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''^, • ;- i./.' ., ■• s.f'^' (- V;". , i. J' ■. A ', . '... 1*3' ' ■. ■ ^^*.V'*M^r'iil;<^o::v-a»^'^;:;:j'^x:' 1. 1 ^ ■ :-• 4' •..'> n ... ■, 1 /^ \ ' '\)',i.i.' ■■^nic "i '.-.iff' yr.a' ■ ■,, r^ iU'M, ,>>V'^'^'f, ■ V* •.' .lJ- ' -' ■'.-. .V '.■.,,■ :'i. '"■,:«.,' ■, ' ,,;-^ -v;^;, ■'...;. ■;'-^: /."':■•■ WM^':'''--C! i^v::;./^..,, i ■f •■• i.,.' ,• l! •6 '■(■■■?...? • ■■ / . .^- .' ^■.. - . ■■, , 1 '..;.■> ,■? -I ^' - '■■'l 'i * '1.; \" ..^.l'^. ^■^?/-'. «■',;• .«-». >,.^i.-iC't.'ti»:.k*V DAN Dl'NX'S orj'FIT. liY .IlLIAN P.AI.I'II. i! I AT Revolstoke, three liir.i''rc(l and eiglity miles from the PikmIIc Ocean, ill Bfitisli Cohimbia, a small Avliito steam- boat, built on the spot, and exposing- a single great i)addle-\vheel at her stern, was waiting to make anotiier of her still f(>w trips through a wilderness that, but for lier presence, would be as completely j)riinitive as almost any in North Amer- ica. Her route iay down the Colum])ia Kiver a distance of about one liundred and thirty miles, to a point called Sproafs Landing, where some rapids inten-upt navigation. The main load upon the steamer's deck was of steel rails for a rail- road that was building into a new mining' i-egion in what is called the Kootenay Dis- trict, just north of our Washington and Idaho. The sister range to the Rockitis, culled the Selkirks, was to l)e crossed by the new highway, which would then con- nect the valley of the Columbia with the Kootenay River. There was a tempta- tion I)eyond the mere chance to join the lirst throng that jxished o])en a gateway and began tiie breaking of a trail in a brand-new country. Tliere was to be witnessed the ])i'opulsion of civilization beyond old con lines by sleam-))ow(>r. and this I'equired I'aih'oad building in the Rockies, where that .science finds its nicst formidable i)roblenis. And around and through all that was being- done ])ressed a new i)opulation. made up of many of the elements tliat i)roduced our old-time border life, and gave inrlh to some of the most picturestpie and exciting chap- ters in American history. It should be underslo((d that British Columbia has been but partially exi)lored, and that here in its \v.v\ heart only the watercourses have been travelled, and there was neithera settlen."nt nor a house along the Columbia in that great reach of :;i I ueuduMttfmMm^ij-^ ^f^i^^iaemn DAN DUXXS OUTFIT, 881 its valley bftwccii oui" boi'ck-i' and tlio C'anadiaii Pacilic Railway fX('e|)t at llie landing at wliicli lliis l)()at sl()i»[)('d. Over all the varyinn' scene, as the boat plouj^bed alonj:'. hunii' a rniyiity silence: foi" almost the only lite on the deep wood- ed sides of the mountains was that oi stealthy ya me. At only two points were any human i)eiii;:s loducd, and these were wood-choppers who su|)i)lietl Mie fuel for thesteamei'— aC'hinaman in one place. and two or thre(^ wiiite men farther on. In this part of its ina.i,''niliceiit valley the Co- lumbia broadens in two lonj;' loops, calhd the Arrow Lakes, each more than two miles witle and twenty to thii'ty miles in lenji'th. The'ir prodigious towerinj-- walls are densely wooded, and in places are snow-capped in niidsiimnier. Tiie forest {growth is primeval, and its own lu.xuri- ance crowds it beyond the edye of the f^rand streani in tlu^ fretwork of fallen trunks and l)uslies. whose roots are l)edded in th(! soft mass of ceuituries of forest debris. Early in the journey the clerk of the steamer told me that wild animals were I'reciuently s(>en crossinj^- the river ahead of the vessel ; i)ear, he said, and deer and elk and porcupine. When I left liim to go to my slate room and dress for the rouj^li iournev ahead of me. hi' came to mv door, cailinj,' in excited tones for ine to come out on the deck. "' There's a bij^'bear ahead I" he cried, and as he spoke I .saw the black head of thw dream-like and soft beyond descrip- tion. ]jut as the sun sank t() the sununit of the uplifted horizon, it began to lavish till! most intense colors uj)ou all the ob- ji'cts in view. The snowy ])eaks turned to gaudy })risms as of crystal, the wooded summits Ijecame empur[)led, tlu; nearer hills turned a deep green, and the tran- quil lak'? assumed a bright ])ea- color. Above ail else, the .sky was gorgeous. Around its western edge it took on a rose- red blush that blended at the zenith with a deep blue, in whicli were floating little clouds of amber and of llame-lit pearl. A moonless night soon closed ai'ound the boat, and in the morn- ing W(; were at Sproafs Landing, a place two months old. The vil- lage consisted of a tiny clutter of frame houses and tents percheil on the i'i] building was the I AN INIJIA.N LAMJK O.N TUK CULLMUiA. 