USA > Alaska > Peerless Alaska, our cache near the pole > Part 2
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and steamboats plying hither and yon-all significant of energetic industry and a prosperous future. It is said that a hundred steamboats ply the waters of the sound.
But the speculative tourist, looking far beyond, Alaska- ward, is not content to abide. Victoria, the entrepot of British Columbia, claims direct attention, and there is not a surer refuge or resting place for the sea-worn and wayfar- ing than the land-locked basin which forms its harbor. While the good ship which is to take us onward waits at her dock, and the purser and steward are making out their lists, we have two days on shore to see the town. There is a commodious hotel, called the " Driard," where the most exacting guest can be made comfortable. It is quite up to the modern standard, built of stone, and occupies half a square ; containing within its walls a creditable Opera House, which alone cost $50,000 to construct. Its landlord is a dapper Louisiana Frenchman, acquainted with every body in the two countries, and therefore a companionable host for strangers to meet, having no race prejudices and providing plenty to eat. [Burnt now and landlord dead. ] dead. ]
This far-western city is as substantial as it is charming. Started originally as a fur company's post, and afterward boomed into importance by the Fraser River mining excite- ment of 1858, time has proved that other than even extran- eous causes have contributed to its prosperity and growth. All the steamer lines of the Province center at Victoria, whence they reach all coast ports where settlements have been made, and penetrate far into the interior by ascending the Fraser River and other water-ways ; and trade increases constantly in proportion as the tributary settlements and industries expand. The flags were all at half mast the day I arrived, in commemoration of the Grant obsequies, and my heart warmed toward the good people for their respect shown to our great captain. Travelers say the town is intensely English in its composition. If so, it has a warm corner for its neighbors, and the "English of it" is good will. A considerable portion of the town-site has been set aside and designated as " Beacon Hill Park," with winding drives, gentle undulations, conspicuous eminences, majes- tic trees, and a wonderful outlook toward the seas where some small earthworks and great guns frown imperiously ; but to me the entire location seemed like a natural park, with its numerous bridges and points of rock, its pictur- esque bays and inlets, its islands and bits of beach, its clusters of trees and luxuriant gardens, every eminence crowned with a modern villa every cove cuddling a cosy
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cottage, and all the well-built business blocks occupying a curve of the land-locked harbor, constituting a picture of solid comfort and natural beauty which grew more and more attractive as it became familiar. There was just enough shipping to give the place an air of importance- some square-rigged vessels, some steamers, and a few old hulks which were well nigh past service. Here lay the old Hudson Bay steamer " Beaver," which crossed the ocean in 1832. It is said she has cheese aboard now which she brought then. Here was the " Otter," which laid the sub- marine cable, and the " Wilson G. Hunt," once plying in New York waters. Up the gorge, where the tide flows furiously, except at slack and flood, is a famous place for catching sea-trout with rod and fly. Everywhere about the bay Indian canoes were plying, and there were groups of tents on shore, with hectic salmon spread on neighboring rocks to dry. The dusky groups carelessly disposed about the grass, men, women, and children, in motley dress, sit- ting on native mats, and skins of mountain goats, knitting, mending clothes, plaiting baskets, lounging, or lazily turn- ing the half-cured fish, resemble a gypsy camp or holiday picnic, so civilized are their appearance and surroundings. Few visible traces of aboriginal barbarism remain, only some rude lip ornament, or cherished habit almost obsolete, or amulet, or knick-knack, transmitted from their remote progenitors. Red, black and yellow colors predominate in their rustic fancy,-yellow scarfs for the head or neck, red for shawls or jackets, and black for frocks and skirts of women. In the city streets we see the girls in pairs loll up to the shop windows with the easy abandon of habitues, laughing outright with delight at the glittering objects dis- played, as much enraptured and absorbed as a cat in catnip. Three generations of intercourse with white people whose policy has been justice and humanity and tempered with firmness, have won their confidence. They were treated kindly from the start, and no white man was permitted to do them an injustice without being punished for his conduct.
