The sun., 1903-06-21
MAIL CARRYING IN ALASKA.
ONE LONELY ROUTE 1000 MILES
LONG OYER TIE ICE.
Perils OF the winter Trips With Dos Sledges
Typical Adventures OF Carriers
Many IAves Lost In Getting Letters
ThPough to Memo and Up tho Yukon

MANY IAves Lost In Getting letter.
Through to Memo and Up tho Yukon.
Another mail carriers been frozen to
death, boys"
"Yes? That's bad luok! Why. it was
only three weeks ago that Ben Downing
lost his toes"
This is the kind of talk the traveller
hears in the trappers' huts and rest houses
on the frozen Yukon River and the Behring
coast up to Nome. Along 1000 miles Of this
ioe-bound region the United States Gov
ernment has established the loneliest and
most dangerous mail route In the world
The mail carriers travel on foot over
sixteen hundred miles Of the route, and one
stretch Of nearly eight hundred miles
through a desolate, uninhsbited country
has to be covered by single postmAn.
The Yukon mail carrier must travel with
his dog sledge along river piled up with
blocks of ice like the boulders on hillside.
The river Is several miles wide In places,
and sometimes the surface is 80 broken
by hillocks Of ice and snowdrifts that its
winding course cannot be distinguished
from the land. The carrier then has to
don: his snowshoes and break q now trail
for the dogs over the trackless waste.
Theodore Blum started to do this one
morning 1t was on the Yukon fats, Just
inside the Arctic circle, where the river
is nearly fifteen miles wide
He carried long ar pole with him. his
dog team following him, and when he felt
the ice giving way he threw down the pole
and rested his weight on It. But even
though his weight was thus distributed
1t did not always save him from ducling
He broke through no fewer than six times
In his endeavor to cross the river and
narrowly escaped, being frozen before he
could reach one of the shelters.
Ben Downing, the most famous Of the
mail carriers. narrowly escaped death
at the close Of last season. It was spring
time, and the sun an hour before and after
noon softened the snow and made travel
diflcult 30 most Of his travelling was done
in the night.
| He left his station at 4 O'Clock In the
morning, putting laced moooasins on tho
feet OF his dogs to prevent the sharp Ice
crystals from QUITTING them He had made
twenty miles and was going along at dip
ping pace, his hands on tho bars Of the
sled, when he heard tho Ice crack under
his dogs.
He halted them with = ord and planted
his feet rigidly to break tho momentum
Of the sled. This sudden throwing OF his
weight In ono place broke tho ice, and
down he went.
! The sagacity which comes to the dogs
from daily going through such experiences
enabled them to drag him on to the solid
ioe. and away they went again, faster than
before, because Ben had his feet wet and
| knew they were freezing. few miles
| moro and he knew they had already frozen.
nm, % O., k>.,
the blood spurted out Of the lace holes of
his mooassins with every step, and left
red trail on the frozen snow.
| At length he reached one Of his lonely
stations. Tho first thing he did was to
! strip Oh his wet clothes: then he wrapped
| . blanket around his naked, Body and in
q tsmpsrat.tro Of q degrees shelow ssro .
hunted up wood and made . ire.
The following night he travelled nearly
fifty miles until he reached Dawson City.
He handed over his mail, went Nmpdn9
about his business - II nothing had hap
pened, and then went homo and had q
fever.
| He was in tho hospital for two months,
| and had to have his toes amputated. Yet
he Is still In the same business, and really
enjoys its hazards.
George Little. ono Of Downing's carriers.
was travelling through slush loo and got
badly wet. He pushed on to reach the
bunk house. but night overlook him.
After collecting wood along tho river
bank and making fire, he found that while
he warmed on one side he was chilling on
the other, the thermometer registering o.
degrees below zero. So he spent the night
climbing up and down the hill to keep his
blood In circulation.
Two mail carriers on the short run to
Atlin did not arrive last winter, and search
party was sent out. They found tho tracks
| Of the sled leading to what had been q hole
in the ice. That was all.
In the same district the frozen body Of
a mail carrier was found and identified BY
his watch. He had been lost three years
previously.
Harry Frayne, a mail carrier from valdes
to Eagle, started out last January with the
expectation OF meeting the carrier on the
sled The carrier. Tunin. had abandoned
them when the dogs were exhausted, and
| had started of with the idea Of carrying
the mail on his back for the rest Of the
distance.
Some Indians found his frozen body six
miles from the summit Of Mentass Pass;
| He had plodded with the mail until he fell
| In the snow. frozen to death.
From the lower end Of this lonely trail
| the local newspapers brief mention Of the
disappearance Of mail carrier It b. an
episode of daily life, exciting no moro COM
| mont than a runaway horse does IN q big
| city.
The United States has behaved liberslly
to Alaska in the matter OF mails. Mail
matter In some parts Of this vast territory
pays the Government about 80 cents a
pound for transportation and costs about
q to carry to its destination after 1t reaches
the seaboard Of the territory. Costly as
this policy is, it places the lonely pros
pector in touch with civilization and tends
to keep him civilized in a larger degree
than any other agency could.
Leaving all danger and adventure oui
mail carrier is rough and hard. DO not
imagine the carrier reclining at his ease.
covered with warm robes, while the dogs
lope along over 2 smooth surface
He has to guide the sled from one side
OF the river to the other to miss the heaped-
Up ice, the soft places and the snowbanks
Where the trail Is good. he srasps the long
handles at the rear and at continuous
jog trot guides the sled along. In fairly
smooth places he jumps on narrow board.
resting a good part Of his weight on the
In n tamporo+ur> ~ an d~~-~. A~,o-