4S2 
[June 23, 1900. 
The Harriman Alaska Expedition. 
XIV. — Homeward Bound* 
The ship reached Dutch Harbor on its return July 17, 
and the same day, under a gray sky, sailed homeward. 
The scenery going eastward- from Unalaska is wonderfully 
beautiful. I'he distant mountains were snow-clad, but 
those rising steeply from the edge of the salt water were 
softly green, without timber or shrubs, and where land- 
slides have occurred, or where the rocks crop out, streaked 
with brown and white and gray and red and yellow. At 
the extremities of the points of bluff, running out to the 
water, curiously shaped pinnacles of rock show where 
the sea has eaten away all the blufif except some column of 
harder rock w;hich still stands a monument over the re- 
mains of its fellows, overwhelmed and buried beneath the 
salt waters, whose attacks never cease. 
The ship's course was through Akutan Pass. Going 
through this pass, great flocks of birds were seen on the 
port beam. They were chiefly puffins, murres, fulmars 
and perhaps some ducks, and were moving steadily for- 
ward, the last of the fliock flying over the others and 
alighting ahead of them, just as in the olden times wild 
pigeons used to do. In company with the birds were a 
dozen humpback whales, some very large, and at least two 
killer whales. All seemed to be feeding on something in 
the water, and while we watched them the food apparently 
disappeared, for the flock of birds broke up into small 
groups and soon dispersed over the sea. There must 
narrow riffle here could be seen the backs of thirty or 
forty salmon which were slowly working their way up 
the stream. In the deeper water above the riffle were 
visible fins of many others resting there, and every now 
and then the salt water below the stream's mouth would 
be stirred into foam by the motions of other fish waiting 
below, which were frightened by something that they 
saw. When we walked down into the water, one above 
and another below the fish, they rushed in all directions— 
up, down and to the sides of the stream. Some darted 
onto the gravel bars where the water was less than an 
inch deep, and it was astonishing to see a fish perhaps 
8 inches deep_ wriggling its way over an inch of water, 
and yet keeping right side up. In the deeper water 
above several pairs of salmon were spawning, and fresh 
spawning beds were everywhere abundant. Plenty, too, 
were the trout, which were feeding on the salmon eggs. 
It would have been easy to catch salmon with our hands. 
One of the young girls here went fishing for trout and 
caught six — her first. Some of them were Dolly Varden 
trout, the others black spotted. All were clean, silvery 
fish, just from the salt water. 
Among the fish which come from the river to feed on 
the salmon spawn are flatfish or flounders, and the men 
fishing for trout caught several of these; they are notice- 
able for the black and yellow scalloping of the lateral fin. 
On a cliff rising sheer from this bay, a pair of gyrfal- 
cons M'ere noticed, the first seen on the trip. They Iiad a 
nest there. 
It was nearlv 10 o'clock before the launch reached the 
ship, and the journey was resumed. An hour or two 
later, after it had become quite dark, there was a remark- 
able exhibition of phosphorescence in the water. The 
water immediately below the stern and for some little dis- 
tance in the ship's wake looked as if there was a fire at the 
oughly drenched, and were glad to get on board ship where 
dry things could be had. 
St. Paul, Kadiak Island, was reached the next morn- 
ing, July 20. This was the birthday of one of the young 
girls, and soon after breakfast many members of the 
party started out to gather flowers for the "party." Great, 
quantities of these were brought in, among them many 
bunches of very beautiful wild roses, some of which meas- 
ured 3 and inches across the flower. The table at 
luncheon was beautifully covered with these flowers. 
After a day spent here the ship started for Cook's In- 
let. The passage through which the ship moved on 
leaving the wharf at St. Paul is very narrow, and the 
shore seemed almost within arm's length. 
A very short stay was made in the neighborhood of 
Homer, at Cook's Inlet. The fact that the waters are 
uncharted, that the tide runs with immense swiftness, and 
rises and falls from 30 to 40 feet, made it appear unwise to 
take the great ship far into these waters. 
