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CopyRIGHT, 1890, BY SEPTIMA M, Coutts,
A WOMAN'S TRIP TO ALASKA
1 BEING AN ACCOUNT OF A VOYAGE THROUGH THE INLAND SEAS OF THE SITKAN ARCHIPELAGO. IN
1890
BY
a SEPTIMA M. COLLIS (Mrs, GENERAL C, H. T. Coutis) 4 AUTHOR OF ‘*A WOMAN’S WAR RECORD,” ILLUSTRATED BY AMERICAN BANK Note Co. New York. =
NEW YORK CASSELL PUBLISHING COMPANY
104 & 106 Four’TH AVENUE
PREFACE,
{nw the following pages I have not made even a pre- tence of writing a scientific or historical work. It 1s not of special interest to those for whom [ write to know the exact pressure to the square inch which pro- pels the seas of ice as they furrow their way from the Arctic regions through the mountain gorges down to the softening influences of the Japanese stream, nor to trace the vicissitudes of Alaska from the voyages of Captain Cook down to the purchase by Mr, Seward in 1867, nor yet to familiarize themselves with the eth- nology of the various tribes of Indians who inhabit the Aleutian Islands. All this has been better done than I could ever hope to do it. My sole object. 1s to put on paper, for the benefit of others, the impressions made upon me by the voyage, and to explain how this delightful excursion can be enjoyed without the slight- est fatigue or discomfort, and at a trifling expense. — | want them to know, as I know, that the ship is a yacht, of which the Captain is the host, the passengers his guests, and the object of the cruise the pursuit of pleasure; and if I succeed in inducing my country- women to follow my example and postpone Paris and London, Rome and Vienna, the Rhine and the Atps, to some future day, they will always have reason to be gratefnl to me, and I shall always have reason to be satisfied with my effort.
Seprma M. Cotrt.is.
lg e/
ai
ai
No. 75 West 71st STREET, New York, Nov. 7th, 1890.
Mrs. GENERAL COLL, New York City. Dear Mapbam:
It was a handsome compliment for you to submit to me the proofs of your forth-coming book “A Woman's Trip to Alaska,” every word of which 1 have read with profit and) pleasure, and J am sure it will influence thousands of tourists to visit our own subline regions in America before going to Europe.
T profess to be somewhat familiar with every route of travel between New York, Puget Sound and british Columbia, and can verify your faithful description as far as Queen Charlotte Sound. Thence to Sitka, Muir Glacier and Juneau, your trip went beyond. my per- sonal experience ; although 1 have conversed with many officers who have been there and beyond, all of whom will bear testimony to your faithful descriptions.
In reading your text I was impressed. by your ap- preciation of the heroic achievements of our American pioneers who have brought the Pacific States within easy reach of the most delicate and refined of our
Eastern people; that you describe the comfort and
real luxury of travel in that new region; the excellent hotels and steamers equal, if not superior, to those of the Atlantic Coast, and the charities of our wealthy to save What is possible of the natives of our newly acquired territory, especially that of Mrs. Elliott F.
Shepard, grand-daughter of Commodore Vanderbilt, at
. = Sitka.
[ am sure this book will have a large circulation, that
it will do much good, and will remain to you and your
children a monument more lasting than marble or
; bronze. Aftfectionately your friend, | WM. 'T. SHERMAN,
a
General.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER J, PAGK Ilow to Dress and What to Take. —Checking Baggaye.—Trip over the Pennsylvania Railroad—A Halt and a Dinner in Chicago.— Minneapolis: its Flour-Mills, and its Beautiful Buildings, Lakes, and Parks ‘ : ‘ ‘ ; ' . ‘ ‘ . * 1-9
CHAPER Il,
West from Minneapolis. —Comforts of the Dining-Car,—Bisinarck.— Previous Visit in 1883,—Grant, Villard, and Evarts.~—Sitting Bull's Unpopularity.—The Bad Lands.—Marquis de Mores’s Unsuccessful Venture.—The Yellowstone River.—Indians, Cowboys, and Ever- changing Scenery.—The Wonders of the Yellowstone Park,—.\ Trip through it with President Arthur, General Sheridan, and Others, All Now Deceased.—Helena, Montana. —A Sunday Dinner on Board the ‘Train. —Wonderful ‘Trestles and Engineering. —Clark’s Fork.— Lake Pend d’Oreille.—The Sportsman’s Paradise.—Spokane Falls. -—Miles of Uninteresting Sage Grass.—Moxie Farm,—An Amusing ‘ Visitor. —The Cascade Mountains. —Stampede ‘Tunnel.—-The Puy-
‘ . 10-33
allup Valley.—Arrival at Tacoma . . : . . CHAPTER IIL.
Tacoma of Seven Years Ago,—Tacoma of To-Day,—Its Prosperous ~~ Population.—-Culture and Refinement.—Lumber Mills and Ship- ping.—-Rapid Building. —‘‘ The Tacoma” Hotel.—Mount Tacoma, 34-444
CHAPTER IV,
‘Lhe Steamship Queen.—Her Admirable Appointments.—Obliging Offi- cers and Servants,—Captain Carroll e 1d One of his Jokes.—Seattle. —Its Wonderful Growth since the Great Fire. —An Indian’s Floating Residence.—Puget Sound.—Its Beautiful Islands.—Wonderful Young Cities. —Anacortes and Fairhaven,-—Port Townsend.—Fresh Arrivals from San Francisco . A i : ‘ ‘ ‘ » 45-56
o
CONTENTS. CHAPTER V.
Arrival at Victoria, B, C.—An Eden of Ilowers,—The English May- flower. —Exquisite Landscape.—Superb View of the Bay and Moun tain Ranges. —Grand Sunset.—Civility of the Residents. —] dinner at the “ Poodle Dog.” —A Moonlight ‘Tramp to the Ship. ‘
CHAPTER VI.
Up Early and on Deck.—Who Are the Karly Risers ?—The Gulf of Georgia and Johnstone Straits. —Vancouver and San Juan Islands. —Snow-Clad Mountains. —More Picturesque Islands.—Breakfast.— Whales, Water-falls, Seals, and Porpoises.—A Most Enjoyable Day.
—Wonderfully Transparent Water. . ‘ ; : :
CHAPTER VIL.
Arrival at Fort Wrangell.—Its History.—Meeting the Governor of Alaska. —The Totem Poles.x—Their Meaning,—Curious Carvings by the Natives, —The Wretched Indian Homes.—Poverty, Filth, and Disease. —An Indian Woman’s Life of Toil and Shame.—Infanti- cide.—Polygamy.—Indian Graves.—An Amphibious Iotel.—The Trip from Fort Wrangell to Sitka, —The Delta of the Stickeen River —FExquisite Scenery and J,ong-Continued Daylight.—Arrival at
Sitka ’ ° e . ° ° ° . e ® °
CHAPTER VIII.
Sitka, —So Muchlike Naples. —Mt. Edgecombe.—The Dilapidated Store- Houses.—-Baranoff Castle: its History and Reminiscences.—Lady Franklin and William H. Seward.—The Ceremony of Handing over Alaska by Russia to the United States.—~The Journey of Civilization Westward around the Globe.—Indians and their Knick- Knacks.—Superstition against Photography.—Indian Adornments, —'The Rancherie and its Horrors. —Princess Thom,—The American Shops.—The Russo-Greek Church.—Service by Archbishop Vla- dimir.—Wonderful Interior Decorations.—American Ladies at Sitka and How They Live. —The Indian River Walk.—The Blarney Stone.—Presbyterian Missions and Mrs, Filiott ¥, Shepard's Schools and Hospitals. —Wonderful Work of the Missionaries and Progress of the Pupils. —The Narrow Gulf between Barbarism and
Civilization . 3 Z ‘ 7 ‘® ; : ;
57 ~Ot)
70-88
Cy 124
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER IN, lhAGKH Departure from Sitka. —Everybody Happy.--Thoroughly Satistied with the Day's Experience. —Suggestions for Improvement of Condition of the Sitkans.—The Thousand Islands and their Foliage.—Mt. Edgecombe Again, —The Fairweather Mountains by ‘Twilight.—.\ Night of Continuous Day.—Amazing Effect of Sunset and Sunrise. The Dawn of the Morning Finds Everybody on Deck,—Fields of Ice and Icebergs in Glacier Bay, —The Captain’s Anxiety and Skill, — Coffee?” ‘No, Vhanks.”—Description of Muir Glacier. 125-143
CHAPTER NX.
My First Sight of Muir Glacier. —The Spell-Bound Passengers. —What it Looks like. —Its Colossal Grandeur and Exquisite Coloring. —Break- ing off of the Front with Toud Detonations.—Impressions Made upon Previous Writers, —Ascent to the ‘Top of the Glacier.—Its
Dangers and Fatigues. : ‘ . : , . ; 144-158
CHAPTER NTI.
Taking Ice Aboard,—The Lake of the Gods and Scidmore Island,— The Fairweathers by Daylight: Fairweather, Crillon, and T.a Perouse, —Divine Service on the Qaecv.—Meeting the Prrta and Handing the Sailors their Mail.—Douglass Island and its Gold Mines.—Ilistory of the Treadwell Mine,—Cheap and Profitable Mining. —A Quarry of Gold.—Juneau.—Prettily Located.—Its His- tory.—Great Depot for lurs.—Methods of the Indian ‘Trader.—A ‘Treasure Lost and Regained. —The Native Dances Given by an Alas- kan Showman.—Weird and Unique Performance.—Remarkable Cos-
tumes of the Dancers. —The Shaman Dance . . ‘ ‘ 159-174
CHAPTER XII.
Taku Inlet. —Up the Lynn Canal to Chilcat, above the 59th Degree of Latif de.— Auk and Eagle Glaciers. —The Davidson Glacier.—Nil- lisnoo and its Fisheries.—-Wrangell Narrows and Clarence Straits. — The American Magle.—Whale Food.—The Oulikon or Candle- Fish. —Schools of Whales in Search of Bood.,—Bute Inlet. —Fort Simpson, B. C.—A Post of the Hudson Bay Company.— Methodist Church,—Ravages of La Grippe.—Mourning and ‘Tombstones. “Muck a muck.’”’—The Man-Eaters and Dog-Haters.—ITTorrible Bar- barism before the Arrival of Mr. William Duncan and the Mission-
aries, —Death in a Hut, and the Anguish of an Old Squaw. I
CONTENTS:
CHAPTER XII. PAGK Metlahkatlah, B. C.—An_ Indian Village with a Good Government.- Their Written Constitution, — Their Industries and Mechanical Pau- cation, —~Nanaimo,—A Game of Base-Ball.—Celebrated Coal Mines. Recent Sad Calamity in One of ‘Them.—‘ reat Resort for Sports- men.—Splendid Fishing and Iunting.—Victoria Again, and the Poodle Dog” Once More.—'Squimault and the Boating-Grounds, Day.—The Australian Ballot. —A Cause Céldébre.—Arrival 186-14
Klection- Once More at ‘Tacoma.—Off for the Yosemite i ;
a ILLUSTRATIONS ahaXvs iNy we By the American Bank Note Company, of New York. PAGE THe Muik GLActER—Frontispiece, PorTRAIT OF THE AUTHOR—Guttekunst, Phila. Home or Hon, W. D. WASHBURN, MINNEAPOLIS, - - 7 INDIAN OF THE PLAINS Photo, by Notman & Son, - - 9 GEN'L GRANT AT BISMARCK, - 2 : 7 R 13 A Brikr HALT, - “ : s e 7 14 i Home oF THE Marquis DE MOREs, - - E 3 17 INDIANS AND Cowboys, - “ - ‘ us 18 Onup Farrururt ~ Photo, by Haynes, - - - - 19 YELLOWSTONE 1 +) LS~-Photo. by Haynes, . : “ 20 PRESIDENT ARTHUR AND COMPANIONS, — - - - : 21 MARENT TRESTLE—Photo, by Haynes, - z . S 24 NEAR CLARK’s Fork Photo, by Haynes, - : - 25 SPOKANE FaLts—Photo. by Haynes, . - - - 27 ‘An, THERE!” - : : : : 3 - 30 CurrinGc TIMBER IN WASHINGTON—Photo. by Davidson, - 2 THe Wuarves ar TAcoMA—Photo. by Davidson, - : 33 J TacoMaA-—Photo. by Rutter, © - - - : - - 35 Paciric AVENUE, TACOMA—Photo, by Hlaynes, . 38 , Mount TacomMa—Photo. by Rutter, ‘ ., . 5 42 PuVALLUP Hop-PICKERs, - - - 44 ‘(Give Her A Coat or PAINT,” - : < “ 4s SEATTLE—Photo. by Haynes, . - = 50 BisHor VLADIMIR, - - - . - = 55 A Brr or SCENERY FROM THE DECK, - - 56
VieroRtA—Photo. by Maynard, - - - - ° 59
eel aa RARER
VicroriA HOospiraliry, E : : -
Att TLANDS ON DECK,
SCENERY IN THE GUL OF GEORGIA,
ae ‘ os
JOHNSTONE SERALTS, - - :
Fort WRANGELL,
Torem Pontes ar Forr WRANGELE—Photo, by Taber, A Srreer is Fort WRANGELL-——Photo. by Taber, - Torem Po.tes At Fort WRANGELL—Photo, by Taber, INDIAN Souaws AP Fort WRANGELL,
INDIAN GRAVE AT Fort WRANGELL—from Photo, by Taber, Tuk STICKEEN DELTA, - -
THe Kopak FIeNDs, -
SrrKA (FROM ‘THE WHARE),
Srrea (rROM Tite BAy)—Photo. by Taber, : PORTRALEL OF WILLIAM HH. SEWARD, -
Lincoln SPREET, SrrKA-—-Photo, by Vaber,
Group OF INDIANS AT SITKA,
ae fa ae ce . “e ‘ G
The RANCHERIE AT SirKA ~Photo. by Taber, . GrRouP OF INDIANS AT SITKA, - -
Pine RANCHERIE AT SITKA, : - . - PRINCESS ‘THOM, “ 2 Z
GROUP OF INDIANS AT SITKA, - - INTERIOR OF INDIAN’S Housk At SrrkKA—Photo. by Partridge, GREEK CHURCH AT SITKA,
INTERIOR OF GREEK CHuRcH-—Photo, by Albertstone,
tik INDIAN River ar SrrKA—Photo. by Winter,
Group or INDIAN Boys—Photo, by Winter,
Mrs. SHEPPARD'S PRAINING SCHOOL,
The Mission CHILDREN, : ri
Tire Museum At SIPKA,
MISSION CHILDREN AND BAND,
On Dkck t LEAVING SITKA, ~ 120 A Niair or Continual Da&y, 129 [CeBERGS ATHLEAD, - - 131 IN A SEA OF ICE, . 132 IMMENSE FLOATING Ick, 135 Murr GLACIER AY A DISTANCE, - 143 * A Bre or THE MUuIkK GLACTER, 146 Tre Chimp, - : - 154 Tue Tor or Muir GLactek—Photo. by Partridge, - 2 150 On Tor, ~ - - , “ 157 CANOE RACE BY ALASKA INDIANS, - - : 15s Hosting [ce ON BoAkb, : “ : 159 Tins TREADWELL GoLb MINES, F ts : 162 A WitoLe QUARRY OF GOLD, - - . (63 JungAu-—Photo. by Taber, : . e - 105 ALASKA CURIOS, 2 . a “ - 168 INDIAN DANCES, - is e 3 7 172 = : INDIAN CANOE, - : : 74 INDIAN WITH THLINKIT BLANKE!, — - . : 174 DAVIDSON GLACIER—-Photo, by Winter, 2 ; e 177 KiLisNoo—Photo, by Winter, - . ~ ; : 178 Tue Mr. Sr. EvtAs RANGE, 2 f : 180 A Prerurge oF DESPAIR, 2 : E 185 Epucarep ALASKA [INDIANS AL TLoME, : / 189 THe BoatinGc GRrounps av VicrortA--Photo. by Maynard, 19]
MAP sHOWING RouTE OF THE STEAMER ‘S OUEEN,” = 3d page cover
Y DEAR AMELIA:
To visit Alaska! This, as vou know, had been a dream) of many years. Thad Hstened enviously to those who had been there; [had
read every thing within reach which heen written about it; the more | heard and the more [ read, the more [T hoped.
At last, most unexpectedly, just as [ had completed my arrangements to spend my summer as usual at Sara- toga, the welcome words came from your father: “ 1 wall have to start for Tacoma in a few days ; come along, and run up to Alaska.” [don’t think [slept any more quietly or soundly that night than did your little one when he hung up his stocking on Christmas eve. Oh, no! Womanlike, | was mentally packing my trunk for the next few hours with the many things which [ felt sure would be indispensable to my comfort, and
2 A WOMAN'S TRIP 10 ALASKA
having filled one in the usual style to such an extent that the horrid thing wouldiwt shut, | began to ask Mlyae If how little would be needed | vy your father, and whether he couldn’t find room for a dress or two in his.
Pam not going to tell you what a blunder [ made when T really did lay out my stores for the campaign, hut Tam going to do my best to prevent you following so bad an example, if Dean mduce you to make the trip.
Dress yourself at the start in a sensible, inexpensive cloth travelling suit, of ordinary warmth; let it fit comfortably and not fashionably (you know what | mean). In addition, carry one, and only one, costume Which will serve for church, dinner, theatre, or occasion of ceremony, for T assure you there are two or three places em route where the refinements and convention- alities of life are strictly observed, and as you are a fair specimen of your sex, you will want to look up to the standard ; otherwise you will feel il at ease, Of course you will take a proper supply of warm under-garments, and then be sure to add, if they are not already in your portmanteau, the following tndispensables : A long fur-lined cloak and oan ulster (not a heavy one), Which can be put on ina hurry and made to counterfeit, an entire costume; otherwise you will be very apt to miss exquisite bits of the ever-changing scenery, because you “are just lying down for a nap and are really not fit to be seen” when some kind friend calls you to run across to the starboard side to see a thousand feet of cascade, visible only for a few min- utes, as the boat speeds past it. A warm muff: you
PREPARA (1LONS FOR DEPARTURE, ;
will find lots of muffs on the ship, no doubt, but thes all keep their hands in their trousers’ pockets, and you will sometimes wish you had pockets, too, tnless you wrap your little fingers as [P suggest. I would several times have given half the money your father had in his purse Hf TP had not teft my little seal-skin muff in the cuuphor closet at home, uA pale of brond-soled, low heeled shoes that have been already worn, with a few nails insole and heel protruding just enough to impress the smooth surface of the glacial lee, A light-weight mackintosh, with hood, A pair of smoked glasses, A pair of powerful field-glasses. Do all this and you are fully equipped for the journey. Any thing else you take is simply ¢mpedimenta, As iny journey from the Atlantic to the Pacific was so thoroughly enjoyable and restful that Twas really loth to leave the train when | reached Tacoma, PT cannot better guide you than by telling the story of my own journey.
