Katabasis

Fairbanks was the farthest point of the President's journey to Alaska. There the first really untoward event of the trip occurred. Mrs. Harding took to her bed. Through all the travails of the strenuous tour up to that point, Mrs. Harding had held out bravely. There exhaustion overcame her, and Brigadier General Sawyer, her physician, ordered that she remain in bed.

It was remarkable that she had stood the strain so long. For almost a year, until last March, Mrs. Harding had been confined to the White House by severe illness. Then she accompanied the President on his trip to Florida, which apparently improved her health. It was known during the Spring that the President was willing to give up his contemplated trip to Alaska for the sake of Mrs. Harding's health. Nevertheless she insisted that the trip should take place, and declined firmly to be exempted from any of the rigors of the speaking tour across the country.

Throughout the trip she not only participated in all the public functions in which the President took part, but was actually the " life " of the party, entering fully into the spirit of each occasion and sparing herself not at all. That she should be overcome by her exertions was unfortunately to be expected. The result was that on the return trip from Alaska she was largely confined to her bed and participated in no public functions. It is understood, however, that her indisposition is a case of exhaustion and not a recurrence of her previous illness.

The incapacity of Mrs. Harding caused the President to cancel even a partial trip over the Richardson Trail by automobile, as had been planned. The day after arriving in Fairbanks, the President and the chief members of his party spoke in the baseball park at Fairbanks. The temperature was 94DEG in the shade, and there were three cases of heat prostration in the audience. Mr. Harding declared that he felt himself to be a real sourdough, because he was the first President to visit Alaska. A part of the ceremonies was the presentation of a moose-hide collar, ornamented with gold nuggets and ivory, for Laddie Boy, Presidential hound.

Following these events, Secretary Wallace and Speaker Gillett took autos to follow the original plan of the party by traveling over the Richardson Trail and taking the Copper River Railroad to Cordova. Secretaries Work and Hoover took train back to Anchorage and later to Seward to hold hearings on the complaints and proposals of Alaskans. The President and Mrs. Harding followed the two latter in a more leisurely fashion.

Taking two days for the return trip on the Alaskan railway, the President reached Seward a day before the transport Henderson was due to sail. Mrs. Harding spent the day aboard ship. The President walked through the town in the morning. Seward had been having an excellent time during the President's interior tour. The crews of the Henderson and of the destroyers Corry and Hull had shore leave. There were baseball games between the town and the sailors and boxing matches in an arena in the main street. The President, wandering through the remains of this festival with his party, was challenged by one of his friends with, the assertion that there could not be a manicurist in the city. The President bet that there was. They inquired at a barber shop and the President lost, paying his bet with a can of tobacco. He also bought a plug of tobacco, saying: "I am doing this in memory of dear old Knute Nelson. This was his favorite brand." (In the despatches the name of the brand was not given.) One of the characteristics of Alaska, incidentally, is that there are almost no small coins in circulation. The smallest articles, even newspapers, in many places cost 25 cents.

As the President passed the fish market, a Swede of 60, in his shirt sleeves, stepped out and said: " Let me recite a poem for you." " Go ahead," replied Mr. Harding. The old man, named Lundblad, intoned the poem he had written:

"The ranges and crags give us pride;

We admire the snow, the purest of white,

The shimmering glaciers, the sunsets afire,

Enhancing our thrills at the sight."

"Fine, fine," exclaimed the President. " Have you a copy ? I am going to read it at the end of my Seattle speech on Alaska."

That evening the Henderson sailed. Its first stop was at Valdez. Mrs. Harding remained aboard ship, but the President took an 18-mile automobile ride up the Keystone Canyon and back. The trail led along sheer cliffs where sharp curves prevented the use of large cars, and steep grades required powerful engines. Four hours were required on account of the difficult roads. Meanwhile the Henderson's band went ashore and gave a concert for the children of Valdez, who had never heard a band.

Next day the Henderson reached Cordova. There the President debarked and took a short trip on the Copper River Railroad to Childs and Miles Glaciers. This railroad, unlike the Alaskan railroad, is privately owned, and also unlike the Alaskan railroad, makes a profit instead of running a deficit of $1,000,000 a year. It was built by the Guggenheims to top their copper and gold mines. The President saw the glaciers and had the pleasure of seeing a large fragment of ice fall from the ice cliff into the river with a great splash.

The party then took ship again and crossed the Gulf of Alaska to Sitka, the city which, during the Russian occupation and until 1906, was capital of the territory. There the President met several Russians who had been in the city before Alaska was sold to the United States in 1867. He also visited the Greek Catholic Cathedral and saw its art treasures. Then he bade good-bye to Governor Bone and other Alaskan officials, who had accompanied him throughout the Territory, and, setting foot once more on the Henderson, sailed southward, bound for Vancouver.