Los Angeles herald., 1905-03-19

. HE FEARFUL story of Corporal

TT HE FEARFUL story of Corporal
Field of the Canadian mounted
police, who went into the wilds
of the polar northwest with dog
team, rescued maniac missionary and
by force carried him back over 24OO
miles of snow to civilization, rivals all
fiction. In his duties as a Presbyterian
evangelist in the vast territory border
ing British Columbia the Rev. Mr..
Buckman of the Canadian mission
Travelled far into the north country,
where the only inhabitants are savage
Indians and Canadian halfbreeds in the
employ of the Hudson Bay Fur COM
pany, whose stations dot the frozen
solitudes from Hudson bay to the Arc
tic circle and beyond.
Leaving the last railroad station
Edmonton, the terminus of the Cana
nian Pacific's most northerly line, for
the Arctic regions, Mr.. Buckman
reached Fort Chippewyan, a supply
sides handful Of employees necessary
to forward furs brought down from
the north on Eskimo dog sledges there
were on duty there three members of
the famous Royal mounted police.
The vastness of that white desolation
and it's intense cold in winter can hard
ly be appreciated by the ordinary
reader. Even in the Red River valley
of the north, 1900 miles to the south
west, old stage drivers of the Winni-
peg line informed a Herald correspon-
dent that during the blizzard season
whisky freezes in autumn and stage
horses going against the wind up the
Red River had one side of their heads
frozen so badly between stations of
twelve and fifteen miles distant that
when thawed out they had to be shot,
as catarrh set in and the poor animals
went crazy.
I'VE drivers had to push right along,
regardless of weather, and get new
horses as fast as the others froze. We
wore chamois shirts, three pairs of
trousers, two heavy coats, with i'm
mense fur ulsters and wrappings out
side of all, and yet a driver considered
himself lucky If he did not get frost
bitten before he reached a station"
Now this country where the Presby-
terian missionary went mad is as far
toward Alaska beyond this as the dis
tance from Philadelphia to ST. Paul.
Draw a line west from Greenland,
through Hudson Bay, to Mount st.
Elias, and you pass through this re-
gion, near the Reindeer mountains,
spur of the Rockies. on the southern
slope of these Caribou ranges is the
Hudson Bay fur station Athabaska,
midway between Great Slave lake and
Athabaska lake. This lonely station
is situated at the mouth of Peace
river, which flows east from the Alaska
country.
Led Astray by the Climate
1t was during the long twilight days
of last summer that Mr.. Buckman,
exhilarated by the wonderful mountain
air of the region, ascended the canyon
trail of Peace river and journeyed
westward toward the gold country.
He finally went into quarters at Peace
station, another Of the Hudson Bay
Fur companys depots. 1t consists of a
long, low log cabin in charge of a half
breed Canadian, the sole inhabitant of
the place. During the busy season,
when furs and supplies were coming
through to be reshipped from point to
point, the monotony was occasionally
broken, anG the missionary tarrled
there until winter suddenly came, in
the charming month Of October. In
frosty New England October is con-
sidered the glorious month of the year.
Children gather scarlet leaves in maple
groves and tourists linger among the
glens OF the White mountains. But
up there in the Arctic northwest
Arctic winter fell suddenly upon the
land. The season of darkness came
rapidly, bringing storms and wild
blizzards of snow, hail and ice. The
desolation was profound, and through
the long nights the missionary had
only Anton Ribeaux, the halfbreed, for
a companion.
They were housed in a dark smoky.
sitting hut, buried IN snow. Their
food was bacon and corpmeal, with
IN occasional Jack rabbit, and on this