Brookings County sentinel. (Brookings, Dakota [S.D.]) 1882-1890, 1882-07-20
De Longs Fight Against Fate,

Mr.. jackson, the correspondent of the
Herald In Siberia, writes from Yakufsk:
"Fate seemed against De Long. Had
he landed thirty miles further west he
would have struck village Of natives.
He also passed by within thirteen miles
oi II hut where twenty reindeer carcasses
were hanging for winter food. He had,
unfortunately, no shotgun, from it hav-
ing been left, by his orders, on the ice
when the Jeanette went down, and,
though deer was rare, there was no lack
of ptermigaD. De Long is constantly
recording numerous ptarmigan tracks,
but for their capture Ale3a had only q
rifle, and, though 6 good shot, only sue
ceeded II obtaining very few. On the
day Noros and Ninderman were sent
away by De Long, a large flock of two
hundred ptarmigan settled within a
quarter of mile of the party, but none
were shot. With single shotgun in
Alexa's hands all might have been saved.
The Sun was too late for deer. A
strange incident also came to my kDowl.
edge at Geuovialk. Some Touguese
natives, travelling from the north to
Bekotf, saw the footprints of the party
two days old, and picked up the Rem
incton which De Long had left IN hut
half way from the landing.place to the
bluff. The natives were frightened, and
thought that the footprints were those
of smugglers or robbers, and left the
ground without following. On arriving
at Temovialek, they heard of the pres.
epce of the Melville party of three and
the lose OF the captains party, and they,
fearing to be punished for not following
the footsteps, kept their information to
themselves for some weeks, until too
late.
"De Long made mistakes in endeayor-
ing to secure the safety of his own pri-
vate logs, which were bulky, as well as
the scientific documents and other use
less mpediments-a heavy burden for
the men. These could have been left in
the cache near the place where they
landed; but they had to be born by the
men through all the days of their weary
march. These things filled one entire
dog-sled when found near ibe bluff.
After Noros and Ninderman left the
party did not make more than eighteen
miles from Oct. to the 30th. De
Longs last effort was to carry his pri-
vate logs and charts up from the place
under the bluff, where Mr.. Collins and
the others died, and where they wonli
have been swept away by the spring
floods, to the top of the bluff, where the
doctor and All Sam persisted; but he
only succeeded IN carrying the chart case
up. Even before Noros and Ninderman
left, De Long was very weak. He used
tn wulE fan f,ntn mi and tln,, Ea a.
rest, saying to the men, Don't mind me;
60 on as far as you can. will follow"
During his wanderings on the delta, De
Long built large bonfire az high as
thirty ieet every night, the last one be-
ing few hundred yards from the bluff
where they all perished, in the hope of
attracting the attention of parties who,
he kept saying would certainly be out
looking for him. But there was not a
human being at the time of their death
within hundred miles.
Arrangements have been made by
Gov. Tchernieff, of Yakutsk, to have the
tomhs of De Long and party covered
with atdeep layer OF earth, to prevent
the possibility of the sun thawing
the bodies. If this be done promptly,
doubtless the bodies will remain un-
touched by decay forever, as the ground
remains frozen on the delta all the year
round at depth of two feet. The bod
ies can therefore be removed at later
date, If desired. Gen. Tchernieff has
also caused Russian inscription to be
placed on the tombs, and has given Or
ders to the officials north that every care
shall be taken to preserve the tombs and
the monument in good condition"