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Show Our Hem Jllaska ; j The Region Awarded Us By the Commission. Com-mission. THE Alaskan boundarv commission has just settled it, aiid the strip j of Alaskan territory that the Canadians w-ere so euger to get belongs to the United States for all time. Whatever we think ci' their anger at losing it, we cannot blame them for wishing it their own, tor it contains gold, probably much gold, vast tracts of timber and valuable furs and fisheries, fish-eries, says Winthrop Packard in the Boston Transcript. Moreover, it is a I country capable of great development I in other ways, and the waterways j which lead up to it. now practically all under our control, are the most beautiful in the world. From Seattle I to Juneau is about a thousand miles, ! and the entire trip by steamer is along these inland waterways. The route ' lies around and between islands, through a labyrinth of channels some i of which are scarcely a quarter of a mile wide, yet so deep that no ship can anchor in them. A vessel can graze the cliffs at either side and yet have under her keel waters of won- I derful clearness and half a hundred fathoms deep. Right from the water j spring the mountains a thousand to , eight thousand feet high, while behind ' them, inland and seaward, on the J larger islands, are peaks that top the ' timber line and lift crowns white with i perpetual snows. ' Some of the Norwegian Nor-wegian fjords approach them in beauty, beau-ty, but are far behind them in sublime grandeur. i An Exciting Trip.-The' Trip.-The' memory of a trip on the former United States cutter Corwin tivough these narrows and the thrills which I received there are yet fresh in my memory. U is unwise to attempt the entrance to this passage with the tide running full either with or against you. If it is with you the chances of being slammed, against the cliffs of the craggy crag-gy entrance and rolled under are very great. You must go through with the tide, but it is best to make the entrance en-trance at slack water. The Corwin, coming up from the south, made the spot an hour or two before the turn of the tide and anchored in a convenient conven-ient bay on the Vancouver side. Here we found a crew of loggers at work in the magnificent primeval forest, getting get-ting out fir logs that were five and six feet in diameter. The month was May and the waters were full of ducks. The loggers told us that deer and wild game of all kinds abounded in the w-oods, and we could well believe it, for nowhere is a wilder or more untrodden un-trodden forest. Shortly before the time for the tide to turn the steamer's prow was set toward the cavernous pass, and we approached it under full head of steam. The tide had been running against us and should now rest for a moment and then turn with us. The Swirling Currents. But in our care not to be too late we were just a little ahead of time, and as we approached the pass the swirling currents began to play with the steamer as a child might play with a toy boat. In spite of the powerful pow-erful engines and the efforts of two men at the wheel, it was impossible to keep her head straight. She yawed to and fro, yet crept up by taking advantage ad-vantage of the back water near the shore till the point was reached where it was necessary to send her into midstream. mid-stream. Here the rush of waters caught her, spun her upon her keel and sent her whirling down stream again, baffled. On either side terrify-, ing eddies appeared, holes in the water wa-ter like those which an oar blade leaves, only a thousand times as large. The force careened her wildly, and from the slanting deck one look down these water holes to a seemingly unknown un-known depth, and it took a stout heart not to fear that the vessel herself might be dragged under the whirlpools. Three times we breasted this silent, , mighty, whirling force, and each time the ship was ppun about like a boy's tcp. Then, a little later, we tried again, and passed up through placid waters. The tide was at the turn and the commotion com-motion was quelled for a brief space. The Narrow Canyons. Then we went on for hours through this winding, narow canyon, with the quickening tide chasing us ahead at torpedoboat speed. The sun sank and night came on, thick with fog. You could not tie up to the sheer cliffs; you could not anchor. There was nothing to do but speed on. The channel chan-nel widened somewhat and all landmarks land-marks vanished in the gray of the mist. Then it was that the wise captain cap-tain felt his way by a trick well known to the Alaskan pilot. He kept tke whistle whis-tle sounding at intervals of a few seconds, and by watching the echoes knew which shore was the nearer and shaped his course accordingly. It was an exciting trip, and no one cared to sleep that night. It was too fascinating fasci-nating to listen to the echoes and bet even money which shore we were to. be smashed up on. Yet the night passed, the fog lifted and the morning morn-ing found us still in the middle of the widening channel. We had made the pass in safety and all bets were off. Alaskan waters begin at Dixon's" entrance, en-trance, when half the trip from Seattle Se-attle has been covered. Here, in latitude lati-tude 54:40 north, you find the Portland Port-land canal, so-called, in reality a waterway wa-terway of much magnificence, running forty miles inland through timber-clad mountains that rise abruptly. It has a splendid depth of water, and. as the commission has decided that this belongs be-longs to Canada, it will give her an ample channel to the Pacific for the trade which will in future years come to Port Simpson, at its head, the terminus ter-minus of the projected Grand Trunk-Canadian Trunk-Canadian Pacific railway. I Marvelous Scenery. As you go north from this place you enter between the Alexander islands and the main land. Everywhere you find the same marvelous scenery in description de-scription of which volumes have been written that can yet not do Justice to the reality. The mighty hills on either side are scarred by frequent paths of avalanches, and the melting snows of the white peaks tumble from the cliffs in cascades that sprinkle rainbow spray upon the passing steamer. On the left are islands in a chain 300 miles long and over 1,000 in number. Some of them are as large as the state of Massachusetts, Mas-sachusetts, and most of them practically practi-cally unexplored by the white man. That they are rich in mineral wealth is already proved by the miners who have touched here and there on their shores. I have tramped for a ofay in the fascinating fastnesses of one of the smallest of them. The only route was by deer and bear paths. All else was such a tangle or riotous growth as one does not hear of outside the jungles of India. Fallen tree trunks interlaced in inextricable confusion, through which sprang the standing growth of tir and (hemlock. The even tcmpcrd mwi.n cli- mate accounts for the luxurious growth of conifers. The swamps were tangles of cottonwood, cider, virburnums and alder. v- These are dwarfed in the iriain and snarled with smaller growth of vac-cinium. vac-cinium. ribes. and the thorny Echino-panax Echino-panax Hoiridum. a peculiarly devilish stinging brier, rnde- foot the mucky soil is covered with a heavy moss in which the traveler sinks to the kne I and which is wet the year around. , When these forrrts. are cleared bv I pioneers the sun will be let in on a j wonderfully productive virgin soil which will bear enormous crops. Th j climate is such th.it nnything that can i be grown north of. Chesapeake bay on j the Atlantic coast should thrive in this j new land of the west. ! Tet in spite of their luxurious growth j I believe that the timber value of th-- forests of this, portion of Alaska has been overrated. We are accustomed to hear that it is an inexhaustible forest reserve. Truly, it should furnish pulp wood for generation yet unborn: the growth is rapid and the timber suited for pulp. Rut as lumber, it seems to be I another matter. Here and there you j find an individual tree that reminds you i of the giarlts of the Puget Sound coun-I coun-I try, yet a ood deal of the growth i.-s I not close set enough to furnish the ; mighty limbless boles that are the lumberman's lum-berman's delight. i Thus far no test of the agricultural j possibilities of this region has been j made, nor has anything been attempted m stock raising. Yet I am inclined to think that there are great possibilities in both. The climate is much milder than that of Wyoming or Dakota. The soil is a black forest mould of wonderful wonder-ful depth and richness, and there is an abundant moisture. Grasses grow in! surprising luxuriance where the forests give them a chance and there should be ! plenty of food for great herds th? year round. The country has vast wealth in minerals, in fisheries and forests. The possibilities for stock r-aising and farming, are almost as great, yet one sad lack has kept back settlement, the fact that the land laws of the United States have not been extended to Alaska. |
