El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1916-10-28

this is lar more charitable than those
of long-settled country. said l. r.
Erwin. the United States marshal al
Fairbanks. To me the other day
The people here are the most gen
erouS on earth Il is no trick 10 raise
$500 to send sick man or woman out
side only few months ago a man
WAS taken outside with a trained nurse,
and enough money was sent along
TO pay his hospital expenses i'm Seattle.
j have lived ia Alaska eighteen years.
and III all that time 1 have not seen
one person begging.
Many Lose in the Game
We have. YOU know. many unsuc-
cesSful men, the marshal continued.
Mining is to large extent gambling.
and where one man succeeds there are
hundreds who fail I remember an In
stance OF "A man who came to Fair
banks to make his fortune. leaving
his wife and family outside. He found
no gold and finally fell sick and died
in cabin on one Of the creeks
When the miners looked over his
papers they found a letter that had
Just come from his wife. who lived in
letter was fun of news about Jne Daby
that had been born since the father
had left and inside il was one of the
haby's stockings
Five Thousand fer the Baby.
The miners stood around the dead
cad. and when the stocking was
shown the tears ran down their faces.
One of them reached forth his poke
and poured in enough gold dust and
nuggets to fill up the toe. Another
miner poured IN more dust. and this
kept on, the stocking passing from
hand TO hand until il was filled But
all had not Vet contributed. The gold
was then poured out of the stocking
onto the table. the miner who did SO
- 81 ~
over again In the end il was passed
around the whole camp. with the re-
suit that $4,000 worth OF gold dust was
collected and the money therefore sent
to the widow.
Drives Turkeys to kIondike.
United States marshal Erwin has the
unique distinction Of being the only
man who has ever driven a flock OF
turkeys from the Pacific ocean across
the mountains into the Klondike gold
region We had been talking about
old times in Dawson when he told me
the story. said he:
My father lived near Danville Ky.
in one Of the chief turkey and goose
raising sections of the United States.
When I was boy turkey raising was
a regular business there. and we some
times drove our turkeys and geese as
far as sixty miles 10 the markets. We
had 10 put shoes on them before start
ing out"
smile" said the marshal. that is the
truth We made the shoes by driving
the geese through melted pitch. and
then through sand. The sand stuck TO
their feet and gave them a pair OF
hard shoes. as IL were. Well. when I
came TO the klOndike and saw the high
prices they were getting for poultry.
concluded to make a fortune by bring
ing in live stock from outside. I left
the camp and went TO Seattle. where I
bought coo chickens and 81 turkeys I
took them on a steamer a thousand
miles northward to Dyea. and from
there sent the chickens by wagon over
the pass. The turkeys 1 drove. Il was
no trouble except they would persist
in stopping at night You cannot pre-
vent a turkey from going 10 rOost
when the sun sets 7 tried il. but the
y on might push them off but they
would go on a few steps and then get
VI again. To make a long story short.
J finally got them over the range. and
down to Lake Lebarge. where I took
them by boat into Dawson
Venture is Profitable.
How did you succeed as TO the
sale"
Very well. But 7 had TO learn how
to sell them There was a great COM
TO having fresh fowls. and every one
wanted TO corner the market and
crowd out the others When ] entered
the first store and told them I had so
turkeys and COO chickens. the dealers
face fell. for he saw that he could not
such an enormous PROPOSE
ton as that. ! changed my plan, kept