AT THE ARCTIC CIRCLE.
We were now at the Arctic Circle. For three days we had no sunshine, and
flurries of snow were frequent. The mountain tops, as well as the banks
and sand-bars of the river, were spread with a thin covering of snow;
enough at least to give a wintry aspect. This added to the leaden sky
above, made the warmth of big coal fires acceptable indoors, and fur
coats comfortable on the decks.
At Fort Yukon the low water prevented our landing. We were told,
however, that the place contained one hundred log houses, as well as an
old Episcopal Mission, in which Mrs. Bumpus had lived and taught the
natives for twenty years. Many of the Eskimo girls are trained as
children's nurses and make very satisfactory ones.
Into the Yukon Flats empty the Porcupine River, Birch Creek and other
streams. Fort Yukon was established by the Hudson Bay Company many years
ago, all supplies coming in and shipments of furs going out by way of
the McKensie River and the great Canadian Lakes.
Toward evening one day, while the stevedores were busy handling wood, we
went ashore and visited an Eskimo family in their hut. It was built on
the high river bank among the trees, quite near the steamer's landing.
On the roof of the hut, there lay, stretched on sticks to dry, a large
brown bear skin. Near by we saw the head of a freshly killed moose, with
the hoofs of the animal still bloody.
[Illustration: YUKON STEAMER "HANNAH."]
As we stooped to enter the low door of the cabin, we felt the warmth
from the fire in the little Yukon stove which was placed in the corner
of the room. Next to this was a rude table, on which lay a quarter of
moose meat, looking more or less tempting to travelers living on canned
goods.
A bed stood in one corner, upon which two or three little children were
playing, and upon a pile of rags and skins on the floor sat an old
Eskimo woman, wrinkled and brown. These were her children and
grandchildren, and she was spending her life on the floor of the cabin,
watching the little ones play around her, for she was paralyzed.
There were no chairs in the cabin, and but few rude utensils and
playthings. A box or tin can, which had contained provisions, was now
and then utilized.
After a few moments with the Eskimos, we backed out into the open air
again, for the atmosphere of the hut was peculiar, and not altogether
agreeable to our southern olfactories. It reminded us of Mrs. Peary's
description of native smells in Greenland.
The short path back to our steamer lay through a poplar grove, and
under our feet was spread a carpet of brown and yellow leaves, which, in
the cool night air, smelled ripe and woodsy.
Next came Fort Hamlin, where we again saw some of Uncle Sam's boys, and
where we trudged out through the soft light snow and took some kodak
views.
Rampart City was reached in the early evening. One long row of houses
upon the south bank of the Yukon, near the mouth of the Big Minook Creek
constitutes the town. Here empty the Little Minook, Alder, Hunter, and
many other gold-bearing creeks, and a bustling town sprung up only to be
almost depopulated during the Nome excitement.
By this time several inches of snow had fallen, and the ground was
freezing. We managed here to climb the slippery steps of the log store
building in the dusk and buy a pound of ordinary candy, for which we
paid one dollar.
Again we were in deep water. This time so very smooth that the hills,
peaks, trees and islands were all mirrored on its surface, and very
beautiful.
The days were now quite short. About five in the afternoon the electric
lights were turned on through the steamer, fresh coal again piled on the
fires, and we reminded ourselves how comfortably we were traveling.
Then the dinner bell rang, and we sat down to dinner. Some attempt at
decoration had been made, for tall glasses stood in the centre of the
tables filled with ripe grasses and pretty autumn leaves, but, strange
to relate, we were more interested in the contents of our soup plates
and what was to follow. The cold and bracing air during our short walks
on deck had given us all famous appetites, and we relished everything.
After hot soup with crackers, we ate of fresh fish, three kinds of
canned meats, baked or boiled potatoes, with one other kind of
vegetable, canned tomatoes, corn or beans. Side dishes consisted of
pickles, olives, cheese, sardines, canned fruits, fancy crackers or
biscuits, and afterward came pudding and pie. These last were made from
various canned fruits, and with the rice, sago or tapioca pudding,
formed most enjoyable desserts. On Sunday nuts and raisins or apples
were added to the menu.
If we ate with keen appetites, we were not too much occupied to take
note of the passengers around us. Nearly opposite sat a beautiful woman
with a profusion of auburn hair piled high on her head. She was
fashionably dressed in black silk or satin, and her white fingers were
loaded with costly rings. As she handed a dish to the man beside her,
her diamonds and other gems sparkled brightly. Her companion, much
older, had a hard and villainous face. A heavy frown of displeasure
habitually rested upon his brow, and his glance was shifting and
evasive. He was a professional gambler, kept his game running
continually, and was going to Nome.
At the end of the table sat a tall and pleasant mannered young
Englishman, with blue eyes and ruddy cheeks. He represented mining
interests in the Klondyke amounting to millions, and was on his way to
London. He was fond of wine, and consorted chiefly with those who were
fast bringing him down to their level.
There was the girl with pretty black eyes, lady-like movements, low
voice, and exquisite toilettes. A blue-eyed, pretty little blonde, with
infantile complexion, small hands and feet, and wearing a tailor-made
suit attracted considerable attention. She was fond of cigarettes and
smoked many times a day, though she only looked "sweet sixteen." They
were both dance-house girls.
There was a young and handsome Englishman in the triggest of dude
toggery, but having a squaw wife and three children, as well as older
men at the head of similar broods.
The long tables were spread two or three times at each meal, as several
hundred people were to be fed.
