142
THE WEST SHORE.
June.
At 5:301. H. we anchored in Alert
Bay, On the west side of Cormorant
Island, In BfOUghton Strait, and went
ashore to the trading post of Mr. Al
den Wcsllcy Hudson, particularly
known as "West" Hudson. Here I
purchased the great canoe which I sent
to Philadelphia, for the Centennial Ex
position. She was made at Xootka, on
the west side of Vancouver's Island and
aril owned by MoqullU, the head
chief, the decendant of the celebrated
Moqullla, mentioned so often in the
narrative of Vancouver and Mcares.
This canoe was made from a single
tree of cedar and measured sixty feet
long and eight feet wide, and four feet
deep. Mr. Hudson sent her for me to
Victoria, where I had her thoroughly
pointed and decorated by Indians with
heraldic designs and Anally, shipped
Aief by steamer " Dakota " to San
Francisco, where she was cut in two to
enable her to be placed on the truck
carS and thus be transported by rail
road to Philadelphia.
We left Alert Hay the following
morning, at 7:30, passing through
Golctas' channel, around the north end
of Oaliano Island, through Shad well
Pass, Into Queen Charlotte Sound.
Some ten or twelve years ago, the U.
S. steamer, "Suwanee," was wrecked
on Vansittart Island, in Shad Well Pass,
ind in 869 I passed by the wreck in
the steamer "Constantino," and saw
a portion of her wheels and smoke
tlack, but everything has since been
WOthed away, anil not a vestige now
irennlns. I am particular in describing
our course as it may interest some per
sons to trace our movements on the
charts, and thus enable them to obtain
.1 better idea of a northron cruise than
they otherwise could.
Wo crossed Queen Charlotte's
Sound, passing Cape Caution, 111 the
vicinity of which the steamer " Geo S.
Wright" was supposed to have been
lost, in the winter of 1872, and entered
Pltlhugh Sound at eight P, H,, sea
quttfi Smooth and light westerly breeze,
mm' :-i 9:40 1'. M. anchored in Safety
Cove on the eastern -idc of Calvert Is
Hand, where we remained all night, and
Ktarted .it 3:15 a. m., June 13th, pass
ing through FiUhugll Sound, Fisher
Channel and Lama Passage, arriving
If the Bella Bella village, in Mc
Laughlin May, on the west side of the
Passage. This is the she of old Port
Mllbailk, a former trading post of the
Hudson's Hay Co., now abandoned.
There i-, however, a small trading
establishment of the company at the
Delia Bella village, but we did not stop,
m we were anxious to teach the an
chorage in Carter Hay, near the en
trance of llickish Narrows, before
night. So we continued our course
through Scaforth Channel and thence
due north through PinUyson Channel
to our anchorage in Cartel Bay, w hich
w e re t hod at s:d ; m., ami sent a
boat ashore to procure water from a
frMtltiful fall, iNtto feet high in a series
of cascades, (rom the snow line. The
in tuntfttn measures j.oo feet.
June 1 t at four a. M.,got under w ay,
pawing through Graham's Reach, past
Worke Mand, through Prater's Reach
The whole distance from Carter Hay
eras a series of magnificent w aterfalls
of various sies, from the tiny rivulet,
commencing at the snow line, like a
lUvef thread running down the hides
of the mountain, Increasing n it de
scends, till its tinal plunge into the sail
water of the channels as a full grown
river, w h.se 10.11 conk 1 be heard aboard
:'he cutter above the din of the ma
chinery. The scenery along the distance is
most enchanting, particularly when
viewed during the long days of June,
when the summer sun melts the snows
j on the mountain tops, which rise sheer
l from the water to a height of 3,000
feet, with a depth of 100 fathoms ol
water at their base. The largest and
most magnificent waterfall wc saw,
was opposite Worke Island, on Prin
cess Royal Island. Here, from a
mountain 4,300 feet high, a river of
considerable size descends in a series
of cascades from five hundred to a
thousand feet. It Is one of the grandest
scenes I ever beheld. Here, the
weather, which had been somewhat
misty, cleared up, enabling us to sec
the tops of the mountains, and trace
the waterfalls in all their beauty.
The mountains appeared to be prin
cipally bare rock with but little vege
tation, but presenting an appearance
Indicating mineral deposits.
Leaving Worke Island, we passed
through Wright's Sound ami Green
ville Channel, and at nine a. m. an
chored for the night oil the S. E. end
of Kennedy Island, in gy fathoms of
water.
