Charles J. Gillis

“ Every quarter of an hour or so we hear a loud crack, followed by a noise like the discharge of a gun, then a rumbling like thunder, and a big piece of ice, as large as a house, and, sometimes, as a church, falls into the water, causing the great steamer to rock. Word was passed for us to get into boats for an excursion onto the glacier. ”

“ The steamer’s route is generally between islands and the main land, the water smooth and everything comfortable; but yesterday we came out upon the broad Pacific Ocean for an hour or two, and some of the passengers were sea-sick, but none of our party were troubled in that way. All appeared regularly at meals, which were excellent: well-cooked meats and vegetables, and plenty of fruit. Just now, at 8 p.m., we are in a bay some twenty miles in extent, surrounded by great mountains covered with snow. The setting sun shining on these makes a picture of extreme beauty and grandeur. ”

“ All day long we have been on deck admiring the beautiful sights, the weather being fine, numerous sea-gulls in view, occasionally a school of porpoises, and now and then a whale. Every day we pass numerous islands, large and small, all covered with spruce-trees and having a very charming appearance. ”

“ WE left Vancouver at 2.20 p.m. on the 16th, and made our acquaintance with this great transcontinental railway. I think it fully as good as any of those over which I have travelled in recent years. A good roadbed, fine and comfortable cars, polite attendants, and every thing supplied to make travelling agreeable. The road runs for many miles on the banks of the Frazier River. Great mountains tower above, covered with snow, and there are distant views of glaciers, which would have been thought immense if we had not seen those in Alaska. ”

“ There are not many such mountains to be seen anywhere; none so beautiful, as I remember, except the Jungfrau at Interlaken, and Fusiyama in Japan.
We have been in this place for three days, going about everywhere, and find it a wonderful example of a rapidly built city—solid and substantial, wide streets, great and costly [35] public and private buildings, an admirable system of swift-going street cars, running in every direction, by cable or electric power; fine dry-goods and other stores, and every indication of great business activity and success. ”

“ At one end of this street are cable cars, which carry you down a sharp incline to the streets on the water. I took one of these cars down, and in a few minutes passed over the famous bridge which connects Galata with Constantinople proper, to a wharf, where I was detained some time waiting for a steamboat to take me on the splendid and never-to-be-forgotten trip up the Bosphorus, to the entrance of the Black Sea. ”

“ For many years I served before the mast, then as mate, and finally as captain, on many voyages in different parts of the world. Back in the fifties I was in command of a whaling ship owned in San Francisco, and we sailed from that port to the selected cruising ground in Behring Sea, between the Aleutian Islands and Behring Strait. Once we sailed through the strait into the Arctic Ocean, but the intense cold and immense masses of floating ice drove us back in a damaged condition. ”

“ One of our friends had chartered the only wagon in the town, and took us for a trip of a mile or two along the shore, among the sweet-smelling spruce-trees, to a small stream of water, over which we passed, and then rested in the woods. On our return, we went to the Presbyterian Mission, which is a large and important one. It consists of a group of buildings: a church, a school-house, and two large edifices erected at the expense of Mrs. Elliott F. Shepard, in which the young Indians are to be taught carpentry and other mechanical industries. ”

“ AT 9 p.m. on the 5th instant we went on board the steamer Queen, which, as there are no hotels in Alaska, is to be our home for two weeks. The steamer is a fine, large vessel, with ample accommodations for two hundred or more passengers. I had secured and paid for two first-class staterooms two months in advance, but found, the first night, that the ones given us were the worst on the ship, being directly over the boiler, and consequently so hot that it was impossible to live in them unless the doors were open. ”

“ One day the captain and I were in the cabin, when he, hearing a noise, stepped on deck, and was at once assaulted by a man with a cutlass, and instantly killed. Hearing the uproar, I too rushed on deck only to be in season to see the prostrate form of the murdered captain, and a sailor with a drawn cutlass coming toward me. ”

“ This hotel, which was built and is kept by the railway company, is a fine one, and guests are made very comfortable by the excellent manager, Mr. Pearly. The valley through which the road passes does not contain more than two or three hundred acres, and is surrounded by immense mountains, one of which, Sir Donald, is a mile and a half high. Small streams of melted ice and snow come rushing down from the tops of these mountains, and form a pretty little river, in some places not more than twenty-five feet wide. ”

“ A glacier may be said to be a river of ice, formed on the mountains and forced downwards, travelling the same as water, only slower. This one moves at the rate of about forty feet a day, much faster than they do in the Alps. ”

