The record-union., 1898-05-18
CROSSING THE BIG GLACIER.
PERILOUS JOURNEY OF A SAC
RAMENTO PARTY.
Ralph Murphy of Perkins Writes
From the Copper River
Country.

Murphy or PERKINS, who, with Robert
Maddox and Holmes Henshaw, left on
the steamer Excelsior January Is, 1898,
bound for the gold fields of Alaska:
We arrived at Orca, 63 miles from
Copper River, on February Sd, having
had long stormy voyage and many
| exciting incidents, among which was
helping to land the passengers from the
wrecked steamer Corona to the Oregon
We landed at Orca at 10 p. m. The
moon was shining bright as day on the
snow clad mountains. Orca has a large
salmon cannery and a few log houses
for the workmen, also a wharf. Two
or three white men and some Indians
came down to the wharf. One Indian
boy was in shirt sleeves and wore
straw hat.
February 4-Left Orca for Valdes
Pass; pleasant, with bright sun; arriv-
ed at Port Valdes; heavy cold wind;
everything snow and ice; gloomy out
| look; found ninety men camped here,
some of them have been here since
| November. Not one has been able to
climb to the summit of the glacier,
which they say is seventeen miles, and
no timber. They say the glacier is full
of crevices which have not yet drifted
/
wind when blowing on the glacier. They
! have been prospecting the route, and
say $50 pounds is the most that any
man can haul. and in some places 80
pounds is the heaviest kind of a load.
AT this rate it will take about six
months to get six months provisions
| to Copper River with good luck
! Some of the men are living on lit
| nd ha apa hp-
ing landed. They live in huts or dug
camped about six miles across the point
of the bay, which they cross on the ice
They have started to unload the freight
on to a floating pile driver. which they
are using as a lighter and is then towed
ashore by the little steamer Cor tug)
Salmo. Henshaw is on board the lighter
reading off the marks as the goods are
received by the different owners. This
presents quite a striking scene. Every
thing is in an uproar each person look
ing out for himself and freight.
We held a meeting on the steamer
and six of US have decided that Valdes
| Pass is a fraud and an impossibility,
and that this steamship company is
misrepresenting and swindling people
! by bringing them to this pass. We be-
! lieve the only way to reach Copper
! River is to go up the Knik or some
| other river, then cross to the head
waters.
| February 5th-Cold wind; thermome-
! ter 15 above zero; unloading freight
and passengers all day
| February 6th-Nine of US secured
| passage for Portage Bay on the steam
er Salmo; fair wind, and we made good
| time. We anchored in a little cove to-
night, as it is not safe to sail at night
The cove is partly frozen over, so we
| steamed close to the ice and cut a hole
| in it for the anchor. Caught two cod
| fish
| February 7th-Arrived at Portage
Bay, but could not land, as the wind
was blowing too hard from the glacier.
Hove to and anchored until better
weather.
February Sth-Landing at Portage
Bay at 4 a. m; hoisted anchor and
steamed to place Of landing. The wind
was blowing and the snow flying. 1t
was quite cold and one had to keep
moving. Our faces were covered with
| ice. In all it was a very rough day.
The Salmo steamed as close as pos
sible to the beach, then we lowered a
| small boat and sent two men ashore
with a line, then the unloading COM
menced. We would pile the little boat
full of freight, then the ones on shore
| would pull it in with the line. 1t was
! low tide, and we had to keep moving
| the merchandise back ahead of the wa
ter for distance of 500 feet and we all
had to work hard to keep our freight
ahead of the hungry waves. The Cap
tain also came ashore to help US battle
with the tide. Everything was hurry,
and with all this our dogs got to fight
| ing. Don bit four of US before we sep
| arated them. At noon all our goods
were landed, and the Salmo, with three
| long blasts of her whistle, bade us
| good-by. We then moved our tent and
| some goods to the timber and made a
camp. One man and two dogs pull
200 pounds.
February 9th-Pleasant; routine of
camp work is as follows: Plenty of
! good wood chopped; dogs fed. Every
evening the guns have to be cleaned
! and oiled, moccasins and socks dried
and ready for next day. Finished NOV
| ing freight to camp to-day. We are
all more or less sore from the hard
work yesterday. Snow averages six
feet deep.
| February 10th-Clear, 20 above zero;
hard, cold wind blowing from glacier;
moving freight to-day.
February 11th--Cold wind blowing
from glacier; moved merchandise to
canyon before glacier; hauled 25O
| pounds with three dogs; took my first
lesson on snowshoes.
! February 12th-Pleasant, with eight
! inches snowfall. 7 moved five sled
| loads of merchandise to third cache.
| Henshaw went to stake out trail over
| glacier. Our tent is warm and COM
Portable I have to sleep with my scarf
around my head. Sleeping bags are
warm enough.
! February 13th-Very cold wind; five
inches snow Staid in camp most of
| the day. Maddox and / walked around
the beach to prospect ground at the
! foot of the glacier, but the ground
was frozen too hard.
February 14th-Snowing, with cold
wind from glacier; Is above zero;
moved camp about one-third of mile
to-day and fixed it comfortable. Hen
shaw and I hauled with dog teams,
| three dogs each His team got mixed
up in a fight and he had a hard time
separating them. The snow is very
soft, and we cannot go off the trail
without snowshoes There is about ten
feet of snow under our camp.
| February 15th-Heavy snow until 3
p. M, with wind from glacier. Our
tent is covered with ice and snow. Did
not try to team any to-day, but work
! ed in camp repairing snowshoes, etc.