Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-06-28

snow was melting faSt. On the next morn
ing the river had rieen five inches, but they
went on with the work from the point
where they had left of the night before
and they soon finished the half mile be-
tween the second and third canons. The
latter could not be entered on account Of
the swiftness Of the current, DO they ran
the last mile along the top Of the bluffs.
Progress was slow on account Of the deep,
soft snow and the dense timber. They
made the last station at 6:%5 p. m, and re-
ferred 1t to four large hemlock trees. which
were blazed and marked with copper tacks.
A Narrow Escape.
By Sunday morning there had been q
warm rain. and the river had risen several
feet. They decided that the best thing they
could do was to get out before the freshet
came. Mr.. Dickins. Mr.. Tinsley and one
other man were in q small canoe, with the
instruments. Behind them were two skiffs
with two men each, containing the camp
outfit supplies and provisions. There was
a drizzling rain, and there was q rapid cur
rent, with the river full Of floating Ice.
They were getting along very nicely for
five or six miles, and were congratulating
themselves that they were getting out Of
the place 80 easily. when there was an &C.
cident. by which the three men in the
canoe came within a very short distance Of
losing their lives. Just as they were round
ing sharp bend In the river the canoe
struck a snag and was capsized. throwing
swept down the stream for several hun
dred yards, but was finally washed onto a
gravel bank. He was able to pull himself
up to a place Of safety, and then fell ex-
hausted from the exposure and the drench-
ing In the Icy water. The third man. Car
son. was under the canoe when 1t turned
over. and the men In the skiffs supposed
that there was no earthly chance that he
ever. the canoe struck another snag, and
hung there, while the man was washed out
from underneath by the force Of the water.
He was washed ashore about hundred
yards below. Mr.. Dicklns managed to
catch a brunch overhanging the river, and
by the hardest kind Of work managed to
pull himself out of the rapid stream. The
men in the skiffs ran ashore below and
came back to the assistance of the ex-
hausted men. They built a fire and dried
their clothes. and then patched the hole in
their canoe and started on again.
After this mishap they shot down the
river through the first canon all right. and
were getting along safely until they at
tempted to make a landing just above the
timber jam. One skin was swept against
a fallen tree and smashed into splinters.
larger part was swept under the Jam and
lost. Mr.. Dickins lost his Photographic
outfit and all the presumably hne pictures
Of this practically unknown region. The
party finally reached Burroughs Bay IAN
merry, wet and tired, and spent a couple Of
days there repairing the damages and get
ing over the effects Of their severe ex-
periences. On May 25 they left Burroughs
vey steamer Hassler. the canoe and the
remaining skin. They made thirty miles
the first day and eighteen the second. reach
ing Loring at noon the day before the letter
was written.
MIR. McGrath's Letter.
The letter from Mr.. John E. McGrath
was written at Yakitat Bay on May p. and
oil
spring in Alaska. He describes the past
winter as one Of unprecedented severity.
The letter was written on the day Of his
arrival at Yakitat. but he says they might
just as well have delayed their departure
even more. as the spring was SO late II
was impossible for them to get to work
yet The vessels made a quicker trip to
Alaska this year than they did last The
Patterson. which arrived at Yakitat May
81. left San Francisco April Fl. and was
delayed a week at Sitka. They struck
storms and snow as soon as they got into
the waters opposite British Columbia. On
May there was four inches Of snow on
the deck. and the captain. who had sailed
these waters more than thirty years, said
that he had never heard Of anything like II
before. They anchored of Juneau on May
TO- In the midst Of a snow storm. Mr.. Nc
Grath describes the town as resembling
one Of George Kennon's pictures OF a
Siberian village.
The marshal OF the territory cana on
board at Juneau and told them that the
oldest settlers had never heard Of such
weather as they had had this last winter
and spring. Even then the snow was from
thirty to fifty feet deep on the load to Sill
yer Bow basin. and 1t was the general
opinion that mining could not begin this
year at least until the middle of June. The
town was filled with miners. who are usu.
ally of in the mountains at that time OF
the year. At Sitka, on May II. they found
the whole country covered with snow down
to the high-w mark. On going ashore
they heard that affairs at Yakitat were fan
worse than anything they had heard o!
elsewhere. At Point Manly. up toward Mt
st. Elias. the snow was from nine to ten
feet deep on a level The Indians had been
compelled to postpone their sea otter hunt
for at least four weeks, as they said that
they could neither land nor i've at Icy
Cape. In the mission garden at Iakita,
Bay the snow was five feet deep. where O
year ago to the very day the people were
gathering early vegetables. Spring was q
little late In Alaska this year. t=.