Hudson Stuck (November 11, 1863 – October 10, 1920) with Harry P. Karstens co-led the first expedition to successfully climb the South Peak of Mount McKinley.
Stuck, an Episcopal Archdeacon, was born in London and graduated from King's College London. He died of pneumonia in Fort Yukon, Alaska.
The Ascent of McKinley
Stuck, Karstens, R. G. Tatum, Walter Harper, Johnny, and Esaias departed from Nenana on March 17, 1913. They reached the summit of McKinley on June 7, 1913. Walter Harper, an Alaska Native, reached the summit first.
The party made atmospheric measurements at the peak of the mountain for purposes of determining its elevation. At the summit, their aneroid barometer read 13.175 inches, their boiling-point thermometer read 174.9 degrees, their mercurial barometer read 13.617 inches. The alcohol minimum recording thermometer read 7 °F. These measurements, with others taken at Fort Gibbon and Valdez, were reduced by C. E. Griffin, Topographic Engineer of the United States Geological Survey, to produce an elevation for Denali of 20,384 feet. The figure quoted by the National Park Service in 2005 is 20,320 feet.
"The tent-pole was used for a moment as a flagstaff while Tatum hoisted a little United States flag he had patiently and skillfully constructed in our camps below out of two silk handkerchiefs and the cover of a sewing-bag. The pole was put to its permanent use. It had already been carved with a suitable inscription, and now a transverse piece, already prepared and fitted, was lashed securely to it and it was planted on one of the little snow turrets of the summit - the sign of our redemption, high above North America." (from Ascent of Denali, page 105)
Books by Hudson Stuck
Stuck, Hudson, D.D., Archdeacon of the Yukon (1988). The Ascent of Denali, The 1913 Expedition that First Conquered Mt. McKinley. (reprinted by)Wolfe Publishing Co., Inc., 6471 Airpark Drive, Prescott, Arizona, 86301. ISBN 0-935632-69-7.
Stuck, Hudson D.D., F.R.G.S., Archdeacon of the Yukon (1988). Ten Thousand Miles with a Dog Sled. (reprinted by)Wolfe Publishing Co., Inc., 6471 Airpark Drive, Prescott, Arizona, 86301. ISBN 0-935632-66-2.
References
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