 Chapter 1 of Carpenter's World Travels Alaska Our Northern Wonderland. This is a LibriVox recording. Our LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Betty B. Carpenter's World Travels Alaska Our Northern Wonderland by Frank Carpenter. Chapter 1 Just a word before we start. Of all the countries I have visited, our polar wonderland is among the most interesting, lying as it does at the northwestern end of the continent, so close to Asia that one might fly from Alaska to Siberia within 15 minutes, and so near the North Pole that an airplane might make the trip between breakfast and dinner. It forms a part of our union with British America, tying us, as it were, to Europe and Asia and hooking us on to the topmost peak of the world. Alaska is truly a land of surprises. In some parts the winter are as mild as those of Virginia, and in others as severe as in Sakhalin or Kamchatka. It has summers as hot at midday as Bangkok and Rangoon, and so cool at night that one welcomes blankets. It has seasons when the sun shines at midnight and winter days so dark that the electric light can be turned off in the schools and the homes only from 11 to 1. It is a land of jungles that vie with the Himalayas in their dense vegetation and of scanty mosses springing from desert beds of perpetual ice. It has gorgeous wildflowers, mighty forests, vast glaciers, mountains capped with snow, and valleys out of which spout by the thousands the vents of volcanoes. It is beyond conception among the grandest of all nature's wonderlands. A most interesting feature was the virgin newness of all my surroundings. I traveled for days through the wilds, seeing hardly a cabin. I sailed on the rivers through long stretches where not a vestige of man could be seen, and I could easily imagine myself a Columbus or a Hernando de Soto discovering a world. When I crossbearing sea on the edge of the winter, I felt like an Arctic explorer, and in the Aleutian Islands, the perpetual mists chilled my soul with the fear that I had on the grand banks of Newfoundland when the Foghorn blew day and night. The talks of this book are the notes made during my travels. They were written on steamer and on train, on foot and on horseback, now in motorcars riding from one mining camp to another. Now on the top of Glacier-Clad mountains, and now in tunnels where men were getting out gold from under the earth. They represent chats with the hearty pioneers of our farthest north, men who of all our citizens are the most patriotic Americans, men who can see straight and shoot straight, the survivors of stampedes to many a far away camp, true men and strong men, the weaklings have died on the way. Indeed I met no one in my journeys who, to use an Alaskan expression, had a wishbone where his backbone should be. When I started north I had a stomach and lungs and liver and lights. All seemed to be ailing as I climbed the gangplank of the ship at Seattle. I lost them that night, and for four months and more as far as I knew they had no existence. I ate buckwheat cakes and sourdough and bare meat and fat pork in the heart of mid-summer. I breathed champagne in the air of the mountains. My liver worked like a 70 horsepower automobile, and as for my lights, whatever and wherever they are they were dormant. Our Northland is undergoing a change. The government is adopting a more liberal policy as to the territory. The forest and oil fields are being exploited. The fisheries are protected and the catch will increase. Fox farming is rapidly becoming a substantial industry with over 100 farms, the majority of which are on islands along the coast. The railway from sewer to fare banks has opened vast areas of arable land to the homesteader, and the best of hard wheat is now grown and milled in the Tanana Valley. I rode through grasslands where the spears on the ends of the stalks tickled the ears of my horse, ate strawberries on the Arctic Circle, and at Skagway saw dahlias as big as a dinner plate. In the gardens along the Yukon and Tanana, I dug potatoes of 27 varieties, cut off cabbages as big as the head of a bull, and pulled up turnips that would surprise the best soil of the temperate zone. I visited several successful dairies near fare banks, and on Kodiak Island found a government experiment station where they are raising fine cattle and sheep. Near the mouth of the Yukon, I saw hundreds of reindeer, and at Noam visited packing plants where they were being killed and frozen for export to the markets of our larger cities. At the same time, new mineral areas are being prospected. Iron of good grade is known to exist, and the coal deposits cover a region almost as big as the minefields of Pennsylvania. The nickel of Chukukoff Island is supposed to surpass that of Canada or New Caledonia, and high grade tin is being mined on the Seward Peninsula, near Bearing Strait. The government geologists and others are finding new wells of petroleum. The coal beds opened up by the railroads promise a new supply of fuel for the fleets of the eastern Pacific. The copper output is now worth tens of millions of dollars a year, and rich silver mines are being worked just over the international boundary near the Portland Canal. There are still fortunes in gold underlying the beds of prehistoric ice, and more quartz gold is being discovered. Indeed, the future of Alaska is bright. I'm in Ketchikan, the first port at which our steamers call in entering Alaska. It is at the southern end of the Panhandle, the strip of islands and mainland at the lower end of our territory that seems to be cut out of British Columbia. The Panhandle begins just above Skagway, near the pass over the mountains to the Klondike and Dawson, and extends south for more than 300 miles. It consists of many large islands and a strip of mainland, about 30 miles wide, which runs from the Pacific Ocean to the crest of the Coast Mountain Range, the whole making a territory as big as South Carolina. This district is known as Southeastern Alaska. It has its own climate, its own vegetation, and its own peculiar products and resources. It is covered with green from one year's end to the other and differs from the great Alaskan interior as much as Maine differs from Florida. I shall be traveling within it for some weeks to come. The town of Ketchikan lies not far from the international boundary. It is only 40 miles north of the canal and within 6 hours sail of Prince Rupert, the terminus of the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway, and the port which the Canadians are developing as the gateway to the shortest route to Japan and the Orient. Ketchikan is as far north of Seattle as the distance between New York and Toledo. After leaving Seattle, I sailed for more than 500 miles through Canadian waters before I came to the edge of Alaska, and from there made my way in and out among the islands to Revella Gigado on the shores of which lies Ketchikan. The trip took me over two days. I despair of giving you any idea of the beauties of this voyage. They are so many and so varied. The route from Seattle to Skagway is known as the Inside Passage. It is a winding in and out among half-submerged mountains. It is floating through great lakes studded with islands. It is traveling along and within fjords like those of West Norway. Now you have the wonders of the Swiss lakes, now those of the inland sea of Japan, and now scenery like that on the coasts of New Zealand. There are all sorts of combinations of sea and sky, of evergreen slopes and snow-capped mountains. There are ever-shifting color effects and marvelously beautiful sunsets. These are the characteristics of southeastern Alaska. The whole district between the Portland and Lynn canals is composed of islands covered with evergreen trees, many of which are four or five feet thick. A number of the islands have snow-capped mountains whose green walls rise almost straight up from the water. Most of the mainland is also one mighty wall of green. The islands, which are all of shapes and sizes, float upon sapphire seas. When the tide is low and the tide here rises and falls to the height of a two-story house, these islands seem like floating gardens. Then vegetation does not begin until fifteen or twenty feet above the water, and there are only precipices of black rock below. The islands are bedded upon the rocks, and as the water falls, the living earth seems to be lifted up. The forests sit aloft on pedestals of stone and mountains of green and white tower above their rocky bases. Here, bold cliffs, brown and gray walls several hundred feet high rise sheer from the blue waves. They are the bare rocks thrust out from the growth of pines on the hillsides. As you sail on to the northward, the channels vary. Now they widen into great lakes. Now they are rivers as narrow as the Hudson or the Rhine. Sometimes the way lies through gorges between the islands and the mainland. In places, the waters are a thousand feet deep. In others, there are great rocks as steep as high and as sharp as the Washington Monument, which come within twenty or thirty feet of the surface. These are the terrible pinnacle rocks that rip open the hulls of the steamers. They are constantly being searched for and marked with buoys by the wire drag of our coast and geodetic survey. Indeed, the seas about Alaska are so dangerous that they are sometimes called the graveyard of the Pacific. The commerce of the territory is rapidly increasing in importance. Yet fifty years after our purchase, the United States Coast Survey admitted that ninety-two percent of its waters were unsurveyed and that it would take two vessels fifty-nine years to complete a first survey of the exposed areas, in addition to the wire drag and inshore parties necessary in the sheltered portions. The government ships are keeping everlastingly added, however, and I have been out with one of the wire drag boats and have seen how the needle-tipped peaks of the panhandle coast are detected. A wire cable with buoys attached is slung between two ships and set at a fixed depth. As the vessel sail along, the buoys are pulled under like a fishline bob when the wire strikes a hidden rock, which is then marked by a float and its position recorded. Over a thousand pinnacle rocks, terrible menaces to navigation and undiscovered by the ordinary survey methods have been found by the use of the wire drag. But let us come back to Ketchikan. The town is situated on the southern shore of Ravilla Jigedo Island in a region where the salmon come in great hordes every summer and near banks from which are taken most of the halibut scent from Alaska to the United States and to Canada. Ravilla Jigedo is about one-third as large as Puerto Rico. It is fifty miles long and twenty miles wide and is made up of mountains which for much of the time have their heads in the clouds. Ketchikan lies right on the water against a background of towering green mountains crested with snow. The harbor is the shape of a half moon protected by islands. It has no beach to speak of and the business district rests upon piles. The streets are plank roadways built upon posts and much of the freight is carried about on trucks and carts pushed by men. Horses are unpopular for their shoes roughen the planks and they shake the town as they trot through the streets so they are being replaced by automobiles and motor delivery trucks. The residential section of the city clings to the sides of the cliffs higher up. It is so steep that one has to climb stairways to reach some of the streets while others have winding roadways of boards upon which slats have been nailed to keep one from slipping. The Ketchikaners make one think of tree dwellers who climb ladders to get to their homes. The best houses which are high on the cliffs far above the harbor seem to grow out of the rocks. Nevertheless nearly every home has its little lawn, wish shrubs and flowers and a tiny garden patch although the soil has to be sprinkled with gold dust to make them. In this connection the captain on my steamer coming up told me a story of a Ketchikan man who sailed with him last month. This man was sitting at the captain's right hand at dinner. During one meal he was in a brown study. Horse after course passed and he ate but little. At last he burst out in an agonized soliloquy. I knew I'd forget it, I knew I'd forget it, I knew I'd forget it. What said the captain? Have you forgotten something your wife told you to bring back from outside? Yes I have was the reply and I knew I'd forget it. She made me promise to bring seven sacks of good soil to lay on the rocks and make her a garden. And now I forgot it. Some of the Ketchikaners raise vegetables and berries. In the garden of H.C. Strong I saw raspberry bushes as high as my shoulder which for more than two months during the summer give him all of that fruit he can eat. The berries which are large and of a fine flavor