IN GREEN ALASKA 



LYNN CANAL AND SKAGWAY 



All the afternoon we steamed up Lynn Canal over 

 broad, placid waters, shut in by dark smooth-based 

 mountains that end in bare serrated peaks. Glaciers 

 became more and more numerous ; one on our right 

 hung high on the brink of a sheer, naked precipice, 

 as if drawing back from the fearful plunge. But 

 plunge it did not and probably never will. 



We were soon in sight of a much larger glacier, the 

 Davidson, on our left. It flows out of a deep gorge 

 and almost reaches the inlet. Seen from afar it sug- 

 gests the side view of a huge white foot with its toe 

 pressing a dark line of forest into the sea. 



Before sunset we : cached Skagway and landed at 

 the long, liigh pier (the tides here are sixteen or eigh- 

 teen feet). The pier was swarming with people. Such 

 a gathering and such curiosity and alertness we had 

 not before seen. Hotel runners flourished their cards 

 and called out the names of their various hostelries 

 before we had touched the dock. Boys greeted us 

 with shouts and comments; women and girls, some 

 of them in bicycle suits, pushed to the front and 

 gazed intently at the strangers. All seemed to be ex- 

 pecting something, friends or news, or some sensa- 

 tional occurrence. No sooner had we touched than 

 the boys swarmed in upon us like ants and began to 

 explore the ship, and were as promptly swept ashore 

 again. Skagway is barely two years old. Born of the 



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