The herald., 1897-09-05

in hopes opbetter fortunes, that of
young girl stands out in golden letters.
If Miss Lessarge of this city does not
think herself heroine, there are thous-
andS of people who do. She has set an
example that many a man would hesl-
tate to follow.
Six years ago, this girl, then thirteen
years old, came here with her mother
from New York. Times had been hard
in the east and the mother, widow,
saw no apparent escape from the slough
of despond into which she was steadily
sinking. Like many others, she looked
to the west, and gathering her little
possessions together, started for this
place. which she had decided to make her
home.
In the last few years hard times had
been cruelty hard out here. Mrs. Les
sarge found it necessary year or two
after her arrival to place mortgage on
tIe little cottage which she had bought
with the money she brought, in order
that she and her young daughter might
live. Before many months that mort
gage falls due, but the smiles OF for
tune have not been in Mrs. LeSsarge's
direction, and she has no money to pay
the debt which must be settled or cause
her to lose her home.
It is in pursuit of enough gold to pay
off this mortgage that young girl is
today Drawing the perils of the Klon-
dyke in the midst of horde of all sorts
and conditions Of men and where the
members of the sterner sex consider
themselves in dire straits. Il suppose
she said the day she boarded the steamer
Mexico that was to convey her to the
Yukon, that it will be very hard. But
then" with pitiful smile, you know
that when you must have anything you
do not stop to think of the hardships
you may have to suffer in getting it. /
think it is great deal better that
should have hard time for little while
than that my mother should lose her
home. Anyway, 1 am going to try and
see what l can do, and surely if fail l
shall be no worse off than I was before.
If I succeed in making some money,
enough to pay the mortgage, why then
no matter how hard it has been I shall
be so very happy that it will not matter
at all"
It is very hard for person unfamiliar
with the necessities of person under
taking such trip to understand what
chances this young woman'is taking.
When she went aboard the Mexico at
Seattle all she had was contained in her
grip which did not weigh more than 40
pounds, and with this outfit she believed
she would reach and exist in the Klon-
dyke gold fields. She bought steer
age ticket for Dyea, and she was the
only woman in the crowd Of men that
filled the forward part of the vessel.
Fortunately for her, the steward was
4 man with heart, and gave her cabin
accommodations without extra charge.
Word has come to us from some of those
who have reached here since the wreck
of the Mexico on her return trip, that
Miss Lessarge made many friends dur
ing the voyage, and that wher. she land
ed, in Dyea there was more than one
among her fellow passengers who vol
unteered to do their best to see her
safely to her destination. One man said
that the general sentiment was that If
the young lady cared to she might easily
win more than a fortune in the Klon-
dyke.
Miss Lessarge is far from being girl
of the western type. She would scarcely
weigh more than hundred pounds, and
Is rather delicate in appearance. Few
persons indeed, would consider her ca
pable even in remote degree of under
going the hardships which must fall to
the lot of every man and woman who at
tempts the overland route. Miss Les
sarge did not go up the Yukon because
she did not have sufficient money to war;
rant her mourning that expense, and so
1t Is that she has chosen for herself the
hardest route of all, that by way of the
famed and dreaded Ckilcoot pass.
What makes it all the more shocking
when one stops to think of this dainty
young woman in the midst of rough sur
roundings Is that the latest reports from
the Chilkoot route show that the thor
oughfare is fairly jammed with people,
animals and provisions. Indeed in some
instances, the army of prospectors have
been forced to build roads in order to
make their way along at all, and it is
over this very route that Miss Lessarge
10 journeying towards what she hopes
will prove to her the land of fortune
The Klondykers call Miss Lessarge the
heroine Of the Klondyke because, al
though she has never yet set eye on the
rugged country which teens with gold,
she has in her quiet determination and
disregard of all danger and privation,
shown courage and heroism which any
of the sterner sex might we'll be proud of.
Listen to how this young girl is dressed,
and think of what the season will be be-
fore she can reach the gold fields under
the most favorable circumstances.
She had in that forty-pound gripsack
ed the steamer consisted Of rather
clothing, lined petticoat, dress of SUBJ
stantial wool and two pairs of heavy
shoes. Her attire at the time she board
of hers two suits of fairly warm UNDER
cheap cloth dress, and the ordinary sum-
mer weight apparel of a woman. This
was all. With this outfit she traverses
today country where it is no rarity at
all for the mercury to reach so degrees
below zero. She will traverse mount
ain pass where skeletons of men and ami
mails bear ghastly testimony to the
f1erceness of the storms of the fall and
winter.
Should she pass these dangers, she will
encounter life in country where the
ground freezes to depth of twenty.
five feet, and all this with an outfit of
clothing that would be none too warm
for the ordinary winter in the state of
Washington. In this country of the
Klondyke, where Miss Lessarge homes
to find riches, she must either live in
q tent during the zero weather or in