GLACIERS AND WOODED ISLANDS 281 



After the careful captain had crossed the smooth 

 bosom of Frederick Sound and entered again the nar- 

 rower waterways between the mainland and the islands 

 we felt oiu-selves especially fortunate in having no mist 

 to mar the view or cause anxiety for safety at Wrangell 

 Narrows, where the swift current treacherously endan- 

 gered many a ship and wrecked some on its reefs. It 

 had become the custom to go through it at slack water 

 and by day, but circumstances sometimes willed other- 

 wise, and many a vessel had to attempt it in the frequent 

 thick fogs. 



Wrangell, a town near the mouth of the Stikeen River, 

 was formerly an important post under the Russians but 

 had lost much of its affluence. Hundreds of gold-seekers 

 outfitted here in the days of the Klondike rush and went 

 up the Stikeen River, either to battle through the hard 

 mountainous country toward Dawson, or to find fresh 

 fields in the northwest corner of British Columbia. But 

 all that had long passed, and the rickety town had settled 

 to a smaller, though still profitable, occupation of fishing 

 and mining on a small scale. 



From Wrangell was the usual route for entering the 

 hunting country near the head of the Stikeen River. 

 Arri\'ing at Wrangell about the middle of August the 

 travelers would engage a motor boat and go three days 

 up the river to Telegraph Creek, thence making a trip 

 of thirty to thirty-five days in pursuit of moose, caribou, 

 grizzly bear, sheep and goats. 



Ketchikan, the port of entry for Alaska, is the center 

 of a considerable fishing industry, but to the ordinary 

 toiu-ist the numerous totem poles are of greater interest. 



A totem pole is the carved trunk of a tree set up m 

 front of an Indian's house to give his pedigree and family 



