ALASKA EXI'ERIMENT STATIONS. 387 



For liauliii«; they ii.-c a style of sled which has been invented for the 

 purpose. It is liolitly l)iit stronji'ly l)uilt, U feet long- and 3<i inches 

 wide, and al)out 1 foot high. The runners are rounded at both ends, 

 so it can he pulled forward or backward with equal ease, and for this 

 reason these sleds ai"e usually styled '"'"double-enders." The groods to 

 be nioyed are securely strapped to these so that nothing falls out when 

 they turn over, which they usually do niany times a day. Where the 

 ground is leyel and the trail has become firm one horse can pull two 

 loaded sleds. Under less fayoral)le conditions it takes a horse to each 

 sled, and sometimes two. When a man has nuich goods to be moyed 

 he unloads his sled at the terminus of the broken trail and goes to the 

 camp, reloads his sleds, hauls up this load, and so on again and again, 

 until all the t^oods haye been removed to the new camp. 



rill' ditticulties encounteied can not be fulh' conveyed in words. 

 The soft snow is packed down by the horses and sleds to a deep rut 

 the width of the sleds, with walls on either side several feet high. The 

 travel also wears holes in the trails due to the uneven surface. A loaded 

 sled runs swiftly down a little incline and buries itself in the snow at the 

 ftottom. The hole thus formed is deepened by each passing load until 

 the trail in many places becomes a succession of short hills and hoi 

 lows, which taxes the draft animals great!}'. These holes are usually 

 icferred to l)y freiofhters as "chuck holes."' 



The loaded sleds always have the rig-ht of way. and in going back 

 empty the driver nuist })ull into the soft snow to let the loads pass, 

 and frequenth' horses sink in so deep that it takes hours to dig 

 them out. The camps can not be far apart. If the}- are, there is danger 

 that the trail will drift full and recpiire breaking anew before the 

 freight can all ))e hauled uj). -Mr. Xeal spent three months with the 

 team and one man to help liim in moving the equipment from Valdez to 

 Teikhel, 48 miles inland. At this point the horses gave out and could 

 do no more. The season was now so far advanced that there was danger 

 of the ice l»reaking up and making further traffic impossible, for 

 the winter trail follows the streams and lakes as far as practicable 

 because of the easier travel on the ice, and ]Mr. Neal was compelled to 

 go to Copper Center very light and to hire the more necessary things 

 hauled while the less necessary portion of the equipment was stored in 

 tents at Teikhel. 



The method of transportation here described is the only practital)le 

 one by which the interior can be reached with anything like large 

 ((uantities of goods. Professional freighters charge 20 cents per pound 

 for hauling goods from Valdez to Copper Center on the snow, and after 

 investigating conditions I am satistied that this rate of charge is not 

 unreasonabl(>. 



In sinnmer everything must be carried in <»n the l)acks of either 

 horses or men, the rate then charged by freighters being ."io cents 

 S. Doc. 148, 58-2 L'L' 



