The daily morning Alaskan., 1900-02-23
NO G)ID ON TIE
 
 M'KENZE RIVER
Corporal Skirying Is Au- thOrity for This Statement.
ON A RELIEF JOURNEY
He Travelled Closer to the North Pole Than Any Other of the Mounted Police.

Great Slave lake or on the Mckenzie liver, all reports Co the eon,rarv," said Corporal c. Skirving. of the Northwest Mounted polite. who has jus, returned from a mem o.lble relief expedition thlt took him Co the mouth of the Mckenzie. 'l had the bs>, information that could be obtained from the Indians and the posts enroute,and therefore Sly what ! do with experienee e
 "l was detailed with five men to ascend the Porcupine in Search oi MeSSrs. Motiat, Bsllvus and Holme, who started for klon- ak, by the way of the Mckenzie, and had cioSssi the divide and having got part way down the stream had stopped for the reaS- on one of their patty had been severely frozen. Melee and Rich,ie, the other two members of the party pushed down the Yukon lnd brought news { the condition of their plrtners Co US at Dawson. The commander at Dawson ordered the relief paftv, and McFee went back with us
 We trayelei up the Portupine Goo miles in canoes. covering mueh ot the diS> tince by trailing the craft from the banks We started from Dawson August %, and Ocoeer 0 found ourselves at Fort Nc Phsr,on, in the McKenzic basin and but a short distance from the Arctic ocean. From the-e We went over Co Red river. on the McKenz.e. for dogs. bu, failed 10 get them there, and had to return to Fort MePher> son. where we at last succeeded in getting crlck team of huSkieS.
 On the way up ,he' Poreuplne valley we found She bJties Of the three missing men. They had left a note posted to tree. The note bore no date, but stated that their food had given out, and that they had started for PierTie House, an abandoned Hudson Bay post. where they hopet Co ind Suceor among the Indians. They lllsd. "lf We do nO, make it, God help us." The poor fellows dii not make it. We found their bones st intervals of several miles along the Bell river, trieU' tiry Co the heldwaters Of the Poreupine. We Identified the bodies by the clothing the men wore. There was still some flesh on ih. bones.
 "The men had started on thelr northern expsdI,ion in 1897, and lt was in 1898 when they ef, the note on the tree in the Porcupire valley on their way the river, and la tSoo when We found the bodies. Information md been long in coming, The members cf the party who brought us the news had started out in search of food. lt seems Co me that the men who starved could have GOT down the stream; bu, ] suppose they had never trayeled mueh on the tron'isr. and they s,aved in their iso- latsd location too long before awakening Co the rellizltion of ther peril.
 After We hlt found the bodies we were so Shor, of food that We had not enough to las, uS 5lcS Co the Yukon, so we aban- doned the canoes and struck across the dl> vide on a long foot ilunt to Fort MePher> sen. an old Hudson Bay trading post. Each man took supplies on his back. We same near going hungry ourselves before making the fort. The day we got there one cup of rice and one cup of flour com prlsst all the ft od ln our possession.
 We remained at McPherSOn only one week. eut while there learned something Of the country. lt was necessary for us to mike an sarly stat back, 50 we got team oi native cogs and loaded slsds with sup plies. When We got away, October i4. the Peel river had alresdy frozen over.
 While in the Mckenzie country we were ,lr,ullly on the Ar:,Ie coast, the country there being a great, flat lowlant tor miles and miles, which Is inundated at times by the waters of the icy Arctic ocean. There Is no teach 0 the ocean ther-, the llnd gradually stealing away Into the great iesp. In that region dwell several trbss, among them the HuSkleS, the Ina ans who rear and raise those fam GUS and invaluable little beasts of burden so telr Co KlontikerS and all who have to co with winter travel In t;e far north.
 "The Indians of the vicinity of Fort MePherSon are great hunters, and one tribe Of them that lives along the coast is among the grandest and mos, elaborate drrSSerS on the face oi the earth. They dress in fufs. and pride themselves on having the very finest. They pay more than the hunters will give. The Hudson Bay Company sill trades with the Indians, but the Me Pherson post, | understand, Is not paying proposition. The lndianS will never tol' crate a change in prices, They cannot un> dsrstand why an article should be worth one skin at one time and two at another In other words. they cannot understand huctltionS consequent on the market.
 Therefore, the trading company never changes prizes of goods sold 10 the h. dian. Sometimes Mr. Indian has to pay more than he would were he to take thc sane chances as the white man, and some times he gets things cheaper. For thaI reason, the prices at which goods are sold in the McKenzie valley to whites and C Indians are not tn, same. The whalers that frequ-nJ the Arctic ocean bring good: to the natives a, a comparatively small cost 10 that which the Hudson Bay pay: to g., supplies down the Mckenzie, and