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MAMMOTHS Ds ALASKA.VALUABLE DISCOVERY MADE BY THE ALASKA FUR COMPANY.31otu»t*r Crcatum Twenty Fret High nnd Thirty Teel io Length—T*i*k* Weighing 2fiO I'ouruls—Carden “Sum and Glacier* SJdo by aide.“Alaska is a country of paradoxes!**That id what 31 r. Cola F. Fowler, of tho Alaska Fur and Commercial company, said in answer to tho question of a reporter respecting his lato field of operations.“During all t.hnt time, up to two months ago, when I resigned and started for home. said Mr. Fowler, “I hare had inv headquarters at Kodiac, winch is tho most northern station occupied by agents of our company. We have our headquarters in San Francisco, and trading stations all over Secretary Seward’s purchase. As yet Alaska is alrno »t a terra incognita. The country immediately surrounding some of the principal rivers like the Yukon, Snake and Stirkeer has bwn explored, and a few miles inland from tho coast line, hut the great in-ti nur is almost unknown. What vvc liave learned of it k a surprise, and was the foundation of my answer to your question.“Alaska is certainly a country of paradoxes. You who livo here in tho stales look upon it as a land of perpetual ice and enow, and yet you would be astonished it 1 told you that I grew in my garden at Kodiac abundant crops radishes, lettuce, carrots, onions, coulitlowers, cahlxige, peas, turnips, jotatoe$, beets, par nips and celery. Within live milos of this gallon was one of tho largest glaciers in Alaska, and betucen the fertile coast slip and the interior is reared along the entire sea boundary a continuous mountain of perpetual ico and snow.“During your twelve years’ residence in Alaska wh.it was the most wonderful thing you ever saw or heard there'*’31 r. Fowler smiled at this question, and. after a moment's hesitation, said: Two years ago last summer I left Ko diar f* r u trip to the headwaters of thenuke river, whoru our traveling agents hod established a trading station at an Indian village. The chief cf this family of Izmuits was named To-tce-ti-ma, and to him I was well recommended, liereceived me hospitably, and I at orico began negotiations t'or the purchase of u big lot of fossil ivory which his tril*.' hail cached near tho village. Tho lot w ighod several thousand pounds, nnd was composed of tho principal and inferior tusks of the mammoth, tho r-mains of thousands of which gigantic animals | aro to 1h» found in tin- btxls of interior Alaskan water courses. I subjected the ivory to a rigid inspection, and ujwn two of the larcest tusks I discovered freshl*l«*d tract's and tho remains of portly dccomp;c:l flesh.“I questioned To-he-ti-ma. and he assured me that less than three months 1h fore a party of his young men had encountered a drove of monsters about fifty miles above whore he was then cn-cam|iecl, and had succeeded in killing two, an old bull nnd a cow. At my request he sent for the loader of the hurting party, a young and intelligent In- I dian, and I questioned him closely about liis adventure among a race of animals that tho scientific people claim aro extinct. Do told a straightforward story, and I have no reason to doubt iis truth.KILLING a MONSTER.“Ilcandhi* I nnd wirea-arcliing along a dry water course for ivory, and had found a considerable quantity. One of I the bucks, who was in advance, rushed in upon tho main lH*y one momiug with the startling Intelligence that at a spring of watt r about a mil** above where they then were ho had discovered thennd tho party, under the leadership of the scout, approached the stream.“They had nearly reached it when their cars were suddenly saluted by a chorus of loud, shrill, trumpet like cails, and an enormous creature camo crashing toward them through the thicket, the ground fairly trembling beneath its ponderous footfalls. With wild cries of terror and dismay tlio Indians fled, all but the chief and the scout who had first discovered the trail of tho monsters. They were armed with large caliber muskets and Stood their ground, opening firo on tho mammoth. A bullet mast have j»ene-trated the creature's brain, for it staggered forward and fell dead, and subsequently, on their way back to their camp grouud, they overhauled and killed a cow •big teeth,' which was evidently the mate of tho first one killed.“I asked the hunter to describe the monster, arid, taking a sharp stick, he drew mo a picture of the male animal in the soft clay. According to his de-scrip* ion it was at least twenty feet in height and thirty feet in length. In general sliape it was not unliko an ele-phant, but its ears were smaller, its eyes bigger mid its trunk longer and more fclendc-r. Its tusks wore yellowish white in color and six in number. Four of I be*e rusks were placed like those of a boar, one on either ride in each jaw; they were about four feet long and camo to a sharp point. The other two tusks he brought away.“1 measured them and they wore over fifteen feet in length and weighed upwards of 210 i*ourubs each. They gradually tapered to a sharp point and curved inward. Tlio monster’s body was coven d with long, coarao hair of a reddish dun color. I took a copy of tho rude sketch made by the Indian.“By tho way, our lato governor, tho Hon. Alfred I*. Swineford. bos pretty carefully Investigated the inntter. and he is certain from a thorough sifting of native testimony that large herds of these monsters are to be found on the high plateaus in interior Alaska about the headwaters of the Snake river.”—Philadelphia Pr*’®^x1 RrtI Cs F. Ei C1 1 si fr »rtvCost of Water Gas.A great many people think water gas choaiK-r because it is made our. of oil. This is a mistake. The greatest dillYr-cuce b«-tween tho coal uf co;d and water gas i3 in the matter of labor. Tlio making vt coal giis requires skilled labor of tho best kind, and at better compensation than is usually given to labor of this cla.«. Tho work is very hot and requires the closest attention, 60 that tho clianco man cannot bo engaged for it. The man who does it acceptably must have been educated in it, and must lo steady and devoted to his work. In tho manufacture of water gas this labor is cut olf. uud the saving represents the large part of the dilFerenco between tho cost of tho goa manufactured from c»»al aitd that produced from oil.—St. Louis t i lobe-DciuocraLitC!-13ClIn| bt1 sii •**!s• atoScA Uiblo Bchnlar.A Sunday ecl«*ol teacher tells this amusing story: i was teaching a class of little iovs in Sunday ochooL The lesson happened to bo ab^ut tho prophet Elijah aiul tho w hlow of Zarcphath, who, you will of couivo rcmouiber, told Elijah, when ho asked her to take him to board, that t ho “had not a cake, but a handful of tneai in a barrel and a lit tie oil in a cruse. When asked as to the supply of fix*d tlie poor widow had one little fellow quickly replied: “She had just m» al enough to make a cake and oil enough to Mart tho file!”—True Flag.S'■clrc81FV.HAiu.ESign' of several ot tho ‘big t-- tla.* Tie y had come down to t\ie spring to drink from a lofty plateau farther inland, and had evidently fed in tho vicinity of tlio water to/ some time. The chi f immt-diately calkd about him hi-* wnrriors.A Hmiling luui.“L the coon a smart animal? asked a stranger of old bi Jackson, on Unioncreek.“Talk ''rboiit cocns bein' smart. I iiho-.ild sv d«rv wur smart. said Jackson.“Well, how smart are they?“A coon played me dc ni'xine-s* trick ycr eber hcord t*'U on. I found a holo wliar do clt;xm inter de groun*, an’ I wailed uar nil day long to shoot dat coon, an* when he did corao out he was a polecat.—Tcxa* SiftingsLPi
Newspaper Details
Wichita Eagle
Wichita, Kansas, US
Fri, Jul 26, 1889
Page 3
Full Page
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Kevin S.
CA 11 Nov 2022
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