Two Years in Alaska by A. M. Dart

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jun 16, 1903

Two Years in Alaska

By A. M. Dart

A. M. DART

It will soon be two years since we came to Alaska to proclaim the truth of the third angel's message. In some respects the results of this labor are not the most gratifying, yet we can see that much has been accomplished. We have seen some fruit, and a most encouraging feature is that in every effort prejudice has been broken down in a marked degree.

In several respects, we find this a hard field in which to labor. Churches of different denominations are established in every place, and prejudice against our work is just as marked as in California, and efforts against us by the leaders of the churches are equally as great. Work with the unconverted is hard; for their minds are entirely taken up with the procuring of gold.

Alaska is fast developing. During the last session of Congress the securing of public lands under the homestead act was made possible, and with her vast resources in the fishing and mining industries, the latter of which is probably in its infancy, and in some places promising results in an agricultural way, without doubt Alaska's population will rapidly increase. The people to whom God has entrusted the greatest truths ever given to mortals should certainly establish memorials for him in this land.

After carefully and prayerfully watching the trend of affairs in the different towns where we have preached the message, I can say without hesitancy that the best possible means of reaching the people in Alaska is by health restaurants and sanitarium treatment rooms. In the different places where we have been, we have tried to enlighten the people concerning health principles. We have given health dinners, and have sold about seventy-five dollars' worth of health foods to those who became interested through our efforts to make known their value. We could have sold much more had we always been supplied with them. The people in Alaska will give attention to the principles of healthful living, even more quickly than those in the States; for here a vast amount of canned goods is used, and meat is shipped from below, making the question, “What shall we eat?” more of a problem than where the inhabitants eat the products of their own country.

Sanitarium treatment rooms would be appreciated here. The population largely consists of people with no home; these get sick with la grippe and other diseases, and their homeless condition would add to their appreciation of sanitarium treatment. At Juneau, where we labored last winter, on one occasion—of course this was an exceptional one—fifty dollars a week was offered for a nurse; but in every place we have been, I have noticed that good nurses have been in demand.

I can speak most encouragingly of the place the message occupies in the minds of business men and the unconverted generally where we have labored; and among professed Christians prejudice has been removed in a marvelous way. Brethren, this will be a help in establishing an institution, and in these things rather than in the number who have accepted the message, I am encouraged in our work here.

At Skagway last Thanksgiving day I was invited by the Protestant churches to participate with them in union services. I was asked upon the rostrum, and was assigned a part in the services. A donation was taken up for the poor, which amounted to about twenty dollars. This was divided among the ministers, for each to use as he saw fit. I received five dollars as my portion. I am well aware that the leaders of these churches were not favorable to my presence, but we had been invited to the homes of some of their most prominent members to study the Bible with them, and they had listened attentively and had received favorably the precious truths for this time. These circumstances placed me there in spite of the leaders.

We are now at White Horse, Yukon Territory, about one hundred miles from the coast. The interest at this place is not encouraging, but we have done what we could, and hope for some results.

Most of the time since we came to Alaska, my wife and little girl have disposed of a club of twenty-five Signs each week, and we have sold books at every place visited.

As workers we are alone in this field, and we ask the prayers of God's people that with meekness, heavenly wisdom, and increasing faith, we may pursue our labors.

In about two weeks we expect to put our few effects in our own boat (which will cost thirty or thirty-five dollars), and take a four-hundred-mile ride down the Yukon River to Dawson. This is a very pleasant trip this time of the year, and is sometimes a little exciting, but attended by no particular danger.