Having procured our tickets over the Pennsylvania | Railroad to Chicago, and thence over the Northern Pacific to Tacoma, we next secured) a drawing-room on / the Pullinan car to Chicago, and telegraphed to. that ) city to secure one to Minneapolis (where we intended to remain over one day). We next had our two trunks q taken from our house at Mighty-sixth Street and Pifth |) Avenue the day before we started and cheeked through a to Minneapolis by the Pennsylvania Railroad Company © for fifty cents each; which, T think, was the greatest \- umount of comfort and relief from anxiety that [ever
u purchased for a dollar in my life, especially when I
4 A WOMAN'S TRIP TO ALASKA,
found theme safely awaiting our coming in that city, realy to be cheeked = through to Taeoma at mo ad. ditional cost. (In faet I subsequently learned that they could have been cheeked through the whole dis: tance from my residence to Puget Sound for half a dollar eneh, if TP had so desired, )
At 2 paw, May 13, 1890, TP find myself in the train at Jersey City, westward bound for our destination Alaska, At Philadelphia we wait five minutes, where Vou Heeb me for vood-hye anid OOH POYUAYE, to say nothing about a delieious hox of hon-bons, and then I settle down to make myself comfortable for the first day's journey, We have a charming little compart- ment, one of those Pullman MULLIN pUr vos Which American Inventity and good taste have contrived to Inake a long journey a hope instead of a fears a piu lor and dressing-room, where we lounge peacefully and enjoyably with our books and our newspapers. Tam, of course, Immensely absorbed in reading up the latest wuthorities on Alaska, my land of years of promise sun hope, and, now that my dream is being realized, [ pro- ceed to delve into the most recent literature upon the subject. Though darkness came much quicker than was welcome, still we had an opportunity by daylight of admiring the beautiful valleys and hill-sides of Lan- caster County, Pennsylvania, all dressed in their spring attire, and although we lost a view of poor Johnstown and the “ Torseshoe” on the Alleghanies, yet next day until five o'clock, when we reached Chicago, there was constant variety of interesting landscape, which was most
CIIICAGO. <
enjoyable, though there was little of it which lingered in my memory in the august presence of nature’s wonders in Alaska. A five-+hours’ break at Chicago afforded us an opportunity to freshen up and get a good dinner at the Richelieu, a capital hotel, nicely situate on Lake Michigan, where, during my meal, a couple of my nonveneriches countrymen, Who in Kngland would be called “eads,” unintentionally afforded me a great deal of fun. One of them who wore a dress-suit, a diamond shirtestud, and a watel-chain Of most attract: ive proportions, insisted that he must have a JUrconu who spoke French, and this article being supplied, he commenced discussing the menu in the very worst ; French TP ever heard, and in so load a voice that he impressed those who did not know better, that he was some remarkable personage; when, however, he se- lected the vintage and brand of his rouge vin as he called it, Tam afraid my outbreak of merriment was observed : it certainly Wiis hy the waiter, who felt. at once relieved of the high strain of dignified reserve to whieh he had nerved himself, and fairly guffawed., Sut the climax came when, in the midst of the meal, | another waiter entered and grasped our distingueé | | stranger by the hand, with a “Say, when did you get back 2” from whieh T presumed that our Franco. maniac had just retured from a Etiropean “tower.” H I regret to say that from that moment the dialogue of y les deww amis was continued in home-spun Knelish of
i a quality as inferior as the Krench, but the criticism
t . of the viands. and the elevation of the bordeaux to the
6 A WOMAN'S TRIP TO ALASKA,
electric light to test its color, were maintained to the end of the feast; yet TP think my broiled chicken and Milwaukee beer (vintage of 1890) were fully as well appreciated, The whole thing brought vividly to my inind Mrs, William lorence in one of those inimitable characters in which she constantly apologizes for her inability to suppress the impulse to frenchify, as, for Instance, se Now, My dear, Yasseodr vieht here s CXCUSE my French, but you know Pve lived so long abroad.” Perhaps [ ought not to refer to such triffes ; yet they are the incidents which will be met with on a trip of this character, and serve to illustrate the different phases of American life,
Leaving Chicago at 10 poM., May 14th, we arrived in Minneapolis at four next afternoon, and stopped at the West House, a really superb hotel, unexcelled any- Where [ have ever been, [ dowt know whether. to commend most the amiable and painstaking host, the excellent, spacious, and well-furnished) rooms, capital laundry, or the admirable arrangement of the ro- tunda, with its beautiful galleries, where the women walk or sit after dinner, gazing down at their lege lords below, swopping wheat and stocks and yarns, The wealth and growth of this inland city are due chiefly to the establishment and maintenance of the immense flour mills, located on the banks of the Mississippi River, which receive their motive power from the Falls of St. Anthony, and their supply of grain from the fertile fields of spring wheat in the States of Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Dakota, There
MINNEAPOLIS, 7
are twenty-three of these mills, several of them built of vranite, of a dozen or more stories in height, and of imposing architectural design; having aw eapacity, Pam told, to manufacture thirty-seven thousand barrels of flour each day, and actually producing annually be- tween six and seven millions of barrels, of which two millions are shipped away to provide the staff of life in forelyn lands, Visitors are welcome at all times, ane we treated with the utmost COUPES hy proprietors and employés, [recognized my favorite brand, and followed the pore CESSES Of Its manufie- ture with ex- my treme inter est, from the emptying of the freight
Cur Contam
HOME OF HON, W, B, WASITBURN, MINNEAPOLIS,
8 A WOMAN'S TRIP TO ALASKA,
ing the freshly thireshed Wheat, through all the details of grinding, cleansing, and sifting, until it finally reached) the muslin bag, and was sewed up and stamped,
Minneapolis is still in her “teens,” but as beautiful as she is youthful, and, Pam told, has determined to make her début this year as a rival to her elder sister, the en- terprising St. Paul. While here we were the guest of our friend, Mr. TL L., who played the host em erad prince, placing us in his phaeton, behind a pair of very rapid jet blacks, thus giving us an opportunity of see- ing in afew hours what it woul l have taken us Jays to discover for ourselves. [was fairly amazed at the palatial residences; with the exception of perhaps half dozen houses, New York has nothing comparable in the way of bold and tasteful architecture, combined with great solidity; the variety and combinations of colored stone particularly struck me, especially a re- markable blending of green and cream colors in one house yet unfinished, the unfortunate owner having come to grief during its construction, — [ts architecture was of the highest art, and [T hope yet to see if in its coinpleted magnificence, Perhaps the effect of these vrand edifices, each built upon its own separate acre with its carpet of lawn and flower-beds, upon an eye necustomed to rows of brick and brown stone, 1s exagverated us to the beauty of design and structure, nevertheless the Minneapolis homes impressed me with their splendor, and T cannot help feeling it is the most
charming city | have ever visited,
MINNEAPOLIS, iS)
Next day we made the tour of the chain of lakes Which, with the surrounding land, constitute the peo- ple’s pleasure-ground, or public park. Lakes Tlarriet and Calhoun are exquisite sheets of water bordered by wide and well-made boulevards and groves of trees: in fact, only just asufficient contribution of art to preserve the beautiful gifts of nature, which is a great comfort Ina world so elven to stramed efforts to compete with the Creator: ye Where the handicraft and taste of min we essential, as i the construction of their massive public buildings, the people of Minneapolis are unsur passed. Phe churches, libraries, banks, eity buildings, office buildings, and HEWSpaper offices lave a most assured fire-proof anc age-proof effect. The building of the Guarantee Company is wonderful: To was amazed When told that it had been comunenced only @ year awwzo, yel it has cleven stories, and is constructed Upon the
‘, highest principles of architecture as to leht, air
and strength; there seemed to be
nothing about it that had not its raison Métre, The view of the
surrounding country from the fop of it is siinpoly stiperh, reach-
Ine to
“ Where the Falls of Minnehaha Mash and gleam among the oak
trees,
Laugh and leap into the valley,”
Peo rues
CHAPTER II.
Tofive in the afternoon, May 16th, LAN we once more find ourselves ina Pullman drawing-room, and as we have now to settle down for a three days’ journey, it seems to us thet the Apartment has been made even IMOLVE COSEY than the one whieh brought us from New York: at all events, it has every thing that the most fastidious person could wish for, and when PF com- pared it with the chilly, comfortless
eoaches Im which T have been doomed
to spend hours i Italy and Eastern Europe, T felt that those who grumble at the sttle cow- tre-temps that sometimes happen even in the wonderful Pullman system are a most unreasonable set 2 our come partinent is acute little salon hy day, where we are happy in the dolee far niente, with our books, or in whiting to those at home. We have every CONVENIENCE, a cheerful and obliging porter, and when the white- jacketed waiter announces “supper Is now ready in the dining-ear,” we simply walk through the vestibuled
16th, Sn it us we ror a s thrat evel ‘ouchit vit bias Hidious | Coil: ‘ortless loomed Jastern tle cou nderful tip CO we are s, or in eMlence, » white: ly in the stibuled
Tk COMFORTS OF TRAVEL. it
passave-way to the next car and are politely ushered to a tea which would have done credit to any home i the land. Just think of a broiled salmon steak, excellent and welleecooked chops, delicious waflles, straw berries, capital tea, and lots of other good things, ff you preferred them, all for seventy-five cents; add to this, if you Wish, a pint of “Zinfandel (a California claret), and one dollar pays the bill, Treally become so content and restful that P feel TP eould live here a month, Perhaps the men oon the train amiss their clubs im the eveniny, their billiards, or ther rubber: but, as far as [am con- eermed, Pam Jisupoys that there are ne shops, no dinner parties, theatres, or balls. I live to confess that [do not amiss them. Think of it, Pretire at nine o’elock, snc sleep peacefully until eloht, I have but one arricre penser, one Mightmare + will Perow fat on this calm, heart-full, and stomach-full life? Yes, T have another: will the ubiquitous ten-months-old baby (there is always one to each car) yell in’ the might) be- tween the intervals of paregorie ¢
It is Saturday morning, May 17th, and [have slept deliciously ; if the baby eried Twas too unconscious to observe it, but about four in the morning [was awak- ened by a change in the temperature it had) become intensely cold, and DT made good use of the extra blanket. Upon arising [find we are out on the tree- less prairie, coated with a light fall of snow. Kor I should think two hundred miles we travel on inoa
straight line across this vast expanse of plain with no
speck of foliage excepting here and there where the
en ae
12 A WOUAN SS THIP TO ALASKA,
settler is making oa fruitless effort to raise a few striplings; yet Toam told that im oa month these thousands of acres will be fresh and green with the young spring Wheat, and what now is an uninteresting barren waste will then be a veritable COPMUCOP LL, What care Tif the eye does tire of the MONOLONY of the plain, the horizon, and the occasional farm-house 4 itcean turn to the little dressine-room with its every COHVEMIENCE, Its finely bevelled mirrors, tank of iee- water, marble basin with lot and cold) water, and silver spigots, little shelves and trays in carved Mnathouany, uli ptable to all the TY necessities of a wommams toilets a little Afjow, which surely no amen ever designed, unless he was a very, very muel mar. median. Breakfast at nine—-strawberries and cream, brook trout, broiled) spring chicken, first-rate coffee, Think of it, and remember the old) days, when we had to be elbowed and trod upon by rade men in the rush to vet to the counter of the wayside station and choke or seald ourselves im the effort to bring on an attack of dyspepsia hefore the conductor should shout “ Al] aboard !° Think of doing this on hot days, on cold days, on rainy days, and on slippery days, and then com- pare it with the decent, respectable, healthful method of to-dity uw table for two, take your Owl time, rational meal, and the train carrying you on to your destination at thirty miles an hour; ism’t it grand 4
Breakfast finished, we find ourselves at Bismarck at 10 a.m, where the train stops long enough to permit us
to take a stroll U pou the platform and look at a biisy
i BISMANCK, 13 | few town built upon the trade incident to the great wheat I these country of whieh it is the centre, Tfere we lose the h the society of two sisters of charity, who have been iM isting passenvers from Minneapolis, bound on an errand of pte: merey, [Tam sorry they leave us, for [ feel better 4 at always for the influence of their presence ; much as ‘| Ouse 4 our fattos differ To have reason to have an immense q avert regard, respect, suid admiration for these dear good y ( a women, Whose lives are full of sacrifice, mimolation of | L cunicl self, and DUITILY of heart, Bismarck is full of proud is Siaheael and tender memories for me, Seven years avo [leaned i ee Upon the arm of our great hero General Grant there re as we walked together to the See ceremony of dedicating the State Tlouse, followed by a q
OCA,
choke the Diplomatic Corps, und
coffee column of distinguished men, slew unong whom were Mr. Vil- ; ana lard, Mr. levarts, members of 4 rtlsdi ;
; others who were en conte to ittack
“« All the laying of the last rail to 3
Bela complete the creat hishway H from St. Paul to the Pacific. ‘
1 COnM|- Ty | : ei
thea len, rode over the Rocky
ree Mountains ‘1 staves, ate terrible meals with all sorts and
* conditions of men, slept inthe woods vot wet and dusty » Your : ° . ; : i seals? frozen and broiled, according to the altitude to which rek at We climbed, or from Which \We descended, and Was » ar e e . . . ee more fatigued at the expiration of my four days’ jolt | uy than PE would be ina Pullman carin aimonth. It was
RAR
1 — : me a ee , "
cline acalitindtameliiisadatin ti nammetttbesaemmmntamie an anccs2 nem ree iu
———
14 ! WOMAN'S TRIP TO ALASKA
on this occasion at Bisinarek that Twas Witness to an episode Which is worth recording, Sitting Bull sane his chiefs, but recently stained with the blood of poor Custer and his intrepid band of followers, were osten- tatiously anid Indecorously piraded pon the platform erected for the speakers, and Sitting Bull commenced w harangue in his native tongue, whieh was being in- terpreted, When the crowd below, now assembling and realizing What was takiney place, drove lim with yells and hisses to the rear and called Grant to the front. Was In entire sympathy with the crowd. The pleture of the handsome Custer with his red searf, as he dashed along Pennsylvania Avenue on his runaway horse at the grand review in’ Washington in 1865. was before me, and so was his murderer, There was but one side to sneha ({Ues- thon. At all events [ can- not work my- self up to any sympathy for the Indian. | have seen the noble red mean ‘ul home, with his filth ana his vice, his dishonesty, his cunning, and
A BRIEF HALY, (Kodak by Author.) his veneral l})-
oer a | ane poor mStCH- {form enced i In us anid yells nt. | icture ashed mse at sefore
« side
L ({ UeS- At all [ can- ke omny- ay ly for an. I en the
doanan
» With 1 and eo, his
ty, his
and
’
ral un-
MANDAN AND THK BAD LANDS. 15
reliability, and I am among those who heleve he should be coerced into good behavior and not tolerated as he is.
Leaving Bismarck we cross the muddy Missouri on a new iron bridge, and in twenty minutes are at Mandan, where rar change of locomotives nid conductors HeCESSI- tates a halt of a quarter of an hour, giving us a chance to visit a curiosity shop of stuffed birds and beasts at stuffed prices, but as Thave no use for these dust- and moth-eatehers in Hy household, they tempt me not, Shortly we reach the “bad lands.” T think the name belies them, for in addition to them being weird, pietur- esque, and puzzling, they are good grazing lands, as Timyself can testify, if good fat herds of cattle afford any proof, The topography is of the most marvellous formation, and the colors are equally wonderful : here you see an ashy-gray hill of elephantine form, there a red cone as perfect as though just from the moulder’s hands, again a pyramid, and then dozens of cones and pyramids, and this continues for a hundred, hay, two hundred miles. Often these quaint forms recall to mind scenes in other lands: onee from the car-window I recognized on this arid desert the tomb of Cecilia Metella on the Appian Way, with its beehive formation and its battlements. Now and then you reCOUMIZE What you believe to be an extinct voleano with lumps of scoria at its base, yet this may be only the slag or refuse of the burning lignite, which is frequently found and sometimes mined among these hills. What struck me as the most remarkable feature of this won-
derfal and enigmatic formation, was a series of well
16 A WOMAN'S TRIP 10 ALASKA,
defined horizontal dines, a foot or two part, Which Invariably marked the mounds or buttes, very much resembling the lines mace poor the shore of a river Ihy the rise anid fall of the tide, Now Pam not a vreoloutst, hor gifted with much antedilavian or prehistoric lore, hor have Poread any serentists ideas of what Pan deseribing, but to ome it looks as if at some very remote period this entire region Was the bottom of one or more fresh-water lakes as large as Lakes Michigan and) Lerte, or as small as those which cover aeres Of Wisconsin and) Minnesota, and) that by some process of evaporation, or by leakage or failure of supply, they gradially dried up, leaving these water- marks HW pon the illsides to denote the periods of transition. At all events fossilized fish and shells are found here in abuncianee, and it is sare threat IPrboation will make the soil productive, While Tam thinking of it, however, and perhaps Wasting My time in conject- ure, We stop at Medora. TPere is the wreek of a once thriving plant and settlement founded by Marquis de Mores, the husband of one of New York’s meh belles, Who conceived the idea that he could establish and sue- cessfully carry on at this place the business of raising and slaughtering cattle and sending the meat in refrigera- torenrs to Eastern markets. Te built a neat home, Which can be plainky seen from the train, but after a serious altercation with some of the cowboys, resulting Ina travedy, in which the Marquis bore himself with considerable gallantry and nerve, le ultimately absan
doned the scheme and left the country, Yet Tam told
Which niueh ep by OuIst, lore, Psu very bot aikes COVE! SONG re oot Vitber- Is of Is are ation king HW jeet- Once in de elles, | sue. isine SOV POTLLG, ter a Itine with uleun- told
VAROUWIS Di MORLS' SCHEATE. 17
hy the people who shroutel OM best, that lis joleun Wills
anexcellent one, and will yet be carried out successfully,
but laek of business EX PETICHce and taet was the real CULIESeG of his fralure. [le established the fret, however, that cattle would fatten here, cancel thet they could readily be prepared for safe Shiprient to the Atlantic senhoardl. a) iia fromm rinel to table, as the Marquis Cp leran macutical ly styled it. Ile was oa pioneer, anid, like many others, perhaps a little ahead of his) time.
HOME OF THE MARQUIS DE MORES, (Aadak'd / futhor.)
1% A WOMAN'S TRIP TO ALASKA,
Looking at his house and the dismal surroundings, you cannot help congratulating the Marehioness that the scheme was a fathure, No wealth would COM PCH site for such a life to one accustomed to the whirl of the metropolis ; cla wa de sof it was a terrible saerifiee, Another meht of comfortable sleep snicl Sundiy, May TsSth, dawns upon us just as a spring day ought to—suushiny, pleasantly warm, and a clear sky. This is to be a lity of Janad- and Wile scitpe, SO We take our cnmipstools and our Kodak to the rear platform sunicl feast our better nature with a repiast of the subline and beautiful approach to the foot-hills of the Rocky Mountaims. TLere we have dashes of scenery to de- ligrhit the most exacting artistic tuste-—motuntain ane ravine, valley and stream; in fact, for the next twenty- four hours the track follows the meandering course of the great Yellowstone River, with its rapids and water:
falls, its precipitous banks and rock-bound canyons,
ey a .
gore. ye. Ne iby "1
4
.}
its Indians and its cowhboys,—an ever-changing whirl at of panorama, through which we pass so rapidly that a . . . . ae
before the oft-repeated echo of our shrill whistle his
May, elit
This
and net y- se of tery
VOTIS,
The VUELLOWSTONE PARK, 1g
died away Upon a scene of enelantinent, wnother still more beautiful surrounds us, facing all recollection of its predecessor, till the adie “ye nia Hitiniver’y soul become satiated with a kaleidoscopic confusion of the sublime, Asked now to seleet some vem for an artist from sony it all, P shoul fail: PT could mot prea’ theulanize iu speenel locality, If To liad taken photo vraphs one upon top of the other every five minutes of this delightful ity, and then hile one COMPOST te pict: ure of the whole, it might faithy convey an den of
nature deeked with der purple robes anel
sceptre as it lingers in imy memory whale I write,
At nine dn the morning we reach Livings- ton, and here | exper ice the first and only (disappointment of any trip. This is the ehtranee to the Yellowstone Park. Seven years ago I left the train at this port nid went off on the litthe braneh road to Cinna: bar, and thence seven or elght miles ina stave to the Mammoth [Lot Springs, Qh, ye geysers, and you lovely canyon, with your marvellous waterfall, must P pass you ul] hy as I hurry on to Alaska’? Alas, the ship will be waiting forme at Tacoma, and Pohave promised to be there. Dear old) Yellowstone Park, | PP see plainly your snow-clad J mountains, LP almost hear the
row of your hot fountains ; high sn ragapeunea.)
COLD PATIL 21
(dla Maithfuls prune t tial COMMNY nid olny Is Cll titled to better trenatiient thisan TT ea ie bitin, yet | Calheot Tarr’y. (rlaclly would J Walk there to feast Wyn those bright colors unseen and unheard of elsewhere, Ohi, for one look from the summit ite the deep tihyss where soars the eagle, and for
an hour beside those fathomless / lakes of emeruld ioirrors and | acd a A
morning vlories, But it must
not be, To am exploring new A 7 ( fields, “dw revorr, WS old friend ( A / Wy Yoo ~\ it
so near and yet so furs af Ih ‘4 Yt Jo OO bf | life ds spared I have not seen Vou forthe last thie: and ye. we are such creatures of clretiistances and conditions that [ feel like exclanming & Lasedat Oil spe
PANEAVOLCHE vonenutrate.” Only
i Leys Ve@ars avo | rode with President Arthur and Gen- eral Sheridan, and Anson Stager, and Captain Clarke,
through the lanes and across the rivers of this wonder
land, All vOne | Yes, this liour is one of sad memories
and disappointments : let ane vet back to the tram and
leave the past behind, yom Livingston and through the Bozeman tunnel we arrive at Tlelena, the most thriving and populous city of Montana, located in the
a
centre of one of the wehest mining regions in the country, | spent some days there pon my previous
Visit, and spent them very uncomfortably 5 the accom-
w
h ie mes 5 ested in ea naa API DON NE a Doman any fan ER a NRE ES. oo
-
:
a
bo to
A WOMAN'S TRIP TO ALASKA,
medations were not fit for man or beast, much less for
woman. All this, however, has chauged since the com- pletion of the railroad, and it now boasts of an admi- rable hotel (the Broadwater) and a luxurious and mam- moth bathing-house. Leaving Helena we enter upon that wonderful system of railroad engineering which, I am told, is almost unequalled ; here we commence tlie real ascent of the Rockies, circling around the sides of the snow-capped hills and leaping from crag to crag, over trestle bridges of dizzy heights and wonderful construction, culminating in the Mullen tunnel, which marks the summit, and emerging upon a beautiful valley just at sunset ; abandoning the extra locomotive and rat: tling along at a lively pace on adown grade to Garrison, where there is a branch road to Deer Lodge, a beauti- ful little town with a nice, clean, well kept hotel, Which gave me shelter and rest after my stage ride over the mountains in 18838, and thence to [Lutte and Anaconda, famous for their rich copper and_ silver mines. At this point (Garrison’s), therefore, we lost many of our compagnons de voyage, Who were destined for some of these places, and several of them to Salt Lake City.
