The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1905-11-10

the Philippines with the Utah battery.
over ten years before the battery's ar
rival i'm the islands Mr.. Furguson Wis
ited Manila. being then engineer of "A
boat built in Scotland for the Spanish
government and sent by the cOnUac-
tors to the Philippines. During the
war Mr.. Furgusons right eye became
involved with a Spanish shell and came
out of the encounter painfully, though
not permanently. injured.
For seven years prior to the depart
ure of the battery. Mr. Furguson had
been engaged at his trade as station
airy engineer in Utah, and since the
return of the Utah boys he has worked
at his occupation in different places in
the state.
Tells of Adventures.
Mr.. Furguson is Scotch. He does not
get even mildly enthusiastic when he
tells of experiences in the far uOrth-
But he has d memory that oVerlOO6s
the span OF years and reaches back UNI
erringly to fix this or that event of his
early life. And that IS better than en-
thusiasm when one is reciting facts.
1T was I'm 1873 that / made nay first
trip 10 the far north said Mr.. FurSu-
son yesterday afternoon at the federal
building. "and il was on this occasion
that / was within $50 miles of the north
pole. ! left Dundee, Scotland. as a.
stoWaWay on the Whaler Active We
We're gone sixteen months.
I'm 1876 7 was a member of the LADY
Franklin relief party fitted out 10 find
some trace Of Sir John Franklin, he
! explorer. whose last expedition was
made IN 1915. He and his two ships, the
/ Ercbus and Terror, We're lost and Lady
Franklin never gave up hope that some
/ dav conclusive proof would be found
{ as to the manner Of her husband s
/ death.
Find Skeletons and Letters.
/ THE party was under command of
! Captain Markon. and numbered Two
ships. the Discovery and Bear ] was
/ engineers boy Near Lancaster sound
we found skeletons and sealed bottles
containing letters telling how the party
+ had been prevented from gaining the
main suDuly station, but sixty miles
. distant. because of heavy snow.
I'VE later found the stores referred
) tn and they We're in splendid condition,
having kept perfectly over thirty years
/ There must have been twenty tons of
! flour. ten tons of sugar, eight hogs
| heads of rum and other supplies in
/ proportion. Samples of these / secured
and later entrusted to Mormon elder,
named Peter Sinclair. who was TO bring
them 10 Salt Lake City and place them
I i'm the museum under my name. He
( agreed with me that they would make
I interesting curiOS. however. they
( were not registered under my name.
This trip consumed about two years
and half owing to the fact that the
( engine of our ship broke down in lati-
! tude north So For six months we
| were compelled TO drag the boat with
! what little aid sails afforded us. All
the crew excepting the captain and
| cook took to the ice and helped pull the
/ shin south to a point where we could
| beach her and repair the damage. The
! distance covered in this way was about
| 500 miles.
"Under Captain Markon the strictest
discipline was enforced with regard to
the men exercising. In order 10 pre-
| vent an attack of scurVy the men were
/ comDelled to exercise while on board
bv moving stores from one side of tho
hold TO the other twice day
Coffee Better Than Whisky.
while on the subject of health pre-
cautions. / viii mention that whisky is
| almost ineffective rs a stimulant in the
far north when the temperature falls
to so below zero. Rum and coffee are
the mainstays.'
Mr.. Furguson's next trip was in 1881
when he embarked as engineer on a
whaler bound for Smiths Sound with
stores for the A. ". Greedy scientific
party. which had left IN 1879. No trace
was found of Greedy, but it was re-
served for Mr.. Furguson's good fortune
TO be one of the rescue party three
years later The whaler had great luck
aside from its primary purpose
Continued on Page 3.