The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, August 28, 1898, Page 20

THE SAN FRAN MT. WRANGELL, ALASKA, THE HIGHEST PEAK @ND THE BIGGEST VOLCANO ON THE @MERICAN CONTINENT. No object has so much attracted the attention of the miners swarming up the Copper River country as this huge apex of America. Not only is it the most titanic sight in that land, where nature builds giants with giant hands, but it is the heart and center of oceans of mountains around it. Naturally the prospector thinks gold is washed down into the surrounding streams. upon it and plan to prospeet its great sides. The Indians will not guide them there, because they believe it is bewitched. scores have tried. no man, unless properly provisioned; dare attempt to reach its desolate slopes. that may be, being the highest point, it is the point from which the That is the reason they fix their eyes longingly But no white man has ever yet set foot upon it, though And It is eternally robed in snow from base to summit and from its ice-rimmed apex huge flame and billows of smoke con- stantly shoot up from the interior inferno. large part of Alaska, attempted the trip. O white man has ever set foot upon the apex of the North American continent. That high point is the crater of an active volcano, the biggest on our cor tinent, and it all belongs to Un- cle Sam. There is a point in Alaska where primeval nature, gathering to- gether all of its titanic energies, piled mountains one upon another, in chaotic masses, surmounting the whole with a glant volcano, robed in snow. from base to summit and from whose ice-rimmed nostrils now issue seething flames, springing from an inferno beneath. Mount Wrangell is the name applied | to the volcano. It was so named by the early Russians In honor of Baron Wrangell, at the time Governor of the territory by appointment of the Czar. It is not a matter of record as to whether or not the Baron ever caught a glimpse of his towering namesake, | although the flaming summit can be seen for a hundred miles across the tempest-tossed region. It is known, however, that up to the present day, no white man has ever ascended the peak or even placed foot upon its base. It remains for some daring explorer who is willing to take his life in his hands to push boldly over the encircling mountain ridges and attempt the as- cent. Should he succeed, he will ac complish a notable mountaineering feat and will, no doubt, be able to add much to geographical knowledge. The Mount Wrangell region is to-day one of the few on the North American continent that has defied intrusion. To add to its specific interest, the native inhabitants of Central Alaska fear to approach the locality, having, for some reason, a mysterious dread of “fire mountain” as they term it. There is not an Indian to be found within fifty miles of Mount Wrangell. Not one will approach it any closer. More interesting still is the fact that Indian tradition, or more properly speaking, wandering reports, state that in the secluded region around Mount Wrangell gigantic animals with curved white tusks roam through the dark forests. Every Indian will tell you this story and warn you away from the lo- cality, saying that it is “no good” and that you will surely perish if you at- tempt to enter. It should be stated here that Mount Wrangell is located near the head of Copper River, from which point of vantage it can be. seen about forty miles to the eastward, rising up behind successive ridges of lofty mountains. Apparently it is not practicable to ap- proach the volcano from this direction. “During the present summer hundreds of gold seekers pushing up the Copper River have, no doubt, sighted the peak and have marveled at its altitude. Still, it seems highly improbable that any one of them has had the temerity to . attempt to cross the intervening moun- tains and try to make an ascent with- out ice axes and other proper climbing equipment. The scaling of the Matter- horn in BEurope is undoubtedly aneasier undertaking than the scaling of Mount ‘Wrangell. According to reports coming from Copper River, most of the prospectors are turning back, disheartened and dis- couraged withthe prospect before them, and but few have persevered and push- ed on toward the headwaters. It is the . fair presumption that these men will suffer great hardships and will be lucky if they escape starvation, as the re- gion supplies no food In the summer months. I speak from personal knowl- edge. Should these adventurers suc- ceed, however, in pressing on, they will find the only practicable route through the mountains to lie in the direction of the Tanana River, by way of the Lake Mentasta -or the Lake Susiota passes. These courses will take them to the westward of Mount Wrangell. Should some of them double back from the “Tanana, following a southeasterly course, then it may be possible for them to reach the great volcano, as that is the only apparent avenue for success- to reach Mount Wrangell recently. . ful approach. » man who has ever gazed from a istance upon the cloud-piercing sum- mit of Mount Wrangell will be apt to dispute its