A different class, and a worst one if possible, was met with at these
late meals. Do you see that short, fat woman over there with the bleared
eyes, and the neck of a prize fighter? She is a Dawson saloon keeper,
and is now on her way to Nome.
But there were a number of people on the steamer not properly
belonging to this set, and after supper a few usually gathered in one
corner to listen to each other's experiences in the far Northwest. Some
were tales of hardship, sickness and death; some of hair-breadth escapes
from the jaws of an Arctic winter, or from shipwreck. One told of
having, two years before, paid $175 for five sacks of flour in the
Klondyke; selling the same, a few days later, for $500. Stories of rich
strikes were related; how one man, while drunk, was persuaded by his
associates to trade a valuable claim for one apparently worthless; his
indescribable feelings the next day and until he had prospected the
so-called worthless claim, when it proved ten times richer than the
first one.
[Illustration: FELLOW TRAVELERS.]
A little middle-aged Norwegian woman told her story with great gusto.
She had sailed from Seattle two years before with Mayor Woods'
expedition, getting as far as a point on the Yukon River two hundred
miles below Rampart City. Here the low water prevented their going
farther. She, in company with others, made her way to Rampart as best
she could, rested and "outfitted" for a trip to Dawson over the ice.
Finally, with sleds and provisions, eight dogs and four men, she
started. It was a journey of about eight hundred miles. Before leaving
Rampart she experimented with fur sleeping bags, and finally made one in
which she could sleep comfortably on the ice and snow. Rice and tea were
their staple articles of diet, being more quickly prepared in hasty
camps at night, and being found most nourishing. After a perilous trip
of thirty-five days in the dead of winter, they reached Dawson in good
shape, two days ahead of a party of men with whom a wager had been made.
With these, and similar stories, we whiled away the long evening hours
by the fire. Many short stops were made along the river. A few little
settlements were passed during the night. At Holy Cross and Russian
Mission we saw flourishing Catholic schools for the natives.
The Yukon was now getting wider and wider, the water was shallow and
more shallow, then suddenly we felt a heavy jar. The big stern wheel
refused to move,--we were stuck fast on a sand-bar! Here we remained all
day, dreading a hard freeze which was liable to settle down upon us at
any time, fixing our boat and us in the ice indefinitely. But we were
now in the Aphoon, or eastern mouth of the Yukon, and near enough to
Behring Sea to get the benefit of the tides; so that in the early
evening we again heard the thud of the big machines,--the steamer
quivered,--the stern wheel again revolved,--we had entered the Behring
Sea!
By four o'clock next morning we were in St. Michael Bay, having covered
the sixty miles from the mouth of the river during the night. Snow was
falling heavily through which we saw the lights of the harbor, and a
number of vessels at anchor. By daylight we counted eleven ships and
two revenue cutters lying under the lee of the island.
Breakfast was served on board, and an hour later we went ashore. We now
sought the steamer company's hotel, and had no difficulty in getting
good rooms and seats at table; for we were still in their care, having
bought through tickets to San Francisco. Here we were to wait for the
ocean steamer "Bertha," which was now nearly due from that place, and we
anxiously watched the weather signs hoping all would be favorable, and
that she would very soon put in her appearance.
Our hotel was a new frame building of about forty rooms, lighted by
electricity, having large halls, pleasant double parlors overlooking the
bay, with a good view of incoming ships from the north. Just across the
street stood an old block house or fort containing the funny little
cannon used by the Russians over a hundred years ago. The antiquated
lock on the door, the hundreds of bullet holes in the outer walls, were
all quaintly interesting.
Half a mile south were stores, a hotel, another large company's dock,
and in good weather we tramped over there or north the same distance to
the headquarters of a third company. These three were small settlements
by themselves, and constituted, with their employees, natives and dogs,
the whole population of St. Michael. Good sidewalks connected these
different stations and commanded fine and extensive views of the
surrounding water.
St. Michael, as an island, is not large, and is entirely without trees
or timber. However, there is deep, wet moss or tundra everywhere, as one
soon discovers to his sorrow if he attempts to leave the plank walks.
St. Michael Bay, lying between the island and the mainland on the east,
is a fine body of water. The coast line is well defined with ranges of
mountains zigzagging their cold and snowy peaks, blue tinted or purple
during the day, and pink in the setting sun.
St. Michael is the windiest place on earth. After a few days spent in
studying the native dress of the Eskimos, and in trying to adapt my own
dress to the freakish breezes I concluded that if I stayed at St.
Michael I should dress as they did. If I started for the eating room
with my hat properly placed on hair arranged with ever so much care, a
heavy beaver cape, and dress of walking length, I was completely
demoralized in appearance five minutes later on reaching the mess-house.
With a twisting motion which was so sudden as to totally surprise me, my
dress was wound around my feet, my cape was flung as if by spiteful
hands entirely over my head, causing me to step in my confusion from the
plank walk; while my hat was perched sidewise anywhere above or on my
shoulder. One unfortunate woman wearing an overskirt covering a striped
cambric sham, was seen daily struggling, with intense disgust on her
face, up the steps of the eating house, with her unruly overskirt
waving wildly in the wind.
But this wind did not keep the Eskimo women and children at home.
Dressed in their fur parkies, which are a sort of long blouse with hood
attachment, short skirts and muckluks, or skin boots, they trotted down
to the beach daily to fish, standing on the wet and slippery rocks,
regardless of wind, spray or snow. Here they flung their fish lines out
into the water and hauled the little fish up dexterously; when, with a
curious twitch they disengaged the finny fellows and tossed them into a
big pan. Little Eskimo children ran on in front of their mothers, and
shaggy dogs followed close behind at the smell of the fish.