Iditarod pioneer., 1915-04-17
ISLE OF JUAN FERNANDEZ
 SCENE OF DEFOE'S STORY

Some prominence has lately been given to the romantic island of Juan Fernandez by the reported disregard of the neutrality of Chile, as shown by the German South Pa ciic fleet in their alleged using of this lonely island, many miles distant from the main land, as convenient naval base for coallng and reprovisionlng of stores and so forth. Some brief descrip ptive account of the island by one who has been there may therefore not be without interest, says London dis patch.
 Who has not read the fascinating story of Robinson Crusoee" and pictured in imagi- nation the desert island that was the scene of his solitary adventures? The pen of Defoe has given us a faithful description of the far away rock in the South Pacific which IS supposed to have been the home of the hero; and in recognition of his genius, pop ular sentiment has bestowed the name of Robinson Crusoes island upon the spot which the geographers call Juan Fernandez. It is recorded that the navigator, Juan Fernandez, who discovered the island in 1871, was figure of considerable lmpor- tance at the time of the Spanish conquest of America and, indeed, was one of the companions of Pizarro.
 There are many who claim that the imaginary scene of Robinson Crusoe's ad- ventures was not the island of Juan Fer nandez, and that Defoe's hero was not the Scottish mariner Alexander Selkirk who lived in solitude in Juan Fernandez from l7O4 to 17O8; but popular sentiment has been given the preference, as already lndl- cated to Juan Fernandez, as the locality, and to Alexander Selkirk as the hero of Defoe's delightful story.
 The island of Juan Fernandez IS some 300 miles of the coast of Chile, about due west from Valparaiso, and comprises an area of about 100 square miles. The higher part of the island is fertile, covered with forest, and of picturesque aspect, rising to height of nearly 5000 feet, with the peak of Yunque anvil" so called from its shape-towerng above the surrounding country. This point is situated about an hours climb from the landing bay; and at this end of the island there are met striking and enormous, wall like precipices, running sheer down into deep ocean blue water
 The famous buccane who rsvaged the ports of the Pacific during the Seventeenth century made frequent calls at Juan Fer nandez and at a later date the island served us 1ehA SettlclIleIlt lol PouliCol aiiu otiiei classes of prisoners. Thrilling stories are related of this part of the islands history. Prisoners of the inquisition of Lima were banished to this distant spot, and many other interesting historical associations con nected with those earlier troublous times are to be found in the records. Of late years the island has been leased to syndi- cate by the Chilean government, and some farming is carried on but the principal in- dustry is the fisheries. Fish of all sorts abound, including huge Holsters and crabs and very excellent species of codfsh.
 Returning now to Alexander Selkirk, 8 strange fate cast him on this remote island of the Pacific; he himself declared after ward that he had deliberately planned to be left there It is believed, at any rate, that he remained of his own free will, and with the determination to make, as he ex pressed it, "an earthly paradise" He was taken away from the island by an English sorsair, and jcining the piratical expedition, he did not return to England until l712, eight years after his departure.
 More than l50 years later Commodore Powell of the British navy, commanding the frigate Topaze, disembarked at Juan Fer nandez and erected commemorative tablet of iron, which still occupies it's conspicu ous position in the side of the Yunuque mountain, on a site named by the sailors as "Selkirk's Lookout" as 1t was from that point that the solitary islander daily scanned the horizon.