The herald-advance. (Milbank, S.D.) 1890-1922, 1898-08-26
COPPER RIVER.
An Interesting Letter Sent
Home by Some Wisconsin
BOYS i'm Alaska.

Boys in Alaska.
Among those who were at
tracted to the Copper river coun-
try in Alaska last spring in the
rush for gold mining were a
! party of young men from Ian
caster, Wis, who write to their
home paper an interesting letter
of their experience in that arctic
country, which is published IN
the Lancaster Teller, copy of
which has been received here by
Mr. G. A. Kern. Following are
some Of the accounts of the coun-
try by Rolla Walker:
"Naldes Pass. sunday. June l2.-As
we are not working to-day | will write
to describe our trip from Twelve
| Mile Camp. We finished and launch
ed our first boat on June | and named
her the June Bug" The boat is 90
feet long. two feet deep and feet
wide in the center. and our other boat
| Wnltll we Hailet tIlt MNu IltH, IL
the same size Each Of the boats
| Will carry about $500 pounds. by
the time the boats were finished the
water was high enough to float about
! 900 pounds down the river, 50 we
| loaded them and started OIL. we
grounded on gravel bars several times,
| bat got off all right and landed at Il
camp three miles below, then took
| the boats back for another load. until
all our outfit was down. Next morn
ing we loaded all our goods and start
| ed for the lake. 30 miles distant. In
each boat there We're two men with
J. 200 pounds of freight. and we went
off at a gait of seven miles an hour.
Each man had pike pole and away
we went for about miles, when we
reached a bend where Il red flag was
displayed. We poled oar boats ashore
and found that the water ran into
a lot Of boulders and old RATS at a
headlong speed. We cut a way
through the mass next the bank and
| let our boats down with ropes. Then
we got in and away We went like a
train Of ears. and ctr boats would al
/ most run into the banks III spite OF
our efforts. but we got along very
| we'll to the next danger signal, where
we roped our boats through again
and in four hours from the time W.
started we were 1T the lake.
We caulped All night at the lake
which is % miles wide. and next da,
made sails from tarpaulins and begal
to sail across it, We were obliged
sy heavy winds to 90 to shore, bu
next day reached the head Of tn
river that drains the lake. where w
camped again and went hunting bu
} failed to find any game There hav
been five or six bears killed along til
but the continual shooting has scare
the game away.
Next morning we pulled out for TIL
head of the rapids, and you Wonl
! think this river was all rapids. 1t
!. about four times as large as Gran
! river and is the swiftest stream
ever saw. We reached the rapid
6 and landed, and have been here fou
l days. but expect to pull out abou
| Tuesday or Wednesday for Cope
River. These rapids extend 25 mile
and the water makes such noise
rushing over boulders that it can |
heard distance of FIVE miles. Sine
: we have been here about three boat
: out Of ten have been smashed. Lo1
! of the others are shooting the rapid
) but we intend to rope our boats dow
1 the entire distance to be on the sat
side. We have built cache here ar
will store part of our provisions. tai
!, ing only three months supply wit
: US. We can take only a small qual
:. tity over the rapids and when til
river freezes we shall come back an
sled it down. We built our cache {
trees cut off about six feet from Il
ground. We built a regular little |,
j house, 9x9 in size, like the Indial
: build. It has double roof covere
; with spruce bark, with door secure
: by paddock. 1t looks quite rustic.
A forest fire is raging in sight no
and the spruce needles are falling
around us. but we are camped qui
away from the timber and there is ]
danger of our goods catching fiji
- We are near the river, which
rising rapidly, and if both keep on ,
: can take our choice between the Fl
:, and the water, but by the time 7
!, water gets up the fire will be pa
q and if we have good luck we sh
10 have claim on Copper River befc
! mar,y moons. We had q nice mess