The sun., 1915-05-30
The Alaskan AIMS.


When the mountain climbers have
exhausted the Selkirks and the Cana
dian Rockies there will be wilder and
sterner work to do in Alaska. Here
says Mr. ALFRED ii. Brooks Of the
Geological Survey in the sumrtuous
third number of Alpina Americana.
'is field where there are no ex.
p!orrd routes, no we'll trained guides.
packers or established preceients.
Every mountaineer must be his own
guide and often his own beast of bur
den. Though three OF the highest
submits have been mastered there
are scores OF high peaks whose snow
and Ice clad SUBMITS will test the
endurance and skill OF the most ex.
perienced mountaneers"
The three highest SUBMITS" CON
quered are Mckinley (2O.03o feeD
climbed by DR.. HrDsoN STUCK. Arch
deacon of the Yukon. and Mr. HARRY
l.. kARsTENs. II prospector: 81. Elias
1SS24 feeD. which yielded to the
prowess of Prince LUIGI of Savoy.
Duke of the Abruzzi: and Blackburn
t6.14O feet. the first ascent OF
which was made by Miss Dora KEEN
Of Philadelphia. daughter Of the EN-
inent surgeon W. W. KEEN. The diff
ficulty of this American girls feat is
reflected in her telegram of triumph
to her father: After thirteen days
snowstorm. spent in caves. made the
summit Of Mount Blackburn on May
49," 1912. Such experiences are
not uncommon in Alaskan mountain.
cering. Every conquest Of great
snow peak Is n siege. and only the
stoutest hearted may write their
names on the scroll Of honor.
The first mention OF an Alaskan alp
Is found in the journal Of STEIIrR.
naturalist OF the III fatei Bering cx-
pedition. who wrote under date of
July 10. 1141:
The land was at this place very lofty.
Of such altitude that it could he seen
sixteen Holland miles from the shore. /
cannot recall having seen so h!gh a
range in all Siberia and Kamchatka."
The giant Of the range beheld by
STELLER was Mount st. Elias, and 15l
years were to pass before the Italian
Duke Of the Abruzzi planted his foot
upon the summit after Americans AMI
Engllshmen had tried vainly to attain
1t. Mount Mckinley was first re-
ported In May. 1794 by GEORGE VAN
CoUvER, the British navigator. who
at the time was surveying the head
Of Cook Inlet. He described McKin-
ley and its neighbor. Foraker. as
distant stupendous mountains COW
cred with snow and apparently de-
tached from each other" The Rus
slams called the greatest mountain in
their Alaskan domain "Bulshala
Cora" which means simply Great
Mountain" and 10 the native tribes
II was known as Denali. Doleyka,
Traleyka. 4 Princeton graduate. W.
A. DICKEY, a prospector and miner.
who explored the Susltna River In
1896. was responsible for naming the
great mountain Mckinley; and TO
the neghbor peak Captain j. S. HER
RON. L. $. A.. gave the name Of For.
a Lnr thraa y-aars in frbn first man
who tried to scale Mckinley was the
Hon. JAMES WICKERsHAM. Judge Of
the District of Alaska. and now Terri
torial Delegate in Congress. lie was
something Of Il mountaineer. having
"done" Mount Rainier. but he got no
higher on the flank of the Alaskan
alp than 10000 feet. More than one
desperate siege was to be made OF Nc
Klnley before the "mushers" THOMAS
LLOYD and PETE ANDERSON gained
the slightly lower south summit and
DR.. STUCK finally won the supreme
height. Professor HERsCHEL PARKER
Of Columbia and BELMoRE BROWNE
on their third attempt fell short by
few hundred feet. zone of the he
roic episodes in the annals Of Alaska
mountaineering" Mr. BROOKS calls
their great adventure.
Only one other first ascent IN
Alaska is noteworthy, the climbing Of
volcanic Mount Wrangcll G4OO5) by
Mr.. RoBERT DUNN in the end OF July,
1908, and when this Is said we mean
that the glory Of making a first ascent
is st'll reServed for large Company
OF asprants. In the st. Elias range
for instance. the SUBMITS Of Logan
10,539 feen. Vancouver (15,G76),
Hubbard 14,05O), and Cook f13,755).
are virgin. II should he empha sized