The Dickinson press., 1899-02-04

being of a reddish brown color. due en-
tirely to minerals. Thus 1t can be seen
that a person eating large quantities Of
the snow takes into his system q CORE
spending amount of minerals"
While coming down the Copper river
last spring the narrator came upon q
party of miners where one was dying
from the effects of eating snow. He had
been a hard drinker, but had run short
Of whisky. His thirst became unendur-
able and as water was scarce in mid
winter he had taken to eating snow:
Soon he claimed it relieved his appetite
for the liquor. but his companions mo-
ticed that his appetite for the snow in
creased until he was consuming enor-
nous quantities Gradually his skin,,
which was a dark bronze, grew light,
his rugged stature became bent, and.
even his harsh voice, changed to. the
effeminate squeak of an old woman.
His strength gave way. and his COM
panions tried to break him Of thehabit.
he would lie ON his pallet and moan
pitifully for q mouthful OF snow and;
when opportunity offered would steal
unobserved to the doorway and gulp
down huge handfuls- At last, seeing
death was inevitable, his companions
allowed him the snow, hoping to pro
long his life. It proved unavailing,,
however, and one morning the man was
found dead.
There are some. spots. on, the Copper
river where the snow, when melted and
strained through'ac lothi show1S percepl
tible signs Of minerals; saad 6etsnsgold
is found Observation-Disclosures tbutsof
course not in paying quantities Where
this comes from is q mystery, but 1t
may be brought from the. far north by,
the heavy winter gales that sweep over
this part Of the country. Il has been'
said that if! the snow could be melted
awayit would leave deposits Of. millions
Of dollars In gold dust on the ground.
The narrator had a close cali himself
from falling a victim to the snow habit.
''It was in the winter Of. 1867" he
said, land I was new to the country.
An old miner; near awson7had warned
me against eating snow;.but:I, with my
partner, had gone back into the hills on
q prospecting tour and had got caught
in a blizzard We were shy of pro.
visions and on our. way up lost the
package containing our cooking uten7
sils. This we remedied by broiling our
cooked foods, but we had nothing In
whichrto melt the snow::s It is claimed
that melted snow it, harmless, sas'5the
metallic deposits it contains sink to the
bottom of the Eeceptaele--~
1--WE decided,to trysitz'raw;' andswe
did Whether it was. the ,tfoodsor the
snow I don't know, but during. thu
week we waited tor, a chance to get ont
we had an ever increasing thirst, until,
when we were finally able to strike the
trail, we were consuming snow ~ q
frightful rate. When We reached c0uf
companions we attempted ,terassuage
our thirst with. water, ;but, tttdids no
good We had, acquired a!tastes tor the
frozen water, and it seemed to have in
MIGRATING qualities AT night we could
not sleep unless we;took our snow.
1--WE were fast approaching the de.
generate Observation-Disclosures really
ing sense Of our, condition and7under.
took to break, off / began by degrees
and worked down, but up to the .verJ
moment I left the country the sight q
the snow always Saisedia.m me an inor'
dinate craving. It cost me many sleep
less nights and weary days TO restrain
myself; HadI given way to the habit
would, like many another poor fellow,
have lost all ambition, and filled an I'm
known grave In that frozen wilderness
Cleveland Plain Dealer; o..