e, etc.
65
LIEUT. FREDERICK SCHWATKA, U. S. A. Here we have auother youug man who eujoys a iiatioual reiiutation auil who, from his long residence in Oregon and the interest Oregonians have taken in his success, ought by rights to be claimed by us as a native Weh- foot, although circumstances are against us. He was born in Oalena, Illinois, September 29, 1849, and with his parents, both of whom are still residents of Salem, immigrated to Oregon in 1853. It will tiierefore be seen that the Lieutenant is not Sucker enough to hurt him much. His early life wa.n spent at Astoria, Albany, Eugene City and Salem, mostly at the latter point, with the early history of which he was more or less intimately connected, his boyisli pranks being still recounted with interest by those who participated in them, he being the acknowledged leader. He was naturally bright and intelligent, attracted the attention of Salem's best citizens, and when he ex- pressed a desire to attend West Point Military Academy he had no difficulty in securing a jjowerful influence to back him and was fortunate enough to secure the Oregon appointment through Hon. J. H. D. Henderson, their own Representative in Congress-. He joined that institiition in June, 1867, hav- ing passed a successful examination and continued his studies unremittingly until 1871, when he graduated and was assigned to active service as Second Lieutenant in the Third U. S. Cavalry, then serving in Arizona. He was afterwards transferred to the Department of the Platte. He meanwhile turned his attention to the study of law and was admitted to the U. S. Cir- cuit Court for the District of Nebraska, in May 5, 1875. He then studied medicine and surgery and graduated at the Bellevue Hospital Medical Col- lege, in New York, March 1, 1876. Rejoining his regiment he served in the Sioux war of 1876, participating in the actions of Tongue River (June 9, 1876), the Rosebud (June 17, 1876,) and Slim Buttes (Sept. 9, 1876). As a soldier, his record for gallantry and bravery is excelled by none, and as a commanding officer he has always succeeded in winning the confidence and esteem of those under him. Long and active service in the very outskirts of civilization imbued him with an ambition to distinguish himself in new fields of labor, and at his own request was detailed to command the Frank- lin Search Paity in the Arctic ocean, in which he was employed from June
19, 1878, to September 22, 1880, the object of the expedition being to find . the records and relics and determine the fate of the British Northwest Pas- sage Expedition of Sir John Franklin, which sailed from England in the " Erebos " and " Terror " in 1875, and of which but very little had ever been ascertained. The expedition under Lieut. Schwatka's command, made the longest sledge journey in the world, a distance of 3,251 miles, being absent from its source of suijplies eleven months and twenty days, subsisting off of the game of the country, the trip having been undertaken with but one month's rations provided, the party living on the same food as did their Es- quimaux alUes and guides. It encountered the lowest temperature ever re- corded by white men, viz.: 71 degrees Fahrenheit or 103 degrees below freezing point. It discovered and buried many of the skeletons of Sir John Franklin's lost pai-ty, secured numerous relics, and otherwise cleared away much of the mystery connected with that ill-fated expedition. On March
20, 1879, Lieut. Schwatka was promoted to a first lieutenancy in the Third
