The copper country evening news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 18??-1907, 1898-06-25
THE ONDIKE TRAIL
PERSONAL EXPERIENCES OF LUcIus
c. PEASE ON IT.
rakins oxen to Carry His outnt Over
skAguay -considers Them Superior
20 Dogs-In Constant Danger on the Ice
of the SkAguay River.

Il NJ the skAguay hiser.
Lucius c. Pease, formerly Of Malone,
N. Y, has written q letter 20 his aunt,
Mrs Sarah J. Chesley, from Skaguay pass,
which Is printed in The Palladium He
describes his experience with oxen in
crossing the pass with his klondike outfit,
which he has found superior 20 dogs.
81 raked the country with "A fine toothed
combed TO get just the oxen wanted, and
we have them here. The four average
! 500 pounds each. They are young, lively
and exceedingly gentle and work singly in
harness, each drawing q large toboggan
ii feet long, with three shoes bolted on
the bottom 10 protect IL from the wear OF
the ice and rough ground and 10 keep it
from sliding sideways down slope.
Each toboggan will take as a nice
shaped load 600 pounds of pressed hay, 600
pounds OF corn and barley and 500 pounds
Of outfit for ourselves. This is 40 days
provisions for the oxen, and four toboggans
take our entire outfit, which weighs 3, 600
pounds and includes tools and one years
provisions for the mex.
1.-The oxen travel in single file, string
Ing out into quite respectable caravan.
You should have heard the comments as
from the dock-'There goes the newspaper
syndicate, That's the most sensible klon-
dixie outfit that has ever struck this trail,
Beats dogs all hollow, don't itS' Yes, and
then look at all that beef tool
"The town is full of all sorts of ours.
You see men with all the way from one
to six dogs and small sled endeavoring
to train tho former TO pull the latter IL
one knows nothing of this Alaska excite
ment and should happen unexpectedly up
on this town, he would be apt to think
that many of its citizens had returned TO
their childhood, so juvenile does IL seem
to see these big chaps tearing about with
the poor little dogs and shouting "Mooshl
Moosh!" which seems to be dog for sect
up" There is something SO laughable
about the spectacle of bearded Klondiker
bumped up on "a little sled, his face set
with the expression Of a bicycle scorcher,
doing his best to control the movements
of n lot of capricioUs dogs. At least we
could afford to smile, for the comparison
was In our favor.
"We are now near the summit, where
the last timber Is found. Our cattle are
still fat and in good condition and are
snugly housed in a snow shed, which wo
dug out of the side of huge snowdrift |
against the wall of the canyon. We waited |
1t Skaguay until Jan. IL, getting our
oxen shod and everything in readiness. |
Then we moved our outfit six miles up the |
Skaguay river to the mouth of the canyon. |
Here we campcd and began moving our |
outfit In small loads to cache In the pines |
about five miles farther up 1t took us |
seven days of hard labor, but we found it |
very exciting.
1.-The Skaguay river runs very rapidly |
through this canyon, which is tbickly |
strewn with powders, many of them as |
large as house. OF course, when the |
river froze the surface was left about as |
sven as q storm tossed sea. Then the river !
ell, and the Ice began to cave In, leaving |
numerous holes, down in tho depths of |
which the water roars and tumbles. There |
ire scores Of places where a slip would |
mean the certainty Of being carried over |
INTO one Of these holes and whirled quick |
y out of sight under the ice.
I'VE are among the first to arrive at this !
point. One of the most unpleasant fea-
ures below our present camp has been the ,
danger of ice giving away under |
'ne. A huge shelf Of ice gave way one |
morning just ahead of us and dropped six |
Jack horses into the icy water. Fortunate
y the river was shallow at this place and |
he animals were saved with great diff |
ulty. We had no accidents except with |
me load. The ice cracked under the head |
teer In narrow place. He jumped and |
aved himself and all but the rear portion |
II the load, which slipped into deep hole. |
caught sight of 1t as 1t was being drawn !
inder in the whirling water. The recent |
have doubtless improved the |
anyon below. We have to wear ice Creep !
rs to keep from slipping as we handle our |
Dads"