The semi-weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1882-1886, 1882-05-10

Concerning Do Longs Party.
NEW YORK, May 6.-The Heralte's
correspondent has had an Interview
with l.. p. Nors, under date Of March
2. He says they landed ut point near
the northwest branch Of the Lena, but
which the Captain Il und it impossible
to enter Oh account Of shoals. DE Long
therefore determined to land at a point
whecce they could see this nOrtherly
outlet, but more to the East, and pre-
sunabIy enter the point marked Sagas-
tn on the map. Two miles from the
beach the Captain ordered those OF the
the boat nearer in shore. The Captain,
disabled, staid in the boat, which the
others were then enabled to drag 1. mill.
further toward land, when they 10
wadetl to the shore. Collins had left the
boat witt, the first lot and had made u
fire on the shore. This was on or about
the 18th OF Septe ber. and the LANDING:
Of the articles was completed or tire
18th. There the party staid two days to
rec,.perate. AL the men were badly
frnst-li,icn, including the Captain, the
UCcior alone beir@ iN u comparatively
good condition. Nora. and Nindernuan
were the hest conditioned men in the
party.
The Journey s0:it!l was then CONF
nenc.,i, the burdens being equally dis
tyibute,i. The Captain bnre his own
blankets AMI some records. The bur
,lens borne Ly some of the other MEN
were quite heavy. some complained ri
taking them further. but the t,aptain
insisted. The party then travelled south
four days. On the way two deer were
shot by the Indian Alexis. The party
sat down and mad a good feed, Belongs
motto being, NOras says, Ito feed well
while they had it," Nor,s thinks they
made twenty miles the first day. and
that the reached Il point near the one
marked on the map as TcholbOgOie, but
which was only nut. Tie four days
after brought them to a peninsula, and
after some delay waiting TOR the river to
freeze they cros>ss! tic river tn the west
U..nk Oh ar aIn,ut tine first Of October.
The width of the river was then about
fifty yards. Before crossing they got
ann, he: deer. The Captains intention
was to make COR the place called Sa.s's-
tn. Erickson. whose toes h;ul been AMI
putatcd by the Doctor during the retreat,
died. After crossing the river he Ont.
night allied IL !,is mitten>, and one III
his hands l.rc:.,l,c irGst-hittcn and the
ciruuiaiiGn could not I've Restored in ii.
lie died and was buried in the river.
Then it was that the Captain decided
tO send NOra~ aud Nin,ter,Ean ahead.
The food i,ad iren quite exhausted, the
party existing only on brandy. Noras
thinks it " - sunday wlr.n they left.
The Captain had held divine service,
the men seated Oh the bank of the river.
After service he called the two men and
told them he wanted them to push on
ahead and he would follow with the
party. III YOU find game" were his last
words, 1.-The return to US, ii you 10 not
then go to HUMAN Surka." NOras thus
describes the parting: 1.-The Captain
read divine service before we left. all the
men sho,k hands with us and n,s,t Of
them had tears in their eyes. Collins
was the last and simply said 'N0ras,
when YOU get to New York remember
met They seemed to have lost hope,
hut ~ we left they gave US three cheers.
We told them that we would do all that
we could III and that was the last we
saw of Them" such Noras's story of
the last seen Of Capt. belong and his
suffering party.
Norus continued: "When we left the
Captain said that Kunlak Surka would
b.. our nearest village. Snow had fallen
halt. From the questions put to Noras
tile place Of leave taking. The river
was near where the mountains on the
vs,xofne,> cirA~ ns>S1n1l slhHA.o .s,s rvn osu>t
which remained distinctly IMPRESSED on
his mind. Nan,elya high c0nical rocky
island which rose " out Of the river
and which he called Ostava or Stolb Y.
How he :sot the name Is not quite clear
but the rOck island is marked in his
memory and IL bOre about east nv north
from the spot where he left the Capt.
The rock, he says, is just at the end Of
the mountains, the mountains connect
ed with that rock. After leaving this
rock the two men Travelled slowly and
wcarily. They sighted deer once but
could not get near them. They shot one
grouse ank caught an eel which was all
the fOOd they had. They made q kind
Of tea from the bark Of the Arctic will
low AMI had only hot wat r to drink.
They chewed and ute 20, tiOns Of their
skin brre.'lles and leather sOles Of their
mocs.sins. The next point on which,
NOr:,s is clear Is that about two days AZ
ter leaving the Captain they crossed the
Lena 10 the east side Of the river in
the hope Vi finding game in the noun
tain< and il took them q very long time
to cr~s the ice at that point. Judge
therefore thu. the place crossed by them
is the broad cxraM,e OF the Lena mark
cd on the map AS near SayaO, therefore,
| conclude That search will have 10 liz
made To the north .; the expansion Of
the river. NOras believes that Nindtr-
man will he able /" point where they
left the Captain. Norris offered 10 go
himself will, Melville in the s.arri,, but
for some reason or other Melville re-
fused his assistance. The rest OF the
of the Journey OF the two nen
il told in Nindern,an's letter. I have
only to add that ii the names given by
N"r:.s may not aer-e with the chart
sen: l." the. navy ny Melville, l have
simply told the story AZ git il. 1t seems
clear cnou.:h TO me that had Melville
been on Tie search from the south UP
ward instead Of goin: I" the north. /;
he would have found the survivors and