel which is close to the
discharge pipes of the mill gradually is being filled with pul
verised quartz.
Almost directly opposite the big oil tanks, on the other side
of the channel and within ear shot of the reverberations of the
stamp mills, lies the Davidson Glacier, perched high on the top
of a mountain and to the eastward lies Douglas, a small city
peopled mostly by the employes of the miners and a few Indians.
Here the first hammered copper and silverware is offered for
sale by the natives.
Connected with Treadwell and Douglas by ferry and lying
in the shadow of a dark, frowning mountain, lies Juneau, the
capital of Alaska. Juneau, in the summer evening mists, looks
like a Swiss village on the shores of a lake.
Behind the town and connected by a box-like canyon lies the
Silver Bow Basin, where many mines are in operation. The
high mountains divide the basin from the coast-line, and the
work of blasting a subway through the solid rock was com
menced in 191 1 by a mining company. This tunnel when com
pleted will be 7,000 feet long, and large enough to operate an

A CENTRE OF INDUSTRY 53
electric car system, by which the ore will be hauled to the
crushing mills and concentrating plants on the coast. Several
hundred stamps have been landed on the beach and these will
be erected and ready for operation in 1913, by which time the
subterranean passageway will be completed.
The mines in Silver Bow Basin, according to prominent
mining engineers, are richer than the Treadwell, and the ma
trices are of equal immensity. It is estimated there is sufficient
ore in sight to keep the big stamp mill in operation for more
than two centuries.
Although it is not so busy as in the palmy days of the Klon
dike stampede, when thousands of miners landed there, en route
to the interior, Juneau is a very thriving, prosperous city. An
executive mansion is being constructed under the supervision
of Governor Walter E. Clark, but as this is written, the
U. S. District courthouse and the public school are the most
pretentious buildings.
The most interesting structure and one which usually is
pointed out to the tourist, is the house of the late Chief John
son, who was head of the Raven branch of the Taku tribe of
Indians. Johnson, a man of wonderful endurance and remark
able physical prowess, attained his chieftainship by giving a
potlatch that cost $20,000. For many years he traded with the
Indians in the interior and along the coast as far west as
Yakutat. The noted brave went to the happy hunting grounds
from Killisnoo, a small fishing settlement, in 1904, when a
dog jumped from a canoe in which he and several others were
travelling. Johnson managed to swim ashore, but he was so
benumbed by the cold that he died on the beach.
Local tradition accredits Johnson's relatives with the dis
covery of the utility of kelp strands as a " worm " for making
the whiskey which is known throughout the territory as
" hoochinoo." It is thought the name was derived from

54 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
the Hootzanoo Indians, the tribe over which Johnson
achieved chieftainship. The usual method of manufactur
ing this alcoholic beverage is to place a mixture of fer
mented molasses, flour, sugar and cornmeal, or other
cereal in a kerosene can, attached to the top of which is
an old gun barrel. The barrel passes through another can
filled with snow or ice water, and acts as a " worm " in a dis
tillery. When the fermented substances are heated sufficiently,
a steam arises, which, condensing in the " worm " pours out
at the other end in the form of " hoochinoo." Johnson's pro
genitors discovered that a long piece of kelp, which is hollow
could be substituted for the gun barrel. Since the advent of
missionaries and government officials, this crude method of
" moonshining," which in former years was carried on in every
part of Alaska where white men have penetrated, has been
greatly restricted. Some of the natives still make a " near-
beer " from asters, blueberries, strawberries and other plants,
which is mildly alcoholic.
" Hoochinoo " is a most formidable beverage. It is some
times called "squirrel whiskey," because it obsesses the Con
sumer with a desire to climb a tree. One drink of it is said
to have sufficient power of demoralisation to induce a man to
steal the thongs from his own snow-shoes, while two will im
bue him with a yearning to murder his mother or the first baby
he can find. It is manufactured in various grades known as
"Aurora Borealis," "Nitric Acid," "Chain Lightning,"
" Snake Juice," and " Battle Axe " brands. Each brand pro
duces a different effect, and as a general rule, it can be guaran
teed to convert harmless, big-souled, broad-hearted men into
fiends incarnate.
A log building with a tall bell spire, situated a short distance
from Johnson's place of residence, was the first church built in
Juneau. It was founded by the Presbyterian Board of Mis-

•CHENA STAMP MILL, FAIRBANKS DISTRICT

Photo by Hunt.

CLIFF MINE MILL, NEAR VALDEZ

A CENTRE OF INDUSTRY 55
sions and did good service as a place of worship and general
meeting house until 1902, when a new structure was erected.
Juneau was discovered in 1880 by Joseph Juneau and Richard
T. Harris, who were outfitted at Sitka. The town was first
known as Harrisburg. Juneau and Harris made a fortune in
mining at this point, but Juneau's money was quickly spent.
Later he conducted a restaurant at Dawson.
Gastineau Channel is a picturesque piece of water and a
source of constant charm to the residents of the trio of towns
that had been built on its shores. This waterway was ex
plored by Russian, Spanish and English navigators, all of whom
named it differently. The channel received its present title
after the transfer of the territory to the United States, the
name being borrowed from a vessel owned by the Hudson Bay
Company. Like all other Alaskan waters, Gastineau Channel is prolific
in sea life of every description. In the many streams emptying
into it, hundreds of trout of different species can be hooked
and, during the spawning season, these waterways teem with
salmon. Schools of herring and small fish of all kinds scurry
in every direction through the salt water, and when the tide
recedes the sandy bottom is literally covered with many kinds of
sea life. Everywhere on the sodden shore can be found crabs,
clams, spirals, periwinkles, and other forms of shell fish;
while starfish of diversified colouring are left stranded, and
creeping things with hundreds of legs drag their loathsome
length along the sand. Among the yellow and green weeds
are many queer, ludicrous forms of life. It is this abundance
of living creatures that attract the swarms of gulls and terns
that fly screaming and screeching through the warm winds above
the water. The surrounding woods produce wild raspberries,
strawberries and other fruits in abundance.
At Juneau comes the parting of the ways for Alaskan tourists.

56 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING ,
Those taking the Southeastern trip go up Lynn Canal, a pretty,
narrow channel, skirted with glacier-capped mountains, to
Haines, Fort Seward and Skagway, returning by way of Sitka.
From Skagway the journey may be continued across the divide
and down the Yukon River to Bering Sea.
Those making the journey to Southwestern Alaska sail along
Gastineau Channel from Juneau, through Icy Strait into Cross
Sound, and thence to the Gulf of Alaska, which is a part of the
Pacific Ocean, passing Mount Fairweather and La Perouse,
Malaspina and other glaciers, en route. The giant bulk of
Mount St. Elias, the first point of Alaskan land seen by white
man, raises in stolid, lonely majesty high above its related peaks.
The coast range, clear-cut and sharp, stands out pearly white
against the blue sky and the cooling breezes from many glaciers
makes sweaters and warm clothing desirable.
The ship ploughs on through the blue water, past the white
heights. Whales and porpoises sometimes are seen. The first
stop is usually made at Yakutat Bay, a picturesque cove, where
a salmon cannery has been established. This place was first
settled by the Russians more than one hundred years ago. At
that time the bay was the habitat of many sea-otters, an animal
which is now almost extinct in Alaska.
Beneath the bluest skies, through the bluest seas, hedged in
by the bluest hills and glaciers, Katalla, occupied by the
" bluest " people in Alaska, is reached. It lies in a slight in
dentation in the coast, but otherwise is exposed to the full sweep
of the sea in an unbroken line as far south as the Antarctic
Ocean. Close by is Controller Bay, which in reality is a mud
flat on the shore of the open ocean. The deposit of silt from
Bering River, which flows beneath Bering Glacier, has caused
a low marsh to form for some distance into the sea towards
Kayak Island, upon which Dr. Stellar, a scientist who accom
panied Vitus Bering on his second voyage of discovery, made

A CENTRE OF INDUSTRY 57
a landing in 1742. This makes the " bay." Heavy wind
storms prevail at nearly all seasons of the year and as the bay
is shallow, a landing, more often than not, is accomplished with
much difficulty.
A few years ago Katalla was a thriving metropolis. Im
mense deposits of coal had been discovered a few miles in the
interior. Railroads were being built, mines were being devel
oped, everybody was busy and prosperous. Suddenly like a
flash from a clear sky came the order for the withdrawal of
the Alaska coal land from entry and Katalla commenced to
languish. Its buildings became tenantless, its population de
creased. Many of those who had spent years of labour and
much money in development, were forced to return, broken in
fortune and spirit, to cities_ in the United States to start life
anew. Katalla is a melancholy sight. It seems to brood
pathetically on its former good prospects and bright hopes.
The mineral is there in abundance, but it cannot be mined.
On the shores of the bay and at short distances in the in
terior, are oil wells, but caps are screwed on most of the casings.
No patents to the land have been granted, and the owners are
fearful of making further investment in development work lest
they share the fate of the men who discovered the coal lands.
The country contiguous to Katalla, is covered with berries
and wild fruits of various kinds. , There is some good agricul
tural land there, but most of it is covered by the Chugack forest
reserve and is therefore practically unavailable to settlement.
A headline jutting into the sea and the wreck of a vessel
jammed on a rock marks the entrance of Prince William Sound,
at the head of which lies Cordova Bay. The sound is perfectly
landlocked by high mountains and should it ever be used as a
coaling station — which is not improbable — a few forts will
make it absolutely impregnable.
At the head of the bay is built the city of Cordova. Back

58 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
of it lies the Copper River Valley, one of the routes to the in
terior, and seaming the mineralised mountain sides are two of
the world's icy marvels — Childs and Miles Glaciers. Beyond
lie the Kennicott and other rich copper mines. The Kennicott
mine in 191 1 increased the value of the copper product of
Alaska by nearly $2,000,000. Experts believe there is as much
copper in this particular zone as in all of the State of Michigan.
Along the valley lies a standard-gauge railroad, 191 miles
in length, the building of which was filled with romance. Its
construction is regarded as a distinct feat in world's engineering.
The road crosses the river between the two glaciers mentioned.
The false work for the bridge was laid on the ice in winter.
Men were hired to work night and day. M. J. Heney, the
contractor, the man who built another " impossible " road across
the mountains from Skagway, and his chief engineer, E. C.
Hawkins, conceived the idea of using the river ice for a founda
tion for the bridge scaffolding. As the spring approached hun
dreds of men were kept busy every minute of the day and night,
for, if not completed by the time the ice burst, all of the work
and material would have been lost. The ice went out, carry
ing the false work with it, less than an hour after the last spike
was driven in the connecting span, and the work was com
pleted. The bridge cost $1,400,000. The road opens another
route to the great interior country, where lie countless millions
of tons of coal and the tremendous ore bodies of the White,
Tanana Valleys and other mineralised regions.
With its roof caved in and partially covered with moss and
vegetation, the ruins of an old Russian trading post, known as
Alagniak lies near the railroad track, 21 miles from Cordova.
At this point the Indians of a hundred years ago from the
Upper Copper River Valley and the heads of the Tanana and
White River Valleys sold their furs to the Russian traders who
came in from their stations. The cruelty of these traders led

A CENTRE OF INDUSTRY 59
to tragedy when Governor Baranof sent an expedition up the
river. The natives in retaliation murdered the party at a point
near Tiekel.
Several fenced graves, some marked with rude monuments,
on the hillside at Alagniak bear mute testimony to the sufferings
endured by the many argonauts, who in the Klondike stampede
of 1897-98 ascended the Copper River in the endeavour to reach
Dawson. The scenery along the railroad is wonderful in its magnifi
cence, and it affords, the traveller a rare opportunity of viewing
an active glacier at close range. Along the river's edge for a
distance of three miles, Childs Glacier raises its frigid bulk,
like a solid wall, against the side of the torrential river. The
mas9 is constantly moving forward at an estimated speed of
three and a half feet a day. The swift stream, flowing against
the glacier's edge, cuts underneath, and every few minutes gi
gantic bergs, some of them weighing thousands of tons, fall
with a mighty splash into the water.
The face of the glacier is more than three hundred feet high
and three miles long. Nobody knows its exact dimensions. Its
gigantic body has been traced back in to the mountain, through
riven slope and chasm, for a distance of seventy-five miles, at
which point the end was not yet in sight. Across the river is
Miles Glacier.
Although these glaciers are within fifty miles of the city,
and ¦ notwithstanding that the bridge between them was built
by using ice for a foundation, the people of Cordova in the
winter of 1911-12 suffered an ice famine. Usually they had
been able to cut sufficient ice from the near-by trout streams and
lakes, but the Japan Current that season played a scurvy trick
upon them by keeping the air so warm that no ice formed.
This climatic condition, while unusual, existed to a greater or
lesser extent all over Alaska in 1912. It is hoped, by the

60 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
residents, that this desirable change will prove permanent.
Cordova has good hotels, a number of churches, a chamber
of commerce, a few automobiles and several other adjuncts of a
metropolitan city. Its docks are the finest in Alaska and, as it
is the outlet for mineral zones, and coal fields, it is likely that
it ultimately will be developed into a smelting centre about the
size of Butte, Mont.
Chitina, 131 miles on the railroad from Cordova, is the start
ing point for Fairbanks and other interior cities. Kennicott,
at the end of the railroad, 192 miles from Cordova, is the point
of departure for hunters who seek trophies from the bands of
mountain sheep, moose, caribou, black and brown bear, moun
tain goats and glacier bear that inhabit the upper slopes of the
Copper and White River Valleys,

CHAPTER VII
RUNNING PAST THE EXPOSED COAST
Valdez and its Mines — Seward, the Town where an Undertaker can't
make a living — Cook's Inlet and Kenai Peninsula — Cook's Inlet
and Kenai Peninsula, an Agricultural and Mining Region — Sitka,
the former capital — Lover's Lane — An early tragedy.
FROM Cordova the vessel passed between Hinchinbrook
Island and the mainland into Prince William Sound.
On the left of the ship is a line of high, rugged
mountains whose tops usually are mantled in snow. Vegeta
tion is thick and abundant, reaching from the snow-line to the
water's edge. The shore is wrinkled with many little bays and
inlets, and in most of these can be seen the launch or rowboat
of the prospector, who is ever searching the rocks and hills for
traces of precious metal.
The ship passes in silent review before Nature's rugged
pageantry of rock and ice and trees, broken at intervals with
grassy slopes and shelving beaches. A stop is made at Ellamar
where a copper mine is operated, and from there the vessel slips
into the broad and picturesque bay of Valdez, passing Fort
Liscum en route.
Like nearly every other coastal city in Alaska, Valdez lies
at the foot of high hills, while six miles away, and cutting off
the town from a number of payable quartz mines, lies the
Valdez Glacier, which now and again allows rivers of water
to break through its crevasses and flood the surrounding coun
try. The pleasure seeker will find much enjoyment in a buggy
ride along the road constructed by the Alaska Road Commission
61

62 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
to Keystone Canyon, fourteen miles distant, where the " Bridal
Veil " and other beautiful waterfalls may be seen. This road,
by the way, is a part of the trunk road leading to Fairbanks.
The Valdez quartz mines were developed for the most part
with money subscribed by its wide-awake business people. A
prospector known as " Red " Ellis — because of his long
auburn hair — nobody ever knew his real name — is respon
sible for much of the mining that has been done in that country.
A few years ago Ellis found a good prospect six miles from
Valdez. Local business people were induced to subscribe
$10,000 to place machinery upon it, and for many months there
after it paid dividends at the rate of about eighty per cent, per
month on the amount invested. Naturally this lucrative re
turn gave an impetus to the development of other prospects.
For many years Valdez was the outfitting point for Fair
banks, Copper Center, Kennicott and other mining settlements
in the interior, but the construction of the Copper River and
Northwestern Railroad from Cordova diverted a large amount
of the traffic. Mountain sheep and goats may be obtained in
the hills a few miles from the city and if one industriously
casts artificial flies on any of the streams, one usually will be
rewarded with a creel full of speckled trout.
Along the shores of the bay are scattered many mines and
prospects which make Valdez their outfitting point. About
eighty miles distant is Port Wells, a new settlement where some
mineralised quartz veins have been uncovered. Contiguous to
Valdez is Slate Creek and a number of other placer mining
camps. The vessel next touches at Latouche, where another copper
mine is in operation. Here are millions of beautiful ferns and
wildflowers, forget-me-nots, anemones and buttercups being
the predominant varieties.
Through a protected channel to Resurrection Bay, one of the

RUNNING PAST THE EXPOSED COAST 63
best harbours on the Alaskan coast, the vessel sails to Seward.
Backed by beetling hills, broken with a low divide that slips
gently into the mountains and fronted by a tranquil bay,
Seward's situation is a decidedly attractive one. Built on
gradually raising ground, with a slate bottom, the sanitation of
the town is perfect.
A naval coaling station has been established here, and it is
expected that within a short time thousands of tons of anthra
cite and bituminous coal from the Matanuska coal fields will
be placed therein for the use of the United States warships.
Seward is practically 1,500 miles nearer to the Philippines than
the Mare Island Naval Station at San Francisco.
It also is the outfitting point for many hunters who seek
trophies in the Kenai Peninsula. So abundant is the game in
this section that several times the car running along the track
has collided with flocks of partridges.
When the town was founded in 1902, its only inhabitants
were a white man named Lowell and his native family. He is
said to be a direct descendant of the family which founded the
town of Lowell, Mass. Not thinking the land had any partic
ular value the Lowell family did not file upon it, but after the
arrival of the Alaska Central railroad engineers, Mrs. Lowell
applied for a homestead. She later relinquished her right, and
recertified scrip was filed by the Ballaine Brothers, by whom
the idea of building a railroad was conceived. Mrs. Lowell
was given $4,000 in cash and $40,000 in town lots.
Seward passed through the boom stage and then settled into
a substantial town, dependent entirely upon its own resources
— the many paying quartz mines and placer camps that have
been located. It has the usual number of churches, a branch
of the Y. M. C. A., a commercial club and all the institutions
that go towards making up a modern city. There are two
doctors, but owing to the healthfulness of the climate or the

64 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
water or other fortuitous conditions, no undertaker has been
able to make a living there. There is an axiom that people
never die at Seward except by accident.
More than ioo years ago Governor Baranof, a Russian
prominent in the history of the territory, established a ship
building yard on Resurrection Bay. These were the first ships
constructed ori the western shores of America, one of them
being launched in the summer of 1794. The " Iron Gover
nor " chose Resurrection Bay, where the town of Seward is
now built, because it afforded him a perfectly protected harbour
and the necessary timber. Beyond the narrow passage at the
entrance, the bay opens into a land-locked sheet of water, fifteen
miles wide. It has the fault of many Alaska harbours — it is
too deep. But this is not necessarily a drawback. The waters
contiguous to Seattle are extremely deep, but that condition
does not seem to have hampered its development into one of
the most important shipping centres on the Pacific Coast.
The builders of the Alaska Central Railroad planned to tap
the Matanuska coal measures, two hundred miles in the in
terior, but after seventy-two miles of steel had been laid, it
was learned there was no likelihood of the fuel beds being
opened to development and further construction work was
abandoned. A railroad automobile car makes trips from
Seward to the head of the line at Kern Creek, carrying sup
plies to a number of quartz mines, which, owing to a lack of
fuel, are operated on a limited scale.
While the scenery along this railway has not the broad,
rugged grandeur of that seen from the Copper River and North
western Railroad running from Cordova, a trip over the line
is well worth the time expended. The line passes through
sylvan scenes to Kenai Lake, and is fringed with grass-grown
prairies and good timber. After crossing a divide, it runs
through rough country where the altitudes of the peaks are

Hegg.

'KISSED BY SUMMER'S SUNS AND FED BY WINTER'S SNOWS, THEY COME TEARING DOWN CAN
YONS . . . TOSSING HIGH THEIR FOAMING SPRAY, OTHERS FLOW SERENELY OVER
SANDY BOTTOMS, CLEAR AND SPARKLING, LIKE SHEETS OF SILVER."

RUNNING PAST THE EXPOSED COAST 65
from, 6,000 to 8,000 feet, some of them being crowned by
glaciers larger than those of Switzerland. Many pretty water
falls and swift streams are seen after the car leaves the crest
and reaches the down grade to Turnagain Arm, at the upper
end of Cook Inlet, named for the great English navigator by
whom it was discovered.
With the single exception of the Bay of Fundy, the tides
are higher at Cook Inlet than any other part of the world, the
extreme from highest to lowest being nearly sixty feet. The
incoming tide runs in a " bore " from eight to ten feet high.
Kern Creek, at the head of Turnagain Arm, is the starting
point for many mining fields in the interior and along the shore
of Cook Inlet. At Sunrise City are some placer mines and
quartz veins which mill good values.
Kenai Peninsula, through part of which the railroad runs,
is prolific in vegetable growth. Many farms have been culti
vated along the route and these furnish the Seward markets
with all the vegetables needed to supply the population. Seward
is connected with the gold fields of Iditarod by a trail recently
constructed. From Seward vessels run to Seldovia, Sand Point, Unga,
Kodiak and Dutch Harbor and settlements on the Alaskan
Peninsula and the Aleutian Islands. On Kodiak Island the
largest bear in the world are found and on Nunivak Island there
are thousands of caribou. The industries in these places are
fishing and mining. The Aleutian chain is largely volcanic,
and once in a while a splendid pyrotechnic display may be
seen. ' This route, however, is off the general line of travel.
Returning vessels on the Southwestern voyage first touch
Juneau and sail through Chatham, Peril, Olga and Neva
Straits to Sitka, sometimes stopping at Killisnoo, a fishing vil
lage, en route. The ship winds through the same labyrinthine
maze of water margined by woods, that distinguishes the jour-

66 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
ney through the Inside Passage. Sitka lies in an island-studded
harbour that is one of the most beautiful in Alaska.
Surrounded by high mountains, more rounded by erosion
than those along other parts of the coast, and with Mount
Edgecumbe, clear-chiselled against the blue sky in the western
background, it affords a scene decidedly picturesque. The
water in the harbour is as clear as crystal, and objects may be
seen on the bottom at a depth of forty feet. Usually the arrival
of a ship is greeted by a number of natives who offer for sale
slippers, baskets, hammered copper ornaments and other crudely
constructed articles.
Baranof Island, on which Sitka is situated, is named after
the noted Russian governor. It was the first capital of the
territory after the transfer. It is veiled in historical interest,
and a few of the incidents pertaining to its early history are
dealt with in another chapter of this volume.
For the tourist, the points of interest to be visited are the
Mission and Industrial school, the Indian village that straggles
along the shore-line, the Russian cemetery, the old Russian
blockhouse, the Graaco-Russian Church, with its chimes that
were brought across the Siberian Steppes from Moscow, and
the famous painting of Madonna and Child, the masterpiece
of some monk whose name has been lost to history. The church
pipeorgan is more than ioo years old and still gives forth
sweet music when touched by the hand of a musician.
The old blockhouse brings thoughts of the bloody battles
that were fought between the Russians and the natives, while
the many totem poles interest those of a retrospective mind.
One of the attractions of the place is "Lover's Lane," a
gravelled path built through rustic scenery to the banks of In
dian River. The byway is bestrewn with almost every kind of
wildflower and the trees are hoary with moss. It was along
this path the Russian Princess, whose phantom later was pur-

RUNNING PAST THE EXPOSED COAST 67
ported to inhabit Baranof Castle, strolled with her ill-fated
lover. The pathway had grown over with vegetation when the
United States took possession of the territory, but a new path
was cleared in 1884. Much ingenuity was manifested in cut
ting the new trail so as to bring into view all the best points
of scenery and the mysteries of forest growth.
Along Indian River, a clear, sparkling stream, are many ferns
with spreading fronds; trees of the well-named Devil's Club,
with its wide, tropical leaves; moss and lichens of every variety
and bushes of golden salmon berries, blue berries, moss berries
and raspberry and strawberry vines scattered between. The
stream is spanned by rustic bridges and in the clearings along
the shaded river bank are the remains of a few buildings which
obviously are of Russian origin. Croaking ravens fly overhead,
and tiny humming birds, with burnished breasts, flit between
the boughs.
The Baranof blarney stone, reputed to have the same powers
of imparting cajolery to the tongue as its namesake in Ireland,
lies at the side of the trail. It is marked with the names of
American war vessels that visited Sitka in the early days of
its history, and also with Russian characters. Many improb
able legends have been built around this rock.
There is another romance connected with this shady path
way. It is related that many years ago two American officers,
who had been comrades for years, fell in love with a beautiful,
clear-skinned, dark-eyed Russian girl. The ties of friendship
quickly were broken, but suddenly restored. As it is ever the
way with woman, the time came when she made her choice.
Thereafter the rivals started off together on a hunting expedi
tion. Only one of them returned and he reported that his
brother officer had been gored to death by a stag. A few days
later other officers made a search and discovered the body of the

68 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
successful aspirant for the girl's hand in the tangled gorse. A
bullet hole in his heart bore mute testimony to the tragedy.
Returning, they found the unrequited suitor dead in his bed.
Two versions of the cause of his death were given — that the
ghost of his victim had appeared to him and that he had there
upon died of fright, and that he had swallowed a dose of poison.
The official report called it accidental gunshot wound in one
case and heart disease in the other.
Indian River is not the only stream where the sportsman may
experience all the thrills that come from the tugging of the
gamey trout. Behind the town is a lake that teems with game
fishes, and scattered in every direction are little brooks and
creeks, where trout may be landed at almost every day of the
year. Apart from the fishing industry, which is carried on in all
parts of Alaska, the people of Sitka to a greater or lesser ex
tent are interested in mining. The Chicagoff Mine, where a
big stamp mill runs night and day, is but a few miles from the
town, and a gypsum plant, which produces a large portion of
the plaster of Paris used in the United States, is another centre
of industrial effort.
Opposite Sitka is Japonsky Island, so-called because a Japan
ese junk, carried from faraway Nippon by the Kuro-Siwa, or
Japanese current, many years ago, found refuge there. Six
miles north is Old Harbor, where Baranof builded a town
that was destroyed by the natives. Twelve miles distant are
three hot springs. In i860 the Russians erected a hospital at
these springs, which are said to have great medicinal value.
An effort was made in 19 12 by residents of Sitka to rehabili
tate the sanitarium but it was learned that the government had
withdrawn from entry 160 acres of land surrounding every
hot spring in Alaska and the project was dropped. It is said
that eggs may be boiled in these springs and if the tourist is

RUNNING PAST THE EXPOSED COAST 69
short of eggs he will find a cold, clear lake a short distance
away where he can obtain trout that will answer the purpose.
Silversmithing is the principal industry of the native women,
while hunting and fishing is the favourite vocation of their flat-
faced husbands. Curiously carved bracelets, rings and other
articles of barbaric adornment are manufactured by the Sitka
natives and now that gold has been found on the Island, it is
probable that they will make ornaments of this metal also.
Basketry is another one of their forms of employment. From
Sitka, vessels return by various routes to Seattle, but as a
general rule they call at the mining and fishing settlements of
Southeastern Alaska which have been visited on the Northern
trip.

CHAPTER VIII
BUYING FROM INDIANS
Purchaser should keep eyes open — Ivory artificially aged — Elk teeth
made while you wait — Natives shrewd bargainers — Copper and
Silver ornaments — Native engraving on ivory — Chilkat blankets
— The story of basket weaving — Helen Gould's prize — Yakutat
baskets highly prized — Attu baskets best workmanship.
BECAUSE the native of Alaska places little value on
his time, visitors to the territory will meet some diffi
culty in bargaining with them for the beaded moc
casins, Hammered copper and silver ornaments, carved ivory,
baskets and other wares. In Southwestern Alaska these ar
ticles generally are offered for sale by the wives of the tribes,
but at Nome and in the interior, the tourist will find no sex
discrimination among the Eskimos, males and females alike
peddling ivory-carved cribbage boards, pieces of ivory, coloured
with the ages of a. thousand years, and many kinds of furs.
In buying old ivory, it is a good plan to consult somebody
who knows the customs of the country, for in recent years
Poor Lo has become aware that the soft velvety tinting of
old ivory- is highly prized by his white brethren and with true
business instinct has discovered artificial means of colouring
the material. A short boiling in seal oil will give a walrus
tusk as much tone as it would acquire from the elements in
several hundred years. Old ivory, like antique furniture, can
be made while you wait.
Walrus teeth also are offered for sale by the Eskimos. A
few years ago these were sold at a price of about fifty cents
the dozen, but in recent times white men, in whom the desire
70

BUYING FROM INDIANS 71
to be ranked as predatory plutocrats has overcome their con
scientious scruples, by a judicious use of lathes and polishing
wheels, have converted thousands of these walrus molars into
" genuine elk " teeth. These imitations are so cleverly exe
cuted that even an expert finds difficulty in differentiating be
tween the real and the spurious. Full many a member of the
Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks is proudly wearing
on his watch charm a tooth that had its original sphere of
usefulness in masticating mussels, sea-grass and other food that
entered the voracious mouth of a walrus. The development
of the " elk tooth " business of course created a big demand
for walrus grinders, with the result that the Eskimo raised
his prices. The teeth now are sold at prices ranging from
twenty-five to fifty cents each.
In buying furs from the natives, the stranger in Alaska
perhaps will find it to his advantage to rub ¦ his hand along
the pelt a few times, as the native conscience does not bar the
use of a little lampblack which greatly improves the appear
ance of the hide.
In Southeastern Alaska the native women are sharp, shrewd
bargainers and when they cannot receive the price which they
deem the article to be worth, they await the arrival of the
next steamship, or sometimes keep it for a year or longer, rather
than sell it a few cents below the price placed on it. They
take no account of time or the cost of travel.
In Nome and the lower Yukon River districts, the natives
offer for sale many implements and ornaments carved out of
ivory. They probably learned to make ivory toothpicks from
the whalers or explorers in this region.
They are a simple-minded people and much afraid of any
thing which they do not understand. In 1899, the writer
was camped on the beach at Nome, in company with an Eng
lishman who had a plate of false teeth. Some Eskimos came

72 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
along one day, offering ivory toothpicks for sale. The Eng
lishman nonchalantly put his hand to his mouth, pulled out
the plate and began inserting one of the toothpicks between the
bicuspids. The natives gave a yell and streaked across the tun
dra as fast as they could travel. Later one of them mustered
up sufficient courage to return for his wares.
A Nome bartender, annoyed by a number of Eskimos who
had formed the habit of wandering into his saloon to listen to
the " canned music " of his phonograph conceived a way of
frightening them away. Two joints of one of the bartender's
fingers had been amputated, and whenever he saw an Eskimo
approaching he would poke the abbreviated member into his
ear or eye. It would give the impression that his finger had
sunk into the centre of his head. The Eskimos would take
one look at this performance and then hurriedly leave, never
to return.
But however simple-minded the Northern native may be in
some respects, they quickly learn to drive hard bargains and,
as a general rule, the tourist in Alaska can buy Indian bas
kets or other products just as cheaply in the stores as from
the native vendors.
Ornaments made of hammered copper and silver can be
purchased at any of the towns in Southeastern Alaska, the sil
versmiths of the Sitka tribes and the Chilkat coppersmiths
living around the head of Lynn Canal being very skilful in this
work. Their principal products are spoons, rings, bracelets
and blankets.
Before the advent of the white men in the country, the
natives possessed little other metal than copper, which, it is
surmised, they pried out of the matrices at the head of White
River. The discovery in comparatively recent times of many
tons of native copper nuggets concentrated in the stream beds
in that locality, corroborated this theory. The natives along

BUYING FROM INDIANS 73
the Arctic coast of the territory are believed to have acquired
their copper from the fittings of lost exploring ships, but it is
more likely they obtained this metal from the copper lenses
which have since been discovered northward of Kotzebue
Sound and along the Arctic coast.
Copper ornaments were the most venerated charms of the
Chilkat and other tribes of Indians in Southeastern Alaska,
while in the Northern region the metal was used for more
practical purposes. It never has been proved that these na
tives at any time had knowledge of the lost art of tempering
the metal supposed to have been known to the prehistoric peo
ple in other parts of the continent.
Natives of Southeastern Alaska stand well towards the
first rank as engravers and sculptors among the savage tribes.
Their carvings, for the most part executed with the end of
a file, a pocket knife or other crude engraving tool, are works
of ,art in design and execution. The Maoris of New Zealand
are clever carvers, but much of their work is done in wood,
on the doors of their whares, or houses. This predilection
also is manifested in the carvings upon their own faces.
With the arrival of every boat at a Southeastern Alaska
port practically every piece of ivory is sold, but there always
seems to be an abundance of it in the curio stores.
The arrival of the white man in the territory brought silver
and gold and the white metal came to be used in preference
to copper for ornamental purposes. Coins are hammered into
long, smooth bars, bent and welded into the shape of brace
lets or rings, ear-rings, combs for the hair, and then beauti
fully carved.
All the Alaska Indians are very imitative and while they
retain the savage ideas of workmanship in their carvings, they
frequently make faithful copies of designs appropriated from
civilisation. At Nome the writer saw a picture of President

74 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
Taft reproduced on a walrus tusk. Obviously it had been
copied from the pages of a magazine. What one sees in metal
in Southeastern Alaska, one is pretty sure to see duplicated in
ivory in the Northwestern portion of the territory. Watch
chains, charms, buttons and many other things of an ornamen
tal nature are made of ivory, and recently it became the fad
amongst the natives to carve miniature " billikens," reproduc
tions of " Mutt and Jeff " and other well-known characters
of the comic supplements out of walrus and mastodon ivory.
Their efficiency at copying anything they see lends circumstan
tiality to the theory of many ethnologists that the natives of
Northwestern Alaska originally came from Japan.
The Chilkat blanket, which until a few years ago was the
distinctive ceremonial robe of the native tribes from Vancouver
Island to Prince William Sound, is woven of wool shorn from
the hides of mountain sheep. It is not unlike the Navajo rug
in gorgeous colouring, but, with very rare exceptions, the col
ours are brought into exquisite harmony. The Chilkat In
dians, living at the head of Lynn Canal, are credited By
tradition with having invented the crude weaving appliances.
They make a few of these robes, but the white men brought
simpler and more expeditious methods of obtaining covers for
the native bed, with the result that blanket-weaving slowly is
being relegated to the realm of lost arts. Throughout Alaska,
the natives make robes and garments from the pelts of the
marmots, which have their habitat on the southern mountain
exposure practically all over the territory.
The collection of specimens of Indian engraving and rugs,
however, has not yet become one of the fads, and while the
natives find a ready sale for creations in metal and wool there
is a much stronger demand for their basketry. The collection
of Indian baskets has been fashionable for the past ten years,
during which many of these intricately-designed and quaintly-

BUYING FROM INDIANS 75
decorated receptacles have been utilised to adorn the dens,
cosy corners and curio rooms in many well-ordered homes in
the United States. In the period specified, the price has more
than doubled.
Basketry is said to have been invented by the Aleuts, but as
wicker work is found among the natives of Northwestern
Alaska and as their pottery shows traces of having been
moulded in baskets, there is some room for doubt on this point.
The most highly priced, and unquestionably the most beau
tiful, baskets come from Attu, a small island situated at the
easternmost end of the Aleutian chain. Specimens of this
work may be purchased very cheaply on the island, at an ad
vance of about 100 per cent, at Dutch Harbor and at an
increasing price as the distance from the point of manufacture
is attained. It is asserted by collectors that there are less than
forty basket-weavers left at Attu. There is little natural food
on the island and during the past ten years disease and semi-
starvation have greatly decimated their ranks. Arrangements
recently were made by the government to ship seal carcasses
from the Pribilof Islands to relieve the destitution with which
they seem always to have been afflicted. Attu baskets are
made of very fine straw, and woven through it are strands of
richly-coloured silk. They range in price from $25 to $150.
The largest basket ever made was woven a number of years
ago for Miss Helen Gould, now Mrs. Finley Shepard, as an
appreciation of food given the natives at a time when they were
sadly in need of it. Several months were expended in its con
struction by the most expert weavers on Attu Island, and it
is probably the masterpiece of the Aleutian race.
Many years ago, according to tradition, three distinct tribes,
of Indians — 'the Thlingits, Haidas and Tsimpseans — oc
cupied practically all of the coast of Southeastern Alaska. Al
though they speak different languages, they use a Thlingit

76 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
jargon for commercial purposes. The Haidas drove the
Thlingits from the Queen Charlotte Islands, and now they
extend along the coast as far as Prince William Sound and
for a considerable distance into the interior.
This nomadic race gave to the world the ancient and mod
ern Yakutat baskets. The early baskets of the Yakutats show
considerable ornamentation around the rims, and were woven
in a substantial manner. The texture is composed of slendey
spruce roots and grasses, coloured with vegetable dyes. De
signed in various geometric angles and figures, these baskets
easily are recognised* by the collector. Yakutat baskets, mel
lowed with age, are highly prized by the collectors, and while
many stores in various parts of the United States carry Indian
baskets for sale, few of them carry genuine Yakutats.
In the interior of Alaska, the Indians manufacture baskets
from birch bark, which, being pliable and tough, can be bent
into almost any conceivable shape. The Indians of the far-
interior Mackenzie River tributaries use similar material, but
very few, if any, of the island tribes make the straw baskets
which have become so popular.
A basket making craze struck Nome a few years ago and
many white women learned the art. During the winter
months, when there was little else than dancing parties to
occupy their time, they foregathered during the sunless after
noons, bringing their weaving with them, much the same as
their progenitors in New England carried their tatting and
knitting. In the region north of the Aleutian peninsula, prac
tically all of the baskets are made of straw and fine grass,
gathered by the natives in swamps and lagoons. Some of it
is sold to the white women.
By the Indian women of Southeastern Alaska, root gather
ing is regarded as a diversion. They view these expeditions,
as well as berry-picking ventures, in much the same light as a

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NATIVE CHILDREN, A LITTLE AFRAID OF THE CAMERA, BUT
WILLING TO HAVE THEIR PICTURES TAKEN
BUYING FROM INDIANS 77
Sunday school miss views a picnic. The old women form a
party, taking their blankets, cooking utensils and a few young
sters along with them, and live in the woods for days. The
roots are scraped, then parboiled, and then left in a pan of
water for two or three weeks. When, in the opinion of the
oldest squaw in the camp, the material has become sufficiently
pliable, it is soaked in a pan of lukewarm water. The next
process is to remove the fibrous tendrils from the parent roots,
in which process a peculiarly-shaped knife is used. One end
is attached to a stick set firmly in the ground, and the slim,
tenuous root is scraped with a clam-shell until it has a glossy
and smooth appearance.
When the weaving is commenced, the start is made on the
bottom of the basket, which is held in place between sticks
until this part is woven. Then the sides or walls are built up.
Many of the Indian tribes, especially those on Attu Island,
cover fantastically-shaped bottles, jugs and other vessels with
beautiful grass work. How they make each strand fit per
fectly around these vessels is indeed wonderful. Cigarette and
card cases, beautiful in design, also are manufactured by these
ingenious people.
One of the remarkable things about all Indian basket
weavers — remarkable because of their unsanitary methods of
housekeeping — is that each basket is carefully wrapped in
cloth during the process of manufacture to keep it from be
coming soiled.
Baskets are offered for sale in nearly every curio store in
Alaska, and frequently specimens of work done by the Fraser
River Indians of British Columbia will be found side by side
with that of the inhabitants of Point Barrow. The Point
Barrow natives make their baskets of grass and they usually
are decorated with pieces of fur, fawn reindeer hide, or walrus
ivory. The baskets manufactured by the Fraser River Indians

78 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
are made from the roots of cedar trees, and ornamented with
strips of wild cherry and crabapple bark.
The Chilkat Indians, who for many years waged war on
the natives of the interior, weave their baskets from sprues
roots. Evidently the artistic temperament is not highly de
veloped in this tribe, for they use very little colouring. Per
haps they reserve all their artistic feelings for their blankets
into which they weave all the bright colours in the spectrum.
The Haidas Indians manufacture baskets and hats of straw
and spruce roots. The hats are worn at potlatches, war
dances and other notable events. Indians in British Columbia
and in Oregon and Washington do much basket weaving.
The product of the Indian race, from Oregon as far north
as Point Barrow, may be purchased in Seattle and Portland
and in practically every city in Alaska, but the store-purchased
basket has not the sentimental value of the one bought from
the squatting squaw in the Indian village, with its memories
of totem poles, smoky cabins, dirty children and snarling dogs.
To those travellers in Alaska who become addicted to the
curio or basket-buying craze, the advice is offered that more
satisfaction will be found in the article that is purchased in its
native environment than can be derived from the same thing
if it be obtained in a common-place store.

CHAPTER IX
ROUTES TO NOME AND INTERIOR
Unalaska and the Aleutian Islanders — The route via Cordova and
Chitina — Skagway route is the most popular in summer — Haines
and the Chilkat Indians — Skagway, a city of romance — The
Arctic Brotherhood — A trip on the White Pass and Yukon Rail
way across the mountains and along lakes and rivers to Atlin City.
THERE are three routes by which Nome, the me
tropolis of Bering Sea, and Fairbanks, the largest
city in the interior of the territory — " Alaska's
Golden Heart " — may be reached from Seattle.
The first and most direct is through the Strait of Juan de
Fuca, thence across the Pacific Ocean to Unimak Pass, thence
through Bering Sea to Nome, thence across Norton Sound to
St. Michael, and from that point up the Yukon and Tanana
Rivers to Fairbanks.
The second route is from Cordova, by the Copper River
and Northwestern Railroad to Chitina, thence across a trail
of about 400 miles to Fairbanks, and thence down the Tanana
and Yukon Rivers to Bering Sea.
The third journey is via Skagway, at the head of Lynn
Canal, across the coast mountain range by the White Pass
Railroad to White Horse, down the Yukon River to Fort
Gibbon. To Fairbanks the route from Fort Gibbon is up
the Tanana River. To Nome it is down the Yukon River
to St. Michael, and thence across Norton Sound.
Apart from what charm may be found in a waste of water
stretching from horizon to horizon, the first journey offers
nothing in the way of scenic attractiveness, unless it should
79

80 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
so happen that the vessel makes a call at Dutch Harbor and
Unalaska, on Unalaska Island. But as these historic places,
where the Russians made their first attempt at settlement, lie
sixty miles out of the regular line of travel, passenger ships
seldom stop there.
Unalaska is one of the prettiest places in the North. Here
will be found the first Grseco-Russian church erected in the
territory, which, like a similar edifice at Sitka, is filled with
beautiful paintings and ornate tapestries. Dutch Harbor and
Unalaska lie about half a mile apart, the latter at the head of
a land-locked bay surrounded by rounded, fertile hills. It is
peopled by a few traders and many natives, some of whom are
direct descendants of the early Russian traders. It is the
headquarters for the United States Revenue Cutter Service in
Alaska and a coaling station for the craft operated by this de
partment of the government is maintained there. The Jessie
Lee Horne has a mission at Unalaska, where a number of na
tive and half-caste children are cared for.
A few stunted spruce trees which are said to have been
planted by the Russian settlers, comprise the only growing
timber on the island, but the grass grows waist high, and in
the fields are thousands of wild violets and other fragrant
flowers. In former years many thousands of caribou subsisted on the
island, their keen eye-sight being ample protection against the
primitive native weapons, but with the importation of rifles
the herds soon were exterminated.
The Aleutian Islands, of which Unalaska is the principal
settlement, jut out boldly from the coast of Alaska, extending
far into the Pacific Ocean. The climate, being governed by
the Japan Current, the Gulf Stream of the Pacific, is moderate
at all seasons of the year, the biting cold of winter and the
oppressive heat of summer both being pleasantly noticeable by

ROUTES TO NOME AND INTERIOR 81
their absence". Good fishing may be found in the mountain
streams, but except for a few ptarmigan, a species of grouse,
the island has very few attractions for the hunter. To the
tourist, it offers one of the cheapest markets in Alaska for the
purchase of fox skins and other furs and also of specimens of
Attu basketry.
Lack of picturesque scenery does not prevent many people
from taking the ocean journey to Nome. It offers the ad
vantage of reaching the point of destination in about nine days,
as against from eighteen to twenty days by the other routes.
The Cordova and Chitina route is traversed only by those
who have an abundance of time. The trip across country
from Chitina offers much in the way of scenic attractiveness,
but it has its disadvantages. The traveller must furnish his
own horses and buckboard, and although much work has been
done on the road, there are more passable thoroughfares in
Alaska. Because it is several hundred miles shorter, it is used
during the winter season, when the Yukon River and Bering
Sea are covered with ice. Winter mails to Nome and Fair
banks are delivered by this route. It is probable, however,
that with the building of a road from Seward to Iditarod, by
which the distance is reduced, the Nome mail after 19 12 will
be carried over the new thoroughfare.
The journey via Skagway is the most popular one in sum
mer, especially to those- who are robbed of the joy of ocean
travel by seasickness. The Inland Passage, described in pre
vious chapters, is followed to Juneau and from there the
scenery is surpassed in few parts of the world.
Through Lynn Canal, a narrow strip of water edged by
glacier-capped mountains from which many fretting water
falls tumble down to the sea, the distance to Skagway from
the triumvirate of cities at the head of Gastineau Channel —
Juneau, Douglas and Treadwell — is one hundred miles.

82 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
Fort Seward, a United States Army post, lies under one of
these mountains. Farther along, Haines, formerly Haines
Mission, the terminal point of the Dalton trail to the interior,
is seen.
Haines lies at the head of Portage Cove, a little indentation
in the coast line. The townsite is situated on the neck of a
peninsula between the Chilkat River and the Canal. Long
before the white man entered Alaska, Haines was the point
where the Indians from the interior brought their furs to trade
with the Chilkat Indians, a warlike tribe which from time
immemorial waged war upon the natives living beyond the
coast range. In these battles many were enslaved. The first
house was built in 1878, when George Dickenson established
an agency for the Northwest Trading Company, a concern
which since has been merged into other enterprises.
Situated in one of the richest agricultural regions in Alaska,
Haines is surrounded by many profitable farms. Thirty miles
away, through a forest of good timber, lies Porcupine, a mining
settlement. Sixty miles distant are the Glacier coal beds.
Haines also is the outlet for the Rainy Hollow country, where
several good copper prospects have been located. A railroad
is projected from Haines to the head of the White River Valley
and Fairbanks.
Twenty miles from the town is the Klukwutoo settlement,
the home of about five hundred natives. Haines is the head
quarters for the tribes that form the Klukwan-tann — a host
of tribes and sub-tribes. They hold their potlatches and dances
in the city. Many of their houses are decorated with totems
carved on boards. Some of these ornamental timbers are
lashed together with rawhide thongs, which indicates they
were made before the natives discovered a method of manu
facturing copper nails. This is the home of the 'Chilkat In
dians, a branch of the Thlingits, the most war-like of all the

ROUTES TO NOME AND INTERIOR 83
Northern tribes, who for many years dominated the tribes of
the interior and prevented white men from crossing the coast
range through Chilkoot Pass, a steep and icy trail which they
discovered. Although in recent years they have become ad
dicted to eating food similar to that consumed by white people,
salmon and game still form the staples on their bill-of-fare.
For many generations these Indians have been accustomed
to making long and hazardous journeys over the mountains
and this occupation has brought a physical development that
is remarkably different from other tribes, whose members, by
virtue of many years of paddling in canoes, have developed
tremendous chests and slightly atrophied lower limbs.
Perhaps one of the reasons why the Indians made Haines
their headquarters lies in the fact that the country contiguous
thereto is extremely fertile.
The railroad projected from this point to the head of
White River, where large copper nuggets, sometimes weigh
ing as much as two tons, are found, when constructed, will
traverse thousands of acres of meadow land, covered with wild
red-top, wild rye and other grasses. The Indian Bureau of
the Department of the Interior in 19 12, appointed an agent
to instruct the Indians at Haines in the cultivation of the soil.
In this region prospectors turn their horses loose in the fall
to forage for themselves and corral them again in the spring.
Interesting from a zoological standpoint is the statement of
a number of prospectors who declare that in the spring —
when the wolves are able to travel over the snow crust and
hoofed animals sink to the bottom — the horses and moose
" yard up " together for mutual protection against predatory
animals. The moose in the spring, to protect their young against
wolves, enter a compact formation not unlike the army
manoeuvre known as the " British Square." They stand back

84 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
to back in a circle, with the calves in the centre, and slash at
their assailants with the sharp-pointed hoofs on their fore
feet. Skagway, at the head of Lynn Canal, apart from its historic
interest, is the starting point for the Interior country — the
land of high mountains, great rivers and giant waterfalls.
Gardening, if one may judge from the appearance of the hun
dreds of pretty cottages in this quiet city — quiet to those who
saw it in the days of the Dawson gold stampede — is one of
the principal forms of recreation. Every dwelling has its lit
tle garden plot, either upon the window sill or in the plot of
ground surrounding the house. The soil must be very fertile,
for nowhere can be seen taller or better developed plants of
every description than are to be found in this town.
Skagway, the town that grew from a few tents to' a city
of fifteen thousand people in a few months, is filled with mem
ories of romance and adventure. In 1897-98 many thousands
of hardy, adventurous spirits gathered here from all parts of
the world to commence their pilgrimage to the remote golden
Mecca that lay behind forbidding mountains, beyond the roar
ing, raging torrents of the dreaded White Horse rapids, past
the treacherous, boiling water of Miles Canyon, and the many
weary miles of the broad and mighty Yukon. Some found a
fortune, others a lonely grave, with naught but gurgling
streams to chant their requiem; and still others, broken
hearted and disappointed, returned to acknowledge failure.
In the wild, gold-hunting days, the prudent visitor kept his
revolver close to his hand. The city of tents was filled with
fugitives from justice and the criminal element of other
places. Then one had considerable difficulty in finding hotel
accommodations. But not so now. The Skagway hotels
are said to be the finest and best-managed hostel ries in the
North.

ROUTES TO NOME AND INTERIOR 85
Skagway is one of the prettiest towns on the Pacific coast.
From a distance the mountains seem to float in fleecy clouds
over the city. The sombre hills are covered with glaciers
that glisten like fields of pearls. The woods are filled with
dainty green ferns and a thousand varieties of beautiful flow
ers. Skagway received its name from the native word, " Skagua,"
meaning "the home of the North Wind." Thlingit tradi
tion says that every time a white man crossed the summit of
what now is known as White Pass the warm breath of the
Chinook wind melted the snow and caused a disastrous ava
lanche. To this day the more superstitious among the Chil-
koots and Chilkats, when passing the harbour of Skagway,
delay a moment and repeat a prayer, " Skagua eshan — 00 —
han." (O, Skaguay, have mercy upon us.)
It is a pretty legend. It tells of Chute, a brave, wild and
reckless hunter, of his beautiful, dark-eyed sweetheart, Skug-
way; and the woman of mystery, Dugek. It tells how the
dainty, graceful Skugway, after a quarrel with her high-spir
ited lover, floated away towards the mountains and finally
disappeared in a seam in the rock. Heartbroken, Chute called
and called upon her to return, but she answered him not.
Later Dugek appeared to him as he sat fishing by the side of
a stream. " Chute," she said, " I am the woman of mystery. It is I
who control the destinies of the mountains and the warm winds
that sweep across their face. Let no stranger enter my realm
and I will watch over thee and thine. Let not Skugway be
disturbed in her slumbers by the footfall of the paleface."
It may be that the Indians for many years jealously guarded
the mountain trail to the Interior from the white man, because
of Dugek's warning, but there is reasonable ground for the
suspicion that they were prompted also by the desire to keep

86 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
to themselves the profits made in trading with interior natives,
upon whom, from time to time, they waged war and levied
tribute in furs and slaves.
Whether Dugek was offended by the unwelcome invasion of
white men or otherwise, it is nevertheless a fact that one of
the most disastrous tragedies of the North occurred on the
Chilkoot trail in 1898, when pack-burdened white men climbed
the steep trail in thousands. Chinook winds melted the snow,
and an avalanche crashed down the mountain side, killing more
than seventy argonauts and wounding many others.
" Dugek is enraged," the Indians said.
White men pronounced it one of the vicissitudes of the
country and proceeded to bury their dead and care for their
wounded. In the stampede to Dawson, several pieces of commercial
ore and free-gold quartz were picked up in the streams ad
jacent to Skagway, but although many prospects have been
found, no paying mines have been developed.
The long street which forms the principal thoroughfare of
the city is crammed with good buildings, many of which were
erected at the time when the Klondike stampede was in prog
ress. Some of these structures bring back memories of stir
ring events, when gambling was in progress and " Soapy
Smith " ruled the criminal element that infested the place.
Strange as it may seem, considering its early history, Skag
way is now peopled by the most law-abiding citizens in the
North. Owing to the absence of criminality, it has not been
necessary to hold a term of the United States district court
there for several years past. Skagway was "cleaned up"
when Smith and his gang of followers were driven out. And
it has been kept clean.
The town has good schools and churches. It is the home
of the first camp of the Arctic Brotherhood, a strong fraternal

ROUTES TO NOME AND INTERIOR 87
organisation founded fourteen years ago by American and Brit
ish residents for mutual protection against grafting officials,
cheating gamblers and other breakers of the law. The motto
of the organisation is " No boundary line here." It devel
oped into a social and fraternal order and branches since have
been established in almost every town in Alaska. The home
of the Skagway lodge is situated on the main street of the
town under A. B. Mountain, so named because peculiar deep
clefts in the rock remain filled with snow long after the bal
ance of the hillside is bare, thus leaving the letters " A. B."
standing out clear and distinct, as though painted there in
white by some giant hand.
Although situated on a wide flat, Skagway, like nearly all
other Pacific coastal towns north of British Columbia, never
will be an ideal place for the automobile. Many side trips
may be made from Skagway at the expenditure of a little time
and money, but these peregrinations are by water,, with the
one exception of a trip on the White Pass and Yukon Railroad
that " snakes itself " across the mountains to the source of the
Northern " Father of Waters."
Rock-ribbed, steep, as though forbidding man to attempt
to climb their lofty heights, range after range of mountains
raise their snaggy, saw-teethed edges to the clouds; glaciers
dead and alive rest peacefully like icy giants asleep, or grind
away at their epoch-making toil; huddled together in the
mountain tops, streams that can be spanned in a step gurgle
through the rocks to join one of the greatest waterways of the
continent; miniature rivers race over the surface of the glaciers;
silvery streams, half hidden in canyons, can be seen in the
depths below; alluring lakes in every valley and mountain de
pression absorb from the sky its ever-changing shades of blue
and grey and pink and crimson; misty torrents clatter over
the rocks, while rainbows flicker and play in their mists; and,

88 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
save for the insignificant train that crawls puffingly along the
dizzy slopes, through man-made tunnels and over spider-
legged bridges, all is as when the world was made. It is a
scene never to be forgotten.
Sturdy men, imbued with courage and determination, looked
at this coastal barrier.
" The only way to carry freight and passengers across those
mountains is by balloon," they said. " This is an aeronaut's
job, not an engineer's."
Yet it seemed but a few days from the time the work was
begun till the railroad was finished and those who, foot-sore,
bone-weary and heart-sick, had laboriously climbed the moun
tain path, carrying their goods and chattels on their aching
backs, were able to ride over the mountain in all the comforts
that a Pullman train affords.
This road, constructed by M. J. Heney and E. C. Hawkins,
builders also of the Copper River and Northwestern Railroad
from Cordova, is one of the greatest engineering feats in the
world. A trip over it is one to be remembered. It is full of
thrills from the time the train enters the Skagway River Val
ley till the top of the summit is reached. The austere moun
tains above, the flower-bestrewn valley below, make the jour
ney a most captivating one. The train at times glides along
the side of a sheer wall, with a cliff of rock hundreds of feet
high on one side and the dark depths of an abyss on the other.
The rocks jut out at sharp angles from the precipitous wall on
the side of the roadbed and it appears as though the speeding
cars must dash over the cliff, but they swing around a curve,
and the train continues on its sinuous ascent. Water that is
hungry green, and later white with foam, as it dashes over
cataracts, is seen here and there all along the route and in one
place, just beyond a dark tunnel, a very high bridge has
been thrown across a chasm at the bottom of which rages the

ROUTES TO NOME AND INTERIOR 89
Skagway River, crashing over the boulders on its way to the
sea. This is known as " Dead Horse Canyon," because in the
days of distress and travail, five half-starved pack-horses, rather
than continue longer to struggle with their burdens up the
steep grades, are said to have hurled themselves over the cliff
to be dashed to death on the rocks below.
" This blasted country is so steep that it bends over back
wards," remarked a survey's flagman when the road was being
surveyed. It appeared as though mountain goats instead of
men must have been engaged in the construction. In places
the roadbed is cut into the solid rock in " s " and " z " angles.
Here and there on the hillside stunted spruce trees and wil
lows grow and between the crevices and crannies in the rocks
splinters of grass raise their green heads. In the days when
supplies were carried on men's backs across these spurs, the
willows and spruce were held sacred. To have cut them
would have been regarded as a capital offence, for they were
used to assist the struggling crowds up the steep inclines.
Twenty miles from Skagway, beyond the summit of the
range, a bronze monument marks the boundary between Amer
ican and Canadian territory. Here the flags of the dominant
Anglo-Saxon races float close together.
The salty ozone of the sea is left behind. An environment
of dainty loveliness takes the place of stupendous grandeur.
The train glides along the shores of lake and river, which re
flect the shadows of tree and hillside. The headwaters of
the Yukon have been reached. With increasing speed, the
locomotive runs along Thompson River to Middle Lake.
These lakes are strips of sun-kissed blue, skirted on one side
by pebbly beaches and by buff-coloured mountains on the
other, with here and there a glen studded by poplar, larch and
balm of Gilead trees. The slopes are covered with fireweed,

90 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
larkspur, golden-rod, marguerites, dandelions, asters, and
other varieties of wildflowers, but there is an absence of the
moss and dank vegetation that marks the coastal plains and
hillsides. The air is less heavily charged with moisture.
Deserted and silent is the ephemeral town of Bennet, once
a settlement that teemed with all the life and hurry and fren
zied excitement of a gold stampede, where beds and meals had
to be spoken- for in advance and where the clicking of the
ivory ball or the roulette wheel, the droning monotone of the
crap-dealer and the raucous voice of the dance hall " bawler "
were heard from dawn to dark and from dark to dawn again.
All that remains of it is a few tumble-down shacks that once
were used as gambling houses and saloons. It is like a city
of the dead.
The train rattles along the shores of the lake, where once
men had toiled with dog team or pack-horses or where they
had builded their first boats to float down the Yukon to the
Dawson El Dorado. Lake Bennet is one of the most beau
tiful pieces of water in Alaska. It is twenty-seven miles long,
and from half a mile to five miles wide. On one side it is
as level as a plain, on the other side mountains raise their
crests to great elevations, while off to the right a few glaciers
are visible. At the head of the lake, near the point where
once the frontier town stood, a stop is made for luncheon.
Lake Bennet teems with a species of mammoth trout that
resembles a land-locked salmon. These fish bite readily at a
trolling spoon, and put up a game fight when hooked. A
specimen of this fish weighing twenty-one pounds furnished
one of the courses in an "Alaska product" dinner given to
Secretary Fisher and his party by O. L. Dickeson, president
of the railroad, in his private car.
Caribou Crossing, at the foot of Lake Bennet, is a narrow
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ROUTES TO NOME AND INTERIOR 91
spanned by the Northernmost swinging bridge in the world.
Caribou Crossing was so named because in former years herds
of wild reindeer numbering many thousands came to this place
to make their crossing from the plains to the mountain regions
in their annual migrations. Indians declare these animals
were so numerous that their horns looked like tops of the for
ests and that sometimes it took them two months to pass this
point. Caribou Crossing is the dividing line between British Colum
bia and Yukon territory. There is a good hotel here as at
all other stops along the line. Like all of the section houses
and every other structure occupied by an employe of the rail
road, the hotel is adorned with a cultivated garden. Presi
dent Dickeson conceived the idea of adding the beauty of
cultivated flowers to the natural beauty of the country. The
vegetables eaten on its train and river steamers and in its ho
tels are grown on a farm near Skagway that is owned by the
company, and the fish which form a course on the bill-of-fare
in these places are caught fresh every day from the lakes and
streams. This is one of the few places in the world where
a man is paid to spend his summer in fishing for trout.
At Caribou one will notice a difference in the prices of
commodities sold in the stores. American-made articles are
the more expensive, while English goods, upon which no duty
is paid, are cheaper.
At Caribou, connection is made with river vessels running
to Atlin, a voyage of eighty miles through a chain of long,
narrow lakes in whose depths are mirrored the snow-capped
peaks and pine-clad hills that line their shores. Placer gold
was found at Atlin in 1899, and since that time considerable
mining has been done in that locality. The route lies through
Nares and Tagish Lakes, to Taku Lake, thence through
Golden Gate, a beautiful fresh-water passage, to Taku Inlet,

92 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
where connection is made with a railroad running along the.
shores of the Atlinoo River, a short, turbulent stream that
connects Taku Inlet with Atlin Lake. Atlin City lies on the
opposite shore of the lake and is reached by another steam
boat. The lake shores are carpeted with moss, and here as
in many other places, a bouquet of fragrant wildflowers may
be gathered in a few minutes. To the lover of superb lake
and woodland scenery the journey is wonderfully fascinating.

CHAPTER X
FROM CARIBOU CROSSING TO DAWSON
The source of the mighty Yukon — Fifty-Mile River and White Horse
Rapids, where many lives were lost in the Klondike stampede
— Miles Canyon — Lake Lebarge — Collins' tragic story — A ride
through Five Finger Rapids — Dawson, past and present.
BEYOND Caribou Crossing, the train speeds along a
high plateau where the bracing air is redolent with
the pungent odour of balsam and pine and the deli
cate fragrance of wild roses. To the right are Lake Nares,
Lake Marsh and Fifty-Mile River, a stream that connects
Lake Marsh with Lake Lebarge. Here is the source of one
of the greatest waterway systems in North America, a stream,
which it has been calculated discharges every hour nearly one-
third more water than does the great Mississippi.
Through the poplar, balsam and spruce trees that grew out
of the moss-carpeted ground, flocks of mallard, widgeon, sprig-
tail and other species of ducks could be seen flapping their
way over the surface of the lakes and on the gravel bars of
Fifty-Mile River acres upon acres of wild onions shot up be
tween the rounded stones.
Here is the home of the Stick Indians, a jolly, mirth-loving
tribe, kind-hearted and hospitable, who up until a few years
ago were tyrannised over in a most brutal manner by the
war-like Chilkats from the coast. Missionaries have done
much for J:hese natives. Few of them drink and all of them
speak cojQiaratively good English.
Watcning one of these Indians drive a light, birch-bark
canoe into the bank of the river, I addressed him in Chinook,
93

94 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING •
a jargon invented by the Hudson Bay Company's factors and
spoken by all Indians who trade with this great organisation.
I said:" Klowhayah. Kah mika chaco?" (How are you?
From where did you come?)
" Have you not learned to speak English yet ? " he asked
in reply. Then he told me he had come from Fort Selkirk
and that he was quite well, thank you; and with true cour
tesy expressed the hope that I also was enjoying very good
health. Not many years ago this region was one of the greatest
game ranges in the North American continent. Hundreds of
moose occupied the gulches and draws in the winter and fol
lowed the snow-line in summer to evade the mosquitoes. Cari
bou in herds of thousands, after wading and swimming the
ford at Caribou Crossing, subsisted on the moss growing so
abundantly on the plains and hillsides. But with the in
vasion of the white man these animals, like the coveys of
grouse in the forests and the mountain sheep and goats that
climbed the mountains, have been driven to the more inac
cessible places.
Running along Fifty-Mile River, it is noticed that the wa
ter gradually falls below the level of the railroad track and
soon the great cataract of Miles Canyon and the White Horse
Rapids are reached. In these treacherous waters hundreds
of adventurers at the time of the stampede to Dawson gave up
their lives. Thousands of gold hunters steered a flotilla of
small craft through the seething cauldrons. The more cau
tious among them elected to walk, laboriously climbing the
steep hill that forms one of the walls of the canyon and
portaging their boats to an eddy about half-way through White
Horse Rapids and below the most dangerous places. The men
who walked did not necessarily manifest a lack of courage;

FROM CARIBOU CROSSING TO DAWSON 95
they simply had a proper and commendable regard for their
lives. The conditions were summarised by a frontier wag,
who, feeling cheerful at escaping from the rapids with his
life after losing his boat and outfit, posted two placards on a
tree near the head of the canyon. The first, with a finger
pointing up the steep incline to the top of the wall, read;
" This way — two weeks."
The second notice indicated a route leading straight into
the throat of the roaring canyon. It was marked:
" This way — two minutes."
The canyon is more than a mile in length and ' its basalt
walls rise perpendicularly from the raging water to an eleva
tion of about 200 feet. Above the upper gate the river grad
ually narrows from a width of about 1,200 feet to approxi
mately 150 feet and the current increases to an alarming speed.
Many boatmen, although warned by the roaring of the
cataracts, which, accentuated by the basalt walls which act as
sounding boards, can be heard for miles, were unable to make
a landing above the entrance to the canyon and, whether they
would or not, were forced to make the perilous journey.
Once a boat is plunged into the seething maelstrom, there
is no turning back. Only the quickest action, an iron nerve
and the greatest skill and accuracy at the steering oar can
save it and its occupants. The velocity of the water, as it
crashes over the rocks, is terrific. A moment's hesitation, the
slightest mistake of the pilot, more than likely ends in irre
trievable disaster. A vacillating hand at the stern sweep will
send the craft sidewise over one of the cascades into the de
vouring grip of the whirlpool — and there is the finish.
Half way through the canyon the stream widens percepti
bly and here are a great number of rocks over which the surg
ing water plunges madly, throwing clouds of spray high in
the air. A narrow channel close to the frowning wall on

96 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
the right is clear of formidable reefs and offers the voyageur
a small margin of safety, but even here he must avoid the
whirlpools. The outlet of the canyon is marked by the same high white
walls, adorned with trees on top. A fall of nearly forty feet
is accomplished in the canyon and the rushing water boils out
in a deafening roar and with tremendous speed.
The White Horse Rapids are reached in a few seconds and,
although the river is considerably wider, its dangerous swift
ness is not decreased. Masses of green water crash over the
rocks and turn to clouds of foam and spray. The river bottom
is strewn with reefs and clefts. Again the seething stream
contracts to a channel even narrower than before and one
watching it wonders how such a stupendous mass of water
can battle its way through this narrow channel. It is a fun
nel of churning, boiling cascades. Surveyors declare the centre
of the stream is several feet higher than the water next the
bank, a condition created by the speed bf the current. Navi
gators must follow this crown of foaming water. To leave
it means that their craft will be smashed to splinters against the
hard, basalt walls. The waves in this cauldron dash up four
and five feet high.
It has been said that men who went over the Chilkoot trail
placed their lives in hourly jeopardy. It would be near the
truth to say that those who shot their boats through Miles
Canyon and the White Horse Rapids placed their lives in
danger every second. In navigating swift water, there must be
a crew of oarsmen and a pilot. It is necessary to propel the
boat faster than the current will carry it in order to give it
steerage way. Otherwise it would drift with the stream and
quickly be dashed to kindling against the rocks or caught in a
vortex and whirled to the bottom. Navigating a boat through
this part of the Yukon is a real man's job. It is no occupa-

FROM CARIBOU CROSSING TO DAWSON 97
tion for a nervous person. Strange as it may seem, the work
of running a boat through a rapids brings a feeling of exalta
tion that nothing else can produce and many people make a
practice of shooting canoes through " white water " for
amusement. None, however, choose Miles Canyon or White
Horse Rapids for this form of recreation. A short distance
below the rapids is the town of White Horse, the terminal of
the railroad, but the train stops at the canyon that those who
desire may enjoy a sight of this marvellous spectacle.
At White Horse is stationed a detachment of the North
west Mounted Police. It is the outfitting point for a number
of copper mines situated a few miles distant, many of which
ship their ore to smelters on Puget Sound.
Steamers usually leave White Horse for Dawson in the
evening, but as the trips are made in summer, when the sun
shines practically all night, this makes little difference to the
sightseer. Down the river a short distance is Lake Lebarge,
a broad but shallow sheet of water about thirty miles long.
On one side are high hills and on the other a flat country cov
ered with wild geraniums and other flora; The outlet of
Lake Lebarge is through a narrow, swift, twisting stream,
the banks of which, cut by the current, leave many trees
overhanging in the river. These are known as "sweepers."
About four miles from the lower end of Lake Lebarge is
a clump of poplar and quaking asp, where is, or was, a wooden
slab marking the grave of Joseph Collins, one of the unfor
tunates who met his death on the river during the great
stampede. Collins was a man of extraordinary pertinacity.
Three times he packed his outfit across Chilkoot Pass, and
three times he lost it by accident. The first time his year's
supplies were buried in the snowslide at Sheep Camp. He
returned to Skagway and purchased another outfit. This
time a sail altogether too large for the boat it propelled was

98 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
struck by a squall of wind on Lake Bennet, the craft capsized
and the second outfit was lost. Still undiscouraged, and be
fore his clothes were dry, Collins again was on his way to
Skagway, where with what little money he had left he pur
chased another load of supplies and hired more packers. He
built another boat which he guided safely through the dan
gers of Miles Canyon and White Horse Rapids, but on the
river below Lake Lebarge, rounding a right-angle bend in the
stream, his batteau was carried by the swift current against a
" sweeper " and capsized.
Some miners camped nearby heard a shot in the woods.
They found Collins with a bullet in his brain and written
in pencil on a piece of birch-bark pinned to a tree was the
message :
" Hell can't be any worse than this trail. I'll chance it."
The clear water of the Lewes, or Upper Yukon River, in
which fish can be seen swimming away from the ship or leap
ing at flies near the shore, gradually becomes darker as the
vessel floats down-stream. In places tundra water stained by
decomposed moss and vegetation enters the main river and in
other places creeks which have their source in glacial moraines,
and are therefore heavily charged with silt, impair the spark
ling clearness of the principal waterway.
Along the banks, when stops are made at wood camps, one
sometimes will see what appears from a distance to be red
moss; but which upon examination is found to be millions of
crimson cranberries. Geraniums, roses, blue-bells, violets and
other flowers grow luxuriantly and here and there masses of
blossoming fireweed and fields of cotton plant make a strong
contrast to the green of the moss and foliage.
The river winds between high terraces, sometimes denuded
of timber, and around mountains, which apparently are ever
changing their position. One time a mountain will appear

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' . ¦¦ I, - *>A . - \ v«. "vv- T» , ----- * I
ui_*i_?*^v_£ <__ ^w # ¦ **£_
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COPPER RIVER BRIDGE, BUILT AT A COST OF ABOUT $2,000,000. THE ICE, UPON WHICH THE
FALSE WORK FOR THE BRIDGE WAS LAID IN WINTER, WENT OUT LESS THAN AN HOUR
AFTER THE LAST BOLT WAS DRIVEN

FROM CARIBOU CROSSING TO DAWSON 99
straight ahead. The boat makes a turn or two and it is
seen off the beam or astern of the vessel. More circuitous
twists and turns and the same old mountain will appear dead
ahead again. It gives one the impression of passing the same
point several times.
One of the pleasant surprises of the journey down the river
is the Five Finger Rapids, so called from the fact that four
rocks protrude to a height of about forty feet from the centre
of the stream, dividing it into five channels. The river, be
cause of the addition of many large tributaries, rapidly becomes
wider, but it narrows considerably as the Five Finger Rapids
are approached.
Here the water is very swift and as the steamboat dashes
through the channel the passengers have a thrilling ride. The
fantastically shaped rocks make the scene quite picturesque.
In one of the swift channels there is an abundance of water
and, as it is comparatively straight, there is no danger in steer
ing a vessel through. The ride, nevertheless, is sufficiently
exciting. The isolated towers of the rocks are the breeding
places for thousands of fresh water gulls and terns, which
there have sought sanctuary from foxes and other animals that
prey on their eggs and young. By what process of instinct
or reasoning the birds figured out that no living animal could
swim the boiling current and make a landing on the rocks
where they have found a refuge, is a problem for ornitholo
gists to solve.
At Fort Selkirk, the Lewes River is joined by the Pelly
and the two form the Yukon River proper. The Pelly cut
ting through hundreds of miles of clay banks, carries a large
amount of mud and from this point all hope of catching
greyling and trout on the Yukon with artificial flies may as
well be abandoned. In the streams running from the hills,
however, these fish may be hooked in hundreds. At Selkirk,

ioo ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
formerly one of the outposts of the Hudson Bay Company, is
another detachment of the mounted police and a few stores.
On the opposite bank of the Yukon, at the mouth of the Pelly,
the chimneys of an abandoned fort still are visible.
Below Fort Selkirk there is an absence of the clay bluffs.
There are innumerable islands. At some places the hills
come down to the water's edge sharp and sheer. At others
the shore is lined with rolling prairies, broken at intervals by
wide, fertile valleys. The scenery, which is not unlike that
of the Inland Passage, is as varied as it is picturesque and in
teresting. Small settlements and Indian villages are sprin
kled along the banks.
A short distance below one of the timbered islands, nestling
iri a big wide flat at the edge of a valley, lies Dawson, a quiet,
orderly town, with a marked absence of gambling houses,
dance halls and other adjuncts of a frontier civilisation that
distinguished it in the early days of its history. Contrary to
the expectation of those who have read romances of the North
ern gold fields, Dawson has fine schools, churches, hospitals,
libraries, newspapers, a telephone and telegraph service, an
electric light plant and a railroad running to the creeks.
There are many fine homes, around which splendid flower and
vegetable gardens have been cultivated. The town that sprung
up in a night has passed through all the stages of life typical
to a frontier mining camp, and settled down into a sober, staid
community. The days when thousands of dollars were wagered at a
single bet on the faro table, when the egg market was cor
nered to win a woman's smile, when potatoes were sold at
one dollar each and eaten raw with the relish of an apple,
when stove pipes were traded on the " ounce-for-half-ounce "
basis — an ounce of stove-pipe for half an ounce of gold dust
¦ — 'have passed,

FROM CARIBOU CROSSING TO DAWSON 101
But Dawson never was as lawless as represented. The
Northwest Mounted Police, acting in conjunction with an in
stitution known locally as the " Corbett and Fitzsimmons,"
took care of that. As an eradicator of crime and the criminal
element the " Corbett and Fitzsimmons " was brilliantly suc
cessful. It consisted of several cross-cut saws and a few thou
sand heavy logs. Every man who was convicted of disobey
ing the law was given a saw and introduced to the woodpile.
With an iron ball attached to his foot, he was forced to saw
wood for ten hours a day, summer or winter, and there were
always a few soldiers around to see that he performed his
daily stint. In winter, when the thermometer fell to as low
as fifty and sixty degrees below zero, prisoners were compelled
to saw vigorously in order to keep warm.
The gun-fighting, law-breaking element from Skagway and
other coast towns usually took one look at the woodpile and
then hurriedly decided to move down the river into American
territory. The Canadian authorities kept men stationed at
Lake Tagish. Every time an undesirable passed, word would
be sent ahead of him to Dawson. On reaching the metropo
lis of the Klondike, he would be taken to the police head
quarters, passing the " Corbett and Fitzsimmons " en route.
At the station the unwelcome immigrant would be questioned
as to his antecedents. He would take a second look at the
woodpile as he left the building. It was unnecessary to urge
him to leave. Usually he made a bee line for his boat as fast
as he could and proceeded down-stream.
Notorious " bad men," who boasted they had more notches
in their guns than there are quills on a porcupine and who
bragged of being so " tough " that an axe wouldn't make a
dent in them, were so tame in Dawson that they would eat
out of the hand. The rhythmical " Corbett and Fitzsimmons "
put a fear into their hearts that nothing could eliminate. The

102 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
thought of such strenuous labour was really painful to this
element. In 1898 food at Dawson was purchased at exorbitant prices.
A man, addicted to faro, installed a pie counter in a gambling
house. A slice of one of these delicacies, which were filled
with dried apples or prunes, cost one dollar. The miners did
not need the services of a detective to inform them when the
proprietor of the counter was losing at the faro game, for on
these occasions twelve pieces would be cut from a pie instead
of six. This gambling vendor of comestibles later opened a
restaurant and when it was discovered that he boiled tallow
candles in the soup to give it flavour there were threats of
lynching. There are several good hotels in Dawson now and the
traveller can obtain a meal there that compares favourably
with the cuisine of the best hotel in any city in the " States."
The city of Dawson was founded by Joseph Ladue, a trader
and gold miner who had lived in the country for many years
prior to the sensational discovery of gold on the tributaries
of the Klondike River that brought 60,000 people from all
parts of the world over the mountains and down the Yukon.
There were less than one hundred cabins in Dawson when the
vanguard of the great hegira arrived and in a few days thou
sands of tents had been pitched on the river bank. Along the
water front thousands of .boats were wedged together three
or four deep. But the Canadian authorities soon brought
order out of the chaos.
Dawson's richest placers are now exhausted. The mam
moth dredge that bites its way through the banks of streams,
tearing down rocks and trees and hoisting thousands of yards
of gravel into immense flumes, has replaced the pick and
shovel, the sluice box and rocker, and other crude placer min
ing devices.

