USA > Alaska > Trailing and camping in Alaska > Part 9
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At that time this canyon never had been explored to their knowledge, and for all they knew, they might be hurled over falls that were anywhere from five to five hundred feet high; so under those circumstances
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it was one of the most foolish escapades ever under- taken by men of sane minds. They built a raft of logs and willow withes; then each man armed himself with a pole, and as they shoved the raft out in the mad stream they waved their hats at nobody and yelled, " Vive Cuba Libre!" Above the sound of that mad rushing water and those madder human adventurers, the mountain echoed Alaska's greeting to the southern isle.
At the entrance of the canyon, the water piles up against a perpendicular wall, then turns squarely to the left. It was there that the voyagers were in- troduced to the magnitude of their undertaking. The lieutenant commanded : " Present poles !" and they' did so, in a brave but futile attempt either to prevent the raft, with thousands of tons of water driving be- hind, from striking the rock, or to push aside that five-hundred-foot wall, buttressed with a mountain.
They and the wall met squarely; the raft dodged the problem of the irresistible missile meeting the immovable object, and continued down stream, while five men were held out in the air on the ends of their poles for a second. Then five hats were to be seen floating on the surface of the water, but not a man was visible. Ten more seconds and the men were swimming for the raft, far below the place of the first disaster. One climbed up on it, just as it was about to turn turtle, and then the raft was on top of the man. Another moment, and two men were on
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the raft, but the others were attempting to climb on, while it was approaching another rock wall. The man in the water below the raft had his chin resting on board in such a manner that when the raft struck the rock he would be decapitated.
One benevolent fellow, taking in the situation, did not care for the ghastly scene of having a head on board without a body attached to it, and thinking it would be preferable to the struggling mortal to drown rather than to have his head chopped off with a dull raft, he reached forth, took hold of the man's hair and, shoving him beneath, the raft glided over. The raft struck the wall, whirled and passed on, while a nearly drowned man was attempting to climb on to the rear end. Another half-minute and instead of a raft there were five separate logs with a man clinging to each one of them. They managed to find small landings, and all got out on one side, ex- cept Gardner, who crawled out on the east shore.
There were several small ravines cutting down into the canyon, and up those, by clinging to alder brush, the swimmers could climb out of the river, so they took to the mountain's sides. The remainder of the day was spent in clinging to rocky steeps, while the enraged, serpent-like river went winding and crawling beneath. Gardner, who came out of the canyon on the wrong side of the river, swam across that night. The next day they all arrived in Valdez, hatless, coatless and half starved. A year later,
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"Tex" and Schelly attempted to go through the same canyon on a raft, but with similar results.
On July 8 I climbed to the top of a mountain, about 5000 feet above Dutch Flat, and there wit- nessed a most glorious sunrise. The fog came roll- ing in from the bay and ascended the canyons until there were only a few peaks left above it, like islands in a moving sea. To those in camp, far below, this was a dense cloud high above them; to me, it was an ocean, probably a thousand feet below. It rolled along and met a similar sea of fog which had ascended the Copper River, and poured through Thompson Pass into the Tekeil country. It appeared but a mile or two across that sea of vapor to the opposite side; yet it was about as reasonable to think that one could boat across such an arm of the sea, as to believe that four thousand feet below was a valley with spruce forests, where one hundred men and as many horses were building a trail for Uncle Sam. The sun shone warmly up there, while those below were obscured from its rays.
I descended into that vapor, where distances and objects appear very deceptive. When near the lower edge of it, I discovered what I took to be a mountain sheep, standing on a rock. The distance to the object appeared to be about seventy yards. I decided to shoot it in the sticking place, as hunters call a certain part of the neck, when suddenly the thing stood up on its hind legs !
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" How stupid to think that a bear was a sheep ! " I said to myself.
The aim was changed to the end of its nose, be- cause the smokeless powder would send a bullet to its brain and avoid argument. Away went the bullet and over turned the supposed bear. I thought that he would roll down on about an acre of snow which appeared to be just below there. Imagine my sur- prise when I approached and found that instead of the acre of snow it comprised about thirty acres, and was half a mile away; and moreover, that the bear was only a whistling marmot (hedgehog) which weighed about fifteen pounds !