To-day, in the dining-car, we were treated to a din- ner which would have done credit to any first-class hotel in America, and which surpassed a great many dinners I have eaten in such so-called hostelries. — I preserved the menw and here it is in full:
iss for e@ COM: adimi- | mam- upon hich, I ce the des of » CVAY, derful which valley nd rat: rrison, beauti- hotel, e ride te and silver re. lost sstined oO Salt
a din- st-class
many ies. = I
SYSTEM OF [RRIGA TION. 23
DINNER, SUNDAY, MAY 18, 1890,
Potave a la Creey, Consommeé Macaroni, ilet of ‘Prout Princesse, Potatoes, Dauphine, Cucumbers, Kadishes, Olives, Boiled Ox ‘Pongue, (Girenadins of Veal, Neapolitaine, KKromeskies of Lobster, a la Russe, Peach lritters, wine sauce, : Roast Beef, browned potatoes, ag Roast Chicken, stuffed, 7 Curagoa Punch, Roast fnglish Snipe,
Boiled Potatoes, Lima Beans, Cauliflower, Mashed Potatoes, Stewed ‘Pomatoes, New Beets, Lettuce Salad,
Frait Pudding, Sauce Labayon, Rhubarb Pie, Whortleberry Pie, Vanilla Tce Cream, Iruit, Assorted Cakes,
Edam Cheese, French Coffee, Nuts,
If passengers are not served to their satisfaction, the fact should be reported to the dining-car con luctor, All meals 75 cents. assure you it tasted just as good as it reads, and T en- joyed it thoroughly, epicure as Tam. The country we are now passing through—that is, between Livingston and Missoula, is a “dry section.” Lt seldom rains here, and though the rivers and creeks run full, they are chiefly dependent upon the melting snows in the mountains for their supply of water, This gave us an opportunity to see the method of irrigation adopted by the farmer to water his crops 5 It consists, as faras [could discover, in damming up the streams and carrying the water from the { pools thus formed in little ditches to the grain fields ; \ but the pools are only tapped at intervals whenever the eround needs moisture, and Lywas told by an irreverent passenger that this is a far more reliable system than
pi ast re sata “ america
a eee
that provided by nature in the shape of rain. Un-
°
ij f g i ‘f it t aiG
fortunately the run west from Missoula was made at
so sas stage bbe Ls
ae
onerengat
A ERED eg ep i ~ _*
— -
| rome
24 lb WOMAN'S TRIP LO ALASH EE,
nicht, wd Po was deprived of the satisfaction of once more enjoying a sight of the wonderful trestles which cross the ravines over whieh our train passes i its descent Lo the Wesberh side of the Rocks Mountains: one of them, the Marent trestle, whieh bridves the mountains across the Coriaea defile, beme two hundred and twenty-six feet high; whieh is best realized by look: Ine at the houses and OCCHPALLts of the ranch dmime- ated) henenth it, whe present very (in) Specimens of arehiteeture said liitinianity. [osu vlad that all these structures are now bailt of substantial tron; for on my previous VISIT the ereaking of the tinibers under the
weight of our heavy train was any thing but pleasant,
é one
oe a,
MAKENT TRESTLE, 220 FERT HIGH,
Once Which In its tins; s the nalred look: He CIS of these ti Wy othe
ascuit.
{ a i, 6 A WOMAN'S TRIP TO ALASKA.
{ On the qornine of Miauy 9th, looking out of the fi window at my bedside, PE found myself emerging from 4 the rocky scenery of Clark's Pork, and afterward ‘i traversing the edee of a beautiful sheet of waters so i hurrying with my toilet, P was soon out on the rea if platform absorbed in the charms of a panoriuna en- i tirely unlike the wild ruge@ed mountanm SCONCLY of the a day before. We were now on the banks of Lake Pend i POrele, Whether it vets its name from the Freneh i Inissionanes, Who found the dndiams imdulging in the 1) harmless fashion of wearing earrings, or whether the ! Pidians named it themselves after acquiring a smatter: a Ingo Rreneh, P know not, but Edo know that, though Hh not “Sanmargined with fruits of wold. it} was, when I | saw it, at clear dake,“ vlassiny softest skies.” and alto- Ne vether lovely: and it must be very large too, for we ia were running alongside of it for fully two hours. [tas lk sald to be the paradise of the sportsman, abounding in 3 hear, elk, deer, pheasants, wild) fowl, and trout, and A) Foam told that in) the months of September and q OQetober the season is at its best. Some of this big a game, of course, To was not permitted to see, but I , can vouch for the trout, whieh To have eaten, and H for the thousands of wild) dueks, whieh PP have seen I there, The town of ope, where We noun set our | watches back one hour for the third) time on our trip,
is sald to be the head-quarters for the devotees of y gun and rods if possesses a good hotel, experienced i cuides, dogs, and all the other mannish things required | i on such occasions.
~
a,
r
: ce
the
VO,
Veale |
tter- eh en | alto- Wwe It is 1 1 suid and hiv ut | and seeH OU trip, Ss of need
Hired
SPOKANE FALLS. 7
The next port of interest reached Is Spokane Foals. sine it is dncleect a port of very eredt Interest. We have now left Montana and are in the young, thriving State of Washington, and this town pardon me, TP should have sald city —will vive the Hasterner an Idea of what ean he accomplished by an industrious colony of Aierican eltizens Where nature lends them a helping bisanicl,
Seven years avo, at the request of Messrs, Cannon and
Lo Fs "y
\
POKASE FALLS.
Brown, two Jeading eltizens of the place, | stopped over here a few hours (for we had a special tram and lortered as we liked) to look at the rianiifieent Watelr- fill. I do not think there were a dozen liouses there at threat time, yet to-day it boasts a population of over twenty thousand, all the result of utilizing the tremen-
dous Water-power of the “falls,” I remember with
28 A WOMAN'S TRIP TO ALASKA.
regret that upon chat occasion these two gentlemen, then in need of money, though now millionaires, offered to sell their one-half interest in the water and the sur 32.000, but he did not
avail himself of the opportunity; and yet five years
rounding land to your father for &.
later a friend of mine gave more than this amount for less than half an acre of this same land, and sold it at an immense profit. Last year it was supposed to have suffered from an extensive conflagration which swept away the business part of the town, but to-day, as magnificent edifices of solid masonry are replacing the shanties of the past, the fire is conceded to have been it blessing. [ believe the ity Is near oat hand) when Spokane will be a second Minneapolis, for at POSSESSES both the Water- power and the CLOPS Which have made the latter great. Uy to this potut, for three whole days the eye has seen so much that is new and startling, that it becomes weary just when the scenery grows flat and uninteresting; in faet the millions of acres of sage- grass and sand through which we now pass affords us just the rest we need. To never fully realized until now how true is the saying that we may hove “too much of a good thing,” and af DP took a nap from Spokane Falls to Pasco, it was beenuse | needed it and was not iissing any thing, When this desert is irrigated and becomes a garden of orchards and flower: beds, as is prognosticated by those who have the hardihood and self-denial to live there, [am willing to stay awake: but really T saw nothing worth describing until passing through the promising towns of North
Sin et i FR prt ORS
Rae et tne oes Si
AMUSING [NCIDENTS., 29
Yakima and Ellensburg we commenced the ascent of the Cascade Mountains. [t is worthy of mention, hhow- ever, that near Yakima is a very flourishing irrigated ranch, called the Moxie Farm, managed by Mr Ker, which produces CTA pes and other fruit in great abun- dance and of the highest quality, aid has proved sO successful in the culture of tobacco that a manufactory has been established there, which ts turning out what the men call “a ligh grade of cigar.”
Monotonous as was this day’s trip, there were many in- cidents which amusingly broke in upon it—-for instance, af supper we found a stranger, who had come aboard at Pasco, looking indigenous to the soil, agood deal of whieh he carried pon his person; he was evidently dazed by the society in which he found Timself, and did lis best to adapt himself to the manners and customs of dis fellow-passengers, Being handed a napkin, he care- fully surveyed the company, and finding that some of the men had tucked their bits of napery in under their chins (a vulgar habit, vy-the-by ), he promptly did’ the sume, and then, entirely unconscious of the object. of SO placiue it, buttoned his coat over it, much to our delight and edification, Then he ate literally of every thing on the bill of fare, and when thoroughly gorged stretched himself out and picked his teeth with a resounding smack, the proud possesser of a lordly ap- petite and a digestion which would make countless thousands happy. And just here is a good place to say that sometimes coming late to our meals we find the colored porters seated at the tables taking theirs.
ee hn.
<meta
+o eas tae Me eee
De eee
a
— ee ae ee TAS -
senaatimameceammars
eae
es i oes
“ >
Ba na er a il
Si es, thea’ cag
enna SOR
<
30 A WOMAN'S TRIP TO ALASKA,
It seemed strange at first to me, but TP must do them the justice to suy that they behaved in) the most decorous manner, neither eating with their knives, nor by any breach of etiquette or table manners doing the slightest thing to exeite criticism; on the contrary, they could vive lessons to many of the boisterous gentlemen (4) travellers who constantly jostled us, Mlustrating the straits to which the settlers are put upon their arrival out here, [cannot help speaking / of at (yj ueer little teinporary structure Which TP saw built
/ WY, Yh ifpy,
fy . ‘ ‘ j Wh OVer a pile of fire- WW
wood alongside of
a tool-house iM on the rail- aN road at Bad- 4 G2 ver, It COL- sisted of the show-bill of aciretus and ROTC pleces of old matting propped yy Upon half a dozen sticks, and perhaps would not have attracted my attention, but PF thought To saw it move. Prue enough, just as the train moved on, a bright face emerged from beneath the show-bill, and, with a merry laugh, exclaimed “Ah, there!” Waving our adieus to the occupant of the tmprovised bed-tent, we wondered how long it would take him, in a country like this wonderful State of Washington, to pass through
: = ie as ae apes Saat 20 etl ase) a
Se dais ek eee
Tllhe CASCAD! MOUNTAINS, 31
the staves Which should bring him to the oféwm cum Jignitdte f a Queen Anne cottage and a porch, Leaving Ellensburg we realize that we are coming
to the end of our feast, and as night closes in onus we
begin to look up shawlstraps and grip-sacks, as we E have to debark early on the morrow, Unfortunately : the Cascade Mountains were crossed during the night, i ‘ and we aissed the wonderful feats of engineering :. Which have nade it possible for a train of cars to P| ‘ ascend and descend the Stampede Puss, I have seen it, { : 4 however, on another occasion, Pt is simply marvellous, a 2 and with the exception of bits of the Denver and Rio | | Grande route there is no spot on the continent where | ; the majestic work of the Creator is so skilfully supple: | mented hy the INvenuity of aman. For amiles and miles 4 you travel back and forth on the sides of these im- | |. INCHSC MOUTHS to accomplish in the end a Progress of \- only aanile or so in astraight dine, looking down from a r the car window on the right at the track you have just i f passed Over, anid looking Wy) from the window on the F | left to that which you have yet to surmount, while the f wild torrent of a river rushes and plunges under you | and over you and all around you, as though in angry ( : indignation at your invasion, and a million stalwart C firs, Immense in heioht and thickness, stand as they nl : have stood for centuries awaiting the doom which the I m little saw-mill in the valley is preparing for them, 3 At the summit we enter the famous Stampede tun- y 4 nel, almost two miles in length, lit up by incandescent = lights, in which we are imprisoned for eleven long, be a
ame
orn nfrats iaag o-
a
ty
| y
te <r
cotter pent one RENEE
eargponeste coi
Deenathea ag nn er ptemeecememenront treet tort Si aan sn Ne
32 A WOMAN'S TRIP TO ALASKA
very long Minutes, ana Cmerve to vel ou POOL view of the switch bia a road, whieh for the LWwo VeCurs preeed Ing the completion of the tunnel carried thousands of passenvers to and fro over its perilous timbers without the Joss of it single life, Llere OU We vet a stil] hetter view of the intrieate and diffieult feats of en- gineering than on the eastern side of the meountein. and oe ee
f ; ae |
t f
" here we find the ples
4 ‘
turesq te Green River, | Which stays by us un | til we reach the level, } broad Puyallup Vale ' ley, renowned for its wonderful yield of hops. Marly inthe fall the hope fields of this prolific vitlley mre ott Charming sight ; the lofty vines bemeg laden With the beautiful pale. green flower, which Is plucked hy [Indians who COTLG long (L1s- tances tii them ca hoes or on their ponles in therm pie:
tures gue COSTILMIEGS
Cae
TACOMA. 33
with their SC{ULWS, pit pOooses and dos, and Culp) like vy psies Ih) the roadside, living on dried game ane fish Which they bring with them, and returning with
enough coin to provide blankets and other necessaries for an entire year,
We arrived, on Tuesday morning, May 21st, at the elty of Tacoma. And just here let me uy that, much as To wanted to arrive at the port from which sailed the vessel that was to Carry Te to Alaska, it was with sin- cere regret that TP left the comforts and luxuries of travel which T had experienced in that train from the
Mississippi River to the Pacifie Ocean.
/
He t
y
THE WHARVES AT TACOMA
= a anne
HES ue Rye
Ge, pat VCE PRN
i cigunee aibeeinanteraae Stee enananated
er
Rope
weg
SE
ome
CHAPTER III.
N the summer of 1888 you will remember [owas one of a purty Ay. who visited Tacoma as the guest Sheek bof Mr. Charles B. Wright, of Phil EMDR Gere adel pita, to Whose sagacity I be- Ad stains lieve the Northern Pacific Railroad EN tg Comput s is indebted for the selec. tion of this spot as the western terminus of this great Iighway. [t was then a settlement (LP cannot bring ayself to dignity at with the name of town) of about 1,700 people, We reached it ly rail alony the > ~ grand y pleturesq te hank of the Columbia River from Pasco to Portlan ond thence, partly Ih) boat sane partly hy reall, te ‘Sound, Though | owas not ride enough t ess It to my host, I do not now hesitate to sity that it did) not favorably impress me, and amy three or four days’ eX perience of its neeommodations and food were any thing but satisfactory. [ts streets were unpaved and dusty, and as we drove through its principal thorough- fare our horses were compelled to meander around the
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et OE
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7 Ste. tpn mage pane eee een babies hasan
: cosas erate Pt ag Ere
a =
ESr=
30 A WOMAN’S TRIP TO ALASNA,
tree-stumps, still marking the recent existence of the primeval forest. There were then but three buildings of any pretensions in the place—a pretty Hpiscopalian church, a young ladies’ seminary, and a three-story brick store. The only object of interest was the Old Tacoma saw-mull, about two miles distant, and the little town surrounding it, excepting when the clouds lifted now and then to give a view of Mount Tacoma, which process of lifting, by-the-by, never took place while I was there at that time, so that [began to believe its beautiful lines and its snowy hood were all a myth.
Seven years have come and gone, and seven times five thousand people have COME and stayed here since then; not only stayed here, but they have prospered and grown rich, and their wealth is now invested: in banks, manufactories, storehouses, handsome shops, one charming hotel and many others of less preten- SIONS, iu university, two or three colleves, a dozen school-houses and as many churches, a beautiful thea- tre, and every thing that goes to make up urban life. Its society is simply dehghtful, composed of people from the larger Kastern cities, many of them young married folks, starting life and “ growing up with the country,” but carrying with them to their far Western homes such of the conventionalities and refinements of city life as best secure the amenities which are indis- pensable to well regulated society, onutting only those formalities which chill hospitality and dwarf courtesy and good breeding into mechanism, “Come and dine with us to-smorrow at seven” sounds so much better and heartier than “Mr. and Mrs. Status request the
ee
——
{ i i f i
TACOMA. 37
pleasure,” ete, ete, and yet when you sit down in one of those charmingly furnished homes your reception and your dinner are just the same as you have ex- nerienced in Beacon Street, Fifth Avenue, or Walnut Street. The china, the glass, the flowers, the napery, the cooking, and the wines would do credit to an embassy at Washington, and the guests you are apt to meet will generally have a store of knowledge quite as gratifying to the reason as the viands are to the palate, And what has brought about so wonderful a trans: formation in seven short years 7 1s the question which naturally suggests itselfas Pinarvel at the busy throngs moving to and fro, and listen to the clatter of the mason and the carpenter, and the whistle of locomotive and steamboat. Let us see: standing upon the prome- nade of “The Tacoma” and looking out over Comuence- ment Bay, the first object to attract my eye Is— the immense lumber mill of the St. Paul and Tacoma Lumber Company, completely covering a piece of land half a mile long at the mouth of the Puyallup River, and giving employment in all its ramifications to five or six hundred men. Beneath the bluff upon which this promenade is built, [hear the rumbling and shunting of the hundreds of freight cars laden with stores from the East, which are here distributed over the vast area of country known as “Puget Sound.” Far out in the deep water are a dozen or more large ships waiting, [oam told, for their turn to receive cargoes of lumber or coal or wheat for England, Aus- tralia, China, Japan, San francisco, and South America ;
some of them have brought cargoes of tea from the
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Seatebinanl
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———— ~
cae OE ns
38 A WOMAN'S TRIP JO ALASKA,
Orient, others have just discharged tron raiks and mer: chandise after a four months’ voyage around Cape Horn. ‘To the right Po see the dense smoke and dis: tinetly hear the noises which come from miachine-shops
and foundries, and all around me Tosi sensible of a
restless activity pervading the people, whose lives ? seem to be devoted to indefatigable ton. Po a dweller Inthe Iast who has been tortured by the slow process of blasting and digging, of masonry and carpentry, of plumbing and lazing and roofing, of papertie aid frescome, Which Postpone Ones OCCUPANCY of Tis nev home until it becomes a question whether he will live long enough to get into dit is a sensation to wateh the evolution of a few loads of plauk nd boards ito wu pretty Queen Anne cottage, as liappens every week In ‘Tacomas in faet, DP know of one ease (that of Mr.
