Daily capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1896-1899, 1898-03-31
Don TTuitt Writes,
Tells of the Thousands Of
Gold Seekers.
Is Pushing Rapidly Into the Interior-In
Good Health.

son Don, who left with the Ohmart
party early in February:
DEAR MoTHER:-Near the White
Pass hotel at the foot of the summit,
Alaska, or rather where God finished
I up the earth and the material He had
! left He just dumped in.o heap and
most of that was rock.
This is March IA, 1898, and today |
am full grown man so don't tell me
mother l have TO mind you any longer.
l am 81 today, have done mans
work Joo-hauled about 1900 pounds
over the ridge and saw one of the
prettiest sights l ever saw, on the
summit. 1T was clear and the sun was
shining brightly. You could see for
miles. 1t was about 9 O'Clock when l
reached the summit, which is four
miles from here.
To give you some idea of the people
on the trail, there was mule near
the top when he made a misstep and
went over sled and all, and another
horse Just behind got frighted by the
performances of the mule and jumped
over too, leaving the trail sled behind
him in the way of the others. What
L mean by the trail sled is the one be-
hind, as there are two and sometimes
three sleds to each horse and lit took
one hour or near that to get the horse
back up to pull the sled up out of the
way, and all this time the men behind
kept crowding up as far as possible
and then stopping, and so on down
the mountain until before trail was
clear there was for two miles and a
half behind solid block, not sled
moving, and packed as close as possi-
BILE. From where 1 was standing l
could look down the mountain and
see the black streak of teams, sleds
and men, and not one moving,
All the rest of the mountain
was sheet of snow all the way from
to 20 feet deep. forgot to tell you
that the trail is very narrow and only
in places you can side-track and wait
until the teams going in the opposite
direction can pass. Sometimes there
is a jam like that for Two hours and
not man car move. Most every day
there is from one to five or six horses
go ovor tho mountain sid q. One dav
/ saw string Of eight pack horses go
over. They were all tied together and
one fell over and pulled all the rest
with him and not horse was hurt
the snow is so deep they don't strike
anything but snow and that is soft
and don't jnjure them in the least.
They just went rolling, first the pack
on top of the horse and then the
horse on top of the pack. The old
mule that went over today landed
with the sled on top of him and he
just gave two or three brays and laid
there until they got him out.
never take any chances on the
trail and get along nicely. l have not
received letter from you. 1 got a
letter from Floyd Dayton and mab-be
you think L didn't appreciate it. 1
tell you:it is lonesome up here some
times when one gets to thinking Of
those he left behind. l know you
have written, but it has failed to
reach me. am sitting on the floor
by the stove, writing this by candle
light. The folks have been in bed for
an hour. Our floor is snow four or
five feet deep with fir boughs over it.
We are not troubled with cold air
coming through the cracks and it is
as warm as any mans floor.
Every one is well. Don't believe
all the reports of the sickness here for
they are not true. OF course, there is
some sickness like anywhere else, but
there are thousands of people between
here and Skegway and do hot hear
of any more deaths here than
in Salem but if man gets sick
every one for mile or two up the
canyon knows or hears of it and may
be ten men will come along during the
day and tell you there is a sick man
up the trail. Every one has differ.
ent opinion of hoH sick the man is.
From their talk you would think they
all saw different sick man but come
to find out they all saw the same one
and he had had cold.
am going to start from here early
in the morning and go to Skagway
after two bales of hay and a 100
pounds more of sugar. have to
start early as it takes 7 hours each
way 10 make the trip. l hope to get
some letters tomorrow. / have writ
ten Mr.. Ashbaugh one and Dayton
one and five to you and to A. r. Will
lard, and several to DR.. Smith and
others. Every time 1 haYe an hour
o. tive to my leisure write to some
| one.
Tell that friend of mine not to
think OF coming TO Skaguay unless he
| Il 20 an IN into fI,n