Wonderland; or, Alaska and the inland passage: With a description of the country traversed by the Northern Pacific RailroadHyde, John
History
Wonderland; or, Alaska and the inland passage: With a description of the country traversed by the Northern Pacific Railroad
Hyde, John
Alaska -- Description and travel; Northern Pacific Railroad Company; Northwest, Pacific -- Description and travel
Chatham Point marks the northern entrance to Discovery Passage, and here
the tourist apparently sees the inland passage bearing off slightly to
the east from this cape, when, with a sudden swerve to the westward, the
ship swings around at full right angles to her original course, and
enters a channel which a minute before seemed to be but a bay on the
west side of the original water-way. The new channel is Johnstone
Strait, and is over twice as long as Discovery Passage, that we have
just left; or, to be more exact, about fifty-five miles in length. The
shores are now getting truly mountainous in character, ridges and peaks
on the south side bearing snow throughout the summer on their summits,
4,000 to 5,000 feet high, and the pilot will tell you that the waters on
which you are sailing correspond in their dimensions, in many places 100
to 150 fathoms of line failing to reach bottom. The rough and rugged
islands which we pass to our right, about three or four miles beyond
Chatham Point, are the Pender Islands. The high mountains to the left
and front are the Prince of Wales range. About fifteen to twenty miles
after entering Johnstone Strait, a conspicuous valley is seen on
Vancouver Island, the only break in the high mountain range on that
side. It is the valley of a stream called Salmon river, named from that
delicious fish, which here abound, and in the pursuit of which the
Indians have shown this stream to be navigable for canoes for a number
of miles inland. A conspicuous conical hill, probably a thousand feet
high, rises in the valley and marks it to the traveler. Just beyond
Salmon river's mouth, some three miles, the strait widens, another
joining it from the north. The mountains to our left are now the New
Castle range, Mount Palmerston attaining the height of 5,000 feet. At
the northern end of Johnstone Strait we have a number of channels to
choose from,--Blackfish Sound, Weynton Passage, Race Passage and
Broughton Strait, the longest of all, and only fifteen miles in length,
which we take. All these channels simply indicate that there is a
cluster of islands where Johnstone Strait swells out into Queen
Charlotte Sound, which we enter as Broughton Strait is left behind, and
that as we select between different islands we take a different-named
channel. These particular islands are the Malcolm Islands, sometimes
confined in its application to the largest island. About half way
through the Broughton Strait comes in the Nimpkish river from the
Vancouver side. Mount Holdsworth is the high, conical peak we see to the
south from here. At the mouth of the river is the Indian village of
Cheslakee. It is said that an ascent of this river reveals the most
picturesque scenery in lakes and falls, a saying to which all the
surroundings in the inland passage itself, at this point, would give the
most ample corroboration. Directly north from the river's mouth is
Cormorant Island, which we leave to our right; and the bay in its side
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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