The Neihart herald. [volume] (Neihart, Mont.) 1890-1901, 1898-03-12
MAN FOR HIMSELF.
THE SELFISH OLD PROVER6
GOES In KLONDIKE.
Petty Meanness and CrueIty-No One
Trusts a Fenow-Belng-An Existence
Which Brings Out the Worst That
Is In Human Nature. D

Nobody who has spent the winter
in the Klondike will ever want to try
1t again." said Thomas Harmer to a
Denver Republican man. THAT is, IN
less he has a 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 W years ago, and says that he
left there last August never to return.
Il would not go back there and remain
five years for $3.50, 00O," he continued.
When 1 speak of suffering, l do not
mean actual bodily pain or
sickness, because l think that
II a man goes there pre-
pared as he should and abstains from
excuses he can keep in reasonably
good health, but to live during the win
ter season in those close cabins and
see the horrible selfishness and cruelty
OF Auman 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 l was coming out l
saw men refuse a nail or the use of
an ak or even the use of a 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 steal
something or have better success in
hnding gold. L spent last winter from
September to April with eight other
men, we having gone together to save
labor in keeping warm. Each of us
mad a claim or a part of a claim, and
went out every day that the weather
was not too cold to work our claims.
In melting the frozen gravel VIZ nearly
always found one or more nuggets in
the dirt, but during the entire eight
months that We worked together l dc
not remember of a single occasion
when one of us acknowledged that he
had found any gold. Each OF us had
a buckskin bag which was carried on
h person, and the ingenuity of all
vas taxed to the utmost to dyvise some
scheme whereby that bag could be con.
cealed from the rest. There was nc
stealing in the camp. A nan caught
stealing would have had a rough time
OF 1t, but every nan seemed to thinl
that every other man wanted to stea
from him, and l do not think that E
single n of us knew where any othel
man carried his gold. l remember ON
night lying awake and seeing five mel
ting away the nuggets found during
the day, and in every case after putin,
them in the little buskskin bags the.
would thrust the bag under the blan
kets, and l could see from the FUN
bling that they were ~concealing /
about their persons. We always had
man sitting up to keep the fires, an,
where they put their gold. There wa
no absolute cruelty, but the total in
difference to the welfare of others tina
characterized everybody was simpl,
horrible. l was in the cabin one da'
reading, with two men, one of whom
was sick, the rest being at work. TIL
sick man had a terrible cold and fever
and asked n of us to hand him
drink. The other man went over t
the bucket i'm which we kept our melt
ed snow, and, with the remark, Their
is no more than l want myself dram,
it all. This, of course, was exception
ally brutal, but there were many in
stances almost as bad. Every man i
for himself, and many of them are 6
constantly thinking Of their gold tina
they become insane, or partially so.
came out with one man who was so ex
cited over about $4,000 worth of gol
that by the time we got to San Fran
cisco he was almost an idiot, and
was with difficulty that we could In
, duce him to deposit his gold in tn
bank and go to a hotel. There is plen
I ty of gold there, and I think more field
J.. will be found, but all a man is likel
I to get will not pay him for the horri
Bile experiences he is called upon t
endure. l was not particularly lucky
: though l brought out enough to pa
me fairly well for my two years i
) Alaska, but if | was assured of $50, 90
a year l would not go back there"