At the same time they were made to understand that they were equally amenable to wrong doing. They were also given employment in pursuits suited to their proclivities and aptitude, which brought them food, trinkets, and cloth- ing they had before been destitute of, whereby they learned the value of friendly relations with the new-comers. Hence- forth we shall find them an omnipresent quantity along the coast, varying somewhat in features, habits, disposition and intelligence, but all well-disposed and tractable. Here in
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Victoria the tourist can pick up much information of Alaska, together with curios, photographs of scenery, maps of route and itineraries, not to omit a " Chinook " dictionary which will be useful to him at all times, and indispensable if he wishes to make the most of his opportunities to trade with the natives and learn the ways of the people ; all of which he can buy cheaper for cash than up the coast.
The most interesting and æsthetic part of Victoria is the Chinese quarter, which is a cleanly business suburb of solid red brick blocks, with buildings two and three stories high ornamented with green verandas. Some of the stories and shops are very spacious, with superb fittings of gilt, tapestry and carved work, comprising stocks of general merchandise, drugs, spices and specialties. One of these Chinamen is said to own real estate within the limits worth $200,000. I took occasion to go through all parts of their reserve, into their theaters, joss houses and houses of pleasure, into their opium joints and their squalid and poverty-worn tenements where a dozen persons are herded together in a sin- gle room, and was compelled to change the impression which I had formed from popular hear-say. The worst I saw was not half as foul and repulsive as the slums of some populous eastern cities, outside of New York. They have a comforta- ble building where they board and lodge their kinsfolk when they first arrive, or when sick, or out of work, or on a visit from the interior. It is a sort of hotel-hospital. There are no Chinese beggars, for " John " takes care of his own in purse and person, and will even return their dead bodies to China, if desired. The impression that the return of dead Chinamen is imperative, is a myth, and absurd on the face of it ; but the prejudiced will believe any thing. I found them engaged in every kind of occupation, except the very highest, and was amazed at their general thrift, sobriety, and intelligence. The policy of the Canadians to- ward these Mongolians is much more liberal than ours,-as it has been with the Indians,-and in course of time they will surely profit by it. In British Columbia the occidental section of the Flowery Kingdom blooms and blossoms as the rose-a tea rose, as it were, whose fine points, not all of thorns, might be studied with advantage if we would only take the cue. But it is whispered in the inner chamber that the days of the cue are numbered. The conditions of a mighty dispensation are about to be fulfilled. The time is near at hand when the Chinese will be at liberty to cut off their cues and dispense with their large sleeves.
They say that according to a prophecy in one of their
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sacred books, the reigning dynasty that imposed, centuries ago, the custom of dress now in vogue, will come to an end, and the new government will make the abolishment of both permissible-an act devoutly hailed by Chinamen. Thence- forth, these insignia of race distinctions will not be any more imperatively imposed. Obstacles to naturalization and American citizenship will be removed. Indeed, the days of immunity are already being anticipated, and scores of Chinese here and in the United States are taking out papers. Leading celestials assert that the movement will soon be- come general, and that most of their people in the south- west will soon proceed to become American citizens and permanent residents ; that they will then bring over their wives and children and spend their earnings here ; and that all the money which has hitherto been sent abroad for their support will be " blowed into " the treasury of the United States. Truly, the patience and long-suffering of the " heathen," in consequence of their two-fold religious and political disabilities, are worthy of admiration. For a free country such inflictions are hard to bear.
It was at Victoria that I first noticed that exuberance of vegetation which surprised me still more when I reached Alaska. The maple leaves were larger than I could span ; alders grew into trees ; fruit-trees broke under the weight of fruitage ; honeysuckles grew rank, and moss clung to the trees in great masses ; ferns were several feet in length ; water melons as big as a barrel ; growing pines ran up into the air indefinitely. Everything on this coast is gigantic, from the rocks and mountains and " big trees" to the Chinese immigration, the forest fires, and the ambition of the politicians. No wonder that the people of the Pacific coast claim to be the most favored in the world ; they ab- sorb the beneficence of the Creator.
Three miles from Victoria, at Esquimault, there is a naval station, with arsenal, hospital, dock-yard, and powder mag- azine, the latter located on an island. The dry-dock is sub- stantially built of concrete faced with sandstone, and will cost when fully completed a half million of dollars. The harbor is one of the deepest and securest in the world.
ITINERARY .- CONTINUED.
