Los Angeles herald., 1910-11-11
BRINGS EVIDENCE
AGAINST DR.. COOK
Prof. Parker Returns from Mt.
Mckinley with Data Unfav-
orabIe to Explorer
IND0RSES STORY OF GUIDE
Photo of BarriII Rock Offered,
20 Miles from Summit of
Alaskan Peak
INDoRSES STORY OF GUIDE
associated Press)

ASSOCIATED PresS)
| NEW YORK, Nov 10-Prof. Her
schel Parker Of Columbia university,
who recently returned from his ex-
ploration of Mount Mckinley, today
made public a series of photographs
| taken near the Alaskan mountain,
which he claims is indisputable evil
dence that DR.. Frederick A. Cook, the
! Brooklyn traveller, never reached the
top Of the highest peak in America.
Professor Parker states he found the
mountain peak, which DR.. Cook photo
graphed and called Mount Mckinley,
| 1.-THE top of the continent" and in sup
port of his statement showed a photo
graph of q mountain taken by his eX-
| pedition last summer and pointed out
that a comparison of the two photo
graphs shows in detail identical out
lines of rock formation, proving they
are pictures of the same mountain.
THE mountain which I photo
graphed," said Professor Parker, "was
twenty miles away from Mount Nc
Kinley and $1,000 feet below its sum-
nit. This is the same peak that Cook
photographed and called the top of
the continent
Professor Parker corroborates the
confession made year ago by Edward
Barrill, guide for DR.. Cook, that they
never reached the top of Mount Nc
Kinley.
1--WE left our boat on the Tokositna
at about the same spot where DIR. Cook
and Barrill took to the ice," said Pro-
fessor Parker, who was a member OF
DIR. Cooks expedition in 1906. "My idea
was to. follow as closely as possible
the route taken by the doctor and we
had no difficulty in doing this with
Barrill's map at hand. In few days
our party reached the spot noted on the
map where Barrill's picture was taken.
This was in the Amphitheater glacier
in the foothills of Mount Mckinley and
twenty miles from its base.
Having reached this place, the
problem now confronting us was to
pick the rock on which Barrill stood
when he was photographed with the
flag in his hand. This, perhaps, was
easier to do than one might imagine,
in spite of the fact that there were in
Vulnerable rocky peaks on all sides
of us. There will be noticed in the
lower right hand corner of DR.. Cooks
photograph a peak in the distance,
the snow formation on top of which
should make it easily distinguishable.
1t was therefore a comparatively easy
matter to identify the peak as the sec
ond of the seven peaks of Ruth gla-
cier, only a few miles away from where
we stood. Dr. Cook has said there
are Twelve peaks, DuI ne eNluelIly ulu
not carry his investigations far enough
to discover there are only seven.
FOUND MORE SNOW
"Then we found the rock we wanted
in the snow saddle Barrill mentioned
and at last we were at the top of the
continent
You will remember that Barrill
swore that the picture in DR.. Cooks
book captioned First Five of the
Twelve New Peaks of Ruth Glacier
was taken on the same day that DR..
Cook took the famous photograph of
the guide. That this statement was
true is readily noted. In another of
the pictures entitled 'Amphitheater'
the rock itself on which Barrill stood
may be seen.
"On account of the formation of the
snow cornice it was impossible to pho
tograph the rock from the exact spot
where Dr. Cook himself stood. These
cornices are shaped according to the
Whim of the wind and the formation
varies from year to year. 1t Will also
be noted that there is more snow in
the photograph I took. This is due to
the fact that 1 was there in July, While
Dr. Cooks photograph was taken in
September. A considerable amount of
snow naturally would melt away in
two summer months.
But you can readily see that the
photographs are of one and the same
rock, and a very paltry rock it is at
that I duplicated a number of other
photographs in DR.. Cooks book at
totally different points from where the
doctor says they were taken, and these
with a detailed account of my eXpedi-
ton will be made public at later
date.
But these photographs are of far
less Importance than that of the sum
nit itself. After getting all the ma
terial I wanted in this neighborhood'
we pushed twenty miles farther to the
base of Mckinley, and made numer-
Gus attempts to cross the northeast
ridge of the mountain. But our pas
sage was effectually cut off by 1900
foot range of ice peaks at the head OF
Ruth glacier, which was impossible
on account of the pinnacles and Gre
vases. DR.. Cook makes no mention
of them in his book, never having
been far enough to see them. Then'
turning back, we went as far as posi-
BILE on the southwest face Of Mchln-
lev and after reaching an elevation OF
10000 feet gave up any further attempt
to scale the mountain.
"NVhiIe I regret we were unable
to get to the top, still we had accom-
plished the object of my mission and
felt satisfied with the result Of the eX-
pedition."
When asked what he thought of the
dispatches from Alaska in the early
summer saying that Tom Lloyd had
reached the top of the mountain, Pro-
fessor Parker said he desired to cor
rect some statements which had been
attributed to him concerning the lat
ter. ,,
'I never said" he declared that
Tom Lloyd did not reach McKinley's
summit. What I did say was that
although our party got within seven
miles of it, none of US could see, even
with the strongest of glasses, the flag
or pole Lloyd says he planted there
to stay How ridiculous, therefore, the
statements were that the flag had been
seen from Fairbanks, 14O miles away"
Professor Parker, in spite Of the fail
ure to conquer Mckinley, believes that
way will yet be found to scale the