Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1919-02-16
In the Old Days With Tex
Richard and His Gold Dig
ging Friends and ReCOlIeC-
tons From Arctic Circle.
Copyright, 1919, by the Press Publish

|
ing Co.
| (The New York Evening World)
/ We went across the ChilkoOt pass
! up to our waist in snow, pulling al
! sleigh carrying a l00-pound pack, and
| the temperature so below. with Tex
| BiCkard last night. We sawed logs,
| made our own boat ana went down
! the Yukon, travelled all over Alaska,
! s,aked claims and prospeeteu here and
| there; reached Circle City just inside
! The Arctic circle, where we never saw
I the sun; drifted to Goidfield, worked in
| mines ana made ard lost couple Of
! fortunes. We don't know how we
stool the hardships. Tex doesn't
| know how he did. But, as he says,
! Those were the days"
! We had sought Tx for fight news,
but he had little to impart. As we
s'ood there Tex swung Ground on his
! heels as he beheld a middle-s sized,
! atOutish man about 60. arising from
! choir a few feet away in the corridor
why, there's man who crossed
! the Chilkoot pass in 1885, he fairly
| gasped.
! The man had SEN Tex about the
anne inmate, and he wasn't long in
! q" sping the promoters hand.
why, hello oscar, how are You?'
Meet Mr.. Ashhy," said Tex. and We
| shook his friends finn right hand,
81 was Just saying oscar, that you
! crossed the Chi'koot pass in 1886"
! and Tex beamei admiringy on the
older man.
Yves. | did" replied by Mr.. Ashby,
land you crossed it in &C.
II remember it," answered Tex,
T. Il
as his mind evidently drifted back to
the time, he involuntarily shivered.
EYES" he said, pulling a sleigh and
roc pounds. | think | must have
been the strongest man in the world
then"
Rickard was silent a minute. Re
member that claim you ana your
partner gave me SIS tor?' sud
deny asked Tex, addressing Mr.. Ash
by. "you took $4,000 out oft, didn't
you?"
Ashby nodded as he might have an
swered yes to $3l transaction.
And" continued Tex, "th0t other
bum calm that I prospected a year
on and then sold for 100000"
Turning to Us, Tex remarked: 81
lost all that gambling. went clean
I f1a+"
The conversation dr.fted back to
Circle City whore daylight lasts only
an hour and where walk Of eleven
miles back and forth every day under
most tying condi tons with a heavy
pack was considered ordinary.
Remember, Oscar, that bunch of
fellows that went down to Circle City
with us, about 800 al told" and Tex
I thought as if trying to remember
some of their names The finest
bunch of fellows IN the world"
| why do you know" Tex then
/ asked us. that there was gold all over
! that place and nobody ever kept it
! locked IN or under cover? Any fell
lows tent could he wide open with
gold scattered all around DO you
think anybody ever stole another
mans gold?
You could wax into a mans tent
while he was away and use his stove
! to cook something on. You might find
a pan of gold worth $4,000 being dried
out on the stove IDS. You'd just take
! it off, cook whatever you wanted ana
replace the pan when finished"
yes" interjected Mr.. Ashby, they
, kept it in oil cans, pals or any old
place and there wasn't a case of any
body losing any of it.
gu See eAiJldIlleu IN-CkdGl, IL
was plentiful Everybody had as much
as he wanted"
Say, Oscar Tex thought OF some
thing else. What about these Alaska
mosquitoes, ell? ?"
They've never had any such ami
mails anywhere" recalled Mr.. Ashby.
They'd light on you, stin@er first,
and then plant their feet"
Yes" added Tex, they were so
numerous you could mex them out of
the air by the handful and squeeze to
kin them. Why, we had to wear
/ gloves to protect the hands and net
/ ting over our face. You couldn't brush
them off or swat them one at a time,
as you folks do here. WIZ" ! have
, seen the seams of my gloves clogged
thick with them, trying to get through
the leather"
These were the DAYS when Richard
/ worked, and worked hard, without a
| thought of a time when he would he
/ lolling in the lap of luxury, with moth
/ ing in view but 100000 fight to
/ promote and make fortune out Of
4 But st!ll it wasn't so long after this
that he was in Goldfield running a
hotel, whose daily Receipts amounted
to thousands.
That place was crowded all the
time" said Tex. i've often seen
200 men around the bar at I o'clock