Fur-Clad Adventurers Or, Travels in Skin-Canoes, on Dog-Sledges, on Reindeer, and on Snow-Shoes, through Alaska, Kamchatka, and Eastern Siberia Cambridge Library Collection - Polar Exploration Series

Z. A. Mudge (1813?88) was an American pastor, author and Arctic exploration enthusiast. After the success of his popular books North Pole Voyages and Arctic Heroes, he wrote this book on the Western Union Telegraph Expedition. In the mid-nineteenth century the Western Union Telegraph Company decided to create a telegraph line that would run from San Francisco, California to Moscow, Russia. The line was to run through Alaska and Siberia, and although the project was abandoned in 1867, a large amount of Arctic exploration had been achieved in the meantime. This book, first published in 1880, is Mudge's compilation of the accounts of some of the explorers who were involved in different stages of the expedition, including the naturalist W. H. Dall during his exploration in Alaska. Mudge goes on to include the Siberian experiences of George Kennan and W. H. Bush (whose own account is also reissued in this series).

Preface; 1. A start; 2. First dog-sledging; 3. A sad story; 4. In skin-canoes; 5. At Fort Yukon; 6. Indian and Inuit traits; 7. A sea-girt town; 8. A native village; 9. A comical mistake; 10. Up a mountain ravine; 11. A fearful ride; 12. Among the reindeer koraks; 13. A curious marriage ceremony; 14. Yankee dog-sledge driving; 15. The Arctic night; 16. A Russo-Greek Christmas; 17. Rescued comrades; 18. Things humorous and sublime; 19. Perils in the waters; 20. Down the Amoor; 21. A novel town; 22. Reindeer riding; 23. Over the mountains; 24. A thrilling story; 25. Things grave and gay; 26. On snow-shoes; 27. Incidents by the way; 28. Hospitable halting places; 29. More dog-sledging; 30. Macrae's story; 31. Waiting; 32. Afloat on the Anadyr; 33. News from home; 34. Cheerful and sad things; 35. A pleasant meeting; 36. Homeward.