The river press. [volume] (Fort Benton, Mont.) 1880-current, 1880-12-01
WRANGELL LAND.
Among the Whalers-The Toy Glories and
Terrors Of the Northern Ocean.
Conclusion Of the Corwin's Cruise-Where
is the Jeanette
New York Herald

very perceptible change was noticeable in the
season. The clear cut outlines of distant
mountains, covered with recent snow and
having a certain kind of beauty consti-
tuting one of the glories of Arctic scenery,
looked bleak and Wintry the former mid
night sun now disappears below the horizon,
the last Of him resembling the tap-hole of an
iron furnace and flashing down to a mere
point Of light; the moon, owing to refrac-
ton, shows a diameter of unusual proper
tons; Polaris and the Dipper are just seen
overhead, and magnificent auroras are Of al
most nightly occurrence. These phenomena
alternate with snow squalls and violent gales
from the northwest, during one of which we
anchored under the lee Of Cape Thompson,
a s%tupendous rocky cliff many hundred feet
in height, and one of the most remarkable
places, from a geological point Of view, that
we have seen in the Arctic. The face of this
craggy precipice is marked with different
colored strata, bent and contorted into the
most fantastic shapes, and the rock compos-
ing 1t abounds in fossil shells and trilobites.
A mania for mountain climbing induced the
writer to ascend to the summit, which was
reached by way Of a valley, after a hard
scramble over ice and lichened rocks, dis
turbing the little marmots, who scampered
away to their holes at sight of 3 strange in
truder. The ascent made, the icy blast was
creating a most lively interchange Of ozone,
its force being such that standing in an erect
position at this dizzy height was extremely
dangerous, and /. look at the sea below was
something fearful. Crawling cautiously to
the edge Of the cliff and reaching down q few
feet a half-dozen Or more fragments of rock
were rolled down in rapid succession, caus-
ing the greatest CONSERVATION among the
myriads of sea birds, who Whirled away in a
motley cloud, screaming to each other il
ceaseless uproar. Finding a rare fossil end
ed the sport at the expense Of the birds, and
retreating from the dangerous position a
more favorable one brought us face to face
with the great voices Of sea and sky and
mountain of this northern land. The bubble
and commotion of the sea below was some
thing extraordinary, the spray being whirled
up into "Woolies" a hundred or more feet
high. A windy sky, an unproductive waste
seemingly interminable, and q hungry man
trying to get up a Fictitious sentiment Of the
infinite and mysterious, complete the picture.
AT the moment it is distracting to resort to
ones sketch book, for the somber tints Of
rock and ice of this vast solitude are such as
to defy reproduction. Any attempt at doing
SO in this sampler ether and diviner air" only
results in frozen fingers and futile work. And
somehow it seems that Imagination does not
here wander off into boundless space and
carry us otherwise beyond ourselves. An
other sentiment associated with a more pure
lY physical influence, obtains the mastery.
An appetite like that Of an Arctic wolf would
enjoy q bit of whale meat as a lickerish NOR
gel, and we retrace our steps, thinking only
of the delights of dinner.
WRANGELL
Soon after the grand sensation that had
been in store for US so long-the most excit.
ing day Of the cruise-at last arrived. AT
half-past 10, while at lunch, the quartermas-
ter, Nelson, sighted land, and on reporting it
the rush on deck was general, such imperturb-
able individuals as the ships cook and the
grimy f5remen participating in the eager de-
sire - set eyes upon this new land. It was
the much talked Of Wrangell Land. The
land bore west-southWest forty miles and
consisted of snowy peaks and rounded hills,
and ravines extending down its sides could
be distinctly made out. During twenty min
utes or more all the glasses on the ship were
brought into requisition in order to gaze upon
the strange land-a land whose existence the
Russian Admiral Wrangell reported from ac-
counts Of natives, and which he tried unsuc-
cessfully to find a land that Capt. Kellett,
of her Britannia majesty's ship Herald, in
1949, thought he saw, but which, under more
favorable circumstance of We jher and po-
sition, was not seen by the United states ship
Vincennes; q land, in fact, that from the
foregoing statements and from the imperfect
account Of Whalemen we had begun to re-
gard as a myth.
oteamlng tnTougn the uFIl ice toward tne
land, il was approached to within twenty
miles, when, at 2 O'Clock, the great barrier
was reached. The ice was very large and
heavy, and so high that when lying along
side or it the view was SO INSTRUCTED that it
was necessary to ascend the rigging in order
To see the land. Immense chasms and fs-
sures ran through the ice in various direc-
tons. at spots great powders were perched
g - tho fnnnf unrno 1ifflo inu hiIlnnlx nn1 ua al