"It is a place to suffer and grow old in; a place to lose the earnings of a lifetime, and your health with them. In the long, dreary, dark nights the stoutest heart loses courage, and next to longing for home is the longing for death."
If he were one of the fortunate few who found the grains of free gold deposited in the frozen sands, he had a sobered, prematurely old look and said:
"Yes, I have made money in the gold fields of Alaska, but I hope I may never be obliged to go back and live in the mines."
Strewn along the trail and over the Chilkoot Pass are the bleaching bones of those who sacrificed their lives in the effort to reach the new El Dorado. The simple Eskimos looked on in wonder at the frantic energy of their white brothers, and were content in their own security.
The Ice Queen is their guardian and she punishes those who venture into her frigid realm to unearth and carry away the hidden treasures. In Alaska, as everywhere else, one must work hard and build up the country instead of robbing it, if money is really to be made. The late comers have already learned this lesson, by experience, and are beginning to build railroads, good houses, schools and churches in the warmest and most fertile part of the country surrounding the seaports.
And we know at last that El Dorado exists solely in the hearts and minds of men, and not in the everlasting snows of Alaska.
APPENDIX
The following is a partial list of the books consulted by the author in the preparation of the "Stories of El Dorado."