FROM CARIBOU CROSSING TO DAWSON 103
Even the Klondike River, which the pioneers considered too
deep and too wet to be worked at a profit, is being operated
by the gold ships that grind their way up-stream and leave in
their trail huge piles of gravel and detritus from which the
particles of gold have been extracted. A huge flat on the upper
bank of the Klondike River, at its confluence with the Yukon,
where the first settlers builded their cabins, has been com
pletely demolished.
The discovery of gold in this region is claimed by George
Carmack and Robert D. Henderson. Carmack made an im
mense amount of money from the claims which he staked on
Eldorado and Bonanza creeks, streams to which Henderson
claims to have directed him. Henderson received a government
reward. The men who stampeded to Dawson from the lower Yukon
country on receipt of news of the strike did their first mining
by thawing the frozen ground with fire and hot rocks. The
frozen muck above the gravel was amenable to the pick — if
that implement were diligently and vigorously applied — but
when the frozen gravel was reached, no steel tool could make
an impression on it. It was just as hard as solid granite.
It is related that Jack London, the novelist, in company with
a spectacular character known as " Swiftwater Bill," purchased
a couple of claims on one of the payable creeks. London
pecked at the muck on top of the gravel till his hands were
blistered and his back ached. Not making much headway, he
kindled a fire to thaw the muck. The soil softened for several
feet down — more than he could shovel out at one shift. At
dark he left his pick and shovel sticking in the soft mud. That
night the temperature fell to sixty degrees below zero and when
London returned the next morning he found his implements
frozen in so solidly that a steam derrick could not have lifted
them out. To have started another fire to re-thaw the ground

104 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
would have burned the wooden handles from his tools. So
London quit the claim and went to Dawson. Soon after
wards he left the country and began writing stirring tales of
the North. The claim he forfeited subsequently yielded nearly
$1,000,000. "Swiftwater Bill" made an immense fortune,
which fast living and slow horses soon dissipated. Early in
1912, he was in Peru, South America, where it was reported
he had discovered the source from which the Incas procured the
gold taken from them by Cortez and other Spanish invaders.
While the excitement of the mining boom has passed, there
still remain many things worth seeing at Dawson and not the
least interesting are the many beautiful gardens and thriving
farms adjacent to the city. It probably will come as a surprise
to many people in the Eastern states, whose mental picture of
the Yukon is a view of ice-crusted hills and polar bears, to
learn that the farms near Dawson grow many tons of veg
etables over and above the amount necessary for local consump
tion. Trips may be made from the city to the mines on the various
creeks either by railroad or stage and back of the town is a
winding trail leading to the top of a hill that has an elevation of
about 1,800 feet above the river level. The climb is not diffi
cult and the view obtainable is well worth the effort. From
the summit the valley of the Yukon can be seen stretching
towards the Arctic Circle at Fort Yukon, while to the west
ward are hundreds of snow-capped spurs that form a part of
the mountain chain which reaches almost from the Arctic Ocean
to Mexico.

CHAPTER XI
DOWN THE RIVER TO FAIRBANKS
Forty-Mile, the pioneer mining camp of the Upper Yukon — The
fighting dogs — Eagle City, at the boundary line — Circle City —
Wada's trip into Fort Yukon from the Arctic, and the sad fate of
his trousers — Fort Hamlin and Rampart City — The Tanana
River and Fairbanks, the metropolis that sorely needs a railroad.
BETWEEN the river banks bordered with timber and
gay with wildflowers, a stern-wheel steamboat carries
passengers down the broad Yukon to a point within the
Arctic Circle, thence through the wide delta, near its conflu
ence with the sea and across a short stretch of ocean water to
St. Michael. There is much sameness about the scenery, yet it
is never uninteresting. When Dawson is left behind, attention
turns to the river itself and soon one realises from the rapidly
growing volume that it has every right to take rank among the
largest streams on the continent. From Lake Bennet to St.
Michael is a distance of more than 2,000 miles and it is navig
able for light draft vessels to White Horse, where further
navigation is impeded by the rapids.
The clean-cut banks, the great river studded with a maze of
islands, numberless streams running in from between the rounded
or precipitous hills, the primeval forest on every side are calcu
lated to bring delight to those who love Nature unscarred by the
despoiling hand of man. Once in a while a moose will be seen
swimming through the turbid water and occasionally a black
bear is visible on the jutting rocks clumsily fishing for salmon or
gnawing at the berries in the woods. Bird and animal life
abounds everywhere. On the upper reaches of the river the
105

106 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
voyageur will see many flocks of ducks and as sundown ap
proaches he will obtain occasional glimpses of big Arctic hares
playing on the sandbars. In the lower river he will see clouds
of wild geese and brant.
Fifty miles below Dawson, a hooting whistle announced the
approach of Forty Mile, a small settlement a few miles from the
boundary line that separates Yukon Territory from Alaska.
The whistle had an amazing effect on the landscape. The
banks of the river seemed to quiver with the movement of
dogs. They came running from every direction. What ap
peared like clumps of brush and grass suddenly became ani
mated streaks of dog headed for the river bank. There were
every kind and description of canine — great huskies bred from'
the Mackenzie River timber wolves, malamutes, terriers, great
danes, mastiffs, and all the different grades of mongrel that
this miscellaneous collection could produce. The multitude
of animals seemed imbued with but one desire — there was but
one thing worth living for: to reach the river bank before the
other dogs.
Contrary to expectation they did not assemble at the point
where the gang-plank was laid for the passengers to disembark,
but huddled in a tail-wiggling mass at a point opposite the
galley, where they gave every possible manifestation of canine
delight. They squirmed and wiggled and barked with pleas
ure. It was good to receive so royal a welcome, even if of
fered by dumb animals.
Two minutes later the cook threw ashore a barrel of scraps
from the table. Instantaneously the seventy or eighty raven
ous animals were transformed into a writhing, fighting, biting,
snarling mass. Each tried to get its own share of the feast
and as much as it could grab of what, on a basis of equity, be
longed to others. Bristling hair and flashing teeth were every
where. They rended and tore at each other like fighting

DOWN THE RIVER TO FAIRBANKS 107
tigers, one great Dane standing bravely in the centre, while
malamutes and huskies darted at him from all sides and
snapped their teeth into his flesh. Occasionally he fought
back, clamping his strong jaws on his assailants. It was a
battle royal. Where there was flesh, they bit at it impartially,
but the canine nearest the food came in for the greatest num
ber of attacks.
The malamutes are the quickest ir> action. Time and again
they bounded into the midst of the fray like a flash, gave one
rending snap at the enemy and regained the outskirts of the
pack before a counter bite could be delivered. The infuriated
animals in the centre fought with unbridled savagery against
those who attacked them from the outer lines, stopping once
in a while to inaugurate hostilities among themselves. Arbi
tration between the malignant belligerents was out of the
question. Amidst yelps of pain and snarls of rage, up and
down, the battle waged. Meanwhile the size of the pile of
food gradually diminished, but not until the last particle was
consumed were hostilities suspended. Then they went their
various ways, some to lick their chops in the smug satisfaction
of an appetite appeased and others to lick the soreness from
the wounds and scars of battle.
Apparently, the logic of the Alaskan dog is that when there
is nothing left to fight for, there is no sense in fighting. When
the spoils of war are no longer in sight, peace is declared.
With variations the performance was repeated at nearly
every stop down the river. The cooks on the vessels make
a practice of saving table scraps till a town is reached and the
cry of " steamboat '' or the blast of a whistle is all that is
needed to start every dog within radius of the sound on a
wild rush to the river bank.
Forty Mile is the pioneer mining town of the Yukon Val
ley, gold having been discovered on Bonanza Bar, a tributary

108 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
of Forty Mile Creek, in 1887. This stream has its source
in Canadian territory, but flows into the Yukon on the Ameri
can side of the boundary line. When the Klondike gold fields
were discovered, the pioneer town temporarily was deserted,
but many of the claim owners soon returned to their first love.
In 1 91 2 about four hundred men were engaged in mining in
this locality, about half on the Canadian side and half in
American territory.
The nearer the mouth of the great river is approached the
greater is the amount of mud it seems to carry. Between Forty
Mile and Eagle City, the current cuts into the soft banks,
and allows tons upon tons of earth and gravel to fall with
loud splashes into the stream. Some of the banks are thirty
and forty feet high and are overgrown with trees and carpets
of moss. In places the bank of the river presents the appear
ance of having been lined with moss and trees growing on
horizontal instead of vertical lines. The moss hangs down
like a protecting curtain and, until torn out by the jagged
roots of floating trees, forms a natural barrier to the further
encroachment of the river.
The next stop is made at the boundary line, where Eagle
City is situated. Gold was discovered on Mission Creek in
1896, but the output never has been large. It is the end
of the Valdez-Eagle telegraph line. Although Eagle City is
forty-nine miles below Forty Mile by following the river, the
distance in a straight line is only thirteen miles.
Fort Egbert was established at Eagle by the government in
1897 and much of the work of the soldiers during the succeed
ing two years was in aiding destitute miners, who, after fight
ing their way up the Copper River Valley, crossed the moun
tains and reached the Yukon at Eagle or Forty Mile in a
weary, tattered and hungry condition.
Many tributaries between Eagle and Circle the next

DOWN THE RIVER TO FAIRBANKS 109
stopping point, increase the volume of the Yukon. The main
stream winds and twists in every conceivable direction, but
gradually works its way through the hills in a northerly direc
tion till Fort Yukon, situated less than a mile north of the
Arctic Circle, is reached. Many of the creeks in this region
are attracting the attention of dredging and hydraulic engineers.
Fine gold was found in some of the gravel banks in 191 1 and
it is likely that within the next few years big mining plants
will be in operation. Should a railroad be built through
American territory from the coast to the Yukon, the inland
terminal will be somewhere in the vicinity of Circle or Eagle.
A shorter route to the interior waterway system, however, is
offered by way of Fairbanks, on the Tanana River, one of
Yukon's big tributaries, and as quartz mining and other per
manent industries are developing more rapidly there than on
the Yukon proper, it probably will receive early consideration
of construction engineers and capitalists.
Circle City, 190 miles below Eagle by the river route, in
1896-97, was the most populous settlement in Interior Alaska,
but when gold was discovered in the Klondike it became de
populated. In the winter of 1897-98, when a partial famine
occurred at Dawson, hundreds of miners took the trail over
the ice to Circle and remained there until the following spring,
when steamboats brought more food into the country. With
the exhaustion of the rich placers at Dawson, many of the
old-timers returned and resumed operations on the payable
streams which they had deserted. One of these creeks is called
Mastodon, receiving that name from the fact that discovery
of many tons of mastodon ivory and mammoth bones proved
conclusively that in some prehistoric age it had been the burial
ground for a large number of these extinct mammoths.
Below Circle the river runs in a straight northeasterly direc
tion, but unless one looked at the map one never would sus-

no ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
pect it. The stream broadens out and circles around hundreds
of islands. It seems as though its course follows every point
of the compass. Though flat in stretches, the country is in
teresting. So numerous are the islands that it is difficult to
distinguish the mainland. Occasionally stops are made to re
plenish the wood that is fed into the maw of the furnaces and
here and there is an Indian settlement, with its array of hun
gry-looking dogs and racks of drying fish.
Indians in this region do not use seine nets but a kind of
scoop, which they drag through the water in a rhythmical
motion. Their salmon, after being sun-dried, is cached in
huge bins built upon poles several feet from the ground, where
it is out of the reach of the dogs.
At Fort Yukon, one of the oldest settlements on the river,
the summer traveller can read print about the size of that
ordinarily used in a newspaper just as easily at midnight
as at noon. Here is the land of the Midnight Sun in real
earnest. Here it is possible, for several days in June, to see
the sun sink to the horizon in the north at midnight, then
gradually rise again and travel toward the east.
Fort Yukon never has been of any importance as a mining
centre, but for many years has been the trading point for many
hunters and trappers from the Porcupine River and the region
lying between the Yukon and the Mackenzie River delta.
The post was established in 1848 by John MacMurray, an
explorer in the employ of the Russian-American Fur Com
pany. The Hudson Bay Company professed to believe this
was Canadian territory and that the Yukon emptied into the
Arctic Ocean somewhere adjacent to the mouth of the Mac
kenzie River. There were no Indians here at the time Mac-
Murray crossed from Hudson Bay and built his post, but a
tribe was recruited from the outcasts or deserters from different
tribes. The supplies were brought overland from York Fac-

Photo by Welden.

ON FAIRBANKS TRAIL.-"WHITE SILVER BIRCH AND QUAKING
ASP MINGLE WITH GREY POPLAR AND LARCH AND DARK^
GREEN SPRUCE AND TAMARACK" uakk-

DOWN THE RIVER TO FAIRBANKS in
tory, on Hudson Bay, four thousand miles distant and four
years were consumed in making the trip. When Alaska was
transferred to the United States, it was decided to determine
astronomically the position of Fort Yukon. The 141st
meridian — the dividing line — was found to be where Eagle
is now situated, and the Hudson Bay Company was compelled
to vacate. This determination of the boundary was made in
1869. The survey of the whole boundary line since has been
practically completed.
Between Fort Yukon and Fort Hamlin the Chandalar joins
the Yukon from the north. Jujiro Wada, a celebrated
musher, in 1907 travelled from the head of the Chandalar
River to the Arctic Ocean, along the bleak shore of the Polar
Sea to the mouth of the Mackenzie and then ascended that
stream to the Rat River. Here he crossed another divide to
the headwaters of the Porcupine. He occupied more than a
year upon the journey and for the greater part of the time
his dogs and himself subsisted on the game that fell to his
rifle and shot gun. While travelling along the northern coast,
he killed a great many seal and his clothes became saturated
with the oil.
Driving up the Mackenzie River to the Porcupine he was
afflicted with snow blindness. He saw flocks of ptarmigan,
but every time he raised his gun to shoot the refraction of the
sun from the snow struck the pupils of his eyes and blinded
him. For several days he and his dogs were very short on
rations and finally were reduced to a condition where he had
to boil the babeesh rawhide in his snowshoes for food. Two
of his dogs died and were eaten by the other animals. As
the dogs became weaker from semi-starvation they formed the
discomforting habit of sniffing enviously at Wada's legs. This
gave him an idea. He stripped off his oil-saturated trousers
and fed them to the famished brutes. The garments were

112

ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING

chewed till every particle of seal oil had been extracted.
Starving and nearly blind Wada drove into the post in his
underclothes. He looked up as he reached the store and the
pain in his eyes caused the tears to flow copiously. The trader
thought Wada was crying and wept in sympathy.
The statement that famished dogs chewed a pair of overalls
for the purpose of extracting what nutriment could be found
in the seal grease upon them may sound incredible to those
unacquainted with the Alaskan malamutes, but those who
know the propensities of this canine have not the slightest
doubt of its authenticity. It is worth noting in this con
nection that the natives of St. Lawrence Island and many of
the Eskimo tribes, in winter when food is scarce, keep their
dogs alive by feeding them ptarmigan and other bird feathers
soaked in seal oil.
The Yukon Flats continue till Fort Hamlin, about 125
miles distant, is reached. Here a government school has been
established. Through these flats the traveller will see count
less thousands of geese and brant which make this region their
nesting ground, but there is an absence of other game. Cattle
and horses manifest an antipathy to grazing on a field where
geese have been feeding, and the absence of moose and caribou
from the lower Yukon Flats would indicate that these animals
also find the company of web-footed birds objectionable.
Below the flats the river narrows between high ridges and
Rampart City, which was founded in 1897 during the Klon
dike gold stampede, comes into view. The gold here was dis
covered by two white men and Joe Minook, a half-breed Rus
sian, for whom the principal creek was named. There are
approximately 200 miners employed and a big hydraulicking
plant is operated.
Many of the Indian women in this region adorn their faces
by tattooing their chins with three vertical marks which have

DOWN THE RIVER TO FAIRBANKS 113
the appearance of having been done in Indian ink. Rex Beach,
the famous author of Alaskan stories, lived at this settlement
for several months. On his second day in camp, he was en
deavouring to identify to another, resident a certain squaw from
whom he had purchased a salmon.
" You must know her," positively declared Beach. " She's
short and dirty and absent-minded and carries her house num
ber marked on her chin, so that she won't forget it. Her
number is one hundred and eleven."
Apart from the qualification of absent-mindedness, the de
scription would have answered for ninety-five per cent, of the
Indian women in the settlement.
Situated at the confluence of the Tanana and Yukon Rivers
is the city of Tanana, or Fort Gibbon, which came into prom
inence in 1899 through the erection of a military post for the
relief of suffering miners who had become confused in the
maze of mountains and glaciers at the head of the Copper River
and wandered down the Tanana. Primarily, of course, the
military was instructed to maintain law and order.
At Tanana, which is the transfer point for freight and
passengers to Fairbanks, the tourist will get his first glimpse
of a herd of Alaska reindeer, provided the vessel remains a
sufficient length of time to allow of a visit to the government
station. Fairbanks is not on the regular itinerary, but Yukon boats
usually make connections with those running to the Tanana
metropolis. The Tanana River is a broad stream, carrying a
vast amount of water — probably nearly half as much as the
Yukon. The valley is one of the most fertile in Alaska and,
notwithstanding its northern latitude, crops of rye, barley, oats
and other cereals have been grown for several years previous
to 191 1 without a failure.
Eighty miles above the mouth of the Tanana River is the

n4 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
Manley Hot Spring, a health resort patronised by the residents
of the Interior of Alaska. Besides possessing medicinal quali
ties, the subterranean heat from these springs keeps the ground
thawed all through the year and a splendid dairy farm is main
tained. Celery, peas, beans, carrots, potatoes, turnips, cab
bages, cauliflower and other vegetables are grown in the open
and canteloupes, tomatoes and mushrooms are cultivated under
glass to supply the guests at the hotel and the miners on the
adjacent creeks, while crops of wheat, oats, rye and clover are
matured for the horses and cattle. The Hot Springs were
discovered in the winter of 1903 by mushers bound for the
gold strike at Fairbanks, but it was not until the discovery of
gold on What Cheer Bar, Thanksgiving and Otter Creeks, in
1906, that a permanent settlement was established.
About two hundred miles above the Hot Springs is Fair
banks, a well-built city, with good schools, churches, hotels,
hospitals, all the branches of fraternal societies and many
other modern institutions.
For pastime Fairbanks has a curling club, a basketball team
. and a baseball league. The baseball umpire calls " play ball "
at ten o'clock p. m. on June 21 and the game finishes anywhere
from midnight till two o'clock the next morning. Each year
a. midsummer festival is held. It commences at sunrise, which
is equivalent for midnight in the " States " and continues for
three or four days. One of the features is an agricultural and
dairy product fair at which prizes are awarded for the best
exhibits. Fairbanks has a city council and a school board. But here,
as elsewhere in Alaska, many of the statesmen are guided by
principles which might be regarded as peculiar in other coun
tries. The councilmen are chosen more for " their native
sagacity and simple honesty than for their attainments in
scholarly oratory. At one meeting of the council, a few years

DOWN THE RIVER TO FAIRBANKS 115
ago, a franchise was under consideration. On the face, it
looked as though it must prove a benefit to the community.
It was without a flaw. Almost everybody was in favour of it
until a miner who had been elected to the council arose:
" Now that ordinance looks all right," he announced. " It's
going to be a good thing for the city, but I happen to know
that fellow what's boosting it is an infernal crook. I don't
know what's wrong with that law he's trying to put across,
but I guess we had better hire a lawyer and try to find out.
Anyway, I know that fellow that's boosting it, and he's so
crooked that he meets himself every time he turns a corner.
So that's the reason I am opposed to it."
The bill was defeated, and investigation proved that the
councilman who objected to its passage was right in his esti
mation of its demerit.
In 1906 a bill passed the national legislature giving Alaskans
'the right , to elect a delegate to Congress. There were many
men in the country who had never exercised the privilege of
the franchise. Frank Waskey, a well-known miner and pros
pector, was one of the candidates. On election day a rugged
frontiersman leaned wearily on the counter at the polling
booth and asked to be instructed in the most approved manner
of marking a ballot.
" I've walked sixty miles to vote," he explained. " I'm
rather new to this election business, but I want to vote for
Waskey and I don't want to make no mistakes about it."
The clerk directed him. He walked into the booth, marked
his ballot and deposited it in the box. Then he pulled out
his gold poke and untied the string.
"What's the damage?" he asked.
The judge hastened to explain that it was not customary on
the part' of the government to charge for the privilege of voting.
" Well," he said, surprised, " if I'd have knowed that I

n6 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
would have made that cook of mine come in and vote for
Frank, if I had to drag him by the scruff of the neck."
The Waskey adherent waited around town till the election
was over, and had the satisfaction of seeing his choice elected.
Incidentally, Waskey made a very capable delegate in Con
gress, but after spending one winter in Washington — the
period of his term — he returned to the north and went off
into the wilderness for a few years. When last heard from
— June, 19 12 — he had made a new gold discovery at Good
News Bay, near the mouth of the Kuskokwim River.
For miles above and below Fairbanks, the forest on both
sides of the river has been denuded of its timber by the miners
who burned the wood for steam thawing. Fifty miles beyond
Fairbanks lie the great Bonnifield coal measures, the biggest
coal seams in Alaska. One of these beds of coal is more than
150 feet thick. It has been estimated by the United States
Geological Survey that this coal field contains billions of tons
of fuel. It is not of the highest grade, but would do excellent
service in the boilers used for steam thawing. Because a
short-sighted governmental policy kept miners from using this
coal, they were compelled to burn wood, with disastrous results
to their pocket books and the forest. Here is a cold country
and it would seem the natural, sensible course to follow would
be to allow the people who inhabit that region to burn the fuel
which Nature in her infinite wisdom placed there. With
freight costing as high as six cents the pound, it was obviously
out of the question to transport fuel from the United States
or Canada and thus the forests were destroyed. The miners
had no option in the matter. The need of fuel was imperative.
But they were compelled to pay a federal stumpage tax.
If there is any town in the world that is in need of transpor
tation facilities, Fairbanks is that very place. The region has
produced more than $30,000,000 in raw gold and according to

DOWN THE RIVER TO FAIRBANKS 117
careful estimates made by the United States Geological Sur
vey, more than half of that sum was expended in defraying the
transportation charges. A small railroad, the northernmost
on the American continent, runs from Chena, at the head of
navigation on the Tanana, to Fairbanks and the adjacent gold
producing creeks. The material for this road was transported
into the country at a cost of approximately six cents the pound,
or $120 a ton. The winter freight rate from Fairbanks to
Cordova in 191 1 was one dollar the pound. Mail and bag
gage is carried over the road from Fairbanks to Chitina, a
station on the Copper River and Northwestern Railroad.
There are two ways in which the interior transportation
problem may be solved. The first is to establish a port of
entry at Fairbanks, and allow Canadian ships plying on the
Yukon to land freight there, and the second and better plan
is to construct a railroad from some point on the coast, pref
erably Cordova or Seward. The Canadian government es
tablished a port of entry at Dawson for the accommodation of
American ships operating on the Yukon, and there is no valid
reason why the favour should not be reciprocated, especially
when it would tend to break up a monopoly and accommodate
the American miners at Fairbanks. The railroad from the
coast to Fairbanks eventually must be built in order to give
the country an outlet to the coast at all seasons of the year.
The Tanana Mines Railroad was projected to the Bonnifield
coal measures, which it was thought, would be made available
to furnish fuel for mining and domestic purposes at Fairbanks,
but with the order for the withdrawal of all coal lands in
Alaska from entry, that part of the project was abandoned and
construction discontinued.
While its population decreased in 1909-10, when gold was
found at Iditarod and later at Ruby City, Fairbanks remains
one of the most prosperous cities in Alaska. It has before it

n8 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
a great future in mining and also in agriculture. Many
quartz mines are in operation and in contradistinction to the
veins in Southeastern Alaska, they carry gold in large quanti
ties. It would be impossible, at this writing, owing to the
heavy cost of freight and fuel, to work any but the highest
grades and most profitable ores. Half-a-dozen quartz mills
are in steady operation. That these plants are small is true,
but as soon as the fuel is obtainable from the local fields and
transportation facilities are obtained, their capacity will be in
creased several hundred per cent.
That Fairbanks and the Tanana Valley have a future as an
agricultural district Has been proven beyond all question. Al
ready a sufficient amount of vegetables for the local markets
are grown there. The soil is marvellously productive. From
six acres planted in potatoes, one man sold more than $4,000
worth of tubers. Owing to the persistent activity of Falcon
Joslin, president of the local railroad, who exported seed grain
from ¦ Norway and Russia, many acres of wheat, oats and
other cereals have been planted and matured. The size of the
" stools " or clusters that grew from one grain were enormous
and in 191 1 Fairbanks cereal products were awarded several
prizes at an agricultural fair held in Minneapolis. Near the
head of the Tanana Valley are thousands of acres of wild
grasses, growing shoulder high, and a large quantity of this
is cut each autumn to feed horses and cattle during the winter.
Agriculture, however, like the mining industry, is greatly re
tarded because of lack of transportation. Thousands of cattle
could be wintered in the Fairbanks region, but there is no trail
by which they may be driven to the markets of the coast.
With the advent of a railroad from the seaboard this difficulty
will be eliminated.

CHAPTER XII
THROUGH RIVER DELTA TO THE SEA
The bloody tragedies and crimes that distinguished the early settle
ment of the Lower Yukon — Old forts along the river and at St.
Michael — Nome, where people isolated for eight months, make
winter pass pleasantly — Ice floes drifting through Bering Strait
— Siberia only seventy-five miles distant — Land of the Eskimo.
THE steamboat, aided by the swift current of the
Tanana River, makes a rapid journey over the 275
miles between Fairbanks and the Yukon. Along
the sides of the stream a number of camps have been estab
lished by prospectors, woodchoppers, fishermen and Indians,
and once in a while a native in his birch-bark canoe — a fragile
looking craft — is encountered. Here and there below Fair
banks a few farms are visible on the banks and on the islands.
The scenery is very similar to that seen on the Yukon for
many miles below Dawson, but the water is much clearer.
Below the confluence of the Yukon and Tanana, the speed
of the current increases perceptibly, and the run to Kokrines,
a fur-trading post and telegraph station, 140 miles distant, is
accomplished in a few hours.
Like many other telegraph stations in Alaska, Kokrines has
succoured many exhausted and freezing mushers travelling from
the Koyukuk, Chandalar and other far-distant diggings. The
telegraph stations, in regions where there are no roadhouses, are
used by the winter mail carriers. These outposts of the tele
graph service more appropriately could be called rescue stations,
for they perform the same service for the wayfarer by land that
marine life-saving crews perform for the traveller by sea,
1!9

120 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
Considerable prospecting has been done in the vicinity of
Kokrines, and some low-grade gravels have been uncovered.
So far, however, the results have not been such that they are
calculated to startle the world.
Between Kokrines and Louden on the bank of the Yukon,
is Ruby City and from **:___" a trail has been built to the
diggings, thirty miles distant, where a considerable amount of
auriferous gravel has been uncovered. Ruby City became the
lure of the prospector in the fall of 191 1, when hundreds of
men, on receipt of a report of a new strike, stampeded from
Fairbanks, Iditarod and other camps. A real estate boom
started, and in the excitement that prevailed for a few weeks,
lots were sold at fabulous prices. Then the news was dis
seminated that hole after hole had been sunk to bed rock and
no paystreak discovered. A slump in realty values followed.
Then gold was found and values increased. At this writing,
August, 1912, the country has not been sufficiently prospected
to determine whether Ruby City will develop into a per
manent community. Alluvial mining is an ephemeral indus
try at the best, but many of the placer camps in Alaska have
developed into fields where the more permanent industry of
quartz mining is conducted successfully. It is likely that in
this respect, the history of California, Colorado, and other
mining states will be repeated in the Northern Territory.
A short distance below Ruby City is Louden, another rein
deer and telegraph station and trading post.
Ever widening and increasing in volume, the Yukon River
receives the Koyukuk, another big tributary, which drains a
vast country to the northward. This stream is navigable by
small river steamers for a distance of more than 500 miles f.
from its confluence with the Yukon. In 1898, many gold
hunters, finding Dawson overcrowded, stampeded to the Koyu
kuk, and established the town of Bettles at the head of river

THROUGH RIVER DELTA TO SEA 121
navigation on that stream. Gold in paying quantities had been
found on the Koyukuk as early as 1892, when a number of
prospectors began working Frying Pan and other river bars.
Because of the inclemency of the weather, the miners named
their new settlement Coldfoot. In 1906 many large nuggets
were found on Nolan Creek, as nuich as $300,000 being ex
tracted from one little " patch " of ground. As a general rule,
however, the field was unprofitable. Since that time some
good quartz mines have been found and it is probable that the
district yet will develop into an active mining centre.
Koyukuk River is said to be inhabited by more mosquitoes to
the square foot than any other part of the world, but this
probably is an exaggeration, as there are some thickly-infested
" mosquito belts " in British Columbia, and one will find quite
a large number of these voracious pests in almost any place in
Alaska, especially in the woods. Koyukuk was given the
laurel for mosquitoes because in 1899, a man was so severely
bitten that he succumbed to his injuries, and a prospector a
year later, who wrecked his boat and became marooned on one
of the many islands in the river, was driven insane by the
boring proclivities of these inveterate and industrious stingers.
Nulato, one of the largest Indian settlements on the Yukon,
lies a few miles below the Koyukuk. A trading post was
founded here by Malakoff, a half-breed Russian, in 1838. Its
early history is one of blood and crime. Indians who were
driven up the Yukon, or Kwikpak as the river was then known,
fearing a repetition of the atrocities perpetrated upon them by
the Russians at St. Michael, made desperate efforts to keep the
white invaders out of the country. Several times the post was
destroyed by fire, and on one occasion the traders were mur
dered. The most notable of the " reprisals " enacted by the savages
was the cold-blooded murder of Lieutenant Bernard, an Eng-

122 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
lish navigator, who passed Nulato and reached the mouth of
the Koyukuk. Bernard ascended the river in the hope of
finding some trace of the survivors of the Sir John Franklin
expedition, whom, it was thought, might have found a route
across the range of mountains on the Arctic coast and reached
some of the streams flowing toward the Yukon. Bernard's
murder never was avenged. Historians give two accounts of
the manner of the Englishman's death. The first is as above
stated, and the second is that he was killed in a massacre of
Russian traders at Nulato.
Alaskan history records that Kerchinikoff, a Russian trader
noted for his murderous instincts, also met his death at Nulato.
Kerchinikoff had the reputation of having killed enough In
dians to fill his grave with skulls and to build a high column
of bleached and fleshless craniums for a tombstone. He lived
to be a very old man, but from his very youth his ruthless
savagery had made his name a terror to the unfortunate In
dians. He built forts along the river banks as far as the
Russians penetrated, and some of these rude log structures
may still be seen at Andreafski, St. Michael and other places.
He never let an insult, real or fancied, to the company of
which he was the head in that section, go unpunished, and was
the first man to use a cannon against the Indians. It is said
that at one time, after the Russian traders at Andreafski had
been massacred by the natives, Kerchinikoff placed two cannons
at the prow of his river boat, and having no lead, loaded them
with chains, nails, scrap iron and other miscellaneous articles.
Near Nulato he found the band that had murdered his traders.
They laughed derisively when the Russian demanded the sur
render of the murderers. As the natives fired a shower of
arrows at the vessel Kerchinikoff simultaneously touched off
both cannons. A terrific explosion rent the air, and when the
smoke cleared, a dozen Indians dead and horribly mutilated,

THROUGH RIVER DELTA TO SEA 123
were stretched on the beach, while many others, wounded and
panic-stricken, fled to the woods. Not another white man was
murdered from that day until Kerchinikoff, after a drunken
orgy, was stabbed and slashed to death as he lay on the river
bank in sight of the graves of the many Indians he had so
cruelly slain.
With Kerchinikoff out of the way, the Indians again became
hostile, and wreaked a bloody vengeance for the horrible
cruelties that had been inflicted upon them from time to time
by their Russian conquerors.
There are now a few houses and stores at Nulato, a tele
graph station, and one of the largest reindeer herds in Alaska.
It is the summer transfer point for the light-draught vessels
plying on the Koyukuk River.
This section of the Yukon Valley, except for a few isolated
hills, is very flat, and there is a marked difference in the types
of Indians found in this region. Their higher cheek-bones give
them a resemblance to the Eskimos. Instead of the dug-out
or birch-bark canoe, they use the kyak and bidarkie, craft which
are made by stretching walrus skin over a few light timbers.
Here also, one will see the dead buried in coffins placed on
stilts or in the trees. Some of the natives wear coats made
from the skins of geese and other birds that fly over the river
in countless thousands.
At Kaltag, a few miles below Nulato, there is a trading
post, a government telegraph station, and a wireless station,
which was erected by private enterprise as a means of main
taining communication with the Iditarod gold fields. From
Kaltag, in winter, a trail leads overland to Unalaklik, eighty
miles distant. To reach the same point by following the river,
the distance is more than 600 miles. The Kaltag cut-off
shortens the route to Nome by about 500 miles and this trail
is used by mail carriers and other travellers during the winter.

124 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
Bending to the southward, the Yukcpn, with a few high hills'
on the left and flat ground as far as the eye can see on the
right, soon reaches Shageluk Slough, a lake-like sheet of water
which leads to the Iditarod and Innoko .diggings. The In-
noko River, one of the most sluggish and- crooked streams in
Alaska, seeps into the head of Shageluk Slough. The con
tiguous country has few distinguishing features and the stream
is so sinuous and its water so slow of movement, that a party
of prospectors, after camping for the night, started their craft
down-stream one morning, and did not discover their mistake
till several hours later when they found one of their former
camping places.
At the head of Innoko River are the alluvial diggings,
where a few men take out about $300,000 annually in gold
dust. One of the branches of the Innoko is the Iditarod River.
From the Yukon to Dykeman, the head of navigation on the
Iditarod, is about 350 miles, and from there to the diggings the
distance is about 75 miles. Iditarod, discovered late in 1909,
yielded about $6,000,000 in the first two years of its existence,
one claim on Flat Creek, producing an average of $40,000 per
week during the open season. In 1912 a number of the claims
were bonded to a big dredging corporation, and a gold ship
was floated down the river from Dawson to operate the ground.
With the exception of gambling, Iditarod possesses all the
elements of a frontier camp, but the installation of wireless
telegraphy, a telephone system and other conveniences rapidly
are bringing it within the realm of civilisation. Iditarod was
supposed to be the last frontier of Alaska, but new discoveries
on the headwaters of the Kuskokwim River about 75 miles
distant, threaten to deprive it of this honour. Being off the
regular line of travel and having an abundance of mosquitoes
and no scenic attractiveness worth mentioning, it is not likely
to become of interest to the tourist.

THROUGH RIVER DELTA TO SEA 125
In the winter of 1911-12 the residents of Iditarod ran short
of meat. The last of the cold-storage beef was eaten at
Thanksgiving, but the miners manifested their independence of
the fresh food trust by crossing the Kuskokwim divide and
bringing back a number of reindeer which they had purchased
from the missions on that stream. With the exception of a
few flocks of ptarmigan there is very little game in this local
ity. Owing to the vagaries of the Japan Current, the weather
at Iditarod in 1912 was very mild and sluicing was con
tinued long after navigation was closed on the Yukon. One
ton of gold dust and bullion, worth approximately $1,100,000,
was hauled across the trail to Seward by dog team and shipped
to the mints. The scene was laid for a dramatic highway
robbery, but, apart from one of the sleds tumbling over a
cliff and nearly falling into the sea near Knik Arm, the mushers
found the journey uneventful.
Gold was discovered on the bars of the Innoko River as
early as 1886, about which time a number of miners worked
the gravel with rockers. The particles of yellow metal which
they extracted from the sand were extremely fine and bore
every evidence of having been carried a great distance, but none
of the prospectors conceived the idea of penetrating to the
headwaters of the stream or its tributaries, where, in the natu
ral process of erosion and deposition, the greater quantity of
gold would be lodged. Many years ago a Russian expedition as
cended the Innoko River to its head and crossed to the Kuskok
wim Valley. The members of this party doubtless traversed
Gaines Creek, but they made no mention of having found any
trace of mineral.
Holy Cross Mission, where a Graeco-Russian church was
established about 1849 and later abandoned, is the next
point of interest to break the Yukon's monotony of wooded

126 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
islands and broad waterways. Eight miles below is Russian
Mission, where a Graeco-Russian church has been maintained
for many years. It is not unlike the other churches of this
denomination in Alaska, excepting that it has little of the
wealth of fine paintings and metal ornamentation. A band of
Indians, many of whom bear traces of Russian ancestry, are
cared for at the mission. The United States maintains schools
at both Holy Cross and Russian Mission.
Through the same interminable scenery of wooded islands,
surrounded by winding sloughs of muddy water, with a slightly
undulating country to the north, the vessel winds its crooked
way along till Andreafsky is reached. This settlement lies in
one of the many curves or bays of the Yukon Delta, and beyond
the facts that it is the place where river vessels are laid up in
the ice for the winter and that a government reindeer herd is
maintained, there is nothing particularly interesting about it.
A trading post was established here in 1850, and the number
of atrocious crimes against the natives which distinguished
Russia's occupation of all parts of the territory, are said by
historians to have been repeated here.
A short distance from Andreafsky the Yukon splits into a
labyrinth of different outlets, which for untold ages have
poured their burden of mud and silt into Bering Sea, causing
the coast-line to extend closer and closer to Siberia. The dis
tance from the confluence of the northerly branch of the Yukon
with the sea, to the mouth of the most southerly branch is
more than sixty miles. The country surrounding the Yukon
delta is flatter than a badly-told story. There is no doubt
that this land has been built up from the desposition of soil
make by the Yukon during many centuries. For aeons this
great river has been depositing mud and sediment into the
waters of the eastern shores of Bering Sea, where, because of
lack of current, it sinks to the bottom and builds up shoals and

^r*_N

K__fc**

• r:

-. ¦.

HERD OF WALRUS ON THE FLOES OF BERING SEA— THESE BLOATED, BULKY ANIMALS, FOLLOW
THE ICE NORTHWARD INTO THE ARCTIC

THROUGH RIVER DELTA TO SEA 127
sandbars. How long Nature has thus been employed in this
land-extending process no man can fell, but there can be no
doubt that, as the centuries roll by, the shores of Alaska slowly
will proceed eastward, and — unless in the meantime the
course of the Yukon is changed — when a few million years
have elapsed, St. Lawrence Island in Bering Sea will become
a part of the mainland of Alaska. This steady encroachment of
the American coast need not, however, interfere with the plans
of those visionaries who think it possible to connect America
and Asia by a railroad funning through a tunnel under Bering
Sea from Cape Prince of Wales, Alaska, to East Cape, Siberia.
The distance between the two countries is less than eighty
miles and the Diomede Islands in the centre of Bering Strait can
be utilised for a sub-station.
Man is never so well satisfied as when engaged in "improv
ing upon Nature." The propensity is inherent in every
healthy human being. It finds its first manifestation in child
hood. When a youngster sees a narrow stream his first im
pulse is to hunt for a board with which to span it so that he
may have an enjoyable half-hour trotting from one side to
the other. Grown to manhood the predilection is intensified.
When a man finds two sheets of water separated by a narrow
strip of land his hands begin to itch for a shovel with which
to connect them by a canal. When he finds two large areas of
land separated by a narrow strip of water, he never is satis
fied till he sees somebody bringing them together by bridge or
subway tunnel. It is, therefore, not improbable that at some
time in the not-too-remote future, engineers and financiers
will join forces in the construction of a tunnel under Bering
Straits, and with the aid of a. few hundred miles of railroad
in Alaska and Siberia, make it possible to ride from New York
to Paris on wheels. The idea is one that appeals to the im-

128 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
summation, however, likely will be found in the heavy over
burden on the sea floor. The bottom of Bering Strait, in
places, is covered with 142 fathoms of water, and the tunnel
will require a strong roof to support it. Engineers, however,
revel in obstacles of this kind. The battleship Maine was ex
posed on the bottom of the sea by means of a coffer dam,
which nobody except the engineers thought could resist the
pressure of the sea against it.
" A subway tunnel was built under East River," these vision
aries say, " then why not under Bering Straits ? "
Through tortuous, twisting channels of the North branch
of the Yukon to the wireless station at the mouth of the river
is but a few hours' run. The river banks are composed of
alluvial deposits, covered with clumps of willows, and here
and there a lone, stunted spruce tree. The stream is shallow
and its few navigable channels constantly change. The wake
of the boat on striking the shore stirs up the mud and washes
back in a wave of slimy ooze. However, when the last point
is rounded, Bering Sea is in sight, and the river journey prac
tically has been completed.
St. Michael, lying on an island a few miles from the mouth
of the river, is reached through a channel between the island
and mainland known as St. Michael Slough, a shallow
strip of water upon which considerable dredging has been done
by the government. The distance from White Horse to St.
Michael is more than 2,000 miles.
St. Michael is a small settlement comprising a number of
warehouses, a shipyard, a military post, a Russian church and
a few stores. Excepting at such times as steamers are lying
at the wharf, it is a dismal-looking place. One of the sights
of the settlement is an old Russian fort near the Alaska
Commercial Company's hotel. It bears the marks of many
bullets, but a majority of the missiles were lodged there from

THROUGH RIVER DELTA TO SEA 129
rifles and revolvers carried by the adventurers bound for the
Klondike in the celebrated gold rush, and who used the fort
on hilarious occasions for target practice.
St. Michael was founded in 1833 by Michael Tebenkoff, an
employe of the Russian-American Company, and originally was
named Michaeloffsky Redoubt. The site was chosen because
of the excellent defence it offered against the Indians of the
Yukon and .the Interior. There is not a stick of growing tim
ber on the island, but the inhabitants are furnished firewood by
logs which, carried down the Yukon in flood, drift up on the
beach. The old Russian buildings are made of logs that were
rafted down the river or hauled on sledges from the Interior.
Some of the timber used in the Russian buildings must have
been brought from Sitka or Siberia, as there is no lumber of
that particular kind in the valleys of the Yukon or Kuskokwim
Rivers. The distance by river from Dawson to St. Michael is 1,600
miles, if the shortest channels are followed. The distance from
St. Michael to Seattle is from 2,400 to 2,800 miles, according
to the course steered. St. Michael is the transfer point for
vessels plying on the Yukon. Being a military reservation, no
liquor is sold and the various commercial companies there op
erating do business by permission of the U. S. War Depart
ment. One hundred and fifty miles across Norton Sound from St.
Michael lies Nome, the largest town in Northwestern Alaska,
a distributing point for all the mining fields on Seward Penin
sula, and a trading station for hundreds of whalers, walrus
hunters and fur dealers, all of whom ply their vocation on the
Siberian coast, along the shores of Alaska as far North as Point
Barrow, and along the barren lands edging the Polar Sea as
far East as the mouth of the Mackenzie River.
Viewed from the open sea, Nome is not an inviting place.

130 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
Except for a low, rounded, sombre-looking range of hills that
rise brokenly in the background, the country is flat and the
absence of trees along the shore-line make a bleak and inhos
pitable picture, that in some way conveys an impression of lone
liness and desolation.
On days when the Arctic sun is shining — which are not of
' such frequent occurrence as to become monotonous — the land-
and sea-scape presents one of the prettiest views imaginable.
The water is the colour of lilac and little purling waves lov
ingly lave the auriferous, ruby-coloured sand on the beach.
Here and there a white speck of a sailboat is seen, and schoon
ers, tugs. and steamships dot the roadstead. The tundra plain
on the shore is brown and green, and the air is filled with sum
mer heat. Pretty wild-flowers adorn the Arctic moor, and
ducks and snipe can be flushed from sequestered pools and
lakes, while ptarmigan lead their young to hide in the grass-
grown meadows.
But sometimes, almost with the suddenness of a curtain
dropping in a theatre, the scene changes. Black lowering
clouds obscure the sun, furious winds lash the sea and great,
white-capped waves crash on the beach, smashing boats and
sweeping it clear of merchandise, coal or what-not that may be
piled there. The thunder of the surf can be heard for miles.
The ships in the roadstead drop their anchors and for a while
try to ride out the storm, but when their kedges commence to
drag they scud for safety in the lee of Sledge Island. Woe be
tide the captain and crew of the sailing vessel who has anchored
his vessel too close to shore. Without sufficient sea room to
make a tack against the wind, his vessel almost assuredly will
pile its bulk on the beach to be smashed to smithereens by the
surf. Sometimes the tempest blows from sullen skies for two
or three consecutive days on which occasions the water smashes
against the bulkheads and buildings that line the shore and de-

THROUGH RIVER DELTA TO SEA 131
molishes the gold-saving devices that from time to time are
installed on the beach.
In some places back of Nome, and at an elevation higher
than that upon which the city is built, driftwood in large
quantities has been found, clearly indicating that at some com
paratively recent date big waves must have swept far past
where Nome now stands. Should such a storm occur again,
it certainly would blot the city out of existence. Native tradi
tion says that less than one hundred years ago, giant seas were
swept inland by the wind, causing much loss of Eskimo life
and destruction of igloos.
Nome is open to navigation from about May 15 till Novem
ber 1. For the balance of the year the sea is covered with solid
ice, and the residents are cut off from the outside world, which
can be reached only after a long and dangerous trip over the
frozen trail to Valdez, Cordova, or Seward, has been accom
plished. In the autumn, generally about October 25, Bering Sea be
gins to take on a covering of slush ice. A month or six weeks
later the Arctic ice pack, a solid field from four to forty feet
in thickness and hundreds of square miles in extent, floats down
from the North and effectually covers the sea. In the spring
these immense fields of ice float gently out to sea and are car
ried Northward again by the currents. As the field passes
through Bering Strait, a narrow strip of water between the
easternmost point of America and the westernmost point of
Asia, it forms a magnificent spectacle. The ice pack has all
the irresistible power of a slowly moving glacier many times
multiplied. Instead of moving two or three feet a day like
a glacier, the sea ice pack passes at a rate of from two to three
miles an hour. Great bergs fighting their way through the
narrow channel, crash and grind against each other like colossal
giants clashing on a football field. The creaking, crushing

132 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
noise can be heard for many miles. The power of these im
mense fields is so great that one often wonders they do not
push the Diomede Islands, two small splotches of rock in the
centre of the straits, off the map.
A few years ago the ice- moved during the winter and cut
off a wharf as though the piles had been so many toothpicks.
At a point six miles above Nome it pushed big bergs far up on
the tundra, crushing a few cabins to splinters. A similar oc
currence was recorded at Bonanza Slough, a point about twenty
miles east of Nome.
It has been said that there are but two seasons at Nome,
July and winter. But the seasons should be divided Into four
months of work and eight months of play. The natural in
ference would be that the 2,500 to 3,000 people who remain
in Nome after the last vessel has left for the South, would
experience a monotonous, desolate and generally lonesome
time. Such an impression is as far as possible from the true
condition of affairs. Knowing they will be isolated for the
ensuing eight months and, with little work to do, they plan for
a season of enjoyment and social gaiety. There are club meet
ings, dancing parties and musical concerts by the score. The
Eagle and Arctic Brotherhood halls are well equipped for these
purposes and, with the exception of the three days when the
big dog race is in progress, there is scarcely a night from the
time the last boat leaves till the first vessel arrives in the fol
lowing spring, that some form of amusement is not provided.
These entertainments are not by any means of the crude char
acter that would be expected. The women are just as well
gowned and the men are just as carefully groomed as though
they were in attendance at an inaugural ball at the National
capital. With the exception of the dog race, the same condi
tions prevail at Fairbanks, Dawson and other interior settle
ments in the great North country. All of these towns have

THROUGH RIVER DELTA TO SEA 133
their women's clubs, their fraternal societies and various so
cial organisations.
Many forms of open-air amusement and recreation are fur
nished, the principal ones being ski jumping, snow shoeing,
tobogganing, hunting and dog and reindeer racing. Many of
the business men form parties and go caribou and polar bear
hunting. The big day of the year at Nome, however, is the
one in the spring when a cloud of smoke is seen on the horizon.
The cry of " Steamboat ! " whether it be midnight or noon, is
enough to bring every one out. The whistles screech, bells
ring out, and the beach soon is lined with people, for the first
boat will soon be in, the season of isolation ended and another
busy summer commenced.
The arrival of the first steamship from the outside means a
replenishment of the larder in fresh vegetables, fruit, eggs and
the delicacies of which there may have been a shortage through
the winter. Nome loses its air of gaiety and sociability. Every
body becomes imbued with a desire to hustle, for in a little
more than one hundred days the sunshine at midnight will have
come and gone, the days will be shortened and another season
of isolation closing in upon them. Water is turned into
ditches and the piles of gravel, which have been taken out of
the frozen ground, by thawing machines, are shovelled into
sluice boxes where their harvest of glinting metal is extracted.
The boilers of the dredging machines are fired up, the wheels
of industry grind industriously, and this is the condition in
which the tourist will find Nome on his arrival from St.
Michael. On the busy main street unkempt and unwashed Eskimos
will be met peddling their pieces of ivory and jade. In the
stores will be seen the stock of furs that have just come from
Siberia or from some other point on the Arctic coast. Pros
pectors will be seen carrying their packs across the hills, and

134 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
the miners will be conveying their gold dust to the banks for
shipment to the outside. Nome in summer is one of the
busiest places in the universe.
Trips may be made to Anvil Creek and other near-by aurifer
ous streams, where big hydraulic plants are at work. Down
the coast forty miles is Solomon River where dredges are tear
ing the gravel from the river floor and robbing it of its gold.
More primitive forms of mining will be seen in the Kougarok
and Casa-de-Pago districts, both of which are accessible. If
the health is run down, rejuvenation can be found in the wa
ters of the Kruzgamapa hot springs, sixty miles distant, where
mushrooms, celery and many other vegetables are grown almost
in the shadow of the Arctic circle. There are many pictur
esque journeys, one of them being to climb to the top of Anvil
Mountain, which is not difficult of ascent and offers a splen
did view of the surrounding country.
Should a trip to the coast of Siberia be thought desirable,
it is probable that accommodations can be secured on one of
the schooners or other vessels engaged in that trade. It is
only a few days' journey, but — except for tribes of ragged,
dirty Indians, the descendants of the war-like Chuckchees, a
few reindeer herds and a barren, timberless, desolate-looking
coast line — there is little that is worth the seeing. The Si
berian coast is very similar in appearance to the coast of North
ern Alaska, a vista of bare, open plains and snow-capped
mountains. Provided there is no haze and the atmosphere
conditions are otherwise favourable, the Siberian coast may be
seen from Cape Prince of Wales, Alaska, with a strong glass.
The distance between the two countries is about 75 miles.
Cape Prince of Wales, by the way, is 380 miles further to the
westward than Honolulu.
There are three railroads on the Seward Peninsula but they
do not operate steadily. Here as elsewhere in Alaska can be

Photo by Dobbs.

PARTY OF WALRUS HUNTERS HAULING THE KILL ON TO ICE FLOES OF BERING SEA.
ANIMALS BAND THEMSELVES TOGETHER IN HERDS OF THOUSANDS

THESE

THROUGH RIVER DELTA TO SEA 135
felt the obstacle to progress that is found in the lack of fuel.
Coal brought to Nome from Canada costs from $17 to $23 the
ton, and there is not a railroad anywhere in the United States
that could pay those prices for fuel and operate at a profit.
The Seward Peninsula Railroad runs from Nome to Lane's
Landing, or Shelton, in the Kougarok district, a distance of
eighty miles. It has water competition and does not carry a
vast amount of freight. In 191 1 the government taxes against
it, which had not been collected for a year or two past, were a
greater amount than the total gross earnings of the road. An
other railroad runs from the mouth of Solomon River to the
Casa-de-Pago district, but apart from hauling coal for the
dredging machines and a few miners' supplies, it does little
business. It is in the hands of a receiver. The heavy cost
of operation — in other words lack of fuel — brought about
its downfall. The third railroad runs from Council City to
Ophir Creek, a distance of seven miles. It is owned by the
Wild Goose Mining and Trading Company and it is largely
used, when used at all, in hauling the company's supplies and
machinery. There is considerable timber on the Neukluk and
Fish Rivers, adjacent to Council City, and in the locomotives
on this road wood is burned for fuel.
Although gold was found in the vicinity of Nome, on the
Neukluk River, eighty miles distant to be exact, as early as
1867 by some of the members of the Western Union Tele
graph Expedition, it was not discovered in payable quantities
until the fall of 1 898, when Jafet Lindeberg, Erik Lindblom
and John Brynteson uncovered a rich paystreak on Anvil
Creek, a stream which empties into Snake River, about three
miles from where the town is situated. The pioneers formed
the Pioneer Mining Company and staked claims on Anvil and
several other creeks. The following spring, 1899, tne news
of the discovery percolated over the country to Dawson.

136 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
Thousands of disappointed Klondikers who were returning
down the Yukon en route to the United States, stopped off at
Nome, and another swarm of prospectors from the Kotzebue
Sound country, ragged, starving, weary and disappointed, also
made Nome their Mecca.
In the meantime gold was found in fine, flaky particles on
the beach. This was " No man's land." A strip along the
shore front between high tide mark and the sea, had been re
served from location as mining ground by the government for
wharfage purposes. Mining claims could not be located, but
there was no provision in the law to prevent any one from
extracting the gold. A miners' meeting was held and by mu
tual consent it was agreed that each man should be entitled
to as much ground as he could reach with his shovel from the
edge of the hole in which he was working.
Then trouble arose. Who could define the high tide mark?
Those who had located claims on the tundra declared it ex
tended down to the sea. Those who were working on the
beach contended it extended to the edge of the tundra. Fights
and shooting matches between the claim owners and the beach
miners were frequent. Finally the military arrived. The
claim owners caused arrests to be made, but Lieutenant Craigie,
in charge of the troops, insisted that the claim owners put up
the amount necessary for the maintenance of the prisoners.
Then, instead of arresting a few men, he gathered in the beach
workers by hundreds. These men had to be fed and lodged,
and the claim owners decided the cost was greater than the
prize for which they were contending, and ordered the dis
charge of the detained free-for-all miners.
Some of the new arrivals scattered over the hills in search
of new fields, while others set up rockers and extracted gold
from the beach sands. In a few weeks saloon keepers and
gambling house proprietors arrived and the place took on all

THROUGH RIVER DELTA TO SEA 137
the improvements that distinguish the frontier mining camp.
The beach miners made from $10 to $100 per day and many
of them left for the South in the fall. Scattering through all
parts of the United States and each carrying sacks containing
from a few hundreds to a few thousands of dollars in gold dust,
it was but natural that the new Eldorado should be invested
with a great deal of interest, especially as it was impossible
to reach the field till the following spring.
When the sea was clear of ice in 1900, approximately sixty
vessels of every kind and description, all loaded with fortune
hunters, steamed and sailed into the roadstead. Many of the
new arrivals expected they could find the gold nuggets sim
ply by scratching over the ground with a stick. The gold area
of the beach sand soon was exhausted by the crowd and many
returned to civilisation deeply disappointed.
With the arrival of the swarm of miners, there also arrived
authorities to maintain law and order in the camp. Instead,
they conspired to steal the gold mines from those who had dis
covered them — or at least to steal the proceeds thereof. How
bloodshed was averted in those strenuous days is a marvel, but
the cooler heads prevailed, with the result that a great many
federal officials, including judges, district attorneys and other
court officials were sent to prison. In the decision handed
down by the Circuit Court of Appeals at San Francisco where
the defendants were sentenced, one of the judges characterised
the proceedings of the court at Nome as "one of the most
villainous and outrageous conspiracies in the history of juris
prudence." Among the invading crowd were many who were totally
unfitted physically and mentally to combat the rigorous condi
tions of an Arctic country. Many fell victims to typhoid,
pneumonia and other diseases. Many in destitute circum
stances were transported on a revenue cutter, at government

138 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
expense, to a more salubrious and less strenuous environment.
Several millions of dollars in gold were taken out of the
Nome fields the first year and many enterprises in which
the investment of capital was needed were inaugurated, but the
insecurity of title created by corrupt officials prevented the pro
moters from inducing anybody to invest.
The following year many new fields were discovered. The
Kougarok country to the Northward and Solomon River to
the Eastward, began to yield their precious burden, and sev
eral creeks in the vicinity of Council City, eighty miles dis
tant from Nome, which had been staked in 1898, also became
productive. Then a stampede started to Kotzebue Sound. The rush
was created by James Blankenship, who claimed he saw the
ghost of an Indian at the prow of his boat directing him as to
the best way to travel. Blankenship may or may not have
seen this Indian spirit — most people believe that he did
not — but the fact is that he put out into Bering Sea in an
open boat, sailed through Bering Strait into Kotzebue Sound
and found extremely rich gravel on Candle Creek, a stream
which had been crossed by many prospectors two or three years
previously. Since that time Candle Creek and other streams in that lo
cality have produced an aggregate of between $600,000 and
$1,000,000 annually in gold dust. Coal was found a few
miles distant from Candle Creek, and notwithstanding the
proclamation that all coal lands in Alaska are withdrawn from
entry, the Candle Creek miners, in 1912, were still mining
the fuel. It is a poor grade of lignite, but sufficient for their
purposes. The Nome population gradually decreased as the placers
were exhausted, but the industry received a new lease of life
in 1905, when an ancient beach deposit richly impregnated

THROUGH RIVER DELTA TO SEA 139
with gold was discovered by J. C. Brown at the base of Anvil
Mountain. This ancient marine deposit, the elevation of
which was sixty-seven feet above the present sea-level, follows
the contour of the present beach-line. It yielded several mil
lion dollars. Practically all the rich deposits now have been
worked out, and the lower grade gravels are being worked by
dredges and other labour-saving devices. Already sufficient
ground has been proved to keep these machines in operation for
thirty years, and it is highly probable that some good quartz
veins will be developed.
Ships leave Nome for Seattle every eight or ten days, and
connection is made with Yukon River steamers. If the tourist
desires to spend a few days in Nome, much of interest, apart
from the mining industry will be found to attract attention.
Fishing is obtainable in -Nome River and other watercourses,
and a visit to the Eskimo village on the sandspit, near the
mouth of Snake River, usually is worth the trouble involved.
The Eskimos are a jolly, fun-loving and industrious people.
Their environment is a rigorous one, and this condition nat
urally has engendered the desire to work. They have a dis
tinct resemblance to the Japanese, in feature as well as char
acteristics, and assuming that primitive man in his wanderings
across the earth followed the lines of least resistance, it is not
difficult to guess that they might easily have crossed Bering
Strait on the ice or in skin boats, just as the Siberian natives
do to-day. During the summer natives from Diomede Islands,
Cape Prince of Wales and Siberia, congregate at Nome to do
their trading. These events usually are celebrated by the
playing of tom-toms and native dances.
Although the coast line of Alaska extends a good many
thousands of miles beyond Nome, none of the passenger steam
ships run in that direction. Nome is the end of the journey
for the tourist. The return to the " States " can be made

140 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
either by ascending the Yukon River or by taking a steamship
bound for Seattle. The latter journey occupies about ten
days, the former about thirty.
A journey to any part of Alaska acts as a tonic to tired
nerves and enervated systems. The great country has much
that is unique and interesting to offer to the traveller, the
pleasure seeker, the home-builder and the investor. The glory
of the North is dawning; its infinite wonders are gradually
unfolding. The National Monetary Commission recently estimated the
annual expenditures of Americans who visit Europe at $200,-
000,000. The editor of the London Statist places the figure
at $170,000,000. Some New York bankers in a joint discus
sion with French financiers placed it at nearly $400,000,000.
There is abundant evidence that the sum expended in Euro
pean travel is between $200,000,000 and $400,000,000 per
annum. In September, 19 12, the Associated Press correspond
ent at London filed a news despatch stating that the number
of people preparing to return to America after spending the
summer in Europe was more than thirty thousand.
If our own country were better known much of this economic
waste would be avoided. This is an era of conservation and
our financial as well as our natural resources should be con
served. We have mountains, glaciers, rivers, and other nat
ural attractions which by far surpass anything to be seen in
Europe and it should be remembered that each dollar diverted
from European travel into the United States assists in giving
the American traveller better facilities and accommodations
and redounds to the prosperity of the nation as a whole.

CHAPTER XIII
THE STARTING POINT
Starting point for Alaska has many attractions for tourists — Points
of interest and picturesque beauty— Its Golden Potlatch, the
• festival with which the discovery of gold in Alaska is celebrated
— Mountain climbing, motoring, boating and fishing trips —
Energetic people build up wonderful city in past ten years.
THE voyager, having completed his tour of Alaska, now
returns to Seattle, known as the " City of Parks and
Playgrounds," the starting and concluding point for
practically all vessels plying in Alaska waters. Located on
the shores of Elliott Bay, an arm of Puget Sound, 125 miles
from the open ocean, Seattle has become the American port of
a number of principal steamship lines operating upon the Pa
cific Ocean and the home port of some of the greatest freight
carriers in the world.
The Alaskan tourist would do well to plan his trip so that
he will arrive in Seattle a few days before the sailing date of
his Northward journey, for there are many things worth seeing
in and around this thriving Western metropolis, which, in ten
years leaped from a city of 80,000 to one of 237,000 people,
who are establishing new industries, acquiring new railroads,
new steamship lines, and who, with hydraulic giants, are wash
ing away the hills that impede the erection of new sky scrapers.
A 42-story " cloud-tickler " is in course of construction and
plans are being drawn for a second one as this is written.
The West, so far as the Pacific Coast cities are concerned, is
no longer " wild and woolly." The day of the gun-fighter,
the bad man, has passed. The gambling dive and the dance
141

142 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
hall no longer flourish. The luxuries of the " effete East "
long since have found their way into the Western cities. The
tourist will find in Seattle every luxury and every evidence of
refinement and culture that can be found in the Eastern cities,
with many new and original ideas along these lines that have
been added by the Westerners.
Seattle is a city of optimistic enthusiasm, and if the Eastern
tourist desires to see this emotion manifested at its most riotous
point, he should time his arrival for Potlatch week, about the
middle of July. The word " Potlatch " was taken from the
Chinook jargon, invented by the factors of the Hudson Bay
Company as a means of universal communication between the
whites and natives. Translated the word represents " free
gift," " a big feast at which presents are given away by the
tyee, or chief," " cause for merriment and rejoicing," " a sea
son of thanksgiving." The Seattle Potlatch was evolved for
the purpose of appropriately celebrating the arrival of the
steamship Portland with the first cargo of treasure from the
Northern gold fields, on July 17, 1897, an event from which
Seattle's extraordinary prosperity and development was dated.
The Potlatch carnival lasts one week. It costs the people
of Seattle approximately $500,000, but as very little of this
money leaves the city, and as it is a big advertisement, nobody
seems to mind the expense. The spirit that created the Pot
latch is the same public spirit that caused Seattle to outstrip
its neighbours in the development of new industries. Ap
proximately $100,000 is placed in the hands of a committee,
whose duty it is to provide bands, aeroplanes, aviators, and a
thousand other forms of public entertainment. The balance
of the money is expended in decorations, prizes for motor-boat
races, athletic contests, floats for the various parades and in
many other ways. Countless flags and thousands of yards of
bunting are used in decorations.

THE STARTING POINT 143
Travellers from distant parts flock to the hotels, and men
and women mingle in gay Bohemian life in the cafes and thea
tres; sailor-men from distant ports, lumberjacks from the tall
fir woods, fishermen and city men, business men and bankers,
country men from the fruit-farms and sage-brush deserts, pros
pectors from the far North, and visitors from the far South,
unite in making the event a happy one.
Every form of pageant known to man, from animated totem
poles to beautiful floral displays are features of the event. In
1912 nearly $50,000 was expended in flowers used in decora
ting automobiles and other vehicles which took part in one of
the many parades.
The Portland Rose Festival is scheduled to take place about
four weeks before the Potlatch, and after that comes the
Montamara Festo at Tacoma. Other fairs and carnivals are
held at various cities in the Northwestern states throughout
the summer.
Coming over the Great Northern Railway the traveller will
have the pleasure of passing through the Glacier National
Park and the magnificent Cascade Mountains. He will find
the eastern portion of the State of Washington, which a few
years ago was a barren desert, stained with the golden yellow
of ripening wheat, not growing in occasional patches, but in
areas miles in extent. On the middle levels he will find the
deep green of alfalfa, tinged with the purple of its blossoms,
and still lower in the valleys he will find the thriving vegetable
gardens. But the crowning feature of the eastern valleys, its
richest possession and the guarantee of its greatest future, will
be found in its orchards filled with thrifty, vigorous trees,
trimmed and planted in perfect symmetry, and their limbs cov
ered with white and pink blossoms or bowed under burdens of
fruit. The orchards of Eastern Washington present a spec
tacle that always will be a pleasant memory.

144 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
The beauties and wonders of the Puget Sound country are
manifold. Seattle, tempered by the Japan Current, has one
of the most equable climates in the world. There is little, if
any, snowfall except in the mountains, and zero weather is
unrecorded. The annual temperature is 51.4 degrees, ranging
from 40.6 in January to 64.7 degrees in August. The average
high temperature is 74 degrees in July and 70 degrees in
August; the average low temperature is 43 degrees in Decem
ber and 38 in January.
The climatic conditions, it is asserted by medical authorities,
are responsible for the remarkable healthfulness of Western
Washington. The last census showed that the death rate in
Seattle is 8.53 per thousand, said to be lower than any other
large city in the United States. The nights are cool and in-
vigourating, insuring restful sleep; malaria and kindred dis
eases are practically unknown. Cedar River water, soft and
pure, and piped to the city by gravity from beneath a glacier
twenty miles distant, is owned by the city. The plant has a
daily capacity of 65,000,000 gallons, while the reservoirs and
stand pipes have a capacity of 272,000,000 gallons. The av
erage daily consumption is 35,000,000 gallons. The city also
owns a lighting plant and sells its surplus current to con
sumers. Seattleites claim theirs is the best lighted city in the
world — and it looks it. It uses more electricity for street
lighting than any other city in America.
Seattle has thirty-seven improved public parks, twenty play
grounds and a municipal bathing beach. During the summer
months the bands which give concerts at these resorts are paid
by the city. Thirty miles of scenic boulevard within the city
are open to traffic. The park board has under its jurisdiction
1,688 acres and is engaged in constructing a boulevard system
fifty miles in length following the lakes and Puget Sound,
reaching numerous sightly elevations, and practically encircling

!___________________*____________  ___V*_1_*

PETE LARSEN, KADIAK HUNTER AND GUIDE

THE STARTING POINT 145
the city. Unlike most cities the streets of Seattle are very
wide and traffic rarely becomes congested.
Rolling back from the shores of Puget Sound to the beaches
of Lake Washington is a series of hills, from the summits of
which the snow-capped peaks of the Cascade range on the
east and the Olympic Mountains on the west, offer an ever
changing, ever wonderful panorama of scenic grandeur. On
the hills the city of Seattle is built. The famous Seattle re-
grades have been completed, and any part of the city can be
reached by slow and easy ascent. The hills, washed away by
hydraulic power, filled up the tide-flats and converted these
waste places into splendid factory sites.
Seattle is practically bounded by three lakes, Green, Union
and Washington, the latter a beautiful body of water fringed
with trees, thirty miles in length and varying in width from
one to five or six miles. An automobile boulevard, designed
to skirt this sheet of water is now under construction. The
thoroughfare runs through wooded ravines along the crest of
the highlands, at times giving a clear, sweeping view of the
lake and Mount Ranier, 14,525 feet. The towering peaks
of the Cascade ranges, the Olympic Mountains, Mounts Baker
and St. Helens and the higher peaks of the coast ranges are
nearly always within the range of vision.
Lake Washington, which is to be connected with Puget
Sound by a canal now in course of construction through Lake
Union, furnishes one of the finest fresh-water resorts on the
western coast. Incidentally, an idea of the climate can be
gained from the fact that frequently motor-boat races are held
on Lake Washington in January. A Seattleite once truthfully
said that Lake Washington never has been covered with enough
ice to make a cocktail. Roses bloom and the grass is green
the year around.
Beaches and salt water resorts are to be found everywhere,

146 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
and the country abounds in good fishing places. King County
annually spends a large amount in the cultivation of trout,
black bass, and other game fishes, turning millions of fry into
the streams and lakes every year from the hatcheries. Trout
streams, coming from the snow-capped Cascade Mountains, en
ter the bay close to the city, and many of them may be reached
by electric car line.
Within reasonable distance are the famous Scenic and Sol
Due hot springs. The former, situated right in the heart of
the Cascade range and reached by the Great Northern Rail
way, furnishes excellent fishing and hunting at all seasons of
the year. In the winter guests are entertained with toboggan
ing, ski-jumping, and other out-door sports. The Sol Due
hot springs are in the Olympics, and the waters of both springs
are said to be excellent for rheumatism and to have other
medicinal values.
Interurban electric trains run from Seattle to Tacoma and
from Seattle to Everett, while small vessels plying in Puget
Sound afford innumerable short and pretty water trips that
may be made in a day from the city. Olympia, on Budd Inlet,
the southernmost water of Puget Sound, is a beautiful boat
trip. Those interested in naval affairs will find something to their
taste in the short trip to the Bremerton navy yard, where the
big government docks usually hold two or more battleships or
cruisers. Trips by water may be taken to the lumber camps
that dot the shores of the sound, to Edmonds, the home of the
big strawberry; to the fishing grounds, to Bellingham, Blaine
and Vancouver; to Victoria and Vancouver on the Canadian
side of the boundary line, or out through the smooth waters
of the Strait of Juan de Fuca to the Pacific Ocean. Under
a clear blue sky, and in a climate that always is cool and in-
vigourating, rather than hot and enervating as are many of the

THE STARTING POINT 147
inland and eastern cities, the Northwest offers to the tourist a
splendid summer outing.
Close to Seattle are canoeing grounds innumerable. Many
business people, during the summer months, live either in
house-boats on the sound or lakes, or at camps established in
the woods which can be reached by electric railroad or by
some of the craft plying these waters. Ever changing sunsets
on the water, furnish sights to be remembered. Not only on
the sound, but, on the various lakes, yachts, motor-boats, and
rowboats, ply back and forth carrying scores of campers and
lovers of waterscape scenery. The annual power boat race
from Ketchikan, Alaska, through perfectly land-locked waters
to Seattle, is an event of much interest.
For the historian the Northwest contains many points of
interest, such as old forts and battlefields of Indian wars; the
dens of contraband purveyors of silk and opium, who, in the
early days, dodged revenue officers through the intricate and
beautiful bays and estuaries; among the multiplicity of islands
and the deceiving smugglers' caves. Puget Sound's alluring
archipelago forms a picture of beauty that rivals the Thousand
Islands of the St. Lawrence in scenic grandeur and surpasses
them in climatic conditions.
Aside from the boulevard drives, the automobilist will find
many good roads, especially along the Pacific Highway, which
ultimately, by good asphaltum or macadamised road, will con
nect Seattle, Spokane, San Francisco, Los Angeles and other
southern cities. In addition to the government road to Mount
Rainier, there are good driveways from Seattle to Snoqualmie
Falls, a cataract higher than Niagara; to Bellingham, to
Everett, to Olympia, and along the mountain road to Lake
Crescent that nestles in the Olympics. These routes pass
through a country of splendid natural scenery.
Good-roads clubs and other organisations have done much

148 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
for the automobilist in the Northwest. Nature had done het
part and it remained for the hand of man to make it available.
It matters not what direction the automobilist follows, a gor
geous panorama spreads out before him.
Broad, hard, gravel roads, as smooth and level as a dance
hall floor in Alaska, trend in every direction, and in the prairie
country between Tacoma and Olympia, the speed limit is un
known. Many motorists choose Mount Rainier as their ob
jective point. One starts with the mountain in full view and
rides through ever-changing scenery. The road passes through
dense forests and sylvan glens all along the route, and the road
in the Nisqually canyon is one of the most beautiful parts of
the trip.
To Lake Cushman, a favourite resort for anglers, is another
excellent trip; and the run to Portland, where one gets a fine
view of Mount Hood, Mt. St. Helens and Mount Adams,
should not be overlooked. Good roads and superb scenery are
to be found on the journeys to Grays Harbor, Aberdeen,
Hoquiam and the Moclips Beach, where may be enjoyed a
straight-away run over beach sand so smooth and hard that
a tire leaves no track as it spins along. Not the least fascina
ting of these many motor-trips will be found in the clear
sparkling streams which afford good fishing. Meals may be
obtained at various places along the road.
To the visitor who does not care for motoring or boating
the street car system of Seattle furnishes an excellent oppor
tunity for seeing many places that are distinctly worth while.
Sight-seeing cars leave Pioneer Square twice daily, and those
aboard pass three hours in travelling a route of twenty-six
miles through urban and suburban wonderland. Trolley lines
run to all parts of the city and the suburbs and the interurban
lines connect with outlying cities. From the higher elevations
of the city one gets a sweeping panoramic view of the coast

THE STARTING POINT 149
lines of Puget Sound, the Olympic and Cascade Mountains,
the manufacturing districts of Ballard, and West and South
Seattle, Lake Washington and many other places of interest.
Capitol Hill is crowned by Volunteer Park, and from here
another magnificent view is obtained. Along the slopes of
these hills, overlooking the sound, many beautiful residences
have been erected by the wealthier citizens of Seattle. There
are a thousand places worth seeing, and as the city is inter
sected with car lines running in almost every conceivable di
rection, they are easily accessible.
He who seeks a renewal of spirit in the great world of out-
of-doors, the one who loves mountain scenery, amply will be
repaid for the time and effort expended in ascending to Rainier
National Park. Rainier is the peer of American Western
mountains. Its foothills, covered with forests of fir and cedar,
rise wave on wave, like a dark green sea. One can leave
Seattle or Tacoma in the morning, and before the stars are in
the sky be at a mountain camp more than a mile above the
ocean level. The government roads, beginning where the rail
road ends at the park boundary, make this possible. The roads
traverse forest scenery by easy grade to the ice fields which lie
at an elevation of four thousand feet. Annual trips are made
to the summit by the Mazamas and other mountain climbing
organisations. At the beginning of the road is found the Na
tional Park Inn, and at the upper terminus, known as Para
dise Valley, is an attractive summer camp, which is maintained
for the accommodation of travellers. The ascent from this
point should be undertaken only when the weather is settled,
and other conditions favourable, and it is advisable for the
tenderfoot to take a guide. While there are no insurmountable
obstacles in the way, the climb calls for considerable endur
ance. The conditions being propitious, mountain climbing has be-

150 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
come one of the popular out-door sports of the Northwest, and
from the summer resorts in the Olympic range many of the
journeys are projected. Some climbs are marked by well-worn
trails, others are less accessible, but all are full of charm to
him who loves to reach the pure atmosphere of the higher ele
vations. Mount Baker, to one of whose peaks athletes annually con
tend in a Marathon race from Bellingham, lies to the North
ward of Seattle. The summit, rising clear and sharply
chiselled above the snow-line, is difficult of access, and its
ascension is no undertaking for the kid-gloved dilettante.
The experienced mountaineer, in the country contiguous to
Seattle and Tacoma, will find hills to be climbed and many new
peaks to be conquered; while the novice in this strenuous sport
will find a hundred pleasures in these fir-clad Western Alps.
Termed " The Naples of America," Tacoma, which is easily
reached from Seattle by steamship, by launch, by electric car,
automobile or railroad train, will be found well worth a visit.
With seventy miles of asphalted boulevards and paved streets,
an extensive park area, and a picturesque location on a bluff
overlooking Commencement Bay, Tacoma is a most attractive
city. It is the youngest of the large cities in the West, in
creasing its population from approximately 1,000 in 1880 to
nearly 100,000 in 191 1. It has one of the largest deep-water
harbours in the world, and is the starting point for many won
derful sight-seeing trips. Electric cars connect the city with
many pleasure resorts, and it boasts a stadium with a seating
capacity of 30,000 persons. Although close to Seattle, Tacoma
has many marks of dissimilarity from its neighbour, and the
Alaskan tourist would be repaid for the time expended in
travelling from one to the other.
To those who have other interests than sight-seeing in their
journey through Seattle to Alaska, let it be stated that both

THE STARTING POINT 151
Seattle and Tacoma offer exceptional educational advantages.
There are sixty-one grade and high schools in Seattle, and a
present enrollment of 45,537. The University of Washington
is situated between ' Lakes Washington and Union on a plot
of 355 acres. The university attendance in 1912 was more
than 2,000. The institution is free to the youth of the state
and is provided with every facility for imparting education.
Some of its buildings originally were a part of the Alaska-
Yukon-Pacific Exposition. Seattle has more than 150 churches
of various denominations.
At the Puget Sound Navy Yard, situated at Bremerton, a
few miles from Seattle, the largest battleship afloat can be
docked. Employment is given at the yards to from 1,200 to
1 500 men, and the expenditure for supplies purchased in Seat
tle exceeds $100,000 per month. Fort Lawton, a United
States military post, is situated within the city limits of
Seattle. The 605 acres of land which makes an ideal drill
ground and garrison and fort, was presented to the government
by the public-spirited people of the Puget Sound metropolis.
Established in July, 1908, the Seattle branch of the assay
office, up to December 31, 1910, has received and paid for
gold dust to the value of $199,094,871.05. The amount pur
chased up till the close of 1912 was approximately $252,000,-
000. Roughly estimated, the gold received at the Seattle
assay office, during the period mentioned, weighed 504 tons.
Alaskan gold, mineral, and fish, comes to Seattle by every
boat, and much of it is exchanged for merchandise and other
products. The volume of trade between Seattle and Alaska
during the last decade has amounted to more than $500,000,-
000. Some gold has been mined in the State of Washington,
but not sufficient to make any great difference to the assay
office receipts. The bulk of the precious metal received 'came
from Alaska and the Yukon Territory.

