The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-10-29
ON THE WHITE PASS TRAIL.
A Hard Road to Travel for Both
Horses and Men.
Harper's Weekly.

horses ana Men,
Harper's Weekly.
Leaving the river the trail leads on for
some two miles. Tents have been met with
scattered along the way, and one is never
out of sight of men coming OR going. Now
suddenly a sight meets the eye. The space
between the tree trunks has been cleared
away, and the whole place is filled with
tents, on both sides of the trail, side by
side, only few feet apart, and extending
back the width of the valley, which is here
quite narrow. The men have set up their
stoves and hung out hundreds of pounds of
bacon, and the air is laden with the savory
smell of smoking meat and the camp fires;
for it is evening. and the men are returning
from the trail. Weary horses are eating hay
and oats alongside tarpauln-covered piles
There are fifty or sixty tents in all,
crowded together in small space, and the
roadway between is packed smooth hum
dredS of feet. There are more women here,
ard one is baking biscuit and selling them
hot for 20 cents dozen. Every one we talk
with is cutting down weight. Once through
the tents, the wagon road stops, and then
what seems to be only foot-trail makes
up the steep mountain siia We hitch our
horses here and proceed on foot. This is the
trail. This is the hill, and the crowds of
tents and men make the town at the 'fcot
OF the hill" 1t is the resting spot before
the struggle. To convey an idea of the mill
one must have recourse to illustration, and
/ can find none more apt than that used
by one who has been over the trail: I'm
agine a mountain of goods boxes, some of
of tents" Imagine them piled in a rough
mass cover them with moss and black loan
and trees, with rillS of water tricking down
among them. The goods boxes are granite
powders; their outer surfaces protrude
from the mass, hard and bare. but nature
has covered the rest with rich vegetation
The path-if indeed 1t can be called one
twists and turns and worms it's way from
ledge to ledge and between the masses of
powders. Here a tree has been cut down
and we Chamber over it's stump. There a
corduroy bridge lifts one over brook. Men
with stout alpenstocks and with packs pain,
fully struggle upward stopping now ana
again for rest 1t has been comparatively
dry for day, and the trail is said not to
be so bad. Between the powders II has
packed fairly well, and but for its steep
ness would be called a good path. We as
cended distance OF several hundred rect
not quite to the summit we are told On
every ledge and bench tents are set up
or piles of sacks, so near the path that one
can reach out ones hand and touch them.
Men in from the days work are cooking
or reclining beside their goods. Their rifles
are in easy reach. Pilfering has been go
ing on here too. and the men who are lying
by their goods will shoot at sight. "A string
Z. horses and mules is returning down the
hill and we see now the difference III horses.
The lank, big, clumsy horse IS In danger
at every step. He comes TO a Crop-om, lifts
with a groan, and trusts to chance for his
hind feet to find a footing. He strikes a
sioping rock, founders for a fOOth0ld, and
down he goes sideways and rolls over. A
string of several dozen went past but none
did actually fall. The little cayuse, how
where every foot is placed. One cayuse got
out OF the train and came to pitch-off OF
ten or-twe3ye feet. We looked to see Il break
its neck. but Il simply put its head down,