Alaska The Great Country

Alaska, by Ella Higginson 1 Alaska, by Ella Higginson The Project Gutenberg EBook of Alaska, by Ella Higginson This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net Title: Alaska The Great Country Author: Ella Higginson Release Date: December 10, 2010 [EBook #34615] Language: English Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 Alaska, by Ella Higginson 2 *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ALASKA *** Produced by Greg Bergquist, Josephine Paolucci and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net. (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) ALASKA THE GREAT COUNTRY [Illustration] THE MACMILLAN COMPANY NEW YORK • BOSTON • CHICAGO ATLANTA • SAN FRANCISCO MACMILLAN & CO., LIMITED LONDON • BOMBAY • CALCUTTA MELBOURNE THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, LTD. TORONTO [Illustration: Photo by E. W. Merrill, Sitka Courtesy of G. Kostrometinoff ALEXANDER BARANOFF] ALASKA THE GREAT COUNTRY BY ELLA HIGGINSON AUTHOR OF "MARIELLA, OF OUT-WEST," "WHEN THE BIRDS GO NORTH AGAIN," "FROM THE LAND OF THE SNOW-PEARLS," ETC. New York THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 1910 All rights reserved COPYRIGHT, 1908, BY THE MACMILLAN COMPANY. Set up and electrotyped. Published November, 1908. Reprinted February, 1909; March, 1910. Norwood Press J. S. Cushing Co.--Berwick & Smith Co. Norwood, Mass., U.S.A. To MR. AND MRS. HENRY ELLIOTT HOLMES FOREWORD Alaska, by Ella Higginson 3 When the Russians first came to the island of Unalaska, they were told that a vast country lay to the eastward and that its name was Al-ay-ek-sa. Their own island the Aleuts called Nagun-Alayeksa, meaning "the land lying near Alayeksa." The Russians in time came to call the country itself Alashka; the peninsula, Aliaska; and the island, Unalashka. Alaska is an English corruption of the original name. A great Russian moved under inspiration when he sent Vitus Behring out to discover and explore the continent lying to the eastward; two great Americans--Seward and Sumner--were inspired when, nearly a century and a half later, they saved for us, in the face of the bitterest opposition, scorn, and ridicule, the country that Behring discovered and which is now coming to be recognized as the most glorious possession of any people; but, first of all, were the gentle, dark-eyed Aleuts inspired when they bestowed upon this same country--with the simplicity and dignified repression for which their character is noted--the beautiful and poetic name which means "the great country." LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS ALEXANDER BARANOFF Frontispiece FACING PAGE ALASKA (colored map) 1 COPPER SMELTER IN SOUTHEASTERN ALASKA 2 KASA-AN 9 HOWKAN 16 DISTANT VIEW OF DAVIDSON GLACIER 21 DAVIDSON GLACIER 36 A PHANTOM SHIP 41 ROAD THROUGH CUT-OFF CANYON 48 SCENE ON THE WHITE PASS 53 STEEL CANTILEVER BRIDGE, NEAR SUMMIT OF WHITE PASS 68 OLD RUSSIAN BUILDING, SITKA 73 GREEK-RUSSIAN CHURCH AT SITKA 80 ESKIMO IN WALRUS-SKIN KAMELAYKA 101 ESKIMO IN BIDARKA 116 RAILROAD CONSTRUCTION, EYAK LAKE 121 EYAK LAKE, NEAR CORDOVA 128 Alaska, by Ella Higginson 4 INDIAN HOUSES, CORDOVA 133 VALDEZ 148 AN ALASKAN ROAD HOUSE 153 KOW-EAR-NUK AND HIS DRYING SALMON 160 STEAMER "RESOLUTE" 165 "OBLEUK," AN ESKIMO GIRL IN PARKA 180 A NORTHERN MADONNA 185 ESKIMO LAD IN PARKA AND MUKLUKS 192 SCALES AND SUMMIT OF CHILKOOT PASS IN 1898 197 SUMMIT OF CHILKOOT PASS IN 1898 212 PINE FALLS, ATLIN 229 LAKE BENNETT IN 1898 244 WHITE HORSE, YUKON TERRITORY 249 GRAND CANYON OF THE YUKON 256 WHITE HORSE RAPIDS 261 WHITE HORSE RAPIDS IN WINTER 276 STEAMER "WHITE HORSE" IN FIVE-FINGER RAPIDS 293 A YUKON SNOW SCENE NEAR WHITE HORSE 308 A HOME IN THE YUKON 325 ONE AND A HALF MILLIONS OF KLONDIKE GOLD 340 A FAMOUS TEAM OF HUSKIES 357 CLOUD EFFECT ON THE YUKON 372 "WOLF" 389 DOG-TEAM EXPRESS, NOME 404 FOUR BEAUTIES OF CAPE PRINCE OF WALES WITH SLED REINDEER OF THE AMERICAN MISSIONARY HERD 421 COUNCIL CITY AND SOLOMON RIVER RAILROAD--A CHARACTERISTIC LANDSCAPE OF Alaska, by Ella Higginson 5 SEWARD PENINSULA 436 TELLER 453 FAMILY OF KING`S ISLAND ESKIMOS LIVING UNDER SKIN BOAT, NOME 468 WRECK OF "JESSIE," NOME BEACH 485 SUNRISE ON BEHRING SEA 500 SURF AT NOME 505 MOONLIGHT ON BEHRING SEA 512 ALASKA THE GREAT COUNTRY [Illustration: WILLIAMS ENGRAVING CO., N.Y. Alaska] ALASKA: THE GREAT COUNTRY ... - tailieumienphi.vn