152 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
With hydro-energy in almost incalculable quantities . latent
in the thousands of swift streams that have their source in the
Cascade and Olympic Mountains, Seattle naturally developed
into a manufacturing centre. Two hundred and fifty thou
sand horse-power has been developed, a similar amount is now
in process of development and many millions of horse-power
are awaiting the installation of Pelton wheels and other ma
chinery. Incidentally, it has been computed by hydrographers
in the service of the United States Geological Survey that two-
thirds of the available water power in the United States is
located in Oregon and Washington.
Seattle's shipment of flour increased 1,600 per cent, in twelve
years, and with the development of the great grain-fields in
the interior, this industry is destined to show still greater in
crease. The following figures, although perhaps somewhat tiresome
to the general reader, might be interesting to the travelling
business man: The population of Seattle, according to the last
census increased 194 per cent, in the ten years preceding. In
1 901 'the bank deposits were $20,237,862; in 191 1 they had
increased to $76,715,191. Bank clearances in 1901 were
$144,694,367; in 191 1 they were $552,640,350. Postoffice
receipts in 1901 were $228,437, in 191 1 they were $1,000,375.
The latest government manufacturing census was taken in
1909. This placed capital invested at $46,472,000, and the
value of manufactured products at $50,569,000.
Seven railroad systems have their terminals located in Seat
tle, connecting with every point in the United States, and the
Grand Trunk Pacific, a Canadian system, connects with Seat
tle by its own line of steamships.
Believing that the water transportation business will greatly
increase, the Port District voted in March, 1912, $8,100,000
for the construction of dockage facilities including $5,000,000

URSINE PUGILISTS.— BEAR CUBS, LIKE CHILDREN, ARE BOTH
PLAYFUL AND QUARRELSOME.— THEIR CLUMSY MOVEMENTS
AND PART-HUMAN EXPRESSIONS ARE HIGHLY INTERESTING

THE STARTING POINT 153
for the acquisition of a site and the erection of six concrete
wharves, 1,400 feet long and 150 feet wide. The terminal
facilities, as planned, are to be similar to the terminals at
Brooklyn, New York. In June, 1912, the Pacific Terminal
Company, an aggregation of eastern capitalists, submitted a
proposal for a lease of the Harbor Island Railway and Deep
Sea Terminals, agreeing to expend $6,000,000 in the construc
tion of piers, warehouses, industrial buildings, and terminal
railroad facilities.
The transportation business with the Orient has shown a
wonderful increase during the last decade, and it is believed
that Seattle ultimately will become one of the principal ship
ping points for countries in the far East. This, taken together
with the increase in business and the establishment of steel
industries which will "follow the opening of the Alaskan
bituminous and anthracite coal fields, it is believed, will war
rant the expenditures proposed for dockage and other trans
portation facilities.
Seattle and King County, assisted by appropriations made
by the general government, are constructing a waterway con
necting Puget Sound, Lake Union, and Lake Washington.
When completed this will create the deepest and most perfectly
land-locked fresh. water harbour in the world. Warships and
other craft plying in salt water, upon being placed in fresh
water, immediately lose their barnacles and other impedimenta.
Thus, dry docking frequently will be obviated. The concrete
lock in the waterway, which is being installed by the federal
government, will cost $2,275,000. Ample dockage facilities
will be provided on both lakes, together with the rail accom
modations necessary for the industrial concerns. A railroad
is now building around the shores of Lake Union, and many
new industries are being established there. Completion of the
Lake Washington Canal will increase Seattle's water-front

154 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
from fourteen to one hundred and forty miles. Already
$20,000,000 has been set aside to be expended in harbour im
provements during the next five years.
In mentioning Seattle's many industries, one is tempted like
the walrus, in Lewis Carroll's " Through the Looking Glass "
to exclaim: " The time has come," the walrus cried,
" To speak of divers things —
Of ships, and shoes, and sealing wax,
And cabbages and kings."
Lumbering and fishing are perhaps the most important, and
there are also shipyards, saw mills, shingle mills, stove fac
tories; flour, feed, and cereal mills; brick-yards, terra-cotta
works; and foundries, machine shops, breweries, factories and
plants for the manufacturing of doors, sashes, blinds, wooden-
Ware, excelsior, barrels, boots, shoes, clothing, wagons, car
riages, furniture, tinware, soap, crackers, candies, candles,
pickles, brooms, baking powder, drugs, jewellery, fish-nets,
woollen goods, trunks, and innumerable household commodities
and food products.
During the last decade Seattle has enjoyed a most extraor
dinary increase in wealth and also in population. It is
strategically situated to become an important figure in the mer
chant marine of the Pacific and it is in the centre of a region
endowed with many undeveloped resources. Behind it lies
millions of untilled acres that rapidly are being made to yield
to the farmer's touch. Seattle is peopled by " boosters " who
have unbounded faith in that their city eventually will become
the New York of the Pacific, and the new arrival soon be
comes imbued with their enthusiasm. " We have the re
sources," they cry, " give us more people, and we will build an
Empire."

THE STARTING POINT 155
But they are not sitting down idly and waiting for the
people to come. They are seeking the home-seekers. Already
a movement has been made by the New Seattle Chamber of
Commerce to solidify the various commercial organisations with
a view to using their combined strength and effort in attract
ing the better class of immigrants from the European countries
and placing them on the unoccupied areas of rich and fertile
soil. When the Panama Canal is finished they expect ships
from the European countries to run direct to the Pacific Coast
to deposit their hordes of working people, and that these will
make the fallow lands productive.
Considering the possibilities of its trade with the Orient, its
latent resources, the approaching development of Alaska, and
its manifold other advantages, who can say that the period
of Seattle's growth is not yet to come?

CHAPTER XIV
HUNTING GROUNDS
Game and fur bearing animals and birds of Alaska — Mosquitoes
make life a burden to the sportsman during certain seasons —
Habits of the moose, caribou, mountain sheep and goat and va
rious species of bear — Where to go and what to take — Notes on
Game Laws — Where guides are needed — Birds and animals
indigenous to the territory.
FROM the tiny mosquito to the stately moose and the
ferocious Kadiak bear, Alaska is populous with game
of many different kinds and descriptions. The word
" game " is not applied to the mosquito ' in the sense that these
insects are good to eat — although often enough they manage to
mix themselves in with the cuisine of the woodsman — but in
the sense that they are imbued with the pugnacity and perti
nacity of a bulldog. In addition they are endowed with a
nasal, buzzing voice that is more irritating and nerve-racking
than the cry of the lone timber wolf, and a " bill " that some
miners declare has greater boring force than a diamond drill.
A prospector in British Columbia once told the writer that,
on the Liard River, he spread a paper in the bottom of his
tent and swung his hunting knife through the air. This more
or less veracious chronicler declared that he killed seventeen
mosquitoes at the first pass. He averred also that the atmos
phere in that locality was so full of mosquitoes that the only
way for them to increase their numbers was to reduce their
size. The mosquitoes come with the first warm nights of sum
mer, and live through the season till the first frost. After
that peace reigns — or rather peace would reign if it were not
156

HUNTING GROUNDS 157
for the gnats, which, although not so pugnacious as the mos
quitoes, are quite as industrious and can be depended upon to
make the life of the Alaskan a misery to the flesh and a burden
to the soul.
The tale is told that in the early history of the Yukon, be
fore the advent of judges and peace officers, the vigilance com
mittees found in the mosquito an able ally in holding their
prisoners. They had no jails other than mosquito tents.
When they desired to hold a law-breaker until such time as his
case could be tried, they put him in a mosquito tent and took
his clothes from him. There was no danger that he would
attempt to escape. Parenthetically the usual method of punish
ing crimes against the peace and dignity of the community in
those days was to put the offender in a boat with a few pounds
of food and a pair of oars and let him float down-stream to
the sea.
By the end of. July — before the hunting season opens —
most of the mosquitoes are gone, but sometimes for the first
week or two in August there is an abundance of what are
known to the Indians as " no-see-ums," and to the white man as
gnats. Fighting off mosquitoes and gnats is an art that few people
other than Indians can learn. The aborigines are not by any
means immune to the bite of these insects, but they annoy the
Indian less than the white man. I have observed that when an
Indian sees, or rather, feels, the bite of a gnat or a mosquito,
he does not make a vicious slap at it. Being devoid of " tem
perament " he accepts the bite philosophically. He doesn't
allow himself to be angered, but calmly brushes off the offender.
A white man has less patience. When one of these insects in
jects its " bill " through his epidermis, he loses his temper and
slaps and cuffs the mosquito — and himself — vigorously and
angrily, therehy — the Indian thinks — making himself a more

158 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
attractive mark to other mosquitoes. The Indian regards the
annual invasion of the mosquitoes and the " no-see-ums " as a
kind of a game between himself and the insects. The game is
for the Indian to see how many insects he can kill without be
coming angry. Every time he quietly brushes off a mosquito
or a gnat, he mentally marks down one point in his own favour.
The mosquito literally is " the fly in the ointment " of the
Alaskan hunter. In countless trillions they have their being
and buzzing, and there is no escaping them. There are sev
eral kinds of salves which, their vendors declare, will discourage
the mosquitoes' unpleasant activity, but the experience of the
writer is that the insects find these concoctions quite palatable.
In fact, many of these alleged mosquito-bite preventives seem
to encourage the little pests and to sharpen, rather than satiate,
their appetites. In the still air the mosquitoes, during the sea
son, hover over head in clouds, but at the first breath of wind
they disappear and hide beneath the bushes or grass. Immunity
may be found, however, in mosquito tents, if they are properly
pitched and in mosquito screens attached to the top of the hat
and tied securely around the neck beneath the shirt collar.
But despite these disadvantages, no portion of the North
American continent presents a more attractive field for the
sportsman and the angler than does Alaska. With the excep
tion of the South African veldts, it is the greatest hunting
country extant, but lest the reader should think it has no disad
vantage, the writer has emphasised the fact that there are some
mosquitoes, and, in the interests of comfort, the sportsman or
naturalist going to Alaska in the early summer is advised to
make preparations to cope with the little pests.
It matters not what part of Alaska the hunter goes, game in
abundance can be found. But the big game hunter should
bear in mind that Alaska is a tremendous territory, and that
the species of big game which can be found in one region will

HUNTING GROUNDS 159
not necessarily be found in another. For instance the game to
be found in Southeastern Alaska is entirely different from that
found on the Alaska Peninsula or on Kadiak Island, and again
the game found in the lands edging on Bering Sea and the
Arctic Ocean is different from that found in other places. He
should remember also that the only part of the country where
the law enforces the hunter to take a guide is in the Kenai
Peninsula region.
The angler will find practically the same species of fish in all
of the Alaskan streams, as more fully described in another chap
ter, and shore birds, water birds and many varieties of grouse
can be found all over Alaska. The herbivorous game confines
itself generally to individual districts. Taking these animals in
proportion of the utility to the prospector and sportsman, the
moose comes first, and therefore the deer family will be the first
to be considered.
Speaking generally, the moose ranges from the boundary of
British Columbia as far North as the Yukon River, although
there are a few isolated places along the coast where they will
not be found. Some moose have been killed on the tributaries
entering the Yukon from the North, but there is none on the
Seward Peninsula or the Arctic coast.
The moose is the largest hoofed animal of North America,
and the best specimens can be obtained on the Kenai Peninsula,
on the upper waters of the Yukon, in the country surrounding
Mount McKinley, and in the valleys of the Kuskokwim and
White Rivers. Moose are easily stalked during the months of
early summer, when the mosquitoes force them out of the brush
into the rivers and lakes. Some of these pools contain alkali,
and here moose and other wild animals always will be found.
Fattened by the abundant vegetation, the moose are in prime
condition in the running season, which begins about August
first and lasts for six weeks. At this season the bulls take to

160 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
the higher altitudes, where they fight many vicious battles
for the favour of the females. It is contended by some natural
ists that the moose eats the wild grass that grows everywhere
in the territory in luxuriant abundance, but the writer's ob
servation has been that, with the exception of some bunch grass
and horse dock, they subsist almost exclusively on young wil
lows, birch and alders. In fact in the winter season, especially
in sections where the snow is deep, the animals seek the draws
and gulches, where these plants grow, and remain there prac
tically all winter.
In winter they are an easy prey to the game hunter equipped
with long snowshoes, for the moose when chased out of the
gulch, sinks belly deep in the snow as it plunges along. A
moose might easily have an hour's start of a man on snow:
shoes, and be caught in a chase of a couple of hours. When
driven out of the gulches, they invariably make for a lake or
river, where the snows, carried off the ice by the winds, are
not as deep as on the solid ground. The cow moose is usually
accompanied by her calf all through the winter, and wherever
a hunter sees two moose tracks, it is reasonably safe to figure
that he is on the trail of a cow and her calf. In the chase the
cow leads, and will not desert her calf unless closely pressed.
The cow moose remains in splendid condition all winter, and
her flesh is much to be preferred to that of the bull, which be
sides being tough and striijgy, has little or no fat.-
After the running season the male moose generally remain
in the higher altitudes, while the cows and calves are
found around the lakes and streams. The bulls will be found
at timber-line till about the middle of January, when they are
forced down the mountain by deeper snows, and they sometimes
join the cows in the draws and gulches. By this time their
antlers have been shed. In the spring, when the snow becomes
crusted and wolves may run along the surface and moose

_ssfc*__^_-
AN ALASKAN PROSPECTOR

HUNTING GROUNDS 161
break through to the solid ground, the animals " yard up " for
mutual protection — that is, they band themselves together,
and when attacked, form a circle, keeping the calves in the
centre and fighting off their assailants with their forefeet. It
has been noted by many prospectors that horses turned loose
in the White River Valley to forage for themselves during
the winter, " yard up " with the moose in the spring to protect
their foals, making the wolf the common enemy of both species.
The calving season is about the middle of May, or earlier,
according to latitude and climatic , conditions, and is contem
poraneous with the growing of new horns by the male. The
cow is not endowed with antlers at any season. Like all her
bivorous animals that shed their horns, the antlers first appear
in a " velvet " of fine brown fur, and in the case of the moose,
it is streaked with grey. Believing this fur does not match
his complexion or become his particular style of beauty, the
male, shortly before running season, becomes obsessed with a
desire to eliminate the trimming, and if it does not wear away
fast enough, he accelerates its departure by rubbing his antlers
against trees. In the latter part of August the hunter fre
quently will notice spruce and other trees surrounded by hoof
marks. These are the tracks of moose which have been
" sprucing up " for the running and fighting season. By the
end of August the horns are in good shape to give battle to
their adversaries.
It does not necessarily follow that the biggest moose will
have the largest " spread " of antlers, and it is believed that
when disturbed by their natural enemies during the growing
season the horns will be smaller than on a previous year. It
may be taken as a general rule, however, that the animal that
has a large and beautiful set of antlers is not the best for
eating purposes. The writer has observed that generally the
meat of a moose that has large antlers is more fitted for sole

i62 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
leather than for human consumption, and the larger the antlers
the tougher the meat. There may be exceptions to this rule,
but they have not come within the observation of the writer.
Much has been written pertaining to the ferocity of the
wounded moose, but although the writer has encountered many
of these animals, he has yet to see the first one attempt to make
a fight. When wounded the moose almost invariably turns and
faces its assailant, but it rarely offers an attack, even when
accompanied by its young.
Sometimes a wounded moose will hang its head, its ears will
sag, and it will have every appearance of being on the point of
dropping dead, but let it get a start through the trees, and
more than likely the hunter will have to chase it for two or
three days to catch up with it and he may never see it again.
The moose differs greatly from any of the bear family in this
respect. A wounded bear is very liable to show fight.
In winter, a cow moose, when pressed hard along a river
or lake by a hunter, will desert her calf and when the young
one becomes tired, he runs off from the side of the frozen
stream into the timber and deep snows where he turns and
faces his pursuer with a comical expression of injured inno
cence as though he would say:
" Why on earth are you chasing me ? I haven't done any
thing." The baby moose has a large and beautifully expressive eye,
and if the little fellow looks at him, a hunter needs to steel
his heart before he can shoot. More than one man, even
when short of meat and who would find much exhilarative en
joyment in drawing a bead on a silver-tip or Kadiak bear, the
most savage of the species, has lost his nerve when it came
to sending a bullet into a calf moose that happened to stare
into his eye.
Next to the baby camel, the young moose is about the most

HUNTING GROUNDS 163
amusing and friendly animal on earth. He has a confiding,
confidential way about him and has not the slightest fear of
man. Like the emu of Australia and the antelope of the
American plains, he has all the inquisitiveness of youth, and
much to the annoyance of his mother, quite frequently makes
friends with the first man he sees.
The mother, however, has some of the propensities of the
nouveaux riches and is inclined to be particular about the early
associations of her offspring. If one may judge by her conduct,
her head is filled with school copy-book precepts about the
evils of bad company, and instances have been recorded where
ultra-exclusive mother moose have resented undue familiarities
from plebean humans. Like other mothers she never sees a
fault in her own offspring, but lays the blame entirely to his
associates. Woodsmen do not consider it good form to pet a
small moose when the precocious and ingratiating young ani
mal comes running towards them. The mother, resentful and
jealous, might make it necessary for them to climb a tree or
bring rifles to their shoulders.
But to the general credit of the Alaskan prospector, be rt
written, there are few men in the forests of the North who
wantonly slay a cow moose. On the bear, the wolf, the eagle
and other destroyers of game, a relentless and unceasing war
is waged, but few moose or other food animals have been killed
in Alaska by prospectors for the mere wanton joy of killing.
The observation of this unwritten law has caused a big increase
in the number of moose and other game animals in the Kenai
Peninsula and, "in fact, nearly all over the territory.
Much amusement can be gained from watching a cow moose
educating her calf. The writer once lay hidden down-wind
behind some willows in an open pine park for nearly an hour
watching a moose and her offspring. Apparently the mother
was showing the young one which were the most succulent

164 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
plants to be eaten, for every time she found a young, budding
willow, she would munch a few bites, and then with a low
mooing sound, call the calf to her and direct its attention to the
plant. The calf would munch a few leaves, and then run back
to his play. He was a busy little chap, investigating every tree
and shrub. Once he came within ten feet of where I was
hidden, but did not get my scent. The cow lay down, and
began to chew her cud after the manner of a bovine. I knew
that she had no idea of my presence, so I snapped a small dry
twig. Instantly she stopped her meditative chewing and threw
up her head, thrusting the ears forward, and sniffing the air.
Clearly she was disturbed, but the calf glanced casually around
to see if there was anything new to attract his attention. A
few minutes later I broke a larger twig. This time the cow
was certain that she could not have been mistaken. She
jumped to her feet instantly and called for her calf, but faced
the direction opposite to the one in which I was lying. Her
hearing clearly was at fault. She evidently thought the sound
of something crashing through the woods had been borne to her
on the wind instead of against it. She looked for a few min
utes in almost every direction, and certainly her eyesight was
not good, or she surely would have seen me. At intervals I
repeated the performance, and after some time it began to get
on her nerves.
The moose has no particular fear of man, for I have seen
many of them that would not run when they first saw a hunter,
but this one obviously was disturbed by something which she
could not understand, and, after getting up and lying down
again several times, she trotted off, taking her inquisitive
youngster with her, presumably to enjoy a siesta in a quieter
spot where there were fewer disturbing influences.
A cow moose teaching her calf to swim is also an interesting
sight. Heading against the current, the mother gets further

HUNTING GROUNDS 165
and further into the water, looking back over her shoulder to
see that the calf is following. The young one keeps close to
its maternal parent, and the mother, being properly cautious,
remains out in the deep water only a few minutes at a time.
On returning to the shallows, she wanders up-stream a little
distance and then repeats the performance. In the summer
the mother protects the calf from the wolves by piloting her
young into willow brush, where the little fellow, with his
long, gangling legs, has no trouble in striding out of harm's
way. The short-legged wolves soon become entangled in the
underbrush and, if not careful, pawed by the cow's sharp fore
feet. If there is a lake or river nearby, the mother, carefully
keeping herself between her young and the enemy, dexterously
manoeuvres her calf into the water, and keeps it there till danger
has passed. The wolf is too wise in the ways of the wilder
ness to take any chances by swimming out to attack a moose
that has her feet on solid bottom.
To the prospector, the animal next in importance to the
moose, because of its food value, is the caribou. There are
two varieties of caribou — the woodland, found in small herds
of five or six the year around in the timber-sheltered foothills;
and the caribou of the plains, that cross the barren tundras
in their countless thousands, roaming Northward in the sum
mer and returning southward as winter approaches. Natural
ists estimate there are more than 3,000,000 of the latter variety
in the Barren Lands of the far North, but in many of the
southerly latitudes, they have been practically exterminated.
The advent of the rifle on Unalaska Island and on the
Seward Peninsula was followed by the destruction of the
caribou. So long as the Indians were compelled to hunt with
bows and arrows, the caribou were allowed to reproduce their
kind and keep pace with the natural consumption. The In
dians wantonly slaughtered many thousands of these valuable

166 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
animals for the mere joy of killing, and the result was dis
astrous to the animals and the Indians as well. Not more than
a dozen years ago the writer saw about 4,000 fawn " reindeer "
skins, really young caribou, on the Yukon. " Unborn rein
deer " coats, made from the skins of fawn caribou, were sold
by the thousands in Alaska a few years ago, and these coats
meant the wiping out of many thousands of female caribou.
Professor Vilhjalmar Stefansson, who recently discovered a
new race of blond Eskimos in the far North, when discussing
with the writer the modes of living of these people, expressed
the opinion that the introduction of rifles among them would
mean their extermination, because it would result in the an
nihilation of the caribou herds upon which they subsist.
The caribou travel in a graceful trot, rocking from side to
side as they run, and, unless of necessity, never change their
gait. Their antlers average twenty points and are very grace
ful in contour. In their migrations they range as far south
as British Columbia and as far north as the shores of the Arctic
Ocean. They begin their northern journey about the end of
March and return in September and October, usually follow
ing the same route year after year.
Like other wild animals that roam in bands, caribou select
a leader of the herd, and when the hunter succeeds in killing
the chief, he may shoot as many as he wants, for when the
head of the herd falls, the balance become panic-stricken and
" mill " like frightened cattle. Frequently they stampede back
and forth in front of a stand for a day at a time, or until
another animal takes up the lead. If the second leader is
killed, they become more excited and terrified than before.
By picking off the leaders, a herd can be held within rifle
range until the last animal is shot.
Although not so large, the caribou is a much prettier and
more graceful animal than the moose, and they are less cun-

HUNTING GROUNDS 167
mng — in fact, they are somewhat stupid, and cling to their
feeding grounds in spite of hunters and depredatory animals
till they get ready to leave.
The woodland caribou, is somewhat wild and because of the
protection it receives from the dense foliage in summer, is
more difficult to hunt. The female caribou differs from the
female moose in that the former is endowed with horns, which
it is believed she does not shed in winter.
Other hoofed game in Alaska includes the mountain sheep
and goat. Sheep and goats inhabit the higher altitudes, where
they subsist upon tufts of grass that grow out among the crags
and rocks, sometimes pawing away the snow with their feet,
but often seeking pasture lands on the high points where the
winds keep the ground clear of snow.
The hunter who seeks the sheep and goat trophies must
be endowed with strong lungs and legs, for the animals
usually are found travelling up and down steep hills and
around cliffs which are almost inaccessible to man. To suc
cessfully hunt these animals the best method is to climb high
into the mountains, and hunt downwards. It is futile to ap
proach a flock of sheep or goats from below, because they in
variably have one of their number perched high on a rock where
he keeps a lookout for everything moving below him. When
the sentinel sees or scents danger, he emits a few low, clear
bleats, and the flock scatters to higher and rougher ground, or
hide themselves among the rocks and crags. Their eyesight is
nearly perfect, but they never expect an enemy to approach
them from a high altitude.
Of the two species the goat is the larger, but the meat of the
sheep is the more palatable and epicureans prefer it to domes
ticated mutton. The goats have straight horns, which do not
make handsome trophies.
Neither male nor female ever shed their horns, but the

168 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
head adornment of the male is much larger than that of
his helpmate. The horns of the ram frequently make a full
turn, and the base sometimes measures from thirteen to fifteen
inches in circumference. The fleece, when full grown, is
almost perfectly white, and, for this reason, they are difficult
to hunt in winter. Although, more like hair than wool, the
coats of the mountain sheep make an excellent robe.
Of the fur-bearing animals, the bear is easily the largest.
His domain is from the southernmost to the northernmost parts
of Alaska. In Southeastern Alaska the black bear is the more
common, while around Southwestern Alaska the brown bear
has his being. Another variety of brown bear known as the
Kadiak, has its habitat on Kadiak Island; the silver tip, or
grizzly, lives along the coast and in the interior; the glacial
bear inhabits the glacial moraines; and the polar bear lives
among the ice floes of the Arctic Ocean and occasionally in
Bering Sea. Any of these animals is capable of giving an in
teresting battle. All will fight desperately when wounded,
and there are instances on record, where all of the families,
with the exception of the black and glacial bear, have opened
the attack. When an unarmed prospector meets a bear on
the trail, he regards it as being in conformity with the best
usages of wilderness society, particularly in the mating season,
to give Bruin the right-of-way.
There is scarcely a native village on Cook's Inlet or the
Alaska Peninsula that does not contain at least one man who
has been mauled by a brown or grizzly bear. On the Alaska
Peninsula two men have met death and five have been crippled
within the five years, ending in 1912.
At Seldovia, in 191 1, a mate of a fishing schooner, while in
a state of undue exhilaration resulting from a too-frequent in
dulgence in "hoochinoo," became imbued with the idea" that
he was another " white hope." He could fight, too, — a fact

HUNTING GROUNDS 169
which he demonstrated by beating up a couple of miners. His
victories, in a way, were the cause of his undoing.
Chained to a big tree was a three-year-old brown bear,
which its owner had raised from a cub. It attracted the at
tention of the brawling mariner.
" I can lick anything with hair on," he declared, and walk
ing up to the animal, struck it savagely on the nose with his
fist. In the fraction of a second the air was filled with bear
claws and teeth and in the flash of an eyelash the sailor was
laid low. One man ran for a rifle, but another with greater
presence of mind, picked up a peavy and began prodding at
the bear's head. The infuriated animal stood up to fight off
its new assailant, and thus gave excited onlookers an oppor
tunity to drag the unconscious sailor out of the danger zone.
A few carefully directed rifle shots subdued Bruin's fighting
spirit. The sailor, severely slashed and bitten, was charged
with insanity before the United States Commissioner. The
jury, without leaving their seats, adjudged him guilty and he
was committed to the lunatic asylum in which Alaska's insane
are confined, at Mount Tabor, Oregon.
The bear, wolf, wolverine, and eagle are regarded as the
great destroyers of Alaskan game, and Alaskan prospectors,
irrespective of the game laws, wage an unceasing war of ex
termination upon them.
Brown and Silver-tip bears are highly prized by hunters, but
the glacial bear, because of its finer fur is considered one of the
most valuable specimens of the genus Ursus. Polar bears, as
has been stated, are found only far to the northward of the
Aleutian Islands. To hunt polar bears successfully, one must
leave Nome early in the spring and follow the ice fields in
their northward journey into the Arctic. If the wind blows
from the westward, the bears are carried across the Northern
Ocean towards Alaska on the ice floes, and one or more gen-

1 7b ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
erally will be seen in a hunt of a few days. In any event, the
hunter in this region is fairly sure of some good sport in walrus
hunting. Captain Louis L. Lane of Nome who, it is believed, has
killed more polar bears than any other living white man, is
authority for the statement that this animal never leaves the
ice. It does not hole up in winter as do all other members
of the bear family, but by following the ice pack, subsists on
seal and fish. Only on very rare occasions are these animals
found in Bering Sea, but a trip into the Arctic, near the coast
of Siberia, is usually productive of a successful polar bear hunt.
The Siberian grizzly, a bear indigenous to the coast of Siberia,
also is found in large numbers along the Arctic shore of the
Czar's Easterly water-front. The Siberian bears are small and
their skins have little value.
Bears are protected by the game laws in Alaska, but may be
killed at all seasons of the year in the adjoining Canadian
territory. Much resembling a miniature bear in appearance is the wol
verine, whose black coat and orange coloured sides give one
the idea of a colossal skunk. The wolverine is very shy and
about the size of a yearling cub. They are said to be the
strongest wild animal of their size. Usually they live on car
rion, but they are rarely too timid to take a chance on their
lives by stealing from a prospector's cache.
Driven from British Columbia by the bounty hunters, there
are many wolves in the territory, and during the past eight
or ten years they have practically exterminated the small deer
in Southeastern Alaska. The passage of a law in 1912 pro
viding for a bounty on these animals in Alaska, probably will
reduce their numbers.
Next in shyness to the wolverine is the lynx, a variety of
cat, whose coat of soft grey seems to be a part of the brush

HUNTING GROUNDS 171
through which he bounds on all fours. His principal food is
rabbits and small birds.
The gamest and most courageous animal for its size
in Alaska is the little stoat, or ermine. Smaller than an or
dinary-sized ferret, this little fellow has the strength and ability
to slay an Arctic hare or rabbit many times his size, and will
carry off frozen fish heavier and larger than himself. In win
ter his coat, except for the tip of the tail, turns snow white.
The rabbit, like the ptarmigan, changes his colour to suit his
environment. During the summer season bunny wears slaty
grey fur, but as winter approaches this changes to snow white.
A peculiarity of the Alaskan rabbit family is that every seven
years they apparently disappear. When rabbits are plentiful,
moose and other animals are scarce. It is generally supposed
that the rabbits die off every seven years, but the writer offers
the opinion that they migrate to other parts of the country.
In a winter spent at the headwaters of the Francis River, in
British Columbia, the writer noticed that while there were
hundreds of moose in one section of the country, there were
no rabbits. During the winter season it was necessary to
travel down the river about sixty miles, where several hunters
and trappers were encamped. They reported an utter absence
of moose, but an abundance of rabbits. It is probable that
rabbits have the same effect on moose grounds that geese have
on a field where cattle are grazed. The bovine has an antip
athy to eating the grass in a pasture that has been walked over
by a flock of geese.
The fox family in Alaska is represented by four varieties — ¦
the red, cross, silver-grey and black, or blue. Their habits are
too well known to need detailed description here. Squirrels,
rabbits and different species of grouse form their chief food
supply. Besides the lynx, fox, mink, otter and bear there are many

172 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN" THE MAKING
fur-bearing animals in Alaska, but the most valuable of these
is the marten, or American sable, which can be found in nearly
all parts of the territory. In isolated sections a few beaver are
sometimes found.
The whistling marmot and many other kinds of squirrels
are very numerous in the territory, and so also are ground hogs
and porcupines.
Crane, ducks, geese, swan, plover, snipe, curlew, brant, and
ten different species of wild ducks can be found on practically
all of the streams and lakes in the territory. There are five
varieties of grouse and two varieties of ptarmigan. The
feathers of the latter bird are analogous to the fur of the
rabbit and ermine, changing from a rich tortoise-shell colour
in the summer to a beautiful, creamy white, very slightly
blended with shell rose, in winter.
On the ground these birds are extremely difficult to see,
especially in winter, when the only thing visible against the
glaring whiteness of the snow is the slight dark rim that
encircles the eye. Their summer plumage is a slaty grey com
bined with tortoise-shell, which seems to fit in with the
brown moss and green leaves. Except in mating season, they
are quite approachable, and one may kill them with rocks or
crawl up and knock them from willow trees with long sticks.
In mating season the female birds are very cunning. Their
nests, made on the ground, amongst the moss and brush, are
well hidden. If a man approaches the nest, the hen does
not move till he is within two or three steps of it. Then,
with tail feathers straggling and one wing hanging down as
though broken, she excitedly flutters and hops away, giving an
excellent imitation of a bird that has been severely wounded.
Always she travels just fast enough to keep out of reach, but
when sufficiently distant from the nest — at a point where she
thinks the enemy will be unable to discover it again — she

HUNTING GROUNDS 173
mounts into the air and gracefully soars out of sight, after
wards circling back to her home. If a hunter disturbs a ptar
migan when her chickens have been hatched, the ground ap
pears for a moment to be covered with animated balls of down
moving in every possible direction, but, like a flash, they seem
to melt into the brush and moss, and search as one will, it is
only very rarely that one of them can be found. In the mean
time, the mother gives an exhibition of well-simulated pain,
and by her flutterings and hoppings, does everything possible
to attract the attention of the intruder to herself.
Both varieties of. ptarmigan grow long hair-like feathers
completely down their legs to the very tip of their claws in
winter as a protection against the severe cold of the climate
in which they live.
In a country so full of game as is Alaska, it is only natural
that birds of prey are very numerous, and amongst these, the
two species of eagle — the bald and the golden — are the
greatest destroyers of game. These birds levy a fearful toll
on the squirrels, rabbits, mice, ptarmigan, grouse and other
small animals and birds. There are several varieties of owls
including the Richardson; the great grey, or Arctic; the short-
eared, the snowy, the horned and the pigmy, the latter about
the size of a bluejay. Although carnivorous in their instincts,
these are not so destructive as eagles.
Another bird of prey is the jay, or camp-robber, called by
the Indians for obvious reasons, the " Hudson Bay Bird."
This bird is extremely impertinent, and will pick at a ham or
a piece of meat, even though it be attached to the tent. Be
sides these there are ten different varieties of hawks and any
number of ravens and crows.
Great multitudes of small birds can be found on all sides.
They include one or more varieties of robins, jays, tomtits,
rufus-hummers, blue-birds, swallows, martens, sand-pipers,

174 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
sparrows, snow-birds, linnets, and many others peculiar to the
Arctic. Speaking broadly one may hunt any part of Alaska and be
reasonably sure of finding good sport, but the better places, of
course, are where the least hunting has been done. Except
for a lack of caribou, there is perhaps no better hunting ground
in North America than on Kenai Peninsula. An excellent
hunting ground offering almost every variety of game can be
reached by crossing Scolai Pass from the interior end of Copper
River and Northwestern Railroad to the head of White River.
The Kuskokwim, the Susitna, the Tanana and many other
streams in Alaska, because of their extreme fertility offer
splendid hunting grounds, and another good place is around the
base of Mount McKinley,1 the highest mountain on the North
American continent, and one which has yet to be conquered.
The climate of Alaska is about as varied as its game, and
apart from the sport to be obtained in the hunting fields, a
few weeks in the bracing, invigourating atmosphere is a good
tonic for tired nerves. The herds of game do not exist in
such quantities that one may shoot the limit of one's license in
a day or two, and the hunter who goes to Alaska expecting to
1 Captain Cook, of North pole fame — or inf ame, — claimed to have
ascended this mountain. Men who were at the base of the mountain
at the time say that it would have been impossible for him to have
done so in the time at his disposal, and the photographs which he
showed as being the top of the mountain later were proven to have
been taken on top of a hill less than 8,000 feet above sea level.
Thomas Lloyd and a party of three other miners, of Fairbanks, climbed
to what they thought was the topmost peak of the mountain, but it
was later discovered in igiz by Herschell Parker and Bellmore Brown
that there was a still higher peak further to the Northward. Brown
and Parker were within a few hundred feet of the top of this peak
when they were overtaken by a blizzard and had to " hole up " for
three days, during which time they ran out of food. They were com
pelled to hasten back to their camp lower down the mountain side as
soon as the storm subsided.

THREE LITTLE BEARS UP A TREE. THE PROSPECTOR REFUSED
TO YIELD THE TRAIL, A FIGHT FOLLOWED, AND THEN A
MAN WITH A RIFLE APPEARED. THE SHE-BEAR LIES DEAD
AT THE FOOT OF THE TREE

HUNTING GROUNDS _75
secure many valuable trophies without working hard and skil
fully for them is destined to be disappointed.
In the higher altitudes sharp, frosty weather can be depended
upon, and the nights almost are invariably cool enough to make
a good blanket or robe, with a rubber or canvas sheet beneath
it, acceptable. A small cooking outfit, of course, is essential,
but it is well to reduce the weight of everything to a minimum,
and, while not leaving behind anything that will deprive one
of ordinary comforts, a large outfit is not recommended. Good
woollen underwear should be worn, and a couple of Denham
or khaki suits, with plenty of pockets in the coats, are about all
that is necessary for bodily comfort. The coat should be made
so that a sweater can be worn underneath. If knickerbockers
are worn they should be made very loose and not buttoned or
laced at the knee, as one requires perfect freedom for climbing,
especially when in pursuit of mountain sheep or goats. In
footwear a few pair of thick woollen socks, and low shoes, oil-
tanned, of medium weight, but the soles of which should be
sufficiently thick to carry a few caulks or heavy nails, will
suffice. In the coastal regions, because of heavy precipitation,
oilskins are a necessity and gum boots or thigh waders will be
found convenient.
A good, high-power rifle is essential. The 30.30 is heavy
enough for the smaller bear and moose, but, in order to make
certain of a killing when hunting caribou or the larger varieties
of bear, a rifle of higher shocking force is necessary, and one
of the various makes of 30.40 or a weapon still stronger is
recommended. The caribou, although smaller and lighter
than the moose, has much greater vitality; and the capacity of
the silver tip, Kadiak, brown, polat and glacial bears to assimi
late lead without immediate apparent reduction of strength or
ferocity, is marvellous. Occasionally a big bear of the varieties
mentioned has been killed at the first shot, but this does not

176 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
happen very often. Therefore, the hunter will find it to his
advantage to take a high-power rifle and make it answer all
purposes by shooting steel-jacketed bullets when hunting com
paratively small game and soft-nosed bullets for the hardier
kinds. There are many different brands of rifles, nearly all
of which give excellent results.
Each sportsman has a predilection for a rifle that suits his
own particular fancy. Smokeless powder cartridges, of course,
are almost universally used. Personally, the writer prefers one
of the recently created high power rifles, such as the Mannlicker
or the Ross, yet in a hunt for big game that lasted nearly a
year and a half, and during a large portion of which time when
the life of everybody in the party depended upon the aggregate
ability of the members to pull quickly and shoot straight, I
obtained excellent service from an old .45 calibre Winchester,
carrying a ball about the size of a man's thumb and shooting
ninety grains of black powder. I had seen a moose killed at
a distance of 1,182 snowshoe steps, approximately 1,200 yards,
with a 30.30 Winchester, but experience taught me to have
a very kindly regard for that old, black-powder " gun." It
weighed about fourteen pounds and, at the end of a long day's
walk, I often felt as though I had been carrying a small cannon
on my shoulder, but, to use a sporting phrase, " it brought home
the bacon."
In addition to a high-power rifle, a shot-gun or a small
calibre rifle should be taken for birds and small game, and some
good fishing tackle is necessary.
The trout in Alaska streams are as fickle as in other places.
Frequently they will take a spoon bait, if it is allowed to spin
in the riffles. If they have any preference in flies, it is for the
professor but they often strike at royal coachmen and brown
and black hackles. The greyling take brown and black hackles,
coachmen, royal coachmen, and black and grey gnats. For

HUNTING GROUNDS 177
all purposes, the coachmen and hackles will be found the most
serviceable. The greyling seem to have a preference for a
fly that has only a moderate amount of red in it. A can or
two of specially-prepared salmon eggs will be found useful.
Because of the frost in winter, there are very few angle worms
in Alaska, and grasshoppers are not abundant. Whether
worms would make a good bait is an experiment that, I think,
has yet to be tried. A number of spare hooks should be taken,
as one can often catch both trout and greyling with a bait
when they will not strike at a spoon or other lure. For bait a
small piece of meat, a fish-eye, or a piece of the giblet of any
of the many birds, usually gives excellent results. Salmon
eggs, however, are the bait that can be most depended upon.
The season for fishing is open all through the year, but the
general big game hunting season opens on August 1. It is
better to get into the territory the latter part of July, so that
a few days' angling for King salmon may be enjoyed along the
coast before the game season opens.
Because of the fact that the caribou herd in the Kenai Pen
insula was destroyed, Congress made that region a semi-game
preserve, and insisted on each hunter in this section being ac
companied by a licensed and registered guide. While a guide
will add z good deal to the pleasure of the trip, the law —
with the exception above noted — does not make it incumbent
upon the hunter to take one unless he so desires. Every hunter
must procure a license which is obtainable only from the gov
ernor of Alaska at Juneau and which is good only during the
year it is issued. The fee is fifty dollars to American citizens
and one hundred dollars to aliens. There is, of course, a pro
vision in the law which provides that miners, prospectors and
settlers may kill any kind of game at any season of the year
for food, but it is unlawful for any person to kill a cow or
yearling moose, or for any one person to kill in any one year

178 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
more than the number specified of each of the following ani
mals: Two moose, one walrus or sea lion, three caribou, three
mountain sheep, three brown bears, or to kill in any one day
more than twenty-five grouse, ptarmigan, shore-birds or water
fowl. At any point to the northward of latitude sixty-two degrees
brown bear may be killed at any time, and, as the animals are
considered destroyers of game, prospectors in this region take
full advantage of this clause in the law. Moose, caribou,
walrus, mountain sheep and sea lions may be killed from August
I to December io, both inclusive. Southward of latitude
sixty-two degrees, moose, caribou and mountain sheep may be
killed from August 20 to December 31, both inclusive; brown
bear from October 1 to July 1, both inclusive; deer and moun
tain goats from April 1 to February 1, both inclusive; grouse,
ptarmigan, shore-birds and waterfowl from September 1 to
March 1, both inclusive.
Each license entitles the holder to ship the number of trophies
allowed under the law. The Secretary of Agriculture is au
thorised to modify the closed seasons, providing different closed
seasons for different parts of Alaska, and placing further re
strictions and limitations upon the killing of game for a period
not exceeding two years in any one locality.

CHAPTER XV
FISHING AS AN INDUSTRY AND SPORT
Salmon-canning business alone annually repays to the people of the
United States, twice the amount that was paid to Russia for the
entire Territory — Like gold mining, the business has its romance
of failure and success — Good sport for anglers in Northern
streams.
IF placed end. to end, the cans of salmon packed in Alaska
in 191 1 would make a chain 9,918 miles long. It would
reach from Manila to New York and some distance be
yond into the Atlantic Ocean. The pack amounted to 134,-
500,000 cans. The value was a little more than $16,000,000.
More than $25,000,000 is invested in the cannery business.
Secretary William H. Seward, when drawing up the treaty
which ceded Alaska to the United States, demonstrated great
foresight by inserting the provision that " the waters that sur
round the land " be included in the transfer. Fishes taken
from these waters every year repay to the United States more
than twice the amount that was paid for the entire territory
— and this from the salmon alone. It takes no account of the
halibut, cod, whalebone, sealskins, herrings, crabs, and other
products of Alaskan waters, and all of which form a very im
portant item in the world's affairs. In 19 10 more than 15,000
persons were employed in the salmon industry alone. The sta
tistics for 191 1 and 1912 are not available as this is written,
but there is no doubt that the number has been greatly in
creased. Of the people employed in 1910, 6,836 were whites,
4,147 Indians, 2,411 Chinese, 2,206 Japanese, 4 Koreans, and
.16 Filipinos. The general consensus of opinion is that, in
179

180 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
later years, the proportions of whites and Indians were increased.
From its southernmost to its northernmost limits, the seas
of Alaska are one immense aquatic farm. " There are just as
good fish in the sea as ever was caught," is an aphorism, and
also, there are just as good salmon sites left in Alaska as those
that already have been segregated from the government domain.
So far none of the canners have gone above Bristol Bay, but
salmon swim as far north as the Arctic Ocean. In Salt Lake,
near Teller, just below Cape Prince of Wales, the writer has
seen salmon so plentiful that, apparently, there was not room
enough in the water for the vast horde, and they pushed each
other out on the banks.
Many fish prospectors, in the summer of 1912, located fishing
sites from Bristol Bay as far north as the mouth of the Kuskok-
wim and Yukon Rivers, and as time goes on, they will advance
even further north.
Except the rush of fortune hunters of California in the early
fifties and the big trek of gold seekers to the Klondike and
Alaska in the late nineties, no phase of Western life has been
invested with more fascinating romance and dramatic incident
than the beginning and development of the salmon industry
on the Alaskan Pacific. What Bret Harte did for the Cali
fornia gold hunters, Rex Beach in his " Silver Horde " did
for the salmon fishermen. The lure of gold never was more
dazzling to the prospector for the yellow metal than the " end
of the rainbow " to the prospector for red salmon. The gold
yield of Alaska in 191 2 was not very much greater in value
than the salmon output.
" The Pacific salmon are the most valuable fishes not only
of the United States, but also of the entire Western Hemi
sphere," wrote Dr. Hugh Smith, assistant United States com
missioner of fisheries, in a recent report. " With the single
exception of sea herrings, Pacific salmon are commercially the

FISHING AS AN INDUSTRY AND SPORT 181
leading fishes in the world. The salmon have in fact been
Alaska's most valuable contribution to the world's needs, ex
ceeding in abundance and importance those of any other re
gion." Alike has the history of the seeker of golden metal and the
seeker of silver-sided fishes been marked with its grim tragedies.
Success in one has been about in the same proportion as success
in the other. It is claimed by the miner that the gold taken
out of the ground is the cleanest money extant — that it has
no blood upon it, that it has made no man poorer and caused
no heartsickness and poverty. But this also is true of the fish
farmer, for he adds to the world's food supply and helps to
alleviate the hunger and poverty which the Scriptures say
" shall be with us always."
Both are surrounded by the elements of chance. Both have
their failures and successes. At one time or another the Alaska
Packers' Association owned forty-four canneries in Alaska.
Now this company, once leader of the territory, operates but
fourteen. In 1902 there were twenty-seven canneries in
Southeastern Alaska. In that same year and the succeeding
years, two-thirds of the number went into the hands of re
ceivers. Years of high prices always create a rush to the salmon field
such as is now in progress, and these stampedes invariably are
followed by periods of depression and financial disaster.
Profits are great when the catch is big and the prices high, but
this condition does not prevail always.
The salmon canning industry in Alaska had its beginning
almost with the history of the territory so far as American
enterprise be concerned, and was coincident with the first dis
coveries of gold. The first canneries were built in 1878.
Gold was discovered near Sitka the same year and at Juneau
two years later. The first stamp mill installed in Alaska was

1 82 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
erected at the Stuart mine near Sitka in 1880. In 1882 two
more canneries were built, and others were added in the suc
ceeding years till 1888, at which time there were seventeen
canneries in operation in Alaska, and the output in that year
was 412,000 cases. The value of the Alaskan salmon pack,
even at this early date, totalled millions and attracted national
attention. Consumers of salmon, as a general rule, especially those
living on the Atlantic Coast, are not generally aware that there
is a generic difference between the salmon of the Atlantic and
the salmon of the Pacific. The Atlantic salmon is of the genus
salmo salar, and there is but one kind. The fish is of a uni
form reddish colour and the mature fish of uniform size and
weight. The Pacific salmon is of the genus oncorhyncus and there
are five distinct varieties. Eliminating the Latin names, which
are interesting only to naturalists, these are: King or spring
salmon, known also on the Columbia River as chinook; sock-
eye, blueback or red salmon; the cohoe, silver, tyee or medium
red, according to the locality in which they are taken; the
humpback or pink salmon, and the dog or chum salmon. Still
another variety 'is found in Pacific waters on the coast of
Japan, but it has no commercial importance worth mention
ing. Another very distinct difference between the Atlantic and
Pacific salmon is that the former, after spawning in fresh
water, returns to the sea while the Pacific salmon, after making
arrangements for a myriad reproduction of its kind, dies.
Once it leaves the feeding grounds in the salt water it takes
no food, and in fact, is believed to become physically incapable
of taking food. On rare occasions, however, a silver salmon
of the male sex playfully will grab for a trout fly. With the
exception of the sockeye, pink and chum salmon, all of the

ALASKA'S SEAS AND STREAMS TEEM WITH FISH. HALIBUT
CAUGHT IN CORDOVA BAY ; AND A DAY'S CATCH OF RAIN
BOW TROUT AT SEWARD

FISHING AS AN INDUSTRY AND SPORT 183
varieties will snap at a trolling spoon before entering fresh
water. The people of the eastern portion of the United States are
not the only ones who are ignorant of the difference in the
salmon species. A Pacific Coast canneryman in 1912 received
a letter from the United States vice-consul at Liverpool, who
asserted that British food manufacturers had complained to
him that much of the canned salmon shipped into Great Britain
from Alaska was not salmon, and that the cans had been
filled with " a species of fish known as the sockeye." The
sockeye, as has been pointed out, is one of the high-grade sal
mon. The vice-consul was very indignant at this alleged
fraud, and expressed the opinion that the Britishers were justi
fied in their complaints.
As those engaged in the canning industry do considerable
business in foreign markets, it necessarily follows that they have
much correspondence with the United States consuls. A'
Pacific-coast canneryman some time ago wrote a letter to a vice-
consul in Germany. Not having any German postage stamps
and knowing that United States stamps would be valueless in
that country, and yet wishing to enclose the amount of postage
for a reply, the canneryman wrapped a ten-cent piece in the
letter. He received the information desired, and at the bottom
of the letter was a postscript in which it was stated that the
law of the United States prohibited employes of the consular
service from accepting gratuities, and that the dime, therefore,
was returned with thanks and best wishes.
Pacific salmon life is one of the unsolvable mysteries. How
does the salmon fry find its way to the feeding grounds in the
salt sea? Where does it learn to return again to the parent
stream, or one contiguous thereto, as it has been proven that
many of them do? Where are the feeding grounds of the vast
hordes of salmon that come up yearly from their home in the

184 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
mighty deep? How far do they travel going or coming?
What do they live upon? Nobody knows. Even Rex Beach,
the human tarpon, who is said to be able to talk the fish lan
guage and who is said to have fins growing under his shirt,
answers with only a silent shake of his head, and mutters, " It's
too deep for me."
The salmon domain is almost incalculable in its immensity.
They range all the way from Monterey, Cal., as far north
ward as the Arctic Ocean and even as far easterly on " the top
of the world " as the Mackenzie River, on the American side,
and from Japan to the northernmost streams of Siberia on the
Asiatic seaboard of the Pacific. It generally is believed that
the young of salmon lay off the continental plateau at a depth
of about ioo fathoms and find their feeding grounds there.
Just what they feed upon never has been ascertained, but all
species of salmon, with the exception of the chum when the
old home movement is at its zenith — shortly before they reach
the river mouths — will snap at a spoon troll with avidity.
Trolling for King salmon is developing into one of the indus
tries. With the exception of those caught near the confluence
of the rivers with salt water, the salmon — like the shad, her
ring, mackerel and other migratory fishes — is never found at
sea. They simply vanish.
" When salmon go to sea, that is the last we see of them,"
experts declare. But when the on-shore invasion commences,
it is the consensus of expert piscatorial opinion, it begins to the
westward along the Aleutian Islands, because there they are
found in the early part of May. The King salmon comes first
and they are followed by the sockeye or red salmon. Soon
thereafter they appear in Cook's Inlet and Prince William
Sound. Further south in the vicinity of Icy Strait, salmon appear be
tween June io and June 15. At Wrangell, Karta Bay, and

FISHING AS AN INDUSTRY AND SPORT 185
Ketchikan, the sockeyes appear in July, and still later along the
coast of British Columbia.
The King is followed by the run of red or sockeye. The
humpbacks run early in July, while the cohee, or silver, sal
mon is the autumn fish. The run of " dog " salmon varies in
different localities.
The stranger, who knows nothing of the habits of the sal
mon, invariably can tell from a distance when the run has
commenced because, of the number of gulls that hover over the
bars and riffles of the streams, picking at the eyes of the fishes.
Red or sockeye come first in point of commercial value, pink
or humpback second, and the others are a negligible quantity.
Not more than 40,000 cases of King salmon were canned in
191 1, but many thousands of pounds of this fish — the product
of the angler with a trolling spoon — were put up in mild
cure pickle. These were shipped in cold storage to Seattle,
thence to the European markets. Reports indicate that the
run of King salmon was destroyed in a few places in 191 2 by
the fall of volcanic ash from Mount Katmai, but these reports
have not been authenticated.
Western Alaska produces five-sixths of the red salmon out
put. Southeastern Alaska is the native habitat of the pink
salmon, which is one of the most valuable of chief food prod
ucts. Pink, or humpback salmon, constitute two-thirds of
the pack of Southeastern Alaska. By those most familiar with
its qualities it is regarded as the most delicate and the most
nutritious of Alaska salmon.
It has the delicate pink colour of the delicious brook trout
and is not surpassed in flavour by any species of fresh-water
fish taken in Alaska or elsewhere. When cooked they lose
their rich colour and this lack of colour, which in nowise af
fects their food value nor their succulency nor flavour, never
theless, controls the market price, the value of salmon being

1 86 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
graded according to colour in the order of red, medium red,
pink and pale. The difference in the nutrition of the list is
very slight.
It is easily apparent from a chemical analysis that the vari
ation in the amount of protein — the flesh and muscle-produc
ing, life-sustaining element — is very slight in the various
grades; that in this particular, cohoe or medium red and the
chum salmon are more valuable than the supposedly high-grade
red salmon, and that the pink or humpback is within a very
small fraction of being just as rich as the sockeye. The latter
is much richer in the fats alone.
Why does colour become such an important factor in the
salmon market, when it contributes absolutely nothing to the
food value or the flavour of the fish? Because colour is a
fetich. A long time ago somebody said the world was flat,
and it remained flat until someone else proved it was round.
Also a long time ago somebody said that red fish were better in
food values than lighter coloured ones, and so it will remain
until the knowledge that the opposite has been proved becomes
generally disseminated.
The preference for the high-coloured fish is a prejudice in
herited from the mother countries and the states bordering on
the Atlantic Ocean. There's no place in the world as great
as New York, and there isn't anything of any kind that is as
good as that produced in New York — if one takes the word
of some of the people of New York for it. Salmon were dis
covered in the Hudson River many- years before Lewis and
Clark descended the Columbia. Of course it couldn't be pos
sible that the salmon in the Columbia had the same amount
of food value as the salmon in the Hudson. The difference in
the colour proved it.
The Atlantic salmon is a red fish, but the Pacific salmon
vary in colour from the blood-red of the sockeye to the pale

FISHING AS AN INDUSTRY AND SPORT 187
anemic-looking, but more nutritious, chum, or " dog " salmon.
All salmon look alike to a majority of the consumers, but there
is an impression with the trade that superiority or inferiority
is determined entirely by the intensity of the carmine in the
flesh tinting.
Not only is the " dog " salmon unfortunate in its lack of
pleasing colour, but it has a repellent name, and everybody
knows the old adage about the canine with a sinister cognomen.
Where this fish obtained its ill-favoured title is not known def
initely. It has been known by that name from the time gold-
seekers first came to the coast. In the dawning history of the
Northwest, great quantities of this fish were dried and they
furnished the bulk of the staple food for hunters and trappers
on the Pacific Coast — and also for their dogs, for there were
no " canned goods " in those days and " embalmed beef " was
an unknown quantity. Even to-day in the northern latitudes
this fish is put up in large quantities by the Indians and fed to
the dogs universally used for the transportation of supplies and
the haulage of burdens over the snow by sled. Hence the use
of the name. The King or sockeye salmon is not so easily pre
served by drying, and frequently it becomes musty and spoiled.
The Indians prefer " dog " salmon as an article of food to
any other fish that swims in the icy waters of the North. The
Eskimos always keep on hand a large supply for themselves
and their dogs. The Japanese and Orientals, who also know
of its excellent food value, prefer it to any other kind of
salmon. " Dog " salmon is the best kind of freezing fish and
it brings good prices in the eastern markets. It is outclassed
in the canned salmon market solely because of its unfortunate
name and colour. The colour fetish, like other superstitions,
dies hard. Not so very long ago one of the most celebrated
naturalists in America declared that the light colour of many
chinook, or King, salmon was due to the fact that they had

1 88 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
deteriorated or spawned, and it was only when absolutely con
vinced to the contrary that he changed his mind.
A big fleet of vessels is engaged to carry the salmon fisher
men and their equipment to Alaska. Except when the salmon
are running, the canneries, save for a watchman or two, are
deserted. For ten or eleven months everything about the can
nery buildings seems lifeless, but suddenly on a summer day in
June, when each breath of the fresh and invigourating atmos
phere seems to give a new span of life, the first vessel of the
fleet arrives. The long silence of the winter is broken — the
city of a few days has sprung into active being. Indians
gather from miles around, and in the Southeastern waters, pas
senger vessels discharge a horde of Chinese, Japanese and white
fishermen. They separate into their various villages — for
fishermen are very clannish. Usually they do not wait long in
idleness. So well known are the habits of the salmon, that
by the time the boats are launched, the nets straightened out and
the fishing gear made ready, the " silver horde " is in sight.
Natives bring the news that swarms of fish are returning
to the rivers that gave them birth — the streams from which
they emerged four years previously as tiny fry. Impelled by
the irresistible call of Nature, they come in countless millions
to propagate their kind, and when this, their last task, is com
pleted, to die. Their four-year cruise in unknown seas is
ended. The sea seems alive with them. Their silvery backs
and sides glint and flash in the sunlight, like the bayonets of
an army, as they jump playfully in the water.
On theTshore everybody becomes feverishly active. The run
has commenced and the toilers on sea and the workers on land
must make the most of the season of four weeks. Sailing craft
tack here and there, tugs and launches sputter out into the bay,
and hundreds of small craft, from the Indian canoe to the big
surf boat, dot the waters. Each fisherman works as fast as

FISHING AS AN INDUSTRY AND SPORT 189
he can to secure a large share of the spoils. Every kind of
trap is used, from the primitive spear of the Indian and the
troll of the fisher of King salmon, to the huge seine nets which
can be operated only by powerful tugs.
Barges loaded with fish are rushed to the wharves, and still
wriggingly alive, they are thrown out by men who use a one-
tined fork. The fish pass into the clutches of a machine known
as the " Iron Chink," an indescribably intricate mixture of
clanking wheels and shafts and whirling knives, that works
with almost human ingenuity. When the salmon leave the
machine, they are cleaned of every speck of blood and viscera
and every fin has been eliminated. The waste and offal is
dropped through a chute into the sea, and above the' discharge
point the air is populous with gulls, cormorants and other birds
which have gathered from far and near to reap their share of
the profits that come when the salmon is doomed to death —
whether by the hand of man or by the immutable law of Na
ture that placed its span of life at four years. The birds,
squawking and screaming, fight and wrangle with each other
over the proceeds.
From the calloused maw of the ingenious " Iron Chink,"
the cleaned fish, cut into pieces, pass into a revolving chain of
trays — one fish to each tray — that works something after
the manner of a miniature bucket dredge. The pieces of fish
are carried to a point where a great rammer-like contrivance,
known as a " filler," plunges back and forth, and here it is
met by a machine that carries empty cans. As each tinned re
ceptacle comes opposite the ramming machine, it is filled with
salmon, and then proceeds on its way to the soldering room.
Passing a table, the cans are wiped by men to remove any
grease that would prevent the solder from adhering, and a
small piece of tin is placed on the top of each can. Then like
a company of tin soldiers, the cans travel in an orderly row to

igo ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
the soldering machine, which is kept at a white heat by a roar
ing blast furnace. Each can rolls through a trough of molten
solder, and on leaving this groove, it is upended by an ingenious
device and stands bottom up. The cans are then thrust into
a tank of water to ascertain whether they are air-tight. If
any bubbles arise, the punctured vessel is eliminated. The ad
mission of air would cause the salmon to spoil after it is cased.
Also the can would bulge at the top.1
Taken out of their bath of hot water, a crate df cans is
carried on a miniature railroad to a great boiler where the fish
is cooked by steam for two hours at a temperature of 248 de
grees Fahrenheit. Then the rows of cans are shellacked and
labelled by a swarm of workers who are as active as a hive of
bees. In the casing factory, the clatter of hammer and nails
is terrific. It sounds something like a small boiler factory in
action with several steel-riveting machines playing the accom
paniment. The work of preparing and canning the salmon is carried
on with incredible swiftness. Taken from the traps alive and
only as needed at the cannery, the fish are landed at the wharf
before they have expired. From that time till they reach the
point where they spurt forth from the soldering machine in a
steady stream of cans and are placed in the cooking cauldron,
not more than five minutes have elapsed.
Strenuous activity continues at the cannery settlement for
1 In buying canned goods of any kind purchasers will find it to
their advantage to see that both the top and bottom of the can is
perfecly flat or curved slightly inward. If the top of the can is
curved outwards with a bulging appearance, it may be taken for
granted that material within is putrified. Practically all canned goods
are cooked in the cans, after they have been soldered. When the air
within cools it causes the top and sometimes the bottom of the can,
to contract slightly. If the vessel is not air tight the opposite is the
result.

FISHING AS AN INDUSTRY AND SPORT 191
about four weeks, and then one morning the nets come up with
only a very few fish. The next haul will bring not one. The
run is over. The white men begin to idle and devise ways of
spending their money. Some go into the interior and prospect
for the balance of the year. Others join the halibut fleet.
The Chinese gather around a fan-tan table. The Indians go
their various ways; for them the summer has been a long,
profitable holiday. The groaning, creaking winches begin to
load the " silver horde " into ships. The buildings are closed
and watchmen are placed in charge. Tents are struck. Laden
with the treasure of the deep, the ships depart for the south,
the bustling, busy settlement becomes silent and deserted for
another year.
There are three important cannery districts in Alaska, the
Bristol Bay and Western district, the central district and the
Southeastern district. In the two former districts the prin
cipal grade is red salmon, the best known and most popular
salmon on the market. In Southeastern Alaska, while some
reds are packed, the principal product is humpbacks or pinks.
The canneries in this district are much more accessible than in
the others. Most of the supplies and labourers are sent up on
the regular Alaskan steamships rather than in special sailing
ships owned by the cannery companies. Here, too, trap fish
ing is more prevalent and fewer small fishing boats are em
ployed. Aside from the canning enterprises, there are other impor
tant branches of the salmon industry. The salmon pickling
business every year gives employment to several hundred peo
ple. The mild-curing business, which consists of putting the
choice King salmon in a light brine and shipping them by re
frigeration to Europe, in 191 1, employed nearly 1,000 people,
whose product was valued at approximately $250,000. The
dry-salting, smoking and salmon freezing industries also con-

i92 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
tribute their part to the world's supply of nutritious edibles.
Being one of their chief sources of food, the salmon is a
most important factor in the economic affairs of the natives of
Alaska. In Southeastern Alaska, up until recent times, the na
tives used seine nets made of sinew, but latterly they use almost
every contrivance known to the white man, this being par
ticularly true of the natives at Metlakahtla, where they are
part-owners of a fully-equipped, modern cannery.
On the Yukon, Copper and other rivers, in which the water
is not very clear, they use a sort of a scoop net, which is
dragged through the water from the bank of the river or from
a canoe. -Just how they can tell the location of a salmon in
water as thick as ordinary pea soup, is one of the native mys
teries which white men have been unable to solve.
In the far northern country, where from time immemorial the
seal and salmon have been the staple food supplies, the natives
use nets made of sinew.
Split down the backbone, the fish are dried on scaffoldings
which are just high enough to be out of reach of the dogs,
Some few tribes of natives add smoke to the drying qualities
afforded by the sun, and this process improves the flavour. In
order to facilitate the drying process, a few horizontal slits are
cut in the sides of each fish after it is split. These splits
cause the fish to dry in little squares, just about enough for a
nice mouthful.
It is not difficult to tell when one is approaching an Indian
camp during the salmon-drying season — provided one's ol
factory organs are in working order. The smell of the place
differs widely from that of a flower store. The Indians gen
erally are not learned in sanitary science, and leave the offal
and scraps of salmon lying on the beach or river bank where,
if not consumed by the dogs, it soon becomes putrified, and,
therefore, in the summer time, the traveller in Alaska will

FISHING AS AN INDUSTRY AND SPORT 193
find it advisable to approach all Indian camps from up wind.
Whether the Alaskan streams are being depleted is a ques
tion that nobody seems able to decide. Some people, mostly
those who never have seen Alaska and wouldn't know a fish-
trap if they saw one, declare that the industry is being wantonly
sacrificed to the greed of the cannery-men, and they point to
the fact that the Atlantic streams were destroyed by over
fishing. They say that the fish-trap is inimical to the survival
of the industry.
Fish-traps are used wherever available, and . it is claimed
for them that they constitute a scientific method of fishing.
They cannot be used everywhere. Several conditions are re
quired. Essentially a fish-trap must be provided with clear
water, good driving or anchorage ground, and a suitable place
for the passage of fish. They, apparently at least, are not as
destructive of fish life as the opponents of the trap allege.
They preserve the fish alive until needed, and when not re
quired at the cannery they may be liberated unharmed.
Except in a few instances, where the streams in times past
have been fenced or otherwise obstructed, there is no sign of a
general depletion of Alaskan salmon. Many red fish streams
that had been fenced and barricaded by the Indians and Rus
sians in the early history of the packing industry, are now pro
ducing larger quantities of fish than ever before. This is true
of Redoubt River, near Sitka; of Hetta River, on Prince
of Wales Island, and of many others. Several streams, on the
contrary, are not as productive as in former years.
It may be true that the salmon were fished out of the streams
tributary to the Atlantic Ocean, but it would be impossible to
charge the destruction of fish life to overfishing. No provision
was made for repropagation, and much of the destruction no
doubt was due to other influences of civilisation, such as the
pollution of streams by sewage, the offscourings of woollen

194 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
mills, sawdust from lumber mills and other materials which
caused these streams to teem with germs which are totally de
structive of fish life and highly dangerous to human life as
well. It is the consensus of opinion among fishing men who have
studied the canning business, that the streams of Alaska should
be preserved as near as possible to their present natural condi
tions. So long as the clear water remains, there is hope that
the fish will continue to use Alaska for a spawning ground.
The interior valleys of Alaska indubitably will be taken up
as agricultural ground, but, these streams are not important
factors in the fishing industry. It is also within the realm of
reasonable certainty that many large industrial centres will be
established on the coast of Alaska. There is an abundance of
coal and iron along these shores, and the day is within meas
urable distance when these mineral deposits will become im
portant factors in the affairs of the steel industry of the United
States. Just what effect the establishment of steel mills and
ore smelters will have on the salmon fishing industry it is
difficult to determine. Certain it is, that, with the building
of towns in California the fish were driven away from the •
coast of that state, just as their number was diminished in the
Atlantic streams.
There is every hope, however, that in these enlightened days,
the problem of a future supply of salmon in Alaskan waters
will prove reasonably simple. It needs the aid of science — ¦
artificial propagation — to supplement the work of Nature.
The government already maintains two salmon hatcheries in
Alaska, while several are maintained by the cannery owners.
As time goes on the number doubtless will be increased. A
system of hatcheries covering the entire field from Southeastern
Alaska to Bering Sea has been proposed, and there is reason
able hope that Congress will make the appropriations necessary

SALMON FISHING— "IMPELLED BY THE IRRESISTIBLE CALL OF
NATURE, THEY COME IN COUNTLESS MILLIONS TO THE
FRESH WATER STREAMS TO PROPAGATE THEIR KIND, AND,
WHEN THIS LAST TASK IS DONE, TO DIE"

FISHING AS AN INDUSTRY AND SPORT 195
to carry out this plan. No effort should be spared to keep
this Alaskan marine farm in its present state of magnificent
productivity, for the salmon canning industry is one of Amer
ica's best assets.
The halibut industry occupies second place in the commercial
fisheries of Alaska. At present the business is practically re
stricted to Southeastern Alaska, the few fish taken in Central
Alaska being consumed in the towns in that section. This is
almost wholly due to the fact that the present steamship facil
ities of this section of Alaska are inadequate for the handling
of this species as expeditiously as required. Halibut are re
ported from various places in Cook Inlet, from all along the
Alaskan Peninsula and the adjacent islands, and in Prince
William Sound.
In Western Alaska the fish is reported from a number of
places, the natives usually catching and using it for food. The
natives of the Pribilof Islands, when fishing off the islands,
catch numbers of halibut and these are usually very choice
specimens. In Southeastern Alaska halibut appear to be most
abundant in the numerous sounds and straits during the winter
months. Most of the fishing in the protected waters of Southeastern
Alaska has heretofore been done in winter, as the fish were
then most abundant and the prices realised were better than
in the summer when the Puget Sound fleet operates on the
Flattery Banks, off the Washington coast, and brings in fish
in such abundance that the Alaska-caught fish, which have to
be shipped on the steamers plying between Seattle and South
eastern Alaska ports, cannot compete. In 191 1, however, the
New England Fish Company bought and froze all halibut
brought to its Ketchikan plant and as a result a number of
fishermen continued halibut fishing throughout the year.
In summer the fish are scattered considerably, but during

196 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
the winter they school on banks in the waters of Hecate Strait
and off the chain of islands along the coast of British Columbia
and Southeastern Alaska.
Dealers located at Hoonah, Juneau, Douglas, Scow Bay,
Petersburg, Wrangell and Ketchikan handle the fish from the
fishing boats. Scow Bay which is on Wrangell Narrows, about
five miles from its head, is the principal shipping point. Here
are moored several large house scows, floats and barges, along
side of which the fishing boats tie up and deliver their catch,
to be boxed in ice for shipment and put aboard the regular
steamers for Seattle, which pass through the Inland Passage
every few days. The fish are packed with ice in bins aboard
the vessel on the banks. The fishermen furnish their own ice,
which generally is secured from icebergs which have been
broken off from near-by glaciers and are floating around in the
bays, sounds, and straits.
The waters of Southeastern Alaska teem with herring,
which, although a nutritious fish, is manufactured into guano
and also used for halibut bait. In recent years, however, sev
eral tons of herring have been salted down and placed on the
market in competition with the herring from Norway and
the Eastern coast of the United States. In Northwestern
Alaska, several barrels of herring are pickled each year for
local consumption.
Black and rock cod, the latter a vari-coloured fish, can be
hooked in practically all parts of Alaskan waters, and many
thousands of these fishes are shipped to the United States. A
so-called " kelpfish," which resembles a sea-bass generally can
be caught without much trouble near the kelpfields. It is a
gamey fish and offers much more sport than that which can be
derived from lugging sluggish halibut and cod from great
depths. Soft-shell crabs, some of which are called Japanese
sea spiders, abound in Alaskan waters, and the shelving

FISHING AS AN INDUSTRY AND SPORT 197
beaches, when the tide is out, are simply alive with crabs,
clams, cockles, abelones and other shellfish.
The streams and lakes of Alaska are alive with trout of all
varieties, greyling, whitefish and pickerel, while in Lake
Selawik, north of Kotzebue Sound, a fish called " Chee," very
much resembling a white fish in shape and taste, but weighing
from thirty to fifty pounds, can be caught in abundance during
the winter months.
Alaska is a veritable paradise for the angler. The streams
have not been fished out, and one is always sure of a fairly
good day's sport on almost any mountain stream north of
British Columbia.

