Travels in Alaska 



mined to get into the heart of it somehow or other 

 with a bag of hardtack, trusting to my usual good 

 luck. My present difficulty was in finding a first base 

 camp. My only hope was on the hill. When I was 

 strolling past the old fort I happened to meet one of 

 the missionaries, who kindly asked me where I was 

 going to take up my quarters. 



"I don't know," I replied. "I have not been able 

 to find quarters of any sort. The top of that little hill 

 over there seems the only possible place." 



He then explained that every room in the mission 

 house was full, but he thought I might obtain leave 

 to spread my blanket in a carpenter-shop belonging to 

 the mission. Thanking him, I ran down to the sloppy 

 wharf for my little bundle of baggage, laid it on the 

 shop floor, and felt glad and snug among the dry, 

 sweet-smelling shavings. 



The carpenter was at work on a new Presbyterian 

 mission building, and when he came in I explained 

 that Dr. Jackson 1 had suggested that I might be al- 

 lowed to sleep on the floor, and after I assured him 

 that I would not touch his tools or be in his way, he 

 goodnaturedly gave me the freedom of the shop and 

 also of his small private side room where I would find 

 a wash-basin. 



I was here only one night, however, for Mr. Van- 

 derbilt, a merchant, who with his family occupied the 

 best house in the fort, hearing that one of the late 



1 Dr. Sheldon Jackson, 1834-1909, became Superintendent of Pres- 

 byterian Missions in Alaska in 1877, and United States General Agent 

 of Education in 1885. [W. F. B.] 



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