Arizona republican., 1917-03-24
9hYS C|NNAbAR N DONALD D|ES
 HERD IN ALASKA

SEWARD, Alaska, March 23.-Nate H. Combs member of the rerrIIO. 4.,4 legislature which is meeting at Juneau this month, arrived here recently by dog team from Council on Seward peninsula, and brought word of a tragedy on the lower KVskowim, in voiving a fight for life against desper- ate odds. The hero, who died trying, was Duncan "Cinnabar' Mcdonald, well known miner, who had lived at Iditarod and later at Bethel on the Kuskowim. His story was related by Mrs. Duke F. Stubbs of Aniak, who ministered to him in his last hours.
 "Cinnabar'' Mcdonald gained his name by his repeated efforts to inter- est people with money to handle de- posits of cinnabar on the Kuskowim
 It is from this ore that the quicksilver of commerce is produced Mcdonald found it an uphill undertaking for while it is possible to get capital for gold mining, the average man with money to invest knows little or noth i ing about cinnabar and views it ask ance Mcdonald wrote and talked and dreamed about the mineral he had found and the other miners finally called him "Cinnabar."
 But cinnabar is not good to eat and ] Mcdonald was forced to abandon his hobby from time to time to mine gold, enough at least to keep him in sup plies from road houses between Idita-
 rod and Bethel.
 Some years back Mcdonald found placer ground on Bear Creek, a tribu-
 tary to the kuskokwim which looked good. In small gtIlleys near by pay dirt was found in various pockets and this year a man named Danny Bryce, after four seasons work broke into the pay up stream.e He went outside" with
 poke full of nuggets the size of wal nuts Danny was silent about his find,
 but in a vague way it drifted back to Bethel that he had gone out to get a i hydraulic plant.
 "Cmrabar" heard it, and remembered 1 his claims. He knew well the mining law which provides that any man stalking a claim must do work or that claim each to the amount of S10O to | hold it, and failure to have proof of such>labor recorded within ninety days after the end of the year is considered evidence that the owner has abandoned it, so he hit the trail for Bear creek l early in December to do his assess ment work.
 About forty days later a trapper liv- ing on the Bethel-Aniak trail, who was keeping close to his cabin because it was fifty below zero outside, was at | tracted by strang figure crawling up the trail on hands and knees, his l whiskers a mass of ice. It was Me Donald, fighting for his life. His hands and feet were frozen and the tip of
 his tongue was frozen to his teeth.
 The trapper, long in the wilds, pro- duced two cans of coal oil and tub
 and proceeded to draw the frost out of the frozen extremities of his friend Thawing out a frozen man is putting him through the torture Of fire The i pain is the same as tpougn the frozen
 part were held in flames, but it had i to be done. Thawing his face and
 tongue was a job for a surgeon but the ! trapper accomplished it.
 When it was done and the injured 1 parts wrapped in q mixture of lard and ] other ingredients, Mcdonald made it known that there was something ] wrong inside his chest and he must have a doctor. He signified his will 1 ingness to be taken to Aniak, a four days trip, and away they went with ] the mercury lowering around forty 1 five below, the thawed "Cinnabar" 1 wrapped in many blankets and robes | on dog sled.
 At Aniak, Mrs. Stubbs took the case
 in hand and Arthur Willis took another team and went to Iditarod for pr. i Moore, another three days trip. h the meantime "Cinnabar" felt l himself going. The frost had bitten into his lungs and for that there is no
 cure. He lisped with his injured
 tongue the story of the nine days be-
 fore he reached the trapper's cabin.
 Left claim all right but pretty cold. 1 Second night colder afraid 'siwash it., | tsieep out.) Moonlight so easy keep 1 going. Lots overfloWs along creek, had
 look out from getting in
 Middle. night moon lost light, i eclipse. Eclipse got me. Afraid stop,
 missed trail, dark, stepped water ! Ought to quit right there. Dead then.
 but didn't like to give up. Never quit
 going. Saw sun rise seven times be- ] fore reached trapper's but whats use. i Somebody else have to mine them
 cinrabar claims"
 He died delirious, mumbling about his claims and the days and nights he
 had spent on the trail fighting the cold. The once frozen flesh had already be-
 gun to disintegrate so the kind hearted i men and women, and the doctor who
 had come Q long hard trail to lend a
 hand, had to put all that was left of
 the once hard frontiersman and pros- pector out where the mercury still stood at forty below and the frost had
 its way with 'Cinnabar' Mcdonald.
 When Representative Coombs passed
 the road house on his way to Seward
 the remains of the frozen miner were
 cached on shed waiting for the spring
 to come so that he might be buried.