CHAPTER XVI
TRANSPORTATION AND COMMUNICATION
Transportation a vital problem — Lack of aid to navigation — " The
Flat Creek Limited " — Trunk line railroad a necessity — Bering
River coal fields — Enormous tax on railroads — Government
should lend aid — The government Telegraph system — Alaska's
agricultural possibilities and commerce.
THE years that have passed since Alaska passed into
the possession of the United States have disclosed to
an astonished world its great wealth and wonderful
possibilities. Its auriferous gravels have yielded untold treas
ure; its colonies of seal and other mammals have loaded the
markets with valuable and beautiful furs; its seas have given
up their wealth of food fishes; its barren tundras have pre
sented us the nucleus of the reindeer industry and taught a
lesson in the civilisation of savage tribes; its agricultural pos
sibilities promise returns in excess of all expectation; its un
measured timber areas will furnish wood pulp and lumber
long after other forests have been exhausted; and its undelved
coal mines suggest a national opulence beyond the dreams of
avarice. It has furnished a wealth of material for the novelist
and a paystreak of sensational news for the daily journals into
which the history of the United States is written.
Yet Alaska has many problems and the most essential of so
lution is that of transportation on both land and water. Its
coast-lines are bereft of those aids to navigation which are so
necessary to the safety of the people. In summer months
when the days are long, lighthouses are unimportant, but dur
ing the winter when the nights are long and snowstorms are
198

TRANSPORTATION AND COMMUNICATION 199
frequent, travel by water is a decidedly dangerous undertaking.
Alaska's means of transportation on land are Indian trails,
a comparatively few miles of gravel roads constructed under
the able supervision of the Alaska Roads Commission and
short stretches of railroad.
What is the use of all this wealth in Alaska, if there are
no facilities for bringing it to the markets of the world?
The lack of lighthouses along the coast can be supplied by
small appropriations from the government treasury.
The roads and trails in the interior can partially be reme
died by taxes levied on property in Alaska under the Terri
torial Government law for Alaska passed by Congress shortly
before adjournment in 1912.
The construction of trunk line railroads is the most impor
tant problem with which the territory is confronted. The
coal land question is important, but its greatest importance is
in the effect it will have in furnishing tonnage for a railroad
running from the coast to the interior waterway system — a
road that would make productive the mineral and agricultural
wealth which has been discovered.
Alaska has used almost every known method of transporta
tion. Dog teams haul supplies from the towns to the mines;
horses are utilised on well-beaten trails; reindeer teams, in
some places, carry the mails; every conceivable kind of boat,
from the Eskimo bidarka to the ocean liner, has been used on
the waters; and there are sundry short stretches of railroad,
most of them beginning at tidewater and ending nowhere.
No better illustration of the necessity for a trunk line rail
road in Alaska can be found than in the traction system in
stalled in 191 1 to operate between Iditarod City and Flat
Creek. This railroad is seven miles long, and besides being
one of the Northernmost on the continent, it has other claims
to distinction. The rails are composed of wooden stringers,

20o ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
spiked to a corduroy log road and sheathed with hoop iron.
The motive power is seventeen mules, operated by an engineer
who finds a long whip and sulphurous language more effica
cious than a throttle valve. The " train " covers the distance
from terminal to terminal in two hours on an average trip, al
though on one occasion it made the journey in one hour and
forty-two minutes. On this trip, however, the train was
styled " The Flat, Creek Limited " and an excess fare was
charged. No stops were made along the road, except at such
times as a component part of the locomotive hesitated long
enough to grab a mouthful of the bunch-grass that grows close
to the track in a few isolated places. Being far beyond the
reach of agents of the Interstate Commerce Commission, the
operators of the railroad felt they might with impunity charge
a single fare of $3.00 and $5.00 for a return ticket; and with
out fear of expensive legal complications, fix the freight tariff
at 2\ cents a pound, or $40 a ton for large lots.
The road was opened with appropriate celebration, the driv
ing of the golden spike to join the last connecting rails and
the consumption of vast amounts of alcoholic and maltous
beverages being the leading features of the entertainment.
Prosperous miners are prone to celebrate on the slightest
provocation and, as the Iditarod mines produced nearly $5,000,-
000 in virgin gold that year, the opening of the railroad offered
too good an excuse for the inauguration of festivities to be
wantonly overlooked.
To justify its admission into the blessed company of great
railroad systems, the " train " had not been in operation a week
before it was held up by a gang of highwaymen and $40,000
in gold dust was stolen from the " express car " — an open
truck with collapsible sides ordinarily used for hauling cord-
wood and other freight. But with better fortune than usually
distinguishes the operators of railroads in the United States,

TRANSPORTATION AND COMMUNICATION 201
the bandits who " stuck up " the Iditarod Special were so
energetically pursued by a gang of miners, many of whom were
able sharpshooters, that the robbers were compelled to abandon
their ill-gotten loot. But that is by the way.
The rates charged on this railroad is the proposition to be
considered. It is one that is calculated to arouse the envy of
traffic managers in the States.
" Three dollars for a ride of seven miles and forty dollars
a ton for freight ! Splendid ! Where is the place ? " railroad
operators ask.
And strange as it may appear, the residents of Iditarod do
not denounce the owners of the system as .an avaricious, in
iquitous aggregation of predaceous plutocrats, but regard them
as public benefactors deserving of all the public honours and
encomiums it is possible to bestow upon them.
Before the season of 191 1 closed the road had hauled nearly
4,000 tons of freight to Flat Creek; the miners took joy rides
over the line merely for the purpose of manifesting their ap
preciation, and contracted for the haulage of $40,000 worth of
cord-wood to be delivered in the spring of 1912.
Why these strange conditions? Have these ordinarily in
telligent people become afflicted with Arctic lunacy? Why are
they willing to pay extraordinarily heavy freight and passen
ger rates and hail the men who extort these prices from them
as their deliverers?
The answer is simple. The Iditarod system traverses a
miasmatic tundra bog in which horses sink to their bellies and
which is almost impassable for the man travelling afoot.
Iditarod City, the point of supply, was separated from Flat
Creek and its millions of dollars by this swamp. Supplies —
before the advent of the railroad — were freighted across at
a cost of from five to ten cents the pound and a journey from
the mines to the metropolis was regarded by the miners much

202 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
in the same light as a trip from New York to Astoria was
viewed in the days when the fur companies' agents and savage
tribes were the sole occupants of the territory to the North
west of the Rocky Mountains — one of hardship and vicissi
tude. The Bonanza Mine on Flat Creek, only one of many,
with a small crew of men produced an average of $40,000 per
week in gold dust, after the railroad was installed. Prior to
that time the claim, like many others, was impossible of opera
tion, because of lack of supplies.
This Northern traction system is important — vitally so —
to the hardy discoverers of the Iditarod gold fields, but is im
portant also to the people of the United States, inasmuch as it
demonstrates that what that system did for those frontier
miners and prospectors, a trunk line railroad running from
the coast to the coal fields and thence to the Yukon River will
do for a large number of the people of Alaska.
In the construction of railroads in Alaska, however, whether
the task be done by the government or by private enterprise, it
must be remembered that the work cannot be contemplated
for the accommodation of those engaged in the ephemeral in
dustry of placer mining, but for those engaged in quartz min
ing, agriculture and other lines of permanent endeavour.
For instance, in order to furnish cheap fuel to the United
States navy and the residents of the Pacific Coast, in competi
tion with the California oil fields, the Alaskan product would
not find a very ready sale if the freight rate was the same as
on the Iditarod railroad system — approximately $6.00 per
ton-mile. In order to compete with other fuels, Alaska coal
must be landed to the coast at a rate not to exceed ij cents
a ton-mile, and with a haul of 200 miles from the Matanuska
coal fields to the coast, this, in itself, will place a fairly heavy
charge against the cost of production.
Therefore, the most economical methods of construction

TRANSPORTATION AND COMMUNICATION 203
should be adopted and the shortest route offering the easiest
grades should be selected, and the problem of protecting the
road from attack in the event of war also is worthy of consid
eration. The road should be built to open up the coal fields, and fur
nish transportation to the people resident in the interior of
Alaska. The Bering River coal fields can be reached from Cordova
with a railroad only eighty miles long and running over a flat
country. The same point can be reached from Katalla and
Controller Bay with twenty-seven miles of steel. Personally,
the writer has little faith in the possibility of ships finding
good harbourage in Controller Bay. It really isn't a bay, but
a mud flat on the open ocean, the mud having been deposited
by rivers running from beneath Bering and other glaciers, all
of which streams are heavily charged with silt. With few
exceptions, every attempt to make a landing of any large
amount of freight at Controller Bay or Katalla has resulted
in loss through the heavy weather that prevails there. Sec
retary of the Interior, Walter L. Fisher, in 191 1 had consid
erable difficulty at this point and a barge load of government
supplies was carried to sea in 1912. These are only two of
the many hundreds of similar occurrences. Behind Controller
Bay lies a big glacier, making a cold zone. When the warm
air of the Japan Current strikes this glacier, it immediately
rises and allows a heavy draft of wind to replace it. But
harbour facilities are problems for engineers to conjure with
and doubtless they will be given due consideration by the
members of the Alaska Railway Commission, who, as this is
written, October, 1912, are examining the Alaskan coal
fields and transportation problems on behalf of the government.
With sufficiently few exceptions to make such exceptions
noticeable, railroad construction in Alaska has not been profit-

204 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
able, and many of the lines have gone into the hands of the re
ceivers. The laws applying to railroad construction under
private enterprise do not tend to encourage investment. Every
mile of railroad is compelled to pay a federal license tax of
one hundred dollars per mile per annum and a dockage tax
of ten cents the ton on all freights handled. The Copper
River and Northwestern Railroad Company's taxes last year
were greater than the entire amount received from passenger
fares, and the tax for three years on a railroad at Nome was
greater than its gross income for one year. Add to this the
heavy cost of coal, which must be imported from Canada and
on which forty cents a ton duty is charged and it readily will
be seen that the conditions for making large profits from
investments in Alaskan railroads are not ideal. In places
where a steady supply of freight can be secured, however, the
taxes are not regarded as particularly burdensome.
Apart from the haulage of the coal to the coast, there would
not be sufficient freight at first to pay operating expenses for
a railroad to the interior of Alaska. Many of the transcon
tinental lines in America were built and these railroads brought
the settlers. This is true of practically all railroad systems
west of the Rocky Mountains. These railroads were assisted
by government grants. It is obvious, therefore, that if the
resources of Alaska are to be made available, the government
must lend its assistance.
It has come about that there is much talk of the construction
of a railroad in Alaska by the government. In the develop
ment of the nation, the people have fallen into the habit of
looking to the government to undertake everything, and there
is no doubt that if this policy is persisted in for any length of
time, it inevitably will result in the State governments losing
their individuality and independence and the central govern
ment with its vast bureaus will become a great source of power

TRANSPORTATION AND COMMUNICATION 205
in the entire nation. In other words the government will
become trustified, as it is in Australia and New Zealand,
where government ownership of the railroads and other public
utilities has been in operation for nearly thirty years, and, inci
dentally, it is worthy of note that the people of Australia have
made but very slow progress under this system. Australasia
is within a small margin of being as large as the United States,
the country is quite as rich in mineral and other resources as
the North American continent, and yet there are less than five
million people living there. Australasia has about 17,706 miles
of railroad as compared with 302,928 miles in the United
States. There is at present one good example of government owner
ship in Alaska in the telegraph system of the territory, which
is owned and operated exclusively by the government under
the direction of the Department of War. The tolls charged
on this system are such as would force a private corporation to
keep a hydrant playing on its stock books to keep down the
dividends to a point where they would not create a public
scandal. The system is composed of 2,633 miles of submarine cable,
1,125 miles of land telegraph line, much of which has now been
abandoned, and nine wireless stations. The cost of construc
tion, betterments and extensions, according to government
bookkeeping, has amounted to $2,098,130, exclusive of appro
priations included in estimates up till 1914.
Mile for mile, the government charges at least 280 per cent.
more for. service in Alaska than does either of the large com
panies operating in the United States.
The rate charged for a message of ten words from Seattle
to Nome, a distance of 2,340 miles by steamship course and
2,879 miles by the telegraph and cable route, is $3.80 and
thirty-eight cents for each extra word. The rate charged by

206 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
either of the commercial companies for a ten-word day message
from Seattle to New York, a distance of 3,000 miles, is $1.00,
and seven cents for each additional word. The rate for tele
graph and cable messages from Seattle to London or Berlin,
a distance more than twice as great as that from Seattle to
Nome, is $2.90. Messages between points in the United
States are transmitted on about an equal mileage basis.
The net earnings on business transmitted over the Alaska
system in 191 1, including government messages, amounted to
$344,308.24. The average cost of maintenance and operation
of the system for the years 1907-1911, is given as $372,824.45,
and at first calculation it certainly appears as though the gov
ernment has been doing business at a loss. The items of ex
pense are made up of salaries and rations for officers and en
listed men in the signal service, and the maintenance and
operation of the cable ship Burnside. But although the entire
cost of maintenance and operation of the Burnside is charged
against the Alaska telegraph system, the ship actually gives
less than 25 per cent, of its time to this business, and for the
balance of the year is engaged principally in other work on
Puget Sound. The Burnside worked on the Alaska cable in
1910 for about eighty days. The members of the U. S. Sig
nal Service in Alaska are a part of the defence system of terri
tory, and a very large proportion of the cost and main
tenance should be charged against the military department,
instead of all of it being charged against the Alaskan cable.
About 25 per cent, of the cost of maintaining the signal
service in Alaska would be a fair proportion to charge against
the Alaska cable system, and on this estimate it will be seen
that the government, instead of doing business at a loss, in
191 1, made a profit on the enterprise of about $251,098, The
entire cost of maintenance and operation properly chargeable
against the system is about $93,210.

REVENUE CUTTER BEAR CAUGHT IN THE NORTHERN ICE PACK

CAPTAIN E. P. BERTHOLF, HOLDING COURT IN AN IGLOO AT
POINT BARROW

TRANSPORTATION AND COMMUNICATION 207
Alaska's ten years' experience with the government tele
graphic system has not shown government ownership to be the
brilliant success that has been claimed for it. True, the gov
ernment has profited, but at a terrific cost to the people who
have used the service.
This telegraph system furnishes the reason why some
Alaskans are not rampantly enthusiastic about government own
ership of railroads in the territory. But there are other
Alaskans who believe that if the government undertook the
operation of a railroad in the territory, it would be forced by
competition and by the fact that the experiment would be
watched by the people, to conduct it on a sound business basis.
It has been suggested that the government guarantee the in
terest on the bonds of a railroad in Alaska, along the lines
adopted in the Philippines, and probably this idea would meet
with general satisfaction. In any event it would not involve
the experimental work of operating a railroad under a bureau
system. Whether it is built by the government and operated under
a bureau, or built and operated by private enterprise, or by
the government guaranteeing the interest on the bonds, is mate
rial. But the main thing is that the people of Alaska need
a railroad, and as time goes on they will need many railroads.
Any writer who advocates the building of a railroad from
any particular point on the coast is sure to meet the opposition
and criticism of the residents of other towns. There is a par
tisan jealousy in Alaska, as elsewhere. It is argued on the one
hand that the road should be constructed by private enterprise;
that the government has no constitutional right to engage in
private enterprise for profit. On the other hand, it is con
tended that the government is able to build railroads more
cheaply, for it can sell its three per cent, bonds at par while
a private corporation must sell its five or six per cent, bonds

208 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
at a discount. The private corporation must at least earn
its fixed charges, while the government can afford to make
lower rates and even operate at a loss during a few years to
encourage the great development which will follow and which
will more than justify the investment.
Then, too, development will proceed more rapidly ahead of
railway construction by the government whenever a route has
been selected. Capital can then be induced immediately to begin
the development of mines in the interior, and homesteaders will
settle in advance of the construction of such lines, because of
the assurance of the government that the road will be built;
while in the case of private corporations, with the long record
of receiverships which have attended nearly all pioneer rail
roads, both in the United States and in Alaska, it will 'be
necessary to see the smoke of the engine along the route before
capital will be justified in making any heavy expenditures in
the development of the interior.1
The future of Alaska is dependent — in a measure at least
— upon the gold quartz mines and commercial ores of the
interior and the agricultural development that is sure to follow.
The agricultural lands are in the same latitude as Norway,
Sweden and Finland and larger than all three combined; and
as has been pointed out in another chapter, the Alaskan lands
have the advantage of the tempering influence of the Japan
current, which is larger than the gulf stream of the Atlantic.
Alaska's population in 1910 was 64,356, an increase of 764
during the ten preceding years, but these figures do not neces-
1 Early in 1913 the Alaska Railroad Commission filed its report,
pointing out three feasible routes: From Seward to Iditarod, from
Chitina to Fairbanks and from a point on the Copper River Road to
the Bering River coalfields. President Taft recommended that the con
struction be done either by the government itself or by a government
guarantee of the interest on the construction bonds, and that the roads,
when completed, be leased to private parties.

TRANSPORTATION AND COMMUNICATION 209
sarily indicate that the population will remain stationary al
ways. There is both room and opportunity for the settler.
As time goes on a better administration of the country's affairs
will be evolved. As this is written elections to choose the first
legislature of the territory are being arranged, and while this
legislature will not be empowered to administer the public land
of the territory, it will be able to make such recommendations
to Congress as will place the country open to development.
It may sound like a wild dream to say that within a few
years, European immigrants, instead of landing at New York
and remaining there to wear out their lives in the polluted
atmosphere of the sweat-shops, will sail through the Panama
Canal and land on the Pacific Coast, to make productive the
unoccupied areas of land in the western states and in Alaska,
— rearing their families, building their schools, and evolving
a race of robust, intelligent citizens; but it is a dream that
likely will come true, for Alaska is capable of raising every
pound of beef, every pound of vegetable and every pound of
butter or other dairy product that her people will need till the
white population increases to two hundred times its present
number. The annual commerce of Alaska with the United States
averages $52,000,000 in round numbers. The total trade with
Hawaii slightly exceeds that of Alaska, and that of Porto Rico
just about equals it. The trade of Hawaii and Porto Rico
cannot advance to any great extent, because these islands al
ready are supporting a large population. Both their trade and
their population are near their maximum. Alaska, on the con
trary, has abundance of room for many millions of people, and
its present population and trade are at their minimum. Under
no conditions that can be devised or that are likely to arise,
can Alaska's population be reduced, and the day surely will
come when its trade will exceed that of all the rest of our

210 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
insular possessions and the " open door " trade with China
combined. Although this government spends millions of dollars in the
arts of diplomacy and in the maintenance of a fleet in Asiatic
waters to protect the " open door " to China, the Alaska trade
is worth over $4,000,000 more per year to the United States
than is the Chinese trade and the balance of trade with China
is heavily against the United States. While the Alaska trade
will increase, there is good reason to believe the Chinese trade
will not. Alaska is a coming country of abundant resource,
peopled by Americans; China is an old country, and manufac
turing will be the principal industry in its future.
Basing Alaska's population at 65,000, and an estimated total
white population of 40,000, which is near enough for practical
purposes, the statistics of trade show that each white person
in Alaska is worth in trade to the United States $1,302.75;
but when the Indians and Eskimos are included the trade value
is decreased to $801.69 per capita. A white man in Alaska
is worth in trade to the United States as much as 4.6 Hawai
ians, 27 Porto Ricans, or 394 Filipinos.
Statisticians estimate that the maintenance and purchase of
the Philippines have cost the people of the United States more
than $500,000,000 in twelve years. It is needless to go into a
discussion of a comparison of these figures with what the gov
ernment has expended in Alaska. Briefly the figures are: cost
of purchase and maintenance of Alaska for forty-two years,
$15,500,000; receipts from Alaska, $460,000,000; profit to the
United States, $444,500,000. And Alaska could be sold to
morrow at a profit of several billions of dollars on its visible
assets.

CHAPTER XVII
CLIMATE, AGRICULTURE AND GRAZING
All varieties of climate — Influence of Japan Current — Little zero
weather on the coast — Extreme humidity — Prolific vegetable
growth — Agriculture in Alaska — Forty miles of natural meadow
— Climate of the interior — Stock raising — Floriculture.
EXCLUSIVE of the almost immeasurable area of
reindeer grazing ground that lies north of the Yukon
River, Alaska contains 65,000,000 acres of agricul
tural and grazing land and it has an unlimited supply of cli
mate of every kind and description. It generally is supposed
that the temperature of Alaska is hyperborean — that it is
the land of icicles, so cold that the birds lay frozen eggs, and
fly backward to keep the snow from blinding them. Alaska
is associated in the minds of many with frozen rivers, fur-clad
Eskimos and polar bears. But this popular conception is far
from the truth. It rained in many parts of Alaska on Christ
mas Day, 191 1, and on January 1, 1912, the warm weather
at Dawson was celebrated by an outdoor carnival appropri
ately called a " thermodance," at which the participants wore
linen dusters and straw and Panama hats were the only kind
shied into the arena. In some places in Alaska last winter
there was not enough ice on the rivers from which to cut the
supply for the following summer.
Spoiled child of Nature, Alaska has been endowed with
about everything that could be desired in the way of climate.
In places her summer days are three months long, and at other
places at other times Old Sol does not show his head above
the hprizori for 3 period of six weeks. Alaska's climate is
211

212 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
governed largely by that old friend of our schooldays, the
Kuro Siwo, or Japan current, the gulf stream of the Pacific
Ocean, which brings beads of perspiration to the brows of
Alaskans in the open air while their cousins in Kansas, Min
nesota and other states are either hugging the stove or breaking
off the icicles that hang down from the stoop. In the far
North and in the distant interior beyond the influence of the
Japan current the weather is disagreeably warm in the summer
and so cold in the winter that the quicksilver freezes and one's
breath rattles on the atmosphere like the rustling of straw.
Because Alaska lies far toward the north, it does not neces
sarily follow that its climate is cold. The temperature is
determined not by degrees of latitude but by ocean currents,
mountain ranges and the revolution of the earth on its axis
from east to west. The winds on the Pacific Ocean produce
an equatorial current flowing in the same direction — from east
to west. Reaching the Asiatic coast this warm current di
vides, part going north towards America, warming the country
adjacent to the shore-line of the ocean as the gulf stream of
the Atlantic warms the British Islands.
Strange as it may seem, the influence that warms the coast
land in winter keeps it cool in summer, and that is why the
thermometer rarely falls to zero on the Alaskan coast as far
north as the Aleutian Peninsula. Records taken at Sitka from
1900 to 19 1 2 prove that there never has been a week in the
winter when the temperature was as cold as at New York
City, Washington, D. C, or Berlin, Germany, nor has there.
ever been a week in summer at Sitka when the temperature
has been as high as at any of the other three places mentioned.
The mean temperature at Sitka for February, 191 1, the cold
est month of the year, was 33 degrees. Across the coast range,
however, where the temperature is not influenced by the Kuro
Siwo the summers are warm indeed and the winters are ex-

WILD BERRIES GROW LUXURIANTLY IN NEARLY ALL PARTS OF
ALASKA— A TRAY OF SALMON BERRIES

GARDEN OF CANTELOUPES, GROWN UNDER GLASS IN FAIR
BANKS, NOT FAR SOUTH OF THE ARCTIC CIRCLE

CLIMATE, AGRICULTURE AND GRAZING 213
tremely cold. But there is no typical Alaskan climate any more
than there is a typical European climate.
One remarkable thing is the redistribution of timber. As
the waters of the Japan current strike the Aleutian Peninsula,
they flow back along the coast to the south, picking up along
the shores at high tide cedar, fir and other trees which are
swept down to the beach by the rivers from the interior, and
carrying them into the region of the southeast trades, which
take them out to sea till the logs are finally stranded on the
Hawaiian and other islands in the Pacific. The natives of
the many islands in the South Seas, long before they saw Cap
tain James Cook and his gallant crew of white men, believed
their progenitors came from the East, and drifted to the islands
in their boats just as the trees had come to them from some
distant land closer to the rising sun.1
Besides adjusting the climate to an equable temperature the
Japan current drenches the atmosphere along the coast-line
of Alaska with moisture. This humidity, taken together with
an extra proportion of sunlight and a fertile, mineralised soil,
1 Among other interesting tales related to the writer by a Maori,
at Christchurch, New Zealand, several years ago, was one to the
effect that a long, long time ago, a chief named Tamoa, together with
his wife, was fishing in a canoe close to the shore of a place called
Hawaggie (presumably Hawaii), when a terrific off-shore storm arose.
The wind blew and blew for several days, lashing the sea into a
fury, but being a good boatman, Tamoa with the assistance of his wife
managed to keep the frail craft afloat. After several days the tempest
subsided. Tamoa and his wife were then very hungry, so he threw
over a fish line. The line soon afterwards gave a tremendous jerk,
and, pulling with all his strength, Tamoa managed to bring a monster
to the surface. Much to his surprise he found that he had a big
island on the end of his line. The Maoris call this piece of land Hine
Tamoa, meaning "the child of Tamoa." Although ethnologists de
clare the people of New Zealand and Hawaii are the same people, it
is likely that the legend had its genesis in the fact that on the shores
of New Zealand many logs from other countries, including the con
tinent of America are found.

214 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
naturally makes ideal conditions for agriculture. Moisture
and light are necessary to growth. If a potato is planted in
a dark cellar where there is only one ray of light, the plant
will grow toward, and often through, the crack whence the
light comes. Everybody has observed that potted flowers in
a window always grow towards the side nearest the sun.
So, with sunlight for as long as twenty-two hours a day, a
fertile soil and an atmosphere drenched with moisture, it is
not strange that the growth of vegetable life in portions of
Alaska is extremely prolific — so prolific in fact, as to appear
semi-tropical. Generally speaking, the conditions favourable to agricultural
pursuits are south of the Aleutian Peninsula, but there are many
fertile valleys in the interior, where crops have been success
fully grown by the U. S. Department of Agriculture's experts.
These crops have been grown not for a year or two, but for
eleven successive years, and even as far north as Fort Yukon,
which is inside the Arctic Circle, agriculture has been con
ducted successfully.
North of the Aleutian Peninsula the shores are washed by
the Bering Sea, a cold body of water, tempered slightly by the
Japan current and covered with ice for seven or eight months
in the year. When the sea is covered with ice, there is no
evaporation and this condition, in conjunction with an ab
sence of high mountains, makes the country a semi-arid one,
and therefore not conductive to agriculture, except in isolated
places where the earth is warmed by mineral springs.
Within one hundred miles of the coast the influence of the
warm Japan current is dissipated, and the climate becomes
continental, with great difference in temperature in summer
and winter. Yet the intense heat of summer, together with
the almost continuous sunshine, makes agriculture possible. In
the interior of Alaska the writer has ridden through a plain

CLIMATE, AGRICULTURE AND GRAZING 215
of wild red-top grass that was forty miles long and as broad
as the eye could see, and while many theories relating to
farming, both optimistic and pessimistic, have been advanced,
the fact remains that a great many homesteads have been taken
up in the interior valleys, and that the settlers are conducting
them at a profit.
Naturally the chief crop in this section is hay. Wild hay
grass grows abundantly, but no better manifestation of the
country's productiveness along other lines can be found than
in the fact that in the Tanana Valley more than thirty thou
sand acres of land have been segregated for agricultural pur
suits, and that since a portion of this land has been cultivated,
there has been a great diminution in the amount of potatoes
and fresh vegetables shipped to Alaska.
The shipments of potatoes from the States to Alaska in the
fiscal year 191 1 were smaller by 25,149 bushels than in 1910;
of hay, by 2,155 tons; of beans and peas, by 7.322 bushels;
and of onions, by 964 bushels. The decrease in these ship
ments was entirely due in large measure to the increased do
mestic production, for there was no decrease in the population.
The imports of many of these articles were also smaller in
1910 than in 191 1, and there is every reason to believe the
shipments will be reduced more and more as time goes on and
more farms established.
The 191 2 potato crop at Dawson and at other points along
the Canadian Yukon River was valued at $30,000. The veg
etable crop also included many tons of cabbages, carrots, tur
nips, rutabagas, celery, parsnips and other edibles. The oats,
timothy, rye and hay crops were successfully harvested. The
grain was fully matured, the stalks growing to a height of
over five feet.
Vegetables can be grown in nearly every part of Alaska with
astonishing success. At practically all of the military posts

216 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
and at nearly every city in Alaska there are a few truck gar
dens. Even at Coldfoot, on the Koyukuk River, 68 degrees
north latitude, a considerable distance within the Arctic Circle,
potatoes, cabbages, peas, turnips and rhubarb are successfully
matured, to say nothing of excellent berries of large size and
delicious flavour. The vegetables in all parts of Alaska, be
cause of the quick growth produced in the tremendous amount
of sunshine, have a crispness and tenderness elsewhere unknown.
At the Holy Cross Mission, on the Yukon River, farming and
stock-raising have been conducted successfully for many years,
and the sa; ,e is true of many other parts of Interior Alaska,
besides many places on the coast and in the southeastern sec
tion of the territory.
The islands are particularly fertile, and although many of
them are bare of timber, practically all are covered with a
luxuriant growth of grass and wild berries. The same con
ditions are found also on the barren lands, or tundra, north
ward of the Yukon. While not suitable for a steady diet,
these wild fruits are delicious and nutritious. That these
berries have life-sustaining qualities is evidenced in the fact
that several different men, at various times, when lost without
firearms or fish-hooks have kept themselves alive by eating these
native fruits.
In the big valleys of the interior agricultural conditions are
good and while occasional failure of crops have been reported
these disasters are not so frequent as in many of the central
states. On the islands and inlets of Southeastern Alaska the
growing season is about six months. It is about five months
at Skagway and about 107 days in the interior. Practically
everywhere vegetables mature when proper ground is chosen
and the plants are given attention. So far the chief vegetable
crop of the territory is the potato, but in order to grow tubers
successfully southern exposures should be chosen for planting.

CLIMATE, AGRICULTURE AND GRAZING 217
Twenty-two varieties of potatoes have been grown successfully
in all parts of Alaska, but as a general rule the best results
were obtained by causing the " bog-oranges " to sprout before
planting. In many of the Alaskan valleys, the black or chocolate loam
that has been deposited by rivers during by-gone centuries is
from ten to twenty feet deep. In these places wild oats and
rye grow to full maturity, and while the whole country offers
possibilities to either the stock-breeder or the agriculturist, the
territory may be said to be interspersed with many sections
which only will be useful as reindeer grazing ground.
There are many great valleys — the Yukon, the Tanana,
the Kuskokwim, the Susitna, the White, and several others —
where agriculture eventually will be supporting a large popu
lation. In these places the last frost may be said to occur be
tween the first and the middle of May, and the first fall frost
from September first to September fifteenth. The Susitna Val
ley alone contains nearly 6,000 square miles of good grass land
less than 2,000 feet above the sea-level. The soil is a loam,
freely fertilised with decayed vegetable matter, and besides
being covered by nutritive wild grasses, the valley is prolific
with wild rhubarb and currants and berries of every descrip
tion. There is no doubt that this district and countless other
large areas can produce vegetable and forage crops.
Professor C. C. Georgeson, of the U. S. Department of
Agriculture, after twelve years of experimentation work in va
rious parts of Alaska, declares there is no possibility of the
failure of the country in agriculture. During his experience
in the North many different varieties of rye, oats, timothy,
barley and winter wheat have been successfully matured.
There are no killing frosts in the summer, but wheat can be
grown only in places where there is a snowfall of at least
thirty inches, and it must be planted in the fall and matured

218 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
the following year. Professor Georgeson thinks, however, that
rye will be the staple crop of Alaska cereals. It is a hardier
plant and makes more nutritious bread than wheat. There are
thousands of acres of rye growing wild, but it is not so nutri
tious as the cultivated variety.
Besides the many farms and truck gardens conducted by pri
vate individuals, four agricultural experiment stations are main
tained in Alaska by the government. One of these stations
was situated on Kadiak Island and was devoted almost ex
clusively to experimentation in raising cattle and sheep, but
unfortunately much of the stock was destroyed by a fall of
volcanic ash that occurred in June, 1912. A herd of ninety
Galloway cattle and about as many sheep were bred at this
station and the percentage of loss was much less than in Mon
tana, Kansas and other states. The sheep grew to enormous
size, the rams weighing as much as 300 pounds and yielding
about thirty pounds of wool each year. The cattle were gen
eral utility animals — good milkers and excellent beef.
In this connection it is noteworthy that horses are bred by
the miners at the head of White River. The animals are
turned loose in the fall. There is only a slight snowfall in
this locality and the horses live in the valley all winter.
The horses soon learned the habits of the moose. As soon as
the mosquitoes appear in the spring, the horses begin to browse
along the hillsides, ascending higher and higher as the snow
disappears. The Agricultural Department's expert conducted a small
truck farm near Fairbanks and in 191 1 the yield of three acres
of potatoes was sold for $1,800. Five acres of potatoes planted
in 1912 gave every promise as this is written of yielding about
$5,000. There never has been a failure of the potato crop in
any part of Alaska, but in some places, because the wrong
variety was planted, the product has been rather small. From

CLIMATE, AGRICULTURE AND GRAZING 219
the station at Copper Center, now abandoned, the department
sold $5,000 worth of hay from forty acres.
Vegetables, however, are not the only plants that have re
ceived attention. The Sitka station has been devoted largely
to horticulture, and the day is not so very far distant when the
Alaskan strawberry will be famous throughout the United States.
By a process of hybridisation a berry that retains all the flavour
of the wild strawberry and the size and colour of the best
varieties of the cultivated fruit, has been produced. The new
berry grows more vigorously than either parent. Fruit trees
have been brought to a state of bloom and in one instance to
bearing apples.
Besides producing raspberries, strawberries and currants of
the finest varieties, a large number of ornamental plants have
been cultivated. The most successful flower so far grown is
the rosa rugosa, a beautiful crimson-coloured, sweet-scented rose
from North Japan. This plant grows well anywhere on the
Alaska Coast region. Hundreds of ornamental plants such as
pansies, nasturtiums, California poppies, sweet williams, phlox,
lilies and iris, grow just as well and in many cases better than
in the States.
In the fields of luxuriant wild grasses, the great variety of
vegetation, the abundance of wild fruits, Nature offers sub
stantial testimony that Alaska is an attractive field for the
agriculturist; and it is corroborated in the many gardens at the
missions, on the many homesteads and in the work of the Agri
cultural Department. Further testimony is found in the great
wheat fields of Alberta and Manitoba, which districts in the
past few years have been converted into an immense granary.
The moose, the mountain goat, the mountain sheep on the hill
sides and valleys and the great bands of caribou that roam the
plains are Nature's method of showing us that Alaska is a stock-
raising country. Yet no man of limited means would be justi-

220 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
fied in going to Alaska under the present conditions to engage
in farming.
That there is something lacking in Alaska is evidenced in
the fact that while the population of the Western provinces of
Canada for the three years ending June, 1912, is estimated to
have increased at the rate of 1 1 ,800 a month in American citi
zenship alone, the population of Alaska increased less than 800
in the ten years ending in 19 10. There can be no great
difference in the natural elements of the two countries. The
mere fact that an imaginary line divides Canada from Alaska
makes no difference in the soil, the atmosphere or the water
that falls from the clouds. If there be any advantage it surely
rests on the side of Alaska, for the American territory is closer
to the tempering influence of the Japan current, it ' has less
elevation and there are fewer killing frosts.
Alaska lacks railroad transportation and markets for its
products. Apart from the amount consumed by local com
munities there is no sale for Alaskan agricultural products
and there never will be until such time as a means of cheap
transportation is furnished from the interior valleys of Alaska
to the markets of the world. There is a splendid opportunity
to raise cattle in many parts of Alaska, but no means by which
they could be taken to the markets for sale.
Mining is the paramount interest in Alaska, and it will prob
ably continue to be for some time to come. But the building
of railroads in Alaska is inevitable. The day must come when
the government either must build a trunk railroad itself or
throw the country open and offer inducement for private cap
ital so to do. Then the homesteader will settle ahead of the
construction lines and there will be a full fruition of the terri
tory's natural products.
Finland, Sweden, Norway and Iceland, countries not so
highly mineralised as Alaska and containing less arable land,

Photos by Federsen.

WILD GERANIUMS, WILD ANEMONES, WILD RED CURRANTS
AND WILD IRISES

CLIMATE, AGRICULTURE AND GRAZING 221
support a population of more than twelve millions of people,
while Alaska — a much richer country — supports a population
of less than 40,000 white people and about an equal number
of natives. Surely this condition cannot prevail always.

CHAPTER XVIII
MINES, MINERS AND MINING
Alaska has produced in mineral thirty-two times the purchase price of
the territory — Gold — Copper — The fascination of mining —
The life of the prospector — Fabulously rich mines sold for a
song — Half of Alaska yet to be explored — Gold discovery at
first discouraged by Russians — Russians had knowledge of iron
and copper — Advent of American miners — First shipments of
gold and silver — The Treadwell mine — First placer mining —
Later discoveries — Copper development — Tin — Coal — Oil
— Marble — Graphite — Variety of Alaska's mineralization — The
Alaska coal question.
NATURE has been extremely profligate in the distri
bution of her riches throughout Alaska, but more
than in any other particular has she been gener
ous in the manner in which she has scattered mineral wealth
over the entire territory. To the miner and prospector Alaska
has been the land of the Golden Fleece. Not always has she
enriched in a material sense the individuals who climbed her
jagged hillsides or delved in her stream beds in search of
glinting metal, but her aggregate contribution to the world's
supply of gold and other treasure has been tremendous.
Since active mining first began in 1880, Alaska, up until
191 1, had produced in round numbers $206,000,000 in mineral,
nearly thirty times the amount paid to Russia for the entire
territory. The yield for 191 2, if the estimates made by banks
and the United States Geological Survey are correct will in
crease the yield to about thirty-two times the amount originally
invested by Uncle Sam in his real estate "dicker" with the
Czar of Russia pertaining to a little strip of ice-covered prop-
222

MINES, MINERS AND MINING 223
erty then known as Alayaska. Of the amount produced till
the close of 191 1, $195,000,000 was in gold, much of which
came at a time when it was badly needed to relieve the dis
tressing financial conditions that followed the panics of 1893
and 1907.
Alaska produced its first copper in 1901, but up until 1910
the yield was not great. About $1,500,000 worth was pro
duced in 191 1, but with the construction of the Copper River
and the Northwestern Railroad to the mines in the Copper
River Valley and the opening of other deposits of this metal
at a point contiguous to steamship transportation, there is good
reason to believe that the production will be increased by ap
proximately 300 per cent, in 19 12. The manner in which the
copper industry was stimulated by the opening of the railroad
mentioned is a striking illustration of the need of railroads in
other parts of the territory, to say nothing of the necessity for
the opening of the Alaska coal fields, which would allow of the
construction of a smelter in Alaska.
It is not the mere monetary reward that attracts fortune
hunters to Alaska. It is an inherent characteristic of the hu
man to love any occupation that offers an element of chance.
The mythical pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, the
romance and the mystery of mining make it an attractive avo
cation. There are hundreds of men in Alaska who have more
money than they really want and yet they find more happiness
in wandering over the hills with a scant supply of beans and
bacon than they can obtain in all the lighted highways of civili
sation. The yellow metal lures undaunted hearts ever to
search for treasure, and it is to this propensity of the human
kind that the world owes many of its greatest achievements in
science, art, literature — everything that makes the world
worth while.
It is not the lust for gold — the mere acquirement of money

224 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
— that attracts miners to Alaska, but the joy experienced in
actually taking from the ground a piece of virgin gold '- — some
thing that has made the world richer and that has caused no
heartaches nor sorrows. There is a fascination about a minfng
field that no other place in the world offers. Once become
addicted to mining and it is difficult to abstain from it.
As a study of human nature the people of a mining camp
can furnish interesting material. Endowed, with physical
courage and initiative, brought together from all parts of the
world, unfettered by traditions or conventions, unhampered by
personal vanities, the gold hunter stands in a new mining com
munity as God created him, and he is surrounded by fellows of
his own kind. He regards all as his friends ; he knows that they
have endured the hardships and privation that he has suffered.
Among them more than likely he will find one, or perhaps
many, whom he has seen in other mining fields in distant coun
tries and under different conditions. Around the camp-fires
one hears tales of men who have wandered in every out-of-the-
way corner of the world ; stories of fortunes just missed, of lost
mines and lost creeks, of competencies made and dissipated or
lost again. . It matters not whether it be under the burning
sun of the desert or in the biting, silent cold of the Arctic,- it
makes no difference what flag floats over them, they are one
people, with one purpose. On a gold stampede all are kindred
— a rough, masterful, whole-hearted, generous crew, ready to
divide with each other in times of stress what the gods have
given, who greet you with the open hand of fellowship, whose
charity comes from the heart. Among them the stranger's past
is his own and his future is in the keeping of everybody,
They won't ask his patronymic and they care not whence he
came. If the new arrival offers the information, it is accepted
at its face value; if he is uncommunicative, they give him a
nick-name and let it go at that. Locked in their own breasts

MINES, MINERS AND MINING 225
are their own -family secrets, and perhaps each occasionally
allows a homesick sigh to escape his lips, but they manifest no
curiosity in regard to the family skeletons of their neighbours.
Imbued with a love of adventure, each is ready to accept the
other for what he is — not for what he possesses nor for what
glories or honours his past might hold. One hears much
of the decline of prospecting, but so long as country remains
untraversed and gold undiscovered there also will remain the
prospector. Less than three-fifths of Alaska has been covered by white
men, and none can tell where the end of the mineral zone may
lie. In Victoria Land, far to the eastward of the Mackenzie
River and lying almost in the centre of the Polar Sea, where
Vilhjalmar Stefansson in 1912 discovered a tribe of people who
theretofore never had seen a white man, there are lenses of
native copper from which these aborigines have fashioned their
implements and weapons. The time is coming — and soon —
when these regions will be invaded by the prospector. Let
somebody find a little gold, and a stampede will follow.
Cold weather does not discourage the prospector. Seventy
degrees below zero holds no terrors for him. They are the
grittiest men on earth, possessing abundant push and energy
and all the attributes that go to make up a virile manhood.
By going prepared for the cold they know they will encoun
ter, they sometimes accomplish a journey of 1,000 or more
miles across unknown country, where there is not a sign of
habitation, with comparatively little inconvenience. They
carry fur-lined sleeping-bags, which they lay on the snow at
night, and then crawl in and buckle the flaps over their heads.
Their underwear is of the best grade of wool, and with a
light Denham parka outside to break the wind, they are able
to travel long distances through the bitter cold. When camp
is made, the word "hustle" finds its fullest significance; a

226 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
fire is started, snow or ice is melted into water and a meal is
prepared with astonishing quickness. Usually a large pot of
pork and beans is cooked and then set out and allowed to freeze.
The frozen mass is thrown in a sack next morning, and when
camp is made at nightfall, a few chunks of it are chopped off
with an axe and put in a frying pan to warm. By the time
the water is boiling for the coffee, the beans are thoroughly
warmed and supper is ready.
The writer once joined a rush from Dawson. The point
where gold was supposed to have been found was about one
hundred miles down the Yukon River and up another stream.
In some manner the news of the alleged strike had assiduously
been circulated amongst the gambling fraternity and a great
many of that class of citizens hit the trail. Haste in arriving
at the alleged New Eldorado, of course, was a matter of prime
importance, as the first on the field naturally had the selection
of the most favourable looking claims. Many of the mushers
made the journey without stopping, eating frozen bread or
hard-tack to sustain themselves as they jogged along the trail
behind their tired dogs. The experienced stampeders came
prepared, and a few minutes after their arrival on the scene they
had fires going and their bacon and beans thawing. But it was
not so with those gamblers. They stood around in the intense
cold eating chunks of frozen bread and other ice-encrusted food.
One of them attempted to make some flapjacks, a kind of hot-
cake. He mixed the flour into thin, syrupy-looking batter, and
then placed the bucket in which it was contained in the snow
while he attended the fire. By the time he had the fire ar
ranged to his liking, the dough had frozen solid.
Once in a while a stampeder becomes sick on the trail. If
he is travelling alone it is quite likely he will die, but if others
are with him, he is placed in a sleeping bag in the sled and
driven along. If necessary, stops are made and warmed irons

MINES, MINERS AND MINING 227
or bottles of hot water are placed at the sick man's feet. The
hardships and inconveniences sometimes are many, but ever in
the mind of the stampeders is the knowledge of the fortunes
made by others who shared similar experiences. They like to
remember that some of the miners on the creeks of the Klondike
amassed wealth at the rate of more than a dollar a minute dur
ing an entire long winter; they remember incidents in which
miners have taken out $1,000 with every bucketful of gravel;
and no sooner do they arrive at the scene of a new strike than
they stake out their mining claims and begin an eager investiga
tion of the gravel.
The life of the miner and the prospector is one of romance;
it is filled with thrilling incidents; and many are the claims
worth millions that have been sold for a song. The Treadwell
Mine that has produced nearly $50,000,000 was sold for $400;
one of the richest claims in the Nome district was sold for $30
and a bottle of whiskey. One of the greatest producers on the
celebrated third beach line at Nome — one of the richest placer
mines in the world — was traded for a gasoline engine that was
out of repair. There is always an element of uncertainty about
mining. Every time a hole is sunk to bedrock the prospector
has one chance of striking it rich. Thus is he ever hopeful.
Nature's hidden yellow treasure is the lodestone that draws
them all — some tb find a fortune and some to suffer travail
and bitter disappointment.
Much of the placer mining in Alaska is conducted in winter,
when the temperature is anything but Floridian. The extreme
cold is an aid to the miner, as it freezes the earth, and by
thawing a hole to the bottom with steam or hot rocks he is
saved the trouble of timbering the walls of his shafts or the
roofs of his tunnels. Besides that, he has no water to contend
with. In many places in Alaska, where part of the ground is
frozen and part thawed, the gold yet remains in the thawed sec-

228 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
tion, while that in the frozen gravel long since has been ex
tracted. Although millions of dollars still are annually produced by
the primitive methods of the individual placer miner, many of
the fields now are operated by dredges and other labour-saving
devices. There yet remains more than half of the territory to be
explored and as mineral is found in these at present inaccessible
places, their history will be much the same as that of other
fields more fully developed. First will come the lone prospec
tor with his dog team in winter or his crude boat in summer.
He will be followed by a horde of stampeders, who will install
sluice boxes and do their work largely with pick and shovels,
and then, when the richest of the ground is worked out, will
come the dredge or the hydraulic elevator and wash out the last
speck of the precious metal.
The earliest exploitation of metal in Alaska was the recovery
of copper nuggets from the stream beds or native matrices by
the natives on the Copper and White Rivers. This primitive
mining consisted of digging into the banks with a caribou hom
or other primitive shovel, and it probably was carried on for
countless generations before the arrival of the white man.
Vitus Bering and Dr. G. W. Stellar, who made a landing at
Kayak Island in Controller Bay in 1741, and were driven from
there by a storm, noted that the natives used knives, arrow
heads, spear points and other weapons and implements made of
copper. Natives in many parts of Alaska when first encoun
tered by explorers were found to be using copper for similar
purposes. The name of the discoverer of gold in Alaska appears to have
been lost. Historians relate that during the Baranof's reign
in Alaska, the discovery of precious metal was vigorously dis
couraged, several Russians and half-breeds being flogged for
bringing samples of gold-bearing ore and placer gold to New

MINES, MINERS AND MINING 229
Archangel. A stream of profits from sea otter and other furs
poured into the treasury of the company of which Baranof was
the head, but after the " iron governor " had passed on and the
indiscriminate slaughter carried on by the hunters had practi
cally exterminated the sea otter, the Russian-American Com
pany turned its attention to mining, and, influenced probably
by the gold discoveries in California in 1849, a mining engineer
named Doroshin was sent out to explore for precious metal and
commercial ores. Doroshin, with a large force of labourers pros
pected the several streams on Kenai Peninsula, but the result
of two years' work was only a few ounces of placer gold and
although Doroshin expressed the opinion that the field was a
favourable one for exploitation, further efforts were abandoned.
This was the beginning of an industry that at this writing,
1912, has been yielding an average of about $12,000,000 an
nually for twelve years past. The present output is about $16,-
000,000 annually.
The Russians, aided by American capitalists, who formed a
subsidiary company for the purpose of exporting ice from the
glaciers of Alaska, made another effort to embark in mining in
1854, when considerable work was done on the coal measures
near Port Graham, on the east side of Cook Inlet. A small
amount of coal was taken to the company's shipyards at Sitka,
and several hundred tons was shipped to California. The fuel
brought only a low price, so the export business was dropped.1
Within a few miles of the point where the Russians mined
the coal and gold, were three of the richest copper mines in
Alaska, many streams carrying payable placer gold, and some
quartz veins richly permeated the glinting metal. These re
mained to be discovered by the energetic prospectors who in
vaded the country after the territory was transferred to the
1 W. G. Whorf was granted a patent to this ground in 1913, after
living on the ground for twelve years.

23o ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
United States. Within a few miles also lay the Matanuska
coal fields, an immense deposit of bituminous and anthracite
coal, hundreds of square miles in extent.
The Russians also made a search for iron ore beds, but with
out positive results. It appears from the records of the com
pany that many of the Russians knew of the copper deposits.
They probably had knowledge of the existence of the lenses
that developed into the Ellamar and other mines, and it is likely
that they saw the big green hill that later was developed into
the Bonanza Mine. They could not avoid seeing it, as the hill
at one time was covered with copper stain, and from a distance
it looked like a field of intensely green grass.
After the territory was ceded to the United States,- American
prospectors from California and other parts of the Pacific
Ocean invaded Alaska, and two years after' the transfer — in
1869 — they found placer gold at Sumdum Bay. A payable
quartz vein was found near Sitka in 1877, and the first mill
was installed about three years later. The first real output of
placer gold came from Juneau in 1880, and it was followed
soon after by the metal shipped from the great Treadwell mine.
Silver-lead ores were found at the head of Fish River, a tribu
tary of Norton Bay on Seward Peninsula in 1880, and a small
shipment was made in 1883. Placer gold also was discovered
in this region by members of the Telegraph Survey Expedition,
but the metal was not found in payable quantities until 1898.
Gold was reported from the bars of the Yukon tributaries
by the early explorers and fur traders, but the first actual min
ing was done on Cassiar Bar, on Lewis River, by a party of
American miners who were among the first to force their way
across the Chilkoot Pass. As the route became better known
more prospectors penetrated the interior, and in 1887, placer
gold1 was found on the Alaskan side of the boundary in the
Forty-Mile region. Gold was found at Rampart in 1893 and

COPP!n ZX^?F?TVHnfSH°^fL0CK BAY- " • • LIFTING THEIR RUGGED HEADS
LIKE I DANCING SkJlI_TONS •? GAUNT OUTLINES THROUGH EDDYING MISTS

MINES, MINERS AND MINING 231
before that on the bars of the Innoko River and other streams
near the mouth of the Yukon. In 1896, when the discovery
of the Klondike gold fields was made, there were about 1,000
prospectors in the country. '
Meanwhile prospecting and development had continued along
the coast-line. The Treadwell was producing about two-thirds
of the entire output of approximately $500,000 per annum, and
several other quartz veins which since have been developed into
mines, had been opened up in the Juneau region. The placers
of the Sunrise district in Cook Inlet were discovered in 1894,
and a gold bearing ledge had been opened up on Unga Island
in 1886.
Gold in payable quantities was found on Seward Peninsula,
on Ophir Creek in March and at Nome in September, 1898.
By 1900 the field was in a high state of productivity, and as
the years went by it was found that the precious metal was
disseminated practically all over the Peninsula. The Koyukuk
was discovered in 1899, and the Fairbanks district in 1902. A
paystreak was uncovered in the Kotzebue Sound country in
1902, in the Copper River Basin in 1899 and 1902, in the
Susitna Basin in 1904 and 1906; at the head of the Innoko
River in 1907, at the Iditarod in 1909, at Ruby and Good
News Bay in 191 1, and on the tributaries of the Kuskokwim
River in 1912.
From 1880 till 191 1 these fields produced gold to the value
of $195,000,000 and as a number of quartz veins have been
developed and new placer fields discovered, it is within the
realm of reasonable expectation that this output will increase
as time goes on.
The exploitation of the commercial metals commenced in
1 88 1, when an attempt was made to open up the copper de
posits on the easterly side of Prince of Wales Island. Work
soon was suspended till 1899, when operations were resumed,

232 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
and at the same time the development of the copper deposits
on Prince William Sound also was begun.
The presence of placer copper deposits in the Copper and
White River Basins was known to the Russians through their
relations with the natives, but there is no record of these
places having been visited by white men till 1891. The feeling
between the Russians and the natives was not conducive to in
terior exploration. The native law of reprisal is " a life for
a life," and as many natives had been murdered by the Russians,
the latter did not deem it safe to make journeys to parts re
motely situated from their stations and forts.
The lode deposits in the Copper River district were dis
covered by a band of argonauts who were endeavouring to reach
Dawson through this valley in 1898. The discovery led to
systematic search and the finding of copper on the Chitina
River, a tributary of the Copper, and other places in that region
was affected in the succeeding years up until 1903, in which
year the copper at the head of White River was also located.
The metal at the head of Copper River was not made available
until 191 1, when the Copper River and Northwestern Railroad
was constructed to the Bonanza Mine at Kennicott.
Placer tin was discovered in the Seward Peninsula in 1900
by members of the United States Geological Survey, and the
lode tin was discovered three years later. The mines were
operated in a more or less desultory manner till 191 1, when a
dredge was installed on Buck Creek, and a real production
commenced. With the installation of the dredge the produc
tion averaged a little more than $1,000 a day. The tin fields,
however, are so situated that the climate makes operation for
more than 130 days a year impossible.
Although coal mining in Alaska dates back to 1854, the first
systematic work was done in 1880 at Kootzanoo Inlet, followed
in 1888 by the opening of a coal measure at Kachemak Bay,

lyilNES, MINERS AND MINING 233
Cook Inlet. Coal beds on the Alaska Peninsula were first
opened in 1889; and those at Herendeen Bay and at Chignik
in 1893. Coal mining began on the Yukon in 1895, near Hess
Creek. After Dawson was discovered, mines were opened on
the Yukon in both American and Canadian territory, but the
fuel is of poor quality, and not much of it was mined. The
Cape Lisburne fields, perhaps the biggest measures of high-grade
coal in Alaska, were found by early explorers, and a little fuel
was taken from time to time for the use of whalers and revenue
cutters. One cargo was shipped to Nome, but the vessel carry
ing it was wrecked en route.
The government since has put a ban on all coal mining in
Alaska, but in spite of this fact, government teachers at Wain-
wright Inlet in 191 1 and 1912 took nearly 2,000 sacks of high-
grade coal from the beds which lie in the country between Icy
Cape and Point Barrow. The natives in this locality have been
taught to burn coal for their own use.
The high-grade coal fields in the Bering River field near
Controller Bay, which have been the cause of so much political
and legal controversy, began to attract attention in 1895, but
prospecting was not commenced till several years later. De
velopment of the Matanuska coal fields began about 1903, al
though they had been discovered some years before.
The Russians were the first to discover oil seepages in Alaska,
but the first drilling was not done till 1901 at Controller Bay«
and at Cook Inlet in 1902. The people resident at Katalla
make their own gasoline and kerosene, but there has been no
great production of oil from this field. Several wells were
sunk, and it is believed that flows of oil were encountered, but
the cups were screwed on the casings. It is thought that in
ability to secure patents to the ground is the cause of the inac
tivity. Marble for tombstones and building purposes was quarried

234 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
in Alaska about 1898, but the business was not conducted on a
large scale till 1904. In that year a quarry was opened up on
Prince of Wales Island and many shipments were made. A
gypsum deposit was opened on Chicagoff Island in 1904, and a
large amount of the plaster of Paris manufactured in the
United States came from this deposit till June, 1912, when
the wharf collapsed and operations temporarily were suspended.
Three marble quarries were in operation in 19 12.
The first discovery of graphite in Alaska was made in 1900
in the Port Clarence region on Seward Peninsula, but no large,
shipments were made till 191 2.
Except for the practice of thawing frozen gravel, and occa
sionally freezing thawing gravel to keep back a flow of water,
the mining methods in Alaska are very similar to operations in
other countries, and apart from lack of transportation facilities
no unusual difficulties are presented.
Several immense deposits of iron ore, both magnetite and
hematite, have been found in various parts of Alaska, but so far
no actual development work has been done. Analyses made of
an immense iron bed situated near Nome gave high returns in
manganese, and other constituents that experts say would make
it an ideal smelting ore. The cost of shipment, however, is
so great that under present conditions it is questionable whether
it could be worked at a profit.
Geologists declare there is a greater variety of minerals in
Alaska than in any other mineralised zone in the world, and
many of the, veins exploited carry several enrichments. A
quartz mine near Nome was first thought to be an antimonial
ore, but a few feet from the surface it turned to a mineralisa
tion of lead and silver, and at a depth of 250 feet showed high
gold values. In several places in Alaska coal and gold and
coal and iron are found in proximity to each other.
Alaska has produced in commercial quantities the metals gold,

MINES, MINERS AND MINING 235
silver, copper, lead and tin, and the non-metallic minerals coal,
petroleum, gypsum, marble and mineral waters. In addition
to these there are deposits of iron, tungsten, antimony, quick
silver, asbestos, sulphur, jade, peat, mica, graphite, molybdenum
and bismuth. Its precious stones so far as known are garnets,
an abundance of extremely small rubies in the ruby sands, a
few olivines and agates. Platinum has been found in very
small quantities in association with placer gold.
While the metalliferous minerals have produced a great
amount of wealth, it is to the Alaskan coal measures that the
people of the Pacific Coast states must look for a share of their
future prosperity. The amount of bituminous, semi-bitumi
nous, anthracite and semi-anthracite coal in Alaska is stupendous,
while lignite is scattered all through the country and there is
an almost unlimited amount of energy in the peat beds should
the material be turned into producer gas. Alaska also possesses
tremendous latent hydro-energy in the many mountain streams
and swift rivers.
Without going in to the controversy over the Alaska coal
lands, and without espousing the cause of either those who are
trying to open the coal to development under restricted condi
tions, under government supervision, by government-owned
railways or under private enterprise, let it be stated that there
are three salient facts that have not been generally disseminated,
but which should be made known to the public :
(a) The experts of the United States Geological Survey
estimate there are 21 million acres of coal land in Alaska con
taining approximately 150 billion tons of high-grade coal.
(b) The total area of coal land claimed by the men who
discovered and attempted to develop the fields is 32 thousand
acres. (c) Those who attempted to segregate a portion of the coal
measures in the Matanuska and Bering River fields paid to the

236 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
government $320,000 in cash and took a receipt. The money
was paid as the purchase price of the land, which the law pro
vided should be ten dollars an acre. The land was not trans-
fered to them, nor has their money been returned.
No criticism is offered on these facts, either pro or con, but
they are matters of record and should be considered when the
Alaskan coal question is discussed. However, it is not the
province of this chapter to argue the merits of the coal con
tention either for the claimants or against them, but to present
facts in relation to the various fields and to discuss their prob
able effect on the industries of Alaska and the commerce of the
Pacific Coast states.
Perhaps the most important feature of the Alaska coal land,
so far as the people of the whole of the United States is con
cerned, lies in the fact that these fields are about 1,500 miles
closer to the Philippines than is the naval coal base at San
Francisco; and approximately 12,000 miles nearer to the Phil
ippines than is the present source of naval fuel supply in West
Virginia. Coal for the Pacific fleet of warships and naval sta
tions is brought around Cape Horn from the Pocahontas fields
in West Virginia and landed on the Pacific Coast at a cost of
nearly one hundred per cent, more than it would cost to trans
port the same amount of a slightly better quality of fuel from
the Alaskan fields. And it should be considered also that much
of the naval fuel transported to the Pacific Ocean is carried on
foreign ships, which, in the event of a war, would be considered
to be carrying contraband cargo, and, therefore, subject to at
tack. Should these foreign colliers be waylaid and destroyed
while a war was in progress on the Pacific Ocean, the United
States warships would be left fuelless and absolutely helpless.
For this reason, if for no other, the Alaska coal fields should
be opened to development as quickly as possible.
The difference in the cost to the government in buying coal

MINES, MINERS AND MINING 237
in Alaska and in West Virginia and transporting it to the
Pacific is probably sufficient to cover the cost of construction
of a new battleship every year. It is estimated by competent
engineers that the minimum saving would be approximately
$1,000,000 annually.
So far as the conservation of the Alaska coal supply for future
generations is concerned, let it be stated that in the process of
transporting coal from the Atlantic to the Pacific an amount of
coal equal to twenty-two per cent, of the tonnage shipped is
consumed in the boilers of the vessel that carries the cargo.
There are approximately 70,000,000 people on the eastern side
of the Rocky Mountains as against 20,000,000 on the western
side. Therefore, the coal measures of the eastern states will
become exhausted before those of the Pacific Coast, and indub
itably the time will come when coal will have to be transported
from the Pacific to the Atlantic, unless some other form of
energy be invented in the meantime. There can be no conser
vation of natural resources in burning up twenty-two per cent.
of eastern fuel in transporting it to the West and later burning
up twenty-two per cent, of western fuel in transporting it to
the East.
In the steel industry also, the effect of the opening of the
Alaskan coal fields will be felt severely. There is an abundance
of iron ore on the Pacific Coast, but no available coking coal —
or rather coking coal of a quality that will " stand up " in an
open hearth furnace. It is cheaper for the western people to
pay freight on steel manufactured in the eastern states than to
pay freight on coke to manufacture the steel on the Pacific,
because coke is a bulky, and therefore costly, material to carry,
and besides that, it disintegrates and deteriorates in the process
of transportation.
Alaska, or parts of it, as has been pointed out, is a cold
country, and Nature clearly intended that the people who in-

238 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
habited the territory should use the fuel which she placed there
for them. It certainly never was intended that they should be
compelled to import their fuel from Canada at a cost of upwards
of $1,000,000 per annum more than it would cost to mine the
fuel that lies in their own back yards.
There can be no doubt that when the facts about the Alaskan
coal situation become known, the fields will be opened. They
will be opened to furnish fuel to the American navy, and soon
thereafter there will be many big smelting centres in Alaska.
It is probable that steel manufacturing will be commenced, and
it is reasonably certain that a city about the size of Butte, Mon
tana, and another about the size of Scranton, Pennsylvania,
will be established in Alaska, somewhere adjacent to the coal
and copper fields.
These towns most probably will be Cordova and Seward.
Within one hundred miles of Cordova lies the great Bering
River coal fields. Within two hundred miles of Seward are
located the great Matanuska coal measures. Surrounding each
are countless millions of tons of smelting ore in varying degrees
of richness and diversification of mineral.
The development of those coal fields will place half a million
people in Alaska within five years. This will increase the an
nual trade with the North from $50,000,000 to $500,000,000.
The steel trade will be revolutionised, for instead of paying
$20 a ton freight on steel from Pittsburg — the original cost
of steel many times repeated — the steel goods will be manu
factured on the Pacific Coast. Seattle's population will increase
to a million of people, and along the shores of Puget Sound will
be a number of small steel manufacturing towns.
The opening of the coal fields will cause the building
of hundreds of miles of railroads in Alaska, which, besides
furnishing a means of transportation for the commercial and
precious ores, will open up a tremendous agricultural district.

Photo by Lomen Bros.
HYDRAULIC MINING ON THE PIONEER COMPANY'S-GROUND AT NOME

MINES, MINERS AND MINING 239
According to Alfred H. Brooks, chief of the Alaska Division
of the United States Geological Survey, and a member of the^
Alaskan Railroad Commission, the Bering River and Matan
uska fields furnish the only known source of high-grade fuels
near the Pacific Ocean, but the recent discovery of a small quan
tity of bituminous coal near Spokane, Washington, may in after
years affect the Pacific Coast market. Whether the field dis
covered near Spokane is sufficiently large to give it commercial
importance yet remains to be determined, and from the fields of
the North, for the present anyway, must come the high-grade
steaming and coking and anthracite coals needed by the rapidly
growing population of the Pacific seaboard states. Unless they
are utilised, the manufacturing and smelting industries and the
United States navy on the Pacific must largely depend on for
eign fuels, except as coal may be brought around Cape Horn
from the fields of Pennsylvania and West Virginia, or until the
, completion of the Panama Canal, when the route will be
changed. Alaska's own need for high-grade fuels for smelting and other
purposes can be supplied only from the Alaska fields, unless it
be transported for many thousands of miles. The cost of trans
portation of fuel from the mines on the Atlantic Coast or from
Australia or from the inland fields of China to Alaska, pro
hibits their use in the North, if used for the purpose of smelting
any but the very highest grades of ore. At present the high-
grade ores of Alaska are transported to Tacoma for reduction,
and in the process there is necessarily a heavy waste. The
highest grade copper ore, for instance, yields an average of
probably 35 per cent, copper. This means that the ships' car
goes contain 65 per cent, of gangue or waste material, and thou
sands of tons of low-grade copper, such as is mined in Arizona,
Montana and Michigan, is thrown on the waste dumps.
While there is an abundance of good coal in the Bering River

240 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
and Matanuska fields, it is nevertheless true that certain por
tions of these fields are badly faulted, and the coal is crushed
to such an extent that it cannot be marketed in its present con
dition. It also is true that a large amount of this coal is of
a friable nature, that is, it gradually disintegrates into small
particles or " slack " when exposed to the atmosphere. The
crushed or friable coal ultimately will have commercial value
when briquetting machines are installed, but it has no present
commercial value, and will have none until the solid coals are
mined to so great a depth that the cost of extraction will be
as great as that of briquetting. The fabulous values placed
on some of these coal claims by irresponsible people who are
ignorant of the facts are extremely ridiculous.
The solid coals of Bering River and Matanuska fields are
the highest grade fuels in the United States. This has been
proven not only by tests of small samples made by members of
the United States Geological Survey, but by a bulk test of nearly
one hundred tons burned in the U. S. battleship Nebraska.
According to estimates made by members of the United States
Geological Survey, by Falcon Joslin and other engineers com
petent to form opinions on the subject, coal from either the
Matanuska or Bering River fields can be landed in Puget
Sound ports at less than five dollars a ton. Coal mining in
Alaska presents no difficulties that have not been met and over
come in other places. The climate is no more severe than that
of Pennsylvania, and the water transportation problem already
has been solved.
The Bering River field can be opened from^a number of
different points, and, despite statements to the contrary, it is
nevertheless a fact that the Copper River and Northwestern
Railroad does not pass any point that is nearer than forty miles
from these fields. A branch line, however, has been surveyed,
and in the event of patents being granted to some of the

MINES, MINERS AND MINING 241
claims on this field in the near future, a line to connect Cor
dova with the field doubtless will be constructed.
Some of the claims are so situated that the coal can be exca
vated and laden in barges moored in the Bering River, and by
this means, transported to tidewater. This latter condition
makes the control of the field by the railroad an impossibility.
The Matanuska field lies two hundred miles from tidewater
at Seward, and when opened to development the fuel will be
hauled to the coast for shipment on the Alaskan Northern Rail
road, seventy miles of which has already been constructed.
Should the Alaska Northern route prove impracticable, an
entrance to the field can be gained by building a spur from the
Copper River and Northwestern Railroad at Chitina, and land
ing the coal at Cordova. This fuel will be used not only in
the local market afforded by the quartz mines of Valdez and
Seward, but a large quantity will be brought to Pacific Coast
ports further south in competition with the fields of West Vir
ginia and Pennsylvania, to be used in the form of coke at the
Pacific Coast smelters.
Because Alaska coal can be landed on Puget Sound at
less than five dollars a ton, the following figures on the present
Pacific Coast prices for high-grade coke and coal are significant:
Special grades of coal which come from the Eastern fields com
mand fancy prices — blacksmith coal $11 to $12 and anthra
cite $15 to $20 a ton. Coke, in the Pacific Coast states, is
sold with slight variations either way, at the following prices:
San Francisco, furnace coke, $9 to $10; gas coke, $7 to $8;
Oregon and Washington coke, $7; Belgian coke, $11.
The Pacific Coast and territories, including Hawaii and
Alaska, use annually about 4,500,000 tons of coal, about 200,-
000 tons being consumed in the form of coke. Recent discover
ies of large bodies of smelting ores on the Western Coast, will
soon cause a great increase in demand for coking coals and the

242 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
smelting industry is destined to increase at tremendous speed.
When new steel mills are established, as they soon will be,
the amount of coke used on fhe Pacific Slope will increase to
1,000,000 tons per annum. At present, however, the market
conditions are about as follows:
Without competition, furnishing coal to northern towns,
mines, southbound ships, et cetera, Alaska has a market for
120,000 tons of coal annually. Under the present conditions
it would be absolutely impossible for other fields to compete
in this market.
Under competition strongly favouring Alaska, there is an
annual market for 350,000 tons for hard coal, and under even
competitive conditions a market for 1,000,000 tons of coal can
easily be found in the fuel used by steamers entering Bering
Sea, the coal burned in the northwestern section of Alaska, in
California ports, in the trans-Pacific steamships, in the coal used
by the United States navy on the Pacific and in the blacksmith
and anthracite coal used on the Pacific Coast.
The opening of the Alaska coal fields will enable the gov
ernment to keep a fleet of battleships on the waters of the Pacific
and give employment to thousands of men engaged in coal min
ing and other industries. These miners will furnish a market
for the agriculturist" who will go to Alaska as soon as con
ditions warrant.

