. Alaska ... Natural history; Scientific expeditions. ORCA AND THE MINERS 65 herds, till in the early evening we sighted a little cluster of buildings peeping out of the forest at the base of a lofty mountain. This was Orca where there is a large sal- mon cannery and a postoffice. Here we anchored for the night. In the long twilight some of our party climbed to the top of the mountain, 2,500 feet in height, and brought back a native heather, or bryanthus, in bloom. Others of us wandered upon the beach and en- gaged in conversa- tion with some gold seekers just out from Copper River. They were
. Alaska ... Natural history; Scientific expeditions. ORCA AND THE MINERS 65 herds, till in the early evening we sighted a little cluster of buildings peeping out of the forest at the base of a lofty mountain. This was Orca where there is a large sal- mon cannery and a postoffice. Here we anchored for the night. In the long twilight some of our party climbed to the top of the mountain, 2,500 feet in height, and brought back a native heather, or bryanthus, in bloom. Others of us wandered upon the beach and en- gaged in conversa- tion with some gold seekers just out from Copper River. They were encamped here waiting for a steamer to take them away, and for funds from friends at home to enable them to get away. It was a story of hardships and disappointment that they had to tell us — yes, and of scurvy and death. Over 3,000 men had gone into the Copper River region a year or more before on the wild- est, vaguest rumor of gold. They had gone in hurriedly and slyly, as it were, so as to be ahead of the crowd. Each man had taken supplies to last him a year at least. Now they were coming out destitute and without one cent's worth of gold; many of them had died. Scurvy had broken out among them, had swept away scores of them and had lamed and disabled others. Their toils and privations had been terrible; snow, glaciers, moun- tains, swollen rivers had blocked their way. Most of them had abandoned their unconsumed supplies and. SALMON CANNERY AT ORCA. extra blankets, content to get out with their lives. They were from the East and from the West, lumber- men from Maine and Pennsylvania and old miners from California and Colorado. They were a sturdy, sober-. Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble the original Harriman Alaska Expedition (1899); Harriman, Edward Henry, 1848-1909; Merriam, C. Hart (Clinton Hart)
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectnatural, bookyear1901
