The Portland daily press., 1899-08-08

W puttu our NUS. Whhe We were gone
ON our last trip get che balance Of our
supplies. large quantity Of our goods
stored on the cache were stolen. pfob-
ably BY Kiondikers who were short Of
supplies. We were now short OF pro.
visions and knew that II all three re.
manned in tho north that It was only a
question of a short time before one or
more Of as would starve 10 death, so we
held conference among ourselves and
Brewster then decided that he wsuld
strike out for home as he had an oppor-
tunity to 90 with parties that were re-
turning. From the region Of the Black
and Findiey rivers we moved on to q
point ten miles distant, 10 place where
thsre was q chance TO secure what we
needed. supply Of fire wood to use
through the approaching winter. When
we started out from Edmunston In the
spring we had IL horses with which to
help make the journey. but all were now
dead and we had 90 carry our packs
weighing from % TO 90 pounds each on
our backs for distance Of ten miles as
there was no soow on the ground so that
we e,uld drag them. After all Of our
supplies mad been landed we commenced
to build our log hut. While we were
tcnting here we found 10 prstty cold
weather, and would wake up In the morn
ing only 20 find frost half an inch thick
on our blankets where our breath had
crystalized during the night. We had no
idea Of how cold 10 really was as we had
no Thermometer with us.
November we completed the build
ing of our log hat which was roughly
finished and was 161f8 feet In dimensions,
and was occupied by four of us, two OF
the party being Minneapolis boys. A
few days after we had become nicely To-
Gated, Phillips OF South Portland and
McCloud, one OF the Minneapolis boys,
decided that they would go back to Fort
Graham, q distance Of 100 miiss, and see
II there was any mail for our party. The
snow was very deep and SO the boys
turned back before they had gone very
far.
"It must be remembered, snid Mr..
Nsvsns, "that II 10 no small job to start
out on trip even II for only short dis
tancs, as ws have to carry axes, shovsls,
bedding and provisions. We were get
ting along finely at our camp until the
Minneapolis boys were taken sick with
the scurvy. The rest Of the party were
ignorant as 10 the me thod of treating the
disease so we were naturally very much
alarmed for their welfare, as they were
sick almost unto death.
February 9th, we started out with
hand sIeds for Fort Graham to see what
we could do for the sick ones In the way
OF medical assistance. On this trip we
had no trail TO follow, so we simply Kept
on, trusting to luck as to our chances for
reaching our destination. We could not
travel through the bushes as the snow
was SO light and deep. On our journey
we had to cross creek. the water Of
which was like boiling spring, so that
the ice above was very brittle and we
found 1t very difficult to travel as we
were constantly breaking through the ice.
1t is no easy matter for a man In such q
position to rescue himself, surrounded as
he Is with ice and hampered by the snow
shoes ON his feet which are naturally
very cumbersome to handle under water
We had an idea that We were going to
travel about fifteen miles day, but after
having been out three or four days, we
had not gone over dozen miles. and as
we had only covered a distance of about
three miles the fourth day we decided to
return to our camp
ION the return we struck moose tracks
and followed them, thinking that per-
haps II we could get some Of the moose
mead to carry back to the camp that the
sick boys would cheer up and improve by
change Of food. We were soon reward.
cd by the sight Of four moose which we
run down and succeeded In shooting two
of them. We skinned the moose and Gu &
them into quarters. We then started back
TO camp with a quantity of the meat.
The meat proved to be Just what the
sick boys needed as they commenced to
improve at once. and within week we
could see some color In their faces. Two
Of the party remained TO take care OF the
sick ones while the others went back to
get the remainder of the meat and haul
it hack to camp.
while we were on the way back to
camp we experienced some extremely
cold weather and one day we found 1t
necessary to travel 60 mills on our snow
shoes, as we could not keep comfortably
warm except We were moving briskly
about. We were rewarded for our bitter
cold experience however. as we discovered
another moose which we killed and car
ried back with as to camp. 1t takes
about thrs e-quarters of an hour to skin q
moose, to get the meat and one has to
work fast at that as the blood will freeze
onto the knife in less than q minute. We
decided as 1t was so cold that we would
leave our sleds aud get back to camp as
soon as possible. We were we'll nigh ex.
hnusted now and found 1t necessary TO
rest frequently on our journey. We ar
rived back in camp, having covered q
distance of 30 miles in two days without
9 wink Of sleep.
We now decided to go ahead leaving
a