CHAPTER XIX
THE REINDEER AS A CIVILISER
Philanthropic work results in establishing nucleus of tremendous in
dustry — Reindeer can be raised for market more cheaply than
cattle and grazing ground is unlimited — Animals become im
portant factor in food and transportation problems of territory —
Convert poverty-stricken Eskimos into industrious, thrifty race.
A FEW years ago when the price of meat in the United
States began to soar so high that it scarcely could be
reached without the aid of an aeroplane, the sugges
tion was made that the swamps of Florida and other southern
states be stocked with hippopotami and mammals pf similar
character, the flesh of which is not only toothsome, but nutri
tious. The scheme sounded wildly fantastic, of course, but for
some time it was regarded as a probable means of reducing the
high cost of living. The idea died out as impracticable, and
it generally was conceded that there was no method by which
the depredations on the public purse by the so-called meat trust
could be frustrated.
Few people realised, and many yet have failed to realise, that
in Alaska there rapidly is being builded a meat industry that
is destined to become a most important economic factor in the
affairs of the beef barons.
The Alaskans, in many parts of the territory, solved the
meat problem by eating reindeer. At the present writing rein
deer steaks and chops are served in the best hotels in Seattle
and other western cities at prices that compare more than
favourably with the tariff on cuts of beef and mutton.
243

244 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
Reindeer meat is more succulent and nutritious than either
beef or mutton. Every portion of the reindeer is as tender as
the tenderloin of beef, and its flavour is delicious — somewhat
of a cross between beef and mutton, with just a faint suggestion
of venison intermingled. In the Hotel Washington, one of
the best hostelries in Seattle, where a porterhouse steak costs
about $2.00, a cut of reindeer meat is served at 75 cents.
Stretching from the northern bank of the Yukon River to
the Arctic Ocean is the greatest reindeer grazing land in the
world. The number of deer which this land will support is
almost incalculable. The caribou is a wild reindeer, and it is
certain that where the wild ones can subsist, so also can the tame
ones. Dr. Grenfell, the Labrador missionary, furnished the
information that the country north of Hudson Bay will sup
port 10,000,000 of these animals, and this government supplied
him a few female deer to form the nucleus of the herd.
The Russian government will not allow any more to be sold.
The introduction of reindeer into Alaska was the result of
a suggestion made by M. A. Healey, captain of the revenue
cutter Bear. The idea was adopted by the Education Bureau,
in response to a petition filed by Dr. Sheldon Jackson. Lieu
tenant E. P. Bertholf, in 1893, made a trip across Siberia to
the eastern coast, purchasing a number of deer, which later
were shipped to Alaska across Bering Strait. In all 1,280
deer were imported between the years 1902-06, and their breed
ing was placed under the supervision of Laplanders, who taught
the natives how to handle and raise them. The purchase of
the reindeer, like the purchase of Alaska, was regarded as a
wilful waste of public funds, but from these few deer, the
herd now numbers about 3 5, 000, and in the meantime they have
converted the natives who own them from an impoverished to
an affluent people.
Besides those killed for their own use last year, the net in-

REINDEER ARE USED FOR PLEASURE RIDES BY WHITES AND NATIVES. REINDEER RACING IS
BECOMING ONE OF THE POPULAR PASTIMES IN ALASKA

THE REINDEER AS A CIVILISER 245
come to native deer men from animals slaughtered and sold for
market was $42,216, divided among 460 native owners. When
it is remembered that despite the number killed for meat each
year, the reindeer herd doubles every three years, it readily
will be seen that this industry has latent possibilities.
There are now forty-seven herds of reindeer in the territory,
more than half of them being owned by the Eskimo herdsmen.
Regulations governing the control of the herd were adopted
by the Interior Department in 1907, and worked out by W. T.
Lopp, chief of the bureau in Alaska, whose twenty years' ex
perience with the natives qualified him to get the best results.
Nobody realised that the first deer imported were destined
to become the nucleus of a tremendous industry. It was de
sired to advance the civilisation of the natives from the hunting
to the pastoral stage and to provide a food supply for them to
take the place of the seal and whale blubber and the wild
caribou, which had been driven so far north that to many of
the natives they were inaccessible. It is now estimated, by
men who have studied the reindeer business, that within twenty
years a herd of at least 2,000,000 domesticated, prime animals
shall have been accumulated in the territory.
Reindeer can be raised for the market more cheaply than
cattle. They thrive on tundra wastes where a goat or other
animal would starve, and there are more than 300,000 square
miles available for grazing lands. The reindeer digs beneath
the snow in winter and eats the moss, and in summer eats grass
and foliage. Like cattle, they fatten on the summer range and
grow poorer in the winter.
The reindeer formerly was a wild caribou, having been do
mesticated by the natives of Lapland centuries ago. Frequently
wild caribou are seen in the reindeer herds, and the govern
ment recently has established a colony of natives who will ex
periment in the domestication of caribou fawns, It is estimated

246 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
there are 3,000,000 wild caribou ranging on the barren lands
of the Mackenzie River, and there are many thousands on
Nunivak Island. There also are many large herds in the
vicinity of the Beaver River.
While I have misgivings as to the reindeer ever becoming to
the musher of Alaska what the camel is to the traveller on the
deserts of Australia and Africa, there certainly no longer can
be any doubt as to the animal's usefulness as a source of food
supply. The reindeer is a good pack animal, under certain conditions,
but, in the presence of dogs, he is what might justly be termed
" a little flighty." I have a distinct recollection of starting,
many years ago, from Nome to Candle Creek, three hundred
miles distant, with an outfit that was to have been drawn by
reindeer. I had been told so much of the many advantages
possessed by these animals over a dog team — their ability to
feed themselves on the moss, and hence the advantage of having
to carry no food supply for them, of their speed, their docility
and general tractability — that I decided to dispense with the
faithful dog team that had done me good service on many
former occasions; that had shared with me the hardships of
the trail and the contents of the " grub-box."
We loaded the outfit on the sleighs, in the back yard of a
saloon, and everything was going merrily, until a pack of wolf-
dogs came into vision. The appearance of the canines was im
mediately followed by several streaks of reindeer splitting the
atmosphere across the tundra, and my dunnage was scattered
all the way from Nome to the top of Anvil Mountain.
In a temperature of about thirty degrees below zero, but
moderated somewhat by the warmth of the deer driver's pro
fanity, we gathered the outfit up in several different pieces, and
some of it never was recovered. I had regarded myself as
being very proficient in the use of swear words, but, after lis-

THE REINDEER AS A CIVILISER 247
tening to that deer driver's vocabulary, I felt that I had been
deceiving myself and was only the poorest kind of an amateur.
Also it caused me to change my similes in expressing degrees
of profanity, and thereafter I substituted " swear like a deer
driver " for other forms relating to dog mushers, oxen drivers,
mule skinners, and West Australian teamsters.
This was my one and only attempt to use the reindeer as a
means of transportation. But prospectors, who have driven
them in both summer and winter, have informed me that, when
the animals are away from the towns and the dogs, they make
the ideal beast of burden. They are tractable and easily
trained, and there never is any worry about their food supply.
They are good travellers, easily covering thirty and forty miles
a day across country where no trail has been broken for them.
They rapidly become accustomed to their drivers, and, if treated
with ordinary kindness, show an animal-like reciprocation, fre
quently coming to the tent and begging mutely for little tid-bits
from the camp table.
Being indigenous to the country, Nature seems to have pro
vided them with a foot especially adapted to traversing land
covered with deep snow. They have wide feet, hollowed out
underneath, and as they do not sink deeply into the snow, it is
thought that the pressure of their feet on the snow surface,
forms a cushion that prevents them from sinking in after the
manner of a horse or other hoofed animal.
While the foot of the caribou or reindeer does not in any
respect resemble that of the camel, it operates in a somewhat
similar manner. In Australia I frequently have seen a train
of camels walk across a desert and beat down a trail almost
as hard as asphalt, while a man on foot would sink to his knees
in the loose, ash-like sand.
The moose is enabled to overcome the snow conditions by
the long legs with which it has been endowed, In this con-

248 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
nection it is worth noting that short-haired dogs brought to
Alaska, sometimes grow, during the winter season, a heavy
coating of fur-like material beneath their scant natural covering.
Plymouth rock and other fowls with legs as innocent of
covering as their mouths are of teeth, in their second winter in
Alaska, grow feathers clear down to the points of their toes.
It frequently happens that the wild caribou associate them
selves with reindeer. The native herders near St. Michael in
1908 lassoed a buck caribou which had intermingled With the
reindeer. By placing a cow-bell around the animal's neck the
herders ascertained that it remained with the reindeer about
six weeks. The male caribou is larger, more slenderly built,
and has longer legs than a buck reindeer. The same year the
native herders shot two large caribou bucks found grazing
with forty female reindeer which had strayed away from the
main herd about three weeks previously. The caribou put new
blood into the reindeer herd and doubtless improved the breed.
Wolf-dogs have been a serious menace to the management
of the herds and also a cause of friction between those natives
who own reindeer and those who do not. In recent years the
natives have imported collie cattle dogs from Scotland and in
some cases have crossed them with malamutes. These canines
soon become accustomed to deer, the products of the cross
breeding apparently retaining all of the gentleness and much
of the sagacity of the collies and very little of the wolfish pro
pensities of the malamutes.
Although timber wolves have not bothered the reindeer herds,
excepting at Illianna Bay, there is some danger that the deer
herds will not much longer be immune from attack by these
destroyers of forest life. During the past ten years bounty
hunters in British Columbia have driven the wolves into South
eastern Alaska, where they have practically annihilated the
great herd of red-tailed deer which formerly ranged that sec-

THE REINDEER AS A CIVILISER 249
tion. A law providing for the payment of a bounty on wolves
in Alaska was passed by Congress in 191 2, and it is probable
that bounty hunters will drive these predatory mammals far
ther north, where they will raid the reindeer herds which at
present are left undisturbed. Night herding of reindeer is
necessary all through the year in Siberia because of the wolves
which infest that country. Should the wolves in Alaska be
driven from their present habitat, similar methods for com
bating them will have to be adopted. The reindeer will not
scatter during the winter months, but it is necessary to watch
them at night from October till May. Constant watching is
necessary during the time there is no snow on the ground, as
deer are inclined to wander far afield during this period, and
it is more difficult to herd them during the mating season, Sep
tember and October, than any other time. Under ordinary
circumstances one man and two or three well-trained dogs can
herd one thousand reindeer without difficulty.
With the exception of a little foot-rot, which occasionally
makes its appearance, there is no disease among the reindeer of
Alaska at the present time. When the symptoms of this plague
of nearly all herbivorous animals are noticed, the natives effect
a prompt cure by driving the herd to drier pasturage.
The principal practical uses of the reindeer to date have been
to furnish food and clothing to the natives and white settlers
and as a means of transportation. Living solely on moss, in
the winter, the reindeer does not make an ideal draft animal
during this season and cannot keep up the strain of travel
longer than six or eight consecutive days. In this respect the
deer is not unlike the horse that is fed on straw and hay only.
When the reindeer becomes plentiful enough that relays can
be secured every four or six days from herds along travelled
routes, the animal will become an important factor in the trans
portation problems of the country.

250 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
Experiments in training fawns for draft animals are now
being conducted, the subjects of the experiments being taught
to eat cereals and other solid foods as well as moss. There
are at present about 25,000 sleigh reindeer in Alaska. A most
striking illustration of the animals' use as a source of food sup
ply was made apparent in 1897, when a number of deer were
driven from the coast of Bering Sea to Point Barrow, and
there slaughtered and consumed by more than 400 starving
whalers whose ships had been caught in the ice the previous
summer. The total number of Alaskan reindeer is distributed in herds
among twenty-eight stations — eighteen of these being owned
by the government and ten by the church missions. The Lap
land reindeer herders own more than three thousand deer.
Several natives, who received payment in reindeer for work
performed at the government stations, have become independ
ently rich. Mary Antisarlok, known as the " reindeer queen,
of Alaska," has a very large herd at Golovin Bay; while
Ablakok, who lives at Cape Prince of Wales, carries the proud
title of " reindeer king " of the section in which he resides.
When the industry was placed under the direction of W. T.
Lopp, he immediately installed an endless chain system of re
warding the apprentices, which has proved successful. Under
this plan a boy is taken to the station and taught the methods
of herding. His apprenticeship lasts five years, during which
time he receives $355 in food and clothing and upon his dis
charge he is given a bonus of from six to ten reindeer, and their
increase during this term, with which to start a herd for him
self. It is estimated that within ten years every Eskimo fam
ily in Alaska will be represented by one or more reindeer own
ers. During his apprenticeship each native is instructed, in keep
ing accounts, in marketing of reindeer, and in other practicable

THE REINDEER AS A CIVILISER 251
methods connected with the industry; and also, before he can
become an owner of deer, the novitiate must become proficient
in the branches of elementary reading, writing and arithmetic.
Although the natives are not slow to adopt most of the
vices common to the white man, " reindeer rustling " has not
yet become popular amongst them. The natives are inher
ently honest and the Biblical injunction against stealing is rarely
broken. As the owner of sixty or seventy deer the graduate native
apprentice gets an abundance of outdoor occupation which is
congenial to his propensities, and he soon becomes a factor in
providing a safe, sane, and certain, support for future genera
tions of his race, and a man of standing in the community.
This result costs the government $355. As a practical indus
trial feature of public school education there is nothing known
in the world that compares with it. It is attracting the atten
tion of educators in all civilised countries.
The plan of making the native of Alaska self-supporting and
independent has many advantages over the system of sending
Alaskan native children to the government Indian schools at
Carlisle and Chemawa for a period of from eight to ten years,
at an approximate cost of from $1,600 to $2,000 — if they are
able to live that long in the environment of the school — to be
returned to their own country, discontented, and in every way
totally unfitted to take up the burden of life. The Alaska
Indian who has been given a college education is one of the
problems of the territory. Lazy, dissolute, and shiftless, and
thinking themselves too high caste to associate with their own
people, they become outcasts and pariahs on the various com
munities. The government does not sell any female reindeer to either
white men or natives, but at present is planning to distribute all
of the deer of its remaining herds during the next three or four

252 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
years. Stations will be established on the Aleutian Islands,
and on Kodiak arid Nunivak Islands. The various missions
in Alaska have been loaned herds of one hundred reindeer for
a period of five years, at the end of which time they have been
able to build up herds of their own and to repay the govern
ment loan. The Moravian Mission at Bethel, on the
Kuskokwim River, owns a herd of nearly three thousand rein
deer, and many other missions own herds composed of more
than one thousand animals. Each year the surplus male deer
are killed and eaten by the native families or sold to white pros
pectors. The missions take native apprentices, teach them the best
methods of raising the animals and, at the end of their period
of apprenticeship, pay them their salary in reindeer. Lapland
reindeer herders, who were brought to Alaska to teach the best
methods of reindeer raising, are given the same privileges as
are the missions. Already some of the members of this hardy
northern race have accumulated herds of nearly one thousand.
The young Eskimos take to herding like goslings to water.
They regard the work, not as a labour, but as a recreation.
They readily learn to harness and drive the deer, watch and
train the fawns, and to throw the lasso. Lariat throwing, in
fact, has become one of their favourite forms of amusement,
and they are far more expert at it than are the Laplanders, who
knew nothing of the uses of the " rope " before coming to
America. As the deer grows a new set of hair each fall and discards it
again in the spring, a new method of marking had to be de
vised. In lieu of the branding iron a small aluminum button
is fastened to the ear of each deer. All private owners and
herders have their individual marks which must be registered
with the local superintendent of the reindeer stations and also
at Washington. While there is no likelihood of " deer-

HERDS OF REINDEER IN WINTER PASTURE— BEGUN AS A PHIL
ANTHROPIC WORK, THE GOVERNMENT, IN ITS REINDEER
INDUSTRY, FOUND A LUCRATIVE INVESTMENT

THE REINDEER AS A CIVILISER 253
rustling " becoming prevalent in Alaska, the brands are never
theless necessary for identification purposes.
The skins of the reindeer are used for many purposes but
principally for making clothing. Reindeer parkas and sleeping-
bags have excellent qualities for resisting moisture and cold,
and are a boon to mail-carriers and mushers who sleep out
doors in the freezing temperature of winter. The hair of
reindeer is not merely a hollow, tubular structure with a cav
ity extending through its entire length, but is divided off into
numerous cells, like so many miniature water-tight compart
ments in an ocean-liner. These cells are filled with air, and
their walls are so elastic and have such strong resistance, that
they are not broken up during the process of manufacture or
by swelling when wet. The cells expand in water and a per
son clothed completely in reindeer skins is carrying a life
belt, sufficiently buoyant to prevent him from sinking should
he fall into a lake or river.
Already the reindeer industry has placed many of the na
tives above want and most of the missions in Alaska have be
come not only self-supporting, but are gradually gaining a
position whereby they will be enabled to give a part of their
revenue to similar institutions. The reindeer grazing grounds
in Alaska are practically illimitable and, within a very few
years, there is no doubt that the government will be in a po
sition to throw the industry open to whites and natives alike.
The reindeer is important to the prospector, not only as at
source of meat supply, but as a means of transportation through
out the country. With ten head of reindeer, which number
one man can manage single-handed, each packing one hundred
pounds of food and supplies, prospectors will be enabled to
make journeys to places that under other conditions are inac
cessible. Statisticians figure that within a very few years, Alaska will

254 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
be shipping annually to the United States, from five thousand
to seven thousand carcasses, and thousands of tons of delicious
hams and tongues. The day is within measureable distance
when big reindeer ships from Arctic and sub-Arctic Alaska
will roll into Seattle and other western cities as the great
cattle trains now hourly enter Chicago and St. Louis. Long
before the end of the present century, Alaska, from her cattle,
reindeer, and agricultural resources, will be helping to feed
the two hundred million men and women, whom, it is esti
mated, will then be living within the border of the United
States. The creation of this industry in the far North was not acci
dental, but the result of patient study and personal sacrifice.
Much time and thought have been expended upon it and many
hardships and privations have been endured by those connected
with it, and among the many deserving a word of credit, Wil
liam T. Lopp, head of the Bureau of Education, is a prominent
figure.

CHAPTER XX
THE ALASKA SEAL HERD
Treatment of fur resources by United States Government forms one
of the blackest marks in its history — Unfairness shown to pelagic
sealers — Ruthless slaughter decimates greatest fishery wealth
ever possessed by any nation — Killing prodigal to the point of
recklessness — Habits and characteristics of valuable mammals —
Raising fur for the market.
SAILING a clumsily-constructed craft through a North
Pacific fog, Gerassium Pribilof, a Russian navigator,
heard a strange, bellowing sound, not unlike the bark
ing of a band of dogs. He anchored, and when the fog cleared,
he saw for the first time the islands which bear his name. It
did not take him long to discover that the barking emanated
from male fur seals, the skins of which, at that time, were very
highly prized by the Chinese, whose infinite patience had de
vised a plan for plucking the long hairs that protrude from
the silky, glossy fur.
Pribilof made his discovery in the summer of 1786, at which
time he was employed by the Lebedoff Company, one of the
many firms of traders which, at that time, were levying tribute
upon the natives and fighting among themselves for control
of the fur industry. Pribilof named the island St. George,
after the ship in which he sailed. After landing his otter hunt
ers, he returned to Unalaska. By the following spring it was
generally suspected that he had discovered a good thing, and
when he weighed anchor, several navigators hoisted sail and
followed. During the first season Pribilof's hunters killed more than
255

256 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
2,000 sea otters, more than 40,000 seals and accumulated nearly
15,000 pounds of walrus ivory. The invading horde of hunt
ers killed with wanton recklessness,, hundreds of pup seals and
young otters being sacrificed to their greed. The Russian-
American Company, by Imperial ukase, later chased out all
the small traders, but there was no surcease1 of the slaughter.
Some idea of the size of the seal herd at that time can be
gained from a statement made by officials of the Bureau of
Fisheries to the effect that, between 1801 and 1804, 80,000
seal pelts were accumulated in the Company's warehouses on
the islands. Practically all of these skins were spoiled by
improper methods of curing and were destroyed.
The discovery enabled Russia to re-open its trade with China,
from whence the Romanoffs had been driven by the energy and
better facilities of the British and Dutch. Alexander Baranof,
who became governor of the territory, developed the trade into
a most lucrative one, and extended it to California and the
Sandwich Islands, as well as to China. But the amount of
real profits from the business probably never will be known —
although, perhaps, the information might be found buried in
the records of the Russian-American Company, now reposing
in the archives of the State Department, at Washington, D. C.
When the territory was purchased by the United States, the
most ardent advocates of the ratification of the treaty made no
mention of the commercial value of these islands, and Senator
Sumner made no reference to them in the great speech which
decided the destiny of Alaska. Hayward Hutchinson, repre
senting a number of San Francisco capitalists, bought the good
will and buildings on the islands owned by the Russian-Amer
ican Company. He reached the Pribilof Islands in 1868, a
year after the purchase was completed, and there met Captain
Morgan, of Connecticut, who, representing some eastern cap
italists, casually had drifted to that region for the purpose of

THE ALASKA SEAL HERD 257
looking over its possibilities with a view to investment. They
combined forces, thereby making the record of carrying out
the first " gentleman's agreement " in the territory. Through
the efforts of their financial backers, Congress, in 1869 passed
a law declaring the Islands to be a reservation, and prohibiting
any one from killing fur seals except under certain restrictions.
The following year — on July 1 , to be exact — the Islands
of St. Paul and St. George were leased to the Alaska Commer
cial Company for a period of twenty years.
Lying to the north and west of the first island of the
Aleutian Chain and three thousand miles west of the main
land, the four little rocky islands, which, doubtless were thrust
up from the sea by the subterranean seismic disturbance in
bygone centuries, are completely isolated. For many years,
none but the representatives of the government and of the
company holding the lease was permitted to disembark there.
Both of the larger islands are composed principally of lava,
large chunks of pumice stone and other volcanic deposits.
While there is some doubt about the amount of money made
by the Russians from the seals on the islands, there is no doubt
about the immense profits reaped by their American succes
sors. An official paper, published in 1 903 by the U. S. Treas
ury Department, places the value of fur seals taken from the
islands at $35,000,000, and another document, published in
1910, estimates the values, up to that time, exclusive of the
pelagic yield, at $50,366,757. This amount, added to the
value of other Alaskan marine products, such as walrus ivory,
salt-water furs, whalebone and fish, brings the total aquatic
yield up to the magnificent value of $193,562,601 — roughly
about twenty-seven times as much as was paid for the entire
territory. And the manner in which these resources have been
treated by this government forms one of the blackest marks in
its history!

258 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
It was in the late '8o's or early '90's that the term " seal
poachers " fitted frequently in the columns of the newspapers
and magazines. A pelagic sealer became in the public mind
necessarily a thief and a pirate, just as, in the present day, the
men who discovered and gave to the United States 21,000,000
acres of coal land in Alaska, have become perjurers, land
thieves, grafters, liars and cheats, all because they asked the
privilege of buying 32,000 acres of the land, which they found
in the wilderness, at $10 an acre, as the law provided.
True, the international tribunal, sitting at Paris in 1903,
decided that the pelagic sealer was neither a poacher, a thief,
nor a pirate, and that Uncle Sam's previous contentions as to
Bering Sea being an American and Russian lake were abso
lutely wrong, but by that time the legitimate pelagic sealer
was ruined in purse and reputation. Never has he been able
to secure justice from the Government nor from the public.
Did the great body of the American people receive any ben
efit from this? On the contrary, it, too, has suffered from the
mishandling of the seal question.
In a recent report of the United States Bureau of Fisher
ies this statement is made:
" The Alaska fur seals constitute the most valuable fishery
resources that any nation ever possessed. It is a little less than
a national disgrace that the herd of four to six million seals
which came into our possession when Alaska was acquired from
Russia, and has been in our charge ever since, should have been
allowed to dwindle until to-day it numbers less than 150,000
of all ages."
The writer visited the Pribilof Islands in the summer of
1910 in company with Governor Walter E. Clark, and was
shown by an agent pictures of millions of seal living on points
of land that had not a vestige of vegetation upon them. The
same places, at the time of my visit, were covered with a thick,

THE ALASKA SEAL HERD 259
heavy, rank grass and many wildflowers. Before the govern
ment commenced to " mine the seals under a leasing system "
the pumice rocks in that locality were worn smooth and round
by the movement across them of many mammals. To-day
those rocks are covered with moss and buried in vegetation.
For generations the fur seal business of the world has cen
tred in the hands of a little group of Londoners. At the head
of that group is the fur-buying firm of C. E. Lampson & Sons,
established some 75 years ago, and continuing since then in its
commanding position. This firm is said to handle fully ninety
per cent, of the fur seal skins of the world. Through its busi
ness connections, it has immense power financially in both Great
Britain and the United States.
By far the greater portion of the world's supply of fur seal
comes from the Pribilof group of islands. Here the seals
have their " rookeries " ; here their young are born and raised
through the trials of babyhood. In winter the herd abandons
the islands and slips away into unknown seas. Early in the
spring the animals appear in droves far off the coast of Oregon,
gradually swimming northward, arriving at their summer home
in Bering Sea about July 1.
Promptly on the discovery of the islands by Pribilof, the
organisation of that parent of conservation forces which do not
conserve — the Russian-American Fur Company, was organ
ised, and the Russian Government granted the monopoly of the
Seal Islands, under approved conservation lease, to the cor
poration. Killing was prodigal to the point of recklessness in the early
days, but in 1803 restrictions were placed on the annual catch.
From 1803 to 1805 no killing whatever was permitted on the
Island of St. George and from 1803 to 1807 the Island of
St. Paul was absolutely closed to the butchers. Conservative
killing continued for some years, but gradually greed got the

260 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
upper hand, until in 1830, the company found the herd threat
ened with extinction, and grew still more conservative. But,
even at that, in 1834 actual count showed that there were only
"8,118 fresh young seals, males and females together" left
alive on St. Paul; so the following year it was decreed that
there should be no killing whatever. The herd was studied
and fully protected until 1838, when 10,000 were killed with
no perceptible harm to the herd. The number was gradually
raised until 60,000 were killed in 1843, and this was considered
normal. When the United States took over the territory in 1867,
there was a riot of slaughter at first, 268,000 being killed in
1869. At this point the world's fur trade began to take a hand
in the matter and on March 3, 1869, the rookeries were set
apart as a reservation. The next year the leasing system was
adopted in the United States, and the monopoly of taking seals
on the islands was granted to the Alaska Commercial Company
for twenty years, the company agreeing not to take more than
100,000 skins a year; to pay $55,000 a year rental and two
dollars tax on each skin.
To see that the company did not violate the law the govern
ment stationed an $i,8oo-a-year treasury department employe
on the islands!
In 1890 the United States granted a lease for the next
twenty years to the North American Commercial Co., a sub
sidiary of the Alaska Commercial Company, at a rental of
$60,000 a year, a revenue tax of two dollars on each skin, and
an additional charge of $7.62^ on each skin.
Under the first lease the bookkeeping methods of the Treas
ury Department showed a net profit of $5,738,724, although
this is one of those purely fictitious government profits, taking
no account of overhead charges, extra cost of the naval and
revenue cutter patrol and other high expenses.

THE ALASKA SEAL HERD 261
But not even Government bookkeeping could save the ap
pearance of the lease for the second twenty-year period. That
plainly shows a net loss of $2,247,554.
As an actual fact, if allowance be made for all the elements
that should be charged into the safeguarding of this monopoly,
a showing of a net loss of many millions would result. And
we haven't got even the seals left.
On June 1, 19 10, the government undertook to manage the
seal rookeries itself. During each of the two seasons since
it has killed about 12,000 skins, a total of nearly 25,000.
These have been sold, as ever before, to the same old London
buyers, for there is the market. The trade was perturbed when
it was first proposed that the government stop the leasing pol
icy, and sought to prevent action by Congress, but did not suc
ceed. After all, it has not been so badly hurt as it feared.
The profits to the general government last year amounted to
$388,189.44. Under the leasing system the number of seals
killed would have given the government a profit of only
$132,107. Then certain persons and organisations, including the Camp
Fire Club of America, began nagging the government and al
leging that Uncle Sam has been killing pups as well as mature
male seals in order to supply the market demands. It is only
fair to say that while the Camp Fire Club proceeded from the
best of motives there are indications that some of the objec
tions made by others to the administration of the seal islands
were formulated not for the worthiest purpose.
During the forty years of leasing the United States Gov
ernment contentedly and repeatedly declared that its lessees
were honest, that the government agents on the islands were
infallible and that Uncle Sam was not being cheated in the
slightest degree, either in count of seals killed or amount of
tax paid. The sublime " faith that passeth all understanding "

262 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
characterised the attitude of the government officials through
out. For years only one $i,8oo-a-year agent stood between
it and fraud. The record shows there was no fraud. In 1892
and 1893 the annual catch, as officially reported, on the islands,
fell to about 7,000. That was just after the new lease, with
the higher royalty charge, went into effect.
In 1889, when the first lease was about to expire, the offi
cial catch reported was 102,617.
But the contention of the government, throughout the period
of the lease, as expressed by its officers, ever was that the grad
ual reduction in the size of the herds was due, not to reckless
killing on the rookeries, but to the pernicious activity of the
pelagic or open-sea sealers.
From time immemorial the Indians of the Washington and
British Columbia coasts were accustomed to going out in their
canoes after the migrating seals in the spring and harvesting
skins. About 1885 the Indians of Neah Bay, Washington,
who were above the ordinary in intelligence, outfitted their
own schooners and engaged in the business.
Presently white men began to follow their example. Schoon
ers were outfitted at San Francisco to engage in the occupation.
It was a hardy, dangerous life, containing every element of
sport and fairness. The ordinary schooner would carry from
six to eight hunters armed with shot-guns as a rule, though a
few carried rifles. Each hunter had a boat and two boat pull
ers. Far off shore, in some instances as far as 600 miles — for
the north-bound seals cover a wide extent of ocean — when
the weather served, the boats would be cleared away and spread
fan-shaped over the water, ranging seven or eight miles from
the parent craft. And when a storm came up, or a thick,
North Pacific, " pea-soup " fog suddenly shut down, not al
ways did they win their way back. Many were the tragedies

THE ALASKA SEAL HERD 263
of the pelagic seal trade. Not a season passed but that some
boat's crew were lost. There is the tale of the Sophia Suther
land's crew and a host of others of like character, grim remind
ers of the hazard of the life of the seal hunter, a life that has
passed away.
The hunters naturally were picked men. The seal is a shy
animal and the only target he presents in the water is a head
about the size of one's fist. Rising and falling on the sea it
is an elusive mark, particularly when the platform from which
the hunter had to aim was also most unstable.
But some one — : of course, not the lessees — told Uncle Sam
that this was a most vicious practice, that the pelagic hunters
killed more females than males and that they were solely re
sponsible for the reduction of seal life on the islands. Accord
ingly Uncle Sam frowned severely on pelagic sealing. The
Indians first were put out of business and then, by new regula
tions, the industry was made so difficult for Americans that
most of them went to British Columbia. There the shrewd
Canadians had already embarked in the sealing business.
Russia, on the western side of Bering Sea, has a duplicate
group of seal rookeries, though not so large as those on the
American side. When the pelagic sealers began to pursue
the seal into the broad stretches of Bering Sea, the Bear
and the Eagle had conference together and determined that
while they couldn't reach the pesky Canadian on the Pacific,
that they would try to bluff him out of the sea.
Accordingly, in 1886, the doctrine was proclaimed that
Bering Sea was a Russian and an American lake and that the
ordinary law of the three-mile off-shore limit of jurisdiction
didn't " go " there. They announced that any sealer who en
tered that sea was a poacher and subject to arrest and the con
fiscation of his property. Naturally one might have expected
that the British lion would roar over this. True, he did roar,

264 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
but the sound was as mellow as the cooing of a suckling dove.
As related previously, the fur seal business is one loaded
down with trade agreements, and the big London operators
had their arrangements with both the American and Russian
leasees. So the British protest was but mildly perfunctory.
Then arose the term " seal poacher." Any pelagic sealer —
whether he remained outside of Bering Sea or went into the
" grave-yard of the Pacific " — was blazoned to the world as a
poacher.! Schooner after schooner was seized. One was taken
even as far south as Neah Bay, Wash., and held as a seal
poacher. The only possible poaching would be an attempt to land on
the rookeries and take the seals there, but in the ten years of the
greatest activity of the pelagic sealers npt more than four such
attempts were made.
According to the theory of the American and Russian Gov
ernments — a theory held to this day — the only proper,
sportsmanlike and humane way to kill seals is to wait until
the animals have hauled themselves out on the beach, a sanc
tuary to which they resort for breeding purposes, where they
have no chance to get away, and then, when the poor, harmless
animals are absolutely defenceless, bravely and intrepidly beat
them to death with a club.
Open sealing was a disgraceful, unsportsmanlike butchery!
The ethical way to kill seals was to cut out the bulls — and if a
few cows slipped in accidentally, perhaps, it didn't matter much
— drive them across the hills to the slaughtering grounds, mak
ing them carry their own skins to the shambles. What matter
that they came ashore to raise their families — for the little
seals have a voice and manner that is not unmindful of little
children — there were dividends to be paid, and those dividends
builded not one school, nor one church, nor one library, nor
made one home in Alaska the happier or more prosperous.'

THE ALASKA SEAL HERD 265
The bodies of the animals were left to rot at the places where
the skins were taken, to breed pestilence and disease. The
smell from this decaying seal meat, is one of the most unpleas
ant sensations that my olfactory nerves ever have experienced.
It can be felt — or " smelt " — for miles, and while I will not
vouch for the truth of the statement, I have heard it said
that navigators, when sailing through a heavy fog, steer their
course to St. Paul Island by the smell. I often have been
told of things which " smelled to Heaven," and think that
St. Paul Island, after a seal killing, must be one of them. Part
of the carcasses, in 191 1, were salted down and shipped in
the United States revenue cutters to the starving natives of
other islands. The odour of carcasses left on the ground in
previous years, however, remained.
Russia seized numerous American schooners sealing on the
Russian side, imprisoned their crews and confiscated their ves
sels. The United States seized many more Canadian and
American schooners on the American side and meted out sim
ilar treatment.
In 1892 it was decided to submit the British protest against
the American and Russian theory of a closed sea — a mare
clausum — to international arbitration. To prepare for this,
American agents went to Alaska and elsewhere and took a vast
number of affidavits to prove that 90 per cent, of the seals
killed in the open sea were females frequently with young.
Certain willing and mercenary scientists, making but a cursory
examination, agreed to back up these statements. The British
commissioners — Baden Powell among them — followed up
the trail of the American agents and secured a great mass of
counter affidavits, in many cases from the same men. When
these counter affidavits were presented at the tribunal sitting
at Paris the following year, the American representatives were
confounded.

266 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
The United States lost its case. The tribunal held that
Bering Sea was not a lake and that the seizures had been un
lawful. However, as a result of the sittings, the United
States, Great Britain and Russia entered into an agreement not
to seal within sixty miles of the rookeries. Thereafter the
three nations enacted legislation to put the pelagic sealer out
of business. Thus the industry, so far as those three nations
are concerned, perished.
But Japan was not a party to the agreement and could seal
up to the three-mile limit about the rookeries. Accordingly
the pelagic sealing industry became a Japanese monopoly. And
what a ruthless monopoly! Undeterred by any law of na
tions or humanity, the Japanese raided rookeries on both the
Russian and American sides, laid off the rookeries to kill the
seals swimming out to feed and conducted themselves as
veritable pirates. With a gentleness remarkable in contrast
with the treatment accorded in the past to American sealers,
the United States government has been most considerate of
the Japanese freebooters. True, it confiscated their ramshackle
schooners when they were caught within the three-mile limit,
but it treated the crews with all honour and paid their passage
home. The seal mother will suckle no pup but her own, and the
sight of hundreds of little seals, hungry and emaciated, flop
ping around amongst the herd in search of the mother to nur
ture them, nuzzling at all the females and being driven off,
filling the air with strangely human-like, baby cries, is one of
the most heartrending things imaginable. The mothers, which
have gone outside the three-mile limit to feed, have been killed
by the Japanese poachers, and the forfeiture of the mother life
means the , forfeiture also of not only the life of the baby she
left at home in the rookery, but also of the life of the baby yet
unborn that she carried with her.

SEAL COLONY ON ST. PAUL ISLAND AND BABY SEAL CRYING
PITEOUSLY' FOR ITS MOTHER. NO FEMALE SEAL BUT ITS,
PARENT WILL SUCKLE IT

THE ALASKA SEAL HERD 267
Counts of the dead pups on the various rookeries were made
in 1908 and 1909. In the latter year 3,786 baby seals were
found dead and 125 in a starving condition. In October,
1908, more than three thousand dead pups were found on St.
Paul Island alone. It was impossible to determine the death
rate on St. George Island, because the blue-foxes, which have
their habitat there, eat the bodies of the young seals immediately
after death. Furthermore, according to the report of the Bu
reau of Fisheries, the bodies of such pups as die early in the
season have almost disintegrated by October, and cannot be
seen when the count is made late in the fall. The increased
mortality among the young seals doubtless was caused by in
creased pelagic sealing.
The seal is an amphibious mammal and is polygamous in its
habits. Immediately upon the arrival of the herd at the breed
ing grounds, vicious battles are fought between the developed
male seals for the domination of the harems, and several small
colonies, composed of many female seals and one lord of each
harem, are formed. This leaves a large number of robust
young male seals to form colonies of their own, from whence
they cast envious — ¦ and, perhaps, amorous — eyes at the fe
male seals in the harems; and, once in a while, they make a
raid, when the lord of the harem is not looking, and endeavour
to steal some of the females. If they are successful, they then
lay the foundation for a harem of their own.
The bull seals remain on the island to domineer over their
various households and multitudinous better halves, and the
bachelor seals remain in the hope that they will find an oppor
tunity to make a foray on the colonies and steal some of the
sultan seals' wives. Bloody battles between the lords of the
harems and the bachelor seals frequently occur, with the result
that many valuable skins are spoiled by the rending teeth of
the competitors. The mother seals swim out to sea in search

268 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
of salmon and other food, and there meet death at the hands
of the Japanese poachers. As a majority of the seals killed
at sea are females, the effect of the pelagic catch is felt di
rectly on the breeding herd. Practically all of the young seals
found dead on the islands show that they have died of starva
tion. During the latter part of the term of the lease held by the
Alaska Commercial Company, the Japanese poachers occasion
ally raided the islands, and, a few years ago, in a battle fought
between the Japanese invaders and the natives who police the
island, eleven Japanese were killed. In the summer of 1910,
a Japanse schooner was seized and confiscated by the United
States revenue cutters, and a crew of forty-nine poachers were
taken to Valdez and jailed for a period of two months. The
same year, while I was at Dutch Harbor, five of eleven Jap
anese, who were in prison and awaiting deportation, made their
escape into the hills, but finally were captured. One of the
escapes was a carpenter of the Japanese schooner and the cap
tain of this vessel requested U. S. Deputy Marshal W. B.
Hastings to loan him a knout or cat-o'-nine-tails with which he
intended to administer to the Nipponese "chips" a public
flagellation. The federal officer could not speak Japanese, but
by means of the sign language and some slight assistance from
an interpreter, gave the captain to understand that if he wanted
to do any flogging, he would have to perform his castigation
outside of the three-mile limit.
In 191 1 Uncle Sam held conference with representatives of
Russia, Great Britain and Japan, and it was agreed they jointly
should patrol Bering Sea and that no sealing of any kind should
be permitted within sixty miles of the shore of any territory
controlled by any of these countries. Under this treaty each
nation was permitted to kill seal in its own territory.
Congressman William Sulzer, of New York, in order to

THE ALASKA SEAL HERD 269
make the treaty effective, introduced a bill providing that a
certain number of the bachelor seals on the Pribilof Islands
be killed each year under government supervision, and that
every ship, of whatever flag, carrying sealing gear, found within
sixty miles of any port of either American, British, Japanese
or Russian territory, immediately be confiscated and the crew
and officers punished by fine and imprisonment, or both. The
shameful manner in which the herd had been depleted was
drawn to the attention of Congress and a fight was made to
stop sealing of any kind for a period of years. When the bill
passed the House, it provided that all of the surplus bachelor
seals be slaughtered and their skins sold by the Government.
But about this time a number of Alaskans were in Washing
ton endeavouring to induce Congress to make appropriations
for the construction of roads and trails in the territory, and
these Northerners suggested that Uncle Sam might, with per
fect propriety, put back into the territory in road construction
that money which was derived from the country's resources,
through the seal herd. Immediately objection was raised in
the Senate.
" You can't improve on Nature," said these Solons ; " and
the way to preserve the seal herd of Alaska is to stop killing
seals." Somebody, of course, pointed out that the cattle rangers of
the Western States annually slaughter a large number of male
bovines for market, and suggested that the same principle
might, with advantage, be applied to the seal herds of Alaska;
and some naturalists had the audacity to suggest that in this
manner a magnificently profitable business could be builded up.
But the thought that the profits thus derived should be ex
pended in Alaska seemed to dampen the enthusiasm of the
senators on this proposition, and when the bill finally was
passed and signed, it provided that no seals shall' be killed on

.SJfftfS

270 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
the Pribilof Islands until the expiration of the year 1922.
The history of the sealing business to date, amongst other
things, shows that, following the award of the Paris tribunal,
the British Government demanded and collected from the
United • States full damages for the unlawful seizure of
Canadian schooners by American revenue cutters. The Can
adian " poachers " ' were vindicated and paid. The United
States Government made Russia pay damages to the outside
limit to the American sailors seized by Russian warships.
But those American sailors seized under precisely similar
circumstances by their own government! What became of
them? They never have received a cent. Broken in fortune,
shaken of nerve, dim of eye, aged and heart-sick, many of them
facing a grave in Potter's Field, they have been beseeching Con
gress for years for permission to let the United States Circuit
Court for the Ninth Circuit hear and adjudicate their claims,
but their pleadings have been in vain.
Until 1908 it was contended by naturalists that the fur-seal
never could be raised in captivity. Hundreds of pups had been
taken from time to time, but always they died a few weeks
after their capture. Although apparently suffering greatly
from hunger, the young mammals refused to "eat. Judson
Thurber, a boatswain on the United States revenue cutter
Bear, who had sailed Alaskan waters for twenty years and
had many times made an effort to rear seals to maturity, acci
dentally discovered the secret of success. Poking his hand
into the mouth of a pup seal, he discovered that the tongue
was fastened to the lower gum by a ligament. He broke the
connecting tissue and immediately the young seal began to eat.
He tried the same experiment on another pup with the same
result. They were fed condensed milk and granulated fish.
Thurber soon discovered another remarkable peculiarity of
the seal: namely, that they have a decided antipathy to any

THE ALASKA SEAL HERD 271
man who uses tobacco. They are the antithesis of the black
goat which acts as the ship's mascot and is a voracious chewer
of the narcotic weed. Not only will they refuse to eat a fish
that has been handled by a tobacco smoker, but they frequently
will attack him.
The fur seal is almost as sinuous as a snake, and its teeth
are sharp as needles. While it generally is playful, it some
times suddenly stretches out its body like a striking adder and
makes a vicious snap at anybody within reach. In handling
seals Thurber soon found that it was much safer never to go
near them unless his hands were protected with thick canvas
gloves. In 1909 Thurber brought two seals to Seattle and was in
structed by the Treasury Department to turn them over to
the Bureau of Fisheries at Washington. By this time the ani
mals had learned to follow him around the ship. Whenever
Thurber came from below decks they would begin to bark,
and if he had a fish in his hand they gave every manifestation
of delight. The seals rarely snapped at their captor, and he
handled and petted them with impunity. The animals were
a year old when they reached Washington. The morning
Thurber was leaving he received a hurry-up call on the tele
phone from one of the attendants at the aquarium. The seals
had escaped from their tank and were waddling around the
building. The caretaker attempted to capture one of them and
received a severe bite on the hand. Until the seals became
acquainted with their new keepers, they were left severely alone.
It was discovered that the seal has no preference for salt water.
Two tanks, one of salt water and one of fresh, were placed
side by side, and the animals gambolled and swam in the fresh
water, going into the other tank very rarely.
In the summer of 191 1 Thurber, acting under government
instructions, constructed a big wooden tank on the revenue

272 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
cutter Bear. Later he captured ten young seals on Pribilof
Islands. By splitting their tongues away from their lower
gums, every one of them lived and was landed safely in Seat
tle. Two of these animals were placed in Woodland Park,
at Seattle, and the remainder were forwarded to Washington,
where they were taken over by the Bureau of Fisheries.
Thurber seems to. have established beyond any question that
the fur-seal can be raised in captivity, but, so far, there is no
evidence that this can be done at a profit. A healthy young
seal eats about two pounds of fish per day, at an average cost
of ten cents. At this figure it costs $109.50 to sustain a seal
for three years, the time when its skin is most valuable. The
raw skins are marketed at an average of less than fifty dollars
each. Perhaps, if they were placed in a large lake from which
they could not escape and where a food supply of fish could
be raised, the business of seal farming could be conducted at a
profit. Should fashion decree that seal skin garments shall be the
mode, the price of pelts — because of the suspension of killing
on the Pribilof rookeries — will greatly advance during the
next ten years. Fox farming is conducted in Alaska, and it
may be that, within a few years, seal farming will be added to
the many industries of the territory.

CHAPTER XXI
MODERN WHALING ON NORTHERN PACIFIC
Driven from their own Country by new laws, Norwegian whalers in
vade American waters — Bowhead whale hunting in its deca
dence — Supplanted by modern methods which afford most exciting
sport in the world — The tragedies and phantom ships of the
Arctic.
ALTHOUGH for many years whaling in Alaska has
been a source of great profit to those engaged in it, it
is only within the past two years that the industry has
been developed to its fullest fruition. In former times it was
the custom for sailing vessels to enter the Arctic Ocean where
they remained for two or three years before making a full
catch; There only the bow-head or " right '' whale is taken.
The baleen, or bone which hangs, fringe-like, from the upper
jaw and is used as a strainer through which to eject water
taken into the cave-like mouth together with shoals of fish and
sea animalculae, has great commercial value, the price running
as high as three dollars a pound.
The development of steam whaling on the Pacific Coast is
largely due to political activity in Sweden and Norway, in
which countries for more than a century the industry had been
conducted successfully and profitably. A few years ago a wave
of conservation swept over Scandinavia. It was contended by
the fishermen that the whales drove the herring close in shore
where they easily were trapped in seines, and that the killing
of the giants of the sea allowed the herring to swim into deeper
water where the catch was more difficult. Legislation pro
hibiting whaling was enacted and many whaling companies
273

274 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
were driven out of business in all Scandinavian waters.
With millions of dollars invested in ships and gear they
sought a new field of operation. They tried the seas around
the Orkney Islands and north of Great Britain without suc
cess. They sent their ships to the African coast and the south
erly portion of the Indian Ocean, in the vicinity of Tasmania
and Australia, with a like result. Then they sought the west
coast of South America where paying stations were established.
It was not, however, until the adventurous crew penetrated the
North Pacific Ocean in the vicinity of the Aleutian Islands,
that a highly profitable field was found. Here the humpback,
sulphur-bottom and grey whales never had been hunted, the
endeavours of the whalers in that region having been confined
to the bow-head — the leviathan that yields the bone-like ma
terial that is used in making stays for high-grade corsets, joists
for ladies' collars and the various arts in which a tough, yet
elastic, substance is required.
The Alaskan whalers, up till a few years ago, had no knowl
edge of the value of the humpback and sulphur-bottom. The
latter is the largest mammal on " earth and its waters " to-day.
Al of the varieties yield the excellent oil which, deodourised
under a recently invented process, makes the finest toilet soap,
and spermaceti, used in compounding beauty creams, is one of
the by-products. Occasionally the hunters are awarded with
rich prizes in ambergris. Fertiliser is made from the residue
after the whale oil is extracted.
Like the discoverer of the Pribilof Islands, the pioneer in
this new whaling field soon found that he was to have many
competitors. The first factories established made large profits,
and as a result nearly twenty companies commenced operations
in 191 1 and 1912, with their headquarters at Seattle. Two
of these firms operate floating factories, while another company
owns the great ice-breaking ship, Kit, which has been used in

WHALING ON NORTHERN PACIFIC 275
Norwegian waters with great success. This vessel plys the
ocean adjacent to the Aleutian Islands and an effort was made
by the residents of Nome in 1912 to secure the enactment of
legislation that would allow this foreign-bottom ship to sail
between American ports during the winter season and carry
mail from Dutch Harbor to Nome, through five hundred
miles of ice, thereby keeping the roadstead open to passenger
and other vessels. The necessary permission to violate the
coastwise maritime laws was refused by the Department of
Commerce and Labour, and a bill providing for a special con
cession to this particular vessel was defeated in committee.
Beyond the fact that the whale is the biggest animal extant,
little is known about it. It shows evidence of having lived, in
prehistoric ages, upon the land, at which time it probably
crawled after the manner of an alligator or other saurian.
When cut open the four legs which have become atrophied
from disuse plainly can be observed. It suckles its young like
a cow, but where the calf is born has never been learned. Nat
uralists place the average span of life for a whale at a thou
sand years.
Hunting the whale, if the hunter is lucky, is a profitable
business, a single " right " whale sometimes yielding bone to
the value of $10,000. It is said by those engaged in it to be
the greatest and most exciting sport in the world. The old
method was to harpoon the large mammal from a dory or
whaleboat, a float being attached to the end of the harpoon
line, but that plan of capture is now carried on only by the na
tives of the far northern coast and by a few of the white bow-
head hunters.
Harpooning these obese animals from a small boat is a dan
gerous occupation, for not always does the leviathan of the
Northern waters submit to the harpoon without resentment;
sometimes it turns upon its pursuers and with one flip of its

276 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
mighty tail, smashes the boat to splinters or throws it high in
the air, precipitating its tormentors into the icy water. Unless
rescued quickly, their death is certain, for few men can with
stand the freezing temperature of the Arctic Sea. It is prob
ably for this reason that few Eskimos learn to swim. They
believe that if they fall into deep water there is little hope of
escape. In latitudes north of Kotzebue Sound, where the natives
engage in whale hunting — not only as a means of securing a
supply of blubber for food, but also for the purpose of collect
ing " bone " which they sell to whalers and traders — it is
customary to place a number of ornaments and strangely
marked pieces of ivory at the head of the skin boat from which
they do their harpooning. Also the shaman, or medicine man,
of the tribe chants a few songs and performs weird incanta
tions. According to the native belief, these precautions give
them good luck and an immunity from accident. These na
tives have a gift of crude artistry and tell the stories of their
adventures in rude sketches etched in ivory.
The modern method of hunting the whale is to fire the har
poon from a machine gun, not unlike a small cannon, placed on
the forward deck of a ship or tug. The harpoon carries an ex
plosive bomb, which not only gives the hunted animal a severe
sensation of shock, but also causes the barb-like instrument to
open after it reaches a point deep in the beast's flesh. As soon
as the animal is struck by one of these bombs, it sounds — that
is, it dives to the sea-bottom for the purpose of determining the
depth of the water in which it is located. That it dives with
terrific speed is evidenced in the fact that quite often after the
whale is captured and dragged to the ways at the station for
dissection, it is found to be bleeding freely from wounds caused
by the rock and gravel which became imbedded in its head
when it struck the floor of the sea.

WHALING ON NORTHERN PACIFIC 277
After sounding, the wounded mammoth returns to the sur
face and blows skyward a thin column of water through the
holes in the top of its head. Then it makes a mad dash
through the sea, lashing the water to a foam with its colossal
tail and dragging the tug or other craft along behind it. Or
ders are issued for full speed astern, but the puny strength of
a gasoline motor or light steam engine is as nothing compared
to the propelling power in the tail of a wounded whale. For
miles the race continues, with the gigantic animal getting
weaker and weaker. From time to time as the wounded whale
arises to the surface to " blow," another harpoon is shot into
its quivering flesh, and the succession of concussions finally
exhausts the monster, which, however, always can be depended
upon to put up a game struggle for its life.
Not infrequently the hunter of whales witnesses a furious
battle between a " killer " whale and a swordfish. The
" killer " whale is the most vicious animal in existence. It
swims with the speed of a torpedo, is endowed with tremendous
strength, the tenacious courage of an enraged lion, and the
savage ferocity of a wounded tiger. This murderer of the
seas is said to be able to kill anything that swims. Even a
polar bear will refuse to give it battle, and whalers, Caucasian
and Eskimo alike, leave it severely alone. It attacks on the
slightest provocation and sometimes provocation is not neces
sary to arouse its brutal and destructive instincts. It fights
with teeth and tail, and in its conflicts with the swordfish it
curves and turns for fresh attacks with lightning-like rapidity.
Many are the tales of vicissitude that have come out of the
Arctic; many are the lives that have been sacrificed in this
industry — some of them wantonly. Bowhead whaling is a
hard life, full of danger, hardship and privation. The ships
stay out for two and three years, and not always do they get
back with a full crew. Shocking tales of the brutality of the

278 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
officers and crews of these vessels have been told, and many of
them, unfortunately, are only too true.
" There's never a law of God or man runs north of fifty-
three," is a favourite quotation of whaling captains. With
crews, oftentimes recruited — maybe shanghaied — from the
slums of the waterfront, the captain must be a law unto him
self and is compelled to rule his men with a hand of iron.
When the vessel goes into winter quarters in the Arctic, where
the sun is not seen for a period of six weeks, all of the arms,
marlin spikes, capstan bars and everything that can be utilised
as a weapon is carefully removed to the officers' quarters on the
ship. Isolated from the world, in an inhospitable climate, living
on the coarsest food, without recreation, and, worse than all,
without the light of the sun, the sailors soon become discon
tented, irritable, quarrelsome and ready to mutiny, with or
without justification, at a moment's notice. Frequently mu
tinies have occurred with disastrous results, as many silent and
lonely graves on Herschell Island and the mainland near the
mouth of the Mackenzie River testify. Many of these
emeutes, it is to be regretted, were distinctly justifiable.
The first bowhead whale was captured in Bering Sea in
1848. A few years later there were nearly 100 vessels in
Arctic waters, and as the animals were driven farther and
farther North the hunters followed.
The first disaster to the Pacific whaling industry occurred
in 1865 when the rebel cruiser Shenandoah, commanded by
Captain Waddell, entered the Oskosh Sea and began to destroy
the fleet. Some of the ships were driven into, the ice floes,
from which not all of them returned. Many vessels were de
stroyed, four were bonded by the rebel commander, and two
hundred and fifty of the sailors, taken from craft that had been
scuttled or set afire, were sent back to the United States. The

Photo by Dobbs.
WHALING STATION AT POINT BARROW, THE NORTHERNMOST POINT OF THE CONTINENT

Photo by Dobbs.
BARROW ESKIMOS ABOARD UNITED STATES REVENUE CUTTER, WHICH VISITS THEM ONCE A
YEAR

WJ BALING ON NORTHERN PACIFIC 279

loss in shipj and whalebone was estimated at more than $2,000-
000. The next big disaster occurred in 1871 when a fleet of
thirty-seven ships were caught in the ice. Several of' the ves
sels were driven by the floes onto the shoals near Icy Cape and
wrecked. One was crushed to splinters between big bergs
and two were carried away in the solid drifting fields. Early
in the fall the whole ice pack began to settle towards the north
east, carrying the thirty-seven imprisoned vessels with it. A
consultation of captains was held and it was decided to take
to the whaleboats. Twelve hundred men and a few women
embarked in these small craft, dragging them across the hum
mocks and rowing them across the channels of open water.
After suffering much hardship and privation, the party suc
ceeded in reaching the southern edge of the pack where they
were taken aboard the seven ships that had not been caught.
They reached Honolulu without the loss of a single life. Two
of the missing ships were found the following year, one was
saved, the other had been crushed like an egg-shell between
gigantic ice-floes. The remaining vessels never were seen
again. The loss was more than $3,000,000.
One of the greatest tragedies of the North occurred in 1876.
The ice came down early in August and thirty vessels were
imprisoned. It was decided to make for the shore in whale-
boats, but seventy men refused to acquiesce in this agreement,
preferring to trust their lives to the chance of the ships getting
clear the following spring rather than facing death on the
blizzard-swept ice plain. Those seventy men and thirty ships
disappeared in the great maw of the Arctic and never a trace
of them has been seen since. The crowd of men and three
women who started for shore endured fearful hardships, many
of them dying on the way.
By agreement it had been decided that those who could not

280 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
keep up with the procession — hauling the boats ac.oss the ice,
rowing them across the open leads and using then to bridge
crevasses — should be left to their fate.
I never shall forget the horror of the tale of that trip as it
was told to me by an old Arctic whaler named Brody, who
was a mate on one of the vessels. He became snow-blind and
guided himself by tying his hand to a buckskin thong, the
other end of which was made fast to one of the boats. With
the party was a boy about twelve years old to whom Brody
was much attached. The little fellow, although demon
strating superb courage, soon become exhausted. For many
weary miles he was carried by his snow-blinded comrade, who
stumbled and staggered over the ice hummocks, partly from
semi-blindness and partly from exhaustion.
In one of the brief respites taken by the party Brody laid
the little fellow down to rest, but, blinded by the glare of the
snow, he could not find him when the journey was resumed.
Before he had gone one hundred yards he heard his little com
panion, deserted and left to die alone on the wintry waste,
crying for help. He tried to wrench himself from the life
boat to go back, but others prevented him. Then he realised
that — snow-blinded as he was — if he left the party he never
would be able to win his way back, and, with the child's cry
for help ringing in his ears, he continued on his painful, stum
bling way. He said he heard that soul-racking cry in his sleep
for many years afterwards.
Weary, exhausted, nearer dead than alive, with many of
their number missing, the party reached the land four days
after leaving the ship. Every hour of the journey had been
filled with horror. Later the wind blew the ice from the shore
and they made their escape to Point Barrow where they re
mained till the following spring, and there one of them in
1-91-, was still waiting, in the hope that they will find some-

WHALING ON NORTHERN FACIFIC 281
trace of the thirty gallant vessels and seventy shipmates they
left behind, never to see them again.
Stories of phantom ships held fast in the ice are brought
down from the northeasterly shores of the Arctic from time to
time by Eskimos, and it may be that some of the vessels, with
the frozen forms of many men lying on their decks, are still
floating hither and yon at the mercy of wind and tide in that
circling ice field, more than six thousand miles in circumfer
ence, that surrounds the North Pole.
Another disaster occurred in 1897, when more than forty
vessels Were cut off by the ice at Point Barrow and several of
them were reduced to kindling by the impact of colliding ice
fields. Government aid was sent, Captain E. P. Bertholf,
Dr. S. J. Call and Lieutenant D. H. Jarvis, officers of the
U. S. Revenue Cutter, Bear, driving reindeer from St. Michael
to their relief. Prior to the arrival of the rescuers, however,
the whalers had killed a number of caribou, which, with the
supply of food already on hand, would have been sufficient to
sustain them till the following spring.
In connection with this disaster Captain George F. Tilton
made one of the most remarkable journeys in the annals of
Alaska travel. With a dog team, he mushed from Point Bar
row to Katmai, a distance of more than 3,000 miles, over an
unbroken trail, and then rowed eighty miles across Shelikof
Strait to Kadiak, in order to send news of the disaster to the
civilised world.
The life of the whaler in the early days was one of constant
danger, and conspicuous among the dramatic events in whaling
history is the looting of a schooner by natives at Cape Prince
of Wales and of their punishment a few weeks later when
they attempted to seize the whaling brig William H. Allen,
commanded by Captain Giley. Nearly one hundred natives
boarded the brig from skin boats, and in the fight on the decks

282 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
that followed their attempt to seize the vessel, more than half
of them were killed. One white man fell a victim to knife
stabs and three others were wounded. When the natives real
ised their plan to capture the ship was doomed to failure, many
of them jumped overboard and were drowned.
Another disaster in which three ships were lost occurred in
1896. The day of the whaler in the Arctic is passing. The great
bowhead whale slowly is disappearing. It has been driven
farther and farther north. Perhaps in the ice around the
north pole, which ships dare not enter, and where the explo
sive bomb of the white man and the harpoon of the native can
not disturb its peaceful existence, it has found a haven of refuge.
The industry of bowhead whaling, in which millions of dol
lars have been invested, and millions in profits have been made,
is in its decadence. It is being replaced by the newer industry,
in which the products of the formerly despised humpbacks and
other varieties are converted into marketable commodities.

CHAPTER XXII
RAISING FUR FOR THE MARKET
Fox breeding a precarious, yet profitable industry — Going into vol
untary exile, sometimes for more than a year at a time, ranchers
lead life of solitude — Interesting animal farm on Middleton
Island — Others on Yukon and Tanana Rivers — Raising foxes
on Copper River — Fish, birds, seal and potatoes form Mr. and
Mrs. Reynard's bill-of-fare.
TO the person who finds charm in solitude, fox farm
ing in Alaska is an ideal, and, sometimes, a profita
ble vocation. " Man is a gregarious animal,"
Disraeli said, but he certainly did not have the fox farmers
of Alaska in mind when he made this generalisation.
Although not misanthropists, these fox farmers lead a life
of perfect isolation. They are ruralists in the extremest de
gree. " The world forgetting, by the world forgot," they are
the most exclusive people on earth. Neighbourliness, compan
ionship, fraternity, to them are unknown quantities. The
" company " on their islands is generally limited to two per
sons, and in some places the fox rancher lives absolutely alone.
The social conditions, opportunities for interchange of thought
and other amenities of life certainly are not extensive. The
nun who takes the veil leads a life of gay social intercourse
compared to the fox farmers of the North. Theirs is a life
of loneliness, ostracism, exile, desolation.
There are many fox ranches in the great country north of
British Columbia, both in American and British territory, but
the greater number are situated on the isolated islands of the
Aleutian Peninsula, where ships call but once a year or so and
sometimes not that often; where newspapers a year or more
283

284 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
out of date are read with eagerness. There are fox farms on
the Yukon River, a small one on the Tanana River; and a
ranch, upon which it is proposed to raise marten for the fur
market, has been located on the headwaters of the Copper
River. Marten farming, however, may truly be said to be
in its infancy. In fact, it is only in the experimental stage.
One of the most interesting fox farms in Alaska is located
on Middleton Island, about 125 miles from Valdez. It was
established more than twenty years ago by P. D. Temple and
subsequently passed into the hands of Thomas Vesey Smith,
who was known as " Middleton Island " Smith, in order to
distinguish him from " Kayak Island " Smith, a trader who
lived near Controller Bay. This farm is now owned by Tim
Marcum, and is operated by a native and his wife.
The island is seven miles long and approximately a mile
and a half wide. " Lonesomeness " nor any other word ade
quately can describe the conditions that there exist. At
widely separated intervals — perhaps of two or three years —
whaling vessels call, and, once in a while the ranch is raided
by Japanese poachers. About ten acres of land has been culti
vated in potatoes, most of which are fed to the foxes. These
tubers, together with rice, corn meal, fish and seal oil during
the winter, and birds' eggs during the summer, form the food
supply for the two hundred or more foxes that live in the
burrows. Except in December, when the trapping is done, the animals
are tame. As each Mrs. Reynard raises from five to seven
young foxes each year, only the males are killed. The skins are
in prime condition when the animals are one year old. The
pelts in 1912 brought an average price of forty-two dollars each.
But for the depredations of Japanese poachers, who slaughter
males and females alike, there now would be a large number
of animals in the burrows. These forays are always timed to

RAISING FUR FOR THE MARKET 285
coincide with the absence' of the caretaker, who must leave the
island once a year to obtain provisions.
The island is the summer nesting ground of countless thou
sands of sea-birds, and these add variety to Mrs. Reynard's
daily bill of fare. Foxes apparently find the eggs of gulls
a great delicacy, for they hunt for them assiduously. Gulls,
themselves, by the way, prey on the sea-parrots that nest on
the island.
During a comparatively recent volcanic eruption on the Alas
kan peninsula, when the top was blown off Mount Katmai, the
island was covered with volcanic ash to a depth of about four
inches, but this did not damage the potato patch nor do any
apparent injury to the fox crop.
Along the waterways in the interior of Alaska, fox farming
is developing rapidly, a large number of skins being marketed
each year. More fortunate than the islanders, the men
engaged in this coming industry in the interior, always catch
their crop after it grows. They manage their farms on much
the same principle as a poultry farm is conducted. Unlike the
foxes on the island, the interior Reynards are not compelled to
" rustle " most of their own food, and, therefore, are more
easily caught when the season for harvesting the fur commences.
George Armstrong has a small fox ranch near White Horse,
on the Yukon, where he raises the silver-grey and black species.
Sometime ago one of the blacks escaped by gnawing a hole
through the wire netting enclosure. Its skin was worth from
five hundred to seven hundred and fifty dollars. A reward of
two hundred dollars was offered for its return alive, and
promptly every Indian and many palefaces went on a still hunt.
A young Indian sighted a bushy tailed animal several miles down
the river, and set traps for it, freely distributing thereabouts
the kind of food it had been accustomed to eating. The fugi
tive never had been compelled to depend on its own resources

286 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
or initiative and had not developed the cunning of its brothers
who live on the islands and in the forests. It fell an easy
victim to the wily Indian.
Silver-grey, black, red, Arctic, and red and silver-grey cross
foxes are being raised on the Tanana and Yukon in many
places, in some instances the animals being cared for by the
women of the family, like so many chickens.
On St. Paul and George Islands fox farming has been
carried on under government supervision for many years.
When the seals were taken over by the government, Uncle
Sam fell heir to the foxes that live on the islands. The net
proceeds from the skins in 1910 was approximately twenty
thousand dollars.
For many years past fox trapping has been a source of
revenue to the natives on Pribilof Islands. In 1909, there
was a large falling-off in the number trapped. This was not
due to a diminution of the herds — if that word " herd " cor
rectly may be used — but to an invasion of millions of sea-
quail, which, apparently suffering from some plague of disease,
fell upon the beaches in countless thousands or were washed
up from the sea. The birds were devoured by the foxes, and
so long as the migration lasted, it was impossible to induce the
animals to go anywhere near a trap.
The foxes on these islands are fed salted cod and salmon,
which they do not eat readily, unless a little seal-meat be
mixed with it. Mrs. Fox finds that seal-meat adds piquancy
to her menu, and frequently during the summer months, she
makes a foray on the deserted pup-seals in the rookeries. Dead
seal-pups are also consumed by the foxes. Mr. Reynard pre
fers killing his own food, and so long as the living young seals
are available, during the summer months, most of the seal-
meat left out for food remains untouched.
Foxes begin to change and lose their fur late in February

RAISING FUR FOR THE MARKET 287
and early in March, according to latitude and climatic
conditions, and sometimes they become afflicted with mange.
Should the weather become very cold after the fur has been
shed, their ranks are decimated. Denuded of their natural
protection, they have little chance to survive a northern bliz
zard. The Pribilof Island foxes are caught in immense box traps,
the best animals being saved for breeding purposes, and the
balance killed for the fur. No male weighing less than ten
pounds is killed. No lame, blind, or badly coloured fox is
allowed to live. Many of the foxes on the island do not pass
through the traps, and many of them have been seen without
brands. These unbranded animals are bred in remote parts
of the islands and they keep out of the paths of the Indian
caretakers. The money for which the skins are sold is turned
into a government fund and reimbursed in buying food for
the natives living on the island.
The foxes on St. Paul Island, one of the Pribilof's, do
not take kindly to hand feeding, and for this reason, their
increase is not rapid. Salmon, sea-lion meat, and seal car
casses, are thrown to them from time to time, but few of them
eat it. A scourge of disease killed many in 1903, and since
that time the increase has been very slow.
Captain Otto W. Carlson, a former agent of the Alaska
Commercial Company, is believed to have been the first to
attempt the domestication of foxes. He leased an island near
Unga, and for several years attempted to raise these animals
for the fur. Silver fox skins at that time were worth as
high as $1,000 each. Carlson conceived the idea of raising
them in captivity. He tried to produce the valuable silvery
pelts by crossing white and blue foxes, but finally gave it up,
and went in exclusively for the blues.
Because it cannot be imitated, the pelt of the silver-grey fox

288 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
has a remarkable value, the price ranging to as high as $2,500
each. A pair of silver-greys for breeding purposes is readily
saleable at $5,000. Save at the tip of the tail, the colour of
the fur is black, while around the hips is found the silver-grey
band which gives the fur its great value. The hairs, at the
root and tip, are black, but between these two points, it is
grey. This vari-colouring produces the beautiful sheen which
it is impossible for experts to imitate. The bidding on the
London market at the four annual sales is always spirited when
silver-grey foxes come under the hammer. Silver-greys are
said to have been successfully raised on a fox farm at Wyoming,
Ontario, by T. L. Bowerman, who expended many thousands
of dollars before he achieved success.
P. D. Temple, about twenty years ago, commenced fox farm
ing on Middleton Island. In 1903 he sold out to Thomas
Vesey Smith, a former sea-captain, and his partner, Hans Ger-
manson. There is very little timber on the island, the total of devel
oped trees being thirteen of the spruce variety. The island
is covered with heavy grass, and, as in many other places in
Alaska, wild strawberries, wild rhubarb, wild celery, salmon
berries, and other fruits and vegetables, grow in profusion.
Smith and his partner found a very small cabin on the island,
which had been erected by their predecessor. Being a tall
man, Smith cut a hole through the side of the shack to let his
feet through when he stretched full length in his bunk, and
then built a projecting covering. For two years they lived
on the island, and then, to his horror and dismay, Smith
discovered that his partner was afflicted with insanity. In-'
sisting that somebody on the island, unseen by Smith, was try
ing to poison him, Germanson refused to eat. Later he be
lieved that other sinister persons were lying in wait to murder
him. Smith had a problem on his hands. He had to feed

Photo by Callarman.
WHERE SWEET PEAS GROW EIGHT FEET TALL.— A SKAGWAY GARDEN

RAISING FUR FOR THE MARKET 289
the foxes, attend to the crops of potatoes, and the work of
running the ranch. He was afraid to sleep for fear that his
partner, who was developing homicidal mania, would do him
bodily harm and thus imperil both of their lives.
After this fearful condition had continued for two months,
Smith managed to attract the attention of a passing schooner
by which he sent word to friends in Valdez, . telling them of
his predicament. Three months later help arrived. Ger-
manson had become violent, and great diplomacy had to be
used in inducing him to embark on the vessel bound for the
mainland. He died a few months later at Juneau.
From that time Smith lived alone on the island, leaving it
once a year in his Columbia River fishing-boat and going to
Valdez for supplies. He usually left enough food to sustain
his foxes for ten days. After passing a day or two in Valdez
visiting friends, he would embark again for his solitary home
in the North Pacific, where he would remain until the follow
ing year.
But Smith was not without his daily papers. On each an
nual visit to Valdez he secured a year's file of the Philadelphia
Ledger, which had accumulated at the postoffice during his
voluntary exile. He read one of these papers every morning
after breakfast, and enjoyed it, he said, just as much as though
he were back in the Eastern States and the news had been pub
lished that day.
Yet Smith's life was not without incident and action. On
one occasion, he found on his return from Valdez, that the
land whereon he was " monarch of all he surveyed " had been
raided by a Japanese poacher during his absence, many of his
foxes killed, and his home burned. Once he encountered a
storm and was carried nearly a hundred miles out of his course.
Another time he reached his island when the water was so
rough that he could not land, and was compelled to go to the

290 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
island of Nucheck, fifty miles further north, and await the
subsidence of the wind and sea.
Although of a kindly, genial, patient, good-natured, and
even humorous temperament, Smith was an intensely method
ical man. It might be added that he was of a retiring dis
position. He laid out a routine of work for the entire year
and followed it faithfully. After reading his morning paper,
he carried food out to the foxes in one part of the island, and
returned for lunch. He spent the winter afternoons fishing
and seal shooting, the proceeds of his line and rifle going to
help feed the foxes. His summer afternoons, when the island
was covered with birds and when fox food was correspondingly
plentiful, were devoted to the cultivation of his potato patch.
Smith truly could have been accused of having " fallen into
a rut." It seemed a strange trick of fate that a man who
could endure the hardships of the life he followed for nearly
ten years, should fall an easy victim to what at first was a
trifling ailment. After selling his island, Smith emigrated to
Puget Sound, contracted a severe cold, developed pneumonia
and typhoid, and died.
Although the conditions by which he was surrounded were
anything but desirable from a social viewpoint, Smith's life
among his foxes was full of interest, and he talked upon the
subject — when he talked at all, which was not often — in
terestingly and entertainingly. He made many experiments to
improve the value of the skins, studying the breeding methods
of cattle and sheep ranchers, and applying them to the animals
he raised. He also made many experiments along new and
original lines. The first of these ventures turned out disas
trously. When he took the island over it was stocked with grey foxes.
Smith thought that by crossing these with the blue variety, he
would be able to produce the silver-grey variety. The differ-

RAISING FUR FOR THE MARKET 291
ently coloured animals, however, far from associating with each
other on terms of amity, fought savagely on every conceivable
occasion. A feud sprang up between them. It was a case of
the survival of the fittest in muscle and cunning and in a very
few months all of the greys had been killed off and a new
dynasty of foxdom was established with blue as the national
colour. Then internecine strife broke out. The conquering
blues formed themselves into small colonies which were con
stantly at war with each other.
Smith's task of feeding them was a long and laborious one.
Carrying a load of food he walked daily from one end of the
island to the other. The animals soon came to know his whis
tle and later to time his arrival. As he came in sight they
would rush out from their burrows, and for a short distance,
trot along at his heels, barking like so many pleased dogs.
Each colony of foxes had a specific territory to itself, which
had been defined by some unknown, but nevertheless immut
able, form of self-government. The animals were careful not
to wander from the range dominated by the colony to which
they belonged, and every time a fox strayed into the domain
of another colony, there followed a fight, with a resultant
financial loss to Smith. Many of the animals, which burrowed
near Smith's cabin, became very tame, playing in and around
the domicile as would so many puppies. Several of them slept
on Smith's bed, but being wary of their ever-ready, snapping
bite, he never attempted to pet or stroke them.
In the summer when the island is the nesting place for
myriads of sea birds, battles royal between the Reynard colonies
are of frequent occurrence. The birds, like the foxes which
prey upon them, establish colonies for themselves. The sea-
parrots conceal their eggs by burying them in mud in one
part of the island. The foxes living in that locality find
their table always set. The guillemots build no nests, but

292 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
lay their eggs in the shelves and crevices in the sides of the
cliffs. Frequently they carry their eggs between their feet
as they fly from one part of the island to another. When
Smith moved some of those eggs, the mother bird, returning
from the sea, would not settle on some other guillemot's egg,
but would search around for her own. But that is a digres
sion. The best branches of the Reynard family living near this
guillemot settlement had an abundance of the material from
which omelettes are made. The sea gulls make their nests in
the long grass. One of the favourite pastimes of the fox
colonists who there abided was hunting and birds'-nesting.
Later in the season, when the young birds began to hop around,
the foxes surfeited themselves with delicacies, which maybe
they found to be an equivalent for the spring chicken and
broilers so highly prized by humans. Like their kinfolk, the
wolves, these slant-eyed, short-legged mammals, preyed upon
every other species of wild life that their cunning could con
quer. The problem of the high cost of living for foxes never dis
turbed Smith's placid equanimity during the summer season.
On one occasion during the trapping season, however, the food
problem caused considerable difficulty. Not that there was too
little food, but too much of it. Several dead whales had been
washed up on the beach, and the wily animals would not go
near Smith's traps. His yield that year was the lowest of
any in his fox-farming experience.
The number of skins annually taken varied from one hun
dred and fifteen down to seventy-five. Overfeeding and the
non-infusion of new blood, Smith declared, caused a deterio
ration of the stock.
Smith's experience on the island, had it been written, in
dubitably would have proven a distinct contribution to natural

RAISING FUR FOR THE MARKET 293
history. It would have added much to the knowledge of the
best methods of domesticating and raising fur-bearing animals.
The caribou has been domesticated into the reindeer, and rein
deer grazing has developed into one of the recognised indus
tries of the North. Fox-farming, though beset with difficul
ties, in many instances has proved profitable, and that it will
be developed into a more stable vocation is well within the
realm of probability.

