St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-10-20
Thrilling Experience Of a Sci
entiffc Expedition Sent Out
by Uncle Sam.
Great Snow Storms Prevent
the Explorers From Climb
ing MT. st. Elias.
Thirty-Five Days Spent in an
Unsuccessful Attempt to
Reach It's Summit.
The Mountain Only a Second
Rate One, About 13,50O
Feet High.

FeoC Hlg0.
WASHINGTON, Oct. 19.-The scientific
expedition sent ont last spring under
the joint auspices of the National Geo
graphic society aud the United States
geological survey for the purpose of
exploring the region about Mount St.
Elias. Alaska. has returned. Mr.. Rus
sell. who organized the expedition and
had charge of the work, is now in Wash
ington, and, at the request of the agent
of the Associated Press, has furnished
the following picturesque sketch of the
work of his party: On arriving at Sitka
the members of the expedition were
transferred at once to the United States
steamer Pinta, under command of Capt.
FarenhOlt, who had previously received
instructions from the secretary of the
navy to take them to Yakutat bay.
The Pinta reached the mouth of Ya-
kutat bay on June 25. The bay is a
broad, deep inlet, extending more than
thirty miles inland, and it was the plan
of the expedition to begin work near its
.hea,l on h., west shore. The weather
being thick, Capt. Farenholt did not
tu,nn IL adv sable to take the vessel up
the bay, and the voyage had to be made
by means of boats and canoes in driv-
ing rain storm. The actual
Base of Operations
was reached on June %, and the study
of the geology and geography of the
region began at once. "When the storm
passed away" says Mr.. Russell, I'VE
found ourselves ON wild shore, encum-
bered by icebergS and at the ilnmedi-
ate base of majestic mountain
range, trending southeast and north
west. Along the southern base
of the mountains there is plateau
some thirty miles broad. divided by the
waters of Yaku.at bay. Our task was
to explore and map the country from
the hay to st. Elias, and as far beyond
as practicable. Excursions were begun
at.ence to neighboring mountains aud
glaciers and up Yakutat bay as far AS
the floating ice would allow canoe to
travel. One of these excursions took
us to an island near the head of the bay,
which we named Grand View Island.
From It's summit, which rises boldly
thousand feet above the water, a mag
niticent view was obtained Of vast
stretch of SnOw-ciad mountains from
which glaciers of great magnitude de-
scended to the sea, and ended III cliffs
of Ice several hundred feet high. From
there the icebergs crowding the bay were
derived. One of those glaciers we
named after Dalton, the pioneer ex-
piorer of. the region; another of large
size, at the head of the bay, was named
in honor of Gardner Hubbard. the pres
ident of the National Geographic sOci-
ETY.. A magnificent mountain peak,
rising some 10000 feet Immediately
above the Hubbard glacier, received
the same name. Another towering
peak Oh the same mountain crest, tri-
angular in shape and always of pureSt
white. was named Mount Seattle in
acknowledgements of the faithful Serv-
ices of our camp hands. whose homes
are mostly in the Queen City of the
Sound. While glacial and geological
studies were being pushed forward Mr..
Kerr. the tOpOgrapher of the party,
measured base line with considerable
accuracy, and began
: Map of the Region.
From the ends of the base line sights
were taken to several peaks and hill
the lines of sight and the base line af-
fording data for determining other dis
tances. BY means of angles of eleva-
tion their heights could also be calcu-
lated. The stations whose position and
elevation had thus been determined
were made the eXtremities of new base
lines. from which sights to all the
mountains in the region could be made
and the heights of the highest peaks ac-
curately determined. In addition to
the dip angles the heights of the sta
tions occupied were determined by
means of mercurial barometer. To
aid in this work base barometer was
read three times day during July
and August by Rev. Carl j.
Hendrickson, - has charge of
mission AT Yakutat. From
this beginning the work of mapping
the country was carried forward until
all the peaks to be seen from our line of
march were located and their heights
determined. As soon as topographic
work was we'll under way. line of
march toward ST. Elias was~decided
upon. All of our rati0nS, bedding,
tents. etc., had to be carried or packed
| Try the men, the character OF the coun-
| try not allowing the use of animals.
Our line of march was toward the
Northwest, with the triangular summit
of st. Elias as our guide. We found
passes in the mountains leading i'm the
direction we wished to travel, and no
insurmountabe difficulties i'm the way,
although great patience and judgment
were required in threading the
Network of Crevasses
i in the ice fields. Probably more than
nine-tenths of our journey was across
| glaciers and snow fields. On the first of
August we were midway between Yak
utat bay and st. Elias, Bdt still at the
base of the mountains. Our camp was
i'm the last and highest grove of trees
that it was practicable to reach. The
timber line is there about 1900 feet high
and all trees disappear few miles to
the west. An island of rock surrounded
by vast glaciers. but clothed With beau
tiful flowers, rank ferns and dense
spruce trees, furnished delightful spot
for our base camp. We named this
| lovely oasis in the desert of ice Bios
som Island.' From there our work i'm
The high mountains began. On fol-
| lowing up Marvin glacier, which
| flows to the west of Blossom Is
land. for about fifteen miles, we
reached an elevation of 1900 feet and
found an easy pass. although filed with
| glacial ice, leading westward across
/ what. from a distance. seemed an I'M
| passable mountain range. We named
I this Pinnacle pass on account of the
| tapering spires overlooking it. West of
| Pinnacle pass we descended to glacier
| that has its source far To the north of
| Mount Cook, and separates that noun
tain from the st. Elias range. On