Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1885-10-24

/ uI6Cd6C HULL WulCu bACy LEANS
fever. The lever was imported to them
by the through herds on the trail over
the Cherokee strip and No Mans Land.
A MAN WITH A HISTORY.
Interview With an Old Hunter and Trap
per Who Saw Service In British America.
Times Democrat.
There is, at present, stopping in this
city, man with most eventful history.
His name is John G. Williams, and for
years he was in the employ of the Hud-
son Bay company, seeing hard service in
British America. By an unfortunate &C.
cident, he lost one of his eyes, and has
since become totally blind. Meeting Mr..
Williams yesterday, a mes-Democrat
reporter interviewed him on his event
full life. Mr.. Williams is pleasant con-
versationalist, and from what he stated
yesterday, the following brief account of
his hfe was obtained, dating from his
first venture in quest of gold:
John c. Williams left San Francisco in
the spring of 1869. to try his fortune,
with many others, in the Pease River
Bold mines in British America. Previous
to this he had been one of the many dis
appointed California miners, who turned
their attention to the gold fields of Aus
tralia after the placer mines of California
had been exhausted, and returned to
California nearly disheartened in his
search for treasure. When he reached
San Francisco, the fame of the Great
Frazier River and the Cariboo placer
mines had already attracted many 49ers
to British Columbia, and the glowing
accounts of the richness of the Pease
River placers, the "ignis fatuus" of many
gold hunters, led Mr.. Williams to try his
fortune in that distant and then I'M
known country. Mr.. Williams went by
steamer to Victoria, B. c., crossed the
Gulf of Georgia to the mouth of the Fra
zier River; from thence to Cariboo,
distance of over 500 miles, he was oblig.
ed to travel on foot, carrying his blank
cts and subsisting by hunting en- route.
During this part of the journey, which
was in the month of July, he suffered
greatly from the heat of the sun at mid.
day, while it was 80 cold at night that a
bucket of water placed in open air, would
freeze to the bottom before morning.
The mosquitoes also were such pests that
he was obliged to wear suit of buckskin,
in Guiding a mask, to protect himself
against their attack. at Cariboo he set
out for the Pease River mines, distance
of 800 miles northeast, encountering a
chain of lakes the entire distance. At
Pease River, after making two years
prospecting for GOLD, with more or less
success, generally the latter, he entered
the service of the Hudson Bay company
as trapper and miner. In the service of
this celebrated company, he crossed the
Rocky Mountain range to the eastward
through the great Pease River canyon,
which divides that range on its course to
the Arctic ocean. The current through
the canyon is so strong and the channel
so tortuous, that the largest trees are
broken into splinters in their passage.
Mr.. Williams followed Pease River to it's
mouth, at the Great Slave Lake, the
largest body of fresh water on the Amer
lean continent. During his travels for
the historical Hudson Bay company, Mr..
Williams visited many portions of Alaska,
and far enough east in British America
to encounter relics of the lamented Sir
John Franklin expedition, at Fort En-
terprise.
After serving the Hudson Bay compa-
ny as hunter and trapper for about eight
years, Mr.. Williams returned to the Pa
ciflc coast, by way of the Great Delor
River, to the head of the Stekeen river,
which empties into the Pacific at Fort
Wrangle, Alaska, passing on his journey
the great "Stekeen" glacier. the largest
in the known world. On the Stekcen
river, Mr.. Williams lost the sight of his
right eye, through the explosion of a
shotgun, and during the last year, the
sight of his left eye has entirely left him,
80 that he is totally blind. To recount
the personal experience of Mr.. Williams
in that distant land of snow, would re-
quire volume, and probably show acts
OF physical endurance and usefulness
equal to any that are recorded of our
own Arctic explorers, in whom 80 much
pride is taken.