USA > Alaska > Alaska, the great country > Part 11
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This delicate and beautiful work is, like the Thlinkit and Chilkaht basket, in simple twined weaving. The warp hangs loose from the rude loom, and the wool is woven upward, as in Attu and Haidah basketry.
The owner of one of the old Chilkaht blankets pos- sesses a treasure beyond price. The demand has cheap- ened the quality of those of the present day; but those of Baranoff's time were marvels of skill and coloring, considering that Indian women's dark hands were the only shuttles.
Black, white, yellow, and a peculiar blue are the colors most frequently observed in these blankets; and a deep, rich red is becoming more common than formerly. A wide black, or dark, band usually surrounds them,
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border-wise, and a fringe as wide as the blanket falls magnificently from the bottom ; a narrower one from the sides.
The old and rare ones were from a yard and a half to two yards long. The modern ones are much smaller, and may be obtained as low as seventy-five dollars. The designs greatly resemble those of the Haidah hats and basketry.
The full face, with flaring nostrils, small eyes, and ferocious display of teeth, is the bear; the eye which appears in all places and in all sizes is that of the thunder- bird, or, with the Haidahs, the sacred raven.
There is an Indian mission, named Klukwan, at the head of the inlet.
The Chilkahts were governed by chiefs and sub-chiefs. At the time of the transfer "Kohklux" was the great chief of the region. He was a man of powerful will and determined character. He wielded a strong influence over his tribes, who believed that he bore a charmed life. He was friendly to Americans and did everything in his power to assist Professor George Davidson, who went to the head of Lynn Canal in 1869 to observe the solar total eclipse.
The Indians apparently placed no faith in Professor Davidson's announcement of approaching darkness in the middle of the day, however, and when the eclipse really occurred, they fled from him, as from a devil, and sought the safety of their mountain fastnesses.
The passes through these mountains they had held from time immemorial against all comers. The Indians of the vast interior regions and those of the coast could trade only through the Chilkahts-the scornful aristo- crats and powerful autocrats of the country.
CHAPTER XIII
COMING out of Chilkaht Inlet and passing around Seduction Point into Chilkoot Inlet, Katschin River is seen flowing in from the northeast. The mouth of this river, like that of the Chilkaht, spreads into exten- sive flats, making the channel very narrow at this point.
Across the canal lies Haines Mission, where, in 1883, Lieutenant Schwatka left his wife to the care of Doctor and Mrs. Willard, while he was absent on his exploring expedition down the Yukon.
The Willards were in charge of this mission, which was maintained by the Presbyterian Board of Missions, until some trouble arose with the Indians over the death of a child, to whom the Willards had administered medicines.
" Crossing the Mission trail," writes Lieutenant Schwatka, " we often traversed lanes in the grass, which here was fully five feet high, while, in whatever direc- tion the eye might look, wild flowers were growing in the greatest profusion. Dandelions as big as asters, buttercups twice the usual size, and violets rivalling the products of cultivation in lower latitudes were visible around. It produced a singular and striking contrast to raise the eyes from this almost tropical luxuriance, and allow them to rest on Alpine hills, covered halfway down their shaggy sides with the snow and glacier ice, and with cold mist condensed on their crowns. . . Berries and berry blossoms grew in a profusion and
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variety which I have never seen equalled within the same limits in lower latitudes."
This was early in June. Here the lieutenant first made the acquaintance of the Alaska mosquito and gnat, neither of which is to be ignored, and may be propitiated by good red blood only ; also, the giant devil's-club, which he calls devil's-sticks. He was informed that this nettle was formerly used by the shamans, or medicine- men, as a prophylactic against witchcraft, applied ex- ternally.
The point of this story will be appreciated by all who have come in personal contact with this plant, so tropical in appearance when its immense green leaves are spread out flat and motionless in the dusk of the forest.
From Chilkoot Inlet the steamer glides into Taiya In- let, which leads to Skaguay. Off this inlet are many glaciers, the finest of which is Ferebee.
Chilkoot Inlet continues to the northwestward. Chil- koot River flows from a lake of the same name into the inlet. There are an Indian village and large canneries on the inlet.
Taiya Inlet leads to Skaguay and Dyea. It is a nar- row water-way between high mountains which are covered nearly to their crests with a heavy growth of cedar and spruce. They are crowned, even in summer, with snow, which flows down their fissures and canyons in small but beautiful glaciers, while countless cascades foam, spar- kling, down to the sea, or drop sheer from such great heights that the beholder is bewildered by their slow, never ceasing fall.