=
ye ann 4 VIEW OF PACIFIC AVENUE, 4 4
TACOMA, 10
and Mes. ©. Pa a newly imarried couple) where the enterprising young housekeepers were residing i their home in less them a fortiieht after they Jisucl selecte | oa site for it. TP eamnot say they built it from cellar to garret in ten days, for it had neither one nor the other, but it had six rooms anda poreh and aoshingle roof, and was not only habitable Dut CU Ee “stylish.” “Phe Tacoma” hotel is well located, and well kept inall those respeets which are independ. ent oof the vicissitudes and vagaries of labor. The rooms are well furnished and so is the Ia. "er, but whenever any thing went wrong, either with the cuisine ov the serviee, PE found it attributable to the difficulty of secure competent serviuits ; In faet, this trouble applies to all housekeeping, public or private, in these new cities, The man who is intelligent enough toanake a first-rate waiter can do better in some other Capacity, and the women, FP suppose, vet mired, When | suvvested trying the experiment of virls lo Wait at table, as Po have seen in my travels done very successfully elsewhere, Twas informed that they would have to be both very old and very ugly, for there was a vreal scarcity of brides,
Decoration Day came alone while we were iat Tacoma, and Po owas agreeably surprised at the large number of the veterans of the war who participated in the parade, and the evident prosperity of all of them. Near the head of the column rode my old friend, General J. W. Sprague, who, General Sherman
tells me, was one of the very best commanders in his
~ eeumidetaetnemmnc rte ecm emery eames ne -
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ee
Te te rere Eten
a
SP atin a ire poses
resem
. oa seni” reeomaaa
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40 A WOMAN'S TRIP TO ALASKA,
army; and in the evening it was quite flattering to hear my litthe book, “ A Woman's War Record,” spoken well of by the orator of the day. It is not worth while pausing to think what would have been the condition of this great Northwest country if these brave men had failed, nor whether the Russian eagles would not still be flying at Sitka; but I never look upon their ranks and tattered flags without a patriotic sentiment of gratitude for all they accomplished for us and for posterity,
A few days may be well spent in Tacoma; there are Inany Interesting and pretty things to see, and the distances are easily overcome by a system of electric railways carrying you in every direction ; and let me say just here that the Weste.ia people from Chicago to San Francisco are far ahead of us in their street rail- ways. One would imagine that the object of these conveyances Is to carry you to your destination as fast as is consistent with comfort and safety, and this does seem to be the principle out West; but in the Kast, for instance on the Madison Avenue Railway, which I am compelled to use daily, the speed, if speed it can he called, seems to be regulated to fatten the horses and afford each passenger an opportunity to read a novel or take a nap. The Annie Wright Seminary for Young Ladies stands upon an eminence overlooking the Sound, and has the reputation of being an excellent institution. There is a similar school for young men, and one or two colleges, perhaps universities, main-
tained by religious denominations, To those who have
TACOMA. 4l
afaney for machinery and such things, a visit’ to the Old Tacoma lumber mill and the one facing the hotel will repay them. At the former [have seen luge logs five, six, and seven feet thick, hauted up by immense chains from the water, sliced into boards ina very few minutes, and then rolled into ships through square holes cut in their sides expressly for the purpose. A street car runs to this mill from near the hotel, and what [ have desertbed can be seen every day, and ought not to be missed, dV referring to my notes Tcould tell you exactly how many millions of feet of wood are cut here every year, but you would forse! it, as T have done: so Twill run on and sav that Amert. can Lake and Lake Steilacoom, which are both on the same drive, and about twelve miles from the city, are well worth a visit, not only because of their intrinsic merit, but on account of the drive over the prairie through the pine vroves and along the level roads, Sut the grandest sight of all, and certainly the most fascinating north of San Francisco or south of Alaska, is Mount Tacoma. IT shall never forget the sensation of its first dawning upon me—about the third day Twas in Tacoma. We were walking along G Street, near the park, when my escort exclaimed, “Look at Mount Tacoma,” pointing in the direction to which Thad looked in vain from sunrise till dark in the hope that the lowering clouds would dissolve or disperse and open it up to view, Looking in the direction indicated, my first impression was one of disappointment, To
my eye it was nothing but a very ordinary eminence,
42 A WOMAN'S TRIP TO ALASKA
till eclipsed hy il very I polite white cloud whieh completely masked its outlines, “Isat it superb.” J was asked, & Well, really, to be frank with you,” J replied, ae ‘uti terribly disappointed.” Phen Vou surely don't see it as I see it,” was the PERBPODSE | and
a< [began to follow the finger of my companion while
4 (fees I yee) w Wk NOY ot fa ie A Z sha snl
MOUNT TACOMA. 43
he traced out the mountam and separated it from the clouds whieh still hovered around it, | realized that the stpposed white cloud was really the mountain itself; and as the atmosphere cleared and the rays of the set- ting sun covered its pure white slopes with a roseate glow, | became transfixed to the spot, SAZINY with all the wonderment of a child looking for the first time at some new creation he does not comprehend, “Tf I never see any thing else but that,” [almost breath- lessly exelanmed, “Tam more than repaid for my two
trips HCTOSS the continent. Beautiful |
grand ! miajes- tie! neverchanging mountain ! Phere you have stood, and there will you stand for all time, regardless of the mutations going on around you, Civilization may ad. Vance, lysarbeurdsn Way COWIE HOA, sceptres Way he shattered, governments Wet fall and new ones Vise, calamity of war and flood may sweep pigmy humanity from the earth, but you will remain unehanged, im- movable, to survive it all, [tis not your curves, nor your ereyasses, your glaciers, your tints, nor your deep unmelting snow, wh'el fill me with awe and adiira- tion, Tt is your eternal stability, typreal of all that is steadfast in faith, in love, in hope. Oh, what a com- fort to feel that you will still be here when [return from my visit to your sisters in Alaska, and that your face will be just as fresh, as gdad, and as honest as it is today ! Thanks, beautiful “Tacoma,” for remaining out in the suntight and the moonlight during the remaim- der of my stay within sight of you. How EP envy the
clouds, which have you so often exclusively to them-
—
been ee
eee nee ne
44 A WOMAN'S TRIP TO ALASKA,
selves! To heed not the whisper whieh tells me you tower nearly 15,000 feet above the sea, any Wore than I would Jisten to the eynic who analyzed the features or the figure of an ideal woman, [can look at you with the raptures of Shasta, and Washington, Mount Blanc, and the Jungfrau still tingling in my nature, but T yield to you the palm; Teare not how tall or how broad you are, or whether your deep shadows and high lights are forests, or reeks, or glaciers ; to me you are peerless and unrivalled, like the Venus de
Milo, without prototype or antity pe, absolutely Unique,
Uf-m—~ -— “a
PUYALLUP HOVP*PICKEKS,
CHAPTER IV.
Hie steamship Queen was advertised to sul on the morning of Monday, June 2d, at four o'clock, so. the pas: senvers embarked on Sunday evening. We had already informed ourselves
that she was a fine vessel, but were : not prepared for the treat which presented itself as we drove down to
the wharf to find a large ocean ship,
splendidly illuminated from stem to stern
with electnc lights, awaiting us. Of course
our curiosity was excited to visit all parts
of the floating home that was to furnish us with all the comforts which exacting tourists demand, and naturally we first of all paid our respects to the saloon, Tere we found every thing in apple-pie order-clean, neat, spacious, and thoroughly comfo: ta- ble; in fact it was the counterpart of the saloon and social hall in the best of our transatlantic steamers. There were three tiers of state-rooms, all of them over- looking the water and none of them being what are known as inside rooms; a promenade extending over the whole length of the ship around the upper and lower
ik ‘ia : 4 | 40 ‘Ah WOMAN'S TRIP TO ALASKA NH tiers, and a seat or heneh in front of every door, the yy Whole being roofed in in such a manner that even i Inclement weather you could live out-of-doors without the risk of getting wet. This being her first voyage for the season she was fresh, sweet, and clean, entirely free Pe from the detestable ship odors that qiake some Voyayes sickening: and the china gloss of her new white paint as itamirrored the mumberless incandescent lwhts, gave her a felechampetre fleet which set us all to fraterniz- | ing at the very start snd convrattilating each other | on the bright prospects ahead. Tconfess that Twas not alittle disappointed when TP found that ours was one of the very tiniest rooms on the ship, COMEPASTINY | so unfavorably with my spacious drawing-room tn the a
instructions are to make everybody as comfortable as is possible” True enough, next afternoon we were changed to a very large and well located room, und vive nthe use of the ad joiminy one for our ba IPUUTE 5 and
ij i Pullman cars; but what was my surprise when Twas Hl if politely told by the purser that as soon as the ship ry, reached Port Townsend and took on the last bateh of
4 iP passenvers, lie would rearrange the rooms so that vi iL all should be perfectly satisfied, ¢ for,” he added “our
ui this incident serves to Hlustrate the uniform considera: (an tion and kindness which every one abourd experienced : | at the hands of both officers and servants, from the hour we left Tacoma until our return ; and to those of
i i us who ave fond of travel and adventure this is a very L Important matter, for unless we find ourselves In a con- tented frame of mind, we are in no mood to appreciate
ti t re the surroundives, i ‘
OUR CAPTAIN. 4”
/
Of course you will want to know about the Captain.
Well, I?m going to say what IT think, regardless of the effect, The phrase may not be exactly what some women would care to set down in print, but it is expressive, and you wall know exactly what I mean, When [ tell you that Capt. James Carroll, of the Queen, is just as nice and lovely as he can be. — It aust be remembered that during the whole of the two weeks’ voyave (with the exception of a couple of hours) we are within sight of Jand, more than half the time within a few hundred feet of it on each
side of us. and as this is considered more difficult
] havigation than when out on the broad ocean, the Cap- tain spent most of his time on “ the bridge” ; but when he did come to meals it was my good fortune to sit near him and to discover that he was still full of enthusiasm about the trip, though he had been making it for the hest part of his life, and that nothing gratified him more than to feel that those around him were enjoying it, excepting perhaps the opportunity sometimes afforded him of giving them a good deal of useful information. [have often thought that a sailor may be none the less a sailor because he is courteous to his passengers ; brusqueness is not essential to establish a reputation for discipline, any more than bad temper should go hand in hand with courage. [have known mild-men- nered men who were the best of soldiers, and [have seen sailors who were as much at home in a drawing: room as Ina gale, The story of the young man cross-
ing the Banks of Newfoundland who innocently in-
Seen ne
48 A WOMAN'S TRIP TO ALASKA
quired “Captain, is if alwiys four here 47 and vot for an answer, “Tow do TP know, PF don't /éee here,” may serve to Jessen the number of absurd questions which would no doubt test the temper of the most aniible of sea-dous, hut it also serves to bring out in Strong Col trast those officers who have the tact, if not the natural inclination, to tolerate the CULTOSILEY of those of us who are really and sincerely in search of knowledge. When Captain Carroll did give us a specimen of that repartee Which is a born trait of his countrymen, it was done to prodiice a daugh and not to humiliate, lor instance, very thoughtfully, these ships are provided with a steam launch, which is carried on the lower deck ready for use if the vessel should become disabled, in which case the Hearest assistance might be two or three hundred miles distant. The pts: sengers, however, got the idea that this was a pleas: ure-hoat to be used for little excursion parties In Alaskan waters, and one of the Jadies, who was as much a favorite as she was a tease, and who delight:
ed in having a little fun
it the Captain's EX Pele, ‘al a asked him what he was es
«
ae 1 thangs,
ef ane,
going to do with the
steam Jaunch when we VaR Pa
——
SEATTLE. 49
yotto Alaska?“ Give her acoat of paint” was the quick response, and our fair friend enjoyed it as much as the rest of us,
Punetually at four o'clock, Loam told, we left the oil | Wharf at Tacoma and headed up Puget Sound. Of course [was asleep, but upon reaching Seattle at six To owas up and dressed, had taken a cup of hot coffee and eaten a biscuit brought to me by our room steward, who vloried in the soubriquet of ! 66 McGinty * (so called, doubtless, because he was : very small and his hair was very red), and was ashore as soon as the plank was ready for us. Tere | we remained two or three hours, affording a too brief opportunity for a harried visit through the streets
+” 4 ; , F 3 : . : of this phoenix city, which in a year has rise from the
: .
ashes of a fire which almost blotted it from the map. I And what a city! Here was the same quick-step move: | ¥
ment of the people which [ observed in Taeoma as a | they hustled intelligently about, each one bent upon a |
some errand of business—no idlers, no beggars—every- body doing something, and not enough to do it. Seven years before, as [remembered it, it was a town of some | pretension as to size, but none whatever as to architec- ture, Now, the track of the great conflagration that in an hour had mowed down every business block in the
place was recognizable only by the substitution of massive stone and brick buildings of the most modern , ‘ ' type; the streets were newly and well paved ; electric and cable railways were jingling their bells in’ all directions: the wharves and docks were dotted with
50 A WOMAN'S TRIP 70 ALASKA,
crowds of workmen and piles of woods; anda kind of Mark ‘Tapley temperament of being jolly under the most adverse Chretimstiances evidently pervaded the COMMLUNILY,
P should have liked to remain here at least a day to have run out to Take Washington, of whieh I aa have heard so much: buat all Peould do in the littie
time allotted me was to look with wonder Upon
enti pita
= cert eee e
Hy be SEATTLE. ¥
What has been accomplished since the fire, art to drop Into one or two of the shops, where a woman ean gen- erally get a fair idea of the inhabitants fa town by a glance at the character and style of the things offered
for sale, Ef this ts a reasonably rehable test, and |
think itis, P have formed a very favorable opinion of
etaintnerem eheteareearce. Lita RE NLP Sotho ee ee Minn orate eee om aie
the tastes mand diabits of the people of Seattle, All |
erent pee erp
meeuapadaneiir oncnamee -- —
¥
Wi }
——
#e-
SEATTLE, ST
saw here was ty prez Of American go-theadism. in another year it will be known as a city of macuificent buildings, and, like at Spokane Balls, the people will realize that the recent calamity was after all a blessing, The ouly thing that puzzles me is where the people are to come from who will OCCUPY the rooms of these lofty structures. To osee the supply, but ponder Goo the question of demand, and am answered that it exists already, and if it did not, the growth of this region is so phenomenal that the supply of any thing and every thing does not keep pace with the demand. [tis cer: tainly the parad se of builders, mechanies, and laborers at present. Not the least interesting sight here was a group of canoes, or * dugouts,” occupied by Indians as roving habitations. Pt was curious and instruetive to seo the wonderful CCOTLOMLY of Sputee practised hy these people; a whole family, including cats and dows, being housed tna single boat. In one of them PE saw two eats md a dog, who had risen before the rest of the family, eating ther meal from a round tin vessel, whieh had probably done similar service for the others at the eventing repast; while thas entertained [noticed a Inovement giving evidence of life beneath one of the blankets, and presently a inember of the household poked a pair of trousers under it, which so stimulated the contortions going on within this opemair sleeping and dressing room, that by-and-by a very sorry specimen of the red man emerged, occupying the aforesaid panta- loons, and demonstrating that the bi oaket had per:
formed avery respectable and Inn prorteuns funetion. The
52 A WOMAN'S TRIP TO ALASKA.
rest of the family hy devrees arose from their boudodirs after going through similar movements, and when they were entirely unmasked consisted of a iaiden very much underdressed, in fact, not enough dressed) for an opera, Who at once resumed her sewing where she had probably left off the night before, the old man who had acted as valet in distributing the wearing apparel | to the sleepers, an old crone ina scarlet and pea-green | dress, two little ugly children who had) better never
been born, two cats, and a dow. There were a dozen of
these canoes, and this was a specimen of life upon each
of them. [ domt know where they were going, as the hop-picking does not take place until fall, but prob- ably they had come down to trade their fish or their furs for flour and groceries, At all events that is what I was told, and aif it is not exactly true it does not make
much matter. “SZ non @ vero, @ ben trovato,”
A long blow of the whistle; an interval of fifteen minutes and then another short blow: a shout from
an: ts * tate
the Captain instructing the men on the wharf to cast off the ropes; a signal to the engine-room ; a turn of
_— = ‘aa
the engine, and we were sailing up the picturesque waters of Puget Sound, The day was beautiful; it
oot eeeneetunalesuseseane geet scooe
could not have been better adapted to the use we were a
eth 9925 pao, en ae
in fact during the whole fortnight that we lived on the
* oe erties tern en eeettiremcncesterenenittitemensst>snnene = ——
making of it if it had been provided specially for us; | | |
Qucen we had the most charming weather—bright sun- hight and cloudless skies—-excepting the day of our | arrival in Glacier Bay, where it rained for a few hours. | In all this we were rarely fortunate, it seldom happen-
i 4 TV
PUGET SOUND. a3
ing, Pam told, that Alaska tourists are blessed) with two whole weeks of what [call scenery weather. It is often foggy, frequently wet, and sometimes very cloudy ; in addition to which the forests are peri- odically on fire, the atmosphere becoming so. smoky that every object remains obscured until the fires are quenched by rain. Next to being born blind and doomed to listen to descriptions of what is going on around you, it must be the greatest torture to know that vou are in the presence of the most beautiful works of the creation, hidden from you by a fog, and that you are speeding past them perhaps forever, never to re- turn. ft cherefore hope the day is near at hand when it will not be necessary to remain on board the steamer and make the complete circuit of the coast whether it be fair or foul, but that you will be enabled to do it by easy stages, resting where you will at pleasant inns, and resuming your journey when the elements are favorable. Of course this kind of thing will come when the rush of sight-seers will not only warrant it, but make it necessary, yet Toam well pleased that I have seen it all in its original and undisturbed grandeur, as T saw the Yellowstone Park before the introduction of hotels and staves,
Puget Sound is a grand sheet of water, several miles wide and [ should think nearly two hundred in length; of course it is simply an arm of the Pacific Ocean, but so completely Jand-locked upon all sides excepting at its entrance, that if may be cons dered one vast lake affording absolute protection to the
54 A WOMAN'S TRIP TO ALASKA,
ships whieh come here from all parts of the world, It is full of beautiful islands, some of) them rising SO precipitously from the sea that there is no foot: hold on them for man; others sloping down so grace: fully to the water and dressed in such gorgeous colors that yeu want immediately to buy one, and build a house on itat the crest of the lawn. Ef you look at them as links of a continuous chain, you perceive that they are simply spurs of the Olympic Mountains partially submerged by the ocean, and that if by some convulsion of nature the water receded, the steamer would find itself stranded at the base of a deep canyon and surrounded on all sides by a range of mountains, What most impresses you is the vast amount of thiber on all sides—-trees of enormous height and thickness, and such millions of them that you wonder how many generations it will take to consume them. In omy school-days IT knew nothing of Puget Sound excepting that it was a speck of blue on the ap somewhere Uy) by the North Pole; in fact no one else knew much about it then (for that was gee. a quarter of a century ago). yet to-day Pam really afraid to write the names of che many cities and towns which dot its shores, lest some- body should accuse me a year or two hence of having overlooked many of them, for these cities grow up in a spasmodic, startling kind of a fashion that takes your breath away. Anacortes on Fidalgo [sland has two hotels, electric lights, a railway, and about three thou- sand people, all of which have come since last New
Years Day. Fairhaven on Bellingham Bay is perhaps
oe i ie
PUGHT SOUND,
twice as large as Anacortes, and is just one year old. Doubtless others are being bor while Po owrite, and may be ready for a place in my letter before T have it completed, Wo oP domt imake haste; and to-day J have a letter from your brother, now surveying a new line of railroad near Olvinpia, who syst is GVOW TY SO) rapidly thisit | hbelteve MOney Invested prudently in real estate can be doubled in two months.” The fact is, everybody has the fever to do something,
and the wonderful development which this produces is
attracting so mich attention thet capital and labor are both emigrating there from the Past in such abundance that before. the echo of the axe has died away in the forest, towns and railways, churches and schools, mills and factories, shops and homes, have taken the place of the stately firs, and a busy COMMUNAL Is broucht tovether to Increase and multiply, and, L hope, to prosper. Phe number of steamboats one meets Is also a great Surprise; so are the crowds of passengers they carry. Among the former TP noticed the Oty of Ivingston, and the surrounames beine not unlike the PTudson, PE naturally thought of home, not with regret. that Iwas not there again, but mither with pity for those who could and who did not come out to look at this wonderful
and chariminme country.
“This plac iiIS ptace
So NEL SN nn Sh
me ree
56 A WOMAN'S TRIP TO ALASKA.
At Port Towusend we stopped only long enough to afford Captain Carroll time to settle his business with the custom-house, this being the port of entry (what. ever that may mean) for Puget Sound, and to take on the passenvers who had come from San Francisco on the steamer City of Topeka to joi ous, And Ean right glad they came, for their society was so enjoyable, and the narratives of their recent trips—some of them extending as faras the city of Mexico so entertaiminyg, that Tam almost tempted to set their names down in print, even at the risk of being personal. [will simply
mention, however, that among them were Bishop Vlad.
