USA > Alaska > The new Eldorado: a summer journey to Alaska > Part 17
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21
The names of several other profitable mining enterprises in this vicinity might be given, but we have said enough to indicate the great mineral wealth of this portion of the Territory, and to justify our title of THE NEW ELDORADO. There are abundant gold indications all along the coast, as well as upon the islands. In the sands of any considerable stream between Cape Fox and Cook's
267
INEXHAUSTIBLE RICHES.
Inlet the " color " of gold can be obtained by the simple process of panning. The question is not where gold can be found in Alaska, for it seems to be wonderfully and abundantly distributed, but as to what localities will best pay to expend capital in developing. A number of abandoned claims show that the failure to realize a satisfac- tory profit in gold mining by eager, impatient, and unreasonable individual seekers without proper machinery is as frequent as in any other business enterprise awkwardly planned. This is as appar- ent in Africa, Australia, and California as it is in this region. The Treadwell mine on Douglas Island is in latitude 58° 16' north, just about on a line with Edinburgh, Scotland.
We quote once more Mr. Nowell's own words : " The mountains of Alaska abound in gold-bear- ing quartz, the extent of their deposits exceeding any similar discoveries in the world. There is without doubt more gold-bearing quartz on Doug- las Island alone, which can be worked at a hand- some profit, than ten thousand stamps could crush in a century ; a well-defined vein from two to six hundred feet wide traversing the island for at least from six to eight miles."
There is a missionary family, supported by the Quaker persuasion, located at Douglas Island, whose earnest effort in civilizing and teaching the natives has been crowned with considerable success. The self - abnegation and conscientious labor of these people are truly worthy of all com- mendation.
268
THE NEW ELDORADO.
Soon after leaving Juneau, when near the head of Lynn Channel, the grand Davidson glacier comes into view, filling the space between two lofty mountains. It measures twelve hundred feet high by some three miles in breadth, being as wide as a frozen sea and as deep as the ocean. While looking upon it one is overawed by a sense of its immensity and grandeur, as it seems hang- ing, poised, ready to drop into the fathomless sea. Where we pass it there intervenes a terminal mo- raine overgrown with trees and green foliage, which contrasts vividly with the icy background formed by the glacier. The glaciers of Europe are mere pygmies in comparison with this marvel, which is named after Professor Davidson, who has carefully explored and described it. Both the Muir and Davidson glaciers are spars of the same great ice- field, which has an unbroken expanse large enough to lie over the whole republic of Switzerland. The Muir glacier will be reached presently in Glacier Bay.
Soon after leaving the Davidson glacier we are in Pyramid Harbor. This is the region of the Chilcats, who were formerly one of the most warlike tribes in the Territory, but who seem to have outlived their belligerent propensities. Their rude, but picturesque cabins dot the neigh- boring shore. The little settlement here consists mostly of bark huts and a substantial trader's store, together with an extensive and successful fish - cannery. The product of the latter is over a million pounds of fish per annum, the whole
269
THE CHILCATS.
being engaged for 1889 to a Liverpool firm. This amount is shipped in seventy thousand cases of about fifty pounds each ; the fish are packed in tins holding a pound each. This is an average amount as regards various factories on the coast, though some very much exceed it. The Indians now cheerfully accept employment from the whites, and gladly receive the regular wages which may be agreed upon. They appear to be the best carv- ers on the coast, and have an abundance of their handiwork to sell to the interested white visitors. These articles consist of carvings in ivory (walrus' teeth), decorated sheep-horns, copper and silver bracelets, bows, arrows, and spearheads. As en- gravers on copper and silver the Chilcats excel all other people of the Northwest. Some of their women wear a dozen narrow bracelets on each arm, all of home manufacture. They are also skillful in making ear-rings, and ornamental combs out of ivory and sheep's horn. As successful imitators they are remarkable, and will almost exactly reproduce any design which is given to them as a pattern. It seems strange that so ag- gressive and warlike a tribe should be skilled in carving and many mechanical productions.
