Alaska. — Muir. 291 
the northern part of the broad Rocky Mountain plateau, in com- 
pany with some of the affluents of the Mackenzie and Yukon. It 
flows first in a westerly direction, then curving southward enters 
the Coast range, and sweeps across it in a caiion that is about a 
hundred miles long, and like Yosemite valley from end to end. 
To the appreciative tourist sailing up the river the cafion is a 
gallery crowded with sublime and beautiful pictures, an unbroken 
series of ice-capped mountains, cliffs, waterfalls, lovely gardens, 
groves, meadows, etc. ; while the glaciers pushing forward 
through the trees vastly enhance its wildness and glory. 
Another interesting excursion may be made from Wrangel to 
the deserted village of the Stikeens. The moss-grown ruins are 
picturesque, and surprisingly massive and substantial considered 
as the work of Indians. Some of the wall planks are two and 
three feet wide, six inches thick, and forty feet long; while the 
carved timbers that support the ridge poles, and the strange 
totem poles, display marvelous specimens of savage art. A few 
good specimens may also be seen at Wrangel. Similar monu- 
ments are made by all the tribes of the archipelago. Those of 
the Haidahs surpass all others in size and workmanship. 
While the Cassiar gold mines were being developed, Wrangel 
was the most important town in the territory, but Juneau is now 
the chief mining center. Nearly all the gold of Alaska is still in 
the ground. Probably not one of a thousand of its veins and 
placers has been yet touched. The color of gold may be found 
in almost every stream, and hardy prospectors are seeking their 
fortunes in every direction. Many have already made their wa}' 
into the vast region drained by the Yukon, and the developments 
thus far show that this nortliern portion of the gold belt of the 
continent is at least moderately rich, and mining may safely be 
regarded as one of the chief resources of the territory. 
From Wrangel the steamer goes up the coast to the Taku 
glacier and Juneau. After passing through the picturesque 
Wrangel narrows you may notice a few icebergs, the first to be 
seen on the trip. They come from a large glacier at the head of 
a wild fiord near the mouth of the Stikecn. When I explored it 
eleven j^ears ago I found difficult}^ in forcing a way up the front 
through ten or twelve miles of icebergs. M}' Indians told me 
they called this fiord "Ilultl," or Thunder bay, from the noise 
made by the discharge of the ice. This, as far as I know, is the 
