Walker Lake bulletin. (Hawthorne, Nev.) 1883-1926, 1895-09-25
UNFIT FOR MAN.
Land of Dismal Swamps, Gnats
and Mosquitoes.
A MANS POOR OPINION OF ALASKA.
The High Prices and Short Summers
Make 1t an Undesirable Home
for Most People.
A MANS POOR OPINION OF ALASKA.

the following: Fred A. Fay, one o
the Seattle men who went to Alasks
last spring to try their luck in tn,
Yukon placer mines, is not enamoref
with the country. A friend in Spo
kane has received letter from him
dated at Deadwood Creek, Alaska, in
which he says:
"Here l am lying in my tent. July
13, chewing spruce gum. Bacon and
beans always did give me the heart
burn and gum acts as an antidote.
Well, God hates a coward. so am go.
ing to tell you the truth, the whole
truth and nothing but the truth, sc
help me God. In the first place Alaska
is the most barren. Godforsaken spot
that the sun has ever shone on, and il
there ever was place on this earth
that wasn't intended to live in this is
it. Words utterly fail to express ones
contempt for this country, who has
had the misfortune to see it.
"The work that one must perform
to exist at all is the work of animals,
rather than men; it is one vast
swamp, thousands of miles in extent.
covered with moss and frozen to un-
known depths. The only resources
the country has are the fur-bearing
animals, and the natives are the ones
allowed to trap them. Five dollars of
gold has been brought in here to every
dollar taken out of the mines. There
are only two sections today that are
being worked, one is Forty Mile Creek
and very few tributaries to it,such as
Miller and Glacier Greeks, and Mas
todon, Independence and Deadwood
Creeks. near Circle City, the two sec-
tions being $50 miles apart. Now
there were about ten of them that paid
more than wages, and about five men
went out with from $4,000 to $780,
900; twenty-five men went out with
from $1,000 to $4,000; 100 made
enough to buy grub for the winter and
500 more went broke.
"Now this section is so new-only
struck last fall-that it is hard to say
Just what it will turn out, but every
claim is opened up some. So far they
are only grub stake, and far poorer
than Forty Mile. Now that is the
extent of the mining in this part of
Alaska, with the exception of working
bars on the rivers, paying 81 to $5 per
day. which is only half wages.
The working season is about go or
70 days, and one is lucky if he gets in
half of them. The wages are $40 per
day. and one can save more, outside. at
81. so per day than here at SO. Bacon
is 80 cents per pound, beans 30 cents,
flour $24 per sack, salt $3.50 for TO-
pound sack. and so on; 40 cents per
pound of this is for freight from Circle
City to the mines, about 100 miles.
You will see that it doesn't take long
to eat up hundred dollars worth of
the grub. We are still eating Seattle
groceries and have enough to last us
till we get out, about the middle of
We are out of sugar.
and it costs 40 cents per pound. l
don't know how much we shall order.
L
beans and bacon worse than ever.
AS to the weather, never saw finer.
No rain, scarcely, and sun all the time
22 hours of the day. You can hardly
believe that for two months we have
had broad daylight "a hours every day.
We work nights here as much as days;
in fact. we have no nights; the moon
does not have chance to get in it's
work; by and by the moon will have
it all to do. Oh, the country is so
strange and wild; now the heavens are
all right in the summer, but the earth.
oh, my! The trails are through dismal
swamps, with water foot deep. and
it means that one has to
be covered with cheese cloth and long
gloves. You can form no conception
of this terrible plague; to sleep is out
of the question. They disappear
about the 1st of August. then the black
gnat comes-ten times worse than the
mosquitoes. and then the cold weather
comes-60 to 70 degrees below zero.
AS one of the boys who came in with
us Said, IF God would forgive me for
coming in here this time he would
never do SO again. Oh. it is terrible
country for a, human being to stay in.
and if space would permit me l would
tell YOU more about it. The
chances of making a raise here are
about one in hundred.
"Most every one here keeps from one
to five dogs, which are used for hauling
sleds in winter. In summer they are
not used nor fed, because food costs toe
much, and they go around every ones
tent and steal anything they see; they
will grab pot and run off with it, TIL
it over and eat the contents; they viii
eat boots and gloves and socks and dish
rags. Oh, how they do annoy us
every one has to build high platform
in the trees and put everything ON it
and often the dogs get in on them, ant