USA > Alaska > Trailing and camping in Alaska > Part 3
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We had crossed a stretch of nine miles of water when we landed on a grassy nook at the foot of a precipitous mountain spur. After supper, one of the trio attempted to climb to a ledge of white spar, that plainly could be seen from the camp. After an hour's hard work of clinging to moss-covered rocks, he succeeded in arriving at the place, but it proved a disappointment to the prospector. He then saw he could not descend without eyes in his toes. If
Reflection in Valdes Bay.
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Trailing and Camping in Alaska
he could ascend a few hundred feet he might lower himself down a draw by the assistance of scattering alder brush. Another hour was spent in getting to that place, only to discover a precipice in the ex- pected way of descent.
There was another slim chance left, and that was to continue climbing for the top of the spur, far above. No living man could have clung to the face of that precipice a minute, if it had not been for the moss that was rooted in the small crevices. He continued climbing until about 10 P. M., when he paused to look down on the campfire and the water, far below, a distance of fully one thousand feet. He felt a sickness coming over him, so he changed his gaze to the rock wall, a foot from his face.
A gun was fired down at camp, and this adven- turer clung to the precipice with one hand, drew his revolver with the other and answered it. That would prove to his companions that he was in hear- ing distance and not calling for help, for if so, he would have fired first. He was not directly above camp, and the loose rocks would go bumping and tumbling down until out of hearing.
When near the summit, he found himself against a perpendicular wall, about twelve feet high. There appeared to be a small bench on top of this, where he could rest if once there. He rested on a large rock that lay at the foot of the wall; with his knife he then cut niches for finger and toe holds. Hold-
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ing on to these, he climbed up and worked at dig- ging a trench through the moss on the rim above, so that when up there, he could draw his body through. He was compelled to descend to the rock occasionally and brush the weight of detritus from it; for that shaky rock was liable to fall out of its position, and if it did, his life would be lost.
After he had finished his work above, he de- scended to the rock for a long rest before the final effort. He then nerved himself, placed his fingers in the niches, and drew himself from the rock which, with the pressure of the departing foot, said good- bye and went bumping down, down, down. The man was left clinging to his niches, hope, future and life above, with jagged rocks, more than a thousand feet of space, the deep sea and sure death below.
Large drops of sweat came out on his forehead as he steadily worked up, up, and held with one hand while he dug the other in the moss above. Half of his body finally rested on the edge while the other half hung in space without a foothold, and it seemed impossible to extricate himself from that position until he spied an alder an inch in diam- eter, which had grown on this little flat bench appar- ently for the only purpose of extending assistance on this occasion. Its strength was tried, and it enabled the climber to pull himself up and to rest on this ten- by-ten mossy bed alongside of the alder, where he
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thought of childhood days, friends far away and his own folly.
There was but one way out of this place, and that was along a narrow shelf about one hundred feet to the westward which ended on the sloping ridge. There was a perpendicular precipice below and a jagged wall above. Along the side of this wall one could rub his body, by holding on to those jagged places and watching for secure footing on the six- inch path. He took off his shoes and attempted that sloping path, but it was necessary not to look down from his dizzy height to the distant campfire.
The feat was accomplished finally and this thank- ful mortal lay on the green grassy ridge in complete collapse. His aneroid barometer recorded 2140 feet above the sea, and his watch indicated 12.30 A. M.
Alaska's June midnight made it unnecessary to light a match to take those readings. He then at- tempted to walk out on a point where, by holding to an alder, he could look at the dizzy scene below, but he could not,-he had lost his nerve. Before this incident, if I had been told that a man could scale that precipice, I would have considered my informer -if not too large-a liar. Eight years after this incident a young doctor fell hundreds of feet to his instant death while attempting to climb the summit of that same range.
I descended along this spur, swinging from one
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Trailing and Camping in Alaska
alder to another, and once more found myself on level ground. There a bear and myself were placed in an awkward position, but by judicious manage- ment we avoided further embarrassment. He snorted once and I snorted three times; he ran in one direc- tion and I ran in another. Snorts were not the pass- words of our society. I arrived in camp in time for breakfast, and a third solemn resolve was made never to be caught on the face of another precipice.
