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The National Geographic Magazine 



lighter than when we started, we were 

 able to make better time than on the 

 way out, and we made as quick time as 

 we could, as we were running short of 

 provisions. The first day out we ran 

 across a few Indians who did not belong 

 to the same tribe as those at the mouth 

 of the Goodpasture River, and who had 

 been driven away from the Tanana, 

 where salmon could be caught. They 

 were without food, and had been keep- 

 ing alive by boiling their moose-hide 

 moccasins and drinking the " soup," as 

 they called it. Their dogs were nearly 

 all dead, and as we sat talking to them 

 one of the dogs tottered up to the fire, 

 fell into it, and died. The weather was 

 so cold that with their poor equipment 

 they could not hunt, so we gave them 

 all the rice and dried salmon we could 

 spare, and, as we afterward found out 

 upon meeting them again, saved their 

 lives by giving them the food. Had 

 white men been driven to the extremi- 

 ties that these Indians were they prob- 

 ably could not have lived. 



The day after meeting the starving 

 Indians a peculiar incident happened, 

 which illustrates the superstitious side 

 of the Indian character. We had run 

 50 miles in two days after leaving the 

 Tanana, and Scout DeHous and Indian 

 Joseph had become a little sore from the 

 excessive exercise, especially as we 

 could not snowshoe for more than 8 

 hours, due to the short days, and hence 

 were obliged to push on at as great a 

 speed as we could. The dogs also had 

 become a little sore, due to frost-bitten 

 feet from traveling on the snowshoe 

 trail in the extremely cold weather. 

 The Tanana Indians had said some- 

 thing to Chief Joseph about giving too 

 much help to the "Soldier Chief," and 

 as he believed that they were great 

 medicine men Joseph thought that he 

 had been put under their spell and 

 would never return to his wife and 

 children alive. He was very gloomy 

 and silent and was loosing heart in the 

 face of the hard trip. So in order to 



counteract the influence of the medicine 

 men I made medicine for him, and gave 

 him a dose of salt and dried salmon 

 mixed with a little of Perry Davis' pain- 

 killer, which we were in the habit of 

 using for frost bites. At the conclusion 

 of the accompanying exercise and after 

 tasting the fiery concoction Joseph was 

 thoroughly cured, and he afterward 

 assured me that I had saved his life. 

 The strong belief of the Indians in the 

 powers of their shamans is remarkable. 



On the sixth day we reached our 

 ' 'grub cache ' ' on the head of the Good- 

 pasture River, having subsisted for the 

 last four days on rice and dried salmon, 

 and having covered 150 miles on snow- 

 shoes during that time. At the cache, 

 where Summit Station is now located, we 

 changed our toboggans for sleds again, 

 went over the pass, and found that the 

 transportation outfits had worked their 

 way to nearly that point, which was a 

 pleasant prospect after our six weeks on 

 the trail. 



The mass of supplies, amounting to 

 about 300 tons, was put at the head of 

 the Goodpasture, and the work was 

 begun in both directions from Summit 

 Station, a party also being started from 

 Kelchemstock, the point selected for the 

 joining of the Fort Egbert- Fort Liscum 

 line with the Lower Yukon and Nome 

 line. 



The system found best to be employed 

 was as follows: First the line was sur- 

 veyed, next the right of way was 

 chopped, then the wire was run over the 

 snow, insulators, brackets, and nails 

 being tied to the wire every quarter of 

 a mile in sufficient quantities for the in- 

 tervening distance. This was done be- 

 cause during the summer the pack ani- 

 mals can not pack the wire and move 

 camps in the same manner that they can 

 in the winter. In summer an animal can 

 pack about 200 pounds, and in winter 

 the same animal can pull on a sled from 

 800 to 2,000 pounds. It is also almost 

 impossible to dig post-holes through the 

 deep snow in winter. As the wire was 