Here, - at the mouth of the Skaguay River, with moun- tains rising on all sides and the green waters of the inlet pushing restlessly in front; with its pretty cottages climbing over the foot-hills, and with well-worn, flower- strewn paths enticing to the heights ; with the Skaguay's
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waters winding over the grassy flats like blue ribbons ; with flower gardens beyond description and boxes in every window scarlet with bloom ; with cascades making liquid and most sweet music by day and irresistible lullabies by night, and with snow peaks seeming to float directly over the town in the upper pearl-pink atmosphere-is Skag- uay, the romantic, the marvellous, the town which grew from a dozen tents to a city of fifteen thousand people almost in a night, in the golden year of ninety-eight.
I could not sleep in Skaguay for the very sweetness of the July night. A cool lavender twilight lingered until eleven o'clock, and then the large moon came over the mountains, first outlining their dark crests with fire ; then throbbing slowly on from peak to peak - bringing irre- sistibly to mind the lines : -
"Like a great dove with silver wings Stretched, quivering o'er the sea, The moon her glistening plumage brings And hovers silently."
The air was sweet to enchantment with flowers; and all night long through my wide-open window came the far, dreamy, continuons music of the water-falls.
On all the Pacific Coast there is not a more interesting, or a more profitable, place in which to make one's head- quarters for the summer, than Skaguay. More side trips may be made, with less expenditure of time and money, from this point than from any other. Launches may be hired for expeditions down Lynn Canal and up the inlets, - whose unexploited splendors may only be seen in this way; to the Mendenhall, Davidson, Denver, Bertha, and countless smaller glaciers ; to Haines, Fort Seward, Pyra- mid Harbor, and Seduction Point ; while by canoe, horse, or his own good legs, one may get to the top of Mount
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Dewey and to Dewey Lake; up Face Mountain ; to Dyea ; and many hunting grounds where mountain sheep, bear, goat, ptarmigan, and grouse are plentiful.
The famous White Pass railway - which was built in eighteen months by the "Three H's," Heney, Hawkins, and Hislop, and which is one of the most wonderful en- gineering feats of the world - may be taken for a trip which is, in itself, worth going a thousand miles to enjoy. Every mile of the way is historic ground - not only to those who toiled over it in 'ninety-seven and 'ninety-eight, bent almost to the ground beneath their burdens, but to the whole world, as well. The old Brackett wagon road ; White Pass City ; the "summit"; Bennett Lake; Lake Lindeman ; White Horse Rapids ; Grand Canyon ; Por- cupine Ridge - to whom do these names not stand for tragedy and horror and broken hearts ?
The town of Skaguay itself is more historic than any other point. Here the steamers lightered or floated ashore men, horses, and freight. "You pay your money and you take your chance," the paraphrase went in those days. Many a man saw every dollar he had in provisions -and often it was a grubstake, at that -sink to the bottom of the canal before his eyes. Others saw their outfits soaked to ruin with salt water. For those who landed safely, there were horrors yet to come.
And here, between these mountains, in this wind-racked canyon, the town of Skaguay grew; from one tent to hundreds in a day, from hundreds to thousands in a week; from tents to shacks, from shacks to stores and saloons. Here "Soapy " Smith and his gang of outlaws and murderers operated along the trail; here he was killed ; here is his dishonored grave, between the moun- tains which will not endure longer than the tale of his desperate crimes, and his desperate expiation.
Not the handsome style of man that one would expect
L
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of such a bold and daring robber was "Soapy." No flashing black eyes, heavy black hair, and long black mus- tache made him " a living flame among women," as Rex Beach would put it. Small, spare, insignificant in ap- pearance, it has been said that he looked more like an ill- paid frontier minister than the head of a lawless and desperate gang of thieves.
His "spotters " were scattered along the trail all the way to Dawson. They knew what men were "going in," what ones " coming out," "heeled." Such men were al- ways robbed; if not on the road, then after reaching Skaguay ; when they could not safely, or easily, be robbed alive, they were robbed dead. It made no difference to "Soapy " or his gang of men and women. It was a reign of terror in that new, unknown, and lawless land.
