The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1899-01-31
TWOWHEELING MEN.
Who are Mining Gold in the Fro.
zen North tell otThelr
TRIP To,THE "LlzzlEn MINE
In Western Ontario, Near Rat Por-
tagc-9rr. Sam Hugh Brockunicr's
Interesting Description of a Trip
Through the Snow and Across the
1cc-First of q Series Of Letters to
the Intclligenccr.

Wheeling people who are aware Of
the rich gold strike made by two soung
men in western Cntarlo, in the NRat
Portage region, near Lake osthe Woods,
VIII DC Interested In the series ofIetters
descriptive OF the people and country,
written FOR the 1ntellisencer 10y Mr.
Sam Hugh Brockunier, one OF the pair.
In the first letter. printed this morning,
Mr.. Brocknnier tells OF the trip OF him
self and companion, Mr.. Edward ".
ssitel, across the snow and ice from the
railroad to their mining property. Their
company Is the Virginia Mining CEN
pany, OF which Mr.. Stifel is president
and Mr.. Brockunler general manager.
Special Correspondence Of Intelllgencer.
LIZZIE MINE" RAT PORTAGE,
Ontario, Jan. 25.-TaNing the Grand
Trunk railroad at Toronto, Ontario. We
go to North Bay, where we got the Ca
madam Pacific railroad. For two days
and two nights We travel westward,
north of the Great Lakes, but never
touching them until we reach the north
western shore of Lake Superior. Skirt
Ing this for one hundred miles we pass
through Port Arthur, and two hundred
miles further west reach Rat Portage,
our destination. which, as you see, Is In
the extreme western part OF Ontario.
Rat Portage is an old numbering town
of some four or five thousand lnhabi-
tnnts, a rough place ut best. and the
mining population has not improved Its
morals. yet 1t Is radically different from
mining towns in the states. There Is
none of that get up and go spirit
seen with us. neither. we say it to our
shame. Is there SO much shooting or
fighting.
Rat Portuguese named because the
musk-rats used to portake Mt this place
from the Lake of the Woods 10 the
Winnipeg river--is the starting point for
almost all the mines in this section. In
winter you take a sleigh, tobogEan, dog
team or snow shoes: in summer you go
through the beautiful! Lake Of the
Woods by canoe or steamboat.
Before venturing out to the mine We
prepare for cur cold journey by putting
on heavy WOODEN underclothes. !nclud-
Ing three pair Of heaviest wooden socks.
Over these we put on 4 suit OF mack
inaw with doublc-breastcd coat, and
high collar reaching above ones ears.
We then draw on pair OF heavy Ger
man socks. over our other socks and
trousers. \ fur cap, gauntlots o. dou-
bic mitts, and moccas!n complete our
outfit for ordinary zero weather For
very low temperature we add moose
hide legglns and c fur ovcrcoat.
Our sleeping bag consists of on ordi-
nary WOODEN birrhct lined with rab-
bit skin BLANKET, the whole thing quilt
cd up into tho form Of bag. The rnb-
bit skin blankets arc made by the In
dams and good one often contains 400
skins. The pc!ta arc not sewcd toscth-
er in the ordinary way, but are cut in
to stripes and these are woven into
blankets. They are the warmest things
we can get and are uncomfOrtably
warm when the temperature is above
zero.
The Ice on the lake being fairly
strong, we start with sleish and Two
horses. taking the precautlol to strap
our snow shoes on behind the cutter In
case of accident. For miles and miles
we drive across drcary waste OF snow
with nothing to break the monotony of
the view. except here and there pine
bush stuck In the snow to mark the
road. Then it was that we understood
the full Significance OF Gushing the
trail" The first man who finds Il safe
road on the ice sticks three bushes
alongside the trail at more or less regu-
lay intervals, so that after a blizzard
when the road becomes completely OBJ