Democratic messenger. [volume] (Snow Hill, Md.) 1869-1973, 1882-10-21
AMID ALASKA'S SNOW DRIFTS.
The Experience of a Signal Officer
in that Wilderness.

IN tnat w IIucrneSS.
In private letter to his brother,
Lieut.. p. FL. Ray, in charge of the Uni
ted States Signal Staten at OoRloannie,
Alaska, writes that he has his flag, as a
signal al o6fficer. flying farther north than
J it has ever bef0rs been borne On the
American continent, a iocaf$ty where
the inhabitants dress in deerskins sight
months of the year, and the official dis
tinction of an officer is marked by q
wolverines tail worn on the back of his
"Ahlega," or fur coat.
''The year has passed very quickly
with u.s." says Mr.. Ray. "My party
has had all that they could attend to in
making the required observations, and
/ have been kept busy picking up the
threads of my new life, and taking up
the practical use of scientific instru-
ments and in conducting an expedition
like this to comply with the require
ments laid down by the Vienna Con-
gress. We had rough time in estab-
fishing ourselves here, for beside late
start from San Francisco we met with
bad weather both in the Pacific and
Atlantic Oceans, and were fifty two days
ON the voyage. Winter had already set
in when we arrived, and thin ice had
formed on the inlets and along the
shore, which warned us that we had no
time to lose if we would save the ship,
for ordinarily the sea is closed at the
date on which we landed, so | dis
charged the vessel the day the last of
our cargo was ashore. As / watched
her sails fade away in the distance and
turned to my work, / must confess
that it did leok just little gloomy. My
stores werf catered along the beach
for 500 yards, Just out OF the surf. where
they had been landed from the native
canoes and our whaleboats.
"The natives swarmed around, whose
regulations were none too good; two
lone tents on low, bleak point of land,
and over it all drifting snowstorm,
completed the picture of desolation.
With the exception of one man of the
nine that composed our party, they
were totally inexperienced in the ways
of the savage, or of frontier life, and
some of them had never had rifle in
their hands.
Taking into consideration the fact
that We had house to build and 160
tons of freight to be stored therein,
carried by hand, the outlook was any
thing but cheerful. I settled with the
natives first by judiciously punchin G
the heads of the first l caught stealing,
and hiring the best of them to help to
carry the stores.
eve had our house completed by
October |, our instruments in position,
and taking observations November L.
but our house did not dry until the fol-
lowing summer, the lumber of which it
was constructed being coated with ice.
There was great many nights that
did not sleep, and my hair has grown
very white, but 1 feel better than for
years.
'Life in the Arctic regions is not so
terrible as some men have tried to paint
it, and America has had too many ex-
plorers who were seeking for self-glOri-
fication rather than bottom facts.
hope that the next few years will dem
onstrate 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
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 experience if they OBJ
serve proper discipline and conduct
themselves in proper manner. i think
we will see 1884 safe and sound, and re-
turn to the United States with our rec
ords, of which l keep two copies, and
send one to Washington every year in
case of accident.
"Aside from its healthfuluess, / can
say nothing for this country. 1t is the
most desolate piece of Gods foot-stooi
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 interior,
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 a foot in the sum-
mer, so that at that season it very much
resembles 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 sank
twice below 60 degrees in the open air.
| have some doubts about the correct
ness .of the instruments used by some
explorers that give the very low tenn
perature reported of from 20 degrees to
so degrees. for from what L have ex-
perienced / believe such a temperature
would be fatal to animal life exposed to
it, as it must necessarily be in making
an observation.