CHAPTER II. 



FEATURES OF THE SITKAN REGION. 



The Vast Area of Alaska. — Difficulty of Comjiarison, and Access to lier Shores 

 save in the Small Area of the Sitkan Region. — Many Americans as Officers 

 of the Government, Merchants, Traders Miners, etc., who have Visited 

 Alaska during the last Eighteen Years. — Full Understanding of Alaskan 

 Life and Resources now on Record.- — Beautiful and Extraordinary Features 

 of the Sitkan Archipelago. — The Decaying Town of Wrangel.— The 

 Wonderful Glaciers of this Region. — The Tides, Currents and Winds. — 

 The Forests and Vegetation Omnipresent in this Land-locked Archiijelago. 

 — Indigenous Berries. — Gloomy Grandeur of the Canons. — The Sitkan 

 Climate. — Neither Cold nor Warm. — Excessive Humidity. — Stickeen Gold 

 Excitement of 1862 and 1875. — The Decay of Cassiar. — The Picturesque 

 Bay of Sitka. — The Romance and Terror of Baranov's Establishment there 

 in 1800-1805.— The Russian Life and Industries at Sitka.— The Contrast 

 between Russian Sitka and American Sitka a Striking One. 



" For hot, cold, moist and dry, four champions fierce 

 Strive here for mastery." — Milton. 



The general contour of Alaska is correctly rendered on any and 

 all charts published to-day ; but it is usually drawn to a very much 

 reduced scale and tucked away into a corner of a large conven- 

 tional map of the United States and Territories, so that it fails, 

 in this manner, to give an adequate idea of its real i5roj)ortion — 

 and does not commonly impress the eye and mind, as it ought to, 

 at first sight. But a moment's thoughtful observation shows the 

 vast landed extent between that extreme western point of Attoo 

 Island in the Occident, and the boundaiy near Fort Simpson in the 

 orient, to be over 2,000 miles ; while from this Alaskan initial post 

 at Simpson to Point Barrow, in the arctic, it covers the limit of 

 1,200 geographical miiles.* The superficial magnitude of this region 



* The superficial area of Alaska is 512,000 square miles ; or, in round 

 numbers, just one sixth of the entire extent of the United States and Terri- 

 tories. Population in 1880: Whites, 430; Creole, 1,756; Eskimo, 17,617; 

 Aleut, 2,145; Athabascan, 3,937 ; Thlinket, 6,703— total, 33,426. 



