Aboriginal Dwellings.—Mastodons in Alaska.—Few Old People alive.—Abundance of Rain.—The Wonderful Treadwell Gold Mine.—Largest Quartz Crushing Mill in the World.—Inexhaustible Riches.—Other Gold Mines.—The Great Davidson Glacier.—Pyramid Harbor.—Native Frauds.—The Chilcats.—Mammoth Bear.—Salmon Canneries.

In some portions of the country the aboriginal dwellings are constructed partly under ground; this is especially the case in the far north among the Eskimos proper, on the coast of the Polar Sea. Such cabins are entered by a tunnel ten feet long, so low and small as to compel the occupants to creep upon their hands and knees in passing through it. The tunnel-entrance, which always faces the most favorable point, is covered with a rude shed to protect it from the snow and the severity of the weather. The cabins are conical in form, covered with turf and mud, a hole being left at the top to permit the smoke to escape. The fire is built in the middle of the apartment on the ground. Around the space left for this purpose is a platform of a few inches in height arranged for living and sleeping upon. At night, in extreme cold weather, a flap of skins is so arranged that it can be drawn over the opening in the roof which serves as a chimney, and thus, the entrance being also closed, the occupants become hermetically sealed, as it were, thoroughly outraging all our modern ideas of ventilation. Twelve or fifteen persons are often found together in such a cabin with its one room, where the decencies of life are utterly ignored, and where the stench to civilized nostrils is really something dreadful to encounter.

This description refers to the winter homes of the people, where they hibernate like some species of wild animals, but for the milder portion of the year the Eskimos are nomadic, traveling hither and thither, seeking the most favorable locations for hunting and fishing, while living in rudely constructed camps. They use tents adapted for this itinerant life, made from prepared walrus hides supported by a light framework of wooden poles. The more thrifty supply themselves with canvas tents bought of the whites, as being handier for use and transportation.

Speaking of the interior of the country, we have the authority of Mr. C. F. Fowler, late agent of the Alaska Fur Company, and long resident in the country, and of Ex-Governor Swineford, both of whom have carefully investigated the subject, for stating that there exists a huge species of animals, believed to be representatives of the supposed extinct mammoth, found in herds not far from the headwaters of the Snake River, on the interior plateaus of Alaska. The natives call them “big-teeth” because of the size of their ivory tusks. Some of these, weighing over two hundred pounds each, were from animals so lately killed as to still have flesh upon them, and were purchased by Mr. Fowler, who brought them to the coast. These mammoths are represented to average twenty feet in height and over thirty feet in length, in many respects resembling elephants, the body being covered with long, coarse, reddish hairs. The eyes are larger, the ears smaller, and the trunk longer and more slender than those of the average elephant. The two tusks which Mr. Fowler brought away with him each measured fifteen feet in length.

The author has almost universally found among savage races at least a few very old people of both sexes, who were apparently revered and carefully provided for by their descendants and associates, but here among the aborigines aged persons are certainly not often to be seen. Whether it is that, hardy and robust as they generally appear to be, they do not, as a rule, live to advanced years, or that a summary method is adopted to get rid of them after they have outlived their usefulness, it is impossible to say. We were told that such is certainly the case with some of the tribes farthest from the influence and supervision of the whites, and that half a century ago the extremely old, being considered useless, were frequently “disposed” of. It is clear enough that there is nothing in the climate of this region in any way inimical to health and longevity.

The women of the Takou district are very expert and industrious. They occupy a large portion of their time in weaving baskets of split cedar, far exceeding any similar Indian work which we have chanced to see elsewhere, both in the coloring and the very ingenious combination of figures. Some of these baskets are so closely woven out of the dried inner bark of the willow-tree that they will hold water without leaking; the author also saw drinking-cups thus manufactured. Visitors rarely fail to bring away interesting specimens of native work in this particular line; the fine straw goods of Manila do not excel this in delicacy and beauty. In addition to this attractive basket-work from the hands of the women, the men of the tribe exhibit their natural skill by carving silver bracelets (made from dollar and half dollar coins), miniature totem-poles, horn and wooden spoons, baby rattles and canoes, in a very curious and original manner. Once a fortnight, during the summer season, on the arrival of an excursion party by steamer from the south, the natives are, as a rule, completely cleared out of their entire stock of these productions, and they do not fail to realize fair prices, enabling them to live very comfortably.

