The enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 188?-1899, 1899-02-01

Relay System is Being Established, and
Better Service Looked For.-The Tenn
perature TO Severe too Work Claims.
EAGLE Cry, ALASKA, Nov. 7, 189S-You
will doubtless receive by the same post
as this my letter written month ago,
there has been no mail in or out since
last wrote, but one Of Uncle Sans ca
riers is expected now daily to take O'r
the mail. The Yukon has been impass-
IDLE for boats for some weeks as it has
been full Of large blocks Of floating ice
which has been grinding away until
yesterday morning when it frOze solid.
Two of the mail carriers are now at
Circle City waiting for the river to freeze
so they could make the trip here and to
Dyea with dog teams. All travel up and
down the river will be by dog teams or
on foot. The postmaster thinks we will
get better mail service now than before
as they have stations all along the line
and will take the mail in relays. We
have had no extremely cold weather yet,
the lowest temperature being 42o below
Zero but we may expect colder weather
now at any time. The temperature
changes quick here; one day 1t being
800 below zero and the next day zoe
warmer. Steve and / started out to chop
some wood few days ago and he frOze
his nose and both cheeks while we were
upon our way through the woods. The
weather was moderate the day before
and we did not know it was so cold. l
happened to notice that his nose and
cheeks had turned white and he would
hardly believe they were frozen, but rub
bing the frozen members with snow for
few minutes brought out most of the
frost. One can stand great deal Of
cold in this country and not bundle up
much either. The main thing is to pro-
tect the face and keep the hands and feet
warm. do not wear any coat or vest
while working outside, merely woOlen
undershirt and wOolen over shirt. Am
wearing the same under clothes that
wore last winter in Chicago, but have
some heavier ones that / will put on
when it is colder. Ny trousers are made
Of canvas and lined with wool. UpoI
0ur feet we wear 4 pair of heavy wOoIeT
socks, over these pair Of artic socks
then a pair Of heavy knit German sock
that come to the knee and covers Oul
trousers, then pair Of moose hid,
mOccasins. With these clothes and |
fur cap man can defy the cold. l ais,
have buckskin suit but it is to warm t,
work in.
J, The time since my last letter has beeI
spent in getting in wood for winter ant
working upon our claim. We put dowI
two large holes upon our claim abOu
six feet deep, then we had to stop as w
were out of food. We have plenty her
in Eagle but heretofore we have had t.
pack every pound upon our backs TO
fifteen miles so we could only TAX
enough up to our claim to last us bu
ten days or two weeks. Now there is
good sled trail and we are going u
again in few days and carry enough OF
D. sled to last us for long time. Thaw
a ing out frozen ground is slow pre-
N cess, but l rather like the work. W
1t have located another claim on Grave
2, Gulch, which is about two miles frOI
W our claim on American Creek. Whe
ID we go up the next time we will prOspeC
le both claims and see whether we have
ve prize or blank.
When one gets accustomed to thi
country they do not mind it at all. G
course we do not have all the comforts {
d. home and have to put up with few Iii
Id tie hardships, but we are perfectly COZ
st tented. We have worked hard and ID
ii no grass grow under our feet and
Mt never felt better in my life. 1t seems
lg comfort after a good days work to 8
BY down after supper with pipe of tObacC
ce without anything to trouble the mint
m 1t reminds me or rather | should jude
ts 1t is something like the life Of farme
d. l would be satisfied to stay here for yea
b. if the money is here. The almighty do
a. lar is what we are all after.
Mt We have a church now at Eagle an
er / attend every Sunday when we are
1t, town and enjoy it very much. We {
er not work Sundays and this helps pass Il
ne time away. We are going out huntin
by the day before Thanksgiving and try
81 get some game to relieve the monotOI
he of pork and beans for a Thanksgivin
w dinner. Steve says if he cannot do al
better he is going to shoot an old Gro
and eat that.
Ihave beautiful bunch Of whisker
10 you ought to see them. Steve says lot
II like an anarchist. We are perfect
H. comfortable here, both in our cabin al
no upon our claim. 1t is pretty cold g
llS ting up in the morning to build q
" but 1t does not take long to warm Il
eu cabin. The candle is getting low al
ny l will have to close for this time hOpil
49, al. s1o