Life — May 14, 1896 — page 20: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

“ETF E> May 14, 1896, THE LAND OF THE TOTEM POLE, ALASKA. A COUNTRY FULL OF INTERESTING SIGHTS. RAYMOND & WHITCOMB’S ARRANGEMENTS, HAT Portland, Oregon, is about the midway point in T our National possessions, measuring east and west, is a surprising statement to most people, but it is as many miles from Portland west to the extreme limit of the region of the Stars and Stripes as it is to the east; and yet it is said that nine-tenths of the inhabitants of the New England and Eastern Central States have never been west of Chicago. The modernisms of travel have, however, made it easily possible for those who live even on the eastern sea coast, to visit within a few short weeks, and with the greatest degree of comfort, not only all the chief centers of interest in the Western States, but to stretch the journey out into what was but a few years ago ‘the great and un- known beyond’ —Alaska—that enormous empire over which floats the Stars and Stripes, and which stretches from the waters of the Arctic Ocean of the north to the Pa- cific on the south, and to the west and northwest to Behring — Straits, which narrowly divide it from Siberia. The journey to Alaska properly begins at Tacoma, and from the very moment the steamer (and if the tourist is wise in his selection, it will be the ‘Queen’) shapes her course up Puget Sound, the novelty and interest of the voyage begins. The ship's course follows a northwesterly direction through an ever-changing, ever-beautiful Archipelago. The course is not shaped across a trackless sea as that to Europe, but from start to finish is followed through a tangle of pictur- esque islands. Look where he may at any hour of the day, the voyager has spread before him a panorama of ma- jestic and thrilling beauty. The stately ship is at one time speeding along under the very shadow of stupendous rocky cliffs, and at another leaving behind her a foaming wake across some wide-stretching strait. Again she is pushing her nose slowly through a sea of floating ice fragments, which have broken away from the great-frozen rivers, stretching down from mountain summit to water's edge, or is lying at anchor near the great Muir Glacier, the crowning glory of all this land of wonders. ~ If Alaska had nothing else to show the visitor, this beautiful ‘River of Ice,’ this great frozen sapphire, with its myriad of spires and crevasses, its columns and huge crystalline masses, would amply repay one for the trip, But this is but a single feature of the journey. The visitor will see Fjords more majestic and more picturesquely wild than Norway's, snow-capped mountains as impressive as the Jungfrau or the Matterhorn of Switzerland, and villages as novel and as strange as those of the Nile. He may see, too, Juneau and Fort Wrangel, and in the Alaskan me- tropolis, Sitka, a host of character- istic features as novel as they are interesting. The traveler who ‘knows how’ will ar- range to make his Alaskan tip, and for that mat- ter any extended pleasure journey in the West, with one of the Ray- mond & Whit- comb Excursion Parties. To travel with one of their select parties in- sures the very best of accom- modations every- where.. The wri- ter has himself had to put up with inferior comforts on several occasions because a Raymond & Whitcomb Party had reserved for it all of the best. Again, the many minor annoyances of travel, such as attention to baggage, are taken off his hands and at- tended to by a competent and polite manager. No worry about connections is necessary, because their parties al- ways travel on special trains with dining cars, or in special private cars. One ticket purchased before the start is the ‘‘open Sesame” to all the comforts and luxuries of the jour- ney, even if it be across the continent and to far-away Alaska and return. Raymond & Whitcomb, whose New York office is at 31 East 14th St., near Union Square, publish several very interesting booklets on Alaska and the West, which give all details as to the cost of their various trips, and tell much of the country, too. They send them free to all who request a copy. FRANK PRESBREY. comicbooks.com