THE CITIES OF THE FAR NORTH
Of the cities of Alaska the most interesting historically is Sitka. No
one will regret the time spent in visiting this, the former seat of the
Russian territorial government and the stronghold of the Greek Catholic
Church. After the passing of the Russians it became the first capital
of Alaska. It is situate on Baranof Island, facing Sitka Sound. The
climate is mild and out-door life delightful.
Sitka is beautifully picturesque. The island-laden ocean sweeps to west
of it while on the east the frothing Indian River surges down from its
birthplace in the group of snow-capped mountains known as the Seven
Sisters. In 1799 the Russians established a trading post here and
occupied it until 1804. The old Greek church dating from 1816 still
stands, alongside of a new one called St. Peter's-by-the-Sea, erected
in 1899. The city contains much that is of interest,--a Museum named in
honor of Sheldon Jackson of the Presbyterian Mission. To the influence
of this man Alaska is indebted for her now-thriving reindeer industry.
During the rush to the gold fields in 1898 word was borne to Washington
that the gold-seekers were dying by thousands for lack of food and
proper clothing to protect them from the bitter climate into which, in
their inexperience, they had entered inadequately equipped. In the
effort to aid them the government attempted to send supplies to the
starving camps by reindeer. The plan was not a success and the
government was left with the reindeer on its hands. Dr. Jackson used
his influence with the result that the reindeer were secured for the
Eskimos.
Sitka has United States Public Schools. It has also a Presbyterian
Industrial Training School for natives. It is the headquarters of the
Agricultural Experiment stations, the Coast Survey Magnetic Base
Station, and is the residence of both the Russian and Episcopal Bishops
of Alaska.
[Illustration: SITKA, THE OLD RUSSIAN CAPITAL OF ALASKA]
[Illustration: JUNEAU, THE CAPITAL]
[Illustration: ESKIMOS OF ST. MICHAEL]
Juneau, the present capital, is also most picturesquely located. From
the water it seems to be lying on a shelf,--the cliffs of Mt. Juneau to
the rear and the sea in front of it. It is about a hundred miles north
by east of Sitka, on Gastineau Channel, opposite Douglas Island on
which are situate the celebrated Treadwell mines. Juneau is thoroughly
modern as to churches, schools, newspapers, hospitals. It has drainage,
police and fire protection, telephone and telegraph service and
electric light. A small town of sixteen hundred inhabitants in 1910, it
has increased to a thriving city. The ever-increasing population is
fast dotting the lower heights with beautiful and comfortable homes and
down below them the ever-advancing tunnels of the gold-seekers keep
honey-combing the rock-ribbed earth. As one journeys northward he can
see the stamp house of the Treadwell mines, built right into the side
of the precipitous face of the mountain down which a railroad track has
been laid to carry the ore from the tunnels that bore into the heart of
the cliff.
Ketchikan is a city of commercial importance because of the fishing
industry. It is typical of the settlements along the coast and of the
fishing settlements in particular. It also is located on an island
which gives it many advantages. On one side it has deep water. On the
other side it has mountain, river and lake. Ketchikan is one of the
best places for the visitor to see a "run" during which the salmon
crowd up the river in a struggle so fierce that many of them are killed
in the effort to reach the spawning-grounds.
The most attractive city of this part of the country is Wrangell,
named for the Russian explorer and naval officer, Baron Ferdinand
Wrangell, wise administrator of affairs connected with the Alaskan
colonies of Russia between 1831 and 1836. During his administration an
observatory was established at Sitka. He it was who exposed the
shameful abuses of the Russian-American Company and prevented the
extension of their charter in 1862. He was an astute and far-sighted
statesman, and realizing the value of Alaska, he bitterly opposed the
sale of the territory to the United States.
Wrangell, the city named after him, lies on an island of the same name
a hundred and fifty miles southeast of Juneau. The seeker after the
unusual in his travels will find here much to interest and divert him.
To Wrangell the traders still bring the trophies of the chase, making
their journey down the rapidly-flowing Stikine river from the wonderful
Cassiar hunting grounds, famed for their big game. To these grounds
every year flock hunters from all parts of the world to shoot the
mountain sheep, the moose, the bear and the caribou. In Wrangell, also,
one may see the best of what remains of the magnificent totem poles of
Alaska.
No lover of history, and particularly the history of the native peoples
of the world, can help cherishing a feeling of deep regret when he
sees the approaching decay of these expressions of their inner lives.
As is the case in our own great west, the steam roller of civilization
is passing over what is left of the primitive people, crushing out the
spirit of all that once was and in some cases still is revered by them,
flattening out that which is picturesque and distinctive in them. Who
can look upon the massive-timbered communal houses of the natives of
Alaska, before which were placed the totem poles, bold with their
blazonry of animals, grotesquely carved and gaudily painted,--eagle and
whale, bear, wolf and beaver--without a sigh that soon they, too, will
sail into the past with the caravels of Columbus or ride out of the
plains with the buffalo to return no more?
Through the long ages the American Indian has worshiped--not the sun,
but the great, _creative spirit_ behind the sun! And he has expressed
that worship in the celebrated Sun Dance, a truly _religious_ ceremony
in which he is now forbidden to indulge by the United States
government! In like manner the natives of the Far North expressed
themselves in totems. To a certain extent they are ancestor worshipers,
as are the Chinese. The totem poles are their expression of their
primitive heraldry. They erected them in front of their rude
dwellings, with a pageantry uncouth, it is true, but in a spirit of
sincerity.
