Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1899-07-27
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year ana Il hall ago ior ti'e hioii''iNe
In Seattle he joined the Starouck
party, made up principally of lowans,
which nc everyhodv now knows. went
-, s,,asa r,,;e : 49,
wiz
first letter Mrs. Emerson mas had from
her son for ten months, and is a COM
nJate diary of tbe winter spent in the
-, ,tr Emorson,s letter
i Is ny w. b
's especlaly lntefestin" because nc
speaks of other Ottumwans who are
now searching for 9old in that coun-
a.. TIE obrnn,ete lat,er follows.
Feb. 20. 1893, latitude "a degrees, 10
minutes north. longitude 1874 degrees
u n;ni, tas ,v.st f,l,or+, On uoy,t-
y, ~. g
zakakat hiver' near mead waters 4Aias,
ka.
Dear Mother and Brother: a year
ago. left homeland haven't got any
Where yet. To be sure am Tar
enough away. II could travel due
souIh LOG nautlcil iaii.es s so'ooo lee'),
should be able 10 rest nv weary eyes
on the gilded statue of Wapello Chief.
Lam writing within the Arctic Circle,
which. if / remember rightly, begins
at &c degrees 80 minutes. Anyway the
SIN failed to get s5d above a The n horizon on
face for forty-four DAYS. until he man
aged to- climb above again Jan. 10. The
DAYS were rather short but still we
had four and one-half hours twilight
about Dec. 81. Yesterday we had eleven
hours of daylight. and about all of June
add +he first half of July we should
I'D able to see the sun continuously,
barring cloudy weather, if we remain
here. During the short days we break
tasted at Q to 9:3O and dined and sup
ped at $3.50 to a. We then talked, read
oil PLAYED games as late as we pleased,
without being continually conscious of
having to be at some daily appointed
task early next morning. During the
twilight hours we exercised. Some
preparing fuel. some setting snares for
a, lean rabbit. some hunting spruce
hens and ptarmigan, and some taking
long walks up and down the river.
...,
auu -
But I know you will be anxious to
hear of our daily progress Gn retro
gression) since the magnificent steam
,er iowa turned her majestic prov
ITO the sea and st. Michaels. and left
our. hardy band (ofr foo|Sl,y This event
happened on Moi daS! s1Aaigs S. 9s. We
went to work and built two polling
boat The Kiser camp also built two
and Parks and Twogood camp, and
Bronslow and Starbhck camp each
built one. Then we started to get our
. goods up the river and sem, Akers and
McGregor ahead with load q goods
!. To. spy out tile 19Yeiad. Watets. Of this
Winding stream. and to fN winter
quarters (and golD, If they cAlld. The
Kiser camp also started for the same
destination with a load of goods. as
well as Parks and Twogood. In che
meanwhile the steamer Scotia, With
eighteen San Francisco and Alameda
gold seekers on, board, steamed up
past our camp. They We're towing four
men, part Of Whom had trailed us
from Sllaguay. and OF course all
caught the feversfroms reading a copy
of the "Starbuck Letter" which they
had in their possession.
On August "a, fStarbuck and Browns,
low left for Nulato. just before Star
buck started Parks and Twogood, who
were short on -four and sugar. offered
Starbuck cash for some. but, he re.
fused to sell them a pound. although
he was going direct to Nulato, a trad
ing post that was known to be well
supplied with all kinds of provisions
When we bid goodbye to the re.
turning Iowa crowd the understand
Eng was that they were to prospect on
their way down this river, certain
creek that we had all passed by with
out stopping, and if they found any
thing they were to- let us know al
oncs1 rhe two miners, Ed. and Ben
RoyaAStof Montana, whom we had
picked up ION the Koyukuk, and
brought up tins stream with us, were
" .'e ~. Ia haln Iro e Ills oraai.
9 ~ Ia, M. a. "a H. 800
tsa",. ~ .n traa,n for ti,a;, noaas ,,.h;ai
4ha.s ha5 cached ,lnnasida Il ' n,,r rs
r n.y. ra,sorteS +ha+ 4ba tsIn,n,,, i,,I aa
I'D IA. e. M;nbae1s. fiat r'hs,, ,m
Pc. at w. ,.;f ~ nae r., nor.n ,,;ahnni,.
sharlnnL and Rr;d naman had stnm,,a5
~ .i,;s ,,aais. that noos, ,,,ns,,aos 4,
l,aan fo,,nd On rim vol! and MI H..
ratnrn;,a Inv, cro,yd had hled -,
+,.antv acres each for himself an,