The enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 188?-1899, 1898-10-26

All Prepared for Winter.
EAGLE CITY, ALASKA, Sept. 8, 1888,
We arrived here July End from Dawson
City, having stopped at that place only q
day. McHardy. styled Mae for short;
Stevens, styled Steve; and your humble
brother with the proud title 81 ''chiei
cook, over 1000 miles from our homes
in the windy city.
The town upon our arrival consisted
mostly Of tents, but now settled
considerably with La houses
We located twn town iOti ppon Z
our arrival and have u nice comfortable
cabin to live In. The town issituateA
at the mouth Of Mission Creek AmeIa
Iican Greek runs into 1t about three mlles
from the mouth, the creeks being all
staked with claims. Wshage acclaim on
American Greek and we think our pros.
poets good. We built q large cabin on
our claim SO we now have cabin ct both +
ends OF the line. Az aO0Ti aa the SNOW
comes we will haul part " our provisions
on sleds t0mr claim, which. by the wayS
Is just fifteen milesfrOm here, What
provisions we have there nOwwe have
had to pack on our hacks. People im4
agined that all they had to do In thial
country was to put their provisions In q
small boat and row or pole the boat upl
the rivers or creeks. To the contrary,
however, as the rivers are 80 swift that u
is impossible and all goods have to be
taken overland. The trails to the mines
are mere paths up and down hill, over
mountains, now crossing, again re-eroSs-
ing the river and Is bad enough without
carrying pack. We pack from fifty
to seventy-6ye pounds on our back to our
claim and when that is eaten we come
back for more. We use what is COM
monty called here "pack strap" which
is ia sort of a harness to hold the things
together and fastens over and under the
shoulder. 1t reminds me Of the packs the
Jew peddlers carry. When / first tackled
: the pack carried about thirty pounds; ]
. now carry double that. OF course 1t 10
hard work, but we get'psed to anything
here.
We make the trip to our claim with q
pack in about half day, and 1t Is nearly
1t steady walking all the time. We are un-
able to do much work upon our claim as
y the river is high and the water seeps into
any holes one digs, but as soon as 1t
T. freezes we will find out whether or not
6 we have an Eldorado. We think we are
- all right as several paying mines are
being worked on the creek.
1t has been very hot and plenty Of
misquitOes, but, thank goodness 1t Is
cool now and they have vanished. We
40 had Mosquitoes three times a day with
m our meals. Not satisfied with diet
~ upon large per cent. Of our anatomy
II they got into our food. Lucky is tht
man who draws pan cake without a mis-
quitoe or two thrown in. We have Il
cook out Of doors in summer and the!
ID get into all the food. They greet ont
. in swarms, droyes, focks, and net
ting has no terror for them. After they
"a left we had the black gnats. These ar
- very small. black flies, and they bite lik'
IA misquito. They get into our ears
eyes, nose and mouth. We have lots o
ee them now, but we are used to them as vi
have been so thoroughly inoculated b.
'e- the pests. The days here now are coo
and the nights chilly. Another month o
so will see the mighty Yukon frozen an
o+ passenger traffic suspended. We ar
" fully prepared for winter and all wei
come 1t gladly. We have floor In Ou
cabin here, made out Of boat. We ais
n made single bed for each Of US. Stew
received letter from home day or tw
ago that was mailed at Chicago, Angus
srs. 9Th. We have fourth class post Ofiic
. here, and mail service is much bette
now than during previous years. Th
postmaster says we will have mails frol
the outside at least once month durin
the winter. However, they will not carr
any newspapers. All outside news frOl
the papers during the winter Is sent
clippings, so wish you would cut trOl
the papers all items Of interest and sen
at them when you write letters.
We have one or two steamboats, q dS
from st. Michaels. The .. s. Custom
- Office Ia located here and all boats have
10 stop. The North American Transport
tion Co., The Alaska Commercial Co. al
Ill the Alaska Exploration Co. are puttiT
at up large stores here. This will,
I'll doubt, be the largest city on Americt
soil and some predict that 1t will riv
lnu Dawson.
Flour is worth 81 per fifty pound sac
=. Beans, 15 cents per pound.
-. Sugar and rice, 80 cents.
Butter, $3.50.
THY Dried fruits, % cents.
bus. Bacon, % cents.
ONE. Tobacco, $3.50.
sss ssv So provisions are reasonable. In CO.
f.nd- mo riann with nravlnuo vanra Inst. .winI