Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1897-09-29
A Chtcnhdgcn 6 Heilman.

come here and try it and you will get
just like u.s.
Our situation at present is favorable.
Tomorrow night we will have all of our
stuff ten miles into the mountains.
which will be our third camp. You see
we have to go over the piece of road we
are packing over seven times. To illus
trate more clearly | will tell you what
our days work consists Of. We get up
at four o'clock, have breakfast and pu,
our packs on and get started on tn
trail at six o'clock. The OK takes two
hundred and fifty, the horse one humid
red and fifty and Ian and myself carry
nifty pounds apiece on our backs with
leather harness that fits over our Shout
ders. We climb the mountain five
miles, that is to our next camp, and I'M
saddle the stock and give them their
dinner. We sit down and eat lunch
that we carry in our pocket; two or
three biscuits with a slice of bacon
usually constitutes this midday meal.
After catching our breath we add a
little more to our personal pack and
leave the stock rest while we take orr
pack further on about two and half
miles, where We cache it and return to
the stock, so you see we make about
five miles more travel in a day than our
stock. By the time we get back to the
place where we lett the stock it is about
2:3O We breathe a few minutes and
start back to camp and get home any
time we can, get some supper and 60 to
bed tired, but not hungry, and get up
next morning and repeat the dose. We
could get in quicker if we sold some
OF our provisions, but no matter how
on hot -.
encounter, we have firmly made up our
minds that we will be we'll provisioned
when we do get in or we won't GO at all.
Absolutely nothing will induce us to
to part with any of our stock of pro-
visions, SO no matter what stories you
hear about there not being enough pro-
visions in Alaska for the people that
are in there, you may rest assured that
so far as we are concerned we are we'll
heeled and will have plenty, and no
matter what happens we are all right.
L have heard no news from up the
country and can give you none, as no.
body comes back this way from Klon-
dixie. l have discovered one thing that
people have been talking about in the
United States for good many years
and that is, where Bob Ingersoll's soul
is going when he dies. [ am positive,
and you may set it down for fact, that
it is coming right here.
There are tons of stuff being spoiled
by the wet weather and | think tons of
stuff will be left where it was cached,
never to be claimed by the owner. We
had sudden death on the trail, four
miles from Skaguay, Sunday. A man
dropped dead while feeding his horses.
Heart disease we suppose. Another
man at Lake Bennett dropped dead
from different cause Sunday. He was
caught stealing and the men hung him
to tree. That is what man told us
that came from Lake Bennett, so |
think it is the truth. Everybody is talk
ing about it and the general opinion
seems to be that it was quite right and
that he got what he deserved. Be that
as it may, l will never feel justified in
causing man to hang for pilfering. |
will leave that for other men. We
omitted our extra 2115 miles pack today
so we would not be too tired to write
you a letter tonight. We have only
walked ten miles today IN mud and
over rocks, but somehow or other we
are tired. X
Forty cents per pound is bid here for
men to pack over the trail, without
mduY tdh0TS. mo one Wants To pack
anything that they don't own them
selves. Give love to all and please send
duplicate to mother Tell them that
would like to have them hear from me
every day, but can't, and T. have little
time for sentiment Tell them also
that while they think it hard to wait for
letters far apart, to remember that /
have not as yet heard from them since
I started and will not be able to before
next summer. While 1 feel it very
much [ cannot let such things worry
me. My mind is fully made up to make
a stake and make a sacrifice of those
comforts of homelife for the time be-
ing, as it has been fully illustrated TO
me that without money man can't en-
joy much, so goodbye for tonight.
Alfred Lester.