Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1910-04-22

sage class will be added later.
Excepting six or seven gUnbOats
necessary for the police and survey
work the vessels of little OF no mill
tary value will be placed out of com
mission as soon as possible.
Jne race. Lvcn IT this nad not been
true he had not time 10 return and
make another try 1T Mount Mckinley.
as he was even then contemplating
! dash TO the pole. To save himself
! financially and TO carry out his plans
/ he sent the Mount Mckinley story to
/ the world"
| l cannot convey too strongly the
| fact that Professor Parker showed alb
! solutely no personal rancor in his dis
/ cussion of this matter He said he
/ spoke OF it only as q man of science in
| the interest of truth. From my own
| observation Of him believe that aside
| from the natural desire of any noun
tain climber to be the first TO scale a
difficult peak. he would be actually
glad If he found DR.. Cooks little brass
tube on the top OF Mount McAinley-a
thing the Fairbanks expedition failed
to dO-and would lose no time in con-
veying the news to the world
The boat in which the Parker expe-
dition will traverse Cook inlet and as
ceud the Sushitna and the dangerous
Chulitna rivers has been especially
constructed for this trip, is forty feet
long, capable Of twelve miles an hour
and is run by a kerosene motor. 1t
viii be tied up at the first base.
From observations made during the
1905 expedition and from photographs
made by other exploring parties In the
region Professor Parker believes that
there is a practicable pass through the
range Just to the eastward Of Mount
Mckinley and a possible ascent along
the ridges to the east or northeast It
is on this that he bases his chief re-
lance
The Life Of an Explorer.
OF Beimore Browne, the second in
command, it was said that he was the
life of the 1906 expedition. Mr..
Brownies most remarkable feature Is
his eye. It is of that peculiar gray
blue which looks like polished steel.
Large, luminous, steady, fearless, it is
such an eye as one would look for In
a warrior. Merely because of Profess
or Parker's face and Belmore Brownies
eye I expect much from this expedi-
ton.
OF the other members Of the party
II. r. Tucker, the forester, has done
considerable climbing in the Appala-
chians and elsewhere, while Professor
Kuntz, the topographer, is noted in
the world Of science. In a letter in
closing his photograph Waldemar
Grassi, the Columbia student, says
that he is an American educated
abroad, that his father is an importer
OF Italian produce In New York and
that his grandfather was a general Of
artillery in the Italian army. This
strain of warrior blood should come in
good play, for it takes quite as much
of the soldier to conquer a mountain
as it does to take q city.
Professor Herschel Clifford Parker
was born in 1867 and is the grandson
Of a Brooklyn physician. On his
mothers side Professor Parker is de-
scended from a Revolutionary officer
and delegate to the Continental con
gress. The lad was educated In pri-
vate schools, in the Brooklyn Poly |
technic and in the Columbia School of |
Mines. Immediately upon graduation |
in 1890 he was made an instructor in |
Columbia and thirteen years later was |
elevated to a professorship. With |
Walter G. Clark he was the joint In |
ventor of the carbon flament used in |
the incandescent light and Of the |
helion f1lament. whose light is almost |
four times as strong. He is also cred
tied with other noted inventions and
discoveries. Professor Parker made
the ascent of Mont Blanc in 1891 and
of the MatterhOrn in 1895. Later he
climbed Mount Rainier, Mount Hood
and Mount Shasta. He was the first
to scale Mount LEROY, Mount Daw-
son, Mount Goodsir Mount Hungabee.
Mount Deltaform and Mount Biddle
Of the Canadian Alps and Mount
Olympus, in the state Of Washington.
The Canadian mountains, he says. are
more difficult than the European Alps.
Mount Mckinley is almost in the
middle of Alaska, its vast bulk is prac-
tically covered with ice, and the eli
mate about its top is as cold as that
Of the north pole Outside of the high
est of the Himalayas. the tops Of
which have never yet been reached by
man. Mount Mckinley is believed to
be the most difficult climb on earth.
On parting from Professor Parker 1
asked him what. from his long expert
ence in mountain climbing and his
knowledge of Mount Mckinley. he
thought of his prospects of reaching
the top of the continent"
''Well. I think we have at least an
even chance" he replied guardedly.