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She says (he can ( gel the right kind of woman to
su y out here and help her » she (list has a man or two
She has a garden hot house chickens and a graphaphone
a type writer sewing machine and a telephone And all
that means a great deal where people are used to getting
along on bare necessities ’
Letter GC to her mother
W . U > ,,M
Wailing for evening ('»race ale three plates of lettuce and wrote a few
letters She watched the cattle while the men slept At seven p m they
r started off through the woods and the cattle gave them a lot of trouble as
the mosquito* were terrible and plagued them incessantly The mosquitos
originated in ihe scenic little lakes they kept passing every day which were
covered w ith beautiful yellow water lilies Grace counted 27 lakes in two
days
Camping near Our Home Roadhouse. Raymond hired on two Swedish
mushers who were also bound for Fairbanks They helped herd the cattle
1 he mosquitos were so bad they did not get very far before they had to
/ stop and build smudges They kept these going night and day for the ne it
played them all afternoon, music sounded so good to her She baked ten
dozen biscuits in the range oven, to take on the trail It seemed strange to
hear ram falling on a nx>f for a change That afternoon the cattle broke
into a gramfield and caused some trouble Raymond had a hard lime
pacifying the cattle and the farm er He also heard a report that the roads
ahead were going lo he bad
muddy and washed out and ihe rivers high
They sold four sheep to people in that town They started on Ihe n e il
day. and the road was very rough Grace rode in Ihe jolting wagon,
sleeping most of the way They came to a very pretty little roadhouse
called Birch Lake Grace, still drowsy, got down from the wagon and was
greeted by a (all cheerful Panish man she could barely understand He \
invited them in. as it was pouring rain, and Grace was glad for the shelter,
although inside the squalor of the place was striking compared to the
grounds The proprietor was a scrawny, starving man. crazed w ith too
much whiskey, and only half lucid He was too sick to get out of bed His
Danish neighbor a cheerful man named Toney, was caring for him
He had been on this iag since the 4lh of July we learned and was there
atone with his cat and dog both looked half starved and the man hadn t
eaten anything for ten days A distant neighbor Toney also a decided
character had stopped and tried to take care of him that is giving him a
drink every so otlen He knew enough to tell us to come in and as it was
pouring we did I slept that night on a couch in the office room It was
uncanny to hear the drunk man mumbling in the n eil room but they
assured me he was too sick lo gel out of bed In the middle of the night 1
awoke to find him prowling around the room hall clad and muttering to
himself He had on a laded splotchy kind of red and purple shirt and his
tace matched it in all particulars He soon vanished again
Letter (.»C to J R
July 24 1914
few days They were leaving the level country and getting up into the
mountains They began to see snowy peaks on the horizon, the
surrounding hills were rolling and green w ith shrubbery
Billy Epley went fishing in the Gulkana Lake, and caught a mess of
grayling He saw a brown hear, a caribou, and a mother moose w ith twins
1 he lake was narrow, eleven miles long very pretty
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We followed along the shore of it for hours In the afternoon the
warm sun was shining on the beach in a liule cove quite protected by
bushes so I went down and took a bath in the Lake and washed my
clothes While 1 was washing I heard a most peculiar noise and as it
approached 1 realized that there was an automobile coming up the mad
I hiked up there and there was hule Ford stopped at the camp In the
backseat was a most foreign looking gentleman with a turned up
moustache 1 thought Heavens' Who is this prince of the blood7" I
nodded but he stared straight through me and way beyond Mr Sharkey
said he spoke to him three times without any response We afterwards
learned (hat he really was a Russian Count looking after mining interests
and (hat the man with him was a mining eipert
In te r GC to
her sister Pearl
July 14 1914
The automobile w ith the Russian Count had brought a telegram from
Dutch requesting a rig sent back after him That evening at Paton s
Roadhouse they stopped and telegraphed Dutch that they couldn t spare a
team He was some 70 miles behind
Resting the cattle near the summit of little pass that evening Grace and
Raymond In a little fire to warm their toes They sat j i the fool of Gulkana
Glacier watching the sunset paint the snow dusted peaks They had just
remarked how remote and sort of lonesome the place was when, to their
surprise, a man on a bicycle appeared He had ridden the 160 miles Irom
Fairbanks in just two days, and it turned out he knew some of their friends
from Baker He was up in Alaska dredging for oil They chatted awhile,
then it was time to start the cattle on When they crossed the fool of the
\ Gulkana Glacier on a big snow patch the steers grew frisky and cavorted
like kittens 11 began to ram and they bedded the cattle near a little lake.
