The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1898-03-17

The Others In the Party Will Either Re
Home-Discouraging Stories of the
Land of Gold.
Every day brings back to his homo
some discouraged nrgonaut who has
started for the h ondike, got nearly
there and returned to his own fireside
content to labor quietly here in the good
old State of Maine for the rest of his life,
even If he can't make Klondike wages
Portland has seen many Of its young men
start out full of hope for the land of gold
and it is now to hear of some of them
who have given up the hope Of reaching 1t
and getting out alive again and are
willing to live here quietly in the Forest
City and let others brave the snow drifts
and zero weather Of the upper Yukon
while they wear out their souls in vain
search for the "Moher Vein.'
On February 22d of this year Port
land party consisting of eight or ten
men set out for the Pacific slope intend
ing to strike out for the Klondike rs soon
as Summer smiled once more on that far
famed country. These men got to Van
couver easy enough, but when they had
progressed that far they began to hear
come things which opened their eyes a
little. One member of this party was
Howard E. Fisher of Portland, who is
about 81 years old, ana is as full of pluck
and sand as an egg is full of meat When
l. ,,Ar xxysf L vEr~& H.
of which Mr.. Edward Fletcher, Stephen
Clark, VIM. Moses and DR.. Mcdonald
were members, got to Vancouver they
found the city crowded with would be
gold seekers whose faces were turned
towards the wilds Of Alaska. Mr.. Fisher
wrote home to his father from Vancouver
that he had began to learn OF many
things about the Klondike he had not
known in the east. He was told among
other things that even men hailing from
the State of Maine where cold weather
and huge snow drifts are no unusual
things had no idea of the terrible cold
and heart-breaking climate of the upper
Yukon. He was told that the men in the
Alaskan region were dying off like sheep
from fever which claimed it's victims by
the hundred. There was enough gold
in Alaska to be had for the finding and
digging, but neither of those things were
as easy to do as many people thought
they were. Hundreds of men in Van
couver who had sold ont their business
in the east were discouraged by these re-
ports and were getting chicken. hearted.
Some of them had invested all they were
worth in getting to Vancouver where
their journey was but commenced, but
they were all wishing they were back
home again and were taking trains for
the east almost as fast as they arrived
Some of the poor fellows did not have
money enough to get home did not dare
to go on and were uncertain whaS to do.
The Portland party q few of whom have
been named above. split up after it
reached Vancouver. Some were for 60
ing to Alaska, but the most were for re-
turning home or remaining where they
were. Finally Mr.. Fletcher, DR.. McDon-
aid and Stephen Clark concluded to pur-
chase a hotel in Vancouver, and they are
now running it. William Moses decided
that he did not want to go to the Klon-
ing reports received at Vancouver and he
set out for home. 1t was reported last
night that Mr.. Moses had reached his
home in this city, but a PRESS reporter
was unable to locate him.
Mr.. Fisher wrote his father all about
thase thipps and on March e wrota an
other letter in which he said that he was
to go to the Klondike or
"bust" in getting there. He said that he
had found that many of the worst stories
he had heard about the terrors of the
Klondike had come from men who had
been there once iand who were making
arrangements to go back again. He was
willing to run the risk and see what
there was in the stories told him. He had
purchased provisions and an outfit and
would sail for Dyea that day. From
Dyea he should push on through the
Chilcoot pass and hoped to reach the
Klondike within a few weeks. Mr.. Fish
er wrote that it had cost him only 1875
ND to that time, including his railroad
fare to Vancouver, years provisions,
and outfit, and his passage to Dyea
While one man was trying to get through
to the. Klondike a dozen or more were
turning back home and he wrote that
unless things changed he would not be
OF those who turned homeward.
81
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