THE MT ST EL1AS EXPEDITION OF PRINCE LUIGI 

 AMADEO OF SAVOY, 1897 



A lecture of Dr Filippo de Filippi, who accompanied Prince 

 Luigi of Savoy on his expedition to Mt St Elias, was delivered 

 before the Turin Alpine Club and has been published in the 

 Rivisia Mensile del Club Alpino Italiano, the first authentic ac- 

 count given of that remarkabty successful ascent of one of the 

 greatest snow peaks of the world. A translation of this article 

 appears in the latest Sierra Club Bulletin, January, 1898, by Dr 

 Paolo de Vecchi, of San Francisco, member of the Sierra Club 

 and the Turin Alpine Club, who assisted Prince Luigi by making 

 the advance preparations on the Pacific coast. 



Dr Filippo de Filippi tells how Prince Luigi determined upon 

 the expedition in February, 1897, and at once began corre- 

 spondence with those in the United States who could best in- 

 form and advise him. He associated with hint Lieutenant Cagui , 

 Sr Gonella, Sr Vittorio Sella, the Alpine photographer, and Dr 

 Filippo. Four guides or huntsmen from the royal Italian estates 

 and the special guide of Sr Sella accompanied them, leaving Turin 

 May 17 and reaching New York from Liverpool May 28. They 

 proceeded to San Francisco, where part of the equipment was 

 procured, and sailed from Seattle on the regular mail steamer 

 for Alaska June 13, Major E. S. Ingraham, of Seattle, with ten 

 American packers, their equipment and provisions, having sailed 

 a few days before on the schooner Aggie. The expedition left 

 Sitka June 20, the mail steamer towing the Aggie, for Yakutat 

 bay, where a landing was made on the coast of the Malaspina 

 glacier June 23. 



Prince Luigi was thoroughly informed of all the work of the 

 expeditions of Schwatka and Topham and of the two expeditions 

 sent to Mt St Elias by the National Geographic Society, Prof. 

 I. C. Russell commanding, and before leaving Italy had planned 

 every detail and mapped out his route. Professor Russell, Pro- 

 fessor George Davidson, the senior scientist of the Pacific coast, 

 Professor Fay, of the Appalachian Club, Boston, and Major 

 Ingraham, of Seattle, who has climbed Mt Rainier again and 

 again, gave advice and assistance without stint. It was the most 

 thoroughly planned and well managed expedition that we have 



