Weather pleasant and cool. It was rather rough last night, 
Aug. 23d passing through Queen Charlotte Sound, so the dining-room 
was not well patronized. 
Stopped at Ketchikan, Alaska, about one this afternoon. 
Aug. 24th Were informed that a run of hump-back salmon was taking 
place a little way up the river. To one who has never wit¬ 
nessed a salmon-run this was a remarkable sight. So numer¬ 
ous the fish, it seemed one could literally walk over them, 
and for sake of the novelty, several of us went down to the 
bank, touching the salmon on their backs, as they swam past. 
A peculiar characteristic of a run of these fish,—a striking 
law of Nature,—is, that of all the fish running up a river, 
not a single one ever returns. 
After a couple of hours’ stop, the steamer proceeded on 
her course, arriving at Wrangle at io P. M. Here every 
one went to the Wrangle Hotel; a well-kept place, meals 
very good, and linen as clean as could be desired. We were 
informed that the Hudson Bay Company boat by which all 
the sportsmen are to go up the Stickine River was in, await¬ 
ing the arrival of our Seattle steamer before proceeding on 
her way. 
Most of us “fooled around” town, a number going down 
Aug. 25th to inspect this Hudson Bay vessel, the Steamer Hazelton. 
She is an old “tub” of very light draft; but all of us are so 
anxious to get up the river that no one cares what she is 
like, just so long as she floats! The Captain notified us to 
be on hand about io A. M. to-morrow. 
This afternoon Dalgish, Little and I walked several miles 
from Wrangle to a salmon-cannery. This was a very inter¬ 
esting visit. The work is done under contract by Chinamen, 
and we were greatly impressed with the rapidity with which 
these fellows perform their several duties. The capacity of 
this cannery is 80,000 cans per annum, 48 cans being packed 
in each case. 
Ten A. M. found us aboard the Hazelton. Owing to the 
Aug. 26th low stage of the river, the Captain did not deem it advisable 
to load down the boat over thirty-two inches; so that we 
were forced to leave quite a lot of lumber behind. 
Most of the town of Wrangle was on the wharf to see us 
off, and everybody wished the Captain good luck and a suc¬ 
cessful trip. One old “sour-dough” called up to him and said: 
[170] 
