The west shore., January 01, 1889, Image 44

itortltmwtmt tciuo anb Jnfovmatlcm.
I Is Western Alaska. The Alatian publishes the following
j from the notes of Governor Swineford while with the govern
j ment cruiser Thelit in the western part of the territory last sum
j mer: " I was particularly desirous of calling at Green island,
j which is one of the group in the entrance of Chugach gulf, for
! the purpose of securing a mummy from one of the caves there
for the national museum, but the absence of an experienced pi
j lot made it impracticable to do so. In a cave, or caves, on the
island mentioned, as also in those on the Four Mountain isl
j amis west of Ounalaska, I am told by those who have seen
them, there are numerous corpses of a race of people believed
to have inhabited these islands long anterior to the coming of
f those found here when the Russians first came. They are said,
I those in the Green island caves, to le closely and tightly wrap-
jmd in several thicknesses of fur skins, while those in the Four
I Mountain caves are simply clothed in dogskin parkas, a gar
! ment like a shirt, with a hole made in the upper part just large
j enough for the head to go through. They differ from any of
; the native people of the present day in that their hair and
beards were red, and the skinn of their lxxlies black. Who and
swhat these people were, and whence they came, is a question
which will probably never lie solved. A cattle and sheep
ranch has been started on Long island, which lies a few miles
to the eastward from St. Pauls, and also a fox ranch, with the
intention of breeding the valuable silver gray, the pelts of which
are worth all the way from $40.00 to f 100.00 in the market.
Thursday morning, June 7th, we bade good-bye to H. Pauls
and steamed away for Cook's inlet, which we entered while it
was yet daylight. We encountered", during the day, a Urge
number of w hales, principally finbacks, which are not of suf
ficient value for either oil or bone to le Bought. One of these
was being chased by a thrasher, the whale evidently making
frantic endeavors to elude his small but ersistent enemy. The
thrasher, which is a large sjK'cies of the shark family, would,
whenever the whale came up to blow, raise nearly his whole
length perjendicularly out of the water, joining himself, a it
vere, for an instant on his caudal (Ins, and then throw himself
bodily and with great force upon the monger's head, where
upon the whale would go down, lushing the water into foarn
ith his enormous tail. The fight was kept up till loth were
out of sight, though I must say it appeared to 1 all fik'ht on
the one side and a destcrate attempt to escaje on the other. 1
have since been told by old whalers that such fights are of fre
quent occurrence, the sword-fish assisting the thrasher and
making his attack from below, thus driving the whale la k
the Btirface whenever he attempts to go down, thereby prevent
ing Ids escape. It is claimed that when thus atta.ked the
hale, if not killed outright, is certain to be blinded and driven
Into shallow water, where he runs aground and is certain to
die before released by the rising tide. To the thrasher and
word-firth the natives of this north western coat owe a W
part of their subsistence. The tides in Cook's inlet are, per
haps, more rapid and violent than at any other joint on the
Pacific coast, frequently running at the rate of eight to ten m;l.-
in hour, with an average rise and fall of twenty Ave to twenty
sight feet. The flood rolls in one vast volume and with a thun
dering noise, carrying everything before it, increasing in i r-1
ind violence as the shores approach nearer to each A
a consequence, the tidal currents are very dangerous, rendered
none the less bo by the existence of numerous conically-shajed
rocks rising from the Mtom uncomfortably clone to the surface,
and which in themselves render the navigation of Its waters
more or less jerilous. The distance from the entrance to the
head of the Inlet is very nearly two hundred miles, but In the.
abaenco of surveys its navigation Uyond Kenal, the most
northerly joint on ita shores reached by the Tketi$, it alto
gether too dangerous to 1 lightly attempted by vesmds of drop
draft. Huring the evening we .anod in j'lain sight of Cherna
boura volcano, which I failed to see on our way up the Inlet.
This volcano a'cam on the government chart as Auguslin
island, and Is situated on the west side of the Inlet alout fifty
miles from the entrance. It Is alout twenty-five miles In cir
cumference at the base, and low on the sea side, whence. It ris
es in regular, though steej, ascent Into a lofty conical moun
tain, jircseriting nearly the same ajjearanc from every joint
of view, and clothed with erjetual snow and Ico down to the
water's edge. A few years ago this Isolated -eak, without
warning, broke out into violent eruption, with a thundering
sound and a rumbling and shaking of the earth which fright
ened the natives for hundreds of miles In every dirtction. Tor
a time it vomited forth a great shower of ashen, which fell iirt
and covered the ground in lie away to a depth of several lrn hen,
finally settling down to a steady emission of flame and smoke,
lasting for a eriod of a year or more. Now It emits a thin, va
jory smoke only, which could m w-n rising In considerable
volume from its jck as we jassi-d along, though at no time
did we approach nearer than thirty miles to It. That night I
remained up till 1 :00 o'clock, to see foi myself how much dark
ness there might he on a June night In the latitude of ility de
grees north. I found that I could to read ordinary print
quit readily at half jat twelve, and (hat at one o'clock there
was 'rfect daylight, so that there was no absolute darkneM,
only a littl d --r shade of twilight between twelve and onn
than that which j-revailel in the hours Immediately Mowing
sunset. The next morning on rising we found oirUe In
Mielikott straits, which lie between the Inlands of Kodiak arid
Afognak and the Alaska )-n!nu!a, arid for a hundred miles
we steamed along through mountain scenery linonieUaMy
grand and awe Inspiring. My feeble jn may not attempt a
word pi'1'ire of acenery su h as that which encloses this wide
strait; it failed to give an adequate d rij4lon of the M, Kilaa
Alps, and in this rase it will not at tempi to jortray that whh h
is ieyorid the skill of artist, and in depicting whlh etrn the
most fervent imagination may not charge iUrlf with riaggtra
tion. It is simply grand ari l beautiful Uyond the jr of
jen to dew ribe. It must m n to be aj-j'fe lated."
Tut t'sio pAciric'a Mouhmts The Union Parifli-r,r.
j'any ajjar to m J feparlng lit Imjf1ant tiiruilmt of ita
line In the west, a waa noted in the Jv-etnUr numir. Thu
far the Union iVlflc in Its own name baa ivA tv M far thU
aide of the U'klra, the only instate whrre it has jushed
fairly throogh thom maintains bring iu line It Og-b-n, la
Utah. TU Utah A Northern, from (g lm north w a 1 In Idaho
and Montana and the Orri Mort Une from (rngf, In Wy
oming, to Huntington, Oregon, are two ImjortaM r-sad whkh