



Produced by Greg Bergquist, Josephine Paolucci and the
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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


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

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                                      