The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1900-04-22

bought my Alaska camp outfit for $50, paid
my fare TO s~kaguay. and, along with some
1900 men, all as wild rs myself. to get
IL the new gold fields, l sailed northward
on the Portland.
Hisf"rtuncs ut Skaguny.
\ SkaGuay we encountered the worst
blizzard weather Of the whole winter. |
realized that my little $40 in cash and my
cheap, poor outfit were not adapted to ones
going 10 live in an Arctic mining region,
where he had to rustic for n living and
prospect over an area OF some $50 square
miles for 4 gold mine, ] have had a whole
lot of tough experiences and t.rCe battles
with poverty in my day, but that was the
hiueSt situation l ever faced. There was
the .hiikoot Pass, Teaching away up some
200 feet high, with mics of snow and ice,
amid a temperature of about . degrees he
low zero. and that WIS only a drop in the
bucket TO the hardShipS and distress that
awaited 4 kIolndilie traveller between that
point and Dawson City. stored my scanty
camp outfit and provisions in the loft Of Il
merchandise store. while | slept on the
muddy floor Of an alleged hotel. waiting un-
~ the weather moderated enough for me to
climb over the Chiihout Pass with NV bur
den on my back. \ fire broke on: at
skaEuay one night and burned all my clmp
outfit.
The loss almost crazed me. OF course. /
could not 30 trafnping 80 miles to the Klon-
dike with nothing to eat and wear. I could
not get back TO Seattle with my paltry dol
larS. J resolved to stay In Alaska and 90
anything to live. From May until August |
aii ANYTHING in SkagNay 10 get n living. In
August. 1873. one OF the dcckhands on the
steamer Bertha died on the way from
Seattle to st. Michaels. | was a. the wharf
when the steamer put into ~Skagway with
the body; / got the vacant job. and it
seemed like a Godsend. My fortune dates
from ilat moment. The Bertha reached 81
Michael's on September !, and left on its re-
turn tip 10 Seattle on the 10th. Winter was
drawing near. and The captain feared tho
boat might loo caught in the early ice. That
FASTENED the departure.
StRkcd by Il Sailor.
AT 81. MiclatlS,' continued RaIiirr sJ
heard TWO Swedish Lutheran missionaries
Just been made at Cape Nome. The Revcr-
end AIR. Anderson. one OF the missionaries
had Il pint can Of gold nuggets that had
been brought across Norton Bav to s.,
Michael's direct from the new digG:ncs. The
first mate on the Bertha was excited at the
news. hut he was bound by contract to re-
turn TO Seattle on the steamer. He gave me
$50 as a grub stake and sailed away down
the coast. leaving me in St. Michael's with
instructions to go as soon as Possible in
Cape Nome and locate a claim for It's. and
then to camp on the property until he re-
turned on the Bertha when navigation II. the
Beh.ing Sea opened the following spring.
- lost no time in providing myself with n
tent. grub and fur clothes. The 500 seemed
like an incalcuiable fortune. and IL made me
n little Croesas in that Esquimau whaling
port of st. Michaels. on the Alaskan Cnas.
There Were seven in our party that sailed
acToss Norton Sound to Cape Nome in Sep
tember, 1898. Four Of the men had been gold
prospecting for years all over the Yukon
country and up and down the Alaskan coast.
Two We're former whdlers and fishermen
who had been starved out of Dawson CITY
could earn enough money to pay pa sy;9-p
down 10 SkaEway. II WAS bitterly cold when
We reached Cape Nome. / had thought The
most GeSolate. barren and awful regions on
the globe were those about Skagway and st.
Michaei's, but Cape Nome seemed hfdeoIIsIv
desolate. No one who has never been out