The Elk Mountain pilot., 1920-02-12
SOME FACTS ABOUT
MINING IN ALASKA

..
Alaska, for Skagway, Alaska With
81 hours of nice weather we arrived
in Skagway in the afternoon. 1t was
raining that day SO we didn't get to
see much of the town, and the next
morning, June the 5th, we left Skag-
way on the White Pass railroad FOR
White Horse 1t took US nearly eight
hours. | have seen many people sea-
sick on the sea,but this was the first
time l ever saw man seasick on n
train. There is much fine scenery on
the White Pass We arrived in White
Horse about four o'clock p m. and
went Immediately onto the riverboat
Yukon, leaving about IL p. m We
stayed up nearly all night to take in
the beautiful scenery along the Yu-
kon river The steamer Caska left
White Horse few hours ahead of US,
but when we arrived at Lake La Bar
we caught sight of her standing still
on the sand bar with her barge We
gave her rope and tried to pull her
off, but instead we got stuck too; so
they put down a deadman in the sand
bar with wire rope over to it. After
four hours we got off, then in short
time they got the steamer Caska with
her barges off also. The water did
three feet deep at the mouth of the
river where we had to go through.
There were several places along the
river where we had to stop and load
on wood for fuel and as it took nearly
an hour at each place the passengers
all went ashore to explore the coun-
try 1t certainly was interesting for
cheehocker to see all those places.
When we arrived in Dawson City,
Canada, wished it might have been
twenty years ago when that big Klon
dyke excitement was in its boom.
Old timers told me those fellows who
located all the Klondyke first, did not
get the best ground, though they
thought they had; when the outsiders
got there they told them to go up
and locate on the benches and on up
towards the hills; and right there it
turned out to be the best pay dirt.
We stayed cnly three hours in
Dawson then were off again down
the Yukon. There was one place of
much interest we went through,
called the rapids at the Five Fingers;
1t looked so narrow from distance
thought we surely would bump into
one side or the other, but we certain
ly had good pilot at the wheel, for
we went through without scratch.
There are many places where boats
have capsized on big boulders in that
swift current.
We stopped over five hours at Cir
Gle City and went up to the Indian
villages; some of the passengers tried
to take their pictures, but they all
turned their backs to the camera
Between Circle and Fort Yukon we
came very near running over moose
that was trying to swim across the
river, but the pilot discovered him in
time and slowed up and let Mr. Moose
get by.
At Fort Gibbon we took in oil for
fuel and used that for the rest of the
journey. Arriving at Tolovana Trad
ing station we got our first introduc-
tion to the mosquitoes, where they
came around US in big swarms; there
is a fox farm there that we all took
a look at. One little baby fox only
a few months old drew my attention,
for when we pointed a finger toward
him he got angry and snapped at it.
At Neenana we saw a few log cabins
and some tents, where about 200 men
were starting to construct new
railroad ! think that is going to be
a great city when the railroad starts
operating between Fairbanks and Sew
ard. When we got to Chena they told
us the water was pretty low up to
Tannana and we would probably have
to take the Tannana train from there
to Fairbanks, but it happened to he
Sunday and there was no train, SO the
captain told us he would try it any
how. We did not get very far before
we struck a sandbar and they sent
cables ashore fastened to stumps;
they told us that if they got stuck
we would have to walk to Fairbanks.
but we were lucky, for after they
had pulled nearly all the stumps out
that night we arrived in Fairbanks
the morning of June 10Th. Nearly
the whole town was down at the dock
to meet us. There we met one of our
cousins for the first time, so we
stayed there for two days. June 18th
W left Fairbanks on the Tannana Val
lev railroad for Olnes, about 35 miles.