. Alaska and the Klondike. determined by chance, it produces morevariety and claims closer attention from the pedestrian;fill the lower floors of the buildings along this street withbusiness undertakings of various kinds, and the upperfloors reserve for living purposes; throw in a liberal por-tion of places devoted to the gratification of highlydeveloped thirsts; fill the air at frequent intervals withthe sounds of rag-time music; gather on the sidewalk andin the narrow street groups of men who seem to have noth-ing in particular to do and are doing it; then go back fromthe first street and lo
. Alaska and the Klondike. determined by chance, it produces morevariety and claims closer attention from the pedestrian;fill the lower floors of the buildings along this street withbusiness undertakings of various kinds, and the upperfloors reserve for living purposes; throw in a liberal por-tion of places devoted to the gratification of highlydeveloped thirsts; fill the air at frequent intervals withthe sounds of rag-time music; gather on the sidewalk andin the narrow street groups of men who seem to have noth-ing in particular to do and are doing it; then go back fromthe first street and locate a church or two, a schoolhouse,a federal courthouse and custom-house, sprinkle arounda few small buildings for residence purposes; fill the air . 150 NOME AND THE GOLD FIELDS 151 with a cold drizzle, and you may have the materials outof which were obtained my first impressions of Nome,on the morning of July 29. Nome is on the south shore of the Seward Peninsula,that portion of Alaska which reaches farthest out toward. Main Street in Nome Siberia, and Is only 120 miles from Cape Prince of Wales,the extreme point on the Alaskan coast between which andthe Siberian shore flows Bering Strait. The name BeringStrait recalls those impressions we used to get from ourschool geographies. I dont know what your youthful am-bitions were, but Bering Sea and all that belongs to it wereassociated in my mind with remoteness more unattain- 152 ALASKA AND THE KLONDIKE able than the hii^hhiiuls ol I hihet or the jungles of that was long before the magnet of gold began todraw thousands across that bleak and stormy water, be-fore the soldiers of fortune began to storm the icy palisadesof the north, and sweep through the watery pass into theArctic Ocean and explore its inhospitable shores, not forfame or knowledge, but for the precious yellow metal. Nome is something of a summer resort, judging not byits attractions for pleasure-seekers, but solely by the fluc-tuations in population. A
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, bookidalaskak, booksubjectalaska
