Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1897-09-29
FROM ALASKAN FIELDS.
Another Interesting Letter from Alfred
Lester-His ExDerienceS

Lester-His Experiences.
The following interesting letter
written to DR.. n. P Valerius by
Alfred Lester. the Watertown boy who
is headed for the Klondike gold fields,
appeared in Mondays Daily Times:
White Pass, Alaska, Sept. Z, 1897.
Dear Doc and All:
Since L wrote you last we have been
working like beavers and intend if pos
Sible to get over the mountains before
snow blocks us. This is beyond a
doubt the worst trail anybody ever
tackled, particularly this time of the
year. 1t has rained every day but three
since our arrival at Skaguay, so you can
imagine what condition mountain
trail is in. Hundreds are turning back
while hundreds of others are building
cabins along the trail intending to stay
all winter right here. You know, Doc,
that a great many men are brave in
facing work and difficulties when they
have not arrived at the spot where the
work is and these are the men that are
going to stay scattered along the trail,
putting off the difficult task they find at
their feet in the vain hope that they
can use their sleds to finish their trip
after winter sets in. Some of course
are compelled to stay here, hoping that
they can finish their trip by sleds on ac-
count of having lost their stock over
the mountain side. For instance, yes
terday | met three men that [ knew
coming down the trail and they had
three horses and each horse had extra
pack saddles on. [ asked one of them
how it was that they had so many sad
dies, and he Informed me that the three
horses were all they had of a train of
eleven, all the others being dead.
The mud and rocks are awful to-day,
and yesterday was warm and we were
not free from the smell of dead horses
from morning till night. The trail is
blocked good part of the time with
horses being down in the mire or having
dropped dead from sheer exhaustion on
the narrow rocky path. There are a
few men working on the trail and help
ing it some, but this route can never be
a success until thousands Of dollars are
spent fixing it. We sometimes regret
that we did not go by the way of Dyea,
but there is such congestion there that
it takes fortune to get anywhere and
when we discovered what a bad trail
this is we could not turn back to go the
other way without it costing us great
deal of money, and then again we might
find the other trail just as bad, owing to
the heavy rains. We are not the turn
ing back kind and will keep on going
and in all probability will get anyway
to Lake Bennett.
This morning was a sad morning. l
made my partner shoot one OF our
horses. | could not get up courage
enough to look him in the face and
shoot. He gave out on us completely
and when pack was put on him he
could not carry it; he strained his back
some way. Horses are cheap now,
hardly worth anything, and feed is very
high. 1t is impossible to handle any
more than one animal apiece and keep
them from going over the bank, So we
had sold one of our horses before this
one gave out, but we still have enough.
The OK stands it better than anything
on the trail and is getting SO he looks
for a compliment every time he meets
anybody and he gets many one and is
considered king of all. We would give
him a feather bed to sleep on if we had
it. Our horse, the only one we have
left, is beauty, and has not as yet got
a scratch and l believe will stay by us
until we get through. He is black
and very Intelligent. Ian looks after
him as if he was baby, and the way
he picks his way among the rocks is
enough to give anyone the confidence
we repOSe IN him.
The scenes to be witnessed here daily
are something one can hardly describe.
There is too much of it; horses down in
holes everywhere you go. A man gets
so accustomed to seeing others in
trouble that it is out of the question to
stop and help, because if you did you
could never get anywhere yourself.
This morning we came upon man
looking so detected that it would have
turned the heart of stone in any other
country to see him. His horse was in a
mud hole, up side down, and we passed
our stock just across his tail and got
by. Ian said with as nice voice as
he could command): 81 think if you
take his pack off he can get up" 1t is
simply impossible to stop and help
everyone. We do help a great many,
especially where they have the trail
blocked and we cannot get by until they
are out of our way. (Yes, / know we
are unfeeling wretches, but you just