Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1898-01-27
EVERY MAN FOR HIMSELF.
Terrible sesnshnesx AnaonG the Gobi
L..

Terrible SesdsknesS Ana0nE the GoBi
Hunters in the North
Nobody who has spent the winters
the Klondike will ever want to try IL
again." said Thomas Harmer at The
mining bureau the other day. THAT is.
unless he has n certainty of making
enough money to partially repay him
for suffering hardships such, as were
never endured in any mining camp on
earth before"
Mr. Harmer vert into Alaska two
years ago and says that he left there
last August never to return. 81 would
not go BACK there and remain FIVE years
Tor S25o.o00." he continued. when l
speak of suffering I do not mean ACTUAL
bodily pain or sickness. because think
that if man goes there prepared rs he
should and abstains from excuses he
can keep in reasonably COOS health, but
to live during the winter season in
those close cabins and see the horrible
seifishness and cruelty of human beings
toward each other. the result of the
rush for gold, which many of them.
even after they have secured it. do not
hesitate to throw away. is enough 10
make one lose all faith in the fitness of
men to live on the earth. When / vase
coming. out / saw men refuse nail or
the use of an ax or even the use Of q tin
cup TO men who were in need of these
trifes,, Every man there seems to be
afraid of his feliows-afraid that they
will steal something or have better sue
cess in finding gold. l spent last win
ter from September to April with eight
other men, we having gone together TO
save labor in keeping warm.
Each of us had claim or a part of n
claim. and we went out every day that
the weather was not too cold TO work
our claims. In melting the frozen
gravel we nearly always found one OF
more nuggets in the dirt. but during
the entire eight months that we worked
together do not remember of a single
occasion when one of us acknoY lodged
that he had found any gold. Each of
us had buekskin bag that was carried
on the person. and the ingenuity of all
was taxed to the utmost to devise some
scheme whereby that bag could be con-
cealed from the rest. Thefeo YEAS no
stealing in the camp. 4 man caught
stealing would have had rough time
of it, but every man seemed to think
that every other man wanted TO steal
from him. and do not think that a
single one of us knew where any other
man carried his gold. remember one
night lying awake and seeing five men
of our company at different times put
ting away the nuggets found during
the day, and in every case, after put
ting them in the little buckskin bag.
they would thrust the ba g under the
blankets, and 1 could see from the
fumbling that they were concealing it
l. L i
man sitting up to keep the fires. and
the men were afraid that he might see
where they put their gold. There was
no absolute cruelty. but the total in
difference TO the welfare that charac-
terized everybody was simply horrible.
| was in the cabin ore day reading with
two men. one of whom Yas sick. the
rest being at work The sick man had n
terrible cold and fever. and asked one
of us to hand him drink.
THE other man went over TO the
bucket in which we kept our melted
snow and, with the remark: There is
no more than I want myself drank it
all. This. of course. was exceptional
lybruta!. but there were many Instances
almost as bad. Every man is for him
self, and many of them are so constant
ly thinking of their gold that they be-
come insane. or partially So i came
out with one man who was so excited
over about $4,000 worth of gold that l.y
the time we got to San Francisco he
was almost an idiot. and it was with eff
ficulty we could induce him TO deposit
his gold in a bank and go to q hotel.
There is plenty of gold there, and 1
think more fields Will be found. but all
4 man is likely 10 get will not pay him
for the horrible experiences he is called
upon to endure. was not particularly
lucky. though I brought oGt enough tos
pay me fairly we'll for my two years in
Alaska, but if was assured OF $50. 900
year / would not go back there."-DeD
YER RaDuhlican