Free trader-journal. (Ottawa, Ill.) 1916-1920, 1919-11-11
RELIEF SHIP IS
STOPPED BY ICE
Attempt to Reach Mission in
Northernmost Alaska
Again Fails.
REACH WITHIN So MILES
Or. Marquis Brings Back Pitlful Tales
of the Havoc Wrought by Influ'
anza-Whole Villages Are
/ 4 Wiped Out.

4 Wiped Out.
Newport.-Turned back by an i'm
'pepetrable ce-fied within go miles o
his goal DR.. John A. Marquis, genera
secretary of the board of home mis-
sions of the Presbyterian church o
the United States, was forced TO re
turp to New York without reachin.
his destination at Point Barrow, Alas
ka. the northernmost mission in th'
world operated by the Presbyterian
church.
nr Marquis left New York June y
and sailed from Seattle july tt
Nome, where he boarded the tnite'
States coast guard service steamer
Bear. to reach Point Barrow, but Tor
the second time within two years thlS
doughty little craft with its hardy
crew was unable 10 buck the terrific
ice lam of the arctic. For eight days
the sturdy boat battlpd. but finally on
August Is It was forced to turn back.
The supplies for Point Barrow were I'M
loaded AT Point Hope, $50 miles south
of that town. From here ii is expected
that sedges will be able to carry some
of them to the needy people at Point
Barrow.
Last year" says Or. Marquis, "the
Bear was able to get within % 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 70Is.
massive fields of ice were reached
when we were at latitude 1oh degrees,
Captain p. II. Uberroth, L. $. n, In
charge of the Bear, declared the ice
WINS the worst known since 1896"
DR.. Marquis went to Alaska to see
about the appeal from the people there
for the erection of a hospital at Point
Barrow and also to study the oppor-
tunities for Presbyterian mission and
school work generally in Alaska, par
Yicuarly since the influenza epidemic
last year wrought such havoc. He
returns with interesting stories OF the
work and with pitiful tales of the ter
ribe havoc wrought by the "flu,
which in some sections wiped out
whole villages.
on leaving Seattle July I, DIR. Mar
Quls 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 |
and thence to Siberia. Leaving Sibe- /
ria, the next stop was at the Diamede /
islands. and then to Cape Prince %
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 recalling Leaving Nome the
vessel began its journey to Point Bar
row. Kotzebue sound was entered and
stop was made at the village, where
he 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
his point DR., Marquis went to Point
Hope, which until recently was one of
he most famous whaling stations in
he arctic regions From there the
yreat but futile attempt northward
vas made toward Point Barrow.
DR.. Marquis on his return trip gave
'pecicI study to the conditions as left
" the influenza epidemic. As a result
lie brings back with him pltiful stories
VI the terrible ravages wrought by
his epidemic among the ESkimos.
Whole Villages Wiped Out.
In Nome alone, says DR.. Marquis,
,ver 80 per cent of the Eskimo popula-
ion was wiped ont almost overnight,
md In other sections of the country
whole villages Of igooS were swept
away. In one town of 800 only thirteen
adults We're left alive, and small vii
ages of twenty igloos or so with an
Inhabitants frozen stiff N one case
me little girl and a baby were found
alive in II village This child had kept
herself from freezing 10 death by re.
wrapped mp in bed with the
,aby beside her. The condensed milk
which sustained her life She also took
o bed with her. There had been mo
Ire in the villages for days and the
was 80 degrees below
zero.
According TO DR. Marquis. the Eskl
nos showed practically no resistance
o influenza and went down almost
without fight. Among the foreigners
he mortality was about the same as
n similar communities I'm the ITnitpd