8«2 IIAKI'KHS NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE. '"f<«^/<,Jr'-///', V "yoL'UK SKTTIXG Y(JUli MCKVKS TO STAXU IT.' ollice :iiul stoi'clioiisc of llie itrojcctcd I'ailroad. two otlioi's were ,i;oiioi"al ti'adiiiL;' stores, one was tlic liotcl. and tlic otlioi' lial)ilalioiis were mainly tciits. I (iniily holit've tliorc iicvci' was a ho- tel like tlio hostelry there. In a ji'eneral way its ilesij>'n was an adaptation of the plan of a hen cooi). I'ossihly a ho.x made of " lumher to sheathe the outside of th.' house, and this had heen nuide to serve for extei-ior and inte- rior walls, and the lloors and ceilinys he sides. The consequence was that a Jlock uf gigantic canaries might have l)een kept in it with ])roi»ri<'ty. hut as a place of human heings it compared with tiie lirooklyn lii'idge. "liei'e was a l)arl)er ])ole in nt of the house, set up hy a "pros))ector '■ who had run out of funds (and ev- erything else except liope). and who. like all his kind, had stopi)ed to " make a few dollars " Avhei'ewith to out- tit again and con- tinue his search for g(>ld. He noted the local need of a har- ber. and instantly became one by pur- chasing a I'azor on credit, and painting a pole wl)ile waiting foi' custom. He was a jocular fellow— a born New-Yorker, bytbe-way. " Don't shave me close," said I. "Close?"' lie re- ])cated. '■ You'll be the luckiest victim I've slashed yet if I g(>t otr any of your beard at all. How's the razor?" "All right." " C)h no. it ain't," said lie ; " you're setting your nerves to stand it. so's not to be called a t<'nder- foot. J'jii ]io barber. I ex))ected to "tend bar when I l)umi)ed \\\^ agin this ]ilace. ]f you could see the blood streaming dow 11 your face you'd faint." In spite of his self-depreciation, he ])er- formed as artistic and jiainless an opera- tion as I evei'sat through. In Sjn'oat's Landing we s;nv the nucleus of a. railroad tei-miiial ])()int. The tpieer hotel was but little inore peculiar than many of the ])eop]e who gathered on the single street on ])ay-day to spend their hard-eariUHl money upon a great deal of illicit whiskey and a few rude nec<'ssaries from the limited stock on sale in the stores. There never had been any gi-ave di.sorder there, yet the lloating jiopulation was as motley a collection of the I'iU'rafl' of the border as one could well imafrine. and til th Isi hi <'n pd io so| tl s-T -T-T-£rx.'.ryT7-:vif^'r.'-T ■rfc..-iv. ■-. T ii rttm t tmi'Bmiam i, DAN DUNNS OUTFIT. 883 )lace of 111 pared Dole ill 'J> hy a ad I'liii id «'v- except I'). like Jiad iiialvc lars •■ ai'- taiitly >y }iiir- zoi- on iiitiiif*- i t i 1 1 o- le was o\v — a oi'kei'. tlilit were so exactly his complement as to give him the synnuetry of an Ajiollo. lie was j^ood- looking', with tlie beauty of a, round- faced, good natured boy, and his thick hair fell in a cluster of ringlets over his foreliead and upon his ikh-Ic. No knight of Arthur's circle can have been more ])icturesqne u ligure in the fore.st than this "Jack." He was as neat as a, dandy. He wor(^ high boots and corduroy knick- erbockers, a flannel shirt and a sack-coat, and rode his big bay horse with the eiise and grace of a Skol)eli'tl. He smoked lik(! a lire of green brush, but had never tasted li(|uor in his life. In a dozen years he had slept more frequently in ihe open air, upon pebble beds or in trenches in the snow, than upon ordinary bedding, and he exhibittHl, in liis graceful movements, his sparkling eyc^s and ruildy che(dis, his massive frame and his imperturbable good nature, a de- gree of health and vigor that would seem insolent to the average New- Yorker. Now that the railroad was building, he kept ever on the trail, along what was called '■ the right of wav"' — ffoing from camp to camp to ■' jump " whiskey jieddlers and gamblers and to ([uell disorder — except on pay-day, once a moiitli. when he staid at Sproat's Landing. The echoes of his fearless behavior and lively