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THE WONDERS OF
3 1761 05504185 9
ILUSTRATED
ICEBERG AN TAKOU INLET
BY ALEXANDER SADIAM
S
MUIR GLACIER
ERSITY
C
OF
AINO
TORONTO
VELUTARBOR
Presented to
1 The Library of the University of Toronto by
the Estate of Dr. Frederick C. Harrison
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2007 with funding from Microsoft Corporation
http://www.archive.org/details/wondersofalaska00badluoft
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Perspective View of the Great Muir Glacier From a photograph by I. W. Taber (from the East Moraine)
THE WONDERS
OF
A . L . A . S . K . A
BY
ALEXANDER BADLAM
WITH
ILLUSTRATIONS AND MAPS
SAN FRANCISCO THE BANCROFT COMPANY 1890
COPYRIGHT, 1890 BY ALEXANDER BADLAM SAN FRANCISCO
LIBRARY DEC 18 1963 UNI 'ERSITY OF TORONTO
F 908 B32
872836 -
PREFACE.
While the eye of almost the entire world is directed to the wonders of the comparatively unexplored regions of the far northwest, and while the elegant steamers that weekly ply the inland channel, from Port Townsend to Glacier Bay are crowded to their utmost capacity, it would seem an opportune time to publish an illustrated work on the wonders of Alaska.
The author of this volume was Treasurer of the California-Russian Fur Company, a corporation which caused the maps to be made, and opened the negotiations for the purchase of Alaska from the Russian Government. Being in constant communi- cation with the residents of that Territory, watching with deepest interest its enterprise and progress, having made an extended trip to the most interesting portion, studying the history of its strange people, viewing and examining its remarkable glaciers, gazing in wonder at its high and snow-capped peaks, at its beautiful bays and fjords, sailing through the narrow passages of the great Archi- pelago from Victoria to Chilkat, receiving from the queer people legends and histories of the numerous tribes, the witchcraft and barbarism of its people, and the great extent of its fisheries and seal-hunting grounds, the writer believes himself sufficiently
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PREFACE.
informed to give a clear and concise sketch, more particularly of that portion of Alaska traversed by the commodious steamers of the Pacific Coast Steam- ship Company.
The reader can follow these pages and be fully informed of all the principal points of interest along the Inland Sea with its innumerable islands, the great resources of this wonderful country, its native villages, the grandeur of its scenery, the traditions of the Indians, the success of the mission schools and the extension of civilization.
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PHOTO-ENG. CO.N.Y.
THE MUIR GLACIER AT 10 O'CLOCK, P. M. From photograph 7596, by PARTRIDGE, Portland, Ore.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTORY.
Alaska .- 1542 .- Its Early History and Exploration .- Vitus Behring .- His Exploits and Death .- Arrival of Captain Cook .- Tyranny of the Russian Fur Company .- The Purchase of Alaska in 1867 .- Derivation of the Name .- Western Union Telegraph Expedition .- Boundary. - Extent of Alaska. - Its Divisions, Rivers and Mountains 1
CHAPTER II.
CITIES OF THE GREAT NORTHWEST.
Beautiful Mountain Scenery .- Mt. Hood .- Mt. Tacoma .- Portland .- Tacoma. - Seattle. - Port Townsend .- Victoria .- Vancouver, the Terminus of the Canadian Pacific Railroad. 11
CHAPTER III. THE INLAND PASSAGE.
From Port Townsend to the Great Glaciers .- History of the Beautiful Country and Manners of its Queer People .- Grandeur of its Scen- ery .- Sublimity of These Water Corridors. - Description of the Islands, Mountains, Fjords and Channels .- Flora and Verdure .- Wrangell .- Juneau .- Glacier Bay .- Killisnoo and Sitka 19
CHAPTER IV. THE GLACIERS.
