The Cordova daily times., 1921-06-16

summit or point where the trail | crosses the divide and descends into
 the Copper river basin, which was
 found to have an elevation of about { 4,SOO feet, or nearly a mile above 1 tide. Up to this time it had been enormously supposed and reported
 by the people to be about 1,5OO feet above tide, or less than 2,OOO feet | at the most. From the top of the fourth bench to the foot of the sum- init or last climb the rise is grad ual. Then comes a steep rise of
 more than a thousand feet at an angle of nearly 20 degrees to the summit. As the slope here was too steep for sledding, the supplies were mostly raised by block and tackle, or packed upon the backs of men.
 Both upon the summit and at it's loot were temporary camps of consid- erable size, and accompanying them large caches of supplies, of which the owners might we'll be proud, for they represented unusual value in the form of severe labor and hard ship which, in most cases at least. naught but the alluring hope of a rich find of gold or it's equivalent would tempt even the most sturdy to undergo
 During. the weeks snowstorm al- ready noted the fall of snow on the summit and the upper reaches of the glacier seems to have been pheno. menally great. Along the trail on the summit the exhuming of buried caches and tents revealed a new snow sheet of from to 12 feet in thickness. Drift may possibly have contributed some to this, but the men on the ground during the storm
 say not.
 Toward the close of the storm
 large snow slide had taken place
 on the western side, which extended
 to the edge of the camp at the base of the summit, where it buried
 some caches, tents, etc., beyond re- covery. It also buried eight or ten people, of whom, so far as known, all but two were dug out alive The bodies of the dead were transferred to the head waters of the Klutena for burial. The incident, though similar to the Chilkoot Pass disaster of about month before was for tunately not so fatal as that
 In the region of the summit and upper reaches of the glacier fuel and water for camping were scarce necessities. Some of the more ex- perienced had brought small oil stoves and the requisite oil for meager cooking. Wood, all of which had to be brought 15 or more miles from either end of the glacier, readi- ly sold for $1 pound l
 The sole source of water supply was by melting snow, which, in view of the scarcity of fuel, became quite an item. When the summit was reached by the writer it was en- veloped in dense fog and storm, with some snow falling, so that no ob- servation of the country could then be made.
 Though the weather was severe, roping and packing of supplies up the summit continued till far into the night. The movement of the people in search for gold was remarkable. It was estimated that about 2,OOO had already crossed the summit and that fully 1,5OO were strung out along the trail between the summit and the beach,
 The storm continued till early the following morning May 4), with the night very cold and a high west wind. Fortunately, at early dawn it cleared and was almost calm, afford ing an excellent opportunity for topographic work. The mountainous snow-covered landscape presented a l sight beautiful to behold.
 Gro be Continued)