Gastineau Channel northwest of Juneau is not navigable for craft drawing
more than three feet of water, at high tide.
Coming out of the channel the steamer turns around the southern end of
Douglas Island and heads north into Lynn Canal, with Admiralty Island on
the port side and Douglas on the starboard.
Directly north of the latter island is Mendenhall Glacier, formerly
known as the Auk. The Indians of this vicinity bear the same name, and
have a village north of Juneau. They were a warlike offshoot of the
Hoonahs, and bore a bad reputation for treachery and unreliability. Only
a few now remain.
In the neighborhood of this glacier--at which the steamer does not call
but which may be plainly seen streaming down--are several snow
mountains, from five thousand to seven thousand feet in height. They
seem hardly worthy of the name of mountain in Alaska; but they float so
whitely and so beautifully above the deep blue waters of Lynn Canal that
the voyager cannot mistake their mission.
Shelter Island, west of Mendenhall Glacier, forms two channels--Saginaw
and Favorite. The latter, as indicated by its name, is the one followed
by steamers going to Skaguay. Saginaw is taken by steamers going down
Chatham Straits, or Icy Straits, to Sitka.
[Illustration: Copyright by E. A. Hegg, Juneau
INDIAN HOUSES, CORDOVA]
Sailing up Favorite Channel, Eagle Glacier is passed on the starboard
side. It is topped by a great crag which so closely resembles in outline
our national emblem that it was so named by Admiral Beardslee, in 1879.
The glacier itself is not of great importance.
On Benjamin Island, a fair anchorage may be secured for vessels bound
north which have unfortunately been caught in a strong northwest gale.
After the dangerous Vanderbilt Reef is passed, Point Bridget and Point
St. Mary's are seen at the entrance to Berner's Bay, where is situated
the rich gold mine belonging to Governor Hoggatt.
A light was established in 1905 on Point Sherman; also, on Eldred Rock,
where the _Clara Nevada_ went down, in 1898, with the loss of every soul
on board. For ten years repeated attempts to locate this wreck have been
made, on account of the rich treasure which the ship was supposed to
carry; but not until 1908 was it discovered--when, upon the occurrence
of a phenomenally low tide, it was seen gleaming in clear green depths
for a few hours by the keeper of the lighthouse. There was a large loss
of life.
There is a mining and mill settlement at Seward, in this vicinity.
William Henry Bay, lying across the canal from Berner's, is celebrated
as a sportsman's resort, although this recommendation has come to bear
little distinction in a country where it is so common. Enormous crabs,
rivalling those to the far "Westward," are found here. Their meat is not
coarse, as would naturally be supposed, because of their great size, but
of a fine flavor.
Seduction Point, on the island bearing the same name, lies between
Chilkaht Inlet on the west and Chilkoot Inlet on the east. For once,
Vancouver rose to the occasion and bestowed a striking name, because at
this point the treacherous Indians tried to lure Whidbey and his men up
the inlet to their village. Upon his refusal to go, they presented a
warlike front, and the sincerity of their first advances was doubted.
At the entrance to Chilkaht Inlet, Davidson Glacier is seen sweeping
down magnificently from near the summit of the White Mountains. Although
this glacier does not discharge bergs, nor rise in splendid tinted
palisades straight from the water, as do Taku and Columbia, it is,
nevertheless, very imposing--especially if seen from the entrance of the
inlet at sunset of a clear day.
The setting of the glaciers of Lynn Canal is superb. The canal itself,
named by Vancouver for his home in England, is the most majestic slender
water-way in Alaska. From Puget Sound, fiord after fiord leads one on in
ever increasing, ever changing splendor, until the grand climax is
reached in Lynn Canal.
For fifty-five miles the sparkling blue waters of the canal push almost
northward. Its shores are practically unbroken by inlets, and rise in
noble sweeps or stately palisades, to domes and peaks of snow. Glaciers
may be seen at every turn of the steamer. Not an hour--not one mile of
this last fifty-five--should be missed.
In winter the snow descends to the water's edge and this stretch is
exalted to sublimity. The waters of the canal take on deep tones of
purple at sunset; fires of purest old rose play upon the mountains and
glaciers; and the clear, washed-out atmosphere brings the peaks forward
until they seem to overhang the steamer throbbing up between them.
Lynn Canal is really but a narrowing continuation of Chatham Strait.
Together they form one grand fiord, two hundred miles in length, with
scarcely a bend, extending directly north and south. From an average
width of four or five miles, they narrow, in places, to less than half a
mile.
In July, 1794, Vancouver, lying at Port Althorp, in Cross Sound, sent
Mr. Whidbey to explore the continental shore to the eastward. Mr.
Whidbey sailed through Icy Strait, seeing the glacier now known as the
Brady Glacier, and rounding Point Couverden, sailed up Lynn Canal.
Here, as usual, he was simply stunned by the grandeur and magnificence
of the scenery, and resorted to his pet adjectives.
"Both sides of this arm were bounded by _lofty, stupendous mountains,
covered with perpetual ice and snow_, whilst the shores in this
neighborhood appeared to be composed of cliffs of very fine slate,
interspersed with beaches of very fine paving stone.... Up this channel
the boats passed, and found the continental shore now take a direction
N. 22 W., to a point where the arm narrowed to two miles across; from
whence it extended ten miles further in a direction N. 30 W., where its
navigable extent terminated in latitude 59 deg. 12', longitude 224 deg. 33'.
