The Alaska prospector., 1902-06-26

naws, every known kind of gold pan, patent rocker, and gold saving machines, all sizes of sleds and toboggans, snow shoes of various patterns, portable saw mills, knock ed down furniture and wagons. folding boats and houses, stoves of all kinds from a pocket heater to hotel range; cooking utensils of in- genious patterns and good-for-noth- ing devices of cranky inventors. Sleeping bags and beds made from every species of animal and fowl that is known to mankind, and many other things" too numerous to mention.
 The patent food stuffs were the greatest hardshship that the poor prospector had to endure in the early days. Dried, evaporated, pulverized. sterilized, condensed. genuine, adulteratcd, unadulteratcd canned, bottled, boxed, ready made, cooked and uncooked, desic- cated and 'desecrated" provisions of all kinds were sold to the unsus- pecting, and brought into the country. They were all experi- mental products and the poor checacho experimented with them, often to his sorrow. Every office, store, depot, and all Guides to Alaska" contained q list of provis- ions for the prospector, estimated by experienced" miners and they varied as much as the climate of San Francisco does.
 On every prominentstreet corner in San Francisco and especially in Scattle,wcre one or more fakirs with just what you needed and could not get along without, and between blocks were more fakirs that sold something that you were compelled to have. Then there were Mining Schools, Prospecting Academies, and special courses in the univer- sities, and colleges for those who wanted to mine scientifically"
 After the would be miner had sized up his pile of plunder, not one pound of which he could possibly do without, he was informed, and rightly so, that he must have dogs or horses to help him pull his outfit into the interior. So they brougt dogs of every known and unknown breed, mustangs. ponies, draft horses, buggy horses, wind broke horses, horses with the spavin, halky horses and many other species of that quadruped; mules, burros, goats, and cattle. of all kinds. When all these were landed on the beach then the fun commenced.
 There was enongh ammunition brought into this country to have whipped the Spaniards with. Ri- fles and shotguns of every descrip- tion, revolvers and pistols, bombs and explosives of all kinds, and almost every article of self de- fence known to modern warfare. One vessel actually brought gat- ling gun to defend themselves from the indians. Imagine their sur prise when they saw the first in- dians to find them more peaceable than themselves. It was an amusing sight to see the checachOs in Seattle with their
 
 heavy furs and mackinaws on, with cartridge belt and six shooters strapped to their sides. In reality the greatest need they had for those implements of warfare was to scare the pickpockets and confidence men away, and if one of them had made jump at one of those would be bad men it is hard to tell which would have been the most frightened. Af- ter the vessels reached the brinv deep however, and the boat com menced 10 roll from side to side. the dress parade was squelched and many of them prayed to be saved