The next day, therefore, found us at sea, heading 
south to pass to the westward of Middleton Island, and 
then to go to Yakutat Bay, thus directly retracing our 
course. The sky was gray all day long, but there was no 
fog. A great albatross, sooty in color, followed the ship 
for a long time, coming so close that its species was de- 
termined. An attempt wqs made to catch it by trolling 
with hook and line, but though the bird stooped several 
times to the bait, the ship was going so fast that it did not 
seize it. 
It was about noon next day when the ship came in 
sight of Icy Cape. with the superb St. Elias Range stand- 
ing behind it. The mountains at first were covered with 
clouds, which later rose high, but still concealed the peaks. 
But Mt. Cook was seen, almost free from clouds, rising 
superb against the sky. South of it, the peak of Mt. 
Photo by E. S. Curtis. 
FAIRWEATHER RANGE AS SEEN FROM THE ELDER. 
Copyright. 1899, by E. H. Harriman. 
have been many thousands of birds. In the afteraoon a 
very heavy fog shut down, and the vessel's engines were 
slowed. At night the ship anchored on account of the 
fog. 
It was still foggy next morning, but the mist soon 
cleared, giving a bright sunny day, with a few clouds in 
the sky. We had started before the fog lifted, and soon 
after breakfast passed Belkofski, and continued east, with 
beautiful green hills on either hand, and the snow-covered 
mountains showing on the mainland. The green of the 
hills is of two shades, the paler being the open grass land, 
the darker the alder thickets. These two greens were 
constantly varying in tint and shade as the clouds cast 
shadows, or the bright sunlight fell on them. The rocks 
where they show are of all colors — grays, browns, reds 
and yellows. Where the volcanic rocks are exposed they 
often show successive flows of lava imposed one upon 
another, and in the great bare vertical rock faces the lava 
stands in vertical close-ranged columnar structure. Dur- 
ing the morning the Pavlot group of mountains came in 
view, impressive as always. The westernmost of the two 
principal peaks was smoking at the top, at two other 
points near the top on its western face and at various 
points low down among the alders. 
At Sand Point, Popof Island, a stop was made to take 
on the party left there ten days before, but three of the 
men had gone over to the mainland, and the ship steamed 
over there to pick them up. 
The scenery between Sand Point and the mainland was 
quite wonderful, and different from that which we had 
been seeing. The land was higher and the rounded grassy 
hills of the islands were more or less left behind, while 
vertical precipices and steep landslides interrupted the rich 
green of the hills. These bare rock exposures were vivid 
in color, reminding one more of the walls of the Grand 
Cation of the Yellowstone than anything yet seen. The 
rock is largely volcanic, and is often full of iron pyrites, 
sometimes in fine grains. These pyrites, oxidizing, give 
the wonderful color, which is startlingly beautiful in con- 
trast with the rich green. In several places to the_ west- 
ward there are whole hills and even ranges of hills so 
colored. 
About 5 o'clock the ship anchored ia what the Indians 
call Chicago Bay, and a small party going ashore in a 
launch found the camp, and later brought off the men. 
They had seen no game, but had had great trout fishing, 
for these fish were just following up the salmon which 
were running and spawning in the small river at the head 
of the bay. One individual caught ninety-nine trout in 
one day. Some of us walked around a gravelly point to 
within sight of one of the mouths of the river, which, 
tiroiugh ^ wjfje grassy jpeanj.ow, raji down to the s&a. In a 
bottom of the sea shining up from beneath, and a long 
wake of white light stretched out far behind the ship. The 
effect was somewhat is if there had been a great window in 
the ship's stern through which the beams of a brilliant 
arc light shone out over the water, and yet this light was 
not steady, but seemed to come up as if in flame bursts 
from the depths of the sea. Besides this, the water 
churned up by the propeller seemed to be full of shooting 
stars, each as brilliant as a bright planet, which darted in 
all directions, shone for a moment and then disappeared. 
These bright points of light had all an apparent motion 
away from us, due to the forward motion of the ship. 
The next morning when we rose land was hardly to be 
seen, except to the north, for the ship was half-way be- 
tween the Semidi Islands and Kadiak. During the morn- 
ing only distant hills were seen. In the afternoon fog 
set in and the ship slowed down, for now it was again 
among rocks and islands. About 6 o'clock the ship an- 
chored at the mouth of Sturgeon Bay, west of Karluk, and 
after dinner parties went ashore. The mouth of the river 
is barred by a huge gravel bar, far above tide water, and 
on and in this gravel was a vast quantity of driftwood. 
