30
THE PITTSBURG- DTSPATCH; SUNDAY, KOTEMBEB, 29,. 189L
miles. At such a distance it stands alone.
So other peaks break the even line of the
horizon anywhere in its vicinity, showing
that it overtops all its neighbors.
Since the discovery of Alt St. Elias by
Bering in 1811 many expeditions hae
sailed along the coast to the southeast,
known to navigators as the 'Tairweather
grounds. " Among the celebrated expl orers
who visited thi-s region about a century
since were Cook, Ia Perouse, Malaspina
and Vancouver. These navigators, how
ever, confined their attention to what could
be seen from the coast they did not ven
ture into the interior. It is only within
the past few years that attempts have been
made to explore the land and to climb the
mountains.
Headline for the aronntaln's Top.
The first expedition aiming to reach its
Bumm'it was sent out by the ifewlbrk Htnes
in 1BSG in command of" Lieutenant Fredrick
Bchwatka. This expedition landed at Icy
Bay, 50 miles west of Yakutat, marched
inland about 20 miles and reached an eleva
tion of 7,200 feet on a range of foothills
skirting the southwest side of Mount St.
Elias.
The second attack on the mountain was
jnade by an expedition in charge of Mr.
Edward" Topham, of England, in 1S88. An
elevation of 11,460 feet was attained, a re
xnarkable snccesE-considering the difficulties
encountered.
A third expedition visited the St Elias
region in the summer of 1890. This was
sent out bv the National Geographic Society
nnd the United States Geological Survey,
and was placed in my charge. VTe landed
at the head of Yakutat Bay late in June,
and marched northwest for about 50 miles
over moraines and glaziers and across snow
covered passes to the northwest base of the
culminating pyramid of St Ehas. The
storms of winter coming oc, we were
obliged to abandon the hope of reaching the
summit, but found that the northern slope
of the mountain was far more practicable
than the steeper southern face, and could
probably be climbed in favorable weather.
Professor Russell's Second Attempt.
Explorations made in 1890 showed that
the region about Mount St Elias was one of
onusual interest to geographers and geolo
gists, and having failed in the first attempt
to reach the summit of the great mountain
b second expedition, under the same aus
spices rs the first, was decided on. ,1 was
placed in charge of the undertaking and
Failed for Fort Townsend, Wash., on the
United States revenue steamer Bear, on
Way SO
iy companions were six camp hands who
Tere selected on account of their experience
n frontier life Three of the men Thomas
r Stamy, J. IT. Crumbacfc and Thomas
"White were connected with the expedi
tion of the year previous; 2Ceil McCarty,
"Will C. Moore and Franks. Warner gained
their first experience in high mountains
during the season jut ended. The success
that attended our efforts is due in no small
degree to the willing service rendered by
rav faithful companions.
Our voyage from Fort Townsend to Xak
ctat Bar was uneventful, but exceedingly
pleasant, owing to the kindness of Captain
M. A. Healy, the xeteran navigator who
commands the Bear, and his wife, who for
the third time was to share the hardships of
en Arctic voyage with her husband. We
left Yckutat early in the morning of August
6, and ley
o'clock.
Bay was reached about 9
Capsized In Icy Bay.
Two boats left the ship, the first in com
mand of Lieutenant Jarvisand the second
of Lieutenant L. L. Bobinson. Each boat
carried a load of camp stores, tents, etc
Four of my men went in. the first, but only
one. Will C. Moore, in the second. The
boats entered the surf, but we soon saw that
an accident had happened. The first boat
tapsized, and we saw the men it had carried
struggling to gain the beach. They reached
shore safely, and soon diew their boat up
on the sanda out of the reach of the waves.
The first boat had scarcely turned over
when it became apparent that the sec
ond had suffered a similar accident, but
farther from shore. Of the men who went
in the second boat only one reached shore
alive. Lieutenant Bobinson, four seamen
belonging to his boat's crew and Moore were
drowned.
All of my party and all of our stipDlies
having been landed, I embarked with Lieu
tenant Broadbent and rejoined my men on
shore without accident The boat returned
to the Bear, which immediately steamed
forests. A camp was established on the
north side of this lowland and at the foot of
the cliff of moraine covered ice, which marks
the southern limit of the Malaspina glacier.
Owing to the number of loads to be carried
and the small number of men to do the work,
progress from camp to camp was slow at
first At the start we had 40 packs and only
five packers. As we advanced, however,
the number of packs was reduced, both on
account of rations used and because it was
found that we could dispense with many
things which at first seemed necessary.
Covered the Ground Six Times.
Our next advance was to the Chaix Hills,
the lower slopes of which are covered with
large spruce trees, dense thickets of alder
and a great variety of smaller plants.
