Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-03-31
STORIES OF THE GOLD FIELDS.
Some Gold Seekers on the Verge of
Madness.

Madness.
| From Ainslees Magazine.
Here is a typical illustration of the ex-
| IRENE hardships of the life in Alaska Mid
dleton was young Englishman, slight and
] small and accustomed to all the refine
ments of civilized life. He had enough
money to buy a modest outfit, but had
never camped out rOughed it before this
] time He and his partner went in by the
Chilcoot Pass in 1897 and tramped the
| whole way. They had a sledge and four
| Irish settlers with 1900 pounds of freight
The partner being the stronger. buckled
himself into the harness and pulled as lead
er of the team. Middleton's duty was to
walk behind the Sledge and push. There
are roads. properly speaking. in Alaska.
Except in winter, the trails are s1oughs of
icy mud worked soft by the feet of the gold
seekers The slush is always the
shoes and unguarded step will plunge
the walker to the waist The Canadian
government has done nothing to better the
condition of the trails, This fact, coupled
with the exorbitant fees charged the miners
by that government. have led the prospect
ors, at more than point on the trails,
to set up boards with this derisive motto:
" Millions for tribute, but not one cent
for roads
THE gold seeker himself carefully refrains
from doing anything more to the trails
than will serve to help him out of present
difficulties and to carry him on his way.
''The first important thing Middleton
learned was to swear. Everybody swears
in Alaska. There is belief that nothing of
moment can be accomplished there without
profanity 1t is the safety valve that Keeps
men from madness when the pressure of
the conditions becomes excrucia.ing. Only
Swedes do not acquire the habit. and per-
haps it would be better if they did. Their
natural slowness of speech keeps them
quiet under trouble, but the feeling is there
St,,f ha St~ s hi
ship is on all alike, and the effect is cumu-
lative when it is not worked off. a story
to Illustrate the virtue of swearing con-
Germs Swede who had struggled through
a long half day of small disasters. His pa
tience was marvellous. He was wet and
chilled. He righ.ed his sledge after upsets
grim silence, and with a courage worthy
of better luck. But along in the afternoon.
where the trail skirted a hill. some sudden
freak twitched his dogs off to one side and
sent the sledge and its load rolling down
into the little valley beneath 1t was moth
ing worse than had happened before. but
Sc mellow it snapped the last cord of his
resistance. He stood for a moment. his
hands above his head and his features
working as if in CONFUSION. then with 4
yell he dashed after the team. pulled an AK
from the lashings, killed the dogs one af-
ter another, and smashed the sedge and
load into little pieces. Suddenly reason re-
turned. He sat down in the snow beside
his ruined outfit and cried like child.
learning to swear. The whole life goes on
az such high pressure that everybody is on
the verge of madness. 1t is the strain of
the thing that counts. Middleton had his
turn with the rest Once. when slipping he
saved his footing by hanging to the sledge
His partner feeling the drag promptly
cursed him for adding to the load. When
Middleton got down and pushed harder TO
make up for lost time. his partner sufked
and his head reeled with the added effort
When one of the dogs dropped on the snow
to rest the sledge stopped and each man
turned furiously on the other. The words
came hot and fast Middleton noticed all
at once that he was not talking. but sim
ply screa ming. and that he could not help
it. Then things went away from him
When he came to himself his partners
arms were around him. and his partners
voice, as tender as a woman's, was saying
to him:
There! there. Take a brace old man.
In a minute you'n be all right
In ten minutes Middleton was all right
and they were both laughing and plodding
as before 1t is this sort of thing that
makes up the daily tragedy of the trails