Once four soldiers were on the Valdez glacier when the atmospherical conditions were similar to those just related. They were extra good shots, all of them. They discovered what they supposed to be a bear, and with their army rifles, fired several shots without disturbing him. They decided, then, that he was too far away, so they raised their sights to six hundred yards and fired some more, with like effect. One decided to approach nearer, but he had walked only a few steps when he stopped, looked a while, lowered his sights and deliberately killed what proved to be a marmot, only about forty-five steps from them.
If you should see a snow bird on the glacier at such a time, you would think probably that it was a goose.
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On one occasion when in a fog of high altitudes, and when the atmosphere was in a magnifying mood, I ran almost plump against a huge grizzly. I will not now tell of his hugeness, but will wait a few more years until my nerves are sufficiently relaxed, and then I will pick my subject-one who is physically strong enough to bear up under the load, after he has been given ample time to brace himself; and I will tell it to him by installments, too, for it would be un- reasonable to expect any one to take on the whole cargo at once.
A few days after that mountain climb I assisted a few prospectors across a glacier stream, and Mr. Fowler, a gentleman from Missouri, attempted to ride behind me on a bucking mustang. He expressed more confidence in his horsemanship before he mounted than afterwards. That cayuse began im- mediately to take exercise. He bucked over boulders and into the stream, where we all disappeared from view in deep water. The horse lost his buck and a passenger while beneath that water. I discovered Mr. Fowler's pistol-pocket floating above the sur- face, and as that was all of his ship that was in sight, I attempted to run the horse down there and pull him ashore, but presently he floated to shallow water and then crawled out-cold, hatless and unhurt.
Dorsey Leavell was my companion for a month while we chased, abused, packed and repacked two
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of the worst mustangs that ever came into Uncle Sam's possession. They never lost an opportunity to buck off a pack, to run four or five miles when hobbled, or to kick at us. At one place, when we turned them out to graze, they swam across a river and gave us " the horse laugh." We were two days in regaining possession of them. We taught one of those equines to be fast by anchoring him to a moun- tain. It was necessary to do that to get a pack on him. When the blind was raised, he very rudely and incautiously placed his two hind feet against my " dinner pail," just below the belt.
We met Mr. Dunham at Dutch Flat and he ex- pressed sympathy for us because of our prospective exposure to dangerous rivers. He added that there was enough water between there and Valdez for him, and the distance was only twenty miles. Poor man ! He was drowned before he arrived, and in sight of the town.
On the divide several bears were seen while we were scouting for a trail location, and one little black fellow insisted on boarding with us when we were absent or asleep. Once, when chased out of our camp by my little dog Pete, he became so attached to our pot of beans that he took it with him, and never even returned the pot. Mr. Leavell is my wit- ness to that remarkable statement. We concluded that in getting away, he had run his nose under the bail, and as he ran up a very steep hill, he did not
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lower his nose and let the pot drop, until he was too far away for us to find it.
Once, when going to the creek to wash for break- fast, I met that dishonest Bruin. We were just twelve steps apart; I in shirt sleeves, bareheaded and unarmed, while he was wearing a beautiful coat and a grin that seemed to say :
" I haven't your pot."
At that minute he could have had a foot-race, for I felt very much like giving a free exhibition of my sprinting powers, but only refrained because of his apparent good nature. If I had run through camp with that bear a close second, Leavell might have upset the coffee pot in his eagerness to join the con- test. The bear slowly turned and crossed the creek, whereupon I became very brave, returned to camp, got my revolver and followed, only to fall into a foot of cold water, which chilled my enthusiasm. I re- turned to breakfast in a condition that seemed to amuse my companion very much.
One night a Swede camped near us, and we cau- tioned him about the little bear that was liable to come right into his camp and help himself. When we awakened the man the next morning, he had a gun, an ax and a hatchet in bed with him. We laughingly told him that a club was all he needed to run that little black cub away, but he replied :
" May-be-so his moder, and may-be-so his grand- moder come aroundt !"