The march from the camp on the outer bor
der of the. barren moraine fringing the Mal
aspina glacier to the Chaix was exceedingly
tiresome, requiring 12 hours of constant
tramping, even when unencumbered by
packs. In order to bring tip all of our sup
plies the men had to make this fatiguing
journey at least six times.
I remained in a comfortable camp at the
Chaix Hills while the supplies were being
THE EXPZDITIOjr OP 189L
away to the south, leaving us to take care of
ourselves a tasK Dy no means novel.
Acres of Strawberry Blossoms.
Our first camp was in a grove of voung
spruce trees on the east border of a broad,
open prairie of grassy land bordering the
Xahlse river. This open level ara com
prises a tract about three square miles in
extent, which at the time we landed was lit
erally white with strawberry blossoms.
The day after landing we had the sad
duty of burying the body of a sailor named
Smith, one of the boat's crew that was lost
The next day the body ol .Moore came
ashore and was buried. I ha e since learned
that a party of Yakutat Indians while sea
otter hunting found two other bodies and
buried them.
The distance of the summit in a straight
line from camp 1 is S3 miles. Owing to the
difficulties of travel, however, one would
have to make a journey of nearly twice this
length to gain the desired goal. Our first
march was nearly due north across a sandy
flat, intersected by swift, muddy glacial
streams and in part densely covered with
brought up, and occupied the time in study
ing the local geology and in building a sled
to use on the clear snow slopes to the north.
On Julv 5 Warner and I cliinbe'd the
Chaix Hills and had a magnificent view of
the great mountains to the north and took
many photographs. The trails of bears,
wolves and foxes were abundant at Icy Bay
and about the lower slopes of the Chaix
Hills. At times we followed broad game
trails for miles, which seemed like road
ways, the track being cut down to the depth
of several inches. Although fresh suras
were seen every day the animals that made
them were exceedinelv shv. I celebrated
the Fourth of July by shooting a large
brown bear, which made a very acceptable
addition to our food supply. Later in the
season Stamy killed another. This was the
only large game we obtained during the sea
son. toiarlsnt Blossoms Amid Ice.
From the Chaix Hills our journey was
continued northward up the even "snow
slope of the Agassiz glacier. Our last camp
on land was at the extreme southwest end
of the Samovar Hills. The tents were
pitched amid luxuriant blossqms on the im
mediate border -of a stupendous ice fall in
the ereat glacier we were ascending.
Owing to the glare of the sunlight on the
snow fields, and the softness of the snow at
middav, our marches were made principally
at' night Although traveling at night was
far more comfortable than Dy day it was
more dangerous, as we were forcibly
reminded the night we made our first
advance north of the Samovar Hills. We
started as soon as the snow began to freeze
after sunset and worked our way with a
loaded sled around the worst part of the ice
fall at the west end of the Samovar Hills
and through a maze of crevasses above the
fall. The snow ahead looked smooth and
but slightly crevassed, and I tiirned back,
leaving the men to advance without me.
They had scarcely proceeded 100 yards, how
ever, when Stamy and White, who were in
the lead in the sled lu&, suddenly broke
through and fell some 20 feet intA a cre
vasse. Fortunately, they landed on a mass
of soft snow, which" had been caught in the
chasm and formed a 'kind of bridge.
TCescaed From a Perilous Position.
The men could not move from the position
in v, hich they landed, because of the snow
that had fallen on them, and because on
either hand the chasm descended to unseen
depths. Their position was exceedingly
critical, but owing to the coolness and
promptness of McCarty a rope was lowered
to them almost before they, reached the bot
tom, and they were drawn to the surface.
un tne way down wmte again dropped
through a snow bridge near the same place,
and disappeared in the blue gulf below, but
was again rescued with the aid of a line
without serious injury.
Our night marches up the Agassiz glacier
continued until July 14, when we reached
the place where tne Newton glacier pours
down a steep rocky descent and joins the
Agassiz. This was as far as we could take
our sled. Our course then led north
west up the Newton glacier, which we knew
from the experience of the year previous
was exceedingly rugged and broken by sev
eral great ice falls.
The work of "packing" our tents, instru
ments and rations was now resumed, and we
advanced more slowly than when we could use
the sled. Our camps were on the snow at a
sufficient distance from the mountains to be
out of danger of avalanches. Cooking was
done over oil stoves, and our food was neces
sarily simple in the extreme, although usu
ally sufficient as to quantity.
Catting Steps to Cross a Crevasse.
