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The National Geographic Magazine 



of tons required are carried to these bases 

 in flat-bottomed, stern-paddle-wheeled 

 steamboats, or in barges pushed by them — 

 just such boats as still ply the waters 

 of the Mississippi, the Ohio, and the 

 Columbia. According to the depth of 

 the rivers which they are intended to 

 navigate, they are built to draw from 18 

 inches to 4^ feet of water and carry 

 from 20 to 200 tons. Some few of these 

 boats have been built in Seattle and 

 steamed all the way to Alaska, convoyed 

 by ocean steamers. Others have been 

 built in sections at various places in the 

 United States, even as far away as Phila- 

 delphia, and put together at Dutch Har- 

 bor or at vSt Michael. As a rule, they 

 burn wood cut on the river banks, but 

 recently some crude oil has been brought 

 from California for fuel. At the close 

 of the season these boats are hauled out 

 on skides at some convenient place, or 

 run into small streams, where they are 

 protected from the terrible grinding 

 force of the spring breakup. 



During this same open period the min- 

 ing camps must be supplied with neces- 

 sities not laid in store during the winter 

 freighting season, and the greater part 

 of these stores is carried by pack animals. 



The prospectors — the men who are 

 breaking trails into the untrodden 

 stretches of forest and mountain and 

 sinking holes into the rich heart of a 

 coming empire — must go their way alone 

 and by means of their own activity and 

 endurance carry each the three-quarters 

 of a ton that is to keep them from starva- 

 tion until another spring. A very few of 

 these men use pack-horses, but the forage 

 question is a serious one, and it is often 

 next to impossible to take the horse to 

 the place where packing is required. As 

 far as water transportation can be util- 

 ized, it is many times easier and more 

 efficient. 



In going down-stream, flat-bottomed 

 boats are used. These can be built of 

 any required size, from any lumber avail- 

 able, and very often the boards for this 



purpose are whipsawed from trees right 

 on the river bank. These unwieldy craft 

 carry anywhere from a thousand pounds 

 to ten tons or more, and are controlled, 

 as they drift along with the current, by 

 oars or by a single long "sweep" at each 

 end. 



A large portion of the prospector's 

 journey into the hills usually follows up 

 some stream which grows smaller and 

 swifter each mile, until the water be- 

 comes too shallow to float a boat at all. 

 For this purpose the poleboat is specially 

 built. It is very narrow, with rounded 

 bottom, and from 22 to 30 feet long, and 

 carries from 1,200 to 1,800 pounds of 

 provisions and equipment. This boat is 

 propelled in either of two ways which 

 circumstances at the time permit — a 

 bridle is formed by attaching a divided 

 line to two points on the boat, and a man 

 follows along the bank with the tow-line. 

 This is possible only when the path is 

 free from trees and brush and steep in- 

 clines. In the operation of the other 

 method a man stands erect in the end of 

 the boat and pushes it forward by means 

 of a long, light pole. Two experienced 

 poleboat men can travel along at a sur- 

 prisingly rapid rate against a swift cur- 

 rent and with a considerable load. An 

 inexperienced man attempting to handle 

 a poleboat in swift water is apt to lose his 

 outfit and his life as well. 



The "Peterborough" canoe is very 

 popular in Alaska for this same kind of 

 work, but carries a much smaller load 

 and is more expensive and harder to^get. 



Hastily constructed log rafts, while 

 only resorted to when nothing else is ob- 

 tainable, are so commonly used in Alaska 

 that the list would not be complete with- 

 out them. 



The last stage of the prospector's 

 journey, from the point where his boat 

 becomes useless to the headwaters of the 

 creek he is following, must be made on 

 foot, and all indispensable supplies car- 

 ried on his back. The balance of his outfit 

 is placed in a raised cache and left until 



