Chapter 4

After another successful winter we returned to Dawson sold our furs and went first to Eagle and chucked up and journeyed to Fort Yukon. Now Fort Yukon stands in the Arctic Circle and the Steel registers during cold weather 65 deg. below zero. From here we went up the Porcupine river to Rampart Ho on the Eastern boundery of Alaska We did not like the country in this part so we returned to Fort Yukon; and turned down the Yukon river to the Tanana river then we up this last named stream to Fairbanks.

We reached Fairbanks in the early fall and trapped that winter on Beaver creek. having many experiencs but none which I shall record here.--After we broke Camp we sold our fur in Fairbanks and started for the head of Copper river. We followed this stream down till we struck Ambercunbo canyon. Not being acquainted with the river we were into the rapids before we knew it: I shouted to the boys to pull while I leaped for the steering oar, we got through all right but the boat was half full of water--and all the boys pretty badly scared, it was a close shave one adventure I do not care to repeat. We floated down to Katello; and here took a boat for Cook's inlet. We reached Shushitna station And started up Shushitna river till we came to the mouth of the Talketaa: here in search of trapping we failed to find the object of our search--but found something far better a splendid Quartz mine, which averages $93.00 gold per ton of quartz. From here we went to Seldovia and then to Dutch Harbor and on to St. Michels.

It might be well to say briefly that I had considerable exprience during my time with mining, and was no green horn, The Kidd was a natural miner, he would stick his pick, spade or knife into every bit of mother earth to ascertain if there was any color, we not only knew fur, beasts and birds, reptiles, fish, insects, but we knew the earth over which we walked, on which we slept and so contineud for sixteen years. We were full fledged Sour Doughs. We were citizens and Claim holders.

I should also mention that I have but briefly outlined our travel, we had traveled much more than one would naturly suppose from reading these few pages, I ought to say too that We had become expert Dog-teamsters. And I need not say that not a man in Alaska nor an Indian could beat us on snow shoes.

We incidently fell in with a half breed who was looking for a husband for a half sister I made him believe I was looking for a Wife So he feel in toe. I according to his pleasure met his sister she was a cross between an Eskomo and a Mucklock, she was a charming biddy her eyes were sore, she was terrorably deformed having a large bone resembling a horn growing out of her right shoulder, she was about twenty four years old. and indians at that age are as old as white women are at fifty. if there is any beauty in Creoles, or Indians believe me it fades before they are thirty, and leaves you a homely hag.

Well Her brother told me he had heard about me and If I would consent to wed his sister he would tell me the road to a fortune. I saw he was smart and disclosed considerable truth and displayed considerable inteligence of the interior. He said he would go to that place but owing to physical inability he could not. What could a trapper from the flowery fields of the rockies, and broad basins of the Platte now of the Snow hidden mountains ice bound rivers of Alaska do but inmediately without consulting any parents--become engaged.

We sat down I dismissed the boys and he related to me the following "For a thousand years my people have been kings in these parts. A Few indians have been through the interior of Alsaka from Mt Mckinley to Point Barrow. But no white man ever was. It is well nigh impossible but a giant like you and like your men could go if you prepare properly And have the money to chuck up for two years. Now the fortune lies in what you could tell and what you would know and see rather than in what you could bring back. But should you gain Point Barrow remember there is plenty of gold.--but it can only be mined during the summer while the frost is wore out of the ground by the sea. Now half way through this wilderness of ice, snow, and bursting glasciers is a cave not in a valley but on a mountain above timberline. This mountain lies about ten miles westward of you main course as you go down Dead mans gulch. you will know this gulch by its first horrorable appearance. it makes even an indian shudder to look at it. After you emerge from the gulch take the first indentation leading westward and by all means go to black mountain and find the cave. Now why I wish you to find the cave is I wish you to live. the Wether is extremely cold, you and your men will need a relief from this extreme incessant atmosphere. this cave is of black rock and is as warm underfoot as any soap stone you ever touched. and when once in the cave you feel warm as in an oven. Here you may recuperate patch up your clothes and make your journey safely." I thought this was hash so parting said I would return and tell him how I prospered. While time and weather would permit we went to Gnome and picked up Black Dave. And purchased severel good Huskeys. sailed back to St. Michals stocked up and set out on our trapping and hunting trip. But finding we had miss judged the lay of the land on the western slope of Alaska we again sailed back to Gnome and then crossed overland to Candle creek. We experienced some very hard travels in crossing the Seward Peninsula when we struck the south west side of the Kalzetpue Sound, from there we went west to Salawak river, then to the lake of that same name here we pitched camp and set our traps. Our game was Polar bear, Arctic Fox, Reindeer and Sable.

