39 6 



The National Geographic Magazine 



bad reputation since the days of the 

 Russian occupation. Bremner expected 

 to winter at Taral, just below the junc- 

 tion of the Copper and its great eastern 

 tributary, the Chittyna, and he carried 

 out his intention in spite of the diffi- 

 culties which the undertaking involved. 

 The Indians stole his flour, so he snared 

 and ate rabbits. They tested his powers 

 as a shaman by calling him in in cases 

 of sickness. He prescribed thorough 

 baths and applied mustard plasters, 

 curing his patients and making illness 

 a thing to be dreaded at Taral. All of 

 this and more is recorded in a diary 

 whose English and spelling are as origi- 

 nal as the tale they tell. 



Bremner describes the phenomena 

 which he witnessed of Mount Wrangell 

 in eruption, and gives a brief 'account 

 of his attempt during the winter to 

 climb the volcano. He estimated it to 

 be 25 or 30 miles from Taral ; its actual 

 distance is 40 miles. The natives, al- 

 ways superstitious concerning the moun- 

 tain, declined to go with him, so he 

 started out alone. He failed of course 

 in midwinter to reach a summit 14,000 

 feet above the sea, and had his ears and 

 toes badly frozen as a result of the 

 attempt. 



In the early spring of 1885, under 

 orders from the War Department, Lieut. 

 Henry T. Allen, U. S. Army, the 

 present efficient head of the native con- 

 stabulary in the Philippine Islands, 

 undertook an exploration of the Copper 

 and of the Tauana and Koyukuk Rivers. 

 Because of the resolution displayed, the 

 difficulties overcome, and the results 

 achieved, Lieutenant Allen's work 

 stands as a model to this day. . At Taral 

 he found Bremner and added him to the 

 party which already contained, in ad- 

 dition to Sergeant Robertson and Private 

 Fisher, Bremner's partner, Peder John- 

 son. Allen reached Taral over the ice 

 from Alaganik on April 10, and a few 

 days later began a difficult journey up 

 the Chittyna, the great eastern fork of 



the Copper, and explored it nearly to 

 its source. Later the ascent of the 

 Copper was resumed, and the portage 

 was made from the Indian village of 

 Batzulnetas on the upper Copper to the 

 Tanana Valley by way of Suslota Pass. 

 While within the Copper Valley, Lieu- 

 tenant Allen went almost around the 

 group of mountains of which Mount 

 Wrangell is the center. He made con- 

 stant observations on the individual 

 peaks of the group, and later published, 

 in an account of his work, the first map 

 upon which the companion peaks of 

 Wrangell appear. These he named 

 Blackburn, in honor of Senator Black- 

 burn ; Sanford, after an ancestor of the 

 explorer ; Drum, for the Adjutant Gen- 

 eral of the Army, and Tillman, in honor 

 of Professor Tillman of the TJ. S. Mili- 

 tary Academy. Mount Wrangell had 

 already been named bj' the Russians, so 

 that upon Lieutenant Allen's map five 

 great peaks are shown where one had 

 been known before. The actively vol- 

 canic character of Mount Wrangell, 

 which had been referred to in Bremner's 

 diary, is repeatedly confirmed by Allen, 

 to whom the smoke column was fre- 

 quently visible. 



After Allen's explorations, the next 

 geographically important work in the 

 area was done by Dr C. Willard Hayes, 

 who in 1891, in company with Fred- 

 erick Schwatka and Mark Russell, made 

 the long journey on foot from Fort Sel- 

 kirk on the Yukon to the Copper Valley. 

 Discovering and crossing Scolai Pass, 

 unknown before this time, the hardy 

 explorers built a boat on the upper 

 Nizina from the canvas in which their 

 blankets had been wrapped, and in this 

 frail craft floated down the Nizina and 

 the Chittyna to the Copper. Scolai 

 Pass, which with its approaches was 

 mapped by Doctor Hayes, is properly 

 to be regarded as the eastern limit of 

 the group whose dominant summits had 

 been indicated by Allen. 



In 1898, during the first year of the 



