CHAPTEK V. 



COOK'S INLET AND ITS PEOPLE. 



Cook's "Great River."— The Tide-rips, and their Power in Cook's Inlet. — 

 The Impressive Mountains of the Inlet. — The Glaciers of Tiirnagain Canal. 

 — Old Russian Settlements. — Kenai Shore of the Inlet, the Garden-sjiot 

 of Alaska. — Its Climate best Suited to Civilized Settlement. — The Old 

 "Colonial Citizens'' of the Russian Company.— Small Shaggy Siberian 

 Cattle. — Burning Volcano of Ilyamna.— The Kenaitze Indians. — Their 

 Primitive, Simple Lives. — They are the Only Native Land-animal Hunt- 

 ers of Alaska. — Bears and Bear Roads. — Wild Animals seek Shelter in 

 Volcanic Districts. — Natives Afraid to Follow Them.— Kenaitze Archi- 

 tecture. — Sunshine in Cook's Inlet. — Splendid Salmon. — Waste of Fish 

 as Food by Natives. — The Pious Fishermen of Neelshik. — Russian Gold- 

 mining Enterprise on the Kaknoo, 1848-55. — Failure of our Miners to 

 Discover Paying Mines in this Section. 



That volcanic energy and amazing natural variation of the region 

 known as Cook's Inlet, and the Peninsula of Alaska, endow it 

 with a certain fascination which it is hard to adequately define 

 in words, and difficult to portray. The rugged, uninviting bold- 

 ness of the Kenai Mountains turn us abruj)tly, after our departure 

 at Noochek, to the southward, where, in an unbroken frowning- 

 cordon of one hundred and fifty miles in length, they bar us out 

 from the waters ef that striking estuary — the greatest on the north- 

 west coast, which is so well exhibited by the map to everybody as 

 Cook's Inlet. But it is known only in name — not by the faintest 

 appreciation, even, of its real character and of its strange belong- 

 ings. 



Two and three hundred miles still farther north than Sitka it 

 does not in itself present that increased wintry aspect at any season 

 of the year which would be most naturally looked for — but it does 

 offer, in j)hysical contour and phenomena, a most marked contrast 

 to the Alexander archipelago and its people. It is an exceedingly 

 dangerous and difficult arm of the sea to navigate, and prompts an 