mir, Archimandrite Innocent, and Rey. John A, Sobo-
leff, of the Greek Church, who were on an Episcopal
HHISSTON to Sitka,
(Avdak'd by Author, ;
ade
b) A | i } | \ i hr } ey | CHAPTER VY. 13 4 { r ‘ ‘ e ‘ . cf { I five in the afterncon, after a very smooth 1? rim across the Straits of Fuea, with the . ‘ vay a Ve horizon of the Pacific Ocean on our left | i and innumerable picturesque islands on 4 ‘ nL ‘ ye a. 6 é ice Ab | yf) ourright, we reached Vietoriain British i | Columbia, situate at the extreme south- H
OD! ern end of Vancouver's Island. When By oP owe were notified that we would remain
v3 \ here several hours, there was an immedi abs ¥ ate rush for the town, which was some three miles distant, our ship having
HOOLE DOG, |
stopped at the outer wharf in preference to enter: ing the harbor; however, we found awaiting us
ey rae
several electric street cars, which rattled us off at
; ! ; a a lively pace, and in a very few minutes set us down . in the heart of the town. My previous visit to Vie- i | toria having impressed an indelible aimemory of a a 4 delicious dinner at the Driard Touse, [ resolved) to i repeat. the experience, and would have carried out my tig | resolve, but was told that a visit to the “ Poodle i : Dog” was quite the proper thing. Now the “ Poodle fa Doe” is th name of a restaurant, but why, [ am sure ' j ) oo ae I cannot tell, and the proprietor was once, [ beheve, | t a A a3 1. jes
58 L WOMANS TRIP TO ALASKA,
the chef of the Driarcl PDouse, It is hot sai ostentatious looking place, vet it imay be recognized by avery appe- tizing display in its windows of the wood things in season With whieh it ean supply you. On this occasion there were shirinips on show beautiful, brit pink shrimps. As Twas debating whether we would dine here orat the other place, the shiriiips carried the day, so we entered the establishment, ordered) dinner for eight Oeloek, and then jumped Into oa vietoria of another sort, and placed ourselves under the guidance of a not overintelligent haekmean. Fortunately (80 thought the HCH), the shops Were nearly all closed) (in fret, Powas told they open Tate and close early), so we started meht off to do the town and its suburbs,
Ohi, how smooth the roads were, and how nicely trim: med the hedves, and how neatly pated the garden yates all so Enelish, vou know ! and what an Maden of flowers! Tf you have never seen the English “ May” In full blossom, you have a pleasure in store for you if you ever visit. Vietorta in Sane, How can PF deserthe it! Pts blossoms are either white or old-rose color, Hut the flowery is so luxuriant and COMpuct, In fact so completely covers every twig of the tree, that they resemble aiiass of white or pink carnations made into one huge hornet as large as a cherry-tree, The air was full of floral perfume wherever we went, and the eye almost tired of the gardens of roses, laburnum, virgiila, and the most YOreeous blood-red peomles | have ever seen, ALL this seemed to belong to Victoria
as moamatter of course. There wos no effort at cultivar
ees
60 A WOMAN'S TRIP TO ALASKA,
tion, no mechanical gardening; these flowers seemed to thrive und to blossom becuse they could n't help it. Lo IIs In the Kast who have to take OU plants i of nights anid put them in the hursery, even to SuUstaln consumptive existence of a few brief days, it Is quite refreshing to plunge into the midst of a sea of flowers as hardy and tenacious of life as they are delicate of fragrance and of color, If T have ever looked at a Claude Lorraine and doubted whether his pencil had followed nature or his tmagimation the mose, TP shall do so no more, Tere was a theme of Jand-and = water- scape, incredible on canvas,—-beautifulloh, so beauti- ful!—beyond the reproduction of pen or brush,or even camera,
Nature has been so prodigal of her bounty here that it is difficult to turn even momentarily from the green pastures and brilliant gardens to look at some of the fine residences, yet we cannot help halting for a moment at the one erected by the late Mr, Duns- muir, with its castellated turrets and red roof surmount: ing amagnificent structure of light granite, built on an eminence which overlooks the city and producing a grand architectural effect. Through the embryo park, and past the barracks, we next drove up Beacon Hill to the point de vue, and here our driver for the first time stopped of lis own volition; perhaps it was his custom, perhaps he was himself a little dazed at the picture which burst upon us all, perhaps his horses were tired. At all events we find ourselves upon a treeless lawn, furnished only with a flag-staff
|
VIG TORIA,. F9- Gi 61
and a rustie beneh, The benel) was partly ocenpled by two gentlemen, who were so absorbed by the scene hefore them that they hardly observed our cOMMNY, or they would have made room for ust so we re- iain in our carriage and gaze in quiet, speechless wonder at the exquisite pieture before us. The land slopes away at our feet, making green sward, then come a few of those exquisitely colored gardens of which I liave spoken, then a piece of woods, and finally the rock-bound coast with its splashing and mur: muring waters; beyond this the placid lake-like land- locked sea, studded with innumerable islands and dotted with boats and sails and steamers meandering and tacking their way here and there through the intricate channels; beyond these the deep blue foot- hills of the Olympic range fringed at their base by the royal and stately fir, and beyond all, towering through the clouds skyward, the snow-topped giants of the North Pacific coast. It was now nearing eight o'clock, Which in this latitude and at this season Is the time that the sun disappears, though for two hours more he Huminates the atmosphere with a pleasant twilight and tinges all nature with “rare and roseate shadows,” We saw these tints and quickly changing colors in all their phantasmal mystery: now prussian blue fading into ultramarine, then being lit up by a ray of yellow from the horizon suddenly changing to a pale green, while the snowy summit lines of the Olympic range were tipped with opal, and finally, as the outline of the mountains grew faint, a single streak of liquid fire
62 A WOMAN'S TRIP TO ALASKA.
marking the line where the ocean seemed to melt away,
It was a veritable scene of enchantment, and we left it
with such reluctance that our eyes and our souls faced
backwards and lingered with it until our carriage had
(turned abruptly towards town and it was lost to view.
On our way back your father could) not) resist the desire to ahieht and ask the names of the Inany plants and blos- soms Which decorated the pretty homes we passed; and this he did of a party of young peo- ple indulging ino lawn tennis, who not only vave lim the informa: tion with brieht intel-
ligence and welcome
phrases, but msisted upon loading hime with both arms
so full of exquisite flowers that when he returned to
us we hardly could find room for them in our carriage.
T shall not soon foreet the gentle and suave courtesy
with which our simple request for information was
responded to by the gentlewomen and youths, whose
merry-naking we broke in upon, and Twas glad after- ward to learn the name of the head of the household,
Whose surroundines and refinements were in accord
with such good breeding,
If this page ever comes to
the eyes of any members of Mr, R. C’s family, and
RT
DINNER AT THE “ POODLE DOG.” 63
they should happen to remember the Yankee inva- sion [refer to, [ hope they will believe that my little group was thoroughly impressed by their kindness in this episode,
‘All human history attests That happiness of man (the hungry sinner), Since Eve ate apples, much depends on dinner!”
You are right, Lord Byron! but when you wrote “the mountains look on Marathon, and Marathon looks on the sea,” [doubt very much while “musing there awhile,” you would have tolerated sn invitation to a dinner even at the “Poodle Dow”; yet let me assure you that if you had sent a regret you would have made the mistake of your life.
The “ Poodle Dog” is presided over by M. Marbceuf, who is a cook of excellent merit, as [ can testify, being quite a cordon-blew myself. We were shown to a little apartment in rear of the store, which seemed devoted principally to the ice-cream eaters, and found a table with covers for three, prettily decorated with radishes, olives, and shrimps, and a few bright roses, I need not confess to you my daughter that much as [ delight in exquisite scenery and admire works of art, I take a great deal of pleasure in gratifying my taste for good living: a drive in the Bois is none the less enjoyable because you know that a lunch is ready for you at the Cascades; the deep blue of Murillo in the gallery of the Louvre is perhaps appreciated with more enthusi- asm if you expect by and by to season your fatigue with a dinner at the Café Anglais, or Vibert’s, or the
64 A WOMAN'S TRIP TO: ALASKA,
Riche; and the labor of the ascent of some Alpine pass Is compensated for not exclusively by the gor: geous surroundings of the hour, for without the cold chicken and flask of native wine, wrapped so neatly in the white napkin and packed snugly away in a cute luneh-basket, there would be an element of self-sacri- fice about it that would make vou feel you had performed some deed of martyrdom. [ have, there- fore, made it a rule of my travels that my palate and my gastronomy should be well cared for, if pos: sible, in order that To may keep on such good terms with myself as to receive the various impressions of sy journey tn oan amiable and contented mood, So iauch for the philosophy of my dinner at the “Poodle Dog,” and now for the realistic part of it. The maitre @hoted served it tn propria persona, and the meal was opened with the shrimps as an incentive to appetite, T presume; if so, they well per- formed their mission, for we were all seized with an appetite for—more shrimps; following these cime Olympia oysters, in the shell, not one of which was larger than a nickel, with only just a delicate sugges: tion of the coppery flavor which, to my uncultivated taste, spoils the HKnglish “native”; and now, while we weie busy with a broiled spring chicken,—and such a chicken, so white and so tender,—our good host in- formed us that he had forgotten when we inquired for game that he had a squab pheasant in the refrigerator, and he would cook it at onee, if we desired. “ Roast it before the fire, and serve with bread sauce,” was the
Se ee
DINNER AL Tih *POODLI. DOGS 05
prompt response of one of us; “Sand bring a bottle of this Chateau Margaux PS64,.° said another, handing the wine list to the waiter; and while the pheasant is being trussed and) roasted we linger over our chicken and delicious California asparagus and softest potatoes, It was perhaps half an hour before our piece de vesist- anee was ready, but it was well worth waiting for; it seemed to me that the untimely demise of that youth- ful bird was fully atoned for by the manner of Tis presentation In the forma of food, as he appeared IlN- paled through the breast by a silver skewer, sur: mounted by the lion and the unicorn entwined with a cordon of alternate mushrooms and truffles s and with him came a lettuce salad with a someon of onion and estragon, tit “to set before a kine”: the strawberries Which followed had just been pieked= from M. Mar: beout’s garden, the cherries T have never seen excelled, excepting in Germany, and the coffee was made by a Frenchman, which is all that is necessary fo say about it, Phis ended the feast, save the ceremony of settling for it, and To deem it my duty to those who follow me hereafter to say that though the dinner was as well served and cooked as it could deve been at Del- montco’s, and im some respects perhaps a little better, yet the prices were not only exorbitant but extortion: ate. TL would therefore edvise that a full understand: ing be had with the proprietor in advance, lest you find yourself charged four dollars for a bottle of claret marked three on the list, and about five cents apiece for shrimps, of which you will probably eat two dozen
66 A WOMAN'S TRIP TO ALASKA.
if you are fond of them, ILowever, we did not permit the bill to disturb our equanimity. The moon being at her full, and several of our shipmates being in the same condition (I refer to the eatables only), we resolved to get back to the steamer on foot, and thus perhaps avoid the nightmarial attack which we had been inviting, It was a jolly tramp, along a level board walk of three good miles. The young men sang, as did some of the old ones too, while the women laughed as they listened to the misfortunes, set to music, of an Irish gentleman who had a mania for tumbling into horrid) places, “dressed in his best suit of clothes.” When we reached our bright, beautiful ship, she lay like a luminous palace beckoning us on ‘9 sweet dreams and the dolce far niente of her life.
°F
Pe ae
CHAPTER VI.
AYLIGHT was tinting the land- scape When we resumed our
, “ voyage, and, as I had resolved Bo gS at the start that [ would only
sleep When T could not see, |
Was up and walking the deck
before six o'clock, filled with a sense of pity and regret, to use no harsher term, for those who stil] pe- mamed in bed. Your cup of coffee and biscuit are always ready for you at the tap of your electric bell, so that no exeuse about “ hot liking to get up early because you have to wait so long for breakfast ” avails you one particle. — If you do not prefer what [am looking and wondering at to the comfort of sleep (which is an excellent thing In its way), by all means remain in bed, so that the few who are enjoying the effect of the sunrise may have plenty of elbow-room. Let us see who are those Who are around our Tittle group of. three, sharing with us the pleasant breeze and balmy sun-rays of this exquisite June morning. | see Miss Margaret W., from Tlinois, and Miss Marian B., from New Jessey, each with their
68 A WOMAN'S LRP TO ALASAA,
Kodaks, waiting fora chance to snap something—bricht, good gitls both of them, and [I wish them both good snaps. There, too, the ever-smiling features of Mrs. IL, from San Francisco, her graceful forni hurriedly thrown into an ulster, and a little scarf carelessly en- circling her throat. On the upper deck is the Rev. C. C. Tiffany, of New York, and his cousin, Miss J., with
Pearce rere their field-glasses, (Ge FX | probably talking of pgp P& Japan, the Yosemite
and the Norwegian
‘eS 8 i rewes ; * \ Ba ‘sh ae y"y! WN x ‘aN eA \ S x. ia . < , a WA ee eae ae ‘ c Mis 4. : why y i ; fw SS \ SS | SY
midnight sun; near them, Mr. Drake and Mar. Sherman, fiom St. Louis—great travellers, and both fond of it; Mr. and Mrs Meinertzhagen, from London, who have spent tlie first two years of their married life travelling around the globe, and tell us they have yet one more year to devote to it, who are now doing Alaska for the second time; Mr. Duhring, of Philecel- phia; Vis’ »p Vladimir and his associates, speaking
eee
VANCOUVER. 69
Russian ; Miss D., also a great tourist and always wide- awake when any thing of interest is to be seen; Mr. John Bernhardt, a German gentleman in charge of a gold mine in Alaska, who wishes he wasn’t; and three or four others whose names [do not know. The young men who were playing whist until midnight of course would be in no condition to resume the game after lunch if they lost their rest, so they are not with us, nor are those who take two hours at their toilets ; but those of us who travel with our eyes and ears wide open are here, andl we have no regrets. This is the Gulf of Georgia, the Jand on the-left is the [sland of Vancouver, that on the east is British Columbia, and both shores remain distinetly visible for two hundred and fifty miles of our journey, though the Gulf of Georgia narrows into Johnstone Straits after we have sued half that distance. It may be interesting to mention, though it is no part of my intention to write either history, geography, or ethnology, that Van- couver gets its name from an officer of the ship of the ereat navigator Captain Cook, who took peaceable possession of the island in the name of the English vovernment just one hundred years ago, and rendered inestimable service to mariners in surveying and pub- lishing charts of the coast; also that the ownership of the island of San Juan, on our right, was the subject of dispute between England and ourselves as late as 1872, when, during General Grant’s presidency, the question was referred to the German Kaiser as arbitrator, and decided in our favor.
70 A WOMAN'S TRIP TO ALASKA.
ENS: — a ee
(Aodak'd by Author.)
We are sailing ona pertectly smooth sea, without a ripple save the foamy furrow of our ploughine through it at the rate of fifteen miles an hour, and the long line of agitation with whieh our propel: ler inarks our wake, Standing at the bow fora quarter of an hour
we penetrate, either with the naked eye or our glasses,
a vista of superb tranquillity ; passing to the starboard
sile we find ourselves —
over-looking a placid bay encircled by — forested mountains of prodigious size and snow-capped in the distance : crossing through the social hall to the port side we are in the midst of an archipelage of a thou- sand islands of emerald ereen and crimson, loom- ing up in the most fan- tastic forms, some round, some oblong, all clothed with a rich carpeting
(Avdak'd by Author.)
i =
EXQUISITE SCENERY. 71
/
or
of verdure, or wrapped in the thick foliage and warmth
«
) ara
of the ever-present fir; and then to get one fond last
i ei er a re AEE»
look as we hurry along
| |
d A { fi :
so fast, so horribly fast, we walk briskly to the
rn
stern, Where, overlook- ing the frothy water, lashed into foam by our Wheel, we find that these beautiful mountains, isl- ands, and forests have closed in upon us like one vast frame, leaving yt no trace of the course we have taken since we left Victoria, It isa shame to be dis- turbed at such amoment and in the midst of sueh
an ever-changing pano- riuma by the sound of the breakfast bell, but = .1e meals on the good ship Queen are always so excellent, so
(Aodak'd by Author.)
hot, and of such variety that [must go down. [sometimes wished they were quite bad, that [might feelit no hard- ship to skip a few of them, but, like every thing else on | this glorious trip, they are above criticism, Moreover, this morning [ had the pleasure of meeting, at break- fast, Mrs. G., the wife of the Mayor of Victoria, who had joined us for the cruise at that city. We had been
72 A WOMAN'S TRIP TO ALASKA.
informed that our. first stopping-place after leaving Victoria, would be Nanaimo, but at breakfast we were told by the captain that that would be reserved for our return, as he would have to stop there twelve hours for coal, so we pushed on through these wonderful islands, twisting and turning as the necessities of navigation required, [ suppose, each change of our course opening lp some new scene of enchantment and the next one closing it to view, leaving nothing behind but the hope that another turn would bring it back, and then quite suddenly experiencing a realization of our wish. Mak- ing myself comfortable on the very uppermost deck, clad in an ordinary cloth walking-dress, with a little astrakhan jacket) over my shoulders, [just sat and revelled in this monotony of constant change, and let
Sa ee
my fancy wander through au
score of delicious flights of
imagery, Looming up be-
hind these immense woods,
which, | am told, are them-
Yr
selves growing on hill-sides
one thousand feet above the
water, I see miles and miles
of mountain and. table-land
eovered with snow, the
depth of which can be appre- ciated with the naked eye ;
(Kodak'd by Author.)
EXQUISITE SCENERY. 73
there they stand like the palace abodes of some giant race with their fagades of purest marble, their turrets, their windows, and their towers; my imagination takes me to Greece, and [ stand below the steps of the Acropolis; [Tam once more in Rome, entranced by the silent magnificence of the Coliseum, and as we pass around the point of another island and [ get a glimpse of what looks to me like an avalanche of snow curving over a shelving rock into the abyss below, [ think of home and our own Niagara, [am told that exciting scenes produce different effects upon our natures according to the character of what is transpiring ; for instance, that soldiers never speak to each other during battle, the only voice heard being that of command; IT myself in a panic at sea have seen a whole crowd paralyzed into speechlessness; at a railroad accident ora fire where loss of life is threat- ened, they say men run aimlessly about shouting to vach other, but none of them doing much that is use- ful; and [ observed on my Alaska excursion a nervous impulse produced by the excitement of the voyage which took the form of running around the ship and nuling your fellow-passenger’s attention to something that could only be seen at some particular spot. “'There’s a whale,” says somebody, as a spout of water is suddenly thrown ten feet in the air and is repeated at regular intervals ; and instantly the little crowd disperses itself wildly all over the ship shouting “Come and see the whale,” which in five or ten minutes becomes “ /Zave you seen the whale ?” and then in half
74 1 WOMAN'S TRIP TO ALASKA.
an hour, * id7 vou see the whale 4” And thus you are kept informed of waterfalls, seals, porpoises, salmon, eagles, and Indian canoes, till the day slips by with nothing specially to mark it, but with the mind satu- ‘ated with the wonders of nature just as it is with those of art after a day spent at Versailles or the Vatican, And yet as [ retire Tam told by Mr. B., the German gentleman, who has left at home a jewel of a wife and a cluster of little ones whose pictures he has shown me, and has spent a winter in Alaska (it makes me shiver to hear of it), that to-morrow will be a much more interesting day.
June 4th.—Can it be possible that it has been only two days since [ left Tacoma? and [have done Seattle, Port Townsend, Puget Sound, Victoria, the Gulf of Georgia, and all those beautiful things which, for your sake, [ wish with all my heart [I could describe, but which you must see for yourself to realize how poorly the very choicest language would paint them, This is another lovely day, which [ confess is a complete surprise and a most agreeable one, for we had been cautioned against making the trip so early, as we would undoubtedly strike what the sailors call “dirty weather.” But no, there is not a speck of cloud, not a puff of wind, just the same balmy atmosphere as that of yes- terday, and nothing to indicate that there ever Is any weather in this region save the streaks of cobwebby mist that here and there lace themselves in among the trees or around the rocks for a few minutes and then dissolving into moisture under the warm sun, disappear ;
a, > 2 Te eae
APPROACHING ALASKA. 75
and we woula not be without these for the world, for
they are exquisitely picturesque, as delicate and ephem- eral as the smoke of a cigar,
and so shy that at the blowing
of the whistle they seem to i weep themselves to death. We have passed through Johnstone Straits in the darkness, which [ much regret, for [ am told the channel is very narrow and the sides very high and precipr
tous, but it is some comfort to learn that there is little or no difference between that and the wT scenery Wwe are now passing |
= Soo Sie:
et
re OT SRI»
—_ 6 ata eS me
a
through; yet, why cannot it
be so arranged that the ship should anchor at bedtime and
—ewtatar fons oli
poo bee ~~.
start again at sunrise? It is too bad that the least bit of it should be missed, and we only hope that the captain will so time our movements that we may see it coming back. The feature of to-day’s experience is the wonderful transparency of the water; as we
peer over the bow of the ship it seems as though we if could see down into the ocean fathoms deep; in fact it | is not like water at all, there is nothing [I can compare it to but the clearest plate glass of Immense thickness
and unsullied purity.
SDreneeaeee t= a i Satie Pb a ts ft ~-
@ ‘Y fn ery y y €& \¥ & : ey \Y Wj, \ at KS VW. yy Ye,“ &%¢ GO VG < 5? == a BS Be | = Adag ly = O 3S daaaa,3 = 3= Sil =I 8y In —————— =
CHAPTER VIL.
Hh fourth day out from ‘Pacoma (hune Dth) we found ourselves, when we came from our state-rooms lying at the Wharf at Fort Wrangell, the United States war vessel, Pinta, being very hear us, ani the smal] boats of both ships plying toand froexchanging ¢i- Vilities. This place gets its name from
Baron Wrangell, who was the Russian governor of
Alaska when the few fishermen who had settled
here grew numerous enough,
about the year 1834, to
dignity their local habi-
tation with a name:
subsequently it grew up into a place of con- siderable COMSeEG UENCE and population by rea: son of the discovery of gold in’ the vicinity, but when these mines
ceased to be profitable,
i : i? , FORT WRANGELL. fell into a condition of (Avdak'd by Miss Margaret Watson.)
FORT WRANGELL.. a
decay which seems to possess it still, More recently it has been a United States military post, but even the glamour of the few bayonets has departed, and
Fort Wrangell is) perhaps to-day as uninviting a spot as any in the world, save for the few cur. osities in the way of Indian graves and totem poles,
or OT
ppt % POTEM POLES ABP FOR WRANGELL,
and the very excellent work being done by the mission: aries In the Indian sehools. As T landed, To met and was presented to the Governor of Alaska (General Knapp), who was making a tour of the coast on the Pinta, and who was dressed in the uniform of a major:
pererg oe
78 A WOMAN'S TRIP TO ALASKA.
general, minus the shoulder-straps. The morning was cloudy and chilly, with occasional showers, very much in keeping with the few dreary streets and abandoned huts which go to make up this old western fortress of the Czar. The fort itself or stockade was an utter wreck ; in fact I would not have known of its ex-
uy - # Wore:
aaa, i! Pas.
laut
A STREER IN FORT WRANGELL.
istence if left to discover it for myself, so 1 hurried on, picking my way as best T could through the muddy thoroughfares to get a view of my first totem ] vole, I assure you my initial experience of a promenade In an Alaskan city was far from agreeable, and several times I wished myself back in our good ship, where 1 could view the rocks and the trees from afar off, rather than
— é i
2 Ee Tae clay canst OF oy
Psa PIE hss
THE TOTEM POLE. 70
be bruising my poor feet upon the one, and crawling over the prostrate forms of the other. It was evident that the place was entirely without horses and vehicles of any kind, for the principal street—if street it may be called—was grown a foot high with grass, and was chiefly used as a place to store canoes and firewood ; there evidently had existed at some distant period a plank side- walk, which ran along the entire front of the village, but time had played such havoc with it that the peo- ple now walked in the street to avoid it. It seemed to meas though there was not energy enough in the whole
place to light a fire on a
cold day.
