Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1902-08-21
BY LAND FROM PARIS
Harry de Windt Made q Success
of His Tour.
Object Was to Spy Out a Route so That
Men May Journey by Rail from Paris
to New York City.


to New YORK City.
Harry de Windt and party left Paris on
December 10 of last year to make the jour
ney to New York by land. One purpose or
the trip was to spy out the possibility OF a
railroad through Siberia and Alaska to join
the two continents, says a Seattle Special
to the San Francisco Examiner. De Whit
reports the Russians at work surveying on
their side, and declares that moving ice
In the Boring straits presents the only
engineering difficulty.
Harry de Windt and his party have cor1e
out of the frosty North after one OF the
most daring and hazardous journeys ever
made by men. They have crossed the
north OF Siberia to its ultimate point, BRAY
ing the billiards, facing disease and star
walton, sharing in the priVations OF the
stricken natives, and all that they might
spy out the way for possible railroad and
add glory to Alfred j. Pearson's publica-
lions. incidentally they found gold camp
on the Lena which the Russians are work
ms and which, IL located In Alaska, would
cause another rush.
Now they tell us that there Is feasible
railway route across the steppes and froz
On mountains, and that it is entirely posi-
bic to connect the two continents by rail-
with ferry at Bering strait And now
De Windt ana his companions are going
on to New York, to say that they were
the first ever to make the journey from
Paris to the American metropolis by land.
In the party with de Windt were vi.
comte de Clainchsmp- Bollagarde, of Paris {;
George Harding, an Englishman, who has
Travelled with Do Windt before, and Stepan
Rastorguyen, a Russian guide The party
/ arrived on the steamer City of Topeka to-
N1,aiv hac n.l,t 1n1 doe
COW, lrkutsk, Yakutsk, Nijinkobynisk,
East Cape, Nome St Michael. Dawson,
Skaguay and Seattle--a trip never before
accomplished. and much of it over a coun-
try practically trackleas. In some respects
it was as heroic us the journey of Colonel
Billy Glider after the burning Of the ILL
fated Rodgers.
DE WINDT HAS HAD ENOUGH.
| Still, though they had hair-breadth es-
| capeS and though the vlcomte's feet were
frost bitten, all came through in good con-
diton. De Windt. however declares he
never will try such "A journey again. 1t
long has been his dream to make the trip
| across Siberia. In 1896 he went to ST.
| Michael, and had himself conveyed to the
! Siberian coast, where he thought he had
arranged for some of the Chuk-ChiS to
meet him. But the Indians did not put in
| appearance and De Windt was forced
|
| the other way across, and at last interest
ed Alfred j. Pearson, owner of the Lon
| don Express, Pearson's Magazine and
other publications, in his daring project.
The journey from Paris. which was left
| on December 10, to Irkutsk, was merely
the ordinary railway journey. But at
| Irkutsh the party left the Trans Siberian
railway and set off over the steppes for
| Yakutsk, a journey of over 1000 miles
| This travel was by drosky. and as there
were plenty of horses and frequent relays,
| the 1000 miles were covered in twenty
| three days, which indicates phenomenal
| travelling, unless the Russian miles are
| short ones.
| At Yakutsli the Russian authorities in
| sisted that the party should take Stepar
| RastorGueff, a Cossack, for guide and
| interpreter, as they were to travel the land
| of the Chuck-chis, the fierce Indians who
| withstood all the efforts at conquest of the
| early Russian expeditions, led by the con-
| temporares of NituS BehrinE.
| Out into the great white silence" from
| Yakutsk, coolest of all habitable places
| and last of the exile settlements, the jour-
| ney was by reindeer The explorers pro-
ceeded north 500 miles to NeernoyslIi. the
distance being covered in two weeks
There was a short stay at this struggled
| settlement, and then, with fresh reindeer
the start was made toward Niiinikobynsk
furthest outpost of the Great White Tsar
| sand miles from Nernoyski.
at this Northern village the natives were
| suffering from "kor.' disease resembling
smallpox. but which was attributable L
a famine. which had depopulated the IN
dian villages Many were dying and foot
was hard to be obtained for gold.
TRAVELLING BY DOG TEAM.
The Cossack guide managed to secure
| however some "caryl," food resembling
pemmican, and this kept the adventurer!
from starving as they pushed on. Til,
reindeer here We're exchanged for dogs
and dog teams carried the party 1859 mile,
to East Cape, the uttermost limit of 81
beria and the Asiatic promOntory which
is the western shore of Boring strait.
on this part of the journey there wal
much suffering from cold but little drift
wood being found along the Arctic shore
| and the tent OF tie travellers being poo
protection against the Icy blasts which
made the climate of Yakutsk seem sub
tropical by comparison.
This last stage of the journey occupie,
six weeks and all the explorers were mucl
. cmaciated when they reached the Chuk
Chi huts at East Cape on March l6. Their
they found friendly Indians accustomed t.
trading with whalers and who knew d
Windt from his former visit. The native
shared their food with the worn white men
and there the travellers rested waiting 70
Y the coming OF Captain Healey and the rev
s cnue cutter Thetis, which had been in
+ structed to call for them in case the
could not cross on the ice or in the ski
bdarkas of the natives in case thoy al
rived after the ice had gone out
The Thetis came in on June is, Will
70 she was out searching for the Portlan
. and the Jeanne, then in the ice. The The
It's had to land them on the moving ic
9 on the American side some five miles ou
from shore Indians from Cape Prince G
a Wales rescued them and conveyed tn
= party to their village, where the Alask
q Commercial Company's steamer tug Sadi
n picked them up a few days later, The
went on shore at Nome and ST. Michael
reached Dawson on the river steamer Har
" nah on July Is, left for Skaguay via Whit
y last Thursday, and started for Seattle a
y once.
d TIE RAILWAY IS POSSIBLE.
On his journey and the possibilities {
transcontinental railway communca ton
De Windt spoke as follows:
n II should say that the railway project
= feasible, though no railway will follow tn
route we took. 1t will go several hundre
q miles to the southwark and through a ric
z mineral country. Privately | received tn
information that the Russians are survey
4 ing such a line. but am not at liberty
say exactly what course il will take Tn
a only difficulty which is in the way is
n transferring at Boring straits. The grof
distance makes tunnel impracticab
and the miles of ice foes constantly mO\