CHAPTER XXIII
ALASKA AS A NEWSPAPER FIELD
Pioneers of Newspaperdom among the vanguard to emplazon the
glories and riches of the far North — Through difference in
time often prints news before it happens — Editors must have
physical ability — "The Eskimo Bulletin" one of the first news
papers published in Northwestern Alaska — Unique journalistic
ventures.
ALTHOUGH the publication of newspapers in Alaska
is about as unprofitable as this business usually is in
the frontier countries and in the smaller cities of the
United States, there are, nevertheless, some decidedly credit
able journals printed and circulated in the territory. Many
of the plants in the larger towns are equipped with the modern
linotype and up-to-date engraving plants. In the larger cities
of Alaska, skeleton telegraph dispatches, copied from the news
disseminated by the Associated Press and other similar insti
tutions, are received; and often it happens that the result of
prize fights fought in the Central or Eastern States has been
given to the reading public in Alaska — in point of local time
— before the event took place. This is accomplished by the
difference in time between the points of occurrence and publi
cation. That is to say, when it is midday at New York, it is
six o'clock in the morning at Nome.
Every gold stampede is followed by the appointment of a
United States Commissioner and a deputy marshal, who are
despatched to enforce the law at the new diggings and it is not
long thereafter until some itinerant newspaper man and a
printer or two make their appearance with a handful of type,
294

ALASKA AS A NEWSPAPER FIELD 295
some paper, a pot of ink, and an old hand press, and commence
the publication of a " Great Moral Enlightener." If the town
does not " pinch out," these somewhat primitive plants are
developed into more pretentious enterprises.
Turning out a newspaper in Alaska frequently requires an
editor who is not a molly-coddle. As in other places, every
man in the community knows more about the best methods of
running a newspaper than the editor himself, and the moulder
of public opinion in the far North frequently is , called upon
to exercise considerable physical effort and a degree of aptitude
with natural weapons of defense in order to maintain his dig
nity and a proper standing in the community.
Captain Libby, a member of the Western Union Telegraph
Expedition, published the first English newspaper in Alaska,
on Sunday, October 14, 1868, at Grantly Harbor. In the
absence of the printing press, the paper consisted of written
sheets, bound together with bent pins, and its publication was
continued for one year, under the name of The Esquimaux.
The complete file of the paper was taken to San Francisco,
where it was printed and distributed as a souvenir after the ex
pedition had disbanded.
The first newspaper printed from type, in English, produced
in Alaska, of which there is any record, was published at Sitka
soon after the territory was ceded to the United States, and
one of its early issues reports a mass meeting attended by a
number of American citizens, who memorialised Congress and
demanded the rights of full territorial government, which, by
the way, was granted them in 1912. The owners of this paper
expected that, under American occupation, there would be a
large influx of population to Alaska, but they were grievously
disappointed and, in 1871, sold the plant to Beriah Brown,
father of the present Dean of the Seattle Press Club, who
shipped it to Seattle, where it was used for printing The Puget

296 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
Sound Dispatch, the first daily paper published in Western
Washington. The Eskimo Bulletin was the pioneer paper of Northwestern
Alaska where it was issued yearly from 1895 to 1900 by the
Mission School at Cape Prince of Wales. The staff, accord
ing to the publisher's statement, was composed of W. T. Lopp,
editor and publisher; Oo-ten-na, engraver; Ke-ok, I-ya-tung-uk
and Ad-loo-at, compositors. Its columns were adorned with
crude wood-cuts depicting whale, walrus and polar bear hunts,
which were produced in the art department under the guiding
hand of Mr. Oo-ten-na. The mechanical work, and probably
a large amount of the reporting, was done by the natives. It
contained no telegraphic or " outside " news, and there was a
marked dearth of items pertaining to divorces and absconding
bank cashiers, such as usually find their way into the front page
of the metropolitan dailies. Still, this paper contained much
interesting news, illustrative of the life and environment of the
region in which it was published. Judging from the following
item, which is quoted verbatim, one of the reporters had in
herited some of the habits of the modern yellow journalist:
" Sok-wena, while herding reindeer, found a lynx behind a
tuft of grass. Being unarmed, he whipped it with his lasso
until it cowered at his feet, when he was able to give it a
blow with his fist which crushed its skull."
Had this event happened on a Sunday afternoon in New
York, when the gathering of news is always a problem, the
story doubtless would have been good for a scare head on the
front page the next morning.
Other items worth noting in the 1897 issue of The Eskimo
Bulletin are:
" Soap is becoming an article of exchange at the Cape."
"The Norwhal (a whaling ship), tied up at the ice here
on May 24, and gave us the news that McKinley was elected

Photo by Hunt.

OLD RUSSIAN BUILDINGS AT KADIAK.
MANY OF THE BUILDINGS ARE
SHELIKOF

THE NAILS AND DOOR HINGES ARE HAND-WROUGHT.
THOSE WHICH WERE ERECTED BY UNDER-GOVERNOR

ALASKA AS A NEWSPAPER FIELD 297
and Corbett defeated." (The election took place nearly three
years previously. Author.)
" Pik-u-enna shot a white bear in January."
" A small building boom struck town last summer. Three
new buildings (above ground) were erected."
" Several whales were seen in the spring, but none captured.
In January, April and May our natives were short of rations."
A " Special to the Bulletin," dated October 20, 1896, con
tained the news that Harry DeWindt, an English explorer,
after having been deceived and annoyed for several weeks by
Chief Kohora in Siberia had become disgusted and had given
up his proposed walking trip across Siberia and returned to
Unalaska on the Steamer Belvedere.
Another unique journalistic venture was the Aurora Bore-
alis, the first issue of which was published at St. Michael,
October 31, 1897, the mechanical work being done by a mime
ographing machine. The subscription price, according to the
published announcement, was one dollar the copy. Seal^ oil,
gold dust, blubber, fur, ivory, and fish were exchangeable for
subscriptions, ten of which were given for one porterhouse
steak. Early in 1898, The Rampart Forum, a small journal, was
printed on a mimeographing machine at Rampart City. It
carried advertisements, " grape-vine " telegraphic dispatches,
all the local news of that region, and copies were at one dollar
each. Sam Hubbard, Jr., of California, was the publisher.
Among the miners at Rampart at that time were Rex
Beach, Jack London, Roy Norton, and George Howard Pres
ton, all of whom since have distinguished themselves in the
literary world, but none of them contributed to the columns
of The Forum, except once when an indignant letter was writ
ten to the editor. Beach was the best man of the crowd at
manual labour, and it was said of him that he could shovel

298 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
more gravel into a sluice box and chop more wood in a given
time than any other man in the camp. Old prospectors in
that region declare that a great workman was lost to the mining
world when Beach' laid down the pick to take up the pen.
The art of printing, except in remote and inaccessible places
on the far frontier, has greatly improved in Alaska in the last
ten years, and preparations are being made at Cordova to print
and publish an up-to-date magazine. It will contain 175
pages, mostly articles dealing with Alaska subjects, illustrated
with photographic reproductions of scenes and events in the
country. A number of well-knowri writers, some of whom
have made their mark in the literary world, will be among its
contributors. The following is a full list of the newspapers published in
Alaska early in 1912, and the number doubtless will be added
to and subtracted from, according to the migrations of the
various communities, as time goes on:
Chitina, The Chitina Leader (weekly) ; Cordova, Cordova
Daily Alaskan; Douglas, The Douglas Island News (weekly) ;
Fairbanks, Fairbanks Times (daily and weekly), Fairbanks
Daily News-Miner and Tanana Tribune, The Alaska Citizen
(weekly), Miners' Union Bulletin (weekly); Haines, The
Haines Pioneer Press (weekly) ; Hot Springs, Hot Springs
Echo (weekly) ; Iditarod, Iditarod Nugget (weekly), Iditarod
Pioneer (weekly) ; Juneau, Daily Alaska Dispatch, Weekly
Alaska Dispatch; Ketchikan, Ketchikan Miner; Kodiak, Or
phanage News Letter (monthly) ; Nome, Nome Nugget (daily
and weekly) ; Nome Industrial Worker (weekly) ; Ruby City,
The Ruby Record (weekly) ; Seward, Seward Weekly Gate
way; Sitka, The Thlingit (monthly) ; Skagway, The Daily
Alaska; Tanana, Yukon Valley News (weekly) ; Valdez, The
Alaska Prospector, the Valdez Daily Miner; Wrangell, The
Wrangell Sentinel (weekly).

CHAPTER XXIV
MISSIONARIES AND EDUCATION
Because they teach natives how to figure the value of their furs,
missionaries are not welcomed by traders — " Cherokee Bob " be
lieves that missionaries and ministers have their uses — Natives
instructed in elementary and manual training — Country divided
by different denominations to prevent confusion in minds of
natives.
AS it is in the South Seas, so is it in the Arctic and
sub-Arctic regions: missionaries and traders do not
harmonise. There is about as much affinity between
them as between oil and water.
The traders — or at least many of them — take a melan
cholic pleasure in telling of how, in those glorious, pristine
days of large profits in barter and trade before the missionaries
arrived, the natives were so honest, so truthful, and so delight
fully simple-minded that they could not lie nor steal; every
thing then was lovely and harmonious; and comparing these
conditions with the present, when, the traders declare, it is
unsafe to go ashore in a strange village with your shoe laces
untied for fear the natives will steal your foot-wear from your
feet. With more or less detail pertaining to the' iniquities of
the missionaries, the traders manage to paint a really lachry
mose picture of many good races of savages having been spoiled
by the detrimental influences of those who attempted to civilise
them. The missionaries, maybe in reprisal, tell of the degrading in
fluence the white man, especially the trader, has had on the
natives; how Poor Lo was inveigled into an awful battle with
299

300 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
Demon Rum; how the tribes have become tainted with disease
and addicted to the sins and vices of his white brother; how
his country has been stolen, his game killed off and his means
of livelihood destroyed; and the unfortunate part of it, for
the trader, is that the missionaries' statements generally are
borne out by the shameful facts.
The trader is solicitous for the native's welfare, but having a
selfish purpose to subserve, his efforts, no matter how altru
istic his purpose, are open to a reasonable amount of suspicion.
It is natural, too, that the trader should not regard the mis
sionary in the kindliest light, for the missionary makes an ex
asperating practice of teaching the native how to figure and
of educating him up to the real value of the furs and other
goods which he has for sale, with the result that the trader
cannot buy as cheaply as in those halcyon days when great
piles of valuable furs were sold in exchange for a bottle of
alcoholic liquor, a few fish hooks, beads, or an old rifle. Be
sides that, the missionary discourages the aborigines in the prac
tice of drinking intoxicating liquors, and also — with the aid
of revenue cutter officers and other officials — strenuously dis
courages the white man from giving or selling highly exhila
rating beverages to the natives. It is therefore to be expected,
when all the circumstances are considered, that at the points
where trade is conducted, one will hear stories that reflect
discredit on the men of cloth. The writer heard many of these;
stories, but during fourteen years' residence in the territory he
was unable to verify a single one of them, and little credence
is placed in them by the people of Alaska generally.
As " Cherokee Bob," a profane prospector, once sagely re
marked :
" Missionaries and ministers is all right. Now there's my
friend Bishop Rowe, as fine a fellow as I've ever met on the
trail. The boys don't hold it up against him none becuz he's

THE RED DRAGON MISSION AT CORDOVA, WHERE CHRISTIAN
ITY IS COMBINED WITH A LIBRARY AND POOL ROOM
UNDER THE SHADOW OF A. B. MOUNTAIN, IS BUILT THE SKAG
WAY CAMP OF THE ARCTIC BROTHERHOOD

MISSIONARIES AND EDUCATION 301
a bishop. A feller can be a bishop if he wants to and still
be human. If he don't do no good, he certainly don't do no
harm, and if he can get any fun out of thumping a pulpit why
let him go to it. We can't all be miners or gamblers ox
prospectors or hold-up men."
" Cherokee," as has been remarked was somewhat profane.
His strong admiration for Bishop Rowe probably arose from
that propensity which teaches us to admire in others that which
we do not ourselves possess. " Cherokee " gloried in the many
manly qualities which have endeared Bishop Rowe to every
body in the North, and, besides that, he had the greatest ad
miration for the divine's ability to express himself in strong
terms without swearing.
The story goes that Cherokee's first acquaintance with the
Bishop was at a point on the trail near Circle City. " Chero
kee " was coming from Fairbanks, and the Bishop was going
to that place. " Cherokee " had been having a hard time. It
had snowed every day since he left Fairbanks, there were no
road-houses on the way; he had been compelled to snowshoe
a new trail every foot of the distance; he had run out of food
for both himself and the dogs, and was in a much discouraged
and highly disgusted state of mind. It was bitterly cold and
both had their faces entirely swathed in fur.
" How's the trail from here to Fairbanks ? " asked the Bishop
pleasantly, after the customary salutation of the Northern way
farer, had been exchanged.
" Cherokee " did not realise that he was addressing a man of
the cloth, and he tore off an avalanche of profanity that lasted
for several minutes. He swore once or twice between every
word, and even divided the words into syllables to get in an
extra expletive.
" It's the blankest, blank, blank, blank, blankety blank trail
any blankety blank blank blank man has ever, blankety blank

302 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
saw," he explained. " How's the blankety blank trail from
Circle to Dawson ? "
" It's just about in the condition which you have so graph
ically described as pertaining to the trail from here to Fair
banks," the Bishop replied mildly.
When " Cherokee " learned he was addressing the highest
dignitary of the Church of Alaska, he nearly- swooned. It is
related that the Bishop turned back and helped the tired musher
and his exhausted team into Circle City, and never once chided
him for his use of profanity. Hence " Cherokee " was ready
to fight for the Bishop at the drop of the hat.
In the North are many men who by their vigorous manhood
and undying energy are carrying hope to the hearts of the
Indians, and among those who have been prominent in this
work might be mentioned Bishop Rowe, Father van der Pol,
S. J.; J. Sheldon Jackson, and W. T. Lopp, the present head
of the Bureau of Education in Alaska, the officers of the
Revenue Cutter service, and many others. These men make
many long, hard journeys over the country in both summer and
winter, their influence extending over the 589,000 square miles
of which the territory is composed. Besides the natural ob
stacles which the country presents, they often are hampered by
lack of means. Unscrupulous white men have a tendency to
degrade the natives, and their early superstitions are difficult
to eradicate. The writer holds no brief for J. P. Morgan, the
noted financier, but to him belongs the credit of materially as
sisting in making the consecration of the Bishop of Alaska
possible. One reads of so few things that are creditable to
captains of finance in these days that the recording of one good
act with which nobody can find fault should prove quite re
freshing. Gregory Shelikof, one of the founders of the Russian Fur
Company, was the first man to conceive the idea of doing some-

MISSIONARIES AND EDUCATION 303
thing for the benefit of the Alaskan natives. In 1784 Shelikof
began to teach the rudimentary branches of education in Alaska,
while his wife instructed the women of the tribes in sewing and
other branches of what is now known as domestic science.
Empress Catherine II became interested in the work Shelikof
began and through her efforts seven clergymen and two laymen
reached Kadiak in 1794 and there established schools. These
teachers gave religious instructions and directed the natives in
agricultural and industrial pursuits. The work inaugurated
by Shelikof was carried on by his successor in office. In 1820
the first school was opened at Sitka, where the natives were
taught the Russian language and instructed in the trades and
elementary navigation, the idea being to raise competent serv
ants to take charge of the company's affairs.
Mission work among the Aleuts was commenced in 1824 by
Ivan Veniaminoff, who, after learning the language of the
natives, translated the Scriptures for them, and then returned
to Russia, where he was made the Bishop of the Independent
Diocese of Russian America. Later he sailed back to Sitka
where he founded the Cathedral Church and undertook the
conversion of the Thlingits.
In 1840 educational matters in Alaska were given consider
able impetus by Captain Etolin, a half-caste who received his
own education in the local schools. Etolin became chief di
rector of the Russian Fur Company, which dominated the ter
ritory at that time, and he recognised the possibility of convert
ing the Indians into more useful citizens. While religion was
taught in all his schools, astronomy, navigation and arithme->
tic were considered the more important studies. He was as
sisted by his wife, who, improving on the example set by
Madame Shelikof, founded a school for half-caste girls, in
structed them in household duties and established a fund from
which the graduates were given a dowry on their marriage to

304 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
officers or employes of the company. This plan was further
improved by Veniaminoff, who, in 1841, established a theologi
cal seminary which was maintained at Sitka till the territory
was transferred to the United States.
Although it has been the custom of the people of the United
States to take pride in their public school systems and their
advanced stage of educational matters, the Alaskan Indians
were left from 1867 till 1884 to work out their own salvation,
so far as the government was concerned. In 1884 an appro
priation of $25,000 was secured for educational purposes in
Alaska, Dr. J. Sheldon Jackson receiving the appointment of
superintendent of education. In leasing the Seal Islands to
the Alaska Commercial Company, government provision was
made for the maintenance of two schools, one on St. George
and one on St. Paul Islands for a period of eight months in
each year. More than thirty thousand other natives, however,
were left without government educational instruction, save for
that which was given them by the wives of the officers of the
United States Army who were garrisoned at Sitka to occupy
the territory on behalf of the United States.
In the meantime, however, the missionaries stepped in, the
Presbyterian Board of Home Missions being the first to enter
the field. A school was opened at Wrangell in 1877 and an
other at Sitka a year later. In 1880 the first missionary ar
rived at Haines Mission at the head of Lynn Canal, and within
the next two years several others had been established. The
Indians, although somewhat lacking in the instincts of morality,
were quick to learn and gladly welcomed the missionaries, but,
as before stated, these agencies of civilisation were not popular
with the traders.
Prior to the passage of the bill which granted an appropria
tion for educational purposes, the Moravian Missionaries from
Bethlehem, Pa., had landed at the mouth of the Yukon and

MISSIONARIES AND EDUCATION 305
had established a mission on that stream and later on the
Kuskokwim and Nushagak Rivers, where institutions still are
maintained. The Friends' Mission was established at Cape
Blossom on Kotzebue Sound a year later and others followed.
About 1907 it was mutually agreed that the country should
be divided between the dozen or more denominations that had
entered the country, the guiding idea being that if different
denominations were conducted in the same place, the simple
minds of the natives would become confused.
The Presbyterians being the first to occupy Southeastern
Alaska took that section of the country and other denomina
tions moved out; the Baptists selected Cook's Inlet and Prince
William Sound region; the Methodists chose the Shumagin
and Aleutian Islands and the Aleutian Peninsula; while the
Moravians elected to hold to the valley of the Kuskokwim
and the Nushagak Rivers ; the Swedish missionaries occupy Nor
ton Sound; the Norwegians the Port Clarence district, and the
Quakers still remain at Kotzebue Sound. The Congregation-
alists are situated at different points along the shore of Bering
Sea and Bering Strait, and the Episcopalians control the
Yukon Valley and the country to the northward. The
Graeco-Russian Missions are scattered broadcast throughout
the territory, many of their missions still being in the places
where they were built before Alaska was transferred to the
United States. This agreement, however, does not apply to
churches and chapels established in the centres of population
and at practically all the large settlements in Alaska the travel
ler will find churches of different denominations.
Educational appropriations were made from year to year,
and in 1896, Senator H. M. Teller, of Colorado, obtained
legislation providing for the introduction of reindeer into the
country. The plan for distribution of the deer was worked
out by W. T. Lopp, who became superintendent of education

306 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
in Alaska. Many of the natives since have become practically
independent. The department and the missionaries work hand
in hand in developing the reindeer industry. Nearly every
branch of education is taught, and the condition of the natives,
despite the deteriorating influences that come from associating
with white men, are much better off than they were forty or
fifty years ago. •
The education of the native is not confined to the three R's,
but they are given manual training and instruction in village
sanitation, morality and the domestic arts. The teachers,
physicians and others in the employ of the department strive
to elevate the race intellectually and to better their physical
condition, and despite the discouraging reports of disease among
them, their efforts are being attended with gratifying success.
The government force, which conducts the native's schools,
situated at intervals from one end of Alaska to the other, is
composed of five district superintendents, eight nurses, four
contract physicians and 102 teachers. Eighty-one public
schools are maintained with an enrollment of 3,841 and an
average attendance of 1,689. The teachers also act as reindeer
supervisors. Of the 33,629 of these animals in the territory,
20,071 are owned by the natives. The work of teaching the
natives is exacting and calls for persons well equipped both
mentally and physically and actuated by the highest altruistic
motives. Some of the teachers are located in portions of Alaska
where the sun is not visible for a period of six weeks in the
winter, and where the opportunities for social intercourse are
decidedly limited. Quite frequently their nearest white neigh
bour lives at a point more than a hundred miles distant, and
they receive mail and fresh food supplies but once a year, when
it is brought in on a revenue cutter. Owing to the uncertain
ice conditions the missionaries and government teachers along
the Northern shore of Alaska sometimes do not get their sup-

MISSIONARIES AND EDUCATION 307
plies in the summer of each year, and on these occasions they
must depend largely upon the resources of the country for sub
sistence. Hospitals for the natives have been established at Juneau
and at Bristol Bay, where the natives, owing to the prevalence
of tuberculosis and the intrusion of the serpent among some of
their Russian ancestors, are in a deplorable physical condition.
Much beneficial work has been performed by the medical corps
of the Bureau in all parts of Alaska, and the mortality percent
age has been greatly reduced. In spite of this fact, however, the
Northern Indian and Eskimo is slowly being wiped out of
existence. Statisticians estimate that, at their present death
and birth rate, the whole race will be exterminated in less than
one hundred years.
The cost of maintenance of the Educational Bureau in Alaska
is approximately $100,000 per annum, but the government in
return for the expenditure is building up a reindeer industry
which, in a very few years, will be worth several millions of
dollars. Every dollar spent by the government in Alaska
profited the people of the United States in a ratio of about one
hundred for one, and the money expended on the natives —
apart from the standpoint of humanitarianism — cannot be. re
garded as otherwise than safely and profitably invested. The
natives have been advanced from the hunting and fishing to
the pastoral stage of life and it is within the realm of prob
ability that many of them will progress to the agricultural
stage. An Indian village, on the arrival of a school-teacher or
missionary, usually is in a deplorably unsanitary and unhealthy
condition, but through the untiring efforts of the teachers a
change soon is wrought. It is sometimes difficult to eliminate
from the aboriginal mind the superstitions inherited from past
ages. This is particularly true in cases of sickness. The pa-

3o8 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
tient takes the white physician's medicine a few times, and if
it does effect an almost immediate cure, he resorts to the in
cantations of the tribal medicine man.
The natives are very industrious, but prefer to accomplish
everything by direct methods. In 1910 the writer met at
Nome, an almost heartbroken missionary who, after consider
able labour, had managed to obtain a small schooner for the
natives. Then he purchased a gasoline engine with which to
propel the vessel. On the first trip everything progressed
nicely till the propeller hit an ice cake and one of the blades
was broken off. The schooner was beached, and, after in
structing the natives to take off the propeller, the missionary
left them for several hours. When he returned he found that
instead of uncoupling the propeller from the shaft, they had
procured a number of files and, with infinite labour, had
severed the three inch piece of steel that connected the pro
peller with the motor, completely ruining it. But despite sun
dry discouragements of this character, both government teach
ers and missionaries do much sincere, painstaking and zealous
work. Apart from the educational work done by the government
teachers and the missionaries there are three kinds of schools
in Alaska. The government and native schools, conducted by
federal appropriation; schools for both whites and children of
mixed blood leading a civilised life outside of incorporated
towns, supported by federal licenses collected outside incorpo
rated communities, and the public schools supported by the fed
eral licenses collected within incorporated communities.
There are many high schools in Alaska, and the standard
of education is quite as advanced as in any part of the United
States. In exhibits of school work at the St. Louis World's
Fair in 1903, the Lewis and Clark Exposition in 1905, the
Jamestown Exposition in 1907-08, and the Alaska-Yukon

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^ ti ' **_' v_ ™ 77N* l *

MISSIONARIES AND EDUCATION 309
Pacific Exposition in 1909, many of the prizes for general effi
ciency were awarded to Alaskan schools.
The native and mixed schools are wisely and intelligently
conducted under the supervision of the Bureau of Education,
and the schools within incorporated communities are governed
by school boards consisting of three members, one of whom is
elected each year. In addition to the 'Schools virtually all
of the Alaskan centres of population have literary and debating
societies and there are many well-filled libraries in different
parts of the territory.

CHAPTER XXV
DOGS, DOG "PUNCHERS" AND DOG RACES
The part played by this animal in the development of Alaska — Its
courage and steadfast loyalty under adverse circumstances —
Drivers perform marvellous feats of endurance — The All-
Alaska Sweepstake Dog Race, the Derby of the far North, more
interesting and exciting than baseball championship — Animals
are bred from wolves.
PERHAPS at some time in the near or remote future, a
genius may invent an automobile that will travel over
the Alaskan snow-fields. Maybe, at a not very distant
date reindeer will have been taught to eat oats and thereby
become endowed with sufficient endurance to stand the strain
of a long, hard journey over the wind-swept, frozen plains.
But for some considerable time it is certain that the dog is
destined to be one of the most important factors in Alaskan
transportation problems, especially in those sections of the
territory that are difficult of access.
The malamutes and huskies, two varieties of dogs bred
from the wolf by the natives from one end of Alaska to the
other, have played a very important part in the development
of Northwestern Canada and Alaska. They were utilised by
the Indians before the Hudson Bay Company invaded the
Great Northwest, nearly three hundred years ago. Just where
the first of the species came from has been lost in history, but
the natives still have a crude method of breeding them by
crossing the females with wolves. The difference in the husky
and malamute is that the former is bred from the timber wolf,
while the latter has for its male progenitor the wild dogs that
310

DOGS, DOG "PUNCHERS" AND DOG RACES 3"
have roamed the silent plains of Alaska since time immemorial.
Besides making remote parts of the territory accessible to
the miner, prospector and explorer, these Alaskan dogs have
contributed their mite to the English language — that is, in so
far as English is spoken in Alaska. The command " mush
on " or " mush " directed to a reasonably intelligent dog in
the United States would be productive of nothing more than a
pricking up of the ears and a quizzical sidewise look that might
be translated into " Come again, Boss ; I don't get you." But
when the order " mush " is given to an Eskimo dog it will
result in the animal's departure.
The word " mush " means " get out of the way," or " go
ahead." It was not derived from the squashy condition of
northern trails in springtime, but had its origin with the French-
Canadian dog drivers employed by the Hudson Bay Company,
who told their dogs to " marche-on." The corruption of the
word into " mush," together with its nouns and adjectives, has
been incorporated into the English used through Northwestern
Canada and Alaska, as " he is a good mushing dog," or, " we
mushed from Dawson to Nome," which would apply to two
or more travellers ; or " it was tough mushing," meaning that
the trail was in a bad condition for travelling. A stranger in
Nome hearing the command " mush," given to the multitude
of malumutes which, on cool days, adorn the sidewalks on the
sunny side of the street, remarked:
" It seems to me there's ten thousand darned dogs in this
town, and every last one of 'em is named ' mush.' "
Except that the husky is somewhat larger than the mala
mute, both varieties are very similar in appearance. Their usual
colour is a smoky grey, although once in a while a black mala
mute is encountered. These are about in the proportion of
black sheep in a flock. Both have round-pupilled eyes, and
long hair, under which in winter, they grow a soft fur which

312 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING *
is discarded in summer; both have bushy tails, strong legs and
deep chests. Neither malamute nor husky has learned how
to bark, but both can howl and yelp loudly in voices that are
decidedly and positively unmusical. The ringing of church
bells, the playing of a band, or the singing of a soprano or tenor
voice will cause them to sit forlornly on their haunches and give
forth the most horribly discordant wails it is possible to im
agine. Their characteristics are identical in every respect. Both
are faithful servitors, great fighters in a rather cowardly man
ner, and inveterate thieves. Even when not hungry they
steal just to keep in practice. When a fight starts every dog
within hearing distance of the yelping, snarling combatants
yearns to become an active participant and loses no time in
gratifying his ambition in this respect. The code which
prompts a man to lend aid to the under-dog does not appeal
to the malamute and husky. Their ethics are the very antithe
sis of this worthy principle. When two dogs begin fighting
the others do not sit idly by on their haunches — an impression
created in a widely read Alaskan novel, but the battle very
quickly develops into one in which every dog in the vicinity
is involved, and each deems it his bounden duty to bite and
rend with all the savage ferocity of his nature at whatever
unfortunate animal happens to have been thrown to the ground.
Dogs are impartial in attack and absolutely devoid of filial
regard. The prostrate canine might be their own unrespected
father, but a little matter of blood relationship makes no dif
ference. The mandate of Alaska dogdom is, " Keep your feet,
or pay the penalty of having your hide bitten and torn to
shreds." The idea of two huskies engaging in a fight to the
death, while their team mates coolly squatted on the snow and
calmly watched the progress of the fracas, like the holders of
ring-side seats at a pugilistic encounter, is ridiculous.

DOGS, DOG "PUNCHERS" AND DOG RACES 313
During the summer the chief occupation of an Alaskan dog
seems to be to lie on the sidewalk and push the white man off
into the mud, but he comes out strong in the winter as a sharer
of hardship, an aid to transportation, a worker and a sport.
Like the true Bohemian who always is willing to share with
you your own last dollar, the Alaskan dog will share with you
the hardships of the trail and with equal impartiality will di
vide with you the contents of the provision chest. In fact, he
will more than divide ; if not closely watched, he will eat it all.
Still, he has many good qualities. It is true that with the
advent of a full moon in the sky, he makes night hideous
with mournful howls that sound more dismal than the wail of
a chorus of lost souls in Sheol, but apart from that, he is not a
bad companion. When disgrace or poverty overtakes his
owner, he is quite sympathetic, and doesn't hide his tail be
tween his legs in shame, but very tactfully pretends that he
doesn't know there has been a change of fortune, and wags his
tail, jumps around, " smiles " and gives other demonstrations
of cheerfulness as though he would say, " Buck up, old chap ;
the worst is yet to come."
He is a true philosopher, and accepts with gratitude what
the gods give. If you hand him a piece of tough raw-hide
from a snowshoe or from the lashing of a sled, he will not
turn up his nose at it and mutely " kick about the grub," but
will wiggle his haunches and lick his chops in well-simulated
ecstasy, while his quizzical eyes seem to remark, " Why, this
fricasseed snowshoe, although somewhat plebeian, is excellent.
It's really enjoyable and quite nutritious when properly
chewed." Worldly affairs make no difference to him. When hard
luck comes, he is broad-minded enough to make believe that
he doesn't notice the change in the quality of the cuisine. He
is just as affectionate, just as faithful when living on rawhide

3H ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
or snowballs and wind pudding as he is when the bill-of-fare
is made up of breast of ptarmigan and choice cuts of moose or
caribou steak.
Many are the instances recorded in Alaska where dogs have
shown devotion and self-sacrifice that well might put men to
shame. The Council City Camp of the Arctic Brotherhood
endowed life membership on a worthless-looking little mongrel
named " Growler," who lived at the lodge headquarters for
many years and never was asked to do a stroke of work. With
age he grew arrogant, and tried to run the whole institution.
Yet those sturdy Northern men were patient with his ill looks
and disagreeable temper, for " Growler " had demonstrated
that he was made of the right material. " Growler's " owner,
" Old Man " Waldron, lived on Fox River, about fourteen
miles from the settlement, and on Christmas Eve, 1901, started
for Council City to participate in the Christmas Dinner and
Tree annually arranged by the members of the Arctic Brother
hood. Council City's population at this time consisted of about
600 men, thirty-five women and eighteen children. Not hav
ing enough little folks to go 'round, the Christmas Tree was
made a semi-public affair, to which everybody was invited, es
pecially the children and their mothers. Without the young
sters, the Christmas Tree obviously would have been an awful
fizzle. " Old Man " Waldron sent word that he would be in town
to take part in the festivities, but a howling blizzard sprang up
the day before the event, and his seat at the feast was vacant.
It was supposed that he had remained at his camp, and the
Arctic Brothers quaffed a toast to his health. Two days later
four of his dogs, carrying parts of their harness, appeared.
Examination showed that they had bitten the leather which
doubtless had bound them to a sled. On the third morning a
party started out to search, and the next afternoon they found

HAULING FREIGHT ON BERING SEA, WHERE THE ICE CRUSHES AND GRINDS, WITH A CREAK
ING, CRUNCHING NOISE THAT CAN BE HEARD FOR MANY MILES

DOGS, DOG "PUNCHERS" AND DOG RACES 315
" Growler " lying half starved in the snow, and beneath him
was the frozen body of his dead master.
The same year George A. Carpenter, a newspaper man, and
Billy Vint and Robert Hunter, two prospectors, were caught
in a blizzard on the Noxapago Divide, the crest of country
which forms the source of the water running into Kotzebue
Sound and the streams flowing into Port Clarence on the
eastern end of Seward Peninsula. They attempted to pitch
a tent, but the wind seized it and wrenched it from their
hands, and for three days men and dogs huddled together in
the snow. Famished and freezing, they began to eat frozen
raw bacon and to melt snow in their mouths to alleviate their
torturing thirst.
On the fourth day, while the blizzard still roared in their
ears, they elected to desert their camp and try to walk before
the storm in the forlorn hope of finding a roadhouse or other
habitation. To have faced the wind or to have stopped to rest
would have meant certain death. To keep the blood flowing
in their veins and their flesh from freezing, exercise was im
perative. They knew that once started, there could be no
turning back, no stopping to rest by the wayside. After a
time a craving for sleep beset them, but they fought it off,
wildly, desperately. At times they became slightly delirious.
Now and again as they staggered along there appeared before
them a vision of waiters bearing steaming cups of coffee; a
phantom smell of sizzling bacon tantalised their olfactory
nerves. In fancy, they heard men talking on the plains.
Tents and houses appeared before their eyes, only to vanish
again in the next squall of whirling snow. They lost all sense
of direction. All they knew was they kept the wind at their
backs for they felt certain that in it Death stalked.
Two days later Carpenter, completely exhausted, was unable
to proceed another step. He could scarcely keep his eyes open

316 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
and his weary leg muscles refused to move. Every step for
the past ten hours had been a separate agony. The wind still
howled and hurled the snow around in twisting sheets, while
the steely cold cut like knives through their clothes and into
their quivering flesh. They could scarcely resist the tempta
tion to make a couch in the soft, inviting snow. Carpenter
fell prone, and, feeling that he was jeopardising the slim
chance for life that belonged to his companions, he begged
them to bury him alive, where the wolves would not get his
body, and where he hoped that he might be able to fight off the
white death sting of the Arctic till help came.
Of the fifteen dogs with which the party was equipped on
leaving Candle Creek on the fateful journey, only " Big Jim,"
in whose veins flowed the blood of St. Bernard and mastiff
parentage, remained. " Jim " was Carpenter's wheel dog.
The animal stayed by his owner.
Soon after his companions had disappeared in the spume of
whirling, blinding snow, Carpenter slept. He awakened with
the feeling that he was being smothered, and raised his arm
to brush away the bank that had drifted over his face. The
wind tore the mitten from his hand, and in his weakened con
dition, he was unable to pull the member back under the white,
frozen blanket. As the digit began to freeze " Big Jim " laid
his ice-incrusted body upon it in a futile attempt to start the
blood pumping.
On the eighth night after Carpenter, Vint and Hunter had
stopped at the top of the divide, a number of mushers, who
were crowded together in a little igloo made of willows and
banked with tundra sod, heard their dogs barking. They
found Hunter, half conscious, stumbling through the storm.
He wore both mittens on his right hand.
" I thought I would try to save one of them," he mumbled
through cracked and freezing lips. His left hand was white

DOGS, DOG " PUNCHERS " AND DOG RACES 317
and solid as a piece of sculptured marble. One of his moc
casins was frozen to his foot.
In a voice made harsh by suffering, he incoherently informed
his rescuers that two other badly frost-bitten and exhausted
men were wandering somewhere through the biting cold on
the snow-drifted tundra.
With the assistance of dogs and a native, the mushers fol
lowed the back trail and found Vint lying exhausted on the
icy plain and being slowly buried under the drifting snow.
Vint tried to direct them to where Carpenter lay, but having
wandered in every direction that would keep the wind-driven,
frozen particles of snow from striking his eyes, his ideas as to
location were vague and useless.
While one party rushed Vint to the igloo, another contin
ued the search. Just as dawn was breaking the next morning,
they heard the baying of a dog. It was " Big Jim." For
nearly nine days this faithful animal had eaten very little
food, and for the last five he had eaten none at all, but he
chose to suffer the pangs of starvation rather than leave his
down-and-out master to die alone.
Kissed by the withering frost, Hunter lost a few toes, a
part of one heel, and one hand ; Vint paid tribute to the Boreal
King with the ends of a couple of fingers, a toe, and part of
his nose. Carpenter sacrificed one foot, both hands, both ears,
part of his nose and finally died under the shock of a third
operation by which his remaining foot was to have been ampu
tated. And the dog? Well, when we met him on the street, we
raised our hats to " Jim."
There are many tales of hardship and heroism in the North
in which dogs have done their part and more. Even in con
nection with the story told above, other deeds of courage and
self-sacrifice were performed. Carpenter, physically worse off

318 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
than either of his travelling companions, was taken to Nome
on a dog team driven by Joe Vint, a brother of one of the in
jured men, and A. D. Nash,' a mail carrier and intrepid
musher. There were not dogs enough to haul all three, and
the two other survivors insisted that Carpenter should be the
first to go.
There was, too, the story of " Southpaw " Bill Griffith, a
Candle Creek mail carrier, who in 1909, when crossing Death
Valley, which received its name because of the number of
mushers who there perished, took a repeating shot-gun from his
sled to kill some ptarmigan. The barrel had been contracted
by the cold, and when Griffith fired, the breech-block blew
out. Penetrating his face at the side of the left eye, the two-
inch piece of sharp-pointed steel shattered the bone and pro
truded again in front of the left ear. Griffith was knocked
down by the shock. Half blind and suffering excruciating
agony, he felt the piece of steel sticking out of his face, and
tried vainly to dislodge it. Blood pouring copiously from the
wound stained the snow.
Completely blinded in the left optic and with the right eye
shedding tears so profusely that he could scarcely see, the mail
carrier deliberately laid his face in the snow and kept it there
1 Nash subsequently again distinguished himself at the time of the
San Francisco earthquake, when he drove an automobile loaded with
dynamite, that was badly needed in the burning city, from Goldfield
to Reno, Nevada, at the rate of sixty miles an hour. The machine
jumped and bumped over the rocks and ruts in the primitive road,
but, with marvellous good luck rather than judgment, the deadly cargo
did not explode. With the certainty that he was likely to be blown
into eternity at any moment, Nash never choked down the throttle or
slackened speed till he reached Reno, where a special train was wait
ing to carry the dynamite to San Francisco. Nash, by the way, made
a couple of million dollars in mining in Nevada, but he is remembered
in the North more for his daring courage on the trail as a musher
and a mail carrier than for his ability as a captain of industry.

DOGS, DOG "PUNCHERS" AND DOG RACES 319
till it was frozen solid, thus stopping the flow of blood. He
felt his way back to the sled and, unable to see the trail,
yelled to his dogs to " mush on." Without being directed the
team carried him to a roadhouse at -the head of Fish River,
nearly sixty miles distant, whence he was hurried to a hospital
at Council City.
Many remarkable feats of endurance have been performed
by mushers on Northern trails, but a large part of the credit
belongs just as much to the dogs as to their drivers. Pounding
the trail, day in, day out, several mail carriers have driven
their teams an aggregate of 5,000 miles during the eight months
of the Arctic winter, and many spectacular one-day runs have
been made.
Ellington Strother Bunch, a newspaper correspondent, when
" punching dogs " in Alaska, established a record for the run
from Little Delta to Fairbanks, a distance of 102 miles, which
he traversed in twelve hours, carrying a passenger. The run
was made on a wager.
Perhaps the most brilliant continuous run ever recorded was
made by Peder Berg, a young Swede of superb endurance, who
in the All-Alaska-Sweepstake dog race of 1909, covered a dis
tance of 137 miles in nineteen hours.
The middle distance record is held by John Johnson, who
won the All- Alaska-Sweepstake dog race of 19 10 with a team
of Siberian wolf-hounds, owned by the Honourable Fox Ram
say, a brother of the Earl of Dalhousie. Including stops,
Johnson and his team covered the distance of 412 miles in 71
hours, 14 minutes and 20 seconds. Ramsay drove the team
that finished second, but as he was joint owner with his uncle
and Colonel L. Stuart Weatherly in both teams, he shared in
the first prize.
The long distance records are held by Jujiro Wada, a sturdy
Japanese, who frequently has driven his team into the wilder-

320 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
ness over several thousand miles of unbroken trail and unknown
country. For a wager of $5,000 he offered to drive a team
from Nome along the coast of the Arctic Ocean to Hudson
Bay, or some other point on the North Atlantic seaboard.
The short distance record is held by Split-the-Wind, an
Eskimo boy endowed with wonderful powers of endurance who
ran thirteen white men completely off their legs in a Marathon
race. In 191 1, Split-the-Wind defeated the time made by
Ablakok's racing reindeer team over the eight mile course be
tween Nome and Fort Davis and return. He drove a team
of Missouri hound dogs owned by Sol Warren, and covered
the distance in 40 minutes, 9 seconds, which was nineteen sec
onds less than the time consumed by the racing reindeer.
Short distance dog races and deer races, while highly amus
ing to the native, are but the hors-d'oeuvres in the satiation of
the Caucasian appetite of the North for sport. The big event
of the year is the Annual All-Alaska-Sweepstake dog race from
Nome to Candle Creek and return, a distance of 412 miles.
This event is a unique, thrilling contest — a contest of
strength, speed, endurance, courage and judgment. It is an
event in which everybody — men, women, children and
Eskimos — are interested. For months before the race the en
tire population " talks dog." Other subjects of conversation
are tabooed. During this period the animals scheduled to take
part in the Struggle have the -time of their lives — they are
carefully trained and fed upon good porterhouse steaks and
other choice cuts of meat.
The intense interest in the sport may be judged from the
fact that when, in 1909, a racing dog wantonly killed thirty-
five sheep that were browsing on the hillsides, and the owner
of the mutton on the hoof sued the proprietor of the dog, the
jury ' promptly returned a verdict to the effect that " Alaska
is a dog country not a sheep country," and that, therefore, the

DOGS, DOG " PUNCHERS " AND DOG RACES 321
owner of the horned ruminants was not entitled to damages.
The dog racing enthusiast pleaded the " unwritten law " and
the jury, by their verdict, obviously agreed with him in the
far-fetched theory that the sheep must have been the aggressors
in the sanguinary conflict that ended so unfortunately.
During the period of eight months, when the residents of
Northwestern Alaska are cut off from the civilisation of the
United States by the ice which covers Bering Sea, dog racing
becomes the one question of real importance. Several short
races are held during the winter, but early in April, when
daylight is long and the trails are in good condition, the An
nual All-Alaska-Sweepstake is staged. While this event is
in progress all business is absolutely suspended. The laundries,
stores, schools, courts and every other place of business with
the exception of the saloons, of course, are closed.
It is doubtful whether there is any other sport in the world
that contains so many elements of danger and calls for so much
endurance and judgment. Across treeless tundras, frozen
streams and rugged divides, along the icy coast, and often in
the face of blinding blizzards, the competitors, men and dogs
alike, struggle for supremacy from start to finish. The course
is along the shores of Bering Sea, over the Topkok Divide to
Council City, along Fish River to Death Valley, across the
valley, and down the Keewalik River to Candle Creek and
return by the same route. It is a trail bestrewn with many
obstacles. The time consumed is generally about eighty hours,
during which nobody sleeps. The 191 1 and 19 12 races were
won by A. A. ("Scotty") Allen, who drove a team owned
by himself and Mrs. C. E. Darling, a California writer of
verse and short stories.
While the race doubtless is sufficiently exciting for the com
petitors, it is not all that could be desired from the standpoint
of a spectator. To a considerable extent, it is a matter of

322 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
mathematics and sustained effort at computation. The teams
start fifteen minutes apart and the one that covers the course
in the least time is adjudged the winner. The process of wit
nessing the big dog race at Nome is about as follows:
With his coat well buttoned up and the ear-flaps of his fur
cap pulled down to keep out the frost, the onlooker walks
from the main street of the town to the ice-covered shore of
Bering Sea, where with a number of others, all of whom ex
citedly are " talking dog dope," he stands around in the cold
for a few minutes, and then hears a shot fired. This is the
signal for starting. Immediately following the detonation of
the pistol, the spectator sees a streak of dog, with a man and a
sleigh attached to its hind-most end, vanish down the coast
and slowly melt into the scenery where the snow and sky
blend. Then he returns up-town, warms his hands at the saloon
stove and, fifteen minutes later, returns to the ice-covered sea,
hears another shot, and watches another team go streaking
across the frozen trail. He continues this porformance ten or
twelve times, or until the last team has started. Then for
three days and three nights, he stands around the blackboard
in one of the various saloons, leaving only long enough to grab
an occasional hasty meal at a near-by lunch-counter, and with
pencil and paper computes the positions of the different teams
as reports of their progress are received over the long distance
telephone. Before the race is finished, he has as many figure-
covered pieces of paper as a busy bookmaker's clerk at a race
track. A few of his figures have to do with the bets he makes
as the race progresses, but otherwise they pertain entirely to
mileage and the effluxion of time.
The spectators also must be endowed with certain powers
of endurance. Once in a while an onlooker leaves the black
board to phone the reports to his home, where, more than
likely his wife and a dozen other women have foregathered,

DOGS, DOG " PUNCHERS " AND DOG RACES 323
each of them busily engaged in figuring out the positions of
the different teams and speculating as to the winner.
On the second day, when the teams are on the return jour
ney, the interest increases, and by the time the teams are
twenty miles from Nome the excitement becomes intensified,
and especially so, if the racers are only a short distance apart,
according to time. When the leading team passes Fort Davis,
a cannon is fired and everybody, excepting those in the hos
pital or otherwise incapacitated, immediately finds a nice, cool
perch on the ice-hummocks of Bering Sea, where they excitedly
wait till the winning teams stagger and limp across the line —
and the race is over for another year. The driver of the
winning team is raised shoulder high and carried to the Arctic
Brotherhood hall, where a wreath is placed on his brow, and
after this ceremony is over, he is rushed to a Turkish bath
house. It must not be thought, however, that the drivers, owners
or spectators engage in this strenuous sport solely for the hon
our of winning. The prize usually is $10,000 in gold and a
massive silver loving cup, and an aggregate of about $200,000
is wagered on the result. Of course, gambling is against the
law in Alaska, but wagering on a dog race euphemistically is
termed " backing one's judgment," which is entirely different
from gambling. It's more like dealing on the stock exchange.
Owing to a decrease in population in Northwestern Alaska
during the past few years — a condition largely attributable
to the fact that an unwise government policy forces the resi
dents to import their coal at a great cost from Canada — the
prize money for the dog race in the years 191 1 and 1912, was
reduced, and the amounts wagered on the results were smaller.
Mining being their principal business, the people of Alaska
naturally have a predilection for engaging in anything that
contains within it an element of chance, and this not unusual

324 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING "
propensity finds its strongest manifestations in the many raffles
of cold-storage turkeys that are held at Thanksgiving and
Christmas. Nobody thinks of buying a turkey — they all
want to win one in a raffle. They try to flatter themselves
into believing that this is the cheapest method of acquiring a
" gobbler." A turkey raffle holds the same attraction for a
man in Alaska that a department store bargain sale holds for
a woman in the United States. The temptation in an oppor
tunity to obtain something at a reduced price is too great an
attraction to be resisted. It frequently happens that one man
will win from fifteen to twenty turkeys. Turkey every day
for dinner till these are eaten has obvious gastronomic impos
sibilities, and for the next month or six weeks the " lucky "
winner of a large number of birds will diligently and, quite
often fruitlessly, hunt for indigent families upon whom to
bestow a portion of his surplus of riches. Under these circum
stances an opportunity to bet on a dog race, naturally is wel
comed. Dog racing, besides having within itself all the alluring ele
ments of chance that are essential to its popularity, requires
the exercise of judgment of the keenest order. One of the
rules of the Nome Kennel Club, under whose management and
auspices the contests are held, is that every dog must be regis
tered at the start and that the driver must return with the
same dogs, dead or alive. Therefore, it is necessary that the
owners and drivers shall choose dogs possessed of equal speed
and endurance. If any of the dogs break down or die from
exhaustion, they must be carried on the sled, and thus they
prove an impediment to their team mates. Lack of judgment
in this respect has lost many races and many big wagers.
The Nome Kennel Club was founded by Albert Fink, an
attorney, ostensibly for the purpose of improving the breed of
dogs used in the country during the winter to transport miners

TEAM OF SIBERIAN RACING DOGS ON THE FROZEN WASTE OF BERING SEA.— THE ALL-ALASKA-
SWEEPSTAKES DOG RACE, HELD ANNUALL Y, IS OF MORE INTEREST IN NORTHWESTERN
ALASKA THAN THE ELECTION OF A NEW PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES

DOGS, DOG " PUNCHERS " AND DOG RACES 325
and supplies from one part of the country to another. The
development of dog racing was incidental. It was never
thought that this sport would come to be ranked of the same
importance in Alaska as is the competition for the baseball
pennant in the United States.
Many different kinds of dogs are bred for racing purposes,
and speedy animals bring high prices. Those of sufficient class
to compete in the Derby of the North are sold as high as $250,
and as much as $1,200 has been paid for a good leader. The
general plan of breeding is to cross one of the well-known
species of speedy dogs with the native malamute or husky.
Among the breeds most favoured are Missouri bird hounds,
great Danes, Airedales and Russian stag-hounds.
The Siberian dogs imported into the territory by the Hon.
ourable Fox Ramsay and his partner, Colonel L. Stuart Weath-
erly, which won a sensational race in 1910 and broke the
time record, are small animals with a trace of the fox in their
make-up. Their appearance is that of the wolf-dog in minia
ture. The bushy tail, the thick hair, and the strong legs, are
all there, but the pupil of the eye is elliptical in shape, and
this fact leads to the well-grounded suspicion that their an
cestors belonged to the Reynard family. These dogs are not
fast, but possess wonderful endurance, usually making the 412-
mile journey with but two or three hours' rest. The mala
mutes and' huskies, and all of their crosses are faster, but they
lack the qualities of endurance possessed by their Siberian
cousins. Racing and working dogs are fed but once a day. They are
given their meal after the day's work is done, and then they
lie down in the snow to sleep like tired children. If a storm
arises, they allow the snow to blow over them, and, buried be
neath it, sleep comfortably till morning.
If their food is too hot they pull the vessel containing it

326 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
into the snow or on to the ice, and test the temperature with
their long tongues until it is cool enough to be eaten without
scalding the mouth. In summer they forage for themselves,
catching ptarmigan, rabbits, ground squirrels and other fauna.
This desire to hunt sometimes causes trouble for the mail car
rier or musher. If one of his dogs sights a flock of ptarmigan
or a rabbit, he gives a peculiar howl which acquaints his team
mates with the fact, and then helter-skelter, the entire team
races after the game, dragging the sled and driver behind them.
It may sound like a fish story, but it is nevertheless true, that
Alaskan dogs, when pressed by hunger, will go fishing, wading
into the streams and standing like statues on the river bars
till they spy a salmon wriggling up over the shallow. Then,
like a flash, they jump for the fish. Usually the struggle is
brief and the dog generally wins.
In summer a few Alaskan dogs become afflicted with a dis
ease called hydrophobia, which is highly contagious, if they bite
another animal of their own species, but there never has been
recorded in the territory a case of a human dying of rabies.
This strange malady causes the dogs to rush along, snapping
their jaws and biting at their own spinal columns; meanwhile
frothing at the mouth and displaying other symptoms peculiar
to a mad dog.
Those imported from the United States are called " out
side " dogs. Many of them are faster than the Alaskan ani
mals, but they lack the endurance of the Northern species, nor
are they as well adapted to the country. In a short journey
over a hard trail, especially in the spring when the snow is
crusted, the feet of the outside dog will be cut to ribbons and
he will leave a trail of blood wherever he goes. Such a mis
fortune rarely befalls the native animal. The years that his
ancestors have lived in the Northern environment have evolved
a foot that is impervious to the hard cutting edges of the

DOGS, DOG " PUNCHERS " AND DOG RACES 327
crusted snow, and, besides that, hair grows right down to the
tips of the toes as a protection against the rigorous climate.
When pressed for food, Northern dogs are not above com
mitting acts of cannibalism, and there are many cases on record
in Alaska, where mushers, in desperate straits, have eaten their
dogs to save their lives.

CHAPTER XXVI
SPECTACULAR VOLCANOES
Slumbering craters spread along Aleutian Islands and mainland con
tiguous — How they spring into life at intermittent periods —
Ever changing they are filled with surprises for navigators and
natives alike — Islands appear and disappear beneath waves —
Two continents may yet be made one by seismic disturbances.
SMOKING and quavering — now and again with sub
terranean rumblings, at times with loud detonations as
of a thousand thunder crashes rolled into one — more
than twenty volcanoes are in more or less active eruption in
Alaska, scattering sand and volcanic dust over the landscape.
Sometimes this rain of ash is a light veneer ; but, in the summer
of 1912, when a new volcano burst through the mass of rock
and muck that for years had choked it, the top was blown off
Mount Katmai. The fall of ash on Kodiak Island and along
the shores of Shelikof Strait that followed the explosion at
tained a depth of from one to twenty feet.
Alaska is always spectacular. Its slumbering craters, spread
along the Aleutian Islands and on the mainland contiguous
thereto, at intermittent periods and sometimes with dramatic
suddenness, spring into active life.
To the eastward, just off the line of travel to Bering Sea,
lay those ever-changing pieces of real estate — Bogosloff Is
lands. Thrusting themselves up from beneath the brine, as
though impelled by some colossal Atlas, and again subsiding
beneath the waves — one day churning the ocean into a caul
dron of scalding water, killing millions of fishes and birds and
seals, and the next sinking from sight and leaving a calm and
328

SPECTACULAR VOLCANOES 329
placid sea where before mammoth peaks had stood — these
islands are something with which scientists conjure.
Within the past ten years Alaska has been the scene of al
most every phenomenon known to science. New islands have
been formed, older ones have been destroyed; earthquakes
have shaken millions of tons of glacial ice from mountain tops
where it was lodged aeons ago; submarine convulsions have
buried the deep-sea cable beneath thousands of tons of rock
and debris. These are the signs of a constant struggle of the
elements, which indicate that maybe a new and mighty conti
nent is in the throes of labour.
Few of the Alaskan volcanoes are constantly violent. Some
continuously send forth a thin column of smoke, some emit
poisonous gases, and still others, after sleeping peacefully for
many years, suddenly break forth into startling activity.
Such an eruption was witnessed on June 6, 1912, from Shel
ikof Strait by the passengers on the steamship Dora. It was
spectacular and awe-inspiring to the last>degree; yet, consider
ing the magnitude of the cataclysm, little damage was done.
So far as is known the lives of only three natives were lost.
Sailing this landlocked sheet of water in beautiful weather,
lazily watching the dolphins playing in the blue and white
waves that purled back from the prow of the ship, the passen
gers were suddenly appalled by a succession of quick, sharp
reports, which seemed to emanate from the shore about sixty
miles distant. The crepitation was followed by small tidal
waves, which caused the vessel to oscillate violently. It was
noticed that Mount Katmai — formerly an extinct volcano —
was smoking.
A terrific detonation, the concussion of which stunned many
of the voyagers, was heard. Panic-stricken, they stared at the
mountain in the distance. More terrifying explosions, culmina
ting in one more deafening than all the rest combined and

330 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
which gave the sensation of shredded ear-drums, followed.
"Had the world exploded?" they wondered.
Big columns of smoke and flame belched from the peak.
They looked again. The topography of the country was
changed! The whole top of the mountain was missing!
Floating miles high above it, like an inky pall, was a gigantic
black cloud.
With the speed of an express-train the bank of smoke began
to spread out like a huge fan, one wing of it coming rapidly
toward the vessel. It seemed an overhanging emblem of death.
Immediately the ship headed for the open sea. The terrible
thing above — hideous, relentless, deathly — followed. It was
weird, uncanny. There seemed no escape. Forced-draught
and a full head of steam availed little in the race. The cloud
above was gaining. For two hours firemen below decks
sweated and toiled, shovelling coal into the furnace, but the
terrible cloud, hovering above like a death-angel, came nearer
and nearer. Its close approach to the fleeing ship was her
alded by thousands of sea-fowl and shore-birds that scudded,
squawking and shrieking, before it. The bright sunshine was
transformed into twilight, and within an hour the vessel was
enveloped in darkness so dense that the water could not be
seen from the decks and a lamp was held close to the compass in
order properly to direct the vessel's course. Many birds,
wounded and exhausted, fell dying all over the shfp. The
darkness was complete, absolute.
Blinding flashes of lightning now and again rent the atmos
phere, leaving the outlines of the ship standing out — an in
tangible spectre in the ghastly glare. Like a duel between big
batteries of heavy artillery, the detonations continued, occa
sionally subsiding to a loud rumble. Volcanic ash fell in
clouds and pumice pebbles pattered on the deck like buckshot.
Stifling, suffocating gases vitiated the air and breathing was

SPECTACULAR VOLCANOES 331
accomplished with difficulty and agony. The passengers
sought their staterooms, only the officers and crew remaining
on deck.
An electric storm, accompanied by terrifying crashes of
thunder and streaks of forked lightning that played clear across
the heavens, added to the horror of the phantasmal scene.
The explosions ceased and a wind sprang up causing the sea
to churn and the ship to rock and pitch in violent motion.
Sparks of lightning danced, ghost-like, in the Stygian darkness
across the gap in the wireless instrument, but despite this, the
operator stuck to his key and endeavoured to call Kodiak, a
small town on the island. He received no answer. The land
station had been struck by lightning.
Two ships, running for safety, scudded by in the ominous
pall. Between the intermittent reverberations of the belching
mountain and the crashing of the thunder, the bells and fog
signals of the other vessels were heard.
Suddenly the wind assumed the velocity of a cyclone, shriek
ing and whistling wildly through the shrouds like a chorus of
lost souls. Passengers, affrighted and awe-stricken, watched
and heard. The captain bellowed his orders from the bridge
through a megaphone; the tempest hurled his words back into
his throat. Waves, weighing tons, dashed over the fore part
of the vessel and washed it clean of ashes.
The passengers, already nearly suffocating, were seized with
violent paroxysms of coughing and all felt miserably. The
cries of wounded and dying birds as they fell on the deck and
into the sea, added to the eerie weirdness of the surroundings.
For ten hours the vessel groped and struggled through the
stupendous waves that tossed angrily, like miniature mountains
of seething water. Then the air became thinner — there was
less dust.
From darkness tbe ship merged into a sickly yellow twi-

332 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
light, through which the sun shone like a fiery red sphere. Be
hind, like some immutable monster of death, was the great
black cloud, spreading out and covering an area of 10,000
square miles. It looked as though it would envelop the earth.
Further beyond, the growling mountain spasmodically coughed
up columns of smoke and sheets of flame in violent, jerking con
vulsions, and, as forked lightning played about the great orifice
on the top of the crater, darting here and there like writhing
snake-tongues of blue and yellow flame, the passengers shud-
deringly surveyed the scene through the sub-Arctic twilight,
and spoke only in hushed and husky whispers. The spectacle
was magnificent; but awe-inspiring and dreadful in its mag
nificence. Dust and soot were everywhere. Foreign elements per
meated the food, the dishes, the kitchen-ware, the remotest
parts of the ship. Eyes, ears, noses, and lungs, were filled
with ashes; clothes reeked with white sand and the pores of
the skin were choked with grime. For nearly twenty hours
the vessel had been swaddled by the cloud. Emerging into
clear air, her decks were covered a foot deep with sand and ash.
It was a terrifying experience, yet none of those who passed
through it felt any ill effects afterwards.
The country within a radius of hundreds of miles of the
volcano was covered with ash and sand, but strange as it may
seem, the fall was heavier on the westerly side than on the
easterly side of Kodiak Island, although the easterly side is
closer to the mountain. For several days after the eruption
the water was tainted with sulphuric acid. Many millions of
fishes were killed by the subterranean concussions. One of
the remarkable phenomena in connection with the eruption
was the changing of all red paint to a dull brown colour, and
the blackening of all silver and brass ware. Fishing was sus
pended for several days at the canneries adjacent to the crater

SPECTACULAR VOLCANOES 333
because of the damage done the streams to which the salmon
run from the sea to spawn.
Bogosloff Islands, those pieces of real estate upon which it
would be impossible to levy taxes because of their habit of doing
the disappearing trick, have gone through many transforma
tions. It — or they — was first noted in 1790 as one island,
by the Russian admiral, Bogosloff. When the United States
took over the territory the island had multiplied itself into
two. The new addition to the island family was named " Cas
tle Rock," because it was a mere rock shaped like a castle.
Then the original island grew larger, and later a second
one, known as the New Bogosloff, appeared. Still later, a
strip of land connecting the two thrust up from the bottom of
the sea, much to the astonishment of navigators who had been
in the habit of sailing between the two while hunting sea lions
on their shores. New Bogosloff was created in the winter of
1886-87. It was born about four miles from the old Bogosloff
and has remained stationary ever since. In 1905-06, a new
volcanic island known as the " Metcalf-Perry Peak " was thrust
up between the two islands. In 1906-07 there appeared an
other small upthrust of land which was named " McCulluch
Peak " in honour of the officers aboard the U. S. revenue
cutter McCulluch by whom it was first observed. In October,
1907, " McCulluch Peak " disappeared, and on July 7, 1908,
the " Metcalf-Perry " Peak split into halves and one half sank
to a watery grave. There was created in its place a long,
narrow band of rock joining the Old and New Bogosloff Is
lands into one parcel of realty.
The crew of the U. S. S. Albatross, in 1908, while trawling
off the islands, observed the surface of the ocean rising in a
gigantic, dome-like, swelling, suggestive of a colossal soap-
bubble pushing its way through the water, and then sub
siding. This occurred several times, and before each sub-

334 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
sidence there was a tremendous escape of gas. Then gigantic
clouds of smoke and steam issued from the place where the
humps of water had been seen. As the astonished officers and
crew watched, the eruption gradually grew in immensity until
it appeared as though it would reach the sky. The spectacle
which they witnessed doubtless was a subterranean volcano
growing into activity, and which later added bulk to the
Bogosloffs. On September 19, 1910, another new island was born, the
officers and crew of the revenue cutter Tahoma being eye
witnesses to the accouchement. When twenty-five miles dis
tant from the island, the vessel encountered a terrific electrical
storm, an unusual condition in that region. Surmising that
the island was " cutting a few capers," Captain Johnstone H.
Quinan headed his vessel for Bogosloff. An immense black
cloud was hanging over the islands. As the vessel approached,
it was seen that a column of smoke and flame was spouting
like a geyser from the sea. Lightning, forked and wicked,
dazzled the eye as it darted through the inky clouds, suffusing
sea and sky to the horizon. The sultry air was rent by ear-
splitting crashes of thunder.
Fire Island was barely distinguishable through the heavy
clouds of ashes, and, when the revenue cutter arrived within
ten miles, it was plainly observed that molten lava, rock, steam,
and smoke, were being shot into the air from the centre of a
salt-lagoon that had been formed on one spur of the island.
Titanic forces were at work in the bowels of the earth beneath
the sea-floor, creating a prodigious disturbance, generating tre
mendous heat and making a circling wind that could be felt
for several miles distant.
The vast amount of red-hot lava emanating from the sea
covered the Tahoma with volcanic sand and pumice. It was
found necessary to hose-down the decks and to make for the

Photo by F. E. Bagger, U

THE BIRTH OF A BAGOSLOFF.— "AN ISLAND REARS ITS HEAD OF RED-HOT GLOWING ROCK,
THROUGH SWIRLING CLOUDS OF STEAM, FROM THE BED OF AN ARCTIC SEA"

SPECTACULAR VOLCANOES 335
leeward of the island. At a distance of six miles the tempera
ture was uncomfortably warm. From a distance of four miles,
the island was photographed by Lieutenant Bagger. Streaks of
red-hot lava and flame could be seen through the column of
smoke, steam, and ashes, that ascended to an elevation of half
a mile. The steam and smoke raised its head in billowy clouds,
covering the heavens.
Far beyond was another pyrotechnic display, in which great
masses of fire rose and fell, scattering sparks and hot rocks
all over the island and into the sea.
Several weeks later, when the volcano had subsided, revenue
officers found there an insecure footing on a land of hot ashes
and baked mud, from the centre of which there spouted a large
column of scalding water. The loud rumbling from beneath
the surface made it necessary for the investigators to shout to
each other in order to be heard for a distance of only a few
feet. In addition to the lava lying on the new-born land, evidence
of the terrific heat was to be found everywhere. All over
the island lay the skeletons of many birds, which had been
roasted to death as they alighted upon, the land to rest from
their long sea flights. These bird skeletons, scattered in thou
sands along the rocks, were so affected by the heat and fumes
that they disintegrated into a fine white powder the moment
they were handled.
An effort was made to take a moving picture of Bogosloff
in eruption, in 191 1. A small schooner was chartered for the
purpose, but with the perverseness and unreliability for which
they are noted, the islands refused to erupt while the moving-
picture camera and its operator were in sight.
Volcanoes are temperamentally hysterical, peculiarly impul
sive, erratic and petulant. -Just about the time that a pho
tographer gets his camera focussed upon a harmless appearing

336 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
column of smoke, the crater is just as likely as not to heave a
cough that sends thousands of tons of volcanic ash and rock
scattering over the landscape. Nearly always a volcano can
be depended upon to do the thing that is least expected.
Taking photographs of volcanoes for many reasons, most of
which are obvious, is not always attended with success, but the
pastime inevitably is productive of a certain degree of excite
ment. Besides the spectacular Bogosloff volcanoes, there is " Old
Moses," on Nunivak Island. He belches up a small stream
of fire at all times and at all seasons of the year, but is not
often excessively violent. " Old Moses " for a long time was
used for a beacon-light by navigators sailing from the North
ern Pacific Ocean into Bering Sea, but with the natural an
tipathy for doing anything useful that is manifested by almost
every volcano, this old curmudgeon began to quench his fires
in the spring and fall — the seasons when Unimak Pass is most
used by vessels plying between Nome and Seattle. The gov
ernment finally tired of his vagaries and erected a permanent
lighthouse at this point.
Much of the history of the Alaskan volcanic zone has been
written in the last few years, and a part of it has been pre
served in the legends of the natives indigenous to this region.
According to traditions of the Aleuts, Mount Chernarboro that
is now known as St. Augustine, situated at the entrance to
Cook Inlet, was inhabited a long time ago by a pair of bel
ligerent gods.
One was the god of fire and one was the god of water.
They became involved in a battle which resulted in the blow
ing off of the mountain-top and in a rain of flame and molten
rock falling upon the domiciles of the people. Poor Lo was
forced to seek a home upon the mainland.
Because of the advantages in otter-hunting that Chernar-

SPECTACULAR VOLCANOES 337
boro offered, that place again became the habitat of a large
tribe of natives. After a slumber of many years the volcano
awakened in many new places, tearing a side out of the moun
tain and throwing it down the hill to lodge with a crash upon
the native village. Those natives who escaped never returned,
and to this day their descendants will npt inhabit this section.
Chernarboro for many years has given off a light smoke and
sulphurous gas, but the volume of the smoke-cloud increased
tremendously during the recent eruption of Mount Katmai.
Far down the side of the mountain can be seen the tremendous
chunks that were blown from its top and sides when the cata
clysm of the native legends occurred. The top of the crater
•is marked by the bleached skeletons of many birds and animals
that ventured too close to the poisonous gases.
Usually the crater is cold, but, once in a while, it gives a
mammoth belch that is indicative of its old time strength. The
legend of the natives' is corroborated by old Russian charts
made previous to 1825 which indicate that a navigable chan
nel formerly existed between St. Augustine and the mainland.
Akutan Volcano, situated on Akutan Island, is a very busy
little noise-maker. Like its kindred, it works spasmodically,
lying asleep for a few days, weeks, or months, and then, when
everyone is lulled to a sense of peace and security, arousing the
neighbourhood and frightening the wits out of the native
Aleuts by a riot of violent explosions that sound as though
electric sparks were being contacted with bomb-factories. At
each crash a puff of smoke ascends, and this descends later in
a cloud of volcanic-ash.
Pogrumo, on Unimak Island, is more gentle, more refined in
its actions. It acts like a well-trained, hand-fed pony, and is
really a nice, clean, little volcano. It never becomes exceed
ingly violent, and never is so ill-mannered as to throw cinders
over the beautiful, white robe of snow in which Nature keeps

338 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
it garbed. Nor does it indulge in the turbulent, ill-bred,
paroxysms of coughing and belching that distinguish the man
ners of its less cultured kinfolk. Usually a slow, hazy, good-
natured-looking wisp of smoke floats away from its cap — six
thousand feet above sea-level — much resembling the product
of a clear Havana rolling from the mouth of some lacka
daisical giant who is too indolent to exhale a deep breath.
Pavloff, rising 9,000 feet above sea-level on the eastern end
of the Alaska Peninsula, on the contrary, is exceedingly stren
uous and volatile. It is the most violently active of all the
Alaskan volcanoes. It is so unreliable and performs such un
expected antics, that it has become known as " Old Pop-off."
The name aptly describes it. The only certain thing about
this volcano is the uncertainty of what it will do next.
Unlike gentle Pogrumo, Pavloff in its fits of temper, musses
up the landscape by scattering inky black and dirty grey ashes
for miles around, much to the annoyance and discomfort of its
neighbours — the Shumagin Islands. These islands, although
sixty miles away, cannot escape from the grime and ash with
which Pavloff pollutes the atmosphere. At the time when the
New Bogosloff was born from the sea, Pavloff, as though
voicing its disapproval and jealousy, became violently angry,
and to the accompaniment of a long, crashing, cannonading,
threw hot rocks, sand, lava and ash, into the air and all over
the scenery.
Makushan, near Unalaska, plainly seen from Dutch Har
bor, was discovered by the Russians. He is a more inveterate
smoker than the late Mark Twain, once in a while stopping to
get a fresh light — though not often nor for long. Close to his
smoking mouth are large deposits of pure sulphur upon which
considerable exploratory work has been done. Natives are
afraid of him, but for an outrageous stipend of fifty dollars a
day they will guide inquisitive visitors to the lips of his crater.

SPECTACULAR VOLCANOES 339
Makushan is surrounded by a number of pot holes beneath
the snow. These are formed by boiling springs which burst
up in unexpected places, and are a constant menace to the ex
plorer. Iron-rods stuck into the ground near the mouth of
the crater, become white hot.
Kupreanoff Volcano, situated at the head of Stepavok Bay,
and named after an old Russian trader whose principal ambi
tion in life — tradition says — was to make life miserable for
the Indians, is unique. Its crater lies in the centre of a field
of glacial ice, centuries old, and one may step in a few minutes
from a point that is hotter than Panama to another that is
as cold as the North Pole. The smoke and steam rises through
the crevasses in the ice in a hundred different places, and as
these steaming cracks are scattered over a wide area, the orifice
of the volcano never has been located definitely.
Becharoff, on Becharoff Lake, near Cold Bay, is often re
ported by prospectors to be addicted to the smoking habit. But
as it is somewhat isolated from the general line of travel, little
is known about it, and the reports may be slanders.
Redoubt, situated on Cook Inlet, is another volcano that
has a deplorable predilection for springing into violent activity
at unexpected moments. It not only emits much sulphurous
smoke itself, but it causes mail-carriers and " mushers " to emit
much sulphurous language. It is about 2,000 feet high, and
usually puffs out light harmless clouds. Every once in a while,
however, something goes wrong with its digestive organs, and
then it throws up tremendous masses of ash and sand which
settle on the snow and make sleighing almost impossible —
hence the avalanches of lurid language from the " mushers."
During the recent slight unpleasantness, when the top of Mount
Katmai was blown to smithereens, Redoubt became disagree
ably active and scattered volcanic matter for several miles
around.

34o ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
Illiamna, with three distinct volcanoes, towers 10,000 to
12,000 feet above sea-level. It is adjacent to Cook's Inlet,
but, as it offers nothing in the way of mineral to the prospector,
it never has been thoroughly investigated. Mount Illiamna was
in violent eruption in 1854, at which time it discoloured the
landscape by depositing volcanic ash and pumice over the con
tiguous country. The name is said to be an old Russian word
meaning " monument." The natives declare that Illiamna is
the home of a monstrous fish which lives part of its time in
Lake Illiamna, and part in the mountain. They believe this
leviathan is ever on the watch to catch the unwary prospector
or fisherman. As an illustration of the truth of their legends,
they know of many Indians and some white men who attempted
to cross the lake and never returned. The lake is the largest
body of fresh water in Alaska. It frequently is swept by ter
rific gales. It is eighty miles long, and eight to ten miles in
width — somewhat larger than Long Island Sound.
Although its surface is only fifty feet above sea-level, it is
several hundred feet deep, and in some places the bottom has
not been found. Lake Clark, with which Illiamna is connected
by a small stream, is more than fifty miles long but very nar
row. The surface of Lake Clark is 220 feet above the tides
but it is more than 600 feet deep. It is believed that both
lakes, originally, were formed by volcanoes burning out the
inside of the mountain and allowing the walls to collapse.
Douglas is a peculiar volcano, situated near the entrance to
Cook Inlet, and belching up from beneath a number of small
glaciers — about the size of those found in Switzerland — it
resembles a South Sea squid. Its black tentacles of lava ex
tend down the hillsides of bluish-white ice like the feelers of
an octopus. It is one of the most reliable, steady smokers in
the business and is not afflicted, generally, with convulsions.
There is a small active volcano on Attu Island, the eastern-

SPECTACULAR VOLCANOES 341
most piece of land on the Aleutian Chain. The few poverty-
stricken natives living there, who are visited occasionally by
traders and revenue cutter men, seem unafraid of it.
The Aleutian Islands are all more or less of volcanic forma
tion, but the smoking volcanoes — as has been shown — are
by no means limited to the islands. There are hundreds of
cold and dead craters throughout this section of Alaska and, as
they are a somewhat uncertain quantity, they may awaken and
give a fire-works show for the edification of the natives at al
most any time.
It is certain that beneath the Northern Pacific Ocean many
subterranean fires are burning, and there are those who believe
that this condition ultimately will be the means of linking the
American continent to Siberia.
Bering Sea, the charts show, gradually is becoming shal
lower. While this in some cases is due to subterranean activ
ity, there is no doubt that the heavy deposition from the glacial
streams have considerable to do with this result.
The bottom of Bering Sea is a level valley, covered by only
a few fathoms of water. It is not beyond the possibilities of
Nature that a subterranean upheaval is liable to raise the pres
ent sea-floor to water-level and thus make one continent stand
where two stood before.

