Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1897-01-08

| there were DANGER Iu H. IL ""0
! trying.
! zen bear II we go easy said BOYD,
| our guide, but don't all come OF once.
THE last two TO start along the strip
were a big Swede and myself, the Sweue
going first. He had an axe In his hand'
and | had 5000 in gold-dust, our bank, IN
mine. He hadn't got more. than hair
way across when down he went through
the ice and before | could turn and jump,
down / went, too. Right there proved
myself financier Of no little ability Tor
flung the gold-dust into the snow on
the bank before | as much as grabbed at
the ice to save myself. The feeling OF
that icy water put energy and strength
into me for tho moment, and dragged
myself up on the ice In secoha' put
the Swede was TOO heavy to do tnat anu
we had hard time getting him out, as
the ice kept breaking. AS each piece
broke off, it glided down, and was thrash
ed TO pieces in the small rapids just
below, a process somewhat chillins 10
contemplate, If 1t had been possible Tor
US to be any more chilled than we were.
"You probably have never undergone
ducking. with the thermometer at Ia de-
grees below zero. and no shelter within
two days journey. II is dlscourasins'
felt rather like lying down and being
a babe in the woods after the first tingle
OF energy from the cold bath wore on
but l forced myself out OF that, ana Tor
two hours and half the Swede and
iourneyed along in frozen clothes before
a place suitable for a camp was FOUND.
I forgot to say that recovered the bank
safely. but the Swede had dropped his
axe in the river, and that was gone be-
| yond recovery, a far more serious loss Ill
! its Immediate aspect than that or the
! gold would have been. AT O'Clock tnat
! afternoon we found place for a camp,
built a fire, and sat around. eating frozen
/ bread and drinking tea. our camp was
rather a primitive affair, as we had no
time to build shelter. All there was
10 il was the hollow melted out in the
snow by the flames, and few blankets
hung up on stakes to act as refectors.
| To begin with, out fire was built on the
| snow. but IL rapidly melted its way three
| feet down to the ground, and there we
were in a moderately dry hollow, Tor
| the ground never freezes up there. owing
to the heavy blanket Of snow which al
ways comes before the severe cold; ana,
/ consequently, the water from the melted
| snow was rapidly absorbed. Within our
| little nest the temperature got UP TO be-
/ tween 80 and ~ degrees, while outside
| It was q below zero. Four OF our men
had their feet frozen, ard when they
thawed out, their toes began TO change
| color One mans toes turned complete
| ~ black, and in the morning he declared
| that he couldn't walk and would stay
| there, to take his chance Of life or death
until we could get to civilization, and
! send some one back for him. This was
out of the question however. We rubbed
his feet with whiskey and bandaged them
/ with strips Of blanket, which We tore up,
| and he was able 70 go on with US, al
| 1. nafH moi N
THAT day we had bad time IN the
canon by Death Rapids and Priest
Rapids, which are only a couple of miles
apart There is some gruesome history,
by the way, connected with those names.
Many years ago a party OF settlers In
| charge of three priests came down the
! river in a large boat Just above the
| rapids the boat caught on rock and up
set, and the three priests, impeded by
their cassocks, were swept into the rapids
and drowned. A few years later there oc-
| Cured the more dreadful tragedy at
Death Rapids. which gave the place its
name A party Of thirty-one men, wo-
men, and children left Fort Steele, and
| went down the river In a big barge. look
| Ing for a place TO settle. Above Death
| Rapids Is a small rapid called Steamboat
| Rifle, which IS not dangerous TO a stout
boat, and this the settlers went through
in safety. Just below is an abrupt point
OF rocks which completely shuts out the
sight of the terrible Death Rapids. The
roar Of the rapids was obscured by the
noise Of the rifle which they had just
passed and they knew nothing OF their
danger until they swept clear OF the point
Of rocks and were rushing with irresisti-
BILE force down upon the broken water and
The jagged rocks. Out of the entire party
OF thirty-one not one escaped. The French
gave the rapids the name Dale la Mort.
which was translated by the English
Corners later into Death Rapids. Since
the first disaster hardly a year has
passed, despite the sparseness OF the pop
ulation In that region, but some victim
] has been beaten 20 death in the pounding
rapids Only two years ago boat-load
OF seventeen miners went into the rapids
and sixteen of them never came out alive.
| The seventeenth managed 10 cling TO a
rock at the head OF the rapHs, believe.
and was rescued. l know OF no other
water so absolutely treacherous as the
Columbia river at this point.
"But I am wandering from the trail.
II was hard enough to keep II then, /
can assure you. A thin crust had formed
on the snow. upon which We undertook
10 travel with snow-shoes, and IL was one
| Of the most exasperating ard dishearten-
|
ever made Every half dozen steps the
crust would break through, and down
would go the snow-shoe two feet into the
soft snow below whereupon there was
nothing 10 do but TO slip or the shoe,
! crawl out Of the hole, frequently only TO
/ break through again Immediately, and try
to get the shoe on as best you could.
| Though it was 20 degrees below zero and
a brisk breeze was blowing through the
! canon, we were rocking with perspira-
| ton before we had gone quarter Of a
| mile IL took us three hours to go two
miles over and through that crust, and
then we had a different kind OF work.
but an equally hard kind and more dan
| gerous for the trail led us along this side
OF a steep bank where misstep would
mean a Short swift coast down the Icy
crust and finish In the river. In places
we had to cut steps along the bank, and
even at that there were many ticklisn
spots Ambling along an icy Inclined
plane, with forty-pound pack for handi-
| cap, and particularly cold death a few
| rods below, makes a man wish that ne
had taken a course OF tight-rope walking
In the days OF his youth. None of our
party, however, made any errors. and we
presently came to a place where the trail
/ led across the river. At that particular
point there was open water, so we jour
neyed along until wa came 90 stretch
of rather bad-looking ice, which was.
however, better than it looked, as 1t bore
us safely over. This was about noon
on the 2lst We found a shack with an
old fireplace in II On the other side OF the
river and there we melted out and cooked
some bacon, by virtue OF which we col
lected enough energy to push on ana
reach Boyd's place at o'clock.
ITO say that We were tired out
doesn't express any part OF ouNkeelings.