The Portland daily press., 1899-01-30
BREWSTER TALKS.
He Has Just Returned From The
KIondike.
TELLS AN INTERESTING TALE OF
HIS ADVENTURES.

How the Party Travelled by Bob-slesi--
Met indians who Had Never Seen
Uor.e.--sIept Outdoors with the
Mercury 40 Degrees Below Zero.
The many friends of Mr.. Victor Brew
s,er OF Morrills Corner, Deering, will be
nleased TO learn of his safe return to his
home after an absence Of nearly . yeaI
spent in travelling and prospecting In
the regions near the Klondike. Mr..
Brewster arrived home early last Friday
evening. Mr.. Brewster's party, unlike
most of those from this section, went
10 the Klondike by the overland route,
through this Canadian wilderness. They
met Indians who were frightened nj
the sight of their horses, they saw grizzly
bears and they slept out doors in tenn
perature 30 or so degrees below zero.
About many of these things Mr.. Brew
ster talked in q most entertaining fashion
to PRESS man Saturday evening.
MIR. Brewster a year ago next month
resigned his position as motorman on tne
Deering line of the Portland haiiroao
company, with which he had been con
nected for q number of years and witn
four others started off on journey 70
ward the klondike. The party was COM
posed of MIR. Brewster, Mr.. harry
Neyens, well.known Deering young
man. in the employ of Eastman bros' ="
Bancroft, Portland; Mr.. Harry Phillips oil
south Portland, employed at the light
house at the Two Lights, Cape Elizaoeth :
MIR. W. 5. Jones Of south Portland ana
Mr. Charles Morrill, OF Orr's Island tine
two last named. however, having re-
turned to their homes last August. Inc
party left Portland on the 18TH Day Oh
February of last year and journeyeu 70
Canada. They went by the Canadian
Pacific raj road to Edmundston. where
they were to purchase the necessary sup
plies and provisions before starting out
on their long journey overland.
Ii was their good fortune while In
Canada to meet man who had been over
he trail which they were to travel and
he was at once employed to go with them
ON the journey. The first thing to be
attended to WAS the purchasing OF their
teams and other articles needed for the
journey.
TRAVEL BY BOB-SLED.
They purchased as vehicles six ordinary
bob-sleds and II horses 1t was their
Intention to purchase oxen and carts,
but 1t was learned that the cattle c1st
more than they cared TO pay. A portion
of the quadrupeds in use were dopkeys
and MIR. Brewster says that they had
some interesting experiences In catching
them. The donkeys were lassooed on
the prairies and it was naturally neces-
sary to break them before starting on the
Journey. The method used was to hitch
them up and IL the animal rebelied or
became stubborn he was steered direct
for u snow bank. The donkey would
struggle for a time in the snow, finally
becoming exhausted. They were then
submissive to the will of their drivers.
The outfit purchased for the journey
consisted of 1000 POUNDS of beans, 2OoC
pounds of flour, 500 pounds OF bacon, a
quantity of canned goods. composed Of
eyaporatei potatoes, sliced and dried !;
canned onions and other we'll known
staple articles of food in cans. There
were six bob sleds, one for each OF the
party. Each man wore heavy, common
suit of clothes and carried with him sew
eral suits of underwear. For footwear
the men purchased Indian noccasins,
made of moose skin, the tops Of the
moccasins coming up we'll onto the
ankle. For headgear heavy fur cap
was worn and for the hands heavy
lined gloves.
"Our party left Edmundston early in
March," said Mr.. Brewster. The route
ook us first to Athabasoa Landing oil
the Athabasca river, distance OF W
miles, and from there We went up the
river with our horses and sleds for dis
lance of 76 miles to slave river. Reach
ing the Slave river we journey over the
river for distance of IS miles until we
came to Slave lake. Our route then car
ried US over Slave lake for distance of
rs miles, until we reached the Peace
river. We journeyed up the Peace river for
II miles where we found that the ice was
SO weak and poor that We took to the
woods. While in the woods we cut and
sawed timber enough with which we
built two boats. We then resumed our
journey up the Peace river to place
called Hudson Hope, distance of $50
miles. Here we stuck CANON and it
was necessary to portage for distance
Of l2 miles. We burned up our boats at
this point for the purpose Of. getting the
nails.
AN EXPERIENCE IN TREEkING.
From the canyon we journeyed on
until we came to Fort Graham on Fin
ley river, distance of 1865 miles. On
this river are two rapids, the Pearly Paw
and the Finley rapids. We reached Fort
Graham and remained there few days.
The rapids can usually be ridden with
safety. The method used is to attach a
long rope to the boats from the shore
and then pull the boats along. This