Condon globe. (Condon, Gilliam Co., Or.) 189?-1919, 1898-02-18
MAKES A FoaruNe N eoos.
Everybody Laughed at This Man, But
Success Game to Him.


Success Came to Him.
Nearly every man who has como out
OF Dawson during the past two months
or more has had something to say Of
the frozen egg man. They met him
at various points between the Chilkoot
summit and the Yukon river. trudging
along with one companion and four
dogs, pulling cargo Of frozen eggs
bound for the Klondike Eggs at Daw-
son are worth dollar or more each
and this high price proved such an in.
centive to Portland man that he re-
solved to freeze lot OF thom and take
them in. The egg man has been the
source Of no little amusement for the
Klondikers who have come out. They
have frequently laughed at his fool
hardy speculation and often predicted
his failure. He has been a prolific land
mark and one Of the stock questions
which Klondikers have asked each other
here has been, "Where did you meet
the egg manY'
The egg man has sold his eggs and 70.
turned with sack which many Klon-
diker might we'll envy. His name is
Charles Vest.
Mr.. Vest left Portland last October
on the steamer Elder. Before leaving
he obtained l,743 dozen eggs. He
broke and packed them in tin cans,
holding one gallon each, or six dozen.
The cans were sealed, frozen and put
in ice. They weighed 2,025 pounds
in cold storage.
With one man to help and his dogs
Mr.. Vest hurried the eggs up to Sheep
camp and buried them in the snow.
He put four cans in sack and tied the
sack over the dogs backs. Each dog
carried 20 pounds in this way. Once
over the summit the cans were piled on
sleds, pulled by the dogs and the jour
ney continued.
Several adventures befell Mr.. Vest
and his companion on the way. On
December 81 they stopped at cabin
and bought supper and lodging. They
bought some moccaslns Of one OF their
hosts. In the morning one can of the
eggs, now becoming more and more
precious, was gone. Mr.. Vest had his
suspicious but had no evidence. lie
asked his host about tho missing can
but got no satisfaction, although his
suspicious were confirmed. There were
others camping at the cabin and from
these two or three days later Vest
obtained corroborative evidence as TO
the guilt of the suspect. The thief
had gone towards the coast but Vest
followed him and took him before tho
police. Confronted with the evidence
of his crime the fellow confessed. The
police decreed that the man should be
punished by giving up his outfit to the
man he had wronged. This was done
and Mr.. Vest got $lS5 per dozen for
the can of eggs.
At Thirty-Mile river an adventure of
different sort overlook the egg man.
A raft was built to float down the river.
Vest stayed on shore to line the raft
down and his companion was aboard
the raft. The ice at one place was
not strong enough to support Mr..
Vests weight and he was forced to
let the line go. The raft went spin
ming down the river ut fearful rate,
the anxious owner running along shore
to keep up with IT, Suddenly rock
rimmed with ice appeared in the track
of the raft. In moment the raft had
dived under the ice, the rider had
Jumped for his life to the rock and the
cargo had spilled into the swift stream.
1t was bitter cold, but the situation
was desperate. Vest did not ponder
long upon what to do. He plunged
into the stream and pulled out tho
sacks one at a time. To do this he had
to run along and into the stream for a
mile and half. His clothes froze to
him, but he saved his eggs. Then he
went back TO his companion and threw
out rope and towed him ashore.
Three men who happened to be camp
ing near by gave the two wet men shell
ter until they had dried and warmed
themselves.
Sixty-five miles further down Vest
reached the Big Salmon whore Major
Walsh was camping. Major Walsh
wanted supplies and he bought Mr..
Vests eggs at SO per dozen. The eggs
yielded $5,211, which. added to the
$1,1t0, amounted to $6,32l as the total
product of Mr.. Vests undertaking.