Selkirk, an old trading-post and mining hangout, at 2 P.M.
The scenery here is much finer than on the Mackenzie. I
don't know if tourists will ever come on any of these
rivers. It goes a little slow.
"A good many wood-yards along the banks of the river. Quite
a business selling wood to the steamboats, which burn a lot.
They showed us the line where the winter dog-stages carry
the mail to Dawson. Someone showed us the O'Brien cabin,
where four murders were committed. One white man and three
Indians were hanged for it.
"_Tuesday, August 19th._--We all got up pretty early,
although John was sleepy and Jesse a little cross. I told
them we ought to see the boat line up through the
Five-Finger Rapids. But, pshaw! there wasn't much about it.
We could run these rapids, I am sure, in our canoe, with no
danger at all. Of course, going up the current is stiff, so
at the bottom of the chute the steamboat takes on a wire
cable, and it winds around a drum with a donkey-engine, and
that pulls the boat up the rapids. They are not much like
some of the rapids we have seen.
"Well, it's twenty years since the Klondike rush, and we've
been over a good deal of the country that the old-timers
saw. Here we come to White Horse, and there we shall take
the railroad over the Skagway Pass, where so many men had
such awful times trying to get from the salt water into the
Yukon Valley.
"I don't think I'll write any more notes, because when you
get to a railroad everybody knows about it all anyhow. John
and Jesse and I feel pretty blue, after all. Our trip is the
same as done when we get to White Horse, and we are sorry.
When we once know we can get home all safe, we sort of feel
homesick for the rivers and mountains, too. You know how
that is.
"I don't know that we would want to do it all over again,
but we've had a fine time. I think John and Jesse are both a
little taller. Uncle Dick says I am, too.
"But it will be fine to get home again. Uncle Dick says he
is going to write and telegraph from White Horse once more.
So good-by to the Yukon. And good-by to the Rat and the
Mackenzie, too! Fine doings!"
XVII
WHAT UNCLE DICK THOUGHT
Our party of explorers, who by this time felt entirely civilized, went
about the streets of White Horse with a certain air of superiority
over the individuals who had never been farther north than this
railroad town. They were the heroes of the hour, with their tales of
the Rat Portage, over which no party had come in in recent years, and
each of them had to tell to many listeners the story of this or that
incident of the long trail. Old graybearded men listened with respect
to what these young boys had to say, and a newspaper man was very glad
to make a copy of some of Rob's careful diary, which he now began to
value more and more.
All too soon they were to leave this place and to pass up over
practically the original Klondike trail which came from the salt water
over the White Pass and down the headwaters of the Yukon to this
point. They did not visit the once famous White Horse Rapids, where
so many of the boats of the Klondikers came to grief, but declared it
would only bore them, since they had seen waters so much more
imposing! The local inhabitants laughed at this, but admitted that
many of the teeth of this once dangerous water had been extracted
since the early days.
As Rob had said, Uncle Dick took time here to do a little of his
correspondence. He sent out a message by wire once more to the
families of his companions, and to this added a letter which he said
would go north to Valdez with the boys themselves, in case he himself
received news at Skagway which would make it impossible for him to
accompany them to their homes.
One letter he wrote to the company which had sent him as its
representative into this northern country, in the following terms:
"GENTLEMEN,--I have arrived at the head of the rails on the
Yukon to-day, completing the round from Edmonton to White
Horse safely within the three months' estimate handed you.
"I have investigated the transportation possibilities in
much of this upper country. It is possible that a railroad
north from Athabasca Landing might for a time prove
profitable. I do not myself believe to any extent in the
agricultural possibilities of that upper country. A few men
will be able to subsist there. Some grain can be raised in
many of the valleys of that upper country. The seasons are,
however, so short, and the difficulties of permanent
settlement so many, that while in my estimation the railroad
would be a benefit for a time to a few individuals, it would
not be a profitable permanent enterprise far to the
northward of its present terminus. I regard the Peace River
valley as about its permanent agricultural north, although
many traders and boomers may dispute that.
"As to the feasibility of a railway line connecting the
Yukon to the Mackenzie, I can see no reason whatever for
contemplating the matter seriously. In my passage across the
summit on the Rat Portage we found some squared timbers
which had been prepared there with a view to laying a sort
of tramway. The idea was long since abandoned by the
Hudson's Bay Company, which once purposed it. I cannot say
whether or not they intended to use steam transport. Since
then the country has wholly lapsed into its original wild
and bleak character. It is, in my opinion, and will and
should remain, a wilderness. Its resources would not in any
wise support any considerable transportation enterprise
permanently.
"The companions who went with me on this trip report well
and sound, and I commend them for the manner in which they
withstood the hardships, at times very considerable.
"My subsequent and more complete report will be made at the
offices of the Company at a later date.
"Respectfully submitted.
"RICHARD MCINTYRE."
The second letter was addressed to the mother of one of our young
adventurers, and in this Uncle Dick wrote in rather less formal
fashion:
"DEAR SISTER,--Here we are at the railroad, and within a
couple of hours will be steaming out across the mountains
for Skagway. All safe and sound. Never saw boys eat the way
these do, and cannot say whether or not we will have enough
money to get them home.
"Nothing much has happened since we left, as the cow-puncher
said when he killed the ranch-manager in the owner's
absence. We have made our trip around in two or three days'
less time than I had estimated, but, looking back over it, I
cannot say just how it all happened. We certainly have been
busy traveling. In ninety days we will have finished what is
estimated to be 5,280 miles, under all sorts of
transport--steam, paddle, sail, and good old North American
foot-work.
"The boys are all safe and sound, bigger and better than
when I took them over, so I don't see what you can say
against your erring brother after this.
"How did the youngsters behave? Well, I'll tell you when I
see you. They were fine, and that's all about it. They send
their love, and so do I, and some or all of us will see you
with the first boat north from Skagway. Rob has a full
diary, and John a good sketch map, so they'll be loaded for
you all right.
"Do I renew my promise never to take them on another trip?
Of course I remember that _promise_, but can I manage to
keep it, now that these chaps are such good travelers? I
don't know. Well, suppose we talk that over when we meet
again?
"From your affectionate brother
"DICK."
THE END
TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE:
1. Minor changes have been made to correct typesetter's errors;
otherwise, every effort has been made to remain true to the author's
words and intent.
2. In the list of illustrations, the page reference for the second
illustration was incorrect; this has been changed to refer to the
correct facing page.
End of Project Gutenberg's Young Alaskans in the Far North, by Emerson Hough