USA > Alaska > The wonders of Alaska > Part 9
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Secretary Windom has awarded the Seal Fisheries lease for the next twenty years to the North Amer- ican Commercial Company of San Francisco. That much capital in the country was interested in the great Alaska investment is shown by the fact that twelve bids were presented by nine separate and dis- tinct companies, the successful corporation putting in three of these.
The directory of the Company which is about to supplant the Alaska Commercial Company, consists of. Lloyd Tevis, Henry Cowell, Mathias Mayer of San Francisco, and Albert Miller of Oakland, and D. O. Mills, now of New York, is an interested party. Of the three bids of the North American Commer- cial Company, the first offered $55, 200 annual rental, $2 revenue tax and $8 75 bonus for each sealskin, or the bidder was willing to pay in addition to the rent 45 per cent of all receipts from the sale of sealskins. This, it was claimed, would net the Government at least $8 per skin. As a second alternative, this company offered to pay 10 per cent more than any other bidder, but wanted the Government not to restrict the annual kill to less than 100,000 seals. The third bid offered $57, 100 rental, $2 revenue tax, $8 25 bonus and 50 cents a gallon for oil.
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ACCEPTED PROPOSAL.
Their second was the bid accepted by Secretary Windom and the full text of this proposal was as follows:
"Now, therefore, the North American Commercial Company, a corporation duly organized and existing under and by virtue of the laws of the State of Cali- fornia, in the United States, and having its principal place of business in the city and county of San Francisco, in the said State of California, all of whose stockholders and Directors are citizens of the United States, and its officers, and some of the Directors, being familiar with the fur business and the taking and preserving of skins of fur-bearing animals on the Pacific Coast, makes the following proposal or bid for the exclusive right to take fur- seals upon the islands of St. Paul and St. George, in the Territory of Alaska, for a term of twenty years, from and after the Ist day of May, 1890, and to send a vessel or vessels to the said islands for the skins of such seals, the same being made under and in accordance and subject to the terms, provisions, lim- itations and conditions of Chapter III, Title 25, of the Revised Statutes of the United States of America, and of all the laws of the United States, and all the decisions, rules and regulations now in force, or that have been or may hereafter be made or adopted by the Secretary of the Treasury in the premises, or in relation thereto, and under and in accordance with and subject to all of the terms, provisions, limita- tions and conditions of the advertisements and notices above set forth and referred to.
" That is to say, the North American Commercial Company propose to pay and will pay an annual rental of $60,000 for the lease of said islands of St.
119
ACCEPTED PROPOSAL.
Paul and St. George, and in addition to the revenue tax or duty of $2 laid upon each fur-seal skin taken and shipped by it from said islands, said company will pay the sum of $7 6212 for each and every seal skin that shall be taken and shipped from said islands of St. Paul and St. George under the provi- sions of any lease that it may obtain; all such pay- ments to be made at such time and places and in such manner as the Secretary of the Treasury shall direct.
"In addition to said payments, said company stip- ulates and agrees that it will faithfully comply with all the laws of the United States and all the rules and regulations of the Treasury Department in rela- tion to the taking of fur-seal skins on said islands; as also with all the terms, provisions and conditions of the advertisements or notices for proposals above set forth and referred to.
"The North American Commercial Company also proposes in the event that it should obtain said lease during the existence thereof to pay 50 cents a gallon for each gallon of oil made from seals that may be taken from said islands and sold by it; also to furnish free of charge to the native inhabitants of said islands of St. Paul and St. George annually such quantity ยท or number of dried salmon as the Secretary of the Treasury may direct; also to furnish, under direction of the Secretary of the Treasury, said native inhabi- tants with salt and barrels necessary for preserving meat.
"It will also allow and pay to the Alaska Com- mercial Company, if it shall so demand, a fair and reasonable price for all the buildings or improve- ments erected or made on said islands and for all
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I20
ACCEPTED PROPOSAL.
implements used by it in its business and that may be useful to said North American Commercial Com- pany, or required by it for the operation of its lease, and that it will undertake and bind itself to operate any lease it may obtain in the interest or for the benefit of American citizens, and so far as may be practicable and consistent with the interest of said company it will encourage the dressing, dyeing and marketing of sealskins within the United States.
"This proposal or bid is accompanied by a prop- erly certified check drawn on the Bank of New York, a national bank of the United States, payable to the order of the Secretary of the Treasury in the sum of $100, 000.
