The Alaska daily empire., 1922-06-14
SEVEN YEARS
WITHOUT ANY
HUMAN CHUM
Dawson Sourdough Prospect
or Tells Of Life in Wild
erness in Yukon.
NO BREAD FOR z YEARS
Man Goes Without Salt or
Sugar One Year-Has
Grass for Salad.
dawson News. J

IoCNeIl years III ullt NlIuCl liOoo W ioii
out seeing the face of a human be-
ing, white or Indian; two years with
out bread one year without SALT or
sugar and many months subsisting
on a diet of moose meat and grass
such lis "a glimpse of the life of priva-
tion and endurance of John Hag-
strom, pioneer Klondike miner and
prospector, during the last seven
years in the remote wilderness be-
tween the head of the Pelly River
and the Lizard River, several hundred
miles to the southwark from Dawson
Hagstrom arrived here in a small
boat Tuesday evening, after travelling
200 miles during the hate winter over
snow and ice and later completing
the trip by small boat in further
journey of hundreds of miles to Daw-
son
yes" says Hafsarom, who is a
wiry, small. restless and energetic
man, sit was rather short of rations
and some what lonesome that | was
out in that wilderness, but l kept
busy all the time
81 was on the headWaters of the
Lizard, prospecting, and each summer
came down ITO the Taylor & Drury
trading post ait the mouth of Ross
River for a few avs ITO get supplies.
Some times | had to go back to my
distant camp 200 miles above Ross
River, with very limited outfit. as
. ,n c+n urith "a 9
fresh stock void be delayed in get
ting there before it was necessary for
me to start back. During two sea
sons | found it necessary to go back
without flour and to go through the
entire winters without a mouthful of
have a spoonful of sugar, and anoth-
or winter not spoonful OF salt.
During the entire seven years | was
in that distant wilderness / did not
see human being, not even an In
dian, except when | made the long
tourney down ITO the trading post. My
sole companions were my dogs. and,
| tell you, a fellow thinks a lot OF
his canine friends under such condi-
tons. On coming to Dawson this
trip brought the dogs as far as Ross
River post. and left them there, and
will get them when | return. l. am
down here to earn a new grubstake
and to start back Resident Manager
George Il. Coffcy of the Yukon Gold
Company has given me job, and ]
hope to have a little something to go
ON by the end of the season, and TO
get back ito tho Lizard country and
follow up some encouraging pros
1ects which | found there. | got
coarse gold, but do not care to say
more about 1T.
"Sfnce oysters, cracked crabs, pate
de fol gras, Holsters. peaches and
cream and such tempters of the ap-
Netite were scarce on the Lizard.
nope to make up a little for lost time
when | am in Dawson, and hope that
t will help prepare me against
iege of grass salad and moose multi
gan II again run into the zone
# short rations when | hit the Lizard.
1.-THE prospectors and natives OF
he Pelly and Lard country were
blessed this winter with an album
lance OF rabbits They were swarm
'rg go around Ross River that ! killed
md nut up a big cache of them for
my dogs shortly before ! embarked.
arrived ct Ross River post from
iard about the middle OF April, and
remained thcre until May Is. The
lce broke at Ross May 10. and dis
a~pearcd from the river quickly.
Whom came down the river ! saw
nothing OF the ice again until ! got
10 Sclkirk ] was nine days from
Ross to Dawson in the open boat,
and II kept me on the alert with the
nars much of the time. The ice
vas pJled miciaty high along the Yu
kon. especially rear Coffee Creek
who're the great lam threw it up 20
feet on either shore for miles and
,''o.r ~ she mighty Yukon.
''--br ,iard country Is n vast and
'fle pro3pected one, and offers oD
Sor.un.ties for the man who is will