adventures rang in i'vt'yy gathering. Till' genera 1 tenor of the stories was Ui liie eU'ect that he usually gave one w. ruing to evil-doers, and if they did not heed that he ■'cleaned tlieiiMiiil."" He carried a revolver, l)ul never hail us(>d it. Even when the most notorious gambler on our border had crossed over into "Jack's"' bailiwick the i)oliceman depended upon his lists. He liad met the gambler and had "advised" him to take the cars next day. The gambler, in reply, had suggested that both would get along more quietly if each mindinl his own alVairs. whereupon Kirk- up had said. "You hear me: talce the cars out of here to-inorrow." The little community (it was Donald. B. C. a very I'ougli place at the tiinei held its breath- ing for twenty-four lK)urs, and at the ap- proach of ti-ain-time was on tiptoe with strained anxiety. At twenty minutes be- fore the hour the polic<'nian, amiable and .I.VLK KlUKUP, TIIK MULXTAIN SHEUIFK. 884 HARPERS NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE. easy-froiiiy ;is cvci' in :ii)p»>;ir;inc<', l)f'(fnii ;i tuiii" 1)1' till,' houses. It. wiis ill ;i ttivi'i'ii tliut lie foiiiul tli(^ •i'iiiiil)!!'!'. "You iinist t;il< poor creatures, and they needed the whip frequently to urge them ui)on a slow progress. Kirk up was go ing his rounds, and accompanied us o. f)ur journey of less than twetity miles to the Kootenay River. On the way one saw every stag-e in the construction of a railway. The process of develojunent was reversed as we travelled, because the work had been ])ushed well along' where we started, and was but at its coi.unencement where we ended our trip. At the Land- ing', half a mih; or more of the railroad liad been comi)leted, ev(Mi to the addition of a locomotive and two gondola, cars. Beyond the littler strip of rails was a long' reach of graded road-l)ed, and so the prog- ress of the work dwindled, until at I;\st there was little more than th(> trail-cutters" path to mark what had been d(>termined as the '■ right of way."' For the sake of ch>arness, I will first ex- plain the steps that are taken at the out- set in building a railroad, rather than tell what parts of the uiulei'taking we came upon ill passing over the various "con- tracts" that were being wtn-ked in what appeared a confusing and haphazard dis- order. I have mentioned that one of tlm houses at the landing was the railroad company's storehouse, and that near by wiM'e tilt! tents of the surveyors or civil t.'iigineers. The road was to be a branch of the Canadian I'acilic system, and thes(? engineers were the first men sent into the country, with instructions to survey a line to the new mining region, into which men were pouring' from the older parts of Canada and from our country. It was undiM'stood by them that they were to hit upon the most direct and at the same lime the least exi)eiisive route for the rail- road to take. They w(>nt to the scene of their labors !)y canoes, and carried tents, blankets, instruments, and what they called their " griil) stakes,"" which is to say, their food. Then they travelled over the ground between their two terminal points, and back by another route, and back again by still another route, and so back and forth perhaps four and possibly si.\- times. In that way alone were they en- abled to select the line which ofVered tln^ shortest length and the least obstacles in number and degree for the workmen who were to come after them. At Sproat's Landing I met an engineer, Mr. B. C. Stewart, who is famous in his profession as the most tireless and intrepid exponent of its dilliculties in the Domin- ion. The voung men account it a mis- ' •tune to be detailed to go on one of his irneys with him. It is his custom to . art out with a blanket, some bacon and meal, and a cott'ce-pot, and to be gone for weeks, and even for months. There scarce- ly can have been a hardier Scotchman, one of more simple tastes and require- ments, or one ])ossessing' in any higher degree the (luality called endurance. He has spent years in the mountains of Brit- ish Columbia, finding and exploring the various passes, the most direct and feasible routes to and from them, the valleys be- tween the ranges, and the characteristics of each section of the country. In a vast country that has not otherwise been one- third explored he has made himself fa- miliar with the full southern half. He has not known what it was to «Mijoy a home, nor has he seen an apple growing upon a tree in many years. During his long and close-succeeding trips he has run the whole gamut of the adventures incident to the lives of hunters or explor- ers, sutrering hunger, exposure, peril from wild beasts, and all the hair-breadth es- capes from frost and storm and Hood that DAN DUNNS OUTFIT. 