Though Sitka is the capital of the Territory, Juneau is the principal settlement and headquarters of the mining interests, containing over seven hundred white residents. We have seen no statistics of the annual rainfall here, but can well believe it to be what a certain person told us it was, namely, over nine feet. It seemed to us that the permanent residents should be web-footed. The cause of this humidity is very evident. There arises from the warm Japanese Current on the coast a constant and profuse moisture. This the winds convey bodily against the frosty sides of the neighboring mountains, and then it is precipitated as rain; at certain seasons of the year it continues for weeks together.

There is compensation even in the fact of this large annual rainfall, which at first thought seems to be such an objection to this district. The gold-bearing quartz which prevails here is treated, necessarily, by what is known as the wet process, requiring at all times an ample supply of water. One successful superintendent told the author that ore which is here so profitable would be in a dry region, like that of some portions of our Western States, worthless, or comparatively so, as it would have to be transported in bulk to a more favorable locality. It seems to require two rainy days to one pleasant one, which is about the average proportion in the year, to provide sufficient water to work these large deposits properly. The system of disintegrating, and of reclaiming the precious metal from the flint-like combination in which it is held is marvelous in detail, evincing the rapid progress which has been made in mechanical and chemical processes in our day.

It is found that June, July, and August are the favorable months for the traveler to turn his face towards the shores of Alaska, this being the season when the pleasant weather is most continuous. It is not extremes of cold, but an over-abundance of moisture in the shape of rain, which one must prepare for. An ample waterproof outside garment will be found at times very serviceable.

The Treadwell gold mine, just opposite Juneau, on Douglas Island, is undoubtedly the largest in the world, running at the present time two hundred and forty stamps, the mill and machinery having cost over half a million dollars; and though the author has visited the mines of Colorado, Montana, California, New Zealand, and Australia, he has certainly never seen its superior in capacity and golden promise. It is a true gold-bearing quartz visible at the surface, four hundred and sixty-four feet in width. The company owns three thousand running feet upon this deposit,—it can hardly be called a vein,—parts of which have been tunneled and shafted simply to test its extent, showing it to be practically inexhaustible, no bottom having been found to the gold-bearing quartz, nor any diminution in the quality of the ore. The mill is run upon this quartz the whole year, but as it is owned by a private corporation, and there is no stock for sale, the exact output of the mine is not known. The writer feels safe in saying, however, that no such body of gold-bearing quartz is known to be in existence elsewhere.

The laborers do not have to work in dark, underground channels; all is above ground, and in the season when darkness comes it is dispelled by electric lights. No timbering or shafting is required; it is simply an open quarry. Captain John Codman, after visiting the mine, writes: “We walked through the golden streets of this New Jerusalem, with golden walls on either side, and wondered what men could do with so much money.” It is not a little confusing to a stranger, when he first enters the great Treadwell Mill, to be greeted by the deafening cannonade of two hundred and forty stamps. Each stamp weighs nine hundred pounds, and the crushing capacity of the whole mill is seven hundred and twenty tons per day. The gold is shipped to the mint in San Francisco in the form of bricks worth from fifteen to eighteen thousand dollars each.

Douglas Island was named by Vancouver in honor of his friend the Bishop of Salisbury, and is eighteen miles long by about ten in width. This remarkable quartz vein is believed to run the whole length, though it is not always visible at the surface. Governor Swineford, in one of his annual reports, expresses his belief that ere long the gold produced in this section alone will exceed annually the amount which was paid to Russia for the whole of Alaska. This island, like Baranoff upon which Sitka is situated, is absolutely seamed with gold-bearing quartz, and has been carefully prospected and recorded by people interested in mining. Three hundred laborers are regularly employed at the Treadwell Mill, whose seven owners are opulent citizens of San Francisco. The work is prosecuted with great system and intelligence. The quartz of this mine is not so rich as that of many others, yielding on an average less than ten dollars to the ton, but it is so immense in quantity, and is so easily worked, that the aggregate yield of the precious metal is indeed remarkable. The mill turned out in the first twelve months after it was started seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars in bullion, and is probably producing at this writing three times that amount yearly.

