The age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1897-1902, 1897-08-22
How to Fight the Colds of An
Artic Winter.
THE KLONDYKE FEVER
Charles E. T. Foster, WhaIer, Gives Valua-
Bile Information to Those Who
Want to Go North.
From the St. Louis Globe-Democrat.

Men can not make me DelieNe that
they do not feel the cold in Alaska when
the temperature is go degrees below zero,
for I know from personal experience
that no matter how much fur-lined
clothing one is wrapped in, he realizes
that the cold is intense when a spirit
thermometer is required to register the
temperature at 60 below" said Charles
e. 7. Foster who is stopping at the Pill
grim Hotel.
Mr.. Foster, while only SO years olds
has had varied experience in travel in
many climes. When only 16 years old he
was under contract with the captain of
a whaling vessel to go to Behring Sea as
a whaler, and he spent one winter in
from 70 to 76 degrees north latitude, in
the southern portion Of the Arctic Ocean.
He struck the other extreme by,spending
the next December in the equatorial re-
gions of South America. AS a sailor Mr..
Foster has visited nearly all groups of
the Polynesian Islands in the Southern
Pacific Ocean, has visited Australia,
China and Japan, and has rounded both
Cape Horn and the Cape of Good Hope.
He has just now returned from trip
to the Transvaal, in South Africa, and
is en- route to his cid home in San Fran
cisco to prepare for trip to the Klon-
dyke.
1T was in $780, when 16 years old, that
I left home in Frisco on vessel bound
for Japan, and intended to return after
a short stay i'm the Mikado's kingdom"
continued Mr.. Foster. I'm Japan I met
Capt. John C. Keenan,, in command of the
bark Norman a whaling vessel, owned
bn
persuaded me to enter into a contract to
go to Alaska as a whaler. He drew a
most fascinating picture of life in the
Behring Sea, and said matchmaking was
fine sport. He aroused my boyish spirit
of adventure. and I signed contract for
the season. The men went to hunt both
whale and walrus Well. in October,
1880, our vessel was off Wrangel Land,
and the temperature was 81 degrees be-
low zero. Before locating for the wineter
we went to Point Barrow, a long reach
of low, barren land, and the most north
erly portion of Alaska Territory, which
projects itself into the great Arctic
Ocean at latitude 70 degrees north.
Point Barrow might be called the
jumping off place. for beyond there lies
the icy ocean stretching away towards
the north pole. Mystery hovers over that
northermost point of Uncle Sans pos
sessions. The compass needle, which lies
horizontal at the equator, is attracted by
some strange influence at Point Barrow,
and dips and points straight downward.
"That region, together with Siberia.
has the coolest winter climate in the
world. But it is not always winter, and
even in that high latitude Esqumaux
live the year round. Even nature arous-
es herself in the brief summer, and
sprinkles the land with a few bright
flowers and grasses. But beyond 70 de-
grees of north latitude no trees are to
be found, and there are even no shrubs,
the only growth being lichens and wod-
plants. But the country is full of ami
NAL life around Point Barrow. There
is the birthplace of the whale, the wal
rus and the polar bear. The sea is full
of life Countless thousands of herring
leave those waters to go to the sea farth-
er south. 1t is the breeding place of
geese and ducks, and the sky Is some
times darkened by the enormous fiocks
of sea-fowl. But few whalers venture
beyond Point Barrow, for the reason
that the currents in the Arctic Ocean run
northward, and the boats might be
caught in the ice and the men carried
to death in that practically unknown
sea. 1t was while 1 was II, that latti-
tude that the Jeanette expedition was
lost. When / was at Point Barrow no
white men lived there. There was an
Esquimaux village of about $50 persons,
who lived in houses partly under ground
to protect them from the cold. The roofs
and ribs. These people were the gen.
uine Esquimaux. They were inclined to
be rather surly and unfriendly toward
white men at that time. Since then the
United States government, understand,
has erected a house there as a refuge
for shipwrecked navlgators.
For the winter whaling the bark Nor
man sailed south to Behring Strait in
latitude sc degrees north, and we piled
around Cape Prince of Wales, Cape st.
Vincent and also st. Lawrence island.
There we found the Esquimaux to be
bad tempered. They had obtained Win
chesters from Russian and American
traders, and they were crack shots.
Cape Prince of Wales is peninsula that
shoots out from about the center of th+
western coast of Alaska, and it's termi-
nus Is the nearest point between this
continent and Asia. The Cape Is
rocky peak rising $500 feet abov4 the sea-
and in clear weather one standing on it's
summit can see the Siberian coast of
Asia only forty miles away. The two
continents are separated by Behring
Strait, but two islands, known as ths
Diomedes, in this strait make 1t appear
that there is almost continuous land
from Cape Prince of Wales on the one
side to East Cape on the other. The ma
tives carry on trade between the two
continents. and have done so from time
imemmorial. An Esquimau village on
Cape Prince of Wales contained many
good huntres and fishermen and shrewd
traders, and some of thu natives were
professional smugglers. dealing in whis-
ky and many contraband articles.
when I say that Cape Prince of
Wales is about in the center of AlaslSas
western coast line, some people may be