Seattle daily post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, W.T. [Wash.]) 1881-1888, 1882-10-26
AMID DRIFTING SHOWS.

In private letter to his brother. Mr.
Charles Ray of Milwaukee, z. w. Raw
IN charge of the United States sigma
Station at Oolaanuie, Alaska, writes in
erect that he has his flag, as a sigma
officer, flying farther north than il has
ever before been borne on the American
continents locality where the inhabi-
tants dress in deer skins eight months
OF the year, and the official distinction
OF an officer Is marked by a wolverine's
tail worn on the back of his "ahlepa. -
or fur coat. "Ihe year has passed very
quickly with u.s." continues Mr., Raw.
My party has had all they could do In
making the required observations, and
l have been kept busy picking up the
threads of my new life and taking up
the practical use OF scientific instru-
ments, and Ill conducting an expedition
like tais to comply with the require
ments of the Vienna Congress.
I'VE had rough time in establishing
ourselves here, for, beside a late start
from San Francisco, We met with
bad weather both on the Pacific and
Arctic Oceans, and were fifty-two days
on the voyage. Winter had already set
III VIXEN We arrived, thin ice had formed
on the inlets and along the shore. which
warned Us that We had no time to lose
If VIC would save the ship, for ordinarily
the saa Is closed at the date on which
We landed, SO ] discharged the vessel
the day the last of our cargo was
ashore. As watched her sails fade
away in the distance. and turned to Inv
work, / must confess that it did look
just little gloomy. Ny stores were
scattered along the beach for five hun
dred yards, just out of the surf. where
they had to be landed by the native Ca
noes and our whalebOats. The natives
swarmed around, whose regulations
were none too good. Two low tents, on
a low bleak point of land, and over it
all drifting snow storm completed the
picture OF desolation. With the excep-
tion of one man of tho nine that com
posed our party, they were totally mex
perienced in the ways of the sayages or
of frontier life, and some of them had
never had a rifle in their hands. Taking
into consideration the fact that we had
q house 10 build and one hundred and
sixty tons of freight to be stored there
IN, carried by hand, the outlook was
anyth ng but cheerful. l settled with
the natives first by first judiciously
punching the heads of the first caught
stealing and hiring the best of them to
help carry the stores. We had our
house completed by October LIST, our
instruments in position, and we're tax
ing observations November LIST, but our
house did not dry until the following
summer. the lumber of which it was
constructed being coated with ice.
There were great many nights that /
did not sleep, and my hair has grown
very white, but feel better than for
years.
Life in the Arctic regions is not SO
terrible as some have tried tn paint it,
and America has had too many explor-
ers who were seeking for elf-glorifica-
ton rather than bottom facts. hope
the next few years will demonstrate the
fact that it was not owing to the climate
that such men as Hall, Kane and Hayes
left death and disaster in their tracks.
A healthier climate i never saw. Not
one of our party has been sick since we
landed, with all their exposure, and l
believe any party can have the same ex-
perience if they observe proper
discipline and conduct themselves in a
proper manner. l think we will see 1884
safe and sound and return to the
United States with our records, Of which
l Keep two copies and send one TO WASH
ington every year to prevent loss in
case of accident.
"Aside from its healthfulness can
say nothing for this country. II is the
most desolate place on Gods fOotstoOl
that ever saw. 1t lies very low-but a
few feet above the level Of the sea-is
covered with dense growth of moss
and, as far as have been in the inte-
rior, about 100 miles, the whole region
is one great network of lakes and rivers.
The frost comes out of the ground only
to the depth of about foot in the Sum-
mer, SO at that season it very much re-
sembles a Wisconsin cranberry marsh,
except that there is an utter absence of
trees and bushes Of every description.
In the winter we are north of the line
of animal life ON the land, and only
seal exist in the sea. The temperature
last winter sank55 degrees below
zero in the open air. have some
doubts about the correctness of the in
struments used by some explorers that
give the very low temperature reported
Of from 20 to 80 degrees below zero, for,
from what have experienced, / believe
that such temperature would be fatal
10 animal life exposed to 1t, as it must
be in making an observa-