“ Great mountains of clay or stone, in all sorts of grotesque shapes and of many colors, constantly attracted our attention until we reached the Yellowstone River, which was higher than it had been for many years. Here things began to look serious, as frequently the dirty and rushing flood came near to the [14] track, and the rise of a foot or so would have caused a wash-out, and have stopped our progress; but for many miles before we reached this station, the engineer moved the train of ten cars very carefully, and we were only two hours behind time. ”

“ The captain of a whaling craft always has a share of the results of the voyage, and the mate another, but not so large as the captain’s. It was agreed between us that on this voyage we would divide the profits, if any, equally. It will be understood that at this time whaling voyages were very profitable, sperm oil often selling in the San Francisco market for two dollars and fifty cents per gallon. ”

“ There were numerous farms and ranches on the route, with cattle and cultivated fields. The road bed was in good order, the cars excellent, and the trip exceedingly interesting and enjoyable. At [17] Cinnabar, we took a stage for eight miles to this hotel. The road is a very good one, passing over rushing streams and along the bases of great mountains, amidst magnificent scenery. Beautiful flowers line the way and are in the fields, while the mountains are partly covered with snow. We hear that the road to the lake is blocked with snow, and impassable. ”

“ Near the hotel, the railway tracks are covered with substantial snow-sheds about a mile long, made of heavy planks and timber, affording [70] an excellent place for walking and viewing the surrounding mountains. A party of ladies and gentlemen went out on these sheds this morning, and spent some time walking back and forth, viewing the magnificent scenery. The surrounding mountains appeared colossal in their grandeur. We had a fine view of them, and of the great glacier, and the valley below. ”

“ All the next day and night and the day following we were passing through mountain scenery of wonderful beauty and grandeur, until at 11 p.m. we were landed at Pasco Junction, there being a cross-country railroad from that point to the Union Pacific, on the banks of the Columbia, where we wanted to go. There was a large station at Pasco, but not a porter nor a carriage to be seen. ”

“ It was so lonely that many times a day, she would step out-of-doors to listen for the sound of their axes, and if it ceased for any length of time, she would tremble with fear lest the Indians or wild beasts had attacked them. ”

“ Tall mountains were on either side, those nearest covered with spruce-trees, and the ranges back of them white with snow. Occasionally there were open spaces, where snow or land-slides had taken place, making good feeding grounds for wild animals, but we saw only one, a large elk, [42] who kept on feeding and did not notice our ship. ”

“ At one time, when passing an opening of a dozen miles, we looked upon the ocean, [52] with just enough swell to remind us how much more agreeable it is to sail on water where you are not liable to sea-sickness.
The captain has issued his usual noon-day bulletin, stating that the ship will arrive at certain places during the next twenty-four hours, provided she does not run on rocks, and there is no fog, and that “after Juneau, we will go to Taku Glacier, where we will obtain our supply of ice.” “Passengers are permitted to fill up with it, as it is exceedingly cheap, and cooling to the mind.” ”

“ It is called [20] the Paint Pot, and is a depression of about thirty by forty feet, with walls of hardened clay three or four feet high. In this so-called pot are half a dozen or more cones, much like inverted flower pots, about six inches in diameter at the top, and two or three feet high. From the centres of these there are constantly flowing streams of hot clay, each stream of a different color, varying from pure white to brown. In other parts of the big pot the soft clay was coming slowly up from centres and overflowing, forming figures like flowers, very beautiful to look at. ”

“ Lawrence Island, near North Cape. The ship was a total loss, but all the officers and crew succeeded in getting ashore, and a passing ship took us back to San Francisco. I stopped in the city for some weeks, and talked a good deal with an old friend, Captain Samuel, who had also been so unfortunate as to lose his ship on a whaling voyage. We looked about and found some capitalists who purchased a ship for us, and we determined to [58] try our luck again, searching for whales in the Behring Sea. ”

“ The wild animals in the reservation are carefully protected by the custodians, no one being allowed to use a gun, and consequently [28] they have become comparatively tame, and have increased in numbers. ”

“ There are several hundred houses in this town, built at the base of the mountains. Near the water there was the usual number of Indian women squatting on the ground and offering baskets and curios for sale. ”

“ The Hotel Ryan was found to be very comfortable, and everything in and around the city is bright and cheerful. Great business activity, and immense and costly buildings are especially noticeable.
Running along the streets are great numbers of spacious and elegant cars drawn by cables. ”

“ Edwin T. Townsend shouted: “There is a bear,” and all eyes were turned in the direction of the little stream running through the valley below, about one-third of a mile off. On a small island in this stream, wandering about, was [71] a big grizzly, as large as a cow. He was in sight for half an hour, and seemed to be a playful kind of a beast. He would wade out into the stream, and get something to eat, probably refuse from the hotel, then go ashore and devour it; and once he got hold of a good-sized spruce-tree and shook it violently. Mr. ”