Little Falls weekly transcript. (Little Falls, Morrison Co., Minn.) 1894-19??, 1897-12-10
GEORGE w. HEAD WRITES.
"A Former e, j. Little Fal ans, Nan ].
Writes from Washington e.
State-Avoid Alaska. II,

George W. Head, for many ycars n
resident " litsl~ Falls. writes, a
letter to this weeks Democrat. HI
particularly wn<as minnesota people
ttnn s'nrtinx t>~. Alaska.
The letter il a4 follows:
SNOlIOxIsH. Wash. Nov. g, 1881.
ED. DEMuCKAT:-
Again we are on deck, "slichtlv disflg-
ured, but still in the ring" 1t has been
sometime since we sent our holiday greet
ing to the Democrat, SO we will start a few
days before THANKSGIVING, and perhaps
they will reach you before Christmas.
You know ere this that this portion of
the hetntspher has just witnessed one of
its gra I'd annual floods, somewhat small
er, of cousse, than the one witnessed by
our old friend Noah. but rather larger
than convenient for many of our valley
On last Thursday night, the
18th, the river at this point raised seven
feet. The gentle chinook famed the
"beautifull" from the mountains until it
came roaring down at a 2.51a gait, sweep
ing everything It came in contact with.
1t kept up that gait until it raised q feet.
The river just below town was three miles
wide.
Snohon1ish was four days without mail
of any kind, and no train for the same
period, over either of the three lines run
ming in here. One year ago the 18th of
this month was the highest waters for q
wears and it came within inches of the
sumo mark this time. But one life was
1nsf far 1,aa rC frn,,, that
one of the "noble red men" who was cross
ing the river in his canoe, a short distance
above town, and came in contract with
heavy drift which mashed his canoe, and
the water was too swift and the no!,le
Siwash found refuge at the bot ON of the
drink"
Our old friend. John p. Smith. formerly
a resident of Little Falls, was suddenly
seized with the Klondike fever, and left
this place in September, and is now on
Douglas Island, Alaska. He will no
1oubt. reach Dawson City next season,
yilca he will either dig gold or practice
aw. His family live in Seattle. ,
Tbs rush for the northwestern gold
ields has proven a curse to many man
rom eastern states. Seattle as we'll as
nearly every other place on the coast, in
his state, is over run with laboring men
who have come here from the east, expect
ng to step into good positions which had
been made vacant by. the rush to the gold
fields of the Yukon, Such, however,iS not
he case. 1t is u mistaken idea they have
gotten into their heads. But very few
men gave up steady positions to 90 to
and at least SO per cent. of those
coming west in search Of employment, =!
Turing the latter part of the season, are
till here, unemployed. and large per
:entage of them are dead broke. and
would be glad to obtain work for their |
BOARD. The Seattle papers are largely to !
blame as they lin their anaxiety to boom
Seattle, over estimated the rush to the |
gold fields. In fact very few common
aborers left either Seattle, Snohomish,
or any of the other larger cities,
or the Klonkike. It takes more means
han the average laboring man can raise,
o go through. Many who left here for |
he Yukon never got farther than Skag
way or Dyea, and then returned much |
wiser for their foolish trip.
The newspapers throughout the entire |
EASTERN country should do all in their |
,ower to keep the laboring class from |
coming west in search of employment, |
md place the situation before them in |
is true light. If man can live at all in |
or any other state east of the |
rocky Mountains, he had better remain |
here, as this is no place for him. The |
is overrun with good honest !
working men, who would gladly work at |
and at any wages, if thew could !
MY get a chance. "All is not gold that !
.litter-," and all are not facts that is
in the city newspapers of the |
ar west The steamboat companies are |
# course greatly to blame. Newspaper |
men are in the business for what there is
n it, and many articles ION the Klondike
re published as a matter of dollars aud
ents.
Very Resp'y,
GEO. ". HEAD.
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