The Cordova daily times., 1923-01-15
ARCTIC HAPPENINGS TOLD
 BY HUDSON BAY MANAGER

H. H. Hall, district manager of the Hudson Bay Company at Herschell Isl and, passed through Cordova Satur- day for the company's headquarters at Winnipeg MT. Hall has been with the company for twenty-two years seventeen of which have been spent with the Eskimos on Hudson Bay on the Arctic Ocean. For the last four years he has been employed as dis trict manager for the Western Arctic which takes in the whole of the Arctic Coast and the Mckenzie river delta. This is MT. Halls first trip in five years. He expects to return to his post next July or August by the Nc Kenzie river route. In speaking of his trip MT. Hall said:
 "We travel in Alaska either by fish burners, hay burners, gas burners or coal burners which means dog team, horse and sleigh, automobile and train, and from Herschel Island all four may be used.
 "In taking this trip, I had to port age across the mountains from the Mckenzie River to the Porcupine with three dog trains, having taken with me an Eskimo and an Indian guide. From here I took the Porcupine route to the Yukon which was the old route taken by the Klondikers in '97 and '9S. In taking the Mckenzie river route to the Klondike, the most interesting features of the route are the old log buildings, which were occupied by the miners who failed to make the Klon- dike the first year.
 1.-TWO trading posts are on the Por- cupine, the Old Crow and the Rampant House, but nothing much of interest strikes a travellers eye until Fort Yukon is reached which at one time was very important Hudson Bay post, established about 1858. The graves of the Old Hudson Bay em- ployes, which still stand, are recog- nized by the new generation as one of the sights which all tourists should visit.
 "The next place of interest is Circle City. From Herschell Island to Circle City dog trains are used entirely, but once the latter point is reached, dogs are abandoned and horses and sleigh are used to Chatanika, which is the terminus of the Fairbanks railroad.
 "No more hospitable people can be found than those living along the route, once. the Porcupine River is reached. The attention and courte- sies shown by the residents to all winter travellers are worthy of praise. Anyone travelling in Alaska can al ways look forward to be given every possible assistance to make the trip easy.
 My entire trip was accomplished in 3S days from Herschell Island, includ- ing the 160 miles travel up the McKen- Zie river. The weather on the whole was very good, with the exception of few severe days, and no difficulty was met with. One proposition that I had to contend with was the scarcity of dog feed on the Porcupine. Owing to the high water last summer, the residents were unable to procure fish, and rabbits and what little deer meat could be bought constituted the dog feed"
 In referring to the oil in the Arctic, Mr. Hall said:
 "The oil proposition on the McKen- zie river, which was greatly adver- tised two years ago. has not come up to expectations. The Imperial Oil Company has well about 1200 feet deep. which has a fair flow, but owin" to the difficulty, of transportation and the cost of building pipe line to a market where the oil can be disposed of, until such time as oil becomes scarce Outside the Fort Norman oil will not be of any commercial value. A new company which located on the Hay river last summer, drilled down to a depth of 300 feet, but encountered water and all further operations have stopped"
 MT. Hall related a tragedy which happened on the Arctic Coast last April. "On April 8 on the Tree River on Coronation Gulf" he said, "a police officer and Hudson's Bay post man. ager at that point were shot and in- stantly killed by an Eskimo prisoner, who was held there for murder. It appears that the Eskimo procured