The Young Alaskans in the Rockies by Emerson Hough (classic books for 12 year olds TXT) đ
- Author: Emerson Hough
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âWe certainly did line,â said Uncle Dick, âand were glad to get through at that. We lost almost a day there getting down.â
âLucky ye lost no more, fer manny a man has lost his all at that very spot. Once a party of fourteen started down, in good boats, too, and only one man got out alive. Some say sixty men have been drowned in that one rapid; some say a hundred and sixty-five, counting in the Chinamen and Frenchmen who were drowned in the big stampede the time so manny started down to the diggings on rafts. Ye see, theyâd shoot right around the head of the bend without sendinâ a man ahead to prospect the water, and then when they saw the rapids, âtwas too late to get to either side. âTis a death trap she is there, and well named.
âWan time a Swede was spilled out on the Death Rapids, and somehow he came through alive. He swam for two miles below there before they could catch him with a boat, and heâd been swimming yet if they hadnât caught him, he was that scared, and if they hadnât hit him on the head with a oar. âTwas entirely crazy he was.
âMayhap ye remember the cabin on the west side, where theyâre sluicingâthatâs Joe Howardâs cabin. Well, Howard, like everywan else on the river, finds it easiest to get in and out by boat. Wan time he and his mate were lining down a boat not far from shore when she broke away. Howard jumped on a rock, but âtwas so far out he dared not try to swim ashore, fer the current set strong. The other man grabbed the boat and got through the edge of the rapids somehow, but âtwas half a mile below before he got ashore. Then he cuddnât get the boat up again to where Howard was, and âtwas two or three hours of figgerinâ he did before Howard dared take the plunge and try to catch the pole which his mate reached out to him. âTwas well-nigh crazy he wasâa man nearly always goes crazy when heâs left out on a rock in the fast water that way.
âThe Priest Rapids is another murderer, and Iâll not say how many have perished there. You tell me that your boats ran it at this stage of water? âTwas wonderful, then, thatâs all. Men have come through, âtis true, and tenderfeet at that, and duffers, at that. Two were once cast in the Priest, and only one got through, and he could not swim a stroke! They say that sixty miners were lost in that rapid in one year.
âTo be sure, maybe these are large tales, for such matters grow, most like, as the years go by, but yeâve seen the river yerselves, and ye know what the risk is. Take a band of miners, foolhardy men, and disgust them with tryinâ to get out of this country afootâand âtis awful going on foot through hereâand a raft is the first thing they think ofââtis always a tenderfootâs first idea. Thereâs nothing so hard to handle as a raft. Now here they come, singinâ and shoutinâ, and swing around the bend before they see the Death Rapids, or the Priest, weâll say. They run till the first cellar-door wave rolls back on them and the raft plunges her nose in. Then the raft goes down, and the men are swept off, and thereâs no swimming in the Columbia for most men. Thereâs not annything left then fer anny man to do except the priestâand belike thatâs why they call it the Priest Rapids.â
âIâve often wondered,â said Rob, âwhen we were coming down that stream, whether some of those Alaska Indians with their big sea-canoes could not run this riverâtheyâre splendid boats for rough water, and they go out in almost any weather.â
âAnd whereâll ye be meaninâ, my boy?â asked OâBrien.
âAlong the upper Alaska coast. You see, we live at Valdez.â
âAlaska? Do ye hear that now! And thatâs the place Iâve been wanting to see all me life! They tell me âtis foine up there, and plenty of gold, too. But tell me, why do ye come down to this country from so good a place as Alaska?â
âWell, we were just traveling about, you know,â said Rob, âand we wanted to see some of this country along the Rockies before it got too common and settled up. You see, this isnât our first trip across the Rockies; we ran the Peace River from the summit down last summer, and had a bully time. The fact is, every trip we take seems to us better than any of the others. You must come up some time and see us in Alaska.â
âItâs that same Iâll be doinâ, ye may depend,â said OâBrien, âthe first chance I get. âTis weary I get here, all by myself, with no one to talk to, and no sport but swearinâ at a lot of pig-tailed Chinks, and not time to go grizzly-huntinâ evenâthough they do tell me thereâs fine grizzly-huntinâ twelve miles back, in the Standard Basin. So âtis here I sit, and watch that mountain yonder that theyâve named for pore Sam BoydâBoydâs Peak, they call it, and âtis much like old Assiniboine she looks, isnât it? Just that I be doinâ day by day, and all the time be wantinâ to see Alaska. And now here comes me friend Leo from the Cache, and brings a lot of Alaskans yeâd be expectinâ annywhere else but here or there! âTis fine byes ye are, to come so far, and Iâll be hopinâ to meet ye in Alaska one of these fine days, for Iâm a bit of a miner myself, as most of us are up here.â
âSheâs good boy,â said Moise, who took much pride in his young friends. âShe ainât scareâ go anywhere on the riviĂšre with Moise and his oncle, or even with Leo and George. I sâpose next year sheâll come see Moise again, maybe-so.â
The boys laughed and looked at Uncle Dick. âI donât know about that,â said Rob, âbut weâll be wanting to go somewhere next summer.â
âThatâs a long time off,â said their uncle.