The Natural Formation of a Glacier .- Birth in the Mountains and Grad- ual Descent to the Sea .- Dr. Kane's Theories .- Evidences of Glacial Action in the Sierra Nevadas and Rocky Mountains .- Prof. Muir's Discoveries .- Description of the Great Muir Glacier .- The Pacific .- Davidson .- Takou .- Rainbow .- Auk and Eagle Glaciers .- Prof. Muir's Explorations .- The Extent of Glacial Action .- Investigation in Greenland .- Moraines .- Definition, Description and Character- istics .- Moraines and Evidences of Pre-Historic Glaciers in the United States
35
vi
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER V.
THIE NATIVE RACES.
Pre-Historic Theories .- Alaska's I rogress .- Divisions of the Nations, Tribes and Clans. - Hyperborean Group. - The Eskimo of the North .- Canibalistic Koniagas .- The Aleuts and Intermixtures of the Aleutian Chain .- The Savage Tinneh. - The Fierce and War- like Thlinkets .- Habits, Customs, Superstitions and Morals of the Tribes
56
CHAPTER VI.
TOTEMS AND SHAMANS. ʻ
The Totem Pole; Its Emblematic Significance and Use .- Grotesque Carvings and Barbaric Conceptions .- Wonderful Canoes .- Graves and Burial Customs .- Primitive Religions .- Witchcraft Among Other Peoples and in Early History .- The Potlach .- Offering of the Conscience-Stricken Indians .- A System not Found Among More Enlightened People.
75
CHAPTER VII. EDUCATION IN ALASKA.
History of Early Education Under the Russians .- The Changes After the Purchase of Alaska .- Long Neglect .- Present Inadequacy of System .- Work of the Agent and Needs of the Schools .- Duncan's Metlakatla Mission; Its Prosperity and Thrift .- Persecution by Church and State .- Final Immigration to Alaska .- Work of the Sectarian Missions. 87
CHAPTER VIII. ANIMAL LIFE IN ALASKA.
Mammoths .- Discovery of these Pre-Historic Monsters .- The Remark- able Bear of the Yukon .- Other Species of the Bear .- The Deer, Buffalo and Vulpine Families of Alaska .- Fur-Bearing Animals .- Ornithology .- The Amphibia and Fishes of Alaskan Waters. . 97
CHAPTER IX. RESOURCES.
Alaska's Great Wealth .- Extent of Her Gold and Silver Mines .- Valu- able Discoveries of Mineral Wealth .- The Abundance of Coal and Timber .- Value of Her Furs, Fisheries, etc .- The Great Treadwell Mine .- Development of Placer Mining .- Industry and Growth of Her Canneries .- Prospects for a Bright Future
112
CHAPTER X.
PHANTOM CITIES AND MIRAGES.
Atmospheric Illusions in the Vicinity of the Glaciers .- Professor Wil- loughby's Silent City .- Effect of the Late Sunset .- Confirmations
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CONTENTS.
of the Discovery .- The Phantom City Wonder .- A Submerged City Beneath Glacier Bay .- The Reality Discovered in the Mysterious Yukon Region,-A Frozen City
127
CHAPTER XI. CHINOOK JARGON.
Language of the Indians .- Different Dialects .- The Traders Introduce a Common Jargon Which Nearly All Tribes Have Adopted .- The Chinook Used as Far South as Oregon .- Examples for the Use of Tourists 138
CHAPTER XII. HOW TO GET THERE.
From San Francisco to Alaska .- The Different Routes Open .- Informa- tion as to Connections .- Schedule of Steamer Movements .- Things that Will Come Handy on the Trip, and Bits of General Information. 142
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Britton & Roy
FOREST SCENE IN ALASKA. From photograph 7338, by PARTRIDGE, Portland, Oregon.
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
PAGE.
The Great Muir Glacier. (Frontispiece. ) Photographed by I. W. Taber.
Muir Glacier at 10 p. M. . V
Forest Scene near Sitka. ix
Among the Ice Cakes-Muir Glacier 3
Steamer Ancon Behind an Iceberg in Takou Inlet.
7
Harbor of Sitka-Wharf and Islands, from Baranoff Castle.
19°
Map No. 1, From Port Townsend to Texada Island.
