River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1900-11-22
EN- ROUTE TO CAPENoME.
Extracts From Letters of Rod Will
Jams to His Parents.

ldlllS W Ills 0AOAto
Rod Williams and several others OF
the 18th U. S. Infantry arrived in San
Francisco from the Philippines sever
al months ago in charge Of squad OF
inyalided soldiers. We are permitted
by the courtesy of his parents TO pub
lish extracts from letters recently re-
ceived by them from him.
PREsIDIo, CAL, Sept. Sth 1900.
Dear Fathe, and MOtber:--Y ou will no
doubt be surprised to hear that l am
once more to take an ocean trip,-this
time not for the land of eternal
summer (" where we chased the fes-
tive Filipinos, but to the far north
where iceberg soup and fried snow
balls are daily food.
/ inclose newspaper clipping, and 1
have the good luck to be one of the
carefully selected men mentioned in
the item
Lieutenant A. M. Davis and a
guard OF twenty carefully selected
men will 60 TO Alaska on the Lawton
next Tuesday. 1t is expected that
fully 700 INDECENT miners at Nome
will return TO this country on the
transport"
There are ten non-commissioned
officers going and ten privates, and
as there are about 1900 priyates TO Sc
lect the ten from / think | was In
great big luck to be one Of them. /
have always wanted to see that coun-
try, but never expected to do so at
Uncle Sans expense, yet you know
the unexpected often happens.
Orders came from Gen. Shafter to-
day telling us to be "fully equipped
and prepared to go on board trans
port at any moment, but on account
Of the parade we will probably not go
on board till Tuesday, the day the
boat starts. We simply go as guard
and will have very little to do. The
boat carries provisions to the starv-
ing Indians and miners at various
ports on the Alaskan coast, and we
will bring back about 900 poor, starv-
ing miners from Cape Nome.
You know the Cape Nome gold
fields have been doomed for a long
time by the newspapers and hundreds
have gone there with the expectation
of getting rich only to find that the
whole thing was big fake, and that
the only thing to be found there is
starvation.
There are whole lot of people who
do heap of kicking about the U. S.
Government and the American sol
diers but / would like to know what
other government there is that would
do any more forits subjects than the
United States is doing when it sends
food, clothing, and protection to the
poor fellows in the far north and fur
nishes them with free transportation
home. We are expecting to be gone
about six weeks but l think if we get
back in two months we shall be doing
very we'll and perhaps three months
will be the more reasonable time it
will require for the trip. You see,
besides delivering supplies at differ
ent points we shall have to round up
all the gang that is coming home and
all this will take time. We shall
have specimens from all nations on
the return trip and / suppose they
nil ol1 III lie re htaf
il they get enough to eat they ought
TO behave themselves pretty we'll.
or course trip like the one we are
about to make is not without its dan
gers, but you know soldier is in dan
ger under most any ciIcum stances
and he might as we'll be In one place
as another. The main reason why
wish to go is to get rid of that con-
founded malaria l brought back from
the Philippines. 1t has bothered me
more or less ever since | got back
and the only way to get rid Of it is to
freeze it out and l guess Alaska is
good place for the freezing business.
We shall have no duties to perform
on shore as we are simply transport
guard but will have chance to go
on shore and take 10 all the sights
whenever we are off duty. l have a
partner from Co. @ who is to go with
me, so [ shall not be lonesome and
you may be assured that we shall
have as good time as any of them.
There are whole lot of the boys who
are sore because they did not get
chance to go but / guess they Will be
feeling all right by the time we get
back. You see I have been a pretty
good fellow since / went TO work for
Uncle Sam and as each one on this
detail had to show an excellent char
acter as soldier l was one of the
lucky ones. l saw in one of the pa
pers that Bob Follansbee was at Cape
Nome and If he is there when we ar
rive l shall look him up and swap
yarns with him. l shall be glad to
see him and if there is any such thing
as finding him / shall do SO.
/ must close and pack up. Wish
ing you all kinds of good luck and
health and with love to all, am ever
your affectionate son, ROD.
Location of Arc Lights.
The electric wires are being strung