The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-08-01
A KLONDIKE HONEYMOON
NUGGETS AND ROMANCE IN THE
PLACERS OF THE NEW ELDoRADO.
A Wedding Trip of Fifteen Months
That Was Literally Worth IA Mill
lion Dollars a Month.


top dirt OF one of his claims in five months.
He kept it all but So. O00 which he paid TO
his miners. He did not have to give his
wife even so much as pin money. She had
pan of her Dawn. She would occasionally
get time from her sewing and mending to
drop around to the dump. She sifted out
$4,000 or so in her spare moments. This
was her amusement in the strangest years
honeymoon that is recorded. The two
started fifteen months ago as bride and
groom. She was the devoted sweetheart of
poor Fresno farmer. They have returned
to San Francisco with all kinds of gold
dust, nuggets and coin. They have mill
lions in sight, and behind the millions a
pretty romance
Berry was a fruit raiser in the southern
part of California. He did not have any
money. There was no particular prospect
that he would ever have any. He saw life
Of hard plodding for a bare living. There
was no opportunity at home for getting
ahead. and, like other men of the far West,
he only dreamed of the day when he would
make strike and get his million. This was
three years ago. There had then come
down from the frozen lands of Alaska Won
derful stories of rewards for men brave
enough to run fierce ride with death
from starvation and cold He had nothing
to lose and all to gain. He concluded to
face the dangers. His capital was $40. He
proposed to risk it all-not very much to
him now, but mighty sight three years
ago. 1t took all but S. to get him to Ju-
neau. He had two big arms. the physique
of a giant and the courage of an explorer
Presenting all these as his only collaterals.
he managed to squeeze a loan of $50 from
a man who was afraid to go with him, but
was willing to risk a little in return for a
promise TO pay back the advance at a fab
ulous rate of interest.
Juneau was alive with men three years
ago who had heard from the Indians the
brought samples of the rock and sand and
did we'll in trading them. party of forty
men banded TO go back with the Indians.
Berry was one OF the forty. Each had an
outht-a years mess of frozen meat and
furs. 1t was early spring when this first
batch of prospectors started out over the
the cuts in the side of the hills. The ma
tlVeS packed the stuff to the top of the Chill
coot Pass. 1t was life and death every
day. The men were left one by one along
the cliffs.
The timid turned back. The whole outfit
of supplies went down in Lake Bennett.
The forty men had dwindled to three-Berry
and two others. The others chose to make
the return trip for more food. Berry want
ed gold. He borrowed chunk OF bacon
and pushed on. He reached Forty Mile
Greek within a month There was not
cent in his pocket The single chance for
him was work with those more prosperous.
His pay was $1G0 a month. 1t was not
eaough, and, looking for better pay, he
drifted from one end of the gulch to the
other, always keeping his ShreWd eye open
for a chance to fix claim of his own.
There was a slump in the prospects of the
district and he concluded to 60 back to
the world.
A PLUCKY BRIDE.
The slump was not the only reason. There
xxyfa<N
had promised to be- his wife. Berry came
from the hidden world without injury and
Miss Ethel D. Bush kept her pledge. They
married.
Berry told his bride about the possibilities
of Alaska She was girl of the monu-
tains. She said she had NOT married him to
be a drawback but a companion. Ifihe in
tended or wanted to go back to the Edo
RADIO she proposed to go with him. She
reasoned that he would do better to have
her at his side. His pictures of the dangers
and the hardships had no effect upon her.
1t was her duty to face as much as he was
willing to face. They both decided it was
worth the try-SuccesS at bound rather
than years of common toll. Berry declared
he knew exactly where he could find a for
tune. Mrs. Berry convinced him that she
would be worth more to him in his venture
than any man that ever lived. Further
more, the trip would be- a bridal tour which
beaten tracks of signing lovers.
Mr.. and Mrs. Berry reached Juneau tif-
teen months ago. They had but little cap
ital, but they had two hearts that were full
of determination. They took the boat to
Dyea, the head of navigation. The rest of
the distance-and distances in Alaska are
long-WaS made behind a team of dogs.
They slept under a tent on beds of boughs.
Mrs. Berry wore garments which reSembled
very much those Of f,,, her ,d husband They
dalS, and did not stop at her knees They
were made of seal fur, with the fur inside.
She pulled gum boots over these Her
skirts were very short. Her feet We're in
moccasins, and over her shoulders was
fur robe. The hood was of bearskin. This
all made most heavy garment, but she
heroically trudged along with her husband,
averaging about fifteen miles each day.
They reached Forty Mile creek a year ago
in June three months after they were mar
ried. They called it their wedding trip.
Klondike was still good way off and IT
was thought at first that the claims closer
at hand would pay One day a miner came
tearing into the settlement with most Won
derful tales of the region further Oh His
descriptions, were like fairy tales from
the scenes in spectacular plays, where the
nymph or queen of fancy land bids her
slaves to pick up chunks OF gold as big as
his wife. She said she would stay at the
post while he went to the front. There
was no rest that night in the camp. Men
We're rushing out pellmel bent on nothing
but getting first into the valley of the
Klondike and establishing claims. Mrs.
Berry worked with her husband with might
and main, and before daylight he was on
the road over the pass. There were fifty
long miles between him and fortune. and
he worked without sleep or rest to beat the
great field which started with him. He
made the track in two days He was among
the first in. He staked claim 49, above the
Discovery, which means that his property
was the fortieth one above the first Alad-
din. 1t was agreed that each claim should
have 800 feet on the river-the Bonanza.
This was the beginning of Berry's fortune.
other sites. He secured a share in three of
the best on Eldorado creek. There is no
one living who can tell how much this
property is worth. II has only been worked
In the crudest way, yet five months netted
him enough to make him a rich man the
rest of his life. There untold and in
estimable millions where the small sum
from the top was taken.
GROWING RICH QUICKLY.
Berry wanted to bring his bride to him
from the settlement and he proceeded to
build himself house. 1t was made of logs.
He built it solid and then sawed holes for
the door and windows. This was late last
summer. The thermometer was getting ac-
customed to standing at 40 degrees below
zero day in and out Mrs. Berry trudged
through the nineteen miles Of hard snow
and took her place in the hut with her hus-
band. There was no hoar but the snow
bank. 1t cost the couple $500 thousand
feet TO get flrewood hauled, and there was
but little chance TO use fuel save TO thaw
out the moose and caribou which The In
dams peddled They endured all the hard
ships without complaining, since by this
time. they knew they had reached the gold