21
6 2, From Texada Island to Queen Charlotte Sound. 23
66 66 3, From Queen Charlotte Sound to Finlayson Channel 25
66 66 4, From Finlayson Channel to Malacca Pass. 27
66 66 5, From Malacca Pass to Cleveland Peninsula. 29
66 66 6, From Cleveland Peninsula to Stephens Pass.
31
8, Sitka, Peril Straits and Vicinity.
35
Glacier Bay from the top of the Glacier looking Southward.
37
Davidson Glacier, Chilkat Inlet.
Crevasse in the Muir Glacier.
Effect of Glacial Erosion-Near Muir Glacier
Auk Indians near Juneau
Indian Funeral at Fort Wrangell
Ancient Mummy from Kagamil
Bear Totems at Fort Wrangell.
Indian Graves at Fort- Wrangell.
Sitka, from Baranoff Castle
93
An Alaskan Mammothı
98
Chief Kow-ee after a Bear Hunt.
101
Indian Bridge near Sitka.
105
City of Juneau and Treadwell Mine
113 121
Willoughby's Silent City
129
Taber's Phantom City.
133
Mirage of Muir Glacier in Glacier Bay
137
Shaman in Dancing Costume.
139
Transparent Iceberg in Takou Inlet 143
Steamship " Queen ".
145
Steamship " City of Topeka "
147
Steamship "Geo. W. Elder "
149
66 7, From Stephens Pass to Muir Glacier
33
41 47 53 59
67 71 77 81 89
Greek Church, Sitka. . ...
Killisnoo, near Sitka
CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTORY.
ALASKA .- 1542 .- ITS EARLY HISTORY AND EX- PLORATION. -- VITUS BEHRING. - HIS EXPLOITS AND DEATH .- ARRIVAL, OF CAPTAIN COOK .- TYRANNY OF THE RUSSIAN FUR COMPANY .- THE PURCHASE OF ALASKA IN 1867 .- DERIVATION OF : THE NAME .- WESTERN UNION TELEGRAPH EX- PEDITION .- BOUNDARY .- EXTENT OF ALASKA .- ITS DIVISIONS, RIVERS AND MOUNTAINS.
A
LASKA, as it is now known, was Russian-America prior to the acquisition of the Ter- ritory by the United States Government.
As early as A. D. 1542, the Spanish explorers moved northward from Mexico up the Pacific Coast in search of the Anain passage to India, in the existence of which they firmly believed, and which they looked upon as a short cut to India and to wealth. In1 1592 Juan de Fuca believed that he had reached this goal of his ambition and realized the dream. The point which he thought led on to fame and fortune was north of the forty-eighth parallel.
The Russians had gradually pushed form the west- ward into Siberia and explored much of the Kam-
2
INTRODUCTORY.
chatkan coast to the northward. Their object was not to enrich geography nor to aid the cause of science in any way, the impulse being merely the extention of trade and entirely mercenary, while the tales told by returned traders stimulated in the ever-aggressive court at St. Petersburg a desire for conquest and territorial acquisition. As the natural result, an expedition was fitted out in 1728 and placed under the command of Capt. Vitus Behring, who, with a corps of scientists coasted north and through Behring Straits. Behring was not a ven- turesome man, and, after having demonstrated to his own satisfaction that Asia and America were separate continents, he returned to Kamchatka without even having had a glimpse of the American coast. In the Spring of 1729 Behring made an effort to find a coast line east of Kamchatka, but, on account of stress of weather and his natural timidity, turned the head of his vessel for home. But trade, which after all had been as great a factor as science in the discovery and settlement of new lands, was striding onward and had pushed its way into the lands to the northward and eastward. Rumors of a vast unexplored country in the east, constantly received from the Indians, and Behring's report of his voyages, had excited great interest in official circles in Russia, and, in June, 1741, a new expedition consisting of two ves- sels, with Behring in command, started eastward. They shortly became separated, and one of them, arriving off what is now known as Cook's Inlet, met a horrible reception from the Indians, who killed a number of its men, and they beat a retreat and re- turned home. Behring sighted Kaiak Island and lay to, off the coast, but without attempting exploration
PHOTO.ENC.C.D.N.Y.
