36 HUNTING IN THE ARCTIC 



by gradually decaying at the mercy of the weather. The 

 policy adopted by this Company in its business dealings 

 seemed to be that of exacting all that the traffic would 

 stand. Numerous complaints reached us of the extor- 

 tionate charges, of tyrannical methods in dealing with 

 people who fought its poHcy. The stories were similar 

 to those told us about the White Pass and Yukon Route 

 on the upper reaches of the river. These two concerns 

 practically monopoHzed the trade of the interior of Alaska, 

 and for many years worked in harmony with each other, 

 but at this time were engaged in a bitter rate war, which 

 affected chiefly the part of the river between Dawson and 

 Fairbanks, where their lines overlapped. 



As an instance of extortion, Elting was asked in St. 

 Michael to pay the Northern Commercial Company three 

 dollars an hour for the services of one of its half-breed 

 carpenters to build a crate for his Arctic specimens. 



St. Michael proudly possessed the most northern 

 lighthouse in American territory, the nearest one being 

 about 700 miles farther south, at the entrance to Unimak 

 Pass, at the extreme western end of the Alaskan pen- 

 insula. 



Captain Larsson, the sailing master of the "Abler," 

 dearly loved to prolong his stays in port and not hurry 

 out to the high seas. It took several hours to get our 

 clearance papers. But eventually we weighed anchor 

 about 4.30 p. m. of a beautiful, calm, clear day, and 

 headed northeast to clear the harbor, and then west- 

 ward toward Providence Bay on the coast of Siberia. 

 The '' Abler 's" gasoline motor pushed us through the 

 water at a rate of six miles an hour, and the island and 

 town of St. Michael gradually faded away in the dis- 

 tance. Our course was laid in a straight line to Provi- 