sovereignty as the loftiest upon the North American continent. True, it has not been measured, but | triangulation, or the aneroid and the boiling point thermometer, are not nec- essary to form a co; . At the pr nt time the authorities in the country concede pre-eminence to Mount Wrangell over Mount St. Elias. It is a ce of the giant and the ordi- nary man standing before one. There is no need for the measuring tape. It was my fortune in 1890 to attempt No white | to reach Mount Wrangell. d tried it previously. The early ans had been content to look upon the ba ake from the lower Copper Rive enteen of them un- der Seberinoftski had paid for their ! v in doing even this back in the | The Copper River natives had acred the entire party. Later, in Lieutenant Allen had pushed up the Copper, despite great difficulties, and had crossed to the Tanana River, tance approximately of forty miles, but had made no attempt to reach the vol cano. The lieutenant, with his party of two men, barely escaped starvation. From that time up to 1890 no one tried to penetrate the region toward Wran- gell. |~ When in the summer of *90 1 started with two white men and an Indian from | Forty-mile Creek on the Yukon, tramp- | ing overland toward the far-distant ‘\'olcann, I little dreamed of the start- | ling adventures that were soon to be- | fall us. We carried our slender stock of provisions upon our backs and had no shelter save a square piece of mus- lin to spread over our heads in case of a storm. Altogether we had about thirty pounds of provisions to the man, but were hopeful that our two rifles and shotgun would be efficient to avert | starvation. Some risk we expected, but | not such as did befall. Three weeks of wearisome tramping and mc._ntain climbing took us across the Tanana and well into the dark, for- bidding mountains that form the outer barriers of the Mount Wrangell region. Our provisions became exhausted. Lit- tle game in the way of rabbits and grouse could be secured. Our scant meals had fallen from two to one per day. Then came a time when there was nothing! Mountains enclosed us in their gloomy silence. In the valley of the Tokio, up which we slowly pushed, nature ceemed to mock us! Balmy breezes played through the evergreens. Insects hummed on every gide. The sun smiled down from above, bringing us no cheer. We, human creatures, hungered and starved! Never shall I forget those days of dire distress! Here and there we found the tracks of moose and large bears. The country seemed to be infested with the brutes, judging from the number of tracks we saw at various points. Once I kneeled down upon the sand on the bank of the Tokio and measured prints thirteen inches across. Only a monster could have made them. Still we saw no signs of the immediate presence of the animals. No doubt they had been driven up into the higher ranges of the mountains by the terrible mosqui- toes. The swarms of these little pests made us almost frantic. They kept up their attacks by day as well as by night. In front of us the country rose steeply. Immense glaciers appeared. The perspective was grand and appall- ing. The tempest-tossed ranges, mass- ing toward the zenith, seemed to lose themselves in the very heavens. Cold, steel-colored clouds rode down upon the north winds in darkening masses. There was a portent in the air. P It was one August evening that wit- nessed the eating of our last batch of bread. We cooked the dough in our frying pan while resting upon the mountain side. Ahead of us lay an un- known region. Behind lay a trading post three hundred miles distant in an air line. Between were mountains, ra- vines and swamps. We dared not at- tempt to go'back and we could not go forward. The great volcano was di- rectly in our front, mot ffty miles sighting Mount Wrangell from a dis- | E. Hazard Wells, who has explored and surveyed over a Below will be found his story of away. So near and yet so very far. To attempt to reach and scale it with no food and scarcely any equipment, even blankets, was sheer madness. And yet we were loth to give up the attempt. We had come so far and had suffered 0 much. | A caucus was held upon the moun- | tain side. Up to this time I had di- | rected the movements of the party, but | now it seemed right that every man | should have his vote and that the ma- | Jority should decide. | Frank Price, the Arctic sailor of the | little band, whose great strength had pushed us through many a tight place in the days gone by, declared that “the | jig was up.” Frank thought of his { home and friends in Oakland, Cal.,, and | it was evident that he never expected to see them any more. De Hass, the | old mountaineer of the party, who had spent his life in the Rockies, muttered | something under his breath about the | present “lack even of a wooden over- | coat,” which did not serve in any way | to raise our spirits. The old Chilkat “Indiaunk,” who had been with me for many months and | who was always brave and courage- | ous, said briefly: *“No good. No get | back home any more!” Usually bright and of talkative disposition, he was now gloomy and taciturn. It