CHAPTER III
Mosquitoes have hatched out on glaciers and so have other kinds of trouble.
PORTABLE bridges were placed across the glacier cracks to enable Lieutenant Lowe to cross with horses, on July 13. Stephens accompanied him on this trip with the first pack-train to go from Valdez to the Yukon. This glacier melts away at the lower end, or recedes, about 60 feet each year. It is prob- able that it was breaking off into the bay 300 years ago, and in about A. D. 2500 those who care to do so may be able to ride through this scarified canyon without encountering any ice, but we belonged to the stampeding age and could not wait.
Napoleon's cavalry crossed the Alps and Aber- crombie's crossed the Valdez glacier. This ex- pedition, accompanied by several adventurous pros- pectors, left on the 5th of August. The amount of first-class profanity that gushed from ordinarily moral men, under the provoking circumstances, was astonishing. The same voluble profane prospector, who had been rescued from the snow-slide, was with us. He laboriously contended with the argumenta- tive disposition of a donkey having a will of its own, and that fact added materially to the driver's al- ready extensive vocabulary.
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Trailing and Camping in Alaska
The old prospector slipped upon his first attempt to climb the ice, and then and there he opened his dictionary of profanity and swore that he never was moral and never intended to be. A neatly dressed young lady, who was taking camera pictures with the party, happened to be near when there was trouble, and she heard swearing according to ritual. All kinds of maledictions were applied to the donkey, which had a good case of libel, for he reflected upon her moral character and endowed her with certain attributes of the cow. When he discovered the camera girl within a few feet of him, the old pros- pector apologized by swearing he “ didn't know a woman was along."
That effort was too much for him, however, for he slipped, fell and slid several feet, and then he " did " swear in earnest. The ice was an ethereal blue, but not half so highly colored as was the atmosphere immediately surrounding that pros- pector.
" A picture of this scene would be incomplete without a phonograph," she remarked as she walked away.
All day we trudged on solid ice and jumped yawn- ing crevasses. We camped on the ice during that short August night, as it was too dark to travel. The spring snow-slides and glacial hydraulics had de- posited huge boulders on this ice river, and they had melted large wells straight down. A few of those
A Glacier Crevasse.
-
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Trailing and Camping in Alaska
wells were closed, or, like an inverted cone, had gradually narrowed to a point and now were filled with water. The rock that had formed this kind of a well had melted its way down, while the well had closed gradually behind it by freezing. Streams of water poured into the apparently bottomless ones, and into some of those we dropped large rocks, but never heard one strike bottom.
The glacial hydraulic is caused by a pressure of water brought down beneath the ice, and forced up through some crack. When this occurs, gravel and sometimes large rocks are forced to the surface and are deposited in ridges along the cracks.
Those of us who had sleeping bags managed to secure a little sleep, but those without them were compelled to walk to and fro in the cold wind and rain to keep warm.
The next day we crossed the divide at 5,000 feet altitude in a blinding snow storm. At this altitude and under these conditions, one's heart action is about as irregular as the stroke of a single-cylinder gas engine. In a similar blizzard, about a month later, a man by the name of Skelly, from San José, California, was frozen to death. I broke through a crust of snow that covered a crevasse, and with one leg swinging around in space beneath, declared I never again would attempt to cross that glacier. A strong wind pushed us along with almost irresistible force down the descent of the Coast Range, and at
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Trailing and Camping in Alaska
night we camped in timber near the foot of the glacier.
The profane prospector became very weary, and a man invited him to ride his saddle horse down the descent. The cinch became loosened, and when the saddle was on the horse's neck the old man remarked that he believed he would alight. Just as he said this, he and saddle slipped over the horse's head. After rolling and sliding some distance, the pros- pector managed to stand up and demonstrate that he was physically able to swear. He spread pro- fanity all over that part of the glacier. It really dripped from his mouth when he stopped to get his breath.
This Coast Range stands on end. Geologists do not agree that it is the same mountain chain, because it has not the formation that the Coast Range pos- sesses farther down the coast. In respect to the meaning of the term Coast Range and their loca- tion of it, they are diverted in their opinions. A prospector who visits these mountains should bring a photograph of the sun with him, as well as a div- ing suit; but the most useful article would be a fly- ing machine.