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All one day we crawled through the brush in the rain, and when we returned to camp we were tired, wet and hungry; then we discovered that Bruin had destroyed every edible thing in camp. He had scat- tered flour over an acre of ground, covered himself with it and glory, and us with despondency. Dorsey was a young man, only a boy out for experience, and as this was a larger chunk than is usually found, he sat down on a log to absorb it. While it rained, and his thoughts drifted back home, he exclaimed:
" I have found fault with trivial things at home, such as the absence of my favorite pie from the dinner-table, but if ever I get back, hang me if I find fault with anything as long as I live ! "
What a valuable lesson it is, for one to be placed where he has real cause to complain, and knows that it would not help matters. How ridiculous it ap- pears to one who has been inured to the hardships, privations and mishaps of the frontier, when re- turning to civilization, to see people worrying about houseflies or a little mud, or complaining of food that really is too good for them. It is natural for human beings to have trouble, and when they have none of their own, they try to borrow some. If that is impossible they will imagine they have trouble, anyway.
I once camped in a lonely place, in a grove of tim- ber, and did not know there was another person on that river. The twilight was warm and balmy, just
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the kind to suggest an evening's smoke. Suddenly I was surprised by the sweet strains of a piccolo that emanated apparently from the solitude. Investiga- tion disclosed Harry King, sitting on a log, near by, and filling the surrounding wilderness with melodious music. I shot him with a kodak.
We met an unlucky crowd of prospectors who had lost their outfits in a destructive forest fire, and some others who were going out because of the scurvy. One tired man sat down, wiped the sweat from his brow and remarked:
" That was a singular incident about a steamboat coming so far out on the Valdez mud flats that it is a total loss ! "
" Where did you hear that?" we asked.
" Mr. Garrett at the rapids told us about it."
Garrett had been stationed at the rapids with in- structions to feed all needy prospectors on their way out. Everybody we met, after that, was overflow- ing with startling happenings, such as: that the American fleet at 'Manila had been captured by the natives swimming out to it; that the cannery at Orca had been blown up; and that Captain Abercrombie had been taken out to be treated for insanity. When asked who gave them the news, they always replied: " Mr. Garrett, at the rapids."
Their actions and looks seemed to say, " It makes no difference who gave us the information, when it is true."
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We arrived at the rapids in August, and held a private consultation with that original " Huck Finn," from Missouri. When asked why he insisted on filling up the pilgrims with such doses of prevari- cation, his answer was:
" You see, I am sent in here to relieve suffering, and those fellows come to me suffering for news. They just beg for it, although they should know that I have been in here all summer, with no chance of procuring a good article of fresh news for myself; but they insist, so I am compelled to do the best I can, even if I do improvise a little. I tell you, it just keeps me awake at nights, trying to think of news to tell the next crowd that comes along."
One fellow came along who played a practical joke on Garrett, and he succeeded so well that Gar- rett induced him to forego unwrapping his sleeping- bag, but to sleep in one of Garrett's bunks. When the man was asleep, Garrett unrolled the sleeping- bag and placed a four-pound rock in it; then rolled it up again. The next day the joker carried that extra weight for twenty miles, and when he unrolled his bed and found the rock, he wanted to return and kill Garrett, but he had no ammunition.
I camped near the point where Schrader and Mil- ler were once slowly working their way through the alder brush, when they observed a bear looking down at them, from the mountain-side. They noticed the bear slap her cubs, then run towards them, but
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thought nothing of it until the bear rose up within a few feet of them, and said " Wough !" Miller re- plied by saying " Wough, Wough !" and discharged his rifle in the bear's direction. The bear surprised Schrader by falling dead. Schrader declared that Miller did not raise his gun to his shoulder, but that after the bear was dead he fired several shots at the body and missed every time.
It is not probable that it was such an accident as they pretend, for Miller is a person of quick de- cision, and just the kind of a man to kill a bear be- fore some men would have made up their minds what to do.