was a lugubrious crowd that night upon the mountain, and few were the hours that ny of us slept. What of the morrow? | was the haunting question. | " Next day a band of sheep appeared upon the mountain crest above us. There was intense excitement in the camp. Even the old Indian lost his self-possession and let off a subdued whoop. Could we get the sheep we could dry the meat and press on for Mount Wrangell! The possibility was alluring. De Hass and myself, as the supposed best shots in the party, under- took to ascend the mountain on the far side and rising over the crest, shoot down upon our intended victims. Weak from lack of food, but buoyed up by the excitement, we scaled the mountain with slow steps and infinite pain and difficulty. It took us nearly half a day, but the quarry waited. With trembling hands we pointed the two guns over the top of the rocks and fired. Both missed! The sheep bounded away down the declivity and were soon lost to view. Blankly De Hass and I looked at each other. Then, as the realization of what our failure meant came over us, we started silently down the mountain for our camp, stumbling recklessly over rocks and bushes, care- less of what happened. Long after dark we reached the campfire and found Price and the old Indlan eagerly ex- pecting our ap{ueamnce with meat. The disappointment was grievous. I could not help feeling for them, even despite the weight of my own personal suffer- ing. 7 A small unknown, uncharted stream flowed past the camp. It issued from the mountains in the direction of Mount Wrangell and from its trend we suspected it to be the Tokio, which we had deserted several days previous- ly for a direct course over the mountains. It was determined to build a small raft and trust ourselves to the mevcies of the waters, knowing that the flow would be toward larger waters and ultimately to the sea. A few taste- less roots, which the Indian dug, fur- nished our only breakfast. ‘While the other men were busy get- ting small dry logs into the water, I took the shotgun and went out among the spruces, being so fortunate as to secure two grouse and a red squirrel. These gave us a much needed repast. Fastening our logs together, we drifted off down the stream. So far I have not mentioned one of the memebrs of the party—a faithful, lean four-footed friend, our Siwash dog. I do not like to think of him even now. Poor fel- Jow. It seemed like cannibalism, but we ate him! There was nothing else to do. For days we had contemplated the distressing possibility and had shrunk from it. Even the old Chilkat didn’t want to eat dog. ‘We came to it and for three days got nothing else as we floated down the stream, which we found was in- 20 CO CALL, SUNDAY, AUGUST 28, 1898, deed theé Tokio. At one point we blazed the side of a tree and wrote our names and residences upon it. We did not want to perish and leave no record behind. After the dog meat gave out we made a final soup of the bones and then drifted on with nothing to appease hunger. Two days passed without food and then, to our great joy, we found Indians. The rest was easy. They treated us well and helped us to the next village on the Tanana. On and on we went, living with the natives and subsisting on unsalted fish for nearly a month. It grew nauseating, but it was better than no food. Finally we rafted down to the Yukon and reached the trading post of Nuklakyet, fully 800 miles from the place where we had eaten our poor dog. = How good the first meal at a white man’s table tasted and how sick | we were afterward! Later we reached St. Michael and saifled for home. It was many months, however, before several members of the party fully re- covered from the terrible strain of the adventure. Do I still want to visit Mount Wran- gell? Yes and no. If a way to carry supplies of food could be devised, yet, with all my heart. If no food and the old game over agaln, then emphati- cally no. One experience with starva- tion is enough. If Mount Wrangell 98 ever reached | and ascended before the railroads pass }lhat way, the supplies ne.essary for a party ruust be sledded in over the win- ter snow. Summer approach is im- practicable. One cannot carry suffi- cient food on one’s back. Of course it .| is possible to take along a pack of dogs —for eating purposes, but what ex- | plorer cares to deliberately set out to | climb volcanoes on such a diet? | It is my belief that gigantic bears |and perhaps other large quadrupeds | haunt the dark defiles around Mount | Wrangell, descending to the lower levels when the mosquitoes disappear. | As for the Indian stories of the beasts with curved white tusks, I am no’spon- | ser, but this T will say: The masto- | don must have existed in great num- | bers in Alaska up to a comparatively | recent date. The bones in the shifting | Yukon sands and the carcasses partly | preserved in ice are the evidencesof the | fact. Naturalists say that the mas- | todon was of tropical origin, but ‘is | there any reason why, after Alaska | cooled off, a few specimens of the | tribe might not have managed to exist |even to this day? If so, the'most like- lly place to find them wauld be in the solitudes around Mount Wrangell, where neither white man nor Indian ever goes. The storles of the natives concerning the big beasts and their un- willingness to go near the haunts of these creatures are, to say the least, suggestive. BE. HAZARD WELLS. EW YORK, Aug. 26.