June 14th, we got under way, at
2130 A.M., and at 6 a. m. passed the
Mctlakatlah Mission, which was estab
lished some thirty years ago by Rev.
Mr. Duncan, a zealous and indefatiga
ble missionary of the Episcopal church,
who has been fortunate in making it
the most successful mission on the Pa
cific coast. The village was quite dis
tinctly seen from the steamer, and by
aid of our marine glasses, we could
distinguish the line church and houses,
built almost entirely" by Indian labor.
As Mr. Duncan was absent on a visit
to Ottawa a fact which we learned In
Victoria we diil not stop, but con
tinued our course to Port Simpson,
where we anchored at 9150 a. m.
Port Simpson is an important trad
ing post of the Hudson's Bay company,
situated a few miles south of the boun
dary line between British Columbia
and Alaska. The tribe of Indians re
siding at that point and at Mctlakatlah,
arc the Tsimsean, an intelligent band
of natives well advanced in civilized
ways. Those at Pint Simpson are
under the charge of Rev. Mr. Crosby,
a Weslevau Methodist, who has built a
line church and has a large school well
attended. We left Port Simpson the
next day at :jo p, m., and ran to Port
Tongass, a deserted military post, t.
miles distant, in Alaska, where we
found an American Inspector of Cus
toms. Here we remained till three
o'clock on the morning of June ifi,
passing around Cape Pox into Revilla
tligedo Channel, and thence to Duke
of Clarence Strait, where the weather
coming on thick and misty, we an
chored at four 1. m , near Tonkay
point, and the water being smooth, all
hands commenced catching fish, and in
about two hours wc caught nine hall
but, six redfish, four large codfish, and
a quantity of flounders and dogfish, and
then the men were ordered below to
get a little sleep. Here we remained
at anchor till u A,M.,wherl we rot
under way for Port Wrangle and ar
rived there at 10:30 A. U, This being
the centennial of the 17th of June,
1776, when the battle of Hunker Hill
was fought, we celebrated it by a din
ner, and a grand display of flags.
Port Wrangle was at one time oc
cupied as a military post, but was sub
sequently abandoned, and the building
j soKl to William King Lear, who estab
I llshed a trading post there. When the
.Cassiar mines were discovered, the
! rush of miners caused the Government
to hire Mr. Lear's barracks ami place
some soldiers iu charge, and the place
is at present the mott important one
in Alaska Territory, as all the traflic
I for the mines, of Cassiar, Peace Rivet,
and other points in northern British
Columbia, pass through it Spring and
Fall, when the miners go and return.
At the time we were there, a few
soldiers under Lieut. McComb, were
in charge of the Government property,
but they have since been removed, and
at the present time there are no laws
or any means whatever for the protec
tion of the residents. A custom house
officer looks after the pecuniary inter
ests of the United States as best he can,
but the people have to take care of
themselves. During our stay, every
thing was quiet, and peace seemed to
reign.
We left Fort Wrangell at 2 40 A.
M., June 16, passing through Duke ot
Clarence Strait, and across the entrance
to Christian Sound, around Ommanny,
at the southern extremity of Baranoff
Island, and skirting along the western
shore of that Island, arrived at Sitka,
at 6.30 A. U, June 19, and anchored
opposite the Indian village. Sitka,
at that time, was the headquarters of
the military of Alaska, and, also, con
tained the custom house of the District
of Alaska. The commander of the
forces was Major Campbell, and the
collector of customs was Major Berry.
The steamer " California," with Gen.
Howard and staff, had arrived a few
days before us, and had gone north so
we did not meet them.
There was but little change in the
appearance of the place since my visit
in 860, but what there was appeared
to be for the worse and showed by the
apparent neglect exhibited, that the
ollicials were already contemplating a
removal of the troops and an abandon
ment of the post.
There is a Greek Catholic church in
Sitka with a chime of bells, and Turk
ish looking towers and dome, made
conspicuous by the aid of red paint
and glittering tin ornaments; but, in
the interior, are some really line paint
ings, and rich silver chandeliers and
candlesticks, and splendidly embroid
ered vestments, allot' them given by the
Empress Catharine of Russia, who en
dowed this church many years ago.
The priests arc Russians and Aleutcs,
into whose orisons the Russian legend:
" Pet tint zet copla" (fifteen drops), is
uttered with as much unction and with
more fervor, than the "Pater Noster."
