There is also a big, black Husky aboard. He is a cross between an Indian (not an Esquimaux) dog and a wolf. He is a big, heavy fellow, large of head, strong of limb and feet widened in muscular development wrought in his race by generations of hard service in this rugged climate. He is valued at three hundred and fifty dollars. He will pull three hundred pounds and travel forty miles a day over ice and snow, being fed but once a day on dried fish.
The most curious and by far the handsomest dog aboard is a Malamute. He is a beautiful dog. His furry coat is heavy and his fine ears stand erect. For actions, manners and affection for his master he is a fine specimen of the canine tribe. His walk is somewhat of a stride like that of the bear.
His owner, who lives in Chicago, is aboard. He paid three hundred dollars for the dog and took him home, but it is too warm for him in Chicago, so he is taking him back to Alaska.
There are many cases of oranges, lemons, peaches, apples, apricots and plums and tons of groceries of all sorts for Skagway, Dawson, Juneau, Sitka and other Alaskan points. Also many pounds of dressed beef, mutton, flour, cornmeal, oatmeal and canned goods. There are one thousand cases of oil, lots of dry goods and many miners’ outfits. So you see there is quite a traffic up and down this coast.
As we steam steadily on toward the home of Hoder, the stormy old god of winter, the air grows colder, the scenery more wild and strange. Snowclad mountains, sun-lit clouds resting on their peaks and veiling their sides, blue sky and sparkling water make a scene which may be imagined but not described.
FORT WRANGEL, ALASKA.
Alaska is the aboriginal name and means “great country.” It was at the request of Charles Sumner that the original name was retained. Seven million two hundred thousand dollars for a field of stony mountain, icebergs and glaciers! Had Seward gone mad? Ah, no. He builded wiser than he knew. Alaska is nine times the size of the New England States and cost less than one-half cent per acre.
The northwest coast of Alaska was discovered and explored by a Russian expedition under Behring, in 1741. Russian settlements were made and the fur trade developed.
The climate is no colder than at St. Petersburg and many other parts of Russia. The warm Japan current sweeps the coast and tempers the climate. Sitka is only three miles north of Balmoral, Scotland. The isothermal line running through Sitka runs through Richmond, Va., giving both points the same temperature. The average summer temperature is fifty-two degrees and the average winter weather thirty-one degrees above zero.