RESCUE OF GREELY PARTY 213 



thirty years; of finding letters — veritable messages of the dead — and leaves 

 from books that had carried words of love and solicitation to the doomed ex- 

 plorers from relatives far away. 



He also came upon remnants of Hall's camp and a cairn left by Lockwood 

 and Brainerd. 



"While I was at Cape Sheridan," he said, "I wanted to make several trips 

 out into the desolate country to see what I could learn about the geology of the 

 territory and the habits, customs and religion of the people. On one of my 

 first trips I took a sledge and Eskimos and started, skirting the east coast of 

 Grant Land and Grinnell Land. I slowly made my way down to Fort Conger, 

 about sixty-five miles from the Roosevelt, and ran upon the last camp of the 

 Greely expedition of 1 881-1884. 



"Here I found relics, all of which were in the same condition as when they 

 were discarded by the ill-fated members of that expedition. I found coffee, 

 hominy, canned rhubarb, canned potatoes, breakfast food and all sorts of sup- 

 plies. They were just as good as ever, and I practically subsisted on them all 

 the time I was there. 



"General Greely's military overcoat, with the buttons on it, was about the 

 first thing I discovered. I wore the coat, and while I stayed there I presume 

 I must have had on at one time or another the clothing of all the men in the 

 expedition. On the ground I also found the trunk that had been carried by 

 Sergeant David L. Brainard. It was as good as new and I used it as a shelter 

 from the winds. 



"Here were records that had been made of the caches of provisions which 

 had been stored along the route and showed that vast quantities of wood had 

 been left there when the men started south to Cape Sabine, where seventeen of 

 the twenty-five members perished. 



'The men had been taken to Fort Conger by the Proteus and had been told 

 to await her arrival the next year. During the interim the steamship tried to 

 get through, but was crushed in the ice. 



"Orders had been issued to the party that if the relief ship did not arrive 

 the party was to make its way to the south and reach Cape Sabine. When the 

 Proteus failed to arrive the party started. 



"The men were told to discard all baggage except nine pounds, and in order 

 to lighten their loads to that extent these goods, stores and personal belongings 

 were left behind. It was these that I had found after a lapse of almost thirty 

 years. Nothing had been destroyed. Everything was in an excellent state of 

 preservation. Those members of the party who did not perish at Sabine were 