—Ever since there has been a prospect that Cuba, Porto Rico and the Phil- ippines might become a part of the territory of the United States, and hence a field for Yankee enterprise, the eyes of thousands of Americans have been turned in that direction. Some of them are men with money to invest, others are seeking a profitable fleld for the employment of their ambitious energies, but all, with characteristic American push, are anx- fous to get the first and fullest informa- tlon as to the prospects and possibili- ties of these new lands. Every man who is known to possess knowledge of the resources and trade conditions of these islands of the East and West Indies has received numerous inquiries from intending investors or settlers. Cuba, being nearest our own shores, has attracted the most atten- tion, and the Cuban Junta in New York has been besieged with inquiries re- garding the climate, crop conditions and prospects of investors. In regard to these points, Mr. H. S. Rubens, the counsel of the Junta, who has carefully Studied the natural resources of Cuba, sa“y’;_x}.,e salient features of Cuba to-day are its immense prodigality and the large amount of property as yet unde- veloped. There is no country in the ! world so richly endowed by nature with raw materials that can ml)mea%llllye e:e changed into positive wealth. o ports have reached as high as $80,000,000 a year, although the country is but lit- tle larger than Ireland. Of the 35,000,000 acres in Cuba only 2,000,000 are now un- der cuitlvation. There are 17,000,000 acres of virgin forests, there are $,000,- 000 of natural pasture and 7,000,000 of barren or inferior property. “Sugar is, of course, the main indus- try, comprising over four-fifths of the total exports. The immense timber lands, when once they are cleared away, will make the best of sugar properties. The sugar cane needs to be replanted but seldom, sometimes continuing along for twenty years or even more before anv new planting is necessary. There are immense oppor- tunities for large capitalists in this in- dustry, but the amount required for buying the property and furnishing machinery would run into the hundreds of thousands. The chance for the smaller investor is not so good. He could, perhaps, lease a portion of the property from the large owner and do all the work up to the final grinding. There might be a few chances near a grinding plant or ‘central,’ as it is called, but in general the sugar indus- try for a small man financially is not feasible. “The same may be sald of the tobac- co industry, of which the exports from Cuba are about $10,000,000 a year. The best properties are in Pinar del Rio, where the finest grade of tobacco in the | FEW days ago a woman died in one of the wards of the Chil dren's Hospital, and though few of those about her knew it her untimely end was brought about by an atrocious Indian massacre. | The woman’s rame was Mrs. Mar- | garet Gunthner. She was brought to the hospital to submit to an operation made necessary by the old wounds re- ceived at the hands of the bloodthirsty Utes. In the fall of 1884 A. C. Gunthner, with his wife and four children—two boys and two girls—moved to a home- stead in the Montezuma Valley, in Southeastern Colorado. The place was fifty miles from the Ute reservation. The Gunthners did not dream that there was any danger from the Indians. Throughout the autumn and winter the family made improvements and in the spring their substantial two-story cottage was surrounded by waving corn flelds. One June night the trag- edy occurred which ruined the prosper- ous home, robbed the children of a father and nmearly destroyed the mother. A short time before this fatal night several cowboys and Indians had a row. Six of the Indians were killed. As is the custom with the redskins, after burying their dead they doggedly took to the warpath and never rested till a like number of whites had been killed and so balanced the tally of an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. The Gunthners had just gone to bed when flames were discovered sweeping up the side of the house. The husband ran outside to try to save his home. His wife hastened to help him. At that instant the spiteful crack of rifles was heard. Gunthner shouted to his wife to save the children, and then fell pierced by bullets. As Mrs. Gunthner turned toward the door a bullet smashed into her right shoulder, shattering the bones and ter- ribly lacerating the flesh. The brave woman, however, did not fall, but braced herself against the house. This act alone saved herself and | her children from a more horrible fate. | The superstitious Utes, seeing her tanding, clothed all in white, and | knowing that she had been hit, believed | her to be a supernatural being, and were afraid to approach her. get inside her