The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1898-01-28
EVERY NAN FOR HIMSELF.
HOW THINGS ARE DONE on THE
KLONDIKE.
Such Selfishness and Cruelty rs is Al
most Beyond Belief There "A Mans
Bitter Experience.

Nobody who has ever spent a win
ter i'm the Klondike will ever want to
try it again" said Thomas IIarmer.
recently. "That is. unless he has a
certainty of pay for his suffering and
hardships such as were never endur-
ed in any mining camp on earth be-
fore"
Mr.. Harmer went into Alaska two
years ago and says that he left there
last August never to return. 81 will
not 90 back there and remain five
years for $250,O00" he continued.
"When ! speak of suffering, | do not
mean actual pain or sickness, because
| think that if man goes there pre-
pared as he should and abstains from
eNcesses he can keep in reasonably
good health. but to live during the
winter season in those close cabins.
and see the horrible selfshness and
cruelty of human beings toward each
other, the result of the rush for gold,
which many of them. even after they
have secured it. do not hesitate to
throw away. is enough to make one
lose all faith in the fitness of men
to live on earth. When | was coming
out saw men refuse Il nail or the use
of an az or even the use of tin cup
to men who were in need of these tri-
hues. Every man there seems TO be
afraid OF his fellows--afraid that they
will steal something or have better
success in finding the gold. | spent
last winter, from September to APRIL
with eight other men. we having gone
together to save labor in keeping our
selves warm.
Each of MS had "A claim or a part
of claim. and we went out every day
that the weather was not too cold to
work our claims. In melting the fro
zen gravel we nearly always found one
or more nuggets in the dirt. but dur
ing the entire eight months that we
worked together do not remember OF
II single occasion when one of us ac-
knowledged that he had found any
gold. Each of us had buckskin bag
that was carried on our person. ana
the ingenuity of all was taxed to the
utmost to devise some scheme where
by that bag could be concealed from
the rest. There was no stealing in the
camp. \ man caught stealing would
have had rough time of it, but cv-
cry man seemed TO think that every
other man wanted to steal from him.
and | do not think that single one
of us knew where any other man car
ried his gold. | remember one night
lying awake and seeing five men of
our company putting away the mug
gets found during the day, and in ev-
cry case after putting them in the lit
tie buckskin bag. they would thrust
the bag under the blankets. and |
could see from the fumbling that they
We're concealing it about their person.
We always had a man sitting up to
keep the fires and the men were afraid
that he might see where they put the
gold. There was no absolute cruelty,
but the total Indifference to the well
fare of others that characterized every
body was simply horrible. I was in
the cabin one day reading. with two
men, one of whom was sick. the rest
being at work. The sick man had a
terrible cold and fever and asked one
of us to hand him a drink.
"The other man went over TO the
bucket in which we kept. out melted
snow. and with the remark, There is
no more than I want myself drank
it all. This. of course, was exception
ally brutal. but there were many in
stances almost as bad. denver Re
publican.