Now I was used to all kind of bear except--the Polar which I am free and frank to confess is the worst man eater on earth, not one beast of any country excepted. The Polar averages to weigh about seven hundred pounds his build is different from any other bear, he is long and lanky having giant legs, his color is pure white. Except at times he is yellow around the neck, and shoulders. His food is Walrus and whale which have been killed and cast upon the ice by tremendous storms. They breed but once a year and seldom have more than one cub. he lives exclusively in the Arctic regions. His fur is used for rugs and robes and is worth about $150.00 per pelt. But it is so hard get these skins to civilization that they are rare, often other bear is colored and sold for real Polar. Between the Polar Bear and Siberian Wolves we had to watch our dogs all night to keep them from being killed, as well as ourselves.

This country was poepled with Eskomos a sort of a cross between them and Mucklock indians. they were very friendly to us. I could address them in their own language which pleased them and we prospered fine. On the first day of Feb. we started back to Gnome.

And for the first time suffered total darkness by day and by night. We had enjoyed the midnight sun, and now must suffer the mid-day dark. The thermoneter lay about seventy below zero and the wind blew a gauger, On this trip back to Gnome I first learned what it was to neglect for hours to wait upon Nature, owing to the suffering of even exposing you bare hand for ten seconds. On this trip our old Chum, the playmate of Texas darling of Wyoming and the tramp of Deadwood So. Dak. got so cold he whined and refused to go. We took him and put him in our sleeping bag. I had taken him because he was fat and I kept him as a reserve food, rather than for actual work. We had a great jag on our sleighs we had to draw fish to feed our dogs, fish for fuel and lights, and with our traps, guns sleeping bags and truck we had great loads.

We reached Gnome without any serious accidents or over severe suffering sold our furs and felt fine over our grand success.

Into the Unknown

The following summer I fell in with a Miner by the Name of Jack Freeman. he was well known as a penetrator, He told us that up at point Barrow was all kind of shot gold. this aroused our curiosity again and I thought of my Squaw down at St Michals. Which I felt if I went to Point Barrow I would be obliged to wed. So we evaded the northern fever and planned to trap again somewhere near Candle Creek.

We left Gnome in early autumn and went straight to our old camps. after our usual luck we started in a circuitous route for Gnome. We came to the Buckland River and started up intending to strike the mouth of the Koyukuk but missed our mark striking forty miles above the mouth we had hard times crossing the snow-capped mountains and climbing over Glaciers breaking trails for our dogs, fixing broken sleighs and mending worn out harnesses. tieing up stranded Snow-shoes and facing death in many forms. Here for the first time in my life I realized I was indeed a very reckless man. Often the boys would get cold and sleepy and I would have to make them march at the point of old glory--my Gun--they would swear and blame every bit of hard luck to me. I held my nerve and had good controll over my men and after a waery march reached the Mouth of the Koyukuk and sold our furs at Rampart, Here Black Dave quit us saying he was going back to Arizonia. Three months later we took a boat and floated down to the mouth of the Yukon followed on to the Lake and after about fifteen days we reached Pay Creek. here we placer mined the whole summer. and agin fell in With Jack Freeman and all planned a trip beyond the haunts of men. We beat down the river that early autumn traded our gold-dust for food, went back to the mouth of the Mullen River, then began our march up mullen river. Always before in my life I had been stepping in the footsteps of some predecessor; but now I was to make tracks where man had never been.

Before begining the Arctic Expedition I called all the men up and explained what it might mean--death hardships were all discussed but they willingly agreed to go, in fact urged the expedition. then I said if you loose your life your blood will be upon your own judgement and not upon my head. If we go we shall brave all-together the severe hardships, if we loose like many others, our funerels will be tearless, and inexpensive, If we win then each shall share a like in the spoils. We had an elegent supply of foods.

Of Flour, Salt, sugar, rice, corn-starch, block-matches, candles, We had forty pounds of chewing tobacco, and eighty pounds of smoking, we had six bottles of Paroxide--six bottles of Lemon-extract, Blue ointment, Castor oil, ten Irish potatoes, and other medicines in our chest, But I wish the reader to notice that on no trip did I ever allow one drop of liquor in any form to be packed in my load. The worst thing for any man who is fighting cold to do; is to bowl up on red-eye. he is only the worse for it. I was bragging one day on this when a fellow said "I have heard this but how do you get allong when your whole crew are dam drunkards except the Kidd. Well I said I cannot keep them from it in town; but Black Beaver can keep it off the sleigh and when men are where it cannot be secured they do not drink.

