. Alaska and the Klondike. men into plague-infestedports and keeps them there to enforce quarantine andcarry aid and comfort where pestilence stalks, the superband unfaltering heroism which sent a Jarvis and a Calland a Bertholf i,8oo miles afoot across the ice fields ofAlaska in midwinter at the constant and imminent riskof their own lives that they might save the lives of theimprisoned whalers at Point Barrow—these things areseldom mentioned and rarely if ever heard of by the gen-eral public, but they make up a large part of the life workof our revenue-cutter service and particularly that pa
. Alaska and the Klondike. men into plague-infestedports and keeps them there to enforce quarantine andcarry aid and comfort where pestilence stalks, the superband unfaltering heroism which sent a Jarvis and a Calland a Bertholf i,8oo miles afoot across the ice fields ofAlaska in midwinter at the constant and imminent riskof their own lives that they might save the lives of theimprisoned whalers at Point Barrow—these things areseldom mentioned and rarely if ever heard of by the gen-eral public, but they make up a large part of the life workof our revenue-cutter service and particularly that part ofit which patrols our North Pacific coast line. It is III miles from St. Michael across Norton Soundto Nome, where we arrive in rough weather on the morn-ing of July 29. It was not so rough we couldnt land, butrough enough to involve some danger and afford thesenatorial committee a practical demonstration of theneed of better landing facilities. The people of Nomeseemed, somehow, not to regret very cordially that we. CO 142 ALASKA AND THE KLONDIKE had some adventures in getting ashore. Nome, it will beremembered, has no harbour. It stands on the open sea,exposed to the storms that sweep northward across BeringSea over an unbroken stretch of over 700 miles. Thelocation of the town was determined not by any regardfor natural landing facilities, but by the discovery of thegold-bearing beach sands. Bering Sea is shoal and theslope of the beach very gradual; it is impossible forseagoing ships to go within less than a mile of and freight must be taken off on lighters andit often happens that ships cannot unload either passen-gers or freight or even the mails for several days afterarrival. The only shelter on that bleak and dangerouscoast is that afforded by a small island ten or fifteen milesaway, behind which vessels are sometimes obliged to re-treat to avoid dragging their anchors and being dashed topieces on shore. And our experiences with the risks anddelays
Size: 1059px × 2359px
Photo credit: © The Reading Room / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, bookidalaskak, booksubjectalaska
