Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1891-02-20
A DEAD CITY.
A DESCRIPTION OF THE FROZEN CITY
OF THE NORTH.
The yarn or Miner Who Has Seen the
Original OF tho Muir Glacier Mirage
In Ice Bound Alaska,

respondent has made every effort to
get substantial news concerning it. but
/ beyond the statements of Prof. Will
/ loughbv. and the word of one or two
who had seen the mirage. nothing
tangible until yesterday could be OBJ
tanned Bv the steamer Elder, which
arrived ut Victoria from the North.
came a 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 "A very Intelligent
man. most remarkable story was OBJ
/ tanned and the first description of the
/ Silent City is here given.
George III. Kershon is the name given
/ by the narrator of the tale. He SAYS
/ he is 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. Kerr
shon is IA hardylookng man, with
well-knit frame. indicative of an abil-
/ ity to withstand physical hardship, while
| his clear, blue eyes are n surety that
whatever he undertakes he will carry
through.
Yes" he said, IL think l am the
! first white man who ever gazed on the
frozen city of the North. In the sum-
mer of 1888 | 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
small sloop TO take our kits up to
! Yukon. After several weeks of awful
/ toll we reached "A fork.
II was for going up this fork and
! prospecting. but the other five were
against it; but as 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 mario BED 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 toled before the range
of ellis and mountains were passed.
Once n 1O0-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 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 subdividin.
! itself into lesser ones, soon became too
difficult to navigate. This was almost
at the foot OF the mountain range
spoken of. Here determined to camp
for the winter, aud good quarters were
found. Everything was made snug, rs
the weather up there is something aw-
full; but we were in a 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 loug
winter months.
Before long the cold came. and at
times it was impossible to stir from
cover. Especially was this the case
when the winds blew. At other times
1t was fairly comfortable. although the
lack of sun made it gloomy enough.
Toward the end of winter it began To
get lighter and the gales were less fire.
quent.
One day ! determined to try to
scale one of the mountains near US. as
i got so tired and weary with being
penned up in such confined place.
This idea | put before the Indians.
One of them said he would go 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 Off on
our trip.
I'VE went right up the line of the
frozen river, which, being solid mass
of ice, made a good roadway. Follow
ing this for about twenty miles, ut n
pretty steep rise. we reached n plateau
between the foothills and high range.
Here the stream ended. aud we started
to climb one of the big hills. After a
lot of hard work we reached a point
near the summit. A wonderful view
was had from here. but the strangest
thing was a 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 n city,
but examination with glass showed
that such was not the case. it being too
regular in appearance.
1T was city, sure enough.
Determined to sec more of it. l
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
pesred to bc mosques, towers, ports,
&c. aud every evidence of having been
built by art.
s:rha ,vhnIa waa Of sOliJ leo ~