"Should the foregoing proposal or bid be accepted, this corporation will at once make, execute, furnish and deliver all undertakings and bonds with good and sufficient securities to the satisfaction of the United States and the Honorable Secretary of the Treasury, in such sums and upon such terms and conditions as may be required by law or by the Hon- orable Secretary of the Treasury.
"In case this proposal or bid be accepted, this corporation will at once make a deposit of United States bonds in the amount and as required by law, and will at once do and perform all such acts and things, and enter into, make, execute, acknowledge, deliver, deposit, accept, receive, take, register and record any and all leases, and any and all under- takings, bonds, contracts, agreements, covenants, checks, securities, documents, papers or other instruments, or writing that may be necessary or proper in the premises, and to carry out any or all of the objects or purposes herein mentioned or
From photograph 184, by WINTER PHOTO Co., Eugene, Ore KILLISNOO, NEAR SITKA.
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I2I
FISH INDUSTRY.
alluded to, or that may be required by the United States or by the Honorable Secretary of the Treasury thereof."
The limit of the annual kill has always been fixed at 60,000, and the Secretary of the Interior has made that figure the limit for the future, but it is intimated that, after the first year, the limit may be increased to 100,000.
In May of the present year, the Alaska Commer- cial Company's lease expires, when the new lessees will enter into possession.
A most important and constantly growing industry in Alaska, is that of fish canning. In this land the rivers fairly swarm with life. All the early naviga- tors and explorers, from Cook down to the present time, have testified with astonishment to the immense numbers of salmon, cod, halibut, herring, mullet, ulikon, etc. Out of the teeming rivers and bays of Alaska, the world can be supplied with salmon, her- ring and halibut of the best quality; and so prodigal has nature been in the supply that it is a well authen- ticated fact that as many as eleven thousand salmon have been taken in one haul of the seine.
The principal fisheries are the cod and the salmon, since these fish are most readily prepared for export; halibut, Arctic smelt, brook trout, flounder and other specimens will afford ample variety for local use. Cod, which is most abundant on the banks of Kadiak and the Aleutian Archipelago, is a branch of the fish industry of very great commercial import- ance. Shipments thereof are made regularly by every steamer leaving Alaskan points. As early as 1864 this industry began to exhibit its magnitude. In 1870 three San Francisco firms shipped three
122
FISH INDUSTRY.
thousand tons of cod from off the banks of the Shu- magin Islands. The annual catch of codfish on the Alaskan banks is one thousand six hundred tons, and about the same amount is taken in the Ochotsk Sea, all of which is marketed in San Francisco. Of course, the salmon trade, in the curing and canning of that fish for the market, outstrips all other in bulk and importance. The abundance and unex- celled quality of Alaska salmon have drawn the attention of the world to this great industry. Where a few Russian weirs and rude fish traps were found, now over thirty canning establishments are in pros- perous operation. While six different varieties of salmon swarm in the rivers and inlets of Alaska, yet only two are used in the canneries. These are known as the "king" salmon and the "red " sal- mon. The king salmon runs or enters the rivers from the middle of May till August, being most plentiful in June. Its greatest length is six feet, and greatest weight one hundred pounds. It is found chiefly in the Kasiloff and Kenai Rivers in Cook's Inlet, also in the Alamuk River at the mouth of Copper River. The red salmon runs all summer.
In salmon canning in Alaska, which has only begun to attract attention, some idea may be formed of the extent of this growing business when it is stated that from January to June, 1889, the equiva- lent of seventy vessels of 35,655 of tonnage left the port of San Francisco for Alaska in the interest of salmon canners. Most of these took up men and supplies for the canneries, thus showing at a glance the importance of the salmon trade. But its magni- tude can perhaps be best comprehended when it is stated that the product for the season of 1889 was
123
CASES OF SALMON CANNED IN 1889.
717,000 cases, or 34,416,000 cans. This does not include the salmon salted and put up in barrels, the pack of which in 1888 amounted to 15,000 barrels; in the last season it probably came to half as much . again. The following is the pack of the last six years prior to the season of 1889:
YEAR.
CASES.
1883
36,000
1884
45,000
1885
75,000
I886
1 30,000
1887
240,000
1888
440,000
From the most recent and the best authenticated sources is taken the following list, showing the pack in 1889, of each cannery in operation during that season:
COMPANY.
LOCATION. CASES.
Alaska Packing
Nushak 19,000
Alaska Salmon Pkg & Fur
Loring 26,600
Alaska Improvement
Karluk 26,000
Arctic Pkg.