We traveled along the banks of a glacier stream where the water was colored milky, caused by the rock erosion, and was almost too dense and cold to swim in. Glacier water is just about as clear as mud. Alaskans claim that he who drinks of it takes
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upon himself ever after the reputation of being un- able to tell the truth. At Valdez a few of such ini- tiated ones organized themselves into a mining com- pany which they properly named "The Goldbrick Consolidated." When selecting a witness to verify my statements, I ascertain first if he has imbibed sufficiently of the glacier beverage.
We rested a day at a camp called Twelve Mile. A man was drowned there in two feet of water. The thick and swift glacier water rolled him over and over until he was drowned, and in sight of his com- panions. At this camp there were two head boards inscribed with the names of E. Vananthrope and J. Tournier, who died in the snow-slide of April 30, 1898.
We traveled along swamp hillsides, and then along a deep slough where we drowned a horse. We camped on Aug. 12 in what was once a beaver pond, but as the water had drained away it was now a pas- ture of red-top grass as high as our horses' backs. A clear brook ran out of this, and there we caught many grayling trout. This was truly a romantic spot, such as would be conducive to poetical writing, if one were lyrically inclined. I am not so endowed by nature, yet I appreciate short-worded and musical poems. Such lines, for instance, as those of Robert Burns's describing the natural encounter in the field,
" Gin a body meet a body Comin' through the rye,"
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Trailing and Camping in Alaska
appeal to me, and I believe those simple lines will be quoted and sung long after Sterling's poetical flight of
" The blue-eyed vampire, sated at her feast, Smiles bloodly against the leprous moon,"
has died from the lingering effects of a distorted imagination.
We remained there and scouted for the best trail route. While I was crawling through brush and " devil club " that clung to me like debts, I heard the noise of a large animal breaking away. I soon ar- rived at an animal bed that was still warm; the long claw marks indicated that the recent occupant had been a grizzly. As my hands felt the warmth in the abandoned bed I felt lonely and homesick, so I re- turned very deliberately to camp, occasionally look- ing back for the bear.
This camp was surrounded by a heavy forest of spruce that was on fire. At night the flames would leap to the treetops with a roar, then calm down, and presently another tree's foliage would repeat the roaring, cracking and popping. This red glar- ing night scene was wild and enchantingly beautiful.
We soon arrived at Klutena Lake, and traveled along its shore for four days through timber and along gravelly beaches. This lake extends from spruce-covered hills on the east, to low spruce lands on the west, while back of the latter were high snow-
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Trailing and Camping in Alaska
capped mountains. Even the lake water was a milky color, but clear streams entered into it and up these ventured large red salmon. When frightened, they would dart back into the lake, only to reappear directly. I stood on the bank while they ventured so near that I shot five from one position and soon had enough for supper for the whole crowd.
James Garrett, a private from San Francisco, was one of those benevolent individuals who are always endeavoring to smooth the pathway of others. If a man were kicked by a horse or had lost a gun, Gar- rett would advise him to forget it by reflecting upon the valuable experience he was receiving in Alaska.
Another day of fatiguing march brought us to St. Anne creek. The summer nights were now dark, and we groped along until midnight before we unpacked in camp. At one place Garrett was ahead, feeling for a dim trail, when I, who was following as lead horse- man, saw star reflections in front and realized that I was hesitating on the brink of a stream. Garrett called to me good-naturedly from the other side to jump as far as I could, explaining that it was rather deep on that side and I might get my feet wet. Obeying his instructions I made a respectable leap into water up to my waist, while Jim laughingly ex- plained that it was necessary, as we could not afford to hesitate. Comprehending the situation, I pro- ceeded to look for the trail while Jim " jumped " them in. I could hear him giving instructions about
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Trailing and Camping in Alaska
the danger of getting their feet wet, if they failed to make a good jump. This was followed by a splash, but not so loud as the imprecations hurled at their instructor. Jim said later, when drinking cof- fee in camp, and it was safe for him to speak, that it was the most ungrateful crowd of poor jumpers he had ever assisted. They had even cussed him for assisting them across the creek.