CHAPTER XXVII
THE COST OF LIVING IN ALASKA
Meal prices vary according to location — Cheap in accessible places —
Transportation problem is important factor — Prospectors depend
on country's resources for subsistence — Cabinet officer given din
ner composed of game, wild berries and vegetables.
THE high cost of living in Alaska despite a general
impression to the contrary — is not a more difficult
problem than in other parts of the world. The
cost of living in the North is purely a matter of location. In
those places in Alaska which are easily accessible, food stuffs
are sold at about the same price, plus the freight, as in the
States. Meals are sold at Juneau, Skagway, Seward, Cordova,
Valdez and other points along the coast at a slight advance of
the prices that prevail in the leading cities on the Pacific sea
board farther south.
The food problem and the transportation problem are insep
arably linked. Where freight charges run up as high as $200
per ton, it is to be expected that the food prices will be pro
portionately altitudinous.
There is one other factor, though, that plays a part in the
problem in so far as inaccessible districts are concerned. This
is the wild game and fish which the country furnishes. In
places where moose, caribou and deer are plentiful, the pros
pectors dry large quantities of meat in the winter season for
use the following summer, when most of their time is devoted
to searching for mineral. In places where there is a scarcity
of large game, there always is an abundance of ptarmigan or
spruce-hens in the winter, and myriads of ducks, geese, snipe,
342

THE COST OF LIVING IN ALASKA 343
and other game birds in the summer. These are pickled or
made into sausage to be eaten during busy seasons.
Many prospectors and explorers have been known to travel
thousands of miles in Alaska with nothing more than a rifle,
a sack of salt and plenty of ammunition. Several years ago,
together with a number of others, I lived for nearly six months
at the headwaters of the Mackenzie River, and we had little
other food than moose meat. We were in a country that was
untravelled by either white men or Indians, and naturally
game of every kind was plentiful.
The amount of moose meat that a healthy man will eat in a
cold country, when he has little or no other food, is almost
beyond belief. The appetite seems insatiable. In the cabin
in which I lived with four others, we cooked, every day, a
copper-kettle the size of a five-gallon oil can filled with moose
meat. We ate moose steaks for breakfast and roast or baked
moose meat for dinner. The boiled meat we consumed be
tween meals. We had coffee, tea, a little rice — about enough
for a few spoonfuls each, once a week — a little flour of which
we made gravy and an occasional loaf of bread, and an abun
dance of salt. In long journeys on snowshoes, or over the
trail in the spring, we chewed dry moose meat between meals.
Cream, sugar, butter, eggs, bacon, and potatoes, were deli
cacies that we remembered having tasted away back in the
dim and misty past. This bill-of-fare was continued for six
months, less four days. There never was a night nor day
during that time that we did not awaken with ravenous appe
tites and go to bed with our hunger unappeased. It seemed
to me that a man might eat all the moose meat in the world
and still be hungry.
Strangely enough this had a beneficial effect upon our consti
tutions. We were all more or less affected with slight stomach
troubles, but otherwise in perfect health, many of the party

344 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
performing feats of endurance that would have won honours
in a Marathon race. Near us were camped two other parties,
making a total of fourteen in all. The stout men became
lighter, and light men increased their weight proportionately.
I was heavier by twenty pounds when I finished that journey
than I ever have been before or since.
As it was with us, so it has been with hundreds of other
prospectors in Alaska. In places inaccessible, where " white
man's food " is scarce, that good old provider, Nature, steps in
and fills the void. I have eaten many meals in Alaska, the
edibles for which were the products of the country, and found
them just as palatable as the cuisine of the best hotels in large
cities. In the summer of 191 1, with Walter L. Fisher, Secretary
of the Interior; Walter E. Clark, Governor of Alaska, several
scientists connected with government bureaus and a number of
newspaper correspondents, the writer made a journey along the
coast of Alaska. We were introduced to a keeper of a road
house at Kern Creek, 71 miles in the interior from Seward,
who undertook to give the cabinet officer a gastronomic demon
stration of the products of the country. The components of
the bill-of-fare, with the exception of bread, coffee and sugar,
were locally grown under cultivation or culled from the ad
jacent woods where they grew wild.
The dinner was served in a log building, in which had been
placed a long table made of boards cut from the forest. The
table was covered with snowy napery and adorned with ex
quisitely-coloured and fragrant wild irises, forget-me-nots,
bleeding hearts, poppies, butter-cups, daisies, anemones, gerani
ums, bluebells, blue and yellow violets, and many other floral
specimens which grow in such riotous profusion in Alaska's
woodlands. Owing to an oversight on the part of the shipping agent at

THE COST OF LIVING IN ALASKA 345
Seward, the crab cocktail which headed the bill-of-fare was
eliminated. The meal began with Indian relish, pickled
cucumbers, beets, onions, celery, radishes, green onions and a
few other edibles of that character. The guests disposed of
portions of moose nose bouillon, and then proceeded through a
fish course of mountain and rainbow trout, taken from a near-by
stream, and Arctic greyling, another delicious fresh-water fish
served with wild parsley sauce. Then followed salmis of wild
young mallard and sprig-tail duck, roast breast of ptarmigan
with wild currant and wild gooseberry jelly, roast breast of
spruce hens, or grouse, garnished with wild huckleberry and
wild high-bush and low-bush cranberry jelly. After those ap
petisers had been disposed of, the real business of eating began.
Came boiled shoulder of wild mountain sheep with wild
onion sauce; roast saddle of mountain goat, roast haunch of
caribou, roast tenderloin of moose. These were eaten with
wild red and black currant, wild gooseberry and other jellies,
cottage cheese was interspersed, and bottles of currant, cran
berry and blueberry wines were placed at the elbow of each
guest. The native grown new potatoes, turnips, beets, cauli
flowers, Brussel sprouts, parsnips and other vegetables were.
served in side dishes with the different courses as the meal
progressed. Razor-edged appetites with which the guests had arrived,
long since had been appeased, and they began to speculate on
the utility of rubber waistlines. They hoped the roadhouse
keeper would serve the coffee. But he was not accustomed to
entertaining a member of President Taft's cabinet, and he
seemed imbued with the idea that the appetite of the visiting
official should be in proportion to the dignity of his position
in the world of affairs. He didn't intend that the tender-
footed crowd of " chechacoes " should go back to Washington
and other large cities in the eastern part of the United States

346 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
and tell their friends they had been unable to get anything to
eat in the Alaskan wilderness.
His neatly dressed and white-aproned waiters brought on a
delicious salad composed of chopped wild celery, onions and
parsley, with just a suggestion of wild sour-grass or sorrel, and
smothered in mayonnaise made from wild goose and duck eggs
gathered from near-by lake shores and marshes. The hard
boiled eggs which formed a part of the salad were taken from
his poultry yard at the back of the hostelry.
Everybody fervently hoped that the end of the Alaskan re
sources had been reached. But that roadhouse keeper insisted
that we at least taste of his dessert. A wealthy epicurean
would surely give a lot of money for an appetite such as that
roadhouse keeper seemed to think we possessed.
In came the waiters again, laden with pies and tarts filled
with wild rhubarb, wild raspberries, wild gooseberries and red
and black wild currants, and bowls of delicious, thick whipped
cream. " Well, he's reached his limit now," was the innermost
thought of every one.
" This is where he hands out the cigars and black coffee,"
commented Robert D. Heinl, a correspondent for Leslie's
Weekly, who was a member of the party. But he was mis
taken. Back came that roadhouse keeper and his waiters. His
hospitality was unbounded.
" Won't you try a few of these wild strawberries, wild
salmon berries and wild currants with a little of this whipped
cream?" he said. "They're delicious," he tempted. "I eat
'em myself."
We protested, but as guests we had to be agreeable. Even
that wasn't the end. Once more he and his waiters returned
with bar-le-duc, crackers, cheese and coffee.
" I'm all out of cigars," he apologised to Mr. Fisher.

Photo by Callarman. GARDENING IS ONE OF THE PRINCIPAL FORMS OF RECREATION AT SKAGWAY

____________!

THE COST OF LIVING IN ALASKA 347
" That shipping agent fell down on me. But there's some
pretty good chewing tobacco here, if any of you would care
for it."
This performance with variations was repeated in other
places along the line we travelled, and the cuisine for a dinner
given by President O. L. Dickeson, of the White Pass and
Yukon Railroad, being distinctly Alaskan, even to the bill-of-
fare which was printed on the tanned skin of a wild goat.
And yet there have been isolated cases where men starved
to death in Alaska, and there was one case in which cannibal
ism was attempted. James Hall, a miner, in 1900, became lost
on the tundra adjacent to Nome for a period of sixty-seven
days. He had neither shot-gun nor other weapon. He sub
sisted on wild berries. He was in a starved and badly emaci
ated condition when found.
In the winter of 1911-1912 several hundred miners were
situated in the Iditarod diggings. Owing to some unforeseen
circumstance, the fresh meat did not reach the settlement be
fore the freeze-up, which cut them off from the usual source of
supply for the ensuing seven months. There are no moose or
caribou in that section of the country; the ducks and geese had
gone South ; the few bears had " holed up " for the winter.
Ptarmigan and grouse were scarce. The last fresh meat in
the camp was eaten for Thanksgiving dinner.
Did those miners go without meat for Christmas and the
balance of the season of isolation? Not while any of their
number had any power of initiative left. Several of them
walked to a reindeer station on the Kuskokwim River, about
one hundred miles distant, and drove in a herd of animals which
they purchased from one of the missions.
The cost of a meal to a traveller in Alaska is entirely de
pendent on the location. In places to which food is easily
transported, the price is little higher than in Seattle. Meals

348 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
are served at Nome at only a slight advance on the " outside "
prices, but at Iditarod, not more than seven hundred miles
away from the Bering Sea metropolis, the cost of food is
from ioo to 200 per cent, higher. A copy of a paper, pub
lished at Iditarod, October, 191 1, gives the following prices,
which it was expected would prevail during the winter months.
Flour, hundred pounds  $10.00
Rolled oats, hundred pounds  10.00
Potatoes, bushel  8.00
Oranges, dozen  1.25
Corn, best, three cans for  1.00
Apples, dozen  1.00
Prunes, dried, pound  25
Cornmeal, hundred pounds  10.00
Bacon, pound  40
Ham, hundred weight  37-50
Fresh beef, pound  35 to .75
Chicken, pound  75
Eggs, dozen  75
Coffee, pound  62
Milk, can  33
Oats, pound  07
Compared to the charges for the same commodities in the
United States, these prices would rather tend to discourage
complaint about the high cost of living. The reason for the
high tariffs at Iditarod was not because of its isolation but be
cause of a lack of roads, and a consequent heavy cost of
transportation. On Flat Creek, which is only seven miles
distant from the town of Iditarod, the tariff on everything was
increased fifty dollars a ton, which was the cost of freighting
supplies from one point to the other.
The tourist in Alaska, if he is on the regular line of travel,

THE COST OF LIVING IN ALASKA 349
may depend on being asked to pay a slight advance on what
he would be charged for the same accommodations in New
York. If he is off the regular line of travel, the price will
be graded according to the distance and the transportation
facilities. If he is very far off the regular line of travel,
where there are only a few white men, it may happen that his
meals will not cost him anything, for in that case, the chances
are that the men he will meet will be dependent upon the
resources of the country for their subsistence, in which case
their hospitality will be as prodigal as the hospitality of the ter
ritory itself.

CHAPTER XXVIII
DISCOVERY AND EARLY HISTORY
Vitus Bering, Danish navigator credited with being discoverer of
Alaska — Dr. G. W. Stellar, scientist, first brings before public
the vast resources of an empire that is now in the making —
Atrocious depredations of early freebooters, fur-hunters and traders
of the frozen North — Barbaric savagery practised by Russian
pirates.
TO Vitus Bering, a Danish navigator holding a com
mission in the Russian Navy — ¦ according to the best
authorities — belongs the credit for the discovery of
the territory now known as Alaska; but to Dr. G. W. Stellar,
a scientist who accompanied him, belongs the credit for the dis
covery that Alaska possessed latent resources of economic im
portance. In 1728 Bering discovered and named St. Lawrence Island.
On July 18, 1 74 1, in command of another expedition, Bering
sighted Mount St. Elias, and some days later he made a land
ing at Kayak Island, near Controller Bay. Many of the
sailors having contracted scurvy, Dr. Stellar was sent ashore
to search for herbs that could be used medicinally. Bering's
log reported the new land to be arid, sterile, and perpetually
frozen. Two years later, however, when Dr. Stellar's account
of the expedition was published a different picture was drawn.
Stellar told of finding many edible berries and floral specimens,
among the latter being the forget-me-not, which since has been
adopted as the floral emblem of the territory.
The conflicting reports produced a controversy not unlike
the North Pole embroglio of recent times, and, at intermittent
350

DISCOVERY AND EARLY HISTORY 351
periods, that section of Alaska where Bering landed has been
a cause of controversy ever since. The violent storm which
broke loose soon after Bering's landing and caused him to sum
mon Stellar back to the ship before he had completed his ob
servations, was prophetic of many other disturbances that have
pertained to that region in recent years.1
On his second voyage of discovery in 1741 Bering was ac
companied by Chirikoff, who commanded another ship.
Shortly after leaving Oskosh Peninsula the ships became sepa
rated by strong winds and heavy seas, and the two commanders
never met again. Chirikoff sighted the Alaskan Coast on
July 15, 1 74 1, and dispatched a boat and a crew of men to
the shore. They did not return, and the next day he sent
another crew ashore. These men met the fate of those who
had preceded them. Authorities disagree as to the number
of men killed. Some say that all of those who went ashore
were murdered by the natives, while others declare that only
two-thirds of the boat crews were clubbed to death. It is cer
tain, however, that Chirikoff, having no more boats, put to sea
and returned to the Asiatic Coast, sighting many of the Aleu
tian Islands en route.
Bering's journey ended disastrously. Leaving Controller
Bay, he continued westward along the line of the Aleutian
Islands, of which he gained but a superficial knowledge.
Scurvy and other diseases continued to break out among the
1In 191 1 Controller Bay was the basis for a political storm which
prev. iled at Washington over the elimination of certain shore lands
from the Chugack forest reserve. In May of the same year, the
citizens of Cordova dumped a quantity of Canadian coal from the
wharf as a protest against land regulations which compel them
to buy fuel from a foreign country when there was an abundance of
it almost under their feet. This incident, which directed widespread
attention to the most vital need of the time in the territory, has gone
down into contemporary history under the significant name of the
"Cordova Coal Party."

352 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
crew. The commander himself was stricken, and, for several
days, his vessel drifted around the North Pacific, sailing first
one direction and then another without an objective point, and
finally was blown ashore on Bering Island. The commander
and several of his men there died of scurvy, starvation and
exposure and were buried in a trench dug in the frozen earth.
The survivors constructed another craft from the wreckage
of their vessel and the following summer reached Kamchatka,
from which place they reported the disaster to the Empress
Catharine at St. Petersburg. The rude cross on the Island
which marked the grave of Bering and his unfortunate com
panions, was the first emblem of the extension of Russian
sovereignty beyond the western coast of the Pacific Ocean.
While former voyages were not fruitful of results commen
surate with the elaborate preparations made, the explorations
conducted by Bering and Chirikoff were of considerable im
portance from a geographical standpoint. Two points on the
American continent were fixed with a fair degree of accuracy
and the location of some of the Aleutian Islands were estab
lished. The explorations of Alaska were made from three directions
— from the west by the Russians who crossed Siberia and
Bering Sea ; from the east by the English, through the Macken
zie River Valley; and from the south by navigators of various
nationalities exploring the eastern shore of the Pacific. While
the French voyageurs and their successors from Great Britain
were approaching Alaska from the eastward, the Russians had
crossed the Ural Mountains and gained the western coast of
Siberia, where they had established trading relations with the
Eskimos who inhabit that country.
Yermac Timofeief and a band of Cossack adventurers are
said to have been the first to cross the Ural Mountains and
commence the conquest of Siberia. In 1906, a coat of mail,

DISCOVERY AND EARLY HISTORY 353
made of pieces of steel roughly lashed together with rawhide
throngs, and a helmet were found near Anadir Bay, Siberia,
by a party of American miners who had gone into that coun
try under a concession held by the Northeast Siberia Company.
These articles, tpgether with a few old coins, were found buried
beneath several feet of gravel. It is believed they were orig
inally the property of Timofeief or Deshnef, both of whom
entered that country about the year 1648. Deshnef is reported
to have reached the mouth of the Kolyma River, which flows
into the Arctic Ocean north of East Cape. In 1648 Deshnef
sailed through what is now known as Bering Strait.
The progress of the Cossack adventurers up to this time
had been — excepting for the physical condition of the country
itself — comparatively easy. The natives were peaceful and
easily subdued, but south of East Cape the Cossacks met the
warlike Chuckchees who gave them many hard battles.
More than a half century elapsed before these Siberian ex
plorations were extended, when in 171 1, another Cossack,
Popof by name, was sent to East Cape to collect tribute from
the native Chuckchees, who refused to acknowledge the sover
eignty of Russia. Popof's mission was unsuccessful in that
respect, but he returned to St. Petersburg with an account of
the existence of the Diomede Islands, between which now lies
the dividing line of American and Asiatic water, and rumours
of a continent lying to the eastward.
Peter the Great immediately ordered the organisation of an
expedition to investigate and verify Popof's statement and ex
tend their explorations, Vitus Bering, fleet captain in the
Russian Navy, being placed in command. The Emperor of
all the Russians did not live to see his plan executed, but his
wishes were carried out by the Empress Catharine.
On his first journey in July, 1728, Bering sailed from East
Cape through the Strait which bears his name, stood to the

354 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
northeast for a day, and then returned to his point of embark
ation without having sighted the American continent. Al
though Bering believed this short voyage was important, inas
much as it definitely proved the absence of an eastern connection
with Asia with North America, his evidence was so meagre
that other nations refused to accept it, and it was not until
Captain James Cook's voyage, half a century later, that con
vincing proof was obtained.
In 1 73 1 a Cossack named Gwosdef, who had been sent in
command of a small fleet to subdue the Chuckchees, was blown
ashore on the American Continent, near Norton Sound. He
made his way back to Siberia in an open boat.
Bering made a second voyage in 1729 but it proved barren
of results. The interest excited by the discoveries accidentally
made by Gwosdef, confirming the native rumours of the exist
ence of a continent to the eastward, caused the organisation of
the big expedition commanded by Bering and Chirikoff. This
expedition resulted in the definite discovery of the territory
which more than one hundred years later was bought from
Russia by the United States and which since has proved one of
the best real estate bargains in the history of this nation.
Following Bering's discovery a horde of fur hunters and
traders built primitive ships on the east coast of Siberia and, in
these frail vessels, embarked on many hazardous and fool-hardy
enterprises. These roving and marauding freebooters depended
largely for subsistence on such food as could be obtained from
the sea. All of the iron necessary for shipbuilding on Bering
Sea had to be transported across the country from St. Peters
burg, and a craft was devised that could be* constructed without
metal, the planks being sewed together with rawhide thongs.
These vessels — ill-equipped, scantily-provisioned and manned
by crews with little knowledge of seamanship — were intrepidly
sailed into the unknown seas by their commanders and crews,

€:»*?'

J y:

Photo by Callarman.

ELDRED ROCK LIGHT, GASTINEAU CHANNEL

DISCOVERY AND EARLY HISTORY 355
many losing their lives by wreck, starvation and scurvy, and
many meeting deserved death at the hands of the outraged
natives. The risks were great, but, when the expeditions were
successful, so also were the profits.
The first white residents of Alaska were men who had few,
if any, other virtues than physical courage and energy. The
mastery of the Aleutian Islands and portions of the Alaskan
coast is a chapter of ruthless murder and rapine that ever will
remain a blot of shame on Russia's record. The natives were
reduced to a condition of practical slavery, and in many places,
the sands were stained with their innocent blood.
Firearms in the hands of the invaders gave them a tremen
dous advantage over the helpless natives whose weapons of de
fence were bows and arrows and spears tipped with bone.
Some of the forts built by the Russians are still in existence,
one of them being at St. Michael.
The Aleuts, at first friendly to the murderous strangers, soon
ascertained their true character, and, although not so warlike
as other Eskimo tribes of the North nor as prone to defend
themselves as the Haidas and Thlingits of southeastern Alaska
upon whom the Russians later attempted to levy tribute, they
did not give up without resistance. Many times they wrought
a bloody reprisal on their oppressors, but their struggle was
hopeless; and in the half century which followed Bering's dis
covery, ruthless and barbaric savagery was practised by these
Russian pirates to such an extent that it threatened to exter
minate the aboriginal population of the islands and mainland.
The privilege to plunder and murder the natives at will was
not openly sanctioned by the Russian authorities, but that
government was ready enough to exact tribute on the furs and
other valuables taken from the unfortunate natives. An orgy
of murder, torture and outrage followed the visit to these
shores of almost every Russian trader, but the death cry of the

356 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
unfortunate Aleut never reached St. Petersburg. It was
through these murderous gangs of barbaric traders that the
civilised world gained its first definite knowledge of the terri
tory of Alaska. The country was born in travail and suffer
ing, injustice and wrong, and, to a much lesser extent, the same
conditions have existed almost ever since.
The court of St. Petersburg, beyond the exaction of tribute
on furs, paid little heed to its possessions on this continent for
more than half a century after Bering's discovery. During this
period two attempts at official investigation were made, but the
net result of both was practically nil. In 1767 Lieutenant
Synd of the Russian Navy was sent to explore the American
coast, and, though the results of his explorations were meagre
and his statements unreliable, there seems no doubt that he
landed on Seward Peninsula somewhere south of where the
Nome gold fields are now located. About this same period
Captain Krenitzin reached the Alaska Peninsula on a similar
mission. While Bering's explorations had discovered what is destined
to become a new empire, yet for more than a third of a century
later, when English and Spanish navigators were on this coast,
Russia had made no permanent settlement in Alaska. True,
the Romanoffs had developed the lucrative fur trade at the cost
of many thousands of innocent lives, but it had made no at
tempt whatever to exploit many of the resources of the main
continent. The traders first established the location of the
Aleutian Islands and Kodiak; Krenitzin had determined a few
positions in the eastern chain of the islands and along the south
coast of the peninsula. These, together with Bering's discov
ery and the acquisition of a little knowledge of the mainland
lying adjacent to Bering Strait, comprised the sum total of the
Russian official investigation in North America prior to the
advent of men of' other nations.

CHAPTER XXIX
BRITISH AND SPANISH EXPEDITIONS
Spaniards contest with the Romanoffs for conquest of newly discovered
territory — First white settlers to colonise Dutch Harbor and
Unalaska — Fierce warlike people baffle attempts of early set
tlers — Regarded as invaders and unlawful intruders by Rus
sians — Vancouver supplements work of explorers by exhaustive
geographical observations.
ABOUT the time that the Romanoffs were extending
their influence over Alaska from the west, the Span
iards began to approach it from the south. Eager for
the conquest of new lands, Spain, which was then at the
zenith of its fame as a colonist, already had settled in Cali
fornia, and reports of the Russian encroachments in the North
caused, the Viceroy of Mexico to send out several expeditions
to explore Alaska's coast and the adjacent islands, the com
manders being instructed to plant the arms of Spain where
they found the country uninhabited save by the natives. Perez,
a Spanish ensign, discovered Queen Charlotte Islands in 1774,
and the following year Lieutenant Bodega y Quadra reached
Cross Sound.
Immediately following the American Revolutionary War,
Captain James Cook, a famous British navigator commenced
the first systematic survey of Alaska, his departure from Eng
land being almost coincident with the signing of the Declara
tion of Independence at Philadelphia in 1776. After mapping
portions of the continent of South America, Cook spent a win
ter among the Sandwich Islands and then sailed to the north,
making his first discovery of the Alaska coast in 1778 near
357

358 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
Mt. Edgecumbe, which had been sighted by Quadra four years
earlier. Cook sailed thence to the westward making systematic
observations on Prince William Sound and Cook Inlet and
later going to Dutch Harbor and Unalaska, where he was
hospitably received by the band of Russian traders, who were
the first white settlers in this particular region. It is worthy
of note that John Ledyard, an American, who accompanied
Cook, was the first man to interview the Russians.
Entering Bering Sea, Cook continued his surveys northward
through Bristol Bay, Norton Sound, and Bering Strait where
he first encountered the Arctic ice pack. He skirted the ice
floes to the westward until he found a promontory where the
ice was fast to the Siberian mainland, which point he named
Cape North. He then returned to the south along the Si
berian coast, making careful observations on the way. This
famous navigator spent the winter in the Hawaiian Islands,
where, together with a number of his intrepid companions, he
met his death in a fierce battle with the Kanakas. Captain
Clarke then took command of Cook's two vessels, and the fol
lowing year set out to extend his surveys further north; but,
again encountering the Arctic ice pack, was forced to return
without having penetrated much further north than Cook had
gone the previous year.
While Cook had been unsuccessful in discovering the north
east passage to Hudson Bay — which was traversed by Roald
Amundsen from the eastward in 1904-06 — the British naviga
tor, from a scientific viewpoint, had enormously increased the
knowledge gained. Besides definitely establishing the fact
that there was no land connection between Asia and America,
Cook outlined and mapped the large coastal features of Alaska
from latitude 580 north to 70° north, and added considerably
to the world's exact scientific information concerning the con
tour of the coast line- in latitudes to the southward. He also

BRITISH AND SPANISH EXPEDITIONS 359
convinced himself of the futility of British expectations of the
discovery of a navigable sea to the northward of the continent
of America, which the Britishers hoped to find in order to give
themselves a shorter route to India. The expectation of dis
covering this northern waterway was based on Hearne's ex
ploration, in 1 77 1, from Hudson Bay to the mouth of the Cop
per Mine River. This result was not generally acknowledged,
and it remained for one of Cook's officers, Vancouver, to bring
the final proof of the accuracy of Hearne's observations about
fifteen years later.
Cook, besides contributing largely to the knowledge of the
geography of the Alaskan coast, was responsible for the inaugu
ration of a new era in the explorations of the seaboard of that
country. Vague and haphazard reports of previous explorers
were replaced by concise charts and accurate observations, many
of which stood the test of more detailed investigation. His
work was continued after his death by several officers who ac
companied him on the first fateful expedition and who were
trained in his methods.
Though some of the Russian traders had reached Kodiak as
early as 1762, it was not until after Cook's voyage that, find
ing sea otters were becoming scarce in the seas adjacent to the
Aleutian Islands and the trade less profitable, they began to
seek new hunting grounds to the northeast.
In 1 781 a company of Eastern Siberian merchants was
formed to exploit the American fur trade, the leader of this
organisation being Gregor Ivanovich Shelikof, who, with Ivan
Golikof, was the first to use the commercial methods so popular
to-day, these two holding a majority of the stock. An ex
pedition was sent out in 1783 under Shelikof 's command and
founded a colony at Three Saint's Bay, on the southerly end of
Kodiak Island. This was the first settlement within the limits
of Alaska, and was the pioneer of the Russian occupation. It

360 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
was maintained for three-quarters of a century, until the terri
tory was transferred to the United States. Many of the relics
of Russian occupancy of Kodiak Island are still visible, amongst
them being a warehouse with a stone foundation, which is said
by old settlers to have been constructed by the enslaved natives
and Russian prisoners.
At the time the first Russian Colony was founded, several
trading vessels, commanded by Potan Zaikof, invaded Prince
William Sound. The same barbarous savagery which had
been so successful in subduing and pillaging the Aleuts was
instituted, but Zaikof and his followers found to their cost
that they were dealing with a fierce, warlike people, and, after
many dramatic and sanguinary incidents had been enacted, the
expedition ended disastrously.
Nagaief, a member of the party, discovered the Copper River
and ascended it as far as the Miles and Childs Glaciers, be
tween which ice masses the stream is now spanned by a bridge
constructed by the Copper River and Northwestern Railroad.
In the meantime the published account of Cook's voyage
brought the territory into international controversy. His
records being regarded as absolutely authentic, they aroused
cupidity in the breasts of nations who realised that the rich
fur trade of the North American continent rapidly was passing
into a Russian monopoly. The English traders were the first
to inaugurate an action which, in modern idiom would be
known as "Busting the fur trust." James Hanna, in 1785,
explored the west coast of Vancouver Island in British Colum
bia and made several voyages to the coast of Alaska. Similar
expeditions were made by the English and American trading
ships and crafts of other nationalities, their logs and chart
tracts adding to the general knowledge of the northwest coast.
The new invaders were regarded as unlawful intruders by the
Russians and many petitions protesting against foreign ships

BRITISH AND SPANISH EXPEDITIONS 361
engaging in this trade were sent to St. Petersburg, but without
the desired result. While the traders of various nationalities
were struggling for supremacy in the north, their home govern
ments were not unmindful of the importance of Alaska from
a commercial and strategic viewpoint. The British, Spanish
and French governments manifested a more or less laudable
desire to wrest some of this rich territory from the hands of
the Russians, much the same as these and other nations quite
recently have been demonstrating an inclination to portion out
among themselves certain sections of China and of the conti
nent of Africa. The English claims were based on the dis
coveries made by Cook and by those of his officers who suc
ceeded him; the French suggested that the coast of Alaska was
a part of the territory of Canada; the Spanish declared the
country should be theirs, because it was a northern extension
of their California coast line, and they also claimed title to
Alaska by right of the discoveries made by Quadra.
Spain strengthened her claims by adding to Quadra's dis
covery an expedition led by Arteaga, with Quadra second in
command, which sailed from Mexico in 1779 and surveyed
Port Bucarreli, on the west side of Prince of Wales Island.
Later Arteaga entered Prince William Sound and, acting on
instructions, took possession of what he believed was a newly
discovered land. Neither he nor any of his lieutenants were
aware of the fact that Cook had gone through the same cere
mony, in the name of the British government, a year previous
and on almost precisely the same spot. Arteaga and Quadra
made a cursory exploration to the southwest as far as the south
ern end of the Kenai Peninsula, and then returned to Mexico.
The French, up to this time, had done nothing that entitled
that country to lay claim to the territory; and to gain a more
or less valid advantage, La Perouse, after whom one of Alaska's
great glaciers is named, was dispatched to the north in 1785.

362 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
A year later he landed at Lituya Bay and took formal posses
sion. Ignoring his instructions to survey the Aleutian Islands,
he then sailed southward without again landing on the
Alaskan Coast.
Apparently satisfied that the work done by Arteaga had es
tablished a right of sovereignty, the Spaniards took no further
action for several years. The story of Cook's voyages and re
ports of numerous trading vessels that visited the coast, how
ever, again aroused Spanish action. In 1788 two vessels, com
manded by Estevan Martinez and Gonzales Haro, were sent
to gather further information. While Martinez explored
Prince William Sound, Haro- visited the Russian settlement on
Kodiak Island and obtained full knowledge of the Russian oc
cupation. Delarof, who was then directing the Russian coloni
sation, while politely and cordially welcoming the visiting Span
iard, was very careful to fully impress upon his guest the vast
extent and importance of the Russian settlements, of which, at
that time, there were only six. Sailing to Unalaska, the
Spaniards went through the absurd performance of taking pos
session, in the name of His Most Catholic Majesty, of Unimak
Island which had contained a Russian colony and had been under
Muscovite influence for upwards of a quarter of a century.
They then returned to Mexico.
Martinez's report made it plain to the Viceroy of Mexico
that Spanish claims to the territory, to be effective, must be
enforced by more decisive action. Both vessels were, therefore,
again dispatched to take possession of Nootka Sound, on the
west coast of Vancouver Island, which had been discovered by
Cook and later used as a rendezvous by English, American and
Portuguese traders. The American ships were unmolested by
the Spaniards, but vessels flying the English colours were
warned off. This arbitrary action by Martinez brought forth
an immediate protest by the British government and commis-

Photo by Thwaites.

CATTLE RANGING ON KADIAK ISLAND

BRITISH AND SPANISH EXPEDITIONS 363
sioners representing both countries were appointed to adjudicate
the rights of each. The commissioners held their meeting at
Nootka, and, like many other peace conferences, the affair led
to a disagreement and broke up in a row. The Spaniards,
however, subsequently receded from their position and with
drew their forces, leaving the region in possession of the natives
and traders.
Malaspina, an Italian navigator, was the next explorer to
make futile claim to the territory on behalf of Spain. In 1791
he sailed north in command of two Spanish corvettes under in
structions to make scientific observations and to encircle the
globe through the northwest passage, rumours of which again
were being circulated. He sighted land at Mt. Edgecumbe
and, following the coast to the northwest entered Yakutat Bay,
then known as Port Mulgrave, having been named after one
of the officers who sailed with Cook. En route this expedition
named the great Malaspina Glacier. Notwithstanding that
Portlock and Dixon had surveyed and published a chart at
Yakutat Bay some years before and that the Russians for many
years had used it as a trading point, Malaspina went through
the foolish ceremony of taking possession of this " newly discov
ered land." He visited Prince William and Cross Sounds and
then sailed again to the South, apparently making no effort
whatever to reach Bering Sea or to enter the Arctic Ocean,
and forgetting all about his instructions to circumnavigate the
continent. George Vancouver, one of Cook's midshipmen, who was the
British representative in the Nootka dispute with the Spaniards
received orders in 1793 to survey the coast between the thirty-
fifth and sixtieth parallel of latitude, a task which he faithfully
executed in that and the following year. In command of two
vessels, he accurately mapped thousands of miles of the coast
line of Southeastern Alaska, supplemented the work of previous

364 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
explorers westward as far as Cook Inlet, and gave to the world
a tremendous amount of knowledge relative to the coast-line
of Oregon and Washington. His work stamps him as one of
the most accurate and trustworthy explorers that history has
ever known. Not an indentation of the mainland, and scarcely
a break in the shore-line of the numerous islands escaped his
observation. Even in this present day of steam propelled ves
sels and with accurate charts and maps to mark the course, it
is no light task to thread the intricate waterways of the Alexan
der archipelago. That Vancouver could do so much work and
make such extended and accurate surveys in the short time that
he was occupied on the task would be regarded even in this day
of modern nautical equipment, as little short of marvellous.
Vancouver was a great navigator and a worthy successor of the
famous Cook under whom he studied navigation and geodesy.
When his report and maps were completed the coast-line of
the mainland of Alaska, from Dixon entrance as far north as
Cape Belcher, had been charted with a great degree of ac
curacy. While the Russians and Spaniards were squabbling between
themselves and at the same time, attempting to dispossess all
other nations of commercial and territorial rights in the coastal
zone of Alaska, an aggressive rival, the British, was steadily
encroaching upon this region from the east. French voyageurs,
in batteaus, by dog-team and other methods of transportation,
following the route of the Great Lakes, had crossed half of the
American continent long before the Russians had knowledge
of the Aleutian Islands, and, about the time Bering landed Dr.
Stellar at Controller Bay, Verandrye had reached the foot-
, hills of the Rocky Mountains near the headwaters of the Mis
souri River. Ten years later another pioneer trader established
a post at the present sight of Calgary, Alberta, at the very base
of the dividing range and less than five hundred miles from

BRITISH AND SPANISH EXPEDITIONS 365
Pacific waters. This post, like many others occupied by
French pioneers, was abandoned when Canada passed under the
domination of the English.
The English fur trade gradually was expanded to regions
into which the French voyageurs had broken the trail, but the
Rocky Mountain barrier, for a long time, marked its western
limit. Alexander Mackenzie was the first to cross the summit
and to introduce a new factor into the development of Alaska.
Mackenzie, a member of the Northwest Fur Company, a
sturdy rival of the Hudson Bay Fur Company, by dog team
and flat-bottomed scow ascended the rapid and sinuous Peace
River from Lake Athabasca, then traversed the headwaters of
the Fraser, and after crossing the coast range, reached Pacific
waters in the vicinity of Queen Charlotte Sound. This jour
ney, the first made across the continent north of Mexico, was
accomplished in 1793, at the same time that Admiral Van
couver was making his memorable survey of the coast-line.
It was the first step in the fierce rivalry which was destined to
spring up between the two great competitors in the fur trade —
the Russian-American and Hudson Bay Companies. Trading
posts were later established on the Mackenzie River and, ac
cording to the traditions of the natives, the journey from these
posts to Quebec and return occupied a period of seven years and
was accomplished only with great difficulty and much hardship
and privation.
Although Russia's previous official explorations had been dis
tinguished rather for their failures than for what they accom
plished, the authorities at St. Petersburg in 1785 determined
to make one more effort. This expedition was placed under
the command of Joseph Billings who, in the light of his ac
complishments, seems to have been chosen more because he
had been attached to one of Cook's ships, than because of any
particular merit or experience of his own. Billings sailed from

366 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
Kamchatka in 1789, passed through Bering Strait, penetrated
the Arctic Ocean to about latitude 69° and then returned to
his starting point. In 1790 he made a second start, and the
two vessels of the expedition after stopping at Unalaska and
Kodiak — both of which places already were occupied by Russia
— reached Prince Wijliam Sound. Then he returned again
to the point of debarkation. In the following year he made a
third start, once more reaching Unalaska, whence he sailed
northward touching at Pribilof Islands, Seward Peninsula, and
St. Lawrence Island all of which places had been visited by
other navigators. Billings himself subsequently landed on the
Chuckchee Peninsula, Siberia, whence he made a hazardous,
and apparently fruitless journey into the interior. His two
vessels wintered at Unalaska Island and returned home the
following spring. This expedition, which cost seven years of
time and many thousand of roubles, accomplished nothing ex
cept to gain some information as to the manner in which the
natives had been abused, and, in some cases wantonly slaugh
tered by the savage and ferocious Russian traders. The report,
however, was not productive of any amelioration of the con
ditions of the oppressed people.

CHAPTER XXX
OCCUPATION BY THE RUSSIANS
Growth of Russian fur trade — St. Petersburg takes cognisance of
disorders and outrages committed between rival companies —
Warlike Thlingits refuse to submit to Russian occupation —
Romance combined with history, how a beautiful princess held
subjects in spell — Her untimely end — How Rezanof wooed, won
and lost the Governor's daughter.
IMPORTANT changes in the Russian fur trade took
place in the last two decades of the eighteenth century.
The Shelikof Company, after its settlement at Kodiak in
1783, gradually extended its trading occupations to the main
land and neighbouring islands. By imperial ukase this com
pany, in 1788, was given exclusive control of the regions ac
tually occupied by its agents, and in 1792 another important
step was taken when Alexander Andrevich Baranof was ap
pointed chief director of the company's American interest.
Baranof held this post for twenty-five years, during which time
he demonstrated himself to be a far-sighted, energetic man, but,
of course, unscrupulous and arrogant to the last degree. Stormy
scenes greeted his inauguration in office and they were a fitting
introduction of the events to follow.
Rival traders had established themselves at Cook Inlet, where
for many years they quarrelled and fought among themselves,
but finally united in opposition to the common enemy, the
Shelikof Company. Baranof — after the manner of some
American people of the present day — assumed an authority
which he did not legally possess, and arrested and imprisoned
the ring-leaders of the opposing forces, thus restoring some
367

368 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
measure of peace. That Baranof's life was often threatened
and that he took no unnecessary chances of losing it was evi
denced in the fact that a coat of chain mail, which he wore
constantly, was found in his castle at Sitka.
The " iron governor " sent an engineer named Semoyloff to
make an investigation of the Copper River Valley. Together
with his companions, Semoyloff ascended the stream as far as
the Miles and Childs Glaciers. Here the party was set upon
by Indians and ruthlessly murdered. The chief of the tribe
took Semoyloff's note books and effects back to the mouth of
the river and delivered them to some of the explorer's com
panions, who had been left in charge of a supply station that
had been there established. The chief informed these men
that he had not wantonly murdered Semoyloff and his party,
but had simply executed them in retaliation for outrages com
mitted by other Russians. This incident appeared to be an
unpleasant memory with Baranof, and it is said of him that
he never relaxed his discipline of the natives or his watchfulness
for his own safety.
While Baranof was energetically looking after the interests
of his company in other directions and vigorously pushing the
fur trade, a shipyard was established on Prince William Sound
and attempts were made at agriculture and stock raising at
Kodiak and Yakutat Bay. Prospectors, who, in 1900, were
sinking a shaft on Prince William Sound encountered a stratum
of wooden chips nearly three feet thick and thought at first they
had discovered a new geological marvel. Although they could
find no traces of its former existence above the surface of the
ground, they later learned that their shaft was located on the
site of the abandoned shipyard. The first Greek Catholic mis
sionaries arrived from Siberia in 1794 and the same year the
first convicts were transported from Russia and settled at
Yakutat Bay. Few traces of Russian occupation at this point

OCCUPATION BY THE RUSSIANS 369
can now be found, the site of the old settlement being occupied
by a salmon cannery. At Kodiak, however, many of the build
ings erected by Russian convicts and enslaved natives are still
in existence. It is worth noting, too, that a large percentage
of the natives who now live at these places bear strong traces
of partial Russian ancestry, many of them being almost as fair
complexioned as Anglo-Saxons.
/ At the close of the eighteenth century the court at St. Peters-"
burg began to take cognisance of the disorders and outrages
committed by the irresponsible fur traders and the authorities
became weary of the quarrels between the rival companies.
They were also desirous of maintaining Russian prestige in
America by responsible representation, and it was the action
then taken that later enabled Russia to sell the territory to
the United States without a dispute involving the claims of
other countries.
The Shelikof Company which had strong financial backing
in Europe was given a new charter under the name of the
Russian-American Company. The imperial proclamation
which established this company, dated 1799, granted this cor
poration exclusive privileges of trade and occupation of North
ern America north of latitude 55 °, and including the Aleutian
Islands. By two extensions of time the grant was continued
sixty years. From this time until the transfer of the territory
to the United States, the history of the company is the history
of Alaska. The region now being definitely in the hands of
the Russians and the limits of the possessions of both countries
being determined by treaty with England in 1825, other nations
decided there was no chance to participate in the "melon-
slicing " and discontinued their explorations^While the Rus
sian-American Company was too deeply engrossed in making
profits from the resources of its grant and the furs brought in
by the natives to attempt explorations or surveys, its trading

370 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
agents greatly enlarged their field of operations and gained some
knowledge of new areas. Trading posts were located at vari
ous places in Southeastern Alaska, and, in 1 799, Fort Archangel
Gabriel was built on the shores of Sitka Bay.
Contrary to Russian expectation, the warlike Thlingits of
this region did not submit to Russian transgression as did the
Aleuts and, during the entire Russian occupation, they proved
themselves aggressive and formidable enemies, many times
shooting down the Russian agents from ambush in reprisal for
the murders of their people.
The Thlingit law is based on the Mosaic doctrine — " An
eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth." In 1802 they attacked
and destroyed Fort Archangel Gabriel and practically wiped
out all of the Russian settlers. A few survivors were saved
only by the timely arrival of an English vessel. Two years
later Baranof attacked the Thlingits with forces brought from
Kodiak and drove the natives out of their stronghold at Sitka,
of which he took possession. About a year later he moved the
capital of the colony from Kodiak to this post, which he named
New Archangel. Here he established himself as governor of
the entire territory and built a castle in which to live. It was
here some few years later that a Princess is supposed to have re-
enacted the story of Romeo and Juliet by killing herself in a
moment of grief over the death of her lover.
The truth about the fate of this beautiful Princess is buried
in conflicting traditions, but it is the general consensus of these
legends that for many years she haunted the northwest chamber
of the castle, in which apartment she either was murdered or
committed self-destruction. Twice a year the swish of her
ghostly wedding gown is supposed to have chilled the listeners'
blood, as she unceasingly walked through the rooms, wringing
her jewelled hands. At Easter time she wandered with sor
rowful and lachrymose mien about the old building, bemoan-

OCCUPATION BY THE RUSSIANS 371
ing the fate of her dead lover and leaving a perfume of wild
briar roses as she passed. By tradition, this lady, who was a
daughter of one of the old governors, was forced to marry
against her will, and she disappeared from the wedding festiv
ities and voluntarily took poison.
Another story is to the effect that Governor Baranof sent
her lover away on a mission to Siberia and told the Princess
that he had been killed at sea. The room in which she is sup
posed to have met her death, is the one that was occupied by
Secretary Seward during his visit to AlasTca, and it also was
used as a guest chamber by Lady Franklin, who journeyed
north in the hope of finding some trace of the brave husband
who sacrificed his life and that of his intrepid companions in
a fruitless effort to find the Northwest passage.
Baranof, holding absolute power of life or death and being
the sole arbiter of right and wrong, ruled the colony with an
iron hand. He used the knout frequently and was not slow to
resort to the gallows or to stand his victims against a wall as
targets for Russian sharpshooters. In this manner he kept the
turbulent Indians, Siberian renegades, and unruly traders in
a state of obedience and subserviency. He died at sea on his
return to St. Petersburg, and tradition says that he was
poisoned. The descendants of the Thlingits and of the Rus
sian slaves prefer to believe that his death was accompanied by
the most excruciating agony.
Captain Haguemeister succeeded Baranof as governor, and
after him came a long line of Russian nobles. About this period
Baron Rezanof, a chamberlain at the Russian court, appeared
at Sitka. His mission was to investigate the affairs of the Rus
sian-American Company, to study the country's resources with
a view to extensive colonisation, and to establish trade relations
with Japan, which is only a few hundred miles distant from
the eastern end of the Aleutian Archipelago, Rezanof was the

372 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
first man to foresee the tremendous latent resources of the terri
tory. Contrary to the plan followed by Baranof — who ad
ministered to a Russian settler a severe flogging with a knout
because he had brought to headquarters a piece of gold-bearing
quartz — Rezanof sent engineers into the field to search for
the mythical Island of Gold, which tradition said existed some
where in the Northern Pacific Ocean. This Monte Christo
of the Pacific, believed in by the natives, may have been Tread
well Island, which since then has produced nearly seven
times as much gold as the United States paid for the whole
territory. Rezanof's dream of establishing relations with the Japanese
was thwarted when the residents of Nippon not only refiised
to enter into negotiations with him, but treated him with great
discourtesy. In retaliation, he planned to lead an expedition
to Japan, capture and enslave a number of Japanese, and use
them as colonists of the territory. With this end in view he
built a large barracks on Japonski Island, in Sitka Harbor,
but he died before he found a means of executing his plan.
Finding that Sitka was short of agricultural products and
with a view to extending Russian domination down the Pacific
coast as far as Mexico, Rezanof made a journey to Yerba
Buena, now known as Sari Francisco, ostensibly to get such
food stuffs as would relieve the residents of the Russian colony
of the scurvy, a disease from which many of them were suffer
ing. He had established a ship-building yard at New Archan
gel and a factory in which the bronze bells used at the missions
in California and Mexico, were manufactured.
With a ship-load of bells and some furs, the Prince sailed to
Yerba Buena where he expected to exchange his goods for food
stuffs. It was on this southward journey that he conceived the
idea of driving the Spanish settlers and British traders from the
Pacific. On arrival at Yerba Buena, however, he discovered

OCCUPATION BY THE RUSSIANS 373
that the viceroyal government of Mexico had issued an embargo
against trade with their Russian neighbours, and the governor
of the colony refused to allow him to make a shipment.
Rezanof spent several months in the Spanish town that is now
known as San Francisco and, during this time, his bright mind
and courtly manners won not only the confidence of the governor,
but also the heart of his daughter, Dona Concepcione. The
story of their unrequited love was later woven into a lyrical
romance by Bret Harte. At a time when the governor did
not happen to be looking, Rezanof loaded his ship with cereals
and other foods, and sailed to the north never to return.
For the purpose of inducing the Russian court to carry out
his dream of Russian domination of the Pacific, he left Sitka
for St. Petersburg via Siberia; and, when crossing a frozen
stream in the Chuckchee country, his horse broke through the
ice. Although Rezanof escaped drowning, he was so severely
chilled that he contracted pneumonia and died a few days later.
Under Baranof 's regime the activities of the .Russians during
the early part of the nineteenth century were mainly confined to
commercial projects, although several minor explorations were
undertaken by naval officers who were in the employ of the
company. Khwostof and Davidof investigated the Aleutian
Islands in 1802; Bassanof inspected the Copper River; surveys
were made of the Alexander Archipelago and in the vicinity
of Kodiak by Captains Krusenstern and Lisiansky in 1804-05.
Captain Golovnin, for whom Golovnin Bay was named, was
sent out by the Russian government in 1810, and a second time
in 1818 to investigate the company.1 Golovnin was sent from
1This practice of investigation which has become intensely popular
in the United States during the past few years has been carried
on in Alaska almost ever since the territory was ceded to the United
States. It is an unusual day in the North when one does not meet
a special agent of one of the various departments of government, who
is engaged in " making an investigation.'* There are those in Alaska

374 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
St. Petersburg to investigate the affairs of the Russian- Ameri
can Company and the status of the natives. He made some
contribution to geographic knowledge but only incidentally.
His principal mission, it is conceded by historians, was to ascer
tain whether the Russian-American Company was dealing
fairly with the Russian government in the matter of tribute,
there having arisen a suspicion at St. Petersburg to the general
effect that the officers of the company had been engaging in the
practice popularly known in Alaska in this age as " knocking
down." Otto von Kotzebue, commander of the Rurik, made the most
important exploring voyage of this period. Like many of his
predecessors, he was instructed to find a northeast passage
around the continent of America connecting the Atlantic and
Pacific Oceans. Kotzebue sailed from Kronstadt in 1815 and
reaching Kamchatka the following year, sailed for Bering
Strait. Coasting along the north side of the Seward Penin
sula, he entered and surveyed the great sound which bears his
name. On his return passage he visited Unalaska and after
wintering in the Hawaiian Islands, returned to the north,
but did not extend his explorations.
That this sound was visited by some other Russian explorer
a few years later and of which there is no record, is evidenced
in the fact that a large post, used as a monument, upon which
was carved in Russian the date, May, 1826, and which had
the Russian letter " K " at the head of it, was found by the
writer in 1909 on an island opposite where the city of Keewalik
now stands. Together with the monuments placed there by
Captain F. W. Beechy, of H. M. S. Blossom, and the monu-
who say that this practice is a survival, under United States rule,
of the practice of government by espionage which was inaugurated
in Alaska by Russia and which still is continued in other Russian
possessions.

GOVERNMENT SCHOOL AND CHILDREN AT KADIAK, WHERE MANUAL TRAINING IS TAUGHT.
MOST OF THE PUPILS BEAR TRACES OF RUSSIAN ANCESTRY

OCCUPATION BY THE RUSSIANS 375
ments of Captain Thomas E. L. Moore, Commander of
H. M. S. Plover; and of Captain Henry Kellett, commander
of H. M. S. Herald in 1849, this crude record of Russia's
unknown explorer was removed to Seattle and became the
property of the University of Washington. Whalers report
that a monument left by a member of the Franklin expedition
at a point three hundred miles east of Point Barrow was
burned by the natives for firewood about the year 1906.
Although Baranof paid little attention to adding to the
scientific or geographical knowledge of Alaska, a change was
wrought when the directorship of the Russian-American Col
ony was transferred to naval officers some of whom were men
of scientific attainments. Besides adding to the geographical
knowledge of the country, systematic meteorologic records were
kept at Sitka for many years and a magnetic station was main
tained. Baron F. P. von Wrangell, for whom Fort Wrangell
in Southeastern Alaska was named, coming into the governor
ship of Alaska fresh from Arctic explorations, carried on the
most important explorations of the company. Captain Mi
chael T. Tebenkof, who succeeded Wrangell also was an
explorer, and his atlas of the Northwestern coast of America
comprising a summary of all previous investigations, is the
most important contribution to the geography of Alaska that
was made during the entire Russian occupation. In 1826 a
big expedition, inaugurated by the company and directed by
Kramchemko, Etolin, and Vasilief, spent two years examining
the shore-line of Bristol Bay and Norton Sound.
While there is no record of this expedition reaching Kotze
bue Sound, it is thought that the Russian monument found
there and bearing the date 1826 and the letter " K," might
have been placed there by a boat or hunting party that Kram
chemko sent out. It would have been possible for this boat
expedition to have reached Kotzebue Sound, either by ascend-

376 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
ing Fish River to its head from Norton Bay, and crossing the
divide to the headwaters of the Keewalik, and travelling down
that stream to its confluence with the sea, or the trip might
have been accomplished by taking a sail-boat through Bering
Straits. It is more than likely however that, if the parties
who left the monument were members of the Kramchemko
expedition they made the journey from Norton Sound over the
ice by dog team, as the streams usually are frozen .over until
about the middle of May and the ice frequently does not leave
Bering Sea until about that date.
Captain Lutke, acting on behalf of St. Petersburg authori
ties, visited Unalaska and the Pribilof Islands in 1827 and sur
veyed the northern coast of the Alaskan Peninsula. Vasilief
mapped the southern coast of the peninsula a few years later.
Minor expeditions were made under the direction of the com
pany from 1818 to 1832 during which period Bristol Bay and
the Kuskokwim regions were visited by Korsakof, Vasilief and
Kolmakof. Malakof explored the Susitna — since proved to
be one of the richest agricultural and mineral valleys in the
north — in 1834. The most important of these expeditions
was one directed by a half-caste named Andrei Glasunof who
crossed from the Russian post at St. Michael to the Yukon
and thence to the Kuskokwim. This journey, taken together
with Malakof's trip up the Yukon River as far as Nulato,
opened the way for the interior fur trade which later proved so
profitable to the company and correspondingly disastrous to the
natives. Lieutenant Zagoskin, of the Imperial navy, commanded the
most fruitful inland expedition conducted by the Russians.
Zagoskin, in 1842-43 ascended the Yukon as far as the mouth
of the Tanana and explored the lower stretches of the Koyukuk,
also doing considerable work on the Innoko River and crossing
a divide to the waters of the Kuskokwim,

OCCUPATION BY THE RUSSIANS 377
All of these streams since have become potential factors in
the gold supply of the United States. Zagoskin established
a post at Nulato and, as far as his time and means would per
mit, made track surveys and astronomic determinations of
position. He also gathered considerable data on the native
population and the resources of the region traversed. Al
though he must have traversed Gaines Creek, a gold producer
in the Innoko district, and have passed within a few miles of
the now-celebrated Iditarod diggings, he made no mention of
the mineral possibilities of this region. But in view of the
fact that many hundreds of white American prospectors and
explorers traversed this region within the past twenty or thirty
years and did not discover gold until 1906, it is not strange that
Zagoskin overlooked these latent resources.
In the light of subsequent developments, with river vessels
running many hundreds of miles above the Tanana River, it is
of interest to note that Zagoskin stated that the Yukon, or
Kwikpak, as he called it, was not navigable above its confluence
with the Tanana. From the mouth of the Tanana to the
headwaters of Pelly River, the principal tributary to the upper
waters of the Yukon, is a distance of approximately three thou
sand miles; and it is about two thousand miles from the mouth
of the Tanana to Lake Bennet which forms the headwaters
of the Lewis River, another important tributary to the North
ern Father of Waters, which the natives, being provincial, say,
" comes down from the mountains of mystery and vanishes in
the valley of nowhere."

CHAPTER XXXI
ENGLISH EXPLORERS IN ARCTIC
British navigators again attempt to discover Northwest passage —
Mouth of Mackenzie River discovered by Hudson Bay Company's
trader — Various Franklin Relief Expeditions map such territory
north of Bering Strait — Western Union Telegraph Expedition
spends $3,000,000 in Construction, but line proves useless.
ACTIVITY in Arctic exploration, in the meantime,
had been actively conducted by English navigators,
who still sought to find a channel through the North
west passage, but which remained to be discovered by Roald
Amundsun, the explorer who later planted the Norwegian flag
at the South Pole. Alexander Mackenzie, in 1789, had
floated down the river which bears his name from Great Slave
Lake to the Arctic Ocean. In 1826 Sir John Franklin had
travelled westward along the Arctic Coast of Alaska from the
mouth of the Mackenzie River to Return Reef; Captain
F. W.. Beechyx who had been instructed to co-operate with
Franklin, carefully charted the southern coast of Seward Pen
insula to Cape Prince of Wales and did much surveying in
Kotzebue Sound. He carried his work northward until
blocked by the ice. Cape Blossom, at which point a Quaker
Mission is now located, was named after Beechy's ship.
Beechy's mate, Elson, commanding a boat expedition, jour
neyed to Point Barrow which, it was hoped, Franklin would
have reached from the east. Franklin's men were blocked by
the ice one hundred miles to the eastward of Point Barrow, and
this part of the coast-line remained a hiatus in the charts for
several years. 378

ENGLISH EXPLORERS IN ARCTIC 379
Representing the Hudson Bay Company, Peter Warren
Dease and Thomas Simpson travelled down the Mackenzie
and followed the coast westward but they also encountered im
penetrable ice. Simpson, however, continued on foot and in
native boats, reaching Point Barrow August 4, 1837, and thus
completing the exploration of the entire coast-line of Alaska,
which Bering had begun nearly one hundred years pre
viously. The series of Franklin Relief expeditions, sent out by the
British government between 1848 and 1853, gave another im
petus to northern investigation. Although the principal pur
pose of these expeditions was to find and succour the courageous
Franklin, the commanders incidentally added much to the
world's knowledge of the territory. The hope of finding a
Northwest Passage still " sprang eternal " in. the hearts of the
British, and in 1849 Captain E. L. Moore, in the ship Plover;
and Captain Henry Kellett, commanding the ship Herald and
the yacht Nancy Dawson, anchored in Kotzebue Sound where
they spent the winter. Lieutenant Pullen, commanding a boat
expedition was sent northward. He traversed the coast-line
to Point Barrow, proceeded eastward to the mouth of the
Mackenzie River, and ascended that stream to a point where
a Hudson Bay post had been established.
Other parties commanded by Moore and Kellett explored
the Buckland River and other waterways, while Lieutenant
Bedford Pirn crossed the eastern end of Seward Peninsula and
reached the Russian post at St. Michael. Dr. Simpson, sur
geon of the expedition, explored the Selawik and Kobuk
Rivers. Jade axes and other implements, which he found in
the hands of the natives, led to the discovery, a few years ago,
of the source of this mineral in Jade Mountain, two hundred
and fifty miles from Cape Blossom. The Plover spent the
two following winters at Point Barrow, where her commander

38o ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
gained much knowledge of the geography and natural history
of the country.
General Robert S. McClure, in 1850, sailed eastward past
Herschell Island and the mouth of the Mackenzie River until
his progress was stopped by the ice near Banks Land. His
crew, however, continued the journey on foot and were the
first white men to travel from Pacific to Atlantic waters over
the shore-line of the Arctic Ocean. Much of the latter part
of the journey was covered by dog teams across the solid ice
which lay on the Arctic Ocean. Captain Richard Collinson,
in the British ship Enterprise, passed Point Barrow the fol
lowing year, and subsequently wintered at Walker Bay, on
the north coast of Alaska. Commander Trollope spent the
winter of 1843 on the south side of Seward Peninsula, and
during that season some of his crew crossed to Kotzebue Sound.
The surveys of these British explorers were all modelled after
the careful and efficient methods adopted by Captain Cook,
and many of their charts are still in use. The accounts of
these voyages, taken together with the history of the Franklin
expeditions, up until twelve or fifteen years ago, contained
practically all of the accurate knowledge that had been ob
tained of that section of Alaska which lies within the Arctic
Circle. Lieut. J. J. Bernard, of H. M. S. Enterprise, made a most
unfortunate expedition into Alaska in 1851. He was dis
patched to search for the members of the Sir John Franklin
'expedition, some of whom, it was thought, were still living..
Bernard landed at St. Michael, and ascended the Yukon River
Nulatto, where, together with a number of his companions,
he was murdered by Koyukuk Indians.
The American whaler Superior, Captain Roys, was the first
commercial vessel to pass through Bering Strait into the Arctic
Ocean. The trip resulted favourably, a large amount of

Photo by Callarman.

A TRIP OVER THE WHITE PASS RAILROAD IS ONE TO BE REMEM
BERED. THE AUSTERE MOUNTAINS ABOVE, THE FLOWER-
BESTREWN VALLEY BELOW, AND THE SPIDERY-LEGGED
BRIDGES MAKE THE JOURNEY A CAPTIVATING ONE.

ENGLISH EXPLORERS IN ARCTIC 381
whalebone and oil being obtained and Roys' example was fol
lowed by many others during the succeeding years. The whal
ing industry on the Arctic coast of Alaska continued to be a
most important and profitable one until the close of the Civil
War, at which time it received a severe set-back from the
commander of the Confederate privateer Shenandoah, who way
laid the whalers as they came out of the Arctic Ocean, and
destroyed and captured many of their vessels. Many whaling
stations have since been established in Alaska, where the am
phibious mammals are hunted by the natives during the spring
and summer seasons, and their bone and other products stored
in the warehouses awaiting the arrival of trading vessels from
the South.
While much has been said and written of the hardships and
vicissitudes experienced by explorers, who in recent years have
searched for the North Pole, little has been heard of the pri
vations endured by the crews of the whaling fleets of Alaska,
who sometimes spent three successive years in the Land of
Night for the few dollars that are paid them on their return
to San Francisco — if it so happens that their ship has been
fortunate in capturing a number of whales.
During the period of Russian occupation of Alaska the only
other important contribution to the knowledge of the territory
was made by Lieutenant William Gibson, U. S. N., who, in
the schooner Fenimore Cooper, made surveys along the
Aleutian Islands in 1855. Gibson commanded the Rodgers
United States Northern Pacific Exploring Expedition and
some of the vessels of this fleet reached the Arctic Ocean.
The English fur trade did not establish itself near the east
ern boundary of Alaska until many years after Mackenzie-
made his notable journey to the Pacific. The Hudson Bay
Company, backed by tremendous capital and manned by rugged
Scotch pioneers, pushed its outposts to the westward, but it

382 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
did not reach the Pacific watershed until about the middle of
the nineteenth century. Campbell established a post on the
headwaters of the Pelly in 1840 and built Fort Selkirk at
the confluence of the Pelly and Lewis Rivers eight years later.
Fort Yukon was established at the mouth of the Porcupine
River in 1847.
A few years previous to this several posts had been estab
lished on the headwaters of the Mackenzie and Liard Rivers,
in British Columbia, notably at Fort Liard and Fort Francis.
The traders at the latter post were murdered by Chilkat In
dians who crossed the divide from where Skagway now stands
to wage a war on the Francis River tribes. This post was
never rebuilt, it being an inflexible rule of the company never
to reconstruct an establishment that is destroyed by the na
tives. The English traders on the Yukon, watershed learned from
the natives that the Russians were in possession of the lower
end of this stream, and, about 1850, some of them made a
trip to the mouth of the Tanana, which was the uppermost
point reached by the Russians who had penetrated no further
than Zagoskin had explored for them in 1843.
The preliminary exploration of the main Yukon River was
made by traders employed by the Hudson Bay Company, and
its first mapping was done by the members of the scientific
corps of the Western Union Telegraph expedition. This com
pany contemplated the construction of a telegraph line from
the United States through British Columbia and Alaska, to
Cape Prince of Wales, whence they expected to be able to
cross Bering Strait to Siberia, and thus bring the United
States into telegraphic communication with Asia and Europe.
Many of the old poles and crude insulators erected by the
members of this expedition, are still standing in Alaska. Be
fore the work was finished, however, the trans-Atlantic cable

ENGLISH EXPLORERS IN ARCTIC 383
was laid and the project was abandoned after $3,000,000 use
lessly had been expended.
The Hudson Bay Company in 1834 arbitrarily attempted
to establish itself at several points in Southeastern Alaska, but
its agents were promptly ejected by the Russians. At a con
ference held in 1837 the Hudson Bay Company leased this
coastal belt from the Russians for ten years. The British
Company then controlled the fur trade on the upper rivers
while the Russian-American Company controlled that on the
lower reaches of the streams.
In 1863 word was received at Sitka that gold had been
discovered at the head of the Stikine River and an expedition
was sent out to ascertain whether the metal had been found
in Russian territory. The party was accompanied by William
P. Blake, an American geologist who surveyed the lower part
of the Stikine River.
The Western Union Telegraph Company commenced its
work in 1863. The project, which contemplated the building
and maintaining of a telegraph line through thousands of miles
of almost unexplored territory in America and Asia, was con
ceived by Percy M. D-jCollins, and in the three years, during
which the surveyors were in the field, much important geo
graphic knowledge of the territory north of Puget Sound was
gained. The explorations in Siberia also were fruitful of
important results.
Owing to the uninhabited condition in the territory it was
necessary for the members of the party to carry all of their
supplies from the United States. They endured great hard
ships and Robert Kennicott forfeited his life at Nulato in
1866 to the excessive exposure and privation to which he had
been subjected. Kennicott was head of the scientific corps,
serving under Captain Charles S. Buckley, chief engineer. He
was chosen because of his knowledge of the country gained in

384 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
r86o-6i; when he had reached Fort Yukon by following the
Hudson Bay Company's trail from the Mackenzie. William
H. Dall, who took the leadership of the Scientific Corps after
Kennicott's death, alone continued his researches on Norton
Sound and the Lower Yukon after the telegraph survey party
was disbanded. His book, based on these investigations, and
reports which he wrote later under the auspices of the coast
survey, are still the standard works on Alaska^-'
Kennicott, Frank Ketchum, and MichaelLeBarge left the
mouth of the Yukon, in 1865, to survey that stream, and after
Kennicott's tragic death, Ketchum and LeBarge ascended the
river to Fort Yukon. The following summer they reached
Fort Selkirk, about 1,500 miles further up-stream. Dall and
Frederick Whymper reached Fort Yukon in the summer of
1867, making the first definite survey of this stream. In 1865
Baron Otto von Bendeleben and W. H. Ennis, also of the
telegraph survey, crossed from Golovnin Bay to Port Clarence.
J. T. Dyer and Richard T. Cotter, crossed from Norton Bay
to the confluence of the Koyukuk with the Yukon, while Cap
tain E. E. Smith carried on surveys in the Yukon Delta.
/ These surveys definitely identified the Yukon of the Hudson
Bay Company with the Kwikpak of the Russians and added
other important geographical knowledge. The survey lines es
tablished by these explorers are practically those that are now
used by telegraph lines operated in Alaska by the United
States government. Perhaps the most important accomplish
ment of this expedition was the more or less exact information
which the explorers furnished the American public during and
after the negotiations by which Russian America became part
of the United States. .

CHAPTER XXXII
AMERICAN OCCUPATION
Purchase of Alaska from Russia in 1867 following bitter controversy
which brought scorn upon William H. Seward, Secretary of State
— Stars and Stripes carried to Northernmost part of America by
brilliant stroke of foreign policy — Congress torn in strife over
purposed purchase — General Lovell H. Rousseau takes possession
of territory.
AFTER many months of negotiation, the territory of
Russian America was ceded to the United States in
1867, a treaty between the two countries being rati
fied by the Senate May 28 of that year. Secretary of State
William H. Seward is generally given credit for the conception
of the idea of the purchase of Alaska, but there are many other
claimants to the honour. Certain it is, however, that Seward
fixed the price at $7,200,000 — less than two cents an acre
for the entire territory — and it also is certain that to Seward
and to Senator Charles Sumner belongs much of the credit
for forcing the people of the United States into one of the
best land bargains this nation ever has made.
Seward, Sumner and others who favoured the purchase were
liberally ridiculed by their confreres in the national legislature.
The Emperor of Russia, during the Crimean War, fearing
that the English would blockade and bombard the Russian
towns on the American and Kamchatkan coast, offered to sell
the territory to the United States. This offer was made in
1854. It is generally conceded that the Czar patterned after
Napoleon, who sold the land embraced in the Louisiana pur
chase to the United States more for the purpose of preventing
3»5

386 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
the territory from falling into the hands of the British than
for the money which it brought him.
The first tangible recorded offer to sell Alaska to the United
States was declined by President Pierce, and negotiations en
tered into with President Buchanan were called off by Russia
after an offer of $5,000,000 had been made for the territory.
It was stated by Robert J. Walker, who assisted in drawing up
the legal documents to transfer the territory to the United
States, that the Czar had offered to sell Alaska during Presi
dent Polk's administration for the mere payment of government
incumbrances and the cost of transfer. This information was
largely disseminated after Seward's negotiations had been com
pleted, and, as a result, Seward was denounced on all sides
for making a bad bargain. Alaska was referred to as " Sew
ard's Icebox," and the treaty was derided as the " Esquimaux
Acquisition Treaty." While the matter was pending there
were many conclaves at the residence of the Secretary of State.
" Esquimaux Senators " were common names for the guests
and the country was referred to as " Walrussia," " American
Siberia," "Zero Islands," " Polaria " and " Icebergia." It
remained for Charles Sumner to suggest the name which Alaska
bears to-day. In the language of the natives interviewed
by Captain Cook, the great English navigator, the word
" Alayaska " means " The Great Land." Referring to one of
the treaty dinners a newspaper reporter wrote:
" There was roast treaty, boiled treaty, treaty in bottles,
treaty in decanters, treaty garnished with appointments to of
fices, treaty in statistics, treaty in military point of view, treaty
in territorial grandeur, treaty clad in furs, treaty ornamented
with walrus teeth, treaty flopping with fish, and treaty fringed
with timber." Other " edibles " on the menu were " icebergs
on toast," " seal flipper's frappe," and " blubber au naturel."
In the spring of 1867, after a syndicate of fur traders had

AMERICAN OCCUPATION 387
proposed to buy the country from Russia on their private ac
count and had gone so far as to consult Secretary Seward about
it, the plan of purchase by the United States assumed definite
shape. Secretary Seward and Baron Stoeckl, the Russian min
ister, entered negotiations which were conducted with great
secrecy. At that time President Johnson was involved in a
bitter fight with his political enemies and threats of impeach
ment were discussed by the House of Representatives prior to
its adjournment of March 4, 1867.
Rumours of proposed grafts and contemplated schemes to
drain the Treasury of the United States seemed to be in the
air, and the appropriation committee of the House had grown
wary and vigilant; warring factions in Mexico were imploring
for loans of many millions of dollars from this country; the
intense excitement which followed the assassination of Presi
dent Lincoln and the attempted murder of the members of
his cabinet had not yet subsided, and the nation generally was
in an extremely unsettled condition. With discord on every
hand, Secretary Seward flashed a brilliant stroke of foreign
policy and — counting upon warding off some of the sentiment
hostile to the administration — he consummated the purchase
of Alaska in the hope that the project of carrying the Stars
and Stripes to the Northernmost limits of the continent and
three thousand miles west of San Francisco, would cause the
citizens of the United States to thrill with patriotism and for
get their troubles at home. On the night of March 29, 1867,
Baron Stoeckl went to Secretary Seward's home and, waving
a telegram said:
"To-morrow we can draw up a treaty for the transfer of
Russian America."
"No," replied Seward; "we will do it now."
They worked all night and the grey of dawn had appeared
when their task was completed. The treaty was signed at

388 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
four o'clock in the morning and sent to the Senate the same
day for ratification, much to the chagrin of the English min
ister, Sir Frederick Bruce, who wanted the territory for his
own country. He was so exasperated at the news that he tele
graphed to the Earl of Derby, his superior, for instructions to
protest against the acceptance of the treaty by the United
States. The measure was confirmed on April io, chiefly through
the brilliant efforts of Senator Charles Sumner, who, although
opposed to the purchase at first, delivered an address which
was one of the greatest efforts of his life and an epitome of all
that was known concerning the territory at that time. Every
scientific work, every report, every chart and every narrative
of the explorers were consulted by Sumner, and this famous
speech for many years was regarded as an authoritative refer
ence on the territory. The articles were exchanged and the
treaty proclaimed by the President on June 20, 1867.
It is worth noting in passing that Secretary Seward had in
tended to keep the matter wholly secret until the treaty had
been ratified, but a New York newspaper reporter, who
shadowed the Secretary of State, caught an inkling of the
terms of the treaty by overhearing a portion of the conversa
tion between Seward and Baron Stoeckl, and the news was
given to the world before the document was sent to the Senate.
Secretary Seward trod a thorny path after he had consum
mated this great bargain. His newly acquired territory was
the theme of every newspaper wit and joker in the country
and brought upon him much public condemnation, Alaska be
ing frequently referred to as " Seward's Treacherous Pur
chase." Considerable difficulty was experienced in getting Congress
to make the necessary appropriation to pay for the territory.
While Seward's champions proclaimed Alaska a veritable Gar-

Photo by Pedersen.
"BACKED BY BEETLING HILLS AND FRONTED BY A TRANQUIL BAY, SEWARD'S SITUATION IS A
DECIDEDLY ATTRACTIVE ONE"

AMERICAN OCCUPATION 389
den of Eden, his enemies declared that its only products were
icebergs and polar bears and that its future settlers would have
to cultivate their fields with snow-ploughs. A democratic ed
itor said:
" The treaty has a clause binding us to exercise jurisdiction
over the territory and give government to forty -thousand in
habitants now crawling over it in snow-shoes. Without a
cent of revenue to be derived from it, we will have to keep
soldiers and six men-of-war up there and institute a territorial
form of government. No energy of the American people will
be sufficient to make mining speculations profitable in 60°
north latitude. Ninety-nine one-hundredths of the territory is
absolutely worthless." Agricultural possibilities were consid
ered too ridiculous to be worthy of consideration.
Following the impeachment trial and acquittal of President
Johnson, May 17, 1867, General M. P. Banks introduced in
Congress a bill appropriating $7,200,000 to be paid to Russia
in exchange for Alaska. The bill hung in the balance for
many weeks, but at a night session June 30, with General
Garfield in the chair, General Banks made a most eloquent
speech, which, by its very audacity and genius, won the votes
of the opponents to the purchase. Judge Louthbridge opposed
the measure, while three democrats — Bayor, of Pennsylvania ;
Pruyn, of New York ; and Johnson of California — made
great speeches advocating the ratification of the treaty. Many
other congressmen spoke for and against it, Thaddeus Stevens
closing the debate with an oration in its favour. On July
14, the bill was passed by a vote of ninety-eight to forty-eight,
and fifty-three members not voting. The House, in passing
the measure, included a clause which provided that thereafter
the House as well as the Senate should take part in the con
sideration of treaties.
Another squabble occurred as to which country should pay

390 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
the cost of the cablegrams transmitted in connection with the
negotiations for the transfer. These expenses amounted to
nearly $30,000, and, when the bill for its share was presented
to Russia, the Czar, claiming that it was a part of the treaty
that the United States should bear all the expenses of transfer,
refused to pay his proportion. Polite diplomatic notes were
exchanged, representatives of the State Department visited the
home of the Russian representative, and vice versa, but nothing
was done till the cable company reduced the bill and the
United States paid all.
For many years Great Britain had been making overtures
to buy that particular strip of the territory, thirty or forty
miles wide and three hundred miles long, which is known as
the Alaskan Pan Handle, and its mining adventurers and
traders had made threats to force the Russians to evacuate;
yet, by the queer turnings of diplomacy, this section of Alaska
came into the possession of the United States and is still cov-
eteti by our British kin.
'.Secretary Seward was more than " dee-lighted " with the
success of his efforts. He felt that, by having gone far enough
north to counteract any leaning or sentiment toward the South
— that he had been accused of harbouring — he had his ene
mies on the run. He planned to divide the country into six
territories. In this connection a bill was introduced in tbe
House of Congress in 19 12 by Congressman William Sulzer,
now Governor of New York, to split Alaska into three parts
and to give to the residents of each a measure of local self-
government. The President and Mr. Seward lost no time in clinching
their bargain. Immediately upon the money becoming avail
able, Brigadier General Lovell H. Rousseau was furnished
with a handsome silk flag and voluminous instructions as to
the proper procedure to take possession of the territory.

