Seward daily gateway. [volume] (Seward, Alaska) 1923-1933, 1924-04-17
GRIM TRAGEDIES
Of YESTERYEAR
DROUGHT To MIND
(S.ro.ler's Weekly


greatest disasters ia The history of Al
asita, the Sn0WSIde winch occurred on
the Chilkoot few miles out OF Dyea
at about 8 o'clock of The morning of
April 3, 1898; when siXty-five Klon-
dixie bound argorauts lost their lives.
it was dark and gloomy morning
that upward of one hundred men and
women left Dyea for the summit of
Chilkoot Pass. The procession stretch
ed out for a mile or more. All classes
Of people from all parts of the coun-
try were represented in the line Of
march and everyone was packing some
thing-professional packers from $50
to geo pounds and others lighter loads,
bit everybody carrying something.
And then the avalanche came thun-
dering down the mounta:nside unan-
nounced and clearing nearly a quarter
of a mile of trail Of everybody and
everything in its pathway. Some were
covered to a depth Of several feet with
debris while others appeared to ride
the crest of the avalanche and escape
uninjured, but they were few compar-
ed with those who were lost.
1t was some days before all the bod
les were recovered, but so far as an
estimate could be formed, sixty-five
persons were killed 1t is doubtful if
all the bodies were ever recovered, but
that number were accounted for and
later given burial.
The writer talked later with man,
who with his wife were swept down in
to canyon in the slide, the man be-
ing taken out in an unconscious con-
dition and soon revived. His wife,
however, lying Immediately by his
side, was taken out at the same time
but she was dead. The couple were
| from Iowa, where the man had been
telegraph operator and agent at 2
country depot for the c. B. & @. rail
road company. He said he was aware
Of what happened when they We're
swept from their feet and down into
canyon and that he had distinct
recollection of the light being shut
out when the slide covered them. Ask
ed as to his sensations at that time,
he replied: "They were not unpleasant
| knew what had happened to US, that
myself and wife had been permitted
to die together. l simply made my
piece with God and went to sleep. The
next thing | knew men were support
ing me and l was looking into the
face of my dead wife"
The unfortunate man, in view of
the calamity that had overtaken him,
gave up his intended journey to Daw-
son. His wife was taken to Skagway
for burial and he secured employment
for a few weeks as a carpenter, bat
within three months he returned to
his Iowa home a broken and discour-
aged man.
1t has always been told for cast,
and the writer knowing the party
later never doubted the story, that as
the bodies were rescued they were car
ried some distance back down the trail
and placed in a shack and that not
one Of them had dollar in their
clothes when taken from the shack
later, the self-appointed custodian of
the temporary morgue having looted
every body that was brought in. The
same party later had a very unenvi-
able record in the interior.
The snowslide on the Chilkoot trail
was the second terrible disaster result
tant from the Klondike rush. Some
two or three months previous to the
slide the steamer Clara Nevada, Capt.
Ed Kelly, left Skagway for Juneau
with a party of discouraged gold
seekers, who gave up the trip after
reaching Skagway. The Clara Nevada
left Skagway about the middle of the
afternoon and several years later her
hull was sighted at extreme low tide
at point in Lynn canal about half
way distant between the two towns.
She carried upward of fifty passen-
gers and crew of probably two dozen
but not soul was saved to give an
account of her fate.
Construction of the White Pass
Railroad forever put the Chilkoot trail
out of business and it is doubtful if it
has been trodden by human being
for quarter of a century. It's history
is forgotten save by few oldtimers
the old trail, bleached by summer suns
and winter SHOWS, is still there, a 81
lent reminder of what it witnessed in
the days when moiled and toiled over
it, spurred on by the lure of gold.
SUITS MADE TO ORDER. At