The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1898-05-19
All Kind of Experiences on the
Trail to Lake Teslin.
A LONG, HARD JOURNEY
The Route Has Been Grossly Misrep-
resented He Had a Close Call
While Crossing the Lake
on Rotten Ice.

his son, who is now in the Klondike
country with Lou Lyon. 81 Taylor,
Wallace Mix and some dogs. The
same mail brought a couple of letters
from Wallace Mix n were written
at Lake Teslin. wally said that the
paper upon which he wrote cost him
% cents a sheet. and he did not feel
that he could afford To write a very
Ions letter to anybody. The letter
from Ed was written at Telegraph
Creek and is as follows:
Dear Father ann here again. af-
ter a long. hard journey. We left here
the first of April for Lake Teslin,
which we reached after a long. hard
tussle. Then IL Vas decided that two
of us return here and. If possible. take
i'm another load Of grub before the
snow was gone. We discovered when
we We're about 30 miles from here on
he way back that from there i'm il
was all bare ground. so, leaving our
sleighs and dog teams with some In
dams, we came on, arriving here last
evening. footsore and weary. having
covered $50 miles in just six days,
which is counted as remarkably quick
time. We a no accidents i'm coming
TO speak Of. While crossing "A lake on
the ice ] broke through. catching my
self by spreading out my arms. 81
got a long pole and I was soon on
terra firma. Outside OF a good cold
bath. / was all right. I went To bed
while 81 dried my clothes before "A
camp fire, for we had no change Of
clothing with us.
Don't, for the love of heaven, allow
n of your friends to come i'm this
way. IL is a terribly misrepresented
route. 1t was supposed To be as
smooth as a table. but we crossed four
mountains that, II they can beat them
with Skaguay or Dyea pass. they are
handles. One of them in particular is
the Hudson Bay summit. which Is two
and "A half miles long. with a climb of
over 5000 feet. When we went over II
was perfectly bare. so of course we
had TO pack our outfit owe piece by
piece. The route is anything but lev
el. We were continually going either
up or down. and n was as hard as
the other. We would rather go up
hill than To let a heavy load down. In
descending these places several people
have had their limbs fractured and at
the foot of all these hills there are
tents pitched. where some poo sufferer
is getting fixed up. We Were extreme
ly fortunate. Outside of a few bruises
and sprains we We're all well. Luck
has seemed to follow us clear through.
one man on the river fell dead of heart
disease while pulling his sled. An
other ven through the Ice. leaving
nothing hut a hole To mark where the
poor fellow had disappeared. Two men
had their heads split open with an axe
and were thrown into a crevice i'm the
ice and snow thrown over them. Whole
went through the cold surface
of the river. but W. came through
without anything more than a few
hairbreadth escapes, which only lent
to the trip.
We would like very much to know
wha is going on on tne other passes
and routes; whether the Klondike fe-
yer is still on in the world. As for the
people here, the fever is "A thing of the
Most all of the people who have
failed to get through are content with
$3.50 a day working for the
government on a wagon road To be
built between here and Teslin lake.
My opinion is hat his wagon road
will be as near a railroad as we shall
see up here for two or three years. 1
think IL Is "A blum.
II met some Missoula people here.
among them George Oker, who worked
the Canyon ditch. He and his wife
are at the foot of the Hudson Bay
He has five p~ackhorses and
is making from SEQ to SIS a day pack
ing peoples outfits up to the summit.
is in a fair way to make "A fortune
this summer. He is buying NJ goods
from the people who turn back and
intends to pack il yer To Teslin lake
and run a store. Flour is selling for
800 a sack there and everything else
In proportion. We ate Inner and sup
per with Mr.. and Mrs. Oker and can
recommend Mrs. Oker's cooking as par
excellence.
Even on the Trail coming out we
met 600 people at least. Of whom not
more tina 80 or 100 will get through.
II is estimated that when the ice went
out it left fully 1000 people who will
not get up here at all, for when the
first boats come up they will he to
crowded to pick vi anybody on the
way, and these people will have to re-
turn to Wrangel to engage passage.
II will be the same on the rail The
packtrains will all be loaded from here, /
SO the poor fellows are In "A hard Xix.
When coming back we met people NhO
had left Wrangel a month before We
did. and we had been clear through
and landed 500 pounds apiece on LAX
and they will never get there. !
You can see how we hustled. We
night and day.
We will leave here in the morning
for our future home, which is 275 miles
away. That's only a whisper for us
now. Think of starting out TO walk
from Missoula To Spokane with 4 pack
your back and only an excuse Cor
a trail TO follow cver high mountains.
and you will know what we have be-
fore US. But such is life up here. We
gathered up a few proisvions out at
the Hudson bay. 80 miles from here.
We got -four cheap, paying only $40 a
hundred. Send us a Standard once in
awhile. for IL will always be welcome"
The letter is dated April IS and made
a reasonably quick passage from the
interior.