The Concordia sentinel. (Vidalia, Concordia Parish, La.) 1882-current, 1921-01-22

welcome to their festivties-gave us the town. in
fact.
1.-The principal meat supply Of this region Is tS
wild game, chiefly the moose and the caribou.
We were there at the of the caribou runs
as they are called 1t seems that, as autumn np-
prOaches, the caribou begin their annual migra-
ton or run The herds bunch together under a
leader, apparently. and. to the number of 200G00
10 100000, begin their that stops at nothing.
that never turns aside and that leads nobody
knows where. The method of hunting is qnite
simple. The huntsman selects a spot thar is as
near TO the trail he dares to get, takes his
stand, and picks off his game as it passes the
run. Az it IS purely pOt-hunting-the game being
killed for fOod-the biggest and latest bucks
usually the ones killed by the gunner. Nature
has provided ample cold storage so the meat Is
easily kept.
THE flight to Fairbanks the nOrthern:nost point
reached, was over the most desolate region of the
entire course. For miles there was sign of a
trail. not even an Indian trail. Then suddenly
picked up :-7u that appeared here and there
along the route. quite clear and weldefned. We
afterwards learned that Gen. William Mitchell Of
the air service had led expedition into this
country and cut this trail 20 years ago i'm making
a survey for the purpose of establishing a tele-
graph line to connect with a cable to Siberia,
which project was later abandoned.
Fairbanks, with population of 1000, is the
town. reinforced by the mining camps of the Vi
cinity was out to meet The route to Ruby
was low hills and swamTS. There are no
maps of the country, because there has been no
survey. 1t has been impossible to make one. In
winter the country is covered with and Ice.
and the only means of travel is on skis In sum-
mer it is tundra. and travel is impossible.
"At Ruby we landed on sand-bar which
veniently appeared in the river at the right time,
md hptfp for OuP than thp land
ing field first selected by Captain Douglas.
I'VE made the hop to Nome skrting the BerIHg
sea- with weather conditions changing every hour;
keeping in touch by wire with the wireless at
Nome as soon as we got flash reporting the
weather clear. jumped in boats and
hoped off. We flew at an altitude Of 1000
feet zigzagging our way to avoid transforms.
When we a fairly clear spot ahead we steered
for it, but for the most part it just steady
pushing through black clouds.
AT Goiovin bay, a herd of reindeer.
and in Boring spotted a number of white
whales and long-haired seals.
"Our only actual hunting the trip 70
bag hundred more ducks, and TO kill block
bear We might have killed caribou. moose,
mountain goats and sheep, hut there no raa-
son for it, as we had no means Of carrying 'he
game
"At Fairbanks and Nome we given meDy
souvenirs, in the way of gold nuggets, and so M
Each one of presented with a reindeer
hide parka such as the Eskimo Most in
teresting, however, of the gifts are our Alaskan
dogs My two We're given me by Ben Derrick OF
Ruby who has carried the mail in that part OF
the world for years The dogs ara cross be-
tween the gray wolf and the Alaskan husky.
Captain Streets dogs presented TO him
by SepaIla. one OF the Laplanders who came %
Alaska with tine reindeer which the government
imported from Siberia about twenty-five years ago,
and have multiplied and become so numerous IN
Alaska"
Captain Douglas, to whom is due the credit Of
making all preliminary arrangements for the
flight. confined his remarks TO expressions Of ap-
probation for the cooperation and courtesy eN'
tended throughout his Journey, and that Of the
expedition, by the Canadian government, by mo
signal corps and weather bureaus of both coun-
tries, by municipalities and individual citzehs
from one end of the route to the other.
wherever 1 went" Captain Douglas said ~
got acquainted with everybody. | know them
they are my friends. At Dawson the entire party
were made honorary members Of both the Yukon
Pioneers and the Alaskan Pioneers, and at White
horse the same distinction was conferred upon us
by the 'Squaw Mans Union"