There is nothing in Skaguay to-day - unless it be the sinking grave of "Soapy" Smith, which is not found by every one - to suggest the days of the gold rush, to the transient visitor. It is a quiet town, where law and order prevail. It is built chiefly on level ground, with a few very long streets -running out into the alders, balms, spruces, and cottonwoods, growing thickly over the river's flats.
In all towns in Alaska the stores are open for business on Sunday when a steamer is in. If the door of a curio- store, which has tempting baskets or Chilkaht blankets displayed in the window, be found locked, a dozen small boys shout as one, "Just wait a minute, lady. Propri'- tor's on the way now. He just stepped out for breakfast. Wait a minute, lady."
We arrived at Skaguay early on a Sunday morning, and were directed to the "'bus " of the leading hotel. We rode at least a mile before reaching it. We found it to be a wooden structure, four or five stories in height; the large office was used as a kind of general living-room as well.
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The rooms were comfortable and the table excellent. The proprietress grows her own vegetables and flowers, and keeps cows, chickens, and sheep, to enrich her table.
About ten o'clock in the forenoon we went to the sta- tion to have our trunks checked to Dawson. The doors stood open. We entered and passed from room to room. There was no one in sight. The square ticket window was closed.
We hammered upon it and upon every closed door. There was no response. We looked up the stairway, but it had a personal air. There are stairways which seem to draw their steps around them, as a duchess does her furs, and to give one a look which says, " Do not take liber- ties with me !"- while others seem to be crying, " Come up; come up ! " to every passer-by. I have never seen a stairway that had the duchess air to the degree that the one in the station at Skaguay has it. If any one doubts, let him saunter around that station until he finds the stairway and then take a good look at it.
We went outside, and I, being the questioner of the party, asked a man if the ticket office would be open that day.
He squared around, put his hands in his pockets, bent his wizened body backward, and gave a laugh that echoed down the street.
" God bless your soul, lady," said he, "on Sunday ! Only an extry goes out on Sundays, to take round-trip tourists to the summit and back while the steamer waits. To-day's extry has gone."
" Yes," said I, mildly but firmly, "but we are going to Dawson to-morrow. Our train leaves at nine o'clock, and there will be so many to get tickets signed and baggage checked -"
He gave another laugh.
"Don't you worry, lady. Take life easy, the way we
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do here. If we miss one train, we take the next - unless we miss it, too!" He laughed again.
At that moment, bowing and smiling in the window of the ticket office, appeared a man - the nicest man!
" Will you see him bow !" gasped my friend. " Is he bowing at us ? Why - are you bowing back ?"
" Of course I am."
" What on earth does he want ?"
" He wants to be nice to us," I replied; and she followed me inside.
The nice face was smiling through the little square window.
" I was upstairs," he said -ah, he had descended by way of the "Duchess," "and I heard you rapping on windows and doors"- the smile deepened, " so I came down to see if I could serve you."
We related our woes ; we got our tickets signed and our baggage checked ; had all our questions answered - and they were not few - and the following morning ate our breakfast at our leisure and were greatly edified by our fellow-travellers' wild scramble to get their bills paid and to reach the station in time to have their baggage checked.
VALDEZ
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Photo by P. S. Hunt
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CHAPTER XIV
SAILING down Lynn Canal, Chatham Strait, and the nar- row, winding Peril Strait, the sapphire-watered and exquisitely islanded Bay of Sitka is entered from the north. Six miles above the Sitka of to-day a large wooden cross marks the site of the first settlement, the scene of the great massacre.
On one side are the heavily and richly wooded slopes of Baranoff Island, crested by many snow-covered peaks which float in the higher primrose mist around the bay; on the other, water avenues- growing to paler, silvery blue in the distance - wind in and out among the green islands to the far sea, glimpses of which may be had; while over all, and from all points for many miles, the round, deeply cratered dome of Edgecumbe shines white and glistening in the sunlight. It is the superb feature of the landscape; the crowning glory of a scene that would charm even without it.
Mount Edgecumbe is the home of Indian myth and legend-as is Nass River to the southeastward. In appearance, it is like no other mountain. It is only eight thousand feet in height, but it is so round and symmetri- cal, it is so white and sparkling, seen either from the ocean or from the inner channels, and its crest is sunken so evenly into an unforgettable crater, that it instantly impresses upon the beholder a kind of personality among mountains.
