The Manchester journal. [volume] (Manchester, Vt.) 1861-current, 1917-10-04

81 got up against II harder than q
| 'Cheeehako'," sad he, land II this
bunch 81 tourists wants 10 reach ST
Michael they had better chuck mo
overheard. I'm sure out Of luck and
III hoodoo the boat ] hit the trail
over to Forty Mile last September and
missed the last boat down by an hour
blowed about all had, then mushed
back and went TO work on the railroad
at Fairbanks with surveying gang
Two weeks ago came over again and
just missed the boat Now am going
TO make one last jump for the out
side and if | miss this chance I'm
going to marry an Eskimo and be a
'squaw man.,
! saw this man stand at the bar and
drink one after another full glasses
of raw whiskey, then suddenly fall like
a dead man. have seen several men
fall this way--suddenly collapse in a
heap--and the only explanation got
was "they do that way in Alaska. y
But | deduced better explanation
the whiskey may be uncertain in per-
centage but its potency is unquestion-
ed. 1t has the "kick."
Later, ! became acquainted with this
man, | found he had had two years in
college, and was very agreeable
roommate.
He said he took engineering but
since he had been in Alaska he had
only worked at it to get grub stakes
and had prospected most of the time.
1--WE seen fellows strike it above
me, below, me, both sides of men and
underneath me, but | never found a
yard of rich ground yet. A pay streak
would get up and drag it if it saw me
coming. I've had bellyful-me for
the outside, if can ever make it."
got acquainted with another fell
low, miner, through the exchange
of reading matter. He had been %
years in Alaska, came in before the
stampede, and he had never made a
strike worth while. Last year he said
he located a claim that looked like a
sinner, and took out few hundred
dollars, then it "went phoolie."
ITS pocket country-there's no
figuring it out. You may take out a
few buckets from bed rock that will
run $500 to the bucket, then it goes
dry and you can thaw acres of ground
without finding another ounce. Damn
such country"
This man was about half dead from
the excessive use Of tobacco. Snuff,
cigarettes, cigars, pipe, plug-he took
them down the line in succession. He
said he was on his way to eastern
Oregon, to the hot springs, where he
was going to boil out and quit, then
he was going to invest his few hun
dred dollars in little piece Of land
and remember Alaska only as a night
mare.
Below Marshall two miners boarded
the boat in the night. They had a
beautiful jag on, and occupying an adj
joining room they banished sleep for
me. In the morning one Of them, a
Swede, sat opposite me at breakfast,
and he told me the other fellow had
"made his strike" cleaned up a nice
roll and was going outside"
/ sized up the lucky fellow later on,
a coarse, blear-eyed man, half dead
with bronchitis, and | wondered if his
Strike" was worth the awful price
he had paid for it-15 years of alter
nate river work and prospecting-and
| wondered how long that money
would stay with him when he got
among the wolves in Seattle.
And one more: A man about 80, a
Swede, a quiet, gentlemanly, educated
fellow, with something about him
that attracted. And he told the same
Old story-years Of the hardest labor
and worst of exposures. He was one
of the lucky ones at Willow Creek,
made his strike" and had sold out
for a nice roll. 81 have seen too many
men made beasts Of in this country
to stay any longer he said
Later, when | told him | was from
Corvallis, Ore. he said; "When you
see Editor f. I. Reed again, tell him
you net his former student in Mime
sofa, Stephen L. Bergh, and ask him
If he remembers me-"
In the interior of Alaska man
without a trade or profession-the
working man who can stand the grief
stands a far better chance. There
is little demand for the trades. The
miner, the experienced "sour dough"
man, can get better pay for his labor
than in any other part of the United
States. He can get SIS a day and
board, seven days in the week, but the
work is the kind that wears a mans