The following harrousing article appeared in the Seattle P-I of the 12th:
After experiencing the pangs of hunger and suffering from exposure to the
cold for twenty-one days on the trail from Fairbanks to Valdez, during which time the party was separated and two men and a woman spent one night in the open with the thermometer 32 degrees below zero and only a pocket knife with which to cut wood for a camp fire, J. J. Rogers, E. J. Steirs, Ray Randall, W. Jarman, C. S. Knudson, Frank Simons and Mr. and Mrs. Ray Brumbow arrived in the city yesterday morning on the Santa Ana.
With the exception of Mr. and Mrs. Brumbow, who made the trip with their own dog team under the direction of the "Malamute Kid," all of the party were on the first stage from Fairbanks to Valdez. The two parties kept together, however, during the entire trip. The road houses were all short of food and for four days over the worst part of the trail the entire party had nothing but boiled rice to eat, and this was not particularly plentiful.
The worst experience of the entire trip was encountered on the Big Delta,
when Rogers, Steirs and Mr. and Mrs. Brumbow started to walk two miles to another road house after the party had stopped for a day. It commenced to snow when less than half the distance had been covered. It darkened rapidly and the trail was soon lost. After wandering about for several hours, and when it seemed almost certain that the entire party would perish from cold, a bunch of willows was found that afforded a partial shelter from the storim. With only a pocket knife to cut the fuel a camp fire was kept going all night,
and in the morning the remainder of the party heard the shouts of the lost ones, as they were preparing to start from the road house.
Rogers left Fairbanks November 19 with the intention of walking through
to Valdez, but was caught by the stage party which left Fairbanks December 3 before he had crossed the Delta.
The party holds the record for the longest period on the time, taking a
total of twenty-one days to make a journey that is ordinarily covered in from nine to ten days. The most difficult part of the travel was encountered on the Delta. The weather was so severe one day that less than three miles were made, and then it was found necessary to return to the road house left in the morning for the night and make another start the next day.
Most of the party suffered considerably from exposure and hunger, and
William Jarman and C. S. Knudson, who are stopping at the Northern, still show the effects of the terrible journey.
Despite the poor accommodations and the meager sare rerved at the road
houses, every member of the party was compelled to pay $2 a meal and $5 for a place to sleep. There was no reduction during the four days that nothing but boiled rice was served.
