ALASKA. 



13 



and lasts during nearly the whole summer. 

 Cranberries are plentiful, and of excellent 

 quality. The potatoes are small and watery ; 

 cabbages will not generally head, while toma- 

 toes and peas do not thrive. Corn, wheat, 

 barley, oats, and such grains, will not ripen, 

 as there is too little sunshine and too much 

 rain. 



During this year Alaska has been visited by 

 two distinguished observers, the accounts of 

 whose observations materially differ. One of 

 these, William H. Seward, arrived at Alaska 

 in August, by way of the Portland Canal, 

 passed through the Prince of Wales Arch- 

 ipelago, Peril, and Chatham Straits, and Lynn 

 Channel, up the Chilcat River to the base of 

 Mount Fairweather, thence returning through 

 Clarence Straits to Sitka. According to his 

 account, given in a speech at Sitka in Au- 

 gust, the skies were bright and serene, and, 

 during his visit, there were more clear than 

 cloudy days. The scenery of the southwestern 

 coast was fall of grandeur. The Coast Range 

 of mountains, which begins in Mexico, is con- 

 tinued into the territory and "invades the 

 seas of Alaska, rising to an exalted height, and 

 clothed with eternal snow and crystalline gla- 

 ciers." The plains between the mountains, 

 as well as the sides of the mountains them- 

 selves, almost to their summits, are covered 

 with forests so dark and dense as to be im- 

 penetrable, except to wild beasts and savage 

 huntsmen. On the lowest intervale cotton- 

 wood grows. The birch-tree sometimes ap- 

 pears upon the river-side, upon the level above 

 the cotton-wood, and is generally found a 

 comely and stately tree. The forests of Alaska 

 consist mainly of the pine, the cedar, the cy- 



Eress, the spruce, the fir, the larch, and the 

 emlock. These forests begin almost at the 

 water's edge, and they rise with regular gra- 

 dation to a height of two thousand feet. The 

 cedar, sometimes called the yellow cedar, on 

 the coasts of the islands and rivers, attains an 

 immense growth both in height and circum- 

 ference. The cultivation of gardens, fields, 

 and meadows, has been attempted by natives 

 and soldiers with most encouraging results. 

 The native grasses preserve their nutritive 

 properties, and the climate is so mild that cat- 

 tle and horses require but slight provision of 

 shelter during the winter. There is reason to 

 believe that, beyond the Coast Range of moun- 

 tains in Alaska, there is an extension of the 

 rich and habitable valley-lands of Oregon, 

 Washington Territory, and British Columbia. 



In regard to the acimal productions of the 

 forests, he says the elk and deer are so plenty 

 as to be undervalued for food or skins by both 

 natives and strangers. The bear of many fam- 

 ilies, black,, grizzly, and cinnamon ; the moun- 

 tain-sheep, inestimable for his fleece ; the wolf, 

 the fox, the beaver, the otter, the mink, the 

 raccoon, the marten, the ermine, the squirrel, 

 gray, black, brown, and flying, are among the 

 land fur-bearing animals. The furs thus found 



here have been the chief element for more 

 than a century of the profitable commerce of 

 the Hudson Bay Company. This fur-trade, 

 together with the sea fur-trade within the Ter- 

 ritory, was the sole basis of Eussian commerce, 

 and the present supply of furs in Alaska is not 

 diminished. It has not yet been proved that 

 the supply of ice may be made a source of 

 wealth, since it is obtained chiefly upon the 

 small lakes and ponds ; and it is not yet ascer- 

 tained that glacier ice is pure, and practical for, 

 commerce. The range of hills, nearly two 

 thousand feet high and thirty miles long, ex- 

 tending along the Chilcat River, abounds in 

 iron, while limestone and marble crop out on 

 the banks of the same river, and in many other 

 places. Coal-beds, accessible to navigation, 

 are found on Kootznoo, but the concentrated 

 resin in the coal renders it too inflammable to 

 be used by steamers. What seems to be ex- 

 cellent cannel-coal is also found in the Prince 

 of Wales Archipelago. 



The natives are the only laborers at present 

 in the Territory, the whites going there as 

 traders and soldiers. Considering how greatly 

 most of the tribes are reduced in numbers, and 

 how precarious their vocations are, they are 

 neither indolent nor incapable, but they are 

 vigorous, energetic, docile, and gentle in their 

 intercourse with the whites. The Indian tribes 

 here must do as they have done in Washington 

 Territory and British Columbia retreat before 

 the advance of civilization. The citizens of 

 Sitka are the pioneers the future population 

 of Alaska. The resources of the Territory, its 

 singularly-salubrious climate, and sublime sce- 

 nery, must attract immigrants from our own 

 States, Europe, and Asia. Such is Alaska, as 

 seen by the ex-Secretary of State of the United 

 States. 



The other account is by General George H. 

 Thomas, the commander of the military dis- 

 trict of the United States which embraces 

 Alaska. His report of his observations in this 

 Territory was made to the War Department, 

 and dated at San Francisco on the 27th of Sep- 

 tember. On the 22d of July he reached Sitka, 

 formerly the headquarters of the Russian- 

 American Fur Company, now the military 

 headquarters of the Territory. According to 

 General Thomas's report, the Indians are 

 treacherous, warlike, and, until recently, dis- 

 contented with the change of governments. 

 It will be necessary, he thinks, to maintain a 

 large garrison at Sitka to protect the traders 

 from Indians, and to preserve order and good 

 behavior among the whites and half-breeds. 



General Thomas left Sitka on the 25th of 

 July, and arrived at Kenay, about one hun- 

 dred miles up Cook's Inlet, on the 30th. This 

 is the old Russian- American trading-post of 

 St. Nicholas, and is now occupied by one com- 

 pany of artillery. There is a village of Aleuts, 

 numbering about two hundred, near by; an- 

 other small village, a few. miles below; and a 

 settlement of some half-dozen Russian families 