Karluk 42,000
Arctic Pkg.
Crystal Bay 28,000
Arctic Fishing
Cook's Inlet 30,000
Aleutian Fishing & Mining
Karluk 54,000
Bristol Bay Pkg.
Bristol Bay 30,000
Baranoff Pkg.
Clarence Strait 28,000
Bartlett Bay Pkg.
Bartlett Bay 4,500
Cape Lees Pkg.
Cape Lees 9,800
Chilkat Pkg.
Chilkat 24,800
Chilkat Canning
Pyramid Har. 16,000
Chiknek Bay
Chiknek 18,000
Central Alaska
Kaiak Islands 1,800
Glacier Pkg.
Stikine
18,000
124
CASES OF SALMON CANNED IN 1889.
Hume Pkg.
Karluk
33,000
Karluk Pkg.
Karluk 65,000
Kadiak Pkg.
Kadiak
31,000
Noria Pkg.
Cape Fox 11,000
North West Trading & Pkg.
14,000
Northern Pkg.
Kenia 18,000
Nushagak Canning
Nushagak 28,000
Pyramid Harbor Pkg.
Pyramid Har. 15,000
Pacific Pkg.
Pr. Wmn. Sound 5,000
Pacific Whaling
Copper River
19,000
Peninsula Trading & Fur
Kaiak Islands 3,500
Royal Pkg.
Afognak 19,000
Russian American Pkg.
Afognak 25,000
Shumagin Pkg.
Chilkat 10,000
Tin Point Pkg.
Tin Point 19,000
Western Alaska Pkg.
Ozernoi
25,000
Total,
717,000
As to the wisdom of the policy which resulted in the acquirement of Alaska by the United States, there has never been a dissenting voice; it has dem- onstrated itself. The resources and industries already developed have proven ample repayment, to say nothing of the geographical, naval, military and diplomatic advantages accrued and accruing from the possession of the Territory. Russia is inter- ested with the United States in the issue of the present controversy. The purchase of Alaska from Russia gave our country the then undisputed title to the seal grounds of the Territory thus transferred, with all the appurtenances and hereditaments there- unto belonging, together with all and singular the things animate or inanimate, of the land thereon and in the waters beneath.
PROF WILLOUGHBY'S "SILENT CITY," MUIR GLACIER. Said to have been photographed June 21, 1889, by the kind permission of L. B. FRENCH.
I25
VEGETABLE LIFE.
By the terms of the treaty of cession the Behring Sea is an inland body. The United States leases the exclusive right to seal killing in these waters to a private company, and if Behring be not the enclosed sea, the United States leases what it has no title to, and cannot protect its lessee. Consequently both Governments become liable for heavy damages-the United States to its lessee, and Russia to the United States. I do not propose to treat of the infringement of our vested rights in these waters or of the intru- sion upon a claim purchased and developed by the United States.
That the Territory is rich in minerals has been conclusively proven, and, on the miner's theory that where there are paying mines in a certain region there are more of them yet to be found, the prospects of Alaska as a mining region are not only flattering, but unbounded.
We have seen the extent of the fisheries. Despite the large number of canneries in operation, several new plants will begin work next season on a paying basis. The vegetation of Alaska is by no means co-incident to that of a barren and desolate country, such as popular belief accredits it with being. In the immediate vicinity of great glaciers wild fruits and berries thrive, and at Kadiak and Oonalaska the residents grow many of the kitchen vegetables known to the temperate zone, such as radishes, lettuce, carrots, onions, cauliflower, cabbage, peas, turnips, celery, potatoes, tomatoes and. corn. With this faculty of vegetation for immigrant plants, it follows that the soil is capable of producing largely of indigenous vegetable foods for the sustenance of animal life.
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INTERIOR EXPLORATIONS.
The interior of the country is not as little explored as people generally suppose. There is very little that has not been seen by prospectors, travelers, adventurers and explorers. Its character is pretty well understood by such people, and by Government officials of the coast, geodetic and other survey corps that have visited the Territory. The anomalous conditions of the country and its laws and the little that is known of it by the general public are great drawbacks to the development of that section; but those who have been in a position have great faith in its future, and believe that it contains a vastness of resources sufficient to make it an industrial empire, and that it can be made another great field for the profitable investment of American capital.
CHAPTER X. PHANTOM CITIES AND MIRAGES.
