Seward daily gateway., 1924-10-24
MOUNT M'KINLEY IS
 VIEWED BY EXPEDITION
(Alaska Pathfinder.)

American continent has long been an object of interest and attraction to explorers and mountain climbers. The first to be attracted to the mountain according to reports, seems to have bene George Vancouver, who in 1794, was engaged in making a survey of Knik Arm. No doubt thereafter many men observed the mountain and were fa astinated by it's magnificence, but it was not until 1896 that the mountain was named. This honor fell to an a resident of the territory. Mir. Dick ey described the mountain in a letter to the New York Sun in 1907. MT. Dickey estimated the height of the mountain 10000 feet and gave it the name of Mt. Mckinley, after William Mckinley of Ohio, whose nomination for the presidency wa sthe first news received by the party after their so- journ in the wilderness.
 The first ascent of the mountain was attempted by party of Alas kans in 1903, headed by Judge Jas. Wickersham, who at that time was district judge and later delegate to congress from Alaska. Judge Wicker sham attacked the mountain by the Peters glacier and was stopped by |. the enormous ice incrusted cliffs of Nethe North Peak. This pioneer effort demonstrated the impossibility of as cending the mountain from the north face.
 About the time that Judge Wicker sham was leaving the north face of the mountain an expedition under Dr. Frederick A. Cook set out from Tyo- nek, on Cook Inlet, on the other side of the range. Doctor Cooks party reached the Peters glacier and at tempted to climb along the route talk en by Judge Wickersham, but was turned back by the same obstacles. Three years later Doctor Cook organ ized second expedition. He was ac- companied this time by Professor AHerschel Parker and MT. Belmore Browne. The party failed to find an approach to the mountain and re- turned.
 Later in the year Dr. Cook return ed with only one companion, The re- suits were given to the world in Dr. Cooks book, At the Top of the Con- tinent' Until the exposure of his claim to have reached the North pole it was generally accepted that he had made the climb of Mount Mckinley. But it was otherwise in Alaska. The men who knew the country best were convinced that the ascent had never been made. The final proof of this I. hoax fell to the lot of later eXpedi- tion of real Alaskans.
 number of Doubling Thomas's" organized in 1908 to prove that the mountain had not been scaled by making the ascent themselves. This party is known as the Pioneer par ty They were sourdoughs and the expedition was financed by sour doughs. This party was under the leadership of Thomas Lloyd and al Enough they failed to reach the sum- init. they were the first to discover the only approach by which the mountain may be climbed. It is un- derstood that Lloyd failed to make in efinal dash for the summit. This honor was shared by William Fay Tor. Disdaining the rope and cutting no steps, with reliance solely upon crampons. they scaled the North Peak of the mountain and planted 14-foot flagstaff, where it was la fer observed by the Stuck party in their ascent. This is the first and .last ascent of the North Peak, the lower of the two peaks forming the crest of the mountain.
 Another attempt to scale the noun tain was made by Professor Parker and Belmore Browne in 1912. Ihls partv. when within three or tour thousand feet of the summit were overwhelmed and driven down nall frozen. Their food supplies becoming exhausted they were forced to re turn to the base. It is well that thev were, for within a few days al Fer they left the side of the noun tain was shaken by a great earth quake and they would no doubt per- ished in an avalanche on the snowey slope of the mountain.
 The honor of the first complete as cent of the highest peak in North America goes to group of Alaskan sourdoughs little skilled in the art of mountain climbing, but trained by Wars of experience with ice. snow and cold on winter trails. This party was headed by Archdeacon Hudson Stuck of the Episcopal Church, MT. Harry P. Karstens, at present the su- perintendent of the Mount Mckinley