Evening capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1888-1893, 1890-10-17

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effort to get substantial news con
cerning it, hut beyond the state
ments of Professor Willoughby anr
the word of one or two who had
seen the mirage, nothing taugibl.
until Yesterday could be obtained.
BY the steamer Elder, which ar
rived here on Saturday firm til,
north, came n miner, wno left tn,
vessel at this port and did not 20
on to San Francisco as he at first
intended.
From this miner, who is very
intelligent man, most remarkab I
story was obtained 10y our repre-
sentative, and the fist description
OF the Silent City is here given.
George H. kershon is the nam
given by the narrator of the tale
He says he is native of England
but left that country when Il lad fo'
the gold fields of Australia, where
several years were passed. Ne"
Zealand. Cape Colony and Ialifor
MIA were also visited and in his
fortieth year he joined Il parry OF
miners who were bent OH exploring
the secrets of ice-bouud Alaska
kershon is hardylooking man,
with well-knit frame, indicative
of an ability to withstand physical
hardship, while his clear, blue eI es
are surety that whatever he under
takes he will carry through.
Yes he said, II think | am tie
first white man who ever gazed on
the frozen city uf the North. You
would like me To tell you about IL ?
All right you'll be the first newspa-
per man whs has the news, any
way.
HARDSHIPs IN THE NORTH.
ain the summer of lsSS," Ker-
shon said, ~ was one of party OF
six who left here to 90 uorlh plcs-
pecting. OF the other five, ! know
not where they are. We took the
steamer to Juneau, where we left
her, buying small slOop to take
our kits up to Yukon. Any men
ton of the troubles we had in IN as
cending that rapid stream ! ne, d
not tire YOU, but will say that after
several weeks of awful toll We
reached fork.
IL was for going up this fork and
prospecting, but the other five were
against it; but as | was determined
To- go | left the party, engaged an
Indian canoe with two bucks, and
started up off this unknown fork.
We had terrible time. The stream
narrowed in between high cliffs and
shot with dizzy swittntss down the
gulches, making it necessary TO tow
the canoe by means of a line from
the banks two doing this while the
third man rested. Progress was
necessarily slow and for many days
we t0iled before the range of cliffs
and mountains was passed. Once
hundred-fOot waterfall barred lis
aud it took three days to get around
it.
AFTER this it was a bit easier.
The river broadened out and the
country was more level. Tie banks
were we'll wooded, and game was
plentiful. We kept on like this
always going north, when, after six
Weeks range of mountains was
sighted. | believed this To be the
head of the river, and pressed on to
reach it before the cold weather set
in. Snow was now falling very
often, and it was evident that the
summer was nearly done. At
length we reached the wild country
again, and the stream, which had
been subdividing Itself into lesser
ones, soon became too difficult to
navigate. This was almost at the |
foot of the range of mountains |
spoken Of. Here ! determined to /
camp for the winter, and good |
quarters were found. Everything
was made snug, as the weather up
here is something awful, but we
were in deep ravine, Overhung by
nigh cliffs, which broke the fury OF
lie winds. and the best was made
If it.. Game was plentiful. and
arge quantities of moose aud bear
we're shot and frozen for use through
he long winter months.
"Beiore long the cold came, and
It times, it was impossible To stir
rom cover. Especially was this
he case when the terrible winds
lew. At other times ii was fairly
although the lack of
un made 1t gloomy enough. To-
Yards the end of winter it began to l
ct lighter, and the gales were less I
-equent. c
SEEING THE SILENT CITY. d
zone day determined to try and t
,ale one of the mountains near us, ,
5 got 50 tired and weary with be- q
" penned up in such confined q
lace. This idea ] put before the 4
ldians. One of them said he
ould 60 witt! me; the other would i
Dt risk it, so he was left in camp. \
storm shortly arose, blowing y
eavily for three days, but as sOou e
the weather had settled myself
ID the Indian started oil VA our \
ip. Ia