Certain people have bestowed much honest but needless sympathy upon these "poor abused In- dians." Such persons may be assured that they are amply able to look out for themselves and their own interests, as regards all material matters. No white man can get any advantage over an Alaskan native in the way of trade; they are
270
THE NEW ELDORADO.
sharpness itself in such things. For instance, these Chilcats a few years since observed that the white traders were particularly desirous of obtaining black fox skins, and that for such pelts they would willingly pay a handsome advance over skins of other colors; a fine skin of this sort bringing as high as thirty dollars, while the common red ones were not worth quarter of that sum. The innocent natives soon began to pro- duce the black skins in large quantities and re- ceived their pay accordingly. Surprise being at last excited by the remarkable abundance of the black pelts, an explanation of the cause was sought, when it was finally discovered that by a secret process of dyeing the natives had made the red fox skins temporarily into black. This was done so cunningly that nothing but a careful examination would detect the outrageous cheat, and not anti- cipating anything of the kind the traders were not on their guard. Of course no dyeing process which they possessed was of a permanent nature as applied to pelts, and these black furs when they came to be prepared for market rapidly resumed their natural color. When charged with this gross deception, the Chilcats assumed the most innocent expression and denied any knowledge whatever in the premises, only saying : " Fox, him get black before him caught," thus lying concerning their trickery as volubly as any white rogue might have done.
We are told of several of these tricks played off by the "poor abused Indians," one instance of
271
CHILCAT " APTITUDE."
which we remember as having occurred at Fort Wrangel, illustrating the "aptitude " of the abo- rigines, not to give it any harder name. It seems that a kindly disposed missionary, by exercis- ing great patience, had taught some Indians to read and write, and in the consciousness of his own intentions felt amply paid by the goodly progress of his pupils. One of these young men, not over twenty years of age, was especially curi- ous about arithmetic, and made considerable prog- ress in figures in a very short time. He was soon after hired by the superintendent of a fish-can- ning establishment as a special assistant, with good wages. Being given a note or due-bill of twenty-five dollars by his employer, he quickly saw his chance, and adroitly raised the figures to two hundred and fifty dollars, got the bill cashed at one of the neighboring trading establishments, and suddenly disappeared with the proceeds there- of. He has not since been seen.
The Chilcats have, until within a few years, forcibly kept the natives of the interior away from the coast and the white men, thus monopolizing the land fur-trade by acting as middle-men, so to speak, but this embargo is now entirely removed. By this and some other means, being naturally thrifty and saving, they have come to be the rich- est and most independent tribe of Indians in the Northwest. Their women manufacture the famous and really very fine Chilcat blankets, which are slowly woven by hand on a primitive loom. The base of these blankets is the long fleece of the
272
THE NEW ELDORADO.
mountain goats, which is tastefully manufactured and ornamented, reminding one of the domestic Oriental work offered for sale in the Turkish bazaars of Cairo. The Chilcat blankets readily bring forty dollars apiece, and the best of them are sold for double that sum. They are ordinarily about six feet long by four broad, having in addi- tion a long, ornamental fringe at each end. The colors are black, white, yellow, and a dull blue, the coloring matter being also of native manufac- ture. These blankets used to be heirlooms in the aboriginal families before the cheap woolens of commerce were introduced among them, since when they have become annually more and more scarce, and are now purchased only by visitors to carry away as curiosities. Even at the highest price realized for them, if the maker's time were to be reckoned of any account, the sum is a sorry pittance for one of these blankets, which to prop- erly finish will employ six months of a woman's time.
Pyramid Harbor, in latitude 59° 11' north, is the most northerly point reached by the excursion steamers on this part of the coast. The place takes its name from a prominent conical forma- tion upon an island within its borders. The clus- ter of houses, cabins, and the canning factory which make up what is known as Pyramid Har- bor are situated upon a broad plateau on a sandy beach, at the foot of a mountain which towers three thousand feet heavenward, covered with trees to its summit and beautified by a bright,
273
PYRAMID HARBOR.
dashing waterfall visible from near the apex to the bottom. This affords both a healthful water supply for domestic use and a motor for the fac- tory. The broad plateau, three or four miles in length and one wide, grass-grown, and covered with low shrubbery, is beautified by a floral display of great variety, including wild roses, sweet peas, columbines, white clover, and other varieties, hav- ing also an unlimited amount of berries. The wide mouth of the Chilcat River, which makes into the bay a mile from this settlement, is a swarming place for the salmon. The river is very shallow and not navigable for anything but native canoes. Twenty miles inland on its bank is a large, independent settlement of the Chilcat tribe.