8S5 .-..n^%i\MiNi^(i)ii.._ ENUINEEU U.\ TllK I'UKLI.MIXAHY SLUVKY. Nature uiivanqiiislicd visits upon those wlio (irst hi'iivei Iut dcptlis. Sucli is llio woi'lc and such ai'e tlu; ukmi tliat, liyiirc in tlie foremost, preliminaries to raih-oail buiklinfj. Wlioevor lias left the l)eaten ])atli of tra\'el or jjone beyond a well-settled re- unoii can form a more or less just esti- mal(> of that which one of these profes- sioual pioneers encounters in prospecting' for a railroad. I had several '' tastes,'" as the [rish express it. of that very TCoote- nay Valley. I can say conscientiously that r never was in a wilder reoion. lH ^•oin!.;' only a fcnv yards from the I'ailroad '■ riyht of way'" the dilliculties of an ex- perienced pedestrianism like my own in- stantly became tremendous. There was a, ])articularly choice spot for fishing at a distance of three-(|uarters of a mile from 88G lIAlll'KRS NEW MONTIIIA' ,M.\(rAZlXK D.'tii rii;i(l I) mill s II itlit. ;iii(i I ti';i\ (lied the jhhI \\;i> oliliui-d lo make tliut journey It all' a (li>/i'ii I iiiir I II II \ an AI'liT ten niimitcs rrowdi would have sti'ciij^lliciicd tiic J'ilffriin's I'l'or/rcss liad li<' k-iiowii ol'sudi coiiditions will aiK 1 Uib -Ifps. the task S('Oiii''d loncjcss y iin|iossil)l<' tliat I could »■ w illi wliic to MIl'l'OIIIKl Ins IHTO. 15('t wccii silv ivc Im'cii induced to tuni l)ack and I'ocks tlic si/.e of a citv mansion and iin risk a niulit on tlic i-ocks at the cdfrc of steady bowlders n liead tlie {^frouiid I larger liian a niaiTs tlie tide. was all i)Ut covered. Jt was after a tlioi-oupli knowledjre of inion y 11 lis wreclcai;-e trees yrew in wild the natural conditions wliicli tlie I'aili'oad abundance. aiiorers at the heavier work of actually clearin<; the wilderness for the road- bed. The trail-cutters are guided by the long line of slakes with which the en- gineers liave marked tlie course the road is to take. The trail-men ai-e sent out to cut wliat in general ])ar- lance would lie called a ])alh, over which supplies are to be thereafter carried to the workmen's camps. The ])atli they cut must therefore be sufliciently tvide for the ])as.sage along it of a mule and his load. Asa mule's load will some- times consist of the frame- work of a kitchen range, or the end boards of a bedstead, a five-foot swath through the forest is a trail of serviceable width. The trail-cutters fell the trees to right and left, and drag the fallen trunks out of the ])atli as they go along, travelling and working be- tween a mile and two miles each day, and moving their tents and ])rovisions on pack-hor.ses as they advance. They keep reasonably close to the ])rojected line of the rail- way, but the i)ath they cut is a])t to be a winding one that avoids the larger rocks and tlie smaller ravines. Great distoi'- tions. sucli as hills or gullies, which the I'ailroad must ])ass through or over, the trail men ])ay no heed to; neither do the pack-horses, whose tastes are not con- sulted, and who can cling to a rock at al- FALI.IXG JIOXARCIIS. formed of soft-wood saplings and bushes, so that it was next to inipossil)l(> to move a y.'ird in aiiv direction. Tt was out of the question for any one to s(>e three yards ahead, and there was often no telling wiieii a foot was ])ut down whether it was going through a rotten trunk or upon a sjiin- ning l)owlder. or whether the black shad- ows here and there w(>re a foot deep or were the mouths of fissures that reached to China. I fished too long one night. nioH coi« antl ami mil tb nnl tre rii ml ve lH'ifcil • l^illfcil ■jiAj jam ' mimjjtJ timumaflSiaiaMec«i;ftmi- j!%«:»i KAN DrXXS OUTFIT. 8,s; .loiu-iiey crowd I'll |I< SOOH)('(| rack- ;ni(i •'(liT*' of most any ;iii{rl<\ likf tlics of laryi'i- jri-ow lli. 'I'liis trail, ulicii lilli^lH'(l, leads from ihc coiiipaiiy's storolioust' all along' tlic line, and fi'om that storclioiisc. on the l)acK's of tlio pack animals, come all the food and tools and clotliiii!