The Washington herald., 1913-12-07
Mounted Elk Head Inspired Key Pittman
With Impelling Love of West He Represents
With Law as Regular Busi-
ness, Gold as an Incident,
Future Senator Saw Alaska
in Early Days Of Develop
ment.

at the rapids and falls Two OF three miles
farther on. Neither of US had said
word. On the way back to the boat Jim
asked: What do you think Of the prop
osition?'
at shall pack no more goods / an
swered
"'Thats my feeling Jim responded.
I'VE climbed into the boat and cast
OF. The canyon was negotiated safely
though we went with the speed OF a
bullet So far so good, but the worst
was yet to come. Jim sat well forward.
facing the bow, and steadying the boat
with a pair of oars twelve feet long. I,
braced between bags Of -four. steered
the boat with another heavy oar. So
we approached the rapids. going swiftly
with the boiling current. Then men be-
gan running along the bank, waving
their hats wildly and yelling.
Looked Death I'm the Fnce.
"PuII in, you blankety blank fools.
You are near White Horse Rapids" they
shouted. Whose h-o-r-s-e? Jim bel
lowed, making a megaphone Of his hands.
"It amt a horse but a rapids. Pull
In, YOU blankety-blank idiots. or you will
be dashed to pieces! shrieked the men in
angry warning.
What kind Of a h-o-r-s-e?' Jim
roared through his improvised speaking
trumpet.
The men continued to shout. but we
sailed on seemingly determined to COM
NIT suicide. The foam began to fly and
was SO thick that I could not see the
bow of the boat Jim would cry back:
"A little TO the left; little to the right;
hard to the left; hard to the right and
I, blinded by the spray, would throw my
oar back and forth accordingly. We
fairly new over the water, dipping every
moment like a kinghsher after his din
ner.
'The boat swept to the rim Of the rap
ids. For an instant II paused. shook IT.
self as though il were a dog coming out
Of the water and then took the seven
foot plunge as gracefully as a profes-
sionaI diver. My oar broke in the middle.
But the trick had been done and we
rowed ashore and made fast to a tree
THE men who had called us fools and
idiots extended their congratulations. we
brought three more boats down that
day. getting SO for each performance. ]
now had $3.50 in money, and spent all OF
It but the original dime for furs at the
mouth Of the Stewart River. where there
was a big encampment Of Indians. Moose
the Indians said. could be found on the
watershed of the Arctic Circle. The
mines, we argued, would wait. but the
moose wouldn't We crossed the river,
and built a cabin, notching the logs and
putting moss between them Then We
started after moose.
In the meantime the river had been
closed by ice for the winter. The cabin
was comfortable. but I wanted to be on
about my business. We cached our sup
plies, and, with a sled load OF provisions,
set out for Dawson, which was 100 miles
distant The journey was made in two
l. II IA
cents but couldn't spend it Candles
were 81 apiece; -four was 800 sack.
Gets $50 n Cord for Wood.
Two men in Dawson owned claims neal
! the mouth OF the Stewart River. They
gave us pound for pound and item FOL
item according TO the inventory of Our
supplies at the cabin. Freightage was
thus saved to them and to U.S. Jim and
I had plenty TO eat and enough to wear
but no currency. l thought would look
around and find a mine. Jim said he
would turn butcher and shoot moose fol
81 a pound. So we parted.
81 next formed a conjunction with
Charley Greene. of Pittsburgh. He was
a fine young fellow, but didn't have any
ready money, either. Frenchy the Devil
said he would give US $50 a cord fol
wood. Miners used a great deal Of wood
for thawing the ground. Charley and
rented an old cabin. A bench near th'
top of the mountain was covered with
trees killed by fire. The trail to the
bench was crooked in one spot. but 9TH
erwise good
I'VE had a strong sled and two sharI
axes. After chopping down a dozen Ions
poles we tied the butts to the sled, which
we hauled to the edge of the trail. Char
ley took hold Of the tongue Of the sled
| You had better stay behind he said
| and help hold back the load
THAT won't be necessary. I replied
TIL stay on the bench and cut another
cord of wood
"I helped drag the sled to the trail ant
teeter it over. And away 1t went Char
ley dug his heels into the ice, leaned
| backward as far as he could. turned hi
| legs in and turned them out. but th'
sled kept going faster and faster. Th'
trail was narrow and he couldn't junl
aside, but had to stay where he was oi
be run over Half way down the noun
tain the trail turned sharply to the left
Charley and the sled hit the curve a.
forty miles an hour. The whole outfi
went into a huge snowbank.
Charley Never Said Word.
Then 1 stopped laughing. I fearet
Charley lad been killed. Anyway h
was out of sight and / was sure some
thing terrible had happened. Presently
however, I saw a slight movement in TIL
snow. The sled, thought, was BACKING
up. But it was Charley. He crawle'
out on his hands and knees, blowing lik
a whale. After he got on his feet n
looked up the mountain and saw me
had resumed laughing. He shook tn
snow out of his sleeves and silently
walked down the trail 1 waited awhll
and then followed him.
when 1 arrived at the cabin he wa
frying beans and looking mad as thun
der He didn't speak to me, and so
sat on my bunk, filed my pipe end be
gan to smoke. After the beans wer
| fried, Charley slammed them on tn
table and sat down to eat. 1 sat down
too, but didn't say a word. Dinner over
Charley went to his bunk and lighted hi
pipe. I went to my bunk and lighted m!
pipe. He didn't want to talk and fel
reluctant about starting a conversation
Thus we sat in silence. Finishing hi
smoke in the course of half an hour
Charley stood up, stretched himself ant
said: Well, it's time to go back to tn
bench. It's your turn to bring down tn
next load
I'VE soon learned how to get the woo'
down without accident. and each OF u
made $50 a day at the business. l foun'
some mines and sold one of them TO
$15, ,000 At the end of two years start
ed for Nome, 1900 miles distant. for
dredge with which to do mining at Daw
son on a large scale. Once in Nome,
| arapad lou, of1oa and STAYED there