CHAPTER XXXIII
TRANSFER TO THE UNITED STATES
National emblem flutters to the breeze on memorable afternoon of
October 18, 1867 — "Original" flags as plentiful as "genuine"
scarabs at Port Said — History of Alaska up to and at the con
clusion of Russian possession — Seed of discontent which to-day
manifests itself sown at early date — Murderous Indians terrify
the whites.
BECAUSE the raising of the American Flag in Alaska
marked the commencement of an era of prosperity and
comparative freedom for that country, the particular
emblem which fluttered to the breeze on that memorable after
noon of October 18, 1867, has great sentimental value to those
who have become interested in the country's development.
Strange as it may seem, up until the year 1908, there were at
least a dozen " perfectly good " specimens of this particular
flag. They were as plentiful as " genuine " scarabs at Port
Said. In 1908 the commissioners of the Alaska- Yukon-Pacific Ex
position, held at Seattle the following year, made it known that
they desired to place this flag on exhibition. Immediately the
newspaper columns were filled with the names of people, who
related with an abundance of circumstantial detail how the
one and only flag had come into their possession. This led to
an investigation which revealed that the emblem that marked
the end of Russian domination on this continent had been
placed in a vault in the Department of State, and that it yet
remains there.
But while there were a large number of owners of the
391

392 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
" original flag," they were not nearly so plentiful as are
the claimants to the honour of pulling the line that hoisted the
Stars and Stripes to the mast at Sitka. The latter can be
discovered amongst the old-timers in Alaska as plentifully as
can the descendants of the Pilgrim Fathers be found in the
towns and villages of the New England States.
The honour of hoisting the flag, it is morally certain, be
longed to George Lovell Rousseau, a son of Brigadier-General
Lovell H. Rousseau, who, acting on behalf of the United
States government, formally received the territory from Prince
Maksoutoff, who represented Russia.
General Rousseau's official report on file in the Department
of State leaves little room for doubt on this point.
Concerning the disposition of the flag, General Rousseau's
report dated from the Headquarters of the Department of the
Columbia, Portland, Oregon, December 5, 1867, as made to
Secretary of State William H. Seward, says:
" With this report and accompanying papers, I return to
you the United States flag used on the occasion of the transfer
of the territory."
The flag was placed in the archives of the Department of
State. The party landed at New Archangel on October 18, 1867.
It was a clear, beautiful day, and it was arranged that formal
acquisition of the Territory should be made at three o'clock
in the afternoon. General Jeff C. Davis was in command of
the American troops; Captain Emmons, in command of the
United States warship Ossipee; Captain Bradford, in command
of the United States ship Resaca; and Captain McDougall, in
command of the United States ship Jamestown. These officers
were present on behalf of the United States. Captain Alexis
Petchouroff and Prince Dimitry Maksoutoff, governor of the
Territory, were present on behalf of Russia.

TRANSFER TO THE UNITED STATES 393
The flag was lowered by a Russian sailor after some trouble
resulting from an entangling of the Czar's emblem with the
ropes and mast. The difficulty was soon overcome, and, with
salutes from the Ossipee, the American flag given to General
Rousseau by Secretary Seward for the purpose of proclaiming
the occupation of Russian Territory by the United States, was
hoisted by George Lovell Rousseau, the General's private sec
retary. As the American flag reached the top of the pole, some
American bystanders gave a spontaneous cheer. Captain
Petchouroff then advancing and addressing the American offi
cer, said : " General Rousseau, by authority from His Majesty,
the Emperor of Russia, I transfer to the United States, the
Territory of Alaska."
General Rousseau made a suitable reply in as few words
and the ceremony was at an end. The transfer was conducted
with the utmost friendliness and courtesy on both sides.
The official report describes the economic conditions as to
titles held at that time by Russian subjects and fully details
affairs concerning climatic conditions and the wonderful possi
bilities of agriculture, fishing and forests. A complete map,
detailing every building in New Archangel, was made by the
officers under General Rousseau and forwarded with the report.
While under Russian rule the colony ran along on exceed
ingly pleasant lines — for the officials of the company. Many
elaborate social affairs were held and, it is related by some his
torians, that a tremendous amount of vodka and other alcoholic
beverages were consumed. As the Russian flag floated down,
the Princess Maksoutoff, seeing the s end of the reign of gaiety
which she had so long enjoyed, wept bitterly.
The history of Alaska, until the end of Russian occupation,
is largely a history of the explorations carried on in the country,
and, as the development of the territory is due to the work of

394 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
the explorers, it must continue so to be. Secretary Seward was
the first distinguished American statesman to visit Alaska.
He brought back with him much information pertaining to
the territory and to the great Northwestern section of the
United States. Seward made the prediction that the north
west would be developed into an empire and that Alaska would
pay back to the people of the United States the cost of its
purchase many times multiplied. But he did not live to see
his prediction verified.
The famous Secretary of State returned with a large col
lection of curios and souvenirs, amongst them being a dance
cloak covered with Chinese coins, that the Russians had prob
ably obtained at the period of their trade with China and had
sold to the Indians in exchange for furs. An expert in the
Chinese Embassy later examined these coins and declared that
some of them dated back to the twelfth and fifteenth centuries,
and a few of them bore the dates of the early years of the
Christian era. Mr. Seward also brought back with him a con
siderable quantity of Alaska cedar, which, in combination with
California laurel, was used in the panellings and furnishings
of his home.
Collectors of Customs, postmasters and a few other federal
officials were appointed, and the country was placed under mili
tary rule. The officers of the garrison restrained the sur
charged animalism of the Indians from overflowing, but, after
ten years' occupation, the military, in 1877, sailed away; and,
as no form of civil government was substituted to succeed the
military rule, the residents began to despair. Then and there
was sown the seed of discontent in Alaska which even to-day
manifests itself in repeated petitions to Congress for the right
of home rule — granted in 191 2 — and occasional murmurings
of secession and revolution.
In the absence of the military, the Indians, immediately

TRANSFER TO THE UNITED STATES 395
beginning to presume upon their immunity from punishment,
distilled illicit liquor — still known as Hoochinoo — openly
and without hindrance. Pandemonium reigned. The tribe
leaders burned buildings on the parade ground, killed and muti
lated cattle and horses, and gambled on the church steps in
defiance of the Russian priest.
Real trouble began when three white men were murdered
by Indians a few miles from Sitka in November, 1878, at a
point now called Murderer's Bay. Friendly Indians arrested
and placed the murderers in the guard house, and immediately
the whole settlement was up in arms. The white citizens,
who had been vainly appealing for protection to their own
government, were in a state of siege and at the mercy of the
enraged savages. Although there were about three hundred
white people, they were outnumbered three to one by the In
dians, and in momentary dread of a massacre. The Russians
gathered at the house of the priest and prepared to sell their
lives as dearly as possible.
Failing to receive help from the United States, the Ameri
cans made a last, desperate appeal to the British Admiral at
Victoria. To his credit be it written, Captain A'Court, of
H. M. S. Osprey, without waiting to exchange polite diplo
matic notes with Washington officials, sailed immediately for
Sitka, where he quickly restored a condition of quietude.
Three weeks later the United States revenue cutter Oliver
Woolcott came in and anchored close to the big British war
ship. The Osprey reached Sitka in March, 1879, and re"
raained, ostensibly to protect the few British citizens, until
early in April, when the United States steamer Alaska arrived
in port. The captain of the Alaska declared the Indian scare
groundless and his presence unnecessary, and once more the
people were left at the mercy of the Indians, but the naval
authorities at Washington, after receiving the report of Cap-

396 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
tain A'Court, ordered the Alaska back, and the vessel remained
until relieved by the Jamestown the following summer.
Captain Lester A. Beardslee, of the Jamestown, instituted
many reforms and kept the natives in subjection. He made
many raids upon native moonshiners, supervised treaties of
peace between warring tribes and kept a naval protectorate
over the infant mining camp which, in the meantime, had been
established by American citizens at Juneau.
He was relieved, in 1881, by Captain Glass of the
Wachusett, who remained at the head of Alaskan affairs until
1882 when Captain Merriman, of the Adams, was placed at
the head of the Alaskan station. Captain Merriman became
a power among the Indians and he and his ship played an
important part in the history of the country. Peace and order
reigned at Sitka, Indians and miners at Juneau were chastised
when they deserved it and protected in whatever rights any of
them had in the abandoned territory. Crooked traders and
distillers of illicit liquor generally had a most unpleasant time
of it during this period. Captain Merriman, besides exercis
ing a general police duty about the territory, acted as referee,
umpire, probate and appellate judge, arbiter of many vexed
questions, and frequently the judgment of a modern Solomon
had to be called into requisition in deciding issues in local
tribal wars. Many times he was called upon to tear asunder
those whom Indian ceremonies had made one, to protect young
native Beau Brummels, who scorned the proposal to marry
their uncle's widow; to save those doomed to death by torture
for witchcraft; to prevent killing of slaves at funerals and
Potlatch festivals, and to administer the estates of deceased
chieftains. These duties demanded the exercise of tact and
no inconsiderable portion of diplomacy. His departure from
the wharf was witnessed by wailing groups of natives, who
regarded him as the Great White Father of the country.

WILD HAY AND RED TOP GROW LUXURIANTLY NEAR SEWARD

Photo by R. D. Heinl.

W. R. WISE, A MINER-RANCHER, MAYOR, CHIEF-OF-POLICE, AND
ENTIRE POPULATION OF STILLWATER

TRANSFER TO THE UNITED STATES 397
Captain Merriman was succeeded by Captain J. B. Coghlan
and a long line of naval officers who, besides continuing the
work instituted by Captain Merriman, gave much of their
time to making careful surveys of the channels of the inland
passage of Alaska. The history of the naval protectorate in
Alaska is a bright contrast to the less creditable military rule,
and very much better for the citizens than the government of
the Russians.
Yet, accustomed to the liberties and privileges which they
had enjoyed in the United States, the American residents of
Alaska were deeply discontented. Self-government is an in
herent principle of Americanism, and these Argonauts of the
Northern frontier made constant and repeated demands for the
institution of a civil form of government in Alaska. Seven
teen years after the signing of the treaty, the Congress of the
United States granted a skeleton form of government to the
territory which had proved itself a paying investment from
the day it was purchased. Customs changed slowly. Each
year Presidential messages were sent to Congress drawing its
attention to the fact that Alaska was being shamefully neg
lected, but despite these repeated admonitions it can be stated
without prejudice that conditions, up to the year 1912, have
not changed substantially.
About the year 1882 the commander of a Russian man-of-
war, stationed on the Pacific Coast, threatened to proceed to
Sitka to examine into the defenceless and deplorable condition
of the Russian residents to whom the government of the United
States had not extended the protection and civil rights guar
anteed in the treaty. Promises that something would be done
immediately were made, just as the same promises are being
made to-day.
After innumerable petitions and the introduction in Con
gress of more than thirty bills granting a civil form of govern-

398 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
ment to Alaska, without any result being obtained, the pioneers,
in 1882, threatened to unite with the Russian residents of the
territory in an appeal to the Czar for the rights which the
treaty guaranteed. It was about this time that the United
States had taken several foreign governments to task for the
persecutions imposed upon Jews, peasants and other subjects
within European and Asiatic borders, and the Czar of Russia,
doubtless, gladly would have welcomed an opportunity to
memorialise and lecture this Republic in a similar cause.
The bill providing civil government for Alaska was intro
duced by Senator Harrison on December 4, 1883, and, after
it had been amended by the " Insurgents " of that period,
passed the Senate on January 4, 1884. It was approved by
the House of Representatives on May 13 of that year, after
the members had done considerable tinkering with it, and a
day later, it was signed by President Arthur and became a law.
Alaska was made a territory, but not a land district of the
United States, anomalous as that condition may seem, and it
is partially attributable to this peculiar form of government
that Alaska has not progressed as rapidly as has the contigu
ous territory in British Columbia. The citizens who had
struggled against such tremendous odds for many years, were
exceedingly bitter at the skeleton government granted them.1
At the time of the passage of this law, many of the resi
dents of Alaska were more loyal to the Czar of Russia than to
the United States government, and it is this feeling of discon
tent, still existing, which is responsible for the exodus of
Alaskans to the Western Provinces of Canada.
Under the act of 1884 John H. Kinkead, ex-Governor of
1 This bitterness remains in the hearts of many Alaskans to this
day, and it probably will remain until such time as they are granted
the privilege of having a voic. in the making of the laws which they
are compelled to obey.

TRANSFER TO THE UNITED STATES 399
Nevada, was made the first executive. The other officers of
this first government were: John G. Brady, Commissioner at
Juneau, afterwards governor; George P. Ihrie, Commissioner
at Fort Wrangell; Chester Seeber, Commissioner at Unalaska;
Ward MacAllister, Jr., United States District Judge ; E. W.
Haskell, United States District Attorney; M. C. Hillyer,
United States marshall for the District of Alaska; and Andrew
T. Lewis, clerk of court. These officers reached their sta
tions in September, 1884, and inaugurated the first civil gov
ernment in Alaska.
At this time the grossest ignorance of the geography of the
country prevailed. Letters were addressed to " The United
States Consul at Sitka," and to " The Governor of Alaska
Territory " long before the country had any such official or
any right to be called a territory. This ignorance of Alaskan
affairs exists, to a greater or lesser extent, in the Eastern States
to this day, a lawyer at Nome in 19 10 having received a let
ter from the publishers of a prominent American magazine
requesting him to remit the amount of extra postage involved
in sending the magazine to foreign countries. Apparently the
circulation department of this journal had not yet learned
that Alaska was a part of the United States, and hundreds
of people in the Eastern States still believe that the Klondike
gold fields are situated in Alaska, although it has been stated
in public prints thousands of times that the Klondike region is
part of the Dominion of Canada.

CHAPTER XXXIV
SYSTEMATIC EXPLORATIONS BY AMERICANS
New era of development begins soon after American acquisition —
Approximate position of Canadian boundary line established —
Private traders and explorers do much good work — George Holt
breaks down opposition of natives to allowing white men to cross
White Pass into the Yukon. Klondike gold fields discovered and
rush commences.
WITH the exception of the work done on the Yukon
River, little attention was paid to the exploration
of the interior of Alaska until after the territory
was transferred to the United States. The hoisting of the
American Flag marked a new era in the work of opening the
country to development. Soon after the transfer the Coast
and Geodetic Survey began the task of charting the coast-line
of Alaska and it has been actively engaged in this work ever
since. When it is considered that the Alaska coast-line is ap
proximately twenty-six thousand miles long, one will have some
conception of the amount of labour involved. Other government
vessels such as those of the-ReVienue Marine Service, Fish Com
mission and Navy, have made large contributions to the knowl
edge of Alaskan coastwise navigation; while the United States
Geological Survey has done much valuable work in the interior.
Soon after the transfer Americans began to realise the op
portunities for trade that Alaska offered. A strong American
corporation purchased the interests of the Russian-American
Company and made many millions of dollars on the seal and
other fisheries. While these millions were taken out of Alaska,
very little money was expended in the development of the ter-
400

EXPLORATIONS BY AMERICANS 401
ritory, and the cost of exploration, to a large extent, was borne
by the general government.
Trading posts were established on the Yukon and other
streams flowing into the Pacific Ocean. In 1869 the first
river steamboat ascended the Yukon.
For the purpose of settling the disputes between American
and British traders, Captain C. W. Raymond, U. S. A., in
1869, was instructed to lead an expedition up the Yukon River
and establish the approximate position of the boundary line.
Raymond, besides gathering important data pertaining to the
natives and to the fur trade and other resources, accurately
surveyed the lower Yukon River.
Much of the exploration work in Alaska was done by pri
vate traders, conspicuous among them being Jack McQuesten,
Joe Ladue, Arthur Harper and Frank Densmore. These men,
who frequently depended entirely for subsistence on the pro
ceeds of their rifles, and without any of the aids of the modern
explorer, made numerous long and hazardous trips into the in
terior. Several lost their lives by drowning in the swift
streams, many were frozen to death, and still others found
nameless graves in the lonely mountains. These pioneers left
few records of their journeys, but it is known that Harper vis
ited the White and Tanana Rivers, McQuesten the Koyukuk
and many other tributaries of the Yukon, one of which still
bears his name, and that Densmore ascended the Kuskokwim
for a considerable distance. The knowledge gained by these
men, through their intercourse with the natives, later, in part,
was embodied in maps of Alaska and in part preserved by word
of mouth, and when prospectors ascended the Yukon in the
early eighties, these charts were of great assistance.
Gold was reported on the Yukon as early as the Telegraph
survey of 1867, but was not found in workable quantities for
many years later. Dan Libby, a member of von Bendeleben's

402 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
party, which was installing a section of the telegraph line near
Norton Sound, discovered gold in the Seward Peninsula, near
Norton Bay. In 1897, shortly after the news of the Klondike
strike was flashed to the world, Libby organised a party in
San Francisco and returned to Golovnin Bay. This party lo
cated Melsing and Ophir Creeks, on both of which Libby had
discovered traces of gold twenty years previously. These and
other adjacent streams have since produced several million dol
lars, but it required the excitement coincident to the Klon
dike stampede to cause Libby to return to the North and bring
about their development. It is notable also that John Dexter,
one of the earliest locaters in the Nome gold fields, staked a
homestead on Ophir Creek nearly twenty years before Libby
returned and proved that the gravel in these streams contained
enough of the glittering metal to give many men a competency.
The date of the first systematic prospecting in Alaska is
somewhat uncertain, but it is known that some time between
1873 and 1878, George Holt crossed the Chilkoot Pass and
reached the Lewis and Yukon Rivers.
Fearing that their lucrative trade with the interior natives
would be interfered with, the Chilkoot Indians strenuously
objected to allowing white men to cross the mountains by their
trading route over Chilkoot Pass. These Indians frequently
had waged war on the natives of the interior and many of the
latter had been enslaved by their coastal oppressors. Captain
Beardslee, commander of the Jamestown, broke down the op
position of the Indians and, through his intervention, a party
of sixteen miners, led by Edmund Bean, crossed the mountains
and descended the Lewis River, as far as the Teslin. Many
others followed in the next few years and some of these tra
versed the entire length of the Lewis and the Yukon to St.
Michael. John Muir, the great naturalist and explorer, accompanied

EXPLORATIONS BY AMERICANS 403
by the Rev. S. Hall Young, discovered Muir Glacier and ex
plored Glacier Bay in 1879. Muir's glowing discriptions of
the wonderful scenery of Alaska, in later years, led to the
development of a tourist route through Southeastern Alaska
waters. Although Muir and Young were the first men to
examine Glacier Bay, it had been seen two years earlier by
Lieutenant C. S. A. Wood who, in company with some native
hunters, was making some explorations in the Fairweather
Mountains. The De Long expedition sailed in the steamer Jeannette
from San Francisco in 1879 to search for the North Pole. On
her return the vessel was crushed in the ice off the Siberian
coast and abandoned on December 21, 1881. The officers and
crew outfitted themselves with sleds and boats, and made an
effort to gain the mainland. Chief Engineer G. W. Melville
reached the shore and, falling in with some natives, was saved.
Lieut. De Long, together with his boat party made a landing
at the mouth of the Lena River, where all but two of them
died of starvation. Lieut. Chipp, in command of the third
boat party, doubtless perished among the ice floes, for he was
never heard of again. Altogether more than twenty lives were
lost. The revenue cutter Rodgers rescued the survivors the
following year.
Ivan Petrof, an agent of the Tenth Census, who long had
been a resident of the territory, made a notable contribution to
the knowledge of geography and resources of Alaska. He
spent two years travelling along the coast and on the lower
Yukon and Kuskokwim Rivers, his familiarity with the native
tribes and Russian inhabitants enabling him to gather much
data pertaining to regions which he did not visit. His general
map of Alaska, though largely based on the statements of na
tives and traders, was fairly accurate and delineated the general
features of the geography, and he was the first man to mani-

404 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
fest a clear conception of the distribution of the mountain
ranges in Alaska.
Lieutenant Frederick Schwatka, in 1882, two years after
the Indian route to the headwaters of the Yukon had been in
use by prospectors, made a most notable journey from Lake
Bennet to Fort Selkirk. After crossing the range, Schwatka
built a raft and navigated this unwieldy craft through the
many dangerous rapids.
From Fort Selkirk he continued down stream to Fort Yukon,
but this section of the river already had been explored by the
Western Union Telegraph survey and others. Charles W.
Hoffman, the topographer who accompanied Schwatka, made
the first actual survey of the Lewis and Yukon Rivers.
Sketched from the raft as he drifted by, the work was rather
crude, but only in very recent years has it been superseded by
more complete maps. In the decade that followed the publi
cation of Schwatka's account of his rather exciting trip
down the Yukon — a journey which had been made by many
others before him — many exploring expeditions were sent out
by the government.
During the years 1881-83, a meteorological and magnetic
station, in charge of Lieutenant P. H. Ray was maintained at
Point Barrow by the U. S. Signal Service but no explorations
of any importance were attempted.
The Geographical Society of Bremen, Germany, in 1881,
took a hand in Alaska exploration by dispatching Dr. Arthur
Krause to make an examination of the coast along Lynn Canal
into the Chilkoot River Basin. Krause published a map which
for the next ten years was used as a basis for all other maps
of the region visited by him.
Although that spectacular piece of water above the Miles
and Childs Glacier, on Copper River, was named Abercrom-
bie Rapids in honour of Lieutenant W. R. Abercrombie, who,

EXPLORATIONS BY AMERICANS 405
in 1884, was detailed to make an exploration of Copper River,
the expedition led by him, in the light of results secured, is
generally regarded as a failure.
The following year Lieutenant Henry T. Allen, who was
dispatched to complete the work, made one of the most remark
able journeys in the annals of official Alaskan exploration.
With four men, Allen landed at the mouth of Copper River
in March, 1885. In a poling boat and with dog sleighs, he
traversed this stream for a distance of three hundred miles;
then crossed the divide by way of the Suslota Pass at the head
of the Tanana, and obtaining another boat from the natives,
followed that stream to its confluence with the Yukon. From
the time the party left the head of the Copper River
until it reached the Yukon, in the following June, the mem
bers subsisted entirely on the game which fell to their arms.
For many weeks moose meat was the only item on their daily
menu, although, at times, they found a dietary change in an
occasional rabbit or a few ptarmigan. They reached the
Yukon in a half starved and somewhat exhausted condition.
With indomitable energy Allen re-outfitted and, with one
companion, crossed to the Koyukuk from the mouth of the
Melozi River and explored it almost from the Arctic Circle to
its junction with the Yukon. He crossed by portage from the
lower Yukon to Norton Sound and then made his way to St.
Michael, whence he returned to the United States by steam
ship. With the exception of Dr. Alfred H. Brooks, of the U. S.
Geological Survey, Lieutenant Allen by his energy and courage,
added more to the knowledge of interior Alaska than any man
who preceded him or succeeded him. Allen made careful
sketch surveys and noted all facts which came within his ob
servation; and, within one season, he made maps of three of
the larger rivers of the territory, which, until accurate surveys

406 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
were made twelve years later, were the basis of all the maps
used. Extensive explorations were conducted by officers of the
Navy and of the Revenue Marine Service, during the years
1 883-86, along the rivers tributary to Kotzebue Sound, In
1883, Lieutenant George E. Stoney, of the revenue cutter Cor-
win, who had been dispatched to Siberia to distribute presents
to the natives who had aided the Jeannette relief expedition,
examined Kotzebue Sound and explored the delta of the Kobuk
River. The year following, these explorations were continued and
resulted in the discovery of Selawik Lake and other important
waterways. Stoney made a third trip into this region in 1886, and spent
the winter in making extensive explorations. He was accom
panied by a large and well-equipped party, and the result of
the work was the discovery of the Noatak and of the Alatna,
the latter a tributary of the Koyukuk; the Selawik River and
Chandlar Lake, in which the Colville River has its source.
Ensign Reed explored the Noatak and Assistant Engineer
Zane, reached the Yukon by way of the Pah and Koyukuk
Rivers. Ensign W. L. Howard, with two white men and two
natives, left the winter camp in April and proceeded northeast
across the Noatak to the valley of the Colville, followed down
stream for twenty miles, and then crossed another divide to
the headwaters of Chipp River. Here they abandoned the
dog teams and descended the coast in native skin boats, arriving
at Point Barrow, July 15. This was the first party of white
men to cross Northern Alaska, and this expedition was the
first to attempt to make instrumental surveys in the interior of
the territory.
The first white man to reach the headwaters of the Kobuk
was Lieutenant John C. Cantwell, of the Revenue Marine

Photo by Kennedy.

"THE SHIMMERING WATERS . . CHANGE IN THEIR PELLUCID DEPTHS FROM BLUE TO VIO
LET, THEN TO DARK GREEN AND BLACK, AND AGAIN TO PINK AND HELIOTROPE AND
GAYER COLORS"

EXPLORATIONS BY AMERICANS 407
Service, who, in 1884, navigated this stream as far as Walker
Lake. Charles H. Townsend, of the U. S. Fish Commissiori,
accompanied the party as naturalist.
S. B. McLenigan, of the Revenue Marine Service, with one
companion, in 1885, ascended the Noatak River about three
hundred miles and made a careful sketch survey of that stream.
Being considered at that time the highest peak on the con
tinent, and because it was the first point sighted by white man
on the mainland of Alaska, Mount St. Elias had long been a
subject of deep interest. Bering, who discovered and named
it, knew it only as a distant peak which thrust itself above
the clouds, and he made no attempt to get near it. Cook,
Dixon and Vancouver, also noted this mountain. In 1786,
La Perouse saw Mount St. Elias, and Dagelet, his astronomer,
calculated its altitude as 12,672 feet. Five years later Malas
pina entered Yakutat Bay and surveyed Disenchantment Bay,
its inland extension, which he hoped would prove a Northeast
passage. Malaspina calculated the altitude of St. Elias as
17,851 feet. Tebenkof's Atlas placed its altitude at 17,000
feet. In 1854, Dall and Baker made a rough triangulation
and reported the elevation at more than 19,000 feet. The
Coast Survey triangulation, made in 1892, shows the elevation
of this mountain to be 18,024 feet.
In 1886, Frederick Schwatka, with Professor William Libby,
and Lieutenant H. W. Seaton-Kerr, led an expedition which
was financed by the New York Times, to ascend the mountain.
Little was known of the conditions of travel, and the venture
ended in failure. Two years later, an altitude of 11,400 feet
was attained by a party consisting of W. H. Topham, Edwin
Topham, and George Brocas — three Englishmen — and Wil
liam Williams, an American.
Mark V. Kerr and I. C. Russell, in 1890, acting jointly
for the National Geographic Society and the U. S. Geological

408 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
Survey, attempted to scale the mountain, and, although their
efforts were unsuccessful, much important data was obtained.
Russell and Kerr, after living for four days in rude shelters
in snow banks on the upper slopes of the mountain, without
fuel and almost without food, encountered a violent blizzard
and were forced to descend. The following year Russell
gained an altitude of 14,800 feet, when he again was forced
by severe storms to return.
These two expeditions resulted in the collection of a large
amount of data pertaining to the glacial history of the region,
and a fairly accurate map of the slope of the mountain. Rus
sell's determination of 18,100 feet, as the height of the upper
most peak, was remarkably accurate, when the conditions under
which the calculation was made are considered.
Prince Luigi, the noted Italian explorer, was the first to
reach the summit of Mount St. Elias. He followed the route
which Russell had laid out, and adopted the methods the latter
had recommended. Landing at Yakutat Bay, in 1897, with
a large, thoroughly-equipped expedition, some of the members
of which were recruited from the Seattle Athletic Club, Luigi
" mushed " across the forty miles of snow and ice between the
coast and the base of the mountain, and reached the summit
on July 31, five weeks after leaving his ship. While his re
port contains much that is of geographic interest, it is chiefly
valuable as a contribution to the literature of mountaineering
in America.
Soon after the discovery of gold on the Yukon, at Forty
Mile and Circle City, the international boundary became a
question of great importance. In 1888, William Ogilvie and
George M. Dawson, for whom Dawson City afterward was
named, made surveys of the route from the head of Lynn Canal
to the mouth of the Lewis River. In the following year
Ogilvie extended his surveys down the Yukon to the interna-

EXPLORATIONS BY AMERICANS 409
tional boundary, and, in 1890, continued them to the head of
the Porcupine, which had been surveyed in the previous year
by R. G. McConnell, of the Canadian Survey.
About this period Dawson made a trip from Fort Wrangell,
in Southeastern Alaska, to the head of the Stikine River, thence
across the Cassiar Range to Dease Lake, down the Dease River
to the Liard, up the Liard to the Francis River, up the Francis
River to Lake Francis, thence across a spur of the Cordillera
Range to the headwaters of the Pelly River, and down the
Pelly River to its confluence with the Lewis at Fort Selkirk.
He carefully mapped all of this country, most of which was
practically unknown up to that time, and, while most of the
ground covered is in Canadian territory, his maps and charts
were later of great assistance to American prospectors who in
vaded that section soon after the sensational gold discovery on
the Klondike River.
Meanwhile the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey
had dispatched two parties to the boundary line. J. E. Mc-
Grath, who headed the first party established an astronomic
station near the boundary on the Yukon, and J. H. Trainer,
who was in charge of the other party, installed a similar sta
tion where the boundary crossed the Porcupine. Turner's
party, in 1890, made a winter trip with dog teams from the
Porcupine to the Arctic Ocean, following as nearly as possible
the one hundred and forty-first meridian. This was the second
time that Northern Alaska was crossed by white men.
Professor I. C. Russell, of the U. S. Geological Survey accom
panied McGrath to the boundary from the mouth of the Por
cupine and returned to the coast with a party of prospectors
by way of Lewis River and Chilkoot Pass.
Frank Leslie's Weekly, in 1890, sent an exploring expedition
into Alaska, but so far as can be learned, no official report of
the work done by the party has been filed. About this time,

410 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
Jack Dalton, in company with a man named Glave, made a
trip from the coast, through the St. Elias Range, to the Alsek
River. In 1891, C. Willard Hayes, of the U. S. Geological Survey,
Lieutenant Schwatka, and Mark Russel, a prospector, crossed
the divide from the head of the Taku River, near Skagway, to
Teslin Lake, which stream they descended to Fort Selkirk.
They continued down stream to the White River, which they
ascended to its head. Although deserted by their Indian
packers, they crossed another divide to the Nizina where they
btiilt a boat, and then floated down the Copper River to Cor
dova Bay.
The discovery of gold in different portions of British Colum
bia, Alaska and the Yukon territory, induced Congress, in 1895,
to recognise the importance of an investigation of the mineral
resources contained in Uncle Sam's northern domain, and
through a small appropriation, the United States Geological
Survey was enabled to send its first party to the north.
Dr. George F. Becker, aided by C. W. Purington, made a
preliminary investigation of the gold deposits, and W. H. Dall
studied the coal beds of the Pacific coastal belt. In 1896,
J. E. Spurr, with H. B. Goodrich and F. C. Schrader, visited
the important placer districts of Alaska on the Yukon and did
some topographic and geologic mapping.
Although thirty years had elapsed since the territory had been
ceded to the United States, the genetal public was still almost
entirely ignorant of the geography, resources or climate of
Alaska. Every newspaper still referred to Alaska as a " land
of eternal snow and ice," and gave the impression that it was
inhabited by fur traders, and blubber-eating Eskimos. In the
public mind the word " Alaska " was still synonymous with ice
bergs, polar bears, bleak, snow-covered coasts, and a country
generally uninhabitable for white men.

EXPLORATIONS BY AMERICANS 4n
The news of the discovery of gold in abundance on the Klon
dike River, Yukon Territory, during the summer of 1896,"^
startled the world, and many of the illusions concerning Alaska
and Northern Canada, soon were dispelled.
George W. Carmack's discovery of a New Eldorado, on a
tributary of the Klondike, brought a swarming, seething horde
of fifty thousand gold hunters into Alaska and the adjacent
portions of Canadian territory, and made the name " Klon
dike " a household word in every civilised country on the
globe. The glamour of romance, the distance, the inaccessi
bility of the field, and the hardships and vicissitudes with
which the trail was bestrewn, only tended to make the diggings
the more attractive to the adventurers. Every newspaper in
the United States, and many in foreign countries, published
glowing accounts of the unprecedented riches of the Arctic
Bonanza. From every corner of the world, men, who had
been accustomed to living on the frontier and who were inured
to the hardship and privation incident to pioneer life, stampeded
for Alaska. Two weeks after the news of the strike reached
the Coolgardie gold fields, in Western Australia, a ship left
Freemantle for Skagway, and every one of its berths were filled
by Australian miners, hunters and sharpshooters. Thousands
left England and the European countries and crossed the At
lantic, bound for the new diggings where they hoped to find a
fortune. Then was demonstrated the fact that the author who
wrote " Distance lends enchantment to the view," knew what
he was talking about.
Hardly had the Klondike excitement subsided when another
sensational discovery was made in the Nome placer fields where
the glittering metal was first unearthed late in, 1898 and be-
came generally known a year later. Again the attention of
the world was attracted to Alaska, and a second exodus to the
northern regions occurred in 1900.

412 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
Of the thousands who entered the Yukon Basin during this
memorable stampede a large percentage had no conception of
the difficulties and dangers that confronted them. An English
man, after travelling across the Atlantic Ocean in a modern
steamship and thence across the continent on the Canadian
Pacific Railroad, on reaching Vancouver, British Columbia,
remarked :
" Well, don'tcherknow, the worst part of the trip is over,
bah jove! What?"
He had no anticipation of the weary, back-breaking work
of packing across Chilkoot Pass that was ahead of him, or that
he later was to be introduced to that relic of the Spanish In
quisition, known as the whip-saw, used by the prospectors to
cut the timber from which their boats were constructed.
Hundreds of those who started for Dawson, buoyed up with
the hope that within a year they would return to civilisation
and join the millionaire class, never had any previous training
for the work they had so rashly undertaken. Scores of them,
after finding the labour of carrying their supplies across the
coast range too strenuous for their constitutions, sold their out
fits and returned to civilisation, broken-hearted, bitterly disap
pointed, and with their dreams of future affluence shattered
into a million fragments. Many of those who, after infinite
labour and heart-breaking toil, had crossed the divide and
floated down the river, became discouraged at the outlook
when they reached Dawson and continued in their boats down
the Yukon to St. Michael, whence they returned home with
out having struck a pick in the ground.
The more venturesome prospector, however, found no risk
too hazardous, no danger too great, no labour too hard, no
privation too painful, and, at this writing, sixteen years later,
there is hardly a stream in the explored sections of Alaska that
has not been panned by him and hardly a quartz outcrop that

EXPLORATIONS BY AMERICANS 413
has not resounded to the sturdy blows of hammer-headed pick.
Evidences of his intrepidity and energy are to be found from
the tropical-like jungles of Southeastern Alaska to the treeless,
wind-swept tundras, which skirt the Arctic Ocean.
Although prospectors have travelled far and wide in Alaska,
they, as a class, have added little to the knowledge of its geog
raphy. As a rule they follow but two purposes, one to find
gold, and the other to get through the country. Ever seeing
green fields in the distance, they wander around like restive
spirits, and the information obtained by them seldom is exact,
even when available, for their conception of where they have been
, is often quite as vague as their ideas as to where they are going.
Though their contribution to geographic knowledge is small,
these pioneer prospectors, at the expense of hard toil and much
suffering, and frequently at the sacrifice of life or limbs, have
blazed the trails for the settler, the miner, the surveyor, and
the agriculturalist.
A demand for more definite information pertaining to the
resources of Alaska followed the public interest aroused by
the discovery of gold in the Klondike, and money was appro
priated for investigation under various bureaus of the federal
government. The Coast and Geodetic Survey was enabled to
expand its surveys, which had been carried on ever since the
purchase of the territory.
Captain P. H. Ray, and Col. Wilds P. Richardson, in com
mand of a company of infantry, were sent to Alaska, in 1897,
to establish military posts and to give succour and relief to in
digent and unfortunate miners and prospectors when it was
found necessary. These officers also built trails and telegraph
lines. Their work provided a nucleus for that which subse
quently was carried on in Alaska under the direction of the
U. S. Signal Corps and the Alaska Road Commission, of which
Lieutenant — now Lieutenant-Colonel — Wilds P. Richardson,

414 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
at this writing, is president. The army officers also attempted
explorations and surveys but these were only partially success
ful, and since have been forgotten. But the humane work
which they did in relieving destitute and frozen miners long
will be remembered.

CHAPTER XXXV
WORK OF THE U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY
Dr. Brooks' researches on behalf of the United States Geological Sur
vey, the one reliable medium in the discovery of auriferous
gravel — Many millions of dollars in gold now added to the
world's supply — Difficulties overcome in a formerly unexplored
empire — First authentic information of the new gold fields at
Nome — Tales of hardship and death.
IN 1898, the U. S. Geological Survey began its systematic
explorations in the interior of Alaska, and in all the.
efforts of this government in dealing with the territory,
the one act which stands out as a stroke of remarkable ability
was the appointment of Dr. Alfred H. Brooks to take charge
of this work. Dr. Brooks has proven himself capable, efficient
and industrious beyond the most sanguine expectations, and
the work which has been done under his direction has proved
of inestimable value to the residents of the territory. Tire
lessly energetic, unassuming, honest and conservative to the last
degree, and a keen, careful and scientific observer, Dr. Brooks
is most highly regarded in the territory, and his name has
come to be used in Alaska as a synonym for everything that is
accurate, definite, and authentic. His wonderful ability to
gather and disseminate knowledge of the country's geology and
resources and his keen insight into the real reasons for Alaska's
lack of development, caused a well-known Alaskan to remark:
" There are but two who know the truth about Alaska's
resources. These are Alfred H. Brooks and Providence."
In making a journey along the fringe of the territory and to
the coastal coal fields for the purpose of studying Alaska's
415

4i 6 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
problems, in the summer of 191 1, Walter L. Fisher, Secretary
of the Interior, chose as his companions men who long had
resided in the territory and who had studied conditions there.
The one upon whom the Cabinet Officer came chiefly to
depend for accurate information was Dr. Brooks. The news
paper correspondents in the party gave Dr. Brooks a news
paper promotion to the rank of General. They called him
" General Information." On his return to the national capital,
Secretary Fisher promoted Dr. Brooks to the office of chief
geologist of the United States, but, being more interested in
finishing the work which he had so successfully conducted in
Alaska for more than twelve years than in his own advance
ment, Dr. Brooks declined the honour and the increased re
muneration which the more authoritative position would have
brought him.
The United States Geological Survey has pointed out to
the prospectors not only the places where it is useless for them
to search for gold, but also the regions in which payable gold
is likely to be found. The discovery of auriferous gravel in
the Tanana district in 1902, which since that time has added
many millions of dollars to the world's supply of gold coin,
was attributable to the work done by this department. Two
years before the strike was made the department issued a re
port in which it was stated that, in all probability, payable gold
would be discovered in the region where it later was found.
The problems which confronted the Geological Survey when
it first entered Alaska were appalling. Immediate publication
of maps of unexplored, or only partially explored, regions was
demanded. While the gold excitement was at its height,
there was an insistent public demand for these maps, and the
members of the survey had little opportunity in the first year
or two to do any extensive mapping or exploration. The prob
lem was to make surveys of the possible routes of travel, which

U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 417
were chiefly confined to the larger rivers, and to include within
these as wide areas as possible.
The first season's work resulted in about three thousand
miles of instrumental traverses, with reconnaissance maps of an
area of nearly thirty thousand square miles, besides more ac
curate surveys of about two thousand square miles. The tra
verses were largely confined to the more important rivers. The
work had to be planned with a very incomplete knowledge of
the geography, climate and other conditions of travel, and all
supplies and equipment had to be transported from Seattle.
Landing in Alaska, the survey parties were dependent entirely
upon their own resources for transportation. The first year
they travelled by following the waterways in canoes, which the
surveyors carried on their backs over portages, but after some
knowledge of the country was gained, it was found that horses
could be used to advantage for the transportation of supplies.
At this time very little was known of the interior of Alaska.
Of the 586,400 square miles of territory, very little of it, ex
cepting that contiguous to the coast, had been mapped. At
the present writing about one-fifth of the country has been
covered by the Geological Survey maps, while practically four-
fifths have been partially explored.
The first year's explorations were conducted on the Kuskok
wim, Susitna, Tanana, Matanuska and Copper Rivers. All
of these offered possible routes to the interior. The Copper
River work was done by the Geological Survey and the inves
tigation of the other streams was carried on by Captain Edward
F. Glenn and Captain William R. Abercrombie, under the
supervision of the War Department, to whose parties geologists
from the Geological Survey were attached. The other rivers
were mapped by the Geological Survey parties.
With a small detachment of men and several pack hqrses,
Captain Glenn, accompanied by W. C. Mendenhall, of the

418 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
Geological Survey, left the coast at Cook Inlet, crossed the
mountain range and descended the Delta River to the Tanana,
whence he returned to the coast by the same route. Much
valuable information was collected by Mendenhall, of the Geo
logical Survey.
At the head of the Tanana Lieut. J. C. Castner was de
tached to continue the exploration to Circle, on the Yukon.
With two others he crossed the Tanana, but the lateness of the
season prevented him from finishing his projected journey.
After losing both horses, the three attempted to return down
the Volkmon River to the Tanana on a raft. Their primitive
boat struck a " sweeper " and everything, including their shoes,
was lost. Many days later they reached the Tanana almost
dead from hunger and exposure, but were fortunate enough to
find some friendly Indians. Minor explorations were con
ducted by H. G. Larnard and William Yanert, also of Glenn's
party. Captain Abercrombie's expedition landed at Valdez and
followed the path made by hundreds of prospectors across the
Valdez Glacier. F. C. Schrader, of the Geological Survey
who was a member of this expedition, did some creditable work
in the Copper River Basin.
G. H. Eldridge and Robert Muldrow of the Geological
Survey with five others explored the Susitna. They dragged
their supplies in canoes against the swift current until they
reached Jack River from which point, with packs on their
backs, they pushed on to Cantwell River, a tributary of the
Tanana. Here their supplies gave out and they were forced
to return to their boats, which they reached in a semi-starved
condition. They made surveys throughout the journey, and
the position and height of Mt. McKinley, 23,380 feet, were
determined for the first time.
J. E. Spurr and W. B. Post of the Geological Survey as-

INDIAN BURIAL IN THE BARRENS OF THE FAR NORTH

- Vi -»_"'¦•_* '
A GROUP OF SCIENTIFIC INVESTIGATORS

U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY^ 419
cended the Yetna, the left fork of the Susitna and packed
their outfit across a divide to the Kuskokwim, floated down that
stream, and returned to Cook Inlet by an Indian trail across
the Alaska Peninsula.
The same year the two most important southern branches
of the Yukon, the Tanana and White Rivers, were surveyed.
A. H. Brooks and W. J. Peters crossed Chilkoot Pass from
Skagway to Lake Marsh, whence they later embarked in
canoes for White River, shooting the White Horse Rapids and
many other pieces of turbulent water, en route. They as
cended White River after the manner of beasts of burden by
dragging their canoes with tow lines against the raging current.
After a desperate struggle they reached the head of the swift
stream and crossed a divide to the Tanana, down which they
leisurely floated to the Yukon. They surveyed about 10,000
square miles of territory.
E. C. Barnard, following a similar route from the coast to
the Yukon, made a survey of about 2,000 square miles in the
Forty Mile River Basin.
Brooks and Peters the following year extended their surveys
westward from Lynn Canal along the northern base of the
St. Elias Range to the headwaters of the White and Tanana
Rivers, and thence northward to the Yukon at Forty Mile.
The party started out with fifteen horses, but only five of the
animals survived the difficulties of the journey. Schrader and
T. G. Gerdine, the same year, left Fort Yukon in canoes, as
cended the Chandlar River, and, after making a sixteen mile
portage, reached the Koyukuk and floated down that stream to
the Yukon.
In the fall of 1899 Brooks and Schrader met at St. Michael
and, after the close of navigation, visited the newly discovered
placers at Nome. They sent from there the first authentic in
formation about the new gold field. In 1900 Schrader, Ger-

420 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
dine and A. C. Spencer mapped a large area in the Copper
River Valley, while Brooks, Barnard, Peters and Mendenhall
did a vast amount of work in Seward Peninsula.
Surveys in Northern Alaska were conducted in 1901. The
Yukon, Koyukuk and Kobuk Rivers, the Arctic Ocean and
Kotzebue Sound were explored and mapped. Schrader and
Peters made a trip for the entire length of Alaska from its
southernmost limit to Point Barrow. In the course of their
journey they traversed the Endicott Mountains and brought
back the first authentic information in regard to this great
range. Theirs was probably the most noted exploration made
by the Geological Survey and it resulted in the collection of a
mass of valuable information. Mendenhall and Reaburn also
did considerable work in the northern region this year, notably
along the Kobuk River.
During the same year Brooks made a number of geological
studies in Southeastern Alaska, and Gerdine, Collier and
Witherspoon did much areal mapping in Seward Peninsula.
In 1902, Brooks and Reaburn extended the survey northwest
from Cook Inlet through the Alaska range, and bending north
east, passed close to the base of Mt. McKinley and on to the
Nenana River, whence they took a northwesterly route across
the Tanana to Rampart, on the Yukon. During the same
season Collier studied the geology of the Yukon, Peters made
a detailed survey near Juneau, and Schrader, Gerdine, Men
denhall and D. C. Witherspoon did areal mapping on the Cop
per River Basin.
In 1899, under the auspices of the War Department a mili
tary trail was constructed across the Chugach Mountains from
Valdez and minor exploration work was done. Oscar Rohn, a
civilian employe of the expedition led by Capt. Abercrombie,
with one companion made a very daring journey. He crossed
the Wrangell Mountains to the Tanana and then returned to

U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 421
Copper River, making a sketch map and geologic investigations.
From that time to the present day various investigations have
been conducted by the Geological Survey, contour maps have
been made of about 120,000 square miles, many of the coal
measures of Alaska have been surveyed and a whole library of
scientific data pertaining to the geology and topography has
been printed by this Department all of which has been of tre
mendous value to those who have sought to develop the mani
fold resources of the territory. The increased knowledge of
the geology of the country has given the explorer a much
better understanding of the places where he is liable to find
the fortune that he ever is seeking. The reports printed by
the Department have been of inestimable value not only to the
fortune hunters, but also to those who have made Alaska 3
source of investment. The work of the Geological Survey
has been the means of refuting many of the wild and chimerical
stories published in various magazines by those whose interests
are best subserved by a lack of development.
Of the 120 or more parties, which the Geological Survey
has sent to Alaska, not a single one has failed to execute the
work allotted to it. This is largely because of the able and
efficient management of Alfred H. Brooks and his ability to
select capable men for leadership of the expeditions. He has
chosen men especially fitted by nature, as well as by experience
and training, for the various undertakings, and the physical
work and discomforts, as well as the hardships sometimes in
volved have cheerfully been shared by leaders and men alike.
Besides publishing a library of information pertaining to the
country's resources the members of the survey have enlightened
the world in regard to the climate of the territory and its other
physical conditions.
Alaska exploration never has, and probably never will be,
easy. The history of geographic investigation has been a tale

422 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
of almost continuous suffering and hardship, and not infre
quently of death. Scores of men who had gone forth into the
wilderness in the hope of finding a competency have found in
stead a nameless sepulchre in the forsaken mountains or at the
bottom of the frozen streams. Let those who are not person
ally familiar with the difficulties and obstacles encountered
judge not too harshly the men, who — with sweating brows,
aching backs and blood-blistered hands — have attempted to
make the territory productive. Many are the lives that have
been forfeited in efforts to conquer the wilderness, and many
are the sacrifices that will be made in the years yet to be, for
many large areas are still practically unexplored.

CHAPTER XXXVI
THE DISCOVERY OF THE NORTHWEST PASSAGE
Roald Amundsen first to bring ship through tortuous Northwest Pas
sage — Human interest stories of his fealty to the members of
his intrepid crew — Sterling qualities of explorer characterised
by sublime modesty which precluded dramatic embellishment of
world-famed deed — Story of his valour during long, black, sub-
Arctic night.
WHILE Roald Amundsen cannot properly be classed
among those whose explorations have tended to
the development of Alaska, the fact that he was the
first man to bring a ship through the long-sought Northwest
Passage — a task in which many lives had been sacrificed — ¦ a
few words pertaining to his work and his personal character
istics might not be out of place.
This daring Norwegian navigator, in 1912, sprung suddenly
into fame and public acclamation by discovering the South Pole.
But Amundsen is no newspaper explorer, and it certainly was
not his fault that the daily journals of the world carried his
name in their headlines for many days.
Amundsen, be it remembered, is the only explorer of the
northern Polar regions, who, in recent years, has accomplished
anything of great scientific value. It is true that he did not
discover the North Pole, nor did he search for it, but he did
definitely determine the position of the magnetic pole — a serv
ice which since has proved of inestimable value to other navi
gators, and he gathered a large amount of scientific data per
taining to the botanical and geological condition of the Polar
regions. 423

424 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
Apart from finding the Northwest passage, his mission was
partially for the purpose of discovering some trace of the de
scendants of fifteen hundred Vikings who were lost from New
foundland in the fourteenth century and were never heard of
again. A commander of one of the ships that was lost was a
descendant of Lief Erickson, who is credited with landing on
that part of America which forms the United States long be
fore the discovery made by Columbus. Erickson and his fol
lowers are supposed to have established a settlement on the
New England coast. It is generally conceded that the blond
Eskimos discovered by Vilhjalmar Stefansson in 1912 are the
descendants of the lost Vikings.
A legend of the natives on the Northern coast of America
is to the effect that a race of blue-eyed, light-complexioned peo
ple inhabit part of the land adjacent to the Arctic Ocean, and
it was for these people Amundsen was searching as he navigated
the tortuous channels which had baffled every explorer who
had preceded him. He did not find the descendants of his
missing compatriots, but he did find a race of Eskimos, who,
theretofore, never had seen a white man.
, These natives — short of limb but with tremendous chest
and shoulder development — were not the primitive people
that generally would be supposed. They had discovered a
method of gouging the pure copper from the matrices in the
vicinity of their habitat and making it into knives, spears, dishes
and other utensils, tools and weapons. Amundsen and his as
sociates could not understand them sufficiently to ascertain
whether they had any tradition pertaining to the flood, such as
is possessed by practically every uncivilised tribe.
The writer was the first newspaper man to interview Amund
sen after he had accomplished his journey along the Northern
coast of the Continent of America. I had travelled some thou
sands of miles to get that story, but Amundsen's inherent

A NORTHERN MERCHANT— JAPANESE SEA-SPIDERS ABOUND IN
NORTHERN WATERS, AND THE SHELVING BEACHES, WHEN
THE TIDE IS OUT, ARE COVERED WITH CRABS, CLAMS, AND
OTHER SHELLFISH

DISCOVERY OF NORTHWEST PASSAGE 425
modesty precluded the possibility of even one sensational fea
ture. On reaching Bering Sea, in 1906, Amundsen's sloop, the
Gjoa, was met near Nome by several launches loaded with
prominent citizens who wanted to do him honour. But
Amundsen as a hero was sadly disappointing. He could not
play up to the part. Public praise seemed to embarrass
him. Trying to get an interview from him was like pulling teeth.
In answer to questions he simply said " yes " or " no " ; and
told of the different places where his ship had stopped on the
hazardous journey.
"Didn't you have any accidents?" I asked. "Were there
no hardships and privations?"
" Oh, no; we got along pretty well," he answered, in a soft,
mild voice.
" Wasn't there any incident of a thrilling nature of any
kind or character?" I finally asked in desperation, as I saw a
big story fading away from me.
" Oh, no," he replied, " we had a pretty good time, all
things considered. It wasn't half bad."
I knew, from the size of Amundsen's ship, that there must
have been some period in the two years when he was out of
supplies. It was apparent that the small sloop occupied by
himself and his six companions was not of sufficient capacity to
carry food to sustain them for a period of two years — unless
they took their sustenance in tabloid form.
" How did you get along for food ? " I asked.
" Well, we took some with us, which lasted for quite a while,
and when that was used up, we killed seals and walrus and
Polar bears, and when we reached the Mackenzie River delta
we found plenty of wild caribou."
" Did all of your men enjoy good health ? " I interrogated.

426 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
Then his face changed; a tear flickered for a moment in his
clear, blue eye.
" That was the only sad part of the whole trip," he said.
" One of my men, and a braver fellow never stood, was left
behind in a frozen grave at Herschell Island. He died of con
gestion of the lungs. It was to save him and to get some
tobacco for the rest of the boys that I left Herschell Island last
winter and went to Eagle City." He spoke of the trip as
though he had crossed the street to a corner drug-store.
Amundsen's story of his trip to the South Pole was told in
language which manifested the sterling qualities of the man.
He told of enduring no hardships; of no thrilling adventures.
His account of the journey was a statement of bare cold fact,
unadorned by anything that would tend to give it dramatic em
bellishment or to create the impression that the venture was
in the remotest degree exciting.
What better could demonstrate the superb courage and in
nate gentleness and kindness of the man than his journey from
the mouth of the Mackenzie River to Eagle City, Alaska?
One cold February day in 1906 a huge figure of a man,
blond-bearded to the eyes and somewhat gaunt from privation,
but looking physically as hard as the frozen, granite hills,
mushed into Eagle City behind a team of weary wolf-dogs.
With hardly a pause for rest, he began to purchase medicines,
tobacco, a small amount of provisions and a few delicacies.
Mistaking him for a prospector who had been out in the
hills for a protracted period, people inquired where he came
from, and were informed that he had been cruising in a little
sloop up north, that he'had put his little vessel in winter quarters
at the mouth of the Mackenzie River, that one of his associates
was sick, that all were out of tobacco, and that, accordingly,
he had jaunted down to Eagle — a mere matter of a little
more than one thousand miles on foot over an unbroken trail — •

DISCOVERY OF NORTHWEST PASSAGE 427
to secure the commodities needed. He might have been talking
of having ridden four or five miles to a country store, so far
as appearing to regard his journey as anything unusual was
concerned. Alone, save for the company of his dogs, he had made a
tremendous journey in the dead of the black, sub-Arctic win
ter, through a country he had never seen before, and was pre
pared to start back in two days!
Even in Alaska, where feats of physical courage and endur
ance are not remarkable, Amundsen had done a wonderful
thing. " Just another Swede prospector," was the general
judgment of Amundsen in this northern mining camp. All
Scandinavians, by the way, are " Swedes " in Alaska, and
" Swede luck " is proverbial. Also parenthetically, this " Swede
luck," in practically one hundred per cent, of the cases, is a
direct result of hard work and determination to labour in the
face of repeated failure.
By accident this tall, blond, gentle-eyed " Swede " learned
that the U. S. Signal Corps had established a telegraph station
at Eagle City and that it was possible to transmit a message
from that point to the outside world. Thereupon he filed with
the sergeant in charge a brief message, written in Norwegian
and addressed to " Haakon, Christiania, Norway."
In a few hours the sides of the little log cabin, which did
duty as a telegraph station, began to bulge outward with the
events which were transpiring within. Presently the excite
ment spread to the entire camp. From the other end of the
wire had come a statement from a Seattle newspaper man
which made plain the real meaning of the telegram filed by the
stranger. That little sloop in winter quarters at the mouth
of the Mackenzie had come not from the Pacific, but from the
Atlantic. The great feat of discovering the Northwest passage had been

428 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
accomplished! The dream of explorers since the days of
Columbus had come true ! This shabby, travel-worn " Big
Swede," smoking his pipe and tending his dogs and going his
own modest way in camp, had done this wonderful thing! It
was almost unbelievable!
Telegrams from all over the world began to pour into the
little log-cabin telegraph station in the far North. They came
from kings, presidents, emperors and philanthropists, from
magazine editors and frantic managing editors of daily news
papers. The telegraph key clicked incessantly. Messages ad
dressed to Captain Amundsen came in reams and bundles, and
the recipient, although a man whom it is difficult to jar from
his calm and unemotional manner, seemed much perturbed.
He hurriedly sent a bald, brief statement of what he and
his companions had done during the two years he had been
absent from civilisation. Then he harnessed his dogs and
started back on the long jaunt over the frozen trail to the
mouth of the Mackenzie River. Excitedly newspaper editors
telegraphed to Eagle City, imploring Amundsen to send them
some account of the " human interest " features of his " story,"
but the explorer had vanished down the trail.
Besides the message that he filed to King Haakon, he had
sent a telegram, telling in the exact language of the scientist
that he had navigated the Northwest passage, that he had
definitely determined the location of the magnetic pole and that
he had encountered a hitherto unknown race of people in the
Arctic regions. Terse, modest, but backed with corroborative
data, was the message. Then he faded into the wilderness of
ice and snow — alone. He had to get that medicine to his
sick sailor and his companions needed the tobacco. Behind him
the world clamoured through the telegraph key for more news
of his wonderful feat, but he had again receded into the
" never-never " country, beyond the confines of civilisation.

Photo copyright by Dobbs,

A GROUP OF NATIVE CHILDREN AT NOME.— A NATIVE VILLAGE, UPON THE ARRIVAL OF A
SCHOOL TEACHER OR MISSIONARY, USUALLY IS IN A HIGHLY UNSANITARY CONDI
TION, BUT SOON A CHANGE IS WROUGHT

DISCOVERY OF NORTHWEST PASSAGE 429
So it was also in the bald tale of Amundsen's latest exploit,
the discovery of the South Pole. One could read between the
lines the unconscious betrayal of those same qualities of
strength, modesty and manly solicitude for his companions that
marked the Arctic journey. The tale he sent out from Ho-
bart, Tasmania, was wofully lacking in word pictures of
" purple snows " and " ghastly, frozen nights." It dealt not
at all in the emotions and heart throbs which emanated from
another polar explorer of recent years, and it sought not to
emphasise his own courage and daring. Rather it gave the
impression that going to the South Pole was not so very much
of a task after all, and that much, if not all, of the credit be
longed to the brave men who accompanied him.
Amundsen was not afraid that any other white man would
share with him the honour of reaching the top of the earth.
If there was any honour in it there was enough for all. He
did not allow his companions to do practically all of the work
until the goal was in sight; and then send them back. Amund
sen was anxious that others should share equally with him any
of the honours or encomiums, and when it came to setting up
the flag at the pole all hands were permitted to assist in driv
ing home the shaft.
While Amundsen was making his hazardous overland jour
ney from the ice barrier to the pole his ship — the Fram —
reached the southernmost point attained by any vessel. His
joy was more in the feats performed by the ship than in what
he had accomplished himself. "Farthest north; farthest
south," he cabled. " Good old Fram! "
Helmer Hansen, that blond, laughing Viking, whom
Amundsen says is the most efficient dog-team driver the world
has ever known, and who accompanied his chief on both expe
ditions, had a whole chain of mountains named after him, and
the other members of the party all stood as Godfathers for

430 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
the new-found Antarctic scenery. But we do not learn that
Amundsen named anything for himself.
The fact that when this great navigator departed from the
Polar regions he left behind a substantially-built, well-stocked
house for winter quarters for the use of subsequent explorers,
complete and ready for occupancy, even to the dishes on the
table and the oil-filled lamp and matches, demonstrated that
he was thoughtful of the next man. Like the true frontiers
man, he believes in " leaving the latch string on the outside."
With all the world ready to do him honour, Amundsen did
not come back to civilisation to write lurid and highly imag
inative magazine articles or to go on a lecture platform and
tell of the hardships and privations he had endured. He sent
only that scientific data which would enlighten and benefit
humanity, and then elected to sail straight away to the other
end of the world, through Bering Straits and into the Arctic,
to complete his scientific work there. The civilised world will
not have the pleasure of making a hero of him until his work
is done.
When he reached Hobart from the South Pole, Amundsen
allowed nobody to go aboard his ship for several days. This
was not because he is unkindly or inhospitable. On his arrival
at Nome, several years before, he learned the bitter lesson that
public admiration is not always unmixed with selfishness. He
visited the city and also allowed his men to go ashore at Nome
for two or three days. During this time his sloop was be
sieged by souvenir hunters, who stole his geological specimens,
the implements used by the unknown race of people he had
discovered — and which had considerable value from an ethno
logical standpoint — and one day he discovered an inveterate
" picker-up of unconsidered trifles " sawing a piece out of the
mast of his ship for a memento.
The story of this sturdy Norseman is an epic. Quite as

DISCOVERY OF NORTHWEST PASSAGE 431
much in what he has not written as in what he has written
does one find the measure of Roald Amundsen. By the peo
ple of the North, Amundsen is revered and respected for what
he has proven himself to be: A Man.

CHAPTER XXXVII
ALASKA IN SHORT PARAGRAPHS
Four hundred tons of gold taken out of Alaska since 1883 aggrega
ting approximately two hundred million dollars as a return for
the far-sightedness of Secretary Seward who was held up to
ridicule when he completed negotiations on behalf of the United
States with Russia in the purchase of Alaska for a consideration
of $7,200,000.
SEARCHING through reports, bulletins, and other
documents issued by various departments of govern
ment and in other places where authentic and valuable
information is likely to be discovered, the following salient
facts about Alaska were found to exist in 191 2:
The coast-line of Alaska, measuring around all of the is
lands, is approximately 26,000 miles long, more than the dis
tance around the world.
One mine in Alaska has produced seven times as much gold
as the United States paid for the entire territory. This mine,
the Treadwell, operates the second largest stamp mill in the
world. It is exceeded in size only by the De Beers property
on the Witswatersrand, South Africa.
Alaska contains approximately twenty-one million acres of
coal lands. Of this amount thirty-two thousand acres were
staked by the men who discovered these lands. According to
the estimates of competent engineers and geologists, the coal
in Alaska is sufficient to sustain the people of the United
States for 5,300 years at the present rate of consumption.
The receipts of the government from Alaska have greatly
exceeded the sum paid for that territory. The purchase price
432

ALASKA IN SHORT PARAGRAPHS 433
of the territory was $7,200,000, paid to Russia — 'Some his
torians say as a return favour for sending a Russian fleet of
warships to San Francisco at the time when their presence
might have been needed. The total government receipts up
till June 30, 1903 (according to the Monthly Summary of
Commerce and Finance of the United States for July, 1903)
was $9,555,900. Practically all of this sum was re-expended
in the territory.
During the past ten years, the commerce of Alaska with the
United States — in and out — has amounted to more than
$500,000,000, several millions more than the trade of the
United States with the Orient.
The mineral production of Alaska from 1883 to 1910
amounted to $206,000,000, more than $195,000,000 of this
amount being in gold. The avoirdupois weight of gold taken
out of Alaska — roughly figured — is a little more than four
hundred tons. This does not include several million dollars
in gold brought to the United States by Americans from the
Klondike region.
Since the occupation by citizens of the United States, Alaska
has yielded fishery products — walrus, ivory, aquatic furs,
fur seals, whalebone and fish — to the value of $210,000,000.
The food fishes at the close of the fiscal year 1910 had netted
$129,301,482 and the fur seals $50,366,767.
The iron for the first bells made in California by the
Jesuits was brought from Alaska, when the territory was occu
pied by the Russians.
The gross area of Alaska is 590,804 square miles. The
Governor of Alaska states that the area is 369,539,600 acres.
It cost the United States government less than two cents an
acre. The area of Alaska equals the combined area of the states
of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode

434 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania,
Delaware, Maryland, West Virginia, North Carolina, South
Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Mississippi, and Tennessee.
Alaska is more than twice the size of the German Empire,
nearly thirteen times the size of New York State, larger than
all of the states north of the Ohio and Potomac Rivers and
east of the Mississippi, and is something more than one-fifth
the size of the United, States proper. It would make nearly
five hundred states as large as Rhode Island.
A large portion of the easily accessible land of Alaska has
been dedicated to solitude in the shape of forest and other
reserves. The forest reserves in some places have been made
to extend over agricultural and mineral land where it is im
possible to find a stick of timber thicker than a man's wrist.
A large portion of Alaska lies in the same latitude as Swe
den, Norway and Finland; it has a much better climate, more
fertile soil, and is larger than all three of these countries com
bined. Estimates made by the United States Department of Agri
culture, in experiments extending over eleven years, placed the
area of arable and grazing land at sixty-four million acres.
This department estimates that the territory is susceptible of
sustaining a population of from three to five million persons
by agricultural pursuits alone.
There is more agricultural land in Alaska than in all the
Scandinavian Peninsula, which supports a population of more
than ten million stock farmers and agriculturalists. This is
exclusive of the tremendous reindeer-grazing lands stretching
northward from the Yukon to the Arctic Ocean.
Naturalists declare that more than three million caribou,
or wild reindeer, can be found on the tundra on the shores
of the Arctic Ocean. Economists believe that the reindeer
industry of Alaska ultimately will be developed to a point

Photo by Lomen Bros.
PRETTY "SUNBONNET" GIRLS AND "OVERALL" BOYS OF THE NOME PUBLIC SCHOOL

ALASKA IN SHORT PARAGRAPHS 435
where it will become a most important factor in the affairs
of the so-called meat trust. >
Horses turned loose in the White River Valley ten years
ago and left without care, have not only survived the many
hard winters, but have greatly multiplied in numbers. These
horses mingle with moose in the spring for mutual protection
against wolves and other predatory animals.
Alaska has the highest mountain — Mount McKinley — on
the continent of North America. Its utmost altitude is 20,464
feet. The glaciers in Alaska, many of which are easily accessible
from the coast, and some of which can be reached by railroad,
are much larger than any other glaciers in the world, unless it
be those recently discovered near the South pole.
The scenery encountered on the journey through the Inland
waters of Alaska compares quite favourably in majestic
grandeur and rare beauty with the fjords of Norway, and
Alaska's mountain scenery is said to be quite equal in mag
nificence to that of Switzerland.
The Yukon River has a total length of nearly three thou
sand miles, and it is about the fifth largest stream in the world.
It is navigable for small river vessels for a distance of about
twenty-four hundred miles.
The copper product of Alaska for the year 191 1 was worth
$2,830,000, an increase of more than four hundred per cent.
over the production,, of the previous year.
Alaska contains the only tin mines of any importance on the
continent of North America.
Besides gold, copper and tin, Alaska produces silver, gypsum,
marble, graphite, petroleum, mica, lime, and mineral waters
of various kinds. In metals and minerals prospectively valu
able, but not produced in commercial quantities are tungsten,
lead, arsenic, antimony, manganese, bismuth, quick-silver,

436 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
corundum, slate, zinc, and garnets; and many other minerals
have been found.
Great iron deposits, both magnatite and hematite, have been
discovered in many places, and optimistic geologists predict
that when the bituminous coal of Alaska is made available to
use, many steel mills will be established in the territory.
Alaska was the first country in the world to use the wireless
telegraph system for commercial purposes.
Alaska, according to government geologists contains more
coal than Pennsylvania and West Virginia combined.
The population of Alaska as given by the last census is
64,356, made up of 36,555 whites, the balance being composed
principally of natives and a few Chinese and Japanese engaged
in the fishing industry.
The population of Alaska increased only 767 during the
past ten years. There has been a steady decrease in popula
tion since the territory was covered with forest reserves.
The principal industries of Alaska at the present time are
fur hunting, fishing, and gold and copper mining. It is gen
erally conceded, however, that coal mining, farming, and stock
raising will be added to these industries within the next five
years. Alaska is one of the few parts of the United States that
offers the sportsman a reasonable degree of certainty of se
curing moose, caribou, mountain sheep, mountain goat, and
bear trophies. The largest and most ferocious animals found
in the United States to-day are said to be the brown and
Kodiak bears which inhabit the Alaskan Peninsula and the ad
jacent islands.
The only commercial telegraph and cable system operated
directly by United States government ownership is in Alaska.
It is estimated by the Bureau of Fisheries that twenty million
dollars have been invested in the Alaska fishing industry.

ALASKA IN SHORT PARAGRAPHS 437
The cod banks of Alaska are said by the United States
Fish Commission to be among the finest in the world. The
same is true of the halibut banks.
The herring which swims the waters of Alaska is said to
be quite the equal of the Norwegian variety.
Alaska possesses the only disappearing and re-appearing is
lands in the world. The topography of the Bogosloff Islands
has been changed many times during the past twenty-five years.
New peaks, at irregular intervals, thrust themselves up, through
clouds of fire and steam, from the sea, while others subside be
neath the waters.
Alaska contains about twenty active volcanoes.
The Alaska cable occasionally has been damaged by sub
terranean seismic disturbances.
Alaska contains a tremendous amount of timber, but a large
proportion of it has very little other commercial value than
for making wood pulp.
There is but one life-saving station in Alaska. It is lo
cated at Nome, on the coast of Bering Sea. During the five
years since it was installed its members have gone to the relief
of 287 ships in distress and have rescued many persons from
drowning. The only forms of business in Alaska which are exempt
from the federal taxation are those of the newspaper and the
barber shop.
Alaska has no vote in Congress, but is represented by a del
egate who has the privilege of introducing bills for which he
cannot vote.
Twenty-six newspapers are published in Alaska, many of
them receiving telegraphic despatches daily from the outside
world. Cattle raised on government stations in Alaska under the
Department of Agriculture are wintered with less mortality

438 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
than in the States of Montana, North and South Dakota, or
Kansas. The temperature at many points in Southeastern and South
western Alaska is not so cold as at Washington, D. C, or
New York City in the winter, nor as warm as either of these
places in the summer. The atmosphere in this section of
Alaska is tempered by the Japan current. East of the Coast
Range, however, the thermometer drops to seventy-two degrees
below zero in the winter and occasionally rises to one hundred
and six degrees in the shade in summer. A temperature of
one hundred and six degrees in the shade was recorded at some
of the settlements on the streams entering Kotzebue Sound
and the Arctic Ocean in 191 1.
Among the edible berries found in Alaska are wild huckle
berries, red and black raspberries, red and black currants,
gooseberries, high and low bush cranberries, salmon berries,
strawberries, in countless trillions; juniper berries, Oregon
grapes, moss berries and many other varieties of wild fruits.
In edible vegetables Alaska grows native celery, thyme,
sage, onions, sour-grass, rhubarb, and other varieties. In wild
grasses it produces every year, waiting for those who will har
vest it, thousands upon thousands of tons of wild rye, red top,
and many other grasses all of which make good hay.
The rivers of Alaska teem with edible fishes of various kinds,
the principal specimens being salmon, greyling, many kinds of
trout, and white fish.
Alaska's game birds include ducks, geese, swan, snipe, plover,
ptarmigan, grouse, partridge, and many other species.
At the close of the fiscal year, 191 1, Alaska's account in
the Treasury Department, when epitomised, showed the fol
lowing result: Debit — Purchase price $7,200,000; cost of
maintenance over receipts in federal treasury for forty-two
years, $8,300,000; total debit $15,500,000. Credit — Min-

ALASKA IN SHORT PARAGRAPHS 439
eral resources $225,000,000; fish and furs, $210,000,000; other
resources $25,000,000; total receipts from Alaska $460,000,-
000; profit to the people of the United States, $444,500,000.
Alaska was bought for $7,200,000. It already has paid to
the people of the United States in products, dividends approxi
mating six thousand three hundred per cent, on the invest
ment. It is worth to-day not millions, but billions.
Many of the Alaskan placer regions are in the process of
transition to fields for both placer and quartz mines. Twelve
quartz mills have been imported into the territory within the
past year.
Alaska's northern placer fields offer an excellent opportu
nity for dredging enterprises, twenty-six of these gold ships
having been installed within the past two years.
The Easternmost point of Alaska is less than eighty miles
from the shores of Siberia, the Westernmost point of Asia.
When the atmospheric conditions are favourable Siberia can
be seen with a strong glass from the Cape Prince of Wales, the
Easternmost point of Alaska.
Coaling stations established by the government on the shores
of Alaska's mainland are more than 2,500 miles nearer to the
Philippines than the coaling stations at Mare Island navy yard.
Nome, the Easternmost city of Alaska, is six thousand miles
from New York and there is a difference of six hours in time.
Northern Alaska affords one of the few places where the
hunter may get a shot at polar bears and walrus.
Statistics show that in Alaska there is less crime per capita
than in any state in the union.
Alaska has many warm medicinal springs, and ferns and wild
berries grow profusely in their proximity.
There are many missions in Alaska and every town has one
or more churches.
Alaska has many fraternal societies, the leading ones being

440 ALASKA, AN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING
the Arctic Brotherhood, the Elks, Masons, Eagles, Odd Fel
lows, and other well-known societies have branches there.
The members of the Mystic Shrine have made two pilgrim
ages to Nome and other cities in Alaska.
Alaska does not tolerate open gambling. Gambling was
closed down tight in the territory in 1906.
During the summer, Alaska, even as far north as the Arctic
Ocean, is carpeted with the most daintily coloured and beauti
ful wildflowers, the principal specimens being wild-briar
roses, forget-me-nots, blue aiid yellow violets, irises, poppies,
butter-cups, geraniums, anemones, blue-bells, daisies, fire-weed,
all the blooms of all the berries, and many others.
Alaska, acre for acre, is believed by experts to be more val
uable than many of the states in the Union. Its latent water-
power energy is incalculable.
The development of Alaska's resources is hardly yet begun,
nor have all of its possibilities been discovered. Only two
fifths of the territory has been mapped, and many portions of
it have never been trodden by the foot of a white man. Prac
tically all its wealth of forest, fisheries, and minerals is still
untouched by commerce and represent- millions of dollars
many times multiplied.

THE END