Minnesota weekly times. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1854-1859, 1854-11-07

anu DaDcOck. Oh LeAlnptOn; Dr iudinS anu
brother, from Michigan Mr.. Arnold, and Mrs.
White and child, from Mississippi, and some Ger
mans.
Montreal Herald of the 2ist.
The Fate of Sir John Franklin and his Com
panions.
We are indebted to Sir George Simpson, Gov
ernor of the Iludson's Bay Territory, for the pri
vlege of first publishing to the civilized world
the at length ascertained fate of the noble but
ill-starred Sir John Franklin and his gallant
company. Alas ! that that fate should have
been so sad and that the problem, which has so
long occupied the thoughts and engaged the ener-
gies of the great nayi gators countless friends
and admirers, in Europe and America, should be
solved by so painful, so distressing narrative
is contained in the following letter, which only
reached Sir George Simpson yesterday afternoon
it having been forwarded from York Fac
tory via Red River. Our own hopes of Sir John
Frankn's restoration to the world had, we con-
fess, long ceased but who would have been pre-
pared for the fearful reality-a miserable and
lingering death, from literal starvation-possby,
DIR. Rae con lectures worse than starvation
on the frozen and desolatc shores of the Arctic
Ocean? But we shall not dctain the reader by
any reflections of from the perusal of DR..
RAGS intensely interesting narrative-we shall
merely mention that York Factory is situated at
the mouth of Hayes River, in IIudson's Bay in
about 81 deg. \. lat. % deg. W. Ion.
Dir. Raes Letter to Sir George Simpson.
YORK FACTORY, August, i, 1854.
Ny DEAR Slr GEORGE Your several letters,
public and private, of dates 18th June and LIST
December, 1873, and 18th and 10th of June,
1854, were handed to me on the % ultimO, on my
reaching Churchill, and am rejoiced to learn
that your health has been benefited so much by
your visit to the north.
Let me now alludc to the expedition affairs
l arrived here on the 3lst ult., with my small
party, in excellent health, but AIN sorry to say
without having effected our object. At the same
time, information has been obtained and articles
pun chascd from the natives, which place the fate
of a portion, if not all, of the then survivors of
Sir John Frgnklin's miserable party beyond
doubt-a fate the most eplOrablc-death from
starvation, after having had recourse to cannibal
ism means of prolonging life.
| touched my old quarters at Rcpulse Bay, on
the l4th August, and preparations were iInme
diately commenced for wintering. Tin the lst
Sept. | explained to the men our position, the
stock of provisions we had Oh hand, (not more
rhan three months ration.) and the prospect we
had of getting more, &c., &C.. POINTING out all
the dangers and diiicululs of our position. All
readily volunteered to remain, ana our eXcrtlons
to collect food and fuel went on with undated
energy. BY the end of Scptcmber, 1913 deer. |
musk OK, 553 brace of Atarmigan. and one seal
had been shot, and the nets produced 100 sal
jnon.
uf the larger animals above numcrated, 40
deer and the musk OK were shot by myself, p
deer by Mistegan, (tho deer hunter II by one of
the IN n, by Oulgbuck, AMI IL by the other
ifour men. The migration of the deer terminated
about the middle of October. and p more ami
mails were added to stock.
On the 18th Of October, the snow being Sulh
cienllv hard for building, we were happy to cX-
change our cold tents for the comfortable
shelter of the snow house. The wi::ter was very
severe, but the temperature of our snow-hnts
never low rs in my winter quarters of 1857.
Up to the 18th January we had nets SET under the
ice in the lakes /; the nets were taken up on that
date as they produced nothing
On the 3lst Of March my spring Journey COM
menced, but in consequence OF gales of wind,
deep and soft show, and foggy weather, we made
but very little progress. We did not enter Pely
Bay until the 18th. At this place we met with
Esquimaux, one of whom, on being asked if he
ever saw white people, replied in the negative,
but said that Il large party-at least forty per-
sOns-had persisted from want of food, some 10
or l. DAYS. journey to the westward. The sub
stance of the information, obtained at various
times and from various sources, was as fol-
lows:
In the spring, four winters rast--spring 1880
"a party of white men, amounting to about III,
were travelling southwark over the ice, and
dragging boat with them by some Esquimlux
who were killing seals on the north shore of King
Williams Land which is Il large island named
Kei-k- tax, by the Esqumaux. None of the party
could speak the native language intelligibly, but,
by signs, the natives were made to understand
that their ships or ship had been crushed by ice,
and that the ''whites" were now going to where
they expected to find deer to shoot. From the
appearance of the men, all of whom, except one
officer hief-lookcd thin, they were then sup
posed to be getting short of provisions, and they
purchased Il small seal from the natives.
A.
to the disruption of the ice, the bodies of about
thirty white persons, were discovered on the con-
tincnt, and five an island near it, about
days journey-say IS or 40 miles-to the \. W.,
of large stream, which can be no other than
Backs Great Fish Rivcr-namcd 10y tn, Esqui-
maux, Out koo hi ca hk-aS its description, and
that of the low shore in the neighborhood of
Point Ogle and Montreal island agree exactly
with that of Sir George Back. Some of the
bodies have been buried-probably those Of the
first victims OF famlnc-some were in Il tent or
tents, others under Il boat that been turned over
to form a shelter. and several lay scattered about
in different directions. of those found on the
island, one was supposed to have been an officer,
as he had telescope strapped over his shoulder,
and his double-barrelled gun lay underneath
him.
From the mutiated state of many of the
corpses and the contents of the kettles. it is evil
dent that our miserable countrymen had been
driven to the last reSOurce-cannbaSm-a u
means of proonging life.
There appears to have been an abundant stock
OF ammunition, as the powder was emptied in a
heap on the ground by the natives out of the kegs
or cases continuing it, and quantity of ball and
shot was found below high water mark, having
been left on the ice Close 10 the beach. There
must have been a number of watches. telescopes,
.cempasses, guns, (several double barrelled) &C.,
all of which appear to have been broken up. as /
saw pieces of these diff rent articles With the Es
quimaux, and together with some silver spoons
and forks-purchased rs many as could obtain.
A list of the most important of hese ipclose
with rough pen-and-ink sketch of the events
and the initials on the forks and spoons. The
articles themselves shall be handed over to the
Secretary of the lion. H. b. Il Co., on my arrival
in London.
None of the Esquimaux with whom conversed
had seen the ''whites,' nor had they ever been at
the place where the dead bodies were found but
had their information from those who had been
there, and those who had seen the party when
alive.