On the mountain side, nearly half way up, just back of the steamboat landing at Pyramid Har- bor, there is a small plateau not more than ten or fifteen feet square, entirely bare of timber, but closely surrounded by dense woods. This spot is quite inaccessible to human feet. A large cinna- mon bear shows himself here often during the day- time. A clear, sparkling stream of water comes from far above this place, rushing by one corner of it, and hither comes Bruin to slake his thirst. He knows very well that he is out of the hunter's reach, and he is actually beyond rifle range. He looks at that distance skyward no bigger than a good-sized Newfoundland dog, but to appear of such proportions to us so far below he must be a very monster. Several attempts have been made
274
THE NEW ELDORADO.
by the whites to get near enough to shoot him, but without success. The bear sat upon his haunches when we saw him and peered down upon us as we stood on the deck of the Corona with a cool insolence which must have been born of a consciousness of entire safety. By using a good glass his mammoth size became more apparent, showing that even when upon his haunches with his body erect he must have measured about six feet in height.
A settlement opposite to Pyramid Harbor is known as Chilcat, where two large fish-canning establishments afford profitable occupation for quite a number of the residents, both natives and whites. New canning factories are being lo- cated in several places between Dixon Entrance and this point, the supply of salmon being abso- lutely unlimited ; the demand only is to be con- sidered. The quantity shipped from here annu- ally to San Francisco for distribution is enormous, almost beyond belief, and is steadily increasing. In addition to this profitable and important indus- try twelve thousand barrels of salted salmon were exported last year from Alaska to southern Pacific ports. The scenery about Pyramid Harbor is arctic : the precipitous cliffs are covered with snow on their tops, and range upon range of snowy mountains frame in the bay.
CHAPTER XX.
Glacier Bay. - More Ice Bays. - Majestic Front of the Muir Glacier. - The Bombardment of the Glacier. - One of the Grandest Sights in the World. - A Moving River of Ice. - The Natives. - Abundance of Fish. - Native Cooking. - Wild Berries. - Hooniah Tribe. - Copper Mines. - An Iron Mountain. - Coal Mines.
FROM Pyramid Harbor we turn southward for a short distance, and then again towards the north, soon reaching the ice-strewn waters of Glacier Bay, an open expanse of ocean fully thirty miles long by from ten to twelve in width. This local- ity is thus named because of the number of gla- ciers which descend into it from the southern verge of the frozen region. The still surface of the water reflects the Alpine scenery like bur- nished silver, only ruffled now and again by the icebergs launched from the majestic front of the Muir glacier, which fall with an explosion like the blasting of rocks in a stone quarry. It is curious to watch these enormous masses of ice rise to the surface after their first deep plunge, see them set- tle and rise again until their equilibrium becomes fixed, and then slowly float away with their impe- rial colors displayed, to join the fleet gone before. They seem to exhibit in their vivid colors a radiant joy at release from long imprisonment. It was a gloriously bright day on which we approached the
276
THE NEW ELDORADO.
Muir glacier, the sun pouring down its wealth of light and warmth to temper the crisp morning air. A side-wheel steamer could not have made head- way among the hundreds of floating icebergs ; but the Corona wound in and out among them in safety, piloted by Captain Carroll's skillful direc- tion, occasionally leaving the color of her painted hull along their sides by chafing them.
The ship was brought within fifty rods of the glacier's threatening front, which was about three hundred feet in height above the water, standing like a frozen Niagara, and the lead showed it to extend four hundred feet below the surface, mak- ing an aggregate of seven hundred feet from top to bottom. What a mighty power was hidden behind the dazzling drapery of its iridescent fa- çade!
Standing upon its surface a short way inland, one could hear from its depths what seemed like shrieks and groans of maddened spirits torturing each other, as the huge mass was crowded more and more compactly between the two abutting mountains of rock through which it found its out- let. The roar of artillery upon a battlefield could hardly be more deafening or incessant than were the thrilling reports caused by the falling of vast masses of ice from the glacier's front. Nothing could be grander or more impressive than this steady bombardment from the ice mountain in its resistless progress towards the sea. Neither Nor- way nor Switzerland have any glacial or arctic scenery that can approach this bay in its frigid
277
GLACIER BAY.
splendor. No natives are to be seen ; not a sound falls upon the ear save the hoarse cannonading of the glacier. The white, ghostly hue of the sur- roundings are startling ; even the daylight assumes a certain weird, bluish tint, heightened by shim- mering reflections from the ice-chasms and crev- ices.
