Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-01-14

Henrietta when one OF TIT
cattlemen got a letter from Jim Rob
erts, who had left his ranch in 1890 II
60 up to Alaska.
was the town marshal OF Henriett;
then, wearing a blue uniform, broad
brimmed hat, gold star and everything
And, let me tell you, l was getting
mighty tired of the job. We hadn't an.
excitement for month.
Listen what Jim says" said the mai
who had got the letter; 80 cold VI
there that he wanted to climb in tn
stove on top of the fire, but one felle
said it wouldn't do no good cause som
fool'd come along and leave the doc
OPEN"
Eyes" said one of the old men in thu
group, land they tell me whisky freeze
up there SO hard that you can carry |
around in your pocket like plug o
tobacco and bite off drink wheneve
you feel like it,"
Tells Of Gold Strike.
swat a minute, fellows" begged thu
reader, "ol' Jim says he was in on :
gold strike, and they dug out more'r
$50 900 worth of gold in week.
The crowd then went into a lengthy
discussion of what they'd do II they hae
q million dollars. like they thought jim
had.
oval" decided an old man named
Banks when it came to him, i reckr
I'D nav it on my debts-far as it went
The old fellows talked on about the
money. but a young fellow, named VIII
Slack. and myself got to thinking about
Alaska. The upshot of it was that we
decided to hook up together ana go
after gold. 1t wasn't long before we
were on our way.
In 1895 we landed at Juneau, Alaska.
but found we hadn't really got started.
To begin with, we had to get a years
supply of grub and take 1t over the
Chilkoot Pass to the lakes on the otner
side-about 40 miles.
One night Slack came IN after taking
10 a prospector. .,.4
"Man," he said. edo you know tnat
after we climb that mountain over al
that ice we got to hitcn ourselves up
and pull sled more'n 300 miles!
They Hesitate, Then Act.
THAT made us think. But being
young and full OF pep, we planned W
try it. nt,,e ur
the side of that steep. mountain npe
miles. to the top--one pack at 2 TIME.
Thaf was q lob. We had to take
sr,ail load and then make another tIlp
Until we had the whole OUTFIT on top.
r. tco,r ,,s more than month. On Top
.,a cn,,ld load the stuff on sleos ana
MA down to the other side. After
,.,crt,nc ourselves into a perspration,
we would nearly freeze when we
,to,,reS tn rest. We certainly cooieo
,GEand cooled of quick. -,
xu,,e,, wa eventually reached the iake
=, tre bottom. frozen solid, Slack stop-
ned and looked at me- snor,
"Teyo he said, 'Texas may pc shy,
nm gold. but she's short on ice ana coi0
.Tust the same, we piled up tnoss
s,els hitched ourselves to them ano
,,,,iIed them 300 miles through the coio-
est widest region that any man eve
saw tt was well along toward ran
when we covered the chain OF lakes
and reached the head OF the fu6 03!
we passed the spot where Dawson Sies
now stands without seeing SO mucn q
a house. We were headed lot Cnc,e
CITY. SO named because 1t Is just nSlos
the Arctic circle. -
book or two. and men IKE rex osacl
and stewart Edward White have done
it lots better than I could expect to DO
! Slack Killed In Gun Fight.
VIII Slack stuck until his help was
mo longer needed and then told the
world that we could have Alaska anc
he'd take Texas Will Slack was one
of the best fellows in the world, but
he liked his comfort more than Klon-
dixie gold. don't know but that he
was sensible, at that. Still, he went
back to Texas and was killed in a gun
fight.
had taken a chance, though, ano
was going through with it.
We wintered in Circle City and work
ed out from there In the Spring. wa
lucky enough to buy out the No. ant
No. claims of the Bonanza strike
This, however, was after I left Circl
City and got into the Klondike.
George Cormack, who had an Indiai
wife, discovered the Bonanza lead. ina
was the first time ever heard OF
squaw man. That is what everybod!
called Cormack.
The squaw man had been on moos
hunting trip. On his way down littl
river, which he afterward named tn
Bonanza, he stopped for water. Righ
on the edge of the stream his eye fel
on a piece of gold. The rocks and san
in the swift water had worked at Tn
gold until it was exposed.
No use for me to tell you what eX
element there is over a gold strike. TIL
odd part of it is that Cormack, eve
with millions in front of him, had nc
struck the richest part of gold at al
There were many fortunes in what n
found, but on q little branch OF tn
stream a little further up. called tn
Eldorado-well. it was simply studde
with gold It would be difficult to cour
the millions of dollars taken out {
there.
Got "a Lot of Money"
Anyway, I staked out those two Be
nanza claims and had a half interes
They brought me in lot OF none,
When we got back to the Circle Cit
in May we heard some big news.
"a man named Mckinley was electe
President last November" an old mine
told me. Ever hear of him?"i
To tell the truth, I hadn't. The
we got the details of the campaign wit
Bryan. The talk of 16 to had fixe
the price of gold in Alaska. We use
gold dust for money and it was alway
worth SIG to the ounce.
sold out my Bonanza interest an
had about 100000 in gold dust. Jus
like the others, went in for goo
time. Then it was that I first got tn
gambling fever.
A man named Tom Turner had com
in from the outside with news Of no
badly they needed a gambling house 6
Dawson. The miners wanted amuse
ment and also wanted some fellows wit
whom they could leave their gold Il
safekeeping.
The proprietor of a gambling hous
was much like hotel or innkeeper.
was no cinch. There wasn't any graf