Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1902-11-17
An Exciting Incident.


fascinating and exciting, but
no greater and more spectacu-
lar scene in connection with the break
ing has been chronicled than that at
Five Fingers rapids several days ago.
The high, rocky pillars that stand as
barriers at the rapids choked with ice.
and for days Sustained weight of
hundreds of thousands of tons of ice
and blockaded water, which, when it
broke, tore through the gorge with ter
rife force and speed of thirty miles
an hour in widest tumult.
All the rocky barriers that form the
channel and the Fingers" were sus-
tanning an untold weight Of ice and
water, gathered there as the result OF
the flow of days from the upper Yukon.
The water spread far up the stream,
and threatened to overflow the banks,
and there is no telling what might have
been the result had not the Govern
ment blasted the keystone of ice from
the lower portion and opened the
gorge.
Capt. Jack Williams, of the White
Pass Company, fired the charge which
opened the jam. He was standing in
front Of the Fingers" and yet on a
piece of ice when the telling shot
was fired. With unexpected sudden.
ness the great mass of blocked matter
forced the situation, and Williams was
sent swirling down the stream before
the cracking, maddening tumult of es-
Gaping waters and chaotic ice foes.
Fortunately, he was swept to the base
narrow niche in which to cling. He
seized the projecting wall and sprung
to the niche, and with his back turned
to the bluff and facing the wild process
sion of the elements, he stood in fear
and trembling. One solid hour lie
stood on that rock, and the grinding,
crunching and plunging ice went past
him in merciless roar.
Williams fellows had gone to the
lower end of the rapids, expecting to
see him on some ice foes far down the
stream, or, perhaps, most likely, not
to see him at all. Walter Wensky,
German Consul at Dawson, happened
along at that time, and, with a strong
field glass, scanned the canyon. Wen
sky went up stream instead of down,
and soon located him in the niche.
The roaring of the rushing ice and
water through the rocky gorge made
IL impossible to hear any one speak in
the vicinity of where Williams stood
and be heard. 1t was all men could
do to hear one another when they stood
together The tremendous force of
miles of ice and water above the
"Fingers" was driving the water
through the gorge at the hurricane
speed of thirty miles an hour. 1t was
one wild, plunging race, of which Con.
sui Wensky says:
"Never in my life had I seen such
spectacle of grandeur, such magnifi-
cent demonstration of natures physical
forces exerting their awful power If
ever there was a scene awe-inspirlng
In its effect on man, this was one.
"There being no time to lose in an
effort to save Williams. we rushed
up the river, and after travelling some
distance came to where we could shout
across to a wood camp. A man named
Ebo was there, and he heard us. We
told him of the predicament and he
took a rope and went to the rescue.
The line was made fast and dropped
fifty feet over the bluff. 1t fell within
the reach of Williams and he seized it.
A few moments later he was dangling
from the line and swinging in mid-air
as he desperately fought and climbed
for life. The struggle did not last lcng
Muscular and active that he was, Will
liams soon scaled the cliff and was
safe.
"The intensity of that grand escaping
flood and jam thrills me yet The ice
was four hours passing through the
gorge. 1t was swollen to fifteen feet
above the normal level of the river as
1t made its escape, and went on plung-
ing and grinding with the fury. of a
monster. Far below the rapids the
river travelled at great speed. cutting
away in the distance around bends of
the stream with the white-mailed tur-
bulent crest as far as the eye could
reach. running until finally worn out
and exhausted miles away."-St. Louis
Globe Democrat.