travels in Alaska 



to wait a month for the next steamer, and though I 

 would have liked to go again to Nature, the mountains 

 were locked for the winter and canoe excursions no 

 longer safe. 



So I shut myself up in a good garret alone to wait 

 and work. I was invited to live with Mr. Young but 

 concluded to prepare my own food and enjoy quiet 

 work. How grandly long the nights were and short 

 the days! At noon the sun seemed to be about an 

 hour high, the clouds colored like sunset. The 

 weather was rather stormy. North winds prevailed 

 for a week at a time, sending down the temperature 

 to near zero and chilling the vapor of the bay into 

 white reek, presenting a curious appearance as it 

 streamed forward on the wind, like combed wool. 

 At Sitka the minimum was eight degrees plus; at 

 Wrangell, near the storm-throat of the Stickeen, zero. 

 This is said to be the coldest weather ever experienced 

 in southeastern Alaska. 



