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| Leonidas Hubbard 1872-1903 |
It was at this spot, at the junction of Susan Brook and Goose Creek, that Leonidas Hubbard made the difficult yet sound decision to remain behind while Dillon Wallace and George Elson made a desperate attempt to reach the flour they had cached three months earlier and make it to a trapper's cabin on Grand Lake for help.
On October 18, 1903, Hubbard wrote these words in his journal: "I am not suffering. The acute pangs of hunger have given way to indifference. I'm sleepy. I think death from starvation is not so bad. But let no one suppose I expect it. I am prepared that is all, I think the boys will be able, with the Lord's help, to save me."
His companions reached the three-to-four pound lump of greenish-black moldy flour but Wallace became lost in the blinding snow on his way back up Susan Brook and was unable to locate the spot pictured above. Elson would make it to Donald Blake's cabin, and a four man search party would find Wallace but when they reached Hubbard's camp it was too late. Exhaustion and starvation had claimed the life of this intrepid explorer.