The Daily Morning Astorian, of May 29, 1884 noted the arrival a famous visitor: 

• Lt. Frederick Schwatka, of Arctic fame, was among our morning visitors yesterday. He was full of emotion at the thought of leaving this moist clime for the land of the cactus and horned toad. He … will strike Arizona just in time to get the full benefit of the heat that parches that God-forsaken country. 

Note: Schwatka had “Arctic fame,” indeed, as documented in the 1881 book, “Schwatkaʼs search; Sledging in the Arctic in Quest of the Franklin Records,” by William H. Gilder. The illustrations shown are adapted from the book. 

On that particular occasion, Schwatka was looking for the missing Sir John Franklin Expedition (1845-1848), which set out to find the elusive Northwest Passage. He was unsuccessful, as was Franklin. The remains of two of the Franklin expedition ships weren’t found until about 10 years ago. There were no survivors.

Schwatka released his own book about his 1883 adventures in Alaska, “Along Alaska’s Great River,” in 1885. During that Army expedition, he worked on mapping and naming the Yukon river from its source to its mouth. 

According Yukon Nuggets, “The Canadian government was not aware of the expedition, and Schwatka was probably not aware that much of the region was, in fact, Canadian territory.”

Be that as it may, according to the National Park Service, Schwatka’s book “stimulated readers to the possibilities of Alaska.”

Frederick Schwatka died in 1892, at age 42, in Portland, of a reported accidental overdose of morphine. He is buried in Salem.