Baraboo weekly news. [volume] (Baraboo, Wis.) 1912-197?, 1916-07-20
GOLD SHIPPED
IN BRICK FORM
FROM ALASKA
Continued from first page.)

long enough to complete their outfits,
and this took both time and money.
There is nothing Of that today. Mer-
chandise and mining machinery are
unloaded from the ships upon the cars
and this constitutes the greatest in
dustry. There is no mining near, no
numbering, no fishing, no manufacture
ing, no farming. Some of the business
places carry names which recall the
excitement of other days, and here
are three copied in my notebook:
Pack Train Restaurant.
Nugget Movies.
Golden North Hotel.
Before the White pass was made
known, Dyea was the objective point.
Where Dyea, with it's several thousand
people, once stood, there is a home
stead now. Every house save one is
gone 1t was from Dyea they went
over the Chilkoot pass We had the
good fortune to meet one of the first
seven men who braved the dangers in
the first great rush. Some were killed
in the snowslides, some froze to death
and others persisted from fatigue. The
line of men marched so close together
up the narrow trail, that if one stepped
aside to adjust his pack, it was neces-
sary at times to wait two hours to
get into the line again. The first four
men who went over carried three tons.
The supply material and tools were in
packs, and these were carried por-
ton of the way, cached, and later car
ried little farther. There was an un-
written law that there was to be no
stealing, and there was but little. Soon
Indians were employed in the packing
business, and they made more than the
respective miners ever did. They
charged enormous prices, all the way
from fifty cents to one dollar a pound.
When the White pass came into favor
Byea died as swiftly as it was born.
The White pass is difficult to climb
without a burden, not to mention the
heavy loads the gold seekers bore up
the mountain side. In our trip up the
mountain in a railroad car we could
see the old trail much of the way.
Horses were used by those who could
afford to employ them, and in time the
locomotive snorted to the top.
Some Ashamed to Go Back
Some of the "old timers" told us of
the crushed hopes and disappointed
wrecks that came back and down the
mountain to the arm of the sea. Some
had mortgaged their homes in the
states, some had borrowed on their fu-
lures, and still others had risked every
cent they had in the world in the great
gamble. 1t was necessary for more
than one to find work in the building
of the railroad, or other place, to
obtain enough money to reach home.
Some were ashamed to go back; still
others ended their troubles by sui
eide. Some had covered the thousand
miles from Seattle in steamers or sail
boats, and they got back the best way
they could. Uncertainties were never
more uncertain than over the Chill
koot or White pass.
They told us on the steamer that
only a few months ago young man
travelled from Seattle to Skagway,
lured by gold, and spent his money
lavishly on the way. Not only the
walters and stewards, but the deck
hands and others were literally tipped,
SO sure was he of finding a pocket of
gold. In a few weeks he returned in
the steerage of the same boat, sad
der but a wiser man. He found that
White pass is about twenty miles
from Skagway, and a bronze monu-
ment marking the boundary line be-
tween Canada and the United States
is located there. When we climbed
up a hill near the longest day of the
year it was necessary to brave a snow
bank in order to reach the monument.
The pussy willows growing there were
just out.
A Queer Sign
Custom officers are maintained at
the boundary line, and on each build
ing was queer sign, reading some
thing like the following: