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VOL. 3-No. 10.
rOHTLAXD, OREGON, JUNE. 1878.
VmMj SJItttt, irr Urn, n Ac ) ninut mMm
HnuiliW KUUIoh, ft Annum l Ml f n i u
A CRUISE TO ALASKA, IN 1875.
BY JAMES G. SWAN, V. S. SPECIAL CENTENNIAL
COMMISSIONER.
On the 26th day of May, 1S75, 1 re
ceived a dispatch from Washington
informing me that I had been ap
pointed by the Secretary of the Interior
as a special commissioner to procure
articles of Indian manufacture for the
National Museum, to be exhibited at
Philadelphia during
the Centennial Ex
position of 1S76, and
that arrangements
had been made for
me to go to Alaska,
on the U. S. Rev
enue steamer Ol
iver Wolcott, 1 0
make collections
among the Indians
of the Northwest
Coast. According
ly, after having
made due prepar
ation, we left Port
Townsend on the
7th of June for Vic
toria, U. C., for
some necessary sup
plies, and at mid
night found o u r
selves under way
for a cruise to the
North.
The officers 0 f
the Wolcott were :
Captain, Charles M.
Scammon ; First
Lieutenant, Henry
Wi Harwoodj Sec
ond Lieut., W. P.
K i 1 g o r e; Third
Lieut., W. K. Or
cutt; Chief Engi
neer, J a m c s T.
Way son; First As
sistant, Horace Has
sel; Second Asst.,
A. L. Broad bent;
crew, 28, including
firemen, coal pass
era, and boys.
The Wolcott was
under sailing orders
to proceed to Sitka,
touching at Fort
WrangeU and Ton
gass, and from Sit
ka to proceed west
to the Aleutian
Islands; and as
there were no coal
supplies at Sitka,
we had to take on
board an unusual
quantity at Nana
imo, B. C, where
WC arrived on the
8th. Our course
was to the east of Vancouver's Island,
affording us quite as good a view of
the shores on both sides, as may be
seen while cruising on Puget Sound.
From Victoria, we passed through
Haro Strait and through Trincomalie
Channel, til! we reached Dodd Nar
rows, on Northumberland Channel,
west of Gabriola Island. Through
these narrows the tides rush with great
velocity, except at high and low water,
when, for a short time, they are quiet.
We passed through easily, and soon
were at Nanaimo, where we rilled ev
ery available space, even to covering
the quarter deck and the waist of the I
Cutter, making her look more like a '
coal barge than a revenue steamer.
We left N maimo the next afternoon, I
and pissed up the Strait or Gulf of
MATERNAL HAPPINESS From a Painting by Cahi. Hiimik.
tieorgia, reaching Seymour Narrows
at 4 a. m. June 10th, and passing
through that turbulent passage at slack
high water, which was so quiet as lo
calise those officers who had never
passed it before, to regard the stories
of its terrors as a myth, Hut before
we returned all hands were satisfied
that Seymour's Narrows are fraught
with groat dangers, and it was in this
very passage w here
but n few days after
W v h a d g o n e
through safely, the
Ui n. steamship
Sarattac struck on
a sunken rock and
Was totally lust,
sinking in nearly
100 fathoms of
water. Seymour
Narrows lie be
tween V aides Is
land and the cast
const of Vancouv
er's Island, in about
50 dug, j min. north.
The temperature of
the water, as re
pelled by the engi
neer, was (O deg. in
Fuca Strait,6odeg.
in the Strait of
Georgia off Nana
imo, and 50 deg.
after passing Sey
mour N a r ro w s,
which is to be ac
counted for in the
following manner :
The temperature ol
50 deg. was that ol
(he Pacific ocean,
brought in by Fuca
Strait on the south,
and from Queen
Charlotte's Sound
through Johnston's
Strait on the north.
The temperature ol'
60 deg in the Strait
of Georgia was oc
casloned, undoubt
edly, by the frcsli
waters of the many
sluggish st reams,
and the llats on the
east side of Van
eoiiver's Island be
coming heated by
the summer sun,
which at that time
was at 90 degrees.
The warm, fresh
w.iter flowing on
the surface of the
sail water of the
Georgian strait or
gulf, was what was
dipped up by the
engineer.