never become mushy when ripe. Ketchikan also raises currants, salmon berries and many beautiful flowers. There is so much moisture that the plants will grow on the rocks with very little soil. It has been raining steadily ever since I arrived and today during a downpour I ask one of the citizens does it never stop raining in Ketchikan? He replied with a laugh. I hardly know. I have lived here only 15 years. The city really has rained for more than two-thirds of the year and an annual precipitation of over 13 feet. The leaves of the trees drip almost as steadily as those of the famous forest sprinkled by the mist of the Zambezi Falls in Central Africa. Indeed the southern coast of Alaska is one of the rainiest parts of the world. You know the capital is much like Ketchikan while on some of the Aleutian islands a day of sunshine is a rarity but the people go about regardless of the wet. They wear oil skin hats and rubber coats or slickers and if they tramp up the mountains they put on rubber boots reaching to the waist. Some of the ladies even have slicker suits consisting of skirts and jackets. No one thinks of staying away from a party or tea on account of the weather and women go visiting clad in oil skins covering dresses fit for a party in New York or Washington. Some people here tell me however that Ketchikan has many bright days and that its climate is unsurpassed by any other part of our country. The inhabitants are healthy. The children have bright eyes and rosy cheeks. They play about everywhere notwithstanding the rain. In the winter they coast down the board roads which in places run for more than a mile up and down the hills. The town has but little snow at any time of the year but then the frosts are so heavy that there is splendid sledding until 9 or 10 o'clock in the morning. If there is not enough frost the roads can be sprinkled at night and will be covered with ice in the morning. Many people of the United States think of all Alaska's winter as bitterly cold. Their idea of the country is expressed in Bret Hart's Arctic Fission where the short-legged Eskimo waddles in the ice and snow and the playful polar bear nips the hunter unaware. Ketchikan has neither Eskimos nor polar bears and there is little ice and snow. The thermometer seldom falls to zero and the climate is as mild as that of Atlanta or Richmond. The stores here are excellent. Most of them are on the water front built upon piles that rest on the rocks. The shops have plate glass windows and the goods are well displayed. In one window I saw a full line of electrical apparatus including electric irons, toasters and heaters. Another shows a large supply of thermos bottles and baby carriages. The butcher shops have quarters of red beef just in from Seattle and the fruit stores sell raspberries and strawberries grown in Alaska, oranges and figs from California and apples from Oregon and British Columbia. The supply of eatables is quite as good as that of the provision stores in the states and the prices are not much higher. Indeed I believe one can live almost as cheaply in Ketchikan as in Cleveland, Kansas City or Kalamazoo. I have a room and bath at the Rivilla Hotel, one of the two leading taverns. The Rivilla is a three-story frame building within a stone's throw of the sea. The hotel office is a loafing place and pool room as well and the guests and outsiders are knocking the billiard balls over the tables at all hours of the night. As the hotel serves no meals I have to go out to the restaurants. I am eating at the poodle dog grill where I sit on a stool at the lunch counter and eat my ham and eggs or other meat from a great oval platter. The poodle dog advertises these hot platters as its specialty and serves food in no other way. The town has an excellent and abundant water supply from a lake high up in the mountains. Anyone who wants a drink of pure mountain water has only to fit his mouth over the little porcelain bowls of the sanitary drinking fountains at every street corner and take in all he will. In addition to the lake, Ketchikan has a rushing stream flowing in cascades and rapids right through it. In the salmon season this stream is one pink and silver mass of fish. The fish come by the thousands and swim up the stream to spawn, toiling their way through the rapids and jumping the falls. At that season anyone may have fish for the taking and quantities are caught for the canneries. This stream furnishes the city its electric power and runs the street lights and telephones. It gives electric heat to some of the houses. During my stay I have had dinner with one of the leading citizens whose home is a beautiful house of ten rooms lighted and heated by electricity. The cooking is done on an electric stove and hot water is supplied in the same way. Yet he tells me that his fuel and light bills, even in midwinter, are not more than $18 a month. On Annette Island just south of Ketchikan is Metlakatla, the seat of one of the most remarkable experiments in the civilization of the Red Man. This is the town of the Good Indians established by Father William Duncan, whose wonderful work with these natives justified his title of The Apostle of Alaska. Father Duncan began life as a commercial traveler in England and at 21 was well on his way toward a salary of $5,000 a year. He decided, however, to give up his work and become a missionary. He went to college expecting to be sent out to India, but instead he was ordered to the western coast of British Columbia to work with a tribe of Indians known as the Simpians. These Simpian Indians were then among the most barbarous of any on the North American continent. They believed in witch doctors and practiced cannibalism. They were hunters and fishers and clothed themselves in the skins of bears and wolves. In their weird dances they put the skulls of bears on their heads. Their medicine men wore hideous masks and tried to frighten off disease with horrible noises. If the demon of disease did not leave, the witch doctors would hack away the sore places with their knives or suck or burn away the ailing flesh. Anyone they pointed out as possessed of evil spirits or as a witch was killed by his tribe. The Simpians had also curious ideas regarding the treatment of their women. Young girls approaching womanhood were confined far away in isolated cabins and when brought back were supposed to have dropped down from the moon and to be ready for marriage. On such occasions there were great feasts at which the use of the tribe were initiated into dog-eating cannibalism and devil-dancing. The Indians believed in spirits and the transmigration of souls. When Father Duncan arrived in Victoria on his way to this work he was told by the agent of the Hudson's Bay Company that if he went he would be on doubt be killed. When Duncan still insisted he said, well my good man if you are to be killed and eaten I suppose you are the one most interested and we shall have to let you do as you wish. With his permission Father Duncan was allowed to go to Fort Simpson in British Columbia not far from Prince Rupert. On his way up the beach to speak to the officer in charge at the Fort Stockade he came to a place where the remains of a number of human beings were scattered about and was told that the bodies he saw had been hacked to pieces and thrown on the sand in a fight between two parties of savages a few days before. At that time many of the tribes along the coast of British Columbia were cannibals and Father Duncan actually saw a band of Indians on the beach eating a boy who had died of tuberculosis and he had every reason to believe that a woman he saw killed was disposed of in the same fashion. Here is his own account of the latter incident. I had heard of the cannibalism and one day an officer of the Fort ran into my house and told me that the Indians were about to kill one of their women. He warned me to keep indoors and said that I would surely be killed if I attempted to interfere. A moment later another man rushed in and said that the woman had already been killed. We went out to the beach where there was a crowd of Indians. They were divided into two bands each led by a stark naked brave. All were howling horribly. They had killed a woman in Cutter and Two and each of the nude Indian leaders was carrying half of the woman's body by his teeth. As we came up the band separated each gathering around its leader. They sat down on the sand so crowded together that I could not see. When they got up not a vestige of the woman was to be seen. What became of the flesh I do not know but I believe it was devoured. I doubt however whether it agreed with them for the officers of the Hudson's Bay Company Fort nearby told me that it was the custom of the Indians after every such cannibal feast to come into the post the day following and by large quantities of epsom salts. In those early days there were several attempts to kill Father Duncan. On one occasion a tribal chief demanded that the mission school be closed because his beautiful daughter was just about to drop down from the moon to be married. The chief said that she had gone away and would come back in great state. She would drop from the moon into the sea and would rise out of the water with a bare skin over her shoulders and thus appear to the people. At this time there would be many ceremonies that would prevent the school being kept open. Father Duncan refused to close the school and the chief persisted in his demands. At last on the day before the feast he sent two men with long knives to kill the missionary whose life was saved by a friendly Indian who had taught him the native language. The school was kept going. The missionary kept steadily at his work until he had converted eight or nine of these tribes to the Christian religion and made them about the most law-abiding and civilized people of the Indian race. To belong to Father Duncan's community the Indians did not have to promise to become Christian but they did have to agree that they would drink no liquor, that there should be none of the performances of the medicine men over the sick and that they would do no work on Sunday. They had their own council and govern themselves. They had their own boats and they established a canning factory and put up salmon for shipment. They learned to make ropes and brushes to weave and to spin. Father Duncan went to England and brought back musical instruments and they established a brass band. They had a schoolhouse and a church with an organ which some of them were able to play. They had their market house, their shops, their carpenters, tinners, coopers and other mechanics. What it has taken ages to accomplish with other uncivilized peoples, these Indians under Father Duncan achieved in less than 30 years. Then the Church of England began to meddle with Duncan's mission, sending a bishop to rule over him and the Indians. Finding that his work was being undone, Father Duncan asked the United States to allow his Indians to settle on our territory. That was in 1887. The matter was much agitated in the United States. Father Duncan was supported by Henry Ward Beecher, Phillips Brooks and others In their efforts a territory was allotted to him and his Indians on the northwestern side of Annette Island. They came in August and the first thing they did was to erect a flagpole and hoist the stars and stripes. They had speeches by the United States Commissioner of Education and by Father Duncan and later on divine service consisting of song and praise in the Simpsons language. The next day a portable sawmill was unloaded and the people began at once to clear the forests and erect buildings for their new homes. They built a cannery and year by year added to their structures until they had a town hall, a church, a schoolhouse, a store, a public library and the other buildings necessary to a civilized community. The settlement was called the new Metla Kotla and since then the Indians have been known as the Metla Kotlins. In 1891 Annette Island was set aside by Congress as a reservation for them and it was provided that it should be used by them in common under such rules and regulations as might be prescribed by the Secretary of the Interior. Annette Island is one of the most beautiful parts of southeastern Alaska. It is 15 miles long and 10 miles wide and is formed by a long wooded mountain on the backbone of which are a number of beautiful lakes. About the harbor of Metla Kotla the land slopes gently down to the sea. Here the trees have been cut away and a few hundred acres have been cleared and divided up into town lots. On the left of the harbor a silvery cascade tumbles down the side of the mountain. It comes from Lake Chester, a short distance inland and 850 feet above the sea. The most conspicuous building in Father Duncan's settlement is a great wide frame structure with two towers. This is the Westminster