Tribune and telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1855-1856, 1856-01-10
The Late Arctic Expedition.

The Esquimaux were very friendly, and free
" displayed all their treasures obtained from the
boat; or found near it, and these consisted prln-
cipally of the oars, used by them as tent-poles,
the boat-kettles, the empty preserved meat-ca-
ses, &c, but no papers; and the natives stated,
with every evidence % sincerity, that none had
ever been seen or found
Everything portable was secured by Messrs.
Anderson and Stewart and brought back, and
are on their way to Canada. 1t would be
useless to recount them ALL but we may men,
ton bar iton, rope with the Government mark
ON it, oars branded with the broad arrow, pieces
of bunting, (rema:ns of tiag,) a etter-holder, a
step of mast, &c,-all clearly European and
all Government supplies. Is anything more
wanted
The weather is described as having been "ex-
ecrable, constant storms, with ice, snow, rain,
sleet, hail. thunder, and whatever else can be
conceived that is disagreeable. 1t is part of
the coast the natives even consider uninhabita-
ble--merely visiting it for a short time in Sum-
mer when the deer pass that way.
On the 14th August, when the expedition COM
menced its retreat from the coast, the ground
was covered with fresh fallen snow, and the ice
was forming; in fact, Hinter had set in. Few
further details of the last moments of the lost
party have been collected; we may mention one
mournful incident reported by an Esquimaux
woman, who saw the last man die; he was large
and strong, she said and sat on the sandy beach,
ms mead resting on MS HanuS, anu mus the last
survivor OF Franklin's Expedition yielded up
his brave spirit.
Messrs Anderson and Stewart retraced their
steps to Great Slave Lake, whence the latter
continued his journey onward to Red River set
tlsment, and thence ria the Minnesota territory
to Montreal, where he arrived on Friday even
ing last, direct from the Arctic Sea, after up
wards of 5000 miles travel in open craft, and
through uninhabited regions, without halt.
A few facts taken at random may serve to bring
home to our appreciation what this Northwest
expedition accomplished and went through.
In thirteen months, 10 day, the Iroquois who
were sent from Lachine TO form part of the ex.
petition, returned thither, thus performing in
one year the same service that Sir George Buck
got through in three. For sixty days and nights
the party saw no fire, there being no timber on
the Great Fish River or Arctic coast; and du-
ring these sixty days they travelled necessarily
in open craft in a wretched climate, never had
dry clothes or slept on dry blankets, and never
ate cooked victuals. except on rare occasions
when they made a little tea by means of lamp
This party of sixteen in all travelled in bark
canoes down one of the most turbulent rivers
known even to Northwest voyagers venturet
among the ice on the Arctic sea; and returned
TO their starting point without meeting single
accident to person or property-and, withai
performed all that was required OF them; anC
had they gone out four or five years earlier
would no doubt have been instrumental in saw
ing the lives of portion of Franklin's party,
We think the foregoing narrative is ample
eorroboration of the wisdom of the recent out
cry, to put "the right men in the right places.
One word in conclusion as to the Franklir
Expedition. The two vessels, Erebus and Ter
ror-left England in IS43-were last heard o
In lS45. They probably tried several passages
but were baffled by the ice, and finally in 1884.
were crushed, probably in Victoria Straits
Many of the persisted, but one or NOR,
boats got off with the survivors. who took al
ths stores they could collect and travelled sorth
ward toward the Arctic coast, in the hope o
reaching some of Hudson's Bay Company posts
The season of lS4g was probably spent on thi
dreary journey, and renewed in 1859, when they
reached the coast at the month of Fish River
but in so exhausted a state that they coal
merely rum their boat on the beach and crSw
ashore to die. This seems all that is certain
and all that we can ever know, of the fate c
the Franklin Expedition.