In beauty, in majesty, in sublimity, it neither approaches
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nor compares with twenty other Alaskan mountains which I have seen ; but, like the peerless Shishaldin, to the far westward, it stands alone, distinguished by its unique features from all its sister peaks.
Not all the streams of lava that have flowed down its sides for hundreds of years have dulled its brilliance or marred its graceful outlines.
I have searched Vancouver's chronicles, expecting to fined Edgecumbe described as " a mountain having a very elegant hole in the top," - to match his "elegant fork " ou Mount Olympus of Puget Sound.
Peril Strait is a dangerous reach leading in sweeping curves from Chatham Strait to Salisbury Sound. It is the watery dividing line between Chichagoff and Baranoff islands. It has two narrows, where the rapids at certain stages of the tides are most dangerous.
Upon entering the strait from the east, it is found to be wide and peaceful. It narrows gradually until it finally reaches, in its forty-mile windings, a width of less than a hundred yards.
There are several islands in Peril Strait : Fairway and Trader's at the entrance; Broad and Otstoi on the star- board ; Pouverstoi, Elovoi, Rose, and Kane. Between Otstoi and Pouverstoi islands is Deadman's Reach. Here are Peril Point and Poison Cove, where Baranoff lost a hundred Aleuts by their eating of poisonous mussels in 1799. For this reason the Russians gave it the name, Pogibshi, which, interpreted, means " Destruction," instead of the " Perni- cious " or " Peril " of the present time.
Deadman's Reach is as perilous for its reefs as for its mussels. Hoggatt Reef, Dolph Rock, Ford Rock, Elovoi Island, and Krugloi Reef are all dangerous obstacles to navigation, making this reach as interestingly exciting as it is beautiful.
Fierce tides race through Sergius Narrows, and steamers
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going to and from Sitka are guided by the careful calcu- lation of their masters, that they may arrive at the narrows at the favorable stage of the tides. Bores, racing several feet high, terrific whirlpools, and boiling geysers make it impossible for vessels to approach when the tides are at their worst. This is one of the most dangerous reaches in Alaska.
Either Rose or Adams Channel may be used going to Sitka, but the latter is the favorite.
Kakul Narrows leads into Salisbury Sound; but the Sitkan steamers barely enter this sound ere they turn to the southeastward into Neva Strait. It was named by Portlock for the Marquis of Salisbury.
Entrance Island rises between Neva Strait and St. John the Baptist Bay. There are both coal and marble in the latter bay.
Halleck Island is completely surrounded by Nakwasina Passage and Olga Strait, joining into one grand canal of uniform width.
All these narrow, tortuous, and perilous water-ways wind around the small islands that lie between Baranoff Island on the east and Kruzoff Island on the west. Baranoff is one hundred and thirty miles long and as wide as thirty miles in places. Kruzoff Island is small, but its southern extremity, lying directly west of Sitka, shelters that favored place from the storms of the Pacific.
Whitestone Narrows in the southern end of Neva Strait is extremely narrow and dangerous, owing to sunken rocks. Deep-draught vessels cannot enter at low tide, but must await the favorable half-hour.
Sitka Sound is fourteen miles long and from five to eight wide. It is more exquisitely islanded than any other bay in the world ; and after passing the site of Bara- noff's first settlement and Old Sitka Rocks, the steamer's course leads through a misty emerald maze. Sweeping
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slowly around the green shore of one island, a dozen others dawn upon the beholder's enraptured vision, frequently appearing like a solid wall of green, which presently parts to let the steamer slide through, - when, at once, another dazzling vista opens to the view.
Before entering Sitka Sound, Halleck, Partoffs-Chigoff, and Krestoff are the more important islands; in Sitka Sound, Crow, Apple, and Japonski. The latter island is world-famous. It is opposite, and very near, the town; it is about a mile long, and half as wide ; its name, " Japan," was bestowed because, in 1805, a Japanese junk was wrecked near this island, and the crew was forced to dwell upon it for weeks. It is greenly and gracefully draped with cedar and spruce trees, and is an object of much interest to tourists.
Around Japonski cluster more than a hundred small islands of the Harbor group; in the whole sound there are probably a thousand, but some are mere green or rocky dots floating upon the pale blue water.
A magnetic and meteorological observatory was estab- lished on Japonski by the Russians and was maintained until 1867.