Abbey of Metla Kotla. It is Father Duncan's church and was built by the Indians at a cost of $12,000. It is the largest church in Alaska and seats 500 people. On the left of the church is the public school erected by the United States and still farther away are Father Duncan's 12 room guest house, his office, his school, and the great store he built to supply the needs of the people. Right at the dock is a salmon cannery with a capacity of about a million cans a year, which has at times been a very profitable undertaking, giving work to all the people and bringing in a good revenue to the colony. Connected with it is a box factory which turns out the 20,000 cases or boxes used for shipping the fish. At times as many as 10,000 salmon have been handled in a day. One of the striking buildings of the new Metla Kotla is the library and jail. This is painted in the colors of the American flag. The first story is bright red. It is the jail. The second story is snow white. It is the library. The cupola on the top is blue. Close to the beach and running back from it toward the public buildings are the homes of the people. There are several hundred of them all built by the Indians with money earned in the community enterprises established by Father Duncan. The houses are cottages of one in two stories. They have glass windows, porches and comfortable surroundings. Each has a lot about 80 feet front and 90 feet deep and every family has its garden. The community has its own preachers and public speakers. Some of the sermons in the Simpsian language are full of eloquence and beauty. Here, for instance, is one urging the people to believe that the Savior will take care of them. Brethren and sisters, you know the eagle and its ways. The eagle flies high. The eagle rests high. It always rests on the highest branch of the highest tree. We should be like the eagle. We should rest on the highest branch of the highest tree. That branch is Jesus Christ. When we rest on Him, all our enemies will be below and far beneath us. Another preacher who had formerly been vicious and high-tempered, speaking of himself, said, I will tell you what I feel myself to be. I am like a bundle of weeds floating down the stream. I was going down with all my sin like the weeds covered with earth and filth. But I came to the rapids when low there was a pole stuck fast and firm in the rock. And I clutched at the pole and there I am now. The stream is passing by and washing away my filth. Christ to me is the pole I hold to Him and am safe. I might cite other quotations to show the civilization, intelligence, and piety of the metlocotlands. They are far above the average of their race and they are now aspiring to a higher education, to full United States citizenship and to ownership of land in severality. Under the regulations fixed by the Secretary of the Interior, the Indians govern their colony through a council of 12 elected annually and their church is directed by 12 elders, also chosen by vote of the people. From reading the following translation of the Lord's Prayer into Simpsons, one gets some idea of what it means to work with these Indians in their own language. The following paragraph, which is a translation of the Lord's Prayer into the native dialect, will not be read. End of Chapter 3 Chapter 4 of Carpenter's World Travels. Alaska, Our Northern Wonderland, by Frank Carpenter. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Recording by Betty B. Chapter 4. Alaska's Golden Fisheries. During the last two weeks, I have visited several fishing centers of southeastern Alaska and have gone through many of the canneries where they are putting up salmon for shipment to all parts of the world. There are more than 75 such canneries in southeastern Alaska alone and nearly twice that number in the whole territory. I've also gone through the cold storage plants at Ketchikan and elsewhere where they are freezing salmon for export and have seen the various processes of mild curing and smoking and pickling the fish for the market. But few people appreciate what Uncle Sam is now getting out of the waters of this territory. The fishing industry is the most important business in Alaska. So far, the seas have proved almost as valuable as the land. Including the operations of the seal fisheries, we have realized more than half a billion dollars from them. We are now getting almost six times as much annually from Alaskan fish as the sum we paid for the whole territory when we bought it from the Russians. And we have received more than 70 times that amount since the purchase was made. If the industry is properly protected and fostered, it should produce at that rate for all time to come. Indeed, the waters of Alaska have to be reckoned among the big sources of our food supply. They produce hundreds of millions of pounds of food every year and the canned salmon alone is enough to give 10 meals to every family in the United States and still leave some for export. The fresh salmon sold in a year runs upward of 3 million pounds while the salmon frozen, mild cured and pickled comes to 15 million pounds. The annual halibut export amounts to about 7 million pounds and the codfish to 10 million. In addition to this, there are many other kinds of fish in these waters that will eventually be caught and shipped so that in some respects, the industry is at its beginning. In the water divisions which the United States Bureau of Fisheries has made of the territory, southeastern Alaska is known as Fishing District No. 1. It is by far the most important of the water regions of our territory having something like 10,000 men engaged in fishing. This district has great halibut banks off its many islands and is the seat of the fresh fish industry of Alaska. The fishing investments there amount to something like 30 million dollars, most of which is in salmon. The second fishing district is known as that of Central Alaska. This begins at Yakutat Bay and includes the Great Gulf of Alaska and all of the waters south of the mainland and along the Aleutian Islands which run almost to Asia. The ocean bed of a great part of this enormous district is paved with fish. The bulk of the catch is salmon, but there is also an annual export of cod amounting to millions of pounds from the extensive cod banks south of the Alaska Peninsula and the Aleutian Islands. These banks compare with those of Newfoundland. Some of them are 120 miles long and of great width. They are so situated that the Arctic and the Japanese currents bring them a great deal of fish food and the cod come there by the millions to eat. The third district, western Alaska, includes banks swarming with cod. It embraces Bristol Bay where the salmon run into the streams by the tens of millions a year. The deltas of the Cuscoquim and the Yukon Rivers as well as the coast of Norton Sound and all the waters along Seward Peninsula to Cape Prince of Wales at Bearing Strait. We have also an island in the middle of the Strait about which some fishing is done. As far as its fisheries are concerned, western Alaska is next in importance to southeastern Alaska. There is a fairly well authenticated story of how one of the salmon kings started his fortune in the fish industry on the basis of the then despised light-colored salmon. This man had put up his cannery at a location past which the fish came in great numbers on their way in to spawn. He was riding a selection of a site and the salmon were caught in vast quantities. They were all, however, of the light pink variety and the fishermen was in despair. At that time no light-colored salmon had been shipped and the demand everywhere was for salmon of an almost red hue. The man canned his catch and sold it by means of a label which implied that it was the only sanitary fish on the market. The label read, this salmon is warranted not to turn red in the can. Most of the catch went to the southern states and the drummers selling it did their business so well that in some of the towns in that part of the United States to this day you can hardly sell a red salmon. The people think it is spoiled and has therefore turned red in the can. In interior Alaska both whites and natives are indirectly dependent on dried salmon for their very existence during the winter. One of the most important phases of the salmon industry is the fact that dried salmon is the best food for the husky or Alaskan team dog. Of the 70 million dollars invested in the fishing industry of Alaska 62 millions are devoted to catching, canning, and shipping of salmon. There are four species of this fish all of which are delicious. The largest and most valuable is the king salmon which has an average weight of 22 pounds and sometimes weighs as much as 100 pounds. This is found in southeastern Alaska in all months of the year and in May and June it runs up many of the rivers to spawn. The next in size is the sockeye or red salmon which is about a yard long and has an average weight of 5 pounds. It is found all over Alaska and runs chiefly from June until the middle of August. The silver or coho salmon is not so valuable on account of the paleness of its flesh. It weighs on an average about 6 pounds and runs later than the sockeye. The humpback is the smallest of our salmon. It is caught by the millions in southeastern Alaska and many of the canneries depend upon it. It weighs up to 11 pounds. In addition to these four species, Alaska has the dog salmon which is good for freezing, salting and smoking but poor for canning and is shipped largely to Japan. Catching the salmon and bringing them to the canneries is a great industry by itself. There are certain weeks or months of the year during which these fish come from the ocean into the fresh waters of the rivers to spawn. The spawning grounds are often a thousand miles or more inland. They have seen the fish fighting their way up the Yukon 2,000 miles from its mouth at Bering Sea and they may be found in great numbers climbing over the rocks of the streams that flow down the mountains of the coast into the Pacific. When they are four or five years old, the instinct to spawn sends the salmon up into the inland creeks and rivers. There seems to be something in the contact with the fresh water coming down into the ocean that causes the fish to run toward it. Usually they pair off. When they have gone far enough from saltwater, the male, with his tail and snout, digs a broad shallow nest in the gravelly streambed in which the female deposits her eggs. After they have been fertilized by the milk of the male, the pair cover them up with sand and gravel then float down the stream tail first, never swimming or making any effort to get back to sea. In a few days, both the male and female die. Four or five months later, the young hatch and soon, guided by some instinct, make their way down to the ocean where they stay until they are ready to rush back to fresh water, spawn and die like their parents before them. In the spawning season, the salmon come upstream in such hordes that they can be caught in traps both stationary and floating. In nets, fastened to posts and stakes in the rivers and in sands which are brought from the beaches and the boats. They are caught also by fish wheels moved by the currents of the river in such a way that the nets of wire or cord attached to the wheels scoop up the fish as they swim against the current and fairly shovel them down into the boats. Fish wheels of this kind are to be seen here and there along the coast and there are hundreds of them owned by the Indians along the Cuscoquim and Yukon rivers. The business of the Alaskan canneries is enormous. The one I went through in Ketchikan covers several acres. It will put up seven and one half million cans of salmon this year besides freezing hundreds of thousands of pounds to be sent to the east. When the fish are brought in by the boatloads and dumped out by the thousand, they are still alive and flopping and they are hardly dead as they start into the iron chink a machine which cleans each fish cutting off its head, tail and fins and taking out its insides within the time of a watch tick. This work used to be done by hand and Chinese hands at that. When the machine was invented to take the place of the Chinaman it was nicknamed the iron chink and so it is known to this day. The inventor was a cook of Seattle named Smith who made a fortune out of his invention. His machine will clean 30,000 fish in 10 hours or as much as was formerly done by 50 of the most expert Chinese. Nevertheless, the whole thing is not much bigger around than a flower barrel and not more than 8 feet in height. It consists of a number of knives so arranged that as the fish flies in one knife cuts off the head time another chops off the tail. As the fish moves on a third knife rips up the belly and other knives take off the fins. At the end the fish has been split, the backbone