EXPLORERS IN PERIL

Greymouth Evening Star, 10 November 1934, Page 3

EXPLORERS IN PERIL

MOTOR CARS WASHED AWAY The spectacular destruction of three' of the Bedaux French expedition’s caterpillar cars and the narrow escape of nine members of the expedition from probable death was detailed in a message from Fort St. John, 700 miles north of Vancouver, to which spot it was carried by despatch riders from Caribou Ridge, near Sifton Pass, high on the backbone of the Rocky Mountains, says the Vancouver correspondent of the New Zealand Herald. Two of the cars were demolished when they plunged down a mountainside, over a 300-foot cliff and into the raging waters of the Halfway River. Another was lost when it floated away on a raft with which the expedition was attempting to cross the same river. The other two were abandoned and the party of 15 proceeded with pack-horses. “Our caterpillars have been thoroughly beaten by the weather,” the message said. “July and August are normally the dry season in this country, hut we have had rains 31 days out of the last 37. Streams that ordinarily would be fordable have become raging torrents. When we reached the Halfway River, above the Grahame River, we found it a ragingfury. We attempted to avoid a crossing by skirting a mountain, but the rain-soaked earth gave way beneath two of our cars, plunging them down the mountainside over a 300 ft cliff on to the rocks in the bed of the torrent. The three occupants of each car leaped just in time.

“The Halfway Rive) 1 later claimed another car while we were attempting to transport, the expedition across on a raft of 35ft spruce logs, supported by rubber pontoons. The raft broke away; three members of the expedition leaped overboard and swam to safety. For all we know, car No. 4 and the unsinkable raft are now floating down the Peace River, headed for tho Mackenzie and the Arctic Ocean.” Mr. Q. Bedaux reported that several of the expedition’s horses have been drowned or lost through injuries, and that valuable food supplies, especially sugar and salt, had been ruined in swimming the pack animals across streams. With 32 persons, more than 100 horses and the caterpillar cars, the expedition set forth early in July from Edmonton and headed for Telegraph Creek, British. Columbia, 1000 miles west.

The objective was to discover a passage through the upper Canadian Rockies to gather valuable meteorological and mineralogical data. The leader of the expedition was Mr. Bcdaux, a wealthy sportsman.