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It is no small task to equip and provision a steamer, car- rying two hundred persons, and get her under way for a month ; but finally all the pigs, and poultry, and cabbages, and crates of fruit, and ice, and carcasses of beef, are trun- dled aboard and stowed conveniently for the steward's daily deal ; the sheep and hay are snugly housed between decks, and the last reluctant steer is forced up the gangway by a twist of the tail so excruciating that it wrings out a sugges- tion of ox-tail soup for next day's bill of fare. Then the hawsers are cast off, and the good ship swings bravely into the stream on the hope of her new departure-bound for Alaska.
First, there is an eight hour's run of 70 miles to the Brit- ish port of Nanaimo for coal, in the course of which, if the atmosphere be clear, the snow-clad peaks of the Cascade range of mountains will appear like a crystal rampart across the sea. There is a succession of them, rising one above the other, and looking as unreal and ethereal as a vision of fairy-land. Enchantment of the voyage begins at the very threshold of departure, and the first outlook is exhilarating with satisfying promise. Nanaimo is the headquarters of the Vancouver Coal Company, and the distributing depot of a large coal district. The coal areas of this province are widely spread, of whose product San Francisco alone takes 150,000 tons per annum. Departure Bay and Nanaimo are twin harbors connected by a deep narrow channel of ample width for navigation. The town lies along the bay, with streets quite irregular in conformity with the sinuosities of the indented shore line. A dense and continuous pine for- est, underlaid by coal measures, occupies the back ground. There is an octagonal block house three stories high, which years ago did duty for the Hudson Bay Fur Company. Hence, through the picturesque Strait of Georgia to the head of Vancouver, 300 miles or more, there are islands all the way, with a good deal of scrub cedar and fir ; now and then a farm house and clearing. Every body on board the steamer busily studies charts, picking out the course of the
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ship in advance, and locating her hourly whereabouts. Hour after hour there succeeds an alternation of deep narrow channels hemmed in by mountains, and long reaches of open water which glisten with the scintillations of the sun. Deep bays reach far into the land, and projecting points invite the lambent breezes of the sea. Here and there are shoals with warning beacons, and tide-rips churned by counter-currents into foam, into which if a vessel without steam be caught, she drifts on dangers, powerless to escape. Of such mischances we see some victims now and then high and dry on sunken reefs, keeled over. Sometimes, when running close to land the jutting ledges seem about to pour their leaping waterfalls bodily upon the deck, and over- reaching boughs almost brush the taffrail as we pass. All the shores are lined with drift-wood and stranded trunks of enormous trees, weather-worn and naked. The average rise of tide is eighteen feet, and on the ebb and flow, its velocity through the narrow channels reaches nine miles an hour, so that vessels have to make intelligent forecast of time of tide, of fogs, and hours of moonlight. To attempt the passage except on flood and slack is to court destruc- tion, for although the mean depth of water is sometimes seventy fathoms, the tortuous straits are filled with hidden rocks. The first and worst of these is "Seymour Rapids," a passage less than a quarter of a mile wide, about nine hours run from Nanaimo ; and here in the awful swell and vortex which lashes each broken shore with the rage of Niagara's whirlpools, the U. S. man of War " Saranac " went down, shivered on a sunken rock; and in the self-same place, by an extraordinary coincidence of mischances, the steamer " Grappler " was burned and sunk. She was carry- ing Chinese coolies, of whom seventy vainly struggled momentarily with the surging waves, and disappeared ; but they do say that their bodies periodically come to the sur- face, and pitch about the eddies, with pigtails streaming wildly in their wake, though the more matter-of-fact opinion is that the objects seen are only strings of kelp drifting on the tide. Other dangerous passages are Grenville Strait and Peril Strait. For the rest, the journey is at present without risk or peradventure, and with ordinary seaman- ship and prudence, depending much upon experienced pilots, may be made with less discomfort than the pas- sage of Long Island Sound; for the sweep of the ocean blasts seldom reaches these sheltered by-ways. Fogs are chronic, however, for eight months of the year, and apt to occur at early morning, all the summer long, though they
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do not interrupt travel ; for navigators have learned to evoke the echoes from the enfilading walls and headlands by resonant blasts of the steam whistle, and so estimate their courses, whereabouts, and distances.
