Alaska: History, geography, resourcesDoubleday, Page, 1902 - Alaska |
Common terms and phrases
abundant Alaska coast Alaska Peninsula Albatross alder Aleutian Islands Aleuts appearance Arctic Arctic Ocean beach beautiful belt Bering Sea Bering Strait birds blue fox California cannery Cantwell Captain cliffs climate clouds color Company Cook Inlet Corwin dark dust dwarf east eggs exploration farther feet fiord fisheries forest glaciers growth gulls Hall Island head height hemlock inches Innuit interior Kadiak land latitude Lynn Canal Matthew Island MERRIAM miles mountains Muir Glacier murres natives northwest Old Bogoslof Pacific coast party peak PHOTOGRAPH BY CURTIS plumage Pribilof Prince William Sound puffins range region Report River Russian salmon sea-lions season seen Ship Rock shore side Sitka sketch slopes smoke snow song sparrow species spit spruce steamer streams summer summit temperature territory thrush tion trees tundras Unalaska visited volcano White Pass winter Wrangell Yakutat Bay Yukon Yukon River
Popular passages
Page 243 - Range are duplicated and a thousand-fold exceeded in Alaska. The Alaska coast is to become the show-place of the earth, and pilgrims, not only from the United States, but from far beyond the seas, will throng in endless procession to see it. Its grandeur is more valuable than the gold or the fish or the timber, for it will never be exhausted. This value, measured by direct returns in money received from tourists, will be enormous; measured by health and pleasure, it will be incalculable.
Page 125 - : a country where no man could make a legal will, own a homestead or transfer it, or so much as cut wood for his fire without defying a Congressional prohibition : where polygamy and slavery and the lynching of witches prevailed, with no legal authority to stay or punish criminals ; such in great part has Alaska been for thirty years.
Page 242 - Glacier, which extended across the fiord to the opposite shore ; indeed, until our visit, it was still supposed to be closed. In bringing our ship close to the glacier front to obtain photographs of it, our party discovered the opening between its point and the land, and as we steamed through we saw unfolded before us a magnificent vista of mountain and glacier. " We were the first that ever burst Into that silent sea." It was sunset when we entered the portals, and through the long twilight of the...
Page 308 - Rumbling sounds, and a dull roar similar to the discharge of distant cannon, were heard at intervals ; and, though flames were seen only upon two occasions, yet this is believed to have been due to the little darkness of the season at that latitude. The mass of the volcano was found " to be of a species of sand rock, with large black rocks scattered about the crust." No traces of lava, and but small quantities of pumice, were found. In some places the sand and cinders were ground to a fine powder,...
Page 242 - There is one other asset of the territory not yet enumerated; imponderable and difficult to appraise, yet one of the chief assets of Alaska, if not the greatest.
Page 297 - The towering cliffs of Old Bogoslof no longer battle alone with the angry storms of Bering Sea, for close at hand a new island has risen. Its birth was not witnessed by human eye; no earthquake shock marked its advent, and the date of its upheaval may never be known. It was first seen by Captain Anderson of the schooner Matthew Turner, on September 27, 1883, and was then in active eruption, throwing out large masses of heated rock and great volumes of smoke, steam, and ashes, which came from the...
Page 299 - At 2.30 p. in. the air became suddenly darkened like night, and soon after a shower of mixed sand and water fell for about ten minutes, covering the ground with a thin layer. The windows were so covered that it was impossible to see through them." Another eyewitness stated that a remarkable black cloud appeared in the north and soon overspread the entire heavens, settling down very low and cutting off the light of the sun. It finally broke and disappeared in a shower of ashes.
Page 243 - There are glaciers, mountains, fiords elsewhere, but nowhere else on earth is there such abundance and magnificence of mountain, fiord, and glacier scenery. For thousands of miles the coast is a continuous panorama. For the one Yosemite of California, Alaska has hundreds. The mountains and glaciers of the Cascade Range are duplicated and a thousandfold exceeded in Alaska.
Page 125 - States in 1867, but sums up the subsequent events in a few sentences, remarking (p. 203) that "a history of conditions in Alaska from 1867 to 1897 is yet to be written, and when written few Americans will be able to read it without indignation. A country of which it could be said with little exaggeration that ' Never a law of God or man Runs north of fifty-five ' : a country where no man could make a legal will, own a homestead or transfer it, or so much as cut wood for his fire without defying a...
Page 297 - January, 1884, proposed that it be named "(jrewingk," in honor of the Russian Grewingk, who, in 1850, published an important compilation of the various early accounts relating to Old Bogoslof. 8M 1901 -SM Large rocks were shot high in the air, and falling back into the water sent forth steam and a hissing sound. After nightfall, the vessel being then about 25 miles to windward, fire was observed on the island. A month later (October 27) Captain Hague of the schooner...