Williams news., 1904-06-11
Going to Alaska
BY NELLIE J. DODGE

mail was delivered to us it cost us one dollar.
 If the women could have been in one camp we could have had pleas ant times together, but it was sell dom that two were camped at one time in a place until we got into the interior.
 In going back with empty sleds we always gave the men with loads the right of way, by picking up our sleds and setting them on the snow bank while the others passed us. This going back and forth with loaded and empty sleds was kept up until all our outfit was moved. Then we broke camp. My load on these occasions was the roll of bed ding, which weighed about seventy five pounds. The tent, camp stove, cooking utensils and small box of provisions were packed on one seven foot sled. Moving camp, with few exceptions, could be done in one trip. This day we always had a cold lunch, which consisted of sea biscuit with some raw dried fruit carried Ill our pockets. If we were late making camp our supper con- sisted of the same bill of fare. It was pretty hard to think of lying down in a cold tent on the snow, with no warm supper to cheer us, but that what all had to endure sooner or later as they moved into the country.
 The top of the glacier was reached by three different 'benches. We moved first onto one bench, then another, pulling our outfits up with a block and tackle or packed on the back. Every man had inclu- ded a block and tackle and several hundred feet of rope in his stock of goods.
 We felt that our trouble and hard work would be over when once on top of the glacier, but we found it had only begun, for the storms and snow slides kept us shut in so much our progress was very slow. Then the danger of the snow giving way under us and letting our tent down a crevasse, kept us in state of uncertainty, although before making camp we would take long pole and prod around until we struck ice, if we could, but this could not always be done.
 Coming back with an empty sled for a load, we could many times have coasted on the crust the five or six miles but for the danger of going down a crevasse. One man tried coasting with a loaded sled down from the summit on the other side. He had not gone far when he found his sled was beyond his control and making for large crevasse. He had just time enough to roll himself off the sled when it pitched over the edge and went down out of sight. On the sled he had put all of his coffee, sugar and bacon, so he lost all. The sled he could replace, for there were many more than were needed, but his provisions were harder tC get, espe- cially the sugar, for no one seemed to have taken enough of that article.
 One most unhappy feature of life on the trail was the contention and quarreling among the men, who for the most trivial reasons would be- gin most dreadful storm of words, which neither side ever seemed to forgive or forget, and which alwa ys ended in dissolving the partner ship. Neither in our tent nor on the trail could we get away from this contention. Very few of those who went in as partners came out as such. Tn all this contention there was usually an innocent party who had to bear the abuse and self ishness of one or more. One in stance 1 will cite which will serve as q sample for the rest.
 Nine men in one party all be-