Kansas City journal. [volume] (Kansas City, Mo.) 1897-1928, 1897-07-24

| A white man can live anywhere an lndlan
| can and fish are plentiful Moose are haru
| to kill. Take pair OF blue goBgIess @ @iuoils
| or you will suffer from snow DHhuheSs;;
| This blindness comes from the continual
| mirror-like glare of the ice.
| People in this country do not know
what the glare of an iCc-bound region
| amounts to. II is fearful. Strange 10 say.
| at certain seasons of the year the neat
will almost cook you IN the mountain re-
gions, and the skin Will peel or your lace
| by reason of sunburn. The glaciers form
mirror. Just imagine yOurset waking
| across a mirror on a hot day, ana you VIII
get an idea of the reflection. Ihls mirror
| like surface is due to the fact that Ihe
snow. which sometimes is thirty fest deep,
melts at the bottom instead OF at the Top.
| The top of the snow becomes mlrTor-hhe
and ten or twenty feet down you have q
river Of water, which.if you break through,
means death. II is true thatyOu can near
the water roaring underneath you, and at
times il is awful. These waters rush to
the canyons and on TO the rivers. and make
up the floods of the North. During the
winter time always Keep IN the timber Delt
There is no use going into that country in
the winter. Keep in the timber and do not
venture ont until most OF the water has
gone down the gOrgeS. The mountains OF
Alaska are somewhat different from those
of the Rocky mountain ranges in the West.
The gorEeS are deeper and far more alb
rupt. The canyons are grand.
While in that country ] did not prospect
any NV business was freighting. I re-
ceiyed 81 per pound for freight of whatever
that. While l was in Alaska the United
States government and the British were
running the boundary lines.
why did ! not stdy2 Well, YOU sec. the
government wanted my mules and wanted
them bad for the surveying corps. / got
big price, and as / came near being
drowned several times and knew il was
only matter of time until | was sucked
under by some treaCherous stream, l quit
and came back. Life, you know, is very
sweet. Lose il once and the gold amounts
to nothing. [ sold one mule 4 broken dovn
animal for $c0. That mule would make me
however. 800 per week as long as I chose
10 work him. We got our supplies at
Dalles.
Another thing that made me quit
freighting was the Indians. During those
days the Indians were often on the war
path. Once we had fight with them, and
seven OF our men were wounded and sew
eral killed. We had to take our wounded
with US, and the dangers Of the trip were
enormous, so l quit.
1T is not so cold up in Alaska provided
You keep in the timber line. And. another
thing, tenderfOOt can mine as much gold
as the old-timer. He has the same show
ana no experience IS necessary. Things are
somewhat different now. TRANSPORTATION I
should think, would be easier but the
water Is Just as deep. During the Frazier
sOld excitement thousands of men went
North. Many of them died there poor fel-
lows. A famine struck the country lust like
1t Will strike it during the present excite-
ment. One-third of the people made for
tunes and two-thrds did not. The famine
was so great and the fellows so poor thar
the steamship companies had to bring them
PACK PACK tree. Free transportation was given
them 10 avoid letting them starve to death
| have no doubt that nearly every gulch
has gold in IL there for the washing out
Some may strike it rich and others may
not. Two-thirds will come back half
starved, for the winter sets in in Septen1-
her and the present stock of provisions will
only be SuIhclent for those already there
route"