The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1892-08-13
STILL UNEMPLOYED.
THE LARGEST VOLCANO IN ALASKA
pEFlEs APPROACH.

MANY Attempts Have Been Made 60
Reach the Giant. but 1t Lies So Tar
North That the Absence Of Vegetation
Has Rendered 1t inaccessible.
The grandest mountain of North
America has not yet been visited by ex-
plorers.
1t Is an active volcano called Wran-
gell, located in the interior Of Alaska,
and its frost wreathed dome forms pre-
suInably tho apex Of the continent.
Mount Wrangell lies about 200 miles
north of the celebrated Mount st. Elias
and Is In the center Of region en-
shrouded in mystery. Gigantic noun
tain ranges rise like terraces one upon
the other, guarding in their midst this
snowy monster of the north.
About forty years ago party of Rus
sian explorers on the Copper river, OF
Alaska, first sighted the peak away to
the northeast, and being duly impressed
with it's majesty conferred upon II
the title Of their honored governor,
Baron Wrangell. They made no at
tempt, however, to reach the mountain,
1t being in the country of hostile ma
tives and presenting such apparently
insurmountable obstacles to approach.
Several other companies of Russians
made partial ascents of the Copper river
about the same time and met with dis
aster. One party of seventeen, under
Seberinikoff, was massacred by the ma
tives. No new knowledge of the Cop.
per river was obtained, and no approach
was made to the volcano.
1t was not until 1884 that another at
tempt was made at exploration in the
Copper river region. Then Lieutenant
Allen, one Of the most daring mefswho
ever entered Alaska, forced his way with
several white companions up the Copper
nearly to its source and circled half way
around the Mount Wrangell district,
viewing the mighty peak from distance
of forty or fifty miles, but finding no OPP
portunity to reach and ascend it. In
deed he was on the verge of starvation
at the time and it would have been
suicide to have attempted to scale the
snowclad heights.
The terrible experiences of Allen dis
Outraged further explorations by way
Of the Copper, and when, in 1890, en-.
tered Alaska for the second time, at.
tempted to reach Mount Wrangell by q
new avenue of approach, viz. from the
northeast. This route necessitated an
overland march of 800 miles from the
Yukon river, and when provisions be.
came exhausted my party was still fully
forty miles from the volcano and tan
gled up in a labyrinth of mountain
ranges. Gigantic peaks, snowclad, de
void of vegetation and animal life
barred our progress in front, and an at
tempt TO scale them, with nothing to ea'
and naught in sight, would have beer
sheer madness. So circle was made tS
the northwest, crossing Aliens trail
and we forced way to the Yukon, 70t
miles distant, barely escaping starvation
In 1891 Lieutenant Schwatka, famoul
as an explorer of the Yukon, tried hi
hand at traversing the southern bordeI
Of the Mount Wrangell domain. II,
proceeded overland from Fort Selkirk
on the upper Yukon, piercing an I'M
known district and emerging on tn,
Copper river south of Mount Wrangell
He also had close call from starvation
These few explorations constitute the
sum total of the discoveries in the vicin
ity of Mount Wrangell up to date. Sew
eral sketches OF the volcano have beer
made as it appears from distance, bu
no accurate information concerning i
has yet been obtained.
1t appears to be fully as high as Noun
st. Elias, and may be even higher. Tn,
natives living in the vicinity are super
stitiously afraid Of venturing near tn,
volcano, and this fact adds to the inter
est which surrounds it. / believe tina
Mount Wrangell can be reached by ex
plorers who will establish depots of sup
plies, projecting one post beyond IN
other and arranging for the systemati
forwarding of the provisions to tn
terminal. No food can be depende
upon in this region after leaving tn
river except that brought in by the e1
plorer. The scaling Of Mount Wrange
. heights would require many days, bu
could probably be accomplished.
/, There is apparently little chance tha
| Mount WranSell will ever be reache
| from the direction of Mount st. Ella!
!, that is, from .he south. 1t is proper /
state that the region between Mount S
Elias and Moant Wrangell is the onl
/ glacier field IN Alaska. A few isolate
glaciers can be found elsewhere alon
the coast, but in four-ifths of the int
rior no SNOW or ice exists during IL
t summer. A dense wilderness of con
, fera surrounds the ice region al
blankets the country for hundreds ,
miles eastward The volcano of MouI
Wrangell offers today unique field f,
, the explorer and the professional moul
tain clirnber.-Cincinnati Post.
, Cruel Test,