The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1898-03-03
The Surest Animals for Pulling a
Heavy Load.
READY SALE FOR THEIR MEAT.
which Furnishes Ready Capitalize
Trip One of Many Dangers and No
Little ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS of
One Who Made the Trip.

lone. NJ Y: co.
Last Timber, skaguay Pass.
January %. -~sS.
Il can scarcely excuse myself Tor de-
lay In writing you. but everyone that at
feropts this trip knows how II is. ihere
Is barely time for more than line, and
wanted to wait until could send tui
,ar,,cplars. and this first stormy DAY
gives me the chance. -.
we brought four big oxen and three
,oorths' feed for them. | decided upon
oxen for two reasons The man uPo,'
,,nor, we had depended for dogs raised
,he nrica 10 double that agreed upon pu'
fortunately ! had learned something %
a trim made 10 Skaguay ana DScd sumo
TWO months ago for the purpose OF ac-
ouainting myself with the needs Oh .ne
trip. ] found that oxen were aoou1
mos. satisfactory animals of all the va
.4N,,ss Of ouadrupeds that have been
,,se5 on this trail since the rush began
met willis Thorpe. the old timer VINO
has made money during the past two sea
sons taking stock 10 the Yukon over tie
Dsifon trail. He said oxen would go
where horses could not be made 10 20
ana that they would haul twice as much
~, The same feed and could stand more
cold A dog will not haul much more
,han 10 last himself in the long journey
~ Dawson. and you have got TO take
10. OF dogs 10 haul mans ou'hl'
CHOSE OXEN.
when 7 returned from Skaguay my
mariner agreed with me. and when the
dog man wired us that be could not give
us the dogs for less than $50 each' we
autographed back: "No dogs thanks we
In. (r.a1 am
And we have been hugeing ourselves ever
,,nce that we did 50. I raked the coun-
,rv with a fine-tooth comb 10 get just the
oxen l wanted and we have them here.
The four average eight en- hundred pounds
each. They are young. lively ana eN-
ceedinglv gentle and work singly IN mar
ness each drawing a large toooggah,
fourteen feet long with three shoes poiteu
on .he bottom to protect 1t from the wear
OF the ice and rough ground ana 10 Keep
A. from sliding sideways down Slope
each toboggan will take as a NICE
shapcd lead COO pounds OF pressed nay,
eno mounds Of corn and barley and 800
hounds of outfit for ourselves. THIS IS
forty DAYS provisions for the on, and four
toi,oggans take our entire outnt Which
weighs 1000 pounds and includes Tools
and one years provisions for the men.
The oxen travel In Single file. strineing
ont .nto quite a respectable caravan. You
should have heard the commons as We
passed up through the centre Of Skasuay
from the dock. There goes the newspaper
syndicate outfi.;' That's the most sensl-
bile Klcndiks outfit that has ever struck
This frail;' Beats dogs all hollow. don't
~? Yes. and then look at all that beef
too.
"The town is full Of all sorts Of ours.
You see men with all The way from one
90 six dogs and a small sled endeavoring
10 train the former to pull with the latter.
II one knows nothing OF this Alaska eN-
element AMI should happen uneNpectedy
,ipon this town he would think that many
of its citizens had returned early 10 their
childhood. so Juvenile does II seem TO see
these big chaps tearing about with the
poor little dogs. shouting Moosh J
Mooshr which seems to be dog for Get
M There is something 80 laughable
about the spectacle of a bearded klon-
diker bumped up on q little sled, his face
set with the expression of bicycle
scorcher doing his best to control the
movements of lot Of capricious dogs
At least we could afford 20 smile for the
comparison was by far In our favor. II re-
mains TO DC seen how we shall get along
with them in the interior. II is certain
however that they will take us TO the
losas and ma Is ALWAYS looked upon as
ha's The journey We shelter them every
n'Ght in tent by themselves.
A GRUB" OUTFIT.
A list of our gruo outfit may prove in
teresting TO you;
beverages. % pounds; u cans con-
depsed coffee ana milk; pounds coffee;
70 cans extract Of beef: Is cans condensed
milk.
"Cereals-iO0 pounds pilot bread; 100
pounds corn meal 100 pounds pea meal;
50 pounds wheat flour; dozen cans baked
beans. 100 pounds rice; 10 pounds barley;
80 pounds small beans. 80 pounds rolled
cas-
rMeats-5O pounds butter: go pounds
bacon: 100 pounds salt pork, 3 pounds
cheese: pounds smoked herring: pounds
ham Besides this. we have a good deal
Of fresh meat 10 eat and will have about
"A ton and half 10 sell cat $50 pound
when We butcher our oxen.
.Sweets-i.0c1 saeoharine tablets; 100
pounds sugar: cans OF nolaSscs.
"Evaporated GODDESS pounds SOUP
vegetables; 30 pounds potatoss~S0 pounds
onions; pounds raw onions; pounds
squash; pounds evaporsted eggs
Dried Fruits pounds Iaisns; 80
pounds aprlects: Il pounds ,plums: p
pounds peaches: rs pounds French
prunes; q pounds currants.
Miscellaneous can peppers % pounds
salt. s. pounds baking powder: mustard.
soda, celery salt. horseradish: 10 bars
soap;,2 cans coal oil: 2 boxes candles;
matches galore,
Total weigbt1r5o ponds. with boxes.
"T'>ta cost sNon
I'VE are now near the Summit where
the last timber is found. and can scarce
~ realize that nearly month has gone
since began this. I haven't written
line in that time. and my pencil feels
unnatural ir my fingers which have al
ready grown calonsd with work We are
camped down In a very wild gorge the
rocks towering far above us on all sides.
Our tent Is pitched on TIE Snow. which
is about ten feet deep under us. l am
seated Turkish fashion on my sleeping
bar. which - spread on a few armsful OF
evergreen toughs. hastily gathered In the
reighhorhood 4 good fire il roaring in
our Yukon stove ahd the north wind
IS bowling and drifting the snow outside
cur cattle are stil fat and In good con-
6i,ion. and are snngly housed In snow
shed. which we dug ont Of the side OF a
huge snow drift against the wall OF
the canon. We worked until "
O'Clock on the stormy nisht OF our arrival
here 20 get that shelter for them, so that
they might not freeze TO death. There
were six OF us and when we had that
done and our tent az. and some dry
Pt.e