Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1915-08-18

adventurers had preceded him for
there were reports of goid on the
island and the possibility of establish
ing oneself as king. None of these
adVenturers had ever returned. AS
DR.. MCGEE afterward learned, the
Seris regard themselves us the fittest
or Gods people and always kill any
outsider for fear that their pfood may
become contaminated through COM
mlngling with his.
There was the necessity o. crossing
a desert forty miles wide to get to the
coast off Tiburon. Then there were
cnoppy straits to navigate and a barren
island upon which to subsist while
studying this difficult peop.e which
Killed all outsiders. 1t appeared on
the surface as though tine party ac-
complishing such an end might ex-
perience various striking adventures.
But 1T did not. 1t had scientist at
It's head. DR.. McGee established
depot beside the ocean TO which he
ran wagons hauling warer and sup
plies. So there was no chance of dan
ger from the desert. Then he built u
raft that the choppy waters might not
wreck. Here was the assurance of
safe transit to the island Then ne
marshaled a force of armed men of
such strength that he wa- sure 1t
would not be attacked, for tne SerI
had learned of the deadly bark of a
rifle against which he had no counter
weapon. The law of the party was
that it was to stick together. Thus
did 1t avoid adventure.
Two expeditions were made and
months were spent In the region.
Finally friendships were staplished
with certain of these Indians, they
were studied, photographed, classified
One of the most fascinating reports OF
the peculiarities of a new-found peo-
Ia 49, H..
Institution resulted-a people over six
feet tall that was so fleet of foot as
to capture with it's bare hands the
jack rabbits of the desert, or the wild
cattle of the nearby ranges; so ,primi-
tive that they tore the raw flesh with
their teeth, yet so racially wise that
| each young man was forced to the
most drastic eugenic test before he
was allowed to marry and driven into
the desert to die If he failed.
In Colorado Desert
These scientific explorers have gone
/ into the great Colorado desert and
surveyed 1t and mapped 1t. They laid
out the boundaries of Glacier National
Park in that riot of mountains just
this side of Canada. In the Great
Bend of the Rio Grande they have
contested every step with the rattle
snakes. One of them was winding
around a trail on ledge of Copper
Mountain, in Alaska, one day when
he met a mountain sheep which dis
puted with him the right of way. He
killed the sheep with a hatchet and
carried 1t to camp and ate it up, but
had he been a bungling adventurer he
would have been butted over the
cliff.
! There is utiitarian side to all this
work. 1t was because of 1t that Uncle
| Sam learned of the value of his hold
| ings in Alaska in time to keep them
J from slipping away. 1t was the knowI-
| edge of the geologist explorer that
| led to the location of mountain
range of phosphates when. a few years
ago, there was scare because of an
| apparent exhaustion of this material
| that serves as basis for fertilizer.
Such a geologist explorer one day
stopped to change trains at plains
town in western South Dakota. He
talked with the station agent who
lamented the difficulty that the town
was experiencing in getting water for
the ordinary uses. The seologist told
the railroad man that 460 feet down
there was a strata of hot artesian
water. The railroad drilled for it,
found 1t, and to-day there is an
| abundance of water for the town
which uses 1t for ordinary purposes
and to heat its houses as we:f. The
! geologist had seen the strata of stone
| that underlies this region come to the
surface on the rim Of the Rockies
hundreds of miles away. He knew that
the water beneath it was seeking an
outlet.
The theory that there is no danger
J If care is taken to understand the
tasks confronted by the explorer is
borne out by one convincing fact.
These scientific men always return
from their expeditions. There is no
record of one of them having met
death. Yet the man of the street who
would undertake the same trips would
have little chance of surviving them.