Leaving Ketchikan, Clarence Strait is entered. This was named by
Vancouver for the Duke of Clarence, and extends in a northwesterly
direction for a hundred miles. The celebrated Stikine River empties into
it. On Wrangell Island, near the mouth of the Stikine, is Fort Wrangell,
where the steamer makes a stop of several hours.
Fort Wrangell was the first settlement made in southeastern Alaska,
after Sitka. It was established in 1834, by Lieutenant Zarembo, who
acted under the orders of Baron Wrangell, Governor of the Colonies at
that time.
A grave situation had arisen over a dispute between the Russian American
Company and the equally powerful Hudson Bay Company, the latter having
pressed its operations over the Northwest and seriously undermined the
trade of the former. In 1825, the Hudson Bay Company had taken advantage
of the clause in the Anglo-Russian treaty of that year,--which provided
for the free navigation of streams crossing Russian territory in their
course from the British possessions to the sea,--and had pushed its
trading operations to the upper waters of the Stikine, and in 1833 had
outfitted the brig _Dryad_ with colonists, cattle, and arms for the
establishing of trading posts on the Stikine.
Lieutenant Zarembo, with two armed vessels, the _Chichagoff_ and the
_Chilkaht_, established a fort on a small peninsula, on the site of an
Indian village, and named it Redoubt St. Dionysius. All unaware of
these significant movements, the _Dryad_, approaching the mouth of the
Stikine, was received by shots from the shore, as well as from a vessel
in the harbor. She at once put back until out of range, and anchored.
Lieutenant Zarembo went out in a boat, and, in the name of the Governor
and the Emperor, forbade the entrance of a British vessel into the
river. Representations from the agents of the Hudson Bay Company were
unavailing; they were warned to at once remove themselves and their
vessel from the vicinity--which they accordingly did.
This affair was the cause of serious trouble between the two nations,
which was not settled until 1839, when a commission met in London and
solved the difficulties by deciding that Russia should pay an indemnity
of twenty thousand pounds, and lease to the Hudson Bay Company the now
celebrated _lisiere_, or thirty-mile strip from Dixon Entrance to
Yakutat.
In 1840 the Hudson Bay Company raised the British flag and changed the
name from Redoubt St. Dionysius to Fort Stikine. Sir George Simpson's
men are said to have passed several years of most exciting and
adventurous life there, owing to the attacks and besiegements of the
neighboring Indians. An attempt to scale the stockade resulted in
failure and defeat. The following year the fort's supply of water was
cut off and the fort was besieged; but the Britishers saved themselves
by luckily seizing a chief as hostage.
A year later occurred another attack, in which the fort would have
fallen had it not been for the happy arrival of two armed vessels in
charge of Sir George Simpson, who tells the story in this brief and
simple fashion:--
"By daybreak on Monday, the 25th of April (1842), we were in Wrangell's
Straits, and toward evening, as we approached Stikine, my apprehensions
were awakened by observing the two national flags, the Russian and the
English, hoisted half-mast high, while, on landing about seven, my worst
fears were realized by hearing of the tragical end of Mr. John
McLoughlin, Jr., the gentleman recently in charge. On the night of the
twentieth a dispute had arisen in the fort, while some of the men, as I
was grieved to hear, were in a state of intoxication; and several shots
were fired, by one of which Mr. McLoughlin fell. My arrival at this
critical juncture was most opportune, for otherwise the fort might have
fallen a sacrifice to the savages, who were assembled round to the
number of two thousand, justly thinking that the place could make but a
feeble resistance, deprived as it was of its head, and garrisoned by men
in a state of complete insubordination."
In 1867 a United States military post was established on a new site. A
large stockade was erected and garrisoned by two companies of the
Twenty-first Infantry. This post was abandoned in 1870, the buildings
being sold for six hundred dollars.
In the early eighties Lieutenant Schwatka found Wrangell "the most
tumble-down-looking company of cabins I ever saw." He found its
"Chinatown" housed in an old Stikine River steamboat on the beach, which
had descended to its low estate as gradually and almost as imperceptibly
as Becky Sharpe descended to the "soiled white petticoat" condition of
life. As Queen of the Stikine, the old steamer had earned several
fortunes for her owners in that river's heyday times; then she was
beached and used as a store; then, as a hotel; and, last of all, as a
Chinese mess- and lodging-house.
In 1838 another attempt had been made by the Hudson Bay Company to
establish a trading post at Dease Lake, about sixty miles from Stikine
River and a hundred and fifty from the sea. This attempt also was a
failure. The tortures of fear and starvation were vividly described by
Mr. Robert Campbell, who had charge of the party making the attempt,
which consisted of four men.
"We passed a winter of constant dread from the savage Russian Indians,
and of much suffering from starvation. We were dependent for subsistence
on what animals we could catch, and, failing that, on _tripe de roche_
(moss). We were at one time reduced to such dire straits that we were
obliged to eat our parchment windows, and our last meal before
abandoning Dease Lake, on the eighth of May, 1839, consisted of the
lacings of our snow-shoes."
Had it not been for the kindness and the hospitality of the female chief
of the Nahany tribe of Indians, who inhabited the region, the party
would have perished.
The Indians of the coast in early days made long trading excursions into
the interior, to obtain furs.
The discovery of the Cassiar mines, at the head of the Stikine, was
responsible for the revival of excitement and lawlessness in Fort
Wrangell, as it had been named at the time of its first military
occupation, and a company of the Fourth Artillery was placed in charge
until 1877, the date of the removal of troops from all posts in Alaska.
The first post and the ground upon which it stood were sold to W. K.
