one of the dirtiest places they d ever seen, to stay the night Hill. Raymond
and Grace were herding the cattle with the aid of Old lumpy the tame bull.
Mrs Sharkey followed, driving a wagon. Dutch and Mr Sharkey brought
the horse herd, and Nick O'Brien and Billy Epley drove the sheep They
had planned to drive fifteen miles but heard that the Tonsina bridge had
washed out ('»race and Bill Schnabel held the cattle while the men threw
tiigether a corral
Early the next morning Raymond and Mr Sharkey prepared to ride down
to the Tonsina river, which was far too swift to ford, to help rebuild the
bridge Grace stood blinking in the sunny roadhouse yard surrounded by
foies and marlins in rickety cages, watching the men saddle up
It was then that Dutch embarked on his brief and unfortunate career as a
cowboy Thinking to go help out down at the river, he had cut out the old
pack mare Lucy, ancient, plodding Lucy and saddled her up Mounting, he
lit inexpertly behind the saddle and Lucy turned into a fiend, throwing him
sky high M ercifully a manure pile broke his fall, and he was unhurt
Grace choked on a huge swallow of air. and glancing sideways at Raymond
she saw he was grinning They tried not to look at each other, to keep from
bursting out laughing
It was Dutch s incompetence on horseback that let Grace have her chance
to prove herself as cowgirl
H ill and 1 herded caul« on w illow s and weeds and a little
grass in all kinds of brush
the men went down and helped
build a bridge 1 c e rta in ly learned more about steers in those
two days than I ever eipected to know and they can be o rn e ry
c ritte rs when they gel started H ill was a great in s tru c to r how
ever and he and I have gotten to be great pals He was an old
cow p un cher and a pioneer Alaskan and such eiperiences he
has had and the stories he can te ll I could sit and listen by the
hour because 1 got in and helped w ith the cattle when they
needed it and because I didn l kick about some o f the d iffic u ltie s
we met it made quite a h it w ith him and he th in k s I II do fo r a
trip like th is ’
Letter GC to J B
June 29 1914
Once the bridge was reconstructed they still had d ifficu lty getting the
i sheep across Half the bridge and part of the road were flooded in the
still rising river, they had to transport the sheep across in a wagon, fifteen
H at a time I he water was over the axles The men worked far into the
night getting them all across Grace decided she would get up at three a m
and ride back up to the roadhouse she thought that Raymond and Bill must
be exhausted and could use her help bringing the cattle on dow'n the river
1 The men at the bridge discouraged her from making the trip alone
they
argued that a bear could likely spook her horse, she could get thrown,
jr^mauled. eaten
who could tell what might happen? The argument
reminded them of several good bear stories w hich they took the
opportunity to recall Grace decided to pay no attention
In the middle of the night she cantered the six miles along the dusky
road, and made it sale and sound to Bulls Roadhouse She felt a little
disappointed, after all the big talk she hadn t even glimpsed a grizzly
Raymond hadn I expected the extra help with the cattle herd and it
gladdened his heart to see her trotting out of the shadowy woods. Chako s
four while feel flashing. Grace smiling at his surprise
Even w ith her help they didn l gel the cattle across the river until eleven
a m . and then they continued straight on the nine miles through the woods
to Woodland Roadhouse The dust on the road was terrible
(■race rode trom three in the m o rn in g u n til
sn in the e ve n in g w ith only about one hour s
rest p re tty ured g ir l
Diary R McK
June 2k. 1914
I he rest of the outfit did not catch up w ith them until alter midnight, so
the three of them bedded down the cattle put their horses in the corral
and slept in real beds in the roadhouse
I he following day they let the cattle rest and feed while everyone took
baths and washed their clothes They sold Old lumpy the crippled bull for
$125 to a woman. Mrs Peterson, who led him away, back to her home by
Kinney Lake Nick the shepherd caught a rabbit and Grace and Mrs
Sharkey fried and ate it. the meat was delicious after so much ham Then
(•race had a ride down the road behind the proprietor s dog team, which
she quite enjoyed When they got back her clothes were drying in the
roadhouse yard. Mrs Sharkey was standing clean and scrubbed in the
doorway watching as the men checked over the horses feet and far off.