The mine is admirably situated for the purpose of receiving or shipping freight, as vessels drawing twenty feet of water can lie alongside of the rocks which form the natural shore less than one hundred yards from the quartz mill. We were informed that sixteen million dollars have been offered and refused for this property. The would-be purchasers were members of a French syndicate. The agent says that the owners have but one price, namely, twenty-five million dollars, and they are in no haste to part with their property even at that sum. On the mainland, just across the channel from Douglas Island, three or four miles back of Juneau, is Silver Bow Basin, where there are gold deposits of vast extent and richness. Here quite a population is engaged in placer and quartz mining. The miners present a motley crowd with their picks, shovels, and red shirts, many with a stump tobacco pipe between their lips, and all with eager faces.

A spacious and thoroughly equipped quartz mill is being erected by a Boston company of capitalists for the purpose of developing a large property which it is thought will nearly equal the Treadwell in its output of the precious metal. This is known as the Nowell mine, and it is said that the quartz assays one hundred dollars and over to the ton. Silver Bow Basin is a small round valley lying in the lap of the mountains, accessible through a deep gulch behind the town. It is surrounded by noisy waterfalls, which supply just the needed power for manipulating the gold quartz. Across the range is another rich mineral locality, known as Dix Bow Basin.

On Admiralty Island, near the northwest end of Douglas Island, opposite Takou Inlet, there has lately been discovered several gold deposits which are owned by a Boston company. The prospectings upon some of this well-defined vein have developed a percentage of gold to the ton so large that we hesitate to specify it. “Thirty years ago,” said Mr. Thomas S. Nowell to us, “the mines of Alaska would have proved comparatively valueless; the machinery and process that are now so successfully applied to reducing the ores were then unknown. The great economy and consequent profit is derived from late discoveries which are now perfected, producing machinery which works as though it had the power of thought.”

The names of several other profitable mining enterprises in this vicinity might be given, but we have said enough to indicate the great mineral wealth of this portion of the Territory, and to justify our title of The New Eldorado. There are abundant gold indications all along the coast, as well as upon the islands. In the sands of any considerable stream between Cape Fox and Cook’s Inlet the “color” of gold can be obtained by the simple process of panning. The question is not where gold can be found in Alaska, for it seems to be wonderfully and abundantly distributed, but as to what localities will best pay to expend capital in developing. A number of abandoned claims show that the failure to realize a satisfactory profit in gold mining by eager, impatient, and unreasonable individual seekers without proper machinery is as frequent as in any other business enterprise awkwardly planned. This is as apparent in Africa, Australia, and California as it is in this region. The Treadwell mine on Douglas Island is in latitude 58° 16' north, just about on a line with Edinburgh, Scotland.

We quote once more Mr. Nowell’s own words: “The mountains of Alaska abound in gold-bearing quartz, the extent of their deposits exceeding any similar discoveries in the world. There is without doubt more gold-bearing quartz on Douglas Island alone, which can be worked at a handsome profit, than ten thousand stamps could crush in a century; a well-defined vein from two to six hundred feet wide traversing the island for at least from six to eight miles.”

There is a missionary family, supported by the Quaker persuasion, located at Douglas Island, whose earnest effort in civilizing and teaching the natives has been crowned with considerable success. The self-abnegation and conscientious labor of these people are truly worthy of all commendation.

