The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1917-12-15


white death wins out again.
SO a gold hunter in Alaska is very !
much like a submarine, he can only
get so far from his supply base and
live. Many prospector starts out for
q certain locality and he has to beat 1t
back the minute he gets there-or
starve.
Terrible billiards. often overtake
mushcrs on these trips, storms that
neither man nor dog can face, and
then one must get in and stay in I'M
til it is over, or die.
The thermometer during mid winter
will often 90 so degrees and more be
| low zero, and Alaskan thermometers
are made the reverse of state recorders,
| the zero mark being more than half
way up the glass so the mercury will
| have room enough to run down. In an
ordinary thermometer the mercury will
run down into the bulb and freeze solid.
| In a temperature of so degrees be
/ low zero no living thing can long en-
! dure in the open. Even the hardy
! bears and wolves hunt holes and re
main until the weather moderates.
Men long exposed to the awful cold
may survive for time, only to die
with hung disease later on. The in
tense cold breathed in the open freezes
or chills the hung lining, and later on
the victim vii contract bronchitis,
pneumonia or quick consumption.
l. One prospector told me he was
| caught in a blizzard and remained for
five DAYS in an abandoned mining cab
in. He said evidently white woman
| or squaw had once resided there, for
the interior had been clothed and pa
ipercd with newspapers. And he spent
the most of his time reading those
walls. He would read up as far as he
could see. then stand on the table and
read up to the roof, read newspapers
that were printed ten years before. He
told me that one morning he opened the
slide window and threw the dishwatcr
out and when il struck the ground it
was ice. This is a whopper for man
who has never experienced a winter up
around the arctic circle, but | will be
lieve any story told in Alaska, when
told the first time.
Another miner told men that the ex-
treme cold had forced he and his part
, ner to abandon their thawing fires and
NtIN ibl " al Iltl wa tIAtI" Ollt iiiOl II
ing he thought to fix a dog sled that
was standing Just outside the cabin
lie reached out to get it and his hand
came in contact with the sled shoe. Il
was frozen to the metal in an instant
The sled was brought inside and hi,
hand released by warming the metal
but he said he had a dangerous sor,
from the burn.
When the thermometer is far below
zero and there is no wind it is aston
ishing how far sound will carry. Thu
, howl of dog can be heard furthe
than the eye can see, and men can con
! | verse more than a mile apart.
Sometimes there is game to be ha,
i'll the prospecting camps, and some
, times a man might hunt for a montl
and never see a sign of a bear. carbon
or any other animal. Like gold, gam
= is where you find it in Alaska, and i
:. is full as uncertain as gold.
. Every year large number of craz,
= men are brought out of Alaska an,
: taken to Portland, Oregon. There i
not a town on the Yukon that has no
sent out one or many bugs Tw
= things are given as the causes for tn
%. brain storms, brooding and solitude
! And it is rather remarkable that abou
" 90 per cent of these men recover i
l. from six months to two years treat
~ ment in the bug sanitorium in Port
= land.
" Many men buy Indian women an
marry them, to prevent insanity. wv
: play cards to hold our brains togethe
until we hate the sight Of each othe
then we buy wives and separate. - e,
planned one miner to me.
Let two men work together and liv
together day after day, or rather nigl
after night of the long dayless white
and after a time they become sullel
morosc, quarresome. They will 20 fC
days without hardly a spoken wor,
The darkness, solitude and cold have
ID ocular influence ON men. The firme!
ell friends will quarrel over a trife an
10 be sullen for days. One viii get ma
W II his partner talks too much and wi
"a fly into a passion if he is pouty an
y does not talk. They will quarrel ovt
" the most unimpOrtant details and oftt
separate over tritling argument. An.
~ where else but III this solitude thcs
d men would fight to the last for caC
A. other
III And with lee and snow evervwher
a the miners of Alaska really suffer f,
rs want of water. The only water the
)r. have during the winter is snow waite
ne thawed, and this is too often toe muC
trouble for men who work from ID
en- IS hours per day. 1t is too often t,
&C. much trouble for men who sit idly
nd their cabins dag after day. Hence
IN. is 4 fact that men do not drink enous
ha hpal+Iy- l.,