^'. powder, dyna- mite, tents, and livinji' ntensils, t() he nsed liy the workmi'n. then- hosse.s. and iho cii- <:ineer.s. Slowly, hehind the trail <'nttoi's. follow the " ri<,^ht-of-way " men. These are axe- men also. All that they do is to cut the trees (h)wn and drajr them out of the way. It is when the axemen lia\'e cleared the riyht of way that the iirst view of the I'aili'oad in emhi-yo is ohtainahle. And very quoei' it looks. It is a wide avenue tliroiifTJi the forest, to he ^;^^e. yet it is til- th' like any forest di'ive thai we are ac- customed to in the realms (jf civilization. Every succeeding stajre of the work leads toward the production of an even and lev(d thoroujihfare. witiiout |)rotuher- ance or depression, and in the course of our rid(> to Dan Dunns camp on the Koolenay we saw the rapidly developing railroad in each phase of its evolution from the roiie-h surface of the wilderness. Now we would come upon a lony reach of linishcd I'oad-bed on comparatively lev- el ground all ready for the rails, with car- penters at woi'lc in little gullies which they were spanning with tind)er trestles. Ne.xt we would see a hattalion of men and dump cai'ts cutting into a hill of dirt and carting its ^uhstance to a nei^i'hhor- ing valley, wherein they wei-c^ slowly liea])ing a. lon^' and synunetrical \vall of eai'thwork. with slo])ing sides and level top. to bridge the gap between hill and hill. Again, we came upon ])laces wher(> men I'an toward us shouting that a "blast" was to he lii'cd. Here was what was called " I'oclcw oi'k." where; soiiu' granite I'ib of a mountain oi' huge rocky knoll was being blown to Hinders with dynamite. And so, thi'ough all these scenes upon the pack trail, we came at last to a white camp of tents hiddi'u in ihe lush greeiu'i-y of a luxuriant forest, ami nestling beside u rushing numntain torrent of green wa- ter llecked with the foam from an eteriuil battle with a niyriad of sunken rocks. It was Dunn's head(iuarters -the constriu'- tion camp. Evening was falling, and the men were clambering down the hill- side ti'ails from their work. There was no order in the disposition of the tents, n.vN Di.xx ox nis woiiks. nor had the forest been ])repared foi'tbeni. Their white sides i-ose here and there wherever th(>re was a space between the trees, as if so many great white nu)tlis had settled in a garden Huge ti'ces bad been felled ami thrown aci'oss ravines to serve as aerial foot-])allis fi'om ])oint to ])oint, and at the river's edge two or thi'ee l(Mits sefMued to have been ))ushe(l over the steep blufl' to (ind lodgement on the sandy beach beside the turbulent sti'eam. There were other c;imps on the line of this work, and it is worth wliile to add a word about their management and the system undei" whicli they were maintain- ed. In the Iirst place, each cam]) is apt to be the outlit of a, contractor. The wlude work' of Imilding a railroad is let out in contracts for portions of five, ten, or fifteen miles. Even when gi'eat jobs 8S8 harpp:r's new monthly magazine. of 70 or 100 niilos arc coiiti'iiclod fov in out! piece, it is fiistoiiiMry I'di* tiu; cou- ti'actoi' to diviilo liis U\sk and snl)lel it. 15ut a fairly r<'])fosoiitativ(^ bit of inoiiu- laiii woi'iv is tliat wiiicii [ found l>aii Diimi siiperinteiidiiif;-, as tlie faototuni of tli(^ coiiti'actor who imdoi'took it. if a cont factor acts as "boss" liinisolf, lif stays upon tlic uround; but in tliis case tlie contractor liad other und(M'taixplosivcs — giant, black, and Judson powder and dynamite. More tremendous force is used in rail- road blasting than most persons imagine. Ii order to perform a ([nick jol) of remov- ing a section of solid mountain, the drill- men, aftei" making a bore, s;iy. twenty feet in depth, begin what they call "spring- ing" it by exploding little cartridges in tli(! Ijottom of the drill hole until they have produced a considerable chamber there. The average amount of explosive for which they thus ju'epare a place is forty or lifty kegs of giant powder and ten kegs of black powder; but Dunn told me ho had se(>n 280 kegs of black ])owder and r)0() ])ouiids of dynamite used in a single blast in mountain work. Another tent was that of the time-keep- er. He .ionrneyed twice a day all over the work, live miles up and live down. On