Soon after leaving Juneau, when near the head of Lynn Channel, the grand Davidson glacier comes into view, filling the space between two lofty mountains. It measures twelve hundred feet high by some three miles in breadth, being as wide as a frozen sea and as deep as the ocean. While looking upon it one is overawed by a sense of its immensity and grandeur, as it seems hanging, poised, ready to drop into the fathomless sea. Where we pass it there intervenes a terminal moraine overgrown with trees and green foliage, which contrasts vividly with the icy background formed by the glacier. The glaciers of Europe are mere pygmies in comparison with this marvel, which is named after Professor Davidson, who has carefully explored and described it. Both the Muir and Davidson glaciers are spars of the same great ice-field, which has an unbroken expanse large enough to lie over the whole republic of Switzerland. The Muir glacier will be reached presently in Glacier Bay.

Soon after leaving the Davidson glacier we are in Pyramid Harbor. This is the region of the Chilcats, who were formerly one of the most warlike tribes in the Territory, but who seem to have outlived their belligerent propensities. Their rude, but picturesque cabins dot the neighboring shore. The little settlement here consists mostly of bark huts and a substantial trader’s store, together with an extensive and successful fish-cannery. The product of the latter is over a million pounds of fish per annum, the whole being engaged for 1889 to a Liverpool firm. This amount is shipped in seventy thousand cases of about fifty pounds each; the fish are packed in tins holding a pound each. This is an average amount as regards various factories on the coast, though some very much exceed it. The Indians now cheerfully accept employment from the whites, and gladly receive the regular wages which may be agreed upon. They appear to be the best carvers on the coast, and have an abundance of their handiwork to sell to the interested white visitors. These articles consist of carvings in ivory (walrus’ teeth), decorated sheep-horns, copper and silver bracelets, bows, arrows, and spearheads. As engravers on copper and silver the Chilcats excel all other people of the Northwest. Some of their women wear a dozen narrow bracelets on each arm, all of home manufacture. They are also skillful in making ear-rings, and ornamental combs out of ivory and sheep’s horn. As successful imitators they are remarkable, and will almost exactly reproduce any design which is given to them as a pattern. It seems strange that so aggressive and warlike a tribe should be skilled in carving and many mechanical productions.

Certain people have bestowed much honest but needless sympathy upon these “poor abused Indians.” Such persons may be assured that they are amply able to look out for themselves and their own interests, as regards all material matters. No white man can get any advantage over an Alaskan native in the way of trade; they are sharpness itself in such things. For instance, these Chilcats a few years since observed that the white traders were particularly desirous of obtaining black fox skins, and that for such pelts they would willingly pay a handsome advance over skins of other colors; a fine skin of this sort bringing as high as thirty dollars, while the common red ones were not worth quarter of that sum. The innocent natives soon began to produce the black skins in large quantities and received their pay accordingly. Surprise being at last excited by the remarkable abundance of the black pelts, an explanation of the cause was sought, when it was finally discovered that by a secret process of dyeing the natives had made the red fox skins temporarily into black. This was done so cunningly that nothing but a careful examination would detect the outrageous cheat, and not anticipating anything of the kind the traders were not on their guard. Of course no dyeing process which they possessed was of a permanent nature as applied to pelts, and these black furs when they came to be prepared for market rapidly resumed their natural color. When charged with this gross deception, the Chilcats assumed the most innocent expression and denied any knowledge whatever in the premises, only saying: “Fox, him get black before him caught,” thus lying concerning their trickery as volubly as any white rogue might have done.

We are told of several of these tricks played off by the “poor abused Indians,” one instance of which we remember as having occurred at Fort Wrangel, illustrating the “aptitude” of the aborigines, not to give it any harder name. It seems that a kindly disposed missionary, by exercising great patience, had taught some Indians to read and write, and in the consciousness of his own intentions felt amply paid by the goodly progress of his pupils. One of these young men, not over twenty years of age, was especially curious about arithmetic, and made considerable progress in figures in a very short time. He was soon after hired by the superintendent of a fish-canning establishment as a special assistant, with good wages. Being given a note or due-bill of twenty-five dollars by his employer, he quickly saw his chance, and adroitly raised the figures to two hundred and fifty dollars, got the bill cashed at one of the neighboring trading establishments, and suddenly disappeared with the proceeds thereof. He has not since been seen.