I am not one of those who would decry the influence and the splendid
service of the missionary. But it is an influence which often works
both ways. Many of the latter can see in these expressions of pride of
ancestry nothing but the most arrant heathenism, so the totem poles of
Alaska are rotting away. And no more are being built. The young natives
are being "educated" out of any respect which hitherto they may justly
have entertained for their forefathers. There is no scorn known to the
human race which is quite so withering as that which the man who does
not know who his grandfather was entertains for the man who does!
It can not be long until the totem pole will be a thing of the past.
Therefore he who would see them in all their glory must not linger. All
will soon be gone. Here at Wrangell are still some splendid specimens,
perhaps the best the north country now has to offer.
Skagway may be called the city of romance. Time was when it held the
key which unlocked the gateway of the Promised Land,--that golden
kingdom of the North. It is now a thriving commercial center. The White
Pass railroad begins here, forming a sort of portage by means of which
the two extremes of the country may shake hands with each other. The
railroad itself is short. But it touches the headwaters of the Yukon
with its twenty-five hundred miles of navigation, bearing on its broad
bosom the commerce and the traffic of Klondike, Dawson, and Fairbanks,
to the outlet in Bering Sea.
But this is not the reason the history of Skagway is romantic. When the
gold rush began in 1896 the landing had to be made at Dyea at the other
end of the Lynn Canal. From here it was necessary to cross the
dangerous Chilkoot Pass, a most hazardous undertaking. One day the word
was passed along that another pass (now known as White Pass) had been
discovered. With a rush like a flock of frightened sheep the gold
seekers turned and went the other way. _In one day_ fifteen thousand
people left Dyea for Dawson and Skagway and in that same length of time
what had formerly been a swamp became a city!
Abler pens than mine have recorded in novel, poem and play the story of
those eventful days. All know now of the famous (or infamous) gambling
hells with which these places were infested. The spot in Skagway to-day
which most attracts the tourist is the cemetery where lies the body of
"Soapy" Smith. "Soapy" was half-outlaw, half-politician, the "Boss" of
the town, in fact. Skagway was without doubt the wildest and wickedest
place in the world during the reign of "Soapy" Smith. The decent and
sober citizens stood it as long as they could. When they felt, however,
that Skagway had suffered from her evil reputation long enough they
held a meeting and came to a decision! The Sylvester Wharf, now a
half-ruin, has been left standing to mark the spot where the fathers of
the town ran "Soapy" to cover and shot him.
Dawson, in the Canadian Yukon, had a somewhat similar experience. But
the Northwest Mounted Police came to her assistance and brought order
out of chaos. The fame of Dawson during the gold rush is world-wide.
Her affairs are now in the charge of the Canadian government. There is
also a United States Consulate there.
The most important and the largest city in Alaska is Fairbanks. It lies
on the Tanana River, practically at the head of navigation. It is the
site of the Fourth Judicial District and of government activities in
the interior of Alaska. Fairbanks is a city of which any country might
be proud, heated by a central steam plant, with schools, churches,
hospitals, newspapers, long-distance telephone and wireless stations.
The electric plant which lights the city also serves the adjacent
mining camps. Fairbanks may be reached all during the year by a stage
service three hundred and fifty-four miles from Valdez and during five
months in summer steamboat service westward to St. Michael, eastward to
Dawson and White Horse, Yukon Territory, is maintained. Reference has
already been made to the progress of this delightful city, its social
life and the kindly spirit of the people.
As one nears the western coast the cities become few and far between.
Anchorage, on Cook Inlet, Iditarod and Nome are the most important. The
interesting story of Nome is well known. Prospectors were working the
streams for gold when suddenly the yellow dust was found in huge
quantities in the sand along the beach! The first settlement was called
Anvil City and was the usual mushroom affair. Nowhere else in Alaska
was the struggle of the gold-seekers to be compared with those of Nome.
Its exposed position on Norton Sound made it subject to the violent
coast storms. The conditions were unsanitary, the food and fuel supply
a subject of great anxiety, the water supply scanty and the climate
cruel. In the face of all these discouragements, however, the hardy
pioneers fought and conquered. Nome is now a city of some three
thousand, the commercial, judicial and educational center of Seward
Peninsula. It is a fine, courageous little city, compactly built, with
modern improvements and prosperous business houses. A railroad
eighty-five miles long runs to Shelton, but Nome and the adjacent
regions are reached direct only between June and October, the open
season of Bering Sea.
I always learn with regret of any tourist who takes a trip up the
"Inside" passage and returns by the same route. What can he possibly
know of Alaska? The broad expanse of country which sweeps away to the
north and the west, guarded by the mountains, watered by one of the
mightiest rivers in the world,--of this he knows nothing, for it is a
country which can not be described. It must be seen to be appreciated.
It is this part of Alaska that is Nature's gigantic workshop with a job
in it for any man who asks! Here new cities are yet to be born, new
business enterprises to be established, new farms to be tilled. Here
any man who chooses may have that most prized of all possessions,--a
home of his own! There is room for all!