Iditarod pioneer., 1915-10-09
FIRST MAN TO CLIMB TO
 SUMMIT OF MOUNT MCKINLEY

William R. Taylor, the first man to reach the top of Mount Mckinley, arrived in Sc attle August 27 to pay his first visit to the Outside world in eleven years. He Is on his way to visit the exposition at San Fran cisco. Taylor and Pete Anderson, sour dough proSpectors representing the Lloyd expedition, stood on the top of the North American continent on April 3, 1910, after completing what explorers regard as the most remarkable feat in the annals of noun tain climbing Taylor and Anderson took eighteen hours to complete q journey that subsequent expeditions have labored hard for two weeks to make, at the same time packing a fourteen-foot pole, three inches thick at tke top, from the II ,500-foot ele- vation 10 the top of the mountain, 20,5O0 feet above the ocean level
 The story of the climb of 1he Lloyd party is one of bravery and loyalty, of adventure and fortitude, in which prank of fate and an incredulous scientific world combined 10 withheld recognition Of victory from the rightful persons for three years. Expedition after expedition went to the mountain after the Lloyd party first came 10 the outer world from the ice fields of the Alaska range but ii was not until June, 1913. that the first meager confirmation of the Taylor Anderson ascent came, with the return of the Karstens-Stuck party from the ascent of the south peak
 For three years Taylor, an honest'" rugged type of pioneering Alaskan, had. lived among the people of Interior Alaska There were some, his friends, who believed him and his story of the climb, but there were others who scofed at him behind his back. The miners of the kaRtishna where he lived, lad faith in him to the man. It was q happy day for Taylor when. on 2 bright June morning, q message came humming over the wires to Fairbanks from the lower Panama. It was message that Billy Taylor and Pete Anderson had really climbed Mount Mckinley in l9lO and had done something more wonderful than that-had carried hagpole up nearly perpendicular slopes and unfurled an American flag on the north peak of the highest eminence on the North American continent
 The Lloyd party established its base camp at the 11,500foot level of the mountain. Taylor and Anderson left there the morning of April g. 1910 Each had six-foot staff with two hooks cn one end and a sharp spike on the other They wore mocassins and had crude ice creepers tied to the bot toms Their equipment was the makcshlft mountain tools of the sourdough they didn't have any expensive tools or special clothing or appliances. Their last meal at the base camp consisted of beans and caribou meat. Taylor and Anderson took with them, when they started the terrific spurt to the top, which they had decided to make that day, thermos bottle filled with hot sweet choc- olate and several doughnuts, which they had | made themselves.
 It was 2 30 o'clock in the afternoon when they reached the top. After simple hand shake to mark the completion of the climb, they dug hole four feet deep into the ice ] and stuck the pole into 1t. They banked 1 the base up with rocks and fastened guy lines to the top of the pole. Then Ander- son stood near the fagpole, while Taylor opened the kodak which they brought with
 them and took picture. When they re turned to civilization the pictures were de yeloped as proof to the scientists that the top of the mountain had been reached, But
 the film contained nothing. It was the first time Tavlor had operated camera and the
 picture was a blank.
 The confirmation of the story was with
 held until Walter Harper, the halt-breed In
 dian boy who was member of the haTs-
 tens-Stuck expedition, happened to see
 from the south peak with his glasses the
 pole standing on the bare mountain. the
 flag whipped of, but the guyllnes and the
 mound of rocks still there.
 Mir. Taylor will leave Seattle next week
 for San Francisco. It is his intention tc
 return to Alaska after few months tte
 continue work on his quartz properties 1T
 the Kantishna district. Seattle PdSt-ln' 1 +nlIiuaprar