THE MUIR GLACIER, AMONG THE ICE CAKES. From photograph 7807, by PARTRIDGE, Portland, Ore.
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INTRODUCTORY.
put to sea the next day. Adverse weather came on, the reckoning was lost, and the ship was wrecked on Behring Island, where Behring died. The other members of this part of the expedition reached home after much peril, privation and suffering.
Shortly after these occurrences trade again came to the aid of science. A trader, sailing eastward, dis- covered Attou Island, the most westerly of the Aleut- ian group, and the wealth of goods with which he returned made the islands known to traders and navigators and they soon had a place on the charts. The incentive to discovery was stimulated and the Russians at last reached Oonalaska, and meanwhile, the Spaniards had arrived at Queen Charlotte Islands. In 1775 they had reached as far north as Sitka. In the following year Captain Cook, a wise, yet one of the most adventurous exploring navigators of his time, appeared in these waters. He made no new discoveries, but attempted several explorations and changed many names of places into English nomen- clature. He reached Behring Strait, from whence he returned to the Sandwich Islands, where he was killed, and, so fradition sayeth, cooked and eaten by the natives.
The history of the Alaskan region for the eighty years, dating to the American acquirement, is a sad tale. It is a record of Russian avarice, cruelty and despotism and the most outrageous atrocities by the Russian-American Fur Company, which, having absorbed all the other trading companies and ob- tained the Royal patronage, ruled with an iron hand. License lent zest to cupidity and unrestrained tyr- anny gave full swing to robbery, murder and rapine. International squabbles arose through the presence
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INTRODUCTORY.
of English and other foreign traders and speculators, who were looked upon by the minions of the Russian- American Company as interlopers. The scandal became so great and the protests against the Com- pany's actions so numerous, that, when its charter expired, in 1862, it was refused a further concession, and from that time until the transfer of the Terri- tory to the United States, it had no privileges that were not accorded to all organizations or individuals.
Some of the traders or seal-hunters in the Aleut- ian group made complete and perfect maps from Vancouver's survey of 1793, and adding thereto the surveys and information of many subsequent explor- ers and navigators, sent their maps and other data to capitalists in San Francisco in 1866, with a sug- gestion to purchase the property, consisting of ships and furs, houses, and the acquired rights of the Rus- sian-American Fur Company. A company, called the California-Russia Fur Company, was formed with the late Gen. John F. Miller as its President, Eugene L. Sullivan, Vice President, J. H. Baker as Secretary, and the author of this work as Treasurer, and they forwarded to Washington the first informa- tion on which was based the offer of the United States to purchase Alaska from Russia, which was tendered by Mr. Clay, then our Minister at St. Petersburg. The contract to purchase the holdings of the Russian Company was signed by their agent and the steamer fitted up to go north and make the delivery, but through the treachery of one of the officers of the California Company the contract was canceled and the valuable property turned over to others. The negotiations for the purchase of Alaska were completed on March 30, 1867, and ratified on
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INTRODUCTORY.
the 28th of May following, when it was formally con- veyed to our Government on payment of the sum of seven million, two hundred thousand dollars in gold.
Public opinion was inclined at the time to ridicule that step, but Secretary Seward, with rare foresight, judged the value of the country, and is reported to have said that it might not be in his generation, but at some time the move would be appreciated. It can be seen by a glance at the statistics of the past twenty years the wealth that has been returned to the government, the returns from the fur seal lease to the government from the company now holding it, and the new resources constantly discovered and developed would justify this assertion.
The term "Alaska," by which the extreme north- ern territory of the United States is designated, is a corruption of the aboriginal word, "Al-ak-shak," meaning a great country, or a great continent, which is certainly appropriate when it is considered that Alaska contains nearly six hundred thousand square miles-as great an area as is comprised in the entire. United States, north of Georgia and east of the Mis- sissippi river. Al-ak-shak was the term the early voyagers heard applied to the unknown land, and we find it on French, German and Spanish maps in various forms. Captain Cook was the first to give it a Saxon spelling and pronunciation, in the atlas of his first voyage in 1778. On its purchase by our government, Senator Sumner, who had been warm in his support of Seward's policy, urged the adoption of "Alaska" and it was done.
