Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1880-10-08
Schwatka's Arctic Expedition.

Arctic expedition III search OF re-
mains of the Sir John Franklin ex-
pedition, as Lieut.. Schwatka is an
Oregon boy, raised ut Salem, where
his aged father now resides. The
New York Utru'rs correspondent
recites the Journey to Sherman In
let and arrival among the Netchil-
licks, and adds:
We found but few interesting rel
les among them, and only piece of
the bow found in Wilmot bay, after
the big ship sank, and pult of the
block branded either TO- or " or"
with part of the 81" obliterated. If
the ships blocks were branded with
the name of the vessel to which they
were attached these would be I'M
portant as establishing the identity
of the ship that drifted down as the
Terror. We found among them IL
piece of wax candle that they had
preserved all these years, while
every scrap of paper had perished.
| We met sled with few natives
coming from Kismuktoo to join the
rest of the tribe, and with them was
an aged crone named Toolooah, who
had seen white men in Bothnia 18TH
mus when young woman, and had
also been with party who found the
boat AMI skeletons in Starvation
Cove, near Richardson Point. She
confirmed the previous testimony.
We marched in southeast direc.
ton on the inlet five days, during
which we travelled upon it about As
miles, and when we left could see
it running in q southerly direction
for about 10 or Is miles further.
The sun was SO low now that we
had neither sunrise or sunset; dur
ing the whole time it was above the
horizon. Abont five miles inland
from| Starvation Cove, the natives
had found during the Summer the
skeleton of white man, which no
one bad ever seen before. On my
way down, Henry visited the place
and erected u monument over the
remains. Pieces of clothing found,
Indicated deceased was sailor, not
an officer. The finding of this grave
is worthy of notice as showing that
the natives were thoroughly aroused
~Jsava4 visit and it's object. We had
promised literal rewards for every
thing of Importance found and for
valuable information and were al
ways particular to keep our promise.
The consequence was that they were
greatly aided lis by searching every
where within reach Of their camps
or hunting grounds.
Before reaching Depot Island we
lost q dogs Of piivation. On Dec.
2Sth, the thermometer ranged from
GA to go below. The lowest point
reached was 1Ol' below freezing
point. Our meat had to be eaten
cold, that is frozen SO solid that it
had to be sawed and then broken
into convenient sized Jumps, which,
when first put into the mouth were
like stones. Some meat was cooked
with moss gathered from the hill
sides under the snow, which was
beaten off with sticks. The country
began to swarm with wolves now rs
well as with reindeer, and we would
meet them daily. Often they would
come close to the lgloos, and one
night Tooloonh shot one of three
that were eating with our dogs the
meat he had thrown out for food
They killed and ate four dogs and
attack ed him when he went out of
the Igloo to drive them of.
The correspondent gives a thrill
ing account of the privations eXpcr-
fenced in returning to Hudson Bay,
the disappointment and almost de-
spair at not finding food supplies
there as promised, the almost star
vation OF the natives and the mem
bers of the expedition, which was
relieved by the killing of a walrus,
the terrible cold, and continues:
| reached the George and .Huy
(ship on Marble IslanD on the 2lst
and WAS kindly received. During
the wear we were absent from civili-
xlticn we Travelled 2,Sl9 geographic
cal miles, or 1852 statute miles, by
s!edgcs over entirely unexplored
country. Through the entire course
of All Arctic Winter regarded by the
natives us uneXceptionally cold, the
party successfully withstood the
lowest temperature experienced 10y
white men, recording one observa-
tion of II degrees Fahrenheit, 1G
days whose average was 100 degrees
below freezing point and ~ which
registered belo" 6 degrees Fahren-
heit, during most of which the party
travelled. In fact the expedition
never took the cold into consider
alton or halted u single day on that
account. During the entire journey
it's reliance for food both for man or
beast may be said to have been solely
upon the resources of the country,