Lear. The next company occupied it at a very small rental, contrary to
the wishes of the owner. In 1884 the Treasury Department took
possession, claiming that the first sale was illegal. A deputy collector
was placed in charge. The case was taken into the courts, but it was not
until 1890 that a decision was rendered in the Sitka court that, as the
first sale was unconstitutional, Mr. Lear was entitled to his six
hundred dollars with interest compounding for twenty years.
Wrangell gradually fell into a storied and picturesque decay. The
burnished halo of early romance has always clung to her. At the time of
the gold excitement and the rush to the Klondike, the town revived
suddenly with the reopening of navigation on the Stikine. This was, at
first, a favorite route to the Klondike. At White Horse may to-day be
seen steamers which were built on the Stikine in 1898, floated by
piecemeal up that river and across Lake Teslin, and down the Hootalinqua
River to the Yukon, having been packed by horses the many intervening
miles between rivers and lakes, at fifty cents a pound. Reaching their
destination at White Horse, they were put together, and started on the
Dawson run.
Looking at these historic steamers, now lying idle at White Horse, the
passenger and freight rates do not seem so exorbitant as they do before
one comes to understand the tremendous difficulties of securing any
transportation at all in these unknown and largely unexplored regions in
so short a time. Even a person who owns no stock in steamship or railway
corporations, if he be sensible and reasonable, must be able to see the
point of view of the men who dauntlessly face such hardships and perils
to furnish transportation in these wild and inaccessible places. They
take such desperate chances neither for their health nor for sweet
charity's sake.
Three years ago Wrangell was largely destroyed by fire. It is partially
rebuilt, but the visitor to-day is doomed to disappointment at first
sight of the modern frontier buildings. Ruins of the old fort, however,
remain, and several ancient totems are in the direction of the old
burial ground. One, standing in front of a modern cottage which has been
erected on the site of the old lodge, is all sprouted out in green.
Mosses, grasses, and ferns spring in April freshness out of the eyes of
children, the beaks of eagles, and the open mouths of frogs; while the
very crest of the totem is crowned a foot or more high with a green
growth. The effect is at once ludicrous and pathetic,--marking, as it
does, the vanishing of a picturesque and interesting race, its customs
and its superstitions.
The famous chief of the Stikine region was Shakes, a fierce, fighting,
bloodthirsty old autocrat, dreaded by all other tribes, and insulted
with impunity by none. He was at the height of his power in the forties,
but lived for many years afterward, resisting the advances of
missionaries and scorning their religion to the day of his death. In
many respects he was like the equally famous Skowl of Kasa-an, who went
to the trouble and the expense of erecting a totem-pole for the sole
purpose of perpetuating his scorn and derision of Christian advances to
his people. The totem is said to have been covered with the images of
priests, angels, and books.
Shakes was given one of the most brilliant funerals ever held in Alaska;
but whether as an expression of irreconcilable grief or of
uncontrollable joy in the escape of his people from his tyrannic and
overbearing sway, is not known. He belonged to the bear totem, and a
stuffed bear figured in the pageant and was left to guard his grave.
The climate of Wrangell is charming, owing to the high mountains on the
islands to the westward which shelter the town from the severity of the
ocean storms. The growing of vegetables and berries is a profitable
investment, both reaching enormous size, the latter being of specially
delicate flavor. Flowers bloom luxuriantly.
The Wrangell shops at present contain some very fine specimens of
basketry, and the prices were very reasonable, although most of the
tourists from our steamer were speechless when they heard them. Some
real Attu and Atka baskets were found here at prices ranging from one
hundred dollars up. At Wrangell, therefore, the tourist begins to part
with his money, and does not cease until he has reached Skaguay to the
northward, or Sitka and Yakutat to the westward; and if he should
journey out into the Aleutian Isles, he may borrow money to get home.
The weave displayed is mostly twined, but some fine specimens of coiled
and coiled imbricated were offered us in the dull, fascinating colors
used by the Thompson River Indians of British Columbia, having probably
been obtained in trade. These latter are treasures, and always worth
buying, especially as Indian baskets are increasing in value with every
year that passes. Baskets that I purchased easily for three dollars or
three and a half in 1905 were held stubbornly at seven and a half or
eight in 1907; while the difference in prices of the more expensive ones
was even greater.
Squaws sit picturesquely about the streets, clad in gay colors, with
their wares spread out on the sidewalk in front of them. They invariably
sit with their backs against buildings or fences, seeming to have an
aversion to permitting any one to stand or pass behind them. They have
grown very clever at bargaining; and the little trick, which has been
practised by tourists for years, of waiting until the gangway is being
hauled in and then making an offer for a coveted basket, has apparently
been worn threadbare, and is received with jeers and derision,--which is
rather discomfiting to the person making the offer if he chances to be
upon a crowded steamer. The squaws point their fingers at him, to shame
him, and chuckle and tee-hee among themselves, with many guttural
cluckings and side-glances so good-naturedly contemptuous and derisive
as to be embarrassing beyond words,--particularly as some greatly
desired basket disappears into a filthy bag and is borne proudly away on
a scornful dark shoulder.
Baskets are growing scarcer and more valuable, and the tourist who sees
one that he desires, will be wise to pay the price demanded for it, as
the conditions of trading with the Alaskan Indians are rapidly
changing. The younger Indians frequently speak and understand English
perfectly; while the older ones are adepts in reading a human face;
making a combination not easily imposed upon. Even the officers of the
ship, who, being acquainted with "Mollie" or "Sallie," "Mrs. Sam" or
"Pete's Wife," volunteer to buy a basket at a reduction for some
enthusiastic but thin-pursed passenger, do not at present meet with any
exhilarating success.
"S'pose she pay my price," "Mrs. Sam" replies, with smiling but stubborn
indifference, as she sets the basket away.