By the time passengers have been two or three days at sea, they get to know many of the tricks of the ship, as well as of their fellow-voyagers. They have topics in common which promote familiar intercourse ; and so, between the scenery, the log, the bill of fare, and themselves, they find strong ties of mutual sympathy. Furthermore, the sailors had a bear aboard, named " Pete," which was raised on bilge water and was very tame; a black setter, a companion of the bear ; a toy terrier ; and a fine tom-cat; all of whose intellects had been largely developed by their association with tourists and shipmates. I know of no better training- school for bears than a voyage of this kind.
From the head of Vancouver Island to the Alaskan frontier, the coast maintains the same indented and tortuous line, flanked by innumerable islands. The mountains gradually increase in height, and at Grenville Narrows they rise to fully 3,000 feet, directly out of the sea ; some of them with snowy peaks, and numerous water-falls tumbling from their aerial reservoirs, but wooded at the base with conifers. As the civilization of this region is mainly apart from the route of the steamer, and unseen by tourists who imagine it all unsettled, I venture to prompt the reader from the pages of the West Shore Magazine, so that erron- eous impressions may not obtain. Some may be astonished at the proficiency of the Indians, not long since savage.
We read : "The population of this region is chiefly In- dian, and they are both intelligent and industrious ; per- forming nearly all the labor of the two industries-salmon canning and lumbering-which have gained a foothold there. In going north, Rivers Inlet is the first reached where industries have been established. At its head is sit- uated the village of Weekeeno. On the inlet are two sal- mon canneries and a saw-mill. Bella Coola is situated at the head of Burke Channel, on the North Bentinck Arm. It is the site of a Hudson's Bay company post, and years ago was the landing place for the Cariboo mines. Bella Coola River is a considerable stream entering the arm from across the mountains. Here is a tract of some 2,000 acres of rich delta land, which is partially cultivated by the In- dians. Bella Bella is a Hudson's Bay post on Campbell Island, near the head of Milbank Sound, 400 miles north of Victoria. There are three Indian villages, with a combined
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population of 500. The next important point is the mouth of Skeena River, a large stream flowing from the interior. It is a prolific salmon stream, and there are three canneries on its banks ; one at Aberdeen, another at Inverness Slough, and a third at Port Essington, near its mouth, where there is a small village of traders, fishermen and Indians. The river is navigable for light draught steamers as far as Mumford Landing, sixty miles inland, and 200 miles further for canoes. There are two missionary stations on the river, and along its course are many spots favorable for settle- ments.
"Sixteen miles beyond the mouth of the Skeena is the town of Metlakahtla, on the Tsimpsheean Peninsula. There are a store, salmon cannery, a large church and school- house. This is an Indian missionary station, about which are gathered fully 1,000 Tsimpsheean Indians, who have been taught many of the mechanical arts. They have a saw- mill, barrel factory, blacksmith shop ; live in good wooden houses; do the work at the cannery, and are industrious in many other ways; the women having learned the art of weaving woolen fabrics. Fifteen miles beyond Metlakahtla, on the northwest end of the same peninsula, is the impor- tant station of Fort Simpson, separated from Alaska Terri- tory by the channel of Portland Inlet. This is one of the finest harbors in British Columbia, and was for years the most important post of the Hudson's Bay Company in the upper country, furs being brought there from the vast inte- rior. Besides the company's post, the Methodist Mission has buildings valued at $9,000. There are about 800 Indians in the village, most of them living in good shingled houses and wearing civilized costumes. They are governed by a council, and have various organizations, including a temperance society, rifle company, fire company and a brass band. They earn much money in the fisheries. Forty miles up the Portland Channel is the mouth of Nass River, a very important stream in the fishing industry, being the greatest known resort of the oolachan. Two sal- mon canneries, a saw-mill, store, two missionary stations and several Indian villages are situated along the stream. The climate is favorable to the growth of fruit, cereals and root crops near the coast, and there are a number of quite extensive tracts of bottom lands, requiring only to be cleared to render them fit for agriculture or grazing. Further up the stream there are a number of good locations, and several settlements have been made. Gold is found in small quantities along the river,
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" A special feature of the province is the outlying group of large islands known as the Queen Charlotte Islands, the upper end lying nearly opposite the southern extremity of Alaska. They are three in number-Graham, Moresby and Provost-and are about 170 miles long and 100 wide. They are mountainous and heavily timbered, and the climate is more genial and the rainfall less than on the mainland coast, Along the northern end of Graham, the most northerly of the group, is a tract of low lands thirty-five miles in extent, and much level, arable land is to be found elsewhere, which only requires clearing. There are also many extensive marshy flats requiring drainage to render them fit for culti- vation. The mineral resources of the islands are undoubt- edly great. The only industry now established is the fac- tory of the Skidegate Oil Company, on Skidegate Island in a good harbor at the southern end of Graham Island. In connection with this is a store. The Hudson Bay Company has a store and a trading post at Massett, near the upper end of Graham's Island, where there are a Protestant Mis- sion and a large Indian village.
