The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1897-12-30

ton, for an ounce Of tea is worth more
than a pound Of coffee.
Now, as to the means of transporta-
ton: l think that ponies and horses
are much better than either deer or
dogs The deer cannot travel far with
out plenty of deer moss. and it is
likely to be scarce in that country at
this season of the year. Dogs eat too
much Our party started with forty
three dogs. They ate too much and we
Killed all but eleven, which were kept
to draw the hospital sled. We after
ward shot all but two, which we kept
Tor pets on board ship. One of these
died and we finally ate the last one.
Horses are by all odds the best, and I
would recommend Canadian or Shet-
land ponies, which are accustomed TO
a cold climate and all kinds of hard
ships incident to life in that country.
"A Canadian horse or pony ought
to carry about 200 pounds Of provisions
100 pounds on each side of the pack
saddle. which is placed well up on its
shoulders. A barrel Of pork, for in
stance, would weigh about 200 pounds
100 pounds on each side of the ami
NAL: It is much better to pack the
provisions than to haul them. 1 should
think that It would be wise to estab
hsh provision depots at intervals of
about every 100 miles and leave at each
depot two men in charge I do not
know the distance from Chilkoot or
White Pass to Dawson, but, roughly
estimating 1t to be 1000 miles, this
would require forty men alone for the
purpose of policing these depots.
calculate that the horse train, hitched
in a long line, halter tied TO tail, ought
to travel about three miles an hour.
Working twelve hours 1t would make
thirty-six miles a day. The travel
should not be continuous for the twelve
hours, but with periods Of rest in the
daytime as well as at night.
You ask how the horses may sub
sist If the reindeer cannot. My an
swer is that the horse is harder than
the deer and can travel farther on a
smaller quantity of food, These horses
you see every day IN the streets of
Washington can, and many of them do,
subsist ON a small quantity Of oats.
Some of them never taste oats, but
live on hay. It would be inadvisabie
to take hay on such an expedition on
account Of it's bulk; besides, there Is
nearly as much nourishment IN a half
peck of oats as in a bale OF hay
But talk as you VIII about the en-
during qualities, and the drawing or
packing capacity of dogs, or horses, or
deer, I tell you that man beats them
all. Our party travelled from the
Okhotsk Sea TO Yaktush. On bee line,
IT is about 800 miles, but the way we
went was about $500 miles and each
man drew about 29O pounds on his
sled We traversed this distance in
about no days. Talk about cold!
why, it was often 70 degrees below
zero. The toes and finger nails Of
some Of the men were frozen off. When
a mans toes were frozen we had 10 re-
sort to heroic treatment. We had no
regular surgeon, as he was with the
belong party, so the best we could do
was to put the patients foot on
hard block OF surface OF some kind.
then use a case or other knife as a
chisei. amputating the members by
striking the Knife with a hammer.
But all of this is an old story. Most
people know that Of the party of
thfrty-three officers and men over 90
per cent persisted, and to-day only six
Of the party survive, Of which 1 am
one Several OF them returned alive,
but soon died as a result of the expo
sure Some of them went insane and
years afterward committed suicide.
''It has been said that thin, wtry
man can stand hardship better than
the harder and more vigorous person,
but this is, Of course, not true. Your
fat man can live on the fat Of his own
bones when he can get nothing to eat,
and he stands the rtgors Of such a eli
mate better than the thin, why, blood
less individual. 1t is true that the big
gest and latest man of our party
(Erickson) was one Of the first 10 sue
cumb. but he died Of lockjaw as a re-
suit Of frozen feet.
Now, you ask me whether I think
the Bears expedition VIII be success
full. My answer is that you can never
tell what you can do until you make
the attempt. My opinion is that both
of these expeditions are doubtful, but
the Government is quite right in max
ing the endeavor. If the Bear had
started a little sooner with store OF
fat pork, hard bread and white beans,
she might have passed Boring straits
in Kotzebue sound, whence the party
could have proceeded with more or less
facility along the coast. which is not
mountainous. Messengers could have
speedily travelled the 600 miles to Point
Barrow to apprise the whalers that a
relief ship was near at hand.
But let US hope for the best, and
godspeed both expeditions"
c. C. CARLETON