(Look Back with Bob Enoch - Photo Illustration - MetroCreativeConnection)

EDITOR’S NOTE: This column includes reproductions of historical newspaper excerpts and labels, and as such contains a description of people that is understood to be outdated and would not be used in such items today.

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The events of the aborted 1897 trek to Alaska by Parkersburg gold-seekers continues. Last week the lives of the four men who returned to Parkersburg were told. The “rest of the story” about the Camden boys, Rolla and Ritchie (Dick) and Bernie can best be told in the following, undated news article. Bernie was not a gold-seeker. He was aboard a Revenue Cutter that had rescued his brothers, whose ship had sunk early on their journey to the Yukon. The newspaper headline read:

“WON NATIONAL RECOGNITION – Bernie Was Member of Volunteer Crew Making Perilous Trip Into

Arctic – Dick Coached Man in Military Tactics Who Captured Aguinaldo in War with Spain.

“Among the members of the Camden family of Parkersburg who have made history along with old Sen. Johnson N. Camden, was Lieut. Bernie H. Camden who was a member of a crew which carried food and succor to starving persons aboard several whaling vessels frozen near Point Barrow in the Arctic Ocean, thus saving the lives of 265 [persons] back in 1897-98. A member of the Revenue Cutter Service, Bernie Camden was the first to come forward when volunteers were requested.

“Being the northernmost point of Alaska, well up in the Arctic Circle and reached only by the Bering Straits which separate North America from Asia, Point Barrow is difficult to reach in any season.

“Though little hope was held for doing anything for the crews, an expedition finally was decided upon and the U.S. Revenue Cutter “Bear” was prepared – the same vessel since used by Rear Admiral Richard E. Byrd in his Antarctic explorations [and the same vessel that had rescued his brothers a few months earlier].

“Prepared and fitted out, the ‘Bear’ sailed out of Seattle, November 27, 1897. It was not until 10 months later she returned with the crews of the whaling vessels safe.

“During the rescue it was necessary to travel overland on foot driving reindeer ahead for food. Over 1,500 miles was traveled in this fashion with the thermometer between 45 and 60 degrees below zero.

“Lieut. Camden, though the first to volunteer, remained with the ship, his services being required in the handling of it during the worst part of the Arctic winter, and some of his experiences were even more harrowing than those of the deer herders.

“Ritchie (Dick) Camden, in Seattle at the same time, was so anxious to go that he undertook to stowaway in his brother’s cabin, but he slipped on an icy plank and broke his leg. With his presence on board disclosed, he was interned in a Seattle hospital.

“Ritchie aided his country in another fashion. It was he who was given credit for guiding the early training in military tactics of Admiral Frederick Funston, one of the four admirals from West Virginia who served in the war with Spain.

“Dr. Rolla Camden. – Both brothers of Lieut. Camden came close to being members of the expedition. Dr. Rolla Camden was selected as surgeon, but believing he had an opportunity for a round-the-world cruise on another vessel, he declined. The other trip didn’t materialize so he lost out on both.

“Rolla was born in 1872 at Weston, W.Va., a son of Dr. Thomas and Susan Holt Camden. He was the only one of the Alaskan gold-seekers who lived out his life in Parkersburg. Like his father, he too, was a practicing physician. Rolla Camden died in August of 1940.”

Rolla left evidence behind of his Alaskan venture. In 2010, while visiting the Blennerhassett Museum with a grandson and viewing the famous Stahl Collection housed in the lower level, my grandson said, “Pap, here’s something about Rolla Camden!” Inside the showcase were six items with the caption, 6 Eskimo Alaskan Arrow Shafts, presented by Dr. Rolla Camden.

Older readers of Look Back who attended PHS will recall that for decades the Stahl Collection was housed in a hallway there. This collection, now in the lower level at the Blennerhassett Museum, is a “national treasure.” I would encourage everyone to revisit it.

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Bob Enoch is president of the Wood County Historical and Preservation Society. If you have comments or questions about Look Back items, please contact him at: roberteenoch@gmail.com, or by mail at WCHPS, PO Box 565, Parkersburg, WV 26102.