Evening star., 1936-03-08
2,O0O-FOOt Plane Fall
Tops Dramatic Moments
Rev Father Hubbard Finds knowledge and
Adventure in Queer Occupation of
Studying Alaskan Ice Gap.

a world record for public speaking.
Last year he gave 25S lectures on 237
consecutive days, addressing 286,000
people. On his present lecture tour
he hopes to equal, if not better, this
record. For the past three weeks,
during West-East lecture tour, he
has averaged two lectures a day!
And as If this we're not enough, he
next plans to visit Europe and en-
thrall audiences in many lands with
his almost unbelievable adventures.
In the past nine years since he has
been making the yearly trips to Alaska,
Father Hubbard has taken more than
100 miles of motion picture film and
has written several best sellers" and
numerous magazine articles about his
experiences.
ON HIS latest trip his party snapped
over 10000 feet of movie film.
And. by the way. the GLACIER Priest"
makes most of his own motion pictures
himself. He formerly employed Nick
Cavaliere as his cameraman, but Nick
is now working for Frank Buck, the
famous bring EN- back alive" adven-
turer.
Father Hubbard's exploration party
on his latest trip probably was the
smallest since he first began invading
the frozen Northland back in 1925.
Usually the geologist takes six men
with him, besides an airplane pilot,
but this time he set forth with only
five, including himself.
Every man in the party except one
was a husky 6-footer. weighing 200
pounds or more. Father Hubbard him.
self tips the scales at 214 Although
At years old, he carries nary an ounce
of surplus flesh and has the build of
college foot ball player. Party men,
bers were: Edgar Levin. graduate
geology student at Stanford University;
Ken Chisholm, youthful California
geologist: George Getty, a 25-year-old
Oregon boy. and Alex Holden, famous
Alaskan aviator, who had charge Of all
flying trips.
Each man carried a pack weighing
around 100 pounds. Four dogs made
the entire trip and each one trans
ported so pounds Of food and equip
ment. On hand were the two veteran
6-year- -olds, Mageek and Wolfe, who
have been on the last six expeditions,
and two 1-year-olds, Magook and
Margo.
Bearing in mind the heavy pack
every man and dog had to carry, pic
ture everybody's CONSERVATION when,
in the very heart Of Glacier-land,
where the footing was exceedingly
treacherous and travelling necessarily
slow, Margo gave birth to seven woody
puppies! Most scientists might have
been tempted to drown the wee new
comers. Not so Father Hubbard. He
bundled the new members of the ex-
pedition into sacks slung over the back
of one of the 6-year-olds and all the
puppies were returned to the United
States in healthy condition.
Father Hubbard blasts a popular
fallacy about Alaskan weather condi-
tions. He points out that far from
being chilly, as many folks suppose,
the temperature is exceedingly mild
most of the time. The coldest he ever
experienced up there was only 6 de-
grees below zero, and it's been far
colder than that in Washington, D. c.,
as Weather Bureau records will attest.
WHILE describing his thrilling drop
of 1000 feet when flying over the
mighty Taku Glacier, Father Hubbard
points out;
Rather alarming circumstances
surrounded that memorable flight. In
the first place, 1t was made Just after
the airplane tragedy that cost the lives
of the late Will Rogers and Wiley Post.
Moreover, our party was actually in
the air when another Hubbard, with
the first name of Percy, crashed not
so far away from us and was rather
badly hurt. When I returned to
Juneau from my Taku trip I was
greeted with numerous kilograms of
sympathy and coincidence. One wire
said that flowers had already been
ordered for my grave!
Our 2,000-foot drop while flying
over Taku was not our only thrill. To-
ward the middle Of our flight, while
approaching the famous Mendenhall
Glacier, the clouds got so thick that
we were afraid We would have to fly
blind the rest of the way. Fortunate
ly, however, the atmosphere suddenly
cleared up and the anticipated diff
f1culty was not experienced"
Right after this fight, the explorer
says, his party decided to climb sec
tions of the Taku ice cap. The idea
was to corroborate a theory which
Father Hubbard has held for many
years, to the effect that glacial ice for
nations cannot become more than
1000 feet thick without automatic
cally melting themselves" However,
there are certain variables to the