At several localities steps had to be cnt I
in steep snow slopes, which made progress I
very slow and tiresome. At one place ad
vance seemed to be impossible, owinjj to a
maze of huge crevasses which crossed the
glacier from side to side. After viewing
the wild landscape from the' summit of a
towering pinnacle of ice it was decided to
cut steps down into one of the broadest
crevasses and then up the precipice over
200 feet high, which formed its opposite
wall. This was accomplished in about a
day by McCarty, Stamy and myself, who
were then in the advance of the rest of the
party.
Cutting steps up the precipice was more
difficult than in any case previously en
countered, owing to an over-hanging
cornice like ridge, about six feet
thick near the top, but was finally
accomplished, and a rope put in place to
facilitate our return. Above the great
crevasse, which we called White Cliff, the
surface of the glacier was less broken, and
we made good progress for about five miles
to the foot of tne next great ice fall. This
was a precipitous descent of over a thousand
feet, up which we toiled with heavy loads
through soft snow for several hours before
reaching the magnificent amphitheater in
which the New'ton gjacier has its source.
A Vast Amphitheater of Crystal.
Near the entrance of this amphitheater
we made what proved to be our highest
camp. The elevation was a little over 8,000
feet The scenery while traveling up the
Agassiz and Newton glaciers had been mag--nificent,
but the towering precipices of ice
which surrounded our highest .camp sur
passed anything we had seen. Mount New
ton, forming the northeastern wall of the
vast semicircle, rose nearly vertically for
fully a mile. Its sides were covered with
ice which frequently fell in thundering
avalanches. On the southwest was the
roof like slope of St. Elias, having a verti
cal height of two miles. From its glitter
ing slopes avalanches of fearful grandeur
repeatedly rushed down into the snowbound
valley in which our little tent was pitched.
some 200 miles to the southeast, to Mount
Wangel, an equal distance to the north
west. After having some lunch on the divide
and making such observations as were prac
ticable, ne continued the ascent and at 4
o'clock reached an 'elevation of 14,500 feet
on the north slope of the great pyramid
forming the summit of Mount St. Elias.
Measurements of the height of the moun
tains made after returning to Icy Bay have
shown that Mount St. Eiias has an eleva
tion of 18,250 feet This measurement was
made with care and is believed to be correct
within 100 feet. When we reached our
highest point there were nearly 4,000 feet of
precipitous snow slope yet above us.
Returned for the Tent.
I deemed it advisable to return and ad
vance our camp to the divide before mak
ing an attempt to reach the summit. We
were reluctant to turn back, but felt con
fident that if we placed our tent upon the
divide we should be able to reach the sum
mit in one day. and return. Working our
way down the precipitous trail we had
made during the ascent, we regained our
tent at 10 o'clock at night, just 20 flours
after leaving it.
VIEW TIP THE ATHEUDE C-TjACIEH.
Between Mounts Newton and St Elias
there is a "saddle," the lowest front of
which was 4,000 feet above our camp. The
slope leading to'the "saddle"' was rugged
and steep, and crossed from side to sidebr
blue crevasses, the upper walls of which
frequently rose 100 feet or more above their
lower Hds. Our advance above the highest
camp was up this slope of ice and snow, so
steep that steps had to be cut the greater
part of the way. In the higher region my
companions were McCarty and Stamy. The
rest of the party were at lower stations ad
vancing supplies.
The Highest Point Reached.
With my two companions I left the high
est camp at 2 o'clock on the morning of
July 24 and climbed the ice cliff leading to
the divide between Mount Newton and
Mount St. Elias. This was a task of no
mean difficulty, requiring eight hours of
hard work. On the divide we had a mag
nificent yiew of the desolate mountainous
region to the north, and could see the
thousands of snow-covered mountains that
intervene between Mount Fairweather,
The day we reached our highest point was
clear and beautiful, but a change was appar
ent toward night, and the next day St. Elias
was enveloped in clouds. We had experi
enced much cloudy and stormy .weather
since being on the mountain, but on the
lower slopes were not greatly impeded
thereby. In the higher regions, however,
clouds were more frequent than at lower
horizons and storms increased in frequency.
We could not advance except in clear, cold
weather, when the snow was frozen and the
danger from avalanches at a minimum. Our
highest camp was occupied 12 days, and
during that time we were enabled to make
but one advance the climb on July 24
already mentioned. Another start was
made on July 27, with loads of rations,
which we intended to cache on the divide
and take up our tent, blankets,' etc., on the
next favorable day; but we only succeeded
in working our way perhaps a third of the
distance up the slope before avalanches be
came so frequent that it would have been
foolhardy to proceed.
Isbabtj 0. Bttsseli
PHOTOS OF THE HAIR
Prove Very Effective in the Identifica
tion of Criminals.
NEW PLAff OP LIGHTING TRAILS.
