West Virginia argus. [volume] (Kingwood, W. Va.) 1877-1946, 1898-10-27
Among The Breakers.
A kiagwesd BsY who Started For
The klOsdiks. But Get ksssgh Be.
Before Ne Get TAere.

PoRr TOWNSEND. WASH. Oct IL, vs..
Nv DEAR FRIEND RRowN:
IL is Only = few nonths over wear
since l left old Hing~ood, bat IL seems
TO me like i've. ant no the great war
eKciteoept l suppose l have been com
pletely forgotten. But l have not for
gottea any of my trends and often
look toward the East and sigh. In the
time have been gone ] have been
both lacky and unlucky. In the first
place | weat direct TO North Dakota
aud was never idle y dav that wanted
TO ~ork. / drst worked on a stock
ranch. not far from Eaton Bros. Then
/ made a deal with Alden Eaton To
paint their dwelling. inside and out
After that everything came my way.
/ bid for aud was awarded n contract
from Billings county. for repairing AID
painting the Court House. and whvn
completed Melted ne n very ntat little
SUN. Thcu | worked i'm Dickinson.
forty miles east OF Medora. until the
first OF January when I got the crazy
idea of going To Alaska. and | and a
man by the name OF Dougherty started.
lie had the most money, and couse
quently was boss Of the excursion
got to Seattle about the 20th, and /
can tell you things were booming
Fares were away up, so We concluded
TO buy a sloop and sail up the inside
passage. Well, we bought the sloop
for Sos and bought an outfit, costing
us all told. s3s5 and on the nth OF
February set sail from Yesterday
Dock. I will never forget IL. We
were In the best OF spirits and our
hopes ran high. But they were soon
to be dampened In the fullest sense OF
the word. IL was about 3 o'clock % m.
when we left Seattle, with a fail
breeze and we made surprising head.
way for "Greeuies" We were going
so MIC we thought we Would sail a
right We would take turns at the
wheel in the 0ost approved style. We
had a lantern rugged up forward, 40 q
steamer would not run us down, and
were keeping pretty well into the
shore. Well, along about $3.50 o'clock
p. m, 1 was standing in front of the
mast, ON the lookout. But IL was SC
dark that you could only see the
horizon and the white capped waves,
as they broke over the bows, when
right in front of us l saw what looked
to be the masts of a ship. / halloed t.
TON" and he dropped the sail anc
swHng her around But we were toe
late to miss. But instead Of a ship. we
were sfoul Of q Ash trap. The post,
were about 25 feet apart and our bow
was against n and the stern gains
the other. The wind was blowing
hard and the tide running out like q
mill race, while on the other side o.
the trap the breakers were roaring
like 'hunder. Well, we fastened .
line TO one of the piles and then let he,
drop through. Then we were afraiC
to cut loose, so we hung there; ever,
wave broke oyer our deck and pretty
soon we were water logged aud bailinl
out all the time. about that time
had quit swearing aud bscome relig
iously inclined.) But the tide change
about ga M. Then we were ia for 4
again, SO we cut our rope and let he
go. We drIfted out into the Souns
and we're picked uD 5y a Tug Boat anc
landed in Port Townsend. In tina
short time ] got all the sailing
wanted. l tried to sell my share II
the outfit, but could find no one whc
wanted to buy, so l gave It to m,
partner and we Dissolved. He sailed
and has never been heard Of since.
Afterwards ] went as cook on
little steamer to skaRuary and Dyea
and felt thankful hat we wrecWec
where We did. Tor in other places W,
would have nae no show at all. Sine,
then i have been with Mr.. VI. A
Wright as clerk 10 his store. / am Il
the photo supply department.
/ will close, with kindest regards K
my friends, / remain,
W. H. FLYNE.