The herald., 1897-08-29

experiences of Mr.. Gridley will be of
interest as showing just what will have
to be encountered. The first of the let
ters is dated August 2, and is addressed
to Mrs. Gridley. That portion of 1t
which refers to what he and his party
saw and did is as follows:
I'VE are at Skaguay at last. Every
thing Is in turmoil. We cannot get
within half mile of shore because Of
shoal water. ALI the horses are dumped
overheard and swim ashore. There are
ninety six of them. Part of the company
Is going to stop here and part are going
on to Dyea, five miles further. The trail
from here is thirty-six miles to the lake.
By way of Dyea it is twenty miles, but
part of it is impossible for horses.
Lots of men are discouraged already
and are trying to sell out, but those who
have horses will stick to it. All freight
will be lightered ashore and piled in one
pile. To avoid confusion and theft we
have appointed a committee to have
charge of the freight and call each mans
name as he comes to the freight and then
the owner can take each article as it
comes. The freight is terribly mixed.
Now comes the hard work. 1t is long
pack and many a man will never make
it, but no amount of discouragementc can
turn us back.
1--WE got to Juneau last night and
stayed there three hours. OF all the
tough places ever was in Juneau takes
the cake. Talk about gambling and fast
women. never saw anything to COM
pare with it. The place is chuck full of
it,"
His second letter is written from
Skaguay under date of August 6. 1t is
as follows:
1--WE have been just as busy as could
be for three days separating our freight.
We moved our camp one mile up the river
last might and this morning commenced
hauling our freight. If we only had our
horses we could do something. We
bought a cart this morning and can haul
600 pounds in it. The river is as far as
we can get with our outfit, for we will
either have to wait for our horses or hire
a wagon to take it to the foot of the
mountains, four miles awey. There are
three wagons hauling freight and we
have to take our turn. They charge one
cent a pound and the average earnings
per day is $1O0 per team and sometimes
it is $125.
''The Dyea route is no good for horses.
This is the only way man can come
with animals. The length Of the trail
from Dyea is twenty-eight miles and via
Skaguay is thirty-siX miles. If anyone
tries to come the last of this month they
will never make it for they will not have
time. The trail is thick with packers.
1t was two days after we left the steamer
before we got our grub and all we had
to- eat in that time consisted of crack
ers and bacon. l mustget out and make
a pack-muie Of myself Don't believe
the stories you hear about this trip.
There are lot Of greenhorns along and
they make it out lot worse than it is.
We are all right"
From an incident in Mr.. Gridley's third
letter, dated August 9th, it will be seen
that the miners are not to be trified with.
1t says: Yesterday very sad thing
happened. A young Seattle man was
drowned. happened to see him when
he fell. He was walking across log and
had 50-pound pack of flour strapped
to his back, and it held him under. The
river is only three or four feet deep, but
terribly swift, and the bottom is all
boulders. He went rolling down to
where he was pulled out. You can i'm
agine how swift the river is when 1 tell
you he went down stream 900 feet in less
than half a minute. We pulled him out
and worked with him two hours, but
could not bring him to.
"There is a man with a team hauling
freight across the river. Everybody
was down on him for his exorbitant
charges. He was coming back with an
empty wagon and they had him haul
the corpse back with him and he
charged $40 for it. The more the news
spread the more indignant the miners
got. Some one called a meeting at 10
o'clock, and the crowd gathered. A vigi-
lance committee was formed and at first
they were going to hang the teamster.
but cooler heads prevailed. and COM
promise was effected, giving him until