The Chitina leader., 1913-12-02
EXPERIENCES IN HE ARCT|C0F CONCERN ID ALASKA

Capt c. T. Pedersen and Olaf Swenson were arrivals from the in- terior on the train yesterday after noon. They came through from the Arctic Ocean and have had many thrilling experiences. during the past season. Leaving the frozen waters of the Arctic, near the international boundary line, on October 21, they travelled 400 miles to Fort Yukon, reaching there on November s. 1t took them couple of days to go to Circle City, where they followed the winter mail trail to Fairbanks and arrived there on the 18th. They took the stage two days later and come on to Chitina where they boarded the train and arrived at Cordova yesterday at 3:30 o'clock, just three hours too late to catch the steamer Sampson. They will hoW walt uOIC IOl IhS otCoLiCi Northwestern. These hardy men started from Icy Reef with a dog team and an Indian and his squaw. They pushed up the Turner river, crossed the divide and landed at what they think was the head of the Salmon river. They then portrayed to Chandlar Lake, from which place they followed the old Indian trail to Fort Yukon. Most of the distance they had goog going, although much of the distance of 630 miles to Fair banks was practically an unbeaten trail. For three days it was neces- sary for these men to break trail with snow shoes for the dog team. However, they averaged about 25 miles a day.
 Captain Pederson started with the 13O-ton schooner Elvira from San Francisco on May 27. On his way to the Arctic he secured a cargo of 762 white fox, 5 silver fox, 25 red fox, 101 mink, 15 ermine, 30 polar bear skins, seal skins, ivory and whalebone, all worth about $1S,000. He passed Point Barrow on July 23, bound for Banks land, where he hoped to pick up more furs ana whaleoil. When he reached a point short distance east of the boun- diary line the ice began to flow so heavily that he was unable to make any headway. He had varied ex- perience among the ice floes until September 3, when the Elvira got wedged in tight. Later the ice again loosened and the schooner having been thrown on her side be- gan to fill with water. She was tied to an immense floe but finally broke away and drifted for nearly a mile, when she capsized and went to the bottom of the sea.
 Part of the provisions had been taken from the schooner and stored on the ice, and Capt. Pederson sent his crew of 19 men to the whaler Belvedere, which was in the ice some little distance away. The captain and engineer stood by the vessel until September 22nd, and the next day she disappeared. Other than the provisions saved every thing else aboard her was lost, all though the cargo was fully insured. Louis Lane, with his party of scien- lists, was near by with his little steamer Polar Bear wedged in the ice but we'll protected. He took aboard the provisions from the FL vira and they will be needed this winter by the 22 men who have left the Polar Bear and established a camp for the winter on the near shore.
 When Captain Pedersen and MT. Swenson left the north MT. Lane de- cided that he would also come south. He started to mush 25 miles to get Eben S. Draper who was 25 miles distant and who also wished to get back to his home in Massachusetts, where his father was once governor of the state. They had expected to start in two or three days. If they did they evidently had hard time reaching Circle, as wire states that they arrived there on November 23. It is not stated whether they will go on to Dawson and go out by way of White Horse and Skagway, but it is likely that they will come to Fairbanks. Chitina, and COrdova