Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1898-08-04
On The valdes Trall.
ALASKA. june y. $50.

pings from the papers and noticed |
there were correspondents from the !
Klondike trail and was glad to know
that the boys got over the pass all |
right and that all were well at that
time, and as | read came to the'eon-
clusion that this is the worse trail of |
the two and twice as long and more
hardships to contend with.
Thinking you would like to hear
from this part OF Alaska l thought |
would drop you few lines and tell
you Of our trip this far. Leaving
Lancaster with the best wishes Of rel
atives and friends we arrived at Seattle
on the following. Sunday, and there
eight of Us decided to go to Valdes
and the Copper Riverroute. Roy Me-
Coy, Rolla Walker, Joe Bell of Potosi,
Fred Scott of Bloomington. w Ander-
son of Woodman. Ed Edwards, Frank
Markert and my self left Seattle Feb.
2S. 1898, on the Schooner ST. Law
renee, sailing vessel, and arrived at
Port Valdes March 81, safe and sound.
We were 81 days out of sight of land
and it was one continual storm nearly
all the way with very poor accommo-
dations and bed bugs till we couldn't
sleep, and we were glad when we
reached shore, ] tell you.
We piched our tent and ate our first
supper in camp. Then we started to
sleigh our goods to the summit OF the
Valdes glacier about 80 miles away.
Twenty-four miles of the trail is on
the glacier itself--nothing but ice and
snow. The first six miles were all
right till we ran against the foot of
the glacier; here we had to block and
tackle our goods over the first ledge Of
ice. A little further we had to block
and tackle over three-quarters of
mile over some Of the steapest lodges
of ice and snow You ever saw. We
had to take wood with us as there
was none on the ice and snow and
wood was worth money there, | tell
YOU. 1t either rained or showed every
day, so we were wet and cold all the
time on the trail One seveI-day
snow storm kept rs in the tent all the
time, so we went to bed to keep warm
and save wood. At the end of the
week we were not sleepy at all. AL
together we lost two weeks ON the
glacier. At last we arrived at the foot
of the summit one week after the
snow-slde, which killed two men and
famed more who returned home. Here
sold stick of popolar wood Z feet
long, 8 inches thick and 6 inches
through for $500, and - inmates
later could have gotten $500 for it.
1t is good mile from the foot to the
top of the summitand we had to block
and tackle all the way up Going up
the glacier we could pull on the sleighs
$50 to POO pounds at load So we
would take load five miles. cache it
and 90 back for one more load. 1t
look Us five days to move our goods
five miles
Arriving at summit alright. Dit is
Il miles 10 this camp which is called
Donkey Green City on account Of 50
many Jacks being here) put 500
pounds on nay sleigh and started and
got here all right. it took us - hours
to make the trip Of ; miles in one of
the worst snow storms OF the season
There are about 100 tents here and
everyone is building boat. My boat
is ready to launch and it is dandy
| named it Uncle Sam and the stars
and strips viii fly at its bows when
we take the water which will be next
week some time. We win build an
other boat for Frank Markert and It
will be called Mertie NJ. after his
daughter at home.
Decoration Day was observed here
on the graves of the two men that
were killed in the snow-slide and are
buried about 200 feet from this tent
Walker, Anderson, Bell and Scott
carved a headstone for them with their
names and compass and square and
three inks on it, rounded up the grave
with earth and covered it with flow
ers
Frank Markert and l are together
Edwards leaving for home four DAYS
after we landed. made some yeast
bread the other day FIR the first time.
There are all kinds of rifles ID camp
but none could put hole through
that bread