The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1903-10-03

FRONT STREET IN EAGLE, ALASKA.
where he could find warmth and shelter,
and a less resolute man would have
frozen stiff in few minutes. He urged
his dogs with all his might and ran at the |
top Of his speed, knowing that his life
depended upon his utmost exertion The |
temperature was 60 below; his clothes |
froze so stiff as to impede his running, |
but still he struggled on. Finally reach |
ing the roadhouse, he dashed within, and
called for help. His clothing was cut
from him rapidly possible. His face
and nose and ears were badly frozen, and
his feet were almost solid. In a short
time he was dressed in dry and warm
clothing and with his blistered and swol
len feet prepared as best he could for the
journey, he refused the urgent appeal
of the keeper of the roadhouse to remain,
but insisted on pressing on to Dawson,
nearly 100 miles farther that he might
deliver the mail on time. The mail was
delivered on time, but this last stage of
his journey, it Is needless to say, was
accomplished only with intense suffering
and by the exercise Of a powerful will:
They say in Dawson that as he hobbled
into the postoffce there his footsteps
were marked with blood.
His mail delivered, he was taken at
once to hospital and the doctors de-
cided that his feet were so badly frozen
1t would be necessary to amputate them
Downing heard this conclusion announced
and quietly asked that someone hand
him his revolver. They hesitated lest he
might be contemplating suicide, but when
he assured them that he had no such in
tention they gave it to him. He put it
under his pillow, and lay down. ''Now,
said he. 'go ahead and fix up them feet
the best you can, but let me tell you that
If wake up and find you fellows have
cut them off am going to shoot the man
that did 1t. Them feet and me are going
together; If I live I have use for them;
If can't have them I don't want to live.
Now, go ahead" The result was that
the ends of several Of his toes were
! trimmed off and the old mail carrier is
not quite as agile as he used to be. But
| he walks comfortably on two feet, a
| really splendid fellow and a monument
| to grit, nerve and endurance, expended
IN carrying out what he believed to be
his duty as public servant What a
| pity there are not more like him! The
| ingratitude Of republics came in when
Downing, owing to the fact that he could
! not get the mail carried as promptly
while he was laid up in the hospital as
| 1t was carried before, lost his contra ct
with the United States postal authorities:
the higher appreciation Of the Dominion
government rewarded him with con-
tract to carry the royal mail between
| Eagle and Dawson
NOWN1NG is an authority on dogs. HI
~ has a corral near Dawson where he
| hundred Of
faithful animals which he uses in his mai
carrying business in winter There ar,
two kinds of dogs common in Alaska-th,
'huskies' and their cross-breeds from
the Mackenzie river country-thos
stocky' gray fellows, with their short
erect ears and close, thick coat
intelligent and handsome-and the NAL
amute,' an Alaska Indian dog crossed
with the wolf and resembling the wolf
good deal in shape and size, a shaggy
brownish-gray fellow, friendly and tract
, able and perfect slave These animal
are grossly abused by the Indians the
! haul their sledges all day to be rewarde
at night with piece of frozen dog-sa]
) mon and chance to curl up in the sno7
: to sleep. With such treatment the do
gets the reputation of not being an al
fect1onate creature. Downing's dogs hav
warm, comfortable shelter whenever the
reach a road house; when he Is CON
, times happens, they share his tent, Gu
, up around him and protect him with tt
warmth OF their own bodies and wheneve
/ he enters the corral they are wild in the
A demonstrations Of delight. Don't te
E me- said Downing, that these fellow
e are not affectionate, I wish some GOO
8 woman would take a notion some day
like me half as much as they do" If 81
: does she will have to tell him; Ben is t.
bashful to ask her.
Altho Of kindly disposition iowa,
human kind these brutes are often vel
Il quarrelsome among themselves and it
a invariably the rule that when a fight b,
: gins there Is no sympathy for the unde
h dog among the rest of the pack On tt
- contrary, the poor fellow who is gettir
: the worst of it is likely to be beset by g
= the rest and literally torn to pieces.
Don't think I overestimate the do
!" He is one of the institutions in Alask
- He, as judge on the bench recent
said in IN Alaska case, ''is one of fl
g most important factors in the deve1o
:. ment Of his country" What the
was to the pioneer of the Wabash va
Q ley, what the horse is to the ranchm,
Of the plains. what the camel is to r
denizen of the desert and more, what t,
- elephant is to India and many times mo
Z, . is the dog to the miner and prospect
=. of Alaska, and will be till the Unit
10
~ ~ terest in Alaska as Canada does in Yuk
- Territory and builds roads over viii
. freight may be hauled in wagons. Und
., the present conditions it's poor d
- that isn't worth SIS and one team Of f
~ was sold in Dawson for $4,000.
ed n AGILE, have said, is a town W
or T. a future. There are two towns
SIS Alaska, 400 miles apart, which :
te longing for the day when. railroad '
of connect them; one is Valdez on the so,
ne sound, at the head of Prince Willis
It. sound, and the other is Eagle, on
en- Yukon. In 1899 the government und
he took to build a road from Valdez
m Eagle and did expend considerable NOR
er bridging streams and laying out tt
sr, thru the forests and over the mountai
III. / and on this trail the mail is carr
n between Valdez and Eagle. A g,
by eminent telegraph line follows this tt
nd from Valdez to Eagle and a railroad
ise projected over this route. Some day
ce. will be built. How soon no one can t