jamesinalaska
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- Feb 9, 2015
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I finished an interesting book titled, "The Shameless Diary of an Explorer" by Robert Dunn. It was published in 1907. It can be downloaded for free from the U.S. Archives.
The diary tells the story of a failed 1903 attempt by a patched together party of men to be the first to climb Alaska's Mount Mckinley, the tallest mountain in North America. Two men of the party, Dunn being one of these, had been on expeditions to Alaska before and were eager to go again for the adventure. The others, except the sponsor of the expedition, signed on, apparently, because they didn't have anything else to do.
The whole trip was really quite a disaster -even from the beginning- and the diary seemed to focus on the seven men of the expedition and their constant conflicts with each other and with the environment. For THR readers there were several entries in the diary about firearms and hunting that you might find interesting. Here are some of those highlights.
They outfitted in Seattle and purchased a .303 Savage rifle with ammunition. They gave the rifle to the gun store clerk to add a peep sight, but Dunn writes that the clerk put the sights on the wrong gun, a 30-30 Winchester, and gave that gun back to them. They weren't aware of the error until they were one month into the interior of Alaska when a member of the party tried to shoot a grizzly sow running away from them. (page 55)
The sponsor of the expedition had a "Greenland .44 Winchester relic". There is no more specific information about this but I think Dunn is referring to an 1860 .44 RIMFIRE lever action rifle. I think the ammunition for that rifle was black powder.
One young fellow, Simon, from New York City, had a .22 Winchester rifle (which all the others referred to as a girl's gun) and a Colt .38 automatic which fired the new smokeless cartridges.
Simon, in a fit of anger from being teased by the others ran off and "shoots 20 times at a mud hen in a puddle ten yards off" and misses the [duck] but does shoot one of the horses through the jaw." (49)
SInce the 30-30 was without ammunition, they tried to make the best off the .44 lever action "relic" but realized it was hopelessly "worn out" and "leaded" and that they could not hit "within two feet of a stump" during an informal target practice. One man chased after a herd of sheep with the .44 firing "13 times" hoping to get lucky but failing miserably. Another member somehow got close to an unsuspecting grizzly which was digging for ground squirrels and shot the animal "who rolled over and made solemnly into the woods."
It is interesting to me that they were in the middle of some of the richest salmon rivers in the world but they were chasing after bears and sheep with a .44 black powder rifle and a .38 colt pistol. They were surviving solely on the quantities of beans, wet flour, and the canned goods they had fitted themselves with in Seattle.
At one point they did find themselves in the middle of a caribou migration and managed "after half dozen shots" between the .22 and the .44 to knock down a bull. They found the killing bullet and it was the .44 that had taken the bull with a shot in the neck. The owner went on for days about how the rifle had redeemed itself.
The party (I guess you could call it that) made it up the mountain a few thousand feet and then looking winter in the eye, returned to the river (probably the Susitna) turned the horses loose to the wolves, built some rafts and floated back to Knik landing, where the commercial ships were anchoring at that time.
At one point Dunn makes the pointedly honest remark that "we have counted on living off the country, which no prospector will ever do, because [of stories of good hunting, but until now] not a bit of blood-red meat have we seen." (133)
The book was enjoyable to read but gritty in the details. You'll have to draw your own conclusions. Hope this post wasn't to long. I thought you'd find it interesting
The diary tells the story of a failed 1903 attempt by a patched together party of men to be the first to climb Alaska's Mount Mckinley, the tallest mountain in North America. Two men of the party, Dunn being one of these, had been on expeditions to Alaska before and were eager to go again for the adventure. The others, except the sponsor of the expedition, signed on, apparently, because they didn't have anything else to do.
The whole trip was really quite a disaster -even from the beginning- and the diary seemed to focus on the seven men of the expedition and their constant conflicts with each other and with the environment. For THR readers there were several entries in the diary about firearms and hunting that you might find interesting. Here are some of those highlights.
They outfitted in Seattle and purchased a .303 Savage rifle with ammunition. They gave the rifle to the gun store clerk to add a peep sight, but Dunn writes that the clerk put the sights on the wrong gun, a 30-30 Winchester, and gave that gun back to them. They weren't aware of the error until they were one month into the interior of Alaska when a member of the party tried to shoot a grizzly sow running away from them. (page 55)
The sponsor of the expedition had a "Greenland .44 Winchester relic". There is no more specific information about this but I think Dunn is referring to an 1860 .44 RIMFIRE lever action rifle. I think the ammunition for that rifle was black powder.
One young fellow, Simon, from New York City, had a .22 Winchester rifle (which all the others referred to as a girl's gun) and a Colt .38 automatic which fired the new smokeless cartridges.
Simon, in a fit of anger from being teased by the others ran off and "shoots 20 times at a mud hen in a puddle ten yards off" and misses the [duck] but does shoot one of the horses through the jaw." (49)
SInce the 30-30 was without ammunition, they tried to make the best off the .44 lever action "relic" but realized it was hopelessly "worn out" and "leaded" and that they could not hit "within two feet of a stump" during an informal target practice. One man chased after a herd of sheep with the .44 firing "13 times" hoping to get lucky but failing miserably. Another member somehow got close to an unsuspecting grizzly which was digging for ground squirrels and shot the animal "who rolled over and made solemnly into the woods."
It is interesting to me that they were in the middle of some of the richest salmon rivers in the world but they were chasing after bears and sheep with a .44 black powder rifle and a .38 colt pistol. They were surviving solely on the quantities of beans, wet flour, and the canned goods they had fitted themselves with in Seattle.
At one point they did find themselves in the middle of a caribou migration and managed "after half dozen shots" between the .22 and the .44 to knock down a bull. They found the killing bullet and it was the .44 that had taken the bull with a shot in the neck. The owner went on for days about how the rifle had redeemed itself.
The party (I guess you could call it that) made it up the mountain a few thousand feet and then looking winter in the eye, returned to the river (probably the Susitna) turned the horses loose to the wolves, built some rafts and floated back to Knik landing, where the commercial ships were anchoring at that time.
At one point Dunn makes the pointedly honest remark that "we have counted on living off the country, which no prospector will ever do, because [of stories of good hunting, but until now] not a bit of blood-red meat have we seen." (133)
The book was enjoyable to read but gritty in the details. You'll have to draw your own conclusions. Hope this post wasn't to long. I thought you'd find it interesting