taken out the blood removed and the salmon is ready for the can. Before being put into the can however it is carefully inspected by men who watch the fish as they make their way over endless belts to the chopper. The chopper automatically cuts the fish right size for the can in such a way that each can gets its own share of the several parts of a fish. There must be some from the back and some from the belly in order to supply the streak of lean and the streak of fat which as in bacon are necessary to make the can of salmon just right. The machine puts into each can just 16 ounces as the cans move onward they pass through an automatic weighing machine which drops out any that are under weight. After this the cover of the can is fitted on by machinery in such a way as to allow the steam to escape and the tins travel on in a furnace or exhaust box where the temperature is 212 degrees. Next another machine makes the tops tight without acid or solder and the cans are moved on into great retorts where they are cooked for an hour and a half in a heat of 254 degrees. When they come out they are ready to be labeled and packed into boxes for shipment to all parts of the world. The halibut is one of the most interesting fish that swims the seas. It is the largest of the flat fish. I have seen many which if stood upon their tails would reach high above my head and some which I venture are over 3 feet in width. The average halibut weighs about 100 pounds but some have been caught weighing as much as 300. Halibut fishing has nothing gamey or sporting about it. Long lines are dropped into the sea until the baited hook rests on the bed of the ocean. Sometimes the lines are so long that when loaded with fish it takes the steam engine on the fishing vessel the better part of a day to wind them up. They are divided into sections each section having a float or buoy that rides on the surface and is marked by a flag in the daytime and by a light at night. Some halibut fishing is now carried on direct from the ship. A few years ago it was all done in dories or small boats which were taken out in large vessels. The men would go out in the dories to set the lines and later bring the halibut back to the vessel. The fishing parties usually stay out from 10 days to 3 weeks. They carry ice with them and the moment the fish are taken from the hook they are cleaned and packed in the ice. When they reach the cold storage plant they are washed and shipped in cold storage cars direct to the markets. If they are not to be shipped immediately halibut are put into freezers where they remain for 24 hours at a temperature of 10 to 20 degrees above zero. Next each one is dipped four or five times in fresh water until it becomes entirely encased in a thin sheet of clear ice. It can then be held in cold storage at a temperature of 24 degrees below freezing. Finally the fish get another coating of ice are wrapped separately in vegetable parchment paper packed in paper lined boxes of 75 pounds capacity and sent eastward in the cold storage trains. I have gone through some of the big freezing establishments both in Prince Rupert and in Ketchikan. Each town has its cold storage plants where halibut and salmon are frozen. The largest one I visited has a capacity of 14 million pounds of fish. Its buildings are right on the harbor and the fish are frozen stiff as soon as they come from the wharves. I went into the freezing chambers the walls and pipes of which were covered with frost. The temperature is far below zero. The smell of the ammonia used to produce refrigeration almost overcame me as I walked between the great masses of fish laid one upon another like so many sticks of cordwood. I took up one of the smaller fish and let it drop on the floor. It was as hard as stone and the noise of its fall was like the crack of a pistol. I examined the fish but there was no bruise or dent in the flesh. I stood it on end resting the tail on the floor and it did not bend in the least. A great deal of halibut is salted and put in hog's heads for shipment. Each hog's head holds about two pounds and when full is worth around a hundred dollars. The halibut intended for salting is dressed before it is packed. It is hung by the gills to a hook then sliced in two. The back and the front forming great slabs of snow white meat. The backbone is cut out. The front or belly has no bones. After cleaning the slabs are sprinkled with salt and put into the hog's heads in layers with a layer of salt between the fish. Some halibut is smoked in which form it may be bought in almost any grocery store. Herring the halibut's favorite food are found in nearly all the waters of Alaska. They move about in great schools some of which cover several square miles. Twice a year when they swim to the shores to spawn they come in such large schools that they can be scooped up to a board so that they stick out several inches. The boards are then dragged through the schools and the fish catch between the nails and are pulled by the board full into the boats. In one year more than a million pounds of herring were caught at Prince Rupert alone and frozen by the cold storage plants to be sold for bait. A large proportion of the herring catch of Alaska is used for manufacture of fertilizer and oil but at that statistics show the output of more than 8 million pounds annually cured for food. There are also large cod fisheries in Alaska and the cod are said to be equal to those caught on the banks of Newfoundland. Much of the cod fishing is about the Aleutian Islands and there are many vessels and stations devoted to the industry. The amount of cod caught annually runs to more than 12 million pounds. In addition to the ordinary cod there are black cod which of about the same size as the ordinary cod but darker in color. The flesh which is much richer in oil may be prepared in such a way that it is delicious. It has been eaten for many years in Alaska and has laterally been shipped to Seattle where the restaurants make a special feature of barbecued black cod. This consists of the backs of the fish which are kippered or smoked after being salted served with drawn butter. There is a prospect that an extensive industry will sometime arise in the shellfish of Alaska. There are oysters on the southern coast as large as saucers and there are many places among the Alaskan Islands where you can catch crabs as big as dinner plates. There are clams large and small delicious little butter clams and others good to eat the size of a man's hand. I am told however that one has to be very careful as to the source of his clams supply. All of these bivalves feed in the water near the copper deposits and the copper poisons their meat. The captain of one of our coast survey steamers in speaking of this recently told me how his life was saved by a pussy cat said he, it was a narrow escape. I had bought a fine mess of clams and was just about to eat some of them raw when I decided I had better test their ability by giving one of them to my cat. The pussy ate it and the moment later she rolled over and went into convulsions. She kept on kicking until every one of her nine lives had departed. End of Chapter 4 Chapter 5 of Carpenter's World Travels Alaska Our Northern Wonderland by Frank Carpenter The Sleebervox recording is in the public domain. Recording by Betty B Chapter 5 The Story of Seward's Icebox Come with me for a walk through the old town of Sitka. It was founded in 1799 at about the time that George Washington was dying at Mount Vernon and was a thriving manufacturing center, building ships and making bells, plows, pigs and spades when the Indians were still hunting deer on the side of Chicago. For more than 100 years it was the capital and commercial center of Alaska. Situated here in the panhandle, 150 miles northwest of Ketchikan and about as far north of Seattle as Minneapolis is north of New Orleans, it was selected by the Russians as the seat of their government and as the chief home of the officials and traders sent out by the czar to what was then Russian America. Sitka was the capital of Alaska when we bought the territory and it was here that the country was formally transferred to the United States. After that it remained the capital for almost 40 years until the seat of government was transferred to Juno in 1912. Looking at Sitka as it is today, one does not wonder that the Russians chose it as their chief place of residence. The town has a climate as mild as that of Baltimore or Richmond and its surroundings are so beautiful that it must sometime be a summer resort in place of permanent residence for retired capitalists. It is situated on Baranoff Island within a short distance of the open Pacific. It lies on a little bay at the mouth of a fast flowing river in the arena of an amphitheater of snow clad mountains. The waters in front of it have scores of small wooded islands while all about the hills rise to the clouds. One of the mountains is known as the Holy Cross from a figure of the cross in perpetual snow which gleams out near its summit. This is Mount Verstovia which has a mantle of white throughout the winter but in the summer the snow disappears with the exception of this gigantic cross painted by the hand of God upon a background of green. Another mountain is Edgecomb on the island of Khrusov over the way. Mount Edgecomb is an extinct volcano as regular and is beautiful in its outlines as Fujiyama in Japan. It was one of the first of the landmarks discovered by Captain Cook when he sailed through these waters in 1776. On the hill at one side of the town was the site of the Baranov Castle where the Russian Governor lived and there today is the headquarters of the agricultural experiment station. To the left of the cliffs at the entrance of the harbor are the wharves with the main business street named after President Lincoln and further down the cove is a long row of two and three story houses with many flag staffs rising above them. That is the Indian settlement. The town has altogether something like 1000 Indians and we shall see Indians everywhere as we move through the streets. It has also about 500 whites. In Sitka modern residences of Americans and law buildings more than 100 years old put up in the face of the Russians stand side by side. There is one great ward house of logs so carefully fitted together that you could not put a knife blade between them. The logs are each two or three feet in diameter. That building which was a warehouse when we took over the territory frequently had a million dollars worth of fur stored in it. At the time of the sale to the United States it contained 30,000 seal skins which then sold less than $3 a piece. A little farther up the street is a log building covered with the moss of many decades and still farther away near the Russian cemetery is a Russian blockhouse bearing the scars of the wars with the Indians. The Sitka of today has a number of fine churches and a large missionary school. There is an Episcopal church built of stone with the residents of the Bishop of Alaska behind it and there are the half dozen large buildings of the Sheldon Jackson school belonging to the Presbyterians. These buildings include industrial departments and dormitories for both Indian boys and girls. The children are clean and well dressed and the school has done a great work with its practical educational methods. At Sitka is also the old pioneers home where aged and dependent men and women who have spent their years assisting in the development of Alaska all cared for by the territorial government. The most prominent church building in the town is the Russian Cathedral. It stands at the end of the main street coming up from the wharves on the side of a church that was built here more than a century ago when Baranov was governor. The present building dates far back in the Russian occupation but it was in use until the Bolshevik regime in Russia suspended the activities of the Russian church in Alaska. The Russians did a great deal of mission work here. They had mission stations on many of the Aleutian Islands and others scattered over the territory even to the mouth of the Yukon. The Russian Cathedral at Sitka is a museum of interesting pictures and jewels. Many of its paintings were brought around Cape Horn or across Siberia and some of them are by famous artists. One is an icon bearing the face of an icon. It represents a Madonna and child and is of great beauty. I am told that the church refused an offer of $25,000 from J. Pierpont Morgan for this single painting. Of late years Sitka has lost its commercial importance. The removal of the capital to Juno took away about all the United States offices and there is now no more quiet town in the territory. The place is away and is reached only by a small steamer or by the tourist boats in the summer which brings sightseers here on account of Sitka's beauty and