The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1912-01-08
(Wide-World Magazine.)

The Royal Northwest Mounted po.
lice of Canada are probably IN finest
body of men of their kind in tho
world. carrying out their truly multi.
farious duties in IL manner which
compcls the admiration ii all who
to emphasizes this point. lest it should
be thought that in this story am en.
~dcaVuring to cast II slur upun Il Splcn.
did corps.
That an occasional member of 8
force of upward of a thousand mel
should not he found wanting in tbs
face of the many emergencies that
confront him is too much to expect
and yet the only fragrant dcrcliction
have in mind occurred in connection
with tn" escape of my old friend
net spread for him by the police in
tho summer of 1899
Chambers was il member of Il
Massachusetts party which. followin.
the IVA of the discovery of gold in
the l<londikr. went north and en-
dcavorcd To discover an El Dorado ot
its W on the upper waters of Tho
Alsck river. Numerous other New
England parties had also. been attract
cd to the same district and in all prob
ability 800 ArgonautS Joined in the
'''' ~ wv SNpi Nv oits
river. Each carried an outfit calrulat.
ed tn last from two to -four years. this
aggregate of freight that was fruit
lesSly Slcddc,l ovrr the Dalton glacier
and RATED from 100 to 200 miles ur
the AlSck running somewhere into the
thousands of tons.
y" gold to speak Of was found. and
gradually such of the disappointed
seekers DIS had not fallen victims to
sc,,rvy or baen drowned or frozen
found their way back tn tho coast and
sadly q ship for Seattle. Every
man of these of course. took only such
provisions AS would last him to get
out with: the rest of his outfit was
turned over to- those of his compan-
ions who We're sticking IL the search
Il while longer. The exodus went al
until, ny the fall Of 1898. five men in
camp ut the kit-la-wah bend of the
.Alsek found themselves in possession
of a dozen or more m~ountain-likc
caches. each of which contained every
conceivable thing. from navy beans "a
cream chocolates. and from medical
outfits to- portable sawmills and
drcdgcs.
About Christmas time I'm Indian
scout of the northwest mounted po-
lice came into TIL" station at Daltnn's
post and reported that on" Connie
Chambers alone remained at kit-la-
wall. his four companions having sci
out for the coast with dogs and slcds
a month previously, leaving hin sole
owner nf the outfits of 800 men. Tho
party level reached the coast-a cir
constance by nu means strange O II
sidering the fact that tho river had
only partly frozen over when the
quartet set ont on their arduous jour
ncy.
During the rest of The winter
Chambers held court like Il king at
kit-(a-wah, the muniiicencc of his
presents bringing the whole tribe of
tic scrvitudc. They built him a big
log cabin fifty feet square and in
this he lived. taking the chiefs daugh-
ter AS his wife. He used beef extract
tn spread upon his bread. fed his dogs
on ~iirst-uuantity sugar-cur"d ham.
and on festal occasions dumped five
gallon cans of sulphur matches into
the fireplace hccanse his wife liked to
see the blue flames.
Among Chambers possessions were
500 OF 500 twcntN-pouI,l boxes of tai
low and parafin candles, md his ia
voritfr amusement took The form of
what he called Il target wake" About
noon he would send his wife and her
handmaidenS out. each laden with u;
big nack-stck full of candles. and
these they would set up in the IL
few feet apart, until the scni-circlc Of
,apcrs WAS Il half mile or more in
length. AS tho carly Arctic twilight
began closing in the candles We're
lighted. after which Chambers had his
fun by loiling out of the front Win
dow and whiting "ut the lights. one
by in regular order. with bullets
from his tW"-hundred dollar telcs-
c"pic-sightcd. Mannlichcr. His ia
r"ritc revolver practice took the form
of shooting the tops off cans of timed
meat. the possession of the latter vest
ing in the first Indian to rush in and
grab it after the lid had been gouged
open by the mushrooming soft-nosed
bullet. In this way Chambers, natur-
ally keen of eye and steady of hand,
developed into the quickest and most
accurate shot along the British Col,
ulnlia Alaska border.
by spring the hig trading store at
Dalton'S post found its business ahso-
lute'y paralyzed. and no wonder. The
packing alone of goods frcm the coast
to this store cost Jack Dalton 81 n
pound. so that the local price Of flour
that was sold or traded to the Indians
for their furs was S1.25 a pound,
Sugar and coffee cost $3.50 a pound
and tea 50. All these things Cham
l3er% was dealing out gratis, TO say
nothing Of giving nearly every Indian
that called on him a rifle that would
have cost him from $75 to 500 at tho
post store. and fitting out each dusky
family in tho district with IL complete
medicine chest. 1t was probably re-
sentmcn, aroused by the loss of this
business which l"d Dalton's man at
the p~ost-Dalton has since told me
that he himself had nothing what
ever to. do with the matter-to send
out word to the sergeant major COM
manding at Pleasant camp that he
had reason to believe that Chambers