Behind the bar lies a great lagoon, and the river escapes 
by a narrow, shallow channel through the east end. 
Two or three of the party walked around the lagoon and 
up the bay for two miles, hoping to find a stream up which 
the salmon were running. To the west of the lagoon was 
a wide flat overgrown with grass reaching up to one's 
waist, and long, long ago some very high tide had covered 
this fiat with driftwood. The great logs still lie there, 
buried in the grass and rotting. The thick mat of dead 
grass and the rotten logs made the walking difficult and 
slow. 
A mile or more above the beach a furrow in the sand at 
the margin of the bay showed where some one had been 
gathering wood, and further along the tracks of a man 
were seen in the sand. Signs of people became more and 
more numerous, and at length, as a point was rounded, 
some drying scaffolds with fish hanging on them came in 
view, and then two barabaras with their owners standing 
in front of them. The men Avere Aleuts who had been 
catching dog salmon. These, after having been split and 
the heads and backbones removed, were hung over the 
sticks. The natives were pleasant and quite disoosed to 
be talkative. They gave one of the party a light for his 
nipe, manifested some interest as to where the strangers 
had come from, and said that salmon were plenty, but 
that there were no bears. 
It had been raining ever since the party landed, and 
those who remained on the beach had started huge fires of 
driftwood, about which ttipv 'were, warm and comfortable. 
Those who had been walking, howeyer, Wfrc prptlv thnr^ 
Vancouver showed above the clouds, and to the northeast 
of Cook, in the hazy distance, seen through a wide gap in 
the range nearest the coast, was a giant mountain, which 
was perhaps Mt. Owen. Still further to the north was 
the enormous mass of Mt. St. Elias, whose peak was 
still hidden. The sky was constantly changing, and later 
still the peak was seen, the clouds now hanging over its 
sides, and to the right of it— that is to the south— a clear 
view was had of another mountain, supposed to be Mt. 
Augustine. All the nearer mountains of the coast range 
were plainly seen, lined with snow in the ravines, and 
standing up like walls, down which flow many glacers, 
which combine to form the Malaspina, or flow into 
Yakutat Bay. The Malaspina glacier is seventy mile" 
long, and has an area of not far from one thousand squa e 
miles. Most of its border to the eastward is moraine, a.id 
in many places this moraine is covered with forests. The 
glacier flows down from the St. Elias Range, and over it 
have passed the parties who have tried to climb Mt. St. 
Elias. 
Crossing Yakutat Bay the ship stopped before the vil- 
lage, since shaken by earthquakes, and a dozen or more 
canoes came out to sell things. Later we steamed on 
up the bay and across to the old hunting camp, and a 
party started to land for a short hunt. It was late before 
the start was made, there was a great deal of swell, and 
the surf was breaking hard upon the beach. In the dark- 
ness it was found impracticable to make a landing, and 
the attempt was given up and the launch returned to the 
ship. Very early next morning the vessel steamed away 
to Cross Sound, following the shore, but at a good dis- 
tance from it. A superb view was had of the top of Mt. 
St. Elias, rising above the clouds that lay about its 
base, and seeming to hang unsupported in the heavens. 
When the ship was well outside the bav, the distant 
Fairweather Range appeared. At first the mountains 
could not be distinguished , one from another, but as we 
approached they grew plainer to the view, for the sky 
was cloudless. A heavy bank of mist which hung over 
Yakutat Bay gradually grew lighter, and presently through 
a rift we could see, far astern, a portion of Mt. Cook, 
touched by the early sun. About St. Elias the clouds 
were rising, so as finally to obscure its head. The moun- 
tains abeam, though not very high, were rough and 
jagged, snowcapped, and between them glaciers ran 
down to the sea. Now and then through some wider 
gap the great mass of Mt. A^ancouver showed white 
everywhere except for one dark spot where there was a 
great cliff bare of snow. 
Looking back tb^re a^nearcd over thp dark grav cJoud'^ 
which conce,iled St. Elias a tinv white cloud, which 
Jooked like- bit ('''Unn. as it aYiT^; watched it grew 