one journey he noted what men were at laljor in the forenoon, and on his return he tallied those who were entitled to pay for the second half of the da\'. Such an ollicial knows the name of every laborer, and, moreover, he knows the pecuniary rating of each man, so that when the workmen stop him to order shoes or trou- sers, blankets, shirts, tobacco, penknives, or what not, he decides upon his own re- si)onsibility whether they have sufficient numey coming to them to meet the ac- commodation. The "store"' was simply another tent. Ill it was kept a fair supply of the articles in constant demand — a supply brought from the li(>adquarters store at the other end of the trail, and constantly replenish- ed by the pack-liorses. This t i-ading-place was in charge of a man called " the book- kcM'pei'."' and he had two or three clerks to assist him. The stock was precisely like that of a cross-roads country store in one of our older States. Its goods included simple medicines, boots, shoes, clothing, cutlery, tobacco, cigars. ])ipes. hats and caps, blankets, thread and needles, and several hundred others among the ten thousand necessaries of a modern laborer's life. The only legal tender received there took the shape of orders written by the time-keeper, for the man in charge of the store was not retjuired to know the ratings of the men upon the pay-roll. The doctor's tent was among the rest, but his office might aptly have been said to be " iu the saddle."" He was lominally emjiloyed by the company, but each man was " docked."" or charged, seventy-live cents a month for medical services whether he ever needed a doctor or not. When I was in the camp there was only one sick man -a rheumatic. He had a tent all tohiinsidf, and his meals were regularly carried to him. Though he was a stranger to every man there, and had worked only one day before he sur- H E r. r K y tl of tl ere le le iti ng-s rest, i)een was any, lical •etor liere Uic. eal.s llo-l, ^nd iur- the»| ate will jiistl Otll the' (."eil hui tll'il tlu toij cul sill A SKETCH 0\ THE WORK. rendered to sickness, a ])iii-se of about I'orly dollars hail hccu raised I'oi' him aiiioiij'' ihe iiu'ii. and he was to I)e '" pack- ed "" to Sproat's Ijandinj;' on ;i iiiiiie at the compaiiys cxijciise whenever the doctor decr(!ed it wise to move him. Of coitrs(! invalidism of a, more si'rit)iis nature is not inl'i-eiiuenl wlicn^ men work in the paths of slidinji' rocks, beiiealli caviny earth, amid falling' foi-est trees, around <>'iant i)iasts, and with heavy tools. Another one of the tents was tliat of the "boss packer." He superintended the transportation of supplies on the ])ack- trail. This '"jol) of "iOO men,"" as Dunn styled liis camp, employed tiiii'ly pack horses and nudes. The puck trains con- sisted of a, '■ lu'il - horse "" and boy. and si.K horses followinj^'. f]ach animal was rated to carry a burden of 400 luuinds of dead weig'ht. and to reciuire three quarts of m(>al thrive times a day. Another olHcial habitation was the "store-man's"" lent. As a rule, there is a store-man lo (>very ten miles of construc- tion work ; often every camp has one. The store-man keeps account of the distri- bution of 11h> supplies of food, lie issues re(iuisitions upon tlie head storehou.se of the company, and makes out ordei-s for eaoli day's i-ations from the camp store. The cooks are therefore under him. and this fact su<; -M^i «Mlif MBifa.4%fl'f LwiMfltwft-iMy<»-Aa'.. tJAiflkv ^ -•;.« ij.>jf i.'i<^VfW ;|"»a»^ft> *-'*'n his personal appearance a thought — e.xcept during a brief ])eriod of court- sliip antecedent to the establishment of a home in old (Ontario— he had so accus- tomed himself to unrestraint that his ha- l)itiial attitude was that of a long-bladed jack-knife not fully opened. His long si)are arms swung limberly before a long- spare body set upon long spare legs. I lis costume was one that is never described in tln! advertiseinenls of city clothier.s. It consisted of a dust-coated slouch felt hat. which a dealer once sold for black, of a liannel shirt, of homespun trousers, of socks, and of heavy '"brogans." In all, bis dress was what the a'sthetes of ]Mr. Wildes day might have ai)tly termed a symphony in dust. His shoes and hat had acquired a mud-color, and his shirt and trou.sers were chosen because tliey m'iginally pos.sessed