The age-herald., 1897-11-14


 had been damned up there as 1t came away from the glacier and when the dam broke it carried everything bsfore it. It was very much such a break as that at JohnstoWn, Pa., in the summer of 1889. It undermined the Stone House, which fell into the stream bslow. On the right as one goes Up the tratl there are two glaciers, one of them quite ia1ge. It covers the mountain, and Is not ap- par'sntly held on by anything. It looks as if it would let go al any momsnt and come down..
 "The first stop after leaving Stone House was at a. place called the Scales, because there Is a tradition that some time or other there was a pair of scales there where they we,ghsd out the racks for the packers to take oven the summit. At the Scales packing by horse ceases. and the packs go on the backs of the men. An average pack is from 100 to 150 pounds. heard some stories about Indians carrying 250 pounds, and about swsde who carried 275, but it takes big man to carry from 100 to 150. The Indians usually carry light through the whole trip, but the white packers carry from point to point and double on the tuadl. When Indian packers are em- ployed the dicker is usually made with Chilsf Isaacs, who controls the packing. He arranges1 with the miners and deals with the Indians. The packs are made out and checks are given showing how many pounds there are in each one. The prices for packing were running very tigh when we were there, 50 cents a pound in some eases. After the Indians take the packs you have neth.nS more to do with them, and nothing to do your self but to get to the lake, claim your packs, and pay off the packers. The Indians usually get there first.
 "After leaving the Scales the ascent begins in dead earnest The face CT the hill is covered with large rocks, and you step from one stone to another. It makes you think of a great pair of stairs. You just keep raising one foot above the ether, but the constant going up With a pack on the back gsts very tiresome in a very short timlet There is not a dan gerous place on the trail that l could see. Thsy take horses and sheep and cattle over the summit We d,d not stop at the summit, because the weather was thick. On a fair day the view from the top is magnlficent,- but WE began the descent imme diately.
 1.-The descerJt is much easier than the climb. It leads right down to Crater Lake where there were few tents. Crater is a very irregular liti.le lake. with a few small islands fin 1t. We met there one-legged man who had climb ed the summit, and seeing him brought out a curious fact about getting over the trail. You don't talk much when you are coming up the trail. The work
 
 versation. You devote your entire en- ergy to picking out the softest spot on which you can step. Packers weighed down by heavy loads have no breath to lose in gossip. In fact, although I was going over light, I did not care much about talking myself. What we saw, we saw, ard reserved our impressions for future conversation But when we saw the one-legged man one of the boys said:
 "'Well wonder how he got over?' At Crater Lake we saw man with small boat. The wind was blowing very hard, and We asked him if he would take us across. He said mo- We in- sisted that he should take us.
 "'No,' he said, not for a hundred dol lars. I am tired
 ''So we crawled into tent and had some coffee There was a wagon at Cra- ter Lake, but we did not find out how it had got there. From Crater Lake to Long Lake is three miles. The tIail goss over a succession of small hills. When you get ito the top of one you see the top of the next one. If you are car rying a pack it is very tires5me, but part of the way there is a stretch of sandy soil. lit looks as though 1t might have been the bottom of a lake at some period which the geologists call recent" We were ferried across Long Lake. The ferryman charged one cent pound Tor freight and some fellows made S100 a day in the rush. The Indians never take the ferry. They just keep on walking, but a boat on any one of those lakes will pay well, because the white men Will pay anything to save walking.
 Between Long Lake and Deep Lake there is little portage, perhaps quar- ter of a mile.. At Deep Lake we met fellow coming in with boat We asked him if he would take us across. He said no. but we could take his boat for S5 and leave 1t on the other side. We LOOK it. When we got to the end or peep Lake we were only two and hah mlies from Lindeman, but the trail was so bad we concluded to camp where we were. We fourd some fellows who were willing to take us in. We made Mce mllk punch with some canned milk we had brought along. It was very satistact9Fy to rs and to our hosts. At Deep Lake we met some packers who said that they had met some very selfish people, who would neither permit them to come anlo a tent nor sell tIhem any coffee at any price. They said these were the worst people they had ever met ana Ihy hao lost all human kindness.
 "Tbe next morning we went down te' Lindeman and met some people that we knew We met man who was carry ing pack that he sad Weighed six'y two pounds. He told me that he hdmseif weighed 127 pounds. He was a sosn 's.a pher and typewriter. He weighed ll5 bounds when he started, he sad, but had picked up twelve pounds carrying that pack around. He kept up with us easily.
 At Lindeman everything was busy, although if was ate in the season. It was the last week in September when we wers there. All the men were work ing on their boats. I believe there were about fifty boats in the course of con struction Some were very well. made, but some were decidedly lopsidsd. There
 lt<~I1t nd inn weighed about thirty pounds. They said 1t would hold a man and coo pounds Of outfit. There were two galvanized ron boats made in sections. which had been brougbt in with the canoe. The aver age boat was about twenty-two feet iong and four or five feet beam, and would carry a tremendous load. Some fellows who build boats att Lindeman offered to build me one from $275 to ,$550. Passage to Dawson City was offered to me for E $100. Oakum and pitch were very scarce. At one time oakum brought as his as $l0 a polind People were very anxious 10