New Britain herald. [microfilm reel] (New Britain, Conn.) 1890-1976, 1928-08-02
DESCRIBES
THRILLS IN ALASKA
Rotarians Hear Of Adventures
While Hunting Big Bear

Thrilling tales of adventures I'm
me Alaskan snow field. hunting the
enormous Kodiak bears. wadjnp
knee deep in volcanic ash and of
climbing on hands and knees over
the face of a cliff while hunting
potential man killing game. We're
toid to members of the Rotary club
today by Johnstone Vance.
Mr.. Vance who has written a s,r.
les OF articles for the Herald on his
TRIP. was one of party including
J. Il. Lamb of New Britain, W. ].
rape af Waterbury and r. NJ. Top
nam OF Boston who recently re-
turned from two months trip to
Alaska and the Aleutian islands
hunting the brown or kodiak bear
He traced his trip from the time
the party sailed. April "a in an So
1901 boat. carrying his hearers in
Imagination step by step through the
entire trip.
The party had many interesting
experiences. and not a few narrow
escapes on the trip. The travellers
stopped at fish cannery where hal
nut were being canned for market.
Here 1t was learned that haljbut
properly frozen can be kept jndef-
lhitely and as much as a year after
wards cannot be distinguished from
fresh caught fish.
Another interesting phase of the
talk was that OF description of a
town on the face of cliff, where
were narrow and in many
cases overhung a sheer drop of sew
eral hundred feet.
At one place Messrs. Vance and
Lamb climbed on their hands and !
knees along the face of cliff over
almost impossible barriers to bag
I group of black bears. At anoth- .
er place Mr.. Lamb and the assist
ant engineer from the boat had lust !
left spot under the edge of a high
cliff when a landslide brought hun
1reds of tons Of earth and rocks, in
Guiding boulders as large as an or
1inary house, crashing down. { The
slide continued long enough for Mr..
lamb to get a motion picture of
he splash as the slide struck the
water.
The traNclogue carried the Ro-
arians into the interior to places so
that il took two or three
lours to travel one or two miles.
Places where the travellers waded
-nkIe and knee deep through fine
'owdery volcanic ash and carried
hem across fjords and over the icy
tretches Of Alaskan glaciers. were
described.
At one place they saw large
ralrus carrying in its teeth an
normsus skate. which is batlike
sh. This particular fish had a
ling spread of three feet, while the
;alrus itself was Of enormous size.
Some amusement was created by
he speakers word picture Of an old /
doctor" in an Alaskan village, who
-ould cure a cold. preach funeral
armon. practice law. act as UNDER
aker and in fact was a sort of a
all around utility man
, the village. The cold cure WAS ,
escribed and occasioned some ,
although the Rotarians d.
greed that 1t probably was effec- =,
We. ,
They passed places were the tide
use and fell to such an extent that Z
,ere was 4 difference Of 2 IL to
ree miles between high water and
" water mark on the flats. Another
ace the party camped on the edge
an island where the wind was
strong 1t was impossible to put
, a tent.
Mr.. Vance described the nature
Id characteristics Of the Kodiak |
ar and of the interior of Alaska.
These bears are 10 big he ex-
aimed that they saw footprints ~
Is inches ling. He said Alaska "
IS probably 200 volcanoes. extend
along the Aleutian islands clear
ross a sort Of volcanic belt into
pan. In 1912 one of these vol
noes erupted. blowing an area of
e square miles of the ton.