burning home. She roused her children, and, taking her | eight-months-old baby in her left arm, | with her torn and broken right arm | dangling, she led the way from her ruined home and dead husband out into the night. For three long hours she and her chil- dren hunted for assistance. At last they reached the cabin of a half-witted | fellow. Then they discovered to their | horror that the Indians had already | been there. The place was deserted. | They searched around in the darkness for clothes to tie up the wounded shoulder, and cut their feet badly on the broken window-glass which strewed the floor. Leaving the cabin, Mrs. Gunthner and her children started again on their desolate journey. A few rods from the house they stumbled on the body of the owner, wrapped in a blanket, under a sage bush. At first they thought he was dead, but he proved to be alive. He had heard the coming Indians and had hid from them in the brush. M:s. Gunthner forced him to tear his blanket into strips and bind her shattered arm to her body. The man then led the way to the nearest farm house, which was reached at daybreak. The doctor was sent for immediately. He looked at the woman and told Mrs. Gunthner that if she had any business that needed attention it had best be fin- ished at once, for the chances of her re- covery were one in a thousand. - “I must live for my children, and I will,”” replied Mrs. Gunthner, simply. She did live, and, coming to Califor- nia, she made a comfortable home for herself and children. For years she re- sided in Hanford. The bones in her arm, however, had been leaded, and ‘n a few years began to pain her. As time passed it was found necessary to re- move a piece of the bone. In the course of time several more operations were performed without success, and as a last resort Mrs. Gunthner was sent to the hospital in San Francisco. The sur- geons decided to amputate her arm. The operation proved too great a shock for her. And so, after bearing up for The courageous woman managed toq INDIANS THOUGHT SHE WAS A SUPERNATURAL BEING. Mrs. A. C. Guntner has just died at the hospital here from wounds which she received in a Ute Indian uprising some fifteen years ago. The story of her heroic fight for her children and her terrible sufferings while trying to escape from the Indians is told below. five years agalnst the wounds received from the Utes the brave woman was finally overcome by them. ————————— HER TOY @ RATTLESNAKE. Mrs. Franklyn Wood of Sherman on Sunday found her child, 2 years old, and a child of a neighbor, 3 years old, playing in the grass. She noticed that the little one was occasionally striking something in front of her with a short stick, and after each stroke both chil- dren would laugh heartily. She watched them for several min- utes, when she walked toward them to see what they were doing. When with- in a few feet of them she was struck speechless and motionless to see that their plaything was a large rattle- snake. Mrs. Wood grasped a club and brave- ly went to the rescue, and with a few blows killed the snake, after which she remembered nothing until revived by the neighbors. The snake was five feet long and had nine rattles, —_——————— FINAL PROOF OF OWNERSHIP. In an Eastern county court the Judge was in a quandary the other day. A coat was in dispute. The parties were Irish and the evidence was direct and positive for both claimants. After much wrangling. Patrick Peters, one of the parties, proposed that he and his opponent, Timothy Maguire, should see whose name was on the coat. Tim- othy searched in vain and the coat was handed to Pat, who immediately took his knife, opened a corner of the collar of the coat, and out dropped two small peas. “A d::,leg; ’'as to do wid it! It is m:; name, to sure—pea for Patri pea for Peters, be jabers!” S He got the coat after that. A snail farm has been started by a farmer of Anet, France. He has alread. 200,000 of these interesting creatures, mfi they eat as much . green fodder as two A striking instance of the flerce and fatal competition which goes on among plants is found in the case of the Bra- zil nut. This fruit contains from fif- teen to twenty-four seeds, which all germinate at one time. The most vig- orous one gets first through a small hole at the top to the open air, and thereupon it strangles the rest and feeds upon them. NEW FIELDS OF TRADE OPENED BY THE WAR Chances of American Merchants in Cuba and the Philippine Islands- Men of Experience Think About the New Possessions. ( What world i1s grown. Most of the tobacco lands, however, are taken up, and the little that is left is altogether too ex- pensive for any but the largest corpor- ations to develop. There are some chances to start on a small scale in certain sections, where a low grade of tobacco is raised. Buf,in this business and sthe sugar industry considerable knowledge is necessary to avoid failure. “Perhaps the industry third in im- portance is furnished by the timber lands. In the east there are vast tracta of forest that have never been touched. The suicidal policy of the Spanish Gov- ernment was never better shown