But [saw the totem poles; and since that time at various other places have seen them, and pictures of them by the score, and al- though I confess there is little about these Soxyry totem poles which is | | at all attractive from i physical point of tthe view, they are inter- es, es ;
. . % re e , es) ‘ @ if esting in so far as the ee. ia) Me I : es y “Saget edie iM a illustrate the fact that ON a ge wl Af \ ne // aa ear
all humanity, even in its aboriginal and its
ee
80 A WOMAN'S TRIP TO ALASKA.
barbarous state, adopts for its own protection certain rules and laws of government. ‘Phe totem pole of the Alaskan Indian is his crest, his family name. Te is a “bear,” or an “eagle,” or a “salmon,” or a “crow,” or a “whale,” and being so he owes certain duties to his kin, the chief of which is that he may not marry a member of it; and another, that any crime he commits attaches a responsibility to his entire class, even as an injury to him is an injury to his whole stock. In the one case all may expect to suffer, in the other all must be ready to avenge, And this totem-pole custom leads to extravagant display of family pride among those who are well off. Tt is as much an evidence of pros- perity for Mr. Bear to erect a high pole surmounted by a poor imitation of his god-father and carved on all sides with rude effigies of his ancestors, as 1t 1s with us to live ina palace; and EP wondered as [looked at some of these horrid sculpturings whether they did not be- get the same neighborly jealousy and vulgar rivalry Which possess those who esteem themselves more civil: ized. "The people must devote a great deal of their time to carvings of this character; if seems a mania to be shaping a piece of soft pine into their family name, just as it is with other people to scribble theirs all over the world, from the pyramids of Keypt to Indepen- dence Tall.
friends, T may as well say that I was unable to detect
Kor the information of our Darwinian
the monkey among any of the ancestral specimens. Since the Indian has come into contact with the pale- face he has adopted those of our traits and customs
Oh li BI NEI itl Rint Bis er sao
4
THE TOTEM POLE. SI
which he approves, among then being exchanging any thing he has for money; and another, drinking as much whiskey as he can get; and although there is no
ease on record, perhaps, of one of these people selling
%
Se ee
a his family tree, yet he makes miniature representations { of it all winter and sells them to the tourists in the
serene
summer, One of these [ have, which was purchased
‘ : &
i }
} me 3
i
under peculiar circumstances at Juneau and will be told of hereafter, and T procured at Wrangell a very vrotesquely carved effigy of an Indian Shaman (medi- cine man or doctor), of whose calling T may have ocea- sion to speak by and by. T visited some of the huts
O°. mah a at ACN RON. 1 SRNR Ee
in which these families, whose creed so carefully guards
La
their ties of consanguinity, reside, and there can be nothing worse in the slums of London than what J saw here, In the centre of each was a space of about a yard wide in the floor, upon which were the fires for i el warmth and for cooking,
i: ae the only escape for the smoke being through the roof, where an aper- ture was left for that purpose. Two or three families were squatted in a cirele around this lire, the men appearing
to be clothed in the cast- off wearing apparel of the white man, and the women tightly wrapped in
(Koduk'd by Miss M.D, Beach) skirt and blanket, lying full length
82 A WOMAN'S TRIP TO ALASKA.
upon the floor, the shoulders slightly elevated, their coppery faces and straight long hair protruding from the blanket and lit up by the whites of two staring eyes, for all the world like seals in a menagerie— but with a heart-rending expression of misery. The Siwash woman is a beast of burden. Tf captured in war, She becomes a slave and a drudge to her captors for the rest of her life; if living with her own tribe, she is none the less a serf to the man whom she calls her husband, and who leads a life of indolence and vice. It is therefore a common habit of these poor wretches to murder their female offspring at their birth, and thus save them the inheritance of a life of toil, shame, and misery. But if a girl escapes being the victim of infanticide, a much worse fate awaits her on her arrival at womanhood ; she is often then sold for a few blankets to the highest bidder, and here commences a life which would seem to justify, if any thing could, the murder- ous act of the mother. Polygamy is practised among all the tribes, and in some localities a man increases his Wives just as he would purchase oxen or horses, to till the fields; the greater the number of his wives, the greater amount of work he can accomplish. The odors in these huts were stifling, and the filth so alarmingly dangerous that [I had little opportunity to investigate the hoard or the lodging ; but in one of them I saw an old man dying, 2 woman lying il with a fever, a whole brood of children some of whom were erying, and a coupie of shaggy dogs; all this life and sickness and death being the state of existence of a single family—
SCSI es sae teh to NRE np Re
sens saat
ee —
INDIAN GRAVES. 83
a horrible picture of squalid misery and misfortune, which made me feel like asking with Dante: “ / che gent’?, che par nel duol si vinta?” But the mission- aries are at work—in fact, they are doing splendid service here and elsewhere, and although I did not visit the school at Wrangell, owing to the indisposition of one of our party, Thad a grand opportunity to see one next day at Sitka, and shall give you a full account of my experience when I come to it. There are some remarkable typical Indian graves in the vicinity of Wrangell, which are well worth visiting; had the weather been brighter I should have made an effort to see them, and I certainly should have gone anyhow if there had been any mode of conveyance, but there was absolutely none. The totem pole, however, is thie chief feature of them, serving the purpose of head- stone and inscription. Longfellow, you will remember, has it thus :
‘And they painted on the + GH grave posts
Of the graves yet unforgot- 2 get is S ) g gs
ten aE A aa cin Fail GE » baw AN eer WAAR OR Each his own ancestral A a S 1 fies totem, 4 bid o.. Ta 4 eg Each the symbol of his ane Wie Be Paige 8 ly ea 7 4,
household—
Figure of the bear and rein- deer,
Of the turtle, crane, and beaver,”
Perhaps the most curious thi. to be seen in the village is the
ig ae
=a
} i \ 4
|
mst 4g a
i “ 1B ‘it af i 84 A WOMAN'S TRIP 10 ALASKA, 4 i} Th hull of an old steamboat, high and dry in the main 1 street, whose decks are boarded and roofed in HB and divided off into apartments for use as a hotel, a and although there was little vestige of human life
about it upon my visit, | was told that during the mining boom up the Stickeen River it had been a very
popular hostelry. Twas glad to get back to the Queen, | her clean decks and the ablutions which the com- | forts of my stateroom afforded, and gladder still to see | the clouds break away and give presage of a bright i afternoon and morrow,
| It is the custom of the ships, after leaving Fort
_—
Wrangell, to proceed next to Juneau, then to Chileat, f
Pi 1 i (| Glacier Bay, and Sitka, but we did not follow this 4 i i| course, Captain Carroll, finding that the might was 7 an going to be clear and the sea smooth, took a westerly ie | course through Sumner Strait (formerly called Duke } wh of Clarence Strait), around the south of Baranoff q 1 Island, and thence north to Sitka, keeping the island |
on our right and the broad Pacific Ocean on our left. Having announced this programme to his passengers,
we went to lunch to chat it over, where the captain was voted a most accommodating host ; and we natu- : rally fell into a conversation touching our first visit to an Alaskan town, during which [ became indebted both to Captain Carroll and many of the intelligent people I imet at his table for a good deal of valuable information touching the manners, habits, and customs of these Indians, much of which was subsequently verified at Sitka. As you depart from Wrangell you
| THE STICKEEN RIVER. 85 . | | vet a superb view of the mouth or delta of the Stickeen 4 River. It was far up this stream that the Cassiar gold | mines were discovered, which promised so much for the prosperity of Wrangell, and great faith still exists \/ among the people as to the future mineral wealth of ) the far back country, The sun was now beginning to make himself felt in real earnest, and the atmosphere changed to that mild, balmy sort which all who have written about Alaska seem to agree exists in this vicinity, but which j I had despaired of experiencing. The clouds had dried their tears and departed, but the beautiful fleeey vapor in straight, trans- J parent, cob-webby lines still hovered amidst the tree—tops, just as a bit of foe will cling to the
masts of a ship for many miles; in some places it looked so like the linger- ing steam from a quick- moving locomotive that [ began to ask myself how soon the shrill ; whistle and the rushing jf eS
——T War) racket of the steam =
engine would resound hat along the banks of yon. 7.» | Vat der river, freighted with
the precious nugvets THE STICKEEN DELTA, 55
86 A WOMAN'S TRIP TO ALASKA. |
now lying hidden in the mountains, which, unfortu- nately, [ have not the clairvoyant power to find. The Stickeen Delta is a beautiful picture, of which I was unable to get a Kodak copy, as the atmosphere did not clear until we were too far removed from it, and the one I give you on page 85, which I obtained ® elsewhere, does meagre justice to it. This afternoon was spent chiefly in walking the upper deck; the
thermometer was 70 degrees in the shade, and the | , ; Kodak fiends were at work everywhere a —- | preserving as best they could the counter 44 }/\1
feit presentments of each other—my party among the rest; and although it was our \ / first experience, wad we had little faith in
our ability to ae.
complish much, we
have been most
agreeably disap:
pointed by the re- sult, many of our photographs of the
scenery and groups
being perfect gems in their way. Din- : her came and went, , /
and we were again on tMadak d By Author.)
deck. The scenery continued
to be superb—in fact, it grew even more sublime the farther north we went, the snow-hoods of the moun- tains became thicker and hung lower, the blue of the
ARRIVAL AT SITKA, 87
foot-hills became more intensely blue, and the crimson and yellow of the ferns and grasses grew luxuriantly picturesque, [t was still daylight, but the outlines were vrowing fainter and the air chilly, so that some of us were arranging to spend the remainder of the evening in the saloon, when, to our surprise, we discovered. that it was already ten o’clock—bedtime, in fact —but. the novelty of daylight at such an hour was so agreeable that few of us retired. We did a much more sensible thing in procuring an additional wrap and standing on the bridge until midnight, interesting ourselves with the beautiful steering of the ship through the thousand islands which are sprinkled all over the ocean in front of Sitka, where we arrived just at twelve o’clock, and dropped the anchor a little distance from the city. The Sitkans, if appears, had seen us for several hours, but of course did not recognize our ship, as this was her first trip to Alaska, and, moreover, we should not have been due there for several davs if we had followed the beaten track of the excursion boats. We were the first lot of tourists to arrive that season, and when at last the truth was heralded from house to house, there was intense excitement: first, among the American residents, to whom the faces of their countrymen are as welcome as the life-boat to the shipwrecked. sailor ; and second, to the Indians, who realized that “ to- morrow wil! be market-day.” We were soon surrounded by all sorts of canoes, dug-outs, row-boats, and. sail-
a} boats; and midnight though it was, the natives had
5
brought with them their wares, and the white people
aR ag ——
ih aepintieeaegnaimneintminmemnen naam
ed mens
A WOMAN'S TRIP TO ALASKA.
Pe)
were willing to sit up the rest of the might if they could only get a newspaper even a month old. There was among this remarkable fleet a little steamer which afforded us a world of fun; it was smaller than any of the row-boats, and had a veritable piece of common stove-pipe for a smoke-stack, which emitted a pyro- technic column of sparks at every puff, very much like a Fourth-of-July squib. The poor man who was cap- tain, engineer, and stoker all combined, was really so ridiculed and laughed at from our deck that he faced about and disappeared in sheer disgust at our bar- barous treatment. One day only is allowed to us at Sitka, and we are told there is a great deal to see, so an end to this midnight dissipation; we must to bed, that we may be early equipped for to-morrow.
SITKA, (Kodak’d by Author.)
CHAPTER VII.
“A, peers June 6th, — Bright and a early we were up and ready to dis- hy embark, The ship, at the proper
condition of the tide, had moved along to the city in the night-time, and we found ourselves, shortly after sunrise, lying at the wharf, objects of intense and welcome curiosity to the inhabitants. From my point of view, as Sitka first dawned upon me, [ was instantly reminded of Naples (though of course in miniature), as [ saw a group of houses nestled in the Jap of the mountains on the brink of the ocean, while across the bay Mount Edge- combe bore a strong resemblance to Vesuvius, This thought I found was common to all of my fellow- passengers who had visited the Mediterranean. Mount fdgecombe is a grand specimen of an extinct voleano ; and being always considerably enveloped in snow, the deep seams in its sides, furrowed by the streams of lava, which, in past years— perhaps ages—have poured from its crater, are: all the more distinct and traceable. Having seen Vesuvius in full eruption, hurling high in
——— = A
niles tsa ala Ripe ay OP
go A WOMAN'S TRIP TO ALASKA.
its convulsive throes huge red-hot boulders and pour- inv molten lava from its lips, PT could) form some vague idea of the superb illumination of these hundreds of | islands, their tints and lights and shadows, when the fires of this grand old mountain lit up the scene. Per- haps they will come again; and if they do Tenvy those Who happen to be within view. Stepping ashore, the first objects to interest us were the dilapidated ware- houses at the end of the wharf, which indicated thet in the olden time of Russian domination these were the busy depots where the precious cargoes of coming and going vessels were stored, (As early as 1810, the An terprise, one of John Jacob Astor's ships, lay in the harbor, trading for furs with the Indians.) Just beyond these, standing upon an eminence which commands an excellent view of the town and harbor, is the Baranoff Castle, which in my opinion should) be first visited in order that a clearer idea nay be presently obtamed of the place while you are walking through its streets. In no respect does it resemble a castle; on the con- trary, its exterior is that of a very homely country hotel. It is approached by a staircase, somewhat ry asuperb view as
1g
fatiguing in its ascent, but returnn a handsome reward for the effort. Besides, you will
then be standing upon historic ground, around which cluster the scenes and incidents of the past century, with which you should make yourself familiar if you hope to appreciate what you will see when you mingle with the inhabitants. Like the island upon which it 3 ix located, the castle takes its name from that old mar:
o
Nn
nie oe
Fa. Bank arr
STI RA,
it
YUL ur-
G2 A WOMAN'S TRIP TO ALASKA,
tinet, the Russian Governor Baranoff, who, in the early part of the century, fresh from his familiarity with the horrors of Siberian life, ruled the people with a tyranny that began with the knout and ended with the axe. Although it had been visited by the Russians as early as 1741, not one of the intrepid Muscovites who landed were left to tell the tale of capture and execu- tion by the native Indian Sitkans. Again, ta 1799 or 1800, a party, believing. themselves strong enough to maintain their foothold, settled near here with a view of remaining, and having placed themselves under the pro- tection of the Archangel Gabriel, instead of stockades and gunpowder, were in their turn also massacred and their houses destroyed by fire. This brought Baranoff to the spot, who at once erected either the present or another castle, withdrew the town from the protecting care of Gabriel and turned it over to the Archange Michael. During the latter’s protectorate, it has done better, yet it may not be out of place to mention the facet that the spiritual guardianship has been con- tinually supplemented by Russian bayonets and the moral and financial, to say nothing of the physical, power of the Shelikoff monopoly and the Hudson Bay Company, who were the lessees of the Russian Gov- ernment and controlled not only the trade but the officials of the Archipelago. It will be difficult to work the imagination up to the point of believing that this now desolate old palace was once the home of the nobility and the scene of festivities given with Imperial sanction and ceremony; but such is the
HISTORIC BARANOFF CASTLE, 93
fact——here princes and princesses of the blood royal have eaten their caviare, quaffed their vodhha, and measured a minuet, surrounced by a court fresh from the palaces of St. Petersburg and Moscow. The gov- ernorship of this extreme western portion of “all the Russias” was a reward of high value, and succeeding Baranoff came a number of the nobility, each in turn pro- vided with the revenue and retinue necessary toa proper maintenance of the dignity of his office, which appears to have chiefly consisted in luxurious and extravagant entertainment upon any pretext that should warrant it, notably the arrival of a foreign war vessel, or even a merchantinan., Po have had opportunity to observe how devoted these Russian nobles are to the convivial side of life, for T have been led to the banquet-room by one of the most renowned of her jolly Admirals, and have sat at table near one of her Grand Dukes Whose manner indicated that for him there was but one hour in life, and that the present one; so that it was not difficult for me to picture the avidity with which in dreary Sitka they accepted any incident which would warrant them in throwing open the doors of the ‘castle ball-room.
It was in this very house that Lady Franklin, twenty years ago spent three weeks of her aged life, (for she was then eighty years of age,) in the hope that she still might find some trace, dead or alive, of her adventurous husband, Sir John. It was here that Mr. William IT. Seward, after retiring from oftice as Secretary of State, resided for several days, on his
| ee E Py aa a we a Hl
O4 ‘A WOMAN'S TRIP TO ALASKA.
trip to see with his own eyes the immense territory
Which had been peaceably acquired for his country-
WiILLEAM Hl, SEWARD,
CONSEGMENCE,
men through the sagacity of himself and Senator Charles Sumner, and pud for at the rate of two cents per acre through the personal eXx- ertions of my old friend, General N. P. Banks, whe was then (1867), as he is now, a member of Congress. It was from these very windows that was witnessed in the fall of [S67 a pageant of great significance to civilization, though perhaps not as splendid as others of much less
In the bay on the afternoon of October
the T8th lay at anchor three American war ships : the
Ossipee, the Resaca, and the -amestown, commanded
respectively hy
Captains Emmons, Bradford, and
McDougall, each vessel dressed in the national colors,
While the Russian soldiers, citizens, and Indians of
Sitka, which was then, as it is now, the capital of
Alaska, had
feet, carrying
assembled upon the open space at our aloft the eagles of the Czar, At a given
signal, the United States navy fired a national salute
in honor of the Russian flag, which was then lowered
=)
from the staff upon the castle, and this salvo being
responded to by the Russian garrison im compliment
to ours, the stars and stripes were hoisted to the peak
amidst the wild huzzas of the assembled people. Thus,
five hundred and eighty thousand square miles of the
STORY OF PRINCESS MAKSOUTOIY, 5
earth’s surface passed from the control of the most despotic monare! on the globe into the hands of the most liberal of modern governments; thus the boast of the Englishman, that the sun never sets on her Majesty’s dominions, ceased to be without parallel and thus the peaceable surrender and peaceable seq ul: sition of vast territory without resort to arms furnished an illustration which should) not only commend itself to all mankind, but help to inaugurate with the com- ing century a universal acceptance of the new rell- gion, that killing is murder and war is barbarism: for if statesmen here and abroad have no better occupa: tion, for instance, than fanning a flame of irritability concerning the ownership of the unfortunate seal, who is born only to be clubbed to death, let it be left to the women, the graves of whose soldier husbands, brothers, and sons, they periodically decorate with flowers, and let it be seen whether they are not brave enough to yield a little Quixotic dignity and all the sealskin costumes they ever had or hope for, rather than again to hear the wail of woful war. We are no less patriotic than our liege lords, quite as combat- ive [ think, and just as little given to surrendering when we believe we are in the right; but we feel like the beautiful Princess Maksoutoff, who sat here at this window weeping bitter tears as the ensign of her regal master was lowered for the last time; those tears did eternal credit to her patriotism, and were doubtless a proud satisfaction and a comfort to her; but what of the tears she would have shed if, instead of seeing her
¥ ve ay ft of A WOMAN'S TRIP TO ALASKA. if husband formally yield up his authority to a friendly “hy nation, he had been brought home to her the dead vie- he Yi . ” en = e é | Fs j tim of a bloody strife to attain the same object. | As I looked out over this placid bay across to Mt. | Edgecombe, and thence far off to the western horizon, ol | he itt } i" Ht | ae ; i Fs ved ie Wa , ie & 5 ed SUT Aint ia ( Sree IMU iii, ‘i ip ; } i tPA Reed ; fi i i ‘ ie ‘ . le ae Py mw i i ral Pp) i" i LINCOLN STREET, SITKA, ian ; f Where the Pacitie Ocean dips down to the coast of / 3 KMastern Asia, the thought came to me that over there i! il was the birthplace, the cradle, the youth, and the man- ie | hood of civilization, and that it had journeyed and trav- | : , an Th elled westward and westward, wearied at times almost a to despair, but springing up again and striking vigorous i
blows, sometimes in the name of religion, but oftener Fi
THEE PICTURESOUL INDIANS. 97
for conquest only, until after Aves hisicl elapsed it found
its way to the western hemisphere,and in the course of
time encircled the globe; and that it was now here on the confines of earth looking towards the lome of its cretion, LT could not but contrast the joyous, health- ful hour, which was ours here at the ending, with the dungeon-life of serfdom over there where it all began, “Yes, Madame,” said Judge Calkins, when with some enthusiasm To gave him the benefit of this idea one evening at Tacoma, “the tail is now wageing the dow.” Descending from the Baranoff Castle and walking up the main street of the town, which was really clean and nice-looking—such a contrast to Fort Wrangell, we next became intensely interested in the Siwash In- dians, Who were most pieturesquely grouped upon the porch of the government building, offering for sale SF | their stoek of baskets, : ; SPOOns, bracelets, Nines,
miniature totem poles, and
(Aodak'd by Mis y M, L), Pea h.)
yo ia Meyer
Sy aaa es Rae Pete
eens ae
be = bcos
einer agoomn? ee ~ ns =
voaie es
gs A WOMAN'S TRIP TO ALASKA,
all kinds of knick-knacks, The prices asked were exorbitant in the extreme, and they seemed to have a kind of trades-union understanding among them- selves that, having onee fixed a price they would adhere to it to the last. They know only two divisions of money: a“ bit,” which is twelve and a half cents, but payable with a dime; and a “dolla,” dollar. Whether they hase the price Upon the amount of labor expended on each article, or whether upon the attractiveness of it [eould not tell, but it certainly Was not regulated by the supply and demand ; for instance, you would see a dozen baskets offered by a dozen Indians, each asking three dollars as the price, whereas you could buy for a dollar some prettier one of which there was only a single specimen.
