People's voice. [volume] (Wellington, Sumner County, Kansas) 1890-1917, 1900-08-16

to their names, The side lights OF
the trip to Nome are gradually leak.
ing out, anu they would furnish good
material for a seri0-comic play. Twice
on the way up from Seattle, the IN
lucky Thirteen said their prayers and
kissed their hands toward home as a
farewell; and once they were so badly
frightened they never Thought Of
home or prayer. The Centennial, on
which they left Seattle, is nothing
but hull. Most ships have double
sides, aud 10 case the outer sides
are crushed 10, have the inner sides
ielt. and are not in danger. The
Centennial has only one side, and
unce she got out among the icebergs
and was Numerically In danger OF
being crushed between floating noun
talnS OF Ice, with a storm threaten
ing. The ship got out before the
storm, but at Dutch har5nr she struck
rock which made a small opening.
Had the damage amounted to much,
she would have gone to the bottom.
The water IN the vicinity Of Dutch
HarbOr is the most dangerous 10 the
world, and requires very careful ma
DOeuyTeiOg and calm weather IN pass
through it successfully. A coal and
lumber vessel went aground on the
way up, and 300 tons of coal and hun
dredS Of thousand feet OF lumber hao
to be thrown overheard TO let her rise
and clear herself. An attempt to
make the lumber into huge raft
failed. A storm carried the lumber
out into the sea, and it is beating the
waves Of the ocean. "A lot OF
Irishmen get together in the GLORY
hole" on the Centennial and had a
wake. The "glOry hole" is the place
where beer is served, and il 10 the
boz tom Of the ship. A rough house
resulted, and one OF the Wellington
men got 50 badly frightened that he
was held on the ship with difficulty
AT Dutch HarbOr, a couple OF
men crawled out OF a walrus skin
canoe, after trip down from Nome.
A walrus skin canoe is 80 or 40 feet
long and is made so that only tie
heads and shoulders Of Jhe Indians
who row it stick out OF holes 10 the
top. The men were working on a
whaling vessel above Nome, and Sc.
cured leave Of the captain to quit.
They gave a suit OF Old clothes To
some Indians TO bring them 10 Dutch
Har0Or. During the entire trip, the
white men laid on tue bottom Of the
canoe and the Indians rOwed it. with
paddles. The Indians 90 any distance
and Ia any KIND Of a storm in their
walrus canoes, and are never lost.
The men said they felt safer 10 the
canoe than On ship: the canOes eau
not sink, while ship Can...Ih he
Alaska Indians are very tam, and
are kim TO the white men. The
white mans whisky and clothing have
made them sick, and they are dying
off with consumption. They bury
their dead above ground, with their
guns, spears, fishing poles, etc, at
Lheir sides. Joe Itrails started tO
bring away dead Indians gun as a
relic, but thought better Of IL and put
it back. Later, Hiram Hitchcock
took the gun and is bringing it home
IA Mason died at Dutch Harbor on
the way up, and word was passed to
the 81 ships waiting in The harbOr Oh
account Of the ice, for all MaSOns 20
attend the funeral. Five Thousand
people were in the funeral procession.
Part Of the Wellington crowd joined
10 the procession. You may have
wondered how tue seals In the north
seas keep from being frozen under the
ice when the sea freezes over. Hud
Wightman explains II. When the
sea begins 10 freeze, seal sticks bis
head out OF the water aud remains 10
one position constantly wiggllng bis
body. The ice forms around him,
leaving hole where the seals body
keeps the water moving. When one
seal gets tired, he retires under the
ice and an0thes member OF the seal
"colOny" takes his place. When the
second seal gets tired, another takes
his place, and so on, all Of them doing
duty in their turn. When the ice is
thick enough 10 bear his body the
seal at the hole sits on the Ice and
keeps his tail Topping iu the water 10
keep it from freezing. This is kept
up all winter. E. The Wellington
crowd, in order 10 get to Joe Thralls
claims. had to 90 by boat up the
Solomon river to Shovel creek. The
distance is about go miles. They
Clipped in and built a boat large
enough to hold them all and a ton oil
provisions, etc: Part Of the way they
towed the boat 10 the ocean by wad
ing In water up TO their waists. Once
they got ABOUT mile from shore In a
rough sea, and were in danger OF cap
sizing, which meant certain death 10
the ice cold water. The Solomon
river is very shallow, and wagons are
driven in the river bed IN preference
to the marshy ground on the banks
Water on Shovel creek can be found
Just beneath the earth's crust. Horses
and wagons sink through the crust
and by standing awhile horse will
make a regular lOb-lOlly. This is the
kind of soil the prospectOrs grovelec
10 for gold. lone creek 10 the Solo
mon river vicinity runs swift and
shallow over a ledge o! rock, with
numerous pockets, formiogs perfect
sluice box on big scale. The Wei.
lington crowd prospected these
pockets thoroughly, but did not &C
much as strike "shiDe." This kind
OF luck made them awful tired. One
man with 40 eye for business took a
lot Of chickens to Cape Nome. The