Ladysmith news-budget. [volume] (Ladysmith, Rusk County, Wis.) 1907-1927, 1908-04-09


March 10th, 1898.
Editor Bud get:
Dear Sir:-I will try and give the
readers of The Budget an idea what
Il trip to Alaska means. TO any one
contemplating a trip to Alaskfs |
would say don't come; but II you
will come and do come, come right.
Figure out the cost, raise the am cunt
and Just twice as much more, ADD
three hundred dollars to the amOunt,
make arrangements with some one
to send you some more money then,
wi b some one else to send you mon
ey to go home with start out. Don t
take second class passage; tirstclass
is bad enough. Don't take anything
from home but what you can carry
in one package, or at most, what
you can take as baggage; go to Ia
coma and buy your outfit, buy 1t
from the Rapid Quitting CO., try
and get passage on a good small
boat for there is so much freight on
a large boat that lots Of your goods
will get lost or spoiled Don't start
with less than 1900 pounds, including
your baggage, for the Canadians
will not allow you to pass Lake Ia
quish with less than 1895 lbs. Of solid
food, tea, coffee, sugar, salt, soda,
baking powder, vinegar, citric acid
and spices do not count. This may
seem hard, but it is right. Then
don't take more than one gun to
each party. You will not be allow
ed to take revolver with you and
that is right. You land at Dyea and
you will find that just the day before
you could of got your goods hauled
to Sheep Camp for z of a GENT a
pound but just now the price was
raised to two cents-just let it rest
at two cents until the bigger fools
get out of the way and the teamsters
will chase you around for a chance
to haul them at q of cent a pound.
| 1t is no uncommon thing for man
and team to make $50 to $50 in day
and the klondikers pay for it. In
! fact, they pay for everything. They
even pay a lot of gamblers to take
their money from them. The nimble-
| tongued three-card monte man Is
there, he sets up his folding table any
| old place along the trail and in one
minute he has lot of brilliant klon-
dikers around him, each one appears
to have an idea that he can and
must fleece the poor gambler, but
the poor gambler must live and per-
sistently refuses to be fieeced SO the
| brilliant Klondiker runs up against
| the worst of it. He leaves his III Oney
| and goes a mile further and runs on
to an innocent looking fellow run
ming the shell game. 1t is new to
the average klondiker and the gamb-
| Ter gets the best of it from start to
| finish.
The first ten miles of the trail is up
a valley x mile wide and in the win
ter is very good going, teams often
hauling 5000 pounds; this brings you
to Canyon City at the foot Of the
canyon, which is over two miles long
| with walls from so feet to $50 feet
| high and from IL feet to 30 feet apart.
This canyon has a grade OF about
| 300 feet to the mile. At the head OF
the canyon the valley widens out to
| X of mile for two miles here is
Sheep Camp a dirty village with
labout 100 new houses and nearly a
thousand tents, this is Ia miles from
Dyea and is where the trouble begins
Here stout hearts weaken and weak
Zones fail. From here to the summit
is Az miles, in that distance we go up
five miles that from the top OF either
a man looks like a small boy. From
Sheep Camp the trail goes up to the
Stone House Ca large rock) two
miles, through rough valley about
100 yards wide; from Stone House TIC
the scales two miles, up through
Ismooth valley about 100 feet wide
there we came to the foot of the sum
NIT as it is called. Yesterday morn
ing | made my first trip to the sum
NIT and in the afternoon my first
trip over. When came to the scales
in the morning there was few clouds
and when | saw the long line OF meL
reaching and disappearing in the
clouds / must admit that l came neal
weakening. They have rope from
top to bottom for the men to steady
themselves by and there was not {
foot of that rope but what some mar
was holding onto and others climb
| ing beside and holding onto them
That is IL sight worth coming to see
AS bad as it is going up 1t is wors'
coming down. A man simply sit
down on the snow and the law o
gravitation does the rest. 1t takes
As minutes to go up and about thre'
minutes to come down. The mel
leone feet first, but | saw on
change ends about 200 feet from tn
bottom and he went clear to thu
scales that way. They have severa
channels or cutters wore in the snow
that is Is feet deep in places. Thi
lean be avoided by coming down an
lothian trail which ia much longer an(