And further I argued that I never tasted intoxicants. That The Kidd Tom Bardine and Old Ed Scott were also tetotalers--so the only chance he had for argument was that Black Dave, And a few other lads from Alaska were the only drinkers I ever had.

In addition to our rations we had a great deal of dried fish for our dogs, we had severel candle fish for lights, and a large quantity of dried fish for fuel.

Early in September We started out for Point Barrow through the interior overland where to my present knowledge man has never traveled. After we reached the head of Mullen river we started up the Arctic divide; and on fifteenth day of October we gained the top of the divide. This was many miles north of the Arctic Circle.

Now I had looked upon many charming scenes in my wild and wandering life; but while standing on the ridge of this great divide which seems to separate the green world and the land of sunshine and birds and flowers from the land of almost intolerable cold crisp snow, giant Iceburgs glaciers and snow-slides--I saw the fairest sight I had ever looked upon. Far westward the dying sun was painting the lofty snow-capped mountains, Northward the borrowed beams were shimering on the polar ice-bergs, in the Arctic Sea, Eastward were the last broken prongs of the defiant mountains known to the world as the rockies; and southward in all its modest beauty lay the mammoth valley of earths greatest river the Yukon. I bid farwell to the known world and sang the old old song--"In far away Alaska, where the Yukon river flows"

And then started down the great Arctic slope into the black bosom of the north. As we waved our hands in parting at southern civilization we hailed with a new delight the mystic and unruly regions of the north. The first day of our descent the weather lost controll of its furious temper, and how things did hum, Cyclones in Iowa and Colorado, Blizzards in Newbraska and the Dakotas, all which have raged for a thousand years melted into one could not furnish the momentum nor terror of this storm for a second.

We camped under the shelter of a great glacier on top of the south side and there let the weather howl, When the weather abated we took up the march in earnest with all our vigor and after several days we came to a branch of a river--which we have since found out was called by the indians coa-ville river. you could tell that at certain seasons water ran down here, it was by no means a river in the sense of rivers such as they appear in other countries even in the dead of winter. We followed in this water trail about forty miles till we came to a pair of great glaciers which met in the center of the river then we were forced to go back and circle around them which took us two days. When we were again back on the bed of the river and had got along safely for about ten miles suddenly our back sled broke through the ice, and was caught by a mighty current and hurled under the ice--quicker than you could say Jack Rabbit. On this sled was most of our flour--this was ill luck we then named the Stream Lost flour river. Still we continued to go toward the north, the days grew short about three hours of daylight every twentyfour hours. So we had to use what is known as The "Arctic Bug" A tin can with a candle stuck in one side and lighted. Night after night we were surrounded by Siberian Wolves they hungred for our flesh. It was so cold that We had to sleep in our Reindeer sleeping bags through the night--so occasionally we would have to unlace our bags and smoke up the wolves and then depend upon a little rest till they got too fresh again.

Our dogs stood the trip well we fed them once a day gave them a single fish each evening after the days work was done, it is always best to feed in the evening the Husky or Malimouth is a very ferocious dog and if you do not keep them hungry they get lazy and will not mind but will defy you. many a dog-teamseer has accidently fallen down near his team while breaking trail and been eaten up. if you fall down they will jump on you like a lion. It is spectacular to see us feed them we remove the muzzle and harness take our gun in one hand unlock the fish box and call the dogs by name one by one at the same time throwing a fish at the one we mention, they will catch their fish like old Cy Young would a league ball even if it goes much higher than you intended they will climb the sky for fish. The Work dog is a great asset to the travelers in that region. a good team will travel over a broken trail seventy five miles a day. it is a very pretty sight to see a well trained team travel. These dogs can pull a load weighing from one hundred to two hundred pounds according to the road and hills. Examine our big team two of which we had with us on this famous journey. Each day brought its new dangers and difficulties, each night had its terrors the inevitable howl of the wolves, the sneaking glacier bears, the extreme cold, the brilliant glow of the Aurora Borealis Which hissed high over our heads and shot like lightling in varigated rays, in sound resembling a turkey gobbler unfolding his wings. I cannot go into all the details of this trip into the unknown it was up and down glaciers, following often in the path where just recently a great snowslide traveled, carrying hundreds of tons of snow and ice and breaking and crashing like a ruined world. The snow slide is the greatest of all dangers in this region, I have seen as many as five all at one time, some are known as annuals or old faithfulls, others are known as untimely, and treacherous. many an Alaskan lies burried in valleys hundreds of feet below the surface in mountains of snow. I have always escaped the snow slide, I always test the snow as I go. If I get on a slope where Snowslides are frequent I prod deep into the snow to ascertain its actual depth, where the snow is thick it is most apt to slide. The cry is keep close to the rocks and you are safe. After many days of severe suffering and fighting cold we came to a perpendicular ridge of ice which we discovered was a long ridge, there seemed to be no way around so we prepared to let over each other. It was about one hundred feet down to the ice. I was the first to test the ropes, then one by one the dogs, sleighs, guns and all was over except the last man. we had provided for him, the rope was fastened under a huge piece of ice; and after he slid down we all pulled on the rope it brought cake and all over.