Miller discovered the noted Miller gulch, about a year later, and fortune could not have bestowed her favors on a more deserving man. I will here state that my companion, Mr. Leavell, also struck it rich by locating a good placer claim, the following year. He returned home and married. James Garrett also found rich pay gravel, but he looked on his fortune as a practical joke that the devil or some one had played on him. Recently he lost his life in a bibulous effort to break even.
It was the latter part of August before I could depart on the exploring trip into the Alaskan Range. It was entirely too late for me to be able to reach the headwaters of the Tanana, by any possibility if I had so desired, but I might reach the head of the Chistochina. I bade my companion farewell and
A Lake Scene.
-
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crossed Quartz Creek divide, near where the fall before Jack Miller, Charley Simonstad, Joe Bell, Nelson, Jacobsen and Faber had been caught in a snow storm. They had found the carcass of a dead government mule which had wandered to that place, and they claim that the Thanksgiving dinner they enjoyed of mule meat will always be remembered.
I descended to the Tonsina Lake, that nestled quietly between high mountains. Its surface was almost constantly disturbed by the lashing of the salmon, and the flips of the trout. The outlet was crossed by swimming our horses, and camp was made near some Indians. A few days before, Frank Lavigne had been drowned at that place. I camped the next night on the divide between this and Klutena Lake, where I caught a fine mess of trout from Twin Lakes. A solar observation indicated 61° 45' N.
CHAPTER XIII
An Indian never thinks of yesterday and consequently has no history. One reasoned thus: "Yesterday dead! To- morrow may-be-so Indian die!"
THERE is a story current of a white man's adven- ture with some bears in that country. His camp was on one side of the river, and on the opposite shore was an Indian camp. Being without provisions, he desired very much to cross the river, but as the In- dian camp was back some distance from the water, and hidden among the trees, he could not signal to them his wants. He waited for two days, hoping that an Indian would come in sight, so that he could make him understand that he wanted a canoe brought over for him.
In the afternoon two bears deliberately walked into his camp, and as they approached from behind, they were very near to him before he saw them. Immediately he plunged off the bank into the river, and apparently never looked back, but swam, then waded, then swam some more, and finally reached the opposite shore. The Indians received and fed him from the best that they possessed. Presently another white man came along, and after the half-drowned one had related his experience, the newcomer replied with astonishment:
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" Why, man! You might have been drowned!" The Indian here inserted :
" Drowned! Ha-low! He no drown! He see too many bear ! He no drown!"
I met Mr. Wood and Mr. Rice at Copper Center on their return from the Yukon. Wood had been treed by a bear, and Rice complained that a pair of canvas leggins, which he had purchased at Valdez, had worn out the first time he had put them on. Wood claimed, however, that Rice had not taken them off while on the trip.
A severe earthquake was felt while we were there, and an Indian said if it shook any more he would go to Knik and consult a priest about it. There also I met old Chief Stickman, and he told me how he had offered a bear skin, two marten skins and a dog for a red-headed white woman whom he had seen there the previous summer. Her husband had agreed to the trade, but when the Chief brought out the articles, the white man looked at his wife for some time, and then backed down. Poor Stickman! He said if he had only had another bear skin he could have procured the red-headed white woman he had coveted. He had two wives already, but that Indian was ambitious. He wanted a variety in color as well as in numbers.
Mr. Date, whom I had engaged as assistant scout, overtook me at the Tazlina River. We were a day rafting our outfit over, and swimming the horses
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across that deep and rapid stream. After we had crossed we camped with a crowd of Gulkana In- dians. They were a happy lot, and sang and danced nearly all night. They explained that one of their guttural chants was a funeral dirge; another a mar- riage song, and another a religious melody or psalm. They said that seventy of their tribe had starved to death the previous winter. The stories that they told greatly amused them, and they made much over a star which they had not seen for a long time. Point- ing to the north star, they explained it thus:
" He all time set down. He ha-low klatewah!" meaning that it was stationary.