upon a low hill. Old Limpy gimped away at the side of a tiny woman
I hey made good time the next four days, driving the cattle hard They
were halfway to Fairbanks, crossing an enormous, empty wilderness of
windy plains and mountains, contradictory elements of heal and rain,
violent rivers, snarls of thickets, snow and dust Scattered roadhouses, and
^ t h e odd corral or settler s cabin were the only signs of humanity It began
6 urrtu un
ro« nay to
to rain in earnest and kept on day and night until the fourth of July They
pressed on, now and then seeking shelter in barns, more often just camping
•long the road Grace spent a day sick in bed w ith a hot water bag
listening to the rain tap on her little lent When the men were moving the
cattle out of camp to start up the trail one of the horses got tangled up in
her tent ropes and pulled the whole thing down The cattle spooked and
nearly stampeded, but Raymond and Bill managed to soothe them She
listened to their sounds as the herd moved off
the snorts and moans of
the steers, the jangling of lack, the men s voices, low and muffled, the
squeak of their slickers
Grace lu iu riated in sleep, catching up on all she had missed It was
almost a treat to be a little sick -- usually she was as strong as an ox She
droused through the day. sipping tea. thinking about w riting a letter but
feeling too lazy She thumbed through her tiny red leather diary, reading
back to the beginning of the trip She replayed conversations in her head
She and Raymond had both started diaries of the trip back in Seattle, later
she planned to tease him into letting her read his Raymond was saucy but
he d never refuse her fix long He was such a nice friend to invite her
along Falling asleep in that wild place, rain pouring from the luminescent
skies, her head pillowed on her riding boots. Grace felt completely happy
In the mixning Grace rode on the wagon w ith Billy Epley and Mrs
Sharkey 1 hey passed the cattle and sheep and went on to Dry Creek
Roadhouse, which was run by Mr and Mrs Cassidy, a young couple who
had come up on the boat the Sampson w ith them
In the night most of the horses strayed away and lost themselves miles
down the Copper River in thick timber Bill Schnabel started after them
early, following their trail Grace carried Raymond s breakfast out to him
where he was sleeping by the cattle and told him the news She stayed
w ith him awhile, and helped hold the cattle until Bill should get back
Dutch saddled up one of the remaining htxses, a four year old named
Nigger none of them had ever tried, and which he d been warned against
I his time he was nearly killed, the horse threw him so hard His face w'as
cut up and bhx>dy, his back te rrib ly sprained, and they feared he had
internal injuries They waited for a day while Dutch laid in the Dry Creek
Roadhouse, barely moving, and Mrs Sharkey kept hot packs on him and
tended to his cuts
Bill made it back about noon, mustering the wayward hixse herd From
Dry Creek they could see Mt Wrangell, smoke was observed drifting up
from the active volcano Grace and Bill and Raymond held the cattle down
by the creek, letting them feed while they decided what to do about Dutch
short handed as they were, they could hardly affixd to lose another of
their outfit In the mixning they decided they couldn t affixd to wait
Dutch was purple and grumbling, but the Cassidys were taking gixxl care of
him and he would catch up w ith them as soon as he was fit
1 wo days out of Dry Creek the hixse flies and gnats w-ere so bad that the
cattle were w ild w ith their fierce stings, and could hardly be driven
Constantly they plunged off into the thick brush and tim ber on either side
of the road, where they could only be followed on foot For hours Grace
rode through the dust and heat, her clothes fu ll of thorns, her black horse
I
slippery w ith sweat, his hide quivering under the vicious stings of the
insects Grace sat her horse at the back of the herd of dusty red and white
cattle, holding Raymond s mount Cy while he struggled on foot off into the
brush alter a couple of panicked steers The dust rippled and parted as she ,
glanced back down the road, and she observed two men approaching on
horseback One hailed her w ith his hat They turned out to be government
men. Signal Corps officers, and they pitched in w ith the herd for a few
miles, through the worst heat of the day Bedding the cattle down that
night they decided to start night herding getting up about three a m , to
avoid the hixse flies
You have no idea what a re g u la r old Sourdough I am getting
to he I can he |UM as d irty and stay that way and s till be p e rfe ctly
happy I ta n eat beans and bacon twice a day and enioy them I
have gone two days and two n ig h ts w ith o u t undressing o r combing
my h a ir Don t you th in k that is going some? One day we had a
te rr ib ly hard day w ith the cattle The horse flie s drove them w ild
and we spent most o f the day fig h tin g them back into the road out of
the tim b e r Ve got to camp about eleven o d o c k and I was so tire d 1
sim ply look o il my bools u n ro lle d my bed on a near level spot and
rolled in w ith out ta kin g o ff my clothes I even le ft mv hat on to hold
the mosquito v e il away from my face as I didn t take the lime to put up
mv mosquito tent 1 got up at three t h ir ty the n e it m o rn in g and went
all that day and the n e t, n ig h t w ithout any sleep eicept an h ou r or
two curled up by the cam pfire w h ile the cattle were bedded down
Iton t you th in k 1 am a tough one? The fu n n y part is that 1 feel fin e
most o f the lim e and eat as much as most o f the men “
le tte r GC to
h e r sister Pearl
July 14th 1914
IN
Ml
The days were growing a little shorter, it became quite dusky for a few
hours at night Grace fina lly saw the mtxin. for the firs t time since leaving
Washington She had lettuce and radishes at the Poplar Grove Roadhouse,
the firs t vegetables in over a month She spent part uf a day at the
Sourdough Roadhouse while they waited for evening A woman Mrs
Yager, ran the place on her own It was the cleanest, pleasantest place they
had encountered so far