ve tried faithfully to
relate my experiences as they took place. Not all, of course, have been
included, for numerous and varied trials came to me, of which I have not
written, else a far more thrilling story could have been told.

Enough has, however, been noted to give my readers a fair idea of a
woman's life during a period of eighteen months in a few of the roughest
mining camps in the world; and that many may be interested, and to some
extent possibly instructed by the perusal of my little book, is the
sincere wish of the author.

MAY KELLOGG SULLIVAN.

A WOMAN WHO WENT--TO ALASKA.

CHAPTER I.

UNDER WAY.

My first trip from California to Alaska was made in the summer of 1899.
I went alone to Dawson to my father and brother, surprising them greatly
when I quietly walked up to shake hands with them at their work. The
amazement of my father knew no bounds,--and yet I could see a lot of
quiet amusement beneath all when he introduced me to his friends, which
plainly said:

"Here is my venturesome daughter, who is really a 'chip off the old
block,' so you must not be surprised at her coming to Alaska."

Father had gone to the Klondyke a year before at the age of sixty-four,
climbing Chilkoot Pass in the primitive way and "running" Miles Canyon
and White Horse Rapids in a small boat which came near being swamped in
the passage.

My brother's entrance to the famous gold fields was made in the same
dangerous manner a year before; but I had waited until trains over the
White Pass and Yukon Railroad had been crossing the mountains daily for
two weeks before myself attempting to get into Alaska's interior. At
that time it was only a three hours' ride, including stops, over the
Pass to Lake Bennett, the terminus of this new railroad, the first in
Alaska. A couple of rude open flat cars with springless seats along the
sides were all the accommodation we had as passengers from the summit of
White Pass to Lake Bennett; we having paid handsomely for the privilege
of riding in this manner and thinking ourselves fortunate, considering
the fact that our route was, during the entire distance of about
forty-five miles, strewn with the bleaching bones of earlier argonauts
and their beasts of burden.

Naturally, my traveling companions interested me exceedingly. There were
few women. Two ladies with their husbands were going to Dawson on
business. About eight o