The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1941-01-03

the unfnapped wilderness for their
precarious ounce or two Of yellow
metal.
ITO me-" ! maintained, they're
all terribly brave
sAnd terribly inadequate, amend
ed my companion.
How would you have done it," l
asked. could hear his quiet chuck
le at the challenge in my voice.
"The only way 1t can be DONE" he
answered. by big business, by the
geologist and the engineer who does
more than tickle the surface of
things. Then you get something bet
ter than claim-jumpers and gun
toters and fy-by-night camps. You
get roads and honest workers and
towns and settlements and some
thing permanent, while your old
sotirdough squats beside a saloon
drum stove and dreams about. the
strike he's going to make when he
gets back to the hill claim he hasn't
even done assessment work on"
"You seem to know all about
Alaska" ! ventured. But he dis
regarded the barb in my voice.
"Not as much as I'm going to-"
he said. II fell for the North, my
first year out of Lehigh. The bug
bit me when ! prospected the Mi
chinnamau country in Labrador
and had to dig in for the winter.
Then / went to Film Flon for q year.
Then / headed for Fairbanks and
had couple Of seasons on the gold
dredges along the Tanana, where
the works plotted out three and four
years in advance. That's what you'd
call real mining"
"Where you're really part OF a
machine" ! amended.
Sure" he agreed. "But she's
grand old machine. Why, the barge
! worked had million dollars sunk
in her before she turned a wheel"
Sand you're still on the Tanana?"
] questioned, absurdly chilled by
the aroma Of big business.
mo; the next Summer ! did field
work for big company along the
upper Yukon. Then swung In with
the Trumbull outfit"
"And now?" prompted.
"Now I'm headed for the valley Of
the Chakitana, where the Trumbull
company Is going to consolidate its
claims and tackle that territory in
earnest. It's got something to work
with there"
"The Chakitana," ! echoed, ig-
noring the quiet exultation in his
voice. The once-familiar sound OF
the Chakitana came back to me,
across the years, with an oddly dis
turbing ring.
''Do you know that country well?"
! asked.
mot yet, of course" he said. ''But
! know something big is going to
break before we get through with
it. Well dig little deeper than the
old pan-tilters who've been fussing
around the fringes there. And I
want to be in on the show when the
color comes"
d where you'll be safe and well
fed and getting the news Of the
world by RADIO" said, thinking
of the lone-fire old-tiiners.
''But merely hired man." my
companion added with an unexpect-
ed note of regret. Then he laughed,
little defensively, and leaned clos
er to me in the starlight. "What
I'd rather know is more about you.
And why you're heading north
again. And what you're going to
do with yourself up there on the last
frontier"
II promised my father I'd come
back and work for Alaska" I told
him.
'Dig in and civilize the sour
dough?" he said with a fippancy /
resented.
told him that I was going to
teach in the Indian school at Tok-
lutna. s
"But twenty thousand teachers
couldn't tame that country. She was
born wild and she seems to want
to stay Wild"
II have q promise to keep" /
told him. "And I've my fathers
claim to look into"
/ Why'd he ever send you down
to the States?"
''He and ! were alone, back in
the Waceeta hills. And when he
struck through to prospect in the
Ghost Lake country he felt it wasn't
fair to me. He felt ! ought to bet
ter myself, as he put II. So he sent
me out to get civilized"
My companions laugh was curt
but not unkindly.
''It seems to have succeeded" he
said. "Where'd you 60 for your
slice Of civilization?"
"Al the way to Michigan" told
him. II had an aunt there who was
supposed to look after me. But she
died the year ] entered Ann Arbor. !"
Then you had to shift for your
self? Or was your father in Alaska
still helping your"
He'd promised to come down to
the States, but he kept putting it
of. / think he was afraid Of that
outside world he knew nothing
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