it. Yet Dan Dunn was distinctly a cleanly num. fond of fre- quent splashing in the camp toilet basins — the Kootenay River and its little rushing tributaries, lie was not shaven. As a rule he is not, and yet at times he is. as it ha|)pens. I learned that on Sundays, when there was nothing to do except to go lishing, or to Avalk over to the engi- ncH'r's cami) foi' intellectual .society, In; felt the unconscious impulse of a forgot- ten training, and put on a coat. lie even tied a black silk ril>bon under his collar on such occasions, and if no one had given liimagood cigar dui'ing tlit; week, he took out his best l)ipe (which had been locked up. because whatever was not under lock and kev was certain to be stolen in half TIIK MKSH TKXT AT XKiHT. 8Q2 "AnPKlrs K,;„- MOXTHM- .MAO..,,,, "It does tliem as much o-ood to let „,e '•''^"<^ 't -'-s to cl.ucic it «^'er a o.i„.„.in bar,- ^le explained. A,s\ve,stoodJooici„.r "totliecrovvdedbooti;; ;vhere the men sat el- l^ou-toelbo^v.andall tl;e. knife blades were an ho,n-). TJ,ei. ho felt (it(,.I , Ihf}'' ^"^ f'-O'" ^^H i 7 "-r- r£| rS: ^r . -,:^ SS "'riK- Y';^ '^^^^;^' is ••«' Co.npany «'^-"ined as tbe ton of . ' •'' ^"^'•''- «tick. Did ve i , ''''"'^ ^»''*«'^'s and -t J'fe. But it is . , ' '^""'tr' "" '"■« wl.en ew '"'•■'''^^^'^•^^"•saffot a^ ^:^:.. Ski J€?HF"" !C':rH?~--^^s •^volverenes." H; is . •"'''l^ ''« -^'"^ ^nul evervCf F ^ " ""^ of the wood ■yiiianu-J.,. ' . ''' "'"'"S- to thrasl. n....... . '"^ '"^'^ "^ ve-etable ^,., / J «".y 'nan who seems to 'ish course). Oli le (canned, of •, ■"^" "<'u seems to lion,] «i ^-onrse) Oli fi, v^^-'innei «'inad of rouffli lal '^'•'"fe^ 11(3 said tl ^« "'ake then, his w 'x' '''P' ^^»»P <-'ahM.| '"oney s„ch men ....':. , -f^*^. ^'oHects il lat tlie ''ted on the h. KII Pplies of food '■"■— .".I put. u .r u:,:r i;:::':* "'."■--- ^ or ii-e isKsofthreeandahalf vai'ieties of fo„d )^^, iiifr aiiy and a Why, that 3f tliO IVOl'lv- •abbit ui- to oua- )in»-, con. iecst ods, I, of . or are lalf the So that the total weight will be three and a half pounds a day. The orders are given frequently and for small amounts, so as to economize in the number of horses re- quired on the pack trail. The amount to be consumed by the horses is, of course, luclnded in the loads. The cost of " pack- iu'^'' food over long distances is more con- sid«M'able than would be supposed. It was estimated that at Dunn's camp the freight- ing cost forty dollars a ton, but I heard of places farther in the mountains where the cost was double tliat. Indeed, a discus- sion of the subject brought to liglit the fact that in remote mining camps the cost of "packing"' bi-ought lager-beer in bot- tles up to the price of champagne. At one camp on tlie Kootenay bacon was selling at the time I was in the valley at thirty cents a pound, and dried peaches fetched forty cents under competition. As we looked on, the men were eating fresh beef and vegetables, with tea and coJfee and pie. The head cook was a man trained in a lumber camp, and therefore ranked high in the scale of his profession. E>.'er.y sort of cook drifts into camps like these, and that camp considers itself the most fortunate which happens to eat un- dei' the ministrations of a man who has cooked on a steamboat; but a cook from a lumber camp is rated almost as proudly. "Ye would not think it," said Dunn, "but some of them men has been bank clerks, and there's doctors and teachers among 'em— ^everything, in fact, except preachers. I never knew a preacher to get into a railroad gang. The men are always changing — coming and going. W(^ don't have to advertise for new hands. Tlie woods is full of inen out of a job, ami out of everything — pockets, elbows, and all. They drift in like peddlers on a pay-day. Thej* come here with no more clothing than will wad a gun. The most of them will get nothing after two months' work. You . , they're mortgaged witli their fares against tliem (thirty to forty dollars for them which the railroad brings from the East), and tben they have their meals to pay for, at five dollars a week they're here, and on top of that is all the clothing and shoes and blankets and tobacco and everything the.y need — all charged agin them. It's just as well for them, for the most of them are too rich if they're a dollar ahead. Therts's few of them can stand the luxury of thirty dol- lars. When they get a stake of them Vol. LXXXIII.