The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-11-07
Sunday TRAMP IN THE YUKON.
Ono or the Party or Ten Tells or Its Perils
and Misery.

SAN FRANCISCO, Nov. 1.-The day before the
Excelsior. ~ hich reached San Francisco a few
days ago. left st. Michael, ten tired, dirty, be-
draggled men limped and tumbled into that
settlement with q tale OF hardships endured in
trying to get out of the Yukon country much
worse than any told of those trying to get into
the land Of gold. One of the ten was John F.
Miller of Seattle, nephew of Gen. John F.
Miller who was once United States Senator
from California and once president of the Alaska
Commercial Company.
There was an old fellow up at Dawson" said
Mr.. Miller. as he told of his hundrcd.mile walk
down tho river. "who used to say that, in after
years when no should take his grandchildren
on his knee and tell them of his life on the
Yukon, If they didn't got right down on the
floor apd cry cry he'd lambaste hell out OF them.
and l sympathize perfectly with his feelings.
"We had oxpecte to come out on the Bella,
and when she lid not re urn down the river We
came on to Capt. Bill Moore's place. ITO miles
from st. Michael, where we found the stream
frozen over. and decided to walk across coun.
try. We had ten white men in our party
and seven Indians. One Of the men was
William Moran, O Seattle shipbuilder; an
other was @. @. Bruce, q well.known yachts.
man of San Francisco, and a man with plenty
of money; q third was 7. II. Steenson. q
lao - ~" ASASSS "AobhAoa
was Charles Harrison. who has made a big
stake at Dawson, but was not trying to bring
anything out with him, and the rest were men
with enough money to mako themselves COM
tortabl Q wherever comforts can DO bought. We
had only a few blankets and barely enough pro-
visions for the trip. We walked over the frozen
sloughs with the ice cracking under us at every
step. Sometimes we had TO lie fiat on our stom-
OF US, in order to keep the ice from giving way
under our weight, We knew that II any one of
T %ss went through that would iii,t DC TIE ~ END OF him IN
out. Mr.. Bruce gave out the first day. and we
divided his load among the others and helped
"The first night We slept In an abandoned
Eskimo winter house that was full of mice and
sleep much. because the moment We dropped of
the mice began nibbling at our noses and run;
In h,~ one of the Inhabited Eskimo Houses and It
was a million times worse than he other. There
were seventeen of US and ten Eskinos crowded
hold us, and Without a breath Of fresh air, and
with all the bad smells imaginable, reeking off
suffocsted ali night long, and the next night We
took TO tho open. II was storming, and, bitter,
among u.s. and we were so near freezing that we
were afraid 70 sleep, tS we 81 ssu no9 Sa and crsps
going in nI the tight direction. and on the second
day after this first night we slept out. William
Moran gave out, He was a man Of fine, pluck.
could scarcely get hin along. He would stun.
BILE and fall In his tracks. and before we could
reach him he would BIO asleep from exhaustion.
Much OF the time that day we had to carry him
In our arms. Nearly all day there was an awful
storm OF bowling wind and snow and rain and
every one OF us was wet to the skin. But we
kept right on as rapidly us We could make our
way across the tundra, and when night came
we crawied into the shelter of a lake bank and
made u tire. We gave Moran our last cup Of
tea, but he was 80 III that his stomach could not
retain it. We had run out OF provisions and
had left only a fapjack and a silver Of bacon for
group and ali huddled around, him. trying to
keep him warm through the night;
alt was u sOrry.Iooking crowd that left that
camp the ne4t morning. We didn't know where
We We're, or II we were going In the right direc-
ton. or how soon we'd have TO lie down and die
OF exhaustion and starvation: But we drew up
our shoulders and started on. The weather was
not quite SO cold as i had been; IL was warm
out OF the sky. You can imagine what our feel
ings were when we reached the top @ the frat
| hill and saw 81. Michael below us. We were six
days travelling that ITO miles and Wouldn't
4 doit again for all the gold In Alaska