On Wrangel Land. Wreckage Found on the Beach-Condition of the Soil. Improbability of Any Landing Having Been Made by Captain DeLong. Difficulties Which Beset the Corwin-Narrow Escape from the Ice. (Special Correspondence of the Bulletin.) . Steamer Corwin, Off Point Barrow, Alaska, August 17, 1881.

• Main Author: Muir, John
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: Scholarly Commons 1881
• Subjects: Environmentalist; naturalist; travel; conservation; national parks; John Muir; history; pamphlets; journal articles; speeches; writing; annotation; The Bluff; Barrow; Point Barrow; Alaska
• Online Access: https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/jmb/166; https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/context/jmb/article/1165/viewcontent/128.pdf

Written, Aug. 17, 1881 Pub. Oct. 22 .•/" . ,- gj**" ? '- SjK jy" - vl OtoOS / STISS12 Wreckage Joined a the Beach--Condition off the SeiL jSmprolba'biHty of .flsmy Landing Having Seen Mad. by Captain Bo liomg. SSifSoiiltias Which Beset the Corwia—JTar- row Escape from the 2oe. (SPECIAL COP.RESPONBENCE OP THE BULLETIN.] With the arrival ol the revenue cutter Thomas Ccrwin we have received a hatch ol Interesting correspondence relative to the memorable cruise just finished from the Bulletin's special correspondent, John Muir, who accompanied the expedition in search ol the missing whalers and the Jeannette. The first ol these letters is herewith presented. The remainder will follow in the order of their writing: :— STEAMER COBWIN, OFF POINT BARROW,) Alaska, August IT, 1881. f The Corwln made a very short stay on Wrangel Land, only about two hours, because of the con- Qitioii of the ice, which was threatening to shut us in; and because It seemed improbable that a prolonged search in the region about our landing point could in any way advance the main objects of the expedition. A considerable stretch ol the bluff coast where we landed was scanned closely as we approached. Captain Hooper. Mr. Nelson acfi myself examined a mile or two of the left bank oi the river, a gently-sloping hillside back from the river, and a stretch of smooth beach at Its moutn; .while a party ol officers, after erecting a calm, depositing records In it, and setting the flag on the edge of the bluff fronting the ocean, went northeastward along the brow of the shore Mutt to a prominent headland a distance ol three or four miles, searching carefully for traces of the Jeannette explorers, and of any native inhabitants that might chance to be la the country; then all were hurriedly recalled, and a way forced back through ten miles of heavy drift- ice to open waier. WRECKAGE FOUND ON WRANGEL LAND. On the shore we found the skeleton of a large bow-head whale, an oak barrel stave, a piece of a boat-mast about seven feet long and four inches in ...