The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1892-07-03
.FaE-HE ESWWEg N@WHE@## HLeHZH
|SCHWATKA IN THE NORTH
Five Independence Days He Spent
In the Arctic and SUBJ
Arctic Regions.
The First American Flag to Float
From the North Mag
netic Pole.
Ft&
Whore thG Sun Did Not Set Until the
Next M0nth-Fourth Of July
Experiences.

AtAH
INHI shipboard in tho eastern entrance
Ix1 to Hudson's strait. Dur little
vessel was tsoking up and down
the entrance all day like q sentinel vainly
endeavoring TO find a "lead" through q
dense ice- pack shat reached from Resolu-
ton island Just off Batin land to Cape
Chidley of Labrador. We broke through
this polar pontoon bridge a few DAYS later
and by the latter part Of tho month were in
tho q, eat bay of the same name. The indie
pendence day was cold one. A fierce
wind, a perfect glacial gale blew right
along from morning until night. It 10 a
curious fact, however. that an ice-pack on
the weather side 10 % good as = break
water, and l have seen vessels, where q gale
was blowing. flying down a lane OF open
water between ioe-packs and the sea AZ
smooth az a river. We had plum duff and
other 'doings'' to commemorate tho day,
while the American flag Auttered over us in
the furious gale. ST..
Nv second Fourth (1s79) was spent at
Cape Felix, the northernmost point of King
Williams land in the Arctic Ocean, . great
island that 10 famous as the scene OF the sad
disaster that fell to the crews of the Eberus
and Terror. Sir John Franklin's Inflated
expedition.
All around us was = desolate field Of hum
mocky ice. the land. however. being nearly
clear of snow. The American flag was at
tached to an oar propped up by stones. and
tloated over a debris left years before by
Franklin's men, among which were tattered
remnants of the British jack.
We broke in on one tim~e-honored custom,
however, which 10 to allow the stars and
stripes to fly unmolested until sunset. and
then, with a salute. to lower them. As the
sun did not set until some time in August.
and We had important engagements else
where concerning food before that time.
our prospects for provender got the better
of our patriotism, and we "pulled down the
American flag upon the spot" despite the
fact that Col. Glider came from the state
that gave US Gov. Dix.
It Aoated for three days, however, from
the broken British oar before We pulled it
down, This particular piece of bunting
was the first American flag to wave from
the north magnetic pole; 1t had enclosed
the remains of the only British officer
death where nearly a hundred and fifty
went down.
This bruised and broken-edged flag,
splotched with seal and walrus blubber,
soiled with all that can accrue from a 5000
mile sledRe journey, rests now in a hand
scaled in glass, in the rooms Of the Ameri-
osn Steam Yacht club.
BY the time tho third Independence day
came around, 1850. We had returned to tho
northern shores of Hudson's bay and were
living with the Eskimo awaiting the de-
parture Of the whaler George and Mary
for New Bedford in August.
The white men thought II would be n
frst-rate idea to get up a shooting match
among the Eskimo. A six-barrel whale oil
cask was put up 100 hundreds away and tho
regulation target with an eight-inch bulls
eye made Of paper was pasted on its broad
bullying side. Fou shots were allowed each
one Of the twenty contestants. The prizes
offered were cans of powder. boxes of caps.
bags of bullets. hunting knives, etc., ETC.,
arranged somewhat with reference to their
value as appreciated by the Eskimo rather
than to their financial value at home.
We had some noted native hunters among
them; one of them, Toolooah, we all felt
sure would take a head prize or two if he
did not gobble the whole shooting
match.''
When the awful time came and these
northern nomads were drawn up in line
they were as nervous az condemned GRIM
inals about to be shot. The long and short
OF it was that the four best marksmen were
the four white, and Toolooah. who had
AA4O~ y VI S~@ OAAvy III VI
eighty seal, two thirds of the musk oxen
and all of the seven polar bear, on the long
sledge journey (wherein there were ten
other hunters), came out sixteenth. In
fact, he belonged to an awkward squad
whose four shots had not even hit the cask
The target test of craftsmanship, where
all are equally unabashed, is undoubtedly q
sound one, but otherwise not; while two
equally good shots may be anything but
equally good hunters.
So much Tor my Arctic Fourth of July.
My fourth Fourth of July (l8S3) found
me in the British Northwest Territory en-
deavoring to make around one of the worst
distractions on the great Yukon river,
down which my little exploring party
was drifting IN a raft that we had made
at the iirst lake on the head of the
0tream.
The raft had shot the rapids Of the Grand
canyon. nearly five miles in length. and as
q result of the humping against the basal
tic walls and soraping over big boulders,
che left side of the raft had beaten the
mathematioaliy. the rectangular plan had
been converted into an oblique parallelo-
gram caused by the logs on the left side
slipping forward.
We we're repairing this damage when the
Fourth of July overlook US. We had nailed
the flag to the mast all the way down the
river, so there WAS no vent for very patriotic
enthusiasm in that direction, while we had
been banging away at gutta percha grouse
aud w~rought-iron ducks 80 extensively that
. salute would have been a tame way of ex-
pressing our feelings.
So l decided l would take n hunt inland.
Swinging my Winchester over my starboard
~claviole l started out. There was a good,
strong wind blowing in my face and l reas-
oned this would be in my favor in not Civ
ing any game my scent, besides the agree
ably cooling effect on a warm day.
That wind proved a delusion and q snare.
] got out from camp about two miles when