The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1899-11-07
MR. PARTRIDGE'S ADvEN-
TURES.
H. Came Across the Continent
Without Spending q Cent.


Mr. John @. Partridge, rrs.ding on the
Saoo road, about a mile from the h'ait OF
the city o: Westbrojk, returned Thursday
, fter an al seno, Of nearly two yeais, the
greater part Of waieh has been syent In
California, and the Pacific sljpe.
=dr. Part idge Is an Interesting talker,
ana his memory Ia full Of the various
scenes and inciisnss through which he
mas Parsed while on Ills trip, which origi-
naily was intended as an exploration
party into the Klondike regions. Mr..
Partridge left Westbrook on the 22i OF
February IN company with Mr.. Joseph
Guimond and Arthur W. Dyer, en- route
for the klondike.
The party journeyei overland to Seat
IT,, " here they intended to contiacs their
.ou ney with others Into the Klondike.
On ariisal II Seattls after careful In
q Try as to the prospects of success in the
h ondike, 1t was t n ,lly decided to be q
useless journey, 80 IL was abandoned.
While IL Seattle Guimond and Mr..
Partrit ge separated from Mr.. Dyer. They
went into California, while Dyer set out
for Cr5ok's inlet, Alaska. Dyer soon be.
cane sick Of his journey and went back
for San Francisco, where they met him
On the streets on5 day In March. About
this ne GUM and left, having secured
. position as blacksmith In a chop on a
largs wheat rlnoh In Toalumse county.
"Dyer ard myself went from California
10 Nevada county," says Mr.. Per ridge.
where We worked on large fiune In PFC
sass Of constr action to furnish power for
the generation CT eleotri, Ivy for the opera
ton Of Il 9 strest car system In Saerl-
mento, Cal.
ave worked here rntil September. From
here l vent en- alone to Ogd n, Utah. /
made up my mind that was going to see
some Of the country Oh my way home,
and deciied that would gs. homs with
out p,i ing a cant Of railroad fare. This
/ have sucoe eded In doing. That 10 to
say I hare NO ked my passage aerdss the
ointment, q thing which l commended
90 lid doas l a short spscs Of time. l
o iccesdsd fr,t in securing werk on the
Union Pacific rail -oad at Davia. Wyom-
ing, aud worked I'll r, sightsen days.
From tle;e went to cripple Creak, near
at the Isabella mil es during the sickness
of ne of the men. From Cripple Greek
l jour. cred to the North Platte, and
while tere saw Buffa Bill, and the
crack shot Anne Oakley at their home.
81 secursd work at North Platte and
renal ned there ten days, whom took up
my journey in tbs dire otion of Omaha"
Mr. Partridge informed the writer that
tt 10 quite an % sy matter for man to
secure = position rs brakeman on the
western trains for 81 ort rurs, and as
brakeman he worked his way to Omaha.
~ paid nothing 10 To- ging houses, rs
found 1t convenient on several occasions
90 bunk for the night In the roundhouses
of the railroads with the train ersws.
"From Omaha L journeyed to Chicago.
where remained four days, tut could
net 'e,uie employment Of any sort
From Chicago l went on to Pittsonrg
via Indianapolis and Cincinnati. AT
Pitt burg I sndeavored Z, scare work
at The Cerusg,e iron works, but could not
Had l been a skilled lAbtr,r employ ment
could Rave been secured. From here l
visite sths H: q. Friok ! company coEs
Penn, l saw the site Of the great hco1
oaus,d BY the breaking OF the Johnstown
Tsser voir, and was told that trey never
would rebuild the dam. From Johns
town / Journsysd to New York Via Phila-
delpbia and Jersey City.
-Four days Of my return trip spent
In New York ana Boston. The only part
of my homeward journey on the water
was from Boston to Portland"
SPEAKING Of hardships and exciting
sxperisnces, Mr.. Partridge referred 10 one
eaat will Oct tainiy pass for an adventure.
While In the vicinity If the Sierra
Nevada mountains, Mr.. Partridge saw
a large mountain lion ore day while he
was WORKING along the river In search OF
gold. The "burro'' on which he rode
scented the lion, and MIR. Partridge at
once M ade tracks for his catin. The
lion followed for a long distance. but
Mr.. Partridge succeeded in reaching home
safely. That night, about midnight, he
was awakened by tie brayiDg Of his
"burro." The burfo was kicking and
making . terrible noise, which awoke
Mr.. Partridge. Before MIR. Partridge
could reach his rifle, the sound of the lion
gushing by the door assured Mr.. Par
fridge that all was then safe.
"1hese lions I" said Mr. Partridge.
"are naturally timid In the day time,
but will follow q man all day and watch
thear chance to pounc. on him at night"
Mr. PersTidge says that the lions will
give burro wide berth, ~ they ara
tsrrible kiokers and are capable of consid-
erable dies TuctiOn whom opportunity for
defence is offered.