East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1907-05-23


Cu Il Asorith IN n SEATTLE n.ner
wants ~ N''o" ''o" many peiSoi'
] know that Alaska ana YUKON grow
1000 different specimens of flora?
That Is a little hard. TRY this one:
| u , arson, ,,no,,, o.
'
ABOUT the horlhiaho' except that IL Is
Iona OF colo ana goloF
That one Is easier. The answer Is;
Very few.
But after the summer OF lsos' When
the Alaska ACKNOWLEDGING exposition
at Seattle Is over, there Will be large
percentage of the people of the world
! enlightened on the subject. The pr
mary purpose OF the great western
woriu ia'r hoW III eourse Vi p'epa
atioh Is to eNpioi' 'he woiue.s' oppo.
'uiii'ies ana resources VI 'ne n'''e
KNOWN DOMAIN III 'he hor'i'wes.e,i
por'oh ol North Ahierica' anu II.
DONG TINS II WIZ demonstrate .na'
Alaska ana YUKON can grow o'her
things besides icicles.
Already has an exhibit OF the nora
of the northland been collected that
will be revelation to the whole
world, to the layman and botanist
alike. This collection, the largest,
finest and most complete or northern
flora that has over been assembled, Is
the work of man who never opened
a book on botany, and who has been
guided solely by the quickness ana
correctness of his eye and the tenacity
of his memory. Gustave Gervias,
prospector of Whitehorse, starting In
the summer of 1905 and continuing
last summer, received l54O specimens
of Alaska's wild groyths, so of which
had never before been known to grow
in the north. He says there are 5oo
more and that he VIII get these this
coming summer
Confused the Botanists.
And all this in spite of the fact that
| leading botanists have declared that
the number of varying examples Of
the vegetable kingdom near the arctic
! circle was not more than 500 at most!
Gustave Gervais, who is now in Sc
attic, was born in Quebec some 40
odd years ago. In 1897 he was carried
north with the gold rush. but dropped
off at Whitehorse, where he found In
dicatons which, so he shrewdly Judg-
ed. would develop later into values as
great as anything in the glittering Ell
dorado 4SO miles further down the
river so ne built mas CABIN and set
tied IN the copper pelt by the head-
waters OF the YUKON Whlle GerVals
mas not maze any vast fortune, ne mas
comfortable stake and has 1ustified
MS early judgment Also, ike SO many
I old prospecors, he has missed by a
very narrow margin, one or two
chances of big fortune.
, 1t was only two years ago that Ger
J vais took up his present fad-the col
/ lecting of specimens of all growths
of the vegetable kingdom native to
ukon ana Alaska Gervais is not an
, euuea'eu po'a'iis'' put ne mas love
J ior the lIo"ers' grasses, trees anu
"ilu shruos trat grow III proluslon
anu whenever ne meets WIN speci-
men on ms prospecting trips ne car
ries II caretuiiy pack 10 MS capin and
mounts 1t.
The result In two years Is surpris-
ing In that ume' pursuing the col
lecting only as amusement and not al
all as business. Gervais has got to-
gether over l5OO specimens or ths
Alaska Yukon flora. indeed, so val
liable Is his collection and so unsur-
, passed that he could not afford to put
1t into competition in the recent wild
flower competition in Dawson City
seeing one of the conditions of the
,, winning of the $3.50 prize was that the
collection should become. the posses
sion of the committee until after the
] Alaska Yukon Pacific eXpositiOn In