Little Falls weekly transcript. (Little Falls, Morrison Co., Minn.) 1894-19??, 1898-05-10
FROM Lake LIMDERMAN.
J. K. Martin Writes a Letter
After He Passes the
Summit.
Il Is ENJOYING CAMP LIFE.
The Party Now Building a
Boat, and Will Soon
Start North.

| On thursday a. letter written ny
J. K. Martin to his friends, M. v
Wetzel, F. H. Nero and A. NJ. liver
son. was received In this city. and
the Transcript publishes most of it.
We omit those tender expressions Of
lOveable affection that are too
sacred for the public eye, and also
the anxious inquiries In which the
readers of the Transcript have nc
legitimate interest, and to which
they could hardly give accurate Ol
sa tisiactory replies. The letter is q
very interesting one, rs follows:
LAKE LlNDERMAN, ALASKA,
April II, 1898
My DEAR CHUMs: You will think
have forgotten you, hut such Is not
the case. think OF you every nigh,
when l am hitting my old pipe, and
wish you were with me on this jour
ney. We are, having lots Of fun, and
lots Of hard work combined.
Mike and are getting along finely
and have not had fight yet, which
IL something unusual for this cOun.
try, as nearly everyone fights. We
take our sleds and strike for the
summit and bring down from 700 to
800 pounds to a load. and WhitmOre
and Baldwin have from $50 to $50,
but it makes US hustle on some OF
the grades and coming down the
summit and through the canyon 1t
plays crack the whip with US. We
have pole In the sled, and we sit or
lie dOwn-anyway to get down.
and hang to the pole for dear life.
and how we go In and out OF great
holes In the road. We dare not let
go or we would get run over. Day
before yesterday one man got run
over and hia neck broken, and yes
terday man had bis lex broken
coming down off the summit, but
they got scared and let 60 Of their
pole and the sled ran over them. 1t
is a wonder there are not more hurt
and killed. The summit is as steep
as the roof OF a house, II not sleeper,
and about three-f0urths of a mile
long, and those in the canyon are as
bad, but not 80 long. A man looks
as II he had been In q snow bank all
day when he gets to the bottom,
hut it's lots Of fun although it's
dangerous. 1 shall he glad when we
get through. About two more days
Of good weather, or weather equal
to u Minnesota blizzard will finish
us, and then we shall have every
thing landed on Lake Lihderman.
ready to load into our boats as soon
as the ice goes out, which will be
about the middle or latter part of
May. In the ptime we will get
our logs, saw out the lumber and
build our boats. 1t will take two
boats Is feet long and 6 feet beam to-
carry the seven Of us and our out
fits. We have over 1.5tO pounds to
the man. We have between 100
and 1900 of actual provisions to the
man, counting our evaporated, con-
densed. granulated and crystallized
stuff at actual weight, and this stuff
will double itself eight and ten times
when ready for use, 50 we have pro-
visions enough to last more than a
year from now. In fact, l think we
have enough to last until q year
from this fall, az we shall not have
to touch any Of our regular outfit
for nearly two months yet. as we
have camp supplies to last US that
length OF time. When we went In
with these other two men we bought
supplies enough to last US on our
way III order to equalize things. We
have our logs cut for our boats, but |
we have to haul them about five
miles, and 1t will take nearly a |
thousand feet Of lumber to build the
boats, so I think we shall have
about all we can do from now till 1t |
breaks .up. However, II we have
time, after we get our lumber cut,
We may move down on Lake Bennett,
but don't like the idea of breaking !
camp and moving every little while,
as 1t 10 no small Job and no great
gain, ias you can 60 farther In a
boat In a day than in q week on
'leds. This camp life IL great, and |
quite q contrast to what have
been used to, but 1 do not mind 1t
It all, in fact. rather enjoy it.
Mike and I bunk together, and have
!wo fur robes, two rubber blankets
md tour double wool blankets. so
We can sleep as warm In a snow
oank as any place. Poor Mike is
blind today, ''snow blind" and 1
rave him laid up on the shelf since
This is Sunday, all day,
md I have been taking life easy, but
t has been too bad to 60 out.