The Chilcats have, until within a few years, forcibly kept the natives of the interior away from the coast and the white men, thus monopolizing the land fur-trade by acting as middle-men, so to speak, but this embargo is now entirely removed. By this and some other means, being naturally thrifty and saving, they have come to be the richest and most independent tribe of Indians in the Northwest. Their women manufacture the famous and really very fine Chilcat blankets, which are slowly woven by hand on a primitive loom. The base of these blankets is the long fleece of the mountain goats, which is tastefully manufactured and ornamented, reminding one of the domestic Oriental work offered for sale in the Turkish bazaars of Cairo. The Chilcat blankets readily bring forty dollars apiece, and the best of them are sold for double that sum. They are ordinarily about six feet long by four broad, having in addition a long, ornamental fringe at each end. The colors are black, white, yellow, and a dull blue, the coloring matter being also of native manufacture. These blankets used to be heirlooms in the aboriginal families before the cheap woolens of commerce were introduced among them, since when they have become annually more and more scarce, and are now purchased only by visitors to carry away as curiosities. Even at the highest price realized for them, if the maker’s time were to be reckoned of any account, the sum is a sorry pittance for one of these blankets, which to properly finish will employ six months of a woman’s time.

Pyramid Harbor, in latitude 59° 11' north, is the most northerly point reached by the excursion steamers on this part of the coast. The place takes its name from a prominent conical formation upon an island within its borders. The cluster of houses, cabins, and the canning factory which make up what is known as Pyramid Harbor are situated upon a broad plateau on a sandy beach, at the foot of a mountain which towers three thousand feet heavenward, covered with trees to its summit and beautified by a bright, dashing waterfall visible from near the apex to the bottom. This affords both a healthful water supply for domestic use and a motor for the factory. The broad plateau, three or four miles in length and one wide, grass-grown, and covered with low shrubbery, is beautified by a floral display of great variety, including wild roses, sweet peas, columbines, white clover, and other varieties, having also an unlimited amount of berries. The wide mouth of the Chilcat River, which makes into the bay a mile from this settlement, is a swarming place for the salmon. The river is very shallow and not navigable for anything but native canoes. Twenty miles inland on its bank is a large, independent settlement of the Chilcat tribe.

On the mountain side, nearly half way up, just back of the steamboat landing at Pyramid Harbor, there is a small plateau not more than ten or fifteen feet square, entirely bare of timber, but closely surrounded by dense woods. This spot is quite inaccessible to human feet. A large cinnamon bear shows himself here often during the daytime. A clear, sparkling stream of water comes from far above this place, rushing by one corner of it, and hither comes Bruin to slake his thirst. He knows very well that he is out of the hunter’s reach, and he is actually beyond rifle range. He looks at that distance skyward no bigger than a good-sized Newfoundland dog, but to appear of such proportions to us so far below he must be a very monster. Several attempts have been made by the whites to get near enough to shoot him, but without success. The bear sat upon his haunches when we saw him and peered down upon us as we stood on the deck of the Corona with a cool insolence which must have been born of a consciousness of entire safety. By using a good glass his mammoth size became more apparent, showing that even when upon his haunches with his body erect he must have measured about six feet in height.

A settlement opposite to Pyramid Harbor is known as Chilcat, where two large fish-canning establishments afford profitable occupation for quite a number of the residents, both natives and whites. New canning factories are being located in several places between Dixon Entrance and this point, the supply of salmon being absolutely unlimited; the demand only is to be considered. The quantity shipped from here annually to San Francisco for distribution is enormous, almost beyond belief, and is steadily increasing. In addition to this profitable and important industry twelve thousand barrels of salted salmon were exported last year from Alaska to southern Pacific ports. The scenery about Pyramid Harbor is arctic: the precipitous cliffs are covered with snow on their tops, and range upon range of snowy mountains frame in the bay.