The author, in a varied experience of many parts of the world, recalls but two other occasions which affected him so powerfully as this first visit to Glacier Bay in Alaska, namely: witnessing the sun rise over the vast Himalayan range, the roof- tree of the globe, at Darjeeling, in northern, In- dia, and the view of the midnight sun from the North Cape in Norway, as it hung over the Polar Sea. Our power of appreciation is limitless, though that of description is circumscribed. Here both are challenged to their utmost capacity. Words are insufficient ; pen and pencil inadequate to convey the grandeur and fascination of the scene.
Lieutenant Frederick Schwatka tells us that a veteran traveler said to him as they stood together on the ship's deck regarding the scenery in this remarkable bay : "You can take just what you see here and put it down on Switzerland, and it will hide all there is of mountain scenery in Eu- rope. I have been all over the world, but you are. now looking at a scene that has not its parallel elsewhere on the globe." The estimate has been made by experienced persons that five thousand living glaciers, of greater or less dimensions, are
278
THE NEW ELDORADO.
now steadily traveling down towards the sea in this vast Territory of Alaska.
Glacier Bay is always full of vagrant icebergs which are of blinding whiteness when under the glare of the midday sun. The variety of colors emitted by the bergs is charming to the eye, the prevailing hues being crystal-white mingled with azure blue, a faint touch of pink appearing here and there, together with dainty gleams of orange- yellow. Where a large smooth surface is pre- sented, the prismatic shimmering is like that of starlight upon the water. The variety in the shape of the bergs is infinite. Some of them ex- hibit singularly correct architectural lines, some resemble ruins of ancient castles on the Rhine, others, with a little help of the imagination, repre- sent wild animals in various attitudes, or hideous Chinese idols with open mouths and lolling tongues. Sea birds hover over and light in large numbers upon the opalescent masses. Ranging alongside of a tall berg, a fall and tackle was rigged out from the yard-arm of our steamer, while men were sent to cut large blocks of ice from the hill of frozen water. Two weighing nearly a ton each were hoisted on board to keep our larder cool and fill the ship's ice-chest. The ice was pure as crys- tal, and fresh as a mountain stream.
" Why don't you go nearer to the glacier ?" asked one of the passengers of the captain.
" Because I think we are quite near enough," was the quiet reply.
" Those avalanches don't reach more than thirty
279
AN UNPLEASANT EXPERIENCE.
or forty feet from the face of the ice cliff," con- tinued the passenger.
" True," was the reply, " but they do not con- constitute the only discharges from the glacier."
" Why, where else can they occur but from the face," asked the inquirer.
" Shall I tell you a certain experience which I had near this very spot?" asked the captain.
" What was it ?" inquired a dozen eager voices.
And then the captain told the group of listeners that when the Corona was here last season, laying just off the Muir glacier, those on board were startled by the sudden appearance of a huge mass of dark crystal, as large as the steamer itself, which shot up from the depths and tossed the ship as though it had been an egg-shell. Passen- gers were thrown hither and thither, and some were severely bruised. It was a berg broken off from the bottom of the ice mountain, four hun- dred feet below the surface of the water. Had it struck the ship in its upward passage, immediate destruction must have followed, and the steamer would have sunk as quickly as though she had been blown up with gunpowder.
Mount Crillon, Mount La Perouse, and Mount Fairweather are all visible from Glacier Bay, the latter rising in the northwest so high above the intervening hills that all its snowy pinnacles are clearly defined.
The great glacier which forms the prominent feature of this bay was named after Professor Muir, state geologist of California. It has a front
280
THE NEW ELDORADO.
three miles wide, and has been explored to a dis- tance of forty miles inland. The top surface is tossed and broken by broad fissures so as to be impassable, unless one goes back at least a mile from its toppling and dangerous front. This glacier exceeds anything of the sort this side of the polar zone, and is fed by fifteen other glaciers, so far as it has been explored, towards its source among the lofty snow-fields. In walking upon its surface great care should be observed. A thin crust of snow and half-melted ice is often formed over fissures into which one may easily be precipi- tated. One of the party from the Corona, a lady, was thus engulfed for a moment, escaping, how- ever, with a thorough wetting and some slight bruises, together with a very large measure of fright. This lady was temporarily in charge of the pilot of the steamer, hence it was very gener- ally remarked that he was doubtless a good ship's pilot, but a poor one for navigating glaciers.
