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About The west shore. (Portland, Or.) 1875-1891 | View Entire Issue (May 1, 1884)
THE WEST SHORE. 141 gating influence of the Japan current is not felt and all the rigors of an Arctic climate are encountered Hearts from thoroughly competent prospectors are to the effect that the placers and quartz ledges are of unusual rich ness; but because of the brevity of the working season and the enormous distance over which supplies have to be taken, they cannot be worked profitably. On the other hand, much work was done last year, especially on the placers, several thousand miners having spent the summer along the Yukon, and many of these men are preparing to return the present season. The quartz ledges in the vicinity of Sitka and in the interior back from Sitka and Wrangell were first discovered, and have been worked successfully on a small scale. It will take several years to determine the fact whether the quartz ledges of the interior are sufficiently rich to make mining there profitable under the many disadvantages surround ing it The greatest and most available resource of Alaska is the abundance of food fish to be found in the streams and in the waters along the coast From June until Serjtember the fresh-water streams, from the great Yukon to the little brooks flowing from melting glaciers, are crowded with salmon and trout, while their presence in the bays and adjacent sea is indicated by the leaping of herds of Dorooises Dursuinc them for food. Were it not for their destruction by these ravenous fish, and the fact that but a small percentage of the spawn lives to reach deer, water, the sea and bays in the vicinity of these rivers would become unnavigable. In the spawning season they ascend the streams in such numbers as to render fording extremely difficult There are five dis tinct species as classified by the inhabitants, though no scientific classification has yet been made. Early in J une the Quinnat (a very fine fish, called Chowchou by the Rnaaiana Wxrinu to run. followed SOOn by the Kikoff. In July appears the Crassena Bubia (red-fleshed), and in August the Garbosha (humpbacked), ioiioweu luwr in the season by the Kischutch, or black-mouthed. The loot i nnnaiAaroA Hia finest table fish, though the Gar- bosha, which is coarse and unfit for canning, is the wUi. tfco Tndmnn. and is cured by them in great laiuiiro tt j vw j - quantities for their winter food. There are already ha f a dozen canneries at worn, several oi wm - ,. A tiiA AlfiHka nack is becoming quite a factor in the market The possible expansion of tins ia rotiVRlW unlimited. Large quantities are packed in barrels by the various fur and trading com- nr TVv, anA Klmmnirim islands, at the southern pitmen. vu. vi o t t . extremity of the Alaskan Peninsula, cod fishing is carried on quite extensively. Three companies in San Francisco i j. i ,,aaQla in this work, catching about tons annually. In this vicinity there are a number of good banks, with a depth of woter varying iron wiu y :i t i,a onutirn end of Behnng Sea is a B1AIV IBU1UIUB. " I'll bank covering an area of 18,000 square miles, which has a depth of fifty fathoms, and on every portion axIfMi are abundant The cod is found from the Straits of nca as far north as latitude 59 degrees, or the southern limit of floating ice in Behring Sua, having boon caught at Nootko, Sitka, Lituyn Bay, Ynk-otnt Bay, Cook's Inlet, throughout the Aleutian Islands, the Alexandrian Archi pelago and in the Okhotsk Sea. The black cod, which is now attracting mnoh attention, nnd i uwinlly fil"trit in the vicinity of Queen Charlotte Islands and some dis tance to the northward, is superior to the cod of Labra dor; so also is the fish caught near the bhunmgun Islands. Halibut abound, but have never boon caught in large numbers for the market The Indians dry them for food. They range from 40 to 500 ixmmls in weight, nnd are caught without difficulty. There are many other species of fish, valuable for fowl or oil, which will all furnish thoir quota to the woalth which will Imj drawn from Alaska in the future. The area of Alaska is computed at 000,000 square miles, more than 20,000 of which aro comprised iu two great archipelagoes the Aleutian, extending westerly from the extremity of the peninsula nearly to Asia, and the Alexandrian, following the coiwt south from Cross Sound till it memos in the aroluixMago ixrdormg the coast of British Columbia. By the latest author itioa the native population, which has evidently boon heretofore underestimated, is given as 30,000, divided into throe general classesthe Innuits of the Yukon region, the Aleutians, and the Sitkuns of the Alexandrian Archill ago, the last being subdivided into half a dozon families or tribes. In this estimate no account is taken of the nnmmrativelv limited number of Esquimaux inhabiting the extreme northern, or Arctic, shores, about whom nrActicnllv nothing is known. The customs of the Sitka Indians are an interesting study yet open to some enthu ainutin ethnologist Of thoir religiouH ideiut nothing definite is known, except that they entoitain a Ixilief in a multitude of spirits, both gxd and evil, and that ihey seem more inclined to propitiate the evil ones than to court the favor of the gxxL The only chance the de parted spirit of an Indian has for future felicity comes through the cremation of his body, and to this friends of the defunct brave zealously attend. In the roar of his house is built a pile of woxl uKn which the Ixxly is laid, having been removed from the house through hole in the roof specially cut for that purpose. The Ixxly it carefully covered with a blanket, now that blanket can be had, and near it are dojxwitoa tne winnow, nnory aim arms of the deceased. The pile is thou ignited, and as it blazes a doleful chant is sung by a hired band of masked men, who keep time to their wailing musio by boating . Iwmr.1 with sticks. When a murderer has been killed by the victim's friend the two IxxlioH, provided the vengeance has lxn swilt eiiougn ana mo iwo iniuiww are satisfied, 'are cremated under one blanket and oh the smoke from the burning Ixxlies ascends in one column, so the hearts of the contending families are unitod, and the' compact of Ioaco is sealed. Among the curious customs of these xxpl is the use of the "Totem Stick," on Indian coot-of-arms, as distinc tive and as zealously guarded 'from dishonor as that hanging in any Eurom baronial ludL Tlio tot-in stick