Evening star., 1898-11-03
TRIP TO POINT BARROW
Lieut.. Jarvis to Lecture Before the National
Geographic Society.
Some Incidents in the Career of This
Intrepid Officer OF the Rev
enue Cutter Service.

The lecture season of the National Geo
graphic Society for 1s9s-99 will be inaugu-
rated tomorrow evening at $50 o'clock in
Columbian University Hall, corner 18th and
II streets northwest, wien Lieutenant d.
II. Jarvis of the United States revenue cut
ter service will deliver an address on the
subject of his recentririp TO Point Barrow,
Alaska. h t'-
For many years Lieutsnant Jarvis has
made annual trips to the arctic on the
Bear, a revenue cuttermsent north each
season to control the !illictt sale by vessels
of liquors 10, the I1liians55 render help to
any disabled ship, especially whalers and
to have a general eye to the public welfare.
This gave him an excellent opportunity to
study all questions pertaining to arctic life
and travel while his close and intimate
relations with the natives made him host
OF aboriginal friends in every native village
from Nunivak to Herschel Island, at the
mouth of the Mckenzie river.
Fents of Physical Exertfon.
Though of slight physique, he is wiry and
active, and his nerve force has taken him
through feats of physical exertion which
stronger men might not have been able to
accomplish. He handles men with unusual
skill and possesses that quality which
dears him to seamen and inspires the con-
fidence which secures ready obedience and
instant following, no matter how hazardous
the enterprise. He possesses an excellent
mind, and his reputation for daring acts,
based on careful scrutiny of the dangers
to be encountered, is well known through
out the service 1t was he who took his
boat repeatedly through the boiling surf at
Icy bay at the time Of the landing of the
Mount ST. Elias party under Russell when
Lieutenant Robinson and whale boats
crew were lost. AT Kings Island he sue
ceeded in landing, by means of a hide
stretched between two bidarkies himself
and tons of provisions surf-beaten
rock, in order to save the lives of many
starving natives.
His last exploit according to Mr. STAN
ley Brown who is familiar with the facts
and the Alaskan country, was one which
was in some respects superior to Nansen's
and was braver deed than that done by
Hobson, and entities him to higher praise
than was bestowed on that courageous and
daring officer
Relief of the Whalers.
In the late summer of 1897 there occurred
in the Arctic ocean disaster to the whal-
ers only second to one in magnitude in the
history of arctic whaling. BY reason of
unusual climatic conditions seven vessels
were caught between the shore and foe ice
and resulted in putting 300 whalers on the
beach without means of transportation or
adequate supplies of food and clothing
Before the news could reach civilization
the early arctic winter had barred the en-
trance to the Arctic and covered Rering
sea with ice even south of st. MichaeIs
consultation was called of those familiar
with the region to devise ways and means
of succOr, and the two men most conspcu-
Gus and who formulated the only intelIi-
gent plans were Captain Hooper and Lien
tenant Jarvis, both members of the Ma
tional Geographic Society. The task of de-
veloping, maturing and executing these
plans was left to Lieutenant Jarvis. to
whom practically the entire credit is due,
Saying goodbye to his wife and little ten
days-old baby he staTtedfon and success
fully completed, evSn ton4ts minutest de-
tail, one of the mosh' laBdfious, dangerous
and extraordinary aBctica expeditions ever
undertaken. IN Ina
Unable to proceed farther north. the reve-
nue. cutter Bear Hanged II9aut Jarvis. win
his assistants, Lieut.IIBerthalf and DIR. Caii
on Nelson Island, s9urhf fof ST. Micbaels
and in the midst of an arctic winter. month
after month, withoutrfestA he pushed stead
lily on along the const line through 500
miles of ice, snow spd bitter cold to his
destination-the shores Of the Arctic. where
the starving whalerslawated the supply of
reindeer which en- route ha was to collect
Nothing but the high petsonal regard il,
which Lieut.. Jarvis Was held by the natives
cess, for they would accent his Individual
word and promise of 1payrnsnt when that of
Uncle Sam was declined with thanks IJnon
these people he had to depend for dog
trains native help and often for food ami
shelter. In the course of this remarkablc
journey carried out on schedule time GOO
reindeer were collected and driven before
them and finally delivered at the point de-
sired From the time of his departure from
to his return to his home nearly year had
been consumed in the enterprise, three
fourths of which was spent in arctic
regions. Z .zr
'1The dangers, hardshfps and sicissitudes
Of this expeditioa,' says Mr.. Brown, .sand
its completely. successful termination,
thanks to intelligence and bravery, entitie
it to a place beside the best of the kind
ever undertaken in the north. The thing
itself, as well as Lieut.. Jarvis membership,
in the society, entities him to receive the
highest honor the society can bestow and
to indicate the societys appreciation of the
performance in the most; public and en-
phatic manner possible