It was in this church that more recent
ly the remarkable demonstration of
splrltSf-not ardent spirits but real ghosts
or materialized denizens of the other
world- made an appearance to the as
tonished gaze of the captain and offi
cers f the U, S. Revenue steamer
j " oicon, aim tne u. Mail steamer
"v. amornia, on tne occasion ot a grand
potlatck given to 5,000 Indians by Sitka
Jack, the present Mayor of Sitka, dur
ing the month of October, 1 S77. As
this story has gone the rounds of the
press, and has even been illustrated by
one of the sensational New York picto
rials, I will not again repeat it, but will
simply observe that the truth of it is
I vouched for, and religiously believed
I by every person who witnessed the
deeply interesting phenomenon.
There was one fact of importance to
Sitka w hich we did observe, and which
has been tully demonstrated by the
soldiers, ami that was regarding the
possibility of cultivating the land.
Those persons interested in keeping out
all immigration and all uttlnmimi nf
Alaska, who wish to have it continued
as a magnificent preserve for a power
jful monopoly to exercise exclusive
, control over all fur-bearing animals,
have, through hireling writers devoid
j of truth and common honesty, promul
gated and reiterated the assertion that
I nothing grows In Alaska but forest trees,
shrubs and nettles; that cabbages will
not head, nor potatoes grow larger
than ounce balls and, in short, that
everything a white man wishes to cat,
must be carried there, and yet we found
things quite the reverse of this. In
Sitka the mossy soil on the hills had
been deeply trenched in many places
by gardeners, and when thus cultivat
ed, yielded good crops of most excel
lent vegetables. Major Campbell, the
commander of the garrison, informed
me that last fall, (1S74) Dr. Fitzgerald,
the post surgeon, had presented him
with a potato of his own raising that
weighed two pounds, which, when
cooked, proved of a most delicious fla
vor. Both gentlemen stated that they
had seen turnips weighing eight
pounds, each, and a cabbage Weighing
twenty pounds. Collector Berry in
formed me that potatoes thrive
remarkably well, and one crop he saw
raised in a field in Sitka, averaged
three potatoes to the pound. I noticed
several gardens and fields well laid out
in elevated beds to allow the moisture to
freely drain off, where potatoes and
peas were looking remarkably thrifty.
Collector Berry also informed me that
last fall (1S74), a man at Koutznow, or
as it is pronounced, Hoochnoo, near
Hood's Hay, on Chatham Strait, har
vested and brought to Sitka, forty
tons of potatoes of such superior qual
ity that they readily sold at an advanced
price over the Oregon and California
potatoes brought there from Portland.
By the tables of the annual rain-fall
of the United States, published by the
Smithsonian Institute, in 1S72, it will
be seen that the annual rain-fall' at
Sitka, is S3 39-100 inches, while at
Neah Hay, Cape Flattery, W. T., the
annual rain fall is 12335-100 inches. It
has been demonstrated on the Indian
reservation at Neah Hay, during a
series of years from 1S62, that every
kind of vegetable production, except
cereals, can be easily and profitably
cultivated; and from my long
residence at Neah Hay, and my observation-'
at Sitka, together with the
scientific records of the Smithsonian
Institution, I am satisfied that the
climates of Neah Bay and Alaska are
nearly indentical, and that the earth
can be cultivated with as much profit
in one place as the other, particularly
potatoes, which thrive remarkably well
in each place.
June 23, we left at 7 a. m,, and pro
ceeded north to go around Baranoff
Island, into Chatham Strait. At 9 a.m.
in Olga Strait, opposite Pirates' Cove,
we saw a deer swimming in the strait,
and the steamer being headed for him,
the officers got out their rifles to
give him a shot, but no one hit him,
although Lieut. Harwood declared he
struck him in the head; at last, Lieut.
Kilgore jumped into the dingy, or
small boat, with Brown, who had
special charge of her, and pulled ofT
and caught the deer alive and brought
him on board with no mark Hpon him
except a hole through one of his ears,
which Dingy Brown had punched w ith
the end of the boat hook. A council
of war was then held, and the deer
slaughtered to furnish the mess table
with a savory roast and stew.
At 12 if, we passed the rapids in
Peril Strait, and at 3 P. K. wc
stopped at a waterfall to water the ves
sel. This was done by means of a V
spout which the carpenter constructed
with two boards, and through this the
water was conducted into the Cutter's
boats, which were filled in a few min
utes, and then brought alongside ami
the water emptied into the tanks by
means of buckets. At 6:50 P. U we
anchored for the night in Lindenburg
harbor, near Chatham Strait. Leaving
our anchorage at s:io the next morn
ing, we crossed Chatham Strait to
Koutznow point and village on the
northeast side of Chatham Strait, Mat
from Lindenburg hatbor. Some of