OR Alaska and the Inland Passage BY LIEUT. FREDERICK SCHWATKA. WITH A Description of the Country Traversed by the Northern Pacific Railroad. JOHN HYDE, Author of “The Wonderland Route to the Pacific Coast,” “Alice's Adventures in the New Wonderland,” etc., etc. Copyrighted, 1886, by CHAS. S. FEE, General Passenger Agent Northern Pacific Railroad, St. Paul. PRINTERS AND ENGRAVERS, CHICAGO...

ulti discurrent, et augebitur stultitia .” Thus did one of the profoundest of modern thinkers parody the prediction of the Hebrew prophet who foretold the time when, with increased facilities for travel and intercommunication, there should come a great enlargement of the bounds of knowledge, and a corresponding amelioration of the condition of humanity. It would, however, be strange indeed, if the complex process of social evolution, even in its present stage, were not marked by some of the indi

a richly diversified section of country, presenting the most charming scenery. Among the most famous, are Lake Minnewaska, on the Little Falls and Dakota division of the road, fifty-nine miles from its junction with the main line; Clitherall and Battle Lakes, on the Fergus Falls and Black Hills branch; and Detroit Lake, on the direct line to the West, 230 miles from St. Paul. All these have fine pebbly beaches, lined with beautiful borders of timber, and their accommodations for all classes of v

of Mr. Oliver Dalrymple, comprising some 50,000 acres. Continuing westward, we pass, in rapid succession, various flourishing settlements, among them being Valley City, on the Sheyenne river, the judicial seat of Barnes county. Presently the train descends into the valley of the James, or Dakota, river, and the prosperous city of Jamestown is reached. From this point a branch line extends northward, ninety miles, to Minnewaukan, at the west end of Devil's Lake. This remarkable body of salt water

“Situated,” to quote the distinguished geologist, Professor John Muir, of California, who recently visited it, “in the heart of the Rocky Mountains, on the broad, rugged summit of the continent, amid snow and ice, and dark, shaggy forests, where the great rivers take their rise, it surpasses in wakeful, exciting interest any other region yet discovered on the face of the globe.” While it contains the most beautiful and sublime of mountain, lake and forest scenery, its fame rests, not upon that,

Resuming his westward journey at Livingston, the traveler finds himself ascending the first of the two great mountain barriers that had to be surmounted by the engineers of the Northern Pacific Railroad. By a grade of 116 feet to the mile, the line reaches, twelve miles from Livingston, an elevation of 5,565 feet above sea-level. Here it is carried under the crest of the range by a tunnel 3,610 feet in length, from which it emerges into a fine, rocky cañon, at the western portal of which is the

It is by way of the Mullan Pass—so named from the fact of Lieut. John Mullan, U. S. A., having built a wagon road through it in 1867, to connect Fort Benton, Mont., with Fort Walla Walla, W. T.,—that the railroad is carried over the continental divide. The highest elevation of the pass itself is 5,855 feet; but, by the construction of a tunnel 3,850 feet in length, the line was made to reach the western slope without attaining a higher elevation than 5,547 feet. It is not until Butler is reached

One of the largest sheets of fresh water in the West, Lake Pend d'Oreille will certainly yield to none in the beauty and variety of its scenery. Fifty-five miles in extreme length, and from three to twelve miles in width, it has an irregular shore line of probably 250 miles, richly diversified with rock and foliage, and surmounted by lofty ranges of hills. The railroad follows the north shore of the lake for about twenty-five miles, passing several little settlements, among which are Hope, Koote

Its phenomenal growth, its commanding position on one of the great waterways of the continent, its wealth, commerce and enterprise, and the singular natural beauty of its situation, render the capital of the Pacific Northwest one of the most attractive cities on the American continent. Fifteen years ago Portland contained a population of 1,103. By 1880 the construction of the western section of the Northern Pacific Railroad, and the approaching completion of the great transcontinental system, ha

to Astoria, that city of most interesting historical associations, and no little actual importance in these stirring days of trade and manufactures. Admirably appointed steamers, making fast time, run daily between Portland and Astoria. The trip need not, therefore, occupy more than two days. The distance from Portland to the point at which the Willamette discharges itself into the Columbia, is twelve miles, in the course of which opportunity is afforded for observing the progress being made by

The tourist has now become more or less familiar with the natural features and resources of that great country lying between the Snake river and the Pacific Ocean, and between the Columbia river and the Siskiyou Mountains. There remains only Western Washington, with its extensive forests, its rich coal mines, its hop gardens, and its far-famed inland sea, on which he is to embark on his voyage to the great land of the far North. The Pacific division of the Northern Pacific Railroad follows the W

an travels for business and pleasure. The former can be easily described, by a slight interpolation in a well-known mathematical definition, as “the shortest distance and quickest time between two points.” The latter bears to this mathematical rectilinear exactness the relation of the curves,—Hogarth's “line of beauty,” the rotund circle and graceful sweep of the Archimedean spiral, and bends of beauty beyond computation; and, as any of these are more pleasing to the eye than the stiff straight