Our trip through the Copper River country was made up of crossing numerous rivers, swimming horses, climbing table-bluffs and wallowing through swamps. The September weather was delightful. The mosquitoes had gone, the sun shone brightly through the clear atmosphere and we were in the center of the most beautiful landscape imaginable. During the short Indian summer there appear pretty golden-hued patches among the green. The sere brown leaves dip and flit to the music of the soft autumn zephyrs. Down they come, fluttering from the birch, the cottonwood and the quaking asp.
It is then that the magpie caws a laughing farewell to the northern summer and the red-winged black- bird gathers his wife and children from the swamps. They sing praises of their summer home, and grow
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eloquent upon the prospect of a southern journey. The pheasant cock, with ruffled neck and spreading tail, struts across the trail and disappears in the un- dergrowth. The spruce hen flutters as if going to fly, then hesitates and looks the traveler out of coun- tenance. The little red squirrel barks rather de- fiantly when you approach too near his granary of winter supplies. Above the timber, on the mountain- side, the ptarmigan fly in great flocks. It is then that we enjoy the clear, azure sky, cool nights, and warm, sunny days
We left the Copper River near the mouth of the Sanford-as it was advisable to travel over unex- plored ground to gather information for the Copper River Exploring Expedition-and struck across the country for the headwaters of the Chisto- china River. The original name of this river is Cristochina (Holy tea water river). The word " Christ " was given to the Indians by the Russian missionaries; "to" is the Indian word for water; " chi " is another Russian word and is tea in Eng- lish; and " na " is the Indian word for river. All river names ending with " na " should be compound words such as Shiti-na (Copper River) and Tana-na (Trail River). Chiti-to means Copper-Water.
We followed the signs that had been left here and there by the Indian, Gokona Charley and his family, as they had migrated that way to the mountains on their fall hunt. We traveled past muskrat-popu-
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lated lakes, and near one of those lakes I killed a coot duck which was flying overhead. My com- panion expressed surprise at that revolver shot, and I was just as much astonished myself, but it was dis- cretion to say less about it. A coot duck is a large black fellow that can be eaten if the coot is first boiled out of him; but there would be very little duck left, after that was done.
The Alaskan Range is Alaska's backbone, and in- cludes the highest mountain in North America- Mount Mckinley-and it ends with the vertebra of the Wrangell group, including the mountains St. Elias and Logan, each about 20,000 feet high, and many others that are more than 16,000 feet above the sea-level. Mountain climbers may be assured, if they really enjoy scaling such heights, they will find in that region the monumental culmination of their desires; but the ordinary mortal can hardly contemplate such immense surroundings without ex- periencing a sense of weariness.
We arrived at the foothills of the range, and, after scaring a moose from a pasture of high grass, our horses took possession for their night's feed. The salubrious climate that we had enjoyed, left us at Chisna Creek and we were in wintry weather. A few men had located placer claims there before the weather would prevent them from recrossing the Coast Range. I located a claim myself, in a snow- covered gully, and that locality proved to be such a
Among the Mountains of the Alaskan Range.
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poverty-stricken one that it was afterwards known as Powell's gulch.
The bushy-headed Indian, known as Gokona Char- ley, came into our camp, and said that his family was then camped on the Slahna River. He declared that he could pan gravel with as good results as any experienced miner. We fed and sheltered him over night, and gave him ten pounds of flour because he had told us that his little boy was very sick. We learned the next year that when Charley returned to his camp he had found his wife wailing over the dead body of their child.
Before leaving, he had insisted that I should locate a claim on a small gulch, about eight miles from the point where we were camped. He said I should have to go through a pass, that there was "hiyu " gold there, and that others would surely find it the next year. The poor fellow was trying to repay me for my hospitality. Believing that the pass he men- tioned might be of advantage to the military expedi- tion in running a trail through the Alaskan Range, and also that the Captain West discoveries were in that locality, I attempted to find the gulch he de- scribed. The winter had set in with a vengeance in those high mountains, and I had no shoes, my feet being wrapped in sacks. The outlook was very gloomy to us, as our chances of getting through the valley and across the three divides of the Coast Range, where there was no trail, were not very,
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