The Alaska citizen., 1915-11-01
School Girl Tells of Her First Stampede Keeps Diary of Events on To|ovana Trip

and a larger number on the creeks,
 are acquainted with Miss Cleora Casady. a bright and industrious girl of fourteen, who has alternat- ed her attendance at the Fairbanks schools with spending her summers
 with her parents, MT. and Mrs. T. H. Nelson. on Ester and other creeks. where they have followed
 placer mining Miss Casady accom-
 panied her parents on the last trip of the steamer Shusana enroute to the Tolovana. and in writing to q schoolmate recently enclosed the fol
 lowing diary of her first stampede | She has since helped to stake a number of claims. and expects to do some prospecting herself.
 FAIRBANKS TO TOLOVANA. l Sept S. It was near twelve when we went on board the steamer Shu- sana to go to bed. About 430 We l heard the whistle blowing and knew We were leaving Fairbanks for a good long while. After taking farewell look at our home town we went back to bed. About 5 a. m. we heard people walking about on deck and so decided to arise. Break fast in the dining room proved to be good, and l believe I like the Japanese cook better than I thought would. We stopped at Caen
 from 8 to 9 a. m, in which time 90 bales Of hay were loaded. Bc- tween g and 10:30 a. m. we passed five fish wheels. In some of then were several fish. At II o'clock we stopped and took on six cords oi wood. sat on deck and watched for cabins on shore. Early in the afternoon we passed a small town at the mouth of Wood river. It Is village with number of Indians and few white people. After sup per we all stood on deck and watch ed for Nenana. It Is fair sized town, with school, church. and mission. It was 9 o'clock when the boat stopped to tie up for the night
 Sept. 10. We got up at five this morning. The boat has stopped al another wood camp and has taken on five cords of wood. This ship burns ore-third cord an hour, and runs ten miles down stream an hour It was 11:30 a. m when we arrived at Tolovana, where we visit 'd the fcv farm. There ar1 "rer : hundred foxes here. The town is pretty and clean, but there are no. many buildings. We are seventy five miles by trail from Fairbanks
 .nd have gone about one-third Of 7ur journey The ducks are very plentiful in this country We see flocks with as many as twenty seven very often. About 430 D. III. we entered the Tolovana river. This "iver i narrow ari the gro Ss grow down to the waters edge. The river is like a snake; it winds in and out and is walled on both sides by
 all laSf covere1 tr'NS.
 Sept II. Early this morning We passed three polling boats; two were
 ping ward the Log JGn. Shortl' after two o'clock we saw baby mink on shore-a mink is like cat, only much larger A little later we were called on deck to watch a muskrat swim the river
 lust before supper a young owl flew over the deck; someone said it was bad omen. After supper was in the stateroom reading when mamma and Mrs. Munson same in after their suit cases. I asked why they were taking them out; toey said: "rno beat iS iaa5 nE g we are going 10 put them on the barge" We tren carried our thin". on the barge. On the way down one of the men said we had better go on the barge ourselves. After cutting the barge loose from the boat and tying it to the shore, the men landed the Shusana, and they started the pumps going. We stood about fifteen minutes and watched the crew bale water out of the hull of the boat. No one thought the boat was going down until MT. Hac
 ott said he euc ysed it w9s good by Shusana. No sooner said than done, for the Shusana began to go down OH one side. Some of the people shut their eyes, because they did not want to see it sink. l kept mine wide open, because 1 wanted to see what became of the dogs. (There were two on board, Bowser and Carlo) I was indeed glad when I saw them run around the deck; some of the men had turred tho" loose SO they could swim if they had to- The river was not very deep, so the Shusana sank only six and a half feet on one side, and one and a half or two on the other, dHu every l'Ouuu Ol ITelSHl Wa saved. Late,, when we were seat cd around tho camp fire on shore, the captain said: Lets be thankful no lives were lost, not even the cats" The men went on the boat to get coffee put coffee and c''0e everybody had a cup of hot coffee and talked q while. It was about one o'clock when we went on the barge to make ourselves a bed. The Shusana sank at 9:30 and We were in bed by two o'clock.
 Sept. 12. The next day the cook and several other men carried tE. dishes and food on shore; we had 3 fine dinner-barley soup, boiled beef cabbage and pudding; the sugar and salt were in the san'
 kind of can, and thus it happened nearly everyone put salt in their tea After dinner two tents were put up, the sitting room and dining room When the chairs were being car ried ashore one man said: "No wonder the boat sank; there are thirteen chairs aboard" Just then the cook came after gun; he was going to kill the hoodoo owl, he said It rained all day, so there was nothing to do except sit in the tent. Early in the afternoon boat named the Dan" came by. They promised to take the barge to the Log Jam when the came hack. That evening when the dishes were wash