The Indian squaws appeared much superior to those at Wrangell, and much better dressed, though this I dis- covered was owing in a great measure to the holiday which they take upon the arrival of a ship, their attire consisting of a full supply of female costume, fitting of course quite loosely, of the most gaudy colors that could he selected, bright red, green, and blue predominating, while their ears and wrists were ornamented with a great profusion of home-made, and in fact very well made, gold and silver jewelry ; the feet of some were bare, others wore coarse blue worsted stockings, while
a few luxuriated in chamois-leather moceasins; the
hair was invariably brushed or oiled smoothly to the head and plaited in the back; and each figure, young or old, male or female, was the owner of a blanket,
ee
ee
THE SITKA INDIANS. QO
which seemed as indispensable as che fan to the China- man, or the umbrella to the Englishman, and was made to do the service of hood, jacket, skirt, cushion, or lap-rug, just as the occasion required ‘ venerally it hung down from the top of the head, often was thrown over the shoulders, the head being turbaned in a highly - colored) hand- kerchief; but in the stuishine, as they sit selling their wares, it was mostly brought around the hips and folded across the lap. (Kodak'd by Miss M, D. Beach.)
It is wonderful what a superstitious aversion they have to the camera. When we tried our Kodaks on them they instantly enveloped themselves in their blankets, and would not uneover until some old crone who had an eye through a hole of her hood gave the signal, This was in fact so mysterious that we tried to reason with them, showed them pictures of our: selves, offered to send them their likenesses by the next boat, but all to no purpose, and we were about to give it up, when at the suggestion of one of “the oldest inhabitants” we held aloft a silver dollar.
hy Low ‘lL WOMAN'S TRIP TO ALASKA,
a
F Instantly there was a change, ‘Phe superstition simply
a consisted in the belief that it was not healthy to do
ti ! any thing without being
" ; paid for it, a superstition
i. Which seems to pervade J
waiters, and porters, and Chambermaids, and that Class of people all over the world. Indeed American civilization is doing a great deal for the Siwash. It
4 ' ~_ it . ‘ Mh reminded) me of the story iy ’ , told me by an officer who hid } 3 Ww accompanied Commodore ima} o,e Ri Perry’s expedition to y KP b : | en Japan, to the effeet that in? . . 1 AS | . when they first arrived wip} (Aodak'd by Miss M.D. Beach.) f 4 they could drop a five-dol- Me lar gold piece in the street and find it there the next | day, because no man but the owner would dare to lift it ; 3 i ‘ e * Fe Wi but in a month or two the growth of American civiliza-. Me | ‘ tion had been so rapid that, at the sound of the fail of i nih a quarter, a dozen Japs would madly rush at it to put : } i . . . bs . . it H foot upon it, each roundly protesting that it was his. i, pag All along the main street of Sitka the Indian women ey | were assembled. in little groups of four and five squatted 4 in the shadows of the houses, admirably counterfeiting hee ht with their olive skins, bright black eyes, and showy 2.) oe } A § 5 ; ‘ be | Ans ; colors the Italian peasants on the steps of the churches ei in Rome, Some of these women indulge in the horrid i Ee i HP ie
THe SITKA INDIANS, 1or
custom, now facing into disuse [am glad to learn, of
| wearing a wooden or bone or ivory button under the i lower lip, called = the " | labret, the shank of | 7 J Which passes through a NM ba Ma | slit nade in the flesh for 7 | | this purcose; it means ‘h | nothing bit adormment, | | and assumes different : { shapes and sizes, accord: | : { ing to the taste of the { ' wearer, Of this custom °) I saw a good deal at ' ms Wrangell, though TI did i i. hot see there what was ti r very conspicuous i i d Sitka, namely, the use of the powder em- ‘ |. : bellishment, in which the Sitkan maidens if Ht ave very proficient, handling the subject 4°01 1" 45 44 2. Beach) a ; with a delicacy of touch which was quite remarkable, ‘ iis save that the brown-berry tones of the throat, neck, i if : arms, and hands remained in strong contrast to the i 1 pearly features. ; Leaving these Indian men and women, who were n ) out in their best clot! s and prettiest adornments (dl for the special benefit of the tourists, we now g cross the parade ground in) company with Mr. y Bernhart and the commanding officer of the station, i} vf for a visit to the rancherie, the home of these same tt d Siwash. Walk slowly, tread carefully, talk loudly so i
“YNGLIS LV GIMHHONVY GHD
PO, cg em
erp
wll.
a H A’ “ty + if § e iy .) '
THE RANCHERIE. 103
as to give notice of your coming, or send one of your
purty ahead to give notice, for you are about to ex- perience iu Inost revolt-
en erp aren aE ERR OE
ing, almost sickening { |
sight, and their normal |
Nias
condition im costume being bad enough, you
s
domt care about being met by any sur-
_ 5 ET
prises which may prove embarrass-
inv, An passant { may say that : although im our : case every pre-
caution was taken — —
to avoid any shock to our sense of the conventional proprieties, we ultimately found ourselves in conyersa- tion with an Indian patriarch on the threshold of his own wigwai, dressed in a night-gown, and, to tell you the truth, not much of a night-gown, after all. The rancherie is a row of detached one-story houses with gable roofs, built along the water’s rocky edge at an elevation of four or five feet above the ground, each one approached by its separate flight of board steps. The shore in their front is strewn confusedly with ranoes, old barrels, tin cans, clothes-lines, strings of fish in all stages of the drying process, broken utensils, bed- ding set out to air, dead dogs, decaying fish and vege- tables, and such other things as tend to excite the
Log A WOMAN'S TRIP TO ALASKA,
olfactories (oil-factories, one of our party suggested We —the exterior of the houses is not so bad, in fact | doubt whether the fishermen on the North Atlantic coast have any better, yet this makes the filth of the inhabitants and their miserable methods the more ob- servable, Each family seems to have as many dogs as children: the former are a mangy, mongrel breed of
epee SON PED 5 Rr. gata aaa oa
b> . ¥.
Msquimaux, and the latter, poor things, are, for the most part, blind, deformed in limb, crippled, and nearly ul tainted with marks of serofula. The able-bodied men were off on their fishing expeditions, or employed at the salmon canneries along the coast; the young squaws ran around bare-footed and bare-legged, and the older people of both sexes seemed to have nothing to do but sit around. the fire.
We went first to the house of the far-famed and very rich Princess Thom, who is said to be worth $100,000
: |
PRINCESS THOM. 108
(though we saw little evidence of any such luxurious wealth), which she has acquired through shrewd. trad- ing with her own race and the white folk. Her adopted name is Kmaline Baker, and she resides at house mum- ber 6,700 of the ranchene, During the adminstration of Captain Beardslee, of the U.S. Navy, in 1879 all the houses of the indians were numbered ; and for some very good reason no doubt, which was not explained tome, to each number are added two cyphers, so that the home of the Princess was in reality No, 67, though the four fig- ures over the door read 6,700. [Ler Royal Highness Was hardly ready to receive at this early hour of the morning, as was evidenced by her bare feet, which we afterwards saw daintily shod asshe sat with her subjects on the steps of the Government TLouse, but they were as clean as thoueh just from the Russian bath around the corner,
and she welcomed us with the same obsequious politeness with which the Chatham Street clothier would ask “ Don’t
you want to buy a nice cout 2” She is very fat, of course not very fair, and much over forty, and when we entered the palace offered us chairs while she went for the arti- cles of dijouterie
PRINCESS THOM, (AKodak'd by Miss M, D. Beach.)
Lob Ad WOMAN'S TRIP 10 ALASKA,
nnd verti, Which she desired to exchange for com (they donot take greenbacks, are not predisposed towards gold, but are allin favor of unlimited silver). These consisted of bracelets, bangles, earrmes, baskets, and wood carv- inus, very beautifully made by her people, upon which she had advanced money during the winter, from her sur- plusin the treasury. Phe palace itself, like all the houses In the row, had one large room and a small annex im the rear, the customary fire in the centre, and her regal couch Was lot only quite a comfortable bedstead, but the bedding, blankets, and sheets were all neat and clean, Iler “aman of equal rights” was also present; whether le was aprince [really cannot say—he didn’t look it : he was much younger than the Princess, but as he was her seventeenth husband it is) fair to presume that the stock of marriageable older
ones had run out. Pwo doors beyond the home of the Prineess (at No. 6,900) Is that of a religious fanatic over whose door is a sign upon which are painted the words, “ Elisha Ltahin—head of a large family of orthodox Christians.”
If all the homes had been as orderly and well kept
(Aodak'd by Miss M.D, Beach.)
as the Princess Thom’s there would have been little
| |
<0 pect MPL
Wilts.
ne a See ee ieketon Sa i ia
a prraerpameersinninman: saps
ee _ - se -
ae Gol
“« % Me nN
ee a
» 4. miten nein | '
VW
«| l 4s l ul it «| rf ) aS {
<
Rl eR me ee ore ee
108 A WOMAN'S TRIP TO ALASKA.
to excite disgust, but they were far from it. ¢ entered one or two others which [ was told were fair samples of all, and was horrified at what [ was compelled to see. In the corner of one sat an old man totally blind and Kliotic, a young woman squatted at the fire cooking some horrid greasy stuff that looked like tallow, a middle-aged stupid-looking squaw and her child both wrapped in their blankets sitting on the floor waiting for the morning meal, a squalid unwashed baby scream- ing from another corner, and two or three stalwart, lazy men lounging around with their hands in their pockets ; encircling the room was an elevated platform upon which were thrown, not with the artistic indifference to arrangement recommended by Oscar Wilde, but ina confused mass, without any other rule than to find a place for them, every imaginable thing that these peo- ple had been able to procure by buying or begging, from a broken clock to a bandbox. Here was a rude bedstead, made of plank and covered with a mass of hay or sea-weed, or something of that sort; alongside of it a clothes-line, from which the sleeper inhaled the moisture from the half-washed clothes ; on the wall at the bedside, wearing apparel in all stages of decay, covered with dust and splashed with mud ; cans of oil and paint, baskets of potatoes, nets and ropes reeking with the odor of decomposed fish, pots and kettles, wardrobes, flour-barrels and soap-boxes ; and from the rafters hung smoked salmon and bits of bacon and fresh meat. The odors were simply frightful, and though I did not count how many distinct smells |
pou hee
ina
HORRORS OF THE RANCHERTE. 109
perceived, [ shall ever feel grateful to the giddy, be- jewelled squaw who entered as [ was taking my leave, and gave me the benefit of an aroma of musk which for the first time in my life [ found most useful and refreshing,
Passing along and edging our way nervously through the pack of half-starved dogs which infest the neigh- borhood. as they do the slums of Constantinople and Amsterdam, we came to the old man in his vobe de nuit. Tf we had any inclination to laugh it was soon dispelled. Poor creature! he was emaciated, paralyzed, and, [ think, demented ; and in the midst of his jabbering and solicitations that we would enter lis cabin, we dropped a coin into his claw-like hand and passed on, And just here [saw a dog which T shall remember all my life; le was a weird and phaitom dog, large, and originally white, but his coat was falling off, exposing spots of bright pink skin; in canine language he had the mange, and he sat on his hind legs a shivering, pitiful, miserable thing that it would have been a mercy to shoot, though this doubt- less would have brought down upon us the rage of the entire rancherie. The South American poet intended to describe that creature when he said, “Wo era wna perra sarnosa, era una sarna perrosa.” 1 had seen enough, more than [ care to tell, and [ retraced my steps through the throng of men, women, children, and dogs, all dirty, infected, diseased, and most miserable, Dante’s famous line best expresses our feelings: “ Won
ragionam di lai, ma yuarda e passa,”
110 A WOMAN'S TRIP TO ALASKA.
We next visited the shops kept by Americans, who had a much Jarger and choicer assortment of curios chan the Indians, among them a quaint, unique Rus- sian samovar, some totems carved on walrus ivory handsomely inlaid with pebbles, many remarkable bits of Indian carving, and hundreds of prettily shaped and brilliantly decorated baskets. Next we found ourselves with a crowd of our fellow-passengers in another shop, buying photographic views of Alaska from the cameras of Tabor, of San Francisco, and Partridge, of Portland ; they were quite cheap, and much better than [ saw anywhere else; so [ recommend you, if you desire to make a collection, to do it here, as you will not have such another opportunity,
At the head of the main street of Sitka and at right angles to it is the Russo-Greek Church of Saint
Michael, laid out, of course,
in the form of the Greek cross, and following in every particular the architectural design of similar edifices in the mother country. It seems incongruous and out of place
in a little town like Sitka, though in the courtly days
. of Baranoff, and Kupreanoff, ~Ssand Maksoutoff, and all the other “ offs,” it was an in.
Gieaie CLC W eae air BHR: dispensable adjunct to the (Aodaka ty Author.) state pageantry of the pe-
THE GREEK CHURCH. 11’
ho riod, Phe porch or entrance is surmounted by a | i square tower of two stories, upon which is a belfry 4 al containing a chime of several bells, and above, a very 1
ry symmetrical radish-shaped spire (excuse the simile), { its topped by a cross of four distinct crosses ; over the : al nd nave is a Byzantine dome, and above this a cupola hy — again surmounted by the compound Greek cross. The
Ps dome and spire were once painted green, and the crosses o pits . glided, but the rains and fogs of the Alaskan coast | H id; ! have destroyed the brilliancy of these colors, and to- sphic day, like all else that is ancient and historical in P| t to Sitka, they are “sicklied o’er with the pale cast ” of | ‘| is neglect. 4 |
The arrival of Archbishop V' dimir was quite an i |
sht event at Sitka. He is the prelate of his Church in Amer- { nt ica, and it soon became known that at eleven o’clock - ihe | he would hold a special service. At that hour there hig eek j was assembled beneath the dome a very remarkable i hh : congregation—a melange of Indians, Russians, Ameri- ay ral cans, and sailors and tourists from our ship. We stood up ’ 1 during the entire service, there being no seats. Arch- {iG ne bishop Vladimir and his four assistants wore the sacer- 7. a“ dotal ornaments of their respective offices, which were ‘
us really superb ; the garments were of exquisite texture
ay of gold, silver, and silk embroidery, and the mitres
if, studded with rare jewels of, [ should think, immense
a 4 value. The liturgy, in the Slavonic language, was
ial 4 chanted by one of the priests, who had the most mu-
he sical bass voice IT ever heard (though aboard ship he !
- smoked cigarettes from morning until night), and by a
112 A WOMAN'S TRIP TO ALASKA.
choir of Indian boys. Taking it all in all, the service Was most lmpressive ; the native children, Russian and Indian, well dressed and genteel-looking, seeming to thoroughly comprehend what was going on, were con- tinually bowing the head and making the sien of the cross: they were scholars in the chureh school, At the conclusion of the ritual the Archbishop deliy- ered an address, and as he turned his face towards us I realized the truth of what [ had somewhere read about the Greek Church and its priesthood, to the effect that the prelates are selected from among the bishops, who
oS
‘
are all celibates, and that the preference falls upon those whose features most resemble the traditional Christ. Archbishop Vladimir, as a passenger on the good ship (Juecen, Was a very tall. rather thin man, clad in a long cloak to his ankles and a cape to his elbows, and wearing a very broad-brimmed, low-crowned felt hat, his hair being plaited and tied in a little bunch at his neck, At the altar, dressed in the purple and gold robes of his Chureh, he had a face of amiable benevo- lence, a soft, flossy moustache and beard, his hair parted in the centre and flowing gracefully over his shoulders, The carefully studied imitation was apparent on the instant ; there you saw the ideal picture in the centre of Leonardo da Vinei’s fresco of “The Last Supper.” I wish with all my heart I could have comprehended his words, for [ could see by his gestures that they were earnest, simple, instructive, and loving. The service being over, he came down among his people, laying hands upon them and blessing them with a
ra 5 eal Be sae PE RATT E
Tiki GREEK CHURCH. 113 i smile so full of tenderness that Tam sure every lowly, ‘ lee ragged Indian who kissed his hand was a little better k nd for the contact, though I should have been very sorry i to to have submitted mine to the same experience, OTL i of } oo, 4 i hae \ is I { } out DF hat 1 vho ! ii On fi | on 4 the ; i! clad : WS, i 2 ; Y ioe | While this Was going on I avauled myself of the con- f f | ine fusion incident to the crowding around the Archbishop t ia to take a look at the interior treasures and decorations t| ae of the church, which are a great surprise measured by aa oa the impression made by the fading colors and apparent Li i He : neglect of the exterior, There are two altars in the i "| hina transepts, the larger one being shut off excepting dur- i ! baa | ing the service by two golden bronze doors, ‘ach ex- hi fod . | quisitely ornamented by solid. silver images of the hey patron saints, the doors themselves being of fretted ti The and open work and most effective pattern, All the | : : ale [ panels are decorated by oil paintings, the details of i — | which are executed with the care of the miniature ple
oe . ee ee oe = aa
el
114 A WOMAN’S TRIP TO ALASKA,
painter, and bear the very closest scrutiny. Many of these are framed, as it were, with silver, the drapery and ornaments of the body being of that metal, while the features, hands, and feet are in colors,—a quaint combination, yet very effective. They gave the impres- sion of being the work of a master-hand, and I much regretted that there appeared to be no means of ascer- taining the artist’s name. An hour can be very well spent here by the art student.
Among those present during the entire service I observed two very charming young women, who were evidently as little a part of what was going on as I was myself, and with them a lovely blue-eyed child of about three years of age, whose pure white skin and pretty dress made him a beautiful pearl among the tawny skins of the unwashed natives. After a little hesitation, [ approached and introduced myself, only to discover that they were just as anxious to speak with me as I was to talk with them. Of course it resulted in our becoming fast friends for the remainder of the day, as they proved to be the wives of officers of the Pinta, which vessel, you will remember, we left at Fort Wrangell. One of them, Mrs. F., was from Phila- delphia, the city of “homes”; the other, Mrs, K,, from Washington, the city of “social life”; and here they were out on the far-off coast of Alaska, and had been for ever so long, without either home or society. One of them resided in apartments at a restaurant or tavern near the church, which her own taste and famil- iar’ with refinement had made habitable, and the
AMERICAN LADIES IN SITKA, 115
other (whose husband happened to be with her) lived over a shop across the street ina couple of rooms a proached over a creaky, tumble-down staircase, but rather cosey when you got into them and experienced the hospitality of the pleasant hostess. Nevertheless they seemed happy, at least they would not confess that they were not so; still, [ made a vow, on the spot, that if [ am ever a widow, naval officers need not apply. Said one of them: “TI e:»vect to leave this place in September, but have no idea where we will be ordered.” Said the other: “I have been here three years—my boy is a Sitkan.” Now Sitka is very beautiful, very romantic, is getting to be a good deal talked of all over the world, and will probably grow asl prosper, but it is no place for charming young women to spend three or four of the best years of their young lives, separated from their husbands most of that time, and left almost entirely to the unconge- nial society of a population seven eighths of whom be- long to the race who iwice in the history of the city have massacred the whites, These ladies confessed. to me that there was no diversion or amusement what- ever at this post, excepting “ just a little scandal and a good deal of poker,” and that even this grew monoto- nous and had to be varied with fishing and hunting, and there the excitement ended, excepting on steamer days, which was really the only event which dispelled their ennu?. They depend entirely upon the Russians for domestic servants, and these are not only very inde- pendent, but troublesome in many other ways.
