The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-12-29
MONTGOMERY BOY HAS THRILLING
 EXPERIENCES IN ALASKA GOLD FIELDS
Ernest R. Bernardi Will
 Come Home Soon.
He Declares That the Northern Country Is a Land of the SpOrtsman's Dreams-Lived on
 Snow.

Montgomery boy Ernest R. Ber-
 nardi. who has had thrilling experi-
 ences in Alaska. will return to his old
 home in few days. MT. Bernardi is
 now in Louisville, Ky, and The Her
 aid of that city tells some of his ex-
 periences as follows:
 Ernest R. Bernardo, a self-reliant
 American boy of l6, has just returned
 from Alaska after stay of three years
 in the frozen North. and has had more
 than the usual number of hair-breadth
 escapes, which he recounts with the sangfroid of a character in one of Jules
 Verne's stories. He had staked numer- ous valuable claims, been lost in the mountains, and lived for seven days on snow He has returned to the States to complete his education and learn the machinist's trade. after which he will
 go back to Alaska and develop his claims.
 Bernardi lives in Montgomery, Ala. and is staying while in Louisville with his grandmother Mrs. Rhoda Rognans at 404 Third Street. After the arrival of his mother here he will leave for the Sunny South. which presents striking contrast to Alaska, and will likely remain there for three or four years.
 Bernardi's mother. Mrs. S. R. Ber- nardi, taught in the Nome public school. the most northerly school of its kind in the world. The Government school for Esquimaux is at Cape Prince of Wales, and here O. J. Rognan. an uncle of Bernardi, taught school. The little building is situated high up on the cape, and forty miles opposite is Siberia which can be seen on any clear day. Ernest says that often in the winter he has started on a sled at the top of the hill. slid down it. and stopped only when he had gotten a mile out on the ice of Boring Sea, which freezes forty feet deep. There mothers never warn their children about going on the ice for fear it will break with them.
 Only one passage, so far as is known to Bernardi, has been made across the strait to Siberia when the ice was run ming. and this was accomplished by an with dogs. The ice is rough and broken by the swift current and incredible hardships and dangers have to be surmounted in the crossing on account of the broken and moving ice. The force of the wind and current is shown in the illustration.
 Young Bernardo, who went to the gold fields when thirteen years old, is possessed of an unusually adventurous and traveled over most of the country alone. Once he set out from Nome with an Esquimaux with the intention of crossing the Saw Tooth range swing across the country, seeing the great herd of reindeer kept in the northern part of Alaska. and then going to Cape Prince of Wales to visit the Government school, When they were in the middle of the noun tains they lost their way. and to add to their dilemma. the snow thawed and the reindeer they were driving were unable to proceed further. They set up their seven by ten tent. rolled up in their sleeping bags, ate snow and waited for good weather conditions. When it seemed as if no change was in prospect. they started afoot, cutting their reindeer loose. though the ami mals followed behind. After ten days in the mountains. during seven of which they had not bite to eat except snow. they reached help and food. though Bernardi had lost forty-five pounds in the process. He tells the story laconically and with few details. as though it were an everyday occur renee. and little to be thought of In they continued their jour ney and completed it without allowing