East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1913-06-13
FRANK PIERCE HAS
THRILLING WORK
IN ALASKA WlLDS

Mccarthy. Alaska, May %, 1913.
To the East Oregonian:
Arrived in here May 27th for mail
after being in the wilds for two
months.
We had quite a time getting our
supplies up the Chinina river to the
Glazier Found quite a bit of snow,
and the river open in several places.
After going over the trail once with a
light load we would load on an aver
age of one ton to the horse. on double
enders, and when we found clear ice
would load as high as thirty-seven
hundred. The zee was getting pretty
soft when We got the last of our sup
plies up to the ice fields. Would have
| to travel early of mornings while the
| trails were frozen.
| In one place we found open water
| and had to build three bridges to get
across the river. Would build from
one channel to another. The last open
water we had It was too wide to
/ bridge. so we built raft and RATED
our stuff across. Lost one sleigh load
off the raft, but after following the
sleigh down the river for about one
hundred yards we got rope on 1t and
got it ashore. The sleigh was loaded
mostly with crackers, cornstarch and
ammunition Didn't damage anything
but the crackers and cornstarch.
We crossed the river in one place
on an ice bridge. Got our freight all
over one evening and the next morn
ing the bridge was out. so we carried
our camp outfit and personal effects
across on our backs, jumping from
one cake of ice to another -Four OF
: the horses walked over the ice step
ping from one cake to another, the
other four we had to take down the
, river about a quarter of a mile and
! ford them across.
The last move we made along the
: side of the glacier was sure fright
We could only pull about 400 pounds
to the horse. 1t was right up creek
bed and in several places we had tc
line the sleighs up over the falls
chopping steps in the ice for the
horses. After we made few trips
over, we began to break through anc
this started the water, and the las
few trips we were dragging our LOADS
over big boulders
We pitched camp alongside the gla
, cier and then we had to back pacl
, our stuff across the glacier to the st
Elias side. made four trips across
| They have regular ice creepers tina
fit on the soles of your shoes ant
? with these and an alpine stock on
gets along first rate Several of tn
5 BOYS took tumbes, but nothing seri
? GUS
. After the stuff was all back pack
. ed across then came the fun of tax
ing two horses across to use on tn
/ opposite side we left camp viii
; them at $500 a. m. and got across be
e fore it began to thaw. Jim Brysoi
| and | led them across and We had on
man ahead picking out the trail, an'
two with ice picks. making trail an'
picking out steps for the horses
T Where we crossed 1t is about lou
miles air line and seven the way on
t has to wind around to get over.
, small party will leave the glacie
q for Mt. st. Elias about June 10. l
= Is sure a rough old mountain.
The country is just alive with noun
tain sheep. | have counted as higi
as forty in one bunch. We have al
the fresh mutton we can eat In caml
) and by the middle Of July will hav
plenty of young spruce hens an'
ptarmigans to eat
Jim Bryson and I sure had hare
trip coming over We came over tn
q summer trail and found lots of snow
One of the horses fell over bluf
and rolled about three hundred feet
: We had our kitchen outfit on him ant
a lost all of our grub but little flou
|. and bacon. We had a fine can o
n apple sauce in one of the mess boxe!
/ and 1t was scattered all over the hill
= side. Some of our stuff we never die
1 see. We had our beds on colt anC
/ he wanted to follow the other on
u