ON BOARD THE "QUEEN" FROM TACOMA TO VICTORIA.
STEAMER "QUEEN," July 7, 1892.
At 9 P.M. on the 5th instant we went on board the steamer _Queen_,
which, as there are no hotels in Alaska, is to be our home for two
weeks. The steamer is a fine, large vessel, with ample accommodations
for two hundred or more passengers. I had secured and paid for two
first-class staterooms two months in advance, but found, the first
night, that the ones given us were the worst on the ship, being
directly over the boiler, and consequently so hot that it was
impossible to live in them unless the doors were open. In addition to
this annoyance, when the watch was changed at 9 P.M., and at 1, 4, and
8 A.M., the ashes were hoisted from the hold, the rough and noisy
machinery used being located in the rear of our rooms, apparently
within a foot or two. The iron ash-can was about eighteen inches in
diameter and four feet high, and when it was rushed up by steam power,
it made a tremendous noise, making sleep impossible. In the morning I
called on the purser, and asked him to change the rooms. He said that
he could not "change all the rooms in the ship," but on being informed
that unless he gave my sister better accommodations we would abandon
the trip and go ashore at the next stopping place, he changed his
mind, and gave her a good room in the cabin below, but refused to
change mine unless I would pay fifty dollars additional. On
consultation with my roommate, Mr. Edwin S. Townsend, we concluded
that the advance asked was a violation of our contract with the
company, and that we would not pay it. We therefore endured the
distress and annoyance of the ash-lifting machinery. I did not remove
my clothing at night, but lay on the bed until the ash-can nuisance
commenced, and then left the room and walked the deck until the noise
stopped, in about half an hour. Being forced on deck at night had its
inconveniences, but it had its compensations also, for it gave me the
chance to see the magnificent scenery by moonlight; and, one night,
there was a splendid display of aurora borealis, which illuminated the
entire northern sky.
After five nights spent in this disagreeable manner, one of our
friends had a talk with the purser, and induced him to change the
undesirable rooms for comfortable ones on the upper deck. We learned
with much satisfaction that the steamer during the entire trip will go
through a series of inland seas, and that we shall look upon the
Pacific Ocean but two or three times, and then for only a few hours.
We arrived off Seattle at 4 A.M. on the 6th, and remained there five
hours, giving those who wished an opportunity to go ashore and see
that famous place. All day the beautiful vessel steamed along the
quiet waters, until we reached Victoria, the capital of British
Columbia, at 9 P.M. Most of our party thought they would like to see
the place, so half a dozen of us went ashore, and after consulting
some natives, we concluded to walk to the settled part of the city. It
was quite a long walk, a mile or more, passing government buildings
and grounds, and many handsome houses, until we came to one of the
business streets, and there we found the "Poodle Dog Restaurant,"
rendered famous from a notice of it in Mrs. General Collis's
exceedingly interesting and beautifully illustrated book, "A Woman's
Trip to Alaska." We had a little supper, and then took carriages back
to the vessel, which soon afterward steamed away through the Gulf of
Georgia, and along the coast of British Columbia toward Alaska, our
goal.