The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1897-10-18

aAe'9 SAySlltictG 10 ms nSafl : content
the 'hardships of the tran" and gives
the following very interesting account
Of his experiences in a letter ad-
dressed to \. e. Short Of Murray, 2 few
miles south of this city. The letter
reads as follows:
Chilkoot Pass. Alaska, Sept. 90, 1897.
My Dear Art-When [ wrote you
last 1 think [ promised to write again
before going Oh the other side 1 am
gong 10 keep nay WCrd. My tent Is
pitched al the loot of the summit; in
other words, 1T the Scales and half
our outfit is Oh the other side, known
as Crater Lake.
Art. ] am SO tired and near worn
out 1 hardly know what to say or how
to start IN, 50 excuse any mistakes,
Tor 1 am not responsible, II is after 10
O'CLOCK. / did not get in until after s.
after walk OF 80 miles, through the
mud for % miles and snow the balance
of the way. l viii start in and give
you the experience l have had up to
date since / got off the steamboat on
the 18th OF this month.
We had to lay over at SkaGuay two
\ or three days. waiting for our freight
to be unloaded, and in the meantime
I took trip over a part Of the Skag-
uay trail to see for myself if the re
we're true. and | came TO the conclusion
before going very many miles that it
was Just little worse than you read
about in any newspaper. You can very
nearly walk AID the way on dead horses.
1t is a fraud, and il you know Of any
one going that way, head him off. It
never Was d trail and never will be. OF
course the town is doomed 10y Portland
a-ld Seattle sure-thing men. There
1sN a sUre-thins man in the west that
is not located there. and If by chance
yCU find a business man that is honest
he has got partner that is thief
So much for Skaguay,
didn't want any OF that trail in
mine, 50 when we got our freight IN
loaded we 2ut it in q small boat and
had 1t taken 10 DYea, distance OF
six miles. at Il cost Of IS per ton From
there [ hao il hauled by wagon 10 d
4 place known as FInigan's Point, dis
z tance Of about Eve miles, for / cent
per pound. They wanted . cents per
pound, hut l succeeded in getting it
! hauled for l. 1 am giving you these
little details in case Charlie or Fred
Davis or any other boys you know of
may be coming this way. and it will be
well for them 10 know al these little
thnSs. I think IL was the 18th when
rye moved TO Finigan's Point and it
rained very hard that day, in fact. it
has rained or showed every day since
we left Portland.
The packing commences at this point.
/ bought two mules that night and he
next morning we started To pack. We
moved from there to g place known as
the mouth Of the canyon, q distance Of
four miles, making two round trips a
day.
But ! am going a little ahead OF my
story.
rhe first night ne camped at Fin
igans Point there we're proba bly, so
others camped there. and Of course we
pitched our tent right close 10 them on
bar in the river bottom. but where
we put cur tent it happened to oe q
little lower, and that night the river
raised hiSh enough 70 chase us out
about o'clock in the morning. There
vas no damage only that our blankets
were good and wet Of course We
moved out Of there 20 the first high
place We could find. The next morn
ing the boys had the laugh on Us, but
they didn't have the last laugh. 1t
+ raine6 the next day and il rained the
next night, and about daylight the
next morning a man came rushing to
our tent and said, For Gods sake.
boys. get Up and Aa!p those people
save their goods 0f course we got
right up, ana what a sight. TIE water
was two feet deep and an their goods
gone 1t was really pjtiful TO see them.
We put on our long-legged gum boots
and got tWo boats that were close by
and managed 10 save q great deal
of the goods in that way
the water Wes never known So raise
that high before. and about noon OF
that DAY we found out what the real
cause Was. OF course you have read
all about the glaciers Of this eouE-
try 1t is surely a sight to see them
- and they are in every canyon. There
are mountains OF led standing straight
lp hundreds Of feet. One of these had
broken loose about II miles up The
p river and back of it WAS q large body
Of water OF course il swept every
thing when is first struck the canyon,
and three poor people lost their lives
at Sheep Camp. one man WAS found.
the other two, q man and woman were
seen floating down the river, and their
bodies have not yet been found. No
one seems to know who they We're. but
they wee On their way to the gold
feds and had just como to sheep Camp
the evening previous, and were seen
putting up their tent close to the river.
The first pack I pat on the mules
came very near losing both of them.
/ started ont with some boys that had
been packing a few days. They had
no trouble about foTdinS the river. so
l started my mules across with their
horses. They got about half way across
when the wafer Struck the packs and
turned them oyer. and the current took
them about 20 feet before they could
get their heads above water l thought
they were gone. but they landed all
right. packs and all. about 100 yards
below. one each side of the river. Al
Ter that ] had to take the pack off from
one OF the mules. take it across on q
boat and then swim the animal across.
After we got all our goods to the
mouth of the canyon. we then moved
f>a,,,D from f. Point to Sheep Camp. 4
distance Of FIVE and cne-half miles from,
the mouth of the canyon. From Sheep
Camp we moved to Store House a
distance of three miles. There is no
more wood from here to the Scales. a
distance of two miles. This is as far
as horses or mules can pack
From the Scales to Crater Lake is
one mile. over Chilboot Pass a man
can make two round trips a day. and
il is a good days work. and 15 pounds
is q big load for any man.
l moved the last load today from
Store House TO the Scales. The boys
are packing over the hill.
Store House is where the glacier
broke loose We cdmped about 100
wards above where it struck the car
yon. L moved camp from Store House
to the Scales, taking blankets and tent
on one mule and a load of wood son the
141.n.. ono and Then u-allro,1 f,,,,X 3l,,,.-