The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1889-11-14
IN THE ARCTIC.
NEWS FROM THE UNITED STATES
EXPLORING EXPEDITION IN
YUKON RIVER, ALASKA.
Letter Prom One Of the Explorers CONTAINING
Curious Information About the
Natives, Climate, Etc.

+ ST. LOUIS, No. November 1S.-The first
6ss.ews months, and the last for at least a
"a year, OF the government expedition for
the survey of Alaska reached this city ves-
4 terday. 1t came in letter to Mr.. Patrick
McGrath, father of Mr.. John E. McGrath
one of the chiefs of the exploring partv
As the expedition was organized by the
United States government In order that a
reliable survey of its most northern terri
tory, and especially its unexplored part.
might be obtained, information of the
welfare and work of the partyis of national
interest
The part of the expedition which Mr.. Nc
Grath supervises has now navigated the
Yukon river further than any steamer ever
went before and will during the winter
trav ell through unexplored land The
party has already pierced into an unex-
plored part of the country
MI McGrath's letter was written as his
journey progressed. After leaving Fort st.
Nichols, he writes:
I'VE have been steaming up the Yukon
for eleven days, and are now 200
miles beyond that point on the
river which is half way between ST.. Nichols
and where | expect to go. We are work
ing OIL an average of five miles per hour,
and expect to fall behind even at this
rate.
This is a great river. Near its mouth it
is almost twenty. five miles wide, taking in
the various channels through which it
reaches the sea. 1t much resembles the
Mississippi. Our boat is small and we are
compelled TO stop frequently for wood,
much of which we are compelled
to cut. Another cause of retardine
progress is the muddy water which necessi.
tates frequent cleaning the boiler When
= we left st. Nichols we were given a halter-
ing farewell, with flags flying ane cannons
" booming. Every fifteen or twenty miles
come upon an Indian settlement and more
desolate novels you cannot find anywhere
The sexes of the natives are distinguished
in their dress only by the length Of theil
fur coats.
The women wear their coats lon,
behind and the mems are cut o
equal length all around. When you ge
close to them the women have another dis
tinguishing feature. They have thre
straight lines tattooed on their chins.
man can take as many wives as he can sup
port, and each one has to work as hard a
she is able. Further up the river the stat
of affairs is different. There one woman
may have two or three husbands. The fur
niture in the native huts is yer,
sparse; few birch bark baskets
some spoons of ivory, wooden dishes
arrows spears, may be gun, straw ma
and furs. Everything smells worse than
soap factory. The people are literally GOV
cred with vermin. They are miserably poor
They get very little for The game and fisl
they have to sell. Both are so plentiful
that we have tired of ducks, geese and sa.
mon As am writing, there are some mag
niticent mountains i'll sight. They remint
me of the first range of the Rockies in Colo
RADIO. In the woods there are lots o
wild roses and the hillsides are as green a
any lawn i'll spring.
1t is difficult to believe that this is al
arctic land when you observe the luxuran
forests, the green grass and the flowers anC
mark how warm the days are. But dit
down ten inches anywhere and you vii
find the ground frozen hard. AT Mulatt
they have dug twenty-five feet to ge
water and the ground wa,
frozen all the way down. In
spite of this the weather is so warm that
eyerv man is going around in his shirt
sleeves. Mosquitoes are plentiful and te-
rocious. We reached Fort Yukon on July
and our parties separated. Newer and
his party went up the Porcupine river and
| was making my way slowly up to the
boundary. newer is Jlc III lou man w O"nS
a steamer up the Porcupine. The river is
a regular mountainous stream rising
with every rain and falling I'M
mediately afterward. Newer struck
it at low stage and progressed up forty
miles.
Fort Yukon is but name. Now there
is not stick of one of its houses left. The
English used to think it belonged to them,
but survey showed it was twenty-five
miles within our line and they had to move
out as there was no business to warrant an
occupation the houses Of the III Hudson Is rnn! Bay
Moose are plentiful and cheap, but the
people eat anything they can get
M here which will not poison
them. The miners are miserably poor;
The store keeper at Forty Mile creek nad ma.
$4,000 worth of bad debts on his BOOKS tnls
spring, and still l am told that the man MAJ
who Comes into his store without a dollar
gets as good treatment as the man VINO mas mas
fhe cash and pays for what he gets ne
gets his money if the miners can make N ~,
and if they don't he loses it. These
frontiersmen stand together ana
..aL othar through thick ana