ATMOSPHERIC ILLUSIONS IN THE VICINITY OF THE GLACIERS. - PROFESSOR WILLOUGHBY'S SILENT CITY .- EFFECT OF THE LATE SUNSET .- CONFIR- MATIONS OF THE DISCOVERY .- THE PHANTOM CITY WONDER .- A SUBMERGED CITY BENEATH GLACIER BAY .- THE REALITY DISCOVERED IN THE MYSTERIOUS YUKON REGION. - A FROZEN CITY.
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HAT mirages exist in all por- tions of the earth in hot weather is not disputed by the most incredulous persons; but I look upon it as a reflec- tion on the intelligence of the average mind when the public is requested to believe that the city of Bristol, England, has been photographed on the top of the Muir Glacier, or that two miners, while taking a sail on Glacier Bay on the Fourth of July last, had looked into a pan of quicksilver, and by counter-reflection from the water to the sky had discovered a Phantom City which is supposed to exist under the waters of that bay which, by the way, are as muddy as the Missouri River, from the detritus consequent upon the erosion that is con- stantly taking place under the great glacier. In the first place, Prof. Willoughby is a character who has
128
WILLOUGHBY'S MIRAGE.
long resided in Alaska, and is familiar with every portion of it, from Metlakatla to Mt. St. Elias, and is selling a picture which has been recognized as the city of Bristol in England. From its appearance it seems to have been taken in twilight or with a very short exposure, and sold to Prof. Willoughby as a dry plate, the old gentleman being something of an amateur photographer. There is no doubt in my mind but that some humorist furnished the Professor with his dry plates and run this in as a glacial joke. I have implicit confidence in the integrity of the Professor, as he is well known in Alaska as an honest man; but having left civilization thirty years or more ago, and having chosen the wilds of Alaska for his home, he has become a simple child of nature, and is recognized as such in all parts of the Terri- tory. He has never seen a locomotive, and is as fair a sample of credulous humanity as one would meet in a lifetime, and the very man upon whom a practi- cal joke could easily be perpetrated. Photography is a pastime with him, and his roving mountain trips are rewarded by some rare views which more timid artists would fail to procure.
Mirages in the glacier regions are of frequent occurrence in pleasant weather, and as the sun does not set before nine o'clock during June and July, some charming views are obtained at or about that hour. During my trip on the "Ancon" a great mirage was visible in Glacier Bay when the steam- ship was eight or ten miles south of the Pacific Glacier, and what seemed to be a block of large white buildings; the reflection from the two great glaciers stood out upon the northern horizon. Beau- tifully formed spires, apparently three or four hun-
129
WILLOUGHBY'S MIRAGE.
'dred feet high, reached above the buildings. The doors, windows, streets and gardens appeared to be visible, but this mirage was like those of the great desert. It was general in all its characteristics, and not at all like Prof. Willoughby's alleged reflection or shadow of a city, which must of necessity be more than three or four thousand miles away. The mirage witnessed by the passengers of the "Ancon " was like those witnessed on the great deserts of the sink of the Humboldt and Carson Rivers, in Death Valley, and in many portions of San Bernardino and San Diego Counties, California. It is a frequent and almost daily occurrence in the summer to witness representations of objects in the air of the deserts, of trains of emigrants, men or Indians on horseback, droves of horses and cattle, beautiful gardens, lakes, rivers and waterfalls, with rank vegetation, and upon reaching the spot nothing is found but a barren, sandy desert which has been reflected through its remarkable atmospheric condition from the bunches of greasewood and sagebrush, as a beautiful panorama.
Two gentlemen, Robert Christie and Robert Pat- terson, have signed the following card which proved the existence of a mirage in front of the great Muir Glacier, which confirms what I have said in regard to mirages in general, but has no reference to such silent cities as Prof. Willoughby claims to have photographed over a year previous, and to have pro- duced the city of Bristol, England.
BARTLETT BAY CANNERY, Aug. 22, 1889.
Robert Christie and Robert Patterson, in the pres- ence of Lamar B. French, Charles R. Lord, R. Wil- loughby and Minor W. Bruce, make the following statement, to wit:
130
WILLOUGHBY'S MIRAGE.
"On the 2d of July, 1889, while sailing from the main or Glacier Bay, just south of Willoughby Island, about five o'clock in the afternoon, we sud- denly saw rising out against the side of the moun- tains what appeared to be houses, churches and other huge structures. It appeared to be a city of . extensive proportions, perhaps of 15,000 or 20,000 inhabitants. We watched the apparition for a long time, and think it was visible for an hour or more.
" We further aver that at that time we had never heard of what is called the Silent City, or that Prof. Willoughby had photographed it. We are satis- fied that it was a mirage from its position and appearance."
