Santa Fe daily New Mexican., 1897-12-23

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we saw and reserved our impressions
for future conversation. But when we
saw the one legged man one of the boys
said:
Well, I wonder how he got over
cat Crater lake we saw man with
a small boat The wind was blowing
very hard, and we asked him if he
would take us across. He said No We
\ insisted that he should take us. NO,
7 he said, mot for $100. I am tired.
$50 we crawled into a tent and had
some coffee From Crater lake to Long
lake is three miles. The trail goes over
a succession Of small hills. When you
get to the top of one, you see the top of
the next one. If you are carrying a
pack, it is very tiresome, but part of
the way there is stretch Of sandy soil
We were ferried across Long lake. The
ferryman charged a cent pound for
freight, and some fellows made 500 a
day in the rush. The Indians never take
the ferry. They just keep ON walking
Between Long lake and Deep lake there
is a little portage, perhaps quarter of
mile. At Deep lake we met fellow
coming in with boat. We asked him
if he would take us across. He said No,
bat we could take his boat for So and
leave it on the other side. We took it.
When we got to the end Of Deep lake,
we were only az miles from Linde-
man, but the trail was SO bad we con-
cluded to camp where we were.
1.-The next morning we went down to
Lindeman and met some people that
we knew. We met man who was car
rying a pack that he said weighed 60
pounds. He told me that he himself
weighed 1877 pounds. He was a stenog-
rapher and typewriter. He weighed
1l5 pounds when he started, he sald
but had picked up 10 pounds carrying
that pack around. He kept up with us
easily.
"At Lindeman everything was busy,
although it was late in the season. 1t
was the last week in September when
we were there. All the men were work
ing on their boats. l believe there were
about 30 boats in the course Of construc-
tion. Some were very we'll made, but
some were decidedly lopsided. The
average boat was about 20 feet long
and 4 Or feet beam and would carry a
tremendous load. Some fellows who
build boats at Lindeman offered to
build me one for from $275 to $3.50 Pas.
sage to Dawson City was offered to me
for 500. Oakum and pitch were very
scarce. At one time oakum brought as
high as $40 pound. People were very
anxious to get off, and there was no
oakum to calk the boats.
"They say from Dyea to Lindeman is
20 miles and fraction, but my impress
sion is that it is good deal farther.
think the % miles is the distance up to
the summit. l believe it is 35 miles
from Dyea to Lindeman. know l had
been told that from Dyea to Sheep
Camp was 10 miles, and when l got
there | was under tho impression that
Lindeman was only eight miles away,
morning until dark to get to the foot Of
Deep lake, which is still two and halt
miles from Lindeman lido not consider
it at all a hard trip to make if you have
nothing to pack. OF course it is not easy
walking, and you have to make your
distances.
1t was at Pleasant Camp that we
had our most curious experience with
Indian packers. The bridge had been
washed away, and we couldn't get
across Some Indians had waded across
with their packs, and we asked them
to carry us for the usual price of fer
riage, 80 cents. We had low shoes and
couldn't wade. But they wanted So
apiece, SO we went along up the river
and found a log and got across.
Most Of the trail is very desolate.
The first sight of timber that we got
was just before we got to Lake Linde-
man, and that was only miserable little
scrub evergreens. Over the summit the
miners have to pack stuff to build their
fires to cook over Around Lindeman
and from Deep lake on the timber is
fine little way back from the shore.
On the whole, the trail was in much
better condition and was much less diff.
cult than had believed it to be. We
saw good many men who had reached
middle life and who had done nothing
but Office work and who were totally
unfit for the hard labor they. were per-
forming and for the great change il
their manner of living, but man ac.
customed to hard labor would not find
it at all difficult. A great many over
work themselves at the start trying to
do too much and do not look after their
personal comfort sufficiently in prepar,
ing their food and selecting place for
their shelter. New York Sun.