The San Francisco call., 1898-01-11

could not have watched that charge at
 the bridge at Lodi with closer interest
 than did I the action of those dogs. In watching the bank for the cabin I was | compelled to keep my head to one side, the left being more exposed than the other and there my ear suffered. We passed on and with turn of the river we saw the smoke of the cabin curling
 up to heaven like incense. It was a little
 cabin, built by two miners who had been snowbound there. They presented it to
 the Miners Association for the purpose
 to which it was devoted, refuge and res cue We found the cabin so full that
 there was no room to lie down, and we
 had to take turns at sitting up by the fire even after the three Indians had generously withdrawn, going across the
 riVer into protected gulch to make camp until the wind should subside.
 Yes, l have had enough of it, but cannot remain here. l must go on out. There are so many claims on me out there.
 am getting old, have no time to waste
 l cannot remain ill here. l built my lit
 tie home you know upon the Heights and
 l want to go and enjoy it. That view of
 the Bay of San Francisco has a fascina- tion for me.
 About my trip up the river? We'll, We left Circle City on the morning of the 2lth of October. They brought a dead
 man in there, the body having been chopped out of the ice, and another whose feet were frozen and had to be amputated. There was something of a panic in the camp. It was thought that there must be great numbers on the river probably frozen. They were going to hold a miners meeting to keep me from start ing out, but l told them to go to the devil; that I was determined to tarry
 there no longer. The more of death and suffering there was on the river, the
 more I would have to go. Well, we could get no dogs that were worth having, and
 so determined to come without any. We
 had robes and everything of the lightest character; two tents for protection
 against snow, but used only one. It was
 a little tent, open in the front We car
 ried no stove, but built a campfire every
 night and slept with our feet toward it.
 We did not suffer at night. but slept
 comfortably enough. We carried crack
 CTS and canned meats and had little
 cooking or baking to do, but, oh, how
 one eats on the trail. And I have made a discovery. Perhaps it is not a discov-
 cry but it is new with me. While 1 was
 working along the trail, keeping the sled
 right side up-that is really the hardest
 job-while I was at that for hours. with
 no one to talk to, would see things here
 and there that appealed to me in my
 trade. I would be forever putting them
 in place, arranging them in order, you
 know Well, l discovered that that sort
 of thing was most eXnausting; l would
 suddenly feel that some one had touched
 the hem of my garment. This is a won
 derful and beautiful country. There is
 endless material here for my trade.
 Ut seems like providence that the story of this country should be reserved
 for me to the last. Well. we travelled to
 the place where the body of Anderson
 had been found and saw valiSe there
 and some candles, also some flour, cooked
 A raven was flying overhead. His croak was like chunks of ice. You could hear
 them falling on the foes. We tented
 there under a bluff and an avalanche of snow on our tent taught us to keep away from bluffs. We moved along very slow ly on the river ice. We got in the water once and directly sat on the sled and changed our footwear. On the seventh day we saw some people on the other side
 of the river and we spent the day cross- ing over There we found a trail and
 plenty of wood. We gathered some high bush cranberries also. They were so thick that we scooped them into our hands. They were delicious. 1 saw a woodpecker there also. The second day after we crossed, the river gorged. It was terrific. We were on the ice above the gorge. It rose about ten feet and then the water iell ne iCe pieu up while underneath the river panted and easped like some fearful and unheard-of monster At times it kept up what seemed like the discharge of artillery. Our sled was wholly submerged in the water once. We saw some horses that had been on a barge as we were making our way | out for long time. The camps were
 very monotonous. We fed wit. Indians | several times, and were glad of the ' Ua Indians hpln | along over certain stages.
 We passed boats almost every day that had been caught in the ice. We began to
 meet numbers of people, especially trad | CTS They nearly all feed their dogs | frightfully. One trader had beautiful
 hound, a Newfoundland and a Mameluke.
 The hound cried pitifully under the treat
 ment and he beat it for crying. He beat
 the hound to death. He left the New | foundland at Forty Mile. The Indian | dogs endure everything, but the others | can't I know that this cruelty is not | necessary, for I asked Montana the
 man who brought me in, how often he | beat his dogs. He answered: Never, | that is why they are so fat and work so
 we'll The dog beating must stop.
 we had a most terrible experience at
 the whirlpool below Forty Mile. They
 may speak of cold waves in other parts of | the earth; I would call them 'streaks.'
 Here are places where the cold takes hold of you like the hand of death. You | feel it instantly you enter it, and again
 when you leave. At the whirlpool the
 wind has polished the ice smooth with the sharp points of snow. We struck the cold streak, and everybody cut loose and ran for shelter, but we went on to the
 cabin. We were two days making the five
 miles between the wreck of the Arctic and Forty Mile.
 At Forty Mile we were treated like Princes. They gave us a musical enter tainment, and we had a nice time. We l stayed there three days. I received the
 surgeons care for some bruised ribs.
 had fallen on the ice and it caused me to bleed from the lungs.
 "A young man named Alfred Thayer. l a freighter, who reached Forty Mile about the same time we did, fell in the same | way at the same place. and had broken three ribs. He had to have them set. On