The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1893-08-25
FROM FRED FUNSTON.
(Continued from First Page.

AOOftttHUCU .JfObS Z "ot N3NV
had only one day of the fair wind,
and the next two days were spent in
pulling our loads through the soft
snow that covered the ice of Tagish
lake. This lake is connected with
lake Marsh by stream five miles long
known as the Tagish river. Although
the ice along the banks was It'll in
place and several feet thick, it had
gone out in the middle of the stream
and a strong current was running.
After dragging our sleds over the ice
on the river bank for about four miles
we came upon a small party of miners
bound for the interior who had left
juneau earlier in the spring and had
stopped here to build their boats be-
fore proceeding further down the riv-
er. Although boats built here would
have to be transported over two more
frozen lakes, we determined to follow
the example of the others, being told
that the timber here was better for
that purpose than could be found else
where. The snow lay about two feet
deep in the forest, but we shOveled
out space sufficient for the tents, cut
some spruce bOughs for carpet, and
were fairly well fixed. sThis was the
first time that l had my coat or boots
off since leaving the coast ten days
before. / record these little incidents
for the prayerful consideration of two
or three good people not thousand
miles from lola who insinuated that
my trip to the Yukon was a sort OF
junket or senatorial funeral. There
may be oceans of fun in working i'm
harness like a mule for fourteen hours
day and sleeping out in snow drifts
at night, but my sense of humor has
been so dulled that / cannot appre-
ciate it,
The tools that we had brought with
us for bodybuilding consisted of a
whip-saw, an instrument resembling
a crOss-cut saw except that the teeth
all point in the same direction, an axe,
hand-saw, plane, Ratchet and some
nails. The raw material that we had
to work with consisted of a very large
forest of medium sized spruce trees.
A bout this time one of our party con-
cluded to prospect on another part OF
the river and so Joined another outfit
that was in camp here, leaving three
of us to build the boat.
We first constructed "sow-pit," a
heavy scaffolding about ten feet high,
and then telling two good trees, cut
from each log twenty feet long, roll
ing these by means of skids onto the
pit. Two men worked at the whip
saw, one standing on top of the pit
and drawing the saw up, the other
standing on the ground and pulling
it down. | worked OH the ground
and the other two took turns with
each other working on top, each OF
those on top resting every half hour,
thew having harder work than the
one OH the ground. We rose every
morning at five o'clock and began
work at six, and kept it up until six
in the evening. At the end of five
days we had pile of boards twenty
feet long, ten inches wide and three
quarters of an inch thick. Now be-
gan the serious work of building a
boat that could run the many rapids
Of the Yukon, and strike rock at
full speed without splitting open.
never was much OF a carpenter, my
only experience in that line consisting
i'm once having fallen off from our
house with a bundle of shingles, but
one of our party had served an ap-
premiership at thefrade, and was the
only one of us who could hit a nail
twice without hitting his thumb once
But we got along, and in a week more
our craft was completed, twenty feet
long, thirty inches deep. twenty-siX
inches wide at the bottom and foul
feet and a half at the top, and fitted
with mast and large sail, two pairs
0f aud cfnnrinn nQhHln Tho
matter of name troubled us. We
knew she must be speedy boat and
should have ALI appropriate name
Various things reputed to be rapid
yachts, actresses and race-horseS, were
discussed, but we finally agreed, and
NANCY Hanks" was penciled on hel
bows in honor of the famous little
trotter.
But my letter is long enough al.
ready, and i must leave the story OF
the balance of the trip to some future
time. If there is another opportunity
to send mail out later in the summer
and there probably will be, L shall
give an account of the cruise of the
"Nancy Hanks" of how we carried
the boat for fifty-two miles over the
frozen surfaces of lakes Marsh and
Iabarge, of how we rode her through
that terror of the Yukon, the dreaded
Mules Canon, and ''lived," through
the White Horse Rapids, and then OF
the long, cloudless days that we rowed
and drifted down the Yukon, until f.
nally on the 23rd of May, jest forty
two days after leaving the coast, we
reached the Alaskan Commercial
Company's" trading post at the mouth
of Forty-Mile Creek, the lOnesomest
place under the stars and stripes,
where the mail comes once year,
where it is daylight all summer and
night all winter.
FRED FUNSTON.
McQueston's Post, Yukon River, AL
aska, May ., 1893.