Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1897-09-18
TRAILS IN BAD STATE
s Bh,,a With Dead !brsss and Knee <,
Deep il Slush.
LETTER FROM A GOVERNMENT AGENT
Sent to the Gold Fields by Depart
ment Of Labor.
q
BOUND TO BE SUFFERING

The department of labor has received the
following letter from Samuel c. Durham,
statistical expert who was assigned to
make an investigation relative to the OPP
portunities which the gold regions in the
Yukon valisS and adjoining territory AFFORD
for the remunerative employment OF
American labor and capital:
l.Sssa LAKE LINDEMAN, Alaska,
I August &C. II M, 1897.
1 left Dyea Monday morning at II o'clock
and arrived here Tuesday evening at T.
| My four Indians started ahead of me, but
have seen nothing of them since the starr
from Dyea, and am waiting for them here.
When l reached the foot of the summit a
terrible storm was raging on the pass, and
l presume the Indians went into camp
somewhere OH the other side to await bet
ter weather. 1t has been storming-rain
| sleet and SHOWS iternsting-constantly on
the summit since Tuesday morning, ana
the situation is aggravated by piercing
wind of thirty miles velocity.
/ had an awful experience coming across
the summit. l started out with my hand
bag strapped on my back, thinking that as
1t weighed only forty pounds l would carry
it. l managed to struggle along TO the
head of navigation for canoes, six miles
from Dvea, and was there forced to employ
an Indian packer. paying him SO to carry
| my grip to Sheep Camp, twelve miles from
Dyea. l. spent the night at Sheep Camp,
which is merely collection of tents, ana
started for the summit at O'Clock Tuesday
morning, in a driZzling, cold rain l en-
ployed packer to carry my grip from
there to Lake Lindeman, paying him &16.
At the foot of the summit we met perhaps
a hundred Indian and white packers, who
had cached their packs on the trail above
and were returning to Sheep Camp to await
an abatement of the storm, We were
mad hat la n o.
| to get over, but, the wind was blowing
| the way we were going, we decided to go
ahead, as l felt sure my packers had gone
| on, and L wished to be here when they
arrived.
| An Awful Experience.
| The distance from the foot of the sum-
| nit to the top is said to be three-quarters
| nf a mile. but it seems like five miles. The
trail. ascends, at, an angle of fortyfive de-
grees skirting prcc:pices, where a misstep
Would hurl one thousarrd-feet below,
| crossing the face of glaciers smooth as
glass, and in many places traversing the
polished surface of great granite bculders
| hundreds of feet in extents Every hundred
yards or SO mountain torrents, fed by the
glaciers, and on the aIfcSfu occasion aug
| mented by the rainfall, rush across the
tail and have TO be, ,Naded the water
often coming to the knees. Add to this "a
| gale blowing fifty miles an hour, with
slcet and STOW rushing horizontally
| through the air and the temperature at
| thirty degrees, and you will have faint
idea of the horrors of my passage across
| the summit. After struggling up a steep
ascent OF twenty-five or thirty feet l would
he forced from sheer exhaustion to rest
] for a moment, but would scarcely stop be-
| fore the chilling wind would cut me to
| the marrow. and l would have to continue
my course to keep from chilling to death.
Before L reached the summit l was wet TO
| the skin, and my boots were full of water,
| and the ADDED weight Of the water made it
ALMOST impossible 10 proceed.
Arrival ut the Lake.
finally reached this camp, at the head
| of Lake Lirdeman. about O'Clock in the
evening. having been eleven hours in COW
| ering twelve miles. so thoroughly exhaust
ed that l could scarcely drag one foot after
the other 1 had letter from a friend
TO a. geRtlenlAia- who is in camp here. and
I kindly received by him and made as
| comfortable fas possible in ths t1ent. AS
my Indians had not arrived l had no
Change OF underclothns and was forced to
accept his offer Of suit Of warm, dry I'M
dercfothing, and these, supplemented by
half "a teacaaful of rum, brought some
warmth back to my body. I remained in
bed all : day yesterday too Thoroughly
worn out to move l had some fear of
! 1 neumonia, but, with the exception of some
soreness, am feeling fairly we'll this morn
Lg.
The sun has just made its appearance,
good weather by tomorrow. This climate
! is very treacherous. changes being very
sudden. On the ocean side of the noun
| tains it rains more than half the time,
and rains hard. On account of the contia-
uous rains the soil washes down from the
steep mountain sides, and wherever there
| is level place you will find a bog into
which man horse sinks to the knees
at every step. This is of the worst
features of the trails, and makes it almost
impossible to use horses.
Trails In an Awful State.
Many of the Doggy places have been cor
duroyed, and suppose by next summer the
Skaguay trail, which is now practically
| impossible on account of the boys, will be
in fair condition. At present the condition
of affairs ON both trails is terrible, and
hundreds of men are bound to starve and
freeze to death if they continue to come
this way l passed at; least a thousand
men between Dyea and here. and not more
than one hundred have got their outfits
this side the summit. Every fifty yar1s
along the trail are piles of goods, and l
suppose there are provisions TO the valIe
of $500, 600 scattered along the trail.
Prices for packing and for all kinds of
service practically prohibitory for
most of those who are attempting to get in;
| so mahy are carrying over their own out
| fits Some of the Indians carry much
as two hundred pounds at one load, and
make the trip from Dyea to Lake Linde-
man in two days returning to Dyea on the
| third day, thus making two trips week.
White men carry from seventy-five to one
hundred and twenty-five pounds, and it
takes man with an adequate outfit a
| month TO get to the lake. There are many
here VINO have been five or six weeks
packing their outfits over and are not
| ready TO start down the river yet All who
! have come to Skaguay or Dyea within the
last week or so will havetao come in with
out sufficient outfit, pay 20 cents or more
u pound, or not get in at all.
| There are about two hundred men here
and forty tents. Probably three or four
| boats are getting away each day, with
i h. L.