Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1890-12-04
a DEAD CITY.
The Yarn Of a Miner Who Has Seen the
Original OF the Muir Glacier Mirage.

'AANt tAN NNNAS VI inc muir gldticT
mirage first became known, your CORE
SpOndent has made every effort TO get
substantial news concerning it, but be-
yond the statements Of Prof. Willough-
by and the word of one or two who had
seen the mirage. nothing tangible until
yesterday could be obtained. BY the
steamer Elder, which arrived at Vic
toria from the North, came miner,
who left the vessel at that port, and
did not go TO San Francisco, as he at
first intcndes. From this miner, who
is very intelligent man, most re-
markable story was obtained, and the
first description of the Silent City is
here given.
George H. KerShon is the name given
by the narrator OF the tale. He says he
is native of England, but left that
country when lad for the gold fields OF
Australia, where several years We're
passed. New Zealand, Cape Colony,
and California were also visited, and in
his forticth year he joined party Of
miners who were bent on exploring the
secrets of icebound Alaska. kerShOn
is a hardy-loolliug man, with well-knit
frame, Indicative OF an ability to with
stand physical hardship, while his clear,
| blue eyes are n surety that whatever he
undertakes he will carry through.
"NeS," he said, Il think | am the
| first white man who ever gazed on the
/ frozen city of the North. In the sum-
mer Of 1851 was one of party of six
who left here to go North prospecting.
OF the other five, know not where
they are. We took the steamer to Jun
eau, where we left her, buying small
SlOop TO take our kits up to Yukon.
| After several weeks of awful toll We
reached fork.
Il was for going up this fork and
prospecting, but the other five were
iagainSt il; but rs | was determined to
90 left the party, engaged an Indian
canoe. with two bucks, and started up
oil this unknown fork. We had a ter
rlble time. The stream narrowed in
between high cliffs and shot with dizzy
swiftneSs down the gUlches, making 1t
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 toiled before the range of cliffs and
mountains were passed. Once 4 100
foot waterfall barred MS, and it took
three days to get around it.
after that il was bit eaSer. The
river brOadened out and the country
was more level. The banks were well
wooded and game was plentiful. We
kept ON like this, always going north,
when. after six weeks, range OF noun
tainS was sighted. | believed this to be
the head of the river, and pressed on &c
reach il before the cold weather set IN,
Snow was now falling very often,
and IL was evidcut that the summer wa
nearly done. At length we reached thC
wild country again, and the stream
which had been Subdividng itself into
lesser ones, soon became too difficult tC
navigate. This was almost at the ioo'
of the mountain range spoken Of. Here
| determined 10 camp for the winter
and good quarters were found. Every
thing was made snug. as the weather ul
there is something awful; but we were
i'm a deep ravine, oyerrun by high cliffs
which broke the fury of the winds, anC
the best was made Of it. came wa
plentiful, and large quantities OF mooS'
and bear were shot and frozen for uS'
during the long winter months.
Before long the cold came, and Il
times 10 was impossible to STIR iron
cover. Especially was this the cas-
when the winds blew. At other time
; / IL was fairly comfortable, although thu
, lack of sun made it gloomy enough
Toward the end OF winter II began u
get lighter and the gales were less ire
. quent.
Zone day determined TO try To seal
one OF the mountains near Us, as got St
tired and weary with being penned al
/. in such confined place. This idea
nut before the Indians. One OF then
said he would go with me; the othe
q would not risk il, so he was left in camp
\ storm shortly arose, blowing heavil
! for three days, but as soon as The
weather hid settled, myself and the IN
dian started of on our trip.
I'VE went right up the line OF tn
frozen river. which, being solid mas
J, of ice, made good roadway. Follow
. ing this for about twenty miles, at
pretty steep rise, we reached platea
between the foothills and high range
y Here the stream ended and we started
: climb one Of the big hills. After 10
of hard work we reached point nea
the summit. A wonderful view was ha
, from here, but the StrangeSt thing wa
q city i'm one of the valleys.
you may bet was surpassed to Sc
liz. At first thought il was some fan
taStic arrangement of the ice and SnoN
which had assumed the form of 4 city
but examination with glass shove
!, that such was not the case, IL being to
regular in appearance.
/. 1T was city, sure enough.
determined to see more of it, com
menccd to work downward, althoug
, the buck was rather frightened, he eyi
IDENTIFY not considering 1t good med
cine. After several hours Of hard worl
I reached the outskirts of this mySteri
Gus city. and found that this place wa
laid out i'm streets. with blocks o
Strange-looking buildings, what al
peared 10 be mosques, towers, ports
etc. and cverS evidence of having bee
ii
built by art.
. The whole was OF solid ice, o
seemed 10 be. but blows from hatche
! ON one of the walls disclosed the FAC
that beneath this barrier of ice wa
some sort of building material. 1t locke
TO be wood, but Of Stone-likc hardness
and apparently petriiied.
..The silence around the place Wa
, something ghoStly. Not the SlighteS
sound broke the awful stiffness of tn
place. which. added TO the weird look O
the empty streets, made it grewSom
enough. / soon got tired of inveStigat
d ING the city, as the streets were bloc
ed in many places with huge masses o
ice. rendering passage almost lmpoSS
bic. The buck, too, became uneasy
and we started on the return trip, reach
q Ing camp the next day, tired, but sal
e isiicd that we had been the first men
gaze on that silent city for centuries
After spring had broke made som
, strikes i'm nugget gold at the headwater
. Iof the river, working with the Indian
= Through the summer months, leaVin
Icamp for the Yukon about the end O
August. We reached the river all right
the trip down being easy, and in du
time got back to Juneau, where tooi
the steamer for the South.
1T was while l was at Juneau saw
newspapcrS with an account OF TIL
mirage seen at Muir glacier. | did no
, make any illusions to this, though, as
5.1 -. ,b;,l, any ono would believe me