The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1905-12-24
Mr.. Speaker.
Bringing His Christmas Home.

I hi~NtSlie 4Atlii GLElSs EOulu SHdhE IL
out. I've Travelled in an Alaskan win
ter before, joe l told him. and I'm
no baby. I'll get along all right
so on the morning of the 10th
started out with chuck enough for
three weeks on my back and nothing
else 10 bother me but my sleeping bag
and a little OF the stuff with which to
make purchases.
',fhe first two days were easy for
me. though the thermometer. If Id had
one with me, would doubtless have
registered 20 degrees below zero, and
covered a good forty miles of my trip.
The rough places We're yet to come.
but j was half convinced the clear
| weather would hold out for a while.
I which, Of course. it promptly proceed
ed not TO do. The third day ! spent in
an angle of rocks I was fortunate
enough 10 md, While a heavy snow
and wind, almost as bad as a blizzard,
but not quite, ragged continuously l
/ dropped of to sleep for some hours and
l expect II was about midnight when /
awoke. though the light, or rather lack
! OF II, is so much alike at all hours Of
/ the day during winter in that latitude
! that its hard TO keep track Of time
\ without watch. The wind had died
/ down, but 1t was still showing, not So
| heavy that l thought it unsafe to. con-
| tinue, and tired of the mOnOtonv of
that rock angle, / started on. | was
at the edge Of the Tanana foothills
! when that storm overlook me and il
wasn't more than few hours before I
| completely passed them and was out
! on the naked slope of the Razorhack
rise. The wind there was fierce and #
was all / could do to stagger on. had
TO cover at least eight more miles,
however, for there was no stop DOssi-
bic short of the YoshingO hills, a little
group OF mounds that distance away.
how ever succeeded in making it
can't tell you. Ny senses seemed numb
to everything but the bowling of that
wind, and the one thought I'm nv mind
was 1oshingo. / expect I was in a
trance or sort Of semi-stupOr, for |
DON'T recollect reaching the hills, but
ala and went to sleep in a little gully /
under snow blanket for that's where
i found myself when / woke up out Of |
sleep that might have been an hour
or twelve hours long for all know. I /
was all right. though. as sound as q /
dollar and as ready for business, and |
with the storm over ! covered another /
twenty miles and stood on the frozen /
bank OF the North Fork river before /
concluded TO curl up in my bag again. /
pack little snow over me and go TO |
sleep. Ia made fifty-one miles In four
days, and under the circumstances I /
was working against that was a record !
10 be proud Of
My whole trip TO Dawson was Just
a repetition of those four days and
that's all there's any need to say. I
dldht meet with an accident and on |
the AFTERNOON of Nov. 90 found MYSELF
abreast the first struggling dugouts
ana tents that marked the Dawson of
that day. A couple Of hours later |
Was~ energetically trying to DIG IN
something IN the nature OF Christmas
thihgs, toys and SO forth for children,
The traders gave me the ha-ha when
] asked for dolls and jumping Jacks,
but ! stuck 20 the Job and haIly -hooed
traders, dance halls and inha bitants of
all kinds and conditions until at last )
out or the byways and highways. the
old trunks and sledge packs I'd gotten |
together a bunch Of junk that would
suit my purpose. There We're women
IN the town. but no children, and from 4
the ladies I speak of 1 could hardly /
nave expected much, yet it was from !
them | got the most. The dancers at n
the Gold Dust music hall rugged me up !
4 dolI, made out of rags and with I !
cloth fashioned into gar
ments, lot of Christmas tree orna- !
ments, made out OF tinfoil garnered
from plug tobacco boxes. and that's
the way it went around the town. The
women OF nearly every dance hall
helped out when my mission became
known, while there was more loot dug
up by miners, gamblers and saloon
Keepers than you could think Of. One {
who had been q candy maker
or conrecuoner before he commenced 2
daHying with the cards. made me q lot
or candy out OF nothing more than
know Of but white sugar / had So
much stuff when left three days later I
That, coupled with my food supply.
1ldnt see how ! could navigate with A
z. The gambler who'd made the candy
Insisted on shouldering some of it and
going with me part of the Way. while
! woman known as Diamond FIossie I
,ixed 40 pack, mostly food, and
saIne along. too.
THE first six days we had fine
weather IN our favor. on the second
We turned Flossie back, and on the aft [
srnoon OF the sixth 1 persuaded the
gambler whose name can't remember
% start back 10 his dice and cards ! J.
The next morning j found myself en-
quilted in storm, and for two days
vas obliged TO stick TO the refuge I
lad found. In the following six DAYS
was Obliged 70 stan myself wherever
could TO escape the fury of storms,
md the morning of Dec, Il, with q
christmas only eight days away, found S
ne more than 100 miles away from my q
destination. Even with fair weather il Il
vas pretty good job to negotiate that h
distance IN winter, especially as | had a
early fifty niles OF heavy hill work /,
'efore me. but l resolved to make il or n
lie. and ! hadn't any more than | n
cached that conclusion than another h
torn came up. / could tell the inter- n
al OF days by the slightly brighter :.
ght that ensues from something like n
TO ? every day, and when / could
move on again / knew ii was the 18th | 2,
Z the month. With my pack il was n
ow more than / could do to finish the q
quincy in time. so I pulled it off my "
ack 10 see what toys and ornaments / n
might dispense With. / knew | had n
lore things than were necessary. but J n
omehow, as / went over them there on -
hat snow field, I could see Tommy or =,
Is little sister laughing in glee over
his one or that one I had half con- 81
luded ! might throw out 10 reduce the 4
'ad. IN the end 1 put all the things II
ack IN the pack and threw away half hi
my grub. i can manage for a h,
ouple of days without that, l thought, b,
nd with my lighter pack began 10 inn m
rove the advantage the clearer wealth s.
r gave TO me. ~
4 was held prisoner one day BY d pl
-orin, but On the night or Dec. 4. all IN
recissly II O'Clock by Joe's clock. d,
sached the hut. I. hadn't eaten any- h,
ng for two days, and Joe had con VI
uded was dead, but / said nothing al
RlnI AR9ut my troubles, and we took IA
ego the children being asleep er
fpif14 Etheir Christmas. Joe Topped or
Dfaheh on q stunted pine. and wc he
he