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Outside of Fairbanks they held the cattle wailing for evening The
men all slept and Grace picked some blueberries Dutch arrived from
town all cleaned up he d even changed his shirt He went back to help
Nick w’,lh the sheep Driving down the mam street of Fairbanks m the
evening they drew quite a crowd The cattle were very nervous and
bunched up a good deal, but they got them through town and down to the
corrals by the rive r Riding back they encountered the Sharkeys all
dressed up Their friend Mr Ford invited Grace and Raymond to supper
in the best hotel They had a feast soup double Porterhouse steak, fresh
tomatoes, shoestring potatoes, and blueberry shortcake They found
themselves back in a twenty four hour world, used to an erratic sleep
schedule it felt strange to go to bed so early In the morning Grace and
Raymond cooked breakfast down at Dutch s cabin The Sharkeys had
moved in, w ith all the wagon luggage, and Grace decided to slay on at the
hotel That evening Raymond took her to the moving picture show, and
as they stepped out into the street alter the show they met a pleasant
In the evening Dutch and Grace made a moose mulligan the
battered old Sourdough miner and the girl from Oregon bent together
over the campfire discussing recipes Dutch left the n e it day for
Fairbanks -- he and the Swedish man Pete swam the horse herd across
the river, ten head of them Fairbanks was only a day s ride or so from
the Salchaket They decided to let the water drop one more day before
swimming the cattle A big French Canadian trapper John Ouelette
stopped by their camp He was a frien dly man known to everyone as
French John He told (»race about a blueberry patch a mile up the river
In the afternoon she rode up on Chako and picked two quarts She also
found some calla lillies When she got back to camp Raymond showed her
some golden poppies he had gathered Grace made blueberry dumplings,
thinking of the huckleberry dumplings she and lean always made on
their camping trips up in the mountains of Oregon They were a hit with
the men
The n e it morning was clear the rive r still falling Grace paid a visit to
the nearby mission The missionary was a pleasant girl, and she gave
Grace a big mess of lettuce to take w ith her Back at camp Grace helped
pack up the wagons which were sent across the river on the ferry The
flock of sheep was ferried across in one load An Indian boy rowed Grace
across in a tiny boat She could feel how strong the current was. like
something catching at them and was glad when she could clamber out on
the opposite shore She stood on the muddy bank, watching as the cattle
swam across She could see they had to strike out hard and their eyes
rolled w ith fear as they struggled across Mats swam his horse with
them His clothes were soaked when his horse staggered up out-ol the
rive r At the tail end of the herd Grace spotted Raymond and Cy dipping
down into the river, moving the stragglers out into the current The last
steers were swimming across when there was a com motion a splash Cy
disappeared for an instant, and when he surfaced Raymond was gone
from the saddle Grace watched in horror, unable to move standing
frozen on the muddy bank She knew' Raymond was unable to swim
e
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couple. Dr and Mrs Meyers After chatting awhile they discovered that
Dr Meyers sister married a cousin of Raymond s, and that Mrs Meyers
had once met Grace s sister Pearl They were very interested to hear all
about the adventures of the long cattle drive, and invited Raymond and
Grace back to their house They spent a pleasant evening chatting
together and Mrs Meyers showed them her valuable furs She had some
ermine and mink and w hile foi
They spent a few days negotiating the sale of the steers to the Cold
Storage Meat Co Finally Raymond had to agree to the price of 24< a
pound for cattle and 27< for sheep It was not as high a price as he and
his father had hoped to get barely enough to pay eipenses, if not a small
loss On Sunday Raymond and Grace walked together across the river to
read a sermon, a habit they d begun along the trail They had to hurry
back to get ready for an evening out with the Meyers
They stayed in Fairbanks nine m ire days waiting for the n e it boat to
take them down the river Raymond delivered th irty or so cattle to the
slaughterhouse every day He and Grace also t<x>k the chance to tour the
local Sullivan and Oleson Mine
Mr Sullivan look. u» down the shall Saw the steam drills fur
melting the ice They arc about th ree feet apart penetrate about
eight feet or mure and the steam is turned on for th irty hours
seven w heelbarrow loads of dirt required to fill each bucket
Diary G C
A ugust? 1914
