Alaska

Sunday, Dec. 30,1934, La Center, Wash. The depression is in full U swing. An 18-year-old man, working for a local restaurant, trudges into the snow to Cut logs under the boss's orders. After two days of monotonous cutting, the young and adventurous John H. Wager decided it was time for something new. Alaska seemed like something new.

Now I will describe to you the port of New Archangel with all its establishments. I found Aleksandr Andreevich happily settled here. Innumerable wooded islands in the bay provide good shelter for ships and a fine view. There is a lighthouse on one of the islands. A magnificent mountain, Edgecombe, is in plain view, ten miles visdistant. Pouring rains kept me from exploring the crater of this mountain. The whole bay is surrounded with chains of high mountains, covered to their peaks with fine timber.

The first lighted aid to navigation in Alaska appears to have been established in 1805 by the Russians on a small island in Sitka Harbor (see Dee Longenbaugh's story in this issue). In later years (1830's) a light was placed in the cupola of their governor's mansion (Baranofs Castle) in Sitka. It was a crude optic consisting of four copper cans with solid wicks, fueled by whale or seal oil. The large reflector was placed behind the burning wicks.