historic interest. It is well worth a visit. The history of Alaska covers just about 150 years and roughly speaking it may be divided into three periods of 50 years each. The first 50 was the period of exploration and discovery. The next 50 was the time of exploration and the last half century covers the time since we purchased the territory. Alaska was discovered by the Russians during the 18th century but very little was known about it until almost the beginning of the 19th. It was in 1711 that Peter Popov sailed from Siberia around through Bering Strait and brought back rumors that a continent existed on the other side of Asia. Who had heard of these stories sent Vitus Bering from Kamchatka to find out if they were true. Bering went through the Strait which now bears his name but it must have been foggy for he did not see the American shore or even the Diamede islands which lie in the middle of the Strait. So he came back and reported that he had found nothing. He tried it again nine years later with a similar result. And it was not until 1741 that the American continent and discovered the Schumagin Islands. At that time he anchored near the mouth of the Copper River and went on back through the Aleutians to the island of Bering a part of Siberia. He was wrecked on that island and died there of scurvy. Some of his sailors who made their way back to the mainland carry the story of the existence of Alaska and of the wonderful furs of the Aleutians. To the expeditions to the Aleutians their glowing reports attracted the attention of other navigators especially Britons and Spaniards who made many voyages of exploration along the Alaskan coasts. It was in 1774 and 1775 that Juan Perez was sent by the King of Spain from Mexico to the north. He reached Dixon entrance our international boundary in 1774 and the year following came to Sitka Sound. Captain Cook sailed from Plymouth, England at just about the time that Jefferson was writing the Declaration of Independence. It was he who established the fact that there was no land connection between America and Asia and he surveyed a part of the coast outlining the chief features through more than 12 degrees of latitude. He then went south to Hawaii where he was killed by the natives. Later still there were other explorations by the Russians who formed trading companies and there were independent fur traders from England and from our Atlantic coast. Five ships from New England came to Alaska in the latter part of the 18th century to buy furs. One of these commanded by Captain Gray took his cargo of furs to Canton, China where he got a cargo of tea which he carried on around the Cape of Good Hope to Boston at the most voyage of an American vessel around the world. He landed in Boston August 10th, 1790. Meanwhile the Russians had been gradually staking out their claims to Alaska and about the beginning of the last century they made treaties with England which conceded to them the Alaskan coast down to 54 degrees 40 minutes of north latitude. At that time it is said that Russia had a great ambition to control the Pacific and that it was her aim to grab the whole of California and the Hawaiian islands as well. Baranoff the Russian who founded Sitka had fur trading stations as far south as where San Francisco now is and actually owned the farm which later came into the hands of John Sutter on which gold was first discovered in California. Eight years before our national capital was moved from Philadelphia to Washington Baranoff established at Kodiak the first Russian colony. Among the settlers were a number of convicts of whom he made fur traders and farmers controlling them with an iron hand. He was small and stature but he had the qualities of a Napoleon and it was due to his management and organization that Russia got such a foothold on our continent. He had many fights not only with the Indians but also with his own people. At one time when one of the colonists attempted to assassinate him he grabbed hold of the hand holding the weapon and then strangled the man to death with his own hands. In 1799 he moved his headquarters to Sitka and three years later while he was absent the Indians massacred the Russians killing all of the officers and 30 men. Only five Russians escaped the Indians built a fort of logs and defied the Russians but Baranoff came back with a gunboat and starved the Indians into submission. Baranoff then moved the site of Sitka eight miles to where the town now is. About the time he came to Sitka there was formed the Russian fur company a monopoly backed by the government, the Tsar and the Empress and many of the nobility. Baranoff continued to manage the territory until 1817 when through political trickery he was deposed. He left Sitka and died on his way home at Batavia Java in 1819. During the time of Russia's ownership much of the Alaskan coast was explored. The Yukon River was opened up as far as the mouth of the Tanana by Lieutenant Zagoskin and Kotsbuy went through Bering Strait and discovered Kotsbuy's sound on the Arctic ocean north of the Seward Peninsula. The delta of the Kuskukwim became well known likewise the southern coast including the Panhandle the Gulf of Alaska the Alaskan Peninsula and the Aleutian Islands. Complications however were rising with the British who under the Hudson's Bay Company were pushing their trading stations from the Mackenzie River on to the Yukon. Russia became anxious lest her American holdings should fall into the hands of Great Britain. At the time of the Crimean war they were offered to sell us Alaska but President Pierce refused to become a party to the transfer. The matter was again taken up when Buchanan came in at which time an offer of $5 million was made by us and declined by the Russians. The negotiations were continued but the Civil War was then brewing and the pro-slavery element would not agree to the purchase of any more territory that was likely to be non-slave holding. It was dropped until after the close of the war. It was in 1863 that the Western Union Telegraph Company planned to build a landline across North America to Asia and a little later they sent exploration parties down the Yukon and over the Seward Peninsula to Bering Strait and into Siberia. They explored the Yukon Valley and brought forth much new information regarding Alaska. They were about ready to push their line through the Atlantic Cable proved successful. Meantime an increased interest had sprung up regarding Alaska. The negotiations for its purchase were resumed and to cut short a most interesting story Russia offered to sell the territory to us for about two cents an acre. The actual figure was $7 million with an extra $200,000 to settle the claims of the Russian residents and to pay the cost of the transfer. Late one night Aaron Stockel the Russian ambassador at Washington came to the house of William H. Seward our secretary of state and told him that he had just received dispatches from the czar authorizing him to sell Alaska. Secretary Seward was playing wist at the time and the ambassador said that he would come to the State Department on the morrow to make the treaty. Secretary Seward replied why should we wait until tomorrow Mr. Ambassador let us make the treaty tonight. But the department is closed replied the Russian you have no clerks and my secretaries are scattered about the town. Never mind that said Secretary Seward I can easily get the necessary clerks and if you can bring together your legislation by midnight you will find us awaiting you at the department and we will settle the business. To this the ambassador consented they met at 12 o'clock at the Department of State and by four in the morning the treaty was engrossed signed and sealed and ready for transmission to the Senate. Within a month it had been approved and Alaska was ours. Up to that time the territory had been known as Russian America. It needed a new name and all kinds of ridiculous titles were suggested. One was the Zero Islands another Andy Johnson's Polar Bear Garden another Seward's Icebox and a fourth Wall Resia. The treaty was called Polar Bear Treaty and the senators who favored it were dubbed the Eskimos Senators. The name Alaska was finally chosen at the instance of Charles Sumner who said that it was the title which the natives used. Translated it means the Great Mainland. The ceremony of taking possession of Alaska was performed here at Sitka on Friday the 18th of October 1867. 200 American soldiers under General Jefferson C. Davis took their position on the east side of the flag staff near the castle and an equal number of Russian soldiers were lined up opposite them. It was 3.30 o'clock in the afternoon when the Russian captain ordered his men to haul down the Russian flag. The men tried to do so but it had caught in the ropes and would not move. A Russian soldier climbed up to bring down the flag. He tried and failed. Another man tried not succeed. A third soldier climbed up and got it but it slipped from his hands, was caught by the wind and fell on the bayonets of the Russian soldiers. The incident was so affecting that the princess Maksutov who was present with the Russians wept and the soldiers were visibly moved. Following this old glory was hoisted and the American gun boats in the harbor and the Russian battery on shore fired salutes. Prince Maksutov the Russian commissioner then stepped forward and said to General Russo, the American commissioner by the authority of his Imperial Majesty the Emperor of Russia, I transferred to the United States the territory of Alaska. Prince Maksutov then handed over the insignia of his office as governor and General Russo made a speech accepting the transfer. That was all. With less than 200 words, Alaska's allegiance was changed and a new empire was added to Uncle Sam's domain. Let me tell you briefly what we got for that investment in land at two cents an acre. Alaska is a world in itself an unknown world at that to most of us though every man woman and child in the United States is a part owner. The territory which has an area of nearly 600,000 square miles contains more than one sixth of all the land under the American flag. If Alaska could be lifted up and drop down upon the main body of our country with its eastern end touching the Atlantic Ocean at Savannah the western most end would be in the Pacific beyond Los Angeles. Beginning not far west of Los Angeles the territory extends Uncle Sam's dominions almost to Japan. Nome is 3,000 miles west of San Francisco and the mainland of Alaska is less than 40 miles from Siberia at Bering Strait. The island of Atu at the end of the Aleutian chain is not far from Asia. From north to south Alaska reaches almost as far as the distance from Canada to Mexico. This mighty territory is a world in the variety of its lands, its resources, its climates and its waters. It is a country of seas, lakes and rivers and of almost as many islands as the empire of Japan. It has a vast continental mainland with mountains and valleys rolling plateaus and great lowland plains. The navigable waters of its rivers reach many thousands of miles. Alaska has the highest mountains on the North American continent. It has some of the greatest glacial fields upon earth and scores of its peaks never lose their snow. McKinley which kisses the sky at over 20,000 feet is the tallest mountain north of Panama. A little farther east is Mount St. Elias which is 18,000 feet high and about Mount Rangel in a territory not three-fourths as big as Massachusetts. There are 10 snow-clad peaks twice as high as Mount Washington and two which are higher than Mont Blanc. The Alaskan range runs around the whole southern coast and has a width here and there approximating 80 miles. The range has several low passes and one of these, Broad Pass is only 2700 feet above the sea. It is from 6 to 8 miles in width and it forms an easy way for Uncle Sam's new railroad into the great Central Valley. Like the senators who ridiculed Secretary Seward when he purchased Alaska we are apt to think of it in terms of the North Pole, of mountains of ice and a perpetual snow. We have read of the terrible cold where the thermometer falls to 70 degrees below zero of the reindeer and dog teams flying over the snow and of the Sumerian darkness of the long winter nights. The truth is, Alaska is a world in its climates. Only one-fourth of the country lies inside the Arctic Circle. Parts of it are as temperate as Tennessee or Kentucky. In southeastern Alaska, a region larger than Maine has a winter climate milder than that of Washington The Great Yukon Valley, a land of rolling plains and plateaus has winters like those of Montana and Northern Dakota and the summers of the whole territory are not far different from those of Ohio, Indiana and Virginia. In mid-summer I found the whole land covered with a dense vegetation and it seemed to me that if any part of