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About The west shore. (Portland, Or.) 1875-1891 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 21, 1889)
WKST S1I0UK. ALASKAN EXPLORATIONS. JOHN Ml'lll, the explorer and geologist, nays that he has by m moans yot completed his explora- ; tionH in Alaska, ami (hat in regard to certain el.', pliant remains there, the bridging of Uchring straits nnd other matters, he hopes soon to add infor mation that will Ik1 of great value to science. Although the bridging of Uchring straits has lieen widely ri.li culeil. Muir is inclined to liclicve that such a feat will one day he accomplished. lie, says: " Senator Stan ford's girdle of steel around the earth hy way of ll.li ring straitH is a perfectly feasible scheme. Itchritig straits can he bridged. It is only sixty miles across the narrowest place, and there are three islands strung along it. This would divide the bridge up into four divisions. But. ln'sides this, the water is very shallow. In many places it is not over twenty feet deep. 1 un dertake to say that if a man were strong enough to take one of our California redwood trees in his hands, there is ample native authority to support it. Indeed, it is said that a native of the Yukon country claim to have seen one last year alive, and to have wn frightened nearly out of his froen wits hy the appall- ing sight. DESTRUCTION ISLAND LIGHT. ON TIIK coast of Washington, some forty miles south of l'ac Flattery and a short distance i from the mainland, Uniu which a new light house . 1 is U'ing established, n siren fog signal has already I Is'cn put in. The island was tl rut discovered by the ! Spanish explorer, lUlega y t'uadra, in the ship Nenoni, 1 in the summer of 177 Cuadra sent almat' crew to the mainland at that point to procure a supply of fresh water, ami they were attacked hy the Indians nnd killed The island wasuamed by him " Islade I Mores" ; (Island of Sorrows), not Im-aiise of this incident, h..w ! ever, hut for the more potent rcaon, to the devio.it he could put it down anywhere over the It H k miles of ! Catholic, that the day was the one devoted In the ltehring sen nnd yet have MO feet of it nlsive water. J Roman calendar to the "Mother of Sorrow." A few This shows how easy it would lie to bridge the straits, i years later an Knglish fur trader lost a boat' ercw In The only trouble would Ih from floating icelrrgs, but j precisely the same way, and he hestowed Uh.ii the that could be easily overcome by constructing swinging j island its present mime. It has Ucii a .langen.ii bridges. In this way the straits could le kept clear "point m the mtvigation of that region, ami tin year all the time und trains of cars could run right along. " There are bo many strange things in Alaska," add ed the discoverer of the Muir glacier, "that have not yet come to the knowledge of the public, that one who has seen them hesitates where to Wgin. Klephant re mains are found all over the great valley of the Yukon, A n ionttip nf fuel, ihev are found evcrvwliere thronim two Vessels, the 'art d'nrina and Ciuximfril ,iihii Were lost there, one on the Island and one on the mainland. The erection of a light tower nod the maintenance of a large fog signal will add mill h to the safety of veswl set king to enter the Straits of r'tica The Island I surrounded by rrf of rock at a distance of 'Jim fn-t from the shore, through which there I a passage on the out the great western Hlope of Alaska. Dana and Sir east side, into w hi. hvesU may sail. It.ntaln...n.e Charles l.ylo startled the world by announcing that ; Ueniynve acres ... . ..-... -. .... ., hairy, fro,en elephants were found wedged among the fvt.,1 fron n... by lb.' urn,.,ndug ledge of r.k. Sil,rian icebergs, but scarcely anyUy knows that It has long len ud a. a garden by the ndlans wl... throughout Alaska are the remains of countless tl,u- ' read, it in . an,- from .1, mainlan , I Ir India,,-. i t .i v i; . tl,...., .... .) llnd i the (Mils, or Uumall. have a reputation for li. r..liii sands of mastodons. Vu can dig them up amltiim ! " I. ,.u r.. L...I iiinriiien lint Nnrrchteil I.V the I,..,.. it... ..r,,.. m...rvw ...re. saw illinlre,. ... in res. ..h,k -, - - , lit ill wu hij rui llivv x x j iicui on them, possibly, on my last trip, and I am now anx iously trying to get up there to complete my investiga tions. So thick are the elephant remains, that the na tive Indians, on finding them buried partially in the ground, decided that they were some kind of great mole that burrows in the soil. This is the story given me. I collected a lot of remains. The collecting of elephant tusks every summer is a regular business in Silstia, just over Miring sea. We have just a- many of them on the Alaska side as they ever had in Sils-ru. Ages ngo great herds of elephants nunied over lb'-'1 fhores. Perhaps they existed down to a comparatively i-vent date, too, for the hairy bodies and well pre served Ixines wero evidences of that incidents als.ve related nor wre ks of the present year by tie" attending tl." Tut: . lection in Montana will I condm ted on thf "Australian system " as provided for by the istitu- tion upon whose merit the voter are to pn. All w.st.rn states and territories will t'h the practical working" of tl.-' system with much interest, inci ..i.' improvement ill tl"- meth,Hs.,fc..hdu. tingen tl..nU imperatively i..v...ary tregoi. r.-i-ially need ..no thing that will b-n lie- opportunity f.-r political I,,,.,, und -rruj.tionists to nullify tlm i holes- of th . ... ., .11 r it.,, i.iKPrv flvii il.it. M. It. .'11.11. it "'HI ""I In regard to this latter suppose l li. t M,,ir ht pi" men ,., live III the hands of the Uwi'l lunch-
