Morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven [Conn.]) 1848-1894, 1890-11-28

age.
From the Juneau Times.l
Since the story of the Muir glacier mir
age first became known, your correspond
ent has make every effort to get substan-
tial news concerning it, hut beyond the
statements of Prof. Willoughby, and the
word of one or two who had seen the mir
age, nothing tangible could be obtained.
By the steamer Elder, which arrived at
who left the vessel at that port, and did
not go on to San Francisco, as he at first
intended. From this miner, who is very
intelligent man, most remarkable story
was obtained, and the first description of
the Silent City is here given.
George Fl. Kershon is the name given by
the narrator of the tale. He says he is a
native of England, but left that country
when lad for the gold fields of Australia,
where several years We're passed. New Zeal
and, Cape Colony and California were also
visited, and in his fortieth year he Joined a
party of miners who were bent upon ex-
ploring the secrets of ice-bound Alaska.
Kershon is a hardy looking man, with
well-k knit frame, indicative of an ability to
Withstand ply ysical hardship, while his clear,
blue eyes are q surely that whatever he un-
dertakes he will carry through.
eyes," he said, 81 think 1 am the first
white man who ever gazed on the frozen
city of the north. In the summer of 1888
was one of a party of six who left here
| to go north prospecting. OF the other five,
| know not where they are. We took the
| steamer to Juneau, where we left her, buy
| ing small sloop to take our kits up to
Yukon. After several weeks of awful toll
we reached fork.
81 was for going up this fork and pros
| pecting, but the other five were against it;
but as l 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 swiftness 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 toiled before the range of cliffs and
| mountains were passed. Once a 1O0-foot
waterfall barred us, and it took three days
to get around it.
| "After that it was a bit easier. The riv-
er broadened ont 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, a range of mountains was sighted
1 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, an6
it was evident that the summer was nearl,
| done. At length We reached the wild
country again, and the stream, which has
been subdividing itself into lesser ones
soon became too difficult to navi
gate. This was almost at the foot of tn
mountain range spoken of. Here 1 de
termined to camp for the winter, and goo,
quarters We're found Everything wa
made snug, as the weather up there j
somewhat awful; but we were in q dee
ravine, overrun by high cliffs, whicl
broke the fury of the winds, and the bes
was made of it. Game was plentiful
and large quantities of moose and bea
were shot and frozen for use during tn
long winter months.
siBefore long the cold came, and q
times it was impossible to stir from cover
Especially was this the case when th
winds blew. AT other times it was fairl
, comfortable, although the lack of su
made it gloomy enough. Toward the en-
of winter it began to get lighter and th
, gales were less frequent.
"One day determined to try to sea-
, one of the mountains near us, as l got s
: tired and weary with being penned up
such o confined place. This idea 1 put b
fore the Indians. One of them said
I would go with me; the other would NJ
, risk it, so he was left in camp. A stor
shortly arose, blowing heavily for thr'
days, but as soon as the weather had Sc
tied myself and the Indians started off c
our trip.
"We went right up the line of Il
frozen river, which, being solid mass
ice, made good roadway. Following th
= for about twenty miles, at pretty ste,
l. rise, we reached plateau between Il
a foothills and high range. Here the strea
ended and we started to climb one of t
4 big hills. After lot of hard work '
reached point near the summit. A wo
|. derful view was had from here, but &
q strangest thing was city in one of t
:, valleys.
u "You may bet was surprised to see
% At first thought it was some fantastic g
j rangement of the ice and snow which b
"a assumed the form of a city, but examin
ton with glass showed that such was n
70 the case, it being too regular in apes
ai ance.
le cit was city, sure enough.
n Determined to see more of it, COZ
menced to work downward, although I
buck was rather frightened, he evident
!. not considering it good medicine Aft
20 several hours of hard work reached t
r outskirts of this mysterious city, a
is found that this place was laid out
n streets, with blocks of strange-looki
a. buildings, what appeared to be mosqu
,e towers, ports, &C., and every evidence
ne having been built by art.
o. s'The whole was of solid ice, or seem
u to be, but blows from hatchet on one
w the walls disclosed the fact that benes
th this barrier of ice was some sort of bui
u ing material. It looked to be wood,
,g of stone-like hardness, and apparen
I'd petrifed.
to ssThe silence around the place v
m something ghostly. Not the slight
er sound broke the awful stiffness of
SO place, which, added to the weird look
ot the empty streets, made it grewso
ee enough. soon got tired of investigat
ng the city, as the streets were blocked
ie, many places with huge masses of ice, r
lc- dering passage almost impossible.
es buck, too, became uneasy, and we star
he on the return trip, reaching camp the n
he day, tired, but satisfied that we had b
"a the first men to gaze on that silent city
rel centuries.
stAfter spring had broke / made &
ho strikes in nugget gold at the head-wa,
~.