Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1898-01-13
ON TIE Road 70 KLoNpLKE.
LAKE cUsHMAN, Jan. End, 1898.

LAKE NUSHMANy Jan. Auu, 1850.
Friend Carpenter:
When wrote you last supposed we
were going to Jenner, or Dyea, Alaska, but
we changed our plans and came out here
instead Lake Cushman is situated in the
state of Washing ton in the Olympias Mts.
We have gone into camp here for the pur-
pose of getting ourselves in condition to
tackle the Alaska proposition, and have SO
far succeeded in getting our muscles har-
dened and ourselves acclimated. We have
all kinds of haunting as there are elk, deer,
bear, cougars or mountain lions in the
mountains and pheasant shooting in the
swamp, and fine fishing in the streams
and lake, and so far we haven't suffered
for the lack of game as we have killed deer
and bear enough to make our sleeping
bags. There is an awful rush to Seattle
now; every boat going north is loaded
with passengers and freight to its full
capacity, and if the rush keeps up it is.
hard to tell how the Transportation Com
panys are going to handle all who want to
90 TO Alaska. But l must say the class of
men who are going north are of the first
class, men determined to try new country
before working themselves nearly to death
trying to keep in the swim in their native
towns in the East, and liqudate some of
their honest debts.
Some of the nimr0ds and fishermen
around Woodbury. should come out here to
the lake and have try at the trout, in
stead of getting a permit to go out to a
pond and sit all day to catch sun fish. /
have caught several trout weighing four to
six pounds, and | tell you landing a six
FOUNDER takes some patience, but you are
repaid when you get him in your hand
net. | played at a six FOUNDER over an
hour yesterday, and when he was on the
table nicely broiled and we had started to
eat forgot all the work he had caused me.
We have good deal of mountain climb
Ing which hardens our legs TO stand the
tramp oyer Chilkoot. On Thursday last I
had a most delightful experience with the
other men. went up to The summit of Mt.
Rose We started about 8 a. M. by rowing
to the head of the lake, and then striking a
trail through the woods we commenced our
climb. The Olympics are different from
other mountains that l have climbed. as
there is a total absence of foot hills by
which to approach them, and the ascent
begun at once on the mountains and by the
steepest trail I eyer climbed Our first
rest was taken on knoll some two thou
sand feet up, and I can assure you l was
ready for it, my breathing apparatus being
much in need of repair, and at times |
thought the climb would be too much for
me as l had not climbed mountain for a
good many years, but the tramping and
work Of the past two months has had its
effect so l found after we began to reach
the top that l began to become nicely &C.
customed to the work. Three thousand
feet up we came to snow and found easier
walking ON it than oyer the ground and
loose stones. After an hour of snow climb
ing we struck the ridge of the mountains,
but not the highest point of it, so we
travelled along the edge for quarter of a
mile. The edge, by-the-way, is only two
and three feet wide, and 1 thought of
Whymper and the Matherhorn as we went
over it at its narrowest part. We ate our
lunch five thousand feet high. Going about
a hundred yards further we came out above
the tops of the trees and the most beautiful
panorama was spread out before us. All
the State of Washington down the coast
as far as Oregon was in sight. Mountains,
hills, valleys, rivers and forests, filed upI
the picture. To the extreme left was a
hundred miles of the Cascade range, nearby
which was seen Meyester, Mt. Rainear
IL, 800 feet high, clothed with snow and
rejecting as with a coating of gold the
light of the sun. In the centre was seen
Mt. st. Helens, and far to the right Mt.
Hood, whose symmetrical beauty is similar
to the sacred mountain of Japan Fnseyama.
The clouds were below us in many places,
and they with the many colored green's of
the frs and pines merging into the dazzling
whiteness of the snow, made up such a
scene as man utterly fails to initiate on
canvass, but which nature eyer prodigal
in her grandeur, gives to delight the eyes
of men, in fact it was one of those sights
that correspondents write of battling descrip-
ton. After staying on the summit about
an hour, we descended and came back to
our cabin. We expect to leave here about
the 10th of February and 60 to Seattle and
determine what place and part of Alaska
we shall go to. Yours,
H. B. SINfMERMAN,
Lake Cushman, Wash. Mason Co.