The San Francisco call., 1897-07-26

Lindeman or Lake Bennett. If l were
going to make the trip sho ouId do nothing
OF the kind. By leaving San Francisco in
early February not later than the middle
| of the month, You can in all probl bility
get over the divide without trouble early
in March. AT that time of the year the
lakes and streams are nearly all frozen,
and person can get as far as the foot OF
Lake Lebarge b. fore the ice begins to break
up. 1t is much easier to travel over the
ice than through the lakes in boat, be-
sides you can go much faster, for in many
places you can stick up sail on your
sled and go sklmming over the surface at
very rapid speed. I knew of one party
which got as far as Fort Selkirk in that
manner before the ice broke. At any rate
/ would go as far as 1 could in that way,
and then L would build my boat. 1t does
not require an expert boat-builder to do
this, but it was about the hardest work l
did on the whole trip.
"You can't scoop a canoe out of big
| log as the Indians do, because white
man, without he has had years of expert
ence in that sort OF thing, would tip a
! canoe over the moment he got into it, and
l.
the first rapids he struck. The only way
| 20 do is to go out on the bank of the
| stream or lake and select fir tree large
enough to give lumber the desired size.
| I ou will not get very far from the water,
| because the underground is so thick In
most places that dog can't get through.
And / want to say right here that this
talk about footing it all the way in is
absurd. You must go in boat or on the
ice. The timber is so heavy and the un-
dergrowth SO rank that a man couldn't
walk from Lake Lindeman to Sixty Mile
in a hundred years. BODYBUILDING is a
| necessity. After you've cut down your
| rec, trimmed off The branches and sawed
| the trunk into the length you want your
| boards, then you've got to build a sort of
| roll-way and get the tree up off the
ground four or five feet, so as to be able 10
saw it. Then you have about a week S
hard labor whip saving the lumber OUT.
There should be three men to do this-two
on top of the log and one underneath. OF
course the timber is green, and after
every half-dozen pulls at the saw you've
got to stop and drive a wedge to keep the
saw from getting stuck.
| 1.-THE boat should be built as strong as it
| can be made, and the bottom should be
extra thick. II, it is not the first bowlder
you strike will in all probability knock a
hole iu it and dump you and your load
into the river, from which you will be
very lucky to escape with your life. As
| has been said before, it is very foolish for
| man to go there in search of work. He
| should be prepared either to buy claim
or to go out and locate one. AS every
thing near Dawson has undoubtedly been
located before now, the prospector must
90 up some of the numerous streams to
find new one. The heavy growth of
timber and brush precludes the possibility
of him going by land. He must go up
along the creeks, and these are generally
so shallow ana rapid that he must either
pole or pull his boat every foot OF the
way. Where it is possible, one man will
| get out on the bank and pull the craft
along by rope, while the other keeps 1t
| from humping against the banks. Ii this
cannot be done, then both must get In and
pole, which is very hard and hazarGous
work. Many provisions cannot be trans
ported in this way, and before you have
| fairly got to work on your claim you are
out of food. They say wages are SIS per
| day. When / left there were 150 men on
Birch Creek willing to go to work for 81 80
per day, or any price they could get, and
this was true all along the river.
81 don't see why wages should increase
so much, as there Were then enough men
in that part of Alaska to work all the
! diggings in the Klondyke district. Then,
| too. supposing man could get steady