EXPEDITION TO POINT l:.\l;i;o\v. ALASKA. 



in carrying stores up from the beach. After one or t\vo attempts at pi-It y thieving had been linnly 

 anil i|iiietly checked, they showed no disposition to commit any depredations upon mir pmpeily. 

 Though it was snowing heavily, the \vork of landing stoics was pushed with the iitmo.--! \ 

 the wind was very light from the southwest and the sea was quiet, and ue eoiilil land tin- umiaks 

 on the Iteach without the tear of staving them, so that <m the morning of the l.lth the party was 

 moved on shore into tents. We landed the last of the caigo dniin.: that afternoon, and the 

 (iolden fleece was cleared the following morning, and sailed at lli o'clock. She irofl Hie last link 



that bound us to civilization, and we knew that nearly a year must roll ar id e enulil 



hope to hear from the civilized world again : out I (lid not see a single despondent face among 

 the little party as they turned from watching the gallant little vessel out of sight to their work. 



At the same, time the stores were being landed the foundat ion of the house was laid. This was 

 made sale and solid by excavating down to the frost, :i distance of a little o\er one foot, and the 

 sills and Moor timbers firmly shored with blocks cut from pieces of drift-wood. I'lates 1 and li 

 give a ground plan and elevation of house. The bastion on the north we>i corner "as constructed 

 from pieces of wreckage, and drift-wood, and was pierced for musketry below and for the (latling 

 gun above. As soon as the house was inclosed and roofed the stores \\ere all moved in, except a 

 supply for about six months, which was placed in a tent as a reserve in event of the loss of the 

 main building by lire. The party moved in on the L'l'd, to put up the ceiling and partitions. We 

 were obliged to bring the lumber in and pile it around the stove, so as to melt oil' the ice before 

 we could work it. 



Winter came on rapidly: the lagoon, near the station, was dosed entirely on the I'Oth : tlm 

 weather continued stormy and thick until the sea closed toward the last of November. The work 

 of carrying the stores and coal from the beach up to the site of the station ia distance of about 

 one hundred yards) was very laborious, there being over one hundred tons of it besides the 

 lumber, and we never for one moment caught sight of the sun from the time we landed until the 

 ^'Sth of September, and then only fora few moments. As soon as the hi. use was made inhabitable 

 we turned our attention to getting the instruments into position. "We commenced taking hourly 

 observations in meteorology OH October 1">. and iu magnetism on ]>cceiaher 1. 



The transit and magnetic instruments were temporarily mounted on wooden piers, which v 

 constructed in the following manner: Timbers sixteen inches square were cut to the proper len 

 and placed on end in position in the observatories, the earth being removed so that the lower end 

 rested on the perpetually frozen earth : they were cemented in their place by pouring water around 

 them and allowing it to freexe. They remained firm and never altered their position in the slij;!;: 

 degree. The ice was found to be intact when the piers were taken down the following .Inly, to bi- 

 n-placed by brick. 



Kvcry clear night the sky was illuminated by the most beautiful displays of aurora it has ever 

 been my fortune to witness: they always commenced in the northeast and northwest, and seemed 

 lo spring from a dark low bank of clouds. The lights were never stationary for a single second, 

 neither did they ever take the form of bows or arches MI often seen in other latitudes, but great 

 curtains of light Hashing with all the prismatic colors seemed to be drawn across I he heavens, ever 

 risini; ;;ml changing and often culminating in a coron; 1 . at the /enith, falling like a shower of 

 meteoric lire. As the winter advanced these displays were more brilliant, and were always of a 

 character that defies description, either by pen or pencil, as they were never for two seconds alike. 

 Th.-y were unaccompanied by any sound so far as we were able to oh.*cr\e, and the deadly stilb 

 that always prevails in this region when the sea was closed gave us an excellent opportunity to 

 detect any sound had there been any. 



J Miring the last days of September, when the ice on the fresh-water ponds and lakes was from 

 ten inches to one foot rhick a sullicicnt quantity was cut. hauled to the house and conveniently 

 piled, for winter use. 



In December, as soon as the drifted snow was sutliciently hard to cut into cafces, co\ ered ways 

 were constructed leading to the <>!>-,er\ -atones, and the ice piled so that during scveie weather no 

 JUTS!, n was obliged to go into the open air to carry on the regular work of the station. 



Life at tiie .-tatiou now se'ticd down into the dull monotony of the routine -\\ork: hourly 



