The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1898-04-24

VIII have to be cut in the snou apd
Ice, for In places the walls are almost
perpendicular; and our goods packed
| over The worst feature ia the ter-
rible winds and the intolerable thirst
Tor we dare not quench our thirst with
| SNOW. sahara or any other desert
would be preferable.
was three days getting to the SIM
mt IN light marching order, no tim
Der, and so no fire excent what
could make with the few faeeots
carried with me. At night I dug hoIea
IN the snow and, wrapped in my
blankets, waited for daylight. I saw
was three days going to the summit
seventeen miles-but I came back in
hours. NO timber, nothing but a
a. ling siare OF snow that looks red
at times; oh, glacier is q terrible
tnlng. FROM the summit can see the
country for a long distance beyond.
IL looks good, open uplands, valleys
and best of all, timber
Later by few days: we'll l have
an our stun up to the first bench Of
the glacier, and have hauled two
loads ot wood today. p.gan work at
4 a. M. and quit at p. m. The winds
here are frightful. When it is doing
Its best man can no more stand
against it than he can fly. Snow is
elgnt feet deep and crusted. l know
| now why so little is known of Copper
| river. 1t has never been explored by
| those who claim in Seattle and else
| Wnere to have explored 1t. Billy Rib
stein, who was mentioned in the mas-
| aZlne article that we used to refer to
attempted trip over the glacier, but
| lost all his outfit in wind storm, and
had to back out: and, so far as he
| KNOWS, and he has lived here nine
| years, no one but Indians have ever
crossed the glacier. 1 am satisfied
mat we can go over and we will. The
| work is awful. Talk about hauling
900 or 700 pounds on a sled There are
places where it takes four men and q
block and tackle to get 200 pounds
over.
We propose going to the forks Of the
Chytnee river, build a good cabin in
which to store our goods, then split
up in parties of two with light loade
and go flying to the head of the Tan
anna. We will be there as soon as
any one, as it will not be easy travel
ing for month yet, and the majority
are waiting for that time. We will be
we'll on the way before they start I
expect the boys tomorrow, and unless
they have located a rich find We viii
push on. II one would work as hard
and as long hours in civilization as
we do here there would be no need 10
look for gold fields.
On an old, Cold Cake
On summit of Valdese glacier. March
1. We are camped on a very old and
cold cake of ice with our goods all on
| the summit, and our faces turned to-
ward Copper river; down the glacier,
a few miles with no obstacles to over
| come the country beyond looks invit-
| ing. comparatively level with timber in
sight which we shall soon reach and
then it will be more like living. At
present and all the time we have been
on the glacier, all the fires we have
mad has been to melt ice and snow for
water. We are off for the head of the
| Tananna and you may not hear from us
again for some months. We are work
| ing from daylight until dark. and the
days are long. 1t is a terrible hard
job, many are backing out every day
! Men become exhausted and sick and
have to give up. There are more than
| LOCO men in our rear and none ahead
L can't write more, it's too cold, | must
| get to work to keep warm. We are all
we'll Foster (of Detroit, Mimi is the
best man of our party and the best
man that has come into Alaska. Our
outfit is the envy of every one. We
| live on raw bacon and hard tack and
snow water, and are getting fat-not
very fat. We lead the procession and
| shall continue to lead
Yours truly. W. A. Hayden
Marking n Trail.
! win MT. Hayden are ChaS- G. FOS-
ter. of Detroit, Mimi, and Chas Nc
Neil, of Colorado. There were no better
woodsmen in Minnesota than Haydes-
and Foster. and so it goes without say
| ing that no better men have or will
penetrate the wilds of Alaska They
found and led the way over the glacier
that many had thought impossible. I
! think these Minnesotians will have the
honor of marking a trail from Valdese
to the head waters of the Tananna
river.
From Yakutat bay the latest reports
here are not so favorable, and the 800
or 400 explorers congregated there are
having some difficulty in finding a prac-
| ticable route into the interior
L judge from what I learn here and
from newspaper reports, that the new
gold fields of Kotzebue sound are at
tracing much attention and that sew
| eral expeditions are fitting out from
Seattle and San Francisco. According
! tc the government reports of some
! years ago, this Kotzebue country is
very promising in gold and silver. OF
course, it will be lied about. conditions
exaggerated eXtravagant reports of rich
finds and all that, and then will follow
a stampede. Business is dull with the
transportation companies at present,
they must and will do something to
create new excitement so look out for
VIII anu cNtTdVdSdnC reports oil new
discoveries and new fields
1 caution those contemplating going
into the Alaskan gold fields, to pay lit
tie attention to these reports of new
fields. In most cases 1t will be we'll not
to decide upon any destination in Alas
ka until reaching this coast. and then
couple of weeks can be Drofitt.pjly
spent gathering information from
which to determine where In Alaska is
the best prospecting ground. Don't he
lieve half that you hear from here. for
you will be beset night and morn with
liars.
Juneau IS the head center for about
all that pertains to quartz properties
of Alaska. 1 am surprised TO find these
properties attracting so little attention,
but am told its too early for prospect
ing or for the advent of investors. I
am gathering information and expect
to make quartz properties and quartz
mining the subject of my next letter.
M. r. Baldwin.