toilers on the
White Pass Trail.

These toilers worked in desperation. Their mad haste was infectious. Men
literally tumbled over each other on the trail in their eagerness to put
the Passes behind them. Every man carried strapped upon his back as much
of a load as it was possible for him to carry, and often times more,
with the not infrequent result that they dropped beneath their packs on
the trail. In like manner they loaded the animals they drove before
them, and here was exhibited man's awful inhumanity to the dumb brutes.
Pack horses, mules and dogs, loaded to top-heaviness and cinched until
one could almost hear their bones crack, climbed, straining, struggling,
panting, wild eyed and steaming from over-exertion under the lash of
angry and profane drivers, until they sank to their haunches, helpless
and exhausted, in some quagmire. Such common misfortune necessitated
the unloading of the poor beast at the loss of time and patience, not
only of his own driver, but those following, as any obstruction to this
narrow trail was greeted with extreme disfavor.

Language both bad and bitter was hourly exchanged between men on this
strenuous stampede to the Klondyke in the fall of '97. Animosities were
born which die only when hearts in men's bosoms are forever stilled.
Feuds were here originated, which if not settled with firearms were
ended in ways as deadly afterwards.

Conditions on the Chilkoot were identical. "Tenderfeet" were there as
tender, and the way as rough, even if a trifle shorter than that over
the White Pass. Nor were the tempers of the Chilkoot argonauts better
than those of their neighbors.

One root of the matter was not far to seek. Had they been content to
leave liquors untouched, nerves would have been less often jarred,
patience would not have become so soon exhausted, while brains would
have been clearer to plan, foresee, and execute. Not every man drank
liquors. There were numbers whose strongest stimulant was the fragrant
coffee, or water from the mountain springs; and these were among the
quiet, helpful ones who plodded patiently and industriously; lending a
kindly hand to some unfortunate fallen comrade or animal along the
rock-bound trail. They, too, were the ones who soonest reached the first
objective point of their journey--the end of mountaineering at Bennett,
from which place their boats would carry them into the Klondyke.

Among hundreds of others two travelers one day trudged wit