Omaha daily bee., 1898-05-06
ROAD TO The COPPER RIVER
Mark A. Polack Describes Some Of the
Trials Encountered by Pioneers.
HARDSHlPs OF THE GLACIER R0Url
Long Climb Over Icy Sleeps Through,
binding Snow Covers Only the
First stage of the Argo.
naut's Journey.

The care with which nature guards her
riches in the Klondike and the obstacles
which are met by the treasure seeker are
quite fully shown In recent letter from
Mark A. Polack, a we'll known Omaha man
now in that region. Mr. Polack was landed
from the Valencia at Copper City, after an
eventful voyage, and has been busy with his
comrades for over a week carrying supplies
piecemeal over the Valdez glacier. This is
a task Of exceeding difficulty for the five
and one half tons Of luggage carried by the
seven young men Of the party must be
loaded on sleds, in packs Of fifty pounds,
and hauled up a steep ascent to the first
bench" six miles distant. This is a labor
of weeks length and only represents the
merest start on the long trip over the
glacier.
Regarding the process of dsembarking the
letter reads THE steamship company
which brought us here has no wharf and as
| the ship was large one 1t had to anchor
six miles out in the bay. All our supplies
had to be unoaded on little scows and towed
ashore. The total weight Of this cargo was
| $50 tons and the work of transporting 1t all
had to be done by the passengers. At low
tide we walked from the scows over about
one-t third Of mile Of sandy black mud with
| seventy -HVe Ut luO pOuUuS VII Jul udChS, W
the shore above high water. To make mat
ters worse a heavy snow storm was raging
all the time and we were thoroughly and
constantly wet during the work Of disem-
barking. The ship, which had not antici-
pated such prolonged voyage, was not suffl-
cently provisoned, and we were obliged to
get along on ships crackers, salt pork and
occasionally little corned beef, which was
the worst that was ever canned. After the
goods were heaped in great pile on shore
a committee got on top and called off the
marks on each package to be identified by
the owners.
Camped in the Timber.
"Our tent here in Copper City Is In the
midst Of an immense grove Of cotton woods
and there are about 700 people camping in
the same neighborhood. We have our tent
staked on solid ground in an excavation ir
the snow, which reaches height OF eigh
feet all around us, lending warmth and pro-
tecting us from the mountain winds.
"The real work has now begun Of getting
our supplies over the Valdez glacier. From
the beach to the foot Of the glacier is a triI
. of six miles over the snow and we eacl
load $50 pounds on our sleds and haul i
painfully UP to the first bench This oper
alton is repeated all day long and 1t viii
be ten days before our provisions have al
, been transported over the first stage.
"The trail to the first bench is very poor
being half obscured by the drifting snow
but when we transfer our camp and begi'
| work on the second stage We will get tn
: first taste of what must be gone through Of
the eighteen mile ascent of the glacier }
part of the way 1t will be necessary to III
our baggage with block and tackle owe
steep ascents and the rest of the time
will be impossible for each man to carr
more than fifty pounds from stage to stage
. 1 had expected that it would take abou
: ten days to go over the pass by this process:
but now the least we can figure is 81
i. weeks OF the hardest kind Of work. An
| other annoying thing is that we have t
@ | carry not only provisions, but logs for fue
as 1t is twenty seven miles between tim
. ber lines, and we need good deal of fir'
d The people here say that no man has eve
n been on the headwaters of the Copper rive
e and no Indians ever come down the glacie
as has been stated in articles descriptiv
n Of this country.
= Difficulties Ahead.
Q "As 1t is about 1874 miles by the glacie
e route to Copper river. we have 100 mile
e Of mountainous country to cover after W
u get over the Valdez glacier. 1t Is believe
; on vague report however that the countr
. beyond is rich in gold gravel beds. an
u those who get over certainly deserve
=, find the report true. People are constant
giving up and steamers who bring passer
= gers go back nearly as heavily laden wit
. those returning.
II 1--WE have not found it very cold, the ten
e perature averaging about rs degrees aboN
d zero, but it SHOWS almost continuously ar
'. the ground is covered in some places twent
e feet on the level. The snow -whiteness
n very trying on the eyes and we all wet
h snow glasses constantly. find that II
= most important part Of ones outfit Is foo
wear, as it is almost impossible to kes
the feet dry in an all days march throue
the snow. Leather is almost useless ar
Ii even high rubber overshoes do not ke'
;e out the dampness.
lg 1--WE have just had news that strike
u very fair richness has been made up {
re Copper river and as that is the first repo
c- of the sort from that locality the camp
s. feeling quite jubilant over 1t. Many
Is these stories Of course spring up with lit
ne foundation, but there is some encourag
II ment to feel that the constant hard wo