The St. Charles herald. [volume] (Hahnville, La.) 1873-1993, 1921-02-12
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who had some wonderful spruce timber lie
framed I'D the wing fer us, built ribs and spars
for the stablzer and the aileron. VI course, each
one of US had piece of linen for patchlns' we
pooled our supply and covered the Wing ihe
dope lieutenant Kirkpatrick. the only chemist we
had I'm the party, was able to concoct from cehu
lose nitrate unrefned banana oil, and several
quarts of anyl acetate proved not very en-
cacions as the linen was about as fiabby when 1t
dried as it had been before wetting. But, we TOOK
a chance on the new wing anyhow sui ano'nei
delay held us at Prince George however for al
most ten. days in all, and we got our nrst ac
uuaintance of real frontier town. we got ac-
uuanted with hardboiled miners OF the, Ola type
with lumberjacks-great, tall Scotchmen and little
French Canadians, who came in about twice
week for the fun of spending their money
"Our next stop was to be at Hazelton, at the
boad Of navigation on the Skina river, and at one
time the main point of distribution Tor the region
heyond Hazeton is right In the mountains anu
these are covered with high timber. Due 10 the
frost even when the timber is removed ana tue
land plowed level and cultivated during the sum
mer when it thaws out again next spring. II Is
as rolling and rough as the waves OF the sea.
Knowing of these conditions, we went on by tram
70 inspect the landing field before making the
hmm i'm our planes. Finding its dimensions IN
adequate Captain Street arranged to nave the
Grain cut from field adjoining to make room
for us to alight with safety.
.our next lump was to land us in United States
territory again, but to reach Wrangeil, we had 10
iump over the Coast Range mountains, at least
that is what we thought we had to 90 from our
mans. which showed the trend of river or OF a
mountain system, and depicted everything else as
narfactly smooth, level country. In point OF fact
tha region has never been explored or surveyed
Fortunately we had GEAR day for our take-oH.
When we began to ascend for our hop over the
maintains we found that the mountains rose too,
and higher than we had. Instead OF being o,uoo
: and 1900 feet as shown on our map, when we
reached height of 1000, we found we needed
. coo more to get over the top, and when we tried
70 skirt the range we found it wasn't really a
range at all with a valley on the other side but
iust close packed mountain peaks filled with snow
and ice between These glaciers looked like lever
seas Of dark green water. At Wrangel, the only
landing field available, was on little island III
the stickne river which, at high tide, WASH an
island at all. We landed in about six 1nches OF
wafer which had grown to foot before we tooR
off.
..trom Wrangell we went by way of Chilkoo
pass and Skagway to Whitehorse. This Is the re
aio6 made so famous in the early days OF the
gold discovery Formerly it took about three
months TO make the trip In winter, travel wa
by; di,n-sleds; in summer on foot or by pack-trafn
i. The once famous mines of this region are now in
$50 cfiye Their surface veins nave Deeh stfippeu
and high-erade mining in this country is too ex
nensiye because Of inadequate transportation ia
: eilities.
aErop Whitehorse to Dawson we flew over tn
ro,te patrolled by the Canadian mounted police
THE trail runs in almost an airline that shows u
nraeticaI]y x;,ll of the way, dotted with the nea
little road houses at intervals of 40 to 90 mile
anart. The police in full regalia-bright-re
Jackets and blue trousers-are snappy iookin
fellows we'll disciplined and giving wonderf,
service to the country They were OF tremendo,
assistance to us wherever We encountered then
We crossed Lake La Barge, so well known to rea,
ers of Services poems which breathe the yer
soul and spirit of this Ear northern region TIL
lake is at once the basin of the White river an
the source of the Yukon. unless, indeed, it
one and the same river with different names !
different localities.
"Crumrine had blown ont tire at Whitehors
but, filling his casing with rope packed tightly.
wrapped the outside with rope. taking off wi
us to Dawson. and landing safely despite the lia
Jolt from his mended tire. We arrived MT Da
son, by chance, on August IT. the gala day of Il
country Discovery Day" It Is called. for il
% wears before the first Alaskan gold was d
covered on Bonanza creek. The people made