Fairbanks was recovering nicely from a large fire that destroyed most
of the town in 1906 It was started by a candle and a lace curtain and
did the most damage to three banks fu ll ol gold from the spring rush
Every year the bridge to the Garden Island settlement went out when the
ice broke up For the town folk, this officially marked the first day of
Spring Grace spent a day eiplorm g the town w ith her old pardner. Bill
Schnabel
Cy got out w here the bank dropped off suddenly into deep
water and he didn t seem (o know a th in g about swimming
but floundered around and went clear under with Raymond
h an g in g ontu his mane The c u rre n t was terrib ly swift and
Raymond had to let go lie managed to hold his breath and keep
struggling but he went down twice He had seen a boat coming
toward him before he went down the last time and he stuck his
hand up out of the water He said he knew he couldn t hold out
an o th er second w hen a hand grabbed his and hauled him into
the boat French John a big French Canadian was the man
who saved him and really it was m arvelous the way he handled
that little rowboat in that ru sh in g to rre n t He said w hen he saw
Raymond go down the third time he didn l th in k he could reach
him and the water was so muddy th ere was no finding him but
that hand came up and that saved him Everybody w atching
thought he was gone
he stayed under such an endless time I
never want to experience an o th er moment like that Cy managed
to swim across and almost before I realized it here came Raymond
riding him and whooping
Letter G C to J B
July 24 1914
Her last glimpse of him helplessly drowning was superimposed by the
tall, galloping figure shouting w ith life, muscling his horse at a run past
the cattle herd, she heard his infectious laugh, and Grace stixid dazed and
shivering and realizing his importance in her life
Cy got into swimming w ater and began to flounder
Was throw n off and nearly drowned French John
Ouelette caught me as I was going down for the last lime
Changed my clothes at Mrs Munson s roadhouse
•-Diary R Mck
July 26 1914
Relieved that the river was behind them they rode light hearted up
the trail The n e it day dawned beautiful and clear Grace rode w ith the
cattle through the woods, happy to be useful again Even the ram that
began that evening didn t bother her She slept through the n e it day in
the wagon, while Mrs Sharkey drove She was looking forward to
reaching Fairbanks, where she could gel away from Mrs Sharkey s sharp
and critical tongue The trip had been hard on Mrs Sharkey, who made
no bones about it When Mr Ford s driver asked her if she had been
enjoying the trip she answered Fun' My God man. it s been hell from
the start ‘ Most of her disapproval and reprimands fell in Grace s
direction, Grace learned to evade them most of the time and Raymond
helped, keeping her busy w ith the cattle and away from camp
Mr Watts passed them, driving in his sputtering auto, he reported
that the man at Birch Lake had sobered up. although he was still sick
They passed several freight teams along the road, one badly stuck in the
mud Billy Epley tried to pull them out. w ithout success The rest of the
men could not be spared from the cattle
She and Raymond watched the steamer Yukon come in. down the
Tanana in the early morning, and dock at the edge of town They would
depart on it the n e it day They were walking over on their way to
breakfast at the M eyers. who had been so nice to them during their stay
in Fairbanks They had dressed up in some Alaskan Indian costumes.
Grace had her picture taken standing on a stump, all in costume w ith bow
and arrow The Meyers brought her flowers when they embarked upon
the Yukon They were in a flu rry the morning they left, packing up grips
and saddles and rushing down to the stockyards to say goodbye to Cy and
Chako. and Bobby, their favorite steer The horses had to be sold, there
was no way around it Raymond even sold his saddle A large crowd saw
the boat off Bill Schnabel and Mr Ford were continuing on w ith them
The Yukon steamed up the Tanana River to where it met the Yukon
River At the junction the boat got stuck on a sandbar for four hours,
another boat had to pull them off which took some maneuvering
They were sailing under a British flag Whenever they stopped to
take on wood Grace disembarked to stretch her legs and do some
eiplorm g She liked the flavor, a little rough and wild, of the Yukon
mining settlements The towns mostly consisted of small log buildings
and lots of canvas tents Smoke rose into the chilly air above the muddy
streets, dogs yiped and muttered and howled, the Yukon River lay wide
and flat as a swath of glass, reflecting a colorless sky
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