




















































A Prospecting, 
returning from Nome in 1901, greatly 
N 
enriched in healt 
pocket, I looked 
1 and strength if not in 
for another field to op- 
erate in; one not run over and hurriedly staked, 
where a late-comer stands a poor chance, but a 
new and virgin part where one could prospect 
and work uncrowded by the hordes of che-cha- 

picked out a 
place on the map which seemed to be in the gold- 
coes, or tenderfeet. I therefore 
bearing region, but was as yet unexplored, and 
I got together two men, who, like myself, wanted 
to to a 
go new country and who agreed to be 
my One 
build, 
other a strong young fellow who was 
to but 
from a grain of sand or a goldpan from a wash 
pan, 
artners was a middle-aged man of 
I § 
small, wiry experienced Alaskan mi- 
the 
anx10us 
an 
Der. 
did not know a “color” 
fore 
gO, 
very 
After having decided to go, we procured our 
season’s 
te ols, 
supply of provisions, necessary clothing, 
tent, etc., as well as a rifle and shotgun, 
with 200 rounds of ammunition for each, and had 
these packed and delivered on the wharf, bade 
good-bye to our friends, and went on board the 
good steamer Excelsior, which sailed from Seat- 
tle, Washington, May 25, 1oor. 
Our course first took us up through the inside 
passage; where for over 1,000 miles we were in 
smoot 
the 
could 
short 
1, calm waters, unruffled by the storms of 
ocean, and where even the swells 
felt, 
ime in crossing the entrance of some pa 
ocean 
be very seldom and then only for a 
n 
wn 
leading out through the islands to the Pacific 
beyond. 
Going up this passage reminds one of sailing 
up some 
nel varies 
it narrows 
could easi 

arge river, as the width of the chan- 
but little for the first 600 miles, then 
and places a 
y be thrown on the land on either side 
down in some stone 
from the steamer’s deck; and again widening out. 
It is almost impossible not to believe you are in 
some 

mountain lake, as the channels 
are very 
crooked and entirely hidden by points of land. 
The of 
stands deck 
nature’s 
with 
most unardent lover beauty 
for mouth 
hours on the open 
and staring eyes, drinking in such sublime sights 
as are spread before him and wondering why 
such magnificent pictures of nature are placed so 
far away, and consequently, denied to so many. 
The mountains straight up from the 
water’s edge thousands of feet high, and with 
rise 
their rough, jagged tops covered with eternal snow 
(3 SPORTSMAN TOURIST | 
Shooting and Fishing Journey to Alaska 
By S. H. CARTER 
and their bases clothed in green fir, spruce and 
hemlock The mountains are especially 
beautiful when the sun is setting, throwing its 
trees, 
last rays on their white summits, which stand 
out against the pink-tinted sky, looking like col- 
umns of marble basking in a flood of light from 
millions of rainbows and standing 
of dark 
Numerous little va 
on pedestals 
it ever to be 
I remembered. 
ys come down 
i 
| between the 
mountains and often from the steamer you can 
see miles up the streams in them and note their 
winding courses between the green foot-hills and 
see innumerable waterfalls, which in many places 
green—a sig 
lle 
are over 200 feet high, the water leaping straight 
from the snow line over some precipice to a 
ledge beneath, where it tumbles along and seems 
to gather breath for another and greater leap, 
and so keeps tumbling along until it makes its 
last plunge into the stream below. 
In some places the valleys can be traced to 
where they head in some great niche in a lofty 
peak and a small river can be plainly seen leap- 
ing down in beautiful cascades and forming the 
main stream, and side of the narrow 
valley dozens of other falls coming from the 
melting snow, and all seem to be racing to join 
the main stream, to be finally churned into foam 
through some steep, rocky cajfion. 
We passed many little Indian villages nestled 
in picturesque coves at the edge of the water, 
and at evening the women were seen standing 
or squatting beside small fires, staring at the 
steamer, which is a source of wonder to them, 
until she goes out of sight, regardless of the 
baking clams getting burnt or the venison steak 
going in smoke. 
on each 
The men were usually seen 
paddling idly about in their cedar dugouts, some 
of which are large enough to carry forty persons, 
all are painted 
usually representing 
and fantastic colors, 
fish 
in bright 
some curious or sea 
animal. 
Several small mining towns were passed, but 
most of them were deserted, as they were built 
during the first of the gold excitement when 
some small ledge of quartz was discovered and 
the excited people flocked in, built a town, 
planned colossal enterprises only to find their 
visions a mere delusion and leave for other quart- 
ers, the deserted buildings alone reminding one 
of a white man ever being in the country. 
At one place, however, quite a good 
prospects were being worked with fair 
many 
success 


and Ketchican, the mining camp, was a very 
busy, thriving little place, and several saw mills 
and wharfs showed that its inhabitants were in 
earnest and had confidence in their camp. 
At the Indian villages at Sitka, Wrangle and 
several other places, the numerous totem poles |. 
show wonderful carving art for such ignorant 
people, and are the objects of the greatest 
curiosity. 
Every tribe or family has its totem and can| 
usually tell the name of the tribe by the figures 
carved on the pole, generally some fish, bird or 
animal painted in bright colors. One head man 
of a tribe alone does the carving from a cedar 
or fir log thirty to fifty feet high and four to 
six feet in diameter at the lower end. With his 
crude tools he generally spends a lifetime carving 
away, and most of these Indians live to be very 
old. If he does not finish it his oldest son takes 
up the work; he, too, spends his life carving | 
away, and thus they keep on until it is finished, | 
frequently taking several generations. From then 
on it is the shield or crest of that tribe, and 
they defend it with their lives if necessary. Fre- 
quently bloody wars take place between tribes, who, 
losing their totems through fire or some other 
cause, try to take away their neighbors’ pole by 
force. About two years ago the Bear and Crow 
tribes got into a war over their totems, but were 
separated by the civil authorities and peace was 
restored. Last spring, at a big pow-pow between 
all the tribes, they decided to adopt the Stars 
and Stripes as their emblem, live in peace with 
each other and discard the totem, their former 
symbol of patriotism. 
be carved, and as is always the way with such 
ancient objects and valuable relics of the native 
inhabitants of our country, they will soon be 
taken away, burnt or destroyed by ruthless white 
men who see no beauty or interest in such relics 
of a fast disappearing people. 
After four days’ voyage through this wonder- 
ful passage we went out through Icy Straits and 
Cross Sound, crossing the entrance of Glacier 
Bay, where the noted Muir Glacier is located, 
into the Pacific, and steamed northwest across 
the Gulf of Alaska toward Kayak Island. The 
second day out dawned beautiful and clear and 
we were only fifty miles from land. Here we 
saw the world’s greatest scenery of ice moun- 
tains. As far north and south as the eye could 
reach, peak after peak of the grand old Rockies 








































































































So no more totems will | 






