The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1920-10-06
Beets, Politics and Progress
By Byrd Trego
Chapter XVIII.

pack carried by the man afoot. In
the purpose of getting men and goods
into the Klondike, it would not be
economy nor it would not be con-
sistent to let man afoot with pack
on his back interrupt the march of
a hundred pack horses for half a
second. 1t would be wrong for the
man with the sled to hold up that
train of pack horses for half min
ute. 1t would be equally wrong for
a bunch of dog teams to hold up or
delay that long string of pack horses
for a minute or two. The beans and
bacon and wooden shirts carried by
a hundred pack horses were of more
Importance to the miners in the
Klondike than all the goods carried
in by the dog teams and the sled
man we're in month. If the sled
man with his little pack of simply
enough to maintain himself, had to
lay off half day to let hundred
pack trains 90 by, it was such a
small matter. He had no right to
complain about it when he took the
big broad view of the whole situa-
ton. He might be anxious to get
on, but my friend John dismissed
the matter by saying that he might
as we'll be resting there as in the
Klondike and he might be better off
for the rest anyhow. He might be
dead tomorrow or he might be home
sick and coming back tomorrow. If
inconsistencies struck him, the farther
he went north today, the farther he
would have to trudge back south to-
morrow. Cases like that were hap
pening every hour of every day. One
thing about the pack trains was
certain-they would not change their
minds and turn back. Their car
goes would go on and on over ridges
and thru gulches day by day until it
arrived at it's destination or landed
in the bottom of the river or at the
foot of a cliff that was inaccessible.
BY describing all these things at
great length John got me thoroly
converted to the idea that the little
fellow was out of place in insisting
upon rights to his fractional part OF
the trail every hour of the day. I
became reconciled to the idea of let
ting the great caravans go on unin-
terrupted and let all the little cara
vans get along just as far and as fast
as they could. That made the grand
total of achievement the greatest
possible. Working on any other plan
reduced the grand total of achieve
ment. Here was an important point
in his line of reasoning. The plans
and the brains back of the pack train
had great purpose in view--a great
objective to work to-a fixed plan
that they refused to change or to
swerve from. The enterprise that
was conducted with great objective
and a fixed purpose was the one that
was the most likely to achieve what
it undertook.
Acting With a Great Purpose
u, During the Attic summer | have
seen men camping along the beauti-
full creeks bordering the Attic circle
and have seen them waste their time
working out plans and with purpose
and without determination. / have
seen lazy fellows idle away their
precious hours of the short summer
without seeming to realize what they
were doing. But l have seen these
same fellows come under the influ-
ence of great purpose when they
were working for great objective.
In that barren country the road
houses were about thirty or thirty
five miles apart and in the fall Of the
year when the miners were coming
out to the seashore men tramping
over that trail had to 60 from one
road house to another each day or lie
out on the tundra at night which
meant the chill of death unless they
carried bedding with them. There
was not enough fuel in thousand
acres to keep ones campfire going
and it would be water soaked be-
sides. The LATEST men in the whole
country would hit the trail at the
break Of day and walk as fast as they
could all day to, make the next road
house. Each one of them had an OBJ
jective worth while. He was walk
ing for life. He was walking to
reach that tiny spot by the trail, the
road house, before it got dark. They
walked with doggedness of purpose
that characterized the animals in the
pack train. There was no thought of
turning back or stopping or fooling
away any time. It was a determine
ton to reach the objective and to
reach it by the shortest process pos
sible. Men who under ordinary cir
cumstances would have travelled not
more than ten or fifteen miles a day,
hiked thirty or thirty-five when they
had to. Under the prod Of necessity