I visited a camp of some men who had been there since the winter rush. I asked one of them if ever he had known Captain West. I did this because West had told me in San Francisco that it was here he intended to leave the shore of the lake and cut across to the headwaters of the Chistochina River. The man replied:
" Know that old humbug! Well, I reckon I do! If it had not been for that old scoundrel we should not be camped here. We stopped here to dog his trail, as we had heard that he was after something he once had found. We kept a delegation in sight of his every move for a month. The old liar never saw this country, and we certainly should have shot him before he got out of it."
" Why, my dear fellow, he never asked you to fol- low him; besides he might think the same of you for dogging his trail. You say he never was in the country prior to this time, but I have heard that he piloted a crowd that got lost and wanted to go wrong, safely over the glacier when it-"
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Trailing and Camping in 'Alaska
" Yes, but that was just an accident. If I had had my way, he never would have got out of this coun- try alive."
That shows how unreasonable some men can be, and indeed I found numbers of them who could not say enough against West. They pronounced him a humbug and a fraud who was working for the transportation companies.
The next day we traveled along the lake shore, where gulls swooped and snipes flitted near the water, which was disturbed by the lashings of sal- mon. We arrived at a tent-town where there were 146 tents and 84 row-boats. The outlet was a deep, slow-running stream for about five miles, but from that point the rapids began. The occupants of that town were drying salmon, not prospecting. We found there Robert Hoffman, of Brooklyn, New, York, with his jaw broken in five places by an en- raged grizzly. Subsequently he died from the in- juries thus received.
About thirty miles below the rapids was another tent-town known as Copper Center. It was situated at the junction of Copper River and the Klutena, and is to-day a trading post. Hundreds of outfits had been lost in attempting to boat through the rapids. A man who had been pulled from the water and laid on a drift pile to recuperate, said afterwards, when relating his experience, that he had only recovered to realize that he was freezing.
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Trailing and Camping in Alaska
" And, gentlemen, I also found that the Copper- River fever had just left me."
A bareheaded man, with water dripping from his clothes and even his hair, was met about a mile ahead of the pack train. Upon being addressed, he answered:
" I vas pully; how vas you mit yourself ? "
" You look as if you had swum at least a good portion of the Pacific Ocean ! "
" I vos done worse don dot!"
" Where is your hat?"
" No pody knows where ish my hat. It vas mit my sugar, coffee und flour. Say, you sit town und I tell you apout it. You see I made a pig poat vat vas square, und de poys all say, 'Henree, vot for you make him vide out?' Vell, I make him vide out so he no upset. Ven I vas ready to go, de poys all coom roundt und look. I cut him loose und ve vent roundt und roundt, und I could do nottings. Dot poat vas de whole cheese. Py und py, I said hellup, hellup, und de poat found a rock vat nopoddy knows, und I vent right on town de riffer.
" Vell, I struck vere I vaded oudt, und de poys vas glad to see me, und I vas glad to see de poys, you pet ! But I neffer see dot poat. I took oudt all my money vat vas two dwenty-tollar bieces, und I say dot vas all dot Henree haf on both sides uf de Mississippi riffer, mit no hat. Von man said:
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Trailing and Camping in Alaska
" ' Henree, dare vas a goot poat mit two ends, und it is tied up mit tree hundret tollars, mit grub. You gif me dot forty tollars und I go home, und you go on down de riffer mit a poat dot haf two ends.' Vell, I gif him de money und I valks down und up on dot hill, und looks down on Hellkate."
" You mean Hell Gate ?"
" Dot vas it, Hellkate. Say, you vant to look oudt for dot Hellkate."
" We travel the trail along the bank, so we shall not be in danger."
" Dot's all right, you look oudt for him, for he's a son of a gun ! I look down and see two men come aroundt in a poat, und dey hit a rock, und bust vide opens. Dey swims und swims, un py und py dey got oudt. I say, 'Henree, you see dot rock, und you no hit em.' I come down here und git in my poat mid two ends, und I goes aroundt de pend, und I strike the rock, too, und bust vide open, shust like de otter fellers. Vell, I go town to de pottom und finds notting und I stay dare. Py und py a feller pulls me oudt py de hair und puts me on a drift-poil, und he go town along de riffer und looks for some- dings, und dot drift-poil prakes down und I drown annodder toim. Say, dot vas a goot feller. He pulled me oudt agin !
