Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1909-12-30
COMMITTEE HEADED BY FlALA
AND SIX FORMER FRIENDS
OF EXPLORER.
CLAIM OF ASCENT OF MOUNT
M'KINLEY DECLARED TO BE
UNSUPPORTED.

on members and the public. Coming
upon the heels of the crushing Copen-
hagen verdict, the explorers club &C
ton is the result of an independent
investigation not touching the polar
controversy.
The board met to pass upon the re-
ports to its committee, which inVestl-
gated the validity of Cooks assertion
that he reached the summit of Mount
Mckinley. The committee concluded
an exhaustive report with a recon-
mendation that 'Dr. Cooks claim that
he assembled the summit of Mount
Mckinley in 1906 be rejected by the
club as unworthy Of credence.7
| The recommendation was based on
a finding that Or. Cook repeatedly
made statements not in accord with
the facts; that he entered into agree
ments which he failed to keep, and
| that the misstatements and broken
agreements deal not only with mat
tiers appertaining to discovery, but
to ordinary financial transactions, so
that no credence can be given state
ments made by him"
! Among the seven signatures ap-
pended to this arraignment, are those
of Caspar Whitney and Anthony
Fiala, both personal friends of DR..
Cook. The committee states that It
undertook the investigation only aft
| ar first apprising DR.. Cook OF it's pur
pose, which he approved, and that it
disregarded entirely the testimony OF
Edward BarriII, Cooks guide, and of
Frederick Printz, his packer-al-
though some testimony was before
them-because it wished that no cloud
of partisan contention or question of
financial interest might be permitted
to dim the integrity of its verdict.
Besides the findings of the commit
tee, which was signed by Fiala, the
polar explorer; Frederick S. Dellen-
baugh, of the American Geographic
society; Professor Marshal H. SaviIle,
professor OF archaeology Of Columbia
university; Walter G. Clark; Charles
H. Townsend, director of the New
York Aquarium; Henry C. Walsh,
secretary of the explorers club, and
Caspar Whitney, individual reports
were submitted by Herschel G. Park
er, professor of physics at Columbia,
and BelmOre Brown, both of whom
were members of Dr. Cooks McKin-
ley expedition; and by Charles Shef-
don, who recently returned from
years residence on the slope Of Mount
Mckinley, where he went for the pur-
pose Of studying the configuratiOn OF
the mountain with view to the pos
sibility of its ascent.
Professor Parker reports that he
was a partner with Dr. Cook in the
Mckinley expedition, both physically
and financially. DR.. Cook assumed
the lead with plan which proved IN
suitable and the party escaped with
their lives, thanks to the local knowl-
edge of Belmore Brown. 1T was per
fectly understood" says Parker, that
after the misadyenture all attempts
would be abandoned for the season"
Instead OF this, DR.. Cook, it Is
charged, sidetracked all the members
of the expedition until there re
manned only Cook. the guide, BarrilI,
and one packer. who was subsequently
gotten rid Of also. These OBJECTIONS
left Cook, SAYS Parker, no instruments
capable of measuring the attitudes he
says he attained. Moreover, he adds,
the summers experience had shown
that, of all the party, Cook and BarrtlII
were the least fitted for mountain
Was in Financial Straits.
Brown, in the main, confirms Park
er, but adds that Dr. Cooks book con
tains not one date from the time he
left the ChuIitna river This makes
criticism impossible, he
declares. He asserts that he never
saw Cook make a single 5rerOid baro-
meter reading during the whole trip
Confirming the charge previously
made, he says Dr.. Cook was in seri- /
GUS financial straits and would have
had great difficulty in getting out Of
Alaska if he had not reported that he
had attained the summit of Mount Nc
K-nley. /
Had No Ice Creepers.
Brown declares that Cook and Bar
rill had no ice creepers and that
though Cook afterward said he and
BarriH We're roped together every foot
of the last stages, Parker and Bro wn
remembered destroying the climbing
rope as defective, before they quit
the expedition. In none Of the pic
lures published in Cooks book does
the climbing rope appear.
Brown and Sheldon report that vari-I
Gus photographs in DR.. Cooks book
do not represent the peaks they are
said to picture. Sheldon denies that
he wrote the appendix in the book
which Cook credits to him.
Account Incredible.
The committee as a whole. there
fore, concludes that DR.. Cooks &C
count Of the ascent not only is I'M
to the experienced noun |
taineer, but under analysis incredible. /
That he entered into secret finan-I
cial agreement with the publisher
which resulted in embarrassment to /
his associates.
That he broke his agreement with
fellow club members to supply his
photographs and data upon
which the book was based
Other conclusions of the committee
may be summarized as follows: