Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1889-04-26
STORY OF LONsDALE's TRIP.
He Penetrated to 40 Degrees North and
Had Some Lively Experiences.


A San Francisco special TO the New York Sun
saws: Lord Lonsdale arrived here to-day from
Kodiak and gave full details of his extraordi-
nary voyage TO 752 north latitude and his over
land trip across Alaska. He is in excellent
health and bears no trace of the hardships he
endured He declared that he penetrated to
Banks Land in latitude 10. discovereda Niagara
OF ice 200 feet high. and found that all maps of
the Arctic regions are wrong, Schwatka's So
called military map of Alaska. he saws. is a
farce. As few of the passes and ravines are in
dictated. He found little game anywhere and
his hunting Expeditions were failures. Lord
Lonsdale reached the great Slave lake in June
last year and went around it in boats. suffer-
ing great hardshlps. His only white companion
was William McEwen, Hudson's Bay COM
Pany's cook. On Hay river he found one of
the cOmpanys steamers, put on to carry freight
up the Mckenzie river. or this part of his
trip he said:
While on the Hay river / saw the most
beautiful waterfall in the world. 1t is horse
shoe in shape and has a sheer fall of 200 feet.
with another fall above il. 1t is about IL
miles wide at top and "a miles wide at the bot
tom. 1t Is more beautiful than Niagara although
there Is not the same weight of water. Words
cannot describe its magnificent beauty. as great
block after block of ice and iceberg after ice
berg come whiring over and down into the
abyss below
Il went to Peel river in a steamer. and there
got boat and eight natives and started for the
Arctic ocean. 1t was with the greatest difficulty
l could get Indians to go with me, they were
terribly afraid of the Esquimaux, who up there
are called 'Huskeys.' These Huskeys seem to
be race by themselves. Instead of being
small of stature and dark, as is the case with
Esqulmaux generally. they are big and tall.
These ESqulmauX tried to intimidGte Lord
Lonsdale. bat he refused to be frightened by
their pretended attempts 10 stab him. and they
ended by becoming his sworn friends. In
August. with their help he arrived at Melville
ISLAND. the farthest north he reached. From
this point Lord I.Onsdaie determined to walk
to the Yukon river across the mountains. dis
lance OF 50 miles. He reached the Yukon and
foa.ed down the AjukO, where there Is a
Russian II ssiOnary station. The river
then closed. he determined to strike off
overland for katami, opposite Kodiak. He
says of this trip:
During the journey We encountered many
difficulties. and 1t was bitterly cold. the lowest
the thermometer reached being "a below zero.
1t was worse. after walking and running all
day. TO have to lie in the snow to sleep. There
was no wood to warm our clothing. and we had
the greatest difficulty in crossing the noun
tains.
The people said il was impossible; that
twelve men had died,in trying. / started with
nine sleds and slxty-lIne dogs. At the foot of
the mountains the Indians refused to cross and
tried to desert in the night. L took one of
them b. the neck and made him go before.
aud walked after him. | took all their rifles
and snOwshoes. put them in my sled. and sat
on them. At in the morning. when they got
up to abandon me in the dark. they were sur
prised 20 find me before them. l started at 6
O'Clock that morning in the dark and had to
cross ranges. the highest point of which
$500 feet. The cold was intense. and terrible
storms wOuid come up at times. When got
across had only twenty-nine dogs left, all the
others having frozen to death. Seven Indians
were missing and five sleds. After waiting for
two days set out to look for the missing men
and found them i'll a terrible condition. All
the dogs were dead. / brought the men down
safe and sound. only their hands and feet being
frozen. l waited at katmOi until March TO-
when the Alaska company sent letter to me.
Then | waited for the steamer Bertha, on
which have just arrived"
In conclusion Lord LOnsdale said he did not
think anything would be made out of the
Yukon mines. There was gold, but only in
small quantities. The miners were suffering
greatly.