El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1916-09-16

At that time the ground freezes and
remains solid all winter. The frost goes
down to the bed of glacial ice that lies
under a great part OF Alaska, and. as
far as We know. We live on a solid lee
block for seven months of the wear. The
glacial Ice does not melt IN the summer.
The frost gets only through the moss
and muck, which Is 10 inches or more
deep. and where YOU mil up the muck
YOU find the ground below frozen solid.
If YOU clear OF the moss and the muck.
It viii thaw down TO eight or 10 feet,
but in the winter such ground seems
to freeze from the top and the bot
tom until 1t connects The frost begins
to 90 out Of the ground about Nav
when the hot sun thaws the ice 1t Is
then that summer begins
Zero Falls to 70.
Give me some idea OF YOUR winter
weather. II must be terribly cold
Not so bad. Not so bad said Judge
Dehn- The weather keeps growing
colder and colder from October on until
it gets down TO Is degrees below zero.
1t holds that average throughout the
winter, although 1t now and then falls
TO 40 and even so degrees below. l have
seen it down TO 20. Zero Is hot winter
weather and we do not consider Is de-
grees below that point uncomfortable
At such time we wear our ordinary
winter clothing and take off our coats
if we are at hard manual labor / came
here from Canton. Ohio. Fifteen de-
grees below zero on the Yukon Is not
as cold as Is above in Ohio. Our air Is
dry and we do not feel the cold
Besides, continued Judge Dehn,
our houses keep out the cold. They are
made OF logs. chinked with arctic moss.
The warmest building / have is nv
log chicken house, which Is lined and
ceiled with a framework, the space be
tween being filled with shavings. !
keep an alright stove going in it, and
nv hens Law all winter
| went out with the Judge to see his
chickens. He has $50 mostly Rhode
Island Reds and Plymouth Rocks. He
sells his pure bred fowls at s. a piece.
and he gets $3.50 and upward a dozen
for eggs.
Sells Eggs at IS Dozen.
Speaking OF chickens. / have been
greatly interested in how they are
handled in these cold countries Of the
far north. We brought SOC bloOded
fowls on our ship down the Yukon.
They had come from Seattle, and were
unsigned to man in Fairbanks. They
are still on the ship. and viii 90 up
he Tanana river tomorrow. At Daw-
son I met Chicken Billy. who at one
inc had 900 chickens. and who has
odd eggs in the winter for as much
Is IS a dozen. ] have already written
# Swift Water Bill. who cornered the (.
90 market of the Klondike buying. it !
5 said, 5000 eggs at 81 a piece.
I have heard other stories almost as 4
interesting For instance. the chick /
rs imported from the states have to 4
ave their DAYS made of the same pro- /
ortions OF light and darkness as at /
ome before they viii Law I heard Of 4
man at Circle, who imported lot of I
owls from the states with the idea
f starting a chicken farm. After a /
week or so they grew droOpv. They I
ost flesh and he cot no eggs whatever. ]
lie was then told the chickens were |
from lack of sleep. 1t was /
midsummer when the light Is bright !
throughout the q hours The chickens !
ad no sunset to mark their bedtime. /
nd they kept on scratching gravel all /
light. The man decided to put them in !,
arkened coops at o. m. and keep them |
o until morning. The hens at once re-
aimed their old vigor and began to drop
ranch eggs which sold for several /
olars a dozen. am told that the
oops mast be lighted during the long
ark DAYS of the winter in order 10
lake the hens lay.
Chickens Board" IN Winter
In the past few years there has been
craze in Alaska in favor Of the "help-
NJ hen Most of the residents have
cen keeping chickens and raising their
WI eggs. At first many kept the
lickens throughout the summer and
bid them as cold weather came ON to
ave the expense of warming and light
u the coOps during the long winter
lights. They would then import a sec
nd flock Tor the following summer. To-