Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1897-09-10
HAD ENOUGH OF TT.
NO MORE KLONDIKE TRIPS FOR
THIS MAN.
Experience OF a TenderfOOt-Weary
and Worn With the Struggle to
Cross the Pass, he Turns His
Back ON the Land of Gold.

cannot tell until l have reached
home and had medical examination
my right armpit is one great tester
through CALLING from the pack straps
and I'm completely broken up, almost
too weak to travel and only too glad
to be able to lie down among friends
and rest and know that it's all over
with"
Thus spoke Frank n. Bliss, of san
Francisco, returned from Skaguay, as
he lay on lounge in his sisters home
on SAVER street, Portland, says the
Telegram, of that city.
az do not say it profanely," con.
tinued Bliss to the reporter, "but il
there is anything nearer approaching
hell upon this earth than the horrible
hardship and trials attendant upon
the passage of either the Dyea OF
Skaguay trails into the Yukon coun-
try, by a man unused to severe manual
labor, then l believe I'll take the
chances with hades rather than tackle
this other place.
"There were four of us left San
Francisco together for the Klondike,
our tickets calling for stcerage passage,
as we had made up our minds in San
Francisco to tack" the rough side OF
the journey at the .Gry beginning, and
again we were going to be as saving as
possible" Mr. Bliss smiled sadly
and reminiscently-" but, let me say,
that if ever l tackle an ocean steamers
steerage again my friends may con-
slider Pm a fit subject for an insane
asylum. Six hours out and We Of our
party were offering SIS to any cabin
passenger that would exchange into
the steerage. Two men seemed
tempted, but one look into that seeth-
ing mass of human beings, horses,
cattle, chickens and what not, was
sufficient. The two fellows were
rough looking backwoodsmen at
that, but the steerage of the Queen
on that trip was too much for them.
ave reached Dyea in fair shape,
however. 1t was in the forenoon, and
many of the passengers were planning
to start over the pass that night. God
help them! If they managed to get
two-thirds of their outfit landed, I'M
damaged by water and mud, on the
rocks of Skaguay, or about the tide
line at Dyea, by daylight next morn
ing, they were in grand luck. Such
a pell neil; such utter confusion,
and, in every instance, such brutal
selfishness, it is hard for one who has
not gone through with it to imagine,
and fully as hard for one who has to
describe; men struggling over that
hell-hole of beach at Dyea, with 100
pounds on their backs, load they had
never attempted to carry before in
their lives"
"What is your business, Mr.. Bliss?"
asked the reporter.
II am an architect and art student"
was the reply.
The reporter, looking at the slim
body and slender hands of the man
lying on the couch, thought some
things but said nothing.
eyes," went on the disappointed
Klondiker, "a man with such load,
straining every nerve to land it above
high-water mark, would step into one
OF the damnable tide holes that literally
pit the beach, stumble and fall, the
chances are with his load on top of
him, and there he might lie and drown,
so far as any assistance from those
hurrying by him was concerned.
"As it was, we lost about 200
pounds of our supplies in getting them
ashore, and then we were two days
trying to separate the outfits from the
mass of stuff piled upon and along the
beach. Having gathered all we could
find each one of us having made a
separate hunt of the beach for any,
thing with our marks upon it, we
started out to hire packers and get
over to the lakes. Understand, we
had no horses and were to take the
Chilkoot pass.
Merciful heavens! Packers! It
makes my heart turn sick to think of
it. None of us could speak work of
Chinook, but we had bought die
tionary of the jargon. With this as a
guide, we started out among the
siwashes.
The first question from them was
invariably: 'Konsic muck muck pc
mika iskum?'
"Consulting the Chinook dictionary,
we found that what was wanted was
to know how many pounds of supplies
we were to have packed over. Well,
between us we figured we had 1890
pounds.
With this answer the siwash doing
the talking would set up a colloquy
with his fellows, which would result in
his turning to us and asked: 'Konsic
mica payT
"Another look at the jargon guide
and we found: How muchH'
"The ruling price has been 20 cents
a pound. This we were ready to pay.
and this we would offer. But not
much; you could not get an Indian
to move off his launches for the 20
cent rate. They demanded 80 and IS
cents per pound. At 80 cents it would
have cost us 81 ,440 to put our outfits
on the shores OF Lake Linderman.
Then boats, further packing and UNI
looked-for expenses, for man does
not move finger in Alaska without
being paid, would have run our ex-
penses up to $4,000. This was more
money than we had. And then-the
Lord forgive us-idiots that we were,
we started to pack that 1890 pounds
OF outfit over the divide of the Chilkoot
pass ourselves.
The first day I struggled, stumbled
and strained packing sack of -four to
Sheep Camp. Getting up the next
morning with every bone and muscle
in my body sore and aching, I tackled
another sack of -four. How 1 reached
Sheep camp I will never be able to
tell, but suffice it that I had to have