Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1897-08-12
FROM ALASKA.
FRED kYES, OF nERRILL, WRITES
AN INTERESTING LETTER
HOME.
He Started from, Grand Rapids With
the fiouston=Dunaven Party.

DSIoN We puDIlSn letter received by
Il. A. hyes, of Merrill, from his sol
Fred. who left for Alaska the 18th day
of May, 1897, with the second party O.
gold seekers from the twin cities. L
is said that Fred is the joliiest man il
the crowd, the fun maker of the camp
stands fatigue and can pack 'load'
with the best of them
Fred has many acquaintances here
and his letter mentions some of ON
boys, so we give it space:
LAKE BENNETT. ALASKA, July q
1897.
DEAR FATHER, MOTHER AND
SIsTER:-We are on our way now. and
by the 18th will be at Lake lie Borge
where we expect to hunt and fish a
little, also prospect some. There are
three parties in there now and Oul
man has already located there.
Hardly anyone knows of this. We
found it out from one Of the packers.
We will possibly be there all winter.
If we strike anything at all.
Water is too high to do any work
that is the reason why we stayed at
Linderman so long. We did good
business while there-made three
boats and sold them. Boats are worth
from 500 to $3.50. We also built two
nice boats for ourselves: one a Sliff for
running around with and the other a
large boat twenty-eight feet long and
five foot beam. We put all of our stuff
in it and have plenty of room to pitch
our tent upon it. Our sail is not
quite large enough, but we are going
to sew some sacks on and if they hold
the wind good, which is quite strong
at times, we shall be all right
We had quite time getting timber
for the boats. We went way up the
mountain after logs, and couldn't get
any over eight inches in diameter at
the top, and they were scarce. After
we felled and peeled them, we had to
''Skid" them to the river, which was
hard work.
1t is impossible to drive them down
the river, the water is so rapid 50 we
just dumped them in and caught them
below in the lake, then we RATED
them and when we got a fair wind we
cut them loose and they blew across to
where our camp was located; then we
made a pit to put the logs on so we
could saw them. The first day |
found the saving quite hard but after
| got little accustomed to it, could
saw better than any of the other boys.
1t took us just four days to saw what
lumber we wanted about 1000 feet.
Then we commenced our boat; that
was nice work. The Dunayen boys
are both good carpenters and under
stood building boats, SO everything
worked fine. We ran short of pitch,
but found plenty in the woods. We
could have bought some at the store,
but their price was too high-S1.5 80
per pound.
Talk about things being dear at
home, you ought to buy something
here. Sugar 25c per pound, salt zoe,
coffee $3.50, tea $500, bacon 400, flour
$500 per 5Olb. sack. 1t is fright
the way they charge for things here.
People are coming this way in
crowds every boat that lands at Dyea
brings from twenty to seventy
people-all kinds of people. Some
bring men with them to do the work.
A crowd came over the lake today
that had 'nigger'' cook with them.
At the present time there are at least
a.dOZen families on the trail.
There is little saw mill at Lake
Bennett that is making lots of money.
They saw nothing but One-half inch
lumber and get 500 per thousand feet
surface measure. They are making
worlds of money.
The packers here are also making
plenty of money; they have raised the
price of packing from Dyea to Under
man, from Is cents to % cents per
pound. They average about $25 per
day. The Indians here do most of
the packing, they are entirely differ
ent from those in Wisconsin. No one
ever thinks of watching anything
here. | would just as soon trust an
Indian as a white man. They all
talk good English. Some can read
and write.
At the Mission at Dyea they have
an Indian band and they are quite
good players too. They all went to
Juneau the Fourth to have a good
time. One thing the Indians like is
they will give anything fOT it,
but somehow they cannot get hold of
it. No one will give them any, al
though there is lots in the country,
but the penalty for selling or giving it
to them is very severe. If person
was caught giving them wisky the
people would drive him out of the
country.
There was a Norwegian here who
was caught stealing. They held
miners meeting and appointed two
deputies to take the thief out of the
country but he would't go, he wanted
to pay for the boats he had stolen.
The miners wouldn't have it that
way, so they got rope and prepared
to hang him up to a tree, but you
bet" the moment he realized that
they meant business he was glad
to get ont.
We had lots of fun the last few days
1T Linderman. A crowd Of ScOtChmen
came in-about twenty Of them-they
we're a jolly set. They pitched their
5ent near ours. The first night they
came, before they had their camp
liked up at all, they pulled out three
lagpipes and two fiddles, talk about |
sun, eight or ten of them jumped up
md danced the ''Highland fling" and |
everything else that they could dance. |
It was picnic to watch them. When /
hey talked we could hardly under |
stand them-guess they just came over,