An Incandescent light That Depends on
Hydro-Carbon Vapor.
THE SCIENCE OP EYERI-DAT LIFE
rwnirrEy roa the dispatch.!
A valuable addition has been made to the
means by which criminals can be traced by
the introduction of photo-micography.
Photographs of forged notes and checks.
showing the difference in the color of the
ink used in the original writing and by the
forger, have long been employed, but now
photographs of human hairs and blood cor
puscles arc found to give great assistance to
the detective. The difference in hairs is so
marked that it can be easily detected by
this means, the variation extending from
the root of the hair to the tip.
Dr. Jeserich, who has been making a
study of this branch of science, was re
cently able to save an innocent person from
conviction. A murder had been committed,
and the only trace of the .perpetrator that
the police had been able to secure was a
single hair. A man whose hair was the
same color, and apparently of the same fine
ness, was arrested and imprisoned. Dr.
Jeserich photographed the hair from the
head of the real murderer and one from the
head of the suspect. The difference was so
plain that the man under arrest was
promptly released. It is found that human
hairs possess as marked and distinct an in
dividuality as the features of the human
face.
Police officers in Europe, where the new
science is constantly called into requisition,
find that the only forgery that cannot be de
tected by mean3 of photo-micrography is
where the forger uses ink from the same
bottle that was used for the original writ
ing. It is not in the badly joined connec
tion of letters that have been tampered with
so much as in the difference of the color of
inks that the value of this means in detec
tion is displayed.
Electric Train Lighting.
A new application of the old ides of
lighting a railway train by means of the
energy derived from the axle of the car or
locomotive promises to lead to one of the
most practicable systems of electric train
lighting yet brought before the public. The
new machine is a cylindrical dynamo, which
is attached to the forward axle of the loco
motive. The whole machine does not
weigh more than 300 pounds, and it is com
pletely incased in an iron jacket, so that
snow, rain or dust will have no effect on it
It i3 supposed to run for several weeks
without any attention except oiling. An
excellent feature of the new system is that
the lights retain their full power when
the cars are at a standstill. The trouble in
lighting be storage battery heretofore has
been the great weight of the batteries and
the cost of charging. Both these difficul
ties have now been overcome to a consider
able extent In each car a small bat power
ful storage battery will be placed. When
the car is in motion these batteries become
charged. With the stoppage of the train
tha current from the dynamo ceases, but the
storage batteries come into play and light
the train. In case of a car beinz shunted
on a side track from ana; cause whatever,
the lights remain in service for six hours,
with the normal battery power. This power
can, however, be supplemented at any mo
ment as desired. It is stated that within
six months this system will be established
on one of the most important railroads in
this country.
Incandescent Platinum I-I;lit
M. Paquelin has devised an incandescent
platinum light, which, whatever its practi
cal recommendations may be, is qnite in
genious. The apparatus consists of a strip
of platinum coiled on itself and placed in at
platinum bowl with a hollow stem. A mix
ture of air and hydro-carbon vapor in speci
fic proportions is then introduced under
pressure. This mixture isignited, tha
flame disappears, and the platinum strip in
candesces, the degree of incandescence in
creasing with the pressure. Even with
moderate pressure it is said that the degree
of luminosity compares favorably with that
of au electric lamp. If the whole appara
tus is placed under water the light con
tinues to burn.
A. Sliding Telephone.
There are many occasions on which it hi
inconvenient to have to go to a distant part
of a building in order to use the telephone.
A provision which meets the requirements
of a portable telephone, always available,
is the sliding device recently brought oat
in Florida. The telephone is mounted as a
whole on a sliding board and is counter
balanced. The board slides up and down
between two guides irom floor to floor, much
in the same way as a dumb waiter, and a
cord is attached for pulling it one way or
the other. Enough slack is given to the
wire, connecting to the instrument, to al
low a rise and fall equivalent to the height
it is raised.
Simple Care for Diphtheria.
The late prevalence of diphtheria has
brought out many popular remedies. One
of these, which is frequently adopted in
Germany, is to close the room on the first
appearance of the disease in the throat of
the child. A tin cup is then filled with
equal parts of tar and turpentine and held
over the.fire until the fumes fill the room.
This will cause the little patient to expector
ate copiously and to expel the membranous
matter which is the source of the mischief,
often saving its life.
WHEjr making your holiday selections
in fine diamonds, watches, jewelry, silver
ware, clocks, bronzes, etc., call on M. G.
Cohen, Diamond Expert and Jeweler, 3d
Fifth avenue, who has the largest stock in
the city and will save you from 15 to 25
per cent No trouble to show goods.
ifrrniil- licrpul ircpu
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