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Then
July 25, 1899:
Under orders from E.H. Harriman, the George W. Elder steams to Cape Fox to collect (some would say steal) totem poles, carvings, and other pieces of art from a deserted Tlingit village.
Now
July 23, 2001:
Members of the Harriman Alaska Expedition return the sacred artifacts to the elders of Saanya Kwaan, a Tlingit clan, at a repatriation ceremony on the Ketchikan dock.
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In 1899 doctors told railroad magnate E.H. Harriman, one of America's richest men, that he needed a little vacation. Not one for understatement, he promptly refurbished the steamship George W. Elder into a luxury cruiser, invited 50 leading scientists, and set off on one of the most celebrated expeditions the country had seen.
The heart of the 9,000-mile (14,484-kilometer) voyage was southeastern Alaska, with its maze of fog-ribboned islands, cathedrals of towering spruce, and deep, glacier-carved fjords. "For the one Yosemite of California," wrote an expedition member, "Alaska has hundreds." Many of those Alaska Yosemites are protected today in the Tongass National Forest, just waiting for the day when you need a little vacation of your own.
The Alaska Moment:
Alaska Range | ANWR | Glacier Bay | Tongass | Yukon | All Alaska Trips
New Frontier
Saving Giant Trees
Passengers aboard the Arcturus celebrate whale and bear sightings just like other cruisers, but captain Sam Skaggs uses his boat as something more: a floating base camp for his Landmark Tree Project ($2,000 a day for up to six passengers; www.alaskavoyages.com). Started in 1996, the project's goal is to map the last big Tongass trees, in an area where logging has already bitten off all but one percent of the tall timber. "There is a certain Guinness Records element to it," Skaggs says. "But what we are really hoping to do is use the trees to talk about the ecology of the rain forest." What constitutes a successful cruise? In Skaggs' eyes, that's easy: "I want people to go home and say they saw a bear, a glacier, a whale, and oh yeah, one of those landmark trees too."
Classic
Cruisin' the Passage
With hand-polished mahogany accents, a voluminous onboard library, and 12 posh staterooms for 24 passengers, the 157-foot (48-meter) Mist Cove ($5,345 per person for an eight-day cruise; www.theboatcompany.com) would impress E.H. Harriman himself. Much of its route would be familiar territory to him too. Embarking from Juneau or Sitka, the Mist Cove strings together the islands of the Tongass like beads using its long white wake. The route of the journey is set by weather, wind, season, and your desires. Stop to cast for halibut on the broad blue Chatam Strait, watch 40-ton humpbacks pirouette in Frederick Sound, dodge the icebergs of Sawyer Glacier while piloting one of the onboard skiffs, hike next to streams roiling with migrating salmon, or traipse through cathedral-quiet stands of ancient timber at Lake Eva. Back onboard, snack on feta-stuffed strawberries in the lounge before a dinner of baby greens salad, roasted red pepper-and-split pea soup, halibut piccata, and baked Alaska for dessert, all on the heated, enclosed fantail. Harriman, you'll realize, had it just about all figured out.
Need to Know
With 160 inches (406 centimeters) of rain a year at Ketchikan and 220 inches (559 centimeters) at Little Port Walter, southeastern Alaska is the wettest part of the state. Luckily for summer travelers the rainiest month is October.
The Alaska Moment:
Alaska Range | ANWR | Glacier Bay | Tongass | Yukon | All Alaska Trips
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