Warren sheaf. [volume] (Warren, Marshall County, Minn.) 1880-current, 1910-02-24
MINERS LONG WALK !
Walked Nearly 200 Miles in Deep
Snow Through Bleak Region
With Ganerene Gnawine One Of His
Hands, After Having Fingers
Frozen, Finds Friends When
Almost Crazed.

Whitehorse, Yukon River Territory.
After undergoing almost unparal-
leled hardships and being the victim
of combination of vicissitudes that
would have caused most men to give
up in despair, Michael McMurray, a
"sourdough" prospector and trapper,
widely-knOwn in the Yukon, reached
this town and is now confined in the
general hospital, where he is being
treated for gangrene.
With one hand half eaten away by
gangrene, with no food save a frozen
chunk OF raw moose meat, and with
out matches to light fires and thus
protect him from the bitter cold, Nc.
Murray walked nearly two hundred
miles from the head waters of the
Dease river to Teslin, arriving there
IN semi-delirious condition. Nc
Murray was given care at Teslin by
the men there in charge of Taylor &,
Drurys station and by them sent to
Atlin and on to the hospital at White.
horse.
Up to three weeks ago McMurray
was in the heart of a vast UNEMPLOYED
territory about one hundred and sew
enty-fiye miles north of Teslin He
had been there for five years, making
an occasional trip to Teslin for sup.
plies, which he packed back to his
headquarters, near the head waters OF
the Dease river. McMurray, besides
prospecting, was trapping and depend
ing largely upon wild game for food
His last trip to Teslin was made early
last spring, when he had the misfor
tune to freeze the two first fingers
Of his right hand
AS a result of the freezing the two
Injured fingers commenced to decay
about the middle Of the summer, anC
for time McMurray feared that he
might lose his hand To remove the
dead bone, which panied him intense
ly, he tied a stout cord about the
bones of his two affected fingers, tiec
the other end Of the cord to a tree
and actually had the hardihood to pull
off both bones at the first joint. This
somewhat allayed the symptoms O.
gangrene and McMurray, instead o.
returning to civilization for medica
treatment, remained in the wilds, trap
ping and prospecting.
Three weeks ago he strayed severa
miles from his cabin visiting his traps
and when he returned he found hi:
cabin blazing heap of ruins, it hay
ing caught fire in some way in his
absence. Every possession that Nc
Murray had in the world, except the
clothes he had on, his rifle and about
twenty; rounds of ammunition and {
chunk Of raw frozen moose meat thai
was. hanging in a. tree near his cabin
had gone up in smoke. McMurray die
not even have a match on his person
Realizing that he was in perilous
predicament, McMurray at cnce
struck out for Teslin,t packing his
frnzens piece of meat on his back. L
was terrible trip. The weather a
1t times was rs or even 80 degrees be
low zero and sas McMurray had ne
matches he was compelled to kee1
travelling through the cold nights tt
:, keep from freezing. Near the moor
time in the day. when the sun was
high, he would. >burrough in the snow
banks and snatch a. few hours of brok
en rest. Even then he suffered bitter
'ly from the cold and both feet were
frost bitten and he was compelled te
wrap his drawers about his feet.
! Only his indomitable Irish pluck ken,
tMcMurrayI going and at, the end Of
sixty days travelling he staggered into
iWhitehorse, half deArious and almost
wholly exhausted. There portions Of
the bone were removed from the palm
Of McMurrays right hand and it viii
be- several weeks before he will have
recovered from his trip sufficiently t.
leave the hospital. = !; -, :~-*i:: )
McMurray says he will return tt
his. isolated; retreat early next spring
4He Ysays he. has located no less thar
!, Fix lix p promising quartz lodges, five O.
which carry free milling gold and The
sixth copper. - -, 49,, i ';i'