The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1923-03-22
COMES To REST
FROM ARCTIC
SCHOOL
Teacher Tells Of Life on Amer.
ica's Fatherest North
Territory.
BY WILLIAM PARKER.
CosmoDOlitnn Neyva sArvice


LOS ANGELES. CAL, March %.
Intrepid women of the frontier
women famed In history, song and
story-have counterpart in Mrs.
Louise Milnes.C orbett, who re-
Gently arrived in Los Angeles from
what Is known as the lone spot
land north of Siberia and within
the Arctice Circle.
At this lonely, isolated spot,
Kiana, Alaska, Mrs. Corbett has
been for several years teacher of
the territorial school, her pupils
being twenty half.breed Eskimo and
white children.
Deciding to come to Los Angeles
to visit her daughter and grand.
daughter, Mrs. Corbett, with the
assistance Of her husband, James
Corbett, hydraulic engineer, cut
down trees and hewed q twenty
four-foot skiff. In this sl1iff they
padded 500 miles down the Kobul1
river until they reached Kotzbue.
situated on an inlet OF the Boring
Sea.
At Kotzbue they boarded the G..
8. Holmes. the four-masted schooner
rugged vessel which had taken
Capt. Road Amundsen, the ex.
plorer, to the north.
Apples Were Reward.
Adverse winds and weather con-
ditions kept the Holmes bucking
the northern seas for twenty-five
days before it reached the Straits
of Juan de FlIca. And with this
long -looked-fOr entrance to the land
OF comfort and convenience the
little vessel was forced by stormy
weather to beat up and down the
COAST for four days before it could
enter.
'.But the apples brought aboard
the vessel when we anchored inside
seemed ample reward for all we
had gone through" declared Mrs.
Corbett In relating her experience.
THE winter temperature at
Kiana varies from 40 to so degrees
below Zero" said Mrs. Corbett.
THE summer months, by contrast,
are very warm. We have three
months OF continuous daylight, and
know It is bedtime only when our
clocks or watches tell us so. For
nine months we have continuous
night, our only light being from
coal oil lamps.
Veritable Treasury House.
''The Eskimo character is not
understood in ''the States anymore
than is vastness OF Alaska. The re-
sources Of Alaska are something
enormous and / believe 1t win be
the next land to be, throughly de-
veloped. Game and fish abound
throughout Alaska and in summer
months the vegetable gardens are
comparable to anything have seen
I'M California.
Mining and trapping are atife
principal industries at present hut
there is no reason why Alaska should
not become a veritable treasury
house to supply American cafes and
families with food and American
industries with raw material.
'In the ten years / have been In
Alaska. found the Eskimo an ever
interesting subject Of study. On one
occasion when we were short Of food
we sent many miles down the river
to an Eskimo camp to see If we
could obtain sufficient supply for
our immediate needs. Although the
Eskimos were living on very short
rations they sent us half of their
entire supply Of food, not very much
to be sure, but they proved their
considerable characteristic by what
they did. At this period Mr.. Corbett
and / each had one slice Of bacon a
day.
with all Of the hardships, the
almost total lack of conveniences
and none of the innumerable little
luKuries of the American family.
we expect to return to Alaska. /
don't think any person who has
lived a year or more in the land of
again in a cifv -