The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-09-19
TORRENTS FED BY GLACIERS
RAIN, SLEET, SNOW AND A PIERCING
EXPERIMENTATION GALE.
Secretary Alger's Efforts to Prevent
"A Hard Problem Solved

uiy gave out copy OIL Il most SrdpnlC tSt-
ter on the terrors of the trip across Alaska
to the Klondike gold fields. The letter had
just been received from Samuel c. Dunham,
statistical expert of the governments De-
partment Of Labor, who has been assigned
by Commissioner Wright to make an in
vestigation of the opportunities which the
gold regions in the Yukon valley and adj
joining territory afford for the remunera-
tive employment of American labor and
capital The letter, which is dated Lake
Linderman. Alaska, Aug. 26 follows:
"Sir-I left Dyea Monday morning at IL
o'clock and arrived here Tuesday evening
at z. My four Indians started ahead of
me, but have seen nothing of them since
the start from Dyea and am waiting for
them here. When reached the foot of the
summit terrible storm was raging on the
pass, and presume the Indians went into
camp somewhere on the other side to await
better weather.
''It has been storming and raining and
showing alternately constantly on the sum-
nit since Tuesday morning, and the situa-
tion is aggravated by a piercing wind OF
thirty miles velocity. / had an awful ex-
perience coming across the summit.
started out with my handbag strapped on
my back, thinking that as it weighed only
forty pounds l would carry 1t. I managed
to struggle along to the head Of navigation
for canoes, six miles from Dyea, and was
there forced to employ an Indian packer,
paying him $40 to carry my grip to Sheep
camp, twelve miles from Dyea. spent the
night at Sheep camp, which is merely a
collection of tents, and started for the sum-
NIT at O'Clock Tuesday morning in a
drizzling. cold rain. I employed packer
m carry my grin from fhara IN Talxo lin
derman, paying him $16. AT the foot of the
summit we met perhaps a hundred Indian
and white packers. who had cached their
packs on the trail above and were return
ing to Sheep camp to await an abatement
of the storm. We were. warned that IL
was dangerous to attempt to get over. but
as the wind was blowing the way we were
going we decided to go ahead, as | felt
sure my packers had gone on and wished
to be here when they arrived
A DANGEROUS PLACE.
1.-THE distance from the foot of the summit
to the top is said to be three quarters of a
mile but it seems like five miles. The trail
ascends at an angle Of IS degrees, skirting
precipices where a false step would hurl
one thousand feet below, crossing the
face of glaciers as smooth as glass; and in
many places traversing the polished surface
of great granite powders hundreds of feet
in extent. Every hundred yards or so
mountain torrents, fed by the glaciers, and
on the present occasion augmented by the
rainfall, rush across the trail, and have
to be Waded, the water often coming to this
knees. Add to this a gale blowing fifty
miles an hour, with sleet and snow rush.
ing horizontally through the air, and the
temperature at 80 degrees, and you will
f,f~. ! of <.f
passage across the summit.
after struggling up a steep ascent of
twenty-five or thirty feet, would be forced
from sheer exhaustion to rest for mo-
ment but would scarcely stop before the
chilling wind would cut me to the marrow
and I would have to continue my course to
keep from chilling to death. Before
reached the summit I was wet TO the skin
and my boots were full of water and thA
added weight of the water made it almost
impossible to proceed. I finally reached
this camp, at the head of Lake Ilnderman,
about Z O'Clock in the evening, having been
eleven hours in covering twelve miles.
was so thoroughly exhausted chat I could
scarcely drag one foot after the other. I
had letter from friend to gentleman
who is in camp here and 1 was kindly re-
ceived by him and made as comfortable as
possible in his tent. AS my Indians had not
arrived, had nc change of underclothing,
and was forced to accept his offer of a suit
of warm, dry underclothing, and these sup
planted by half a teacupful of rum, brought
some warmth back TO my body ] remained
in bed all day yesterday, too thoroughly
worn out to move. / had some fear OF
pneumonia but with the exception of some
soreness. am feeling fairly we'll this morn
ing. The sun has just made its appearance,
and old timers say we are likely to hava
good weather by tomorrow
TREACHEROUS CLIMATE.
"This climate is very treacherous.
changes being very sudden. On the ocean
side of the mountains it rains more than
half the time, and rains hard On account
of the continuous rains the soil washes
down from the steep mountain sides, and
wherever there is a level place you will
find a bog into which man or horse sinks
to the knees at every step. This is one of
the worst features of the trails, and 1t
makes it almost impossible to use horses.
Many of the boggy places have been corr
duroyed. and l suppose by next summer the
Skaguay trail, which is now practically inn
passable on account of the bogs. will be in
fair condition. AT present the condition of
affairs on both trails is terrible, and hun
to death If they continue to come this way.
passed at least thousand men between
Dyea and here, and not more than one
hundred have got their outfits this side of
the summit. Every fifty yards along the
trail are piles of goods, and 1 suppose
there are provisions to the value of 100000
scattered along the trail.
Prices for packing and for all kinds OF
service are practically prohibitory for most
OF those who are attempting TO get in. so,
many are carrying over their own outfits.
Some of the Indians carry as much as 200
pounds at one load. and make the trip
from Dyea TO Lake I.inderman in two days,
returning to Dyea on the third day. thus
making two trips week. White men carry
from seventy-fve to 10 pounds, and 1t takes
a man with an adequate outfit month to
get TO the lake. There are many here who
have been five or six weeks packing their
outfits over. and are not ready to start
down the river yet. All who have come TO
Skasaay or Dyea within the last week or
SO VIII have to come in without sufficient