Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1915-08-18
The Psychology of Adventure
BY Frederic ]. Haskin

a DVENTURE, says the veteran
~ professional explorer in the serv-
- ice of Uncle Sam, is a thing
peculiar to the amateur. A man VINO
knows his business never has an ad-
venture. Adventure is an experience
which comes only to the biunderer, to
the man who founders inSo situations
that he should have foreseen and
avoided.
In dissemination of which theory
the government explorer modestly re-
tails some of his accomplishments and
those of his fellows. He tells of ex-
petitions undertaken and executed, in
attempting which other men mad lost
their lives. But, he holds, there was
no adventure, no danger, when the
scientist went forth upon the same
tasks. For the scientist roresaw every
possibility and provided against 1t.
He discounted every danger. He pro-
ceeded with understanding and re-
turned in safety.
Many field men of the government
are Just now out upon such tasks for
explorations have to do with a num-
ber of branches of the government
The explorers of the Geofogical Sur
Vey are the most numerous of those
of any bureau that sends men into the
wild. To be sure there are agents of
the Department of Agriculture who go
the Bureau of Ethnology who venture
among strange and savage people, of
the Smithsonian Institution which
sends all manner of scientific expedl-
tions into all parts of the world. But
the Geological Survey is the official
bureau of explorations of the govern
ment.
The scientists of that service We're
the pioneers of Alaska. They pushed
into the forbidding interior of that
vast waste where the foot of white
man had never before trod. They
climbed its mighty mountains, crossed
its tundras, navigated its unknown
streams, suffered the darkness of its
long winters. But, they say, they ex-
perienced no adventure.
Perils of Exploration
One such scientific expedition start
ed out with q pack train, Travelled a
thousand miles, exhausted its horses,
killed and cached them against the
possibility of needing their flesh as
food, built itself boats and pushed on.
So precipitous grew the region that 1t
was necessary that the boars pe taken
up the stream by wading in it and
dragging them. All day these men
fioundered through the waters that
ran from the snout of a glacier, slipped
and fell in 1t and never changed their
clothes. They knew that vigorous
possibility as taking a cold. There
was no such danger for them.
They came to the end of the stream
and knew they were near the top of a
divide. Beyond were waters that flow
ed in another direction into the un-
known. They cached food against
the necessity of returning this way
found a new river. They built them
selves stout RATS. If rart is strong
enough it will not break TO pieces If
1t runs into rocks on fast rapids. The
amateur would build a raft that would
go to pieces and would have an ad-
venture in the first rapids but not the
scientist. He discounts the possibility
of rapids.
1900 Miles Down Stream
With food sufficient for a trip of al
most any length the voyage was be-
gun. 1t led into a new valley that is
an offshoot of the YUKON and
eventually 1900 miles down that
whaling ships that may take a wan
derer home.
Frank C. Schrader is the veteran
explorer of the Geological Survey. One
Spring he crossed Chilkoat Pass early
and went down the Yukon thousand
miles with a dog team before the ice
broke up. Then he climbed a stream
Ocean at the eastern boundary of
Alaska. White man had never cross
ed here. He got over pass 5000
feet high where the moose were un-
afraid of him because they had never
known the enmity of this man crea-
ture. Going down a stream on rats
he reached the Arctic Ocean Ear be-
yond Point Barrow which is the
northernmost land of the continent
Thrilling Experiences
Schrader knew the way BACK and
retreat became necessary. But he
wanted to map this Arctic coast and
so pushed westward. 1t was Septem-
ber when he reached Point Barrow to
which station a revenue cutter pene-
trates once a year. But the revenue
cutter had come and gone ror the
field ice was threatening 20 close in
at any time. The explorers had the
choice of remaining here ror a year
or pushing on down the coast In a
whale boat. Fortified with provision
against any emergency, they chose the
latter Four hundred miles down tho
coast they found belated collier that
was Just clearing from an isolated
mine in these wilds. They took their
whaleboat aboard with them for the
! collier was likely to be crushed in
the Ice and, without <a:s provision
against such an emergency, there
might be an adventure. SO Lney came
out safely.
Savages Who Kiii
The late DR.. w. j. McGee wanted
to go to Tiburon Island, in the Gulf
OF California to study the Seri In
dians. one of the most savage and
primitive races in the world. Many