The Forrest City times., 1900-04-13
STORIES OF THE GOLD FIELDS.
"oid-seekers on the Verge of Mad. ness--Profsnity the Safety
 Valve.


 Here is a typical illustration of the extreme hardships of the life in Alaska. Middleton was a young Eng hshman, slight and small, and ac- customed to all the refinements of civilized life. He had enough money to buy modest outfit, but had never camped out or roughed it before this time. He and his partner went in by the Chilcoot pass iii 1897 and tramped the whole way. They had sledge and four Irish settlers, with 1900 pounds of freight. The part ner being the stronger buckled him. self into the harness and pulled as leader of the team. Middleton's duty was to walk behind the sledge and push. There are no roads, properly speaking, in Alaska. Except in win ter, the trails are sloughs of icy mud worked soft by the feet of the gold seekers. The slush is always over the shoes and an unguarded step will plunge the walker to the waist. The Canadian government has done noth- ing to better the condition of the trail This fact, coupled with the ex- orbitant fees charged the miners by that government, have led the pros- pectors, at more than one 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 Middle ton learned was to swear. Every body swears in Alaska. Vhere is be- lief that nothing of moment can be accomplished there without profan- ity. It is the safety valve that keeps men from madness when the pressure of the conditions becomes excruciat- ing Only Swedes do not acquire the habit, and perhaps it would be bet ter if they did. Their natural slow ness of speech keeps them quiet un- der trouble. but the feeling is there just the same. The stress of bitter hardship is on all alike, and the ef- feet is cumulative when it is not worked off. A story to illustrate the virtue of swearing concerns a Swede who had struggled through long half day of small disasters. His pa- tience was marvellous. He was wet and chilled. He righted his sledge after upsets in grim silence, and with a courage worthy of better luck But along in the afternoon, where the trail skirted hill, some sudden freak twitched his dogs off to one side and sent the sledge and its load roll. ing down into the little valley be- heath. It was nothing worse than had happened before, but somehow it snapped the last cord of his resist. ance. He stood for moment, his hands above his head and his features working as if in a convulsion, then with a yell he dashed after the team, pulled an ax from the lashings, killed the dogs one after another, and smashed the sledge and load into little pieces. Suddenly reason re- turned. He sat down iii the snow be- side his ruined outfit and cried like a child.
 To rejoin Middleton at the time of his learning to swear: The whole life goes on at such high pressure that everybody is on the verge of mad ness. It 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 sullxed 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 simply scream ing, and that he could not help it. Then things went away from him. When he came to himself his part ner's arms were around him, and his partners voice. as tender as a wom- ans, was saying to him:
 "There. there! Take a brace, old man. In a minute you'll be all right"
 In ten minutes Middleton was all right, and they were both laughing and plodding as before. It is this sort of thing that makes up the daily tragedy of the trails-Warren Che.