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About The west shore. (Portland, Or.) 1875-1891 | View Entire Issue (June 1, 1885)
THE WEST-SHORE. 183 SITKA, ALASKA. THE Bonbon ia now rapidly approaching whou the tour ist's eyes will turn in the direction of our extreme northern possessions. Alaska, whioh hns stood for yeors in the popular mind as the personification of frigidity, is becoming better known every year. Annually Bteamor loads of tourists are carried through the enchanting island-fringed channel which leads northward five hun dred miles from Puget Sound. Exempt from ocean storms and their invariable attendant, seasickness, the traveler sails continually on the bosom of placid waters, with grand forest and mountain scenery on either hand. It is such a voyage as one would enjoy were thore a broad, deep and continuous waterway across the Cas cades and Rocky Mountains, such as the early navigators sought in vain for more than two centurios. A glance at the map will show what a perfect maze of bays, inlets and land-locked passages is to be found on the coast of British Columbia and Alaska. Sitka, the tourist's objec tive point, lies in latitude 58 dog., on one of a numerous archipelago of islands, being no f urthor north than the extreme southern point of Greenland. Yet what a con trast in climate between that icy land where the hardy Norsemen planted colonies nine hundred years ago and that of "Sitka's thousand islos"! Owing to the modify ing influence of the great current of warm water which sweeps through the North Pacific, the mean winter tem perature at Sitka varies from 27 to 84 degrees, and the yearly mean from 38 to 48 degreos. The lowest recorded temperature during thirteen years of observation was 7 degrees below zero. Snow seldom fulls to the depth of six inches, and generally disappears rapidly before the melting rains. The rainfall is very great, to which cause is due the luxuriant growth of native grosses and the dense forests that cover the islands and fringe the count of the mainland. Tall, jagged peaks, barren of vegeta tion and oovered with snow, but having at (heir bases the deep green of luxuriant vegetation, are the loading char acteristics of the scenery along the Alaskan ooattL Nu merous large glaciers thrust their icy whiteness through the mountain passes and move steadily into the sea. An occasional iceberg may be seen in the viciuity of these, consisting of huge masses of ioe which have become de tached and fallen into the water, where they float about till they melt and disappear. Sitka is the chief town and seat of government, the only othor place of importance being Fort Wrangoll, still further to the south. It was founded by Baranoft in 171)0 and was made the capital of Russian America by Baron Wrangoll in 1832, consequently it is one of the oldest settlements on the Pacific Coast north of Mexico. Thore is much in the old Russian town which ia of interest to tourists, and it is a fitting terminus for so delightful a voyage. This region is also closely associated in the popular mind with sealskin saoquea, or "Alaska comforters." The seal islands of St Paul and SL George, the only place where seals may be legally token, and where the Alaska Commercial Company has the monopoly privilege of cap turing 100,000 annually, lie sovoral hundred miles to the uuilliweol of Sitka oud beyond the limits of tourist tra vel. Sealing is carried on by ninny private individuals in defiance of the law, and the risk they run of fine and confiscation of property is not very great in a region a thousand miles in extent, guarded by only one Govern ment vessel. Tho number of seals killed annually cannot be definitely stated, for, in addition to thoao poachers, it is to be presumed that the monopoly does not confine itself to the legal 100,000. They are situated much as were the Twood ring in New York they "do the oouut ing," and it makos little difference what any one else may say or do. Thore is another amphibious animal that abounds in Alaskan waters, which plays a far more important part in the domestic economy of the natives than does the seal. This is the walrus,- the mainstay of the Innuits, that branch of the Esquimau race living along tho west ern and northern shores of tho Alaska Peninsula. The walrus is as essential to the Innuit as the camel to the Arab or the ooooa-pulm to the native of tho South Sua Islands. Its flesh foods him; its oil illuminates and warms his dork and contracted hut; its sinews make his bird nets; its tough skin is put to many uses, and when skillfully strotehod over a light wooden frame forms the famous kayak, in which ho boldly ventures ou tho storm iest sea; its intestines are converted into waterproof clothing; the soles of its flipiors moke soles for his foot; and, finally, its ivory is of great utility in endless ways, and forms a valuable article of barter with visiting traders. The provident Innuit mokes a each of walrus moat in the fall, and this often boooiuaa his sole food supply for weeks at a time during tho severest portion of winter, when the procuring of fresh food Is an lnioisi. bility evon to those hardy natives. It Is no wonder the Inuuit eoncoives Paradise to Iw ono vast walrus hunting ground, and says to himself, " Without walrus there ia no heaven." The sandy shoals of Bristol Bay, in Behrlng Sua, are the favorite resort of the walrus. When the Ioe pack closes the sea above Asia and America, millions of these animals rotroat from their summer resort among the ice floes of the Arctic Ocean into the oon waters of Behrlng Sea, aooompaniod by their young which were born on the floating ioe of the Arctic There they spend the winter, scattered in herds ranging from a doxen to several thou sand in each. Living at peace among themselves and nearly exompt from persecution by hunters, they pass the dark winter mouths with as much enjoyment as such a mass of fat can expect to experience. In the summer time they are hunted by the natives, and are shot by thousands by the whalers who visit the Arctic by way of IMiring's Strait, their oil and ivory constituting an im portant item in the return cargo of the whaling flettt A rot'NO man in Massachusetts has adopted whistling for a profession. When he gets married, and tho bills begin to come in, ha will have plenty of chance for practice.