it could be set down into the main body of the United States the change would not be recognized. There is such crass ignorance concerning the climate of Alaska that I shall say a little more about latitude. Take the city of Seward, the terminus of our new railroad. That town is no farther north than Petrograd and it is not nearly so cold in winter. Juno, the capital of Alaska is in about the same latitude as Edinburgh, Scotland and is, I venture, by far the warmer. The same is true of Sitka and Copenhagen. The whole Scandinavian peninsula is within the latitudes of Alaska and some of the Aleutian islands are farther south than Birmingham, England, Berlin, Dublin or Warsaw. Ketchikan and Moscow are on about the same parallel. End of chapter 5 Chapter 6 of Carpenters World Travels, Alaska Our Northern Wonderland by Frank Carpenter. This Librovox recording is in the region. Recording by Betty B Chapter 6 The Flingets and the Hidas The Alaskan Indians are of half a dozen different stocks. Those I have seen most in my travels in southeastern Alaska are the Flingets, an Indian family scattered throughout the whole of this part of the country. There are four or five thousand of them divided among a dozen or more tribes including the awk, the chill cat, the cake, the sitka, the stickine, tongas and yakutat. The klukwans are flingets and so are the hunas. These people are semi-civilized and nearly every tribe has its own church and school. And then there are the Hidas numbering five or six hundred and the Simpsons of Metlokatla. The Athopascans who number about four thousand are divided into twelve tribes and may be seen all along the Yukon and Tanana rivers. The Aluts, of whom there are about fifteen hundred are closely allied to the Eskimos. They live in the Long Island chain extending from southwestern Alaska almost to Asia and are fishers and hunters. The finely woven baskets made by their women show that they have some artistic ability. The Indians of Alaska look far more like the Chinese and Japanese than like the red men of the States. They have yellowish or light brown complexions. Their eyes are a trifle slanting and their cheekbones are as high as those of the Mongols or the inhabitants of Tibet. When they are dressed like white men it is difficult to tell them from the Japanese who come north to work in the fish canneries and it is a question whether they did not originally come from Asia crossing from Kamchatka in their canoes to the Alutian making their way to the Alexander Archipelago. Bearing straight is only fifty or sixty miles wide and there are two islands in the midst of it so that it would have been easy for the Chukchi and other Mongolian tribes to cross over from Asia to the mainland of this continent. Some of the Indian customs here are the same as those that prevailed in Japan before it adopted western civilization and it is not hard to imagine that these customs may have come down from their Mongolian ancestors. For instance, when I first visited Japan, every widow shaved her head as smooth as a billiard ball to show that she was mourning for her husband. She also stained her teeth black to make herself unattractive. The widows of the Tlingits shaved their heads the same way until the missionaries taught them better and they even painted their faces black as a sign of mourning. The black used was a watercolor and if this were streaked with tears it brought the widow respect because of her grief for her dead husband. Cremation is common in Japan. It was for years practiced in Alaska. The Chinese will undergo any privation to have a good funeral. The Alaskan Indians do likewise. In southeastern Alaska I have seen many of the Tlingits. These Indians are found on the coast and in the islands of the Panhandle. Their settlements extending as far north has Prince William Sound. They are the Indians best known to the tourists and their totem poles or tribal emblems and coats of arms although gradually disappearing with the advance of civilization are still to be seen in the villages. The Tlingits always build their villages near the shore. Since nine-tenths of their support comes from fishing they like nearly every family has its boats while some families even own gasoline launches. Their houses are usually scattered about without regard to any fixed plan. It is only lately that any of them have had gardens. In the past the buildings were made of rude slabs and bark thrown together over pole rafters. No house had a chimney or window and the smoke passed out through a hole in the roof. They are shingle roofed comfortable frame dwellings with windows and chimneys. Some of them are sealed and some are papered and painted. The Indians have become good carpenters and use modern tools. The newer buildings show some regard for sanitary requirements and a few of their towns have plank sidewalks and electric plants. In Clequon the Indians have piped the water from the mountains to the water system. Clequon is a village of the Chilcats on the Chilcat River not far from Skagway. The town is said to be 300 years old and have once had a population of a thousand souls. Its people were traders exchanging dried fish and oil for furs with the Athopascans of the interior. The Chilcats are great trappers. They have divided their hunting grounds among the various families from generation to generation. They have been noted for their skill in the various industries. They wove blankets a century ago. They also forged copper and did beautiful carving. Much of this skill departed upon the advent of civilization but they now make moccasins and cut out miniature totem poles and other things for the tourists. The settlement of Clequon has a flourishing cooperative store which is so good that it gets from the whites and it is said that the Indians come a distance of a hundred miles to buy there. The town has its men's club which holds meetings every week when matters of town interest are discussed. The government is trying to induce these Indians to go into canning and some canning machinery has been sent there. The school teachers advise that a sawmill be installed. They say that the boys are quick to learn carpentry and they are now making chairs, tables and sleds in the school shops. Recently they began to work in sheet metal and to make airtight stoves. The work of civilization among the Indians has been promoted by both missionaries and school teachers. The missionaries came first. They established schools industrial and otherwise and converted the Indians to Christianity. After the missionaries came the United States Bureau of Education which is taken charge of the natives of Alaska. Beginning with the establishment of schools in all of the villages it has added many other kinds of social service work to its activities. The teachers are now instructing the adult Indians in sanitation and civil government. They are inducing them to establish stores and to engage in all possible self-sustaining industries. So far the most remarkable progress has been among the Haidas a tribe of five or six hundred Indians on Prince of Wales Island. On the government reservation there they have built a town called Heideberg which is perhaps the most advanced Indian community of the world. The natives have organized a cooperative trading company paying big dividends to the stockholders. In 1911 when the settlement was first organized the par value of a share in the Heideberg trading company was ten dollars. Ten years later the accumulation on each share including the stock dividend and the purchase dividend each year amounted to almost two hundred and fifty dollars. The company now owns besides its store a sawmill a cannery and dock a moving picture outfit an automobile truck and equipment for electric lighting. Nearly every family in Heideberg has stock in this trading company and the people are rapidly growing well to do. Many have gasoline packages and all have comfortable homes. The town elects its own officers. It has a mayor and councilman and the business of the place is transacted in English. One of the first cooperative works was the building of a sidewalk. There was no money in the village treasury but the young men brought in the proceeds of their seasons fishing and the Indian girls had a basket social. Two hundred and ninety dollars were realized from the food sold. This bought and the men gave their labor for nothing. That sidewalk is the best in southeastern Alaska. It is ten feet wide and more than half a mile long. Since then the citizens have erected a municipal dock four hundred and forty feet long with a front of fifty five feet. The cooperative store has created a hunger for business training and business methods are taught in the school. Village has town meetings at which all matters of public interest are discussed and the popular vote determines what shall be done. The Hytas are not flingots. They belong to a different Indian family and for a long time their only home seems to have been on Queen Charlotte Island off the coast of British Columbia. Later some of them moved to the west coast and about two hundred years ago according to their traditions they drove the flingots out of a part of Prince of Wales Island and settled there. They have always been considered superior Indians and have had the reputation of being the best painters, carvers and canoe builders of southeastern Alaska. In the past they hollered their canoes out of single logs of cedar and built houses of cedar beams and planks which were worked out with ads of stone. At one time there was something like eight thousand of them but during our possession of Alaska the number in the state's territory has never been more than six or eight hundred. Among the other movements to better the Indians of Alaska is that of school farming. Both children and adults are shown how to make gardens and some of the villages are growing vegetables and berries of various kinds. One of the teachers reports that he has supervised the making of seventeen native gardens inside the Arctic Circle. The government is doing all it can to improve the sanitary conditions among the Indians. The teachers are cleaning up the towns and the doctors and nurses of the Bureau of Education go from village to village and give directions for the care of the sick as well as instruction in how to keep the well healthy. It is estimated that thirty percent of the natives have consumption in some form or stage and that eight percent of the deaths are due to tuberculosis. Of late a number of the squads have taken to feeding their infants from the bottle. Since they know nothing about the preparation of this baby food many of the children come out of the nursing stage, feeble and scrawny. The school children are examined for trachoma, adenoids and other diseases. They are taught to take care of their teeth and are warned against the use of tobacco and alcohol. Alcohol has been the curse of the Indians of Alaska. It is said that in the coming of the Russians they knew nothing of liquor in any form but they soon acquired the art of brewing and drinking first the Russian quass and later American whiskey. Its sale to the Indians has long been forbidden but there have always been some whites willing to make money by supplying the natives with whiskey. The Alaskan Indians try to imitate the whites in many ways. They are now dressing much the same except that they delight in brighter colors. During my trip we have had a number of Indian men and women with us on the steamers. The other day a young squaw sat down at the table opposite two traveling salesmen from Seattle. As the meal went on they noticed that the girls orders were the same as their own. She was pretending to study the menu but they concluded that she could not read and that this was her first experience with the white man's victuals. Thereupon one of them ordered for his dessert a slice of custard pie and winked at his friend to do the same. The squaw in her turn gave a similar order. When the pie came one of the traveling men seized the ketchup bottle and sprinkled a liberal allowance of hot tomato sauce over his pie. His friend followed suit and then shoved the ketchup across the table to the copper skin girl. She did the same only more so. The men stopped eating to watch the agony of the Indian. The fair squaw however heroically finished her pie without winking and as far as anyone could see the joke was on the salesman. End of Chapter 6 Chapter 7 of Carpenter's World Travels Alaska, Our Northern Wonderland by Frank Carpenter. This Libra box recording is in the public domain. Recording by Betty B. Chapter 7 Totem Indians and Their Customs In southeastern Alaska a curious survival of the old Indian customs is seen in the totem poles which the natives used to put up before each house and often covered the graves of the chiefs and heads of families. These totem poles are neither