The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1899-12-09
EXPERIENCE OF A STU.
DENT IN THE FAR NORTH.
leattle Young Man Buried I'm Deep
snow for Months I'm q Dark and
Of His Father Lying ON the Floor
Hts wood Gave Out, and He
Burned Candles to Make Coffee
Rescued by Friends.

the WnlIe river, Iu1Ou314ZZ inc SliicAP4OhSu
valley Of the Alsac. Hill, who is an ath-
lete returned yesterday on the steamer
Topeka. His fathers terrible death from
disease, $50 miles from the coast, in a
wilderness untracked by man, has been
told, 1t occurred last January, but so re-
mote Is the, Fill cabin from human set
Elements that the story only reached this,
city few days ago, says Seattle letter
to the ST. Louis Globe-Democrat- The
detailed story Of young Hnrs terrifying
experiences Is one of hardships, privation
and death unequalled in the story of
Alaska's horrors. For weeks the boy sat
in the cabin in total darkness with the
frozen body of his father lying stin In
corner, no light, no fire, and all his pro-
visions frozen hard as stone and he him.
self near unto death with scurvy.
That he survived the terrible ordeal Of
disease and loneliness was due at once
to his superb constitution and the in
dominate will inherited from the father,
who died in the cabin cheering his son
with his last words to stick it out until
help would come"
II had been in Alaska some months
when father reached there in February,
Ii
and father was leading what was known
as the Norman party from St. Paul. His
party started across the glacier about a
month before our party started, and When
they got to the summit the majority OF
the party got afraid and turned back to
7Yukatat to get more provisions. leaving
my father and one man with five days
provisions to. work on ahead and blaze
a trail, They promised to return at once,
but, they never went back, and father
and his companion, finding they were
running short of provisions; turned back
themselves, expecting to meet the return
ing party on the trail.
"Poor father. He seemed fated to lose
his life in that desolate land even after
hand-to-hand fight with death for
twenty five days, for he was lost that
long. he and his companion having missed
the trail going back. The story of his
sufferings, starvation, freezing and rescue
when just alive, has been told as we'll as
words can tell it, Our party reached the
summit of the glacier few days after
father had been found. He was able to
to 20 ahead. We went on to Alsac river,
father resting all summer and joining us
ON the river in September, 1898.
II had Just returned from a scout up
the river, and found that it ran through
canyon forty miles long, through which
we could not pass, so we determined to
find a road around the canyon over the
glacier, so that in the spring we could
again ascend the river We made our
winter camp where we were and cached
all our supplies and then took turns
hunting road across the glacier. Dick
Layhe and found a way that led down
into valley. We named 1T Paradise Val
lev It seemed a paradise when we found
it, after, all the snow and ice of the
az info %
left it.
eft was now agreed that two men will.
provisions for the winter should stay in
Paradise valley, SO as to be there early
in the spring, and get down timber with
which to build a boat. The rest OF the
party was to remain at the original camp,
and in the spring bring the entire outfit
lFather and agreed to stay in the val
Hey.
rest good bye about the middle Of Septem-
her, they returning to the big camp.
''Winter was nearing us so fast that tine
log cabin with two windows and a door.
There was no floor to the cabin, but as
I'VE made the roof out Of sawed lumber
i've saved the sawdust and there was
plenty Of It to cover the floor to depth
nf four or five inches. We also built a
stone fireplace in the cabin and connected
it with the roof. We had stove with
the pipe running out OF the top OF the
roof. knowing that the snow fell to a
great depth in that part Of Alaska, it was
our plan to allow the cabin to be showed
in except for d tunnel at the door, which
we could easily keep clear. This would
allow us to get out on our snowshoes
for wood or to hunt for game or clean
the snow away from the tstovepipe.
1oc fnr oil nj wv
well laid, but they awaited us nothing.
We had been living in our tent all this
time; butt the thermometer dropping TO
80 deg. below zero, we moved into the
cabin. Just the day before we moved
father began to get lame and also. He
grew worse and soon could not get out Of
bed. We had no wood in the cabin and
kept getting lamer and lamer, until when
had less than half-cord Of wood in.
side the house my legs gave way and ]
found could not walk This was on Jan.
5, 1899. The snow was falling heavily,
fthere being over eight feet on the level,
but up to this date had been able to
keep the doorway clear.
Now there was nothing to do but close
and bar the door and fight it out as best
we could. Father was unable to move,
but managed to crawl around the house
and cook something to eat once a%day,
melting snow to make coffee.
The first thing ] did was to count the
number of sticks of wood had and then
allow just SO much for use each day
Even then knew did not have near
enough wood to last through the winter,
but ] hoped / would Soon be able to
walk; and then could easily get out for
wood. Father was cheerful and kept say
| ing we would come out all right Neither
| OF us got any better nor any worse, ap-
parently, only ] found tt harder to crawl
around some days than others.
about the middle of January It grew
bitter cold, being below zero in the cab
|sin.s We were almost buried III snow-just
| faint streak of light coming in at the
windows. On Jan. . we were left in
darkness, the snow being up to the caves
OF the roof on the level. The stovepipe
was still open.
ron this day father complained Of the
cold and pain from having lain SO long in
one position. He talked to me about his
insurance money and told me that IL he
died not to attempt to take his body out
OF the country but bury him there. On
Jan. u he became unconscious and felt
he was dying. For four days I nursed
him as best could, only staying out of
my sleeping bag little while at time
because of the cold
You cannot imagine how / felt. How
{ q falt tn ha cnt Oh froh everpt thing.
Ss s.