" There are several villages on each of the islands of the group which are occupied by Hydah Indians, the most in- telligent of the aboriginal inhabitants of the coast. Their origin, in the absence of any written record or historical inscriptions, is an interesting subject for speculation. Their features, tattooing, carvings and legends indicate that they are castaways from Eastern Asia, who, first reaching the islands of Southern Alaska, soon took and held exclusive possession of the Queen Charlotte group. Their physical and intellectual superiority over the North Coast Indians, and also marked contrasts in the structure of their language, denote a different origin. They are of good size, with ex- ceptionably well developed chests and arms, high foreheads and lighter complexion than any other North American Indians.
" Massett, the principal and probably oldest village of the Hydah Nation, is pleasantly situated on the north shore of Graham Island at the entrance to Massett Inlet. Fifty houses, great and small, built of cedar logs and planks, with a forest of carved poles in front, extend along the fine beach. The house of Chief Weeah, is fifty-five feet square, containing timbers of immense size, and planks three feet and one-half in width and eighteen inches thick. The vil- lage now has a population of about 250, the remnants of a once numerous people, the houses in ruins here having accommodated several times that number. Massett is the
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shipyard of the Hydahs, the best canoe-makers on the con- tinent, who supply them to the other coast tribes. Here may be seen in all stages of construction these canoes, which, when completed, are such perfect models for service and of beauty. This is the abode of the aristocracy of Hydah land. Other villages are the offshoots from the parent colony, caused by family and tribal feuds and quarrels."
Although not included within the limits of Alaska, being some fifteen miles south of its frontier, I am pleased to be able to give fair sketches of the remarkable Indian settle- ment of Metlakahtla, above referred to, not only as an in- stance of the advanced state of civilization to which some of the Pacific coast Indians have already been brought, but because it is an earnest of the enviable results which must surely crown our own endeavors, if properly applied, and therefore an encouragement to persevere.
Metlakahtla is truly the full realization of the missionaries' dream of aboriginal restoration. The population is 1,200, and there are but six white persons in the place. Like the mission Indians at Fort Simpson, its residents have also a rifle company of forty-two men, a brass band, a two gun battery, a cooper shop, and a large co-operative store where almost any thing obtainable in Victoria can be bought. We visited this port on our return trip from Sitka, and were received with displays of bunting from various points, and a five-gun salute from the battery, with Yankee Doodle and Dixie from the band of thirteen pieces. The Union-Jack was flying. The church is architecturally pretentious and can seat Soo persons. It has a belfry and spire, vestibule, gallery across the front end, groined arches and pulpit carved by hand, organ and choir, Brussels carpet in the aisles, stained glass windows, and all the appointments and em- bellishments of a first class sanctuary ; and it is wholly native handiwork ! This well ordered community occupy two-story shingled and clap-boarded dwelling houses of uni- form size, 25x50 feet, with three windows and gable ends and door in front, and inclosed flower gardens, and macada- mized sidewalks ten feet wide along the entire line of street. The chief peculiarity of these houses is, that none of them have chimneys, the apartments being heated by fires built on hearths in the center of the ground floor, and the smoke passing out through a flat cupola in the roof, after the fashion of Indian tenements in general. These people have also a large town hall or assembly room of the same capacity as the church, capable of accommodating the whole population. It is used for councils, balls, meetings, and for a drill room.
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