HERSCHEL CLIFFORD PARKER

9 July 1867-12 March 1944

In 1905 a kind fate led me to the smoking room of a westbound Canadian Pacific train.* The only occupant was a man whose physical and facial characteristics were so unusual that I was instantly drawn to him.

In the first meeting, which covered an hour of animated talk, I found that my fellow traveller’s name was Herschel C. Parker, that he was the head of the Department of Physics at Columbia University and that he possessed a fanatical zeal for difficult mountain ascents.

In subsequent meetings he stated that he was planning an expedition to climb a fabulous Alaskan mountain that had just come into popular ken through an article in the New York Times written by W. A. Dickey, a young Princeton graduate who had seen the great peak from the Susitna Valley and named it Mount McKinley. As I had seen the mountain from the Kenai Range and was familiar with conditions in Alaska, he asked me to join his venture. The chance meeting thus ripened into a friendship that carried us through many strange scenes and adventures and lasted until his death, 40 years later.

In attempting to enumerate his fine qualities and to list his achievements, I am forced by lack of space and factual data to confine my remarks in large part to the outdoor side of his life. His scientific achievements were real and important but due to his modesty and my own poor memory for dates and details, I lack the information necessary for listing them correctly. Suffice it to say that a detailed and authentic list of his varied activities would form a valuable and fascinating biography.

Herschel Parker’s love of mountainteering was awakened by early excursions to the White Mountains. He had an intimate knowledge of the range and in his long rambles along its crests and valleys began to exhibit the ability for speed and sustained effort that carried him over the difficult ascents of later years.

While of less than average weight, he combined a physical elasticity with a steadfast courage and a love for remote areas that led him irresistibly to the great mountains of the West. Under the tutelage of two famous Swiss guides, the Kaufmann brothers, he began his final training in climbing techniques and made first ascents of such redoubtable peaks as Deltaform, Hungabee and Lefroy in the Canadian Rockies. He was a member of the party on Mount Lefroy when Abbot lost his life.

In the early years little was known about the country surrounding the larger peaks, and most of the pioneering climbs consisted of explorations of high valleys and passes with packhorses or on foot. Following rushing torrents and penetrating canyons or strips of virgin forest brought to him a new and fascinating sensation. Exploration! Achievement based on mountaineering skill and knowledge, but far broader in its scope than the conquest of a single mountain.

The lure of traversing wild and unknown areas began to dominate his mind; and Mount McKinley, aloof in its far northern wilderness, became the lodestone that drew him.

His first expedition to Mount McKinley, in 1906, was attempted through the vast stretches of muskeg and forest that lay to the south of the Alaskan Range. While the party reached the southern icefields of the great mountain, the effort had expended too much time; but the difficulties overcome and the experience gained served only to whet his indomitable spirit.

Following his first Alaskan venture came a year of rest. In 1908, in company with the writer, a trip was made into the mountains of the Olympic Peninsula; and a first ascent of the highest peak, Mount Olympus, was successfully accomplished.

The summer of 1909 was spent in prospecting for gold among the fiords and glaciers of the Valdez region. Preparations for a second expedition to climb Mount McKinley were under way, and survival and travel techniques for glacier climbing were tried out and perfected.

The 1910 expedition accomplished several important things, but perhaps the most important to the cause of exploration was the securing of the evidence that ended the polar controversy. The controversy threatened to undermine the public faith which the great explorers had earned down the ages. Into this cause Herschel Parker threw himself with the selflessness of a crusader, and the complete establishment of the Peary Expedition’s claim to the sole discovery of the North Pole was due in no small part to his high- minded efforts.

The third attempt on Mount McKinley in 1912 was Herschel Parker’s last expedition into the Alaskan wilderness. On this climb, when only a few minutes’ walk from the goal he had given so much to reach, he was robbed of his dream by the elements. Napoleon said that no general was great until he had conducted a successful retreat. In defeat, Herschel Parker’s character shone the brightest. He knew that the attempt would be his last; and, as he turned his back on the mountain to begin the long journey to the Yukon, he said, “Perhaps I wanted it too much, but at least I had the privilege of trying.”

Despite the hardships he had endured, Alaska was in his blood; and for several years he threw in his lot with the northern prospectors and worked at new discoveries in the Talkeetna region south of Mount McKinley. During his last years he lived in southern California, where he labored on experiments in locating and isolating precious metals.

Herschel Parker was a member of many clubs and societies, but those that he loved best were those where he could meet informal groups of active men such as gather at the Explorers or American Alpine Clubs, or the Salmagundi. He was a devoted and loyal member for many years of The Fresh Air Club, which consisted of a group of men who made weekly walks through the rough hills of New Jersey or clambered among the rocky walls of the Hudson River.

Back of a slightly austere manner lay a great capacity for friendship. His aid to less fortunate friends was constant. Many people will remember him with affection and gratitude.

He was a collector of note and possessed many objects of rarity and beauty. These he donated to museums during his last years. His interests ranged from art and archeology to exploration and scientific research.

The towering snow slope over which men pass to the summit of Mount McKinley bears his name. Few men possess a grander headstone.

He died at Los Angeles, Calif., on 12 March 1944. He was buried in Inglewood Cemetery. B. B.

[Herschel Clifford Parker was one of the original members of the American Alpine Club. Further biographical data may be found in J. Monroe Thorington, “American Alpine Club Annals. Part I,” A.A.J., VI, 109-111.—Ed.].

*Reprinted, with the permission of the editor, from The Explorers Journal, Autumn 1946-Winter 1947.