Arizona republican., 1898-06-29
ALASKAN HARDSHIP
The Greatest of dIi is in Re-
 moining There.

Going and COmlng-Headed For
 Wealth or Turning fhe Gold
 Shoulder to the Glitter.
 Skaguay, June 14.-(Special cores
 pondence of The Republican1-My letter ten days ago from the trail on the other side dealt rather roughly with the proposed Skaguay railroad. Having just returned to this side of the divide am forced to eat my own words-for some 1000 men are at work and the roadbed is progressing rapidly up the canyon. Also the en- gineering party for the work on the other side has engaged quarters at my camp. So I cannot but believe that it is bona fide proposition after all. 1t does the packers no harm and it does them good. Good is that within sixty days the railroad is to be in op- eration to White Pass, where it will have it's terminus till next season. This means that practically all Yukon freight will come this way Neither Dyea, Wrangel nor St Nicholas can compete against railroad. There will be great packing this fall and spring. but between White pass and Bonnet, greater and more profitable than ever. Then the railroad will go to Bonnet, and the packing business will be over. 1, for one, don't care. I don't want to put in more than a year of my life in such work in such country. Prof liable as it is a packer here really earns two dollars for every one he gets. He is up at any hour, from 2 to 4 a. m. He packs up and drives and leads his horses over a trail, the difficulties of which I can hardly make your
 readers understand. There is no soil In Alaska-it Is all rock and muck.
 The depressions in the rock are filled
 with decayed moss and fern, giving no
 footing to speak of. Horses get in it and sink sometimes almost out of sight The packers must jump in, no
 matter how deep it is, take of the pack and haul the horse out. Then, -in spite of high rubber boots, it means an all days walk with wet legs and
 l
 many streams and generally a man Is
 soaked before he has been out two
 hours. No saddle horses are allowed packers here. They tire and sweat and get plastered with mud all day long, and every night swear they will quit the life and go back to Gods
 country" Many of them do go. But still there are more than. enough good packers here for the work, and wages
 have gone down Even Sam Monroe.
 whom I brought with me from Phoe- nix. tough old worker that he is, can
 not stand the life and is going home or
 to Dawson-he don't know which yet
 am happy to say that have made my last packing trip. My camp at Little Meadows has become the stoD- ping place for pack trains. My stock IS busy packing feed from here to camp and there will be my headuuar- ters, until the railroad drives me out next summer. I have found my. own nlie klondyke, and the gold which uncle Sam's mark on it suits me just as we'll as though it were in nuggets.
 The Dyea people are not doing much business. The ice has broken up on the chain of small lakes between the summit and Lindermann, and while it would be possible to build a good traf, around these lakes, it would not be worth while, since before it could be finished the railroad line would under bid them They have led us a merry dance, cut down profits enormously, | and for awhile played havoc with the packing business. But they laugh best who laugh last. We are laughing now. 's s!7R,.'7
 Bonnet is deserted. The hundreds of tents have gone and every one has started down the river for Dawson. Many boats have been lost. It could not be otherwise, wuth such absurd tubs. People women and chil- 1ren-are constantly passing over the rail to embark immediately for the gold fields. They all stop at my camp o rest themselves and one pities the 'aDles. My cook is, I fear, more ib- ,ral to them with jams and sweets han is good for them. But the little seggars are so fearfu1ly weary. The ] Vomen are for the most part necessary wills. Dawson will have to double its 'utput If they are to reap the harvest :. ney expect. But two respectable wo- nen, young and good looking ones, DO, came the other day to pass the ( 1ght. It was both curious and pleas 1g to see how the packers, who are
 devils crew if ever there was one. ropped coarseness and complete ob- cen1ty- How gentle, courteous and they were in the presence : [ those young women. No word CT ' 'Ok could have offended the most sen 1 tive. They are a wild lot and from |
 churchman's point of view, a bad T 't, but they can give many man p ho appears more exemplary pointers true chivalry and respect for the nly quality that saves the human Ice. A good woman can travel alone 1th them for days without fear or anger. A bad one is appraised by d 'UyYxXEN lC