APPENDIX A. 



THE ITINERARY FOR 1895. 



By William Hamilton, Assistant Agent of Education. 



Bureau of Education, Alaska Division, 



WasJdngton, D. C, December SI, 1895. 



Dear Sir: Iu accordance with your instructions I left Wasliiugton 

 on April 15, arriving at Tacoma six days later. Here I took passage 

 for Sitka on the Pacilic Coast Steamship Company's vessel City of 

 Topeka. The low rates to Alaska during the present season, the alleged 

 rapid development of the gold mines in the Yukon region, and tlie 

 unusually hard times on the Pacific Coast are greatly encouraging 

 immigration to Alaska. The City of Topela was crowded from stem 

 to stern with all sorts and conditions of men; every berth was occu- 

 pied, and at night the tables in the dining saloon were covered with 

 long rows of slumbering humanity. 



Soon after crossing the line between British Columbia and Alaska 

 the steamer touched at Metlakahtla, the home of Mr. Duncan's colony 

 of Christianized Timpseaus. There are about 100 neat frame houses 

 in the village, a large church and schoolhouse, the boys and the girls' 

 boarding home, Mr. Duncan's residence and oftice, the cannery, saw- 

 mill, and the store. The church is complete with belfry, spire, vesti- 

 bule, gallery, and pulpit carved by hand, all native handiwork. The 

 salmon cannery ships about 8,000 cases each year, and the sawmill 

 suj)plies all the lumber needed. Sidewalks in excellejit condition, 10 

 feet wide, extend along the principal street of the village. A con- 

 spicuous object is a platform built on a huge cedar stump, where tne 

 native band plays on steamer days. As the steamer arrived late in the 

 evening and left at 4 o'clock the next morning, I regret that 1 did not 

 see the school in session. 



The next place of interest at which the steamer stopped was Fort 

 Wrangell. In the days when the Cassiar gold mines at the head of the 

 Stikine Kiver were in their glory, and when the barracks were occupied 

 by United States troops, a tide of motley life swept through the long- 

 street which extends along the water front from the fort to the chief's 

 house. In 1877 the Government withdrew its troops from all posts in 

 Alaska, the mining regions of the Stikine have been abandoned, and 

 the only indication of the industiy of civilization is the frequent puffs 

 of steam issuing from the large sawmill. 



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