Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1891-02-20
A DEAD CITY.
A DESCRIPTION OF THE FROZEN CITY
or THE NORTH.
The Yarn OF Miner Who Has Seen the
Original or tho Muir Glacier Mirage
In Ice Bound Alaska.

Since tho story of the Muir glacier
mirage first became known, your cor
respondent has made every effort to
get substantial news concerning it, hut
beyond the statements of Prof. Will
loughbv. and the word of one or two
who bad seen the mirage. nothing
tangible until yesterday could be OBJ
tanned. BY the steamer Elder. which
arrived ut Victoria from the North,
came miner. VITO left the vessel ut
that port. and did not 60 on TO San
Francisco as he at first intended. From
this miner. who is u very intelligent
man. 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 il Il native of England. but left that
country when a lad for the gold fields
of Australia, where several years were
passed. New Zealand. Cape COLONY,
and California were also visited, aud
in his forlieth year he joined party of
miners who were beat on exploring
the secrets of icebound Alaska. Kerr
shon is q hardy looking man, with
well-knit frame. indicative of an abil-
ity 10 withstand physical hardship, while
his clear, blue ewes 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 tho
frozen city of the North. In the sum-
mer of 1888 | was one OF party of six
who left here TO 90 north prospecting.
OF the other five. know not where
fl l. Al
juneau. where we left her. buying
small sloop to take our kits up to
Yukon. After several weeks of awful
toll we reached n fork.
Il was for going up this fork and
prospecting. but the other five were
against IL; but as | was determined TO
go left the party, engaged an Indian
canoe, with two bucks, and started up
oil this unknown fork. We had ter
rible time. Tue stream Mario led in
between high cliffs aud shot with dizzy
swiftness down the gulches, making it
necessary 10 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 ellis aud mountains were passed.
Once 4 l00-foot waterfall barred us,
aud it took three days to get around it.
} After that it was bit easier The
river broadened out and the country
was more level. The banks were We'll
wooded and game was plentiful. We
kept on like this. always going north.
when, after six weeks, range of
mountains was sighted. | 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,
and it was evident that the summer
was nearly done. At length we
reached the wild country again, and
the stream which had been subdividng
itself into lesser ones, soon became too
difficult to navigate. This was almost
at the foot of the mountain range
spoken of. Here l determined to camp
for the winter. and good quarters were
found. Everything was made snug. rs
the weather up there is something aw-
full; hut we were in IA deep ravine. over
run by high cliffs, which broke the
fury of the winds. and the best was
made of it. Game was plentiful, and
large quantities of moose and bear were
shot and frozen for use during the long
winter months.
Before long the cold came and at
times il was impossible TO stir from
cover. Especially was this the case
when the winds blew. At other times
II was fairly comfortable. although the
lack of sun made it gloomy enough.
Toward The end of winter it began 10
get lighter and the gales were less fire.
quent.
''One day / determined to try to
scale one of the mountains near us, as
! got so tired and weary with being
penned up in such confined place.
This idea l put before the Indians.
One of them said he would 90 with
me; the other would not risk it, so he
was left in camp. A storm shortly
arose, blowing heavily for three days,
but as soon as the weather had settled
myself and the Indian started of on
our trip.
I'VE went right up the line of the
frozen river, which, being a solid mass
Of ice. made n good roadway. Follow
ing this for about twenty miles. ut a
pretty steep rise. we reached plateau
between the foothills and high range.
Here the stream ended. and we started
to climb one of the big hills. After
lot of hard work we reached point
near the summit. A wonderful view
was had from here. but the strangest
thing was n city in one of the valleys.
You may bet was surprised to see
it. At first thought it was some fam
tastic arrangement Of the ice and snow
which had assumed the form of city.
T., but examination with glass showed
that such was not the case. it being too
regular in appearance.
III was city, sure enough.
Determined to see more of 1t.
commenced to work downward. al
though the buck was rather frightened,
he evidently not considering it good
medicine After several hours Of hard
work reached the outskirts of this
mysterious CITY. and found that this
place was laid ont in streets. with blocks
OF strengthening buildings. what APP
peared to be mosques. towers, ports.
&C.. and every evidence Of having been
butt by art.
The whole was OF solid ice, or