The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-08-24

and detailed information about the coun-
try, but what little there was | had. 1t was
all blind chance, so far as / was con-
cerned, barring the fact that some Of the
books said there was gold In Alaska for the
mere finding. 1t did not take long for me
to conclude that the books were all wrong.
| 1t looked for about six months that il
would be great luck If we got out with only
THE trip from Juneau TO Dyea was made
! In small boat The weather was bad. The
waves ran over the little thing, filing 1t
with water almost as fast as all hands
! could bail it out. This was a mighty hard
| hundred miles, but it was a patch of roses
| in comparison with what came few days
| later
"Dyea was nothing but dock and few
| Indian huts. Charles Fifer, wanderer from
| Wisconsin, was in the settlement, and when
! told him what | was going to do he con-
| Guided to take hand in the game. My
| baggage contained enough food for two
| years. tools which would be needed in case
we wanted a boat and a miners outfit.
| There was but little traffic over the noun
| tain at that time and the Indians were Sc
cured at a reasonable rate to do the pack
ing. We started.
1T went ali right for the first two days,
| the only danger being in crossing raVnes
! and crevices filled with snow. The third
| day ii snOWed-snowed as it SHOWS no other
! place but In Alaska. No one can tell or i'm
| agine its terribleness. 1t is not possible
! to see your hand at arms length. There is
! nothing to do but TO get on the lee side
| Of drift roll up in blankets and rest on
| the seds until the tempest passes. A tent
is whipped into shreds in a minute or sent
| tearing into the canyons. A fire was out of
| the question, and we ate canned meats that
were frozen solid.
THE sides of the mountains and glaciers
| are so steep that IN many places all stout
| man can handle is 100 pounds There are
! days in which five miles is a good record
| The way they do is to take part of the sup
| plies about five miles ahead and leave them
| on the side of the trail while they go back
| for the rest. There is not a minute from
| Dyea to Lake Linderman when man is
not more likely to die or be killed than he
| is to get along.
FACED DEATH EITHER WAY.
I'VE were caught in another snowstorm
in the middle of Crater lake. The ice was
| beginning to break up. 1t was full Of air
| holes. There was constant danger that we
would plunge into one of these if we went
! ahead, and al great danger that we would
| be showed under if we camped. 1t was al
| most a faCe-to-face proposition with death,
and no one-not even an Indian-slept dur
ing that night. The next morning the ice
began breaking up, and we were constantly
lodging big cracks and heaving our sled
| over heaps.
| Slowly we worked along, not able to use
| the compass and trusting only to the gen
| eral information we had from the Indians
! that we were on the road to reach the
| Yukon. They did not know anything about
| the gold mines and all they did know was
| that in thirty or forty days we might pos
| sibly get to our destination. 1t was no gilt
| tering prospect, l can tell you, and just as
| we were pretty we'll tuckered out and be-
| ginning to wonder if 1t was worth while
| we came across the bodies of two men
who had died by the wayside
| we met some prOSpectOrs as we got near
| Lake Bennett. They were out of food and
were living off the meat they had made of
| their dogs. We did not have any more than
we would need but what can you do when
| men come to you with a plea that they are
| starving. Flour in that country was worth
| $50 for fifty pounds, but it had no price with
WTPtChRS
! thinned down to skeletons. They were go
| ing back. l never heard whether they got
| out or not.
| Lake Bennett was where we built our
| boat. The Indians brought down the logs,
| while ! sawed them into boards and then
! built our ship. man named Van Wagner
| Joined US here and went through the game.
| He was a lawyer in Seattle but he was
made of the right stuff. Our ship was
| about thirty feet long and six feet wide,
| and it was put together to stay. 1t wasn't
very pretty to look at, but l guess it would
| have held it's own against anything this side
1T was beginning to break up in the
| spring and it was much easier sailing than
it had been shedding This lake is about
| thirty miles long. We got over it in three
| days. without accident. 1t was, however,
| only the calm before the storm since when
| we drifted into Lake TaguS all the furies
| on earth and under it were let loose. 1t
| blew so hard l really thought the earth
almost a foot at a time, coming down in
great sheets and emptying itself into the
| boat. We only went three miles in two
| days and were glad of that. The snow
| covered up the holes in the ice. and time
| and again we sank into the ice water up to
| our necks. 1t was part shedding and part
| sailing, and every minute liable to be the
| last.
THE Tagus Indians have a post at the
| bottom of this lake. and we stopped day
| with them, eating large quantities Of frozen
| cariboo, which sickening in it's filth
/ but nourishing after one got 1T down. 1t
seemed a IS If we were eating twice much
| as we did at home. | tell you | pity the
| men who have started to the Klondike this
! year when / read the supplies they have
| taken. They will run short before they get
| halfway. There is no hope for them; 1t is
| likely those who go next spring will find
| rows OF white boards on both sides of the
| trail They are gone.
Mud lake easy. 1t is about twenty
| miles long The day we reached it the sun
| was shining nicely and started out to
| in ten hours. but there were never three
men on earth tired as were-Fifer, Van
| Wagner and myself We lay down that
| night with no tent but the sky, tucked up
| in our blankets. in the midst of a scene
| which had nothing in Ii but ice, snow and
| water. IT cold 1t wouldn't have
| done an ordinary thermometer much good
| to have tried to guess 1t. We dined, as
| usual on bacon and pancakes.
| eff there was danger up to this point,
| then Lewis river is fire and birthstone. 1t
| was like making trip over Niagara Falls.
| In the places where 1T is smooth the cur
| rent is at least seven miles an hour, and
| in the places where 1t is rough it runs
| forty miles an hour If an inch 1t is filled
| with big rocks some of which stick up in
SIGHT. others of which stay just below the