The Alaska citizen. (Fairbanks, Alaska) 1910-1917, 1915-03-01


teresting volume. At least they
would be interesting to Outside PEG
pie who read or have read all of
the lore of the Northand without
having ever undergone any of its
hardships, or to those who, now on
the Outside. suffered the hardships
Of early days, and long for a chance
TO go through them again in search
of the yellow metal which first
lured them TO the North.
Wilson is Cheechaco, having
come North last summer. In fact
he is the only one of the crowd of
surveyors who came to survey the
possible routes of the Alaska rail
road and remained with the coun-
try and. so he states, intends to
remain However, he disclaims all
pretense of being cheechaco as
he says he has had enough eXper
fence in several short months to
make him sourdough in every
sense of the word
Being of an ambitious turn Of
mind, Wilson decided last fall, when
the other surveyors went Outside,
that he would spend the winter
prospecting on the Totatlanika riv
err Accordingly he began a search
for a partner with whom a chez
chaco might associate with safety.
and invested in good sized winter
outfit for two. He selected as
companion an old man who shall
be nameless in this story and start
ed out on the trip.
At first all went we'll. The old
man proved to be an excellent com
panion from cheechaco point of
view. as the stories he told in the
cabin in the long evenings about
all Of the hardships he had under
gone in Alaska were very interest
ing However after several feelings
they began to pail, and it was not
very long until the young cheechaco
decided that he would take a chance
with some of those experiences all
by himself.
So the partners agreed to disagree
and the old man betook himself
with his part Of the camping para
phernalia to another creek few
miles away, the outfit having been
split up in true oldtime style. How
ever, part of the outfit was small
and did not last but the one short
month he was by himself and he
had to come into town by some
manner of means. His partner own
ed the dog team and it was, there
fore, necessary for him to ask TO"
the use Of it. The other partner
would not let it go unless he came
with it. consequently both came 70
town last week.
Asked if he contemplated joining
the surveyors when they again come
North, Wilson said in part:
mo, not if I can help it. | have
quit the 'dignified hoboing' game
for good if l can possibly stay away
from it. l have a little ground over
on the Total that | am going to
go back to within the next few
days, and if l can shovel in as much
as $500 per day, III stay there all
summer. No more partners with
their long winded stories either,
The lone hand for mine from now
out"
Wanted Boys of the Garden Is
To Be land school are study
Belgium. ing the war in Europe
in a practical way, and
are at the same time getting much
fun, which is not supposed to be
an element Of war.
Every day the boys choose up
sides, and the fellow who is
Frenchman one day is probably
German the next. Thus they may
be said to be neutral in their policy.
Usually one boy represents whole
nation, for the school is small, and
there are not many boys of the
size to take part in the activities OF
the mimic strife, in which snow
is used as ammunition.
A few days ago, when they We're
choosing sides for the conflict, the
boy who was designated as Russia,
objected, but failed to explain his
objections When he failed to give
a good reason for refusing to be
Russia, he was asked if there was
any reason why it was not just as
nice to be Russia as Germany,
France or England, and he said
there was not? Then he was ask
ed what country he wanted to be
and he explained he wanted to be
Belgium.
But why do you suppose he want
ed to be Belgium" one boy asked
another.
"Oh, know" was the reply. ITS
because Belgium gets money and
things.
Hybrid Isaac Purdy, man of
Of