" Vell, I go now, und you look oudt for dot Hell- kate-und say, you see dot feller dot pulled me oudt,
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Trailing and Camping in Alaska
you tell him for dot last time he pulled me oudt I say he vos a pully goot feller."
We ascended about two hundred feet and trav- eled along the edge of a table-land. We were away from the humid coast climate, and our pack-train kicked up a cloud of dust. The dense undergrowth of alder brush had disappeared and we could look and ride out beneath the spruce trees. Wild rose bushes clustered here and there, and trellised over the little side gullies where they held out red-flowered greetings to us. As the weather was warm, we re- mained over a day at Copper Center, camped neath the shady trees and caught brook trout from a clear stream.
One discovers peculiar traits in others, but never admits having any himself when traveling with com- panions on the trail. There was one in this crowd whose repartee was so slow that he generally thought of what he should have said the next day after the opportunity for giving it had passed. His answers generally were twenty-four hours late. He never laughed at a camp story until everyone else was through, and then he would begin to giggle, and gradually it would develop into a hearty laugh that finally culminated in such an uproarious explosion of mirthfulness that the rest of us always did our laughing over the second time. Whenever he was present that ridiculous performance could not be re-
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Trailing and Camping in Alaska
sisted; we were compelled to shoot both barrels of our laughter at every joke that was jumped from cover.
At most any hour of the night at this camp one could hear somebody cussing or discussing the sub- ject of mosquitoes.
CHAPTER IV
One should wear a 19-inch collar, a number 14 boot and a number 5 hat to be adapted to pull a sled. He should be strong in back, weak in mind, with high shoulders and a low forehead.
AMONG those who had arrived at Copper Center by pulling sleds and back-packing, many had neg- lected a previous examination for the necessary qualifications. When they now proved that pros- pecting was not their natural calling, and that Alaska's springtime did not bud gold leaves, their minds became semi-deranged. We had met a man near the lake who evidently was insane. On being asked whence he came, he emphatically replied :
" From California."
As I, being from California, was ridiculed about the answer, I explained that the transition from that State to Alaska was sufficient to affect the strongest minds. I felt, however, that my brains were not sufficiently scrambled to be addicted to mental storms.
At the rapids we met another man who was men- tally affected, and when asked from what State he hailed, he, too, replied :
" From California."
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Horses swimming Copper River.
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Trailing and Camping in Alaska
The joke was becoming serious by this time, and a lunatic from some other State was in demand to divert insinuations and relieve suspicion.
At Copper Center there appeared at our camp a man who talked in a very rambling manner. He was as crazy evidently as a rabbit in the third month of the year. The members of our expedition had gone to a near-by tent-town, with the exception of a military officer and a New York sketch artist. They had remained apparently to see if this man would be asked the usual question which had recently resulted so embarrassingly to the interrogator. As they ap- peared so interested, I resolved to prove to them that there were deranged people who had come from other States besides California. With desperation I asked the expected question. He straightened himself to a dignified attitude, as he replied :
" I am from Humboldt County, California !"
In reply to his counter, I lied and said I was from Missouri, and California was saved, so far as I was concerned.
At that time Copper Center was one of those ephemeral towns, where the occupants are here to- day and gone to-morrow. In the wild rush to this country, there were about two prospectors to every hundred invaders, and two others who were willing to learn, while the other ninety-six were waiting for a "strike," as they termed it. The latter busied themselves generally in holding miners' meetings
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Trailing and Camping in Alaska
over dog-fights and other such trivial matters. Most of them had never lived outside of the reign of written law and sheriffs and town marshals and mayors; so they held meetings and proceeded to elect those officials. It was disgusting to a free-born American to see those who had been raised under a monarchical form of government approach Captain Abercrombie about their trivial disputes, as if he were a dictator, or possibly Solomon. It was so annoyingly un-American that when they came to me inquiring for the Captain, I generally pointed out James Garrett as the man. He proceeded to fill them up with so much "bughouse " advice that I was obliged to caution him, fearing that he would advise the commission of some overt act done in the name of Captain Abercrombie and the United States of America.
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