72 OUR ARCTIC PROVINCE. 



When the whalemen saw the summit of that snow-clad peak un- 

 veiled by clouds they were sure of fair weather for several consec- 

 utive days afterward, hence the name. Early one June morning 

 Captain Baker, of the Reliance, called the author up to see a moun- 

 tain which was sharply denned in the warm> hazy glow of the dawn- 

 ing sunrise on the horizon there, bearing N.N.E.,* was the image 

 of Mount Fairweather, just as clear cut as a cameo, and lofty as 

 the ship's spars, though one hundred and thirty-five miles distant ! 

 Closely associated and fully as impressive and quite as high, was 

 the heavier form of the snowy Crillon. 



That long stretch of more than four hundred miles of bare Alas- 

 kan coast, between Prince William's Sound and Cape Spencer, which 

 stands at the northern entrance to the Sitkan waters, is one that 

 sustains very little human or animal life, and is so rough and is so 

 bleak, that from September until May it is feared and avoided by 

 the hardiest navigator. The flanks of Mounts Fairweather and Cril- 

 lon rise boldly from the ocean at their western feet, and this sheer- 

 ness of elevation undoubtedly gives them that effect of cloud-com- 

 pelling, which does not lose its awe-inspiring power even when 

 a hundred miles away. To the northward and westward of Fair- 

 weather, however, the alpine range which it dominates abruptly 

 sets back from the coast some forty or fifty miles, then turns about 

 and faces the sea in an irregular, lofty half-moon of more than three 

 hundred miles in length. A low table-land, or rolling shelf, is ex- 

 tended at its base, intervening between the mountains and the wash 

 of the Pacific. It is timbered with spruce quite thickly, and re- 

 ported by the Indians to be the best berrying ground in all Alaska. 



The Fairweather shore is a steep, woody one, much indented 

 with roadstead coves or bays ; the coast line is hilly and uneven, 

 with some rocks and rocky islets scattered along not far out from 

 the surf. The sand-beaches which extend from Fairweather toward 

 the feet of those under St. Elias are remarkably broad and exten- 

 sive ; so much so that, from the ship's mast-head, large lagoons 

 within the outer swell of the open ocean are frequently seen. 

 These beach-locked estuaries communicate with the ocean by shal- 



* Tuesday, June 13, 1874. It did not seem possible at first that the officer's 

 observations were accurate, but the captain verified the ship's position anew, 

 and confirmed the correctness of Lieutenant Glover's entry and sights : ' ' bear 

 ing N.N.E., 135 m." 



