The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1900-07-15

short of miraculous. Walls of Ice 300 feet
high were frequently encountered, and
any one Of them could have crushed the,
little ship like an eggsheH as she passed
between them. Yet she landed her 25S
passengers in safety after forty-sevcn.
days Of the most perilous voyaging that
has been chronicled in many years The
Alpha was the first ship to start for the
wonderful new American gold fields, leav-
ing Vancouver on the night Of April
with a load of gold seekers who were
eager to be among the first on the
wealth-laden shores of the Boring sea.
On May "a she reached Nome, but it was
not until her return here that the world,
after weeks of anxious waiting. knew of
her safety.
THE CAPTAINS STORY. s. :
Eyes, it was the most dangerous trip I
ever undertook" said Capt. Buckholtz.
''It was not until April "a, seventeen days
after the start from Vancouver, that we
had any difficulty. We were then Sc de-
grees north and 167 degrees west, and
sighted the big ice foe, which seemed
solid wall. The passengers l had aboard
were all eager to reach the gold fields.
and there was not one of them at that
time who would have been willing to turn
back
when we were SURROUNDED by solid
walls of ice, sometimes 20 ard SD feet
high and were in the midst OF TIE narl-
est winter and latest spring 1 have ever
seen, a great many of them would have
Eiven all the wealth they ever saw in
their golden dreams for a few feet Of
sell in the middle of The glorious
States,'' but it was then too late to do
anything but work our way through the
narrow channels that mirt In0u'iy, as
1t seemed opened up before us. From
tie time we first found ourselves sur
roal.ded by the floating ice I never got
NO hours Sleep at a time. and It. IS a
wonder to me how either my crew or my
self ever stood the terrific strain. AT
night we would frequently tie alongside
a pack By day, in every direction as
far as the eye could see there was moth
ing but ice. Very often We lad to wait
until the pack spread enough TO let us
through with the constant fear that
it would close in and crush US instead.
A double watch was kept for any chance
opening, and often we ran up little bays
only to find that they ended in solid
ice.
WAS BITTERLY COLD.
"The weather was bitterly cold, and
sometimes the entire ship would be COW
cred with six inches of ice The passen-
gers stayed below nearly all the time
We passed the Pribyloff islands on April
25. We still held the westerly course, and
five days later found US clear over to the
Siberian coast We ran into the harbor
Of Anastasia bay, surrounded by its in
hoSpitable and undiscovered loWlands
No breach had been found in the ice,
which was packed more or less heavily all
the way to the coast of the land where
Russia's political offenders pass their ex-
lied existence. Leaving Anastasia bay
April 80, the return journey was COM
meneed. We kept a sharp lookout, but
there was still no opening. Our passen-
gers began to think that some other ves-
sci might have got through, and as many
Of them had large shipments of perisha-
bic goods on board that were expected
! to bring high prices, the suspense in
creased. Finally we made Dutch harbor,