Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1910-07-27
NV Associated Press.)

(By Associated Press.)
Washington, D. c., July 26.-Tem
perature from 80 to 70 degrees below
zero. Snow from three to twenty fee
deep. Wind blowing blizzard mos
of the time. No human habitation ii
sight; no covering at night except ;
tent, and no GRUB" that was not man!
times frozen. These are some of the
conditions under which the recon
census was taken in the interior o
Alaska. The report of Chief Specia
Agent Mckenzie covering the work II
| the fourth or inland district of TIM
! territory has just been received by
Director Durand, and while the story
is simply told it is wonderful thrill
ling narrative of adventure, showing
that when Uncle Sam starts out tt
round up his children he spares nc
expense to locate them and satisfy
himself as to their status.
Mr.. McKenzies narrative, made pub
lie tonight, comes In advance OF his
figures, so that 1t is impossible to give
the population of the country covered
w ullIl anu I"CAIy dOoAoLoASo" = VI
reasons of it's own the census bureau
determined to number the Alaskans
during midwinter. Mr.. Mckenzie
made his headquarters at the mining
town of Fairbanks. His first special
agent was appointed on the 10th OF
last November, and the work was com.
pleted by the 18th of last April, when
Mckenzie left for 1.-The states His
experience in getting out of the coun-
try was by no means as thrilling as
some of his experiences while engaged
in the work, but 1t was stirring
enough to arouse interest in a warm
spell. OF it he says:
Il came out on the mail coach, ar
irving at Valdez ON the Goth after a
varied experience, consisting of being
delayed two days by blizzard, cross
ing rushing streams even when the
horses had to swim and the sleds float
and travelling day and night with the
thermometer often as low as 40 below
Zero"
The bureaus principal reason for a
winter census is found in the fact
that getting about the country Is much
easier at that than at any other sea-
son. There are no bridges in the
country, and as crossing the streams
when not frozen over is serious
problem, Mr.. Mckenzie says that to
have made the enumeration in the
summer would have required the serv-
ices of four times as many assistants,
while the cost would have been six
times as great. Me also expressed
doubt as to whether the result would
have been as satisfactory. AS it is,
he is of opinion that it is accurate
and complete"
Much hardship was necessarily in
volved in the work. Only men injured
to the rigors of the Arctic climate
were employed, and while they suf-
fered severely, none of them lost their
lives. Summing up the conditions,
Mr.. Mckenzie says:
1.-THE work was performed during
the severest winter known in this
part of Alaska by the Oldest settlers,
and the men kept constantly and con-
scientiously at it until completed.
There did not appear to be man who
did not have pride in the work, an
anxiety to create a record for travel
ing time, desire to enumerate all
the people in his district and to have
to his credit less loss of time because
of extreme weather than any of the
other agents. That the service lost
none of the men from freezing to
death, and that every man returned
safe is matter of congratulation and
good fortune. There were more deaths
from the weather in this section dur
ing the past winter than in all of the
other years in total-cases, too, in
which those who met such deaths did
not begin to go through the sacrifice
and privation that these agents Of the
service did. All of the men covered
hundreds of miles over the ice and
snow in weather ranging from 80 to
20 degrees below zero, the average
being about 40 below"
The experience of the agent in
Chandler district is fair example.
Speaking of him, the chief agent says,
''He was not scholar, but man
who had lived there for years and we'll
fitted to undergo the privations ne.
cessary." That his good qualities
were put to the severest test the re-
port shows.
"Severe weather was encountered
throughout all of his work." says Nc
Kenzie, land at no time after he left
Fairbanks until he returned did the
thermometer get above 80 degrees be-
low zero. His long journey away
from the base Of supplies made 1t Inn
possible for him to carry sufficient
grub and dog food, and he was obliged
to live off the country, killing moose,
mountain sheep and other fresh meat.
During the work he lost two of his
dogs from freezing to death. He him:
self froze portions of his face several
times, and at one time dropped into
six feet of open water, nearly losing
his life. In crossing the Arctic range
and returning he travelled above tim
Der line eighteen hours in each direc
ton, which in country where fire IL
necessary, can be understood to be 9
considerable sacrifice. He travelled
in many places where no white maj