— No. 498.-83 dimensions, the most of them will stay no longer after pay-day than John Brown staid in heaven. The most of them bang it all away for drink, and they are sure to come back again, but the ' prospectors' and chronic tramps only work to get clothes and a flirting acquaintance with food, as well as nu)ney enough to make an alHdavit to, and they never come back again at all. Out of 8500 men we had in one i>ig work in Canada, 1500 to 2000 knocked otf ever^' month. Ninety per cent, came back. They had just been away for an old-fashioned drunk." It would be dithcult to draw a parallel between these laborers and any class or condition of men in the East. They were of every nationality where news of gold mines, of free settler.s' sections, or of quick fortunes in the New World had penetrated. I recognized Greeks, Finns, Hungarians, Danes, Scotch, English, Irish, and Ital- ians among them. Not a man exhihited a coat, and all were tanned brown, and were as spare and slender as excessively hard work can make a num. There was not a superfluity or an ornament in sight as they walked past ine; not a necktie, a finger-ring, nor a watch chain. There were some very intelligent faces and one or two fine ones in the 'uand. Two typi- cal old- fashioned prospectors especially attracted me. They were evidently of gentle l)irth, but time and exposure had bent, them and silvei'ed their long, un- kempt locks. Worse than all, it had planted in their faces a blended expression of sadness and hope fatigued that was painful to see. It is the brand that is on every old prospector's face. A very few of the men were young fellows of thirty, or even within the twenties. Their youth impelled them to break away fi-om the table earlier than the others, and, seizing their rods, to start off for the fishing in the river. But those who thought of active plea- sure were few indeed. Theirs was killing work, the most severe kind, and ])erform- ed under the broiling sun, that at high mountain altitiules sends the mercury above 100° on every summer's day, ami makes itself felt as if the rarefied atmos- phere was no atmosphere at all. After a long day at the drill or the pick or shovel in such a climate, it was only natural that the men should, with a common im- pulse, seek first the solace of their pipes, and then of the shake-downs in their tents. TT 894 I d'd not kno^Y uniU fi ^'i'-^t I ^v.j j,^z;^[^;;:r- «^^ ^hat day was nu.g two ],,« s f " '''^""'""•^'»' ^''>U'-s after dini 1 • ' " l\f'^ ^''^e tuo I^""" .said. Ti; J""^^'^ ^^'JJ them,'' ^^^^''^'e. aiul he kept ;!' ;,^PJ'''^''«"tIy Jiis ^'^^•^'Ptiou bv hav J I ^'"^ transparent :;;^^^'' -• the cam '^, ;:;*^ ^'-k and ti'ne. J •''^^ two hours out of -ft,!^tn;;;^^fj;;;t^on. the if"^-^ '•" which ^ 't .?!"'" ""^ ^''ttle ''■^f^ i" the river ;;:^'";^''\/^'« ^''/F to Sights I ever sau / ' '''" ^^'« '"tiful •'"^"' they presented ine of HARPERS NEW MOVTwr ^ MONTHLY MAGAZINE. "I'i the nevf w,„... . the worst- of all fl '''S and exl.austion th-lr!"'"^,^"^^ ^'ack- g-- to men. the/ex ;bi:r;/'""^^ ^^"-'• ihey were but Ji-,If " t^" the utmost -'^ved so pain , ,f .,^;[';^-^-l. a-ui tl^ ' f'''<^^lIeouIdhea;VS '^'''^^^^"''••^■ ^'•ive seen spaviner] , ''"^•' «''««'- I -^todiethar :ir^^^^^ '"«" 'lid. It was s) n /'.'^"'''^^'^^ as these '\';!>!^'« over t r.o ;.f '"^^ t« see them f't''ul to watch the f;fr"'''''^-^-as t[> straio-hten their .^-ff !^'^ -'ttemj.fed tJ'ey hacl been ben , J If ""^' ^"''''^s ^fer P'eyo.,i,.,,';-'-'bIe over the watt ^-'- joints wer;or^J^-^Vf^-«^^^ 7 c<>u,-.se ther soon 1 ^ .''* '^d rusted. f asticity nature had J fn'"'' "^'■''^-'^r tJH^mselvesforthehv "'""'' '^"^^"'e''e ^•''a-- force of nuM.B^^^^^^^^ ^"»s'^lit of them was o/',""'^'^' '""'■»- f,.a n>ht-minded n '",''' ^'^^^^^'^^'e ^eJiows take part in '"•''^^'' «^«''"S- his *.- 1 ',;. J- /";,.■: >r,-.h: '^d > 1**1^1 ■>i* t. ■^#(; .T,>V:T1( t ^ :k ;/•■■ ^' y.'v'f^ V'f: ;'4'V -~vl ?^^'^^^x: ,•^.■..'■ rx;k ■>.■ ■**. Kx'y-' ■vt,. 'i.A^.V 't;'-V. ^^^^^ .•vv,r-.Vlf^ \f"i>'i 'i*...J* ■^1^ ■.«■ .»! ? "v. If*' if-'^A '■>»:. ■^■s;' 'ri' «-'^^.ii '•-*.«; 'J> '* M*' i^'^fee '■si ^sv-^ -^ ;<;'■ I ,■■..,■■,.' ■'( . '. .•I-' VI ;- '■■<"^'':' ■'■'■:, .- ■:-ff'^"'''->'A^; v.'^^\:'^-v*^''<'*r^**'#. • .' 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