tombstones nor idols and they were never regarded as such by the Indians. They are tribal crests or coats of arms of which the natives are as proud as are the nobility of Europe of their emblems of heraldry. The Indian can read the story of a totem pole as easily as we read a newspaper. He knows just what each sign means and where the tribal sign ends and the individual signs begin. The totem in front of a house tells him not only who lives there but also the story of the owner's ancestors. Similar crests are used on baskets, on moccasins and in carvings of wood, stone and copper. If a native had a letterhead he would probably print some of these signs on the top of the sheet. One of the former curators of the Sheldon Jackson Museum at Sitka says that the totem pole was invented by the Haida Indians and that it was of three different kinds. One kind was erected in front of a house. This had the figures of different animals and represented the totems of a family and their relatives. Another was called the death totem. This was often a hollow mortuary post which contained the ashes of the dead and was sometimes erected over the grave. A third class of totem poles was put up by the Haidas to memorialize remarkable events. These totems were historical records and their story was told by series of carved figures, a sort of picture writing. The Haidas were divided into three classes the rich, the middle classes and the slaves. The slaves were never allowed to erect in front of their dwellings and the higher the pole as a general rule the richer and more aristocratic the owner. The totem poles about the dwellings of the Indians range in height from that of a man to that of a four story house. They are carved out of solid tree trunks and some of the larger ones are valued at several thousand dollars apiece. Many of them are beautifully carved their ugliness being that of design rather than execution. Most of the carvings are of animals and birds. The house poles indicate to which of the two great families of southeastern Alaska the inmates belong. These are known as the eagle and the crow each has its subdivisions which are shown by subtotems. To the eagle family belong the subdivisions of the bear, wolf, shark, whale and others and to the crow family belong the seals, frogs, salmon and beavers. There are numerous other subdivisions but they all belong either to the eagles or the crows. According to the unwritten law of these Indians a husband and wife cannot be of the same tribal family. A miss crow must always expect to marry a Mr. Eagle. It is perfectly proper for her to unite with the shark, whale, wolf or bear where they all go back to the eagle family but she cannot marry a salmon, seal, frog or beaver who descend from the crow. Some branches of the family so divided are much more aristocratic than others and a woman who marries beneath her is considered to have disgraced her family. She is more despised than an English duchess who marries a shopkeeper and at her death her relatives will not chip in for as costly a funeral as though she had married in her own class. A daughter of one of the brown bear divisions would be shamed by a marriage with the son of the mouse and the snail. While the crows and eagles at the top of the genealogical tree can marry only one another. Another curious thing is the high position that woman has always held among these Indians. She rules the family. No bargain is made, no journey is undertaken, no important thing done without consulting her. On the totems the emblem of the wife is at the very top of the pedigree pole and the totem of the husband comes lower down. Any Indian on seeing the totem pole can tell the family of the mother and knows that it rules the house. If he belongs to the same family he is sure to be welcome but otherwise he thinks a while before he risks stopping. I am told that most of these Indian families were founded by women. The bear family started with the chief's daughter who, according to the legend, was out one day with some other girls picking strawberries. A great bear came up and all of the girls but the chief's daughter ran away. She put her hands on her hips and laughed at him. Thereupon the bear ran after the other maidens and killed them. He fell in love with the girl who had scorned him and made her his wife. The fruit of the union was a child half girl and half bear who became the maternal ancestor of all the natives now belonging to the bear totem. Another story tells how a family was originated with a female grizzly bear and a third of how a woman founded the tribe of woodworms. The Indians love a fine funeral. They will take what they have and borrow more from their friends to spend in making a great show. They put the favorite possessions of the deceased with the body and clothing and bedding alongside the coffin. After the funeral is over they give a great feast in honor of the man who nourished his spirit as it goes to the other world. In southeastern Alaska it rains so much and the soil is so shallow that the Indians do not bury their dead in graves but put them in little wooden vaults that look like tiny houses set upon poles. In the early days before the coming of the missionaries many of these Indians burned their dead depositing their ashes and hollow poles. Among some of the tribes the ashes left after the cremation of a body were put into a sack which was kept in the family dead house. Indeed, these and other customs, myths and folklore of the Alaskan Indians are so interesting that our government should put its scientists to work gathering a record of them before it is too late. We need some such work in Alaska as Frank Cushing did among the Zunis and James Mooney among some of the Indian tribes of the West. What we have concerning the natives of Alaska comes largely from missionaries and from Ivan Petrov who wrote a great part of the census of 1880. Mr. Livingston F. Jones lived for 20 years among the Plingots and got his information concerning them at first hand. His book, A Study of the Plingots of Alaska, gives legends of the Crow, Deer and other families and includes traditions of many of the tribes. The whale family, for example, is said to have originated from an Indian boy who amused himself by carving images of whales out of cedar and sailing them upon the waters. One day one of his cedar whales expanded before his eyes and turned into a real live whale which swam away. From this fact his parents knew he would become a great chief and he did not disappoint them for he founded the whale tribe branches of which are scattered throughout southeastern Alaska. The Plingots have legends concerning the origin of man and telling how the sun, the moon and the stars came to be. According to their story of the flood all the men and animals were destroyed with the exception of a raven. This raven was a sort of witch bird. He could change himself at will and put his feathers off or on like a garment. When the flood had gone down he looked about for a mate of his own kind then. At last he took a cockle shell from the beach and called it his wife. By and by he heard a faint cry from the shell like that of a baby. The noise grew louder and louder and at last a little female child came out. This child married the raven and from the two came all of the Indians of this part of the world and so the country was people. The raven is held sacred among the Plingots who in the past considered him a god. He was known as Yell, the creator of the world. He was the benefactor of mankind and enjoyed the greatest respect. His power was unlimited. He put sun moon and stars in their places and from him came man, animals and plants. Before he was born the world was dark but with him came light. Few people realize the change that has been brought about among these Indians through the work of the missionaries and the bringing in of our civilization. Cannibalism was common along the coast of British Columbia when Father Duncan came. Slavery existed among the Plingots at the time we took possession of the territory and Ivan Petrov in his report for the government on the condition of these Indians in 1880 said that able-bodied slaves were slaughtered on festive occasions and that it was not uncommon for a rich man or chief to have slaves killed and buried with him in order that he might have servants in the spirit land. There are Indians living in Alaska today who were slaves in their youth and it is said that children are looked down upon by the families which have always been free. The slaves were of two classes those captured in warfare and those born into bondage. The children of slaves became slaves in turn, waited upon their masters did all sorts of menial work and were cruelly treated. Not infrequently they were sacrificed to emphasize the power and wealth of an owner who thus showed that he could afford to destroy such valuable property. Before the missionaries came polygamy prevailed. Today marriages are usually held in the churches. Monogamy is common and even the chief seldom have more than one wife. In the past some of the heads of the tribes had as many as 20 wives. A Russian authority speaks of a man on the Nass River who had 40. In such cases the first wife ruled the harem. Child marriages used to be common and even now marriages take place at an early age. One of the old thing it customs was to pin up the girls in some out of the way place as they reached the marriageable age. A wooden coop or jail was made for the maiden where she was kept for from four months to a year. There was no light in the coop except what filtered through the cracks so that when the door was open the girl came out pale and wan and supposedly humble and ready for marriage. The marriages were usually arranged by the relatives and the girls were carefully restrained from making any advances to the men. Mr. Livingston Jones says that infanticide was not uncommon. Twins were considered bad luck and were often killed at birth. The usual method of killing babies was to stuff their mouths with moss or grass and they were usually carried into the woods to be put to death. This was done by the women, generally the relatives of the mother. Mr. Jones tells some queer stories of how the natives received the white man's civilization. When they first saw a steamboat they thought it was a demon and took to the woods. They called it a fire canoe and thought it might bring some terrible disease such as smallpox. To ward off the danger they pulled up certain native vegetables which they held below their eyes as they looked at the steamboat. They went wild over the phonograph when it came and paid a quarter to hear a single tune. When the first Negro came north they advanced all kinds of theories as to what made him black and when they saw a man with a wooden leg they regarded him with great wonder. Another curiosity was a man who had a wig which he put on and off until Greater Marvel was a storekeeper who had a set of false teeth. The Indians flocked to the store and their amazement knew no bounds when they saw him take out of his mouth a set of uppers, gums and all and then replace them. The natives came in from many miles around to see the wonderful sight and the storekeeper found his set an excellent business getter. End of Chapter 7 Chapter 8 of Carpenters World Travels Alaska, Our Northern Wonderland by Frank Carpenter This LibriVox recording is in the public domain Recording by Betty B Chapter 8 Farmlands of the Future I have just had my first view of the practical possibilities of Alaskan farming. Our agricultural department's experimental station at SICA is the headquarters from which the four other experiment stations One of these is at Rampart on the Yukon River near the Arctic Circle. Another is near Fairbanks in the rich valley of the Tanana in the heart of Alaska. A third is on the island of Kodiak not far from Seward and the fourth is in the Matanuska Valley which is being opened up by the government railroad. Kodiak is bigger than Puerto Rico. Its specialty is stock raising and daring. The Fairbank Station which is in the center of a great agricultural region is devoted to all around farming. Rampart is so far north that it forms the best place for experiments in raising oats, barley and wheat for planting in cold lands. At Matanuska grain, hogs, cattle and potatoes are raised. The government farm at SICA lies under the shadow of Mount Verstovia about a quarter of a mile from the town. The experiments here are chiefly in raising vegetables, berries and small fruits. This is because of the character of southeastern Alaska which though a region of rich vegetation is better adapted to small farms and truck gardens than to large scale farm operations. I wish I could show you the vegetation of southeastern Alaska. For the last month I have been traveling along the coast and in and out among the islands and the flowers and