stefansson-wrangel-09-29-032

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181

impression of the first few weeks when they “could see bears in every direction”
was still strong in their minds.

In the Arctic, February is usually the coldest month of the year.
On the 17th, "Last night was the coldest it has been since we have been on the
island, -40° F." They did have it -47° February 25th, but even that does not
seem very cold to one brought up in the United States or any continental country.
For comparison I have looked up the lowest temperatures in various states of the
Union and in the various provinces of Canada. We find that the following have
at one time or another recorded lower minimums than the Warngell Island party
experienced: Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota, Wisconsin, Wyoming, Alberta, British Columbia, Ontario, Quebec, Saskatchewan.
Vermont has a record of just 47° below zero, New York 46°, and Pennsylvania 42° below.
Other states and provinces that have records of -40° F. or lower (or about as
cold as Wrangell Island) are: Minnesota, Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba.

On the northern edge of the cereal belt of Siberia, in the province
of Yakutsk, are farmers (blond Russians) who face every year temperatures from
-70° to -90°, or from twenty to forty thirty degrees Fahrenheit colder than Wrangell Island.

Between February 26th and March 1st Maurer and Galle made a trip
about fifteen twenty or twenty-five miles east along the coast to visit Rodger's Harbor, the
site of one of the main camps of the Karluk crew while they were on Wrangell Island.
The scene was familiar to Maurer and they found everything as it had been left
by his companions our men in 1914 except for the inevitable effects of wind and weather. They
saw "a few fairly fresh bear tracks but no bears." Althought this was about the
coldest week of the year, with the temperature ranging between -16° and -42°, the
trip seems to have been made in entire comfort for that subject is not even
mentioned.
In February the entire party lived together at the main one of the camps,
but March Crawford and Maurer again began to spend part of the time at the
"trapping camp." A few foxes were caught and tracks of bears were frequently

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