than here. Little attempt has been made to reach and market these woods. Thke roads are few, and Iin many parts al- most useless. There are large quanti- ties of pine, mahogany, cedar, lignum vitae, logwood and some 40 more vari- etles. And this land once cleared makes a fertile soil for sugar, coffee and cocoa. “The mineral deposits of Cuba are more important than is generally ap- preciated. But litfle progress has been made in exploring the rich deposits in the east, owing to the heavy duties im- posed by the Spanish Government. There are iron mines, manganese, coal, copper and tin properties. The chances for a large corporation to exploit these properties are excellent, and rich re- turns can be made by such enterprises. Of course in this industry and the lum- ber business there whould be but little chance for a man with limited means. “There are numerous other indus< tries; the coffee business is profitable, but it requires three years of waiting before it yields any return; the cocoa business and the raising of cattle are good money makers, and require only a moderate amount of money upon which to start. For the man of small means there are perhaps better opportunities in the raising of fruit, the cocoanut in- dustry and the regular lines of trade that are found in every city of Amer- jca—the hardware, grocery and provis- fon business. The ranks of retail trade are by no means filled in most Cuban cities. “I ought to speak of the climate, which is, with careful personal precau- tions, better than some of the Southern States; of the boom in city real estate, of the future possibilities of a tourist season in Havana, Matanzas and the Yumuri, and of the universality which the English language will obtain. “Yes, I should most decidedly encour= age the young man with some means to g0 to Cuba, but he must be strong and self-reliant in character; he must be ready to overcome difficulties; he must have intelligence, ambition and econ- omy or he will fail in Cuba as he will anywhere else. That country will not be a paradise for the lazy and the care- less. The Cubans will welcome the Americans with open arms. There is room for many more people there, and only large additions of able men will bring out the immense resources that are now lying dormant along the whole length of the island.” Mr. Fidel G. Plerra, the former sec- retary of the Pan-American Congress, who has been engaged for thirty years in business enterprises connected with Cuba, says, by way of advice: “In Cuba almost everything is to be done. It is utterly impossible at this moment to define.the thousand and one things which it will be necessary to do and tell the ones which must be done first. The country is completely de- vastated; we do not know what part of the population will be left to take up the work of nation building. Outside of the large cities where the Spaniards held control, all the small industries must be re-established. The commercial machinery for the supply of food, of clothing and of all the first necessities of life must be started and at once. The farmhouses, sheds, barns, and such buildings in more than half of Cuba have been completely destroyed and the work of rebuilding them will take a number of years. Along with this thers will be the chance of putting in the newer American idgas in the lighting of the towns, the 'building of water works, the supplying of modern hard- ‘ware, and many kindred enterprises. In all these industries there are chances for the young American with limited capital. On a larger scale the big mon« ey corporations of America will be de- pended upon to build railroads, to sup- ply trolley lines, telephones, telegraphs and similar improvements. In fact, there are so many medieval Spanish ideas that will have to be replaced by progressive American schemes that one cannot state them offhand. “There is an excellent chance for the small investon in garden farming near Havana, Matanzas and the larger towns of the north. The soil is s0 wone derfully rich that large returns will re- sult from such enterprises as these. The raising of sugar is out of the ques- tion for men of limited means, as the capital required for this industry is cer- tainly hundreds of thousands, and oftentimes millions of dollars. In the tobacco field, too, the chances are slim for the small investor. The more fertile of the tobaco lands are very ex- pensive and are practically all of them taken up now. “I should advise any one who has capital to invest to study well before he embarks. There are many chances for blunders. In the titles of lands, for example, there are many peculiar de- tails that require the utmost vigilance to prevent financial trouble. I think it would be well for the man of limited means to start in some of the smaller industries, such as garden farming or groceries and provisions, and the watch for his opportunity to branch out. I can’t see that the language will be a drawback. Americans will be go- ing there in large numbers, and Eng- lish will be used everywhere. It is not Contined on Page Twenty-Six. DRYTHIRST’S DISAPPOINTMENT: A STORY WITHOUT WORDS.