Arizona state miner., 1925-01-24

a piece of water to freeze over so they
could go ashore. The ice carried
them into eternity.
Meanwhile, in Shipwreck Camp
there arose disagreements which
found a leader in Alister Forbes
Mackay, a Scotch surgeon. Febru-
ary party led by Dr. Mackay left
the camp to make their own way to
the island They included an ocean
ographer, an authropologist and a
seaman. They drifted away on the
ice, never to be heard of again.
On March II Captain Bartlett sue
ceeded in landing the rest of his par
ty on Wrangell Island. Six days
later he left over the ice for Siberia,
accompanied only by an Eskimo. He
landed, made his way to Nome, de-
spite illness, and gave the word that
The race was won by the King &
Winge, Seattle-built gasoline schoon-
er She found II survivors of the
company of 25 that Stefansson left
aboard the Karluk. Of those on the
island one had committed suicide and
two had died of hardship. The res
cue was effected September Z, 1914
Stefansson, bereft of his vessel, had
turned his energies to proving that
men could travel several hundred
miles over the surface of the Arctic,
living on the ice and killing seals for
food and fuel. He led his party to
safety.
Stefansson considered that Great
Britain had a good claim on Wrangell
Island, which he predicted would
prove an invaluable station for aerial
transportation. But the sinister as
sociations of the island had led it to
be dubbed ''the death trap of the
Arctic.
Another expedition, promoted by
Stefansson, was led to the island in
1921 by Alan Crawford, young son
of a Toronto professor. He took
three men, Lorne E. Knight, Nc
Minnville, Oregon; Frederick w.
Maurer, New Philadelphia, Ohio; and
Milton Gale, New Braunfels, Texas.
knight and Maurer had been mem
bers of the first Stefansson expedi-
ton. At Nome the party engaged a
seamstress, Ada Blackjack, an Eski-
mo. Such native seamstresses are
indispensable in living amid ice, be-
cause they only are able to fashion
from skins the clothing necessary to
life, and to do it swiftly.
The next summer Capt. Joe Ber-
nard of Nome in the gasoline schoo-
ner Teddy Bear tried to reach Wran-
gell Island with provisions for the
colony. Ice extended SO far from the
island that he did not come within
sight of it.
The following summer, 1923, Har-
old Noice, young Scotchman, led a
party to the island in the gasoline
schooner Donaldson. He found that
Crawford, Maurer and Gale had de-
parted over the ice for Siberia in
January and had gone the way OF
the other parties that disappeared.
Knight had died of scurvy. Ada, the
sole survivor, was killing what game
she could and making clothing ready
for winter alone. Noice left on the
island James Wells of Nome and 13
Eskimos, whom he had engaged for
that purpose-the third Canadian
colony on Wrangell Island.
Last summer several efforts were
vessels to reach Wrangell Island but
the ice was the worst that o1d-time
norttherners had known, and all at
tempts failed.
1t was left for Soviet army trans
port, the Krasny Oktibr (Red Octo-
ber) to make her way up the eastern
coast of Siberia from Petropavlovsk,
thread Bering Strait, and pressing
through the ice, to reach the island
August 20, 1924 She hoisted the
Russian flag.