From carefully conducted measurements it is known that this immense body - frost - bound, transparent, and resistless - is moving into the sea, during the summer months, at the rate of forty feet in every twenty - four hours, and dis- charging in that time one hundred and forty mil- lion cubic feet of ice into the bay. It is not nec- essary for us to discuss the cause of this regular, uniform movement of the enormous mass ; it may be brought about by either dilation or gravitation, both of which are most likely active agents to this end, but certain it is that the glacier moves for- ward as described.
281
THE MUIR GLACIER.
One could have passed days in studying the grandeur and beauty of the Muir glacier, in watch- ing its slow but steady advance, its tremendous avalanches, its rolling, thunder-like discharges, its irregular, translucent front decked with amethyst and opal hues by the afternoon sunlight, but time was to be considered, the day was closing, and we finally steamed reluctantly away. Even after we had lost sight of the great frozen river, we heard its evening guns echoing among the mountains, faint and fitful from the growing distance.
We pause for a moment, thoughtfully, to recall the brief hours passed in that boreal atmosphere, crowded to repletion with wonderful experiences, where the ice deposited during the glacial period is slowly wasting and wearing away, exposing giant cedars which have been buried for ages upon ages, a revelation and a process which we may nowhere else behold. There is no touch of civilization here; the quiet and solitude is un- broken, save by the thunder of the bergs break- ing their long imprisonment. Somehow one feels older, grayer, sadder, after witnessing these great and startling throes of Nature, phenomena which have been in operation thousands of years. It re- minds the observer only too forcibly how infini- tesimal is the space he occupies upon this planet, and how utterly insignificant is his personality in the vast scheme of the universe. Travel, while teaching us numberless grand and beautiful truths, solving many mysteries and vastly enlarging our mental grasp, does not fail also to impress upon
282
THE NEW ELDORADO.
the most conceited the important and priceless lesson of humility. But let us banish brooding thoughts, and be glad for a little space ; to-morrow the night cometh !
Among the evidences of the slow but steady receding of the glacier we have Vancouver's rec- ord that he was unable to enter this bay in 1793, which is now navigable for over twelve miles in- land. Once the ice field was level with the moun- tain tops, now it has melted until the peaks are far above its surface. Professor Muir tells us that in the earlier days of the ice-age this glacier stood at a height of from three to four thousand feet above its present level ! Centuries hence the place of the glacier will doubtless be occupied by a flowing river, and the land will have entirely thrown aside its mantle of ice and snow. What a revelation this bay would have been to Agassiz ! After an arduous half day's climb, from the sum- mit of the Muir glacier nearly thirty others are to be seen in various directions, all steadily for- cing their resistless way towards the sea, slowly consummating the purpose of their existence. How far glacial action has been concerned in determining the topographical conditions of the globe will long be, as it has long been, a subject for deep scientific study.
At first thought it seems impossible that a sub- stance like ice, often brittle as glass and as inelas- tic as granite, can move as though it were fluid. The motion of the giant mass is doubtless facili- tated by subglacial streams issuing from its bot-
283
A LAND OF WONDERS.
tom into the bay. The water flowing from two sources of this character manifests itself at the surface on each corner of the ice-front, where it comes bubbling up with great force from the bot- tom, a distance of from sixty to eighty fathoms. As we lay in front of the grand façade what a revelry of color was spread before us! The im- mense and towering wall of ice seemed to throb with the softening rays of the sun, penetrating each broad fissure and narrow rift, all luminous with blue and gold.
Scidmore Island was pointed out to us, a green hilly land, near the mouth of the bay, named after Mrs. E. R. Scidmore, who has written so ad- mirably about Alaska. Another island was des- ignated whereon a silver mine of great promise has lately been successfully located and tested, yielding results surpassing the most sanguine an- ticipations of the owners.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.