Northwest History. Alaska, Hardships. United States.

• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 1935
• Subjects: Wrangell; Alaska; Telegraph Creek; B. C.; Walter Simpson; Stikine river; voyage; Great Glacier; Berger's ranch; Farm island; amateur wireless station; Prince Rupert; British Columbia police; Constable J. V. Boys; Northwest; Pacific > History > 20th century; Pacific; Rupert; Stikine; Stikine River; glacier
• Online Access: http://content.libraries.wsu.edu/cdm/ref/collection/clipping/id/92249

Long Trek Ends: Missing Alaska Couple Reach Wrangle, Exhausted./From Telegraph Creek./Had Narrow Escapes On 125-Mile Trip They Expected To Make By Boat In One Day Instead Of 30. LONG TREK ENDS Missing Alaska Couple Reach Wrangle, Exhausted FROM TELEGRAPH CREEK Had Narrow Escapes on 125-Mile Trip They Expected to Make by Boat In One Day Instead of 30. Wrangell, Alaska, Nov. 26.—(/P)— Half-starved and weary, Walter Simpson and his 100-pound wife were safe here today after battling 30 days to reach Wrangell from Telegraph Creek, B. C, a 125-mile river trip which they had expected to make in one day. The couple, for whom considerable anxiety had been felt since they left Telegraph Creek, October 27, arrived last night. Their rations ran short after the first week and they lived on four slices of bread a day the last five days of their gruelling voyage down the Stikine river. They ran into many ice jams, one of which was 17 miles long, and had to pull their 22-foot outboard motorboat over the ice, and relay 600 pounds of baggage by sled. Later Simpson found a cross-cut saw in an old cabin and cut his boat down to eight feet, leaving the engine and gasoline behind. Abandon The Boat At Great Glacier they had to abandon the boat because of four inches of slush. They trudged on, pulling a sled until they reached the mouth of the river, where Simpson found and repaired an old skiff. He made oars from drift wood and they rowed to Berger's ranch on Farm island, where word was flashed of their safety through an amateur wireless station. The wireless message was received in Prince Rupert just in time to stop an airplane search by Simpson's brother. The British Columbia police are now trying to contact Constable J. V. Boys, who is searching for the couple.