The L'Anse sentinel. (L'Anse, L.S., Mich.) 18??-current, 1898-01-08
EVERY MAN FOR HIMSELF.
Terrible SeIhshness Among the Gold
Hunters I'm the North.


Hunters I'm the North.
"Nobody who has spent the winter In
the Klondike will ever want to try 1t
again." said Thomas Harmer at the
mining bureau the other day. THAT is,
unless he has certainty of making
enough money to partially repay him
for suffering hardships such as were
never endured in any mining camp on
earth before"
Mr.. Harmer went into Alaska two
years ago and says that he left there
last August never to return. 81 would
not go back there and remain five years
for $250,o0o," he continued. "When I
speak of suffering do not mean actual
bodily pain or sickness, because think
that if n man goes there prepared as he
should and abstains from excuses he
can keep in reasonably good health, but
to live during the winter season In
those close cabins and see the horrible
selfishness 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 the earth. When was
coming out saw men refuse nail or
the use of an ax or even the use of n tin
cup to men who were in need of these
trifes. Every man there seems to be
afraid of his fellows-afraid that they
will stealsomething or have better sue
cess in finding gold. spent last win
ter from SeptenIbeS to April with eight
other men, we having gone together to
save labor in keeping warm.
Each of us had claim or part of a.
claim, and we went out every day that
the weather was not too cold 10 work
our claims. In melting the frozen
gravel we nearly always found one or
more nuggets in the dirt, but during
the entire eight months that we worked
together do not remember of single
occasion when one of us acknowledged
that he had found any gold. Each Of
us had n buckskin bag that was carried
on the person, and the ingenuity of all
was taxed to the utmost to devise some
scheme whereby that bag could be con-
cealed from the rest. There was no
stealing In the camp. A man caught
stealing would have had n rough time
of it, but every 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 carried his gold. I remember one
night lying awake and seeing five men
of our company at different times put
ting away the nuggets found during
tho 1nu md ~, Of =
ting them in the little bucksllin bag,
they would thrust the bag under the
blankets, and 1 could see from the
fumbling that they were concealing It |
about their persons. We always had
man sitting up to keep the fires, and
the men were afraid that he might see
where they put their gold. There was
no absolute cruelty, but the total in
difference to the welfare that charac-
terized everybody was simply horrible. |
l was in the cabin ore day reading with |
two men, one Of whom was sick, the
rest being at work. The sick man had u |
terrible cold and fever, and asked one
of us to hand him drink.
THE other man went over to the |
bucket in which we kept our melted |
snow and, with the remark: There is |
no more than l want myself drank 1t |
all. This. of course, was exceptional
~ brutal, but there were many instances |
almost as bad. Every man is for him
self, and many of them are so constant
ly thinking of their gold that they be-
come insane, or partially so. l came
out with one man who was so excited
over about $4,000 worth of gold that by
the time we got 10 San Francisco he
was almost an idiot, and it was with diff
ficulty we could induce him to deposit
his gold in bank and go to a hotel.
There is plenty of gold there, and
think more fields will be found but all
a man is likely to get will not pay him
for the horrible experiences he is called
upon to endure. was not particularly
lucky, though l brought out enough to
pay me fairly we'll for my two years in
Alaska, but if was assured of $4,000
year would not go back there. Den