"THE ARMY IN ALASICA"
(Reprinted fron the "Infantry Journal",May 1923
from an article by Ool.W.P’.Richardson,U.S.A.-Ret.)
. During the winter of 1900-01,Lt.Eriekson, 7th Infanrtry, *
attempted to search out a suitable location for the line to the south
ward of the Yukon Flats between Hamlin and Circle,but. was not success- *
fu.l. Later it was decided to carry the line (the telegraph line)-up the
banana connecting with, the branch cut from Eagle,thenoe to Valder.LiSBt.
beorgeL.Oiobe, Signal Corps.took charge of the work up the Tanana from
ort Gibbon,and Lcr Hi tone 1.1 of the section from Eagle. General Mitchell
told me recently that of the several campaigns he had been through that
one an Alaska was by far the hardest,and Colonel Gibbe has said the same,
ihe work was prosecuted vigorously for the following two years,and the
line finally connected up in 1903, and the following year the cable con
nection 'ms completed to the States.
.... In the tried imnpaas of such an article as this it is pos
sible to mention only a few of the names of officers engaged on this
work but a wide swath through the timber and underbrush,with a total of
I'tit nllea of telegraph poles and wire,over mountain ranges and aoross
ift rivers ana wice valleys of swamp and deep enow of winter,through a
wilderness untrackec, for the most part, previously, by the foot of white
man,give visible evidence of the character of the work. On the human
side.hcwever the innumerable acts of individual heroism and of patient
determination in overcoming obstacles must, in the nature
things frequently go unrecorded. Under the urge of duty and the ambit
work nLT^P.’'iSh“enVhe fen did not shrink {roa Privation and hard
Some’naTa^i ^ tsraPeratures of 60 to 70 degrees below zero.
by the deep bite"of the froetl UVe3* ^ 0therS ^ permnently disabled
Tne civil courts having become established in central and
of : tern A]R-skz-- :vlth Ju %es at Nome and on the Yukon, the Department
a nart «f +T in October, 1901, and the territory again became
p ,. o- the Depnr event of Columbia. Two empaniee of the 7th Infantrv
were withdrawn in September, 1901, Eh. remaining conmani.es were recced
by six companies of she 8tl» Infantry in 1902. Two of these were sent to
Skagway "relieving Capt.Sumorall• a battery of Artillery.which had re
Ueved the company of the 24th Infantry a few months bef we .A battery
the^t^atar-'^e^n0 "“S- C0 F°rt Lis3U“ in 1902 to replace the company
pany of Ihe l3°”h lnfant^? 'eUeVed in “V»1908.^ a com
of
of
I
In the summer of 3 904 A?.a3lea Has v,, « l
iment of Infantry,the 3rd, (Col.r.C.Woodcury.ComaSd.' nr) rslievine the 8" “
other troops in the lsrritory. She wgtawt* heudqjJkra
tali on were stationed at Che nenly completed foi* 0/ Fort Will iam H
Seward, (now Chilkoot Barr a&s), near Haines ItUclor in southeastern Alaska
mLU •«*«*•* 'ttstributei tetveer Ports ERbert.Gibbon/st. ’
Michael, j>avis,an$ Liseuia* -leae troops carried on the work 0^ aiding in
the completion of the teJofireph line ..and of it* improvement from the
iirst crude state, service; o‘L supp.ly and mintsnance of the line in mnr«w
in, and adding to the ^fcro of the postal giving aid through thT ^
hospitals and otherwise.to injured and aee litiut-zJ persons.11
(To be continued next wask.)