REVELSTOKE 



4981 



REVENUE-CUTTER SERVICE 



a series of visions which are of such nature that 

 there is a wide difference of opinion about their 

 meaning, some modern scholars believing the 

 apocalypse to have been written for the pur- 

 pose of bringing together all the symbols of 

 the Old Testament and showing them in their 

 true relation. 



REVELSTOKE, rcv'elstokk, a city in the 

 southeastern part of British Columbia, popu- 

 larly called "the capital of Canada's Alps." It 

 lies at the foot of the western slope of the 

 Selkirk Mountains, and at the junction of the 

 Illecillewaet and the Columbia rivers. The 

 former, which has its source in the great glacier 

 of the same name, is not navigable, but the 

 Columbia is traversed by small steamers. Rev- 

 elstoke is also served by the main line of the 

 Canadian Pacific Railway and by a branch 

 which gives access to the Arrow and Kootenay 

 lakes region to the south. The city lies in the 

 northwest part of the Kootenay country, and 

 is about midway between the Grand Trunk 

 Pacific Railway on the north and the Crow's 

 Nest line of the Canadian Pacific on the south. 

 Calgary is 267 miles east by rail, and Van- 

 couver is 380 miles southwest. Population in 

 1911, 3,017; in 1916, about 4,000. 



Revelstoke has a large wholesale and retail 

 trade, especially in the near-by mining districts. 

 It has numerous manufacturing establishments, 

 including sawmills, a sash-and-door factory and 

 a cigar factory. It is also a railway division 

 point, and has the Canadian Pacific repair 

 shops. Since 1902 the city has owned and oper- 

 ated its waterworks and its electric light and 

 power plants. Attractive features are the 

 courthouse, completed in 1912 (seat of the 

 county court for West Kootenay), the General 

 Hospital, a splendid structure, and Columbia 

 Park, which has an area of thirty-nine acres. 

 From Revelstoke an automobile road runs to 

 Mount Revelstoke, whose summit, now re- 

 served as a national park, is a natural flower 

 garden of great beauty. Everywhere in the 

 v trinity there is magnificent scenery, and 

 abundant opportunity is afforded for hunting 

 with gun or camera. Revelstoke is also famous 

 for its sports fishing, boating, lacrosse and 

 other games in summer; >kiing, ice hockey and 

 sleighing in winter. The city was founded :m<l 

 incorporated in 1899, and was named in honor 

 of Edward Baring (1828-1897), first Baron 1 

 elstoke, and for many years head of the fan. 

 -h kinking firm of Baring Brothers. 



REVENUE-CUTTER SERVICE, an armed 

 maritime service of the United States. It has 



existed for over 125 years of the lifetime of the 

 republic and was the first naval service of the 

 Union, owing its establishment to Alexander 

 Hamilton, the first Secretary of the Treasury. 

 In January, 1915, the United States Coast 

 Guard was created by act of Congress, bringing 

 under one division two existing organizations, 

 the Revenue-Cutter Sen-ice and the Life-Sav- 

 ing Service (which see). Both operate under 

 the Treasury Department in time of peace, but 

 in time of war the Coast Guard becomes auto- 

 matically a part of the navy. 



Duties. The most important work of the 

 Revenue-Cutter Service is rendered in time of 

 peace, in the enforcement of statutes affecting 

 the country's interests at sea. This includes 

 customs, neutrality and quarantine laws; the 

 destruction of derelicts (boats which have been 

 abandoned), the suppression of mutiny, piracy 

 and illegal traffic in firearms; the inspection of 

 lighthouses and the examination of the condi- 

 tion and life-saving equipment of vessels. 



Certain cutters are detailed to coast-patrol 

 service from West Quaddy Head, Maine, to 

 Cape Fear, during the months between Decem- 

 ber and April, for the purpose of giving aid to 

 steamers in distress and of caring for the ship- 

 wrecked. Other boats in the service are re- 

 quired to patrol Alaskan waters from May to 

 December, to protect the seal fisheries, to res- 

 cue lost or wrecked seamen and to give medical 

 aid to the scattered inhabitants of the coast. 

 In these waters alone the service has rescued 

 hundreds of whalers who otherwise would have 

 perished. It is said that the revenue service 

 "blazed the way to Alaska," and for many years 

 after that possession was acquired, the cutters 

 were the only representatives of the authority 

 of the government in the waters north of Sitka. 



One vessel is detailed to give medical aid to 

 the fishing fleets of the North Atlantic, and by 

 an international agreement among the great 

 maritime nations, several cutters patrol the ice 

 fields of North America to guide and aid ships. 

 A number of cutters are assigned to service in 

 tin- Great Lakes during the navigation season 

 and others are detailed to harbor duty. The 

 officers of the service are required to inspect, 

 drill and discipline life-saving crews, and the 

 present efficiency of the Life-Saving Service is 

 largely dm- t., th, ,\,-, llmt training the men 

 B received. In 1917, after th< resolution 

 that a state of war existed between the United 

 States and Germany had been adopted, a num- 

 ber of revenue cutters were stationed along the 

 Atlantic coast to serve against submarines. 