This station was reached in the morning of the 16th, after passing some
islands and some rocks nearly in mid-channel." (It was probably on one
of these that the _Clara Nevada_ was wrecked a hundred years later.)
"Above the northernmost of these (which lies four miles below the shoal
that extends across the upper part of the arm, there about a mile in
width) the water was found to be perfectly fresh. Along the edge of this
shoal, the boats passed from side to side, in six feet water, and beyond
it, the head of the arm extended about half a league, where a small
opening in the land was seen, about the fourth of a mile wide, leading
to the northwestward, from whence a rapid stream of fresh water rushed
over the shoal" (this was Chilkaht River). "But this, to all appearance,
was bounded at no great distance by a continuation of the same lofty
ridge of snowy mountains so repeatedly mentioned, as stretching
eastwardly from Mount Fairweather, and which, in every point of view
they had hitherto been seen, appeared to be a firm and close-connected
range of _stupendous mountains, forever doomed to support a burthen of
undissolving ice and snow_."
Here, it will be observed, Whidbey was so unconsciously wrought upon by
the sublimity of the country that he was moved to fairly poetic
utterance. He seemed, however, to be himself doomed to support forever a
burthen of gloom and undissolving weariness as heavy as that borne by
the mountains.
Up this river, or, as Whidbey called it, _brook_, the Indians informed
him, eight chiefs of great consequence resided in a number of villages.
He was urged to visit them. Their behavior was peaceable, civil, and
friendly; but Mr. Whidbey declined the invitation, and returning,
rounded, and named, Point Seduction, and passing into Chilkoot Inlet,
discovered more "high, stupendous mountains, loaded with perpetual ice
and snow."
After exploring Chilkoot Inlet, they returned down the canal, soon
falling in with a party of friendly Indians, who made overtures of
peace. Mr. Whidbey describes their chief as a tall, thin, elderly man.
He was dressed superbly, and supported a degree of state, consequence,
and personal dignity which had been found among no other Indians. His
external robe was a very fine large garment that reached from his neck
down to his heels, made of wool from the mountain goat--the famous
Chilkaht blanket here described, for the first time, by the
unappreciative Whidbey. It was neatly variegated with several colors,
and edged and otherwise decorated with little tufts of woollen yarn,
dyed of various colors. His head-dress was made of wood, resembling a
crown, and adorned with bright copper and brass plates, whence hung a
number of tails, or streamers, composed of wool and fur worked
together, dyed of various colors, and each terminating in a whole ermine
skin.
His whole appearance, both as to dress and manner, was magnificent.
Mr. Whidbey was suspicious of the good intentions of these new
acquaintances, and was therefore well prepared for the trouble that
followed.
Headed by the splendid chief, the Indians attacked Whidbey's party in
boats, and, being repulsed, followed for two days.
As the second night came on boisterously, Mr. Whidbey was compelled to
seek shelter. The Indians, understanding his design, hastened to shore
in advance, got possession of the only safe beach, drew up in battle
array, and stood with spears couched, ready to receive the exploring
party. (This was on the northern part of Admiralty Island.)
Here appears the most delicious piece of unintentional humor in all
Vancouver's narrative.
"There was now no alternative but either to force a landing by firing
upon them, or to remain at their oars all night. The latter Mr. Whidbey
considered to be not only the most humane, but the most prudent to
adopt, concluding that their habitations were not far distant, and
believing them, from the number of smokes that had been seen during the
day, to be a very numerous tribe."
They probably appeared more "stupendous" than any snow-covered mountain
in poor Mr. Whidbey's startled eyes.
To avoid a "dispute" with these "troublesome people," Mr. Whidbey
withdrew to the main canal and stopped "to take some rest" at a point
which received the felicitous name of Point Retreat, on the northern
part of Admiralty Island--a name which it still retains.
In the following month Mr. Whidbey was compelled to rest again upon his
extremely humane spirit, to the southward in Frederick Sound.
"The day being fair and pleasant," chronicles Vancouver, "Mr. Whidbey
wished to embrace this opportunity of drying their wet clothes, putting
their arms in order.... For this purpose the party landed on a
commodious beach; but before they had finished their business a large
canoe arrived, containing some women and children, and sixteen stout
Indian men, well appointed with the arms of the country.... Their
conduct afterward put on a very suspicious appearance; the children
withdrew into the woods, and the rest fixed their daggers round their
wrists, and exhibited other indications not of the most friendly nature.
To avoid the chance of anything unpleasant taking place, Mr. Whidbey
considered it most humane and prudent to withdraw"--which he did, with
all possible despatch.
They were pursued by the Indians; this conduct "greatly attracting the
observation of the party."
Mr. Whidbey did not scruple to fire into a fleeing canoe; nor did he
express any sorrow when "most hideous and extraordinary noises"
indicated that he had fired to good effect; but the instant the Indians
lined up in considerable numbers with "couched spears" and warlike
attitude, the situation immediately became "stupendous" and Whidbey's
ever ready "humaneness" came to his relief.