OâBrien, after they had spent some time in this manner of conversation, began to look at his watch. âCarlsonâs pretty prompt,â said heââthatâs the skipper of the Columbia. Weâll be hearinâ her whistle before long.â
âThen this about ends our trip, doesnât it, Uncle Dick?â said John once more; and his uncle nodded.
âIâm going to give OâBrien one of the boats,â said he, âand Iâll let the title to the other and the cook outfit rest in Leo and Georgeâthey may be coming through here again one way or the other some day. As for us, weâve been lucky, and I think we would better wait here a day rather than go on with our boats.â
They passed out into the bright sunlight to look about at the fine mountain prospect which stretched before them from the top of the bluff. They had not long to wait before they heard the boom of the steamboatâs whistle, and soon the Columbia, thrust forward by her powerful engines, could be seen bucking the flood of the Columbia and slowly churning her way up-stream. She landed opposite the wood-chute of the wood-yard, where a crowd of jabbering Chinamen gathered. Soon our party walked in that direction also, and so became acquainted with Carlson, the skipper of the boat, who agreed to take them down to Revelstoke the following day.
XXX THE END OF THE TRAILAlthough OâBrien offered them beds in his house, and Carlson bunks on board the Columbia, Rob, John, and Jesse all preferred to sleep out-of-doors as long as they could, and so made their beds on the grass-plot at the top of the bluff, not putting up any tent, as the mosquitoes here were not bad. They were rather tired; and, feeling that their trip was practically over, with little excitement remaining, they slept soundly and did not awake until the sun was shining in their faces.
âCome on, fellows,â said Jesse, kicking off his blankets. âI suppose now weâll have to get used to washing in a real wash-basin and using a real towel. Somehow I feel more sorry than happy, even if it was rather rough work coming down the river.â
This seemed to be the feeling of both the others, and they were not talkative at the breakfast-table, where OâBrien had supplied them with a fine meal, including abundance of fresh-laid eggs from his own farm-yard.
After breakfast they employed themselves chiefly in making themselves as tidy as they could and in packing their few personal possessions in shape for railway transportation. Most of their outfit, however, they gave away to the men who were to remain behind them. Toward noon the whistle of the steamboat announced that she was ready to take up her down-stream trip; so the young Alaskans were obliged to say good-by to OâBrien, in whose heart they had found a warm place.
âGood luck to ye, byes,â said he, âand donât be digginâ all the gold up in Alaska, for âtis myselfâll be seeinâ ye wan of these daysââtis a foine country entirely, and Iâm wishinâ fer a change.â
Leo and George, without any instructions, had turned in to help the boat crew in their work of pushing off. Moise, once aboard the boat, seemed unusually silent and thoughtful for him, until Rob rallied him as to his sorrowful countenance.
âWell,â said Moise, âyou boy will all go back on Alaska now, and Moise sheâs got to go home on the Peace River. Iâll not been scareâ of the horse or the canoe, but this steamboat and those railroad train sheâll scare Moise plenty. All the time Iâm think sheâll ron off the track and bust Moise.â
âYou mustnât feel that way,â said Rob, âfor thatâs Uncle Dickâs businessâfinding places for railroads to run. Thatâs going to be my business too, sometime, as I told you. I think itâs fineâgoing out here where all those old chaps went a hundred years ago, and to see the country about as they saw it, and to live and travel just about as they did. Men can live in the towns if they like, but in the towns anybody can get on who has money so he can buy things. But in the country where weâve been, money wouldnât put you through; youâve got to know how to do things, and not be afraid.â
âSâpose you boys keep on,â said Moise, âbime-by you make voyageur. Then you come with Moiseâsheâll show you something!â
âWell, Moise,â continued Rob, âif we donât see you many a time again it wonât be our fault, you may be sure.â
âIâm just wondering,â said Jesse, âhow Leo and George are going to get back up to the TĂȘte Jaune Cache. They told us they meant to go up the Ashcroft trail and home by way of Fort George and the Fraser River and the âchoo-choo boat.â But that seems a long way around. I suppose youâll come to the hotel with us, down to Revelstoke, wonât you Leo?â he added.
âNo like âum,â said Leo. âMy cousin and me, we live in woods till time to take choo-choo that way to Ashcrofâ.â
âWell, in that case,â said John, âI think weâd better give you our mosquito-tent; you may need it more than we will, and we can get another up from Seattle at any time.â
âTent plenty all right,â said Leo. âThank.â And
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