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Copyright by E. A. Hegg, Juneau
Courtesy of Webster & Stevens, Seattle
AN ALASKAN ROAD HOUSE
CHAPTER XV
THE Northwest Coast of America extended from Juan de Fuca's Strait to the sixtieth parallel of north latitude. Under the direction of the powerful mind of Peter the Great explorations in the North Pacific were planned. He wrote the following instructions with his own hand, and ordered the Chief Admiral, Count Fedor Apraxin, to see that they were carried into execution : -
First. - One or two boats, with decks, to be built at Kamchatka, or at any other convenient place, with which
Second. - Inquiry should be made in relation to the northerly coasts, to see whether they were not contiguous with America, since their end was not known. And this done, they should
Third. - See whether they could not somewhere find an harbor belonging to Europeans, or an European ship. They should likewise set apart some men who were to inquire after the name and situation of the coasts dis- covered. Of all this an exact journal should be kept, with which they should return to St. Petersburg.
Before these instructions could be carried out, Peter the Great died.
His Empress, Catherine, however, faithfully carried out his plans.
The first expedition set out in 1725, under the com- mand of Vitus Behring, a Danish captain in the Russian service, with Lientenants Spanberg and Chirikoff as assistants. They carried several officers of inferior rank ;
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also seamen and ship-builders. Boats were to be built at Kamchatka, and they started overland through Siberia on February the fifth of that year. Owing to many trials and hardships, it was not until 1728 that Behring sailed along the eastern shore of the peninsula, passing and naming St. Lawrence Island, and on through Behring Strait. There, finding that the coast turned westward, his natural conclusion was that Asia and America were not united, and he returned to Kamchatka. In 1734, under the patronage of the Empress Elizabeth, Peter the Great's daughter, a second expedition made ready; but owing to insurmountable difficulties, it was not until Sep- tember, 1740, that Behring and Chirikoff set sail in the packet-boats St. Peter and St. Paul - Behring command- ing the former -from Kamchatka. They wintered at Avatcha on the Kamchatkan Peninsula, where a few buildings, including a church, were hastily erected, and to which the name of Petropavlovsk was given.
On June 4, 1741, the two ships finally set sail on their eventful voyage - how eventful to us of the United States we are only, even now, beginning to realize. They were accompanied by Lewis de Lisle de Croyere, professor of astronomy, and Georg Wilhelm Steller, natu- ralist.
Müller, the historian, and Gmelin, professor of chem- istry and natural history, also volunteered in 1733 to accompany the expedition ; but owing to the long delay, and ill-health arising from arduous labors in Kamchatka, they were compelled to permit the final expedition to de- part without them.
On the morning of June 20, the two ships became separated in a gale and never again sighted one an- other. Chirikoff took an easterly course, and to him, on the fifteenth of July, fell, by chance, the honor of the first discovery of land on the American continent, oppo-
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site Kamchatka, in 55° 21'. Here he lost two boatloads of seamen whom he sent ashore for investigation, and whose tragic fate may only be guessed from the appearance of savages later, upon the shore.
That the first Russians landing upon the American continent should have met with so horrible a fate as theirs is supposed to have been, has been considered by the superstitious as an evil omen. The first boat sent ashore contained ten armed sailors and was commanded by the mate, Abraham Mikhailovich Dementief. The latter is described as a capable young man, of distinguished family, of fine personal appearance, and of kind heart, who, having suffered from an unfortunate love affair, had offered him- self to serve his country in this most hazardous expedi- tion. They were furnished with provisions and arms, including a small brass cannon, and given a code of sig- nals by Chirikoff, by which they might communicate with the ship. The boat reached the shore and passed behind a point of land. For several days signals which were supposed to indicate that the party was alive and well, were observed rising at intervals. At last, however, great anxiety was experienced by those on board lest the boat should have sustained damage in some way, making it impossible for the party to return. On the fifth day another boat was sent ashore with six men, including a carpenter and a calker. They effected a landing at the same place, and shortly afterward a great smoke was ob- served, pushing its dark curls upward above the point of land behind which the boats had disappeared.
The following morning two boats were discovered put- ting off from the shore. There was great rejoicing on the ship, for the night had been passed in deepest anxiety, and without further attention to the boats, preparations were hastily made for immediate sailing. Soon, however, to the dread and horror of all, it was discovered that the
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