A FACSIMILE OF THE AUTHOR’S POWER OF ATTORNEY, GIVING HIM AUTHORITY TO STAKE GROUND ON BEHALF OF HIS PARTNERS.
Agreements were drawn up between us, one being styled a “grubstake agreement” and the other a “power of attorney.” The “grubstake agreement” stated that in return for the sum of one hundred and fifty dollars the parties of the first part drew up this agreement in order that they might have legal claim to a one-third interest in all placer and mining ground staked by party of the second part in the Chandelar district and north of the Yukon River.
The power of attorney was simply a legal document, giving me permission to stake ground for the benefit of absent parties.
Having settled all legal matters and received my “grubstake,” I purchased my outfit—four dogs, a fur robe, a Yukon sled, and a Yukon stove. In addition I had to purchase dog harness, a gun, ammunition, axe, tent, and compass, as well as dog-feed, a good supply of provisions, and suitable clothing for the trip.
My four dogs were of different breeds, only one being a pure native dog or “malamute.” My leader deserves special mention. The most intelligent dog is always placed in the lead, as the dogs are not driven by reins, but simply by word. To tell the dogs to travel straight ahead, the command is “Mush!” or “Mush on!” which is evidently a corruption of the term used by the French-Canadian trappers of the Hudson Bay Company, who would naturally say “Marchez” when ordering their team to travel. To travel to the right the command is “Gee!” and to the left “Aw!”
My leading dog was born in Circle City and had been christened Nellie. She had both the native and the outside strain—a dog whose intelligence and faithfulness cannot be questioned, as after-events will prove.
We left Fairbanks on December 12th, my partner and myself each having four dogs. We had an outfit consisting of tent, stove, guns, ammunition, robes, snow-shoes, one hundred pounds of dog-feed, and about five hundred pounds of food. It was our intention to proceed to Circle City, and there to complete our outfit.
For the first few miles the trail was in excellent condition and we made good time. It was rather late when we started, and by the time we had covered sixteen miles it was already dark. It must be remembered that in the middle of winter there is only a very short period of daylight in Alaska. The first night we stayed at a mining camp known as Golden City, consisting of two saloons and a number of dilapidated cabins, the majority being minus doors or windows.
Next day we made an early start, as we had a very steep hill to climb, known as Cleary Dome. There had been a light fall of snow during the night, and this made the trail very heavy. We found it impossible to get the loads up the hill, so we hitched the eight dogs on to one sled, and, having dragged it to the top of the Dome, we took the dogs down again for the other sled. From the summit there was a steep decline, and it took me all my time to hold back the sled, to prevent it cutting the hind legs of the wheeler dog.
The trail was in bad condition, as it had been cut to pieces by some heavy freight teams. The track at this point ran along the side of a hill down into the valley, and the sleds were on one runner most of the way. Every few minutes they would upset, and a good deal of physical energy would be expended to right them again. The loads were lashed to the sleds, so little actual damage was done.