The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1898-01-27

INDIAN FREIGHT CARRIERS.
.Th1inkcts Pack Tremendous Loads
Over the ChillSo0t. q.

Vhlinkcts Pack Tremendous Loads
t45s. Over the Chilloot.
The ability of the Thlinket Indians
to pack tremendous loads has been con
ceded by all who have ever had occasion,
to secure the Siwashes for such service.
With the fall rush to the Yukon and the
exorbitant prices demanded and paid
for packing over the Chilkoot pass, the
Indians have fairly outdone themselves
so far as carrying heavy loads over the
summit is concerned. - OF this Jesse
Evans spoke at Portland few days
ago. XIII "A. .z;4 al. = i. ~ s.
'sThey are not in it with white man
when the overcoming of severe obsta-
cles and when danger is to besfaced,''
said Evans; ..but give them a fairly
clear trail, in the ascent of which there
is nothing to fear, and they will OUT
pack the average white man two to
one. Aside from the desire to make
money-and it came to them by the
handful at 4s cents pound for pack
irg-the Siwashes showed a pride in
their ability to outpack the white men:
Time and again I've seen a row of pant
ing, breathless whites ranged along
some windfall on the trail, resting the
50-pound sacks of -four strapped to
their backs, while by them would go
procession of Siwashes, consisting of
bucks, squaws and children, every one
of whom was carrying from 20 to- 200
pounds. If the resting white man could
have understood some of the remarks
sent at them by the Siwashes as they
tramped past, there would have been
2 general discarding of packs and a
humping bee instituted; but they were
in the main 'chee-chockos,' and Chinook
was as Greek to them.
"A Thlnket Indian figures that he
can pack his own weight. Thus, man
weighing 200 pounds believes he should
be able to lola 200 pounds on his back
across the summit. In the same ratio,
mite of a girl weighing 80 pounds is
given Is pounds to pack. This latter
phase of the packing was pitiable, and
number of times we were obliged to
stand up some old buck and force him
to tighten the load of half-fain ting
child.
''The money the Chilkoot, Chilcat,
Takou and AUX tribes have made dur
ing the summer in packing over the
Taiya pass is beyond correct computa-
zion, but it does not fall cent less than
100000. Where, in years gone by, the
charge for packing was ten cents a
pound, and considered high at that,
with the rush in the summer the price
swept up to As cents pound. Taking
as conservative estimate 1000 men,
each having 500 pounds of an outfit, at
tempted to make the interior and en-
gagged packers at 20 cents pound, you
have over 5000, 900 spent among these
Slwashes, not counting the innumer-
able dollars paid for canoe hire, etc.
''The Christmas holiday season is a
great time with these people. Not that
they are cognizant whatever of the
peace on earth, good will toward men
feeling Of the occasion, but that at Vic
toria, Juneau, Sitka and other places
they have seen the whites enjoy them
selves in Christina festivities, and what
the whites do the Thlinket Siwash
usually follows. Christmas day, or
rather night, is the one great revelry.
a grand dance is given in the mad
house, as the dance hall is termed in
| Alaskan towns, at which only The
| kleutchmen' are present, the bucks be-
| ing sent back to their 'illohee' on the
beach sharp at nine p. m. At these
'Cismus' dances the squaws vie one
with the other as to who shall be the
most richly appareled. Silks, satins and
velvets, with immense quantities OF
gold-plated jewelry, go to form the
toilets, some of the rigs costing hun
dreds of dollars. Well, if the 'madhouse'
dance at Juneau this Christmas with
the money the squaws will have to
spend for raiment, won't be sight
worth travelling to see, am badly mis-
taken. Portland (Ore.) Telegram.