Charlevoix county herald. (East Jordan, Mich.) 189?-1953, 1919-11-07
RELIEF SHIP Is
STOPPED BY ICE
Attempt to Reach Mission in
Northernmost Alaska
Again Fails.
REACH WITHIN So MILES
Or. Marquis Brings Back Pitiful Tales
Of the Havoc Wrought by InfIu.
.nza-WhoIe Villages Are
Wiped Out.

NewpOrt.-Turned back by an I'M
penetrable ice-feld within 90 miles of
his goal, DR.. John A. Marquis, general
secretary of the board of home mis-
sions of the Presbyterian church of
the United States, was forced to re-
turn to New York without reaching
his destination at Point Barrow, Alas
ka, the northernmOst mission In the
world operated by the Presbyterian
church.
DIR. Marquis left New York June %
and sailed from Seattle July to
Nome. where he boarded the United
States coast guard service steamer
Bear, to reach Point Barrow, but for
the second time within two years this
doughty little craft with its hardy
crew was unable To buck the terrific
ice lam of the arctic. For eight days
the sturdy boat battled. but finally on
August 10 Ii was forced to turn back.
The supplies for Point Barrow were UNI
loaded at Point Hope. $50 miles south
of that town. From here ii is expected
that sledges will be able TO carry some
of them to the needy people at Point
Barrow.
Last year." says DR.. Marquis, "the
Bear was able to get within 20 miles
of Point Barrow, but the steady winds
this year had forced the ice masses
down farther south than they had been
for years.
Ice at Latitude 70T.
massive fields of ice were reached
when we were at latitude 7O1a degrees,
Captain p. ii. UberrOth, U. s. N, in
charge of the Bear. declared the Ice
was the worst known since 1896"
DR.. Marquis went to Alaska to see
about the appeal from the people there
for the erection of hospital at Point
Barrow and also TO study the oppOr-
tunities for Presbyterian mission and
school work generally in Alaska, par
ticularly since the influenza epidemic
last year wrought such havoc. He
returns with interesting stories of the
work and with pitiful tales of the ter
rible havoc wrought by the FLU"
which in some sections wiped out
whole villages.
On leaving Seattle July Z, DR.. Mar
uuis took passage to the Aleutian ISL
ands and thence to Nome. At Nome
passage was taken on the Bear and
for six weeks DR.. Marquis was on this
government Vessel. From Nome Dr.
Marquis went to st. Lawrence islands
II xyin
ria, the next stop was at the Diamede
islands, and then to Cape Prince OF
Wales, the westernmost point of the
American continent, about four hours
west of Seattle.
Upon this trip the vessels coal sup
ply ran low and the Bear had to put
back from Cape Prince of Wales to
Nome for recoaling. Leaving. Nome the
vessel began its journey to Point Bar
row. Kotzebue sound was entered and
stop was made at the village, where
the Society of Friends had excellent
missions, and then the Bear went
north to Kivalina, where no mission
fields are established, but which few
visit at intervals. From
this point DR.. Marquis went to Point
Hope, which until recently was one of
the most famous whaling stations In
the arctic regions. From there the
great but futile attempt northward
was made toward Point Barrow.
DR.. Marquis on his return trip gave
special study to the conditions as left
by the influenza epidemic. AS result
he brings back with him pitiful stories
Of the terrible ravages wrought by
this epidemic among the Eskimos.
Whole Villages Wiped Out.
In Nome alone, says DR.. Marquis,
over so per cent of the Eskimo popula-
ton was wiped out almost overnight,
and In other sections of the country |
whole villages Of igloos were swept |
away. In one town of 300 only thirteen
adults were left alive, and small VIII |
Iages of twenty igloos or so with all |
frozen stiff. In one case |
one little girl and baby were found |
alive In village. This child had kept |
herself from freezing to death by re-
wrapped up in bed with the
baby beside her. The condensed milk |
which sustained her life she also took
TO bed with her. There had been no
fire In the villages for days and the
was 80 degrees below
zero.
According to DR.. Marquis. the Eski-
nos showed practically no resistance
TO influenza and went down almost
q fight. Among the foreigners
the mortality was about the same as
IN similar communities In the United