Resources of Alaska. Interesting Lecture by John Muir, Before the Sacramento Literary Institute.

THE DAILYJiECQRMJKiON. WEDNESDAY .I.1KITAR1 19, SSSI 6Ysvf:r.^rsv:^ --XT? Ka.KTION. RESOURCES OF ALASKA. Interesting Lecture by John Muir, Before the Sacramento Literary Institute. The first lecture of the season before the I Sacramento Literary Institute was delivered by John Muir at the Congregational Church last evening, upon The Resources of Alaska. There was a good audience, and the lecture, which was replete with interest throughout, was listened to with most marked attention. The mountains, streams and general features of the Territory were described with a familiarity and clearness which indicated a close study and intimate knowledge of the subject, and which, with the aid of maps and diagrams, was brought to the view of his hearers in a ve;y pleasing and instructive manner. He opened his lecture by saying that Alaska is the most beautiful and the most interesting country he ever saw. In all his travels north and south he had seen nothing to compare with it. Even California, the land of wonders, with its noble mountains, valleys and forests and waterfalls, is far beneath it in grandeur and varied beauty. California has : a majestic mountain range extending 400 j miles. Alaska has a loftier ra┬╗ge, as pro- \u27 foundly sculptured, extending in this grand curved line along the coast and out into the sea a distance of 2,600 miles, with no material interruption. The hishest summit, that of Mt. St. Elias, is 29,500 feet above the level of the sea. THE ALEUTIAN GRODP, Which is a part of the Alaska Territory, is but a continuation of thi3 mountain range, but at a les3 hight. In this group of islands there have been between forty and fifty active volcanoes within the past 1C0 years, and there are eleven at the present time. The Rocky mountains enter the Territory in the form of irregular spurs and table-lands in the Yukon region, but most is open, rolling grassy plains, with here and there patches of pine and spruce and aspen, while toward the north the ground is quite low, sloping to the Arctic Ocean in lichen and moss-covered bogs and moorlands. The southeast portion of the Territory is heavily wooded. The lecturer said but little in reference to the glaciers, as he has previously lectured here upon that subject, but he remarked that there are about 100,000 glaciers in the Alaskan Alps, mostly on the Mount St. Elias. Twenty of these glaciers are of the first class, and flow cut into the ocean and discharge in the form of icebergs, with a noise like thunder. THE CLIMATE. The climate is temperate along the coast, but inland is so hot in summer that people travel at night, just as they do in desert re- j gions under the tropics. The cold in winter, back from the coast, is extreme, ranging from G0┬░ to 70┬░ below zero. The map shows that this new country is large, and like a large man with a big soul, a great, kindly, loving heart, it is bounteous in blessing to man and beast. It would make, if divided, 500 States as large as Rhode Island, 250 as large as Delaware, and about fifteen the size of Ohio. As to its latitude, it does not by any means lay so near the North Pole as is generally considered ; not within a 1,000 milts of it when at its northmost point, and more than 2,000 at its southmost point. The greater portion lies within the temperate zone, where mankind has always reached the best development of all its powers. The warmest most southerly portion of Norway is more than 400 miles further north than the southmost land of Alaska. With the exception of a few square miles, the whole of Great BritaiD lies to the north of the southmost point in Alaska. The south extremity of Ireland coincides almost exactly with that of Alaska. Yet all those are fertile, kindly countries. Ireland in particular is specially fertile and prolific both in what are called crops and people. There the people, while as near the North Pole as some portion of Alaska, contrive to make themselves heard all over the world, and under every disadvantage multiply and replenish their own country and every other. Even France, the land of vines and wines, has a portion of its territory lying as far north as the southermcst of the Aleutian Islands.https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/jmb/1657/thumbnail.jp