The Cordova daily times. [volume] (Cordova, Alaska) 1914-1947, 1919-09-20

felt something must be done quickly
if his partner was to be saved. So
he hurried to the relief camp "a camp
the freighters maintain on or near
these glaciers, where men and means
are kept to render assistance in such
cases). Returning with men, axes,
picks, ropes and every appurtenance
necessary, they began the search for
Johnson. They worked along this
crevasse and down in it (by lowering
men with ropes) all that day and dur
ing the whole night-using bugs, Or
electric lights-but no trace Of the
man could be found. When dawn
broke they detected a dark object a
half mile away climbing over the top
of the crevasse. They ran up and
found it was Johnson, who barely
had strength to drag himself over the
TOP, where he lay exhausted. They
found both hands and part Of his
face frozen and the fingers worn al
most to stubbs in trying to climb up
over the icy sides. They wrapped
him up carefully, laid him on the sled
and started for Mccarthy, but before
they reached the town he EXPIRED
thereby offering up another life-the
supreme toll-to the fascinating but
uncertain life of the frozen North.
Never have I witnessed a more
beautiful sight than that which greet
ed us as we filed along on the surface
Of the white ice that clear morning.
The clouds had not all lifted from the
highest peaks, whose dark pronon-
tories stood half-sheathed in their
filmy gowns of billowy mist. Rhino-
ceros peak was thrice-attractive be-
cause only his black-pointed crest
was visible, like a floating buoy,
above the feathery sea of encircing
clouds.
LAS this was our first glacier travel
we felt very much that timidity one
would experience in walking on eggs,
tearing our horses might slip on the
treacherous ice, which was inter
woven with crevasses and pOt-hOles,
ridges and gullies. Solid terra frma
we had all found dangerous enough
at times, but this glacier travelling the
first hour of the first day was the
most tick1ish thing we had expert
enced in many moons. After that we
took it as a matter of course, and
didn't feel thrifty any more. AS
every horse in the outfit had been
sharp-shod at Mccarthy before leav-
ing, we finally settled down to a reg
ular sourdough form of contentment
and took every slip, slide and skate
as a matter Of course, trying to think
of the hair-breadth escapes from in
slant death Gas they sometimes ap-
peared to u.s. as the ordinary events
of a hunting trip in the Far North.
Just the same, brothers, if any
one of you believes that an Alaska
glacier is anything resembling a bOu[
evGrd or skating rink in smOOthness
you should be disillusionized; for
there are mountains, peaks, valleys
and canyons on the glacier-all on a
small scale, it is true, but they are
there in as varied projection and de-
lection as in a range of the rockiest
mountains. The glacier surface is
serrated with little streamlets;
cracks and crevasses, the former run
ming from an inch in width to from
five to ten Righteousness the same.
Some pot-holes and crevasses extend
down through the ice hundreds Of
feet. The horses used on the glacier
trail are as proficient at this work as
are the range riding horses in the rOp
ing game. They have all had their
falls on the ice, their slips, slides and
rolls, and they know as we'll as man
does what places are dangerous.
''While crossing a stream on gla-
cier this day one of our horses slipped
and fell, landing between two, ice
ridges in the bottom Of a draw al
most on his back By chopping away
the ice on each side of the crack
he was able to rise. While taking
a short rest after this experience, the
beauty of the scene before us was re-
flected again through mention of it