The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1891-02-11
A DEAD CITY.
A DESCRIPTION OF THE FROZEN CITY
OF THE NORTH.
The Yarn of a Miner Who Has Seen the
Original of the Muir Glacier Mirage
in Ice Bound Alaska


mirage first became known, your cor
respondent has made every effort to
get substantial news concerning it, but
beyond the statements of Prof. Will
loughby, and the word of one or two
who had seen the mirage, nothing
tangible until yesterday could be OBJ
tanned. By the steamer Elder, which
arrived at Victoria from the North,
came miner, 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, a most remarkable story was OBJ
tanned, and the first description of the |
Silent City is here given.
George II. 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 were
passed. New Zealand, Cape Colony,
and California were also visited, and
in his fortieth year he joined party of
miners who were bent on exploring
the secrets of icebound Alaska. Ker-
shon is a hardy-looking man, with a
well-knit frame, indicative of an abil-
ity to withstand physical hardship, while
his clear, blue eyes are surety that
whatever he undertakes he will carry
through.
Yes" he said, Il think 1 am the
first white man who ever gazed on the
| frozen city of the North. In the sum-
mer of 1888 I 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
Juneau, where we left her. buying a
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
| against it; but as l was determined to
90 left the party, engaged an Indian
canoe, with two bucks, and started up
off this unknown fork. We had a ter
rible 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 line from the banks, two doing
this, while the third man rested. Pro-
gress was necessarily slow, and for
many days we toiled before the range
of cliffs and mountains were passed.
Once a 100-foot waterfall barred US,
and it took three days to get around it.
After that it was a bit easier. 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 oil
t mountains was sighted. / believed this
3 to be the head of the river, and pressed
. on to reach it before the cold weather
: set in.
E Snow was now falling very often
e and it was evident that the summer
t was nearly done. At length WI
v reached the wild country again, ant
e the stream, which had been subdividins
= itself into lesser ones, soon became to-
difficult to navigate. This was almos
v at the foot of the mountain rang
e spoken of. Here / determined to cam
for the winter, and good quarters wer
g found. Everything was made snug, a
e the weather up there is something aw
It full; but we were in deep ravine, over
IL run by high cliffs, which broke tn
n fury of the winds, and the best wa
o made of it. Game was plentiful, an
8 large quantities of moose and bear wer
shot and frozen for use during the lon
winter months.
ia Before long the cold came, and 8
d times it was impossible to stir fror
!. cover. Especially was this the cas-
when the winds blew. At other time
it was fairly comfortable. although tn
lack of sun made it gloomy enough
n Toward the end of winter it began t
v get lighter and the gales were less fire
e quent.
a Zone day l determined to try t
e scale one of the mountains near us, a
IS got so tired and weary with bein
1t penned up in such a confined place
e This idea 1 put before the indians
W One of them said he would go wit
d me; the other would not risk it, so h
1t was left in camp. A storm shortl
D. arose, blowing heavily for three day.
N but as soon as the weather had settle
e. myself and the Indian started off o
A. our trip.
N 1--WE went right up the line of th
1t frozen river, which, being solid mas
IL of ice. made good roadway. Follow
n ing this for about twenty miles, at
t; pretty steep rise, we reached platea
W between the foothills and high rang
ID Here the stream ended, and we starte
le to climb one of the big hills. After
is lot of hard work we reached a poiI
a. near the summit. A wonderful vie
m was had from here, but the strange:
lQ was d CllN III OuS VI LlO NdlICN
ne You may bet l was surprised to st
it. At first thought it was some fal
tastic arrangement of the ice and sno
which had assumed the form of a cit,
but examination with a glass Shove
IL that such was not the case, it being tc
lg regular in appearance.
ne ut was city, sure enough.
I'd Determined to see more of it,
Ioop1poopoad t0 work downward a
I'd though the buck was rather frightened
at he evidently not considering it 'goC
I'd medicine After several hours of han
s. work reached the outskirts of th
IS mysterious city, and found that tn
Ia place was laid out in streets, with blocl
" of strengthening buildings, what a.
a. peared to be mosques, towers, port
"a &C.. and every evidence of having bee
i. built by art.
The whole was of solid ice,
g. seemed to be but blows from hatch
on one of the walls disclosed the fA
re that beneath this barrier of ice w;
re some sort of building material.
wv looked to be wood, but of stone-lil
ut hardness, and apparently petrified.
e. The silence around the place w
pc something ghostly. Not the slighte
rd sound broke the awful stiffness of tt
Id place, which, added to the weird loo
he of the empty streets, made it gre,
D. some enough. 1 soon got tired of i
ly vestigating the city, as the streets We
IS. blocked in many places with hus
masses of ice. rendering passage a
most impossible. The buck, too. becan
uneasy. and we started on the retul
IN trip reaching camp the next day, tire
to but satisfied that we had been the fir
re men to gaze on that silent city for ce
r, turies.
IN ''After spring had broke Imade son
m strikes in nugget gold at the headw
P tiers of the river, working with the /
ne dians through the summer month
IL; leaving camp for the Yukon about tt
US end of August. We reached the rive
s. all right, the trip down being easy, al
Sc in due timo got back to Juneau, whe
er / took the steamer for the South.
lis 1T was while was at Juneau sa
ne newspapers with an account of Il
lV | ,,,;r., oo soon of Muir r1o oior 7 did m