116 A WOMAN’S TRIP TO ALASKA.
We learned here that every thing American, which tue Indians think well of, they call“ Boston”; those who are Americanized call themselves “ Boston Siwashes ” ; the missionaries are known as “ Boston men,” and the steamers as “ Boston ships”; and this brought from a fellow-passenger a capital story which may be old, but Was not so to me, and would be given here even though [ were a Boston woman myself. It is of a patriotic virl from the “Hub” who, beu
‘ asked to ae-
@) Io
VOung eount for there beme so much larger a proportion of Unitarians in Boston than in any other city in the world, replied: “T suppose it is because we cannot bring ourselves to subseribe to the doetrine of re- generation, for who, being born in Boston, would have any desire or occasion to be born again.”
Hearing that the Indian River in the suburbs of the town is worthy of a visit, we accepted the escort of our two young friends, and after a walk of half a mile (I believe [ have already said that there are few horses in Alaska, and no carriages) we came to a really very quaint and romantic lane, leading to a clear and rapid stream over which is thrown a pretty rustic suspen- sion bridge. It is a very charming spot, rich with ferns of most delicate texture and brightest green and velvet HLOSsses, such as those which border the foot- paths through the woods in England, a bower of wild foliage in fact, of exquisite color, By all means stroll through it, if for no other purpose than to inhale the pure air that has never come in contact with the rancherie, On your way back, you will discover, per-
| |
oy TERS = “on 5 ie ern
= Ton a ae - Casta S. 7 hieagees <. Mcgee FR cece lg meena 8 PS Bt A a IE ea
Aone
THE INDIAN RIVER WALK AT SITKA,
~Semneh sisi Sa. —eeniglias AS er |
Se
“TIS A WOMAN'S TRIP TO ALASKA.
haps, that Alaska, like Treland, has her © blarney- stone,” but why, I really cannot. tell, for, excepting the little group of my own countrywomen, who might be counted on the fingers, there is not another face in Sitka which would reflect a responsive smile to the sweetest thing that fell from lips that had kissed the blarney-stone a hundred times. The stone may be recognized, should you have any difficulty in’ finding it, by the names of tourists and inscriptions cut all over it in all the tongues of the Tower of Babel.
And now, quite by accident, [had perhaps the most interesting experience of my whole trip,—certainly one that has made an everlasting impression upon my mind ; an object lesson which often and often will set me think- ing, a subject which would require a volume to do it approximate justice. ‘The joyous shouting of half a hundred boys, some of them dashing across the road in
pursuit of a foot-ball; well-clothed, well-fed boys; healthy, vigorous, Intelligent boys ; Indians, half-breeds, Musco- vites, and a few Americans. What did it mean? From where had they so suddenly come? From school,
Ee
a iii rs ac
)«
a
LHE PRESBVTERIAN MISSION SCHOOLS. 119
These were the beneficiaries of the “ Presbyterian Board of Home Missions,” and the large building on the right of the road is the school-house. Of course | had read about this Mission ; all the books on Alaska refer to it more or less; yet the knowledge of its ex- istence had brought no special desire to visit the place. To me Sitk: was the vestige of a departed empire } the home of a decaying race of aborigines ; a depot for the sale of Russo-Indian relies and curios ; a pretty little town timidly hiding away in among the mount: ains; and for that I had come to see jt and had been amply repaid. But the “ Mission ” [ had never thought of; perhaps the book-writers had failed to attract me to it ; perhaps my faith in missions generally was not very confirmed ; perhaps I did not believe what I read about them. Be that as it inay, hereafter no man, nor woman either, shall outdo me in words of praise and thanks for the glorious Godlike work which js being performed by the good people who are rescuing the lives, the bodies, and the souls of these poor creatures from the physical and moral deaths they are dying. Tam nota Christian woman ; my faith is that of the chosen peo- ple who were led out of Egyptian tyranny and dark. ness by the pillar of fire and the pillar of cloud: but my whole nature is in accord with these Christian men and women, whose immolation and sacrifices to regen- erate their fellow-creatures will] surely meet with heavenly reward, no matter what their creed. I wish T had had more time at my disposal to spend with the teachers and the scholars so that I might now give
a nan pe carta <n ‘i
120 A WOMAN'S TRIP TO ALASKA.
even a skeleton outline of their daily life; but I may say to those who desire to know more than my brief acquaintance with the subject enables me to tell them, that these Mission schools of Alaska are in charge of the Rev. Sheldon Jackson, whose address is Sitka, and although I had not the pleasure of meeting him (as he was absent), | am sure he will most cheerfully give any information asked for, The Rev. A. KE. Austin and Mrs. Austin, having observed our party entering the school-house grounds, received us at the door, and from that moment until the blowing of the ship’s whistle admonished us that we must leave them, were exceed- ingly kind and polite, facilitating our inspection of the school in such a systematic way that we were really able to gather much information in addition to expe- riencing a most novel and enjoyable visit.
There are about one hundred boys and fifty girls in
the institution, some of them being only three years of
age and others as old as twenty-two. The scholastic education is very properly
R At confined entirely to the Eng- A e. “
lish branches ; but this is sup- ‘plemented by the training: schools, founded) and main- tained by Mrs. Elliott F. Shepard,of New York, where the boys are instructed in MRS, SHEPARD’S TRAINING-SCHOOL, ‘arpentry, shoemaking, and
(Kodak'd by Author.) black-smithing, and the girls
|
LHE PRESBYTERIAN MISSION SCHOOLS, 121
are taught dress-making and the use of the sewing-ma- chine. [ went first into one of the class-rooms of the males, where [saw perhaps twenty dark-skinned Siwash Indian boys, whose Mongolian faces and almond-shaped eyes had assumed an expression of intelligence, so differ- ent from the stupid, blear-eyed appearance of the same age and race whom I had seen in the rancherie, that it was difficult to realize that they could possibly be twigs of the same tree. Two of the boys were at the black- hoard working out asum in Algebra (a thing T couldn't do myself for the life of me); and here we Ingered for a few minutes while Mrs. John UL. DeVore, of Corry, Pennsylvania, the teacher of the class, gave us a fair sainple of the progress being made by her pupils. Next we went to the Primary Department over which Miss Delph of Crestline, Ohio, presided, who, with great patience and kindly forbearance, was performing the difficult operation of extracting the guttural sounds from two Indian maidens’ throats and adapting them to the pronunciation of English words. Up-stairs we found the dormitories, like every thing else about the establishment, orderly, neat, and clean, due regard being paid to the number allotted to each room, and to the subject of heating and ventilation. In the sew- in
THE MISSION CHILDREN, department were (Kodak'd by Author.)
or Ss
SS
ie
= gE pee oe
— ae oa
iy
mae eee:
Se —
122 A WOMAN'S TRIP TO ALASKA.
several girls operating skilfully upon the sewing-ma- chine, others cutting from the piece, and younger ones basting for the sewing girls, The colors of the mate- rial were all bright, in fact quite gaudy, giving proof that these children are encouraged to gratify the harm- less tastes of their race, which is eminently proper. Next we were taken to Mrs. Shepard’s shops, and although the work was over for the day, we could plainly see by the specimens of handiwork all around us What a noble charity her philanthropy and bounty had created. Every thing within sight of us had been built by the Indian boys who were the pupils of the Presbyterian Mission and of Mrs, Shepard’s trainine-school, including the school-houses themselves, (for they had recently been destroyed by fire,) and the eroup of little cottages in the distance which Mrs. Austin begs us to visit, that we may have an opportu- nity of seeing “how our pupils live when they marry and go to housekeeping.” “Joseph” was at home when we knocked at the door, but his wife and little ones had gone down to the landing to see the new ship (the Queen). Joseph was aman of about twenty-five years of age I should say ; when we disturbed him he was sitting at a table in his little parlor writing a letter which I saw commenced * My dearest and best friend.” It was being written to a Mr. Miller in the East, who had been his benefactor and to whom he chiefly owed his rescue from a life of idleness or worse. Joseph was living in a house which he had built himself, every inch of it, doors, windows, staircases, tables, every
MRS. E. F. SHEPPARD'S HOSPITALS. 123
thing in fact thata carpenter could make, was the work of us own hands, His parlor was a perfect gem of taste, order and cleanliness, and as for his two bed- rooms on the second story, which we all visited (a dozen or more of us) they couldn’t have been sweeter or neater if they had been placed there purposely for exhibition. My only regret was that I had not the opportunity of seeing the woman whose innate and once latent sense of refinement had been developed by the instruction she had received in the Mission school, for no other kind of woman could have spread those little comforts of the toilet so daintily on the bureau, or decorated the walls so picturesquely and_ tastefully with photographs and prints.
Attached to the school are two hospitals also en- dowed by Mrs. Shepard, but neither of them having many patients. In one was a little consumptive child, doomed no doubt to an early death; one of those un- fortunates who suffer “for the sins of the fathers to the third and fourth generation”; another was a rheumatic, whose neglected infancy had destroyed a life that could now, through the beneficence of educa- tion, be made happy and useful had not her health been undermined in the damp pits of the rancherie. A third was a sufferer from ophthalmia, produced perhaps by lack of cleanliness and living in an atmos- phere of smoke.
It is said somewhere that it is only a single step from civilization to barbarism,—perhaps so. If all wrongdoing is barbaric, the saying is not only trite
124 A WOMAN'S TRIP TO ALASKA.
but true, for a false civilization often begets the very worst of crimes. But [ and those ladies and gentle-
i }) men who accompanied me through the rancherie and ‘ the schools at Sitka can vouch for the faet that it UR is only half a mile from savage, uncivilized ignorance, | superstition, filth, and immorality, to education, de- i portment, thrift, domestic felicity, and all human
happiness, ‘Thank God [ had seen “Te pevers de la
i medaille.” To lave gone back to my comfortable
}) home in New York and to the embraces of my bright, healthy, intelligent children, feeling that these poor
| 4 little wretches at Sitka were to remain outcasts during
the brief time that disease and degradation should permit them to exist on earth, would have been a great sorrow, Thanks to the Presbyterian Board of Tome Missions and to Mrs. Elliott F.Shepard, the reverse is a great joy.
THE MUSEUM AT SITKA, (Avdak'd by Author.)
CHAPTER IX,
ANS the time arrived for our departure from Sitka a great portion of the popu-
lation came down to the landing, and
just before we started we were surprised
to see approaching the ship a long
procession headed by a brass” band
which played quite good music. These
were some of the pupils from the es Mission school, and the musicians were F Indian boys from the school also, Arrived at the landing they formed an interesting group, at which we all levelled our Kodaks, much to the amusement of the youngsters, who, no doubt, thought some of us a little crazy; the hat was passed around, and the band added about thirty dollars to its fund for new instru- ments. When we finally began to move away, we received ¢s_ affec- (Avdak'd by Author.)
126 A WOMAN'S TRIP TO ALASKA.
tionate and regretful an adieu from the crowded wharf as though the spectators were parting with their nearest kin. The young American women waved their hand. kerchiefs. the men shouted their cheers, and the little Siwash tots kissed their hands till we were too far away to distinguish their forms as they took a last fond lingering look at the dissolving view of the ship.
And, oh, what a charming picture was ours as we steamed out of the harbor of Sitka at six o’clock that lovely summer evening! The sky could not have been a more cloudless azure blue; it was just cool enough to provoke a walk to and fro upon the deck; there was so little air stirring
that the smoke ascended in a perpendicular column from the stack, and the sheen upon the water made the ocean a sea of sil- ver. We all felt so jolly; everybody de- lighted with the day’s .. . experience, and each person having some lit- tle episode to relate of the day spent in Sitka. Not a grumbler; not a single soul disappoint- ° ed about the slight- (Kodak'd by Author.) est thing; in fact it
THE ISLANDS AROUND SITRA., 127
was my first experience in my many voyages of pleasure, where universal satisfaction was the result of the day’s experience. Yet [could not help thinking of the desolation to which our departure condemned those who had been so kind to us; nor of those poor souls whose darkness may never be dispelled by the enlightenment of education and civilization; and it occurred to me that if [ owned the steamship line I would build a little hotel there, that the passengers might have an opportunity of occupying a week in
-_ .
excursions to points of interest, which it is impossible to reach in a large ship, and then life at Sitka would not be so intolerable; and that if I was the govern- ment of the United States, [ would put the Indians under such discipline that their quarters should be subject to inspection, and their children compelled to go to school. What two great boons these would be to Sitka, and how easy to accomplish both. But the scenery is so beautifully grand that IT must keep my moralizing for some future time.
This is the Sitkan Archipelago, and we are in the midst of so many islands that I don’t know whether to speak of them by hundreds or thousands; they are exquisite emerald, pink, yellow, and crimson islands all of them, so close to each other that the deer swim to and fro as the canary leaps from perch to perch, and the shadows of their tall forests fall from one to the other just as the housetop throws its shade across the street; yet the channel is so deep between them that we circle and wind in and out of them at a rate of speed which
+ etre mee
So tee SS
128 A WOMAN'S TRIP TO ALASKA.
throws the water high up upon their banks, frighten- ing the wild ducks and geese, who in floeks and couples dart across our bow continually. Mount Kdgecombe, five miles right ahead of us, becomes the centre of observation and the subject of con- versation. Kvery field-glass on the ship is levelled at it, and we distinctly see the gaping mouth of the crater and the deep ravines cut by the rivers of lava which have rolled to its base. We again take the outer channel, keeping Mount HKdgecombe on our right for several hours, it appeared to me,—each view of it being more and more confirmatory of its volcanic character. We are now passing sround Kruzof Island, and when well out to sea, steer due north along the western coast of Tchitchagoff [slang towards Cross Sound, which is the outlet of Glacier Bay. It is half- past ten o'clock when we approach Cape Cross, yet it is daylight, rea! daylight, by which you can read a newspaper just as well as at tea-time. What is that white streak above the horizon right ahead of us? [s it a cloud, or some optical illusion? “ Nothing of the kind ; it is the Fairweather range, the most beautiful show mountains in the world,” says Captain Carroll,
“Sorry it will be al lark when we get there, but you shall see the wyheht if the weather holds
up.” Fortunate. 4s we were out of reach of tele- graphic communication, the Weather Bureau had no chance to dash our hopes with prognostications of “cloudy, followed by local rains,” or any nonsense of that kind, and as the sun had gone down full of
A NIGHT OF CONTINUAL DAY. 129
promise, we had every reason to feel hopeful that the Captain would be able to keep his word, and well did he keep it two days later.
But, to return to Cross Sound; hy reference to the maps you will find that here we change our course abruptly to the right, and you will also remark, probably, that this water is called on some of them
Tey Strait. It is eleven o’clock; hardly a passenger has retired for the night—night, did [ say: Night it may have been by the clock, but by the heavens it was a might of continual dav. Some of us had determined not to go to bed at all, and the Captain, overhearing this heroic resolve, promptly placed both kitchen and pantry at our disposal, and jomed our party, amiably giving us the names of the mountains,
rem en > Rp eae apcme. 4 bate
130 A WOMAN'S TRIP TO ALASKA.
capes, and islands as we approached them, I knew not how often, if ever, the scene before me_ had been viewed to such advantage by others, but, for myself, I felt the inspiration of the hour so profoundly that [ could scarce believe it was part of that same earth which [ had left behind me but a few brief days. In a group of a dozen or twenty people among whom I stood there were period of several minutes, I should think, when not a word was uttered, except, perhaps, a half-suppressed exclamation of awe and admiration. For my part, [ leaned upon the rail of the ship, peering into the twilight, every now and then ratching a glimpse of some new wonder in the distance and trying to mould it into form; filled with an ecstasy of amazement and surprise which [ had never before experienced in a somewhat adventurous life. Along the horizon, in a complete semicircle from left to right, was a streak of golden fire—that kind of molten, liquid fire which pours from the blast-furnace in the night- time and courses its way through the gutters made to receive it in the clay,—and where the snow mountains broke in upon its lines, it lit them up with tints of the most delicate pink, just soft enough to mark their out- lines against the gray-green twilight beyond. And the shades of this twilight, how beautiful and delicate in color were they! from the deep blue which bordered the golden horizon, through all the color varieties of the aurora borealis to the faintest touch of amber and almost invisible green, yet all lit up with the still lingering beams of the now far-distant sun; while
Sn Sida af aD Re Ss ee eae
‘LA MAGIE DU COLORIS.” 131
Jd
away off in the northwest, suspended, as it were, like a bright electric light, over the coast of Asia was a single planet (I know not which) struggling in’ her silvery purity for a place in this superb panorama where none of her lesser sisters dared to venture. In this surprising effect of light and shade, nature gave us a wonderful example of what is called in art /a magie du coloris, And thus for three or four hours did one day resolve itself into another, without the inter- mediate night. Those who went to bed left word with friends to call them when there was any change of scene or incident ; others dozed in the social hall, fearing to trust themselves to sounder sleep; while many had their chairs and blankets brought on deck, Where at intervals they refreshed themselves with hot coffee abundantly supplied by the obliging stewards,
It was the “dawn of the morning” on Saturday, June 7th, when we first saw floating ice; a piece about the size of a row-boat and about the same shape, but QaRzyiRaar it was large enough (Kodak'd by Miss Margaret Watson.) to serve as a signal . to awaken the sleepers, so that in a few minutes the deck was peopled with a motley crowd, in all kinds of incomplete costume, from a shawl and skirt to a water proof and a pair of rubbers; we hurriedly
Soe, ane
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Sst ea re
132 A WOMAN'S TRIP TO ALASKA.
got down to our normal condition however, and ina little while, everybody was on deck attired for the day, and before the sun rose we had passed within view a glacier on our left, which in the distance resembled a river suddenly frozen and held in solidity by the vise- grip of two lofty mountains. Rounding the cape and parting company with the beautiful Fairweather Mount: ains, we are now in Glacier Bay steering directly north, with the Beardslee cluster of picturesque islands on our right and straggling iceberes all around us. Ahead of us, in the distance, is Willoughby Island, and our straishtest course to the Muir Glacier would leave this
island on the left, but there are two or three very in-
teresting glaciers on the west coast of Glacier Bay which Captain Carroll, with characteristic courtesy, Is anxious we should see, so he makes for the narrow channel between the island and the western shore. — It was seven o'clock in the morning when we entered this passage, Which [ should judge was perhaps half a mile wide and four miles in length, but we found it so densely packed with icebergs and floating ice, that we did not extricate ourselves from it until noon; in other words, our progress was at the rate of about one mile an hour, Those five hours were full of intense interest and excitement and sometimes of anxiety. [do
il a no injustice to Captain Carroll
in a ' the view leda Vise- » and ount- orth, ls on head | Our e this ‘vo Ine
day sy, IS Wrow ee 6: 1 this mile it so bergs > did from rords, ite of ‘hose htense p and I do
arrol]
ae ee |
AMIDST THE ICEBERGS. 133
when I venture the belief that if he had known the real condition of the channel he would have taken the easterly course ; at all events if was patent to every one on board, from the prudence with which the ship was handled and the presautions which were taken to avert any too violent collision with the huge floating masses which confronted us, that the occasion was an extraordinary one. These icebergs were curious studies; I did not fail to realize that each one of them outranked in age any other moving thing T had ever seen, save perhaps the moon. For hundreds of years these tons and tons of soud ice have been slowly forcing their way down to the temperate waters of the North Pacific Ocean, bearing upon their begrimed sides and edges the evidence of fierce struggles for freedom with the rock-bound passes in the mountains, and carrying victoriously aloft the massive granite slabs and boulders crunched in the conflict. Thicker and thicker grew the sea of ice, larger and more threatening the bergs, many of them rising to the level of our upper deck and grazing the ship’s side as we slowly forged ahead. The atmosphere too grew thick and threatening, and [ overheard the Captain mutter, “Pretty place to be caught in a fog,” as he peered anxiously ahead through his glasses, Fortunately I had unlimited and not misplaced confidence in his seaman- ship, otherwise [ should have missed the exhilarating sensation with which the novel surroundings filled me.
For the first time on the trip, it became quite cold and damp—overcoats and wraps were in demand,
134 A WOMAN'S TRIP TO ALASKA,
and those of us who were fortunate enough te tind room upon the platform in rear of the bridge, were treated to as beautiful a specimen of skilful ship steer- ing as can be imagined. The Captain had been at his post from the time we left Sitka on the previous evening, still he showed no sign of fatigue; on the contrary, his head and eye must both have been uncommonly clear to have brought so large an ocean ship through such a field of obstacles without the slightest accident. [ know, for he told me so, that he fully expected to lose one, or perhaps two, blades of the propeller, and [ could see by the contortions of his face as we thumped against a hundred tons of floating ice and topped it over bottom up, that he was not quite sure of the result when the great ungainly mass swung back again toward the ship. Constantly these bergs, as they split in half under the prow of the steamer, rolled over and exposed the red paint, which too plainly told of blows of sharp contact with our keel, much to the chagrin of Captain Carroll, who avowed he had not come there “to paint Glacier Bay red”; in fact,