Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1891-08-08
THE FAR FROZEN NORTH.
Thrilling Experience of Hunters In the
land of SNOW and Ice.


turna island, and who is as enthusiastic
sportsman as one would meet in many
a day, recently returned from a shooting
tramp which took him far into the barren
regions of the north, where winter lasts for
ten months OF the year in all its frigld IN
tenSity, and where he met with and secured
the game for which he went in search two
years ago-the musk OK. Ii was in June,
/ 1889, that MIR, Pike started on his prlnci-
pal expedition down the Athabasca and
Great Slave lake to the arctic circle. He had
no companions, his party being composed
entirely OF Indian guides-two halfbreeds
and six full-blooded Dog Ribs, with their
women. The only provisions carried from
the fort was little tea and tobacco, the
rife being depended upon entirely TO
bring in the necessary food.
TIE caribee proved plentiful until the
wood line was reached, and here the wo-
men decided to wait for the return of the
J male members of the company. They
were greatly missed as the others went on,
as they Lad been the cooks of the party,
preparing The great staple of life, venison,
in the most primitive fashion, says the
Victoria, B. c., ColoAist, by boiling aud
seasoning il with the only condiment they
had ever heard of-dirt. While Mr.. Pike
and his guides pressed on to the arctic
circle and the home Of the musk OK, the
women, who had remained Ia the last
belt of woods, busted themselves in pre-.
pairing pemmican. the most useful food
known to northern travellers Being the
compressed substance of whatever meat IL
, is made FROM it is compact and therefore
/ easily carried and full of strength After
! leaving the timber behind and entering
the great barren waste forming the desert
| to the derect north Of Hudson's Bay, the
white hunter and his men found That cold
every day be lme more intense, and the
wood that they had brought with them on
the seds was hardly sufficient to keep them
from freezing.
Not a living thing was to be met with
until the desert was traversed, and the
larder was recruited entirely from the
stores Of pemmican. Not having a Their.
mometer it was impossible to determine
how cold il was in the land of the musk
OK, but the Victorians may well under
stand that there Is every difference in the
world between the climate of the arctic
circle and that of the fovored capital of
British Columbia. Having killed num-
Der of musk OK, one of which has been
mounted By Curator Faunin and now
adorns the Provincial museum, Mr. Pike
started southwark again, not having
even caught glimpse of the Esquimaux,
of whom his guides were in great fear, as
war had been waged between the two
tribes a good many years ago All the
natives Of this part of the world are fine
specimens of manhood-straight, hardy,
full of bone and muscle, but also equally
full of superstition. To enable them to en-
dure the'seyerity of the climate, they wear,
except during the very brief summer, a
curious costume of deer skin, with the
hair left on, which is air and water tight.
warm and convenient.
This one northern trip occupied four
months, on returning to the fort a number
of smaller expeditions were planned and
carried out, the young Eng!ishman on
each being unaccompanied except by In.
dians. To the southwest of Slave Lake
band of eight wood buffaloes. differing
very slightly from the old monarchis of
the plain were met with and one killed
for food. - The entire band could have been
shot, but it would have been useless
slaughter, and so the rare animals were
not molested. In this faroff corner OF
the world the few survivors Of the old race
ofprairie cattle are increasing and multi,
/, plying, secure from the intrusions of white
trophy hunters. The Indians, too, let
them alone, preferring to hunt the moose,
as the Hudson 5 Bay people, TO discourage
the slaughter of the butfaloes, have re-
fused to buy the robes.
Down the Great Fish river, where Sir
John Franklin's party met an untimely
fate, the Victoria hunter had the pleasure
of enjoying an arctic summer, which.
tleeting as a dream, is uncomfortably
warm both night and day for about two
months, when its life is over. During it's
brief existence all common flowers of more
southern ATTITUDES bloom protusely, though
they are dwarfs generally.
In August last Mr. Pike determined to
come home, and left Fort Resolution in a
canoe, intending TO 90 up the Peace river
and cross by Stuart's lake TO Quesnelle.
Very little headway had been made with
the canoe, when a cold snap came on and
passed, leading to the supposition that
there would be clear water for the trip.
1t was again commenced, couple of Six
Foot Davis white men having volunteered
10 act as guides until the Rockies were
crossed, but again the ice prevented TIE
progress ot the canoe 1t was thereupOn
abandoned, and the three white men start
ed or foot for McLean's lake, about a
100 miles away Provisions were carried
for eight lays, in half ri which time the
guides had promised chat the lake would
be reached.
Eight days passed, however, and still
the hungry and foot-sore travellers tramped
on. There the guides discovered that
they had assembled the wrong river-mis-
taking the Nation 70, the McLean-and
were lost, with no supplies and bad
weather coming on In this dilemma they
elected Mr.. Pike guide, and the marcL
back through the vast wilderness for 200
miles commenced. Twenty-four DAYS
latter, thirty-two days from the time they
eft the skeletons almost Of the three white
men again reached the abandoned canoe
They had saved their lives by thread
having endured all the horrors Of starva-
ton, and still walked on through the
snow If the number Of days when not q
morsel Of food was procurable was record
ed II would not be believed. but the ex-
tremity of distress reached may be inn
| agined when it is known that even their
shoes were eaten by the starving men, and
had they had any dogs they would have
Al IL