Omaha daily bee., 1898-07-31
gold are remorseless. They must march on
and on and on-muddy, ragged and sun

burnt.
This Is written at Hazelton. We swan
the Buckley for the third time yesterday.
We swim the Skeena tomorrow. The trail
beyond has not been traversed in twenty
years. No one knows its length or the num-
Der Of its streams-and yet the gold seekers
go forward A hundred men are ahead Of
us. Hundreds are to follow. No one comes
back to tell of what lies beyond.
Teslin lake is the goal for which most Of
these men are pushing. There are all kinds
and conditions on the trail. Men from Aus
tralia, London, Chicago, Spokane, San Fran
cisco, Manchester, New Hampshire, and
Wheeling, w. Va. Every nation and climate
seems represented. Some were old packers
at the start; they are all experienced men
now; they all know what it means to run
a pack train across 500 miles of trail. They
will not do it again. ,t
There are men tramping on this trail who
stagger into Indian villages hungry and
cold, eaten by mosquitoes and worn to skin
and bone-and they are fed. The Indians
the "d.-n Siwashes''-do not turn a hun
CRY man from their doors, poor as they are.
The prospectors are not in position to be
generous. They hang to their flour and ba-
con with relentless grip. They are in
strange lands and likely to be. delayed
therefore let the man who thinks to be
helped through by his fellows on the road
be careful. He had better keep off the trail,
or any other leading to the Klondike.
Long Drawn Out.
This route is a third longer than is indi-
Gated by the scale Of miles on the map. 1t
climbs high divides and winds along rivers.
1t is crossed by hundreds of little streams,
some of which are swift and rocky, others
slow and Doggy; some are filled with quick
sand. There is very little feed on the forest
land between Ashcroft and Grinnell. Very
little except pine grass ('sour grassy on
the divides between the Fraser and the
Black Water and between the Black Water
and the Muddy. 1t is very beautiful at
Tchincut lake. II was Gods country
after the long stretch of thin grass and
monotonous forest. The valley of the Bulk
ley riots In grass and pea-vine. Strawber-
ries and new potatoes at Morricetown
amazed and delighted us. but the mosquitoes
and flies are appalling. There are nights
when the horses suffer %tortures and there
is no way to help them. A mosquito proc
tent is a necessity.
Let no one imagine this trip to be a sum,
mer outing. II is work, from the dawn Of
a long day till the sun sets. 1t seems no
to get dark at all at this season OF the year
We go to bed at 8 and the sun is but set
ting. 1t is light at 1890, and no soonel
does one side of the tent grow dark thar
the other lightens. The middle of the da!
is warm and the nights generally frosty, fol
many mornings ice formed on the watel
bucket.
Scarcity of Game.
There is no game along the trail and NJ
one should depend for q moment on eithe
game or berries, though berries seem L
be forming. The Hudson Bay company pu
a premium on the killing OF game and tn
Indians have no other means Of earninj
money. They keep the game scarce an,
shy. Some grouse drum in the thickets an
occasionally small black and white duck
can be found on the ponds. There are n
rabbits, squirrels or woodchucks. Asid
from the ringing, joyous songs Of robin
and a sort of thrush, the whole land is ST
lent and somber. For long stretches not
sound save the groan and creak of lodged
uneasy trees or the roar of streams can b
heard. For other long distances the trat
leads through a fire-devastated land-a Ian
of tangled, twisted, uprooted ferns. wit
not a blade OF grass. At other times III
forest Is black pine mile after mile, wit
a struggling sour grass beneath and tn
half-dead, ugly, desolate, pointed t~reetoI
hiding the sky.
Tchincut lake We. so beautiful It SCENE
like a dream after we had passed 1t an
plunged once more into the forest. We ha
no such CHEEKY greeting till We rode dow
the Bulkley. Let no one be deceived. TIL