AT 7 p.m. last evening the steamer’s whistle sounded the last signal, all our passengers came on board, and we started. Going out of the harbor, we passed numerous small islands covered with spruce-trees. The view of the town, the harbor, and the surrounding mountains made a scene of great beauty. At half-past seven the steamer struck a rock. The bow was forced high up out of water, and the stern, where I was sitting with some ladies and gentlemen, careened over so much that we had to hold on to the railing to prevent ourselves from falling. There was no occasion for alarm, as we were within two hundred feet of an island, and about a mile from the harbor of Sitka, where we could see a revenue cutter lying, with her steam up, and numerous rowboats near. No one about us manifested any excitement, except one young woman who became hysterical and had to be restrained. The tide was rising, and our captain declined assistance from the captain of the revenue cutter, thinking it best to wait for the tide to rise high enough to float the vessel. The passengers were generally very cool, except one gentleman from Chicago, said to be worth several million dollars, who indulged in remarks about the proper way to navigate steamers, and insisted that the captain of the Queen did not understand his business, or he would not have run the vessel on rocks in the daytime. Captain Carroll, hearing of these observations, stepped up to the great capitalist and said: “Sir, if you do not like the way I manage this ship, you can go ashore,” to which the capitalist replied that he would. A boat was lowered, and the officer in charge was directed to take this gentleman, together with his wife and daughter, back to Sitka. There being no hotels in the town, and hardly any accommodations whatever, except for Indians and dogs, the prospect of being obliged to stop there for a week or two was not entertaining, so the wife and daughter remonstrated. The matter was therefore smoothed over with the captain, and all parties remained on board. Soon after this incident, a line was run to the shore of an island near by, and attached to the trunk of a tree, to assist in hauling the ship off. Every half hour or so the propeller would commence running, and attempts would be made to start the steamer, with no success, until 12.15 a.m., when, with much grating on the bottom, she was floated off into deep water. The captain thought best to take her back to Sitka, so we were soon anchored there again, opposite Mrs. Shepard’s houses.
When I awoke this morning, the water was as still as a mill pond, and the sky cloudless, giving us another perfect day. It was found that no damage had been done to the steamer, and at 8 a.m. she started on her course. We are now passing through Peril Straits, very narrow, with mountains near, covered with trees. The water is shallow, and sometimes our stanch vessel grates roughly over the bottom. At one time, when passing an opening of a dozen miles, we looked upon the ocean, 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.”
CHAPTER XIV
ICY BAY, TREADWELL, AND JUNEAU.
Juneau, July 13, 1892.
YESTERDAY we were moving through the straits, and looking upon the majestic scenery which distinguishes Alaska, for a thousand miles from Tacoma. We passed the great Davidson Glacier, and during the afternoon and evening were constantly seeing immense ranges of mountains, until we reached Icy Bay at seven this morning. Here the steamer took in her supply of ice, fishing it out of the water and hoisting it on board, several tons at a time. Coming into Icy Bay, the scenery was of extraordinary grandeur, mountains many thousand feet high, the bases of which were near the water, and numerous waterfalls and glaciers. Some of us sat up nearly all night to see the wonders, the like of which cannot be seen anywhere in the world, except, perhaps, in Greenland. After midnight the moon came up in all her glory, and the northern lights played fantastic tricks in the sky. The great glacier in this bay is a wonder, a mile wide and several hundred feet high, the ice falling off every few minutes in great masses. Once I saw two great ice towers, looking much like those of the Church of Notre Dame in Paris, and I called the attention of a lady to them. Hardly had I made the remark, before they both crumbled down into the water with a tremendous crash, making our big ship feel the force of the waves caused by the fall. After leaving Icy Bay we touched at Treadwell at noon, where are located some famous gold mines. Most of the passengers went ashore and were permitted to go through the large buildings of the mining company, and see the operations of getting gold from rocks. The blasting was going on a short distance off. The ore was transported by rail to the mill, and then pounded into powder by several hundred powerful steam hammers, which made a prodigious din. This powdered stone was mixed with running water, and we were informed that the gold was obtained in that way, but we saw none of it. An hour was quite sufficient for Treadwell, so we steamed over to this place, nearly opposite, and went ashore. 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 stores are well supplied with skins of foxes, bears, and other wild animals, and the usual goods required in country places.