We were traveling the next day down the river when one of the boys saw a sleigh setting up a gainst a hill of ice, I went over to examine it and found it to be an Eskimo's Igloo. I got down on my knees and crawled into the hole on the south side. Inside were nine Eskimos, they quickly grabbed their lances, but I spoke to them in their language and they seemed pleased and soon layed down their spears and made me welcome. I backed out of the door and told the boys what I had found, we all went into the house and in less than ten minutes at least one hundred Eskimos were around the hut. Manny of them had never seen a white man and we were to them a wonder they would walk around us and look at us like a batch of monkeys. I gave the Chief's wife a small hand glass and they all looked into it and behind it like so many animals. I presented the chief with a watch and he gave me a Silver Fox in return. The Eskimos are great Pot-latchers That means givers to each other. they are very free hearted They seldom own anything very long at one time it is given from one to another constantly. We were planning to go on toward the Mouth of Gold river but the Chief told me his daughter was to be married in two moons: we stayed to attend the wedding. So I had a privelege to ascertain how the Eskimos make love and are married. If a girl is in love with an Eskimo she sends for him and combs his hair with her fingers. If he loves her he returns again if not he does not. they are engaged exclusively by the parents, then afterward are informed they are to be married. They are usually married in the moonlight the parents of the bride and groom pronounce the cerimony. The bride and groom stand in the center, over a lamp, around them are their parents. around the parents are the next nearest relatives, them around them again are the friends. All form a circle and the inner circle march to the right the next circle march to the left--thus alternating As many times as there are circles. at this wedding there were about ten big circles and they looked funny enough under those bright stars and the great moon painting the ice and snow as far as the eye could reach, all dressed in fur going in opposite directions. They were given an ice house and the bottom was covered a foot thick with fine furs. I explained to the chief whose name was Snatch-bow, about the warm weather in the south, he watched me in wonder and then stood up and said "Injun have no house he all melt. I no go there" Of course he said this in Eskimo. In his house was a few pieces of furniture. In the center was the knuckle bone of a macedon with a nice dish shaped top this was filled with oil, a string was laid in this; and one end lighted this was their only light. This lamp served also as a nurseing bottle for the babies. They had two round pieces of driftwood they used for chairs. In another hut I found they used hollow bones filled with oil for lamps with a cover over them and a wick made of a sea-weed. The squaws would lift the cover and take a sip out of the lamp and then go on with their work. Oil is their favorite drink. The Eskimos are very hardy so far as enduring cold is concerned--I saw an Eskimo bobbing--that is how they fish--hold a fish on a string just under water and as the big fish comes after it they spear it with a spear they hold in their other hand--This man was bobbing and his squaw was sitting on the shore watching him. on her bosom lay a babe about three months old, it was rapped around with a piece of fur its face was partly bare, it was snowing fine snow resembling frost, it was about 65 deg. below zero, as I passed I saw they snow in the babies face and wondered it was not dead just think of a babe under such an temperature sleeping with the snow falling in its tender face. It seems utterly impossible but it is true. But when you look for strength long life endurance or inteligence in the Eskimo you seek in vain. They all have sore matterated eyes, one fifth of them are deformed. one in ten has the consumption. and the average life of the Eskimo is about 30 years. They average to weigh about 90 pounds and stand about four feet and six inches high.

They are perfectly friendly even if they never saw a white man. They wrap up the dead in skins and hang them up, they freeze still and so remin till eaten by some wild beast. The Eskimos are beyond doubt the happiest people on earth, they never lie, steal, cheat, murder nor mix in family intercourse so common among all other indians. They have absolutely no religion, no expectation of ever coming to life when once dead. They are very ignorant and dirty their huts are black with smoke, their faces are oiled and covered with black from the oil smoke. Their huts never get warmer than the freezing point. they undress when they sleep. and use fish to cook their food, when they cannot get driftwood.

A great deal of driftwood floats in around the river mouth which is carried to the Arctic Ocean by the Great Mackinzie river and is distribuated all allong the shore and picked up in the summer and used in the winter. This wood providentialy sent is certainly a blessing to the Eskimos of this region.