Summit Lake Grace napped in the rain under a piece of canvas When she
awoke there was word of a telegram for them up at McCallum s Roadhouse
She rode up the three miles to retrieve it and learned that Dutch had
reached Paion s Roadhouse on foot and wanted a saddle horse sent back
Raymond sent back a gentle horse w ith Grace s saddle, so she rode on the
wagon
1 hcY paused often to build sheep bridges over glacial streams The
scenery was beautiful Casey s ('ache on the Little Delta River was a
comfortable place lo camp, plenty of feed for the cattle and sheep They
spent the day relaung, wailing for Dutch Grace went off a little way into
the woods and wrote a letter lo Jean and fell asleep She was gone so long
everyone thought she was lost Her arrival back at camp coincided w ith
Dutch's grand entrance He was still sore and stiff and quite lame, but glad
lo have caught up w ith them ('»race was happy to have him back, he was
such a talker and a character and a cunning little man He wore a pair
baggy overalls that covered his assortment of shirts, a shapeless fell hat
was wedged on his head, and a hand made cigar was damped in the
middle of his grin
They were moving along pretty fast w ith the help of the new men.
though it was raining a lot Grace had her saddle back and she could help
w ith the cattle again There were more cabins of trappers and miners the
closer they got to Fairbanks, and more people on the road They were also
seeing more lynx and bear, and the cats cried at night, an eerie, lonely
sound
In a few days it was raining so much they had a hard time keeping their
things dry, though they built a bonfire every night Grace wrung out her
hair into the roaring flames, hung her sodden coat and saddlebags on
branches Crossing the Tanana they had to use the fe rry for all the
animals, and the ferrym an charged 25 cents a head for cattle and horses,
and half that for sheep Dutch bought a hind quarter of moose for supper,
and Grace washed the dishes w ith river bottom sand
In the greyish morning light she rode w ith Mrs Sharkey in the wagon,
out of the downpour They were lurching down the muddy ruts of the
Tenderfoot Creek district, a mining settlement Little claims were spread
all over up and down the creek, it was a rich mining area Huge piles of
slag were along the banks, and sopping, bent backed miners worked beside
(he creek, digging channels to sluice boxes, shoveling dirt, swirling mud in
pans Their disinterested eyes flicked moodily up at the strangers
straggling past them, the spongy wooled sheep and dull steers Rain ran in
spouts off the pinched brims of their hats
Grace spent the day in the Tanana Hotel in Richardson, baking biscuits
The hotel was made of logs w ith plank floors, bunks, and a billiard table
^ p lt was quite filth y They had a crank victrola and records, and Grace
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(•race lay rigid in the hot stuffy office on the narrow couch as the
wild eyed man stumbled around her in the dim light, mumbling lo bis dog
Shocked awake by his presence she lay paralyzed and stiff, not even
drawing a breath In his fermenting haze he never noticed her When he
shullled back out Grace did not move for a long lime, waiting for the
drumming in her chest lo subside She only let hersell drowse the rest of
the night and got up feeling groggy in the morning to start hreaklast The
men had been out w ith the cattle all night, and they crowded into the
1 kitchen, starving Grace started in on another batch of bisucits while she
had the opportunity of a kitchen and oven At noon she and Mrs Sharkey
made a big dinner and set the table in the front room Two men. a judge,
Mr Erwin, and a Mr Watts arrived on foot, their car had broken down
'**
I he drunk man stumbled out insisting he was dying, and asked that Judge
Erwin make out his w ill The two new aimers hid his whiskey keg. and
they look it along w ith them when they left Dutch looked alter their host
until they were ready to leave, the Dane had departed for his camp lo look
after his stock
Grace slept in the fresh air of the wagon bed as they drove along in the
afternoon The roads were soggy and bottomless and many of the bridges
were washed out
It was July 23rd before (»race fina lly got some long awaited mail from
home She had not heard a word since she left Hood River on the 3rd of
June A Mr Ford rode out from Fairbanks in a buggy and met them at
their camp w ith the mail The only disappointment was the lack of a letter
from Jean, who must have w ritten, but whose letter must have been lost
v
"Poor Raymond has hardly left the cattle and has been
going without half enough sleep but he seems to be thriving
under it He was almost as disappointed as I was that I didn t
gel a letter from you
Letter G C to J R
July 24 1914
7
G
It was a beautiful day. the sky clear, and Grace saddled up and rode w ith
the cattle II felt wonderful, tro llin g along the pretty hirch lined road
on c r
Pa«ed Toney s < amp and he escorted us some distance He
entertained Raymond and I with his views on various subjects
We heard that the SaJchakat River was very high and we would
have difficulty crossing hut Toney assured us "You room alright
mil de caide across aher de sheep ’ He also spoke of that
liar (meaning lawyer Mr Erwin) from Fairbanks
Diary G C
Grace stayed up until midnight reading letters, w ith a baby rabbit in her
pocket which Raymond had caught
Through a cold hard rain they drove the cattle lo the camp on the
SaJchakat The Indians across the rive r poled their little boats up and
down the rapids w ith amazing speed They had a large village there w ith
racks of salmon drying and over a hundred constantly howling and barking
dogs The level of the rive r was steadily falling, and they waited in camp a
few days for it lo drop, watching the activities of the Indians
Th« has bean part two of "A Short Trip To Alacka m 1 9 ,4 ~ The Jw rneu
and Lit a of Grace C arter " It W M w ritten and compiWd b*j J u r t M Lackaff and
M a rti Peace
Next month we w in prkit the tt ir d and final segment of th « true
fto ru of hfa r the aar tu nwieteen hundrads
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