The certificate I do not doubt is true in every par- ticular; but I am quite sure they would not make an affidavit that the picture of the Silent City which Prof. Willoughby has issued has ever been seen by them or by any one else, and from my personal knowl- edge of Prof. Willoughby, I am equally as sure that he will not say he ever saw in the sky the picture he is selling as the Silent City.
The mirage seen by the gentlemen in Glacier Bay is without doubt the one seen by myself and the pas- sengers of the "Ancon." I have a photograph of one of these mirages witnessed by one hundred pas- sengers, which is published in this book, and I can- not but express the sentiment that the scenery, inhabitants and glaciers of Alaska are sufficiently wonderful and beautiful to the seeker after the marvelous and curious, without presenting Prof. Willoughby's picture as a fact, when it should be treated as a joke, to show how easily a humorist might impose upon an honest but simple-minded old
I3I
MYSTERIOUS REFLECTIONS.
man, who has been isolated for over thirty years from this world of civilization and improvement.
The next Phantom City wonder was first published in the Daily Transcript of Nevada City. It goes on to say that James O'Dell left Nevada City last April to look after a mine, located in Alaska a year ago by D. H. Jackson. Mr. O'Dell said to his room-mate, Robert Renfrew, that he had investigated the Silent City controversy and gave the following description of his investigations:
" We set sail in a hired boat on the Ist of July, early in the morning, with a full stock of provisions and other necessaries. By 'we' I mean Bill Thomas -the old Hale & Norcross man-and two other men unknown to you Idaho men.
" We had many adventures in going up, but what I want to tell you is what I think we discovered in regard to the Silent City, or mirage. You know that during the debris war I was up at Omega, in Nevada County, California. Well, there I learned a trick that I was determined to make use of here. In watching for the anti-debris spies, we used to pour a few pounds of quicksilver into a gold-pan, place it on a rock in an open place and then peer into it with a magnifying glass. In this way we could detect anything that moved on any road or in any place for miles around. The face of the country and all upon it was first reflected upon the heavens or upper stratum of air, and thence down upon the pan of quicksilver, where we could scan it with our glasses.
"Well, when we arrived at the glacier, we cruised about for a day or two, but could see nothing. We feared that we had not found the right place, and were about moving on, when there came a favorable
132
THE SUBMERGED CITY.
calm and we tried the gold-pan and the quicksilver. At once we saw depicted on the surface of the bright metal what appeared to be the ruins of a large city. There were the remains of walls, towers and many large buildings, but all were seen in a wavering sort of way. We saw enough, however, to convince us that the city was at the bottom of the bay, was thence imaged on the clouds and then reflected down upon the quicksilver. It may be that, in certain favor- able stages of the weather, the image of the sunken city is thrown upon the glacier, where it resembles a mirage.
"Having decided in our minds that the city was one at the bottom of the bay, we spent a whole day getting on the top of the glacier, and at great risk ventured near to its perpendicular face. There we erected a mirror upon a sort of tripod, placing it at a height of about five feet, facing the bay, and using our glasses, saw in it the image of the same ruins seen on the quicksilver when we were down on the water. We could also get a part of the city in our pan, when tried, on the surface of the glacier.
" We were not a scientific expedition, but in our rough way we were able to satisfy ourselves that what is called the 'Silent City,' is in reality a sunken city resting at the bottom of Glacier Bay."
I. W. Taber, the reliable photographer, has shown his usual enterprise in these matters, and has sent a competent artist out with his pan of quicksilver and thinks he has corroborated the theory of a Phantom City being seen under the dirty waters of Glacier Bay, seven hundred feet below the surface, by simply looking into a pan of quicksilver with a magnifying glass.
TABER'S SILENT CITY, GLACIER BAY. Said to have been photographed in July, 1889.
I33
A PERILOUS TRIP.
The photographers and scientific men have also expressed the opinion, almost unanimously, that Prof. Willoughby saw the picture of Bristol on the crest of the Muir Glacier just as surely as Mr. O'Dell saw the Phantom City under seven hundred feet of muddy water.
Inasmuch as I have taken pains to give the imagi- nary wonders of Alaska to the public, it is a source of pleasure to present the latest in the way of Silent and Phantom Cities. From the telegraphic news published in the San Francisco Examiner, it seems that a man named George Kershon joined a party of miners who were bent on exploring the ice- bound secrets of Alaska. In an interview Mr. Kershon said:
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