Evening Republican, Volume 22, Number 150, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 June 1919 — Cape Prince of Wales Is Said to Be the Stormiest Region in All the World [ARTICLE]

Cape Prince of Wales Is Said to Be the Stormiest Region in All the World

The stormiest place in all the world is said to be Cape Prince of Wales, which is the westernmost point of Alaska. It is marked by a considerable mountain 2,210 feet high, and fierce winds blow there perpetually. Storms from the Arctic ocean assail this inhospitable region all the year round. Frank Hess of the government geological survey says that August 30 he found himself in the midst of deep snow on Cape Prince of Wales, with a wind blowing so hard that he had to get behind a rock to avoid being blown Into the sea. The weather for the moment was clear and he could see the coast of Siberia, across Bering strait, 40 miles away. Here and there were rocks that bore curious masses of snow crystals, which stood out horizontally, having been thrown and compacted by wind. It was bitter cold, but down below were vast fields of beautiful forget-me-nots. On the south side of the mountain Mr. Hess says that he came across Eskimo dwellings—“lgloos” dug underground and walled and roofed with timbers. No trees grow in that region, but the natives of far northern Alaska have always a plentiful supply of driftwood, carried from the Yukon river by an ocean current that skirts the coast. The underground Igloos (constructed to escape the storm and wind) were so built as to form connecting rooms, with communicating doors that were mere holes through which the occupants were obliged to crawl on hands and knees. The only ventilation was afforded by the vertebrae of a whale (which served as an airtube), thrust up through the roof.