Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1907-07-23
FINDING OF N0AH'S ARK
ON A MOUNTAIN IN YUKON
Most Remarkable Newspaper Yarn
That Ever Came out of North
Written by Casey Moian-Man-
agcment of Alaska-Yukon EXPOSE
ton VIII Investigate the Story.

Mount Ararat, with the ruins Of
Noah's arr Oh II, discovered in Yu-
kon." was the headline that appeared
in a Dawson some few
years ago. And while a controversy
may well be waged as to the meaning
and original purpose of the great ruin
that ndian declare exists on the top
OF a mountain far I'm the interior If
northern Yukon, the management OF
the Observation-Disclosures exposition
which will be held at Seattle in 1903.
intends to sift the story and If there
Is any ruin, to nav photos and plars
of IL AT the Pacific Worlds fair, in or
der that .a~chaeologists may be able 10
give an intelligent opinion. The story
OF the first discovery of the alleged
Noah's ark Is Of itself a classic i'm the
north. In the early days of the Klon-
dixie rush a brilliant coterie of writer's
gathered in the new camp. OF those
who have since given to The world
their Impressions We're Jack London.
Rex Beach. Jack Corbett, ex-senator
Jerry Lynch of California, and others.
But in the newspaper world of Dawson
then particularly bright-the par
ticular star was one Bernard IL. Mo-
ran, or as he was known from Point
Barrow to Atlin. Casey" Moran.
As a writer Casey was uneXcelled
anywhere. There are whole weeks In
Dawson when the telegraph wires are
49, ~ - AAAh Nv ~ " ~ ~ . ~ >
from the outside world, when the
trails are showed up completely and
no one either leaves or enter the city.
and when the most recent newspaper
Of the outside world is some two or
three months old, and everyone has
read IL twice at that. Getting out a
daily under these circumstances is no
joke. But the inevitable, Ubiquitous
Casey was always there with The item.
the speculation, the suggestion. y
man that had been successfully street
preacher. whiskey smuggler, walking
delegate, mining broker, ice trust mag
nate and boat builder could always
evolve enough news, whether or not
the real article was I'm evidence.
II was one Of these times and the
editor was troubled. Casey" said he.
the paper Is going to the logs. Peo-
pie blame us for the wires being
down and the roads being im~passablo.
Go out and get an article that win
make 'em sit up, that will be talked
of from the aurora borealis northern
limit to the southern cross"
That was an order such as Casey
loved. He grabbed a pad, pulled on his
parka, and in a minute the ~sixty-fVe
below zero had closed about him.
The story appeared next morning
That night a tribe of interior Indians
had arrived in Dawson and Casey
caught them within an houF after
starting on his search. They old of n
trip that winter after food far into the
heart of a country no ndians had pen-
etrated before, away past the circle
and east of the Mackenzie. 1t was a
country supposed to be haunted. 1t
any rate the Indians and Eskimos gave
II a wide berth, and only the necessity
for food drove them into it this time.
And they told how they finally reached
a great mountain on whose ton was
The remains of a vast building. like a
hundred villages built on a great ca
noe as one of the chiefs describe
it I'm the vernacular. The building had
been turned to stone but was oncc
wood. so the tribesmen declared. And
hen Casey had found a family Bible
one of the old kind with pictures of
the scenes in the old Testament-and
turned IN the drawing of Noah's ark,
one ana all the tribesmen gruntad with
satisfaction and declared the boat on
the mountain was very much like the
picture.
Moran got affdavits from the In
dams and the story travelled all over
the world. The noble red men stuck to
their story Notwithstanding the most
jealous questioning of rival newspaper
writer's who had been scOoped. And
many will call Moran's getting
the story luck, II is the sort of luck
hat Moran could always be depended
TO dig up. He never waited for
IL to come to him, but always went TO
It. and by 1909 the great exposition.
which win demonstrate 80 many things
concerning Alaska n Yukon. may 10
depended upon to ave investigated
and put the seal of truth or the mark
Of falsity on the finest newspaper story
the north has ever produced. !