Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1916-09-17
have the long days and the sunshiny
nights Of the summer"
bets ARE MADE

nights OF the summer"
bets ARE MADE
ON THE lCE-HUEtK
asked the captain 10 tell me about
the betting on the ice-hrcak.
THAT Is most exciting" was his re-
ply. "All along the Yukon the people
| bet when the great ice-brcak will oc-
cur. They organize pools at Dawson
and Fairbanks. and large sums are lost
and won ut the within of Jack Frost,
AT Dawson they cut a hole In the lee
in the middle of the Yukon and erect
u pole about four inches thick and
twenty fee, high. This freezes solid.
Then they fasten one end ~ Il wire
cable 10 the top OF the pole. and the
other end to an electric stop clock
set [" standard time. ON the shore.
ihe moment the ice moves the pole
the clock stops. aud that moment
marks the record Of the beginning OF
the running of the ice. 1t decides ali
bets and after il all bets are OF.
Al the time the clock stops steam
whistle is blown. and every one knows
IN" hour and minute af the running.
The usual date * about May IN the
time when corn i> planted III the Mid
die states. Last spring IL was earlier.
Tn" clock stopped May :. at tArec min
ai"S past 10. and the ice moved down
stream the length Of a city block and
II
and Overlooking the beach in front. Of
the town.
The usual betting pool at Dawson
has sixty subscribers. the captain
! continued. and the amount each puts
| III IS 50; or II may he as high as 500.
$" that the pool as whole may have
as much $1,000 After Il pool has
/ been formed. sixty slips az paper. bear
/ inG the numbers from one 20 sixty. are
! put in hat. Each number represents
/ minute OF the hour. and tho man
! VINO gets the minute shown 10y the
/ stop-watch ns the flood reaches Daw-
/ son is given the purse Bets ara also
! made on the dag of The month and
week. and upon the hour of the day at
Whi"h the whiStl" viii blow. In 1914
the engineer on the steamship Sarah
invested 81 in Il S5uo-j,noI and won II
/ all That was day. hour and min
utc pool II" guessed the time right
I" the minute There are also many
/ individual bots III. crowds gather
on tho banks Of tho river as the ice
shows signs Of breaking and watch
the pole. AS the whistle blows tho
! city goes mad
Tho same netting goes on a, Fair
! banks. Tho time there is the exact
! minute tho ice tears away the bridge
I hcross tho Cinema River, in the heart
! OF the town. It does that every spring.
breaking the posts though they
.
year was on. made ut the ranana Club
/ for 800 dinner To hn given to the
/ crowd. Tom Mct;"wari was the loser
and h" CAV" tho dinner"
1 OPINIONS DIFFER As
Tn ALASKA WINTERS
/ ] find there l. n difference Of opinion
as 10 tn" Alaska winters. All are
/ of the cold and m" darkness as those
. HAY" quoted
/ Il toll YOU. tho winters ar. awful"
: said "f tn" women Of FAIRBANKS
These p"opi" say they enjoy NE
/ when tho THERMOMETERS is 20 or 20 de-
rrccs below zero. and that II is not
I cold. tell YOU. it is cold. although
! tn" st.ll air does not make II so bitter
when Il is more than 90 below
! We women stay in tn. house. ana
/ tho men much as they can. we
I work b. artificial light for most Of
! the day, aud when spring comes every
on" is peaked and deathlik". and our
I complcNions are pale With the com
ing OF the long days our color RE-
/ turns and in summer arc as
healthy ana rosy as can hc imagined
And then the long. dark days rack
your nerves almost TO breaking, You
get tired Of yourself and your friends
ana want something new in the way Of
/ amusement You sleep nS long as you
can and pay but little attention TO
houra All parties ar" held late, and
they often last far into tn" night And
then tho trouble Of entertaining, Every
on" has ;hc same supplies aud the
same canned stuffs TO select from You
=" TO Your pantry and look "a, the
shelves in despair. 1t is hard 70 know
what to serve
An"th"r Alaskan talked 10 me ahou,
funerals Said he
III is difficult to bury your dead in Il
I land whore tn" prehistoric ice lies only
TWO fee, under the moss. aud where
YOU have TO build fires 10 thaw the ice
frozen gravel beneath. In winter YOU
/ sometimes have to chop the graves out
/ Of the ice. There is no need OF brick
walls or cement. The coffin IL laid in
ITS ice tomb. the earth shoveled back,
I and soon all Is frozen solid again. The
| dead buried in the winter remain
| frozen for an indefinite period. and
! when taken M years later look just
| as In life. The ice has turned them,
an II were. TO statues Of marble"
! "losc this letter with enc OF tho
illusions Of a poet Of the klondikc:
| y Dawson city mining man
Lay dying ON the ice
| He didn't have woman nurse,
He didn't have the price
| But n comrade sat beside him.
His dying eyes to close.
He listened TO his dying words
And watched him--whIle he froZe