Ocean, passing through the range and along the
whole western and northwestern faces of the group. They were the first
white men to set foot upon the slopes of Denali. Shortly afterward, in
response to the interest this journey aroused among Alpine clubs, Mr.
Brooks published a pamphlet setting forth what he considered the most
feasible plan for attempting the ascent of the mountain.

The next year saw two actual attempts at ascent. After holding the first
term of court at Fairbanks, the new town on the Tanana River that had
sprung suddenly into importance as the metropolis of Alaska upon the
discovery of the Tanana gold fields, Judge Wickersham (now delegate to
Congress) set out with four men and two mules in May, 1903, and by
steamboat ascended to the head of navigation of the Kantishna. Heading
straight across an unknown country for the base of the mountain, Judge
Wickersham's party unfortunately attacked the mountain by the Peters
Glacier and demonstrated the impossibility of that approach, being
stopped by the enormous ice-incrusted cliffs of the North Peak. Judge
Wickersham used to say that only by a balloon or a flying-machine could
the summit be reached; and, indeed, by no other means can the summit
ever be reached from the north face. After a week spent in climbing,
provisions began to run short and the party returned, descending the
rushing, turbid waters of that quite unnavigable and very dangerous
stream, the McKinley Fork of the Kantishna, on a raft, with little of
anything left to eat, and that little damaged by water. Judge Wickersham
was always keen for another attempt and often discussed the matter with
the writer, but his judicial and political activities thenceforward
occupied his time and attention to the exclusion of such enterprises.
His attempt was the first ever made to climb the mountain.

DOCTOR COOK'S ATTEMPTS

About the time that Judge Wickersham was leaving the north face of the
mountain an expedition under Doctor Frederick A. Cook set out from
Tyonek, on Cook's Inlet, on the other side of the range. Doctor Cook was
accompanied by Robert Dunn, Ralph Shainwald (the "Hiram" of Dunn's
narrative), and Fred Printz, who had been chief packer for Brooks and
Raeburn, and fourteen pack-horses bore their supplies. The route
followed was that of Brooks and Raeburn, and they had the advantage of
topographical maps and forty miles of trail cut in the timber and a
guide familiar with the country. Going