trees are a series of surprises. The topography of the country is much like that of the Alleghenes or the Blue Ridge, but the forests are thicker and the growth is denser. Nearly everywhere the bushes are so thick that it would be impossible to make a way through them without an axe or a knife. Beginning at the water's edge the forest runs to the snow line about a thousand feet above the sea. For that distance the trees are choked with undergrowth but above it the heavy vegetation disappears and a carpet of grass or moss stretches up to the edge of perpetual snow. Everywhere in the forest there is spongy ankle deep moss. Many of the trees are hung with mosses and the bushes beyond the tree line seem to bend over and cling to the ground. Bow down I suppose by the heavy snow which lies upon them during the winter. The chief trees are evergreens. There are many spruce and red and yellow cedars including a vast deal of timber which would make wood pulp and which in the future will probably supply the newspaper demands of the states. The Indians use the cedar bark to make rope and they tear out the inner part of it and weave it into baskets and cloaks. And then the wildflowers they grow everywhere. There are alpine geraniums golden rod and buttercups and blue bells with cups and inch long. There are yellow violets and red daisies and lilies as black as ink. There are rosy laurel and pink ryanthus and little blue forget-me-nots such as we have at home. Southeastern Alaska has three varieties of orchids and other air plants as well. This is a land of berries. The salmon berry which is ripe throughout the summer is as large as the largest raspberry and tastes much the same. There are also raspberries that grow on the ground and cranberries of several varieties. There are wild strawberries and blueberries and red huckleberries. Strawberries are raised commercially at Hanes and are shipped to Juno and other towns. As to the cultivated parts of southeastern Alaska there are so few at this writing that they are hardly worth mentioning. In Seattle, the tourist does not see a dozen farms bigger than a bedspread and in most places the land is so steep that it reminds me of West Virginia where it is said the corn is planted with shotguns from the opposite hills. Nevertheless, back in the valleys are little cultivated patches where the pioneers have cleared off the dense timber and set up their homes. Professor C.C. Georgison who was at the head of the government agricultural experiments in the territory tells me that there will eventually be many small farms scattered throughout this part of Alaska. He says that they will grow up to supply the mining centers with vegetables and fruits. He does not expect them to come soon believing that it will be the task of a generation or so to clear the forests and take off the moss. He thinks the coast region is best adapted to gardening, chicken raising and daring. While the natural grass meadows may be utilized for stock raising small farms are already growing up about many of the fishing stations. One of the best of these is that of C.A. Burkhart the president of the Alaska Pacific fisheries at Yes Bay just north of Ketchikan. He tells me that he raises rhubarb with leaves as big as a parasol and stems the length of a baseball bat right as thick. He grows strawberries 4 inches in circumference. Mr. Burkhart who spends only his summers in Alaska takes his Jersey cow Daisy back and forth with him each season. She was first brought up on account of Mr. Burkhart's baby daughter and the experiment works so well that Daisy has spent her summers in the north ever since. She seems to know when the time has come to flit southward. She goes on board the ship without urging and thrives under these changes. At the Sitka experiment station there are acres of strawberries and raspberries and orchards of apples, cherries and apricots. The strawberries are finer than I have seen in any part of the United States or Europe. The plants are vigorous and are loaded with fruit. I saw some berries almost as big as hen's eggs and many over an inch in diameter. These big berries have been produced by crossbreeding the wild native plants with other strawberries brought here from all parts of the world. There are now several thousand different kinds of strawberries growing at the station but nearly all of them have more or less Alaskan blood in their veins. I wish you could taste them. They are strawberry all through. Only a few have a tart flavor and most of them are so delicious that they fairly melt in your mouth. The plants are much hardier than our berries and bear for about two months yielding fruit as late as September. Among the other experiments going on at the station is the crossing of salmon berries with the raspberry. The salmon berry, which is as big as the largest blackberry is red or pale yellow. It is delicious to taste and is used in great quantities all over Alaska. Raspberries also will grow well almost anywhere and the crossing is successful, although the new fruit protects more of the flavor of the salmon berry. The station is also breeding apple and cherry trees that will grow in parts of the territory and is making experiments with filberts and other nuts of the hardier varieties. The most surprising things on the farm are its pansies, poppies, roses and other beautiful flowers. Among the pansies now growing are many as big around as the bottom and some are as black as ink and as soft as silk plush. There are also roses of exquisite perfume and poppies of the most brilliant red and as big around as a tea plate. These poppies, which come from Asia and are perennial, are among the new wonders of Alaska. I went over the experiment farm with director George Sin. There is no man better fitted by ability and experience for his position. When I met him in Japan years ago on my first newspaper trip around the world Mr. George Sin, then a professor in the Imperial College of Agriculture at Tokyo was introducing modern farming into the land of Japan. Born in Denmark, he had been trained in farming on some of the largest states of that country before he came to the United States. For more than 20 years Professor George Sin has been in charge of Uncle Sam's farming requests in Alaska. He has traveled all over the territory studying its soils, its climate, plant life and farming possibilities. He has been the manager of a half dozen different experiment stations and has combed the world for grasses and plants suited to this part of the United States. We were looking at some alfalfa grown from seed imported from Siberia. When I asked Professor George about this idea of the future of Alaskan farming, he replied there is no doubt that Alaska will someday support a large farming population. I see no reason why the territory should not eventually have a stable population of 3 millions or more. We are discovering new plants and grains every season. This alfalfa for example will grow all along the Yukon and we have made successful experiments in the south of that river. I estimate that Alaska has about 100,000 square miles that can be used for agricultural purposes. That means that it has 64 million acres or an agricultural area as large as the states of Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont and New Hampshire. It must not be understood that all this land is available for cultivation however for the estimate includes about 50,000 square miles which will have little value except for grazing purposes. Of this territory about 57 million acres lie in the interior beyond the coast range of mountains. The other 7 million acres are in the coast region and on the islands nearby. Each section will have its own crops based on its soil and climate. Some of the islands will be devoted to gearing while from the gardens of southeastern Alaska vegetables will be shipped to Seattle and command a higher price than the Puget Sound produce on account of their superior quality. Indeed, such shipments are even now being made. In answer to my question whether Alaska would ever raise dairy products for the United States Professor Georgeston replied there is no reason why it should not. The climate of the Aleutian Islands is so mild that in many years hardy cattle and sheep can stay out all winter or be kept over with a small amount of hay and fodder. We can also raise cattle in the Yukon Valley though there they have to be fed during nearly 8 months of the year. In the interior grass grows as high as my head and our experiments have shown that it is possible to raise many varieties of hardy grains. The soil of Alaska not as a compare with that of the best parts of the United States. The best soil of our middle west replied Professor Georgeston can be duplicated in very few places on earth. I doubt whether Alaska has any agricultural area equal to that. The country has no prairie lands and there are no extensive bodies of uniform quality. Still, some parts are excellent for farming. The silt loam in Yukon Valley will compare in productiveness with some of the best soil to be found elsewhere and we have at the Fairbank Station land excelled only by the rich prairie soils of the middle west. There are good lands in the Matanuska and Susitna valleys and in fact there are millions of acres that can be made into farms. Where will be the farming center of Alaska? There will be many such centers and farms will spring up about every important mining settlement. Fairbanks is the largest of the gold camps today and that region has the most and best farmers. Since the government decided to build the railroad, two or three hundred families have located homesteads in the Matanuska Valley with a view to supplying the demands of the coal mines of that region. There are a number of successful farms in the neighborhood of Seward and many small ones about Juno which is another mining center of great importance. There are little places scattered throughout this part of the territory and indeed wherever there is a local market you will find a farm center. These will grow and as new settlements are established other farms will be opened up. Would you advise Americans to come to Alaska to engage in farming? I ask. Yes, if they understand the conditions and know what they are going to find when they reach here and are ready to stay and grow up with the country I would not advise people to rush in, palmel and take up homesteads wherever they can be found simply because Uncle Sam will give them a farm for nothing. The would-be speculators will stand a slim chance of making money by a rise in land values. There is no land for sale and Uncle Sam is the sole owner. He will give his real estate to bona fide settlers who will keep on the job. The farmers most likely to succeed are the men who know the climate and what crops can be grown. Norwegians and Swedes and Finns have been brought up under conditions such as we have here. They are used to long winters and short summers. They understand the methods of culture necessary and they are, I believe, best suited to the country. How much money should a young man have to take up a homestead? Give me some idea of the cost of clearing the land. The right young man might come to Alaska without any money and make a success, said Professor Georgeson. But in that case he would have to work for wages for other farmers or in the mining camps to get sufficient to live on until his farm paid. This path would not be an easy one. On the other hand if he had a thousand dollars or so he could buy a team of horses or yoke of oxen and some farm tools. He could put up a modest house and furnish it. He might still have to work out occasionally but he could soon clear enough land and get a sufficient start in cattle, sheep and poultry to make life on the farm practicable. Such a man should locate on land that is already surveyed by the government and he should investigate the cost of implements, furniture and freight before starting. You'll find the freight rates high. The average price from Puget Sound to Fairbanks has been about sixty dollars a ton but the rate via the new government railway in carload lots will it is thought eventually be only half this much. If the man could have four or five thousand dollars it would be better still. But with that amount of money he could make a fair start almost anywhere in the states. There is one thing that should be well understood continued Professor Georgeson and that is that the subtler must have enough muscle and skill to do most of the work on his own farm. If he starts out paying wages for clearing land he will soon be bankrupt. The wages of Alaska are governed by those paid in the mines of the interior most of which are usually much higher than wages in the states. Sometimes it has cost us as much one hundred and twenty five dollars an acre to clear land on the experiment station farms. End of chapter 8