Meanwhile the failure of the first cable under the Atlantic induced the directors of the Western Union Telegraph Company to attempt the construction of a
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INTRODUCTORY.
telegraph line which, commencing at San Francisco, should traverse Oregon, Washington, British Col- umbia and Alaska; then, crossing Behring Straits by cable, entering eastern Siberia and traveling south, form a junction with the Russian line, which had then reached Amoor.
Many doubts were advanced as to the feasibility of this route, but, in 1865, an expedition under Captain Bulkley left San Francisco. Many miles of line were built through densely timbered country, and finally, after an expenditure of over $3,000,000, the ultimate success of the second Atlantic cable in 1866 put an end to the proceedings in this direction and the expeditions were recalled. Though the primary object of the expedition was not carried out, the benefits resulting to geography and to science in general have been great.
According to the treaty of concession, the south- ern boundary of Alaska lies in the parallel of 54° and 40', and the imaginary line ascends north- , erly along the center of Portland Channel to the Coast Range where it follows the indentations of the coast at a distance of ten leagues until Mt. St. Elias is reached, where the line strikes 141º of west longitude, which then becomes an eastern boundary. Attou Island in the Aleutian group, which is only thirty miles from Asia, is the extreme western point of Alaska, and the vast extent of unexplored ice bars alone the way for the extension of territory in the north. Alaska's extreme breadth from east to west is over two thousand four hundred miles, and from north to south about eighteen hundred miles. .The extreme easterly and northeasterly boundaries are still undefined, the character of the country
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STEAMER ANCON BEHIND AN ICEBERG IN TAKOU INLET. From photograph No. 7741, by PARTRIDGE, Portland, Ore.
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INTRODUCTORY.
being such that 110 surveys have ever been made. Professor Davidson estimates the shore line of Alaska, on its numerous islands, sounds and inlets at thirty thousand miles; more than three times the coast line of the United States on the Atlantic and Pacific south of British Columbia. Congressman Morrow, in his great speech before the American Protective Association, at its banquet held in New York on January 17, 1889, made the statement that, owing to the extreme westerly boundary of Alaska, San Francisco was six hundred miles east of the geographical center of the extreme' eastern and west- ern boundaries of the United States, and therefore San Francisco might be called an eastern rather than a western city.
Alaska is divided into three natural divisions. One, extending northerly from the Alaskan range of mountains which forms the westerly end of the Alaskan Peninsula to the Arctic Ocean, may be called the Yukon division; another, the Aleutian, which embraces the peninsula and islands west of the one hundred and fiftieth degree of longitude. The third may be called the Sitkan, which will include the southeastern portion of Alaska from Dixon Inlet, in latitude 54° 40' north, to Cross Sound.
Northerly from Norton's Sound the great River Yukon with its tributaries covering three thousand miles, and navigable at certain seasons of the year for over two thousand miles, drains the northern portion of Alaska, emptying into Behring Sea a larger volume of water than the Mississippi pours into the Gulf of Mexico. Mining is made practicable and possible in this section of Alaska by crossing the
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INTRODUCTORY.
Chilkat range of perpetual snow, on sleds drawn by dogs, early in the season, and by building rafts or boats and floating down to the mining camps near the head of navigation.
The principal mountains of Alaska and their estimated heights are: Mt. St. Elias, 18,000 feet; Mt. Fairweather, 14,000 feet; Mt. Crillon, 13,500 feet; Iliamna Volcano, 12,000; Redoubt Volcano, 11,300 feet; Alai Volcano, 9,000 feet; Mt. Calder, 9,000 feet; Mt. Shishaldin, 8,955 feet; Goreloi Peak, 8,000 feet; the Romanzoff Mountains, 8,000. The number of volcanic peaks is put down at sixty-one, ten of which show symptoms of activity.
