The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1898-10-05

possible to keep up fire, both on ac-
count of the scarcity Of wood the fu-
rious winds and the impossibility of
finding or making a we'll protected
camp. They huddled close together
for warmth, like sheep in a field The
bacon was eaten raw and the -four
swallowed by moistening it in their
mouths with snow. The dismal day
came when they ate the last mouthful
Of flour paste, the bacon having been
consumed first. The thin and famish-
ing dogs added their bowls to the la
mentations of the situation. Gaunt
specters of starvation danced around
them on the snow and shrieked in
laughter with the wind
Hodges became crazed and wandered
away alone, clasping to his breast a
letter that had been intrusted to his
especial care.
Next marning Neil also, was miss
ing. He, too, had shown signs of in
sanity from weakness. What became
OF the two other Indians is likely to
remain a riddle forever. Jackson said,
He lost" and that was all he ever
would say about it. There are those
who suspect they were made unwilling
sacrifices by Jackson and his friend.
Among Alaska Indians in case Of life
or death there are said to have been
instances of dog eat dog but only in
such extremity. But it is more prob
able that the other two natives, if
killed, were sent to the happy hunting
grounds in order to decrease the de-
mand on the diet of real dog.
When all were huddled together in a
hole in the snow the mail was aban-
doned. The Indians selected a few
letters which. from the sign and ap-
pearance of the envelopes, appeared to
be the most important, and which they
placed inside the lining Of their clothes.
Faithful so far as possible to their
trust, Jackson and the other man still
had a few letters when found They
We're helped down the Lewis River
TO the mouth of he Hootalinuua.
where some white men had a little grub
to spare, and they eventually reached
Forty Mile in the spring.
The Healey- Stewart party got good
start, but that -as all, except cold
feet. They succeeded in getting their
goods packed to the summit of the
Chilkoot and cached, when a snow /
storm fell from heaven and buried the |
cache out of sight The mail was still /
at Dyea. Dan Stewart tried to find /
the cache by prodding a long iron rod |
down into the snow. but failed. He /
froze his feet as solid as twin lasts of /
q shoemaker. Old Dan went to bed /
in Dyea and never got up till the next |
June.
In May another party spied the top
of the cache sticking out of the snow.
took the stuff, including the cigars, into
the Yukon and sold it at about $1,000
profit That mail sack was the first
one in in the spring.
A hairpin was found in a pocket of
the jumper rotting with the bones near
the foot of Lake Atlin. It is not de-
coro1s. especially in the presence of the
of brave men. to inquire how
a white man came by hairpin, but in
this connection a clew to Identification I
may be furnished by the query, What
would a native Of Alaska be doing with
one? Those bones We're all that were
left of brave Hodges or Neil. The skull
among the other scattered bones found
near the head of one of the creeks
emptying into Surprise Lake is not the
skull Of an Indian but of white man.
Old timers assert that there has not
been real Yukon winter in two years.
and for this reason so many men were
able to get up the river from Dawson
last winter. The thermometer then
ranged from 80 to 60 below The old
timer says: Wait till the mercury
hangs around 20 <or so. with wind
bowling down from the top of the earth
so cold that it stings like hot iron
that is the customary winter over the
divide" They predict more expert
ences Of the kind that went with the
first winter attempt to get mail into
the Yukon If the season approaching is
of the real sort.