The time has now arrived when the country should have a territorial form of government, with such modification as may be deemed advisable, liberal land laws and such other inducements as will encourage the immigration of a healthful population. In justice to the people of the Territory that irregu- lar and irrational condition of public affairs now existing should end.
This year the lease of the seal fisheries has been sold to the highest bidder. It matters but little which company has possession of the exclusive right to take seals, as it is a wise provision to prevent a complete annihilation of the seal-bearing animals of the Aleutian group, and it is undoubtedly to the interest of the government that this valuable source of revenue should be thus protected. Reasons for this are obvious and many, and it is of vital importance to certain communities of Alaska's people, but no private company, whatever the man- agement of that company, should hold supreme sway over, or a controlling interest in any domain
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INTRODUCTORY.
inhabited by citizens of the United States and under its flag.
A convention, held at Juneau, on November 5, 1889, formulated a memorial, which is now before Congress, asking that the Territory be allowed a delegate in that body, that the homestead laws be extended to Alaska in a modified form, that timber- cutting laws be passed for the Territory and that a commission be created for the purpose of forming a code of laws for Alaska. There is nothing unreason- able in this. Some special legislation is essential owing to the anomalous conditions of the country geographically, and her queer people, but there are in the Territory law abiding, patriotic people in sufficient numbers to govern themselves under ade- quate and fixed laws, and with a delegate in Congress to explain its wants and speak for its people.
Land and timber laws are an absolute necessity. The land taken up, that is, what is occupied, is held under precarious conditions, the people being able to get no titles to their claims and living in a con- sequent state of insecurity. The lands are valuable and the people should be secured in their possession of them. Under the existing regulations there is no provision by which the people can make use of the timber about them. When these things are altered and a good and stable government takes the place of the present imperfect judicial form and corporation rule in the Territory, immigration will be encour- aged and attracted to this section, but not before.
I regret that the present administration seems not entirely in accord with the people on this subject, but Congress should early take up the matter of the
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INTRODUCTORY.
wants and needs of Alaska, and grant the wishes of the people to which they, as citizens of the United States, clearly are entitled.
The chapters that follow will give the reader a glimpse of the wonderful grandeur of that curious formation of islands, made up by the maze of pas- sages and channels known as the Inland Passage; they will also give a brief and concise account of the native races, with their habits, customs, supersti- tions and primitive religion; will inform him some- what as to the natural history of the Territory, and will acquaint him with the mission and school work at Metlakatla, Sitka and elsewhere, giving informa- tion of the great extent of the fisheries, the wonderful mines, the development of numerous other resources and the bright future in prospect for this-Uncle Sam's great northern domain.
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CHAPTER II. CITIES OF THE GREAT NORTHWEST.
BEAUTIFUL MOUNTAIN SCENERY .- MT. HOOD-MT. TACOMA. - PORTLAND. - TACOMA. - SEATTLE. - PORT TOWNSEND. - VICTORIA .- VANCOUVER, THE TERMINUS OF THE CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILROAD.
PORTLAND.
HE cities of the extreme north west-those products of a phenominal growth- have. surely, a claim upon our attention. Should the tour- ist return home without hav- ing visited these pushing towns, he would be regarded as one whose opportunities for observation were large, yet cne who had taken no favorable cognizance thereof; so, glancing at them as we go, Portland is the first upon our route.
It is a second San Francisco, with all its push, vigor, peculiarities of nationalities and strength of local position. Portland is American in her growth, progress, public schools, wharves, churches and modern improvements. She is the metropolis of Oregon, the railroad feeder, the supply center and wholesale mart of Oregon, Washington and Idaho.
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PORTLAND-TACOMA.
The city is located upon the Willamette river, about twelve miles from its confluence with the Columbia. It stands upon a level strip of area on the west bank of the river, along which it extends for several miles, reaching back upon the slopes to the "Heights," two precipitous bluffs, from which can be observed the wide extent of the surrounding country, for, when one looks to the east or north his vision takes in that scope of territory embraced by the picturesque Cascade range of mountains.
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